Even as the Mystery Rider leaped over the Fusilier emplacement, smoke-bombs were fired into the soldiers from neighbouring rooftops. Next a mob attacked the position, driving the troops back as the Mystery Rider wheeled and charged back into the melee. “For England and St. George!” he cried, according to several reports.
Fighting was severe during the following hour. Despite reinforcements the Fusiliers were forced to fall back.
At noon today the Hoxton streets, reclaimed by people who say the troops were an occupying army, are full of rumours about the identity of the Mystery Rider. The strangest tale this reporter has heard is that the man is a 16th-century DTI! Wild times indeed!
So far there is no sign of the Mystery Man himself. In the wake of the fighting he and his black horse are nowhere to be found. Many mouths are tightly shut in Hoxton today.
“These wretched people must learn that they cannot defy authority so easily,” stated Col. Blaize-Gore of the Fusiliers this afternoon. He declined to indicate when or whether his troops will be ordered into Hoxton again.
Meanwhile tonight in Hoxton the spirit of
(turn to page 3)
The pale man was no longer pale. He did not turn to page three.
Instead he leaned back. A chuckle escaped him. Then another. He began to laugh heartily.
“Oh my God, Humf!” he exclaimed.
Editor’s Note on Biographical Sources
Much of HG’s account is naturally difficult to verify, particularly in regard to his recent experiences, but also where his early years are concerned. He and his brother Adrian did have their uncle, Philip Penkewell, for guardian after their father’s early death; and he did attend Eton and Oxford, but little else about his early life is recorded. However, the events he mentions in connection with his mature years are for the most part verifiable and appear to be accurate, although of course conversational detail cannot be checked.
During initial research with HG, while still highly skeptical of his claims, I gleaned historical information from the following sources: Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Elizabeth’s Racketeer, Donald Barr Chidsey, Harper, 1932; The Life of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, England’s First Empire Builder, William Gilbert Gosling, Constable, 1911; Sir Humfrey Gylberte and His Enterprise of Colonisation in America, Carlos Slafter (1825), Boston, Prince Society, 1903; The Voyage and Colonising Enterprises of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, ed. D. B. Quinn, Hakluyt Society, 1940; and, of course, Hakluyt’s Voyages of the Elizabeth Seamen to America, De La Rue, 1880; and others—plus a variety of other sources that need not be mentioned here.
Save in minor matters of spelling and punctuation I have not in any way edited or tampered with HG’s manuscript. His variable spelling of his name I have left as it is, limiting my functions to those of typist and executor in the publication of this account; except in regard to Introduction and Afterword, where I have essayed short dramatisations to round the thing out, as it were. I am also responsible for the chapter titles and the Table of Contents, frivolous though some may find these. It is my reluctant understanding that the account cannot be published as Fact: the Publisher has requested these items in order to prettify the bald narrative; the responsibility is mine alone.
As he promised, Humf has not contacted me again, and I know nothing directly of his present doings. Yet, if popular rumour is to be believed, he is not inactive!
M. G.
York, October 1990
copyright
Berkley Books by Stuart Gordon
FIRE IN THE ABYSS
SMILE ON THE VOID
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley edition / August 1983
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1983 by Richard Gordon.
Cover illustration by Paul DiCampli.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
For information address:
The Berkley Publishing Group,
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ISBN: 0-425-06081-0
A BERKLEY BOOK ® TM 757,375
The name “BERKLEY” and the stylized “B” with design are trademarks belonging to The Berkley Publishing Group.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Anticopyright
Title: Fire in the Abyss
Author: Stuart Gordon
Genre: science fiction
Source: Berkley paperback edition, published August, 1983
Process: Scanned, OCR’d and proofed.
Date of e-text: December 13, 2013
Prepared by: Antwerp
Comments: As far as I know, this is the only existing e-text of this book.
Notes about scanning:
I’m hardly an expert, but for what it’s worth here’s what I’ve learned so far:
1. The hardest part of scanning a book is steeling yourself to unbind your book. It may help to remember that standard mass-market paperbacks were never made to last. If your bookshelf is anything like mine, paperbacks more than ten years old are already showing signs of age. At fifteen to twenty years, the pages are yellowing and the binding is starting to crack and loosen. They won’t last much longer as a readable book, and may no longer be available in any format.
Sometimes you really do have to destroy the village in order to save it.
2. The trick to unbinding a standard paperback is heat (even if you’re careful, cutting can damage the text, especially with an old cheap paperback). A heavy cast-iron skillet works well. Pre-heat the skillet to “medium”. Place just the binding edge on the surface of the skillet for a couple of seconds. The pages should start to loosen enough to gently pull free. Be careful not to over-heat - you only want to soften the binding glue, not liquefy or vapourise it. I don’t know the flashpoint of binding glue or what it’s made of, but it’s probably not something you want to breathe. Carefully separate out the individual pages, re-heating the binding edge as needed. Don’t neatly re-stack the pages, leave them in a loose pile until they’ve fully cooled. Watch out for glue strings and blobs.
3. Make sure your scanner will do at least 600dpi. I know all the OCR guides say 300 dpi, but the text in paperbacks is pretty small and you have contend with cheap fibrous paper and background discolouration, not to mention tea stains and such. 600 dpi gives you and your software something to work with. I find that scanning in Photo mode, greyscale, dark (underexposed), at high contrast seems to get the best results. Play around with your scanner’s settings until you get something that works for your OCR program.
4. “Obtain” a real OCR program, not Acrobat’s built-in ocr or some freeware app. No offence intended - I use lots of freeware and shareware myself - but OCR is something that requires a high-end program to get the job done right.
5. Proofing is a tedious pain in the ass, but it’s really the most important part. To avoid burning out, I suggest limiting yourself to scanning-and-proofing 50 or so pages a day. It’ll take around a week per book, but it’s worth taking the time to do the job right. Remember, yours may well be the only e-copy of your favourite book that will ever be made. Proof responsibly.
Anticopyright 2013. All rights reversed.
Table of Contents
Fire in the Abyss Introduction: Equinox
Part the First 1. Humf’s Declaration
2. On His Ancestry, Habits, & Name
3. Compton Castle, & How the Viper Did Not Strike
4. A Farthing for His Fate at Eton Fair
5. Of Golden Ships & the First Map of America
6. How Humf Has Fought for His Beliefs
7. Another Night of Imp & Sprite
8. “…You’ll Be Richer Than Croesus!”
9. How Doctor Dee Founded the British Empire
10. Sir Humfrey Meets the Power Not of Christ
Part the Second 11. The Nature of the Vulcan Vortex
12
. Swallowed by Leviathan & the AMA
13. In Which Sir Humfrey Meets Psychohistory
14. “…Like a Million Motel Rooms…”
15. Humf Takes a Dip in the Ancient Nile
16. Meetings with Distressed Temporal Immigrants
17. The Nine Dreams of the Hawk
18. Circle Learns to See What’s Behind Its Nose
19. The Conquistador Who Acted like a Jerk
20. Why Othoon Laughed Himself to Death
21. How Common Ground Planned Escape
22. “…The Japanese Never Made Nothing!”
Part the Third 23. In Which Humf Grows Very Thin
24. With KRONONUTZ in St. Louis
25. How Set Struck the Hawk in Denver
26. Visions of Rose, Mud of the Road
27. What Humf Did in the Steamhouse
28. A Pint in the Sir Walter Raleigh
29. “…No Blame: You Must Go On…”
30. With Red Robbie on the March to York
31. Telephones Ringing: A Circle’s Completed
32. Aquarius: Vision of the Dancers
Afterword: Michael Greene Laughs at Last
Editor’s Note on Biographical Sources
copyright
Contents
Fire in the Abyss Page 36