Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:10

Excerpt #1, from Greenmantle, by John Buchan

…filled all the front carriages. An officer spoke to me gruffly and told me to stand aside behind a wooden rail. I obeyed, and suddenly found Stumm’s eyes looking down at me. “You know German?” he asked sharply. “A dozen words,” I said carelessly. “I’ve been to Windhuk and learned enough to ask for my dinner. Peter—my friend—speaks it a bit.” “So,” said Stumm. “Well, get into the carriage. Not that one! There, thickhead!” I did as I was bid, he followed, and the door was locked behind us. The precaution was needless, for the sight of Stumm’s profile at the platform end would have kept out the most brazen. I wondered if I had woken up his suspicions. I must be on my guard to show no signs of intelligence if he suddenly tried me in German, and that wouldn’t be easy, for I knew it as well as I knew Dutch. We moved into the country, but the windows were blurred with frost, and I saw nothing of the landscape. Stumm was busy with papers and let me alone. I read on a notice that one was forbidden to smoke, so to show my ignorance of German I pulled out my pipe. Stumm raised his head, saw what I was doing, and gruffly bade me put it away, as if he were an old lady that disliked the smell of tobacco. In half an hour I got very bored, for I had nothing to read and my pipe…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #2, from An Account of Egypt, by Herodotus

…became completely intoxicated; and being overcome by sleep they went to bed on the spot where they had been drinking. He then, as it was now far on in the night, first took down the body of his brother, and then in mockery shaved the right cheeks of all the guards; and after that he put the dead body upon the asses and drove them away home, having accomplished that which was enjoined him by his mother. Upon this the king, when it was reported to him that the dead body of the thief had been stolen away, displayed great anger; and desiring by all means that it should be found out who it might be who devised these things, did this (so at least they said, but I do not believe the account),–he caused his own daughter to sit in the stews, and enjoined her to receive all equally, and before having commerce with any one to compel him to tell her what was the most cunning and what the most unholy deed which had been done by him in all his life-time; and whosoever should relate that which had happened about the thief, him she must seize and not let him go out. Then as she was doing that which was enjoined by her father, the thief, hearing for what purpose this was done and having a desire to get the better of the king in resource, did thus:–from the body of one lately dead he cut off the arm at the shoulder and went with it under his mantle: and having gone in to the daughter of the king, and being asked that which the others also were asked, he related that he had done…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #3, from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon

…foreign conquest, was the object of his policy; and that his principal care was to employ the forces of Alaric at a distance from Italy. This design could not long escape the penetration of the Gothic king, who continued to hold a doubtful, and perhaps a treacherous, correspondence with the rival courts; who protracted, like a dissatisfied mercenary, his languid operations in Thessaly and Epirus, and who soon returned to claim the extravagant reward of his ineffectual services. From his camp near Aemona, 102 on the confines of Italy, he transmitted to the emperor of the West a long account of promises, of expenses, and of demands; called for immediate satisfaction, and clearly intimated the consequences of a refusal. Yet if his conduct was hostile, his language was decent and dutiful. He humbly professed himself the friend of Stilicho, and the soldier of Honorius; offered his person and his troops to march, without delay, against the usurper of Gaul; and solicited, as a permanent retreat for the Gothic nation, the possession of some vacant province of the Western empire. 100 (return) [ Comitatur euntem Pallor, et atra fames; et saucia lividus ora Luctus; et inferno stridentes agmine morbi. —-Claudian in vi….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #4, from My Man Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse

…she was wearing the most perfectly ripping dress. I couldn’t begin to describe it. I can only say it was the limit. It struck me that if this was how she was in the habit of looking every night when they were dining quietly at home together, it was no wonder that Bobbie liked domesticity. “Here’s old Reggie, dear,” said Bobbie. “I’ve brought him home to have a bit of dinner. I’ll phone down to the kitchen and ask them to send it up now—what?” She stared at him as if she had never seen him before. Then she turned scarlet. Then she turned as white as a sheet. Then she gave a little laugh. It was most interesting to watch. Made me wish I was up a tree about eight hundred miles away. Then she recovered herself. “I am so glad you were able to come, Mr. Pepper,” she said, smiling at me. And after that she was all right. At least, you would have said so. She talked a lot at dinner, and chaffed Bobbie, and played us ragtime on the piano afterwards, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Quite a jolly little party it was—not. I’m no lynx-eyed sleuth, and all that sort of thing, but I had seen her face at the beginning, and I knew that she was working the whole time and working hard, to keep herself in hand, and that she would have given that diamond what’s-its-name in…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #5, from Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy, by Anonymous

…expected to carry thence to the West Indies a load of slaves–if not, to abandon the ship entirely, taking with them the specie, and whatever light articles of value they conveniently could. They anticipated no difficulty in introducing themselves into some of the settlements on the coast as shipwrecked mariners; and, as vessels frequently left the settlements for the United States, they supposed they might procure a passage without exciting any suspicion. Kelly was a man of such imperturbable self-command, that he found no difficulty in repressing every symptom which could indicate his knowledge of the diabolical conspiracy. It was no part of his intention, however, to conceal any thing from Capt. Newton; to the captain, therefore, he made an unreserved disclosure of all that had come to his knowledge. At first they were at a loss what measures to take: one thing they thought of the greatest importance, which was to keep Miss Kelly in entire ignorance of what was transpiring on board. Some uncurbed outbreaking of alarm would be almost certain, such was the excitability of her temperament. This, in their present situation, might be attended with the most disastrous consequences. The captain determined to eye with particular vigilance the motions of Harmon, who, from the part he took in the conversation alluded to above, appeared to be the ring-leader. Here, in order that the reader…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #6, from On the Anzac trail: Being extracts from the diary of a New Zealand sapper, by Anzac

…Later.—Under way. All lights out and general air of suppressed excitement on all hands. Some of the chaps making a book on the event, and laying odds on the chances of the takers getting through the slather-up unharmed. Others tossing up to see if certain of their mates will finish up in heaven or hell! No one the least downhearted; all determined to at least give the enemy the time of his life when they come to grips. They are certainly as tough a crowd as ever got into uniform. Landing expected to take place just at daybreak or slightly earlier. Creeping along like a “mob of thieves in the night,” as one of the chaps put it. Distance from Lemnos about 45 miles, I hear, so will be there in whips of time. Funny thing to think that one’s folks will be lying in bed sound asleep at the moment we go into the enemy, and never dreaming of what their men will be taking on. Just as well, too, come to think of it. Weather A1. Sea calm; nothing to complain of in that line, anyway. April 28.—First chance of scribbling anything for three days. Been through hell—just that. War! It wasn’t war; it was just cold-blooded butchery. How the position has been held beats me. But held it has been—and it’s going to be held—at a cost! I wonder what the price of crêpe will rise to out in Australia and New Zealand! Here goes for a…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #7, from Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare

…great chamber. SECOND SERVANT. We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly, boys. Be brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all. [Exeunt.] Enter Capulet, &c. with the Guests and Gentlewomen to the Maskers. CAPULET. Welcome, gentlemen, ladies that have their toes Unplagu’d with corns will have a bout with you. Ah my mistresses, which of you all Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty, She I’ll swear hath corns. Am I come near ye now? Welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day That I have worn a visor, and could tell A whispering tale in a fair lady’s ear, Such as would please; ’tis gone, ’tis gone, ’tis gone, You are welcome, gentlemen! Come, musicians, play. A hall, a hall, give room! And foot it, girls. [Music plays, and they dance.] More light, you knaves; and turn the tables up, And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #8, from An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, by William Falconer

…The same reason may be alledged, with equal propriety, in favour of tying the points of the courses in the same manner; that is to say, the after-end of the point should be thrust forward between the head of the sail and the yard; and the fore-leg of the said point should come aft over the head of the sail, and also under the yard: and thus crossed over the head of the sail, the point should be extended, and the two ends brought over the yard, and tied on the upper side of it as strait as possible. When a sail is reefed at the bottom, it is done by knittles, which being thrust through the eyelet-holes thereof, are tied firmly about the space of canvas of which the reef is composed, and knotted on the lower side of the bolt-rope. These knittles are accordingly removed as soon as the reef is let out. Besides the manner above described, there are other methods of reducing a sail to the storm, as explained in the articles GOOSE-WING and BALANCE. REEF-TACKLE, a rope which passes from the deck to a block at the topmast-head, and thence to another block at the topsail-yard-arm, where it communicates with another rope, called its pendant, that runs downwards through a hole in the yard, and is afterwards attached to a cringle, a little below the lowest reef, as exhibited by fig. 1. plate…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #9, from The Observations of Professor Maturin, by Clyde Furst

…hazard … his most sacred Majesty won three guineas, and his R. H. the duke, three thousand four hundred pounds.’ “Concerning gifts, Walpole instances the charming presents devised for a little girl of ten by the Duchess of Suffolk and Lord Chetwynd, aged seventy-six and eighty, respectively; and he prescribes the theory, ‘Pray remember not to ruin yourself in presents. A very slight gift of a guinea or two obliges as much, is more fashionable, and not a moment sooner forgotten than a magnificent one; and then you may cheaply oblige the more persons.’” “Such being the earlier history and tradition of the festival, what should be its modern spirit?” I inquired. “For that, too,” continued Professor Maturin, “there is no lack of leading. Charles Lamb is frankly for ‘the good old munching system … ingens gloria apple-pasty-orum,’ and does not hesitate to prescribe for Christmas, 1800, ‘snipes exactly at nine, punch at ten, with argument; difference of opinion expected about eleven, perfect unanimity, with some haziness and dimness, before twelve.’ “Thomas Love Peacock makes his Rev. Dr. Opimian say, about 1860: ‘I think much of Christmas and all its associations. I like the idea of the yule-log. I like the festoons of holly on the walls and windows; the dance under the mistletoe; the gigantic sausage; the baron of beef;…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #10, from Studying the short story, by J. Berg Esenwein

…He shall walk the quarter-deck–’” 51. “Yellow on blue–green next player,” said the marker monotonously. 52. “He shall walk the quarter-deck’–Am I green, marker?–He shall walk the quarter-deck’–eh! that’s a bad shot–‘As his daddy used to do!’” 53. “I don’t see that you have anything to crow about,” said a zealous junior civilian acidly. “The Government is not exactly pleased with your work when you relieved Sanders.” 54. “Does that mean a wigging from headquarters?” said Holden with an abstracted smile. “I think I can stand it.” 55. The talk beat up round the ever-fresh subject of each man’s work, and steadied Holden till it was time to go to his dark empty bungalow, where his butler received him as one who knew all his affairs. Holden remained awake for the greater part of the night, and his dreams were pleasant ones. II 56. “How old is he now?” 57. “Ya illah! What a man’s question! He is all but six weeks old; and on this night I go up to the housetop with thee, my life, to count the stars. For that is auspicious. And he was born on a Friday under the sign of the Sun, and it has been told to me that he will outlive us…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #11, from Rocks and Their Origins, by Grenville A. J. Cole

…extreme minuteness of certain of the particles. True clayiness thus depends on the proportion of grains smaller than ·002 mm. in diameter. Yet Hall and Russell look to other causes to explain the continued suspension of such particles in the water, and they suggest the presence of potassium and sodium silicates of the zeolite group, which liberate by hydrolysis a little alkali in contact with a large bulk of water. Free alkalies prevent flocculation, and so encourage suspension of the particles. To the ordinary observer, a rock possesses the properties of clay, and is a clay, if it contains more than forty per cent. of particles less than ·01 mm. in diameter. But such rocks are found, on chemical analysis, to contain a large amount of kaolin, and the old view, that clays are massive kaolins, is thus substantially correct. None the less, clays are notably impure, and in many there is a large admixture of quartz sand. The kaolin, derived originally from the decay of other silicates, is rarely freed from a variety of minerals and rock-fragments that were associated with it in its place of origin. Grains of quartz and unaltered felspar a tenth of a millimetre in diameter distinctly “lighten” a clay soil, on account of their relative coarseness. A sandy clay is styled a Loam, and a fine-grained loam furnishes the ideal soil for the general purposes of a farmer. It…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #12, from Tanks in the Great War, 1914 to 1918, by J. F. C. Fuller

…conjunction with that of the Third Army to the north and the Australian Corps to the south. The IIIrd Corps captured Tara and Usna hills, employing six tanks of the 1st Tank Battalion in this action. On the Australian front the thirty-six machines of the 5th Tank Brigade deployed and led the infantry right on to their objective, which was successfully occupied. On reaching this the machines of the 2nd and 13th Battalions exploited north of Chuignolles with the 3rd Australian Brigade, whilst those of the 8th Battalion rallied. During this attack the enemy put up a stout resistance, his machine-gunners fighting with great spirit and in many cases continuing to fire their guns until run over by the tanks. Curiously enough, in comparison with this, on the previous day the enemy’s machine-gunners on the IIIrd Corps front scarcely put up any fight at all, and when asked why they had not done so replied: “Oh! it would not have been any good.” The following is a typical battle-history sheet depicting the tank fighting at this period; it was written by a tank commander who took part in the above attack. “At 4.25 a.m. on the 23rd instant, I proceeded with my female tank ‘Mabel’ (No. 9382) in front of the infantry. I made a very zigzag course to the wood in the south-west edge of the village of Chuignolles, where I encountered an anti-tank gun which was…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

A production of Friendlyskies.net