At daybreak I pointed4 out to Dominic, amongst the several sail in view running before the gathering6 storm, one particular vessel7. The press of canvas she carried made her loom8 up high, end-on, like a gray column standing9 motionless directly in our wake.
“Look at this fellow, Dominic,” I said. “He seems to be in a hurry.”
The Padrone made no remark, but, wrapping his black cloak close about him, stood up to look. His weather-tanned face, framed in the hood10, had an aspect of authority and challenging force, with the deep-set eyes gazing far away fixedly11, without a wink12, like the intent, merciless, steady eyes of a sea-bird.
“CHI VA PIANO VA SANO,” he remarked at last, with a derisive13 glance over the side, in ironic14 allusion15 to our own tremendous speed.
The Tremolino was doing her best, and seemed to hardly touch the great burst of foam16 over which she darted17. I crouched18 down again to get some shelter from the low bulwark19. After more than half an hour of swaying immobility expressing a concentrated, breathless watchfulness20, Dominic sank on the deck by my side. Within the monkish21 cowl his eyes gleamed with a fierce expression which surprised me. All he said was:
“He has come out here to wash the new paint off his yards, I suppose.”
“What?” I shouted, getting up on my knees. “Is she the guardacosta?”
The perpetual suggestion of a smile under Dominic’s piratical moustaches seemed to become more accentuated22 — quite real, grim, actually almost visible through the wet and uncurled hair. Judging by that symptom, he must have been in a towering rage. But I could also see that he was puzzled, and that discovery affected23 me disagreeably. Dominic puzzled! For a long time, leaning against the bulwark, I gazed over the stern at the gray column that seemed to stand swaying slightly in our wake always at the same distance.
Meanwhile Dominic, black and cowled, sat cross-legged on the deck, with his back to the wind, recalling vaguely24 an Arab chief in his burnuss sitting on the sand. Above his motionless figure the little cord and tassel25 on the stiff point of the hood swung about inanely26 in the gale27. At last I gave up facing the wind and rain, and crouched down by his side. I was satisfied that the sail was a patrol craft. Her presence was not a thing to talk about, but soon, between two clouds charged with hail-showers, a burst of sunshine fell upon her sails, and our men discovered her character for themselves. From that moment I noticed that they seemed to take no heed28 of each other or of anything else. They could spare no eyes and no thought but for the slight column-shape astern of us. Its swaying had become perceptible. For a moment she remained dazzlingly white, then faded away slowly to nothing in a squall, only to reappear again, nearly black, resembling a post stuck upright against the slaty29 background of solid cloud. Since first noticed she had not gained on us a foot.
“She will never catch the Tremolino,” I said exultingly30.
Dominic did not look at me. He remarked absently, but justly, that the heavy weather was in our pursuer’s favour. She was three times our size. What we had to do was to keep our distance till dark, which we could manage easily, and then haul off to seaward and consider the situation. But his thoughts seemed to stumble in the darkness of some not-solved enigma31, and soon he fell silent. We ran steadily32, wing-and-wing. Cape33 San Sebastian nearly ahead seemed to recede34 from us in the squalls of rain, and come out again to meet our rush, every time more distinct between the showers.
For my part I was by no means certain that this GABELOU (as our men alluded35 to her opprobriously) was after us at all. There were nautical36 difficulties in such a view which made me express the sanguine37 opinion that she was in all innocence38 simply changing her station. At this Dominic condescended39 to turn his head.
“I tell you she is in chase,” he affirmed moodily40, after one short glance astern.
I never doubted his opinion. But with all the ardour of a neophyte41 and the pride of an apt learner I was at that time a great nautical casuist.
“What I can’t understand,” I insisted subtly, “is how on earth, with this wind, she has managed to be just where she was when we first made her out. It is clear that she could not, and did not, gain twelve miles on us during the night. And there are other impossibilities . . . .”
Dominic had been sitting motionless, like an inanimate black cone42 posed on the stern deck, near the rudder-head, with a small tassel fluttering on its sharp point, and for a time he preserved the immobility of his meditation43. Then, bending over with a short laugh, he gave my ear the bitter fruit of it. He understood everything now perfectly44. She was where we had seen her first, not because she had caught us up, but because we had passed her during the night while she was already waiting for us, hove-to, most likely, on our very track.
“Do you understand — already?” Dominic muttered in a fierce undertone. “Already! You know we left a good eight hours before we were expected to leave, otherwise she would have been in time to lie in wait for us on the other side of the Cape, and” — he snapped his teeth like a wolf close to my face — “and she would have had us like — that.”
I saw it all plainly enough now. They had eyes in their heads and all their wits about them in that craft. We had passed them in the dark as they jogged on easily towards their ambush45 with the idea that we were yet far behind. At daylight, however, sighting a balancelle ahead under a press of canvas, they had made sail in chase. But if that was so, then —
Dominic seized my arm.
“Yes, yes! She came out on an information — do you see, it? — on information. . . . We have been sold — betrayed. Why? How? What for? We always paid them all so well on shore. . . . No! But it is my head that is going to burst.”
He seemed to choke, tugged46 at the throat button of the cloak, jumped up open-mouthed as if to hurl47 curses and denunciation, but instantly mastered himself, and, wrapping up the cloak closer about him, sat down on the deck again as quiet as ever.
“Yes, it must be the work of some scoundrel ashore,” I observed.
He pulled the edge of the hood well forward over his brow before he muttered:
“A scoundrel. . . . Yes. . . . It’s evident.”
“Well,” I said, “they can’t get us, that’s clear.”
“No,” he assented48 quietly, “they cannot.”
We shaved the Cape very close to avoid an adverse49 current. On the other side, by the effect of the land, the wind failed us so completely for a moment that the Tremolino’s two great lofty sails hung idle to the masts in the thundering uproar50 of the seas breaking upon the shore we had left behind. And when the returning gust1 filled them again, we saw with amazement51 half of the new mainsail, which we thought fit to drive the boat under before giving way, absolutely fly out of the bolt-ropes. We lowered the yard at once, and saved it all, but it was no longer a sail; it was only a heap of soaked strips of canvas cumbering the deck and weighting the craft. Dominic gave the order to throw the whole lot overboard.
I would have had the yard thrown overboard, too, he said, leading me aft again, “if it had not been for the trouble. Let no sign escape you,” he continued, lowering his voice, “but I am going to tell you something terrible. Listen: I have observed that the roping stitches on that sail have been cut! You hear? Cut with a knife in many places. And yet it stood all that time. Not enough cut. That flap did it at last. What matters it? But look! there’s treachery seated on this very deck. By the horns of the devil! seated here at our very backs. Do not turn, signorine.”
We were facing aft then.
“What’s to be done?” I asked, appalled52.
“Nothing. Silence! Be a man, signorine.”
“What else?” I said.
To show I could be a man, I resolved to utter no sound as long as Dominic himself had the force to keep his lips closed. Nothing but silence becomes certain situations. Moreover, the experience of treachery seemed to spread a hopeless drowsiness53 over my thoughts and senses. For an hour or more we watched our pursuer surging out nearer and nearer from amongst the squalls that sometimes hid her altogether. But even when not seen, we felt her there like a knife at our throats. She gained on us frightfully. And the Tremolino, in a fierce breeze and in much smoother water, swung on easily under her one sail, with something appallingly54 careless in the joyous55 freedom of her motion. Another half-hour went by. I could not stand it any longer.
“They will get the poor barky,” I stammered56 out suddenly, almost on the verge57 of tears.
Dominic stirred no more than a carving58. A sense of catastrophic loneliness overcame my inexperienced soul. The vision of my companions passed before me. The whole Royalist gang was in Monte Carlo now, I reckoned. And they appeared to me clear-cut and very small, with affected voices and stiff gestures, like a procession of rigid59 marionettes upon a toy stage. I gave a start. What was this? A mysterious, remorseless whisper came from within the motionless black hood at my side.
“IL FAUL LA TUER.”
I heard it very well.
“What do you say, Dominic?” I asked, moving nothing but my lips.
And the whisper within the hood repeated mysteriously, “She must be killed.”
My heart began to beat violently.
“That’s it,” I faltered60 out. “But how?”
“You love her well?”
“I do.”
“Then you must find the heart for that work too. You must steer61 her yourself, and I shall see to it that she dies quickly, without leaving as much as a chip behind.”
“Can you?” I murmured, fascinated by the black hood turned immovably over the stern, as if in unlawful communion with that old sea of magicians, slave-dealers, exiles and warriors63, the sea of legends and terrors, where the mariners64 of remote antiquity65 used to hear the restless shade of an old wanderer weep aloud in the dark.
“I know a rock,” whispered the initiated66 voice within the hood secretly. “But — caution! It must be done before our men perceive what we are about. Whom can we trust now? A knife drawn67 across the fore5 halyards would bring the foresail down, and put an end to our liberty in twenty minutes. And the best of our men may be afraid of drowning. There is our little boat, but in an affair like this no one can be sure of being saved.”
The voice ceased. We had started from Barcelona with our dinghy in tow; afterwards it was too risky68 to try to get her in, so we let her take her chance of the seas at the end of a comfortable scope of rope. Many times she had seemed to us completely overwhelmed, but soon we would see her bob up again on a wave, apparently69 as buoyant and whole as ever.
“I understand,” I said softly. “Very well, Dominic. When?”
“Not yet. We must get a little more in first,” answered the voice from the hood in a ghostly murmur62.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
gust
|
|
| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
gusty
|
|
| adj.起大风的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
rhythmically
|
|
| adv.有节奏地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
fore
|
|
| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
loom
|
|
| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
hood
|
|
| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
fixedly
|
|
| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
wink
|
|
| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
derisive
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
ironic
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
allusion
|
|
| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
foam
|
|
| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
darted
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
crouched
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bulwark
|
|
| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
watchfulness
|
|
| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
monkish
|
|
| adj.僧侣的，修道士的，禁欲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
accentuated
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
tassel
|
|
| n.流苏，穗；v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
inanely
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
gale
|
|
| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
heed
|
|
| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
slaty
|
|
| 石板一样的，石板色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
exultingly
|
|
| 兴高采烈地，得意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
enigma
|
|
| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
cape
|
|
| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
recede
|
|
| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
alluded
|
|
| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
nautical
|
|
| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
sanguine
|
|
| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
condescended
|
|
| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
moodily
|
|
| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
neophyte
|
|
| n.新信徒；开始者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
cone
|
|
| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
meditation
|
|
| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
ambush
|
|
| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
tugged
|
|
| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
hurl
|
|
| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
adverse
|
|
| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
uproar
|
|
| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
appalled
|
|
| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
drowsiness
|
|
| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
appallingly
|
|
| 毛骨悚然地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
joyous
|
|
| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
stammered
|
|
| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
verge
|
|
| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
carving
|
|
| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
rigid
|
|
| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
faltered
|
|
| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
steer
|
|
| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
murmur
|
|
| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
mariners
|
|
| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
antiquity
|
|
| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
initiated
|
|
| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
risky
|
|
| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |