'Jim, as I've told you, accompanied me on the first stage of my journey back to the world he had renounced11, and the way at times seemed to lead through the very heart of untouched wilderness12. The empty reaches sparkled under the high sun; between the high walls of vegetation the heat drowsed upon the water, and the boat,impelled vigorously, cut her way through the air that seemed to have settled dense13 and warm under the shelter of lofty trees.
'The shadow of the impending14 separation had already put an immense space between us, und when we spoke15 it was with an effort, as if to force our low voices across a vast und increasing distance. The boat fairly flew; we sweltered side by side in the stagnant16 superheated air; the smell of mud, of mush, the primeval smell of fecund17 earth, seemed to sting our faces; till suddenly at a bend it was as if a great hand far away had lifted a heavy curtain, had flung open un immense portal. The light itself seemed to stir, the sky above our heads widened, a far-off murmur18 reached our ears, a freshness enveloped19 us, filled our lungs, quickened our thoughts, our blood, our regrets -and, straight ahead, the forests sank down against the dark-blue ridge20 of the sea.
'I breathed deeply, I revelled21 in the vastness of the opened horizon, in the different atmosphere that seemed to vibrate with the toil22 of life, with the energy of an impeccable world. This sky and this sea were open to me. The girl was right -- there was a sign, a call in them -something to which I responded with every fibre of my being. I let my eyes roam through space, like a man released from bonds who stretches his cramped23 limbs, runs, leaps, responds to the inspiring elation24 of freedom. "This is glorious!" I cried, und then I looked at the sinner by my side . He sat with his head sunk on his breast and said "Yes," without raising his eyes, as if afraid to see writ25 large on the clear sky of the offing the reproach of his romantic conscience.
'I remember the smallest details of that afternoon. We landed on a bit of white beach. It was backed by a low cliff wooded on the brow, draped in creepers to the very foot. Below us the plain of the sea, of a serene26 and intense blue, stretched with a slight upward tilt27 to the thread-like horizon drawn28 at the height of our eyes. Great waves of glitter blew lightly along the pitted dark surface, as swift as feathers chased by the breeze . A chain of islands sat broken and massive facing the wide estuary29, displayed in a sheet of pale glassy water reflecting faithfully the contour of the shore. High in the colourless sunshine a solitary30 bird, all black, hovered31, dropping and soaring above the same spot with a slight rocking motion of the wings. A ragged32, sooty bunch of flimsy mat hovels was perched over its own inverted33 image upon a crooked34 multitude of high piles the colour of ebony. A tiny black canoe put off from amongst them with two tiny men, all black, who toiled35 exceedingly, striking down at the pale water: and the canoe seemed to slide painfully on a mirror. This bunch of miserable36 hovels was the fishing village that boasted of the white lord's especial protection, and the two men crossing over were the old headman and his son-in-law. They landed and walked up to us on the white sand, lean, dark-brown as if dried in smoke, with ashy patches on the skin of their naked shoulders and breasts . Their heads were bound in dirty but carefully folded headkerchiefs, and the old man began at once to state a complaint, voluble, stretching a lank37 arm, screwing up at Jim his old bleared eyes confidently . The Rajah's people would not leave them alone; there had been some trouble about a lot of turtles' eggs his people had collected on the islets there -- and leaning at arm'slength upon his paddle, he pointed38 with a brown skinny hand over the sea. Jim listened for a time without looking up, und at last told him gently to wait. He would hear him by-and-by. They withdrew ob ediently to some little distance, and sat on the
ir heels, with their paddles lying before them on the sand; the silvery gleams in their eyes followed our movements patiently; and the immensity of the outspread sea, the stillness of the coast, passing north and south beyond the limits of my vision, made up one colossal39 Presence watching us four dwarfs40 isolated41 on a strip of glistening42 sand.
' "The trouble is," remarked Jim moodily43, "that for generations these beggars of fishermen in that village there had been considered as the Rajah's personal slaves -- and the old rip can't get it into his head that . . ."
'He paused. "That you have changed all that," I said.
' "Yes I've changed all that," he muttered in a gloomy voice.
' "You have had your opportunity," I pursued.
' "Have I?" he said. "Well, yes. I suppose so. Yes. I have got back my confidence in myself -- a good name -- yet sometimes I wish . . . No! I shall hold what I've got. Can't expect anything more." He flung his arm out towards the sea. "Not out there anyhow." He stamped his foot upon the sand. "This is my limit, because nothing less will do."
'We continued pacing the beach. "Yes, I've changed all that," he went on, with a sidelong glance at the two patient squatting44 fishermen; "but only try to think what it would be if I went away. Jove! can't you see it? Hell loose. No! To-morrow I shall go and take my chance of drinking that silly old Tunku Allung's coffee, und I shall make no end of fuss over these rotten turtles' eggs. No. I cun't say -- enough. Never. I must go on, go on for ever holding up my end, to feel sure that nothing can touch me. I must stick to their belief in me to feel safe and to -- to" . . . He cast about for a word, seemed to look for it on the sea . . . "to keep in touch with" . . . His voice sank suddenly to a murmur . . . "with those whom, perhaps, I shall never see any more. "With -- with -- you, for instunce."
'I was profoundly humbled45 by his words. "For God's sake," I said, "don't set me up, my dear fellow; just look to yourself." I felt a gratitude46, an affection, for that straggler whose eyes had singled me out, keeping my place in the ranks of an insignificant47 multitude. How little that was to boast of, after all! I turned my burning face away; under the low sun, glowing, darkened and crimson48, like un ember snatched from the fire, the sea lay outspread, offering all its immense stillness to the approach of the fiery49 orb9. Twice he was going to speak, but checked himself; at last, as if he had found a formula
' "I shall be faithful," he said quietly. "I shall be faithful," he repeated, without looking at me, but for the first time letting his eyes wander upon the waters, whose blueness had changed to a gloomy purple under the fires of sunset. Ah! he was romantic, romantic. I recalled some words of Stein's.... "In the destructive element immerse! . . . To follow the dream, and again to follow the dream -and so -- always -- usque ad finem . . ." He was romantic, but none the less true. Who could tell what forms, what visions, what faces, what forgiveness he could see in the glow of the west! . . . A small boat, leaving the schooner50, moved slowly, with a regular beat of two oars51, towards the sandbank to take me off. "And then there's Jewel," he said, out of the great silence of earth, sky, and sea, which had mastered my very thoughts so that his voice made me start. "There's Jewel. " "Yes," I murmured. "I need not tell you what she is to me," he pursued. "You've seen. In time she will come to understand . . . " "I hope so," I interrupted. "She trusts me, too," he mused52, and then changed his tone. "When shall we meet next, I wonder?" he said.
' "Never -- unless you come out," I answered, avoiding his glance. He didn't seem to be surprised; he kept very quiet for a while.
' "Good-bye, then," he said, after a pause. "Perhaps it's just as well."
'We shook hands, and I walked to the boat, which waited with her nose on the beach. The schooner, her mainsail set and jib-sheet to windward, curveted on the purple sea; there was a rosy53 tinge54 on her sails. "Will you be going home again soon?" asked Jim, just as I swung my leg over the gunwale. "In a yeu or so if I live," I said. The forefoot grated on the sand, the boat floated, the wet oars flashed and dipped once, twice. Jim, at the water's edge, raised his voice. "Tell them . . . " he began. I signed to the men to cease rowing, and waited in wonder. Tell who? The half-submerged sun faced him; I could see its red gleam in his eyes that looked dumbly at me.... "No -nothing," he said, and with a slight wave of his hand motioned the boat away. I did not look again at the shore till I had clambered on board the schooner.
'By that time the sun had set. The twilight55 lay over the east, and the coast, turned black, extended infinitely56 its sombre wall that seemed the very stronghold of the night; the western horizon was one great blaze of gold and crimson in which a big detached cloud floated dark and still, casting a slaty57 shadow on the water beneath, and I saw Jim on the beach watching the schooner fall off and gather headway.
'The two half-naked fishermen had arisen as soon as I had gone; they were no doubt pouring the plaint of their trifling58, miserable, oppressed lives into the ears of the white lord, a no doubt he was listening to it, making it his own, for was it not a part of his luck -- the luck "from the word Go" -- the luck to which he had assured me he was so completely equal? They too, I should think, were in luck, and I was sure their pertinacity59 would be equal to it. Their dark-skinned bodies vanished on the dark background long before I had lost sight of their protector. He was white from head to foot, and remained persistently60 visible with the stronghold of the night at his back, the sea at his feet, the opportunity by his side -- still veiled. What do you say? Was it still veiled? I don't know. For me that white figure in the stillness of coast and sea seemed to stand at the heart of a vast enigma61. The twilight was ebbing62 fast from the sky above his head, the strip of sand had sunk already under his feet, he himself appeared no bigger than a child -- then only a speck63, a tiny white speck, that seemed to catch all the light left in a darkened world .. .. And, suddenly, I lost him. . ..
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1
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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2
flickers
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| 电影制片业； （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的名词复数 ) | |
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3
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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5
wizened
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| adj.凋谢的；枯槁的 | |
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6
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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7
ironic
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| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
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8
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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9
orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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10
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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11
renounced
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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12
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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13
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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14
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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15
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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16
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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17
fecund
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| adj.多产的，丰饶的，肥沃的 | |
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18
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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19
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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21
revelled
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| v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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22
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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24
elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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25
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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27
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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28
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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estuary
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| n.河口，江口 | |
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30
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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31
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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32
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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33
inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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35
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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36
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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37
lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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38
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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39
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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40
dwarfs
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| n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式） | |
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41
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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42
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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43
moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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44
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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45
humbled
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| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
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46
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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47
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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48
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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49
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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50
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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51
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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53
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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54
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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55
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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56
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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57
slaty
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| 石板一样的，石板色的 | |
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58
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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59
pertinacity
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| n.执拗，顽固 | |
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60
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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61
enigma
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| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
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62
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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63
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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