章节正文
pall melted into an airy haze, and above me I saw the heavens
shot with tremors of blue light. Then the foreground began to
clear, and there before me, with their heads still muffled in
vapour, were the mountains.
Xenophon's Ten Thousand did not hail the sea more gladly
than I welcomed those frowning ramparts of the Berg.
Once again my weariness was eased. I cried to Colin, and
together we ran down into the wide, shallowtrough which lies
at the foot of the hills. As the sun rose above the horizon, the
black masses changed to emerald and rich umber, and the
fleecy mists of the summits opened and revealed beyond shining
spaces of green. Some lines of Shakespeare ran in my head,
which I have always thought the most beautiful of all poetry:
'Night's candles are burned out, and jocund day
Walks tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.'
Up there among the clouds was my salvation. Like the
Psalmist, I lifted my eyes to the hills from whence came my
aid.
Hope is a wonderful restorative. To be near the hills, to
smell their odours, to see at the head of the glens the lines of
the plateau where were white men and civilization - all gave
me new life and courage. Colin saw my mood, and spared a
moment now and then to inspect a hole or a covert. Down in
the shallowtrough I saw the links of a burn, the Machudi,
which flowed down the glen it was my purpose to ascend.
Away to the north in the direction of Majinje's were patches of
Kaffir tillage, and I thought I discerned the smoke from fires.
Majinje's womankind would be cooking their morning meal.
To the south ran a thick patch of forest, but I saw beyond it
the spur of the mountain over which runs the highroad to
Wesselsburg. The clear air of dawn was like wine in my blood.
I was not free, but I was on the threshold of freedom. If I
could only reach my friends with the Prester's collar in my
shirt, I would have performed a feat which would never be
forgotten. I would have made history by my glorious folly.
Breakfastless and footsore, I was yet a proud man as I crossed
the hollow to the mouth of Machudi's glen.
My chickens had been counted too soon, and there was to
be no hatching. Colin grew uneasy, and began to sniff up
wind. I was maybe a quarter of a mile from the glen foot,
plodding through the long grass of the hollow, when the
behaviour of the dog made me stop and listen. In that still air
sounds carry far, and I seemed to hear the noise of feet
brushing through cover. The noise came both from north and
south, from the forest and from the lower course of the Machudi.
I dropped into shelter, and running with bent back got to
the summit of a little bush-clad knoll. It was Colin who first
caught sight of my pursuers. He was staring at a rift in the
trees, and suddenly gave a short bark. I looked and saw two
men, running hard, cross the grass and dip into the bed of the
stream. A moment later I had a glimpse of figures on the edge
of the forest, moving fast to the mouth of the glen. The pursuit
had not followed me; it had waited to cut me off. Fool that I
was, I had forgotten the wonders of Kaffir telegraphy. It had
been easy for Laputa to send word thirty miles ahead to stop
any white man who tried to cross the Berg.
And then I knew that I was very weary.
CHAPTER XV
MORNING IN THE BERG
I was perhaps half a mile the nearer to the glen, and was
likely to get there first. And after that? I could see the track
winding by the waterside and then crossing a hill-shoulder
which diverted the stream. It was a road a man could scarcely
ride, and a tired man would have a hard job to climb. I do not
think that I had any hope. My exhilaration had died as
suddenly as it had been born. I saw myself caught and carried
off to Laputa, who must now be close on the rendezvous at
Inanda's Kraal. I had no weapon to make a fight for it. My
foemen were many and untired. It must be only a matter of
minutes till I was in their hands.
More in a dogged fury of disappointment than with any
hope of escape I forced my sore legs up the glen. Ten minutes
ago I had been exulting in the glories of the morning, and now
the sun was not less bright or the colours less fair, but the
heart had gone out of the spectator. At first I managed to get
some pace out of myself, partly from fear and partly from
anger. But I soon found that my body had been tried too far.
I could plod along, but to save my life I could not have
hurried. Any healthysavage could have caught me in a
hundred yards.
The track, I remember, was overhung with creepers, and
often I had to squeeze through thickets of tree-ferns. Countless
little brooks ran down from the hillside, threads of silver
among the green pastures. Soon I left the stream and climbed
up on the shoulder, where the road was not much better than
a precipice. Every step was a weariness. I could hardly drag
one foot after the other, and my heart was beating like the
fanners of a mill, I had spasms of acute sickness, and it took
all my resolution to keep me from lying down by the roadside.
At last I was at the top of the shoulder and could look back.
There was no sign of anybody on the road so far as I could
see. Could I have escaped them? I had been in the shadow of
the trees for the first part, and they might have lost sight of me
and concluded that I had avoided the glen or tried one of the
faces. Before me, I remember, there stretched the upper glen,
a green cup-shaped hollow with the sides scarred by ravines.
There was a high waterfall in one of them which was white as
snow against the red rocks. My wits must have been shaky, for
I took the fall for a snowdrift, and wondered sillily why the
Berg had grown so Alpine.
A faint spasm of hope took me into that green cup. The
bracken was as thick as on the Pentlands, and there was a
multitude of small lovely flowers in the grass. It was like a
water-meadow at home, such a place as I had often in boyhood
searched for moss-cheepers' and corncrakes' eggs. Birds were
crying round me as I broke this solitude, and one small buck -
a klipspringer - rose from my feet and dashed up one of the
gullies. Before me was a steep green wall with the sky blue
above it. Beyond it was safety, but as my sweat-dimmed eyes
looked at it I knew that I could never reach it.
Then I saw my pursuers. High up on the left side, and
rounding the rim of the cup, were little black figures. They
had not followed my trail, but, certain of my purpose, had
gone forward to intercept me. I remember feeling a puny
weakling compared with those lusty natives who could make
such good going on steep mountains. They were certainly no
men of the plains, but hillmen, probably some remnants of old
Machudi's tribe who still squatted in the glen. Machudi was
a blackguard chief whom the Boers long ago smashed in one of
their native wars. He was a fierce old warrior and had put up a
good fight to the last, till a hired impi of Swazis had
surrounded his hiding-place in the forest and destroyed him. A
Boer farmer on the plateau had his skull, and used to drink
whisky out of it when he was merry.
The sight of the pursuit was the last straw. I gave up hope,
and my intentions were narrowed to one frantic desire - to
hide the jewels. Patriotism, which I had almost forgotten,
flickered up in that crisis. At any rate Laputa should not have
the Snake. If he drove out the white man, he should not clasp
the Prester's rubies on his great neck.
There was no cover in the green cup, so I turned up the
ravine on the right side. The enemy, so far as I could judge,
were on the left and in front, and in the gully I might find a
pot-hole to bury the necklet in. Only a desperateresolution
took me through the tangle of juniper bushes into the red
screes of the gully. At first I could not find what I sought. The
stream in the ravine slid down a long slope like a mill-race, and
the sides were bare and stony. Still I plodded on, helping
myself with a hand on Colin's back, for my legs were numb
with fatigue. By-and-by the gully narrowed, and I came to a
flat place with a long pool. Beyond was a little fall, and up this
I climbed into a network of tiny cascades. Over one pool hung
a dead tree-fern, and a bay from it ran into a hole of the rock.
I slipped the jewels far into the hole, where they lay on the
firm sand, showing odd lights through the dim blue water.
Then I scrambled down again to the flat space and the pool,
and looked round to see if any one had reached the edge of the
ravine. There was no sign as yet of the pursuit, so I dropped
limply on the shingle and waited. For I had suddenly
conceived a plan.
As my breath came back to me my wits came back from
their wandering. These men were not there to kill me, but to
capture me. They could know nothing of the jewels, for Laputa
would never have dared to make the loss of the sacred Snake
public. Therefore they would not suspect what I had done,
and would simply lead me to Laputa at Inanda's Kraal. I
began to see the glimmerings of a plan for saving my life, and
by God's grace, for saving my country from the horrors of
rebellion. The more I thought the better I liked it. It
demanded a bold front, and it might well miscarry, but I had
taken such desperate hazards during the past days that I was
less afraid of fortune. Anyhow, the choice lay between certain
death and a slender chance of life, and it was easy to decide.
Playing football, I used to notice how towards the end of a
game I might be sore and weary, without a kick in my body;
but when I had a straight job of tackling a man my strength
miraculously returned. It was even so now. I lay on my side,
luxuriating in being still, and slowly a sort of vigour crept back
into my limbs. Perhaps a half-hour of rest was given me before,
on the lip of the gully, I saw figures appear. Looking down I
saw several men who had come across from the opposite side
of the valley, scrambling up the stream. I got to my feet, with
Colin bristling beside me, and awaited them with the stiffest
face I could muster.
As I expected, they were Machudi's men. I recognized them
by the red ochre in their hair and their copper-wire necklets.
Big fellows they were, long-legged and deep in the chest, the
true breed of mountaineers. I admired their light tread on the
slippery rock. It was hopeless to think of evading such men in
their own hills.
The men from the side joined the men in front, and they
stood looking at me from about twelve yards off. They were
armed only with knobkerries, and very clearly were no part
of Laputa's army. This made their errand plain to me.
'Halt!' I said in Kaffir, as one of them made a hesitating step
to advance. 'Who are you and what do you seek?'
There was no answer, but they looked at me curiously.
Then one made a motion with his stick. Colin gave a growl, and
would have been on him if I had not kept a hand on his collar.
The rash man drew back, and all stood stiff and perplexed.
'Keep your hands by your side,' I said, 'or the dog, who has
a devil, will devour you. One of you speak for the rest and tell
me your purpose.'
For a moment I had a wild notion that they might be
friends, some of Arcoll's scouts, and out to help me. But the
first words shattered the fancy.
'We are sent by Inkulu,' the biggest of them said. 'He bade
us bring you to him.'
'And what if I refuse to go?'
'Then, Baas, we must take you to him. We are under the
vow of the Snake.'
shot with tremors of blue light. Then the foreground began to
clear, and there before me, with their heads still muffled in
vapour, were the mountains.
Xenophon's Ten Thousand did not hail the sea more gladly
than I welcomed those frowning ramparts of the Berg.
Once again my weariness was eased. I cried to Colin, and
together we ran down into the wide, shallowtrough which lies
at the foot of the hills. As the sun rose above the horizon, the
black masses changed to emerald and rich umber, and the
fleecy mists of the summits opened and revealed beyond shining
spaces of green. Some lines of Shakespeare ran in my head,
which I have always thought the most beautiful of all poetry:
'Night's candles are burned out, and jocund day
Walks tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.'
Up there among the clouds was my salvation. Like the
Psalmist, I lifted my eyes to the hills from whence came my
aid.
Hope is a wonderful restorative. To be near the hills, to
smell their odours, to see at the head of the glens the lines of
the plateau where were white men and civilization - all gave
me new life and courage. Colin saw my mood, and spared a
moment now and then to inspect a hole or a covert. Down in
the shallowtrough I saw the links of a burn, the Machudi,
which flowed down the glen it was my purpose to ascend.
Away to the north in the direction of Majinje's were patches of
Kaffir tillage, and I thought I discerned the smoke from fires.
Majinje's womankind would be cooking their morning meal.
To the south ran a thick patch of forest, but I saw beyond it
the spur of the mountain over which runs the highroad to
Wesselsburg. The clear air of dawn was like wine in my blood.
I was not free, but I was on the threshold of freedom. If I
could only reach my friends with the Prester's collar in my
shirt, I would have performed a feat which would never be
forgotten. I would have made history by my glorious folly.
Breakfastless and footsore, I was yet a proud man as I crossed
the hollow to the mouth of Machudi's glen.
My chickens had been counted too soon, and there was to
be no hatching. Colin grew uneasy, and began to sniff up
wind. I was maybe a quarter of a mile from the glen foot,
plodding through the long grass of the hollow, when the
behaviour of the dog made me stop and listen. In that still air
sounds carry far, and I seemed to hear the noise of feet
brushing through cover. The noise came both from north and
south, from the forest and from the lower course of the Machudi.
I dropped into shelter, and running with bent back got to
the summit of a little bush-clad knoll. It was Colin who first
caught sight of my pursuers. He was staring at a rift in the
trees, and suddenly gave a short bark. I looked and saw two
men, running hard, cross the grass and dip into the bed of the
stream. A moment later I had a glimpse of figures on the edge
of the forest, moving fast to the mouth of the glen. The pursuit
had not followed me; it had waited to cut me off. Fool that I
was, I had forgotten the wonders of Kaffir telegraphy. It had
been easy for Laputa to send word thirty miles ahead to stop
any white man who tried to cross the Berg.
And then I knew that I was very weary.
CHAPTER XV
MORNING IN THE BERG
I was perhaps half a mile the nearer to the glen, and was
likely to get there first. And after that? I could see the track
winding by the waterside and then crossing a hill-shoulder
which diverted the stream. It was a road a man could scarcely
ride, and a tired man would have a hard job to climb. I do not
think that I had any hope. My exhilaration had died as
suddenly as it had been born. I saw myself caught and carried
off to Laputa, who must now be close on the rendezvous at
Inanda's Kraal. I had no weapon to make a fight for it. My
foemen were many and untired. It must be only a matter of
minutes till I was in their hands.
More in a dogged fury of disappointment than with any
hope of escape I forced my sore legs up the glen. Ten minutes
ago I had been exulting in the glories of the morning, and now
the sun was not less bright or the colours less fair, but the
heart had gone out of the spectator. At first I managed to get
some pace out of myself, partly from fear and partly from
anger. But I soon found that my body had been tried too far.
I could plod along, but to save my life I could not have
hurried. Any healthysavage could have caught me in a
hundred yards.
The track, I remember, was overhung with creepers, and
often I had to squeeze through thickets of tree-ferns. Countless
little brooks ran down from the hillside, threads of silver
among the green pastures. Soon I left the stream and climbed
up on the shoulder, where the road was not much better than
a precipice. Every step was a weariness. I could hardly drag
one foot after the other, and my heart was beating like the
fanners of a mill, I had spasms of acute sickness, and it took
all my resolution to keep me from lying down by the roadside.
At last I was at the top of the shoulder and could look back.
There was no sign of anybody on the road so far as I could
see. Could I have escaped them? I had been in the shadow of
the trees for the first part, and they might have lost sight of me
and concluded that I had avoided the glen or tried one of the
faces. Before me, I remember, there stretched the upper glen,
a green cup-shaped hollow with the sides scarred by ravines.
There was a high waterfall in one of them which was white as
snow against the red rocks. My wits must have been shaky, for
I took the fall for a snowdrift, and wondered sillily why the
Berg had grown so Alpine.
A faint spasm of hope took me into that green cup. The
bracken was as thick as on the Pentlands, and there was a
multitude of small lovely flowers in the grass. It was like a
water-meadow at home, such a place as I had often in boyhood
searched for moss-cheepers' and corncrakes' eggs. Birds were
crying round me as I broke this solitude, and one small buck -
a klipspringer - rose from my feet and dashed up one of the
gullies. Before me was a steep green wall with the sky blue
above it. Beyond it was safety, but as my sweat-dimmed eyes
looked at it I knew that I could never reach it.
Then I saw my pursuers. High up on the left side, and
rounding the rim of the cup, were little black figures. They
had not followed my trail, but, certain of my purpose, had
gone forward to intercept me. I remember feeling a puny
weakling compared with those lusty natives who could make
such good going on steep mountains. They were certainly no
men of the plains, but hillmen, probably some remnants of old
Machudi's tribe who still squatted in the glen. Machudi was
a blackguard chief whom the Boers long ago smashed in one of
their native wars. He was a fierce old warrior and had put up a
good fight to the last, till a hired impi of Swazis had
surrounded his hiding-place in the forest and destroyed him. A
Boer farmer on the plateau had his skull, and used to drink
whisky out of it when he was merry.
The sight of the pursuit was the last straw. I gave up hope,
and my intentions were narrowed to one frantic desire - to
hide the jewels. Patriotism, which I had almost forgotten,
flickered up in that crisis. At any rate Laputa should not have
the Snake. If he drove out the white man, he should not clasp
the Prester's rubies on his great neck.
There was no cover in the green cup, so I turned up the
ravine on the right side. The enemy, so far as I could judge,
were on the left and in front, and in the gully I might find a
pot-hole to bury the necklet in. Only a desperateresolution
took me through the tangle of juniper bushes into the red
screes of the gully. At first I could not find what I sought. The
stream in the ravine slid down a long slope like a mill-race, and
the sides were bare and stony. Still I plodded on, helping
myself with a hand on Colin's back, for my legs were numb
with fatigue. By-and-by the gully narrowed, and I came to a
flat place with a long pool. Beyond was a little fall, and up this
I climbed into a network of tiny cascades. Over one pool hung
a dead tree-fern, and a bay from it ran into a hole of the rock.
I slipped the jewels far into the hole, where they lay on the
firm sand, showing odd lights through the dim blue water.
Then I scrambled down again to the flat space and the pool,
and looked round to see if any one had reached the edge of the
ravine. There was no sign as yet of the pursuit, so I dropped
limply on the shingle and waited. For I had suddenly
conceived a plan.
As my breath came back to me my wits came back from
their wandering. These men were not there to kill me, but to
capture me. They could know nothing of the jewels, for Laputa
would never have dared to make the loss of the sacred Snake
public. Therefore they would not suspect what I had done,
and would simply lead me to Laputa at Inanda's Kraal. I
began to see the glimmerings of a plan for saving my life, and
by God's grace, for saving my country from the horrors of
rebellion. The more I thought the better I liked it. It
demanded a bold front, and it might well miscarry, but I had
taken such desperate hazards during the past days that I was
less afraid of fortune. Anyhow, the choice lay between certain
death and a slender chance of life, and it was easy to decide.
Playing football, I used to notice how towards the end of a
game I might be sore and weary, without a kick in my body;
but when I had a straight job of tackling a man my strength
miraculously returned. It was even so now. I lay on my side,
luxuriating in being still, and slowly a sort of vigour crept back
into my limbs. Perhaps a half-hour of rest was given me before,
on the lip of the gully, I saw figures appear. Looking down I
saw several men who had come across from the opposite side
of the valley, scrambling up the stream. I got to my feet, with
Colin bristling beside me, and awaited them with the stiffest
face I could muster.
As I expected, they were Machudi's men. I recognized them
by the red ochre in their hair and their copper-wire necklets.
Big fellows they were, long-legged and deep in the chest, the
true breed of mountaineers. I admired their light tread on the
slippery rock. It was hopeless to think of evading such men in
their own hills.
The men from the side joined the men in front, and they
stood looking at me from about twelve yards off. They were
armed only with knobkerries, and very clearly were no part
of Laputa's army. This made their errand plain to me.
'Halt!' I said in Kaffir, as one of them made a hesitating step
to advance. 'Who are you and what do you seek?'
There was no answer, but they looked at me curiously.
Then one made a motion with his stick. Colin gave a growl, and
would have been on him if I had not kept a hand on his collar.
The rash man drew back, and all stood stiff and perplexed.
'Keep your hands by your side,' I said, 'or the dog, who has
a devil, will devour you. One of you speak for the rest and tell
me your purpose.'
For a moment I had a wild notion that they might be
friends, some of Arcoll's scouts, and out to help me. But the
first words shattered the fancy.
'We are sent by Inkulu,' the biggest of them said. 'He bade
us bring you to him.'
'And what if I refuse to go?'
'Then, Baas, we must take you to him. We are under the
vow of the Snake.'
- shallow [´ʃæləu]
a.肤浅的；表面的 (初中英语单词) - horizon [hə´raizən] n.地平线；范围；视野 (初中英语单词)
- shakespeare [´ʃeikspiə] n.莎士比亚 (初中英语单词)
- civilization [,sivilai´zeiʃən] n.文明，文化 (初中英语单词)
- inspect [in´spekt] v.检查；视察；检阅 (初中英语单词)
- collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
- glorious [´glɔ:riəs] a.光荣的；辉煌的 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- glimpse [glimps] n.&v.瞥见 (初中英语单词)
- stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
- weapon [´wepən] n.武器；斗争手段 (初中英语单词)
- disappointment [,disə´pɔintmənt] n.失望；挫折 (初中英语单词)
- partly [´pɑ:tli] ad.部分地；不完全地 (初中英语单词)
- healthy [´helθi] a.健康的 (初中英语单词)
- savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)
- hillside [´hilsaid] n.山腰 (初中英语单词)
- sickness [´siknis] n.生病；呕吐，恶心 (初中英语单词)
- resolution [,rezə´lu:ʃən] n.决心；坚决；果断 (初中英语单词)
- fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
- warrior [´wɔriə] n.勇士，战士 (初中英语单词)
- pursuit [pə´sju:t] n.追踪；追击；事务 (初中英语单词)
- desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
- breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- suspect [´sʌspekt, sə´spekt] v.怀疑；觉得 n.嫌疑犯 (初中英语单词)
- slender [´slendə] a.细长的；微薄的 (初中英语单词)
- valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
- errand [´erənd] n.差使，使命 (初中英语单词)
- salvation [sæl´veiʃən] n.救助；拯救 (高中英语单词)
- plateau [´plætəu] n.高原；平稳；托盘 (高中英语单词)
- threshold [´θreʃhəuld] n.门槛；入门；开端 (高中英语单词)
- uneasy [ʌn´i:zi] a.不安的；不自在的 (高中英语单词)
- summit [´sʌmit] n.顶(点)；绝顶 (高中英语单词)
- spectator [spek´teitə] n.观众，旁观者 (高中英语单词)
- squeeze [skwi:z] v.&n.压榨，榨取 (高中英语单词)
- waterfall [´wɔ:təfɔ:l] n.瀑布 (高中英语单词)
- solitude [´sɔlitju:d] n.孤独；寂寞；荒凉 (高中英语单词)
- frantic [´fræntik] a.发狂的；急忙的 (高中英语单词)
- crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)
- tangle [´tæŋgəl] n.&vt.(使)缠结；纠纷 (高中英语单词)
- fatigue [fə´ti:g] n.&vt.(使)疲劳(劳累) (高中英语单词)
- vigour [´vigə] (=vigor) n.活力；精力 (高中英语单词)
- hopeless [´həupləs] a.无望的，无可救药的 (高中英语单词)
- motion [´məuʃən] n.手势 vt.打手势 (高中英语单词)
- devour [di´vauə] vt.吞食；毁坏 (高中英语单词)
- weariness [wiərinis] n.疲倦；厌烦 (英语四级单词)
- trough [trɔf] n.槽；水槽；饲料槽 (英语四级单词)
- emerald [´emərəld] n.纯绿宝石；翠绿色 (英语四级单词)
- tiptoe [´tiptəu] n.脚尖 vi.踮着脚走 (英语四级单词)
- whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
- precipice [´presipis] n.悬崖；危急的处境 (英语四级单词)
- ravine [rə´vi:n] n.沟壑；深谷 (英语四级单词)
- network [´netwə:k] n.网状物 vt.联播 (英语四级单词)
- shingle [´ʃiŋgəl] n.盖屋板；木瓦 (英语四级单词)
- jocund [´dʒɔkənd] a.欢乐的，愉快的 (英语六级单词)
- covert [kʌvət] a.隐藏的 n.隐藏处 (英语六级单词)
- beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)
- intercept [,intə´sept] vt.拦截；截获；窃听 (英语六级单词)
- half-hour [´hɑ:f-auə] n.&a.(每)三十分钟的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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