Hearts of three

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hearts of Three, by Jack London This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook Title: Hearts of Three Author: Jack London Release Date: January 28, 2017 [eBook #54068] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEARTS OF THREE*** E-text prepared by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive See https://archive.org/details/heartsofthreejack00londrich Transcriber's Note: The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain HEARTS OF THREE BY JACK LONDON AUTHOR OF “THE VALLEY OF THE MOON,” “JERRY OF THE ISLANDS,” “MICHAEL, BROTHER OF JERRY,” &C., &C MILLS & BOON, LIMITED 49 RUPERT STREET LONDON, W Copyright in the United States of America by Jack London FOREWORD I hope the reader will forgive me for beginning this foreword with a brag In truth, this yarn is a celebration By its completion I celebrate my fortieth birthday, my fiftieth book, my sixteenth year in the writing game, and a new departure “Hearts of Three” is a new departure I have certainly never done anything like it before; I am pretty certain never to do anything like it again And I haven’t the least bit of reticence in proclaiming my pride in having done it And now, for the reader who likes action, I advise him to skip the rest of this brag and foreword, and plunge into the narrative, and tell me if it just doesn’t read along For the more curious let me explain a bit further With the rise of moving pictures into the overwhelmingly most popular form of amusement in the entire world, the stock of plots and stories in the world’s fiction fund began rapidly to be exhausted In a year a single producing company, with a score of directors, is capable of filming the entire literary output of the entire lives of Shakespeare, Balzac, Dickens, Scott, Zola, Tolstoy, and of dozens of less voluminous writers And since there are hundreds of moving pictures producing companies, it can be readily grasped how quickly they found themselves face to face with a shortage of the raw material of which moving pictures are fashioned The film rights in all novels, short stories, and plays that were still covered by copyright, were bought or contracted for, while all similar raw material on which copyright had expired was being screened as swiftly as sailors on a placer beach would pick up nuggets Thousands of scenario writers—literally tens of thousands, for no man, nor woman, nor child was too mean not to write scenarios—tens of thousands of scenario writers pirated through all literature (copyright or otherwise), and snatched the magazines hot from the press to steal any new scene or plot or story hit upon by their writing brethren In passing, it is only fair to point out that, though only the other day, it was in the days ere scenario writers became respectable, in the days when they worked overtime for rough-neck directors for fifteen and twenty a week or freelanced their wares for from ten to twenty dollars per scenario and half the time were beaten out of the due payment, or had their stolen goods stolen from them by their equally graceless and shameless fellows who slaved by the week But today, which is only a day since the other day, I know scenario writers who keep their three machines, their two chauffeurs, send their children to the most exclusive prep schools, and maintain an unwavering solvency It was largely because of the shortage in raw material that scenario writers appreciated in value and esteem They found themselves in demand, treated with respect, better remunerated, and, in return, expected to deliver a higher grade of commodity One phase of this new quest for material was the attempt to enlist known authors in the work But because a man had written a score of novels was no guarantee that he could write a good scenario Quite to the contrary, it was quickly discovered that the surest guarantee of failure was a previous record of success in novel-writing But the moving pictures producers were not to be denied Division of labor was the thing Allying themselves with powerful newspaper organisations, or, in the case of “Hearts of Three,” the very reverse, they had highly-skilled writers of scenario (who couldn’t write novels to save themselves) make scenarios, which, in turn, were translated into novels by novel-writers (who couldn’t, to save themselves, write scenarios) Comes now Mr Charles Goddard to one, Jack London, saying: “The time, the place, and the men are met; the moving pictures producers, the newspapers, and the capital, are ready: let us get together.” And we got Result: “Hearts of Three.” When I state that Mr Goddard has been responsible for “The Perils of Pauline,” “The Exploits of Elaine,” “The Goddess,” the “Get Rich Quick Wallingford” series, etc., no question of his skilled fitness can be raised Also, the name of the present heroine, Leoncia, is of his own devising On the ranch, in the “Valley of the Moon,” he wrote his first several episodes But he wrote faster than I, and was done with his fifteen episodes weeks ahead of me Do not be misled by the word “episode.” The first episode covers three thousand feet of film The succeeding fourteen episodes cover each two thousand feet of film And each episode contains about ninety scenes, which makes a total of some thirteen hundred scenes Nevertheless, we worked simultaneously at our respective tasks I could not build for what was going to happen next or a dozen chapters away, because I did not know Neither did Mr Goddard know The inevitable result was that “Hearts of Three” may not be very vertebrate, although it is certainly consecutive Imagine my surprise, down here in Hawaii and toiling at the novelization of the tenth episode, to receive by mail from Mr Goddard in New York the scenario of the fourteenth episode, and glancing therein, to find my hero married to the wrong woman!—and with only one more episode in which to get rid of the wrong woman and duly tie my hero up with the right and only woman For all of which please see last chapter of fifteenth episode Trust Mr Goddard to show me how For Mr Goddard is the master of action and lord of speed Action doesn’t bother him at all “Register,” he calmly says in a film direction to the moving picture actor Evidently the actor registers, for Mr Goddard goes right on with more action “Register grief,” he commands, or “sorrow,” or “anger,” or “melting sympathy,” or “homicidal intent,” or “suicidal tendency.” That’s all It has to be all, or how else would he ever accomplish the whole thirteen hundred scenes? But imagine the poor devil of a me, who can’t utter the talismanic “register” but who must describe, and at some length inevitably, these moods and modes so airily created in passing by Mr Goddard! Why, Dickens thought nothing of consuming a thousand words or so in describing and subtly characterizing the particular grief of a particular person But Mr Goddard says, “Register,” and the slaves of the camera obey And action! I have written some novels of adventure in my time, but never, in all of the many of them, have I perpetrated a totality of action equal to what is contained in “Hearts of Three.” But I know, now, why moving pictures are popular I know, now, why Messrs “Barnes of New York” and “Potter of Texas” sold by the millions of copies I know, now, why one stump speech of high-falutin’ is a more efficient vote-getter than a finest and highest act or thought of statesmanship It has been an interesting experience, this novelization by me of Mr Goddard’s scenario; and it has been instructive It has given me high lights, foundation lines, crossbearings, and illumination on my anciently founded sociological generalizations I have come, by this adventure in writing, to understand the mass mind of the people more thoroughly than I thought I had understood it before, and to realize, more fully than ever, the graphic entertainment delivered by the demagogue who wins the vote of the mass out of his mastery of its mind I should be surprised if this book does not have a large sale (“Register surprise,” Mr Goddard would say; or “Register large sale”) If this adventure of “Hearts of Three” be collaboration, I am transported by it But alack!—I fear me Mr Goddard must then be the one collaborator in a million We have never had a word, an argument, nor a discussion But then, I must be a jewel of a collaborator myself Have I not, without whisper or whimper of complaint, let him “register” through fifteen episodes of scenario, through thirteen hundred scenes and thirty-one thousand feet of film, through one hundred and eleven thousand words of novelization? Just the same, having completed the task, I wish I’d never written it—for the reason that I’d like to read it myself to see if it reads along I am curious to know I am curious to know JACK LONDON Waikiki, Hawaii, March 23, 1916 Back to Back Against the Mainmast Do ye seek for fun and fortune? Listen, rovers, now to me! Look ye for them on the ocean: Ye shall find them on the sea CHORUS: Roaring wind and deep blue water! We’re the jolly devils who, Back to back against the mainmast, Held at bay the entire crew Bring the dagger, bring the pistols! We will have our own to-day! Let the cannon smash the bulwarks! Let the cutlass clear the way! CHORUS: Roaring wind and deep blue water! We’re the jolly devils who, Back to back against the mainmast, Held at bay the entire crew Here’s to rum and here’s to plunder! Here’s to all the gales that blow! Let the seamen cry for mercy! Let the blood of captains flow! BOOKS BY JACK LONDON MICHAEL 6s net BROTHER OF JERRY Daily Graphic—“A clever and intimate study of a thoroughbred dog— full of adventure.” JERRY OF THE 6s ISLANDS Globe—“The finest he has ever done.” TURTLES OF 1s 6d net TASMAN (Entirely New) THE STRENGTH 6s and 1s 6d net OF THE STRONG Athenæum—“All worth reading.” THE NIGHTBORN 6s and 1s 6d net Punch—“I defy you to read them and think of the Bosches at the same time.” THE LITTLE LADY 6s and 1s 6d net OF THE BIG HOUSE “A real Londonian romance.” THE JACKET 6s and 1s 6d net Times—“Mr London at his best Emphatically a Jack Londonian tourde-force.” THE VALLEY OF 6s and 2s 6d net THE MOON Times—“Delightful; absorbing.” JOHN 6s and 1s 6d net BARLEYCORN Standard—“An amazing human document, and a treatise on a great question worthy of the consideration of social reformers.” BEFORE ADAM 1s 6d net THE SCARLET PLAGUE (Entirely New) 1s 6d net Manchester Guardian—“It is sheer muscular ‘chestiness’ that wins him his popularity.” THE GOD OF HIS 1s 6d net FATHERS Spectator—“Mr London possesses that power of adapting himself to any period or circumstances which characterises Mr Kipling’s work.” THE IRON HEEL 1s 6d net World—“A story of immense interest.” THE MUTINY OF 6s and 1s 6d net THE ELSINORE Manchester Guardian—“Nothing quite so good as this tale of mutiny on the high seas has beat done since ‘Treasure Island.’” ADVENTURE 1s 6d net Punch—“He has them all beat.” THE CRUISE OF 1s 6d net THE SNARK Scotsman—“Makes a fresh and strong appeal to all those who love high adventure and good literature.” THE CRUISE OF 1s 6d net THE DAZZLER Athenæum—“His descriptions of weather are wonderful.” LOST FACE 6s and 1s 6d net Daily Telegraph—“Excellent are these short stories.” SOUTH SEA TALES 6s and 1s 6d net Empire Magazine—“All perfect and inimitable gems.” WHEN GOD 6s and 1s 6d net LAUGHS Observer—“Immensely worth reading.” THE ROAD (Entirely New) Daily Graphic—“Wonderful things to read about.” THE HOUSE OF 1s 6d net PRIDE (Entirely New) Daily Express—“Grips the heart and stirs the imagination.” LOVE OF LIFE 1s 6d net Saturday Review—“Mr London is always at his best in dog stories.” SON OF THE SUN 6s and 1s 6d net Dundee Advertiser—“A glorious story.” SMOKE BELLEW 6s and 1s 6d net Glasgow Herald—“Fine racy stuff in Mr London’s best vein.” AN ODYSSEY OF 1s 6d net THE NORTH Nation—“He writes a novel with something of the intensity with which an athlete shoots a goal.” CHILDREN OF THE 1s 6d net FROST Manchester Guardian—“He is the real stuff.” MILLS & BOON, Ltd., 49 Rupert St., London, W.1 TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE 10 Moved the ad page to the end Changed ‘broken’ to ‘broke’ on p 53 Changed ‘woman’ to ‘women on p 64 Added ‘of’ to p 71 Added ‘an’ to p 148 Changed ‘thy’ to ‘they’ on p 181 Changed ‘posses’ to ‘possess’ on p 244 Added ‘a’ to p 284 Silently corrected typographical errors Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed ***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEARTS OF THREE*** ******* This file should be 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Title: Hearts of Three Author: Jack London Release Date: January 28, 2017 [eBook #54068] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEARTS OF THREE* **... And action! I have written some novels of adventure in my time, but never, in all of the many of them, have I perpetrated a totality of action equal to what is contained in Hearts of Three. ” But I know, now, why moving pictures are popular