The Pursuit of the House-Boat [Hardcover]

John Kendrick Bangs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2005

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Ill THE SEARCH-PARTY IS ORGANIZED "WELL, Mr. Holmes," said Sir Walter Raleigh, after three rousing cheers, led by Hamlet, had been given with a will by the assembled spirits, " after this demonstration in your honor I think it is hardly necessary for me to assure you of our hearty co-operation in anything you may venture to suggest. There is still manifest, however, some desire on the part of the ever-wise King Solomon and my friend Confucius to know how you deduce that Kidd has sailed for London, from the cigar end which you hold in your hand." "I can easily satisfy their curiosity," said Sherlock Holmes, genially. " I believe I have already proven that it is the end of Kidd's cigar. The marks of the ' THREE ROUSING CHEERS, LED BY HAMLET, WERE GIVEN " teeth have shown that. Now observe how closely it is smoked—there is barely enough of it left for one to insert between his teeth. Now Captain Kidd would hardly have risked the edges of his mustache and the comfort of his lips by smoking a cigar down to the very light if he had had another ; nor would he under any circumstances have smoked it that far unless he were passionately addicted to this particular brand of the weed. Therefore I say to you, first, this was his cigar; second, it was the last one he had ; third, he is a confirmed smoker. The result, he has gone to the one place in the world where these Connecticut hand-rolled Havana cigars—for I recognize this as one of them—have a real popularity, and are therefore more certainly obtainable, and that is at London. You cannot get so vile a cigar as that outside of a London hotel. If I could have seen a quarter- inch more of it, I should have been able definitely to locate the hotel itself. The wrappers unroll to a degree that variesperceptibly as between the dif...

Product Details

• Hardcover: 116 pages
• Publisher: IndyPublish.com (October 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 142195639X
• ISBN-13: 978-1421956398
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Captain Kidd vs. The Ladies of Hades, April 5, 2011

By 

Kat at Fantasy Literature - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Pursuit of the House Boat (Paperback)

At the end of John Kendrick Bangs' A House-boat on the Styx, the men went ashore to watch Goliath fight Samson, leaving the houseboat untended. So the ladies, headed by Cleopatra and Queen Elizabeth, took the opportunity to trespass. While they were playing pool below decks, the pirate Captain Kidd and his crew, unaware that the ladies were aboard, hijacked the boat and set out for Europe so they could do some looting.

As The Pursuit of the Houseboat opens, everyone is discovering what's just happened. When the men realize that the boat is missing, they have no idea how to find it but, fortunately, Sherlock Holmes appears and offers his services. Meanwhile, the pirates and the ladies are shocked and horrified to find themselves sharing the houseboat. The rest of the plot involves the pirates and the women trying to outwit each other.

The Pursuit of the Houseboat is more fun than A House-boat on the Styx -- it doesn't feel quite so much like a series of history lessons. There is still some slightly clunky humor that depends on understanding the historical allusions (e.g., Delilah is asked to fetch her scissors so she can cut the rope holding the anchor, and Queen Elizabeth tries to be discreet about her relationship to Sir Walter Raleigh), but The Pursuit of the Houseboat actually has an entertaining plot as Captain Kidd and his crew try to deal with the women. The more ancient men (those from earlier times, I mean) think this will be rather easy to do, but the modern men scoff and explain that women are different than they used to be and are not going to let themselves get pushed around by pirates. (This was written in 1897 -- good for you, Mr. Bangs -- I wish you were writing paranormal romance novels today!) Sure enough, the ladies of Hades (sorry, I couldn't resist) are up to the task!

A House-Boat on the Styx and The Pursuit of the Houseboat are available on Kindle in the Halcyon Classics edition, which contains 48 works by John Kendrick Bangs for (at this writing) only $1.99. Both books are rather short and easily read in an afternoon.