mamma's darlin'." -- Da chego ty hnychesh'? -- s novoj yarost'yu nabrosilsya on na menya cherez minutu. -- Nozhku zashib? Ah ty, mamen'kino sokrovishche! I was not sniffling, though my face might well have been drawn and twitching from the pain. But I called up all my resolution, set my teeth, and hobbled back and forth from galley to cabin and cabin to galley without further mishap. Two things I had acquired by my accident: an injured knee-cap that went undressed and from which I suffered for weary months, and the name of "Hump," which Wolf Larsen had called me from the poop. Thereafter, fore and aft, I was known by no other name, until the term became a part of my thought-processes and I identified it with myself, thought of myself as Hump, as though Hump were I and had always been I. YA ne hnykal, no lico u menya, veroyatno, krivilos' ot boli. Sobravshis' s silami, ya stisnul zuby i prokovylyal ot kambuza do kayut-kompanii i obratno bez dal'nejshih zloklyuchenij. |tot sluchaj imel dlya menya dvoyakie posledstviya: prezhde vsego ya sil'no ushib kolennuyu chashechku i stradal ot etogo mnogo mesyacev -- ni o kakom lechenii, konechno, ne moglo byt' i rechi, -- a krome togo, za mnoj utverdilas' klichka "Hemp", kotoroj nagradil menya s yuta Volk Larsen. S teh por nikto na shhune menya inache i ne nazyval, i ya malo-pomalu nastol'ko k etomu privyk, chto uzhe i sam myslenno nazyval sebya "Hemp", slovno poluchil eto imya ot rozhdeniya. It was no easy task, waiting on the cabin table, where sat Wolf Larsen, Johansen, and the six hunters. The cabin was small, to begin with, and to move around, as I was compelled to, was not made easier by the schooner's violent pitching and wallowing. But what struck me most forcibly was the total lack of sympathy on the part of the men whom I served. I could feel my knee through my clothes, swelling, and swelling, and I was sick and faint from the pain of it. I could catch glimpses of my face, white and ghastly, distorted with pain, in the cabin mirror. All the men must have seen my condition, but not one spoke or took notice of me, till I was almost grateful to Wolf Larsen, later on (I was washing the dishes), when he said: Nelegko bylo prisluzhivat' za stolom kayutkompanii, gde vossedal Volk Larsen s Iogansenom i shesterymi ohotnikami. V etoj malen'koj, tesnoj kayute dvigat'sya bylo chrezvychajno trudno, osobenno kogda shhunu kachalo i kidalo iz storony v storonu. No tyazhelee vsego bylo dlya menya polnoe ravnodushie lyudej, kotorym ya prisluzhival. Vremya ot vremeni ya oshchupyval skvoz' odezhdu koleno, chuvstvoval, chto ono puhnet vse sil'nee i sil'nee, i ot boli u menya kruzhilas' golova. V zerkale na stene kayut-kompanii vremenami mel'kalo moe blednoe, strashnoe, iskazhennoe bol'yu lico. Sidevshie za stolom ne mogli ne zametit' moego sostoyaniya, no nikto iz nih ne vykazal mne sochuvstviya. Poetomu ya pochti proniksya blagodarnost'yu k Larsenu, kogda on brosil mne posle obeda (ya v eto vremya uzhe myl tarelki): "Don't let a little thing like that bother you. You'll get used to such things in time. It may cripple you some, but all the same you'll be learning to walk. "That's what you call a paradox, isn't it?" he added. -- Ne obrashchaj vnimaniya na eti pustyakiPrivyknesh' so vremenem. Nemnogo, mozhet, i pokalechish'sya, no zato nauchish'sya hodit'. |to, kazhetsya, nazyvaetsya paradoksom, ne tak li? -- dobavil on. He seemed pleased when I nodded my head with the customary "Yes, sir." Po-vidimomu, on ostalsya dovolen, kogda ya, utverditel'no kivnuv, otvetil kak polagalos': "Est', ser". "I suppose you know a bit about literary things? Eh? Good. I'll have some talks with you some time." -- Ty dolzhno byt', smyslish' koe-chto v literature? Ladno. YA kak-nibud' pobeseduyu s toboj. And then, taking no further account of me, he turned his back and went up on deck. On povernulsya i, ne obrashchaya na menya bol'she vnimaniya, vyshel na palubu. That night, when I had finished an endless amount of work, I was sent to sleep in the steerage, where I made up a spare bunk. I was glad to get out of the detestable presence of the cook and to be off my feet. To my surprise, my clothes had dried on me and there seemed no indications of catching cold, either from the last soaking or from the prolonged soaking from the foundering of the Martinez. Under ordinary circumstances, after all that I had undergone, I should have been fit for bed and a trained nurse. Vecherom, kogda ya spravilsya nakonec s beschislennym mnozhestvom del, menya poslali spat' v kubrik k ohotnikam, gde nashlas' svobodnaya kojka. YA rad byl lech', dat' otdyh nogam i hot' na vremya izbavit'sya ot nesnosnogo koka! Odezhda uspela vysohnut' na mne, i ya, k moemu udivleniyu, ne oshchushchal ni malejshih priznakov prostudy ni ot poslednego morskogo kupaniya, ni ot bolee prodolzhitel'nogo prebyvaniya v vode, kogda zatonul "Martines". Pri obychnyh obstoyatel'stvah ya posle podobnyh ispytanij lezhal by, konechno, v posteli i okolo menya hlopotala by sidelka. But my knee was bothering me terribly. As well as I could make out, the kneecap seemed turned up on edge in the midst of the swelling. As I sat in my bunk examining it (the six hunters were all in the steerage, smoking and talking in loud voices), Henderson took a passing glance at it. No bol' v kolene byla muchitel'naya. Naskol'ko ya mog ponyat', tak kak koleno strashno raspuhlo, -- u menya byla smeshchena kolennaya chashechka. YA sidel na svoej kojke i rassmatrival koleno (vse shest' ohotnikov nahodilis' tut zhe -- oni kurili i gromko razgovarivali), kogda mimo proshel Genderson i mel'kom glyanul na menya. "Looks nasty," he commented. "Tie a rag around it, and it'll be all right." -- Skvernaya shtuka, -- zametil on. -- Obvyazhi potuzhe tryapkoj, projdet. That was all; and on the land I would have been lying on the broad of my back, with a surgeon attending on me, and with strict injunctions to do nothing but rest. But I must do these men justice. Callous as they were to my suffering, they were equally callous to their own when anything befell them. And this was due, I believe, first, to habit; and second, to the fact that they were less sensitively organized. I really believe that a finely- organized, high-strung man would suffer twice and thrice as much as they from a like injury. Vot i vse; a sluchis' eto so mnoj na sushe, menya lechil by hirurg i, nesomnenno, propisal by polnyj pokoj. No sleduet otdat' spravedlivost' etim lyudyam. Tak zhe ravnodushno otnosilis' oni i k svoim sobstvennym stradaniyam. YA ob®yasnyayu eto privychkoj i tem, chto chuvstvitel'nost' u nih pritupilas'. YA ubezhden, chto chelovek s bolee tonkoj nervnoj organizaciej, s bolee ostroj vospriimchivost'yu stradal by na ih meste kuda sil'nee. Tired as I was, - exhausted, in fact, - I was prevented from sleeping by the pain in my knee. It was all I could do to keep from groaning aloud. At home I should undoubtedly have given vent to my anguish; but this new and elemental environment seemed to call for a savage repression. Like the savage, the attitude of these men was stoical in great things, childish in little things. I remember, later in the voyage, seeing Kerfoot, another of the hunters, lose a finger by having it smashed to a jelly; and he did not even murmur or change the expression on his face. Yet I have seen the same man, time and again, fly into the most outrageous passion over a trifle. YA strashno ustal, vernee, sovershenno iznemog, i vse zhe bol' v kolene ne davala mne usnut'. S trudom uderzhivalsya ya ot stonov. Doma ya, konechno, dal by sebe volyu no eta novaya, grubaya, primitivnaya obstanovka nevol'no vnushala mne surovuyu sderzhannost'. Okruzhavshie menya lyudi, podobno dikaryam, stoicheski otnosilis' k vazhnym veshcham, a v melochah napominali detej. Vposledstvii mne prishlos' nablyudat', kak Kerfutu, odnomu iz ohotnikov, razmozzhilo palec. Kerfut tol'ko ne izdal ni zvuka, no dazhe ne izmenilsya v lice. I vmeste s tem ya mnogo raz videl, kak tot zhe Kerfut prihodil v beshenstvo iz-za sushchih pustyakov. He was doing it now, vociferating, bellowing, waving his arms, and cursing like a fiend, and all because of a disagreement with another hunter as to whether a seal pup knew instinctively how to swim. He held that it did, that it could swim the moment it was born. The other hunter, Latimer, a lean, Yankee-looking fellow with shrewd, narrow-slitted eyes, held otherwise, held that the seal pup was born on the land for no other reason than that it could not swim, that its mother was compelled to teach it to swim as birds were compelled to teach their nestlings how to fly. Vot i teper' on oral, razmahivaya rukami, i otchayanno branilsya -- i vse tol'ko potomu, chto drugoj ohotnik ne soglashalsya s nim, chto tyulenij belek ot rozhdeniya umeet plavat'. Kerfut utverzhdal, chto etim umeniem novorozhdennyj tyulen' obladaet s pervoj minuty svoego poyavleniya na svet, a drugoj ohotnik, Letimer, toshchij yanki s hitrymi, pohozhimi na shchelochki glazami, utverzhdal, chto tyulen' imenno potomu i rozhdaetsya na sushe, chto ne umeet plavat', i mat' obuchaet ego etoj premudrosti sovershenno tak zhe, kak pticy uchat svoih ptencov letat'. For the most part, the remaining four hunters leaned on the table or lay in their bunks and left the discussion to the two antagonists. But they were supremely interested, for every little while they ardently took sides, and sometimes all were talking at once, till their voices surged back and forth in waves of sound like mimic thunder-rolls in the confined space. Childish and immaterial as the topic was, the quality of their reasoning was still more childish and immaterial. In truth, there was very little reasoning or none at all. Their method was one of assertion, assumption, and denunciation. They proved that a seal pup could swim or not swim at birth by stating the proposition very bellicosely and then following it up with an attack on the opposing man's judgment, common sense, nationality, or past history. Rebuttal was precisely similar. I have related this in order to show the mental calibre of the men with whom I was thrown in contact. Intellectually they were children, inhabiting the physical forms of men. Ostal'nye chetyre ohotnika s bol'shim interesom prislushivalis' k sporu, -- kto lezha na kojke, kto pripodnyavshis' i oblokotyas' na stol, -- i vremenami podavali repliki. Inogda oni nachinali govorit' vse srazu, i togda v tesnom kubrike golosa ih zvuchali podobno raskatam butaforskogo groma. Oni sporili o pustyakah, kak deti, i dovody ih byli krajne naivny. Sobstvenno govorya, oni dazhe ne privodili nikakih dovodov, a ogranichivalis' goloslovnymi utverzhdeniyami ili otricaniyami. Umenie ili neumenie novorozhdennogo tyulenya plavat' oni pytalis' dokazat' prosto tem, chto vyskazyvali svoe mnenie s voinstvennym vidom i soprovozhdali ego vypadami protiv nacional'nosti, zdravogo smysla ili proshlogo svoego protivnika. YA rasskazyvayu ob etom, chtoby pokazat' umstvennyj uroven' lyudej, s kotorymi prinuzhden byl obshchat'sya. Intellektual'no oni byli det'mi, hotya i v oblich'e vzroslyh muzhchin. And they smoked, incessantly smoked, using a coarse, cheap, and offensive-smelling tobacco. The air was thick and murky with the smoke of it; and this, combined with the violent movement of the ship as she struggled through the storm, would surely have made me sea-sick had I been a victim to that malady. As it was, it made me quite squeamish, though this nausea might have been due to the pain of my leg and exhaustion. Oni bespreryvno kurili -- kurili deshevyj zlovonnyj tabak. V kubrike nel'zya bylo prodohnut' ot dyma. |tot dym i sil'naya kachka borovshegosya s burej sudna, nesomnenno, doveli by menya do morskoj bolezni, bud' ya ej podverzhen. YA i tak uzhe ispytyval durnotu, hotya, byt' mozhet, prichinoj ee byli bol' v noge i pereutomlenie. As I lay there thinking, I naturally dwelt upon myself and my situation. It was unparalleled, undreamed-of, that I, Humphrey Van Weyden, a scholar and a dilettante, if you please, in things artistic and literary, should be lying here on a Bering Sea seal- hunting schooner. Cabin-boy! I had never done any hard manual labour, or scullion labour, in my life. I had lived a placid, uneventful, sedentary existence all my days - the life of a scholar and a recluse on an assured and comfortable income. Violent life and athletic sports had never appealed to me. I had always been a book-worm; so my sisters and father had called me during my childhood. I had gone camping but once in my life, and then I left the party almost at its start and returned to the comforts and conveniences of a roof. And here I was, with dreary and endless vistas before me of table-setting, potato-peeling, and dish- washing. And I was not strong. The doctors had always said that I had a remarkable constitution, but I had never developed it or my body through exercise. My muscles were small and soft, like a woman's, or so the doctors had said time and again in the course of their attempts to persuade me to go in for physical-culture fads. But I had preferred to use my head rather than my body; and here I was, in no fit condition for the rough life in prospect. Lezha na kojke i predavayas' svoim myslyam, ya, estestvenno, prezhde vsego zadumyvalsya nad polozheniem, v kotoroe popal. |to zhe bylo neveroyatno, neslyhannoYA, Hemfri Van-Vejden, uchenyj i, s vashego pozvoleniya, lyubitel' iskusstva i literatury, prinuzhden valyat'sya zdes', na kakoj-to shhune, napravlyayushchejsya v Beringovo more bit' kotikovYUngaNikogda v zhizni ya ne delal gruboj fizicheskoj, a tem bolee kuhonnoj raboty. YA vsegda vel tihij, monotonnyj, sidyachij obraz zhizni. |to byla zhizn' uchenogo, zatvornika, sushchestvuyushchego na prilichnyj i obespechennyj dohod. Burnaya deyatel'nost' i sport nikogda ne privlekali menya. YA byl knizhnym chervem, tak sestry i otec s detstva i nazyvali menya. Tol'ko raz v zhizni ya prinyal uchastie v turistskom pohode, da i to sbezhal v samom nachale i vernulsya k komfortu i udobstvam osedloj zhizni. I vot teper' peredo mnoj otkryvalas' bezradostnaya perspektiva beskonechnoj chistki kartofelya, myt'ya posudy i prisluzhivaniya za stolom. A ved' fizicheski ya sovsem ne byl silen. Vrachi, polozhim, utverzhdali, chto u menya velikolepnoe teloslozhenie, no ya nikogda ne razvival svoih muskulov uprazhneniyami, i oni byli slaby i vyaly, kak u zhenshchiny. Po krajnej mere te zhe vrachi postoyanno otmechali eto, pytayas' ubedit' menya zanyat'sya gimnastikoj. No ya predpochital uprazhnyat' svoyu golovu, a ne telo, i teper' byl, konechno, sovershenno ne podgotovlen k predstoyashchej mne tyazheloj zhizni. These are merely a few of the things that went through my mind, and are related for the sake of vindicating myself in advance in the weak and helpless ROLE I was destined to play. YA rasskazyvayu lish' nemnogoe iz togo, chto peredumal togda, i delayu eto, chtoby zaranee opravdat'sya, ibo zhalkoj i bespomoshchnoj byla ta rol', kotoruyu mne predstoyalo sygrat'. But I thought, also, of my mother and sisters, and pictured their grief. I was among the missing dead of the Martinez disaster, an unrecovered body. I could see the head-lines in the papers; the fellows at the University Club and the Bibelot shaking their heads and saying, "Poor chap!" And I could see Charley Furuseth, as I had said good- bye to him that morning, lounging in a dressing-gown on the be- pillowed window couch and delivering himself of oracular and pessimistic epigrams. Dumal ya takzhe o moej materi i sestrah i yasno predstavlyal sebe ih gore. Ved' ya znachilsya v chisle pogibshih na "Martinese", odnim iz propavshih bez vesti. Peredo mnoj mel'kali zagolovki gazet, ya videl, kak moi priyateli v universitetskom klube pokachivayut golovoj i vzdyhayut: "Vot bednyaga!" Videl ya i CHarli Feraseta v minutu proshchaniya, v to rokovoe utro, kogda on v halate na myagkom divanchike pod oknom izrekal, slovno orakul, svoi skepticheskie aforizmy. And all the while, rolling, plunging, climbing the moving mountains and falling and wallowing in the foaming valleys, the schooner Ghost was fighting her way farther and farther into the heart of the Pacific - and I was on her. I could hear the wind above. It came to my ears as a muffled roar. Now and again feet stamped overhead. An endless creaking was going on all about me, the woodwork and the fittings groaning and squeaking and complaining in a thousand keys. The hunters were still arguing and roaring like some semi-human amphibious breed. The air was filled with oaths and indecent expressions. I could see their faces, flushed and angry, the brutality distorted and emphasized by the sickly yellow of the sea-lamps which rocked back and forth with the ship. Through the dim smoke-haze the bunks looked like the sleeping dens of animals in a menagerie. Oilskins and sea-boots were hanging from the walls, and here and there rifles and shotguns rested securely in the racks. It was a sea-fitting for the buccaneers and pirates of by-gone years. My imagination ran riot, and still I could not sleep. And it was a long, long night, weary and dreary and long. A tem vremenem shhuna "Prizrak", pokachivayas', nyryaya, vzbirayas' na dvizhushchiesya vodyanye valy i skatyvayas' v burlyashchie propasti, prokladyvala sebe put' vse dal'she i dal'she -- k samomu serdcu Tihogo okeana... i unosila menya s soboj. YA slyshal, kak nad morem bushuet veter. Ego priglushennyj voj doletal i syuda. Inogda nad golovoj razdavalsya topot nog po palube. Krugom vse stonalo i skripelo, derevyannye krepleniya treshchali, kryahteli, vizzhali i zhalovalis' na tysyachu ladov. Ohotniki vse eshche sporili i rychali drug na druga, slovno kakie-to chelovekopodobnye zemnovodnye. Rugan' visela v vozduhe. YA videl ih razgoryachennye lica v iskazhayushchem, tusklo-zheltom svete lamp, raskachivavshihsya vmeste s korablem. V oblakah dyma kojki kazalis' logovishchami dikih zverej. Na stenah viseli kleenchatye shtany i kurtki i morskie sapogi; na polkah koe-gde lezhali droboviki i vintovki. Vse eto napominalo kartinu iz zhizni piratov i morskih razbojnikov bylyh vremen. Moe voobrazhenie razygralos' i ne davalo mne usnut'. |to byla dolgaya, dolgaya, tomitel'naya i tosklivaya, ochen' dolgaya noch'. CHAPTER V GLAVA V But my first night in the hunters' steerage was also my last. Next day Johansen, the new mate, was routed from the cabin by Wolf Larsen, and sent into the steerage to sleep thereafter, while I took possession of the tiny cabin state-room, which, on the first day of the voyage, had already had two occupants. The reason for this change was quickly learned by the hunters, and became the cause of a deal of grumbling on their part. It seemed that Johansen, in his sleep, lived over each night the events of the day. His incessant talking and shouting and bellowing of orders had been too much for Wolf Larsen, who had accordingly foisted the nuisance upon his hunters. Pervaya noch', provedennaya mnoyu v kubrike ohotnikov, okazalas' takzhe i poslednej. Na drugoj den' novyj pomoshchnik Iogansen byl izgnan kapitanom iz ego kayuty i pereselen v kubrik k ohotnikam. A mne veleno bylo perebrat'sya v krohotnuyu kayutku, v kotoroj do menya v pervyj zhe den' plavaniya smenilos' uzhe dva hozyaina. Ohotniki skoro uznali prichinu etih peremeshchenij i ostalis' eyu ochen' nedovol'ny. Vyyasnilos', chto Iogansen kazhduyu noch' vsluh perezhivaet vo sne vse svoi dnevnye vpechatleniya. Volk Larsen ne pozhelal slushat', kak on neprestanno chto-to bormochet i vykrikivaet slova komandy, i predpochel perelozhit' etu nepriyatnost' na ohotnikov. After a sleepless night, I arose weak and in agony, to hobble through my second day on the Ghost. Thomas Mugridge routed me out at half-past five, much in the fashion that Bill Sykes must have routed out his dog; but Mr. Mugridge's brutality to me was paid back in kind and with interest. The unnecessary noise he made (I had lain wide-eyed the whole night) must have awakened one of the hunters; for a heavy shoe whizzed through the semi-darkness, and Mr. Mugridge, with a sharp howl of pain, humbly begged everybody's pardon. Later on, in the galley, I noticed that his ear was bruised and swollen. It never went entirely back to its normal shape, and was called a "cauliflower ear" by the sailors. Posle bessonnoj nochi ya vstal slabyj i izmuchennyj. Tak nachalsya vtoroj den' moego prebyvaniya na shhune "Prizrak". Tomas Magridzh rastolkal menya v polovine shestogo ne menee grubo, chem Bill Sajks [4] budil svoyu sobaku. No za etu grubost' emu tut zhe otplatili s lihvoj. Podnyatyj im bez vsyakoj nadobnosti shum -- ya za vsyu noch' tak i ne somknul glaz -- potrevozhil kogo-to iz ohotnikov. Tyazhelyj bashmak prosvistel v polut'me, i mister Magridzh, vzvyv ot boli, nachal unizhenno rassypat'sya v izvineniyah. Potom v kambuze ya uvidel ego okrovavlennoe i raspuhshee uho. Ono nikogda uzhe bol'she ne priobrelo svoego normal'nogo vida, i matrosy stali nazyvat' ego posle etogo "kapustnym listom". The day was filled with miserable variety. I had taken my dried clothes down from the galley the night before, and the first thing I did was to exchange the cook's garments for them. I looked for my purse. In addition to some small change (and I have a good memory for such things), it had contained one hundred and eighty- five dollars in gold and paper. The purse I found, but its contents, with the exception of the small silver, had been abstracted. I spoke to the cook about it, when I went on deck to take up my duties in the galley, and though I had looked forward to a surly answer, I had not expected the belligerent harangue that I received. |tot den' byl polon dlya menya samyh raznoobraznyh nepriyatnostej. Uzhe s vechera ya vzyal iz kambuza svoe vysohshee plat'e i teper' pervym delom pospeshil sbrosit' s sebya veshchi koka, a zatem stal iskat' svoj koshelek. Krome melochi (u menya na etot schet horoshaya pamyat'), tam lezhalo sto vosem'desyat pyat' dollarov zolotom i bumazhkami. Koshelek ya nashel, no vse ego soderzhimoe, za isklyucheniem melkih serebryanyh monet, ischezlo. YA zayavil ob etom koku, kak tol'ko podnyalsya na palubu, chtoby pristupit' k svoej rabote v kambuze, i hotya i ozhidal ot nego grubogo otveta, odnako svirepaya otpoved', s kotoroj on na menya obrushilsya, sovershenno menya oshelomila. "Look 'ere, 'Ump," he began, a malicious light in his eyes and a snarl in his throat; "d'ye want yer nose punched? If you think I'm a thief, just keep it to yerself, or you'll find 'ow bloody well mistyken you are. Strike me blind if this ayn't gratitude for yer! 'Ere you come, a pore mis'rable specimen of 'uman scum, an' I tykes yer into my galley an' treats yer 'ansom, an' this is wot I get for it. Nex' time you can go to 'ell, say I, an' I've a good mind to give you what-for anyw'y." -- Vot chto, Hemp, -- zahripel on, zlobno sverkaya glazami. -- Ty chto, hochesh', chtoby tebe pustili iz nosu krov'? Esli ty schitaesh' menya vorom, derzhi eto pro sebya, a ne to krepko pozhaleesh' o svoej oshibke, chert tebya poderiVot ona, tvoya blagodarnost', chtob ya propalYA tebya prigrel, kogda ty sovsem podyhal, vzyal k sebe v kambuz, vozilsya s toboj, a ty tak mne otplatil? Provalivaj ko vsem chertyam, vot chto! U menya ruki cheshutsya pokazat' tebe dorogu. So saying, he put up his fists and started for me. To my shame be it, I cowered away from the blow and ran out the galley door. What else was I to do? Force, nothing but force, obtained on this brute-ship. Moral suasion was a thing unknown. Picture it to yourself: a man of ordinary stature, slender of build, and with weak, undeveloped muscles, who has lived a peaceful, placid life, and is unused to violence of any sort - what could such a man possibly do? There was no more reason that I should stand and face these human beasts than that I should stand and face an infuriated bull. Szhav kulaki i prodolzhaya krichat', on dvinulsya na menya. K stydu svoemu dolzhen priznat'sya, chto ya, uvernuvshis' ot udara, vyskochil iz kambuza. CHto mne bylo delat'? Sila, grubaya sila, carila na etom podlom sudne. CHitat' moral' bylo zdes' ne v hodu. Voobrazite sebe cheloveka srednego rosta, hudoshchavogo, so slabymi, nerazvitymi muskulami, privykshego k tihoj, mirnoj zhizni, neznakomogo s nasiliem... CHto takoj chelovek mog tut podelat'? Vstupat' v draku s ozverevshim kokom bylo tak zhe bessmyslenno, kak srazhat'sya s raz®yarennym bykom. So I thought it out at the time, feeling the need for vindication and desiring to be at peace with my conscience. But this vindication did not satisfy. Nor, to this day can I permit my manhood to look back upon those events and feel entirely exonerated. The situation was something that really exceeded rational formulas for conduct and demanded more than the cold conclusions of reason. When viewed in the light of formal logic, there is not one thing of which to be ashamed; but nevertheless a shame rises within me at the recollection, and in the pride of my manhood I feel that my manhood has in unaccountable ways been smirched and sullied. Tak dumal ya v to vremya, ispytyvaya potrebnost' v samoopravdanii i zhelaya uspokoit' svoe samolyubie. No takoe opravdanie ne udovletvorilo menya, da i sejchas, vspominaya etot sluchaj, ya ne mogu polnost'yu sebya obelit'. Polozhenie, v kotoroe ya popal, ne ukladyvalos' v obychnye ramki i ne dopuskalo racional'nyh postupkov -- tut nado bylo dejstvovat' ne rassuzhdaya. I hotya logicheski mne, kazalos', absolyutno nechego bylo stydit'sya, ya tem ne menee vsyakij raz ispytyvayu styd pri vospominanii ob etom epizode, ibo chuvstvuyu, chto moya muzhskaya gordost' byla poprana i oskorblena. All of which is neither here nor there. The speed with which I ran from the galley caused excruciating pain in my knee, and I sank down helplessly at the break of the poop. But the Cockney had not pursued me. Odnako vse eto ne otnositsya k delu. YA udiral iz kambuza s takoj pospeshnost'yu, chto pochuvstvoval ostruyu bol' v kolene i v iznemozhenii opustilsya na palubu u pereborki yuta. No kok ne stal presledovat' menya. "Look at 'im run! Look at 'im run!" I could hear him crying. "An' with a gyme leg at that! Come on back, you pore little mamma's darling. I won't 'it yer; no, I won't." -- Glyan'te na nego! Ish' kak ulepetyvaet! -- uslyshal ya ego nasmeshlivye vozglasy. -- A eshche s bol'noj nogoj! Idi nazad, bednyazhka, mamen'kin synokNe tronu, ne bojsya! I came back and went on with my work; and here the episode ended for the time, though further developments were yet to take place. I set the breakfast-table in the cabin, and at seven o'clock waited on the hunters and officers. The storm had evidently broken during the night, though a huge sea was still running and a stiff wind blowing. Sail had been made in the early watches, so that the Ghost was racing along under everything except the two topsails and the flying jib. These three sails, I gathered from the conversation, were to be set immediately after breakfast. I learned, also, that Wolf Larsen was anxious to make the most of the storm, which was driving him to the south-west into that portion of the sea where he expected to pick up with the north-east trades. It was before this steady wind that he hoped to make the major portion of the run to Japan, curving south into the tropics and north again as he approached the coast of Asia. YA vernulsya i prinyalsya za rabotu. Na etom delo poka i konchilos', odnako ono imelo svoi posledstviya. YA nakryl stol v kayut-kompanii i v sem' chasov podal zavtrak. Burya za noch' uleglas', no volnenie bylo vse eshche sil'noe i dul svezhij veter. "Prizrak" mchalsya pod vsemi parusami, krome oboih topselej i bom-klivera. Parusa byli postavleny v pervuyu vahtu, i, kak ya ponyal iz razgovora, ostal'nye tri parusa tozhe resheno bylo podnyat' sejchas zhe posle zavtraka. YA uznal takzhe, chto Volk Larsen staraetsya ispol'zovat' etot shtorm, kotoryj gnal nas na yugo-zapad, v tu chast' okeana, gde my mogli vstretit' severo-vostochnyj passat. Pod etim postoyannym vetrom Larsen rasschityval projti bol'shuyu chast' puti do YAponii, spustit'sya zatem na yug k tropikam, a potom u beregov Azii povernut' opyat' na sever. After breakfast I had another unenviable experience. When I had finished washing the dishes, I cleaned the cabin stove and carried the ashes up on deck to empty them. Wolf Larsen and Henderson were standing near the wheel, deep in conversation. The sailor, Johnson, was steering. As I started toward the weather side I saw him make a sudden motion with his head, which I mistook for a token of recognition and good-morning. In reality, he was attempting to warn me to throw my ashes over the lee side. Unconscious of my blunder, I passed by Wolf Larsen and the hunter and flung the ashes over the side to windward. The wind drove them back, and not only over me, but over Henderson and Wolf Larsen. The next instant the latter kicked me, violently, as a cur is kicked. I had not realized there could be so much pain in a kick. I reeled away from him and leaned against the cabin in a half-fainting condition. Everything was swimming before my eyes, and I turned sick. The nausea overpowered me, and I managed to crawl to the side of the vessel. But Wolf Larsen did not follow me up. Brushing the ashes from his clothes, he had resumed his conversation with Henderson. Johansen, who had seen the affair from the break of the poop, sent a couple of sailors aft to clean up the mess. Posle zavtraka menya ozhidalo novoe i takzhe dovol'no nezavidnoe priklyuchenie. Pokonchiv s myt'em posudy, ya vygreb iz pechki v kayut-kompanii zolu i vynes ee na palubu, chtoby vybrosit' za bort. Volk Larsen i Genderson ozhivlenno besedovali u shturvala. Na rule stoyal matros Dzhonson. Kogda ya dvinulsya k navetrennomu bortu, on motnul golovoj, i ya prinyal eto za utrennee privetstvie. A on pytalsya predosterech' menya, chtoby ya ne vybrasyval zolu protiv vetra. Nichego ne podozrevaya, ya proshel mimo Volka Larsena i ohotnika i vysypal zolu za bort. Veter podhvatil ee, i ne tol'ko ya sam, no i kapitan s Gendersonom okazalis' osypannymi zoloj. V tot zhe mig Larsen udaril menya nogoj, kak shchenka. YA nikogda ne predstavlyal sebe, chto pinok nogoj mozhet byt' tak uzhasen. YA otletel nazad i, shatayas', prislonilsya k rubke, edva ne lishivshis' soznaniya ot boli. Vse poplylo u menya pered glazami, k gorlu podstupila toshnota. YA sdelal nad soboj usilie i podpolz k bortu. No Volk Larsen uzhe zabyl pro menya. Stryahnuv s plat'ya zolu, on vozobnovil razgovor s Gendersonom. Iogansen, nablyudavshij vse eto s yuta, poslal dvuh matrosov pribrat' palubu. Later in the morning I received a surprise of a totally different sort. Following the cook's instructions, I had gone into Wolf Larsen's state-room to put it to rights and make the bed. Against the wall, near the head of the bunk, was a rack filled with books. I glanced over them, noting with astonishment such names as Shakespeare, Tennyson, Poe, and De Quincey. There were scientific works, too, among which were represented men such as Tyndall, Proctor, and Darwin. Astronomy and physics were represented, and I remarked Bulfinch's AGE OF FABLE, Shaw's HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE, and Johnson's NATURAL HISTORY in two large volumes. Then there were a number of grammars, such as Metcalf's, and Reed and Kellogg's; and I smiled as I saw a copy of THE DEAN'S ENGLISH. Neskol'ko pozzhe v to zhe utro ya stolknulsya s neozhidannost'yu sovsem drugogo svojstva. Sleduya ukazaniyam koka, ya otpravilsya v kapitanskuyu kayutu, chtoby pribrat' ee i zastelit' kojku. Na stene, u izgolov'ya kojki, visela polka s knigami. S izumleniem prochel ya na koreshkah imena SHekspira, Tennisona, |dgara Po i De-Kuinsi. Byli tam i nauchnye sochineniya, sredi kotoryh ya zametil trudy Tindalya, Proktora i Darvina, a takzhe knigi po astronomii i fizike. Krome togo, ya uvidel "Mificheskij vek" Bulfincha, "Istoriyu anglijskoj i amerikanskoj literatury" SHou, "Estestvennuyu istoriyu" Dzhonsona v dvuh bol'shih tomah i neskol'ko grammatik -- Metkalfa, Gida i Kelloga. YA ne mog ne ulybnut'sya, kogda na glaza mne popalsya ekzemplyar "Anglijskogo yazyka dlya propovednikov". I could not reconcile these books with the man from what I had seen of him, and I wondered if he could possibly read them. But when I came to make the bed I found, between the blankets, dropped apparently as he had sunk off to sleep, a complete Browning, the Cambridge Edition. It was open at "In a Balcony," and I noticed, here and there, passages underlined in pencil. Further, letting drop the volume during a lurch of the ship, a sheet of paper fell out. It was scrawled over with geometrical diagrams and calculations of some sort. Nalichie etih knig nikak ne vyazalos' s oblikom ih vladel'ca, i ya ne mog ne usomnit'sya v tom, chto on sposoben chitat' ih. No, zastilaya kojku, ya obnaruzhil pod odeyalom tomik Brauninga v kembridzhskom izdanii -- ochevidno, Larsen chital ego pered snom. On byl otkryt na stihotvorenii "Na balkone", i ya zametil, chto nekotorye mesta podcherknuty karandashom. SHhunu kachnulo, ya vyronil knigu, iz nee vypal listok bumagi, ispeshchrennyj geometricheskimi figurami i kakimi-to vykladkami. It was patent that this terrible man was no ignorant clod, such as one would inevitably suppose him to be from his exhibitions of brutality. At once he became an enigma. One side or the other of his nature was perfectly comprehensible; but both sides together were bewildering. I had already remarked that his language was excellent, marred with an occasional slight inaccuracy. Of course, in common speech with the sailors and hunters, it sometimes fairly bristled with errors, which was due to the vernacular itself; but in the few words he had held with me it had been clear and correct. Znachit, etot uzhasnyj chelovek sovsem ne takoj uzh neuch, kak mozhno bylo predpolozhit', nablyudaya ego zverinye vyhodki. I on srazu stal dlya menya zagadkoj. Obe storony ego natury v otdel'nosti byli vpolne ponyatny, no ih sochetanie kazalos' nepostizhimym. YA uzhe uspel zametit', chto Larsen govorit prevoshodnym yazykom, v kotorom lish' izredka proskal'zyvayut ne sovsem pravil'nye oboroty. Esli v razgovore s matrosami i ohotnikami on i pozvolyal sebe zhargonnye vyrazheniya, to v teh redkih sluchayah, kogda on obrashchalsya ko mne, ego rech' byla tochna i pravil'na. This glimpse I had caught of his other side must have emboldened me, for I resolved to speak to him about the money I had lost. Uznav ego teper' sluchajno s drugoj storony, ya neskol'ko osmelel i reshilsya skazat' emu, chto u menya propali den'gi. "I have been robbed," I said to him, a little later, when I found him pacing up and down the poop alone. -- Menya obokrali, -- obratilsya ya k nemu, uvidav, chto on v odinochestve rashazhivaet po palube. "Sir," he corrected, not harshly, but sternly. -- Ser, -- popravil on menya ne grubo, no vnushitel'no. "I have been robbed, sir," I amended. -- Menya obokrali, ser, -- povtoril ya. "How did it happen?" he asked. -- Kak eto sluchilos'? -- sprosil on. Then I told him the whole circumstance, how my clothes had been left to dry in the galley, and how, later, I was nearly beaten by the cook when I mentioned the matter. YA rasskazal emu, chto ostavil svoe plat'e sushit'sya v kambuze, a potom kok chut' ne izbil menya, kogda ya zaiknulsya emu o propazhe. He smiled at my recital. Volk Larsen vyslushal menya i usmehnulsya. "Pickings," he concluded; "Cooky's pickings. And don't you think your miserable life worth the price? Besides, consider it a lesson. You'll learn in time how to take care of your money for yourself. I suppose, up to now, your lawyer has done it for you, or your business agent." -- Kok pozhivilsya, -- reshil on. -- No ne kazhetsya li vam, chto vasha zhalkaya zhizn' stoit vse zhe etih deneg? Krome togo, eto dlya vas urok. Nauchites' v konce koncov sami zabotit'sya o svoih den'gah. Do sih por, veroyatno, eto delal za vas vash poverennyj ili upravlyayushchij. I could feel the quiet sneer through his words, but demanded, "How can I get it back again?" YA pochuvstvoval nasmeshku v ego slovah, no vse zhe sprosil: -- Kak mne poluchit' ih nazad? "That's your look-out. You haven't any lawyer or business agent now, so you'll have to depend on yourself. When you get a dollar, hang on to it. A man who leaves his money lying around, the way you did, deserves to lose it. Besides, you have sinned. You have no right to put temptation in the way of your fellow-creatures. You tempted Cooky, and he fell. You have placed his immortal soul in jeopardy. By the way, do you believe in the immortal soul?" -- |to vashe delo. Zdes' u vas net ni poverennogo, ni upravlyayushchego, ostaetsya polagat'sya tol'ko na samogo sebya. Esli vam perepadet dollar, derzhite ego krepche. Tot, u kogo den'gi valyayutsya gde popalo, zasluzhivaet, chtoby ego obokrali. K tomu zhe vy eshche i sogreshili. Vy ne imeete prava iskushat' blizhnih. A vy soblaznili koka, i on pal. Vy podvergli opasnosti ego bessmertnuyu dushu. Kstati, verite li vy v bessmertie dushi? His lids lifted lazily as he asked the question, and it seemed that the deeps were opening to me and that I was gazing into his soul. But it was an illusion. Far as it might have seemed, no man has ever seen very far into Wolf Larsen's soul, or seen it at all, - of this I am convinced. It was a very lonely soul, I was to learn, that never unmasked, though at rare moments it played at doing so. Pri etom voprose veki ego lenivo pripodnyalis', i mne pokazalos', chto otdernulas' kakaya-to zavesa, i ya na mgnovenie zaglyanul v ego dushu. No eto byla illyuziya. YA uveren, chto ni odnomu cheloveku ne udavalos' proniknut' vzglyadom v dushu Volka Larsena. |to byla odinokaya dusha, kak mne dovelos' vposledstvii ubedit'sya. Volk Larsen nikogda ne snimal maski, hotya poroj lyubil igrat' v otkrovennost'. "I read immortality in your eyes," I answered, dropping the "sir," - an experiment, for I thought the intimacy of the conversation warranted it. -- YA chitayu bessmertie v vashih glazah, -- otvechal ya i dlya opyta propustil "ser"; izvestnaya intimnost' nashego razgovora, kazalos' mne, dopuskala eto. He took no notice. Larsen dejstvitel'no ne pridal etomu znacheniya. "By that, I take it, you see something that is alive, but that necessarily does not have to live for ever." -- Vy, ya polagayu, hotite skazat', chto vidite v nih nechto zhivoe. No eto zhivoe ne budet zhit' vechno. "I read more than that," I continued boldly. -- YA chitayu v nih znachitel'no bol'she, -- smelo prodolzhal ya. "Then you read consciousness. You read the consciousness of life that it is alive; but still no further away, no endlessness of life." -- Nu da -- soznanie. Soznanie, postizhenie zhizni. No ne bol'she, ne beskonechnost' zhizni. How clearly he thought, and how well he expressed what he thought! From regarding me curiously, he turned his head and glanced out over the leaden sea to windward. A bleakness came into his eyes, and the lines of his mouth grew severe and harsh. He was evidently in a pessimistic mood. On myslil yasno i horosho vyrazhal svoi mysli. Ne bez lyubopytstva oglyadev menya, on otvernulsya i ustremil vzor na svincovoe more. Glaza ego potemneli, i u rta oboznachilis' rezkie, surovye linii. On yavno byl mrachno nastroen. "Then to what end?" he demanded abruptly, turning back to me. "If I am immortal - why?" -- A kakoj v etom smysl? -- otryvisto sprosil on, snova povernuvshis' ko mne. -- Esli ya nadelen bessmertiem, to zachem? I halted. How could I explain my idealism to this man? How could I put into speech a something felt, a something like the strains of music heard in sleep, a something that convinced yet transcended utterance? YA molchal. Kak mog ya ob®yasnit' etomu cheloveku svoj idea