Placeholder Image

字幕列表 影片播放

  • Chapter 3

  • The Black Spot

  • ABOUT noon I stopped at the captain's door

  • with some cooling drinks and medicines.

  • He was lying very much as we had left him,

  • only a little higher, and he seemed both

  • weak and excited.

  • "Jim," he said, "you're the only one here

  • that's worth anything, and you know I've

  • been always good to you.

  • Never a month but I've given you a silver

  • fourpenny for yourself.

  • And now you see, mate, I'm pretty low, and

  • deserted by all; and Jim, you'll bring me

  • one noggin of rum, now, won't you, matey?"

  • "The doctor--" I began.

  • But he broke in cursing the doctor, in a

  • feeble voice but heartily.

  • "Doctors is all swabs," he said; "and that

  • doctor there, why, what do he know about

  • seafaring men?

  • I been in places hot as pitch, and mates

  • dropping round with Yellow Jack, and the

  • blessed land a-heaving like the sea with

  • earthquakes--what to the doctor know of

  • lands like that?--and I lived on rum, I

  • tell you.

  • It's been meat and drink, and man and wife,

  • to me; and if I'm not to have my rum now

  • I'm a poor old hulk on a lee shore, my

  • blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor

  • swab"; and he ran on again for a while with

  • curses.

  • "Look, Jim, how my fingers fidges," he

  • continued in the pleading tone.

  • "I can't keep 'em still, not I.

  • I haven't had a drop this blessed day.

  • That doctor's a fool, I tell you.

  • If I don't have a drain o' rum, Jim, I'll

  • have the horrors; I seen some on 'em

  • already.

  • I seen old Flint in the corner there,

  • behind you; as plain as print, I seen him;

  • and if I get the horrors, I'm a man that

  • has lived rough, and I'll raise Cain.

  • Your doctor hisself said one glass wouldn't

  • hurt me.

  • I'll give you a golden guinea for a noggin,

  • Jim."

  • He was growing more and more excited, and

  • this alarmed me for my father, who was very

  • low that day and needed quiet; besides, I

  • was reassured by the doctor's words, now

  • quoted to me, and rather offended by the

  • offer of a bribe.

  • "I want none of your money," said I, "but

  • what you owe my father.

  • I'll get you one glass, and no more."

  • When I brought it to him, he seized it

  • greedily and drank it out.

  • "Aye, aye," said he, "that's some better,

  • sure enough.

  • And now, matey, did that doctor say how

  • long I was to lie here in this old berth?"

  • "A week at least," said I.

  • "Thunder!" he cried.

  • "A week!

  • I can't do that; they'd have the black spot

  • on me by then.

  • The lubbers is going about to get the wind

  • of me this blessed moment; lubbers as

  • couldn't keep what they got, and want to

  • nail what is another's.

  • Is that seamanly behaviour, now, I want to

  • know?

  • But I'm a saving soul.

  • I never wasted good money of mine, nor lost

  • it neither; and I'll trick 'em again.

  • I'm not afraid on 'em.

  • I'll shake out another reef, matey, and

  • daddle 'em again."

  • As he was thus speaking, he had risen from

  • bed with great difficulty, holding to my

  • shoulder with a grip that almost made me

  • cry out, and moving his legs like so much

  • dead weight.

  • His words, spirited as they were in

  • meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness

  • of the voice in which they were uttered.

  • He paused when he had got into a sitting

  • position on the edge.

  • "That doctor's done me," he murmured.

  • "My ears is singing.

  • Lay me back."

  • Before I could do much to help him he had

  • fallen back again to his former place,

  • where he lay for a while silent.

  • "Jim," he said at length, "you saw that

  • seafaring man today?"

  • "Black Dog?" I asked.

  • "Ah! Black Dog," says he.

  • "HE'S a bad un; but there's worse that put

  • him on.

  • Now, if I can't get away nohow, and they

  • tip me the black spot, mind you, it's my

  • old sea-chest they're after; you get on a

  • horse--you can, can't you?

  • Well, then, you get on a horse, and go to--

  • well, yes, I will!--to that eternal doctor

  • swab, and tell him to pipe all hands--

  • magistrates and sich--and he'll lay 'em

  • aboard at the Admiral Benbow--all old

  • Flint's crew, man and boy, all on 'em

  • that's left.

  • I was first mate, I was, old Flint's first

  • mate, and I'm the on'y one as knows the

  • place.

  • He gave it me at Savannah, when he lay a-

  • dying, like as if I was to now, you see.

  • But you won't peach unless they get the

  • black spot on me, or unless you see that

  • Black Dog again or a seafaring man with one

  • leg, Jim--him above all."

  • "But what is the black spot, captain?"

  • I asked.

  • "That's a summons, mate.

  • I'll tell you if they get that.

  • But you keep your weather-eye open, Jim,

  • and I'll share with you equals, upon my

  • honour."

  • He wandered a little longer, his voice

  • growing weaker; but soon after I had given

  • him his medicine, which he took like a

  • child, with the remark, "If ever a seaman

  • wanted drugs, it's me," he fell at last

  • into a heavy, swoon-like sleep, in which I

  • left him.

  • What I should have done had all gone well I

  • do not know.

  • Probably I should have told the whole story

  • to the doctor, for I was in mortal fear

  • lest the captain should repent of his

  • confessions and make an end of me.

  • But as things fell out, my poor father died

  • quite suddenly that evening, which put all

  • other matters on one side.

  • Our natural distress, the visits of the

  • neighbours, the arranging of the funeral,

  • and all the work of the inn to be carried

  • on in the meanwhile kept me so busy that I

  • had scarcely time to think of the captain,

  • far less to be afraid of him.

  • He got downstairs next morning, to be sure,

  • and had his meals as usual, though he ate

  • little and had more, I am afraid, than his

  • usual supply of rum, for he helped himself

  • out of the bar, scowling and blowing

  • through his nose, and no one dared to cross

  • him.

  • On the night before the funeral he was as

  • drunk as ever; and it was shocking, in that

  • house of mourning, to hear him singing away

  • at his ugly old sea-song; but weak as he

  • was, we were all in the fear of death for

  • him, and the doctor was suddenly taken up

  • with a case many miles away and was never

  • near the house after my father's death.

  • I have said the captain was weak, and

  • indeed he seemed rather to grow weaker than

  • regain his strength.

  • He clambered up and down stairs, and went

  • from the parlour to the bar and back again,

  • and sometimes put his nose out of doors to

  • smell the sea, holding on to the walls as

  • he went for support and breathing hard and

  • fast like a man on a steep mountain.

  • He never particularly addressed me, and it

  • is my belief he had as good as forgotten

  • his confidences; but his temper was more

  • flighty, and allowing for his bodily

  • weakness, more violent than ever.

  • He had an alarming way now when he was

  • drunk of drawing his cutlass and laying it

  • bare before him on the table.

  • But with all that, he minded people less

  • and seemed shut up in his own thoughts and

  • rather wandering.

  • Once, for instance, to our extreme wonder,

  • he piped up to a different air, a kind of

  • country love-song that he must have learned

  • in his youth before he had begun to follow

  • the sea.

  • So things passed until, the day after the

  • funeral, and about three o'clock of a

  • bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was

  • standing at the door for a moment, full of

  • sad thoughts about my father, when I saw

  • someone drawing slowly near along the road.

  • He was plainly blind, for he tapped before

  • him with a stick and wore a great green

  • shade over his eyes and nose; and he was

  • hunched, as if with age or weakness, and

  • wore a huge old tattered sea-cloak with a

  • hood that made him appear positively

  • deformed.

  • I never saw in my life a more dreadful-

  • looking figure.

  • He stopped a little from the inn, and

  • raising his voice in an odd sing-song,

  • addressed the air in front of him, "Will

  • any kind friend inform a poor blind man,

  • who has lost the precious sight of his eyes

  • in the gracious defence of his native

  • country, England--and God bless King

  • George!--where or in what part of this

  • country he may now be?"

  • "You are at the Admiral Benbow, Black Hill

  • Cove, my good man," said I.

  • "I hear a voice," said he, "a young voice.

  • Will you give me your hand, my kind young

  • friend, and lead me in?"

  • I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-

  • spoken, eyeless creature gripped it in a

  • moment like a vise.

  • I was so much startled that I struggled to

  • withdraw, but the blind man pulled me close

  • up to him with a single action of his arm.

  • "Now, boy," he said, "take me in to the

  • captain."

  • "Sir," said I, "upon my word I dare not."

  • "Oh," he sneered, "that's it!

  • Take me in straight or I'll break your

  • arm."

  • And he gave it, as he spoke, a wrench that

  • made me cry out.

  • "Sir," said I, "it is for yourself I mean.

  • The captain is not what he used to be.

  • He sits with a drawn cutlass.

  • Another gentleman--"

  • "Come, now, march," interrupted he; and I

  • never heard a voice so cruel, and cold, and

  • ugly as that blind man's.

  • It cowed me more than the pain, and I began

  • to obey him at once, walking straight in at

  • the door and towards the parlour, where our

  • sick old buccaneer was sitting, dazed with

  • rum.

  • The blind man clung close to me, holding me

  • in one iron fist and leaning almost more of

  • his weight on me than I could carry.

  • "Lead me straight up to him, and when I'm

  • in view, cry out, 'Here's a friend for you,

  • Bill.'

  • If you don't, I'll do this," and with that

  • he gave me a twitch that I thought would

  • have made me faint.

  • Between this and that, I was so utterly

  • terrified of the blind beggar that I forgot

  • my terror of the captain, and as I opened

  • the parlour door, cried out the words he

  • had ordered in a trembling voice.

  • The poor captain raised his eyes, and at

  • one look the rum went out of him and left

  • him staring sober.

  • The expression of his face was not so much

  • of terror as of mortal sickness.

  • He made a movement to rise, but I do not

  • believe he had enough force left in his

  • body.

  • "Now, Bill, sit where you are," said the

  • beggar.

  • "If I can't see, I can hear a finger

  • stirring.

  • Business is business.

  • Hold out your left hand.

  • Boy, take his left hand by the wrist and

  • bring it near to my right."

  • We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw

  • him pass something from the hollow of the

  • hand that held his stick into the palm of

  • the captain's, which closed upon it

  • instantly.

  • "And now that's done," said the blind man;

  • and at the words he suddenly left hold of

  • me, and with incredible accuracy and

  • nimbleness, skipped out of the parlour and

  • into the road, where, as I still stood

  • motionless, I could hear his stick go tap-

  • tap-tapping into the distance.

  • It was some time before either I or the

  • captain seemed to gather our senses, but at

  • length, and about at the same moment, I

  • released his wrist, which I was still

  • holding, and he drew in his hand and looked

  • sharply into the palm.

  • "Ten o'clock!" he cried.

  • "Six hours.

  • We'll do them yet," and he sprang to his

  • feet.

  • Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand

  • to his throat, stood swaying for a moment,

  • and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from

  • his whole height face foremost to the

  • floor.

  • I ran to him at once, calling to my mother.

  • But haste was all in vain.

  • The captain had been struck dead by

  • thundering apoplexy.

  • It is a curious thing to understand, for I

  • had certainly never liked the man, though

  • of late I had begun to pity him, but as

  • soon as I saw that he was dead, I burst

  • into a flood of tears.

  • It was the second death I had known, and

  • the sorrow of the first was still fresh in

  • my heart.

Chapter 3

字幕與單字

單字即點即查 點擊單字可以查詢單字解釋

B1 中級 美國腔

第03章--羅伯特-路易斯-史蒂文森的《金銀島》--黑點。 (Chapter 03 - Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - The Black Spot)

  • 150 14
    Bryan 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
影片單字