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Tales and Fantasies-Part15_ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON(1850-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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you'll make a man of me.'

'Of course we shall,' applauded Macfarlane. 'A man? I tell



you, it required a man to back me up the other morning.

There are some big, brawling, forty-year-old cowards who



would have turned sick at the look of the d-d thing; but not

you - you kept your head. I watched you.'



'Well, and why not?' Fettes thus vaunted himself. 'It was no

affair of mine. There was nothing to gain on the one side



but disturbance, and on the other I could count on your

gratitude, don't you see?' And he slapped his pocket till



the gold pieces rang.

Macfarlane somehow felt a certain touch of alarm at these



unpleasant words. He may have regretted that he had taught

his young companion so successfully, but he had no time to



interfere, for the other noisily continued in this boastful

strain:-



'The great thing is not to be afraid. Now, between you and

me, I don't want to hang - that's practical; but for all



cant, Macfarlane, I was born with a contempt. Hell, God,

Devil, right, wrong, sin, crime, and all the old gallery of



curiosities - they may frighten boys, but men of the world,

like you and me, despise them. Here's to the memory of



Gray!'

It was by this time growing somewhat late. The gig,



according to order, was brought round to the door with both

lamps brightly shining, and the young men had to pay their



bill and take the road. They announced that they were bound

for Peebles, and drove in that direction till they were clear



of the last houses of the town; then, extinguishing the

lamps, returned upon their course, and followed a by-road



toward Glencorse. There was no sound but that of their own

passage, and the incessant, strident pouring of the rain. It



was pitch dark; here and there a white gate or a white stone

in the wall guided them for a short space across the night;



but for the most part it was at a foot pace, and almost

groping, that they picked their way through that resonant



blackness to their solemn and isolated destination. In the

sunken woods that traverse the neighbourhood of the burying-



ground the last glimmer failed them, and it became necessary

to kindle a match and re-illumine one of the lanterns of the



gig. Thus, under the dripping trees, and environed by huge

and moving shadows, they reached the scene of their



unhallowed labours.

They were both experienced in such affairs, and powerful with



the spade; and they had scarce been twenty minutes at their

task before they were rewarded by a dull rattle on the coffin



lid. At the same moment Macfarlane, having hurt his hand

upon a stone, flung it carelessly above his head. The grave,



in which they now stood almost to the shoulders, was close to

the edge of the plateau of the graveyard; and the gig lamp



had been propped, the better to illuminate their labours,

against a tree, and on the immediate verge of the steep bank



descending to the stream. Chance had taken a sure aim with

the stone. Then came a clang of broken glass; night fell



upon them; sounds alternately dull and ringing announced the

bounding of the lantern down the bank, and its occasional



collision with the trees. A stone or two, which it had

dislodged in its descent, rattled behind it into the



profundities of the glen; and then silence, like night,

resumed its sway; and they might bend their hearing to its



utmost pitch, but naught was to be heard except the rain, now

marching to the wind, now steadily falling over miles of open



country.

They were so nearly at an end of their abhorred task that



they judged it wisest to complete it in the dark. The coffin

was exhumed and broken open; the body inserted in the



dripping sack and carried between them to the gig; one

mounted to keep it in its place, and the other, taking the



horse by the mouth, groped along by wall and bush until they

reached the wider road by the Fisher's Tryst. Here was a



faint, diffused radiancy, which they hailed like daylight; by

that they pushed the horse to a good pace and began to rattle



along merrily in the direction of the town.

They had both been wetted to the skin during their



operations, and now, as the gig jumped among the deep ruts,

the thing that stood propped between them fell now upon one






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