occupied three days or ten days. For conceive, if you choose,

two people of flesh and blood moving and living continually in



all the circumstances and surroundings as of a nightmare dream,

yet they two so happy together that all the universe beside was



of no moment to them! How was anyone to tell whether in such

circumstances any time appeared to be long or short? Does a dream



appear to be long or to be short?

The vessel in which they sailed was a brigantine of good size and



build, but manned by a considerable crew, the most strange and

outlandish in their appearance that Barnaby had ever



beheld--some white, some yellow, some black, and all tricked out

with gay colors, and gold earrings in their ears, and some with



great long mustachios, and others with handkerchiefs tied around

their heads, and all talking a language together of which Barnaby



True could understand not a single word, but which might have

been Portuguese from one or two phrases he caught. Nor did this



strange, mysterious crew, of God knows what sort of men, seem to

pay any attention whatever to Barnaby or to the young lady. They



might now and then have looked at him and her out of the corners

of their yellow eyes, but that was all; otherwise they were



indeed like the creatures of a nightmare dream. Only he who was

the captain of this outlandish crew would maybe speak to Barnaby



a few words as to the weather or what not when he would come down

into the saloon to mix a glass of grog or to light a pipe of



tobacco, and then to go on deck again about his business.

Otherwise our hero and the young lady were left to themselves, to



do as they pleased, with no one to interfere with them.

As for her, she at no time showed any great sign of terror or of



fear, only for a little while was singularly numb and quiet, as

though dazed with what had happened to her. Indeed, methinks



that wild beast, her grandfather, had so crushed her spirit by

his tyranny and his violence that nothing that happened to her



might seem sharp and keen, as it does to others of an ordinary

sort.



But this was only at first, for afterward her face began to grow

singularly clear, as with a white light, and she would sit quite



still, permitting Barnaby to gaze, I know not how long, into her

eyes, her face so transfigured and her lips smiling, and they, as



it were, neither of them breathing, but hearing, as in another

far-distant place, the outlandish jargon of the crew talking



together in the warm, bright sunlight, or the sound of creaking

block and tackle as they hauled upon the sheets.



Is it, then, any wonder that Barnaby True could never remember

whether such a voyage as this was long or short?



It was as though they might have sailed so upon that wonderful

voyage forever. You may guess how amazed was Barnaby True when,



coming upon deck one morning, he found the brigantine riding upon

an even keel, at anchor off Staten Island, a small village on the



shore, and the well- known roofs and chimneys of New York town in

plain sight across the water.



'Twas the last place in the world he had expected to see.

And, indeed, it did seem strange to lie there alongside Staten



Island all that day, with New York town so nigh at hand and yet

so impossible to reach. For whether he desired to escape or no,



Barnaby True could not but observe that both he and the young

lady were so closely watched that they might as well have been



prisoners, tied hand and foot and laid in the hold, so far as any

hope of getting away was concerned.



All that day there was a deal of mysterious coming and going

aboard the brigantine, and in the afternoon a sailboat went up to



the town, carrying the captain, and a great load covered over

with a tarpaulin in the stern. What was so taken up to the town



Barnaby did not then guess, but the boat did not return again

till about sundown.



For the sun was just dropping below the water when the captain

came aboard once more and, finding Barnaby on deck, bade him come



down into the saloon, where they found the young lady sitting,

the broad light of the evening shining in through the skylight,



and making it all pretty bright within.

The captain commanded Barnaby to be seated, for he had something



of moment to say to him; whereupon, as soon as Barnaby had taken

his place alongside the young lady, he began very seriously, with



a preface somewhat thus: "Though you may think me the captain of

this brigantine, young gentleman, I am not really so, but am



under orders, and so have only carried out those orders of a

superior in all these things that I have done." Having so begun,



he went on to say that there was one thing yet remaining for him

• properly [´prɔpəli] ad.适当地；严格地 (初中英语单词)


• pointed [´pɔintid] a.尖(锐)的；中肯的 (初中英语单词)


• uncertain [ʌn´sə:tn] a.不定的；不可靠的 (初中英语单词)


• vessel [´vesəl] n.容器；船；脉管 (初中英语单词)


• handkerchief [´hæŋkətʃif] n.手帕，手绢 (初中英语单词)


• throat [θrəut] n.咽喉；嗓子；出入口 (初中英语单词)


• tobacco [tə´bækəu] n.烟草(叶)；卷烟 (初中英语单词)


• steadily [´stedili] ad.坚定地；不断地 (初中英语单词)


• standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)


• astonishment [ə´stɔniʃmənt] n.吃惊；惊异 (初中英语单词)


• speaker [´spi:kə] n.演讲人；代言人 (初中英语单词)


• expedition [,ekspi´diʃən] n.远征；探险；迅速 (初中英语单词)


• therewith [ðɛə´wið] ad.于是，随即 (初中英语单词)


• suspicion [sə´spiʃən] n.怀(猜)疑；嫌疑 (初中英语单词)


• beheld [bi´held] behold的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)


• marvelous [´mɑ:viləs] (=marvellous) a.奇异的 (初中英语单词)


• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)


• aboard [ə´bɔ:d] ad.&prep.在…上 (初中英语单词)


• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)


• thence [ðens] ad.从那里；因此 (初中英语单词)


• amazing [ə´meiziŋ] a.惊人的；惊奇的 (初中英语单词)


• conceive [kən´si:v] v.设想；表达；怀孕 (初中英语单词)


• considerable [kən´sidərəbəl] a.重要的；值得重视 (初中英语单词)


• mysterious [mi´stiəriəs] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (初中英语单词)


• whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)


• otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz] ad.另外 conj.否则 (初中英语单词)


• interfere [,intə´fiə] vi.干涉；妨碍；打扰 (初中英语单词)


• terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)


• grandfather [´grænd,fɑ:ðə] n.(外)祖父；祖先 (初中英语单词)


• violence [´vaiələns] n.猛烈；暴力(行) (初中英语单词)


• sunlight [´sʌnlait] n.日光 (初中英语单词)


• voyage [´vɔi-idʒ] n.&vi.航海；航程；旅行 (初中英语单词)


• anchor [´æŋkə] n.锚 v.抛锚 (初中英语单词)


• seriously [´siəriəsli] ad.严肃；严重，重大 (初中英语单词)


• bandage [´bændidʒ] n.绷带 vt.用绷带包扎 (高中英语单词)


• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)


• saloon [sə´lu:n] n.大厅；餐车 (高中英语单词)


• hanging [´hæŋiŋ] n.绞刑 a.悬挂着的 (高中英语单词)


• lantern [´læntən] n.灯笼；提灯 (高中英语单词)


• finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)


• pirate [´paiərət] n.海盗 v.做海盗；掠夺 (高中英语单词)


• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)


• cunningly [´kʌniŋli] ad.狡猾地；精巧地 (高中英语单词)


• certainty [´sə:tənti] n.确实(性)；确信 (高中英语单词)


• continually [kən´tinjuəli] ad.不断地，频繁地 (高中英语单词)


• universe [´ju:nivə:s] n.天地；全人类；银河系 (高中英语单词)


• tyranny [´tirəni] n.暴政；专制政治 (高中英语单词)


• hearing [´hiəriŋ] n.听力；听证会；审讯 (高中英语单词)


• tackle [´tækəl] n.用具；装置 vt.处理 (高中英语单词)


• alongside [əlɔŋ´said] ad.在旁 prep.横靠 (高中英语单词)


• preface [´prefis] n.序 v.开始；导致 (高中英语单词)


• befallen [bi´fɔ:lən] befall的过去分词 (英语四级单词)


• asunder [ə´sʌndə] a.分开地；零散地 (英语四级单词)


• gathering [´gæðəriŋ] n.集会，聚集 (英语四级单词)


• mahogany [mə´hɔgəni] n.红木；桃花心木 (英语四级单词)


• profoundly [prə´faundli] ad.深深地 (英语四级单词)


• villain [´vilən] n.坏人；恶棍；反面角色 (英语四级单词)


• whereupon [,weərə´pɔn] ad.在什么上面；因此 (英语四级单词)


• nightmare [´naitmeə] n.梦魇；恶梦 (英语四级单词)


• portuguese [,pɔ:tʃu´gi:z] a.葡萄牙的 n.葡萄牙人 (英语四级单词)


• beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)


• unborn [,ʌn´bɔ:n] a.未生的；将来的 (英语六级单词)


• trance [trɑ:ns] n.恍惚；出神 (英语六级单词)


• duration [djuə´reiʃən] n.持久；持续期间 (英语六级单词)