登陆注册
5254700000123

第123章 CHAPTER XLI(1)

To the very last moment, till the full day came upon them with a spring, the fires of the west bank blazed bright and clear; and then Brown saw in a knot of coloured figures motionless between the advanced houses a man in European clothes, in a helmet, all white. "That's him; look! look!"Cornelius said excitedly. All Brown's men had sprung up and crowded at his back with lustreless eyes. The group of vivid colours and dark faces with the white figure in the midst were observing the knoll. Brown could see naked arms being raised to shade the eyes and other brown arms pointing.

What should he do? He looked around, and the forests that faced him on all sides walled the cock-pit of an unequal contest. He looked once more at his men. A contempt, weariness, the desire of life, the wish to try for one more chance--for some other grave--struggled in his breast. From the outline the figure presented it seemed to him that the white man there, backed up by all the power of the land, was examining his position through binoculars. Brown jumped up on the log, throwing his arms up, the palms outwards. The coloured group closed round the white man, and fell back twice before he got clear of them, walking slowly alone. Brown remained standing on the log till Jim, appearing and disappearing between the patches of thorny scrub, had nearly reached the creek; then Brown jumped off and went down to meet him on his side.

`They met, I should think, not very far from the place, perhaps on the very spot, where Jim took the second desperate leap of his life--the leap that landed him into the life of Patusan, into the trust, the love, the confidence of the people. They faced each other across the creek, and with steady eyes tried to understand each other before they opened their lips.

Their antagonism must have been expressed in their glances; I know that Brown hated Jim at first sight. Whatever hopes he might have had vanished at once. This was not the man he had expected to see. He hated him for this--and in a checked flannel shirt with sleeves cut off at the elbows, grey-bearded, with a sunken, sun-blackened face--he cursed in his heart the other's youth and assurance, his clear eyes and his untroubled bearing.

That fellow had got in a long way before him! He did not look like a man who would be willing to give anything for assistance. He had all the advantages on his side--possession, security, power; he was on the side of an overwhelming force! He was not hungry and desperate, and he did not seem in the least afraid. And there was something in the very neatness of Jim's clothes, from the white helmet to the canvas leggings and the pipe-clayed shoes, which in Brown's sombre irritated eyes seemed to belong to things he had in the very shaping of his life contemned and flouted.

"`Who are you?" asked Jim at last, speaking in his usual voice. "My name's Brown," answered the other, loudly; "Captain Brown. What's yours?"and Jim after a little pause went on quietly, as if he had not heard: "What made you come here?" "You want to know," said Brown, bitterly. "It's easy to tell. Hunger. And what made you?""`The fellow started at this," said Brown, relating to me the opening of this strange conversation between those two men, separated only by the muddy bed of a creek, but standing on the opposite poles of that conception of life which includes all mankind--"The fellow started at this and got very red in the face. Too big to be questioned, I suppose. I told him that if he looked upon me as a dead man with whom you may take liberties, he himself was not a whit better off really. I had a fellow up there who had a bead drawn on him all the time, and only waited for a sign from me. There was nothing to be shocked at in this. He had come down of his own free will. `Let us agree,' said I, `that we are both dead men, and let us talk on that basis, as equals. We are all equal before death,' I said. I admitted I was there like a rat in a trap, but we had been driven to it, and even a trapped rat can give a bite. He caught me up in a moment. `Not if you don't go near the trap till the rat is dead.' I told him that sort of game was good enough for these native friends of his, but I would have thought him too white to serve even a rat so. Yes, I had wanted to talk with him.

Not to beg for my life, though. My fellows were--well--what they were--men like himself, anyhow. All we wanted from him was to come on in the devil's name and have it out. `God d--n it,' said I, while he stood there as still as a wooden post, `you don't want to come out here every day with your glasses to count how many of us are left on our feet. Come. Either bring your infernal crowd along or let us go out and starve in the open sea, by God! You have been white once, for all your tall talk of this being your own people and you being one with them. Are you? And what the devil do you get for it; what is it you've found here that is so d--d precious?

同类推荐
  • 安平县杂记

    安平县杂记

    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。
  • 佛说因缘僧护经

    佛说因缘僧护经

    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。
  • 襄阳守城录

    襄阳守城录

    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。
  • 入楞伽心玄义

    入楞伽心玄义

    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。
  • 混元圣记

    混元圣记

    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
  • 戗刀

    戗刀

    刀,万里河山任逍遥。风雷动,今日降天骄。刀,虎啸龙吟烈火燎。旌旗展,赖以聚英豪。刀,休笑中华羸若羔。黄河怒,飞剑斩倭腰。调寄《十六字令》
  • 知识结晶

    知识结晶

    歌德说:“名言集和格言集是社会上最大的财宝——只要懂得在适当的场合把前者带进会话里,在适当的时间唤起对后者的记忆。”我们人类社会那些出类拔萃的名家巨人,在推动人类社会向前不断发展的同时,也给我们留下了宝贵的物质财富。他们通过自身的体验和观察研究,还给我们留下了许多有益的经验和感悟,他们将其付诸语言表达出来,被称之为名言或格言,其中蕴含并闪耀着智慧的光芒,成为世人宝贵的精神财富。
  • 恶魔校草恋上傲娇小甜心的后续

    恶魔校草恋上傲娇小甜心的后续

    一次阴差阳错,苏七乔招惹了四大家族之首的凌家继承人凌景澈,又刚刚好是自己的未婚夫,之后的日子,壁咚,强吻,让苏七乔后悔当初招惹上了这个恶魔,就在这样壁咚强吻的日子里,两个人对彼此互生情愫,自称是他前女友的插入,情敌的围攻,她该如何解决?【宠文1V1】【绝不弃坑】【读者群:258467470】
  • 郡主你跑不掉了

    郡主你跑不掉了

    相传,她出生之时仙鹤齐飞,樱花飘落;相传,她是当今的琉璃郡主,她是天下第一美人;相传,她小小年纪便垄断王朝经济命脉;相传,她一把瞬狱扇称霸整个琉月……他一个天才皇子,吃喝玩乐坑蒙拐骗无所不能;以一身绝世武功和一柄冷雨剑走遍天下;他用一张精致容颜一双邪魅勾魂的眼,掠走天下女子的芳心……当她看见他,且看一代帝王之才如何踏进世间最温柔的爱情陷阱;当他遇到她,且看一代穿越女强人如何玩转邪魅皇子。几次逃离,几次追捕,最终尘埃落定,红尘往事,与谁共享?
  • 异度:异度世界的曝光

    异度:异度世界的曝光

    英国诞生了大量魔幻艺术作品,如《指环王》、《哈里?波特》。英国不光在作家笔下散发着神秘气息,而且在现实世界中,也是一个不断有灵异事件发生的地方。在英国伦敦这座交织着古老历史和现代文明的大都市里,为什么会频频报道有人目击灵异事件呢?这些被目击的灵异事件是真实的见证,还是人为的骗局呢?伦敦塔内最有名的鬼魂,也是塔内第一个显赫的受难者王后安妮。她由于被控犯有叛国罪和通奸的罪名,于1536年5月19日,在塔内绿地上被斩首。
  • 大风起兮

    大风起兮

    那天一早,吴卫的眼皮就跳个不停。据说,眼皮跳要有大事发生。吴卫当然不信。他不炒股,没买过基金,股市风云变幻与他无关;他不是彩民,几百万的大奖不会砸到头上;他没贩过毒没嫖过娼没抢过银行,不担心手铐等着他;他不过是一个普通的初中教师,每天两点一线,往返于学校和家之间,生活简单得像一沓白纸,翻一页如此,翻两页也是如此。他能有什么大事?
  • 贼影独行

    贼影独行

    系统提示:叮!恭喜进入游戏世界,随即选择难度。叮!当前游戏难度为:炼狱。某人:“???”这是一个几乎完全拟真的游戏。某人:“这是一个只坑我的游戏!”这是一个完美的异世界。某人:“这个世界对我充满了恶意!”欢迎进入天际游戏世界。某人:“天际虐我千百遍,我待天际如初恋!”这是一个非酋盗贼的艰难成长历程。一且看他如何一步步踏上盗贼神座。
  • 嫡女狠妃

    嫡女狠妃

    她是世人嘲笑的纳兰嫡女,被退婚数次,天下笑柄。她又是世人敬仰的“苏墨”,孤冷偏傲,南方霸主。他是俊美无双的天之骄子,妻妾成群,盛名天下。他又是文韬武略的腹黑王爷,偏执狂妄,北方枭雄。她杀人不眨眼,他欺人不留情。★命运让他们相遇,相知,相守。命运也让他们相残,相杀,相敌。他不会舍天下而娶她,她亦不会叛国而嫁他。可紫柏山上,他用生命追逐她离开的脚步。落水崖边,她用自刎成就他霸业的基石。★千里红裳,他以天之媒,聘她之心。万里追路,她厚土为妆,江山为嫁。南北合部,天下会师。他拥着她轻吻而笑:“纳兰芮雪,你可真够厉害的,全天下的男人都被你耍了!”她清婉淡笑:“北宫晟,你才算棋高一筹吧?如今全天下最厉害的女人都被你收服了。”他不屑低笑:“不是如今,从你出生那刻起,你就是我的!”她嚣张亦笑:“那到你闭目那刻止,你只能是我的!”★有人说她简直是女人的耻辱。欺庶母,压庶妹,打侧妃,逐美妾。太皇太后怒骂她毫无妇德。她冷冽一笑:“他这辈子只能是我一个人的男人,谁要不怕死,就往过来凑!”★有人说他简直是男人中的神话。创武学,通海贸,平四海,功千秋。世人说他是千古一帝。他温柔淡笑:“拥九千繁华不如守一人欢颜,赢了她,才是我人生最大的赢局。”★这是一个阴谋迭起的世界,这是一个乱战纷争的家国。这是一场千里追爱的传奇,这是一段一往情深的眷恋。震家宅,斗皇室,统三军,成帝业,红妆踏马,金戈铁戟。他许她一世三千宠爱,她陪他一统万里河山。千古帝后,万世横秋。★宠文,不虐,古风,文笔保证,日更6000+喜欢一世一双人的亲们可以跳坑了。
  • 嫡女谋:侯爷请息怒

    嫡女谋:侯爷请息怒

    她天生媚骨,是被遗忘在乡野的侍郎府嫡长女。为了给出身尊贵的妹妹腾位置,竟被家人预谋联手铲除!为了生存,她不得不和他做了一笔交易。却被卷入一个又一个的深渊之中。面对重重波折,她和他携手并进,神挡杀神,佛堵灭佛!情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 每天一堂哲学课

    每天一堂哲学课

    人生就是完成自己的过程,每一个环节都充满了哲学,哲学无处不在,其实它并不深奥,越是简单,越有智慧,越有解脱烦恼的力量。以生活为琴,以知识为谱,与哲学大师一起修行。每天一堂哲学课,浸润自己的心灵,丰富自己的情感。