Billy was discussing with Henri some of the remarkable2 features of the recent voyage, as the steamer came in sight of Helgoland Bay, on the return trip.
“He’s a magician, that’s what he is,” maintained Billy. “Did you ever see the beat of the way he unmasked this ship?”
[236]
“And himself,” added Henri.
At the mouth of the Elbe, the tarpaulins3 again shrouded4 the warlike fixings that had been revealed by their removal, and it was the familiar “trading vessel,” dandy captain, roustabouts, and all, that went in with the tide.
“Home again, young sirs.”
The oily tradesman once more, horn spectacles, bland5 address, and benevolent6 smile—Herr Roque, the peaceful merchant with a liking7 for bright young men and pleasure trips when business was dull.
“We’ll have a little run up to Kiel by the way of the great canal, a nice jaunt8 to complete our vacation, young sirs.”
Herr Roque was the picture of innocence9, as he genially10 waved his hand to a party of harbor officials, passing near in a launch. He took snuff from a silver box and extended the compliment of giving the captain a chance to take a pinch.
It was noticeable, however, that the slightest word from the kind “merchant” commanded the instant respect and attention of those about him.
“It would make us all very happy, my dear captain, if you could spare the time to arrange our ship to Kiel. Herr Raum is very anxious to get the goods. He has orders from Berlin to fill.”
This comedy was for the sole benefit of the assemblage on the docks.
[237]
The canvas rolls with the rifles inside were already on the way to Kiel, and the boxes to which Roque was pointing were simply ship supplies.
Billy and Henri were not aware that they had been accorded an unusual privilege when they looked upon the real Roque during the hunt for the channel steamer.
Kiel, in contrast to Hamburg, seethed11 with activity, the streets swarming12 with sailors and marines, while in the harbor dispatch boats dashed hither and thither14.
Herr Roque kept Billy and Henri close to his elbow, and forbade their engaging in conversation with any stranger, unless duly presented by him. The English tongue was not at all popular in Kiel at this time. Henri, to be sure, could rattle15 off German like a native, but it was deemed best that he also become a mute like his companion.
Notwithstanding all this precaution, the boys were fated to have their usual adventure before quitting this lively town. They never would stand hitched16! Herr Roque had some special business in the town, no doubt concerning the “music boxes,” and he “planted” his young charges in a hotel near the docks, with a word to the landlord to give them a look over now and then.
“I don’t propose to stick around this coffee house all day,” rebelled Billy, “when there is so much going[238] on outside. Let’s join that crowd piking at the harbor. Something’s doing there.”
Henri was in the same humor, and the pair mixed with the mentioned curious crowd.
The boys pushed their way to the front rank of the viewers, and then a little ahead of what appeared to be the limit of approach.
There was a murmur18 from the crowd. It was known that soldiers aboard were not allowed to leave these particular ships, popularly believed to be transports destined19 for the invasion of England, and an equally stern rule that nobody was allowed to come near them.
Of course, Billy and Henri had no knowledge of the rule, and they crossed the deadline as care-free as clams20.
Then something dropped. It was a heavy hand on the shoulder of Henri, a few feet in advance of his chum. Somebody set a vise-like grip on Billy’s wrist. A bevy21 of graybacks fluttered around them. They had committed the unpardonable sin of ignoring a military order, and also they were unpardonably foreign to the soil. They were English, until they proved themselves something else.
A lane opened in the muttering crowd, and through it marched the file of soldiers, with the[239] suspects sandwiched between the leader and the next in line.
At the city hall the soldiers and the suspects abruptly22 deserted23 the lengthy24 street procession behind them, and the prisoners were presented without further ceremony to the bulky occupant of a revolving25 chair within a railed enclosure.
“What have we here?” sharply questioned the man behind the railing.
“Lock them up.” This order completed the first hearing.
Billy and Henri a few minutes later perched themselves on a sack mattress27 filled with straw, in a prison cell.
“‘In the prison cell I sit,’” chanted Billy.
“Don’t be a chump,” complained Henri. “This is a serious matter, I tell you.”
“What’s the use of crying, old top, when you can sing?”
“There is just one man who can get us out of this scrape,” stated Henri, “and he wears horn spectacles.”
“It won’t take that man long to find us; he’s a smooth one.”
Billy had the utmost confidence in Herr Roque’s[240] ability as a sleuth since the affair of the “music boxes.”
Footfalls sounded in the long corridor outside.
“Maybe that’s him now,” was Henri’s eager expression, as he hastened to the grated door of the cell.
But the footfalls did not belong to Roque. The man at the door was only a burly guard who handed in two tins of hot coffee and a dangling29 roll of raw sausages.
“Say, major,” pleaded Henri in German, “we’ve got a good friend uptown that knows all about us—can’t we get word to him?”
Even the rank of “major” did not appeal to the jailer, for he only grunted30, and turned on his heel.
“Looks like a night of it, Henri.”
“And there will be a morning of it, too,” predicted Henri.
“‘We won’t go home until morning,’” warbled Billy.
“Oh, what’s the use? You have quit being human.”
Failing to turn his friend from his waggish31 way, Henri rolled over on the straw mattress and went to sleep. Billy followed suit.
The jailer, with a lantern swung to his arm like a railway conductor, was framed in the cell door.[241] A pair of horn spectacles glistened33 over his shoulder.
“Glory be! It’s Herr Roque!”
Herr Roque did not appear to be very amiable35. He was not accustomed to have his arrangements disturbed by a pair of flyaways like these. But he was still the finished actor, for the guard’s benefit, and pretended, in words, to be overwhelmed with anxiety:
“How glad I am to see you, my young friends. I could not imagine what had become of you, and I had been seeking you high and low when I met the Burgomaster Haupt coming from his club, and he told me about the trouble at the docks. I was shocked, indeed, and it has been proved all a mistake.”
When he got the boys outside, though, he concluded a different line of talk with:
“I’ll have to tie bells around your necks when next you wander in strange pastures. You are likely to get into a neck-twisting fix with such pranks36 as these.”
Neither Billy nor Henri made speeches for the defense37. They meekly38 accepted this chiding39, all the time rejoicing that they were again breathing free air. It was a mile ahead of six-by-eight stone walls.
[242]
“I’m through here,” briefly announced Herr Roque at breakfast, “and after a call at Bremen I am going to restore this pair of lambs to the aviation lieutenant40 at Hamburg. There you can always be found when I want you.”
“That means, Herr Roque, I suppose, that we will get cards for some more vacation trips?”
“It means, young man, that if you ask no questions you will receive no false information.”
At Bremen they found the hotels deserted, but the theaters and cafés full.
It was among these cafés that the boys sharpened their wits by close observation of Herr Roque, who was always looking for something when he appeared to be looking for nothing but an easy way of life.
They found occasion to use keen wit before that first evening in Bremen was over. It was a startling test.
As they basked42 in the benevolence43 of Herr Roque, facing him at a well-spread table in one of the brilliantly lighted cafés, Billy saw a familiar face reflected in a mirror hanging on the wall back of the chair occupied by their host—the smiling face of the secretary the boys had met in the office of the great man in Calais, who speeded them on their way to Paris.
The mirror also reflected the garb44 of a sailor,[243] merchant marine13, and the man was at a table directly back of where the aviators45 were seated.
Billy felt in a flash that it would be like signing a friend’s death warrant to make the least show of recognition.
Fearful that Henri might forget himself and draw the attention of Herr Roque, if suddenly confronted with the mirrored face, Billy used a knowledge of telegraphy, in which his companion was expert, by softly finger-tapping on the polished table surface between them the word “caution.”
Henri was puzzled at the operation, but with the warning gave no sign by change of expression.
Herr Roque was toying with a fork, and seemed to be thinking at a distance. The boys, for the time being, were forgotten pawns46.
Billy tapped “mirror.”
Three pairs of eyes met in the shining glass.
The smile left the face reflected from behind.
The “sailor” knew and was known. His right hand was lifted carelessly to his lips, and a finger lingered there for a scant48 second.
The understanding was complete.
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收听单词发音
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1
consignment
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| n.寄售；发货；委托；交运货物 | |
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2
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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3
tarpaulins
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| n.防水帆布，防水帆布罩( tarpaulin的名词复数 ) | |
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4
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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5
bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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6
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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7
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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8
jaunt
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| v.短程旅游；n.游览 | |
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9
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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10
genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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11
seethed
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| （液体）沸腾( seethe的过去式和过去分词 )； 激动，大怒； 强压怒火； 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth) | |
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12
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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13
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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14
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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15
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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16
hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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17
funnels
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| 漏斗( funnel的名词复数 )； （轮船，火车等的）烟囱 | |
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18
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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19
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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20
clams
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| n.蛤；蚌，蛤( clam的名词复数 )v.（在沙滩上）挖蛤( clam的第三人称单数 ) | |
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21
bevy
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| n.一群 | |
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22
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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23
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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24
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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25
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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26
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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27
mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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28
tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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29
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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30
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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31
waggish
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| adj.诙谐的，滑稽的 | |
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32
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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33
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
bluffing
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| n. 威吓，唬人 动词bluff的现在分词形式 | |
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35
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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36
pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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37
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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38
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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39
chiding
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| v.责骂，责备( chide的现在分词 ) | |
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40
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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41
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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42
basked
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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43
benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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44
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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45
aviators
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| 飞机驾驶员，飞行员( aviator的名词复数 ) | |
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46
pawns
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| n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保 | |
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47
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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48
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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