he illumination consisted of candles set in bottles and some electric hand lamps. The centre of the cellar was occupied by two portable operating tables, rarely untenanted during the three hours I spent in this hell.
The atmosphere--for there was no ventilation--stank of sweat, blood, and chloroform.
By a powerful effort I countered my natural tendency to vomit, and looked around me. The sides of the cellar were lined with figures on stretchers. Some lay still and silent, others writhed and groaned. At intervals, one of the attendants would call the doctor's attention to one of the still forms. A hasty examination ensued, and the stretcher and its contents were removed. A few minutes later the stretcher-- empty--returned. The surgeon explained to me that there was no room for corpses in the cellar; business, he genially remarked, was too brisk at the present crucial stage of the great battle.
The first feelings of revulsion having been mastered, I determined to make the most of my opportu
nd; saw also the open wonder on the reporter's pleasant face.
"Who is your friend, Norton?" Braine asked indifferently, his head still unturned.
"Stanley Hargreave. Met him in Hongkong when I was sent over to handle a part of the revolution. War correspondence stuff. First time I ever ran across him on Broadway at night. We've since had some powwows over some rare books. Queer old cock; brave as a lion, but as quiet as a mouse."
"Bookish, eh? My kind. Bring him over." Underneath the table Braine maneuvered to touch the foot of the countess.
"I don't know," said the reporter dubiously. "He might say no, and that would embarrass the whole lot of us. He's a bit of a hermit. I'm surprised to see him here."
"Try," urged the countess. "I like to meet men who are hermits."
"I haven't the least doubt about that," the reporter laughed. "I'll try; but don't blame me if I'm rebuffed."
He left the table with evident reluctance and approached Hargreave. The two shook hands
there was none of that lurid glow attached to it, which I subsequently learned is almost inseparable from spirit phenomena seen under similar conditions.
"For some seconds, I was too overcome with terror to move, but my faculties at length reasserting themselves, I turned round and flew to the other wing of the house with the utmost precipitation.
"One would have thought that after these experiences nothing would have induced me to have run the risk of another such encounter, yet only a few days after the incident of the head, I was again impelled by a fascination I could not withstand to visit the same quarters. In sickly anticipation of what my eyes would alight on, I stole to the foot of the staircase and peeped cautiously up. To my infinite joy there was nothing there but a bright patch of sunshine, that, in the most unusual fashion, had forced its way through from one of the slits of windows near at hand.
"After gazing at it long enough to assure myself it was only sunshine, I quitt
spectacle of so-called national games, Baseball and Football in America, Handball in Ireland, Pelota in Spain, and so on; but natural expression through games has always been and probably always will be infinitely varied, and should be if the psychology of the subject is to be taken as a guide.
In the arrangement of material there has many times been a strong temptation to classify the games by their historic, geographic, psychologic, or educational interests; by the playing elements contained in them; or by several other possible methods which are of interest chiefly to the academic student; but these have each in turn been discarded in favor of the original intention of making the book preëminently a useful working manual for the player or leader of games.
[Sidenote: Varying modes of play]
The same games are found not only in many different countries and localities, but under different names and with many variations in the form of playing them. This has necessitated a method of an
nd fair-haired. Horns grew on their heads. When their tasks were accomplished they departed, and the presence began to fill with guests. Ajoy it was to see such a shifting maze of velvets, furs, curious needleworks and cloth of tissue, tiffanies, laces, ruffs, goodly chains and carcanets of gold: such glitter of jewels and weapons: such nodding of the plumes the Demons wore in their hair, half veiling the horns that grew upon their heads. Some were sitting on the benches or leaning on the polished tables, some walking forth and back upon the shining floor. Here and there were women among them, women so fair one had said: it is surely white-armed Helen this one; this, Arcadian Atalanta; this, Phryne that stood to Praxiteles for Aphrodite's picture; this, Thals, for whom great Alexander to pleasure her fantasy did burn Persepolis like a candle; this, she that was rapt by the Dark God from the flowering fields of Enna, to be Queen for ever among the dead that be departed.
Now came a stir near the stately
the face of the north wind. An attendant stood with the pelisse outspread; another held the halyards to which was attached the great red slumber-flag, ready to run it up and announce to all Kinesma that the noises of the town must cease; a few seconds more, and all things would have been fixed in their regular daily courses. The Prince, in fact, was just straightening his shoulders to receive the sables; his eyelids were dropping, and his eyes, sinking mechanically with them, fell upon the river-road, at the foot of the hill. Along this road walked a man, wearing the long cloth caftan of a merchant.
Prince Alexis started, and all slumber vanished out of his eyes. He leaned forward for a moment, with a quick, eager expression; then a loud roar, like that of an enraged wild beast, burst from his mouth. He gave a stamp that shook the balcony.
"Dog!" he cried to the trembling attendent, "my cap! my whip!"
The sables fell upon the floor, the cap and whip appeared in a twinkling, and the red s
contribution made by the freemen who live across the ocean of peace from you to "make the world safe for democracy."
I also have the hope that the stories of personal experience will make real to you some of the men whose bodies have been for three years part of that human rampart that has kept your homes from desolation, and your daughters from violation, and that you will speed in sending them succor as though the barrier had broken and the bestial Hun were even now, with lust dominant, smashing at your own door.
[1] Boys Own Paper.
[2] "Ben" was the living-room of a Scotch cottage where only intimate friends were admitted. Ian Maclaren says of a very good man: "He was far ben wi God."
PART I
"THE CALL TO ARMS"
CHAPTER I
THE CALL REACHES SOME FAR-OUT AUSTRALIANS
Just where the white man's continent pushes the tip of its horn among the eastern lands there is a black man's land half
ing upstairs. "Well, I'm glad he has come; things will be more lively." After a look in the glass I ran gaily downstairs and into the veranda; I was out of breath and did not disguise my haste. He was sitting at the table, talking to Katya about our affairs. He glanced at me and smiled; then he went on talking. From what he said it appeared that our affairs were in capital shape: it was now possible for us, after spending the summer in the country, to go either to Petersburg for Sonya's education, or abroad.
"If only you would go abroad with us --" said Katya; "without you we shall be quite lost there."
"Oh, I should like to go round the world with you," he said, half in jest and half in earnest.
"All right," I said; let us start off and go round the world."
He smiled and shook his head.
"What about my mother? What about my business, he said. "But that's not the question just now: I want to know how you have been spending your time. Not depressed again, I hope?
When I
fortunately, anylacking quality can be evolved and if one does not possess these threenecessities his first work is to create them. These three things arean ardent desire, an iron will and an alert intelligence. Why arethese three qualifications essential to success and what purpose dothey serve?
Desire is nature's motor power--the propulsive force that pusheseverything forward in its evolution. It is desire that stimulates toaction. Desire drives the animal into the activities that evolve itsphysical body and sharpen its intelligence. If it had no desire itwould lie inert and perish. But the desire for food, for drink, forassociation with its kind, impel it to action, and the result is theevolution of strength, skill and intelligence in proportion to theintensity of its desires. To gratify these desires it will acceptbattle no matter how great may be the odds against it and willunhesitatingly risk life itself in the combat. Desire not only inducesthe activity that develops physical strength
In the bottom right corner of the screen are digitized numbers reading: 00033.
I turn to my left. The woman beside me casts a disapproving look at me and says, "You shouldn't be here." Her face is covered by a half-mask made of dark gunmetal. I reach out to lift the mask, but when I see her face, I realize she's not who I thought she was.
I turn to my right and see a man sitting in the previously-empty seat, his face covered in a grotesque black mask pocked by red boils oozing puss. A long crooked nose protrudes from his mask, and underneath his lips part to reveal a mouthful of jagged yellow teeth jutting out from purple, bleeding gums.
The man in the mask starts laughing - a tinny and mechanical laugh, like the sound of a clanky old film projector.
---
When I came to, my assailant was gone. I struggled slowly to my feet, feeling my head throbbing and my stomach stinging like hell. Then to make matters worse, that damned phone in the hallway started ringing again.
Once I finally regained my bearings, I realized that the vent cover had been fully removed and the box had been taken.
My head still swimming, I staggered out into the hallway in time to see the leopard-print lady from the lobby pick up the phone.
"Hello?" she answered and then turned her head to look directly at me.
he illumination consisted of candles set in bottles and some electric hand lamps. The centre of the cellar was occupied by two portable operating tables, rarely untenanted during the three hours I spent in this hell.
The atmosphere--for there was no ventilation--stank of sweat, blood, and chloroform.
By a powerful effort I countered my natural tendency to vomit, and looked around me. The sides of the cellar were lined with figures on stretchers. Some lay still and silent, others writhed and groaned. At intervals, one of the attendants would call the doctor's attention to one of the still forms. A hasty examination ensued, and the stretcher and its contents were removed. A few minutes later the stretcher-- empty--returned. The surgeon explained to me that there was no room for corpses in the cellar; business, he genially remarked, was too brisk at the present crucial stage of the great battle.
The first feelings of revulsion having been mastered, I determined to make the most of my opportu
nd; saw also the open wonder on the reporter's pleasant face.
"Who is your friend, Norton?" Braine asked indifferently, his head still unturned.
"Stanley Hargreave. Met him in Hongkong when I was sent over to handle a part of the revolution. War correspondence stuff. First time I ever ran across him on Broadway at night. We've since had some powwows over some rare books. Queer old cock; brave as a lion, but as quiet as a mouse."
"Bookish, eh? My kind. Bring him over." Underneath the table Braine maneuvered to touch the foot of the countess.
"I don't know," said the reporter dubiously. "He might say no, and that would embarrass the whole lot of us. He's a bit of a hermit. I'm surprised to see him here."
"Try," urged the countess. "I like to meet men who are hermits."
"I haven't the least doubt about that," the reporter laughed. "I'll try; but don't blame me if I'm rebuffed."
He left the table with evident reluctance and approached Hargreave. The two shook hands
there was none of that lurid glow attached to it, which I subsequently learned is almost inseparable from spirit phenomena seen under similar conditions.
"For some seconds, I was too overcome with terror to move, but my faculties at length reasserting themselves, I turned round and flew to the other wing of the house with the utmost precipitation.
"One would have thought that after these experiences nothing would have induced me to have run the risk of another such encounter, yet only a few days after the incident of the head, I was again impelled by a fascination I could not withstand to visit the same quarters. In sickly anticipation of what my eyes would alight on, I stole to the foot of the staircase and peeped cautiously up. To my infinite joy there was nothing there but a bright patch of sunshine, that, in the most unusual fashion, had forced its way through from one of the slits of windows near at hand.
"After gazing at it long enough to assure myself it was only sunshine, I quitt
spectacle of so-called national games, Baseball and Football in America, Handball in Ireland, Pelota in Spain, and so on; but natural expression through games has always been and probably always will be infinitely varied, and should be if the psychology of the subject is to be taken as a guide.
In the arrangement of material there has many times been a strong temptation to classify the games by their historic, geographic, psychologic, or educational interests; by the playing elements contained in them; or by several other possible methods which are of interest chiefly to the academic student; but these have each in turn been discarded in favor of the original intention of making the book preëminently a useful working manual for the player or leader of games.
[Sidenote: Varying modes of play]
The same games are found not only in many different countries and localities, but under different names and with many variations in the form of playing them. This has necessitated a method of an
nd fair-haired. Horns grew on their heads. When their tasks were accomplished they departed, and the presence began to fill with guests. Ajoy it was to see such a shifting maze of velvets, furs, curious needleworks and cloth of tissue, tiffanies, laces, ruffs, goodly chains and carcanets of gold: such glitter of jewels and weapons: such nodding of the plumes the Demons wore in their hair, half veiling the horns that grew upon their heads. Some were sitting on the benches or leaning on the polished tables, some walking forth and back upon the shining floor. Here and there were women among them, women so fair one had said: it is surely white-armed Helen this one; this, Arcadian Atalanta; this, Phryne that stood to Praxiteles for Aphrodite's picture; this, Thals, for whom great Alexander to pleasure her fantasy did burn Persepolis like a candle; this, she that was rapt by the Dark God from the flowering fields of Enna, to be Queen for ever among the dead that be departed.
Now came a stir near the stately
the face of the north wind. An attendant stood with the pelisse outspread; another held the halyards to which was attached the great red slumber-flag, ready to run it up and announce to all Kinesma that the noises of the town must cease; a few seconds more, and all things would have been fixed in their regular daily courses. The Prince, in fact, was just straightening his shoulders to receive the sables; his eyelids were dropping, and his eyes, sinking mechanically with them, fell upon the river-road, at the foot of the hill. Along this road walked a man, wearing the long cloth caftan of a merchant.
Prince Alexis started, and all slumber vanished out of his eyes. He leaned forward for a moment, with a quick, eager expression; then a loud roar, like that of an enraged wild beast, burst from his mouth. He gave a stamp that shook the balcony.
"Dog!" he cried to the trembling attendent, "my cap! my whip!"
The sables fell upon the floor, the cap and whip appeared in a twinkling, and the red s
contribution made by the freemen who live across the ocean of peace from you to "make the world safe for democracy."
I also have the hope that the stories of personal experience will make real to you some of the men whose bodies have been for three years part of that human rampart that has kept your homes from desolation, and your daughters from violation, and that you will speed in sending them succor as though the barrier had broken and the bestial Hun were even now, with lust dominant, smashing at your own door.
[1] Boys Own Paper.
[2] "Ben" was the living-room of a Scotch cottage where only intimate friends were admitted. Ian Maclaren says of a very good man: "He was far ben wi God."
PART I
"THE CALL TO ARMS"
CHAPTER I
THE CALL REACHES SOME FAR-OUT AUSTRALIANS
Just where the white man's continent pushes the tip of its horn among the eastern lands there is a black man's land half
ing upstairs. "Well, I'm glad he has come; things will be more lively." After a look in the glass I ran gaily downstairs and into the veranda; I was out of breath and did not disguise my haste. He was sitting at the table, talking to Katya about our affairs. He glanced at me and smiled; then he went on talking. From what he said it appeared that our affairs were in capital shape: it was now possible for us, after spending the summer in the country, to go either to Petersburg for Sonya's education, or abroad.
"If only you would go abroad with us --" said Katya; "without you we shall be quite lost there."
"Oh, I should like to go round the world with you," he said, half in jest and half in earnest.
"All right," I said; let us start off and go round the world."
He smiled and shook his head.
"What about my mother? What about my business, he said. "But that's not the question just now: I want to know how you have been spending your time. Not depressed again, I hope?
When I
fortunately, anylacking quality can be evolved and if one does not possess these threenecessities his first work is to create them. These three things arean ardent desire, an iron will and an alert intelligence. Why arethese three qualifications essential to success and what purpose dothey serve?
Desire is nature's motor power--the propulsive force that pusheseverything forward in its evolution. It is desire that stimulates toaction. Desire drives the animal into the activities that evolve itsphysical body and sharpen its intelligence. If it had no desire itwould lie inert and perish. But the desire for food, for drink, forassociation with its kind, impel it to action, and the result is theevolution of strength, skill and intelligence in proportion to theintensity of its desires. To gratify these desires it will acceptbattle no matter how great may be the odds against it and willunhesitatingly risk life itself in the combat. Desire not only inducesthe activity that develops physical strength
In the bottom right corner of the screen are digitized numbers reading: 00033.
I turn to my left. The woman beside me casts a disapproving look at me and says, "You shouldn't be here." Her face is covered by a half-mask made of dark gunmetal. I reach out to lift the mask, but when I see her face, I realize she's not who I thought she was.
I turn to my right and see a man sitting in the previously-empty seat, his face covered in a grotesque black mask pocked by red boils oozing puss. A long crooked nose protrudes from his mask, and underneath his lips part to reveal a mouthful of jagged yellow teeth jutting out from purple, bleeding gums.
The man in the mask starts laughing - a tinny and mechanical laugh, like the sound of a clanky old film projector.
---
When I came to, my assailant was gone. I struggled slowly to my feet, feeling my head throbbing and my stomach stinging like hell. Then to make matters worse, that damned phone in the hallway started ringing again.
Once I finally regained my bearings, I realized that the vent cover had been fully removed and the box had been taken.
My head still swimming, I staggered out into the hallway in time to see the leopard-print lady from the lobby pick up the phone.
"Hello?" she answered and then turned her head to look directly at me.