At the end of nearly a week of travel, the party went into camp near a shabby village which was caving, house by house, into the hungry Mississippi. The river astonished the children beyond measure. Its mile-breadth of water seemed an ocean to them, in the shadowy twilight5, and the vague riband of trees on the further shore, the verge6 of a continent which surely none but they had ever seen before.
“Uncle Dan’l” (colored,) aged7 40; his wife, “aunt Jinny,” aged 30, “Young Miss” Emily Hawkins, “Young Mars” Washington Hawkins and “Young Mars” Clay, the new member of the family, ranged themselves on a log, after supper, and contemplated9 the marvelous river and discussed it. The moon rose and sailed aloft through a maze10 of shredded11 cloud-wreaths; the sombre river just perceptibly brightened under the veiled light; a deep silence pervaded12 the air and was emphasized, at intervals13, rather than broken, by the hooting14 of an owl15, the baying of a dog, or the muffled16 crash of a carving17 bank in the distance.
The little company assembled on the log were all children (at least in simplicity18 and broad and comprehensive ignorance,) and the remarks they made about the river were in keeping with the character; and so awed19 were they by the grandeur20 and the solemnity of the scene before them, and by their belief that the air was filled with invisible spirits and that the faint zephyrs21 were caused by their passing wings, that all their talk took to itself a tinge22 of the supernatural, and their voices were subdued23 to a low and reverent24 tone. Suddenly Uncle Dan’l exclaimed:
All crowded close together and every heart beat faster.
A deep coughing sound troubled the stillness, way toward a wooded cape27 that jetted into the stream a mile distant. All in an instant a fierce eye of fire shot out from behind the cape and sent a long brilliant pathway quivering athwart the dusky water. The coughing grew louder and louder, the glaring eye grew larger and still larger, glared wilder and still wilder. A huge shape developed itself out of the gloom, and from its tall duplicate horns dense28 volumes of smoke, starred and spangled with sparks, poured out and went tumbling away into the farther darkness. Nearer and nearer the thing came, till its long sides began to glow with spots of light which mirrored themselves in the river and attended the monster like a torchlight procession.
“What is it! Oh, what is it, Uncle Dan’l!”
With deep solemnity the answer came:
It was not necessary to say it twice. They were all kneeling, in a moment. And then while the mysterious coughing rose stronger and stronger and the threatening glare reached farther and wider, the negro’s voice lifted up its supplications:
“O Lord’, we’s ben mighty31 wicked, an’ we knows dat we ’zerve to go to de bad place, but good Lord, deah Lord, we ain’t ready yit, we ain’t ready—let dese po’ chilen hab one mo’ chance, jes’ one mo’ chance. Take de ole niggah if you’s got to hab somebody.—Good Lord, good deah Lord, we don’t know whah you’s a gwyne to, we don’t know who you’s got yo’ eye on, but we knows by de way you’s a comin’, we knows by de way you’s a tiltin’ along in yo’ charyot o’ fiah dat some po’ sinner’s a gwyne to ketch it. But good Lord, dose chilen don’t b’long heah, dey’s f’m Obedstown whah dey don’t know nuffin, an’ you knows, yo’ own sef, dat dey ain’t ’sponsible. An’ deah Lord, good Lord, it ain’t like yo’ mercy, it ain’t like yo’ pity, it ain’t like yo’ long-sufferin’ lovin’ kindness for to take dis kind o’ ’vantage o’ sick little chil’en as dose is when dey’s so many ornery grown folks chuck full o’ cussedness dat wants roastin’ down dah. Oh, Lord, spah de little chil’en, don’t tar29 de little chil’en away f’m dey frens, jes’ let ’em off jes’ dis once, and take it out’n de ole niggah. HEAH I IS, LORD, HEAH I IS! De ole niggah’s ready, Lord, de ole——”
The flaming and churning steamer was right abreast32 the party, and not twenty steps away. The awful thunder of a mud-valve suddenly burst forth33, drowning the prayer, and as suddenly Uncle Dan’l snatched a child under each arm and scoured34 into the woods with the rest of the pack at his heels. And then, ashamed of himself, he halted in the deep darkness and shouted, (but rather feebly:)
“Heah I is, Lord, heah I is!”
There was a moment of throbbing35 suspense36, and then, to the surprise and the comfort of the party, it was plain that the august presence had gone by, for its dreadful noises were receding37. Uncle Dan’l headed a cautious reconnaissance in the direction of the log. Sure enough “the Lord” was just turning a point a short distance up the river, and while they looked the lights winked38 out and the coughing diminished by degrees and presently ceased altogether.
“H’wsh! Well now dey’s some folks says dey ain’t no ’ficiency in prah. Dis Chile would like to know whah we’d a ben now if it warn’t fo’ dat prah? Dat’s it. Dat’s it!”
“Uncle Dan’l, do you reckon it was the prayer that saved us?” said Clay.
“Does I reckon? Don’t I know it! Whah was yo’ eyes? Warn’t de Lord jes’ a cumin’ chow! chow! CHOW! an’ a goin’ on turrible—an’ do de Lord carry on dat way ’dout dey’s sumfin don’t suit him? An’ warn’t he a lookin’ right at dis gang heah, an’ warn’t he jes’ a reachin’ for ’em? An’ d’you spec’ he gwyne to let ’em off ’dout somebody ast him to do it? No indeedy!”
“Do you reckon he saw, us, Uncle Dan’l?
“De law sakes, Chile, didn’t I see him a lookin’ at us?”.
“Did you feel scared, Uncle Dan’l?”
“No sah! When a man is ’gaged in prah, he ain’t fraid o’ nuffin—dey can’t nuffin tetch him.”
“Well what did you run for?”
“Well, I—I—mars Clay, when a man is under de influence ob de sperit, he do-no, what he’s ’bout—no sah; dat man do-no what he’s ’bout. You mout take an’ tah de head off’n dat man an’ he wouldn’t scasely fine it out. Date’s de Hebrew chil’en dat went frough de fiah; dey was burnt considable—ob coase dey was; but dey didn’t know nuffin ’bout it—heal right up agin; if dey’d ben gals39 dey’d missed dey long haah, (hair,) maybe, but dey wouldn’t felt de burn.”
“I don’t know but what they were girls. I think they were.”
“Now mars Clay, you knows bettern dat. Sometimes a body can’t tell whedder you’s a sayin’ what you means or whedder you’s a sayin’ what you don’t mean, ’case you says ’em bofe de same way.”
“But how should I know whether they were boys or girls?”
“Goodness sakes, mars Clay, don’t de Good Book say? ’Sides, don’t it call ’em de HE-brew chil’en? If dey was gals wouldn’t dey be de SHE-brew chil’en? Some people dat kin8 read don’t ’pear to take no notice when dey do read.”
“Well, Uncle Dan’l, I think that——-My! here comes another one up the river! There can’t be two!”
“We gone dis time—we done gone dis time, sho’! Dey ain’t two, mars Clay—days de same one. De Lord kin ’pear eberywhah in a second. Goodness, how do fiah and de smoke do belch40 up! Dat mean business, honey. He comin’ now like he fo’got sumfin. Come ’long, chil’en, time you’s gwyne to roos’. Go ’long wid you—ole Uncle Daniel gwyne out in de woods to rastle in prah—de ole nigger gwyne to do what he kin to sabe you agin.”
He did go to the woods and pray; but he went so far that he doubted, himself, if the Lord heard him when He went by.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
emigrants
|
|
| n.（从本国移往他国的）移民( emigrant的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
enchantment
|
|
| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
dwarfs
|
|
| n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
shuddering
|
|
| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
verge
|
|
| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
aged
|
|
| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
contemplated
|
|
| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
maze
|
|
| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
shredded
|
|
| shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
pervaded
|
|
| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
hooting
|
|
| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
owl
|
|
| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
muffled
|
|
| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
carving
|
|
| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
awed
|
|
| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
grandeur
|
|
| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
zephyrs
|
|
| n.和风，微风( zephyr的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
tinge
|
|
| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
reverent
|
|
| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
fin
|
|
| n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
cape
|
|
| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
dense
|
|
| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
tar
|
|
| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
almighty
|
|
| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
abreast
|
|
| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
scoured
|
|
| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
throbbing
|
|
| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
suspense
|
|
| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
receding
|
|
| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
winked
|
|
| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
gals
|
|
| abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
belch
|
|
| v.打嗝，喷出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |