Chapter 17

ON my arrival at the Havana I found that Durham, who wasstill an invalid¹, had taken up his quarters at Mr.

　　Crauford's, the Consul-General. Phoca, who was nearly wellagain, was at the hotel, the only one in the town. And whoshould I meet there but my old Cambridge ally, Fred, the lastLord Calthorpe. This event was a fruitful one, - itdetermined the plans of both of us for a year or more tocome.

　　Fred - as I shall henceforth call him - had just returnedfrom a hunting expedition in Texas, with another sportsmanwhom he had accidentally met there. This gentlemanultimately became of even more importance to me than my oldfriend. I purposely abstain² from giving either his name orhis profession, for reasons which will become obvious enoughby-and-by; the outward man may be described. He stood wellover six feet in his socks; his frame and limbs were thoseof a gladiator; he could crush a horseshoe in one hand; hehad a small head with a bull-neck, purely³ Grecian features,thick curly hair with crisp beard and silky moustache. He soclosely resembled a marble Hercules that (as he must have aname) we will call him Samson.

　　Before Fred stumbled upon him, he had spent a winter campingout in the snows of Canada, bear and elk⁴ shooting. He wassix years or so older than either of us - I.E. about eight-and-twenty.

　　As to Fred Calthorpe, it would be difficult to find a more'manly' man. He was unacquainted with fear. Yet hiscourage, though sometimes reckless, was by no means of thebrute kind. He did not run risks unless he thought the gainwould compensate⁵ them; and no one was more capable ofweighing consequences than he. His temper was admirable, hisspirits excellent; and for any enterprise where danger andhardship were to be encountered few men could have beenbetter qualified⁶. By the end of a week these two had agreedto accompany me across the Rocky Mountains.

　　Before leaving the Havana, I witnessed an event which, thoughdisgusting in itself, gives rise to serious reflections.

　　Every thoughtful reader is conversant⁷ enough with them; if,therefore, he should find them out of place or trite⁸, apologyis needless, as he will pass them by without the asking.

　　The circumstance referred to is a public execution. Mr.

　　Sydney Smith, the vice-consul, informed me that a criminalwas to be garrotted on the following morning; and asked mewhether I cared to look over the prison and see the man inhis cell that afternoon. We went together. The poor wretchbore the stamp of innate⁹ brutality¹⁰. His crime was the mostrevolting that a human being is capable of - the violationand murder of a mere¹¹ child. When we were first admitted hewas sullen¹², merely glaring at us; but, hearing the warderdescribe his crime, he became furiously abusive, and workedhimself into such a passion that, had he not been chained tothe wall, he would certainly have attacked us.

　　At half-past six next morning I went with Mr. Smith to theCampo del Marte, the principal square. The crowd had alreadyassembled, and the tops of the houses were thronged¹³ withspectators. The women, dressed as if for a bull-fight or aball, occupied the front seats. By squeezing and pushing wecontrived to get within eight or nine yards of the machine,where I had not long been before the procession was seenmoving up the Passeo. A few mounted troops were in front toclear the road; behind them came the Host, with a number ofpriests and the prisoner on foot, dressed in white; a largeguard brought up the rear. The soldiers formed an opensquare. The executioner, the culprit, and one priestascended the steps of the platform.

　　The garrotte is a short stout¹⁴ post, at the top of which is aniron crook¹⁵, just wide enough to admit the neck of a manseated in a chair beneath it. Through the post, parallelwith the crook, is the loop of a rope, whose ends arefastened to a bar held by the executioner. The loop, beinground the throat of the victim, is so powerfully tightenedfrom behind by half a turn of the bar, that an extra twistwould sever¹⁶ a man's head from his body.

　　The murderer showed no signs of fear; he quietly seatedhimself, but got up again to adjust the chair and makehimself comfortable! The executioner then arranged the roperound his neck, tied his legs and his arms, and retiredbehind the post. At a word or a look from the priest thewrench was turned. For a single instant the limbs of thevictim were convulsed, and all was over.

　　No exclamation¹⁷, no whisper of horror escaped from the lookerson. Such a scene was too familiar to excite any feeling butmorbid curiosity; and, had the execution taken place at theusual spot instead of in the town, few would have giventhemselves the trouble to attend it.

　　It is impossible to see or even to think of what is heredescribed without gravely meditating¹⁸ on its suggestions. Iscapital punishment justifiable¹⁹? This is the question Ipurpose to consider in the following chapter.

1 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

2 abstain   

v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免

参考例句：

• His doctor ordered him to abstain from beer and wine.他的医生嘱咐他戒酒。
• Three Conservative MPs abstained in the vote.三位保守党下院议员投了弃权票。

3 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

4 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

5 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

6 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

7 conversant   

adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的

参考例句：

• Mr.Taylor is thoroughly conversant with modern music.泰勒先生对现代音乐很精通。
• We become the most conversant stranger in the world.我们变成了世界上最熟悉的陌生人。

8 trite   

adj.陈腐的

参考例句：

• The movie is teeming with obvious and trite ideas.这部电影充斥着平铺直叙的陈腐观点。
• Yesterday,in the restaurant,Lorraine had seemed trite,blurred,worn away.昨天在饭店里，洛兰显得庸俗、堕落、衰老了。

9 innate   

adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的

参考例句：

• You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
• Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。

10 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

11 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

12 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

13 thronged   

v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mourners thronged to the funeral. 吊唁者蜂拥着前来参加葬礼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The department store was thronged with people. 百货商店挤满了人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。

16 sever   

v.切开，割开；断绝，中断

参考例句：

• She wanted to sever all her connections with the firm.她想断绝和那家公司的所有联系。
• We must never sever the cultural vein of our nation.我们不能割断民族的文化血脉。

17 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

18 meditating   

a.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• They were meditating revenge. 他们在谋划进行报复。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics. 这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

19 justifiable   

adj.有理由的，无可非议的

参考例句：

• What he has done is hardly justifiable.他的所作所为说不过去。
• Justifiable defense is the act being exempted from crimes.正当防卫不属于犯罪行为。