“This lying by rusts3 me,” Captain Paul Jones is saying as he and Doctor Franklin have a turn in the garden. The latter likes the thin French sunshine, and gets as much of it as he may. “Yes, it rusts me—fills me with despair!”
“What would you do, then?” asks Doctor Franklin, his coarse, shrewd face quickening into interest. “Have you a cruise mapped out?”
“Now I thought, if you’ve no objections, I’d just poke4 the Ranger’s nose into the Irish Sea, and take a look at Whitehaven. You know I was born by the Solway, and the coast I speak of is an old acquaintance.”
“I see no objection, Captain, save the smallness of your ship.”
“That is easily answered; for I give you my word, Doctor, the little Ranger can sail round any English ship on the home station. I shall be safe, no fear; for what I can’t whip I can run from.”
“Have you spoken to my brother commissioners5?”
Doctor Franklin looks up, a grim, expectant twinkle in his gray eyes. Captain Paul Jones cracks his fingers in angry impatience7.
“Forgive me, Doctor, if I’m frank to the frontiers of rudeness. Of what avail to speak to Mr. Dean, who is asleep? Of what avail to speak to Mr. Lee, who surrounds himself with British spies like that creature Thornton, his private secretary? I ask you plain questions, Doctor, for I know you to be a practical man.”
The philosopher grins knowingly.
“Please do not speak of British spies to Commissioner6 Lee, Captain Jones. My task in France is enough difficult as it stands.”
“And on that account, Doctor, and on that alone, I have so far refrained from saying aught to Mr. Lee. But I tell you I misdoubt the man. His fellow Thornton I know to be in daily communication with the English admiralty! he clinks English gold in his pockets as the wage of his treason. This, were there no one save myself to consider, I should say in the face of Arthur Lee; ay! for that matter in the face of all the Lees that ever hailed from Virginia. I tell you this, Doctor, for your own guidance.” Then, following a pause: “Not that it sets politely with my years to go cautioning one so much my superior in age, wisdom and experience.”
The philosopher glances up from the violets.
“Possibly, Captain Jones, I have already given myself that caution. However, concerning your proposed cruise: I shall leave all to your judgment8. Certainly, our warships9, as you say, were meant for battle-work, and not to waste their lives junketing about French ports.”
“One thing, doctor,” observes Captain Paul Jones, at parting: “Tell your fellow commissioners that I’ve cleared for the west coast of Ireland, with a purpose to go north-about around the British islands. If you let them hear I’m off for Whitehaven, I give you my honor that, with the spy Thornton selling my blood to the English admiralty, I shall have the whole British fleet at my heels before I reach St. George’s Channel.”
Captain Paul Jones, in command of the Ranger, drops in at Whitehaven. With twenty-nine of his lads he goes ashore11 of a dripping morning, pens up the sleepy garrisons12 of the two forts, and spikes13 their guns. Then, having spikes to spare, he makes useless a shore battery, while the ballad-mongering Midshipman Hill, with six men, chases inland one hundred coast guardsmen and militia14.
Captain Paul Jones, waxing industrious15, attempts to burn the shipping16 which crowds the tidal basin at Whitehaven. In these fire-lighting efforts he succeeds to the extent of five ships; after which he rows out to the Ranger. Thereupon the people and militia, who crowd the terror-smitten hills round about, come down into their town again.
Captain Paul Jones crosses now to the north shore of the Solway for a morning call upon the Earl of Selkirk. He schemes to capture that patrician17, and trade him back to the English for certain good American sailors whom they hold as prisoners. The plan falls through, since the noble earl is not at home. In lieu, the Ranger’s crew take unto themselves the Selkirk plate, which Captain Paul Jones subsequently buys from them, paying the ransom18 from his own purse, and returns with his compliments gallantly19 expressed in a letter to the earl.
From the Solway, the little Ranger stands west by north across the Irish Sea. Off Carrickfergus she finds the Drake, an English sloop20 of war that is two long nines the better than the Ranger in her broadsides, and thirty-one men stronger in her crew. To save trouble, the Ranger is hove to off the mouth of Belfast Lough, and waits for the Drake to come out. This the English ship does slowly and with difficulty, being on the wrong side of wind and tide.
“The sun is no more than an hour high,”
The Story of Paul Jones suggests Lieutenant21 Wallingford wistfully. “Shouldn’t we go to meet them, sir?”
Captain Paul Jones shakes his head.
“We’ve better water here,” says he. “Besides, the moon will be big; we’ll fight them by the light of the moon.”
Slowly, reluctantly, the Drake forges within hail. She is in doubt about the Ranger.
“What ship is that?” cries the Drake.
Captain Paul Jones puts his speaking-trumpet to his lips.
“The American ship Ranger,” he replies. “Come on; we’re waiting for you.”
Without further parley22, broadside answers broadside and the battle is on.
Both ships head north, the Ranger having the weather-gage. This last gives Captain Paul Jones the nautical23 upperhand. In ship-fighting, the weather-gage is equivalent to an underhold in wrestling.
There is a swell24 on, and the two ships roll heavily. They shape their course side by side, keeping within musket-reach of each other. The breeze is on the starboard quarter, and a little faster than the ships. By this good luck, the smoke of the broadsides is sent drifting ahead, and the line of sight between the ships kept free. On they crawl, broadside talking to broadside; only the Americans are smarter with their guns, and fire three to the Drake’s two.
Twilight25 now invests the scene in gray, as the sun sinks behind the close, dark Irish headlands to the west. Night, cloudless and serene26, comes down; the round, full moon shines out, and its mild rays mingle27 and merge28 with the angry glare of the battle-lanterns. Captain Paul Jones from his narrow quarterdeck watches the Drake through his night glass.
“Good! Very good!” he murmurs29, as the Drake’s foremast is splintered by a round shot. Then, to the Salem man who has the wheel: “Bring us a little closer, Mr. Sargent; a little closer in, if you please.”
Captain Paul Jones again rivets30 his glass upon the Drake. An exclamation31 escapes him. It comes upon him that his gunners are having advantage of the roll of the ships, and time their broadsides so as to catch the Drake as, reeling to port, she brings up her starboard side. By this plausible32 manouvre, those sagacious ones who train the Ranger’s guns are sending shot after shot through and through the Drake, between wind and water, half of them indeed below the water-line. Captain Paul Jones, through his glass, makes out the black round shot-holes; they show as thick as cloves34 in the rind of a Christmas ham.
“Why!” he exclaims, “this doesn’t match my book! I must put a stopper on such work.”
Shutting up his glass, Captain Paul Jones leaps from the after flush-deck down among his sailors. Drunk with blood, grimed of powder, naked to the waist, the black glory of battle in their hearts, they merrily work their guns. It is as he beheld35 from the after-deck. The Ranger rolls to port as the Drake, all dripping, is fetching up her starboard side.
“Fire!” cries the master-gunner, and “Fire!” runs the word along the battery.
The long nines respond with flame and bellow36!
Then they race crashingly inboard with the recoil37, and are caught by the breeching tackle. With that the smoky work is all to do over again. The brawny38 sailor men—from Nantucket, from Martha’s Vineyard, from Sag33 Harbor, from New London and Barnstable and Salem and Boston and Portsmouth they are—shirtless and shoeless, barefoot and stripped to the belts, ply39 sponge and rammer40. Again each black-throated gun is ready with a stomachful of solid shot.
“Show ‘em your teeth, mates!”
The guns rattle41 forward on their carriages. The quick port-tires stand ready, blowing their matches. There is a brief pause, as the master-gunner waits for that fatal downward roll to port which offers and opens the Drake’s starboard side almost to the keel.
“Ah! I see, Mr. Starbuck,” begins Captain Paul Jones sweetly, addressing the master-gunner. “Your effort is to hull42 the enemy.”
“Fire!” cries the master-gunner, for just then the Ranger is reeling down to port, while the Drake is coming up to starboard, and he must not waste the opportunity.
The long nines roar cheerfully, spouting43 fire and smoke. Then comes that crashing inboard leap, to be caught up short by the tackle. Again the sponges; again the rammers; with the busy shot-handlers working in between. And all the while the little powder monkeys, lads of eleven and twelve, go pattering to and fro, with cartridges44 from the magazines.
“Why, yes, sir!” responds the master-gunner, now finding time to reply to the comment of Captain Paul Jones; “as you says, we’re trying to hull her, sir.”
Captain Paul Jones makes out three new holes below the Brake’s plankslieer, the hopeful harvest of that last broadside.
“May I ask,” demands Captain Paul Jones, who as a mere45 first effect of battle never fails of a rippling46 amiability47, “may I ask, Mr. Starbuck, your design in thus aiming below the water-line?”
“Saving you presence, Captain, we designs to sink the bitch.”
“Precisely! That is what I surmised48! To a quick seaman49 like yourself, Mr. Starbuck, a word will do. I don’t want her sunk, d’ye see! I want to bring her into France as an object-lesson, and show the Frenchmen what Americans can do. Under the circumstances, Mr. Starbnck, I shall be obliged if you let her hull alone. It will take Mr. Hitchburn, our carpenter, a week as it is “—this comes off reproachfully—“to stop the holes you’ve already made. And so, Mr. Starbnck, from now on comb her decks and cut her up in the spars as much as ever you like; but please keep off her hull.”
“Ay, ay, sir!” says the master-gunner, saluting50. Then: “Pass the word that we’re to leave her hull alone. Cap’n has set his heart on catching51 her alive.”
With that the plan of attack finds reversal, the Ranger firing as she comes up to port and when only a narrow streak52 of the Drake’s starboard beam is visible above the waves.
Captain Paul Jones remains53 among the sailors, canvassing54 in a gratified way the results of this change. While thus engaged, port-fire Anthony Jeremiah grins up at him, meanwhile blowing his match to keep it lighted.
“You enjoy yourself, I see, Jerry,” remarks Captain Paul Jones, who, as observed, is never so affable as when guns are crashing, blood is flowing, and splinters flying.
“Me like to hear the big guns talk, Captain,” responds the Indian. “It gives Jerry a good heart.”
Captain Paul Jones again swings his glass on the Drake. He is just in time to see her fore10 and main topsail-yards come down onto the caps by the run. The last broadside does that. In an instant, he is running aft.
“Down with your helm, Mr. Sargent!” he roars. “Pull her down for every ounce that’s in you, man!”
Quartermaster Sargent, thus encouraged, climbs the wheel like a squirrel; the Ranger’s topsails shiver; then, yielding to her helm, she slowly luffs across the helpless stern of the Drake.
“Aboard with those sta’board tacks55!” shouts Captain Paul Jones. Then, turning again to the wheelman: “Steady, Mr. Sargent; keep her full!”
There is a skurry across the Ranger’s decks, as the men rush from the port to the starboard battery.
“Stand by, Mr. Starbuck,” calls ont Captain Paul Jones, “to rake her as we cross her stern.”
“Ay, ay, sir!” returns the master-gunner. “She shall have it for’ard and aft, as my old gran’am shells peas cods56!”
“Steady, Mr. Sargent!” and again Captain Paul Jones cautions the alert wheelman. “Keep her as she is!”
The guns are swung, and depressed57 so as to tear the poor Drake open from stern-post to cutwater at one discharge. The Ranger gathers head; slowly she makes ready to cross her enemy’s stern so close that one might chuck a biscuit aboard. It is a moment fraught58 of life and death for the unhappy Drake.
With her captain and first officer already dead, the situation proves beyond the second officer, on whom the responsibility of fighting or surrendering the ship devolves. His sullen59 British soul gives way; and he strikes his colors just in time to avoid that raking fire which would else have snuffed him off the face of the sea.
“Out-fought, out-manoeuvred, and out-sailed!” exclaims Captain Paul Jones.
Lieutenant Hall, flushed of combat, comes up.
“We have beaten them, Captain!” exults60 Lieutenant Hall.
“We’ve done more than that, Mr. Hall,” responds Captain Paul Jones. “We have defeated an aphorism61, and made a precedent62. For the first time in the history of the sea, a lighter63 ship, with a smaller crew and a weaker battery, has whipped an Englishman.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
ranger
|
|
| n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
morose
|
|
| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
rusts
|
|
| n.铁锈( rust的名词复数 )；（植物的）锈病，锈菌v.（使）生锈( rust的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
poke
|
|
| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
commissioners
|
|
| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
warships
|
|
| 军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
fore
|
|
| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
garrisons
|
|
| 守备部队，卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
spikes
|
|
| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
militia
|
|
| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
industrious
|
|
| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
shipping
|
|
| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
patrician
|
|
| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
ransom
|
|
| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
gallantly
|
|
| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
sloop
|
|
| n.单桅帆船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
parley
|
|
| n.谈判 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
nautical
|
|
| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
swell
|
|
| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
serene
|
|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
mingle
|
|
| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
merge
|
|
| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
murmurs
|
|
| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
rivets
|
|
| 铆钉( rivet的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
exclamation
|
|
| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
plausible
|
|
| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
sag
|
|
| v.下垂，下跌，消沉；n.下垂，下跌，凹陷，[航海]随风漂流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
cloves
|
|
| n.丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用作调味品，尤用作甜食的香料）( clove的名词复数 )；蒜瓣(a garlic ~|a ~of garlic) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
bellow
|
|
| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
recoil
|
|
| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
brawny
|
|
| adj.强壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
ply
|
|
| v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
rammer
|
|
| n.撞锤；夯土机；拨弹机；夯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
rattle
|
|
| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
hull
|
|
| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
spouting
|
|
| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
cartridges
|
|
| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
rippling
|
|
| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
amiability
|
|
| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
surmised
|
|
| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
seaman
|
|
| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
saluting
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
catching
|
|
| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
streak
|
|
| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
canvassing
|
|
| v.（在政治方面）游说( canvass的现在分词 )；调查（如选举前选民的）意见；为讨论而提出（意见等）；详细检查 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
tacks
|
|
| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
cods
|
|
| n.鳕鱼（cod的复数形式）v.哄骗，愚弄（cod的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
depressed
|
|
| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
fraught
|
|
| adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
exults
|
|
| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
aphorism
|
|
| n.格言，警语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
precedent
|
|
| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
lighter
|
|
| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |