All men know — in imagination or in experience — the sensation of being spied on. The nerves tingle8, the skin grows hot and prickly, and there is a queer sinking of the heart. Intensify9 this common feeling a hundredfold, and you get a tenth part of what I suffered. I am telling a plain tale, and record bare physical facts. My lips stood out from my teeth as I heard, or felt, a rustle10 in the heather, a scraping among stones. Some subtle magnetic link seemed established between my body and the mysterious world around. I became sick — acutely sick — with the ceaseless apprehension11.
My fright became so complete that when I turned a corner of rock, or stepped in deep heather, I seemed to feel a body rub against me. This continued all the way up the Farawa water, and then up its feeder to the little lonely loch. It kept me from looking forward; but it likewise kept me in such a sweat of fright that I was ready to faint. Then thenotion came upon me to test this fancy of mine. If I was tracked thus closely, clearly the trackers would bar my way if I turned back. So I wheeled round and walked a dozen paces down the glen.
Nothing stopped me. I was about to turn again, when something made me take six more paces. At the fourth something rustled13 in the heather, and my neck was gripped as in a vice14. I had already made up my mind on what I would do. I would be perfectly15 still, I would conquer my fear, and let them do as they pleased with me so long as they took me to their dwelling16. But at the touch of the hands my resolutions fled. I struggled and screamed. Then something was clapped on my mouth, speech and strength went from me, and once more I was back in the maudlin17 childhood of terror.
In the cave it was always a dusky twilight18. I seemed to be lying in the same place, with the same dull glare of firelight far off, and the same close stupefying smell. One of the creatures was standing19 silently at my side, and I asked him some trivial question. He turned and shambled down the passage, leaving me alone.
Then he returned with another, and they talked their guttural talk to me. I scarcely listened till I remembered that in a sense I was here of my own accord, and on a definite mission. The purport20 of their speech seemed to be that, now I had returned, I must beware of a second flight. Once I had been spared; a second time I should be killed without mercy.
I assented21 gladly. The Folk, then, had some use for me. I felt my errand prospering22.
Then the old creature which I had seen before crept out of some corner and squatted24 beside me. He put a claw on my shoulder, a horrible, corrugated25, skeleton thing, hairy to the finger-tips and nailless. He grinned, too, with toothless gums, and his hideous26 old voice was like a file on sandstone.
I asked questions, but he would only grin and jabber27, looking now and then furtively28 over his shoulder towards the fire.
I coaxed29 and humoured him, till he launched into a narrative30 of which I could make nothing. It seemed a mere31 string of names, with certain words repeated at fixed32 intervals. Then it flashed on me that this might be a religious incantation. I had discovered remnants of a ritual and a mythology33 among them. It was possible that these were sacred days, and that I had stumbled upon some rude celebration.
I caught a word or two and repeated them. He looked at me curiously34. Then I asked him some leading question, and he replied with clearness. My guess was right. The midsummer week was the holy season of the year, when sacrifices were offered to the gods.
The notion of sacrifices disquieted35 me, and I would fain have asked further. But the creature would speak no more. He hobbled off, and left me alone in the rock-chamber36 to listen to a strange sound which hung ceaselessly about me. It must be the storm without, like a pack of artillery37 rattling38 among the crags. A storm of storms surely, for the place echoed and hummed, and to my unquiet eye the very rock of the roof seemed to shake!
Apparently39 my existence was forgotten, for I lay long before any one returned. Then it was merely one who brought food, the same strange meal as before, and left hastily. When I had eaten I rose and stretched myself. My hands and knees still quivered nervously40; but I was strong and perfectly well in body. The empty, desolate41, tomb-like place was eerie42 enough to scare any one; but its emptiness was comfort when I thought of its inmates43. Then I wandered down the passage towards the fire which was burning in loneliness. Where had the Folk gone? I puzzled over their disappearance44.
Suddenly sounds began to break on my ear, coming from some inner chamber at the end of that in which the fire burned. I could scarcely see for the smoke; but I began to make my way towards the noise, feeling along the sides of rock. Then a second gleam of light seemed to rise before me, and I came to an aperture45 in the wall which gave entrance to another room.
This in turn was full of smoke and glow — a murky46 orange glow, as if from some strange flame of roots. There were the squat23 moving figures, running in wild antics round the fire. I crouched47 in the entrance, terrified and yet curious, till I saw something beyond the blaze which held me dumb. Apart from the others and tied to some stake in the wall was a woman’s figure, and the face was the face of the shepherd’s sister.
My first impulse was flight. I must get away and think, — plan, achieve some desperate way of escape. I sped back to the silent chamber as if the gang were at my heels. It was still empty, and I stood helplessly in the centre, looking at the impassable walls of rock as a wearied beast may look at the walls of its cage. I bethought me of the way I had escaped before and rushed thither48, only to find it blocked by a huge contrivance of stone. Yards and yards of solid rock were between me and the upper air, and yet through it all came the crash and whistle of the storm. If I were at my wits’ end in this inner darkness, there was also high commotion49 among the powers of the air in that upper world.
As I stood I heard the soft steps of my tormentors. They seemed to think I was meditating50 escape, for they flung themselves on me and bore me to the ground. I did not struggle, and when they saw me quiet, they squatted round and began to speak. They told me of the holy season and its sacrifices. At first I could not follow them; then when I caught familiar words I found some clue, and they became intelligible51. They spoke52 of a woman, and I asked, ‘What woman?’ With all frankness they told me of the custom which prevailed — how every twentieth summer a woman was sacrificed to some devilish god, and by the hand of one of the stranger race. I said nothing, but my whitening face must have told them a tale, though I strove hard to keep my composure. I asked if they had found the victims. ‘She is in this place,’ they said; ‘and as for the man, thou art he.’ And with this they left me.
I had still some hours; so much I gathered from their talk, for the sacrifice was at sunset. Escape was cut off for ever. I have always been something of a fatalist, and at the prospect53 of the irrevocable end my cheerfulness returned. I had my pistol, for they had taken nothing from me. I took out the little weapon and fingered it lovingly. Hope of the lost, refuge of the vanquished54, ease to the coward — blessed be he who first conceived it!
The time dragged on, the minutes grew to hours, and still I was left solitary55. Only the mad violence of the storm broke the quiet. It had increased in violence, for the stones at the mouth of the exit by which I had formerly56 escaped seemed to rock with some external pressure, and cutting shafts57 of wind slipped past and cleft58 the heat of the passage. What a sight the ravine outside must be, I thought, set in the forehead of a great hill, and swept clean by every breeze! Then came a crashing, and the long hollow echo of a fall. The rocks are splitting, said I; the road down the corrie will be impassable now and for evermore.
I began to grow weak with the nervousness of the waiting, and by-and-by I lay down and fell into a sort of doze12. When I next knew consciousness I was being roused by two of the Folk, and bidden get ready. I stumbled to my feet, felt for the pistol in the hollow of my sleeve, and prepared to follow.
When we came out into the wider chamber the noise of the storm was deafening59. The roof rang like a shield which has been struck. I noticed, perturbed60 as I was, that my guards cast anxious eyes around them, alarmed, like myself, at the murderous din6. Nor was the world quieter when we entered the last chamber, where the fire burned and the remnant of the Folk waited. Wind had found an entrance from somewhere or other, and the flames blew here and there, and the smoke gyrated in odd circles. At the back, and apart from the rest, I saw the dazed eyes and the white old drawn61 face of the woman.
They led me up beside her to a place where there was a rude flat stone, hollowed in the centre, and on it a rusty62 iron knife, which seemed once to have formed part of a scythe63-blade. Then I saw the ceremonial which was marked out for me. It was the very rite64 which I had dimly figured as current among a rude people, and even in that moment I had something of the scholar’s satisfaction.
The oldest of the Folk, who seemed to be a sort of priest, came to my side and mumbled65 a form of words. His fetid breath sickened me; his dull eyes, glassy like a brute’s with age, brought my knees together. He put the knife in my hands, dragged the terror-stricken woman forward to the altar, and bade me begin.
I began by sawing her bonds through. When she felt herself free she would have fled back, but stopped when I bade her. At that moment there came a noise of rending5 and crashing as if the hills were falling, and for one second the eyes of the Folk were averted66 from the frustrated67 sacrifice.
Only for a moment. The next they saw what I had done, and with one impulse rushed towards me. Then began the last scene in the play. I sent a bullet through the right eye of the first thing that came on. The second shot went wide; but the third shattered the hand of an elderly ruffian with a cruel club. Never for an instant did they stop, and now they were clutching at me. I pushed the woman behind, and fired three rapid shots in blind panic, and then, clutching the scythe, I struck right and left like a madman.
Suddenly I saw the foreground sink before my eyes. The roof sloped down, and with a sickening hiss68 a mountain of rock and earth seemed to precipitate69 itself on my assailants. One, nipped in the middle by a rock, caught my eye by his hideous writhings. Two only remained in what was now a little suffocating70 chamber, with embers from the fire still smoking on the floor.
The woman caught me by the hand and drew me with her, while the two seemed mute with fear. ‘There’s a road at the back,’ she screamed. ‘I ken2 it. I fand it out.’ And she pulled me up a narrow hole in the rock.
How long we climbed I do not know. We were both fighting for air, with the tightness of throat and chest, and the craziness of limb which mean suffocation71. I cannot tell when we first came to the surface, but I remember the woman, who seemed, to have the strength of extreme terror, pulling me from the edge of a crevasse72 and laying me on a flat rock. It seemed to be the depth of winter, with sheer-falling rain and a wind that shook the hills.
Then I was once more myself and could look about me. From my feet yawned a sheer abyss, where once had been a hill-shoulder. Some great mass of rock on the brow of the mountain had been loosened by the storm, and in its fall had caught the lips of the ravine and swept the nest of dwellings73 into a yawning pit. Beneath a mountain of rubble74 lay buried that life on which I had thought to build my fame.
My feeling — Heaven help me! — was not thankfulness for God’s mercy and my escape, but a bitter mad regret. I rushed frantically75 to the edge, and when I saw only the blackness of darkness I wept weak tears. All the time the storm was tearing at my body, and I had to grip hard by hand and foot to keep my place.
Suddenly on the brink76 of the ravine I saw a third figure. We two were not the only fugitives77. One of the Folk had escaped.
The thought put new life into me, for I had lost the first fresh consciousness of terror. There still remained a relic78 of the vanished life. Could I but make the thing my prisoner, there would be proof in my hands to overcome a sceptical world.
I ran to it, and to my surprise the thing as soon as it saw me rushed to meet me. At first I thought it was with some instinct of self-preservation, but when I saw its eyes I knew the purpose of fight. Clearly one or other should go no more from the place.
We were some ten yards from the brink when I grappled with it. Dimly I heard the woman scream with fright, and saw her scramble79 across the hillside. Then we were tugging80 in a death-throe, the hideous smell-of the thing in my face, its red eyes burning into mine, and its hoarse81 voice muttering. Its strength seemed incredible; but I, too, am no weakling. We tugged82 and strained, its nails biting into my flesh, while I choked its throat unsparingly. Every second I dreaded83 lest we should plunge84 together over the ledge85, for it was thither my adversary86 tried to draw me. I caught my heel in a nick of rock, and pulled madly against it.
And then, while I was beginning to glory with the pride of conquest, my hope was dashed in pieces. The thing seemed to break from my arms, and, as if in despair, cast itself headlong into the impenetrable darkness. I stumbled blindly after it, saved myself on the brink, and fell back, sick and ill, into a merciful swoon.
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收听单词发音
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1
dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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tingle
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| vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动 | |
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intensify
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| vt.加强；变强；加剧 | |
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rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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maudlin
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| adj.感情脆弱的，爱哭的 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prospering
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的现在分词 ) | |
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squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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corrugated
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| adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词) | |
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26
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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jabber
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| v.快而不清楚地说；n.吱吱喳喳 | |
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furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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mythology
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| n.神话，神话学，神话集 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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disquieted
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| v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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52
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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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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scythe
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| n. 长柄的大镰刀，战车镰； v. 以大镰刀割 | |
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rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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crevasse
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| n. 裂缝，破口；v.使有裂缝 | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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rubble
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| n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾 | |
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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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82
tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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