Pola pikir gratisan dalam usaha
Pola pikir "gratisan" dalam usaha dapat merujuk pada beberapa hal, tetapi pada umumnya merujuk pada perilaku atau sikap di mana seseorang atau perusahaan cenderung memberikan barang atau layanan secara gratis tanpa pertimbangan yang tepat tentang dampak finansial atau keuntungan jangka panjang yang mungkin terjadi.

Pola pikir gratisan ini mungkin timbul karena beberapa alasan, seperti ingin menarik pelanggan baru, meningkatkan loyalitas pelanggan yang sudah ada, atau meningkatkan citra perusahaan. Namun, jika tidak dipertimbangkan dengan baik, pola pikir ini dapat berdampak buruk pada bisnis Anda.

Sebagai contoh, jika Anda terlalu sering memberikan produk atau layanan secara gratis, Anda mungkin akan kehilangan pendapatan dan profitabilitas. Selain itu, jika pelanggan terbiasa dengan pola pikir gratisan, mereka mungkin tidak ingin membayar harga yang wajar untuk produk atau layanan Anda di masa depan, sehingga dapat merusak bisnis Anda dalam jangka panjang.

Namun, bukan berarti tidak boleh memberikan barang atau layanan secara gratis sama sekali. Memberikan contoh gratis dapat menjadi cara yang efektif untuk menarik pelanggan baru dan meningkatkan loyalitas pelanggan yang sudah ada, tetapi harus dilakukan dengan bijak dan diimbangi dengan strategi bisnis yang tepat. Sebelum memberikan produk atau layanan secara gratis, pastikan bahwa Anda telah mempertimbangkan semua aspek bisnis dan dampak jangka panjang yang mungkin terjadi.

Kekurangan konsumen yang suka gratisan

Konsumen yang suka gratisan atau yang terlalu terbiasa dengan pola pikir gratisan dapat memiliki beberapa kekurangan yang berdampak pada bisnis, antara lain:

Mengecilkan profit bisnis: Jika konsumen terlalu terbiasa dengan pola pikir gratisan, mereka mungkin tidak mau membayar harga yang wajar untuk produk atau layanan Anda. Hal ini dapat mengurangi profit bisnis Anda, terutama jika Anda sering memberikan produk atau layanan secara gratis.

Mengurangi nilai produk: Jika konsumen sering mendapatkan produk atau layanan secara gratis, mereka mungkin tidak menghargai nilai sebenarnya dari produk atau layanan tersebut. Ini dapat merusak citra merek dan mengurangi kepercayaan konsumen terhadap produk atau layanan Anda.

Menurunkan kualitas pelanggan: Konsumen yang terlalu suka gratisan cenderung tidak setia dan hanya mencari keuntungan sebanyak mungkin. Mereka mungkin tidak mau membayar harga yang wajar untuk produk atau layanan Anda, dan tidak mempertimbangkan kualitas produk atau layanan yang mereka terima.

Memperkuat sikap tidak profesional: Jika konsumen terlalu terbiasa dengan pola pikir gratisan, mereka mungkin menganggap bahwa bisnis Anda kurang profesional atau kurang serius. Ini dapat merusak citra bisnis Anda dan mengurangi kepercayaan konsumen.

Oleh karena itu, penting untuk memiliki strategi yang tepat dalam memberikan produk atau layanan gratis. Anda harus mempertimbangkan dampak jangka panjang dari pola pikir gratisan pada bisnis Anda dan memastikan bahwa strategi yang Anda gunakan seimbang antara keuntungan dan biaya yang dikeluarkan.

Mengatasi konsumen yang terlalu banyak meminta produk atau layanan gratis dapat menjadi tantangan bagi bisnis. Namun, berikut adalah beberapa cara untuk mengatasi konsumen yang meminta produk atau layanan gratis:

Sediakan alternatif yang lebih terjangkau: Jika konsumen meminta produk atau layanan gratis, bisnis dapat menawarkan alternatif yang lebih terjangkau, seperti produk atau layanan dengan harga diskon atau paket yang lebih kecil dengan harga yang lebih murah.

Tetapkan harga yang wajar: Bisnis harus tetap menetapkan harga yang wajar dan mengkomunikasikan nilai produk atau layanan dengan jelas kepada konsumen. Dengan menunjukkan nilai produk atau layanan yang ditawarkan, konsumen mungkin lebih cenderung membayar harga yang wajar.

Berikan nilai tambah: Bisnis dapat memberikan nilai tambah kepada konsumen sebagai imbalan atas pembelian mereka. Misalnya, mereka dapat memberikan diskon atau bonus pada pembelian berikutnya, memberikan layanan purna jual yang baik, atau memberikan pengalaman yang lebih baik dalam membeli produk atau layanan.

Berikan edukasi: Bisnis dapat mengedukasi konsumen tentang biaya yang diperlukan untuk menghasilkan produk atau layanan, sehingga konsumen dapat lebih memahami kenapa produk atau layanan tersebut tidak dapat diberikan secara gratis.

Jangan memberikan harapan yang salah: Bisnis sebaiknya tidak memberikan harapan yang salah kepada konsumen tentang kemungkinan mendapatkan produk atau layanan secara gratis. Sebagai gantinya, mereka harus jelas dan transparan mengenai harga dan persyaratan pembelian.

 tetapi dapat menggunakan strategi yang tepat untuk mengatasi masalah ini dan mempertahankan hubungan yang baik dengan konsumen.

Menolak konsumen yang terlalu banyak meminta atau terlalu ribet dapat menjadi pilihan yang sulit, namun terkadang dapat diperlukan. Berikut adalah beberapa cara untuk menolak konsumen yang ribet dan banyak maunya:

Jujur dan transparan: Berbicara dengan jujur dan transparan kepada konsumen tentang keterbatasan atau kebijakan bisnis dapat membantu mengurangi harapan yang tidak realistis. Jelaskan secara terbuka mengenai produk atau layanan yang ditawarkan, harga, waktu pengerjaan, atau persyaratan lainnya. Dengan demikian, konsumen dapat memahami bahwa bisnis memiliki keterbatasan dan batasan.

Berikan alternatif: Jika konsumen meminta produk atau layanan yang tidak dapat dipenuhi, bisnis dapat memberikan alternatif yang lebih realistis atau sesuai dengan kebutuhan konsumen. Jika bisnis tidak dapat memberikan produk atau layanan yang diminta, tetapi dapat menawarkan alternatif yang lebih baik, bisnis dapat mengusulkan alternatif tersebut kepada konsumen.

Tetap profesional: Meskipun konsumen mungkin terlalu ribet atau banyak maunya, bisnis harus tetap berperilaku profesional dan sopan. Jangan pernah meremehkan atau mengejek konsumen, karena hal ini dapat merusak citra bisnis.

Pertimbangkan ulang: Sebelum menolak konsumen, pertimbangkan ulang apakah permintaan konsumen memang tidak dapat dipenuhi atau hanya memerlukan sedikit penyesuaian. Bisnis harus selalu berusaha memberikan solusi terbaik bagi konsumen.

Pertimbangkan risiko dan manfaat: Jika bisnis merasa bahwa melayani konsumen yang terlalu ribet atau banyak maunya dapat memberikan risiko yang terlalu besar atau merugikan bisnis, bisnis dapat mempertimbangkan untuk menolak konsumen atau menunjukkan bahwa bisnis tidak cocok untuk memenuhi kebutuhan mereka.

Namun, penting untuk diingat bahwa menolak konsumen harus dilakukan dengan hati-hati, karena hal ini dapat berdampak buruk pada citra bisnis dan hubungan dengan konsumen. Oleh karena itu, penting bagi bisnis untuk mempertimbangkan dengan matang sebelum menolak konsumen dan selalu berusaha memberikan solusi terbaik bagi konsumen.

Meskipun setiap bisnis berbeda, tetapi pada umumnya ada beberapa jenis konsumen yang tegas dan terkadang perlu ditolak. Beberapa jenis konsumen yang mungkin perlu ditolak di antaranya:

Konsumen yang meminta hal yang melanggar hukum: Bisnis tidak boleh menyetujui permintaan konsumen yang melanggar hukum atau tidak etis, seperti meminta bisnis untuk melakukan tindakan yang merugikan pihak lain atau melakukan tindakan diskriminatif.

Konsumen yang sering mengganggu atau menyalahi etika: Konsumen yang sering mengganggu atau menyalahi etika bisnis juga dapat menjadi alasan untuk menolak. Misalnya, konsumen yang sering mengeluarkan kata-kata kasar atau tidak sopan, meminta produk atau layanan yang tidak masuk akal, atau terus-menerus mengajukan keluhan tanpa alasan yang jelas.

Konsumen yang tidak dapat memenuhi persyaratan pembayaran: Bisnis tidak dapat memberikan produk atau layanan secara gratis atau tanpa pembayaran, oleh karena itu konsumen yang tidak dapat memenuhi persyaratan pembayaran harus ditolak.

Konsumen yang sering mengembalikan produk: Konsumen yang sering mengembalikan produk atau mengajukan klaim palsu dapat merugikan bisnis, sehingga bisnis dapat mempertimbangkan untuk menolak konsumen seperti ini.

Namun, penting untuk diingat bahwa menolak konsumen harus dilakukan dengan hati-hati dan dalam situasi yang benar-benar diperlukan. Sebelum menolak konsumen, bisnis harus mempertimbangkan secara cermat dan berusaha untuk menyelesaikan masalah dengan konsumen dengan cara yang terbaik.

So, quite unexpectedly, my brother found himself, panting, with a cut mouth, a bruised jaw, and bloodstained knuckles, driving along an unknown lane with these two women.

[media width="100%" height="450"]https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/84469084&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true[/media] He learned they were the wife and the younger sister of a surgeon living at Stanmore, who had come in the small hours from a dangerous case at Pinner, and heard at some railway station on his way of the Martian advance. He had hurried home, roused the women--their servant had left them two days before--packed some provisions, put his revolver under the seat--luckily for my brother--and told them to drive on to Edgware, with the idea of getting a train there. He stopped behind to tell the neighbours. He would overtake them, he said, at about half past four in the morning, and now it was nearly nine and they had seen nothing of him. They could not stop in Edgware because of the growing traffic through the place, and so they had come into this side lane.

'I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the Duck: 'it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?'
That was the story they told my brother in fragments when presently they stopped again, nearer to New Barnet. He promised to stay with them, at least until they could determine what to do, or until the missing man arrived, and professed to be an expert shot with the revolver--a weapon strange to him--in order to give them confidence.

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Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever! For now, since by many prolonged, repeated experiences, I have perceived that in all cases man must eventually lower, or at least shift, his conceit of attainable felicity; not placing it anywhere in the intellect or the fancy; but in the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle, the fireside, the country; now that I have perceived all this, I am ready to squeeze case eternally. In thoughts of the visions of the night, I saw long rows of angels in paradise, each with his hands in a jar of spermaceti.

[ads-post] Now, while discoursing of sperm, it behooves to speak of other things akin to it, in the business of preparing the sperm whale for the try-works.

First comes white-horse, so called, which is obtained from the tapering part of the fish, and also from the thicker portions of his flukes. It is tough with congealed tendons—a wad of muscle—but still contains some oil. After being severed from the whale, the white-horse is first cut into portable oblongs ere going to the mincer. They look much like blocks of Berkshire marble.

Then, being prepared for the journey, they all started for the Emerald City; and the Winkies gave them three cheers and many good wishes to carry with them.

  1. I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that other occasion
  2. "If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove it," she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you
  3. I am in your power, and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of your intentions toward me
  4. I am not your mate, and again I tell you that I hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you again
  5. " Dian certainly was candid
  6. There was no gainsaying that
  7. In fact I found candor and directness to be quite a marked characteristic of the cave men of Pellucidar
  8. Finally I suggested that we make some attempt to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching Jubal, for I am free to admit that I had no considerable desire to meet the formidable and ferocious creature, of whose mighty prowess Dian had told me when I first met her

Night city and bridge best photography
Night City
In a few minutes there was, so far as the soldier could see, not a living thing left upon the common, and every bush and tree upon it that was not already a blackened skeleton was burning. The hussars had been on the road beyond the curvature of the ground, and he saw nothing of them. He heard the Martians rattle for a time and then become still. The giant saved Woking station and its cluster of houses until the last; then in a moment the Heat-Ray was brought to bear, and the town became a heap of fiery ruins. Then the Thing shut off the Heat-Ray, and turning its back upon the artilleryman, began to waddle away towards the smouldering pine woods that sheltered the second cylinder. As it did so a second glittering Titan built itself up out of the pit.

The second monster followed the first, and at that the artilleryman began to crawl very cautiously across the hot heather ash towards Horsell. He managed to get alive into the ditch by the side of the road, and so escaped to Woking. There his story became ejaculatory. The place was impassable. It seems there were a few people alive there, frantic for the most part and many burned and scalded. He was turned aside by the fire, and hid among some almost scorching heaps of broken wall as one of the Martian giants returned. He saw this one pursue a man, catch him up in one of its steely tentacles, and knock his head against the trunk of a pine tree. At last, after nightfall, the artilleryman made a rush for it and got over the railway embankment.

Since then he had been skulking along towards Maybury, in the hope of getting out of danger Londonward. People were hiding in trenches and cellars, and many of the survivors had made off towards Woking village and Send. He had been consumed with thirst until he found one of the water mains near the railway arch smashed, and the water bubbling out like a spring upon the road.

That was the story I got from him, bit by bit. He grew calmer telling me and trying to make me see the things he had seen. He had eaten no food since midday, he told me early in his narrative, and I found some mutton and bread in the pantry and brought it into the room. We lit no lamp for fear of attracting the Martians, and ever and again our hands would touch upon bread or meat. As he talked, things about us came darkly out of the darkness, and the trampled bushes and broken rose trees outside the window grew distinct. It would seem that a number of men or animals had rushed across the lawn. I began to see his face, blackened and haggard, as no doubt mine was also.

It seems there were a few people alive there
When we had finished eating we went softly upstairs to my study, and I looked again out of the open window. In one night the valley had become a valley of ashes. The fires had dwindled now. Where flames had been there were now streamers of smoke; but the countless ruins of shattered and gutted houses and blasted and blackened trees that the night had hidden stood out now gaunt and terrible in the pitiless light of dawn. Yet here and there some object had had the luck to escape--a white railway signal here, the end of a greenhouse there, white and fresh amid the wreckage. Never before in the history of warfare had destruction been so indiscriminate and so universal. And shining with the growing light of the east, three of the metallic giants stood about the pit, their cowls rotating as though they were surveying the desolation they had made.

It seemed to me that the pit had been enlarged, and ever and again puffs of vivid green vapour streamed up and out of it towards the brightening dawn--streamed up, whirled, broke, and vanished.


Beyond were the pillars of fire about Chobham. They became pillars of bloodshot smoke at the first touch of day.

As the dawn grew brighter we withdrew from the window from which we had watched the Martians, and went very quietly downstairs.

The enormous broad tires of the chariots and the padded feet of the animals brought forth no sound from the moss-covered sea bottom; and so we moved in utter silence, like some huge phantasmagoria, except when the stillness was broken by the guttural growling of a goaded zitidar, or the squealing of fighting thoats. The green Martians converse but little, and then usually in monosyllables, low and like the faint rumbling of distant thunder.

We traversed a trackless waste of moss which, bending to the pressure of broad tire or padded foot, rose up again behind us, leaving no sign that we had passed. We might indeed have been the wraiths of the departed dead upon the dead sea of that dying planet for all the sound or sign we made in passing. It was the first march of a large body of men and animals I had ever witnessed which raised no dust and left no spoor; for there is no dust upon Mars except in the cultivated districts during the winter months, and even then the absence of high winds renders it almost unnoticeable.

We camped that night at the foot of the hills we had been approaching for two days and which marked the southern boundary of this particular sea. Our animals had been two days without drink, nor had they had water for nearly two months, not since shortly after leaving Thark; but, as Tars Tarkas explained to me, they require but little and can live almost indefinitely upon the moss which covers Barsoom, and which, he told me, holds in its tiny stems sufficient moisture to meet the limited demands of the animals.

After partaking of my evening meal of cheese-like food and vegetable milk I sought out Sola, whom I found working by the light of a torch upon some of Tars Tarkas' trappings.[right-post] She looked up at my approach, her face lighting with pleasure and with welcome.

Whats in your bag, PR Girl
Slowly she drifted to the southeast, rising higher and higher as the flames ate away her wooden parts and diminished the weight upon her. Ascending to the roof of the building I watched her for hours, until finally she was lost in the dim vistas of the distance. The sight was awe-inspiring in the extreme as one contemplated this mighty floating funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes of the Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction, typifying the life story of these strange and ferocious creatures into whose unfriendly hands fate had carried it.

Much depressed, and, to me, unaccountably so, I slowly descended to the street. The scene I had witnessed seemed to mark the defeat and annihilation of the forces of a kindred people, rather than the routing by our green warriors of a horde of similar, though unfriendly, creatures. I could not fathom the seeming hallucination, nor could I free myself from it; but somewhere in the innermost recesses of my soul I felt a strange yearning toward these unknown foemen, and a mighty hope surged through me that the fleet would return and demand a reckoning from the green warriors who had so ruthlessly and wantonly attacked it.

Close at my heel, in his now accustomed place, followed Woola, the hound, and as I emerged upon the street Sola rushed up to me as though I had been the object of some search on her part. The cavalcade was returning to the plaza, the homeward march having been given up for that day; nor, in fact, was it recommenced for more than a week, owing to the fear of a return attack by the air craft.

Lorquas Ptomel was too astute an old warrior to be caught upon the open plains with a caravan of chariots and children, and so we remained at the deserted city until the danger seemed passed.

As Sola and I entered the plaza a sight met my eyes which filled my whole being with a great surge of mingled hope, fear, exultation, and depression, and yet most dominant was a subtle sense of relief and happiness; for just as we neared the throng of Martians I caught a glimpse of the prisoner from the battle craft who was being roughly dragged into a nearby building by a couple of green Martian females.

And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure, similar in every detail to the earthly women of my past life. She did not see me at first, but just as she was disappearing through the portal of the building which was to be her prison she turned, and her eyes met mine. Her face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, her every feature was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and lustrous and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure. Her skin was of a light reddish copper color, against which the crimson glow of her cheeks and the ruby of her beautifully molded lips shone with a strangely enhancing effect.

She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians who accompanied her; indeed, save for her highly wrought ornaments she was entirely naked, nor could any apparel have enhanced the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure.

As her gaze rested on me her eyes opened wide in astonishment, and she made a little sign with her free hand; a sign which I did not, of course, understand. Just a moment we gazed upon each other, and then the look of hope and renewed courage which had glorified her face as she discovered me, faded into one of utter dejection, mingled with loathing and contempt. I realized I had not answered her signal, and ignorant as I was of Martian customs, I intuitively felt that she had made an appeal for succor and protection which my unfortunate ignorance had prevented me from answering. And then she was dragged out of my sight into the depths of the deserted edifice.

As I came back to myself I glanced at Sola, who had witnessed this encounter and I was surprised to note a strange expression upon her usually expressionless countenance. What her thoughts were I did not know, for as yet I had learned but little of the Martian tongue; enough only to suffice for my daily needs.

As I reached the doorway of our building a strange surprise awaited me. A warrior approached bearing the arms, ornaments, and full accouterments of his kind. These he presented to me with a few unintelligible words, and a bearing at once respectful and menacing.[full-post]


"In spite of all these diseases, and of all the new ones that continued to arise, there were more and more men in the world. This was because it was easy to get food. The easier it was to get food, the more men there were; the more men there were, the more thickly were they packed together on the earth; and the more thickly they were packed, the more new kinds of germs became diseases. There were warnings. Soldervetzsky, as early as 1929, told the bacteriologists that they had no guaranty against some new disease, a thousand times more deadly than any they knew, arising and killing by the hundreds of millions and even by the billion. You see, the micro-organic world remained a mystery to the end. They knew there was such a world, and that from time to time armies of new germs emerged from it to kill men.

"And that was all they knew about it. For all they knew, in that invisible micro-organic world there might be as many different kinds of germs as there are grains of sand on this beach. And also, in that same invisible world it might well be that new kinds of germs came to be. It might be there that life originated—the 'abysmal fecundity,' Soldervetzsky called it, applying the words of other men who had written before him...."

It was at this point that Hare-Lip rose to his feet, an expression of huge contempt on his face.
"Granser," he announced, "you make me sick with your gabble. Why don't you tell about the Red Death? If you ain't going to, say so, an' we'll start back for camp."

The old man looked at him and silently began to cry. The weak tears of age rolled down his cheeks and all the feebleness of his eighty-seven years showed in his grief-stricken countenance.

"Sit down," Edwin counselled soothingly. "Granser's all right. He's just gettin' to the Scarlet Death, ain't you, Granser? He's just goin' to tell us about it right now. Sit down, Hare-Lip. Go ahead, Granser."

The old man wiped the tears away on his grimy knuckles and took up the tale in a tremulous, piping voice that soon strengthened as he got the swing of the narrative.

"It was in the summer of 2013 that the Plague came. I was twenty-seven years old, and well do I remember it. Wireless despatches—"
Hare-Lip spat loudly his disgust, and Granser hastened to make amends.

"We talked through the air in those days, thousands and thousands of miles. And the word came of a strange disease that had broken out in New York. There were seventeen millions of people living then in that noblest city of America. Nobody thought anything about the news. It was only a small thing. There had been only a few deaths. It seemed, though, that they had died very quickly, and that one of the first signs of the disease was the turning red of the face and all the body. Within twenty-four hours came the report of the first case in Chicago. And on the same day, it was made public that London, the greatest city in the world, next to Chicago, had been secretly fighting the plague for two weeks and censoring the news despatches—that is, not permitting the word to go forth to the rest of the world that London had the plague. [left-side]


During the first days, they went along smoothly enough. The sea was not very unpropitious, the wind seemed stationary in the north-east, the sails were hoisted, and the Henrietta ploughed across the waves like a real trans-Atlantic steamer.

Passepartout was delighted. His master's last exploit, the consequences of which he ignored, enchanted him. Never had the crew seen so jolly and dexterous a fellow. He formed warm friendships with the sailors, and amazed them with his acrobatic feats. He thought they managed the vessel like gentlemen, and that the stokers fired up like heroes. His loquacious good-humour infected everyone. He had forgotten the past, its vexations and delays. He only thought of the end, so nearly accomplished; and sometimes he boiled over with impatience, as if heated by the furnaces of the Henrietta. Often, also, the worthy fellow revolved around Fix, looking at him with a keen, distrustful eye; but he did not speak to him, for their old intimacy no longer existed.

Fix, it must be confessed, understood nothing of what was going on. The conquest of the Henrietta, the bribery of the crew, Fogg managing the boat like a skilled seaman, amazed and confused him. He did not know what to think. For, after all, a man who began by stealing fifty-five thousand pounds might end by stealing a vessel; and Fix was not unnaturally inclined to conclude that the Henrietta under Fogg's command, was not going to Liverpool at all, but to some part of the world where the robber, turned into a pirate, would quietly put himself in safety. The conjecture was at least a plausible one, and the detective began to seriously regret that he had embarked on the affair.
As for Captain Speedy, he continued to howl and growl in his cabin; and Passepartout, whose duty it was to carry him his meals, courageous as he was, took the greatest precautions. Mr. Fogg did not seem even to know that there was a captain on board.

On the 13th they passed the edge of the Banks of Newfoundland, a dangerous locality; during the winter, especially, there are frequent fogs and heavy gales of wind. Ever since the evening before the barometer, suddenly falling, had indicated an approaching change in the atmosphere; and during the night the temperature varied, the cold became sharper, and the wind veered to the south-east.
This was a misfortune. Mr. Fogg, in order not to deviate from his course, furled his sails and increased the force of the steam; but the vessel's speed slackened, owing to the state of the sea, the long waves of which broke against the stern. She pitched violently, and this retarded her progress. The breeze little by little swelled into a tempest, and it was to be feared that the Henrietta might not be able to maintain herself upright on the waves.

Passepartout's visage darkened with the skies, and for two days the poor fellow experienced constant fright. But Phileas Fogg was a bold mariner, and knew how to maintain headway against the sea; and he kept on his course, without even decreasing his steam. The Henrietta, when she could not rise upon the waves, crossed them, swamping her deck, but passing safely. Sometimes the screw rose out of the water, beating its protruding end, when a mountain of water raised the stern above the waves; but the craft always kept straight ahead.

"You're a queer un, Granser, talking about things you can't see. If you can't see 'em, how do you know they are? That's what I want to know. How do you know anything you can't see?"
The wind, however, did not grow as boisterous as might have been feared; it was not one of those tempests which burst, and rush on with a speed of ninety miles an hour. It continued fresh, but, unhappily, it remained obstinately in the south-east, rendering the sails useless.

The 16th of December was the seventy-fifth day since Phileas Fogg's departure from London, and the Henrietta had not yet been seriously delayed. Half of the voyage was almost accomplished, and the worst localities had been passed. In summer, success would have been well-nigh certain. In winter, they were at the mercy of the bad season. Passepartout said nothing; but he cherished hope in secret, and comforted himself with the reflection that, if the wind failed them, they might still count on the steam.

On this day the engineer came on deck, went up to Mr. Fogg, and began to speak earnestly with him. Without knowing why it was a presentiment, perhaps Passepartout became vaguely uneasy. He would have given one of his ears to hear with the other what the engineer was saying. He finally managed to catch a few words, and was sure he heard his master say, "You are certain of what you tell me?"

My brother noticed a pale grey smoke or haze rising among the houses in front of them, and veiling the white facade of a terrace beyond the road that appeared between the backs of the villas. Mrs. Elphinstone suddenly cried out at a number of tongues of smoky red flame leaping up above the houses in front of them against the hot, blue sky. The tumultuous noise resolved itself now into the disorderly mingling of many voices, the gride of many wheels, the creaking of waggons, and the staccato of hoofs. The lane came round sharply not fifty yards from the crossroads.

"Good heavens!" cried Mrs. Elphinstone. "What is this you are driving us into?"
My brother stopped.

For the main road was a boiling stream of people, a torrent of human beings rushing northward, one pressing on another. A great bank of dust, white and luminous in the blaze of the sun, made everything within twenty feet of the ground grey and indistinct and was perpetually renewed by the hurrying feet of a dense crowd of horses and of men and women on foot, and by the wheels of vehicles of every description.

"Way!" my brother heard voices crying. "Make way!"

It was like riding into the smoke of a fire to approach the meeting point of the lane and road; the crowd roared like a fire, and the dust was hot and pungent. And, indeed, a little way up the road a villa was burning and sending rolling masses of black smoke across the road to add to the confusion.

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Two men came past them. Then a dirty woman, carrying a heavy bundle and weeping. A lost retriever dog, with hanging tongue, circled dubiously round them, scared and wretched, and fled at my brother's threat.

So much as they could see of the road Londonward between the houses to the right was a tumultuous stream of dirty, hurrying people, pent in between the villas on either side; the black heads, the crowded forms, grew into distinctness as they rushed towards the corner, hurried past, and merged their individuality again in a receding multitude that was swallowed up at last in a cloud of dust.
"Go on! Go on!" cried the voices. "Way! Way!"

One man's hands pressed on the back of another. My brother stood at the pony's head. Irresistibly attracted, he advanced slowly, pace by pace, down the lane.

"To think of it! I've seen this beach alive with men, women, and children on a pleasant Sunday. And there weren't any bears to eat them up, either. And right up there on the cliff was a big restaurant where you could get anything you wanted to eat. Four million people lived in San Francisco then. And now, in the whole city and county there aren't forty all told. And out there on the sea were ships and ships always to be seen, going in for the Golden Gate or coming out. And airships in the air—dirigibles and flying machines. They could travel two hundred miles an hour. The mail contracts with the New York and San Francisco Limited demanded that for the minimum. There was a chap, a Frenchman, I forget his name, who succeeded in making three hundred; but the thing was risky, too risky for conservative persons. But he was on the right clew, and he would have managed it if it hadn't been for the Great Plague. When I was a boy, there were men alive who remembered the coming of the first aeroplanes, and now I have lived to see the last of them, and that sixty years ago."

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The old man babbled on, unheeded by the boys, who were long accustomed to his garrulousness, and whose vocabularies, besides, lacked the greater portion of the words he used. It was noticeable that in these rambling soliloquies his English seemed to recrudesce into better construction and phraseology. But when he talked directly with the boys it lapsed, largely, into their own uncouth and simpler forms.

"But there weren't many crabs in those days," the old man wandered on. "They were fished out, and they were great delicacies. The open season was only a month long, too. And now crabs are accessible the whole year around. Think of it—catching all the crabs you want, any time you want, in the surf of the Cliff House beach!"

A sudden commotion among the goats brought the boys to their feet. The dogs about the fire rushed to join their snarling fellow who guarded the goats, while the goats themselves stampeded in the direction of their human protectors. A half dozen forms, lean and gray, glided about on the sand hillocks and faced the bristling dogs. Edwin arched an arrow that fell short. But Hare-Lip, with a sling such as David carried into battle against Goliath, hurled a stone through the air that whistled from the speed of its flight. It fell squarely among the wolves and caused them to slink away toward the dark depths of the eucalyptus forest.
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