'There is a village of fisher-folk at the mouth of the Batu Kring branch of the estuary10. The river, which had been closed so long, was open then, and Stein's little schooner11, in which I had my passage, worked her way up in three tides without being exposed to a fusillade from "irresponsive parties." Such a state of affairs belonged already to ancient history, if I could believe the elderly headman of the fishing village, who came on board to act as a sort of pilot. He talked to me (the second white man he had ever seen) with confidence, and most of his talk was about the first white man he had ever seen. He called him Tuan Jim and the tone of his references was made remarkable12 by a strange mixture of familiarity and awe13. They, in the village, were under that lord's special protection, which showed that Jim bore no grudge14. If he had warned me that I would hear of him it was perfectly15 true. I was hearing of him. There was already a story that the tide had turned two hours before its time to help him on his journey up the river. The talkative old man himself had steered16 the canoe and had marvelled17 at the phenomenon. Moreover, all the glory was in his family. His son and his son-in-law had paddled; but they were only youths without experience, who did not notice the speed of the canoe till he pointed18 out to them the amazing fact.
'Jim's coming to that fishing village was a blessing19; but to them, as to many of us, the blessing came heralded20 by terrors. So many generations had been released since the last white man had visited the river that the very tradition had been lost. The appearance of the being that descended21 upon them and demanded inflexibly22 to be taken up to Patusan was discomposing; his insistence23 was alarming; his generosity24 more than suspicious. It was an unheard-of request. There was no precedent25. What would the Rajah say to this? What would he do to them? The best part of the night was spent in consultation26; but the immediate27 risk from the anger of that strange man seemed so great that at last a cranky dug-out was got ready. The women shrieked28 with grief as it put off. A fearless old hag cursed the stranger.
'He sat in it, as I've told you, on his tin box, nursing the unloaded revolver on his lap. He sat with precaution -- than which there is nothing more fatiguing29 -- and thus entered the land he was destined30 to fill with the fame of his virtues31, from the blue peaks inland to the white ribbon of surf on the coast. At the first bend he lost sight of the sea with its labouring waves for ever rising, sinking, and vanishing to rise again -- the very image of struggling mankind -and faced the immovable forests rooted deep in the soil, soaring towards the sunshine, everlasting in the shadowy might of their tradition, like life itself. And his opportunity sat veiled by his side like an Eastern bride waiting to be uncovered by the hand of the master. He too was the heir of a shadowy and mighty32 tradition! He told me, however, that he had never in his life felt so depressed33 and tired as in that canoe. All the movement he dared to allow himself was to reach, as it were by stealth, after the shell of half a cocoa-nut floating between his shoes, and bale some of the water out with a carefully restrained action. He discovered how hard the lid of a block-tin case was to sit upon. He had heroic health; but several times during that journey he experienced fits of giddiness, and between whiles he speculated hazily34 as to the size of the blister35 the sun was raising on his back. For amusement he tried by looking ahead to decide whether the muddy object he saw lying on the water's edge was a log of wood or an alligator36. Only very soon he had to give that up. No fun in it. Always alligator. One of them flopped37 into the river and all but capsized the canoe. But this excitement was over directly. Then in a long empty reach he was very grateful to a troop of monkeys who came right down on the bank and made an insulting hullabaloo on his passage. Such was the way in which he was approaching greatness as genuine as any man ever achieved. Principally, he longed for sunset; and meantime his thre e paddlers were preparing to put into execution
their plan of delivering him up to the Rajah.
' "I suppose I must have been stupid with fatigue38, or perhaps I did doze39 off for a time," he said. The first thing he knew was his canoe coming to the bank. He became instantaneously aware of the forest having been left behind, of the first houses being visible higher up, of a stockade40 on his left, and of his boatmen leaping out together upon a low point of land and taking to their heels. Instinctively41 he leaped out after them. At first he thought himself deserted42 for some inconceivable reason, but he heard excited shouts, a gate swung open, and a lot of people poured out, making towards him. At the same time a boat full of armed men appeared on the river and came alongside his empty canoe, thus shutting off his retreat.
' "I was too startled to be quite cool -- don't you know? and if that revolver had been loaded I would have shot somebody -- perhaps two, three bodies, and that would have been the end of me. But it wasn't...." "Why not?" I asked. "Well, I couldn't fight the whole population, and I wasn't coming to them as if I were afraid of my life," he said, with just a faint hint of his stubborn sulkiness in the glance he gave me. I refrained from pointing out to him that they could not have known the chambers43 were actually empty. He had to satisfy himself in his own way.... "Anyhow it wasn't," he repeated good-humouredly, "and so I just stood still and asked them what was the matter. That seemed to strike them dumb. I saw some of these thieves going off with my box. That long-legged old scoundrel Kassim (I'll show him to you to-morrow) ran out fussing to me about the Rajah wanting to see me. I said, 'All right.' I too wanted to see the Rajah, and I simply walked in through the gate and -- and -- here I am." He laughed, and then with unexpected emphasis, "And do you know what's the best in it?" he asked. "I'll tell you. It's the knowledge that had I been wiped out it is this place that would have been the loser."
'He spoke44 thus to me before his house on that evening I've mentioned -- after we had watched the moon float away above the chasm45 between the hills like an ascending46 spirit out of a grave; its sheen descended, cold and pale, like the ghost of dead sunlight. There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery. It is to our sunshine, which -- say what you like -- is all we have to live by, what the echo is to the sound: misleading and confusing whether the note be mocking or sad. It robs all forms of matter -- which, after all, is our domain47 -- of their substance, and gives a sinister48 reality to shadows alone. And the shadows were very real around us, but Jim by my side looked very stalwart, as though nothing -- not even the occult power of moonlight -- could rob him of his reality in my eyes. Perhaps, indeed, nothing could touch him since he had survived the assault of the dark powers. All was silent, all was still; even on the river the moonbeams slept as on a pool. It was the moment of high water, a moment of immobility that accentuated49 the utter isolation50 of this lost corner of the earth. The houses crowding along the wide shining sweep without ripple51 or glitter, stepping into the water in a line of jostling, vague, grey, silvery forms mingled52 with black masses of shadow, were like a spectral53 herd54 of shapeless creatures pressing forward to drink in a spectral and lifeless stream. Here and there a red gleam twinkled within the bamboo walls, warm, like a living spark, significant of human affections, of shelter, of repose55.
'He confessed to me that he often watched these tiny warm gleams go out one by one, that he loved to see people go to sleep under his eyes, confident in the security of to-morrow. "Peaceful here, eh?" he asked. He was not eloquent56, but there was a deep meaning in the words that followed. "Look at these houses; there's not one where I am not trusted. Jove! I told you I would hang on. Ask any man, woman, or child . . ." He paused. "Well, I am all right anyhow."
'I observed quickly that he had found that out in the end. I had been sure of it, I added. He shook his head. "Were you?" He pressed my arm lightly above the elbow. "Well, then -- you were right."
'There was elation57 and pride, there was awe almost, in that low exclamation58. "Jove!" he cried, "only think what it is to me." Again he pressed my arm. "And you asked me whether I thought of leaving. Good God! I! want to leave! Especially now after what you told me of Mr. Stein's . . . Leave! Why! That's what I was afraid of. It would have been -- it would have been harder than dying. No -- on my word. Don't laugh. I must feel -- every day, every time I open my eyes -- that I am trusted -- that nobody has a right -- don't you know? Leave! For where? What for? To get what?"
'I had told him (indeed it was the main object of my visit) that it was Stein's intention to present him at once with the house and the stock of trading goods, on certain easy conditions which would make the transaction perfectly regular and valid59. He began to snort and plunge60 at first. "Confound your delicacy61!" I shouted. "It isn't Stein at all. It's giving you what you had made for yourself. And in any case keep your remarks for McNeil -- when you meet him in the other world. I hope it won't happen soon...." He had to give in to my arguments, because all his conquests, the trust, the fame, the friendships, the love -- all these things that made him master had made him a captive too. He looked with an owner's eye at the peace of the evening, at the river, at the houses, at the everlasting life of the forests, at the life of the old mankind, at the secrets of the land, at the pride of his own heart; but it was they that possessed62 him and made him their own to the innermost thought, to the slightest stir of blood, to his last breath.
'It was something to be proud of. I too was proud -- for him, if not so certain of the fabulous63 value of the bargain. It was wonderful. It was not so much of his fearlessness that I thought. It is strange how little account I took of it: as if it had been something too conventional to be at the root of the matter. No. I was more struck by the other gifts he had displayed. He had proved his grasp of the unfamiliar64 situation, his intellectual alertness in that field of thought. There was his readiness too! Amazing. And all this had come to him in a manner like keen scent65 to a well-bred hound. He was not eloquent, but there was a dignity in this constitutional reticence66, there was a high seriousness in his stammerings. He had still his old trick of stubborn blushing. Now and then, though, a word, a sentence, would escape him that showed how deeply, how solemnly, he felt about that work which had given him the certitude of rehabilitation67. That is why he seemed to love the land and the people with a sort of fierce egoism, with a contemptuous tenderness.'
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1
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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cataracts
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| n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障 | |
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rust
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| n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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swampy
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| adj.沼泽的，湿地的 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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9
breached
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| 攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反 | |
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estuary
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| n.河口，江口 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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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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13
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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14
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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15
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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16
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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17
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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19
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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20
heralded
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| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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21
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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22
inflexibly
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| adv.不屈曲地，不屈地 | |
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23
insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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24
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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25
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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26
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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27
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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28
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
fatiguing
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| a.使人劳累的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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31
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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32
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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33
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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34
hazily
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| ad. vaguely, not clear | |
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35
blister
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| n.水疱；(油漆等的)气泡；v.(使)起泡 | |
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36
alligator
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| n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼) | |
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37
flopped
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| v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
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38
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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39
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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40
stockade
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| n.栅栏，围栏；v.用栅栏防护 | |
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41
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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42
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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43
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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44
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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45
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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46
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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47
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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48
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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49
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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50
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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51
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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52
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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53
spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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54
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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55
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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56
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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57
elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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58
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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59
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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60
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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61
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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62
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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63
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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64
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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65
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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66
reticence
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| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
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67
rehabilitation
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| n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位 | |
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