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the red one-第6节

小说: the red one 字数: 每页4000字

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jungle beyond; and win to the beach; and to some labour…recruiting;

black…birding ketch or schooner; and on to civilization and the men

of civilization; to whom he could give news of the message from

other worlds that lay; darkly worshipped by beastmen; in the black

heart of Guadalcanal's midmost centre。



On the other nights; lying late under the breadfruit tree; Bassett

spent long hours watching the slow setting of the western stars

beyond the black wall of jungle where it had been thrust back by

the clearing for the village。  Possessed of more than a cursory

knowledge of astronomy; he took a sick man's pleasure in

speculating as to the dwellers on the unseen worlds of those

incredibly remote suns; to haunt whose houses of light; life came

forth; a shy visitant; from the rayless crypts of matter。  He could

no more apprehend limits to time than bounds to space。  No

subversive radium speculations had shaken his steady scientific

faith in the conservation of energy and the indestructibility of

matter。  Always and forever must there have been stars。  And

surely; in that cosmic ferment; all must be comparatively alike;

comparatively of the same substance; or substances; save for the

freaks of the ferment。  All must obey; or compose; the same laws

that ran without infraction through the entire experience of man。

Therefore; he argued and agreed; must worlds and life be appanages

to all the suns as they were appanages to the particular of his own

solar system。



Even as he lay here; under the breadfruit tree; an intelligence

that stared across the starry gulfs; so must all the universe be

exposed to the ceaseless scrutiny of innumerable eyes; like his;

though grantedly different; with behind them; by the same token;

intelligences that questioned and sought the meaning and the

construction of the whole。  So reasoning; he felt his soul go forth

in kinship with that august company; that multitude whose gaze was

forever upon the arras of infinity。



Who were they; what were they; those far distant and superior ones

who had bridged the sky with their gigantic; red…iridescent;

heaven…singing message?  Surely; and long since; had they; too;

trod the path on which man had so recently; by the calendar of the

cosmos; set his feet。  And to be able to send a message across the

pit of space; surely they had reached those heights to which man;

in tears and travail and bloody sweat; in darkness and confusion of

many counsels; was so slowly struggling。  And what were they on

their heights?  Had they won Brotherhood?  Or had they learned that

the law of love imposed the penalty of weakness and decay?  Was

strife; life?  Was the rule of all the universe the pitiless rule

of natural selection?  And; and most immediately and poignantly;

were their far conclusions; their long…won wisdoms; shut even then

in the huge; metallic heart of the Red One; waiting for the first

earth…man to read?  Of one thing he was certain:  No drop of red

dew shaken from the lion…mane of some sun in torment; was the

sounding sphere。  It was of design; not chance; and it contained

the speech and wisdom of the stars。



What engines and elements and mastered forces; what lore and

mysteries and destiny…controls; might be there!  Undoubtedly; since

so much could be enclosed in so little a thing as the foundation

stone of a public building; this enormous sphere should contain

vast histories; profounds of research achieved beyond man's wildest

guesses; laws and formulae that; easily mastered; would make man's

life on earth; individual and collective; spring up from its

present mire to inconceivable heights of purity and power。  It was

Time's greatest gift to blindfold; insatiable; and sky…aspiring

man。  And to him; Bassett; had been vouchsafed the lordly fortune

to be the first to receive this message from man's interstellar

kin!



 No white man; much less no outland man of the other bush…tribes;

had gazed upon the Red One and lived。  Such the law expounded by

Ngurn to Bassett。  There was such a thing as blood brotherhood。

Bassett; in return; had often argued in the past。  But Ngurn had

stated solemnly no。  Even the blood brotherhood was outside the

favour of the Red One。  Only a man born within the tribe could look

upon the Red One and live。  But now; his guilty secret known only

to Balatta; whose fear of immolation before the Red One fast…sealed

her lips; the situation was different。  What he had to do was to

recover from the abominable fevers that weakened him; and gain to

civilization。  Then would he lead an expedition back; and; although

the entire population of Guadalcanal he destroyed; extract from the

heart of the Red One the message of the world from other worlds。



But Bassett's relapses grew more frequent; his brief convalescences

less and less vigorous; his periods of coma longer; until he came

to know; beyond the last promptings of the optimism inherent in so

tremendous a constitution as his own; that he would never live to

cross the grass lands; perforate the perilous coast jungle; and

reach the sea。  He faded as the Southern Cross rose higher in the

sky; till even Balatta knew that he would be dead ere the nuptial

date determined by his taboo。  Ngurn made pilgrimage personally and

gathered the smoke materials for the curing of Bassett's head; and

to him made proud announcement and exhibition of the artistic

perfectness of his intention when Bassett should be dead。  As for

himself; Bassett was not shocked。  Too long and too deeply had life

ebbed down in him to bite him with fear of its impending

extinction。  He continued to persist; alternating periods of

unconsciousness with periods of semi…consciousness; dreamy and

unreal; in which he idly wondered whether he had ever truly beheld

the Red One or whether it was a nightmare fancy of delirium。



Came the day when all mists and cob…webs dissolved; when he found

his brain clear as a bell; and took just appraisement of his body's

weakness。  Neither hand nor foot could he lift。  So little control

of his body did he have; that he was scarcely aware of possessing

one。  Lightly indeed his flesh sat upon his soul; and his soul; in

its briefness of clarity; knew by its very clarity that the black

of cessation was near。  He knew the end was close; knew that in all

truth he had with his eyes beheld the Red One; the messenger

between the worlds; knew that he would never live to carry that

message to the world … that message; for aught to the contrary;

which might already have waited man's hearing in the heart of

Guadalcanal for ten thousand years。  And Bassett stirred with

resolve; calling Ngurn to him; out under the shade of the

breadfruit tree; and with the old devil…devil doctor discussing the

terms and arrangements of his last life effort; his final adventure

in the quick of the flesh。



〃I know the law; O Ngurn;〃 he concluded the matter。  〃Whoso is not

of the folk may not look upon the Red One and live。  I shall not

live anyway。  Your young men shall carry me before the face of the

Red One; and I shall look upon him; and hear his voice; and

thereupon die; under your hand; O Ngurn。  Thus will the three

things be satisfied:  the law; my desire; and your quicker

possession of my head for which all your preparations wait。〃



To which Ngurn consented; adding:



〃It is better so。  A sick man who cannot get well is foolish to

live on for so little a while。  Also is it better for the living

that he should go。  You have been much in the way of late。  Not but

what it was good for me to talk to such a wise one。  But for moons

of days we have held little talk。  Instead; you have taken up room

in the house of heads; making noises like a dying pig; or talking

much and loudly in your own language which I do not understand。

This has been a confusion to me; for I like to think on the great

things of the light and dark as I turn the heads in the smoke。

Your much noise has thus been a disturbance to the long…learning

and hatching of the final wisdom that will be mine before I die。

As for you; upon whom the dark has already brooded; it is well that

you die now。  And I promise you; in the long days to come when I

turn your head in the smoke; no man of the tribe shall come in to

disturb us。  And I will tell you many secrets; for I am an old man

and very wise; and I shall be adding wisdom to wisdom as I turn

your head in the smoke。〃



So a litter was made; and; borne on the shoulders of half a dozen

of the men; Bassett departed on the last little adventure that was

to cap the total adventure; for him; of living。  With a body of

which he was scarcely aware; for even the pain had been exhausted

out of it; and with a bright clear brain that accommodated him to a

quiet ecstasy of sheer lucidness of thought; he lay back on the

lurching litter and watched the fading of the passing world;

beholding for the last time the breadfruit tr

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