| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: could thus come quite near me upon that side, and I be none the
wiser.
Well, all of a sudden, a coble with a brown sail and a pair of
fishers aboard of it, came flying round that corner of the isle,
bound for Iona. I shouted out, and then fell on my knees on the
rock and reached up my hands and prayed to them. They were near
enough to hear -- I could even see the colour of their hair; and
there was no doubt but they observed me, for they cried out in
the Gaelic tongue, and laughed. But the boat never turned aside,
and flew on, right before my eyes, for Iona.
I could not believe such wickedness, and ran along the shore from
Kidnapped |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Princess by Alfred Tennyson: A moment, while the trumpets blow,
He sees his brood about thy knee;
The next, like fire he meets the foe,
And strikes him dead for thine and thee.
So Lilia sang: we thought her half-possessed,
She struck such warbling fury through the words;
And, after, feigning pique at what she called
The raillery, or grotesque, or false sublime--
Like one that wishes at a dance to change
The music--clapt her hands and cried for war,
Or some grand fight to kill and make an end:
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: could be seen of the ship, all her lights being extinguished, and if she
was still in sight of the island, her whereabouts could not be discovered.
"Well! who knows?" said Pencroft. "Perhaps that cursed craft will stand
off during the night, and we shall see nothing of her at daybreak."
As if in reply to the sailor's observation, a bright light flashed in the
darkness, and a cannon-shot was heard.
The vessel was still there and had guns on board.
Six seconds elapsed between the flash and the report.
Therefore the brig was about a mile and a quarter from the coast.
At the same time, the chains were heard rattling through the hawse-holes.
The vessel had just anchored in sight of Granite House!
The Mysterious Island |
