His long sleep had refreshed him and his mind instantly leaped back to the events of the night before. A glance round him discovered Chang, a hundred feet away, searching the horizon. Rowgowskii lay stretched on the opposite side of the fire.
Just as Emily had imagined him lost so Lavelle for a moment believed her gone. His senses went crashing, but they reordered themselves instantly at the touch of a warm body at his side.
Putting his left hand out to raise himself it fell on Emily not half an arm's length away. There exhausted5 nature had bent6 her head in slumber7 at midnight when the wind hushed. There Chang had covered her again with the boat sail. She lay with her right arm under her vivid head and her face toward the new day. One long golden braid curled across the hilltop's wet grass where it had been flung unconsciously in her sleep. The other hung across her exquisite8 bosom9, rising and falling gently with her breathing, and its end trailing the ground. Such an expression as Lavelle had so often seen in the faces of play-weary children was in hers.
"Wonder woman," he murmured. "Wonder woman."
Slipping out from under the sail, not daring to breathe, Lavelle gently drew the canvas back over the sleeper's shoulders and stole toward the Chinaman. A slight giddiness assailed10 him for a moment and with it there came a reminder11 of the old pain which he had felt upon awakening12 first in the boat.
"Master, master," called the giant worshipfully, springing toward him.
Chang's first glance was directed at Lavelle's forehead and what he saw there pleased him.
"Him all lite, master; all lite," he said. "Him stop bleed."
But it was of the night that Lavelle would hear, and the Chinaman rapidly unfolded the wondrous13 tale of how their lives had been saved by Emily. The wrecked14 boat was gone. Emily, Lavelle, Rowgowskii, and Chang alone remained of those who had escaped in their party from the Cambodia. The two coolie sailors had been gathering16 wood at the foot of the hill when the upheaval17 came. They were gone. At the end he whispered: "You lose him plistol out you plocket. Nobody know—only Chang, master."
The ocean bore no trace of the half of the island which had been torn away. In the heavy wind and sea which Chang reported of the first part of the night it was Lavelle's opinion that the derelict mass, bound together only by a mattress18 of interlaced roots and vegetation, must have resolved its parts with the waters.
Owing to Chang's having placed the water, provisions, and the boat's equipment high on the hill when the craft had been emptied in the evening, the sea had been able to steal but little. The treacherous19 bit of earth which remained offered, too, an important contribution to the food supply in a wealth of taro20 plants, the tuberous substitute of the potato in the islands of the Pacific. It is of this that the Hawaiians make their poi.
By the bearing of the rising sun Lavelle noted21 that the island had swung round completely during the night. The side of the camel's back-like hill, which had been toward the south the preceding evening, was turned to the northward22. The crest23 of this hill was at least two hundred feet above sea level. As the island lay now its northern side sloped easily for perhaps fifty yards and then broke off abruptly24 in a sharp cleavage fifty feet sheer to the sea.
The hill's base was slightly less than the island's half-mile width. A gentle slope marked what had become the eastern shore; a straight palisade rise of two hundred feet, the western side. A gradual slope on the hill's southern side blended at the foot with an undulating meadow, green with grass and taro, and about three-quarters of a mile in length. A lone15 palm tree rose in the center of this patch.
The top of the hill presented a flat surface of a city half-block square. At no distant time a thatched hut had stood there. It was of the remains25 of this that Chang and Rowgowskii had built the fire.
While he sipped26 a cup of water which Chang brought to him, Lavelle took stock of all these things. Not one thought of solace27 could he draw from the bitter, hopeless scheme which unfolded itself to his gaze. By the time the non-arrival of the Cambodia was read into disaster and a searching ship sent into these seas the end would have long since come to this island. Well he realized the emptiness of this stretch of ocean and the one chance in ten thousand which might bring a stray merchantman or trader stumbling upon them. Well he realized the slight tenure28 of the crust of earth which held him. Judging from its assumed position it had drifted a phenomenal distance for that latitude30. He believed it must have been ripped away from one of the islands of the Hawaiian group. That it had survived so long seemed to him miraculous31 and but emphasized the imminence32 of its early dissolution. What had already happened since the landing confirmed in his mind that the next storm would be the mother of the island's oblivion and all it held.
Floating islands are uncommon33 in any but the most placid34 waters. Yet in the phenomena29 of the sea's scheme of things they are common occurrences. The charts of all big waters are dotted with their records. Shipmasters come to port reporting an island where one was never before and where it would seem against all reason that one should be. Still man imbued35 with the unconquerable mystery of the sea writes this report on his charts for all times. First he writes it as a fact, justifying36 its assumption as such. According to its reported size, ships go searching for it—men-o'-war, leisurely37 merchantmen, vagrant38 traders. No island is found. Only sea is there. But man does not trust the deep; he never will. He does not erase39 his record. He marks it "P.D."—position doubtful. Years pass without further report of an island in this locality. Then he goes as far as he dares. He writes on his charts "E.D."—meaning "Existence doubtful."
How many a well-found ship, sailing in a sea charted clear and deep, has blundered into islands like the one which held the Cambodia castaways and suddenly come unto her last port? No man may tell. Seldom, however, do ocean traffickers meet with these waif lands north or south of the twentieth parallels.
With never a dream that this could be one—here in the thirties—though the absence of reefs and the raw and broken aspect of the island shore had given him pause, Lavelle had trapped himself. He had captained her, for whose salvation40 he would gladly lay down his life, into a prison to which death held the key.
It was with this bitter, self-blaming thought, and tortured by it, that he turned away from the sea to behold41 the gold woman coming toward him with a wistful smile. He ran to meet her and his soul cried out at the denial of its impulse to fold her to his heart and soothe42 her hurts.
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1
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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immersion
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| n.沉浸；专心 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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7
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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8
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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10
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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11
reminder
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| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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13
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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14
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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15
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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16
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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upheaval
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| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
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mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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19
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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taro
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| n.芋，芋头 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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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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24
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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30
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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31
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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32
imminence
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| n.急迫，危急 | |
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33
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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34
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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35
imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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36
justifying
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| 证明…有理( justify的现在分词 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护） | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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38
vagrant
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| n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的 | |
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39
erase
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| v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹 | |
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40
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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41
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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42
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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