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Green Mansions-Part27_W.H.Hudson(1841-1922)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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appetites had so far only been whetted by the crimes they had

committed; while he, with passions worn out, recalling his many



bad acts, and with a vivid conviction of the truth of all he had

been taught in early life--for Nuflo was nothing if not



religious--was now grown timid and desirous only of making his

peace with Heaven. This difference of disposition made him



morose and quarrelsome with his companions; and they would, he

said, have murdered him without remorse if he had not been so



useful to them. Their favourite plan was to hang about the

neighbourhood of some small isolated settlement, keeping a watch



on it, and, when most of the male inhabitants were absent, to

swoop down on it and work their will. Now, shortly after one of



these raids it happened that a woman they had carried off,

becoming a burden to them, was flung into a river to the



alligators; but when being dragged down to the waterside she cast

up her eyes, and in a loud voice cried to God to execute



vengeance on her murderers. Nuflo affirmed that he took no part

in this black deed; nevertheless, the woman's dying appeal to



Heaven preyed on his mind; he feared that it might have won a

hearing, and the "person" eventually commissioned to execute



vengeance--after the usual days, of course might act on the

principle of the old proverb: Tell me whom you are with, and I



will tell you what you are--and punish the innocent (himself to

wit) along with the guilty. But while thus anxious about his



spiritual interests, he was not yet prepared to break with his

companions. He thought it best to temporize, and succeeded in



persuading them that it would be unsafe to attack another

Christian settlement for some time to come; that in the interval



they might find some pleasure, if no great credit, by turning

their attention to the Indians. The infidels, he said, were



God's natural enemies and fair game to the Christian. To make a

long story short, Nuflo's Christian band, after some successful



adventures, met with a reverse which reduced their number from

nine to five. Flying from their enemies, they sought safety at



Riolama, an uninhabited place, where they found it possible to

exist for some weeks on game, which was abundant, and wild



fruits.

One day at noon, while ascending a mountain at the southern



extremity of the Riolama range in order to get a view of the

country beyond the summit, Nuflo and his companions discovered a



cave; and finding it dry, without animal occupants, and with a

level floor, they at once determined to make it their



dwelling-place for a season. Wood for firing and water were to

be had close by; they were also well provided with smoked flesh



of a tapir they had slaughtered a day or two before, so that they

could afford to rest for a time in so comfortable a shelter. At



a short distance from the cave they made a fire on the rock to

toast some slices of meat for their dinner; and while thus



engaged all at once one of the men uttered a cry of astonishment,

and casting up his eyes Nuflo beheld, standing near and regarding



them with surprise and fear in-her wide-open eyes, a woman of a

most wonderful appearance. The one slight garment she had on was



silky and white as the snow on the summit of some great mountain,

but of the snow when the sinking sun touches and gives it some



delicate changing colour which is like fire. Her dark hair was

like a cloud from which her face looked out, and her head was



surrounded by an aureole like that of a saint in a picture, only

more beautiful. For, said Nuflo, a picture is a picture, and the



other was a reality, which is finer. Seeing her he fell on his

knees and crossed himself; and all the time her eyes, full of



amazement and shining with such a strange splendour that he could

not meet them, were fixed on him and not on the others; and he



felt that she had come to save his soul, in danger of perdition

owing to his companionship with men who were at war with God and



wholly bad.

But at this moment his comrades, recovering from their



astonishment, sprang to their feet, and the heavenly woman

vanished. Just behind where she had stood, and not twelve yards



from them, there was a huge chasm in the mountain, its jagged

precipitous sides clothed with thorny bushes; the men now cried



out that she had made her escape that way, and down after her

they rushed, pell-mell.






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