book_id
stringlengths 2
6
| title
stringclasses 1
value | author
stringclasses 1
value | conversations
listlengths 1
5.07k
|
|---|---|---|---|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One thing I must ask, he said at the end of their talk,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have learned, sir, said the sailor,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Um, said Carter, and stared at him thoughtfully."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Captain, I think it would be safest if you went on those lines. You will find your chief engineer, who carries the name of White-Man's-Trouble, beautifully unreliable in most things, but he understands the launch's engines wonderfully, and I like him. I'd take it as a favor if you'd deal with him as lightly as possible."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll bear your words in mind, sir, though, as a man who has handled everything colored that serves afloat, I'd like to point out that pampering spoils them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The only other point to remember is that I've made my name up these rivers mainly by being known as a ju-ju man--sort of wizard, in fact. You'll have no difficulty, I suppose, in following up that line now I've given you the hint?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll pardon me, sir, but if that's made an essential, I must chuck up the job, sorely in need of employment as I am at the moment. I have my conscience to consider. And besides as a liar I am the poorest kind of failure."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pooh, man, it's only a little acting that's required."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Carter, said the sailor still more stiffly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Carter,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm all that, sir."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So I shall have to respect your scruples and give you the billet."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You shall never regret it for one minute, sir. You'll find the address of Mrs. Kettle on this slip of paper, and if you'll post three-quarters of my wages to her as they fall due, I'd take it as a favor. I've been out of--well, I won't pester you with domestic matters, sir, but the fact is I'm afraid she must be in very poor circumstances just at the moment."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She shall have a check posted the day after I land in Liverpool. I give you my word for that."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I thank you, Mr. Carter. Now, if you wanted another officer, there's a Mr. McTodd, an engineer who's just now at Akassa, that I could get."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thanky, Captain, but not for me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I believe I could persuade him to take a low wage."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not for me, Captain. I know McTodd. He's far too thirsty and far too cantankerous. You'd find him a ugly handful."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Me! By James, sir, I can handle that swine in a way that would surprise you. He's had a bad up-bringing; he belongs to the Free Kirk; but after I've had the manipulation of Mr. McTodd for a week, I can make him as mild as Norwegian Swiss milk."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, we'll say 'not for the present,' at any rate. With the organization I've got together, and the backing from the King of Okky that I've told you about, you'll be able to haul down all the available ore if you follow out my instructions, and when it comes to bonus, Captain, if you've been successful, you'll find me a generous paymaster. I don't toil for nothing myself. I work about ten times as hard as my neighbors, and draw in about seventeen times as much pay. I like a man who has got the same ambitions."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've always done ten times the normal whack of work, sir, but somehow I've missed fingering the dibs. I tell you flat, fourteen pounds a month has been good for me, and month in and month out I've not averaged ten."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then, if that's the case, said Carter briskly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good-bye, sir, said Kettle,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm sure you'll remember to send that check."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have always hated me pretty tenderly, he mused."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wonder why. I've hammered you a dozen times, but it's only been in the ordinary way of business, and what any half-baked Portuguese has got to expect. You surely can't be up against me for that."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, the usual. When you're away from me, dear, I never feel quite certain if I ought to marry you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, that's awkward, isn't it? But as I have been up country colloguing with your other suitor, old Kallee, you couldn't very well have been with me there."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wish you hadn't gone."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How delightfully unreasonable! We'd nothing to boil the pot on before, and now we've plenty, and neither of us is a bit the worse. What's broke since I've been away?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The world, I think,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then I hope I'm the sticking plaster that will mend it. Now, I want to hear all about Las Palmas, and what you have been doing. I see most of West Africa's here. Great Christopher! but it is fine to smell even the outside edge of civilization once more. My mother used to get tired of Wharfedale occasionally--ah, well, but that wouldn't interest you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, you always cut yourself short when you begin to talk about your people."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do I? Well, what's sauce for the gander's sauce for the goose and you're the goose. Did you ever speak to me about your folk? Not one word, unless I dragged it out. Look here, Laura, are you trying to wrangle? Because if so, and if it's my fault, just say what's the crime, and give me my licking and get it over. I've got a clear conscience, and I'll be as penitent as you please."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My dear, you've been perfect."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I say, said Carter,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know your temptations, and you've been an honorable gentleman all through."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wish, said Carter whimsically,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you're going to take it from her?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't say 'her' so tragically. I'm not going to take anything from her, or from anyone else. I've got a mine, and it's a nailing good mine, and I'm going to run it by my lone or bust. It isn't a thing you could sell to a company, and besides it isn't one of those mines one would care to sell. It's too good for that. It's just a fortune for two people, and one of them is presently going to sign herself Laura Carter."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "George, you're quite the best man on earth."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I doubt it myself at times. By the way, who should I see down in Las Palmas just now but Cascaes. He did me the honor of ignoring my existence. It wasn't the unshaved Coast Cascaes either; he'd got a clean blue chin, and the rest of him was dressed fit to kill. Now, what is the mysterious Cascaes doing here?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He's O'Neill and Craven's agent for Grand Canary. I thought you'd heard."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, it's news to me. It's news, moreover, that they had any business here that required an agent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They haven't."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hum, said Carter."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Miss O'Neill doesn't pay a salary without getting value for it. Now this is one of her deep-laid schemes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's grand to be in a place like this after a spell on the Coast,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you prefer it to England?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I believe I do, he said steadily."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come, now, old lady, what do you say? Shall we buy a property here in Grand Canary, and settle down, and grow the finest flower garden in the island?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But roses are your favorite flower and they don't do well here in the South."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, it's roses that my father cares for, at least he and the mater together run the roses at home. But I think my taste runs more to bougainvillea, say--and great trees of scarlet geranium with stalks as thick as one's leg, and palms, and tree ferns. Besides, a garden means irrigation here, and I've never had a real water-works scheme of my own to play with since I was a kid and worked out a most wonderful system by the old smelt mill at home. Yes, we should have great times gardening out here."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can't you see why Kate sent Senhor Cascaes here, George?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I haven't given him another thought. Besides, although Miss O'Neill is seeing fit to interfere with me, I don't intend to meddle with her."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think you ought to defend what's your own."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Certainly I shall. Can anyone accuse me of not doing so? But I don't see why you keep harping on Cascaes. The man is an open admirer of Miss O'Neill's, and I suppose she's tickled thereby. Anyway that's the only reason I can see why she should have provided him with a job."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you mean to say you think it is Kate the Senhor Cascaes is running after?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Certainly I do. Who else was there at Mokki?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you think I've so few attractions then?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, my good girl, you're engaged to me, and he knew it all along. There was no secret about our engagement. Everybody about the factory knew of it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And because a girl is engaged, or even married, do you think that's any bar to another man admiring her?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I've been a blind ass, and I must say I did refuse to listen to the highfalutin' nonsense Cascaes wanted to pour into my sympathetic ear. How often have you seen him here in Grand Canary?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He has called every day."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's not answering my question."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "George, dear, give me credit for loyalty. He told me one day when you were building that fort at Mokki that he liked me, and that if the Okky-men came he would die cheerfully before any harm should come to me; and I told him that he had no right to say such things to a girl who was engaged to you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why wasn't I told of this?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because he said to me he had nearly shot you once, and I was afraid that if there was any trouble, dear, you might be hurt."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You could have trusted me, said Carter dryly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are rather mediæval. I don't want to be fought for."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, I gather from what you say that you've been seeing the fellow here?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never when I could help it. Each day I've refused to see him when he came to the house. But he has waited for me when I went out into the country, and once he was here in the garden, sitting on this very seat, when I came out after lunch."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Does he always tell the same old tale?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He says always he wants to marry me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I thought you said you refused to listen to him?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "George, don't be unreasonable. I've told him over and over again it's no use; I've gone away every time we've met; but it seems to be the one occupation of his life."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Except for running after you, I can imagine he does have plenty of time on his hands out here."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't you think, George, he was sent to the island to have nothing to do except that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sent here who by? By Miss O'Neill, do you mean? Great Christopher! Laura, what morbid idea will you have in your head next? I don't flatter myself that outside business Miss O'Neill cares whether I'm alive or dead, and as for you, well, the pair of you may be friendly enough when you were kids, but you seemed to have outgrown any past civilities last time I saw you together on the Coast. Don't you go and run away with any wild cat notions about Miss O'Neill. She's got one amusement in the world, and that's business, and if she's sent Cascaes here to Las Palmas, you can bet your best frock the only job he's got in view so far as she's concerned is dividend hunting. Apropos of which, I nearly forgot. Here's something to practise your autograph in."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, it's a check-book."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Clever girl. Guessed it in once. I just opened a credit for you down at the bank in Las Palmas for £500 to be going on with. That's for chocolate, and hairpins, and a mantillina, and the latest thing in Spanish slippers. I say, Laura, you must get a pair of those tan ones, with the laces tied in a bow just down over the toe. And if you don't go through the lot whilst I'm away squaring mine matters up in England, I shall take you solemnly round the shops when I come back here, and buy you a trousseau of all the ugliest and most unbecoming garments they have in stock."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are good to me, dear. But I can never spend all that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you've any balance you find unwieldy, buy Cascaes a smile with it, if you can find one that will fit. No, seriously, old lady, you will be marrying a rich man, although you did not know it when you took him, and you may as well get used to spending. It's no use for us preparing to save."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No use preparing to save, poor Laura repeated miserably to herself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There will be no--no one except ourselves to look forward to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hullo, I must go, or the criminal who drives my tartana will flog that poor beast of a mule to death in his effort to catch the boat. So now, Miss Slade, just please give me a sample of your best good-bye."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, Cascaes, that's you, is it? And I thought once you claimed to be a gentleman, and agreed not to go at me from behind? Well, I'm afraid there's only one kind of medicine that will suit you, and that's the kind one gives to dogs that turn treacherous. Have you got any suggestions to make?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ready to take your gruel, are you? Well, I propose to give you a full dose. Hi there, driver, pull up. Wake, you sleepy head! What is it? Why, I've picked up a passenger whilst you've been nodding, and now we want to get down for a minute. Here, give me your whip."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I may not cure you, said Carter between thumps,"
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The _Liverpool Post_, said Mrs. Craven,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wish it would mind its own business and leave mine alone,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "read Mrs. Craven,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do they couple my name with that?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They leave you to do that yourself,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I don't mind. They may say what they like. I'm entirely within my rights."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The _Post_ admits that. Here, I'll read you what it says, my dear. 'Mr. George Carter, whose name has been so prominently before the public of late in connection with his splendid efforts in winning over the King of Okky to the side of humanity, has himself been the victim of some very high-handed oppression. He has discovered a most valuable vein of tin in a part of the back country where no European explorer had ever trod before, and with toil and care, and in fact with genius, had brought cargo after cargo of the valuable ore down mysterious African creeks and rivers to a spot where the ocean steamers could conveniently ship it. To be precise, he hired from Messrs. Edmondson's small factory on the Smooth River a piece of waste-cleared ground, dumped his ore on that as he towed it tediously down those unknown creeks in a string of dugouts, and there let it accumulate so as not to flood the markets, and cause ruin to the tin industries in England--' Shall I go on?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Please do, Aunt."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sneak, said Miss O'Neill,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wait a minute till I read you a little more. 'We should add that what gives these proceedings a more unpleasant flavor than would appear at first sight is the fact Mr. Carter is unable to defend himself. He had left West Africa when action was first taken, and it has been discovered that he was still in ignorance of what had occurred when his steamer called at Las Palmas. The whole thing will be sprung upon him with a shock of unpleasant surprise when he lands in Liverpool to-morrow."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As usual, my dear, you have carried out your plan very perfectly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What plan?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of treating Mr. Carter so badly, said Mrs. Craven, turning the handle,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Aunt Jane, she said viciously,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Show Mr. Carter this letter, she ordered,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That London? That Miss Head? This is Liverpool, Crewdson. London's just been calling you up. Will you ring Four-owe-seven-three Pad. What's that? No. Four-naught-seven-three Pad. Yes, that's it. Good-night, Miss."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Faugh"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Four-owe-seven-three Pad, please. No, Forty-seventy-three Paddington. Yes. Hullo? Hullo? Is that Four-nought-seven-three? This is Miss O'Neill. Liverpool rang up to say you wanted to speak to me. Who is that, please?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No one you know, came in the small clear voice of the telephone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "One of those sort of people who writes letters to the papers above some such signature as 'Well-Wisher.'"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you don't give me your name, said Kate sharply,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall ring off."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't think you will when I tell you I'm going to give you some news about your father."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My father unfortunately is dead. You've got hold of the wrong Miss O'Neill."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not a bit of it, it's the lady who is known generally as Kate O'Neill I'm speaking with, but whose real name is Katherine Meredith."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Aunt Jane by courtesy and adoption, and had naturally wondered many times over who her real people might have been. She had always been a very practical young woman, and had not worried herself unduly over the matter; but still being human, she had her share of curiosity, and though the subject had always been strictly taboo at the house in Princes' Park, still that did not hinder her from discussing it with her own thoughts. And now,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Katherine Meredith!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think you had better tell me who you are,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I prefer anonymity. Do you know Day-Pearce?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No. Yes, perhaps I do, if you mean Sir Edward Day-Pearce, the West African man. I don't know him personally."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All the better, rasped the telephone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Anyway, he is lecturing to-night in a non-Conformist temple in Westbourne Grove--the Athenæum, they call it. Begins at eight. He's certain to say something about Meredith. I should try to go if I were you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shouldn't dream--"
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My father kept cropping up; and presently she began trying to picture what her mother was like. She went to the telephone and called up a theatre agency. She had to say three times over"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Athenæum--Westbourne Grove"
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where can I get one?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "At the door, madam, was the polite response."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I believe the prices of entrance are threepence, sixpence, and one shilling, unless you happen to be a subscriber."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You've been itching to be rid of me ever since we got back, my dear, and as a general thing you don't in the least mind saying when you want to be alone. I wonder what's in those mysterious papers you're so anxious I shouldn't ask about. Good-night, Kitty dear."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good-night, Aunt Jane,"
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is by a peculiar irony, the type report read,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "[here the reporter had written the word"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Disturbance, and evidently missed the next few sentences]--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't care whether you like it or whether you are decently ashamed, the thing's true. They refused to ratify the treaty, and my poor chief was censured for exceeding instructions. Well, the backers of the high-minded potentate, as I believe they called themselves, got their way, and I wish they were not too ignorant to realize what their mean little action caused in human lives. Putting the human sacrifice in Okky City at the very low estimate of eight thousand a year, in five-and-twenty years that brings the figure up to two hundred thousand black men and women whose blood lies at the door of those unctuous hypocrites who made it their business to break Major Meredith because he was an Imperialist."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Disturbance, but he apparently managed to catch the next sentence."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Aye, you may yap, the old administrator went on,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Disturbance."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Carter-me-lad, said Captain Image, coming into the room,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh! tin's all right. But I've got a constitutional dislike to marching along at the tail of a brass band, that's all. Besides I feel an awful humbug when all these silly stay-at-home people insist on believing that the one and only reason I went up country was to chop down old Kallee's private crucifixion tree. Have a cigar?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not me in here, me lad. I came home from the Islands with the old _M'poso_ full of passengers, and I've smoked myself half sick on cigars. I'll suck at a pipe. By the way, I've got a message for you from Kallee. The old sinner came on board himself when we were lying off Edmondson's factory trying to get your ore, and nearly drank the ship dry before I could get quit of him. Owe-it Slade's been palming off I.O.U.'s on him. He'd got quite a sheaf of them. He says when you marry Laura he'll give them to you as a wedding present, or words to that effect. But in the meanwhile if he can catch Slade he's just going to chop his head off to prevent him putting any more paper into circulation."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, you see, me lad, Slade owes our fo'c'sle shop a matter of four pounds odd which we can't collect, and he's got a Holland gun of mine that I shouldn't really like to lose. Besides, come to thinking of it, I suppose Laura's fond of him anyway. Couldn't you do something for him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Has he left O'Neill and Craven's, then?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, no, and you'll have to pay to get him away."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But what mortal use is he to me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Rubber palaver. Owe-it Slade's the smartest man at dem rubber palaver on the Coast."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pooh! That slackster!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's where you're making the usual mistake. Slade's got his faults. He wastes his money, he never pays his bills, he sponges for all eternity, and he makes out he was born lazy. But don't you believe him. Who got Miss Kate all these rubber properties that she's floated off into such whacking big companies?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Miss Kate O'Neill."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No more than you did, me lad. It was just Owe-it Slade. And to think, Captain Image added with a sigh,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I always put that man down as a borrowing waster, and never even hustled him to collect cargo for me. Why, if I'd known then what I know now, I could have bought rubber lands through him, for a half surf boat full of gin, that I might have sold to a company myself, and dined off turkey in my own house ashore every day for all the rest of my natural life. Why, my Christian Aunt! I might even have married, if I'd worked him properly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You buy up Owe-it Slade, me lad, and not only is your fortune made, but--well, he added rather lamely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But--what were you going to say?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Image desperately,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I didn't intend to tell you, but all up and down the Coast, and in the hotels in Las Palmas, and even in the bars and offices here, the boys don't like the way Miss Kate is playing it on you. It's all right for a girl to take to business, if she's built that way, but she ought to play the game. Of course the general idea is, me lad, that you and she started sweet-hearting and had a turn-up, but of course I'm in the know, and I've called 'em dam' liars every time they've started that tale, and told 'em about Laura and how you were fixed up long before Miss Kate came down onto the Coast. Why, Carter-me-lad, I've backed up my words with bets to that extent that if you were to marry the lady now by any kind of accident, I should stand to lose what with one fiver and another, a matter of two hundred and fifty pounds."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That puts it finally out of the region of possibility, doesn't it? I can't let you lose a pile like that. But all the same I'm not going to interfere with Miss O'Neill. If Slade's useful to her, let her keep him. I'm much obliged to a lot of officious idiots for sympathizing with me, but really they're moving on a lot too fast. It will be quite time for other people to be sorry for me when I start in to be sorry for myself. Besides, I thought you, at any rate, were a strong admirer of Miss O'Neill's?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am, said Captain Image patiently. He always flattered himself that he left the more eloquent parts of his speech at Sierra Leone on each trip north, and picked them up again there next voyage for vigorous use on the Coast. It was his pride that he conformed most suitably to Liverpool's sedate atmosphere."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I admire Miss Kate as a lady more than anyone I know, and if she were only twenty years older, and I could afford it, I wouldn't mind going in for her myself. But it's her business ideas, as she showed them over that factory of Edmondson's, that I can't stand. The way she stuck up the rent on you, me lad, is the limit. Why, if that sort of thing went on, nobody would be safe. It's Oil-Trust morals. I'm Welsh myself, but I do draw the line somewhere."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What, Welsh? said Carter politely."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should never have guessed it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am, said Captain Image with sturdy truth,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We'll drop Slade. He's Miss O'Neill's man. If Miss O'Neill chooses to amuse herself by gunning for me, that's her concern. But I don't shoot back."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, me lad, if you won't lift a hand to help yourself, I don't see there's anything more to be said. He put his pipe in his pocket, stood up and prepared to go."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, by the way, did anyone tell you about old Swizzle-Stick Smith?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not dead, is he?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lord bless you, no, me lad. Very much the reverse. Look here, what was your idea of that man?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In what way?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What was he before he became the disreputable old palm oil ruffian you first knew at Malla-Nulla?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, I suppose he was less disreputable once. He'd let himself drift, that's all. One does get into frightfully slack ways in those lonely factories."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Did he strike you as the usual type of man a factory agent's made of?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, no."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gentleman, wasn't he, or had been once? Always used to hitch up the knees of his pyjamas when he sat down; spoke well; knew Latin; could swear round any man on the Coast when he was that side out; and had a pleasant way of making you feel you were dirt when the mood took him that way?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He had some characteristic little ways."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ever strike you he'd been a soldier once?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose it did."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I bet you boiled."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The rum part of it is, I didn't. Somehow I took the man at his own valuation. There didn't seem anything else left to do. He went into my chart house, and sat there as solid as if he'd been the governor of a colony with six letters after his name. Just drank one cocktail and took three swallows at it, I'll trouble you, and actually left a second to stand by itself on the tray. When I handed him the tobacco tin to see if he'd got that frowsy old pipe in his pocket, I'm hanged if he didn't pull out a book of cigarette papers and roll himself a smoke with those. Well, me lad, when I remembered Swizzle-Stick Smith's opinion of cigarettes, you might have knocked me down with a teaspoon."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He scared me out of cigarette smoking at Malla-Nulla, said Carter."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He was pretty emphatic over the weak-kneed crowd (as he called them) who only smoked cigarettes. But why all this revolution in Mr. Smith's habits? Did he give any reason for it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's the amazing thing, he didn't--at least not a proper reason. He just let me see that the new Mr. Smith--I got to calling him Major, by the way--was no relation to the Swizzle-Stick Smith that was, and then went back over the side to his boat."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose, said Carter thoughtfully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, you don't think I'd keep a choice bit like that to myself, said Captain Image."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Naturally I spread the news, though I certainly didn't tell all the Coast, as I've told you, the way that the late Swizzle-Stick Smith made me feel second man in my own chart house. But that man doesn't need any advertising; the most genial drunk wouldn't take liberties with him, and you'd fall into calling him Major yourself if you sat with him for ten minutes. My Christian Aunt! just think what a filthy old palm oil ruffian he used to be."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Did he give any reason for pulling up?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, I asked him that. Managed to slip it in, you know. And he answered as dry as you please, 'Urgent private affairs, Captain Image,' and then tagged on some Latin, which, as he remarked would be the case, I didn't understand. You know, me lad, said the sailor thoughtfully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose, said Carter,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As to that, said Image,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can't say, me lad; but this I can tell you, the Major's what he calls 'sent in his papers' to O'Neill and Craven's."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The deuce he has. What on earth for?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can't tell you. Old Crewdson gave me the news. I said to him I didn't suppose the loss of Swizzle-Stick Smith, even now that he had changed himself into Major Smith, would make their firm put up the shutters. But Crewdson wouldn't take it as a joke. He told me Miss Kate was very sorry indeed to lose him, and had herself written to ask him to come and see her here in England. Now, me lad, what's her game in that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I didn't know, said Carter resolutely,"
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hullo, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And then aloud,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anybody here?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, I'm the driver, and I'm here bathing my confounded wrist."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Had a smash? Can I help? What is it? Bone broken?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, only a bad sprain --the man peered at Carter through the dusk and added"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your car seems to be standing up all right on her four wheels. How did you get pitched out?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, it wasn't that sort of an accident. She was misfiring badly, and then she stopped. When I tried to start her again, she back-fired on me and I thought my arm had gone. It's the jet in the carburetter that's choked, I believe, but I can't take the thing down with one hand."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I could, Carter thought, and remembered certain episodes with his own first motor boat in Africa. But he did not mention this aloud."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Owner gone for help?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, sir. But there's none round here. At least there's no such thing as a mechanic within twenty miles. A hay-motor and a tow to the nearest barn is the best one can expect."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where's your tool kit?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But do you understand motors, sir?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I had to. Just unship a light, and hold it with your sound hand so that I can see what I'm about. That's the ticket. You're sure it's the carburetter? Tried your spark and all four plugs?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, sir, both the magneto and high tension. That's all right. She's getting no gas; that's the trouble. It's the gasolene feed that's choked somewhere. I saw the fellow that filled us up this morning pour in from a red-rusty tin before I could stop him, and it'll be a flake of oxide from that jammed in the carburetter nozzle. If you could take it down for us, sir, I'm sure it would be a very great favor."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wait a bit. Before we begin to pull the car to pieces, suppose we just make sure of one or two other things. Got a stick or anything to sound your gasolene tank with?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, that's all right. We haven't run sixty miles since I put in eight gallons."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Moses! said the driver,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, there's the union underneath the tank half unscrewed. That would account for the leak, anyway. Here, hold the lamp. Not too close. Yes, and the vibration has cracked the feed pipe. There's a gap I can get my finger nail into. Now, first of all, have you got any spare gasolene?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, sir. Two tins."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good. Then it's worth while mending this feed pipe. I suppose you haven't a soldering iron?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Afraid not, sir. There's rubber solution----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Which gasolene melts. Here, let's go through your stock. Ah, here's a tube of seccotine. Now I'll show you a conjuring trick. If we give the crack three coats of that, and let each dry well before the next is put on--Good Lord! Kate!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's really very good of you, Mr. Carter, to trouble over my car."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I didn't know it was yours. I didn't know you were in this neighborhood. In fact I did not know where you were."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Didn't some sapient person once record that coincidences were the commonest things in life? A minute ago I didn't know whether you were in England, or West Africa, or Grand Canary; and you didn't know or care whether I was alive or dead; and here we meet in the dark on an unnamed roadside in Wales. It's just one of those ordinary, every-day, impossible coincidences, which the vogue of motor cars is making a little more common than usual. I'm glad you're letting business differences sink for the moment."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I didn't know it was your car."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Or you'd have bitten off your hand sooner than have touched it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm afraid I should have yielded to the temptation of meddling. You see, internal combustion engines are rather a fad of mine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Excellent reason. How long is this ingenious repair going to take?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "H'm; three coats of seccotine--have to allow each twenty minutes to dry--call it an hour. After that I think if we couple up the union, and put in the spare gasolene your man says he's got, you should go sailing off without a hitch. By the way, I didn't know you motored."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm full of unpleasant surprises."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, Cascaes, for instance."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, why shouldn't I open up an O'Neill and Craven agency in Las Palmas, pray?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No reason whatever. I wasn't referring to Cascaes' business abilities."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Wagner, said Miss O'Neill to her man,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you'm, said the driver, and marched off into the night. They stared after him till the sound of his footfalls on the hard road died away, and then said Miss O'Neill,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why doesn't Mr. Cascaes answer when I cable?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You can hardly expect me to overlook the work of your Las Palm as agency."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't quibble. Do you know why he is silent?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can make a guess."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, go on."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He's probably too busy picking aloe thorns out of his carcass to find time for writing cables."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, so you threw him into an aloe hedge, did you? What did Laura say to that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, as she knew nothing about it, she naturally did not comment."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I see; and did Mr. Cascaes object?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not obtrusively. He took the best licking I ever gave to man or dog without a whimper, and when I tossed him amongst those aloe hooks, he lay there just as he fell."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Keen on motoring?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am, yes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm taking a light four-cylinder back to the Islands with me."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They'd some Okky war horns on the wall of their draw-ing-room, and I told them I'd a very fine one on mine, and so naturally we got to talking 'Coast.' They've a son out there--or to be more accurate, they had, because he seems to be in England now--and they're a good deal troubled about him. He keeps on making excuses instead of going to see them. Mrs. Parson, who by the way is a perfect dear, said they were afraid he had done something foolish and was shy about coming home----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I'm pretty certain the prodigal would have no trouble with her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But the Parson? He said nothing about providing veal, I suppose?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He did not. To be precise he confined his conversation to roses, and the dale, and a very charming old gentleman he was."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As you may guess, said Carter savagely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't thank you for going to inspect my people like that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't recollect, said Miss O'Neill with much sweetness,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think that crack in the gasolene pipe will stand another coat of seccotine now,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It seems a pity,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't see what business it is of yours anyway,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, but surely it's my car that you're so kindly working at. And I do think it's a pity you should have all that trouble with that nasty, smelling, sticky seccotine, when it will all have to be scratched off to-morrow, and the hole soldered up."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You didn't mean that in the least, but I'll own up you drew me smartly enough. It is a pity--I mean the other thing--I love the dale, and I'm about as fond as a man can be of my people. But when you're in love with a girl, and you've promised to marry her, well, other things have to slide."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, love, said Kate thoughtfully."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wonder what being in love is really like? I must try it some day as an experience. It seems to alter one's obligations. I should like you to hear my friend the Parson on obligations."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can tell you his creed in the matter as he taught it to me as far back as I can remember. The rule, according to him, is: First, keep your word; second, go on keeping it; third, don't let any other considerations whatever interfere with your keeping it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Spartan, simple, admirable, said Kate, and then could have bitten out her tongue for sending the words past her lips. She took Carter's hand impulsively enough, and,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I beg your pardon for that, she said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I may think you're a fool, but I know you are also the most honorable man alive."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Our Mr. Cascaes cables that he this morning married a Miss Laura Slade, and on her insistence hereby tenders us his resignation."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Aunt Jane, I am sorry, but a very important matter has turned up which drags me off to Liverpool for the day."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm rejoiced at your news. Go and make it up with him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It isn't that at all, aunt. Or only partly. But I must go."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's no train now till mid-day."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shall motor down to Carnforth and cut off the 10.38 there."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you don't break your neck in the process, you'll land in gaol for excessive speed, said the old lady;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "she added dryly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm sure you'd prefer even one of those alternatives to staying sensibly here with me, and waiting for a train in the decent course of things. There, run along, Kitty, and get your things on, and I'll go and incite Wagner."
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Six-and-twenty miles to Carnforth, she reckoned,"
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, she said lightly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, he said heavily,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Have you paid for your passage?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, of course. Why?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because I'm afraid you will waste it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You had no cable from Las Palmas during the last two days?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No. Have you? What are you driving at?"
}
]
|
55962 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My God! Laura married. Married! Let me think what this means!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you. Those are the ones I want. Please tie them up for me. Here's a sovereign."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think my people will be glad when they hear."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They are both very fond of me,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That, said Carter,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But what about your baggage?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, bother the baggage. White-Man's-Trouble has it somewhere, and he'll jump overboard if he finds I'm not on the ship. There's no shaking off that boy, Kitty dear, so I'm afraid you'll have to take him along with me when you cease to be Kitty O'Neill."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "George, do you know I've got a great secret for you. I'm not Kitty O'Neill at all. I'm Kitty Meredith."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As a point of fact I gathered that from your father. From what old Cappie Image told me, 'Major Smith,' as he calls him, will be home in time to give you away on your wedding day. But I shouldn't trouble to call yourself Kate Meredith, if I were you, sweetheart. When you do practise a new signature let it be Kitty Carter."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As the deepest of secrets, let me tell you that I can write it quite well already, though I have been desperately afraid I should never have the luck to use it."
}
]
|
747270 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never Again!"
}
]
|
804265 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Enlightened"
}
]
|
720429 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So, she said,"
}
]
|
497468 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dear my lord,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, what do you think of that, cried my friend, Arthur Wilcox,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Our grandchildren, said Arthur,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not our grandchildren, but we ourselves,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We ourselves? said Wilcox, laughing at me,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Russians said the same thing: Look at the dwarfs."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "At this spot and at this moment a new epoch in the world's history will begin, and you will all be able to say that you were present."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For God's sake, do leave me in peace with your damned yellow monkeys!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As you like, colonel. I shall give up arguing with you, returned Lieutenant Commander Harryman curtly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You won't allow yourself to be warned."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Warned--that's not the question. But this desire of yours to scent Japanese intrigues everywhere, to figure out all politics by the Japanese common denominator, and to see a Japanese spy in every coolie is becoming a positive mania. No, I can't agree with you there,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Really not?"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He's a spy, too, I suppose?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course. Did you ever imagine him to be anything else?"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's awful! groaned Colonel McCabe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This damned hole is enough to make one childish. I shall go crazy soon. And then he cracked his standing joke of the evening:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My daily morning prayer is: 'Let it soon be evening, O God; the morrow will come of itself.'"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Any cable news, Parrington?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not a word, yawned Parrington;"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This tropical hell is enough to set one crazy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No news of the fleet, either?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Positively nothing, either by wire or wireless. It seems as though the rest of the world had sunk into a bottomless pit. Not a single word has reached us from the outer world for six days."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you believe in the seaquake?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why not?"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All the same, it's a queer state of affairs. Our home cable snaps between Guam and here, the Hong-Kong cable won't work, and even our island wire has been put out of commission; it must have been a pretty violent catastrophe--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Exactly, rang out a voice;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Account for it! cried Colonel Webster, in a thundering voice."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Our comrade of the illustrious navy of the United States of America has only one explanation for everything: his Japanese logarithms, by means of which he figures out everything. Now we shall hear that this seaquake can be traced to Japanese villainy, probably brought about by Japanese divers, or even submarine boats."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But seriously, Harryman, began the colonel again,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, answered Harryman curtly;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, my good Harryman, you have hallucinations, interrupted the colonel."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Japanese captain gave the latest Hong-Kong papers to the Harbor Bureau, and was quite astonished to hear that our cable did not work----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When he was going to send a cablegram to Hong-Kong,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To announce his arrival at Manila,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And the Hong-Kong papers had already published descriptions of the destruction caused by the seaquake, of the tidal waves, and the accidents to ships,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The news being of especial interest to this archipelago, where we have the misfortune to be and where we noticed nothing of the whole affair,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You don't mean to imply, broke in the colonel,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't know, I'm sure, said Harryman."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hong-Kong papers are no criterion for me. And then he added quietly:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, man is great, and the newspaper is his prophet."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But you can't dispute the fact that a seaquake may have taken place, when you consider the striking results as shown by the cable interruptions which we have been experiencing for the last six days,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Have we really? said Harryman."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you quite sure of it? So far the only authority we have for this supposed seaquake is a Japanese captain--whom, by the way, I am having sharply watched--and a bundle of worthless Hong-Kong newspapers. And as for the rest of my hallucinations --he jumped down from the window-sill and, going up to Webster, held out a sheet of paper toward him--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm in the habit of using other sources of information than the English-Japanese fingerposts."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is it? Do you understand it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, snapped Harryman."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "These little pictures portray our war of extermination against the red man. They are terribly exaggerated and distorted, which was not at all necessary, by the way, for the events of that war do not add to the fame of our nation. Up here, explained Harryman, while several officers, among them the colonel, stepped up to the table,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where did you get the scrawl?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you want me to procure hundreds, thousands like it for you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You understand Japanese?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tagala also,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you mean to say that thousands----?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Millions of these pictures, with Japanese and Malayan text, are being circulated in the Philippines,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Under our eyes?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Under our eyes, replied Harryman, smiling,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have misjudged you, he said heartily."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I belong to your party from now on."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It isn't a question of party, answered Harryman warmly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you think, asked Colonel McCabe,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That question cannot be answered unless you know who gave the document to the Shanghai paper, and what object he had in doing so,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How do you mean?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, continued Harryman,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The document was therefore not genuine?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Think it over. What was it that the supposed plan of attack set forth? A Japanese invasion of Manila with the fleet and a landing force of eighty thousand men, and then, following the example of Cuba, an insurrection of the natives, which would gradually exhaust our troops, while the Japanese would calmly settle matters at sea, Roschestwenski's tracks being regarded as a sufficient scare for our admirals."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That would no doubt be the best course to pursue in an endeavor to pocket the Philippines, answered the colonel thoughtfully;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Quite so, continued Harryman quickly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What on earth does she want in addition?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The _mastery of the Pacific_,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Commercial mastery? asked Parrington,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No; political, too, and with solid foundations,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And if it was not genuine? began Colonel McCabe again, hoarsely. He cleared his throat and repeated the question in a low tone of voice:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And if it was not genuine?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then it would be a trap for us to have us secure our information from the wrong quarter,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A trap into which we are rushing at full speed,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What did you say? asked Parrington, jumping up and looking from Webster to Harryman, neither of whom, however, volunteered a reply."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We are stumbling into a trap?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Two regiments, said Webster, more to himself than to the others. And then, turning to Harryman, he asked briskly:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When are the transports expected to arrive?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The steamers with two regiments on board left 'Frisco on April 10th, therefore--he counted the days on his fingers--they should be here by now."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, they were to go straight to Mindanao,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Straight to Mindanao? Colonel McCabe meditated silently. Then, as though waking up suddenly, he went on:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And the cable has not been working for six days----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Exactly, interrupted Parrington,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Harryman, said Colonel McCabe seriously,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He pressed the electric button, and the boy appeared at the door behind him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Some soda, Pailung!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Parrington, are you coming? I ordered my boat for ten o'clock,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As early as this, Harryman? remonstrated Webster."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll be on board your boat quite soon enough, or do you want to keep a night watch also on your Japanese of the-- What sort of a Maru was it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, nonsense! growled Webster ill-humoredly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A creature like that doesn't see or hear a thing."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Harryman, he said, repeating his former question,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know, I really don't know, said Harryman nervously. Then, seizing Parrington's hands, he continued hurriedly, but in a low voice:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "For days I have been living as if in a trance. It is as if I were lying in the delirium of fever; my head burns and my thoughts always return to the same spot, boring and burrowing; I feel as though a horrible eye were fixed on me from whose glance I cannot escape. I feel that I may at any moment awake from the trance, and that the awakening will be still more dreadful."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're feverish, Harryman; you're ill, and you'll infect others. You must take some quinine."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He certainly has no fever which quinine will not cure."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Send this signal across to Corregidor: 'We are going to relieve the wireless telegraph detachment at Mariveles, and shall call at Corregidor on our way back.'"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A ship at last, said Parrington."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let's wait and see what sort of a craft it is."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "About four thousand tons, but she has no flag. We can soon remedy that. And turning to the signalman he added:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ask her to show her colors."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is certainly kind of them to send us a boat, said Parrington."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wonder what they want, anyhow."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mines, my dear sir, mines? There are no mines here."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You have no mines?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Parrington."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is not our custom to blockade our harbors with mines except in time of war."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In time of war? said the German, who did not appear to comprehend Parrington's answer."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But you are at war."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We, at war? returned Parrington, utterly disconcerted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And with whom, if I may be allowed to ask?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It seems to me that the matter is too serious to be a subject for jesting,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's clear that we don't understand each other. What's up?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am here to inform you, answered the German sharply and decisively,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have run the blockade? shouted Parrington, in a state of the greatest excitement."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You have run the blockade, man? What the deuce do you mean?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I mean, answered the German coolly,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, he repeated,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then the cable disturbances-- He stopped, then continued disjointedly:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But this is terrible; this is a surprise such as we-- I beg your pardon, he went on in a firm voice to the German,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am sure I need not assure you that your communication has taken me completely by surprise. Not a soul in Manila has any idea of all this. The cable disturbances of the last six days were explained to us by a Japanese steamer as being the result of a volcanic outbreak, and since then, through the interruption of all connections, we have been completely shut off from the outside world. If Japan, in defiance of all international law, has declared war, we here in Manila have noticed nothing of it, except, perhaps, for the entire absence, during the last few days, of the regular steamers and, indeed, of all trading ships, a circumstance that appeared to some of us rather suspicious. But excuse me, we must act at once. Please remain on board."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "At last! He seized the war-signal code and ran upstairs to the bridge, shouting to the signalman:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Signal to Corregidor: 'War-signal code, important communication.' Then he himself, hastily turning over the leaves of the book, called out the signals and had them hoisted. Then he shouted to the man at the helm:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tell them not to spare the engines."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can that be another of their devilish tricks?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Possibly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Parrington, what's all this about?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's true, every word of it, roared the latter through the megaphone."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Japanese are attacking us, and the German steamer over there is the first to bring us news of it. War broke out six days ago."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Here's my witness, shouted Parrington across to Colonel Prettyman,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll join you on board, answered Prettyman."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I've just despatched the news to Manila by wireless. Of course they won't believe it there."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then you've done a very stupid thing, cried Parrington, horrified."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Look there, he added, pointing to the cloud above the harbor of Manila;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Cost Harryman, on board the _Monadnock_, his life?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm afraid so, answered Parrington."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Japanese steamer which brought us the news of the famous seaquake has been anchored beside him for four days. When you sent your wireless message to Manila, the Japanese must have intercepted it, for they have a wireless apparatus on board--I noticed it only this morning."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Won't you at least pay those cursed Japs back by sending the message, 'We suspect that the Japanese steamer anchored beside the _Monadnock_ has blown her up by means of a torpedo?' Otherwise it is just possible that they will be naïve enough in Manila to let the scoundrel get out of the harbor. No, no, he shouted, interrupting himself,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "--turning to the German--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--here his voice broke--"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, it is the Japanese steamer, said Parrington to himself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And now to avenge Harryman! There'll be no sentimentality; we'll shoot them down like pirates! No signal, no warning--nothing, nothing!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stand by with the forward gun,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Five hundred yards! Aim at the engine room! Number one gun, fire!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Splendid! cried Parrington."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Keep that up and we'll have the villain in ten shots."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Cease firing!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nippon Yusen Kaisha"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They're too far away,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "From Colonel Pemberton to his friend Colonel Hawkins."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, he declared, vaunting his diplomatic knowledge,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I thought, interrupted a wealthy young lady from Chicago,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I thought we had some ships in the Philippines."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't you think it's likely that Japan will try first of all to get possession of the prize she has been longing for ever since the Peace of Paris?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know as little as anyone else not in diplomatic circles what the plans and hopes of the Japanese Government are, but I do think there is not the slightest prospect of an outbreak of hostilities in the near future; there is, accordingly, not much sense in trying to imagine what might happen in case of a war,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There are only two possibilities, said the English merchant from Shanghai, one of the chief stockholders of the line, who sat next to the captain."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "According to my experience --and here he paused in order to draw the attention of his listeners to this experience--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "he repeated,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "--and here he threw an encouraging glance at the captain--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And at the same time they are pouring into our country in droves by way of the Mexican frontier,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That leaves only the islands of the Pacific, the Philippines, and perhaps Australia, continued the Shanghai merchant undisturbed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In any such endeavors Japan would of course have to reckon with the States and with England. The other possibility, that of providing employment and support for the ever-increasing population within the borders of their own country, would be to organize large Japanese manufacturing interests. Many efforts have already been made in this direction, but, owing to the enormous sums swallowed up by the army and navy, the requisite capital seems to be lacking."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In my opinion, interposed the captain at this juncture,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must not believe everything you see in the papers, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If the Japanese were only better farmers, nobody in Japan need go hungry; there is no question of her being overpeopled, and this mania for emigration is nothing but a disease, a fashion, of which the government at Tokio, to be sure, makes very good use for political purposes. Whoever speaks in all seriousness of Japan's being overpeopled is merely quoting newspaper editorials, and is not acquainted with the conditions of the country."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But one can distinguish between a Jap and a Chinaman at a glance, interrupted the son of a New York multi-millionaire sitting opposite him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I could never understand why the Japanese spies are so overrated."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you can tell one from the other, you are more observant than the ordinary mortal, remarked the Englishman dryly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can't for one, and if you'll look me up in Shanghai, I'll give myself the pleasure of putting you to the test. I'll invite a party of Chinamen and ask you to pick out from among them a Japanese naval officer who has been in Shanghai for a year and a half on a secret, I had better say, a perfectly open mission."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll lose your bet, said the captain to the New Yorker,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But the Japanese don't wear pigtails,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Those Japanese do wear pigtails,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What's up? said the captain, looking involuntarily towards the entrance to the dining-saloon."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What's up? We're only going at half speed."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We're not moving, said some one near the center of the table."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We can't have arrived this soon."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Perhaps we have met a disabled ship, said a young French girl;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is the third time on my way to Japan that we have run into a fog just before entering the harbor; the last time it made us a day and a half late. I tell you it was no joke to sit in that gray mist with nothing to do but wait for the fog to lift----"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But we're not moving yet, said a young woman about ten minutes later to her husband, with whom she was taking a honeymoon trip round the world,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Warren, I shall ask you to see that the passengers are not unnecessarily alarmed; let the band play a few pieces, and see that the dinner proceeds quietly. Make a short speech in my stead, tell the passengers what a pleasant time we have all had on this voyage, and say a few words of farewell to them for me. We've been signaled by a Japanese warship, he continued,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Halloo, said the captain,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is carrying the joke a little too far. What does it all mean? cried the captain of the _Tacoma_, starting to pull the man with the lantern back from the railing. But the Japanese officer laid his hand firmly on his right arm and said in a decisive tone:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Captain, in the name of the Japanese Government I declare the American steamer _Tacoma_ a lawful prize and her whole crew prisoners of war."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must be crazy; we have nothing to do with the Japanese naval maneuvers, and I shall have to ask you not to carry your maneuver game too far. If you must have naval maneuvers, please practice on your own merchant vessels and leave neutral ships alone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am very sorry, captain, to have to correct your impression that this is part of our maneuvers. Japan is at war with the United States of America, and every merchantman flying the American flag is from now on a lawful prize."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Star Spangled Banner."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Star Spangled Banner"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I must ask you, said the Japanese officer to the captain,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You will remain in command on the bridge for the next four hours, when you will be relieved by the first mate. Meanwhile the latter can acquaint the passengers with the altered circumstances. And, waving his hand toward the first mate, who had listened in silent rage, he added:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Please, sir!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hardy, go down and tell the passengers that the _Tacoma_, through an unheard-of, treacherous surprise, has fallen into the hands of a Japanese cruiser, but that the passengers, on whose account we are obliged to submit to this treatment, need not be startled, for they and all their possessions will be landed safely at Yokohama to-morrow morning."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Halloo, when are we going on?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We must drink your health, called several, holding their glasses towards him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where's the captain?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Be quiet! Listen! Mr. Hardy is going to speak----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's high time we heard something from the captain, called out a stout German brewer from Milwaukee over the heads of the others."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Three cheers for Mr. Hardy! came from one corner of the room."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Three cheers for Mr. Hardy! shouted the passengers on the other side, and all joined in the chorus:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "For he is a jolly good fellow."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do let Mr. Hardy speak,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Silence!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "First give Mr. Hardy something to drink!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Shocking! said an English lady quite distinctly;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The captain wishes me to tell you that the _Tacoma_ has just been captured by a Japanese cruiser. The United States of America are said to be at war with Japan. There is a Japanese guard on board, which has occupied all the companionways. The captain requests the passengers to submit quietly to the inevitable. You will all be landed safely at Yokohama early to-morrow and--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Three cheers for the captain! came the ringing shout from one of the end tables, to be repeated in different parts of the room. The German brewer shook with laughter and exclaimed:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's a splendid joke of the captain's; he ought to have a medal for it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stop your nonsense,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, but really, that's a famous joke, persisted the latter."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've never enjoyed myself so much on a trip before."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Be quiet, man; it's a serious matter."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ha! ha! You've been taken in, too, have you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm going to get my revolver; I guess we can handle those chaps, and several others joined in with"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, yes, we'll get our revolvers and chuck the yellow monkeys overboard!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Really, gentlemen, the affair is serious; it's not a joke, as some of you gentlemen seem to think; you may take my word for it that it is no laughing matter."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's not a joke at all; the Japanese are stationed up there with loaded rifles."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "On the captain's behalf I must beg the passengers not to attempt any resistance. Your life and safety are guaranteed by the word of the captain and the bearing of our crew, who have also been forced to submit to the inevitable. I beg you all to remain here and to await the further orders of the captain. There is no danger so long as no resistance is offered; we are in the hands of the Japanese navy, and must accustom ourselves to the altered circumstances."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nine o'clock already, he mumbled, and refilling his pipe from a greasy paper-bag, he lighted it and puffed out clouds of bluish smoke into the clear air of the hot May morning. Then he looked at the position of the sun and verified the fact that his nickel watch had stopped again. The shaky little house hung like a chance knot in an endless wire in the middle of the glittering double row of rails that stretched from east to west across the flowery prairie. It looked like a ridiculous freak in the midst of the wide desert, for nowhere, so far as the eye could reach, was it possible to discover a plausible excuse for the washed-out inscription"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Swallowtown"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Halloo, Tom!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Halloo, Winston! was the answer;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Going over to Pendleton."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You're early; the express hasn't passed yet,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who's that with you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nelly's brother-in-law, Bill Parker,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Won't the gentleman do me the honor of having a drink on me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "All right,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, the ring's gone, said Tom."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Bob Cratchit's horses walked off with it yesterday. You can hunt for it out there somewhere if you want to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come on, fellows!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I guess he's found a gopher,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The express ought to pass in about ten minutes,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't let them run away from you, warned Tom;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nothing like that! said Bill Parker, glancing again through the open window,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He was willing to give twenty dollars, was he?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Here's how, gentlemen!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Excuse me a minute, answered the latter;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I want to look after my--"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hands up, gentlemen!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What are you gentlemen after?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Which of you gentlemen is the station-master? Tom lowered his shaving-cup and took a step forward, whereupon he was at once halted by the sharp command:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hands up!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The damned gang, growled Tom to himself;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Has the express passed yet?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No? I thought it was due at 9.30. The highwayman looked at his watch."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Past ten already, he said to himself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And when is the local train from Umatilla expected?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It ought to be here at 10.30."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The express goes through without stopping, doesn't it? began the other again."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good! Now you go out as if nothing had happened and let the express pass! The other two will remain here in the meantime and my men will see that they don't stir. One move and you can arrange your funeral for to-morrow."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They're Japs."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you move you'll die on the spot."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What signal is that? Where is the express now?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Go out on the platform!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Halloo! Where are you going? shouted the leader to him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't you dare go five steps beyond the station house!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stand straight in front of the station and let the train pass!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nearer to the house--right against the wall!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The station has been attacked by Japs."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where from? What for? Tom only cried:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Save the two others; they're shut up in the station! More people collected round him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Quick, quick! he cried."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Run the train back and try to save them!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tell us where it is! Tell us where they are!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where are the robbers?"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This morning, at ten o'clock, the station Swallowtown, on the Oregon line, was surprised by bandits. They captured the station in order to hold up the express train to Umatilla. The plot was frustrated by the decisive action of the station official, who jumped on the passing train and warned the passengers. Unfortunately, the robbers succeeded in escaping, but the Umatilla police have started in pursuit. The majority of the bandits are said to have been Japanese."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Japanese Bandits--A Danger no longer Confined to the Frontier, but Stalking about in the Heart of the Country, --he was just on the point of setting off Tom's brave deed against the rascality of the bandits, when another package of telegrams was laid on the table. He was going to push them irritably aside when his glance fell on the top telegram, which began with the words,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This morning at ten o'clock the station at Connell, Wash., was attacked by robbers, who----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hm! said John Halifax,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He turned over a few more telegrams; the next message began:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This morning at eleven o'clock-- and the two following ones:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This morning at twelve o'clock--"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A Gang of Train-Robbers at Work in Washington,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There isn't any reason why Harry Springley shouldn't go on with those old train-robbers, he grumbled;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't see what they want of me, but I suppose the stupid fellow doesn't know what to do, as usual."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I believe this means war!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "John Halifax, we're not making war on Japan."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But they're making war on us,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you mean to imply that the Japanese are surprising us?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Exactly, and it makes no difference whether you believe it or not,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Japanese fleet is lying off the Pacific coast, there's no doubt about that,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And, what's more, they're right in our country,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who? The fleet?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, the enemy, answered Halifax coldly;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But if you really mean it, began the editor again,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Japanese outposts,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, yes, the Japanese outposts, if you wish; if they have succeeded in destroying all railway connections with the West, then the enemy is no longer off our coast, but----"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "According to uncertain dispatches, Sunday's attacks on trains were not made by gangs of robbers, but by detachments of Japanese troops, who have suddenly and in the most incomprehensible manner sprung up all over the country. Not only have single stations on the Union Pacific line been seized, but whole towns have been occupied by hostile regiments, the inhabitants having been taken so completely by surprise, that no resistance could be offered. The rumor of a battle between the Japanese ships and the coast defences at San Francisco has gained considerable currency. The concerted attacks on the various trans-continental lines have cut off the western States entirely from telegraphic communication and in addition interrupted all railway traffic."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Gentlemen, I fear this means war."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This means war, he repeated softly. Mechanically he took up his pen with the intention of putting his thoughts on paper, but not a line, not a word could he produce under the stress of these whirling sensations. Unable to construct a single sentence, he drew circles and meaningless figures on the white paper, scribbled insignificant words, only to cross them out immediately afterwards, and repeated again and again:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This means war."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Will Harriman sell? No, he'll buy, of course he'll buy; he'd be an idiot if he didn't. Of course he'll buy, and Gould and Stillman will buy, too. Well, there'll be a fine tussle in Wall Street to-day."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This fiendish plot of the yellow curs seems to be a pretty clever one, he murmured;"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When Mr. Gerald Hanbury returns, tell him I want to see him immediately. The Indian disappeared, and Mr. Hanbury sat down on his desk, folded his hands under his knees, and swung his feet to and fro, puffing out the smoke of his pipe from between his teeth."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If only the boy won't spoil everything with his ridiculous altruistic ideas-- Ah, Gerald, there you are!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Did you send for me, father?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sit down, my boy,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, father, what do you think of it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Think of it? What do _you_ think of it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Isn't it awful, this sudden attack on our country? Isn't it awful the way we have been taken by surprise? Think of it, three of our States in the enemy's hands!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We'll soon get them back, don't worry about that,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Have you read the orders for mobilization?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I haven't read them, and don't intend to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Colonel Smiles told me just now that it will not be possible to dispatch our troops to the West in less than three weeks. Fortunately there are about a dozen ships of the Pacific fleet off the west coast, and they will be able to attack the Japanese in the rear."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If there's still time, supplemented his father."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anyhow, we can leave these matters to others. It's none of our business; they can attend to all that at Washington. War is purely and simply a question of finances so far as the United States is concerned, and it's as plain as day that we can hold out ten times longer than those yellow monkeys. That the money will be forthcoming goes without saying; Congress will do all that is needed in that direction, and the subscriptions for the war-loan will show that we are fully prepared along that line. So let us drop that subject. The question is, what shall we do? What do you propose doing with our factory during the war?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Go on working, of course, father."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Go on working--that is to say, produce surplus stock. If we go on working we shall have goods on our hands which no one will buy, and be compelled to store them. Ironclads, cannon, powder, uniforms, guns, these are the things for which there is a demand now; whisky, too, will be bought and bread will be baked, and the meat trust will make money hand over fist; but do you suppose the United States Government is going to buy our pianos to play tunes to the soldiers?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But what about our workmen?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, our workmen, said the old gentleman, jumping energetically off the desk and standing before his son with his legs wide apart and his hands in his pockets:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Our workmen--that brings us to your favorite subject, to which you devote your entire time and interest! He transferred his pipe into the right-hand corner of his mouth and continued:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I intend to dismiss our workmen, my boy, and shut up shop; we couldn't earn a cent more even if we kept the machines going. Besides, our Government needs soldiers now, not workmen. Let your dear workmen shoulder their guns and march to the West. When I was your age, and starting in with one hundred and fifty dollars in my pocket, no one offered me pensions for sickness and old age or insurance against non-employment or whatever this new-fangled nonsense is called. We ought to increase the energy of the people, instead of stuffing pillows for them. A man who has anything in him will make his way even in these times."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Father!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Keep your seat, my boy, subjects of this nature can be better discussed sitting."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, father, I can't keep still. This question concerns four thousand workmen and their families."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Three thousand of whom I shall dismiss at noon to-day,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What! You don't mean to say you'll send three thousand workmen, quiet, industrious, faithful, reliable workmen, begging to-day? Why, father! That would be perfectly barbarous, that would be a crime against humanity! The people have stuck by us in days of prosperity, and now when our sales may perhaps, he emphasized the last word,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look here, my son, I'm not a socialists' meeting. Such sentiments may sound very nice from the platform, but there's no need of your trying your speeches on me. The question at issue is, shall we suffer the consequences or shall they, and I don't mind telling you that I prefer the latter. Do you suppose that I've worked hard all my life and worn myself out for the express purpose of turning our factory into a workingmen's home? No, my boy, I can't support you in your little hobby."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, father, capital and labor----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "O, cut out those silly phrases, interrupted the old gentleman irritably,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Karl Marx and Henry George and all your other stand-bys may be all right in your library, and help to decorate your bookshelves, but I prefer to settle our practical problems on the basis of my experience and not of your books. As manager and proprietor of our plant I want to tell you that when the whistle blows at noon to-day I shall notify our workingmen that in consequence of the totally unforeseen breaking out of hostilities--here I shall insert a few words about the sacred duty of patriotism and of defending one's country--we are unwillingly forced to dismiss three thousand of our workmen. We'll pay wages for, let's say, a fortnight longer, but then good-by to the men; we'll shut up shop, and the thousand men that are left can finish the standing orders and any new ones that may come in. And if no new ones turn up, then the remaining workingmen will be dismissed at once. In the meantime I'll subscribe one hundred thousand dollars to the war-loan, and then engage passage on a Lloyd steamer, the most expensive cabins with every possible luxury, for your mother, your two sisters, myself, and I hope for you, too, and we'll be off to old Europe. Shall we make it the Riviera? We've been there before, and, besides, it's a little too hot there now--let's say Norway or Switzerland. In my humble opinion we had better watch developments from a distance, and, as I said, I earnestly hope that my only son and heir will join our party, unless he should prefer to remain here and become a lieutenant in our glorious army and draw his sword against the enemy? This is my final decision and the last word I have to say on the subject, unless you think that some friend of ours in the financial world may have a better suggestion to offer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should never have thought, father, that you could be so hard-hearted and unfeeling, that you could be capable of ruining the lives of thousands with one stroke of your pen. Your attitude towards the relations between employer and employee is absolutely incomprehensible to me; the socialistic conscience----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Listen, my boy, said the old gentleman, going over to his son and laying his hand gently on his shoulder:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've always allowed you an absolutely free hand in your schemes, and you know we've always tried to meet our employees more than half way in all their wishes, but now it's a question of who's to suffer--we or they? In times of peace there may be some excuse for these nice socialistic ideas: they give a man a certain standing and bring him into the public eye. There's a good man, they say; he understands the demands of the times. But there's a limit to everything. One man rides one hobby, and some one else another. One keeps a racing-stable, another sports a steam-yacht, and still another swears by polo or cricket, but these things must not be carried to excess. The minute the owner of the racing-stable turns jockey, he ceases to be a business man, and the same is true of the man who keeps a racing-yacht and spends all of his time at the start, and, after all is said and done, it's our business we want to live on. You've selected the workingman as your favorite sport, and that also has its limits. If we squander our hard-earned millions on socialistic improvements now, we'll have to begin over again in about two years' time. I doubt whether I should have sufficient genius left to discover a new piano-hammer, and I entertain still more serious doubts as to your ability to invent a panacea that will render the whole world happy and make you richer instead of poorer. _Ergo_, we'll shut up shop. In Hoboken we'll sing Yankee Doodle and as we pass the Statue of Liberty The Star Spangled Banner, in token of farewell, and then off we go! If things turn out better than we anticipate, we can come back, but this is my last word for the present: At noon the following notice will be posted at all the entrances and in all the rooms of our factory: 'Three thousand workmen are herewith dismissed; wages will be paid for a fortnight longer, when the factory will be closed indefinitely.' By the way, are you going to the Stock Exchange to-day?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm not in a mood for the Stock Exchange, father. If that is your last word, then my last word is: I am your partner----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So much the worse,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, my boy, we won't do anything of the sort. Don't forget that I'm running this business. According to the contract made when you came of age, you may demand a million dollars upon severing your connection with the firm. This sum will be at your disposal at the bank to-day at noon, but not a cent more. What you do with it is a matter of complete indifference to me, but let me remind you that ordinarily when a man throws money out of the window, he at least likes to hear it drop."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That surely cannot be your last word, father, otherwise we must part."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "All right, my boy, let's part till dinner-time. I hope to find you in a more sensible frame of mind when the family assembles this evening. I've told you what will be done in the factory in the meantime, and as for our trip, we'll discuss that to-night with your mother. Now leave me, I must get ready for Wall Street."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The scamp, said the father to himself,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can't help admiring him. Thirty years ago I entertained just such ideas, but what has become of them! He thought a moment, passed his hand over his forehead, then jumped up quickly and exclaimed:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now to work!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Down with the yellow race! Down with the Japanese! Three cheers for the Stars and Stripes! The passionate cry of a crowd thirsting for revenge rose again and again, as if from a giant's lungs, until the cheers and yells of"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Several hundred Chinamen must have been killed, said the policeman,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Look, said the policeman,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Judge Lynch has done his work well, and he pointed with his club to a lamp-post on the other side of the street from which two dark bodies were hanging."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Simply hanged 'em,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll give you two dollars if you'll step into the nearest hallway with me and tell me that story!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's for the _New York Daily Telegraph_,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For Heaven's sake, said Robertson,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This'll mean at least a column in the _Telegraph_,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "concluded the speaker,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What, Mr. Hanbury wants to speak?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not the old one, the young one!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He must be mad. What does he want here?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Down with him! We don't want him here, we can manage our own affairs!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let him speak!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Be quiet, damn you, why don't you shut up?"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We don't want to be discharged! Don't let our wives starve!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is that really Mr. Hanbury?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, the son."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It seems incredible! He's taking his life in his hands."
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We'll go with Mr. Hanbury to his father!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is the proudest day of my life as an American citizen!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They're firing on the people,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pull out your revolvers!"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury! came the loud cry once more from the entrance. At this instant a big workman, apparently drunk, and dressed only in shirt and trousers, stepped in front of the door, and swinging the spoke of a large wheel in his right hand shouted:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where's Mr. Hanbury? And some one shouted as in reply:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The blackguard has turned three thousand workmen out on the streets to-day so that he can go traveling with his millions. The workman yelled once more:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where is Mr. Hanbury? Gerald moved forward a step and, looking the questioner straight in the eye, said:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm Mr. Hanbury, what do you want?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's what I want,"
}
]
|
19498 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is madness! he cried."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You're firing on the people."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because the people are murdering and plundering downtown!"
}
]
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.