(Extracted from a Family Paper.)
I
I address these lines—written in India—to my relatives in England.
My object is to explain the motive1 which has induced me to refuse the right hand of friendship to my cousin, John Herncastle. The reserve which I have hitherto maintained in this matter has been misinterpreted by members of my family whose good opinion I cannot consent to forfeit2. I request them to suspend their decision until they have read my narrative3. And I declare, on my word of honour, that what I am now about to write is, strictly4 and literally5, the truth.
The private difference between my cousin and me took its rise in a great public event in which we were both concerned—the storming of Seringapatam, under General Baird, on the 4th of May, 1799.
In order that the circumstances may be clearly understood, I must revert6 for a moment to the period before the assault, and to the stories current in our camp of the treasure in jewels and gold stored up in the Palace of Seringapatam.
II
One of the wildest of these stories related to a Yellow Diamond—a famous gem7 in the native annals of India.
The earliest known traditions describe the stone as having been set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian god who typifies the Moon. Partly from its peculiar8 colour, partly from a superstition9 which represented it as feeling the influence of the deity10 whom it adorned11, and growing and lessening12 in lustre13 with the waxing and waning14 of the moon, it first gained the name by which it continues to be known in India to this day—the name of THE MOONSTONE. A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome; not applying, however (as in India), to a diamond devoted15 to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems16, supposed to be affected17 by the lunar influences—the moon, in this latter case also, giving the name by which the stone is still known to collectors in our own time.
The adventures of the Yellow Diamond begin with the eleventh century of the Christian18 era.
At that date, the Mohammedan conqueror19, Mahmoud of Ghizni, crossed India; seized on the holy city of Somnauth; and stripped of its treasures the famous temple, which had stood for centuries—the shrine20 of Hindoo pilgrimage, and the wonder of the Eastern world.
Of all the deities21 worshipped in the temple, the moon-god alone escaped the rapacity22 of the conquering Mohammedans. Preserved by three Brahmins, the inviolate23 deity, bearing the Yellow Diamond in its forehead, was removed by night, and was transported to the second of the sacred cities of India—the city of Benares.
Here, in a new shrine—in a hall inlaid with precious stones, under a roof supported by pillars of gold—the moon-god was set up and worshipped. Here, on the night when the shrine was completed, Vishnu the Preserver appeared to the three Brahmins in a dream.
The deity breathed the breath of his divinity on the Diamond in the forehead of the god. And the Brahmins knelt and hid their faces in their robes. The deity commanded that the Moonstone should be watched, from that time forth24, by three priests in turn, night and day, to the end of the generations of men. And the Brahmins heard, and bowed before his will. The deity predicted certain disaster to the presumptuous25 mortal who laid hands on the sacred gem, and to all of his house and name who received it after him. And the Brahmins caused the prophecy to be written over the gates of the shrine in letters of gold.
One age followed another—and still, generation after generation, the successors of the three Brahmins watched their priceless Moonstone, night and day. One age followed another until the first years of the eighteenth Christian century saw the reign26 of Aurungzebe, Emperor of the Moguls. At his command havoc27 and rapine were let loose once more among the temples of the worship of Brahmah. The shrine of the four-handed god was polluted by the slaughter28 of sacred animals; the images of the deities were broken in pieces; and the Moonstone was seized by an officer of rank in the army of Aurungzebe.
Powerless to recover their lost treasure by open force, the three guardian29 priests followed and watched it in disguise. The generations succeeded each other; the warrior30 who had committed the sacrilege perished miserably31; the Moonstone passed (carrying its curse with it) from one lawless Mohammedan hand to another; and still, through all chances and changes, the successors of the three guardian priests kept their watch, waiting the day when the will of Vishnu the Preserver should restore to them their sacred gem. Time rolled on from the first to the last years of the eighteenth Christian century. The Diamond fell into the possession of Tippoo, Sultan of Seringapatam, who caused it to be placed as an ornament32 in the handle of a dagger33, and who commanded it to be kept among the choicest treasures of his armoury. Even then—in the palace of the Sultan himself—the three guardian priests still kept their watch in secret. There were three officers of Tippoo’s household, strangers to the rest, who had won their master’s confidence by conforming, or appearing to conform, to the Mussulman faith; and to those three men report pointed34 as the three priests in disguise.
III
So, as told in our camp, ran the fanciful story of the Moonstone. It made no serious impression on any of us except my cousin—whose love of the marvellous induced him to believe it. On the night before the assault on Seringapatam, he was absurdly angry with me, and with others, for treating the whole thing as a fable35. A foolish wrangle36 followed; and Herncastle’s unlucky temper got the better of him. He declared, in his boastful way, that we should see the Diamond on his finger, if the English army took Seringapatam. The sally was saluted37 by a roar of laughter, and there, as we all thought that night, the thing ended.
Let me now take you on to the day of the assault.
My cousin and I were separated at the outset. I never saw him when we forded the river; when we planted the English flag in the first breach38; when we crossed the ditch beyond; and, fighting every inch of our way, entered the town. It was only at dusk, when the place was ours, and after General Baird himself had found the dead body of Tippoo under a heap of the slain39, that Herncastle and I met.
We were each attached to a party sent out by the general’s orders to prevent the plunder40 and confusion which followed our conquest. The camp-followers committed deplorable excesses; and, worse still, the soldiers found their way, by a guarded door, into the treasury41 of the Palace, and loaded themselves with gold and jewels. It was in the court outside the treasury that my cousin and I met, to enforce the laws of discipline on our own soldiers. Herncastle’s fiery42 temper had been, as I could plainly see, exasperated43 to a kind of frenzy44 by the terrible slaughter through which we had passed. He was very unfit, in my opinion, to perform the duty that had been entrusted45 to him.
There was riot and confusion enough in the treasury, but no violence that I saw. The men (if I may use such an expression) disgraced themselves good-humouredly. All sorts of rough jests and catchwords were bandied about among them; and the story of the Diamond turned up again unexpectedly, in the form of a mischievous46 joke. “Who’s got the Moonstone?” was the rallying cry which perpetually caused the plundering47, as soon as it was stopped in one place, to break out in another. While I was still vainly trying to establish order, I heard a frightful48 yelling on the other side of the courtyard, and at once ran towards the cries, in dread49 of finding some new outbreak of the pillage50 in that direction.
I got to an open door, and saw the bodies of two Indians (by their dress, as I guessed, officers of the palace) lying across the entrance, dead.
A cry inside hurried me into a room, which appeared to serve as an armoury. A third Indian, mortally wounded, was sinking at the feet of a man whose back was towards me. The man turned at the instant when I came in, and I saw John Herncastle, with a torch in one hand, and a dagger dripping with blood in the other. A stone, set like a pommel, in the end of the dagger’s handle, flashed in the torchlight, as he turned on me, like a gleam of fire. The dying Indian sank to his knees, pointed to the dagger in Herncastle’s hand, and said, in his native language—“The Moonstone will have its vengeance51 yet on you and yours!” He spoke52 those words, and fell dead on the floor.
Before I could stir in the matter, the men who had followed me across the courtyard crowded in. My cousin rushed to meet them, like a madman. “Clear the room!” he shouted to me, “and set a guard on the door!” The men fell back as he threw himself on them with his torch and his dagger. I put two sentinels of my own company, on whom I could rely, to keep the door. Through the remainder of the night, I saw no more of my cousin.
Early in the morning, the plunder still going on, General Baird announced publicly by beat of drum, that any thief detected in the fact, be he whom he might, should be hung. The provost-marshal was in attendance, to prove that the General was in earnest; and in the throng53 that followed the proclamation, Herncastle and I met again.
He held out his hand, as usual, and said, “Good morning.”
I waited before I gave him my hand in return.
“Tell me first,” I said, “how the Indian in the armoury met his death, and what those last words meant, when he pointed to the dagger in your hand.”
“The Indian met his death, as I suppose, by a mortal wound,” said Herncastle. “What his last words meant I know no more than you do.”
I looked at him narrowly. His frenzy of the previous day had all calmed down. I determined54 to give him another chance.
“Is that all you have to tell me?” I asked.
He answered, “That is all.”
I turned my back on him; and we have not spoken since.
IV
I beg it to be understood that what I write here about my cousin (unless some necessity should arise for making it public) is for the information of the family only. Herncastle has said nothing that can justify55 me in speaking to our commanding officer. He has been taunted56 more than once about the Diamond, by those who recollect57 his angry outbreak before the assault; but, as may easily be imagined, his own remembrance of the circumstances under which I surprised him in the armoury has been enough to keep him silent. It is reported that he means to exchange into another regiment58, avowedly59 for the purpose of separating himself from me.
Whether this be true or not, I cannot prevail upon myself to become his accuser—and I think with good reason. If I made the matter public, I have no evidence but moral evidence to bring forward. I have not only no proof that he killed the two men at the door; I cannot even declare that he killed the third man inside—for I cannot say that my own eyes saw the deed committed. It is true that I heard the dying Indian’s words; but if those words were pronounced to be the ravings of delirium60, how could I contradict the assertion from my own knowledge? Let our relatives, on either side, form their own opinion on what I have written, and decide for themselves whether the aversion I now feel towards this man is well or ill founded.
Although I attach no sort of credit to the fantastic Indian legend of the gem, I must acknowledge, before I conclude, that I am influenced by a certain superstition of my own in this matter. It is my conviction, or my delusion61, no matter which, that crime brings its own fatality62 with it. I am not only persuaded of Herncastle’s guilt63; I am even fanciful enough to believe that he will live to regret it, if he keeps the Diamond; and that others will live to regret taking it from him, if he gives the Diamond away.
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1
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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2
forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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3
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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4
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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5
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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6
revert
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| v.恢复，复归，回到 | |
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7
gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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8
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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10
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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11
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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12
lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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13
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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14
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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15
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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16
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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17
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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18
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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19
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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21
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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22
rapacity
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| n.贪婪，贪心，劫掠的欲望 | |
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23
inviolate
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| adj.未亵渎的，未受侵犯的 | |
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24
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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25
presumptuous
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| adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的 | |
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26
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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27
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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28
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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29
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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30
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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31
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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32
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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33
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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34
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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35
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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36
wrangle
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| vi.争吵 | |
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37
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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38
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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39
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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40
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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41
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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42
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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43
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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44
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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45
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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47
plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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48
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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49
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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50
pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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51
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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52
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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53
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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54
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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55
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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56
taunted
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| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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57
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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58
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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59
avowedly
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| adv.公然地 | |
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60
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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61
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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62
fatality
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| n.不幸，灾祸，天命 | |
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63
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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