I am about done. Presently I shall fold these pages and push them into my thermos7 bottle. I shall cork8 it and screw the cap tight, and then I shall hurl9 it as far out into the sea as my strength will permit. The wind is off-shore; the tide is running out; perhaps it will be carried into one of those numerous ocean-currents which sweep perpetually from pole to pole and from continent to continent, to be deposited at last upon some inhabited shore. If fate is kind and this does happen, then, for God's sake, come and get me!
It was a week ago that I wrote the preceding paragraph, which I thought would end the written record of my life upon Caprona. I had paused to put a new point on my quill10 and stir the crude ink (which I made by crushing a black variety of berry and mixing it with water) before attaching my signature, when faintly from the valley far below came an unmistakable sound which brought me to my feet, trembling with excitement, to peer eagerly downward from my dizzy ledge11. How full of meaning that sound was to me you may guess when I tell you that it was the report of a firearm! For a moment my gaze traversed the landscape beneath until it was caught and held by four figures near the base of the cliff—a human figure held at bay by three hyaenodons, those ferocious12 and blood-thirsty wild dogs of the Eocene. A fourth beast lay dead or dying near by.
I couldn't be sure, looking down from above as I was; but yet I trembled like a leaf in the intuitive belief that it was Lys, and my judgment13 served to confirm my wild desire, for whoever it was carried only a pistol, and thus had Lys been armed. The first wave of sudden joy which surged through me was short-lived in the face of the swift-following conviction that the one who fought below was already doomed14. Luck and only luck it must have been which had permitted that first shot to lay low one of the savage15 creatures, for even such a heavy weapon as my pistol is entirely16 inadequate17 against even the lesser18 carnivora of Caspak. In a moment the three would charge! A futile19 shot would but tend more greatly to enrage20 the one it chanced to hit; and then the three would drag down the little human figure and tear it to pieces.
And maybe it was Lys! My heart stood still at the thought, but mind and muscle responded to the quick decision I was forced to make. There was but a single hope—a single chance—and I took it. I raised my rifle to my shoulder and took careful aim. It was a long shot, a dangerous shot, for unless one is accustomed to it, shooting from a considerable altitude is most deceptive21 work. There is, though, something about marksmanship which is quite beyond all scientific laws.
Upon no other theory can I explain my marksmanship of that moment. Three times my rifle spoke—three quick, short syllables23 of death. I did not take conscious aim; and yet at each report a beast crumpled24 in its tracks!
From my ledge to the base of the cliff is a matter of several thousand feet of dangerous climbing; yet I venture to say that the first ape from whose loins my line has descended25 never could have equaled the speed with which I literally26 dropped down the face of that rugged27 escarpment. The last two hundred feet is over a steep incline of loose rubble28 to the valley bottom, and I had just reached the top of this when there arose to my ears an agonized29 cry—"Bowen! Bowen! Quick, my love, quick!"
I had been too much occupied with the dangers of the descent to glance down toward the valley; but that cry which told me that it was indeed Lys, and that she was again in danger, brought my eyes quickly upon her in time to see a hairy, burly brute30 seize her and start off at a run toward the near-by wood. From rock to rock, chamoislike, I leaped downward toward the valley, in pursuit of Lys and her hideous31 abductor.
He was heavier than I by many pounds, and so weighted by the burden he carried that I easily overtook him; and at last he turned, snarling32, to face me. It was Kho of the tribe of Tsa, the hatchet33-men. He recognized me, and with a low growl34 he threw Lys aside and came for me. "The she is mine," he cried. "I kill! I kill!"
I had had to discard my rifle before I commenced the rapid descent of the cliff, so that now I was armed only with a hunting knife, and this I whipped from its scabbard as Kho leaped toward me. He was a mighty35 beast, mightily36 muscled, and the urge that has made males fight since the dawn of life on earth filled him with the blood-lust and the thirst to slay37; but not one whit38 less did it fill me with the same primal39 passions. Two abysmal40 beasts sprang at each other's throats that day beneath the shadow of earth's oldest cliffs—the man of now and the man-thing of the earliest, forgotten then, imbued41 by the same deathless passion that has come down unchanged through all the epochs, periods and eras of time from the beginning, and which shall continue to the incalculable end—woman, the imperishable Alpha and Omega of life.
Kho closed and sought my jugular42 with his teeth. He seemed to forget the hatchet dangling43 by its aurochs-hide thong44 at his hip22, as I forgot, for the moment, the dagger45 in my hand. And I doubt not but that Kho would easily have bested me in an encounter of that sort had not Lys' voice awakened46 within my momentarily reverted47 brain the skill and cunning of reasoning man.
"Bowen!" she cried. "Your knife! Your knife!"
It was enough. It recalled me from the forgotten eon to which my brain had flown and left me once again a modern man battling with a clumsy, unskilled brute. No longer did my jaws48 snap at the hairy throat before me; but instead my knife sought and found a space between two ribs49 over the savage heart. Kho voiced a single horrid50 scream, stiffened51 spasmodically and sank to the earth. And Lys threw herself into my arms. All the fears and sorrows of the past were wiped away, and once again I was the happiest of men.
With some misgivings52 I shortly afterward53 cast my eyes upward toward the precarious54 ledge which ran before my cave, for it seemed to me quite beyond all reason to expect a dainty modern belle55 to essay the perils56 of that frightful57 climb. I asked her if she thought she could brave the ascent58, and she laughed gayly in my face.
"Watch!" she cried, and ran eagerly toward the base of the cliff. Like a squirrel she clambered swiftly aloft, so that I was forced to exert myself to keep pace with her. At first she frightened me; but presently I was aware that she was quite as safe here as was I. When we finally came to my ledge and I again held her in my arms, she recalled to my mind that for several weeks she had been living the life of a cave-girl with the tribe of hatchet-men. They had been driven from their former caves by another tribe which had slain59 many and carried off quite half the females, and the new cliffs to which they had flown had proven far higher and more precipitous, so that she had become, through necessity, a most practiced climber.
She told me of Kho's desire for her, since all his females had been stolen and of how her life had been a constant nightmare of terror as she sought by night and by day to elude60 the great brute. For a time Nobs had been all the protection she required; but one day he disappeared—nor has she seen him since. She believes that he was deliberately61 made away with; and so do I, for we both are sure that he never would have deserted62 her. With her means of protection gone, Lys was now at the mercy of the hatchet-man; nor was it many hours before he had caught her at the base of the cliff and seized her; but as he bore her triumphantly63 aloft toward his cave, she had managed to break loose and escape him.
"For three days he has pursued me," she said, "through this horrible world. How I have passed through in safety I cannot guess, nor how I have always managed to outdistance him; yet I have done it, until just as you discovered me. Fate was kind to us, Bowen."
I nodded my head in assent64 and crushed her to me. And then we talked and planned as I cooked antelope-steaks over my fire, and we came to the conclusion that there was no hope of rescue, that she and I were doomed to live and die upon Caprona. Well, it might be worse! I would rather live here always with Lys than to live elsewhere without her; and she, dear girl, says the same of me; but I am afraid of this life for her. It is a hard, fierce, dangerous life, and I shall pray always that we shall be rescued from it—for her sake.
That night the clouds broke, and the moon shone down upon our little ledge; and there, hand in hand, we turned our faces toward heaven and plighted65 our troth beneath the eyes of God. No human agency could have married us more sacredly than we are wed66. We are man and wife, and we are content. If God wills it, we shall live out our lives here. If He wills otherwise, then this manuscript which I shall now consign67 to the inscrutable forces of the sea shall fall into friendly hands. However, we are each without hope. And so we say good-bye in this, our last message to the world beyond the barrier cliffs.
(Signed) Bowen J. Tyler, Jr. Lys La R. Tyler.
The End
The End
点击收听单词发音
1 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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2 gourds | |
n.葫芦( gourd的名词复数 ) | |
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3 conserve | |
vt.保存,保护,节约,节省,守恒,不灭 | |
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4 ammunition | |
n.军火,弹药 | |
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5 shreds | |
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件) | |
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6 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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7 thermos | |
n.保湿瓶,热水瓶 | |
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8 cork | |
n.软木,软木塞 | |
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9 hurl | |
vt.猛投,力掷,声叫骂 | |
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10 quill | |
n.羽毛管;v.给(织物或衣服)作皱褶 | |
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11 ledge | |
n.壁架,架状突出物;岩架,岩礁 | |
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12 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
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13 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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14 doomed | |
命定的 | |
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15 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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16 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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17 inadequate | |
adj.(for,to)不充足的,不适当的 | |
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18 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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19 futile | |
adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的 | |
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20 enrage | |
v.触怒,激怒 | |
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21 deceptive | |
adj.骗人的,造成假象的,靠不住的 | |
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22 hip | |
n.臀部,髋;屋脊 | |
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23 syllables | |
n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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24 crumpled | |
adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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25 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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26 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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27 rugged | |
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
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28 rubble | |
n.(一堆)碎石,瓦砾 | |
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29 agonized | |
v.使(极度)痛苦,折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 );苦斗;苦苦思索;感到极度痛苦 | |
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30 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
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31 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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32 snarling | |
v.(指狗)吠,嗥叫, (人)咆哮( snarl的现在分词 );咆哮着说,厉声地说 | |
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33 hatchet | |
n.短柄小斧;v.扼杀 | |
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34 growl | |
v.(狗等)嗥叫,(炮等)轰鸣;n.嗥叫,轰鸣 | |
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35 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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36 mightily | |
ad.强烈地;非常地 | |
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37 slay | |
v.杀死,宰杀,杀戮 | |
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38 whit | |
n.一点,丝毫 | |
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39 primal | |
adj.原始的;最重要的 | |
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40 abysmal | |
adj.无底的,深不可测的,极深的;糟透的,极坏的;完全的 | |
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41 imbued | |
v.使(某人/某事)充满或激起(感情等)( imbue的过去式和过去分词 );使充满;灌输;激发(强烈感情或品质等) | |
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42 jugular | |
n.颈静脉 | |
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43 dangling | |
悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 ); 摆动不定; 用某事物诱惑…; 吊胃口 | |
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44 thong | |
n.皮带;皮鞭;v.装皮带 | |
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45 dagger | |
n.匕首,短剑,剑号 | |
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46 awakened | |
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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47 reverted | |
恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 ); 重提; 回到…上; 归还 | |
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48 jaws | |
n.口部;嘴 | |
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49 ribs | |
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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50 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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51 stiffened | |
加强的 | |
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52 misgivings | |
n.疑虑,担忧,害怕;疑虑,担心,恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 );疑惧 | |
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53 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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54 precarious | |
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的 | |
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55 belle | |
n.靓女 | |
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56 perils | |
极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境) | |
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57 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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58 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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59 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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60 elude | |
v.躲避,困惑 | |
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61 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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62 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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63 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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64 assent | |
v.批准,认可;n.批准,认可 | |
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65 plighted | |
vt.保证,约定(plight的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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66 wed | |
v.娶,嫁,与…结婚 | |
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67 consign | |
vt.寄售(货品),托运,交托,委托 | |
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