“Butivul night for a holy deed, I’m sure,” said Mr. Cramphorn. Mrs. Pearn, Jenifer and Mr. Bluett walked beside him and a dozen villagers accompanied them. The matter, however, at their pastor3’s desire had been kept as far as possible from the general ear.
“I hope as you’m lookin’ sharp to the roads an’ the quay4 an’ Smugglers’ Lane as usual,” whispered Johnny to Robert Bluett. “Some long tongue be sure to blab this business; an’ if the Frenchman’s laying off, they might signal her in to-night, ’stead of to-morrow.”
“Not so much as a sea-otter could go from sea to shore without one of my men would know it,” answered the other.
“Then a great load be off my mind, I assure ’e.”
p. 347Red Hill above Daleham was a sandstone bluff5 that sprang up near three hundred feet abruptly6 from the sea, and, save at low tides, deep water always ran beneath. Upon its head a rough tonsure7 of wind-worn pine trees circled the grey ruins of Stapledon manor8-house, and inland therefrom extended the fishermen’s gardens and stretched two roads. One of these ways led to Daleham Church and the country; the other was that up which Parson Yates and his company now climbed from the village.
“Here will we stand,” said the good man, “and should anything in the nature of a superhuman visitation occur, you must light your candle, Richard Trout9, and you, Noah Collins, after I have lifted my voice the first time, must strike upon the bell thrice—for each Person of the Ever-blessed Trinity. And see no wax falls from the candle on to my book, boy.”
They drew up outside the belt of fir and all endured half an hour of misery10, for the snow, though slight, persisted and the air and earth were bitter cold. Presently, however, the snow thinned to scattered11 flakes12, then stopped; a star stole out and touched the white carpet with silver. Then came the beat of the church clock telling ten, and, as if in answer, a sigh ran through the woods, and gloomy figures moved beneath the trees.
p. 348Silent as a dream and darker than night itself against the snow, a black pageant14 crept from the forest, and crossed the open land. One tall figure, above man’s common stature15, moved in front and, following him, came horses that drew a plumed16 hearse, while certain footmen moved orderly behind. Then did Dick Trout, with shaking blue fingers, strike tinder and make a flame, and Noah Collins prepared to beat a triple tattoo17 upon his bell. Only Mr. Yates himself unhappily failed at the critical pinch.
“Give it ’em; give it to ’em, my dear soul, or they’ll be gone!” implored18 Mr. Cramphorn in frantic19 accents. But the little man had dropped his book from a numbed20 and shaking hand, and, by the time he had picked it up again, the ghostly funeral was sweeping21 along the church road, already half swallowed up by night.
“I lacked the power of speech,” stuttered Mr. Yates. “I cannot deny it—the spirit of fear came upon me and I dropped my book.”
“Give ’em a broadside coming back, your reverence—if ’tis true as they do come back,” suggested Bluett.
Twenty minutes later a man approached by the road from the church, and Cramphorn eagerly enquired22 of him whether he had seen the funeral.
“Funeral? No, I seed no funeral,” answered the p. 349voice of Merry Jonathan. “Be that Parson Yates huntin’ ghostes again?”
“We have come to liberate23 these unhappy phantoms24 and so far failed. They passed before I summoned presence of mind to address them.”
“‘Passed?’ When? Why for didn’t I see ’em?”
“You!” snorted Johnny Cramphorn. “Who be the likes of you to see such holy things?”
Jonathan growled25 and approached Jenifer and her mother.
“Best you women come home, else you’ll get your noses frozen off, an’ the spirits won’t thaw26 ’em for ’e, ’cepting those at home.”
“Let us have no irreverence27, Jonathan Godbeer,” said the clergyman. “You will do better to add your prayers to ours, that my courage may be sustained and my voice strengthened for the coming ordeal28.”
The captain of the smugglers did not answer, but strode forth29 and walked over white ground lately traversed by the procession of spirits.
“Doan’t ’e cross theer track, my dear man,” cried Mrs. Pearn; “else ten to one they’ll blast ’e crooked30 for the rest of your days!”
But her caution came too late. Godbeer stood and gazed upon the snow where the spectral31 hearse had passed. Then he lifted his voice and shouted with all his might.
p. 350“Gauger32 Bluett! Gauger Bluett! This here be your job, not parson’s. Quick, man, quick! Ghostes or no ghostes, the snow’s took their shoe marks if I see right. Boots an’ hoofs33 an’ wheels—no bogies them. Ha-ha! the spirits that passed along here was inside the hearse, not outside!”
The Exciseman and others rushed forward to find Merry Jonathan’s words were true, for the new-fallen snow had been trampled34 with feet of men and horses, and seamed with tracks of heavy wheels.
“Theer now! I’ve often thought they rascals35 might have ’e that way, Cap’n,” said Godbeer, with deep concern. “To think of the wickedness o’ the world! Just come in the trees behind the ruin. ’Tweern’t my business, of course, but more’n wance walkin’ ’pon the beach below, takin’ the air at low tide, I’ve looked up at the face of the cliff by night and fancied I seed ropes pulling things up the precipice36. Then I thought, ‘No—surely not. Can’t be no hookem-snivey doings under darkness wi’ such a man as Cap’n Bluett amongst us.’”
Jonathan grinned and the moon came out and touched his white teeth. Cramphorn held up a lantern, and Bluett himself uttered words not seemly for the ear of Parson Yates.
Then he turned to follow the direction of the smugglers’ funeral.
“I bid every honest man come along with me in p. 351the King’s name,” he cried. “Them as have done this deed shall smart for theer night’s work yet!”
“Us’ll all help ’e heart an’ soul, I’m sure,” declared Merry Jonathan. “We’m a thought behind the rogues37, I fear. But what’s that with right ’pon our side?”
They scrambled38 and hastened along the rutted snow, and Cramphorn and Godbeer commented in cheerful chorus on the event as they trotted39 beside the furious officer.
“What I’m fearin’ is that these scamps have been at theer games all the week,” gasped40 the aged41 Johnny while he shuffled42 forward. “Theer’s a dark plot against our good name, and while we’ve all been countin’ to rub it in to-morrow night, they’ve run theer cargo43 and hid it in the ruin of the Manor this longful time—pulled it up the cliff an’ been takin’ it away reg’lar night after night, while honest men was on the watch—some place else.”
“Makes me near burst wi’ rage,” said Jonathan, “an’ all them fine fellows ready, an’ the cutter sailin’ about over the sea so butivul! An’ perhaps the cargo was run that very night Cap’n Bluett comed amongst us at the ‘Golden Anchor,’ an’ told us what a great man he was. All play-actin’, an’ even my own girl Jenifer to come home so frightened. To think a man’s own girl would deceive him so wicked!”
p. 352“Wi’ Pastor Yates at his post tu, tryin’ so hard to larn us all better!” panted Cramphorn.
Now ahead loomed44 a huge black object where crossways met at a lonely spot nearly a mile inland. It was empty and proved to be the skeleton of a farm waggon45 painted black, boarded up, and adorned46 with tufts of shavings dipped in tar13. The snow had been trampled for twenty yards round about it and indications of other wheels diverged47 landward on three sides into the night.
Cramphorn, Godbeer and Robert Bluett, now far ahead of their companions, stood before this spectacle.
“They’ve done you, by G—!” gasped the old man. “An’ to think of all your bold heroes with theer swords an’ cutlasses an’ pistols a-sitting freezing in every lane and by every drain an’ rat-hole around the village! ’Tis amazin’ such things be allowed to fall out.”
The officer did not answer. He had seen the ancient and Godbeer grin amiably48 each upon the other, and now his thick skull49 appreciated the truth and he turned to chew his gall50 alone.
Merry Jonathan shouted after him.
“Ten to one they’ll tell ’e that Maypole chap as walked in front of the funeral was a man by the name of Godbeer. But don’t you b’lieve it, Cap’n. You’ll never catch me an’ Master Cramphorn in no such job.”
p. 353“Though we’ve made up our difference, as becomes Christian51 men,” declared Johnny.
Bluett turned and addressed them.
“They cry loudest who cry last,” he said. “The stones be piled as’ll hold you tight yet, you bowldacious thieves; an’ the wood be seasoned as you’ll swing from.”
Cramphorn wagged his beard.
“My stars! Hark to un! Theer’s a sour temper! Theer’s sorry thanks for all we’ve done! ’Tis a very thankless generation for sartain. Gimme your arm back-along, Merry. We’m most tu good to mix wi’ common men—you an’ me—that’s the naked truth of it.”
The End
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收听单词发音
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1
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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pastor
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| n.牧师，牧人 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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tonsure
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| n.削发；v.剃 | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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pageant
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| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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tattoo
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| n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于 | |
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implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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liberate
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| v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由 | |
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phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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25
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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irreverence
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| n.不尊敬 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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32
gauger
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| n.收税官 | |
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33
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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34
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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35
rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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38
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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39
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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40
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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41
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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42
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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43
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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44
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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45
waggon
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| n.运货马车，运货车；敞篷车箱 | |
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46
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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47
diverged
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| 分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳 | |
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48
amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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49
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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50
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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51
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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