Older than all —
Masters of mourning and feast,
How shall we fall?
Will they gape1 to the husks that ye proffer2,
Or yearn3 to your song?
And we, have we nothing to offer
Who ruled them so long
In the fume4 of the incense5, the clash of the cymbal6,
the blare of the conch and the gong?
Over the strife7 of the schools,
Low the day burns —
Back with the kine from the pools,
Each one returns,
To the life that he knows where the altar-flame glows
And the tulsi is trimmed in the urns8.
— In Seeonee.
The evening and the long night gave Kate ample time for self-examination after she had locked up the treacherous9 fruit, and consoled the Maharaj, through her tears, for the mysterious death of Moti. One thing only seemed absolutely clear to her, when she rose red-eyed and unrefreshed the next morning: her work was with the women so long as life remained, and the sole refuge for her present trouble was in the portion of that work which lay nearest to her hand. Meanwhile the man who loved her remained in Gokral Seetarun, in deadly peril10 of his life, that he might be within call of her; and she could not call him, for to summon him was to yield, and she dared not.
She took her way to the hospital. The dread11 for him that had assailed12 her yesterday had become a horror that would not let her think.
The woman of the desert was waiting as usual at the foot of the steps, her hands clasped over her knee, and her face veiled. Behind her was Dhunpat Rai, who should have been among the wards13; and she could see that the courtyard was filled with people — strangers and visitors, who, by, her new regulations, were allowed to come only once a week. This was not their visiting day, and Kate, strained and worn by all that she had passed through since the day before, felt an angry impulse in her heart go out against them, and spoke14 wrathfully.
‘What is the meaning of this, Dhunpat Rai?’ she demanded, alighting.
‘There is commotion16 of popular bigotry17 within,’ said Dhunpat Rai. ‘It is nothing. I have seen it before. Only do not go in.’
She put him aside without a word, and was about to enter when she met one of her patients, a man in the last stage of typhoid fever, being borne out by half a dozen clamouring friends, who shouted at her menacingly. The woman of the desert was at her side in an instant, raising her hand, in the brown hollow of which lay a long, broad-bladed knife.
‘Be still, dogs!’ she shouted, in their own tongue. ‘Dare not to lay hands on this peri, who has done all for you!’
‘She is killing18 our people,’ shouted a villager.
‘Maybe,’ said the woman, with a flashing smile; ‘but I know who will be lying here dead if you do not suffer her to pass. Are you Rajputs, or Bhils from the hills, hunters of fish, and diggers after grubs, that you run like cattle because a lying priest from nowhere troubles your heads of mud? Is she killing your people? How long can you keep that man alive with your charms and your mantras?’ she demanded, pointing to the stricken form on the stretcher. ‘Out — go out! Is this hospital your own village to defile19? Have you paid one penny for the roof above you or the drugs in your bellies20? Get hence before I spit upon you!’ She brushed them aside with a regal gesture.
‘It is best not to go in,’ said Dhunpat Rai in Kate’s, ear. ‘There is local holy man in the courtyard, and he is agitating21 their minds. Also, I myself feel much indisposed.’
‘But what does all this mean?’ demanded Kate again.
For the hospital was in the hands of a hurrying crowd, who were strapping22 up bedding and cooking-pots, lamps and linen23, calling to one another up and down the staircases in subdued24 voices, and bringing the sick from the upper wards as ants bring eggs out of a broken hill, six or eight to each man — some holding bunches of marigold flowers in their hands, and pausing to mutter prayers at each step, others peering fearfully into the dispensary, and yet others drawing water from the well and pouring it out around the beds.
In the centre of the courtyard, as naked as the lunatic who had once lived there, sat an ash-smeared, long-haired, eagle-taloned, half-mad, wandering native priest, and waved above his head his buckhorn staff, sharp as a lance at one end, while he chanted in a loud monotonous25 voice some song that drove the men and women to work more quickly.
As Kate faced him, white with wrath15, her eyes blazing, the song turned to a yelp26 of fierce hatred27.
She dashed among the women swiftly — her own women, who she thought had grown to love her. But their relatives were about them, and Kate was thrust back by a bare-shouldered, loud-voiced dweller28 of the out-villages in the heart of the desert.
The man had no intention of doing her harm, but the woman of the desert slashed29 him across the face with her knife, and he withdrew howling.
‘Let me speak to them,’ said Kate, and the woman beside her quelled30 the clamour of the crowd with uplifted hands. Only the priest continued his song. Kate strode toward him, her little figure erect31 and quivering, crying in the vernacular32, ‘Be silent, thou, or I will find means to close thy mouth!’
The man was hushed, and Kate, returning to her women, stood amongst them, and began to speak impassionedly.
‘Oh, my women, what have I done?’ she cried, still in the vernacular. ‘If there is any fault here, who should right it but your friend? Surely you can speak to me day or night.’ She threw out her arms. ‘Listen, my sisters! Have you gone mad, that you wish to go abroad now, half-cured, sick, or dying? You are free to go at any hour. Only, for your own sake, and for the sake of your children, do not go before I have cured you, if God so please. It is summer in the desert now, and many of you have come from many koss distant.’
‘She speaks truth! She speaks truth,’ said a voice in the crowd.
‘Ay, I do speak truth. And I have dealt fairly by ye. Surely it is upon your heads to tell me the cause of this flight, and not to run away like mice. My sisters, ye are weak and ill, and your friends do not know what is best for you. But I know.’
‘Arre! But what can we do?’ cried a feeble voice. ‘It is no fault of ours. I, at least, would fain die in peace, but the priest says ——’
Then the clamour broke out afresh. ‘There are charms written upon the plasters ——’
‘Why should we become Christians34 against our will? The wise woman that was sent away asks it.’
‘What are the meanings of the red marks on the plasters?’
‘Why should we have strange devil-marks stamped upon our bodies? And they burn, too, like the fires of hell.’
‘The priest came yesterday — that holy man yonder — and he said it had been revealed to him, sitting among the hills, that this devil’s plan was on foot to make us lose our religion ——’
‘And to send us out of the hospital with marks upon our bodies — ay, and all the babies we should bear in the hospital should have tails like camels, and ears like mules35. The wise woman says so; the priest says so.’
‘Hush33! hush!’ cried Kate, in the face of these various words. ‘What plasters? What child’s talk is this of plasters and devils? Not one child, but many have been born here, and all were comely36. Ye know it! This is the word of the worthless woman, whom I sent away because she was torturing you.’
‘Nay, but the priest said ——’
‘What care I for the priest? Has he nursed you? Has he watched by you of nights? Has he sat by your bedside, and smoothed your pillow, and held your hand in pain? Has he taken your children from you and put them to sleep, when ye needed an hour’s rest?’
‘He is a holy man. He has worked miracles. We dare not face the anger of the gods.’
One woman, bolder than the rest, shouted, ‘Look at this’; and held before Kate’s face one of the prepared mustard-leaves lately ordered from Calcutta, which bore upon the back, in red ink, the maker’s name and trade-mark.
‘What is this devil’s thing?’ demanded the woman fiercely.
The woman of the desert caught her by the shoulder, and forced her to her knees.
‘Be still, woman without a nose!‘she cried, her voice vibrating with passion. ‘She is not of thy clay, and thy touch would defile her. Remember thine own dunghill, and speak softly.’
Kate picked up the plaster, smiling.
‘And who says there is devil’s work in this?’ she demanded.
‘The holy man, the priest. Surely he should know!’
‘Nay, ye should know,’ said Kate patiently. She understood now, and could pity. ‘Ye have worn it. Did it work thee any harm, Pithira?’ She pointed37 directly toward her. ‘Thou hast thanked me not once but many times for giving thee relief through this charm. If it was the devil’s work, why did it not consume thee?’
‘Indeed it burnt very much indeed,’ responded the woman, with a nervous laugh.
Kate could not help laughing. ‘That is true. I cannot make my drugs pleasant. But ye know that they do good. What do these people, your friends — villagers, camel-drivers, goat-herds — know of English drugs? Are they so wise among their hills, or is the priest so wise, that they can judge for thee here, fifty miles away from them? Do not listen. Oh, do not listen! Tell them that ye will stay with me, and I will make you well. I can do no more. It was for that I came. I heard of your misery38 ten thousand miles away, and it burnt into my heart. Would I have come so far to work you harm? Go back to your beds, my sisters, and bid these foolish people depart.’
There was a murmur39 among the women, as if of assent40 and doubt. For a moment the decision swayed one way and the other.
Then the man whose face had been slashed shouted, ‘What is the use of talking? Let us take our wives and sisters away! We do not wish to have sons like devils. Give us your voice, O father!’ he cried to the priest.
The holy man drew himself up, and swept away Kate’s appeal with a torrent41 of abuse, imprecation, and threats of damnation; and the crowd began to slip past Kate by twos and threes, half carrying and half forcing their kinsfolk with them.
Kate called on the women by name, beseeching42 them to stay — reasoning, arguing, expostulating. But to no purpose. Many of them were in tears; but the answer from all was the same. They were sorry, but they were only poor women, and they feared the wrath of their husbands.
Minute after minute the wards were depopulated of their occupants, as the priest resumed his song, and began to dance frenziedly in the courtyard. The stream of colours broke out down the steps into the street, and Kate saw the last of her carefully swathed women borne out into the pitiless sun-glare — only the woman of the desert remaining by her side.
Kate looked on with stony43 eyes. Her hospital was empty.
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1
gape
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| v.张口，打呵欠，目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
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2
proffer
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| v.献出，赠送；n.提议，建议 | |
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3
yearn
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| v.想念；怀念；渴望 | |
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4
fume
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| n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟，气，汽 | |
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5
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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6
cymbal
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| n.铙钹 | |
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7
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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8
urns
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| n.壶( urn的名词复数 )；瓮；缸；骨灰瓮 | |
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9
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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10
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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11
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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12
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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13
wards
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| 区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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14
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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15
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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16
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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17
bigotry
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| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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18
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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19
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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20
bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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21
agitating
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| 搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论 | |
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22
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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23
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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24
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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25
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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26
yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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27
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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28
dweller
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| n.居住者，住客 | |
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29
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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30
quelled
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| v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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32
vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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33
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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34
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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35
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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36
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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37
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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38
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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39
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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40
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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41
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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42
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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43
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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