Adventures with Books

So I guess I’ll share some of the books that I really like. I invite you to do the same.
If you do share, be sure to give credit to the author and publisher.
I’ll try to post one chapter a week, but my schedule is full, so please excuse me if I don’t get it done.
I hope you all will enjoy this!

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This book is titled Cry from the Dungeon. Betty Swinford does an excellent job of writing and Moody Press Publications does an excellent job of publishing. One warning, don’t read this book before you go to bed.:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Chapter 1: Strange Man on Board

The lights of the Cynthia were reflected on the water, and the moonlight traced a shimmering path of gold over the Pacific. Since there was a good breeze and the Dodson family was in no hurry, the diesel engines had been cut off and the yacht was gliding almost silently, with the sales hoisted high and billowing.
Steve stud alone at the railing, gazing first at the dazzling stars above his head, then at the blue-black water below, and finally at the great white sales catching the breeze and carrying them along. He listened to the slap-slap of the water against the hull and wished that the long days and nights would hurry and pass so he could be with his parents once more. Oh yes, he had played ping pong and shuffleboard and dominoes with his new friends, Renee and David Dodson, trying to hurry the time along. He had fished from the deck and watched the playful porpoises leap in and out of the blue water. But Steve’s heart was with his missionary parents deep in the heart of the Fiji Islands. He had been separated from them for a time because there was no school for him to attend where they were stationed. However, a mission school had now been built and Steve could go home!
“Daydreaming?” asked a voice from behind suddenly.
Steve whirled around on the toe of one tennis shoe to face Renee, a lively girl with a dark, flying ponytail and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. She was David’s sister and a year younger than he. Somehow Renee had a way of popping onto the scene when you least expected it, and once in a while she startled the wits out of a person.
Steve relaxed with a smile. “Guess I’m guilty! Already I’m in school on the islands, and we’ve just begun this trip.” Steve’s blue eyes sobered and he raped his fingers over his crisp blond crew cut. “You know, Renee, it was wonderful of your parents to bring me along when they found out I could go to be with my parents! After all,” he shrugged, “they were strangers. So were you and David. And this summer cruise is your vacation. Why, you’re even going a little out of your way to drop me off!”
Renee laughed. “But remember we’ll get to see the Fiji Islands, too! We’ve never been there before.” She cocked her dark head to one side. “We’ll even get to see what a - a mission field is like!”
Steve grinned. “A mission field’s not very beautiful, Renee. In the place where my parents are, the natives still have fire dances. They hide away in a hot all night praying to the devil and then walk on fire the next day, chanting and walking slowly over the hot stones. Sometimes that heat is so great that the rocks split with a sound like a rifle shot!” Steve sighed deeply. “They need Jesus in their hearts, and that’s why we’re missionaries.”
“We?” Renee frowned.
“I’m a missionary, too!” Steve said firmly. “Oh - well, maybe right now I’m just a missionary kid’, but one day I’ll be a real missionary!”
Renee’s dark eyes were filled with bewilderment and a kind of wistfulness. “I never heard anyone talk the way you do, Steve. It makes me feel so strange inside!”
Steve turn slowly and his lips were still curved in a smile. “That’s because you need Jesus too, Renee.”
Before Renee could reply, her brother David was there, looking stony faced and a little angry. “No, she doesn’t! Look at this!” He’s spread his arms and a wide circle that took in the whole ship. “We have everything we need. We’ve got enough money to buy the Fiji island if we wanted to! We’ve got everything!”
Steve bit his lip to keep back the words. He wanted to cry out, “If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have anything!” He must not. After all, he was the Dodson’s gift and they were good enough to take him to the islands. But oh! how he did long to win these new friends to his Savior!
For some moments they stood their silently, the three of them. Things were uneasy now between them, and they pretended to be interested in the night and the things about them. Thus, when a fleeting shadow moved nearby it caught their attention right away.
“Who was that?” Renee whispered.
David frowned, and the lines cut into his smoothly tan forehead. “I don’t know. I thought everyone was in bed except us and the captain.”
Steve took a couple of steps forward. “Whoever it was went down the hatch, because I just saw his shoulders go around the corner.”
Not one of them could explain the sudden air of mystery that surrounded them. “This is silly!” David cried softly, laughing. “There are my parents and five crew members. It could have been most anyone!” Yet his words did not erase the strange electric feeling about them. Why hadn’t they heard whoever it was? Why had he passed by them so silently, as though not wanting them to know he was there?
Steve glance at his watch in the moonlight. “Why, it’s eleven-thirty! I thought everyone was in bed - and I guess we ought to be!”
David’s swung his dark head toward the hatch, telling Steve and Renee without words to follow him. Together they crept down the dimly lip passageway. Wait! A pale light shown from under the door to the galley!
“Who would be in there this time of night?” David demanded. “We had dinner hours ago!”
Renee laughed softly, but Steve saw that she was shivering. “That’s probably why someone’s in the galley!” she whispered. They’re hungry!"
“We’ll see!” And David, who usually acted first and thought later, shoved open the door.
A short, swarthy-skinned man stood at a stove. As the trio entered the galley his dark head snapped about. His eyes, black and small, grew suddenly large and wide open. His jaw dropped. A second later his hand whipped into action. With one he grasped the handle of a pan that was sitting over low heat, and with the other he picked up a lid, which he slid onto the pan.
“I came to the galley for a quick snack!” he defended.
David reached toward the pan. “Maybe we’ll join you. It’s late and we could eat something, too, Nardo.”
The little dark-skinned man drew back sharply. “I only heated some of the roast and potatoes for myself. I’m going to eat it in my room.”
Without another word Nardo was gone, silent as a shadow and mysterious as the ocean itself. He glided down the passageway to a small cabin. Nardo - his nationality was not known and his last name was such a tongue twister that no one tried to pronounce it - had a tiny private cabin because he was next to the captain and ranked and usually took the helm by turns with the captain.
The trio stared at one another in amazement. In Nardo’s quick exit, he had left the burner going on the stove. Renee step forward to turn it off.
Steve open the refrigerator, though, for the life of him, he could not have told why. A quick check told him that the leftover roast and potatoes had not been disturbed since they had been placed there by the cook.
“Odd character,” David mumbled. “I never did like him, but Dad needed him with the crew.”
Steve bit the inside of his jaw. “Well, whatever it was he had in that pan, he surely didn’t want us to see it!”
“Maybe he stole something?” Renee suggested.
“Like what?” David scored. “And what could he steal that he’d cook? If it wasn’t food, that is.” He turned on his heel. “Come on? I’m going to listen outside his door. Maybe we can hear something.”
Steve had doubts about that. Besides, they all ought to be in bed. And Nardo might catch him spying! But the thrill of adventure was racing too fast through Steve’s veins for him to remain behind. On silent feet, he followed David and his sister.
They tiptoe down the dimly lighted passageway to Nardo’s cabin. Just as they reached his door an unexpected thing happened. The yacht had come into a squall and a sudden guest of wind against the sales caused the ship to rock sharply to the portside. As it did, Nardo’s door, not tightly fastened, swung open a few inches. A second later the ship rocked the other way and the door clicked shut. In that moment, however, the three young people saw a strange sight. Nardo was standing under the light with his left sleeve rolled above the elbow. He was holding his right hand very close to his bare arm, and it was clear to be seen that he was holding some sort of a needle. Beside him and leaning against the bulkhead was a wooden leg with the shoe and socks still on, while Nardo’s right trouser leg hung loose and limp!

wow that book is so cool

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I’m glad you like it! The first time I read it, I about couldn’t lay it down. :laughing:

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ha wow please tell us the next chapter i will tell you the name of the book i will tell you the first chapter in: Percy Jackson and the lightning theif

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your online ok lets play truth or dare

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Next chapter is called Mutiny!

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what is the book called

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Sure! Do you want to go first.

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truth or dare (choose dare because im not good at truth)

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What ebook are you talking about?:thinking:

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so sorry i ment book but i seen the book title

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                    Chapter 2: Mutiny!

The three young people backed away from Nardo’s cabin with bewilderment stamped upon their faces. They did not speak, however, until they had reached the cabin Steve shared with David at the end of the passage.

“He was giving himself a shot!” Renee exclaimed breathlessly.

Steve frowned. “Maybe he’s got some kind of disease and has to give himself shots.”

David bit his lip. “But why should he try to hide it? Why would he lie and say he is heating some food? That doesn’t make much sense.”

Steve shook his blond head. “That’s true. And did you see that he has a wooden leg?”

David raised an eyebrow. “I saw that too!” He forced a short laugh. “I guess lots of people have wooden legs, though, that we don’t know anything about!”

Renee yawned. “I think we are making a big mystery out of nothing! I’m going to bed!”

She turned and disappeared, and Steve slipped out of his clothes and into his pajamas, and tumbled into the top bunk. A long time after the light was out he lay staring into the darkness. He thought David was asleep, so when the voice of the dark-eyed youth came in the stillness Steve was surprised.

“Steve?”

Steve turned over slowly. “What’s the matter, David?”

“Why don’t you stop preaching to Renee and me?”

There was an edge of bitterness in David’s voice that shocked the other boy. Steve’s heart began hammering and he prayed for the right answer. Finally he swallowed around the lump in his throat and began.

“David, every single person needs to know the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior, and people will never hear about Christ unless someone tells them! I needed to be saved, David, through the blood of Jesus. Nothing can wash the sins from our heart but His blood! You need Him! So does Renee!” Steve swallowed again, but the lump seemed to be growing. “I have to tell others. David, there’s no other way in the whole world to be really happy. Jesus satisfies!”

“I’m satisfied already!” David’s voice was like whip. “My dad owns oil wells all over Texas! Me? I’ve got everything! You’ve never seen my palomino horse or my motor scoter or the ranch where we live! But have you ever taken a good look at my cabin here? I’ve got model airplanes other guys would give anything to own! You sink down two inches in the rug on the floor! I have my own shortwave radio set and-well, everything a fellow could ever want from life!”

Steve sighed. “I know, David. But these things won’t take you to Heaven or cleanse you from sin. Only Jesus can do that.”

David turned over heavily. “Cut it out, Steve! I don’t want to hear anything you have to say!” He hesitated, then plunged on. “And I’ll tell you something else! Stop preaching to my sister, too!”

Steve did not reply, but a great weight of sorrow lay upon his heart. He knew well that he could not force anyone to accept this wonderful Savior! Only the Holy Spirit tugging at a person’s heart and showing him his need of Jesus would bring the answer.

Sometime during the night anther squall hit, and then the yacht encountered a vicious storm. Thunder belched from the heavens and high waves struck at the bow of the ship. The sails were lowered and made fast, while the powerful diesel engines roared into action. The yacht rocked to and fro like a drunken man, plunging into a foaming white pit one moment and climbing the towering waves the next.

Though Steve and David were awake most of that terrible night, neither boy spoke again. By morning the boat was off course and the bilge pumps were busy getting rid of the water they had taken on during the night. The day was sunny, though, and the blue waters calm. The day seemed bright with promise.

Steve kept to himself most of that day. He felt suddenly very much out of place, very much unwanted. Mr. and Mrs. Dodson were as kind as ever, but there was a real barrier between Steve and David.

Renee popped in and out of the picture all day, her ponytail bouncing gaily. “Why are you so quiet?” she asked Steve once. “It’s late afternoon and you’ve sat by the rail and moped all day!”

Steve forced a smile. “I like the sunshine,” he said slowly, “and the salt spray in my face. It’s nice after the wild night we had.”

She nodded. “Have you seen Nardo?”

“No.” Steve’s interest was quickened and he looked at Renee quickly. “Have you?”

She laughed softly. “He’s at the helm right now. I asked him if he was sick last night and he looked as if he’d seen a ghost!”

Steve sat forward, his forehead creased with a frown. “You didn’t tell him what we saw?”

“Oh no! But I think he’s suspicious.” She cocked her head to one side. “Why would he be suspicious.” She cocked her head to one side. “Why would he be suspicious if he were innocent?”

Steve thought it over and then shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess we did make a mountain out of a molehill. Probably we ought to forget the whole thing!”

A bell tinkled pleasantly, the signal that it was time for dinner in the beautiful little paneled dinning room near the galley. Steve ate silently, speaking only when someone said something to him.

After dinner David joined Renee and Steve up on deck. David seemed to be trying to tell Steve that he was sorry without really saying so in words. They sat together watching the great stars pop out, watching as the water below them turned from blue to inky black, and watching yet as the moon rose to lay its golden path upon the ocean.

“Feels like Nardo gave the yacht a hard right rudder,” David said after a time. “Seems odd, since we’re already off course.”

They sat for sometime without speaking. An hour passed by. David’s parents had gone to bed. So had the crew. The trio was alone on the deck, except for the man Nardo, who was still at the helm.

Suddenly David tensed, sat forward, then reached over to grasp Steve’s arm. “Look!” he whispered hoarsely. “Nardo’s got some kind of light, and he’s flashing it off and on toward the portside!”

Steve sprang to his feet. “Why would he do a thing like that?”

“It’s Morse code.” David said softly. “He’s sending a signal! That means we’re close to shore!”

They waited. There was no sound except that of the water lapping against the sides of the ship. And then a light, very far away and very dim, began to flicker off and on. Someone was answering Nardo’s signal!

“Better tell your folks!” Steve whispered.

David put out a hand. “Wait a minute. I want to see if I can read the code!”

The light on the shore grew brighter and larger. Then all was darkness once more. Nardo was making some kind of sound, but they could not tell what it was. Then he returned to the helm, gave the ship a right rudder, and started to go back to the side of the ship.

“Come on!” David was racing for the hatch now, with Renee and Steve dogging his steps.

Too late! Before they could move far there was a terrible rending crash that sent the trio falling to the deck. There was the sound of metal tearing against rocks, the roaring of the engines - and then the whole yacht seemed to stand still and shiver in the blackness. The engines stopped. Every light went out. There were shouts of terror from all over the ship. Nardo had crashed the Cynthia on the reefs of some distant island!