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The Great Stone of Sardis By: Frank Richard Stockton (1834-1902) |
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BY FRANK R. STOCKTON
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUTERPE THALIA II. THE SARDIS WORKS III. MARGARET RALEIGH IV. THE MISSION OF SAMUEL BLOCK V. UNDER WATER VI. VOICES FROM THE POLAR SEAS VII. GOOD NEWS GOES FROM SARDIS VIII. THE DEVIL ON THE DIPSEY IX. THE ARTESIAN RAY X. "LAKE SHIVER" XI. THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE POLAR SEA XII. CAPTAIN HUBBELL TAKES COMMAND XIII. LONGITUDE EVERYTHING XIV. A REGION OF NOTHINGNESS XV. THE AUTOMATIC SHELL XVI. THE TRACK OF THE SHELL XVII. CAPTAIN HUBBELL DECLINES TO GO WHALING XVIII. MR. MARCY'S CANAL XIX. THE ICY GATEWAY XX. "THAT IS HOW I LOVE YOU" XXI. THE CAVE OF LIGHT XXII. CLEWE'S THEORY XXIII. THE LAST DIVE OF THE DIPSEY XXIV. ROVINSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE XXV. LAURELS
THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS
CHAPTER I. THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUTERPE THALIA
It was about noon of a day in early summer that a westward bound
Atlantic liner was rapidly nearing the port of New York. Not long
before, the old light house on Montauk Point had been sighted, and the
company on board the vessel were animated by the knowledge that in a few
hours they would be at the end of their voyage. The vessel now speeding along the southern coast of Long Island was the
Euterpe Thalia, from Southampton. On Wednesday morning she had left her
English port, and many of her passengers were naturally anxious to be
on shore in time to transact their business on the last day of the week.
There were even some who expected to make their return voyage on the
Melpomene Thalia, which would leave New York on the next Monday. The Euterpe Thalia was one of those combination ocean vessels which had
now been in use for nearly ten years, and although the present voyage
was not a particularly rapid one, it had been made in a little less than
three days. As may be easily imagined, a vessel like this was a very different
craft from the old steamers which used to cross the Atlantic "ocean
greyhounds" they were called in the latter part of the nineteenth
century. It would be out of place here to give a full description of the vessels
which at the period of our story, in 1947, crossed the Atlantic at
an average time of three days, but an idea of their construction
will suffice. Most of these vessels belonged to the class of the
Euterpe Thalia, and were, in fact, compound marine structures, the two
portions being entirely distinct from each other. The great hull of
each of these vessels contained nothing but its electric engines and its
propelling machinery, with the necessary fuel and adjuncts. The upper portion of the compound vessel consisted of decks and quarters
for passengers and crew and holds for freight. These were all comprised
within a vast upper hull, which rested upon the lower hull containing
the motive power, the only point of contact being an enormous
ball and socket joint. Thus, no matter how much the lower hull might
roll and pitch and toss, the upper hull remained level and comparatively
undisturbed. Not only were comfort to passengers and security to movable freight
gained by this arrangement of the compound vessel, but it was now
possible to build the lower hull of much less size than had been the
custom in the former days of steamships, when the hull had to be large
enough to contain everything. As the more modern hull held nothing but
the machinery, it was small in comparison with the superincumbent upper
hull, and thus the force of the engine, once needed to propel a vast
mass through the resisting medium of the ocean, was now employed upon a
comparatively small hull, the great body of the vessel meeting with no
resistance except that of the air. It was not necessary that the two parts of these compound vessels
should always be the same. The upper hulls belonging to one of the
transatlantic lines were generally so constructed that they could be
adjusted to any one of their lower or motive power hulls. Each hull had
a name of its own, and so the combination name of the entire vessel was
frequently changed... Continue reading book >>
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