Chapter 38

'I THINK MY LEFT SIDE IS GOING.' Wolf Larsen wrote, the morning after his attempt to fire the ship. 'The numbness¹ is growing. I can hardly move my hand. You will have to speak louder. The last lines are going down.'

 'Are you in pain?' I asked.

 I was compelled to repeat my question loudly before he answered:

 'Not all the time.'

 The left hand stumbled slowly and painfully across the paper, and it was with extreme difficulty that we deciphered the scrawl². It was like a 'spirit message,' such as are delivered at seances of spiritualists for a dollar admission.

 'But I am still here, all here,' hand scrawled⁴, more slowly and painfully than ever.

 The pencil dropped, and we had to replace it in the hand.

 'When there is no pain I have perfect peace and quiet. I have never thought so clearly. I can ponder life and death like a Hindu sage³.'

 'And immortality⁵?' Maud queried⁶ loudly in the ear.

 Three times the hand essayed to write, but fumbled⁷ hopelessly. The pencil fell. In vain we tried to replace it. The fingers could not close on it. Then Maud pressed and held the fingers, about the pencil with her own hand, and the hand wrote, in large letters, and so slowly that the minutes ticked off to each letter:

 'B-O-S-H.'

 It was Wolf Larsen's last word,- 'bosh,'- skeptical⁸ and invincible⁹ to the end. The arm and hand relaxed. The trunk of the body moved slightly. Then there was no movement. Maud released the hand. The fingers spread, falling apart of their own weight, and the pencil rolled away.

 'Do you still hear?' I shouted, holding the fingers and waiting for the single pressure which would signify 'yes.' There was no response. The hand was dead.

 'I noticed the lips slightly move,' Maud said.

 I repeated the question. The lips moved. She placed the tips of her fingers on them. Again I repeated the question. 'Yes,' Maud announced. We looked at each other expectantly.

 'What good is it?' I asked. 'What can we say now?'

 'Oh, ask him-'

 She hesitated.

 'Ask him something that requires "no" for an answer,' I suggested. 'Then we shall know with certainty.'

 'Are you hungry?' she cried.

 The lips moved under her fingers, and she answered, 'Yes.'

 'Will you have some beef?' was her next query¹⁰.

 'No,' she announced.

 'Beef-tea?'

 'Yes, he will have some beef-tea,' she said quietly, looking up at me. 'Until his hearing goes we shall be able to communicate with him. And after that-'

 She looked at me queerly. I saw her lips trembling and the tears swimming up in her eyes. She swayed toward me, and I caught her in my arms.

 'Oh, Humphrey,' she sobbed¹¹, 'when will it all end? I am so tired, so tired!'

 She buried her head on my shoulder, her frail¹² form shaken with a storm of weeping. She was like a feather in my arms, so slender, so ethereal. 'She has broken down at last,' I thought. 'What can I do without her help?'

 But I soothed¹³ and comforted her, till she pulled herself bravely together and recuperated¹⁴ mentally as quickly as she was wont¹⁵ to do physically¹⁶.

 'I ought to be ashamed of myself,' she said. Then added, with the whimsical smile I adored, 'But I am only one small woman.'

 That phrase, 'one small woman,' startled me like an electric shock. It was my own phrase, my pet, secret phrase, my love-phrase for her.

 'Where did you get that phrase?' I demanded, with an abruptness¹⁷ that in turn startled her.

 'What phrase?' she asked.

 '"One small woman."'

 'Is it yours?' she asked.

 'Yes,' I answered, 'mine. I made it.'

 'Then you must have talked in your sleep,' she smiled.

 The dancing, tremulous light was in her eyes. Mine, I knew, were speaking beyond the will of my speech. I leaned toward her. Without volition¹⁸ I leaned toward her, as a tree is swayed by the wind. Ah, we were very close together in that moment. But she shook her head, as one might shake off sleep or a dream, saying:

 'I have known it all my life. It was my father's name for my mother.'

 'It is my phrase, too,' I said stubbornly.

 'For your mother?'

 'No,' I answered; and she questioned no further, though I could have sworn her eyes retained for some time a mocking, teasing expression.

 With the foremast in, the work now went on apace. Almost before I knew it, and without one serious hitch¹⁹, I had the mainmast stepped. A derrick-boom rigged to the foremast had accomplished²⁰ this; and several days more found all stays and shrouds²¹ in place and everything set up taut²². Topsails would be a nuisance and a danger for a crew of two, so I heaved the topmasts on deck and lashed²³ them fast.

 Several more days were consumed in finishing the sails and putting them on. There were only three- the jib, foresail, and mainsail; and, patched, shortened, and distorted, they were a ridiculously ill-fitting suit for so trim a craft as the Ghost.

 'But they'll work,' Maud cried jubilantly. 'We'll make them work, and trust our lives to them!'

 Certainly, among my many new trades, I shone least as a sailmaker. I could sail them better than make them, and I had no doubt of my power to bring the schooner²⁴ to some northern port of Japan. In fact, I had crammed²⁵ navigation from textbooks aboard; and, besides, there was Wolf Larsen's star-scale, so simple a device that a child could work it.

 As for its inventor, beyond an increasing deafness and the movement of the lips growing faint and fainter, there had been little change in his condition for a week. But on the day we finished bending the schooner's sails he heard his last, and the last movement of the lips died away, but not before I had asked him, 'Are you all there?' and the lips had answered, 'Yes.'

 The last line was down. Somewhere within that tomb of the flesh still dwelt the soul of the man. Walled by the living clay, that fierce intelligence we had known burned on; but it burned on in silence and darkness. And it was disembodied. To that intelligence there could be no objective knowledge of a body. It knew no body. The very world was not. It knew only itself and the vastness and profundity²⁶ of the quiet and the dark.

1 numbness   

n.无感觉，麻木，惊呆

参考例句：

• She was fighting off the numbness of frostbite. 她在竭力摆脱冻僵的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sometimes they stay dead, causing' only numbness. 有时，它们没有任何反应，只会造成麻木。 来自时文部分

2 scrawl   

vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写

参考例句：

• His signature was an illegible scrawl.他的签名潦草难以辨认。
• Your beautiful handwriting puts my untidy scrawl to shame.你漂亮的字体把我的潦草字迹比得见不得人。

3 sage   

n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的

参考例句：

• I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
• The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。

4 scrawled   

乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I tried to read his directions, scrawled on a piece of paper. 我尽量弄明白他草草写在一片纸上的指示。
• Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it -- I got more." 汤姆在他的写字板上写了几个字：“请你收下吧，我多得是哩。”

5 immortality   

n.不死，不朽

参考例句：

• belief in the immortality of the soul 灵魂不灭的信念
• It was like having immortality while you were still alive. 仿佛是当你仍然活着的时候就得到了永生。

6 queried   

v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问

参考例句：

• She queried what he said. 她对他说的话表示怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"What does he have to do?\" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事？”琴向觉民问道，她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

7 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。

8 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

9 invincible   

adj.不可征服的，难以制服的

参考例句：

• This football team was once reputed to be invincible.这支足球队曾被誉为无敌的劲旅。
• The workers are invincible as long as they hold together.只要工人团结一致，他们就是不可战胜的。

10 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。

11 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

12 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

13 soothed   

v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦

参考例句：

• The music soothed her for a while. 音乐让她稍微安静了一会儿。
• The soft modulation of her voice soothed the infant. 她柔和的声调使婴儿安静了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 recuperated   

v.恢复（健康、体力等），复原( recuperate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• For a while she recuperated there. 她曾在那儿休养了一个时期。 来自辞典例句
• Can chronic rhinitis cause giddy tinnitus? What method can be recuperated! 慢性鼻炎会引起头晕耳鸣吗？有什么方法可以调理！ 来自互联网

15 wont   

adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯

参考例句：

• He was wont to say that children are lazy.他常常说小孩子们懒惰。
• It is his wont to get up early.早起是他的习惯。

16 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

17 abruptness   

n. 突然，唐突

参考例句：

• He hid his feelings behind a gruff abruptness. 他把自己的感情隐藏在生硬鲁莽之中。
• Suddenly Vanamee returned to himself with the abruptness of a blow. 伐那米猛地清醒过来，象挨到了当头一拳似的。

18 volition   

n.意志；决意

参考例句：

• We like to think that everything we do and everything we think is a product of our volition.我们常常认为我们所做和所想的一切都出自自己的意愿。
• Makin said Mr Coombes had gone to the police of his own volition.梅金说库姆斯先生是主动去投案的。

19 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

20 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

21 shrouds   

n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密

参考例句：

• 'For instance,' returned Madame Defarge, composedly,'shrouds.' “比如说，”德伐日太太平静地回答，“裹尸布。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• Figure 3-10 illustrates the result of a study or conical shrouds. 图3-10表明了对锥形外壳的研究结果。 来自辞典例句

22 taut   

adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的

参考例句：

• The bowstring is stretched taut.弓弦绷得很紧。
• Scarlett's taut nerves almost cracked as a sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them. 思嘉紧张的神经几乎一下绷裂了，因为她听见附近灌木丛中突然冒出的一个声音。

23 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 schooner   

n.纵帆船

参考例句：

• The schooner was driven ashore.那条帆船被冲上了岸。
• The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate.急流正以同样的速度将小筏子和帆船一起冲向南方。

25 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

26 profundity   

n.渊博；深奥，深刻

参考例句：

• He impressed his audience by the profundity of his knowledge.他知识渊博给听众留下了深刻的印象。
• He pretended profundity by eye-beamings at people.他用神采奕奕的眼光看着人们，故作深沉。