章节正文
three days of imminent peril, to be free was to be in fairyland.
To be swishing through the long bracken or plunging among
the breast-high flowers of the meadowlands in a world of
essential lights and fragrances, seemed scarcely part of mortal
experience. Remember that I was little more than a lad, and
that I had faced death so often of late that my mind was all
adrift. To be able to hope once more, nay, to be allowed to
cease both from hope and fear, was like a deep and happy
opiate to my senses. Spent and frail as I was, my soul swam in
blessed waters of ease.
The mood did not last long. I came back to earth with a
shock, as the schimmel stumbled at the crossing of a stream. I
saw that the darkness was fast falling, and with the sight panic
returned to me. Behind me I seemed to hear the sound of
pursuit. The noise was in my ears, but when I turned it
ceased, and I saw only the dusky shoulders of hills.
I tried to remember what Arcoll had told me about his
headquarters, but my memory was wiped clean. I thought they
were on or near the highway, but I could not remember where
the highway was. Besides, he was close to the enemy, and I
wanted to get back into the towns, far away from the battle-
line. If I rode west I must come in time to villages, where I
could hide myself. These were unworthy thoughts, but my
excuse must be my tattered nerves. When a man comes out
of great danger, he is apt to be a little deaf to the call of duty.
Suddenly I became ashamed. God had preserved me from
deadly perils, but not that I might cower in some shelter. I
had a mission as clear as Laputa's. For the first time I became
conscious to what a little thing I owed my salvation. That
matter of the broken halter was like the finger of Divine
Providence. I had been saved for a purpose, and unless I
fulfilled that purpose I should again be lost. I was always a
fatalist, and in that hour of strained body and soul I became
something of a mystic. My panic ceased, my lethargy departed,
and a more manly resolution took their place. I gripped the
Schimmel by the head and turned him due left. Now I
remembered where the highroad ran, and I remembered
something else.
For it was borne in on me that Laputa had fallen into my
hands. Without any subtle purpose I had played a master
game. He was cut off from his people, without a horse, on the
wrong side of the highroad which Arcoll's men patrolled.
Without him the rising would crumble. There might be war,
even desperate war, but we should fight against a leaderless
foe. If he could only be shepherded to the north, his game was
over, and at our leisure we could mop up the scattered
concentrations.
I was now as eager to get back into danger as I had been to
get into safety. Arcoll must be found and warned, and that
at once, or Laputa would slip over to Inanda's Kraal under
cover of dark. It was a matter of minutes, and on these minutes
depended the lives of thousands. It was also a matter of ebbing
strength, for with my return to common sense I saw very
clearly how near my capital was spent. If I could reach the
highroad, find Arcoll or Arcoll's men, and give them my
news, I would do my countrymen a service such as no man in
Africa could render. But I felt my head swimming, I was
swaying crazily in the saddle, and my hands had scarcely the
force of a child's. I could only lie limply on the horse's back,
clutching at his mane with trembling fingers. I remember
that my head was full of a text from the Psalms about not
putting one's trust in horses. I prayed that this one horse might
be an exception, for he carried more than Caesar and his
fortunes.
My mind is a blank about those last minutes. In less than an
hour after my escape I struck the highway, but it was an hour
which in the retrospect unrolls itself into unquiet years. I was
dimly conscious of scrambling through a ditch and coming to
a ghostly white road. The schimmel swung to the right, and
the next I knew some one had taken my bridle and was
speaking to me.
At first I thought it was Laputa and screamed. Then I must
have tottered in the saddle, for I felt an arm slip round my
middle. The rider uncorked a bottle with his teeth and forced
some brandy down my throat. I choked and coughed, and then
looked up to see a white policeman staring at me. I knew the
police by the green shoulder-straps.
'Arcoll,' I managed to croak. 'For God's sake take me to Arcoll.'
The man whistled shrilly on his fingers, and a second rider
came cantering down the road. As he came up I recognized his
face, but could not put a name to it.
'Losh, it's the lad Crawfurd,' I heard a voice say. 'Crawfurd,
man, d'ye no mind me at Lourenco Marques? Aitken?'
The Scotch tongue worked a spell with me. It cleared my
wits and opened the gates of my past life. At last I knew I was
among my own folk.
'I must see Arcoll. I have news for him - tremendous news.
O man, take me to Arcoll and ask me no questions. Where is
he? Where is he?'
'As it happens, he's about two hundred yards off,' Aitken
said. 'That light ye see at the top of the brae is his camp.'
They helped me up the road, a man on each side of me, for
I could never have kept in the saddle without their support.
My message to Arcoll kept humming in my head as I tried to
put it into words, for I had a horrid fear that my wits would
fail me and I should be dumb when the time came. Also I was
in a fever of haste. Every minute I wasted increased Laputa's
chance of getting back to the kraal. He had men with him
every bit as skilful as Arcoll's trackers. Unless Arcoll had a big
force and the best horses there was no hope. Often in looking
back at this hour I have marvelled at the strangeness of my
behaviour. Here was I just set free from the certainty of a
hideous death, and yet I had lost all joy in my security. I was
more fevered at the thought of Laputa's escape than I had
been at the prospect of David Crawfurd's end.
The next thing I knew I was being lifted off the Schimmel
by what seemed to me a thousand hands. Then came a glow of
light, a great moon, in the centre of which I stood blinking. I
was forced to sit down on a bed, while I was given a cup of hot
tea, far more reviving than any spirits. I became conscious that
some one was holding my hands, and speaking very slowly and gently.
'Davie,' the voice said, 'you're back among friends, my lad.
Tell me, where have you been?'
'I want Arcoll,' I moaned. 'Where is Ratitswan?' There were
tears of weaknessrunning down my cheeks.
'Arcoll is here,' said the voice; 'he is holding your hands,
Davie. Quiet, lad, quiet. Your troubles are all over now.'
I made a great effort, found the eyes to which the voice
belonged, and spoke to them.
'Listen. I stole the collar of Prester John at Dupree's Drift.
I was caught in the Berg and taken to the kraal - I forget its
name - but I had hid the rubies.'
'Yes,' the voice said, 'you hid the rubies, - and then?'
'Inkulu wanted them back, so I made a deal with him. I
took him to Machudi's and gave him the collar, and then he
fired at me and I climbed and climbed ... I climbed on a
horse,' I concluded childishly.
I heard the voice say 'Yes?' again inquiringly, but my mind
ran off at a tangent.
'Beyers took guns up into the Wolkberg,' I cried shrilly.
'Why the devil don't you do the same? You have the whole
Kaffir army in a trap.'
I saw a smiling face before me.
'Good lad. Colles told me you weren't wanting in intelligence.
What if we have done that very thing, Davie?'
But I was not listening. I was trying to remember the thing
I most wanted to say, and that was not about Beyers and his
guns. Those were nightmare minutes. A speaker who has lost
the thread of his discourse, a soldier who with a bayonet at his
throat has forgotten the password - I felt like them, and worse.
And to crown all I felt my faintness coming back, and my head
dropping with heaviness. I was in a torment of impotence.
Arcoll, still holding my hands, brought his face close to
mine, so that his clear eyes mastered and constrained me.
'Look at me, Davie,' I heard him say. 'You have something
to tell me, and it is very important. It is about Laputa, isn't it?
Think, man. You took him to Machudi's and gave him the
collar. He has gone back with it to Inanda's Kraal. Very well,
my guns will hold him there.'
I shook my head. 'You can't. You may split the army, but
you can't hold Laputa. He will be over the Olifants before you
fire a shot.'
'We will hunt him down before he crosses. And if not, we
will catch him at the railway.'
'For God's sake, hurry then,' I cried. 'In an hour he will be
over it and back in the kraal.'
'But the river is a long way.'
'River?' I repeated hazily. 'What river? The Letaba is not
the place. It is the road I mean.'
Arcoll's hands closed firmly on my wrists.
'You left Laputa at Machudi's and rode here without stopping.
That would take you an hour. Had Laputa a horse?'
'Yes; but I took it,' I stammered. 'You can see it behind me.'
Arcoll dropped my hands and stood up straight.
'By God, we've got him!' he said, and he spoke to his
companions. A man turned and ran out of the tent.
Then I remembered what I wanted to say. I struggled from
the bed and put my hands on his shoulders.
'Laputa is our side of the highroad. Cut him off from his
men, and drive him north - north - away up to the Rooirand.
Never mind the Wolkberg and the guns, for they can wait. I
tell you Laputa is the Rising, and he has the collar. Without
him you can mop up the Kaffirs at your leisure. Line the high-
road with every man you have, for he must cross it or perish.
Oh, hurry, man, hurry; never mind me. We're saved if we can
chivy Laputa till morning. Quick, or I'll have to go myself.'
The tent emptied, and I lay back on the bed with a dim
feeling that my duty was done and I could rest. Henceforth
the affair was in stronger hands than mine. I was so weak that
I could not lift my legs up to the bed, but sprawled half on
and half off.
Utter exhaustion defeats sleep. I was in a fever, and my eyes
would not close. I lay and drowsed while it seemed to me that
the outside world was full of men and horses. I heard voices
and the sound of hoofs and the jingle of bridles, but above all
I heard the solid tramp of an army. The whole earth seemed
to be full of war. Before my mind was spread the ribbon of the
great highway. I saw it run white through the meadows of the
plateau, then in a dark corkscrew down the glen of the Letaba,
then white again through the vast moonlit bush of the plains,
till the shanties of Wesselsburg rose at the end of it. It seemed
to me to be less a road than a rampart, built of shining
marble, the Great Wall of Africa. I saw Laputa come out of
the shadows and try to climb it, and always there was the
sound of a rifle-breech clicking, a summons, and a flight. I
began to take a keen interest in the game. Down in the bush
were the dark figures of the hunted, and on the white wall
were my own people - horse, foot, and artillery, the squadrons
of our defence. What a general Arcoll was, and how great a
matter had David Crawfurd kindled!
A man came in - I suppose a doctor. He took off my leggings
To be swishing through the long bracken or plunging among
the breast-high flowers of the meadowlands in a world of
essential lights and fragrances, seemed scarcely part of mortal
experience. Remember that I was little more than a lad, and
that I had faced death so often of late that my mind was all
adrift. To be able to hope once more, nay, to be allowed to
cease both from hope and fear, was like a deep and happy
opiate to my senses. Spent and frail as I was, my soul swam in
blessed waters of ease.
The mood did not last long. I came back to earth with a
shock, as the schimmel stumbled at the crossing of a stream. I
saw that the darkness was fast falling, and with the sight panic
returned to me. Behind me I seemed to hear the sound of
pursuit. The noise was in my ears, but when I turned it
ceased, and I saw only the dusky shoulders of hills.
I tried to remember what Arcoll had told me about his
headquarters, but my memory was wiped clean. I thought they
were on or near the highway, but I could not remember where
the highway was. Besides, he was close to the enemy, and I
wanted to get back into the towns, far away from the battle-
line. If I rode west I must come in time to villages, where I
could hide myself. These were unworthy thoughts, but my
excuse must be my tattered nerves. When a man comes out
of great danger, he is apt to be a little deaf to the call of duty.
Suddenly I became ashamed. God had preserved me from
deadly perils, but not that I might cower in some shelter. I
had a mission as clear as Laputa's. For the first time I became
conscious to what a little thing I owed my salvation. That
matter of the broken halter was like the finger of Divine
Providence. I had been saved for a purpose, and unless I
fulfilled that purpose I should again be lost. I was always a
fatalist, and in that hour of strained body and soul I became
something of a mystic. My panic ceased, my lethargy departed,
and a more manly resolution took their place. I gripped the
Schimmel by the head and turned him due left. Now I
remembered where the highroad ran, and I remembered
something else.
For it was borne in on me that Laputa had fallen into my
hands. Without any subtle purpose I had played a master
game. He was cut off from his people, without a horse, on the
wrong side of the highroad which Arcoll's men patrolled.
Without him the rising would crumble. There might be war,
even desperate war, but we should fight against a leaderless
foe. If he could only be shepherded to the north, his game was
over, and at our leisure we could mop up the scattered
concentrations.
I was now as eager to get back into danger as I had been to
get into safety. Arcoll must be found and warned, and that
at once, or Laputa would slip over to Inanda's Kraal under
cover of dark. It was a matter of minutes, and on these minutes
depended the lives of thousands. It was also a matter of ebbing
strength, for with my return to common sense I saw very
clearly how near my capital was spent. If I could reach the
highroad, find Arcoll or Arcoll's men, and give them my
news, I would do my countrymen a service such as no man in
Africa could render. But I felt my head swimming, I was
swaying crazily in the saddle, and my hands had scarcely the
force of a child's. I could only lie limply on the horse's back,
clutching at his mane with trembling fingers. I remember
that my head was full of a text from the Psalms about not
putting one's trust in horses. I prayed that this one horse might
be an exception, for he carried more than Caesar and his
fortunes.
My mind is a blank about those last minutes. In less than an
hour after my escape I struck the highway, but it was an hour
which in the retrospect unrolls itself into unquiet years. I was
dimly conscious of scrambling through a ditch and coming to
a ghostly white road. The schimmel swung to the right, and
the next I knew some one had taken my bridle and was
speaking to me.
At first I thought it was Laputa and screamed. Then I must
have tottered in the saddle, for I felt an arm slip round my
middle. The rider uncorked a bottle with his teeth and forced
some brandy down my throat. I choked and coughed, and then
looked up to see a white policeman staring at me. I knew the
police by the green shoulder-straps.
'Arcoll,' I managed to croak. 'For God's sake take me to Arcoll.'
The man whistled shrilly on his fingers, and a second rider
came cantering down the road. As he came up I recognized his
face, but could not put a name to it.
'Losh, it's the lad Crawfurd,' I heard a voice say. 'Crawfurd,
man, d'ye no mind me at Lourenco Marques? Aitken?'
The Scotch tongue worked a spell with me. It cleared my
wits and opened the gates of my past life. At last I knew I was
among my own folk.
'I must see Arcoll. I have news for him - tremendous news.
O man, take me to Arcoll and ask me no questions. Where is
he? Where is he?'
'As it happens, he's about two hundred yards off,' Aitken
said. 'That light ye see at the top of the brae is his camp.'
They helped me up the road, a man on each side of me, for
I could never have kept in the saddle without their support.
My message to Arcoll kept humming in my head as I tried to
put it into words, for I had a horrid fear that my wits would
fail me and I should be dumb when the time came. Also I was
in a fever of haste. Every minute I wasted increased Laputa's
chance of getting back to the kraal. He had men with him
every bit as skilful as Arcoll's trackers. Unless Arcoll had a big
force and the best horses there was no hope. Often in looking
back at this hour I have marvelled at the strangeness of my
behaviour. Here was I just set free from the certainty of a
hideous death, and yet I had lost all joy in my security. I was
more fevered at the thought of Laputa's escape than I had
been at the prospect of David Crawfurd's end.
The next thing I knew I was being lifted off the Schimmel
by what seemed to me a thousand hands. Then came a glow of
light, a great moon, in the centre of which I stood blinking. I
was forced to sit down on a bed, while I was given a cup of hot
tea, far more reviving than any spirits. I became conscious that
some one was holding my hands, and speaking very slowly and gently.
'Davie,' the voice said, 'you're back among friends, my lad.
Tell me, where have you been?'
'I want Arcoll,' I moaned. 'Where is Ratitswan?' There were
tears of weaknessrunning down my cheeks.
'Arcoll is here,' said the voice; 'he is holding your hands,
Davie. Quiet, lad, quiet. Your troubles are all over now.'
I made a great effort, found the eyes to which the voice
belonged, and spoke to them.
'Listen. I stole the collar of Prester John at Dupree's Drift.
I was caught in the Berg and taken to the kraal - I forget its
name - but I had hid the rubies.'
'Yes,' the voice said, 'you hid the rubies, - and then?'
'Inkulu wanted them back, so I made a deal with him. I
took him to Machudi's and gave him the collar, and then he
fired at me and I climbed and climbed ... I climbed on a
horse,' I concluded childishly.
I heard the voice say 'Yes?' again inquiringly, but my mind
ran off at a tangent.
'Beyers took guns up into the Wolkberg,' I cried shrilly.
'Why the devil don't you do the same? You have the whole
Kaffir army in a trap.'
I saw a smiling face before me.
'Good lad. Colles told me you weren't wanting in intelligence.
What if we have done that very thing, Davie?'
But I was not listening. I was trying to remember the thing
I most wanted to say, and that was not about Beyers and his
guns. Those were nightmare minutes. A speaker who has lost
the thread of his discourse, a soldier who with a bayonet at his
throat has forgotten the password - I felt like them, and worse.
And to crown all I felt my faintness coming back, and my head
dropping with heaviness. I was in a torment of impotence.
Arcoll, still holding my hands, brought his face close to
mine, so that his clear eyes mastered and constrained me.
'Look at me, Davie,' I heard him say. 'You have something
to tell me, and it is very important. It is about Laputa, isn't it?
Think, man. You took him to Machudi's and gave him the
collar. He has gone back with it to Inanda's Kraal. Very well,
my guns will hold him there.'
I shook my head. 'You can't. You may split the army, but
you can't hold Laputa. He will be over the Olifants before you
fire a shot.'
'We will hunt him down before he crosses. And if not, we
will catch him at the railway.'
'For God's sake, hurry then,' I cried. 'In an hour he will be
over it and back in the kraal.'
'But the river is a long way.'
'River?' I repeated hazily. 'What river? The Letaba is not
the place. It is the road I mean.'
Arcoll's hands closed firmly on my wrists.
'You left Laputa at Machudi's and rode here without stopping.
That would take you an hour. Had Laputa a horse?'
'Yes; but I took it,' I stammered. 'You can see it behind me.'
Arcoll dropped my hands and stood up straight.
'By God, we've got him!' he said, and he spoke to his
companions. A man turned and ran out of the tent.
Then I remembered what I wanted to say. I struggled from
the bed and put my hands on his shoulders.
'Laputa is our side of the highroad. Cut him off from his
men, and drive him north - north - away up to the Rooirand.
Never mind the Wolkberg and the guns, for they can wait. I
tell you Laputa is the Rising, and he has the collar. Without
him you can mop up the Kaffirs at your leisure. Line the high-
road with every man you have, for he must cross it or perish.
Oh, hurry, man, hurry; never mind me. We're saved if we can
chivy Laputa till morning. Quick, or I'll have to go myself.'
The tent emptied, and I lay back on the bed with a dim
feeling that my duty was done and I could rest. Henceforth
the affair was in stronger hands than mine. I was so weak that
I could not lift my legs up to the bed, but sprawled half on
and half off.
Utter exhaustion defeats sleep. I was in a fever, and my eyes
would not close. I lay and drowsed while it seemed to me that
the outside world was full of men and horses. I heard voices
and the sound of hoofs and the jingle of bridles, but above all
I heard the solid tramp of an army. The whole earth seemed
to be full of war. Before my mind was spread the ribbon of the
great highway. I saw it run white through the meadows of the
plateau, then in a dark corkscrew down the glen of the Letaba,
then white again through the vast moonlit bush of the plains,
till the shanties of Wesselsburg rose at the end of it. It seemed
to me to be less a road than a rampart, built of shining
marble, the Great Wall of Africa. I saw Laputa come out of
the shadows and try to climb it, and always there was the
sound of a rifle-breech clicking, a summons, and a flight. I
began to take a keen interest in the game. Down in the bush
were the dark figures of the hunted, and on the white wall
were my own people - horse, foot, and artillery, the squadrons
of our defence. What a general Arcoll was, and how great a
matter had David Crawfurd kindled!
A man came in - I suppose a doctor. He took off my leggings
- stream [stri:m]
n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词) - highway [´haiwei] n.公路，大道 (初中英语单词)
- ashamed [ə´ʃeimd] a.惭愧；不好意思 (初中英语单词)
- mission [´miʃən] n.代表团；使馆vt.派遣 (初中英语单词)
- resolution [,rezə´lu:ʃən] n.决心；坚决；果断 (初中英语单词)
- desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
- saddle [´sædl] n.鞍子 v.装鞍(于) (初中英语单词)
- exception [ik´sepʃən] n.例外；反对，异议 (初中英语单词)
- conscious [´kɔnʃəs] a.意识的；自觉的 (初中英语单词)
- throat [θrəut] n.咽喉；嗓子；出入口 (初中英语单词)
- policeman [pə´li:smən] n.警察 (初中英语单词)
- tremendous [tri´mendəs] a.可怕的；巨大的 (初中英语单词)
- security [si´kjuəriti] n.安全；证券；抵押品 (初中英语单词)
- prospect [´prɔspekt, prəs´pekt] n.景色；境界 v.勘察 (初中英语单词)
- weakness [´wi:knis] n.虚弱；弱点，缺点 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
- speaker [´spi:kə] n.演讲人；代言人 (初中英语单词)
- firmly [´fə:mli] ad.坚固地，稳定地 (初中英语单词)
- ribbon [´ribən] n.缎带；带子；色带 (初中英语单词)
- flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
- salvation [sæl´veiʃən] n.救助；拯救 (高中英语单词)
- crumble [´krʌmbəl] v.弄碎；粉碎；崩溃 (高中英语单词)
- leisure [´leʒə] n.空闲；悠闲；安定 (高中英语单词)
- caesar [´si:zə] n.凯撒；暴君；独裁者 (高中英语单词)
- bridle [´braidl] n.(马)笼头；束缚 (高中英语单词)
- scotch [skɔtʃ] vt.&n.刻痕(于)；划伤 (高中英语单词)
- horrid [´hɔrid] a.令人讨厌的；极糟的 (高中英语单词)
- certainty [´sə:tənti] n.确实(性)；确信 (高中英语单词)
- discourse [´diskɔ:s] n.论文；演说；说教 (高中英语单词)
- torment [´tɔ:ment] vt.(使)痛苦，折磨 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- artillery [ɑ:´tiləri] n.炮兵部队 (高中英语单词)
- unworthy [ʌn´wə:ði] a.不值得的；不足道的 (英语四级单词)
- tattered [´tætəd] a.(衣服等)破烂的 (英语四级单词)
- brandy [´brændi] n.白兰地酒 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- nightmare [´naitmeə] n.梦魇；恶梦 (英语四级单词)
- bayonet [´beiənit] n.刺刀 vt.用刺刀刺 (英语四级单词)
- exhaustion [ig´zɔ:stʃən] n.用完；精疲力尽 (英语四级单词)
- jingle [´dʒiŋgəl] v.(使)叮当响 (英语四级单词)
- imminent [´iminənt] a.临头的，逼近的 (英语六级单词)
- halter [´hɔ:ltə] n.缰绳，绞索 (英语六级单词)
- mystic [´mistik] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (英语六级单词)
- ghostly [´gəustli] a.鬼的；朦胧的 (英语六级单词)
- shrilly [´ʃrili] ad.尖声地 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
- speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)
- wanting [´wɔntiŋ, wɑ:n-] a.短缺的；不足的 (英语六级单词)
- heaviness [´hevinis] n.重；重量 (英语六级单词)
- moonlit [´mu:n,lit] a.月光普照的 (英语六级单词)
- rampart [´ræmpɑ:t] n.壁垒 vt.防护 (英语六级单词)
- leggings [´legiŋz] n.绑腿，裹腿 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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