It was a scene characteristically West Indian. The long wooden pier crowded with a jabbering11, multi-coloured throng3, the mountains of coal from which fine particles of coal-dust came flying as the sea breeze swept over the wharf; the noise, the confusion, the total lack of all appearance of order—though order of a kind was certainly maintained—the dark faces, eager or tearful; the ragged12 porters who balanced on their heads packages weighing over a hundred pounds each as though they were feather pillows; the few white men moving perfectly13 at ease amongst the excited people; the brilliant sunlight, the great arch of dazzling sky, the gently-heaving green-tinted water, the crowds of boys, who, simply clad in a short pair of breeches, swam and dived like fishes in the sea, shaking their heads as they rose to the surface, and showing their strong white teeth as they laughed and shouted to the people on the ship—all this was typical of a British West Indian island on a day when a vessel leaves the port.
To Susan and Jones it was not strange, and the noise could not possibly confuse them. They pushed their way through the crowd, followed by Mr. Proudleigh, his wife, Miss Proudleigh, and Susan’s sisters; but at the gangway they were stopped by one of the Steamship14 Company’s officials, who firmly told them that only passengers were allowed to go on board. Here they separated. Susan kissed all her folk, Jones shook hands with them, and then the two climbed up the gangway, and Susan found herself at last on the deck of the steamer which was to take her to a strange and distant land.
For the first time doubts assailed15 her. For the first time she realized fully16 that she was leaving her home, perhaps for good; and as she looked from the deck down upon her people a lump gathered to her throat and she began to wonder if she were altogether wise. Yet she would not have given up her purpose for a moment. She was too deeply bitten by the prevailing17 desire to go somewhere.
She leaned against the vessel’s rail, now and then exchanging a word at the top of her voice with Catherine or her father. Jones was as gay as ever, and was loudly explaining to some of his friends on the pier that he would have travelled first-class had he not been taking a female with him. He was in the condition locally known as “merry” (this term indicating generally a half-way stage between soberness and intoxication), and seemed to entertain a cheerful expectation of being shot immediately after arrival in Colon18; but Susan saw nothing exhilarating in such a prospect19, and more than once suggested to him that he should stop talking nonsense.
She was to travel second-class; but for the present she remained standing20 amongst the deck-passengers. There were over a hundred of these, and the deck on which they were gathered was littered with boxes and trunks containing their clothes, and with the deck-chairs on which they would sit during the day and sleep at night. It seemed a strange scene to Susan’s wondering eyes. The beat of the engines stunned21 her, the smells nauseated22 her, she was conscious of a throbbing23 in her head. Suddenly it seemed to her as though the pier and the people on it were moving backwards24. She heard a great shout of “Good-bye!” She saw a great waving of hands. They were going, going, and now she broke down and began to cry outright25.
“Look after the shop good, Kate!” she called out to her sister; and “Good-bye, mammee—good-bye, papee! good-bye!”
Her mother waved in reply, two big tears stealing down her withered26 cheeks. Her father, though much comforted by the reflection that the shop had been left to the family as a source of revenue, yet felt sad. But he waved his hat and shouted, “Take care of you’self, Susan, an’ write to me!” and continued waving his hat long after there was any possibility of its being seen by her. Then, when the crowd on the pier had become an indistinct mass, Susan went to the second-class passengers’ deck and began to wonder once more what sort of life awaited her in Colon. . . .
Steadily27 Kingston dwindled28 into a collection of white houses nestling amidst a forest of trees and backed by a noble range of smoke-blue mountains. And as the ship steamed through the narrow channel that forms the entrance to the city’s harbour, the shrill29 voice of a woman rose in a quavering chant, and soon all the deckers were singing the words of some plaintive30 hymn31.
It was their way of bidding farewell to Jamaica.
Thus singing, they left the land behind.
“Susan! get up! This is not a time to sleep.”
Susan, who had been sleeping but fitfully, awoke at once with a start. Jones was rapping loudly at her cabin door. Something in his voice startled her.
“What is it?” she asked, frightened.
“The comet! It’s the first time I see it.”
Susan dressed in a minute; she hurried out of the cabin and went to the well-deck with Jones.
It was about four o’clock in the morning, but there was as yet no sign of the coming day. A crescent moon was glowing above, but the light of it paled into insignificance32 before the radiant splendour of the morning star. There in the East hung Venus, like a great lamp illumining all heaven and earth, a diamond set against a magnificent background of millions and millions of stars. These indeed were strewn almost as thickly in the sky as sand in a desert; look where you would, you saw them, some faint, some bright, and some like silver dust scattered33 profusely34 about the lofty silent dome35 that overarched and covered the wide circle of the sea. The gleaming planet and scintillating36 sky were alone sufficient to impress those who beheld37 them that morning with a sense of wonder and of awe38. Their serene39 and lofty beauty, immeasurable grandeur40, and vast incalculable distance must have appealed even to the most indifferent care-blunted mind. But it was not upon these that hundreds of eyes were turned when Susan and her lover reached the starboard of the vessel, where a crowd of persons were already standing. All looked at but one object—a great band of light that streamed up from below the eastern horizon and swept across the sky to the south-west, where it dipped into the sea. Clear and distinct it shone, in spite of the radiance around it: a flaming portent41, as it seemed, emerging suddenly out of the mysterious depths of space. Most of the travellers on the ship saw it for the first time that morning. They looked at it startled, and with palpitating hearts.
“The comet,” whispered Jones again, and—
“The sword of the Lord,” said calmly but distinctly an old man who stood amongst the deckers.
Almost every one talked in whispers. Something oppressed them—a vague, uncanny feeling. The women pressed their hands against their hearts.
They were alone on the sea. On land they would not have feared so much, for nearly all calamities42, or imagined indications of calamity43, the West Indian peasant can face with a calmness which springs from his deep-rooted fatalism. But here they were amidst surroundings strange to them; they were alone in a world which they regarded with apprehension—alone upon the sea with the sword of the Lord flaming in the heavens above them.
The sea ran swiftly, wave racing44 after wave, black and foam-crested. They dashed against the sides of the vessel, flinging high into the air a glistening45 shower of spray which fell back upon the bosom46 of the waters in sparks of liquid fire. The prow47 of the ship seemed to plunge48 into argent flame; in its wake writhed49 and twisted a long serpent of light. The phosphorescent gleams of the tropic sea flashed an answer to the brilliance50 of the tropic sky above, and fire seemed glancing and blazing everywhere.
The wind blew steadily from east to west, and the throbbing of the engines added to the roar of the leaping, hurrying waves. Now and again a murmuring sound was heard amongst the people on the deck—a sound as if they prayed.
Long and earnestly they gazed upon the comet; and then into Jones’s mind came the words of his friend Septimus, spoken so short a time before.
He bent52 down and whispered in Susan’s ear:
“You think it mean anything, Sue?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, almost inaudibly; “but it’s awful; an’ if it was to come close an’ we should all dead, where would we go to, Sam?”
As if in reply to her question, the old man amongst the deck passengers, who had called the comet “The Sword of the Lord,” again lifted up his voice, this time repeating some words from the Scriptures53:
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy that He cannot hear. But your iniquities55 have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.”
Susan heard and trembled; a woman in the crowd of watchers groaned56 out, “Yes, Lord!”
“Have mercy!” sobbed57 another.
Some one began repeating the hymn, “Jesus, Lover of my Soul.”
“Christ, have mercy,” prayed the shivering people.
“Sue,” whispered Jones, “I heard on Friday night that the comet won’t touch the world until Wednesday; so when we get to Colon to-morrow morning we better married. This sort of life is not one to face death in. I am not a coward, Sue, but, after all, it will be better to die right.”
An immense weight seemed lifted off Susan’s heart as she heard these words. Her present mode of life was called “living in sin” by the ministers and religious folk of her country; and so persistently58 had this view of it been inculcated that, in common with thousands of others, she had come to regard unsanctified connexions as the one offence really worth considering. True, she had never gone further than giving her intellectual assent59 to this proposition; but then she had never seen a great comet blazing in the sky before. She now agreed with it with all her soul.
“You right, Sam,” she whispered; “let us make our peace wid God, in case anything happen.” And as she spoke51 the thought flashed through her mind that, if nothing did happen, she would be Mrs. Jones, a prospect of social advancement60 which, even at that tremendous moment, gave her a thrill of delight.
Some of the deckers were audibly praying now. The old man, who in Kingston had been a well-known street-preacher, kept on repeating tags of Scripture54 and words of warning; but gradually, in spite of his efforts to terrify the passengers into hysterics and thus establish his spiritual supremacy61, they grew more calm, and soon began to talk at their ordinary pitch of voice.
For the sky was lightening. Slowly the morning star dimmed her brightness, the other stars paled and flickered62 out, the comet shone but indistinctly, and the moon grew white. Before it was five o’clock “The Sword of the Lord” had disappeared. And as the sky changed from black to grey, and from grey to pink and pearl and loveliest azure63, as the phosphorescent brilliance of the water died away and the sun came surging up out of the sea, a great palpitating globe of golden fire, the passengers busied themselves with their toilet, and laughed and chatted as though they had not, but an hour before, been thinking of imminent64 death.
The transformation65 was complete. The sun had restored their courage, and had banished66 for the moment all fear from their minds. As for Susan, she fell sick during the day, her stomach no longer being able to endure the rocking and vibration67 of the ship. So she did not talk much about anything, and did not even trouble to mention the marriage which she and Jones were to celebrate the next day in Colon, as a sort of spiritual insurance against the eternal fire with which the greater part of mankind might be threatened on the 18th and after.
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1
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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jabbering
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的现在分词 )；急促兴奋地说话；结结巴巴 | |
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12
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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colon
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| n.冒号，结肠，直肠 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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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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21
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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22
nauseated
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| adj.作呕的，厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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24
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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26
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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27
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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30
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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31
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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32
insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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scintillating
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| adj．才气横溢的,闪闪发光的; 闪烁的 | |
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37
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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38
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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40
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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41
portent
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| n.预兆；恶兆；怪事 | |
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42
calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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44
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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45
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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46
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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47
prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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48
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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49
writhed
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| （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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50
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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51
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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52
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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53
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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55
iniquities
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| n.邪恶( iniquity的名词复数 )；极不公正 | |
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56
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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57
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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61
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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62
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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64
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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66
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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