I took up the axe and closely examined this formidable weapon. It was, as I have said, of the nature of a pole-axe. The haft, made out of an enormous rhinoceros12 horn, was three feet three inches long, about an inch and a quarter thick, and with a knob at the end as large as a Maltese orange, left there to prevent the hand from slipping. This horn haft, though so massive, was as flexible as cane13, and practically unbreakable; but, to make assurance doubly sure, it was whipped round at intervals14 of a few inches with copper15 wire—all the parts where the hands grip being thus treated. Just above where the haft entered the head were scored a number of little nicks, each nick representing a man killed in battle with the weapon. The axe itself was made of the most beautiful steel, and apparently16 of European manufacture, though Umslopogaas did not know where it came from, having taken it from the hand of a chief he had killed in battle many years before. It was not very heavy, the head weighing two and a half pounds, as nearly as I could judge. The cutting part was slightly concave in shape—not convex, as it generally the case with savage17 battleaxes—and sharp as a razor, measuring five and three-quarter inches across the widest part. From the back of the axe sprang a stout18 spike19 four inches long, for the last two of which it was hollow, and shaped like a leather punch, with an opening for anything forced into the hollow at the punch end to be pushed out above—in fact, in this respect it exactly resembled a butcher’s pole-axe. It was with this punch end, as we afterwards discovered, that Umslopogaas usually struck when fighting, driving a neat round hole in his adversary’s skull20, and only using the broad cutting edge for a circular sweep, or sometimes in a melee21. I think he considered the punch a neater and more sportsmanlike tool, and it was from his habit of pecking at his enemy with it that he got his name of ‘Woodpecker’. Certainly in his hands it was a terribly efficient one.
Such was Umslopogaas’ axe, Inkosi-kaas, the most remarkable22 and fatal hand-to-hand weapon that I ever saw, and one which he cherished as much as his own life. It scarcely ever left his hand except when he was eating, and then he always sat with it under his leg.
Just as I returned his axe to Umslopogaas, Miss Flossie came up and took me off to see her collection of flowers, African liliums, and blooming shrubs23, some of which are very beautiful, many of the varieties being quite unknown to me and also, I believe, to botanical science. I asked her if she had ever seen or heard of the ‘Goya’ lily, which Central African explorers have told me they have occasionally met with and whose wonderful loveliness has filled them with astonishment24. This lily, which the natives say blooms only once in ten years, flourishes in the most arid25 soil. Compared to the size of the bloom, the bulb is small, generally weighing about four pounds. As for the flower itself (which I afterwards saw under circumstances likely to impress its appearance fixedly26 in my mind), I know not how to describe its beauty and splendour, or the indescribable sweetness of its perfume. The flower—for it has only one bloom—rises from the crown of the bulb on a thick fleshy and flat-sided stem, the specimen27 that I saw measured fourteen inches in diameter, and is somewhat trumpet-shaped like the bloom of an ordinary ‘longiflorum’ set vertically28. First there is the green sheath, which in its early stage is not unlike that of a water-lily, but which as the bloom opens splits into four portions and curls back gracefully29 towards the stem. Then comes the bloom itself, a single dazzling arch of white enclosing another cup of richest velvety30 crimson31, from the heart of which rises a golden-coloured pistil. I have never seen anything to equal this bloom in beauty or fragrance32, and as I believe it is but little known, I take the liberty to describe it at length. Looking at it for the first time I well remember that I realized how even in a flower there dwells something of the majesty33 of its Maker34. To my great delight Miss Flossie told me that she knew the flower well and had tried to grow it in her garden, but without success, adding, however, that as it should be in bloom at this time of the year she thought that she could procure35 me a specimen.
After that I fell to asking her if she was not lonely up here among all these savage people and without any companions of her own age.
‘Lonely?’ she said. ‘Oh, indeed no! I am as happy as the day is long, and besides I have my own companions. Why, I should hate to be buried in a crowd of white girls all just like myself so that nobody could tell the difference! Here,’ she said, giving her head a little toss, ‘I am I; and every native for miles around knows the “Water-lily”,—for that is what they call me—and is ready to do what I want, but in the books that I have read about little girls in England it is not like that. Everybody thinks them a trouble, and they have to do what their schoolmistress likes. Oh! it would break my heart to be put in a cage like that and not to be free—free as the air.’
‘Would you not like to learn?’ I asked.
‘So I do learn. Father teaches me Latin and French and arithmetic.’
‘And are you never afraid among all these wild men?’
‘Afraid? Oh no! they never interfere36 with me. I think they believe that I am “Ngai” (of the Divinity) because I am so white and have fair hair. And look here,’ and diving her little hand into the bodice of her dress she produced a double-barrelled nickel-plated Derringer, ‘I always carry that loaded, and if anybody tried to touch me I should shoot him. Once I shot a leopard37 that jumped upon my donkey as I was riding along. It frightened me very much, but I shot it in the ear and it fell dead, and I have its skin upon my bed. Look there!’ she went on in an altered voice, touching38 me on the arm and pointing to some far-away object, ‘I said just now that I had companions; there is one of them.’
I looked, and for the first time there burst upon my sight the glory of Mount Kenia. Hitherto the mountain had always been hidden in mist, but now its radiant beauty was unveiled for many thousand feet, although the base was still wrapped in vapour so that the lofty peak or pillar, towering nearly twenty thousand feet into the sky, appeared to be a fairy vision, hanging between earth and heaven, and based upon the clouds. The solemn majesty and beauty of this white peak are together beyond the power of my poor pen to describe. There it rose straight and sheer—a glittering white glory, its crest39 piercing the very blue of heaven. As I gazed at it with that little girl I felt my whole heart lifted up with an indescribable emotion, and for a moment great and wonderful thoughts seemed to break upon my mind, even as the arrows of the setting sun were breaking upon Kenia’s snows. Mr Mackenzie’s natives call the mountain the ‘Finger of God’, and to me it did seem eloquent40 of immortal41 peace and of the pure high calm that surely lies above this fevered world. Somewhere I had heard a line of poetry,
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever,
and now it came into my mind, and for the first time I thoroughly understood what it meant. Base, indeed, would be the man who could look upon that mighty42 snow-wreathed pile— that white old tombstone of the years—and not feel his own utter insignificance43, and, by whatever name he calls Him, worship God in his heart. Such sights are like visions of the spirit; they throw wide the windows of the chamber44 of our small selfishness and let in a breath of that air that rushes round the rolling spheres, and for a while illumine our darkness with a far-off gleam of the white light which beats upon the Throne.
Yes, such things of beauty are indeed a joy for ever, and I can well understand what little Flossie meant when she talked of Kenia as her companion. As Umslopogaas, savage old Zulu that he was, said when I pointed45 out to him the peak hanging in the glittering air: ‘A man might look thereon for a thousand years and yet be hungry to see.’ But he gave rather another colour to his poetical46 idea when he added in a sort of chant, and with a touch of that weird47 imagination for which the man was remarkable, that when he was dead he should like his spirit to sit upon that snow-clad peak for ever, and to rush down the steep white sides in the breath of the whirlwind, or on the flash of the lightning, and ‘slay48, and slay, and slay’.
‘Slay what, you old bloodhound?’ I asked.
This rather puzzled him, but at length he answered—
‘The other shadows.’
‘So thou wouldst continue thy murdering even after death?’ I said.
‘I murder not,’ he answered hotly; ‘I kill in fair fight. Man is born to kill. He who kills not when his blood is hot is a woman, and no man. The people who kill not are slaves. I say I kill in fair fight; and when I am “in the shadow”, as you white men say, I hope to go on killing49 in fair fight. May my shadow be accursed and chilled to the bone for ever if it should fall to murdering like a bushman with his poisoned arrows!’ And he stalked away with much dignity, and left me laughing.
Just then the spies whom our host had sent out in the morning to find out if there were any traces of our Masai friends about, returned, and reported that the country had been scoured50 for fifteen miles round without a single Elmoran being seen, and that they believed that those gentry51 had given up the pursuit and returned whence they came. Mr Mackenzie gave a sigh of relief when he heard this, and so indeed did we, for we had had quite enough of the Masai to last us for some time. Indeed, the general opinion was that, finding we had reached the mission station in safety, they had, knowing its strength, given up the pursuit of us as a bad job. How ill-judged that view was the sequel will show.
After the spies had gone, and Mrs Mackenzie and Flossie had retired52 for the night, Alphonse, the little Frenchman, came out, and Sir Henry, who is a very good French scholar, got him to tell us how he came to visit Central Africa, which he did in a most extraordinary lingo53, that for the most part I shall not attempt to reproduce.
‘My grandfather,’ he began, ‘was a soldier of the Guard, and served under Napoleon. He was in the retreat from Moscow, and lived for ten days on his own leggings and a pair he stole from a comrade. He used to get drunk—he died drunk, and I remember playing at drums on his coffin54. My father—’
‘Bien, messieurs!’ replied this comical little man, with a polite bow. ‘I did only wish to demonstrate that the military principle is not hereditary56. My grandfather was a splendid man, six feet two high, broad in proportion, a swallower of fire and gaiters. Also he was remarkable for his moustache. To me there remains57 the moustache and—nothing more.
‘I am, messieurs, a cook, and I was born at Marseilles. In that dear town I spent my happy youth. For years and years I washed the dishes at the Hotel Continental58. Ah, those were golden days!’ and he sighed. ‘I am a Frenchman. Need I say, messieurs, that I admire beauty? Nay59, I adore the fair. Messieurs, we admire all the roses in a garden, but we pluck one. I plucked one, and alas60, messieurs, it pricked61 my finger. She was a chambermaid, her name Annette, her figure ravishing, her face an angel’s, her heart—alas, messieurs, that I should have to own it!—black and slippery as a patent leather boot. I loved to desperation, I adored her to despair. She transported me—in every sense; she inspired me. Never have I cooked as I cooked (for I had been promoted at the hotel) when Annette, my adored Annette, smiled on me. Never’—and here his manly9 voice broke into a sob—‘never shall I cook so well again.’ Here he melted into tears.
‘Come, cheer up!’ said Sir Henry in French, smacking62 him smartly on the back. ‘There’s no knowing what may happen, you know. To judge from your dinner today, I should say you were in a fair way to recovery.’
Alphonse stopped weeping, and began to rub his back. ‘Monsieur,’ he said, ‘doubtless means to console, but his hand is heavy. To continue: we loved, and were happy in each other’s love. The birds in their little nest could not be happier than Alphonse and his Annette. Then came the blow—sapristi!—when I think of it. Messieurs will forgive me if I wipe away a tear. Mine was an evil number; I was drawn63 for the conscription. Fortune would be avenged64 on me for having won the heart of Annette.
‘The evil moment came; I had to go. I tried to run away, but I was caught by brutal65 soldiers, and they banged me with the butt-end of muskets66 till my mustachios curled with pain. I had a cousin a linen-draper, well-to-do, but very ugly. He had drawn a good number, and sympathized when they thumped67 me. “To thee, my cousin,” I said, “to thee, in whose veins68 flows the blue blood of our heroic grandparent, to thee I consign69 Annette. Watch over her whilst I hunt for glory in the bloody70 field.”
‘“Make your mind easy,” said he; “I will.” As the sequel shows, he did!
‘I went. I lived in barracks on black soup. I am a refined man and a poet by nature, and I suffered tortures from the coarse horror of my surroundings. There was a drill sergeant71, and he had a cane. Ah, that cane, how it curled! Alas, never can I forget it!
‘One morning came the news; my battalion72 was ordered to Tonquin. The drill sergeant and the other coarse monsters rejoiced. I—I made enquiries about Tonquin. They were not satisfactory. In Tonquin are savage Chinese who rip you open. My artistic73 tastes—for I am also an artist—recoiled from the idea of being ripped open. The great man makes up his mind quickly. I made up my mind. I determined74 not to be ripped open. I deserted75.
‘I reached Marseilles disguised as an old man. I went to the house of my cousin—he in whom runs my grandfather’s heroic blood—and there sat Annette. It was the season of cherries. They took a double stalk. At each end was a cherry. My cousin put one into his mouth, Annette put the other in hers. Then they drew the stalks in till their eyes met—and alas, alas that I should have to say it!—they kissed. The game was a pretty one, but it filled me with fury. The heroic blood of my grandfather boiled up in me. I rushed into the kitchen. I struck my cousin with the old man’s crutch76. He fell—I had slain77 him. Alas, I believe that I did slay him. Annette screamed. The gendarmes78 came. I fled. I reached the harbour. I hid aboard a vessel79. The vessel put to sea. The captain found me and beat me. He took an opportunity. He posted a letter from a foreign port to the police. He did not put me ashore80 because I cooked so well. I cooked for him all the way to Zanzibar. When I asked for payment he kicked me. The blood of my heroic grandfather boiled within me, and I shook my fist in his face and vowed81 to have my revenge. He kicked me again. At Zanzibar there was a telegram. I cursed the man who invented telegraphs. Now I curse him again. I was to be arrested for desertion, for murder, and que sais-je? I escaped from the prison. I fled, I starved. I met the men of Monsieur le Cure. They brought me here. I am full of woe82. But I return not to France. Better to risk my life in these horrible places than to know the Bagne.’
He paused, and we nearly choked with laughter, having to turn our faces away.
‘Ah! you weep, messieurs,’ he said. ‘No wonder—it is a sad story.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Sir Henry, ‘the heroic blood of your grandparent will triumph after all; perhaps you will still be great. At any rate we shall see. And now I vote we go to bed. I am dead tired, and we had not much sleep on that confounded rock last night.’
And so we did, and very strange the tidy rooms and clean white sheets seemed to us after our recent experiences.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
veranda
|
|
| n.走廊；阳台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
favourable
|
|
| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
axe
|
|
| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
mechanism
|
|
| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
vein
|
|
| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
quaintest
|
|
| adj.古色古香的( quaint的最高级 )；少见的，古怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
manly
|
|
| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
prying
|
|
| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
dilemma
|
|
| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
rhinoceros
|
|
| n.犀牛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
cane
|
|
| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
copper
|
|
| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
spike
|
|
| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
skull
|
|
| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
melee
|
|
| n.混战；混战的人群 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
shrubs
|
|
| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
arid
|
|
| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
fixedly
|
|
| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
vertically
|
|
| adv.垂直地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
gracefully
|
|
| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
velvety
|
|
| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
fragrance
|
|
| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
maker
|
|
| n.制造者，制造商 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
procure
|
|
| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
leopard
|
|
| n.豹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
crest
|
|
| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
eloquent
|
|
| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
immortal
|
|
| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
insignificance
|
|
| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
poetical
|
|
| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
weird
|
|
| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
slay
|
|
| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
scoured
|
|
| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
gentry
|
|
| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
lingo
|
|
| n.语言不知所云，外国话，隐语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
coffin
|
|
| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
ancestry
|
|
| n.祖先，家世 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
hereditary
|
|
| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
continental
|
|
| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
alas
|
|
| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
pricked
|
|
| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
smacking
|
|
| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
avenged
|
|
| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
brutal
|
|
| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
muskets
|
|
| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
thumped
|
|
| v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
consign
|
|
| vt.寄售（货品），托运，交托，委托 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
battalion
|
|
| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
artistic
|
|
| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
crutch
|
|
| n.T字形拐杖；支持，依靠，精神支柱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
slain
|
|
| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
gendarmes
|
|
| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
vowed
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
woe
|
|
| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |