登陆注册
15529100000007

第7章

Ralph was not a romanticist.He was a born leader,excelling at organized games,exercising over boys the sort of fascination that comes from doing everything better and more easily than others.It was only during the progress of such enterprises as this affair of the Petrel that I succeeded in winning their allegiance;bit by bit,as Tom's had been won,fanning their enthusiasm by impersonating at once Achilles and Homer,recruiting while relating the Odyssey of the expedition in glowing colours.Ralph always scoffed,and when I had no scheme on foot they went back to him.Having surveyed the boat and predicted calamity,he departed,leaving a circle of quaint and youthful figures around the Petrel in the shed:Gene Hollister,romantically inclined,yet somewhat hampered by a strict parental supervision;Ralph's cousin Ham Durrett,who was even then a rather fat boy,good-natured but selfish;Don and Harry Ewan,my second cousins;Mac and Nancy Willett and Sam and Sophy McAlery.Nancy was a tomboy,not to be denied,and Sophy her shadow.We held a council,the all-important question of which was how to get the Petrel to the water,and what water to get her to.The river was not to be thought of,and Blackstone Lake some six miles from town.Finally,Logan's mill-pond was decided on,--a muddy sheet on the outskirts of the city.But how to get her to Logan's mill-pond?Cephas was at length consulted.It turned out that he had a coloured friend who went by the impressive name of Thomas Jefferson Taliaferro (pronounced Tolliver),who was in the express business;and who,after surveying the boat with some misgivings,--for she was ten feet long,--finally consented to transport her to "tide-water"for the sum of two dollars.But it proved that our combined resources only amounted to a dollar and seventy-five cents.Ham Durrett never contributed to anything.On this sum Thomas Jefferson compromised.

Saturday dawned clear,with a stiff March wind catching up the dust into eddies and whirling it down the street.No sooner was my father safely on his way to his office than Thomas Jefferson was reported to be in the alley,where we assembled,surveying with some misgivings Thomas Jefferson's steed,whose ability to haul the Petrel two miles seemed somewhat doubtful.Other difficulties developed;the door in the back of the shed proved to be too narrow for our ship's beam.But men embarked on a desperate enterprise are not to be stopped by such trifles,and the problem was solved by sawing out two adjoining boards.These were afterwards replaced with skill by the ship's carpenter,Able Seaman Grits Jarvis.Then the Petrel by heroic efforts was got into the wagon,the seat of which had been removed,old Thomas Jefferson perched himself precariously in the bow and protestingly gathered up his rope-patched reins.

"Folks'll 'low I'se plum crazy,drivin'dis yere boat,"he declared,observing with concern that some four feet of the stern projected over the tail-board."Ef she topples,I'll git to heaven quicker'n a bullet."When one is shanghaied,however,--in the hands of buccaneers,--it is too late to withdraw.Six shoulders upheld the rear end of the Petrel,others shoved,and Thomas Jefferson's rickety horse began to move forward in spite of himself.An expression of sheer terror might have been observed on the old negro's crinkled face,but his voice was drowned,and we swept out of the alley.Scarcely had we travelled a block before we began to be joined by all the boys along the line of march;marbles,tops,and even incipient baseball games were abandoned that Saturday morning;people ran out of their houses,teamsters halted their carts.

The breathless excitement,the exaltation I had felt on leaving the alley were now tinged with other feelings,unanticipated,but not wholly lacking in delectable quality,--concern and awe at these unforeseen forces I had raised,at this ever growing and enthusiastic body of volunteers springing up like dragon's teeth in our path.After all,was not I the hero of this triumphal procession?The thought was consoling,exhilarating.And here was Nancy marching at my side,a little subdued,perhaps,but unquestionably admiring and realizing that it was I who had created all this.Nancy,who was the aptest of pupils,the most loyal of followers,though I did not yet value her devotion at its real worth,because she was a girl.Her imagination kindled at my touch.And on this eventful occasion she carried in her arms a parcel,the contents of which were unknown to all but ourselves.At length we reached the muddy shores of Logan's pond,where two score eager hands volunteered to assist the Petrel into her native element.

Alas!that the reality never attains to the vision.I had beheld,in my dreams,the Petrel about to take the water,and Nancy Willett standing very straight making a little speech and crashing a bottle of wine across the bows.This was the content of the mysterious parcel;she had stolen it from her father's cellar.But the number of uninvited spectators,which had not been foreseen,considerably modified the programme,--as the newspapers would have said.They pushed and crowded around the ship,and made frank and even brutal remarks as to her seaworthiness;even Nancy,inured though she was to the masculine sex,had fled to the heights,and it looked at this supreme moment as though we should have to fight for the Petrel.An attempt to muster her doughty buccaneers failed;the gunner too had fled,--Gene Hollister;Ham Durrett and the Ewanses were nowhere to be seen,and a muster revealed only Tom,the fidus Achates,and Grits Jarvis.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 日常混日子

    日常混日子

    “你有没有什么想做的事情啊?”“想做的?没有啊”“那你不找点事情做一下?”“ennnn…还不想找”“那要不谈场恋爱?”“我……好像还没遇到吧”“嗯?!你没遇到?!”我这么大个人你都没有看见吗。。。
  • 萌系吃货女皇成长记

    萌系吃货女皇成长记

    "卿卿被养父母当牲口贩卖,被婊子情敌杀害,临死之际因老道士送的一场机缘来到架空时空,顾卿卿成为了乾清公主。在这里她有一个各种宠溺自己的女儿控父皇,一个名义上自己儿砸的小萌娃嘟嘟,还有一个救了自己能占卜能治病的银发神医林穆清,以及一群目的各异的不靠谱暗卫。到最后顾卿卿才醒悟,原来一切表面上的美好背后都是晦暗的阴谋。“呵,我便杀尽天下欺我,辱我,背叛我之人!”顾卿卿浑身浴血而立在万千尸骨之上,笑看染上殷红鲜血的万里河山,却唯独染不上林穆清银色的发,清冷的眸。他还是那般遗世而独立,“卿卿,真正爱你之人一直都在你身后,你可曾回眸一看。”【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 永恒定律

    永恒定律

    鸡生蛋,蛋生鸡?一个简单的谜题却环绕着人类至今都不能给予一致性的答案。它代表了生命,世界,宇宙的起源本质,让许多哲学家,科学家不断的争论,研究……聂于晨,聂于星-一对天才龙凤胎,年纪双十却已经是当地家喻户晓的科学研究生。承续了父亲的遗志,想把生命的起源弄个明白,却无意中穿越到唐朝时代,更遇见了所谓的众神仙们……
  • 田园伊色

    田园伊色

    罗伊现代的美容师,也美容产品的研究员,因意外穿越的古代,嫁给了被当朝将军抛弃的将军之子蒋大鹏,蒋大鹏将军之子却长在农村,等他知道自己身份的同时也给自己个罗伊带去了不小的麻烦。”喂喂喂....就是你,你长得好像我找了好久的相公啊,叫什么名字。“男子上前抬起女子的下巴,“怎么才几个月不见,娘子就不认识为夫了,看来要让娘子好好加深印象呀”新文《男神大人碗里来》以发!大家收藏一下
  • 黑暗的守护萨亚

    黑暗的守护萨亚

    “妈妈说过,以前她的一个男朋友是英雄,虽然现在不知在何处,但是她始终相信他会回来,继续做守护我们地球的英雄,为守护我们而战。”老式留声机不断的重复着这一句话,巨大的庞大身影似乎在蠕动着,吞噬它所触碰到的一切事物,坠毁熊熊燃烧的战机残骸似乎预示着它那强大的力量。孤独的布娃娃看起来还在等待着它早已不可能回来的小主人,就在最后残存的人类认为无法被救下时奇迹发生了,紫色的光芒普照大地,人类如同看到希望一般雀跃着。光芒之中孤独的紫色巨人降下,在这充满了黑暗的夜中,他的眼睛及胸前的蓝色饰品最为显眼,如同暗夜之中的明灯隐隐发光。那就是我们的英雄,萨亚……
  • 一将功成

    一将功成

    英姿飒爽的清清女侠巧遇了一个可怜兮兮的盲眼少年,一时间爱心泛滥不可收拾。至此之后她便发现,她再也甩不掉他了。
  • 青竹私语暗花开

    青竹私语暗花开

    青梅竹马,两小无猜,本应该在一起,可是千兮语居然喜欢上他的同班同学!还让他帮她送情书?他却耐不住她的撒娇,只好帮她去送情书......
  • 明月照天涯之逍遥女魔头

    明月照天涯之逍遥女魔头

    苏小月平时也就是喜欢喝个小酒,然后有一天喝醉了,然后就穿越了……“妖女!今日我要与你大战三百回合,定要将你X¥#*¥@**,替天行道!”一精赤着上半身,线条俊美的男子,情绪激动的握拳道。“你,你且慢,让我醒醒酒先~~”苏小月。“妖女!去史吧!”精壮男。……噼里啪啦,啪啪啪,嘎吱嘎吱,当当当,咚咚咚,等等一系列象声词……一盏茶后,苏小月呃出了一个酒嗝,一脚将那男人踢下了床,趴在床头口齿不清的迷糊道,“你呀~又输了~~”
  • 巫颂

    巫颂

    超级特工夏侯穿越回充满神话色彩的大夏朝,转世成为一名强悍的蛮族巫武。因身怀道家玄武真解,又得到巫教的真传,夏侯得以巫道双修。在神话的长河里,他见证了巫教的兴衰,道家的崛起,亚特兰蒂斯的沉没……看血红如何揭开中国神话史上最大的谜团!
  • 特色少年王

    特色少年王

    白天,他是学习成绩平平的在校生,感情世界丰富。晚上,他摇身一变,成了冷酷凶狠的霸主,翻手为云,覆手为雨,他一步步创立了一个庞大的帝国,可以左右时局,操纵股市,啸傲江湖。