章节正文
was not to lose any of her money whatever else had
to go--a little dignity--some of his self-respect. He
had never before allowed anybody to remain under any
sort of false impression as to himself. Well, let that
go--for her sake. After all, he had never SAID any-
thing misleading--and Captain Whalley felt himself
corrupt to the marrow of his bones. He laughed a little
with the intimate scorn of his worldly prudence.
Clearly, with a fellow of that sort, and in the peculiar
relation they were to stand to each other, it would not
have done to blurt out everything. He did not like the
fellow. He did not like his spells of fawning loquacity
and bursts of resentfulness. In the end--a poor devil.
He would not have liked to stand in his shoes. Men
were not evil, after all. He did not like his sleek hair,
his queer way of standing at right angles, with his nose
in the air, and glancing along his shoulder at you. No.
On the whole, men were not bad--they were only silly
or unhappy.
Captain Whalley had finished considering the discre-
tion of that step--and there was the whole long night
before him. In the full light his long beard would
glisten like a silver breastplate covering his heart; in
the spaces between the lamps his burly figure passed less
distinct, loomed very big, wandering, and mysterious.
No; there was not much real harm in men: and all the
time a shadow marched with him, slanting on his left
hand--which in the East is a presage of evil.
. . . . . . .
"Can you make out the clump of palms yet, Serang?"
asked Captain Whalley from his chair on the bridge of
the Sofala approaching the bar of Batu Beru.
"No, Tuan. By-and-by see." The old Malay, in a
blue dungaree suit, planted on his bony dark feet under
the bridge awning, put his hands behind his back and
stared ahead out of the innumerable wrinkles at the
corners of his eyes.
Captain Whalley sat still, without lifting his head to
look for himself. Three years--thirty-six times. He
had made these palms thirty-six times from the south-
ward. They would come into view at the proper time.
Thank God, the old ship made her courses and distances
trip after trip, as correct as clockwork. At last he mur-
mured again--
"In sight yet?"
"The sun makes a very great glare, Tuan."
"Watch well, Serang."
"Ya, Tuan."
A white man had ascended the ladder from the deck
noiselessly, and had listened quietly to this short col-
loquy. Then he stepped out on the bridge and began
to walk from end to end, holding up the long cherry-
wood stem of a pipe. His black hair lay plastered in
long lanky wisps across the bald summit of his head;
he had a furrowed brow, a yellow complexion, and a
thick shapeless nose. A scanty growth of whisker did
not conceal the contour of his jaw. His aspect was of
brooding care; and sucking at a curved black mouth-
piece, he presented such a heavy overhanging profile
that even the Serang could not help reflecting sometimes
upon the extreme unloveliness of some white men.
Captain Whalley seemed to brace himself up in his
chair, but gave no recognitionwhatever to his presence.
The other puffed jets of smoke; then suddenly--
"I could never understand that new mania of yours
of having this Malay here for your shadow, partner."
Captain Whalley got up from the chair in all his im-
posing stature and walked across to the binnacle, hold-
ing such an unswerving course that the other had to
back away hurriedly, and remained as if intimidated,
with the pipe trembling in his hand. "Walk over me
now," he muttered in a sort of astounded and dis-
comfited whisper. Then slowly and distinctly" target="_blank" title="ad.清楚地，明晰地">distinctly he
said--
"I--am--not--dirt." And then added defiantly, "As
you seem to think."
The Serang jerked out--
"See the palms now, Tuan."
Captain Whalley strode forward to the rail; but his
eyes, instead of going straight to the point, with the
assured keen glance of a sailor, wandered irresolutely
in space, as though he, the discoverer of new routes, had
lost his way upon this narrow sea.
Another white man, the mate, came up on the bridge.
He was tall, young, lean, with a mustache like a
trooper, and something malicious in the eye. He took
up a position beside the engineer. Captain Whalley,
with his back to them, inquired--
"What's on the log?"
"Eighty-five," answered the mate quickly, and nudged
the engineer with his elbow.
Captain Whalley's muscular hands squeezed the iron
rail with an extraordinary force; his eyes glared with
an enormous effort; he knitted his eyebrows, the per-
spiration fell from under his hat,--and in a faint voice
he murmured, "Steady her, Serang--when she is on
the proper bearing."
The silent Malay stepped back, waited a little, and
lifted his arm warningly to the helmsman. The wheel
revolved rapidly to meet the swing of the ship. Again
the made nudged the engineer. But Massy turned upon
him.
"Mr. Sterne," he said violently, "let me tell you--
as a shipowner--that you are no better than a con-
founded fool."
VII
Sterne went down smirking and apparently not at
all disconcerted, but the engineer Massy remained on
the bridge, moving about with uneasy self-assertion.
Everybody on board was his inferior--everyone with-
out exception. He paid their wages and found them in
their food. They ate more of his bread and pocketed
more of his money than they were worth; and they had
no care in the world, while he alone had to meet all the
difficulties of shipowning. When he contemplated his
position in all its menacing entirety, it seemed to him
that he had been for years the prey of a band of para-
sites: and for years he had scowled at everybody con-
nected with the Sofala except, perhaps, at the Chinese
firemen who served to get her along. Their use was
manifest: they were an indispensable part of the ma-
chinery of which he was the master.
When he passed along his decks he shouldered those
he came across brutally; but the Malay deck hands had
learned to dodge out of his way. He had to bring him-
self to tolerate them because of the necessary manual
labor of the ship which must be done. He had to
struggle and plan and scheme to keep the Sofala afloat
--and what did he get for it? Not even enough respect.
They could not have given him enough of that if all
their thoughts and all their actions had been directed
to that end. The vanity of possession, the vainglory
of power, had passed away by this time, and there re-
mained only the material embarrassments, the fear of
losing that position which had turned out not worth
having, and an anxiety of thought which no abject sub-
servience of men could repay.
He walked up and down. The bridge was his own
after all. He had paid for it; and with the stem of
the pipe in his hand he would stop short at times as
if to listen with a profound and concentrated attention
to the deadened beat of the engines (his own engines)
and the slight grinding of the steering chains upon the
continuous low wash of water alongside. But for these
sounds, the ship might have been lying as still as if
moored to a bank, and as silent as if abandoned by every
living soul; only the coast, the low coast of mud and
mangroves with the three palms in a bunch at the back,
grew slowly more distinct in its long straight line, with-
out a single feature to arrest attention. The native
passengers of the Sofala lay about on mats under the
awnings; the smoke of her funnel seemed the only sign
of her life and connected with her gliding motion in a
mysterious manner.
Captain Whalley on his feet, with a pair of binoculars
in his hand and the little Malay Serang at his elbow,
like an old giant attended by a wizened pigmy, was tak-
ing her over the shallow water of the bar.
This submarine ridge of mud, scoured by the stream
out of the soft bottom of the river and heaped up far
out on the hard bottom of the sea, was difficult to get
over. The alluvial coast having no distinguishing
marks, the bearings of the crossing-place had to be
taken from the shape of the mountains inland. The
guidance of a form flattened and uneven at the top like
a grinder tooth, and of another smooth, saddle-backed
summit, had to be searched for within the great un-
clouded glare that seemed to shift and float like a dry
fiery mist, filling the air, ascending from the water,
shrouding the distances, scorching to the eye. In this
veil of light the near edge of the shore alone stood
out almost coal-black with an opaque and motionless
solidity. Thirty miles away the serrated range of the
interior stretched across the horizon, its outlines and
shades of blue, faint and tremulous like a background
painted on airy gossamer on the quivering fabric of an
impalpable curtain let down to the plain of alluvial soil;
and the openings of the estuary appeared, shining
white, like bits of silver let into the square pieces snipped
clean and sharp out of the body of the land bordered
with mangroves.
On the forepart of the bridge the giant and the pigmy
muttered to each other frequently in quiet tones. Be-
hind them Massy stood sideways with an expression of
disdain and suspense on his face. His globular eyes
were perfectlymotionless, and he seemed to have for-
gotten the long pipe he held in his hand.
On the fore-deck below the bridge, steeply roofed with
the white slopes of the awnings, a young lascar seaman
had clambered outside the rail. He adjusted quickly
a broad band of sail canvas under his armpits, and
throwing his chest against it, leaned out far over the
water. The sleeves of his thin cotton shirt, cut off close
to the shoulder, bared his brown arm of full rounded
form and with a satiny skin like a woman's. He swung
it rigidly with the rotary and menacing action of a
slinger: the 14-lb. weight hurtled circling in the air,
then suddenly flew ahead as far as the curve of the bow.
The wet thin line swished like scratched silk running
through the dark fingers of the man, and the plunge of
the lead close to the ship's side made a vanishing silvery
to go--a little dignity--some of his self-respect. He
had never before allowed anybody to remain under any
sort of false impression as to himself. Well, let that
go--for her sake. After all, he had never SAID any-
thing misleading--and Captain Whalley felt himself
corrupt to the marrow of his bones. He laughed a little
with the intimate scorn of his worldly prudence.
Clearly, with a fellow of that sort, and in the peculiar
relation they were to stand to each other, it would not
have done to blurt out everything. He did not like the
fellow. He did not like his spells of fawning loquacity
and bursts of resentfulness. In the end--a poor devil.
He would not have liked to stand in his shoes. Men
were not evil, after all. He did not like his sleek hair,
his queer way of standing at right angles, with his nose
in the air, and glancing along his shoulder at you. No.
On the whole, men were not bad--they were only silly
or unhappy.
Captain Whalley had finished considering the discre-
tion of that step--and there was the whole long night
before him. In the full light his long beard would
glisten like a silver breastplate covering his heart; in
the spaces between the lamps his burly figure passed less
distinct, loomed very big, wandering, and mysterious.
No; there was not much real harm in men: and all the
time a shadow marched with him, slanting on his left
hand--which in the East is a presage of evil.
. . . . . . .
"Can you make out the clump of palms yet, Serang?"
asked Captain Whalley from his chair on the bridge of
the Sofala approaching the bar of Batu Beru.
"No, Tuan. By-and-by see." The old Malay, in a
blue dungaree suit, planted on his bony dark feet under
the bridge awning, put his hands behind his back and
stared ahead out of the innumerable wrinkles at the
corners of his eyes.
Captain Whalley sat still, without lifting his head to
look for himself. Three years--thirty-six times. He
had made these palms thirty-six times from the south-
ward. They would come into view at the proper time.
Thank God, the old ship made her courses and distances
trip after trip, as correct as clockwork. At last he mur-
mured again--
"In sight yet?"
"The sun makes a very great glare, Tuan."
"Watch well, Serang."
"Ya, Tuan."
A white man had ascended the ladder from the deck
noiselessly, and had listened quietly to this short col-
loquy. Then he stepped out on the bridge and began
to walk from end to end, holding up the long cherry-
wood stem of a pipe. His black hair lay plastered in
long lanky wisps across the bald summit of his head;
he had a furrowed brow, a yellow complexion, and a
thick shapeless nose. A scanty growth of whisker did
not conceal the contour of his jaw. His aspect was of
brooding care; and sucking at a curved black mouth-
piece, he presented such a heavy overhanging profile
that even the Serang could not help reflecting sometimes
upon the extreme unloveliness of some white men.
Captain Whalley seemed to brace himself up in his
chair, but gave no recognitionwhatever to his presence.
The other puffed jets of smoke; then suddenly--
"I could never understand that new mania of yours
of having this Malay here for your shadow, partner."
Captain Whalley got up from the chair in all his im-
posing stature and walked across to the binnacle, hold-
ing such an unswerving course that the other had to
back away hurriedly, and remained as if intimidated,
with the pipe trembling in his hand. "Walk over me
now," he muttered in a sort of astounded and dis-
comfited whisper. Then slowly and distinctly" target="_blank" title="ad.清楚地，明晰地">distinctly he
said--
"I--am--not--dirt." And then added defiantly, "As
you seem to think."
The Serang jerked out--
"See the palms now, Tuan."
Captain Whalley strode forward to the rail; but his
eyes, instead of going straight to the point, with the
assured keen glance of a sailor, wandered irresolutely
in space, as though he, the discoverer of new routes, had
lost his way upon this narrow sea.
Another white man, the mate, came up on the bridge.
He was tall, young, lean, with a mustache like a
trooper, and something malicious in the eye. He took
up a position beside the engineer. Captain Whalley,
with his back to them, inquired--
"What's on the log?"
"Eighty-five," answered the mate quickly, and nudged
the engineer with his elbow.
Captain Whalley's muscular hands squeezed the iron
rail with an extraordinary force; his eyes glared with
an enormous effort; he knitted his eyebrows, the per-
spiration fell from under his hat,--and in a faint voice
he murmured, "Steady her, Serang--when she is on
the proper bearing."
The silent Malay stepped back, waited a little, and
lifted his arm warningly to the helmsman. The wheel
revolved rapidly to meet the swing of the ship. Again
the made nudged the engineer. But Massy turned upon
him.
"Mr. Sterne," he said violently, "let me tell you--
as a shipowner--that you are no better than a con-
founded fool."
VII
Sterne went down smirking and apparently not at
all disconcerted, but the engineer Massy remained on
the bridge, moving about with uneasy self-assertion.
Everybody on board was his inferior--everyone with-
out exception. He paid their wages and found them in
their food. They ate more of his bread and pocketed
more of his money than they were worth; and they had
no care in the world, while he alone had to meet all the
difficulties of shipowning. When he contemplated his
position in all its menacing entirety, it seemed to him
that he had been for years the prey of a band of para-
sites: and for years he had scowled at everybody con-
nected with the Sofala except, perhaps, at the Chinese
firemen who served to get her along. Their use was
manifest: they were an indispensable part of the ma-
chinery of which he was the master.
When he passed along his decks he shouldered those
he came across brutally; but the Malay deck hands had
learned to dodge out of his way. He had to bring him-
self to tolerate them because of the necessary manual
labor of the ship which must be done. He had to
struggle and plan and scheme to keep the Sofala afloat
--and what did he get for it? Not even enough respect.
They could not have given him enough of that if all
their thoughts and all their actions had been directed
to that end. The vanity of possession, the vainglory
of power, had passed away by this time, and there re-
mained only the material embarrassments, the fear of
losing that position which had turned out not worth
having, and an anxiety of thought which no abject sub-
servience of men could repay.
He walked up and down. The bridge was his own
after all. He had paid for it; and with the stem of
the pipe in his hand he would stop short at times as
if to listen with a profound and concentrated attention
to the deadened beat of the engines (his own engines)
and the slight grinding of the steering chains upon the
continuous low wash of water alongside. But for these
sounds, the ship might have been lying as still as if
moored to a bank, and as silent as if abandoned by every
living soul; only the coast, the low coast of mud and
mangroves with the three palms in a bunch at the back,
grew slowly more distinct in its long straight line, with-
out a single feature to arrest attention. The native
passengers of the Sofala lay about on mats under the
awnings; the smoke of her funnel seemed the only sign
of her life and connected with her gliding motion in a
mysterious manner.
Captain Whalley on his feet, with a pair of binoculars
in his hand and the little Malay Serang at his elbow,
like an old giant attended by a wizened pigmy, was tak-
ing her over the shallow water of the bar.
This submarine ridge of mud, scoured by the stream
out of the soft bottom of the river and heaped up far
out on the hard bottom of the sea, was difficult to get
over. The alluvial coast having no distinguishing
marks, the bearings of the crossing-place had to be
taken from the shape of the mountains inland. The
guidance of a form flattened and uneven at the top like
a grinder tooth, and of another smooth, saddle-backed
summit, had to be searched for within the great un-
clouded glare that seemed to shift and float like a dry
fiery mist, filling the air, ascending from the water,
shrouding the distances, scorching to the eye. In this
veil of light the near edge of the shore alone stood
out almost coal-black with an opaque and motionless
solidity. Thirty miles away the serrated range of the
interior stretched across the horizon, its outlines and
shades of blue, faint and tremulous like a background
painted on airy gossamer on the quivering fabric of an
impalpable curtain let down to the plain of alluvial soil;
and the openings of the estuary appeared, shining
white, like bits of silver let into the square pieces snipped
clean and sharp out of the body of the land bordered
with mangroves.
On the forepart of the bridge the giant and the pigmy
muttered to each other frequently in quiet tones. Be-
hind them Massy stood sideways with an expression of
disdain and suspense on his face. His globular eyes
were perfectlymotionless, and he seemed to have for-
gotten the long pipe he held in his hand.
On the fore-deck below the bridge, steeply roofed with
the white slopes of the awnings, a young lascar seaman
had clambered outside the rail. He adjusted quickly
a broad band of sail canvas under his armpits, and
throwing his chest against it, leaned out far over the
water. The sleeves of his thin cotton shirt, cut off close
to the shoulder, bared his brown arm of full rounded
form and with a satiny skin like a woman's. He swung
it rigidly with the rotary and menacing action of a
slinger: the 14-lb. weight hurtled circling in the air,
then suddenly flew ahead as far as the curve of the bow.
The wet thin line swished like scratched silk running
through the dark fingers of the man, and the plunge of
the lead close to the ship's side made a vanishing silvery
- whatever [wɔt´evə]
pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词) - impression [im´preʃən] n.印刷；印象；效果 (初中英语单词)
- intimate [´intimit] a.亲密的 n.知己 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- conceal [kən´si:l] vt.藏；隐瞒 (初中英语单词)
- aspect [´æspekt] n.面貌；神色；方向 (初中英语单词)
- extreme [ik´stri:m] a.尽头的 n.极端 (初中英语单词)
- recognition [,rekəg´niʃən] n.认出；认识；承认 (初中英语单词)
- whisper [´wispə] v.耳语 n.低语；沙沙声 (初中英语单词)
- distinctly [di´stiŋktli] ad.清楚地，明晰地 (初中英语单词)
- extraordinary [ik´strɔ:dinəri] a.非常的；额外的 (初中英语单词)
- enormous [i´nɔ:məs] a.巨大地，很，极 (初中英语单词)
- exception [ik´sepʃən] n.例外；反对，异议 (初中英语单词)
- scheme [ski:m] n.计划；阴谋，诡计 (初中英语单词)
- vanity [´væniti] n.虚荣；自负；空虚 (初中英语单词)
- anxiety [æŋ´zaiəti] n.挂念；渴望；焦虑的事 (初中英语单词)
- distinct [di´stiŋkt] a.清楚的；独特的 (初中英语单词)
- arrest [ə´rest] vt.逮捕 n.逮捕；停止 (初中英语单词)
- shallow [´ʃæləu] a.肤浅的；表面的 (初中英语单词)
- horizon [hə´raizən] n.地平线；范围；视野 (初中英语单词)
- fabric [´fæbrik] n.织物；结构；组织 (初中英语单词)
- canvas [´kænvəs] n.帆布；油画(布) (初中英语单词)
- plunge [plʌndʒ] v.插进 n.投入；冲击 (初中英语单词)
- innumerable [i´nju:mərəbəl] a.无数的，数不清的 (高中英语单词)
- ladder [´lædə] n.梯子；阶梯 (高中英语单词)
- summit [´sʌmit] n.顶(点)；绝顶 (高中英语单词)
- complexion [kəm´plekʃən] n.肤色；情况；局面 (高中英语单词)
- scanty [´skænti] a.贫乏的；节省的 (高中英语单词)
- strode [strəud] stride的过去式 (高中英语单词)
- muscular [´mʌskjulə] a.肌肉的；强有力的 (高中英语单词)
- violently [´vaiələntli] ad.强暴地；猛烈地 (高中英语单词)
- apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)
- uneasy [ʌn´i:zi] a.不安的；不自在的 (高中英语单词)
- indispensable [,indi´spensəbəl] a.绝对必要的 (高中英语单词)
- profound [prə´faund] a.深奥的；渊博的 (高中英语单词)
- alongside [əlɔŋ´said] ad.在旁 prep.横靠 (高中英语单词)
- motion [´məuʃən] n.手势 vt.打手势 (高中英语单词)
- submarine [´sʌbməri:n] a.海中的 n.潜水艇 (高中英语单词)
- inland [´inlənd, in´lænd] a.&n.内地的 ad.在内地 (高中英语单词)
- perfectly [´pə:fiktli] ad.理想地；完美地 (高中英语单词)
- motionless [´məuʃənləs] a.静止的；固定的 (高中英语单词)
- worldly [´wə:ldli] a.现世的；世俗的 (英语四级单词)
- considering [kən´sidəriŋ] prep.就...而论 (英语四级单词)
- bridge [bridʒ] n.桥(梁)；鼻梁；桥牌 (英语四级单词)
- stature [´stætʃə] n.身高；身材 (英语四级单词)
- hurriedly [´hʌridli] ad.仓促地，忙乱地 (英语四级单词)
- mustache [mə´stɑ:ʃ] n.髭，小胡子 (英语四级单词)
- tolerate [´tɔləreit] vt.忍受；宽容 (英语四级单词)
- uneven [ʌn´i:vən] a.崎岖的；不匀的 (英语四级单词)
- silvery [´silvəri] a.银一般的 (英语四级单词)
- marrow [´mærəu] n.(骨)髓；精华；活力 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
- shapeless [´ʃeiplis] a.无定形的；不成样的 (英语六级单词)
- whisker [´wiskə] n.(一根)须 (英语六级单词)
- contour [´kɔntuə] n.外形 vt.描...的轮廓 (英语六级单词)
- malicious [mə´liʃəs] a.恶意的；预谋的 (英语六级单词)
- abject [´æbdʒekt] a.卑鄙的；可怜的 (英语六级单词)
- abandoned [ə´bændənd] a.被抛弃的；无约束的 (英语六级单词)
- funnel [´fʌnəl] n.漏斗；通气道 v.集中 (英语六级单词)
- tremulous [´tremjuləs] a.发抖的；震颤的 (英语六级单词)
- suspense [sə´spens] n.悬挂；悬虑不安 (英语六级单词)
- rigidly [´ridʒidli] ad.坚硬地；不易弯地 (英语六级单词)
- rotary [´rəutəri] a.旋转的 n.运行的机器 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
京公网安备 11011202003401号
