登陆注册
15693000000056

第56章

THE SHADOW OF THE PAST.

ONE stepping back under the dark shelter of the bulwark, and one standing out boldly in the yellow light of the moon, the two friends turned face to face on the deck of the timber-ship, and looked at each other in silence. The next moment Allan's inveterate recklessness seized on the grotesque side of the situation by main force. He seated himself astride on the bulwark, and burst out boisterously into his loudest and heartiest laugh.

"All my fault," he said; "but there's no help for it now. Here we are, hard and fast in a trap of our own setting; and there goes the last of the doctor's boat! Come out of the dark, Midwinter; Ican't half see you there, and I want to know what's to be done next."Midwinter neither answered nor moved. Allan left the bulwark, and, mounting the forecastle, looked down attentively at the waters of the Sound.

"One thing is pretty certain," he said. "With the current on that side, and the sunken rocks on this, we can't find our way out of the scrape by swimming, at any rate. So much for the prospect at this end of the wreck. Let's try how things look at the other.

Rouse up, messmate!" he called out, cheerfully, as he passed Midwinter. "Come and see what the old tub of a timber-ship has got to show us astern." He sauntered on, with his hands in his pockets, humming the chorus of a comic song.

His voice had produced no apparent effect on his friend; but, at the light touch of his hand in passing, Midwinter started, and moved out slowly from the shadow of the bulwark. "Come along!"cried Allan, suspending his singing for a moment, and glancing back. Still, without a word of answer, the other followed. Thrice he stopped before he reached the stern end of the wreck: the first time, to throw aside his hat, and push back his hair from his forehead and temples; the second time, reeling, giddy, to hold for a moment by a ring-bolt close at hand; the last time (though Allan was plainly visible a few yards ahead), to look stealthily behind him, with the furtive scrutiny of a man who believes that other footsteps are following him in the dark .

"Not yet!" he whispered to himself, with eyes that searched the empty air. "I shall see him astern, with his hand on the lock of the cabin door."The stern end of the wreck was clear of the ship-breakers'

lumber, accumulated in the other parts of the vessel. Here, the one object that rose visible on the smooth surface of the deck was the low wooden structure which held the cabin door and roofed in the cabin stairs. The wheel-house had been removed, the binnacle had been removed, but the cabin entrance, and all that had belonged to it, had been left untouched. The scuttle was on, and the door was closed.

On gaining the after-part of the vessel, Allan walked straight to the stern, and looked out to sea over the taffrail. No such thing as a boat was in view anywhere on the quiet, moon-brightened waters. Knowing Midwinter's sight to be better than his own, he called out, "Come up here, and see if there's a fisherman within hail of us." Hearing no reply, he looked back. Midwinter had followed him as far as the cabin, and had stopped there. He called again in a louder voice, and beckoned impatiently.

Midwinter had heard the call, for he looked up, but still he never stirred from his place. There he stood, as if he had reached the utmost limits of the ship and could go no further.

Allan went back and joined him. It was not easy to discover what he was looking at, for he kept his face turned away from the moonlight; but it seemed as if his eyes were fixed, with a strange expression of inquiry, on the cabin door. "What is there to look at there?" Allan asked. "Let's see if it's locked." As he took a step forward to open the door, Midwinter's hand seized him suddenly by the coat collar and forced him back. The moment after, the hand relaxed without losing its grasp, and trembled violently, like the hand of a man completely unnerved.

"Am I to consider myself in custody?" asked Allan, half astonished and half amused. "Why in the name of wonder do you keep staring at the cabin door? Any suspicious noises below? It's no use disturbing the rats--if that's what you mean--we haven't got a dog with us. Men? Living men they can't be; for they would have heard us and come on deck. Dead men? Quite impossible! No ship's crew could be drowned in a land-locked place like this, unless the vessel broke up under them--and here's the vessel as steady as a church to speak for herself. Man alive, how your hand trembles! What is there to scare you in that rotten old cabin?

What are you shaking and shivering about? Any company of the supernatural sort on board? Mercy preserve us! (as the old women say) do you see a ghost?""_I see two!_" answered the other, driven headlong into speech and action by a maddening temptation to reveal the truth. "Two!"he repeated, his breath bursting from him in deep, heavy gasps, as he tried vainly to force back the horrible words. "The ghost of a man like you, drowning in the cabin! And the ghost of a man like me, turning the lock of the door on him!"Once more young Armadale's hearty laughter rang out loud and long through the stillness of the night.

"Turning the lock of the door, is he?" said Allan, as soon as his merriment left him breath enough to speak. "That's a devilish unhandsome action, Master Midwinter, on the part of your ghost.

同类推荐
  • 三洞赞颂灵章

    三洞赞颂灵章

    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。
  • Shavings

    Shavings

    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。
  • 雪鸿泪史

    雪鸿泪史

    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。
  • 今言

    今言

    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。
  • 佛说法律三昧经

    佛说法律三昧经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 神启之日

    神启之日

    咦?我这是穿越了吗?话说这是什么雷?竟然把我劈成了婴儿。咦,我的手好白好嫩哦!........还好,鸡鸡还在。
  • 都市最强刺客

    都市最强刺客

    昔日杀手重回家乡,却不想邂逅各式各样的美女,我无奈大喊,我这是跑出狼窝,又进了花丛中。
  • 网王之恋爱百分百

    网王之恋爱百分百

    亲们。我写的文是书的封面是谁,这篇文讲的就是谁。这样你们就可以一眼知道这篇文谁是主角了。她,从懂事开始就被培养成商业间谍杀手,二十岁那年,在执行任务中丧失了生命,临死前她只有一个愿望,就是希望能有一段美好的童年,她想弥补自己的童年…再次醒来,她灵魂穿越了,成了安渡财阀的千金小姐安渡剑心,年仅13岁,而她所在的世界也是她陌生的〈网球王子〉,她要怎样寻找她的童年,百分百的恋爱是什么?
  • EXO之虚空之恋

    EXO之虚空之恋

    女主林穆雪是虚空天使,受命来寻找十二狼族少年,冷血(逗比)的穆雪会于十二只擦出什么火花呢
  • 王俊凯爱你不孤单

    王俊凯爱你不孤单

    从他们的相遇到相识、相知、相爱,经历的点点滴滴都一直在她的脑子里荡漾。可是这一次,她又会做出这么样的选择......
  • 绝品女穷神

    绝品女穷神

    夜凛,妖界至尊,孤傲冷俊,人人畏之敬之,纵然是天庭,也从不放在眼里。万没想到那个化为鸡妖的仙界小东西竟敢当众拿水泼他,甚至大肆羞辱,简直罪不容恕,当然,他并没即刻让她灰飞烟灭,怎能如此便宜她?这似乎还只是个开始……某女跳脚,玉帝老儿,你丫不仁就休怪我不义,逃犯谁爱抓谁抓,大不了神仙不做,谁怕谁啊?(本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。)
  • 剑神丹圣

    剑神丹圣

    叶轩穿越了,他穿越到了夜岚大陆边角的一座名为青云城叶家的一位与他同名的叶家子弟身上。叶家是这个城中的一流家族,整个家族掌控着青云城,而且叶轩的父亲正是叶家家主,也是青云城城主。不过,叶轩自小资质平平,十八岁才修炼到淬体期三层,是叶家人尽皆知的废物。但是,穿越而来的叶轩,似乎并不甘为废物......
  • 邪魅转校生:转身依旧是你

    邪魅转校生:转身依旧是你

    莫离以特优生的身份跳级进入了贵族学院,那个胸口上刺有蝎子纹身的叛逆少年凌子伦是她学会坚强的支柱。不曾想,天台上偶遇折翼的天使少年韩可初,使原本两个人的故事成了三个人的情感纠缠,年少的倔强,青春的叛离,在笑与泪中学会成长,转身,依旧是你……
  • 仙嘘

    仙嘘

    一个吊坠,一个梦魇,一次自杀,一次穿越,来自三界之外“遗失的国度”的召唤,林枫得龙冰大帝传承,修无上功法,铸就沉浮神道,武破九霄,都市任我行,权势唯我独尊,冰肌玉骨逍遥成仙。【注:第一卷为前序玄幻篇,不喜欢玄幻篇的朋友请跳过第一卷,阅读第二卷:都市异能篇。】
  • 唯有星辰不负夜

    唯有星辰不负夜

    他曾说,每一颗星星都是他的朋友,从今以后这些星星也会是她的朋友。然而,当他也成为夜空中的一颗星星,她却再也不记得星星是她的朋友。他曾说,这个世界上没有人比他更了解她,他所做的一切只是因为太爱她。然而,当虚假掩埋真相,仇恨蒙蔽双眼,她把枪口对准他的胸膛。他曾说,她不过是他复仇的一颗子弹,除了命中敌人的心脏之外毫无用处。然而,当她身临险境,他心急如焚忧心忡忡;当她与其他男人亲密无间,他妒火中烧,终于拥她入怀,“你只能是我的。”