Clifford Ashdown

Name: "The Box of Specie"
Author: Clifford Ashdown

"The Box of Specie" (1903)

Summary

“"The Box of Specie"”, published in 1903, is a work by Clifford Ashdown. It explores elements such as Pringle, dinghy and the Mary Bland.

Quotes from "The Box of Specie" (Clifford Ashdown)

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ Pringle hauled the dinghy close up, cast off her painter, and deftly clambered over her bows, which for an agonising moment were nearly awash.
"Is that better?" he shouted. And the two boats so quickly shot away from him that he barely caught the cheery answer as, freed from the incubus of dinghy, man, and specie, the escort rowed on to Gravesend.
The tide fast lengthened the space between, and Pringle drifted back until the light of the patrol-boat was lost among those ashore; then, with his slight remaining strength, he hauled upon the rope and tumbled the box into the dinghy. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ And as he plunged headlong in the river the beacon shimmered upon a fountain of spray, a few jets even breaking in cascade against the sides of the buoy.
The cries of the drowning man had passed unnoticed. The boat had reached the barge just as the truss began to break up in the swirl; the passengers were cheering lustily, and Pringle walked quietly forward and mingled unperceived with the crowd. While rescued and rescuers climbed on board, the captain telegraphed "full speed ahead," and the Mary Bland resumed her voyage, so prolific of incident. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ Mr. Pringle, carrying a brown gladstone, was the last to cross the gangway before it was hauled back on to the landing-stage. The steam ceased to roar from the escape pipes, impatiently tingled the bells in the engine room; then, pulsating to the rhythmic thud of her screws, the liner swung from the quay and silently picked her way down the crowded Pool. As reach succeeded reach the broadening stream opened a clearer course, and the Mary Bland moved to the full sweep of the ebbing tide ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ But the precaution was needless: the crew of the homeward-bound were too busy looking ahead to notice anything astern. Going forward and fishing up the painter from the dinghy's bows, he crept back with it, clawing along the boat's gunwale each way, and rove it through the boat's stern-ring. As he made fast, the dinghy swung round to her place in the rear of the procession; and, settling down aft beside the precious box, Pringle was towed up stream. Gravesend was soon astern, and for the present he felt no fear of the patrol. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ The after-coming crowd rushed back again to find the Mary Bland drifting with the tide through an archipelago of hay-trusses.
"Where in thunder are yer comin' to?" sounded in plaintive protest from the nearest truss. "Ain't there room enough roun' Coal-'ouse point for the likes of you?"
"What have we run down, Mr. Trimble?" demanded the captain, his hands quivering on the bridge rail in a spasm of suppressed excitement.
"I think it's a hay-barge, sir. It looks like a man floating on a truss over there on the port-beam," said the mate, pointing in the direction of the voice. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ The man at the wheel spun it till the brass work on the spokes seemed an endless golden ring. "Bang, clank! bang, clank!" went the steam steering-gear with a jarring tremor on deck, answered by the furious din of the engine-room telegraph as the captain jammed the indicator at "full speed astern." And on came the tramp, showing bulkier through the mist.
"All hands forward with fenders!" and the men by the after-hatch scurried forward, the mate at their head. Slowly the vessels approached amid a whirr of bells and frantically shouted orders, their whistles hooting the regulation blasts. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ When presently the light shone the chest had disappeared, but, as if tracing its descent, the man hung over the side, his feet slipping and squirming to get a purchase, and as the light passed the sound of his struggling continued in the darkness. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ Nearing her, Pringle noticed she had a dinghy streaming astern, and as they plunged into the deeper gloom she cast he had a sudden inspiration. Catching the dinghy's painter with his boat-hook, he hauled her alongside, cut the painter, and gradually drawing it in secured it to the cleat in his stern. At once the rowers felt the extra load, and the officer hailed him to trim his sheet. Swiftly making his rope fast to the box-chain, he rove the other end through the ring in the dinghy's bow and knotted it tightly ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ As soon as he got back to London again, Pringle devoted some time to a careful study of Pearson's "Nautical Almanac." From this useful publication he learnt that at the time the Mary Bland was on her exciting course down the river it was the first of the ebb-tide—that is to say, about three quarters of an hour after high-water. Now, inasmuch as a buoy is moored by a considerable length of chain, it is able to drift about within a circle of many feet; hence Pringle, to ensure success in his search, must choose a state of the tide identical with that prevailing when the box disappeared. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ The men were already handling the falls, and, as the hapless look-out man slouched aft, the first officer, jumping into the boat with four sailors, was lowered to the water, and rowed towards the survivor of the barge.
All this time Pringle had remained near the after-hatch. When the collision seemed imminent he was about to follow the general movement to the centre of interest, when a light suddenly flashed on the port side, and, even as he gazed in wonder, ceased as abruptly as it rose. He stopped and looked about him ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ The mate glanced doubtfully at the passengers on the saloon-deck, but none showed such a bulging of the person as might be expected from a concealed box of specie.
"How would it be to put back to Gravesend and inform the police?" he suggested. "Cogle must have tumbled overboard in the ruction."
"BUT, AS IF TRACING ITS DESCENT, THE MAN HUNG OVER THE SIDE."
"It's no good putting back,” the captain decided gloomily. "That specie was delivered right enough, and I'm responsible for it. It can't have fallen overboard, so it's on the ship somewhere—that I'll swear. Can't you suggest anything?" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ Exhausted and breathless as he was, with characteristic caution, Pringle unshipped the block, and cutting the grapnel-chain from the rope dropped it over the side. He had just stowed the box at his feet, when a sudden concussion nearly flung him to the bottom of the boat.
"Hulloa, there, in the boat!" hailed a peremptory voice. "Why don't you show a light?" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Ashdown, "The Box of Specie" (1903)

“ We should have sunk inside of ten minutes, whilst they would have floated—well, long enough to have got us comfortably ashore." In this discussion Pringle innocently joined, with an eye on the captain, who paced the bridge in ignorance of the new anxiety in store for him. Meanwhile, the purser had remained at his post in the strong-room. He awaited the further storage of the specie; but, although he could hear the men returning to the hatchway, not a shadow of the box appeared. ”

Clifford Ashdown

Summary

Quotes from "The Box of Specie" (Clifford Ashdown)

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