登陆注册
5272200000023

第23章 IV(6)

To steady himself, he pressed his shoulder against the white bulkhead, one knee bent, and a sweat-rag tucked in his belt hanging on his hip. His smooth cheek was begrimed and flushed, and the coal dust on his eyelids, like the black pencilling of a make-up, enhanced the liquid brilliance of the whites, giving to his youthful face something of a feminine, exotic and fascinating aspect. When the ship pitched he would with hasty movements of his hands screw hard at the little wheel.

"Gone crazy," began the Captain's voice suddenly in the tube.

"Rushed at me. . . . Just now. Had to knock him down. . . .

This minute. You heard, Mr. Rout?"

"The devil!" muttered Mr. Rout. "Look out, Beale!"

His shout rang out like the blast of a warning trumpet, between the iron walls of the engine-room. Painted white, they rose high into the dusk of the skylight, sloping like a roof; and the whole lofty space resembled the interior of a monument, divided by floors of iron grating, with lights flickering at different levels, and a mass of gloom lingering in the middle, within the columnar stir of machinery under the motionless swelling of the cylinders. A loud and wild resonance, made up of all the noises of the hurricane, dwelt in the still warmth of the air. There was in it the smell of hot metal, of oil, and a slight mist of steam. The blows of the sea seemed to traverse it in an unringing, stunning shock, from side to side.

Gleams, like pale long flames, trembled upon the polish of metal; from the flooring below the enormous crank-heads emerged in their turns with a flash of brass and steel -- going over; while the connecting-rods, big-jointed, like skeleton limbs, seemed to thrust them down and pull them up again with an irresistible precision. And deep in the half-light other rods dodged deliberately to and fro, crossheads nodded, discs of metal rubbed smoothly against each other, slow and gentle, in a commingling of shadows and gleams.

Sometimes all those powerful and unerring movements would slow down simultaneously, as if they had been the functions of a living organism, stricken suddenly by the blight of languor; and Mr. Rout's eyes would blaze darker in his long sallow face. He was fighting this fight in a pair of carpet slippers. A short shiny jacket barely covered his loins, and his white wrists protruded far out of the tight sleeves, as though the emergency had added to his stature, had lengthened his limbs, augmented his pallor, hollowed his eyes.

He moved, climbing high up, disappearing low down, with a restless, purposeful industry, and when he stood still, holding the guard-rail in front of the starting-gear, he would keep glancing to the right at the steam-gauge, at the water-gauge, fixed upon the white wall in the light of a swaying lamp. The mouths of two speakingtubes gaped stupidly at his elbow, and the dial of the engine-room telegraph resembled a clock of large diameter, bearing on its face curt words instead of figures. The grouped letters stood out heavily black, around the pivot-head of the indicator, emphatically symbolic of loud exclamations: AHEAD, ASTERN, SLOW, Half, STAND BY; and the fat black hand pointed downwards to the word FULL, which, thus singled out, captured the eye as a sharp cry secures attention.

The wood-encased bulk of the low-pressure cylinder, frowning portly from above, emitted a faint wheeze at every thrust, and except for that low hiss the engines worked their steel limbs headlong or slow with a silent, determined smoothness. And all this, the white walls, the moving steel, the floor plates under Solomon Rout's feet, the floors of iron grating above his head, the dusk and the gleams, uprose and sank continuously, with one accord, upon the harsh wash of the waves against the ship's side.

The whole loftiness of the place, booming hollow to the great voice of the wind, swayed at the top like a tree, would go over bodily, as if borne down this way and that by the tremendous blasts.

"You've got to hurry up," shouted Mr. Rout, as soon as he saw Jukes appear in the stokehold doorway.

同类推荐
  • 侯官县乡土志

    侯官县乡土志

    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。
  • 佛说大阿弥陀经

    佛说大阿弥陀经

    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。
  • 常语笔存_松阳钞存

    常语笔存_松阳钞存

    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。
  • 寿亲养老新书

    寿亲养老新书

    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。
  • 祖庭钳锤录

    祖庭钳锤录

    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。
热门推荐
  • 佛说灌顶王喻经

    佛说灌顶王喻经

    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。
  • TFBOYS长歌暖浮生

    TFBOYS长歌暖浮生

    她是一个霸道,高冷的女校花、学霸。可是,一个人的出现打破了她平静的生活。因为这人的出现,她从原来的霸道女神变成了吃醋少女。小时候是形影不离的好朋友,长大后的“琴瑟在御,莫不静好”……
  • 你的爱,是那片浅白色深海

    你的爱,是那片浅白色深海

    爱,原来竟似深海,爱,原来一目纯白!江晓卉出生后便知道自己是个私生女,可即便所有人都唾弃自己妈妈的下贱和无耻,她却只能一次次挡在妈妈身前替她接受所有的责难。相安无事,对她而言从来是一种奢侈的幸福!幸好她的身边始终有着郑翌哲的存在,这个黑骑士的义无反顾至少带给了她不少安慰,可是,当她遇见了腹黑男沐佐恩,她才真的体会到爱情的窒息诱惑,可偏偏这个男人是叶晓仪的未婚夫,难道她真的和席宁姝说的一样,因为身体里留着下贱无耻的血液,所以注定会成为一个掠夺者,重演那一场悲剧吗?“你的人生非黑即白,可我偏是黑白之间的那一抹浅浅灰色,所以我注定走不进你的视线,却依旧无力抗拒命运,为你一步步踏入那片浅白色深海,宁愿为爱窒息------”【章节序】第一章遗嘱我的人生,有着天使和恶魔牵手相伴同行,他们会一路扯碎所有的幸与不幸,只留给我一片的苍白---第二章爱恨恢恢有些爱,无论一万年还是一瞬间,终逃不过那一片天网恢恢---第三章摄魂怪“摄魂怪,回去吧,阿兹卡班需要你!我这里已经再没有幸福的温暖可以再被你没收。”第四章物是人非的BLUE冬去春来,只剩憔悴,残忍的离别是爱情的末路,为你,我深陷那片蓝色的沼泽---第五章奢靡的荒芜原来这些年,我只是忘了你是谁,却难以忘记你曾是我的谁---第六章孽缘荼心我终于知道为什么当心脏仪器显示一条直线后,医生会宣布病人死亡!在被他搂进怀中的这一刻,因为我的心跳瞬间停止,我才感受到只剩下灵魂不再有肉体的奇幻感觉,不再能自如的呼吸---第七章夙世缱绻每个混蛋的心里都住着一颗受过重伤的心,所作所为不过是想让全世界的人和他一起痛,好让自己与众不同的不再那么明显---第八章迎风微凉再惊险刺激的过山车,坐习惯了也不过是迎风一场,再恐怖幽深的夜路,走习惯了也不过是月影微凉---第九章爱,纯白爱情,是第一眼的认命,第一次的相遇便已经注定悲喜结局,不爱便是陌路,相爱便是幸福,独爱则是无休无止的剜心痛苦---尾声说好一辈子,差一年,差一个月,差一天,差一个时辰都不是一辈子!相爱的时候并看不见爱情的存在,直到再遇不见曾经的心动,才知道放手的便是爱情,即便一生再无缘破镜重圆,指间却不舍褪下他允下的承诺,虽然,戒无痕---
  • 零售企业管理制度表格流程规范大全

    零售企业管理制度表格流程规范大全

    从思想上来说,管理是哲学的;从理论上来说,管理是科学的;从操作上来说,管理是艺术的。然而,不论管理是哲学的、科学的还是艺术的,首先它都需要健全规范的管理制度作为支撑。制度是一切管理运行的标尺与准则,因此,建立一套体系完备、规范化的管理制度和操作表格在现代零售企业管理中就显得尤为重要。为此,我们总结了许多成功零售企业先进的管理经验与做法,借鉴了同类书籍的相关知识,在此基础上,编写了《零售企业管理制度表格流程规范大全》。
  • 宋医生又招惹了桃花运

    宋医生又招惹了桃花运

    【甜宠+1V1】范桃花之所以叫范桃花,是因为算命先生说她命里终有一个桃花劫,躲也躲不过,唯有改名来挡煞。所以她硬生生的顶着这个名字被同学们嘲笑了二十多年。在她二十四岁那年,宋清风出现了。这个男人打乱了她所有的磁场,令本就不走运的她更是倒霉不已,第一次见面,居然是范桃花上厕所没带纸?!如果再给她一次选择的机会,她宁愿直接用手擦!
  • 安静的下午

    安静的下午

    周六的下午,我拿到了《岁时记》。下个月的季题正是“落叶”。我还是头一次参加大多由老前辈们出席的这类句会,因此心情多少有些忐忑。朋友转交的会刊上,登的就是在上次句会上的作品。名列其中的,有著名公司的会长,学士会的会员的大名,完全是沙龙气氛的句会。十月将尽,庭院里的银杏和樱树的树叶开始飘落。寻望间,一只斑鸫飞落到窄窄的草坪。这鸟不合群,也不聒噪。它的动作尽管敏捷,但仪态却是落落大方的。据说它要是在玻璃窗边和镜子上看到自己的影子就会跑上来打斗,自从在什么书上看到这类说明以后,我就不知不觉地留心起了这鸟。
  • 金莲仙史

    金莲仙史

    《金莲仙史》主要是叙述道家仙祖之道统以及主要事迹。故事是说东华帝君得道度钟离权,钟离权得道又度吕洞宾。《金莲仙史》是一本宗教小说。
  • 重生之星途熠熠

    重生之星途熠熠

    前世,她是历经磨难的灰姑娘。父母惨死,沉重的生活压力,失业,失恋,连友情也遭遇背叛。重获新生后,她要做涅槃的金凤,讨回属于她的一切,一步一步,问鼎娱乐圈。始终痴心等待、温柔守候她的初恋男友岳奕;一贯淡漠清冷,却唯独待她不同的矜贵总裁陆浅桓;对她念念不忘的青梅竹马,天王巨星纪梓尘。她该选择谁与她共度新生?情节虚构,切勿模仿
  • 世界之途

    世界之途

    (全供向)传说中,除了我们生存的宇宙,还有其他无数的平行世界……主角三人因为一次意外,被迫前往了其他世界,寻回自己的朋友。但,事情似乎没有想象中的那么简单……不同的势力,各自的目标与路,契约,还是更大的阴谋?
  • 宿吉祥寺寄庐山隐者

    宿吉祥寺寄庐山隐者

    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。