I soon began to reflect, however, that no leopardess, no elephant, no hugest animal that in our world preceded man, could keep such a torrent4 flowing, except every artery5 in its body were open, and its huge system went on filling its vessels6 from fields and lakes and forests as fast as they emptied themselves: it could not be blood! I dipped a finger in it, and at once satisfied myself that it was not. In truth, however it might have come there, it was a softly murmuring rivulet7 of water that ran, without channel, over the grass! But sweet as was its song, I dared not drink of it; I kept walking on, hoping after the light, and listening to the familiar sound so long unheard—for that of the hot stream was very different. The mere8 wetting of my feet in it, however, had so refreshed me, that I went on without fatigue9 till the darkness began to grow thinner, and I knew the sun was drawing nigh. A few minutes more, and I could discern, against the pale aurora10, the wall-towers of a city—seemingly old as time itself. Then I looked down to get a sight of the brook.
It was gone. I had indeed for a long time noted11 its sound growing fainter, but at last had ceased to attend to it. I looked back: the grass in its course lay bent12 as it had flowed, and here and there glimmered13 a small pool. Toward the city, there was no trace of it. Near where I stood, the flow of its fountain must at least have paused!
Around the city were gardens, growing many sorts of vegetables, hardly one of which I recognised. I saw no water, no flowers, no sign of animals. The gardens came very near the walls, but were separated from them by huge heaps of gravel14 and refuse thrown from the battlements.
I went up to the nearest gate, and found it but half-closed, nowise secured, and without guard or sentinel. To judge by its hinges, it could not be farther opened or shut closer. Passing through, I looked down a long ancient street. It was utterly15 silent, and with scarce an indication in it of life present. Had I come upon a dead city? I turned and went out again, toiled16 a long way over the dust-heaps, and crossed several roads, each leading up to a gate: I would not re-enter until some of the inhabitants should be stirring.
What was I there for? what did I expect or hope to find? what did I mean to do?
I must see, if but once more, the woman I had brought to life! I did not desire her society: she had waked in me frightful17 suspicions; and friendship, not to say love, was wildly impossible between us! But her presence had had a strange influence upon me, and in her presence I must resist, and at the same time analyse that influence! The seemingly inscrutable in her I would fain penetrate18: to understand something of her mode of being would be to look into marvels19 such as imagination could never have suggested! In this I was too daring: a man must not, for knowledge, of his own will encounter temptation! On the other hand, I had reinstated an evil force about to perish, and was, to the extent of my opposing faculty20, accountable for what mischief21 might ensue! I had learned that she was the enemy of children: the Little Ones might be in her danger! It was in the hope of finding out something of their history that I had left them; on that I had received a little light: I must have more; I must learn how to protect them!
Hearing at length a little stir in the place, I walked through the next gate, and thence along a narrow street of tall houses to a little square, where I sat down on the base of a pillar with a hideous22 bat-like creature atop. Ere long, several of the inhabitants came sauntering past. I spoke23 to one: he gave me a rude stare and ruder word, and went on.
I got up and went through one narrow street after another, gradually filling with idlers, and was not surprised to see no children. By and by, near one of the gates, I encountered a group of young men who reminded me not a little of the bad giants. They came about me staring, and presently began to push and hustle24 me, then to throw things at me. I bore it as well as I could, wishing not to provoke enmity where wanted to remain for a while. Oftener than once or twice I appealed to passers-by whom I fancied more benevolent-looking, but none would halt a moment to listen to me. I looked poor, and that was enough: to the citizens of Bulika, as to house-dogs, poverty was an offence! Deformity and sickness were taxed; and no legislation of their princess was more heartily25 approved of than what tended to make poverty subserve wealth.
I took to my heels at last, and no one followed me beyond the gate. A lumbering26 fellow, however, who sat by it eating a hunch27 of bread, picked up a stone to throw after me, and happily, in his stupid eagerness, threw, not the stone but the bread. I took it, and he did not dare follow to reclaim28 it: beyond the walls they were cowards every one. I went off a few hundred yards, threw myself down, ate the bread, fell asleep, and slept soundly in the grass, where the hot sunlight renewed my strength.
It was night when I woke. The moon looked down on me in friendly fashion, seeming to claim with me old acquaintance. She was very bright, and the same moon, I thought, that saw me through the terrors of my first night in that strange world. A cold wind blew from the gate, bringing with it an evil odour; but it did not chill me, for the sun had plenished me with warmth. I crept again into the city. There I found the few that were still in the open air crouched29 in corners to escape the shivering blast.
I was walking slowly through the long narrow street, when, just before me, a huge white thing bounded across it, with a single flash in the moonlight, and disappeared. I turned down the next opening, eager to get sight of it again.
It was a narrow lane, almost too narrow to pass through, but it led me into a wider street. The moment I entered the latter, I saw on the opposite side, in the shadow, the creature I had followed, itself following like a dog what I took for a man. Over his shoulder, every other moment, he glanced at the animal behind him, but neither spoke to it, nor attempted to drive it away. At a place where he had to cross a patch of moonlight, I saw that he cast no shadow, and was himself but a flat superficial shadow, of two dimensions. He was, nevertheless, an opaque30 shadow, for he not merely darkened any object on the other side of him, but rendered it, in fact, invisible. In the shadow he was blacker than the shadow; in the moonlight he looked like one who had drawn31 his shadow up about him, for not a suspicion of it moved beside or under him; while the gleaming animal, which followed so close at his heels as to seem the white shadow of his blackness, and which I now saw to be a leopardess, drew her own gliding32 shadow black over the ground by her side. When they passed together from the shadow into the moonlight, the Shadow deepened in blackness, the animal flashed into radiance. I was at the moment walking abreast33 of them on the opposite side, my bare feet sounding on the flat stones: the leopardess never turned head or twitched34 ear; the shadow seemed once to look at me, for I lost his profile, and saw for a second only a sharp upright line. That instant the wind found me and blew through me: I shuddered35 from head to foot, and my heart went from wall to wall of my bosom36, like a pebble37 in a child’s rattle38.
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1
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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2
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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3
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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4
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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artery
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| n.干线，要道；动脉 | |
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6
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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7
rivulet
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| n.小溪，小河 | |
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8
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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9
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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10
aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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11
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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12
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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13
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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14
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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15
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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16
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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17
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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18
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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19
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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20
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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21
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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22
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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23
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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24
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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25
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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27
hunch
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| n.预感，直觉 | |
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28
reclaim
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| v.要求归还，收回；开垦 | |
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29
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
opaque
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| adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的 | |
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31
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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32
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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33
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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34
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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35
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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36
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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37
pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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38
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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