chapter 9

 The Tula artisans, who had executed a marvellous bit of business, had only just completed their work. The Cossacks of the Suite¹ dashed up to them breathless, and the simple members of the curious public never arrived at all, because, through lack of practice, they flung their feet widely over the road, and tumbled down, whereupon they fled homewards, and hid themselves in the[Pg 42] first place that offered, through fear of encountering Platoff's eye.

 

But as soon as the Cossacks of the Suite rushed up, they instantly began to shout, and when they saw that the men did not open to them, they immediately proceeded to tear at the bolts and shutters², without ceremony. But the bolts were so stout³ that they did not yield in the least, and they wrenched⁴ at the door; but the door was backed up inside by oaken bars. Then the Cossacks picked up a beam in the street, fixed⁵ it under the roof-frame, after the fashion customary at conflagrations⁶, and tipped the whole roof off the little house at one toss. But no sooner had they removed the roof than they instantly tumbled over backwards⁷ themselves, for such a spiral[22] of sweat arose from the artisans in their confined quarters, caused by their unresting toil⁸, that[Pg 43] it was impossible for an unaccustomed man, coming directly from the fresh air, to breathe it all at once.

 

The messengers shouted: "What are you doing, you scoundrels, you thus and so? And how dare you to infect us with such a spiral, to boot? After this, God is not with you!"

 

But they replied: "We will instantly drive in the last little nail, and when that is in place, we will bring out our work."

 

But the messengers said: "He'll devour⁹ us alive before that time, and leave not enough to remember our souls by."

 

But the gunsmiths replied: "He will not succeed in swallowing you, because, lo! while you have been speaking we have already driven in that last tiny nail. Run and say that we will bring it immediately."

 

The Suite-Cossacks ran, but not with[Pg 44] confidence—they thought the gunsmiths were deceiving them; therefore, while they ran as hard as they could, they kept glancing back. But the workmen followed them, and made such extreme haste that they did not manage to get their clothes quite on, as was meet before presenting themselves to such an important personage, but fastened the hooks of their kaftans as they ran. Two of them had nothing in their hands, but the third, the left-handed man, held the Imperial casket with the English steel flea¹⁰, in a green case.

1 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

2 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

4 wrenched   

v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• The bag was wrenched from her grasp. 那只包从她紧握的手里被夺了出来。
• He wrenched the book from her hands. 他从她的手中把书拧抢了过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

6 conflagrations   

n.大火（灾）( conflagration的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Friction makes sparks and sparks start great creative conflagrations. 摩擦产生星星之火，星星之火点燃伟大创意的燎原巨焰。 来自互联网

7 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

8 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

9 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

10 flea   

n.跳蚤

参考例句：

• I'll put a flea in his ear if he bothers me once more.如果他再来打扰的话，我就要对他不客气了。
• Hunter has an interest in prowling around a flea market.亨特对逛跳蚤市场很感兴趣。