The two discoverers of this awkward secret held a council of war. Vickers was for at once calling the guard, and announcing to the prisoners that the plot — whatever it might be — had been discovered; but Pine, accustomed to convict ships, overruled this decision.
“You don’t know these fellows as well as I do,” said he. “In the first place there may be no mutiny at all. The whole thing is, perhaps, some absurdity1 of that fellow Dawes — and should we once put the notion of attacking us into the prisoners’ heads, there is no telling what they might do.”
“But the man seemed certain,” said the other. “He mentioned my wife’s maid, too!”
“Suppose he did?— and, begad, I dare say he’s right — I never liked the look of the girl. To tell them that we have found them out this time won’t prevent ’em trying it again. We don’t know what their scheme is either. If it is a mutiny, half the ship’s company may be in it. No, Captain Vickers, allow me, as surgeon-superintendent, to settle our course of action. You are aware that —”
“— That, by the King’s Regulations, you are invested with full powers,” interrupted Vickers, mindful of discipline in any extremity2. “Of course, I merely suggested — and I know nothing about the girl, except that she brought a good character from her last mistress — a Mrs. Crofton I think the name was. We were glad to get anybody to make a voyage like this.”
“Well,” says Pine, “look here. Suppose we tell these scoundrels that their design, whatever it may be, is known. Very good. They will profess3 absolute ignorance, and try again on the next opportunity, when, perhaps, we may not know anything about it. At all events, we are completely ignorant of the nature of the plot and the names of the ringleaders. Let us double the sentries4, and quietly get the men under arms. Let Miss Sarah do what she pleases, and when the mutiny breaks out, we will nip it in the bud; clap all the villains5 we get in irons, and hand them over to the authorities in Hobart Town. I am not a cruel man, sir, but we have got a cargo6 of wild beasts aboard, and we must be careful.”
“But surely, Mr. Pine, have you considered the probable loss of life? I— really — some more humane7 course perhaps? Prevention, you know —”
Pine turned round upon him with that grim practicality which was a part of his nature. “Have you considered the safety of the ship, Captain Vickers? You know, or have heard of, the sort of things that take place in these mutinies. Have you considered what will befall those half-dozen women in the soldiers’ berths8? Have you thought of the fate of your own wife and child?”
“Have it your way, Mr. Pine; you know best perhaps. But don’t risk more lives than you can help.”
“Be easy, sir,” says old Pine; “I am acting10 for the best; upon my soul I am. You don’t know what convicts are, or rather what the law has made ’em — yet —”
“Poor wretches11!” says Vickers, who, like many martinets, was in reality tender-hearted. “Kindness might do much for them. After all, they are our fellow-creatures.”
“Yes,” returned the other, “they are. But if you use that argument to them when they have taken the vessel12, it won’t avail you much. Let me manage, sir; and for God’s sake, say nothing to anybody. Our lives may hang upon a word.”
Vickers promised, and kept his promise so far as to chat cheerily with Blunt and Frere at dinner, only writing a brief note to his wife to tell her that, whatever she heard, she was not to stir from her cabin until he came to her; he knew that, with all his wife’s folly13, she would obey unhesitatingly, when he couched an order in such terms.
According to the usual custom on board convict ships, the guards relieved each other every two hours, and at six p.m. the poop guard was removed to the quarter-deck, and the arms which, in the daytime, were disposed on the top of the arm-chest, were placed in an arm-rack constructed on the quarter-deck for that purpose. Trusting nothing to Frere — who, indeed, by Pine’s advice, was, as we have seen, kept in ignorance of the whole matter — Vickers ordered all the men, save those who had been on guard during the day, to be under arms in the barrack, forbade communication with the upper deck, and placed as sentry14 at the barrack door his own servant, an old soldier, on whose fidelity15 he could thoroughly16 rely. He then doubled the guards, took the keys of the prison himself from the non-commissioned officer whose duty it was to keep them, and saw that the howitzer on the lower deck was loaded with grape. It was a quarter to seven when Pine and he took their station at the main hatchway, determined17 to watch until morning.
At a quarter past seven, any curious person looking through the window of Captain Blunt’s cabin would have seen an unusual sight. That gallant18 commander was sitting on the bed-place, with a glass of rum and water in his hand, and the handsome waiting-maid of Mrs. Vickers was seated on a stool by his side. At a first glance it was perceptible that the captain was very drunk. His grey hair was matted all ways about his reddened face, and he was winking19 and blinking like an owl20 in the sunshine. He had drunk a larger quantity of wine than usual at dinner, in sheer delight at the approaching assignation, and having got out the rum bottle for a quiet “settler” just as the victim of his fascinations21 glided22 through the carefully-adjusted door, he had been persuaded to go on drinking.
“Cuc-come, Sarah,” he hiccuped23. “It’s all very fine, my lass, but you needn’t be so — hic — proud, you know. I’m a plain sailor — plain s’lor, Srr’h. Ph’n’as Bub — blunt, commander of the Mal–Mal– Malabar. Wors’ ’sh good talkin’?”
Sarah allowed a laugh to escape her, and artfully protruded24 an ankle at the same time. The amorous25 Phineas lurched over, and made shift to take her hand.
“You lovsh me, and I— hic — lovsh you, Sarah. And a preshus tight little craft you — hic — are. Giv’sh — kiss, Sarah.”
Sarah got up and went to the door.
“Wotsh this? Goin’! Sarah, don’t go,” and he staggered up; and with the grog swaying fearfully in one hand, made at her.
The ship’s bell struck the half-hour. Now or never was the time. Blunt caught her round the waist with one arm, and hiccuping26 with love and rum, approached to take the kiss he coveted27. She seized the moment, surrendered herself to his embrace, drew from her pocket the laudanum bottle, and passing her hand over his shoulder, poured half its contents into the glass
“Think I’m — hic — drunk, do yer? Nun28 — not I, my wench.”
“You will be if you drink much more. Come, finish that and be quiet, or I’ll go away.”
But she threw a provocation29 into her glance as she spoke30, which belied31 her words, and which penetrated32 even the sodden33 intellect of poor Blunt. He balanced himself on his heels for a moment, and holding by the moulding of the cabin, stared at her with a fatuous34 smile of drunken admiration35, then looked at the glass in his hand, hiccuped with much solemnity thrice, and, as though struck with a sudden sense of duty unfulfilled, swallowed the contents at a gulp36. The effect was almost instantaneous. He dropped the tumbler, lurched towards the woman at the door, and then making a half-turn in accordance with the motion of the vessel, fell into his bunk37, and snored like a grampus.
Sarah Purfoy watched him for a few minutes, and then having blown out the light, stepped out of the cabin, and closed the door behind her. The dusky gloom which had held the deck on the previous night enveloped38 all forward of the main-mast. A lantern swung in the forecastle, and swayed with the motion of the ship. The light at the prison door threw a glow through the open hatch, and in the cuddy, at her right hand, the usual row of oil-lamps burned. She looked mechanically for Vickers, who was ordinarily there at that hour, but the cuddy was empty. So much the better, she thought, as she drew her dark cloak around her, and tapped at Frere’s door. As she did so, a strange pain shot through her temples, and her knees trembled. With a strong effort she dispelled39 the dizziness that had almost overpowered her, and held herself erect40. It would never do to break down now.
The door opened, and Maurice Frere drew her into the cabin. “So you have come?” said he.
“You see I have. But, oh! if I should be seen!”
“Seen? Nonsense! Who is to see you?”
“Captain Vickers, Doctor Pine, anybody.”
“Not they. Besides, they’ve gone off down to Pine’s cabin since dinner. They’re all right.”
Gone off to Pine’s cabin! The intelligence struck her with dismay. What was the cause of such an unusual proceeding41? Surely they did not suspect! “What do they want there?” she asked.
Maurice Frere was not in the humour to argue questions of probability. “Who knows? I don’t. Confound ’em,” he added, “what does it matter to us? We don’t want them, do we, Sarah?”
She seemed to be listening for something, and did not reply. Her nervous system was wound up to the highest pitch of excitement. The success of the plot depended on the next five minutes.
“What are you staring at? Look at me, can’t you? What eyes you have! And what hair!”
At that instant the report of a musket-shot broke the silence. The mutiny had begun!
The sound awoke the soldier to a sense of his duty. He sprang to his feet, and disengaging the arms that clung about his neck, made for the door. The moment for which the convict’s accomplice42 had waited approached. She hung upon him with all her weight. Her long hair swept across his face, her warm breath was on his cheek, her dress exposed her round, smooth shoulder. He, intoxicated43, conquered, had half-turned back, when suddenly the rich crimson44 died away from her lips, leaving them an ashen45 grey colour. Her eyes closed in agony; loosing her hold of him, she staggered to her feet, pressed her hands upon her bosom46, and uttered a sharp cry of pain.
The fever which had been on her two days, and which, by a strong exercise of will, she had struggled against — encouraged by the violent excitement of the occasion — had attacked her at this supreme47 moment. Deathly pale and sick, she reeled to the side of the cabin. There was another shot, and a violent clashing of arms; and Frere, leaving the miserable48 woman to her fate, leapt out on to the deck.
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1
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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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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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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berths
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| 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 | |
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shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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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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wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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fascinations
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| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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hiccuped
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| v.嗝( hiccup的过去式和过去分词 )；连续地打嗝；暂时性的小问题；短暂的停顿 | |
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protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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hiccuping
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| v.嗝( hiccup的现在分词 )；连续地打嗝；暂时性的小问题；短暂的停顿 | |
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coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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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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belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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fatuous
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| adj.愚昧的；昏庸的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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43
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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48
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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