登陆注册
5254700000012

第12章 CHAPTER V(3)

The other three chaps that had landed with him made a little group waiting at some distance. There was a sallow-faced, mean little chap with his arm in a sling, and a long individual in a blue flannel coat, as dry as a chip and no stouter than a broomstick, with drooping grey moustaches, who looked about him with an air of jaunty imbecility. The third was an upstanding, broad-shouldered youth, with his hands in his pockets, turning his back on the other two who appeared to be talking together earnestly. He stared across the empty Esplanade. A ramshackle gharry, all dust and venetian blinds, pulled up short opposite the group, and the driver, throwing up his right foot over his knee, gave himself up to the critical examination of his toes. The young chap, making no movement, not even stirring his head, just stared into the sunshine. This was my first view of Jim. He looked as unconcerned and unapproachable as only the young can look. There he stood, clean-limbed, clean-faced, firm on his feet, as promising a boy as the sun ever shone on; and, looking at him, knowing all he knew and a little more too, I was angry as though I had detected him trying to get something out of me by false pretences. He had no business to look so sound.

I thought to myself--Well, if this sort can go wrong like that . . . and I felt as though I could fling down my hat and dance on it from sheer mortification, as I once saw the skipper of an Italian barque do because his duffer of a mate got into a mess with his anchors when making a flying moor in a roadstead full of ships. I asked myself, seeing him there apparently so much at ease--Is he silly? is he callous? He seemed ready to start whistling a tune. And note, I did not care a rap about the behaviour of the other two. Their persons somehow fitted the tale that was public property, and was going to be the subject of an official inquiry. "That old mad rogue upstairs called me a hound," said the captain of the Patna . I can't tell whether he recognized me--I rather think he did; but at any rate our glances met. He glared--I smiled; hound was the very mildest epithet that had reached me through the open window. "Did he?" I said from some strange inability to hold my tongue. He nodded, bit his thumb again, swore under his breath: then lifting his head and looking at me with sullen and passionate impudence--"Bah! the Pacific is big, my friendt. You damned Englishmen can do your worst; I know where there's plenty room for a man like me:

I am well aguaindt in Apia, in Honolulu, in . . ." He paused reflectively, while without effort I could depict to myself the sort of people he was "aguaindt" with in those places. I won't make a secret of it that I had been "aguaindt" with not a few of that sort myself. There are times when a man must act as though life were equally sweet in any company. I've known such a time, and, what's more, I shan't now pretend to pull a long face over my necessity, because a good many of that bad company from want of moral--moral--what shall I say?--posture, or from some other equally profound cause, were twice as instructive and twenty times more amusing than the usual respectable thief of commerce you fellows ask to sit at your table without any real necessity--from habit, from cowardice, from good nature, from a hundred sneaking and inadequate reasons.

"`You Englishmen are all rogues," went on my patriotic Flensborg or Stettin Australian, I really don't recollect now what decent little port on the shores of the Baltic was defiled by being the nest of that precious bird. "What are you to shout? Eh? You tell me? You are no better than other people, and that old rouge he make Gottam fuss with me." His thick carcass trembled on its legs that were like a pair of pillars; it trembled from head to foot. "That's what you English always make--make a tam' fuss--for any little thing, because I was not born in your tam' country. Take away my certificate. Take it. I don't want the certificate. A man like me don't want your verfluchte certificate. I shpit on it." He spat. "I vill an American citizen begome," he cried, fretting and fuming and shuffling his feet as if to free his ankles from some invisible and mysterious grasp that would not let him get away from that spot. He made himself so warm that the top of his bullet head positively smoked. Nothing mysterious prevented me from going away: curiosity is the most obvious of sentiments, and it held me there to see the effect of a full information upon that young fellow who, hands in pockets, and turning his back upon the sidewalk, gazed across the grass-plots of the Esplanade at the yellow portico of the Malabar Hotel with the air of a man about to go for a walk as soon as his friend is ready.

That's how he looked, and it was odious. I waited to see him over-whelmed, confounded, pierced through and through, squirming like an impaled beetle--and I was half afraid to see it too--if you understand what I mean. Nothing more awful than to watch a man who has been found out, not in a crime but in a more than criminal weakness. The commonest sort of fortitude prevents us from becoming criminals in a legal sense; it is from weakness unknown, but perhaps suspected, as in some parts of the world you suspect a deadly snake in every bush--from weakness that may lie hidden, watched or unwatched, prayed against or manfully scorned, repressed or maybe ignored more than half a lifetime, not one of us is safe. We are snared into doing things for which we get called names, and things for which we get hanged, and yet the spirit may well survive--survive the condemnations, survive the halter, by Jove! And there are things--they look small enough sometimes too--by which some of us are totally and completely undone. I watched the youngster there. I liked his appearance; I knew his appearance; he came from the right place; he was one of us. He stood there for all the parentage of his kind, for men and women by no means clever or amusing, but whose very existence is based upon honest faith, and upon the instinct of courage.

同类推荐
  • 在家出家

    在家出家

    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。
  • 胎产心法

    胎产心法

    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。
  • 观心论

    观心论

    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。
  • 峡中行

    峡中行

    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。
  • Machiavelli

    Machiavelli

    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
  • 管理操控术

    管理操控术

    《管理操控术》是由陈墨编著。内容提要如下:自我管理,掌控自我才能掌控他人;团队管理,操控他人才能引领成功;企业管理,辨明方向才能走向卓越!管理是一门艺术,更是一门多元化的技术。若想带领好一个团队以及运营好一个企业,都需要正确把握人性,正确运用人性,了解并掌握关于管理与操控的艺术,实现人力资源的最大价值。
  • 快穿攻略之男神别闹

    快穿攻略之男神别闹

    【1V1】【宠文不虐】【苏爽】黑化男神有点方……片段一:鬼畜阴凉笑的优雅的男人:“兮兮,吞下这颗毒药我们就能永生永世在一起了。”“……”谁想和你同归于尽啊喂!片段二:男人猩红着双眼恶狠狠:“兮兮,为什么不喜欢我,为什么!那就一起和我下地狱吧!”“……”谁要和你下地狱!男神我们能不闹吗!推荐《快穿女配:BOSS,别闹!》《快穿攻略:鬼畜哥哥,碗里来!》《青梅小姑凉:竹马快投降》
  • 妈妈和女儿的悄悄话

    妈妈和女儿的悄悄话

    一起快乐,一起成长。女儿是妈妈生命的延续,母女间的对话好像变得不一样了。从出生那一天开始,女儿天天成长,妈妈与女儿的互动似乎也不断地在发生变化,突然有一天,妈妈发现,女儿不再是贴心小宝贝了,女儿越来越前卫。女儿是妈妈贴心的小宝贝,这话应该不会错的,但时代的改变,社会的信息来得太多,女儿的生活方式远远出乎妈妈成长时的经历,乐观、成功、开朗、时髦的妈妈也必须跟着越来越摩登时髦才是啊!辣妈咪,才不会让女儿逃之夭夭,离得越来越远! 本书讲述了一个麻辣妈咪的教女经历!
  • 绝天武主

    绝天武主

    一曲琴音震慑九天十地,一剑寒光照破山河万朵。天地复苏,大世来临,踏浪前行,唯我不败。
  • 青鸾计之野女为妃

    青鸾计之野女为妃

    【言情+权谋】金销玉冷,她本是生于新朝的前朝遗孤,偏偏卷入宫廷权欲的疯狂漩涡;红烛帐暖,万千蛾眉心上计,却敌不过他的柔情、他的纵容、他的缠绵百转……猎场策马绝尘,宫闱药香鸩毒,七年苦心经营,竟换得一朝真相大白、萧墙兵戈,天下骂她蛇蝎野女,她笑天下皆是愚民。她输了?……不,她没输。……“妾身若布衣荆钗,不筹大事,只与君共;妾身若锦衣华服,大事既成,与君永隔。”
  • 盛世华归

    盛世华归

    纪夭夭重生了,可一睁眼却成了前世那个恶婆婆的堂妹!面对表面温柔贤淑的堂姐,她觉得是时候翻身了!凭着看穿人心的本事,她撸起袖子有仇报仇,有恩报恩!可是,让她没有想到的是,恶婆婆竟然也重生了……某世子:既然说到报恩,你是不是该以身相许?纪夭夭:……说好的仙风道骨呢?(本文为甜宠架空文,另有完结长篇《花开似瑾》,欢迎跳坑!)
  • 塔木德:犹太人经商和处世圣经

    塔木德:犹太人经商和处世圣经

    《塔木德》是10个世纪中两千多位犹太学者的心血结晶,是整个犹太民族生活方式的导航图。本书重点萃取了《塔木德》中有关犹太人如何经商和处世的62条箴言,分上下两篇,以大量生动的事例进行阐发,揭示了犹太人独特的金钱观念、经营技巧和处世法则,从中可以窥见犹太人之所以卓越的秘密。
  • 无限之配角的逆袭

    无限之配角的逆袭

    每个故事都有一个主角,他们无不是天地间的宠儿,好东西是他们的,好妹子也是他们的;每个世界都有N个配角,他们无不是为了衬托主角而存在的,面对主角的强势,他们只能苦逼的送出自己的一切供人挑选;你敢逾越抢主角的东西?抱歉,绝症在等着你,意外在看着你……面对配角们日益艰辛的未来,苏易勇敢的站了出来。伟大的配角拯救者苏易,他一个人代表了穿越者的优良传统和历史,在这一刻,他不是一个人在战斗,记住!他不是一个人!“让我们反抗吧!抢光主角的宝贝,抢光主角的气运!”苏易高举农奴翻身把歌唱的的旗帜奋勇向前。新书《从灵气复苏到末法时代》!新的开始,需要大家的支持,请多多推荐收藏哦
  • 重生之明月何皎皎

    重生之明月何皎皎

    生不逢时,爱而不得,皆是命数。她死在他怀里时,他信命了,这辈子他未曾珍惜过她,也没有好好对过她,而这次呢,他活该,他彻底丢了她。后来人人都说他疯了,抱着一个尸体满世界跑,散尽家财去找让人复活的方法
  • 快穿之原来是渣男啊

    快穿之原来是渣男啊

    失忆的妖王也依旧是妖王!承欢表示,没有什么能够难倒她!不就是完成原主愿望以此获得积分么?话不多说,发家致富奔小康,争取成为任务者中的首富!承欢:被你抓来前我在原来世界可是一步之差就成为女皇的人!虐渣男、打脸啪啪啪是我最在行的事情!只是……葛朗台你等等,人家的系统都是竭力为宿主提供多方位的全面服务,怎么到了你这儿什么权限都要积分去开启?你知道完美评价有多难得嘛!什么?还有更过分的?原主要求和这个男人在一起是什么意思?!难道我还得卖身求积分不成?承欢(冷笑):你做梦,我可是有操守的人!后来的承欢:嗷!真香!这是一个女主在完成任务的道路上一去不回头,途中牵上男主的手就再也没放开的故事。划重点:女主双商在线,不婊不圣母。【爽文】【快穿】【SC】【1vs1】现定故事:娱乐圈小奶狗遭嫌弃的传统妻子重生女的修仙路……