"Nothing remained but to search for his body. I was sure they had killed him and taken the chest. I had little expectation of finding him, dead or alive. None after I saw the stream of lava1 pouring into the sea. One saves his own life by instinct, I suppose. There I was. I had to live. It did not matter much, but I continued to do it by various shifts. That last day on the headland the fumes2 nearly got me. You may have noted3 the rather excited scrawl4 in the back of the ledger5? Yes, I thought I was gone that time. But I got to the cave. It was low tide. Then the earthquake, and I was walled in.... Mr. Barnett's very accurate explosives--Slade's insistence--your risking your lives as you did, mites6 on the crust of a red-hot cheese--I hope you know how I feel about it all. One can't thank a man properly for the life....
"Oh, the pirates. Necessarily it must be a matter of theory, but I think we have it right. Slade and I built it up. For what it's worth, here it is. Let me see: you sighted the glow on the night of the 2d. Next day came the deserted7 ship. It must have puzzled you outrageously8."
"It did," said Captain Parkinson, drily.
"Not an easy problem, even with all the data at hand. You, of course, had none. On Slade's showing, Handy Solomon and his worthy9 associates thought they had a chest full of riches when they got the doctor's treasure; believed they owned the machinery10 for making diamonds or gold or what-not of ready-to-hand wealth. It's fair to assume a certain eagerness on their part. Disturbed weather keeps them busy until they're well out from the island. Then to the chest. Opening it isn't so easy: I had the key, you know." He brought a curious and delicately wrought11 skeleton from his pocket. "Tipped with platinum," he observed. "Rather a gem12 of a key, I think. You see, there must have been some action, even through the keyhole, or he wouldn't have used a metal of this kind. But the crew was rich in certain qualities, it seems, which I failed, stupidly, to recognise in my acquaintance with them. Both Pulz and Perdosa appear to have been handy men where locks were concerned. First Pulz sneaks14 down and has his turn at the chest. He gets it open. Small profit for him in that: the next we know of him he is scandalising Handy Solomon by having a fit on the deck."
"That is what I couldn't figure out to save my life," said Slade eagerly.
"If you recollect15, I told you of the Professor's plunge16 in the cold spring, in a sort of paroxysm, one day," said Darrow. "That was the physiological17 action of the celestium. At other times, I have seen him come out and deliberately18 roll in the creek19, head under. Once he explained that the medium he worked in caused a kind of uncontrollable longing20 for water; something having none of the qualities of burning or thirst, but an irresistible21 temporary mania22. It worried him a good deal; he didn't understand it. That, then, was what ailed13 Pulz. When he opened the chest there was, as I surmise23, a trifling24 quantity of this stuff lying in the inner lid. It wasn't the celestium itself, as I imagine, but a sort of by- product with the physiological and radiant effects of the real thing, and it had been set there on guard, a discouragement to the spirit of investigation25, as it were. So, when the top was lifted, our little guardian26 gets in its work, producing the light phenomenon that so puzzled Slade, and inspiring Pulz with a passion for the rolling wave, which is only interrupted by Handy Solomon's tackling him. As he fled he must have pulled down the cover."
"He did," said Slade. "I heard the clang. But I saw the radiance on the clouds. And the whole thickness of a solid oak deck was in between the sky and the chest."
"Oh, a little thing like an oak deck wouldn't interrupt the kind of rays the doctor used. He had his own method of screening, you understand. However, this inconsiderable guardian affair must have used itself up, which true celestium wouldn't have done. So when Perdosa sets his genius for lock-picking to the task, the inner box, full of the genuine article, has no warning sign-post, so to speak. Everything's peaceful until they raise the compound-filled hollow layer of the inner cover, which serves to interrupt the action. Then comes the general exit and the superior fireworks."
"That's when the rays ran through the ship," said Slade. "It seemed to follow the deck-lines."
"The stuff had a strange affinity27 for tar," said Darrow. "I told you of the circle of fire about Professor Schermerhorn's waist the day he gave me such a scare. That was the celestium working on the tarred rope he wore for a belt. It made a livid circle on his skin. Did I tell you of his experiments with pitch? It doesn't matter. Where was I?"
"At the place where we all jumped," said Slade.
"Oh, yes. And you dove into the small boat, trying to reach the water."
"Wait a bit," said Barnett. "If that was the exhibition of radiance we saw, it died out in a few minutes. How was that? Did they close the chest before they ran?"
"Probably not," replied Darrow. "Slade spoke28 of Pulz taking to the maintop and being shaken out by the sudden shock of a wave. That may have been a volcanic29 billow. Whatever it was, it undoubtedly30 heeled the ship sufficiently31 to bring down both lids, which were rather delicately balanced."
"Yes, for Billy Edwards found the chest closed and locked," said Barnett.
"Of course; it was a spring lock. You sent Mr. Edwards and his men aboard. No such experts as Pulz or Perdosa were in your crew. Consequently it took longer to get the chest open. When at length the lid was raised, there was a repetition of the tragedy. Mr. Edwards and his men leaped. Probably they were paralysed almost before they struck the water. Your bos'n, whom Slade picked up, was the only one who had time even to grab a life preserver before the impulse toward water became irresistible. There was no element of fright, you understand: no desertion of their post. They were dragged as by the sweep of a tornado32." Darrow spoke direct to Captain Parkinson. "If there is any feeling among you other than sorrow for their death, it is unjust and unworthy."
"Thank you, Mr. Darrow," returned the captain quietly.
"We found the chest closed again when the empty ship came back," observed Barnett.
"Being masterless, the schooner33 began to yaw," continued Darrow. "The first time she came about would have heeled her enough to shut the chest. Now came the turn of your other men."
"Ives and McGuire," said the Captain, as Darrow paused.
"The glow came again that night, and the next day we picked up Slade," said Barnett.
"You know what the glow meant for your companions," said Darrow.
"But the ship. The _Laughing Lass_, man. She's vanished. No one has seen her since."
"You are wrong there," said Darrow. "I have seen her."
In a common impulse the little circle leaned to him.
"Yes, I have seen her. I wish I had not. Let me bring my story back to the cave on the island. After the volcanic gases had driven me to the refuge, I sat near the mouth of the cave looking out into the darkness. That was the night of the 7th, the night you saw the last glow. It was very dark, except for occasional bursts of fire from the crater34. Judge of my incredulous amazement35 when, in an access of this illumination, I saw plainly a schooner hardly a mile off shore, coming in under bare poles."
"Under bare poles?" cried Slade.
"The halliards must have disintegrated36 from some slow action of the celestium. It could be destructive: terrifically destructive. You shall judge. There was the schooner, naked as your hand. Possibly I might have thought it a hallucination but for what came after. Darkness fell again. I supposed then that Handy Solomon's crew were managing--or mismanaging--the _Laughing Lass_ without the aid of their leader, whom I had satisfactorily buried. I hoped they would come ashore37 on the rocks. Yes I was vengeful ... then.
"Of a sudden there sprang from the darkness a ship of light. You have all seen those great electric effects at expositions. Someone touches a button ... you know. It was like that. Only that the piercingly brilliant jewelled wonder of a ship was set in the midst of a swirl38 of vari-coloured radiance such as I can't begin to describe. You saw it from a distance. Imagine what it was, coming close upon you that way--dead on, out of the night. A living glory, a living terror...."
His voice sank. With a shaking hand he fumbled39 amid his cigarette papers.
"It came on. A human figure, glowing like a diamond ablaze40, leaped out from it; another shot down from the foremast. I don't know how many I saw go. It was like a theatric effect, unreal, unconvincing, incredible. The end fitted it."
Darrow's eye roved. It fell upon a quaintly41 modelled ship, hung above the door.
"What's that?" he cried.
"Fool thing some Malay gave me," grunted42 Trendon. "Pretended to be grateful because I cut his foot off. No good. Go on with the story."
"No good? You don't care what happens to it?"
"Meant to heave it overboard before now," growled43 the other.
Someone handed it down to Darrow.
"If I had something to hold enough water," muttered he, "I'd like to float it. I'd like to see for myself how it worked out. I'd like to see that devil-work in action."
He spoke feverishly44.
"Boy, fill the portable rubber tub in Mr. Forsythe's cabin and bring it here," ordered the captain.
"That will do." said Darrow, recovering himself.
He floated the model in the tub.
"Now, I don't know how this will come out," he said. "Nor do I know why the _Laughing Lass_ met her fate under Ives and McGuire, and not before. Perhaps the chest lay open longer ... long enough, anyway. We'll try it."
From his pocket he took a curious small phial.
"Is that what Dr. Schermerhorn gave you?" asked Slade.
"Yes," said Darrow. He set it carefully inside the little model and slipped a lever. Slade quietly turned down the light.
A faint glow shot up. It grew bright and eddied45 in lovely, variant46 colours. As if set to a powder train, it ran through the ship. The pale faces of the spectators shone ghastly in its radiance. From someone burst a sudden gasp47.
"There is not enough for danger," said Darrow, quietly.
"As a point of interest," grunted Trendon.
Everyone looked at his outstretched hand. A little pocket compass lay in the palm. The needle spun48 madly, projecting blue, vivid sparklings.
"My God!" cried Slade, and covered his eyes for a moment.
He snatched away his hands as a suppressed cry went up from the others.
"As I expected," said Darrow quietly.
The little craft opened out; it disintegrated. All that radiance dissolved and with its going the substance upon which it shaped itself vanished. The last glow showed a formless pulp49, spreading upon the water.
"So passed the _Laughing Lass_," said Darrow solemnly.
"And the chest is at the bottom of the sea," said Barnett.
"Good place for it," muttered Trendon.
"In all probability it closed as the ship dissolved around it," said Darrow. "Otherwise we should see the effects in the water."
"It might be recovered," cried Slade, excitedly.
"Could you chart it, Darrow? Think of the possibilities--"
"Let it lie," said the captain. "Has it not cost enough? Let it lie."
The water in the tub fumed50 and sparkled faintly and was still. Darkness fell, except where Darrow's cigarette point glowed and faded.
The End
收听单词发音 |
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lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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scrawl
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| vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写 | |
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ledger
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| n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿 | |
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mites
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| n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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outrageously
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| 凶残地； 肆无忌惮地； 令人不能容忍地； 不寻常地 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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ailed
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| v.生病( ail的过去式和过去分词 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
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sneaks
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| abbr.sneakers (tennis shoes) 胶底运动鞋（网球鞋）v.潜行( sneak的第三人称单数 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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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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volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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tornado
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| n.飓风，龙卷风 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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disintegrated
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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quaintly
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| adv.古怪离奇地 | |
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grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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43
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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feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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eddied
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| 起漩涡，旋转( eddy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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variant
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| adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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pulp
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| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
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fumed
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| 愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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