I rushed across the room and looked out through the dim glass. At first I could make out nothing until a faint form resolved itself suddenly into a face, gray and set as the block of stone it looked over.
It never moved, but remained thus as if it were a sculptured death designed to take stock forever with a petrified1 stare of the crumbling2 mill.
Then, as my eyes grew accustomed to the outlines, I saw that it leaned down in reality, with its chin resting on its hands that were crossed over the top of the parapet. Even at that distance I should have known the mouth, though the whole pose of the figure were not visible to convince me.
Jason looked at me like a dying man when I returned to him. The full horror of a mortal fright, than which nothing is more painful to witness, spoke3 from his lungs, that heaved as if the sweet air had become a palpable thing to enter within and imprison4 his soul from all hope of escape. He tried to question me, but only sunk back with a moan.
“Now,” I said, “you must summon all your resolution. Act promptly5 and in half an hour you will be beyond reach of him.”
My own nerves were strung to devouring6 action. A kind of exultation7 fired me to master this tyranny of pursuit. Whatever might be its justification8, the tactics of aggressive force should at least be open and human, I thought.
“You don’t want to pass the night here?”
He made a negative motion with his head.
“I think you’re right. It might only be postponing9 the end. Will you place yourself in my hands?”
He held out his arms to me imploringly10.
“Very well. Now, listen to me. There he will remain in all likelihood for some time, not knowing he is discovered. We must give him the slip—escape quietly at the back, while he is intent on the front.”
I could only make out that his white lips whispered: “You won’t leave me?”
“Not till all danger is past. I promise you.”
I went over the house and quietly tested that every bolt and catch was secure. Then I fetched a dram of spirit, and made the poor, demoralized wretch11 swallow it. It brought a glint of color to his cheek—a little firmness to his limbs.
“Another,” he whispered.
“No,” I answered. “You want the nerve to act; not the overconfidence that leads to a false step. Come.”
Together we stole to the rear of the building where the little platform hung above the race. I locked the door behind us and pocketed the key.
“Now,” I said, “quietly and no hesitating. Follow me.”
The stream here sought passage between the inclosed mill-head, with its tumbling bay and waste weir—the sluice12 of which I never remember to have seen shut—on the one side, and on the other the wall of an adjoining garden. This last was not lofty, but was too high to scale without fear of noise and the risk of attracting observation. Underneath13 the heavy pull of the water would have spun14 us like straws off our feet had we dropped into it there.
There was only one way, and that I had calculated upon. To the left some branches of a great sycamore tree overhung the wall, the nearest of them some five feet out of reach. Climbing the rail of the platform, I stood upon the outer edge and balanced myself for a spring. It was no difficult task to an active man, and in a moment I was bobbing and dipping above the black onrush of the water. Pointing out my feet with a vigorous oscillating action, I next swung myself to a further branch, which I clutched, letting go the other. Here I dangled15 above a little silt16 of weed and gravel17 that stood forth18 the margin19 of the stream, and onto it I dropped, finding firm foothold, and motioned to Jason to follow.
He was like to have come to grief at the outset, for from his nerves being shaky, I suppose, he sprung short of the first branch, hitting at it frantically20 with his fingers only, so that he fell with a bounding splash into the water’s edge. The pull had him in an instant, and it would have been all up with him had I not foreseen the result while he was yet in midair and plunged21 for him. Luckily I still held on to the end of the second branch, to which I clung with one hand, while I seized his coat collar with the other. For half a minute even then it was a struggle for life or death, the stout22 wood I held to deciding the balance, but at last he gained his feet, and I was able to pull him, wallowing and stumbling, toward me. It was not the depth of the water that so nearly overcame us, for it ran hardly above his knees. It was the mighty23 strength of it rushing onward24 to the wheel.
“Hurry!” I whispered. “Who knows but he may have heard the splash?”
He needed no further stimulus27, but pushed at me to proceed, in a flurried agony of fear. I tested the water on the further side of the little mound28. It was possible to struggle up against it along its edge, and of that possibility we must make the best. Clutching at the wall with crooked29 fingers for any hope of support, we moved up, step by step, until gradually the wicked hold slackened and we could make our way without bitter struggle.
Presently, to the right, the wall opened to a slope of desert garden ground that ran up to an empty cottage standing30 on the fall of the hill above. Over to this we cautiously waded31, and climbed once more to dry land, drenched32 and exhausted33.
No pause might be ours yet, however. Stooping almost to the earth, we scurried34 up the slope, passed the cottage, and never stopped until we stood upon the road that skirts the base of the hill.
A moment’s breathing space now and a moment’s reflection. Downward the winding35 road led straight to the bridge and the very figure we were flying. Yet it was necessary to cross the head of this road somehow, to reach the meadows that stretched over the lap of the low valley we must traverse before we could hit the Southampton highway.
Fortunately no moon was up to play traitor36 to our need. I took my brother by the coat sleeve and led him onward. He was trembling and shivering as if with an ague. Over the grass, by way of the watery37 tracks, we sped—passing at a stone’s throw the pool where Modred had nearly met his death, breaking out at last, with a panting burst of relief, into the solitary38 stretch of road running southward. Before us, in the glimmering39 dark, it went silent and lonely between its moth-haunted hedges, and we took it with long strides.
My brother hurried by my side without a word, subduing40 his breathing even as much as possible and walking with a light, springing motion on his toes; but now and again I saw him look back over his shoulder, with an awful expression of listening.
It was after one of his turns that Jason suddenly whipped a hand upon my arm and drew me to a stop.
Faintly—very faintly, a step on the road behind us came to my ears.
“He’s following!” murmured my brother, with a sort of despairing calmness.
“Nonsense,” I said; “how do you know it’s he? It’s a public highway.”
“I do know. Hark to the step!”
It was a little nearer. There was a queer dragging sound in it. Was it possible that some demon43 inspired this terrible man to an awful species of clairvoyance44? How otherwise could he be on our tracks? Unless, indeed, the splash had informed him!
There was a gap in the hedge close by where we stood, and not far from it, in the field beyond, a haystack looming45 gigantic in the dark. With a rapid motion I dived, pulling Jason after me—and stooping low, we scurried for the shelter, and threw ourselves into the loose stuff lying on the further side of it. There, lying crushed into the litter, with what horror of emotion to one of us God alone may know, we heard the shuffling46 footsteps come rapidly up the road. As it neared the gap, my brother’s hand fell upon mine, with a convulsive clutch. It was stone cold and all clammy with the ooze47 of terror. As the footstep passed he relaxed his hold and seemed to collapse48. I thought he had fainted, but mercifully I was mistaken.
The step behind the hedge seemed to go a little further, then die out all at once. I thought he had passed beyond our hearing, and lay still some moments longer listening—listening, through the faint rustling49 sounds of the night, for assurance of our safety.
At length I was on the point of rising, when a strained hideous50 screech51 broke from the figure beside me and I saw him sway up, kneeling, and totter52 sideways against the wall of hay. With the sound of his voice I sprung to my feet—and there was the pursuer, come silently round the corner of the stack, and gazing with gloating eyes upon his victim.
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1
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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2
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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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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imprison
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| vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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postponing
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| v.延期，推迟( postpone的现在分词 ) | |
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imploringly
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| adv. 恳求地, 哀求地 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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12
sluice
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| n.水闸 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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16
silt
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| n.淤泥，淤沙，粉砂层，泥沙层；vt.使淤塞；vi.被淤塞 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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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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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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28
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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29
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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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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waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
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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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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34
scurried
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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37
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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38
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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39
glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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40
subduing
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| 征服( subdue的现在分词 )； 克制； 制服； 色变暗 | |
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41
slewed
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| adj.喝醉的v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去式 )( slew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
chirp
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| v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫 | |
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43
demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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44
clairvoyance
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| n.超人的洞察力 | |
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45
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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46
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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47
ooze
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| n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露 | |
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48
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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49
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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50
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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51
screech
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| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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52
totter
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| v.蹒跚， 摇摇欲坠；n.蹒跚的步子 | |
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