The next day we continued our explorations by land, and so for a week after that. I thought it best not to relinquish1 all authority, so I organised regular expeditions, and ordered their direction. The men did not object. It was all good enough fun to them.
The net results were that we found a nesting place of sea birds--too late in the season for eggs; a hot spring near enough camp to be useful; and that was about all. The sheep were the only animals on the island, although there were several sorts of birds. In general, the country was as I have described it--either volcanic2 or overlaid with fertile earth. In any case it was canon and hill. We soon grew tired of climbing and turned our attention to the sea.
With the surf boat we skirted the coast. It was impregnable except in three places: our own beach, that near the seal rookery, and on the south side of the island. We landed at each one of these places. But returning close to the coast we happened upon a cave mouth more or less guarded by an outlying rock.
The day was calm, so we ventured in. At first I thought it merely a gorge3 in the rock, but even while peering for the end wall we slipped under the archway and found ourselves in a vast room.
Our eyes were dazzled so we could make out little at first. But through the still, clear water the light filtered freely from below, showing the bottom as through a sea glass. We saw the fish near the entrance, and coral and sea growths of marvellous vividness. They waved slowly as in a draught4 of air. The medium in which they floated was absolutely invisible, for, of course, there were no reflections from its surface. We seemed to be suspended in mid-air, and only when the dipping oars5 made rings could we realise that anything sustained us.
Suddenly the place let loose in pandemonium6. The most fiendish cries, groans7, shrieks8, broke out, confusing themselves so thoroughly9 with their own echoes that the volume of sound was continuous. Heavy splashes shook the water. The boat rocked. The invisible surface was broken into facets10.
We shrank, terrified. From all about us glowed hundreds of eyes like coals of fire--on a level with us, above us, almost over our heads. Two by two the coals were extinguished.
Below us the bottom was clouded with black figures, darting11 rapidly like a school of minnows beneath a boat. They darkened the coral and the sands and the glistening12 sea growths just as a cloud temporarily darkens the landscape--only the occultations and brightenings succeeded each other much more swiftly.
We stared stupefied, our thinking power blurred13 by the incessent whirl of motion and noise.
Suddenly Thrackles laughed aloud.
"Seals!" he shouted through his trumpeted14 hands.
Our eyes were expanding to the twilight15. We could make out the arch of the room, its shelves, and hollows, and niches16. Lying on them we could discern the seals, hundreds and hundreds of them, all staring at us, all barking and bellowing17. As we approached, they scrambled18 from their elevations19, and, diving to the bottom, scurried20 to the entrance of the cave.
We lay on our oars for ten minutes. Then silence fell. There persisted a tiny _drip, drip, drip_ from some point in the darkness. It merely accentuated21 the hush22. Suddenly from far in the interior of the hill there came a long, hollow _boo-o-o-m_! It reverberated23, roaring. The surge that had lifted our boat some minutes before thus reached its journey's end.
The chamber24 was very lofty. As we rowed cautiously in, it lost nothing of its height, but something in width. It was marvellously coloured, like all the volcanic rocks of this island. In addition some chemical drip had thrown across its vividness long gauzy streamers of white. We rowed in as far as the faintest daylight lasted us. The occasional reverberating25 _boom_ of the surges seemed as distant as ever.
This was beyond the seal rookery on the beach. Below it we entered an open cleft26 of some size to another squarer cave. It was now high tide; the water extended a scant27 ten fathoms28 to end on an interior shale29 beach. The cave was a perfectly30 straight passage following the line of the cleft. How far in it reached we could not determine, for it, too, was full of seals, and after we had driven them back a hundred feet or so their fiery31 eyes scared us out. We did not care to put them at bay. The next day I rowed out to the _Laughing Lass_ and got a rifle. I found the captain asleep in his bunk32, and did not disturb him. Perdosa and I, with infinite pains, tracked and stalked the sheep, of which I killed one. We found the mutton excellent. The hunting was difficult, and the quarry33, as time went on, more and more suspicious, but henceforward we did not lack for fresh meat. Furthermore we soon discovered that fine trolling was to be had outside the reef. We rigged a sail for the extra dory, and spent much of our time at the sport. I do not know the names of the fish. They were very gamy indeed, and ran from five to an indeterminate number of pounds in weight. Above fifty pounds our light tackle parted, so we had no means of knowing how large they may have been.
Thus we spent very pleasantly the greater part of two weeks. At the end of that time I made up my mind that it would be just as well to get back to business. Accordingly I called Perdosa and directed him to sort and clear of rust34 the salvaged35 chain cable. He refused flatly. I took a step toward him. He drew his knife and backed away.
"Perdosa," said I firmly, "put up that knife."
"No," said he.
I pulled the saw-barrelled Colt's 45 and raised it slowly to a level with his breast.
"Perdosa," I repeated, "drop that knife."
The crisis had come, but my resolution was fully36 prepared for it. I should not have cared greatly if I had had to shoot the man--as I certainly should have done had he disobeyed. There would then have been one less to deal with in the final accounting37, which strangely enough I now for a moment never doubted would come. I had not before aimed at a man's life, so you can see to what tensity the baffling mystery had strung me.
Perdosa hesitated a fraction of an instant. I really think he might have chanced it, but Handy Solomon, who had been watching me closely, growled38 at him.
"Drop it, you fool!" he said.
Perdosa let fall the knife.
"Now, get at that cable," I commanded, still at white heat. I stood over him until he was well at work, then turned back to set tasks for the other men. Handy Solomon met me halfway39.
"Begging your pardon, Mr. Eagen," said he, "I want a word with you."
"I have nothing to say to you," I snapped, still excited.
"It ain't reasonable not to hear a man's say," he advised in his most conciliatory manner, "I'm talking for all of us."
He paused a moment, took my silence for consent, and went ahead.
"Begging your pardon, Mr. Eagen," said he, "we ain't going to do any more useless work. There ain't no laziness about us, but we ain't going to be busy at nothing. All the camp work and the haulin' and cuttin' and cleanin' and the rest of it, we'll do gladly. But we ain't goin' to pound any more cable, and you can kiss the Book on that."
"You mean to mutiny?" I asked.
He made a deprecatory gesture.
"Put us aboard ship, sir, and let us hear the Old Man give his orders, and you'll find no mutiny in us. But here ashore40 it's different. Did the Old Man give orders to pound the cable?"
"I represent the captain," I stammered41.
He caught the evasion42. "I thought so. Well, if you got any kick on us, please, sir, go get the Old Man. If he says to our face, pound cable, why pound cable it is. Ain't that right, boys?"
They murmured something. Perdosa deliberately43 dropped his hammer and joined the group. My hand strayed again toward the sawed-off Colt's 45.
"I wouldn't do that," said Handy Solomon, almost kindly44. "You couldn't kill us all. And w'at good would it do? I asks you that. I can cut down a chicken with my knife at twenty feet. You must surely see, sir, that I could have killed you too easy while you were covering Pancho there. This ain't got to be a war, Mr. Eagen, just because we don't want to work without any sense to it."
There was more of the same sort. I had plenty of time to see my dilemma45. Either I would have to abandon my attempt to keep the men busy, or I would have to invoke46 the authority of Captain Selover. To do the latter would be to destroy it. The master had become a stuffed figure, a bogie with which to frighten, an empty bladder that a prick47 would collapse48. With what grace I could muster49, I had to give in.
"You'll have to have it your own way, I suppose," I snapped.
Thrackles grinned, and Pulz started to say something, but Handy Solomon, with a peremptory50 gesture, and a black scowl51, stopped him short.
"Now that's what I calls right proper and handsome!" he cried admiringly. "We reely had no right to expect that, boys, as seamen52, from our first officer! You can kiss the Book on it, that very few crews have such kind masters. Mr. Eagen has the right, and we signed to it all straight, to work us as he pleases; and w'at does he do? Why, he up and gives us a week shore leave, and then he gives us light watches, and all the time our pay goes on just the same. Now that's w'at I calls right proper and handsome conduct, or the devil's a preacher, and I ventures with all respect to propose three cheers for Mr. Eagen."
They gave them, grinning broadly. The villain53 stood looking at me, a sardonic54 gleam in the back of his eye. Then he gave a little hitch55 to his red head covering, and sauntered away humming between his teeth. I stood watching him, choked with rage and indecision. The humming broke into words.
"'Oh, quarter, oh, quarter!' the jolly pirates cried.
_Blow high, blow low! What care we_?
But the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the sea,
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e_."
"Here, you swab," he cried to Thrackles, "and you, Pancho! get some wood, lively! And Pulz, bring us a pail of water. Doctor, let's have duff to celebrate on."
The men fell to work with alacrity56.
收听单词发音 |
1
relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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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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pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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facets
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| n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面 | |
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darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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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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13
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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trumpeted
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| 大声说出或宣告（trumpet的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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niches
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| 壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位） | |
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bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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elevations
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| （水平或数量）提高( elevation的名词复数 )； 高地； 海拔； 提升 | |
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scurried
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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reverberated
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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reverberating
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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28
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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shale
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| n.页岩，泥板岩 | |
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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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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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rust
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| n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退 | |
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salvaged
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| （从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物） | |
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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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accounting
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| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
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38
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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39
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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41
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
evasion
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| n.逃避，偷漏(税) | |
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43
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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44
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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47
prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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48
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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49
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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50
peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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51
scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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52
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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53
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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54
sardonic
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| adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的 | |
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55
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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56
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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