📝 您未登录，登录后完成练习可保存成绩、查看最佳记录。
总字符
0
正确字符
0
错误字符
0
错误率
0.00%
耗时(秒)
0
速度 WPM
0
0 / 61
1"Why, so," he replied: "you take a line ashore there on the other side at low water, take a turn about one of them big
2pines; bring it back, take a turn around the capstan, and lie to for the tide. Come high water, all hands take a pull
3upon the line, and off she comes as sweet as natur'. And now, boy, you stand by. We're near the bit now, and she's too
4much way on her. Starboard a little--so--steady--starboard--larboard a little--steady--steady!" So he issued his
5commands, which I breathlessly obeyed, till, all of a sudden, he cried, "Now, my hearty, luff!" And I put the helm hard
6up, and the HISPANIOLA swung round rapidly and ran stem on for the low, wooded shore. The excitement of these last
7manoeuvres had somewhat interfered with the watch I had kept hitherto, sharply enough, upon the coxswain. Even then I
8was still so much interested, waiting for the ship to touch, that I had quite forgot the peril that hung over my head
9and stood craning over the starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading wide before the bows. I might have
10fallen without a struggle for my life had not a sudden disquietude seized upon me and made me turn my head. Perhaps I
11had heard a creak or seen his shadow moving with the tail of my eye; perhaps it was an instinct like a cat's; but, sure
12enough, when I looked round, there was Hands, already half-way towards me, with the dirk in his right hand. We must both
13have cried out aloud when our eyes met, but while mine was the shrill cry of terror, his was a roar of fury like a
14charging bully's. At the same instant, he threw himself forward and I leapt sideways towards the bows. As I did so, I
15let go of the tiller, which sprang sharp to leeward, and I think this saved my life, for it struck Hands across the
16chest and stopped him, for the moment, dead. Before he could recover, I was safe out of the corner where he had me
17trapped, with all the deck to dodge about. Just forward of the main-mast I stopped, drew a pistol from my pocket, took a
18cool aim, though he had already turned and was once more coming directly after me, and drew the trigger. The hammer
19fell, but there followed neither flash nor sound; the priming was useless with sea-water. I cursed myself for my
20neglect. Why had not I, long before, reprimed and reloaded my only weapons? Then I should not have been as now, a mere
21fleeing sheep before this butcher. Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he could move, his grizzled hair
22tumbling over his face, and his face itself as red as a red ensign with his haste and fury. I had no time to try my
23other pistol, nor indeed much inclination, for I was sure it would be useless. One thing I saw plainly: I must not
24simply retreat before him, or he would speedily hold me boxed into the bows, as a moment since he had so nearly boxed me
25in the stern. Once so caught, and nine or ten inches of the blood-stained dirk would be my last experience on this side
26of eternity. I placed my palms against the main-mast, which was of a goodish bigness, and waited, every nerve upon the
27stretch. Seeing that I meant to dodge, he also paused; and a moment or two passed in feints on his part and
28corresponding movements upon mine. It was such a game as I had often played at home about the rocks of Black Hill Cove,
29but never before, you may be sure, with such a wildly beating heart as now. Still, as I say, it was a boy's game, and I
30thought I could hold my own at it against an elderly seaman with a wounded thigh. Indeed my courage had begun to rise so
31high that I allowed myself a few darting thoughts on what would be the end of the affair, and while I saw certainly that
32I could spin it out for long, I saw no hope of any ultimate escape. Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the
33HISPANIOLA struck, staggered, ground for an instant in the sand, and then, swift as a blow, canted over to the port side
34till the deck stood at an angle of forty-five degrees and about a puncheon of water splashed into the scupper holes and
35lay, in a pool, between the deck and bulwark. We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of us rolled, almost
36together, into the scuppers, the dead red-cap, with his arms still spread out, tumbling stiffly after us. So near were
37we, indeed, that my head came against the coxswain's foot with a crack that made my teeth rattle. Blow and all, I was
38the first afoot again, for Hands had got involved with the dead body. The sudden canting of the ship had made the deck
39no place for running on; I had to find some new way of escape, and that upon the instant, for my foe was almost touching
40me. Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds, rattled up hand over hand, and did not draw a breath till I was
41seated on the cross-trees. I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had struck not half a foot below me as I pursued
42my upward flight; and there stood Israel Hands with his mouth open and his face upturned to mine, a perfect statue of
43surprise and disappointment. Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time in changing the priming of my pistol, and
44then, having one ready for service, and to make assurance doubly sure, I proceeded to draw the load of the other and
45recharge it afresh from the beginning. My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; he began to see the dice going
46against him, and after an obvious hesitation, he also hauled himself heavily into the shrouds, and with the dirk in his
47teeth, began slowly and painfully to mount. It cost him no end of time and groans to haul his wounded leg behind him,
48and I had quietly finished my arrangements before he was much more than a third of the way up. Then, with a pistol in
49either hand, I addressed him. "One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow your brains out! Dead men don't bite,
50you know," I added with a chuckle. He stopped instantly. I could see by the working of his face that he was trying to
51think, and the process was so slow and laborious that, in my new-found security, I laughed aloud. At last, with a
52swallow or two, he spoke, his face still wearing the same expression of extreme perplexity. In order to speak he had to
53take the dagger from his mouth, but in all else he remained unmoved. "Jim," says he, "I reckon we're fouled, you and me,
54and we'll have to sign articles. I'd have had you but for that there lurch, but I don't have no luck, not I; and I
55reckon I'll have to strike, which comes hard, you see, for a master mariner to a ship's younker like you, Jim." I was
56drinking in his words and smiling away, as conceited as a cock upon a wall, when, all in a breath, back went his right
57hand over his shoulder. Something sang like an arrow through the air; I felt a blow and then a sharp pang, and there I
58was pinned by the shoulder to the mast. In the horrid pain and surprise of the moment--I scarce can say it was by my own
59volition, and I am sure it was without a conscious aim--both my pistols went off, and both escaped out of my hands. They
60did not fall alone; with a choked cry, the coxswain loosed his grasp upon the shrouds and plunged head first into the
61water. XXVII "Pieces of Eight"
🎉 全部完成！共 61 行