The tricky3 spirit that seemed to haunt the islet seemed still active and at work, filling his pockets with jewels, yet holding back from him the means of escape.
He rose to his feet and stared about him, trying to remember when he had last lit his pipe; then he came back along the pathway to the beach, searching the ground, the sand, casting his eyes hither and thither4, the sweat running from every pore. He searched the whole width of the beach for twenty yards from the fallen palm trees towards the coral spur; the gulls5 were calling and fishing as of old and their voices seemed mocking him, he, who, burning for action, had yet to walk up and down slowly as an old man, with head bent6 and eyes cast before him after the fashion of a penitent7.
There was no sign of the box; it was a small affair, one of those cheap nickel tinder boxes they sell to sailors, a “smoker’s friend” containing a wheel armed with a bit of flint, a spring which rotated the wheel, and a tiny wick which caught the spark.
He was turning from the beach in despair when his284 foot struck against what seemed a pebble8 half covered by sand. It was the “smoker’s friend.” It had fallen last night from his pocket and the wind had blown the sand over it. He seized it and with it in his hand came running back to the heap of brushwood. He first turned his eyes to the ship. She was larger, nearer, yet seemingly farther from the track of the island; as far as he could judge she might pass it by some three miles. He flung himself on his knees by the heap of brushwood and pressing the spring of the tinder box, struck a spark. It caught on the inflammable wick, the wick smouldered, and then, as he blew at it, broke into flame. It was a very small flame, not nearly as big as that given by a large sized wax match. Then he approached the tiny point of light to one of the dead twigs9 of the brushwood. He was kneeling with his back to the wind so as to protect the flame, but for all his care a breath across his shoulder blew it out.
He cursed. Then holding the box close to his body, he re-lit the wick.
The wetting the box had received during the hurricane must have damaged its spirit; yesterday when he had lit his pipe with it he had done so with great difficulty, but the flame was even more feeble to-day; it went out again at the critical moment, and again, and again; the brushwood, perhaps, from the effect of the sea-salt that had dried upon it, was hard to ignite; had he but a piece of paper the task would have been easy, but there was not a scrap10 on the island.
Then he remembered Sagesse’s pocket-book, which he had buried in the sand. He was rising to hunt for it when he remembered also the banknote that he had taken from the papers of Sagesse and which was in his pocket.
To find the pocket-book might take a long time, for the285 sand had blown smoothly11 over the place where he had buried it; the banknote was to his hand and would burn bravely. It did.
As it took light, and as its flame took the brushwood, a burst of discordant12 cries came from the fishing ground of the gulls away to the southeast. They were fighting over some fish, no doubt, or some offal of the sea cast shoreward, yet as the blue smoke curled upwards13 and as the last of the five hundred franc note burnt Gaspard’s fingers, one might have fancied that they were shouting in derision:
“There goes the first of your fortune in smoke—smoke—smoke. Hi, you there amidst the bushes, think you to escape us with Serpente’s treasure? It is ours—Hi! do you hear? It is ours—ours—ours—Our voices will follow you wherever it goes, bringing weariness, desolation—death—Hi! Hi! Hi!”
Absurdity14, of course, yet the voices of the gulls were a part of the fatefulness of that place, with the blinding light and the desolation, they made its personality—after all, was it absurdity or poetry on the part of the castaway to read into all that a menace, to feel Serpente’s fist still closed upon his treasure, to hear the voices of his sailors in the voices of the gulls. No man can say who has not heard the spirit of the sea speak on the quays15 of Florida, by the lagoons16 of the coast, on the islands of the Caribbean—who has not seen Laropé’s topsails break the horizon, leading into poor reality the hull17 of some trading ship, or heard the gulls of the lagoons telling the fate of the old buccaneers.
Now the bonfire was burning bravely, and Gaspard, attacking the bay cedars18 with his knife, cast younger wood upon the flames; it damped them down, but it gave smoke,286 blankets and spirals of blue-grey smoke, thickening, deepening, and at last rising in a steady column. He ran to the fallen palm trees and hacked19 away their fronds20, half dried and half withered21 by the sea; they increased the flame and more green brushwood increased the smoke.
It was now magnificent, a pillar of darkness rising in the air, bending to the wind and breaking into fronds of smoke.
He left it, and shading his eyes stared out across the sea. The vessel was almost abreast22 of the island, about three miles away to northward23, scarcely two miles to westward24; she was a small vessel, ship rigged; that is to say, with square sails on all her three masts; she would not be more than two hundred and fifty or three hundred tons.
The wind had veered25 almost into the east, so she had it on her beam.
She seemed indifferent to all things and as divorced from reality as a painted ship in some brilliant picture of the sea. Never did it seem possible that she would respond to call or signal.
She was abreast of the island now—and now—Gaspard could scarcely believe his eyes—she was altering her course; the wind was spilling from her sails—she was heaving to.
He saw a boat detach itself from her, a tiny speck26 at first, now larger, now plainly visible; it was making, not for the western side, but for the southern beach, where the landing was good. Evidently the vessel knew the island and had landed a boat here before.
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1
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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2
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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4
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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6
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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7
penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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8
pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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9
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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10
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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11
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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12
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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13
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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15
quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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16
lagoons
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| n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 )；潟湖；（大湖或江河附近的）小而浅的淡水湖；温泉形成的池塘 | |
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17
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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18
cedars
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| 雪松，西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 ) | |
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19
hacked
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| 生气 | |
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fronds
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| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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21
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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22
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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23
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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24
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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25
veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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26
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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