"The Red Lamp."
"Oh!"
Conversation ceased, and there was an industrious2 sucking of cheroots for the space of half an hour before the company adjourned3 to the card-room. It was decidedly a night for sleeping on deck—warm as the Red Sea and more moist than Bengal. Unfortunately, every square foot of the deck seemed to be occupied by earlier comers, and in despair I removed myself to the extreme fo'c'sle, where[Pg 34] the anchor-chains churn rust-dyed water from the hawseholes and the lascars walk about with slushpots.
The throb4 of the engines reached this part of the world as a muffled5 breathing which might be easily mistaken for the snoring of the ship's cow. Occasionally one of the fowls6 in the coops waked and cheeped dismally7 as she thought of to-morrow's entrées in the saloon, but otherwise all was very, very still, for the hour was two in the morning, when the crew of a ship are not disposed to be lively. None came to bear me company save the bo'sun's pet kittens, and they were impolite. From where I lay I could look over the whole length of awning8, ghostly white in the dark, and by their constant fluttering judged that the ship was pitching considerably9. The fo'c'sle swung up and down like an uneasy hydraulic10 lift, and a few showers of spray found their passage through the hawseholes from time to time.
Have you ever felt that maddening sense of incompetence11 which follows on watching the work of another man's office? The civilian12 is[Pg 35] at home among his despatch-boxes and files of pending13 cases. "How in the world does he do it?" asks the military man. The budding officer can arrange for the movements of two hundred men across country. "Incomprehensible!" says the civilian. And so it is with all alien employs from our own. So it was with me. I knew that I was lying among all the materials out of which Clark Russell builds his books of the sea—the rush through the night, the gouts of foam14, the singing of the wind in the rigging overhead, and the black mystery of the water—but for the life of me I could make nothing of them all.
"A topsail royal flying free
A bit of canvas was to me,
And it was nothing more."
"Oh, that a man should have but one poor little life and one incomplete set of experiences to crowd into it!" I sighed as the bells of the ship lulled15 me to sleep and the lookout16 man crooned a dreary17 song.
I slept far into the night, for the clouds[Pg 36] gathered over the sky, the stars died out, and all grew as black as pitch. But we never slackened speed; we beat the foam to left and right with clanking of chains, rattling18 of bow-ports, and savage19 noises of ripping and rending20 from the cut-water ploughing up to the luminous21 sea-beasts. I was roused by the words of the man in the smoking-room: "A strong situation, sir, very strong—quite the strongest in the play, in fact—The Red Lamp, y' know."
I thought over the sentence lazily for a time, and then—surely there was a red lamp in the air somewhere—an intolerable glare that singed22 the shut eyelids23. I opened my eyes and looked forward. The lascar was asleep, his face bowed on his knees, though he ought to have been roused by the hum of a rapidly approaching city, by the noises of men and women talking and laughing and drinking. I could hear it not half a mile away: it was strange that his ears should be closed.
The night was so black that one could hardly breathe; and yet where did the glare from the[Pg 37] red lamp come from? Not from our ship: she was silent and asleep—the officers on the bridge were asleep; there was no one of four hundred souls awake but myself. And the glare of the red lamp went up to the zenith. Small wonder. A quarter of a mile in front of us rolled a big steamer under full steam, and she was heading down on us without a word of warning. Would the lookout man never look out? Would their crew be as fast asleep as ours? It was impossible, for the other ship hummed with populous24 noises, and there was the defiant25 tinkle26 of a piano rising above all. She should have altered her course, or blown a fog-horn.
I held my breath while an eternity27 went by, counted out by the throbbing28 of my heart and the engines. I knew that it was my duty to call, but I knew also that no one could hear me. Moreover, I was intensely interested in the approaching catastrophe29; interested, you will understand, as one whom it did in no wise concern. By the light of the luminous sea thrown forward in sheets under the forefoot of[Pg 38] the advancing steamer I could discern the minutest details of her structure from cat-head to bridge. Abaft30 the bridge she was crowded with merrymakers—seemed to be, in fact, a P. & O. vessel31 given up to a ball. I wondered as I leaned over the bulwarks what they would say when the crash came—whether they would shriek32 very loudly—whether the men and women would try to rush to our decks, or whether we would rush on to theirs. It would not matter in the least, for at the speed we were driving both vessels33 would go down together locked through the deeps of the sea. It occurred to me then that the sea would be cold, and that instead of choking decently I might be one in a mad rush for the boats—might be crippled by a falling spar or wrenched34 plate and left on the heeling decks to die. Then Terror came to me—Fear, gross and overwhelming as the bulk of the night—Despair unrelieved by a single ray of hope.
We were not fifty yards apart when the passengers on the stranger caught sight of us and[Pg 39] shrieked35 aloud. I saw a man pick up his child from one of the benches and futilely36 attempt to climb the rigging. Then we closed—her name-plate ten feet above ours, looking down into our forehatch. I heard the grinding as of a hundred querns, the ripping of the tough bow-plates, and the pistol-like report of displaced rivets37 followed by the rush of the sea. We were sinking in mid-ocean.
"Beg y' pardon," said the quartermaster, shaking me by the arm, "but you must have been sleeping in the moonlight for the last two hours, and that's not good for the eyes. Didn't seem to make you sleep easy, either." I opened my eyes heavily. My face was swollen38 and aching, for on my forehead lay the malignant39 splendour of the moon. The glare of the Red Lamp had vanished with the brilliantly-lighted ship, but the ghastly shrieks40 of her drowning crew continued.
"What's that?" I asked tremulously of the quartermaster. "Was it real?"
[Pg 40]
"Pork chops in the saloon to-morrow," said the quartermaster. "The butcher he got up at four bells to put the old squeaker out of the way. Them's his dying ejaculations."
I dragged my bedding aft and went to sleep.
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1
bulwarks
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| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
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2
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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3
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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5
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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6
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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7
dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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8
awning
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| n.遮阳篷；雨篷 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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10
hydraulic
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| adj.水力的；水压的，液压的；水力学的 | |
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11
incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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12
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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13
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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14
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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15
lulled
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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16
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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17
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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18
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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19
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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20
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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21
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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22
singed
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| v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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23
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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24
populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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25
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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26
tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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27
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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28
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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29
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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30
abaft
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| prep.在…之后；adv.在船尾，向船尾 | |
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31
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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32
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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33
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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34
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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35
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
futilely
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| futile（无用的）的变形； 干 | |
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37
rivets
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| 铆钉( rivet的名词复数 ) | |
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38
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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39
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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40
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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