登陆注册
14924300000009

第9章 KARAIN A MEMORY(7)

The expected invitation to visit him ashore did not come. We sent friendly messages, but, fearing to intrude upon some secret council, remained on board. Early on the third day we had landed all the powder and rifles, and also a six-pounder brass gun with its carriage which we had subscribed together for a present for our friend. The afternoon was sultry. Ragged edges of black clouds peeped over the hills, and invisible thunderstorms circled outside, growling like wild beasts. We got the schooner ready for sea, intending to leave next morning at daylight. All day a merciless sun blazed down into the bay, fierce and pale, as if at white heat. Nothing moved on the land. The beach was empty, the villages seemed deserted; the trees far off stood in unstirring clumps, as if painted; the white smoke of some invisible bush-fire spread itself low over the shores of the bay like a settling fog. Late in the day three of Karain's chief men, dressed in their best and armed to the teeth, came off in a canoe, bringing a case of dollars. They were gloomy and languid, and told us they had not seen their Rajah for five days. No one had seen him! We settled all accounts, and after shaking hands in turn and in profound silence, they descended one after another into their boat, and were paddled to the shore, sitting close together, clad in vivid colours, with hanging heads: the gold embroideries of their jackets flashed dazzlingly as they went away gliding on the smooth water, and not one of them looked back once. Before sunset the growling clouds carried with a rush the ridge of hills, and came tumbling down the inner slopes. Everything disappeared; black whirling vapours filled the bay, and in the midst of them the schooner swung here and there in the shifting gusts of wind. A single clap of thunder detonated in the hollow with a violence that seemed capable of bursting into small pieces the ring of high land, and a warm deluge descended. The wind died out. We panted in the close cabin; our faces streamed; the bay outside hissed as if boiling;the water fell in perpendicular shafts as heavy as lead; it swished about the deck, poured off the spars, gurgled, sobbed, splashed, murmured in the blind night. Our lamp burned low. Hollis, stripped to the waist, lay stretched out on the lockers, with closed eyes and motionless like a despoiled corpse; at his head Jackson twanged the guitar, and gasped out in sighs a mournful dirge about hopeless love and eyes like stars. Then we heard startled voices on deck crying in the rain, hurried footsteps overhead, and suddenly Karain appeared in the doorway of the cabin. His bare breast and his face glistened in the light; his sarong, soaked, clung about his legs; he had his sheathed kriss in his left hand; and wisps of wet hair, escaping from under his red kerchief, stuck over his eyes and down his cheeks. He stepped in with a headlong stride and looking over his shoulder like a man pursued. Hollis turned on his side quickly and opened his eyes.

Jackson clapped his big hand over the strings and the jingling vibration died suddenly. I stood up.

"We did not hear your boat's hail!" I exclaimed.

"Boat! The man's swum off," drawled out Hollis from the locker. "Look at him!"He breathed heavily, wild-eyed, while we looked at him in silence.

Water dripped from him, made a dark pool, and ran crookedly across the cabin floor. We could hear Jackson, who had gone out to drive away our Malay seamen from the doorway of the companion; he swore menacingly in the patter of a heavy shower, and there was a great commotion on deck.

The watchmen, scared out of their wits by the glimpse of a shadowy figure leaping over the rail, straight out of the night as it were, had alarmed all hands.

Then Jackson, with glittering drops of water on his hair and beard, came back looking angry, and Hollis, who, being the youngest of us, assumed an indolent superiority, said without stirring, "Give him a dry sarong--give him mine; it's hanging up in the bathroom." Karain laid the kriss on the table, hilt inwards, and murmured a few words in a strangled voice.

"What's that?" asked Hollis, who had not heard.

"He apologizes for coming in with a weapon in his hand," I said, dazedly.

"Ceremonious beggar. Tell him we forgive a friend . . . on such a night," drawled out Hollis. "What's wrong?"Karain slipped the dry sarong over his head, dropped the wet one at his feet, and stepped out of it. I pointed to the wooden armchair--his armchair. He sat down very straight, said "Ha!" in a strong voice; a short shiver shook his broad frame. He looked over his shoulder uneasily, turned as if to speak to us, but only stared in a curious blind manner, and again looked back. Jackson bellowed out, "Watch well on deck there!" heard a faint answer from above, and reaching out with his foot slammed-to the cabin door.

"All right now," he said.

Karain's lips moved slightly. A vivid flash of lightning made the two round sternports facing him glimmer like a pair of cruel and phosphorescent eyes. The flame of the lamp seemed to wither into brown dust for an instant, and the looking-glass over the little sideboard leaped out behind his back in a smooth sheet of livid light. The roll of thunder came near, crashed over us; the schooner trembled, and the great voice went on, threatening terribly, into the distance. For less than a minute a furious shower rattled on the decks. Karain looked slowly from face to face, and then the silence became so profound that we all could hear distinctly the two chronometers in my cabin ticking along with unflagging speed against one another.

同类推荐
  • 佛说一髻尊陀罗尼经

    佛说一髻尊陀罗尼经

    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。
  • 文赋

    文赋

    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。
  • 持咒仙人飞钵仪轨

    持咒仙人飞钵仪轨

    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。
  • 注进法相宗章疏

    注进法相宗章疏

    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。
  • 易原

    易原

    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。
热门推荐
  • 博爱女帝:亲爱的,收了我

    博爱女帝:亲爱的,收了我

    蓝鸢:你快走吧!时空隧道好不容易才打开的!夜楚:你不走吗?蓝鸢:我走了,那些妖孽怎么办!我会舍不得的!夜楚:那我呢?我走了,你就放的下我吗?蓝鸢:......!夜楚:看你的样子就知道你会舍不得我,我也不走了!
  • 永遇乐

    永遇乐

    献给亲爱的某某某如果我的作品可以抚平一个人的寂寞或者悲伤,我便成功了,哪怕那个人是我自己。
  • 余生,请让我陪你

    余生,请让我陪你

    真感实情,写的不好见谅,只为让正在恋爱中人更加珍惜。
  • 剑指焚天

    剑指焚天

    上古一块天外陨铁降落在焚天山由此兴起焚天剑派,与蜀山共同执掌人间,而那块天外陨铁也是被炼化为焚天剑。若我焚天则无天,
  • 魔法争霸

    魔法争霸

    在魔法世界,每个人都有属于自己的魔法,魔法可以做一切事,魔法也会引发战争,魔法进行对决。。。
  • 新妻楚楚动人

    新妻楚楚动人

    二十岁,她还未来得及品尝初恋的滋味,就被残酷的现实打破美梦。在男友的陷害下身败名裂,宣布破产当天,一辆货车结束了她的性命。或许是上天垂令,她重生在了洛家千金的身上,重活一世,她不在压抑自己,大彻大悟绝顶想干就干,小女人美又媚,把身边众帅哥迷得死去活来。
  • 劝忍百箴

    劝忍百箴

    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。
  • 夜色星空

    夜色星空

    在另一个世界中,各个可居住的星球星系得到开发,如:工业星系、学院星系、住宅星系......当然,也有很多危险系数极高或低、不宜居住的星球星系,如:炎月之星、落禾星系、异兽星域......因此,也多出了一些特殊的职业和所属公会,如:星际漂流者(公会:漂流者联盟)、星标狩猎者(公会:狩猎者联盟)、器械士(公会:武器公会)、药师(公会:落禾公会)、飞行者(公会:飞行联会)、寻矿人(公会:能源盟会)。星际漂流者熟知各个星球星系的状况,却是一个极其危险的职业,因为星际漂流者不但需要从书籍上了解各大星球星系,还需要自己亲身去探寻星球星系的地理情况、生物状况,而其中不乏一些危险系数(亲,字数限制,看文文吧)
  • 控妻狂魔:亿万富豪的初恋

    控妻狂魔:亿万富豪的初恋

    对于女人,庄喻白的审美观是这样的:他喜欢的女人,便赛若天仙,怎么着都美。哪怕在他面前抠脚,挖鼻屎。他不喜欢的女人,哪怕沉鱼落雁,他都不会多看一眼。文梓盯着路过的美女流着口水:“老公,你看,她真的好美,身材也很棒!快看啊!”庄喻白无奈地闭了闭眼,别人家都是老公看美女惹老婆吃醋,他们家这位,真是极品中的极品,他总犯不上和一个女人吃醋吧:“我没看出来哪里美了,连你半个手指头都赶不上!”婚前,他是最有耐心的猎手,一步一步接近,默默扫除所有的障碍。婚后,他是丧心病狂的空气狂魔。“除了我,你不许对别的男人笑!”“你,乃至整个家都是我的,你凭什么要有自己的空间?”
  • 星空云海

    星空云海

    我觉得每个人小时候都想过吧,伸手就能碰到云,软绵绵云朵要是能往上一躺,得多舒服啊......这是一个放眼望去除了云就是泥的世界,没有实实在在连着地心的大陆,有的只是浮在天上的陆地和小岛。说来这里连地心都没有呢。;要移动也要看陆地的大小,然后用龙来拉;浮空陆地之间人员的来往要么靠龙,要么靠梵风衣,要么就是契约一朵属于自己的云,让它载你。俄刻阿诺斯究竟存在与否,在这个世界里是一个迷,不断扩大着空域的人们始终没有遇到另一方的人,也不知道这个世界到底有没有尽头...