Their cheerfulness came back along with their returning strength, and with this also their appetites. Their dinner-supper of roast hornbill had done them little good; but although for a time scared by such diet, and determined4 to eschew5 it when better could be had, they were now only too glad to resort to it, and it was agreed upon that the old hen, stewed6 as intended, should supply the material of their breakfast.
A fresh fire was kindled8 far away from the dangerous upas; the huge shell, with its contents, was hastily snatched from the deadly shade, and, supported by four large pebbles9 to serve as feet for the queer stew7-pan, it was placed over the burning embers, and soon commenced to steam and squeak10, spreading around an odorous incense11, far pleasanter to the olfactories12 of the hungry party than either the fresh saline breeze, or the perfume of tropical flowers now and then wafted13 to them from the recesses14 of the forest.
While waiting for the flesh of the old hen to get properly and tenderly stewed, they could not resist the temptation of making an assault upon the chick; and it, too, was hurriedly rescued from the tainted16 larder17 beneath the upas-tree, spitted upon a bamboo sapling, and broiled18 like a squab-pigeon over the incandescent19 brands.
It gave them only a small morsel20 each, serving as a sort of prelude21 to the more substantial breakfast soon to follow, and for which they could now wait with greater composure.
In due time Saloo, who was wonderfully skilled in the tactics of the forest cuisine22, pronounced the stew sufficiently23 done; when the stew-pan was lifted from the fire, and set in the soft sand for its contents to cool.
Soon gathering24 around it, each was helped to a share: one to a wing with liver or gizzard, another to a thigh-joint with a bit of the breast, a third to the stripped breast-bone, or the back one, with its thin covering of flesh, a fourth to a variety of stray giblets.
There was still a savoury sauce remaining in the pan, due to the herb condiments25 which Saloo had collected. This was served out in some tin pannikins, which the castaway crew had found time to fling into the boat before parting from the sinking ship. It gave them a soup, which, if they could only have had biscuits or bread with it, would have been quite as good as coffee for their breakfast.
As soon as this was eaten, they took steps to change their place of encampment. Twice unfortunate in the selection of a site, they were now more particular, and carefully scrutinised the next tree under whose shadow they intended to take up their abode26. A spreading fig27 not far off invited them to repose28 beneath its umbrageous29 foliage30; and removing their camp paraphernalia31 from the poison-breathing; upas, they once more erected32 the tarpaulin33, and recommenced housekeeping under the protecting shelter of a tree celebrated34 in the Hindu mythology35 as the “sacred banyan36.”
“It was a goodly sight to see
That venerable tree
For o’er the lawn, irregularly spread.
Fifty straight columns propt its lofty head;
And many a long depending shoot,
Seeking to strike its root,
Straight like a plummet37 grew towards the ground.
Some on the lower boughs38 which crost their way,
Fixing their bearded fibres, round and round,
With many a ring and wild contortion40 wound;
Some to the passing wind at times, with sway
Of gentle motion swung;
Others of younger growth, unmoved, were hung
Like stone-drops from a cavern’s fretted41 height.”
The banyan often measures thirty feet in girth; the one selected by Captain Redwood was probably not less than twenty-five feet. Its peculiarity42 is that it throws out roots from all its branches, so that as fast as each branch, in growing downwards43, touches the ground, it takes root, and in due time serves as a substantial prop15 to the horizontal bough39, which, without some such support, would give way beneath its own weight.
They intended it for only a temporary dwelling-place, until their strength should be sufficiently established to enable them to start on their contemplated44 overland journey, with a prospect45 of being able to continue it to its end.
It seemed, at length, as if fortune, hitherto so adverse46, had turned a smiling face toward them; and they were not much longer to be detained upon that wild and dangerous shore. For the same day on which they removed from the upas to the fig-tree, the latter furnished them with an article of food in sufficient quantity to stock their larder for nearly a week, and of a quality superior in strengthening Captain Redwood sent a bullet through the lizard47 powers to either roast or stewed hornbill, and quite equal to the eggs of the mound-making birds.
It was not the fruit of the fig that had done this; but an animal they had discovered crawling along one of its branches. It was a reptile48 of that most hideous49 and horrid50 shape, the saurian; and only the hungriest man could ever have looked upon, with thoughts of eating it. But Saloo felt no repugnance51 of this kind; he knew that the huge lizard creeping along the limb of the banyan-tree, over five feet long, and nearly as thick as the body of a man, would afford flesh not only eatable, but such as would have been craved52 for by Apicius, had the Roman epicure53 ever journeyed through the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, and found an opportunity of making trial of it.
What they saw slowly traversing the branch above them was one of those huge lizards54 of the genus Hydrosaurus, of which there are several species in Indian climes—like the iguanas55 of America—harmless creatures, despite their horrid appearance, and often furnishing to the hunter or forester a meal of chops and steaks both tender and delicious.
With this knowledge of what it would afford them, Saloo had no difficulty in persuading Captain Redwood to send a bullet through the skull56 of the hydrosaurus, and it soon lay lifeless upon the ground.
The lizard was nigh six feet from snout to tail; and Saloo, assisted by Murtagh, soon slipped a piece of his vegetable rope around its jaws57, and slung58 it up to a horizontal branch for the purpose of skinning it. Thus suspended, with limbs and arms sticking out, it bore a very disagreeable resemblance to a human being just hanged. Saloo did not care anything about this, but at once commenced peeling off its skin; and then he cut the body into quarters, and subdivided59 them into “collops,” which were soon sputtering60 in the blaze of a bright fire. As the Malay had promised, these proved tender, tasting like young pork steaks, with a slight flavour of chicken, and just a soupçon of frog. Delicate as they were, however, after three days’ dieting upon them all felt stronger—almost strong enough, indeed, to commence their grand journey.
Just then another, and still more strengthening, kind of food was added to their larder. It was obtained by a mere61 accident, in the form of a huge wild boar of the Bornean species, which, scouring62 the forest in search of fruits or roots, had strayed close to their camp under the fig-tree. He came too close for his own safety; a bullet from Captain Redwood’s rifle having put an abrupt63 stop to his “rootings.”
Butchered in proper scientific fashion, he not only afforded them food for the time in the shape of pork chops, roast ribs64, and the like; but gave them a couple of hams, which, half-cooked and cured by smoking, could be carried as a sure supply upon the journey.
And so provisioned, they at length determined on commencing it, taking with them such articles of the wreck-salvage as could be conveniently transferred, and might prove beneficial. Bidding adieu to the pinnace, the dear old craft which had so safely carried them through the dangers of the deep, they embarked65 on a voyage of a very different kind, in the courses of which they were far less skilled, and of whose tracks and perils66 they were even more apprehensive67. But they had no other alternative. To remain on the eastern coast of Borneo would be to stay there for ever. They could not entertain the slightest hope of any ship appearing off shore to rescue them. A vessel68 so showing itself would be, in all probability, a prau filled with bloodthirsty pirates, who would either kill or make captives of them, and afterwards sell them into slavery: and a slavery from which no civilised power could redeem69 them, as no civilised man might ever see them in their chains.
It was from knowing this terrible truth that Captain Redwood had resolved upon crossing the great island overland at that part where he supposed it to be narrowest,—the neck lying between its eastern coast and the old Malayan town of Bruni on the west, adjacent to the islet of Labuan, where he knew an English settlement was situated70.
In pursuance of this determination, he struck camp, and moved forward into a forest of unknown paths and mysterious perils.
点击收听单词发音
1 inhaling | |
v.吸入( inhale的现在分词 ) | |
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2 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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3 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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4 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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5 eschew | |
v.避开,戒绝 | |
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6 stewed | |
adj.焦虑不安的,烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 );煨;思考;担忧 | |
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7 stew | |
n.炖汤,焖,烦恼;v.炖汤,焖,忧虑 | |
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8 kindled | |
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
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9 pebbles | |
[复数]鹅卵石; 沙砾; 卵石,小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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10 squeak | |
n.吱吱声,逃脱;v.(发出)吱吱叫,侥幸通过;(俚)告密 | |
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11 incense | |
v.激怒;n.香,焚香时的烟,香气 | |
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12 olfactories | |
n.嗅觉的( olfactory的名词复数 ) | |
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13 wafted | |
v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 recesses | |
n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 );(工作或业务活动的)中止或暂停期间;学校的课间休息;某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 );将(墙)做成凹形,在(墙)上做壁龛;休息,休会,休庭 | |
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15 prop | |
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山 | |
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16 tainted | |
adj.腐坏的;污染的;沾污的;感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 );使污染;败坏;被污染,腐坏,败坏 | |
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17 larder | |
n.食物贮藏室,食品橱 | |
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18 broiled | |
a.烤过的 | |
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19 incandescent | |
adj.遇热发光的, 白炽的,感情强烈的 | |
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20 morsel | |
n.一口,一点点 | |
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21 prelude | |
n.序言,前兆,序曲 | |
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22 cuisine | |
n.烹调,烹饪法 | |
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23 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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24 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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25 condiments | |
n.调味品 | |
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26 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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27 fig | |
n.无花果(树) | |
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28 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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29 umbrageous | |
adj.多荫的 | |
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30 foliage | |
n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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31 paraphernalia | |
n.装备;随身用品 | |
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32 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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33 tarpaulin | |
n.涂油防水布,防水衣,防水帽 | |
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34 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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35 mythology | |
n.神话,神话学,神话集 | |
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36 banyan | |
n.菩提树,榕树 | |
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37 plummet | |
vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌;n.铅坠;重压物 | |
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38 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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39 bough | |
n.大树枝,主枝 | |
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40 contortion | |
n.扭弯,扭歪,曲解 | |
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41 fretted | |
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的 | |
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42 peculiarity | |
n.独特性,特色;特殊的东西;怪癖 | |
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43 downwards | |
adj./adv.向下的(地),下行的(地) | |
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44 contemplated | |
adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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45 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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46 adverse | |
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的 | |
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47 lizard | |
n.蜥蜴,壁虎 | |
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48 reptile | |
n.爬行动物;两栖动物 | |
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49 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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50 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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51 repugnance | |
n.嫌恶 | |
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52 craved | |
渴望,热望( crave的过去式 ); 恳求,请求 | |
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53 epicure | |
n.行家,美食家 | |
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54 lizards | |
n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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55 iguanas | |
n. 美洲蜥蜴 名词iguana的复数形式 | |
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56 skull | |
n.头骨;颅骨 | |
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57 jaws | |
n.口部;嘴 | |
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58 slung | |
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
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59 subdivided | |
再分,细分( subdivide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60 sputtering | |
n.反应溅射法;飞溅;阴极真空喷镀;喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 );发劈啪声;喷出;飞溅出 | |
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61 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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62 scouring | |
擦[洗]净,冲刷,洗涤 | |
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63 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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64 ribs | |
n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 );(船或屋顶等的)肋拱;肋骨状的东西;(织物的)凸条花纹 | |
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65 embarked | |
乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 ); 装载; 从事 | |
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66 perils | |
极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境) | |
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67 apprehensive | |
adj.担心的,恐惧的,善于领会的 | |
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68 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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69 redeem | |
v.买回,赎回,挽回,恢复,履行(诺言等) | |
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70 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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