登陆注册
5230300000031

第31章 X LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW

WELL, Miranda," said the Doctor. "I'm terribly sorry this has happened. But you mustn't mind Cheapside; he doesn't know any better. He's a city bird; and all his life he has had to squabble for a living. You must make allowances. He doesn't know any better."

Miranda stretched her gorgeous wings wearily. Now that I saw her awake and moving I noticed what a superior, well-bred manner she had. There were tears in her eyes and her beak was trembling.

"I wouldn't have minded so much," she said in a high silvery voice, "if I hadn't been so dreadfully worn out--That and something else," she added beneath her breath.

"Did you have a hard time getting here?" asked the Doctor.

"The worst passage I ever made," said Miranda. "The weather--Well there. What's the use? I'm here anyway."

"Tell me," said the Doctor as though he had been impatiently waiting to say something for a long time: "what did Long Arrow say when you gave him my message?"

The Purple Bird-of-Paradise hung her head.

"That's the worst part of it," she said. "I might almost as well have not come at all. I wasn't able to deliver your message. I couldn't find him. LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW, HAS DISAPPEARED!"

"Disappeared!" cried the Doctor. "Why, what's become of him?"

"Nobody knows," Miranda answered. "He had often disappeared before, as I have told you--so that the Indians didn't know where he was. But it's a mighty hard thing to hide away from the birds.

I had always been able to find some owl or martin who could tell me where he was--if I wanted to know. But not this time. That's why I'm nearly a fortnight late in coming to you: I kept hunting and hunting, asking everywhere. I went over the whole length and breadth of South America. But there wasn't a living thing could tell me where he was."

There was a sad silence in the room after she had finished; the Doctor was frowning in a peculiar sort of way and Polynesia scratched her head.

"Did you ask the black parrots?" asked Polynesia. "They usually know everything."

"Certainly I did," said Miranda. "And I was so upset at not being able to find out anything, that I forgot all about observing the weather-signs before I started my flight here. I didn't even bother to break my journey at the Azores, but cut right across, making for the Straits of Gibraltar-- as though it were June or July. And of course I ran into a perfectly frightful storm in mid-Atlantic. I really thought I'd never come through it. Luckily I found a piece of a wrecked vessel floating in the sea after the storm had partly died down; and I roosted on it and took some sleep. If I hadn't been able to take that rest I wouldn't be here to tell the tale."

"Poor Miranda! What a time you must have had!" said the Doctor.

"But tell me, were you able to find out whereabouts Long Arrow was last seen?"

"Yes. A young albatross told me he had seen him on Spidermonkey Island?"

"Spidermonkey Island? That's somewhere off the coast of Brazil, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's it. Of course I flew there right away and asked every bird on the island--and it is a big island, a hundred miles long. It seems that Long Arrow was visiting some peculiar Indians that live there; and that when last seen he was going up into the mountains looking for rare medicine-plants. I got that from a tame hawk, a pet, which the Chief of the Indians keeps for hunting partridges with. I nearly got caught and put in a cage for my pains too. That's the worst of having beautiful feathers: it's as much as your life is worth to go near most humans--They say, 'oh how pretty!' and shoot an arrow or a bullet into you.

You and Long Arrow were the only two men that I would ever trust myself near--out of all the people in the world."

"But was he never known to have returned from the mountains?"

"No. That was the last that was seen or heard of him. I questioned the sea-birds around the shores to find out if he had left the island in a canoe. But they could tell me nothing."

"Do you think that some accident has happened to him?" asked the Doctor in a fearful voice.

"I'm afraid it must have," said Miranda shaking her head.

"Well," said John Dolittle slowly, "if I could never meet Long Arrow face to face it would be the greatest disappointment in my whole life. Not only that, but it would be a great loss to the knowledge of the human race. For, from what you have told me of him, he knew more natural science than all the rest of us put together; and if he has gone without any one to write it down for him, so the world may be the better for it, it would be a terrible thing. But you don't really think that he is dead, do you?"

"What else can I think?" asked Miranda, bursting into tears, "when for six whole months he has not been seen by flesh, fish or fowl."

同类推荐
  • 异辞录

    异辞录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Awakening & Selected Short Stories

    Awakening & Selected Short Stories

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上灵宝十方应号天尊忏

    太上灵宝十方应号天尊忏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 终南山祖庭仙真内传

    终南山祖庭仙真内传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 正法眼藏

    正法眼藏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 小公主(中小学生必读丛书)

    小公主(中小学生必读丛书)

    常驻印度的英国上尉克鲁先生把唯一的女儿萨拉送到了伦敦的一所贵族学校,学校校长明钦女士竭力巴结他们,将萨拉捧成了学校的“招牌学生”,把她当成公主一样尊敬。克鲁上尉因和朋友投资钻石矿失利而染病去世,势利的明钦女士把萨拉赶到阁楼做女佣,萨拉饱尝了周围势利之人的冷眼以及各种折磨,但她都以乐观的心态面对,依然表现得像个公主。两年后,克鲁上尉的朋友找到了萨拉,并告知萨拉钻石矿已恢复生产,萨拉终于摆脱了明钦女士的压迫,变成了真正的“公主”。
  • 谥法

    谥法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 守棺人

    守棺人

    传闻得六祖慧能舍利者得天下权势,八方钱财,隐匿在现今社会中沉睡了上千年的‘豺狼虎豹’,因舍利的再度现世早已蠢蠢欲动,二十一世纪里一场不见硝烟的舍利争夺战即将拉开序幕……
  • 改变80后男生的30堂智慧课

    改变80后男生的30堂智慧课

    《改变80后男生的30堂智慧课》这本书就从不同的方面阐述了80后男生所面临的挑战,使那些还在徘徊的80后男生知道此事应该做什么,应该怎样做。同时,本书向读者展现了一个成功80后男生应该具有的智慧,只要你认真学习本书的课程,你就会成为一名成功的男人。
  • 凤凰城

    凤凰城

    《凤凰城》为回族风物传说类民间故事专辑。出自民间,滋养着一代又一代回族民众淳朴、善良的民性:它浓浓的泥土的芳香,更是带给人一种悠长纯美的回味……透过这些故事,不仅可以感受浓郁的地方风情,也可以体悟回族民间故事与多民族民间文化的交流与融合。
  • 明伦汇编皇极典勤民部

    明伦汇编皇极典勤民部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 腹黑爹地来迟了

    腹黑爹地来迟了

    一段美好的校园爱情,本应顺理成章的修成正果,却在一步之遥戛然而止!从此,世上又多了一位单亲妈妈,夏小遥带着宝宝艰难地生活着,却还在期望着孩子他爸回来。他真的回来了,却不再是大学时夏小遥所认识的那个少年,而是化身为从国外回来的投资客,和他一起回来的,居然是曾经的大学室友吴珊珊!是再续前缘,还是知难而退?这可不是夏小遥所能决定的!因为,一大一小两个男人都声称不能没有她!夏小遥决定遵从心底的想法,和深爱的人在一起,却发现似乎总是有着许多莫名的力量在阻碍着他们,甚至,三年多前的分离真相也开始露出水面,这一次,他们的结果会不一样吗?本文一对一,宠文,喜欢的亲们记得收藏哦,8然--哼哼!【好奇宝宝篇】某宝:妈妈,我真的没有爸爸吗?幼儿园的小朋友都有。某妈:宝宝当然也有爸爸了,只不过,宝宝的爸爸不和我们住在一起。某宝:哦,为什么不和爸爸住一起呢?要是和爸爸住一起,我就可以和爸爸一起玩了!某妈:这个--,爸爸他也要上班啊,所以不能和我们住一起啊!某宝:那爸爸不放假吗?妈妈上班也要放假的哦!某妈:爸爸的工作很忙,没有假放的,所以他才能赚很多钱买房子给宝宝住啊!你知道吗?我们现在住的房子就是爸爸买的!某宝:哦,那我们已经有房子了,可以让爸爸回来陪宝宝了吗?某妈:还不行哦,这个房子还欠了好多的贷款,所以爸爸还要继续赚钱才可以。某宝:哦,那爸爸什么时候可以还完钱啊?我想爸爸快点回来陪我玩--【痴情男人篇】某男:遥遥,我回来了。某女:嗯!某男:我好想你!还有我们的孩子!某女:你就知道一定是你的?某男:我就知道!某女:好,那个吴珊珊是怎么回事?某男:我们俩没什么。某女:那你们怎么一起走,又一起回来?某男:那是因为,我以后再告诉你。某女:宝宝,我们走!P:简介无能,文文精彩!
  • 恨你痛我

    恨你痛我

    那一天,一个少女买一只怪猫,发生奇异事件,少年的身世之迷终将浮出水面,第四魔王与第三魔王带领恶灵骑士在人界争斗,黄金七神器落入谁,三重关系,三界之争,三重门,谁才是拯救世界的人。
  • 仙路之混沌帝者

    仙路之混沌帝者

    仙魔大陆、西方无序之地,本该无忧无虑的享受童年的我,却深受全村被屠杀的悲痛,看着他们一个个的倒在我眼前,一切发生都是那么突然;如此乱世、我该何去何从,接受命运、忍气吞声、苟延残喘吗?不,我命由我不由天,天若亡我,我便逆了这天又如何,我的世界当由我主宰……一切尽在《仙路之混沌帝者》。
  • 法度:依法治国方略

    法度:依法治国方略

    春秋战国是我国历史的上古时期。此时期的诸侯争霸、百家争鸣和各国变法图强,促成了一个前所未有的动荡与变革局面。在这个破旧立新的变革时期,法家思想家管仲、李悝、商鞅等人提出了“依法治国”主张,在实践中积极变法,建立法制,制定法令条例,树立规范,规定法则。通过立法和执法,依法治国,实现了由“刑”到“法”再到“律”的演进,其中包含有法律概念的逐渐清晰以及人们认识水平的发展,对后世封建法律的制定和实施意义深远。