The eastern pier of Peterhead is guarded by a massive wall of granite4, built in several steps or tiers, which breaks the fury of the gale5. When a northern storm is on, it is a wild spot; the waves dash over it in walls of solid green topped with mountainous masses of foam6 and spray. But at present, with the July sun beating down, it was a vantage post from which to see the whole harbour and the sea without. I climbed up and sat on the top, looking on admiringly, and lazily smoked in quiet enjoyment7. Presently I noticed some one very like Gormala come hurrying along the pier, and now and again crouching8 behind one of the mooring9 posts. I said nothing but kept an eye on her, for I supposed that she was at her usual game of watching some one.
[17]
Soon a tall man strode leisurely10 along, and from every movement of the woman I could see that he was the subject of her watching. He came near where I sat, and stood there with that calm unconcerned patience which is a characteristic of the fisherman.
He was a fine-looking fellow, well over six feet high, with a tangled11 mass of thick red-yellow hair and curly, bushy beard. He had lustrous12, far-seeing golden-brown eyes, and massive, finely-cut features. His pilot-cloth trousers spangled all over with silver herring scales, were tucked into great, bucket-boots. He wore a heavy blue jersey13 and a cap of weazel skin. I had been thinking of the decline of the herring from the action of the trawlers in certain waters, and fancied this would be a good opportunity to get a local opinion. Before long I strolled over and joined this son of the Vikings. He gave it, and it was a decided14 one, uncompromisingly against the trawlers and the laws which allowed them to do their nefarious15 work. He spoke16 in a sort of old-fashioned, biblical language which was moderate and devoid17 of epithets18, but full of apposite illustration. When he had pointed19 out that certain fishing grounds, formerly20 most prolific21 of result to the fishers, were now absolutely worthless he ended his argument:
“And, sure, good master, it stands to rayson. Suppose you be a farmer, and when you have prepared your land and manured it, you sow your seed and plough the ridges22 and make it all safe from wind and devastatin’ storm. If, when the green corn be shootin’ frae the airth, you take your harrow and drag it ath’art the springin’ seed, where be then the promise of your golden grain?”
For a moment or two the beauty of his voice, the deep, resonant23, earnestness of his tone and the magnificent, simple purity of the man took me away from the scene. He seemed as though I had looked him through and[18] through, and had found him to be throughout of golden worth. Possibly it was the imagery of his own speech and the colour which his eyes and hair and cap suggested, but he seemed to me for an instant as a small figure projected against a background of rolling upland clothed in ripe grain. Round his feet were massed the folds of a great white sheet whose edges faded into air. In a moment the image passed, and he stood before me in his full stature24.
I almost gasped25, for just behind him, where she had silently come, stood Gormala, gazing not at the fisherman but at me, with eyes that positively26 blazed with a sort of baleful eagerness. She was looking straight into my eyes; I knew it when I caught the look of hers.
The fisherman went on talking. I did not, however, hear what he was saying, for again some mysterious change had come over our surroundings. The blue sea had over it the mystery of the darkness of the night; the high noon sun had lost its fiery27 vigour28 and shone with the pale yellow splendour of a full moon. All around me, before and on either hand, was a waste of waters; the very air and earth seemed filmed with moving water, and the sound of falling waters was in my ears. Again, the golden fisherman was before me for an instant, not as a moving speck29 but in full size now he lay prone30; limp and lifeless, with waxen cold cheeks, in the eloquent31 inaction of death. The white sheet—I could see now that it was a shroud—was around him up to his heart. I seemed to feel Gormala’s eyes burning into my brain as I looked. All at once everything seemed to resume its proper proportion, and I was listening calmly to the holding forth32 of the Viking.
I turned instinctively33 and looked at Gormala. For an instant her eyes seemed to blaze triumphantly34; then she pulled the little shawl which she wore closer round her[19] shoulders and, with a gesture full of modesty35 and deference36 turned away. She climbed up the ridges of the harbour wall and sat looking across as at the sea beyond, now studded with a myriad37 of brown sails.
A little later the stolid38 indifference39 as to time slipped all at once from the fisherman. He was instinct with life and action, and with a touch of his cap and a “Farewell good Master!” stood poised40 on the very edge of the pier ready to spring on a trim, weather-beaten smack3 which came rushing along almost grazing the rough stone work. It made our hearts jump as he sprang on board and taking the tiller from the hand of the steersman turned the boat’s head to the open sea. As she rushed out through the harbour mouth we heard behind us the voice of an old fisherman who had hobbled up to us:
“He’ll do that once too often! Lauchlane Macleod is like all these men from Uist and the rest of the Out Islanders. They don’t care ‘naught41 about naught.’”
Lauchlane Macleod! The very man of whom Gormala had prophesied42! The very mention of his name seemed to turn me cold.
After lunch at the hotel I played golf on the links till evening drew near. Then I got on my bicycle to return home. I had laboured slowly up the long hill to the Stirling quarry43 when I saw Gormala sitting on the roadside on a great boulder44 of red granite. She was evidently looking out for me, for when I came near she rose up and deliberately45 stood in the roadway in my path. I jumped off my wheel and asked her point blank what she wanted with me so much that she stopped me on the road.
Gormala was naturally an impressive figure, but at present she looked weird46 and almost unearthly. Her tall, gaunt form lit by the afterglow in a soft mysterious light was projected against the grey of the darkening[20] sea, whose sombreness was emphasised by the brilliant emerald green of the sward which fell from where we stood to the jagged cliff-line.
The loneliness of the spot was profound. From where we stood not a house was to be seen, and the darkening sea was desert of sails. It seemed as if we two were the only living things in nature’s vast expanse. To me it was a little awesome48. Gormala’s first mysterious greeting when I had seen the mourning for the child, and her persistent49 following of me ever since, had begun to get on my nerves. She had become a sort of enforced condition to me, and whether she was present in the flesh or not, the expectation or the apprehension50 of her coming—I hardly knew which it was—kept my thoughts perpetually interested in her. Now, her weird, statuesque attitude and the scene around us finished my intellectual subjugation51. The weather had changed to an almost inconceivable degree. The bright clear sky of the morning had become darkly mysterious, and the wind had died away to an ominous52 calm. Nature seemed altogether sentient53, and willing to speak directly to a man in my own receptive mood. The Seer-woman evidently knew this, for she gave fully54 a minute of silence for the natural charm to work before she spoke. Then in a solemn warning voice she said:
“Time is flying by us; Lammas-tide is nigh.” The words impressed me, why I know not; for though I had heard of Lammas-tide I had not the smallest idea of what was meant by it. Gormala was certainly quick with her eyes—she had that gypsy quality in remarkable55 degree—and she seemed to read my face like an open book. There was a suppressed impatience56 in her manner, as of one who must stop in the midst of some important matter to explain to a child whose aid is immediately necessary:
[21]
“Ye no ken47 why? Is it that ye dinna heed57 o’ Lammas-tide, or that ye no ken o’ the prophecy of the Mystery of the Sea and the treasures that lie hid therein.” I felt more than ever abashed58, and that I should have known long ago those things of which the gaunt woman spoke, towering above me as I leaned on my wheel. She went on:
“An’ ye no ken, then listen and learn!” and she spoke the following rune in a strange, staccato cadence59 which seemed to suit our surroundings and to sink into my heart and memory so deep that to forget would be impossible:
“To win the Mystery o’ the Sea,
“An’ learn the secrets that there be,
“A gowden moon on a flowin’ tide,
“And a gowden mon wi’ death for his bride.”
There was a long pause of silence between us, and I felt very strangely. The sea before me took odd, indefinite shape. It seemed as though it was of crystal clearness, and that from where I gazed I could see all its mysteries. That is, I could see so as to know there were mysteries, though what they were individually I could not even dream. The past and the present and the future seemed to be mingled62 in one wild, chaotic63, whirling dream, from the mass of which thoughts and ideas seemed now and again to fly out unexpectedly on all sides as do sparks from hot iron under the hammer. Within my heart grew vague indefinite yearnings, aspirations64, possibilities. There came a sense of power so paramount65 that instinctively I drew myself up to my full height and became conscious of the physical vigour within[22] me. As I did so I looked around and seemed to wake from a dream.
Naught around me but the drifting clouds, the silent darkening land and the brooding sea. Gormala was nowhere to be seen.
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收听单词发音
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1
pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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8
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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mooring
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| n.停泊处；系泊用具，系船具；下锚v.停泊，系泊（船只）(moor的现在分词) | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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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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lustrous
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| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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nefarious
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| adj.恶毒的，极坏的 | |
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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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devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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prolific
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| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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23
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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40
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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42
prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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44
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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45
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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46
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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47
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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48
awesome
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| adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的 | |
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49
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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50
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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51
subjugation
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| n.镇压，平息，征服 | |
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52
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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53
sentient
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| adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地 | |
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54
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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55
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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56
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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57
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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58
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
cadence
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| n.（说话声调的）抑扬顿挫 | |
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60
weirds
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| 命运( weird的名词复数 )； （神话中的）命运之神； 占卜者； 预言者 | |
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61
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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62
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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chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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64
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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