Norman gave his ivory-handled screwdriver a final twist and secured the last screw into the side panel of the slim brass cylinder. Unclamping it from his vice, he lifted it lovingly by its shining axle, and held it towards the dust-smeared glass of the kitchenette window. It was a work of wonder and that was for certain. A mere ten inches in diameter and another one in thickness, the dim light painted a rainbow corona about its varnished circumference. Norman carried it carefully across to his cluttered kitchen table and, elbowing aside a confusion of soiled crockery, placed it upon the twin bracket mountings which had been bolted through both tablecloth and table. The axle dropped into it
Unbeaten Tracks in Japanby Isabella L. BirdAN ACCOUNT OF TRAVELS IN THE INTERIORINCLUDING VISITS TO THE ABORIGINES OF YEZO ANDTHE SHRINE OF NIKKO BY ISABELLA L. BIRDPREFACEHaving been recommended to leave home, in April 1878, in order torecruit my health by means which had proved serviceable before, Idecided to visit Japan, attracted less by the reputed excellence ofits climate than by the certainty that it possessed, in an especialdegree, those sources of novel and sustained interest which conduceso essentially to the enjoyment and restoration of a solitaryhealth-seeker. The climate disappointed me, but, though I foundthe country a study rather than a rapture, its interest exceeded my...
The Unbearable Bassingtonby "Saki" [H. H. Munro]CHAPTER IFRANCESCA BASSINGTON sat in the drawing-room of her house in BlueStreet, W., regaling herself and her estimable brother Henry withChina tea and small cress sandwiches. The meal was of that elegantproportion which, while ministering sympathetically to the desiresof the moment, is happily reminiscent of a satisfactory luncheonand blessedly expectant of an elaborate dinner to come.In her younger days Francesca had been known as the beautiful MissGreech; at forty, although much of the original beauty remained,she was just dear Francesca Bassington. No one would have dreamed...
Book One Chapter 01 Behind every great fortune there is a crime. BALZAC Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her. The judge, a formidably heavy-featured man, rolled up the sleeves of his black robe as if to physically chastise the two young men standing before the bench. His face was cold with majestic contempt. But there was something false in all this that Amerigo Bonasera sensed but did not yet understand. "You acted like the worst kind of degenerates," the judge said harshly. Yes, yes, thought Amerigo Bonasera. Animals. Animals. The two young men, glossy
The Faith of MenThe Faith of MenBy Jack London1- Page 2-The Faith of MenA RELIC OF THE PLIOCENEI wash my hands of him at the start. I cannot father his tales, nor willI be responsible for them. I make these preliminary reservations, observe,as a guard upon my own integrity. I possess a certain definite position ina small way, also a wife; and for the good name of the community thathonours my existence with its approval, and for the sake of her posterity...
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT (or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure)TOM SWIFT AND HISSUBMARINE BOAT(or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure)VICTOR APPLETON1- Page 2-TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT (or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure)CHAPTER OneNews of a Treasure WreckThere was a rushing, whizzing, throbbing noise in the air. A greatbody, like that of some immense bird, sailed along, casting a grotesqueshadow on the ground below. An elderly man, who Was seated on the...
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERSMISCELLANEOUSPAPERSBY CHARLES DICKENS- Page 2-MISCELLANEOUS PAPERSTHE AGRICULTURALINTERESTThe present Government, having shown itself to be particularly cleverin its management of Indictments for Conspiracy, cannot do better, wethink (keeping in its administrative eye the pacification of some of its mostinfluential and most unruly supporters), than indict the wholemanufacturing interest of the country for a conspiracy against the...
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." Dr. Johnson PART ONE We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive... ." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?" Then it was quiet again. My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facil
A January gale was roaring up the Channel, blustering loudly, and bearing in its bosom rain squalls whose big drops rattled loudly on the tarpaulin clothing of those among the officers and men whose duties kept them on deck. So hard and so long had the gale blown that even in the sheltered waters of Spithead the battleship moved uneasily at her anchors, pitching a little in the choppy seas, and snubbing herself against the tautened cables with unexpected jerks. A shore boat was on its way out to her, propelled by oars in the hands of two sturdy women; it danced madly on the steep little waves, now and then putting its nose into one and sending a sheet of spray flying aft. The oarswoman in
Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnsonby Hesther Lynch PiozziINTRODUCTIONMrs. Piozzi, by her second marriage, was by her first marriage the Mrs. Thrale in whose house at Streatham Doctor Johnson was, after the year of his first introduction, 1765, in days of infirmity, an honoured and a cherished friend. The year of the beginning of the friendship was the year in which Johnson, fifty-six years old, obtained his degree of LL.D. from Dublin, andthough he never called himself Doctorwas thenceforth called Doctor by all his friends.Before her marriage Mrs. Piozzi had been Miss Hesther Lynch Salusbury, a young lady of a good Welsh family. She was born in the year 174O, and she lived until the yea
TOLD AFTER SUPPERTOLD AFTER SUPPERby Jerome K. Jerome1- Page 2-TOLD AFTER SUPPERINTRODUCTORYIt was Christmas Eve.I begin this way because it is the proper, orthodox, respectable way tobegin, and I have been brought up in a proper, orthodox, respectable way,and taught to always do the proper, orthodox, respectable thing; and thehabit clings to me.Of course, as a mere matter of information it is quite unnecessary tomention the date at all. The experienced reader knows it was Christmas...
Nada the Lilyby H. Rider HaggardDEDICATIONSompseu:For I will call you by the name that for fifty years has been honouredby every tribe between Zambesi and Cape Agulbas,I greet you!Sompseu, my father, I have written a book that tells of men andmatters of which you know the most of any who still look upon thelight; therefore, I set your name within that book and, such as it is,I offer it to you.If you knew not Chaka, you and he have seen the same suns shine, youknew his brother Panda and his captains, and perhaps even that veryMopo who tells this tale, his servant, who slew him with the Princes.You have seen the circle of the witch-doctors and the unconquerable...