章节正文
I slept till midday of the next day. When I awoke the hot
noontide sun had made the tent like an oven. I felt better, but
very stiff and sore, and I had a most ungovernable thirst.
There was a pail of water with a tin pannikin beside the tent
pole, and out of this I drank repeated draughts. Then I lay
down again, for I was still very weary.
But my second sleep was not like my first. It was haunted
by wild nightmares. No sooner had I closed my eyes than I
began to live and move in a fantastic world. The whole bush
of the plains lay before me, and I watched it as if from some
view-point in the clouds. It was midday, and the sandy patches
shimmered under a haze of heat. I saw odd little movements
in the bush - a buck's head raised, a paauw stalking solemnly
in the long grass, a big crocodile rolling off a mudbank in the
river. And then I saw quite clearly Laputa's figure going east.
In my sleep I did not think about Arcoll's manoeuvres. My
mind was wholly set upon Laputa. He was walking wearily,
yet at a good pace, and his head was always turning, like a wild
creature snuffing the wind. There was something with him, a
shapeless shadow, which I could not see clearly. His neck was
bare, but I knew well that the collar was in his pouch.
He stopped, turned west, and I lost him. The bush world
for a space was quite silent, and I watched it eagerly as an
aeronaut would watch the ground for a descent. For a long
time I could see nothing. Then in a wood near a river there
seemed to be a rustling. Some guinea-fowl flew up as if
startled, and a stembok scurried out. I knew that Laputa
must be there.
Then, as I looked at the river, I saw a head swimming. Nay,
I saw two, one some distance behind the other. The first man
landed on the far bank, and I recognized Laputa. The second
was a slight short figure, and I knew it was Henriques.
I remember feeling very glad that these two had come
together. It was certain now that Henriques would not escape.
Either Laputa would find out the truth and kill him, or I
would come up with him and have my revenge. In any case he
was outside the Kaffir pale, adventuring on his own.
I watched the two till they halted near a ruined building.
Surely this was the store I had built at Umvelos'. The thought
gave me a horrid surprise. Laputa and Henriques were on
their way to the Rooirand!
I woke with a start to find my forehead damp with sweat.
There was some fever on me, I think, for my teeth were
chattering. Very clear in my mind was the disquieting thought
that Laputa and Henriques would soon be in the cave.
One of two things must happen - either Henriques would
kill Laputa, get the collar of rubies, and be in the wilds of
Mozambique before I could come up with his trail; or Laputa
would outwit him, and have the handling himself of the
treasure of gold and diamonds which had been laid up for the
rising. If he thought there was a risk of defeat, I knew he
would send my gems to the bottom of the Labongo, and all my
weary work would go for nothing. I had forgotten all about
patriotism. In that hour the fate of the country was nothing to
me, and I got no satisfaction from the thought that Laputa was
severed from his army. My one idea was that the treasure
would be lost, the treasure for which I had risked my life.
There is a kind of courage which springs from bitter anger
and disappointment. I had thought that I had bankrupted my
spirit, but I found that there was a new passion in me to which
my past sufferings taught no lesson. My uneasiness would not
let me rest a moment longer. I rose to my feet, holding on by
the bed, and staggered to the tent pole. I was weak, but not so
very weak that I could not make one last effort. It maddened
me that I should have done so much and yet fail at the end.
From a nail on the tent pole hung a fragment of looking-
glass which Arcoll used for shaving. I caught a glimpse of my
face in it, white and haggard and lined, with blue bags below
the eyes. The doctor the night before had sponged it, but he
had not got rid of all the stains of travel. In particular there
was a faint splash of blood on the left temple. I remembered
that this was what I had got from the basin of goat's blood that
night in the cave.
I think that the sight of that splash determined me. Whether
I willed it or not, I was sealed of Laputa's men. I must play
the game to the finish, or never again know peace of mind on
earth. These last four days had made me very old.
I found a pair of Arcoll's boots, roomy with much wearing,
into which I thrust my bruised feet. Then I crawled to the
door, and shouted for a boy to bring my horse. A Basuto
appeared, and, awed by my appearance, went off in a hurry to
see to the schimmel. It was late afternoon, about the same time
of day as had yesterday seen me escaping from Machudi's. The
Bruderstroom camp was empty, though sentinels were posted
at the approaches. I beckoned the only white man I saw, and
asked where Arcoll was. He told me that he had no news, but
added that the patrols were still on the road as far as Wesselsburg.
From this I gathered that Arcoll must have gone far out
into the bush in his chase. I did not want to see him; above
all, I did not want him to find Laputa. It was my private
business that I rode on, and I asked for no allies.
Somebody brought me a cup of thick coffee, which I could
not drink, and helped me into the saddle. The Schimmel was
fresh, and kicked freely as I cantered off the grass into the dust
of the highroad. The whole world, I remember, was still and
golden in the sunset.
CHAPTER XX
MY LAST SIGHT OF THE REVEREND JOHN LAPUTA
It was dark before I got into the gorge of the Letaba. I passed
many patrols, but few spoke to me, and none tried to stop me.
Some may have known me, but I think it was my face and
figure which tied their tongues. I must have been pale as
death, with tangled hair and fever burning in my eyes. Also on
my left temple was the splash of blood.
At Main Drift I found a big body of police holding the ford.
I splashed through and stumbled into one of their camp-fires.
A man questioned me, and told me that Arcoll had got his
quarry. 'He's dead, they say. They shot him out on the hills
when he was making for the Limpopo.' But I knew that this
was not true. It was burned on my mind that Laputa was alive,
nay, was waiting for me, and that it was God's will that we
should meet in the cave.
A little later I struck the track of the Kaffirs' march. There
was a broad, trampled way through the bush, and I followed
it, for it led to Dupree's Drift. All this time I was urging the
Schimmel with all the vigour I had left in me. I had quite lost
any remnant of fear. There were no terrors left for me either
from Nature or man. At Dupree's Drift I rode the ford without
a thought of crocodiles. I looked placidly at the spot where
Henriques had slain the Keeper and I had stolen the rubies.
There was no interest or imagination lingering in my dull
brain. My nerves had suddenly become things of stolid,
untempered iron. Each landmark I passed was noted down as
one step nearer to my object. At Umvelos' I had not the leisure
to do more than glance at the shell which I had built. I think I
had forgotten all about that night when I lay in the cellar and
heard Laputa's plans. Indeed, my doings of the past days were
all hazy and trivial in my mind. I only saw one sight clearly -
two men, one tall and black, the other little and sallow, slowly
creeping nearer to the Rooirand, and myself, a midget on a
horse, spurring far behind through the bush on their trail. I
saw the picture as continuously and clearly as if I had been
looking at a scene on the stage. There was only one change in
the setting; the three figures seemed to be gradually closing
together.
I had no exhilaration in my quest. I do not think I had even
much hope, for something had gone numb and cold in me and
killed my youth. I told myself that treasure-hunting was an
enterprise accursed of God, and that I should most likely die.
That Laputa and Henriques would die I was fully certain.
The three of us would leave our bones to bleach among the
diamonds, and in a little the Prester's collar would glow
amid a little heap of human dust. I was quite convinced of all
this, and quite apathetic. It really did not matter so long as I
came up with Laputa and Henriques, and settled scores with
them. That mattered everything in the world, for it was my destiny.
I had no means of knowing how long I took, but it was after
midnight before I passed Umvelos', and ere I got to the
Rooirand there was a fluttering of dawn in the east. I must
have passed east of Arcoll's men, who were driving the bush
towards Majinje's. I had ridden the night down and did not
feel so very tired. My horse was stumbling, but my own limbs
scarcely pained me. To be sure I was stiff and nerveless as if
hewn out of wood, but I had been as bad when I left
Bruderstroom. I felt as if I could go on riding to the end of
the world.
At the brink of the bush I dismounted and turned the
Schimmel loose. I had brought no halter, and I left him to
graze and roll. The light was sufficient to let me see the great
rock face rising in a tower of dim purple. The sky was still
picked out with stars, but the moon had long gone down, and
the east was flushing. I marched up the path to the cave, very
different from the timid being who had walked the same road
three nights before. Then my terrors were all to come: now I
had conquered terror and seen the other side of fear. I was
centuries older.
But beside the path lay something which made me pause. It
was a dead body, and the head was turned away from me. I
did not need to see the face to know who it was. There had
been only two men in my vision, and one of them was immortal.
I stopped and turned the body over. There was no joy in
my heart, none of the lust of satisfied vengeance or slaked hate.
I had forgotten about the killing of my dog and all the rest of
Henriques' doings. It was only with curiosity that I looked
down on the dead face, swollen and livid in the first light
of morning.
The man had been strangled. His neck, as we say in
Scotland, was 'thrawn', and that was why he had lain on his
back yet with his face turned away from me. He had been dead
probably since before midnight. I looked closer, and saw that
there was blood on his shirt and hands, but no wound. It was
not his blood, but some other's. Then a few feet off on the
path I found a pistol with two chambers empty.
What had happened was very plain. Henriques had tried to
shoot Laputa at the entrance of the cave for the sake of the
collar and the treasure within. He had wounded him - gravely,
I thought, to judge from the amount of blood - but the
quickness and marksmanship of the Portuguese had not availed
to save his life from those terrible hands. After two shots
Laputa had got hold of him and choked his life out as easily as
a man twists a partridge's neck. Then he had gone into the cave.
I saw the marks of blood on the road, and hastened on.
Laputa had been hours in the cave, enough to work havoc with
the treasure. He was wounded, too, and desperate. Probably
he had come to the Rooirand looking for sanctuary and rest for
a day or two, but if Henriques had shot straight he might find
a safer sanctuary and a longer rest. For the third time in my
life I pushed up the gully between the straight high walls of
rock, and heard from the heart of the hills the thunder of the
imprisoned river.
There was only the faintest gleam of light in the cleft, but it
noontide sun had made the tent like an oven. I felt better, but
very stiff and sore, and I had a most ungovernable thirst.
There was a pail of water with a tin pannikin beside the tent
pole, and out of this I drank repeated draughts. Then I lay
down again, for I was still very weary.
But my second sleep was not like my first. It was haunted
by wild nightmares. No sooner had I closed my eyes than I
began to live and move in a fantastic world. The whole bush
of the plains lay before me, and I watched it as if from some
view-point in the clouds. It was midday, and the sandy patches
shimmered under a haze of heat. I saw odd little movements
in the bush - a buck's head raised, a paauw stalking solemnly
in the long grass, a big crocodile rolling off a mudbank in the
river. And then I saw quite clearly Laputa's figure going east.
In my sleep I did not think about Arcoll's manoeuvres. My
mind was wholly set upon Laputa. He was walking wearily,
yet at a good pace, and his head was always turning, like a wild
creature snuffing the wind. There was something with him, a
shapeless shadow, which I could not see clearly. His neck was
bare, but I knew well that the collar was in his pouch.
He stopped, turned west, and I lost him. The bush world
for a space was quite silent, and I watched it eagerly as an
aeronaut would watch the ground for a descent. For a long
time I could see nothing. Then in a wood near a river there
seemed to be a rustling. Some guinea-fowl flew up as if
startled, and a stembok scurried out. I knew that Laputa
must be there.
Then, as I looked at the river, I saw a head swimming. Nay,
I saw two, one some distance behind the other. The first man
landed on the far bank, and I recognized Laputa. The second
was a slight short figure, and I knew it was Henriques.
I remember feeling very glad that these two had come
together. It was certain now that Henriques would not escape.
Either Laputa would find out the truth and kill him, or I
would come up with him and have my revenge. In any case he
was outside the Kaffir pale, adventuring on his own.
I watched the two till they halted near a ruined building.
Surely this was the store I had built at Umvelos'. The thought
gave me a horrid surprise. Laputa and Henriques were on
their way to the Rooirand!
I woke with a start to find my forehead damp with sweat.
There was some fever on me, I think, for my teeth were
chattering. Very clear in my mind was the disquieting thought
that Laputa and Henriques would soon be in the cave.
One of two things must happen - either Henriques would
kill Laputa, get the collar of rubies, and be in the wilds of
Mozambique before I could come up with his trail; or Laputa
would outwit him, and have the handling himself of the
treasure of gold and diamonds which had been laid up for the
rising. If he thought there was a risk of defeat, I knew he
would send my gems to the bottom of the Labongo, and all my
weary work would go for nothing. I had forgotten all about
patriotism. In that hour the fate of the country was nothing to
me, and I got no satisfaction from the thought that Laputa was
severed from his army. My one idea was that the treasure
would be lost, the treasure for which I had risked my life.
There is a kind of courage which springs from bitter anger
and disappointment. I had thought that I had bankrupted my
spirit, but I found that there was a new passion in me to which
my past sufferings taught no lesson. My uneasiness would not
let me rest a moment longer. I rose to my feet, holding on by
the bed, and staggered to the tent pole. I was weak, but not so
very weak that I could not make one last effort. It maddened
me that I should have done so much and yet fail at the end.
From a nail on the tent pole hung a fragment of looking-
glass which Arcoll used for shaving. I caught a glimpse of my
face in it, white and haggard and lined, with blue bags below
the eyes. The doctor the night before had sponged it, but he
had not got rid of all the stains of travel. In particular there
was a faint splash of blood on the left temple. I remembered
that this was what I had got from the basin of goat's blood that
night in the cave.
I think that the sight of that splash determined me. Whether
I willed it or not, I was sealed of Laputa's men. I must play
the game to the finish, or never again know peace of mind on
earth. These last four days had made me very old.
I found a pair of Arcoll's boots, roomy with much wearing,
into which I thrust my bruised feet. Then I crawled to the
door, and shouted for a boy to bring my horse. A Basuto
appeared, and, awed by my appearance, went off in a hurry to
see to the schimmel. It was late afternoon, about the same time
of day as had yesterday seen me escaping from Machudi's. The
Bruderstroom camp was empty, though sentinels were posted
at the approaches. I beckoned the only white man I saw, and
asked where Arcoll was. He told me that he had no news, but
added that the patrols were still on the road as far as Wesselsburg.
From this I gathered that Arcoll must have gone far out
into the bush in his chase. I did not want to see him; above
all, I did not want him to find Laputa. It was my private
business that I rode on, and I asked for no allies.
Somebody brought me a cup of thick coffee, which I could
not drink, and helped me into the saddle. The Schimmel was
fresh, and kicked freely as I cantered off the grass into the dust
of the highroad. The whole world, I remember, was still and
golden in the sunset.
CHAPTER XX
MY LAST SIGHT OF THE REVEREND JOHN LAPUTA
It was dark before I got into the gorge of the Letaba. I passed
many patrols, but few spoke to me, and none tried to stop me.
Some may have known me, but I think it was my face and
figure which tied their tongues. I must have been pale as
death, with tangled hair and fever burning in my eyes. Also on
my left temple was the splash of blood.
At Main Drift I found a big body of police holding the ford.
I splashed through and stumbled into one of their camp-fires.
A man questioned me, and told me that Arcoll had got his
quarry. 'He's dead, they say. They shot him out on the hills
when he was making for the Limpopo.' But I knew that this
was not true. It was burned on my mind that Laputa was alive,
nay, was waiting for me, and that it was God's will that we
should meet in the cave.
A little later I struck the track of the Kaffirs' march. There
was a broad, trampled way through the bush, and I followed
it, for it led to Dupree's Drift. All this time I was urging the
Schimmel with all the vigour I had left in me. I had quite lost
any remnant of fear. There were no terrors left for me either
from Nature or man. At Dupree's Drift I rode the ford without
a thought of crocodiles. I looked placidly at the spot where
Henriques had slain the Keeper and I had stolen the rubies.
There was no interest or imagination lingering in my dull
brain. My nerves had suddenly become things of stolid,
untempered iron. Each landmark I passed was noted down as
one step nearer to my object. At Umvelos' I had not the leisure
to do more than glance at the shell which I had built. I think I
had forgotten all about that night when I lay in the cellar and
heard Laputa's plans. Indeed, my doings of the past days were
all hazy and trivial in my mind. I only saw one sight clearly -
two men, one tall and black, the other little and sallow, slowly
creeping nearer to the Rooirand, and myself, a midget on a
horse, spurring far behind through the bush on their trail. I
saw the picture as continuously and clearly as if I had been
looking at a scene on the stage. There was only one change in
the setting; the three figures seemed to be gradually closing
together.
I had no exhilaration in my quest. I do not think I had even
much hope, for something had gone numb and cold in me and
killed my youth. I told myself that treasure-hunting was an
enterprise accursed of God, and that I should most likely die.
That Laputa and Henriques would die I was fully certain.
The three of us would leave our bones to bleach among the
diamonds, and in a little the Prester's collar would glow
amid a little heap of human dust. I was quite convinced of all
this, and quite apathetic. It really did not matter so long as I
came up with Laputa and Henriques, and settled scores with
them. That mattered everything in the world, for it was my destiny.
I had no means of knowing how long I took, but it was after
midnight before I passed Umvelos', and ere I got to the
Rooirand there was a fluttering of dawn in the east. I must
have passed east of Arcoll's men, who were driving the bush
towards Majinje's. I had ridden the night down and did not
feel so very tired. My horse was stumbling, but my own limbs
scarcely pained me. To be sure I was stiff and nerveless as if
hewn out of wood, but I had been as bad when I left
Bruderstroom. I felt as if I could go on riding to the end of
the world.
At the brink of the bush I dismounted and turned the
Schimmel loose. I had brought no halter, and I left him to
graze and roll. The light was sufficient to let me see the great
rock face rising in a tower of dim purple. The sky was still
picked out with stars, but the moon had long gone down, and
the east was flushing. I marched up the path to the cave, very
different from the timid being who had walked the same road
three nights before. Then my terrors were all to come: now I
had conquered terror and seen the other side of fear. I was
centuries older.
But beside the path lay something which made me pause. It
was a dead body, and the head was turned away from me. I
did not need to see the face to know who it was. There had
been only two men in my vision, and one of them was immortal.
I stopped and turned the body over. There was no joy in
my heart, none of the lust of satisfied vengeance or slaked hate.
I had forgotten about the killing of my dog and all the rest of
Henriques' doings. It was only with curiosity that I looked
down on the dead face, swollen and livid in the first light
of morning.
The man had been strangled. His neck, as we say in
Scotland, was 'thrawn', and that was why he had lain on his
back yet with his face turned away from me. He had been dead
probably since before midnight. I looked closer, and saw that
there was blood on his shirt and hands, but no wound. It was
not his blood, but some other's. Then a few feet off on the
path I found a pistol with two chambers empty.
What had happened was very plain. Henriques had tried to
shoot Laputa at the entrance of the cave for the sake of the
collar and the treasure within. He had wounded him - gravely,
I thought, to judge from the amount of blood - but the
quickness and marksmanship of the Portuguese had not availed
to save his life from those terrible hands. After two shots
Laputa had got hold of him and choked his life out as easily as
a man twists a partridge's neck. Then he had gone into the cave.
I saw the marks of blood on the road, and hastened on.
Laputa had been hours in the cave, enough to work havoc with
the treasure. He was wounded, too, and desperate. Probably
he had come to the Rooirand looking for sanctuary and rest for
a day or two, but if Henriques had shot straight he might find
a safer sanctuary and a longer rest. For the third time in my
life I pushed up the gully between the straight high walls of
rock, and heard from the heart of the hills the thunder of the
imprisoned river.
There was only the faintest gleam of light in the cleft, but it
- wholly [´həul-li]
ad.完全，十足；统统 (初中英语单词) - collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
- eagerly [´i:gəli] ad.渴望地，急切地 (初中英语单词)
- revenge [ri´vendʒ] vt.报复 n.报仇；报复 (初中英语单词)
- forehead [´fɔrid] n.额，前部 (初中英语单词)
- satisfaction [,sætis´fækʃən] n.满意；满足 (初中英语单词)
- disappointment [,disə´pɔintmənt] n.失望；挫折 (初中英语单词)
- passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
- fragment [´frægmənt] n.碎片；破片；断片 (初中英语单词)
- glimpse [glimps] n.&v.瞥见 (初中英语单词)
- splash [splæʃ] v.&n.溅水声；涉水而进 (初中英语单词)
- temple [´tempəl] n.庙宇；寺院；太阳穴 (初中英语单词)
- thrust [θrʌst] v.&n.猛推；冲；刺；挤进 (初中英语单词)
- yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
- saddle [´sædl] n.鞍子 v.装鞍(于) (初中英语单词)
- freely [´fri:li] ad.自由地；慷慨地 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- keeper [´ki:pə] n.管理人；看守；保管人 (初中英语单词)
- stolen [´stəulən] steal 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- imagination [i,mædʒi´neiʃən] n.想象(力) (初中英语单词)
- cellar [´selə] n.地窑，地下室 (初中英语单词)
- doings [´du:iŋz] n.行动；所作的事 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- nerveless [´nə:vləs] a.无生气的；松散的 (初中英语单词)
- purple [´pə:pl] n.紫色 a.紫(红)的 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- vision [´viʒən] n.视觉；想象力；幻影 (初中英语单词)
- curiosity [,kjuəri´ɔsiti] n.好奇；奇事；珍品 (初中英语单词)
- midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)
- pistol [´pistl] n.手枪 vt.用手枪射击 (初中英语单词)
- amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
- desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
- thunder [´θʌndə] n.雷 vi.打雷 vt.吼出 (初中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- fantastic [fæn´tæstik] a.奇异的；荒谬的 (高中英语单词)
- descent [di´sent] n.出身，家世 (高中英语单词)
- horrid [´hɔrid] a.令人讨厌的；极糟的 (高中英语单词)
- reverend [´revərənd] a.可尊敬的 (高中英语单词)
- vigour [´vigə] (=vigor) n.活力；精力 (高中英语单词)
- remnant [´remnənt] n.残(剩)余 a.剩余的 (高中英语单词)
- vengeance [´vendʒəns] n.报复，复仇 (高中英语单词)
- midday [´middei] n.中午 (英语四级单词)
- uneasiness [ʌn´i:zinis] n.不安，担忧；不自在 (英语四级单词)
- haggard [´hægəd] a.憔悴的 (英语四级单词)
- trivial [´triviəl] a.琐碎的；不重要的 (英语四级单词)
- continuously [kən´tinjuəsli] ad.连续(不断)地 (英语四级单词)
- setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
- accursed [ə´kə:sid] a.被诅咒的；可憎的 (英语四级单词)
- bleach [bli:tʃ] v.漂白；变白 (英语四级单词)
- ridden [´ridn] ride 的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
- swollen [´swəulən] swell的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
- portuguese [,pɔ:tʃu´gi:z] a.葡萄牙的 n.葡萄牙人 (英语四级单词)
- sanctuary [´sæŋktʃuəri] n.圣殿；寺院；避难所 (英语四级单词)
- crocodile [´krɔkədail] n.鳄鱼；假慈悲的人 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
- shaving [´ʃeiviŋ] n.剃(须)；修面 (英语六级单词)
- landmark [´lændmɑ:k] n.界标；里程碑 (英语六级单词)
- halter [´hɔ:ltə] n.缰绳，绞索 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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