For a long hour he lay where he had fallen, believing himself alone; and time and place would no doubt conduce to philosophical8 reflection upon his condition. I like to think that he found that when all was considered, he had little with which to reproach himself. If he had done evil he had made ample amends9. It can scarcely be pretended that he had betrayed those loyal Muslimeen followers10 of his, or, if it is, at least it must be added that he himself had paid the price of that betrayal. Rosamund was safe, Lionel would meet the justice due to him, and as for himself, being as good as dead already, he was worth little thought. He must have derived11 some measure of content from the reflection that he was spending his life to the very best advantage. Ruined it had been long since. True, but for his ill-starred expedition of vengeance12 he might long have continued to wage war as a corsair, might even have risen to the proud Muslim eminence13 of the Bashalik of Algiers and become a feudatory prince of the Grand Turk. But for one who was born a Christian14 gentleman that would have been an unworthy way to have ended his days. The present was the better course.
A faint rustle15 in the impenetrable blackness of his prison turned the current of his thoughts. A rat, he thought, and drew himself to a sitting attitude, and beat his slippered16 heels upon the ground to drive away the loathly creature. Instead, a voice challenged him out of the gloom.
“Who’s there?”
It startled him for a moment, in his complete assurance that he had been alone.
“Who’s there?” the voice repeated, querulously to add: “What black hell be this? Where am I?”
And now he recognized the voice for Jasper Leigh’s, and marvelled17 how that latest of his recruits to the ranks of Mohammed should be sharing this prison with him.
“Faith,” said he, “you’re in the forecastle of the Silver Heron; though how you come here is more than I can answer.”
“Who are ye?” the voice asked.
“I have been known in Barbary as Sakr-el-Bahr.”
“Sir Oliver!”
“I suppose that is what they will call me now. It is as well perhaps that I am to be buried at sea, else it might plague these Christian gentlemen what legend to inscribe18 upon my headstone. But you — how come you hither? My bargain with Sir John was that none should be molested19, and I cannot think Sir John would be forsworn.”
“As to that I know nothing, since I did not even know where I was bestowed20 until ye informed me. I was knocked senseless in the fight, after I had put my bilbo through your comely21 brother. That is the sum of my knowledge.”
Sir Oliver caught his breath. “What do you say? You killed Lionel?”
“I believe so,” was the cool answer. “At least I sent a couple of feet of steel through him —’twas in the press of the fight when first the English dropped aboard the galley22; Master Lionel was in the van — the last place in which I should have looked to see him.”
There fell a long silence. At length Sir Oliver spoke23 in a small voice.
“Not a doubt but you gave him no more than he was seeking. You are right, Master Leigh; the van was the last place in which to look for him, unless he came deliberately24 to seek steel that he might escape a rope. Best so, no doubt. Best so! God rest him!”
“Do you believe in God?” asked the sinful skipper on an anxious note.
“No doubt they took you because of that,” Sir Oliver pursued, as if communing with himself. “Being in ignorance perhaps of his deserts, deeming him a saint and martyr25, they resolved to avenge26 him upon you, and dragged you hither for that purpose.” He sighed. “Well, well, Master Leigh, I make no doubt that knowing yourself for a rascal27 you have all your life been preparing your neck for a noose28; so this will come as no surprise to you.”
The skipper stirred uneasily, and groaned29. “Lord, how my head aches!” he complained.
“They’ve a sure remedy for that,” Sir Oliver comforted him. “And you’ll swing in better company than you deserve, for I am to be hanged in the morn-ing too. You’ve earned it as fully30 as have I, Master Leigh. Yet I am sorry for you — sorry you should suffer where I had not so intended.”
Master Leigh sucked in a shuddering31 breath, and was silent for a while.
Then he repeated an earlier question.
“Do you believe in God, Sir Oliver?”
“There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet,” was the answer, and from his tone Master Leigh could not be sure that he did not mock.
“That’s a heathen creed32,” said he in fear and loathing33.
“Nay, now; it’s a creed by which men live. They perform as they preach, which is more than can be said of any Christians34 I have ever met.”
“How can you talk so upon the eve of death?” cried Leigh in protest.
“Faith,” said Sir Oliver, “it’s considered the season of truth above all others.”
“Then ye don’t believe in God?”
“On the contrary, I do.”
“But not in the real God?” the skipper insisted.
“There can be no God but the real God — it matters little what men call Him.”
“Then if ye believe, are ye not afraid?”
“Of what?”
“Of hell, damnation, and eternal fire,” roared the skipper, voicing his own belated terrors.
“I have but fulfilled the destiny which in His Omniscience35 He marked out for me,” replied Sir Oliver. “My life hath been as He designed it, since naught36 may exist or happen save by His Will. Shall I then fear damnation for having been as God fashioned me?”
“’Tis the heathen Muslim creed!” Master Leigh protested.
“’Tis a comforting one,” said Sir Oliver, “and it should comfort such a sinner as thou.”
But Master Leigh refused to be comforted. “Oh!” he groaned miserably37. “I would that I did not believe in God!”
“Your disbelief could no more abolish Him than can your fear create Him,” replied Sir Oliver. “But your mood being what it is, were it not best you prayed?”
“Will not you pray with me?” quoth that rascal in his sudden fear of the hereafter.
“I shall do better,” said Sir Oliver at last. “I shall pray for you — to Sir John Killigrew, that your life be spared.”
“Sure he’ll never heed38 you!” said Master Leigh with a catch in his breath.
“He shall. His honour is concerned in it. The terms of my surrender were that none else aboard the galley should suffer any hurt.”
“But I killed Master Lionel.”
“True — but that was in the scrimmage that preceded my making terms. Sir John pledged me his word, and Sir John will keep to it when I have made it clear to him that honour demands it.”
A great burden was lifted from the skipper’s mind — that great shadow of the fear of death that had overhung him. With it, it is greatly to be feared that his desperate penitence39 also departed. At least he talked no more of damnation, nor took any further thought for Sir Oliver’s opinions and beliefs concerning the hereafter. He may rightly have supposed that Sir Oliver’s creed was Sir Oliver’s affair, and that should it happen to be wrong he was scarcely himself a qualified40 person to correct it. As for himself, the making of his soul could wait until another day, when the necessity for it should be more imminent41.
Upon that he lay down and attempted to compose himself to sleep, though the pain in his head proved a difficulty. Finding slumber42 impossible after a while he would have talked again; but by that time his companion’s regular breathing warned him that Sir Oliver had fallen asleep during the silence.
Now this surprised and shocked the skipper. He was utterly43 at a loss to understand how one who had lived Sir Oliver’s life, been a renegade and a heathen, should be able to sleep tranquilly44 in the knowledge that at dawn he was to hang. His belated Christian zeal45 prompted him to rouse the sleeper46 and to urge him to spend the little time that yet remained him in making his peace with God. Humane47 compassion48 on the other hand suggested to him that he had best leave him in the peace of that oblivion. Considering matters he was profoundly touched to reflect that in such a season Sir Oliver could have found room in his mind to think of him and his fate and to undertake to contrive49 that he should be saved from the rope. He was the more touched when he bethought him of the extent to which he had himself been responsible for all that happened to Sir Oliver. Out of the consideration of heroism50, a certain heroism came to be begotten51 in him, and he fell to pondering how in his turn he might perhaps serve Sir Oliver by a frank confession52 of all that he knew of the influences that had gone to make Sir Oliver what he was. This resolve uplifted him, and oddly enough it uplifted him all the more when he reflected that perhaps he would be jeopardizing53 his own neck by the confession upon which he had determined54.
So through that endless night he sat, nursing his aching head, and enheartened by the first purpose he had ever conceived of a truly good and altruistic55 deed. Yet fate it seemed was bent56 upon frustrating57 that purpose of his. For when at dawn they came to hale Sir Oliver to his doom58, they paid no heed to Jasper Leigh’s demands that he, too, should be taken before Sir John.
“Thee bean’t included in our orders,” said a seaman59 shortly.
“Maybe not,” retorted Master Leigh, “because Sir John little knows what it is in my power to tell him. Take me before him, I say, that he may hear from me the truth of certain matters ere it be too late.”
“Be still,” the seaman bade him, and struck him heavily across the face, so that he reeled and collapsed60 into a corner. “Thee turn will come soon. Just now our business be with this other heathen.”
“Naught that you can say would avail,” Sir Oliver assured him quietly. “But I thank you for the thought that marks you for my friend. My hands are bound, Jasper. Were it otherwise I would beg leave to clasp your own. Fare you well!”
Sir Oliver was led out into the golden sunlight which almost blinded him after his long confinement61 in that dark hole. They were, he gathered, to conduct him to the cabin where a short mockery of a trial was to be held. But in the waist their progress was arrested by an officer, who bade them wait.
Sir Oliver sat down upon a coil of rope, his guard about him, an object of curious inspection62 to the rude seamen63. They thronged64 the forecastle and the hatchways to stare at this formidable corsair who once had been a Cornish gentleman and who had become a renegade Muslim and a terror to Christianity.
Truth to tell, the sometime Cornish gentleman was difficult to discern in him as he sat there still wearing the caftan of cloth of silver over his white tunic65 and a turban of the same material swathed about his steel headpiece that ended in a spike66. Idly he swung his brown sinewy67 legs, naked from knee to ankle, with the inscrutable calm of the fatalist upon his swarthy hawk68 face with its light agate69 eyes and black forked beard; and those callous70 seamen who had assembled there to jeer71 and mock him were stricken silent by the intrepidity72 and stoicism of his bearing in the face of death.
If the delay chafed73 him, he gave no outward sign of it. If his hard, light eyes glanced hither and thither74 it was upon no idle quest. He was seeking Rosamund, hoping for a last sight of her before they launched him upon his last dread75 voyage.
But Rosamund was not to be seen. She was in the cabin at the time. She had been there for this hour past, and it was to her that the present delay was due.
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1
pinioned
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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reeking
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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7
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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8
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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10
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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11
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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12
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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13
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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14
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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15
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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16
slippered
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| 穿拖鞋的 | |
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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
inscribe
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| v.刻；雕；题写；牢记 | |
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19
molested
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| v.骚扰( molest的过去式和过去分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵 | |
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20
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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22
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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23
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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24
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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25
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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26
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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28
noose
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| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
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29
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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30
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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31
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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32
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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33
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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34
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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35
omniscience
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| n.全知，全知者，上帝 | |
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36
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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37
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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38
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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39
penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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40
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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41
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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42
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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43
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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44
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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45
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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46
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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47
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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48
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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49
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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50
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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51
begotten
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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52
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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53
jeopardizing
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| 危及，损害( jeopardize的现在分词 ) | |
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54
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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55
altruistic
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| adj.无私的，为他人着想的 | |
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56
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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57
frustrating
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| adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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58
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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59
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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60
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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61
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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62
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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63
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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64
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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66
spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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67
sinewy
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| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
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68
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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69
agate
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| n.玛瑙 | |
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70
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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71
jeer
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| vi.嘲弄，揶揄；vt.奚落；n.嘲笑，讥评 | |
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72
intrepidity
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| n.大胆，刚勇；大胆的行为 | |
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73
chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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74
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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75
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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