The Riddle of the Sands

The Letter I have read of men who, when forced by their calling to live for long periods in utter solitude—save for a few black faces—have made it a rule to dress regularly for di...

The _Dulcibella_ That two days later I should be found pacing the deck of the Flushing steamer with a ticket for Hamburg in my pocket may seem a strange result, yet not so strange...

Davies I dozed but fitfully, with a fretful sense of sore elbows and neck and many a draughty hiatus among the blankets. It was broad daylight before I had reached the stage of to...

Retrospect “Wake up!” I rubbed my eyes and wondered where I was; stretched myself painfully, too, for even the cushions had not given me a true bed of roses. It was dusk, and the ...

Wanted, a North Wind Nothing disturbed my rest that night, so adaptable is youth and so masterful is nature. At times I was remotely aware of a threshing of rain and a humming of ...

Schlei Fiord I make no apology for having described these early days in some detail. It is no wonder that their trivialities are as vividly before me as the colours of earth and s...

The Missing Page I woke (on the 1st of October) with that dispiriting sensation that a hitch has occurred in a settled plan. It was explained when I went on deck, and I found the ...

The Theory Davies leaned back and gave a deep sigh, as though he still felt the relief from some tension. I did the same, and felt the same relief. The chart, freed from the press...

I Sign Articles It was not an easy question to answer, for the affair was utterly outside all my experience; its background the sea, and its actual scene a region of the sea of wh...

His Chance “I say, Davies,” I said, “how long do you think this trip will last? I’ve only got a month’s leave.” We were standing at slanting desks in the Kiel post-office, Davies...

The Pathfinders In the late afternoon of the second day our flotilla reached the Elbe at Brunsbüttel and ranged up in the inner basin, while a big liner, whimpering like a fretful...

My Initiation The yacht lay with a very slight heel (thanks to a pair of small bilge-keels on her bottom) in a sort of trough she had dug for herself, so that she was still ringed...

The Meaning of our Work Nothing happened during the next ten days to disturb us at our work. During every hour of daylight and many of darkness, sailing or anchored, aground or af...

The First Night in the Islands A low line of sandhills, pink and fawn in the setting sun, at one end of them a little white village huddled round the base of a massive four-square...

Bensersiel [For this chapter see Map B.] The decisive incidents of our cruise were now fast approaching. Looking back on the steps that led to them, and anxious that the reader s...

Commander von Brüning To resume my story in narrative form. I was awakened at ten o’clock on the 19th, after a long and delicious sleep, by Davies’s voice outside, talking his un...

Clearing the Air “Has he gone to get the police, do you think?” said Davies, grimly. “I don’t think so,” said I. “Let’s go aboard before that Customs fellow buttonholes us.” A d...

Imperial Escort Memmert gripped me, then, to the exclusion of a rival notion which had given me no little perplexity during the conversation with von Brüning. His reiterated advic...

The Rubicon It was a cold, vaporous dawn, the glass rising, and the wind fallen to a light air still from the north-east. Our creased and sodden sails scarcely answered to it as w...

The Little Drab Book I found Davies at the cabin table, surrounded with a litter of books. The shelf was empty, and its contents were tossed about among the cups and on the floor....

Blindfold to Memmert “Here she comes,” said Davies. It was nine o’clock on the next day, October 22, and we were on deck waiting for the arrival of the steamer from Norddeich. The...

The Quartette His _tour de force_ was achieved, and for the moment something like collapse set in. “What in the world have we come here for?” he muttered; “I feel a bit giddy.” ...

A Change of Tactics We pushed off without a word, and paddled out of sight of the beach. A voice was approaching, hailing us. “Hail back,” whispered Davies; “pretend we’re a galli...

Finesse The door of a room on the ground floor was opened to us by a man-servant. As we entered the rattle of a piano stopped, and a hot wave of mingled scent and cigar-smoke stru...

I Double Back “Good-bye, old chap,” called Davies. “Good-bye,” the whistle blew and the ferry-steamer forged ahead, leaving Davies on the quay, bareheaded and wearing his old Nor...

The Seven Siels Selecting the very humblest _Gasthaus_ I could discover, I laid down my bundle and called for beer, bread, and _Wurst._ The landlord, as I had expected, spoke the ...

The Luck of the Stowaway At Esens Station I reversed my Norden tactics, jumped out smartly, and got to the door of egress first of all, gave up my ticket, and hung about the gate ...

We Achieve our Double Aim When, exactly, the atmosphere of misunderstanding on the stranded tug was dissipated, I do not know, for by the time I had fitted the rowlocks and shippe...