A light burned in the low-roofed cabin where the men waited for the meal which Bethune was cooking. They felt languid as well as tired and hungry, for supper had been long deferred10 to enable them to continue diving, and they had been under water much oftener than was good for them during the day. The bulkhead they strove to clear of sand was still inaccessible11, and, as bad weather had frequently hindered work, they felt compelled to make good use of every favorable minute. This was why they had held on to the wreck, instead of entering the bight before the falling tide rendered its approach dangerous. Moreover, their provisions were running low, and Bethune was experimenting with some damaged flour which had lain forgotten in a flooded locker12 for several days while they rode out a gale13. The bannocks he turned in the frying-pan had a sour, unappetizing smell.
“They may taste better than they promise,” he said encouragingly. “If the sky had looked as bad at half-tide as it does now, I’d have made you take her in. We won’t get much done to-morrow.”
Moran stretched himself out listlessly on the port locker.
“We ought to tie two reefs in the mainsail handy, but I feel played out, and the breeze may not come before morning. It strikes me the most important thing is the question of grub. We can’t hang on much longer if that flour’s too bad to eat. I can’t see how it went so moldy14 in a day or two. You can leave a flour-bag in the water for quite a while and then find the stuff all right except for an inch on the outside.”
“That’s so,” Jimmy put in. “My notion is that the flour was bad when we got it. The ship-chandler fellow had a greedy eye. But when you deal with the man who finds the money you can’t be particular.”
“He’s pretty safe,” grumbled15 Bethune. “With a bond on the boat for his loan and a big profit on everything he supplied, the only risk he runs is of our losing her—though I’ll admit that nearly happened once or twice. However, you can try the flour.”
Taking the frying-pan off the stove, he served out a thick, greasy17 bannock and a very small piece of pork to each of his companions. The food was too hot to eat, and Jimmy, breaking his with his knife, waited with some anxiety while it cooled. If they could use the flour, it would enable them to remain a week or two longer at the wreck; and he believed it would not take many days to reach the strong-room. Failing this, it looked as if he must return to his toil18 at the sawmill and the dreary19 life in the cheap hotels.
He believed that he had learned on board the sailing ships not to be dainty, but he sniffed20 at the food with repugnance21 and then resolutely22 cut off a piece. When he had eaten a bite of it he threw down his knife.
“It’s rank!” he exclaimed.
“Very well!” said Bethune. “That shortens our stay. Perhaps we had better get the pumps down into the cockpit when you have finished the pork and tea.”
They did so, grumbling24, and then lay on the lockers25, smoking and disinclined for sleep. There was a tension in the air, and something ominous26 in the roar of the surf, which seemed to grow louder and more insistent27.
“Whether we’ll find the gold or not is doubtful; the only thing certain is that we’ll have an opportunity for doing a lot of work,” Bethune observed after a while. “In a way, Hank’s more to be pitied than either of us. He hadn’t the option of taking things easily when he came out West.”
“The big lobsters28 were most killed off; you couldn’t make your grub with the traps,” Moran explained. “Then I got some little books showing it was easy to get rich by fishing in British Columbia. Wish I had the liars29 who wrote them out in a half-swamped dory picking up a trawl.”
“I don’t see that I had much more option than he had,” Jimmy objected.
“You could have stayed on board the liner, wearing smart uniforms and faring sumptuously30, with a Chinese steward31 to look after you, if you’d exercised a little tact32 and shown a proper respect for authority. When the skipper disapproved33 of a man with heart trouble steering34 his ship, as he had every right to do, you should have agreed with him.”
“I’m glad I didn’t,” Jimmy said stubbornly. “Anyhow, you’re no better off, even if you practise what you preach.”
“That would be too much to expect; but then I admit that I am a fool,” Bethune laughed. “If I doubted it, the number of times it has been delicately pointed35 out would have convinced me. After all, it’s easy to conform outwardly, which is all that is required, and you can do what you like in private. A concession36 to popular opinion here and there doesn’t cost one much.”
“If you mean I ought to have got the quartermaster sacked after he’d prevented a ton of cargo37 from dropping on my head, I’d rather starve.”
“There’s a risk of your doing so if you persist in your foolishness. If you had stopped to reason, you would have seen it was your duty to agree with your skipper. Misguided pity is a dangerous thing.”
“Moralizing of this kind makes my headache worse!” said Jimmy disgustedly. “drop it and light your pipe!”
“Let him alone; he has to talk,” Moran interposed. “It doesn’t matter so long as you don’t worry about what he means.”
“Well,” drawled Bethune, “I’ll conclude. Which of you is going to wash up?”
Moran picked up the dirty plates and thrust them into a locker.
“I’m played out and homesick! Wish I was back East, where I did my fishing in the natural way—on top of the water! But it’s a sure thing none of us will be down at the wreck to-morrow.”
There was silence except for the rumble16 of the surf and the occasional rap of a halyard against the mast. The sound became more frequent as Jimmy got drowsy38, but he was used to the approach of bad weather. Stretched out comfortably on the locker, he soon fell asleep; and it was as dark as it ever is in the North in summer when he was rudely awakened39 by a terrific jar. The sloop seemed to be rearing upright, and Moran’s hoarse40 shouts were all but drowned by the rattle41 of chain on deck.
Scrambling42 out quickly, Jimmy saw the fisherman stooping forward where the cable crossed the bits, and a narrow stretch of smoking sea ahead. Individual combers emerged from it, and the sloop alternately reeled over them with a white surge boiling at her bows and plunged43 into the hollows. Jimmy, however, wasted no time in looking about; they had hung on to their moorings longer than was prudent45, and prompt action was needed.
With Bethune’s assistance he close-reefed the mainsail and got the shortened canvas up; then all three were needed to break out the anchor, and Jimmy crouched46 in the water that swept the forward deck as he stowed it while his comrades hoisted47 a storm-jib. After that she drove away before the sea, and the men anxiously watched for the entrance to the channel. Though dawn had not broken, it was by no means dark, and they could see the streaky backs of the rollers that ran up the shoals, and beyond them a broad, white band of surf. Presently a break opened up, but it was narrow and crooked48, and it seemed impossible that the sloop could get through. When they had run on for a minute or two longer, Moran stood up on deck to command a better view.
“We’d have about two feet under her at the bend, and if she didn’t luff up handy she’d sure go ashore49,” he said. “Seems to me the chances are too blamed steep.”
They might reach shelter by taking the risk, and to refuse it meant a struggle with the sea; but Jimmy reluctantly agreed with Moran.
She swung on before the sea as he put up his helm, followed close by a comber that reared its crest51 astern, her boom flung on end with the patch of wet mainsail swelling52 like a balloon. Moran and Bethune were desperately53 busy with the sheet, for safety depended on their speed. Jimmy moved his wheel another spoke54, and sail and heavy spar swung over, while the Cetacea, coming round, buried her lee deck in the sea. With a wild plunge44 she shook off the water, and, while Bethune and his comrade flattened55 in the sheets, drove out to windward away from the dangerous shoal. Since they could not reach the bight, she would be safer in open water.
When dawn broke, ominously56 red, the Cetacea was hove to with a small trysail set, rising and falling with a drunken stagger, as the long, white seas rolled up on her weather bow. Though she shipped no heavy water, she was drifting fast to leeward57: the island had faded to a gray streak4 on the horizon. It would be a day’s work to beat back again, even if the wind abated58, and it showed no sign of doing so. By noon the land was out of sight, and the sea had grown heavier. For an hour or two there was misty59 sunshine, and the oncoming walls of water glistened60 luminously61 blue beneath their incandescent62 crests63. Some of them curled dangerously, and the trysail flapped, half empty, when the Cetacea sank into the trough. She lay there a few moments while her crew watched the comber that rose ahead. With slanted64 mast and rag of drenched65 sail she looked uncomfortably small; but somehow she staggered up the slope before the roller broke. Jimmy could not tell how far he helped her with the helm, but the sweat of nervous strain dripped from his face as he turned his wheel. Now and then she was a few seconds slow in responding to it, and when her bows swung clear her after-half was buried in a rush of spouting66 foam67. It sluiced68 off, however, and the sharp swoop69 into the trough was repeated as comber after comber swept upon them.
When Moran relieved him, Jimmy felt worn out. He had had only an hour or two’s sleep after a day of exhausting work; his breakfast had consisted of a morsel70 of stale, cold fish, hurriedly torn with his fingers from the lump in the pan; and they had had no opportunity for cooking dinner.
“I’ll try to make some coffee,” he said, as he went below.
It was difficult to light the stove. The cabin trickled71 with moisture like a dripping-well. Grate and wood were wet; and when at last the fire began to crackle, Jimmy had to kneel on a locker as he held the kettle on, in order to keep his feet out of the water which washed up from the bilge. There seemed to be a good deal of it.
“Can’t you start the pump?” he called to Bethune.
“I might. I don’t know that it would do much good. The suction’s uncovered, and the delivery under water half the time.”
“Then come in and cook, while I get at it!”
“Oh, I’ll try!” Bethune answered morosely72; and Jimmy resumed his watch on the kettle and left his companion alone.
He knew the curious slackness which sometimes seizes men exposed to the fury of the sea. It differs from fatigue73 in being moral rather than physical, and it is distinct from fear; its victim is overwhelmed by a sense of the futility74 of anything that he can do. Determined75 effort is its best cure, and Jimmy smiled as he heard the clatter76 of the pump. He thought Bethune would feel better presently.
He made the coffee, found a few of the tough cakes Moran called biscuits, and recklessly opened a can of meat. After the meal, which they all found a luxurious77 change from fish, Jimmy lay down, wet through as he was, on a locker, and, wedging himself fast with parts of the dismantled78 diving pump, sank into broken sleep.
It was midnight when he went up again to take the helm. There was no moon, and gray scud79 obscured the sea. Foam-tipped ridges80 came rolling out of it, and the Cetacea labored81 heavily. Jimmy watched Moran pump a while before he went below, and then he pulled himself together to keep his dreary watch. The slow whitening of the east brought no change. Dawn came, and throughout another wearing day they still lay hove to. The sloop did not give them much trouble, and they could easily pump out all the water she shipped; but toward evening they began to feel anxious. The gale had increased. They must already have made a good deal of leeway and they might be drifting near the land; if so, she would not carry enough sail to drive her clear, and there would soon be an end of her if she were blown ashore.
Jimmy was on deck at dawn the next morning, but saw nothing except a narrow circle of foaming82 sea and the flying scud that dimmed the horizon. Toward noon, however, it began to clear, and, getting out the glasses, he waited eagerly during an hour or two of fitful sunshine. The wind seemed to be falling, and the haze had thinned. Slowly it blew away, and a high, gray mass rose into view, four or five miles off. Moran called out as he saw it, but Jimmy quietly studied the land through his glasses.
“The head, sure enough!” he said. “If it had kept thick, we’d have been ashore and breaking up long before dark. Now we have to decide what it’s best to do. She might stand a three-reefed mainsail.”
“It would take us a week to beat back to the island, and we wouldn’t have many provisions left when we got there,” Bethune pointed out. “I don’t feel keen on facing the long thrash to windward.”
“She wouldn’t be long making Comox with this breeze over her quarter,” Moran suggested. “We might get somebody to grubstake us at one of the stores.”
“Considering that there’s a bond on her, it isn’t likely,” Jimmy replied.
They let her drift while they looked gloomily to windward, where the island lay. It would need a stern effort to reach it unless the wind should change; a long stretch of foaming sea which the sloop must be driven across close-hauled divided the men from the wreck. They were all worn out and depressed83; and neither of Moran’s comrades protested when he got up abruptly84 and slacked off the mainsheet.
“I guess we’ll go where there’s something to eat,” he said. “You can square off for the straits while I loose the mainsail.”
Jimmy put up his helm with a keen sense of relief, and the Cetacea swung away swiftly for the south with the sea behind her. It was nervous work steering, and Jimmy advised Moran to leave the mainsail furled; but the worst of the strain had passed, and rest and shelter lay ahead.
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收听单词发音
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1
glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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14
moldy
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| adj.发霉的 | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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20
sniffed
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| 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 | |
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repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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scuttle
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| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
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grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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lockers
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| n.寄物柜( locker的名词复数 ) | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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liars
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| 说谎者( liar的名词复数 ) | |
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sumptuously
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| 奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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38
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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39
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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40
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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41
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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42
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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43
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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44
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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45
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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46
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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49
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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50
jibe
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| v.嘲笑，与...一致，使转向；n.嘲笑，嘲弄 | |
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51
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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52
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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53
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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54
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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55
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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56
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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57
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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58
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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59
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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60
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
luminously
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| 发光的； 明亮的； 清楚的； 辉赫 | |
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62
incandescent
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| adj.遇热发光的， 白炽的，感情强烈的 | |
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63
crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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64
slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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65
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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66
spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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67
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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68
sluiced
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| v.冲洗( sluice的过去式和过去分词 )；（指水）喷涌而出；漂净；给…安装水闸 | |
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69
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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morosely
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| adv.愁眉苦脸地，忧郁地 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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futility
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| n.无用 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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scud
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| n.疾行；v.疾行 | |
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ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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