I came out upon the deck again, but leaving everything as I had found it—my momentary3 impulse to lift the flag having vanished as I felt how fit it was that this dead battle-captain should rest on undisturbed where his men had laid him beneath the colors that he had died for; and I was glad to find when I got into the open that a good deal of daylight still remained. But it was so far gone, and was waning4 so rapidly, that I saw that I had little chance of getting back to the Hurst Castle before nightfall; and that the most that I could hope for was to make a start in the right direction—and perhaps to find a wreck5 to sleep on that had food and water aboard of it, and thence take up my search again the next day.
Yet the dread6 was strong upon me, as I looked around upon the wrecks7 among which the Wasp was bedded, that I might not only be unable to find the Hurst Castle again, but ever to find my way across that tangle8 to the outer edges of it—where only was it possible that ships on which were provisions fit for eating would be found. The very fact that the Wasp had settled into her position more than fourscore years back made it certain that she was deep in the labyrinth9; and the strange old-fashioned look of the craft surrounding her showed me that I should have to go far before finding a vessel10 wrecked11 in recent times.
But these disheartening thoughts I crushed down as well as I could, yet not making much of it; and as trying to go back by the way that I had come to the Wasp would not serve any good purpose—even supposing that I could have managed it, which was not likely—I went on beyond her on a new course: taking a longish jump from her quarter-rail and landing on the deck of a clumsy little ill-shapen brig, with a high-built square stern and a high-built bow that was pretty nearly square too. She was Dutch, I fancy, and a merchant vessel; but she carried a little battery of brass12 six-pounders, and had also a half dozen pederaros set along her rail. And by her carrying these old-fashioned swivel-guns—which proved that she had got her armament not much later than the middle of the last century—and by the general look of her, I knew that she was an older vessel even than the Wasp.
This observation, and the reflection growing out of it that the deeper I went into the Sargasso Sea the older must be the craft bedded in it—since that great dead fleet is recruited constantly by new wrecks drifting in upon its outer edges from all ways seaward—put into my head what seemed to me to be a very reasonable plan for finding my way back to the Hurst Castle again; or, at least, to some other newly come in hulk on which there would be fresh water and sound food. And this was to shape my course by considering attentively13 the look of each wreck that I came aboard of, and the look of those surrounding it, and by then going forward to whichever one of them seemed to be of the most modern build.
As the first step in carrying out my plan—and it seemed to be such a good plan that I felt almost light-hearted over it—I got up on the rail of the old brig and jumped back to the less-old Wasp again: landing in her main-channels, and thence easily boarding her by scrambling14 up what was left of the chains. But in taking my next step I had no choice in the matter, as only one other vessel was in touch with the sloop—a heavily-built little schooner15 that had the look of being quite as old as the brig which I had just left. And her age was so evident as I came aboard of her—having crossed the deck of the Wasp hastily, picking my way among the scattered16 bones—that of a sudden my faith in my fine plan for getting out of the tangle began to wane17.
In a general way, of course, the conclusion which I had arrived at was a sound one. Broadly speaking, it was certain that could I pass in a straight line from the centre to the circumference18 of that vast assemblage of wrecks I constantly would find vessels19 of newer build; and so at last, upon the outermost20 fringe, would come to the wrecks of ships belonging to my own day. But one weak point in my calculations was my inability to hold to a straight line, or to anything like one—because I had to advance from one wreck to another as they happened to touch or to be within jumping distance of each other, and therefore went crookedly21 upon my course and often fairly had to double on it. And another weak point was that the sea in its tempests recognizes no order of seniority, but destroys in the same breath of storm ships just beginning their lives upon it and ships which have withstood its ragings for a hundred years: so that I very well might find—as I actually did find in the case of the Wasp—a comparatively modern-built vessel lying hemmed22 in by ancient craft, survivals of obsolete23 types, which had lingered so long upon the ocean that in their lives as in their deaths they merged24 and blended the present and the past.
Thus a check was put upon my plan at the very outset; yet in a stolid25 sort of way—knowing that to give it up entirely26 would be to bring despair upon me, for I could not think of a better one—I tried still to hold by it: going on from the clumsy little old schooner to that one of two vessels lying beyond her which I fancied, though both of them belonged to a long past period, was the more modern-looking in her build. And so I continued to go onward27 over a dozen craft of one sort or another, holding by my rule—or trying to believe that I was holding by it, for all of the wrecks which I crossed were of an antique type—and now and then being left with no chance for choosing by finding open to me only a single way. And all this while the daylight was leaving me—the sun having gone down a ruddy globe beyond the forest of wrecks westward28, and heavy purple shadows having begun to close down upon me through the low-hanging haze29.
The imminence30 of night-fall made clear to me that I had no chance whatever of getting out from among those long-dead ships before the next morning; and this certainty was the harder to bear because I was desperately31 hungry—more than six hours having passed since I had eaten anything—and thirsty too: though my thirst, because of the dampness of the haze I suppose, was not very severe. But the belief that I really was advancing toward the coast of my strange floating continent and that I should find both food and drink when I got there, made me press forward; comforting myself as well as I could with the reflection that even though I did have to keep a hungry and thirsty vigil among those old withered32 hulks I yet should be the nearer, by every one of them that I put behind me that night, to the freshly come in wrecks on the coast line—where I made sure of finding a breakfast on the following day. Moreover, I knew how forlornly miserable34 I should be the moment that I lost the excitement of scrambling and climbing and just sat down there among the ancient dead, with the darkness closing over me, to wait for the slow coming of another day. And my dread of that desolate35 loneliness urged me to push forward while the least bit of daylight was left by which to see my way.
It was ticklish36 work, as the dusk deepened, getting from one wreck to another; and at last—after nearly going down into the weed between two of them, because of a rotten belaying-pin that I caught at breaking in my hand—I had to resign myself to giving over until morning any farther attempt to advance. But I was cheered by the thought that I had got on a good way in the hour or more that had gone since I had left the Wasp behind me; and so I tried to make the best of things as I cast around me for some sheltered nook on the deck of the vessel I had come aboard of—a little clumsy old brig—where my night might be passed. As to going below, either into the cabin or the forecastle, I could not bring myself to it; for my heart failed me at the thought of what I might touch in the darkness there, and my mind—sore and troubled by all that I had passed through, and by the dim dread filling it—certainly would have crowded those black depths with grisly phantoms37 until I very well might have gone mad.
And so, as I say, I cast about the deck of the brig for some nook that would shelter me from the dampness while I did my best to sleep away into forgetfulness my hunger and my thirst; but was troubled all the while that I was making my round of investigation38 by a haunting feeling that I had been on that same deck only a little while before. Growing stronger and stronger, this feeling became so insistent39 that I could not rest for it; and presently compelled me to try to quiet it by taking a look at the wreck next beyond the brig to see if I recognized that too—as would be likely, since I must have crossed it also, had I really come that way.
I did not try to board this adjoining wreck, but only clambered up on the rail of the brig so that I could look well at it—and when I got my look I came more nearly to breaking down completely than I had done at any time since I had been cast overboard from the Golden Hind33, For there, showing faintly in the gloom below me, was the gun-set deck of a war-ship, and over the deck dimly-gleaming bones were scattered—and in that moment I knew that the whole of my wandering had been but a circle, and that I was come back again at the weary ending of it to the Wasp.
But what crushed the heart of me was not that my afternoon of toil40 had been wasted, but the strong conviction—from which I no longer saw any way of escaping—that I had strayed too deep into that hideous41 sea-labyrinth ever to find my way out of it, and that I must die there slowly for lack of water and of food.
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1
wasp
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| n.黄蜂，蚂蜂 | |
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2
ebbed
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的过去式和过去分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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3
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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4
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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5
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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6
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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7
wrecks
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| n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉 | |
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8
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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9
labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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10
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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11
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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12
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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13
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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14
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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15
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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16
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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wane
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| n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦 | |
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18
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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19
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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outermost
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| adj.最外面的，远离中心的 | |
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crookedly
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| adv. 弯曲地，不诚实地 | |
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22
hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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23
obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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24
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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25
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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26
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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29
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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30
imminence
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| n.急迫，危急 | |
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31
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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32
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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33
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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34
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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35
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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36
ticklish
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| adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理 | |
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37
phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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38
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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39
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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40
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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41
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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