Penny Dreadfuls, 1923 · page 108 of 116
The Taking of Helen by John Masefield — page 108: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a page of running prose from the penny dreadful *The Taking of Helen*, page 96. The text depicts a tense scene at a ship where Nireus and Paris are attempting to escape with Helen. A blind man called "The Sightless" warns them that soldiers are approaching—apparently alerted by a boy who witnessed their passage—and horse-hoofs are audible on the beach, drawing nearer. Nireus orders the ship to shove off immediately. The passage combines melodramatic dialogue with mounting urgency as the characters face imminent capture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
96 THE TAKING OF HELEN creek. Her sail had been hoisted but not sheeted ; it hung slatting in its gear. The master of the ship welcomed Nireus. ‘“They’ve been here again, sir,’ he said, “looking for you. They’ve been asking us all sorts of ques- tions,” he said, “‘about why we were here. But they were only soldiers. There’s something about a soldier,’ he said, “‘that reminds me of the western lands, where fat and folly go fine. But I suppose you will be sailing, sir?”’ 3 “Sir,” Nireus said to the blind man, “will you not sing to us before we go?”’ “T will sing after you are safely gone, young man,” The Sightless said. “There are soldiers riding down from my house in this direction at this moment. That poisonous boy at the corner saw us as we passed, and has told them.” “T saw no boy.” “There is always a boy at the corner. What is done is seen, and what is seen is told, and what is told is avenged. But if it were he or not, there are the horses.”’ The master and Paris had helped Helen on board. Paris shook hands with the blind man. ‘The noise of the horse-hoofs was plain enough now on the beach, within five hundred yards, and drawing nearer. “We had better shove off,’’ Nireus said. ‘They are near.’’ CORNICLOOKS»1eO