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The Mirror of the Sea-Part26_JOSEPH CONRAD (1857-1924)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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He turned and walked away from me along the bank of the stream,



flourishing a vengeful arm and repeating to himself slowly, with

savage emphasis: "AH! CANAILLE! CANAILLE! CANAILLE!. . ." He



left me there trembling with weakness and mute with awe. Unable to

make a sound, I gazed after the strangelydesolate figure of that



seaman carrying an oar on his shoulder up a barren, rock-strewn

ravine under the dreary leaden sky of Tremolino's last day. Thus,



walking deliberately, with his back to the sea, Dominic vanished

from my sight.



With the quality of our desires, thoughts, and wonder proportioned

to our infinite littleness, we measure even time itself by our own



stature. Imprisoned in the house of personal illusions, thirty

centuries in mankind's history seem less to look back upon than



thirty years of our own life. And Dominic Cervoni takes his place

in my memory by the side of the legendary wanderer on the sea of



marvels and terrors, by the side of the fatal and impious

adventurer, to whom the evoked shade of the soothsayer predicted a



journey inland with an oar on his shoulder, till he met men who had

never set eyes on ships and oars. It seems to me I can see them



side by side in the twilight of an arid land, the unfortunate

possessors of the secret lore of the sea, bearing the emblem of



their hard calling on their shoulders, surrounded by silent and

curious men: even as I, too, having turned my back upon the sea,



am bearing those few pages in the twilight, with the hope of

finding in an inlandvalley the silent welcome of some patient



listener.

XLVI.



"A fellow has now no chance of promotion unless he jumps into the

muzzle of a gun and crawls out of the touch-hole."



He who, a hundred years ago, more or less, pronounced the above

words in the uneasiness of his heart, thirsting for professional



distinction, was a young naval officer. Of his life, career,

achievements, and end nothing is preserved for the edification of



his young successors in the fleet of to-day - nothing but this

phrase, which, sailor-like in the simplicity of personal sentiment



and strength of graphic expression, embodies the spirit of the

epoch. This obscure but vigoroustestimony has its price, its



significance, and its lesson. It comes to us from a worthy

ancestor. We do not know whether he lived long enough for a chance



of that promotion whose way was so arduous. He belongs to the

great array of the unknown - who are great, indeed, by the sum



total of the devoted effort put out, and the colossal scale of

success attained by their insatiable and steadfastambition. We do



not know his name; we only know of him what is material for us to

know - that he was never backward on occasions of desperate



service. We have this on the authority of a distinguished seaman

of Nelson's time. Departing this life as Admiral of the Fleet on



the eve of the Crimean War, Sir Thomas Byam Martin has recorded for

us amongst his all too short autobiographical notes these few



characteristic words uttered by one young man of the many who must

have felt that particular inconvenience of a heroic age.



The distinguished Admiral had lived through it himself, and was a

good judge of what was expected in those days from men and ships.



A brilliantfrigate captain, a man of sound judgment, of dashing

bravery and of serene mind, scrupulously concerned for the welfare



and honour of the navy, he missed a larger fame only by the chances

of the service. We may well quote on this day the words written of



Nelson, in the decline of a well-spent life, by Sir T. B. Martin,

who died just fifty years ago on the very anniversary of Trafalgar.



"Nelson's nobleness of mind was a prominent and beautiful part of

his character. His foibles - faults if you like - will never be



dwelt upon in any memorandum of mine," he declares, and goes on -

"he whose splendid and matchless achievements will be remembered



with admiration while there is gratitude in the hearts of Britons,

or while a ship floats upon the ocean; he whose example on the



breaking out of the war gave so chivalrous an impulse to the




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