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| 25 new of 278 responses total. |
janc
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response 250 of 278:
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Jun 3 21:46 UTC 1999 |
I don't know exactly when this book was written. Sometime in the 20th
century, before 1940. I had planned to do the next quote from another
book by the same author, but I can't fetch it just now without waking
Arlo. We'll instead take another scene from the career of Sakr-el-Bahr:
They sight which they beheld was one that for some moments left them
mazed and bewildered. Lord Henry tells us how at first he imagined that
here was some mummery, some surprise prepared for the bridal couple by
Sir John's tenants or the folk of Smithick and Penycumwick, and he adds
that he was encouraged in this belief by the circumstance that not a
single weapon gleamed in all that horde of outlandish intruders.
Although they came full armed against any eventualities, yet by their
leader's orders not a blade was bared. What was to be done was to be
done with their naked hands alone and without bloodshed. Such were the
orders of Sakr-el-Bahr, and Sakr-el-Bahr's orders were not to be
disregarded.
Himself he stood forward at the head of that legion of brown-skinned
men arrayed in all the colours of the rainbow, their heads swathed in
turbans of every hue. He considered the company in grim silence, and
the company in amazement considered this turbaned giant with the
masterful face that was tanned to the colour of mahogeny, the black
forked beard, and those singularly light eyes glittering like steel
under his black brows.
Thus a little while in silence, then with a sudden gasp Lionel
Tressilian sank back in his tall chair as if bereft of strength.
The agate eyes flashed upon him smiling, cruelly.
"I see that you, at least, recognize me," said Sakr-el-Bahr in his
deep voice. "I was assured that I could depend upon the eyes of
brotherly love to pierce the change that time and stress have wrought in
me."
Sir John was on his feet, his lean swarthy face flushing darkly, an
oath on his lips. Rosamund sat on as if frozen with horror, considering
Sir Oliver with dilating eyes, whilst her hands clawed the table before
her. They too recognized him now, and realized that here was no
mummery. That something sinister was intended Sir John could not for a
moment doubt. But of what that something might be he could form no
notion. It was the first time that Barbary rovers were seen in England.
That famous raid of theirs upon Baltimore in Ireland did not take place
until some thirty years after this date.
"Sir Oliver Tressilian!" Killigrew gasped, and "Sir Oliver
Tressilian!" echoed Lord Henry Goade, to add -- "By God!"
"Not Sir Oliver Tressilian," came the answer, "but Sakr-el-Bahr, the
scourge of the sea, the terror of Christendom, the desperate corsair
your lies, cupidity, and false-heartedness have fashioned out of a
sometime Cornish gentleman."
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punky
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response 251 of 278:
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Jun 3 22:25 UTC 1999 |
Is it Hermann Hresse?
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janc
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response 252 of 278:
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Jun 4 03:43 UTC 1999 |
Nope, not Hesse. These quotations were originally written in English - they
are not translations.
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janc
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response 253 of 278:
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Jun 8 17:12 UTC 1999 |
Another quote, from another book by the same author:
On they came until the Colonel was abreast of Blood. He would have
passed on, but that lady tapped his arm with her whip.
"But this is the man I meant," she said.
"This one?" Contempt rang in the voice. Peter Blood found himself
staring into a pair of beady brown eyes sunk into a yellow fleshy face
like currants into a dumpling. He felt the colour creeping into his
face under the insult of that contemptuous inspection. "Bah! A bag of
bones. What should I do with him?"
He was turning away when Gardner interposed.
"He may be lean, but he's tough; tough and healthy. When half of them
was sick and the other half sickening, this rogue kept his legs and
doctored his fellows. But for him there'd ha' been more deaths than
there was. Say fifteen pounds for him, Colonel. That's cheap enough.
He's tough, I tell your honour--tough and strong, though he be lean.
And he's just the man to bear the heat when it comes. The climate'll
never kill him."
There came a chuckle from Governor Steed. "You hear, Colonel. Trust
your neice. Here sex knows a man when it sees one." And he laughed,
well pleased with his wit.
But he laughed alone. A cloud of annoyance swept across the face of
the Colonel's niece, whilst the Colonel himself was too absorbed in the
consideration of this bargain to heed the Governor's humour. He twisted
his lip a little, stroking his chin with his hand the while. Jeremy
Pitt had almost ceased to breathe.
"I'll give you ten pounds for him," said the Colonel at last.
Peter Blood prayed the offer might be rejected. For no reason that he
could have given you, he was taken with repugnance at the thought of
becoming the property of that hazel-eyed girl. But it would need more
than repuganance to save him from his destiny. A slave is a slave, and
has no power to shape his fate. Peter Blood was sold to Colonel Bishop-
a disdainful buyer - for the ignominious sum of five pounds.
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davel
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response 254 of 278:
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Jun 9 11:34 UTC 1999 |
No idea who it is. But I can't help wondering how the seller came to accept
only half of the buyer's original offer.
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aruba
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response 255 of 278:
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Jun 9 13:51 UTC 1999 |
I was wondering that too.
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janc
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response 256 of 278:
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Jun 9 18:36 UTC 1999 |
Oops, the "five pounds" in the last line was a typo for "ten pounds".
My brain must have been wandering.
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janc
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response 257 of 278:
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Jun 9 18:39 UTC 1999 |
Hmmm...I thought this author was only mildly obscure, but I may have
misjudged. Well, I'll do a quote that is more of a dead giveaway in a
few days. Probably this author's work is best known from the movie
versions.
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mcnally
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response 258 of 278:
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Jun 9 19:08 UTC 1999 |
Rafael Sabatini..
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flem
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response 259 of 278:
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Jun 9 21:44 UTC 1999 |
Damn, too late. Reading that made me think immediately of the movie
version of "Captain Blood", which quick research shows to have been
based on a book by Sabatini...
'course, I don't know that it's right; just would've guessed it myself
if I'd been quicker. :)
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janc
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response 260 of 278:
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Jun 10 02:06 UTC 1999 |
Mike has it!
The first two quotes were from "The Sea Hawk". The last was from "Captain
Blood." He seems to be a quite highly regarded adventure writer, both for
pure entertainment and for historical accuracy. But most of his books are
out of print and his name isn't well known anymore. But there seems to be
something of a Sabatini revival going lately.
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anderyn
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response 261 of 278:
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Jun 11 01:05 UTC 1999 |
Sabatini rocks! (I have a whole lot of his books!)
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mcnally
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response 262 of 278:
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Jun 20 22:43 UTC 1999 |
As with the Grex Jeopardy! item, I'll post a new "mysterious" quote
after the conference restart.
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bookworm
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response 263 of 278:
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Jun 22 16:25 UTC 1999 |
Dern. Are we restarting already?
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remmers
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response 264 of 278:
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Jun 22 17:01 UTC 1999 |
We are, and did.
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mrmat
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response 265 of 278:
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Jun 22 20:25 UTC 1999 |
,
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davel
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response 266 of 278:
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Jun 23 19:05 UTC 1999 |
But it still hasn't been linked into Books, yet. <sigh>
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rcurl
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response 267 of 278:
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Jun 23 19:44 UTC 1999 |
Ask and you shall (might...) receive.
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rcurl
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response 268 of 278:
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Jun 23 19:50 UTC 1999 |
...but first someone has to start a Summer 1999 mysterious quote item...
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bookworm
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response 269 of 278:
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Jun 24 18:07 UTC 1999 |
a mysterious Quote item? Thot we had that already.
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rcurl
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response 270 of 278:
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Jun 24 21:12 UTC 1999 |
Not in Summer 1999 agora. They all stay around here indefinitely, however.
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rcurl
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response 271 of 278:
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Jun 24 21:13 UTC 1999 |
By "here", I mean in books!
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davel
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response 272 of 278:
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Jul 3 02:32 UTC 1999 |
Heh.
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davel
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response 273 of 278:
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Jul 3 02:33 UTC 1999 |
... but here it is almost July 4 & there's no mysterious-quote item in Books.
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rcurl
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response 274 of 278:
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Jul 3 04:58 UTC 1999 |
Sure there is - this is it: enter a quote.
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