Each took a side of the fixed1 table; it was the first time they had sat down at it together; but now all sense of incongruity2, all memory of differences, was quite swept away by the presence of the common ruin.
‘Gentlemen,’ said the captain, after a pause, and with very much the air of a chairman opening a board-meeting, ‘we’re sold.’
Huish broke out in laughter. ‘Well, if this ain’t the ‘ighest old rig!’ he cried. ‘And Dyvis, ‘ere, who thought he had got up so bloomin’ early in the mornin’! We’ve stolen a cargo3 of spring water! Oh, my crikey!’ and he squirmed with mirth.
The captain managed to screw out a phantom4 smile.
‘Here’s Old Man Destiny again,’ said he to Herrick, ‘but this time I guess he’s kicked the door right in.’
Herrick only shook his head.
‘O Lord, it’s rich!’ laughed Huish. ‘it would really be a scrumptious lark5 if it ‘ad ‘appened to somebody else! And wot are we to do next? Oh, my eye! with this bloomin’ schooner6, too?’
‘That’s the trouble,’ said Davis. ‘There’s only one thing certain: it’s no use carting this old glass and ballast to Peru. No, SIR, we’re in a hole.’
‘O my, and the merchand’ cried Huish; ‘the man that made this shipment! He’ll get the news by the mail brigantine; and he’ll think of course we’re making straight for Sydney.’
‘Yes, he’ll be a sick merchant,’ said the captain. ‘One thing: this explains the Kanaka crew. If you’re going to lose a ship, I would ask no better myself than a Kanaka crew. But there’s one thing it don’t explain; it don’t explain why she came down Tahiti ways.’
‘Wy, to lose her, you byby!’ said Huish.
‘A lot you know,’ said the captain. ‘Nobody wants to lose a schooner; they want to lose her ON HER COURSE, you skeericks! You seem to think underwriters haven’t got enough sense to come in out of the rain.’
‘Well,’ said Herrick, ‘I can tell you (I am afraid) why she came so far to the eastward7. I had it of Uncle Ned. It seems these two unhappy devils, Wiseman and Wishart, were drunk on the champagne8 from the beginning — and died drunk at the end.’
The captain looked on the table.
‘They lay in their two bunks9, or sat here in this damned house,’ he pursued, with rising agitation10, ‘filling their skins with the accursed stuff, till sickness took them. As they sickened and the fever rose, they drank the more. They lay here howling and groaning11, drunk and dying, all in one. They didn’t know where they were, they didn’t care. They didn’t even take the sun, it seems.’
‘Not take the sun?’ cried the captain, looking up. ‘Sacred Billy! what a crowd!’
‘Well, it don’t matter to Joe!’ said Huish. ‘Wot are Wiseman and the t’other buffer12 to us?’
‘A good deal, too,’ says the captain. ‘We’re their heirs, I guess.’
‘It is a great inheritance,’ said Herrick.
‘Well, I don’t know about that,’ returned Davis. ‘Appears to me as if it might be worse. ‘Tain’t worth what the cargo would have been of course, at least not money down. But I’ll tell you what it appears to figure up to. Appears to me as if it amounted to about the bottom dollar of the man in ‘Frisco.’
‘‘Old on,’ said Huish. ‘Give a fellow time; ‘ow’s this, umpire?’
‘Well, my sons,’ pursued the captain, who seemed to have recovered his assurance, ‘Wiseman and Wishart were to be paid for casting away this old schooner and its cargo. We’re going to cast away the schooner right enough; and I’ll make it my private business to see that we get paid. What were W. and W. to get? That’s more’n I can tell. But W. and W. went into this business themselves, they were on the crook13. Now WE’RE on the square, we only stumbled into it; and that merchant has just got to squeal14, and I’m the man to see that he squeals15 good. No, sir! there’s some stuffing to this Farallone racket after all.’
‘Go it, cap!’ cried Huish. ‘Yoicks! Forrard! ‘Old ‘ard! There’s your style for the money! Blow me if I don’t prefer this to the hother.’
‘I do not understand,’ said Herrick. ‘I have to ask you to excuse. me; I do not understand.’
‘Well now, see here, Herrick,’ said Davis, ‘I’m going to have a word with you anyway upon a different matter, and it’s good that Huish should hear it too. We’re done with this boozing business, and we ask your pardon for it right here and now. We have to thank you for all you did for us while we were making hogs16 of ourselves; you’ll find me turn-to all right in future; and as for the wine, which I grant we stole from you, I’ll take stock and see you paid for it. That’s good enough, I believe. But what I want to point out to you is this. The old game was a risky17 game. The new game’s as safe as running a Vienna Bakery. We just put this Farallone before the wind, and run till we’re well to looard of our port of departure and reasonably well up with some other place, where they have an American Consul18. Down goes the Farallone, and good-bye to her! A day or so in the boat; the consul packs us home, at Uncle Sam’s expense, to ‘Frisco; and if that merchant don’t put the dollars down, you come to me!’
‘But I thought,’ began Herrick; and then broke out; ‘oh, let’s get on to Peru!’
‘Well, if you’re going to Peru for your health, I won’t say no!’ replied. the captain. ‘But for what other blame’ shadow of a reason you should want to go there, gets me clear. We don’t want to go there with this cargo; I don’t know as old bottles is a lively article anywheres; leastways, I’ll go my bottom cent, it ain’t Peru. It was always a doubt if we could sell the schooner; I never rightly hoped to, and now I’m sure she ain’t worth a hill of beans; what’s wrong with her, I don’t know; I only know it’s something, or she wouldn’t be here with this truck in her inside. Then again, if we lose her, and land in Peru, where are we? We can’t declare the loss, or how did we get to Peru? In that case the merchant can’t touch the insurance; most likely he’ll go bust19; and don’t you think you see the three of us on the beach of Callao?’
‘There’s no extradition20 there,’ said Herrick.
‘Well, my son, and we want to be extraded,’ said the captain.
‘What’s our point? We want to have a consul extrade us as far as San Francisco and that merchant’s office door. My idea is that Samoa would be found an eligible21 business centre. It’s dead before the wind; the States have a consul there, and ‘Frisco steamers call, so’s we could skip right back and interview the merchant.’
‘Samoa?’ said Herrick. ‘It will take us for ever to get there.’
‘Oh, with a fair wind!’ said the captain.
‘No trouble about the log, eh?’ asked Huish.
‘No, SIR,’ said Davis. ‘Ligbt airs and baffling winds. Squalls and calms. D. R.: five miles. No obs. Pumps attended. And fill in the barometer22 and thermometer off of last year’s trip.’ ‘Never saw such a voyage,’ says you to the consul. ‘Thought I was going to run short . . .’ He stopped in mid23 career. “Say,’ he began again, and once more stopped. ‘Beg your pardon, Herrick,’ he added with undisguised humility24, ‘but did you keep the run of the stores?’
‘Had I been told to do so, it should have been done, as the rest was done, to the best of my little ability,’ said Herrick. ‘As it was, the cook helped himself to what he pleased.’
Davis looked at the table.
‘I drew it rather fine, you see,’ he said at last. ‘The great thing was to clear right out of Papeete before the consul could think better of it. Tell you what: I guess I’ll take stock.’
And he rose from table and disappeared with a lamp in the lazarette.
“Ere’s another screw loose,’ observed Huish.
‘My man,’ said Herrick, with a sudden gleam of animosity, ‘it is still your watch on deck, and surely your wheel also?’
‘You come the ‘eavy swell25, don’t you, ducky?’ said Huish. ‘Stand away from that binnacle. Surely your w’eel, my man. Yah.’
He lit a cigar ostentatiously, and strolled into the waist with his hands in his pockets.
In a surprisingly short time, the captain reappeared; he did not look at Herrick, but called Huish back and sat down.
‘Well,’ he began, ‘I’ve taken stock — roughly.’ He paused as if for somebody to help him out; and none doing so, both gazing on him instead with manifest anxiety, he yet more heavily resumed. ‘Well, it won’t fight. We can’t do it; that’s the bed rock. I’m as sorry as what you can be, and sorrier. We can’t look near Samoa. I don’t know as we could get to Peru.’
‘Wot-ju mean?’ asked Huish brutally26.
‘I can’t ‘most tell myself,’ replied the captain. ‘I drew it fine; I said I did; but what’s been going on here gets me! Appears as if the devil had been around. That cook must be the holiest kind of fraud. Only twelve days, too! Seems like craziness. I’ll own up square to one thing: I seem to have figured too fine upon the flour. But the rest — my land! I’ll never understand it! There’s been more waste on this twopenny ship than what there is to an Atlantic Liner.’ He stole a glance at his companions; nothing good was to be gleaned27 from their dark faces; and he had recourse to rage. ‘You wait till I interview that cook!’ he roared and smote28 the table with his fist. ‘I’ll interview the son of a gun so’s he’s never been spoken to before. I’ll put a bead29 upon the —’
‘You will not lay a finger on the man,’ said Herrick. ‘The fault is yours and you know it. If you turn a savage30 loose in your store-room, you know what to expect. I will not allow the man to be molested31.’
It is hard to say how Davis might have taken this defiance32; but he was diverted to a fresh assailant.
‘Well!’ drawled Huish, ‘you’re a plummy captain, ain’t you? You’re a blooming captain! Don’t you, set up any of your chat to me, John Dyvis: I know you now, you ain’t any more use than a bloomin’ dawl! Oh, you “don’t know”, don’t you? Oh, it “gets you”, do it? Oh, I dessay! W’y, we en’t you ‘owling for fresh tins every blessed day? ‘Ow often ‘ave I ‘eard you send the ‘ole bloomin’ dinner off and tell the man to chuck it in the swill33 tub? And breakfast? Oh, my crikey! breakfast for ten, and you ‘ollerin’ for more! And now you “can’t ‘most tell”! Blow me, if it ain’t enough to make a man write an insultin’ letter to Gawd! You dror it mild, John Dyvis; don’t ‘andle me; I’m dyngerous.’
Davis sat like one bemused; it might even have been doubted if he heard, but the voice of the clerk rang about the cabin like that of a cormorant34 among the ledges35 of the cliff.
‘That will do, Huish,’ said Herrick.
‘Oh, so you tyke his part, do you? you stuck-up sneerin’ snob36! Tyke it then. Come on, the pair of you. But as for John Dyvis, let him look out! He struck me the first night aboard, and I never took a blow yet but wot I gave as good. Let him knuckle37 down on his marrow38 bones and beg my pardon. That’s my last word.’
‘I stand by the Captain,’ said Herrick. ‘That makes us two to one, both good men; and the crew will all follow me. I hope I shall die very soon; but I have not the least objection to killing39 you before I go. I should prefer it so; I should do it with no more remorse40 than winking41. Take care — take care, you little cad!’
The animosity with which these words were uttered was so marked in itself, and so remarkable42 in the man who uttered them that Huish stared, and even the humiliated43 Davis reared up his head and gazed at his defender44. As for Herrick, the successive agitations45 and disappointments of the day had left him wholly reckless; he was conscious of a pleasant glow, an agreeable excitement; his head seemed empty, his eyeballs burned as he turned them, his throat was dry as a biscuit; the least dangerous man by nature, except in so far as the weak are always dangerous, at that moment he was ready to slay46 or to be slain47 with equal unconcern.
Here at least was the gage48 thrown down, and battle offered; he who should speak next would bring the matter to an issue there and then; all knew it to be so and hung back; and for many seconds by the cabin clock, the trio sat motionless and silent.
Then came an interruption, welcome as the flowers in May.
‘Land ho!’ sang out a voice on deck. ‘Land a weatha bow!’
‘Land!’ cried Davis, springing to his feet. ‘What’s this? There ain’t no land here.’
And as men may run from the chamber49 of a murdered corpse50, the three ran forth51 out of the house and left their quarrel behind them, undecided.
The sky shaded down at the sea level to the white of opals; the sea itself, insolently52, inkily blue, drew all about them the uncompromising wheel of the horizon. Search it as they pleased, not even the practisect eye of Captain Davis could descry53 the smallest interruption. A few filmy clouds were slowly melting overhead; and about the schooner, as around the only point of interest, a tropic bird, white as a snowflake, hung, and circled, and displayed, as it turned, the long vermilion feather of its tall. Save the sea and the heaven, that was all.
‘Who sang out land?’ asked Davis. ‘If there’s any boy playing funny dog with me, I’ll teach him skylarking!’
But Uncle Ned contentedly54 pointed55 to a part of the horizon, where a greenish, filmy iridescence56 could be discerned floating like smoke on the pale heavens.
Davis applied57 his glass to it, and then looked at the Kanaka. ‘Call that land?’ said he. ‘Well, it’s more than I do.’
‘One time long ago,’ said Uncle Ned, ‘I see Anaa all-e-same that, four five hours befo’ we come up. Capena he say sun go down, sun go up again; he say lagoon58 all-e-same milla.’
‘All-e-same WHAT?’ asked Davis.
‘Milla, sah,’ said Uncle Ned.
‘Oh, ah! mirror,’ said Davis. ‘I see; reflection from the lagoon. Well, you know, it is just possible, though it’s strange I never heard of it. Here, let’s look at the chart.’
They went back to the cabin, and found the position of the schooner well to windward of the archipelago in the midst of a white field of paper.
‘There! you see for yourselves,’ said Davis.
‘And yet I don’t know,’ said Herrick, ‘I somehow think there’s something in it. I’ll tell you one thing too, captain; that’s all right about the reflection; I heard it in Papeete.’
‘Fetch up that Findlay, then!’ said Davis. ‘I’ll try it all ways. An island wouldn’t come amiss, the way we’re fixed.’
The bulky volume was handed up to him, broken-backed as is the way with Findlay; and he turned to the place and began to run over the text, muttering to himself and turning over the pages with a wetted finger.
‘Hullo!’ he exclaimed. ‘How’s this?’ And he read aloud. ‘New Island. According to M. Delille this island, which from private interests would remain unknown, lies, it is said, in lat. 12 degrees 49’ 10” S. long. 113degrees 6’ W. In addition to the position above given Commander Matthews, H.M.S. Scorpion59, states that an island exists in lat. 12 degrees 0’ S. long. 13 degrees 16’ W. This must be the same, if such an island exists, which is very doubtful, and totally disbelieved in by South Sea traders.’
‘Golly!’ said Huish.
‘It’s rather in the conditional60 mood,’ said Herrick.
‘It’s anything you please,’ cried Davis, ‘only there it is! That’s our place, and don’t you make any mistake.’
“‘Which from private interests would remain unknown,”’ read Herrick, over his shoulder. ‘What may that mean?’
‘It should mean pearls,’ said Davis. ‘A pearling island the government don’t know about? That sounds like real estate. Or suppose it don’t mean anything. Suppose it’s just an island; I guess we could fill up with fish, and cocoanuts, and native stuff, and carry out the Samoa scheme hand over fist. How long did he say it was before they raised Anaa) Five hours, I think?’
‘Four or five,’ said Herrick.
Davis stepped to the door. ‘What breeze had you that time you made Anaa, Uncle Ned?’ said he.
‘Six or seven knots,’ was the reply.
‘Thirty or thirty-five miles,’ said Davis. ‘High time we were shortening sail, then. If it is an island, we don’t want to be butting61 our head against it in the dark; and if it isn’t an island, we can get through it just as well by daylight. Ready about!’ he roared.
And the schooner’s head was laid for that elusive62 glimmer63 in the sky, which began already to pale in lustre64 and diminish in size, as the stain of breath vanishes from a window pane65. At the same time she was reefed close down.
收听单词发音 |
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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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incongruity
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| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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buffer
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| n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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squeal
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| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
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squeals
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| n.长而尖锐的叫声( squeal的名词复数 )v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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extradition
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| n.引渡（逃犯） | |
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eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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barometer
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| n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标 | |
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mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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gleaned
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| v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗 | |
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smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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molested
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| v.骚扰( molest的过去式和过去分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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swill
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| v.冲洗；痛饮；n.泔脚饲料；猪食；（谈话或写作中的）无意义的话 | |
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cormorant
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| n.鸬鹚，贪婪的人 | |
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ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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snob
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| n.势利小人，自以为高雅、有学问的人 | |
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knuckle
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| n.指节；vi.开始努力工作；屈服，认输 | |
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marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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defender
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| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
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agitations
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| （液体等的）摇动( agitation的名词复数 )； 鼓动； 激烈争论； （情绪等的）纷乱 | |
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slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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gage
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| n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge] | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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insolently
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| adv.自豪地，自傲地 | |
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53
descry
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| v.远远看到；发现；责备 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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iridescence
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| n.彩虹色；放光彩；晕色；晕彩 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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59
scorpion
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| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
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conditional
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| adj.条件的，带有条件的 | |
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butting
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| 用头撞人（犯规动作） | |
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elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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63
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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