From: frederica b. <inv...@wo...> - 2006-11-11 02:08:48
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html><head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> <img alt="" src="cid:348...@wo..." height="458" width="580"><br> We're about seven miles from Port Orford by land an' about ten miles by sea Do you live at Port Orford? inquired the sailor.<br> That's what we do, friend; an' if your party wants to join us we'll do our best to make you comf'table, bein' as you're shipwrecked an' need help.<br> Just then a loud laugh came from another group, where the elder sailor had been trying to explain Rob's method of flying through the air Laugh all you want to, said the sailor, sullenly; it's true--ev'ry word of it! Mebbe you think it, friend, answered a big, good-natured fisherman; but it's well known that shipwrecked folks go crazy sometimes, an' imagine strange things, Your mind seems clear enough in other ways, so I advise you to try and forget your dreams about flyin'.<br> Rob now stepped forward and shook hands with the sailors.<br> I see you have found friends, he said to them, so I will leave you and continue my journey, as I'm in something of a hurry.<br> Both sailors began to thank him profusely for their rescue, but he cut them short, That's all right.<br> Of course I couldn't leave you on that island to starve to death, and I'm glad I was able to bring you away with me.<br> But you threatened to drop me into the sea, remarked the little sailor, in a grieved voice So I did, said Rob, laughing; but I wouldn't have done it for the world--not even to have saved my own life.<br> Good-by! He turned the indicator and mounted skyward, to the unbounded amazement of the fishermen, who stared after him with round eyes and wide open mouths, This sight will prove to them that the sailors are not crazy, he thought, as he turned to the south and sped away from the bluff.<br> I suppose those simple fishermen will never forget this wonderful occurrence, and they'll probably make reg'lar heroes of the two men who have crossed the Pacific through the air.<br> He followed the coast line, keeping but a short distance above the earth, and after an hour's swift flight reached the city of San Francisco.<br> His shoulders were sore and stiff from the heavy strain upon them of the previous day, and he wished more than once that he had some of his mother's household liniment to rub them with, Yet so great was his delight at reaching once more his native land that all discomforts were speedily forgotten Much as he would have enjoyed a day in the great metropolis of the Pacific slope, Rob dared not delay longer than to take a general view of the place, to note its handsome edifices and to wonder at the throng of Chinese inhabiting one section of the town.<br> </BODY></HTML> |