LAST WORDS
BY
STEPHEN CRANE
AUTHOR OF
"RED BADGE OF COURAGE," "ACTIVE SERVICE," "PICTURES OF WAR,"
"THE THIRD VIOLET," "THE OPEN BOAT,"
"WOUNDS IN THE RAIN," ETC.
London
DIGBY, LONG & CO.
18 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E. C.
1902
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE RELUCTANT VOYAGERS 1
SPITZBERGEN TALES-- THE KICKING TWELFTH 35 THE UPTURNED FACE 52 THE SHRAPNEL OF THEIR FRIENDS 59 "AND IF HE WILLS, WE MUST DIE" 69
WYOMING VALLEY TALES-- THE SURRENDER OF FORTY FORT 81 "OL' BENNET" AND THE INDIANS 88 THE BATTLE OF FORTY FORT 99
LONDON IMPRESSIONS 110
NEW YORK SKETCHES-- GREAT-GRIEF'S HOLIDAY DINNER 133 THE SILVER PAGEANT 145 A STREET SCENE 148 MINETTA LANE 154 ROOF GARDENS 166 IN THE BROADWAY CARS 173
THE ASSASSINS IN MODERN BATTLES 181
IRISH NOTES-- AN OLD MAN GOES WOOING 193 BALLYDEHOB 198 THE ROYAL IRISH CONSTABULARY 203 A FISHING VILLAGE 207
SULLIVAN COUNTY SKETCHES-- FOUR MEN IN A CAVE 217 THE MESMERIC MOUNTAIN 225
MISCELLANEOUS-- THE SQUIRE'S MADNESS 231 A DESERTION 245 HOW THE DONKEY LIFTED THE HILLS 252 A MAN BY THE NAME OF MUD 258 A POKER GAME 263 THE SNAKE 268 A SELF-MADE MAN 273 A TALE OF MERE CHANCE 282 AT CLANCY'S WAKE 288 AN EPISODE OF WAR 294 THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN 301 WHY DID THE YOUNG CLERK SWEAR? 306 THE VICTORY OF THE MOON 315
LAST WORDS
THE RELUCTANT VOYAGERS
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: Last Words by Stephen Crane
- 2: Said the freckled man suddenly
- 3: The freckled man regarded him sternly
- 4: Dreamily spoke the freckled man
- 5: I I began the freckled man
- 6: Green eye there bobbed small yellow dots
- 7: The voyagers deserted the raft
- 8: Transfixed by the captain's suspender
- 9: The freckled man was sleepily insistent
- 10: You know a fellow up in Harlem
- 11: Jes' sing out when yeh wanta go
- 12: The freckled man concluded his argument
- 13: The oarsman looked at the sky and thought
- 14: The freckled man gave a little moan
- 15: A hundred barrack squares filled with excited men
- 16: The Twelfth had no record of foreign service
- 17: Commanding a force of 7500 men of His Majesty of Spitzbergen
- 18: Which was the remaining Spitzbergen guns
- 19: The charger seemed as tall as the Eiffel Tower
- 20: And the obedient Kickers arose for their task
- 21: The adjutant jumped as if he were on springs
- 22: Suddenly the adjutant croaked out a weird laugh
- 23: The Rostina sharpshooters fired briskly
- 24: Always the earth made that sound plop
- 25: Major General Richie sat on his horse and used his glasses
- 26: Parties of the 88th went through their lines
- 27: A shrapnel came swinging over the Kickers
- 28: Major General Richie never apologised to Colonel Sponge
- 29: He said cheerfully to the squad
- 30: Jones and Patterson came stumbling up the steps
- 31: Shouted the sergeant jubilantly
- 32: And by nightfall we had seen them within its pallisade
- 33: While my mother unbuttoned the wristbands
- 34: I asked my father why he had so cursed this pedlar
- 35: But the redskins with their captives had a long start
- 36: Hammond seems to have been dubious from the start
- 37: For he was continuously drowsing
- 38: When wandering Indians visited the settlements
- 39: Colonel Denison asked news of my father
- 40: To meet Indian Butler and his two kinds of savages
- 41: Where some hidden Indians were yelling and firing
- 42: And a cabman with a supreme intelligence
- 43: Composed of a porter and a cabman
- 44: As a precaution against the slippery pavement
- 45: The Congressman eluded him with skill
- 46: Spike Foster was a friend of Cortright
- 47: Where lie citizens bayoneted through the throat
- 48: Because in New York a dray is not a dray at all
- 49: And after passing through a patent mucilage
- 50: But at last Wrinkles could not omit a scornful giggle
- 51: Little Pennoyer dropped his knife
- 52: Wrinkles lectured upon Finance
- 53: Little Pennoyer looked apprehensive
- 54: Tim entered slowly and bashfully
- 55: Gaunt tried to tell them of something
- 56: A voice called out Rub his wrists
- 57: The policeman had gone to send the ambulance call
- 58: Minetta Lane and Minetta Street
- 59: Bloodthirsty supposedly is alive now
- 60: Pop Babcock keeps a restaurant
- 61: Hank imbibed from this fount of knowledge
- 62: Minetta Lane is a place of poverty and sin
- 63: He waits until the golden haired soubrette appears
- 64: The people come in swarms to the Olympia
- 65: With the gripman getting advice
- 66: The Tenderloin is a glory at night
- 67: The building fronts the shipyard of Yarrow
- 68: Yarrow is always in action somewhere
- 69: Besides their equipment of torpedoes
- 70: A torpedo boat commander knows this perfectly
- 71: Mickey here would be wantin' a bottle o' stout
- 72: I moind the toime began the man sorrowfully
- 73: And the mystery of their shawls
- 74: The newspapers called it a Veritable Arsenal
- 75: The constable has the Constabulary
- 76: And the fruit of the carnage was cleaned mackerel
- 77: Their old petticoats were tucked high
- 78: The Capers were waiting for high tide
- 79: The pudgy man vibrated with passion
- 80: Two cadaverous hounds came from nowhere
- 81: A pudgy man was fuming over a collection of tin dishes
- 82: While the pudgy man was cursing
- 83: He vanquished brambles with mighty bounds
- 84: For ten years Linton had left vacant Oldrestham Hall
- 85: Linton had written The garlands of her hair are snakes
- 86: I I thought you acted queerly
- 87: Linton stood with his back still bent
- 88: Linton dropped heavily into a chair
- 89: He handed Linton a small glass of brandy
- 90: I wanta give yeh some brotherly advice
- 91: ' He's drivin' 'er inteh th' street
- 92: I found Atlas to be a very pleasant fellow
- 93: I will adore your beautiful shovels forever
- 94: I saw your friend at the Comique the other night
- 95: Cinch enjoyed his victory four months
- 96: And Bracketts immediately had them all
- 97: Old Spuytendyvil glowered at Bracketts
- 98: As for this snake in the pathway
- 99: Once he put in four aces for luck
- 100: Which I forwarded to you on 25th June
- 101: And we'll go put the screws on George
- 102: I think we may accept the cheque
- 103: But those accursed little white tiles
- 104: Clamorous troops of blood stained tiles
- 105: Where your late husband was WIDOW Who Moike
- 106: Take anodder wan to Moike Clancy
- 107: SLICK with dignity Ansher my queshuns
- 108: Save the figures of the riders
- 109: I guess I won't have it amputated
- 110: And Popocatepetl called to him
- 111: Cried Popocatepetl delightedly
- 112: Vibert wore a black frock coat
- 113: As the young man in the wet mackintosh retreated
- 114: Heloise wore a gown of clinging white
- 115: When a feller asts a civil question yehs needn't git gay
- 116: Said the young philosopher with a gesture
- 117: The moon clapped both hands to its eye