was drenched from head to foot. I was ashamed, and
thought he would have scolded me, but he only shook himself and said:
"That's nothing! We don't mind a bit of wet when we're out asploring."
My throat was hurting me again and I could not speak, but without
waiting for me to answer he coiled the rope about my right arm, and told
me to stay where I was, and hold fast to the boat, while he climbed the
rock and took possession of it in the name of the king.
"Do or die we allus does that when we're out asploring," he said, and
with his sack over his shoulder, his broom-handle in his hand and his
little Union Jack sticking out of the hole in the crown of his hat, he
clambered up the crag and disappeared over the top of it.
Being left alone, for the dog had followed him, my nervousness increased
tenfold, and thinking at last that the rising tide was about to submerge
the ledge on which I stood, I tried in my fright to climb the cliff. But
hardly had I taken three steps when my foot slipped and I clutched the
seaweed to save myself from falling, with the result that the boat's
rope slid from my arm, and went rip-rip-ripping down the rock until it
fell with a splash into the sea.
I saw what I had done, and I screamed, and then Martin's head appeared
after a moment on the ledge above me. But it was too late for him to do
anything, for the boat had already drifted six yards away, and just when
I thought he would have shrieked at me for cutting off our only
connection with the shore, he said:
"Never mind, shipmate! We allus expecs to lose a boat or two when we're
out asploring."
I was silent from shame, but Martin, having hauled me up the rock by
help of the broom handle, rattled away as if nothing had
happened--pointing proudly to a rust-eaten triangle with a bell
suspended inside of it and his little flag floating on top.
"But, oh dear, what are we to do now?" I whimpered.
"Don't you worrit about that," he said. "We'll just signal back to the
next base--we call them bases
Notka biograficzna
Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine CH, KBE (May 14, 1853August 31, 1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was a British author. He is best known as a novelist and playwright of the late Victorian and the Edwardian eras. In his time he was exceedingly popular and at the peak of his success his novels outsold those of his contemporaries. Many of his novels were also made into films. His novels were primarily romantic in nature, involving the love triangle, but they did also address some of the more serious political and social issues of the day.
Harold MacGrath (September 4, 1871 - October 30, 1932) was a bestselling American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Also known occasionally as Harold McGrath, he was born in Syracuse, New York. As a young man, he worked as a reporter and columnist on the Syracuse Herald newspaper until the late 1890s when he published his first novel, a romance titled Arms and the Woman. According to the New York Times, his next book, The Puppet Crown, was the No.7 bestselling book in the United States for all of 1901. From that point on, MacGrath never looked back, writing novels for the mass market about love, adventure, mystery, spies, and the like at an average rate of more than one a year. He would have three more of his books that were among the top ten bestselling books of the year. At the same time, he penned a number of short stories for major American magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, and Red Book magazine. Several of MacGraths novels were seriali
Mabel Collins (9 September 1851 - 31 March 1927) was a theosophist and author of over 46 books. She was born in St Peter Port, Guernsey.