But on the night of July twenty-sixth the old spirit of indolence, of pleasure seeking, flirtation10, intriguing11, which was wont12 to make this heart of arc-light life in Marseilles pulse languorously13, was gone. Instead, an electric tenseness was abroad, pervading14, infectious. About each sidewalk table heads were clustered close in conference, and eloquent15 hands aided explosive argument. Around the news kiosk at the Café Pytheas corner a constant stream eddied16. Men snatched papers from the pile, spread them before their faces, and blundered into their fellow pedestrians17 as they walked, buried in the inky columns. Now and again half-naked urchins18 came charging down the Cannebière, waving shinplaster extras above their heads—"L'Allemagne s'arme! La guerre vient!" Up from the Quai marched a dozen sailors from a torpedo19 boat, arms linked so that they almost spanned the Cannebière. Their red-tasseled caps were pushed back at cocky angles on their black heads, and as they marched they shouted in time: "A Berlin! Hou—hou!"
The black shadow of war—the first hallucinations of the great madness—gripped Marseilles.
For Captain Woodhouse, just in from Berlin that evening, all this swirling20 excitement had but an incidental interest. He sat alone by one of the little iron tables before the Café Pytheas, sipping21 his boc, and from time to time his eyes carelessly followed the eddying22 of the swarm23 about the news kiosk. Always his attention would come back, however, to center on the thin shoulders of a man sitting fifteen or twenty feet away with a wine cooler by his side. He could not see the face of the wine drinker; he did not want to. All he cared to do was to keep those thin shoulders always in sight. Each time the solicitous24 waiter renewed the bottle in the wine cooler Captain Woodhouse nodded grimly, as a doctor might when he recognized the symptoms of advancing fever in a patient.
So for two days, from Berlin across to Paris, and now on this third day here in the Mediterranean port, Woodhouse had kept ever in sight those thin shoulders and that trembling hand beyond the constantly crooking26 elbow. Not a pleasant task; he had come to loathe27 and abominate28 the very wrinkles in the back of that shiny coat. But a very necessary duty it was for Captain Woodhouse to shadow Mr. Billy Capper until—the right moment should arrive. They had come down on the same express together from Paris. Woodhouse had observed Capper when he checked his baggage, a single shoddy hand-bag, for La Vendée, the French line ship sailing with the dawn next morning for Alexandria and Port Said via Malta. Capper had squared his account at the Hotel Allées de Meilhan, for the most part a bill for absinth frappés, after dinner that night, and was now enjoying the night life of Marseilles in anticipation29, evidently, of carrying direct to the steamer with him as his farewell from France all of the bottled laughter of her peasant girls he could accommodate.
The harsh memories of how he had been forced to drink the bitter lees of poverty during the lean months rode Billy Capper hard, and this night he wanted to fill all the starved chambers30 of his soul with the robust31 music of the grape. So he drank with a purpose and purposefully. That he drank alone was a matter of choice with Capper; he could have had a pair of dark eyes to glint over a goblet32 into his had he wished—indeed, opportunities almost amounted to embarrassment33. But to all advances from the fair, Billy Capper returned merely an impolite leer. He knew from beforetime that he was his one best companion when the wine began to warm him. So he squared himself to his pleasure with an abandoned rakishness expressed in the set of his thin shoulders and the forward droop34 of his head.
Woodhouse, who watched, noted35 only one peculiarity36 in Capper's conduct: The drinker nursed his stick, a plain, crook25-handled malacca, with a tenderness almost maternal37. It never left his hands. Once when Capper dropped it and the waiter made to prop38 the stick against a near-by chair, the little spy leaped to his feet and snatched the cane39 away with a growl40. Thereafter he propped41 his chin on the handle, only removing this guard when he had to tip his head back for another draft of champagne42.
Eleven o'clock came. Capper rose from the table and looked owlishly about him. Woodhouse quickly turned his back to the man, and was absorbed in the passing strollers. When he looked back again Capper was slowly and a little unsteadily making his way around the corner into the Cannebière. Woodhouse followed, sauntering. Capper began a dilatory43 exploration of the various cafés along the white street; his general course was toward the city's slums about the Quai. Woodhouse, dawdling44 about tree boxes and dodging45 into shadows by black doorways46, found his quarry47 easy to trail. And he knew that each of Capper's sojourns48 in an oasis49 put a period to the length of the pursuit. The time for him to act drew appreciably50 nearer with every tipping of that restless elbow.
Midnight found them down in the reek8 and welter of the dives and sailors' frolic grounds. Now the trailer found his task more difficult, inasmuch as not only his quarry but he himself was marked by the wolves. Dances in smoke-wreathed rooms slackened when Capper lurched in, found a seat and ordered a drink. Women with cheeks carmined like poppies wanted to make predatory love to him; dock rats drew aside and consulted in whispers. When Capper retreated from an evil dive on the very edge of the Quai, Woodhouse, waiting by the doors, saw that he was not the only shadower. Close against the dead walls flanking the narrow pavement a slinking figure twisted and writhed51 after the drunkard, now spread-eagling all over the street.
Woodhouse quickened his pace on the opposite sidewalk. The street was one lined with warehouses52, their closely shuttered windows the only eyes. Capper dropped his stick, laboriously53 halted, and started to go back for it. That instant the shadow against the walls detached itself and darted54 for the victim. Woodhouse leaped to the cobbles and gained Capper's side just as he dropped like a sack of rags under a blow from the dock rat's fist.
"Son of a pig! This is my meat; you clear out!" The humped black beetle55 of a man straddling the sprawling56 Capper whipped a knife from his girdle and faced Woodhouse. Quicker than light the captain's right arm shot out; a thud as of a maul on an empty wine butt57, and the Apache turned a half somersault, striking the cobbles with the back of his head. Woodhouse stooped, lifted the limp Capper from the street stones, and staggered with him to the lighted avenue of the Cannebière, a block away. He hailed a late-cruising fiacre, propped Capper in the seat, and took his place beside him.
"To La Vendée, Quai de la Fraternité!" Woodhouse ordered.
The driver, wise in the ways of the city, asked no questions, but clucked to his crow bait. Woodhouse turned to make a quick examination of the unconscious man by his side. He feared a stab wound; he found nothing but a nasty cut on the head, made by brass58 knuckles59. With the wine helping60, any sort of a blow would have put Capper out, he reflected.
Woodhouse turned his back on the bundle of clothes and reached for the malacca stick. Even in his coma61 its owner grasped it tenaciously62 at midlength. Without trying to disengage the clasp, Woodhouse gripped the wood near the crook of the handle with his left Hand while with his right he applied63 torsion above. The crook turned on hidden threads and came off in his hand. An exploring forefinger64 in the exposed hollow end of the cane encountered a rolled wisp of paper. Woodhouse pocketed this, substituted in its place a thin clean sheet torn from a card-case memorandum65, then screwed the crook on the stick down on the secret receptacle. By the light of a match he assured himself the paper he had taken from the cane was what he wanted.
"Larceny66 from the person—guilty," he murmured, with a wry67 smile of distaste. "But assault—unpremeditated."
The conveyance68 trundled down a long spit of stone and stopped by the side of a black hull69, spotted70 with round eyes of light. The driver, scenting71 a tip, helped Woodhouse lift Capper to the ground and prop him against a bulkhead. A bos'n, summoned from La Vendée by the cabby's shrill72 whistle, heard Woodhouse's explanation with sympathy.
"Occasionally, yes, m'sieu, the passengers from Marseilles have these regrets at parting," he gravely commented, accepting the ticket Woodhouse had rummaged73 from the unconscious man's wallet and a crinkled note from Woodhouse's. Up the gangplank, feet first, went the new agent of the Wilhelmstrasse. The one who called himself "captain in his majesty's signal service" returned to his hotel.
At dawn, La Vendée cleared the harbor for Alexandria via Malta, bearing a very sick Billy Capper to his destiny. Five hours later the Castle liner, Castle Claire, for the Cape74 via Alexandria and Suez direct, sailed out of the Old Port, among her passengers a Captain Woodhouse.
点击收听单词发音
1 chateau | |
n.城堡,别墅 | |
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2 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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3 rosebuds | |
蔷薇花蕾,妙龄少女,初入社交界的少女( rosebud的名词复数 ) | |
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4 persuasive | |
adj.有说服力的,能说得使人相信的 | |
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5 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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6 hooded | |
adj.戴头巾的;有罩盖的;颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的 | |
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7 moors | |
v.停泊,系泊(船只)( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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8 reek | |
v.发出臭气;n.恶臭 | |
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9 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
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10 flirtation | |
n.调情,调戏,挑逗 | |
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11 intriguing | |
adj.有趣的;迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词);激起…的好奇心 | |
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12 wont | |
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
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13 languorously | |
adv.疲倦地,郁闷地 | |
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14 pervading | |
v.遍及,弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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15 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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16 eddied | |
起漩涡,旋转( eddy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 pedestrians | |
n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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18 urchins | |
n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 );淘气鬼;猬;海胆 | |
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19 torpedo | |
n.水雷,地雷;v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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20 swirling | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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21 sipping | |
v.小口喝,呷,抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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22 eddying | |
涡流,涡流的形成 | |
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23 swarm | |
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入 | |
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24 solicitous | |
adj.热切的,挂念的 | |
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25 crook | |
v.使弯曲;n.小偷,骗子,贼;弯曲(处) | |
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26 crooking | |
n.弯曲(木材等的缺陷)v.弯成钩形( crook的现在分词 ) | |
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27 loathe | |
v.厌恶,嫌恶 | |
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28 abominate | |
v.憎恨,厌恶 | |
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29 anticipation | |
n.预期,预料,期望 | |
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30 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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31 robust | |
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的 | |
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32 goblet | |
n.高脚酒杯 | |
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33 embarrassment | |
n.尴尬;使人为难的人(事物);障碍;窘迫 | |
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34 droop | |
v.低垂,下垂;凋萎,萎靡 | |
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35 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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36 peculiarity | |
n.独特性,特色;特殊的东西;怪癖 | |
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37 maternal | |
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的 | |
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38 prop | |
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山 | |
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39 cane | |
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的 | |
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40 growl | |
v.(狗等)嗥叫,(炮等)轰鸣;n.嗥叫,轰鸣 | |
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41 propped | |
支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42 champagne | |
n.香槟酒;微黄色 | |
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43 dilatory | |
adj.迟缓的,不慌不忙的 | |
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44 dawdling | |
adj.闲逛的,懒散的v.混(时间)( dawdle的现在分词 ) | |
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45 dodging | |
n.避开,闪过,音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 );回避 | |
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46 doorways | |
n.门口,门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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47 quarry | |
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找 | |
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48 sojourns | |
n.逗留,旅居( sojourn的名词复数 ) | |
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49 oasis | |
n.(沙漠中的)绿洲,宜人的地方 | |
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50 appreciably | |
adv.相当大地 | |
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51 writhed | |
(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52 warehouses | |
仓库,货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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53 laboriously | |
adv.艰苦地;费力地;辛勤地;(文体等)佶屈聱牙地 | |
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54 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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55 beetle | |
n.甲虫,近视眼的人 | |
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56 sprawling | |
adj.蔓生的,不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 );蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着) | |
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57 butt | |
n.笑柄;烟蒂;枪托;臀部;v.用头撞或顶 | |
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58 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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59 knuckles | |
n.(指人)指关节( knuckle的名词复数 );(指动物)膝关节,踝v.(指人)指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 );(指动物)膝关节,踝 | |
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60 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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61 coma | |
n.昏迷,昏迷状态 | |
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62 tenaciously | |
坚持地 | |
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63 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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64 forefinger | |
n.食指 | |
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65 memorandum | |
n.备忘录,便笺 | |
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66 larceny | |
n.盗窃(罪) | |
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67 wry | |
adj.讽刺的;扭曲的 | |
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68 conveyance | |
n.(不动产等的)转让,让与;转让证书;传送;运送;表达;(正)运输工具 | |
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69 hull | |
n.船身;(果、实等的)外壳;vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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70 spotted | |
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
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71 scenting | |
vt.闻到(scent的现在分词形式) | |
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72 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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73 rummaged | |
翻找,搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 ); 已经海关检查 | |
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74 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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