Acmé

“ His picture, you understand. For since he had made it irresistible comedy instead of very mediocre drama, he felt all the pride of creation in his work. That was his picture that had set the Acme people laughing,—they who had come to carp and to talk knowingly of continuity and of technique and dramatic values, and to criticize everything from the sets to the photography. It was his picture; he had made it what it was. So he went as a champion rather than as a culprit to face the powers above him.
Martinson and Bently Brown were waiting for him near the door. ”

“ Martinson said. Well, perhaps it would be best to look into it; Luck was too experienced to believe that one success means permanent success; there are too many risks for the free lance to run when a single failure means financial annihilation. If the Acme would come to his terms, it might be to his advantage to take his boys back and accept this peace-offering. ”

“ He really couldn’t see why it was so important, especially not if you compared it to stolen radioisotopes.
“That’s not the point,” Teena said sharply. “They were top-secret blueprints—something to do with guiding a new missile Acme Aircraft is getting ready to make. If the plans were stolen—well, you know what that could mean.” ”

“ I heard tell the Great Western's going to let yuh put on your own pitcher; I guess them Acme folks'll feel kinda foolish when they see it," declared the dried little man, grinning over his pipe.
Luck was fighting his bewilderment and framing a demand for explanations when Rosemary bustled in from the kitchen.
"Oh, but we're glad, Luck Lindsay!" she began in her quick, emphatic way. "We all feel like a million dollars over your good luck. We're going to have fried chicken and strawberry shortcake for supper, too, just for a celebration. I knew you'd come out and tell us all about it. ”

“ Luck was too old a director not to know the full value of such workers.
But the Acme Film Company, caught with the rest of the world in the pressure of hard times, wanted to economize. The manager had pointed out to Luck, during the course of an evening's discussion, that these Indians were luxuries in the making of pictures, and must be taken off the payroll for the good of the dividends. The manager had contended that white men and women, properly made up, could play the part of Indians where Indians were needed; whereas Indians could never be made to play the part of white men and women. ”

“ In another and an earlier book I related how we of The Third came to settle ourselves in our off-duty quarters up in The Battery; how Sam, the veteran gunner of a by-gone war, won his medal, our most profound respect, and a place among us second in importance only to that of the colonel commanding; how our horse, “Acme,” gained for us great renown and no little wealth; how Larry, our seventh major, rose to the rank of hero; and many other odd truths concerning the Old Regiment. ”

“ We used to suggest that spurring would be a more military method of getting the beast under way, but Charley always replied that spurs were [Pg 77] unnecessarily cruel things, and that he hadn't the heart to do anything to interrupt the entente cordiale existing between him and his charger."
"Wasn't it a ratty-looking beast, though!" put in Langforth, setting down his mug and laughing aloud. "We christened him 'Acme,' he was such a perfect skate."
"'Handsome is as handsome does,'" quoted Bones, sententiously. ”

“ Eddie said. “When Teena and I were rowing out to Cedar Point this morning, we saw the two men coming down the bluff carrying something shiny. Later, looking back from Cedar Point, we saw them anchored over the sand bar. Probably over the same place we found the cylinder.”
“It figures,” Mr. Evans, the FBI man said. “For the sake of argument, let’s say the two men are spies. Could be even more than two here at the college or working at Acme Aircraft.”
“Spies!” Teena gasped in disbelief.
154
“Maybe they’re both hiding at the shack,” Eddie said excitedly. “You’d better go arrest them!” ”

“ The running of the foremost seemeth to me like the running of Achimaas the son of Sadoc. And the king said: He is a good man: and cometh with good news.
28 And Achimaas crying out, said to the king: God save thee, O king. And falling down before the king with his face to the ground, he said: Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath shut up the men that have lifted up their hands against the lord my king.
29 And the king said: Is the young man Absalom safe? And Achimaas said: I saw a great tumult, O king, when thy servant Joab sent me thy servant: I know nothing else. ”

“ Kaid will give him his life if the Inglesi asks. The Inglesi, he is mad. If he were not mad, he would see to it that Nahoum was now drying his bones in the sands."
"What each has failed to do for the other shall be done for them," answered Achmet, a hateful leer on his immobile features. "To-night many things shall be made right. To-morrow there will be places empty and places filled. Egypt shall begin again to-morrow." ”

“ I have elsewhere mentioned Amakeya as the belle of the camp at Fort Hare, and no doubt she had been sufficiently reminded of her charms to make her sensible of the value of them. She made her strange offer in all the consciousness and pride of beauty; and, with her finely-moulded arms folded before her, she spoke without hesitation, for she was guided by motives worthy a lofty cause—motives, how desecrated! how degraded! Poor Amakeya!
“If her father might remain on his own lands,” she said, “she would be the sacrifice and guarantee for his future good faith towards the white man. ”

“ I set out after him to the Land of Themeh, and made him to keep the peace, whereupon he praised all the gods for the King (of Egypt) . [Here follow some broken lines.] I came back from Amam with three hundred asses laden with incense, ebony, heknu, grain, panther skins, ivory, ... boomerangs, and valuable products of every kind. When the Chief of Arthet, Setu, and Uauat saw the strength and great number of the warriors of Amam who had come back with me to the Palace, and the soldiers who had been sent with me, this chief brought out and gave to me bulls, and sheep, and goats. ”

“ The vizier, addressing me through Achmet, said: “Tell us what you want; if you come to fight, we are ready for you.” I assured the shekh through him that I came as a friend, and had no intention of molesting them, but he was not satisfied, and repeated three or four times, drawing a mark between us on the ground: “if you are really friends, we will be friends with you; but if you are not, we are ready to fight you.” Achmet at last swore by the Prophet Mohammed, and by the wisdom of Allah, that we had come in peace; that the Sultan wished to pay him a visit, and would then return home. ”

“ Cambyses is preparing to make war on us. He will sweep down on Egypt like a scorching wind from the desert. Much, which I have staked my nightly sleep and the very marrow of my existence to bring into existence, will be annihilated. Still I have not lived in vain. For forty years I have been the careful father and benefactor of a great nation. Children and children's children will speak of Amasis as a great, wise and humane king; they will read my name on the great works which I have built in Sais and Thebes, and will praise the greatness of my power. ”

“ How difficult it was for a native to break away from habits and customs ingrained in them through centuries of repetition may be gathered from the story of Akom, a freewoman, one of the most self-righteous of the big ladies of the district. She had been betrothed, when a year old, to a young and powerful chief, and had been brought up in the harem and was a zealous upholder of all superstitious practices. On her lord's death she escaped the poison ordeal, and was active in placing wives and slaves into the grave. ”

“ It seems to indicate that this tribe or confederacy existed or was formed under the leadership of four chiefs called imāms. As we know, the office of imām (Ach. imeum) stands entirely apart from the organization of the kawōms. We have in Acheh imeums who take the lead in devotional exercises without deriving from this function any particular rank in the community. Again we find imeums in the position of headmen of districts (mukims) , whose office was according to the intent of its founder without doubt closely connected with religion, but has degenerated into one of purely worldly authority. ”

“ Five pueblos of the Rio Grande rose, killed the padres in residence and twenty-one other Spaniards. Abandoning their homes the Indians fled to the mountains. Ácoma was deeply implicated. Neither baptism nor kneeling at the cross morning and night had much availed to change the nature of this wily and treacherous tribe. Four days later the general received a letter from the senior captain of the Keres, governor of the village of Santa Ana, in which he described a meeting held at Ácoma where the warriors were waiting reinforcements from Moqui, Zuñi and the Utes. ”

“ You do not go through Egypt without comparing the village Achmed, who is so often at your side, with poor Hodge, whom you left at home, but who, nevertheless, is often in your thoughts. You ask which of the two is better off; and which is, after all, the better man? And you ask yourself these questions not without some misgivings, for you are pleased with Achmed, and now that you are free from work and care, and with the glorious world unfolding itself before you, you are disposed, when you are reminded of him, to feel more pity than usual for poor Hodge. ”

“ We took breakfast, and started on our journey on Sunday morning, to visit Mr. Akeman. I related to my companion my dream, and told him we should see something strange. We had great anticipations of meeting Mr. Akeman, supposing him to be a member of the Church. When we arrived at his house he received us very coldly, and we soon found that he had apostatized. He brought railing accusations against the Book of Mormon and the authorities of the Church.
Word was sent through all the settlements on the river for twenty miles that two "Mormon" preachers were in the place. ”

“ When he was tired of torturing him the governor commanded the soldiers to cut off his head with the sword, and thus he received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of the heavens. And men of the city of Samama came and took his body, and wrapped it in splendid cloths, and laid him in a fair place until the end of the days of persecution. [Then] they built a beautiful church for him, and laid his body therein, and great signs and miracles appeared through it, and healings for many sick folk. Salutation to Isaac, the gardener. ”

“ It is noticeable that in the north the Akkadians are more Semitic than their contemporaries in the south, but it is difficult at times to say whether a city is controlled by the descendants of the indigenous people or those of later settlers. Dynasties rise and fall, and, as in Egypt at times, the progress of the fragmentary narrative is interrupted by a sudden change of scene ere we have properly grasped a situation and realized its significance.
What we know for certain is that civilization is well advanced. ”

“ This, one would not imagine from the appearance these young wives make. They are little better coloured than a corpse, and 101 look older at sixteen, than many English women at sixty, so that you are to look for beauty here in childhood only.
Achmim appears to be the Panopolis of the ancients, not only by its latitude, but also by an inscription of a very large triumphal arch, a few hundred yards south of the convent. It is built with marble by the Emperor Nero, and is dedicated in a Greek inscription, ΠΑΝΙ ΘΕΩ. The columns that were in its front are broken and thrown away ”

“ The good man dwelt alone there in Acoma for more than twenty years, loved by the natives as a father, and teaching his swarthy converts so successfully that in time many knew their catechism, and could read and write in Spanish. Besides, under his direction they built a large church with enormous labor. When he died, in 1664, the Acomas from being the fiercest Indians had become the gentlest in New Mexico, and were among the furthest advanced in civilization. ”

“ There is a firm belief amongst all the natives in the Ikom district that the slaves who are killed and buried with their master will meet him again in the Spirit Land, where the conditions of life will be the same as they were on earth. The master will recognise his slaves and they will work for him. They also believe that, when a chief arrives in the Spirit Land, accompanied by these slaves, carrying the gin cloth, rods, etc., which were placed in the grave, the people of the Spirit Land-will say, “This is a chief coming. ”

“ The prayer in common is quite a drill and very stately to see. There are always quite as many women as men; one wonders how they stand the march and the hardships.
My little Achmet grows more pressing with me to take him. I will take him to Alexandria, I think, and leave him in Janet’s house to learn more house service. He is a dear little boy and very useful. I don’t suppose his brother will object and he has no parents. Achmet ibn-Mustapha also coaxes me to take him with me to Alexandria, and to try again to persuade his father to send him to England to Mr. ”

“ He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, the miserable are long-lived." Quoth the Caliph to the Emir, "Why hast thou brought him hither?"; and quoth he, "O Commander of the Faithful, he hath a poor old mother cut off from the world who hath none but this son and she hath had recourse to thy slave, imploring him to intercede with thee to strike off his chains, for he repenteth of his evil courses; and to make him Captain of the Watch as before." The Caliph asked Ahmad Kamakim, "Doss thou repent of thy sins?" ”