The man with the carved paddle stopped. “It should be somewhere here,” he said. He shipped the paddle and held his arms out straight before him.
The other man had been in the fore2 part of the canoe, closely scrutinising the land. He had a sheet of yellow paper on his knee.
“Come and look at this, Evans,” he said.
The man called Evans came swaying along the canoe until he could look over his companion’s shoulder.
The paper had the appearance of a rough map. By much folding it was creased6 and worn to the pitch of separation, and the second man held the discoloured fragments together where they had parted. On it one could dimly make out, in almost obliterated7 pencil, the outline of the bay.
“Here,” said Evans, “is the reef and here is the gap.” He ran his thumb-nail over the chart.
“This curved and twisting line is the river—I could do with a drink now!—and this star is the place.”
“You see this dotted line,” said the man with the map; “it is a straight line, and runs from the opening of the reef to a clump8 of palm-trees. The star comes just where it cuts the river. We must mark the place as we go into the lagoon9.”
“It’s queer,” said Evans, after a pause, “what these little marks down here are for. It looks like the plan of a house or something; but what all these little dashes, pointing this way and that, may mean I can’t get a notion. And what’s the writing?”
“Chinese,” said the man with the map.
“Of course! He was a Chinee,” said Evans.
“They all were,” said the man with the map.
They both sat for some minutes staring at the land, while the canoe drifted slowly. Then Evans looked towards the paddle.
“Your turn with the paddle now, Hooker,” said he.
And his companion quietly folded up his map, put it in his pocket, passed Evans carefully, and began to paddle. His movements were languid, like those of a man whose strength was nearly exhausted10. Evans sat with his eyes half closed, watching the frothy breakwater of the coral creep nearer and nearer. The sky was like a furnace now, for the sun was near the zenith. Though they were so near the Treasure he did not feel the exaltation he had anticipated. The intense excitement of the struggle for the plan, and the long night voyage from the mainland in the unprovisioned canoe had, to use his own expression, “taken it out of him.” He tried to arouse himself by directing his mind to the ingots the Chinamen had spoken of, but it would not rest there; it came back headlong to the thought of sweet water rippling11 in the river, and to the almost unendurable dryness of his lips and throat. The rhythmic12 wash of the sea upon the reef was becoming audible now, and it had a pleasant sound in his ears; the water washed along the side of the canoe, and the paddle dripped between each stroke. Presently he began to doze13.
He was still dimly conscious of the island, but a queer dream texture interwove with his sensations. Once again it was the night when he and Hooker had hit upon the Chinamen’s secret; he saw the moonlit trees, the little fire burning, and the black figures of the three Chinamen—silvered on one side by moonlight, and on the other glowing from the firelight—and heard them talking together in pigeon-English—for they came from different provinces. Hooker had caught the drift of their talk first, and had motioned to him to listen. Fragments of the conversation were inaudible and fragments incomprehensible. A Spanish galleon14 from the Philippines hopelessly aground, and its treasure buried against the day of return, lay in the background of the story; a shipwrecked crew thinned by disease, a quarrel or so, and the needs of discipline, and at last taking to their boats never to be heard of again. Then Chang-hi, only a year since, wandering ashore15, had happened upon the ingots hidden for two hundred years, had deserted16 his junk, and reburied them with infinite toil17, single-handed but very safe. He laid great stress on the safety—it was a secret of his. Now he wanted help to return and exhume18 them. Presently the little map fluttered and the voices sank. A fine story for two stranded19 British wastrels20 to hear! Evans’ dream shifted to the moment when he had Chang-hi’s pigtail in his hand. The life of a Chinaman is scarcely sacred like a European’s. The cunning little face of Chang-hi, first keen and furious like a startled snake, and then fearful, treacherous21 and pitiful, became overwhelmingly prominent in the dream. At the end Chang-hi had grinned, a most incomprehensible and startling grin. Abruptly23 things became very unpleasant, as they will do at times in dreams. Chang-hi gibbered and threatened him. He saw in his dream heaps and heaps of gold, and Chang-hi intervening and struggling to hold him back from it. He took Chang-hi by the pigtail—how big the yellow brute24 was, and how he struggled and grinned! He kept growing bigger, too. Then the bright heaps of gold turned to a roaring furnace, and a vast devil, surprisingly like Chang-hi, but with a huge black tail, began to feed him with coals. They burnt his mouth horribly. Another devil was shouting his name: “Evans, Evans, you sleepy fool!”—or was it Hooker?
He woke up. They were in the mouth of the lagoon.
“There are the three palm-trees. It must be in a line with that clump of bushes,” said his companion. “Mark that. If we go to those bushes and then strike into the bush in a straight line from here, we shall come to it when we come to the stream.”
They could see now where the mouth of the stream opened out. At the sight of it Evans revived. “Hurry up, man,” he said, “Or by heaven I shall have to drink sea water!” He gnawed25 his hand and stared at the gleam of silver among the rocks and green tangle26.
Presently he turned almost fiercely upon Hooker. “Give me the paddle,” he said.
So they reached the river mouth. A little way up Hooker took some water in the hollow of his hand, tasted it, and spat27 it out. A little further he tried again. “This will do,” he said, and they began drinking eagerly.
“Curse this!” said Evans, suddenly. “It’s too slow.” And, leaning dangerously over the fore part of the canoe, he began to suck up the water with his lips.
Presently they made an end of drinking, and, running the canoe into a little creek28, were about to land among the thick growth that overhung the water.
“We shall have to scramble29 through this to the beach to find our bushes and get the line to the place,” said Evans.
“We had better paddle round,” said Hooker.
So they pushed out again into the river and paddled back down it to the sea, and along the shore to the place where the clump of bushes grew. Here they landed, pulled the light canoe far up the beach, and then went up towards the edge of the jungle until they could see the opening of the reef and the bushes in a straight line. Evans had taken a native implement30 out of the canoe. It was L-shaped, and the transverse piece was armed with polished stone. Hooker carried the paddle. “It is straight now in this direction,” said he; “we must push through this till we strike the stream. Then we must prospect31.”
They pushed through a close tangle of reeds, broad fronds32, and young trees, and at first it was toilsome going, but very speedily the trees became larger and the ground beneath them opened out. The blaze of the sunlight was replaced by insensible degrees by cool shadow. The trees became at last vast pillars that rose up to a canopy33 of greenery far overhead. Dim white flowers hung from their stems, and ropy creepers swung from tree to tree. The shadow deepened. On the ground, blotched fungi34 and a red-brown incrustation became frequent.
Evans shivered. “It seems almost cold here after the blaze outside.”
“I hope we are keeping to the straight,” said Hooker.
Presently they saw, far ahead, a gap in the sombre darkness where white shafts35 of hot sunlight smote36 into the forest. There also was brilliant green undergrowth, and coloured flowers. Then they heard the rush of water.
“Here is the river. We should be close to it now,” said Hooker.
The vegetation was thick by the river bank. Great plants, as yet unnamed, grew among the roots of the big trees, and spread rosettes of huge green fans towards the strip of sky. Many flowers and a creeper with shiny foliage37 clung to the exposed stems. On the water of the broad, quiet pool which the treasure seekers now overlooked there floated big oval leaves and a waxen, pinkish-white flower not unlike a water-lily. Further, as the river bent38 away from them, the water suddenly frothed and became noisy in a rapid.
“Well?” said Evans.
He turned and looked into the dim cool shadows of the silent forest behind them. “If we beat a little way up and down the stream we should come to something.”
“You said—” began Evans.
“He said there was a heap of stones,” said Hooker.
The two men looked at each other for a moment.
“Let us try a little down-stream first,” said Evans.
They advanced slowly, looking curiously40 about them. Suddenly Evans stopped. “What the devil’s that?” he said.
Hooker followed his finger. “Something blue,” he said. It had come into view as they topped a gentle swell of the ground. Then he began to distinguish what it was.
He advanced suddenly with hasty steps, until the body that belonged to the limp hand and arm had become visible. His grip tightened41 on the implement he carried. The thing was the figure of a Chinaman lying on his face. The abandon of the pose was unmistakable.
The two men drew closer together, and stood staring silently at this ominous42 dead body. It lay in a clear space among the trees. Near by was a spade after the Chinese pattern, and further off lay a scattered43 heap of stones, close to a freshly dug hole.
“Somebody has been here before,” said Hooker, clearing his throat.
Hooker turned white but said nothing. He advanced towards the prostrate45 body. He saw the neck was puffed46 and purple, and the hands and ankles swollen47. “Pah!” he said, and suddenly turned away and went towards the excavation48. He gave a cry of surprise. He shouted to Evans, who was following him slowly.
“You fool! It’s all right It’s here still.” Then he turned again and looked at the dead Chinaman, and then again at the hole.
Evans hurried to the hole. Already half exposed by the ill-fated wretch49 beside them lay a number of dull yellow bars. He bent down in the hole, and, clearing off the soil with his bare hands, hastily pulled one of the heavy masses out. As he did so a little thorn pricked51 his hand. He pulled the delicate spike52 out with his fingers and lifted the ingot.
“Only gold or lead could weigh like this,” he said exultantly53.
Hooker was still looking at the dead Chinaman. He was puzzled.
“He stole a march on his friends,” he said at last. “He came here alone, and some poisonous snake has killed him ... I wonder how he found the place.”
Evans stood with the ingot in his hands. What did a dead Chinaman signify? “We shall have to take this stuff to the mainland piecemeal54, and bury it there for a while. How shall we get it to the canoe?”
He took his jacket off and spread it on the ground, and flung two or three ingots into it. Presently he found that another little thorn had punctured55 his skin.
“This is as much as we can carry,” said he. Then suddenly, with a queer rush of irritation56, “What are you staring at?”
“Rubbish!” said Evans. “All Chinamen are alike.”
Hooker looked into his face. “I’m going to bury that, anyhow, before I lend a hand with this stuff.”
Hooker hesitated, and then his eye went carefully over the brown soil about them. “It scares me somehow,” he said.
“The thing is,” said Evans, “what to do with these ingots. Shall we re-bury them over here, or take them across the strait in the canoe?”
Hooker thought. His puzzled gaze wandered among the tall tree-trunks, and up into the remote sunlit greenery overhead. He shivered again as his eye rested upon the blue figure of the Chinaman. He stared searchingly among the grey depths between the trees.
“What’s come to you, Hooker?” said Evans. “Have you lost your wits?”
“Let’s get the gold out of this place, anyhow,” said Hooker.
He took the ends of the collar of the coat in his hands, and Evans took the opposite corners, and they lifted the mass. “Which way?” said Evans. “To the canoe?”
“It’s queer,” said Evans, when they had advanced only a few steps, “but my arms ache still with that paddling.”
“Curse it!” he said. “But they ache! I must rest.”
They let the coat down. Evans’ face was white, and little drops of sweat stood out upon his forehead. “It’s stuffy60, somehow, in this forest.”
Then with an abrupt22 transition to unreasonable61 anger: “What is the good of waiting here all the day? Lend a hand, I say! You have done nothing but moon since we saw the dead Chinaman.”
Hooker was looking steadfastly62 at his companion’s face. He helped raise the coat bearing the ingots, and they went forward perhaps a hundred yards in silence. Evans began to breathe heavily. “Can’t you speak?” he said.
“What’s the matter with you?” said Hooker.
Evans stumbled, and then with a sudden curse flung the coat from him. He stood for a moment staring at Hooker, and then with a groan63 clutched at his own throat.
“Don’t come near me,” he said, and went and leant against a tree. Then in a steadier voice, “I’ll be better in a minute.”
Presently his grip upon the trunk loosened, and he slipped slowly down the stem of the tree until he was a crumpled64 heap at its foot. His hands were clenched65 convulsively. His face became distorted with pain. Hooker approached him.
“Can’t I do anything for you?” said Hooker.
“Put the gold back on the coat.”
As Hooker handled the ingots he felt a little prick50 on the ball of his thumb. He looked at his hand and saw a slender thorn, perhaps two inches in length.
Evans gave an inarticulate cry and rolled over.
Hooker’s jaw67 dropped. He stared at the thorn for a moment with dilated68 eyes. Then he looked at Evans, who was now crumpled together on the ground, his back bending and straitening spasmodically. Then he looked through the pillars of the trees and net-work of creeper stems, to where in the dim grey shadow the blue-clad body of the Chinaman was still indistinctly visible. He thought of the little dashes in the corner of the plan, and in a moment he understood.
“God help me!” he said. For the thorns were similar to those the Dyaks poison and use in their blowing-tubes. He understood now what Chang-hi’s assurance of the safety of his treasure meant. He understood that grin now.
“Evans!” he cried.
But Evans was silent and motionless now, save for a horrible spasmodic twitching69 of his limbs. A profound silence brooded over the forest.
Then Hooker began to suck furiously at the little pink spot on the ball of his thumb—sucking for dear life. Presently he felt a strange aching pain in his arms and shoulders, and his fingers seemed difficult to bend. Then he knew that sucking was no good.
Abruptly he stopped, and sitting down by the pile of ingots, and resting his chin upon his hands and his elbows upon his knees, stared at the distorted but still stirring body of his companion. Chang-hi’s grin came in his mind again. The dull pain spread towards his throat and grew slowly in intensity70. Far above him a faint breeze stirred the greenery, and the white petals71 of some unknown flower came floating down through the gloom.
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1
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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4
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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5
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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creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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7
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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8
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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12
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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13
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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14
galleon
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| n.大帆船 | |
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15
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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17
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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exhume
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| v.掘出，挖掘 | |
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stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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wastrels
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| n.无用的人，废物( wastrel的名词复数 )；浪子 | |
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21
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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22
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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23
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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25
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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26
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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27
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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30
implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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32
fronds
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| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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fungi
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| n.真菌，霉菌 | |
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35
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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36
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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38
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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39
swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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41
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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42
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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43
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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44
rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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45
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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46
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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47
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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48
excavation
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| n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地 | |
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49
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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50
prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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51
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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52
spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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53
exultantly
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| adv.狂欢地，欢欣鼓舞地 | |
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54
piecemeal
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| adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块 | |
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55
punctured
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| v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气 | |
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56
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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57
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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58
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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59
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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60
stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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61
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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62
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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63
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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64
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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65
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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67
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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70
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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