When I had come aboard the galleon4, about noon-time, and had found her so sodden5 with wet and so reeking6 with foul7 odors—as, indeed, were all of the very ancient ships which made the mid-part of that sea graveyard—I had made my mind up to a forced march in the afternoon that I hoped would carry me through the worst of all that rottenness, and so to a ship partly dry and less ill-smelling for the night. But when I came out from the cabin and looked about me, and saw how thick and black were the shadows in the clefts8 between the wrecks9, I knew that I could not venture onward10, but must pass the night where I was. And this was a prospect11 not at all to my mind.
The cabin, of course, was the only place for me, the soaked deck with the soaked moss12 on top of it being quite out of the question; but even the cabin was not fit for a dog to lie in, so chill and damp was it and so foul with the stench rising and spreading from the slime of rotted leather that I had emptied from the coffer and that made a little vile13 pool upon the floor. And through the open hatch there came up a dismal14 heavy odor of all the rotten stuff down there that almost turned my stomach, and that made the air laden15 with it hard to breathe—though in my hot excitement I had not noticed it at all. But this last I got the better of in part by covering again the opening, though I had to move the hatch very gently and carefully to keep it from falling into rotten fragments in my hands. Yet because it was so dense16 with moisture, when I did get it set in place, it pretty well kept the stench down. And then I kicked away some of the ingots into a corner, and so cleared a space on the floor where I could stretch myself just within the cabin door.
These matters being attended to, I seated myself in the same place where I had eaten my dinner—just outside the door, under the little sort of porch overhanging it—and ate the short ration17 that I allowed myself for my supper, and found it very much less than my lively hunger required. When I had finished I sat on there for a good while longer, being very loath18 to go into the cabin; but at last, by finding myself nodding with weary drowsiness19, I knew that sleep would come quickly, and so went inside and laid myself down upon the floor. There still was a faint glimmer20 of dying daylight outside, and this little glow somehow comforted me as I lay there facing the doorway21 and blinking now and then before my eyes were tight closed; but I did not lie long that way half-waking, being so utterly23 fagged in both mind and body that I dropped off into deep slumber24 before the darkness fell.
I suppose that even in my sleep I had an uneasy sense of my bleak25 surroundings; and that this, in the course of three or four hours—by which time I was a good deal rested and so slept less soundly—got the better of my weariness and roused me awake again. But when I first woke I was sure that I had slept the night through and that early morning was come—for there was so much light in the cabin that I never thought to account for it save by the return of day. Yet the light was not like daylight, as I realized when I had a little more shaken off my sleepiness, being curiously26 white and soft.
I turned over—for I had rolled in my uneasy sleep and got my back toward the doorway—and raised myself a little on my elbow so that I might see out clearly; and what I saw was so unearthly strange, and in a way so awe-compelling, that in another moment I was on my feet and staring with all my eyes. Over the whole deck of the galleon a soft lambent light was playing, and this went along her bulwarks27 and up over her high fore22-castle so that all the lines of her structure were defined sharply by it; and pale through the mist against the blackness, out over her low waist, I could catch glimpses of the other tall old ships lying near her all likewise shining everywhere with the same soft flames—which yet were not flames exactly, but rather a flickering28 glow.
In a moment or so I realized that this luminous29 wonder, which at the first look had so strong a touch of the supernatural in it, was no more than the manifestation30 of a natural phenomenon: being the shimmer31 of phosphorescent light upon the soaking rotten woodwork of the galleon and of the ships about her, as rotten and as old. But making this explanation to myself did not lessen32 the frightening strangeness of the spectacle, nor do much to stop the cold creeps which ran over me as I looked at it: I being there solitary33 in that marvellous brightness—that I knew was in a way a death-glow—the one thing alive.
But presently my unreasoning shivering dread34 began to yield a little, as my curiosity bred in me an eager desire to see the whole of this wondrous35 soft splendor36; for I made sure from my glimpses over the galleon's bulwarks that it was about me on every side. And so I stepped out from the cabin upon the deck, where my feet sank into the short mossy growth that coated the rotten planks37 and I was fairly walking in what seemed like a lake of wavering pale flame; and from there, that I might see the better, I climbed cautiously up the rotten stair leading to the roof of the cabin, and thence to the little over-topping gallery where the stern-lantern was. And from that height I could gaze about me as far as ever the mist would let me see.
Everywhere within the circle that my eyes covered—which was not a very big one, for in the night the mist was thick and low-lying—the old wrecks wedged together there were lighted with the same lambent flames: which came and went over their dead carcasses as though they all suddenly were lighted and then as suddenly were put out again; and farther away the glow of them in the mist was like a silvery shimmering38 haze39. By this ebbing40 and flowing light—which seemed to me, for all that I knew the natural cause of it, so outside of nature that I thrilled with a creeping fear as I looked at it—I could see clearly the shapes of the strange ancient ships around me: their great poops and fore-castles rising high above their shallow waists, and here and there among them the remnant of a mast making a line of light rising higher still—like a huge corpse-candle shining against the blackness beyond. And the ruin of them—the breaks in their lines, and the black gaps where bits of their frames had rotted away completely—gave to them all a ghastly death-like look; while their wild tangling41 together made strange ragged42 lines of brightness wavering under the veil of mist, as though a desolate43 sea-city were lying there dead before me lit up with lanterns of despair.
Yet that which most keenly thrilled me with a cold dread was my strong conviction that I could see living men moving hither and thither44 over those pale-lit decks, where my reason told me that only ancient death could be; for the play of the flickering light made such a commotion45 of fleeting46 flames and dancing shadows, going and coming in all manner of fantastic shapes, that every shattered hulk around me seemed to have her old crew alive and on board of her again—all hurrying in bustling47 crowds fore and aft, and up and down the heights of her, as though under orderly command. And at times these shapes were so real and so distinct to me that I was for crying out to them—and would check myself suddenly, shivering with a fright which I knew was out of all reason but which for the life of me I could not keep down.
And so the night wore away: while I stood there on the galleon's poop with the soft pale flames flickering around me in the mist, and my fears rising and falling as I lost and regained48 control of myself; and I think that it is a wonder that I did not go mad.
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1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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2
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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3
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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4
galleon
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| n.大帆船 | |
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5
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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6
reeking
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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7
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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8
clefts
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| n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷 | |
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9
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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10
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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11
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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12
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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13
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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14
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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15
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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16
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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17
ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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18
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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19
drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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20
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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21
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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22
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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23
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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24
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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25
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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26
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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27
bulwarks
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| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
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28
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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29
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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30
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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31
shimmer
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| v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光 | |
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32
lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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33
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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34
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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35
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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36
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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37
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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38
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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39
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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40
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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41
tangling
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的现在分词 ) | |
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42
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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43
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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44
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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45
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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46
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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47
bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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48
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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