Penny Dreadfuls, 1923 · page 78 of 116
The Taking of Helen by John Masefield — page 78: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a page of running prose (page 66) from *The Taking of Helen*, a Victorian penny dreadful. The text describes a first-person account of soldiers searching a building for a fugitive. A sergeant leads idle soldiers who search casks looking for drink, find nothing, and leave. The narrator is then moved by a girl to hide in a dovecot, where a guard named Lusty questions whether the dovecot has been searched—unaware the narrator is locked inside. The passage emphasizes Lusty's obstinate but potentially sharp character.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
66 THE TAKING OF HELEN been sent there were idlers. They knocked at the casks to see if they were full, and every time they knocked on a full one they asked, ‘Is there a spigot in it?’ or ‘Is it tapped?’ Then they rummaged around for something to steal, and kept growling about the place’s poverty. Presently the sergeant came down, and asked if they had found anything to drink. ‘They told him No. And he said, ‘By the gods, boys, you’re lucky. ‘The girl gave me a drink, and by the gods it was gall.’ He asked if they had moved all the casks, and they said, yes, every one, right out from the wall, and searched behind them. ‘Then they stayed there erowling for a while, talking about their officers, and then the sergeant said they had better be moving. Then they went. “That was the first search. After that I had a sleep, but then the girl roused me, to change my hiding-place. She said she was not satisfied. She gave me some food _and then put me in the dovecot, where the doves made such a noise that I could not hear what was happen- ing. However, I fell asleep and slept for hours. What woke me was a man’s voice just below me, outside the house, asking if anyone had searched the dovecot. A pretty question, Nireus, for I was locked in there; and then, another thing, I knew the man. JHe’s one of the guard. You may not have heard of him, but they call him Lusty. If he were not obstinate as a mule, he would be as sharp as a weasel. When I heard CORNICLOOKS»eO