And Malcolm Kirk, standing5 in the bow of the little naphtha launch Terrible, took his megaphone from his mouth and motioned to the man in charge. The Terrible swung around in a short swirl6 of blue water and headed down-stream, waiting for the shell to make its long turn above. Across the sun-kissed wavelets came the sound of the coxswain’s voice:
“Easy all!... Three and Bow, paddle. Stroke and Six, back water!... Forward!... Are you ready?...[180] Row!” Then down the river came the boat, looking for all the world like an enormous water-bug, its eight long legs treading the bosom7 of the river in unison8, or at least in unison so far as the ordinary observer would have been able to judge, but not at all satisfactory in that respect to the motionless figure on the launch. The eight backs bent9 together and the boat sped past the Terrible, which instantly puff-puffed impatiently and started in pursuit, taking up a position off Number Two.
“Stroke, you’re still too short,” began the coach all over again. “Keep it low and long!... Seven, you bend your arms too soon; swing back with them perfectly10 straight; remember, you can’t make them do your work; hard against the stretcher, now!... That’s a bit better.... Six, you start your slide too soon; I’ve spoken to you of that often enough. Get your whole body-weight well onto the stroke before you drive your slide away.... Sit up, Five! Ram11 that slide back to the limit!... Four, your body’s falling out of the boat! Keep your outside leg and hand firm!... Three, drop your hands more so as to get your oar1 out of the water clean.... That’s vastly better!... Two, you’re too slow with your hands and too quick with your body. Shoot your hands away lively and turn your inside wrist sharply; then follow with the body more slowly.... Bow, you’re rolling the boat again! Catch the water more sharply!... Time! Time! Listen for the rattle of the oars in the locks, men; you’re[181] beastly ragged12!... Stroke, you’re rowing light again! Keep your hands up to the end!”
And so on for another half mile, when the boat was again turned and brought back to the landing, where the second squad13 were embarking14 under the direction of its coxswain. “Let her run!” cried Keene, and the first squad lifted their dripping oars from the water and the shell approached the float silently, easily. “Touch her a bit, Stroke.” Dick’s oar went back into the water and he paddled gently until the boat’s head was brought nearer to the landing. “Easy, Stroke. Mind your oars, bow side!” Then the shell floated alongside, was seized by those on the float, and the oars were unlocked. “Stroke!... Bow!... Seven!... Two!... Six!... Three!... Five!... Four!” called the coxswain, and one by one the crew stepped out. Then the shell was lifted, dripping and shining from the water, and borne into the house. The second squad had meanwhile paddled into the stream, and their troubles had begun. Down the river they went, followed by the inexorable Kirk and the puffing15 Terrible.
Dick, weary, out of tune16 with himself for his sorry work, led the first squad off on a short run, down the river-path to the campus, across the golf links, still too soft for good running, and back by Academy Road toward the gymnasium, to baths and rest. And as he trotted17 along the voice of the coach echoed continuously in his ears: “Stroke, you’re rowing light again!” Anger at his own miserable[182] performance in the boat and an intense loathing18 for it all seized upon him. Taylor could have the job, and welcome! He felt a downright hate of the fellows behind him because they had witnessed his degradation19. What could they think, he asked himself, of a captain who had been cautioned four times for the same fault in a half-hour’s work? How could they—what had been Trevor’s words? Look up? Yes—how could they look up to such a captain? Hang them! What did he care what they thought of him? A pack of selfish, half-hearted idiots, they were! But in the next moment he acknowledged that he did care—a good deal. And with that the squad reached the gymnasium, and Dick pulled himself wearily up the steps. On the way across the yard later he encountered Keene.
“Hope, Kirk asked me to tell you he’d like to have you go over to his room this evening after supper if you can. I was on my way to your room.”
“All right; I’ll go. I say, Keene, what did you think of us to-day?”
One of the coxswain’s virtues20 was a fondness for plain, direct language unadorned with verbiage21.
“Rotten!” he answered earnestly. Dick nodded, made a pathetic effort at a smile, and strode on. Keene watched him thoughtfully until he disappeared into Masters Hall, then he turned and went on his way. “He won’t last until the race,” he muttered. “Rowed like a farmer to-day, and looks now as though tired out.”
[183]
Directly after supper Dick walked to the village and found Malcolm Kirk in his room at Hutchins’s boarding-house. He was seated before an open window, his feet on the sill, puffing voluminously at a brier pipe. Upon Dick’s advent22 he greeted him smilingly and pushed forward an armchair.
“Sit down, Hope. It was very good of you to come over. I might have done the journeying myself and called on you, but I thought we’d have a better chance of a talk here in my diggings. Rather an off-day, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” Dick relapsed into silence after this monosyllabic reply, and Kirk occupied himself with his pipe for a moment. Then he faced Dick, with a return to his usual grave aspect.
“Hope, you’re not looking well. I want you to lay off for a week. You’re stale; I could see that by your work to-day, and your face tells as much now. We can’t risk you getting laid up, you know.”
“I feel pretty well,” answered Dick. “But I don’t blame you for thinking I’m stale after the exhibition I made to-day,” he added bitterly. “I don’t know what got into me; I rowed like a—like a chump!”
“Well, don’t let that trouble you,” replied Kirk, soothingly23. “It’s bound to happen once in a while; I never saw a crew captain yet that didn’t go off his work for a bit at some stage in the game; in fact, I should be rather afraid of one that didn’t; I should think he was like the Sunday-school[184] books—too good to be true. How’s your appetite?”
“Pretty fair.”
“Sleep well?”
“Not very.”
“Why?”
“Because—— Oh, I suppose it’s because of the wretched state things are in.”
“Crew, you mean?”
Dick nodded.
“Well, affairs don’t look bright just at present; I’ll acknowledge that, Hope; in fact, it’s best to own up to the condition and face it squarely. But that doesn’t mean that there’s anything to be gained by worrying about it. No, take my advice; do your best, knock off work for a few days, make up your mind that everything’s going to come out right in the end, and keep whistling. After all—though I wouldn’t say this to any one but you—there’s not a particle of disgrace in being beaten, not a particle. I don’t want you to imagine that I’ve got it into my head that we’re going to be beaten; for I haven’t; I’ve seen plenty of more hopeless-looking cases than this right themselves when the time came. But what I mean is that it’s a poor plan to tell yourself that defeat is disgraceful; if you believe that you’ll find yourself in a condition for suicide some day; for every chap, no matter who, has got to face defeat at some time in his life. And the chap that can take[185] a drubbing and come up smiling is the one that is going to be happiest and going to make the most of his life. The only time when defeat brings disgrace is when you haven’t done your honest best. But I didn’t ask you over here to listen to a lecture. What do you think of my plan? Will you lay off a while? To-day’s Friday; suppose we say until a week from to-morrow?”
“All right,” answered Dick dejectedly. “If you think I’d better; though, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think there’s any necessity for it.”
“Of course you don’t; never saw a man who did. But we’ll call it a whim24 of mine, if you like. Well, that’s settled. Don’t come near the river; don’t talk about rowing, and don’t even think of it if you can help it; take a walk every day, or a run, and do just enough work at the weights meanwhile to keep your muscles stretchy. Do you think Crocker will be a good man to put in at stroke while you’re out of it?”
“Yes,” answered Dick. “You know I had him rowing there during vacation; he did first-rate.”
“All right. I think we’d better pick the first and second crews next week and send them to training-table. It’s rather earlier than last year, but then we’re a bit more backward. Now, another thing. That fellow Jones is no earthly use in Taylor’s position; in the first place, he’s not varsity stuff; in the second place he can’t row to any remarkable25 extent, and there isn’t time to start in and teach[186] him the rudiments26 of the art at this late day; in short, he’s out of the question. And I don’t know of any fellow that I care to try there. Do you?”
“Not unless it’s Garvier of the second,” answered Dick. “He’s got the weight and he’s hard-working; he pulls a rather good oar, too; only—well, I’m afraid he lacks sand.”
Kirk nodded and blew a volume of smoke toward the window.
“I’d thought of Garvier, but your estimate of him is just about mine; as you say, I don’t think he’s got enough grit27 for Seven. When you come down to it Seven needs almost as much hard horse-sense, coolness, and judgment28 as does Stroke. In fact, the style of the crew depends more on him than on Stroke. I believe I’d rather put up with a poor Stroke than a poor Number 7. No, decidedly Garvier won’t do. How about Crocker?”
“He might do, of course, only I think he’s about where he belongs now, don’t you, sir?”
“Yes, I suppose so, although—— Well, there seems to be but one thing to do.”
“What’s that?” asked Dick.
“Get Taylor back. Now wait a moment, Hope. I don’t propose to interfere29 with you, not a particle.”
“I hadn’t any such idea,” protested Dick.
“All right. What I propose to do is to go with you to see this contrary beggar and make one more appeal to him; and if you say now that you’d rather not ask him[187] again—for I can well understand your having feeling in the matter—I’ll drop the project and say nothing more about it; we’ll fight it out without Taylor. On the other hand, if you are willing to try again and don’t object to my—well, sticking my finger into your pie, as it were, we’ll go together and have it out with him. What do you say?”
Dick hesitated, and Kirk, without appearing to do so, eyed him intently. Kirk, believing that a quarrel existed between the two boys, imagined that Dick was having a struggle with his vanity. “And,” Kirk told himself, “I sha’n’t blame him if he refuses.” But Dick didn’t refuse. Knowing upon what terms Taylor would alone consent to return to training, he mentally threw back his shoulders and replied:
“I think there may be a chance of Taylor’s having reconsidered. But I think your request would have more weight, and I’d rather that you’d ask him. As for your interfering30, I hadn’t thought of it; and I shouldn’t consider it that, sir. If you like we’ll go over and see him now.”
“A good idea; no time like the present. Where does he room?”
“At Coolidge’s.”
“Coolidge’s? I guess I don’t know that. Is it near here?”
“Well, not very, it’s almost the last house in the village, I guess; just beyond the Episcopal Church.”
[188]
“Oh, I wasn’t thinking of the walk,” returned Kirk. “I was only wondering if it was an old house I’d forgotten. But I think it must be new since my day.”
“It is, I guess; looks as though it hadn’t been up more than a few years.”
Kirk took a walking-stick from a corner, turned down the light, and the two left the house together and proceeded through the village, past the Town Hall, the Eagle Tavern31, and the church that Dick had mentioned, until a large square frame house loomed32 up on their left. Dick led the way upstairs to Taylor’s room, and found that youth entertaining Waters and another boy, both of whom, however, took their leave at once. Taylor greeted Dick easily, and the coach respectfully, but was quite evidently far from being at his ease. His first thought was that Dick had confided33 everything to Kirk, and that there was trouble ahead. But the coach’s introduction dispelled34 that illusion, and he breathed easier.
“Taylor, Hope and I have come to ask your help,” announced Kirk, smiling but earnest. “To put the matter in few words, we’re in a hard way for a man at Number 7 in the varsity boat, and we want you to reconsider your decision and come back.”
It is unnecessary to follow Kirk’s argument; he said practically what Dick had said on the occasions of his two previous visits, although he said it all a trifle more forcibly,[189] and with a suggestion of authority. And when he had finished, Taylor, who seemed greatly impressed, turned toward Dick.
“I hadn’t thought of it in just that way, sir,” he said, with an assumption of frankness, “and if Hope wants me to return I’ll do so.”
“Hope’s wishes are the same as mine,” answered Kirk gravely. “I have acted in the matter only with his full consent.”
But Taylor’s eyes were still on Dick, and he awaited that youth’s reply. Now that the moment had come to relinquish35 his honors Dick experienced a moment of revolt. He well knew what Taylor’s words meant; he was to be held to the terms of the offer made on his last visit. It was hardly fair, to be sure, since, with Kirk present, there was but one reply he could make. But after the first twinge of regret he was glad that it was so; the matter had been settled for him. He would resign the captaincy and Taylor should have it; he would still row in the boat, and, when the success of the crew was at stake, his sacrifice was but little after all. All this passed through his mind in the fraction of a second, and it was with but the slightest hesitation36 that he met Taylor’s look, and smiled across at him. The smile was prompted by relief and not by friendship; but this Kirk could not know, and so was heartily37 glad to see it; and concluded thereby38 that the quarrel between the two lads was at an end.
[190]
“Yes,” said Dick, “I want you to come back. I’ve never wanted anything else.”
“Do you mean that?” questioned Taylor’s eyes.
“I do,” answered Dick’s.
Kirk arose. “That’s settled, then, and I’m very glad. I don’t think you’ll regret it, Taylor. And I’ll look for you to-morrow afternoon, shall I?”
“Yes, sir.” He accompanied them down to the door courteously39, and bade them good-night smilingly from the stoop. When the two reached the street Kirk heaved a sigh of relief.
“That’s over with,” he muttered.
“Yes,” echoed Dick, “it’s over.”
But Taylor didn’t report for crew work on the following afternoon. Instead, a message came saying that he had fallen while coming out of chapel40, and had sprained41 his right knee. And Dick, wistfully watching the distant boat from his window, wondered whether Fate had changed its mind.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
oar
|
|
| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
oars
|
|
| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
rattle
|
|
| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
lengthen
|
|
| vt.使伸长，延长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
swirl
|
|
| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
unison
|
|
| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
ram
|
|
| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
ragged
|
|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
squad
|
|
| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
embarking
|
|
| 乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
puffing
|
|
| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
trotted
|
|
| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
loathing
|
|
| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
degradation
|
|
| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
virtues
|
|
| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
verbiage
|
|
| n.冗词；冗长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
advent
|
|
| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
soothingly
|
|
| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
whim
|
|
| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
rudiments
|
|
| n.基础知识，入门 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
grit
|
|
| n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
interfering
|
|
| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
tavern
|
|
| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
loomed
|
|
| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
confided
|
|
| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
dispelled
|
|
| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
relinquish
|
|
| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
heartily
|
|
| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
courteously
|
|
| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
chapel
|
|
| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
sprained
|
|
| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |