The city in the sea

Robert was good to look at, though as a matter of fact he was not particularly good-looking, but he was young, well dressed, well groomed and clean, innocent-seeming and light-h...

He felt warmed and cheered, and his work seemed worth doing. A little appreciation goes a long way with a writer, and though Martia Hare had said little enough in the way of app...

When he got home that evening with a whole sheaf of information on the subject of figurines which he had culled from the courteous authorities of the Museum, he found that the p...

Looking at his watch and finding himself five minutes too early, he walked up and down the street opposite Behrens' shop. He was just about to cross when the side door opened, a...

Bobby got a bus from Oxford Circus to Charing Cross. It was after twelve when he reached Cadogan Street and turning on the electric light in his sitting-room, sat down to smoke,...

He was up at eight o'clock next morning, was dressed and out by nine. An hour too soon. At nine o'clock London is seemingly awake, but with its eyes still closed.

Forgetfulness and carelessness as to details are not assets in the conduct of business dealings with a world that goes by time-table and is mostly inhabited by practical folk, t...

He came on deck to find the sun pushing up from behind the sandspit. Black and white sheldrakes were fishing round the _Sandfly_, and a flock of curlews showed, making away towa...

In the train the purchaser of the _Lorna Doone_ began to have misgivings. He had agreed to pay seven hundred pounds for the boat, and now, away from the small-yacht atmosphere o...

He put his hand to his breast pocket and drew out the envelope on the back of which Sam had scribbled the address of the deep-sea diving outfit company. The great firm that supp...

They camped in the _Sandfly_, and to the labours incident on the fitting out of the _Lorna Doone_ were added the labours of cooking their own food and washing-up. Bobby wanted t...

There are disasters that finish themselves and everything round them, like a bursting shell, in a moment of time, and there are disasters that, having done their work, go on liv...

It was still dark outside--the sun would not rise for another half an hour or more--and this hurried dressing by lamplight in order to catch the tide and a little boat that woul...

Somewhere about four in the afternoon Start Point showed away on the starboard beam; and with the dark the Eddystone light, sixteen miles or so away, winked at them just within...

They passed through the Straits of Messina one brilliant morning, the west wind still holding, the sea like a tray of broken sapphires, and Etna a cone of almost translucent pur...

Two mornings later, as they were finishing breakfast, Sam suddenly rose from the table. His sharp ear had caught something unheard by the others, but they heard the voice of Ath...

The map of Hyalos, which they had studied so often, was impressed on their minds so that they had no need to refer to it. Roughly, and for their purpose, the town of Hyalos migh...

Next day whilst the hands were cutting grass, Bobby, who had come on shore with them and who was not wanted for the work, started on an expedition of his own.

Martia, who never let pleasure stand in front of business, had so much to do on board, that she could not get ashore before ten. She had not only to tidy up things and put the c...

From that day began the real work of the expedition. Grass-cutting in a burning sun--relieved by the fact that they found a water source from which they could not only drink, bu...

People boxed up together in a small boat like the _Lorna_ react on one another in a most surprising way. Bad temper or good humour in an individual is felt by his companions as...

Lying awake that night, Bobby remembered again his first interview with Martia, and her talk about the predilection of editors and the public for stories with a feminine interes...

There was nothing to hold them, and now that everything was clear, with a steady glass, a fair wind and a full hold, a strange uneasiness manifested itself amongst the afterguar...

The greatest bother about romance in real life is that it generally brings one outside the law--either the written or the unwritten law. The strangest thing about the romance of...

The grey dawn that had threatened rain had passed, the clouds had dispersed, and the sun was lighting the hills and the harbour, more densely packed with shipping than ever.

He was disturbed in his mind, but he said nothing when he came on board. There was no use in worrying the others, and he had reasons of his own for keeping silence. All the same...

The great attempt could not be made for hours yet. Two hours before daybreak was the time settled by Sam, who knew that in a port or a city the hours before dawn find Vigilance...

It was still a flat calm, and the _Santa Margharita_ lay, the looking glass of the sea mirroring her ugliness, and a slight swell rolling her to show her foul copper sheathing.

Landing an hour later, after a hurried luncheon on board, and leaving Glastonbury to look after the ship, the adventurers made for the inn, engaged rooms, and then, under the gu...

A bright fire was burning in the grate. Without a word she drew a chair towards it and sat down, whilst Bobby and Sam took their seats, one at the side of the table, the other o...

If the body had not the power to accommodate itself to injuries, and the mind to disasters and the tricks of Fate, the world would be depopulated in a hundred years or inhabited...

Sam nodded curtly to the visitor and pointed to a seat. Martia did not even incline her head. She sat looking at this man who had been pursuing them for so many weeks, looking a...

They went below, and Behrens put on his spectacles and opened an account-book. Seated at the cabin table, and seemingly dismissing the marbles, Visconti, and everything else fro...

"She will never know now that you cared for her, really. Bother Sam Hackett and her engagement to him. You should have told her, told her in the train or at the station. Instead...