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Allan Quatermain-Part21_H.Rider Haggard(1856-1925)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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so effective.

Meanwhile, if we had been astonished at the appearance of the



man and woman, it was clear that they were far more astonished

at us. As for the man, he appeared to be overcome with fear



and wonder, and for a while hovered round our canoe, but would

not approach. At last, however, he came within hailing distance,



and called to us in a language that sounded soft and pleasing

enough, but of which we could not understand one word. So we



hailed back in English, French, Latin, Greek, German, Zulu, Dutch,

Sisutu, Kukuana, and a few other native dialects that I am acquainted



with, but our visitor did not understand any of these tongues;

indeed, they appeared to bewilder him. As for the lady, she was



busily employed in taking stock of us, and Good was returning

the compliment by staring at her hard through his eyeglass,



a proceeding that she seemed rather to enjoy than otherwise.

At length, the man, being unable to make anything of us, suddenly



turned his boat round and began to head off for the shore,

his little boat skimming away before the wind like a swallow.



As she passed across our bows the man turned to attend to the

large sail, and Good promptly took the opportunity to kiss his hand



to the young lady. I was horrified at this proceeding, both on

general grounds and because I feared that she might take offence,



but to my delight she did not, for, first glancing round and

seeing that her husband, or brother, or whoever he was, was engaged,



she promptly kissed hers back.

'Ah!' said I. 'It seems that we have at last found a language



that the people of this country understand.'

'In which case,' said Sir Henry, 'Good will prove an invaluable



interpreter.'

I frowned, for I do not approve of Good's frivolities, and he



knows it, and I turned the conversation to more serious subjects.

'It is very clear to me,' I said, 'that the man will be back



before long with a host of his fellows, so we had best make up

our minds as to how we are going to receive them.'



'The question is how will they receive us?' said Sir Henry.

As for Good he made no remark, but began to extract a small square



tin case that had accompanied us in all our wanderings from under

a pile of baggage. Now we had often remonstrated with Good about



this tin case, inasmuch as it had been an awkward thing to carry,

and he had never given any very explicit account as to its contents;



but he had insisted on keeping it, sayingmysteriously that it

might come in very useful one day.



'What on earth are you going to do, Good?' asked Sir Henry.

'Do -- why dress, of course! You don't expect me to appear in



a new country in these things, do you?' and he pointed to his

soiled and worn garments, which were however, like all Good's



things, very tidy, and with every tear neatly mended.

We said no more, but watched his proceedings with breathless



interest. His first step was to get Alphonse, who was thoroughly

competent in such matters, to trim his hair and beard in the



most approved fashion. I think that if he had had some hot water

and a cake of soap at hand he would have shaved off the latter;



but he had not. This done, he suggested that we should lower

the sail of the canoe and all take a bath, which we did, greatly



to the horror and astonishment of Alphonse, who lifted his hands

and ejaculated that these English were indeed a wonderful people.



Umslopogaas, who, though he was, like most high-bred Zulus,

scrupulously cleanly in his person, did not see the fun of swimming



about in a lake, also regarded the proceeding with mild amusement.

We got back into the canoe much refreshed by the cold water,



and sat to dry in the sun, whilst Good undid his tin box, and

produced first a beautiful clean white shirt, just as it had



left a London steam laundry, and then some garments wrapped first

in brown, then in white, and finally in silver paper. We watched



this undoing with the tenderest interest and much speculation.

One by one Good removed the dull husks that hid their splendours,



carefully folding and replacing each piece of paper as he did

so; and there at last lay, in all the majesty of its golden epaulettes,



lace, and buttons, a Commander of the Royal Navy's full-dress

uniform -- dress sword, cocked hat, shiny patent leather boots






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