Shuttlecock

“ The shops are not shut, but ingress is denied by means of bamboo blinds hanging underneath tablets which bear the name of the householder and are fastened in place with cords of red and white. There is a sound of laughter everywhere, for all the young people turn out, in bright costumes, and play battle-board (hago-ita) and shuttlecock, the penalty for dropping the shuttlecock being to receive, on a tender part of the body, a whack from the battle-boards of all the other players, or a smudge of ink on the face, each of which visitations evokes peals of mirth. ”

“ Loveit and another boy, called Tarlton, began to play a game of battledore and shuttlecock, and a large party stood by to look on, for they were the best players at battledore and shuttlecock in the school, and this was a trial of skill between them. When they had got it up to three hundred and twenty, the game became very interesting. The arms of the combatants tired that they could scarcely wield the battledores. The shuttlecock began to waver in the air ”

“ Battledoor or shuttlecock may be taught to children of both sexes very early; and it affords a healthy and almost untiring source of amusement. It gives activity as well as strength to the muscles or moving powers, and has many other important advantages. There is some danger, according to Dr. Pierson [Footnote: See his Lecture before the American Institute of Instruction] of distorting the spine by playing at shuttlecock too frequently and too long; but this will seldom be the case with little children in the nursery. ”

“ The shuttlecock is a small seed, often gilded, stuck round with feathers arranged like the petals of a flower. The battledore is a wooden bat; one side of which is of bare wood, while the other has the raised effigy of some popular actor, hero of romance, or singing girl in the most ultra-Japanese style of beauty. The girls evidently highly appreciate this game, as it gives abundant opportunity for the display of personal beauty, figure, and dress. Those who fail in the game often have their faces marked with ink, or a circle drawn round the eyes. ”

“ To round the corners at such a high speed they have to run round right up on the curved wall of ice, which is made the right shape on purpose. These corners are given different names. The two biggest banks, on a part of the run which looks like a big “S,” are called “Battledore” and “Shuttlecock,” because the rider seems to be thrown across from one bank to the other, rather like a shuttlecock in the game. If they are not very careful, “Battledore” throws them right out over the side, and they fall down about twelve feet into a pile of snow! There are very exciting races on the Cresta. ”

“ After service is properly given, if either player fails to return the shuttlecock clean over the net, and so that it drops within the external boundary of the ground on the side of the net furthest from the striker, the player failing loses an ace, or is hand-out as the case may be. It will be observed that in the service the shuttlecock must be sent from right court to right court, or from left to left, but in the return, by either player, it is only required that the shuttlecock shall drop within any part of the ground, bounded by the external line of all. ”

“ ‘Battledore and shuttlecock’s a wery good game, vhen you ain’t the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores, in which case it gets too excitin’ to be pleasant. ”

“ There are some queer currents racing about down there, that must get pretty fierce at times; and by degrees they’ve just pulled the hulk all to pieces, and scattered everything around for miles, I take it.”
Captain Shooks knew then that the game was up, so far as any hope of recovering pirate loot went. That lone gold piece, a Spanish one it turned out to be, he gave to Oscar, just as a memento of the occasion. And immediately afterwards orders went out to turn the prow of the submersible toward the north again. ”

“ When the diver came up he brought nothing with him, though he had explored diligently in several fresh places.
“I reckon we’ve cleaned the old hulk out,” Captain Shooks had said on hearing his report; “but since I’ve made up my mind to have one last look, here goes.”
Accordingly, he went over the side of the float, and vanished from their sight. The boys were “spelling” the tired men at the air pump. It [135] gave them something to do, and at the same time relieved the sailors who had been keeping this sort of thing up for many hours. ”

“ This time it was the design of Captain Shooks to sink the submarine, so that the diver might have the benefit of the electric searchlight, which would aid him in his work very much indeed.
Jack went down with the boat, desirous of adding to his interesting collection of sub-aqueous pictures. It was worth something to actually see the diver, clad in his suit, handling an axe in the water, just as though he might be a woodchopper in the forest attacking a tree.
But it needed a very powerful man to wield that axe, such was the resistance of the water. ”

“ We’ll work like troopers to complete our job. I’ll take my turn at it, too. And all the while we’ll have some one on guard to let us know if any craft shows up. If it looks bad, and we still feel there are things to be [119] got at down below, we’ll dismantle the float and take a dive before they get here. At the worst we can run for it, and fight if hard pushed.”
Apparently, Captain Shooks had the situation well in hand. He did not intend to yield a single point to the enemy if he could help it. And the more Ballyhoo saw of the skipper of the Argonaut the better he liked him. ”

“ Barlow’s home, sat beside Robert Fulton and was charmed by his pleasant manner. Fulton’s topic of conversation—we can imagine his pleasure in the subject—was his invention of the steamboat upon which he was then at work; and his hope that the submarine torpedo-boat would end all naval warfare and bring universal peace. The Prince listened politely but later confessed his sadness in [92] realizing that the agreeable young American was mad or he would not devote his time to such impossible schemes! To many Fulton’s dream seemed utterly vain. ”

“ Here Flamingo, Quacco, and one of the canoe-men made as if they would pass him, and get between him and the beach, where his people were in the very act of launching the skiff through the surf. When he saw this, he smiled bitterly, and drew his belt tighter, but all with the utmost coolness. He then, as if setting about some necessary labour, walked up to Quacco, by far the most powerful of our party, and seizing him by the throat, dashed him to one side, and a black fellow to the other, as if they had been children ”

“ The Peacock, one of the vessels of the squadron, was wrecked July 18, 1841, on a spit near Cape Disappointment on the north side of the entrance to the Columbia River, ever since known as Peacock Spit. ”

“ I heard the master say to Mr Stormcock when the captain had disappeared. “The corvette was on the right of our line when we bombarded Odessa; and I recollect she missed stays when tacking, and pretty nearly came aboard us.”
“By jingo,” replied Mr Stormcock, enthusiastically, “what an eye the old man has for a ship, and what a memory for signals! ”

“ Code Schofield went aft to his cabin companionway, and prepared to go below and open his log. Kent took the wheel, and Ellinwood lurched about with a critical eye upon the lashings, sheets, and general appearance of the deck.
Schofield, remembering the schooner that had attracted his eye before, looked astern for her. She had gained rapidly upon them in the half-hour he had been below. Now he could see her graceful black hull, the shadows in the great sails, and the tiny men here and there upon her deck.
“What a sailer!” he cried in involuntary admiration. “She must be an American!” ”

“ Shortly after the surrender her main-mast had gone by the board, and her hull was fairly honeycombed with shot-holes. Returning to his ship, Shubrick reported the condition of the prize. He was immediately ordered to return to the "Peacock," and make every effort to save her. Accompanied by three boats' crews of American sailors, he again boarded the sinking ship, and bent every energy to the attempt for her salvation. Bulwarks were cut away, and the heavy guns were rolled out of the gaps thus made, and cast into the sea. ”

“ Her name was the Scud.
"That, then, is the vessel of Jasper!" said Mabel, who associated the master of the little craft very naturally with the cutter itself. "Are there many others on this lake?"
"The Frenchers have three: one of which, they tell me, is a real ship, such as are used on the ocean; another a brig; and a third is a cutter, like the Scud here, which they call the Squirrel, in their own tongue, however; and which seems to have a natural hatred of our own pretty boat, for Jasper seldom goes out that the Squirrel is not at his heels." ”

“ March shook his head. “And to think that I’ve hardly seen a submarine!” he muttered to himself. “And I surely haven’t been inside one. But Scoot’s already been up in a plane! It just goes to show,” he told himself, “that submarines are tougher than planes. Just think of the tests we’ve got to go through before they can even let us take a ride in a sub. With a flier all he’s got to do is pass a physical test!” ”

“ However, Ballyhoo was wrong for once. Captain Shooks had information of an altogether different nature to communicate.
“We’ve stopped moving,” he started to say, “and in a cleared spot just ahead, where our illuminator makes every little object stand out like daylight, we’ve discovered something that tells us a vessel must have gone to pieces about here. The fragments look like an old-time anchor, for one thing, and some other metal parts.”
“Then you think, do you,” asked Oscar, sensing the meaning conveyed in these words of the skipper, “we’re about on the spot where that pirate sank ”

“ The trial boat, of thirty tons’ burden, built by the Chancellor’s orders by an Englishman named Nesbit, near Tivoli on the Hudson, failed to run! When the Chancellor met Robert Fulton, this clean-cut, energetic young countryman who had built a much-talked-of submarine torpedo-boat recognized by Napoleon, he thought, “Here is the clever man whom I am seeking!” It is characteristic of great men to notice the mental worth of others and enlist it in their cause, whatever it may be. And Livingston quickly learned the rare capacity of Fulton. ”

“ In 1784 the yacht Lively, owned by Mr. Shutleworth, who also owned a beautiful villa on the Thames, visited the United States. This yacht was 140 tons, mounted 10 guns, and carried a crew of 25 men. Mr. Shutleworth was fond of ocean-cruises and made a number of them. This voyage occupied about fourteen months. During which he cruised from the coast of Florida to Hudson Bay, and entertained George Washington while in the Delaware; a beautiful French woman and several professional men sailed with him. His fortune was £20,000 per annum.
Pleasure Boats Sailing for the Duke of Cumberland's
Cup. ”

“ The boy’s words only prove how every one seems to admire the fellow who puts up a stiff fight. Toward the coward who runs away, even a boy like Ballyhoo could feel only detestation.
So the boat moved ahead, and then the swimmer was hauled aboard. He had a sarcastic grin on his face, as, dripping, he finally stood there. Captain Shooks brushed up to him and thrust out a huge paw. ”

“ When he is pleased he lifts up his train and spreads it out like a fan—a fan of such beautiful colours and so delightful a pattern that it could not be made for a king’s ransom. In the moulting season these feathers drop off, and then the Peacock is so much ashamed of himself that he hides away until they grow again. His wife is not so richly dressed; indeed, the poor thing is quite a dowdy person. ”

“ Among the figures calling for regard in the highest sense, that of the Peacock standing on an urn, modelled by Arnold Krog, is of surprising grace and symmetry. Its modelling is at once true to nature and true to the requirements of the potter's art. A model on a lower plane would have placed the peacock on a base or tree-stump and utilized this as a support, and no figure would be complete without the gorgeous colouring of the tail. This is exactly what happens in a [Pg 288] Derby figure of a Peacock (at the Victoria and Albert Museum) . ”

“ He took the camera and pressed it to his cheek, gripping it firmly. His eye found the telescope and he pressed the infrared switch.
Scotty's hand was poised, ready to grab the control wheel if the plane started to slip. The power pack was held tightly between his knees, and his right hand was on the winding handle.
The scene lighted up for Rick. He saw four men on the trawler's deck, looking up at him. He saw the cargo net suspended almost over their heads, and he saw men on the deck of the freighter. His right index finger pressed and the camera started to roll. ”

“ It was the captain of the schooner.
"I'm a man short," he said. "Where's your clo's?"
"On my back, cappen. I lost twa months' pay the noo, and can't repleenish my wardrobe."
"It's fine weather, and you won't need any. I pay twenty a month. Turn to."
Scotty went to New York in this schooner—that is, he went as far as the Sandy Hook Lightship, where the skipper, a man of poor judgment, mistakingly put about under the bow of an outward-bound steamer, which had slowed down to discharge her pilot, and which went ahead too soon for the welfare of that schooner. ”