狄更斯哪部作品好 狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第23章Part 13

狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第23章Part 13  

'As yet?' repeated Florence.
'Not a bit
' returned the Captain
kissing his iron hand; 'and afore I begin to be
my Hearts-delight
Wal'r will have wrote home from the island
or from some port or another
and made all taut and shipsahape'And with regard to old Sol Gills
here the Captain became solemn
'who I'll stand by
and not desert until death do us part
and when the stormy winds do blow
do blow
do blow - overhaul the Catechism
' said the Captain parenthetically
'and there you'll find them expressions - if it would console Sol Gills to have the opinion of a seafaring man as has got a mind equal to any undertaking that he puts it alongside of
and as was all but smashed in his'prenticeship
and of which the name is Bunsby
that 'ere man shall give him such an opinion in his own parlour as'll stun him. Ah!' said Captain Cuttle
vauntingly
'as much as if he'd gone and knocked his head again a door!'
'Let us take this ~gentleman to see him
and let us hear what he says
' cried Florence. 'Will you go with us now? We have a coach here.'
Again the Captain clapped his hand to his head
on which the hard glazed hat was not
and looked disfited. But at this instant a most remarkable phenomenon occurred. The door opening
without any note of preparation
and apparently of itself
the hard glazed hat in question skimmed into the room like a bird
and alighted heavily at the Captain's feet. The door then shut as violently as it had opened
and nothIng ensued in explanation of the prodigy.
Captain Cuttle picked up his hat
and having turned it over with a look of interest and wele
began to polish it on his sleeve' While doing so
the Captain eyed his visitors intently
and said in a low voice
'You see I should have bore down on Sol Gills yesterday
and this morning
but she - she took it away and kep it. That's the long and short ofthe subject.'
'Who did
for goodness sake?' asked Susan Nipper.
'The lady of the house
my dear
'returned the Captain
in a gruff whisper
and making signals of secrecy.'We had some words about the swabbing of these here planks
and she - In short
' said the Captain
eyeing the door
and relieving himself with a long breath
'she stopped my liberty.'
'Oh! I wish she had me to deal with!' said Susan
reddening with the energy of the wish. 'I'd stop her!'
'Would you
do you
my dear?' rejoined the Captain
shaking his head doubtfully
but regarding the desperate courage of the fair aspirant with obvious admiration. 'I don't know. It's difficult navigation. She's very hard to carry on with
my dear. You never can tell how she'll head
you see. She's full one minute
and round upon you next. And when she in a tartar
' said the Captain
with the perspiration breaking out upon his forehead. There was nothing but a whistle emphatic enough for the conclusion of the sentence
so the Captain whistled tremulously. After which he again shook his head
and recurring to his admiration of Miss Nipper's devoted bravery
timidly repeated
'Would you
do you think
my dear?'
Susan only replied with a bridling smile
but that was so very full of defiance
that there is no knowing how long Captain Cuttle might have stood entranced in its contemplation
if Florence in her anxiety had not again proposed their immediately resorting to the oracular Bunsby. Thus reminded of his duty
Captain Cuttle Put on the glazed hat firmly
took up another knobby stick
with which he had supplied the place of that one given to Walter
and offering his arm to Florence
prepared to cut his way through the enemy.
It turned out
however
that Mrs MacStinger had already changed her course
and that she headed
as the Captain had remarked she often did
in quite a new direction. For when they got downstairs
they found that exemplary woman beating the mats on the doorsteps
with Alexander
still upon the paving-stone
dimly looming through a fog of dust; and so absorbed was Mrs MacStinger in her household occupation
that when Captain Cuttle and his visitors passed
she beat the harder
and neither by word nor gesture showed any consciousness of their vicinity. The Captain was so well pleased with this easy escape - although the effect of the door-mats on him was like a copious administration of snuff
and made him sneeze until the tears ran down his face - that he could hardly believe his good fortune; but more than once
beeen the door and the hackney-coach
looked over his shoulder
with an obvious apprehension of Mrs MacStinger's giving chase yet.
However
they got to the corner of Brig Place without any molestation from that terrible fire-ship; and the Captain mounting the coach-box - for his gallantry would not allow him to ride inside with the ladies
though besought to do so - piloted the driver on his course for Captain Bunsby's vessel
which was called the Cautious Clara
and was lying hard by Ratcliffe.
Arrived at the wharf off which this great mander's ship was jammed in among some five hundred panions
whose tangled rigging looked like monstrous cobwebs half swept down
Captain Cuttle appeared at the coach-window
and invited Florence and Miss Nipper to acpany him on board; observing that Bunsby was to the last degree soft-hearted in respect of ladies
and that nothing would so much tend to bring his expansive intellect into a state of harmony as their presentation to the Cautious Clara.
Florence readily consented; and the Captain
taking her little hand in his prodigious palm
led her
with a mixed expression of patronage
paternity
pride
and ceremony
that was pleasant to see
over several very dirty decks
until
ing to the Clara
they found that cautious craft (which lay outside the tier) with her gangway removed
and half-a-dozen feet of river interposed beeen herself and her nearest neighbour. It appeared
from Captain Cuttle's explanation
that the great Bunsby
like himself
was cruelly treated by his landlady
and that when her usage of him for the time being was so hard that he could bear it no longer
he set this gulf beeen them as a last resource.
'Clara a-hoy!' cried the Captain
putting a hand to each side of his mouth.
'A-hoy!' cried a boy
like the Captain's echo
tumbling up from below.
'Bunsby aboard?' cried the Captain
hailing the boy in a stentorian voice
as if he were half-a-mile off instead of o yards.
'Ay
ay!' cried the boy
in the same tone.
The boy then shoved out a plank to Captain Cuttle
who adjusted it carefully
and led Florence across: returning presently for Miss Nipper. So they stood upon the deck of the Cautious Clara
in whose standing rigging
divers fluttering articles of dress were curing
in pany with a few tongues and some mackerel.
Immediately there appeared
ing slowly up above the bulk-head of the cabin
another bulk-head 'human
and very large - with one stationary eye in the mahogany face
and one revolving one
on the principle of some lighthouses. This head was decorated with shaggy hair
like oakum
' which had no governing inclination towards the north
east
west
or south
but inclined to all four quarters of the pass
and to every point upon it. The head was followed by a perfect desert of chin
and by a shirt-collar and neckerchief
and by a dreadnought pilot-coat
and by a pair of dreadnought pilot-trousers
whereof the waistband was so very broad and high
that it became a succedaneum for a waistcoat: being ornamented near the wearer's breastbone with some massive wooden buttons
like backgammon men. As the lower portions of these pantaloons became revealed
Bunsby stood confessed; his hands in their pockets
which were of vast size; and his gaze directed
not to Captain Cuttle or the ladies
but the mast-head.
The profound appearance of this philosopher
who was bulky and strong
and on whose extremely red face an expression of taciturnity sat enthroned
not inconsistent with his character
in which that quality was proudly conspicuous
almost daunted Captain Cuttle
though on familiar terms with him. Whispering to Florence that Bunsby had never in his life expressed surprise
and was considered not to know what it meant
the Captain watched him as he eyed his mast-head
and afterwards swept the horizon; and when the revolving eye seemed to be ing round in his direction
said:
'Bunsby
my lad
how fares it?'