Here are the quotations for the coming week (April
4th to 10th).
1. The smoking vapous of the Atlantic drove in wreaths
above the boys' heads. Out of the mist to windward, beyond the grey bar of the
Pebble Ridge, came the unceasing roar of mile-long Atlantic rollers. To leeward,
a few stray ponies and cattle...showed through the haze...
2.
They strolled across the wind,
shoulders touching, hands in pockets, caps driven down on their noses and
coat-collars turned up against the fine rain that was sweeping over the Burrows.
Underfoot, the salty, sheep-bitten turf squelched at every step. Overhead
smoking vapours of the Atlantic drove low in pearly-grey wreaths. Out of the
mist to windward, beyond the grey loom of the pebble-ridge came an unceasing
roar of the sea rising and falling in rollers two miles long. To leeward a few
stray cattle and donkeys showed through the haze.
3. …They pushed
though a dripping hedge, landed among water-clogged clods, and sat down on a
rust-coated harrow. The cheroot burned with sputterings of saltpetre. They
smoked it gingerly, each passing it to the other between closed forefinger and
thumb.
The sources of this week's extracts (March 28th to
April 3rd) are as follows:
1. (...Gerowlia waited in the sunshine
and chuckled to herself like a female pauper when she receives snuff...)
This is from Letters of Marque in From Sea to Sea, Volume I, in
which RK has an embarrassing encounter with an elderly female elephant
at Chitor.
2. (...'We trust each our own elephant, till
our own elephant kills us....') This is from the introduction
to "My Lord the Elephant", in Many Inventions.
3. (...‘Surely they make these things to please their Gods,’ said the Bull
again.
‘Not altogether’, the Elephant rolled forth.) This is from "The
Bridgebuilders" in The Day's Work.
Good wishes to all, John
R
