登陆注册
26286500000040

第40章 CHAPTER XII A MAN JUSTLY POPULAR(4)

Not that there was anything in it, to do harm to any one, only that none could explain it, except by attributing it to the devil. The weather was very mild and open, and scarcely any snow fell; at any rate, none lay on the ground, even for an hour, in the highest part of Exmoor; a thing which I knew not before nor since, as long as I can remember. But the nights were wonderfully dark, as though with no stars in the heaven; and all day long the mists were rolling upon the hills and down them, as if the whole land were a wash-house. The moorland was full of snipes and teal, and curlews flying and crying, and lapwings flapping heavily, and ravens hovering round dead sheep; yet no redshanks nor dottrell, and scarce any golden plovers (of which we have great store generally) but vast lonely birds, that cried at night, and moved the whole air with their pinions; yet no man ever saw them. It was dismal as well as dangerous now for any man to go fowling (which of late I loved much in the winter)because the fog would come down so thick that the pan of the gun was reeking, and the fowl out of sight ere the powder kindled, and then the sound of the piece was so dead, that the shooter feared harm, and glanced over his shoulder. But the danger of course was far less in this than in losing of the track, and falling into the mires, or over the brim of a precipice.

Nevertheless, I must needs go out, being young and very stupid, and feared of being afraid; a fear which a wise man has long cast by, having learned of the manifold dangers which ever and ever encompass us. And beside this folly and wildness of youth, perchance there was something, I know not what, of the joy we have in uncertainty. Mother, in fear of my missing home--though for that matter, I could smell supper, when hungry, through a hundred land-yards of fog--my dear mother, who thought of me ten times for one thought about herself, gave orders to ring the great sheep-bell, which hung above the pigeon-cote, every ten minutes of the day, and the sound came through the plaits of fog, and I was vexed about it, like the letters of a copy-book. It reminded me, too, of Blundell's bell, and the grief to go into school again.

But during those two months of fog (for we had it all the winter), the saddest and the heaviest thing was to stand beside the sea. To be upon the beach yourself, and see the long waves coming in; to know that they are long waves, but only see a piece of them; and to hear them lifting roundly, swelling over smooth green rocks, plashing down in the hollow corners, but bearing on all the same as ever, soft and sleek and sorrowful, till their little noise is over.

One old man who lived at Lynmouth, seeking to be buried there, having been more than half over the world, though shy to speak about it, and fain to come home to his birthplace, this old Will Watcombe (who dwelt by the water) said that our strange winter arose from a thing he called the 'Gulf-stream', rushing up Channel suddenly. He said it was hot water, almost fit for a man to shave with, and it threw all our cold water out, and ruined the fish and the spawning-time, and a cold spring would come after it. I was fond of going to Lynmouth on Sunday to hear this old man talk, for sometimes he would discourse with me, when nobody else could move him. He told me that this powerful flood set in upon our west so hard sometimes once in ten years, and sometimes not for fifty, and the Lord only knew the sense of it; but that when it came, therewith came warmth and clouds, and fog, and moisture, and nuts, and fruit, and even shells; and all the tides were thrown abroad. As for nuts he winked awhile, and chewed a piece of tobacco; yet did I not comprehend him. Only afterwards I heard that nuts with liquid kernels came, travelling on the Gulf stream; for never before was known so much foreign cordial landed upon our coast, floating ashore by mistake in the fog, and (what with the tossing and the mist) too much astray to learn its duty.

Folk, who are ever too prone to talk, said that Will Watcombe himself knew better than anybody else about this drift of the Gulf-stream, and the places where it would come ashore, and the caves that took the in-draught. But De Whichehalse, our great magistrate, certified that there was no proof of unlawful importation; neither good cause to suspect it, at a time of Christian charity. And we knew that it was a foul thing for some quarrymen to say that night after night they had been digging a new cellar at Ley Manor to hold the little marks of respect found in the caverns at high-water weed. Let that be, it is none of my business to speak evil of dignities; duly we common people joked of the 'Gulp-stream,' as we called it.

But the thing which astonished and frightened us so, was not, I do assure you, the landing of foreign spirits, nor the loom of a lugger at twilight in the gloom of the winter moonrise. That which made as crouch in by the fire, or draw the bed-clothes over us, and try to think of something else, was a strange mysterious sound.

At grey of night, when the sun was gone, and no red in the west remained, neither were stars forthcoming, suddenly a wailing voice rose along the valleys, and a sound in the air, as of people running. It mattered not whether you stood on the moor, or crouched behind rocks away from it, or down among reedy places; all as one the sound would come, now from the heart of the earth beneath, now overhead bearing down on you. And then there was rushing of something by, and melancholy laughter, and the hair of a man would stand on end before he could reason properly.

God, in His mercy, knows that I am stupid enough for any man, and very slow of impression, nor ever could bring myself to believe that our Father would let the evil one get the upper hand of us. But when I had heard that sound three times, in the lonely gloom of the evening fog, and the cold that followed the lines of air, I was loath to go abroad by night, even so far as the stables, and loved the light of a candle more, and the glow of a fire with company.

There were many stories about it, of course, all over the breadth of the moorland. But those who had heard it most often declared that it must be the wail of a woman's voice, and the rustle of robes fleeing horribly, and fiends in the fog going after her. To that, however, I paid no heed, when anybody was with me; only we drew more close together, and barred the doors at sunset.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 山中有鬼

    山中有鬼

    山林木屋竟然出现奇怪的人影!!这是有人蓄意搞怪,还是确有其事?各种迷雾让人不解!离奇的死亡时间,让人毛骨悚然!真相到底如何……
  • 八夜绝宠:妖孽国师的杀手妻

    八夜绝宠:妖孽国师的杀手妻

    千年前他携百万雄师灭她南疆,破城时,她发丝如雪,白衣舞尽这凄厉夜色,目光透过重重火焰,望进城下那双妖冶嗜血的狭目,这一眼仿佛望尽了千年岁月。古月,一抹幽魂穿越而来,成了司马府大小姐。月青墨,墨国国师,身世成谜,然千年古墓中容颜不朽的玉棺男尸与他有何渊缘?一纸婚约,她成了他的妻!而这一纸婚约背后,隐藏了多少不为人知的秘密?当那些隐藏于岁月背后的真相缓缓浮出水面时,她该何去何从?
  • 天道之五行崛起

    天道之五行崛起

    这一个叫五行大陆的空间中,这个空间里每个人都有自己的天赋经脉。天赋经脉分为金木水火土五大经脉,只有天赋经脉的拥有者可以修行,如果一个人拥有火属性经脉,难么他就可以修行火属性功法。而一个人的修行天赋要看这个人经脉的贯通程度,有一种人经脉全通,那么这个人就会被称作天才。即使是经脉通了十之七八也是上好的修炼精英。当然,还有一部分特殊的人,他们不仅仅只有一条经脉,或者两条或者三条或者四条经脉,他们被称为天眷者。但是拥有多条经脉的人往往以非常快的速度修行到武皇巅峰,而且同等级别比其他单一经脉的修行者强上几分,却迟迟不能成为武尊。那么拥有五种经脉的主角会怎样呢?也会停留在武皇巅峰么?
  • 迷航水世界

    迷航水世界

    为了童年的梦想,不远万里来到一个陌生的蓝色星球,还未开始就遭遇坠机的劫难,虽然乘坐救生仓逃了出来,却只剩他一人存活在未知的水世界
  • 恋爱宣言:绑架你的爱

    恋爱宣言:绑架你的爱

    她阴差阳错地被拖去当了韩家少爷的私人伴读,倒贴了初吻,还和这个可恶的少爷睡了一个晚上,哦妈噶!“韩子俊,我诅咒你下辈子也能这么帅!”她指着一只蛤蟆头像忿忿地说道。他眉毛微挑了一下,原本是想赶她出韩家的,却魔力般的被她吸引住了,她有喜欢的人,可是因为她欠了他一个人情,所以被他牢牢地绑住了爱……
  • 为艺术而艺术

    为艺术而艺术

    用一名艺术生毕业人的视角,以幽默犀利的语言讽刺人生。本文是我们的主角从小到大的青春爱情、友情的故事。故事情节并没有大起大落,仅仅是平凡人描述平凡人的一生。
  • 执梦记

    执梦记

    轮回之主转世凡人少年因为什么?生命禁区潜藏着什么秘密?谁能万古风流,名传世间,又有谁拥有不屈的意志能够这个时代的帝路?争雄这世间的不是你那无敌的血脉,而是这坚韧不拔的眼眸,闪现着亘古不变的绝世风采,雄起吧,少年们..........书友群:399105862
  • 剑起赤县

    剑起赤县

    ---何为道?何为法?---我身即道,我身即法。
  • 姐弟①:邻家有弟忽长成

    姐弟①:邻家有弟忽长成

    你们两个越长大越暧昧。她说,哪有?友说,难道你对他没有特别的意思?她说,当然没有!他是我弟!他说,我从来就不是你弟!她说,可是我就是你姐。他低头一吻,她终于认清了,这个男子不再是那个听她命令的小弟了,而是一个可以用尽全身力气拥紧她,让她没有机会逃脱的男人了。
  • 报告王爷,嫡女有毒

    报告王爷,嫡女有毒

    林舒乐是现代一名碌碌无为的小职工,爱看小说,也爱写小说,可是突然穿越进了自己小说里的恶毒女配身上怎么破?当然是抱女主大腿了!可女主不鸟自己怎么破?抱男主大腿!逗一逗男主,撩一撩男主,过着米虫一样的生活,可是……喂喂,男主大人你要干什么?!别过来啊!这是一个女孩穿越被男主吃光摸净的故事。