When Nuflo at length opened his eyes he found me sitting alone and despondent1 by the fire, just returned from my vain chase. I had been caught in a heavy mist on the mountain-side, and was wet through as well as weighed down by fatigue2 and drowsiness3, consequent upon the previous day’s laborious4 march and my night-long vigil; yet I dared not think of rest. She had gone from me, and I could not have prevented it; yet the thought that I had allowed her to slip out of my arms, to go away alone on that long, perilous5 journey, was as intolerable as if I had consented to it.
Nuflo was at first startled to hear of her sudden departure; but he laughed at my fears, affirming that after having once been over the ground she could not lose herself; that she would be in no danger from the Indians, as she would invariably see them at a distance and avoid them, and that wild beasts, serpents, and other evil creatures would do her no harm. The small amount of food she required to sustain life could be found anywhere; furthermore, her journey would not be interrupted by bad weather, since rain and heat had no effect on her. In the end he seemed pleased that she had left us, saying that with Rima in the wood the house and cultivated patch and hidden provisions and implements6 would be safe, for no Indian would venture to come where she was. His confidence reassured7 me, and casting myself down on the sandy floor of the cave, I fell into a deep slumber8, which lasted until evening; then I only woke to share a meal with the old man, and sleep again until the following day.
Nuflo was not ready to start yet; he was enamoured of the unaccustomed comforts of a dry sleeping-place and a fire blown about by no wind and into which fell no hissing9 raindrops. Not for two days more would he consent to set out on the return journey, and if he could have persuaded me our stay at Riolama would have lasted a week.
We had fine weather at starting; but before long it clouded, and then for upwards10 of a fortnight we had it wet and stormy, which so hindered us that it took us twenty-three days to accomplish the return journey, whereas the journey out had only taken eighteen. The adventures we met with and the pains we suffered during this long march need not be related. The rain made us miserable11, but we suffered more from hunger than from any other cause, and on more than one occasion were reduced to the verge12 of starvation. Twice we were driven to beg for food at Indian villages, and as we had nothing to give in exchange for it, we got very little. It is possible to buy hospitality from the savage13 without fish-hooks, nails, and calico; but on this occasion I found myself without that impalpable medium of exchange which had been so great a help to me on my first journey to Parahuari. Now I was weak and miserable and without cunning. It is true that we could have exchanged the two dogs for cassava bread and corn, but we should then have been worse off than ever. And in the end the dogs saved us by an occasional capture — an armadillo surprised in the open and seized before it could bury itself in the soil, or an iguana14, opossum, or labba, traced by means of their keen sense of smell to its hiding-place. Then Nuflo would rejoice and feast, rewarding them with the skin, bones, and entrails. But at length one of the dogs fell lame15, and Nuflo, who was very hungry, made its lameness16 an excuse for dispatching it, which he did apparently17 without compunction, notwithstanding that the poor brute19 had served him well in its way. He cut up and smoke-dried the flesh, and the intolerable pangs20 of hunger compelled me to share the loathsome21 food with him. We were not only indecent, it seemed to me, but cannibals to feed on the faithful servant that had been our butcher. “But what does it matter?” I argued with myself. “All flesh, clean and unclean, should be, and is, equally abhorrent22 to me, and killing23 animals a kind of murder. But now I find myself constrained24 to do this evil thing that good may come. Only to live I take it now — this hateful strength-giver that will enable me to reach Rima, and the purer, better life that is to be.”
During all that time, when we toiled25 onwards league after league in silence, or sat silent by the nightly fire, I thought of many things; but the past, with which I had definitely broken, was little in my mind. Rima was still the source and centre of all my thoughts; from her they rose, and to her returned. Thinking, hoping, dreaming, sustained me in those dark days and nights of pain and privation. Imagination was the bread that gave me strength, the wine that exhilarated. What sustained old Nuflo’s mind I know not. Probably it was like a chrysalis, dormant26, independent of sustenance27; the bright-winged image to be called at some future time to life by a great shouting of angelic hosts and noises of musical instruments slept secure, coffined28 in that dull, gross nature.
The old beloved wood once more! Never did his native village in some mountain valley seem more beautiful to the Switzer, returning, war-worn, from long voluntary exile, than did that blue cloud on the horizon — the forest where Rima dwelt, my bride, my beautiful — and towering over it the dark cone29 of Ytaioa, now seem to my hungry eyes! How near at last — how near! And yet the two or three intervening leagues to be traversed so slowly, step by step — how vast the distance seemed! Even at far Riolama, when I set out on my return, I scarcely seemed so far from my love. This maddening impatience30 told on my strength, which was small, and hindered me. I could not run nor even walk fast; old Nuflo, slow, and sober, with no flame consuming his heart, was more than my equal in the end, and to keep up with him was all I could do. At the finish he became silent and cautious, first entering the belt of trees leading away through the low range of hills at the southern extremity31 of the wood. For a mile or upwards we trudged32 on in the shade; then I began to recognize familiar ground, the old trees under which I had walked or sat, and knew that a hundred yards further on there would be a first glimpse of the palm-leaf thatch33. Then all weakness forsook34 me; with a low cry of passionate35 longing36 and joy I rushed on ahead; but I strained my eyes in vain for a sight of that sweet shelter; no patch of pale yellow colour appeared amidst the universal verdure of bushes, creepers, and trees — trees beyond trees, trees towering above trees.
For some moments I could not realize it. No, I had surely made a mistake, the house had not stood on that spot; it would appear in sight a little further on. I took a few uncertain steps onwards, and then again stood still, my brain reeling, my heart swelling37 nigh to bursting with anguish38. I was still standing18 motionless, with hand pressed to my breast, when Nuflo overtook me. “Where is it — the house?” I stammered39, pointing with my hand. All his stolidity40 seemed gone now; he was trembling too, his lips silently moving. At length he spoke41: “They have come — the children of hell have been here, and have destroyed everything!”
“Rima! What has become of Rima?” I cried; but without replying he walked on, and I followed.
The house, we soon found, had been burnt down. Not a stick remained. Where it had stood a heap of black ashes covered the ground — nothing more. But on looking round we could discover no sign of human beings having recently visited the spot. A rank growth of grass and herbage now covered the once clear space surrounding the site of the dwelling42, and the ash-heap looked as if it had been lying there for a month at least. As to what had become of Rima the old man could say no word. He sat down on the ground overwhelmed at the calamity43: Runi’s people had been there, he could not doubt it, and they would come again, and he could only look for death at their hands. The thought that Rima had perished, that she was lost, was unendurable. It could not be! No doubt the Indians tract44 come and destroyed the house during our absence; but she had returned, and they had gone away again to come no more. She would be somewhere in the forest, perhaps not far off, impatiently waiting our return. The old man stared at me while I spoke; he appeared to be in a kind of stupor45, and made no reply: and at last, leaving him still sitting on the ground, I went into the wood to look for Rima.
As I walked there, occasionally stopping to peer into some shadowy glade46 or opening, and to listen, I was tempted47 again and again to call the name of her I sought aloud; and still the fear that by so doing I might bring some hidden danger on myself, perhaps on her, made me silent. A strange melancholy48 rested on the forest, a quietude seldom broken by a distant bird’s cry. How, I asked myself, should I ever find her in that wide forest while I moved about in that silent, cautious way? My only hope was that she would find me. It occurred to me that the most likely place to seek her would be some of the old haunts known to us both, where we had talked together. I thought first of the mora tree, where she had hidden herself from me, and thither49 I directed my steps. About this tree, and within its shade, I lingered for upwards of an hour; and, finally, casting my eyes up into the great dim cloud of green and purple leaves, I softly called: “Rima, Rima, if you have seen me, and have concealed50 yourself from me in your hiding-place, in mercy answer me — in mercy come down to me now!” But Rima answered not, nor threw down any red glowing leaves to mock me: only the wind, high up, whispered something low and sorrowful in the foliage51; and turning, I wandered away at random52 into the deeper shadows.
By and by I was startled by the long, piercing cry of a wildfowl, sounding strangely loud in the silence; and no sooner was the air still again than it struck me that no bird had uttered that cry. The Indian is a good mimic53 of animal voices, but practice had made me able to distinguish the true from the false bird-note. For a minute or so I stood still, at a loss what to do, then moved on again with greater caution, scarcely breathing, straining my sight to pierce the shadowy depths. All at once I gave a great start, for directly before me, on the projecting root in the deeper shade of a tree, sat a dark, motionless human form. I stood still, watching it for some time, not yet knowing that it had seen me, when all doubts were put to flight by the form rising and deliberately54 advancing — a naked Indian with a zabatana in his hand. As he came up out of the deeper shade I recognized Piake, the surly elder brother of my friend Kua-ko.
It was a great shock to meet him in the wood, but I had no time to reflect just then. I only remembered that I had deeply offended him and his people, that they probably looked on me as an enemy, and would think little of taking my life. It was too late to attempt to escape by flight; I was spent with my long journey and the many privations I had suffered, while he stood there in his full strength with a deadly weapon in his hand.
Nothing was left but to put a bold face on, greet him in a friendly way, and invent some plausible55 story to account for my action in secretly leaving the village.
He was now standing still, silently regarding me, and glancing round I saw that he was not alone: at a distance of about forty yards on my right hand two other dusky forms appeared watching me from the deep shade.
“Piake!” I cried, advancing three or four steps.
“You have returned,” he answered, but without moving. “Where from?”
“Riolama.”
He shook his head, then asked where it was.
“Twenty days towards the setting sun,” I said. As he remained silent I added: “I heard that I could find gold in the mountains there. An old man told me, and we went to look for gold.”
“What did you find?”
“Nothing.”
“Ah!”
And so our conversation appeared to be at an end. But after a few moments my intense desire to discover whether the savages56 knew aught of Rima or not made me hazard a question.
“Do you live here in the forest now?” I asked.
He shook his head, and after a while said: “We come to kill animals.”
“You are like me now,” I returned quickly; “you fear nothing.”
He looked distrustfully at me, then came a little nearer and said: “You are very brave. I should not have gone twenty days’ journey with no weapons and only an old man for companion. What weapons did you have?”
I saw that he feared me and wished to make sure that I had it not in my power to do him some injury. “No weapon except my knife,” I replied, with assumed carelessness. With that I raised my cloak so as to let him see for himself, turning my body round before him. “Have you found my pistol?” I added.
He shook his head; but he appeared less suspicious now and came close up to me. “How do you get food? Where are you going?” he asked.
I answered boldly: “Food! I am nearly starving. I am going to the village to see if the women have got any meat in the pot, and to tell Runi all I have done since I left him.”
He looked at me keenly, a little surprised at my confidence perhaps, then said that he was also going back and would accompany me One of the other men now advanced, blow-pipe in hand, to join us, and, leaving the wood, we started to walk across the savannah.
It was hateful to have to recross that savannah again, to leave the woodland shadows where I had hoped to find Rima; but I was powerless: I was a prisoner once more, the lost captive recovered and not yet pardoned, probably never to be pardoned. Only by means of my own cunning could I be saved, and Nuflo, poor old man, must take his chance.
Again and again as we tramped over the barren ground, and when we climbed the ridge57, I was compelled to stand still to recover breath, explaining to Piake that I had been travelling day and night, with no meat during the last three days, so that I was exhausted58. This was an exaggeration, but it was necessary to account in some way for the faintness I experienced during our walk, caused less by fatigue and want of food than by anguish of mind.
At intervals59 I talked to him, asking after all the other members of the community by name. At last, thinking only of Rima, I asked him if any other person or persons besides his people came to the wood now or lived there.
He said no. “Once,” I said, “there was a daughter of the Didi, a girl you all feared: is she there now?”
He looked at me with suspicion and then shook his head. I dared not press him with more questions; but after an interval60 he said plainly: “She is not there now.”
And I was forced to believe him; for had Rima been in the wood they would not have been there. She was not there, this much I had discovered. Had she, then, lost her way, or perished on that long journey from Riolama? Or had she returned only to fall into the hands of her cruel enemies? My heart was heavy in me; but if these devils in human shape knew more than they had told me, I must, I said, hide my anxiety and wait patiently to find it out, should they spare my life. And if they spared me and had not spared that other sacred life interwoven with mine, the time would come when they would find, too late, that they had taken to their bosom61 a worse devil than themselves.
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despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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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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iguana
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| n.美洲大蜥蜴，鬣鳞蜥 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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lameness
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| n. 跛, 瘸, 残废 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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abhorrent
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| adj.可恶的，可恨的，讨厌的 | |
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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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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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coffined
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| vt.收殓（coffin的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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cone
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| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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forsook
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| forsake的过去式 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stolidity
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| n.迟钝，感觉麻木 | |
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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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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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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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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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