CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO “IT’S THE VOICE! IT AIN’T HUMAN!”

 Gary had been imprisoned¹ in the crosscut eight days, counting the time until noon. He had stretched his lunch to the third day; human endurance could not compass a longer abstinence than that, so long as the smallest crumb² remained. He had drunk perhaps a quart of water from the canteen he had carried up the bluff³ the day before the catastrophe⁴, and had left the canteen there, expecting to use it for drilling. With a fresh canteen filled that morning at the creek⁵, he had something over three gallons to begin with. Wherefore the tortures of thirst had not yet assailed⁶ him, though he had from the first hour held himself rigidly⁷ to the smallest ration⁸ he thought he could endure and keep his reason.

 

Through all the dragging hours, fighting indomitably against despair when hope seemed but a form of madness, he had never once yielded to temptation and taken more during any one day than he had fixed⁹ as the amount that must suffice.

 

He had almost resigned himself to death. And then Faith, unwittingly playing providence¹⁰, had roused a fighting demon¹¹ within him. The wild dove had won back a little of his failing strength just when a matter of hours would have pushed him over the edge into lassitude, that lethargy which is nature’s anesthetic¹² when the end approaches, and the final coma¹³ which eases a soul across the border.

 

While Patricia slept exhaustedly¹⁴ in the cabin below, Gary babbled¹⁵ of many things in the crosscut. He awoke, believing he had dreamed that an automobile¹⁶ drove into the cañon the evening before. Nevertheless he decided¹⁷ that, since there was no hope of cutting away the granite¹⁸ wall with his knife, or of lifting the bowlder, Atlas-like, on his shoulders and heaving it out of the incline shaft¹⁹, he might as well use what strength and breath he had in shouting.

 

“About one chance in ten thousand that anybody would hear me,” he told himself. “But getting out alone is a darned sight longer shot. Trick camera work—and the best to be had—it would take, to make me even look like getting out. My best bet is a correct imitation of the Johnnywater Voice. But I wouldn’t advise anybody to bet any money on me.”

 

He was shouting all the while Monty was explaining to Patricia how the Voice had come to give Johnnywater Cañon so sinister²⁰ a reputation. But his voice came muffled²¹ to the outer surface of the bowlder-strewn bluff, and diminished rapidly down the slope. Joe might have heard it had he been awake, since his ears were sufficiently²² keen to hear Gary when he shouted the night before. But Joe was asleep with his head under the tarp. And Patricia and Monty were talking inside the cabin. So Gary shouted until he could shout no more, and gave up and rested awhile.

 

After that he stood leaning heavily against the wall and scraped doggedly²³ at the seams in the granite with his knife-blade.

 

“——and I love you, Pat. I wouldn’t have you different if I could. Gary.”

 

Patricia was obliged to wipe the tears away from her eyes before she could read the last two lines of Gary’s last letter. As it was she splotched the penciled words with a great drop or two, before she hid her face in her arms folded upon a high shoulder of the rock on which she sat, and cried until no more tears would come.

 

After a while she heard Monty calling her name, but at first she did not care. The contents of that last letter proved that it had been written three weeks ago, evidently a day or so before Gary had ridden over to Monty’s camp. She was afraid to think what might have befallen since.

 

It was the Voice of the rim²⁴ rock that roused her finally. She stood up and listened, sure that it was Gary. To-day the beseeching²⁵ note was in the Voice, and all Monty’s talk of its elusiveness²⁶ went for naught²⁷. It was Gary up there, she was sure of that. And she knew that he was in trouble. So she rolled his letters to her for easier carrying, cupped her palms around her mouth, shouted that she was coming, and started up the bluff.

 

At the cabin Monty heard her and came running down to the creek.

 

“That ain’t Gary!” he shouted to her. “That’s the Voice I was tellin’ about. Yuh-all better keep down off that bluff, Miss Connolly!”

 

Patricia poised²⁸ on a rock and looked back.

 

“Oh, come and help find him! That’s Gary—I know it’s Gary!” Then she turned and went on climbing recklessly over the treacherous²⁹, piled rocks.

 

“Come on back!” Monty shouted again peremptorily³⁰. “It’s the Voice! It ain’t human!”

 

But Patricia would not listen, would not stop. She went on climbing, bareheaded, her breath coming in gasps³¹ from the altitude and the pace she was trying to keep.

 

Monty looked after her, shouted again. And when he saw that nothing would stop her, he turned back, running to the cabin. There he searched frantically³² for a canteen, found none and filled an empty beer bottle with water, sliding it into his pocket. Then, with Patricia’s sailor hat in one hand, he started after her.

 

When Patricia was forced to stop and get her breath, the spotted³³ cat appeared suddenly from somewhere among the rocks. She looked up into Patricia’s face and meowed wistfully.

 

“Oh, cat, you led me once to-day—and Gary likes you. He called you Faith. Oh, Faith, where’s Gary? He is up on the bluff, isn’t he? I believe you know! Come on, Faith—help me find Gary!”

 

“Meow-w?” Faith inquired in her own way and hopped³⁴ upon the bowlder a few feet above Patricia. Patricia, with a hysterical³⁵ little laugh, followed her.

 

From farther down the bluff Monty shouted, climbing with long steps. Patricia looked back, climbed another rock and stopped to call down to him.

 

“I’m following the cat!” she cried. “Faith is leading me to Gary!” Then she went on.

 

Fifty yards below her Monty swore to himself. Insanity³⁶ was leading her, in Monty’s opinion; he wished fervently³⁷ that he had left her in town. But since she was here, and crazily climbing the bluff at the mocking behest of that phantom³⁸ Voice, Monty would have to follow and look after her.

1 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

2 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。

3 bluff   

v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗

参考例句：

• His threats are merely bluff.他的威胁仅仅是虚张声势。
• John is a deep card.No one can bluff him easily.约翰是个机灵鬼。谁也不容易欺骗他。

4 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

5 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

6 assailed   

v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对

参考例句：

• He was assailed with fierce blows to the head. 他的头遭到猛烈殴打。
• He has been assailed by bad breaks all these years. 这些年来他接二连三地倒霉。 来自《用法词典》

7 rigidly   

adv.刻板地，僵化地

参考例句：

• Life today is rigidly compartmentalized into work and leisure. 当今的生活被严格划分为工作和休闲两部分。
• The curriculum is rigidly prescribed from an early age. 自儿童时起即已开始有严格的课程设置。

8 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

10 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

11 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

12 anesthetic   

n.麻醉剂，麻药；adj.麻醉的，失去知觉的

参考例句：

• He was given a general anesthetic.他被全身麻醉。
• He was still under the influence of the anesthetic.他仍处在麻醉状态。

13 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

14 exhaustedly   

adv.exhausted（精疲力竭的）的变形

参考例句：

• She sat on the bank exhaustedly, cried And shrank into herself as a little animal. 她无力地在岸边坐下，像只小动物般抱膝蜷缩着黯然哭泣。 来自互联网
• Comes back after the national sports team has been adjusting, but the present feels somewhat exhaustedly. 从国家队回来之后一直在调整，不过现在还是感觉有些疲惫。 来自互联网

15 babbled   

v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密

参考例句：

• He babbled the secret out to his friends. 他失口把秘密泄漏给朋友了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She babbled a few words to him. 她对他说了几句不知所云的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

17 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

18 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

19 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

20 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

21 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

23 doggedly   

adv.顽强地，固执地

参考例句：

• He was still doggedly pursuing his studies.他仍然顽强地进行着自己的研究。
• He trudged doggedly on until he reached the flat.他顽强地、步履艰难地走着，一直走回了公寓。

24 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

25 beseeching   

adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She clung to her father, beseeching him for consent. 她紧紧挨着父亲，恳求他答应。 来自辞典例句
• He casts a beseeching glance at his son. 他用恳求的眼光望着儿子。 来自辞典例句

26 elusiveness   

狡诈

参考例句：

• The author's elusiveness may at times be construed as evasiveness. 这个作家的晦涩文笔有时会被理解为故弄玄虚。 来自互联网
• For all their elusiveness, suicide rates can certainly be correlated with other social and economic indicators. 相对于自杀的令人难以捉摸而言，它却能揭示与之相关的社会问题和经济问题。 来自互联网

27 naught   

n.无，零 [=nought]

参考例句：

• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。
• I hope that all your efforts won't go for naught.我希望你的努力不会毫无结果。

28 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

29 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

30 peremptorily   

adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地

参考例句：

• She peremptorily rejected the request. 她断然拒绝了请求。
• Their propaganda was peremptorily switched to an anti-Western line. 他们的宣传断然地转而持反对西方的路线。 来自辞典例句

31 gasps   

v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• He leant against the railing, his breath coming in short gasps. 他倚着栏杆，急促地喘气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• My breaths were coming in gasps. 我急促地喘起气来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

32 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

33 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

34 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

35 hysterical   

adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的

参考例句：

• He is hysterical at the sight of the photo.他一看到那张照片就异常激动。
• His hysterical laughter made everybody stunned.他那歇斯底里的笑声使所有的人不知所措。

36 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。

37 fervently   

adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地

参考例句：

• "Oh, I am glad!'she said fervently. “哦，我真高兴！”她热烈地说道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• O my dear, my dear, will you bless me as fervently to-morrow?' 啊，我亲爱的，亲爱的，你明天也愿这样热烈地为我祝福么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

38 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。