The old man, full of scorn for the populace, as your austere2 republican so often is, had disregarded the preliminary sounds of trouble. He went on that day as usual pottering about the “casa” in his slippers3, muttering angrily to himself his contempt of the non-political nature of the riot, and shrugging his shoulders. In the end he was taken unawares by the out-rush of the rabble4. It was too late then to remove his family, and, indeed, where could he have run to with the portly Signora Teresa and two little girls on that great plain? So, barricading5 every opening, the old man sat down sternly in the middle of the darkened cafe with an old shot-gun on his knees. His wife sat on another chair by his side, muttering pious6 invocations to all the saints of the calendar.
The old republican did not believe in saints, or in prayers, or in what he called “priest’s religion.” Liberty and Garibaldi were his divinities; but he tolerated “superstition” in women, preserving in these matters a lofty and silent attitude.
His two girls, the eldest7 fourteen, and the other two years younger, crouched8 on the sanded floor, on each side of the Signora Teresa, with their heads on their mother’s lap, both scared, but each in her own way, the dark-haired Linda indignant and angry, the fair Giselle, the younger, bewildered and resigned. The Patrona removed her arms, which embraced her daughters, for a moment to cross herself and wring9 her hands hurriedly. She moaned a little louder.
“Oh! Gian’ Battista, why art thou not here? Oh! why art thou not here?”
She was not then invoking10 the saint himself, but calling upon Nostromo, whose patron he was. And Giorgio, motionless on the chair by her side, would be provoked by these reproachful and distracted appeals.
“Peace, woman! Where’s the sense of it? There’s his duty,” he murmured in the dark; and she would retort, panting —
“Eh! I have no patience. Duty! What of the woman who has been like a mother to him? I bent12 my knee to him this morning; don’t you go out, Gian’ Battista — stop in the house, Battistino — look at those two little innocent children!”
Mrs. Viola was an Italian, too, a native of Spezzia, and though considerably13 younger than her husband, already middle-aged14. She had a handsome face, whose complexion15 had turned yellow because the climate of Sulaco did not suit her at all. Her voice was a rich contralto. When, with her arms folded tight under her ample bosom16, she scolded the squat17, thick-legged China girls handling linen18, plucking fowls19, pounding corn in wooden mortars20 amongst the mud outbuildings at the back of the house, she could bring out such an impassioned, vibrating, sepulchral21 note that the chained watch-dog bolted into his kennel22 with a great rattle23. Luis, a cinnamon-coloured mulatto with a sprouting24 moustache and thick, dark lips, would stop sweeping25 the cafe with a broom of palm-leaves to let a gentle shudder26 run down his spine27. His languishing28 almond eyes would remain closed for a long time.
This was the staff of the Casa Viola, but all these people had fled early that morning at the first sounds of the riot, preferring to hide on the plain rather than trust themselves in the house; a preference for which they were in no way to blame, since, whether true or not, it was generally believed in the town that the Garibaldino had some money buried under the clay floor of the kitchen. The dog, an irritable29, shaggy brute30, barked violently and whined31 plaintively32 in turns at the back, running in and out of his kennel as rage or fear prompted him.
Bursts of great shouting rose and died away, like wild gusts33 of wind on the plain round the barricaded34 house; the fitful popping of shots grew louder above the yelling. Sometimes there were intervals35 of unaccountable stillness outside, and nothing could have been more gaily36 peaceful than the narrow bright lines of sunlight from the cracks in the shutters37, ruled straight across the cafe over the disarranged chairs and tables to the wall opposite. Old Giorgio had chosen that bare, whitewashed39 room for a retreat. It had only one window, and its only door swung out upon the track of thick dust fenced by aloe hedges between the harbour and the town, where clumsy carts used to creak along behind slow yokes40 of oxen guided by boys on horseback.
In a pause of stillness Giorgio cocked his gun. The ominous41 sound wrung42 a low moan from the rigid43 figure of the woman sitting by his side. A sudden outbreak of defiant44 yelling quite near the house sank all at once to a confused murmur11 of growls45. Somebody ran along; the loud catching46 of his breath was heard for an instant passing the door; there were hoarse47 mutters and footsteps near the wall; a shoulder rubbed against the shutter38, effacing48 the bright lines of sunshine pencilled across the whole breadth of the room. Signora Teresa’s arms thrown about the kneeling forms of her daughters embraced them closer with a convulsive pressure.
The mob, driven away from the Custom House, had broken up into several bands, retreating across the plain in the direction of the town. The subdued49 crash of irregular volleys fired in the distance was answered by faint yells far away. In the intervals the single shots rang feebly, and the low, long, white building blinded in every window seemed to be the centre of a turmoil50 widening in a great circle about its closed-up silence. But the cautious movements and whispers of a routed party seeking a momentary51 shelter behind the wall made the darkness of the room, striped by threads of quiet sunlight, alight with evil, stealthy sounds. The Violas had them in their ears as though invisible ghosts hovering52 about their chairs had consulted in mutters as to the advisability of setting fire to this foreigner’s casa.
It was trying to the nerves. Old Viola had risen slowly, gun in hand, irresolute53, for he did not see how he could prevent them. Already voices could be heard talking at the back. Signora Teresa was beside herself with terror.
“Ah! the traitor54! the traitor!” she mumbled55, almost inaudibly. “Now we are going to be burnt; and I bent my knee to him. No! he must run at the heels of his English.”
She seemed to think that Nostromo’s mere56 presence in the house would have made it perfectly57 safe. So far, she, too, was under the spell of that reputation the Capataz de Cargadores had made for himself by the waterside, along the railway line, with the English and with the populace of Sulaco. To his face, and even against her husband, she invariably affected58 to laugh it to scorn, sometimes good-naturedly, more often with a curious bitterness. But then women are unreasonable59 in their opinions, as Giorgio used to remark calmly on fitting occasions. On this occasion, with his gun held at ready before him, he stooped down to his wife’s head, and, keeping his eyes steadfastly60 on the barricaded door, he breathed out into her ear that Nostromo would have been powerless to help. What could two men shut up in a house do against twenty or more bent upon setting fire to the roof? Gian’ Battista was thinking of the casa all the time, he was sure.
“He think of the casa! He!” gasped61 Signora Viola, crazily. She struck her breast with her open hands. “I know him. He thinks of nobody but himself.”
A discharge of firearms near by made her throw her head back and close her eyes. Old Giorgio set his teeth hard under his white moustache, and his eyes began to roll fiercely. Several bullets struck the end of the wall together; pieces of plaster could be heard falling outside; a voice screamed “Here they come!” and after a moment of uneasy silence there was a rush of running feet along the front.
Then the tension of old Giorgio’s attitude relaxed, and a smile of contemptuous relief came upon his lips of an old fighter with a leonine face. These were not a people striving for justice, but thieves. Even to defend his life against them was a sort of degradation62 for a man who had been one of Garibaldi’s immortal63 thousand in the conquest of Sicily. He had an immense scorn for this outbreak of scoundrels and leperos, who did not know the meaning of the word “liberty.”
He grounded his old gun, and, turning his head, glanced at the coloured lithograph64 of Garibaldi in a black frame on the white wall; a thread of strong sunshine cut it perpendicularly65. His eyes, accustomed to the luminous66 twilight67, made out the high colouring of the face, the red of the shirt, the outlines of the square shoulders, the black patch of the Bersagliere hat with cock’s feathers curling over the crown. An immortal hero! This was your liberty; it gave you not only life, but immortality68 as well!
For that one man his fanaticism69 had suffered no diminution70. In the moment of relief from the apprehension71 of the greatest danger, perhaps, his family had been exposed to in all their wanderings, he had turned to the picture of his old chief, first and only, then laid his hand on his wife’s shoulder.
The children kneeling on the floor had not moved. Signora Teresa opened her eyes a little, as though he had awakened72 her from a very deep and dreamless slumber73. Before he had time in his deliberate way to say a reassuring74 word she jumped up, with the children clinging to her, one on each side, gasped for breath, and let out a hoarse shriek75.
It was simultaneous with the bang of a violent blow struck on the outside of the shutter. They could hear suddenly the snorting of a horse, the restive76 tramping of hoofs77 on the narrow, hard path in front of the house; the toe of a boot struck at the shutter again; a spur jingled78 at every blow, and an excited voice shouted, “Hola! hola, in there!”
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1
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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barricading
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的现在分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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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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wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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invoking
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| v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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12
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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17
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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18
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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19
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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20
mortars
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| n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵 | |
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21
sepulchral
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| adj.坟墓的，阴深的 | |
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kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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23
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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24
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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25
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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26
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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27
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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31
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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33
gusts
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| 一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作 | |
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34
barricaded
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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35
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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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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38
shutter
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| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
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39
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
yokes
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| 轭( yoke的名词复数 )； 奴役； 轭形扁担； 上衣抵肩 | |
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41
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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42
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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43
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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44
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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45
growls
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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46
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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47
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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48
effacing
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| 谦逊的 | |
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49
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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50
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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51
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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52
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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53
irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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54
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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55
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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56
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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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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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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59
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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60
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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61
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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62
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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63
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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64
lithograph
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| n.平板印刷，平板画；v.用平版印刷 | |
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perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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66
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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67
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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68
immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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71
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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72
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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73
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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74
reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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75
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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76
restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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77
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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78
jingled
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| 喝醉的 | |
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