Richard Hawkins

“ It could be maintained, however, that purposely fictitious names were substituted, either by the Doctor or the communicating entity.
They called me—when I walked the earth in a body of dense matter—Richard Devaney. Though my story has little to do with the war, I was killed in the second battle of the Marne, on July 24, 1918.
Many times, as men were wont to do who felt the daily, hourly imminence of death in the trenches, I had pictured that event in my mind and wondered what it would be like. Mainly I had inclined toward a belief in total extinction. ”

“ Is the cause you fight for unjust? is the honour and love of your prince and countrey buried in the dust? your sweete lives, are they become loathsome unto you? will you exchange your liberty for thraldome? ”

“ Here we saw certaine hogges, but they were so farre from us, that wee could not discerne if they were of those of the countrie, or brought by the Spaniards; these were all the beasts which we saw in all the time we were in the Straites.
In two tydes we turned through this reach, and so recovered the ilands of Pengwins; they lye from this reach Note. foure leagues southwest and by west. Till you come to this place, care is to be taken of not comming too neere to any poynt of the land: for being, for the most part, sandie, they have sholding off them, and are somewhat dangerous. ”

“ He is almost like to a heronshaw; his leggs a good spanne long, his wings very long, and sharpe towards the poynts, with a long tayle like to a pheasant, but with three or foure feathers onely, and these narrower. He is all blacke, of the colour of a crow, and of little flesh; for he is almost all skinne and bones. He soareth the highest of any fowle that I have seene, and I have not heard of any, that have seene them rest in the sea. ”

“ The strength of the one cannot be compared with the strength of the other: but in bourding, it goeth not so much in the strength, as in weight and greatnesse. For the greater ship that bourdeth with the lesser, with her mastes, her yardes, her tacklings, her anchors, her ordinance, and with her sides, bruseth and beateth the lesser to peeces, although the lesser be farre stronger according to proportion. ”

“ Those onely used in his majesties shippes I comprehend not in this my opinion: neither the imprests made to married men, which would be given to their wives monethly in their absence, for their reliefe. For that is well knowne, that all which goe to the sea now a-dayes, are provided of foode, and house-roome, and all things necessary, during the time of their voyage ”

“ For their wafting, the king sent to the Tercera, eight new galleons, under the charge of Villa Viciosa; who entring the barre of Saint Luar joyntly, the shippes loaden with silver, anchored in the middest of the river in deeper water, and the wafters on either side, neere the shoare. The admirall of the wafters rode close by the galleon in which I was, and had moored her selfe in that manner, as her streame, cable, and anchor, overlayed our land-most. ”

“ With this, Don Beltran sayd: “This ambiguitie you have well resolved;” and, like a worthie gentleman, with great courtesie and liberalitie, added: “let not the last point trouble you, but bee of good comfort; for I here give you my word anew, that your ransome, if any shall be thought due, shall be but a cople of grey-hounds for mee, and other two for my brother, the Conde de Lemos: and this I sweare to you by the habit of Alcantera. Provided alwayes, that the King, my master, leave you to my dispose, as of right you belong unto me.” ”

“ Comming to my house to shift me (for that we were all wett to the skinne) , I had not well changed my clothes, when a servant of mine, who was in the pynace at my comming ashore, enters almost out of breath, with newes, that shee was beating upon the rocks, which though I knew to be remedilesse, I put my selfe in place where I might see her, and in a little time after shee sunk downe right. These losses and mischances troubled and grieved, but nothing daunted me; for common experience taught me, that all honourable enterprises are accompanied with difficulties and daungers ”

“ For amongst the Spaniards in their armadoes, if there bee an absolute generall, the tenth of all is due to him, and he is to take choise of the best: where in other countries, it is by lot that the generalls tenth is given. And if they be but two shippes, he doth the like; and being but one, shee is of right the generalls. This I hardly believed, until I saw a letter, in which the King willed his vice-roy to give Don Beltran thankes for our shippe and artillerie, which he had given to his Majestie. ”

“ The cook seemed to be feeling for a new grip.
“Here! What are you doing?” cried the inventor. “Don't touch any of those handles.”
“It is that I seek a place for ze hand,” murmured the cook apologetically.
“Well, find it and let her down. Got your grip?”
“Aha! I have eet!” announced the Frenchman, clutching one of the brass knobs.
“All right. Down!”
Down went the Gasowashine. And a very small fraction of one second later things began to happen.
Each of Hawkins' inventions possesses a latent devil. ”

“ The inventor snatched it impolitely and turned his back, while the youth gazed after him for a moment and then returned to the office.
“Set of confounded idiots!” Hawkins remarked wrathfully.
Then, ere I could disappear, he spied me.
“Aha, Griggs, you here?”
“No, I'm not,” I said flatly. “If there's any trouble brewing, Hawkins, consider me back in New York. What has excited you?”
“Excited me? Those fool railroad officials are enough to drive a man to the asylum. ”

“ Purchas observes, “being not to be believed in truths.”
Hawkins made no more voyages for a period of two decades. In 1572 he was returned to Parliament from Plymouth, and the next year was made treasurer of the navy. He was a vice-admiral in the fleet against the Spanish Armada (1588) , commanding the “Victory,” and he was created a knight for his effective services in that great engagement. His last voyage was made in 1595, again with Drake, and once more against the Spanish West Indies: and there he died, at Porto Rico, on the twelfth of November that year. ”

“ Hawkins had now crossed many a broad acre of the weary moorlands, fatigued and thirsty, his heart beating in his ears, and not a drop of water that he could see to sprinkle the dry pulses of his bosom, when he came to a long morass, which barred his straightforward path. ”

“ At length a tall, powerful-looking man came stepping through the moss, and as he passed near the poor youth, asked, in slow speech, who he was. In the reaction of nature, Hawkins was, in a moment, anxious about his situation, and replied to him that he had fallen sick on his way, and was unable to go in quest of a resting-place for the night. ”

“ But—whoever could have designed that frieze, Mr. Hawkins?”
“Er—that frieze?” repeated the inventor, a little uncomfortably, indicating the insane-looking strip of painting a foot or so wide which ran along under the ceiling.
“Yes, it's so funny. Nothing but dots and dots and dots. Whoever could have conceived such an idea?”
“Well, I did, Miss Mather,” Hawkins replied. “I designed that myself.”
“Oh, did you?” murmured the inquisitive one, going red.
Hawkins turned to me, and the girl subsided; but old Mr. Blodgett had overheard. ”

“ Hawkins gave a dinner at his club one night to some London University men and a couple of distinguished foreigners.
"Of course, we talked shop. We argued and stirred one another up, and the sparks flew. When the rest had gone Hawkins and I stayed talking in the smoking-room. About an idea"—Eric looked round to see that the door was shut—"a new idea I was working at for dealing with cancer."
"Dealing!" I echoed, leaning forward. "You mean curing?"
"——I told Hawkins about an experiment I'd been making. As I've said, Hawkins is very intelligent. ”

“ HAWKINS, JOHN (1758?–1841) , miscellaneous writer, born about 1758, was the youngest son of Thomas Hawkins of Trewinnard, S. Erth, Cornwall, and M.P. for Grampound, by Anne, daughter of James Heywood of London. Hawkins was a man of considerable means, and devoted his long life to the study of literature, science, and art. ”

“ Hawkins strode to the rear of the yard without turning. About us on every side were high wooden walls, the storage bins of the company.
Up the side of one wall ran a ladder, and Hawkins commenced the perpendicular ascent with the same matter-of-fact air that one would wear in walking up-stairs.
“What are you doing that for? Exercise?” I called, when he paused some twenty-five feet in the air.
“If you wish to see the Crano-Scale at work, follow me. If not, stay where you are,” replied Hawkins. ”

“ I took the latter alternative, threw myself upon the ladder, and clung there, gasping with astonishment at the suddenness of the thing.
“Well, Hawkins?” I said, getting breath as my head sank below the level of the beautiful earth.
“Well, Griggs,” said the inventor defiantly, from the second rung below, “the gear must have slipped—that's all.”
“Isn't it lucky that this is a tiled well?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why,” I said, “a tiled well is absolutely safe, you see. Nothing can happen in a tiled well, Hawkins.” ”

“ Hawkins turned again.
“Mein lieber Herr,” said Von Moltz, “es macht mich sehr traurig dieses zu sagen, aber”—he caught himself—“I mean, it is necessary that I shall be in Washington this evening.”
“Well, I told you that you would be there, didn't I?” demanded the inventor.
“You did, but it seems to me not that way,” smiled the count. “Always goes the ship to the westward. For Washington shall it eastward be.”
“Well, we're going straight east now, count,” Hawkins lied crisply. “We have turned around, and we're going straight home.”
“Den who hass mofed der sun, Mr. Hawkins?” ”

“ The inventor's mouth opened with a squeak.
“Griggs, stand by me!” he gasped.
And just then I became a hero. It feels nice to be a hero. I dodged past Mink and took up a determined stand at Hawkins's right-hand side—and if I backed, even more quickly than he did, it was merely a tactical move.
To be sure, a trifle of cold sweat sprang from my forehead, and my pulse ran up to something like three hundred; and there was a peculiar feeling in my knees, as if somebody had removed the hinge-pin; but little things like that are pardonable when a man is a hero for the first time, I think. ”

“ Hawkins is the dapper, fluent, old English gentleman, who meets all callers upon the house. He appears to be the very life of the firm, and sells the counters and shelves as clean as his own smoothly shaved, fair little face. He is fond of boasting that he never kept a piece of goods through two whole seasons. ”

“ The crook that attempts a nocturnal entrance here has my sincere and heartfelt sympathy.”
“Hawkins' Patent Automatic Burglar Alarm?” I suggested.
“What the deuce are you sneering at?” snapped the inventor. “No, there's no patent burglar alarm in this house.”
“Hawkins' Steel Dynamite-Proof Shutters?”
Hawkins ignored the remark and busied himself lighting a cigar.
“Hawkins' Triple-Expansion Spring-Gun?” I hazarded once more.
“Oh, drop it! Drop it!” cried Hawkins. “Positively, Griggs, your efforts at humor disgust one. In some ways, you are as bad as a woman. ”

“ Mr. Hawkins drove at full pace out of the barrack gates before he replied, “It’s all very fine for you to talk as if you were a thousand, Snipey, but, by George! we’re all getting on a bit.” His ingenuous brow clouded under the peak of his cap, and his thoughts reverted to the letter that he had thrust into the sachet. “I’ve been pretty young at times, I admit, but that’s the sort of thing that makes you a lot older afterwards.”
“Good thing, too,” put in Cursiter unsympathetically. ”

“ The lift of her head, and the splendid colour in her cheeks would have befitted any angry goddess, and it is not surprising that Hawkins did not take offence at the crudity of the expression, and thought less of the brogue in which it was uttered than of the quiver of the young voice that accused him.
“Look here,” he said, for the second time, but with a new and very different inflection, “don’t let us abuse each other any more. I couldn’t answer your letters. I didn’t know what to say, except to tell you that I was a cad and a beast, and I didn’t see much good in doing that. ”

“ Hawkins was wild with joy, but Sellers was calm. Small matters could not disturb his serenity. He said— "That's just the way things go. A man invents a thing which could revolutionize the arts, produce mountains of money, and bless the earth, and who will bother with it or show any interest in it?—and so you are just as poor as you were before. But you invent some worthless thing to amuse yourself with, and would throw it away if let alone, and all of a sudden the whole world makes a snatch for it and out crops a fortune. Hunt up that Yankee and collect, Hawkins—half is yours, you know. ”

“ The huge wing was precisely in line to deal my unoffending cranium a terrific whack, which would probably stun me, and certainly brush me from my perch.
“There's a big wind coming!” I cried. “Look at those trees.”
“By Jimminy! You're right!” gasped the inventor, recklessly hurling himself upon the ladder. “Quick, Griggs. Come down after me. Quick!”
When one of Hawkins' inventions gets you in its toils, you have to make rapid decisions as to the manner of death you would prefer. In the twinkling of an eye, I decided to cast my fate with Hawkins on the ladder. ”