THE reader will perhaps understand that at first everything was so strange about me, and my position was the outcome of such unexpected adventures, that I had no discernment of the relative strangeness of this or that thing. I followed the llama up the beach, and was overtaken by Montgomery, who asked me not to enter the stone enclosure. I noticed then that the puma1 in its cage and the pile of packages had been placed outside the entrance to this quadrangle.
I turned and saw that the launch had now been unloaded, run out again, and was being beached, and the white-haired man was walking towards us. He addressed Montgomery.
"And now comes the problem of this uninvited guest. What are we to do with him?"
"He knows something of science," said Montgomery.
"I'm itching2 to get to work again--with this new stuff," said the white-haired man, nodding towards the enclosure. His eyes grew brighter.
"I daresay you are," said Montgomery, in anything but a cordial tone.
"We can't send him over there, and we can't spare the time to build him a new shanty3; and we certainly can't take him into our confidence just yet."
"I'm in your hands," said I. I had no idea of what he meant by "over there."
"I've been thinking of the same things," Montgomery answered. "There's my room with the outer door--"
"That's it," said the elder man, promptly4, looking at Montgomery; and all three of us went towards the enclosure. "I'm sorry to make a mystery, Mr. Prendick; but you'll remember you're uninvited. Our little establishment here contains a secret or so, is a kind of Blue-Beard's chamber5, in fact. Nothing very dreadful, really, to a sane6 man; but just now, as we don't know you--"
"Decidedly," said I, "I should be a fool to take offence at any want of confidence."
He twisted his heavy mouth into a faint smile--he was one of those saturnine7 people who smile with the corners of the mouth down,--and bowed his acknowledgment of my complaisance8. The main entrance to the enclosure was passed; it was a heavy wooden gate, framed in iron and locked, with the cargo9 of the launch piled outside it, and at the corner we came to a small doorway10 I had not previously11 observed. The white-haired man produced a bundle of keys from the pocket of his greasy12 blue jacket, opened this door, and entered. His keys, and the elaborate locking-up of the place even while it was still under his eye, struck me as peculiar13. I followed him, and found myself in a small apartment, plainly but not uncomfortably furnished and with its inner door, which was slightly ajar, opening into a paved courtyard. This inner door Montgomery at once closed. A hammock was slung14 across the darker corner of the room, and a small unglazed window defended by an iron bar looked out towards the sea.
This the white-haired man told me was to be my apartment; and the inner door, which "for fear of accidents," he said, he would lock on the other side, was my limit inward. He called my attention to a convenient deck-chair before the window, and to an array of old books, chiefly, I found, surgical15 works and editions of the Latin and Greek classics (languages I cannot read with any comfort), on a shelf near the hammock. He left the room by the outer door, as if to avoid opening the inner one again.
"We usually have our meals in here," said Montgomery, and then, as if in doubt, went out after the other. "Moreau!" I heard him call, and for the moment I do not think I noticed. Then as I handled the books on the shelf it came up in consciousness: Where had I heard the name of Moreau before? I sat down before the window, took out the biscuits that still remained to me, and ate them with an excellent appetite. Moreau!
Through the window I saw one of those unaccountable men in white, lugging16 a packing-case along the beach. Presently the window-frame hid him. Then I heard a key inserted and turned in the lock behind me. After a little while I heard through the locked door the noise of the staghounds, that had now been brought up from the beach. They were not barking, but sniffing17 and growling18 in a curious fashion. I could hear the rapid patter of their feet, and Montgomery's voice soothing19 them.
I was very much impressed by the elaborate secrecy20 of these two men regarding the contents of the place, and for some time I was thinking of that and of the unaccountable familiarity of the name of Moreau; but so odd is the human memory that I could not then recall that well-known name in its proper connection. From that my thoughts went to the indefinable queerness of the deformed21 man on the beach. I never saw such a gait, such odd motions as he pulled at the box. I recalled that none of these men had spoken to me, though most of them I had found looking at me at one time or another in a peculiarly furtive22 manner, quite unlike the frank stare of your unsophisticated savage23. Indeed, they had all seemed remarkably24 taciturn, and when they did speak, endowed with very uncanny voices. What was wrong with them? Then I recalled the eyes of Montgomery's ungainly attendant.
Just as I was thinking of him he came in. He was now dressed in white, and carried a little tray with some coffee and boiled vegetables thereon. I could hardly repress a shuddering25 recoil26 as he came, bending amiably27, and placed the tray before me on the table. Then astonishment28 paralysed me. Under his stringy black locks I saw his ear; it jumped upon me suddenly close to my face. The man had pointed29 ears, covered with a fine brown fur!
"Your breakfast, sair," he said.
I stared at his face without attempting to answer him. He turned and went towards the door, regarding me oddly over his shoulder. I followed him out with my eyes; and as I did so, by some odd trick of unconscious cerebration, there came surging into my head the phrase, "The Moreau Hollows"--was it? "The Moreau--" Ah! It sent my memory back ten years. "The Moreau Horrors!" The phrase drifted loose in my mind for a moment, and then I saw it in red lettering on a little buff-coloured pamphlet, to read which made one shiver and creep. Then I remembered distinctly all about it. That long-forgotten pamphlet came back with startling vividness to my mind. I had been a mere30 lad then, and Moreau was, I suppose, about fifty,--a prominent and masterful physiologist31, well-known in scientific circles for his extraordinary imagination and his brutal32 directness in discussion.
Was this the same Moreau? He had published some very astonishing facts in connection with the transfusion33 of blood, and in addition was known to be doing valuable work on morbid34 growths. Then suddenly his career was closed. He had to leave England. A journalist obtained access to his laboratory in the capacity of laboratory-assistant, with the deliberate intention of making sensational35 exposures; and by the help of a shocking accident (if it was an accident), his gruesome pamphlet became notorious. On the day of its publication a wretched dog, flayed36 and otherwise mutilated, escaped from Moreau's house. It was in the silly season, and a prominent editor, a cousin of the temporary laboratory-assistant, appealed to the conscience of the nation. It was not the first time that conscience has turned against the methods of research. The doctor was simply howled out of the country. It may be that he deserved to be; but I still think that the tepid37 support of his fellow-investigators and his desertion by the great body of scientific workers was a shameful38 thing. Yet some of his experiments, by the journalist's account, were wantonly cruel. He might perhaps have purchased his social peace by abandoning his investigations39; but he apparently40 preferred the latter, as most men would who have once fallen under the overmastering spell of research. He was unmarried, and had indeed nothing but his own interest to consider.
I felt convinced that this must be the same man. Everything pointed to it. It dawned upon me to what end the puma and the other animals--which had now been brought with other luggage into the enclosure behind the house--were destined41; and a curious faint odour, the halitus of something familiar, an odour that had been in the background of my consciousness hitherto, suddenly came forward into the forefront of my thoughts. It was the antiseptic odour of the dissecting-room. I heard the puma growling through the wall, and one of the dogs yelped42 as though it had been struck.
Yet surely, and especially to another scientific man, there was nothing so horrible in vivisection as to account for this secrecy; and by some odd leap in my thoughts the pointed ears and luminous43 eyes of Montgomery's attendant came back again before me with the sharpest definition. I stared before me out at the green sea, frothing under a freshening breeze, and let these and other strange memories of the last few days chase one another through my mind.
What could it all mean? A locked enclosure on a lonely island, a notorious vivisector, and these crippled and distorted men?
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1
puma
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| 美洲豹 | |
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itching
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| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
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3
shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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saturnine
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| adj.忧郁的，沉默寡言的，阴沉的，感染铅毒的 | |
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complaisance
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| n.彬彬有礼，殷勤，柔顺 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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lugging
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| 超载运转能力 | |
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sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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physiologist
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| n.生理学家 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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transfusion
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| n.输血，输液 | |
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morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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flayed
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| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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tepid
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| adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的 | |
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shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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42
yelped
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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