All of which has set me wondering. Where are the mothers of these twenty and odd men on the Ghost? It strikes me as unnatural8 and unhealthful that men should be totally separated from women and herd9 through the world by themselves. Coarseness and savagery10 are the inevitable11 results. These men about me should have sisters and wives and daughters; then would they be capable of softness and tenderness and sympathy. As it is, not one of them is married. In years and years not one of them has been in contact with a good woman, or within the influence, or redemption, which irresistibly12 radiates from such a creature. There is no balance in their lives. Their masculinity, which in itself is of the brute13, has been overdeveloped. The other and spiritual side of their natures has been dwarfed- atrophied14, in fact.
Rendered curious by this new direction of ideas, I talked with Johansen last night- the first superfluous15 words with which he has favored me since the voyage began. He left Sweden when he was eighteen, is now thirty-eight, and in all the intervening time has not been home once. He had met a townsman, a couple of years before, in some sailor boarding-house in Chile, so that he knew his mother to be still alive.
'She must be a pretty old woman now,' he said, staring meditatively16 into the binnacle and then jerking a sharp glance at Harrison, who was steering17 a point off the course.
'When did you last write to her?'
He performed his mental arithmetic aloud. 'Eighty-one; no- eighty-two, eh? no- eighty-three? Yes, eighty-three. Ten years ago. From some little port in Madagascar. I was trading.'
'You see,' he went on, as though addressing his neglected mother across half the girth of the earth, 'each year I was going home. So what was the good to write? It was only a year. And each year something happened, and I did not go. But I am mate now, and when I pay off at 'Frisco, maybe with five hundred dollars, I will ship myself on a windjammer round the Horn to Liverpool, which will give me more money; and then I will pay my passage from there home. Then she will not do any more work.'
'But does she work? Now? How old is she?'
'About seventy,' he answered. And then, boastingly: 'We work from the time we are born until we die, in my country. That's why we live so long. I will live to a hundred.'
I shall never forget this conversation. The words were the last I ever heard him utter. Perhaps they were the last he did utter, too.
Going down into the cabin to turn in, I decided18 that it was too stuffy19 to sleep below. It was a calm night. We were out of the trades, and the Ghost was forging ahead barely a knot an hour. So I tucked a blanket and pillow under my arm and went up on deck.
As I passed between Harrison and the binnacle, which was built into the top of the cabin, I noticed that he was this time fully20 three points off. Thinking that he was asleep, and wishing him to escape reprimand or worse, I spoke21 to him. But he was not asleep. His eyes were wide and staring. He seemed greatly perturbed22, unable to reply to me.
'What's the matter?' I asked. 'Are you sick?'
He shook his head, and with a deep sigh, as of awakening23, caught his breath.
'You better get on your course, then,' I chided.
He put a few spokes24 over, and I watched the compass-card swing slowly to NNW and steady itself with slight oscillations.
I took a fresh hold on my bedclothes and was preparing to start on, when some movement caught my eye, and I looked astern to the rail. A sinewy25 hand, dripping with water, was clutching the rail. A second hand took form in the darkness beside it. I watched, fascinated. What visitant from the gloom of the deep was I to behold26? Whatever it was, I knew that it was climbing aboard by the log-line. I saw a head, the hair wet and straight, shape itself, and then the unmistakable eyes and face of Wolf Larsen. His right cheek was red with blood, which flowed from some wound in the head.
He drew himself inboard with a quick effort, and rose to his feet, glancing swiftly, as he did so, at the man at the wheel, as though to assure himself of his identity and that there was nothing to fear from him. The sea-water was streaming from him.
'All right, Hump,' he said in a low voice. 'Where's the mate?'
I shook my head.
'Johansen!' he called softly. 'Johansen!'
'Where is he?' he demanded of Harrison.
The young fellow seemed to have recovered his composure, for he answered steadily27 enough:
'I don't know, sir. I saw him go for'ard a little while ago.'
'So did I go for'ard; but you will observe that I didn't come back the way I went. Can you explain it?'
'You must have been overboard, sir.'
'Shall I look for him in the steerage, sir?' I asked.
Wolf Larsen shook his head.
'You wouldn't find him, Hump. But you'll do. Come on. Never mind your bedding. Leave it where it is.'
I followed at his heels. There was nothing stirring amidships.
'Those cursed hunters!' was his comment. 'Too fat and lazy to stand a four-hour watch.'
But on the forecastle head we found three sailors asleep. He turned them over and looked at their faces. They composed the watch on deck, and it was the ship's custom, in good weather, to let the watch sleep, with the exception of the officer, the helmsman, and the lookout28.
'Who's lookout?' he demanded.
'Me, sir,' answered Holyoak, one of the deep-water sailors, a slight tremor29 in his voice. 'I winked30 off just this very minute, sir. I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again.'
'Did you hear or see anything on deck?'
'No, sir; I-'
But Wolf Larsen had turned away with a snort of disgust, leaving the sailor rubbing his eyes with surprise at having been let off so easily.
'Softly, now,' Wolf Larsen warned me in a whisper, as he doubled his body into the forecastle scuttle31 and prepared to descend32.
I followed with a quaking heart. What was to happen I knew no more than did I know what had happened. But blood had been shed, and it was through no whim33 of Wolf Larsen's that he had gone over the side with his scalp laid open. Besides, Johansen was missing.
It was my first descent into the forecastle, and I shall not soon forget my impression of it, caught as I stood on my feet at the bottom of the ladder. Built directly in the eyes of the schooner34, it was of the shape of a triangle, along the three sides of which stood the bunks35, in double tier- twelve of them. It was no larger than a hall bedroom in Grub street, and yet twelve men were herded37 into it, to eat and sleep and carry on all the functions of living. My bedroom at home was not large, yet it could have contained a dozen similar forecastles, and taking into consideration the height of the ceiling, a score at least.
It smelled sour and musty, and by the dim light of the swinging sea-lamp I saw every bit of available wall-space hung deep with sea-boots, oilskins, and garments, clean and dirty, of various sorts. These swung back and forth38 with every roll of the vessel39, giving rise to a brushing sound, as of trees against a roof or wall. Somewhere a boot thumped40 loudly and at irregular periods against the wall; and, though it was a mild night on the sea, there was a continual chorus of the creaking timbers and bulkheads, and of abysmal41 noises beneath the flooring.
The sleepers42 did not mind. There were eight of them,- the two watches below,- and the air was thick with the warmth and odor of their breathing, and the ear was filled with the noise of their snoring, and of their sighs and half-groans- tokens plain of the rest of the animal-man. But were they sleeping- all of them? Or had they been sleeping? This was evidently Wolf Larsen's quest- to find the men who appeared to be asleep, and who were not asleep or who had not been asleep very recently. And he went about it in a way that reminded me of a story out of Boccaccio.
He took the sea-lamp from its swinging frame and handed it to me. He began at the first bunks forward on the starboard side. In the top one lay Oofty-Oofty, a Kanaka and a splendid seaman43, so named by his mates. He was asleep on his back and breathing as placidly44 as a woman. One arm was under his head, the other lay on top of the blankets. Wolf Larsen put thumb and forefinger45 to the wrist and counted the pulse. In the midst of it the Kanaka roused. He awoke as gently as he slept. There was no movement of the body whatever. Only the eyes moved. They flashed wide open, big and black, and stared unblinking into our faces. Wolf Larsen put his finger to his lips as a sign for silence, and the eyes closed again.
In the lower bunk36 lay Louis, grossly fat and warm and sweaty, asleep unfeignedly, and sleeping laboriously46. While Wolf Larsen held his wrist he stirred uneasily, bowing his body so that for a moment it rested on shoulders and heels. His lips moved, and he gave voice to this enigmatic utterance:
'A shilling's worth a quarter; but keep your lamps out for thruppenny bits, or the publicans'll shove 'em on you for sixpence.'
Then he rolled over on his side with a heavy, sobbing47 sigh, saying:
'A sixpence is a tanner, and a shilling a bob, but what a pony48 is I don't know.'
Satisfied with the honesty of his and the Kanaka's sleep, Wolf Larsen passed on to the next two bunks on the starboard side, occupied top and bottom, as we saw in the light of the sea-lamp, by Leach49 and Johnson.
As Wolf Larsen bent50 down to the lower bunk to take Johnson's pulse, I, standing51 erect52 and holding the lamp, saw Leach's head raise stealthily as he peered over the side of his bunk to see what was going on. He must have divined Wolf Larsen's trick and the sureness of detection, for the light was at once dashed from my hand and the forecastle left in darkness. He must have leaped, also, at the same instant, straight down on Wolf Larsen.
The first sounds were those of a conflict between a bull and a wolf. I heard a great infuriated bellow53 go up from Wolf Larsen, and from Leach a snarling54 that was desperate and blood-curdling. Johnson must have joined him immediately, so that his abject55 and groveling conduct on deck for the last few days had been no more than planned deception56.
I was so terror-stricken by this fight in the dark that I leaned against the ladder, trembling and unable to ascend57. And upon me was that old sickness at the pit of the stomach, caused always by the spectacle of physical violence. In this instance I could not see, but I could hear the impact of the blows- the soft crushing sound made by flesh striking forcibly against flesh. Then there was the crashing about of the entwined bodies, the labored58 breathing, the short quick gasps59 of sudden pain.
There must have been more men in the conspiracy60 to murder the captain and the mate, for by the sounds I knew that Leach and Johnson had been quickly reinforced.
'Get a knife, somebody!' Leach was shouting.
'Pound him on the head! Mash61 his brains out!' was Johnson's cry.
But after his first bellow Wolf Larsen made no noise. He was fighting grimly and silently for very life. Down at the very first, he had been unable to gain his feet, and for all of his tremendous strength I felt that there was no hope for him.
The force with which they struggled was vividly62 impressed on me, for I was knocked down by their surging bodies and badly bruised63. But in the confusion I managed to crawl into a lower bunk out of the way.
'All hands! We've got him! We've got him!' I could hear Leach crying.
'Who?' asked those who had been asleep.
'It's the bloody64 mate!' was Leach's crafty65 answer. The words were strained from him in a smothered66 sort of way.
This was greeted with whoops67 of joy, and from then on Wolf Larsen had seven strong men on top of him, Louis, I believe, taking no part in it. The forecastle was like an angry hive of bees.
'What's the row there?' I heard Latimer shout down the scuttle, too cautious to descend into the inferno68.
'Won't somebody get a knife?' Leach pleaded in the first interval69 of comparative silence.
The number of the assailants was a cause of confusion. They blocked their own efforts, while Wolf Larsen, with but a single purpose, achieved his. This was to fight his way across the floor to the ladder. Though in total darkness, I followed his progress by its sound. No man less than a giant could have done what he did, once he had gained the foot of the ladder. Step by step, by the might of his arms, the whole pack of men striving to drag him back and down, he drew his body up from the floor till he stood erect. And then, step by step, hand and foot, he slowly struggled up the ladder.
The very last of all, I saw. For Latimer, having finally gone for a lantern, held it so that its light shone down the scuttle. Wolf Larsen was nearly to the top, though I could not see him. All that was visible was the mass of men fastened upon him. It squirmed about, like some huge, many-legged spider, and swayed back and forth to the regular roll of the vessel. And still, step by step, with long intervals70 between, the mass ascended71. Once it tottered72, about to fall back, but the broken hold was regained73, and it still went up.
'Who is it?' Latimer cried.
'Larsen,' I heard a muffled74 voice from within the mass.
Latimer reached down with his free hand. I saw a hand shoot up to clasp his. Latimer pulled, and the next couple of steps were made with a rush. Then Wolf Larsen's other hand reached up and clutched the edge of the scuttle. The mass swung clear of the ladder, the men still clinging to their escaping foe75. They began to drop off, to be brushed off against the sharp edge of the scuttle, to be knocked off by the legs, which were now kicking powerfully. Leach was the last to go, falling sheer back from the top of the scuttle and striking on head and shoulders upon his sprawling76 mates. Larsen and the lantern disappeared, and we were left in darkness.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
distraction
|
|
| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
solicitude
|
|
| n.焦虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
den
|
|
| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
alas
|
|
| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
detested
|
|
| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
irritable
|
|
| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
unnatural
|
|
| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
herd
|
|
| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
savagery
|
|
| n.野性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
irresistibly
|
|
| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
brute
|
|
| n.野兽，兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
atrophied
|
|
| adj.萎缩的，衰退的v.（使）萎缩，（使）虚脱，（使）衰退( atrophy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
superfluous
|
|
| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
meditatively
|
|
| adv.冥想地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
steering
|
|
| n.操舵装置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
stuffy
|
|
| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
perturbed
|
|
| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
awakening
|
|
| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
spokes
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
sinewy
|
|
| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
lookout
|
|
| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
tremor
|
|
| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
winked
|
|
| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
scuttle
|
|
| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
whim
|
|
| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
schooner
|
|
| n.纵帆船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
bunks
|
|
| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
bunk
|
|
| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
herded
|
|
| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
thumped
|
|
| v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
abysmal
|
|
| adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
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： |
|
|
|
|
43
seaman
|
|
| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
placidly
|
|
| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
forefinger
|
|
| n.食指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
laboriously
|
|
| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
sobbing
|
|
| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
pony
|
|
| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
leach
|
|
| v.分离，过滤掉；n.过滤；过滤器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
bellow
|
|
| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
snarling
|
|
| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
abject
|
|
| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
deception
|
|
| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
ascend
|
|
| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
labored
|
|
| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
gasps
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
conspiracy
|
|
| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
mash
|
|
| n.麦芽浆，糊状物，土豆泥；v.把…捣成糊状，挑逗，调情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
vividly
|
|
| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
bruised
|
|
| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
crafty
|
|
| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
smothered
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
whoops
|
|
| int.呼喊声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
inferno
|
|
| n.火海；地狱般的场所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
interval
|
|
| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
tottered
|
|
| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
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： |
|
|
|
|
74
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： |
|
|
|
|
75
foe
|
|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
sprawling
|
|
| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |