I did so and had turned to join my friend when, to the accompaniment of a sort of hysterical1 muttering, a door further along, and on the opposite side of the corridor, was suddenly thrown open, and a man whose face showed ghastly white in the light of the solitary2 lamp beyond, literally3 hurled4 himself out. He perceived Smith and myself immediately. Throwing one glance back over his shoulder he came tottering5 forward to meet us.
"My God! I can't stand it any longer!" he babbled6, and threw himself upon Smith, who was foremost, clutching pitifully at him for support. "Come and see him, sir—for Heaven's sake come in! I think he's dying; and he's going mad. I never disobeyed an order in my life before, but I can't help myself—I can't help myself!"
"Brace8 up!" I cried, seizing him by the shoulders as, still clutching at Nayland Smith, he turned his ghastly face to me. "Who are you, and what's your trouble?"
"I'm Beeton, Sir Gregory Hale's man."
Smith started visibly, and his gaunt, tanned face seemed to me to have grown perceptively9 paler.
"Come on, Petrie!" he snapped. "There's some devilry here."
Thrusting Beeton aside he rushed in at the open door—upon which, as I followed him, I had time to note the number, 14a. It communicated with a suite10 of rooms almost identical with our own. The sitting-room11 was empty and in the utmost disorder12, but from the direction of the principal bedroom came a most horrible mumbling13 and gurgling sound—a sound utterly14 indescribable. For one instant we hesitated at the threshold—hesitated to face the horror beyond; then almost side by side we came into the bedroom….
Only one of the two lamps was alight—that above the bed; and on the bed a man lay writhing15. He was incredibly gaunt, so that the suit of tropical twill which he wore hung upon him in folds, showing if such evidence were necessary, how terribly he was fallen away from his constitutional habit. He wore a beard of at least ten days' growth, which served to accentuate16 the cavitous hollowness of his face. His eyes seemed starting from their sockets17 as he lay upon his back uttering inarticulate sounds and plucking with skinny fingers at his lips.
"Merciful God! can it be Hale?" he muttered. "What does it mean? what does it mean?"
I ran to the opposite side of the bed, and placing my arms under the writhing man, raised him and propped19 a pillow at his back. He continued to babble7, rolling his eyes from side to side hideously20; then by degrees they seemed to become less glazed21, and a light of returning sanity22 entered them. They became fixed23; and they were fixed upon Nayland Smith, who bending over the bed, was watching Sir Gregory (for Sir Gregory I concluded this pitiable wreck24 to be) with an expression upon his face compound of many emotions.
"A glass of water," I said, catching25 the glance of the man Beeton, who stood trembling at the open doorway26.
Spilling a liberal quantity upon the carpet, Beeton ultimately succeeded in conveying the glass to me. Hale, never taking his gaze from Smith, gulped27 a little of the water and then thrust my hand away. As I turned to place the tumbler upon a small table the resumed the wordless babbling28, and now, with his index finger, pointed29 to his mouth.
"He has lost the power of speech!" whispered Smith.
"He was stricken dumb, gentlemen, ten minutes ago," said Beeton in a trembling voice. "He dropped off to sleep out there on the floor, and I brought him in here and laid him on the bed. When he woke up he was like that!"
The man on the bed ceased his inchoate30 babbling and now, gulping31 noisily, began to make quick nervous movements with his hands.
"He wants to write something," said Smith in a low voice. "Quick! hold him up!" He thrust his notebook, open at a blank page, before the man whose movement were numbered, and placed a pencil in the shaking right hand.
Faintly and unevenly32 Sir Gregory commenced to write—whilst I supported him. Across the bent shoulders Smith silently questioned me, and my reply was a negative shake of the head.
The lamp above the bed was swaying as if in a heavy draught33; I remembered that it had been swaying as we entered. There was no fog in the room, but already from the bleak34 corridor outside it was entering; murky35, yellow clouds steaming in at the open door. Save for the gulping of the dying man, and the sobbing36 breaths of Beeton, there was no sound. Six irregular lines Sir Gregory Hale scrawled37 upon the page; then suddenly his body became a dead weight in my arms. Gently I laid him back upon the pillows, gently his finger from the notebook, and, my head almost touching38 Smith's as we both craned forward over the page, read, with great difficulty, the following:—
"Guard my diary…. Tibetan frontier … Key of India. Beware man …
with the limp. Yellow … rising. Watch Tibet … the Si-Fan…."
From somewhere outside the room, whether above or below I could not be sure, came a faint, dragging sound, accompanied by a tap—tap—tap….
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1
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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2
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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3
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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4
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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5
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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6
babbled
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| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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7
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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8
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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9
perceptively
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| adv.洞察力强地，敏锐地 | |
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10
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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11
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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12
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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13
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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14
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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15
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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16
accentuate
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| v.着重，强调 | |
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17
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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18
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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19
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
hideously
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| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
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21
glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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22
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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23
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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24
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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25
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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26
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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27
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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28
babbling
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| n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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29
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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30
inchoate
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| adj.才开始的，初期的 | |
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31
gulping
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的现在分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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32
unevenly
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| adv.不均匀的 | |
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33
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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34
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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35
murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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36
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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37
scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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