H. Bedford-Jones

Name: The Barren Islands — Chapter 4
Author: H. Bedford-Jones

The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

Summary

“The Barren Islands — Chapter 4”, published in 1924, is a work by H. Bedford-Jones. It explores elements such as Trenchard, Forillon and Yusuf.

Quotes from The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (H. Bedford-Jones)

H. Bedford-Jones, The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

“ It was all one of those peculiar combinations which to a landsman would seem impossible—an unsecured bucket aloft, an unseen pinnacle of coral far below, a man leaning over the rail at the precise spot and time to bring the coincidence aright.
Of all those aboard, only the helmsman and Forillon saw the bucket strike Trenchard. Then the schooner was bearing away on her course while men ran and shouted, and Yusuf came leaping on deck with a storm of Swahili, and at the stern rail the brown giant Hazo stood shaking a useless knife at the water. ”

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Source: Wikisource

H. Bedford-Jones, The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

“ He knew only too well that in this game he had staked his life. In the coldly inexorable eyes of Trenchard he read a doom which could not be avoided. The ghastly realization broke upon him that all the while this man had known the whole plot, that Brouillan had betrayed everything, that the elaborately detailed preparations had been blasted in a moment. So the blood ebbed, leaving his face a livid gray, as though the cold shadow of death had chilled his heart. ”

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Source: Wikisource

H. Bedford-Jones, The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

“ AS he sat in the lee of the upper rail—his chair lashed down—and looked out over the miles of seaward reefs where the rolling breakers burst and foamed heavily, the thought of what he must do brought him sadness. Trenchard liked other men, if they gave him a chance; he was no ravening wolf who hated his own kind. If he had to fight, he would fight terribly, but he would also go a long way around to avoid the encounter. He reckoned Forillon as a brave man, too, and gave him respect—traitor or not. ”

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Source: Wikisource

H. Bedford-Jones, The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

“ Trenchard watched with gloomy eyes as Forillon came from below, naked, and went into the waist of the schooner, where the Hovas doused him with buckets of water. Then he went below again, with Hazo at his shoulder.
“The most decent way out of it,” thought Trenchard, “will be to give him a chance to fight me, and then down him. But why should I risk my life? I can't hang the beggar, and I can't tell Yusuf to knife him. Damn it! If I turn him over to that dhow we'll meet, the poor devil will be unmercifully tortured to death. ”

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Source: Wikisource

H. Bedford-Jones, The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

“ What do you think of that, eh?”
“C'est la guerre,” said Forillon, nearly himself again, unafraid, collected.
“No, it is not war,” returned Trenchard in a grave tone. “It is the thoughtless sacrifice of a good and devoted man who has staked everything, by a fool of an officer who has staked nothing. That is not war; it is murder. ”

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Source: Wikisource

H. Bedford-Jones, The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

“ CHAPTER IV WHEN Trenchard came on deck after breakfast, the schooner was heeling over to a spanking breeze. She was just doubling Cape St. Andrew, whose palms and sandy point lay far off to port, and was well inside the long shoals which kept steamers fifteen miles out to sea. The ocean horizon was empty. The gunboat might be dismissed from calculations.
Trenchard went to his mate, glanced at the compass, cocked an eye at the canvas aloft, and made no comment. The schooner was not the same ship which he had seen in Majunga harbor. ”

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Source: Wikisource

H. Bedford-Jones, The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

“ Trenchard blew out a thin cloud of smoke. “You are not the man to make blunders, or to excuse them,” he returned. “Perhaps, in your hours of reflection, it has occurred to you that I took excellent precautions to avoid being injured by your signals, and that I took no chances whatever on this schooner being picked up by the gunboat.”
He paused reflectively. Yusuf, squatting behind Forillon, grinned suddenly, for he comprehended something of Trenchard's intent. These two men understood each other thoroughly. Forillon, however, looked a bit puzzled. ”

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Source: Wikisource

H. Bedford-Jones, The Barren Islands — Chapter 4 (1924)

“ Blessed if I know what to do, for a fact. I ought to justify my reputation and go in for cold-blooded murder. Only wish I could!”
Often it is easier to gain a reputation than, once gained, to live up to it. ”

H. Bedford-Jones

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