Thus Atlas1 delivered his commands, looking up, a frowning young god, of lowering brows, from under the weight which he was steadying--helping to steady. And if his tones were cramped2, they were the more imperious.
The May-flower flock of faces, swimming before his bent3 gaze, receded--retreated to the confines of the shipyard; all--all save one!
One defied him. One still derided4 him with that firefly challenge which silently said, “Dear me! how important we are!”
“Back!” waved Atlas again, flourishing a half-numbed arm. But the Flame was still defiant5. He knew it for a Flame now: a flame of mischief6, sunlit mockery, obstinacy7, perhaps--temper, upon occasion--and all manner of deeper fires.
He did not know that it was named by the Council Fire for what it was--and what it aspired8 to be of kindling9 warmth--Sesooā, the Flame; otherwise, Sara Davenport, embodiment of “pep” in a Camp Fire Group.
Once more he waved his right hand imperiously. Even the fingers began to feel wooden and look yellow in the sunlight, like the great branching timber, measuring thirty feet in its curve, weighing half a ton, which to an onlooker10 he seemed to be supporting upon his back and shoulders, although the ponderous11 weight was still really suspended in the hempen12 falls of the derrick.
Relying upon these straining ropes, one of the two ship-carpenters who had been steadying the ponderous rib13 with their hands, leaped down to lend some aid in “shoring it,” propping14 it in place upon the skeleton vessel’s narrow keel-timbers.
It might have been ten seconds later that Atlas felt the peculiar15 thrill and quiver all through his bent back, his numbing16 legs--with their feet braced17 upon the stocks, or building-blocks--that he felt when trout-fishing or “drailing” in the ocean, if a big fish nibbled19 at his line.
He had got a nibble18 now! A danger nibble! There was a tremble, a shudder20, in the great rib pressing upon him.
Er-er-err-r! It was the gurgle of an aged21 rope, a worn-out rope, parting, strand22 by strand, in mid-air.
“My s-soul! The--the falls--derrick’s falls--are--giving--way!”
The nibble had become a bite now, with the hook in his brain.
And he came of a race--a ready-witted race--which was accustomed to act upon any strong nibble of conviction--to take lightning-hold upon a situation.
It was a lightning vision which swam before Atlas now, against a black background of shipyard. He saw the great rib, the ponderous timber, released by the derrick’s failing ropes, unable to maintain, even with his aid, its balance, tottering--tumbling--sidewise, off from him--crashing down into the yard.
He saw, too, that the near-by girl defying him with that merry, wilful23 glance pointed24 to mockery on the golden tips of her eyelashes, was within reach of being struck by it--by the wide curve it would describe in falling.
His hunched25 back became a razor-back--chin touching26 his knees. And, like a wild-cat, he leaped upon her, pushing her aside--away.
Er-er-r-r! Pop! Snap went the parting ropes--one giving way after the other--their report as thunder in his ears, while, elastically27 doubling, he sprang from under the wildly swaying timber.
But it did not spare him. Like the kick of a thunder-cloud something grazed him, dealt him a glancing blow upon the shoulder, staggering enough to send his feet from under him--even as he hurled28 the girl aside.
He was beyond seeing that it was the massive tip of the ungrateful rib which--in feeling--he had been supporting.
Down he went, and the earth, in the shape of another grinning yellow timber--one of those lumber-reefs amid which he was wont29 to steer30 Blind Tim--rose up to meet him with such a warm welcome that he saw stars--a whole firmament31 of them, blood-red, and brighter than the twinkling galaxy32 which had adorned33 Sybil’s arm.
Then he lay very still and saw nothing--nothing--just outside the yellow curve of the monster rib, which lay still and prostrate34, too, while the girl, her equilibrium35 likewise upset, rolled over upon the shavings, feeling that, according to a nursery rhyme of her childhood, “heaven and earth had fallen together” and crushed the upholding Atlas between them.
The first to reach him was a ship-carpenter. And according to the pell-mell disorder36 that broods over most accidents, it happened to be the pessimist37, Libby Taber--Libby, who had seen him from the first in the light of a quitter!
He sprang from under the wildly swaying timber.
Now, there is nothing more pell-mell than the moods of a pessimist, not being strung upon the consistent thread of hope!
Libby was no exception. He fogged the air with his stricken cry.
“Oh-h! he’s done for,” he wailed38. “Knocked out--done for; the--the best lad that ever set foot in the yard--an’ the quickest to take hold--no ‘sass’ about him, at all, if he is a--rich--man’s--son!”
“Shut up--before I choke you!” growled39 a steadier voice, the foreman’s. “Done for! Not much! His head came against that lumber-pile. He was doing his bit and it sure was the main bitt that time”--in low, shaken tones--“with a girl’s life depending on it!”
But the girl--why! she felt herself shrinking into such a little “bit” that it seemed as if, presently, she must fade out altogether into the foggy consternation40 of the ship-yard.
Piteously she looked around for her Camp Fire Sisters. In the deepest pit of blunder and humiliation41 they would stand by her--even even though Libby was calling the heavens to witness that the fallen rib, grinning in the sunlight, had more sense than the rib that was taken out of Adam’s side and made into a girl--“so it had, by gosh!”
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1
atlas
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| n.地图册，图表集 | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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derided
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| v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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aspired
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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onlooker
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| n.旁观者，观众 | |
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ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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hempen
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| adj. 大麻制的, 大麻的 | |
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rib
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| n.肋骨，肋状物 | |
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propping
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| 支撑 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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numbing
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| adj.使麻木的，使失去感觉的v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的现在分词 ) | |
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braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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nibble
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| n.轻咬，啃；v.一点点地咬，慢慢啃，吹毛求疵 | |
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nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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elastically
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| adv.有弹性地，伸缩自如地 | |
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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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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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galaxy
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| n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物) | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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pessimist
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| n.悲观者；悲观主义者；厌世 | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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40
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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