Chapter 22

 I KNEW WHAT IT WAS AS SHE came toward me. For ten minutes I had watched her talking earnestly with the engineer, and now, with a sign for silence, I drew her out of earshot of the helmsman. Her face was white and set; her large eyes- larger than usual, what of the purpose in them- looked penetratingly into mine. I felt rather timid and apprehensive¹, for she had come to search Humphrey Van Weyden's soul, and Humphrey Van Weyden had nothing of which to be particularly proud since his advent² on the Ghost.

 We walked to the break of the poop, where she turned and faced me. I glanced around to see that no one was within hearing distance.

 'What is it?' I asked gently; but the expression of grim determination on her face did not relax.

 'I can readily understand,' she began, 'that this morning's affair was largely an accident; but I have been talking with Mr. Haskins. He tells me that the day we were rescued, even while I was in the cabin, two men were drowned, deliberately³ drowned- murdered.'

 There was a query⁴ in her voice, and she faced me accusingly, as though I were guilty of the deed, or at least a party to it.

 'The information is quite correct,' I answered. 'The two men were murdered.'

 'And you permitted it!' she cried.

 'I was unable to prevent it, is a better way of phrasing it,' I replied, still gently.

 'But you tried to prevent it?' There was an emphasis on the 'tried,' and a pleading little note in her voice. 'Oh, but you didn't!' she hurried on, divining my answer. 'But why didn't you?'

 I shrugged⁵ my shoulders.

 'You must remember, Miss Brewster, that you are a new inhabitant of this little world, and that you do not yet understand the laws which operate within it. You bring with you certain fine conceptions of humanity, manhood, conduct, and such things; but here you will find them misconceptions. I have found it so,' I added, with an involuntary sigh.

 She shook her head incredulously.

 'What would you advise, then?' I asked. 'That I should take a knife, or a gun, or an ax, and kill this man?'

 She started back.

 'No, not that!'

 'Then what should I do? Kill myself?'

 'You speak in purely⁶ materialistic⁷ terms,' she objected. 'There is such a thing as moral courage, and moral courage is never without effect.'

 'Ah,' I smiled, 'you advise me to kill neither him nor myself, but to let him kill me.' I held up my hand as she was about to speak. 'For moral courage is a worthless asset on this little floating world. Leach⁸, one of the men who were murdered, had moral courage to an unusual degree. So had the other man, Johnson. Not only did it not stand them in good stead, but it destroyed them. And so with me, if I should exercise what little moral courage I may possess. You must understand, Miss Brewster, and understand clearly, that this man is a monster. He is without conscience. Nothing is sacred to him, nothing is too terrible for him to do. It was due to his whim⁹ that I was detained aboard in the first place. It is due to his whim that I am still alive. I do nothing, can do nothing, because I am a slave to this monster, as you are now a slave to him; because I desire to live, as you will desire to live; because I cannot fight and overcome him, just as you will not be able to fight and overcome him.'

 She waited for me to go on.

 'What remains¹⁰? Mine is the role of the weak. I remain silent and suffer ignominy as you will remain silent and suffer ignominy. And it is well. It is the best we can do if we wish to live. The battle is not always to the strong. We have not the strength with which to fight this man; we must dissimulate¹¹, and win, if win we can, by craft. If you will be advised by me, this is what you will do. I know my position is perilous¹², and I may say frankly¹³ that yours is even more perilous. We must stand together, without appearing to do so, in secret alliance. I shall not be able to side with you openly, and, no matter what indignities¹⁴ may be put upon me, you are to remain likewise silent. We must provoke no scenes with this man, or cross his will. And we must keep smiling faces and be friendly with him, no matter how repulsive¹⁵ it may be.'

 She brushed her hand across her forehead in a puzzled way, saying, 'Still, I do not understand.'

 'You must do as I say,' I interrupted authoritatively¹⁶, for I saw Wolf Larsen's gaze wandering toward us from where he paced up and down with Latimer amidships. 'Do as I say, and before long you will find I am right.'

 'What shall I do, then?' she asked, detecting the anxious glance I had shot at the object of our conversation, and impressed, I flatter myself with the earnestness of my manner.

 'Dispense with all the moral courage you can,' I said briskly. 'Don't arouse this man's animosity. Be quite friendly with him, talk with him, discuss literature and art with him- he is fond of such things. You will find him an interested listener and no fool. And for your own sake try to avoid witnessing, as much as you can, the brutalities of the ship. It will make it easier for you to act your part.'

 'I am to lie,' she said in steady, rebellious¹⁷ tones; 'by speech and action to lie.'

 Wolf Larsen had separated from Latimer and was coming toward us. I was desperate.

 'Please, please understand me,' I said hurriedly, lowering my voice. 'All your experience of men and things is worthless here. You must begin over again. I know- I can see it- you have, among other ways, been used to managing people with your eyes, letting your moral courage speak out through them, as it were. You have already managed me with your eyes, commanded me with them. But don't try it on Wolf Larsen. You could as easily control a lion, while he would make a mock of you. He would-'

 'I have always been proud of the fact that I discovered him,' I said, turning the conversation as Wolf Larsen stepped on the poop and joined us. 'The editors were afraid of him, and the publishers would have none of him. But I knew, and his genius and my judgment¹⁸ were vindicated¹⁹ when he made that magnificent hit with his "Plowman."

 'And it was a newspaper poem,' she said glibly²⁰.

 'It did happen to see the light in a newspaper,' I replied, 'but not because the magazine editors had been denied a glimpse at it.

 'We were talking of Harris,' I said to Wolf Larsen.

 'Oh, yes,' he acknowledged. 'I remember "The Ring." Filled with pretty sentiments and an almighty²¹ faith in human illusions. By the way, Mr. Van Weyden, you'd better look in on Cooky. He's complaining and restless.'

 Thus was I bluntly dismissed from the poop, only to find Mugridge sleeping soundly from the morphine I had given him. I made no haste to return on deck, and when I did, I was gratified to see Miss Brewster in animated²² conversation with Wolf Larsen. As I say, the sight gratified me. She was following my advice. And yet I was conscious of a slight shock or hurt in that she was able to do the thing I had begged her to do, and which she had notably²³ disliked.

1 apprehensive   

adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的

参考例句：

• She was deeply apprehensive about her future.她对未来感到非常担心。
• He was rather apprehensive of failure.他相当害怕失败。

2 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

3 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

4 query   

n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑

参考例句：

• I query very much whether it is wise to act so hastily.我真怀疑如此操之过急地行动是否明智。
• They raised a query on his sincerity.他们对他是否真诚提出质疑。

5 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

7 materialistic   

a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的

参考例句：

• She made him both soft and materialistic. 她把他变成女性化而又实际化。
• Materialistic dialectics is an important part of constituting Marxism. 唯物辩证法是马克思主义的重要组成部分。

8 leach   

v.分离，过滤掉；n.过滤；过滤器

参考例句：

• Liquid water can leach soluble materials from the interface.液态水能够从界面溶解出可溶性物质。
• They believe that the humic materials are leached from decaying plant materials.他们认为腐植物料是从腐烂的植物体浸沥而来。

9 whim   

n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想

参考例句：

• I bought the encyclopedia on a whim.我凭一时的兴致买了这本百科全书。
• He had a sudden whim to go sailing today.今天他突然想要去航海。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 dissimulate   

v.掩饰，隐藏

参考例句：

• This man was too injured to dissimulate well.这个人受伤严重，无法完全遮掩住。
• He who knows not how to dissimulate,can not reign.不知道如何装扮成一个君子的人无法赢得尊重。

12 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

13 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

14 indignities   

n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The soldiers who were captured suffered many indignities at the hands of the enemy. 被俘的士兵在敌人手中受尽侮辱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What sort of indignities would he be forced to endure? 他会被迫忍受什么样的侮辱呢？ 来自辞典例句

15 repulsive   

adj.排斥的，使人反感的

参考例句：

• She found the idea deeply repulsive.她发现这个想法很恶心。
• The repulsive force within the nucleus is enormous.核子内部的斥力是巨大的。

16 authoritatively   

命令式地，有权威地，可信地

参考例句：

• "If somebody'll come here and sit with him," he snapped authoritatively. “来个人到这儿陪他坐着。”他用发号施令的口吻说。
• To decide or settle(a dispute, for example) conclusively and authoritatively. 判定结论性、权威性地决定或解决（纠纷等）

17 rebellious   

adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的

参考例句：

• They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反，他们就要发生危险。
• Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和，但她的心里十分反感。

18 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

19 vindicated   

v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• I have every confidence that this decision will be fully vindicated. 我完全相信这一决定的正确性将得到充分证明。
• Subsequent events vindicated the policy. 后来的事实证明那政策是对的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 glibly   

adv.流利地，流畅地；满口

参考例句：

• He glibly professed his ignorance of the affair. 他口口声声表白不知道这件事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He put ashes on his head, apologized profusely, but then went glibly about his business. 他表示忏悔，满口道歉，但接着又故态复萌了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

21 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

22 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

23 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。