Quotation from: Elsinore

Written by: Jack London


Quite methodically, just as part of the day's work, the steward
chopped down with his knife, catching the log-line between the steel
edge and the rail. At once, no longer buoyed up by the Elsinore's
two-knot drag ahead, the wounded men began to swim and flounder. The
circling hosts of huge sea-birds descended upon them, with
carnivorous beaks striking at their heads and shoulders and arms. A
great screeching and squawking arose from the winged things of prey
as they strove for the living meat. And yet, somehow, I was not very
profoundly shocked. These were the men whom I had seen eviscerate
the shark and toss it overboard, and shout with joy as they watched
it devoured alive by its brethren. They had played a violent, cruel
game with the things of life, and the things of life now played upon
them the same violent, cruel game. As they that rise by the sword
perish by the sword, just so did these two men who had lived cruelly
die cruelly.

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Old Dominion University CS Dept
Designed by Joan A. Smith for the CRATE project
Created: 2007-2-22T12:35:29Z
Part of the CratePreservation Project
Change Tag: ~~ 0 ~~
Part of a series of experiments in web preservation under the direction of Michael L. Nelson, Ph.D.