CAPTAIN DUNLEVY'S LAST TRIP

It was against the law, in such case made and provided,

Of the United States, but by the good will of the pilots

That we would some of us climb to the pilot-house after our breakfast

For a morning smoke, and find ourselves seats on the benching

Under the windows, or in the worn-smooth arm-chairs. The pilot,

Which one it was did not matter, would tilt¹ his head round and say, "All right!"

When he had seen who we were, and begin, or go on as from stopping

In the midst of talk that was leading up to a story,

Just before we came in, and the story, begun or beginning,

Always began or ended with some one, or something or other,

[Pg 68]Having to do with the river. If one left the wheel to the other,

Going off watch, he would say to his partner standing² behind him

With his hands stretched out for the spokes³ that were not given up yet,

"Captain, you can tell them the thing I was going to tell them

Better than I could, I reckon," and then the other would answer,

"Well, I don't know as I feel so sure of that, captain," and having

Recognized each other so by that courtesy title of captain

Never officially failed of without offense⁵ among pilots,

One would subside⁶ into Jim and into Jerry the other.

 

It was on these terms, at least, Captain Dunn relieved Captain Davis

When we had settled ourselves one day to listen in comfort,

After some psychological subtleties⁷ we had indulged in at breakfast

Touching⁸ that weird⁹ experience every one knows when the senses

Juggle¹⁰ the points of the compass out of true orientation¹¹,

[Pg 69]Changing the North to the South, and the East to the West. "Why, Jerry, what was it

You was going to tell them?" "Oh, never you mind what it was, Jim.

You tell them something else," and so Captain Davis submitted,

While Captain Dunn, with a laugh, got away beyond reach of his protest.

Then Captain Davis, with fitting, deprecatory preamble¹²,

Launched himself on a story that promised to be all a story

Could be expected to be, when one of those women—you know them—

Who interrupt on any occasion or none, interrupted,

Pointed¹³ her hand, and asked, "Oh, what is that island there, captain?"

"That one, ma'am?" He gave her the name, and then the woman persisted,

"Don't say you know them all by sight!" "Yes, by sight or by feeling."

"What do you mean by feeling?" "Why, just that by daylight we see them,

And in the dark it's like as if somehow we felt them, I reckon.

Every foot of the channel and change in it, wash-out and cave-in,

[Pg 70]Every bend and turn of it, every sand-bar and landmark¹⁴,

Every island, of course, we have got to see them, or feel them."

"But if you don't?" "But we've got to." "But aren't you ever mistaken?"

"Never the second time." "Now, what do you mean, Captain Davis?

Never the second time." "Well, let me tell you a story.

It's not the one I begun, but that island you asked about yonder

Puts me in mind of it, happens to be the place where it happened,

Three years ago. I suppose no man ever knew the Ohio

Better than Captain Dunlevy, if any one else knew it like him.

Man and boy he had been pretty much his whole life on the river:

Cabin-boy first on a keelboat before the day of the steamboats,

Back in the pioneer times; and watchman then on a steamboat;

Then second mate, and then mate, and then pilot and captain and owner—

But he was proudest, I reckon, of being about the best pilot

[Pg 71]On the Ohio. He knew it as well as he knew his own Bible,

And I don't hardly believe that ever Captain Dunlevy

Let a single day go by without reading a chapter."

 

While the pilot went on with his talk, and in regular, rhythmical¹⁵ motion

Swayed from one side to the other before his wheel, and we listened,

Certain typical facts of the picturesque¹⁶ life of the river

Won their way to our consciousness as without help of our senses.

It was along about the beginning of March, but already

In the sleepy sunshine the budding maples¹⁷ and willows¹⁸,

Where they waded¹⁹ out in the shallow wash of the freshet,

Showed the dull red and the yellow green of their blossoms and catkins,

And in their tops the foremost flocks of blackbirds debated

As to which they should colonize²⁰ first. The indolent house-boats

Loafing along the shore, sent up in silvery spirals

[Pg 72]Out of their kitchen pipes the smoke of their casual breakfasts.

Once a wide tow of coal-barges²¹, loaded clear down to the gunwales,

Gave us the slack of the current, with proper formalities shouted

By the hoarse-throated stern-wheeler that pushed the black barges before her,

And as she passed us poured a foamy²² cascade²³ from her paddles.

Then, as a raft of logs, which the spread of the barges had hidden,

River-wide, weltered in sight, with a sudden jump forward the pilot

Dropped his whole weight on the spokes of the wheel just in time to escape it.

 

"Always give those fellows," he joked, "all the leeway they ask for;

Worst kind of thing on the river you want your boat to run into.

Where had I got about Captain Dunlevy? Oh yes, I remember.

Well, when the railroads began to run away from the steamboats,

Taking the carrying trade in the very edge of the water,

[Pg 73]It was all up with the old flush times, and Captain Dunlevy

Had to climb down with the rest of us pilots till he was only

Captain the same as any and every pilot is captain,

Glad enough, too, to be getting his hundred and twenty-five dollars

Through the months of the spring and fall while navigation was open.

Never lowered himself, though, a bit from captain and owner,

Knew his rights and yours, and never would thought of allowing

Any such thing as a liberty from you or taking one with you.

I had been his cub²⁴, and all that I knew of the river

Captain Dunlevy had learnt me; and if you know what the feeling

Is of a cub for the pilot that learns him the river, you'll trust me

When I tell you I felt it the highest kind of an honor

Having him for my partner; and when I came up to relieve him,

One day, here at the wheel, and actu'lly thought that I found him

[Pg 74]Taking that island there on the left, I thought I was crazy.

No, I couldn't believe my senses, and yet I couldn't endure it.

Seeing him climb the spokes of the wheel to warp²⁵ the Kanawha,

With the biggest trip of passengers ever she carried,

Round on the bar at the left that fairly stuck out of the water.

Well, as I said, he learnt me all that I knew of the river,

And was I to learn him now which side to take of an island

When I knew he knew it like his right hand from his left hand?

My, but I hated to speak! It certainly seemed like my tongue clove²⁶,

Like the Bible says, to the roof of my mouth! But I had to.

'Captain,' I says, and it seemed like another person was talking,

'Do you usu'lly take that island there on the eastward²⁷?'

'Yes,' he says, and he laughed, 'and I thought I had learnt you to do it,

When you was going up.' 'But not going down, did you, captain?'

[Pg 75]'Down?' And he whirled at me, and, without ever stopping his laughing,

Turned as white as a sheet, and his eyes fairly bulged²⁸ from their sockets²⁹.

Then he whirled back again, and looked up and down on the river,

Like he was hunting out the shape of the shore and the landmarks³⁰.

Well, I suppose the thing has happened to every one sometime,

When you find the points of the compass have swapped³¹ with each other,

And at the instant you're looking, the North and the South have changed places.

I knew what was in his mind as well as Dunlevy himself did.

Neither one of us spoke⁴ a word for nearly a minute.

Then in a kind of whisper he says, 'Take the wheel, Captain Davis!'

Let the spokes fly, and while I made a jump forwards to catch them,

Staggered into that chair—well, the very one you are in, ma'am.

Set there breathing quick, and, when he could speak, all he said was,

'This is the end of it for me on the river, Jim Davis,'

[Pg 76]Reached up over his head for his coat where it hung by that window,

Trembled onto his feet, and stopped in the door there a second,

Stared in hard like as if for good-by to the things he was used to,

Shut the door behind him, and never come back again through it."

While we were silent, not liking³² to prompt the pilot with questions,

"Well," he said, at last, "it was no use to argue. We tried it,

In the half-hearted way that people do that don't mean it.

Every one was his friend here on the Kanawha, and we knew

It was the first time he ever had lost his bearings, but he knew,

In such a thing as that, that the first and the last are the same time.

When we had got through trying our worst to persuade him, he only

Shook his head and says, 'I am done for, boys, and you know it,'

Left the boat at Wheeling, and left his life on the river—

Left his life on the earth, you may say, for I don't call it living,

[Pg 77]Setting there homesick at home for the wheel he can never go back to.

Reads the river-news regular; knows just the stage of the water

Up and down the whole way from Cincinnati to Pittsburg;

Follows every boat from the time she starts out in the spring-time

Till she lays up in the summer, and then again in the winter;

Wants to talk all about her and who is her captain and pilot;

Then wants to slide away to that everlastingly³³ puzzling

Thing that happened to him that morning on the Kanawha

When he lost his bearings and North and South had changed places—

No, I don't call that living, whatever the rest of you call it."

We were silent again till that woman spoke up, "And what was it,

Captain, that kept him from going back and being a pilot?"

"Well, ma'am," after a moment the pilot patiently answered,

"I don't hardly believe that I could explain it exactly."

 

 

1 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 spokes   

n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动

参考例句：

• Her baby caught his fingers in the spokes of the pram wheel. 她宝宝的手指被婴儿车轮的辐条卡住了。 来自辞典例句
• The new edges are called the spokes of the wheel. 新的边称为轮的辐。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

6 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

7 subtleties   

细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等

参考例句：

• I think the translator missed some of the subtleties of the original. 我认为译者漏掉了原著中一些微妙之处。
• They are uneducated in the financial subtleties of credit transfer. 他们缺乏有关信用转让在金融方面微妙作用的知识。

8 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

9 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

10 juggle   

v.变戏法，纂改，欺骗，同时做；n.玩杂耍，纂改，花招

参考例句：

• If you juggle with your accounts,you'll get into trouble.你要是在帐目上做手脚，你可要遇到麻烦了。
• She had to juggle her job and her children.她得同时兼顾工作和孩子。

11 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

12 preamble   

n.前言；序文

参考例句：

• He spoke without preamble.他没有开场白地讲起来。
• The controversy has arisen over the text of the preamble to the unification treaty.针对统一条约的序文出现了争论。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

15 rhythmical   

adj.有节奏的，有韵律的

参考例句：

• His breathing became more rhythmical.他的呼吸变得更有节奏了。
• The music is strongly rhythmical.那音乐有强烈的节奏。

16 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

17 maples   

槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木

参考例句：

• There are many maples in the park. 公园里有好多枫树。
• The wind of the autumn colour the maples carmine . 秋风给枫林涂抹胭红。

18 willows   

n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木

参考例句：

• The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

19 waded   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
• He waded into the water to push the boat out. 他蹚进水里把船推出来。

20 colonize   

v.建立殖民地，拓殖；定居，居于

参考例句：

• Around 700 Arabs began to colonize East Africa.公元700年阿拉伯人开始把东非变为殖民地。
• Japan used to colonize many countries in Asia.日本曾经殖民过许多亚洲国家。

21 barges   

驳船( barge的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tug is towing three barges. 那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。
• There were plenty of barges dropping down with the tide. 有不少驳船顺流而下。

22 foamy   

adj.全是泡沫的，泡沫的，起泡沫的

参考例句：

• In Internet foamy 2001, so hard when, everybody stayed. 在互联网泡沫的2001年，那么艰难的时候，大家都留下来了。 来自互联网
• It's foamy milk that you add to the coffee. 将牛奶打出泡沫后加入咖啡中。 来自互联网

23 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

24 cub   

n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人

参考例句：

• The lion cub's mother was hunting for what she needs. 这只幼师的母亲正在捕猎。
• The cub licked the milk from its mother's breast. 这头幼兽吸吮着它妈妈的奶水。

25 warp   

vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见

参考例句：

• The damp wood began to warp.这块潮湿的木材有些翘曲了。
• A steel girder may warp in a fire.钢梁遇火会变弯。

26 clove   

n.丁香味

参考例句：

• If tired,smell a whiff of clove oil and it will wake you up.如果疲倦，闻上一点丁香油将令人清醒。
• A sweet-smell comes from roses and clove trees.丁香与玫瑰的香味扑鼻而来。

27 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。

28 bulged   

凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物）

参考例句：

• His pockets bulged with apples and candy. 他的口袋鼓鼓地装满了苹果和糖。
• The oranges bulged his pocket. 桔子使得他的衣袋胀得鼓鼓的。

29 sockets   

n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴

参考例句：

• All new PCs now have USB sockets. 新的个人计算机现在都有通用串行总线插孔。
• Make sure the sockets in your house are fingerproof. 确保你房中的插座是防触电的。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

30 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句

31 swapped   

交换（工作）( swap的过去式和过去分词 )； 用…替换，把…换成，掉换（过来）

参考例句：

• I liked her coat and she liked mine, so we swapped. 我喜欢她的外套，她喜欢我的外套，于是我们就交换了。
• At half-time the manager swapped some of the players around. 经理在半场时把几名队员换下了场。

32 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

33 everlastingly   

永久地，持久地

参考例句：

• Why didn't he hold the Yankees instead of everlastingly retreating? 他为什么不将北军挡住，反而节节败退呢？
• "I'm tired of everlastingly being unnatural and never doing anything I want to do. "我再也忍受不了这样无休止地的勉强自己，永远不能赁自己高兴做事。