Burrows

“ There is a world of desolation in Braunton Burrows, and he who would thus come, overland, to the queer lighthouse that is perched at the seaward end of the estuary of the river Taw, must needs quest doubtfully and with some physical discomfort, before reaching that point where the waste of shifting sand slopes down to the waves.150 Just as no one becomes irreclaimably wicked in one plunge, but descends irretrievably by a series of slight moral lapses, so does the unwary traveller come by degrees into the baffling sand-wreaths of the Burrows. ”

“ Burrows looked surprised.
"Have you been studying algebra, Edward?"
"Somewhat."
"How far have you been?"
"Through."
"Do you feel positive that you could do examples over here?" turning to "Evolution."
"Entirely," Edward answered, smiling at Mr. Burrows' doubts. Ray had been a thorough teacher.
So Mr. Burrows went away, and Edward took his seat on the stage and commenced the recitation. At first the boys were disposed to be wise, and display their knowledge; when they had known him last, he was in division. ”

“ But this Burrows matter was beginning to touch him home.
"You see we happen to be a free country," he said drily, "and Burrows and his like happen to be running us just now. Maxwell & Co. are in the shafts. Burrows sits up aloft and whips on the team. The extraordinary thing is that nothing personal makes any difference. The people here know perfectly well that Burrows drinks—that the woman he lives with is not his wife—"
"George!" cried Letty, "how can you say such dreadful things!"
"Sorry, my darling! but the world is not a nice place. ”

“ Owing to increasing deafness he transferred his professorial work to a deputy in the summer of 1900, but took as active an interest as ever in university, college, and city affairs until his death at Oxford on 10 July 1905. Burrows married on 13 September 1849 Mary Anna (d. 3 June 1906) , third daughter of Sir James Whalley Smythe Gardiner, third baronet, of Roche Court, Fareham, a descendant of the Brocas family. Of six children three sons survived him. His eldest son, Edward Henry Burrows, born in 1851, was inspector of schools until his death in 1910. ”

“ I was |Kokeran—General Burrows' force sighted.| just going to give the order for the guns to come into action, when, to my delight, at about a mile off, at the spot where I knew was the ford of the Argandab, where the road from Girishk crossed the river, I saw a mass of men which I at once recognized as what remained of General Burrows' Force. ”

“ Miss Burrows, was, I believe, not fortunate in the selection of her parents, and had been adopted at the age of fourteen by an uncle, Eliphalet P. Burrows, known as Loco, because he happened to be cracked. He was caretaker at a bankrupt mine near Helena, absorbed in a fool invention which used up all his wages, and glad to have Miss Violet because she was cheap. A servant would expect to be paid. ”

“ The school of law and modern history was new ; none of the other more formidable candidates had had any experience of teaching, and Burrows' s reputation as a teacher and as the author of 'Pass and Class' carried weight. Thus, probably for the first time in the annals of Oxford, a naval officer sat in a professorial chair. Three years later Burrows was elected a fellow of All Souls College. As professor, Burrows lectured with exemplary regularity, but the attendance of undergraduates somewhat fell off as college lectures improved and the exigencies of the examination system increased. ”

“ He told the story much as Quong had done and the audience listened with fascinated, flattering interest in both the tale and its teller.
"I am so glad," said Mary Burrows. "I can't tell you how glad I am. I am sure it will turn out true, it must turn out true. It means everything to you."
"Not quite everything," said Sheridan. The words slipped out. He had not meant to express himself. Mary Burrows had greeted him cordially enough but there was a certain air of constraint about her that Thora shared. Red had sensed it and looked at Sheridan in puzzled fashion more than once. ”

“ Captain Burrows and I both looked over our heads, and there saw an impressive sight, indeed. A vast colored map of an unknown world hung in the clouds over us—a mirage [Pg 290] from the aurora. It looked very near, and was so distinct that we could distinguish polar bears on the ice-crags. One man insisted that the mainmast almost touched one snowy peak, and most of them actually believed that it was an inverted part of some world, slowly coming down to crush us. Captain Burrows looked for several minutes before he spoke. ”

“ But this sight gave them new life and energy. Sheridan followed the trail, Jackson close behind and the mare last of all, torn between her belief in water close by and duty to her master. So they found Mary Burrows resting in the shade of a cactus thicket, her face pillowed on her elbow—asleep. ”

“ Sheridan, stung by the piercing of his self-conceit concerning Mary Burrows, concentrated all his energies upon the work in hand. He became the crisp executive, laying out the little camp and impressing the cowboys with the fact that they were on an important mission where work and time counted. ”

“ We’ve got an even start, and the one that gets the headgear will stand some higher at the Espinosa.”
“You’ve got a good pony,” said Burrows, eyeing Road Runner’s barrel-like body and tapering legs that moved as regularly as the pistonrod of an engine. “It’s a race, of course; but you’re too much of a horseman to whoop it up this soon. Say we travel together till we get to the home stretch.”
“I’m your company,” agreed Pearson, “and I admire your sense. If there’s hats at Lone Elm, one of ’em shall set on Miss Tonia’s brow to-morrow, and you won’t be at the crowning. ”

“ Mary Burrows looked a trifle anxious but Thora's blood was up. And there was a method back of the sport she proposed.
Hollister was not wearing a coat. He rolled up his sleeve from his hairy, corded arm, displaying muscles that might be a little flabby from drink and lack of exercise but which showed powerfully. The little frown on the girl's face deepened and Sheridan felt apprehensive that Thora might go down to defeat. A small thing might turn the tide. To pass the affair off without disturbance was the prime thing. Hollister, triumphant, might prove difficult to handle with gloves. ”

“ Mary Burrows was the sort who could render herself sexless in certain environments. Her charm would manifest itself in other ways, the lure of her as purely woman would close like a sensitive blossom. ”

“ Manlike, he wanted to go to the woman of his choice with more than hopes and theories. Then—both heart and brain hinted that it might be a wonderful thing to work out the details of success with Mary Burrows. Yet, while he appreciated her intelligent enthusiasm in his project, her subscription to his views of life, the brave spirit that had brought her out to the West, he was human enough, conscious of an underlying fount of passion enough, to want his wooing unmixed with other affairs. To which, he fancied, the Girl of Ghost Mountain would respond in kind. ”

“ The chorus, pounded out, left them flushed and proud of themselves as Mary Burrows thanked them.
"Thora will play once more before you go," she said. "I'm sorry we didn't have more doughnuts." She whispered to Thora. Some of the men had stood and reached for their hats. It was marvellous the way the two women had handled them, thought Sheridan. They were leaving meek as lambs and well satisfied. Except Hollister, who was palpably in the discard of this deal.
No matter how deep a man may get into a mucky rut, there are certain psychological reactions that may be counted upon. ”

“ Now Nu sees the first of the herders upon the flanks of the herd. They are hurrying forward, spears ready, to ascertain what it is that has brought the leaders to a halt—what is causing the old king-bull to bellow and paw the earth. Will the girl see them? Can she escape them? They see her now, and at the same instant it is evident that she sees them. Is she of their people? If so, she will hasten toward them. No! She has turned and is running swiftly back toward the forest. The herders spring into swift pursuit. Nu trembled in excitement. ”

“ Nu turned away and stepped out upon the ledge before the cave. His quick eyes scanned the panorama spread out before him in a single glance. They stopped instantly upon a tiny figure showing across the forest in the little plain that ran to the edge of the plateau before it dove into the valley beside the inland sea. It was the figure of a woman. She was running swiftly toward the declivity. Nu puckered his brows. There was something familiar about the graceful swing of the tiny figure, the twinkling of the little feet as they raced across the grassy plain. ”

“ You can’t tell, sir, with all them pictur’ people up the cañon, what might be goin’ on. We’ll be lucky if we have any horses or tack left if they’re here long!”
“Miss Eva’s in bed,” said the colonel; “but we’ll have to look into this at once. Custer’s sick to-night, so he can’t go along with us; but if you will saddle up my horse, and one for yourself, I’ll dress and be right down. It can’t be the motion-picture people—they’re not horse thieves.” ”

“ He should be as elated as the young man himself when he returned with the head of the hunter of men and of mammoths. Then, too, he realized the humiliation which his son might feel on being forced to return again without the trophy. He laid his hand upon the young man's shoulder.
"Remain, my son," he said, "until the next light. The tribe will travel north beside the Restless Sea beyond the Barren Cliffs. Because of the old and the babes we shall move slowly. It will be easy for you to overtake us. If you do not come we shall know that Oo was mightier than the son of Nu." ”

“ Imagine our bird-lover describing a bird as Ellery Channing described one, as something with "a few feathers, a hole at one end and a point at the other, and a pair of wings"! We see the bird Mr. Burroughs sees; we hear the one he hears. Long before I had the memorable experience of standing with him on the banks of the Willowemoc and listening at twilight to the slow, divine chant of the hermit thrush, I had heard it in my dreams, because of that inimitable description of its song in "Wake-Robin." ”

“ Burrow had the military mind. The military mind can not pause to consider the feelings of the enemy. Decimation is painful to an army but desirable to the attacking general. The military mind sees and pursues one object. Mr. Burrow’s one object was to rid himself of a superfluous young female. It was the same thing that makes some warriors slay prisoners rather than be burdened with them on the march.
For an appreciable space of time the Hon. Alexander Hamilton Burrow eyed Miss Asheton with icy politeness. ”

“ They rounded well down the east side of the ravine and then turned back again; for the other team, with easier going, would soon be up on that side to join its furrow with theirs. They were running the second furrow just above the first, and this time the work seemed safer, for the horses had the first furrow below them should they slip—a ridge of loose earth that would give them footing. ”

“ He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been seized by a number of the ape-creatures and borne through the tree tops to their village. His captors had been as inquisitive as to his strange clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked at each other we could not help but laugh.
"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome ape."
"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be quite the thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doing with us, Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you suppose they can be? ”

“ She could have sworn that she saw something move in the shadows beneath a tree not far away. For a long minute the girl did not move—she scarce breathed. Her eyes remained fixed upon the dense shadows below the tree, her ears strained through the silence of the night. A low moaning came down from the hills where her flier was hidden. She knew it well—the weird note of the hunting banth. And the great carnivore lay directly in her path. But he was not so close as this other thing, hiding there in the shadows just a little way off. ”

“ Nu nodded toward the north.
"From near the Barren Cliffs," he replied. "And should you go thither, beater of women, my father's tribe would fall upon you and kill you all."
"You talk big," said the chief.
"I talk truth," retorted Nu. "My father's people would laugh at such as you—at men clothed in the skins of cows. It shows what manner of people you be. Now, my father's warriors wear the skins of Ur, and Zor and Oo, and upon their feet are sandals of the hides of Ta and Gluh. They are men. They would laugh as they sent their women and children out with sticks to drive you away." ”

“ It is easy to tell the horse tracks from those of the burros, and to tell that there were at least two horses, because it is plain that a shod horse and an unshod horse passed along here. That one horse—the one with shoes—went first is evident from the fact that you always see the imprints of burro hoofs, or the hoofs of an unshod horse, or both superimposed on his. That the other horse brought up the rear is equally plain from the fact that no other tracks lie on top of his. ”