Silently and cautiously the two men groped their way on through the dark gloom of the woods, in spite of their mute pursuers. The moonlight flickered6 down athwart the trackless soil as they went; the hum of insects innumerable droned deep along the underbrush. Now and then the startled scream of a night jar broke the monotony of the buzz that was worse than silence; owls7 boomed from the hollow trees, and fireflies darted8 dim through the open spaces. At last they emerged upon the cleared area of the temple. There Felix, without one moment’s hesitation9, with a firm and resolute10 tread, stepped over the white coral line that marked the taboo11 of the great god’s precincts. That was a declaration of open war; he had crossed the Rubicon of Tu-Kila-Kila’s empire. Toko stood trembling on the far side; none might pass that mystic line unbidden and live, save the Korong alone who could succeed in breaking off the bough12 “with yellow leaves, resembling a mistletoe,” of which Methuselah, the parrot, had told Felix and Muriel, and so earn the right to fight for his life with the redoubted and redoubtable13 Tu-Kila-Kila.
As he stepped over the taboo-line, Felix was aware of many native eyes fixed14 stonily15 upon him from the surrounding precinct. Clearly they were awaiting him. Yet not a soul gave the alarm; that in itself would have been to break taboo. Every man or woman among the temple attendants within that charmed circle stood on gaze curiously16. Close by, Ula, the favorite wife of the man-god, crouched17 low by the hut, with one finger on her treacherous18 lips, bending eagerly forward, in silent expectation of what next might happen. Once, and once only, she glanced at Toko with a mute sign of triumph; then she fixed her big eyes on Felix in tremulous anxiety; for to her as to him, life and death now hung absolutely on the issue of his enterprise. A little farther back the King of Fire and the King of Water, in full sacrificial robes, stood smiling sardonically20. For them it was merely a question of one master more or less, one Tu-Kila-Kila in place of another. They had no special interest in the upshot of the contest, save in so far as they always hated most the man who for the moment held by his own strong arm the superior godship over them. Around, Tu-Kila-Kila’s Eyes kept watch and ward19 in sinister21 silence. Taboo was stronger than even the commands of the high god himself. When once a Korong had crossed that fatal line, unbidden and unwelcomed by Tu-Kila-Kila, he came as Tu-Kila-Kila’s foe22 and would-be successor; the duty of every guardian23 of the temple was then to see fair play between the god that was and the god that might be—the Tu-Kila-Kila of the hour and the Tu-Kila-Kila who might possibly supplant24 him.
“Let the great spirit itself choose which body it will inhabit,” the King of Fire murmured in a soft, low voice, glancing toward a dark spot at the foot of the big tree. The moonlight fell dim through the branches on the place where he looked. The glibbering bones of dead victims rattled25 lightly in the wind. Felix’s eyes followed the King of Fire’s, and saw, lying asleep upon the ground, Tu-Kila-Kila himself, with his spear and tomahawk.
He lay there, huddled26 up by the very roots of the tree, breathing deep and regularly. Right over his head projected the branch, in one part of whose boughs27 grew the fateful parasite28. By the dim light of the moon, straggling through the dense foliage29, Felix could see its yellow leaves distinctly. Beneath it hung a skeleton, suspended by invisible cords, head downward from the branches. It was the skeleton of a previous Korong who had tried in vain to reach the bough, and perished. Tu-Kila-Kila had made high feast on the victim’s flesh; his bones, now collected together and cunningly fastened with native rope, served at once as a warning and as a trap or pitfall30 for all who might rashly venture to follow him.
Felix stood for one moment, alone and awe-struck, a solitary31 civilized32 man, among those hideous33 surroundings. Above, the cold moon; all about, the grim, stolid34, half-hostile natives; close by, that strange, serpentine35, savage36 wife, guarding, cat-like, the sleep of her cannibal husband; behind, the watchful Eyes of Tu-Kila-Kila, waiting ever in the background, ready to raise a loud shout of alarm and warning the moment the fatal branch was actually broken, but mute, by their vows37, till that moment was accomplished38. Then a sudden wild impulse urged him on to the attempt. The banyan39 had dropped down rooting offsets40 to the ground, after the fashion of its kind, from its main branches. Felix seized one of these and swung himself lightly up, till he reached the very limb on which the sacred parasite itself was growing.
To get to the parasite, however, he must pass directly above Tu-Kila-Kila’s head, and over the point where that ghastly grinning skeleton was suspended, as by an unseen hair, from the fork that bore it.
He walked along, balancing himself, and clutching, as he went, at the neighboring boughs, while Tu-Kila-Kila, overcome with the kava, slept stolidly41 and heavily on beneath him. At last he was almost within grasp of the parasite. Could he lunge out and clutch it? One try—one effort! No, no; he almost lost footing and fell over in the attempt. He couldn’t keep his balance so. He must try farther on. Come what might, he must go past the skeleton.
The grisly mass swung again, clanking its bones as it swung, and groaned42 in the wind ominously43. The breeze whistled audibly through its hollow skull44 and vacant eye-sockets. Tu-Kila-Kila turned uneasily in his sleep below. Felix saw there was not one instant of time to be lost now. He passed on boldly; and as he passed, a dozen thin cords of paper mulberry, stretched every way in an invisible network among the boughs, too small to be seen in the dim moonlight, caught him with their toils and almost overthrew45 him. They broke with his weight, and Felix himself, tumbling blindly, fell forward. At the cost of a sprained46 wrist and a great jerk on his bruised47 fingers, he caught at a bough by his side, but wrenched48 it away suddenly. It was touch and go. At the very same moment, the skeleton fell heavily, and rattled on the ground beside Tu-Kila-Kila.
Before Felix could discover what had actually happened, a very great shout went up all round below, and made him stagger with excitement. Tu-Kila-Kila was awake, and had started up, all intent, mad with wrath49 and kava. Glaring about him wildly, and brandishing50 his great spear in his stalwart hands, he screamed aloud, in a perfect frenzy51 of passion and despair: “Where is he, the Korong? Bring him on, my meat! Let me devour52 his heart! Let me tear him to pieces. Let me drink of his blood! Let me kill him and eat him!”
Sick and desperate at the accident, Felix, in turn, clinging hard to his bough with one hand, gazed wildly about him to look for the parasite. But it had gone as if by magic. He glanced around in despair, vaguely53 conscious that nothing was left for it now but to drop to the ground and let himself be killed at leisure by that frantic54 savage. Yet even as he did so, he was aware of that great cry—a cry as of triumph—still rending55 the air. Fire and Water had rushed forward, and were holding back Tu-Kila-Kila, now black in the face from rage, with all their might. Ula was smiling a malicious56 joy. The Eyes were all agog57 with interest and excitement. And from one and all that wild scream rose unanimous to the startled sky: “He has it! He has it! The Soul of the Tree! The Spirit of the World! The great god’s abode58. Hold off your hands, Lavita, son of Sami! Your trial has come. He has it! He has it!”
Felix looked about him with a whirling brain. His eye fell suddenly. There, in his own hand, lay the fateful bough. In his efforts to steady himself, he had clutched at it by pure accident, and broken it off unawares with the force of his clutching. As fortune would have it, he grasped it still. His senses reeled. He was almost dead with excitement, suspense59, and uncertainty60, mingled61 with pain of his wrenched wrist. But for Muriel’s sake he pulled himself together. Gazing down and trying hard to take it all in—that strange savage scene—he saw that Tu-Kila-Kila was making frantic attempts to lunge at him with the spear, while the King of Fire and the King of Water, stern and relentless62, were holding him off by main force, and striving their best to appease63 and quiet him.
There was an awful pause. Then a voice broke the stillness from beyond the taboo-line:
“The Shadow of the King of the Rain speaks,” it said, in very solemn, conventional accents. “Korong! Korong! The Great Taboo is broken. Fire and Water, hold him in whom dwells the god till my master comes. He has the Soul of all the spirits of the wood in his hands. He will fight for his right. Taboo! Taboo! I, Toko, have said it.”
He clapped his hands thrice.
Tu-Kila-Kila made a wild effort to break away once more. But the King of Fire, standing64 opposite him, spoke65 still louder and clearer. “If you touch the Korong before the line is drawn,” he said, with a voice of authority, “you are no Tu-Kila-Kila, but an outcast and a criminal. All the people will hold you with forked sticks, while the Korong burns you alive slowly, limb by limb, with me, who am Fire, the fierce, the consuming. I will scorch66 you and bake you till you are as a bamboo in the flame. Taboo! Taboo! Taboo! I, Fire, have said it.”
The King of Water, with three attendants, forced Tu-Kila-Kila on one side for a moment. Ula stood by and smiled pleased compliance67. A temple slave, trembling all over at this conflict of the gods, brought out a calabash full of white coral-sand. The King of Water spat68 on it and blessed it. By this time a dozen natives, at least, had assembled outside the taboo-line, and stood eagerly watching the result of the combat. The temple slave made a long white mark with the coral-sand on one side of the cleared area. Then he handed the calabash solemnly to Toko. Toko crossed the sacred precinct with a few inaudible words of muttered charm, to save the Taboo, as prescribed in the mysteries. Then he drew a similar line on the ground on his side, some twenty yards off. “Descend, O my lord!” he cried to Felix; and Felix, still holding the bough tight in his hand, swung himself blindly from the tree, and took his place by Toko.
“Toe the line!” Toko cried, and Felix toed it.
“Bring up your god!” the Shadow called out aloud to the King of Water. And the King of Water, using no special ceremony with so great a duty, dragged Tu-Kila-Kila helplessly along with him to the farther taboo-line.
The King of Water brought a spear and tomahawk. He handed them to Felix. “With these weapons,” he said, “fight, and merit heaven. I hold the bough meanwhile—the victor takes it.”
The King of Fire stood out between the lists. “Korongs and gods,” he said, “the King of the Rain has plucked the sacred bough, according to our fathers’ rites69, and claims trial which of you two shall henceforth hold the sacred soul of the world, the great Tu-Kila-Kila. Wager71 of Battle decides the day. Keep toe to line. At the end of my words, forth70, forward, and fight for it. The great god knows his own, and will choose his abode. Taboo, Taboo, Taboo! I, Fire, have spoken it.”
Scarcely were the words well out of his mouth, when, with a wild whoop72 of rage, Tu-Kila-Kila, who had the advantage of knowing the rules of the game, so to speak, dashed madly forward, drunk with passion and kava, and gave one lunge with his spear full tilt73 at the breast of the startled and unprepared white man. His aim, though frantic, was not at fault. The spear struck Felix high up on the left side. He felt a dull thud of pain; a faint gurgle of blood. Even in the pale moonlight his eye told him at once a red stream was trickling—out over his flannel74 shirt. He was pricked75, at least. The great god had wounded him.
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1
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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toils
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| 网 | |
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flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
owls
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| n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 ) | |
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8
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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9
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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taboo
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| n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止 | |
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12
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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13
redoubtable
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| adj.可敬的；可怕的 | |
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14
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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15
stonily
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| 石头地，冷酷地 | |
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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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17
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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19
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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20
sardonically
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| adv.讽刺地，冷嘲地 | |
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21
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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22
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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24
supplant
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| vt.排挤；取代 | |
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25
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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26
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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27
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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28
parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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29
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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30
pitfall
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| n.隐患，易犯的错误；陷阱，圈套 | |
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31
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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32
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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33
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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34
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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35
serpentine
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| adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的 | |
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36
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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37
vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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38
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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39
banyan
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| n.菩提树，榕树 | |
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40
offsets
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| n.开端( offset的名词复数 )；出发v.抵消( offset的第三人称单数 )；补偿；（为了比较的目的而）把…并列（或并置）；为（管道等）装支管 | |
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41
stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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42
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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43
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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44
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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45
overthrew
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| overthrow的过去式 | |
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46
sprained
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| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
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47
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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48
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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49
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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50
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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51
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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52
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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53
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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54
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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55
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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56
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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57
agog
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| adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地 | |
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58
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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59
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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60
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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61
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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62
relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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63
appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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64
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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65
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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66
scorch
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| v.烧焦，烤焦；高速疾驶；n.烧焦处，焦痕 | |
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67
compliance
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| n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从 | |
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68
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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69
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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70
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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71
wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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72
whoop
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| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
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73
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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74
flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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75
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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