The Cruise of the Dazzler | Page 5

were only on that fishing-boat and sailing in
with a deep-sea catch! Or if he were on that schooner, heading out into
the sunset, into the world! That was life, that was living, doing
something and being something in the world. And, instead, here he was,
pent up in a close room, racking his brains about people dead and gone
thousands of years before he was born.
He jerked himself away from the window as though held there by some
physical force, and resolutely carried his chair and history into the
farthest corner of the room, where he sat down with his back to the
window.
An instant later, so it seemed to him, he found himself again staring out
of the window and dreaming. How he had got there he did not know.
His last recollection was the finding of a subheading on a page on the
right-hand side of the book which read: "The Laws and Constitution of
Draco." And then, evidently like walking in one's sleep, he had come to
the window. How long had he been there? he wondered. The
fishing-boat which he had seen off Fort Point was now crawling into
Meiggs's Wharf. This denoted nearly an hour's lapse of time. The sun
had long since set; a solemn grayness was brooding over the water, and
the first faint stars were beginning to twinkle over the crest of Mount
Tamalpais.
He turned, with a sigh, to go back into his corner, when a long whistle,
shrill and piercing, came to his ears. That was Fred. He sighed again.
The whistle repeated itself. Then another whistle joined it. That was
Charley. They were waiting on the corner--lucky fellows!
Well, they would n't see him this night. Both whistles arose in duet. He
writhed in his chair and groaned. No, they would n't see him this night,
he reiterated, at the same time rising to his feet. It was certainly
impossible for him to join them when he had not yet learned about the
Draconian reforms. The same force which had held him to the window
now seemed drawing him across the room to the desk. It made him put
the history on top of his school-books, and he had the door unlocked

and was half-way into the hall before he realized it. He started to return,
but the thought came to him that he could go out for a little while and
then come back and do his work.
A very little while, he promised himself, as he went down-stairs. He
went down faster and faster, till at the bottom he was going three steps
at a time. He popped his cap on his head and went out of the side
entrance in a rush; and ere he reached the corner the reforms of Draco
were as far away in the past as Draco himself, while the examinations
on the morrow were equally far away in the future.
CHAPTER III
"BRICK," "SORREL-TOP," AND "REDDY"
"What 's up?" Joe asked, as he joined Fred and Charley.
"Kites," Charley answered. "Come on. We 're tired out waiting for
you."
The three set off down the street to the brow of the hill, where they
looked down upon Union Street, far below and almost under their feet.
This they called the Pit, and it was well named. Themselves they called
the Hill-dwellers, and a descent into the Pit by the Hill-dwellers was
looked upon by them as a great adventure.
Scientific kite-flying was one of the keenest pleasures of these three
particular Hill-dwellers, and six or eight kites strung out on a mile of
twine and soaring into the clouds was an ordinary achievement for
them. They were compelled to replenish their kite-supply often; for
whenever an accident occurred, and the string broke, or a ducking kite
dragged down the rest, or the wind suddenly died out, their kites fell
into the Pit, from which place they were unrecoverable. The reason for
this was the young people of the Pit were a piratical and robber race
with peculiar ideas of ownership and property rights.
On a day following an accident to a kite of one of the Hill-dwellers, the
self-same kite could be seen riding the air attached to a string which led

down into the Pit to the lairs of the Pit People. So it came about that the
Pit People, who were a poor folk and unable to afford scientific
kite-flying, developed great proficiency in the art when their neighbors
the Hill-dwellers took it up.
There was also an old sailorman who profited by this recreation of the
Hill-dwellers; for he was learned in sails and air-currents, and being
deft of hand and cunning, he fashioned the best-flying kites that could
be obtained. He lived in a rattletrap shanty