登陆注册
5381600000014

第14章

THE SQUALL.

How different is the scene that I have now to tell from that which has just been told! Gone are the quiet college rooms, gone the wind-swayed English elms and cawing rooks, and the familiar volumes on the shelves, and in their place there rises a vision of the great calm ocean gleaming in shaded silver lights beneath the beams of the full African moon.A gentle breeze fills the huge sails of our dhow, and draws us through the water that ripples musically against our sides.

Most of the men are sleeping forward, for it is near midnight, but a stout, swarthy Arab, Mahomed by name, stands at the tiller, lazily steering by the stars.

Three miles or more to our starboard is a low dim line.It is the eastern shore of Central Africa.We are running to the southward, before the northeast monsoon, between the mainland and the reef that for hundreds of miles fringes that perilous coast.The night is quiet, so quiet that a whisper can be heard fore and aft the dhow; so quiet that a faint booming sound rolls across the water to us from the distant land.

The Arab at the tiller holds up his hand, and says one word: "Simba (lion)!"We all sit up and listen.Then it comes again, a slow, majestic sound, that thrills us to the marrow.

"To-morrow by ten o'clock," I say, "we ought, if the captain is not out in his reckoning, which I think very probable, to make this mysterious rock with a man's head, and begin our shooting.""And begin our search for the ruined city and the Fire of Life," corrected Leo, taking his pipe from his mouth, and laughing a little.

"Nonsense!" I answered."You were airing your Arabic with that man at the tiller this afternoon.What did he tell you? He has been trading (slave-trading probably) up and down these latitudes for half of his iniquitous life, and once landed on this very 'man'

rock.Did he ever hear anything of the ruined city or the caves?""No," answered Leo."He says that the country is all swamp behind, and full of snakes, especially pythons, and game, and that no man lives there.But then there is a belt of swamp all along the East African coast, so that does not go for much.""Yes," I said, "it doesit goes for malaria.You see what sort of an opinion these gentry have of the country.Not one of them will go with us.They think that we are mad, and upon my word I believe that they are right.If ever we see old England again I shall be astonished.However, it does not greatly matter to me at my age, but I am anxious for you, Leo, and for Job.

It's a Tom Fool's business, my boy."

"All right, Uncle Horace.So far as I am concerned, Iam willing to take my chance.Look! What is that cloud?" and he pointed to a dark blotch upon the starry sky, some miles astern of us.

"Go and ask the man at the tiller," I said.

He rose, stretched his arms, and went.Presently he returned.

"He says it is a squall, but it will pass far on one side of us."Just then Job came up, looking very stout and English in his shooting-suit of brown flannel, and with a sort of perplexed appearance upon his honest round face that had been very common with him since he got into these strange waters.

"Please, sir," he said, touching his sun hat, which was stuck on to the back of his head in a somewhat ludicrous fashion, "as we have got all those guns and things in the whale-boat astern, to say nothing of the provisions in the lockers, I think it would be best if I got down and slept in her.I don't like the looks"(here he dropped his voice to a portentous whisper)"of these black gentry; they have such a wonderful thievish way about them.Supposing now that some of them were to slip into the boat at night and cut the cable, and make off with her! That would be a pretty go, that would."The whale-boat, I may explain, was one specially built for us at Dundee, in Scotland.We had brought it with us, as we knew that this coast was a network of creeks, and that we might require something to navigate them with.She was a beautiful boat, thirty feet in length, with a centre-board for sailing, copper-bottomed to keep the worm out of her, and full of watertight compartments.The captain of the dhow had told us that when we reached the rock, which he knew, and which appeared to be identical with the one described upon the sherd and by Leo's father, he would probably not be able to run up to it on account of the shallows and breakers.Therefore we had employed three hours that very morning, while we were totally becalmed, the wind having dropped at sunrise, in transferring most of our goods and chattels to the whale-boat, and placing the guns, ammunition, and preserved provisions in the water-tight lockers specially prepared for them, so that when we did sight the fabled rock we should have nothing to do but step into the boat and run her ashore.Another reason that induced us to take this precautionary step was that Arab captains are apt to run past the point that they are making, either from carelessness or owing to a mistake in its identity.Now, as sailors know, it is quite impossible for a dhow which is only rigged to run before the monsoon to beat back against it.

Therefore we got our boat ready to row for the rock at any moment.

"Well, Job," I said, "perhaps it would be as well.

There are lots of blankets there, only be careful to keep out of the moon, or it may turn your head or blind you.""Lord, sir! I don't think it would much matter if it did; it is that turned already with the sight of these blackamoors and their filthy, thieving ways.They are only fit for muck, they are; and they smell bad enough for it already."Job, it will be perceived, was no admirer of the manners and customs of our dark-skinned brothers.

同类推荐
  • 巡边总论

    巡边总论

    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。
  • 明伦汇编人事典四十一岁至五十岁部

    明伦汇编人事典四十一岁至五十岁部

    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。
  • 佛说乐想经

    佛说乐想经

    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。
  • 卢至长者因缘经

    卢至长者因缘经

    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。
  • 灵宝五经提纲

    灵宝五经提纲

    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
  • 农家厨娘很旺夫

    农家厨娘很旺夫

    公司小白领江美丽因车祸穿越而来,成为一穷秀才家的农家女。十一岁的她一不会种田,二不会刺绣,前世的她是一个美食爱好者只要吃过的东西,就能做出来。父亲病亡,家境贫困,她不怕,荒年饿不死手艺人,开饭馆做大厨,照顾母亲,教养弟弟,美丽的俏厨娘,自己的美食事业刚起色,又忙着给自己找婆家,在这三妻四妾的年代,良人何处寻。此文一对一,男女主身心干净!推荐好文:锦医夜行《小农女的金牌萌夫》墨璐清浅《兽性酋长,别吃我》莫言瑟《毒蝎嫡女》海蓝耳钉《驭鬼狂妃,宠上瘾!》
  • COUSIN PHILLIS

    COUSIN PHILLIS

    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。
  • 我的名字叫花钱(上册)

    我的名字叫花钱(上册)

    70年代,一个叫刘家营的小山村里,发生了一起恶性杀人案。被害人家属却没有报案。队长青猴子的孙女在两个月前离奇失踪,村民纷纷猜测黄下海里的那具无名女尸“烂腰”就是那个小女孩。青猴子与前任队长罗金宝的个人恩怨,引发了村民的种种议论,从而展现出刘家营村王姓人家与刘姓人家不同的人生。其中有老地主的改过自新,有老光棍的悲剧人格,有劁猪匠王朝喜的悲喜人生。一群被侮辱被忽略的底层小人物的命运交错在六七十年代的山村……
  • 妖帝的巾帼妃

    妖帝的巾帼妃

    她曾没想到这个侯爷会如此多磨!要身披战甲上阵杀敌。被挚爱出卖,还要无奈生下最恨之人的子嗣。东凉国,龙殿上,四岁的太子,一把推掉皇帝身前的奏折急道;“父皇,母妃要带我逃跑!快想想办法!”“不用想办法,她逃不了!”妖治的帝王宠爱的捏了捏他的鼻子,肯定道。滚滚红尘之中,谁才是她最终执手终生的人?谁又将同她桃花树下同作一幅画?
  • 海国四说

    海国四说

    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。
  • 家有余粮

    家有余粮

    钟灵重生在大夏国一个山疙瘩沟里普通农户家中。上有善装糊涂的爷爷奶奶,下有好赌的叔伯。亲爹肺痨不能劳作,小家碧玉出身的亲妈奈何错嫁小山村,弟弟年幼乖巧却不能支撑门户。且看女主如何利用现代农艺经商种田家有余粮,吃喝不慌!
  • 上古露仙

    上古露仙

    上古时代,一处灵山妙水之地,有一露珠集天地之精华,日月之灵气,群星之光辉,汇聚成形后,开始其路漫漫的修仙之旅
  • 郎咸平说:谁都逃不掉的金融危机

    郎咸平说:谁都逃不掉的金融危机

    血淋淋的现实摆在你面前:企业倒闭,百业萧条,更可怕的是过去那种简单的生活一去不复返了!中国35%的经济产出都要依靠外贸出口,而这些产出所依赖的终端消费形态,随着全球金融危机的一步步恶化已经没有往日的风光。美国次贷危机对我们的冲击到目前为止是有限的,还没有真正开始,真正的开始会是什么时候?就是美国的防火墙破裂之后。美国的防火墙一旦破裂,冲击到美国的消费市场,由于美国进口的减少,使我们的出口受到影响,从而打击到我们经济的基本面。
  • 西樵语业

    西樵语业

    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。
  • 广群芳谱

    广群芳谱

    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。