IT was not without apprehension1 that the Major saw Ayrton quit the Wimerra camp to go and look for a blacksmith at the Black Point Station. But he did not breathe a word of his private misgivings2, and contented3 himself with watching the neighborhood of the river; nothing disturbed the repose4 of those tranquil5 glades6, and after a short night the sun reappeared on the horizon.
As to Glenarvan, his only fear was lest Ayrton should return alone. If they fail to find a workman, the wagon7 could not resume the journey. This might end in a delay of many days, and Glenarvan, impatient to succeed, could brook8 no delay, in his eagerness to attain9 his object.
Ayrton luckily had lost neither his time nor his trouble. He appeared next morning at daybreak, accompanied by a man who gave himself out as the blacksmith from BlackPoint Station. He was a powerful fellow, and tall, but his features were of a low, brutal10 type, which did not prepossess anyone in his favor. But that was nothing, provided he knew his business. He scarcely spoke11, and certainly he did not waste his breath in useless words.
“Is he a good workman?” said John Mangles12 to the quartermaster.
“I know no more about him than you do, captain,” said Ayrton. “But we shall see.”
The blacksmith set to work. Evidently that was his trade, as they could plainly see from the way he set about repairing the forepart of the wagon. He worked skilfully13 and with uncommon14 energy. The Major observed that the flesh of his wrists was deeply furrowed15, showing a ring of extravasated blood. It was the mark of a recent injury, which the sleeve of an old woolen16 shirt could not conceal17. McNabbs questioned the blacksmith about those sores which looked so painful. The man continued his work without answering. Two hours more and the damage the carriage had sustained was made good. As to Glenarvan’s horse, it was soon disposed of. The blacksmith had had the forethought to bring the shoes with him. These shoes had a peculiarity18 which did not escape the Major; it was a trefoil clumsily cut on the back part. McNabbs pointed19 it out to Ayrton.
“It is the Black-Point brand,” said the quartermaster. “That enables them to track any horses that may stray from the station, and prevents their being mixed with other herds20.”
The horse was soon shod. The blacksmith claimed his wage, and went off without uttering four words.
Half an hour later, the travelers were on the road. Beyond the grove21 of mimosas was a stretch of sparsely22 timbered country, which quite deserved its name of “open plain.” Some fragments of quartz23 and ferruginous rock lay among the scrub and the tall grass, where numerous flocks were feeding. Some miles farther the wheels of the wagon plowed24 deep into the alluvial25 soil, where irregular creeks26 murmured in their beds, half hidden among giant reeds. By-and-by they skirted vast salt lakes, rapidly evaporating. The journey was accomplished27 without trouble, and, indeed, without fatigue28.
Lady Helena invited the horsemen of the party to pay her a visit in turns, as her reception-room was but small, and in pleasant converse29 with this amiable30 woman they forgot the fatigue of their day’s ride.
Lady Helena, seconded by Miss Mary, did the honors of their ambulatory house with perfect grace. John Mangles was not forgotten in these daily invitations, and his somewhat serious conversation was not unpleasing.
The party crossed, in a diagonal direction, the mail-coach road from Crowland to Horsham, which was a very dusty one, and little used by pedestrians31.
The spurs of some low hills were skirted at the boundary of Talbot County, and in the evening the travelers reached a point about three miles from Maryborough. The fine rain was falling, which, in any other country, would have soaked the ground; but here the air absorbed the moisture so wonderfully that the camp did not suffer in the least.
Next day, the 29th of December, the march was delayed somewhat by a succession of little hills, resembling a miniature Switzerland. It was a constant repetition of up and down hill, and many a jolt32 besides, all of which were scarcely pleasant. The travelers walked part of the way, and thought it no hardship.
At eleven o’clock they arrived at Carisbrook, rather an important municipality. Ayrton was for passing outside the town without going through it, in order, he said, to save time. Glenarvan concurred33 with him, but Paganel, always eager for novelties, was for visiting Carisbrook. They gave him his way, and the wagon went on slowly.
Paganel, as was his custom, took Robert with him. His visit to the town was very short, but it sufficed to give him an exact idea of Australian towns. There was a bank, a court-house, a market, a church, and a hundred or so of brick houses, all exactly alike. The whole town was laid out in squares, crossed with parallel streets in the English fashion. Nothing could be more simple, nothing less attractive. As the town grows, they lengthen35 the streets as we lengthen the trousers of a growing child, and thus the original symmetry is undisturbed.
Carisbrook was full of activity, a remarkable36 feature in these towns of yesterday. It seems in Australia as if towns shot up like trees, owing to the heat of the sun. Men of business were hurrying along the streets; gold buyers were hastening to meet the in-coming escort; the precious metal, guarded by the local police, was coming from the mines at Bendigo and Mount Alexander. All the little world was so absorbed in its own interests, that the strangers passed unobserved amid the laborious37 inhabitants.
After an hour devoted38 to visiting Carisbrook, the two visitors rejoined their companions, and crossed a highly cultivated district. Long stretches of prairie, known as the “Low Level Plains,” next met their gaze, dotted with countless39 sheep, and shepherds’ huts. And then came a sandy tract34, without any transition, but with the abruptness40 of change so characteristic of Australian scenery. Mount Simpson and Mount Terrengower marked the southern point where the boundary of the Loddon district cuts the 144th meridian41.
As yet they had not met with any of the aboriginal42 tribes living in the savage43 state. Glenarvan wondered if the Australians were wanting in Australia, as the Indians had been wanting in the Pampas of the Argentine district; but Paganel told him that, in that latitude44, the natives frequented chiefly the Murray Plains, about one hundred miles to the eastward45.
“We are now approaching the gold district,” said he, “in a day or two we shall cross the rich region of Mount Alexander. It was here that the swarm46 of diggers alighted in 1852; the natives had to fly to the interior. We are in civilized47 districts without seeing any sign of it; but our road will, before the day is over, cross the railway which connects the Murray with the sea. Well, I must confess, a railway in Australia does seem to me an astonishing thing!”
“And pray, why, Paganel?” said Glenarvan.
“Why? because it jars on one’s ideas. Oh! I know you English are so used to colonizing48 distant possessions. You, who have electric telegraphs and universal exhibitions in New Zealand, you think it is all quite natural. But it dumb-founders the mind of a Frenchman like myself, and confuses all one’s notions of Australia!”
“Because you look at the past, and not at the present,” said John Mangles.
A loud whistle interrupted the discussion. The party were within a mile of the railway. Quite a number of persons were hastening toward the railway bridge. The people from the neighboring stations left their houses, and the shepherds their flocks, and crowded the approaches to the railway. Every now and then there was a shout, “The railway! the railway!”
Something serious must have occurred to produce such an agitation49. Perhaps some terrible accident.
Glenarvan, followed by the rest, urged on his horse. In a few minutes he arrived at Camden Bridge and then he became aware of the cause of such an excitement.
A fearful accident had occurred; not a collision, but a train had gone off the line, and then there had been a fall. The affair recalled the worst disasters of American railways. The river crossed by the railway was full of broken carriages and the engine. Whether the weight of the train had been too much for the bridge, or whether the train had gone off the rails, the fact remained that five carriages out of six fell into the bed of the Loddon, dragged down by the locomotive. The sixth carriage, miraculously50 preserved by the breaking of the coupling chain, remained on the rails, six feet from the abyss. Below nothing was discernible but a melancholy51 heap of twisted and blackened axles, shattered wagons52, bent53 rails, charred54 sleepers55; the boiler56, burst by the shock, had scattered57 its plates to enormous distances. From this shapeless mass of ruins flames and black smoke still rose. After the fearful fall came fire, more fearful still! Great tracks of blood, scattered limbs, charred trunks of bodies, showed here and there; none could guess how many victims lay dead and mangled58 under those ruins.
Glenarvan, Paganel, the Major, Mangles, mixing with the crowd, heard the current talk. Everyone tried to account for the accident, while doing his utmost to save what could be saved.
“The bridge must have broken,” said one.
“Not a bit of it. The bridge is whole enough; they must have forgotten to close it to let the train pass. That is all.”
It was, in fact, a swing bridge, which opened for the convenience of the boats. Had the guard, by an unpardonable oversight59, omitted to close it for the passage of the train, so that the train, coming on at full speed, was precipitated60 into the Loddon? This hypothesis seemed very admissible; for although one-half of the bridge lay beneath the ruins of the train, the other half, drawn61 up to the opposite shore, hung, still unharmed, by its chains. No one could doubt that an oversight on the part of the guard had caused the catastrophe62.
The accident had occurred in the night, to the express train which left Melbourne at 11:45 in the evening. About a quarter past three in the morning, twenty-five minutes after leaving Castlemaine, it arrived at Camden Bridge, where the terrible disaster befell. The passengers and guards of the last and only remaining carriage at once tried to obtain help. But the telegraph, whose posts were lying on the ground, could not be worked. It was three hours before the authorities from Castlemaine reached the scene of the accident, and it was six o’clock in the morning when the salvage63 party was organized, under the direction of Mr. Mitchell, the surveyor-general of the colony, and a detachment of police, commanded by an inspector64. The squatters and their “hands” lent their aid, and directed their efforts first to extinguishing the fire which raged in the ruined heap with unconquerable violence. A few unrecognizable bodies lay on the slope of the embankment, but from that blazing mass no living thing could be saved. The fire had done its work too speedily. Of the passengers ten only survived — those in the last carriage. The railway authorities sent a locomotive to bring them back to Castlemaine.
Lord Glenarvan, having introduced himself to the surveyor-general, entered into conversation with him and the inspector of police. The latter was a tall, thin man, im-perturbably cool, and, whatever he may have felt, allowed no trace of it to appear on his features. He contemplated65 this calamity66 as a mathematician67 does a problem; he was seeking to solve it, and to find the unknown; and when Glenarvan observed, “This is a great misfortune,” he quietly replied, “Better than that, my Lord.”
“Better than that?” cried Glenarvan. “I do not understand you.”
“It is better than a misfortune, it is a crime!” he replied, in the same quiet tone.
Glenarvan looked inquiringly at Mr. Mitchell for a solution. “Yes, my Lord,” replied the surveyor-general, “our inquiries68 have resulted in the conclusion that the catastrophe is the result of a crime. The last luggage-van has been robbed. The surviving passengers were attacked by a gang of five or six villains69. The bridge was intentionally70 opened, and not left open by the negligence71 of the guard; and connecting with this fact the guard’s disappearance72, we may conclude that the wretched fellow was an accomplice73 of these ruffians.”
The police-officer shook his head at this inference.
“You do not agree with me?” said Mr. Mitchell.
“No, not as to the complicity of the guard.”
“Well, but granting that complicity, we may attribute the crime to the natives who haunt the Murray. Without him the blacks could never have opened a swing-bridge; they know nothing of its mechanism74.”
“Exactly so,” said the police-inspector.
“Well,” added Mr. Mitchell, “we have the evidence of a boatman whose boat passed Camden Bridge at 10:40 P. M., that the bridge was properly shut after he passed.”
“True.”
“Well, after that I cannot see any doubt as to the complicity of the guard.”
The police-officer shook his head gently, but continuously.
“Then you don’t attribute the crime to the natives?”
“Not at all.”
“To whom then?”
Just at this moment a noise was heard from about half a mile up the river. A crowd had gathered, and quickly increased. They soon reached the station, and in their midst were two men carrying a corpse75. It was the body of the guard, quite cold, stabbed to the heart. The murderers had no doubt hoped, by dragging their victim to a distance, that the police would be put on a wrong scent76 in their first inquiries. This discovery, at any rate, justified77 the doubts of the police-inspector. The poor blacks had had no hand in the matter.
“Those who dealt that blow,” said he, “were already well used to this little instrument”; and so saying he produced a pair of “darbies,” a kind of handcuff made of a double ring of iron secured by a lock. “I shall soon have the pleasure of presenting them with these bracelets78 as a New Year’s gift.”
“Then you suspect —”
“Some folks who came out free in Her Majesty’s ships.”
“What! convicts?” cried Paganel, who recognized the formula employed in the Australian colonies.
“I thought,” said Glenarvan, “convicts had no right in the province of Victoria.”
“Bah!” said the inspector, “if they have no right, they take it! They escape sometimes, and, if I am not greatly mistaken, this lot have come straight from Perth, and, take my word for it, they will soon be there again.”
Mr. Mitchell nodded acquiescence79 in the words of the police-inspector. At this moment the wagon arrived at the level crossing of the railway. Glenarvan wished to spare the ladies the horrible spectacle at Camden Bridge. He took courteous80 leave of the surveyor-general, and made a sign to the rest to follow him. “There is no reason,” said he, “for delaying our journey.”
When they reached the wagon, Glenarvan merely mentioned to Lady Helena that there had been a railway accident, without a hint of the crime that had played so great a part in it; neither did he make mention of the presence of a band of convicts in the neighborhood, reserving that piece of information solely81 for Ayrton’s ear. The little procession now crossed the railway some two hundred yards below the bridge, and then resumed their eastward course.
收听单词发音 |
1
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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glades
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| n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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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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mangles
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| n.轧布机，轧板机，碾压机（mangle的复数形式）vt.乱砍（mangle的第三人称单数形式） | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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15
furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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woolen
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| adj.羊毛(制)的；毛纺的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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quartz
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| n.石英 | |
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plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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alluvial
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| adj.冲积的；淤积的 | |
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creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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30
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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pedestrians
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| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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32
jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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concurred
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| 同意（concur的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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lengthen
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| vt.使伸长，延长 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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40
abruptness
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| n. 突然，唐突 | |
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41
meridian
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| adj.子午线的；全盛期的 | |
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aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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47
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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colonizing
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| v.开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的现在分词 ) | |
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49
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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50
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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51
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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52
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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54
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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sleepers
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| 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 | |
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56
boiler
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| n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等) | |
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57
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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59
oversight
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| n.勘漏，失察，疏忽 | |
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60
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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61
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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63
salvage
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| v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救 | |
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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65
contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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66
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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67
mathematician
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| n.数学家 | |
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68
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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70
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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71
negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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72
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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73
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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74
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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75
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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76
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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77
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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78
bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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79
acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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80
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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81
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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