登陆注册
15298700000008

第8章

Strictly speaking, he was right.But I've never had much taste for investigation, for showing people up and all that no doubt ethically meri-torious kind of work.And my view of the episode was purely ethical.If any one had to be the death of the Steward I didn't see why it shouldn't be Captain Giles himself, a man of age and standing, and a permanent resident.Whereas, I in com-parison, felt myself a mere bird of passage in that port.In fact, it might have been said that I had already broken off my connection.I muttered that I didn't think--it was nothing to me....

"Nothing!" repeated Captain Giles, giving some signs of quiet, deliberate indignation."Kent warned me you were a peculiar young fellow.You will tell me next that a command is nothing to you --and after all the trouble I've taken, too!""The trouble!" I murmured, uncomprehending.

What trouble? All I could remember was being mystified and bored by his conversation for a solid hour after tiffin.And he called that taking a lot of trouble.

He was looking at me with a self-complacency which would have been odious in any other man.

All at once, as if a page of a book had been turned over disclosing a word which made plain all that had gone before, I perceived that this matter had also another than an ethical aspect.

And still I did not move.Captain Giles lost his patience a little.With an angry puff at his pipe he turned his back on my hesitation.

But it was not hesitation on my part.I had been, if I may express myself so, put out of gear mentally.But as soon as I had convinced my-self that this stale, unprofitable world of my dis-content contained such a thing as a command to be seized, I recovered my powers of locomo-tion.

It's a good step from the Officers' Home to the Harbour Office; but with the magic word "Com-mand" in my head I found myself suddenly on the quay as if transported there in the twinkling of an eye, before a portal of dressed white stone above a flight of shallow white steps.

All this seemed to glide toward me swiftly.The whole great roadstead to the right was just a mere flicker of blue, and the dim cool hall swallowed me up out of the heat and glare of which I had not been aware till the very moment I passed in from it.

The broad inner staircase insinuated itself under my feet somehow.Command is a strong magic.

The first human beings I perceived distinctly since I had parted with the indignant back of Captain Giles were the crew of the harbour steam-launch lounging on the spacious landing about the cur-tained archway of the shipping office.

It was there that my buoyancy abandoned me.

The atmosphere of officialdom would kill anything that breathes the air of human endeavour, would extinguish hope and fear alike in the supremacy of paper and ink.I passed heavily under the curtain which the Malay coxswain of the harbour launch raised for me.There was nobody in the office except the clerks, writing in two industrious rows.

But the head Shipping-Master hopped down from his elevation and hurried along on the thick mats to meet me in the broad central passage.

He had a Scottish name, but his complexion was of a rich olive hue, his short beard was jet black, and his eyes, also black, had a languishing ex-pression.He asked confidentially:

"You want to see Him?"

All lightness of spirit and body having departed from me at the touch of officialdom, I looked at the scribe without animation and asked in my turn wearily:

"What do you think? Is it any use?"

"My goodness! He has asked for you twice to-day."

This emphatic He was the supreme authority, the Marine Superintendent, the Harbour-Master --a very great person in the eyes of every single quill-driver in the room.But that was nothing to the opinion he had of his own greatness.

Captain Ellis looked upon himself as a sort of divine (pagan) emanation, the deputy-Neptune for the circumambient seas.If he did not actually rule the waves, he pretended to rule the fate of the mortals whose lives were cast upon the waters.

This uplifting illusion made him inquisitorial and peremptory.And as his temperament was choleric there were fellows who were actually afraid of him.He was redoubtable, not in virtue of his office, but because of his unwarrantable assump-tions.I had never had anything to do with him before.

同类推荐
  • 热血痕

    热血痕

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 读诗私记

    读诗私记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 王氏医案绎注

    王氏医案绎注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 襄阳守城录

    襄阳守城录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Jeanne d'Arc

    Jeanne d'Arc

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 东方的天空

    东方的天空

    因为弑亲他被迫四处漂泊、流浪,孤独一人,直到漫长的沉睡结束又重新认识这个熟悉而陌生的世界。千年争战的战火蔓延了万年一直延绵不熄,可是这也将是故事走向终结之路。“Myloveforyouuntiltheendoflife.”【我对你的爱直到生命的尽头。】这是他的承诺也将用自己无限的生命来践行。因为是你不再让我觉得这个世界只有我一人。……神父的失踪、亚伯之血的发现、中立党的酒会,这种种的一切都将她引导入东方的天空下。当这所有的疑惑一一解开一个巨大的阴谋在浮出水面,而谁才是这一切的主导者?一切的疑惑都将引出一个出乎意外的结果,最终揭开那个悲哀的答案。
  • 暗黑救赎

    暗黑救赎

    魔武大陆,一个穿越的灵魂穿越到一个叫托雷的年轻贵族身上,当这个灵魂得知自己是那人人喊打的魔族时,他愤怒了!他彷徨了!他无语了...为了让自己能在这个世界上掌握自己的命运,他必须要变得强大起来。所以他要振兴魔族!主宰大陆!但,这么做是正确的么...
  • 凤归于兮

    凤归于兮

    她是百国联盟第一杀手,天生异能,却迷蒙了双目,甘愿沦为杀人机器;她是炽天大陆第一美人,天赋卓绝,却是西岚第一废物。一朝穿越,当她成了她,杀伐果决,风华绝代……却不知,一切才刚刚开始。当年银发如雪,又迷蒙了谁的心……
  • 绝对领域极战纪

    绝对领域极战纪

    为了完成家族的试炼,佩德罗·修独自来到了坐落于神魔圣战之地的极学院。极学院给每一个学生,都配备了源器手套。拥有源器手套的学生,可以不断修行成长,从而有机会领悟到专属于自己的领域本源。极学院是个弱肉强食,适者生存的地方,而且还和魔族势不两立,却不巧潜入了魔族残留下来的幸存者。他们的身影依旧在黑暗中伺机而动,等待一个可以消灭极学院,称霸世界的机会!佩德罗·修,在挑战领域巅峰的进修路上,发现了自己不为人知的神秘身世……(《绝对领域极战纪》乃隐凌落坑的原创作品,由隐凌落坑倾情创作而著,根据国产动漫改编而成的第一部爆笑神作)
  • 倾世王妃来报到

    倾世王妃来报到

    【男女身心健康☆放心入坑】女追男?!这女追男的戏码是咋回事,好歹我也是“V集团”的总设计师怎么能这么没原则!!!当然看见帅哥时原则是神马东西,我想问一句“原则”能吃吗。虐渣男,虐姨娘,虐白莲花。原本我们俩个经历过这么多风风雨雨现在都结束了,我以为我们可以永远在一起了,可你告诉我游戏才刚刚开始,“原来一开始我就进了你设计的圈套,其实你从未爱过我,你真的好残忍一定要在我们成亲的当天领着你以前爱着的人大声的告诉我“我不要你了”原来我从一开始就不该相信任何人包括他。一生梦如烟雨——到头却一场空。倾城佳人只不过是“弃心佳人”如果能重来,我再也不会心动了。
  • 英雄联盟之猴王

    英雄联盟之猴王

    一个可怜的人在世间游荡,他只是想找到回家的路
  • 傲天之掌控宇宙

    傲天之掌控宇宙

    讲述一个盘古身死之后力量的来源被封引.后被一个少年来吸取了这个力量.之后他的一生就从此改变.
  • 绝世酷男

    绝世酷男

    一次穿越,成就其绝世人生。在经历无数挫折磨难,他用自己的睿智去度过,最后实现了人生的辉煌。
  • 秦情惊梦

    秦情惊梦

    一个宅女因一场车祸穿越到七国时代成为一国的公主,之后被迫与秦国和亲在后宫找到真爱
  • 总有你陪伴

    总有你陪伴

    某樱,不小心掉到时空穿梭系统中,天知道她怎么进去的,有这个系统吗?我怎么不知道。见了鬼了,我怎么可以随便穿来穿去了?祖宗啊,我怎么了?祖宗:很抱歉,这是家族隔代遗传,你是九灵狐托身,技能是,随便穿,没有副作用。某樱:......(大写的生无可恋)