Men, Women, and Boats by Stephen Crane
page 31 of 206 (15%)
page 31 of 206 (15%)
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anatomy of a regiment. It is a limited area, but it can become the
theatre of innumerable muscular conflicts, tangles, wrenches, knots, and other comforts. "Did you ever like to row, Billie?" asked the correspondent. "No," said the oiler. "Hang it!" When one exchanged the rowing-seat for a place in the bottom of the boat, he suffered a bodily depression that caused him to be careless of everything save an obligation to wiggle one finger. There was cold sea- water swashing to and fro in the boat, and he lay in it. His head, pillowed on a thwart, was within an inch of the swirl of a wave crest, and sometimes a particularly obstreperous sea came in-board and drenched him once more. But these matters did not annoy him. It is almost certain that if the boat had capsized he would have tumbled comfortably out upon the ocean as if he felt sure that it was a great soft mattress. "Look! There's a man on the shore!" "Where?" "There! See 'im? See 'im?" "Yes, sure! He's walking along." "Now he's stopped. Look! He's facing us!" "He's waving at us!" |
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