‘What are we waiting for? why, two more passengers—grand ladies as they tell me—and the captain has gone ashore1 to fetch them,’ the first mate of the ‘Granville’ barque, of London, made answer to Frederick Conyngham, and he breathed on his fingers as he spoke2, for the north-west wind was blowing across the plains of the Medoc, and the sun had just set behind the smoke of Bordeaux.
The ‘Granville’ was lying at anchor in the middle of the Garonne river, having safely discharged her deck cargo3 of empty claret casks and landed a certain number of passengers. There are few colder spots on the Continent than the sunny town of Bordeaux when the west wind blows from Atlantic wastes in winter time. A fine powder of snow scudded4 across the flat land, which presented a bleak5 brown face, patched here and there with white. There were two more passengers on board the ‘Granville,’ crouching6 in the cabin—two French gentlemen who had taken passage from London to Algeciras in Spain, on their way to Algiers.
Conyngham, with characteristic good-nature, had made himself so entirely7 at home on board the Mediterranean8 trader that his presence was equally welcomed in the forecastle and the captain’s cabin. Even the first mate, his present interlocutor, a grim man given to muttered abuse of his calling and a pious10 pessimism11 in respect to human nature, gradually thawed12 under the influence of so cheerful an acceptance of heavy weather and a clumsy deck cargo.
‘The ladies will be less trouble than the empty casks, at all events,’ said Conyngham, ‘because they will keep below.’
The sailor shook his head forebodingly and took an heroic pinch of snuff.
‘One’s as capable of carrying mischief13 as the other,’ he muttered in the bigoted14 voice of a married teetotaller.
The ship was ready for sea, and this mariner’s spirit was ever uneasy and restless till the anchor was on deck and the hawser15 stowed.
‘There’s a boat leaving the quay16 now,’ he added. ‘Seems she’s lumbered17 up forr’ard wi’ women’s hamper18.’
And indeed the black form of a skiff so laden19 could be seen approaching through the driving snow and gloom. The mate called to the steward20 to come on deck, and this bearded servitor of dames21 emerged from the galley22 with uprolled sleeves and a fine contempt for cold winds. A boy went forward with a coil of rope on his arm, for the tide was running hard and the Garonne is no ladies’ pleasure stream. It is not an easy matter to board a ship in mid-current when tide and wind are at variance23, and the fingers so cold that a rope slips through them like a log-line. The ‘Granville,’ having still on board her cargo of coals for Algeciras, lay low in the water with both her anchors out and the tide singing round her old-fashioned hempen24 hawsers25.
‘Now see ye throw a clear rope,’ shouted the mate to the boy who had gone forward. The proximity26 of the land and the approach of women—a bête noire no less dreaded—seemed to flurry the brined spirit of the Granville’s’ mate.
Perhaps the knowledge that the end of a rope, not judged clear, would inevitably27 be applied28 to his own person, shook the nerve of the boy on the forecastle—perhaps his hands were cold and his faculties29 benumbed. He cast a line which seemed to promise well at first. Two coils of it unfolded themselves gracefully30 against the grey sky, and then Confusion took the others for herself. A British oath from the deck of the ship went out to meet a fine French explosion of profanity from the boat, both forestalling32 the splash of the tangled33 rope into the water under the bows of the ship, and a full ten yards out of the reach of the man who stood, boathook in hand, ready to catch it. There were two ladies in the stern of the boat, muffled34 up to the eyes, and betokening35 by their attitude the hopeless despair and misery36 which seize the southern fair the moment they embark37 in so much as a ferry boat. The fore9 part of the heavy craft was piled up with trunks and other impedimenta of a feminine incongruity38. A single boatman had rowed the boat from the shore, guiding it into mid-stream, and there describing a circle calculated to insure a gentle approach on the lee side. This man, having laid aside his oars39, now stood, boathook in hand, awaiting the inevitable40 crash. The offending boy in the bows was making frantic42 efforts to haul in his misguided rope, but the possibility of making a second cast was unworthy of consideration. The mate muttered such a string of foreboding expletives as augured43 ill for the delinquent44. The boatman was preparing to hold on and fend41 off at the same moment—a sudden gust45 of wind gave the boat a sharp buffet46 just as the man grappled the mizzen-chains—he overbalanced himself, fell, and recovered himself, but only to be jerked backwards47 into the water by the boathook, which struck him in the chest.
‘à moi!’ cried the man, and disappeared in the muddy water. He rose to the surface under the ship’s quarter, and the mate, quick as lightning, dumped the whole coil of the slack of the main sheet on to the top of him. In a moment he was at the level of the rail, the mate and the steward hauling steadily48 on the rope, to which he clung with the tenacity49 and somewhat the attitude of a monkey. At the same instant a splash made the rescuers turn in time to see Conyngham, whose coat lay thrown on the deck behind them, rise to the surface ten yards astern of the ‘Granville’ and strike out towards the boat, now almost disappearing in the gloom of night.
The water, which had flowed through the sunniest of the sunny plains of France, was surprisingly warm, and Conyngham, soon recovering from the shock of his dive, settled into a quick side-stroke. The boat was close in front of him, and in the semi-darkness he could see one of the women rise from her seat and make her way forward, while her companion crouched50 lower and gave voice to her dismay in a series of wails51 and groans52. The more intrepid53 lady was engaged in lifting one of the heavy oars, when Conyngham called out in French:
‘Courage, mesdames! I will be with you in a moment.’
Both turned, and the pallor of their faces shone whitely through the gloom. Neither spoke, and in a few strokes Conyngham came alongside. He clutched the gunwale with his right hand, and drew himself breast high.
‘If these ladies,’ he said, ‘will kindly54 go to the opposite side of the boat, I shall be able to climb in without danger of upsetting.’
‘If mama inclines that way I think it will be sufficient,’ answered the muffled form which had made its way forward. The voice was clear and low, remarkably55 self-possessed, and not without a suggestion that its possessor bore a grudge56 against some person present.
‘Perhaps mademoiselle is right,’ said Conyngham with becoming gravity, and the lady in the stern obeyed her daughter’s suggestion, with the result anticipated. Indeed, the boat heeled over with so much goodwill57 that Conyngham was lifted right out of the water. He clambered on board and immediately began shivering, for the wind cut like a knife.
The younger lady made her way cautiously back to the seat which she had recently quitted, and began at once to speak very severely58 to her mother. This stout59 and emotional person was swaying backwards and forwards, and, in the intervals60 of wailing61 and groaning62, called in Spanish upon several selected saints to assist her. At times, and apparently63 by way of a change, she appealed to yet higher powers to receive her soul.
‘My mother,’ said the young lady to Conyngham, who had already got the oars out, ‘has the heart of a rabbit, but—yes—of a very young rabbit.’
‘Madame may rest assured that there is no danger,’ said Conyngham.
‘Monsieur is an Englishman—’
‘Yes, and a very cold one at the moment. If madame could restrain her religious enthusiasm so much as to sit still, we should make better progress.’
He spoke rather curtly64, as if refusing to admit the advisability of manning the boat with a crew of black-letter saints. The manner in which the craft leapt forward under each stroke of the oars testified to the strength of his arms, and madame presently subsided65 into whispers of thankfulness, having reason, it would seem, to be content with mere66 earthly aid in lieu of that heavenly intervention67 which ladies of her species summon at every turn of life.
‘I wish I could help you,’ said the younger woman presently, in a voice and manner suggestive of an energy unusual to her countrywomen. She spoke in French, but with an accent somewhat round and full, like an English accent, and Conyngham divined that she was Spanish. He thought also that under their outer wraps the ladies wore the mantilla, and had that graceful31 carriage of the head which is only seen in the Peninsula.
‘Thank you, mademoiselle, but I am making good progress now. Can you see the ship?’
She rose and stood peering into the darkness ahead—a graceful, swaying figure. A faint scent68 as of some flower was wafted69 on the keen wind to Conyngham, who had already decided70 with characteristic haste that this young person was as beautiful as she was intrepid.
‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘it is quite close. They are also showing lights to guide us.’
She stood looking apparently over his head towards the ‘Granville,’ but when she spoke it would seem that her thoughts had not been fixed71 on that vessel72.
‘Is monsieur a sailor?’
‘No, but I fortunately have a little knowledge of such matters—fortunate, since I have been able to turn it to the use of these ladies.’
‘But you are travelling in the “Granville.”’
‘Yes; I am travelling in the “Granville.”’
Over his oars Conyngham looked hard at his interlocutrice, but could discern nothing of her features. Her voice interested him, however, and he wondered whether there were ever calms on the coast of Spain at this time of the year.
‘Our sailors,’ said the young lady, ‘in Spain are brave, but they are very cautious. I think none of them would have done such a thing as you have just done for us. We were in danger. I knew it. Was it not so?’
‘The boat might have drifted against some ship at anchor and been upset. You might also have been driven out to sea. They had no boat on board the “Granville” ready to put out and follow you.’
‘Yes; and you saved us. But you English are of a great courage. And my mother, instead of thanking you, is offering her gratitude74 to James and John the sons of Zebedee, as if they had done it.’
‘I am no relation to Zebedee,’ said Conyngham with a gay laugh. ‘Madame may rest assured of that.’
‘Julia,’ said the elder lady severely, and in a voice that seemed to emanate75 from a chest as deep and hollow as an octave cask, ‘I shall tell Father Concha, who will assuredly reprove you. The saints upon whom I called were fishermen, and therefore the more capable of understanding our great danger. As for monsieur, he knows that he shall always be in my prayers.’
‘Thank you, madame,’ said Conyngham gravely.
‘And at a fitter time I hope to be able to tender him my thanks.’
At this moment a voice from the ‘Granville’ hailed the boat, asking whether all was well and Mr. Conyngham on board. Being reassured76 on this point, the mate apparently attended to another matter requiring his attention, the mingled77 cries and expostulations of the cabin boy sufficiently78 indicating its nature.
The boat, under Conyngham’s strong and steady strokes, now came slowly and without mishap79 alongside the great black hull80 of the vessel, and it soon became manifest that, although all danger was past, there yet remained difficulty ahead; for when the boat was made fast and the ladder lowered, the elder of the two ladies firmly and emphatically denied her ability to make the ascent81. The French boatman, shivering in a borrowed great coat, and with a vociferation which flavoured the air with cognac, added his entreaties82 to those of the mate and steward. In the small boat Conyngham, in French, and the lady’s daughter, in Spanish, represented that at least half of the heavenly host, having intervened to save her from so great a peril83 as that safely passed through, could surely accomplish this smaller feat73 with ease. But the lady still hesitated, and the mate, having clambered down into the boat, grabbed Conyngham’s arm with a large and not unkindly hand, and pushed him forcibly towards the ladder.
‘You hadn’t got no business, Mr. Conyngham,’ he said gruffly, ‘to leave the ship like that, and like as not you’ve got your death of cold. Just you get aboard and leave these women to me. You get to your bunk84, mister, and stooard’ll bring you something hot.’
There was nought85 but obedience86 in the matter, and Conyngham was soon between the blankets, alternately shivering and burning in the first stages of a severe chill.
The captain having come on board, the ‘Granville’ presently weighed anchor, and on the bosom87 of an ebbing88 tide turned her blunt prow89 towards the winter sea. The waves out there beat high, and before the lights of Pauillac, then a mere cluster of fishers’ huts, had passed away astern, the good ship was lifting her bow with a sense of anticipation90, while her great wooden beams and knees began to strain and creak.
During the following days, while the sense of spring and warmth slowly gave life to those who could breathe the air on deck, Conyngham lay in his little cabin and heeded91 nothing; for when the fever left him he was only conscious of a great lassitude, and scarce could raise himself to take such nourishment92 as the steward, with a rough but kindly skill, prepared for him.
‘Why the deuce I ever came—why the deuce I ever went overboard after a couple of se?oras—I don’t know,’ he repeated to himself during the hours of that long watch below.
Why, indeed? except that youth must needs go forth93 into the world and play the only stake it owns there. Nor is Frederick Conyngham the first who, having no knowledge of the game of life, throws all upon the board to wait upon the hazard of a die.
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1
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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2
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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3
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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4
scudded
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| v.（尤指船、舰或云彩）笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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7
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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9
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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pessimism
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| n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者 | |
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12
thawed
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| 解冻 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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bigoted
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| adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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15
hawser
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| n.大缆；大索 | |
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16
quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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17
lumbered
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| 砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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hamper
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| vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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23
variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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hempen
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| adj. 大麻制的, 大麻的 | |
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hawsers
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| n.（供系船或下锚用的）缆索，锚链( hawser的名词复数 ) | |
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proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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30
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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32
forestalling
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的现在分词 ) | |
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tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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betokening
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的现在分词 ) | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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38
incongruity
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| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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39
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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40
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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41
fend
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| v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开 | |
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42
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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43
augured
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| v.预示，预兆，预言( augur的过去式和过去分词 )；成为预兆；占卜 | |
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44
delinquent
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| adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者 | |
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gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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46
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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47
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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48
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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49
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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50
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
wails
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| 痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
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52
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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53
intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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54
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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55
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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56
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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57
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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58
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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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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61
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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62
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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63
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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64
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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65
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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66
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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67
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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68
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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69
wafted
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| v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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71
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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72
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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73
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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75
emanate
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| v.发自，来自，出自 | |
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76
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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77
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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78
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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79
mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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80
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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81
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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82
entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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83
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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84
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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85
nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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86
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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87
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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88
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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89
prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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90
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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91
heeded
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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92
nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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