Swallows and Amazons PDF
Preview Swallows and Amazons
Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome FlRST PUBLISHED BYJONATHAN CAPE IN 1930 NEW ILLlJSTRATED EDITON 1931 REPRINTED 1932, 1933 (twice), 1934 (3 times), 1935, 1936, 1937 (s times), 19388, 1939, 19411, 1942 (twice), 1943 (twice), 1944 (twice), 1945, 1946, 1947, 194B, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955 NEW EDITON, TYPE RE-SET 1958, REPRINTED 1960, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974. 1976, 1982, 1985, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999 (twice), 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE ARTHUR RANSOME ESTATE THROUGH THE PUBLISHERS JONATHAN CAPE, RANDOM HOUSE, 20 VAUXHALL BRIDGE ROAD, LONDON, SWIV 2SA ISBN 978 0 224 60631 8 PRINTED AND BOUND IN GREAT BRITAIN BY MACKAYS OF CHATHAM PLC, CHATHAM, KENT CONTENTS I THE PEAK IN DARIEN II MAKING READY III THE VOYAGE TO THE ISLAND IV THE HIDEN HARBOUR V FIRST NIGHT ON THE ISLAND VI ISLAND LIFE VII MORE ISLAND LIFE VIII SKULL AND CROSSBONES IX THE ARROW WITH THE GREEN FEATHER X THE PARLEY XI IN ALLIANCE XII LEADING LIGHTS XIII THE CHARCOAL-BURNERS XIV THE LETTER FROM CAPTAIN FLINT XV CAPTAIN JOHN VISITS CAPTAIN FLINT XVI THE BIRTHDAY PARTY XVII A FAIR WIND XVIII ROBINSON CRUSOE AND MAN FRIDAY XIX THE AMAZON RIVER XX TITTY ALONE XXI SWALLOWS IN THE DARK XXII THE WHITE FLAG XXIII TAKING BREATH XXIV GRAVE NEWS FROM HOUSEBOAT BAY XXV CAPTAIN FLINT GETS THE BLACK SPOT XXVI HE MAKES PEACE AND DECLARES WAR XXVII THE BATTLE IN HOUSEBOAT BAY XXVIII THE TREASURE ON CORMORANT ISLAND XXIX TWO SORTS OF FISH XXX THE STORM XXXI THE SAILORS' RETURN LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS DESPATCHES MAKING SHIP'S PAPERS THE START OF THE VOYAGE FEELING THEIR WAY IN THE CAMP FIRE PEARL DIVING "IT'S A SHARK!" ROGER ON GUARD UNSEEN ENEMY CARRYING UP THE PUNCHEON LEADING LIGHTS THE SERPENT LOADING FIREWOOD CAPTAIN JOHN BACKWATERED THE LIGHTHOUSE TREE THE ENEMY'S BOATHOUSE NIGHT SAILING "DO YOU SURRENDER?" "GO IT, NANCY!" THERE WAS A BANG CAPTAIN FLINT WALKS THE PLANK "WE'VE FOUND IT!" WIND, RAIN AND LIGHTNING FAREWELL! MAPS (BY STEVEN SPURRIER) WlLD CAT ISIAND GENERAL MAP TO THE SIX FOR WHOM IT WAS WRITTEN IN EXCHANGE FOR A PAIR OF SLIPPERS AUTHOR'S NOTE I have often been asked how I came to write Swallows and Amazons. The answer is that it had its beginning long, long ago when, as children, my brother, my sisters and I spent most of our holidays on a farm at the south end of Coniston. We played in or on the lake or on the hills above it, finding friends in the farmers and shepherds and charcoal- burners whose smoke rose from the coppice woods along the shore. We adored the place. Coming to it, we used to run down to the lake, dip our hands in and wish, as if we had just seen the new moon. Going away from it, we were half drowned in tears. While away from it, as children and as grown-ups, we dreamt about it. No matter where I was, wandering about the world, I used at night to look for the North Star and, in my mind's eye, could see the beloved skyline of great hills beneath it. Swallows and Amazons grew out of those old memories. I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself. A.R. Haverthwaite May 19th, 1958 SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS CHAPTER I THE PEAK IN DARIEN "Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific - and all his men Looked at each other with a wild surmise Silent, upon a peak in Darien." ROGER, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake to Holly Howe, the farm where they were staying for part of the summer holidays. He ran until he nearly reached the hedge by the footpath, then turned and ran until he nearly reached the hedge on the other side of the field. Then he turned and crossed the field again. Each crossing of the field brought him nearer to the farm. The wind was against him, and he was tacking up against it to the farm, where at the gate his patient mother was awaiting him. He could not run straight against the wind because he was a sailing vessel, a teaclipper, the Cutty Sark. His elder brother John had said only that morning that steamships were just engines in tin boxes. Sail was the thing, and so, though it took rather longer, Roger made his way up the field in broad tacks. When he came near his mother, he saw that she had in her hand a red envelope and a small piece of white paper, a telegram. He knew at once what it was. For a moment he was tempted to run straight to her. He knew that telegrams came only from his father, and that this one must be the answer to a letter from his mother, and letters from John, Susan, Titty, and himself, all asking the same thing, but asking it in different ways. His own letter had been very short. "Please, Daddy, may I too? With love. Roger." Titty's had been much longer, longer even than John's. Susan, though she was older than Titty, had not written a letter of her own. She had put her name with John's at the end of his, so that these two had sent one letter between them. Mother's letter had been the longest of all, but Roger did not know what she had said in it. All the letters had gone together, a very long way, to his father, whose ship was at Malta but under orders for Hong Kong. And there, in his mother's hand, was the red envelope that had brought the answer. For a moment Roger wanted to run straight to her. But sail was the thing, not steam, so he tacked on, heading, perhaps, a little closer to the wind. At last he headed straight into the wind, moved slower and slower, came to a stop at his mother's side, began to move backwards, and presently brought up with a little jerk, anchored, and in harbour. "Is it the answer?" he panted, out of breath after all that beating up against the wind.
The list of books you might like
