He was bewildered, then scared, then more scared. Yet underneath2 it all a queer little wisp of daring insinuated3 itself—something almost akin4 to self-congratulation; and the whimsical query5 leapt: “Has the whole business of Oaks-Ferguson’s been a dream, and did I go to sea after all?”
The first terrible and confusing instant behind him, panic was dominant6 again, and he reeled away to explore his dilemma7. Jerking open the door of the tiny cabin, which appeared to be nothing more nor less than a supply closet, he emerged into a stuffy8 corridor and groped his way toward a flight of steps ahead which led up into daylight. As Jerome groped toward the light it may be intimated that his mental complex was one which must defy the most patient attempt at analysis. When he came out at last on deck, the whole awful, wonderful, terrifying truth flared9 up like a rocket: this was the Skipping Goone, and he was launched, along with the rest, on Xenophon Curry10’s great world tour.
As for its being the Skipping Goone, there could be no shadow of doubt; for here, as in a vision, with lurid11 sunset in their still excited faces, were all his new theatrical12 friends. He beheld13 at once a throng14 and each separate face. There stood Xenophon Curry in his Palm Beach suit and gay adornments, like an amazed exotic potentate15, gazing at him with dropped jaw16. There was the comedian17, who always treated him with such irreproachable18 respect, gazing[78] too. And there, with a sun-tinted sail behind her, looking, he thought, just like some radiant goddess, was Lili. She wasn’t beaming now, simply gazing like the rest. There was a space of perfectly19 blank silence, as Jerome stood there before them. It was decidedly an awful moment.
Curry was the first to break through. “Good Lord, boy!” he cried, making futile20 gestures and taking almost equally futile steps toward the very substantial looking apparition21.
Next to break through were two singers, Tony and Alfredo, who amazed everybody by suddenly beginning to hurl22 Italian at each other in torrents23. Jerome, of course, couldn’t understand a word they said, although, even in the midst of all the confusion, he felt somehow certain that what they were hurling24 directly concerned this startling mystery of which he had so abruptly26 become the centre.
Curry was grasping his arm. “How did you get aboard?” he cried, a look of honest amazement27 supreme28, now, in his so warmly expressive29 face.
“I don’t know, sir,” replied Jerome in a rather weak and husky voice.
Genuine pandemonium30 set in. It was almost a riot. But gradually, as some semblance31 of law and order returned, Tony Riforto was made out adjuring32 Alfredo Manuele with the full solemnity of a wagging forefinger33:
“You’ve got to help me think, I tell you! How can you expect me to figure the whole thing out myself?”
“Figure what?” voices demanded.
“Good Lord!” exclaimed Curry, “I begin to see—you took him in tow—yes, it was you two—at Girardin’s—in the confusion of closing—what then?”
“What then?” spluttered Alfredo. He seemed to grasp at a ray of hope. “There was a cab!”
“That’s it!” cried the other in exultation34. “I begin to remember something—we had to take him somewhere—he’d caved in. I remember—”
“Yes,” brightened Alfredo, “we couldn’t take him home.[79] It would never have done, maestro—and that’s the truth indeed!”
No, it would never have done, as he seemed to imply, to wake up a trustful and unsuspecting family to such a spectacle as the clerk had then presented. No one would have had the heart.
“He had fallen under the table, maestro!”
“Besides, how did we know where he lived?”
“But what then?” asked Curry, his face crowded more than ever with a real desperation of concern.
“Tony,” muttered Alfredo weakly, “how was it after that?”
“Wait a minute!” commanded Tony solemnly. “Maestro, we thought it would be best to bring him aboard for the night!”
“Yes, yes!” the other brightened. “How it all comes back to me! A few hours sleep on the schooner35, and then....”
“Well, maestro,” faltered38 Tony ruefully, scarcely daring to look at the victim at all, “after that—after that....”
But it was all too plain at length. “For you see,” as Alfredo appended in his dire25 extremity39, “we were in so much the same fix ourselves!”
They stood aghast at what they had done. Everybody stood aghast. There seemed something almost cataclysmic about Jerome’s being here in their midst instead of back in San Francisco where he belonged.
But at length delightful40 Lili, who had by this time shed her amazement and awe41 (as in the living presence of a ghost) and had begun to beam in quite her accustomed manner, cried out: “The old dear!” and made for Jerome, her heart seeming vaguely42 touched at the expression on his face. It was Lili who really introduced the first ray of cheer and serenity43 and humour into the situation.
She seized his hand. It was a perfectly solid hand. She had held it before. Even had she had lingering suspicions[80] they were now dispelled44. This was no ghost. No, it was the clerk himself.
And then, somehow, the humour of it all took possession of the throng, and Lili led him about, and welcome, almost congratulation, was showered upon him. As for Jerome, while explanations were in progress he had looked greener and greener; but now a grin was emerging. It was at first a pretty sickly grin, but it helped lighten the awfulness of his position.
He had to grasp at things to keep his balance—not because he was still unsteady himself, but because the schooner was performing such violent antics; a panic he dared not profess45 made him somewhat faint. They would never cease tormenting46 were the fact to come out, after his boasting the night before, that the man who had danced the sailor’s hornpipe so convincingly was scared. He grinned instead; and the longer he grinned, the easier, as a matter of fact, it became. For the present, indeed, there was nothing else he could do.
点击收听单词发音
1 braced | |
adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 );撑牢;使自己站稳;振作起来 | |
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2 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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3 insinuated | |
v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 );巧妙或迂回地潜入;(使)缓慢进入;慢慢伸入 | |
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4 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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5 query | |
n.疑问,问号,质问;vt.询问,表示怀疑 | |
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6 dominant | |
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因 | |
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7 dilemma | |
n.困境,进退两难的局面 | |
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8 stuffy | |
adj.不透气的,闷热的 | |
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9 Flared | |
adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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10 curry | |
n.咖哩粉,咖哩饭菜;v.用咖哩粉调味,用马栉梳,制革 | |
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11 lurid | |
adj.可怕的;血红的;苍白的 | |
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12 theatrical | |
adj.剧场的,演戏的;做戏似的,做作的 | |
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13 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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14 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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15 potentate | |
n.统治者;君主 | |
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16 jaw | |
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训 | |
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17 comedian | |
n.喜剧演员;滑稽演员 | |
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18 irreproachable | |
adj.不可指责的,无过失的 | |
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19 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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20 futile | |
adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的 | |
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21 apparition | |
n.幽灵,神奇的现象 | |
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22 hurl | |
vt.猛投,力掷,声叫骂 | |
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23 torrents | |
n.倾注;奔流( torrent的名词复数 );急流;爆发;连续不断 | |
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24 hurling | |
n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的现在分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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25 dire | |
adj.可怕的,悲惨的,阴惨的,极端的 | |
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26 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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27 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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28 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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29 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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30 pandemonium | |
n.喧嚣,大混乱 | |
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31 semblance | |
n.外貌,外表 | |
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32 adjuring | |
v.(以起誓或诅咒等形式)命令要求( adjure的现在分词 );祈求;恳求 | |
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33 forefinger | |
n.食指 | |
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34 exultation | |
n.狂喜,得意 | |
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35 schooner | |
n.纵帆船 | |
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36 incipient | |
adj.起初的,发端的,初期的 | |
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37 chuckle | |
vi./n.轻声笑,咯咯笑 | |
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38 faltered | |
(嗓音)颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 ); 支吾其词; 蹒跚; 摇晃 | |
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39 extremity | |
n.末端,尽头;尽力;终极;极度 | |
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40 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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41 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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42 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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43 serenity | |
n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
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44 dispelled | |
v.驱散,赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45 profess | |
v.声称,冒称,以...为业,正式接受入教,表明信仰 | |
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46 tormenting | |
使痛苦的,使苦恼的 | |
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47 giggled | |
v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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