“Tenez, voilà le Capitaine Brunot,” said Tiaré, one day when I was fitting together what she could tell me of Strickland. “He knew Strickland well; he visited him at his house.”
I saw a middle-aged1 Frenchman with a big black beard, streaked2 with gray, a sunburned face, and large, shining eyes. He was dressed in a neat suit of ducks. I had noticed him at luncheon3, and Ah Lin, the Chinese boy, told me he had come from the Paumotus on the boat that had that day arrived. Tiaré introduced me to him, and he handed me his card, a large card on which was printed René Brunot, and underneath4, Capitaine au Long Cours. We were sitting on a little verandah outside the kitchen, and Tiaré was cutting out a dress that she was making for one of the girls about the house. He sat down with us.
“Yes; I knew Strickland well,” he said. “I am very fond of chess, and he was always glad of a game. I come to Tahiti three or four times a year for my business, and when he was at Papeete he would come here and we would play. When he married”—Captain Brunot smiled and shrugged5 his shoulders—“enfin, when he went to live with the girl that Tiaré gave him, he asked me to go and see him. I was one of the guests at the wedding feast.” He looked at Tiaré, and they both laughed. “He did not come much to Papeete after that, and about a year later it chanced that I had to go to that part of the island for I forgot what business, and when I had finished it I said to myself: ‘Voyons, why should I not go and see that poor Strickland?’ I asked one or two natives if they knew anything about him, and I discovered that he lived not more than five kilometres from where I was. So I went. I shall never forget the impression my visit made on me. I live on an atoll, a low island, it is a strip of land surrounding a lagoon6, and its beauty is the beauty of the sea and sky and the varied7 colour of the lagoon and the grace of the cocoa-nut trees; but the place where Strickland lived had the beauty of the Garden of Eden. Ah, I wish I could make you see the enchantment8 of that spot, a corner hidden away from all the world, with the blue sky overhead and the rich, luxuriant trees. It was a feast of colour. And it was fragrant9 and cool. Words cannot describe that paradise. And here he lived, unmindful of the world and by the world forgotten. I suppose to European eyes it would have seemed astonishingly sordid10. The house was dilapidated and none too clean. Three or four natives were lying on the verandah. You know how natives love to herd11 together. There was a young man lying full length, smoking a cigarette, and he wore nothing but a pareo.”
The pareo is a long strip of trade cotton, red or blue, stamped with a white pattern. It is worn round the waist and hangs to the knees.
“A girl of fifteen, perhaps, was plaiting pandanus-leaf to make a hat, and an old woman was sitting on her haunches smoking a pipe. Then I saw Ata. She was suckling a new-born child, and another child, stark12 naked, was playing at her feet. When she saw me she called out to Strickland, and he came to the door. He, too, wore nothing but a pareo. He was an extraordinary figure, with his red beard and matted hair, and his great hairy chest. His feet were horny and scarred, so that I knew he went always bare foot. He had gone native with a vengeance13. He seemed pleased to see me, and told Ata to kill a chicken for our dinner. He took me into the house to show me the picture he was at work on when I came in. In one corner of the room was the bed, and in the middle was an easel with the canvas upon it. Because I was sorry for him, I had bought a couple of his pictures for small sums, and I had sent others to friends of mine in France. And though I had bought them out of compassion14, after living with them I began to like them. Indeed, I found a strange beauty in them. Everyone thought I was mad, but it turns out that I was right. I was his first admirer in the islands.”
He smiled maliciously15 at Tiaré, and with lamentations she told us again the story of how at the sale of Strickland’s effects she had neglected the pictures, but bought an American stove for twenty-seven francs.
“Have you the pictures still?” I asked.
“Yes; I am keeping them till my daughter is of marriageable age, and then I shall sell them. They will be her dot.” Then he went on with the account of his visit to Strickland.
“I shall never forget the evening I spent with him. I had not intended to stay more than an hour, but he insisted that I should spend the night. I hesitated, for I confess I did not much like the look of the mats on which he proposed that I should sleep; but I shrugged my shoulders. When I was building my house in the Paumotus I had slept out for weeks on a harder bed than that, with nothing to shelter me but wild shrubs16; and as for vermin, my tough skin should be proof against their malice17.
“We went down to the stream to bathe while Ata was preparing the dinner, and after we had eaten it we sat on the verandah. We smoked and chatted. The young man had a concertina, and he played the tunes18 popular on the music-halls a dozen years before. They sounded strangely in the tropical night thousands of miles from civilisation19. I asked Strickland if it did not irk him to live in that promiscuity20. No, he said; he liked to have his models under his hand. Presently, after loud yawning, the natives went away to sleep, and Strickland and I were left alone. I cannot describe to you the intense silence of the night. On my island in the Paumotus there is never at night the complete stillness that there was here. There is the rustle21 of the myriad22 animals on the beach, all the little shelled things that crawl about ceaselessly, and there is the noisy scurrying23 of the land-crabs. Now and then in the lagoon you hear the leaping of a fish, and sometimes a hurried noisy splashing as a brown shark sends all the other fish scampering24 for their lives. And above all, ceaseless like time, is the dull roar of the breakers on the reef. But here there was not a sound, and the air was scented25 with the white flowers of the night. It was a night so beautiful that your soul seemed hardly able to bear the prison of the body. You felt that it was ready to be wafted26 away on the immaterial air, and death bore all the aspect of a beloved friend.”
Tiaré sighed.
“Ah, I wish I were fifteen again.”
Then she caught sight of a cat trying to get at a dish of prawns27 on the kitchen table, and with a dexterous28 gesture and a lively volley of abuse flung a book at its scampering tail.
“I asked him if he was happy with Ata.
“‘She leaves me alone,’ he said. ‘She cooks my food and looks after her babies. She does what I tell her. She gives me what I want from a woman.’
“‘And do you never regret Europe? Do you not yearn29 sometimes for the light of the streets in Paris or London, the companionship of your friends, and equals, que sais-je? for theatres and newspapers, and the rumble30 of omnibuses on the cobbled pavements?’
“For a long time he was silent. Then he said:
“‘I shall stay here till I die.’
“‘But are you never bored or lonely?’ I asked.
“‘Mon pauvre ami,’ he said. ‘It is evident that you do not know what it is to be an artist.’”
Capitaine Brunot turned to me with a gentle smile, and there was a wonderful look in his dark, kind eyes.
“He did me an injustice32, for I too know what it is to have dreams. I have my visions too. In my way I also am an artist.”
We were all silent for a while, and Tiaré fished out of her capacious pocket a handful of cigarettes. She handed one to each of us, and we all three smoked. At last she said:
“Since ce monsieur is interested in Strickland, why do you not take him to see Dr. Coutras? He can tell him something about his illness and death.”
“Volontiers,” said the Captain, looking at me.
I thanked him, and he looked at his watch.
“It is past six o’clock. We should find him at home if you care to come now.”
I got up without further ado, and we walked along the road that led to the doctor’s house. He lived out of the town, but the Hôtel de la Fleur was on the edge of it, and we were quickly in the country. The broad road was shaded by pepper-trees, and on each side were the plantations33, cocoa-nut and vanilla34. The pirate birds were screeching35 among the leaves of the palms. We came to a stone bridge over a shallow river, and we stopped for a few minutes to see the native boys bathing. They chased one another with shrill36 cries and laughter, and their bodies, brown and wet, gleamed in the sunlight.
1 middle-aged ['mɪdl eɪdʒd] 第8级 | |
adj.中年的 | |
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2 streaked [stri:kt] 第7级 | |
adj.有条斑纹的,不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 );使布满条纹 | |
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3 luncheon [ˈlʌntʃən] 第8级 | |
n.午宴,午餐,便宴 | |
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4 underneath [ˌʌndəˈni:θ] 第7级 | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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5 shrugged [ʃ'rʌɡd] 第7级 | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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6 lagoon [ləˈgu:n] 第10级 | |
n.泻湖,咸水湖 | |
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7 varied [ˈveərid] 第8级 | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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8 enchantment [ɪnˈtʃɑ:ntmənt] 第11级 | |
n.迷惑,妖术,魅力 | |
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9 fragrant [ˈfreɪgrənt] 第7级 | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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10 sordid [ˈsɔ:dɪd] 第10级 | |
adj.肮脏的,不干净的,卑鄙的,暗淡的 | |
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11 herd [hɜ:d] 第7级 | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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12 stark [stɑ:k] 第10级 | |
adj.荒凉的;严酷的;完全的;adv.完全地 | |
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13 vengeance [ˈvendʒəns] 第7级 | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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14 compassion [kəmˈpæʃn] 第8级 | |
n.同情,怜悯 | |
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15 maliciously [mə'lɪʃəslɪ] 第9级 | |
adv.有敌意地 | |
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16 shrubs [ʃrʌbz] 第7级 | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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17 malice [ˈmælɪs] 第9级 | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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18 tunes [tju:nz] 第7级 | |
n.曲调,曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 );调整;(给收音机、电视等)调谐;使协调 | |
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19 civilisation [sɪvɪlaɪ'zeɪʃən] 第8级 | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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20 promiscuity [ˌprɒmɪs'kju:ətɪ] 第11级 | |
n.混杂,混乱;(男女的)乱交 | |
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21 rustle [ˈrʌsl] 第9级 | |
vt.沙沙作响;偷盗(牛、马等);vi.发出沙沙声;n.沙沙声声 | |
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22 myriad [ˈmɪriəd] 第9级 | |
adj.无数的;n.无数,极大数量 | |
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23 scurrying [ˈskɜ:ri:ɪŋ] 第10级 | |
v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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24 scampering [ˈskæmpərɪŋ] 第11级 | |
v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑,惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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25 scented [ˈsentɪd] 第7级 | |
adj.有香味的;洒香水的;有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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26 wafted [wɑ:ftid] 第11级 | |
v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27 prawns [prɔ:nz] 第8级 | |
n.对虾,明虾( prawn的名词复数 ) | |
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28 dexterous [ˈdekstrəs] 第10级 | |
adj.灵敏的;灵巧的 | |
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29 yearn [jɜ:n] 第9级 | |
vi.想念;怀念;渴望 | |
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30 rumble [ˈrʌmbl] 第9级 | |
n.隆隆声;吵嚷;vt.&vi.隆隆响;低沉地说 | |
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31 chuckled [ˈtʃʌkld] 第9级 | |
轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32 injustice [ɪnˈdʒʌstɪs] 第8级 | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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33 plantations [plæn'teɪʃnz] 第7级 | |
n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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34 vanilla [vəˈnɪlə] 第9级 | |
n.香子兰,香草 | |
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35 screeching [sk'ri:tʃɪŋ] 第10级 | |
v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 );发出粗而刺耳的声音;高叫 | |
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