Penny Dreadfuls, 1923 · page 76 of 116
The Taking of Helen by John Masefield — page 76: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a page of running prose from a Victorian penny dreadful titled "The Taking of Helen" (page 64). An officer inspects a deteriorating building with rotted poles and cobwebs, searching for someone. He interrogates a character named Nireus, studying his face for signs of guilt, but Nireus maintains composure. After the soldiers leave, Nireus resumes digging. Shortly after, sounds of a hunt move toward Green Havens, and a character named Paris arrives looking disheveled and distressed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
64. THE TAKING OF HELEN see that the tiles come right down.” Indeed, at that place they did. “Very good,” he said, “very good for just that place ; but how do I know that it is like that all along the room ?”’ “You can test it, sir, in one or two places, where the poles are rotted.”’ He went to one such place and peered up into the darkness of a gap. ‘l'aking a lance from the sergeant, he groped there with the lance-head till crumbs of rot- ting wood, wet with a black mildew, fell into his eyes. ‘Not room for much there, sir,’’ said his underling. “What are those rag things drooping down from the poles?” the officer asked. The sergeant reached with the lance and brought down some of the rag things: they were clottings of cobwebs with dirt. “Come,” the officer said, ‘we'll be out of this. They aren’t here.’’ He looked hard at Nireus as he spoke, as though searching his face for some gleam of satisfaction; but Nireus was well warned and had his face under control. ‘The soldiers rode away; Nireus returned to his digging. About an hour later, there was a noise of crying and cheering setting away towards Green Havens, as though the hunt were up in that direction. While he listened to the noise, he was hailed by Paris, who looked hot, dirty and white. ECORNICLOOKS:EO