- Libros en formato MOBI -
Peeps
at People
It was in the
early part of February last that, acting under
instructions from headquarters, I set forth from
my office in London upon my pilgrimage to the
shrines of the world's illustrious. Readers
everywhere are interested in the home life of
men who have made themselves factors in art,
science, letters, and history, and to these
people I was commissioned to go. But one
restriction was placed upon me in the pursuit of
the golden Notoriety, and that was that I should
spare no expense whatever to attain my ends. At
first this was embarrassing. Wealth suddenly
acquired always is. But in time I overcame such
difficulties as beset me, and soon learned to
spend thousands of dollars with comparative ease.
And first of all I decided to visit Nansen. To
see him at home, if by any possibility Nansen
could be at home anywhere, would enable me to
open my series interestingly. I remembered
distinctly that upon his return from the North
Pole he had found my own people too cold for
comfort. I called to mind that, having travelled
for months seeking the Pole, he had accused my
fellow-countrymen of coming to see him out of
"mere curiosity," and I recalled at the same
time that with remarkable originality he had
declared that we heated our railway trains to an
extent which suggested his future rather than
his past. Wherefore I decided to visit Nansen to
hear what else he might have to say, while some
of the incidents of his visit were fresh in our
minds...
The
Pursuit of the House-Boat
The House-boat of the Associated Shades,
formerly located upon the River Styx, as the
reader may possibly remember, had been torn from
its moorings and navigated out into unknown seas
by that vengeful pirate Captain Kidd, aided and
abetted by some of the most ruffianly
inhabitants of Hades. Like a thief in the night
had they come, and for no better reason than
that the Captain had been unanimously voted a
shade too shady to associate with self-respecting
spirits had they made off with the happy
floating club-house of their betters; and worst
of all, with them, by force of circumstances
over which they had no control, had sailed also
the fair Queen Elizabeth, the spirited Xanthippe,
and every other strong-minded and beautiful
woman of Erebean society, whereby the men
thereof were rendered desolate.
"I can't stand it!" cried Raleigh, desperately,
as with his accustomed grace he presided over a
special meeting of the club, called on the bank
of the inky Stygian stream, at the point where
the missing boat had been moored. "Think of it,
gentlemen, Elizabeth of England, Calpurnia of
Rome, Ophelia of Denmark, and every precious
jewel in our social diadem gone, vanished
completely; and with whom? Kidd, of all men in
the universe! Kidd, the pirate, the ruffian"...
|
|
|