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

Jerry of the Islands-Part16_JACK LONDON(1876-1916)_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
fangs of teeth, gum-level, on which he could still chew. Although

he no longer had the physicalendurance of youth, his thinking was



as original and clear as it had always been. It was due to his

thinking that he found his tribe stronger than when he had first



come to rule it. In his small way he had been a Melanesian

Napoleon. As a warrior, the play of his mind had enabled him to



beat back the bushmen's boundaries. The scars on his withered body

attested that he had fought to the fore. As a Law-giver, he had



encouraged and achieved strength and efficiency within his tribe.

As a statesman, he had always kept one thought ahead of the thoughts



of the neighbouring chiefs in the making of treaties and the

granting of concessions.



And with his mind, still keenly alive, he had but just evolved a

scheme whereby he might outwit Van Horn and get the better of the



vast British Empire about which he guessed little and know less.

For Somo had a history. It was that queer anomaly, a salt-water



tribe that lived on the lagoonmainland where only bushmen were

supposed to live. Far back into the darkness of time, the folk-lore



of Somo cast a glimmering light. On a day, so far back that there

was no way of estimating its distance, one, Somo, son of Loti, who



was the chief of the island fortress of Umbo, had quarrelled with

his father and fled from his wrath along with a dozen canoe-loads of



young men. For two monsoons they had engaged in an odyssey. It was

in the myth that they circumnavigated Malaita twice, and forayed as



far as Ugi and San Cristobal across the wide seas.

Women they had inevitablystolen after successful combats, and, in



the end, being burdened with women and progeny, Somo had descended

upon the mainland shore, driven the bushmen back, and established



the salt-water fortress of Somo. Built it was, on its sea-front,

like any island fortress, with walled coral-rock to oppose the sea



and chance marauders from the sea, and with launching ways through

the walls for the long canoes. To the rear, where it encroached on



the jungle, it was like any scattered bush village. But Somo, the

wide-seeing father of the new tribe, had established his boundaries



far up in the bush on the shoulders of the lesser mountains, and on

each shoulder had planted a village. Only the greatly daring that



fled to him had Somo permitted to join the new tribe. The weaklings

and cowards they had promptly eaten, and the unbelievable tale of



their many heads adorning the canoe-houses was part of the myth.

And this tribe, territory, and stronghold, at the latter end of



time, Bashti had inherited, and he had bettered his inheritance.

Nor was he above continuing to better it. For a long time he had



reasoned closely and carefully in maturing the plan that itched in

his brain for fulfilment. Three years before, the tribe of Ano Ano,



miles down the coast, had captured a recruiter, destroyed her and

all hands, and gained a fabulous store of tobacco, calico, beads,



and all manner of trade goods, rifles and ammunition.

Little enough had happened in the way of price that was paid. Half



a year after, a war vessel had poked her nose into the lagoon,

shelled Ano Ano, and sent its inhabitants scurrying into the bush.



The landing-party that followed had futilely pursued along the

jungle runways. In the end it had contented itself with killing



forty fat pigs and chopping down a hundred coconut trees. Scarcely

had the war vessel passed out to open sea, when the people of Ano



Ano were back from the bush to the village. Shell fire on flimsy

grass houses is not especially destructive. A few hours' labour of



the women put that little matter right. As for the forty dead pigs,

the entire tribe fell upon the carcasses, roasted them under the



ground with hot stones, and feasted. The tender tips of the fallen

palms were likewise eaten, while the thousands of coconuts were



husked and split and sun-dried and smoke-cured into copra to be sold

to the next passing trader.



Thus, the penalty exacted had proved a picnic and a feast--all of

which appealed to the thrifty, calculating brain of Bashti. And



what was good for Ano Ano, in his judgment was surely good for Somo.

Since such were white men's ways who sailed under the British flag



and killed pigs and cut down coconuts in cancellation of blood-debts

and headtakings, Bashti saw no valid reason why he should not profit



as Ano Ano had profited. The price to be paid at some possible

future time was absurdly disproportionate to the immediate wealth to



be gained. Besides, it had been over two years since the last




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