Only, in Jerry’s case, there was no pondering of the problem, no awareness5 of the existence of such mysteries. He merely accepted Malaita as another world that had ceased to be. He remembered it as he remembered dreams. Himself a live thing, solid and substantial, possessed6 of weight and dimension, a reality incontrovertible, he moved through the space and place of being, concrete, hard, quick, convincing, an absoluteness of something surrounded by the shades and shadows of the fluxing7 phantasmagoria of nothing.
He took his worlds one by one. One by one his worlds evaporated, rose beyond his vision as vapours in the hot alembic of the sun, sank for ever beneath sea-levels, themselves unreal and passing as the phantoms8 of a dream. The totality of the minute, simple world of the humans, microscopic9 and negligible as it was in the siderial universe, was as far beyond his guessing as is the siderial universe beyond the starriest guesses and most abysmal10 imaginings of man.
Jerry was never to see the dark island of savagery11 again, although often in his sleeping dreams it was to return to him in vivid illusion, as he relived his days upon it, from the destruction of the Arangi and the man-eating orgy on the beach to his flight from the shell-scattered house and flesh of Nalasu. These dream episodes constituted for him another land of Otherwhere, mysterious, unreal, and evanescent as clouds drifting across the sky or bubbles taking iridescent14 form and bursting on the surface of the sea. Froth and foam15 it was, quick-vanishing as he awoke, non-existent as Skipper, Skipper’s head on the withered16 knees of Bashti in the lofty grass house. Malaita the real, Malaita the concrete and ponderable, vanished and vanished for ever, as Meringe had vanished, as Skipper had vanished, into the nothingness.
From Malaita the Ariel steered17 west of north to Ongtong Java and to Tasman—great atolls that sweltered under the Line not quite awash in the vast waste of the West South Pacific. After Tasman was another wide sea-stretch to the high island of Bougainville. Thence, bearing generally south-east and making slow progress in the dead beat to windward, the Ariel dropped anchor in nearly every harbour of the Solomons, from Choiseul and Ronongo islands, to the islands of Kulambangra, Vangunu, Pavuvu, and New Georgia. Even did she ride to anchor, desolately18 lonely, in the Bay of a Thousand Ships.
Last of all, so far as concerned the Solomons, her anchor rumbled19 down and bit into the coral-sanded bottom of the harbour of Tulagi, where, ashore20 on Florida Island, lived and ruled the Resident Commissioner21.
To the Commissioner, Harley Kennan duly turned over Makawao, who was committed to a grass-house jail, well guarded, to sit in leg-irons against the time of trial for his many crimes. And Johnny, the pilot, ere he returned to the service of the Commissioner, received a fair portion of the twenty pounds of head money that Kennan divided among the members of the launch crew who had raced through the jungle to the rescue the day Jerry had taken Makawao by the back of the neck and startled him into pulling the trigger of his unaimed rifle.
“I’ll tell you his name,” the Commissioner said, as they sat on the wide veranda22 of his bungalow23. “It’s one of Haggin’s terriers—Haggin of Meringe Lagoon24. The dog’s father is Terrence, the mother is Biddy. The dog’s own name is Jerry, for I was present at the christening before ever his eyes were open. Better yet, I’ll show you his brother. His brother’s name is Michael. He’s nigger-chaser on the Eugénie, the two-topmast schooner25 that rides abreast26 of you. Captain Kellar is the skipper. I’ll have him bring Michael ashore. Beyond all doubt, this Jerry is the sole survivor27 of the Arangi.”
“When I get the time, and a sufficient margin28 of funds, I shall pay a visit to Chief Bashti—oh, no British cruiser program. I’ll charter a couple of trading ketches, take my own black police force and as many white men as I cannot prevent from volunteering. There won’t be any shelling of grass houses. I’ll land my shore party down the coast and cut in and come down upon Somo from the rear, timing29 my vessels30 to arrive on Somo’s sea-front at the same time.”
“I will answer slaughter with law,” the Commissioner replied. “I will teach Somo law. I hope that no accidents will occur. I hope that no life will be lost on either side. I know, however, that I shall recover Captain Van Horn’s head, and his mate Borckman’s, and bring them back to Tulagi for Christian33 burial. I know that I shall get old Bashti by the scruff of the neck and sit him down while I pump law and square-dealing into him. Of course . . . ”
The Commissioner, ascetic-looking, an Oxford34 graduate, narrow-shouldered and elderly, tired-eyed and bespectacled like the scholar he was, like the scientist he was, shrugged35 his shoulders. “Of course, if they are not amenable37 to reason, there may be trouble, and some of them and some of us will get hurt. But, one way or the other, the conclusion will be the same. Old Bashti will learn that it is expedient38 to maintain white men’s heads on their shoulders.”
“But how will he learn?” Villa Kennan asked. “If he is shrewd enough not to fight you, and merely sits and listens to your English law, it will be no more than a huge joke to him. He will no more than pay the price of listening to a lecture for any atrocity39 he commits.”
“On the contrary, my dear Mrs. Kennan. If he listens peaceably to the lecture, I shall fine him only a hundred thousand coconuts41, five tons of ivory nut, one hundred fathoms42 of shell money, and twenty fat pigs. If he refuses to listen to the lecture and goes on the war path, then, unpleasantly for me, I assure you, I shall be compelled to thrash him and his village, first: and, next, I shall triple the fine he must pay and lecture the law into him a trifle more compendiously43.”
“Suppose he doesn’t fight, stops his ears to the lecture, and declines to pay?” Villa Kennan persisted.
“Then he shall be my guest, here in Tulagi, until he changes his mind and heart, and does pay, and listens to an entire course of lectures.”
* * * * *
So it was that Jerry came to hear his old-time name on the lips of Villa and Harley, and saw once again his full-brother Michael.
“Say nothing,” Harley muttered to Villa, as they made out, peering over the bow of the shore-coming whaleboat, the rough coat, red-wheaten in colour, of Michael. “We won’t know anything about anything, and we won’t even let on we’re watching what they do.”
Jerry, feigning44 interest in digging a hole in the sand as if he were on a fresh scent12, was unaware45 of Michael’s nearness. In fact, so well had Jerry feigned46 that he had forgotten it was all a game, and his interest was very real as he sniffed47 and snorted joyously48 in the bottom of the hole he had dug. So deep was it, that all he showed of himself was his hind-legs, his rump, and an intelligent and stiffly erect49 stump50 of a tail.
Little wonder that he and Michael failed to see each other. And Michael, spilling over with unused vitality51 from the cramped52 space of the Eugénie’s deck, scampered53 down the beach in a hurly-burly of joy, scenting54 a thousand intimate land-scents as he ran, and describing a jerky and eccentric course as he made short dashes and good-natured snaps at the coconut40 crabs55 that scuttled56 across his path to the safety of the water or reared up and menaced him with formidable claws and a spluttering and foaming57 of the shell-lids of their mouths.
The beach was only so long. The end of it reached where rose the rugged36 wall of a headland, and while the Commissioner introduced Captain Kellar to Mr. and Mrs. Kennan, Michael came tearing back across the wet-hard sand. So interested was he in everything that he failed to notice the small rear-end portion of Jerry that was visible above the level surface of the beach. Jerry’s ears had given him warning, and, the precise instant that he backed hurriedly up and out of the hole, Michael collided with him. As Jerry was rolled, and as Michael fell clear over him, both erupted into ferocious58 snarls59 and growls60. They regained61 their legs, bristled62 and showed teeth at each other, and stalked stiff-leggedly, in a stately and dignified63 sort of way, as they drew intimidating64 semi-circles about each other.
But they were fooling all the while, and were more than a trifle embarrassed. For in each of their brains were bright identification pictures of the plantation65 house and compound and beach of Meringe. They knew, but they were reticent66 of recognition. No longer puppies, vaguely67 proud of the sedateness69 of maturity70, they strove to be proud and sedate68 while all their impulse was to rush together in a frantic71 ecstasy72.
Michael it was, less travelled in the world than Jerry, by nature not so self-controlled, who threw the play-acting of dignity to the wind, and, with shrill73 whinings of emotion, with body-wrigglings of delight, flashed out his tongue of love and shouldered his brother roughly in eagerness to get near to him.
Jerry responded as eagerly with kiss of tongue and contact of shoulder; then both, springing apart, looked at each other, alert and querying75, almost in half challenge, Jerry’s ears pricked76 into living interrogations, Michael’s one good ear similarly questioning, his withered ear retaining its permanent queer and crinkly cock in the tip of it. As one, they sprang away in a wild scurry77 down the beach, side by side, laughing to each other and occasionally striking their shoulders together as they ran.
“No doubt of it,” said the Commissioner. “The very way their father and mother run. I have watched them often.”
* * * * *
But, after ten days of comradeship, came the parting. It was Michael’s first visit on the Ariel, and he and Jerry had spent a frolicking half-hour on her white deck amid the sound and commotion78 of hoisting79 in boats, making sail, and heaving out anchor. As the Ariel began to move through the water and heeled to the filling of her canvas by the brisk trade-wind, the Commissioner and Captain Kellar shook last farewells and scrambled80 down the gang-plank to their waiting whaleboats. At the last moment Captain Kellar had caught Michael up, tucked him under an arm, and with him dropped into the, sternsheets of his whaleboat.
Painters were cast off, and in the sternsheets of each boat solitary81 white men were standing82 up, heads bared in graciousness of conduct to the furnace-stab of the tropic sun, as they waved additional and final farewells. And Michael, swept by the contagion83 of excitement, barked and barked again, as if it were a festival of the gods being celebrated84.
“Say good-bye to your brother, Jerry,” Villa Kennan prompted in Jerry’s ear, as she held him, his quivering flanks between her two palms, on the rail where she had lifted him.
And Jerry, not understanding her speech, torn about with conflicting desires, acknowledged her speech with wriggling74 body, a quick back-toss of head, and a red flash of kissing tongue, and, the next moment, his head over the rail and lowered to see the swiftly diminishing Michael, was mouthing grief and woe85 very much akin13 to the grief and woe his mother, Biddy, had mouthed in the long ago, on the beach of Meringe, when he had sailed away with Skipper.
For Jerry had learned partings, and beyond all peradventure this was a parting, though little he dreamed that he would again meet Michael across the years and across the world, in a fabled86 valley of far California, where they would live out their days in the hearts and arms of the beloved gods.
Michael, his forefeet on the gunwale, barked to him in a puzzled, questioning sort of way, and Jerry whimpered back incommunicable understanding. The lady-god pressed his two flanks together reassuringly87, and he turned to her, his cool nose touched questioningly to her cheek. She gathered his body close against her breast in one encircling arm, her free hand resting on the rail, half-closed, a pink-and-white heart of flower, fragrant88 and seducing89. Jerry’s nose quested the way of it. The aperture90 invited. With snuggling, budging91, and nudging-movements he spread the fingers slightly wider as his nose penetrated92 into the sheer delight and loveliness of her hand.
He came to rest, his golden muzzle93 soft-enfolded to the eyes, and was very still, all forgetful of the Ariel showing her copper94 to the sun under the press of the wind, all forgetful of Michael growing small in the distance as the whaleboat grew small astern. No less still was Villa. Both were playing the game, although to her it was new.
As long as he could possibly contain himself, Jerry maintained his stiffness. And then, his love bursting beyond the control of him, he gave a sniff—as prodigious95 a one as he had sniffed into the tunnel of Skipper’s hand in the long ago on the deck of the Arangi. And, as Skipper had relaxed into the laughter of love, so did the lady-god now. She gurgled gleefully. Her fingers tightened96, in a caress97 that almost hurt, on Jerry’s muzzle. Her other hand and arm crushed him against her till he gasped98. Yet all the while his stump of tail valiantly99 bobbed back and forth100, and, when released from such blissful contact, his silky ears flattened101 back and down as, with first a scarlet102 slash103 of tongue to cheek, he seized her hand between his teeth and dented104 the soft skin with a love bite that did not hurt.
And so, for Jerry, vanished Tulagi, its Commissioner’s bungalow on top of the hill, its vessels riding to anchor in the harbour, and Michael, his full blood-brother. He had grown accustomed to such vanishments. In such way had vanished as in the mirage105 of a dream, Meringe, Somo, and the Arangi. In such way had vanished all the worlds and harbours and roadsteads and atoll lagoons106 where the Ariel had lifted her laid anchor and gone on across and over the erasing107 sea-rim.
该作者的其它作品
《The Sea-Wolf海狼》
《白牙 White Fang》
《The Iron Heel 铁蹄》
该作者的其它作品
《The Sea-Wolf海狼》
《白牙 White Fang》
《The Iron Heel 铁蹄》
点击收听单词发音
1 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 mightier | |
adj. 强有力的,强大的,巨大的 adv. 很,极其 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 vexed | |
adj.争论不休的;(指问题等)棘手的;争论不休的问题;烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 dual | |
adj.双的;二重的,二元的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 awareness | |
n.意识,觉悟,懂事,明智 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 fluxing | |
稀释,冲淡; 造渣; 熔解; 增塑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 phantoms | |
n.鬼怪,幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 microscopic | |
adj.微小的,细微的,极小的,显微的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 abysmal | |
adj.无底的,深不可测的,极深的;糟透的,极坏的;完全的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 savagery | |
n.野性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 iridescent | |
adj.彩虹色的,闪色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 withered | |
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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 steered | |
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 desolately | |
荒凉地,寂寞地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 rumbled | |
发出隆隆声,发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 轰鸣着缓慢行进; 发现…的真相; 看穿(阴谋) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 commissioner | |
n.(政府厅、局、处等部门)专员,长官,委员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 veranda | |
n.走廊;阳台 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 bungalow | |
n.平房,周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 lagoon | |
n.泻湖,咸水湖 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 schooner | |
n.纵帆船 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 abreast | |
adv.并排地;跟上(时代)的步伐,与…并进地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 survivor | |
n.生存者,残存者,幸存者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 margin | |
n.页边空白;差额;余地,余裕;边,边缘 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 timing | |
n.时间安排,时间选择 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 vessels | |
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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 villa | |
n.别墅,城郊小屋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 Oxford | |
n.牛津(英国城市) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 rugged | |
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 amenable | |
adj.经得起检验的;顺从的;对负有义务的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 expedient | |
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 atrocity | |
n.残暴,暴行 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 coconut | |
n.椰子 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 coconuts | |
n.椰子( coconut的名词复数 );椰肉,椰果 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 fathoms | |
英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 compendiously | |
adv.扼要地;简要地;摘要地;简洁地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 feigning | |
假装,伪装( feign的现在分词 ); 捏造(借口、理由等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 unaware | |
a.不知道的,未意识到的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 feigned | |
a.假装的,不真诚的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 sniffed | |
v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 joyously | |
ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 stump | |
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 vitality | |
n.活力,生命力,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 cramped | |
a.狭窄的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 scampered | |
v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑,惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 scenting | |
vt.闻到(scent的现在分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 crabs | |
n.蟹( crab的名词复数 );阴虱寄生病;蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 scuttled | |
v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 );快跑,急走 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 foaming | |
adj.布满泡沫的;发泡 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 snarls | |
n.(动物的)龇牙低吼( snarl的名词复数 );愤怒叫嚷(声);咆哮(声);疼痛叫声v.(指狗)吠,嗥叫, (人)咆哮( snarl的第三人称单数 );咆哮着说,厉声地说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 growls | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 );低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 regained | |
复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 bristled | |
adj. 直立的,多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 dignified | |
a.可敬的,高贵的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 intimidating | |
vt.恐吓,威胁( intimidate的现在分词) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 plantation | |
n.种植园,大农场 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 reticent | |
adj.沉默寡言的;言不如意的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 sedate | |
adj.沉着的,镇静的,安静的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 sedateness | |
n.安详,镇静 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 maturity | |
n.成熟;完成;(支票、债券等)到期 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
72 ecstasy | |
n.狂喜,心醉神怡,入迷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74 wriggling | |
v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等);蠕蠕 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75 querying | |
v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的现在分词 );询问 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76 pricked | |
刺,扎,戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 ); 刺伤; 刺痛; 使剧痛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77 scurry | |
vi.急匆匆地走;使急赶;催促;n.快步急跑,疾走;仓皇奔跑声;骤雨,骤雪;短距离赛马 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78 commotion | |
n.骚动,动乱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
79 hoisting | |
起重,提升 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
81 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
82 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
83 contagion | |
n.(通过接触的疾病)传染;蔓延 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
84 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
85 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
86 fabled | |
adj.寓言中的,虚构的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
87 reassuringly | |
ad.安心,可靠 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
88 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
89 seducing | |
诱奸( seduce的现在分词 ); 勾引; 诱使堕落; 使入迷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
90 aperture | |
n.孔,隙,窄的缺口 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
91 budging | |
v.(使)稍微移动( budge的现在分词 );(使)改变主意,(使)让步 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
92 penetrated | |
adj. 击穿的,鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
93 muzzle | |
n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
94 copper | |
n.铜;铜币;铜器;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
95 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
96 tightened | |
收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)变紧; (使)绷紧; 加紧 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
97 caress | |
vt./n.爱抚,抚摸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
98 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
99 valiantly | |
adv.勇敢地,英勇地;雄赳赳 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
100 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
101 flattened | |
[医](水)平扁的,弄平的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
102 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
103 slash | |
vi.大幅度削减;vt.猛砍,尖锐抨击,大幅减少;n.猛砍,斜线,长切口,衣衩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
104 dented | |
v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 );损害;伤害;挫伤(信心、名誉等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
105 mirage | |
n.海市蜃楼,幻景 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
106 lagoons | |
n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 );潟湖;(大湖或江河附近的)小而浅的淡水湖;温泉形成的池塘 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
107 erasing | |
v.擦掉( erase的现在分词 );抹去;清除 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |