I strained my eyes and saw—well, a barrel or something. For myself, I should never have [pg 10] made out it was a boat at all, being somewhat slow of vision at great distances; but, bless your heart! these Kanaka lads have eyes like hawks5 for pouncing6 down upon a canoe or a sail no bigger than a speck7 afar off; so when Nassaline called out confidently, "Boat ahoy!" in his broken English, I took out my binocular, and focused it full on the spot towards which the skinny black finger pointed. Probably, thought I to myself, a party of natives, painted red, on the war-trail against their enemies in some neighboring island; or perhaps a "labor8 vessel9," doing a veiled slave-trade in "indentured10 apprentices11" for New Caledonia or the Queensland planters.
To my great surprise, however, I found out, when I got my glasses fixed12 full upon it, it was neither of these, but an open English row-boat, apparently13, making signs of distress14, and alone in the midst of the wide Pacific.
Now, mind you, one doesn't expect to find open English row-boats many miles from land, [pg 11] drifting about casually15 in those far-eastern waters. There's very little European shipping16 there of any sort, I can tell you; a man may sometimes sail for days together across that trackless sea without so much as speaking a single vessel, and the few he does come across are mostly engaged in what they euphoniously17 call "the labor-trade"—in plain English, kidnaping blacks or browns, who are induced to sign indentures18 for so many years' service (generally "three yams," that is to say, for three yam crops), and are then carried off by force or fraud to some other island, to be used as laborers19 in the cane-fields or cocoa-nut groves20. So I rubbed my eyes when I saw an open boat, of European build, tossing about on the open, and sang out to the man at the wheel:
"Hard a starboard, Tom! Put her head about for the dark spot to the sou'-by-southeast there!"
"Starboard it is!" Tom Blake answered cheerily, setting the rudder about; and we [pg 12] headed straight for that mysterious little craft away off on the horizon.
But there! I see I've got ahead of my story, to start with, as the way is always with us salt-water sailors. We seafaring men can never spin a yarn22, turned straight off the reel all right from the beginning, like some of those book-making chaps can do. We have always to luff round again, and start anew on a fresh tack23 half a dozen times over, before we can get well under way for the port we're aiming at. So I shall have to go back myself to Sydney once more, to explain who we were, and how we happened to be cruising about on the loose that morning off Erromanga.
My name, if I may venture to introduce myself formally, is Julian Braithwaite. I am the owner and commander of the steam-yacht Albatross, thirty-nine tons burden, as neat a little craft as any on the Pacific, though it's me that says it as oughtn't to say it; and I've spent the last five years of my life in cruising in [pg 13] and out among those beautiful archipelagos in search of health, which nature denies me in more northern latitudes24. The oddest part of it is, though I'm what the doctors call consumptive in England—only fit to lie on a sofa and read good books—the moment I get clear away into the Tropics I'm a strong man again, prepared to fight any fellow of my own age and weight, and as fit for seamanship as the best Jack25 Tar21 in my whole equipment. The Albatross numbers eighteen in crew, all told; and as I am not a rich enough or selfish enough a man to keep up a vessel all for my own amusement, my brother Jim and I combine business and pleasure by doing a mixed trade in copra or dried cocoa-nut with the natives from time to time, or by running across between Sydney and San Francisco with a light cargo26 of goods for the Australian market.
Our habit was therefore to cruise in and out among the islands, with no very definite aim except that of picking up a stray trade whenever [pg 14] we could make one, and keeping as much within sight of land, for the sake of company, as circumstances permitted us. And that is just why, though bound for Fiji, we had gone so far out of our way that particular voyage as to be under the lee of Erromanga.
As for our black Polynesian boy, Nassaline, to tell you the truth, I am proud of that lad, for he's a trophy27 of war; we got him at the point of the sword off a slaver. She was a fast French sloop28, "recruiting" for New Caledonia, as they call it, on one of the New Hebrides, when the Albatross happened to come to anchor, by good luck or good management, in the same harbor. From the moment we arrived I had my eye on that smart French sloop, for I more than half suspected the means she was employing to beat up recruits. Early next morning, as I lay in my bunk29, I heard a fearful row going on in boats not far from our moorings; and when I rushed up on deck, half-dressed, to find out what the noise was about, blessed if I [pg 15] didn't see whole gangs of angry natives in canoes, naked of course as the day they were born, or only dressed, like the Ancient Britons, in a neat coat of paint, pursuing the French sloop's jolly-boat, which was being rowed at high pressure by all its crew toward its own vessel. "Great guns!" said I, "what's up?" So, looking closer, I could make out four strapping30 young black boys lying manacled in the bottom, kicking and screaming as hard as their legs and throats could go, while the Frenchmen rowed away for dear life, and the Kanakas in the canoes paddled wildly after them, taking cock-shots at them with very bad aim from time to time with arrows and fire-arms. Such a splutter and noise you never heard in all your life. Ducks fighting in a pond were a mere31 circumstance to it.
"Tom Blake!" I sang out, "is the gig afloat there?"
"Aye, aye, sir," says Tom, jumping up. "She's ready at the starn. Shall we off and at 'em?"
[pg 16] "Right you are, Tom!" says I; "all hands to the gig here!"
Well, in less than three minutes I'd got that boat under way, and was rowing ahead between the Frenchmen and their sloop, with our Remingtons ready, and everything in order for a good stand-up fight of it.
When the Frenchmen saw we meant to intercept32 them, and found themselves cut off between the savages33 on one side and an English crew well-armed with rifles of precision on the other, they thought it was about time to open negotiations34 with the opposing party. So the skipper stopped, as airy as a gentleman walking down the Boulevards, and called out to me in French, "What do you want ahoy, there?"
"Ahoy there yourself," says I, in my very best Ollandorff. "We want to know what you're doing with those youngsters?"
"Oh! it's that, is it?" says the Frenchman, as cool as a cucumber, coming nearer a bit, and talking as though we'd merely stopped him with [pg 17] polite inquiries35 about the time of day or the price of spring chickens; while the savages, seeing from our manner we were friendly to their side, left off firing for a while for fear of hitting us. "Why, these are apprentices of ours—indentured apprentices. We've bought them from their parents by honest trade—paid for 'em with Sniders, ammunition36, calico and tobacco; and if you want to see our papers and theirs, Monsieur, here they are, look you, all perfectly37 en règle," and he held up the bundle for us to inspect in full—with a telescope, I suppose—at a hundred yards' distance.
"Row nearer, boys," I said, "and we'll talk a bit with this polite gentleman. He seems to have views of his own, I fancy, about the proper method of engaging servants."
But when we tried to row up the Frenchman stopped and called out at the top of his voice, in a very different tone, all bustle38 and bluster39, "Look out ahead there! If you come a yard closer we open fire. We want no interference [pg 18] from any of you Methodistical missionary41 fellows."
"We ain't missionaries," I answered quietly, cocking my revolver in the friendliest possible fashion right in front of him; "we're traders and yachtsmen. Show 'em your Remingtons, boys, and let 'em see we mean business! That's right. Ready! present!—and fire when I tell you! Now then, Monsieur, you bought these boys, you say. So far, good. Next then, if you please, who did you buy them from?"
The Frenchman turned pale when he saw we were well-armed and meant inquiry42; but he tried to carry off still with a little face and bluster. "Why, their parents, of course," he answered, with a signal to his friends in the ship to cover us with their fire-arms.
"From their parents? O, yes! Well, how did you know the sellers were their parents?" I asked, still pointing my revolver towards him. "And why are the boys so unwilling43 to go? And what are the natives making such a noise [pg 19] over this little transaction in indentured labor for? If it's all as you say, what's this fuss and row about? Keep your rifles steady, lads."
"They want to back out of their bargain, I suppose, now they've drunk our rum and smoked our tobacco," the Frenchman said.
"No true, no true," one of the natives shouted out from beyond in his broken English. "Man a oui-oui!"—that's what they call the French, you know, all through the South Pacific—"man a oui-oui, bad—no believe man, a oui-oui—him make us drunk, so try to cheat us."
WHERE THE FRENCHMEN LANDED. Page 19
"Now, you look here, Monsieur," I said severely44, turning to the skipper, "I know what you've been doing. I've seen this little game tried on before. You landed here last night with your peaceable equipment for recruiting labor—we know what that means—a Winchester sixteen-shooter and half a dozen pairs of English handcuffs. You brought on shore your 'trade'—a common clay pipe or two, some cheap red cloth, and a lot of bad French [pg 20] Government tobacco; and you treated the natives all round to free drinks of your square gin. When they'd reached that state of convenient conviviality45 that they didn't know who they were or what they were doing, you took advantage of their guileless condition. You picked out the likeliest young men and lads, selected any particularly drunken native lying about loose to represent their fathers, made 'em put their marks to a formal paper of indentures, and handed over twenty dollars, a bottle of rum, and a quid of tobacco, as a consolation46 for the wounded feelings of their distressed47 relations. You've been carrying them off all night at your devil's game; and now in the morning the natives are beginning to wake up sober, miss their friends, and put a summary stop to your little proceedings48. Well, sir, I give you one minute to make up your mind; if you don't hand us over these four lads to set on shore again, we'll open fire upon you; and as we're stronger than you, with the natives at our back, [pg 21] we'll make a prize of you, and tow you into Fiji on a charge of slave-trading."
Before the words were well out of my mouth the French skipper had given the word "Fire!" and the bullets came whizzing past, and riddling49 the gunwale of the gig beside us. One of them grazed my arm below the shoulder and drew blood. Now there's nothing to put a man's temper up like getting shot in the arm. I lost mine, I confess, and I shouted aloud, "Fire, boys, and row on at them!" Our fellows fired, and the very same moment the natives closed in and went at them with their canoes, all alive with Sniders, lances and hatchets50. It was a lively time, I can tell you, for the next five minutes, with those lithe51, long black fellows swarming52 over them like ants; and poor Tom Blake got a bullet from a French rifle in his thigh53, that lodges54 there still in very comfortable quarters. But one of the Frenchmen fell back in the jolly-boat shot through the breast, and the skipper, who turned out to be a fellow with [pg 22] one sound leg and a substitute, was severely wounded. So we'd soon closed in upon them, the natives and ourselves, and overpowered their crew, which was only ten, all told, besides the fellows on the big vessel in the harbor.
Well, we took out the four boys, when the mill was over, and transferred them to our gig; and then we escorted the Frenchmen, ironed in their own handcuffs, to the deck of their sloop, with the natives on either side in their canoes rowing along abreast55 of us like a guard of honor. The crew of the sloop didn't attempt to interfere40 with us as we brought their comrades handcuffed aboard; if they had, why, then, with the help of the savages, we should have been more than a match for them. So we prowled around the ship on a voyage of discovery, and found ample evidence in her get-up of her character as an honest and single-hearted recruiter of labor. A rack in the cabin held eight Snider rifles, loaded for use, above which hung eight revolvers, employed doubtless in [pg 23] self-defense against the lawless character of the Kanakas, as the skipper (with his hands in irons and his eyes in tears) most solemnly assured us. The sloop was prepared throughout, with loopholes and battening-hatches, to stand a siege, and could have made short work of the natives alone had they tried to attack her, for she carried a small howitzer, not so big as our own; but she never suspected interference from a European vessel. We went down into her hold, and there we found about forty natives, men, women and children—free agents all, the skipper had declared—packed as tight as herrings in a barrel, and with stench intolerable to the European nostril56. Such a sight you never saw in your life. There they lay athwart ship, side by side, the unhappy black cattle, some handcuffed and manacled, others dead-drunk and too careless to complain, while the women and children were crying and screaming, and the men were shouting as loud as they could shout in their own lingo57.
[pg 24] Fortunately, we had a sailor aboard the Albatross who had been a beach-comber (or degraded white man who lives like a native) for three years on the island of Ambrymon, and had a Kanaka girl for a sweetheart; so he could talk their palaver58 almost as easy as you can English, and he acted as interpreter for us with the poor people in the hold. We knocked their handcuffs off, and explained the situation to them. About a dozen of the wretchedest and most squalid-looking of the lot were prepared, even when we offered them freedom, to stand by their last night's bargain, and go on to New Caledonia; but the remainder were only too delighted to learn that they might go ashore59 again; and they gave us three ringing British cheers as soon as they understood we had really liberated60 them.
As for the four boys we'd got in the gig, three of them elected at once to go home to their own people on the island; but the fourth was our present black servant, Nassaline. He, poor boy, was an orphan61; and his nearest relations, [pg 25] having held a consultation62 the day before whether they should bake him and eat him, or sell him to the Frenchman, had decided63 that after all he would be worth more if paid for in tobacco and rum than if roasted in plantain-leaves. So, as soon as he found we were going to put him on shore again, the poor creature was afraid after all he was being returned for the oven; and flinging himself on his face in the gig, groveling and cringing64, he took hold of our knees and besought65 us most piteously (as our sailor translated his words for us) to take him with us. Of course, when we entered into the spirit of the situation, we felt it was impossible to send the poor fellow back to be made "long pig" of; so, to his immense delight, we took him along, and a more faithful servant no man ever had than poor Nassaline proved from that day forth66 to me.
I've gone out of my way so far, as I said before, to tell you this little episode of life in the South Pacific, partly in order to let you know [pg 26] who Nassaline was and how we came by him; but partly also to give you a side glimpse of the sort of gentry67, both European and native, one may chance to knock up against in those remote regions. It'll help you to understand the rest of my yarn. And now, if you please, I'll tack back again once more into my proper course, to the spot where I broke off in sight of Erromanga.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
isolated
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
lookout
|
|
| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
hawks
|
|
| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
pouncing
|
|
| v.突然袭击( pounce的现在分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
speck
|
|
| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
indentured
|
|
| v.以契约束缚（学徒）( indenture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
apprentices
|
|
| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
casually
|
|
| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
shipping
|
|
| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
euphoniously
|
|
| adj.悦耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
indentures
|
|
| vt.以契约束缚（indenture的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
laborers
|
|
| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
groves
|
|
| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
tar
|
|
| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
yarn
|
|
| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
tack
|
|
| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
latitudes
|
|
| 纬度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
cargo
|
|
| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
trophy
|
|
| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
sloop
|
|
| n.单桅帆船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
bunk
|
|
| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
strapping
|
|
| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
intercept
|
|
| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
savages
|
|
| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
negotiations
|
|
| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
inquiries
|
|
| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
ammunition
|
|
| n.军火，弹药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
bustle
|
|
| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
bluster
|
|
| v.猛刮；怒冲冲的说；n.吓唬，怒号；狂风声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
missionary
|
|
| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
unwilling
|
|
| adj.不情愿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
severely
|
|
| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
conviviality
|
|
| n.欢宴，高兴，欢乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
consolation
|
|
| n.安慰，慰问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
distressed
|
|
| 痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
proceedings
|
|
| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
riddling
|
|
| adj.谜一样的，解谜的n.筛选 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
hatchets
|
|
| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
lithe
|
|
| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
swarming
|
|
| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
thigh
|
|
| n.大腿；股骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
lodges
|
|
| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
abreast
|
|
| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
nostril
|
|
| n.鼻孔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
lingo
|
|
| n.语言不知所云，外国话，隐语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
palaver
|
|
| adj.壮丽堂皇的；n.废话，空话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
liberated
|
|
| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
orphan
|
|
| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
consultation
|
|
| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
cringing
|
|
| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
besought
|
|
| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
gentry
|
|
| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |