登陆注册
5231500000036

第36章 XVIII.(1)

The next morning was merely a transitional period, full of turmoil and disorder, between the broken life of the sea and the untried life of the shore. No one attempted to resume the routine of the voyage. People went and came between their rooms and the saloons and the decks, and were no longer careful to take their own steamer chairs when they sat down for a moment.

In the cabins the berths were not made up, and those who remained below had to sit on their hard edges, or on the sofas, which were cumbered with, hand-bags and rolls of shawls. At an early hour after breakfast the bedroom stewards began to get the steamer trunks out and pile them in the corridors; the servants all became more caressingly attentive; and people who had left off settling the amount of the fees they were going to give, anxiously conferred together. The question whether you ought ever to give the head steward anything pressed crucially at the early lunch, and Kenby brought only a partial relief by saying that he always regarded the head steward as an officer of the ship. March made the experiment of offering him six marks, and the head steward took them quite as if he were not an officer of the ship. He also collected a handsome fee for the music, which is the tax levied on all German ships beyond the tolls exacted on the steamers of other nations.

After lunch the flat shore at Cuxhaven was so near that the summer cottages of the little watering-place showed through the warm drizzle much like the summer cottages of our own shore, and if it had not been for the strange, low sky, the Americans might easily have fancied themselves at home again.

Every one waited on foot while the tender came out into the stream where the Norumbia had dropped anchor. People who had brought their hand-baggage with them from their rooms looked so much safer with it that people who had left theirs to their stewards had to go back and pledge them afresh not to forget it. The tender came alongside, and the transfer of the heavy trunks began, but it seemed such an endless work that every one sat down in some other's chair. At last the trunks were all on the tender, and the bareheaded stewards began to run down the gangways with the hand-baggage. "Is this Hoboken?" March murmured in his wife's ear, with a bewildered sense of something in the scene like the reversed action of the kinematograph.

On the deck of the tender there was a brief moment of reunion among the companions of the voyage, the more intimate for their being crowded together under cover from the drizzle which now turned into a dashing rain. Burnamy's smile appeared, and then Mrs. March recognized Miss Triscoe and her father in their travel dress; they were not far from Burnamy's smile, but he seemed rather to have charge of the Eltwins, whom he was helping look after their bags and bundles. Rose Adding was talking with Kenby, and apparently asking his opinion of something; Mrs.

Adding sat near them tranquilly enjoying her son.

Mrs. March made her husband identify their baggage, large and small, and after he had satisfied her, he furtively satisfied himself by a fresh count that it was all there. But he need not have taken the trouble; their long, calm bedroom-steward was keeping guard over it; his eyes expressed a contemptuous pity for their anxiety, whose like he must have been very tired of. He brought their handbags into the customs-room at the station where they landed; and there took a last leave and a last fee with unexpected cordiality.

Again their companionship suffered eclipse in the distraction which the customs inspectors of all countries bring to travellers; and again they were united during the long delay in the waiting-room, which was also the restaurant. It was full of strange noises and figures and odors--the shuffling of feet, the clash of crockery, the explosion of nervous German voices, mixed with the smell of beer and ham, and the smoke of cigars.

Through it all pierced the wail of a postman standing at the door with a letter in his hand and calling out at regular intervals, "Krahnay, Krahnay! "When March could bear it no longer he went up to him and shouted, "Crane! Crane!" and the man bowed gratefully, and began to cry, "Kren! Kren!" But whether Mr. Crane got his letter or not, he never knew.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 一剑凌云

    一剑凌云

    天才少年陆云沧经历一夕灭门,背负血海深仇拜入点云宗,斗邪佞、斩群魔,一步步走上剑修巅峰!
  • 转法轮经

    转法轮经

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 折桂令

    折桂令

    谢辞世嫁人七天,竟被诊出两个月的身孕。新婚夫郎玉面蛇心,高堂婆母助纣为虐,个个恨不得她死。为了保全性命,她不得不逃离沈家,去投靠那个曾经强迫过她的尊贵男子。数日后,京城街头巷尾议论纷纷:向来不近女色的豫王爷,竟然看上了一个七品小吏的新媳妇,还将人正经夫郎发配去了西北……
  • 修真吧萝莉

    修真吧萝莉

    见义勇为遇到鬼?师傅领进门修炼靠个人?神一样的对手猪一样的队友?肿——么——破!!!萧轶欣觉得自己运气糟透了。但说不定……这也是冥冥之中,妙不可言的机缘所注定?书友群:287667248,欢迎加入!
  • 娘子可愿嫁否

    娘子可愿嫁否

    不知什么时候开始,他每日一问:“娘子,你喜欢我吗?”她:不喜欢。他:哦,我喜欢娘子!(请勿考究,架空文~~~)
  • 网游之徒弟请赐教

    网游之徒弟请赐教

    箭羽破穹苍的流光,折扇动九天的逍遥,于幽影处起舞的阎罗,在刀尖上逐日的开阳,银针能救能伤人的杏林,长棍可攻亦可防的少林,仗剑救济苍生的乾坤,持枪镇守山河的穹羽,琴棋书画样样精通的百艺,披坚执锐血性不屈的神策……一阁二盟五势力,七侠对七恶;六军战十门,域外百国争九州!这是他们的盛世,亦是所有人的江湖!风里雨里,乱世江湖我等你……所以,徒弟弟你死这么快,为师连台词都没来得及念完是什么鬼?!咱们能不能帅过三秒?!本书又名[网游之徒弟,请赐教!]
  • 校草大人有点坑

    校草大人有点坑

    某上神酒后失言,好不容易到手的媳妇跑了。漫漫追妻路,他不得不变身凡人,猫前卖惨,猫后流氓!只为了早日喜提媳妇。一日,他摔倒在某猫面前。“小灵兮,我腿被你压断了,你要对我负责。”—神经哦!一只不过十斤的猫咪能把你腿压断?叶近晨你豆腐做的吗?“小灵兮,你的床不让我走,不是我不想走。”—OK,祝你们白头到老、永结同心。追妻未成,各路桃花横空出世,叶校草不得不拿出看家本领。“她是我的女人,从早上到晚上,一天二十四小时我们都是光着身子黏在一起的!小子,敢抢我女人试试?”看到某猫突然出现,叶近晨秒变脸,“小灵兮,他们非要说我们是一对,我大概没人要了,你要对我负责。”—负责你个小肉球!
  • 重生之最强剑仙

    重生之最强剑仙

    无敌剑仙白羽陨落在天劫中,一梦回到地球少年时代。前世的他踏入剑道之巅,剑斩万界,却孑然一身。这一世他一步一个脚印再修剑仙,从此横扫世间,俯瞰苍穹,登临宇宙之巅。我欲成仙,战苍穹,试问天下,谁与争锋! PS:新书《都市之绝品圣医》无敌文,火热连载!
  • 快穿系统男神笑一个

    快穿系统男神笑一个

    别人家的爱豆:沉鱼落雁,闭月羞花自己家的爱豆:自恋毒舌不说,竟然还藏了一个男人!粉丝们却不知,一代影后曾经无辜遭死被无良系统拉去做任务,好嘛,为了能重回世界,她忍。叛逆少女、温柔女神、悲情千金、末世妖精各种类型都能驾驭,却不曾想,一不小心在三千世界里陷入美色,无法自拔。纯洁干净vs傲娇腹黑,小奶狗vs小狼狗,该选哪一种美色?黎雪表示两个都想要。“宿主,难道你不要我了吗?”“不要让我亲自动手,嗯?”黎雪躲在角落里瑟瑟发抖,麻麻,我要回家!第一次写快穿文,请多关照。文笔稚嫩,欢迎吐槽。男女主身心干净,1v1~
  • 护法论

    护法论

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。