The Portygeeby Joseph C. LincolnCHAPTER IOverhead the clouds cloaked the sky; a ragged cloak it was, and,here and there, a star shone through a hole, to be obscured almostinstantly as more cloud tatters were hurled across the rent. Thepines threshed on the hill tops. The bare branches of the wild-cherry and silverleaf trees scraped and rattled and tossed. Andthe wind, the raw, chilling December wind, driven in, wet andsalty, from the sea, tore over the dunes and brown uplands andacross the frozen salt-meadows, screamed through the telegraphwires, and made the platform of the dismal South Harniss railwaystation the lonesomest, coldest, darkest and most miserable spot on...　

Chapter XIII of Volume III (Chap. 55)A FEW days after this visit, Mr. Bingley called again, and alone. His friend had left him that morning for London, but was to return home in ten days time. He sat with them above an hour, and was in remarkably good spirits. Mrs. Bennet invited him to dine with them; but, with many expressions of concern, he confessed himself engaged elsewhere.``Next time you call,' said she, ``I hope we shall be more lucky.'He should be particularly happy at any time, &c. &c.; and if she would give him leave, would take an early opportunity of waiting on them.``Can you come to-morrow?'Yes, he had no engagement at all for to-morrow; and her invitation was accepted with　

　THE SWEETHEART OF A KING.　　The scene was not exactly new to me. Moved by the spirit of adventure, or by an access of ennui which overtakes me at times, I had several times visited the gaudy establishment of Mercer, on the fashionable side of Fifth Avenue in the Fifties. In either case I had found disappointment; where the stake is a matter of indifference there can be no excitement; and besides, I had been always in luck.　But on this occasion I had a real purpose before me, though not an important one, and I surrendered my hat and coat to the servant at the door with a feeling of satisfaction.　At the entrance to the main room I met Bob Garforth, leaving.　There was a scowl on his face and h　

DRAKESTAILDRAKESTAIL was very little, that is why he was called Drakestail;but tiny as he was he had brains, and he knew what hewas about, for having begun with nothing he ended by amassing ahundred crowns. Now the King of the country, who was veryextravagant and never kept any money, having heard that Drakestailhad some, went one day in his own person to borrow his hoard, and,my word, in those days Drakestail was not a little proud of havinglent money to the King. But after the first and second year, seeingthat they never even dreamed of paying the interest, he becameuneasy, so much so that at last he resolved to go and see His Majesty...　

SECOND EPILOGUECHAPTER IHistory is the life of nations and of humanity. To seize and putinto words, to describe directly the life of humanity or even of asingle nation, appears impossible.The ancient historians all employed one and the same method todescribe and seize the apparently elusive- the life of a people.They described the activity of individuals who ruled the people, andregarded the activity of those men as representing the activity of thewhole nation.The question: how did individuals make nations act as they wishedand by what was the will of these individuals themselves guided? theancients met by recognizing a divinity which subjected the nations...　

BeowulfAnonymousTranlated by GummereBEOWULFPRELUDE OF THE FOUNDER OF THE DANISH HOUSELO, praise of the prowess of people-kingsof spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,awing the earls. Since erst he layfriendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,till before him the folk, both far and near,who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,gave him gifts: a good king he!To him an heir was afterward born,a son in his halls, whom heaven sent...　

Memoir of the Proposed Territory of Arizonaby Sylvester Mowry"The NEW TERRITORY of ARIZONA, better known as the GADSDENPURCHASE, lies between the thirty-first and thirty-thirdparallels of latitude, and is bounded on the north by the GilaRiver, which separates it from the territory of New Mexico; onthe east by the Rio Bravo del Norte, (Rio Grande), whichseparates it from Texas; on the south by Chihuahua and Sonora,Mexican provinces; and on the west by the Colorado River of theWest, which separates it from Upper and Lower California. Thisgreat region is six hundred miles long by about fifty miles wide,and embraces an area of about thirty thousand square miles. It...　

Frederick the Great and His Familyby L. Muhlbach[Variant spellings: Louise Muhlbach, Luise Muhlbach and Luise von Muhlbach]TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN BYMRS. CHAPMAN COLEMAN AND HER DAUGHTERSCONTENTS.BOOK I.I. The KingII. Prince HenryIII. Louise von KleistIV. At the Masked BallV. A Secret CaptainVI. The Legacy of Von Trenck, Colonel of the PandoursVII. The King and WeingartenVIII. The Unwilling BridegroomIX. The First DisappointmentX. The ConqueredXI. The Travelling MusiciansXII. Travelling AdventuresXIII. The Drag-BoatXIV. In AmsterdamXV. The King without Shoes...　

Edingburgh Picturesque Notesby Robert Louis StevensonCHAPTER I.INTRODUCTORY.THE ancient and famous metropolis of the North sitsoverlooking a windy estuary from the slope and summit ofthree hills. No situation could be more commanding forthe head city of a kingdom; none better chosen for nobleprospects. From her tall precipice and terraced gardensshe looks far and wide on the sea and broad champaigns.To the east you may catch at sunset the spark of the Maylighthouse, where the Firth expands into the GermanOcean; and away to the west, over all the carse ofStirling, you can see the first snows upon Ben Ledi....　

AMENDED OBITUARIESTO THE EDITOR:Sir,I am approaching seventy; it is in sight; it is only threeyears away. Necessarily, I must go soon. It is but matter-of-coursewisdom, then, that I should begin to set my worldly house inorder now, so that it may be done calmly and with thoroughness,in place of waiting until the last day, when, as we have often seen,the attempt to set both houses in order at the same time has beenmarred by the necessity for haste and by the confusion and wasteof time arising from the inability of the notary and the ecclesiasticto work together harmoniously, taking turn about and giving eachother friendly assistancenot perhaps in fielding, which could...　

　　IWORMALLY there are only two types of marine machines concerned with the discovery and recovery of oil from under the ocean floor. The first, mainly engaged in the discovery of oil, is a self-propelled vessel, sometimes of very considerable size. Apart from its towering drilling derrick, it is indistinguishable from any oceangoing cargo vessel; its purpose is to drill boreholes in areas where seismological and geological studies suggest oil may exist. The technical operation of this activity is highly plex, yet these vessels have achieved a remarkable level of success. However, they suffer from two major drawbacks. Although they are equipped with the most advanced and sophisticated naviga　

　　　　　　1.　　　　Fingers of lightning tore holes in the black skies as an angry cloudburst drenched the surrealistic landscape. It was 3 A.M. on a cold, wet morning in late November 1967. and the little houses scattered along the dirt road winding through the hills of West Virginia were all dark. Some seemed unoccupied and in the final stages of decay. Others were unpainted, neglected, forlorn. The whole setting was like the opening scene of a Grade B horror film from the 1930s.　　　　Along the road there came a stranger in a land where strangers were rare and suspect. He walked up to the door of a crumbling farmhouse and hammered. After a long moment a light blinked on somewhere in the house and a