She followed his glance, which was sweeping2 their surroundings. They were standing3 in what had evidently been the bed or course of a creek4 or large brook5. It gullied its way clear across the island from east to west, following the base line of the hill.
"What is it?" Emily asked in dismay. "Something is wrong, captain."
Before Lavelle could form an answer the island gave another heave. The shell of earth rippled6 as if it had been so much water.
With a cry of terror and warning Rowgowskii sprang away from the boat's side and went scrambling7 up the hill. The two coolies, still a-tremble with the fear which the sudden and mysterious death of their mate a moment before had put in them, followed him shrieking8.
Chang leaped to Lavelle's side, the spot where he had been standing filling with water as his feet left it.
"Lun, master! Lun, lady!" shouted the giant.
"Come!" said Emily to Lavelle, starting toward the hill. She took but a step. A sharp cry of anguish9, which she tried hard to suppress, escaped from her. Her limbs refused to carry her. They seemed to be breaking with the pain born of the cramped10 life in the boat.
With a murmured word of understanding Lavelle snatched her into his arms and carried her halfway11 up the hillside. Chang pushed him as he went. When he put her down in a mat of grass and taro12 plant tops she still clung to his hand as a child might have done.
On this higher ground the movement of the island was not less terrifying.
Lavelle shook his head. His gaze went searching up to windward and then darted14 across the island to leeward15 where the sun was tobogganing down a bright yellow sky—such a sky as invariably presages16 wind. He turned to windward again.
For an instant despair overwhelmed him. This islet was but a bit of waif land—the bait of a cruel trap which the sea had set for him. Even as he watched it the surf piled higher and higher against the sheer weather shore. This was the fanged17 jaw18 of the trap; and it was closing. The swiftly rising wind which whipped his face seemed to chuckle19 in glee.
To drive the heavy boat through that surf and back to sea was a task which seemed to him to be beyond the force at his command. Nor could that crew get it across the island to make a launching from the lee side.
Despair enters the breasts of strong men only to refuel their fires of determination. So it was with Paul Lavelle. Emily saw the gloom pass from his face. A conquering light of resolution succeeded it. His jaw set again in its familiar line of purpose. Thus she had beheld20 him on the deck of the doomed21 Cambodia. Thus he had looked as he had come to her that night.
"We must put to sea again," said he, facing her quickly and in his tenseness pressing the hand with which she was clinging to him. He read her apprehension22. "Morning may see this bit of earth mixed with the ocean. It is but a piece of waif land—a thing without an anchorage—something torn from its mother mass by the ocean in anger. For us it is a trap—one of the sea's countless23 treacheries." He glanced over his shoulder at the surf. "There is no time to lose," he added.
Emily met this revelation of new peril24 so calmly that Lavelle paused in wonderment as he swung away from her.
"Just hold to your faith. We'll win through if you keep that, won——"
The wind snapped his words off there. She did not know that he had hailed her as "wonder woman." Yet she glowed at the glance of frank admiration27 which had accompanied his words.
Lavelle called Chang. The giant started up from his haunches a few feet away, where he had been crouching28 and listening with eager ear to every word which had fallen from his master's lips.
"To sea!" was Lavelle's answer. He drove his purpose into the serang with those two words and a gesture. The giant hesitated so long as it took to look from Lavelle to the surf and back again. There was doubt in his eyes.
"Jump! Night soon!" cried Lavelle. The command electrified30 the serang.
Chang faced up the hill, beckoning31 and calling Rowgowskii and the coolies to descend32. They were perched on its crest33 like banderlog hypnotized by fear. They did not move.
"Come down out of that!" yelled Lavelle in anger at the white man and instantly repeating the command to the coolies in their own tongue.
"It is unsafe! I will stay here!" Rowgowskii cried back.
The coolies, chattering34 to each other, settled again on their haunches from which they had half started. They were taking their cue from the black-bearded white man beside them. They would not trust themselves to the earth below which trembled and swallowed things like the sea.
"Bring 'em down, Chang!" snapped Lavelle.
The giant sprang up the hill at the order, hurling36 at the coolies a curse which consigned37 forty generations of their ancestors to an additional century of grilling38 in the fires of eternity39. It started them, but Rowgowskii did not move. Then, out of Chang's belt flashed a long knife. He raised it to hurl35 at the white man.
With uplifted hands and crying that he would obey, Rowgowskii stood up. Chang lowered the knife and paused in his ascent40. The leader of the mutineers motioned to the coolies to precede him. They clambered along the rocks, darting41 glances over their shoulders as if measuring to descend as far from the reach of Chang as possible.
Whether it was Rowgowskii or one of the coolies who did it neither Emily, Chang, nor Lavelle, watching from below, could tell, but a large round boulder42 was dislodged by the feet of one of the three. It crashed down the hillside with the ricochet of a spending shell, missed Emily by a hair's-breadth, and plunged43 through the side of the boat.
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1
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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2
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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3
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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rippled
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| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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7
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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8
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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12
taro
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| n.芋，芋头 | |
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13
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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14
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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15
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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16
presages
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| v.预示，预兆( presage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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fanged
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| adj.有尖牙的，有牙根的，有毒牙的 | |
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18
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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19
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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20
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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21
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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23
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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24
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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26
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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27
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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28
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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29
avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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30
electrified
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| v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋 | |
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31
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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32
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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33
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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34
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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35
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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36
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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37
consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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38
grilling
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| v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问 | |
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39
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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40
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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41
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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42
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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43
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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