注册
正文 目录 文库目录 文库收藏 中文百科 Wiki百科
白鲸|Moby Dick (The Whale)

3．鲸鱼客店| CHAPTER 3. The Spouter-Inn.

属类： 双语小说 【分类】双语小说 -[作者: 赫尔曼·麦尔维尔] 阅读：[15567]
《 字+字- 行+行- 页+页- 字+字- 行+行- 页+页- 》
-

黑漆漆的门道里，倾斜着几块老式的壁板，迎面的墙上，是一幅巨大的油画。烟熏火燎、尘埋土封，在几道斜射进来的微光的帮助下，才勉强可以分辨那上面那些大大小小的阴影与色块。

1
-

这些阴影与色块可疑地纵横着，一团黑乎乎的不祥之物占据了画面正中，几根蓝色的斜线又含义不明地牵扯着什么脏兮兮的东西：是午夜中风暴袭击大海？是水火携风大战？抑或只是一株枯萎的石楠花？

2
-

纷坛的景象足可以让任何一个意志薄弱者神经错乱！可你会猛然从中惊醒：噢，是它，是它，海中的巨兽！

3
-

后来我询问了左邻右舍，又走访了不少上了年纪的人，综合了种种意见，对这幅画作出了如下的判断：这是一条陷入合恩角的大旋风里的船，它将沉而未沉，几根光秃秃的桅杆还在水面上挣扎；一条大鲸鱼显然是为这条沉船挡住了它的去路而发了怒，它正向那三根桅杆开战，疯狂地扑了上去。

4
-

油画一侧的墙上，挂着一排各式各样的枪和矛。

5
-

它们不是普通的枪和矛，而是些充满异教色彩的怪异之物：有的镶着闪亮的牙齿；有的挂着一撮人类的头发；有的则透着一股仿佛会随时舞动起来的杀气。

6
-

这其中还有几枝锈迹斑驳的捕鲸标枪，是那种传说中的有名武器。

7
-

那一枝朽烂的鲸鱼枪，据说在五十年前曾一连刺死过十五只鲸鱼，最后一次扎入一只大鲸鱼以后被它带进了海里，几年以后人们打死了这只鲸，才又找到了这枝枪。

8
-

枪当时扎中的是鲸的头部，可再发现这枝枪时却在鱼的尾部，它在鱼身上走了四十英尺！

9
-

穿过低矮的过道，总算进屋了。

10
-

屋子里比外面还黑，房梁架得很低，地板又铺得不平。使人以为是进了一条破船的船舱。外面狂风吼叫，就好像在大风中失事的破船，摇摇欲坠的感觉很厉害。

11
-

屋子的角落里有一张瘸了腿的长长的木板桌，桌子上放着些残破的玻璃器皿，还有些从世界的各个角落搜罗来的布满尘土的奇珍异物。

12
-

屋子的另一个角落里，是一个酒吧，如果这也可以称为酒吧的话。凸凸凹凹的木板把那块地方装饰得很像一个露脊鲸的鲸头。

13
-

这鲸鱼嘴里的货架子上，有各种各样长脖短项、大肚瘪胸的酒瓶子，一个活像希伯来预言家约拿再世的小老头在那儿忙碌着，他收进水手的钱，卖给他们颤抖性酒疯和死亡。

14
-

最为狡诈的是那透着死亡气息的绿色酒杯，猛一看好像是圆筒形的，可到了腰部它就狡猾地向下缩进去了。杯体上还有一格一格的刻度，每一格要一便士，你一口就可以喝掉一个先令。

15
-

几个年轻的水手正聚在暗淡的灯光四周，玩那种用鲸牙、贝壳当棋子的棋。

16
-

我找到了店老板，说要住店。

17
-

他告诉我客满，没地方了，可马上又说：“如果你愿意，可以和一个标枪手睡一张床。你反正是去捕鲸的，先习惯一下这种事吧，怎么样？”

18
-

“我可从来没有和别人睡一张床的习惯！不过，非得如此的话，我想知道那个标枪手是怎样一个人。”

19
-

是啊，与其再到冰冷的街道上去徘徊寻觅，倒也不如和一个行为规矩的人同床共眠。

20
-

“啊，我知道你会答应的。那么，晚饭呢？吃不吃晚饭，马上好！”

21
-

我一屁股在一把老式的高靠背椅子上坐了下来。椅子上刻满了乱七八糟的东西，就像炮台公园里的椅子一样。

22
-

旁边的一把椅子旁，正蹲着一个手拿大折刀矢志不渝地在刻着什么的水手，难道他要雕出一艘船来？瞧他那个用尽平生力气的劲儿。

23
-

一会儿，我们这群人中有四五个被叫到隔壁房间去吃饭了。屋子里冷得像在冰岛，老板说他生不起火。

24
-

我们瑟瑟地伸出手来，迫不及待地捧到那滚烫的茶杯。

25
-

两根流了泪的牛油蜡，在从各个方向透进来的风中摇曳着，忽明忽暗地照着大家变了形似的脸。饭菜倒还可以，有土豆、有肉，还有汤圆儿！啊，把汤圆儿当晚饭吃！

26
-

一个穿绿外套的年轻车夫，面目狰狞地吃着汤圆。

27
-

“唉，小伙子，你这么吃，晚上会做恶梦的。”店老板说。

28
-

我轻声问：“他是那个标枪手吧？”

29
-

老板诡秘地看了我一眼：“不，标枪手不吃汤圆儿，他只吃牛排，半生不熟的那种。”

30
-

“他妈的，怎么他没来呢？”

31
-

“一会儿就来了。”他回答。

32
-

我在心中为这个标枪手画着像，突然有点不放心起来。不管怎么样，要等他先脱衣服上床以后我才上床。

33
-

晚饭后，大家马上就又回酒吧去了。

34
-

我看看也无处可去，只好也跟着去了。

35
-

一会儿，外面传来一阵喧哗。

36
-

“啊，‘逆戟鲸号’的水手！”

37
-

老板猛地跳将起来，这样嚷道。

38
-

“他们出去三年啦，肯定是满载而回的！好啦，朋友们，这回咱们可有新闻听啦！”门口一阵纷乱的脚步声，是那种水手靴踏在地上特有的声音。房门大开，拥进一群水手来。

39
-

他们都破衣烂衫的，浑身都是补丁，头上裹着围巾、胡子上结着冰，像一群大熊。

40
-

他们刚下船，这是他们登上陆地以后进的第一间房子。所有的人都直奔酒吧。

41
-

约拿张罗着为他们倒上一杯又一杯酒，其中一个说自己伤风了，不能喝酒。约拿立刻倒上一杯柱松子酒，加了点蜜糖，又加了点沥青似的东西，他发誓，喝下这一杯酒，不管伤风还是感冒，不管是多年旧疾还是新染之恙，不管是在拉布拉多海滨得的病，还是在冰岛着了凉，喝下去，尽管喝下去，便会药到病除。

42
-

一会儿，那些人就发起酒疯来，手舞足蹈狂喊乱叫。

43
-

刚上岸的水手都这样，酒量再大也不行。

44
-

不过我注意到，他们之中有一个人和别人是不大一样的。尽管他尽量避免自己脸上的严肃扫了伙伴们的兴，但是他的行为举止还是与别的水手形成鲜明对照。

45
-

他肩宽背阔，足有六英尺高，脸晒得黑黑的，显得牙特别白，两只眼睛中似乎有一种惆怅的意味。

46
-

这位身高体壮，说话略带南方口音的弗吉尼亚人，在他的伙计们畅饮酣喝时，悄悄地走开了。

47
-

我再一次见到他时，已经是在船上的事了。

48
-

他的伙计们很快就发现他不见了，叫着他的名字找他：“布金敦！布金敦！”

49
-

有几个人喊着跑出屋子去找他。

50
-

狂欢之后，酒吧里显得十分冷清，冷清得有点瘆人。

51
-

已经是夜里九点了。我正考虑睡觉的问题。

52
-

大约人从本性上就是反对与不相干的人同床的，即使是亲兄弟。如今在这样一个陌生的地方、一个陌生的客店里同一个陌生的标枪手同床，实在让人无法忍受。

53
-

当水手就得和别人同床吗？哪儿的事呢！水手们在船上只不过是睡在一个房间里罢了。每个人都有自己的床、自己的被，你即使赤身而卧也不会有人妨碍你的。

54
-

想到这儿，我已经忍无可忍了。这个标枪手的衣服一定很脏……

55
-

“喂，老板，算了，我就在凳子上凑合一宿吧！跟别人同床实在不是什么好事。”

56
-

“可以。只是这凳子上没什么可铺的！”

57
-

说着，他摸了摸凳子面粗大的木节。

58
-

“不过，等一会儿，贝壳佬，我的酒柜里有一把刨子，可以刨一刨！”

59
-

他一边说一边走到酒柜边儿上，低头找出那把刨子来，用一块破布擦去上面的灰尘，然后走回来卖力地刨起凳子来。

60
-

刨花飞舞，老板咧着嘴傻笑，像个大猩猩。很快刨子碰上了一个极硬的大木节，怎么用劲也刨不动。

61
-

“算了，别刨了！世界上大概没有什么东西可以把凳子刨成软床。”

62
-

他又笑了，还是那种张着大嘴像头大猩猩的傻笑。

63
-

收拾好满地的刨花以后，他又去忙别的了。我一个人坐着呆呆地想着什么。

64
-

许久，我才回过神来。量了量那凳子，发现它还不够长，加上一把椅子就行了。又看了看，发现它又太窄了。房子里倒还有另一把凳子，可两个凳子高度不一样，拼起来是不行的。

65
-

我把凳子搬到墙边上，让它和墙之间留下一条缝，这样凑合着可以躺下了。

66
-

躺下后马上又起来了，因为有一股风从破窗户缝儿里如刀一般地冲进未，正对着我的头！

67
-

该死的标枪手，他上哪儿去了？啊，对！我为什么不能趁他没回来时先占领那张床呢？把门反锁上，睡得沉沉的，怎么敲也醒不了！

68
-

这主意不错。不过，就怕明天早晨一开门那个标枪手迎面给我一拳！

69
-

怎么办！在这样寒冷的夜晚，我除去与陌生人同床以外就别无选择了？也许那个标枪手并不像我想像的那么坏呢！相见以后，也许我并不那么厌恶地与他同床呢！

70
-

可左等右等他也不回来。

71
-

“老板，那标枪手每天都是后半夜才回来吗？”

72
-

“啊，不不不，他可是只早更鸟，早睡早起，一向如此。不过，今天晚上说出去卖东西了，谁知道为什么到现在还不回来啊！”

73
-

说完，他又像只猩猩似的笑了起来。

74
-

“他去卖什么？”

75
-

“卖他的头。”

76
-

“什么？”

77
-

“头。”

78
-

听到老板这样回答我，我不禁心头火起。

79
-

“够了，别以为我是什么嫩芽芽，扯什么淡？”

80
-

“扯淡？你说我扯淡还是说他的头扯淡还是他扯淡？”

81
-

“你也许不是什么嫩芽芽儿，不过，如果让他知道了你这样说他，他会把你烤成枯枝败叶的！”

82
-

老板把火柴棍当成牙签，一边剔着牙一边这样说。

83
-

“那我会砸烂他的头！”

84
-

我有些怒不可遏了。

85
-

“行了，已经给砸烂了！”

86
-

“什么？砸烂了？你说砸烂了？”

87
-

“是的，这可能就是他卖不出去的原因。”

88
-

“好啦，老板，别扯这些让人摸不着头脑的鬼话了。这只能增加我对我的‘床友’的厌恶。你最好还是好好跟我讲一讲，他到底是个什么人？一个去卖自己的头的人，在我看来非疯即傻，跟这样的人同床无论如何我是不能忍受的。”我又说：

89
-

“如果真是这样，我可要去告你这个明知他是个什么人，还安排我跟他同床的人！”

90
-

“噢，爱生气的小伙子，不开玩笑了，这标枪手来自南洋，他的那些头是用香料制成的玩意儿，他卖得只剩下一个了，今天无论如何也要卖出去，因为明天是礼拜天，别人都去做礼拜，他在街上卖人头就不像话了。

91
-

上礼拜日就是我拦住他没让他拎着那些头上街的！”

92
-

“那，老板，这个标枪手一定不是什么善良之辈吧？”

93
-

“这个，房租他都是按期付的。”

94
-

“行啦，你不用担心，上床去睡吧！那张床是我跟萨尔的婚床，在床上打滚都没问题。后来小沙姆、小约翰我们四个人睡那张床都没问题！”

95
-

“有一回，我做了个什么好梦，高兴地翻身，把小沙姆给踹下去了。萨尔无论如何也不要那张床了！”

96
-

“好了，来吧，我给你点上灯。”

97
-

我还是有点犹豫。

98
-

老板看了一眼墙上的钟，突然大叫；“啊，现在已经是礼拜日了，我敢保证，他今儿晚上不回来了，他一定在什么地方抛锚了！”

99
-

“来吧，跟我来吧！”

100
-

我跟着他上了楼，进了一间冰冷的小屋。那张床确实很大，够四个标枪手并排睡的。

101
-

“好喽，你可以安然入梦了。”

102
-

他把蜡烛放在那又当桌子又当洗脸架的船上用的破柜子上，一转身，走了。

103
-

我翻开被褥看了看，还凑合。

104
-

屋子里除了这张床和那张破柜子几乎就别无它物了。墙角里扔着一个水手包，那可能就是标枪手的衣箱了；旁边还有一张捆起来的吊床，一块粗糙的壁炉上隔板画着一个人，在捕鲸鱼；几个奇形怪状的鱼钩和一把长长的标枪是这屋子里最后几件东西了。

105
-

不过，很快我又发现了另外一件东西。像个门帘似的一张毯子。毯子四边镶着一些叮当响的饰物，正当中开着个洞。我试着把这穿在身上，湿漉漉的，很沉。

106
-

很难想像，那个标枪手穿上这样一件奇怪的衣服招摇过市！

107
-

我迫不及待地往下脱这毯子，情急之中扭了一下头，酸疼酸疼的。

108
-

我呆坐在床上，想像着这个怪模样的标枪手的形象。

109
-

脱了外衣，接着想。

110
-

衣服都脱了，又想了一阵。

111
-

感到一阵冷意，这才回过神儿来。想想他这么晚了肯定不回来了，我也就不再多想了。吹了蜡烛钻进被子里，听天由命吧。

112
-

褥子很硬，不知道里面装的是玉米棒子还是瓦片，翻来覆去总是找不准一个不硌得慌的好地方。

113
-

好不容易要进入梦乡了，一阵沉重的脚步声响了起来。一丝烛光移上楼来！

114
-

坏了，坏了，标枪手回来了！那个无法无天的人头贩子！

115
-

可我没动，我下了决心，不跟他打招呼，除非他先跟我说话。

116
-

他一手拿着蜡烛，一手拎着他的“头”，走进屋来。

117
-

他没朝床这边看，把蜡烛放在地板上，伸手去解他的水手包。

118
-

我很想知道他长的是一副什么模样，可他蹲在那儿，半天也没回头。

119
-

终于，他扭过头来了：一张可怕的脸，说黑不黑，说红不红，左一块右一块儿贴得满脸是膏药似的东西。

120
-

这一定是跟人打架留下的痕迹！

121
-

他站起身来时我才看清，不是膏药，而是涂上去的颜色！

122
-

这是怎么回事儿？我脑子飞快地转着，终于想起以前听来的一个故事：一个白人捕鲸者被什么鬼地方的土著抓了去，刺了一身花纹，丑陋之至。

123
-

这个标枪手是不是也有过类似的经历呢？不过，这也没什么，这不能说明他是个坏人啊！

124
-

可阳光无论如何也不能把一个白人晒成紫铜色啊，在他脸上的那些色块之外的地方不就都是紫铜色吗？

125
-

他蹲在那儿掏摸了半天，立起身来时，手里拿着一把斧头烟斗、一个海豹皮的皮夹子。他把这两样东西往那张破柜子上一扔，摘下了他的獭皮帽子。

126
-

天啊，他的头上寸草不生，是个秃子！可是，在头顶正中，却梳着一个小髻！

127
-

太吓人了，如果不是他站的位置正好挡住了门，我会一下窜出门去的。

128
-

怎么办？跳窗户吧，可窗户看样子是钉死了！

129
-

我并非什么胆小鬼，可这个卖人头的紫色怪物太让人费解了，无知造成的恐惧可以让人神经错乱的。

130
-

现在不是我不跟他说话了，而是没有勇气跟他说话了。

131
-

他根本没发现我的存在，还在脱衣服，胳膊、胸膛、腿都露了出来，到处都是脸上那种可怕的色块。他像一个从战场上逃出来的人，九死一生的身体上满目疮痍。

132
-

他一定是南洋的什么野人土著，搭上了一条捕鲸船，跑到这儿来了！

133
-

我浑身一抖：这个人头贩子，卖的也许是他亲兄弟的头呢！那，那他会不会看上我的头呢？

134
-

我看了一眼柜子上的斧头烟斗，差一点喊出声儿来。他正在进行动作，使我因为好奇而暂时抑制了一些恐惧。

135
-

他找到刚才我试了试的毯子衣服，摸摸索索地从那上面的小口袋里掏出一个小人偶像来。

136
-

那小偶像驼着背，像个刚生下来的黑娃娃。这让我联想到了那用香料制成的人头，这个婴孩是不是也是用真正的娃娃制成的呢？

137
-

很快我就打消了自己的这一丝可怕的疑惑，那小东西在烛光下亮亮的，反射着一种磨光了的木头才会有的光泽，是木制的。

138
-

这时候，那家伙走到壁炉旁，揭开纸板，把那个小偶像放到了被烟熏得很黑的烟道里。

139
-

这是他的神龛，或者说是教堂。

140
-

我眯着眼，盯着他的一举一动。

141
-

他从毯子的口袋儿里抓出一把刨花来，小心地放在他的圣像面前，又把一块破面包放在了刨花儿上，然后用蜡烛引着了火。

142
-

火苗由小而大，剧烈地燃烧起来。他伸手去拿那火堆里的面包，一伸一缩，试了好几次，最后终于拿了出来。

143
-

他飞快地在两只手里颠来倒去地颠着那块显然是烫手的面包，撞掉上面的灰恭敬地呈到了那尊小圣像前。

144
-

可那黑黑的小东西似乎对硬面包不感兴趣，动也不动一下。而他似乎对此已习以为常，只管哼哼着什么奇奇怪怪的东西，大约是圣歌吧。

145
-

他一张嘴唱，脸就扭曲成了一种非常奇怪的模样。

146
-

圣礼终于做完了，他吹灭火，伸手拿出那个小木头人来，顺手塞进了口袋里，就像猎人很随便地把什么小猎物扔进背篓里。

147
-

看着他完成了这一系列古怪的动作，我知道下一步他就要上床睡觉了，这可怎么办？就像要碰上鬼一样，我无论如何也要喊出一句话来了！

148
-

只一刹那间，他已经叼上了那把斧头烟斗，喷出一大口烟来，去熄灯了！

149
-

啊，这个叼着斧头烟斗的野人就要上床了！

150
-

我狂叫了一声，蹦了起来。

151
-

他也随着吼了一声，伸过手来要摸摸我是什么东西。

152
-

我哆哆嗦嗦地说了一通，说的什么，自己也不太明白。而且一边说一边滚到了墙角里，想尽量躲开他。

153
-

“你说，你是哪儿来的鬼？说啊，再不说我宰了你！”

154
-

他舞动着那闪着亮儿的斧头烟斗，咆哮着。

155
-

“阿，老——板！彼德——科芬，老——板！快来人啊！救命啊！”

156
-

我不顾一切地大叫起来。

157
-

“你是谁，你这个混蛋，看我怎么宰了你吧！”

158
-

他又舞起了斧头烟斗，带着火星的烟末儿向周围飞舞着，我觉得衬衣好像让它给点着了。

159
-

谢天谢地，就在此时，科芬拿着灯走了进来。

160
-

我就像落水的人看到了救人的船，没命地向他扑过去。

161
-

“噢，别怕别怕，魁魁格不会伤害你的。”

162
-

老板笑容可掬地说。

163
-

“行了，收回你的笑吧！你为什么刚才不告诉我这个标枪手是个吃人的土著呢？”

164
-

“嗨，我以为你明白呢！我不是告诉你了吗，他在城里卖人头！”

165
-

“行啦，快睡吧，没问题。”

166
-

“魁魁格，我们彼此都十分了解，这个人今晚上与你同睡，好吧？”

167
-

“知道了。”

168
-

魁魁格叼着斧头烟斗，坐到了床上。

169
-

“你可以上床了。”

170
-

他用烟斗向我点了点，撩开了一角被子。

171
-

他的举止现在看来还真有点礼貌呢！尽管他浑身上下都是那可怕的花纹，但这并不说明他就是个坏人啊！刚才我怕了，他也在怕我呀！

172
-

与其跟一个烂脏如泥的基督徒睡，还不如同这个神志清醒的吃人土著同床呢。

173
-

“老板，请你让他收起他的烟斗，或者说是斧子，那样我才能上床。因为我可是没有保火险！”

174
-

科芬把我的话对魁魁格讲了一遍，魁魁格立刻照办了，又打着手势让我上床，十分友好。

175
-

“好吧，再见，科芬老板。”

176
-

我上了床。

177
-

魁魁格侧到床的边上躺着，意思是不会挨到我，我尽管睡好了。

178
-

那一夜，睡得很香。

179
-

Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks of some condemned old craft. On one side hung a very large oilpainting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the unequal crosslights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose. Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched. But by dint of much and earnest contemplation, and oft repeated ponderings, and especially by throwing open the little window towards the back of the entry, you at last come to the conclusion that such an idea, however wild, might not be altogether unwarranted.

1

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

But what most puzzled and confounded you was a long, limber, portentous, black mass of something hovering in the centre of the picture over three blue, dim, perpendicular lines floating in a nameless yeast. A boggy, soggy, squitchy picture truly, enough to drive a nervous man distracted. Yet was there a sort of indefinite, half-attained, unimaginable sublimity about it that fairly froze you to it, till you involuntarily took an oath with yourself to find out what that marvellous painting meant. Ever and anon a bright, but, alas, deceptive idea would dart you through.—It’s the Black Sea in a midnight gale.—It’s the unnatural combat of the four primal elements.—It’s a blasted heath.—It’s a Hyperborean winter scene.—It’s the breaking-up of the icebound stream of Time. But at last all these fancies yielded to that one portentous something in the picture’s midst. That once found out, and all the rest were plain. But stop; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish? even the great leviathan himself?

2

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

In fact, the artist’s design seemed this: a final theory of my own, partly based upon the aggregated opinions of many aged persons with whom I conversed upon the subject. The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.

3

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

The opposite wall of this entry was hung all over with a heathenish array of monstrous clubs and spears. Some were thickly set with glittering teeth resembling ivory saws; others were tufted with knots of human hair; and one was sickle-shaped, with a vast handle sweeping round like the segment made in the new-mown grass by a long-armed mower. You shuddered as you gazed, and wondered what monstrous cannibal and savage could ever have gone a death-harvesting with such a hacking, horrifying implement. Mixed with these were rusty old whaling lances and harpoons all broken and deformed. Some were storied weapons. With this once long lance, now wildly elbowed, fifty years ago did Nathan Swain kill fifteen whales between a sunrise and a sunset. And that harpoon—so like a corkscrew now—was flung in Javan seas, and run away with by a whale, years afterwards slain off the Cape of Blanco. The original iron entered nigh the tail, and, like a restless needle sojourning in the body of a man, travelled full forty feet, and at last was found imbedded in the hump.

4

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Crossing this dusky entry, and on through yon low-arched way—cut through what in old times must have been a great central chimney with fireplaces all round—you enter the public room. A still duskier place is this, with such low ponderous beams above, and such old wrinkled planks beneath, that you would almost fancy you trod some old craft’s cockpits, especially of such a howling night, when this corner-anchored old ark rocked so furiously. On one side stood a long, low, shelf-like table covered with cracked glass cases, filled with dusty rarities gathered from this wide world’s remotest nooks. Projecting from the further angle of the room stands a dark-looking den—the bar—a rude attempt at a right whale’s head. Be that how it may, there stands the vast arched bone of the whale’s jaw, so wide, a coach might almost drive beneath it. Within are shabby shelves, ranged round with old decanters, bottles, flasks; and in those jaws of swift destruction, like another cursed Jonah (by which name indeed they called him), bustles a little withered old man, who, for their money, dearly sells the sailors deliriums and death.

5

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Abominable are the tumblers into which he pours his poison. Though true cylinders without—within, the villanous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom. Parallel meridians rudely pecked into the glass, surround these footpads’ goblets. Fill to this mark, and your charge is but a penny; to this a penny more; and so on to the full glass—the Cape Horn measure, which you may gulp down for a shilling.

6

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Upon entering the place I found a number of young seamen gathered about a table, examining by a dim light divers specimens of skrimshander. I sought the landlord, and telling him I desired to be accommodated with a room, received for answer that his house was full—not a bed unoccupied. “But avast,” he added, tapping his forehead, “you haint no objections to sharing a harpooneer’s blanket, have ye? I s’pose you are goin’ a-whalin’, so you’d better get used to that sort of thing.”

7

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

I told him that I never liked to sleep two in a bed; that if I should ever do so, it would depend upon who the harpooneer might be, and that if he (the landlord) really had no other place for me, and the harpooneer was not decidedly objectionable, why rather than wander further about a strange town on so bitter a night, I would put up with the half of any decent man’s blanket.

8

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“I thought so. All right; take a seat. Supper?—you want supper? Supper’ll be ready directly.”

9

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

I sat down on an old wooden settle, carved all over like a bench on the Battery. At one end a ruminating tar was still further adorning it with his jack-knife, stooping over and diligently working away at the space between his legs. He was trying his hand at a ship under full sail, but he didn’t make much headway, I thought.

10

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

At last some four or five of us were summoned to our meal in an adjoining room. It was cold as Iceland—no fire at all—the landlord said he couldn’t afford it. Nothing but two dismal tallow candles, each in a winding sheet. We were fain to button up our monkey jackets, and hold to our lips cups of scalding tea with our half frozen fingers. But the fare was of the most substantial kind—not only meat and potatoes, but dumplings; good heavens! dumplings for supper! One young fellow in a green box coat, addressed himself to these dumplings in a most direful manner.

11

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“My boy,” said the landlord, “you’ll have the nightmare to a dead sartainty.”

12

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Landlord,” I whispered, “that aint the harpooneer is it?”

13

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Oh, no,” said he, looking a sort of diabolically funny, “the harpooneer is a dark complexioned chap. He never eats dumplings, he don’t—he eats nothing but steaks, and he likes ’em rare.”

14

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“The devil he does,” says I. “Where is that harpooneer? Is he here?”

15

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“He’ll be here afore long,” was the answer.

16

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

I could not help it, but I began to feel suspicious of this “dark complexioned” harpooneer. At any rate, I made up my mind that if it so turned out that we should sleep together, he must undress and get into bed before I did.

17

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Supper over, the company went back to the bar-room, when, knowing not what else to do with myself, I resolved to spend the rest of the evening as a looker on.

18

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Presently a rioting noise was heard without. Starting up, the landlord cried, “That’s the Grampus’s crew. I seed her reported in the offing this morning; a three years’ voyage, and a full ship. Hurrah, boys; now we’ll have the latest news from the Feegees.”

19

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

A tramping of sea boots was heard in the entry; the door was flung open, and in rolled a wild set of mariners enough. Enveloped in their shaggy watch coats, and with their heads muffled in woollen comforters, all bedarned and ragged, and their beards stiff with icicles, they seemed an eruption of bears from Labrador. They had just landed from their boat, and this was the first house they entered. No wonder, then, that they made a straight wake for the whale’s mouth—the bar—when the wrinkled little old Jonah, there officiating, soon poured them out brimmers all round. One complained of a bad cold in his head, upon which Jonah mixed him a pitch-like potion of gin and molasses, which he swore was a sovereign cure for all colds and catarrhs whatsoever, never mind of how long standing, or whether caught off the coast of Labrador, or on the weather side of an ice-island.

20

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

The liquor soon mounted into their heads, as it generally does even with the arrantest topers newly landed from sea, and they began capering about most obstreperously.

21

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

I observed, however, that one of them held somewhat aloof, and though he seemed desirous not to spoil the hilarity of his shipmates by his own sober face, yet upon the whole he refrained from making as much noise as the rest. This man interested me at once; and since the sea-gods had ordained that he should soon become my shipmate (though but a sleeping-partner one, so far as this narrative is concerned), I will here venture upon a little description of him. He stood full six feet in height, with noble shoulders, and a chest like a coffer-dam. I have seldom seen such brawn in a man. His face was deeply brown and burnt, making his white teeth dazzling by the contrast; while in the deep shadows of his eyes floated some reminiscences that did not seem to give him much joy. His voice at once announced that he was a Southerner, and from his fine stature, I thought he must be one of those tall mountaineers from the Alleghanian Ridge in Virginia. When the revelry of his companions had mounted to its height, this man slipped away unobserved, and I saw no more of him till he became my comrade on the sea. In a few minutes, however, he was missed by his shipmates, and being, it seems, for some reason a huge favourite with them, they raised a cry of “Bulkington! Bulkington! where’s Bulkington?” and darted out of the house in pursuit of him.

22

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

It was now about nine o’clock, and the room seeming almost supernaturally quiet after these orgies, I began to congratulate myself upon a little plan that had occurred to me just previous to the entrance of the seamen.

23

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

No man prefers to sleep two in a bed. In fact, you would a good deal rather not sleep with your own brother. I don’t know how it is, but people like to be private when they are sleeping. And when it comes to sleeping with an unknown stranger, in a strange inn, in a strange town, and that stranger a harpooneer, then your objections indefinitely multiply. Nor was there any earthly reason why I as a sailor should sleep two in a bed, more than anybody else; for sailors no more sleep two in a bed at sea, than bachelor Kings do ashore. To be sure they all sleep together in one apartment, but you have your own hammock, and cover yourself with your own blanket, and sleep in your own skin.

24

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

The more I pondered over this harpooneer, the more I abominated the thought of sleeping with him. It was fair to presume that being a harpooneer, his linen or woollen, as the case might be, would not be of the tidiest, certainly none of the finest. I began to twitch all over. Besides, it was getting late, and my decent harpooneer ought to be home and going bedwards. Suppose now, he should tumble in upon me at midnight—how could I tell from what vile hole he had been coming?

25

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Landlord! I’ve changed my mind about that harpooneer.—I shan’t sleep with him. I’ll try the bench here.”

26

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Just as you please; I’m sorry I can’t spare ye a tablecloth for a mattress, and it’s a plaguy rough board here”—feeling of the knots and notches. “But wait a bit, Skrimshander; I’ve got a carpenter’s plane there in the bar—wait, I say, and I’ll make ye snug enough.” So saying he procured the plane; and with his old silk handkerchief first dusting the bench, vigorously set to planing away at my bed, the while grinning like an ape. The shavings flew right and left; till at last the plane-iron came bump against an indestructible knot. The landlord was near spraining his wrist, and I told him for heaven’s sake to quit—the bed was soft enough to suit me, and I did not know how all the planing in the world could make eider down of a pine plank. So gathering up the shavings with another grin, and throwing them into the great stove in the middle of the room, he went about his business, and left me in a brown study.

27

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

I now took the measure of the bench, and found that it was a foot too short; but that could be mended with a chair. But it was a foot too narrow, and the other bench in the room was about four inches higher than the planed one—so there was no yoking them. I then placed the first bench lengthwise along the only clear space against the wall, leaving a little interval between, for my back to settle down in. But I soon found that there came such a draught of cold air over me from under the sill of the window, that this plan would never do at all, especially as another current from the rickety door met the one from the window, and both together formed a series of small whirlwinds in the immediate vicinity of the spot where I had thought to spend the night.

28

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

The devil fetch that harpooneer, thought I, but stop, couldn’t I steal a march on him—bolt his door inside, and jump into his bed, not to be wakened by the most violent knockings? It seemed no bad idea; but upon second thoughts I dismissed it. For who could tell but what the next morning, so soon as I popped out of the room, the harpooneer might be standing in the entry, all ready to knock me down!

29

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Still, looking round me again, and seeing no possible chance of spending a sufferable night unless in some other person’s bed, I began to think that after all I might be cherishing unwarrantable prejudices against this unknown harpooneer. Thinks I, I’ll wait awhile; he must be dropping in before long. I’ll have a good look at him then, and perhaps we may become jolly good bedfellows after all—there’s no telling.

30

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

But though the other boarders kept coming in by ones, twos, and threes, and going to bed, yet no sign of my harpooneer.

31

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Landlord!” said I, “what sort of a chap is he—does he always keep such late hours?” It was now hard upon twelve o’clock.

32

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

The landlord chuckled again with his lean chuckle, and seemed to be mightily tickled at something beyond my comprehension. “No,” he answered, “generally he’s an early bird—airley to bed and airley to rise—yes, he’s the bird what catches the worm. But to-night he went out a peddling, you see, and I don’t see what on airth keeps him so late, unless, may be, he can’t sell his head.”

33

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Can’t sell his head?—What sort of a bamboozingly story is this you are telling me?” getting into a towering rage. “Do you pretend to say, landlord, that this harpooneer is actually engaged this blessed Saturday night, or rather Sunday morning, in peddling his head around this town?”

34

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“That’s precisely it,” said the landlord, “and I told him he couldn’t sell it here, the market’s overstocked.”

35

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“With what?” shouted I.

36

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“With heads to be sure; ain’t there too many heads in the world?”

37

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“I tell you what it is, landlord,” said I quite calmly, “you’d better stop spinning that yarn to me—I’m not green.”

38

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“May be not,” taking out a stick and whittling a toothpick, “but I rayther guess you’ll be done brown if that ere harpooneer hears you a slanderin’ his head.”

39

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“I’ll break it for him,” said I, now flying into a passion again at this unaccountable farrago of the landlord’s.

40

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“It’s broke a’ready,” said he.

41

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Broke,” said I—“broke, do you mean?”

42

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Sartain, and that’s the very reason he can’t sell it, I guess.”

43

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Landlord,” said I, going up to him as cool as Mt. Hecla in a snow-storm—“landlord, stop whittling. You and I must understand one another, and that too without delay. I come to your house and want a bed; you tell me you can only give me half a one; that the other half belongs to a certain harpooneer. And about this harpooneer, whom I have not yet seen, you persist in telling me the most mystifying and exasperating stories tending to beget in me an uncomfortable feeling towards the man whom you design for my bedfellow—a sort of connexion, landlord, which is an intimate and confidential one in the highest degree. I now demand of you to speak out and tell me who and what this harpooneer is, and whether I shall be in all respects safe to spend the night with him. And in the first place, you will be so good as to unsay that story about selling his head, which if true I take to be good evidence that this harpooneer is stark mad, and I’ve no idea of sleeping with a madman; and you, sir, you I mean, landlord, you, sir, by trying to induce me to do so knowingly, would thereby render yourself liable to a criminal prosecution.”

44

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Wall,” said the landlord, fetching a long breath, “that’s a purty long sarmon for a chap that rips a little now and then. But be easy, be easy, this here harpooneer I have been tellin’ you of has just arrived from the south seas, where he bought up a lot of ’balmed New Zealand heads (great curios, you know), and he’s sold all on ’em but one, and that one he’s trying to sell to-night, cause to-morrow’s Sunday, and it would not do to be sellin’ human heads about the streets when folks is goin’ to churches. He wanted to, last Sunday, but I stopped him just as he was goin’ out of the door with four heads strung on a string, for all the airth like a string of inions.”

45

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

This account cleared up the otherwise unaccountable mystery, and showed that the landlord, after all, had had no idea of fooling me—but at the same time what could I think of a harpooneer who stayed out of a Saturday night clean into the holy Sabbath, engaged in such a cannibal business as selling the heads of dead idolators?

46

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“Depend upon it, landlord, that harpooneer is a dangerous man.”

47

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“He pays reg’lar,” was the rejoinder. “But come, it’s getting dreadful late, you had better be turning flukes—it’s a nice bed; Sal and me slept in that ere bed the night we were spliced. There’s plenty of room for two to kick about in that bed; it’s an almighty big bed that. Why, afore we give it up, Sal used to put our Sam and little Johnny in the foot of it. But I got a dreaming and sprawling about one night, and somehow, Sam got pitched on the floor, and came near breaking his arm. Arter that, Sal said it wouldn’t do. Come along here, I’ll give ye a glim in a jiffy;” and so saying he lighted a candle and held it towards me, offering to lead the way. But I stood irresolute; when looking at a clock in the corner, he exclaimed “I vum it’s Sunday—you won’t see that harpooneer to-night; he’s come to anchor somewhere—come along then; do come; won’t ye come?”

48

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

I considered the matter a moment, and then up stairs we went, and I was ushered into a small room, cold as a clam, and furnished, sure enough, with a prodigious bed, almost big enough indeed for any four harpooneers to sleep abreast.

49

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

“There,” said the landlord, placing the candle on a crazy old sea chest that did double duty as a wash-stand and centre table; “there, make yourself comfortable now, and good night to ye.” I turned round from eyeing the bed, but he had disappeared.

50

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Folding back the counterpane, I stooped over the bed. Though none of the most elegant, it yet stood the scrutiny tolerably well. I then glanced round the room; and besides the bedstead and centre table, could see no other furniture belonging to the place, but a rude shelf, the four walls, and a papered fireboard representing a man striking a whale. Of things not properly belonging to the room, there was a hammock lashed up, and thrown upon the floor in one corner; also a large seaman’s bag, containing the harpooneer’s wardrobe, no doubt in lieu of a land trunk. Likewise, there was a parcel of outlandish bone fish hooks on the shelf over the fire-place, and a tall harpoon standing at the head of the bed.

51

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

But what is this on the chest? I took it up, and held it close to the light, and felt it, and smelt it, and tried every way possible to arrive at some satisfactory conclusion concerning it. I can compare it to nothing but a large door mat, ornamented at the edges with little tinkling tags something like the stained porcupine quills round an Indian moccasin. There was a hole or slit in the middle of this mat, as you see the same in South American ponchos. But could it be possible that any sober harpooneer would get into a door mat, and parade the streets of any Christian town in that sort of guise? I put it on, to try it, and it weighed me down like a hamper, being uncommonly shaggy and thick, and I thought a little damp, as though this mysterious harpooneer had been wearing it of a rainy day. I went up in it to a bit of glass stuck against the wall, and I never saw such a sight in my life. I tore myself out of it in such a hurry that I gave myself a kink in the neck.

52

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

I sat down on the side of the bed, and commenced thinking about this head-peddling harpooneer, and his door mat. After thinking some time on the bed-side, I got up and took off my monkey jacket, and then stood in the middle of the room thinking. I then took off my coat, and thought a little more in my shirt sleeves. But beginning to feel very cold now, half undressed as I was, and remembering what the landlord said about the harpooneer’s not coming home at all that night, it being so very late, I made no more ado, but jumped out of my pantaloons and boots, and then blowing out the light tumbled into bed, and commended myself to the care of heaven.

53

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Whether that mattress was stuffed with corn-cobs or broken crockery, there is no telling, but I rolled about a good deal, and could not sleep for a long time. At last I slid off into a light doze, and had pretty nearly made a good offing towards the land of Nod, when I heard a heavy footfall in the passage, and saw a glimmer of light come into the room from under the door.

54

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Lord save me, thinks I, that must be the harpooneer, the infernal head-peddler. But I lay perfectly still, and resolved not to say a word till spoken to. Holding a light in one hand, and that identical New Zealand head in the other, the stranger entered the room, and without looking towards the bed, placed his candle a good way off from me on the floor in one corner, and then began working away at the knotted cords of the large bag I before spoke of as being in the room. I was all eagerness to see his face, but he kept it averted for some time while employed in unlacing the bag’s mouth. This accomplished, however, he turned round—when, good heavens! what a sight! Such a face! It was of a dark, purplish, yellow colour, here and there stuck over with large blackish looking squares. Yes, it’s just as I thought, he’s a terrible bedfellow; he’s been in a fight, got dreadfully cut, and here he is, just from the surgeon. But at that moment he chanced to turn his face so towards the light, that I plainly saw they could not be sticking-plasters at all, those black squares on his cheeks. They were stains of some sort or other. At first I knew not what to make of this; but soon an inkling of the truth occurred to me. I remembered a story of a white man—a whaleman too—who, falling among the cannibals, had been tattooed by them. I concluded that this harpooneer, in the course of his distant voyages, must have met with a similar adventure. And what is it, thought I, after all! It’s only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin. But then, what to make of his unearthly complexion, that part of it, I mean, lying round about, and completely independent of the squares of tattooing. To be sure, it might be nothing but a good coat of tropical tanning; but I never heard of a hot sun’s tanning a white man into a purplish yellow one. However, I had never been in the South Seas; and perhaps the sun there produced these extraordinary effects upon the skin. Now, while all these ideas were passing through me like lightning, this harpooneer never noticed me at all. But, after some difficulty having opened his bag, he commenced fumbling in it, and presently pulled out a sort of tomahawk, and a seal-skin wallet with the hair on. Placing these on the old chest in the middle of the room, he then took the New Zealand head—a ghastly thing enough—and crammed it down into the bag. He now took off his hat—a new beaver hat—when I came nigh singing out with fresh surprise. There was no hair on his head—none to speak of at least—nothing but a small scalp-knot twisted up on his forehead. His bald purplish head now looked for all the world like a mildewed skull. Had not the stranger stood between me and the door, I would have bolted out of it quicker than ever I bolted a dinner.

55

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Even as it was, I thought something of slipping out of the window, but it was the second floor back. I am no coward, but what to make of this head-peddling purple rascal altogether passed my comprehension. Ignorance is the parent of fear, and being completely nonplussed and confounded about the stranger, I confess I was now as much afraid of him as if it was the devil himself who had thus broken into my room at the dead of night. In fact, I was so afraid of him that I was not game enough just then to address him, and demand a satisfactory answer concerning what seemed inexplicable in him.

56

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Meanwhile, he continued the business of undressing, and at last showed his chest and arms. As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered with the same squares as his face; his back, too, was all over the same dark squares; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years’ War, and just escaped from it with a sticking-plaster shirt. Still more, his very legs were marked, as if a parcel of dark green frogs were running up the trunks of young palms. It was now quite plain that he must be some abominable savage or other shipped aboard of a whaleman in the South Seas, and so landed in this Christian country. I quaked to think of it. A peddler of heads too—perhaps the heads of his own brothers. He might take a fancy to mine—heavens! look at that tomahawk!

57

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

But there was no time for shuddering, for now the savage went about something that completely fascinated my attention, and convinced me that he must indeed be a heathen. Going to his heavy grego, or wrapall, or dreadnaught, which he had previously hung on a chair, he fumbled in the pockets, and produced at length a curious little deformed image with a hunch on its back, and exactly the colour of a three days’ old Congo baby. Remembering the embalmed head, at first I almost thought that this black manikin was a real baby preserved in some similar manner. But seeing that it was not at all limber, and that it glistened a good deal like polished ebony, I concluded that it must be nothing but a wooden idol, which indeed it proved to be. For now the savage goes up to the empty fire-place, and removing the papered fire-board, sets up this little hunch-backed image, like a tenpin, between the andirons. The chimney jambs and all the bricks inside were very sooty, so that I thought this fire-place made a very appropriate little shrine or chapel for his Congo idol.

58

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

I now screwed my eyes hard towards the half hidden image, feeling but ill at ease meantime—to see what was next to follow. First he takes about a double handful of shavings out of his grego pocket, and places them carefully before the idol; then laying a bit of ship biscuit on top and applying the flame from the lamp, he kindled the shavings into a sacrificial blaze. Presently, after many hasty snatches into the fire, and still hastier withdrawals of his fingers (whereby he seemed to be scorching them badly), he at last succeeded in drawing out the biscuit; then blowing off the heat and ashes a little, he made a polite offer of it to the little negro. But the little devil did not seem to fancy such dry sort of fare at all; he never moved his lips. All these strange antics were accompanied by still stranger guttural noises from the devotee, who seemed to be praying in a sing-song or else singing some pagan psalmody or other, during which his face twitched about in the most unnatural manner. At last extinguishing the fire, he took the idol up very unceremoniously, and bagged it again in his grego pocket as carelessly as if he were a sportsman bagging a dead woodcock.

59

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

All these queer proceedings increased my uncomfortableness, and seeing him now exhibiting strong symptoms of concluding his business operations, and jumping into bed with me, I thought it was high time, now or never, before the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been bound.

60

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

61

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

62

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

63

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

64

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

65

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

66

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

67

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

68

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

69

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

70

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

71

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

72

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

73

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
-

Please sign in to unlock the rest

74

读书笔记

是否公开

我的读书笔记

仅对会员开放

网友的读书笔记

仅对会员开放
道德经
论语
孙子兵法
禮記
孟子
尚書
詩經
周易
简典
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

微信小程序

微信公众号

Email:

22745823@qq.com

联系站长：

QQ:22745823

机构翻译

地址翻译

人名翻译

译典登录

译典注册

译典说明

意见反馈

浙ICP备05023696号-8