the holly-tree-第4节
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discerned; going on before him at a curious fitfully bounding pace;
what he at first supposed to be a gig…umbrella that had been blown
from some conveyance; but what he presently believed to be a lean
dwarf man upon a little pony。 Having followed this object for some
distance without gaining on it; and having called to it many times
without receiving any answer; he pursued it for miles and miles;
when; at length coming up with it; he discovered it to be the last
bustard in Great Britain; degenerated into a wingless state; and
running along the ground。 Resolved to capture him or perish in the
attempt; he closed with the bustard; but the bustard; who had formed
a counter…resolution that he should do neither; threw him; stunned
him; and was last seen making off due west。 This weird main; at
that stage of metempsychosis; may have been a sleep…walker or an
enthusiast or a robber; but I awoke one night to find him in the
dark at my bedside; repeating the Athanasian Creed in a terrific
voice。 I paid my bill next day; and retired from the county with
all possible precipitation。
That was not a commonplace story which worked itself out at a little
Inn in Switzerland; while I was staying there。 It was a very homely
place; in a village of one narrow zigzag street; among mountains;
and you went in at the main door through the cow…house; and among
the mules and the dogs and the fowls; before ascending a great bare
staircase to the rooms; which were all of unpainted wood; without
plastering or papering;like rough packing…cases。 Outside there
was nothing but the straggling street; a little toy church with a
copper…coloured steeple; a pine forest; a torrent; mists; and
mountain…sides。 A young man belonging to this Inn had disappeared
eight weeks before (it was winter…time); and was supposed to have
had some undiscovered love affair; and to have gone for a soldier。
He had got up in the night; and dropped into the village street from
the loft in which he slept with another man; and he had done it so
quietly; that his companion and fellow…labourer had heard no
movement when he was awakened in the morning; and they said; 〃Louis;
where is Henri?〃 They looked for him high and low; in vain; and
gave him up。 Now; outside this Inn; there stood; as there stood
outside every dwelling in the village; a stack of firewood; but the
stack belonging to the Inn was higher than any of the rest; because
the Inn was the richest house; and burnt the most fuel。 It began to
be noticed; while they were looking high and low; that a Bantam
cock; part of the live stock of the Inn; put himself wonderfully out
of his way to get to the top of this wood…stack; and that he would
stay there for hours and hours; crowing; until he appeared in danger
of splitting himself。 Five weeks went on;six weeks;and still
this terrible Bantam; neglecting his domestic affairs; was always on
the top of the wood…stack; crowing the very eyes out of his head。
By this time it was perceived that Louis had become inspired with a
violent animosity towards the terrible Bantam; and one morning he
was seen by a woman; who sat nursing her goitre at a little window
in a gleam of sun; to catch up a rough billet of wood; with a great
oath; hurl it at the terrible Bantam crowing on the wood…stack; and
bring him down dead。 Hereupon the woman; with a sudden light in her
mind; stole round to the back of the wood…stack; and; being a good
climber; as all those women are; climbed up; and soon was seen upon
the summit; screaming; looking down the hollow within; and crying;
〃Seize Louis; the murderer! Ring the church bell! Here is the
body!〃 I saw the murderer that day; and I saw him as I sat by my
fire at the Holly…Tree Inn; and I see him now; lying shackled with
cords on the stable litter; among the mild eyes and the smoking
breath of the cows; waiting to be taken away by the police; and
stared at by the fearful village。 A heavy animal;the dullest
animal in the stables;with a stupid head; and a lumpish face
devoid of any trace of insensibility; who had been; within the
knowledge of the murdered youth; an embezzler of certain small
moneys belonging to his master; and who had taken this hopeful mode
of putting a possible accuser out of his way。 All of which he
confessed next day; like a sulky wretch who couldn't be troubled any
more; now that they had got hold of him; and meant to make an end of
him。 I saw him once again; on the day of my departure from the Inn。
In that Canton the headsman still does his office with a sword; and
I came upon this murderer sitting bound; to a chair; with his eyes
bandaged; on a scaffold in a little market…place。 In that instant;
a great sword (loaded with quicksilver in the thick part of the
blade) swept round him like a gust of wind or fire; and there was no
such creature in the world。 My wonder was; not that he was so
suddenly dispatched; but that any head was left unreaped; within a
radius of fifty yards of that tremendous sickle。
That was a good Inn; too; with the kind; cheerful landlady and the
honest landlord; where I lived in the shadow of Mont Blanc; and
where one of the apartments has a zoological papering on the walls;
not so accurately joined but that the elephant occasionally rejoices
in a tiger's hind legs and tail; while the lion puts on a trunk and
tusks; and the bear; moulting as it were; appears as to portions of
himself like a leopard。 I made several American friends at that
Inn; who all called Mont Blanc Mount Blank;except one good…
humoured gentleman; of a very sociable nature; who became on such
intimate terms with it that he spoke of it familiarly as 〃Blank;〃
observing; at breakfast; 〃Blank looks pretty tall this morning;〃 or
considerably doubting in the courtyard in the evening; whether there
warn't some go…ahead naters in our country; sir; that would make out
the top of Blank in a couple of hours from first startnow!
Once I passed a fortnight at an Inn in the North of England; where I
was haunted by the ghost of a tremendous pie。 It was a Yorkshire
pie; like a fort;an abandoned fort with nothing in it; but the
waiter had a fixed idea that it was a point of ceremony at every
meal to put the pie on the table。 After some days I tried to hint;
in several delicate ways; that I considered the pie done with; as;
for example; by emptying fag…ends of glasses of wine into it;
putting cheese…plates and spoons into it; as into a basket; putting
wine…bottles into it; as into a cooler; but always in vain; the pie
being invariably cleaned out again and brought up as before。 At
last; beginning to be doubtful whether I was not the victim of a
spectral illusion; and whether my health and spirits might not sink
under the horrors of an imaginary pie; I cut a triangle out of it;
fully as large as the musical instrument of that name in a powerful
orchestra。 Human provision could not have foreseen the resultbut
the waiter mended the pie。 With some effectual species of cement;
he adroitly fitted the triangle in again; and I paid my reckoning
and fled。
The Holly…Tree was getting rather dismal。 I made an overland
expedition beyond the screen; and penetrated as far as the fourth
window。 Here I was driven back by stress of weather。 Arrived at my
winter…quarters once more; I made up the fire; and took another Inn。
It was in the remotest part of Cornwall。 A great annual Miners'
Feast was being holden at the Inn; when I and my travelling
companions presented ourselves at night among the wild crowd that
were dancing before it by torchlight。 We had had a break…down in
the dark; on a stony morass some miles away; and I had the honour of
leading one of the unharnessed post…horses。 If any lady or
gentleman; on perusal of the present lines; will take any very tall
post…horse with his traces hanging about his legs; and will conduct
him by the bearing…rein into the heart of a country dance of a
hundred and fifty couples; that lady or gentleman will then; and
only then; form an adequate idea of the extent to which that post…
horse will tread on his conductor's toes。 Over and above which; the
post…horse; finding three hundred people whirling about him; will
probably rear; and also lash out with his hind legs; in a manner
incompatible with dignity or self…respect on his conductor's part。
With such little drawbacks on my usually impressive aspect; I
appeared at this Cornish Inn; to the unutterable wonder of the
Cornish Miners。 It was full; and twenty times full; and nobody
could be received but the post…horse;though to get rid of that
noble animal was something。 While my fellow…travellers and I were
discussing how to pass the night and so much of the next day as must
intervene before the jovial blacksmith and the jovial wheelwright
would be in a condition to go out on the morass and mend the coach;
an honest man stepped forth from the crowd and proposed his unle