Penny Dreadfuls, 1923 · page 42 of 116
The Taking of Helen by John Masefield — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a page of running prose from a Victorian penny dreadful titled *The Taking of Helen* (visible at page head as "30"). The text depicts a dialogue scene in which a military officer interrogates a man named Nireus about disappeared persons and a ship impounded at Green Havens. The officer questions whether Nireus has seen anything of "the people" or "runaways," and Nireus repeatedly denies knowledge. A commandant of troops arrives and also questions Nireus about the missing persons. The passage appears to be part of a criminal investigation or pursuit narrative within the serialized melodrama.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
30 THE TAKING OF HELEN “Any luck, my lord?’’ said the officer who had spoken to Nireus. “No. They’re not at Port Phenice. There’s no ship in Phenice. One sailed this afternoon, but that was too early for them. Who is this man in the cart ?”’ “He says he is going to Green Havens, from the Cur- lews, my lord, but lost his way, after the dinner.” “What is his name?” ‘“Nireus, my lord.”’ | ‘“Nireus! But that is a man we want. Where is he? Nireus.’’ He turned to Nireus. ‘You are the owner of the ship now ready to sail in Green Havens?”’ “Yes. Iwas going to sail in her.” “T know. You cannot. She is impounded. Cer- tain people have disappeared and no ship is to sail till they are found. Have you seen anything of the people?”’ “Nothing.” ‘Have you seen anyone to-night ?”’ ‘Not between leaving the Curlews and coming here.”’ “Well, I cannot think where they have disappeared tau Here some more horsemen rode up, under the com- mandant of the three troops. The commandant knew Nireus and nodded to him. “Seen anything of the runaways?” “Nothing, lord.”’ . GOmMIiGcdooks (C(O)