1. What was the extent of the airplane journey of the author? Had he ever been in an airplane before? How did he happen to sit with the pilot? How many people were in this plane?2. What was the most exciting moment in his adventure? In about what year did this ride occur?3. Pronounce and define: persistency, ricocheting, percolated, speedometer, maelstrom, promiscuously, recognize, tonneau.4. If you have been close to an airplane tell what about it impressed you. What are airplanes used for now?
1. What was the extent of the airplane journey of the author? Had he ever been in an airplane before? How did he happen to sit with the pilot? How many people were in this plane?
2. What was the most exciting moment in his adventure? In about what year did this ride occur?
3. Pronounce and define: persistency, ricocheting, percolated, speedometer, maelstrom, promiscuously, recognize, tonneau.
4. If you have been close to an airplane tell what about it impressed you. What are airplanes used for now?
Lord of Sea and Earth and Air,Listen to the Pilot's prayer—Send him wind that's steady and strong,Grant that his engine sings the songOf flawless tone, by which he knows5It shall not fail him where he goes;Landing, gliding, in curve, half-roll—Grant him, O Lord, a full control,That he may learn in heights of HeavenThe rapture altitude has given,10That he shall know the joy they feelWho ride Thy realms on Birds of Steel.(Reprinted by permission of Frederick A. Stokes Company fromPoemsby Cecil Roberts.)
Before the discovery of petroleum, whale oil was generally used for lighting. Whaling was then one of the big businesses of our country. Our whalers sought their game in all the waters of the world where the big animals were to be found. A whaling cruise usually lasted from two to five years. The following description of harpooning a whale is an actual experience of the author.
Before the discovery of petroleum, whale oil was generally used for lighting. Whaling was then one of the big businesses of our country. Our whalers sought their game in all the waters of the world where the big animals were to be found. A whaling cruise usually lasted from two to five years. The following description of harpooning a whale is an actual experience of the author.
"There she white-waters! Ah, bl-o-o-o-o-w, blow,blow!" sang Louis; and then, in another tone,"Sperm whale, sir; lone fish, headin' 'beout east-by-nothe."
"All right. Way down from aloft," answered theskipper, who was already halfway up the main rigging; and5like squirrels we slipped out of our hoops and down thebackstays, passing the skipper like a flash as he toiled upwards,bellowing orders as he went. Short as our journeydown had been, when we arrived on deck we found allready for a start. But as the whale was at least seven10miles away and we had a fair wind for him, there was nohurry to lower, so we all stood at attention by our respectiveboats, waiting for the signal. I found, to mysurprise, that although I was conscious of a much morerapid heartbeat than usual, I was not half so scared as I15expected to be— that the excitement was rather pleasantthan otherwise.
"Lower away boats!" came pealing down from theskipper's lofty perch, succeeded instantly by the rattle ofthe patent blocks as the falls flew through them, while the20four beautiful craft took the water with an almost simultaneoussplash. The ship keepers had trimmed the yardsto the wind and hauled up the courses, so that simplyputting the helm down deadened our way and allowed theboats to run clear without danger of fouling one another.5To shove off and hoist sail was the work of a few moments,and with a fine working breeze away we went.
Our boat, being the chief's, had the post of honor; butthere was now only one whale, and I rather wonderedwhy we had all left the ship. According to expectations,10down he went when we were within a couple of miles ofhim, but quietly and with great dignity, elevating his tailperpendicularly in the air and sinking slowly from ourview.
The scene was very striking. Overhead, a bright-blue sky15just fringed with fleecy little clouds; beneath, a deep-bluesea with innumerable tiny wavelets dancing andglittering in the blaze of the sun; but all swayed in onedirection by a great solemn swell that slowly rolled fromeast to west, like the measured breathing of some world-supporting20monster. Four little craft in a group, withtwenty-four men in them, silently waiting for battle withone of the mightiest of God's creatures—one that wasindeed a terrible foe to encounter were he but wise enoughto make the best use of his opportunities.25
My musings were very suddenly interrupted. Whetherwe had overrun our distance, or the whale, who was not"making a passage" but feeding, had changed his course,I do not know; but anyhow he broke water close ahead,coming straight for our boat. His great black head, like30the broad bow of a dumb barge driving the waves beforeit, loomed high and menacing to me, for I was no longerforbidden to look ahead. But coolly as if coming alongsidethe ship, the mate bent to the big steer oar and swungthe boat off at right angles to her course, bringing her backagain with another broad sheer as the whale passed foaming.This maneuver brought us side by side with him before he5had time to realize that we were there. Up till that instanthe had evidently not seen us, and his surprise was correspondinglygreat.
To see Louis raise his harpoon high above his head andwith a hoarse grunt of satisfaction plunge it into the black,10shining mass beside him, up to the hitches, was indeed asight to be remembered. Quick as thought he snatched upa second harpoon, and as the whale rolled from us it flewfrom his hands, burying itself like the former one, but lowerdown the body. The great impetus we had when we15reached the whale, carried us a long way past him, out of alldanger from his struggles. No hindrance was experiencedfrom the line by which we were connected with the whale,for it was loosely coiled in a space for the purpose in theboat's bow, to the extent of two hundred feet, and this was20cast overboard by the harpooner as soon as the fish wasfast.
He made a fearful to-do over it, rolling completely overseveral times, backward and forward, at the same timesmiting the sea with his mighty tail, making an almost25deafening noise and pother. But we were comfortableenough while we unshipped the mast and made ready foraction, being sufficiently far away from him to escape thefull effect of his gambols.
After the usual time spent in furious attempts to free30himself from our annoyance, he betook himself below, leavingus to await his return and hasten it as much as possibleby keeping a severe strain upon the line. Our efforts inthis direction, however, did not seem to have any effectupon him at all. Flake after flake ran out of the tubs untilwe were compelled to hand the end of our line to the secondmate, to splice his own on to. Still it slipped away, and5at last it was handed to the third mate, whose two tubsmet the same fate. It was now Mistah Jones's turn to"bend on," which he did with many chuckles, as of a manwho was the last resource of the unfortunate. But hisface grew longer and longer as the never-resting line continued10to disappear. Soon he signaled us that he wasnearly out of line, and two or three minutes after, he benton his "drogue" (a square piece of plank with a rope tailspliced into its center, and considered to hinder a whale'sprogress at least as much as four boats) and let go the end.15We had each bent on our drogues in the same way, whenwe passed our ends to one another. So now our friend wasgetting along somewhere below, with 7200 feet of one-and-a-half-inchrope, and weight additional equal to thedrag of sixteen thirty-foot boats.20
Of course we knew that unless he were dead and sinkinghe could not possibly remain much longer beneath thesurface. The exhibition of endurance we had just beenfavored with was a very unusual one, I was told, it being arare thing for a cachalot to take out two boats' lines before25returning to the surface to spout.
Therefore we separated as widely as was thought necessary,in order to be near him on his arrival. It was, asmight be imagined, some time before we saw the light ofhis countenance; but when we did, we had no difficulty30in getting alongside of him again. My friend Goliath,much to my delight, got there first and succeeded in pickingup the bight of the line. But having done so, his chanceof distinguishing himself was gone. Hampered by theimmense quantity of sunken line which was attached tothe whale, he could do nothing and soon received orders tocut the bight of the line and pass the whale's end to us.5
He had hardly obeyed, with a very bad grace, when thewhale started off to windward with us, at a tremendousrate. The other boats, having no line, could do nothing tohelp; so away we went alone, with barely a hundred fathomsof line in case he should take it into his head to sound again.10The speed at which he went made it appear as if a gale ofwind were blowing, and we flew along the sea surface,leaping from crest to crest of the waves with an incessantsuccession of cracks like pistol shots. The flying spraydrenched us and prevented us from seeing him, but I fully15realized that it was nothing to what we should have toput up with if the wind freshened much. One hand waskept bailing out the water which came so freely over thebows, but all the rest hauled with all their might upon theline, hoping to get a little closer to the flying monster.20Inch by inch we gained on him. After what seemed aterribly long chase we found his speed slackening, and weredoubled our efforts.
Now we were close upon him; now, in obedience to thesteersman, the boat sheered out a bit and we were abreast25of his laboring flukes; now the mate hurls his quiveringlance with such hearty good will that every inch of itsslender shaft disappears within the huge body.
"Lay off! Off with her, Louey!" screamed the mate;and she gave a wide sheer away from the whale, not a30second too soon. Up flew that awful tail, descending witha crash upon the water, not two feet from us.
"Out oars! Pull, two! starn, three!" shouted the mate;and as we obeyed, our foe turned to fight.
Then might one see how courage and skill were suchmighty factors in the apparently unequal contest. Thewhale's great length made it no easy job for him to turn,5while our boat, with two oars a side and the great leverageat the stern supplied by the nineteen-foot steer oar, circled,backed, and darted ahead like a living thing animated bythe mind of our commander. When the leviathan settled,we gave a wide berth to his probable place of ascent;10when he rushed at us, we dodged him; when he paused, ifonly momentarily, in we flew and got home a fearful thrustof the deadly lance.
All fear was forgotten now—I panted, thirsted, for hislife. Once, indeed, in a sort of frenzy, when for an instant15we lay side by side with him, I drew my sheath knife andplunged it repeatedly into the blubber as if I were assistingin his destruction.
Suddenly the mate gave a howl: "Starn all—starn all!oh, starn!" and the oars bent like canes as we obeyed.20There was an upheaval of the sea just ahead; then slowly,majestically, the vast body of our foe rose into the air.Up, up it went, while my heart stood still, until the whole ofthat immense creature hung on high, apparently motionless,and then fell—a hundred tons of solid flesh—back25into the sea. On either side of that mountainous mass thewaters rose in shining towers of snowy foam which fell intheir turn, whirling and eddying around us as we tossed andfell like a chip in a whirlpool. Blinded by the flying spray,bailing for very life to free the boat from the water with30which she was nearly full, it was some minutes before Iwas able to decide whether we were still uninjured or not.Then I saw, at a little distance, the whale lying quietly. AsI looked he spouted, and the vapor was red with his blood.
"Starn all!" again cried our chief, and we retreated to aconsiderable distance. The old warrior's practiced eye haddetected the coming climax of our efforts, the dying agony,5or "flurry," of the great mammal. Turning upon his sidehe began to move in a circular direction, slowly at first,then faster and faster, until he was rushing round attremendous speed, his great head raised quite out of waterat times, clashing his enormous jaws. Torrents of blood10poured from his spout hole, accompanied by hoarse bellowingsas of some gigantic bull, but really caused by thelaboring breath trying to pass through the clogged airpassages. The utmost caution and rapidity of manipulationof the boat was necessary to avoid his maddened15rush, but this gigantic energy was short-lived. In a fewminutes he subsided slowly in death, his mighty body reclinedon one side, the fin uppermost waving limply as herolled to the swell, while the small waves broke gently overthe carcass in a low, monotonous surf, intensifying the20profound silence that had succeeded the tumult of ourconflict with the late monarch of the deep.
—The Cruise of the Cachalot.
1. Boats were always lowered when whales were sighted within rowing distance. Why? How many were lowered in this instance? How many men were in each? Who was in command of each?2. There was considerable rivalry between the boats of the same ship to be the first to harpoon and the first to give the final lance thrust. Was there rivalry shown here?3. How many feet of rope did the whale take out when he sounded? Reduce this to miles. How many feet of rope were there in each boat?4. Find five words in the story for your classmates to define.
1. Boats were always lowered when whales were sighted within rowing distance. Why? How many were lowered in this instance? How many men were in each? Who was in command of each?
2. There was considerable rivalry between the boats of the same ship to be the first to harpoon and the first to give the final lance thrust. Was there rivalry shown here?
3. How many feet of rope did the whale take out when he sounded? Reduce this to miles. How many feet of rope were there in each boat?
4. Find five words in the story for your classmates to define.
This is an old tale of adventure, the incident occurring in the days of chivalry. But it is of sufficient dramatic interest to cause Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Robert Browning each to use it also as the subject for a poem. As you read it try to picture the scene as it is developed line by line.
This is an old tale of adventure, the incident occurring in the days of chivalry. But it is of sufficient dramatic interest to cause Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Robert Browning each to use it also as the subject for a poem. As you read it try to picture the scene as it is developed line by line.
King Francis was a hearty king and loved a royalsport,And one day, as his lions fought, sat looking on the court.The nobles filled the benches, and the ladies in their pride,And 'mongst them sat the Count de Lorge with one for5whom he sighed;And truly 'twas a gallant thing to see that crowning show,Valor and love, and a king above, and the royal beastsbelow.Ramped and roared the lions, with horrid laughing jaws;10They bit, they glared, gave blows like beams, a wind wentwith their paws;With wallowing might and stifled roar they rolled on oneanother,Till all the pit with sand and mane was in a thunderous15smother;The bloody foam above the bars came whisking through theair;Said Francis then, "Faith, gentlemen, we're better herethan there."20De Lorge's love o'erheard the king, a beauteous livelydame,With smiling lips and sharp bright eyes which alwaysseemed the same;She thought, "The count, my lover, is brave as brave can5be;He surely would do wondrous things to show his love of me;King, ladies, lovers, all look on; the occasion is divine;I'll drop my glove to prove his love; great glory will bemine."10She dropped her glove, to prove his love, then looked athim and smiled;He bowed, and in a moment leaped among the lions wild;The leap was quick, return was quick, he has regained hisplace,15Then threw the glove, but not with love, right in the lady'sface."By Heaven," said Francis, "rightly done!" and he rosefrom where he sat;"No love," quoth he, "but vanity, sets love a task like20that."
1. Where did this incident take place? How do you know?2. Imagine yourself in a seat near King Francis. Tell what is happening in the arena. Make your description vivid.3. What is your opinion of the lady? Did De Lorge treat her properly? In answering this, consider the fact that he did the rash act simply as gallantry. What could he have done instead of going among the lions? Why did he choose to go?4. Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) was an English poet, essayist, and critic. Most of his poetry is witty and clever.
1. Where did this incident take place? How do you know?
2. Imagine yourself in a seat near King Francis. Tell what is happening in the arena. Make your description vivid.
3. What is your opinion of the lady? Did De Lorge treat her properly? In answering this, consider the fact that he did the rash act simply as gallantry. What could he have done instead of going among the lions? Why did he choose to go?
4. Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) was an English poet, essayist, and critic. Most of his poetry is witty and clever.
Buck was a cross between St. Bernard and Scotch shepherd bloods, and a wonderful dog he was. He made a name for himself in Alaska, during the Klondike gold rush, and his owner, Thornton, was envied by all the miners in that land where dogs take the place of horses. Thornton once boasted that Buck could pull a thousand pounds on a sled—break it out and "mush," or draw, it a hundred yards. Matthewson bet a thousand dollars that he could not.
Buck was a cross between St. Bernard and Scotch shepherd bloods, and a wonderful dog he was. He made a name for himself in Alaska, during the Klondike gold rush, and his owner, Thornton, was envied by all the miners in that land where dogs take the place of horses. Thornton once boasted that Buck could pull a thousand pounds on a sled—break it out and "mush," or draw, it a hundred yards. Matthewson bet a thousand dollars that he could not.
Matthewson's sled, loaded with a thousand poundsof flour, had been standing for a couple of hours, andin the intense cold (it was sixty below zero) the runners hadfrozen fast to the hard-packed snow. Men offered odds oftwo to one that Buck could not budge the sled. A quibble5arose concerning the phrase "break out." O'Brien contendedit was Thornton's privilege to knock the runners loose,leaving Buck to "break it out" from a dead standstill.Matthewson insisted that the phrase included breaking therunners from the frozen grip of the snow. A majority of the10men who had witnessed the making of the bet decided in hisfavor, whereat the odds went up to three to one against Buck.
There were no takers. Not a man believed him capableof the feat. Thornton had been hurried into the wager,heavy with doubt; and now that he looked at the sled15itself, the concrete fact, with the regular team of ten dogscurled up in the snow before it, the more impossible the taskappeared. Matthewson waxed jubilant.
"Three to one!" he proclaimed. "I'll lay you anotherthousand at that figure, Thornton. What d'ye say?"
Thornton's doubt was strong in his face, but his fightingspirit was aroused—the fighting spirit that soars aboveodds, fails to recognize the impossible, and is deaf to all save5the clamor for battle. He called Hans and Pete to him.Their sacks were slim, and with his own the three partnerscould rake together only two hundred dollars. In theebb of their fortunes, this sum was their total capital;yet they laid it unhesitatingly against Matthewson's six10hundred.
The team of ten dogs was unhitched, and Buck, with hisown harness, was put into the sled. He had caught thecontagion of the excitement, and he felt that in some wayhe must do a great thing for John Thornton. Murmurs of15admiration at his splendid appearance went up. He was inperfect condition, without an ounce of superfluous flesh,and the one hundred and fifty pounds that he weighed wereso many pounds of grit and virility. His furry coat shonewith the sheen of silk. Down the neck and across the20shoulders, his mane, in repose as it was, half bristledand seemed to lift with every movement, as though excessof vigor made each particular hair alive and active. Thegreat breast and heavy fore legs were no more than inproportion with the rest of the body, where the muscles25showed in tight rolls underneath the skin. Men felt thesemuscles and proclaimed them hard as iron, and the oddswent down to two to one.
"Gad, sir! Gad, sir!" stuttered a member of thelatest dynasty, a king of the Skookum Benches. "I offer30you eight hundred for him, sir, before the test, sir; eighthundred just as he stands."
Thornton shook his head and stepped to Buck's side.
"You must stand off from him," Matthewson protested."Free play and plenty of room."
The crowd fell silent; only could be heard the voices ofthe gamblers vainly offering two to one. Everybody5acknowledged Buck a magnificent animal, but twentyfifty-pound sacks of flour bulked too large in their eyes forthem to loosen their pouch strings.
Thornton knelt down by Buck's side. He took his headin his two hands and rested cheek on cheek. He did not10playfully shake him, as was his wont, or murmur soft lovecurses; but he whispered in his ear. "As you love me,Buck. As you love me," was what he whispered. Buckwhined with suppressed eagerness.
The crowd was watching curiously. The affair was growing15mysterious. It seemed like a conjuration. As Thorntongot to his feet, Buck seized his mittened hand betweenhis jaws, pressing it with his teeth and releasing it slowly,half reluctantly. It was the answer, in terms not of speechbut of love. Thornton stepped well back.20
"Now, Buck," he said.
Buck tightened the traces, then slacked them for amatter of several inches. It was the way he had learned.
"Gee!" Thornton's voice rang out, sharp in the tensesilence.25
Buck swung to the right, ending the movement in a plungethat took up the slack and with a sudden jerk arrested hisone hundred and fifty pounds. The load quivered, andfrom under the runners arose a crisp crackling.
"Haw!" Thornton commanded.30
Buck duplicated the maneuver, this time to the left. Thecrackling turned into a snapping, the sled pivoting and therunners slipping and grating several inches to the side.The sled was broken out. Men were holding their breaths,intensely unconscious of the fact.
"Now,mush!"
Thornton's command cracked out like a pistol shot.5Buck threw himself forward, tightening the traces with ajarring lunge. His whole body was gathered compactlytogether in the tremendous effort, the muscles writhing andknotting like live things under the silky fur. His greatchest was low to the ground, his head forward and down,10while his feet were flying like mad, the claws scarring thehard-packed snow in parallel grooves. The sled swayedand trembled, half started forward. One of his feet slipped,and one man groaned aloud. Then the sled lurched aheadin what appeared a rapid succession of jerks, though it never15really came to a dead stop again—half an inch—aninch—two inches. The jerks perceptibly diminished; asthe sled gained momentum he caught them up till it wasmoving steadily along.
Men gasped and began to breathe again, unaware that20for a moment they had ceased to breathe. Thornton wasrunning behind, encouraging Buck with short, cheerywords. The distance had been measured off, and as heneared the pile of firewood which marked the end of thehundred yards, a cheer began to grow and grow, which25burst into a roar as he passed the firewood and halted atcommand. Every man was tearing himself loose, evenMatthewson. Hats and mittens were flying in the air.Men were shaking hands, it did not matter with whom,and bubbling over in a general incoherent babel.30
But Thornton fell on his knees beside Buck. Head wasagainst head, and he was shaking him back and forth.Buck seized Thornton's hand in his teeth. As thoughanimated by a common impulse, the onlookers drew backto a respectful distance.
—The Call of the Wild.
(FromThe Call of the Wild, by Jack London, used by permission of The Macmillan Company, Publishers, and by arrangement with Mrs. Charmian K. London.)
1. Jack London (1867-1916) was a Californian by birth. He early began roving, and his voyages and tramps took him all over the world. He was a keen observer and a virile writer.The Call of the Wildis perhaps the best known of his many tales. You observe from the extract that his stories are full of action. They are moving pictures in words.2. What was the situation that led up to the bet? Where is this event supposed to have taken place? Read the lines that show the men are miners.3. How much was staked against Buck? Who was for the dog? Against him? How did he respond? How did the men who bet against Buck show they were good losers?
1. Jack London (1867-1916) was a Californian by birth. He early began roving, and his voyages and tramps took him all over the world. He was a keen observer and a virile writer.The Call of the Wildis perhaps the best known of his many tales. You observe from the extract that his stories are full of action. They are moving pictures in words.
2. What was the situation that led up to the bet? Where is this event supposed to have taken place? Read the lines that show the men are miners.
3. How much was staked against Buck? Who was for the dog? Against him? How did he respond? How did the men who bet against Buck show they were good losers?
The Newfoundland coast is a peculiarly dangerous one,from the dense fogs that are caused by the warmwaters of the Gulf Stream. These waters rushing up fromthe equator here come in contact with the cold currents fromthe pole. As they meet, they send up such heavy vapor5that day can sometimes scarcely be discerned from night;even at little more than arm's length objects cannot be distinguished,while from without, the mist looks like a thick,sheer precipice of snow.
In such a fearful fog, on the morning of the 20th of June,101822, the small schoonerDrakestruck suddenly upon arock and almost immediately fell over on her side, the wavesbreaking over her. Her commander, Captain Baker,ordered her masts to be cut away, in hopes of lighteningher so that she might right herself, but in vain. One boatwas washed away, another upset as soon as she waslaunched, and there remained only the small boat calledthe captain's gig.5
The ship was fast breaking up; the only hope was thatthe crew might reach a small rock, the point of which couldbe seen above the waves at a distance that the fog madedifficult to calculate, but that, it was hoped, might not betoo great. A man named Leonard seized a rope and sprang10into the sea, but the current was too strong for him; hewas carried away in an opposite direction and was obligedto be dragged on board again.
Then the boatswain, whose name was Turner, volunteeredto make the attempt in the gig, taking a rope fastened15round his body. The crew cheered him after thegallant fashion of British seamen, though they were allhanging on by the ropes to the ship, with the sea breakingover them and threatening every moment to dash the vesselto pieces. Anxiously they watched Turner in his boat, as20he made his way to within a few feet of the rock. Therethe boat was lifted high and higher by a huge wave, thenhurled down on the rock and shattered to pieces; but thebrave boatswain was safe, and contrived to keep his holdof the rope and to scramble up on the stone.25
Another great wave, almost immediately after, heavedup the remains of the ship and dashed her down close tothis rock of safety. Captain Baker, giving up the hope ofsaving her, commanded the crew to leave her and maketheir way to the rock. For the first time he met with30disobedience. With one voice they refused to leave thewreck unless they saw him before them in safety. Calmlyhe renewed his orders, saying that his life was the last andleast consideration, and they were obliged to obey, leavingthe ship in as orderly a manner as if they were going ashorein harbor. But they were so benumbed with cold thatmany were unable to climb the rock and were swept off by5the waves; among these was the lieutenant.
Captain Baker last of all joined his crew. It was thendiscovered that they were at no great distance from theland, but that the tide was rising and that the rock on whichthey stood would assuredly be covered at high water. The10heavy mist and lonely coast gave scarcely a hope that helpwould come ere the slowly rising waters must devour them.
Still there was no murmur. Again the gallant boatswain,who still held the rope, volunteered to make an effort tosave his comrades. With a few words of earnest prayer,15he secured the rope round his waist, struggled hard with thewaves, and reached the shore, whence he sent back the newsof his safety by a loud cheer to his comrades.
There was now a line of rope between the shore and therock, just long enough to reach from one to the other when20held by a man at each end. The only hope of safety layin working a desperate passage along this rope to the land.The spray was already beating over those who werecrouched on the rock, but not a man moved till called byname by Captain Baker, and then it is recorded that not25one, so summoned, stirred till he had used his best entreatiesto the captain to take his place; but the captainhad but one reply: "I will never leave the rock until everysoul is safe."
Forty-four stout sailors had made their perilous way to30shore. The forty-fifth looked round and saw a poor womanlying helpless, almost lifeless, on the rock, unable to move.He took her in one arm, and with the other clung to therope. Alas! the double weight was more than the much-triedrope could bear; it broke halfway, and the poorwoman and the sailor were both swallowed in the eddy.
Captain Baker and three seamen remained, utterly cut5off from hope of help. The men in best condition hurriedoff in search of help, found a farmhouse, obtained a rope,and hastened back; but long ere their arrival the watershad flowed above the head of the brave and faithful captain.All the crew could do was, with full hearts, to write10a most touching letter to an officer who had once sailedwith them in theDrake, entreating him to represent theircaptain's conduct to the Lords of the Admiralty.
"In fact," said the letter, "during the whole businesshe proved himself a man whose name and last conduct15ought ever to be held in the highest estimation by a crewwho feel it their duty to ask, from the Lords Commissionersof the Admiralty, that which they otherwise have not themeans of obtaining; that is, a public and lasting recordof the lion-hearted, generous, and the very unexampled20way in which our late noble commander sacrificed hislife in the evening of the 20th of June."
This letter was signed by the whole surviving crew of theDrake, and in consequence, a tablet in the dockyard chapelat Portsmouth commemorates the heroism of Captain25Charles Baker.
—A Book of Golden Deeds.
1. Retell the main events of this story as briefly as you can. You can do this best by making a careful outline of the points set forth. Hand your topics to your teacher.2. What is the rule aboard ship in case of abandoning the vessel? What accidents at sea do you know about?
1. Retell the main events of this story as briefly as you can. You can do this best by making a careful outline of the points set forth. Hand your topics to your teacher.
2. What is the rule aboard ship in case of abandoning the vessel? What accidents at sea do you know about?
The following episode is fromUngava: A Tale of Eskimo Land, a "classic" of the fifties and sixties.Ungavais full of thrilling adventure, based on the author's own experiences as a young fur trader in the Hudson Bay country. Ballantyne (1825-1894) belonged to the family of famous Edinburgh publishers that issued Scott's works.Just prior to the incident quoted below, Annatock had discovered a walrus frozen to death and was engaged in chopping him up. Then appears walrus number two, who was thoroughly alive.
The following episode is fromUngava: A Tale of Eskimo Land, a "classic" of the fifties and sixties.Ungavais full of thrilling adventure, based on the author's own experiences as a young fur trader in the Hudson Bay country. Ballantyne (1825-1894) belonged to the family of famous Edinburgh publishers that issued Scott's works.
Just prior to the incident quoted below, Annatock had discovered a walrus frozen to death and was engaged in chopping him up. Then appears walrus number two, who was thoroughly alive.
Not far from the spot where this fortunate discoveryhad been made, there was a large sheet of recentlyformed black ice, where the main ice had been broken awayand the open water left. The sheet, although much meltedby the thaw, was still about three inches thick, and quite5capable of supporting a man.
While Annatock was working with his back to this ice,he heard a tremendous crash take place behind him. Turninghastily round, he observed that the noise was caused byanother enormous walrus, the glance of whose large round10eyes, and whose loud snort, showed clearly enough that hewas not frozen like his unfortunate companion. By thistime the little boy had come up with Edith and the sledge,so Annatock ordered him to take the dogs behind a hummockto keep them out of sight, while he selected several15strong harpoons and a lance from the sledge. Givinganother lance to Peetoot, he signed to Edith to sit on thehummock while he attacked the grisly monster of the deepsingle-handed.
While these preparations were being made, the walrusdived, and while it was under water the man and the boyran quickly forward a short distance and then lay downbehind a lump of ice. Scarcely had they done so when thewalrus came up again with a loud snort, splashing the water5with its broad, heavy flippers—which seemed a sort ofcompromise between legs and fins—and dashing wavesover the ice as it rolled about its large, unwieldy carcass.It was truly a savage-looking monster as large as a smallelephant and having two tusks of a foot and a half long.10The face bore a horrible resemblance to that of a man.Its crown was round and bulging, its face broad andmassive, and a thick, bristling mustache—rough as thespines of a porcupine—covered its upper lip and dependedin a shaggy dripping mass over its mouth. After spluttering15about a short time, it dived again.
Now was Annatock's time. Seizing a harpoon and acoil of line, he muttered a few words to the boy, sprang up,and running out upon the smooth ice, stood by the edgeof the open water. He had not waited here more than a20few seconds when the black waters were cleft by the blackerhead of the monster, as it once more ascended to renew itselephantine gambols in the pool.
As it rose the Eskimo threw up his arm and poised theharpoon. For one instant the surprised animal raised25itself breast-high out of the water and directed a stare ofintense astonishment at the man. That moment was fatal.Annatock buried the harpoon deep under its left flipper.With a fierce bellow the brute dashed itself against the ice,endeavoring in its fury to reach its assailant; but the ice30gave way under its enormous weight, while Annatock ranback as far as the harpoon line would permit him.
The walrus, seeing that it could not reach its enemy inthis way, seemed now to be actually endowed with reason.It took a long gaze at Annatock, and then dived. But theEskimo was prepared for this. He changed his positionhastily and played his line the meanwhile, fixing the point5of his lance into the ice in order to give him a more effectivehold. Scarcely had he done so when the spot he had justleft was smashed up, and the head of the walrus appeared,grinning, and bellowing as if in disappointment.
At this moment Peetoot handed his uncle a harpoon, and10ere the animal dived the weapon was fixed in his side.Once more Annatock changed his position; and once againthe spot on which he had been standing was burst upwards.It was a terrible sight to see that unearthly-looking monstersmashing the ice around it and lashing the blood-stained15sea into foam, while it waged such mortal war with theself-possessed and wary man. How mighty and strongthe one! how comparatively weak and seemingly helplessthe other! It was the triumph of mind over matter—ofreason over blind brute force.20
But Annatock fought a hard battle that day ere he cameoff conqueror. Harpoon after harpoon was driven into thewalrus—again and again the lance pierced deep into itsside and drank its lifeblood; but three hours had passedaway before the dead carcass was dragged from the deep25by the united force of dogs and man.
—Ungava: A Tale of Eskimo Land.
1. Find the picture of a walrus, and tell what the animal looks like. Get a description of a walrus from your reference library, if possible.2. Describe Annatock's method of hunting the walrus.3. Be prepared to give a two-minute talk on the Eskimos, touching on race to which they belong, methods of obtaining food, and mode of living.
1. Find the picture of a walrus, and tell what the animal looks like. Get a description of a walrus from your reference library, if possible.
2. Describe Annatock's method of hunting the walrus.
3. Be prepared to give a two-minute talk on the Eskimos, touching on race to which they belong, methods of obtaining food, and mode of living.
On a bright moonlight night, in the month of February,1831, when it was intensely cold, the little brig whichI commanded lay quietly at her anchors inside of SandyHook. We had had a hard time beating about for elevendays off this coast, with cutting northeasters blowing and5snow and sleet falling for the most part of that time.
Forward, the vessel was thickly coated with ice, and itwas hard work to handle her as the rigging and sails werestiff and yielded only when the strength of the men wasexerted to the utmost. When we at length made the port,10all hands were worn down and exhausted.
"A bitter cold night, Mr. Larkin," I said to my mate asI tarried for a short time upon deck. The worthy down-easterbuttoned his coat more tightly around him, and lookingup to the moon replied, "It's a whistler, Captain; and15nothing can live comfortably out of blankets to-night."
"The tide is running out swift and strong, and it will bewell to keep a sharp lookout for this floating ice, Mr. Larkin,"said I, as I turned to go below.
About two hours afterward I was aroused from a sound20sleep by the vigilant officer. "Excuse me for disturbingyou, Captain," said he, as he detected an expression ofvexation in my face, "but I wish you would turn out andcome on deck as soon as possible."
"What's the matter, Mr. Larkin?" said I.25
"Why, sir, I have been watching a large cake of ice,which swept by at a distance a moment ago, and I sawsomething black upon it, something that I thought moved.The moon is under a cloud and I could not see distinctly,but I believe there is a child floating out to the sea, thisfreezing night, on that cake of ice."
We were on deck before either spoke another word.5The mate pointed out with no little difficulty the cake ofice floating off to the leeward, with its white, glitteringsurface broken by a black spot.
"Get the glass, Mr. Larkin," said I; "the moon will beout of that cloud in a moment and then we can see distinctly."10
I kept my eye upon the receding mass of ice while themoon was slowly working her way through a heavy bank ofclouds. The mate stood by me with the glass, and whenthe full light fell upon the water with a brilliancy only15known in our northern latitudes, I put the glass to my eye.One glance was enough.
"Forward, there!" I hailed at the top of my voice; andwith one bound I reached the main hatch and began toclear away the little cutter which was stowed in the ship's20yawl.
Mr. Larkin had taken the glass to look for himself."There are two children on that cake of ice!" he exclaimed,as he hastened to assist me in getting out the boat.
The men answered my hail and walked quickly aft. In25a short space of time we launched the cutter, into which Mr.Larkin and myself jumped, followed by the two men whotook the oars. I rigged the tiller, and the mate sat besideme in the stern sheets.
"Do you see that cake of ice with something black upon30it, my lads? Put me alongside of that and I'll give you amonth's extra wages when you are paid off," said I.
They bent to their oars, but their strokes were unevenand feeble, for they were worn out by the hard duty of thepreceding fortnight; and though they did their best, theboat made little more headway than the tide. It was alosing chase, and Mr. Larkin, who was suffering torture5as he saw how little we gained, cried out, "Pull, lads! I'lldouble the captain's prize; two months' extra pay. Pull,lads! pull for life!"
A convulsive effort at the oars told how willing the menwere to obey, but the strength of the strong men was gone.10One of the poor fellows washed us twice in recovering hisoar and then gave out, and the other was nearly as far gone.Mr. Larkin sprang forward and seized the deserted oar."Lie down in the bottom of the boat," said he to the man;"and, Captain, take the other oar! We must row for ourselves."15
I took the second man's place. Larkin had stripped offhis coat, and as he pulled the bow, I waited for the signalstroke. It came, gently, but firm; and the next momentwe were pulling a long, steady stroke, gradually increasing20in rapidity until the wood seemed to smoke in the row-locks.We kept time, each by the long, deep breathingof the other.
Such a pull! We bent forward until our faces almosttouched our knees; and then throwing all our strength into25the backward movement, drew on the oar until every inchcovered by the sweep was gained. Thus we worked at theoars for fifteen minutes, and it seemed to me as manyhours. The sweat rolled off in great drops, and I was envelopedin a steam generated from my own body.30
"Are we almost up to it, Mr. Larkin?" I gasped out.
"Almost, Captain," said he; "don't give up!"
The oars flashed as their blades turned up to the moonlight,for the men who plied them were fathers and hadfathers' hearts.
Suddenly Mr. Larkin ceased pulling, and my heart for amoment almost stopped its beating; for the terrible thought5that he had given out crossed my mind. But I was reassuredby his voice: "Gently, Captain, gently; a strokeor two more; there, that will do," and the next momentMr. Larkin sprang upon the ice. I started up, and callingto the men to make fast the boat to the ice, followed him.10
We ran to the dark spot in the center of the mass andfound two little boys. The head of the smaller was restingin the bosom of the larger, and both were fast asleep. Thelethargy which would have been fatal but for the timelyrescue had overcome them.15
Mr. Larkin grasped one of the lads, cut off his shoes, toreoff his jacket, and then, loosening his own garments to theskin, placed the cold child in contact with his own warmbody, carefully wrapping his overcoat around him. I didthe same with the other child, and we then returned to the20boat.
The children, as we learned when we had the delight ofrestoring them to their parents, were playing on the cakeof ice, which had jammed into a bend of the river about tenmiles above New York. A movement of the tide set the25ice in motion, and the little fellows were borne away thatcold night and would inevitably have perished but for Mr.Larkin's espying them as they were sweeping out to sea.