United States or Palau ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
We got in barely in time, and on the way we passed my wall and door livid in the moonlight, blotched with hot yellow as the glare of our lamps lit it, but unmistakable. 'My God! cried I. 'What? said Hotchkiss. 'Nothing! I answered, and the moment passed. "'I've made a great sacrifice, I told the whip as I got in. 'They all have, he said, and hurried by.
"I never drink," replied Hotchkiss, with the severe attitude of a total abstainer. "Ah er not the finest bourbon whiskey, selected by a Kentucky friend? No? Pardon me! A cigar, then the mildest Havana." "I do not use tobacco nor alcohol in any form," repeated Hotchkiss, ascetically. "I have no foolish weaknesses." The Colonel's moist, beady eyes swept silently over his client's sallow face.
He gave his orders, and his staff had only to see that these orders were obeyed. His topographical engineer, his medical director, his commissary and his quartermaster, were selected, it is true, by reason of their special qualifications. Captain Hotchkiss, who filled the first position, was a young man of twenty-six, whose abilities as a surveyor were well known in the Valley.
I wound up my business in a safe and systematic manner. "Hotchkiss must mean to retire," people said. I revised my will, and held one long and necessary conversation with my wife about her future, should "anything happen" to me. She listened and planned without tears or exclamations; but after we had finished the talk, she crept up to me with a quiet, puzzled sadness that I could not bear.
It was eerie work, but I accomplished it finally, discovering, not without mishap, a room filled with more tables than I had ever dreamed of, tables that seemed to waylay and strike at me. When I had got a window open, Hotchkiss crawled through, and we were at last under shelter. Our first thought was for a light.
This he sealed and despatched by his trusted servant Jim, and then devoted a few moments to reflection. It was the custom of the Colonel to act first, and justify the action by reason afterwards. He knew that Hotchkiss would at once lay the matter before rival counsel.
"I'll tell you what to do," Hotchkiss said cheerfully, leaning forward, "look around a little yourself before you call in the police. Somnambulism is a queer thing. It's a question whether we are most ourselves sleeping or waking. Ever think of that? Live a saintly life all day, prayers and matins and all that, and the subconscious mind hikes you out of bed at night to steal undermuslins!
This he did in order to justify himself for broaching cargo and temporarily mounting the Hotchkiss and Maxim guns; and it may be said here that not only was his justification accepted, but his conduct was highly commended by the authorities.
They were armed with rifles of the Lee or Lee-Metford pattern, and had, in addition, two automatic Colt machine-guns and three rapid-fire Hotchkiss cannon of three-inch caliber.
The U. S. S. Baltimore, protected cruiser, 4,600 tons, speed, 20.09 knots. Battery: four 8-inch, six 6-inch rifles, four 6-pounder, two 3-pounder rapid-fire guns, two 1-pounder rapid-fire cannon, four 37-millimetre Hotchkiss cannon, and two Gatlings. The U. S. S. Boston, protected cruiser, 3,189 tons, speed, 15.6 knots.
Word Of The Day