Rising, I found I was painfully stiff — as muscle-bound as though I had actually trudged3 many miles. Larry, imitating me, gave an involuntary groan4.
“Faith, mavourneen,” he said to Lakla, relapsing unconsciously into English, “your roads would never wear out shoe-leather, but they’ve got their kick, just the same!”
She understood our plight5, if not his words; gave a soft little cry of mingled6 pity and self-reproach; forced us back upon the cushions.
“Oh, but I’m sorry!” mourned Lakla, leaning over us. “I had forgotten — for those new to it the way is a weary one, indeed —”
She ran to the doorway7, whistled a clear high note down the passage. Through the hangings came two of the frog-men. She spoke8 to them rapidly. They crouched10 toward us, what certainly was meant for an amiable11 grin wrinkling the grotesque12 muzzles13, baring the glistening14 rows of needle-teeth. And while I watched them with the fascination15 that they never lost for me, the monsters calmly swung one arm around our knees, lifted us up like babies — and as calmly started to walk away with us!
“Put me down! Put me down, I say!” The O’Keefe’s voice was both outraged16 and angry; squinting17 around I saw him struggling violently to get to his feet. The Akka only held him tighter, booming comfortingly, peering down into his flushed face inquiringly.
“But, Larry — darlin’!”— Lakla’s tones were — well, maternally19 surprised —“you’re stiff and sore, and Kra can carry you quite easily.”
“I WON’T be carried!” sputtered20 the O’Keefe. “Damn it, Goodwin, there are such things as the unities21 even here, an’ for a lieutenant22 of the Royal Air Force to be picked up an’ carted around like a — like a bundle of rags — it’s not discipline! Put me down, ye omadhaun, or I’ll poke9 ye in the snout!” he shouted to his bearer — who only boomed gently, and stared at the handmaiden, plainly for further instructions.
“But, Larry — dear!”— Lakla was plainly distressed24 —“it will HURT you to walk; and I don’t WANT you to hurt, Larry — darlin’!”
“Holy shade of St. Patrick!” moaned Larry; again he made a mighty25 effort to tear himself from the frog-man’s grip; gave up with a groan. “Listen, alanna!” he said plaintively26. “When we get to Ireland, you and I, we won’t have anybody to pick us up and carry us about every time we get a bit tired. And it’s getting me in bad habits you are!”
“Oh, YES, we will, Larry!” cried the handmaiden, “because many, oh, many, of my Akka will go with us!”
“Will you tell this — BOOB! — to put me down!” gritted27 the now thoroughly28 aroused O’Keefe. I couldn’t help laughing; he glared at me.
“Bo-oo-ob?” exclaimed Lakla.
“Yes, boo-oo-ob!” said O’Keefe, “an’ I have no desire to explain the word in my present position, light of my soul!”
The handmaiden sighed, plainly dejected. But she spoke again to the Akka, who gently lowered the O’Keefe to the floor.
“I don’t understand,” she said hopelessly, “if you want to walk, why, of course, you shall, Larry.” She turned to me.
“Do you?” she asked.
“I do not,” I said firmly.
“Well, then,” murmured Lakla, “go you, Larry and Goodwin, with Kra and Gulk, and let them minister to you. After, sleep a little — for not soon will Rador and Olaf return. And let me feel your lips before you go, Larry — darlin’!” She covered his eyes caressingly29 with her soft little palms; pushed him away.
“Now go,” said Lakla, “and rest!”
Unashamed I lay back against the horny chest of Gulk; and with a smile noticed that Larry, even if he had rebelled at being carried, did not disdain30 the support of Kra’s shining, black-scaled arm which, slipping around his waist, half-lifted him along.
They parted a hanging and dropped us softly down beside a little pool, sparkling with the clear water that had heretofore been brought us in the wide basins. Then they began to undress us. And at this point the O’Keefe gave up.
“Whatever they’re going to do we can’t stop ’em, Doc!” he moaned. “Anyway, I feel as though I’ve been pulled through a knot-hole, and I don’t care — I don’t care — as the song says.”
When we were stripped we were lowered gently into the water. But not long did the Akka let us splash about the shallow basin. They lifted us out, and from jars began deftly31 to anoint and rub us with aromatic32 unguents.
I think that in all the medley33 of grotesque, of tragic34, of baffling, strange and perilous35 experiences in that underground world none was more bizarre than this — valeting. I began to laugh, Larry joined me, and then Kra and Gulk joined in our merriment with deep batrachian cachinnations and gruntings. Then, having finished apparelling us and still chuckling36, the two touched our arms and led us out, into a room whose circular sides were ringed with soft divans37. Still smiling, I sank at once into sleep.
How long I slumbered38 I do not know. A low and thunderous booming coming through the deep window slit39, reverberated40 through the room and awakened41 me. Larry yawned; arose briskly.
“Sounds as though the bass42 drums of every jazz band in New York were serenading us!” he observed. Simultaneously43 we sprang to the window; peered through.
We were a little above the level of the bridge, and its full length was plain before us. Thousands upon thousands of the Akka were crowding upon it, and far away other hordes44 filled like a glittering thicket45 both sides of the cavern46 ledge’s crescent strand47. On black scale and orange scale the crimson48 light fell, picking them off in little flickering49 points.
Upon the platform from which sprang the smaller span over the abyss were Lakla, Olaf, and Rador; the handmaiden clearly acting50 as interpreter between them and the giant she had called Nak, the Frog King.
“Come on!” shouted Larry.
Out of the open portal we ran; over the World Heart Bridge — and straight into the group.
“Oh!” cried Lakla, “I didn’t want you to wake up so soon, Larry — darlin’!”
“See here, mavourneen!” Indignation thrilled in the Irishman’s voice. “I’m not going to be done up with baby-ribbons and laid away in a cradle for safe-keeping while a fight is on; don’t think it. Why didn’t you call me?”
“You needed rest!” There was indomitable determination in the handmaiden’s tones, the eternal maternal18 shining defiant51 from her eyes. “You were tired and you hurt! You shouldn’t have got up!”
“Needed the rest!” groaned52 Larry. “Look here, Lakla, what do you think I am?”
“You’re all I have,” said that maiden23 firmly, “and I’m going to take care of you, Larry — darlin’! Don’t you ever think anything else.”
“Well, pulse of my heart, considering my delicate health and general fragility, would it hurt me, do you think, to be told what’s going on?” he asked.
“Not at all, Larry!” answered the handmaiden serenely53. “Yolara went through the Portal. She was very, VERY angry —”
“She was all the devil’s woman that she is!” rumbled54 Olaf.
“Rador met the messenger,” went on the Golden Girl calmly. “The ladala are ready to rise when Lugur and Yolara lead their hosts against us. They will strike at those left behind. And in the meantime we shall have disposed my Akka to meet Yolara’s men. And on that disposal we must all take counsel, you, Larry, and Rador, Olaf and Goodwin and Nak, the ruler of the Akka.”
“Did the messenger give any idea when Yolara expects to make her little call?” asked Larry.
“Yes,” she answered. “They prepare, and we may expect them in-” She gave the equivalent of about thirty-six hours of our time.
“But, Lakla,” I said, the doubt that I had long been holding finding voice, “should the Shining One come — with its slaves — are the Three strong enough to cope with it?”
There was troubled doubt in her own eyes.
“I do not know,” she said at last, frankly55. “You have heard their story. What they promise is that they will help. I do not know — any more than do you, Goodwin!”
I looked up at the dome56 beneath which I knew the dread57 Trinity stared forth58; even down upon us. And despite the awe59, the assurance, I had felt when I stood before them I, too, doubted.
“Well,” said Larry, “you and I, uncle,” he turned to Rador, “and Olaf here had better decide just what part of the battle we’ll lead —”
“Lead!” the handmaiden was appalled60. “YOU lead, Larry? Why you are to stay with Goodwin and with me — up there, there we can watch.”
“Heart’s beloved,” O’Keefe was stern indeed. “A thousand times I’ve looked Death straight in the face, peered into his eyes. Yes, and with ten thousand feet of space under me an’ bursting shells tickling61 the ribs62 of the boat I was in. An’ d’ye think I’ll sit now on the grandstand an’ watch while a game like this is being pulled? Ye don’t know your future husband, soul of my delight!”
And so we started toward the golden opening, squads63 of the frog-men following us soldierly and disappearing about the huge structure. Nor did we stop until we came to the handmaiden’s boudoir. There we seated ourselves.
“Now,” said Larry, “two things I want to know. First — how many can Yolara muster64 against us; second, how many of these Akka have we to meet them?”
Rador gave our equivalent for eighty thousand men as the force Yolara could muster without stripping her city. Against this force, it appeared, we could count, roughly, upon two hundred thousand of the Akka.
“And they’re some fighters!” exclaimed Larry. “Hell, with odds65 like that what’re you worrying about? It’s over before it’s begun.”
“But, Larree,” objected Rador to this, “you forget that the nobles will have the Keth — and other things; also that the soldiers have fought against the Akka before and will be shielded very well from their spears and clubs — and that their blades and javelins66 can bite through the scales of Nak’s warriors67. They have many things —”
“Uncle,” interjected O’Keefe, “one thing they have is your nerve. Why, we’re more than two to one. And take it from me —”
Without warning dropped the tragedy!
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1
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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2
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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3
trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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5
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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6
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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7
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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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
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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10
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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12
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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13
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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14
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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15
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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17
squinting
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| 斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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18
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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19
maternally
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20
sputtered
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| v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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21
unities
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| n.统一体( unity的名词复数 )；（艺术等） 完整；（文学、戏剧） （情节、时间和地点的）统一性；团结一致 | |
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22
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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24
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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26
plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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27
gritted
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| v.以沙砾覆盖（某物），撒沙砾于( grit的过去式和过去分词 )；咬紧牙关 | |
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28
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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30
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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32
aromatic
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| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
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33
medley
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| n.混合 | |
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34
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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35
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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36
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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37
divans
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| n.（可作床用的）矮沙发( divan的名词复数 )；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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38
slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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39
slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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40
reverberated
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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41
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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42
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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43
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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44
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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45
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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46
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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47
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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48
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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49
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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50
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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51
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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52
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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53
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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54
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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55
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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56
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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57
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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58
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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59
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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60
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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61
tickling
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| 反馈，回授，自旋挠痒法 | |
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62
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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63
squads
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| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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64
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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65
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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66
javelins
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| n.标枪( javelin的名词复数 ) | |
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67
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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