The days passed, and Tudor seemed loath1 to leave the hospitality of Berande. Everything was ready for the start, but he lingered on, spending much time in Joan's company and thereby2 increasing the dislike Sheldon had taken to him. He went swimming with her, in point of rashness exceeding her; and dynamited3 fish with her, diving among the hungry ground-sharks and contesting with them for possession of the stunned4 prey5, until he earned the approval of the whole Tahitian crew. Arahu challenged him to tear a fish from a shark's jaws6, leaving half to the shark and bringing the other half himself to the surface; and Tudor performed the feat7, a flip8 from the sandpaper hide of the astonished shark scraping several inches of skin from his shoulder. And Joan was delighted, while Sheldon, looking on, realized that here was the hero of her adventure-dreams coming true. She did not care for love, but he felt that if ever she did love it would be that sort of a man--"a man who exhibited," was his way of putting it.
He felt himself handicapped in the presence of Tudor, who had the gift of making a show of all his qualities. Sheldon knew himself for a brave man, wherefore he made no advertisement of the fact. He knew that just as readily as the other would he dive among ground-sharks to save a life, but in that fact he could find no sanction for the foolhardy act of diving among sharks for the half of a fish. The difference between them was that he kept the curtain of his shop window down. Life pulsed steadily9 and deep in him, and it was not his nature needlessly to agitate10 the surface so that the world could see the splash he was making. And the effect of the other's amazing exhibitions was to make him retreat more deeply within himself and wrap himself more thickly than ever in the nerveless, stoical calm of his race.
"You are so stupid the last few days," Joan complained to him. "One would think you were sick, or bilious11, or something. You don't seem to have an idea in your head above black labour and cocoanuts. What is the matter?"
Sheldon smiled and beat a further retreat within himself, listening the while to Joan and Tudor propounding12 the theory of the strong arm by which the white man ordered life among the lesser13 breeds. As he listened Sheldon realized, as by revelation, that that was precisely14 what he was doing. While they philosophized about it he was living it, placing the strong hand of his race firmly on the shoulders of the lesser breeds that laboured on Berande or menaced it from afar. But why talk about it? he asked himself. It was sufficient to do it and be done with it.
He said as much, dryly and quietly, and found himself involved in a discussion, with Joan and Tudor siding against him, in which a more astounding15 charge than ever he had dreamed of was made against the very English control and reserve of which he was secretly proud.
"The Yankees talk a lot about what they do and have done," Tudor said, "and are looked down upon by the English as braggarts. But the Yankee is only a child. He does not know effectually how to brag16. He talks about it, you see. But the Englishman goes him one better by not talking about it. The Englishman's proverbial lack of bragging17 is a subtler form of brag after all. It is really clever, as you will agree."
"I never thought of it before," Joan cried. "Of course. An Englishman performs some terrifically heroic exploit, and is very modest and reserved--refuses to talk about it at all--and the effect is that by his silence he as much as says, 'I do things like this every day. It is as easy as rolling off a log. You ought to see the really heroic things I could do if they ever came my way. But this little thing, this little episode--really, don't you know, I fail to see anything in it remarkable18 or unusual.' As for me, if I went up in a powder explosion, or saved a hundred lives, I'd want all my friends to hear about it, and their friends as well. I'd be prouder than Lucifer over the affair. Confess, Mr. Sheldon, don't you feel proud down inside when you've done something daring or courageous19?"
Sheldon nodded.
"Then," she pressed home the point, "isn't disguising that pride under a mask of careless indifference20 equivalent to telling a lie?"
"Yes, it is," he admitted. "But we tell similar lies every day. It is a matter of training, and the English are better trained, that is all. Your countrymen will be trained as well in time. As Mr. Tudor said, the Yankees are young."
"Thank goodness we haven't begun to tell such lies yet!" was Joan's ejaculation.
"Oh, but you have," Sheldon said quickly. "You were telling me a lie of that order only the other day. You remember when you were going up the lantern-halyards hand over hand? Your face was the personification of duplicity."
"It was no such thing."
""ardon me a moment," he went on. "Your face was as calm and peaceful as though you were reclining in a steamer-chair. To look at your face one would have inferred that carrying the weight of your body up a rope hand over hand was a very commonplace accomplishment--as easy as rolling off a log. And you needn't tell me, Miss Lackland, that you didn't make faces the first time you tried to climb a rope. But, like any circus athlete, you trained yourself out of the face-making period. You trained your face to hide your feelings, to hide the exhausting effort your muscles were making. It was, to quote Mr. Tudor, a subtler exhibition of physical prowess. And that is all our English reserve is--a mere21 matter of training. Certainly we are proud inside of the things we do and have done, proud as Lucifer--yes, and prouder. But we have grown up, and no longer talk about such things."
"I surrender," Joan cried. "You are not so stupid after all."
"Yes, you have us there," Tudor admitted. "But you wouldn't have had us if you hadn't broken your training rules."
"How do you mean?"
"By talking about it."
Joan clapped her hands in approval. Tudor lighted a fresh cigarette, while Sheldon sat on, imperturbably22 silent.
"He got you there," Joan challenged. "Why don't you crush him?"
"Beally, I can't think of anything to say," Sheldon said. "I know my position is sound, and that is satisfactory enough."
"You might retort," she suggested, "that when an adult is with kindergarten children he must descend23 to kindergarten idioms in order to make himself intelligible24. That was why you broke training rules. It was the only way to make us children understand."
"You've deserted25 in the heat of the battle, Miss Lackland, and gone over to the enemy," Tudor said plaintively26.
But she was not listening. Instead, she was looking intently across the compound and out to sea. They followed her gaze, and saw a green light and the loom27 of a vessel28's sails.
"I wonder if it's the Martha come back," Tudor hazarded.
"No, the sidelight is too low," Joan answered. "Besides, they've got the sweeps out. Don't you hear them? They wouldn't be sweeping29 a big vessel like the Martha."
"Besides, the Martha has a gasoline engine--twenty-five horsepower," Tudor added.
"Just the sort of a craft for us," Joan said wistfully to Sheldon. "I really must see if I can't get a schooner30 with an engine. I might get a second-hand31 engine put in."
"That would mean the additional expense of an engineer's wages," he objected.
"But it would pay for itself by quicker passages," she argued; "and it would be as good as insurance. I know. I've knocked about amongst reefs myself. Besides, if you weren't so mediaeval, I could be skipper and save more than the engineer's wages."
He did not reply to her thrust, and she glanced at him. He was looking out over the water, and in the lantern light she noted32 the lines of his face--strong, stern, dogged, the mouth almost chaste33 but firmer and thinner-lipped than Tudor's. For the first time she realized the quality of his strength, the calm and quiet of it, its simple integrity and reposeful34 determination. She glanced quickly at Tudor on the other side of her. It was a handsomer face, one that was more immediately pleasing. But she did not like the mouth. It was made for kissing, and she abhorred35 kisses. This was not a deliberately36 achieved concept; it came to her in the form of a faint and vaguely37 intangible repulsion. For the moment she knew a fleeting38 doubt of the man. Perhaps Sheldon was right in his judgment39 of the other. She did not know, and it concerned her little; for boats, and the sea, and the things and happenings of the sea were of far more vital interest to her than men, and the next moment she was staring through the warm tropic darkness at the loom of the sails and the steady green of the moving sidelight, and listening eagerly to the click of the sweeps in the rowlocks. In her mind's eye she could see the straining naked forms of black men bending rhythmically40 to the work, and somewhere on that strange deck she knew was the inevitable41 master-man, conning42 the vessel in to its anchorage, peering at the dim tree-line of the shore, judging the deceitful night-distances, feeling on his cheek the first fans of the land breeze that was even then beginning to blow, weighing, thinking, measuring, gauging43 the score or more of evershifting forces, through which, by which, and in spite of which he directed the steady equilibrium44 of his course. She knew it because she loved it, and she was alive to it as only a sailor could be.
Twice she heard the splash of the lead, and listened intently for the cry that followed. Once a man's voice spoke45, low, imperative46, issuing an order, and she thrilled with the delight of it. It was only a direction to the man at the wheel to port his helm. She watched the slight altering of the course, and knew that it was for the purpose of enabling the flat-hauled sails to catch those first fans of the land breeze, and she waited for the same low voice to utter the one word "Steady!" And again she thrilled when it did utter it. Once more the lead splashed, and "Eleven fadom" was the resulting cry. "Let go!" the low voice came to her through the darkness, followed by the surging rumble47 of the anchor-chain. The clicking of the sheaves in the blocks as the sails ran down, headsails first, was music to her; and she detected on the instant the jamming of a jib-downhaul, and almost saw the impatient jerk with which the sailor must have cleared it. Nor did she take interest in the two men beside her till both lights, red and green, came into view as the anchor checked the onward48 way.
Sheldon was wondering as to the identity of the craft, while Tudor persisted in believing it might be the Martha.
"It's the Minerva," Joan said decidedly.
"How do you know?" Sheldon asked, sceptical of her certitude.
"It's a ketch to begin with. And besides, I could tell anywhere the rattle49 of her main peak-blocks--they're too large for the halyard."
A dark figure crossed the compound diagonally from the beach gate, where whoever it was had been watching the vessel.
"Is that you, Utami?" Joan called.
"No, Missie; me Matapuu," was the answer.
"What vessel is it?"
"Me t'ink Minerva."
Joan looked triumphantly50 at Sheldon, who bowed.
"If Matapuu says so it must be so," he murmured.
"But when Joan Lackland says so, you doubt," she cried, "just as you doubt her ability as a skipper. But never mind, you'll be sorry some day for all your unkindness. There's the boat lowering now, and in five minutes we'll be shaking hands with Christian51 Young."
Lalaperu brought out the glasses and cigarettes and the eternal whisky and soda52, and before the five minutes were past the gate clicked and Christian Young, tawny53 and golden, gentle of voice and look and hand, came up the bungalow54 steps and joined them.
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1
loath
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adj.不愿意的;勉强的 | |
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thereby
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adv.因此,从而 | |
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dynamited
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v.(尤指用于采矿的)甘油炸药( dynamite的过去式和过去分词 );会引起轰动的人[事物] | |
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stunned
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adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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prey
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n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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jaws
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n.口部;嘴 | |
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feat
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n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的 | |
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flip
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vt.快速翻动;轻抛;轻拍;n.轻抛;adj.轻浮的 | |
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steadily
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adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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agitate
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vi.(for,against)煽动,鼓动;vt.搅动 | |
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bilious
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adj.胆汁过多的;易怒的 | |
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propounding
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v.提出(问题、计划等)供考虑[讨论],提议( propound的现在分词 ) | |
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13
lesser
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adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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14
precisely
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adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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15
astounding
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adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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16
brag
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v./n.吹牛,自夸;adj.第一流的 | |
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bragging
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v.自夸,吹嘘( brag的现在分词 );大话 | |
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18
remarkable
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adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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19
courageous
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adj.勇敢的,有胆量的 | |
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20
indifference
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n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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21
mere
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adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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22
imperturbably
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adv.泰然地,镇静地,平静地 | |
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23
descend
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vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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24
intelligible
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adj.可理解的,明白易懂的,清楚的 | |
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25
deserted
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adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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plaintively
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adv.悲哀地,哀怨地 | |
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loom
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n.织布机,织机;v.隐现,(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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28
vessel
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n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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29
sweeping
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adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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30
schooner
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n.纵帆船 | |
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31
second-hand
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adj.用过的,旧的,二手的 | |
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32
noted
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adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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33
chaste
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adj.贞洁的;有道德的;善良的;简朴的 | |
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34
reposeful
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adj.平稳的,沉着的 | |
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35
abhorred
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v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 );(厌恶地)回避;拒绝;淘汰 | |
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36
deliberately
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adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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vaguely
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adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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fleeting
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adj.短暂的,飞逝的 | |
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judgment
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n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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40
rhythmically
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adv.有节奏地 | |
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41
inevitable
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adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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42
conning
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v.诈骗,哄骗( con的现在分词 );指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 ) | |
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43
gauging
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n.测量[试],测定,计量v.(用仪器)测量( gauge的现在分词 );估计;计量;划分 | |
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44
equilibrium
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n.平衡,均衡,相称,均势,平静 | |
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45
spoke
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n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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46
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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47
rumble
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n.隆隆声;吵嚷;v.隆隆响;低沉地说 | |
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48
onward
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adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
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49
rattle
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v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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50
triumphantly
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ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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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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52
soda
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n.苏打水;汽水 | |
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53
tawny
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adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色 | |
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54
bungalow
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n.平房,周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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