章节正文
caught trying to come into the bivouac."
"How is she named?"
"She will not say."
"Has she business?'
"She will say none. She demands only to see my lord."
"Bring her here to the fire," I ordered, and then on second
thoughts remembering that the woman, whoever she might be, had news
likely enough for my private ear (or otherwise she would not have
come to so uncouth a rendezvous), I said to the sentry: "Stay,"
and got up from the ground beside the fire, and went with him to
the outer line.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"My comrades are holding her. She might be a wench belonging
to these rebels, with designs to put a knife into my lord's heart,
and then we sentries would suffer. The Empress," he added simply,
"seems to set good store upon my lord at present, and we know the
cleverness of her tormentors."
"Your thoughtfulness is frank," I said, and then he showed me
the woman. She was muffled up in hood and cloak, but one who loved
Nais as I loved could not mistake the form of Ylga, her twin
sister, because of mere swathings. So I told the sentries to
release her without asking her for speech, and then led her out
from the bivouac beyond earshot of their lines.
"It is something of the most pressing that has brought you out
here, Ylga?"
"You know me, then? There must be something warmer than the
ordinary between us two, Deucalion, if you could guess who walked
beneath all these mufflings."
I let that pass. "But what's your errand, girl?"
"Aye," she said bitterly, "there's my reward. All your
concern's for the message, none for the carrier. Well, good my
lord, you are husband to the dainty Phorenice no longer."
"This is news."
"And true enough, too. She will have no more of you, divorces
you, spurns you, thrusts you from her, and, after the first
splutter of wrath is done, then come pains and penalties."
"The Empress can do no wrong. I will have you speak
respectful words of the Empress."
"Oh, be done with that old fable! It sickens me. The woman
was mad for love of you, and now she's mad with jealousy. She
knows that you gave Nais some of your priest's magic, and that she
sleeps till you choose to come and claim her, even though the day
be a century from this. And if you wish to know the method of her
enlightenment, it is simple. There is another airshaft next to the
one down which you did your cooing and billing, and that leads to
another cell in which lay another prisoner. The wretch heard all
that passed, and thought to buy enlargement by telling it.
"But his news came a trifle stale. It seems that with the
pressure of the morning's ceremonies, they forgot to bring a
ration, and when at last his gaoler did remember him, it was rather
late, seeing that by then Phorenice had tied herself publicly to a
husband, and poor Nais had doubtless eaten her green drug.
However, the fools must needs try and barter his tale for what it
would fetch; and, as was natural, had such a silly head chopped off
for his pains; and after that your Phorenice behaved as you may
guess. And now you may thank me, sir, for coming to warn you not
to go back to Atlantis."
"But I shall go back. And if the Empress chooses to cut my
head also from its proper column, that is as the High Gods will."
"You are more sick of life than I thought. But I think, sir,
our Phorenice judges your case very accurately. It was permitted
me to hear the outbursting of this lady's rage. 'Shall I hew off
his head?' said she. 'Pah! Shall I give him over to my
tormentors, and stand by whilst they do their worst? He would not
wrinkle his brow at their fiercest efforts. No; he must have a
heavier punishment than any of these, and one also which will
endure. I shall lop off his right hand and his left foot, so that
he may be a fighting man no longer, and then I shall drive him
forth crippled into the dangerous lands, where he may learn Fear.
The beasts shall hunt him, the fires of the ground shall spoil his
rest. He shall know hunger, and he shall breathe bad air. And all
the while he shall remember that I have Nais near me, living and
locked in her coffin of stone, to play with as I choose, and to
give over to what insults may come to my fancy.' That is what she
said, Deucalion. Now I ask you again will you go back to meet her
vengeance?"
"No," I said, "it is no part of my plan to be mutilated and
left to live."
"So, being a woman of some sense, I judged. And, moreover,
having some small kindness still left for you, I have taken it upon
myself to make a plan for your further movement which may fall in
with your whim. Does the name of Tob come back to your memory?"
"One who was Captain of Tatho's navy?"
"That same Tob. A gruff, rude fellow, and smelling vile of
tar, but seeming to have a sturdyhonesty of his own. Tob sails
away this night for parts unknown, presumably to found a kingdom
with Tob for king. It seems he can find little enough to earn at
his craft in Atlantis these latter days, and has scruples at seeing
his wife and young ones hungry. He told me this at the harbour
side when I put my neck under the axe by saying I wanted carriage
for you, sir, and so having me under his thumb, he was perhaps more
loose-lipped than usual. You seem to have made a fine impression
on Tob, Deucalion. He said--I repeat his hearty disrespect--you
were just the recruit he wanted, but whether you joined him or not,
he would go to the nether Gods to do you service."
"By the fellow's side, I gained some experience in fighting
the greater sea beasts."
"Well, go and do it again. Believe me, sir, it is your only
chance. It would grieve me much to hear the searing-iron hiss on
your stumps. I bargained with Tob to get clear of the harbour
forts before the chain was up for the night, and as he is a very
daring fellow, with no fear of navigating under the darkness, he
himself said he would come to a point of the shore which we agreed
upon, and there await you. Come, Deucalion, let me lead you to the
place."
"My girl," I said, "I see I owe you many thanks for what you
have done on my poor behalf."
"Oh, your thanks!" she said. "You may keep them. I did not
come out here in the dark and the dangers for mere thanks, though
I knew well enough there would be little else offered."--She
plucked at my sleeve.--"Now show me your walking pace, sir. They
will begin to want your countenance in the camp directly, and we
need hanker after no too narrow inquiries for what's along."
So thereon we set off, Ylga and I, leaving the lights of the
bivouac behind us, and she showed the way, whilst I carried my
weapons ready to ward off attacks whether from beasts or from men.
Few words were passed between us, except those which had concern
with the dangers natural to the way. Once only did we touch one
another, and that was where a tree-trunk bridged a rivulet of
scalding water which flowed from a boil-spring towards the sea.
"Are you sure of footing?" I asked, for the night was dark,
and the heat of the water would peel the flesh from the bones if
one slipped into it.
"No," she said, "I am not," and reached out and took my hand.
I helped her over and then loosed my grip, and she sighed, and
slowly slipped her hand away. Then on again we went in silence,
side by side, hour after hour, and league after league.
But at last we topped a rise, and below us through the trees
I could see the gleam of the great estuary on which the city of
Atlantis stands. The ground was soggy and wet beneath us, the
trees were full of barbs and spines, the way was monstrous hard.
Ylga's breath was beginning to come in laboured pants. But when I
offered to take her arm, and help her, as some return against what
she had done for me, she repulsed me rudely enough. "I am no poor
weakling," said she, "if that is your only reason for wanting to
touch me."
Presently, however, we came out through the trees, and the
roughest part of our journey was done. We saw the ship riding to
her anchors in shore a mile away, and a weird enough object she was
under the faint starlight. We made our way to her along the level
beaches.
Tob was keeping a keen watch. We were challenged the moment
we came within stone or arrow shot, and bidden to halt and recite
our business; but he was civil enough when he heard we were those
whom he expected. He called a crew and slacked out his anchor-rope
till his ship ground against the shingle, and then thrust out his
two steering oars to help us clamber aboard.
I turned to Ylga with words of thanks and farewell. "I will
never forget what you have done for me this night; and should the
High Gods see fit to bring me back to Atlantis and power, you shall
taste my gratitude."
"I do not want to return. I am sick of this old life here."
"But you have your palace in the city, and your servants, and
your wealth, and Phorenice will not disturb you from their
possession."
"Oh, as for that, I could go back and be fan-girl tomorrow.
But I do not want to go back."
"Let me tell you it is no time for a gently nurtured lady like
yourself to go forward. I have been viceroy of Yucatan, Ylga, and
know somewhat of making a foothold in these new countries. And
that was nothing compared with what this will be. I tell you it
entails hardships, and privations, and sufferings which you could
not guess at. Few survive who go to colonise in the beginning, and
those only of the hardiest, and they earn new scars and new
batterings every day."
"I do not care, and, besides, I can share the work. I can
cook, I can shoot a good arrow, and I can make garments, yes,
though they were cut from the skins of beasts and had to be sewn
with backbone sinews. Because you despise fine clothes, and
because you have seen me only decked out as fan-girl, you think I
am useless. Bah, Deucalion! Never let people prate to me about
your perfection. You know less about a woman than a boy new from
school."
"I have learned all I care to know about one woman, and because
of the memory of her, I could not presume to ask her sister to
come with me now."
"Aye," she said bitterly, "kick my pride. I knew well enough
it was only second place to Nais I could get all the time I was
wanting to come. Yet no one but a boor would have reminded me of
it. Gods! and to think that half the men in Atlantis have courted
me, and now I am arrived at this!"
"I must go alone. It would have made me happier to take your
esteem with me. But as it is, I suppose I shall carry only your
hate."
"That is the most humiliating thing of all; I cannot bring
myself to hate you. I ought to, I know, after the brutal way you
have scorned me. But I do not, and there is the truth. I seem to
grow the fonder of you, and if I thought there was a way of keeping
you alive, and unmutilated, here in Atlantis, I do not think I
should point out that Tob is tired of waiting, and will probably be
off without you." She flung her arms suddenly about my neck, and
kissed me hotly on the mouth. "There, that is for good-bye, dear.
You see I am reckless. I care not what I do now, knowing that you
cannot despise me more than you have done all along for my
forwardness."
She ran back from me into the edge of the trees.
"But this is foolishness," I said. "I must take you through
the dangers that lie between here and some gate of the city, and
then come back to the ship."
"You need not fear for me. The unhappy are always safe. And,
besides, I have a way. It is my solace to know that you will
"How is she named?"
"She will not say."
"Has she business?'
"She will say none. She demands only to see my lord."
"Bring her here to the fire," I ordered, and then on second
thoughts remembering that the woman, whoever she might be, had news
likely enough for my private ear (or otherwise she would not have
come to so uncouth a rendezvous), I said to the sentry: "Stay,"
and got up from the ground beside the fire, and went with him to
the outer line.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"My comrades are holding her. She might be a wench belonging
to these rebels, with designs to put a knife into my lord's heart,
and then we sentries would suffer. The Empress," he added simply,
"seems to set good store upon my lord at present, and we know the
cleverness of her tormentors."
"Your thoughtfulness is frank," I said, and then he showed me
the woman. She was muffled up in hood and cloak, but one who loved
Nais as I loved could not mistake the form of Ylga, her twin
sister, because of mere swathings. So I told the sentries to
release her without asking her for speech, and then led her out
from the bivouac beyond earshot of their lines.
"It is something of the most pressing that has brought you out
here, Ylga?"
"You know me, then? There must be something warmer than the
ordinary between us two, Deucalion, if you could guess who walked
beneath all these mufflings."
I let that pass. "But what's your errand, girl?"
"Aye," she said bitterly, "there's my reward. All your
concern's for the message, none for the carrier. Well, good my
lord, you are husband to the dainty Phorenice no longer."
"This is news."
"And true enough, too. She will have no more of you, divorces
you, spurns you, thrusts you from her, and, after the first
splutter of wrath is done, then come pains and penalties."
"The Empress can do no wrong. I will have you speak
respectful words of the Empress."
"Oh, be done with that old fable! It sickens me. The woman
was mad for love of you, and now she's mad with jealousy. She
knows that you gave Nais some of your priest's magic, and that she
sleeps till you choose to come and claim her, even though the day
be a century from this. And if you wish to know the method of her
enlightenment, it is simple. There is another airshaft next to the
one down which you did your cooing and billing, and that leads to
another cell in which lay another prisoner. The wretch heard all
that passed, and thought to buy enlargement by telling it.
"But his news came a trifle stale. It seems that with the
pressure of the morning's ceremonies, they forgot to bring a
ration, and when at last his gaoler did remember him, it was rather
late, seeing that by then Phorenice had tied herself publicly to a
husband, and poor Nais had doubtless eaten her green drug.
However, the fools must needs try and barter his tale for what it
would fetch; and, as was natural, had such a silly head chopped off
for his pains; and after that your Phorenice behaved as you may
guess. And now you may thank me, sir, for coming to warn you not
to go back to Atlantis."
"But I shall go back. And if the Empress chooses to cut my
head also from its proper column, that is as the High Gods will."
"You are more sick of life than I thought. But I think, sir,
our Phorenice judges your case very accurately. It was permitted
me to hear the outbursting of this lady's rage. 'Shall I hew off
his head?' said she. 'Pah! Shall I give him over to my
tormentors, and stand by whilst they do their worst? He would not
wrinkle his brow at their fiercest efforts. No; he must have a
heavier punishment than any of these, and one also which will
endure. I shall lop off his right hand and his left foot, so that
he may be a fighting man no longer, and then I shall drive him
forth crippled into the dangerous lands, where he may learn Fear.
The beasts shall hunt him, the fires of the ground shall spoil his
rest. He shall know hunger, and he shall breathe bad air. And all
the while he shall remember that I have Nais near me, living and
locked in her coffin of stone, to play with as I choose, and to
give over to what insults may come to my fancy.' That is what she
said, Deucalion. Now I ask you again will you go back to meet her
vengeance?"
"No," I said, "it is no part of my plan to be mutilated and
left to live."
"So, being a woman of some sense, I judged. And, moreover,
having some small kindness still left for you, I have taken it upon
myself to make a plan for your further movement which may fall in
with your whim. Does the name of Tob come back to your memory?"
"One who was Captain of Tatho's navy?"
"That same Tob. A gruff, rude fellow, and smelling vile of
tar, but seeming to have a sturdyhonesty of his own. Tob sails
away this night for parts unknown, presumably to found a kingdom
with Tob for king. It seems he can find little enough to earn at
his craft in Atlantis these latter days, and has scruples at seeing
his wife and young ones hungry. He told me this at the harbour
side when I put my neck under the axe by saying I wanted carriage
for you, sir, and so having me under his thumb, he was perhaps more
loose-lipped than usual. You seem to have made a fine impression
on Tob, Deucalion. He said--I repeat his hearty disrespect--you
were just the recruit he wanted, but whether you joined him or not,
he would go to the nether Gods to do you service."
"By the fellow's side, I gained some experience in fighting
the greater sea beasts."
"Well, go and do it again. Believe me, sir, it is your only
chance. It would grieve me much to hear the searing-iron hiss on
your stumps. I bargained with Tob to get clear of the harbour
forts before the chain was up for the night, and as he is a very
daring fellow, with no fear of navigating under the darkness, he
himself said he would come to a point of the shore which we agreed
upon, and there await you. Come, Deucalion, let me lead you to the
place."
"My girl," I said, "I see I owe you many thanks for what you
have done on my poor behalf."
"Oh, your thanks!" she said. "You may keep them. I did not
come out here in the dark and the dangers for mere thanks, though
I knew well enough there would be little else offered."--She
plucked at my sleeve.--"Now show me your walking pace, sir. They
will begin to want your countenance in the camp directly, and we
need hanker after no too narrow inquiries for what's along."
So thereon we set off, Ylga and I, leaving the lights of the
bivouac behind us, and she showed the way, whilst I carried my
weapons ready to ward off attacks whether from beasts or from men.
Few words were passed between us, except those which had concern
with the dangers natural to the way. Once only did we touch one
another, and that was where a tree-trunk bridged a rivulet of
scalding water which flowed from a boil-spring towards the sea.
"Are you sure of footing?" I asked, for the night was dark,
and the heat of the water would peel the flesh from the bones if
one slipped into it.
"No," she said, "I am not," and reached out and took my hand.
I helped her over and then loosed my grip, and she sighed, and
slowly slipped her hand away. Then on again we went in silence,
side by side, hour after hour, and league after league.
But at last we topped a rise, and below us through the trees
I could see the gleam of the great estuary on which the city of
Atlantis stands. The ground was soggy and wet beneath us, the
trees were full of barbs and spines, the way was monstrous hard.
Ylga's breath was beginning to come in laboured pants. But when I
offered to take her arm, and help her, as some return against what
she had done for me, she repulsed me rudely enough. "I am no poor
weakling," said she, "if that is your only reason for wanting to
touch me."
Presently, however, we came out through the trees, and the
roughest part of our journey was done. We saw the ship riding to
her anchors in shore a mile away, and a weird enough object she was
under the faint starlight. We made our way to her along the level
beaches.
Tob was keeping a keen watch. We were challenged the moment
we came within stone or arrow shot, and bidden to halt and recite
our business; but he was civil enough when he heard we were those
whom he expected. He called a crew and slacked out his anchor-rope
till his ship ground against the shingle, and then thrust out his
two steering oars to help us clamber aboard.
I turned to Ylga with words of thanks and farewell. "I will
never forget what you have done for me this night; and should the
High Gods see fit to bring me back to Atlantis and power, you shall
taste my gratitude."
"I do not want to return. I am sick of this old life here."
"But you have your palace in the city, and your servants, and
your wealth, and Phorenice will not disturb you from their
possession."
"Oh, as for that, I could go back and be fan-girl tomorrow.
But I do not want to go back."
"Let me tell you it is no time for a gently nurtured lady like
yourself to go forward. I have been viceroy of Yucatan, Ylga, and
know somewhat of making a foothold in these new countries. And
that was nothing compared with what this will be. I tell you it
entails hardships, and privations, and sufferings which you could
not guess at. Few survive who go to colonise in the beginning, and
those only of the hardiest, and they earn new scars and new
batterings every day."
"I do not care, and, besides, I can share the work. I can
cook, I can shoot a good arrow, and I can make garments, yes,
though they were cut from the skins of beasts and had to be sewn
with backbone sinews. Because you despise fine clothes, and
because you have seen me only decked out as fan-girl, you think I
am useless. Bah, Deucalion! Never let people prate to me about
your perfection. You know less about a woman than a boy new from
school."
"I have learned all I care to know about one woman, and because
of the memory of her, I could not presume to ask her sister to
come with me now."
"Aye," she said bitterly, "kick my pride. I knew well enough
it was only second place to Nais I could get all the time I was
wanting to come. Yet no one but a boor would have reminded me of
it. Gods! and to think that half the men in Atlantis have courted
me, and now I am arrived at this!"
"I must go alone. It would have made me happier to take your
esteem with me. But as it is, I suppose I shall carry only your
hate."
"That is the most humiliating thing of all; I cannot bring
myself to hate you. I ought to, I know, after the brutal way you
have scorned me. But I do not, and there is the truth. I seem to
grow the fonder of you, and if I thought there was a way of keeping
you alive, and unmutilated, here in Atlantis, I do not think I
should point out that Tob is tired of waiting, and will probably be
off without you." She flung her arms suddenly about my neck, and
kissed me hotly on the mouth. "There, that is for good-bye, dear.
You see I am reckless. I care not what I do now, knowing that you
cannot despise me more than you have done all along for my
forwardness."
She ran back from me into the edge of the trees.
"But this is foolishness," I said. "I must take you through
the dangers that lie between here and some gate of the city, and
then come back to the ship."
"You need not fear for me. The unhappy are always safe. And,
besides, I have a way. It is my solace to know that you will
- otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz]
ad.另外 conj.否则 (初中英语单词) - errand [´erənd] n.差使，使命 (初中英语单词)
- bitterly [´bitəli] ad.悲痛地；憎恨地 (初中英语单词)
- reward [ri´wɔ:d] n.&v.报答；报酬；奖赏 (初中英语单词)
- trifle [´traifəl] n.琐事，小事；少量 (初中英语单词)
- doubtless [´dautlis] ad.无疑地；大概，多半 (初中英语单词)
- column [´kɔləm] n.柱；柱状物；纵队 (初中英语单词)
- punishment [´pʌniʃmənt] n.罚，刑罚 (初中英语单词)
- hunger [´hʌŋgə] n.饥饿；渴望 (初中英语单词)
- movement [´mu:vmənt] n.活动；运动；动作 (初中英语单词)
- grieve [gri:v] v.&n.(使)悲痛；哀悼 (初中英语单词)
- countenance [´kauntinəns] n.面部表情；脸色；面容 (初中英语单词)
- league [li:g] n.同盟；社团 (初中英语单词)
- breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
- thrust [θrʌst] v.&n.猛推；冲；刺；挤进 (初中英语单词)
- farewell [feə´wel] int.再见 n.&a.告别 (初中英语单词)
- wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
- disturb [di´stə:b] vt.扰乱；使不安；打乱 (初中英语单词)
- gently [´dʒentli] ad.温和地；静静地 (初中英语单词)
- survive [sə´vaiv] vt.幸存；残存 (初中英语单词)
- despise [di´spaiz] vt.轻视，藐视 (初中英语单词)
- useless [´ju:sləs] a.无用的，无价值的 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- unhappy [ʌn´hæpi] a.不幸的；不快乐的 (初中英语单词)
- whoever [hu:´evə] pron.任何人，无论谁 (高中英语单词)
- carrier [´kæriə] n.搬运工人；托架 (高中英语单词)
- dainty [´deinti] a.秀丽的 n.美味 (高中英语单词)
- jealousy [´dʒeləsi] n.妒忌；猜忌 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- whilst [wailst] conj.当...时候；虽然 (高中英语单词)
- coffin [´kɔfin] n.棺材，柩 (高中英语单词)
- sturdy [´stə:di] a.坚强的；坚定的 (高中英语单词)
- honesty [´ɔnisti] n.诚实，老实 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- hearty [´hɑ:ti] a.热忱的；强健的 (高中英语单词)
- recruit [ri´kru:t] n.新兵 v.征募(新兵) (高中英语单词)
- monstrous [´mɔnstrəs] a.怪异的；庞大的 (高中英语单词)
- perfection [pə´fekʃən] n.完美；极致；熟练 (高中英语单词)
- learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
- presume [pri´zju:m] v.假定；推测；以为 (高中英语单词)
- reckless [´rekləs] a.不注意的；鲁莽的 (高中英语单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- empress [´empris] n.女皇；皇后 (英语四级单词)
- wretch [retʃ] n.不幸的人；卑鄙的人 (英语四级单词)
- accurately [´ækjuritli] ad.准确地；精密地 (英语四级单词)
- seeming [´si:miŋ] a.表面上的 n.外观 (英语四级单词)
- shingle [´ʃiŋgəl] n.盖屋板；木瓦 (英语四级单词)
- clamber [´klæmbə] v.&n.爬；攀登 (英语四级单词)
- backbone [´bækbəun] n.脊骨；骨干；支柱 (英语四级单词)
- brutal [´bru:tl] a.兽性的；残暴的 (英语四级单词)
- uncouth [ʌn´ku:θ] a.粗野的；笨拙的 (英语六级单词)
- sentry [´sentri] n.哨兵 v.站岗，放哨 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
- publicly [´pʌblikli] ad.公然；公众所有地 (英语六级单词)
- barter [´bɑ:tə] v.交换(货物) n.互换品 (英语六级单词)
- presumably [pri´zju:məbli] ad.推测起来；大概 (英语六级单词)
- nether [´neðə] a.下面的；地下的 (英语六级单词)
- rivulet [´rivjulit] n.小河，溪流 (英语六级单词)
- rudely [´ru:dli] ad.粗鲁地；粗略地 (英语六级单词)
- wanting [´wɔntiŋ, wɑ:n-] a.短缺的；不足的 (英语六级单词)
- starlight [´stɑ:lait] n.星光 (英语六级单词)
- viceroy [´vaisrɔi] n.副王；总督 (英语六级单词)
- foothold [´futhəuld] n.立足点；据点 (英语六级单词)
- solace [´sɔləs] n.&vt.安慰(物)；缓和 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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