In the prison of the ’tween decks reigned1 a darkness pregnant with murmurs2. The sentry3 at the entrance to the hatchway was supposed to “prevent the prisoners from making a noise,” but he put a very liberal interpretation4 upon the clause, and so long as the prisoners refrained from shouting, yelling, and fighting — eccentricities5 in which they sometimes indulged — he did not disturb them. This course of conduct was dictated6 by prudence7, no less than by convenience, for one sentry was but little over so many; and the convicts, if pressed too hard, would raise a sort of bestial9 boo-hoo, in which all voices were confounded, and which, while it made noise enough and to spare, utterly10 precluded11 individual punishment. One could not flog a hundred and eighty men, and it was impossible to distinguish any particular offender12. So, in virtue13 of this last appeal, convictism had established a tacit right to converse14 in whispers, and to move about inside its oaken cage.
To one coming in from the upper air, the place would have seemed in pitchy darkness, but the convict eye, accustomed to the sinister15 twilight16, was enabled to discern surrounding objects with tolerable distinctness. The prison was about fifty feet long and fifty feet wide, and ran the full height of the ’tween decks, viz., about five feet ten inches high. The barricade17 was loop-holed here and there, and the planks18 were in some places wide enough to admit a musket19 barrel. On the aft side, next the soldiers’ berths21, was a trap door, like the stoke-hole of a furnace. At first sight this appeared to be contrived22 for the humane23 purpose of ventilation, but a second glance dispelled24 this weak conclusion. The opening was just large enough to admit the muzzle25 of a small howitzer, secured on the deck below. In case of a mutiny, the soldiers could sweep the prison from end to end with grape shot. Such fresh air as there was, filtered through the loopholes, and came, in somewhat larger quantity, through a wind-sail passed into the prison from the hatchway. But the wind-sail, being necessarily at one end only of the place, the air it brought was pretty well absorbed by the twenty or thirty lucky fellows near it, and the other hundred and fifty did not come so well off. The scuttles26 were open, certainly, but as the row of bunks27 had been built against them, the air they brought was the peculiar29 property of such men as occupied the berths into which they penetrated30. These berths were twenty-eight in number, each containing six men. They ran in a double tier round three sides of the prison, twenty at each side, and eight affixed32 to that portion of the forward barricade opposite the door. Each berth20 was presumed to be five feet six inches square, but the necessities of stowage had deprived them of six inches, and even under that pressure twelve men were compelled to sleep on the deck. Pine did not exaggerate when he spoke33 of the custom of overcrowding convict ships; and as he was entitled to half a guinea for every man he delivered alive at Hobart Town, he had some reason to complain.
When Frere had come down, an hour before, the prisoners were all snugly34 between their blankets. They were not so now; though, at the first clink of the bolts, they would be back again in their old positions, to all appearances sound asleep. As the eye became accustomed to the foetid duskiness of the prison, a strange picture presented itself. Groups of men, in all imaginable attitudes, were lying, standing36, sitting, or pacing up and down. It was the scene on the poop-deck over again; only, here being no fear of restraining keepers, the wild beasts were a little more free in their movements. It is impossible to convey, in words, any idea of the hideous37 phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. Callot might have drawn38 it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in humanity which one cannot explore, as there are mephitic caverns39 into which one dare not penetrate31.
Old men, young men, and boys, stalwart burglars and highway robbers, slept side by side with wizened40 pickpockets42 or cunning-featured area-sneaks. The forger43 occupied the same berth with the body-snatcher. The man of education learned strange secrets of house-breakers’ craft, and the vulgar ruffian of St. Giles took lessons of self-control from the keener intellect of the professional swindler. The fraudulent clerk and the flash “cracksman” interchanged experiences. The smuggler’s stories of lucky ventures and successful runs were capped by the footpad’s reminiscences of foggy nights and stolen watches. The poacher, grimly thinking of his sick wife and orphaned44 children, would start as the night-house ruffian clapped him on the shoulder and bade him, with a curse, to take good heart and “be a man.” The fast shopboy whose love of fine company and high living had brought him to this pass, had shaken off the first shame that was on him, and listened eagerly to the narratives45 of successful vice46 that fell so glibly47 from the lips of his older companions. To be transported seemed no such uncommon48 fate. The old fellows laughed, and wagged their grey heads with all the glee of past experience, and listening youth longed for the time when it might do likewise. Society was the common foe35, and magistrates49, gaolers, and parsons were the natural prey50 of all noteworthy mankind. Only fools were honest, only cowards kissed the rod, and failed to meditate51 revenge on that world of respectability which had wronged them. Each new-comer was one more recruit to the ranks of ruffianism, and not a man penned in that reeking52 den8 of infamy53 but became a sworn hater of law, order, and “free-men.” What he might have been before mattered not. He was now a prisoner, and — thrust into a suffocating54 barracoon, herded55 with the foulest56 of mankind, with all imaginable depths of blasphemy57 and indecency sounded hourly in his sight and hearing — he lost his self-respect, and became what his gaolers took him to be — a wild beast to be locked under bolts and bars, lest he should break out and tear them.
The conversation ran upon the sudden departure of the four. What could they want with them at that hour?
“I tell you there’s something up on deck,” says one to the group nearest him. “Don’t you hear all that rumbling58 and rolling?”
“What did they lower boats for? I heard the dip o’ the oars59.”
“Don’t know, mate. P’r’aps a burial job,” hazarded a short, stout60 fellow, as a sort of happy suggestion.
“One of those coves61 in the parlour!” said another; and a laugh followed the speech.
“No such luck. You won’t hang your jib for them yet awhile. More like the skipper agone fishin’.”
“The skipper don’t go fishin’, yer fool. What would he do fishin’?— special in the middle o’ the night.”
“That ’ud be like old Dovery, eh?” says a fifth, alluding63 to an old grey-headed fellow, who — a returned convict — was again under sentence for body-snatching.
“Ay,” put in a young man, who had the reputation of being the smartest “crow” (the “look-out” man of a burglars’ gang) in London —"‘fishers of men,’ as the parson says.”
The snuffling imitation of a Methodist preacher was good, and there was another laugh.
Just then a miserable64 little cockney pickpocket41, feeling his way to the door, fell into the party.
A volley of oaths and kicks received him.
“I beg your pardon, gen’l’men,” cries the miserable wretch65, “but I want h’air.”
“Go to the barber’s and buy a wig66, then!” says the “Crow”, elated at the success of his last sally.
“Oh, sir, my back!”
“Get up!” groaned67 someone in the darkness. “Oh, Lord, I’m smothering69! Here, sentry!”
“Vater!” cried the little cockney. “Give us a drop o’ vater, for mercy’s sake. I haven’t moist’ned my chaffer this blessed day.”
“Half a gallon a day, bo’, and no more,” says a sailor next him.
“Yes, what have yer done with yer half-gallon, eh?” asked the Crow derisively70. “Someone stole it,” said the sufferer.
“He’s been an’ blued it,” squealed71 someone. “Been an’ blued it to buy a Sunday veskit with! Oh, ain’t he a vicked young man?” And the speaker hid his head under the blankets, in humorous affectation of modesty72.
All this time the miserable little cockney — he was a tailor by trade — had been grovelling73 under the feet of the Crow and his companions.
“Let me h’up, gents” he implored74 —“let me h’up. I feel as if I should die — I do.”
“Let the gentleman up,” says the humorist in the bunk28. “Don’t yer see his kerridge is avaitin’ to take him to the Hopera?”
The conversation had got a little loud, and, from the topmost bunk on the near side, a bullet head protruded75.
“Ain’t a cove62 to get no sleep?” cried a gruff voice. “My blood, if I have to turn out, I’ll knock some of your empty heads together.”
It seemed that the speaker was a man of mark, for the noise ceased instantly; and, in the lull76 which ensued, a shrill77 scream broke from the wretched tailor.
“Help! they’re killing78 me! Ah-h-h–!”
“Wot’s the matter,” roared the silencer of the riot, jumping from his berth, and scattering79 the Crow and his companions right and left. “Let him be, can’t yer?”
“H’air!” cried the poor devil —“h’air; I’m fainting!”
Just then there came another groan68 from the man in the opposite bunk. “Well, I’m blessed!” said the giant, as he held the gasping80 tailor by the collar and glared round him. “Here’s a pretty go! All the blessed chickens ha’ got the croup!”
The groaning81 of the man in the bunk redoubled.
“Pass the word to the sentry,” says someone more humane than the rest. “Ah,” says the humorist, “pass him out; it’ll be one the less. We’d rather have his room than his company.”
“Sentry, here’s a man sick.”
But the sentry knew his duty better than to reply. He was a young soldier, but he had been well informed of the artfulness of convict stratagems82; and, moreover, Captain Vickers had carefully apprised83 him “that by the King’s Regulations, he was forbidden to reply to any question or communication addressed to him by a convict, but, in the event of being addressed, was to call the non-commissioned officer on duty.” Now, though he was within easy hailing distance of the guard on the quarter-deck, he felt a natural disinclination to disturb those gentlemen merely for the sake of a sick convict, and knowing that, in a few minutes, the third relief would come on duty, he decided84 to wait until then.
In the meantime the tailor grew worse, and began to moan dismally85.
“Here! ’ullo!” called out his supporter, in dismay. “Hold up ’ere! Wot’s wrong with yer? Don’t come the drops ’ere. Pass him down, some of yer,” and the wretch was hustled86 down to the doorway87.
“Vater!” he whispered, beating feebly with his hand on the thick oak.
“Get us a drink, mister, for Gord’s sake!”
But the prudent88 sentry answered never a word, until the ship’s bell warned him of the approach of the relief guard; and then honest old Pine, coming with anxious face to inquire after his charge, received the intelligence that there was another prisoner sick. He had the door unlocked and the tailor outside in an instant. One look at the flushed, anxious face was enough.
“Who’s that moaning in there?” he asked.
It was the man who had tried to call for the sentry an hour back, and Pine had him out also; convictism beginning to wonder a little.
“Take ’em both aft to the hospital,” he said; “and, Jenkins, if there are any more men taken sick, let them pass the word for me at once. I shall be on deck.”
The guard stared in each other’s faces, with some alarm, but said nothing, thinking more of the burning ship, which now flamed furiously across the placid89 water, than of peril90 nearer home; but as Pine went up the hatchway he met Blunt.
“We’ve got the fever aboard!”
“Good God! Do you mean it, Pine?”
Pine shook his grizzled head sorrowfully.
“It’s this cursed calm that’s done it; though I expected it all along, with the ship crammed91 as she is. When I was in the Hecuba —”
“Who is it?”
Pine laughed a half-pitying, half-angry laugh.
“A convict, of course. Who else should it be? They are reeking like bullocks at Smithfield down there. A hundred and eighty men penned into a place fifty feet long, with the air like an oven — what could you expect?”
Poor Blunt stamped his foot.
“It isn’t my fault,” he cried. “The soldiers are berthed92 aft. If the Government will overload93 these ships, I can’t help it.”
“The Government! Ah! The Government! The Government don’t sleep, sixty men a-side, in a cabin only six feet high. The Government don’t get typhus fever in the tropics, does it?”
“No — but —”
“But what does the Government care, then?”
Blunt wiped his hot forehead.
“Who was the first down?”
“No. 97 berth; ten on the lower tier. John Rex he calls himself.”
“Are you sure it’s the fever?”
“As sure as I can be yet. Head like a fire-ball, and tongue like a strip of leather. Gad94, don’t I know it?” and Pine grinned mournfully. “I’ve got him moved into the hospital. Hospital! It is a hospital! As dark as a wolf’s mouth. I’ve seen dog kennels95 I liked better.”
Blunt nodded towards the volume of lurid96 smoke that rolled up out of the glow.—“Suppose there is a shipload of those poor devils? I can’t refuse to take ’em in.”
“No,” says Pine gloomily, “I suppose you can’t. If they come, I must stow ’em somewhere. We’ll have to run for the Cape97, with the first breeze, if they do come, that is all I can see for it,” and he turned away to watch the burning vessel98.
1 reigned | |
vi.当政,统治(reign的过去式形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 murmurs | |
n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 );低语声;怨言;嘀咕 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 sentry | |
n.哨兵,警卫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 interpretation | |
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 eccentricities | |
n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 );反常;怪癖 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 dictated | |
v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 den | |
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 bestial | |
adj.残忍的;野蛮的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 precluded | |
v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 );排除;妨碍;使…行不通 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 offender | |
n.冒犯者,违反者,犯罪者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 converse | |
vi.谈话,谈天,闲聊;adv.相反的,相反 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 barricade | |
n.路障,栅栏,障碍;vt.设路障挡住 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 planks | |
(厚)木板( plank的名词复数 ); 政纲条目,政策要点 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 musket | |
n.滑膛枪 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 berth | |
n.卧铺,停泊地,锚位;v.使停泊 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 berths | |
n.(船、列车等的)卧铺( berth的名词复数 );(船舶的)停泊位或锚位;差事;船台vt.v.停泊( berth的第三人称单数 );占铺位 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 humane | |
adj.人道的,富有同情心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 dispelled | |
v.驱散,赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 muzzle | |
n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 scuttles | |
n.天窗( scuttle的名词复数 )v.使船沉没( scuttle的第三人称单数 );快跑,急走 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 bunks | |
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位( bunk的名词复数 );空话,废话v.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 );空话,废话 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 bunk | |
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位;废话 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 penetrated | |
adj. 击穿的,鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 penetrate | |
v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 affixed | |
adj.[医]附着的,附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 );粘贴;加以;盖(印章) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 spoke | |
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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 snugly | |
adv.紧贴地;贴身地;暖和舒适地;安适地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 caverns | |
大山洞,大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 wizened | |
adj.凋谢的;枯槁的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 pickpocket | |
n.扒手;v.扒窃 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 pickpockets | |
n.扒手( pickpocket的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 forger | |
v.伪造;n.(钱、文件等的)伪造者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 orphaned | |
[计][修]孤立 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 narratives | |
记叙文( narrative的名词复数 ); 故事; 叙述; 叙述部分 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 glibly | |
adv.流利地,流畅地;满口 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 uncommon | |
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 magistrates | |
地方法官,治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 meditate | |
v.想,考虑,(尤指宗教上的)沉思,冥想 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 reeking | |
v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 );散发臭气;发出难闻的气味 (of sth);明显带有(令人不快或生疑的跡象) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 infamy | |
n.声名狼藉,出丑,恶行 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 suffocating | |
a.使人窒息的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 herded | |
群集,纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 ); 放牧; (使)向…移动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 foulest | |
adj.恶劣的( foul的最高级 );邪恶的;难闻的;下流的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 blasphemy | |
n.亵渎,渎神 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 rumbling | |
n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 oars | |
n.桨,橹( oar的名词复数 );划手v.划(行)( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 coves | |
n.小海湾( cove的名词复数 );家伙 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 cove | |
n.小海湾,小峡谷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 alluding | |
提及,暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 wretch | |
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 wig | |
n.假发 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 groaned | |
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 groan | |
vi./n.呻吟,抱怨;(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 smothering | |
(使)窒息, (使)透不过气( smother的现在分词 ); 覆盖; 忍住; 抑制 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 derisively | |
adv. 嘲笑地,嘲弄地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 squealed | |
v.长声尖叫,用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
72 modesty | |
n.谦逊,虚心,端庄,稳重,羞怯,朴素 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73 grovelling | |
adj.卑下的,奴颜婢膝的v.卑躬屈节,奴颜婢膝( grovel的现在分词 );趴 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74 implored | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75 protruded | |
v.(使某物)伸出,(使某物)突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76 lull | |
v.使安静,使入睡,缓和,哄骗;n.暂停,间歇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
79 scattering | |
n.[物]散射;散乱,分散;在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的;分散在不同范围的;广泛扩散的;(选票)数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式);散布;驱散 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80 gasping | |
adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
81 groaning | |
adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
82 stratagems | |
n.诡计,计谋( stratagem的名词复数 );花招 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
83 apprised | |
v.告知,通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 );评价 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
84 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
85 dismally | |
adv.阴暗地,沉闷地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
86 hustled | |
催促(hustle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
87 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
88 prudent | |
adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
89 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
90 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
91 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: |
|
|
92 berthed | |
v.停泊( berth的过去式和过去分词 );占铺位 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
93 overload | |
vt.使超载;n.超载 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
94 gad | |
n.闲逛;v.闲逛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
95 kennels | |
n.主人外出时的小动物寄养处,养狗场;狗窝( kennel的名词复数 );养狗场 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
96 lurid | |
adj.可怕的;血红的;苍白的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
97 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
98 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |