What do you think?
Rate this book
Dragon's Blood
Dragon's Blood by Henry Milner Rideout was first published in 1909. One of the heroes of the story is a twenty-two year old German man by the name of Rudolph Hackh who, green and untried, is making his first trip to China as an agent for Fliegelman and Sons. On the last leg of his journey to the village of "Stink-Chau" he meets the book's other hero -- the indefatigable and ever-cheerful, Maurice Heywood. Heywood introduces Hackh to the beauties and dangers of this unknown land and will prove to be Rudoph's greatest friend; standing with him through fire and blood under the shadow of a dragon-shaped mountain.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1909
5 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Henry Milner Rideout
30 books8 followersHenry Milner Rideout (1877-1927) was a native of Calais, Maine. Author of sixteen novels, twenty-three short stories and novellas, and a biographical memoir, he also was editor of one college textbook, as well as co-editor of three others. Many of his stories appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 6, 2018
Last year I read The Spinners' Book of Fiction and amused myself by making a list of the authors who contributed stories, planning to use that as a way to explore more of their work. One of my goals this year is to read the titles I chose to put on that list and decide if I want to read any others by these authors.
Dragon's Blood was the only title on Rideout's author page at Project Gutenberg, so if I want to read more of his work (and I do!) I will have to keep my eyes open and hopefully remember his name when it shows up again in my Book Universe.
This book deals with Shanghai in the mid- to late 1800's, when foreign interference was changing religious beliefs for some people, affecting commerce for others, and pretty much being a pain in the neck all around.
Our hero is on his way to a new job. We first meet him in Port Said:
"He cherished the thought that he, clerk at twenty-one, was now agent at twenty-two, and traveling toward a house with servants, off there beyond the turn of the Canal, beyond the curve of the globe. But for all this, Rudolph Hackh felt young, homesick, timid of the future, and already oppressed with the distance, the age, the manifold, placid mystery of China."
But is China truly placid for Rudolph or for any of the Europeans he meets when he arrives? There are only a few concerned with this story: the missionary and his wife, and the nurse who works with them at their hospital. A German man who is somewhat of an outsider because he married a Chinese woman. Two or three single men, and then, shockingly, the husband of the woman he had sort of fallen in love with on the ship. Does that mean she will show up too, just when he thought he would never see her again? Why didn't she tell him sooner that she was married?!
The man who becomes Rudolph's mentor and best friend is Heywood, a young Englishman who has been in the Orient for enough years to understand it as much as any foreigner could. Heywood was a great character. If this was a movie, I could see a young Bruce Willis playing him. He had that type of smart-alecky, happy-go-lucky facade hiding a serious interior, and was capable of handling every situation that came up, from the plague scare to the duel to the final conflict with the natives. He was The Hero, the kind of man Rudolph wants to be when he grows up.
This book was published in 1909. I had prepared myself for certain attitudes of the day towards the Chinese, but although there were comments here and there by certain characters, the overall tone of the book was respectful, even with some of the people involved expressing doubt that they should ever have had the audacity to be there trying to tell other people how to live. You very rarely see that happen in these older stories.
I was impressed with Rideout's ability to make me feel that I was right there in Shanghai alongside Rudolph. From the sights to the sounds and the smells, from the friendly people to the not-so-friendly, he brings the city completely to life in great style. I do hope Gutenberg adds more of his work soon! But I can always read this one again if they don't. Come to think if it, I plan to read Dragon's Blood again even if they do.
Dragon's Blood was the only title on Rideout's author page at Project Gutenberg, so if I want to read more of his work (and I do!) I will have to keep my eyes open and hopefully remember his name when it shows up again in my Book Universe.
This book deals with Shanghai in the mid- to late 1800's, when foreign interference was changing religious beliefs for some people, affecting commerce for others, and pretty much being a pain in the neck all around.
Our hero is on his way to a new job. We first meet him in Port Said:
"He cherished the thought that he, clerk at twenty-one, was now agent at twenty-two, and traveling toward a house with servants, off there beyond the turn of the Canal, beyond the curve of the globe. But for all this, Rudolph Hackh felt young, homesick, timid of the future, and already oppressed with the distance, the age, the manifold, placid mystery of China."
But is China truly placid for Rudolph or for any of the Europeans he meets when he arrives? There are only a few concerned with this story: the missionary and his wife, and the nurse who works with them at their hospital. A German man who is somewhat of an outsider because he married a Chinese woman. Two or three single men, and then, shockingly, the husband of the woman he had sort of fallen in love with on the ship. Does that mean she will show up too, just when he thought he would never see her again? Why didn't she tell him sooner that she was married?!
The man who becomes Rudolph's mentor and best friend is Heywood, a young Englishman who has been in the Orient for enough years to understand it as much as any foreigner could. Heywood was a great character. If this was a movie, I could see a young Bruce Willis playing him. He had that type of smart-alecky, happy-go-lucky facade hiding a serious interior, and was capable of handling every situation that came up, from the plague scare to the duel to the final conflict with the natives. He was The Hero, the kind of man Rudolph wants to be when he grows up.
This book was published in 1909. I had prepared myself for certain attitudes of the day towards the Chinese, but although there were comments here and there by certain characters, the overall tone of the book was respectful, even with some of the people involved expressing doubt that they should ever have had the audacity to be there trying to tell other people how to live. You very rarely see that happen in these older stories.
I was impressed with Rideout's ability to make me feel that I was right there in Shanghai alongside Rudolph. From the sights to the sounds and the smells, from the friendly people to the not-so-friendly, he brings the city completely to life in great style. I do hope Gutenberg adds more of his work soon! But I can always read this one again if they don't. Come to think if it, I plan to read Dragon's Blood again even if they do.
Displaying 1 of 1 review