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Chapter 6
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 Boylan and Peter sat together in the ante-room of headquarters. They did not speak. Peter was getting down to the quick. He thought many things which a man never tells another man, and seldom tells a woman; yet they were matters of truth and reason, no sentiment about them. He recalled many incidents of early years in which his mother had tried to teach him sensitiveness and mercy. Until now her effort seemed to have been wasted. It had been more simple and appealing to him to follow his father's picture of manhood. Possibly his mother had wearied of pitting her will against his. He had grown up under his father's control and ideal. As it looked to him now, he had become all that was obvious and average and easy; while his mother's passion had been for him to become one of the singular and precious and elect.... He would never have seen this so clearly had it not been for Berthe Wyndham. She had given him a kind of new birth, taken up the work wherein his mother had failed....
 
Dabnitz came in. The young staff-officer was handsome, soldierly, black-eyed. His manner was one of enfolding cheerfulness. He had proved fair and kindly1, temperate2 in his tastes and delicate in his appreciations3 of humor and natural effects. He could express himself fluently in Russian, German, English and French, but was a caste-man to the core, a militarist and autocrat4. As such he proved rather appalling5 to Peter Mowbray on this day.
 
“Is General Kohlvihr out with the fronts?” Boylan asked.
 
“He's in the field, but not at the front. We got the point yesterday, you see. I'd rather be in the van every day than left to these matters of clean-up—”
 
Peter looked up at him. “Is there much of this to do?”
 
“I'm afraid so. They work among the hospitals. You don't catch many of them in the ranks—”
 
“Perhaps they would rather tend the wounded than to make the wounds.”
 
Dabnitz smiled cheerfully. “They're afraid of their hides. When a man does a lot of talking, he is generally shy on action—”
 
Peter saw the ease of the acceptance of this view on the part of the others; saw how clearly it was the view of the military man.
 
“And yet it was a clean-cut death of that talker and his two companions you just executed—”
 
“An exception now and then,” Dabnitz granted.
 
“How do you catch them?”
 
“We have a system at work for that purpose—everywhere, especially in the hospitals. There isn't much temporizing6 when we get them.”
 
Peter Mowbray's skull7 prickled with heat and his face was cold with sweat.
 
“What do they preach?” he managed to ask.
 
“Sometimes for men to rise and go home; sometimes for them to cease to kill, and sometimes to shoot down the officers. It isn't all that a man has to do now to lead his men forward,” Dabnitz observed. “He must do that, of course, but all the danger isn't in front. It doesn't follow that a man has turned his back upon the enemy nowadays—if he happens to be found with a wound in the back.”
 
“Were these—these that you put out this morning—working in the hospitals?”
 
“Yes.”
 
Peter turned away.
 
“In a good many cases we bring a man to his feet again from a bad wound—to find him not a soldier but a damned anarchist8.”
 
“It's expensive and cumbersome9 also to carry such a hospital system afield,” Peter observed.
 
Dabnitz did not catch the irony10. “Yes, it would be cheaper and simpler to put a hard-hit soldier out of his misery—”
 
Boylan, watching Peter's face, suddenly arose, suggesting that they ride out toward the fighting. ....When they were alone, he added:
 
“I know you don't want the front to-day, but it was very clear that I'd better get you out of there....Peter, did you ever kill a man?”
 
“No.” The question did not seem wild to either of them—there by the open court of Judenbach.
 
“I knew a man who did. I saw him getting whiter and whiter like your face—and looking into his victim's eyes in that queer surprised way you looked at Dabnitz. It wasn't in the field; in a city bar-room. I didn't look for what happened—but I knew something was coming. The fool went on talking, talking. The other watched him, and when all the blood was burned out of him....Great God, here I am talking blood—”
 
“It's in the air,” said Peter. “It's hard to breathe!.... No, I won't go down front to-day. I wish I could go back—back—oh, to the clean Pole—no, to some little snowy woods in the States....Boylan, does it suffocate11 you?”
 
“It's different from anything I knew,” said Boylan. “It's so damned businesslike. Something's come over the world. War was more like a picnic before. I never saw it like this. I believe we've gone crazy.”
 
They stood before the main building, just at the entrance of the stone court—halted by the hideous12 outcry that reached them from another building just a few doors below. It was as if a strong man were being murdered by torture. The big cannons13 boomed up the narrow cobble-paved road from the field. As far as they could see in either direction, the street was crowded with soldiers, stepping aside for artillery14 going south, and the stream of ambulances coming in from the front. Passing them now from the street into the court was a cortege, little but grim—a Cossack trooper leading two bare-headed men by a rope attached to his saddle, a Cossack non-commissioned officer walking behind with raised pistol. Both the prisoners were young, one a mere15 boy, yet he was supporting the elder. Peter's eyes turned to the blank wall of the main building where Dabnitz had been busy as they passed. To the right, in the gloom from the walls, was a row of iron gratings, the windows knocked out—darkness under the low stone lintels.
 
Peter had not noticed before this dim square, within the square. His mind dwelt upon it now in the peculiar16 way of the faculties17, when thoughts are too swift and too terrible to bear....It was like something he had seen before, the dark little square. Yes, it was like part of a recess18 yard he had known in an old school-building years ago....
 
He couldn't keep off the reality long. In every direction the murderous army—no song, no laugh, no human nature, no love, no work, but death. He was imprisoned19. And somewhere near or far in the midst of such a chaos20, was Berthe Wyndham. Could she live in this?.... Peter was suicidal, very close to that, a new thing to him. Queerly he realized that death would be easy for himself, simple, acceptable. For there was no escape. They would not let him go. There was no place that one could go out of the army. Not even the dead go back.... It would not be fair to her. She might live, and call to him afterward21. He did not think she could live, but there was that chance. He thought of his mother—quite as a little boy would, his lip quivering.... He started at the touch of Boylan's hand.
 
“I'll tell you what we'll do,” Big Belt said. “We'll write, Peter. We'll get out the machines to-day. We'll write a story—just as if we could file it on a free cable. It will do us good. We'll tell the story—”
 
“We'd have to eat it....Boylan, if I should tell this story on paper, the Russians would burn it and me and the house in which it was written....No. I must work better than that. Come back. I want Dabnitz—”
 
Boylan drew him face about.
 
“You're not going to—”
 
“No—no. I wasn't thinking of killing22 him. It wouldn't do any good. One would have to kill all the officers and save enough energy for the Little Father at the last. No, I want him to help me—”
 
They found him at headquarters.
 
“Lieutenant Dabnitz,” Peter said, his hand upon the Russian's shoulder, speaking very quietly, “I feel like a fool doing nothing all day long—and so much to do. I want you to take me over to that hospital Samarc is in, and set me officially to work. Let me be orderly, anything, to-day. I want to help, if you'll forgive me—”
 
“Gladly, Mr. Mowbray. I'm sure they'll be very glad. Of course, they are always short-handed in the hospitals.”
 
“Thanks.”
 
Boylan's heart gave a thump23 at the new light in Mowbray's eyes.
 
“I'll go along, too,” he said. “I'm the daddy of them all, when it comes to lifting.”
 
A ragged24 platoon volley crashed from the court as they entered the street. Peter's steps quickened.
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
2 temperate tIhzd     
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的
参考例句:
  • Asia extends across the frigid,temperate and tropical zones.亚洲地跨寒、温、热三带。
  • Great Britain has a temperate climate.英国气候温和。
3 appreciations 04bd45387a03f6d54295c3fc6e430867     
n.欣赏( appreciation的名词复数 );感激;评定;(尤指土地或财产的)增值
参考例句:
  • Do you usually appreciations to yourself and others? Explain. 你有常常给自己和别人称赞吗?请解释一下。 来自互联网
  • What appreciations would you have liked to receive? 你希望接受什么样的感激和欣赏? 来自互联网
4 autocrat 7uMzo     
n.独裁者;专横的人
参考例句:
  • He was an accomplished politician and a crafty autocrat.他是个有造诣的政治家,也是个狡黠的独裁者。
  • The nobles tried to limit the powers of the autocrat without success.贵族企图限制专制君主的权力,但没有成功。
5 appalling iNwz9     
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的
参考例句:
  • The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
  • Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。
6 temporizing 215700388617c7fa25453440a7010ac6     
v.敷衍( temporize的现在分词 );拖延;顺应时势;暂时同意
参考例句:
  • He is always temporizing and is disliked by his classmates. 他总是见风使舵,因而不受同学喜欢。 来自互联网
7 skull CETyO     
n.头骨;颅骨
参考例句:
  • The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
  • He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去,跌裂了颅骨。
8 anarchist Ww4zk     
n.无政府主义者
参考例句:
  • You must be an anarchist at heart.你在心底肯定是个无政府主义者。
  • I did my best to comfort them and assure them I was not an anarchist.我尽量安抚他们并让它们明白我并不是一个无政府主义者。
9 cumbersome Mnizj     
adj.笨重的,不便携带的
参考例句:
  • Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重,操作起来却很容易。
  • The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨,搬起来很不方便。
10 irony P4WyZ     
n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄
参考例句:
  • She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
  • In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。
11 suffocate CHNzm     
vt.使窒息,使缺氧,阻碍;vi.窒息,窒息而亡,阻碍发展
参考例句:
  • If you shut all the windows,I will suffocate.如果你把窗户全部关起来,我就会闷死。
  • The stale air made us suffocate.浑浊的空气使我们感到窒息。
12 hideous 65KyC     
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的
参考例句:
  • The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
  • They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗,是丑陋的畜牲。
13 cannons dd76967b79afecfefcc8e2d9452b380f     
n.加农炮,大炮,火炮( cannon的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Cannons bombarded enemy lines. 大炮轰击了敌军阵地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • One company had been furnished with six cannons. 某连队装备了六门大炮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 artillery 5vmzA     
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队)
参考例句:
  • This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
  • The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。
15 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
16 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
参考例句:
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
17 faculties 066198190456ba4e2b0a2bda2034dfc5     
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院
参考例句:
  • Although he's ninety, his mental faculties remain unimpaired. 他虽年届九旬,但头脑仍然清晰。
  • All your faculties have come into play in your work. 在你的工作中,你的全部才能已起到了作用。 来自《简明英汉词典》
18 recess pAxzC     
n.短期休息,壁凹(墙上装架子,柜子等凹处)
参考例句:
  • The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
  • Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。
19 imprisoned bc7d0bcdd0951055b819cfd008ef0d8d     
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁,合并执行。
  • They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。
20 chaos 7bZyz     
n.混乱,无秩序
参考例句:
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
21 afterward fK6y3     
adv.后来;以后
参考例句:
  • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
  • Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
22 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
参考例句:
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
23 thump sq2yM     
v.重击,砰然地响;n.重击,重击声
参考例句:
  • The thief hit him a thump on the head.贼在他的头上重击一下。
  • The excitement made her heart thump.她兴奋得心怦怦地跳。
24 ragged KC0y8     
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的
参考例句:
  • A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
  • Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。


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