“It was in the summer of 2013 that the Plague came. I was twenty-seven years old, and well do I remember it. Wireless3 despatches—”
“We talked through the air in those days, thousands and thousands of miles. And the word came of a strange disease that had broken out in New York. There were seventeen millions of people living then in that noblest city of America. Nobody thought anything about the news. It was only a small thing. There had been only a few deaths. It seemed, though, that they had died very quickly, and that one of the first signs of the disease was the turning red of the face and all the body. Within twenty-four hours came the report of the first case in Chicago. And on the same day, it was made public that London, the greatest city in the world, next to Chicago, had been secretly fighting the plague for two weeks and censoring6 the news despatches—that is, not permitting the word to go forth7 to the rest of the world that London had the plague.
“It looked serious, but we in California, like everywhere else, were not alarmed. We were sure that the bacteriologists would find a way to overcome this new germ, just as they had overcome other germs in the past. But the trouble was the astonishing quickness with which this germ destroyed human beings, and the fact that it inevitably8 killed any human body it entered. No one ever recovered. There was the old Asiatic cholera9, when you might eat dinner with a well man in the evening, and the next morning, if you got up early enough, you would see him being hauled by your window in the death-cart. But this new plague was quicker than that—much quicker.
“From the moment of the first signs of it, a man would be dead in an hour. Some lasted for several hours. Many died within ten or fifteen minutes of the appearance of the first signs.
“The heart began to beat faster and the heat of the body to increase. Then came the scarlet10 rash, spreading like wildfire over the face and body. Most persons never noticed the increase in heat and heart-beat, and the first they knew was when the scarlet rash came out. Usually, they had convulsions at the time of the appearance of the rash. But these convulsions did not last long and were not very severe. If one lived through them, he became perfectly11 quiet, and only did he feel a numbness12 swiftly creeping up his body from the feet. The heels became numb13 first, then the legs, and hips14, and when the numbness reached as high as his heart he died. They did not rave15 or sleep. Their minds always remained cool and calm up to the moment their heart numbed16 and stopped. And another strange thing was the rapidity of decomposition17. No sooner was a person dead than the body seemed to fall to pieces, to fly apart, to melt away even as you looked at it. That was one of the reasons the plague spread so rapidly. All the billions of germs in a corpse18 were so immediately released.
“And it was because of all this that the bacteriologists had so little chance in fighting the germs. They were killed in their laboratories even as they studied the germ of the Scarlet Death. They were heroes. As fast as they perished, others stepped forth and took their places. It was in London that they first isolated20 it. The news was telegraphed everywhere. Trask was the name of the man who succeeded in this, but within thirty hours he was dead. Then came the struggle in all the laboratories to find something that would kill the plague germs. All drugs failed. You see, the problem was to get a drug, or serum21, that would kill the germs in the body and not kill the body. They tried to fight it with other germs, to put into the body of a sick man germs that were the enemies of the plague germs—”
“And you can't see these germ-things, Granser,” Hare-Lip objected, “and here you gabble, gabble, gabble about them as if they was anything, when they're nothing at all. Anything you can't see, ain't, that's what. Fighting things that ain't with things that ain't! They must have been all fools in them days. That's why they croaked22. I ain't goin' to believe in such rot, I tell you that.”
“Look here, Hare-Lip, you believe in lots of things you can't see.”
Hare-Lip shook his head.
“You believe in dead men walking about. You never seen one dead man walk about.”
“I tell you I seen 'em, last winter, when I was wolf-hunting with dad.”
“Well, you always spit when you cross running water,” Edwin challenged.
“That's to keep off bad luck,” was Hare-Lip's defence.
“You believe in bad luck?”
“Sure.”
“An' you ain't never seen bad luck,” Edwin concluded triumphantly24. “You're just as bad as Granser and his germs. You believe in what you don't see. Go on, Granser.”
Hare-Lip, crushed by this metaphysical defeat, remained silent, and the old man went on. Often and often, though this narrative must not be clogged25 by the details, was Granser's tale interrupted while the boys squabbled among themselves. Also, among themselves they kept up a constant, low-voiced exchange of explanation and conjecture26, as they strove to follow the old man into his unknown and vanished world.
“The Scarlet Death broke out in San Francisco. The first death came on a Monday morning. By Thursday they were dying like flies in Oakland and San Francisco. They died everywhere—in their beds, at their work, walking along the street. It was on Tuesday that I saw my first death—Miss Collbran, one of my students, sitting right there before my eyes, in my lecture-room. I noticed her face while I was talking. It had suddenly turned scarlet. I ceased speaking and could only look at her, for the first fear of the plague was already on all of us and we knew that it had come. The young women screamed and ran out of the room. So did the young men run out, all but two. Miss Collbran's convulsions were very mild and lasted less than a minute. One of the young men fetched her a glass of water. She drank only a little of it, and cried out:
“'My feet! All sensation has left them.'
“After a minute she said, 'I have no feet. I am unaware27 that I have any feet. And my knees are cold. I can scarcely feel that I have knees.'
“She lay on the floor, a bundle of notebooks under her head. And we could do nothing. The coldness and the numbness crept up past her hips to her heart, and when it reached her heart she was dead. In fifteen minutes, by the clock—I timed it—she was dead, there, in my own classroom, dead. And she was a very beautiful, strong, healthy young woman. And from the first sign of the plague to her death only fifteen minutes elapsed. That will show you how swift was the Scarlet Death.
“Yet in those few minutes I remained with the dying woman in my classroom, the alarm had spread over the university; and the students, by thousands, all of them, had deserted29 the lecture-room and laboratories. When I emerged, on my way to make report to the President of the Faculty30, I found the university deserted. Across the campus were several stragglers hurrying for their homes. Two of them were running.
“President Hoag, I found in his office, all alone, looking very old and very gray, with a multitude of wrinkles in his face that I had never seen before. At the sight of me, he pulled himself to his feet and tottered31 away to the inner office, banging the door after him and locking it. You see, he knew I had been exposed, and he was afraid. He shouted to me through the door to go away. I shall never forget my feelings as I walked down the silent corridors and out across that deserted campus. I was not afraid. I had been exposed, and I looked upon myself as already dead. It was not that, but a feeling of awful depression that impressed me. Everything had stopped. It was like the end of the world to me—my world. I had been born within sight and sound of the university. It had been my predestined career. My father had been a professor there before me, and his father before him. For a century and a half had this university, like a splendid machine, been running steadily32 on. And now, in an instant, it had stopped. It was like seeing the sacred flame die down on some thrice-sacred altar. I was shocked, unutterably shocked.
“When I arrived home, my housekeeper33 screamed as I entered, and fled away. And when I rang, I found the housemaid had likewise fled. I investigated. In the kitchen I found the cook on the point of departure. But she screamed, too, and in her haste dropped a suitcase of her personal belongings34 and ran out of the house and across the grounds, still screaming. I can hear her scream to this day. You see, we did not act in this way when ordinary diseases smote35 us. We were always calm over such things, and sent for the doctors and nurses who knew just what to do. But this was different. It struck so suddenly, and killed so swiftly, and never missed a stroke. When the scarlet rash appeared on a person's face, that person was marked by death. There was never a known case of a recovery.
“I was alone in my big house. As I have told you often before, in those days we could talk with one another over wires or through the air. The telephone bell rang, and I found my brother talking to me. He told me that he was not coming home for fear of catching36 the plague from me, and that he had taken our two sisters to stop at Professor Bacon's home. He advised me to remain where I was, and wait to find out whether or not I had caught the plague.
“To all of this I agreed, staying in my house and for the first time in my life attempting to cook. And the plague did not come out on me. By means of the telephone I could talk with whomsoever I pleased and get the news. Also, there were the newspapers, and I ordered all of them to be thrown up to my door so that I could know what was happening with the rest of the world.
“New York City and Chicago were in chaos37. And what happened with them was happening in all the large cities. A third of the New York police were dead. Their chief was also dead, likewise the mayor. All law and order had ceased. The bodies were lying in the streets un-buried. All railroads and vessels38 carrying food and such things into the great city had ceased runnings and mobs of the hungry poor were pillaging39 the stores and warehouses40. Murder and robbery and drunkenness were everywhere. Already the people had fled from the city by millions—at first the rich, in their private motor-cars and dirigibles, and then the great mass of the population, on foot, carrying the plague with them, themselves starving and pillaging the farmers and all the towns and villages on the way.
“The man who sent this news, the wireless operator, was alone with his instrument on the top of a lofty building. The people remaining in the city—he estimated them at several hundred thousand—had gone mad from fear and drink, and on all sides of him great fires were raging. He was a hero, that man who staid by his post—an obscure newspaperman, most likely.
“For twenty-four hours, he said, no transatlantic airships had arrived, and no more messages were coming from England. He did state, though, that a message from Berlin—that's in Germany—announced that Hoffmeyer, a bacteriologist of the Metchnikoff School, had discovered the serum for the plague. That was the last word, to this day, that we of America ever received from Europe. If Hoffmeyer discovered the serum, it was too late, or otherwise, long ere this, explorers from Europe would have come looking for us. We can only conclude that what happened in America happened in Europe, and that, at the best, some several score may have survived the Scarlet Death on that whole continent.
“For one day longer the despatches continued to come from New York. Then they, too, ceased. The man who had sent them, perched in his lofty building, had either died of the plague or been consumed in the great conflagrations41 he had described as raging around him. And what had occurred in New York had been duplicated in all the other cities. It was the same in San Francisco, and Oakland, and Berkeley. By Thursday the people were dying so rapidly that their corpses43 could not be handled, and dead bodies lay everywhere. Thursday night the panic outrush for the country began. Imagine, my grandsons, people, thicker than the salmon-run you have seen on the Sacramento river, pouring out of the cities by millions, madly over the country, in vain attempt to escape the ubiquitous death. You see, they carried the germs with them. Even the airships of the rich, fleeing for mountain and desert fastnesses, carried the germs.
“Hundreds of these airships escaped to Hawaii, and not only did they bring the plague with them, but they found the plague already there before them. This we learned, by the despatches, until all order in San Francisco vanished, and there were no operators left at their posts to receive or send. It was amazing, astounding44, this loss of communication with the world. It was exactly as if the world had ceased, been blotted45 out. For sixty years that world has no longer existed for me. I know there must be such places as New York, Europe, Asia, and Africa; but not one word has been heard of them—not in sixty years. With the coming of the Scarlet Death the world fell apart, absolutely, irretrievably. Ten thousand years of culture and civilization passed in the twinkling of an eye, 'lapsed28 like foam47.'
“I was telling about the airships of the rich. They carried the plague with them and no matter where they fled, they died. I never encountered but one survivor48 of any of them—Mungerson. He was afterwards a Santa Rosan, and he married my eldest49 daughter. He came into the tribe eight years after the plague. He was then nineteen years old, and he was compelled to wait twelve years more before he could marry. You see, there were no unmarried women, and some of the older daughters of the Santa Rosans were already bespoken50. So he was forced to wait until my Mary had grown to sixteen years. It was his son, Gimp-Leg, who was killed last year by the mountain lion.
“Mungerson was eleven years old at the time of the plague. His father was one of the Industrial Magnates, a very wealthy, powerful man. It was on his airship, the Condor51, that they were fleeing, with all the family, for the wilds of British Columbia, which is far to the north of here. But there was some accident, and they were wrecked52 near Mount Shasta. You have heard of that mountain. It is far to the north. The plague broke out amongst them, and this boy of eleven was the only survivor. For eight years he was alone, wandering over a deserted land and looking vainly for his own kind. And at last, travelling south, he picked up with us, the Santa Rosans.
“But I am ahead of my story. When the great exodus53 from the cities around San Francisco Bay began, and while the telephones were still working, I talked with my brother. I told him this flight from the cities was insanity54, that there were no symptoms of the plague in me, and that the thing for us to do was to isolate19 ourselves and our relatives in some safe place. We decided55 on the Chemistry Building, at the university, and we planned to lay in a supply of provisions, and by force of arms to prevent any other persons from forcing their presence upon us after we had retired56 to our refuge.
“All this being arranged, my brother begged me to stay in my own house for at least twenty-four hours more, on the chance of the plague developing in me. To this I agreed, and he promised to come for me next day. We talked on over the details of the provisioning and the defending of the Chemistry Building until the telephone died. It died in the midst of our conversation. That evening there were no electric lights, and I was alone in my house in the darkness. No more newspapers were being printed, so I had no knowledge of what was taking place outside.
“I heard sounds of rioting and of pistol shots, and from my windows I could see the glare of the sky of some conflagration42 in the direction of Oakland. It was a night of terror. I did not sleep a wink46. A man—why and how I do not know—was killed on the sidewalk in front of the house. I heard the rapid reports of an automatic pistol, and a few minutes later the wounded wretch57 crawled up to my door, moaning and crying out for help. Arming myself with two automatics, I went to him. By the light of a match I ascertained58 that while he was dying of the bullet wounds, at the same time the plague was on him. I fled indoors, whence I heard him moan and cry out for half an hour longer.
“In the morning, my brother came to me. I had gathered into a handbag what things of value I purposed taking, but when I saw his face I knew that he would never accompany me to the Chemistry Building. The plague was on him. He intended shaking my hand, but I went back hurriedly before him.
“'Look at yourself in the mirror,' I commanded.
“He did so, and at sight of his scarlet face, the color deepening as he looked at it, he sank down nervelessly in a chair.
“'My God!' he said. 'I've got it. Don't come near me. I am a dead man.'
“Then the convulsions seized him. He was two hours in dying, and he was conscious to the last, complaining about the coldness and loss of sensation in his feet, his calves59, his thighs60, until at last it was his heart and he was dead.
“That was the way the Scarlet Death slew61. I caught up my handbag and fled. The sights in the streets were terrible. One stumbled on bodies everywhere. Some were not yet dead. And even as you looked, you saw men sink down with the death fastened upon them. There were numerous fires burning in Berkeley, while Oakland and San Francisco were apparently62 being swept by vast conflagrations. The smoke of the burning filled the heavens, so that the midday was as a gloomy twilight63, and, in the shifts of wind, sometimes the sun shone through dimly, a dull red orb64. Truly, my grandsons, it was like the last days of the end of the world.
“There were numerous stalled motor cars, showing that the gasoline and the engine supplies of the garages had given out. I remember one such car. A man and a woman lay back dead in the seats, and on the pavement near it were two more women and a child. Strange and terrible sights there were on every hand. People slipped by silently, furtively65, like ghosts—white-faced women carrying infants in their arms; fathers leading children by the hand; singly, and in couples, and in families—all fleeing out of the city of death. Some carried supplies of food, others blankets and valuables, and there were many who carried nothing.
“There was a grocery store—a place where food was sold. The man to whom it belonged—I knew him well—a quiet, sober, but stupid and obstinate66 fellow, was defending it. The windows and doors had been broken in, but he, inside, hiding behind a counter, was discharging his pistol at a number of men on the sidewalk who were breaking in. In the entrance were several bodies—of men, I decided, whom he had killed earlier in the day. Even as I looked on from a distance, I saw one of the robbers break the windows of the adjoining store, a place where shoes were sold, and deliberately67 set fire to it. I did not go to the groceryman's assistance. The time for such acts had already passed. Civilization was crumbling68, and it was each for himself.”
该作者的其它作品
《The Sea-Wolf海狼》
《白牙 White Fang》
《The Son of the Wolf狼孩儿》
该作者的其它作品
《The Sea-Wolf海狼》
《白牙 White Fang》
《The Son of the Wolf狼孩儿》
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收听单词发音
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1
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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3
wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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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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5
amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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6
censoring
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| 删剪（书籍、电影等中被认为犯忌、违反道德或政治上危险的内容）( censor的现在分词 ) | |
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7
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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9
cholera
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| n.霍乱 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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11
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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12
numbness
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| n.无感觉，麻木，惊呆 | |
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numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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14
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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15
rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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16
numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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decomposition
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| n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃 | |
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18
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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isolate
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| vt.使孤立，隔离 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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serum
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| n.浆液，血清，乳浆 | |
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22
croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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23
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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24
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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clogged
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| （使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞 | |
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conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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27
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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28
lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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29
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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31
tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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32
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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33
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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35
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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36
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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38
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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39
pillaging
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| v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的现在分词 ) | |
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40
warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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41
conflagrations
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| n.大火（灾）( conflagration的名词复数 ) | |
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42
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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43
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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44
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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45
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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46
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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47
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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48
survivor
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| n.生存者，残存者，幸存者 | |
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49
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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50
bespoken
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| v.预定( bespeak的过去分词 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求 | |
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51
condor
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| n.秃鹰；秃鹰金币 | |
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52
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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53
exodus
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| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
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54
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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55
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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58
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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64
orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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66
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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