George Chard felt it bitterly hard that after his years of service he should earn not only the reproof1 of the head office, but that suspicion should in some way indefinitely be attached to him.
There had been an inquiry2 into the robbery, and although there was nothing in the evidence to directly implicate3 either himself or his manager, the tone of head-office letters was by no means comforting.
George had done his best to clear his superior officer. Truth is good, but it is not always a matter of telling the whole truth in every-day life.
If people were to say all they knew about each other, society would fall to pieces rapidly—as rapidly as an iceberg4 might melt in a volcano.
George Chard knew this, and certain matters of carelessness on his manager’s part had not come out. It is one thing for a directorate or a department to frame an elaborate code of rules, and another thing for their servants to follow them to the letter.
No rules, natural or man-made, can ever be exactly adhered to.
[154]
In repayment5 for his subordinate’s fealty6, the Pig had whispered certain private insinuations against George to the inspector7.
Consequently he became a “marked man.”
In every branch of Government employment, in every big commercial organisation8 there are “marked men.” They remain in the employ, pending9 a valid10 excuse for their dismissal, perhaps for years, but they do not get on. They are never promoted; they never receive an increase in salary, and they are never placed in any position of responsibility.
George Chard knew this, and he saw, as soon as the inquiry had closed, that his career in the Bulk and Bullion11 was practically at an end.
The thought stung him like nettles12. He was a proud man, and his pride had been humbled13; he was a conscientious14 man also, and the thought of his responsibility—of the mother and the five girls dependent on him—alone prevented him writing at once to the head office and demanding either an honourable15 acquittal or an honourable discharge. But then, again, what charge was he to be acquitted16 of? None had been brought against him. No one had accused him. No one had dared insinuate17 to him openly that he had anything to do with the removal of the money from the bank safe, yet he felt that an unseen sword of Damocles hung over his head.
It is this anticipation18 of disaster—this hourly expectation of something going to happen—that wears out the strongest energy and shatters the strongest nervous system.
[155]
The town of Wharfdale, unknown to George, was still indefinitely divided into factions20 upon the question of the bank robbery, and it was not improbable that in a very little time someone would have accidentally given him evil news if the matter of the robbery had not sunk into insignificance21 before the discovery of the body of a murdered man down the river.
The news was brought up by the Greenwich the morning after George, the deck-hand, had had such remarkable23 fishing.
First came the outlines which Rumour24 filled in for herself, dwelling25 lovingly on the knife wounds.
Then gossiping tongues began to shape fancies into main facts. A body had certainly been discovered, and people who saw it were convinced that a foul26 and brutal27 murder had taken place.
The craving28 for sensation, like the craving for opium29 or chloral, is progressive—the patients must keep on increasing the dose. The newspaper down the river published an “extraordinary” on the morning following George’s discovery. The “extraordinary,” printed on a “galley-slip,” was sold all over the district at a penny.
As the day wore on a second edition of the “extraordinary” was issued containing two or three additional paragraphs of news, and the opinion which the “authorities” were supposed to entertain on the subject.
The publication of the paper proper was deferred30 a day to enable the particulars of the inquest to be inserted.
Then the little sheet put up a record circulation.
[156]
The editor congratulated himself on the headlines. Years afterwards, when strangers came into the office, he would take down the file and point them out with pride. The first word. “Murder,” was set in woodblock type an inch and a half deep: “And Inquest,” in the German decorative31 capitals usually used for illuminated32 texts by printers of religious literature.
The actual evidence adduced at the inquest was meagre.
George, the deck-hand, was examined by the Coroner at great length. The court went into the minutest details regarding the finding of the body, even bringing out the witness’s private opinions about the matter—what he thought and what he felt at the time and afterwards.
The Sergeant33 was sworn. He corroborated34 George in respect to the fishing; detailed35 the appearance of the corpse—to which the audience listened lovingly—told how he had left the body tied up by the wharf19 until daylight, removed same with the assistance of a constable36 to a shed, and summoned the doctor.
The doctor was an heroic figure at the inquest. It was with difficulty that the crowded court refrained from cheering when he stepped into the witness-box. With the greatest urbanity the presiding J.P., who was acting37 Coroner, requested him to explain the technical terms he used in his evidence. The doctor bowed—a perfectly38 splendid bow it was generally admitted—and courteously39 gave the common English of the thing to his audience.
A sigh of satisfaction went round when he swore[157] positively40 that it would be impossible for deceased to have inflicted41 upon himself the wounds as detailed.
The district had not had such a sensation for years. The identity of the deceased would have remained a matter of absolute doubt had it not been for an accident. A religious crank, whose name was casually42 “Joe,” happened to arrive in the place on the morning of the discovery.
Numbers of people had been taken to the shed by the police.
Some thought they might be able to say who it was, and others wanted to tell their friends in future years that they had seen an approved hall-marked murder in cold flesh.
None of those people had thrown the least light on the subject. The body remained unrecognised until the religious crank went in.
He kissed the book with a reverent43 smack44, and stood awaiting the interrogations of the Sergeant and the J.P.
The audience, with bated breath, leaned eagerly forward to catch every word of the religious crank’s low replies.
“It happened quite accidentally,” he said, that he had gone into the shed where the body on which enquiry was being held had been conveyed, he believed, from the wharf. He could not swear that it was the same body which had been taken out of the river in the morning.
He knew Constable Flanagan. He was upon the[158] Lord’s work when he was requested to enter the shed. He had not heard the constable’s evidence.
It was not a fact that he had recognised the body. (Murmur of disappointment ran throughout the court). All he had said to Constable Flanagan was that he believed he had seen deceased before at a meeting in one of the river towns. He would not swear positively that it was deceased, but he believed it was. If he remembered rightly, the man’s name was Gooch-Peter. He could not say what occupation he followed. This happened about six or eight weeks before. That was all he knew about the matter. The name might have been Good; he was not sure.
The witness, instead of throwing light upon the case, seemed to have added to its mystery.
Nobody knew of a person named Good or Gooch along the river, not even the oldest residents, and oldest residents know everything. Still, the crank had given the police a clue. Up to that they had been hopelessly fogged. Now there was some sort of a trail to follow.
The Sergeant applied45 for an adjournment46 and wired up the river. He wired to various persons; none of them could positively swear that they knew a man answering to the description of deceased.
The crank held a great revival47 meeting opposite the courthouse that night. He spoke48 eloquently49, and his testimonies50 drew a hat full of small change from the crowd. He preached mostly about the evils of murder and homicide, and strong drink.
[159]
The jury considered the evidence carefully, and then brought in a verdict to the effect that deceased, whose name was supposed to be either Good or Gooch, met his death at the hands of some person or persons unknown.
They added a rider to the effect that George, the deck-hand, the Sergeant, and the witnesses generally had behaved themselves with credit, and thanked the coroner and the doctor for their kindness and attention.
Altogether, it was a very successful affair, and the jury got more or less drunk, because everybody wanted to shout for them and be seen talking to them.
In Australia you cannot expect to talk very long to any distinguished51 person without shouting for him.
The excitement remained at fever heat for some days, during which the movements of the police were watched with absorbing interest.
The police did their best, but the mystery of the murder remained as it was at first. The people began to get impatient for developments. On the advice of the authorities, the Government issued a proclamation offering ￡500 reward for the conviction of the murderer, adding a free pardon to any accomplice52 who would turn Queen’s evidence.
Placards to this effect were posted up on the trees and cross roads, at the approaches to punts, on wharves53, and other places.
Scores of amateur detectives were at work following out all sorts of impossible theories, and suspicions were cast on almost every doubtful character on the whole country side.
[160]
But day followed day, and the mysterious puzzle still remained without a key.
Jean Petit had formally adopted Tom and Dave.
So terrified were the lads of the convict and their secret knowledge of his crime that they obeyed him in fear and trembling.
It was not until the morning after the capture that they managed to get together and talk. Petit had forbidden them holding converse54 with one another, and any signs of communication had brought out the knife.
So Tom and Dave lived for twenty-four hours on that island in awful bad company, hardly daring to look at one another.
Petit had drawn55 the boat up in the scrub, hidden it, and so secured it that they could not launch it without his knowledge and aid.
They might have swum ashore56, and each prisoner meditated57 it, but the opportunity had not offered, and they were, moreover, still too terrified to make the attempt.
But now Petit was asleep and snoring, and Tom motioned Dave to sneak58 after him into the lantana. They had almost reached the opposite edge of the island before they drew together and spoke in scared whispers.
Dave broke out first: “I’ll never go piratin’ no more,” he said, with a dry sob59.
“Nor me!” said Tom. “Not without a gun, anyway.”
[161]
“Suppose he wakes up now,” said Dave, and shuddered60.
Tom had taken the precaution to pick up the billy-can. There was a swamp in the centre of the island, which Petit had brought them to the evening before.
“We’ll say we went for a billy of water to bile tea for him,” replied the elder adventurer.
“What are we going to do?” asked Dave.
“Get away,” replied Tom, “as soon as we see a chance.”
“Why can’t we go now?” queried61 Dave, looking longingly62 across the bank of the river. “I ain’t never swum so far; but I’d as lief be drowned as stay here. What is he stayin’ here so quiet for?”
“He’s hidin’,” replied Tom, sagaciously. “He’s waitin’ here for a chance to escape. I say, did you notice the belt?”
“That canvas thing around his waist? I see the end of it stickin’ out when he stooped over the fire last night.”
“Hsh!” said Tom. “He’s got the money in that!”
“The money that he stole?”
“The money that him and the other cove22 stole. The money he killed his mate for!”
“Hush!” cried Dave, looking anxiously around. “Don’t get talkin’ about that; for God’s sake, Tom don’t.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Tom emphatically. “I wish I never see it, nor him either. We’d had a all-right time only for him. ’E keeps croppin’ up, croppin’ up just when things is goin’ straight, and[162] now ’e’s nailed us ’ere an’ took our boat an’ our tent, an’ our tucker, an’ everything!”
“Yes,” agreed Dave, feeling his neck fearfully; “an’ the next thing he’ll do is cut our throats an’ dig a hole an’ bury us, or throw us in the river. I’m dead full of the whole thing.”
“Shut up!” retorted Tom; “you’re a nice kind o’ cove to start yelping63 like this.”
“Well, so did you last night.”
“I never. It was the smoke got in me eyes.”
“Well, the sun’s got in mine now. What are we goin’ to do?”
“We’ll have to swim!” said Tom, sadly.
“An’ leave ’im the boat? We can’t do any more piratin’ then?”
“There was a note of gladness in Dave’s voice.
“Yes,” replied Tom, savagely64; “an’ I’ll have to go back to the old man and get whaled. It’s his fault, and I’ll—I’ll——”
The boss pirate clenched65 his fist angrily.
“What’ll you do?” asked Dave, anxiously.
The first mate was not for taking any risks.
“You’ll see what I’ll do,” cried the chief, “an’ so will he!”
A vengeful light shone in Tom Pagdin’s eye.
Dave started.
“What’s that nise?” he whispered.
“Rollicks!” ejaculated Tom, peering through the bushes. “Hist! There’s a boat! Two men in it! They’re comin’ across the island! They got guns! They’re after flock pigeons! As soon as they get in[163] near enough we’ll make a bolt for the edge, an’ swim out to ’em an’ tell ’em!”
They were breathless with excitement and hope.
“Hide!” cried Dave. “Hide! He might a’ heard them coming!”
They heard a soft footstep close behind them, turned, and saw Jean Petit!
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收听单词发音
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1
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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2
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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implicate
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| vt.使牵连其中，涉嫌 | |
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iceberg
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| n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人 | |
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5
repayment
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| n.偿还，偿还款；报酬 | |
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6
fealty
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| n.忠贞，忠节 | |
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7
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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8
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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9
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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10
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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11
bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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nettles
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| n.荨麻( nettle的名词复数 ) | |
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13
humbled
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| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
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14
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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15
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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16
acquitted
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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17
insinuate
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| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
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18
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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19
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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20
factions
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| 组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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21
insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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23
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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25
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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26
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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30
deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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31
decorative
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| adj.装饰的，可作装饰的 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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33
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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corroborated
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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36
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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37
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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38
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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40
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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41
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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reverent
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| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
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44
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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45
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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46
adjournment
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| 休会； 延期； 休会期； 休庭期 | |
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47
revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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48
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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49
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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50
testimonies
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| （法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据 | |
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51
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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52
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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53
wharves
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| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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54
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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55
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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56
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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57
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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58
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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59
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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60
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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61
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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62
longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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63
yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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64
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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65
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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