章节正文
suddenly he raised his eyes from his book and looked round.
It was the face of the man who had terrified me years ago on
the Kirkcaple shore.
I spent the rest of the day in a brown study. It was clear to
me that some destiny had prearranged this meeting. Here was
this man travelling prosperously as a first-class passenger with
all the appurtenances of respectability. I alone had seen him
invoking strange gods in the moonlight, I alone knew of the
devilry in his heart, and I could not but believe that some day
or other there might be virtue in that knowledge.
The second engineer and I had made friends, so I got him
to consult the purser's list for the name of my acquaintance.
He was down as the Rev. John Laputa, and his destination
was Durban.
The next day being Sunday, who should appear to address
us steerage passengers but the black minister. He was introduced
by the captain himself, a notably pious man, who spoke
of the labours of his brother in the dark places of heathendom.
Some of us were hurt in our pride in being made the target of
a black man's oratory. Especially Mr Henriques, whose skin
spoke of the tar-brush, protested with oaths against the insult.
Finally he sat down on a coil of rope, and spat scornfully in
the vicinity of the preacher.
For myself I was intensely curious, and not a little
impressed. The man's face was as commanding as his figure,
and his voice was the most wonderful thing that ever came out
of human mouth. It was full and rich, and gentle, with the
tones of a great organ. He had none of the squat and
preposterous negro lineaments, but a hawk nose like an Arab,
dark flashing eyes, and a cruel and resolute mouth. He was
black as my hat, but for the rest he might have sat for a figure
of a Crusader. I do not know what the sermon was about,
though others told me that it was excellent. All the time I
watched him, and kept saying to myself, 'You hunted me up
the Dyve Burn, but I bashed your face for you.' Indeed, I
thought I could see faint scars on his cheek.
The following night I had toothache, and could not sleep. It
was too hot to breathe under cover, so I got up, lit a pipe, and
walked on the after-deck to ease the pain. The air was very
still, save for the whish of water from the screws and the steady
beat of the engines. Above, a great yellow moon looked down
on me, and a host of pale stars.
The moonlight set me remembering the old affair of the
Dyve Burn, and my mind began to run on the Rev. John
Laputa. It pleased me to think that I was on the track of some
mystery of which I alone had the clue. I promised myself to
search out the antecedents of the minister when I got to
Durban, for I had a married cousin there, who might know
something of his doings. Then, as I passed by the companion-
way to the lower deck, I heard voices, and peeping over the
rail, I saw two men sitting in the shadow just beyond the hatch
of the hold.
I thought they might be two of the sailors seeking coolness
on the open deck, when something in the figure of one of them
made me look again. The next second I had slipped back and stolen
across the after-deck to a point just above them. For the two were
the black minister and that ugly yellow villain, Henriques.
I had no scruples about eavesdropping, but I could make
nothing of their talk. They spoke low, and in some tongue
which may have been Kaffir or Portuguese, but was in any
case unknown to me. I lay, cramped and eager, for many
minutes, and was just getting sick of it when a familiar name
caught my ear. Henriques said something in which I caught
the word 'Blaauwildebeestefontein.' I listened intently, and
there could be no mistake. The ministerrepeated the name,
and for the next few minutes it recurred often in their talk. I
went back stealthily to bed, having something to make me
forget my aching tooth. First of all, Laputa and Henriques
were allies. Second, the place I was bound for had something
to do with their schemes.
I said nothing to Mr Wardlaw, but spent the next week in
the assiduous toil of the amateurdetective. I procured some
maps and books from my friend, the second engineer, and read
all I could about Blaauwildebeestefontein. Not that there was
much to learn; but I remember I had quite a thrill when I
discovered from the chart of the ship's run one day that we
were in the same latitude as that uncouthly-named spot. I
found out nothing, however, about Henriques or the Rev.
John Laputa. The Portuguese still smoked in the stern, and
thumbed his greasynotebook; the minister sat in his deck-
chair, and read heavy volumes from the ship's library. Though
I watched every night, I never found them again together.
At Cape Town Henriques went ashore and did not return.
The minister did not budge from the ship the three days we
lay in port, and, indeed, it seemed to me that he kept his
cabin. At any rate I did not see his great figure on deck till we
were tossing in the choppy seas round Cape Agulhas. Sea-
sickness again attacked me, and with short lulls during our
stoppages at Port Elizabeth and East London, I lay wretchedly
in my bunk till we sighted the bluffs of Durban harbour.
Here it was necessary for me to change my ship, for in the
interests of economy I was going by sea to Delagoa Bay, and
thence by the cheap railway journey into the Transvaal. I
sought out my cousin, who lived in a fine house on the Berea,
and found a comfortable lodging for the three days of my stay
there. I made inquiries about Mr Laputa, but could hear
nothing. There was no native minister of that name, said my
cousin, who was a great authority on all native questions. I
described the man, but got no further light. No one had seen
or heard of such a being, 'unless,' said my cousin, 'he is one of
those American Ethiopian rascals.'
My second task was to see the Durban manager of the firm
which I had undertaken to serve. He was a certain Mr Colles,
a big fat man, who welcomed me in his shirt-sleeves, with a
cigar in his mouth. He received me pleasantly, and took me
home to dinner with him.
'Mr Mackenzie has written about you,' he said. 'I'll be quite frank
with you, Mr Crawfurd. The firm is not exactly satisfied about the
way business has been going lately at Blaauwildebeestefontein.
There's a grand country up there, and a grand opportunity for
the man who can take it. Japp, who is in charge, is an old man
now and past his best, but he has been long with the firm, and
we don't want to hurt his feelings. When he goes, which must be
pretty soon, you'll have a good chance of the place, if you show
yourself an active young fellow.'
He told me a great deal more about Blaauwildebeestefontein,
principally trading details. Incidentally he let drop that Mr
Japp had had several assistants in the last few years. I asked
him why they had left, and he hesitated.
'It's a lonely place, and they didn't like the life. You see,
there are few white men near, and young fellows want society.
They complained, and were moved on. But the firm didn't
think the more of them.'
I told him I had come out with the new schoolmaster.
'Yes,' he said reflectively, 'the school. That's been vacant
pretty often lately. What sort of fellow is this Wardlaw? Will
he stay, I wonder?'
'From all accounts,' I said, 'Blaauwildebeestefontein does
not seem popular.'
'It isn't. That's why we've got you out from home. The
colonial-born doesn't find it fit in with his idea of comfort. He
wants society, and he doesn't like too many natives. There's
nothing up there but natives and a few back-veld Dutchmen
with native blood in them. You fellows from home are less set
on an easy life, or you wouldn't be here.'
There was something in Mr Colles's tone which made me
risk another question.
'What's the matter with the place? There must be more
wrong with it than loneliness to make everybody clear out. I
have taken on this job, and I mean to stick to it, so you needn't
be afraid to tell me.'
The manager looked at me sharply. 'That's the way to talk,
my lad. You look as if you had a stiff back, so I'll be frank with
you. There is something about the place. It gives the ordinary
man the jumps. What it is, I don't know, and the men who
come back don't know themselves. I want you to find out for
me. You'll be doing the firm an enormous service if you can
get on the track of it. It may be the natives, or it may be the
takhaars, or it may be something else. Only old Japp can
stick it out, and he's too old and doddering to care about
moving. I want you to keep your eyes skinned, and write
privately to me if you want any help. You're not out here for
your health, I can see, and here's a chance for you to get your
foot on the ladder.
'Remember, I'm your friend,' he said to me again at the
garden gate. 'Take my advice and lie very low. Don't talk,
don't meddle with drink, learn all you can of the native jabber,
but don't let on you understand a word. You're sure to get on
the track of something. Good-bye, my boy,' and he waved a
fat hand to me.
That night I embarked on a cargo-boat which was going
round the coast to Delagoa Bay. It is a small world - at least
for us far-wandering Scots. For who should I find when I got
on board but my old friend Tam Dyke, who was second mate
on the vessel? We wrung each other's hands, and I answered,
as best I could, his questions about Kirkcaple. I had supper
with him in the cabin, and went on deck to see the moorings cast.
Suddenly there was a bustle on the quay, and a big man
with a handbag forced his way up the gangway. The men who
were getting ready to cast off tried to stop him, but he elbowed
his way forward, declaring he must see the captain. Tam went
up to him and asked civilly if he had a passage taken. He
admitted he had not, but said he would make it right in two
minutes with the captain himself. The Rev. John Laputa, for
some reason of his own, was leaving Durban with more haste
than he had entered it.
I do not know what passed with the captain, but the minister
got his passage right enough, and Tam was even turned out of his
cabin to make room for him. This annoyed my friend intensely.
'That black brute must be made of money, for he paid
through the nose for this, or I'm a Dutchman. My old man
doesn't take to his black brethren any more than I do. Hang it
all, what are we coming to, when we're turning into a blooming
cargo boat for niggers?'
I had all too little of Tam's good company, for on the
afternoon of the second day we reached the little town of
Lourenco Marques. This was my final landing in Africa, and I
mind how eagerly I looked at the low, green shores and the
bush-covered slopes of the mainland. We were landed from
boats while the ship lay out in the bay, and Tam came ashore
with me to spend the evening. By this time I had lost every
remnant of homesickness. I had got a job before me which
promised better things than colleging at Edinburgh, and I was
as keen to get up country now as I had been loth to leave
England. My mind being full of mysteries, I scanned every
Portuguese loafer on the quay as if he had been a spy, and
when Tam and I had had a bottle of Collates in a cafe I felt
that at last I had got to foreign parts and a new world.
Tam took me to supper with a friend of his, a Scot by the
name of Aitken, who was landing-agent for some big mining
house on the Rand. He hailed from Fife and gave me a hearty
It was the face of the man who had terrified me years ago on
the Kirkcaple shore.
I spent the rest of the day in a brown study. It was clear to
me that some destiny had prearranged this meeting. Here was
this man travelling prosperously as a first-class passenger with
all the appurtenances of respectability. I alone had seen him
invoking strange gods in the moonlight, I alone knew of the
devilry in his heart, and I could not but believe that some day
or other there might be virtue in that knowledge.
The second engineer and I had made friends, so I got him
to consult the purser's list for the name of my acquaintance.
He was down as the Rev. John Laputa, and his destination
was Durban.
The next day being Sunday, who should appear to address
us steerage passengers but the black minister. He was introduced
by the captain himself, a notably pious man, who spoke
of the labours of his brother in the dark places of heathendom.
Some of us were hurt in our pride in being made the target of
a black man's oratory. Especially Mr Henriques, whose skin
spoke of the tar-brush, protested with oaths against the insult.
Finally he sat down on a coil of rope, and spat scornfully in
the vicinity of the preacher.
For myself I was intensely curious, and not a little
impressed. The man's face was as commanding as his figure,
and his voice was the most wonderful thing that ever came out
of human mouth. It was full and rich, and gentle, with the
tones of a great organ. He had none of the squat and
preposterous negro lineaments, but a hawk nose like an Arab,
dark flashing eyes, and a cruel and resolute mouth. He was
black as my hat, but for the rest he might have sat for a figure
of a Crusader. I do not know what the sermon was about,
though others told me that it was excellent. All the time I
watched him, and kept saying to myself, 'You hunted me up
the Dyve Burn, but I bashed your face for you.' Indeed, I
thought I could see faint scars on his cheek.
The following night I had toothache, and could not sleep. It
was too hot to breathe under cover, so I got up, lit a pipe, and
walked on the after-deck to ease the pain. The air was very
still, save for the whish of water from the screws and the steady
beat of the engines. Above, a great yellow moon looked down
on me, and a host of pale stars.
The moonlight set me remembering the old affair of the
Dyve Burn, and my mind began to run on the Rev. John
Laputa. It pleased me to think that I was on the track of some
mystery of which I alone had the clue. I promised myself to
search out the antecedents of the minister when I got to
Durban, for I had a married cousin there, who might know
something of his doings. Then, as I passed by the companion-
way to the lower deck, I heard voices, and peeping over the
rail, I saw two men sitting in the shadow just beyond the hatch
of the hold.
I thought they might be two of the sailors seeking coolness
on the open deck, when something in the figure of one of them
made me look again. The next second I had slipped back and stolen
across the after-deck to a point just above them. For the two were
the black minister and that ugly yellow villain, Henriques.
I had no scruples about eavesdropping, but I could make
nothing of their talk. They spoke low, and in some tongue
which may have been Kaffir or Portuguese, but was in any
case unknown to me. I lay, cramped and eager, for many
minutes, and was just getting sick of it when a familiar name
caught my ear. Henriques said something in which I caught
the word 'Blaauwildebeestefontein.' I listened intently, and
there could be no mistake. The ministerrepeated the name,
and for the next few minutes it recurred often in their talk. I
went back stealthily to bed, having something to make me
forget my aching tooth. First of all, Laputa and Henriques
were allies. Second, the place I was bound for had something
to do with their schemes.
I said nothing to Mr Wardlaw, but spent the next week in
the assiduous toil of the amateurdetective. I procured some
maps and books from my friend, the second engineer, and read
all I could about Blaauwildebeestefontein. Not that there was
much to learn; but I remember I had quite a thrill when I
discovered from the chart of the ship's run one day that we
were in the same latitude as that uncouthly-named spot. I
found out nothing, however, about Henriques or the Rev.
John Laputa. The Portuguese still smoked in the stern, and
thumbed his greasynotebook; the minister sat in his deck-
chair, and read heavy volumes from the ship's library. Though
I watched every night, I never found them again together.
At Cape Town Henriques went ashore and did not return.
The minister did not budge from the ship the three days we
lay in port, and, indeed, it seemed to me that he kept his
cabin. At any rate I did not see his great figure on deck till we
were tossing in the choppy seas round Cape Agulhas. Sea-
sickness again attacked me, and with short lulls during our
stoppages at Port Elizabeth and East London, I lay wretchedly
in my bunk till we sighted the bluffs of Durban harbour.
Here it was necessary for me to change my ship, for in the
interests of economy I was going by sea to Delagoa Bay, and
thence by the cheap railway journey into the Transvaal. I
sought out my cousin, who lived in a fine house on the Berea,
and found a comfortable lodging for the three days of my stay
there. I made inquiries about Mr Laputa, but could hear
nothing. There was no native minister of that name, said my
cousin, who was a great authority on all native questions. I
described the man, but got no further light. No one had seen
or heard of such a being, 'unless,' said my cousin, 'he is one of
those American Ethiopian rascals.'
My second task was to see the Durban manager of the firm
which I had undertaken to serve. He was a certain Mr Colles,
a big fat man, who welcomed me in his shirt-sleeves, with a
cigar in his mouth. He received me pleasantly, and took me
home to dinner with him.
'Mr Mackenzie has written about you,' he said. 'I'll be quite frank
with you, Mr Crawfurd. The firm is not exactly satisfied about the
way business has been going lately at Blaauwildebeestefontein.
There's a grand country up there, and a grand opportunity for
the man who can take it. Japp, who is in charge, is an old man
now and past his best, but he has been long with the firm, and
we don't want to hurt his feelings. When he goes, which must be
pretty soon, you'll have a good chance of the place, if you show
yourself an active young fellow.'
He told me a great deal more about Blaauwildebeestefontein,
principally trading details. Incidentally he let drop that Mr
Japp had had several assistants in the last few years. I asked
him why they had left, and he hesitated.
'It's a lonely place, and they didn't like the life. You see,
there are few white men near, and young fellows want society.
They complained, and were moved on. But the firm didn't
think the more of them.'
I told him I had come out with the new schoolmaster.
'Yes,' he said reflectively, 'the school. That's been vacant
pretty often lately. What sort of fellow is this Wardlaw? Will
he stay, I wonder?'
'From all accounts,' I said, 'Blaauwildebeestefontein does
not seem popular.'
'It isn't. That's why we've got you out from home. The
colonial-born doesn't find it fit in with his idea of comfort. He
wants society, and he doesn't like too many natives. There's
nothing up there but natives and a few back-veld Dutchmen
with native blood in them. You fellows from home are less set
on an easy life, or you wouldn't be here.'
There was something in Mr Colles's tone which made me
risk another question.
'What's the matter with the place? There must be more
wrong with it than loneliness to make everybody clear out. I
have taken on this job, and I mean to stick to it, so you needn't
be afraid to tell me.'
The manager looked at me sharply. 'That's the way to talk,
my lad. You look as if you had a stiff back, so I'll be frank with
you. There is something about the place. It gives the ordinary
man the jumps. What it is, I don't know, and the men who
come back don't know themselves. I want you to find out for
me. You'll be doing the firm an enormous service if you can
get on the track of it. It may be the natives, or it may be the
takhaars, or it may be something else. Only old Japp can
stick it out, and he's too old and doddering to care about
moving. I want you to keep your eyes skinned, and write
privately to me if you want any help. You're not out here for
your health, I can see, and here's a chance for you to get your
foot on the ladder.
'Remember, I'm your friend,' he said to me again at the
garden gate. 'Take my advice and lie very low. Don't talk,
don't meddle with drink, learn all you can of the native jabber,
but don't let on you understand a word. You're sure to get on
the track of something. Good-bye, my boy,' and he waved a
fat hand to me.
That night I embarked on a cargo-boat which was going
round the coast to Delagoa Bay. It is a small world - at least
for us far-wandering Scots. For who should I find when I got
on board but my old friend Tam Dyke, who was second mate
on the vessel? We wrung each other's hands, and I answered,
as best I could, his questions about Kirkcaple. I had supper
with him in the cabin, and went on deck to see the moorings cast.
Suddenly there was a bustle on the quay, and a big man
with a handbag forced his way up the gangway. The men who
were getting ready to cast off tried to stop him, but he elbowed
his way forward, declaring he must see the captain. Tam went
up to him and asked civilly if he had a passage taken. He
admitted he had not, but said he would make it right in two
minutes with the captain himself. The Rev. John Laputa, for
some reason of his own, was leaving Durban with more haste
than he had entered it.
I do not know what passed with the captain, but the minister
got his passage right enough, and Tam was even turned out of his
cabin to make room for him. This annoyed my friend intensely.
'That black brute must be made of money, for he paid
through the nose for this, or I'm a Dutchman. My old man
doesn't take to his black brethren any more than I do. Hang it
all, what are we coming to, when we're turning into a blooming
cargo boat for niggers?'
I had all too little of Tam's good company, for on the
afternoon of the second day we reached the little town of
Lourenco Marques. This was my final landing in Africa, and I
mind how eagerly I looked at the low, green shores and the
bush-covered slopes of the mainland. We were landed from
boats while the ship lay out in the bay, and Tam came ashore
with me to spend the evening. By this time I had lost every
remnant of homesickness. I had got a job before me which
promised better things than colleging at Edinburgh, and I was
as keen to get up country now as I had been loth to leave
England. My mind being full of mysteries, I scanned every
Portuguese loafer on the quay as if he had been a spy, and
when Tam and I had had a bottle of Collates in a cafe I felt
that at last I had got to foreign parts and a new world.
Tam took me to supper with a friend of his, a Scot by the
name of Aitken, who was landing-agent for some big mining
house on the Rand. He hailed from Fife and gave me a hearty
- moonlight [´mu:nlait]
n.&a.月光(的) (初中英语单词) - virtue [´və:tʃu:] n.美德；贞操；长处 (初中英语单词)
- consult [kən´sʌlt] v.商量；磋商；请教 (初中英语单词)
- minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
- doings [´du:iŋz] n.行动；所作的事 (初中英语单词)
- amateur [´æmətə, ,æmə´tə:] n.业余爱好者 (初中英语单词)
- detective [di´tektiv] n.侦探 a.侦探的 (初中英语单词)
- thrill [θril] v.震惊；激动；刺激 (初中英语单词)
- ashore [ə´ʃɔ:] ad.向岸上 (初中英语单词)
- economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
- manager [´mænidʒə] n.经理；管理人；干事 (初中英语单词)
- lately [´leitli] ad.近来，不久前 (初中英语单词)
- charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
- lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
- sharply [´ʃɑ:pli] ad.锋利地；剧烈地 (初中英语单词)
- enormous [i´nɔ:məs] a.巨大地，很，极 (初中英语单词)
- vessel [´vesəl] n.容器；船；脉管 (初中英语单词)
- eagerly [´i:gəli] ad.渴望地，急切地 (初中英语单词)
- destiny [´destini] n.命运 (高中英语单词)
- sermon [´sə:mən] n.说教；训诫；讲道 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- allies [´ælaiz, ə´laiz] n.协约国 (高中英语单词)
- latitude [´lætitju:d] n.纬度；地区 (高中英语单词)
- lodging [´lɔdʒiŋ] n.寄宿，住宿 (高中英语单词)
- pleasantly [´plezntli] ad.令人愉快地；舒适地 (高中英语单词)
- loneliness [´ləunliniz] n.孤独，寂寞 (高中英语单词)
- meddle [´medl] vi.干涉(预)；乱弄 (高中英语单词)
- bustle [´bʌsəl] v.(使)匆忙 n.匆忙 (高中英语单词)
- hearty [´hɑ:ti] a.热忱的；强健的 (高中英语单词)
- vicinity [vi´siniti] n.邻近，附近，接近 (英语四级单词)
- intensely [in´tensli] ad.激烈地；热切地 (英语四级单词)
- resolute [´rezəlu:t] a.坚决的；不屈不挠的 (英语四级单词)
- villain [´vilən] n.坏人；恶棍；反面角色 (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)
- intently [in´tentli] ad.专心地 (英语四级单词)
- notebook [´nəutbuk] n.笔记本 (英语四级单词)
- incidentally [,insi´dentəli] ad.顺便一提；偶然地 (英语四级单词)
- mainland [´meinlənd] n.大陆；本土 (英语四级单词)
- edinburgh [´edinbərə] n.爱丁堡 (英语四级单词)
- first-class [´fə:st-´klɑ:s] a.头等的 ad.乘头等车 (英语六级单词)
- notably [´nəutəbli] ad.显著地；著名地 (英语六级单词)
- oratory [´ɔrətəri] n.演讲(术)；修辞 (英语六级单词)
- crusader [kru:´seidə] n.十字军参加者 (英语六级单词)
- stealthily [´stelθili] ad.偷偷地，隐秘地 (英语六级单词)
- greasy [´gri:si] a.油腻的；润滑的 (英语六级单词)
- dutchman [´dʌtʃmən] n.荷兰人 (英语六级单词)
- landing [´lændiŋ] n.登陆；降落；楼梯平台 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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