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The Mirror of the Sea-Part6_JOSEPH CONRAD (1857-1924)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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the deck. She had a great sheer, high bows, and a clumsy stern.

The men who had seen her described her to me as "nothing much to



look at." But in the great Indian famine of the seventies that

ship, already old then, made some wonderful dashes across the Gulf



of Bengal with cargoes of rice from Rangoon to Madras.

She took the secret of her speed with her, and, unsightly as she



was, her image surely has its glorious place in the mirror of the

old sea.



The point, however, is that Captain S-, who used to say frequently,

"She never made a decent passage after I left her," seemed to think



that the secret of her speed lay in her famous commander. No doubt

the secret of many a ship's excellence does lie with the man on



board, but it was hopeless for Captain S- to try to make his new

iron clipper equal the feats which made the old Tweed a name of



praise upon the lips of English-speaking seamen. There was

something pathetic in it, as in the endeavour of an artist in his



old age to equal the masterpieces of his youth - for the Tweed's

famous passages were Captain S-'s masterpieces. It was pathetic,



and perhaps just the least bit dangerous. At any rate, I am glad

that, what between Captain S-'s yearning for old triumphs and Mr.



P-'s deafness, I have seen some memorable carrying on to make a

passage. And I have carried on myself upon the tall spars of that



Clyde shipbuilder's masterpiece as I have never carried on in a

ship before or since.



The second mate falling ill during the passage, I was promoted to

officer of the watch, alone in charge of the deck. Thus the



immense leverage of the ship's tall masts became a matter very near

my own heart. I suppose it was something of a compliment for a



young fellow to be trusted, apparently without any supervision, by

such a commander as Captain S-; though, as far as I can remember,



neither the tone, nor the manner, nor yet the drift of Captain S-'s

remarks addressed to myself did ever, by the most strained



interpretation, imply a favourable opinion of my abilities. And he

was, I must say, a most uncomfortablecommander to get your orders



from at night. If I had the watch from eight till midnight, he

would leave the deck about nine with the words, "Don't take any



sail off her." Then, on the point of disappearing down the

companion-way, he would add curtly: "Don't carry anything away."



I am glad to say that I never did; one night, however, I was

caught, not quite prepared, by a sudden shift of wind.



There was, of course, a good deal of noise - running about, the,

shouts of the sailors, the thrashing of the sails - enough, in



fact, to wake the dead. But S- never came on deck. When I was

relieved by the chief mate an hour afterwards, he sent for me. I



went into his stateroom; he was lying on his couch wrapped up in a

rug, with a pillow under his head.



"What was the matter with you up there just now?" he asked.

"Wind flew round on the lee quarter, sir," I said.



"Couldn't you see the shift coming?"

"Yes, sir, I thought it wasn't very far off."



"Why didn't you have your courses hauled up at once, then?" he

asked in a tone that ought to have made my blood run cold.



But this was my chance, and I did not let it slip.

"Well, sir," I said in an apologetic tone, "she was going eleven



knots very nicely, and I thought she would do for another half-hour

or so."



He gazed at me darkly out of his head, lying very still on the

white pillow, for a time.



"Ah, yes, another half-hour. That's the way ships get dismasted."

And that was all I got in the way of a wigging. I waited a little



while and then went out, shutting carefully the door of the state-

room after me.



Well, I have loved, lived with, and left the sea without ever

seeing a ship's tall fabric of sticks, cobwebs and gossamer go by



the board. Sheer good luck, no doubt. But as to poor P-, I am

sure that he would not have got off scot-free like this but for the



god of gales, who called him away early from this earth, which is




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