'Perhaps it is his headache,' I said. 'I left him lying on the poop. He may lie there all night. I think I'll go and see.'
Maud looked entreaty2 at me.
'It is all right,' I assured her. 'I shall take the revolvers. You know, I collected every weapon on board.'
'But there are his arms, his hands, his terrible, terrible hands,' she objected. And then she cried, 'Oh, Humphrey, I am afraid of him. Don't go! Please don't go!'
She rested her hand appealingly on mine and sent my pulse fluttering. My heart was surely in my eyes for a moment. The dear and lovely woman! And she was so much the woman, clinging and appealing, sunshine and dew to my manhood, rooting it deeper and sending through it the sap of a new strength. I was for putting my arm around her, as when in the midst of the seal-herd, but I considered and refrained.
'I shall not take any risks,' I said. 'I'll merely peep over the bow and see.' She pressed my hand earnestly and let me go. But the space on deck where I had left him lying was vacant. He had evidently gone below. That night we stood alternate watches, one of us sleeping at a time; for there was no telling what Wolf Larsen might do.
The next day we waited, and the next, and still he made no sign.
'These headaches of his, these attacks-' Maude said, on the afternoon of the fourth day. 'Perhaps he is ill, very ill. He may be dead.'
'Or dying,' was her afterthought, when she had waited some time for me to speak.
'Better so,' I answered.
'But think, Humphrey- a fellow creature in his last lonely hour!'
'Perhaps,' I suggested.
'Yes, even perhaps,' she acknowledged. 'But we do not know. It would be terrible if he were. I could never forgive myself. We must do something.'
'Perhaps,' I suggested again.
I waited, smiling inwardly at the woman of her which compelled a solicitude3 for Wolf Larsen, of all creatures. Where was her solicitude for me? I thought- for me whom she had been afraid to have merely peep aboard?
She was too subtle not to follow the trend of my silence. And she was as direct as she was subtle.
'You must go aboard, Humphrey, and find out,' she said. 'And if you want to laugh at me you have my consent and forgiveness.'
I arose obediently and went down the beach.
'Do be careful,' she called after me.
I waved by arm from the forecastle-head and dropped down to the deck. Aft I walked to the cabin companion, where I contented4 myself with hailing below. Wolf Larsen answered, and as he started to ascend5 the stairs I cocked my revolver. I displayed it openly during our conversation, but he took no notice of it. He appeared the same, physically6, as when last I saw him, but he was gloomy and silent. In fact, the few words we spoke8 could hardly be called a conversation. I did not inquire why he had not been ashore, nor did he ask why I had not come aboard. His head was all right again, he said; and so, without further parley9, I left him.
Maud received my report with obvious relief, and the sight of smoke which later rose in the galley10 put her in a more cheerful mood. The next day, and the next, we saw the galley smoke rising, and sometimes we caught glimpses of him on the poop. But that was all. He made no attempt to come ashore. This we knew, for we still maintained our night watches. We were waiting for him to do something,- to show his hand, so to say,- and his inaction puzzled and worried us.
A week of this passed by. We had no other interest than Wolf Larsen, and his presence weighed us down with an apprehension11 which prevented us from doing any of the little things we had planned.
But at the end of the week the smoke ceased rising from the galley, and he no longer showed himself on the poop. I could see Maud's solicitude again growing, though she timidly- and even proudly, I think- forbore a repetition of her request. After all, what censure12 could be put upon her? Besides, I myself was aware of hurt at thought of this man whom I had tried to kill dying alone with his fellow creatures so near. He was right. The code of my group was stronger than I. The fact that he had hands, feet, and a body shaped somewhat like mine constituted a claim that I could not ignore.
So I did not wait a second time for Maud to send me. I discovered that we stood in need of condensed milk and marmalade, and announced that I was going aboard. I could see that she wavered. She even went so far as to murmur13 that they were non-essentials and that my trip after them might be inexpedient. And, as she had followed the trend of my silence, she now followed the trend of my speech; and she knew that I was going aboard, not because of condensed milk and marmalade, but because of her and of her anxiety, which she knew she had failed to hide.
I took off my shoes when I gained the forecastle-head, and went noiselessly aft in my stocking feet. Nor did I call this time from the top of the companionway. Cautiously descending14, I found the cabin deserted15. The door to his stateroom was closed. At first I thought of knocking; then I remembered my ostensible16 errand and resolved to carry it out. Carefully avoiding noise, I lifted the trapdoor in the floor and set it to one side. The slopchest, as well as the provisions, was stored in the lazaret, and I took advantage of the opportunity to lay in a stock of underclothing.
As I emerged from the lazaret I heard sounds in Wolf Larsen's stateroom. I crouched17 and listened. The doorknob rattled18. Furtively19, instinctively20, I slunk back behind the table, and drew and cocked my revolver. The door swung open and he came forth21. Never had I seen so profound a despair as that which I saw on his face- the face of Wolf Larsen the fighter, the strong man, the indomitable one. For all the world like a woman wringing22 her hands, he raised his clenched23 fists and groaned24. One fist unclosed, and the open palm swept across his eyes as though brushing away cobwebs.
'God! God!' he groaned; and the clenched fists were raised again to the infinite despair with which his throat vibrated.
It was horrible. I was trembling all over, and I could feel the shivers running up and down my spine25 and the sweat standing26 out on my forehead. Surely there can be little in this world more awful than the spectacle of a strong man in the moment when he is utterly27 weak and broken.
But Wolf Larsen regained28 control of himself by an exertion29 of his remarkable30 will. And it was exertion. His whole frame shook with the struggle. He resembled a man on the verge31 of a fit. His face strove to compose itself, writhing32 and twisting in the effort till he broke down again. Once more the clenched fists went upward and he groaned. He caught his breath once or twice and sobbed33. Then he was successful. I could have thought him the old Wolf Larsen, and yet there was in his movements a vague suggestion of weakness and indecision. He started for the companionway, and stepped forward quite as I had been accustomed to see him do; and yet again, in his very walk, there seemed that suggestion of weakness and indecision.
I was now concerned with fear for myself. The open trap lay directly in his path, and his discovery of it would lead instantly to his discovery of me. I was angry with myself for being caught in so cowardly a position, crouching34 on the floor. There was yet time. I rose swiftly to my feet, and, I know, quite unconsciously assumed a defiant35 attitude. He took no notice of me. Nor did he notice the open trap. Before I could grasp the situation, or act, he had walked right into the trap. One foot was descending into the opening, while the other foot was just on the verge of beginning the uplift. But when the descending foot missed the solid flooring and felt vacancy36 beneath, it was the old Wolf Larsen and the tiger muscles that made the falling body spring across the opening, even as it fell, so that he struck on his chest and stomach, with arms outstretched, on the floor of the opposite side. The next instant he had drawn37 up his legs and rolled clear. But he rolled into my marmalade and underclothes and against the trap-door.
The expression on his face was one of complete comprehension. But before I could guess what he had comprehended, he had dropped the trap-door into place, closing the lazaret. Then I understood. He thought he had me inside. Also, he was blind- blind as a bat. I watched him, breathing carefully so that he should not hear me. He stepped quickly to his stateroom. I saw his hand miss the doorknob by an inch, quickly fumble38 for it, and find it. This was my chance. I tiptoed across the cabin and to the top of the stairs. He came back, dragging a heavy sea-chest, which he deposited on top of the trap. Not content with this, he fetched a second chest and placed it on top of the first. Then he gathered up the marmalade and underclothes and put them on the table. When he started up the companionway, I retreated, silently rolling over on top of the cabin.
He shoved the slide part away back and rested his arms on it, his body still in the companionway. His attitude was of one looking forward the length of the schooner39, or staring, rather, for his eyes were fixed40 and unblinking. I was only five feet away and directly in what should have been his line of vision. It was uncanny. I felt myself a ghost, in my invisibility. I waved my hand back and forth, of course without effect; but when the moving shadow fell across his face I saw at once that he was susceptible41 to the impression. His face became more expectant and tense as he tried to analyze42 and identify the impression. He knew that he had responded to something from without, that his sensibility had been touched by a changing something in his environment; but what it was he could not discover. I ceased waving my hand, so that the shadow remained stationary43. He slowly moved his head back and forth under it and turned from side to side, now in the sunshine, now in the shade, feeling the shadow, as it were, testing it by sensation.
I, too, was busy, trying to reason out how he was aware of the existence of so intangible a thing as a shadow. If it were his eyeballs only that were affected44, or if his optic nerve were not wholly destroyed, the explanation was simple. If otherwise, then the only conclusion I could reach was that the sensitive skin recognized the difference of temperature between shade and sunshine. Or perhaps- and who could tell?- it was that fabled45 sixth sense which conveyed to him the loom7 and feel of an object close at hand.
Giving over his attempt to determine the shadow, he stepped out on deck and started forward, walking with a swiftness and confidence which surprised me. And still there was that hint of the feebleness of the blind in his walk. I knew it now for what it was.
To my amused chagrin46, he discovered my shoes on the forecastle-head and brought them back with him into the galley. I watched him build the fire and set about cooking food for himself; then I stole into the cabin for my marmalade and underclothes, slipped back past the galley, and climbed down to the beach to deliver my barefoot report.
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1
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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2
entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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5
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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8
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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9
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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12
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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14
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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15
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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16
ostensible
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| adj.(指理由)表面的，假装的 | |
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17
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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23
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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25
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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26
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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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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28
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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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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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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32
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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33
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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34
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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35
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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36
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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37
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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38
fumble
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| vi.笨拙地用手摸、弄、接等，摸索 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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40
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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41
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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42
analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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43
stationary
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| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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44
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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45
fabled
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| adj.寓言中的，虚构的 | |
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46
chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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