CHAPTER V

 Lavelle dragged himself to his feet with his breath gone from him. For a moment he thought he was paralyzed—limbs, heart, nor brain seemed to respond. The night was filled with a multisonous orgy of sound.

 

Then, his strength returned to him as quickly as it had gone. He leaped to the door and plunged¹ into the alleyway outside. He knew full well what had happened as he ran aft and up through the gangway which led from the main to the promenade² deck. Another vessel³ had piled into the Cambodia. There was no land—there were no rocks in the liner's track; nothing but two, three, and four mile deeps on every hand. Lights sprang up in the staterooms as he passed. Somebody flashed them on in the reception hall as he went through there. Thence he took the social hall gangway and came to the boat deck in a bound.

 

A quartermaster—barely more than a boy—catapulted into his arms. Fear was driving him.

 

"Let me go!" he cried like a thing in a trap.

 

"Let me go!" and he cursed. Lavelle held him firmly.

 

"Stand fast, son! You're all right!"

 

Lavelle spoke⁴ in almost a normal tone. Whether it was what he said or what he saw in Lavelle's face that stilled the panic in the youngster's heart no one will ever know. But when Lavelle let him go and beckoned⁵ to him to follow him the quartermaster went at his side.

 

"Everything's gone for'ard!" he yelled at Lavelle above the noise. "Windjammer—big lumberman—no lights—piled into us! Foremast came over—by the board! Bridge—Old Man—chart house—everybody—everything gone!"

 

Lavelle snatched these things visually out of the blackness even as the boy shouted.

 

The Cambodia rolled back slowly to starboard, but one who knew what Lavelle knew could feel the life going out of her. Her engines had stopped.

 

The shape of a sailing vessel—a bark—drew away over on the starboard side and the grinding of metal against metal ceased only to have its place taken by the thunder of the Cambodia beginning to exhaust. Lavelle could hear and feel the stranger ripping at the steamer as she went by. The Cambodia gave a lurch⁶ like a drunken man getting out of a gutter⁷.

 

"She's going!" he shouted in the boy's ear, snatching his head to his lips. "Engineers—all officers report here! Me! Find out what water's in her! Find out how long lights'll last! Tell 'em give us plenty of light. Be a man!"

 

The boy fled and Lavelle ran up to starboard and bawled⁸ against the night:

 

"Stand by if you're able! Stand by!" There was an answering cry, but all he caught was—"Hell!"

 

Groping he found an electric cluster on each side of the social hall house and flashed it on. He ran aft and flashed on similar clusters on the sides of the smoke-room house. These lights embraced the eight small boats davited along the Cambodia's sides.

 

From below men began to come by twos and threes, some supporting women on their arms, some carrying them, some carrying children, some alone with fear tangling⁹ their feet and some half curiously¹⁰. One came lighting¹¹ a cigarette—a fair-faced young chap—and Lavelle grabbed him in the social hall gangway and told him to let only women and children pass.

 

"Right O!" was his answer and he took off his coat and threw it away, accepting his task.

 

The glow of a man who would be obeyed was on Lavelle's brow. Men knew he spoke with the voice of authority and heeded¹² it. They saw the purser refuse to hold the gangway in the social hall beside the fair-faced man and they saw Lavelle smash him to the deck with a blow of his fist.

 

Looking up from the deck below Emily Granville saw this, too, and, terrified, fled from succoring¹³ hands. She saw only a fiend at work.

 

"Twenty minutes! No longer! Lights—ten minutes!" shouted the quartermaster struggling to his side.

 

"What about the steerage?"

 

"Gone like rats! Whole bow's gone!"

 

He pantomimed him to take charge of a boat forward on the starboard side. A grimy engineer came through the crowd and reported. Others came and accepted his mastership—men who needed but to be told what to do to find their bearings and run in them.

 

Like a flame he moved upon that deck. Who he might be few knew, but wheresoever he went disorder¹⁴ became order and the spirits of brave men grew stronger and smiled at death as upon a friend. Like another self—the shadow of the flame—there moved Chang whither he went, striking as he struck and lifting up as he lifted up.

 

Of a sudden Lavelle saw Emily Granville standing¹⁵ in the port gangway of the smoke-room house, alone, hesitant, terror-stricken. She saw him and as he ran to her with open arms she drew back and then, remembering that he had but turned away from a boat in which she had seen him put a little girl, who cried that God must be upon the sea, she paused in her flight.

 

In that instant the guards whom Lavelle had stationed there were swept away by a yellow horde¹⁶ from below. It burst out of the gangway and engulfed¹⁷ him in its tide.

 

There was an explosion as of a cannon¹⁸ fired in the distance where another bulkhead gave way. The ship lurched with a downward twisting motion. The lights flickered¹⁹ and went out and the pregnant darkness burst in disorder and panic.

1 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

2 promenade   

n./v.散步

参考例句：

• People came out in smarter clothes to promenade along the front.人们穿上更加时髦漂亮的衣服，沿着海滨散步。
• We took a promenade along the canal after Sunday dinner.星期天晚饭后我们沿着运河散步。

3 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。

4 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 beckoned   

v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He beckoned to the waiter to bring the bill. 他招手示意服务生把账单送过来。
• The seated figure in the corner beckoned me over. 那个坐在角落里的人向我招手让我过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 lurch   

n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行

参考例句：

• It has been suggested that the ground movements were a form of lurch movements.地震的地面运动曾被认为是一种突然倾斜的运动形式。
• He walked with a lurch.他步履蹒跚。

7 gutter   

n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟

参考例句：

• There's a cigarette packet thrown into the gutter.阴沟里有个香烟盒。
• He picked her out of the gutter and made her a great lady.他使她脱离贫苦生活，并成为贵妇。

8 bawled   

v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物）

参考例句：

• She bawled at him in front of everyone. 她当着大家的面冲他大喊大叫。
• My boss bawled me out for being late. 我迟到，给老板训斥了一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 tangling   

（使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• During match with football, sportsman is like tangling on the football field. 足球比赛时，运动员似在足球场上混战。
• Furthermore the built in cable rewind prevents tangling and prolongs cable life. 此外，在防止缠绕电缆退建，延长电缆使用寿命。

10 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

11 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

12 heeded   

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 )

参考例句：

• She countered that her advice had not been heeded. 她反驳说她的建议未被重视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I heeded my doctor's advice and stopped smoking. 我听从医生的劝告，把烟戒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 succoring   

v.给予帮助( succor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The government has worked out a plan of succoring the needy. 政府已经制定出了救济贫民的计划。 来自互联网
• Chinese soldier went to the earthquake-striken area at top speed for succoring the injured person. 军人火速赶往地震灾区展开救援。 来自互联网

14 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

15 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。

16 horde   

n.群众，一大群

参考例句：

• A horde of children ran over the office building.一大群孩子在办公大楼里到处奔跑。
• Two women were quarrelling on the street,surrounded by horde of people.有两个妇人在街上争吵，被一大群人围住了。

17 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

19 flickered   

（通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
• These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。