In some half dreamy way, he was aware too, now and again, of strange voices by his side, strange faces tending him. But they were black faces, all, and the voices spoke11 in deep guttural tones, unlike even the clicks and harsh Bantu jerks with which he had grown so familiar in eighteen months among the Barolong. This that he heard now, or seemed to hear in his delirium, like distant sounds of water, was a wholly different and very much harsher tongue—the tongue of the Namaquas, in fact, though Granville was far too ill and too drowsy12 just then to think of reasoning about it or classifying it in any way. All he knew for the moment was that sometimes, when he turned round feebly on his bed of straw, and asked for drink or help in a faltering13 voice, no white man appeared to answer his summons. Black, faces all—black, black, and unfamiliar14. Very intermittently15 he was conscious of a faint sense of loneliness. He knew not why. But he thought he could guess. Guy Waring had deserted16 him!
At last, one morning, after more days had passed than Granville could possibly count, all of a sudden, in a wild whirl, he came to himself again at once, with that instant revulsion of complete awakening17 which often occurs at the end of long fits of delirium in malarious18 fever. A light burst in upon him with a flash. In a moment, his brain seemed to clear all at once, and everything to grow plain as day before him. He raised himself on one wasted elbow and gazed around him with profound awe19. He saw it all now; he remembered everything, everything.
He was alone, among savages20 in the far heart of Africa.
He lay on his back, on a heap of fresh straw, in a close and filthy22 mud-built hut. Under his aching neck a wooden pillow or prop6 of native make supported his head. Two women and a man bent23 over him and smiled. Their faces, though black, were far from unkindly. They were pleased to see him stare about with such meaning in his eyes. They were friendly, no doubt. They seemed really to take an interest in their patient’s recovery.
But where was Guy Waring? Dead? Dead? Or run away? Had his half-brother, in this utmost need, then, so basely deserted him?
For some minutes, Granville gazed around him, half dazed, and in a turmoil24 of surprise, yet with a vivid passion of acute inquiry25. Now he was once well awake, he must know all immediately. But how? Who to ask? This was terrible, terrible. He had no means of intercommunication with the people in the hut. He knew none of their language, nor they of his. He was utterly26 alone, among unmitigated savages.
Meanwhile, the man and the women talked loud among themselves in their own harsh speech, evidently well pleased and satisfied at their guest’s improvement. With a violent effort, Granville began to communicate with them in the language of signs which every savage21 knows as he knows his native tongue, and in which the two Englishmen had already made some progress during their stay in Barolong land.
Pointing first to himself, with one hand on his breast, he held up two fingers before the observant Namaqua, to indicate that at first there had been a couple of them on the road, both white men. The latter point he still further elaborated by showing the white skin on his own bare wrist, and once more holding up the two fingers demonstratively. The Namaqua nodded. He had seized the point well. He held up two fingers in return himself; then looked at his own black wrist and shook his head in dissent27—they were not black men; after which he touched Granville’s fair forearm with his hand; yes, yes, just so; he took it in; two white men.
What had become of the other one? Granville asked in the same fashion, by looking around him on all sides in dumb show, inquiringly. One finger only was held up now, pointing about the hut; one hand was laid upon his own breast to show that a single white man alone remained. He glanced about him uneasily. What had happened to his companion?
The Namaqua pointed28 with his finger to the door of the hut, as much as to say the other man was gone. He seized every sign at once with true savage quickness.
Then Granville tried once more. Was his companion dead? Had he been killed in a fight? Was that the reason of his absence? He lunged forward with his hand holding an imaginary assegai. He pressed on upon the foe29; he drove it through a body. Then he fell, as if dead, on the floor, with a groan30 and a shriek31. After which, picking himself up as well as he was able, and crawling back to his straw, he proceeded in mute pantomime to bury himself decently.
The Namaqua shook his head again with a laugh of dissent. Oh no; not like that. It had happened quite otherwise. The missing white man was well and vigorous, a slap on his own chest sufficiently32 indicated that news. He placed his two first fingers in the ground, astride like legs, and made them walk along fast, one in front of the other. The white man had gone away. He had gone on foot. Granville nodded acquiescence33. The savage took water in a calabash and laid it on the floor. Then he walked once more with his fingers, as if on a long and weary march, to the water’s brink34. Granville nodded comprehension again. He understood the signs. The white man had gone away, alone, on foot—and seaward.
At that instant, with a sudden cry of terror, the invalid’s hands went down to his waist, where he wore the girdle that contained those precious diamonds—the diamonds that were to be the ransom35 of some fraction of Tilgate. An awful sense of desertion broke over him all at once. He called aloud in his horror. It was too much to believe. The girdle was gone, and the diamonds with it!
Hypocrite! Hypocrite! Thief! Murderer! Robber! He had trusted that vile36 creature, that plausible37 wretch38, in spite of all the horrible charges he knew against him. And THIS was the sequel of their talk that day! THIS was how Guy Waring had requited39 his confidence.
He had stolen the fruits of eighteen months’ labour.
Granville turned to the Namaqua, wild with his terrible loss, and pointed angrily to his loins, where the diamonds were not. The savage nodded; looked wise and shook his head; pretended to gird himself round the waist with a cloth; then went over to Granville, who lay still in the straw, undid40 an imaginary belt, with deliberate care, tied it round his own body above the other one, with every appearance of prudence41 and forethought, counted the small stones in it one by one, in his hand, to the exact number, with grotesque42 fidelity43, and finally set his fingers to walk a second time at a rapid pace, in the direction of the calabash which represented the ocean.
Granville fell back on his wooden pillow with a horrible groan of awakened44 distrust. The man had gone off, that was clear, and had stolen his diamonds That is what comes of intrusting your life and property to a discovered murderer. How could he ever have been such a fool? He would never forgive himself.
The desertion itself was bad enough in all conscience; but it was as nothing at all in Granville’s mind to the wickedness of the robbery.
He might have known it, of course. How that fellow toiled45 and moiled and gloated over his wretched diamonds! How little he seemed to think of the stain of blood on his hands, and how much of the mere46 chance of making filthy lucre47! Pah! Pah! it was pitiable. The man’s whole mind was distorted by a hideous48 fungoid growth—the love of gain, which is the root of all evil. For a few miserable49 stones, he would plunder50 his own brother, lying helpless and ill in that African hut, and make off with the booty himself, saving his own skin, seaward.
If it hadn’t been for the unrequited kindness of these mere savage Namaquas, Granville cried to himself in his bitterness, he might have died of want in the open desert. And now he would go down to the coast, after all, a ruined man, penniless and friendless. It was a hard thought indeed for a Kelmscott to think he should have been abandoned and robbed by his own half-brother, and should owe his life now to a heathen African. The tender mercies of a naked barbarian51 in a mud-built hut were better than the false friendship of his father’s son, the true heir of Tilgate.
It was miserable! pitiable! The shock of that discovery threw Granville back once more into a profound fever. For several hours he relapsed into delirium. And the worst of it was, the negroes wouldn’t let him die quietly in his own plain way. In the midst of it all, he was dimly aware of a dose thrust down his throat. It was the Namaqua administering him a pill—some nauseous native decoction, no doubt—which tasted as if it were made of stiff white paper.
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1
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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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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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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intermittently
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| adv.间歇地；断断续续 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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malarious
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| （患）疟疾的，（有）瘴气的 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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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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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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34
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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requited
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| v.报答( requite的过去式和过去分词 )；酬谢；回报；报复 | |
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40
Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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42
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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43
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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44
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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45
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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46
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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lucre
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| n.金钱，财富 | |
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48
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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49
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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50
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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51
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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