It’s half an hour’s walk from Gunwalloe to Michael’s Crag; and by the time Trevennack reached the mouth of the gully the sands were almost covered; so for the first time in fifteen years he was forced to take the path right under the cliff to the now comparatively distant island, round whose base a whole waste of angry sea surged sullenly5. On the way they met a few workmen who, in answer to their inquiries6, could give them no news, but who turned back to aid in the search for the missing young lady. When they got opposite Michael’s Crag, a wide belt of black water, all encumbered7 with broken masses of sharp rock, some above and some below the surface, now separated them by fifty yards or more from the island. It was growing dark fast, for these were the closing days of August twilight8; and dense9 fog had drifted in, half obliterating10 everything. They could barely descry11 the dim outline of the pyramidal rock in its lower half; its upper part was wholly shrouded12 in thick mist and drizzle13.
With a wild cry of despair, Trevennack raised his voice, and shouted aloud, “Cleer, Cleer! where are you?”
That clarion14 voice, as of his namesake angel, though raised against the wind, could be heard above even the thud of the fierce breakers that pounded the sand. On the highest peak above, where she sat, cold and shivering, Cleer heard it, and jumped up. “Here! here! father!” she cried out, with a terrible effort, descending15 at the same time down the sheer face of the cliff as far as the dashing spray and fierce wild waves would allow her.
No other ear caught the sound of that answering cry; but Trevennack’s keen senses, preternaturally awakened16 by the gravity of the crisis, detected the faint ring of her girlish voice through the thunder of the surf. “She’s there!” he cried, frantically17, waving his hands above his head. “She’s there! She’s there! We must get across and save her.”
For a second Mrs. Trevennack doubted whether he was really right, or whether this was only one of poor Michael’s hallucinations. But the next moment, with another cry, Cleer waved her handkerchief in return, and let it fall from her hand. It came, carried on the light breeze, and dropped in the water before their very eyes, half way across the channel.
Frenzied18 at the sight, Trevennack tore off his coat, and would have plunged19 into the sea, then and there, to rescue her. But the workmen held him back. “No, no, sir; you mustn’t,” they said. “No harm can’t come to the young lady if she stops there. She’ve only got to sit on them rocks there till morning, and the tide’ll leave her high and dry right enough, as it always do. But nobody couldn’t live in such a sea as that—not Tim o’ Truro. The waves ‘u’d dash him up afore he knowed where he was, and smash him all to pieces on the side o’ the island.”
Trevennack tried to break from them, but the men held him hard. Their resistance angered him. He chafed21 under their restraint. How dare these rough fellows lay hands like that on the Prince of the Archangels and a superior officer in Her Majesty’s Civil Service? But with the self-restraint that was habitual22 to him, he managed to refrain, even so, from disclosing his identity. He only struggled ineffectually, instead of blasting them with his hot breath, or clutching his strong arms round their bare throats and choking them. As he stood there and hesitated, half undecided how to act, of a sudden a sharp cry arose from behind. Trevennack turned and looked. Through the dark and the fog he could just dimly descry two men hurrying up, with ropes and life buoys23. As they neared him, he started in unspeakable horror. For one of them, indeed, was only Eustace Le Neve; but the other—the other was that devil Walter Tyrrel, who, he felt sure in his own heart, had killed their dear Michael. And it was his task in life to fight and conquer devils.
For a minute he longed to leap upon him and trample24 him under foot, as long ago he had trampled25 his old enemy, Satan. What was the fellow doing here now? What business had he with Cleer? Was he always to be in at the death of a Trevennack?
But true to her trust, the silver-haired lady clutched his arm with tender watchfulness26. “For Cleer’s sake, dear Michael!” she whispered low in his ear; “for Cleer’s sake—say nothing; don’t speak to him, don’t notice him!”
The distracted father drew back a step, out of reach of the spray. “But Lucy,” he cried low to her, “only think! only remember! If I cared to go on the cliff and just spread my wings, I could fly across and save her—so instantly, so easily!”
His wife held his hand hard. That touch always soothed27 him. “If you did, Michael,” she said gently, with her feminine tact28, “they’d all declare you were mad, and had no wings to fly with. And Cleer’s in no immediate29 danger just now, I feel sure. Don’t try, there’s a dear man. That’s right! Oh, thank you.”
Reassured30 by her calm confidence, Trevennack fell back yet another step on the sands, and watched the men aloof31. Walter Tyrrel turned to him. His heart was in his mouth. He spoke32 in short, sharp sentences. “The coastguard’s wife told us,” he said. “We’ve come down to get her off. I’ve sent word direct to the Lizard33 lifeboat. But I’m afraid it won’t come. They daren’t venture out. Sea runs too high, and these rocks are too dangerous.”
As he spoke, he tore off his coat, tied a rope round his waist, flung his boots on the sand, and girded himself rapidly with an inflated34 life-buoy. Then, before the men could seize him or prevent the rash attempt, he had dashed into the great waves that curled and thundered on the beach, and was struggling hard with the sea in a life and death contest. Eustace Le Neve held the rope, and tried to aid him in his endeavors. He had meant to plunge20 in himself, but Walter Tyrrel was beforehand with him. He was no match in a race against time for the fiery35 and impetuous Cornish temperament36. It wasn’t long, however, before the breakers proved themselves more than equal foes37 for Walter Tyrrel. In another minute he was pounded and pummeled on the unseen rocks under water by the great curling billows. They seized him resistlessly on their crests39, tumbled him over like a child, and dashed him, bruised40 and bleeding, one limp bundle of flesh, against the jagged and pointed41 summits of the submerged boulders.
With all his might, Eustace Le Neve held on to the rope; then, in coat and boots as he stood, he plunged into the waves and lifted Walter Tyrrel in his strong arms landward. He was a bigger built and more powerful man than his host, and his huge limbs battled harder with the gigantic waves. But even so, in that swirling42 flood, it was touch and go with him. The breakers lifted him off his feet, tossed him to and fro in their trough, flung him down again forcibly against the sharp-edged rocks, and tried to float off his half unconscious burden. But Le Neve persevered43 in spite of them, scrambling44 and tottering45 as he went, over wet and slippery reefs, with Tyrrel still clasped in his arms, and pressed tight to his breast, till he landed him safe at last on the firm sand beside him.
The squire46 was far too beaten and bruised by the rocks to make a second attempt against those resistless breakers. Indeed, Le Neve brought him ashore47 more dead than alive, bleeding from a dozen wounds on the face and hands, and with the breath almost failing in his battered48 body. They laid him down on the beach, while the fishermen crowded round him, admiring his pluck, though they deprecated his foolhardiness, for they “knowed the squire couldn’t never live ag’in it.” But Le Neve, still full of the reckless courage of youth, and health, and strength, and manhood, keenly alive now to the peril49 of Cleer’s lonely situation, never heeded50 their forebodings. He dashed in once more, just as he stood, clothes and all, in the wild and desperate attempt to stem that fierce flood and swim across to the island.
In such a sea as then raged, indeed, and among such broken rocks, swimming, in the strict sense, was utterly51 impossible. By some mere52 miracle of dashing about, however—here, battered against the sharp rocks; there, flung over them by the breakers; and yonder, again, sucked down, like a straw in an eddy53, by the fierce strength of the undertow—Eustace found himself at last, half unconscious and half choked, carried round by the swirling scour54 that set through the channel to the south front of the island. Next instant he felt he was cast against the dead wall of rock like an india rubber ball. He rebounded55 into the trough. The sea caught him a second time, and flung him once more, helpless, against the dripping precipice56. With what life was left in him, he clutched with both hands the bare serpentine57 edge. Good luck befriended him. The great wave had lifted him up on its towering crest38 to the level of vegetation, beyond the debatable zone. He clung to the hard root of woody sea-aster in the clefts58. The waves dashed back in tumultuous little cataracts59, and left him there hanging.
Like a mountain goat, Eustace clambered up the side, on hands, knees, feet, elbows, glad to escape with his life from that irresistible60 turmoil61. The treacherous62 herbs on the slope of the crag were kind to him. He scrambled63 ahead, like some mad, wild thing. He went onward64, upward, cutting his hands at each stage, tearing the skin from his fingers. It was impossible; but he did it. Next minute he found himself high and dry on the island.
His clothes were clinging wet, of course, and his limbs bruised and battered. But he was safe on the firm plateau of the rock at last; and he had rescued Cleer Trevennack!
In the first joy and excitement of the moment he forgot altogether the cramping65 conventionalities of our every-day life; and, repeating the cry he had heard Michael Trevennack raise from the beach below, he shouted aloud, at the top of his voice, “Cleer! Cleer! Where are you?”
“Here!” came an answering voice from the depths of the gloom overhead. And following the direction whence the sound seemed to come, Eustace Le Neve clambered up to her.
As he seized her hand and wrung66 it, Cleer crying the while with delight and relief, it struck him all at once, for the very first time, he had done no good by coming, save to give her companionship. It would be hopeless to try carrying her through those intricate rock-channels and that implacable surf, whence he himself had emerged, alone and unburdened, only by a miracle. They two must stop alone there on the rock till morning.
As for Cleer, too innocent and too much of a mere woman in her deadly peril to think of anything but the delightful67 sense of confidence in a strong man at her side to guard and protect her, she sat and held his hand still, in a perfect transport of gratitude68. “Oh, how good of you to come!” she cried again and again, bending over it in her relief, and half tempted69 to kiss it. “How good of you to come across like that to save me.”
点击收听单词发音
1 lodgings | |
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 tangled | |
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 boulders | |
n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 );巨砾;(受水或天气侵蚀而成的)巨石;漂砾 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 sullenly | |
不高兴地,绷着脸,忧郁地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 inquiries | |
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 encumbered | |
v.妨碍,阻碍,拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 obliterating | |
v.除去( obliterate的现在分词 );涂去;擦掉;彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 descry | |
v.远远看到;发现;责备 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 shrouded | |
v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 );保密 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 drizzle | |
v.下毛毛雨;n.毛毛雨,蒙蒙细雨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 clarion | |
n.尖音小号声;尖音小号 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 frantically | |
ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 frenzied | |
a.激怒的;疯狂的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 plunge | |
v.跳入,(使)投入,(使)陷入;猛冲 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 chafed | |
v.擦热(尤指皮肤)( chafe的过去式 );擦痛;发怒;惹怒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 buoys | |
n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 );航标;救生圈;救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 );支持;为…设浮标;振奋…的精神 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 trample | |
vt.踩,践踏;无视,伤害,侵犯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 trampled | |
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 watchfulness | |
警惕,留心; 警觉(性) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 soothed | |
v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 );抚慰;使舒服;减轻痛苦 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 tact | |
n.机敏,圆滑,得体 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 reassured | |
adj.使消除疑虑的;使放心的v.再保证,恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 spoke | |
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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 lizard | |
n.蜥蜴,壁虎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 inflated | |
adj.(价格)飞涨的;(通货)膨胀的;言过其实的;充了气的v.使充气(于轮胎、气球等)( inflate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)膨胀;(使)通货膨胀;物价上涨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 crests | |
v.到达山顶(或浪峰)( crest的第三人称单数 );到达洪峰,达到顶点 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 bruised | |
[医]青肿的,瘀紫的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 swirling | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 persevered | |
v.坚忍,坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 scrambling | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 tottering | |
adj.蹒跚的,动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 );踉跄;蹒跚;摇摇欲坠 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 squire | |
n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 battered | |
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 heeded | |
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 );变平,使(某物)变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 eddy | |
n.漩涡,涡流 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 scour | |
v.搜索;擦,洗,腹泻,冲刷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 rebounded | |
弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 ); 反弹; 产生反作用; 未能奏效 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 serpentine | |
adj.蜿蜒的,弯曲的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 clefts | |
n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 );裂口;cleave的过去式和过去分词;进退维谷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 cataracts | |
n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 );白内障 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 turmoil | |
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 cramping | |
图像压缩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 wrung | |
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) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 tempted | |
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |