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第17节

end of the tether-第17节

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to sing in the rigging; the sea along the coast; green



and as if swollen a little above the line of the horizon;



seemed to pour itself over; time after time; with a slow



and thundering fall; into the shadow of the leeward



cape; and across the wide opening the nearest of a



group of small islands stood enveloped in the hazy



yellow light of a breezy sunrise; still farther out the



hummocky tops of other islets peeped out motionless



above the water of the channels between; scoured



tumultuously by the breeze。







The usual track of the Sofala both going and return…



ing on every trip led her for a few miles along this reef…



infested region。  She followed a broad lane of water;



dropping astern; one after another; these crumbs of the



earth's crust resembling a squadron of dismasted hulks



run in disorder upon a foul ground of rocks and shoals。



Some of these fragments of land appeared; indeed; no



bigger than a stranded ship; others; quite flat; lay



awash like anchored rafts; like ponderous; black rafts



of stone; several; heavily timbered and round at the



base; emerged in squat domes of deep green foliage that



shuddered darkly all over to the flying touch of cloud



shadows driven by the sudden gusts of the squally sea…



son。  The thunderstorms of the coast broke frequently



over that cluster; it turned then shadowy in its whole



extent; it turned more dark; and as if more still in the



play of fire; as if more impenetrably silent in the peals



of thunder; its blurred shapes vanisheddissolving ut…



terly at times in the thick rainto reappear clear…cut



and black in the stormy light against the gray sheet of



the cloudscattered on the slaty round table of



the sea。  Unscathed by storms; resisting the work of



years; unfretted by the strife of the world; there it lay



unchanged as on that day; four hundred years ago;



when first beheld by Western eyes from the deck of



a high…pooped caravel。







It was one of these secluded spots that may be found



on the busy sea; as on land you come sometimes upon the



clustered houses of a hamlet untouched by men's rest…



lessness; untouched by their need; by their thought; and



as if forgotten by time itself。  The lives of uncounted



generations had passed it by; and the multitudes of sea…



fowl; urging their way from all the points of the horizon



to sleep on the outer rocks of the group; unrolled the



converging evolutions of their flight in long somber



streamers upon the glow of the sky。  The palpitating



cloud of their wings soared and stooped over the pinna…



cles of the rocks; over the rocks slender like spires; squat



like martello towers; over the pyramidal heaps like fallen



ruins; over the lines of bald bowlders showing like a wall



of stones battered to pieces and scorched by lightning



with the sleepy; clear glimmer of water in every breach。



The noise of their continuous and violent screaming



filled the air。







This great noise would meet the Sofala coming up from



Batu Beru; it would meet her on quiet evenings; a piti…



less and savage clamor enfeebled by distance; the



clamor of seabirds settling to rest; and struggling for



a footing at the end of the day。  No one noticed it



especially on board; it was the voice of their ship's un…



erring landfall; ending the steady stretch of a hundred



miles。  She had made good her course; she had run her



distance till the punctual islets began to emerge one by



one; the points of rocks; the hummocks of earth 。 。 。



and the cloud of birds hoveredthe restless cloud emit…



ting a strident and cruel uproar; the sound of the fa…



miliar scene; the living part of the broken land beneath;



of the outspread sea; and of the high sky without a



flaw。







But when the Sofala happened to close with the land



after sunset she would find everything very still there



under the mantle of the night。  All would be still; dumb;



almost invisiblebut for the blotting out of the low



constellations occulted in turns behind the vague masses



of the islets whose true outlines eluded the eye amongst



the dark spaces of the heaven: and the ship's three lights;



resembling three starsthe red and the green with the



white aboveher three lights; like three companion



stars wandering on the earth; held their unswerving



course for the passage at the southern end of the group。



Sometimes there were human eyes open to watch them



come nearer; traveling smoothly in the somber void; the



eyes of a naked fisherman in his canoe floating over a



reef。  He thought drowsily: 〃Ha!  The fire…ship that



once in every moon goes in and comes out of Pangu



bay。〃  More he did not know of her。  And just as he



had detected the faint rhythm of the propeller beating



the calm water a mile and a half away; the time would



come for the Sofala to alter her course; the lights would



swing off him their triple beamand disappear。







A few miserable; half…naked families; a sort of outcast



tribe of long…haired; lean; and wild…eyed people; strove



for their living in this lonely wilderness of islets; lying



like an abandoned outwork of the land at the gates of



the bay。  Within the knots and loops of the rocks the



water rested more transparent than crystal under their



crooked and leaky canoes; scooped out of the trunk of



a tree: the forms of the bottom undulated slightly to



the dip of a paddle; and the men seemed to hang in the



air; they seemed to hang inclosed within the fibers of a



dark; sodden log; fishing patiently in a strange; un…



steady; pellucid; green air above the shoals。







Their bodies stalked brown and emaciated as if dried



up in the sunshine; their lives ran out silently; the



homes where they were born; went to rest; and died



flimsy sheds of rushes and coarse grass eked out with



a few ragged matswere hidden out of sight from the



open sea。  No glow of their household fires ever kindled



for a seaman a red spark upon the blind night of the



group: and the calms of the coast; the flaming long



calms of the equator; the unbreathing; concentrated



calms like the deep introspection of a passionate nature;



brooded awfully for days and weeks together over the



unchangeable inheritance of their children; till at last



the stones; hot like live embers; scorched the naked sole;



till the water clung warm; and sickly; and as if thick…



ened; about the legs of lean men with girded loins; wad…



ing thigh…deep in the pale blaze of the shallows。  And



it would happen now and then that the Sofala; through



some delay in one of the ports of call; would heave in



sight making for Pangu bay as late as noonday。







Only a blurring cloud at first; the thin mist of her



smoke would arise mysteriously from an empty point on



the clear line of sea and sky。  The taciturn fishermen



within the reefs would extend their lean arms towards



the offing; and the brown figures stooping on the tiny



beaches; the brown figures of men; women; and children



grubbing in the sand in search of turtles' eggs; would



rise up; crooked elbow aloft and hand over the eyes; to



watch this monthly apparition glide straight on; swerve



offand go by。  Their ears caught the panting of that



ship; their eyes followed her till she passed between the



two capes of the mainland going at full speed as though



she hoped to make her way unchecked into the very



bosom of the earth。







On such days the luminous sea would give no sign of



the dangers lurking on both sides of her path。  Every…



thing remained still; crushed by the overwhelming power



of the light; and the whole group; opaque in the sun…



shine;the rocks resembling pinnacles; the rocks resem…



bling spires; the rocks resembling ruins; the forms of



islets resembling beehives; resembling mole…hills; the



islets recalling the shapes of haystacks; the contours of



ivy…clad towers;would stand reflected together upside



down in the unwrinkled water; like carved toys of ebony



disposed on the silvered plate…glass of a mirror。







The first touch of blowing weather would envelop the



whole at once in the spume of the windward breakers;



as if in a sudden cloudlike burst of steam; and the clear



water seemed fairly to boil in all the passages。  The



provoked sea outlined exactly in a design of angry foam



the wide base of the group; the submerged level of



broken waste and refuse left over from the building of



the coa

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