Latest / Adventure Books Library / 08 - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson

Transcript

08 - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson · Adventure Books Library

• 0:00
  Chapter eight, The round House. One night, about eleven o'clock, a
• 0:07
  man of mister Riach's watch, which was on deck, came below for his
• 0:11
  jacket, and instantly there began to go a whisper about the forecastle that Shuan
• 0:16
  had done for him. At last there was no need of a name.
• 0:21
  We all knew who was meant, but we had scarce time to get the
• 0:24
  idea rightly in our heads, far less to speak of it. When the
• 0:28
  scuttle was again flung open and Captain Hoseason came down the ladder, he looked
• 0:34
  sharply round the bunks in the tossing light of the lantern, and then walking
• 0:38
  straight up to me, he addressed me, to my surprise in tones of
• 0:42
  kindness. By man said he we want ye to serve in the round house.
• 0:48
  You and Ransom are to change berths, run away aft with ye.
• 0:53
  Even as he spoke, two seamen appeared in the scuttle, carrying Ransom in
• 0:57
  their arms, and the ship at that moment giving a great sheer into the
• 1:00
  sea, and the lantern swinging. The light fell direct on the boy's face.
• 1:06
  It was white as wax and had a look upon it like a dreadful
• 1:10
  smile. The blood in me ran cold. I drew in my breath as
• 1:15
  if I had been struck. Run Away aft, run away aft with you,
• 1:19
  cried Hoseason, And at that I brushed by the sailors and the boy,
• 1:23
  who neither spoke nor moved, and ran up the ladder. On deck,
• 1:30
  the brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long, cresting swell.
• 1:34
  She was on the starboard tack, and on the left hand under the arched
• 1:38
  foot of the foresail. I could see the sunset still quite bright. This
• 1:42
  at such an hour of the night surprised me greatly, but I was too
• 1:47
  ignorant to draw the true conclusion that we were going north about round Scotland,
• 1:52
  and were now on the high Sea between the Orkney and Shetland Islands, having
• 1:57
  avoided the dangerous currents of the Pentland Firth. For my part, who had
• 2:00
  been so long shut in the dark and knew nothing of head winds, I
• 2:05
  thought we might be half way or more across the Atlantic, and indeed beyond
• 2:09
  that I wandered a little at the lateness of the sunset light, I gave
• 2:14
  no heed to it. Pushed on across the decks running between the seas,
• 2:19
  catching at ropes, and only save from going overboard by one of the hands
• 2:23
  on deck, who had always been kind to me. The round house for
• 2:28
  which I was bound, and where I was now to sleep and serve,
• 2:31
  stood some six feet above the decks, and, considering the size of the
• 2:36
  brig, was of good dimensions. Inside was a fixed table and bench,
• 2:40
  and two berths, one for the captain and the other for the two mates
• 2:46
  turn and turn about. It was all fitted with lockers from top to bottom
• 2:50
  so as to stow away the officer's belongings, and a part of the ship's
• 2:53
  stores. There was the second store room, underneath which you entered by a
• 2:58
  hatchway in the middle of the deck. Indeed, all the best of the
• 3:01
  meat and drink, and the whole of the powder were collected in this place,
• 3:06
  and all the firearms except the two pieces of brass ordnance, were set
• 3:10
  in a rack in the aftermost wall of the round house. The most of
• 3:14
  the cutlasses were in another place. A small window with a shutter on each
• 3:19
  side, and a skylight in the roof gave it light by day and after
• 3:23
  dark. There was a lamp always burning. It was burning when I entered,
• 3:28
  not brightly, but enough to show mister Chuan sitting at the table with
• 3:31
  the brandy bottle and a tin pannikin in front of him. He was a
• 3:36
  tall man, strongly made, and very black, and he stared before him
• 3:40
  on the table like one stupid. He took no notice of my coming in,
• 3:46
  nor did he move when the Captain followed, and leant on the berth
• 3:49
  beside me, looking darkly at the mate. I stood in great fear of
• 3:53
  hose season, and had my reasons for it, But something told me I
• 3:58
  need not be afraid of him just then, and I whispered in his ear,
• 4:02
  how is he? He shook his head like one that does not know
• 4:06
  and does not wish to think, and his face was very stern. Presently
• 4:13
  mister Riach came in. He gave the Captain a glance that meant the boy
• 4:16
  was dead, his plain as speaking, and took his place like the rest
• 4:20
  of us, so that we all three stood without a word, staring down
• 4:25
  at mister Chuan, and mister Chuan on his side, sat without a word,
• 4:30
  looking hard upon the table. All of a sudden he put out his
• 4:33
  hand to take the bottle, and at that mister Riach started forward and caught
• 4:38
  it away from him, rather by surprise than violence, crying out with an
• 4:43
  oath that there had been too much of this work altogether, and that a
• 4:46
  judgment would fall upon the ship. And as he spoke, the weather sliding
• 4:51
  doors standing open, he tossed the bottle into the sea. Mister Chuan was
• 4:57
  on his feet at a trice. He still looked days, but he meant
• 5:00
  murder aye, and would have done it for the second time that night,
• 5:04
  had not the captain stepped in between him and his victim. Sit down,
• 5:10
  roars the captain. Yes, sut and swine, d'ye know what you've done.
• 5:14
  You've murdered the boy. Mister Chuan seemed to understand, for he sat
• 5:18
  down again and put up his hand to his brow. Hell, he said,
• 5:25
  he brought me a dirty pannikin. At that word, the Captain and
• 5:30
  I and mister Riach all looked at each other for a second with a kind
• 5:33
  of frightened look, and then Ho Suesan walked up to his chief officer,
• 5:38
  took him by the shoulder, led him across to his bunk, and bade
• 5:42
  him lie down and go to sleep. As you might speak to a bad
• 5:45
  child. The murderer cried a little, but he took off his sea boots
• 5:49
  and obeyed. Ah, cried mister Riach with a dreadful voice. Ye should
• 5:56
  have interfered long since. It's too late now, mister Riach, said the
• 6:01
  captain. This night's work must never be kent in dysart. The boy went
• 6:06
  overboard, sir, that's what the story is, and I would give five
• 6:11
  pounds out of my pocket it was true. He turned to the table.
• 6:15
  What made you throw the good bottle away? He added, There was no
• 6:19
  sense in that, sir. Here David draw me another. They're in the
• 6:25
  bottom locker, and he tossed me a key. You'll need a glass yourself,
• 6:30
  sir, he added, De riach Yan was an ugly thing to see.
• 6:34
  So the pair sat down and habanabed, And while they did so,
• 6:39
  the murderer, who had been lying and whimpering in his berth, raised himself
• 6:44
  upon his elbow and looked at them and at me. That was the first
• 6:48
  night of my new duties, and in the course of the next day I
• 6:51
  had got well into the run of them. I had to serve at the
• 6:56
  meals which the captain took at regular hours, sitting down with the officer who
• 7:00
  was off duty. All the day through I would be running with a dram
• 7:03
  to one or other of my three masters. And at night I slept on
• 7:08
  a blanket thrown on the deck boards at the aftermost end of the round house
• 7:13
  and right in the draft of the two doors. It was a hard and
• 7:16
  a cold bed. Nor was I suffered to sleep without interruption, for some
• 7:21
  one would always be coming in from deck to get a dram, and when
• 7:25
  a fresh watch was to be set, two and sometimes all three would sit
• 7:29
  down and brew a bowl together. How they kept their health I know not
• 7:33
  any more than how I kept my own. And yet in other ways it
• 7:38
  was an easy service. There was no cloth delay. The meals were either
• 7:43
  of oatmeal, porridge or salt junk, except twice a week when there was
• 7:47
  duff, and though I was clumsy enough and not being firm on my sea
• 7:51
  legs, sometimes fell with what I was bringing them. Both mister Reach and
• 7:57
  the Captain were singularly patient. I could not but fancy they were making up
• 8:01
  leeway with their consciences, and that they would scarce have been so good with
• 8:05
  me if they had not been worse with ransom. As for mister Chuan,
• 8:11
  the drink or his crime, or the two together, had certainly troubled his
• 8:16
  mind. I cannot say I ever saw him and his proper wits. He
• 8:20
  never grew used to my being there, stared at me continually, sometimes I
• 8:26
  could have thought with terror, and more than once drew back from my hand.
• 8:30
  When I was serving him. I was pretty sure from the first that
• 8:33
  he had no clear mind of what he had done, And on my second
• 8:37
  day in the round house I had the proof of it. We were alone,
• 8:41
  and he had been staring at me a long time, when all at
• 8:45
  once up he got as pale as death and came up close to me,
• 8:48
  to my great terror, but I had no cause to be afraid of him.
• 8:52
  You were not here before, he asked, No, Sir, said
• 8:58
  I. There was another boy. He asked again, And when I had
• 9:03
  answered him, ah, says he. I thought that and went and sat
• 9:09
  down without another word, except to call for Brandy. You may think it
• 9:15
  strange, but for all the horror I had, I was still sorry for
• 9:18
  him. He was a married man with a wife in Leith. But whether
• 9:24
  or no he had a family I have now forgotten. I hope not altogether,
• 9:28
  it was no very hard life. For the time it lasted, which,
• 9:33
  as you are to hear, was not long. I was as well
• 9:35
  fed as the best of them. Even their pickles, which were the great
• 9:39
  dainty, I was allowed my share of, and had I liked, I
• 9:43
  might have been drunk from morning to night. Like mister Chuann, I had
• 9:46
  company to and good company of its sort. Mister Riach, who had been
• 9:52
  to the college, spoke to me like a friend when he was not sulking,
• 9:56
  told me many curious things and some that were informing. And even the
• 10:00
  Captain, though he kept me at the stick's end the most part of the
• 10:03
  time, would sometimes unbuckle a bit and tell me of the fine countries he
• 10:07
  had visited. The shadow of poor ransom, to be sure, lay on
• 10:13
  all four of us, and on me and mister Chuan in particular, most
• 10:16
  heavily. And then I had another trouble of my own. Here I was
• 10:22
  doing dirty work for three men that I looked down upon, and one of
• 10:26
  whom at least should have been hung upon a gallows. That was for the
• 10:31
  present, and as for the future, I could only see myself slaving alongside
• 10:35
  of negroes in the tobacco fields. Mister Riach, perhaps from caution, would
• 10:41
  never suffer me to say another word about my story. The captain whom I
• 10:46
  tried to approach rebuffed me like a dog and would not hear a word.
• 10:50
  And as the days came and went, my heart sank lower and lower,
• 10:54
  till I was even glad of the work, which kept me from thinking end
• 11:00
  a chapter.