章节正文
in so unexpected a manner. He had been looking to hear them
under such different circumstances that, now that his ears heard
them addressed to him, and that so seriously, by a perfect
stranger, who, with others, had thus mysteriously" target="_blank" title="ad.神秘地；故弄玄虚地">mysteriously come ashore out
of the darkness, he could scarce believe that his ears heard
aright. His heart suddenly began beating at a tremendous rate,
and had he been an older and wiser man, I do believe he would
have declined the adventure, instead of leaping blindly, as he
did, into that of which he could see neither the beginning nor
the ending. But being barely one-and-twenty years of age, and
having an adventurousdisposition that would have carried him
into almost anything that possessed a smack of uncertainty or
danger about it, he contrived to say, in a pretty easy tone
(though God knows how it was put on for the occasion):
"Well, then, if that be so, and if the Royal Sovereign is indeed
come in, why, I'll join you, since you are so kind as to ask me."
And therewith he went across to the other table, carrying his
pipe with him, and sat down and began smoking, with all the
appearance of ease he could assume upon the occasion.
"Well, Mr. Barnaby True," said the man who had before addressed
him, so soon as Barnaby had settled himself, speaking in a low
tone of voice, so there would be no danger of any others hearing
the words--"Well, Mr. Barnaby True--for I shall call you by your
name, to show you that though I know you, you don't know me I am
glad to see that you are man enough to enter thus into an affair,
though you can't see to the bottom of it. For it shows me that
you are a man of mettle, and are deserving of the fortune that is
to befall you to-night. Nevertheless, first of all, I am bid to
say that you must show me a piece of paper that you have about
you before we go a step farther."
"Very well," said Barnaby; "I have it here safe and sound, and
see it you shall." And thereupon and without more ado he fetched
out his wallet, opened it, and handed his interlocutor the
mysterious note he had received the day or two before. Whereupon
the other, drawing to him the candle, burning there for the
convenience of those who would smoke tobacco, began immediately
reading it.
This gave Barnaby True a moment or two to look at him. He was a
tall, stout man, with a red handkerchief tied around his neck,
and with copper buckles on his shoes, so that Barnaby True could
not but wonder whether he was not the very same man who had given
the note to Miss Eliza Bolles at the door of his lodging house.
"'Tis all right and straight as it should be," the other said,
after he had so glanced his eyes over the note. "And now that
the paper is read" (suiting his action to his words), "I'll just
burn it, for safety's sake."
And so he did, twisting it up and setting it to the flame of the
candle.
"And now," he said, continuing his address, "I'll tell you what I
am here for. I was sent to ask you if you're man enough to take
your life in your own hands and to go with me in that boat down
there? Say 'Yes,' and we'll start away without wasting more time,
for the devil is ashore here at Jamaica--though you don't know
what that means--and if he gets ahead of us, why, then we may
whistle for what we are after. Say 'No,' and I go away again, and
I promise you you shall never be troubled again in this sort. So
now speak up plain, young gentleman, and tell us what is your
mind in this business, and whether you will adventure any farther
or not."
If our hero hesitated it was not for long. I cannot say that his
courage did not waver for a moment; but if it did, it was, I say,
not for long, and when he spoke up it was with a voice as steady
as could be.
"To be sure I'm man enough to go with you," he said; "and if you
mean me any harm I can look out for myself; and if I can't, why,
here is something can look out for me," and therewith he lifted
up the flap of his coat pocket and showed the butt of a pistol he
had fetched with him when he had set out from his lodging house
that evening.
At this the other burst out a-laughing. "Come," says he, "you are
indeed of right mettle, and I like your spirit. All the same, no
one in all the world means you less ill than I, and so, if you
have to use that barker, 'twill not be upon us who are your
friends, but only upon one who is more wicked than the devil
himself. So come, and let us get away."
Thereupon he and the others, who had not spoken a single word for
all this time, rose from the table, and he having paid the scores
of all, they all went down together to the boat that still lay
at the landing place at the bottom of the garden.
Thus coming to it, our hero could see that it was a large yawl
boat manned with half a score of black men for rowers, and there
were two lanterns in the stern sheets, and three or four iron
shovels.
The man who had conducted the conversation with Barnaby True for
all this time, and who was, as has been said, plainly the captain
of the party, stepped immediately down into the boat; our hero
followed, and the others followed after him; and instantly" target="_blank" title="ad.立即，立刻">instantly they
were seated the boat was shoved off and the black men began
pulling straight out into the harbor, and so, at some distance
away, around under the stern of the man-of-war.
Not a word was spoken after they had thus left the shore, and
presently they might all have been ghosts, for the silence of the
party. Barnaby True was too full of his own thoughts to talk--and
serious enough thoughts they were by this time, with crimps to
trepan a man at every turn, and press gangs to carry a man off so
that he might never be heard of again. As for the others, they
did not seem to choose to say anything now that they had him
fairly embarked upon their enterprise.
And so the crew pulled on in perfect silence for the best part of
an hour, the leader of the expedition directing the course of the
boat straight across the harbor, as though toward the mouth of
the Rio Cobra River. Indeed, this was their destination, as
Barnaby could after a while see, by the low point of land with a
great long row of coconut palms upon it (the appearance of which
he knew very well), which by and by began to loom up out of the
milky dimness of the moonlight. As they approached the river
they found the tide was running strong out of it, so that some
distance away from the stream it gurgled and rippled alongside
the boat as the crew of black men pulled strongly against it.
Thus they came up under what was either a point of land or an
islet covered with a thick growth of mangrove trees. But still no
one spoke a single word as to their destination, or what was the
business they had in hand.
The night, now that they were close to the shore, was loud with
the noise of running tide-water, and the air was heavy with the
smell of mud and marsh, and over all the whiteness of the
moonlight, with a few stars pricking out here and there in the
sky; and all so strange and silent and mysterious that Barnaby
could not divest himself of the feeling that it was all a dream.
So, the rowers bending to the oars, the boat came slowly around
from under the clump of mangrove bushes and out into the open
water again.
Instantly it did so the leader of the expedition called out in a
sharp voice, and the black men instantly" target="_blank" title="ad.立即，立刻">instantly lay on their oars.
Almost at the same instant Barnaby True became aware that there
was another boat coming down the river toward where they lay, now
drifting with the strong tide out into the harbor again, and he
knew that it was because of the approach of that boat that the
other had called upon his men to cease rowing.
The other boat, as well as he could see in the distance, was full
of men, some of whom appeared to be armed, for even in the dusk
of the darkness the shine of the moonlight glimmered sharply now
and then on the barrels of muskets or pistols, and in the silence
that followed after their own rowing had ceased Barnaby True
could hear the chug! chug! of the oars sounding louder and louder
through the waterystillness of the night as the boat drew nearer
and nearer. But he knew nothing of what it all meant, nor whether
these others were friends or enemies, or what was to happen next.
The oarsmen of the approaching boat did not for a moment cease
their rowing, not till they had come pretty close to Barnaby and
his companions. Then a man who sat in the stern ordered them to
cease rowing, and as they lay on their oars he stood up. As they
passed by, Barnaby True could see him very plain, the moonlight
shining full upon him--a large, stout gentleman with a round red
face, and clad in a fine laced coat of red cloth. Amidship of the
boat was a box or chest about the bigness of a middle-sized
traveling trunk, but covered all over with cakes of sand and
dirt. In the act of passing, the gentleman, still standing,
pointed at it with an elegant gold-headed cane which he held in
his hand. "Are you come after this, Abraham Dawling?" says he,
and thereat his countenance broke into as evil, malignant a grin
as ever Barnaby True saw in all of his life.
The other did not immediately reply so much as a single word, but
sat as still as any stone. Then, at last, the other boat having
gone by, he suddenly appeared to regain his wits, for he bawled
out after it, "Very well, Jack Malyoe! very well, Jack Malyoe!
you've got ahead of us this time again, but next time is the
third, and then it shall be our turn, even if William Brand must
come back from hell to settle with you."
This he shouted out as the other boat passed farther and farther
away, but to it my fine gentleman made no reply except to burst
out into a great roaring fit of laughter.
There was another man among the armed men in the stern of the
passing boat--a villainous, lean man with lantern jaws, and the
top of his head as bald as the palm of my hand. As the boat went
away into the night with the tide and the headway the oars had
given it, he grinned so that the moonlight shone white on his big
teeth. Then, flourishing a great big pistol, he said, and
Barnaby could hear every word he spoke, "Do but give me the word,
Your Honor, and I'll put another bullet through the son of a sea
cook."
But the gentleman said some words to forbid him, and therewith
the boat was gone away into the night, and presently Barnaby
could hear that the men at the oars had begun rowing again,
leaving them lying there, without a single word being said for a
long time.
By and by one of those in Barnaby's boat spoke up. "Where shall
you go now?" he said.
At this the leader of the expedition appeared suddenly to come
back to himself, and to find his voice again. "Go?" he roared
out. "Go to the devil! Go? Go where you choose! Go? Go back
again--that's where we'll go!" and therewith he fell a-cursing
and swearing until he foamed at the lips, as though he had gone
clean crazy, while the black men began rowing back again across
the harbor as fast as ever they could lay oars into the water.
They put Barnaby True ashore below the old custom house; but so
bewildered and shaken was he by all that had happened, and by
what he had seen, and by the names that he heard spoken, that he
was scarcely conscious of any of the familiar things among which
he found himself thus standing. And so he walked up the moonlit
street toward his lodging like one drunk or bewildered; for "John
Malyoe" was the name of the captain of the Adventure galley--he
who had shot Barnaby's own grandfather--and "Abraham Dawling" was
the name of the gunner of the Royal Sovereign who had been shot
at the same time with the pirate captain, and who, with him, had
been left stretched out in the staring sun by the murderers.
The whole business had occupied hardly two hours, but it was as
though that time was no part of Barnaby's life, but all a part of
some other life, so dark and strange and mysterious that it in no
wise belonged to him.
As for that box covered all over with mud, he could only guess at
under such different circumstances that, now that his ears heard
them addressed to him, and that so seriously, by a perfect
stranger, who, with others, had thus mysteriously" target="_blank" title="ad.神秘地；故弄玄虚地">mysteriously come ashore out
of the darkness, he could scarce believe that his ears heard
aright. His heart suddenly began beating at a tremendous rate,
and had he been an older and wiser man, I do believe he would
have declined the adventure, instead of leaping blindly, as he
did, into that of which he could see neither the beginning nor
the ending. But being barely one-and-twenty years of age, and
having an adventurousdisposition that would have carried him
into almost anything that possessed a smack of uncertainty or
danger about it, he contrived to say, in a pretty easy tone
(though God knows how it was put on for the occasion):
"Well, then, if that be so, and if the Royal Sovereign is indeed
come in, why, I'll join you, since you are so kind as to ask me."
And therewith he went across to the other table, carrying his
pipe with him, and sat down and began smoking, with all the
appearance of ease he could assume upon the occasion.
"Well, Mr. Barnaby True," said the man who had before addressed
him, so soon as Barnaby had settled himself, speaking in a low
tone of voice, so there would be no danger of any others hearing
the words--"Well, Mr. Barnaby True--for I shall call you by your
name, to show you that though I know you, you don't know me I am
glad to see that you are man enough to enter thus into an affair,
though you can't see to the bottom of it. For it shows me that
you are a man of mettle, and are deserving of the fortune that is
to befall you to-night. Nevertheless, first of all, I am bid to
say that you must show me a piece of paper that you have about
you before we go a step farther."
"Very well," said Barnaby; "I have it here safe and sound, and
see it you shall." And thereupon and without more ado he fetched
out his wallet, opened it, and handed his interlocutor the
mysterious note he had received the day or two before. Whereupon
the other, drawing to him the candle, burning there for the
convenience of those who would smoke tobacco, began immediately
reading it.
This gave Barnaby True a moment or two to look at him. He was a
tall, stout man, with a red handkerchief tied around his neck,
and with copper buckles on his shoes, so that Barnaby True could
not but wonder whether he was not the very same man who had given
the note to Miss Eliza Bolles at the door of his lodging house.
"'Tis all right and straight as it should be," the other said,
after he had so glanced his eyes over the note. "And now that
the paper is read" (suiting his action to his words), "I'll just
burn it, for safety's sake."
And so he did, twisting it up and setting it to the flame of the
candle.
"And now," he said, continuing his address, "I'll tell you what I
am here for. I was sent to ask you if you're man enough to take
your life in your own hands and to go with me in that boat down
there? Say 'Yes,' and we'll start away without wasting more time,
for the devil is ashore here at Jamaica--though you don't know
what that means--and if he gets ahead of us, why, then we may
whistle for what we are after. Say 'No,' and I go away again, and
I promise you you shall never be troubled again in this sort. So
now speak up plain, young gentleman, and tell us what is your
mind in this business, and whether you will adventure any farther
or not."
If our hero hesitated it was not for long. I cannot say that his
courage did not waver for a moment; but if it did, it was, I say,
not for long, and when he spoke up it was with a voice as steady
as could be.
"To be sure I'm man enough to go with you," he said; "and if you
mean me any harm I can look out for myself; and if I can't, why,
here is something can look out for me," and therewith he lifted
up the flap of his coat pocket and showed the butt of a pistol he
had fetched with him when he had set out from his lodging house
that evening.
At this the other burst out a-laughing. "Come," says he, "you are
indeed of right mettle, and I like your spirit. All the same, no
one in all the world means you less ill than I, and so, if you
have to use that barker, 'twill not be upon us who are your
friends, but only upon one who is more wicked than the devil
himself. So come, and let us get away."
Thereupon he and the others, who had not spoken a single word for
all this time, rose from the table, and he having paid the scores
of all, they all went down together to the boat that still lay
at the landing place at the bottom of the garden.
Thus coming to it, our hero could see that it was a large yawl
boat manned with half a score of black men for rowers, and there
were two lanterns in the stern sheets, and three or four iron
shovels.
The man who had conducted the conversation with Barnaby True for
all this time, and who was, as has been said, plainly the captain
of the party, stepped immediately down into the boat; our hero
followed, and the others followed after him; and instantly" target="_blank" title="ad.立即，立刻">instantly they
were seated the boat was shoved off and the black men began
pulling straight out into the harbor, and so, at some distance
away, around under the stern of the man-of-war.
Not a word was spoken after they had thus left the shore, and
presently they might all have been ghosts, for the silence of the
party. Barnaby True was too full of his own thoughts to talk--and
serious enough thoughts they were by this time, with crimps to
trepan a man at every turn, and press gangs to carry a man off so
that he might never be heard of again. As for the others, they
did not seem to choose to say anything now that they had him
fairly embarked upon their enterprise.
And so the crew pulled on in perfect silence for the best part of
an hour, the leader of the expedition directing the course of the
boat straight across the harbor, as though toward the mouth of
the Rio Cobra River. Indeed, this was their destination, as
Barnaby could after a while see, by the low point of land with a
great long row of coconut palms upon it (the appearance of which
he knew very well), which by and by began to loom up out of the
milky dimness of the moonlight. As they approached the river
they found the tide was running strong out of it, so that some
distance away from the stream it gurgled and rippled alongside
the boat as the crew of black men pulled strongly against it.
Thus they came up under what was either a point of land or an
islet covered with a thick growth of mangrove trees. But still no
one spoke a single word as to their destination, or what was the
business they had in hand.
The night, now that they were close to the shore, was loud with
the noise of running tide-water, and the air was heavy with the
smell of mud and marsh, and over all the whiteness of the
moonlight, with a few stars pricking out here and there in the
sky; and all so strange and silent and mysterious that Barnaby
could not divest himself of the feeling that it was all a dream.
So, the rowers bending to the oars, the boat came slowly around
from under the clump of mangrove bushes and out into the open
water again.
Instantly it did so the leader of the expedition called out in a
sharp voice, and the black men instantly" target="_blank" title="ad.立即，立刻">instantly lay on their oars.
Almost at the same instant Barnaby True became aware that there
was another boat coming down the river toward where they lay, now
drifting with the strong tide out into the harbor again, and he
knew that it was because of the approach of that boat that the
other had called upon his men to cease rowing.
The other boat, as well as he could see in the distance, was full
of men, some of whom appeared to be armed, for even in the dusk
of the darkness the shine of the moonlight glimmered sharply now
and then on the barrels of muskets or pistols, and in the silence
that followed after their own rowing had ceased Barnaby True
could hear the chug! chug! of the oars sounding louder and louder
through the waterystillness of the night as the boat drew nearer
and nearer. But he knew nothing of what it all meant, nor whether
these others were friends or enemies, or what was to happen next.
The oarsmen of the approaching boat did not for a moment cease
their rowing, not till they had come pretty close to Barnaby and
his companions. Then a man who sat in the stern ordered them to
cease rowing, and as they lay on their oars he stood up. As they
passed by, Barnaby True could see him very plain, the moonlight
shining full upon him--a large, stout gentleman with a round red
face, and clad in a fine laced coat of red cloth. Amidship of the
boat was a box or chest about the bigness of a middle-sized
traveling trunk, but covered all over with cakes of sand and
dirt. In the act of passing, the gentleman, still standing,
pointed at it with an elegant gold-headed cane which he held in
his hand. "Are you come after this, Abraham Dawling?" says he,
and thereat his countenance broke into as evil, malignant a grin
as ever Barnaby True saw in all of his life.
The other did not immediately reply so much as a single word, but
sat as still as any stone. Then, at last, the other boat having
gone by, he suddenly appeared to regain his wits, for he bawled
out after it, "Very well, Jack Malyoe! very well, Jack Malyoe!
you've got ahead of us this time again, but next time is the
third, and then it shall be our turn, even if William Brand must
come back from hell to settle with you."
This he shouted out as the other boat passed farther and farther
away, but to it my fine gentleman made no reply except to burst
out into a great roaring fit of laughter.
There was another man among the armed men in the stern of the
passing boat--a villainous, lean man with lantern jaws, and the
top of his head as bald as the palm of my hand. As the boat went
away into the night with the tide and the headway the oars had
given it, he grinned so that the moonlight shone white on his big
teeth. Then, flourishing a great big pistol, he said, and
Barnaby could hear every word he spoke, "Do but give me the word,
Your Honor, and I'll put another bullet through the son of a sea
cook."
But the gentleman said some words to forbid him, and therewith
the boat was gone away into the night, and presently Barnaby
could hear that the men at the oars had begun rowing again,
leaving them lying there, without a single word being said for a
long time.
By and by one of those in Barnaby's boat spoke up. "Where shall
you go now?" he said.
At this the leader of the expedition appeared suddenly to come
back to himself, and to find his voice again. "Go?" he roared
out. "Go to the devil! Go? Go where you choose! Go? Go back
again--that's where we'll go!" and therewith he fell a-cursing
and swearing until he foamed at the lips, as though he had gone
clean crazy, while the black men began rowing back again across
the harbor as fast as ever they could lay oars into the water.
They put Barnaby True ashore below the old custom house; but so
bewildered and shaken was he by all that had happened, and by
what he had seen, and by the names that he heard spoken, that he
was scarcely conscious of any of the familiar things among which
he found himself thus standing. And so he walked up the moonlit
street toward his lodging like one drunk or bewildered; for "John
Malyoe" was the name of the captain of the Adventure galley--he
who had shot Barnaby's own grandfather--and "Abraham Dawling" was
the name of the gunner of the Royal Sovereign who had been shot
at the same time with the pirate captain, and who, with him, had
been left stretched out in the staring sun by the murderers.
The whole business had occupied hardly two hours, but it was as
though that time was no part of Barnaby's life, but all a part of
some other life, so dark and strange and mysterious that it in no
wise belonged to him.
As for that box covered all over with mud, he could only guess at
- seriously [´siəriəsli]
ad.严肃；严重，重大 (初中英语单词) - mysteriously [mis´tiəriəsli] ad.神秘地；故弄玄虚地 (初中英语单词)
- ashore [ə´ʃɔ:] ad.向岸上 (初中英语单词)
- scarce [skeəs, skers] a.缺乏的；稀有的 (初中英语单词)
- tremendous [tri´mendəs] a.可怕的；巨大的 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
- barely [´beəli] ad.公开地；仅仅 (初中英语单词)
- disposition [,dispə´ziʃən] n.安排；性情；倾向 (初中英语单词)
- sovereign [´sɔvrin] a.至高无上的 n.君主 (初中英语单词)
- therewith [ðɛə´wið] ad.于是，随即 (初中英语单词)
- nevertheless [,nevəðə´les] conj.&ad.然而；不过 (初中英语单词)
- thereupon [,ðeərə´pɔn] ad.因此；于是 (初中英语单词)
- tobacco [tə´bækəu] n.烟草(叶)；卷烟 (初中英语单词)
- handkerchief [´hæŋkətʃif] n.手帕，手绢 (初中英语单词)
- copper [´kɔpə] n.铜 a.铜制的 (初中英语单词)
- pistol [´pistl] n.手枪 vt.用手枪射击 (初中英语单词)
- wicked [´wikid] a.邪恶的；不道德的 (初中英语单词)
- spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- plainly [´pleinli] ad.平坦地；简单地 (初中英语单词)
- instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)
- expedition [,ekspi´diʃən] n.远征；探险；迅速 (初中英语单词)
- moonlight [´mu:nlait] n.&a.月光(的) (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
- strongly [´strɔŋli] ad.强烈地；强有力地 (初中英语单词)
- mysterious [mi´stiəriəs] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (初中英语单词)
- instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词)
- sharply [´ʃɑ:pli] ad.锋利地；剧烈地 (初中英语单词)
- countenance [´kauntinəns] n.面部表情；脸色；面容 (初中英语单词)
- bullet [´bulit] n.子弹 (初中英语单词)
- forbid [fə´bid] vt.禁止，不许，阻止 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- shaken [´ʃeikən] shake的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- conscious [´kɔnʃəs] a.意识的；自觉的 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- unexpected [ʌniks´pektid] a.突然的；意外的 (高中英语单词)
- ending [´endiŋ] n.结尾，结局 (高中英语单词)
- befall [bi´fɔ:l] v.降临；发表(于) (高中英语单词)
- lodging [´lɔdʒiŋ] n.寄宿，住宿 (高中英语单词)
- destination [,desti´neiʃən] n.目标地 (高中英语单词)
- stillness [´stilnis] n.不动；无声，寂静 (高中英语单词)
- elegant [´eligənt] a.文雅的；优美的 (高中英语单词)
- regain [ri´gein] vt.收回；恢复 (高中英语单词)
- lantern [´læntən] n.灯笼；提灯 (高中英语单词)
- pirate [´paiərət] n.海盗 v.做海盗；掠夺 (高中英语单词)
- blindly [blaindli] ad.盲目地；没头脑地 (英语四级单词)
- adventurous [əd´ventʃərəs] a.冒险的；惊险的 (英语四级单词)
- uncertainty [ʌn´sə:tənti] n.不可靠；不确定的事 (英语四级单词)
- wallet [´wɑ:lit] n.(放钞票等的)皮夹子 (英语四级单词)
- drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] n.画图；制图；图样 (英语四级单词)
- setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
- wasting [´weistiŋ] a.&n.浪费(的) (英语四级单词)
- coconut [´kəukənʌt] n.椰子(果)；头 (英语四级单词)
- beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)
- speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)
- landing [´lændiŋ] n.登陆；降落；楼梯平台 (英语六级单词)
- watery [´wɔ:təri] a.水的；像水的 (英语六级单词)
- malignant [mə´lignənt] a.恶意的；有害的 (英语六级单词)
- gunner [´gʌnə] n.炮手，枪手 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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