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The Black Dwarf-Part8_WALTER SCOTT(1771-1832)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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upon each other, till all are extirpated but one huge and over-

fed Behemoth, and he, when he had throttled and gnawed the bones



of all his fellows--he, when his prey failed him, to be roaring

whole days for lack of food, and, finally, to die, inch by inch,



of famine--it were a consummation worthy of the race!"

"Your deeds are better, Elshie, than your words," answered



Earnscliff; "you labour to preserve the race whom your

misanthropy slanders."



"I do; but why?--Hearken. You are one on whom I look with the

least loathing, and I care not, if, contrary to my wont, I waste



a few words in compassion to your infatuated blindness. If I

cannot send disease into families, and murrain among the herds,



can I attain the same end so well as by prolonging the lives of

those who can serve the purpose of destruction as effectually?--



If Alice of Bower had died in winter, would young Ruthwin have

been slain for her love the last spring?--Who thought of penning



their cattle beneath the tower when the Red Reiver of

Westburnflat was deemed to be on his death-bed?--My draughts, my



skill, recovered him. And, now, who dare leave his herd upon the

lea without a watch, or go to bed without unchaining the sleuth-



hound?"

"I own," answered Earnscliff; "you did little good to society by



the last of these cures. But, to balance the evil, there is my

friend Hobbie, honest Hobbie of the Heugh-foot, your skill



relieved him last winter in a fever that might have cost him his

life."



"Thus think the children of clay in their ignorance," said: the

Dwarf, smiling maliciously, "and thus they speak in their folly.



Have you marked the young cub of a wild cat that has been

domesticated, how sportive, how playful, how gentle,--but trust



him with your game, your lambs, your poultry, his inbred ferocity

breaks forth; he gripes, tears, ravages, and devours."



"Such is the animal's instinct," answered Earnscliff; "but what

has that to do with Hobbie?"



"It is his emblem--it is his picture," retorted the Recluse. "He

is at present tame, quiet, and domesticated, for lack of



opportunity to exercise his inborn propensities; but let the

trumpet of war sound--let the young blood-hound snuff blood, he



will be as ferocious as the wildest of his Border ancestors that

ever fired a helpless peasant's abode. Can you deny, that even



at present he often urges you to take bloodyrevenge for an

injury received when you were a boy?"--Earnscliff started; the



Recluse appeared not to observe his surprise, and proceeded--"The

trumpet WILL blow, the young blood-hound WILL lap blood, and I



will laugh and say, For this I have preserved thee!" He paused,

and continued,--"Such are my cures;--their object, their purpose,



perpetuating the mass of misery, and playing even in this desert

my part in the general tragedy. Were YOU on your sick bed, I



might, in compassion, send you a cup of poison."

"I am much obliged to you, Elshie, and certainly shall not fail



to consult you, with so comfortable a hope from your assistance."

"Do not flatter yourself too far," replied the Hermit, "with the



hope that I will positively yield to the frailty of pity. Why

should I snatch a dupe, so well fitted to endure the miseries of



life as you are, from the wretchedness which his own visions, and

the villainy of the world, are preparing for him? Why should I



play the compassionate Indian, and, knocking out the brains of

the captive with my tomahawk, at once spoil the three days'



amusement of my kindred tribe, at the very moment when the brands

were lighted, the pincers heated, the cauldrons boiling, the



knives sharpened, to tear, scorch, seethe, and scarify the

intended victim?"



"A dreadful picture you present to me of life, Elshie; but I am

not daunted by it," returned Earnscliff. "We are sent here, in



one sense, to bear and to suffer; but, in another, to do and to

enjoy. The active day has its evening of repose; even patient



sufferance has its alleviations, where there is a consolatory




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