{"product_id":"2940013446373","title":"The Land Of Fire","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"THE SEA!  THE SEA!  THE OPEN SEA!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the most interesting of English highways is the old coach road\u003cbr\u003efrom London to Portsmouth.  Its interest is in part due to the charming\u003cbr\u003escenery through which it runs, but as much to memories of a bygone time.\u003cbr\u003eOne travelling this road at the present day might well deem it lonely,\u003cbr\u003eas there will be met on it only the liveried equipage of some local\u003cbr\u003emagnate, the more unpretentious turn-out of country doctor or parson,\u003cbr\u003ewith here and there a lumbering farm waggon, or the farmer himself in\u003cbr\u003ehis smart two-wheeled \"trap,\" on the way to a neighbouring market.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow different it was half a century ago, when along this same highway\u003cbr\u003efifty four-horse stages were \"tooled\" to and fro from England's\u003cbr\u003emetropolis to her chief seaport town, top-heavy with fares--often a\u003cbr\u003enoisy crowd of jovial Jack tars, just off a cruise and making\u003cbr\u003eLondonward, or with faces set for Portsmouth, once more to breast the\u003cbr\u003ebillows and brave the dangers of the deep!  Many a naval officer of name\u003cbr\u003eand fame historic, such as the Rodneys, Cochranes, Collingwoods, and\u003cbr\u003eCodringtons,--even Nile's hero himself,--has been whirled along this old\u003cbr\u003ehighway.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll that is over now, and long has been.  To-day the iron horse, with\u003cbr\u003eits rattling train, carries such travellers by a different route--the\u003cbr\u003escreech of its whistle being just audible to wayfarers on the old road,\u003cbr\u003eas in mockery of their crawling pace.  Of its ancient glories there\u003cbr\u003eremain only the splendid causeway, still kept in repair, and the inns\u003cbr\u003eencountered at short distances apart, many of them once grand\u003cbr\u003ehostelries.  They, however, are not in repair; instead, altogether out\u003cbr\u003eof it.  Their walls are cracked and crumbling to ruins, the ample\u003cbr\u003ecourtyards are grass-grown and the stables empty, or occupied only by\u003cbr\u003ehalf a dozen clumsy cart-horses; while of human kind moving around will\u003cbr\u003ebe a lout or two in smock-frocks, where gaudily-dressed postillions,\u003cbr\u003ebooted and spurred, with natty ostlers in sleeve-waistcoats,\u003cbr\u003etight-fitting breeches, and gaiters, once ruled the roast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmong other ancient landmarks on this now little-used highway is one of\u003cbr\u003edark and tragic import.  Beyond the town of Petersfield, going\u003cbr\u003esouthward, the road winds up a long steep ridge of chalk formation--the\u003cbr\u003e\"South Downs,\" which have given their name to the celebrated breed of\u003cbr\u003esheep.  Near the summit is a crater-like depression, several hundred\u003cbr\u003efeet in depth, around whose rim the causeway is carried--a dark and\u003cbr\u003edismal hole, so weird of aspect as to have earned for it the appellation\u003cbr\u003eof the \"Devil's Punch Bowl.\"  Human agency has further contributed to\u003cbr\u003ethe appropriateness of the title.  By the side of the road, just where\u003cbr\u003eit turns around the upper edge of the hollow, is a monolithic monument,\u003cbr\u003erecording the tragic fate of a sailor who was there murdered and his\u003cbr\u003edead body flung into the \"Bowl.\"  The inscription further states that\u003cbr\u003ejustice overtook his murderers, who were hanged on the selfsame spot,\u003cbr\u003ethe scene of their crime.  The obelisk of stone, with its long record,\u003cbr\u003eoccupying the place where stood the gallows-tree.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is a morning in the month of June; the hour a little after daybreak.\u003cbr\u003eA white fog is over the land of South Hampshire--so white that it might\u003cbr\u003ebe taken for snow.  The resemblance is increased by the fact of its\u003cbr\u003ebeing but a layer, so low that the crests of the hills and tree-tops of\u003cbr\u003ecopses appear as islets in the ocean, with shores well defined, though\u003cbr\u003econstantly shifting.  For, in truth, it is the effect of a mirage, a\u003cbr\u003ephenomenon aught but rare in the region of the South Downs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe youth who is wending his way up the slope leading to the Devil's\u003cbr\u003ePunch Bowl takes no note of this illusion of nature.  But he is not\u003cbr\u003eunobservant of the fog itself; indeed, he seems pleased at having it\u003cbr\u003earound him, as though it afforded concealment from pursuers.  Some\u003cbr\u003eevidence of this might be gathered from his now and then casting\u003cbr\u003esuspicious glances rearward, and at intervals stopping to listen.\u003cbr\u003eNeither seeing nor hearing anything, however, he continues up the hill\u003cbr\u003ein a brisk walk, though apparently weary.  That he is tired can be told\u003cbr\u003eby his sitting down on a bank by the roadside as soon as he reaches the\u003cbr\u003esummit, evidently to rest himself.  What he carries could not be the\u003cbr\u003ecause of his fatigue--only a small bundle done up in a silk\u003cbr\u003ehandkerchief.  More likely it comes from his tramp along the hard road,\u003cbr\u003ethe thick dust over his clothes showing that it had been a long one.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079450902768,"sku":"2940013446373","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013446373_p0.jpg?v=1763581035","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013446373","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}