Here comes Part Twenty-Five of my serialization of The Riddle of the Sands, written in 1902 by Erskine Childers and never out of print in the century since. Marc Swerdloff, a First Day Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, is a bit of a landlubber yet finds himself swept along by the thrills of the German Bight:
The wind and sea foam almost jumped off my iPad with the latest escapade. I knew not a word of the seafaring jibber but felt the danger in my marrow nevertheless. Thank you, Mark.
To spare Marc's trainee sea legs, tonight's episode is firmly set on dry land, in a Norderney dining room, where Carruthers discovers that the Germans are serious about keeping tabs on him:
Suddenly Böhme, who was my right-hand neighbour, turned to me. 'You are starting for England to-morrow morning?' he said.
'Yes,' I answered; 'there is a steamer at 8.15, I believe.'
'That is good. We shall be companions.'
'Are you going to England, too, sir?' I asked, with hot misgivings.
'No, no! I am going to Bremen; but we shall travel together as far as—you go by Amsterdam, I suppose?—as far as Leer, then. That will be very pleasant.' I fancied there was a ghoulish gusto in his tone.
'Very,' I assented.
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Part Twenty-Five of our adventure simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes of The Riddle of the Sands can be found here, and more than two-dozen other Tales for Our Time here.
If you're interested in where Carruthers and his German travel companion are heading, it's south - from Norderney by steamer to the mainland, and then by train to Leer in the lower right-hand corner:
For more on The Mark Steyn Club, please see here. And, if you've a chum who enjoys classic fiction, we've introduced a special Mark Steyn Gift Membership.
See you for Part Twenty-Six of The Riddle of the Sands tomorrow.
