酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Beauty and The Beast-Part36_Bayard Taylor(1825-1878)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页


officers, and a few of the crew working in vain against the

disorder: she saw the boats filled before they were lowered, and



heard the shrieks as they were capsized; she saw spars and planks

and benches cast overboard, and maddened men plunging after them;



and then, like the sudden opening of the mouth of Hell, the

relentless, triumphant fire burst through the forward deck and shot



up to the foreyard.

She was leaning against the mizen shrouds, between the coils of



rope. Nobody appeared to notice her, although the quarter-deck was

fast filling with persons driven back by the fire, yet still



shrinking from the terror and uncertainty of the sea. She

thought: "It is but death--why should I fear? The waves are at



hand, to save me from all suffering." And the collectivehorror of

hundreds of beings did not so overwhelm her as she had both fancied



and feared; the tragedy of each individual life was lost in the

confusion, and was she not a sharer in their doom?



Suddenly, a man stood before her with a cork life-preserver in his

hands, and buckled it around her securely, under the arms. He was



panting and almost exhausted, yet he strove to make his voice firm,

and even cheerful, as he said:



"We fought the cowardly devils as long as there was any hope. Two

boats are off, and two capsized; in ten minutes more every soul



must take to the water. Trust to me, and I will save you or die

with you!"



"What else can I do?" she answered.

With a few powerful strokes of an axe, he broke off the top of the



pilot-house, bound two or three planks to it with ropes, and

dragged the mass to the bulwarks.



"The minute this goes," he then said to her, "you go after it, and

I follow. Keep still when you rise to the surface."



She left the shrouds, took hold of the planks at his side, and they

heaved the rude raft into the sea. In an instant she was seized



and whirled over the side; she instinctively held her breath, felt

a shock, felt herself swallowed up in an awful, fathomless



coldness, and then found herself floating below the huge towering

hull which slowly drifted away.



In another moment there was one at her side. "Lay your hand on my

shoulder," he said; and when she did so, swam for the raft, which



they soon reached. While she supported herself by one of the

planks he so arranged and bound together the pieces of timber that



in a short time they could climb upon them and rest, not much

washed by the waves. The ship drifted further and further, casting



a faint, though awful, glare over the sea, until the light was

suddenly extinguished, as the hull sank.



The dawn was in the sky by this time, and as it broadened they

could see faint specks here and there, where others, like



themselves, clung to drifting spars. Mrs. Lawrie shuddered with

cold and the reaction from an excitement which had been far more



powerful than she knew at the time.

Her preserver then took off his coat, wrapped it around her, and



produced a pocket-flask, saying; "this will support us the longest;

it is all I could find, or bring with me."



She sat, leaning against his shoulder, though partly turned away

from him: all she could say was: "you are very good."



After awhile he spoke, and his voice seemed changed to her ears.

"You must be thinking of Mr. Lawrie. It will, indeed, be terrible



for him to hear of the disaster, before knowing that you are

saved."



"God has spared him that distress," she answered. "Mr. Lawrie

died, a year ago."



She felt a start in the strong frame upon which she leaned. After

a few minutes of silence, he slowly shifted his position



towards her, yet still without facing her, and said, almost in a




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号