that suited him best, the goods of Stein's Trading Company (Stein kept the supply up unfalteringly as long as he could get his skippers to take it there) did not seem to him a fair equivalent for the sacrifice of his honourable8 name. Jim would have enjoyed exceedingly thrashing Cornelius within an inch of his life; on the other hand, the scenes were of so painful a character, so abominable9, that his impulse would be to get out of earshot, in order to spare the girl's feelings. They left her agitated10, speechless, clutching her bosom11 now and then with a stony12, desperate face, and then Jim would lounge up and say unhappily, "Now -- come -- really -- what's the use -- you must try to eat a bit," or give some such mark of sympathy. Cornelius would keep on slinking through the doorways13, across the verandah and back again, as mute as a fish, and with malevolent14, mistrustful, underhand glances. "I can stop his game," Jim said to her once. "Just say the word." And do you know what she answered? She said -- Jim told me impressively -- that if she had not been sure he was intensely wretched himself, she would have found the courage to kill him with her own hands. "Just fancy that! The poor devil of a girl, almost a child, being driven to talk like that," he exclaimed in horror. It seemed impossible to save her not only from that mean rascal15 but even from herself! It wasn't that he pitied her so much, he affirmed; it was more than pity; it was as if he had something on his conscience, while that life went on. To leave the house would have appeared a base desertion. He had understood at last that there was nothing to expect from a longer stay, neither accounts nor money, nor truth of any sort, but he stayed on, exasperating16 Cornelius to the verge17, I won't say of insanity18, but almost of courage. Meantime he felt all sorts of dangers gathering19 obscurely about him. Doramin had sent over twice a trusty servant to tell him seriously t hat he could do nothing for his safety unless he would recross the river again and live amongst
the Bugis as at first. People of every condition used to call, often in the dead of night, in order to disclose to him plots for his assassination20. He was to be poisoned. He was to be stabbed in the bath-house. Arrangements were being made to have him shot from a boat on the river. Each of these informants professed21 himself to be his very good friend. It was enough -- he told me -- to spoil a fellow's rest for ever. Something of the kind was extremely possible -- nay22, probable -- but the lying warnings gave him only the sense af deadly scheming going on all around him, on all sides, in the dark. Nothing more calculated to shake the best of nerve. Finally, one night, Cornelius himself, with a great apparatus23 of alarm and secrecy24, unfolded in solemn wheedling25 tones a little plan wherein for one hundred dollars -- or even for eighty; let's say eighty -- he, Cornelius, would procure26 a trustworthy man to smuggle27 Jim out of the river, all safe. There was nothing else for it now -- if Jim cared a pin for his life. What's eighty dollars? A trifle. An insignificant28 sum. While he, Cornelius, who had to remain behind, was absolutely courting death by this proof of devotion to Mr. Stein's young friend. The sight of his abject29 grimacing30 was -- Jim told me -- very hard to bear: he clutched at his hair, beat his breast, rocked himself to and fro with his hands pressed to his stomach, and actually pretended to shed tears. "Your blood be on your own head," he squeaked31 at last, and rushed out. It is a curious question how far Cornelius was sincere in that performance. Jim confessed to me that he did not sleep a wink32 after the fellow had gone. He lay on his back on a thin mat spread over the bamboo flooring, trying idly to make out the bare rafters, and listening to the rustlings in the torn thatch33. A star suddenly twinkled through a hole in the roof. His brain was in a whirl; but, neverth eless, it was on that very night that he matured his plan for overcoming Sherif Ali. It had been the thought of all the moments he could spare f
rom the hopeless investigation34 into Stein's affairs, but the notion -- he says -- came to him then all at once. He could see, as it were, the guns mounted on the top of the hill. He got very hot and excited lying there; sleep was out of the question more than ever. He jumped up, and went out barefooted on the verandah. Walking silently, he came upon the girl, motionless against the wall, as if on the watch. In his then state of mind it did not surprise him to see her up, nor yet to hear her ask in an anxious whisper where Cornelius could be. He simply said he did not know. She moaned a little, and peered into the campong. Everything was very quiet. He was possessed35 by his new idea, and so full of it that he could not help telling the girl all about it at once. She listened, clapped her hands lightly, whispered softly her admiration36, but was evidently on the alert all the time. It seems he had been used to make a confidant of her all along -- and that she on her part could and did give him a lot of useful hints as to Patusan affairs there is no doubt. He assured me more than once that he had never found himself the worse for her advice. At any rate, he was proceeding37 to explain his plan fully38 to her there and then, when she pressed his arm once, and vanished from his side. Then Cornelius appeared from somewhere, and, perceiving Jim, ducked sideways, as though he had been shot at, and afterwards stood very still in the dusk. At last he came forward prudently39, like a suspicious cat. "There were some fishermen there -- with fish," he said in a shaky voice. "To sell fish -- you understand." . . . It must have been then two o'clock in the morning -- a likely time for anybody to hawk40 fish about!
'Jim, however, let the statement pass, and did not give it a single thought. Other matters occupied his mind, and besides he had neither seen nor heard anything. He contented41 himself by saying, "Oh!" absently, got a drink of water out of a pitcher42 standing43 there, and leaving Cornelius a prey44 to some inexplicable45 emotion -- that made him embrace with both arms the worm-eaten rail of the verandah as if his legs had failed -- went in again and lay down on his mat to think. By-and-by he heard stealthy footsteps. They stopped. A voice whispered tremulously through the wall, "Are you asleep?" "No! What is it?" he answered briskly, and there was an abrupt46 movement outside, and then all was still, as if the whisperer had been startled. Extremely annoyed at this, Jim came out impetuously, and Cornelius with a faint shriek fled along the verandah as far as the steps, where he hung on to the broken banister. Very puzzled, Jim called out to him from the distance to know what the devil he meant. "Have you given your consideration to what I spoke47 to you about?" asked Cornelius, pronouncing the words with difficulty, like a man in the cold fit of a fever. "No!" shouted Jim in a passion. "I have not, and I don't intend to. I am going to live here, in Patusan." "You shall d-d-die h-h-here," answered Cornelius, still shaking violently, and in a sort of expiring voice. The whole performance was so absurd and provoking that Jim didn't know whether he ought to be amused or angry. "Not till I have seen you tucked away, you bet," he called out, exasperated48 yet ready to laugh. Half seriously (being excited with his own thoughts, you know) he went on shouting, "Nothing can touch me! You can do your damnedest." Somehow the shadowy Cornelius far off there seemed to be the hateful embodiment of all the annoyances49 and difficulties he had found in his path. He let himself go -- his nerves had been over-wrought for days -- and called him many pretty names, -- swindler, liar50, sorry rascal: in fact, carried on in an extraordinary way. He adm
its he passed all bounds, that he was quite beside himself -- defied all Patusan to scare him away -- declared he would make them all dance to his own tune51 yet, and so on, in a menacing, boasting strain. Perfectly52 bombastic53 and ridiculous, he said. His ears burned at the bare recollection. Must have been off his chump in some way.... The girl, who was sitting with us, nodded her little head at me quickly, frowned faintly, and said, "I heard him," with child-like solemnity. He laughed and blushed. What stopped him at last, he said, was the silence, the complete deathlike silence, of the indistinct figure far over there, that seemed to hang collapsed54, doubled over the rail in a weird55 immobility. He came to his senses, and ceasing suddenly, wondered gready at himself. He watched for a while. Not a stir, not a sound. "Exactly as if the chap had died while I had been making all that noise," he said. He was so ashamed of himself that he went indoors in a hurry without another word, and flung himself down again. The row seemed to have done him good though, because he went to sleep for the rest of the night like a baby. Hadn't slept like that for weeks. "But I didn't sleep," struck in the girl, one elbow on the table and nursing her cheek. "I watched." Her big eyes flashed, rolling a little, and then she fixed56 them on my face intently.'
点击收听单词发音
1 filthy | |
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
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2 shriek | |
v./n.尖叫,叫喊 | |
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3 writhe | |
vt.挣扎,痛苦地扭曲;vi.扭曲,翻腾,受苦;n.翻腾,苦恼 | |
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4 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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5 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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6 grimace | |
v.做鬼脸,面部歪扭 | |
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7 embezzle | |
vt.贪污,盗用;挪用(公款;公物等) | |
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8 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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9 abominable | |
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的 | |
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10 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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11 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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12 stony | |
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的 | |
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13 doorways | |
n.门口,门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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14 malevolent | |
adj.有恶意的,恶毒的 | |
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15 rascal | |
n.流氓;不诚实的人 | |
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16 exasperating | |
adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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17 verge | |
n.边,边缘;v.接近,濒临 | |
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18 insanity | |
n.疯狂,精神错乱;极端的愚蠢,荒唐 | |
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19 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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20 assassination | |
n.暗杀;暗杀事件 | |
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21 professed | |
公开声称的,伪称的,已立誓信教的 | |
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22 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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23 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
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24 secrecy | |
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽 | |
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25 wheedling | |
v.骗取(某物),哄骗(某人干某事)( wheedle的现在分词 ) | |
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26 procure | |
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条 | |
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27 smuggle | |
vt.私运;vi.走私 | |
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28 insignificant | |
adj.无关紧要的,可忽略的,无意义的 | |
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29 abject | |
adj.极可怜的,卑屈的 | |
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30 grimacing | |
v.扮鬼相,做鬼脸( grimace的现在分词 ) | |
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31 squeaked | |
v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 );吱吱叫;告密;充当告密者 | |
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32 wink | |
n.眨眼,使眼色,瞬间;v.眨眼,使眼色,闪烁 | |
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33 thatch | |
vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部;n.茅草(屋) | |
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34 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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35 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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36 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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37 proceeding | |
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报 | |
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38 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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39 prudently | |
adv. 谨慎地,慎重地 | |
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40 hawk | |
n.鹰,骗子;鹰派成员 | |
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41 contented | |
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的 | |
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42 pitcher | |
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手 | |
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43 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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44 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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45 inexplicable | |
adj.无法解释的,难理解的 | |
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46 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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47 spoke | |
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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48 exasperated | |
adj.恼怒的 | |
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49 annoyances | |
n.恼怒( annoyance的名词复数 );烦恼;打扰;使人烦恼的事 | |
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50 liar | |
n.说谎的人 | |
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51 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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52 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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53 bombastic | |
adj.夸夸其谈的,言过其实的 | |
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54 collapsed | |
adj.倒塌的 | |
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55 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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56 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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