The breeze was fitful and squally off the land as usual, and bringing with it the thick haze1 of pollen2 from the rank vegetation on shore. The air being hot, the watch below stayed on deck and lay in the waterway or behind the deck-house, trying to catch the draught3 blown on the deck from the stretched canvas as it slid under the foot of the main and foresails.
Martin was lying in the shadow of the foremast to keep the moon out of his eyes, and he shifted his position every little while as the bright light followed him around the mast. Beside him lay Anderson, and near by, in the open moonlight, in total disregard for his eyes, was stretched the long skipper, 255Shannon, prone4 upon his back, with his shirt open to catch the breeze.
I sat near the fore-hatchway and watched the shadow of the fabric5 above swing to and fro upon the deck planks6, the lines of the rigging standing7 out sharp and black on the white wood, the dark blots8 of the canvas moving slowly within a certain radius9 with each easy roll of the long swell10. It was a bright tropic moon, and it was serenely11 beautiful. I lounged there, enjoying the silvery light, and hated to sleep lest I miss some of the rare beauty of the darker hours.
Gradually the men on watch settled themselves comfortably, and only the steady tramp of the man on lookout12 upon the forecastle head, and Hawkson’s step upon the poop told of life aboard. Once or twice the mate’s hoarse14 voice sounded gruffly, asking Holmberg, who was at the wheel, how she headed, and the answer came low and distinct through the quiet night. The musical hiss15 and twinkle of the side-wash sounded restful upon the ear after the day’s toil16 and heat, and seemed to tell of cool sprays. I had the right to sleep, but only dozed17, thinking of the disagreeable work in store for us. We would probably take on many blacks here, and nearly, if not quite, fill up with them. Those already aboard gave forth18 an odour that was far from reassuring19, coming as it did up the open 256hatchway, and I dreaded20 several hundred more creatures jammed below there, where they must of necessity die like vermin in a box.
While I dozed, I became aware of a whispered conversation. Soon I recognized Martin’s voice, though I could not quite hear his words. He seemed to be talking to Shannon, who had now rolled over in the shadow of the mast alongside of the Scot.
I listened again, for the fellow’s voice was eager, as it was when he talked of any deviltry he expected to enjoy, and I noticed the same tone he used to me when we first made our acquaintance, and when we discussed the probability of the barque becoming a rover and preying21 upon any vessel22 of smaller size.
“D’ye ken23 that? I say, ye long man, d’ye ken that?” said he in answer to a question he had evidently asked. “’Tis as easy fer us as not. There’s Anderson waiting to kill the mate, an’ Jorg willin’ to kill any one, and there’s Pat, Gus, Gilbert, an’ the Doctor willin’ to follow. Hoot24! we’d make a finish, na fear. Why, ye c’u’d whollop half the crew yerself, ye long cateran. Didn’t ye nigh do it the day ye made yer jump into the hooker? Help ye? Now, now, c’u’d I have helped ye? Na, na, don’t ask mericles. I let fly the jib, but ’twould have been murder an’ sudden death to have gone aft then. All armed, an’ with that gunner man fightin’ like 257a sack o’ wildcats, an’ the little fox havin’ a death-grip on yer pipe. Talk sense an’ to the p’int.”
“You air a loose-jawed hell-dog, I wanter know,” said Shannon. “D’you suppose it’s fear a-keepin’ me, hey? What’d you know about the coast, anyways? What’d you want to try an’ tell me?” Then in a more friendly tone: “I know you air a navigator. Good sailor, all right, an’ would stick to a job, but there is a right time for business. I’m a-runnin’ this thing, an’ all you’ve got to do is wait till I says the word. I think a whole lot o’ ye, Martin, an’ would hate to see you swing. There ain’t no one I cares as much for, that’s a fact. An’ when a fellow like me cares for a man,--I say a man, Martin, for that’s what you are, hey? When a fellow like me says that, that same thing, it stands fer something. If it don’t, I wanter know.”
This sort of flattery evidently pleased the Scot. He said something in a low tone, and I felt convinced that he was easily within the power of the long countryman of mine. It’s strange, but immediately after hearing this, I must have lost consciousness, for when I awoke it was gray dawn and a chill filled the air. The watch was called, and I turned out by simply standing up and then sitting down again.
In a little while we washed down the damp decks, and I had a chance to get a look to the northeast, 258when the haze of the surf blotted25 out the shore-line. By the time the Doctor had his fire started and we had something warm, the sun rose and disclosed the ruinous settlement of Lagos.
The conversation I had heard disturbed me. There was something sinister26 in its meaning, and, while I had no love for the barque, I did not care to make a bad matter worse. However, I had no chance to talk the matter over until we had run in and dropped our anchor close to the settlement, and there Yankee Dan appeared on deck ready to go ashore27 for trading. Howard and Curtis also turned out, and Miss Allen appeared at the companion, very much interested in the distant shore, where the houses were just visible in the morning sunshine.
She smiled somewhat sadly at me as I went aft and loosed the covers from the stern guns, and saw that the priming was in good order. I had begun to think the poor girl out of place long before, and I now felt a sort of hatred28 for her father, who could expose her to such scenes without any apparent pity. But the trader had become callous29 from experience in the slaving business, and saw nothing unusual in cooping up a shipful of human beings. They were no more than so many cattle to him, and, as to his daughter’s feelings, he had offered her a 259chance to stay ashore. If she preferred the scenes of violence, it was no concern of his.
Before I had a chance to see Hawkson, the shore boat was called away. Bill, Jones, Jennings, and myself manned the whale-boat, and we were soon heading in over the swell for the slave factory that was known to exist a short distance inland. Hicks and Gull30 accompanied the trader ashore, and the latter stood at the steering-oar13 to pilot us through the surf. In spite of the calm weather in the Bight of Benin, there is sometimes a heavy swell that sets in from many miles offshore31, where some passing disturbance32 of the atmosphere has caused a heavy blow. The swell is long and heaving, and not so easily noticed until it begins to rise in the shoal water. Then its size develops, and it goes up in a wall until the top breaks and the whole mass goes roaring shoreward in a great smother33 of foam34. From the sea side, the height of the breakers is hard to judge, and they are very apt to be underestimated on a calm day.
Mr. Gull stood up as we neared the first line of snoring water, and I could see by his face that he was a bit nervous. This had its effect on me, for no one with any nervousness should attempt to go through a heavy surf. The situation calls for absolute coolness.
“Easy now,” came the order, and we lay waiting 260for a smooth spell. By some strange freak of nature, seas always roll in sequences. That is, they will run in twos and three or sixes and nines, with a “smooth” between. A surfman will always watch to see how they are running before going in. Gull counted three heavy fellows that roared and thundered in a most appalling35 manner, and then, grasping the long steering-oar firmly, sung out to give way lively.
We went racing36 for the beach, and were doing well when, on looking over the stern, I saw an enormous sea rising and coming quickly after us. It rose like a wall astern and towered above the boat. Then instantly it broke with a roar and rush, and we were hurled37 before it. Gull tried to hold her true, keeping her stern to the surge, but she took a slew38 and the oar broke. Then she swung sideways and rolled over and over with the rush, and when I came to the surface of the foam, half-strangled by being so quickly rolled out of the boat, she lay bottom up some ten fathoms39 distant, floating in the smother.
No one was visible, and I struck out for the craft, as there was no bottom and the beach was fifty fathoms distant. Suddenly I saw Bill spattering and struggling, trying to reach the wreck40, but showing plainly that he could not swim a stroke. Ernest suddenly appeared alongside of him, and, being 261able to swim after a fashion, he aided him to reach the gunwale, where both held on firmly, ducking the following seas that flowed over them.
Jennings managed to keep his grip on the boat, and was alongside, holding on, when I noticed a form floating face downward pass me.
I was a fairly good swimmer, although it is a strange fact that few real sailormen can swim at all. I grasped the body and lifted the head clear of the water with my hand just as another sea broke heavily over me, dragging and crushing me down with its weight.
My heart seemed bursting when I arose, still holding the insensible man, and my first intake41 of breath nearly strangled me. However, I was a powerful fellow, and in a few strokes managed to get started for the upturned boat that now floated some distance nearer shore.
In a few minutes I reached her, and Bill relieved me for a moment while I passed a line over the craft’s bottom. On the other side I found Jones and Yankee Dan both safe and holding on. Together we managed to hold Hicks, whom I now recognized, clear of the water. He had been struck on the head by the boat or an oar and knocked insensible. Gull was nowhere about, and for some time we gave him up for lost, but he had swum in on a broken thwart42.
262In a little while we heard shouting, and saw him standing on the sand with a couple of black fellows, who, at his direction, plunged43 in and came toward us. The negroes helped us ashore, and we hauled the boat up clear of the surf. It was a close call, and Hicks still appeared either dead or senseless. We carried him up the beach and laid him under a palm, and set to work chafing44 his wrists and ankles.
In a little while he opened his eyes and noticed me.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, faintly, trying to sit up. Bill caught his head and held it, while Gull passed his arm under him.
“Trying to quit the expedition,” said Yankee Dan, bluffly45. “You were trying to leave us, my boy, but this fellow, Heywood, here, nabbed you in time, and swam in to the boat with you. Otherwise you’d ’a’ been drowned, an’ that’s a fact. You’d ’a’ been drowned sure.”
Hicks looked at me seriously for some moments and then spoke46:
“It’s hard to owe one’s life to a fool, but here’s my hand, Heywood,” said he, with a faint smile.
“It’s as hard to acknowledge the favour from one, sir,” I answered, with some little feeling, but then I remembered the time at Funchal, and I smiled 263and held out my hand, which he grasped firmly, and rose to his feet.
Sir John Hicks was a man of rather unsavoury reputation, but he was not a man who would be gross enough to forget.
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收听单词发音
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1
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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2
pollen
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| n.[植]花粉 | |
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3
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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4
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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5
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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6
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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7
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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8
blots
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| 污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点 | |
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9
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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10
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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11
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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12
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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13
oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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14
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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15
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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16
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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17
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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18
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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19
reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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20
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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21
preying
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| v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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22
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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23
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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24
hoot
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| n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭 | |
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25
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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26
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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27
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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28
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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29
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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30
gull
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| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
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31
offshore
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| adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面 | |
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32
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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33
smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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34
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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35
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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36
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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37
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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38
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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39
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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40
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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41
intake
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| n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口 | |
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42
thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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43
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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44
chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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45
bluffly
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| 率直地，粗率地 | |
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46
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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