Ralph Stock, South of the Line — "—How the Other Half Lives" (1922)
“ At a place where coral mushrooms reared fantastic shapes out of the still waters of the lagoon, they cried a halt and, sitting side by side in the sand, Mr. Mumpus "by request" boomed the fine, round notes of his clarionet into the night, while the elf listened enthralled. She had never met such a man. ”
Ralph Stock, South of the Line — "—How the Other Half Lives" (1922)
“ The elf's hand shot out and caught him by the ankle, spilling him to the ground, and a wild-cat, not an elf, was on his shoulders, raining blow after blow with a coral rock upon his head. He did not move. The elf stood back panting, and viewed her handiwork. Still he did not move. Then she turned and ran, blindly, madly along the beach, a flitting figure in the moonlight that dwindled, and faded, and was lost amongst the palm groves. And Mr. Mumpus finished his favourite serenade, and looked about him. The elf was gone. The spell was broken ... ”
Ralph Stock, South of the Line — "—How the Other Half Lives" (1922)
“ He was "revelling in the romance of 'the Islands of the Blest'; witnessing the strange customs of a picturesque people; casting off for thirty days (and incidentally thirty pounds) the shackles of present-day civilization, and harking back to untrammelled Nature." ”
