章节正文
I got off with my life, there would be work for me to do in the
Armageddon which I saw approaching. Should I escape, I
wondered. What would hinder Laputa from setting his men to
follow me, and seize me before I could get into safety? My
only chance was that Arcoll might have been busy this day,
and the countryside too full of his men to let Laputa's Kaffirs
through. But if this was so, Laputa and I should be stopped,
and then Laputa would certainly kill me. I wished - and yet I
did not wish - that Arcoll should hold all approaches. As I
reflected, my first exhilaration died away. The scales were still
heavily weighted against me.
Laputa returned, closing the door behind him.
'I will bargain with you on my own terms. You shall have
your life, and in return you will take me to the place where you
hid the collar, and put it into my hands. I will ride there, and
you will run beside me, tied to my saddle. If we are in danger
from the white men, I will shoot you dead. Do you accept?'
'Yes,' I said, scrambling to my feet, and ruefully testing my
shaky legs. 'But if you want me to get to Machudi's you must
go slowly, for I am nearly foundered.'
Then he brought out a Bible, and made me swear on it that
I would do as I promised.
'Swear to me in turn,' I said, 'that you will give me my life
if I restore the jewels.'
He swore, kissing the book like a witness in a police-court. I
had forgotten that the man called himself a Christian.
'One thing more I ask,' I said. 'I want my dog decently buried.'
'That has been already done,' was the reply. 'He was a brave
animal, and my people honour bravery.'
CHAPTER XVII
A DEAL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
My eyes were bandaged tight, and a thong was run round my
right wrist and tied to Laputa's saddle-bow. I felt the glare of
the afternoon sun on my head, and my shins were continually
barked by stones and trees; but these were my only tidings of
the outer world. By the sound of his paces Laputa was riding
the Schimmel, and if any one thinks it easy to go blindfold by a
horse's side I hope he will soon have the experience. In the
darkness I could not tell the speed of the beast. When I ran I
overshot it and was tugged back; when I walked my wrist was
dislocated with the tugs forward.
For an hour or more I suffered this breakneck treatment.
We were descending. Often I could hear the noise of falling
streams, and once we splashed through a mountain ford.
Laputa was taking no risks, for he clearly had in mind the
possibility of some accident which would set me free, and he
had no desire to have me guiding Arcoll to his camp.
But as I stumbled and sprawled down these rocky tracks I
was not thinking of Laputa's plans. My whole soul was filled
with regret for Colin, and rage against his murderer. After my
first mad rush I had not thought about my dog. He was dead,
but so would I be in an hour or two, and there was no cause to
lament him. But at the first revival of hope my grief had
returned. As they bandaged my eyes I was wishing that they
would let me see his grave. As I followed beside Laputa I told
myself that if ever I got free, when the war was over I would
go to Inanda's Kraal, find the grave, and put a tombstone over
it in memory of the dog that saved my life. I would also write
that the man who shot him was killed on such and such a day
at such and such a place by Colin's master. I wondered why
Laputa had not the wits to see the Portugoose's treachery and
to let me fight him. I did not care what were the weapons -
knives or guns, or naked fists - I would certainly kill him, and
afterwards the Kaffirs could do as they pleased with me. Hot
tears of rage and weakness wet the bandage on my eyes, and
the sobs which came from me were not only those of weariness.
At last we halted. Laputa got down and took off the bandage,
and I found myself in one of the hill-meadows which lie among
the foothills of the Wolkberg. The glare blinded me, and for a
little I could only see the marigolds growing at my feet. Then
I had a glimpse of the deep gorge of the Great Letaba below
me, and far to the east the flats running out to the hazy blue
line of the Lebombo hills. Laputa let me sit on the ground for
a minute or two to get my breath and rest my feet. 'That was a
rough road,' he said. 'You can take it easier now, for I have no
wish to carry you.' He patted the Schimmel, and the beautiful
creature turned his mild eyes on the pair of us. I wondered if
he recognized his rider of two nights ago.
I had seen Laputa as the Christian minister, as the priest
and king in the cave, as the leader of an army at Dupree's
Drift, and at the kraal we had left as the savage with all self-
control flung to the winds. I was to see this amazing man in a
further part. For he now became a friendly and rational
companion. He kept his horse at an easy walk, and talked to
me as if we were two friends out for a trip together. Perhaps
he had talked thus to Arcoll, the half-caste who drove his
Cape-cart.
The wooded bluff above Machudi's glen showed far in
front. He told me the story of the Machudi war, which I
knew already, but he told it as a saga. There had been a
stratagem by which one of the Boer leaders - a Grobelaar, I
think - got some of his men into the enemy's camp by hiding
them in a captured forage wagon.
'Like the Trojan horse,' I said involuntarily.
'Yes,' said my companion, 'the same old device,' and to my
amazement he quoted some lines of Virgil.
'Do you understand Latin?' he asked.
I told him that I had some slight knowledge of the tongue,
acquired at the university of Edinburgh. Laputa nodded. He
mentioned the name of a professor there, and commented on
his scholarship.
'O man!' I cried, 'what in God's name are you doing in this
business? You that are educated and have seen the world, what
makes you try to put the clock back? You want to wipe out the
civilization of a thousand years, and turn us all into savages.
It's the more shame to you when you know better.'
'You misunderstand me,' he said quietly. 'It is because I
have sucked civilization dry that I know the bitterness of the
fruit. I want a simpler and better world, and I want that world
for my own people. I am a Christian, and will you tell me that
your civilization pays much attention to Christ? You call
yourself a patriot? Will you not give me leave to be a patriot
in turn?'
'If you are a Christian, what sort of Christianity is it to
deluge the land with blood?'
'The best,' he said. 'The house must be swept and garnished
before the man of the house can dwell in it. You have
read history, Such a purging has descended on the Church at
many times, and the world has awakened to a new hope. It is
the same in all religions. The temples grow tawdry and foul
and must be cleansed, and, let me remind you, the cleanser
has always come out of the desert.'
I had no answer, being too weak and forlorn to think. But I
fastened on his patriotic plea.
'Where are the patriots in your following? They are all red
Kaffirs crying for blood and plunder. Supposing you were
Oliver Cromwell you could make nothing out of such a crew.'
'They are my people,' he said simply.
By this time we had forded the Great Letaba, and were
making our way through the clumps of forest to the crown of
the plateau. I noticed that Laputa kept well in cover, preferring
the tangle of wooded undergrowth to the open spaces of the
water-meadows. As he talked, his wary eyes were keeping a
sharp look-out over the landscape. I thrilled with the thought
that my own folk were near at hand.
Once Laputa checked me with his hand as I was going to
speak, and in silence we crossed the kloof of a little stream.
After that we struck a long strip of forest and he slackened
his watch.
'if you fight for a great cause,' I said, 'why do you let a
miscreant like Henriques have a hand in it? You must know
that the man's only interest in you is the chance of loot. I am
for you against Henriques, and I tell you plain that if you don't
break the snake's back it will sting you.'
Laputa looked at me with an odd, meditative look.
'You misunderstand again, Mr Storekeeper. The Portuguese
is what you call a "mean white." His only safety is among us. I
am campaigner enough to know that an enemy, who has a
burning grievance against my other enemies, is a good ally.
You are too hard on Henriques. You and your friends have
treated him as a Kaffir, and a Kaffir he is in everything but
Kaffir virtues. What makes you so anxious that Henriques
should not betray me?'
'I'm not a mean white,' I said, 'and I will speak the truth. I
hope, in God's name, to see you smashed; but I want it done
by honest men, and not by a yellow devil who has murdered
my dog and my friends. Sooner or later you will find him out;
and if he escapes you, and there's any justice in heaven, he
won't escape me.'
'Brave words,' said Laputa, with a laugh, and then in one
second he became rigid in the saddle. We had crossed a patch
of meadow and entered a wood, beyond which ran the highway.
I fancy he was out in his reckoning, and did not think the
road so near. At any rate, after a moment he caught the sound
of horses, and I caught it too. The wood was thin, and there
was no room for retreat, while to recross the meadow would
bring us clean into the open. He jumped from his horse, untied
with amazing quickness the rope halter from its neck, and
started to gag me by winding the thing round my jaw.
I had no time to protest that I would keep faith, and my
right hand was tethered to his pommel. In the grip of these
great arms I was helpless, and in a trice was standing dumb as
a lamp-post; while Laputa, his left arm round both of mine,
and his right hand over the schimmel's eyes, strained his ears
like a sable antelope who has scented danger.
There was never a more brutal gagging. The rope crushed
my nose and drove my lips down on my teeth, besides gripping
my throat so that I could scarcely breathe. The pain was so
great that I became sick, and would have fallen but for Laputa.
Happily I managed to get my teeth apart, so that one coil
slipped between, and eased the pain of the jaws. But the rest
was bad enough to make me bite frantically on the tow, and I
think in a little my sharp front teeth would have severed it. All
this discomfort prevented me seeing what happened. The
wood, as I have said, was thin, and through the screen of
leaves I had a confused impression of men and horses passing
interminably. There can only have been a score at the most;
but the moments drag if a cord is gripping your throat. When
Laputa at length untied me, I had another fit of nausea, and
leaned helplessly against a tree.
Laputa listened till the sound of the horses had died away;
then silently we stole to the edge of the road, across, and into
the thicker evergreen bush on the far side. At a pace which
forced me to run hard, we climbed a steepish slope, till ahead
of us we saw the bald green crown of the meadowlands. I
noticed that his face had grown dark and sullen again. He was
in an enemy's country, and had the air of the hunted instead
of the hunter. When I stopped he glowered at me, and once, when
I was all but overcome with fatigue, he lifted his hand in a
threat. Had he carried a sjambok, it would have fallen on my back.
If he was nervous, so was I. The fact that I was out of the
Armageddon which I saw approaching. Should I escape, I
wondered. What would hinder Laputa from setting his men to
follow me, and seize me before I could get into safety? My
only chance was that Arcoll might have been busy this day,
and the countryside too full of his men to let Laputa's Kaffirs
through. But if this was so, Laputa and I should be stopped,
and then Laputa would certainly kill me. I wished - and yet I
did not wish - that Arcoll should hold all approaches. As I
reflected, my first exhilaration died away. The scales were still
heavily weighted against me.
Laputa returned, closing the door behind him.
'I will bargain with you on my own terms. You shall have
your life, and in return you will take me to the place where you
hid the collar, and put it into my hands. I will ride there, and
you will run beside me, tied to my saddle. If we are in danger
from the white men, I will shoot you dead. Do you accept?'
'Yes,' I said, scrambling to my feet, and ruefully testing my
shaky legs. 'But if you want me to get to Machudi's you must
go slowly, for I am nearly foundered.'
Then he brought out a Bible, and made me swear on it that
I would do as I promised.
'Swear to me in turn,' I said, 'that you will give me my life
if I restore the jewels.'
He swore, kissing the book like a witness in a police-court. I
had forgotten that the man called himself a Christian.
'One thing more I ask,' I said. 'I want my dog decently buried.'
'That has been already done,' was the reply. 'He was a brave
animal, and my people honour bravery.'
CHAPTER XVII
A DEAL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
My eyes were bandaged tight, and a thong was run round my
right wrist and tied to Laputa's saddle-bow. I felt the glare of
the afternoon sun on my head, and my shins were continually
barked by stones and trees; but these were my only tidings of
the outer world. By the sound of his paces Laputa was riding
the Schimmel, and if any one thinks it easy to go blindfold by a
horse's side I hope he will soon have the experience. In the
darkness I could not tell the speed of the beast. When I ran I
overshot it and was tugged back; when I walked my wrist was
dislocated with the tugs forward.
For an hour or more I suffered this breakneck treatment.
We were descending. Often I could hear the noise of falling
streams, and once we splashed through a mountain ford.
Laputa was taking no risks, for he clearly had in mind the
possibility of some accident which would set me free, and he
had no desire to have me guiding Arcoll to his camp.
But as I stumbled and sprawled down these rocky tracks I
was not thinking of Laputa's plans. My whole soul was filled
with regret for Colin, and rage against his murderer. After my
first mad rush I had not thought about my dog. He was dead,
but so would I be in an hour or two, and there was no cause to
lament him. But at the first revival of hope my grief had
returned. As they bandaged my eyes I was wishing that they
would let me see his grave. As I followed beside Laputa I told
myself that if ever I got free, when the war was over I would
go to Inanda's Kraal, find the grave, and put a tombstone over
it in memory of the dog that saved my life. I would also write
that the man who shot him was killed on such and such a day
at such and such a place by Colin's master. I wondered why
Laputa had not the wits to see the Portugoose's treachery and
to let me fight him. I did not care what were the weapons -
knives or guns, or naked fists - I would certainly kill him, and
afterwards the Kaffirs could do as they pleased with me. Hot
tears of rage and weakness wet the bandage on my eyes, and
the sobs which came from me were not only those of weariness.
At last we halted. Laputa got down and took off the bandage,
and I found myself in one of the hill-meadows which lie among
the foothills of the Wolkberg. The glare blinded me, and for a
little I could only see the marigolds growing at my feet. Then
I had a glimpse of the deep gorge of the Great Letaba below
me, and far to the east the flats running out to the hazy blue
line of the Lebombo hills. Laputa let me sit on the ground for
a minute or two to get my breath and rest my feet. 'That was a
rough road,' he said. 'You can take it easier now, for I have no
wish to carry you.' He patted the Schimmel, and the beautiful
creature turned his mild eyes on the pair of us. I wondered if
he recognized his rider of two nights ago.
I had seen Laputa as the Christian minister, as the priest
and king in the cave, as the leader of an army at Dupree's
Drift, and at the kraal we had left as the savage with all self-
control flung to the winds. I was to see this amazing man in a
further part. For he now became a friendly and rational
companion. He kept his horse at an easy walk, and talked to
me as if we were two friends out for a trip together. Perhaps
he had talked thus to Arcoll, the half-caste who drove his
Cape-cart.
The wooded bluff above Machudi's glen showed far in
front. He told me the story of the Machudi war, which I
knew already, but he told it as a saga. There had been a
stratagem by which one of the Boer leaders - a Grobelaar, I
think - got some of his men into the enemy's camp by hiding
them in a captured forage wagon.
'Like the Trojan horse,' I said involuntarily.
'Yes,' said my companion, 'the same old device,' and to my
amazement he quoted some lines of Virgil.
'Do you understand Latin?' he asked.
I told him that I had some slight knowledge of the tongue,
acquired at the university of Edinburgh. Laputa nodded. He
mentioned the name of a professor there, and commented on
his scholarship.
'O man!' I cried, 'what in God's name are you doing in this
business? You that are educated and have seen the world, what
makes you try to put the clock back? You want to wipe out the
civilization of a thousand years, and turn us all into savages.
It's the more shame to you when you know better.'
'You misunderstand me,' he said quietly. 'It is because I
have sucked civilization dry that I know the bitterness of the
fruit. I want a simpler and better world, and I want that world
for my own people. I am a Christian, and will you tell me that
your civilization pays much attention to Christ? You call
yourself a patriot? Will you not give me leave to be a patriot
in turn?'
'If you are a Christian, what sort of Christianity is it to
deluge the land with blood?'
'The best,' he said. 'The house must be swept and garnished
before the man of the house can dwell in it. You have
read history, Such a purging has descended on the Church at
many times, and the world has awakened to a new hope. It is
the same in all religions. The temples grow tawdry and foul
and must be cleansed, and, let me remind you, the cleanser
has always come out of the desert.'
I had no answer, being too weak and forlorn to think. But I
fastened on his patriotic plea.
'Where are the patriots in your following? They are all red
Kaffirs crying for blood and plunder. Supposing you were
Oliver Cromwell you could make nothing out of such a crew.'
'They are my people,' he said simply.
By this time we had forded the Great Letaba, and were
making our way through the clumps of forest to the crown of
the plateau. I noticed that Laputa kept well in cover, preferring
the tangle of wooded undergrowth to the open spaces of the
water-meadows. As he talked, his wary eyes were keeping a
sharp look-out over the landscape. I thrilled with the thought
that my own folk were near at hand.
Once Laputa checked me with his hand as I was going to
speak, and in silence we crossed the kloof of a little stream.
After that we struck a long strip of forest and he slackened
his watch.
'if you fight for a great cause,' I said, 'why do you let a
miscreant like Henriques have a hand in it? You must know
that the man's only interest in you is the chance of loot. I am
for you against Henriques, and I tell you plain that if you don't
break the snake's back it will sting you.'
Laputa looked at me with an odd, meditative look.
'You misunderstand again, Mr Storekeeper. The Portuguese
is what you call a "mean white." His only safety is among us. I
am campaigner enough to know that an enemy, who has a
burning grievance against my other enemies, is a good ally.
You are too hard on Henriques. You and your friends have
treated him as a Kaffir, and a Kaffir he is in everything but
Kaffir virtues. What makes you so anxious that Henriques
should not betray me?'
'I'm not a mean white,' I said, 'and I will speak the truth. I
hope, in God's name, to see you smashed; but I want it done
by honest men, and not by a yellow devil who has murdered
my dog and my friends. Sooner or later you will find him out;
and if he escapes you, and there's any justice in heaven, he
won't escape me.'
'Brave words,' said Laputa, with a laugh, and then in one
second he became rigid in the saddle. We had crossed a patch
of meadow and entered a wood, beyond which ran the highway.
I fancy he was out in his reckoning, and did not think the
road so near. At any rate, after a moment he caught the sound
of horses, and I caught it too. The wood was thin, and there
was no room for retreat, while to recross the meadow would
bring us clean into the open. He jumped from his horse, untied
with amazing quickness the rope halter from its neck, and
started to gag me by winding the thing round my jaw.
I had no time to protest that I would keep faith, and my
right hand was tethered to his pommel. In the grip of these
great arms I was helpless, and in a trice was standing dumb as
a lamp-post; while Laputa, his left arm round both of mine,
and his right hand over the schimmel's eyes, strained his ears
like a sable antelope who has scented danger.
There was never a more brutal gagging. The rope crushed
my nose and drove my lips down on my teeth, besides gripping
my throat so that I could scarcely breathe. The pain was so
great that I became sick, and would have fallen but for Laputa.
Happily I managed to get my teeth apart, so that one coil
slipped between, and eased the pain of the jaws. But the rest
was bad enough to make me bite frantically on the tow, and I
think in a little my sharp front teeth would have severed it. All
this discomfort prevented me seeing what happened. The
wood, as I have said, was thin, and through the screen of
leaves I had a confused impression of men and horses passing
interminably. There can only have been a score at the most;
but the moments drag if a cord is gripping your throat. When
Laputa at length untied me, I had another fit of nausea, and
leaned helplessly against a tree.
Laputa listened till the sound of the horses had died away;
then silently we stole to the edge of the road, across, and into
the thicker evergreen bush on the far side. At a pace which
forced me to run hard, we climbed a steepish slope, till ahead
of us we saw the bald green crown of the meadowlands. I
noticed that his face had grown dark and sullen again. He was
in an enemy's country, and had the air of the hunted instead
of the hunter. When I stopped he glowered at me, and once, when
I was all but overcome with fatigue, he lifted his hand in a
threat. Had he carried a sjambok, it would have fallen on my back.
If he was nervous, so was I. The fact that I was out of the
- bargain [´bɑ:gin]
n.买卖合同 v.议(价) (初中英语单词) - collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
- saddle [´sædl] n.鞍子 v.装鞍(于) (初中英语单词)
- restore [ri´stɔ:] vt.(使)恢复；修复 (初中英语单词)
- witness [´witnis] n.见证人 vt.目击 (初中英语单词)
- weakness [´wi:knis] n.虚弱；弱点，缺点 (初中英语单词)
- glimpse [glimps] n.&v.瞥见 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
- savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)
- amazing [ə´meiziŋ] a.惊人的；惊奇的 (初中英语单词)
- companion [kəm´pæniən] n.同伴；同事；伴侣 (初中英语单词)
- civilization [,sivilai´zeiʃən] n.文明，文化 (初中英语单词)
- christ [kraist] n.基督 int.天啊! (初中英语单词)
- remind [ri´maind] vt.提醒；使记(想)起 (初中英语单词)
- anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)
- betray [bi´trei] vt.背叛；辜负；暴露 (初中英语单词)
- meadow [´medəu] n.草地；牧场 (初中英语单词)
- retreat [ri´tri:t] v.&n.退却；撤退；放弃 (初中英语单词)
- helpless [´helpləs] a.无助的，无依靠的 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- throat [θrəut] n.咽喉；嗓子；出入口 (初中英语单词)
- screen [skri:n] n.银幕 vt.遮蔽 (初中英语单词)
- impression [im´preʃən] n.印刷；印象；效果 (初中英语单词)
- silently [´sailəntli] ad.寂静地；沉默地 (初中英语单词)
- hunter [´hʌntə] n.猎人；猎狗；猎马 (初中英语单词)
- overcome [,əuvə´kʌm] vt.战胜，克服 (初中英语单词)
- nervous [´nə:vəs] a.神经的；神经过敏的 (初中英语单词)
- hinder [´hində, ´haində] vt.阻止 a.后面的 (高中英语单词)
- tidings [´taidiŋz] n.消息，音信 (高中英语单词)
- murderer [´mə:dərə] n.杀人犯，凶手 (高中英语单词)
- treachery [´tretʃəri] n.背叛；背信弃义 (高中英语单词)
- bandage [´bændidʒ] n.绷带 vt.用绷带包扎 (高中英语单词)
- bitterness [´bitənis] n.苦味；辛酸；苦难 (高中英语单词)
- patriot [´pætriət] n.爱国者 (高中英语单词)
- christianity [,kristi´æniti] n.基督教；基督精神 (高中英语单词)
- forlorn [fə´lɔ:n] a.被遗弃的；绝望的 (高中英语单词)
- patriotic [,pætri´ɔtik] a.爱国的 (高中英语单词)
- plunder [´plʌndə] v.&n.掠夺；盗窃 (高中英语单词)
- plateau [´plætəu] n.高原；平稳；托盘 (高中英语单词)
- tangle [´tæŋgəl] n.&vt.(使)缠结；纠纷 (高中英语单词)
- landscape [´lændskeip] n.风景；景色；风景画 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- sullen [´sʌlən] a.不高兴的 (高中英语单词)
- fatigue [fə´ti:g] n.&vt.(使)疲劳(劳累) (高中英语单词)
- setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
- countryside [´kʌntrisaid] n.乡下，农村 (英语四级单词)
- revival [ri´vaivəl] n.苏醒；复活；复兴 (英语四级单词)
- wooded [´wudid] a.多树林的 (英语四级单词)
- edinburgh [´edinbərə] n.爱丁堡 (英语四级单词)
- grievance [´gri:vəns] n.不平；冤情；抱怨 (英语四级单词)
- antelope [´æntiləup] n.羚羊 (英语四级单词)
- brutal [´bru:tl] a.兽性的；残暴的 (英语四级单词)
- evergreen [´evəgri:n] a.常绿的，常青的 (英语四级单词)
- taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
- forage [´fɔridʒ] n.饲料 v.搜寻(粮草) (英语六级单词)
- misunderstand [,misʌndə´stænd] vt.误会 (英语六级单词)
- reckoning [´rekəniŋ] n.计算；算帐；估计 (英语六级单词)
- halter [´hɔ:ltə] n.缰绳，绞索 (英语六级单词)
- frantically [´fræntikəli] ad.狂暴地，疯狂地 (英语六级单词)
- discomfort [dis´kʌmfət] n.不适；不安；困难 (英语六级单词)
- helplessly [´helplisli] ad.无能为力地 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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