CHAPTER XXXI A FORT DE FRANCE, AY, HO!

That night when Gaspard was on deck, smoking a pipe before turning in, he heard the sound of laughter coming from away forward.

There was no light on deck but the light of the binnacle lamp and a glimmer¹ from a crack in the deck-house door which was closed, and out of the darkness away forward came this sudden shock of laughter, not loud, but hard, mirthless, and inhuman².

If a fiend had dropped from the sky and stridden the bowsprit, he might have emitted such a laugh at La Belle³ Arlésienne, her captain, her crew, and her venture before putting his blight⁴ upon the vessel⁵ and whooping⁶ into the sea.

Gaspard glanced at the steersman. He was a big negro, naked to his waist in the hot night, a colossal⁷ figure touched by the binnacle light. Whether he heard or whether he did not hear it was impossible to say; he shewed neither sign nor movement, with the exception of the movement of the great right hand upon the wheel spoke⁸, now visible, now fleeting⁹ into darkness.

“Pardieu!” muttered Gaspard to himself, “the fellow that made that laugh would not make the pleasantest companion. Let us listen—”

He leaned on the bulwark¹⁰ rail.

The hot southeast trade wind coming out of the velvety209 darkness whispered in the shrouds¹¹ and set the reef points pattering; the warm, windy, starry¹² night had a perfume more than the perfume of the sea; some trace of scent¹³ from the gardens and forests of Dominica, some hint of the spices of Guadaloupe hung on the skirts of the wind.

Then, all of a sudden, from forward came again the voice, not laughing this time.
A Fort de France, Ay ho!
A Fort de France, Ay ho!
Bonjour Doudoux, Ay ho!
A Fort de France.
A Fort de France,
Ay ho!

The chanty of the negroes when they were breaking the cargo¹⁴ out of La Belle Arlésienne sung by that single cracked voice. Now, the negro sailor, or the white, for the matter of that, never sings a working chanty for the pleasure of the thing. Who was this, then, breaking imaginary cargo or tramping at the capstan bars of some visionary vessel?

The deck-house door opened and a burst of light flooded the deck.

Sagesse stood for a moment framed in the doorway¹⁵. He seemed listening to the voice from forward; then he saw Gaspard and called him to come into the deck-house.

A case bottle of rum was on the table, two glasses, and a pitcher¹⁶ of water; one of the glasses held some rum in it. Sagesse had evidently been drinking by himself. His face had a grey tinge¹⁷; something had evidently disturbed him.

He shut the door, filled a glass for Gaspard, placed a box of cigars on the table, all without a word; then he took210 his seat at the table and began talking of the voyage in the desultory¹⁸ manner of a man who wishes to make conversation.

Now and again, as he talked, he ceased, as if to listen. Now, there was nothing to be heard but the voice of the ship, the creak of block and stanchion, the hundred small tongues by which the vessel speaks. Then, thin and far away, would come the other voice:
A Fort de France, Ay ho!

thin, weary, the ghost of a sound.

Gaspard knew now all at once, from Sagesse’s manner, that the singer was Pedro, that the man was delirious¹⁹, probably dying.

But he said nothing. Pedro, what he had seen of him, was a hang-dog looking scoundrel; he did not feel very much interested in his fate, though hating the idea that he had been brutally²⁰ knocked about. What absorbed his attention now was the manner of Sagesse.

The Captain had filled his glass, finished it, and filled again; he talked incessantly²¹, and the talk seemed to intoxicate²² him as much as the rum; the more intoxicated²³ he grew the less did he care about the matter which had been on his mind.

Then, at length, he rose to his feet and flung the deck-house door open for air. He stood for a moment in the doorway, as if listening; but there was nothing to hear, for the voice had ceased.

1 glimmer   

v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光

参考例句：

• I looked at her and felt a glimmer of hope.我注视她，感到了一线希望。
• A glimmer of amusement showed in her eyes.她的眼中露出一丝笑意。

2 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

3 belle   

n.靓女

参考例句：

• She was the belle of her Sunday School class.在主日学校她是她们班的班花。
• She was the belle of the ball.她是那个舞会中的美女。

4 blight   

n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残

参考例句：

• The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
• There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。

5 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

6 whooping   

发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的

参考例句：

• Whooping cough is very prevalent just now. 百日咳正在广泛流行。
• Have you had your child vaccinated against whooping cough? 你给你的孩子打过百日咳疫苗了吗？

7 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

8 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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。

10 bulwark   

n.堡垒，保障，防御

参考例句：

• That country is a bulwark of freedom.那个国家是自由的堡垒。
• Law and morality are the bulwark of society.法律和道德是社会的防御工具。

11 shrouds   

n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密

参考例句：

• 'For instance,' returned Madame Defarge, composedly,'shrouds.' “比如说，”德伐日太太平静地回答，“裹尸布。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• Figure 3-10 illustrates the result of a study or conical shrouds. 图3-10表明了对锥形外壳的研究结果。 来自辞典例句

12 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。

13 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

14 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

15 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

16 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

17 tinge   

vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息

参考例句：

• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。
• There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.她声音中流露出一丝忧伤。

18 desultory   

adj.散漫的，无方法的

参考例句：

• Do not let the discussion fragment into a desultory conversation with no clear direction.不要让讨论变得支离破碎，成为没有明确方向的漫谈。
• The constables made a desultory attempt to keep them away from the barn.警察漫不经心地拦着不让他们靠近谷仓。

19 delirious   

adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的

参考例句：

• He was delirious,murmuring about that matter.他精神恍惚，低声叨念着那件事。
• She knew that he had become delirious,and tried to pacify him.她知道他已经神志昏迷起来了，极力想使他镇静下来。

20 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

21 incessantly   

ad.不停地

参考例句：

• The machines roar incessantly during the hours of daylight. 机器在白天隆隆地响个不停。
• It rained incessantly for the whole two weeks. 雨不间断地下了整整两个星期。

22 intoxicate   

vt.使喝醉，使陶醉，使欣喜若狂

参考例句：

• Wine has the power to intoxicate.酒能醉人。
• Cherishing a rose means to intoxicate yourself on her beauty more than pull her throns out.喜欢玫瑰意思是要我们陶醉它的美丽，而不是去除它的刺。

23 intoxicated   

喝醉的，极其兴奋的

参考例句：

• She was intoxicated with success. 她为成功所陶醉。
• They became deeply intoxicated and totally disoriented. 他们酩酊大醉，东南西北全然不辨。