Exhausted3, physically4 and mentally, and with my mind a whispering-gallery of conjectures5 (it were needless for me to mention whom respecting), I turned in, gratefully, having patched up the slight wound in my calf7.
I seemed scarcely to have closed my eyes, when Nayland Smith was shaking me into wakefulness.
"You are probably tired out," he said; "but your crazy expedition of last night entitles you to no sympathy. Read this. There is a train in an hour. We will reserve a compartment8 and you can resume your interrupted slumbers9 in a corner seat."
As I struggled upright in bed, rubbing my eyes sleepily, Smith handed me the Daily Telegraph, pointing to the following paragraph upon the literary page:
"Messrs. M—— announce that they will publish shortly the long-delayed work of Kegan Van Roon, the celebrated10 American traveller, Orientalist and psychic11 investigator12, dealing13 with his recent inquiries14 in China. It will be remembered that Mr. Van Roon
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undertook to motor from Canton to Siberia last winter, but met with unforeseen difficulties in the province of Ho-Nan. He fell into the hands of a body of fanatics15 and was fortunate to escape with his life. His book will deal in particular with his experiences in Ho-Nan, and some sensational16 revelations regarding the awakening17 of that most mysterious race, the Chinese, are promised. For reasons of his own he has decided19 to remain in England until the completion of his book (which will be published simultaneously20 in New York and London), and has leased Cragmire Tower, Somersetshire, in which romantic and historical residence he will collate21 his notes and prepare for the world a work ear-marked as a classic even before it is published."
"From what I have been able to learn," he said evenly, "we should reach Saul, with decent luck, just before dusk."
As he turned and quitted the room without another word, I realized, in a flash, the purport23 of our mission; I understood my friend's ominous24 calm, betokening25 suppressed excitement.
Fortune was with us (or so it seemed); and whereas we had not hoped to gain Saul before sunset, as a matter of fact the autumn afternoon was in its most glorious phase as we left the little village with its old-time hostelry behind us and set out in an easterly direction, with the Bristol Channel far away on our left and a gently sloping upland on our right.
The crooked26 high-street practically constituted the entire hamlet of Saul, and the inn, The Wagoners, was the last house in the street. Now, as we followed the ribbon of moor27-path to the top of the rise, we could stand and look back upon the way we had come; and although we had covered fully6 a mile of ground, it was possible to detect the sunlight gleaming now and then upon the gilt28 lettering of the inn
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sign as it swayed in the breeze. The day had been unpleasantly warm, but relieved by this same sea breeze, which, although but slight, had in it the tang of the broad Atlantic. Behind us, then, the footpath29 sloped down to Saul, unpeopled by any living thing; east and north-east swelled30 the monotony of the moor right out to the hazy31 distance where the sky began and the sea remotely lay hidden; west fell the gentle gradient from the top of the slope which we had mounted, and here, as far as the eye could reach, the country had an appearance suggestive of a huge and dried-up lake. This idea was borne out by an odd blotchiness, for sometimes there would be half a mile or more of seeming moorland, then a sharply defined change (or it seemed sharply defined from that bird's-eye point of view). A vivid greenness marked these changes, which merged32 into a dun coloured smudge and again into the brilliant green; then the moor would begin once more.
"That will be the Tor of Glastonbury, I suppose," said Smith, suddenly peering through his field-glasses in an easterly direction; "and yonder, unless I am greatly mistaken, is Cragmire Tower."
Shading my eyes with my hand, I also looked ahead, and saw the place for which we were bound; one of those round towers, more common in Ireland, which some authorities have declared to be of Phœnician origin. Ramshackle buildings clustered untidily about its base, and to it a sort of tongue of that oddly venomous green which patched the lowlands shot out and seemed almost to reach the tower-base. The land for miles around was as flat as the palm of my hand, saving certain hummocks33, lesser34 tors, and irregular piles of boulders35 which dotted its expanse. Hills and uplands there were in the hazy distance, forming a sort of mighty36 inland bay which I doubted not in some past age had been covered by the sea. Even in the brilliant sunlight the place had something of a mournful aspect, look
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ing like a great dried-up pool into which the children of giants had carelessly cast stones.
We met no living soul upon the moor. With Cragmire Tower but a quarter of a mile off, Smith paused again, and raising his powerful glasses swept the visible landscape.
"Not a sign, Petrie," he said softly; "yet...."
"Have we been over-confident?" he said, narrowing his eyes in speculative38 fashion. "No less than three times I have had the idea that something, or some one, has just dropped out of sight, behind us, as I focussed...."
"What do you mean, Smith?"
"Are we"—he glanced about him as though the vastness were peopled with listening Chinamen—"followed?"
Silently we looked into one another's eyes, each seeking for the dread39 which neither had named. Then:
"Come on, Petrie!" said Smith, grasping my arm: and at quick march we were off again.
Cragmire Tower stood upon a very slight eminence40, and what had looked like a green tongue, from the moorland slopes above, was in fact a creek41, flanked by lush land, which here found its way to the sea. The house which we were come to visit consisted in a low, two-storey building, joining the ancient tower on the east, with two smaller out-buildings. There was a miniature kitchen-garden, and a few stunted42 fruit trees in the north-west corner; the whole being surrounded by a grey stone wall.
The shadow of the tower fell sharply across the path, which ran up almost alongside of it. We were both extremely warm by reason of our long and rapid walk on that hot day, and this shade should have been grateful to us. In short, I find it difficult to account for the unwelcome chill which I experi
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enced at the moment that I found myself at the foot of the time-worn monument. I know that we both pulled up sharply and looked at one another as though acted upon by some mutual43 disturbance44.
But not a sound broke the stillness save the remote murmuring, until a solitary45 sea-gull rose in the air and circled directly over the tower, uttering its mournful and unmusical cry. Automatically to my mind sprang the lines of the poem:
Far from all brother-men, in the weird46 of the fen47, With God's creatures I bide48, 'mid49 the birds that I ken18; Where the winds ever dree, where the hymn50 of the sea Brings a message of peace from the ocean to me.
Not a soul was visible about the premises51; there was no sound of human activity and no dog barked. Nayland Smith drew a long breath, glanced back along the way we had come, then went on, following the wall, I beside him, until we came to the gate. It was unfastened, and we walked up the stone path through a wilderness52 of weeds. Four windows of the house were visible, two on the ground floor and two above. Those on the ground floor were heavily boarded up, those above, though glazed53, boasted neither blinds nor curtains. Cragmire Tower showed not the slightest evidence of tenancy.
We mounted three steps and stood before a tremendously massive oaken door. An iron bell-pull, ancient and rusty54, hung on the right of the door, and Smith, giving me an odd glance, seized the ring and tugged55 it.
From somewhere within the building answered a mournful clangour, a cracked and toneless jangle, which, seeming to echo through empty apartments, sought and found an exit apparently56 by way of one of the openings in the round tower; for it was from above our heads that the noise came to us.
It died away, that eerie57 ringing—that clanging so dismal58 that it could chill my heart even then with
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the bright sunlight streaming down out of the blue; it awoke no other response than the mournful cry of the sea-gull circling over our heads. Silence fell. We looked at one another, and we were both about to express a mutual doubt, when, unheralded by any unfastening of bolts or bars, the door was opened, and a huge mulatto, dressed in white, stood there regarding us.
I started nervously59, for the apparition60 was so unexpected, but Nayland Smith, without evidence of surprise, thrust a card into the man's hand.
"Take my card to Mr. Van Roon, and say that I wish to see him on important business," he directed authoritatively61.
The mulatto bowed and retired62. His white figure seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness within, for beyond the patch of uncarpeted floor revealed by the peeping sunlight, was a barn-like place of densest63 shadow. I was about to speak, but Smith laid his hand upon my arm warningly, as, out from the shadows, the mulatto returned. He stood on the right of the door and bowed again.
"Be pleased to enter," he said, in his harsh, negro voice. "Mr. Van Roon will see you."
The gladness of the sun could no longer stir me; a chill and sense of foreboding bore me company as beside Nayland Smith I entered Cragmire Tower.
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1
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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2
paraphernalia
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| n.装备；随身用品 | |
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3
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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4
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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5
conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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6
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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7
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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8
compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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9
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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10
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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11
psychic
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| n.对超自然力敏感的人；adj.有超自然力的 | |
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12
investigator
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| n.研究者，调查者，审查者 | |
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13
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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14
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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15
fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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16
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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17
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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18
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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19
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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20
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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21
collate
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| vt.(仔细)核对，对照；(书籍装订前)整理 | |
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22
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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23
purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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24
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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25
betokening
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的现在分词 ) | |
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26
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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27
moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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28
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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29
footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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30
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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31
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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32
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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33
hummocks
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| n.小丘，岗( hummock的名词复数 ) | |
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34
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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35
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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36
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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37
tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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38
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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39
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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40
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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41
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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42
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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43
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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44
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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45
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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46
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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47
fen
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| n.沼泽，沼池 | |
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48
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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49
mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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50
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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51
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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52
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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53
glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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54
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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55
tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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57
eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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58
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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59
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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60
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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61
authoritatively
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| 命令式地，有权威地，可信地 | |
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62
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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63
densest
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| 密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的 | |
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