A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that follows fast
And fills the white and rustling1 sail,
And bends the gallant mast, my boys,
While, like the eagle free,
Away the good ship flies, and leaves
Old England on the lee.
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.
Mary had not understood that Charley was not coming with her. In fact, she had not thought about it, till she perceived his absence, as they pushed off from the landing-place, and remembered that she had never thanked him for all his kind interest in her behalf; and now his absence made her feel most lonely--even his, the little mushroom friend of an hour's growth.
The boat threaded her way through the maze3 of larger vessels4 which surrounded the shore, bumping against one, kept off by the oars6 from going right against another, overshadowed by a third, until at length they were fairly out on the broad river, away from either shore; the sights and sounds of land being heard in the distance.
And then came a sort of pause.
Both wind and tide were against the two men, and labour as they would they made but little way. Once Mary in her impatience7 had risen up to obtain a better view of the progress they had made; but the men had roughly told her to sit down immediately, and she had dropped on her seat like a chidden child, although the impatience was still at her heart.
But now she grew sure they were turning from the straight course which they had hitherto kept on the Cheshire side of the river, whither they had gone to avoid the force of the current, and after a short time she could not help naming her conviction, as a kind of nightmare dread8 and belief came over her, that every thing animate9 and inanimate was in league against her one sole aim and object of overtaking Will.
They answered gruffly. They saw a boatman whom they knew, and were desirous of obtaining his services as a steersman, so that both might row with greater effect They knew what they were about. So she sat silent with clenched10 hands while the parley11 went on, the explanation was given, the favour asked and granted. But she was sickening all the time with nervous fear.
They had been rowing a long, long time--half a day it seemed, at least--yet Liverpool appeared still close at hand, and Mary began almost to wonder that the men were not as much disheartened as she was, when the wind, which had been hitherto against them, dropped, and thin clouds began to gather over the sky, shutting out the sun, and casting a chilly12 gloom over everything.
There was not a breath of air, and yet it was colder than when the soft violence of the westerly wind had been felt.
The men renewed their efforts. The boat gave a bound forwards at every pull of the oars. The water was glassy and motionless, reflecting tint13 by tint of the Indian-ink sky above. Mary shivered, and her heart sank within her. Still now they evidently were making progress. Then the steersman pointed14 to a rippling15 me in the river only a little way off, and the men disturbed Mary, who was watching the ships that lay in what appeared to her the open sea, to get at their sails.
She gave a little start, and rose. Her patience, her grief, and perhaps her silence, had begun to win upon the men.
"Yon second to the norrard is the John Cropper. Wind's right now, and sails will soon carry us along side of her."
He had forgotten (or perhaps he did not like to remind Mary), that the same wind which now bore their little craft along with easy, rapid motion, would also be favourable16 to the John Cropper.
But as they looked with straining eyes, as if to measure the decreasing distance that separated them from her, they saw her sails unfurled and flap in the breeze, till, catching17 the right point, they bellied18 forth19 into white roundness, and the ship began to plunge20 and heave, as if she were a living creature, impatient to be off.
"They're heaving anchor!" said one of the boatmen to the other, as the faint musical cry of the sailors came floating over the waters that still separated them.
Full of the spirit of the chase, though as yet ignorant of Mary's motive21, the men sprung to hoist22 another sail. It was fully23 as much as the boat could bear, in the keen, gusty24 east wind which was now blowing, and she bent25, and laboured, and ploughed, and creaked upbraidingly as if taxed beyond her strength; but she sped along with a gallant swiftness.
They drew nearer, and they heard the distant "ahoy" more clearly. It ceased. The anchor was up, and the ship was away.
Mary stood up, steadying herself by the mast, and stretched out her arms, imploring26 the flying vessel5 to stay its course, by that mute action, while the tears streamed down her cheeks. The men caught up their oars, and hoisted27 them in the air, and shouted to arrest attention.
They were seen by the men aboard the larger craft; but they were too busy with all the confusion prevalent in an outward-bound vessel to pay much attention. There were coils of ropes and seamen's chests to be stumbled over at every turn; there were animals, not properly secured, roaming bewildered about the deck, adding their pitiful lowings and bleatings to the aggregate28 of noises. There were carcases not cut up, looking like corpses29 of sheep and pigs rather than like mutton and pork; there were sailors running here and there and everywhere, having had no time to fall into method, and with their minds divided between thoughts of the land and the people they had left, and t h e present duties on boar ship; while the captain strove hard to procure30 some kind of order by hasty commands given, in a loud, impatient voice, to right and left, starboard and larboard, cabin and steerage.
As he paced the deck with a chafed31 step, vexed32 at one or two little mistakes on the art of the mate, and suffering himself from the pain of separation from wife and children, but showing his suffering only by his outward irritation33, he heard a hail from the shabby little river boat that was striving to overtake his winged ship. For the men fearing that, as the ship was now fairly over the bar, they should only increase the distance between them, and being now within shouting range, had asked of Mary her more particular desire.
Her throat was dry, all musical sound had gone out of her voice; but in a loud, harsh whisper she told the men her errand of life and death, and they hailed the ship.
"We're come for one William Wilson, who is wanted to prove an alibi34 in Liverpool Assize Court to-morrow. James Wilson is to be tried for a murder done on Thursday night when he was with William Wilson. Any thing more, missus?" asked the boatman of Mary, in a lower voice, and taking his hands down from his mouth.
"Say I'm Mary Barton. Oh, the ship is going on! Oh, for the love of Heaven, ask them to stop."
The boatman was angry at the little regard paid to his summons, and called out again; repeating the message with the name of the young woman who sent it, and interlarding it with sailors' oaths.
The ship flew along--away,--the boat struggled after.
They could see the captain take his speaking-trumpet35. And oh! and alas36! they heard his words.
He swore a dreadful oath; he called Mary a disgraceful name; and he said he would not stop his ship for any one, nor could he part with a single hand, whoever swung for it.
The words came in unpitying clearness with their trumpetsound. Mary sat down looking like one who prays in the death agony. For her eyes were turned up to that Heaven, where mercy dwelleth, while her blue lips quivered, though no sound came. Then she bowed her head and hid it in her hands.
"Hark! yon sailor hails us."
She looked up. And her heart stopped its beating to listen.
William Wilson stood as near the stern of the vessel as he could get; and unable to obtain the trumpet from the angry captain, made a tube of his own hands.
"So help me God, Mary Barton, I'll come back in the pilotboat, time enough to save the life of the innocent."
"What does he say?" asked Mary, wildly, as the voice died away in the increasing distance, while the boatmen cheered, in their kindled37 sympathy with their passenger.
"What does he say?" repeated she. "Tell me. I could not hear."
She had heard with her ears, but her brain refused to recognise the sense.
They repeated his speech, all three speaking at once, with many comments; while Mary looked at them and then at the vessel far away.
"I don't rightly know about it," said she, sorrowfully. "What is the pilot-boat?"
They told her, and she gathered the meaning out of the sailors' slang which enveloped38 it. There was a hope still, although so slight an faint.
"How far does the pilot go with the ship?"
To different distances they said. Some pilots would go as far as Holyhead for the chance of the homeward bound vessels; others only took the ships over the Banks. Some captains were more cautious than others, and the pilots had different ways. The wind was against the homeward-bound vessels, so perhaps the pilot aboard the John Cropper would not care to go far out.
"How soon would he come back?"
There were three boatmen, and three varying from twelve hours to two days. Nay39, the man who gave his vote for the longest time, on having his judgment40 disputed, grew stubborn, and doubled the time, and thought it might be the end of the week before the pilot-boat came home.
They began disputing, and urging reasons; and Mary tried to understand them; but independently of their nautical41 language, a veil seemed drawn42 over her mind, and she had no clear perception of anything that passed. Her very words seemed not her own, and beyond her power of control, for she found herself speaking quite differently to what she meant.
One by one her hopes had fallen away, and left her desolate43; and though a chance yet remained, she could no longer hope. She felt certain it, too, would fade and vanish. She sank into a kind of stupor44. All outward objects harmonized with her despair,--the gloomy leaden sky,--the deep, dark waters below, of a still heavier shade of colour,--the cold, flat, yellow shore in the distance, which no ray lightened up,--the nipping cutting wind.
She shivered with her depression of mind and body.
The sails were taken down, of course, on the return to Liverpool, and the progress they made, rowing and tacking45, was very slow. The men talked together, disputing about the pilots at first, and then about matters of local importance, in which Mary would have taken no interest at any time, and she gradually became drowsy46; irrepressibly so, indeed, for in spite of her jerking efforts to keep awake she sank away to the bottom of the boat, and there lay couched on a rough heap of sails, ropes, and tackle of various kinds.
The measured beat of the waters against the sides of the boat, and the musical boom of tile more distant waves, were more lulling47 than silence, and she slept sound.
Once she opened her eyes heavily, and dimly saw the old gray, rough boatman (who had stood out the most obstinately48 for the full fare) covering her with his thick pea-jacket. He had taken it off on purpose, and was doing it tenderly in his way, but before she could rouse herself up to thank him she had dropped off to sleep again.
At last, in the dusk or the evening, they arrived at the landing-place from which they had started some hours before. The men spoke49 to Mary, but though she mechanically replied, she did not stir; so, at length, they were obliged to shake her. She stood up, shivering and puzzled as to her whereabouts.
"Now tell me where you are bound to, missus," said the gray old man, "and maybe I can put you in the way."
She slowly comprehended what he said, and went through the process of recollection; but very dimly, and with much labour. She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out her purse, and shook its contents into the man's hand; and then began meekly50 to unpin her shawl, although they had turned away without asking for it.
"No, no!" said the old man, who lingered on the step before springing into the boat, and to whom she mutely offered the shawl.
"Keep it! we donnot want it. It were only for to try you,-some folks say they've no more blunt, when they've getten a mint."
"Thank you," said she, in a dull, low tone.
"Where are you bound to? I axed that question afore," said the gruff old fellow.
"I don't know. I'm a stranger," replied she, quietly, with a strange absence of anxiety under the circumstances.
"But you mun find out, then," said he, sharply;" pier-head's no place for a young woman to be standing51 on, gapesaying."
"I've a card somewhere as will tell me," she answered, and the man partly relieved, jumped into the boat, which was now pushing off to make way for the arrivals from some steamer.
Mary felt in her pocket for the card, on which was written the name of the street where she was to have met Mr Bridgenorth at two o'clock; where Job and Mrs Wilson were to have been, and where she was to have learnt from the former the particulars of some respectable lodging52. It was not to be found.
She tried to brighten her perceptions, and felt again, and took out the little articles her pocket contained, her empty purse, her pocket-handkerchief, and such little things, but it was not there.
In fact she had dropped it when, so eager to embark53, she had pulled out her purse to reckon up her money.
She did not know this, of course. She only knew it was gone.
It added but little to the despair that was creeping over her. But she tried a little more to help herself, though every minute her mind became more cloudy. She strove to remember where Will had lodged54, but she could not; name, street, everything had passed away, and it did not signify; better she were lost than found.
She sat down quietly on the top step of the landing, and gazed down into the dark, dank water below. Once or twice a spectral55 thought loomed56 among the shadows of her brain; a wonder whether beneath that cold dismal57 surface there would not be rest from the troubles of earth. But she could not hold an idea before her for two consecutive58 moments; and she forgot what she thought about before she could act upon it.
So she continued sitting motionless, without looking up, or regarding in any way the insults to which she was subjected.
Through the darkening light the old boatman had watched her; interested in her in spite of himself, and his scoldings of himself.
When the landing-place was once more comparatively clear, he made his way towards it, across boats, and along planks59, swearing at himself while he did so for an old fool.
He shook Mary's shoulder violently.
"D-- you, I ask you again where you're bound to? Don't sit there, stupid. Where are you going to?"
"I don't know," sighed Mary.
"Come, come; avast with that story. You said a bit ago you'd a card, which was to tell you where to go."
"I had, but I've lost it Never mind."
She looked again down upon the black mirror below.
He stood by her, striving to put down his better self; but he could not. He shook her again. She looked up, as if she had forgotten him.
"What do you want?" asked she, wearily.
"Come with me, and be d--d to you!" replied he, clutching her arm to pull her up.
She arose and followed him, with the unquestioning docility60 of a little child.
收听单词发音 |
1
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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2
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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3
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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4
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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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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6
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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7
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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9
animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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10
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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12
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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13
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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14
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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15
rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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16
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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17
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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bellied
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| adj.有腹的，大肚子的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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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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24
gusty
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| adj.起大风的 | |
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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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26
imploring
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| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
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27
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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29
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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30
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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31
chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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32
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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33
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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alibi
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| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
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35
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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38
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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40
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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nautical
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| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
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42
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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43
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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44
stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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45
tacking
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| （帆船）抢风行驶，定位焊[铆]紧钉 | |
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46
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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47
lulling
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的现在分词形式） | |
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48
obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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49
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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50
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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51
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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52
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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53
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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54
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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55
spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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56
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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57
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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58
consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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59
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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docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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