Explore "Rodney Stone" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"CLEAR the outer ring! " cried Jackson, standing up beside the ropes with / a big silver watch in his hand.
"Ss-whack! ss-whack! ss-whack! " went the horse-whips-for a number of the / spectators, either driven onwards by the pressure behind or willing to / risk some physical pain on the chance of getting a better view, had crept / under the ropes and formed a ragged fringe within the outer ring. Now, / amidst roars of laughter from the crowd and a shower of blows from the / beaters-out, they dived madly back, with the ungainly haste of frightened / sheep blundering through a gap in their hurdles. Their case was a hard / one, for the folk in front refused to yield an inch of their places-but / the arguments from the rear prevailed over everything else, and presently / every frantic fugitive had been absorbed, whilst the beaters-out took / their stands along the edge at regular intervals, with their whips held / down by their thighs.