章节正文
help from men, after having been cast out, like a pre-
sumptuous Titan, from his heaven. Mr. Van Wyk, ar-
rested, seemed to count the footsteps right out of ear-
shot. He walked between the tables, tapping smartly
with his heels, took up a paper-knife, dropped it after
a vague glance along the blade; then happening upon
the piano, struck a few chords again and again, vigor-
ously, standing up before the keyboard with an atten-
tive poise of the head like a piano-tuner; closing it, he
pivoted on his heels brusquely, avoided the little terrier
sleeping trustfully on crossed forepaws, came upon the
stairs next, and, as though he had lost his balance on
the top step, ran down headlong out of the house. His
servants, beginning to clear the table, heard him mutter
to himself (evil words no doubt) down there, and then
after a pause go away with a strolling gait in the direc-
tion of the wharf.
The bulwarks of the Sofala lying alongside the bank
made a low, black wall on the undulating contour of the
shore. Two masts and a funnel uprose from behind it
with a great rake, as if about to fall: a solid, square
elevation in the middle bore the ghostly shapes of white
boats, the curves of davits, lines of rail and stanchions,
all confused and mingling darkly everywhere; but low
down, amidships, a single lighted port stared out on
the night, perfectly round, like a small, full moon,
whose yellow beam caught a patch of wet mud, the
edge of trodden grass, two turns of heavy cable
wound round the foot of a thick wooden post in the
ground.
Mr. Van Wyk, peering alongside, heard a muzzy
boastful voice apparently jeering at a person called
Prendergast. It mouthed abuse thickly, choked; then
pronounced very distinctly the word "Murphy," and
chuckled. Glass tinkled tremulously. All these sounds
came from the lighted port. Mr. Van Wyk hesitated,
stooped; it was impossible to look through unless he
went down into the mud.
"Sterne," he said, half aloud.
The drunken voice within said gladly--
"Sterne--of course. Look at him blink. Look at
him! Sterne, Whalley, Massy. Massy, Whalley,
Sterne. But Massy's the best. You can't come over
him. He would just love to see you starve."
Mr. Van Wyk moved away, made out farther forward
a shadowy head stuck out from under the awnings as
if on the watch, and spoke quietly in Malay, "Is the
mate asleep?"
"No. Here, at your service."
In a moment Sterne appeared, walking as noiselessly
as a cat on the wharf.
"It's so jolly dark, and I had no idea you would be
down to-night."
"What's this horrible raving?" asked Mr. Van Wyk,
as if to explain the cause of a shudder than ran over
him audibly.
"Jack's broken out on a drunk. That's our second.
It's his way. He will be right enough by to-morrow
afternoon, only Mr. Massy will keep on worrying up
and down the deck. We had better get away."
He muttered suggestively of a talk "up at the house."
He had long desired to effect an entrance there, but Mr.
Van Wyk nonchalantly demurred: it would not, he
feared, be quite prudent, perhaps; and the opaque
black shadow under one of the two big trees left at the
landing-place swallowed them up, impenetrably dense,
by the side of the wide river, that seemed to spin into
threads of glitter the light of a few big stars dropped
here and there upon its outspread and flowing stillness.
"The situation is grave beyond doubt," Mr. Van Wyk
said. Ghost-like in their white clothes they could not
distinguish each others' features, and their feet made
no sound on the soft earth. A sort of purring was
heard. Mr. Sterne felt gratified by such a beginning.
"I thought, Mr. Van Wyk, a gentleman of your sort
would see at once how awkwardly I was situated."
"Yes, very. Obviously his health is bad. Perhaps
he's breaking up. I see, and he himself is well aware--
I assume I am speaking to a man of sense--he is well
aware that his legs are giving out."
"His legs--ah!" Mr. Sterne was disconcerted, and
then turned sulky. "You may call it his legs if you
like; what I want to know is whether he intends to clear
out quietly. That's a good one, too! His legs!
Pooh!"
"Why, yes. Only look at the way he walks." Mr.
Van Wyk took him up in a perfectly cool and undoubt-
ing tone. "The question, however, is whether your
sense of duty does not carry you too far from your true
interest. After all, I too could do something to serve
you. You know who I am."
"Everybody along the Straits has heard of you, sir."
Mr. Van Wyk presumed that this meant something
favorable. Sterne had a soft laugh at this pleasantry.
He should think so! To the opening statement, that
the partnershipagreement was to expire at the end of
this very trip, he gave an attentiveassent. He was
aware. One heard of nothing else on board all the
blessed day long. As to Massy, it was no secret that he
was in a jolly deep hole with these worn-out boilers.
He would have to borrow somewhere a couple of hun-
dred first of all to pay off the captain; and then he
would have to raise money on mortgage upon the ship
for the new boilers--that is, if he could find a lender at
all. At best it meant loss of time, a break in the trade,
short earnings for the year--and there was always the
danger of having his connection filched away from him
by the Germans. It was whispered about that he had
already tried two firms. Neither would have anything
to do with him. Ship too old, and the man too well
known in the place. . . . Mr. Sterne's final rapid wink-
ing remained buried in the deep darkness sibilating with
his whispers.
"Supposing, then, he got the loan," Mr. Van Wyk
resumed in a deliberate undertone, "on your own show-
ing he's more than likely to get a mortgagee's man
thrust upon him as captain. For my part, I know that
I would make that very stipulation myself if I had to
find the money. And as a matter of fact I am thinking
of doing so. It would be worth my while in many ways.
Do you see how this would bear on the case under dis-
cussion?"
"Thank you, sir. I am sure you couldn't get any-
body that would care more for your interests."
"Well, it suits my interest that Captain Whalley
should finish his time. I shall probably take a passage
with you down the Straits. If that can be done, I'll be
on the spot when all these changes take place, and in a
position to look after YOUR interests."
"Mr. Van Wyk, I want nothing better. I am sure
I am infinitely . . ."
"I take it, then, that this may be done without any
trouble."
"Well, sir, what risk there is can't be helped; but
(speaking to you as my employer now) the thing is
more safe than it looks. If anybody had told me of it
I wouldn't have believed it, but I have been looking on
myself. That old Serang has been trained up to the
game. There's nothing the matter with his--his--
limbs, sir. He's got used to doing things himself in a
remarkable way. And let me tell you, sir, that Cap-
tain Whalley, poor man, is by no means useless. Fact.
Let me explain to you, sir. He stiffens up that old
monkey of a Malay, who knows well enough what to do.
Why, he must have kept captain's watches in all sorts of
country ships off and on for the last five-and-twenty
years. These natives, sir, as long as they have a white
man close at the back, will go on doing the right thing
most surprisingly well--even if left quite to themselves.
Only the white man must be of the sort to put starch
into them, and the captain is just the one for that.
Why, sir, he has drilled him so well that now he needs
hardly speak at all. I have seen that little wrinkled
ape made to take the ship out of Pangu Bay on a
blowy morning and on all through the islands; take
her out first-rate, sir, dodging under the old man's
elbow, and in such quiet style that you could not have
told for the life of you which of the two was doing the
work up there. That's where our poor friend would be
still of use to the ship even if--if--he could no longer
lift a foot, sir. Provided the Serang does not know
that there's anything wrong."
"He doesn't."
"Naturally not. Quite beyond his apprehension.
They aren't capable of finding out anything about us,
sir."
"You seem to be a shrewd man," said Mr. Van Wyk
in a choked mutter, as though he were feeling sick.
"You'll find me a good enough servant, sir."
Mr. Sterne hoped now for a handshake at least, but
unexpectedly, with a "What's this? Better not to be
seen together," Mr. Van Wyk's white shape wavered,
and instantly seemed to melt away in the black air under
the roof of boughs. The mate was startled. Yes.
There was that faint thumping clatter.
He stole out silently from under the shade. The
lighted port-hole shone from afar. His head swam with
the intoxication of sudden success. What a thing it
was to have a gentleman to deal with! He crept aboard,
and there was something weird in the shadowy stretch
of empty decks, echoing with shouts and blows proceed-
ing from a darker part amidships. Mr. Massy was
raging before the door of the berth: the drunken voice
within flowed on undisturbed in the violentracket of
kicks.
"Shut up! Put your light out and turn in, you
confounded swilling pig--you! D'you hear me, you
beast?"
The kicking stopped, and in the pause the muzzy
oracular voice announced from within--
"Ah! Massy, now--that's another thing. Massy's
deep."
"Who's that aft there? You, Sterne? He'll drink
himself into a fit of horrors." The chief engineer ap-
peared vague and big at the corner of the engine-
room.
"He will be good enough for duty to-morrow. I would
let him be, Mr. Massy."
Sterne slipped away into his berth, and at once had
to sit down. His head swam with exultation. He got
into his bunk as if in a dream. A feeling of profound
sumptuous Titan, from his heaven. Mr. Van Wyk, ar-
rested, seemed to count the footsteps right out of ear-
shot. He walked between the tables, tapping smartly
with his heels, took up a paper-knife, dropped it after
a vague glance along the blade; then happening upon
the piano, struck a few chords again and again, vigor-
ously, standing up before the keyboard with an atten-
tive poise of the head like a piano-tuner; closing it, he
pivoted on his heels brusquely, avoided the little terrier
sleeping trustfully on crossed forepaws, came upon the
stairs next, and, as though he had lost his balance on
the top step, ran down headlong out of the house. His
servants, beginning to clear the table, heard him mutter
to himself (evil words no doubt) down there, and then
after a pause go away with a strolling gait in the direc-
tion of the wharf.
The bulwarks of the Sofala lying alongside the bank
made a low, black wall on the undulating contour of the
shore. Two masts and a funnel uprose from behind it
with a great rake, as if about to fall: a solid, square
elevation in the middle bore the ghostly shapes of white
boats, the curves of davits, lines of rail and stanchions,
all confused and mingling darkly everywhere; but low
down, amidships, a single lighted port stared out on
the night, perfectly round, like a small, full moon,
whose yellow beam caught a patch of wet mud, the
edge of trodden grass, two turns of heavy cable
wound round the foot of a thick wooden post in the
ground.
Mr. Van Wyk, peering alongside, heard a muzzy
boastful voice apparently jeering at a person called
Prendergast. It mouthed abuse thickly, choked; then
pronounced very distinctly the word "Murphy," and
chuckled. Glass tinkled tremulously. All these sounds
came from the lighted port. Mr. Van Wyk hesitated,
stooped; it was impossible to look through unless he
went down into the mud.
"Sterne," he said, half aloud.
The drunken voice within said gladly--
"Sterne--of course. Look at him blink. Look at
him! Sterne, Whalley, Massy. Massy, Whalley,
Sterne. But Massy's the best. You can't come over
him. He would just love to see you starve."
Mr. Van Wyk moved away, made out farther forward
a shadowy head stuck out from under the awnings as
if on the watch, and spoke quietly in Malay, "Is the
mate asleep?"
"No. Here, at your service."
In a moment Sterne appeared, walking as noiselessly
as a cat on the wharf.
"It's so jolly dark, and I had no idea you would be
down to-night."
"What's this horrible raving?" asked Mr. Van Wyk,
as if to explain the cause of a shudder than ran over
him audibly.
"Jack's broken out on a drunk. That's our second.
It's his way. He will be right enough by to-morrow
afternoon, only Mr. Massy will keep on worrying up
and down the deck. We had better get away."
He muttered suggestively of a talk "up at the house."
He had long desired to effect an entrance there, but Mr.
Van Wyk nonchalantly demurred: it would not, he
feared, be quite prudent, perhaps; and the opaque
black shadow under one of the two big trees left at the
landing-place swallowed them up, impenetrably dense,
by the side of the wide river, that seemed to spin into
threads of glitter the light of a few big stars dropped
here and there upon its outspread and flowing stillness.
"The situation is grave beyond doubt," Mr. Van Wyk
said. Ghost-like in their white clothes they could not
distinguish each others' features, and their feet made
no sound on the soft earth. A sort of purring was
heard. Mr. Sterne felt gratified by such a beginning.
"I thought, Mr. Van Wyk, a gentleman of your sort
would see at once how awkwardly I was situated."
"Yes, very. Obviously his health is bad. Perhaps
he's breaking up. I see, and he himself is well aware--
I assume I am speaking to a man of sense--he is well
aware that his legs are giving out."
"His legs--ah!" Mr. Sterne was disconcerted, and
then turned sulky. "You may call it his legs if you
like; what I want to know is whether he intends to clear
out quietly. That's a good one, too! His legs!
Pooh!"
"Why, yes. Only look at the way he walks." Mr.
Van Wyk took him up in a perfectly cool and undoubt-
ing tone. "The question, however, is whether your
sense of duty does not carry you too far from your true
interest. After all, I too could do something to serve
you. You know who I am."
"Everybody along the Straits has heard of you, sir."
Mr. Van Wyk presumed that this meant something
favorable. Sterne had a soft laugh at this pleasantry.
He should think so! To the opening statement, that
the partnershipagreement was to expire at the end of
this very trip, he gave an attentiveassent. He was
aware. One heard of nothing else on board all the
blessed day long. As to Massy, it was no secret that he
was in a jolly deep hole with these worn-out boilers.
He would have to borrow somewhere a couple of hun-
dred first of all to pay off the captain; and then he
would have to raise money on mortgage upon the ship
for the new boilers--that is, if he could find a lender at
all. At best it meant loss of time, a break in the trade,
short earnings for the year--and there was always the
danger of having his connection filched away from him
by the Germans. It was whispered about that he had
already tried two firms. Neither would have anything
to do with him. Ship too old, and the man too well
known in the place. . . . Mr. Sterne's final rapid wink-
ing remained buried in the deep darkness sibilating with
his whispers.
"Supposing, then, he got the loan," Mr. Van Wyk
resumed in a deliberate undertone, "on your own show-
ing he's more than likely to get a mortgagee's man
thrust upon him as captain. For my part, I know that
I would make that very stipulation myself if I had to
find the money. And as a matter of fact I am thinking
of doing so. It would be worth my while in many ways.
Do you see how this would bear on the case under dis-
cussion?"
"Thank you, sir. I am sure you couldn't get any-
body that would care more for your interests."
"Well, it suits my interest that Captain Whalley
should finish his time. I shall probably take a passage
with you down the Straits. If that can be done, I'll be
on the spot when all these changes take place, and in a
position to look after YOUR interests."
"Mr. Van Wyk, I want nothing better. I am sure
I am infinitely . . ."
"I take it, then, that this may be done without any
trouble."
"Well, sir, what risk there is can't be helped; but
(speaking to you as my employer now) the thing is
more safe than it looks. If anybody had told me of it
I wouldn't have believed it, but I have been looking on
myself. That old Serang has been trained up to the
game. There's nothing the matter with his--his--
limbs, sir. He's got used to doing things himself in a
remarkable way. And let me tell you, sir, that Cap-
tain Whalley, poor man, is by no means useless. Fact.
Let me explain to you, sir. He stiffens up that old
monkey of a Malay, who knows well enough what to do.
Why, he must have kept captain's watches in all sorts of
country ships off and on for the last five-and-twenty
years. These natives, sir, as long as they have a white
man close at the back, will go on doing the right thing
most surprisingly well--even if left quite to themselves.
Only the white man must be of the sort to put starch
into them, and the captain is just the one for that.
Why, sir, he has drilled him so well that now he needs
hardly speak at all. I have seen that little wrinkled
ape made to take the ship out of Pangu Bay on a
blowy morning and on all through the islands; take
her out first-rate, sir, dodging under the old man's
elbow, and in such quiet style that you could not have
told for the life of you which of the two was doing the
work up there. That's where our poor friend would be
still of use to the ship even if--if--he could no longer
lift a foot, sir. Provided the Serang does not know
that there's anything wrong."
"He doesn't."
"Naturally not. Quite beyond his apprehension.
They aren't capable of finding out anything about us,
sir."
"You seem to be a shrewd man," said Mr. Van Wyk
in a choked mutter, as though he were feeling sick.
"You'll find me a good enough servant, sir."
Mr. Sterne hoped now for a handshake at least, but
unexpectedly, with a "What's this? Better not to be
seen together," Mr. Van Wyk's white shape wavered,
and instantly seemed to melt away in the black air under
the roof of boughs. The mate was startled. Yes.
There was that faint thumping clatter.
He stole out silently from under the shade. The
lighted port-hole shone from afar. His head swam with
the intoxication of sudden success. What a thing it
was to have a gentleman to deal with! He crept aboard,
and there was something weird in the shadowy stretch
of empty decks, echoing with shouts and blows proceed-
ing from a darker part amidships. Mr. Massy was
raging before the door of the berth: the drunken voice
within flowed on undisturbed in the violentracket of
kicks.
"Shut up! Put your light out and turn in, you
confounded swilling pig--you! D'you hear me, you
beast?"
The kicking stopped, and in the pause the muzzy
oracular voice announced from within--
"Ah! Massy, now--that's another thing. Massy's
deep."
"Who's that aft there? You, Sterne? He'll drink
himself into a fit of horrors." The chief engineer ap-
peared vague and big at the corner of the engine-
room.
"He will be good enough for duty to-morrow. I would
let him be, Mr. Massy."
Sterne slipped away into his berth, and at once had
to sit down. His head swam with exultation. He got
into his bunk as if in a dream. A feeling of profound
- standing [´stændiŋ]
n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词) - beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
- wooden [´wudn] a.木制的；呆板的 (初中英语单词)
- distinctly [di´stiŋktli] ad.清楚地，明晰地 (初中英语单词)
- drunken [´drʌŋkən] a.喝醉的；常醉的 (初中英语单词)
- horrible [´hɔrəbəl] a.可怕的；恐怖的 (初中英语单词)
- glitter [´glitə] n.光辉 vi.闪烁，炫耀 (初中英语单词)
- obviously [´ɔbviəsli] ad.明显地；显而易见地 (初中英语单词)
- opening [´əupəniŋ] n.开放；开端 a.开始的 (初中英语单词)
- agreement [ə´gri:mənt] n.同意；一致；协议 (初中英语单词)
- attentive [ə´tentiv] a.注意的；殷勤的 (初中英语单词)
- connection [kə´nekʃən] n.联系；关系；联运 (初中英语单词)
- employer [im´plɔiə] n.雇佣者，雇主 (初中英语单词)
- useless [´ju:sləs] a.无用的，无价值的 (初中英语单词)
- capable [´keipəbəl] a.有能力；能干的 (初中英语单词)
- mutter [´mʌtə] v.&n.咕哝；嘀咕 (初中英语单词)
- instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)
- silently [´sailəntli] ad.寂静地；沉默地 (初中英语单词)
- violent [´vaiələnt] a.强暴的；猛烈的 (初中英语单词)
- headlong [´hedlɔŋ] ad.&a.轻率地(的) (高中英语单词)
- alongside [əlɔŋ´said] ad.在旁 prep.横靠 (高中英语单词)
- perfectly [´pə:fiktli] ad.理想地；完美地 (高中英语单词)
- apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)
- thickly [´θikli] ad.厚厚地；密密地 (高中英语单词)
- shadowy [´ʃædəui] a.有阴影的；模糊的 (高中英语单词)
- shudder [´ʃʌdə] n.&vi.震颤；发抖 (高中英语单词)
- prudent [´pru:dənt] a.谨慎的；精明的 (高中英语单词)
- partnership [´pɑ:tnəʃip] n.合伙关系 (高中英语单词)
- expire [ik´spaiə] vi.终止；截止；死 (高中英语单词)
- assent [ə´sent] vi.&n.同意，赞成 (高中英语单词)
- mortgage [´mɔ:gidʒ] a.&vt.抵押 (高中英语单词)
- deliberate [di´libəreit] a.慎重的；故意的 (高中英语单词)
- finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
- shrewd [ʃru:d] a.精明的；狡猾的 (高中英语单词)
- racket [´rækit] n.(网球等的)拍；球拍 (高中英语单词)
- profound [prə´faund] a.深奥的；渊博的 (高中英语单词)
- happening [´hæpəniŋ] n.事件，偶然发生的事 (英语四级单词)
- awkwardly [´ɔ:kwədli] a.笨拙地；棘手地 (英语四级单词)
- infinitely [´infinitli] ad.无限地；无穷地 (英语四级单词)
- handshake [´hændʃeik] n.握手 (英语四级单词)
- undisturbed [,ʌndis´tə:bd] a.未受干扰的；镇静的 (英语四级单词)
- contour [´kɔntuə] n.外形 vt.描...的轮廓 (英语六级单词)
- funnel [´fʌnəl] n.漏斗；通气道 v.集中 (英语六级单词)
- ghostly [´gəustli] a.鬼的；朦胧的 (英语六级单词)
- darkly [´dɑ:kli] adv.暗，黑；暗中 (英语六级单词)
- speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)
- earnings [´ə:niŋz] n.收益；报酬；获得 (英语六级单词)
- surprisingly [sə´praiziŋli] ad.惊人地；意外地 (英语六级单词)
- exultation [egzʌl´teiʃən] n.欢腾，狂欢 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
京公网安备 11011202003401号
