That night Kingozi was restless and could not sleep. His vision had been blurring1 badly during the day, and now his eyeballs ached as though they had been seared. After his solitary2 evening meal he wandered about restlessly, gripping his pipe strongly between his teeth. Shortly after dark he entered his tent with the idea of turning in early; but the pain drove him out again. He remained only long enough to substitute his mosquito boots for his day boots. The Nubian, lying in the long grass beside the newly sharpened spear, settled himself to wait.
Kingozi's figure lost itself among the men of the camp. The strong, clean wind that blew every day from distant ranges, was falling with the night. A breath of coolness came with it. Chake shivered and wished he had brought his blanket. The time was very long; but back of Chake were generations of men who had lain patiently in wait. He gripped the haft of the heavy spear.
Black night descended3 in earnest. The little fires were dying down. Still Kingozi, tortured by his headache, wandered about. Upward of two hours passed. Then at last the crouching4 Nubian saw dimly the silhouette5 of the white man returning, caught in the glimmer6 of coals the colour of the khaki coat he wore. The moment was at hand. Chake arose to his knees, his spear in his right hand. As soon as his victim should lie down on the cot, it was his intention to thrust him through the canvas. It must be remembered that the cot was placed close to the wall, and that the body of the sleeper7 was defined against it.
But unexpectedly the wearer of the khaki coat passed the tent door and proceeded to the rear where he reached upward to the rear guy rope where hung a towel, or some such matter. This brought him to within four feet of the kneeling Nubian, the broad of his back exposed, both arms upraised. Without hesitation8 Chake drove the spear into his back. The sharp long blade slipped through the flesh as easily as a hot knife into butter. The murdered man choked once and pitched forward headlong on his face. Chake, leaving the weapon, glided9 swiftly away.
Once well beyond the chance of a fire glimmer he arose to his feet and quickly regained10 his own camp. This was exactly on the opposite side of the circle. The four men with whom he shared his tiny cotton tent, _askaris_ all as beseemed his dignity, were sound asleep. He squatted11 on his heels, pushed together the embers of his fire, staring into the coals. His ugly face was as though carved from ebony. Only his wild savage12 eyes glowed and flashed with a brooding lambent flame; and his wide nostrils13 slowly expanded and contracted as though with some inner heaving emotion.
Thus he sat for perhaps ten minutes. Then on the opposite side of the circle a commotion14 began. Some one cried out, figures ran to and fro, commands were given, brands were snatched from dying fires, torches were lit. Elsewhere, all about camp, sleepers15 were sitting up, were asking one another what was the matter. The _askaris_ in Chake's tent grumbled16, and turned over, and asked what it was all about. Chake shook his mop of hair, staring into the fire.
From the Leopard17 Woman's tent came a sharp summons. The Nubian arose and stalked boldly across the open space. At the closed tent he scratched his fingernail respectfully against the canvas.
"_Karibu, karibu!_" summoned his mistress impatiently. He slipped between the flaps and stood inside.
The Leopard Woman was seated upright in her cot. On the tin box near the head of the bed burned a candle in a mica18 lantern. By its dim light her face looked paler than ever, and deep black circles seemed to have defined themselves under her eyes. The Nubian and the white woman stared at each other for a moment.
"It is done?" she asked finally, in a hoarse19 whisper.
"It is done, _memsahib_," he replied calmly.
For another pause she stared at him, her eyes widening. "You have done well. _Bassi!_" she enunciated20 at last.
The tent flaps still quivered behind the Nubian's exit, when she threw herself face downward on the cot. Her body shook with convulsive dry sobs21. After a moment she twisted on her side. Both hands clutched her throat, as though she strangled for air. Her eyes were round and rolling. It was as if some mighty22 pent force were struggling for release. Suddenly the release came. She began to weep, the tears streaming down her face. Shortly she commenced to mutter little short disjointed phrases in her own language. She wrung23 her hands.
"I had to do it!" she gasped24 in German. "I had to do it! It was the only way! Tell me it was the only way!" she seemed to appeal to some one invisible. And then she resumed her lament25 in the Hungarian.
But all at once something dried this emotion as the sear of a flame would dry water over which it passed. The tears ceased, her eyes flashed, she jerked her body upright, listening. The commotion of pursuit and investigation26 was sweeping27 past her tent.
Distinctly she heard the voice of Kingozi giving commands.
An instant later Chake darted28 into the tent and fell to the ground. His face was the sickly gray of a negro in terror, his eyes rolled in his head, his teeth chattered29, his every muscle trembled.
"_Memsahib! Memsahib!_" he gasped.
Her eyes were blazing with an anger the more fierce in that some of it was reaction.
"I killed him, _memsahib!_ I drove the _shenzi_ spear through his back! I left him lying there! He is a god! He has come back from the dead!"
"Fool!" she repeated, and swung her feet to the floor. "Stay here! Do not go out!" she commanded, when she had assumed her mosquito boots. She slipped out between the tent flaps.
Torches were everywhere flickering31 about. She stopped one of the men as he passed.
"A _shenzi_ has killed Mavrouki with a spear," the man answered her question.
She stood for some time watching the torches. Then she saw Kingozi himself take his place by the pile of loads.
"Fall in!" he commanded sharply.
She returned to her tent.
"Here!" she addressed the crouching Nubian. "It is as I said. You have been a fool. You have killed a porter by mistake. Now the _bwana_ has ordered to _fall in_. He wishes to see if any are missing. Go take your place, and answer to your name."
"Oh, _memsahib!_ Oh, _memsahib!_" the man was groaning32.
"Go, I say!" she cried. "And hold up your head. If this is suspected of you, you will surely die."
Kingozi called the roll by the light of a replenished33 fire.
As each man was named, he was required to step forward to undergo Kingozi's scrutiny34.
Most were uneasy, many were excited. Kingozi passed them rapidly in review. But when Chake came forward, he paused in the machine-like regularity35 of his inspection36.
"Hullo, my bold buccaneer," said he in English, "what ails37 you?"
The Leopard Woman had drawn38 near. Kingozi glanced at her over his shoulder.
"I know these Fuzzy-Wuzzies pretty well," he remarked. "This man has the blood look in his eye."
"He's been sick all day," she ventured.
"Sick, eh? Have you had him about you all evening?"
The Leopard Woman hesitated the least appreciable39 portion of a second.
"No," she answered, "he was sick; I let him sleep in his own camp."
She withdrew a pace, almost as though washing her hands of the affair. Kingozi whirled and levelled his forefinger40 at the Nubian.
"Why did you use a _shenzi_ spear?" he demanded.
Over Chake's face had come the blank, lifeless expression of the obstinate41 savage. Kingozi recognized it, and knew that further interrogation was a matter of much time and patience. His eyes and head ached cruelly.
"Very well," he answered the Nubian's unspoken opposition42. "You'll keep. Simba, get me the hand irons and the leg irons. Guard this man. To-morrow we will look into it." He turned away without waiting to see his commands carried out. "I've got a beastly headache," he remarked to Bibi-ya-chui. "This affair--this whole affair--will keep. Cazi Moto, I want two men with guns--my men--to stand by my tent, one in front, one in the rear."
The Leopard Woman watched his drooping43, wearied form making its way to his tent. He walked shuffling44, almost stumbling. The habitual45 masking stare of her eyes changed. Something softer, almost yearning46, crept into them. When the tent flaps had fallen behind him she threw both arms aloft in a splendid tragic47 gesture, careless of the staring men. Her face was convulsed by strong emotion. She turned and fled to her own tent, where she threw herself face down on her cot.
"It must be done! It must be done!" she groaned48 to her pillow.
收听单词发音 |
1
blurring
|
|
| n.模糊，斑点甚多，（图像的）混乱v.（使）变模糊( blur的现在分词 )；（使）难以区分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
crouching
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
silhouette
|
|
| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
glimmer
|
|
| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
sleeper
|
|
| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
glided
|
|
| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
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： |
|
|
|
|
11
squatted
|
|
| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
commotion
|
|
| n.骚动，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
sleepers
|
|
| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
leopard
|
|
| n.豹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
mica
|
|
| n.云母 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hoarse
|
|
| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
enunciated
|
|
| v.（清晰地）发音( enunciate的过去式和过去分词 )；确切地说明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
sobs
|
|
| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
wrung
|
|
| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
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： |
|
|
|
|
25
lament
|
|
| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
investigation
|
|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
sweeping
|
|
| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
darted
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
chattered
|
|
| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
spat
|
|
| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
flickering
|
|
| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
groaning
|
|
| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
replenished
|
|
| 补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
scrutiny
|
|
| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
regularity
|
|
| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
ails
|
|
| v.生病( ail的第三人称单数 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
appreciable
|
|
| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
forefinger
|
|
| n.食指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
obstinate
|
|
| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
drooping
|
|
| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
shuffling
|
|
| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
habitual
|
|
| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
yearning
|
|
| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
tragic
|
|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |