Tons of salt water swept across the quarter-deck from time to time, burying it in a swirling6, surging whirlpool, which gushed7 off in every direction as the great ship rose once more, shaking herself like a huge water animal.
The Jackies shouted with glee as each huge wave swept down on the battlecraft, threatening to engulf8 even its titanic9 mass. A mighty sea[108] would tower majestically10 high above the forecastle like a great wall of green water. The Jackies would scuttle11 to places of safety and then burst into enthusiastic yells as it flooded the fore-decks, swept around the forward turret12, sent tons of spray dashing against the bridge and upper works and finally swept on, to be followed by another monstrous13 gray-back.
All watches were set, for in the spray and flying spume it was almost as hard to see ahead as if a fog overhung the ocean. As the day wore on the sea grew higher instead of moderating. Breakfast and dinner were eaten out of tin pannikins, for nothing would have stayed on the table. The blue-jackets thought all this fine fun, and shouted every time the ship took an extra heavy plunge14.
On the bridge a consultation15 was held. It was all very well for the dreadnought, this plunging16 ahead through the mountainous seas at a fifteen-knot clip, but the smaller vessels17 couldn’t stand it so well.
[109]
A wireless18 message was sent out to reduce speed to ten knots an hour and extra men were ordered into the tops to help the other lookouts19. Ned was assigned to the after cage mast. He sprang upon the iron-runged ladder leading aloft with agility20. He was glad to have something to do, for of course the ordinary routine work of the ship was out of the question with the ship rolling till her indicator21 showed twenty degrees of heeling.
Accustomed as Ned was to climbing in high places, his head swam a bit as he paused half way up for breath and to dash the spray from his eyes. He looked down. A hundred feet below him was a boiling, foam-flecked sea, running mountains high. Viewed from that height, the Manhattan looked to be very narrow and unseaworthy, and her decks appeared to be constantly awash.
Now and then, when an extra big wave came along, she would swing over till it seemed as if[110] she never meant to come back on an even keel again. Cinders22 and gases from the big funnels23 swept about the boy at times, too, adding to his discomfort24.
But Ned was pretty well hardened to most of these things by this time, and his pause was mainly to get some of the salt water out of his mouth, eyes and nose. Then up he went again, clambering on the slippery rungs with such speed that from the bridge below came a bellowed26 order through a megaphone:
“Careful aloft there!”
“Aye, aye, sir!” hailed back Ned at the top of his voice and waved a hand to show that he was all right.
At length he reached the top, a small platform mounted by machine guns and surrounded by a steel rail. At one place there was an opening in this rail, across which a rope had been stretched. It looked very thin, small and unsubstantial to guard an open space more than a hundred feet[111] above the ship’s deck, but it was quite strong enough for the blue-jackets, who gave little thought to such matters.
As he gained the top, Ned received a surprise. The other man aloft was Sharp, the seaman27 he had taken out of the Chinese den25 in San Francisco. He had received, thanks to Ned’s lack of malice28, only a short sentence in the brig and was now on duty again.
“Hullo, Sharp,” said Ned pleasantly, as he clambered into the top.
“I’m glad to see that you’re out again,” pursued Ned. “I hope you don’t bear any malice, Sharp. I was only doing my duty.”
“Don’t talk foolishly, Sharp. Only fools and[112] children nurse a grudge34. It’s all over so far as I’m concerned, and you know I tried to let you off as easy as I could at the mast.”
“Well, you must admit that that isn’t my fault,” said Ned.
“I don’t admit anything of the sort,” snarled Sharp. “If it hadn’t been for your Sunday-school way of sneaking36 around, the fleet would have sailed without me.”
“You’re a nice navy man, I must say,” said Ned contemptuously, turning on his heel.
“Just as good as you are, and maybe better, Mister Know-it-all. I’ve been in the service twenty years, and——”
“You are still where you started.”
Ned, ordinarily the most even tempered of lads, was beginning to resent Sharp’s slurring37 tone and could not have foregone this thrust.
[113]
Sharp’s face grew as dark as the slate-colored sea racing38 by far below them. He approached Ned with his eyes blazing like hot coals.
“So you’ll make game of me, eh, my young rooster? Well, you’ll regret it to the last day you live; I tell you that right here and now.”
“Oh, don’t bother me, unless you can talk sense,” said Ned impatiently.
“I’ll talk sense fast enough. I hate you, Strong.”
“Thank you. I am not aching for your friendship.”
A sudden frenzy39 of rage appeared to possess Sharp. He jumped forward and seized Ned, shaking his fist. The other shook him off with a quick movement.
“Are you mad, Sharp? Suppose any of the officers saw you?”
“I don’t care if they did. I’m through with the navy. I’m going to quit it, first chance I get. The service has gone to the dogs when they promote[114] sugar-babies like you to be petty officers.”
Ned leaned over the edge of the top. He didn’t want to make the man more furious by replying to him. It was plain that Sharp was lashing40 himself into a malevolent41 rage.
“But before I quit the service, I’ll get even with you!” he roared.
Still Ned made no reply. He turned and walked across the top. He was passing by the open space, which was only railed off by the slender rope previously42 referred to, when the ship gave a sudden lurch43. At the same instant he felt a shove from behind.
Powerless to stop himself, Ned was sent staggering toward the rope. He fell against it with all his weight. The stuff snapped like pack-thread.
Ned plunged44 through the opening head downward, and it seemed inevitable45 that he would fall into the boiling, leaping sea more than a hundred feet below!
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
cascading
|
|
| 流注( cascade的现在分词 )； 大量落下； 大量垂悬； 梯流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
ponderous
|
|
| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
schooner
|
|
| n.纵帆船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
glistening
|
|
| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
swirling
|
|
| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
gushed
|
|
| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
engulf
|
|
| vt.吞没，吞食 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
titanic
|
|
| adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
majestically
|
|
| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
scuttle
|
|
| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
turret
|
|
| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
consultation
|
|
| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
plunging
|
|
| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
vessels
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
wireless
|
|
| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
lookouts
|
|
| n.寻找（ 某人/某物）( lookout的名词复数 )；是某人（自己）的问题；警戒；瞭望台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
agility
|
|
| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
indicator
|
|
| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
cinders
|
|
| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
funnels
|
|
| 漏斗( funnel的名词复数 )； （轮船，火车等的）烟囱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
discomfort
|
|
| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
den
|
|
| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
bellowed
|
|
| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
seaman
|
|
| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
malice
|
|
| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
scowled
|
|
| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
growled
|
|
| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
Flared
|
|
| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
snarled
|
|
| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
grudge
|
|
| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
sneaking
|
|
| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
slurring
|
|
| 含糊地说出( slur的现在分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
racing
|
|
| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
frenzy
|
|
| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
lashing
|
|
| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
malevolent
|
|
| adj.有恶意的，恶毒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
previously
|
|
| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
lurch
|
|
| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |