CHAPTER XXIV—FROM THE DEEPS

 Presently the Captain handed Mrs. Stonehouse a pair of binoculars¹.  For an instant she looked through them, then handed them back and continued gazing out to where the two heads appeared—when they did appear on the crest² of the waves like pin-heads.  The Captain said half to himself and half to the father:

 

‘Mother’s eyes!  Mother’s eyes!’ and the father understood.

 

As the ship swept back to the rescue, her funnels³ sending out huge volumes of smoke which the gale⁴ beat down on the sea to leeward⁵, the excitement grew tenser and tenser.  Men dared hardly breathe; women wept and clasped their hands convulsively as they prayed.  In the emergency boat the men sat like statues, their oars⁶ upright, ready for instant use.  The officer stood with the falls in his hand ready to lower away.

 

When opposite the lifebuoy, and about a furlong from Harold and Pearl, the Captain gave the signal ‘Stop,’ and then a second later: ‘Full speed astern.’

 

‘Ready, men!  Steady!’  As the coming wave slipping under the ship began to rise up her side, the officer freed the falls and the boat sank softly into the lifting sea.

 

Instantly the oars struck the water, and as the men bent⁸ to them a cheer rang out.

 

* * * * *

 

Harold and Pearl heard, and the man turning his head for a moment saw that the ship was close at hand, gradually drifting down to the weather side of them.  He raised the child in his arms, saying:

 

‘Now, Pearl, wave your hand to mother and say, hurrah⁹!’  The child, fired into fresh hope, waved her tiny hand and cried ‘Hurrah!  Hurrah!’  The sound could not reach the mother’s ears; but she saw, and her heart leaped.  She too waved her hand, but she uttered no sound.  The sweet high voice of the child crept over the water to the ears of the men in the boat, and seemed to fire their arms with renewed strength.

 

A few more strokes brought them close, Harold with a last effort raised the child in his arms as the boat drove down on them.  The boatswain leaning over the bow grabbed the child, and with one sweep of his strong arm took her into the boat.  The bow oarsman caught Harold by the wrist.  The way of the boat took him for a moment under water; but the next man; pulling his oar⁷ across the boat, stooped over and caught him by the collar, and clung fast.  A few seconds more and he was hauled abroad.  A wild cheer from all on the Scoriac came, sweeping¹⁰ down on the wind.

 

When once the boat’s head had been turned towards the ship, and the oars had bent again to their work, they came soon within shelter.  When they had got close enough ropes were thrown out, caught and made fast; and then came down one of the bowlines which the seamen¹¹ held ready along the rail of the lower deck.  This was seized by the boatswain, who placed it round him under his armpits.  Then, standing¹² with the child in his arms he made ready to be pulled up.  Pearl held out her arms to Harold, crying in fear:

 

‘No, no, let The Man take me!  I want to go with The Man!’  He said quietly so as not to frighten her:

 

‘No, no, dear!  Go with him!  He can do this better than I can!’  So she clung quietly to the seaman¹³, holding her face pressed close against his shoulder.  As the men above pulled at the rope, keeping it as far as possible from the side of the vessel¹⁴, the boatswain fended¹⁵ himself off with his feet.  In a few seconds he was seized by eager hands and pulled over the rail, tenderly holding and guarding the child all the while.  In an instant she was in the arms of her mother, who had thrown herself upon her knees and pressed her close to her loving heart.  The child put her little arms around her neck and clung to her.  Then looking up and seeing the grey pallor of her face, which even her great joy could not in a moment efface¹⁶, she stroked it and said:

 

‘Poor mother!  Poor mother!  And now I have made you all wet!’  Then, feeling her father’s hand on her head she turned and leaped into his arms, where he held her close.

 

Harold was the next to ascend¹⁷.  He came amid a regular tempest of cheers, the seamen joining with the passengers.  The officers, led by the Captain waving his cap from the bridge, joined in the paean¹⁸.

 

The boat was cast loose.  An instant after the engine bells tinkled¹⁹: ‘Full speed ahead.’

 

Mrs. Stonehouse had no eyes but for her child, except for one other.  When Harold leaped down from the rail she rushed at him, all those around instinctively²⁰ making way for her.  She flung her arms around him and kissed him, and then before he could stop her sank to her knees at his feet, and taking his hand kissed it.  Harold was embarrassed beyond all thinking.  He tried to take away his hand, but she clung tight to it.

 

‘No, no!’ she cried.  ‘You saved my child!’

 

Harold was a gentleman and a kindly²¹ one.  He said no word till she had risen, still holding his hand, when he said quietly:

 

‘There! there!  Don’t cry.  I was only too happy to be of service.  Any other man on board would have done the same.  I was the nearest, and therefore had to be first.  That was all!’

 

Mr. Stonehouse came to him and said as he grasped Harold’s hand so hard that his fingers ached:

 

‘I cannot thank you as I would.  But you are a man and will understand.  God be good to you as you have been good to my child; and to her mother and myself!’  As he turned away Pearl, who had now been holding close to her mother’s hand, sprang to him holding up her arms.  He raised her up and kissed her.  Then he placed her back in her mother’s arms.

 

All at once she broke down as the recollection of danger swept back upon her.  ‘Oh, Mother!  Mother!’ she cried, with a long, low wail²², which touched every one of her hearers to the heart’s core.

 

‘The hot blankets are all ready.  Come, there is not a moment to be lost.  I’ll be with you when I have seen the men attended to!’

 

So the mother, holding her in her arms and steadied by two seamen lest she should slip on the wet and slippery deck, took the child below.

 

Harold was taken by another set of men, who rubbed him down till he glowed, and poured hot brandy and water into him till he had to almost use force against the superabundance of their friendly ministrations.

 

For the remainder of that day a sort of solemn gladness ruled on the Scoriac.  The Stonehouse family remained in their suite²³, content in glad thankfulness to be with Pearl, who lay well covered up on the sofa sleeping off the effects of the excitement and the immersion²⁴, and the result of the potation which the Doctor had forced upon her.  Harold was simply shy, and objecting to the publicity²⁵ which he felt to be his fate, remained in his cabin till the trumpet²⁶ had blown the dinner call.

1 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

2 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

3 funnels   

漏斗( funnel的名词复数 )； （轮船，火车等的）烟囱

参考例句：

• Conventional equipment such as mixing funnels, pumps, solids eductors and the like can be employed. 常用的设备，例如混合漏斗、泵、固体引射器等，都可使用。
• A jet of smoke sprang out of the funnels. 喷射的烟雾从烟囱里冒了出来。

4 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

5 leeward   

adj.背风的；下风的

参考例句：

• The trees all listed to leeward.树木统统向下风方向倾。
• We steered a course to leeward.我们向下风航驶。

6 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：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 oar   

n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行

参考例句：

• The sailors oar slowly across the river.水手们慢慢地划过河去。
• The blade of the oar was bitten off by a shark.浆叶被一条鲨鱼咬掉了。

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 hurrah   

int.好哇，万岁，乌拉

参考例句：

• We hurrah when we see the soldiers go by.我们看到士兵经过时向他们欢呼。
• The assistants raised a formidable hurrah.助手们发出了一片震天的欢呼声。

10 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

11 seamen   

n.海员

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather. 有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• In the storm, many seamen wished they were on shore. 在暴风雨中，许多海员想，要是他们在陆地上就好了。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

13 seaman   

n.海员，水手，水兵

参考例句：

• That young man is a experienced seaman.那个年轻人是一个经验丰富的水手。
• The Greek seaman went to the hospital five times.这位希腊海员到该医院去过五次。

14 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

15 fended   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的过去式和过去分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He neatly fended off a jab at his chest. 他利落地挡开了当胸的一击。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I fended off his sword thrust with my spear. 他一刀砍来，我拿枪架住。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 efface   

v.擦掉，抹去

参考例句：

• It takes many years to efface the unpleasant memories of a war.许多年后才能冲淡战争的不愉快记忆。
• He could not efface the impression from his mind.他不能把这个印象从心中抹去。

17 ascend   

vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上

参考例句：

• We watched the airplane ascend higher and higher.我们看着飞机逐渐升高。
• We ascend in the order of time and of development.我们按时间和发展顺序向上溯。

18 paean   

n.赞美歌，欢乐歌

参考例句：

• She struck up the first paean on the grand piano.她开始在那架大钢琴上演奏起第一首颂歌。
• The novel is a paean to the end of empire.该小说奏响了一个帝国落寞的赞歌。

19 tinkled   

（使）发出丁当声，（使）发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 )； 叮当响着发出，铃铃响着报出

参考例句：

• The sheep's bell tinkled through the hills. 羊的铃铛叮当叮当地响彻整个山区。
• A piano tinkled gently in the background. 背景音是悠扬的钢琴声。

20 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

22 wail   

vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸

参考例句：

• Somewhere in the audience an old woman's voice began plaintive wail.观众席里，一位老太太伤心地哭起来。
• One of the small children began to wail with terror.小孩中的一个吓得大哭起来。

23 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

24 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

25 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

26 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。