“He must fight,” urges Planter Paul Jones, desperately4 keeping alive the fires of his hope. “He will fight, if for no other reason, then because it is his trade. Lieutenant Parker is pugnacious5 by profession; that of itself will make him toe the peg6.”
Planter Paul Jones is wrong. Lieutenant Parker never shows his beaten face on American soil again. Nor does any bellicose7 gentleman appear for Lieutenant Parker, or propose to take his place.
This last omission8 gives Planter Paul Jones as sharp a pang9 as though he has been slighted by some dearest friend. Having on his own part a native lust10 for battle, it bewilders him when so excellent a foundation for a duel falls into neglect, and no architect of combat steps forward to build thereon.
“It is not to be understood!” observes Planter Paul Jones dejectedly, after the sloop11 of war, with Lieutenant Parker and those others of that gold-lace coterie12, has sailed away, “it’s not to be understood! Surely, there must have been one gentleman among them who, free to do so, would have called me to account.” Then, with solemn sadness: “I am convinced that their admiral interfered13.”
Who shall say? The admiral is the paternal14 uncle of Lieutenant Parker of the crushed and broken nose.
The story will go later to England to the explanatory effect that no fellow-officer would act for Lieutenant Parker. However, in doubt of this, that last named imprudent person—wearing the marks of Planter Paul Jones’ rebuke16 for many a day—is not dismissed the king’s service. He will be in the fight off Fort Moultrie, where—unlike Sergeant17 Jasper of the Americans—he in no wise is to distinguish himself.
Planter Paul Jones, when every final chance of the trouble for which he longs has departed with the departure of the war sloop, sorrowfully steers18 the peace sloop back to his plantation19 by the Rappahannock; and thereafter he does his best to forget an incident that—because of the mysterious tameness of the English, under conditions which should have brought them ferociously20 to the field—gives him an aching sense of pain. He says to Mr. Hurst, when about to spread his small canvas and sail away for home, “It is one of those experiences, sir, that shake a man’s faith in his kind.”
The colonial dames21 get hold of the tale, and
Planter Paul Jones becomes all the more the petted darling of the drawing-rooms. This of itself is a destiny most friendly to his taste; for our Virginia Bayard lives not without his tender vanities. Bright eyes are more beautiful than stars; and he can sigh, or whisper a sonnet22, or softly press a little hand. Also, having in his composition an ardent23 dash of the peacock, he is capable, with fair ladies looking on, of a decorous, albeit24 a resplendent strut25.
Four months, dating from the disaster to Lieutenant Parker’s nose, have squeezed through the gates of a narrow present, and merged26 with those other countless27 months which together make the past. It is a muggy28 April morning, and New York City, panting with its metropolitan29 population of forty thousand, is soaked to the bone. Little squalls of rain follow each other in gusty30 procession. Between the squalls the sun shines forth31, and sets the world a-steam. After each of these intermittent32 bursts of glory, the sun is again blotted33 ont by a black flurry of clouds, and another shower sets in.
It is in William Street that the reader comes across the lithe34 figure of Planter Paul Jones. That restless tobacco grower, with his two aquatic35 slaves, Scipio and Cato, in the little sloop, has been knocking about the eastern shore for ducks. A sudden change of plan now brings him to New York, with a final purpose of extending his voyage as far as Boston. Planter Paul Jones is in a mood to know the Yankees better, and come by some guess of his own as to how soon our Puritan bulldogs may be expected to fly at the English throat.
As he goes briskly northward36 along William Street, even through his landsman’s garb37 there shows much that is marine38. Also, he evinces a sailor’s contempt for the dripping weather, plowing39 ahead through shine and through shower as though in the catalogue of the disagreeable there is no such word as a wetting.
At the corner of John Street, Planter Paul Jones comes upon a lean, prim40 personage. By his severe air the latter gentleman is evidently an individual of consequence. The severe gentleman, with a prudent15 care for his coat in direct contrast to the weather-carelessness of the other, has taken refuge in the safe harborage of a doorway41. From the dry vantage thereof he cranes his neck in a tentative way, the better to survey the heavens. Plainly he desires a guarantee, in favor of some partial space of sunshine, before he again ventures abroad.
As Planter Paul Jones comes up, both he and the severe gentleman gaze at each other for one moment. Then their hands are caught in a warm exchange of greetings:
“Mr. Livingston, by my word!” cries Planter Paul Jones, shaking the severe gentleman’s hand.
“Paul Jones!” exclaims the severe gentleman, returning the handshake, but with due regard to the pompous42.
“Now this is what I term fortunate!” says Planter Paul Jones, releasing the other’s fingers. “I was on my way to your house to ask for letters of introduction to Mr. Hancock and others in Boston.”
“Boston! Surely you have heard the news?”
“News? I’ve heard nothing. For six weeks I’ve been anywhere between Barnegat and the inner Chesapeake in my sloop. I tied up at the foot of Whitehall Street within the hour, and you’re the first I’ve spoken with since I stepped ashore43. What is this news that makes you stare at the name of Boston?”
“And you’ve not heard!” repeats Mr. Livingston. Then, with a look at once somber44 and solemn: “Black news! Black news, indeed! I’m on my way to Hanover Square to have it set in types, and scattered45 up and down the town. Come; you shall go with me. I’ll talk as we walk along.”
Mr. Livingston takes Planter Paul Jones by the arm.
“Black news!” he resumes. “The Massachusetts men have attacked the British at Lexington and Concord46; my despatches, while necessarily meager47, declare that the British were disgracefully beaten, and lost, killed and wounded, several hundred soldiers.”
“And you call that black news?” interjects Planter Paul Jones, his eye finely aflame. “To my mind now it is as good news as ever I hope to hear.”
“How can you say so! It fills me with measureless gloom. I cannot but look ahead and wonder where it will end. And yet we should hope for the best.” The speaker heaves a weary sigh. “Possibly the mother country may learn from this experience how bitterly in earnest Americans are, and be thereby48 led to mitigate49 the harshness of her attitude toward us.”
Planter Paul Jones looks his emphatic50 disbelief.
“There will be no softening51 of England’s attitude. Believe me, sir, I’m not so long out of London, but what I’m clear as to the plans and purposes of King George and his ministers. The Tories have deliberately52 forced the present situation.”
“Forced the situation! You amaze me!”
“Sir, my name is not Paul Jones, if it be not the deliberate design of King George and his advisers53 to bring about a clash between England and these colonies.”
“And to what end, pray?”
“To give them an excuse for imposing54 martial55 law upon us. They will pour a cataract56 of redcoats upon our shores. Musket57 in fist, cannon58 to back them, they will disperse59 our legislatures, take away our charters of self-government. That blood at Concord and Lexington gives them the pretext60 for which they schemed. They can now call us ‘rebels;’ and, calling us ‘rebels,’ they will try to reduce us—for all our white skins and freeborn blood—to the slavish status of Hindostan.”
Mr. Livingston stares, while this long speech is reeled off.
“Do you mean to say,” he asks at last, “that we are the victims of a Tory plot? Am I to understand that Concord and Lexington were aimed at by the king?”
“Precisely so; and for one I’m glad the issue’s made. We have now but the one alternative. We may choose between abject61 slavery and war to the hilts.”
Mr. Livingston’s severely62 pompons face, as the iron truth begins to overcome him, assumes an expression at once noble and high.
“Why, then!” says he, “if such be the Tory design, war we shall have.” Then, following a pause: “And what is to be your course in case of war?”
“I shall take my part in it, never fear! This very day I shall write to friends who will have seats in the Congress that meets next month in Philadelphia, and ask them to wear my name in their minds. I am theirs so soon as ever they have a plank63 afloat to put me on.”
The pair, earnestly talking, reach Hanover Square, and pause in front of “The Bible and Crown.”
“Here we are,” says Mr. Livingston. “Now if you’ll but wait until I give orders to Master Rivington, as to how he shall print and circulate my despatches, I’ll have you up to the house, where we can further consider this business over a bottle of wine.”
“I beg that you will excuse me,” returns Planter Paul Jones. He has been making plans of his own while they talked. “I trust you will pardon me; but I shall have no more than time to write and post my letters, and get away on the ebb64 tide. Three days from now I must be at my plantation by the Rappahannock, putting all in order for the storm.”
“Remember!” cries Mr. Livingston, as he and Planter Paul Jones shake bands at parting, “my brother Philip will be in the coming Congress. You have but to go to him, he is as much your friend as is either Mr. Washington or Mr. Jefferson. I shall speak to Philip of you before the day is out.”
“Say to your brother,” returns Planter Paul Jones, “that I shall come to him among the first.”
The winds generously flatter the little sloop on her return voyage. She came north slowly, reluctantly; now, with the wind aft and all but blowing a gale65, she flies southward like a bird. As Planter Paul Jones boasted, within the three days after seeing the last of Sandy Hook, he steps ashore on his own domain66 by the Rappahannock.
Cato and Scipio grin in exultation67. In a pardonable anxiety to open the eyes of plodding68 fellow-slaves of the tobacco fields, they mendaciously69 shorten the sailing time out of New York by forty-eight hours, and declare that Planter Paul Jones brought the sloop home in a single day.
“Potch um home, Marse Paul does, faster than a wil’ duck could trabble!” is their story. Thereupon, the innocent tobacco blacks marvel70, openmouthed, at the far-travelled Cato, and Scipio of the many experiences.
Planter Paul Jones, on whom a war-fever is growing, plunges71 into immediate72 conference with Duncan Macbean.
“How much free money can we make?” he asks.
The old Highlander73 scratches his grizzled locks.
Then he thoughtfully considers the inside of his Glengarry bonnet74, which he takes from his head for that purpose. One would think, from his long study of it, that he keeps his accounts in its linings75. The inspection76 being over, he puts it back on his head.
“Now there s’uld be the matter of three thousand guineas in gold in Williamsburg,” returns old Duncan Macbean; “besides a hunner or so siller in the house. I can gi’ ye three thousand guineas, and never miss the feel o’ them, gin that’ll be enou’.”
“Three thousand guineas! What time I shall be in Philadelphia it should keep a king! Have it set to my credit, Duncan, in Mr. Ross’ bank in Chestnut77 Street in that town. I shall go there as soon as Congress convenes78.”
“And will ye no be back home agen?” asks Duncan, his bronzed cheek a trifle white.
“If there’s war—and, take it from me, there will be—I shall not return. I hope to sail in the first warship79 that flies the colors of the Colonies.”
Then, grasping old Duncan’s hand in a grip of steel: “You stay here and run the plantation, old friend! Wherever I am, I shall know that all is right ashore while you are here. For I can trust you.”
“Ay! ye can trust me; no fear o’ that!” and the water stands in the old eyes.
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收听单词发音
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1
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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pugnacious
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| adj.好斗的 | |
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peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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bellicose
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| adj.好战的；好争吵的 | |
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omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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coterie
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| n.(有共同兴趣的)小团体，小圈子 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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steers
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| n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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ferociously
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| 野蛮地，残忍地 | |
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dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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sonnet
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| n.十四行诗 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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strut
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| v.肿胀，鼓起；大摇大摆地走；炫耀；支撑；撑开；n.高视阔步；支柱，撑杆 | |
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merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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muggy
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| adj.闷热的；adv.（天气）闷热而潮湿地；n.（天气）闷热而潮湿 | |
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metropolitan
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| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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gusty
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| adj.起大风的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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aquatic
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| adj.水生的，水栖的 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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plowing
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| v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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41
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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45
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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48
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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49
mitigate
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| vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和 | |
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50
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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51
softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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52
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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53
advisers
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| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
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54
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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cataract
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| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
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57
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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58
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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59
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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64
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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mendaciously
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marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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71
plunges
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| n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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72
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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highlander
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| n.高地的人，苏格兰高地地区的人 | |
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74
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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75
linings
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| n.衬里( lining的名词复数 )；里子；衬料；组织 | |
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76
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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convenes
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| 召开( convene的第三人称单数 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合 | |
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warship
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| n.军舰，战舰 | |
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