登陆注册
15490900000015

第15章 THE VALLEY OF SPIDERS(4)

There under the lee of the dry torrent's steeper banks he might crouch, and watch these strange, grey masses pass and pass in safety till the wind fell, and it became possible to escape. And there for a long time he crouched, watching the strange, grey, ragged masses trail their streamers across his narrowed sky.

Once a stray spider fell into the ravine close beside him--a full foot it measured from leg to leg, and its body was half a man's hand--and after he had watched its monstrous alacrity of search and escape for a little while, and tempted it to bite his broken sword, he lifted up his iron-heeled boot and smashed it into a pulp. He swore as he did so, and for a time sought up and down for another.

Then presently, when he was surer these spider swarms could not drop into the ravine, he found a place where he could sit down, and sat and fell into deep thought and began after his manner to gnaw his knuckles and bite his nails. And from this he was moved by the coming of the man with the white horse.

He heard him long before he saw him, as a clattering of hoofs, stumbling footsteps, and a reassuring voice. Then the little man appeared, a rueful figure, still with a tail of white cobweb trailing behind him. They approached each other without speaking, without a salutation. The little man was fatigued and shamed to the pitch of hopeless bitterness, and came to a stop at last, face to face with his seated master. The latter winced a little under his dependant's eye. "Well?" he said at last, with no pretence of authority.

"You left him?"

"My horse bolted."

"I know. So did mine."

He laughed at his master mirthlessly.

"I say my horse bolted," said the man who once had a silver-studded bridle.

"Cowards both," said the little man.

The other gnawed his knuckle through some meditative moments, with his eye on his inferior.

"Don't call me a coward," he said at length.

"You are a coward like myself."

"A coward possibly. There is a limit beyond which every man must fear.

That I have learnt at last. But not like yourself. That is where the difference comes in."

"I never could have dreamt you would have left him. He saved your life two minutes before. . . . Why are you our lord?"

The master gnawed his knuckles again, and his countenance was dark.

"No man calls me a coward," he said. "No. A broken sword is better than none. . . . One spavined white horse cannot be expected to carry two men a four days' journey. I hate white horses, but this time it cannot be helped. You begin to understand me? . . . I perceive that you are minded, on the strength of what you have seen and fancy, to taint my reputation. It is men of your sort who unmake kings.

Besides which--I never liked you."

"My lord!" said the little man.

"No," said the master. "NO!"

He stood up sharply as the little man moved. For a minute perhaps they faced one another. Overhead the spiders' balls went driving.

There was a quick movement among the pebbles; a running of feet, a cry of despair, a gasp and a blow. . . .

Towards nightfall the wind fell. The sun set in a calm serenity, and the man who had once possessed the silver bridle came at last very cautiously and by an easy slope out of the ravine again; but now he led the white horse that once belonged to the little man.

He would have gone back to his horse to get his silver-mounted bridle again, but he feared night and a quickening breeze might still find him in the valley, and besides he disliked greatly to think he might discover his horse all swathed in cobwebs and perhaps unpleasantly eaten.

And as he thought of those cobwebs and of all the dangers he had been through, and the manner in which he had been preserved that day, his hand sought a little reliquary that hung about his neck, and he clasped it for a moment with heartfelt gratitude. As he did so his eyes went across the valley.

"I was hot with passion," he said, "and now she has met her reward.

They also, no doubt--"

And behold! Far away out of the wooded slopes across the valley, but in the clearness of the sunset distinct and unmistakable, he saw a little spire of smoke.

At that his expression of serene resignation changed to an amazed anger. Smoke? He turned the head of the white horse about, and hesitated. And as he did so a little rustle of air went through the grass about him. Far away upon some reeds swayed a tattered sheet of grey. He looked at the cobwebs; he looked at the smoke.

"Perhaps, after all, it is not them," he said at last.

But he knew better.

After he had stared at the smoke for some time, he mounted the white horse.

As he rode, he picked his way amidst stranded masses of web. For some reason there were many dead spiders on the ground, and those that lived feasted guiltily on their fellows. At the sound of his horse's hoofs they fled.

Their time had passed. From the ground without either a wind to carry them or a winding sheet ready, these things, for all their poison, could do him little evil. He flicked with his belt at those he fancied came too near. Once, where a number ran together over a bare place, he was minded to dismount and trample them with his boots, but this impulse he overcame. Ever and again he turned in his saddle, and looked back at the smoke.

"Spiders," he muttered over and over again. "Spiders! Well, well. . . .

The next time I must spin a web."

同类推荐
  • 佛说四品法门经

    佛说四品法门经

    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。
  • 番社采风图考

    番社采风图考

    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。
  • 大理行记

    大理行记

    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。
  • 猫苑

    猫苑

    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。
  • Henry James

    Henry James

    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
  • 乱世之神兵三国

    乱世之神兵三国

    这是一部热血的小说,这也是一部搞笑的小说,而这只是这个小说系列的第一部,也是开始,我有一个毕生的愿望,就是重新写一次有四大名著题材的小说,我个人觉得三国应该是英雄的年代,所以这里没有太多的YY或者种马,相信会没什么人去在意,但是我只想写出一部叫做英雄的三国时代,希望大家可以期待一下或者多多给点意见
  • 霸道龙神

    霸道龙神

    简介:数百万年前,四大职业,神兵战士,府师,召唤师,神兽战士,平定天下,而后神兽战士的王者,龙神战士,由于过于强大,一旦问世,便遭到各方势力的追杀,逐渐的没落,直至消失,成为传说,只残留几滴精血遗落在世间。世人为了得到上古传承的神龙之血,几番争斗,暗流涌动,一时间天下大乱。一个平凡的小镇,一个身世不明的少年,体内的血脉,却在慢慢的苏醒。身具龙脉,成就世间唯一圣龙之身,号令天下神兽,称霸上古大陆,金钱,美女,地位,神兽,神兵,应有尽有。废材的逆袭之路。
  • 校园生活,sayHello

    校园生活,sayHello

    本文只是柒陌单方面对校园生活的美好想象哒。会有本陌的真实生活哒!本陌毕竟经历过朴柾柒在一个充满心机的高中求学,纵使智商比天高仍旧呆不下去,可为了家里,只能把一个活泼开朗的小女孩,生生逼成了一个陌路人。不言不语,不吵不闹…………直到遇到了他。他是学校的大明星,在文学社大芳放光彩,阳光帅气。跟那韩国的…………不,他是他,独一无二的他。“我X,你喜欢我哪一点?!我改!”朴柾柒感到了侮辱。某人欺身而上“你人既是我的,我还怕你的不成?”朴柾柒捂脸,我是不是不该招惹他。“那我来招惹你”
  • 得天独厚

    得天独厚

    什么是好人,就是被坏人欺负的人;什么是坏人,就是可以经常欺负好人的人。为什么好人要做坏事呢?因为坏人从来就不做好事儿。既然做坏人有如此多的好处,那索性做个坏人也不错。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 会唱歌的墙

    会唱歌的墙

    莫言的散文,一如他作为乡土民众精神图腾的“红高梁系列”,小说,亦是理解莫言作品的灯塔。该书辑齐了莫言最具代表性的散文作品,才华横溢。其中大量散文谈及作者的故乡高密,故乡已成为莫言借以理解沟通和抒写描摹整个世界的一条必经之路。尊敬的书友,本书选载最精华部分供您阅读。
  • 超级能源系统

    超级能源系统

    塑料袋?工业污染?各种垃圾?在秦奋手里那是宝贝,那是资本,能换钱,能换妞。假如世界上有十分之一的人使用他的商品,他会思考如何让剩下的人都使用的他的商品。一个商业王子的崛起之路!
  • 穿越之一代商娇

    穿越之一代商娇

    她坚信:商之大者,可商天下——哪怕,在这个世界上,她只是一个孤女,也能凭着自己的双手,一步一步,闯出属于自己的天地!她以一个穿越者的身份,在重农抑商的大魏王朝,从一个失怙的孤女,成为举世闻名的女商,却痛失所爱,独抚遗孤,何故?她是两位帝王毕生的牵念,两代帝妃临朝称制,也都与她有着千丝万缕的联系,到最后她却只落得到大厦倾覆,流落海外的下场,何故?她是皇帝亲封的“一代商娇”,止瘟疫,平战乱,开慈堂,受无数人景仰,却被后世之人骂为祸国妖孽,何故?世事洞明皆学问,人情练达俱文章。且看她,如何成为那誉满天下,谤满天下的“一代商娇”!角色:女/商娇(杜怀瑾)、穆颜(胡沁华)、常喜、阿史那月等;
  • 无为天圣

    无为天圣

    “都说了这世界很简单你不信,偏偏整天闹着要长生要不朽的把自己弄得三级残废!”王世华无语的对着一位荒道至尊说着!荒道至尊只能掉着冷汗,陪着礼的把王大神请去自己的禁地宝库让他随便挑!“都说了我不需要什么仙子圣女!难道不知道现在是崇尚自由恋爱的社会吗!”一古青天大佬只能陪着笑说自己的错!“唉!难道杀了几只鸡就把我当他们的爹供着!真不知道这些人是怎么想的!”王世华三百六十度无死角的感叹着!
  • 君王式傻丫头降临

    君王式傻丫头降临

    某只傻丫头误闯了校园禁地――陵墓?!!你大爷!你家陵墓墓碑上都刻着皮卡丘啊!等等!墓碑中间居然有个帐篷诶T_T有没有搞错啊难不成有人在陵墓度假?云晴雨打开手机里的歌Takeyoutoothemoon深吸一口气大步流星的走到帐篷前突然从帐篷中闪出一道人影晴雨耳边传来一道极富磁性的声音:“丫头,胆子不小啊~”晴雨皱起眉头,右手握紧,一拳头招呼过去,挑衅的挑着左眉:“还没有人敢在我耳边说话,怎么着?怕你撒?!”