Six COLIN LAMB’S NARRATIVE I

Six COLIN LAMB’S NARRATIVE¹ I

When we had put ourselves outside two good underdone steaks, washed down with draught² beer,Dick Hardcastle gave a sigh of comfortable repletion³, announced that he felt better and said:
“To hell with dead insurance agents, fancy clocks and screaming girls! Let’s hear about you,Colin. I thought you’d finished with this part of the world. And here you are wandering about theback streets of Crowdean. No scope for a marine⁴ biologist at Crowdean, I can assure you.”
“Don’t you sneer⁵ at marine biology, Dick. It’s a very useful subject. The mere⁶ mention of it sobores people and they’re so afraid you’re going to talk about it, that you never have to explainyourself further.”
“No chance of giving yourself away, eh?”
“You forget,” I said coldly, “that I am a marine biologist. I took a degree in it at Cambridge.
Not a very good degree, but a degree. It’s a very interesting subject, and one day I’m going backto it.”
“I know what you’ve been working on, of course,” said Hardcastle. “And congratulations toyou. Larkin’s trial comes on next month, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Amazing the way he managed to carry on passing stuff out for so long. You’d think somebodywould have suspected.”
“They didn’t, you know. When you’ve got it into your head that a fellow is a thoroughly⁷ goodchap, it doesn’t occur to you that he mightn’t be.”
“He must have been clever,” Dick commented.
I shook my head.
“No, I don’t think he was, really. I think he just did as he was told. He had access to veryimportant documents. He walked out with them, they were photographed and returned to him, andthey were back again where they belonged the same day. Good organization there. He made ahabit of lunching at different places every day. We think that he hung up his overcoat where therewas always an overcoat exactly like it—though the man who wore the other overcoat wasn’talways the same man. The overcoats were switched, but the man who switched them never spoketo Larkin, and Larkin never spoke⁸ to him. We’d like to know a good deal more about themechanics of it. It was all very well-planned with perfect timing⁹. Somebody had brains.”
“And that’s why you’re still hanging round the Naval¹⁰ Station at Portlebury?”
“Yes, we know the Naval end of it and we know the London end. We know just when andwhere Larkin got his pay and how. But there’s a gap. In between the two there’s a very pretty littlebit of organization. That’s the part we’d like to know more about, because that’s the part where thebrains are. Somewhere there’s a very good headquarters, with excellent planning, which leaves atrail that is confused not once but probably seven or eight times.”
“What did Larkin do it for?” asked Hardcastle, curiously¹¹. “Political idealist? Boosting his ego¹²?
Or plain money?”
“He was no idealist,” I said. “Just money, I’d say.”
“Couldn’t you have got on to him sooner that way? He spent the money, didn’t he? He didn’tsalt it away.”
“Oh, no, he splashed it about all right. Actually, we got on to him a little sooner than we’readmitting.”
Hardcastle nodded his head understandingly.
“I see. You tumbled and then you used him for a bit. Is that it?”
“More or less. He had passed out some quite valuable information before we got on to him, sowe let him pass out more information, also apparently¹³ valuable. In the Service I belong to, wehave to resign ourselves to looking fools now and again.”
“I don’t think I’d care for your job, Colin,” said Hardcastle thoughtfully.
“It’s not the exciting job that people think it is,” I said. “As a matter of fact, it’s usuallyremarkably tedious. But there’s something beyond that. Nowadays one gets to feeling that nothingreally is secret. We know Their secrets and They know our secrets. Our agents are often Theiragents, too, and Their agents are very often our agents. And in the end who is double-crossingwho becomes a kind of nightmare! Sometimes I think that everybody knows everybody else’ssecrets and that they enter into a kind of conspiracy¹⁴ to pretend that they don’t.”
“I see what you mean,” Dick said thoughtfully.
Then he looked at me curiously.
“I can see why you should still be hanging around Portlebury. But Crowdean’s a good ten milesfrom Portlebury.”
“What I’m really after,” I said, “are Crescents.”
“Crescents?” Hardcastle looked puzzled.
“Yes. Or alternatively, moons. New moons, rising moons and so on. I started my quest inPortlebury itself. There’s a pub there called The Crescent Moon. I wasted a long time over that. Itsounded ideal. Then there’s The Moon and Stars. The Rising Moon, The Jolly Sickle¹⁵, The Crossand the Crescent—that was in a little place called Seamede. Nothing doing. Then I abandonedmoons and started on Crescents. Several Crescents in Portlebury. Lansbury Crescent, AldridgeCrescent, Livermead Crescent, Victoria Crescent.”
I caught sight of Dick’s bewildered face and began to laugh.
“Don’t look so much at sea, Dick. I had something tangible¹⁶ to start me off.”
I took out my wallet, extracted a sheet of paper and passed it over to him. It was a single sheetof hotel writing paper on which a rough sketch¹⁷ had been drawn¹⁸.
“A chap called Hanbury had this in his wallet. Hanbury did a lot of work in the Larkin case. Hewas good—very good. He was run over by a hit and run car in London. Nobody got its number. Idon’t know what this means, but it’s something that Hanbury jotted¹⁹ down, or copied, because hethought it was important. Some idea that he had? Or something that he’d seen or heard?
Something to do with a moon or crescent, the number 61 and the initial M. I took over after hisdeath. I don’t know what I’m looking for yet, but I’m pretty sure there’s something to find. I don’tknow what 61 means. I don’t know what M means. I’ve been working in a radius²⁰ from Portleburyoutwards. Three weeks of unremitting and unrewarding toil²¹. Crowdean is on my route. That’s allthere is to it. Frankly²², Dick, I didn’t expect very much of Crowdean. There’s only one Crescenthere. That’s Wilbraham Crescent. I was going to have a walk along Wilbraham Crescent and seewhat I thought of Number 61 before asking you if you’d got any dope that could help me. That’swhat I was doing this afternoon—but I couldn’t find Number 61.”
“As I told you, 61 is occupied by a local builder.”
“And that’s not what I’m after. Have they got a foreign help of any kind?”
“Could be. A good many people do nowadays. If so, she’ll be registered. I’ll look it up for youby tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Dick.”
“I’ll be making routine inquiries²³ tomorrow at the two houses on either side of 19. Whether theysaw anyone come to the house, etcetera. I might include the houses directly behind 19, the oneswhose gardens adjoin it. I rather think that 61 is almost directly behind 19. I could take you alongwith me if you liked.”
I closed with the offer greedily.
“I’ll be your Sergeant²⁴ Lamb and take shorthand notes.”
We agreed that I should come to the police station at nine thirty the following morning.

1 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

2 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

3 repletion   

n.充满，吃饱

参考例句：

• It is better to die of repletion than to endure hunger.饱死胜过挨饿。
• A baby vomits milk from repletion.婴儿吃饱会吐奶。

4 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 sneer   

v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语

参考例句：

• He said with a sneer.他的话中带有嘲笑之意。
• You may sneer,but a lot of people like this kind of music.你可以嗤之以鼻，但很多人喜欢这种音乐。

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

8 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：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

10 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

11 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

12 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

13 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

14 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

15 sickle   

n.镰刀

参考例句：

• The gardener was swishing off the tops of weeds with a sickle.园丁正在用镰刀嗖嗖地割掉杂草的顶端。
• There is a picture of the sickle on the flag. 旗帜上有镰刀的图案。

16 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

17 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

18 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

19 jotted   

v.匆忙记下( jot的过去式和过去分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下

参考例句：

• I jotted down her name. 我匆忙记下了她的名字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The policeman jotted down my address. 警察匆匆地将我的地址记下。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

21 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

22 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

23 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

24 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？