It was the first time Sheldon had been at close quarters with an American girl, and he would have wondered if all American girls were like Joan Lackland had he not had wit enough to realize that she was not at all typical. Her quick mind and changing moods bewildered him, while her outlook on life was so different from what he conceived a woman's outlook should be, that he was more often than not at sixes and sevens with her. He could never anticipate what she would say or do next. Of only one thing was he sure, and that was that whatever she said or did was bound to be unexpected and unsuspected. There seemed, too, something almost hysterical1 in her make-up. Her temper was quick and stormy, and she relied too much on herself and too little on him, which did not approximate at all to his ideal of woman's conduct when a man was around. Her assumption of equality with him was disconcerting, and at times he half-consciously resented the impudence2 and bizarreness of her intrusion upon him--rising out of the sea in a howling nor'wester, fresh from poking3 her revolver under Ericson's nose, protected by her gang of huge Polynesian sailors, and settling down in Berande like any shipwrecked sailor. It was all on a par5 with her Baden-Powell and the long 38 Colt's.
At any rate, she did not look the part. And that was what he could not forgive. Had she been short-haired, heavy-jawed, largemuscled, hard-bitten, and utterly6 unlovely in every way, all would have been well. Instead of which she was hopelessly and deliciously feminine. Her hair worried him, it was so generously beautiful. And she was so slenderly and prettily7 the woman--the girl, rather--that it cut him like a knife to see her, with quick, comprehensive eyes and sharply imperative8 voice, superintend the launching of the whale-boat through the surf. In imagination he could see her roping a horse, and it always made him shudder9. Then, too, she was so many-sided. Her knowledge of literature and art surprised him, while deep down was the feeling that a girl who knew such things had no right to know how to rig tackles, heave up anchors, and sail schooners10 around the South Seas. Such things in her brain were like so many oaths on her lips. While for such a girl to insist that she was going on a recruiting cruise around Malaita was positive self-sacrilege.
He always perturbedly harked back to her feminineness. She could play the piano far better than his sisters at home, and with far finer appreciation--the piano that poor Hughie had so heroically laboured over to keep in condition. And when she strummed the guitar and sang liquid, velvety11 Hawaiian hulas, he sat entranced. Then she was all woman, and the magic of sex kidnapped the irritations12 of the day and made him forget the big revolver, the Baden-Powell, and all the rest. But what right, the next thought in his brain would whisper, had such a girl to swagger around like a man and exult13 that adventure was not dead? Woman that adventured were adventuresses, and the connotation was not nice. Besides, he was not enamoured of adventure. Not since he was a boy had it appealed to him--though it would have driven him hard to explain what had brought him from England to the Solomons if it had not been adventure.
Sheldon certainly was not happy. The unconventional state of affairs was too much for his conservative disposition14 and training. Berande, inhabited by one lone15 white man, was no place for Joan Lackland. Yet he racked his brain for a way out, and even talked it over with her. In the first place, the steamer from Australia was not due for three weeks.
"One thing is evident: you don't want me here," she said. "I'll man the whale-boat to-morrow and go over to Tulagi."
"But as I told you before, that is impossible," he cried. "There is no one there. The Resident Commissioner16 is away in Australia. Them is only one white man, a third assistant understrapper and exsailor--a common sailor. He is in charge of the government of the Solomons, to say nothing of a hundred or so niggers--prisoners. Besides, he is such a fool that he would fine you five pounds for not having entered at Tulagi, which is the port of entry, you know. He is not a nice man, and, I repeat, it is impossible."
"There is Guvutu," she suggested.
He shook his head.
"There's nothing there but fever and five white men who are drinking themselves to death. I couldn't permit it."
"Oh thank you," she said quietly. "I guess I'll start to-day.-Viaburi! You go along Noa Noah, speak 'm come along me."
Noa Noah was her head sailor, who had been boatswain of the Miele.
"Where are you going?" Sheldon asked in surprise.--"Vlaburi! You stop."
"To Guvutu--immediately," was her reply.
"But I won't permit it."
"That is why I am going. You said it once before, and it is something I cannot brook17."
"What?" He was bewildered by her sudden anger. "If I have offended in any way--"
"Viaburi, you fetch 'm one fella Noa Noah along me," she commanded.
The black boy started to obey.
"Viaburi! You no stop I break 'm head belong you. And now, Miss Lackland, I insist--you must explain. What have I said or done to merit this?"
"You have presumed, you have dared--"
She choked and swallowed, and could not go on.
Sheldon looked the picture of despair.
"I confess my head is going around with it all," he said. "If you could only be explicit18."
"As explicit as you were when you told me that you would not permit me to go to Guvutu?"
"But what's wrong with that?"
"But you have no right--no man has the right--to tell me what he will permit or not permit. I'm too old to have a guardian19, nor did I sail all the way to the Solomons to find one."
"A gentleman is every woman's guardian."
"Well, I'm not every woman--that's all. Will you kindly20 allow me to send your boy for Noa Noah? I wish him to launch the whaleboat. Or shall I go myself for him?"
Both were now on their feet, she with flushed cheeks and angry eyes, he, puzzled, vexed21, and alarmed. The black boy stood like a statue--a plum-black statue--taking no interest in the transactions of these incomprehensible whites, but dreaming with calm eyes of a certain bush village high on the jungle slopes of Malaita, with blue smoke curling up from the grass houses against the gray background of an oncoming mountain-squall.
"But you won't do anything so foolish--" he began.
"There you go again," she cried.
"I didn't mean it that way, and you know I didn't." He was speaking slowly and gravely. "And that other thing, that not permitting--it is only a manner of speaking. Of course I am not your guardian. You know you can go to Guvutu if you want to"--"or to the devil," he was almost tempted22 to add. "Only, I should deeply regret it, that is all. And I am very sorry that I should have said anything that hurt you. Remember, I am an Englishman."
Joan smiled and sat down again.
"Perhaps I have been hasty," she admitted. "You see, I am intolerant of restraint. If you only knew how I have been compelled to fight for my freedom. It is a sore point with me, this being told what I am to do or not do by you self-constituted lords of creation.-Viaburi I You stop along kitchen. No bring 'm Noa Noah.--And now, Mr. Sheldon, what am I to do? You don't want me here, and there doesn't seem to be any place for me to go."
"That is unfair. Your being wrecked4 here has been a godsend to me. I was very lonely and very sick. I really am not certain whether or not I should have pulled through had you not happened along. But that is not the point. Personally, purely23 selfishly personally, I should be sorry to see you go. But I am not considering myself. I am considering you. It--it is hardly the proper thing, you know. If I were married--if there were some woman of your own race here--but as it is--"
She threw up her hands in mock despair.
"I cannot follow you," she said. "In one breath you tell me I must go, and in the next breath you tell me there is no place to go and that you will not permit me to go. What is a poor girl to do?"
"That's the trouble," he said helplessly.
"And the situation annoys you."
"Only for your sake."
"Then let me save your feelings by telling you that it does not annoy me at all--except for the row you are making about it. I never allow what can't be changed to annoy me. There is no use in fighting the inevitable24. Here is the situation. You are here. I am here. I can't go elsewhere, by your own account. You certainly can't go elsewhere and leave me here alone with a whole plantation25 and two hundred woolly cannibals on my hands. Therefore you stay, and I stay. It is very simple. Also, it is adventure. And furthermore, you needn't worry for yourself. I am not matrimonially inclined. I came to the Solomons for a plantation, not a husband."
Sheldon flushed, but remained silent.
"I know what you are thinking," she laughed gaily26. "That if I were a man you'd wring27 my neck for me. And I deserve it, too. I'm so sorry. I ought not to keep on hurting your feelings."
"I'm afraid I rather invite it," he said, relieved by the signs of the tempest subsiding28.
"I have it," she announced. "Lend me a gang of your boys for today. I'll build a grass house for myself over in the far corner of the compound--on piles, of course. I can move in to-night. I'll be comfortable and safe. The Tahitians can keep an anchor watch just as aboard ship. And then I'll study cocoanut planting. In return, I'll run the kitchen end of your household and give you some decent food to eat. And finally, I won't listen to any of your protests. I know all that you are going to say and offer-your giving the bungalow29 up to me and building a grass house for yourself. And I won't have it. You may as well consider everything settled. On the other hand, if you don't agree, I will go across the river, beyond your jurisdiction30, and build a village for myself and my sailors, whom I shall send in the whale-boat to Guvutu for provisions. And now I want you to teach me billiards31."
收听单词发音 |
1
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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6
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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8
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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schooners
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| n.（有两个以上桅杆的）纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 ) | |
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velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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12
irritations
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| n.激怒( irritation的名词复数 )；恼怒；生气；令人恼火的事 | |
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13
exult
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| v.狂喜，欢腾；欢欣鼓舞 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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22
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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27
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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28
subsiding
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的现在分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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29
bungalow
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| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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30
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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31
billiards
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| n.台球 | |
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