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[Assistant] There is a man haunts the forest that abuses our young plants with carving Rosalind on their bark.


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[Assistant] But you were no such man. You were rather planted to feast in your accoutrements as lapping yourself and seeming the lover of any other.


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[Assistant] Which I warrant she is apt to do, then confess she does. That is one of the points in which women still give the lie to their consciences. But, in good soon.


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[Assistant] Are you he that hangs the verses on the trees wherein Rosalind is so admired?


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[Assistant] I would not be thy executioner. I fly thee, for I would not injure thee. Thou tell'st me there is murder in mine eye.


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[Assistant] It is pretty sure, and very probable, that eyes that are the frailst and softest things, who shut their coward gates on atomies,


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[Assistant] Should be called tyrants, butchers, murderers. Now I do frown on thee with all my heart, and if mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee. Now count a fifth a swoon, why now fall down?


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[Assistant] Or if thou canst not, oh, for shame, for shame, lie not to say mine eyes are murderers. Now, show the wound mine eye hath made in thee.


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[Assistant] Scratch thee but with a pin, and there remain some scar of it. Lean but upon a rush.


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[Assistant] The cicatrice incapable in pressure thy palm some moment keep.


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[Assistant] But till that time come thou not near me, And when that time comes afflict me with thy mocks. Pity me not.


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[Assistant] Outs my little life I think she means to tangle my eyes too. No, faith, proud mistress, hope not after it. Tis not your inky brows, your black silk hair, your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream that can entain my spirits to your worship.


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[Assistant] Cry the man mercy, love him, take his offer. Foul is most foul, being foul to be a scoffer. So take her to thee, shepherd, fare you well. Sweet youth! I pray you, chide a year together.


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[Assistant] And be not proud though all the world could see.


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[Assistant] Why, I am sorry for the gentle Suvius.


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[Assistant] Why, that were covetousness. Silvius, the time was that I hated thee, and yet it is not that I bare thee love, but since that thou canst talk of love so well.


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[Assistant] By company which erst was irksome to me, I will endure, and I'll employ thee too.


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[Assistant] Think not I love him, though I ask for him. He's but a peevish boy, yet he talks well, but what can I for words?


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[Assistant] Yet words do well when he that speaks them pleases those that hear. It is a pretty youth. Not very pretty, but sure he's proud. Yet his pride becomes him. He'll make a proper man. The best thing in him is his complexion.


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[Assistant] And faster than his tongue did make a fence, his eye did heal it up. He is not very tall, yet for his years he's tall. His leg is but so so, and yet as well, there was a pretty redness in his lip.


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[Assistant] It's just the difference betwixt the constant red and lingled damask. There be some women, Silvius, had they marked him in parcels as I did, would have gone near to fall in love with him. But for my part I love him not, nor hate him not. And yet I have more cause to hate him than to love him. For what did he do to chide at me? He shed my eyes for black, and my hair black.


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[Assistant] Chapter 3 The Black Spot


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[Assistant] Later that day I took the captain a cool drink. Jim? he said.


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[Assistant] You're the only person here worth anything. You'll bring me some rum, won't you boy? The doctor said, I began. He swore about the doctor. Look Jim, one glass is all I ask. I'll pay you for it. The only money I want, I said.


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[Assistant] Is the money you owe my father. But I'll get you one glass of rum. No more. He was grateful. And drank it quickly.


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[Assistant] Did the doctor say how long I must lie in my bed? He asked. A week, I told him. A week, he cried. I can't do that. They'll have the black spot on me by then. They'll come for me. Who will? Black dog, I said. Yes, but there's worse than him.


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[Assistant] It's my old sea chest they want, but I'll show them. Jim, if I get the black spot, you go to that doctor.


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[Assistant] Tell him to bring a crowd of law officers and a local judge to the inn. They can catch Flint's crew, all that are left, at the Admiral Bembo.


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[Assistant] And I'm the only one who knows the place. He told me when he was dying.


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[Assistant] But don't call the law, unless they give me the black spot.


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[Assistant] Or if you see the seaman with one leg, he's worse than any of them.


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[Assistant] But what is the black spot, Captain? I asked. That's a message, boy. I'll tell you if they give me that. Keep your eyes open, Jim.


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[Assistant] And I'll give you half of everything I have.


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[Assistant] He talked for a little longer, then fell into a heavy sleep, and I left him.


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[Assistant] That night, my father died. This put all other thoughts to one side, and I had no time to worry about the captain. The next morning, the captain came downstairs. He didn't eat much food, but he drank more rum than usual. He helped himself, and we were too busy to stop him.


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[Assistant] There were visits from neighbors, and my father's burial to arrange.


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[Assistant] The day after the burial was cold and foggy At about three o'clock in the afternoon I was standing at the door of the inn


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[Assistant] When I saw a blind man coming along the road, he was feeling his way with a stick.


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[Assistant] Will any kind friend tell a poor blind man where he is? he said. You're at the Admiral Bembo Inn, Blackhill Cove, my good man, I said.


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[Assistant] I hear a young voice, he said.


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[Assistant] Will you give me your hand, my kind young friend, and take me inside? I held out my hand.


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[Assistant] And the terrible, soft-speaking, eyeless man took hold of it like a dog biting a bone. He pulled me violently towards him. Now, boy, he said, take me to the captain or I'll break your arm. And I had never heard a voice so cruel and cold.


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[Assistant] I was so frightened by the blind man's violence that I obeyed him without question and took him into the room where the sick captain was sitting. He saw the blind man and a look of fear passed across his face.


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[Assistant] Sit where you are, Bill, said the blind man. I can't see.


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[Assistant] But I can hear a finger move. Hold out your right hand.


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[Assistant] I watched him put something in the captain's hand. And now that's done, said the blind man. And he quickly went out of the inn. I heard his stick tap, tap, tapping away along the road. The captain opened his hand and looked into it. Ten o'clock, he cried.


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[Assistant] And jumped up. He put his hand round his neck, made a strange sound, and fell face down onto the floor. I ran to him, calling to my mother. But the captain was dead.


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[Assistant] This unabridged audiobook was produced in the year 2008 by Tandor Media, Inc., which holds the copyright thereto.


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[Assistant] You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday


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[Assistant] And increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking. I am already far north of London.


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[Assistant] And as I walk in the streets of Petersburg I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks which braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling?


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[Assistant] This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes.


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[Assistant] Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation.


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[Assistant] It ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight.


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[Assistant] There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendor.


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[Assistant] There, for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators, there snow and frost are banished.


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[Assistant] And sailing over a calm sea we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe.


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[Assistant] Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes.


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[Assistant] What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?


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[Assistant] I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle, and may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever.


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[Assistant] I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man.


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[Assistant] These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death, and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat with his holiday mates on an expedition of discovery up his native river.


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[Assistant] But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries to reach which at present so many months are requisite.


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[Assistant] Or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which if at all possible can only be affected by an undertaking such as mine.


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[Assistant] These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter.


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[Assistant] And I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose, a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.


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[Assistant] This expedition has been the favorite dream of my early years. I have read with ardor the accounts of the various voyages which have been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole.


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[Assistant] You may remember that a history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the whole of our good Uncle Thomas's library.


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[Assistant] My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading.


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[Assistant] These volumes were my study, day and night.


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[Assistant] My familiarity with them increased that regret which I had felt as a child on learning that my father's dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life.


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[Assistant] These visions faded when I perused for the first time those poets whose effusions entranced my soul and lifted it to heaven.


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[Assistant] I also became a poet, and for one year lived in a paradise of my own creation.


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[Assistant] I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated. You are well acquainted with my failure and how heavily I bore the disappointment.


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[Assistant] But just at that time I inherited the fortune of my cousin, and my thoughts were turned into the channel of their earlier bent.


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[Assistant] Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I can even now remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this great enterprise. I commenced by inuring my body to hardship.


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[Assistant] I accompanied the whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea. I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep.


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[Assistant] I often worked harder than the common sailors during the day and devoted my nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer might derive the greatest practical advantage.


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[Assistant] Twice I actually hired myself as an undermate in a Greenland whaler and acquitted myself to admiration.


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[Assistant] I must own I felt a little proud when my captain offered me the second dignity in the vessel and entreated me to remain with the greatest earnestness. So valuable did he consider my services. And now, dear Margaret,


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[Assistant] Do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose?


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[Assistant] My life may have been passed in ease and luxury, but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path.


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[Assistant] Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative. My courage and my resolution is firm.


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[Assistant] But my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed.


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[Assistant] I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage, the emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude. I am required not only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own when theirs are failing.


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[Assistant] This is the most favorable period for traveling in Russia. They fly quickly over the snow in their sledges. The motion is pleasant and, in my opinion, far more agreeable than that of an English stagecoach.


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[Assistant] The cold is not excessive, if you are wrapped in furs, a dress which I have already adopted, for there is a great difference between walking the deck and remaining seated motionless for hours when no exercise prevents the blood from actually freezing in your veins.


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[Assistant] I have no ambition to lose my life on the post road between St. Petersburg and Archangel.


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[Assistant] I shall depart for the latter town in a fortnight or three weeks.


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[Assistant] And my intention is to hire a ship there, which can easily be done by paying the insurance for the owner, and to engage as many sailors as I think necessary among those who are accustomed to the whale fishing. I do not intend to sail until the month of June, and when shall I return? Ah, dear Cessna, how can I answer this question?


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[Assistant] Heaven shower down blessings on you and save me that I may again and again testify my gratitude for all your love and kindness. Your affectionate brother, R. Walton.


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[Assistant] How slowly the time passes here, Encompassed as I am by frost and snow.


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[Assistant] Yet a second step is taken towards my enterprise. I have hired a vessel, and am occupied in collecting my sailors. Those whom I have already engaged appear to be men on whom I can depend, and are certainly possessed of dauntless courage.


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[Assistant] But I have one want, which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend, Margaret.


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[Assistant] When I'm glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy.


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[Assistant] If I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection.


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[Assistant] I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true, but that is a poor medium for the communication of feelings.


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[Assistant] I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine.


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[Assistant] I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans.


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[Assistant] How would such a friend repair the faults of your poor brother?


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[Assistant] But it is a still greater evil to me that I am self-educated.


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[Assistant] For the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on a common and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas's books of voyages.


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[Assistant] At that age I became acquainted with the celebrated poets of our own country.


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[Assistant] But it was only when it had ceased to be in my power to derive its most important benefits from such a conviction that I perceived the necessity of becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my native country.


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[Assistant] It is true that I have thought more and that my daydreams are more extended and magnificent, but they want, as the painters call it, keeping.


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[Assistant] And affection enough for me to endeavor to regulate my mind. Well, these are useless complaints.


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[Assistant] I shall certainly find no friend on the wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel among merchants and seamen.


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[Assistant] My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of wonderful courage and enterprise.


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[Assistant] He is madly desirous of glory, or rather, to word my phrase more characteristically, of advancement in his profession.


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[Assistant] Finding that he was unemployed in this city, I easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise.


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[Assistant] The master is a person of an excellent disposition and is remarkable in the ship for his gentleness and the mildness of his discipline.


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[Assistant] This circumstance added to his well-known integrity and dauntless courage made me very desirous to engage him.


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[Assistant] A youth passed in solitude. My best years, spent under your gentle and feminine fosterage, are so refined to the groundwork of my character that I cannot overcome an intense distaste to the usual brutality exercised on board ship.


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[Assistant] I have never believed it to be necessary. And when I heard of a mariner equally noted for his kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience paid to him by his crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his services.


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[Assistant] I heard of him first in rather a romantic manner from a lady who owes to him the happiness of her life. This briefly is his story.


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[Assistant] Some years ago, he loved a young Russian lady of moderate fortune, and having amassed a considerable sum in prize money, the father of the girl consented to the match. He saw his mistress once before the destined ceremony,


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[Assistant] But she was bathed in tears and throwing herself at his feet entreated him to spare her, confessing at the same time that she loved another, but that he was poor, and that her father would never consent to the union.


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[Assistant] My generous friend reassured the suppliant, and on being informed of the name of her lover, instantly abandoned his pursuit.


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[Assistant] He had already bought a farm with his money, on which he had designed to pass the remainder of his life.


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[Assistant] But he bestowed the whole on his rival, together with the remains of his prize money to purchase stock.


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[Assistant] And then himself solicited the young woman's father to consent to her marriage with her lover.


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[Assistant] But the old man decidedly refused, thinking himself bound in honor to my friend, who, when he found the father inexorable, quitted his country.


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[Assistant] He is as silent as a Turk, and a kind of ignorant carelessness attends him, which, while it renders his conduct the more astonishing, detracts from the interest and sympathy which otherwise he would command.


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[Assistant] It do not suppose, because I complain a little, or because I can conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am wavering in my resolutions.


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[Assistant] Those are as fixed as fate, and my voyage is only now delayed until the weather shall permit my embarkation.


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[Assistant] The winter has been dreadfully severe, but the spring promises well, and it is considered as a remarkably early season, so that perhaps I may sail sooner than I expected. I shall do nothing rashly.


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[Assistant] You know me sufficiently to confide in my prudence and considerateness whenever the safety of others is committed to my care.


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[Assistant] A conception of the trembling sensation half pleasurable and half fearful with which I am preparing to depart.


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[Assistant] It was a flaking three story house in the ancient part of the city.


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[Assistant] A century old if it was a day, but like all houses, it had been given a thin fireproof plastic sheet many years ago, and this preservative shell seemed to be the only thing holding it in the sky. Here we are! The engines slammed to a stop. Beady, stoned in the black, ran up the sidewalk, suddenly odious and fat in their plump fireproof slickers. Montag followed.


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[Assistant] They crashed the front door and grabbed at a woman, though she was not running, she was not trying to escape.


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[Assistant] She was only standing, weaving from side to side, her eyes fixed upon a nothingness in the wall.


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[Assistant] Her tongue was moving in her mouth and her eyes seemed to be trying to remember something and then they remembered and her tongue moved again.


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[Assistant] Play the man, Master Ridley, we shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out. Enough of that, Sir Beaty, where are they?


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[Assistant] He slapped her face with amazing objectivity and repeated the question.


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[Assistant] The old woman's eyes came to a focus upon deity. You know where they are, or you wouldn't be here, she said.


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[Assistant] Doneman held out the telephone alarm card with the complaint signed in telephone duplicate on the back. Have reason to suspect attic 11 North Elm, City, EB.


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[Assistant] That would be Mrs. Blake, my neighbor, said the woman, reading the initials. All right, men, let's get him.


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[Assistant] Tumbling through like boys, all roddick and shout, Hey! A fountain of books sprang down upon Montag as he climbed shuddering up the sheer stairwell. How inconvenient! Always before it had been like snuffing a candle.


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[Assistant] Police went first and adhesive taped the victim's mouth and bandaged him off into their glittering beetle cars, so when you arrived you found an empty house.


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[Assistant] You weren't hurting anyone, you were hurting only things, and since things really couldn't be hurt, since things felt nothing, and things don't scream or whimper as this woman might begin to scream and cry out, there was nothing to tease your conscience later.


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[Assistant] You were simply cleaning up. Janitorial work, essentially. Everything in its proper place. Quick with the kerosene. Who's got a match? But now tonight, someone had slipped.


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[Assistant] This woman was spotting the ritual. The men were making too much noise, laughing, joking, to cover her terrible, accusing silence below.


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[Assistant] She made the empty rooms roar with accusation and shake down a fine dust of guilt that was sucked in their nostrils as they plunged about. It was neither cricket nor correct. Montag felt an immense irritation. She shouldn't be here on top of everything.


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[Assistant] Books bombarded his shoulders, his arms, his upturned face, a booklet almost obediently like a white pigeon in his hands, wings fluttering, in the dim wavering light a page hung open, and it was like a snowy feather, the words delicately painted thereon.


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[Assistant] In all the Russian fervour, Montag had only an instant to realign, but it blazed in his mind for the next minute, as if stamped there with fiery steel.


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[Assistant] He dropped the book. Immediately, another fell into his arms. Montague, up here!


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[Assistant] Montag's hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest.


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[Assistant] The men above were hurling shovelfuls of magazines into the dusty air. They felt like slaughtered birds, and the woman stood below like a small girl among the bodies.


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[Assistant] His hand had done it all. His hand, with a brain of its own, with a conscience and a curiosity in each trembling finger, had turned thief.


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[Assistant] Now it plunged the book back under his arm, pressed it tight to his sweating armpit, rushed out empty, with the magician's flourish, Look here, innocent, look!


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[Assistant] He gazed shaken at that white hand. He held it way out, as if he were far-sided. He held it close, as if he were blind. Montag! He jerked about. Don't stand there, idiot!


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[Assistant] The books lay like great mounds of fishes left to dry. The men danced and slipped and fell over them. Titles glittered, their golden eyes falling, gone.


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[Assistant] They pumped the cold fluid from the numeral 451 tanks strapped to their shoulders. They coated each book. They pumped rooms full of it.


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[Assistant] They hurried downstairs, Montag staggering after them in the kerosene fumes.


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[Assistant] Come on, woman! The woman knelt among the books, touching the drenched leather and cardboard, reading the guilt titles with her fingers while her eyes accused Montag.


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[Assistant] You know the law," said Banty. Where's your common sense? None of these books agree with each other. You've been locked up here for years with a regular damned tower of babbles. Snap out of it! The people in those books never lived. Come on, now!" She shook her head.


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[Assistant] The whole house is going up, said Beatty. The men walked clumsily to the door. They glanced back at Montag, who stood near the woman. You're not leaving her here, he protested. She won't come. Force her then.


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[Assistant] We're due back at the house. Besides, these fanatics always try suicide. The pattern's familiar.


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[Assistant] Montag placed his hand on the woman's elbow. You can come with me. No, she said, thank you anyway. I'm counting to ten, said Beatty. One, two, please, said Montag.


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[Assistant] You can stop counting, she said. She opened the fingers of one hand slightly, and in the palm of the hand was a single slender object, an ordinary kitchen match.


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[Assistant] The sight of it rushed the men out and down away from the house. Captain Beatty, keeping his dignity, backed slowly through the front door, his pink face burnt and shiny from a thousand fires and night excitements.


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[Assistant] God, thought Montag, how true. Always at night the alarm comes, never by day.


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[Assistant] The fumes of kerosene bloomed up about her. Montag felt the hidden book pound like a heart against his chest.


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[Assistant] Go on, said the woman, and Montag felt himself back away and away out the door, after Beatty, down the steps, across the lawn, where the path of kerosene lay like the track of some evil snail.


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[Assistant] On the front porch, where she had come to weigh them quietly with her eyes, her quietness a condemnation, the woman stood motionless. Bailey flicked his fingers to spark the kerosene. He was too late. Montag gasped.


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[Assistant] The woman on the porch reached out with contempt to them all and struck the kitchen match against the railing. People ran out of houses all down the street.


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[Assistant] Chapter 4 The Sea Chest


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[Assistant] On the floor close to the captain's hand was a little round piece of paper, blackened on one side.


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[Assistant] I had no doubt that this was the black spot. On the other side was some writing.


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[Assistant] Our old clock reminded me it was now six. Quickly, I told my mother everything.


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[Assistant] We have to get the key to the sea chest.


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[Assistant] Why shouldn't we take the money the captain owes us? His friends certainly won't give it to us?


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[Assistant] The key was around his neck on a piece of string. I cut the string and we hurried up to his room.


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[Assistant] There was a letter B painted on the top of it. Inside were two very fine pistols, some silver, pipe tobacco, and an old clock. Underneath these things were some papers tied up inside a cloth and a bag of gold coins.


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[Assistant] I'll show these scoundrels I'm an honest woman, said my mother.


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[Assistant] I'll take what I'm owed and no more. She began counting the money.


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[Assistant] There were all kinds of gold coins in the bag. Big French gold coins. Spanish doubloons. And pieces of eight.


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[Assistant] It was slow work to find the English gold guineas that we needed. We were halfway through when I heard a sound that filled my heart with fear. The tap tapping of the blind man's stick on the frozen road. Then it knocked against the inn door and we did not breathe. But then the tapping started again.


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[Assistant] And let's go before the blind man comes back with his friends. But my mother went on counting until we heard a low shout coming from the hill outside.


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[Assistant] I'll take what I have, she said, jumping to her feet.


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[Assistant] And I'll take this for what I'm owed, I said, and picked up the cloth of papers.


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[Assistant] We ran from the inn and along the road to the village. It was dark, but there was a full moon. We heard running feet coming towards us. Take the money and run on, my mother said breathlessly. But I refused to leave her. Quickly.


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[Assistant] I pulled her off the road and down under a small bridge. There we hid, trembling. Not a moment too soon. Seven or eight men were running past us. Three men ran in front. And I saw that the one in the middle was the blind man.


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[Assistant] Silently, I climbed back up to the road.


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[Assistant] And lay in the long grass to watch what happened.


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[Assistant] Down with the door! the blind man shouted.


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[Assistant] Four or five of them broke down the door of the Admiral Bembo and ran inside. There was a shout. Bill's dead! The blind man swore at them. Look upstairs! And find the chest! He cried. I could hear their feet on the stairs.


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[Assistant] Then a voice shouting down to the blind man in the road outside. Pew! They've been here before us!


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[Assistant] The money's here, but Flint's papers have gone. It's those people of the inn.


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[Assistant] It's that boy! shouted the blind man pew. Search and find him!


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[Assistant] There came the sound of horses and riders thundering along the road. It was heard by the men in the inn. And in a second, they were out in the road, running into the darkness of the fields. They did not wait for blind Pew, who tried to follow them, tapping wildly with his stick.


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[Assistant] You won't leave your old friend Pew boys, not old Pew. He was still in the middle of the road when the horses thundered up to the inn. Pew turned with a scream, but he turned the wrong way and ran straight into the first of the horses. The rider tried to save him, but failed.


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[Assistant] Down went Pew under the horse's feet with a cry that rang high into the night. It was all over in seconds and Pew didn't move again. I jumped up and shouted to the riders. One of the men was Captain Dance, the law officer from the nearby town.


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[Assistant] We took my mother to a house in the village, then went back to the Admiral Benbow.


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[Assistant] Inside everything was smashed and broken. What were they looking for, Hawkins? asked Mr. Dance. They got the money from the chest, I said.


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[Assistant] And I ought to report Pew's death to him or Squire Trelawney. I'll take you with me to his house.


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[Assistant] Doctor Livesey was not at his house, but with the Squire at his home. So Captain Dance and I went on there.


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[Assistant] I had never seen Squire Trelawney so near. He was a big tall man with a red face and was sitting beside a fire with Dr. Livesey.


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[Assistant] Come in, Mr. Dance, he said.


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[Assistant] Mr. Dance gave his report, and both men listened with deep interest. And so, Jim, said the doctor.


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[Assistant] You have the thing that they were looking for, have you? Here it is, sir, I said, and gave him the papers tied inside the cloth. The doctor looked at them and put them quietly in the pocket of his coat. After that, Mr. Dance went away and I was given some food.


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[Assistant] You have heard of this Flint, I suppose? Heard of him? cried the Squire.


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[Assistant] He was the worst pirate that ever sailed.


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[Assistant] The Spanish used to tremble just to hear his name. Well, I've heard of him myself, said Dr. Livesey. But the question is, did he have money? Money? said the Squire. Of course Flint had money. Those scoundrels were after it. Well then, suppose I have here in my pocket


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[Assistant] That shows where Flint hid his treasure, said the doctor. Would the treasure be worth looking for? Worth looking for, cried the squire, with great enthusiasm. I'll tell you what it's worth. I'll prepare a ship at Bristol, take you and Hawkins with me, and have that treasure.


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[Assistant] We opened the cloth and found two things. A book and a paper.


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[Assistant] The book gave a list of all the money Flint had stolen from different ships during 20 years at sea.


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[Assistant] The doctor opened the paper and found a map of an island. There was a hill in the centre marked Spyglass and several names that had been added later.


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[Assistant] There were three big black crosses, two in the north of the island and one in the southwest. Beside the last cross were the words, most of the treasure here.


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[Assistant] On the back of the paper, the same person had written, tall tree, spyglass shoulder, to the north of north northeast.


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[Assistant] Skeleton Island, east, south, east, and by east. The Squire and Dr. Livesey were delighted.


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[Assistant] Tomorrow, I start for Bristol, said Squire Trelawney.


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[Assistant] In three weeks, we will have the best ship, sir, and the finest crew in England. Hawkins can come as cabin boy.


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[Assistant] You, Livesey, are the ship's doctor. I am Admiral. We'll take three of my men, Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter. Trelawney, said the doctor. I'll go with you. So I am sure, will Hawkins. There's only one man I'm afraid of.


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[Assistant] And who's that? cried the squire. Name the scoundrel! You, said the doctor, because you cannot keep silent.


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[Assistant] We aren't the only men who know of this paper. Those who broke into the inn tonight want to find the same treasure. We must none of us go alone until we get to sea. You'll take Joyce and Hunter to Bristol. Meanwhile, Jim and I will stay together.


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[Assistant] I'll be as silent as a dead man.


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[Assistant] Who, loaded with chains, waited in despair the execution of the barbarous sentence.


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[Assistant] Endeavored to kindle the zeal of his deliverer by promises of reward and wealth, Felix rejected his offers with contempt.


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[Assistant] Quickly perceived the impression that his daughter had made on the heart of Felix.


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[Assistant] And endeavor to secure him more entirely in his interests by the promise of her hand in marriage so soon as he should be conveyed to a place of safety. Felix was too delicate to accept this offer.


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[Assistant] While the preparations were going forward for the escape of the merchant,


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[Assistant] The zeal of Felix was warmed by several letters that he received from this lovely girl.


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[Assistant] Who found means to express her thoughts in the language of her lover by the aid of an old man, a servant of her father who understood French.


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[Assistant] She thanked him in the most ardent terms for his intended services towards her parent, and at the same time she gently deplored her own fate. I have copies of these letters.


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[Assistant] For I found means during my residence in the hovel to procure the implements of writing, and the letters were often in the hands of Felix or Agatha. Before I depart, I will give them to you. They will prove the truth of my tales.


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[Assistant] But at present, as the sun is already far declined, I shall only have time to repeat the substance of them to you.


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[Assistant] Safi related that her mother was a Christian Arab, seized and made a slave by the Turks.


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[Assistant] Recommended by her beauty she had won the heart of the father of Saffi who married her.


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[Assistant] The young girl spoke in high and enthusiastic terms of her mother, who, born in freedom, spurned the bondage to which she was now reduced. She instructed her daughter in the tenets of her religion


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[Assistant] And taught her to aspire to higher powers of intellect


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[Assistant] He quitted his prison and before morning was distant many leagues from Paris.


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[Assistant] Felix had procured passports in the name of his father, sister and himself.


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[Assistant] Where the merchant had decided to wait a favorable opportunity of passing into some part of the Turkish dominion.


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[Assistant] Safi resolved to remain with her father until the moment of his departure, before which time the Turk renewed his promise that she should be united to his deliverer.


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[Assistant] And Felix remained with them in expectation of that event.


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[Assistant] And in the meantime, he enjoyed the society of the Arabians.


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[Assistant] Who exhibited towards him the simplest and tenderest affection.


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[Assistant] They conversed with one another through the means of an interpreter.


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[Assistant] And sometimes with the interpretation of look.


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[Assistant] And Safi sang to him the divine airs of her native country.


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[Assistant] The Turk allowed this intimacy to take place and encouraged the hopes of the youthful lovers


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[Assistant] While in his heart he had formed far other plans.


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[Assistant] He loathed the idea that his daughter should be united to a Christian, but he feared the resentment of Felix if he should appear lukewarm, for he knew that he was still in the power of his deliverer if he should choose to betray him to the Italian state which they inhabited.


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[Assistant] He revolved a thousand plans by which he should be enabled to prolong the deceit until it might be no longer necessary, and secretly to take his daughter with him when he departed.


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[Assistant] His plans were facilitated by the news which arrived from Paris.


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[Assistant] The government of France were greatly enraged at the escape of their victim and spared no pains to detect and punish his deliverer.


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[Assistant] The plot of Felix was quickly discovered and Delacy and Agatha were thrown into prison. The news reached Felix and roused him from his dream of pleasure. His blind and aged father,


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[Assistant] And his gentle sister lay in a noisome dungeon while he enjoyed the free air and the society of her whom he loved. This idea was torture to him.


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[Assistant] He quickly arranged with the Turk that if the latter should find a favorable opportunity for escape before Felix could return to Italy,


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[Assistant] Safi should remain as a border at a convent at Leghorn. And then, quitting the lovely Arabian, he hastened to Paris and delivered himself up to the vengeance of the law.


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[Assistant] Hoping to free DeLacy and Agatha by this proceeding, he did not succeed.


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[Assistant] They remained confined for five months before the trial took place.


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[Assistant] For whom he and his family endured such unheard of oppression.


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[Assistant] On discovering that his deliverer was thus reduced to poverty and ruin,


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[Assistant] Became a traitor to good feeling and honor and had quitted Italy with his daughter.


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[Assistant] Insultingly sending Felix a pittance of money to aid him, as he said, in some plan of future maintenance.


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[Assistant] Such were the events that preyed on the heart of Felix and rendered him, when I first saw him, the most miserable of his family. He could have endured poverty.


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[Assistant] And while this distress had been the mead of his virtue, he gloried in it. But the ingratitude of the Turks


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[Assistant] And the loss of his beloved Salvi were misfortunes more bitter and irreparable.


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[Assistant] The arrival of the Arabian now infused new life into his soul.


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[Assistant] When the news reached Leghorn that Felix was deprived of his wealth and rank


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[Assistant] The merchant commanded his daughter to think no more of her lover, but to prepare to return to her native country.


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[Assistant] She attempted to expostulate with her father, but he left her angrily, reiterating his tyrannical mandate.


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[Assistant] A few days after, the Turk entered his daughter's apartment and told her hastily that he had reason to believe that his residence at Leghorn had been divulged and that he should speedily be delivered up to the French government.


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[Assistant] He had consequently hired a vessel to convey him to Constantinople, for which city he should sail in a few hours.


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[Assistant] To follow at her leisure with a greater part of his property which had not yet arrived at Leghorn. Then alone.


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[Assistant] Safi resolved in her own mind the plan of conduct that it would become her to pursue in this emergency. A residence in Turkey subhorrent to her


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[Assistant] Her religion and her feelings were alike averse to it. By some papers of her father which fell into her hands


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[Assistant] She heard of the exile of her lover and learnt the name of the spot where he then resided.


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[Assistant] She hesitated some time, but at length she formed her determination.


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[Assistant] Taking with her some jewels that belonged to her and a sum of money, she quitted Italy with an attendant, a native of Leghorn, but who understood the common language of Turkey, and departed for Germany.


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[Assistant] She arrived in safety at a town about twenty leagues from the cottage of De Lacey when her attendant fell seriously ill. Safi nursed her with the most devoted affection, but the poor girl died.


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[Assistant] And the Arabian was left alone, unacquainted with the language of the country and utterly ignorant of the customs of the world. She fell, however, into good hands.


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[Assistant] The Italian had mentioned the name of the spot for which they were bound, and after her death, the woman of the house in which they had lived took care that Saffi should arrive in safety at the cottage of her lover.


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[Assistant] I must not omit a circumstance which occurred in the beginning of the month of August of the same year.


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[Assistant] During my accustomed visit to the neighboring wood where I collected my own food and brought home firing for my protectors, I found on the ground


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[Assistant] A leathern portmanteau, containing several articles of dress and some books.


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[Assistant] I eagerly seized the prize and returned with it to my hovel.


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[Assistant] Fortunately the books were written in the language, the elements of which I had acquired at the cottage. They consisted of Paradise Lost.


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[Assistant] A volume of Plutarch's Lives and the Sorrows of Werther.


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[Assistant] The possession of these treasures gave me extreme delight.


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[Assistant] I now continually studied and exercised my mind upon these histories.


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[Assistant] Whilst my friends were employed in their ordinary occupations I can hardly describe to you the effect of these books.


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[Assistant] They produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection.


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[Assistant] In the sorrows of Werther, besides the interest of its simple and affecting story, so many opinions are canvassed, and so many lights thrown upon what had hitherto been to me obscure subjects, that I found in it a never-ending source of speculation and astonishment.


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[Assistant] The gentle and domestic manners it described, combined with lofty sentiments and feelings, which had for their object something out of self, accorded well with my experience among my protectors, and with the wants which were forever alive in my own bosom.


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[Assistant] But I thought there to himself a more divine being than I had ever beheld or imagined. His character contained no pretension, but it sank deep.


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[Assistant] The disquisitions upon death and suicide were calculated to fill me with wonder. I did not pretend to enter into the merits of the case.


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[Assistant] Yet I inclined towards the opinions of the hero whose extinction I wept without precisely understanding it. As I read, however,


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[Assistant] I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition.


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[Assistant] I found myself similar, yet at the same time.


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[Assistant] Strangely unlike to the beings concerning whom I read,


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[Assistant] And to whose conversation I was a listener. I sympathized with and partly understood them, but I was unformed in mind.


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[Assistant] These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them.


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[Assistant] The volume of Plutarch's life which I possessed contained the histories of the first founders of the ancient republics.


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[Assistant] This book had a far different effect upon me from the sorrows of Werther.


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[Assistant] I learned from Werther's imaginations despondency and gloom, but Plutarch taught me high thought.


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[Assistant] He elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections to admire and love the heroes of past ages.


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[Assistant] Many things I read surpassed my understanding and experience.


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[Assistant] I had a very confused knowledge of kingdoms, wide extents of country, mighty rivers and boundless seas.


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[Assistant] But I was perfectly unacquainted with towns and large assemblages of men.


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[Assistant] The cottage of my protectors had been the only school in which I had studied human nature.


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[Assistant] I read of men concerned in public affairs governing or massacring their species.


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[Assistant] I felt the greatest ardor for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice as far as I understood the signification of those terms.


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[Assistant] Relative as they were as I applied them to pleasure and pain alone. Induced by these feelings.


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[Assistant] I was of course led to admire peaceable lawgivers, Numa, Solon, and Lycurgus, in preference to Romulus and Theseus.


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[Assistant] Harper Audio presents Fahrenheit 451. Written by Ray Bradbury and read by the author.


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[Assistant] This one with gratitude is for Don Congdon.


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[Assistant] If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. Juan Ramon Jimenez.


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[Assistant] Part 1, The Hearth and the Salamander.


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[Assistant] It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed with a brass nozzle in his fist.


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[Assistant] With this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.


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[Assistant] With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next


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[Assistant] He flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted, above all, like the old joke,


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[Assistant] To shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house, while the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.


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[Assistant] Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame.


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[Assistant] He knew that when he returned to the firehouse he might wink at himself, a minstrel man, burnt corked in the mirror.


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[Assistant] Later, going to sleep, he would feel the fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles in the dark. It never went away, that smile. It never ever went away, as long as he remembered.


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[Assistant] You asked about Hollywood when I was a kid growing up there. I was just an autograph collector. I was a, uh, I took my camera everywhere.


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[Assistant] I stood outside of Paramount Studios when I was 14 and looked over the wall and dreamt some day of going over, you know, and 20 years later I was in Paramount Studios. But, uh, I was just, uh, a jerky kid running around day after day. My parents let me run.


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[Assistant] I'd go out to Hollywood all, all summer long, five days a week.


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[Assistant] Uh, Cary Grant and Mae West, they all went to the fights. Then they went to the Brown Derby at 10 o'clock at night. And I'd be out here till midnight. Then I'd roller skate home at one in the morning, all the way across L.A., from Hollywood to, uhm, Venice Boulevard and Western at late at night. But my parents trusted me to behave. And I did, huh?


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[Assistant] But I have thousands of autographs. I was out of the high school of 4,000 kids. I was the only one that was that crazy to be


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[Assistant] Someday, part of Hollywood, as an actor, I wanted to write and direct and produce all these crazy things you'd think when you're 15 years old.


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[Assistant] So, there's nothing extraordinary about that. I got to know George Burns and I wrote scripts for the Burns and Allen radio show every, uhm, every Wednesday in junior high school.


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[Assistant] In typing class, when my teacher wasn't looking I'd write a script for George Burns and then I'd take it to him.


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[Assistant] And he pretended it was brilliant. It was terrible, you know, but he was such a sweet man that he encouraged me and introduced me to Gracie, Gracie Allen.


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[Assistant] And so that went on for a year and they finally used one of my jokes on one of the Burns and Allen shows. But this is the kind of crazy person that I was and George was sweet to me. Well, 30 years later.


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[Assistant] I was at a, uh, a dinner giving an award to Steven Spielberg for something at the Coconut Grove. And in the middle of the awards dinner, I looked over in the corner, there's George Burns over there. And I hadn't seen him since I was a kid.


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[Assistant] So I stopped the ceremony. I said, now I've got to give a special award here tonight to an old, old friend of mine. I don't think he'll remember me. I was just a kid then.


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[Assistant] And but to George Burns for being so sweet and such a good person to me when I was 14. Well, when the program was over, George Burns ran up to me and says, was that you? Was that you? I remember you. And he put his arms around me and we embraced for the first time in 30 years, huh?


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[Assistant] So, this is the crazy kind of kid that I was. Uhm, I, I, some weeks I saw as many as 13 films. I couldn't stay away from movies. And most of them I snuck into. I had no money.


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[Assistant] So I'd going through the back entrance or I'd going through the side door.


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[Assistant] But I have my diaries on the films I saw night after night. And I just filled up. So by the time it came,


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[Assistant] For me to do a screenplay, I knew how to do it. I didn't have to do research. I didn't have to buy a book about screenwriting. It was all inside me when I walked through the halls


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[Assistant] Of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They got posters there of the 100 greatest films. I've seen them all. And some of them 10 times, huh? 10 times.


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[Assistant] Chapter 2 Black Dog


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[Assistant] One January morning, the captain got up early and walked down to the beach. It was a cold winter's day with the sun still low in the sky. My mother was upstairs with my father, who was now very ill.


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[Assistant] That year, the winter was long and hard.


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[Assistant] And we knew my father would not see another spring.


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[Assistant] And I noticed he had only three fingers on his left hand.


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[Assistant] I asked him what he wanted, and he said, I'll take a glass of rum. But before I could fetch it, he told me to come near him.


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[Assistant] Is this table for my old friend Bill? the stranger asked with a terrible smile.


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[Assistant] I told him, I did not know his friend Bill.


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[Assistant] And the breakfast was for a man who was staying at the inn.


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[Assistant] I told him the captain was out walking and the man waited like a cat waiting for a mouse. I did not like the look on his face.


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[Assistant] And was sure the captain would not be pleased to see him. When the captain came back, the man pulled me behind the door. The captain opened the door and walked across the room. Bill? Said the stranger. The captain turned quickly and saw us. The colour went from his face.


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[Assistant] And he looked old and sick. Black Dog, he said. He stared at the stranger. And what do you want? I'll have a glass of rum, said Black Dog.


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[Assistant] Then you and I'll sit and talk like old friends. I fetched the rum, and they told me to go away. I went out of the room, but the voices became louder. No! No! And that's an end of it! I heard the captain shout. If one is caught, we'll all be caught!


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[Assistant] There were more shouts, and then the sound of the table crashing over. Next, I heard the sound of swords. Then out ran Black Dog, with blood running down his shoulder. He ran out of the inn and along the road. In a few seconds, he had disappeared from sight. The captain watched him go, then said,


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[Assistant] Jim! Quick! Bring me rum! He turned and went back into the inn. But he could only just stand on his feet. I realized he was feeling ill and ran to fetch the rum.


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[Assistant] Then I heard him falling and hurried back to find him on the floor.


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[Assistant] My mother heard the noise and came downstairs. We lifted the captain's head. His eyes were closed and his face was a terrible colour.


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[Assistant] At that moment, Dr. Livesey arrived to see my father. He looked at the captain and said to my mother, his heart can't take much more of this. I told him drinking rum would kill him and it nearly has. The captain opened his eyes and tried to sit up. Where's black dog?


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[Assistant] He asked. There's no black dog here, said the doctor. Get on your feet and I'll help you to your bed.


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[Assistant] When you wrote the book, and this is in the 1930s, why the title? Does the title relate to the temperature at Booksburn? Can you talk about the title of the book? How you came up with it? How you discovered that title?


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[Assistant] Mr. B, can you, you wrote the first version of the story, 48, 47, 49, you're coming. Uhm, the political situation that, that inspired,


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[Assistant] Can you set this political situation, the social situation you're in, in West Los Angeles writing this book?


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[Assistant] The concept of the fireman himself, you take this sacred American tradition.


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[Assistant] Uh, which you, as you write goes back to Franklin and of course they rewrite history in the book and you, and you talk about rewriting history which is


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[Assistant] Which was a very prescient idea on your point, because then we started to see the Soviets did and the Chinese did. But you turn the idea of the fireman, which is the great symbol of, uh,


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[Assistant] Uh, American social health, volunteerism.


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[Assistant] Going all the way back to Ben Franklin. So it's just not burning books, you have, you take the fireman idea and turn it on its head. Can you talk about that?


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[Assistant] But how, you will ask, did the ancient Greeks have time to look after their families and their business if they were forever running to the marketplace to discuss affairs of state? In this chapter, I shall tell you.


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[Assistant] In all matters of government, the Greek democracy recognized only one class of citizens, the free men.


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[Assistant] Every Greek city was composed of a number of freeborn citizens, a large number of slaves, and a sprinkling of foreigners.


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[Assistant] At rare intervals, usually during a war, when men were needed for the army, the Greeks showed themselves willing to confer the rights of citizenship upon the barbarians as they called the foreigners.


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[Assistant] But this was an exception. Citizenship was a matter of birth. You were an Athenian because your father and your grandfather had been Athenians before you.


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[Assistant] But, however great your merits as a trader or a soldier, if you were born of non-Athenian parents, you remained a foreigner until the end of time.


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[Assistant] The Greek city, therefore, whenever it was not ruled by a king or a tyrant, was run by and for the freemen, and this would not have been possible without a large army of slaves who outnumbered the free citizens at the rate of six or five to one.


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[Assistant] And who performed those tasks to which we modern people must devote most of our time and energy if we wish to provide for our families and pay the rent of our apartments.


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[Assistant] The slaves did all the cooking and baking and candlestick making of the entire city.


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[Assistant] They were the tailors, and the carpenters, and the jewelers, and the school teachers, and the bookkeepers, and they tended the store and looked after the factory.


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[Assistant] While the master went to the public meeting to discuss questions of war and peace, or visited the theatre to see the latest play of Aeschylus, or hear a discussion of the revolutionary ideas of Euripides, who had dared to express certain doubts upon the omnipotence of the great god Zeus.


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[Assistant] Here you see a picture of a temple upon a hill with all the freemen indicated as being inside and discussing, and then all of the slaves down around working, um, at the foot of the hill in the marketplace and elsewhere. And it's titled Greek society.


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[Assistant] All the freeborn citizens were hereditary members, and all the slaves were hereditary servants, and waited upon the needs of their masters.


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[Assistant] But when we talk about slaves, we do not mean the sort of people about whom you have read in the pages of Uncle Tom's cabin.


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[Assistant] It is true that the position of those slaves who tilled the fields was a very unpleasant one.


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[Assistant] But the average free man, who had come down in the world, and who had been obliged to hire himself out as a farmhand, led just as miserable a life.


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[Assistant] In the cities, furthermore, many of the slaves were more prosperous than the poorer classes of the freemen.


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[Assistant] For the Greeks, who loved moderation in all things, did not like to treat their slaves after the fashion which afterward was so common in Rome.


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[Assistant] Where a slave had as few rights as an engine in a modern factory, and could be thrown to the wild animals upon the smallest pretext.


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[Assistant] The Greeks accepted slavery as a necessary institution without which no city could possibly become the home of a truly civilized people. The slaves also took care of those tasks which nowadays are performed by the businessmen and the professional men.


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[Assistant] As for those household duties which take up so much of the time of your mother and which worry your father when he comes home from his office, the Greeks, who understood the value of leisure, had reduced such duties to the smallest possible minimum by living amidst surroundings of extreme simplicity. To begin with, their homes were very plain.


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[Assistant] Even the rich nobles spent their lives in a sort of adobe barn, which lacked all the comforts which a modern workman expects as his natural right. A Greek home consisted of four walls and a roof. There was a door which led into the street, but there were no windows.


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[Assistant] The kitchen, the living rooms, and the sleeping quarters were built around an open courtyard in which there was a small fountain or a statue and a few plants to make it look bright.


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[Assistant] Within this courtyard, the family lived when it did not rain or when it was not too cold.


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[Assistant] In one corner of the yard, the cook, who was a slave, prepared the meal, and in another corner the teacher, who was also a slave.


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[Assistant] When dinner was ready, the family came together, but the meal was a very simple one and did not take much time.


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[Assistant] The Greeks seem to have regarded eating as an unavoidable evil and not a pastime, which kills many dreary hours and eventually kills many dreary people.


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[Assistant] They lived on bread and on wine, with a little meat and some green vegetables.


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[Assistant] They drank water only when nothing else was available because they did not think it very healthy. They loved to call on each other for dinner.


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[Assistant] But our idea of a festive meal where everybody is supposed to eat much more than is good for him would have disgusted them. They came together at the table for the purpose of a good talk and a good glass of wine and water.


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[Assistant] But as they were moderate people, they despised those who drank too much.


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[Assistant] Here you see a picture of a temple on a hill with a small lake at the foot of the hill and a road winding up the side to the temple.


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[Assistant] The same simplicity which prevailed in the dining room also dominated their choice of clothes. They liked to be clean and well-groomed, to have their hair and beards neatly cut, to feel their bodies strong with the exercise and the swimming of the gymnasium, but they never followed the Asiatic fashion which prescribed loud colors and strange patterns.


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[Assistant] They wore a long white coat and they managed to look as smart as a modern Italian officer in his long blue cape.


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[Assistant] They loved to see their wives wear ornaments, but they thought it very vulgar to display their wealth, or their wives, in public. And whenever the women left their home they were as inconspicuous as possible.


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[Assistant] The Greeks, before everything else, wanted to be free, both in mind and in body, that they might maintain their liberty and be truly free in spirit, they reduced their daily needs to the lowest possible point.


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[Assistant] This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.


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[Assistant] Sun Tzu said, In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign. Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he must blend and harmonize the different elements thereof before pitching his camp. After that comes tactical maneuvering, then which there is nothing more difficult.


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[Assistant] The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct and misfortune into gain.


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[Assistant] Thus, to take a long and circuitous route, after enticing the enemy out of the way, and those starting after him, to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation.


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[Assistant] Maneuvering with an army is advantageous. With an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.


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[Assistant] If you set a fully equipped army in March in order to snatch an advantage, the chances are that you will be too late.


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[Assistant] On the other hand, to detach a flying column for the purpose involves the sacrifice of its baggage in stores.


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[Assistant] Thus, if you order your men to roll up their buff coats and make forced marches without halting day or night,


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[Assistant] Covering double the usual distance at a stretch, doing a hundredly in order to rest in advantage, the leaders of all your three divisions will fall into the hands of the enemy.


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[Assistant] The stronger men will be in front, the jaded ones will fall behind, and on this plan only one tenth of your army will reach its destination.


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[Assistant] If you march 50 Lee in order to outmaneuver the enemy, you will lose the leader of your first division and only half your force will reach the goal.


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[Assistant] If you march 30 Li with the same object, two-thirds of your army will arrive.


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[Assistant] We may take it then that an army without its baggage train is lost. Without provisions, it is lost. Without bases of supply, it is lost. We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbours.


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[Assistant] We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country, its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps.


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[Assistant] We shall be unable to turn natural advantage to account unless we make use of local guides.


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[Assistant] In war, practice dissimulation and you will succeed.


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[Assistant] Whether to concentrate or to divide your troops must be decided by circumstances. Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest. In raiding and plundering be like fire, in immovability like a mountain.


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[Assistant] Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt. When you plunder a countryside, let the spoil be divided amongst your men. When you capture new territory, cut it up into allotments for the benefit of the soldiery. Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.


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[Assistant] He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation, such as the art of maneuvering.


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[Assistant] Gongs and drums, banners and flags are means whereby the ears and eyes of the host may be focused on one particular point. The host thus forming a single united body, it is impossible either for the brave to advance alone, or for the cowardly to retreat alone. This is the art of handling large masses of men. In night fighting then,


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[Assistant] Make much use of signal flyers and drums, and in fighting by day, of flags and banners, as a means of influencing the ears and eyes of your army.


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[Assistant] A whole army may be robbed of its spirit. A commander-in-chief may be robbed of his presence of mind.


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[Assistant] Now, a soldier's spirit is keenest in the morning, by noonday it has begun to flag, and in the evening his mind is bent only on returning to camp.


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[Assistant] A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods.


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[Assistant] Disciplined and calm to await the appearance of disorder and hubbub amongst the enemy. This is the art of retaining self-possession.


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[Assistant] To be near the goal while the enemy is still far from it. To wait at ease while the enemy is toiling and struggling. To be well fed while the enemy is vanished. This is the art of husbanding one's strength.


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[Assistant] To refrain from intercepting an enemy whose banners are in perfect order, to refrain from attacking an army drawn up in calm and confident array, this is the art of studying circumstances.


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[Assistant] It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill.


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[Assistant] Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight. Do not attack soldiers whose temper is keen. Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home. When you surround an army, leave an outlet free.


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[Assistant] In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects his army, and concentrates his forces. When in difficult country, do not encamp.


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[Assistant] In country where high roads intersect, join hands with your allies. Do not linger in dangerously isolated positions.


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[Assistant] In hemmed-in situations you must resort to stratagem. In desperate position you must fight.


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[Assistant] There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.


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[Assistant] The general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handle his troops. The general who does not understand these


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[Assistant] May be well acquainted with the configuration of the country, yet he will not be able to turn his knowledge to practical account.


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[Assistant] So the student of war who is unversed in the art of war of varying his plans


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[Assistant] Even though he be acquainted with the five advantages, will fail to make the best use of his men.


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[Assistant] Hence, in the wise leader's plans, considerations of advantage and of disadvantage will be blended together.


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[Assistant] If our expectation of advantage be tempered in this way, we may succeed in accomplishing the essential part of our schemes.


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[Assistant] If, on the other hand, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.


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[Assistant] Reduce the hostile chiefs by inflicting damage on them, and make trouble for them, and keep them constantly engaged.


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[Assistant] Hold out specious allurements and make them rush to any given point.


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[Assistant] The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him. Not on the chance of his not attacking.


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[Assistant] But rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.


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[Assistant] There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general. One, recklessness, which leads to destruction. Two, cowardice, which leads to capture.


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[Assistant] Three, a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults. Four, a delicacy of honor, which is sensitive to shame. Five, over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.


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[Assistant] These are the five besetting sins of a general, ruinous to the conduct of war.


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[Assistant] No, I don't know, I don't quite know where that came from.


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[Assistant] The thing about all the names of the books, there's unconscious things going on here. Uhm, Montag, of course, is the maker of paper. The stationery, huh? Montag papers. And I used to buy that Montag paper in a bookstore when I was a kid, huh? But I never thought of it. And, uh, then, uh, Faber is the maker of pencils. Ha ha. And, uh, and the woman who's burned in the, uh,


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[Assistant] The middle sequence of the novel is Sherlock Holmes' Housekeeper.


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[Assistant] So, her name derives from Sherlock Holmes. But I didn't know any of this when I wrote the book.


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[Assistant] That's right. And, eh, there's so many things in my play now that came to me later that I wish I'd put in the book in much more detail. The, uh, the lady who burns herself has a dialogue with all of her books on the stage and she talks to them and they talk back. She calls out to them and they answer. Well, that's me in the library when I was a kid.


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[Assistant] With all these girls calling out to them and they answer. It's a very personal thing.


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[Assistant] So, uh, I'm tempted to go back and put that in the book, too, and have the books talk to her, you know, because it makes them all the more important.


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[Assistant] Well, here we go again with unconscious background discoveries. When I was 10 years old, there used to be a series on, uh, sponsored by G. Washington's Coffee of Sherlock Holmes.


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[Assistant] Was on radio every Monday night, I believe at nine o'clock. Well, one night when I was ten.


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[Assistant] That program was on and my mother and father went two blocks away to a band concert in the park. The hound of the Baskervilles came on, huh? And the sound of that hound wailing in the night scared the hell out of me. I ran out of the house and ran to the park to find my parents. And because I couldn't be in the house with that hound, so the hound


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[Assistant] In Fahrenheit 451 is the Hound of the Baskervilles that scared me as a child. And I put extra legs on it, and there it is.


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[Assistant] And if you're a good rider you surprise everything out in the open. It's like going hunting and firing off a gun.


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[Assistant] And a bush that's in front of you doesn't look like it's inhabited. And suddenly all kinds of birds fly out in the open. And that's what writing is. You don't want to know what you're doing, huh? You must never know what you're doing. And then the surprise is the good stuff. So all the, uhm, scientific, uhm, speculation, uh, the machine reads that I invented, there were all things that flew out of the bushes when I fired off a gun, huh?


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[Assistant] And then later as with the Hound, I've just told you, I haven't thought that much in recent years, but the Hound is Sherlock Holmes' friend, yeaah.


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[Assistant] When I was 11 or 12 years old in the Chicago Tribune, I lived in Waukegan, north of Chicago, about 30 miles. In the daily paper, they printed a radio script with missing parts. So you would tune in the radio show.


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[Assistant] And they'd read every other line and you'd read every other line in your living room. So you could be part of a radio play.


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[Assistant] And that was the genesis of the relationship of Mildred to her TV set in the, uh, in the, uh, TV room in her house. But that began when I was about 11 years old. And I wanted to be a radio actor. I loved everything to do with the radio. I listened to it. I belonged to the Tarzan Club, the Little Orphan Annie Club. I got a secret decoder ring, you know, and the Buck Rogers Club.


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[Assistant] And I was enamored of radio. Well, when I lived out in Tucson, Arizona, I, there was a radio station there and I sang the lead in a Christmas show at the junior high school.


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[Assistant] By accident, the teacher made me get up and try out. I didn't want to do it. And I got the lead. Okay. So that.


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[Assistant] That fixed me forever on the stage. When I heard that applause, boy, that was the greatest. I said to my friends, I'm gonna go in town and get a job as a radio actor.


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[Assistant] They said, do you know anyone there? No, I don't. Does your father know any? No? Well, how are you going to get a job? I said, I'll hang around the station and be agreeable. So I went and hung around the station and two weeks later I got the job of reading the comic strips to the kiddies every Saturday night and playing parts, huh? So all these things begin to feed into


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[Assistant] The future and TV and the screens, what have you, but it's part of my madness about acting.


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[Assistant] Oh, maybe four or five nights a year when I can't sleep, I get up at three in the morning, go down to the living room, pick one of my books off the shelf and open it anywhere. And I read and I say, I'll be damned, you know, I wrote that. And sometimes I cry because, uh, it was such a surprise. Nothing has ever been intellectualized.


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[Assistant] I've never searched for words. I've never questioned. I just wrote it and very few corrections. Everything pours out. And, uh, so I've learned to respect that, but still it's even more of a surprise years later to go back and read that and say, I'll be damned. I did that. I'm, I'm that guy that wrote that book. It was illustrated for me. I worked for John Houston in Dublin back in 1953, writing the


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[Assistant] But he was a stickler for intellectualizing things which ruined creativity, you know. He got in his own way. There was a wonderful line.


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[Assistant] In an old Phil Silver's musical on Broadway, Top Banana, when the girl's trying out for a role, and he finally said, honey, get out of your way and let it happen, huh? So that's the story of my life. In the middle of writing the script of Moby Dick, we had a certain problem on a certain day with a certain line, a certain scene, and John Huston kept


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[Assistant] Uh, working at it, working at it. He had Peter Verhill there with him and with me. We're trying to solve this sentence or that line or that certain word. And I finally said, for God's sake.


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[Assistant] Let's all go to bed, I'm going back to Dublin, I'm gonna put a pad and pencil by my, by my bed.


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[Assistant] And you, John, put a patent pencil by your bed and Peter, you put one by your bed.


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[Assistant] And during the night, one of us will wake up and have the answer.


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[Assistant] I'm leaving, so I left, they, they pooh-poohed me, you know. Oh, it won't work that way. The next morning, at six o'clock in the morning, John Huston called me and said, Ray, I've got the answer. I said, you son of a bitch, never question me again about these things, eh? The subconscious works in mysterious ways. I don't know, I'm not going to be mystical about it, but I know it works, huh? So, next time, let's not sit around and intellectualize.


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[Assistant] And try to find a word, huh, cause it's not gonna come, huh.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, uhm, when I got out of high school, I had no money. My father was on relief. We were getting money from the government, my family, because my father had been out of work for years. And I got a job selling newspapers on the street corner. And I put my name in to the local university college and I had all my credits there and I was going to start being educated.


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[Assistant] In drama and writing. And I thought to myself, why am I doing this? And the answer was girls, of course. Yeaah. And I thought to myself, well, that's very nice. But what does that got to do with writing? Nothing, huh? And if you're not careful, you're going to ruin your life. So, I made the big decision. I stayed on the street corner. I made $10 a week. And I went to the library and educated myself. I spent


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[Assistant] Two or three days a week in the library for the next ten years and graduated from the library when I was 28.


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[Assistant] Well, the head of a university up north in California heard about this a couple of years ago, and during my lecture he came on the stage and handed me my diploma, graduating me from the library. Isn't that beautiful? Just great.


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[Assistant] All the women in my life have been librarians, English teachers, uh, or booksellers.


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[Assistant] And my wife was a combination of those. I went in Fowler Brothers Bookstore, downtown LA, in April of 1946, looking for a book, uh, Rue Morgue Number One, in which I had my first anthologized short story. So this clerk who waited on me, uh, Marguerite McClure,


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[Assistant] Uh, was curious about me not only because I was a writer looking for a book, but she suspected I was the book thief who had been stealing books from Father Broly's bookstore for the last few months.


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[Assistant] And her boss, Mr. Fowler, told her to keep an eye on me because I looked terribly suspicious. I had a briefcase I kept laying about on various books and they thought maybe I had a trap door in there picking books up.


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[Assistant] So when my wife discovered I was a writer, we began to talk, and a couple days later I took her out for coffee, then I took her out to lunch, I took her out to dinner, and then I started chasing her all over town.


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[Assistant] We got married and we lived in Venice, California in a little $30 a month apartment. And, um, she took a vow of poverty to marry me because she had a decent allowance every week, $50 to $100, a lot of money, 55 years ago. And, but she gave that up.


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[Assistant] Because, and when we got married, we had eight dollars in the bank.


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[Assistant] And I put five dollars in an envelope and handed it to the minister who did our ceremony. And he said, what's this? I said, that's your fee for today. And he said, well, you're a writer, aren't you? I said, yes, sir. He says, then you're going to need this. And he gave me the envelope back and I took it. And years later, I sent him a decent check.


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[Assistant] We were so poor we couldn't afford a telephone the first year and we lived in this little tiny apartment near the corner of South Venice Boulevard.


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[Assistant] And, uh, ocean, uh, ocean road there.


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[Assistant] And there was a gas station across the street with an outdoor telephone booth.


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[Assistant] And when that phone would ring, I had the window open in our apartment.


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[Assistant] I'd run out of the apartment, run across the street, answer the phone as if it were my private phone line, huh? And it would be the president of CBS calling or the head of a studio not realizing that I didn't have a telephone. So that went on for a year. That's how poor we were. But we were rich in love, huh?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And when I look back, I was thinking about those years this morning, that how lucky I was to be that much in love. And as poor as we were, it didn't matter because love is so incredible in those years. And gradually, gradually, gradually, our income went up. And not once in all those years, God bless her, did my wife ever mention money. We never had any trouble because we didn't have any.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I have a very scary story to tell because if it didn't, if it hadn't happened, my life might've been different. Uh, these are very strange things. I went in the bookstore in Santa Monica in the spring of 1950.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the Martian Chronicles had just been published with no reviewers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The obituary reviews in the back of magazines somewhere. But nothing, nothing. And in the bookstore I saw Christopher Isherwood. And I recognized him. I didn't know him. And I went up and introduced myself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I grabbed a copy of the Martian Chronicles off the bookshelf there and I signed it and gave it to him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, his face fell. I could just say, see what he was thinking. Oh my God, one more book to read, you know? And, uh, from some crazy author. So, he left the store. But three days later, I got a phone call. And it was Christopher Isherwood. And he said, Mr. Bradbury? I said, yes. He says, do you know what you've done? I said, no, what have I done? He said, you've written a remarkable book. And I've just been made book editor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He introduced me to Gerald Hurd, the English philosopher, and to Aldous Huxley, and I had tea with Aldous Huxley one day, my hero, I read everything of his, and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I hate tea, of course, and you gotta pretend to love it if you're gonna have tea with all this Huxley. But Mr. Huxley leaned forward, and in his very quiet voice, he said, Do you know what you are? I said, No, what am I, Mr. Huxley? He said, You are a poet. You are a poet. So that was the first I ever knew that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I didn't really think about it until years later when I began to write poetry full-time when I was in my forties. But that encounter with, uhm, with Huxley and with Mr. Hurd and with Isherwood convinced me that I was bright finally. I'd never thought of that. All those years through high school and after that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, no one had ever told me I was bright. Most of the time they told me I was dumb or I was a wimp or I was a nerd. Uh, the bullies got to me. So I learned, uh, I never thought of looking in the mirror and saying, gee, that's a pretty bright guy. I just did my work and now these, my peers are telling me that I'm okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I began to relax more and experiment more, yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I once had a cat, whom I used to tease by holding her up to a mirror.