Ten seconds after entering the arroyo1 I was stumbling along in an absolute blackness. It almost seemed to me that I could reach out my hands and touch it, as one would touch a wall. Or perhaps not exactly that, for a wall is hard, and this darkness was soft and yielding, in the manner of enveloping2 hangings. Directly above me was a narrow, jagged, and irregular strip of sky with stars. I splashed in the brook3, finding its waters strangely warm, rustled4 through the grasses, my head back, chin out, hands extended as one makes his way through a house at night. There were no sounds except the tinkle6 of the sulphurous stream: successive bends in the canon wall had shut off even the faintest echoes of the bacchanalia on the beach.
The way seemed much longer than by daylight. Already in my calculation I had traversed many times the distance, when, with a jump at the heart, I made out a glow ahead, and in front of it the upright logs of the stockade7.
To my surprise the gate was open. I ascended8 the gentle slope to the valley's level--and stumbled over a man lying prostrate9, shivering violently, and moaning.
I bent10 over to discover whom it might be. As I did so a brilliant light seemed to fill the valley, throwing an illumination on the man at my feet. I saw it was the Nigger, and perceived at the same instant that he was almost beside himself with terror. His eyes rolled, his teeth chattered11, his frame contracted in a strong convulsion, and the black of his complexion12 had faded to a washed-out dirty grey, revolting to contemplate13. He felt my touch and sprang to his feet, clutching me by the shoulder as a man clutching rescue.
"My Gawd!" he shivered. "Look! Dar it is again!"
He fell to pattering in a tongue unknown to me--charms, spells, undoubtedly14, to exorcise the devils that had hold of him. I followed the direction of his gaze, and myself cried out.
The doctor's laboratory stood in plain sight between the two columns of steam blown straight upward through the stillness of the evening. It seemed bursting with light. Every little crack leaked it in generous streams, while the main illumination appeared fairly to bulge15 the walls outward. This was in itself nothing extraordinary, and indicated only the activity of those within, but while I looked an irregular patch of incandescence16 suddenly splashed the cliff opposite. For a single instant the very substance of the rock glowed white hot; then from the spot a shower of spiteful flakes17 shot as from a pyrotechnic, and the light was blotted18 out as suddenly as it came. At the same moment it appeared at another point, exhibited the same phenomena19, died, flashed out at still a third place, and so was repeated here and there with bewildering rapidity until the walls of the valley crackled and spat20 sparks. Abruptly21 the darkness fell.
As abruptly it was broken again by a similar exhibition; only this time the fire was blue. Blue was followed by purple, purple by red. Then ensued the briefest possible pause, in which a figure moved across the bars of light escaping through the chinks of the laboratory, and then the whole valley blazed with patches of vari-coloured fire. It was not a reflection: it was actual physical conflagration22 of the solid rock, in irregular areas. Some of the fire shapes were most fantastic. And with the unexpectedness of a bursting shell the surface of the ground before our feet crackled into a ghastly blue flame.
The Nigger uttered a cry in his throat and disappeared. I felt a sharp breath on my neck, an ejaculation of surprise at my very ear. It was startling enough to scare the soul out of a man, but I held fast and was just about to step forward, when my collar was twisted tight from behind. I raised both hands, felt steel, and knew that I was in the grasp of Handy Solomon's claw.
The sailor had me foul24. I did my best to twist around, to unbutton the collar, but in vain. I felt my wind leaving me, the ghastly blue light was shot with red. Distinctly I heard the man's sharp intaken breath as some new phenomenon met his eye, and his great oath as he swore. "By the mother of God!" he cried, "it's the devil."
Then I was jerked off my feet, and the next I knew I was lying on my back, very wet, on the beach; the day was breaking, and the men, quite sober, were talking vehemently25.
It was impossible to make out what they said, but as Handy Solomon and the Nigger were the centre of discussion, I could imagine the subject. I felt very stiff and sore and hazy26 in my mind. My neck was lame23 from the dragging and my tongue dry from the choking. For some time I lay in a half-torpor watching the lilac of dawn change to the rose of sunrise, utterly27 indifferent to everything. They had thrown me down across the first rise of the little sand dunes28 back of the tide sands, and from it I could at once look out over the sea full of the restless shadows of dawn, and the land narrowing to the mouth of the arroyo. I remember wondering whether Captain Selover were up yet. Then with a sharp stab at the heart I remembered.
The thought was like a dash of cold water in clearing my faculties30. I raised my head. Seaward a white gull31 had caught the first rays of the sun beyond the cliffs. Landward--I saw with a choke in my throat--a figure emerging from the arroyo.
At the sight I made a desperate attempt to move, but with the effort discovered that I was again bound. My stirring thus called Pulz's attention. Before I could look away he had followed the direction of my gaze. The discussion instantly ceased. They waited in grim silence.
I did not know what to do. Percy Darrow, carrying some sort of large book, was walking rapidly toward us. Perdosa had disappeared. Thrackles after an instant came and sat beside me and clapped his big hand over my mouth. It was horrible.
When within a hundred paces or so, I could see that Darrow laboured under some great excitement. His usual indifferent saunter had, as I have indicated, given way to a firm and decided32 step; his ironical33 eye glistened34; his sallow cheek glowed.
"Boys," he shouted cheerfully. "The time's up. We've succeeded. We'll sail just as soon as the Lord'll let us get ready. Rustle5 the stuff aboard. The doctor'll be down in a short time, and we ought to be loaded by night."
Handy Solomon and Pulz laid hand on two of the rifles near by and began surreptitiously to fill their magazines. The Nigger shook his knife free of the scabbard and sat with it in his left hand, concealed35 by his body. I could feel Thrackles's muscles stiffen36. Another fifty paces and it would be no longer necessary to stop my mouth.
The thought made me desperate. I had failed as a leader of these men, and I had been forced to stand by at debauching, cruel, and murderous affairs, but now it is over I thank Heaven the reproach cannot be made against me that at any time I counted the consequences to myself. Thrackles's hand lay heavy across my mouth. I bit it to the bone, and as he involuntarily snatched it away, I rolled over toward the sea.
Thus for an instant I had my mouth free. "Run! Run!" I shouted. "For God's sake----"
Thrackles leaped upon me and struck me heavily upon the mouth, then sprang for a rifle. I managed to struggle back to the dune29, whence I could see.
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arroyo
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| n.干涸的河床，小河 | |
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enveloping
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 ) | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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stockade
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| n.栅栏，围栏；v.用栅栏防护 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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bulge
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| n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀 | |
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incandescence
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| n.白热，炽热；白炽 | |
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flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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dunes
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| 沙丘( dune的名词复数 ) | |
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dune
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| n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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gull
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| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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ironical
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| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
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glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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stiffen
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| v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬 | |
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