The effects of the storm were no longer visible. The dead sailor we buried the day after we ran out of it. The loss of this man and the one who was swept overboard by the sea that pooped us caused every one to be depressed3 in spirit for several days. But a man is soon forgotten when he loses the number of his mess. Great and small they drop out, and are never missed long afterward4. In a little while the songs and croakings that accompanied an accordion5 belonging to the starboard watch told plainly that the few tears shed for a lost shipmate among our men were soon dried and forgotten. Miss Waters repeated her visits to the sick sailor when his{90} watch were on deck, and several times I saw her going forward with the third mate, carrying some gruel6 she had made for him.
Since her remarks to me about having been a sailor and living in a black hole of a fo’castle, she had said little to me. Her mother still kept to her bunk7 during meal hours, and I had escaped facing her, but the girl’s studied coldness more than outweighed8 this pleasure.
I could hardly understand why she should object to a man who was a sailor, when her father and grandfather had both worked their way from the fo’castle to the quarter-deck. But, then, the woman’s reasoning, I argued, was peculiar9 to herself and none the less obstinate10 for being illogical.
Although I was at first put out of temper by her remarks, I now saw that she devoted11 her attention almost entirely12 to young Brown when we were at meals together. This attachment13 appeared much more fitting for a girl of her years and position.
I cursed myself heartily14 for being such a fool as to allow her a moment in my thought.{91} What was I but a mate and a man nearly twice her age? In any case, I had no right to expect her to be more than half-civil to me.
As the weather grew warmer, after we picked up the northeast trade, it was pleasant on deck during the hours of the evening dog-watch. Captain Crojack was easy enough on his mates during good weather, so Brown and I got in the habit of sitting on the combings of the after hatch in the evenings smoking and spinning yarns15 while waiting for eight bells to strike.
Supper always took up nearly half of the two hours, and it was hardly worth while to turn in for the remainder of the watch if the weather was good.
O’Toole thought as the rest of us did upon this subject, for he invariably came on deck after his supper at the second table and smoked a short, black pipe while he spun16 his yarns.
People often wonder why sailors find it necessary to smoke and lie, after eating a hearty17 meal of salt junk and hardtack.{92}
It is just as impossible to explain this as it is to tell why coal-heavers, or longshoremen, invariably put the receipts for their truckloads into their hats. It is for some purpose that the sailor is so constituted. Perhaps good, hard, all-around lying promotes the digestion18 of salt food, by getting the system so thoroughly19 saturated20 with deception21 that the stomach believes the junk fresh. Whatever the purpose, it is probably a good one.
One night we were running along under skysails, with the trade abaft22 the beam. We heeled over gently and sent the foam-flakes swashing from the sides with a musical, tinkling23 sound.
The soft hum of the breeze through the rigging, coupled with the regular sound of the water, was very pleasing to the ears of Brown and myself as we lounged on the combings and smoked. It lacked half an hour of eight bells, and then we would relieve O’Toole, who stood at the break of the poop, lazily watching the canvas.
I dozed24 until the watch was called, and{93} then the second mate roused me and gave the ship’s course, observing:
“’Tis no use av ye goin’ aft whin th’ owld man is there with th’ leddies. He’s in a divil av a timper because I made a remark to th’ man at th’ wheel an’ th’ young gurl an’ her ma heard me. But he’s always finding fault lately an’ something seems t’ be bearing down his mind, an’, by th’ saints, I believe ’tis nothing else than th’ weight av his own opinion.”
“He says you are a devil for story-books and women, O’Toole, and that’s the reason you are such a bad second mate,” I answered, smiling.
But O’Toole didn’t laugh. He appeared thoughtful for some moments, and then said, with great earnestness: “Maybe I am, Mr. Gore25, but is it right for th’ owld man to say it? Is it right for a man who’s had a good income and a handsome wife t’ blackguard a poor divil av a mate because he can’t have either, and say that it is his own fault? No, Mr. Gore, I spake for th’ whole crowd av poor divils, like us, what no dacent woman’ll{94} take up with. You may not be a bright man, Mr. Gore, savin’ your prisence, but, by th’ Prophet, I give ye th’ credit av being a just one. But no matter, I’ll say no more.”
He was silent for a few moments, and then broke out afresh:
“Ha! Ha! ’Twas only yisterday, whin they turned th’ roosters an’ hens out on th’ main-deck t’ give thim an airing, that he began t’ pitch into th’ fowls26 thimselves. He chased a couple av thim from under th’ break av th’ poop, throwin’ a belayin’-pin an’ bawlin’, ‘Git out, ye ornery burds! Have ye got no regard for ayther time, place, or circumstance?’ ’Pon me whurd, ’tis a wonder he didn’t break out his Bible an’ read one av th’ tin commandments t’ thim. It’s a sky-pilot he’s makin’ av th’ owld, rip-roarin’ skipper he used t’ be.”
I went aft and found Crojack talking to the passengers, so, after saying a few words, I made some excuse to go forward again. O’Toole was still sitting on the hatch combings, talking to the third mate. I walked athwartships, under the break of the poop,{95} watching the canvas aloft and at the same time listening to scraps27 of the conversation.
“Faith, I don’t mind gettin’ th’ blame for me own sins,” he was saying, for he was still sore from Crojack’s faultfinding, “but ’tis the takin’ av other people’s upon mesilf that makes me feel onhealthy. I’ve seen enough av the world t’ know that it don’t pay t’ take overmuch responsibility.
“There was a case av th’ kind happened aboard th’ Eagle, frigate28, whin I was captain av th’ maintop, and used t’ teach my fellows how t’ swing a cutlass an’ handle a pistol without making it safer t’ be an inimy than a friend. This, av course, I did whin I was on deck.
“We was in Havana, an’ ’twas hot work drillin’ there, but it wouldn’t have been so bad if th’ owld man hadn’t shut down on th’ beer. As it was, th’ men tried all kinds av ways t’ get th’ stuff on deck from th’ shore. Sometimes they would try and concale it in their clothes, in order to get it aboard, but it was a poor way whin so many was thirsty.{96}
“Finally, th’ bhoys got hold av an idea to float th’ stuff down th’ tideway by th’ keg at night, an’ thin pull it aboard over th’ cat-head whin no one was lookin’.
“There was one divil av a Mike, that was always gettin’ into scrapes, who paid a dago to start a keg one night about eight bells in th’ first watch.
“He was on the lookout29 for it, an’ got it aboard all safe enough, but th’ officer av th’ deck comin’ for’ard at th’ time, he was forced to concale th’ stuff as quick as he could, an’ he did this by rollin’ th’ stuff into th’ bo’s’n’s locker30.
“Ye see, th’ bo’s’n was a dead square and proper man, an’ he niver broke a rule or disobeyed an order; so he thought it was safe.
“Somehow or other, th’ officer, McGraw, wanted a cringle for something, an’ av course he went straight for th’ locker an’ found it.
“Williams was called t’ the mast an’ asked t’ explain how a keg av good beer made its way into his locker.
“Ye see, he had an idea that he must{97} shield th’ feller Mike, who was no good whatever, an’ made more trouble aboard than th’ whole ship’s company besides. So when Captain Broadchin asked th’ question th’ bo’s’n got mighty31 quiet like, an’ the old man had t’ repeat th’ askin’ more’n onct. He looked awful glum32 and solemn when he did answer.
“‘Whist!’ sez he, in a deep, pious33 tone, ‘faith, an’ yer honour, I belave th’ ship’s ha’nted.’
“‘What’s that?’ sez th’ owld man.
“‘Yes, sir,’ sez he. ‘I was walking for’ard, just afore eight bells, whin I see a keg av beer floatin’ in th’ air abaft th’ fore34 riggin’. I knew ’twas ’gainst orders t’ tech th’ stuff, an’ th’ only way t’ save the boys was to hide th’ keg as soon as it lit on th’ main-deck. How th’ rest av th’ watch missed seein’ the keg floatin’ past th’ fore riggin’ I can’t make out at all, at all. But that’s th’ truth, th’ whole truth, an’ a divil a bit besides th’ truth, s’help me Gawd!’
“Well, ye see, old Broadchin was so well satisfied with th’ explanation that he niver{98} said another whurd, an’ he believed so well that he was a-tellin’ av th’ truth that he clapped him in irons an’ kept him ’tween decks th’ whole av’ th’ cruise.
“Whin he was discharged he was all broke in health, an’ he got good an’ drunk an’ came back t’ say good-bye t’ all hands, for he was a good feller, even in liquor.
“‘Good-bye, O’Toole, an’ may th’ Lord bless an’ prosper35 ye,’ sez he. An’ thin he shakes hands all around an’ comes aft t’ where th’ officers was sittin’.
“‘Good-bye, Mr. McGraw, an’ may th’ Lord bless an’ prosper ye,’ sez he t’ th’ liftenant. Then he walked up t’ th’ owld man.
“‘Good-bye t’ ye, too, sir,’ sez he. ‘Good-bye, Captain Broadchin, an’ may th’ Lord bless an’ prosper ye, too, sir—but to a damned limited extint!’
“An’ there was a good bo’s’n gone, all because av that Mike. So I made up me mind thin an’ there niver t’ take another man’s sins upon me sowl, nor shield any av his ornery doin’s by mesilf.”
Brown laughed a little at O’Toole’s{99} account, and then said, with more earnestness than I thought the occasion required:
“After all, the bo’s’n did the right thing, for it would have been rather a mean piece of business to have told how the beer came into his possession and gotten the whole watch in trouble.”
“Not a bit av it—it would have saved a good bo’s’n an’ me a lot av rope’s-ending upon th’ hide av that good-for-nothing man, Mike.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” replied Brown, “I don’t think much of a man who won’t shield his friends. Suppose, for instance, you had a good friend or brother, and something occurred that might get him into trouble. Wouldn’t you do what you could to keep him out of it?”
“Now, ’pon me whurd, if ye ain’t entirely out av your reckoning. I’d see him forty fathoms36 below anywhere at all before I’d risk mesilf.”
Brown rose from the hatch and gave a groan37 of disgust. Then he went aft on the quarter-deck, and all of that watch he appeared{100} to be thinking over some interesting subject. He was so absorbed that he hardly spoke38 to me until midnight. Then he gave a sigh of relief, and, as O’Toole came to relieve us, we went below.
I stopped a few moments to take a bite of the salt junk set out on the cabin table for the mates. Afterward, seeing the light in his stateroom, I passed by his open door to see why a third mate should stay awake during his watch below.
There he sat in his bunk, with a great pile of the most flashy police reports of the period on the stool beside him.
“Come in, Mr. Gore,” said he. “I have just made a fine haul of papers. Found them in that quartermaster’s chest this morning. Take one; they are uncommonly39 interesting,” and he gave me one with an enormous woman in tights pictured on the cover.
“Thanks,” I said. “Good night,” and I went to my room and turned in.
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收听单词发音
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1
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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accordion
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| n.手风琴；adj.可折叠的 | |
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6
gruel
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| n.稀饭，粥 | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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8
outweighed
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| v.在重量上超过( outweigh的过去式和过去分词 )；在重要性或价值方面超过 | |
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9
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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10
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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12
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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14
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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15
yarns
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| n.纱( yarn的名词复数 )；纱线；奇闻漫谈；旅行轶事 | |
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16
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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18
digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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20
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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abaft
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| prep.在…之后；adv.在船尾，向船尾 | |
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23
tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gore
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| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
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26
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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27
scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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28
frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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29
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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30
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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31
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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32
glum
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| adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的 | |
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33
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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34
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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35
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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36
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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37
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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38
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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39
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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