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1、【国外英文文学】King Solomons Mines(所罗门王的宝藏) CHAPTER II MEET SIR HENRY CURTISIT is a curious thing that at my age - fifty-five last birthday - I should find myself taking up a pen to try and write a history. I wonder what sort of a history it will be when I have done it, if I ever come to the end of the tri
2、p! I have done a good many things in my life, which seems a long one to me, owing to my having begun so young, perhaps. At an age when other boys are at school I was earning my living as a trader in the old Colony. I have been trading, hunting, fighting, or mining ever since. And yet it is only eigh
3、t months ago that I made my pile. It is a big pile now I have got it - I dont yet know how big - but I dont think I would go through the last fifteen or sixteen months again for it; no, not if I knew that I should come out safe at the end, pile and all. But then, I am a timid man, and dont like viol
4、ence, and am pretty sick of adventure. I wonder why I am going to write this book; it is not in my line. I am not a literary man, though very devoted to the Old Testament and also to the Ingoldsby Legends. Let me try and set down my reasons, just to see if I have any. First reason: Because Sir Henry
5、 Curtis and Captain John Good asked me to. Second reason: Because I am laid up here at Durban with the pain and trouble in my left leg. Ever since that confounded lion got hold of me I have been liable to it, and its being rather bad just now makes me limp more than ever. There must be some poison i
6、n a lions teeth, otherwise how is it that when your wounds are healed they break out again, generally, mark you, at the same time of year that you got your mauling? It is a hard thing that when one has shot sixty-five lions, as I have in the course of my life, that the sixty-sixth should chew your l
7、eg like a quid of tobacco. It breaks the routine of the thing, and, putting other considerations aside, I am an orderly man and dont like that. This is by the way. Third reason: Because I want my boy Harry, who is over there at the hospital in London studying to become a doctor, to have something to
8、 amuse him and keep him out of mischief for a week or so. Hospital work must sometimes pall and get rather dull, for even of cutting-up dead bodies there must come satiety, and as this history wont be dull, whatever else it may be, it may put a little life into things for a day or two while he is re
9、ading it. Fourth reason and last: Because I am going to tell the strangest story that I know of. It may seem a queer thing to say that, especially considering that there is no woman in it except Foulata. Stop, though! there is Gagaoola, if she was a woman and not a fiend. But she was a hundred at le
10、ast, and therefore not marriageable, so I dont count her. At any rate, I can safely say that there is not a petticoat in the whole history. Well, I had better come to the yoke. Its a stiff place, and I feel as though I were bogged up to the axle. But sutjes, sutjes, as the Boers say (Im sure I dont
11、know how they spell it), softly does it. A strong team will come through at last, that is if they aint too poor. You will never do anything with poor oxen. Now, to begin. I, Allan Quatermain, of Durban, Natal, Gentleman, make oath and say - Thats how I began my deposition before the magistrate about
12、 poor Khivas and Ventvogels sad deaths; but somehow it doesnt seem quite the right way to begin a book. And, besides, am I a gentleman? What is a gentleman? I dont quite know, and yet I have had to do with niggers - no, Ill scratch that word niggers out, for I dont like it. Ive known natives who are
13、, and so youll say, Harry, my boy, before youre done with this tale, and I have known mean whites with lots of money and fresh out from home, too, who aint. Well, at any rate I was born a gentleman, though Ive been nothing but a poor travelling trader and hunter all my life. Whether I have remained
14、so I know not; you must judge of that. Heaven knows Ive tried. Ive killed many men in my time, but I have never slain wantonly or stained my hand in innocent blood, only in self-defence. The Almighty gave us our lives, and I suppose he meant us to defend them; at least I have always acted on that, a
15、nd I hope it wont be brought up against me when my clock strikes. There, there; it is a cruel and a wicked world, and, for a timid man, I have been mixed up in a deal of slaughter. I cant tell the rights of it, but at any rate I have never stolen, though I once cheated a Kaffir out of a herd of catt
16、le. But then, he had done me a dirty turn, and it has troubled me ever since into the bargain. Well, its eighteen months or so ago since I first met Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and it was in this way. I had been up elephant hunting beyond Bamangwato, and had had bad luck. Everything went wron
17、g that trip, and to top up with I got the fever badly. So soon as I was well enough I trekked down to the Diamond Fields, sold such ivory as I had, and also my wagon and oxen, discharged my hunters, and took the post-cart to the Cape. After spending a week in Cape Town, finding that they overcharged
18、 me at the hotel, and having seen everything there was to see, including the botanical gardens, which seem to me likely to confer a great benefit on the country, and the new Houses of Parliament, which I expect will do nothing of the sort, I determined to go on back to Natal by the Dunkeld, then lyi
19、ng in the docks waiting for the Edinburgh Castle due in from England. I took my berth and went aboard, and that afternoon the Natal passengers from the Edinburgh Castle transhipped, and we weighed anchor and put out to sea. Among the passengers who came on board there were two who excited my curiosi
20、ty. One, a man of about thirty, was one of the biggest-chested and longest-armed men I ever saw. He had yellow hair, a big yellow beard, clear-cut features, and large gray eyes set deep into his head. I never saw a finer-looking man, and somehow he reminded me of an ancient Dane. Not that I know muc
21、h of ancient Danes, though I remember a modern Dane who did me out of ten pounds; but I remember once seeing a picture of some of those gentry, who, I take it, were a kind of white Zulus. They were drinking out of big horns, and their long hair hung down their backs, and as I looked at my friend sta
22、nding there by the companion-ladder, I thought that if one only let his hair grow a bit, put one of those chain shirts on to those great shoulders of his, and gave him a big battle-axe and a horn mug, he might have sat as a model for that picture. And, by the way, it is a curious thing, and just sho
23、ws how the blood will show out, I found out afterwards that Sir Henry Curtis, for that was the big mans name, was of Danish blood. He also reminded me strongly of somebody else, but at the time I could not remember who it was. The other man, who stood talking to Sir Henry, was short, stout, and dark
24、, and of quite a different cut. I suspected at once that he was a naval officer. I dont know why, but it is difficult to mistake a navy man. I have gone shooting trips with several of them in the course of my life, and they have always been just the best and bravest and nicest fellows I ever met, th
25、ough given to the use of profane language. I asked, a page or two back, what is a gentleman? Ill answer it now: a royal naval officer is, in a general sort of a way, though, of course, there may be a black sheep among them here and there. I fancy it is just the wide sea and the breath of Gods winds
26、that washes their hearts and blows the bitterness out of their minds and makes them what men ought to be. Well, to return, I was right again; I found out that he was a naval officer, a lieutenant of thirty-one, who, after seventeen years service, had been turned out of her majesty s employ with the
27、barren honor of a commanders rank, because it was impossible that he should be promoted. This is what people who serve the queen have to expect: to be shot out into the cold world to find a living just when they are beginning to really understand their work, and to get to the prime of life. Well, I
28、suppose they don t mind it, but for my part I had rather earn my bread as a hunter. Ones half-pence are as scarce, perhaps, but you don t get so many kicks. His name I found out - by referring to the passengers list - was Good - Captain John Good. He was broad, of medium height, dark, stout, and rat
29、her a curious man to look at. He was so very neat and so very clean shaved, and he always wore an eye-glass in his right eye. It seemed to grow there, for it had no string, and he never took it out except to wipe it. At first I thought he used to sleep in it, but I afterwards found that this was a m
30、istake. He put it in his trousers pocket when he went to bed, together with his false teeth, of which he had two beautiful sets that have often, my own being none of the best, caused me to break the tenth Commandment. But I am anticipating. Soon after we had got under way evening closed in, and brou
31、ght with it very dirty weather. A keen breeze sprang up off land, and a kind of aggravated Scotch mist soon drove everybody from the deck. And as for that Dunkeld, she is a flat-bottomed punt, and, going up light as she was, she rolled very heavily. It almost seemed as though she would go right over
32、, but she never did. It was quite impossible to walk about, so I stood near the engines, where it was warm, and amused myself with watching the pendulum, which was fixed opposite to me, swinging slowly backward and forward as the vessel rolled, and marking the angle she touched at each lurch. That p
33、endulums wrong; it is not properly weighted, suddenly said a voice at my shoulder, somewhat testily. Looking round I saw the naval officer I had noticed when the passengers came aboard. Indeed; now what makes you think so? I asked. Think so. I dont think at all. Why there as she righted herself afte
34、r a roll - if the ship had really rolled to the degree that thing pointed to then she would never have rolled again, thats all. But it is just like these merchant skippers, they always are so confoundedly careless. Just then the dinner-bell rang, and I was not sorry, far it is a dreadful thing to ha
35、ve to listen to an officer of the Royal Navy when he gets on to that subject. I only know one worse thing, and that is to hear a merchant skipper express his candid opinion of officers of the Royal Navy. Captain Good and I went down to dinner together, and there we found Sir Henry Curtis already sea
36、ted. He and Captain Good sat together, and I sat opposite to them. The captain and I soon got into talk about shooting and what not, he asking me many questions, and I answering as well as I could. Presently he got on to elephants. Ah, sir, called out somebody who was sitting near me, youve got to t
37、he right man for that; Hunter Quatermain should be able to tell you about elephants if anybody can. Sir Henry, who had been sitting quite quiet listening to our talk, started visibly. Excuse me, sir, he said, leaning forward across the table, and speaking in a low, deep voice, a very suitable voice,
38、 it seemed to me, to come out of those great lungs. Excuse me, sir, but is your name Allan Quatermain? I said it was. The big man made no further remark, but I heard him mutter fortunate into his beard. Presently dinner came to an end, and as we were leaving the saloon Sir Henry came up and asked me
39、 if I would come into his cabin and smoke a pipe. I accepted, and he led the way to the Dunkeld deck cabin, and a very good cabin it was. It had been two cabins, but when Sir Garnet, or one of those big swells, went down the coast in the Dunkeld they had knocked away the partition and never put it u
40、p again. There was a sofa in the cabin, and a little table in front of it. Sir Henry sent the steward for a bottle of whiskey, and the three of us sat down and lit our pipes. Mr. Quatermain, said Sir Henry Curtis, when the steward had brought the whiskey and lit the lamp, the year before last, about
41、 this time, you were, I believe, at a place called Bamangwato, to the north of the Transvaal. I was, I answered, rather surprised that this gentleman should be so well acquainted with my movements, which were not, so far as I was aware, considered of general interest. You were trading there, were yo
42、u not? put in Captain Good, in his quick way. I was. I took up a wagon-load of goods and made a camp outside the settlement, and stopped till I had sold them. Sir Henry was sitting opposite to me in a Madeira chair, his arms leaning on the table. He now looked up, fixing his large gray eyes full upo
43、n my face. There was a curious anxiety in them, I thought. Did you happen to meet a man called Neville there? Oh, yes; he outspanned alongside of me for a fortnight, to rest his oxen before going on to the interior. I had a letter from a lawyer, a few months back, asking me if I knew what had become
44、 of him, which I answered to the best of my ability at the time. Yes, said Sir Henry, your letter was forwarded to me. You said in it that the gentleman called Neville left Bamangwato in the beginning of May, in a wagon, with a driver, a voorlooper, and a Kaffir hunter called Jim, announcing his int
45、ention of trekking, if possible, as far as Inyati, the extreme trading post in the Matabele country, where he would sell his wagon and proceed on foot. You also said that he did sell his wagon, for, six months afterwards, you saw the wagon in the possession of a Portuguese trader, who told you that
46、he had bought it at Inyati from a white man whose name he had forgotten, and that the white man, with a native servant, had started off for the interior on a shooting trip, he believed. Yes. Then came a pause. Mr. Quatermain, said Sir Henry, suddenly, I suppose you know or can guess nothing more of
47、the reasons of my- - of Mr. Nevilles journey to the northward, or as to what point that journey was directed? I heard something, I answered, and stopped. The subject was one which I did not dare to discuss. Sir Henry and Captain Good looked at each other, and Captain Good nodded. Mr. Quatermain, sai
48、d the former, I am going to tell you a story, and ask your advice, and perhaps your assistance. The agent who forwarded me your letter told me that I might implicitly rely upon it, as you were, he said, well known and universally respected in Natal, and especially noted for your discretion. I bowed,
49、 and drank some whiskey-and-water to hide my confusion, for I am a modest man; and Sir Henry went on. Mr. Neville was my brother. Oh, I said, starting; for now I knew who Sir Henry had reminded me of when I first saw. him. His brother was a much smaller man and had a dark beard, but, now I thought of it, he possessed eyes of the same shade of gray and with the s