We were astonished at the ease with which the spar was lifted. It was an improved crank windlass, and the purchase it gave was enormous. Of course, what it gave us in power we paid for in distance; as many times as it doubled my strength, that many times was doubled the length of rope I heaved in. The tackle dragged heavily across the rail, increasing its drag as the spar arose more and more out of the water, and the exertion4 on the windlass grew severe.
But when the butt of the topmast was level with the rail everything came to a standstill.
'I might have known it,' I said impatiently. 'Now we have to do it all over again.'
'Why not fasten the tackle partway down the mast?' Maud suggested.
'It's what I should have done at first,' I answered, hugely disgusted with myself.
Slipping off a turn, I lowered the mast back into the water and fastened the tackle a third of the way down from the butt. In an hour, what of this and of rests between the heaving, I had hoisted6 it to the point where I could hoist5 no more. Eight feet of the butt was above the rail, and I was as far away as ever from getting the spar on board. I sat down and pondered the problem. It did not take long. I sprang jubilantly to my feet.
'Now I have it!' I cried. 'I ought to make the tackle fast at the point of balance. And what we learn of this will serve us with everything else we have to hoist aboard.'
Once again I undid7 all my work by lowering the mast into the water. But I miscalculated the point of balance, so that when I heaved, the top of the mast came up instead of the butt. Maud looked despair, but I laughed and said it would do just as well.
Instructing her how to hold the turn and be ready to slack away at command, I laid hold of the mast with my hands and tried to balance it inboard across the rail. When I thought I had it I cried to her to slack away; but the spar righted, despite my efforts, and dropped back toward the water. Again I heaved it up to its old position, for I had now another idea. I remembered the watch-tackle,- a small double-and single-block affair, and fetched it.
While I was rigging it between the top of the spar and the opposite rail, Wolf Larsen came on the scene. We exchanged nothing more than good mornings, and though he could not see, he sat on the rail out of the way and followed by the sound all that I did.
Again instructing Maud to slack away at the windlass when I gave the word, I proceeded to heave on the watch-tackle. Slowly the mast swung in until it balanced at right angles across the rail; and then I discovered, to my amazement8, that there was no need for Maud to slack away. In fact, the very opposite was necessary. Making the watch-tackle fast, I hove on the windlass and brought in the mast, inch by inch, till its top tilted9 down to the deck and finally its whole length lay on the deck.
I looked at my watch. It was twelve o'clock. My back was aching sorely, and I felt extremely tired and hungry. And there on the deck was a single stick of timber to show for a whole morning's work. For the first time I thoroughly10 realized the extent of the task before us. But I was learning, I was learning. The afternoon would show far more accomplished11. And it did; for we returned at one o'clock, rested, and strengthened by a hearty12 dinner.
In less than an hour I had the maintopmast on deck and was constructing the shears. Lashing13 the two topmasts together, and making allowance for their unequal length, at the point of intersection14 I attached the double block of the mainthroat-halyards. This, with the single block and throat-halyards themselves, gave me a hoisting-tackle. To prevent the butts15 of the masts from slipping on the deck, I nailed down thick cleats. Everything in readiness, I made a line fast to the apex16 of the shears and carried it directly to the windlass. I was growing to have faith in that windlass, for it gave me power beyond all expectation. As usual, Maud held the turn while I heaved. The shears rose in the air.
Then I discovered I had forgotten guyropes. This necessitated17 my climbing the shears, which I did twice before I finished guying it fore1 and aft and to each side. Twilight18 had set in by the time this was accomplished. Wolf Larsen, who had sat about and listened all afternoon and never opened his mouth, had taken himself off to the galley19 and started his supper. I felt quite stiff across the small of the back, so much so that I straightened up with an effort and with pain. I looked proudly at my work. It was beginning to show. I was wild with desire, like a child with a new toy, to hoist something with my shears.
'I wish it weren't so late,' I said. 'I'd like to see how it works.'
'Don't be a glutton20, Humphrey,' Maud chided me. 'Remember, tomorrow is coming, and you're so tired now that you can hardly stand.'
'And you?' I said, with sudden solicitude21. 'You must be very tired. You have worked hard and nobly. I am proud of you, Maud.'
'Not half so proud as I am of you, nor with half the reason,' she answered, looking me straight in the eyes for a moment with an expression in her own and a dancing, tremulous light which I had not seen before and which gave me a pang22 of quick delight. I knew not why, for I did not understand it. Then she dropped her eyes, to lift them again, laughing.
'If our friends could see us now!' she said. 'Look at us. Have you ever paused for a moment to consider our appearance?'
'Yes, I have considered yours frequently,' I answered, puzzled over what I had seen in her eyes and by her sudden change of subject.
'Mercy!' she cried. 'And what do I look like, pray?'
'A scarecrow, I'm afraid,' I replied. 'Just glance at your draggled skirts, for instance. Look at those three-cornered tears. And such a waist! It would not require a Sherlock Holmes to deduce that you have been cooking over a campfire, to say nothing of trying out seal-blubber. And, to cap it all, that cap! And all that is the woman who wrote "A Kiss Endured."'
She made me an elaborate and stately curtsy, and said, 'As for you, sir-'
And yet, through the five minutes of banter23 which followed, there was a serious something underneath24 the fun which I could not but relate to the strange and fleeting25 expression I had caught in her eyes. What was it? Could it be that our eyes were speaking beyond the will of our speech? My eyes had spoken, I knew, until I had found the culprits out and silenced them. This had occurred several times. But had she seen the clamor in them and understood? And had her eyes so spoken to me? What else could that expression have meant?- that dancing, tremulous light and a something more which words could not describe. And yet it could not be. It was impossible. Besides, I was not skilled in the speech of eyes. I was only Humphrey Van Weyden, a bookish fellow who loved. And to love, and to wait and win love, that surely was glorious enough for me. And thus I thought, even as we chaffed each other, until we arrived ashore26 and there were other things to think about.
'It's a shame, after working hard all day, that we cannot have an uninterrupted night's sleep,' I complained, after supper.
'But there can be no danger now, from a blind man?' she queried27.
'I shall never be able to trust him,' I averred28; 'and far less now that he is blind. The liability is that his part-helplessness will make him more malignant29 than ever. I know what I shall do tomorrow, the first thing- run out a light anchor and kedge the schooner30 off the beach. And each night when we come ashore in the boat, Mr. Wolf Larsen will be left, virtually a prisoner, on board. So this will be the last night we have to stand watch, and because of that it will go the easier.'
We were awake early, and just finishing breakfast as daylight came.
'Oh, Humphrey!' I heard Maud cry in dismay, and suddenly stop.
I looked at her. She was gazing at the Ghost. I followed her gaze, but could see nothing unusual. She looked at me, and I looked inquiry31 back.
'The shears,' she said, and her voice trembled.
I had forgotten their existence. I looked again, but could not see them.
'If he has-' I muttered savagely32.
She put her hand sympathetically on mine, and said, 'You will have to begin over again.'
'Oh, believe me, my anger means nothing; I could not hurt a fly,' I smiled back bitterly. 'And the worst of it is, he knows it. You are right. If he has destroyed the shears, I shall do nothing except begin over again.'
'But I'll stand my watch on board hereafter,' I blurted33 out a moment later. 'And if he interferes-'
'But I dare not stay ashore, all night, alone,' Maud was saying when I came back to myself. 'It would be so much nicer if he would be friendly with us and help us. We could all live comfortably aboard.'
'We will,' I asserted, still savagely, for the destruction of my beloved shears had hit me hard. 'That is, you and I will live aboard, friendly or not with Wolf Larsen.'
'It's childish,' I laughed, later, 'for him to do such things, and for me to grow angry over them, for that matter.'
But my heart smote34 me when we climbed aboard and looked at the havoc35 he had done. The shears were gone altogether. The guys had been slashed36 right and left. The throat-halyards which I had rigged were cut across through every part- and he knew I could not splice37. A thought struck me: I ran to the windlass. It would not work! He had broken it. We looked at each other in consternation38. Then I ran to the side. The masts, booms, and gaffs I had cleared were gone. He had found the line which held them and cast it adrift.
Tears were in Maud's eyes, and I do believe they were for me. I could have wept myself. Where now was our project of remasting the Ghost? He had done his work well. I sat down on the hatch-combing and rested my chin on my hands in black despair.
'He deserves to die,' I cried out; 'and- God forgive me- I am not man enough to be his executioner.'
But Maud was by my side, passing her hand soothingly39 through my hair as though I were a child, and saying, 'There, there; it will all come right. We are in the right and it must come right.'
I remembered Michelet, and leaned my head against her; and truly I became strong again. The blessed woman was an unfailing fount of power to me. What did it matter? Only a setback40, a delay. The tide could not have carried the masts far to seaward, and there had been no wind. It meant merely more work to find them and tow them back. And, besides, it was a lesson. I knew what to expect. He might have waited and destroyed our work more effectually when we had more accomplished.
'Here he comes now,' she whispered.
I glanced up. He was strolling leisurely41 along the poop on the port side.
'Take no notice of him,' I whispered. 'He's coming to see how we take it. Don't let him know that we know. We can deny him that satisfaction. Take off your shoes- that's right- and carry them in your hand.'
And then we played hide-and-seek with the blind man. As he came up the port side we slipped past on the starboard; and from the poop we watched him turn and start aft on our track.
He must have known, somehow, that we were on board, for he said 'Good morning' very confidently, and waited for the greeting to be returned. Then he strolled aft, and we slipped for'ard.
'Oh, I know you're aboard,' he called out, and I could see him listen intently after he had spoken.
It reminded me of the great hoot-owl, listening, after its booming cry, for the stir of its frightened prey42. But we did not stir, and we moved only when he moved. And so we dodged43 about the deck, hand in hand, like a couple of children chased by a wicked ogre, till Wolf Larsen, evidently in disgust, left the deck for the cabin. There was glee in our eyes, and suppressed titters in our mouths, as we put on our shoes and clambered over the side into the boat. And as I looked into Maud's clear brown eyes I forgot the evil he had done, and I knew only that I loved her and that because of her the strength was mine to win our way back to the world.
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1
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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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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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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intersection
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| n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集 | |
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butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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apex
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| n.顶点，最高点 | |
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necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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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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glutton
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| n.贪食者，好食者 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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splice
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| v.接合，衔接；n.胶接处，粘接处 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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setback
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| n.退步，挫折，挫败 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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42
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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