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Valkeat tunnit : Runoja

Antero Kajanto

Valkeat tunnit by Antero Kajanto is a collection of poems written in the early 20th century. The book paints luminous scenes of Finnish nature and everyday life across the seasons, using spring’s radiance as a gateway to themes of love, festivity, memory, loss, and the human condition. The poems begin with the ecstasy of early spring and high summer—budding leaves, lake shores, students’ May Day gaiety, and Midsummer’s blaze—before turning toward autumn’s thinning light and winter’s hush, where dead water lilies, frost, and New Year’s night frame time’s passing. In the final part the voice grows inward and philosophical: Pegasus figures poetic inspiration; self-portraits grapple with smallness, doubt, and longing; the heart appears both captive and sovereign; fate and toil define the human lot; Christmas bells awaken childhood faith; a prayer-like elegy addresses the Highest; and the closing piece hails the poem itself as a night-born force moving through the world. Throughout, sensuous images and musical cadences guide a cycle from awakening to ripeness, decline, and reflective acceptance. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

What is an index? : A few notes on indexes and indexers

Henry B. (Henry Benjamin) Wheatley

What is an index? by Henry B. Wheatley is a bibliographical treatise written in the late 19th century. It examines what indexes are, why they matter, and how they should be made and used, blending history, advocacy, and practical instruction. The work argues for high standards in indexing and promotes cooperative efforts—most notably an Index Society—to make literature and science more accessible. The opening of the work defines “index” broadly as an indicator, then narrows to its bookish sense, tracing the word from classical Latin through its uneven adoption in modern languages and its rivalry with “table.” It illustrates early and literary uses (including Shakespeare), shows how “index” became naturalized in English, and surveys praise and prejudice toward indexes with lively anecdotes—satirical and malicious indexes, humorous specimens, and notable practitioners from Scaliger to Baillet and Bayle. It then widens to the public value of indexing in law and science, citing legal digests, state-supported calendars, the Royal Society’s catalogue of scientific papers, medical bibliographies, and Poole’s Index, before recounting proposals and steps that led to forming an Index Society and what such a body could do. Finally, it turns to practice: what an index should aim to do, how to compile it, why concise and meaningful headings matter, the need to specify causes of reference, and common pitfalls such as vague catchwords, massed page lists, misprints, and conflated or invented names. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The life and times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, Vol. 1 of 2

Mrs. Strang, Herbert

"The life and times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, Vol. 1 of 2" by Seymour is a religious biography and historical account written in the mid-19th century. It charts the life and influence of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a central patron of the eighteenth‑century evangelical revival, using original letters, anecdotes, and the testimonies of contemporaries such as George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley. The volume frames her personal faith within the wider history of English Protestantism, showing how she founded chapels, supported ministers, and connected courtly society with the burgeoning Methodist movement. The opening of this work explains its purpose: to preserve the Countess’s papers, present a full memoir after a long deferential silence, and do so without sectarian spirit, drawing widely from sources while emphasizing a candid, devotional tone. A sweeping introduction surveys the church’s drift from apostolic simplicity through medieval corruption, the Reformation’s recovery of justification by faith, and subsequent English decline into formalism, polite ethics, and anti-evangelical apathy—setting the stage for the Oxford Methodists and their “irregular” field-preaching, lay agency, and national awakening. It argues that Selina’s unique social position helped carry the Gospel to the nobility while others reached the poor, and highlights her courage, catholicity, and organizing energy. The narrative then begins with extensive family history—the Shirley, Ferrers, Huntingdon, and Levinge lines—and places Selina within illustrious but pious ancestry. Early episodes show her childhood seriousness, private prayers, and later marriage to Theophilus, Earl of Huntingdon, alongside an initial reliance on moral effort and decorum. Influenced by her sister-in-law Lady Margaret Hastings and the early Methodists, and shaken by a severe illness, she moves from self‑righteous striving toward evangelical conviction—where the excerpt breaks off. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Astronomy

Agnes M. (Agnes Mary) Clerke

"Astronomy" by Agnes M. Clerke, A. Fowler, and J. Ellard Gore is a scientific publication written in the late 19th century. It offers a concise, illustrated survey of astronomical knowledge, combining history, the principles of celestial mechanics and observing techniques, and accessible accounts of the solar system, stars, clusters, nebulae, and comets. The opening of the volume sets its aim—a compact, well‑illustrated synopsis—then outlines four parts: a historical survey, geometrical astronomy and instruments, the solar system, and the sidereal heavens. It proceeds with a swift history from Hipparchus and Ptolemy through the Arab custodians to Copernicus, Tycho, Galileo, and Kepler, culminating in Newton’s unifying gravitation and its mathematical confirmation by Lagrange and Laplace. Alongside theory, it spotlights Britain’s observational tradition at Greenwich (Flamsteed, Halley, Bradley, Maskelyne), advances in instrument making, and the rise of powerful reflectors and refractors under William and John Herschel, Lord Rosse, and others. The narrative then introduces the “astronomy of the invisible” (the prediction of Neptune), the birth of astrophysics via spectrum analysis and stellar chemistry, and the transformative role of celestial photography with dry plates. At the start of the next section, the text turns to basics of observing from Earth—horizon and curvature, rough sizing of the globe, sensible versus rational horizon, zenith and nadir, and the sky’s apparent daily rotation around the north celestial pole near Polaris. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The Woodranger : A story of the pioneers of the Debatable Grounds

George Waldo Browne

The Woodranger by George Waldo Browne is a historical adventure novel written in the late 19th century. Set on the colonial frontier along the Merrimack River, it follows the Scotch‑Irish youth Norman McNiel, his foster‑sister Rilma, and their Highland grandfather as they navigate land rivalries between Massachusetts grantees and Londonderry settlers. With the enigmatic Woodranger acting as scout, guide, and moral compass, the story mixes wilderness hunts, frontier justice, and community contests. The opening of The Woodranger frames the 1740s “debatable grounds” dispute between New Hampshire and Massachusetts before plunging into action: Norman watches a wounded deer leap from Rock Rimmon after a shot by Christo, a lone Pennacook, and is then seized by Gunwad, a zealous deer‑reeve, for killing game out of season. Woodranger intervenes, and a horn from Norman’s grandfather pulls him home, where he saves Rilma from a wildcat attack—finished by a timely shot from young Johnny Stark—then accepts an invite to a coming canoe match. At dawn, Woodranger escorts him to be tried locally by ’Squire Blanchard; along the way a comic stop with Zack Bitlock (who has mistakenly cultivated mullein for tobacco) lightens the mood. In court, Woodranger shows the bullet is Indian‑made and that the deer died from its fall, not Norman’s hand; the dog’s role can’t be proved, and Norman is acquitted. When Gunwad slanders Norman’s lineage, Woodranger silences him, and the crowd shifts to the eagerly awaited shooting‑match—signaling that personal grudges, local pride, and frontier tests will drive the tale forward. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Shakespeare's legal maxims

William Lowes Rushton

"Shakespeare's legal maxims by William Lowes Rushton" is a literary-legal treatise written in the early 20th century. It examines how Shakespeare’s plays embed and accurately translate Latin legal maxims, arguing that the playwright possessed genuine legal training. The book’s likely topic is the demonstration of Shakespeare’s legal knowledge through detailed comparison of legal principles with passages from the plays, presented as evidence that he studied law. The work opens with a defensive notice about earlier editions and misattributions, then proceeds as a continuous series of maxims paired with Shakespearean excerpts and succinct legal commentary. It explains judicial impartiality and the rule against judging one’s own cause; the authority of precedent; the distinct roles of judge and jury; possession and title; the legal unity of husband and wife; fixtures law; statutes that “sleep” but do not die; the Chancellor’s seal; a gaoler’s liability for escapes; lawful oaths and perjury; execution conforming to judgment; obedience to judicial orders; sovereign immunity; the need for concurrence of act and intent, including madness, misadventure, unlawful acts turning accidental deaths into murder, and self-defence; coroner’s findings in Ophelia’s case; contempt against judges as against the king; heraldic devices and seals; royal coinage; the city as its people; the danger of unenforced laws; the limits of will versus law; impartial justice; market value; attempts versus completed deeds; forfeiture of legal benefits by subverters of law; the credibility of deathbed statements; the sacred nature of swearing; and the “necessity of time.” It concludes that the consistent, precise application of these maxims across the plays is best explained by the poet’s having been, at least for a time, a student-at-law. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Keisarin opas

René Bazin

"Keisarin opas" by René Bazin is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set in the French border town of Toul after the Franco-Prussian War, it explores duty, compassion, and national feeling through an aging ex-cuirassier, Captain Audouin, and his dutiful daughter Véronique, a music teacher. When a destitute young mother appears in a storm intending to drown herself and abandon her newborn, their household is transformed by the decision to save—and possibly raise—the child. The opening of the story unfolds during a violent night in Lorraine, where Captain Audouin broods over his lost military life while Véronique practices music to support them. A soaked, desperate Maria Huber arrives with a week-old baby and confesses she plans to throw herself into the Moselle; Véronique’s calm resolve forces the mother to nurse the child, and they shelter both through the night. At dawn Maria slips away, later found to have reclaimed debts and likely fled across the border, leaving the infant behind. After a tense clash—fueled by the captain’s anti-German bitterness—Véronique persuades him to keep the boy; they have him baptized Charles, enlist a kindly neighbor’s help, and begin shaping a fragile new family around the rescued child. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The giant world

Ray Cummings

"The giant world" by Ray Cummings is a science fiction novel written in the early 20th century. It follows clerk-turned-explorer Frank Elgon and the twins Martt and Frannie as they journey in a size- and time-shifting craft to a concave “Inner Surface” to find Brett, encountering the singer Leela, her family, and an indolent, art-loving society shadowed by marauding giants from a vaster outer realm. The tale blends romance, awe at strange scales, and rising menace as human-sized lives collide with titanic powers. The opening of the story finds Frank Elgon summoned by Dr. Gryce to help find Brett, only to arrive as the old man dies; honoring his last wish, Frank, Martt, and Frannie enlarge a remaining model craft and descend to the Inner Surface. In the city of Crescent they reunite with Brett—now living with Leela and set to marry—while learning of Romantica’s peaceful, music-rich life and the uneasy rumors of giants near Reaf. During a lantern-lit island festival, a towering figure appears offshore, panic erupts, and giant agents drug Leela and Frannie, shrinking them beyond immediate rescue as Brett and Frank look on in horror. Martt and Leela’s impetuous sister Zee then pursue the captors by fast sail through fog to Reaf, hoping to steal the size-changing drugs from a sleeping giant, while Frannie’s viewpoint traces a breathless, size-shifting ride on horned mounts and a plunge into the subterranean rivers that lead toward the giants’ world. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa

E. W. (Edgar Watson) Howe

"Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa" by E. W. Howe is a collection of travel letters written in the early 20th century. It follows a wry Midwestern editor on an around-the-world journey, recording shipboard life and vivid stops in Polynesia and Australasia, with sharp, humorous observations on people, politics, labor, prices, and place. Expect brisk diary entries, portraits of fellow travelers and local officials, and candid impressions of colonial cities, native customs, and everyday details rather than grand monuments. The opening of the collection finds the narrator at sea on the Sonoma bound for Sydney, noting Christmas and New Year celebrations, the equator “Neptune” rite, and the personalities of Captain Trask and an eclectic passenger list, then pausing at Pago Pago for a close look at American Samoa’s governance, missionaries, copra trade, and native life. He reaches Sydney, admires its harbor, samples city amusements, and comments tartly on dialect, prices, and labor disputes before transferring to the Maheno for New Zealand—enduring sleepless nights, watching albatross, and meeting an unwittingly comic “professor.” In Auckland he tangles with unreliable wireless, surveys hotels, Salvation Army bands, and everyday costs, then rides the government railway to Rotorua for lakes, geysers, boiling mud, and baths, touring Maori villages where springs heat homes and cook food, and where old beliefs and women’s roles surface in conversation. The section closes with more notes on guides, trout, the sheep-based countryside, government-managed tourism, and a candid admission that, after several days of geysers and penny-diving children, even wonders can grow tiresome. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The assistant self

F. L. (Floyd L.) Wallace

The assistant self by F. L. Wallace is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It explores an empath’s entanglement with corporate power, identity, and ethical limits as a giant spaceflight firm hunts for a “perfect rocket motor” that could open interstellar travel. Hal Talbot, gifted with extraordinary empathy, is recruited by executive Evan Soleri to discreetly uncover sabotage at TRANSPORTATION’s rocket project. A thermal bomb kills Soleri as he saves Talbot, and under the shock Talbot’s empathy collapses the boundary between them, enabling him to assume Soleri’s identity so completely he even passes fingerprint checks. Posing as Soleri, he works with Randy, a “secretary” who is actually a psychologist, and navigates tense meetings with company president Andrew Taft and the famed scientist Fred Frescura. Talbot ultimately discovers Frescura is the saboteur, convinced humanity is not ready for the stars; in a final act, Frescura triggers multiple thermal capsules, destroying the main shop and killing himself. The trauma breaks Talbot’s assumed persona and he reverts to himself. Randy reveals she had seen through the impersonation yet trusted his motives, and with the company reeling but still standing, the story closes with Talbot poised to take an honest leadership role—his empathy now tempered by hard-won insight. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Bill of the wild streak

Howard E. (Howard Elmer) Morgan

Bill of the wild streak by Howard E. Morgan is a wilderness adventure short story written in the early 20th century. It follows a powerful mongrel sheepdog whose loyalty to his master clashes with a latent “wild streak,” exploring themes of instinct, duty, and redemption. The story centers on Bill, a husky-collie mix who guards a flock for Hardin, a tough but fair ex-soldier. Bill saves the herd from a coyote and later from a cougar, yet when Hardin leaves, pain and fever unleash Bill’s killer instinct and he slaughters several sheep. Hardin returns, wounds Bill in anger, and the dog flees—but he secretly resumes guarding the flock alongside a lazy collie named Stub. When a forest fire races in, Bill drives the sheep to safety at the pond with fierce urgency; Hardin misreads this as fresh bloodlust and shoots him again before realizing the danger. With the flames engulfing the cabin, Hardin braves the fire to rescue the injured dog, tends his wounds, and promises a new life away from sheep—just the man and his dog. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The women of the Renaissance : A study of feminism

R. de (René) Maulde-La-Clavière

"The women of the Renaissance" by R. de Maulde-La-Clavière is a historical study written in the late 19th century. It explores how women in Renaissance Italy and France steered culture and morals, charting an early feminist movement rooted in idealized love, beauty, and salon influence rather than laws or suffrage. Through social history and lively anecdote, it examines family structures, education, platonism, and women’s political, intellectual, and religious impact. The opening of the book sets the stage with contemporary praise and a translator’s note highlighting the author’s scholarly wit and Renaissance expertise, then frames the “woman question” amid modern confusion about education, marriage, and public role. The preamble proposes learning from the past, contrasting Anglo-Saxon “masculinism” with Latin “feminism,” and points to the Renaissance as a comparable age of transition. The introduction locates the movement’s origin in Italy, where women became the “motive force” of society—countering war and the power of money, revitalizing a tired religious and intellectual climate, and elevating life through beauty, love, and platonist ideals; France at first resisted these Italian ideas, then absorbed them. At the start of Book I, marriage appears as a practical contract wholly distinct from love: fathers negotiate, brides are married young (often betrothed in childhood), and grooms approach the step fatalistically. Anecdotes (from courts like Urbino and figures such as Michelangelo and Raphael) underscore the calculations, dowries, and family interests that govern matches. Weddings are lavish public displays that heighten family prestige, but behind the pageantry the marital reality is bluntly prosaic, affirming the book’s thesis that Renaissance “feminism” emerged not through legal change but through women’s spiritual and social agency outside the marriage bargain. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Turma : Kolminäytöksinen näytelmä

Kaarle Halme

"Turma" by Kaarle Halme is a three-act play written in the early 20th century. It is a domestic and social drama set on a Finnish country estate, where class tensions, family pride, and desire collide. The story centers on Helena Rautajoki, her dreamy daughter Sirkka, the feckless brother Lassi, the stern patriarch Hemminki, and the smooth-talking suitor Reino Valtala, whose attentions shift from mother to daughter and spark a crisis. The opening of the play shows a household on edge: Hemminki grumbles about his widowed daughter-in-law’s presence, the scheming housekeeper Reetta spreads gossip, and Helena learns that rumors linking her to Valtala have turned into his pursuit of Sirkka. Helena rushes to fetch her daughter by boat, but Sirkka unexpectedly arrives by car with Valtala. After Lassi falters, Hemminki confronts Valtala, who coolly admits he has turned from mother to daughter; soon after, he persuades Sirkka to elope, and they flee by automobile. A sheriff intercepts them, Helena faints from the shock, and while they wait, Hemminki confesses his long-held class prejudice against Helena; the segment ends as Sirkka returns and falls into her mother’s arms, with the larger reckoning still to come. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Russia on the Black Sea and Sea of Azof : Being a narrative of travels in the Crimea and bordering provinces; with notices of the naval, military, and commercial resources of those countries

Henry Seymour

"Russia on the Black Sea and Sea of Azof" by Henry Seymour is a historical and geopolitical travel account written in the mid-19th century. It examines the Crimea, the Sea of Azov, and bordering provinces, combining on-the-ground travel with research to assess geography, peoples, ports, and the naval, military, and commercial resources of southern Russia during the era of the Crimean War. The opening of the work explains that it is part personal observation and part compilation, based on the author’s visits to the region and on leading studies (notably Dubois de Montpereux, Haxthausen, Tegoborski, and Hommaire de Hell). Seymour outlines his shift from an intended history of the Caucasus to a focused study of the Crimea and Azov shores, argues for free trade on the eastern Black Sea coast, and advocates supporting the independence of the Circassians as a check on Russian expansion. He characterizes Russians as enduring but misdirected by imperial ambition toward Constantinople, urging robust guarantees in any peace. To illustrate Russian methods, he recounts influence operations in Germany and abductions beyond Russia’s borders, and he notes the strategic impact of recent Allied strikes around the Sea of Azov. The narrative then begins a clear, fact-rich survey: the geography and climate of the Crimea; the road network and key towns (Kherson, Nicolaief, Odessa); the history of the Zaporogue Cossacks; and a detailed description of the southern Russian Steppes (black earth, seasons, storms, ravines, tumuli, and wildlife). It proceeds to the isthmus of Perecop—its fortifications and Münnich’s 18th‑century assault—along with coastal hydrography (Karkiníte Gulf, Kilboroun and Otchákow), the Shiváshe lagoon, the Arabat spit, and the approach to Sympherópol. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Explorers into infinity

Ray Cummings

"Explorers into infinity" by Ray Cummings is a science fiction novel written in the early 20th century. It imagines a nested, boundless cosmos where size and time are relative and traversable, following postal officer Frank Elgon and the Gryce family as they build a transformable craft to journey across space, time, and scale. After Brett Gryce glimpses through a new “myrdoscope” a terrified girl in a larger realm menaced by dwarfs and a giant, he and his brother Martt set out to reach and help her. Part scientific romance and part cosmic adventure, it weds bold speculation to intimate peril. The opening of the novel frames a companion idea to The Girl in the Golden Atom, proposing infinite smallness and largeness and the interdependence of matter, space, time, and motion. Frank visits Dr. Gryce and his children—Brett, the twins Martynn (Martt) and Francine—who reveal the myrdoscope and Brett’s vision of a motionless‑seeming tableau: a beautiful girl by opalescent water, two gnomes climbing her sandal, and a looming giant, all “frozen” only because their time flows far faster than Earth’s. Gryce unveils a milk‑white cube vehicle that can alter size, position, and time rate; model tests send one into the past, another into infinitesimal smallness, and a third nearly wrecks the garden when it balloons out of control before they stop it—proof of the power’s danger. After outfitting the craft, Brett and Martt depart; their father and Frannie keep an aural beacon sweeping space and keep vigil until, after anxious weeks, the ship returns and the brothers begin recounting their flight past the planets, a near‑miss with an asteroid, and their first growth phase that multiplies their effective velocity and transforms the starfield before them. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Die Geschwister

Hugo Bertsch

"Die Geschwister" by Hugo Bertsch is an epistolary novel written in the early 20th century. It follows working‑class siblings Tom Pratt, a German‑American factory hand in New York, and his sister Jennie in Missouri, whose correspondence wrestles with injury, poverty, faith, and dignity. Framed by a reflective preface and a lyrical meditation on death and graves, the narrative promises intimate psychological realism and pointed social critique voiced from the “fourth estate.” The opening of the novel presents a substantial foreword describing the author’s origins as a self‑taught factory worker, the book’s slow gestation, and its form as a “soul‑story” told largely through letters, before shifting to a somber “Introduction” that contrasts the terror of the grave with the consoling idea of “God’s acre.” It then turns to Tom’s letters: a brutal bandsaw accident leaves him maimed and out of work, spiraling between rage and despair as he convalesces in Brooklyn with the fierce, tender care of his ailing wife Eva and their child. Jennie writes back from Pilot Knob, urging prayer and a return to faith; Tom tries to rally, jokes darkly, and supports Eva’s plan to start a small laundry, then ventures outside and later attends Mass, where nostalgia and longing clash with skepticism about church pageantry and money talk. Further exchanges deepen the portrait of working‑class hardship (including mining mishaps among acquaintances) and family devotion; Eva adds a simple, moving letter that reveals Tom’s further amputation and her steadfast love, and the excerpt closes as Jennie begins a warm reply to her sister‑in‑law. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

L'Arlésienne : Pièce en trois actes et cinq tableaux

Alphonse Daudet

L'Arlésienne by Alphonse Daudet is a play written in the late 19th century. Set in the Camargue of Provence, it follows the Mamaï family and their son Fréderi, whose passion for the elusive “girl from Arles” clashes with family honor and the steadfast love of Vivette as his mother Rose and the shepherd Balthazar struggle to save him. The piece mixes vivid regional life with a tense, intimate portrait of love, pride, and duty. The opening of the play establishes the Castelet farm as wedding plans take shape for Fréderi—until a Camargue horse-guardian, Mitifio, arrives with letters proving the Arlésienne’s infidelity, devastating the young man. By the Vaccarès lagoon, Rose fears for her son’s life and urges Vivette—who quietly loves him—to reach him, while Balthazar counsels work, travel, and self-mastery; Fréderi clings to the damning letters and rebuffs Vivette in anguish. A family council follows in the kitchen: Rose is ready to accept the disgrace to save her son, but Fréderi refuses and, instead, asks Vivette to help him heal. As the court is dressed for celebration alongside the Saint-Éloi festivities, the arrival of Mother Renaud and her tender reunion with Balthazar highlights the play’s theme of renounced passion and enduring honor. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Kék róka : Szinjáték három felvonásban

Ferenc Herczeg

Kék róka by Ferenc Herczeg is a play written in the early 20th century. A sparkling comedy of manners edged with jealousy and moral debate, it follows Pál, a scholarly husband, his dazzling wife Cecile, Pál’s loyal friend Sándor, the dashing aviator Trill, and Lencsi, a gifted young artist. Fashion, flirtation, and wounded pride collide as a rumored affair provokes a plan to expose the truth at a carefully staged dinner, with the coveted “blue fox” fur gleaming as both status symbol and sly motif. The opening of the play sets us in an elegant Buda hillside villa where Pál fumes over a failed illustrator, then discovers Lencsi’s talent and invites her to illustrate his scientific book and live in the house. As Cecile hunts a blue fox fur in town, Sándor returns from Switzerland, grows suspicious over small clues, and concludes Cecile has been seeing Trill in Török Street; their sharp, layered exchange ends with Sándor vowing to “seat Truth at the table” and inviting Trill to a confrontational supper. The next day, Lencsi arrives cheerfully with a fish to cook while Cecile, uncharacteristically vulnerable, seeks reconciliation; Sándor remains implacable, dropping the teasing name “Xénia” as bait. Trill sweeps in with breezy charm and evasions, and the scene tightens toward the dinner where appearances and allegiances are about to be tested. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The gray god

(Joseph Allan) Dunn, J. Allan

"The gray god" by J. Allan Dunn is a pulp adventure novelette written in the early 20th century. It follows Bob Stanton, a stranded American in Fiji who is recruited by Cheung Li to find missing pearler Haines and his cache, escort Haines’s daughter Lucy, and race the ruthless Loo Fong to the taboo island of Motutabu, a place of pearls, pirates, and a sinister stone idol. The opening of the story shows Stanton at rock bottom in Suva, bristling at a public insult, flooring a brutal schooner mate while rescuing a sick Melanesian stowaway (Tiki), and getting drawn into Cheung Li’s plan to investigate Motutabu and Haines’s disappearance. After a failed night attack on Stanton’s lodging, Stanton, Lucy, and a Chinese-manned schooner race south, weather calms and shifting winds, with hints of Loo Fong in pursuit; Tiki proves to be heir to a line of island wizards. On Motutabu they find Haines’s Kanaka crew murdered and Haines missing until Tiki tracks him to a hidden cleft where he lies wounded and starving. As the pirate Lehua arrives, they retreat into a cavern beneath the colossal “gray god,” where Tiki triggers an ancient sacrificial slab that drops Johnson and Loo Fong to their doom and routs the attackers, allowing the crew to recover Haines and the pearls; Tiki elects to remain as the god’s priest while the others sail away. (This is an automatically generated summary.)