lizm? Kak peredat' slovami chto-to neopredelennoe, pohozhee na muzyku, kotoruyu slyshish' vo sne? Nechto vpolne ubeditel'noe dlya menya, no ne poddayushcheesya opredeleniyu. "What do you believe, then?" I countered. -- Vo chto zhe vy togda verite? -- v svoyu ochered', sprosil ya. "I believe that life is a mess," he answered promptly. "It is like yeast, a ferment, a thing that moves and may move for a minute, an hour, a year, or a hundred years, but that in the end will cease to move. The big eat the little that they may continue to move, the strong eat the weak that they may retain their strength. The lucky eat the most and move the longest, that is all. What do you make of those things?" -- YA veryu, chto zhizn' -- nelepaya sueta, -- bystro otvetil on. -- Ona pohozha na zakvasku, kotoraya brodit minuty, chasy, gody ili stoletiya, no rano ili pozdno perestaet brodit'. Bol'shie pozhirayut malyh, chtoby podderzhat' svoe brozhenie. Sil'nye pozhirayut slabyh, chtoby sohranit' svoyu silu. Komu vezet, tot est bol'she i brodit dol'she drugih, -- vot i vse! Von poglyadite -- chto vy skazhete ob etom? He swept his am in an impatient gesture toward a number of the sailors who were working on some kind of rope stuff amidships. Neterpelivym zhestom on pokazal na gruppu matrosov, kotorye vozilis' s trosami posredi paluby. "They move, so does the jelly-fish move. They move in order to eat in order that they may keep moving. There you have it. They live for their belly's sake, and the belly is for their sake. It's a circle; you get nowhere. Neither do they. In the end they come to a standstill. They move no more. They are dead." -- Oni koposhatsya, dvizhutsya, no ved' i meduzy dvizhutsya. Dvizhutsya dlya togo, chtoby est', i edyat dlya togo, chtoby prodolzhat' dvigat'sya. Vot i vsya shtuka! Oni zhivut dlya svoego bryuha, a bryuho podderzhivaet v nih zhizn'. |to zamknutyj krug; dvigayas' po nemu, nikuda ne pridesh'. Tak s nimi i proishodit. Rano ili pozdno dvizhenie prekrashchaetsya. Oni bol'she ne koposhatsya. Oni mertvy. "They have dreams," I interrupted, "radiant, flashing dreams - " -- U nih est' mechty, -- prerval ya, -- sverkayushchie, luchezarnye mechty o... "Of grub," he concluded sententiously. -- O zhratve, -- reshitel'no prerval on menya. "And of more - " -- Net, i eshche... "Grub. Of a larger appetite and more luck in satisfying it." His voice sounded harsh. There was no levity in it. "For, look you, they dream of making lucky voyages which will bring them more money, of becoming the mates of ships, of finding fortunes - in short, of being in a better position for preying on their fellows, of having all night in, good grub and somebody else to do the dirty work. You and I are just like them. There is no difference, except that we have eaten more and better. I am eating them now, and you too. But in the past you have eaten more than I have. You have slept in soft beds, and worn fine clothes, and eaten good meals. Who made those beds? and those clothes? and those meals? Not you. You never made anything in your own sweat. You live on an income which your father earned. You are like a frigate bird swooping down upon the boobies and robbing them of the fish they have caught. You are one with a crowd of men who have made what they call a government, who are masters of all the other men, and who eat the food the other men get and would like to eat themselves. You wear the warm clothes. They made the clothes, but they shiver in rags and ask you, the lawyer, or business agent who handles your money, for a job." -- I eshche o zhratve. O bol'shoj udache -- kak by pobol'she i poslashche pozhrat'. -- Golos ego zvuchal rezko. V nem ne bylo i teni shutki. -- Bud'te uvereny, oni mechtayut ob udachnyh plavaniyah, kotorye dadut im bol'she deneg; o tom, chtoby stat' kapitanami korablej ili najti klad, -- koroche govorya, o tom, chtoby ustroit'sya poluchshe i imet' vozmozhnost' vysasyvat' soki iz svoih blizhnih, o tom, chtoby samim vsyu noch' spat' pod kryshej i horosho pitat'sya, a vsyu gryaznuyu rabotu perelozhit' na drugih. I my s vami takie zhe. Raznicy net nikakoj, esli ne schitat' togo, chto my edim bol'she i luchshe. Sejchas ya pozhirayu ih i vas tozhe. No v proshlom vy eli bol'she moego. Vy spali v myagkih postelyah, nosili horoshuyu odezhdu i eli vkusnye blyuda. A kto sdelal eti posteli, i etu odezhdu, i eti blyuda? Ne vy. Vy nikogda nichego ne delali v pote lica svoego. Vy zhivete s dohodov, ostavlennyh vam otcom. Vy, kak ptica fregat, brosaetes' s vysoty na baklanov i pohishchaete u nih pojmannuyu imi rybeshku. Vy "odno celoe s kuchkoj lyudej, sozdavshih to, chto oni nazyvayut gosudarstvom", i vlastvuyushchih nad vsemi ostal'nymi lyud'mi i pozhirayushchih pishchu, kotoruyu te dobyvayut i sami ne proch' byli by s®est'. Vy nosite tepluyu odezhdu, a te, kto sdelal etu odezhdu, drozhat ot holoda v lohmot'yah i eshche dolzhny vymalivat' u vas rabotu -- u vas ili u vashego poverennogo ili upravlyayushchego, -- slovom, u teh, kto rasporyazhaetsya vashimi den'gami. "But that is beside the matter," I cried. -- No eto sovsem drugoj vopros! -- voskliknul ya. "Not at all." He was speaking rapidly now, and his eyes were flashing. "It is piggishness, and it is life. Of what use or sense is an immortality of piggishness? What is the end? What is it all about? You have made no food. Yet the food you have eaten or wasted might have saved the lives of a score of wretches who made the food but did not eat it. What immortal end did you serve? or did they? Consider yourself and me. What does your boasted immortality amount to when your life runs foul of mine? You would like to go back to the land, which is a favourable place for your kind of piggishness. It is a whim of mine to keep you aboard this ship, where my piggishness flourishes. And keep you I will. I may make or break you. You may die to-day, this week, or next month. I could kill you now, with a blow of my fist, for you are a miserable weakling. But if we are immortal, what is the reason for this? To be piggish as you and I have been all our lives does not seem to be just the thing for immortals to be doing. Again, what's it all about? Why have I kept you here? - " -- Vovse net! -- Kapitan govoril bystro, i glaza ego sverkali. -- |to svinstvo, i eto... zhizn'. Kakoj zhe smysl v bessmertii svinstva? K chemu vse eto vedet? Zachem vse eto nuzhno? Vy ne sozdaete pishchi, a mezhdu tem pishcha, s®edennaya ili vybroshennaya vami, mogla by spasti zhizn' desyatkam neschastnyh, kotorye etu pishchu sozdayut, no ne edyat. Kakogo bessmertiya zasluzhili vy? Ili oni? Voz'mite nas s vami. CHego stoit vashe hvalenoe bessmertie, kogda vasha zhizn' stolknulas' s moej? Vam hochetsya nazad, na sushu, tak kak tam razdol'e dlya privychnogo vam svinstva. Po svoemu kaprizu ya derzhu vas na etoj shhune, gde procvetaet moe svinstvo. I budu derzhat'. YA ili slomayu vas, ili peredelayu. Vy mozhete umeret' zdes' segodnya, cherez nedelyu, cherez mesyac. YA mog by odnim udarom kulaka ubit' vas, -- ved' vy zhalkij chervyak. No esli my bessmertny, to kakoj vo vsem etom smysl? Vesti sebya vsyu zhizn' po-svinski, kak my s vami, -- neuzheli eto k licu bessmertnym? Tak dlya chego zhe eto vse? Pochemu ya derzhu vas tut? "Because you are stronger," I managed to blurt out. -- Potomu, chto vy sil'nee, -- vypalil ya. "But why stronger?" he went on at once with his perpetual queries. "Because I am a bigger bit of the ferment than you? Don't you see? Don't you see?" -- No pochemu ya sil'nee? -- ne unimalsya on. -- Potomu chto vo mne bol'she etoj zakvaski, chem v vas. Neuzheli vy ne ponimaete? Neuzheli ne ponimaete? "But the hopelessness of it," I protested. -- No zhit' tak -- eto zhe beznadezhnost'! -- voskliknul ya. "I agree with you," he answered. "Then why move at all, since moving is living? Without moving and being part of the yeast there would be no hopelessness. But, - and there it is, - we want to live and move, though we have no reason to, because it happens that it is the nature of life to live and move, to want to live and move. If it were not for this, life would be dead. It is because of this life that is in you that you dream of your immortality. The life that is in you is alive and wants to go on being alive for ever. Bah! An eternity of piggishness!" -- Soglasen s vami, -- otvetil on. -- I zachem ono nuzhno voobshche, eto brozhenie, koтoroe i est' sushchnost' zhizni? Ne dvigat'sya, ne byt' chasticej zhiznennoj zakvaski, -- togda ne budet i beznadezhnosti. No v etomto vse i delo: my hotim zhit' i dvigat'sya, nesmotrya na vsyu bessmyslennost' etogo, hotim, potomu chto eto zalozheno v nas prirodoj, -- stremlenie zhit' i dvigat'sya, brodit'. Bez etogo zhizn' ostanovilas' by. Vot eta zhizn' vnutri vas i zastavlyaet vas mechtat' o bessmertii. ZHizn' vnutri vas stremitsya byt' vechno. |h! Vechnost' svinstva! He abruptly turned on his heel and started forward. He stopped at the break of the poop and called me to him. On kruto povernulsya na kablukah i poshel na kormu, no, ne dojdya do kraya yuta, ostanovilsya i podozval menya. "By the way, how much was it that Cooky got away with?" he asked. -- Kstati, na kakuyu summu obchistil vas kok? -- sprosil on. "One hundred and eighty-five dollars, sir," I answered. -- Na sto vosem'desyat pyat' dollarov, ser, -- otvechal ya. He nodded his head. A moment later, as I started down the companion stairs to lay the table for dinner, I heard him loudly curing some men amidships. On molcha kivnul Minutoj pozzhe, kogda ya spuskalsya po trapu nakryvat' na stol k obedu, ya slyshal, kak on uzhe raznosit kogo-to iz matrosov. CHAPTER VI GLAVA VI By the following morning the storm had blown itself quite out and the Ghost was rolling slightly on a calm sea without a breath of wind. Occasional light airs were felt, however, and Wolf Larsen patrolled the poop constantly, his eyes ever searching the sea to the north-eastward, from which direction the great trade-wind must blow. Nautro shtorm, obessilev, stih, i "Prizrak" tiho pokachivalsya na bezbrezhnoj gladi okeana. Lish' izredka v vozduhe chuvstvovalos' legkoe dunovenie, i kapitan ne pokidal paluby i vse poglyadyval na severo-vostok, otkuda dolzhen byl prijti passat. The men were all on deck and busy preparing their various boats for the season's hunting. There are seven boats aboard, the captain's dingey, and the six which the hunters will use. Three, a hunter, a boat-puller, and a boat-steerer, compose a boat's crew. On board the schooner the boat-pullers and steerers are the crew. The hunters, too, are supposed to be in command of the watches, subject, always, to the orders of Wolf Larsen. Ves' ekipazh tozhe byl na palube -- gotovil shlyupki k predstoyashchemu ohotnich'emu sezonu. Na shhune imelos' sem' shlyupok: shest' ohotnich'ih i kapitanskij tuzik. Komanda kazhdoj shlyupki sostoyala iz ohotnika, grebca i rulevogo. Na bortu shhuny v komandu vhodili tol'ko grebcy i rulevye, no vahtennuyu sluzhbu dolzhny byli nesti i ohotniki, kotorye tozhe nahodilis' v rasporyazhenii kapitana. All this, and more, I have learned. The Ghost is considered the fastest schooner in both the San Francisco and Victoria fleets. In fact, she was once a private yacht, and was built for speed. Her lines and fittings - though I know nothing about such things - speak for themselves. Johnson was telling me about her in a short chat I had with him during yesterday's second dog-watch. He spoke enthusiastically, with the love for a fine craft such as some men feel for horses. He is greatly disgusted with the outlook, and I am given to understand that Wolf Larsen bears a very unsavoury reputation among the sealing captains. It was the Ghost herself that lured Johnson into signing for the voyage, but he is already beginning to repent. Vse eto ya uznaval malo-pomalu, -- eto i mnogoe drugoe. "Prizrak" schitalsya samoj bystrohodnoj shhunoj v promyslovyh flotiliyah San-Francisko i Viktorii. Kogda-to eto byla chastnaya yahta, postroennaya s raschetom na bystrohodnost'. Ee obvody i osnastka -- hotya ya i malo smyslil v etih veshchah -- sami govorili za sebya. Vchera, vo vremya vtoroj vechernej poluvahty, my s Dzhonsonom nemnogo poboltali, i on rasskazal mne vse, chto emu bylo izvestno o nashej shhune. On govoril vostorzhenno, s takoj lyubov'yu k horoshim korablyam, s kakoj inye govoryat o loshadyah. No ot plavaniya on ne zhdal dobra i dal mne ponyat', chto Volk Larsen pol'zuetsya ochen' skvernoj reputaciej sredi prochih kapitanov promyslovyh sudov. Tol'ko zhelanie poplavat' na "Prizrake" soblaznilo Dzhonsona podpisat' kontrakt, no on uzh nachinal zhalet' ob etom. As he told me, the Ghost is an eighty-ton schooner of a remarkably fine model. Her beam, or width, is twenty-three feet, and her length a little over ninety feet. A lead keel of fabulous but unknown weight makes her very stable, while she carries an immense spread of canvas. From the deck to the truck of the maintopmast is something over a hundred feet, while the foremast with its topmast is eight or ten feet shorter. I am giving these details so that the size of this little floating world which holds twenty-two men may be appreciated. It is a very little world, a mote, a speck, and I marvel that men should dare to venture the sea on a contrivance so small and fragile. Dzhonson skazal mne, chto "Prizrak" -- vos'midesyatitonnaya shhuna prevoshodnoj konstrukcii. Naibol'shaya shirina ee -- dvadcat' tri futa, a dlina prevyshaet devyanosto. Neobychajno tyazhelyj svincovyj fal'shkil' (ves ego tochno neizvesten) pridaet ej bol'shuyu ostojchivost' i pozvolyaet nesti ogromnuyu ploshchad' parusov. Ot paluby do klotika grot-sten'gi bol'she sta futov, togda kak fok-machta vmeste so sten'goj futov na desyat' koroche. YA privozhu vse eti podrobnosti dlya togo, chtoby mozhno bylo predstavit' sebe razmery etogo plavuchego mirka, nosivshego po okeanu dvadcat' dva cheloveka. |to byl kroshechnyj mirok, pyatnyshko, tochka, i ya divilsya tomu, kak lyudi osmelivayutsya puskat'sya v more na takom malen'kom, hrupkom sooruzhenii. Wolf Larsen has, also, a reputation for reckless carrying on of sail. I overheard Henderson and another of the hunters, Standish, a Californian, talking about it. Two years ago he dismasted the Ghost in a gale on Bering Sea, whereupon the present masts were put in, which are stronger and heavier in every way. He is said to have remarked, when he put them in, that he preferred turning her over to losing the sticks. Volk Larsen slavilsya svoej bezrassudnoj smelost'yu v plavanii pod parusami. YA slyshal, kak Genderson i eshche odin ohotnik -- kaliforniec Stendish -- tolkovali ob etom. Dva goda nazad Larsen poteryal machty na "Prizrake", popav v shtorm v Beringovom more, posle chego i byli postavleny tepereshnie, bolee prochnye i tyazhelye. Kogda ih ustanavlivali, Larsen zayavil, chto predpochitaet perevernut'sya, nezheli snova poteryat' machty. Every man aboard, with the exception of Johansen, who is rather overcome by his promotion, seems to have an excuse for having sailed on the Ghost. Half the men forward are deep-water sailors, and their excuse is that they did not know anything about her or her captain. And those who do know, whisper that the hunters, while excellent shots, were so notorious for their quarrelsome and rascally proclivities that they could not sign on any decent schooner. Za isklyucheniem Iogansena, upoennogo svoim povysheniem, na bortu ne bylo ni odnogo cheloveka, kotoryj ne podyskival by opravdaniya svoemu postupleniyu na "Prizrak". Polovina komandy sostoyala iz moryakov dal'nego plavaniya, i oni utverzhdali, chto nichego ne znali ni o shhune, ni o kapitane; a te, kto byl znakom s polozheniem veshchej, potihon'ku govorili, chto ohotniki -- prekrasnye strelki, no takaya bujnaya i produvnaya kompaniya, chto ni odno prilichnoe sudno ne vzyalo by ih v plavanie. I have made the acquaintance of another one of the crew, - Louis he is called, a rotund and jovial-faced Nova Scotia Irishman, and a very sociable fellow, prone to talk as long as he can find a listener. In the afternoon, while the cook was below asleep and I was peeling the everlasting potatoes, Louis dropped into the galley for a "yarn." His excuse for being aboard was that he was drunk when he signed. He assured me again and again that it was the last thing in the world he would dream of doing in a sober moment. It seems that he has been seal-hunting regularly each season for a dozen years, and is accounted one of the two or three very best boat-steerers in both fleets. YA poznakomilsya eshche s odnim matrosom, po imeni Luis, kruglolicym veselym irlandcem iz Novoj SHotlandii, kotoryj vsegda byl rad poboltat', lish' by ego slushali. Posle obeda, kogda kok spal vnizu, a ya chistil svoyu neizmennuyu kartoshku, Luis zashel v kambuz "pochesat' yazykom". |tot malyj ob®yasnyal svoe prebyvanie na sudne tem, chto byl p'yan, kogda podpisyval kontrakt; on bez konca uveryal menya, chto ni za chto na svete ne sdelal by etogo v trezvom vide. Kak ya ponyal, on uzhe let desyat' kazhdyj sezon vyezzhaet bit' kotikov i schitaetsya odnim iz luchshih shlyupochnyh rulevyh v obeih flotiliyah. "Ah, my boy," he shook his head ominously at me, "'tis the worst schooner ye could iv selected, nor were ye drunk at the time as was I. 'Tis sealin' is the sailor's paradise - on other ships than this. The mate was the first, but mark me words, there'll be more dead men before the trip is done with. Hist, now, between you an' meself and the stanchion there, this Wolf Larsen is a regular devil, an' the Ghost'll be a hell-ship like she's always ben since he had hold iv her. Don't I know? Don't I know? Don't I remember him in Hakodate two years gone, when he had a row an' shot four iv his men? Wasn't I a-layin' on the Emma L., not three hundred yards away? An' there was a man the same year he killed with a blow iv his fist. Yes, sir, killed 'im dead-oh. His head must iv smashed like an eggshell. An' wasn't there the Governor of Kura Island, an' the Chief iv Police, Japanese gentlemen, sir, an' didn't they come aboard the Ghost as his guests, a-bringin' their wives along - wee an' pretty little bits of things like you see 'em painted on fans. An' as he was a-gettin' under way, didn't the fond husbands get left astern-like in their sampan, as it might be by accident? An' wasn't it a week later that the poor little ladies was put ashore on the other side of the island, with nothin' before 'em but to walk home acrost the mountains on their weeny-teeny little straw sandals which wouldn't hang together a mile? Don't I know? 'Tis the beast he is, this Wolf Larsen - the great big beast mentioned iv in Revelation; an' no good end will he ever come to. But I've said nothin' to ye, mind ye. I've whispered never a word; for old fat Louis'll live the voyage out if the last mother's son of yez go to the fishes." -- |h, druzhishche, -- skazal on, mrachno pokachav golovoj, -- huzhe etoj shhuny ne syskat', a ved' ty ne byl p'yan, kak ya, kogda popal syuda! Ohota na kotikov -- eto raj dlya moryaka, no tol'ko ne na etom sudne. Pomoshchnik polozhil nachalo, no, pomyani moe slovo, u nas budut i eshche pokojniki do konca plavaniya. Mezhdu nami govorya, etot Volk Larsen sushchij d'yavol, i "Prizrak" tozhe stal adovoj posudinoj, s teh por kak popal k etomu kapitanu. CHto ya, ne znayu, chto li! Ne pomnyu ya razve, kak dva goda nazad v Hakodate u nego vzbuntovalas' komanda i on zastrelil chetyreh matrosov. YA-to v to vremya plaval na "|mme L. ", my stoyali na yakore v trehstah yardah ot "Prizraka". I eshche v tom zhe godu on ubil cheloveka odnim udarom kulaka. Da, da, tak i ulozhil na mesteHvatil po golove, i ona tresnula, kak yaichnaya skorlupa. A chto on vykinul s gubernatorom ostrova Kura i s nachal'nikom tamoshnej policii! |ti dva yaponskih dzhentl'mena yavilis' k nemu na "Prizrak" v gosti, i s nimi byli ih zheny, horoshen'kie, slovno kukolki. Nu, toch'-v-toch', kak risuyut na veerah. A kogda prishlo vremya snimat'sya s yakorya, on spustil muzhej v ih sampan i budto sluchajno ne uspel spustit' zhen. CHerez nedelyu etih bednyazhek vysadili na bereg po druguyu storonu ostrova, i nichego im ne ostavalos', kak bresti domoj cherez gory v svoih igrushechnyh solomennyh sandaliyah, kotoryh ne moglo hvatit' i na odnu milyu. CHto ya, ne znayu, chto liZver' on, etot Volk Larsen, vot chto! Zver', o kotorom eshche v Apokalipsise skazano. I dobrom on ne konchit... Tol'ko pomni, ya tebe nichego ne govoril! I slovechka ne shepnul. Potomu chto staryj tolstyj Luis poklyalsya vernut'sya zhivym iz etogo plavaniya, dazhe esli vse ostal'nye pojdut na korm rybam. "Wolf Larsen!" he snorted a moment later. "Listen to the word, will ye! Wolf - 'tis what he is. He's not black-hearted like some men. 'Tis no heart he has at all. Wolf, just wolf, 'tis what he is. D'ye wonder he's well named?" -- Volk Larsen! -- pomolchav, zavorchal on snova. -- Darom, chto li, ego tak zovut! Da, on volk, nastoyashchij volk! Byvaet, chto u cheloveka kamennoe serdce, a u etogo i vovse serdca net. Volk, prosto volk, i vse tut! Verno ved', eta klichka zdorovo emu pristala? "But if he is so well-known for what he is," I queried, "how is it that he can get men to ship with him?" -- No esli ego tak horosho znayut, -- vozrazil ya, -- kak zhe emu udaetsya nabirat' sebe ekipazh? "An' how is it ye can get men to do anything on God's earth an' sea?" Louis demanded with Celtic fire. "How d'ye find me aboard if 'twasn't that I was drunk as a pig when I put me name down? There's them that can't sail with better men, like the hunters, and them that don't know, like the poor devils of wind-jammers for'ard there. But they'll come to it, they'll come to it, an' be sorry the day they was born. I could weep for the poor creatures, did I but forget poor old fat Louis and the troubles before him. But 'tis not a whisper I've dropped, mind ye, not a whisper." -- A kak eto vsegda nahodyat lyudej na kakuyu ugodno rabotu, hot' na zemle, hot' na more? -- s kel'tskoj goryachnost'yu vozrazil Luis. -- Razve ty uvidel by menya na bortu etoj shhuny, esli by ya ne byl p'yan, kak svin'ya, kogda podmahnul kontrakt? Koe-kto zdes' takoj narod, chto im ne popast' na poryadochnoe sudno. Vzyat' hot' nashih ohotnikov. A drugie, bednyagi, matrosnya s baka, sami ne znali, kuda oni nanimayutsya. Nu da oni eshche uznayutUznayut i proklyanut tot den', kogda rodilis' na svet! ZHal' mne ih, no ya dolzhen prezhde vsego dumat' o tolstom starom Luise i o tom, chto ego zhdet. Tol'ko, smotri, molchok! YA tebe ni slova ne govoril. "Them hunters is the wicked boys," he broke forth again, for he suffered from a constitutional plethora of speech. "But wait till they get to cutting up iv jinks and rowin' 'round. He's the boy'll fix 'em. 'Tis him that'll put the fear of God in their rotten black hearts. Look at that hunter iv mine, Horner. 'Jock' Horner they call him, so quiet-like an' easy-goin', soft-spoken as a girl, till ye'd think butter wouldn't melt in the mouth iv him. Didn't he kill his boat-steerer last year? 'Twas called a sad accident, but I met the boat-puller in Yokohama an' the straight iv it was given me. An' there's Smoke, the black little devil - didn't the Roosians have him for three years in the salt mines of Siberia, for poachin' on Copper Island, which is a Roosian preserve? Shackled he was, hand an' foot, with his mate. An' didn't they have words or a ruction of some kind? - for 'twas the other fellow Smoke sent up in the buckets to the top of the mine; an' a piece at a time he went up, a leg to-day, an' to-morrow an arm, the next day the head, an' so on." |ti ohotniki -- poryadochnaya dryan', -- cherez minutu nachal on snova, tak kak otlichalsya neobychajnoj slovoohotlivost'yu. -- Daj srok, oni eshche razojdutsya i pokazhut sebya. Nu da Larsen zhivo ih skrutit. Tol'ko on i mozhet nagnat' na nih strahu. Vot, voz'mi hot' moego ohotnika Hornera. Uzh takoj tihonya s vidu, spokojnyj da vezhlivyj, pryamo kak baryshnya, vody, kazhetsya, ne zamutit. A ved' v proshlom godu ukokoshil svoego rulevogo. Neschastnyj sluchaj, i vse. No ya vstretil potom v Iokogame grebca, i on rasskazal mne, kak bylo delo. A etot malen'kij chernyavyj prohodimec Smok -- ved' on otbyl tri goda na sibirskih solyanyh kopyah za brakon'erstvo: ohotilsya v russkom zapovednike na Mednom ostrove. Ego tam skovali noga s nogoj i ruka s rukoj s drugim katorzhnikom. Tak vot na rabote mezhdu nimi chto-to vyshlo, i Smok otpravil svoego tovarishcha iz shahty naverh v bad'yah s sol'yu. Tol'ko otpravlyal on ego po chastyam: segodnya -- nogu, zavtra -- ruku, poslezavtra -- golovu... "But you can't mean it!" I cried out, overcome with the horror of it. -- CHto vy takoe govorite! -- v uzhase vskrichal ya. "Mean what!" he demanded, quick as a flash. "'Tis nothin' I've said. Deef I am, and dumb, as ye should be for the sake iv your mother; an' never once have I opened me lips but to say fine things iv them an' him, God curse his soul, an' may he rot in purgatory ten thousand years, and then go down to the last an' deepest hell iv all!" -- CHto ya govoryu? -- rezko prerval on menya. -- Nichego ya ne govoryu. YA gluh i nem i drugim sovetuyu pomalkivat', esli im zhizn' doroga. CHto ya govoril? Da tol'ko, chto vse oni zamechatel'nye rebyata i on tozhe, chtob ego chert pobral, chtob emu gnit' v chistilishche desyat' tysyach let, a potom provalit'sya v samuyu preispodnyuyu! Johnson, the man who had chafed me raw when I first came aboard, seemed the least equivocal of the men forward or aft. In fact, there was nothing equivocal about him. One was struck at once by his straightforwardness and manliness, which, in turn, were tempered by a modesty which might be mistaken for timidity. But timid he was not. He seemed, rather, to have the courage of his convictions, the certainty of his manhood. It was this that made him protest, at the commencement of our acquaintance, against being called Yonson. And upon this, and him, Louis passed judgment and prophecy. Dzhonson, matros, kotoryj chut' ne sodral s menya kozhu, kogda ya vpervye popal na bort, kazalsya mne naibolee pryamodushnym iz vsej komandy. |to byla prostaya, otkrytaya natura. Ego chestnost' i muzhestvennost' brosalis' v glaza, i v to zhe vremya on byl ochen' skromen, pochti robok. Odnako robkim ego vse zhe nel'zya bylo nazvat'. CHuvstvovalos', chto on sposoben otstaivat' svoi vzglyady i obladaet chuvstvom sobstvennogo dostoinstva. Mne zapomnilas' moya pervaya vstrecha s nim i to, kak on ne pozhelal, chtoby koverkali ego familiyu. O nem i ob etih ego osobennostyah Luis vyskazalsya tak (slova ego zvuchali prorochestvom): "'Tis a fine chap, that squarehead Johnson we've for'ard with us," he said. "The best sailorman in the fo'c'sle. He's my boat- puller. But it's to trouble he'll come with Wolf Larsen, as the sparks fly upward. It's meself that knows. I can see it brewin' an' comin' up like a storm in the sky. I've talked to him like a brother, but it's little he sees in takin' in his lights or flyin' false signals. He grumbles out when things don't go to suit him, and there'll be always some tell-tale carryin' word iv it aft to the Wolf. The Wolf is strong, and it's the way of a wolf to hate strength, an' strength it is he'll see in Johnson - no knucklin' under, and a 'Yes, sir, thank ye kindly, sir,' for a curse or a blow. Oh, she's a-comin'! She's a-comin'! An' God knows where I'll get another boat-puller! What does the fool up an' say, when the old man calls him Yonson, but 'Me name is Johnson, sir,' an' then spells it out, letter for letter. Ye should iv seen the old man's face! I thought he'd let drive at him on the spot. He didn't, but he will, an' he'll break that squarehead's heart, or it's little I know iv the ways iv men on the ships iv the sea." -- Slavnyj malyj etot shved Dzhonson, luchshij matros na bake. On grebcom u nas na shlyupke. No s Volkom Larsenom u nego dojdet do bedy, eto kak pit' dat'. Uzh ya-to znayu! YA vizhu, kak nadvigaetsya burya. YA govoril s Dzhonsonom po-bratski, no on ne zhelaet tushit' ogni i vyveshivat' fal'shivye signaly. CHut' chto ne po nem, nachinaet vorchat', a na sudne vsegda najdetsya gad, kotoryj doneset na nego. Volk silen, a eta volch'ya poroda ne terpit sily v drugih. On vidit, chto i Dzhonson silen i ego ne sognut', -- etot ne stanet blagodarit' i klanyat'sya, esli ego oblozhat ili vlepyat po morde. |h, byt' bedeByt' bede! I bog vest', gde ya voz'mu togda drugogo grebca! Vy znaete, chto sdelal etot durak, kogda starik nazval ego "Ionson". "Menya zovut Dzhefkonson, ser", -- popravlyaet on kapitana da eshche nachinaet vygovarivat' eto bukva za bukvoj. Vy by poglyadeli na starika! YA dumal, on pristuknet ego na meste. Nu, na etot raz on ego ne ubil, no on eshche oblomaet etogo shveda, ili ya malo smyslyu v tom, chto byvaet u nas na more. Thomas Mugridge is becoming unendurable. I am compelled to Mister him and to Sir him with every speech. One reason for this is that Wolf Larsen seems to have taken a fancy to him. It is an unprecedented thing, I take it, for a captain to be chummy with the cook; but this is certainly what Wolf Larsen is doing. Two or three times he put his head into the galley and chaffed Mugridge good-naturedly, and once, this afternoon, he stood by the break of the poop and chatted with him for fully fifteen minutes. When it was over, and Mugridge was back in the galley, he became greasily radiant, and went about his work, humming coster songs in a nerve- racking and discordant falsetto. Tomas Magridzh stanovitsya nevynosim. YA dolzhen velichat' ego "mister" i "ser", pribavlyat' eto k kazhdomu slovu. Obnaglel on tak otchasti potomu, chto Volk Larsen, po-vidimomu, k nemu blagovolit. Voobshche Oto neslyhannaya veshch', na moj vzglyad, chtoby kapitan vodil druzhbu s kokom, no takov kapriz Volka Larsena. On dva ili tri raza sluchalos', chto on prosovyval golovu v kambuz i prinimalsya blagodushno poddraznival koka. A segodnya posle obeda minut pyatnadcat' boltal s nim na yute. Posle etoj besedy Magridzh rinulsya v kambuz, siyaya i gadko uhmylyayas' vo ves' rot, i za rabotoj vse vremya napeval sebe pod nos kakie-to ulichnye pesenki chudovishchno gnusavym fal'cetom. "I always get along with the officers," he remarked to me in a confidential tone. "I know the w'y, I do, to myke myself uppreci- yted. There was my last skipper - w'y I thought nothin' of droppin' down in the cabin for a little chat and a friendly glass. 'Mugridge,' sez 'e to me, 'Mugridge,' sez 'e, 'you've missed yer vokytion.' 'An' 'ow's that?' sez I. 'Yer should 'a been born a gentleman, an' never 'ad to work for yer livin'.' God strike me dead, 'Ump, if that ayn't wot 'e sez, an' me a-sittin' there in 'is own cabin, jolly-like an' comfortable, a-smokin' 'is cigars an' drinkin' 'is rum." -- YA umeyu ladit' s nachal'stvom, -- razotkrovennichalsya on so mnoj. -- Znayu, kak sebya s nim vesti, i menya vsyudu cenyat. Vot hotya by s poslednim shkiperom -- ya, kogda hotel, zaprosto zahodil k nemu v kayutu poboltat' i propustit' stakanchik. "Magridzh, -- govoril on mne, -- Magridzh, a ved' ty oshibsya v svoem prizvanii!" "A chto eto za prizvanie?" -- sprashivayu. "Ty dolzhen byl rodit'sya dzhentl'menom, chtoby tebe nikogda ne prishlos' svoim trudom zarabatyvat' na zhizn'". Ubej menya bog, Hemp, esli on ne skazal tak -- slovo v slovo! A ya slushayu ego i sizhu u nego v kayute, kak u sebya doma, kuryu ego sigary i p'yu ego rom! This chitter-chatter drove me to distraction. I never heard a voice I hated so. His oily, insinuating tones, his greasy smile and his monstrous self-conceit grated on my nerves till sometimes I was all in a tremble. Positively, he was the most disgusting and loathsome person I have ever met. The filth of his cooking was indescribable; and, as he cooked everything that was eaten aboard, I was compelled to select what I ate with great circumspection, choosing from the least dirty of his concoctions. |ta boltovnya dovodila menya do isstupleniya. Nikogda eshche nichej golos ne byl mne tak nenavisten. Maslenyj, vkradchivyj ton koka, ego gaden'kaya ulybochka, ego neveroyatnoe samomnenie tak dejstvovali mne na nervy, chto menya brosalo v drozh'. |to byla, bezuslovno, samaya omerzitel'naya lichnost', kakuyu ya kogda-libo vstrechal. K tomu zhe on byl neopisuemo nechistoploten, a tak kak vsya pishcha prohodila cherez ego ruki, to ya, muchimyj brezglivost'yu, staralsya est' to, k chemu on men'she prikasalsya. My hands bothered me a great deal, unused as they were to work. The nails were discoloured and black, while the skin was already grained with dirt which even a scrubbing-brush could not remove. Then blisters came, in a painful and never-ending procession, and I had a great burn on my forearm, acquired by losing my balance in a roll of the ship and pitching against the galley stove. Nor was my knee any better. The swelling had not gone down, and the cap was still up on edge. Hobbling about on it from morning till night was not helping it any. What I needed was rest, if it were ever to get well. Moi ruki, ne privykshie k gruboj rabote, dostavlyali mne mnogo muchenij. Gryaz' tak v®elas' v kozhu, chto ya ne mog otmyt' ee dazhe shchetkoj. Nogti pocherneli i oblomalis', na ladonyah vskochili voldyri, a odnazhdy, poteryav ravnovesie vo vremya kachki i privalivshis' k plite, ya sil'no obzheg sebe lokot'. Koleno tozhe prodolzhalo bolet'. Opuhol' derzhalas', i kolennaya chashechka vse eshche ne stala na mesto. S utra do nochi ya dolzhen byl kovylyat' po korablyu, i eto otnyud' ne prinosilo pol'zy moej iskalechennoj noge. YA znal, chto ej neobhodim otdyh. Rest! I never before knew the meaning of the word. I had been resting all my life and did not know it. But now, could I sit still for one half-hour and do nothing, not even think, it would be the most pleasurable thing in the world. But it is a revelation, on the other hand. I shall be able to appreciate the lives of the working people hereafter. I did not dream that work was so terrible a thing. From half-past five in the morning till ten o'clock at night I am everybody's slave, with not one moment to myself, except such as I can steal near the end of the second dog- watch. Let me pause for a minute to look out over the sea sparkling in the sun, or to gaze at a sailor going aloft to the gaff-topsails, or running out the bowsprit, and I am sure to hear the hateful voice, "'Ere, you, 'Ump, no sodgerin'. I've got my peepers on yer." OtdyhRan'she ya ne ponimal po-nastoyashchemu znacheniya etogo slova. Ved' ya vsyu svoyu zhizn' otdyhal, sam togo ne soznavaya. A teper', esli by mne udalos' posidet' polchasika, nichego ne delaya, ne dumaya ni o chem, -- eto pokazalos' by mne velichajshim blazhenstvom na svete. Zato vse eto yavilos' dlya menya kak by otkroveniem. Da, teper' ya znayu, kakovo prihoditsya trudovomu lyudu! Mne i ne snilos', chto rabota mozhet byt' tak chudovishchno tyazhela. S poloviny shestogo utra i do desyati vechera ya rab vseh i kazhdogo i ne imeyu ni minuty dlya sebya, krome teh kratkih mgnovenij, kotorye udaetsya urvat' v konce vechernej vahty. Stoit mne zalyubovat'sya na mig sverkayushchim na solnce morem ili zaglyadet'sya, kak odin matros bezhit po bushpritu, a drugoj karabkaetsya naverh po vantam, i totchas za moej spinoj razdaetsya nenavistnyj golos: "|j, Hemp! Ty chto tam rot razinulDumaesh', ne vizhu?" There are signs of rampant bad temper in the steerage, and the gossip is going around that Smoke and Henderson have had a fight. Henderson seems the best of the hunters, a slow-going fellow, and hard to rouse; but roused he must have been, for Smoke had a bruised and discoloured eye, and looked particularly vicious when he came into the cabin for supper. V kubrike u ohotnikov zametno rastet nedovol'stvo, i ya slyshal, chto Smok i Genderson podralis'. Genderson samyj opytnyj iz ohotnikov. |to flegmatichnyj paren', i ego trudno raskachat', no, verno, uzh ego raskachali, potomu chto Smok hodit s podbitym glazom i segodnya za uzhinom smotrel zverem. A cruel thing happened just before supper, indicative of the callousness and brutishness of these men. There is one green hand in the crew, Harrison by name, a clumsy-looking country boy, mastered, I imagine, by the spirit of adventure, and making his first voyage. In the light baffling airs the schooner had been tacking about a great deal, at which times the sails pass from one side to the other and a man is sent aloft to shift over the fore- gaff-topsail. In some way, when Harrison was aloft, the sheet jammed in the block through which it runs at the end of the gaff. As I understood it, there were two ways of getting it cleared, - first, by lowering the foresail, which was comparatively easy and without danger; and second, by climbing out the peak-halyards to the end of the gaff itself, an exceedingly hazardous performance. Pered uzhinom ya byl svidetelem zhestokogo zrelishcha, izoblichayushchego grubost' i cherstvost' etih lyudej. V nashej komande est' novichok, po imeni Garrison, neuklyuzhij derevenskij paren', kotorogo, dolzhno byt', tolknula na eto pervoe plavanie zhazhda priklyuchenij. Pri slabom i chasto menyayushchemsya protivnom vetre shhune prihoditsya mnogo lavirovat'. V takih sluchayah parusa perenosyat s odnogo borta na drugoj, a naverh posylayut matrosa -- perenesti for-topsel'. Garrison byl naverhu, kogda shkot zaelo v bloke, cherez kotoryj on prohodit na noke gafelya. Naskol'ko ya ponimayu, bylo dva sposoba ochistit' shkot: libo spustit' fok, chto bylo sravnitel'no legko i ne sopryazheno s opasnost'yu, libo dobrat'sya po dirik-falu do noka gafelya -- predpriyatie ves'ma riskovannoe. Johansen called out to Harrison to go out the halyards. It was patent to everybody that the boy was afraid. And well he might be, eighty feet above the deck, to trust himself on those thin and jerking ropes. Had there been a steady breeze it would not have been so bad, but the Ghost was rolling emptily in a long sea, and with each roll the canvas flapped and boomed and the halyards slacked and jerked taut. They were capable of snapping a man off like a fly from a whip-lash. Iogansen prikazal Garrisonu lezt' po falu. Vsyakomu bylo yasno, chto mal'chishka trusit. Da i ne mudreno -- ved' emu predstoyalo podnyat'sya na vosem'desyat futov nad paluboj, doveriv svoyu zhizn' tonkim, koleblyushchimsya snastyam. Pri bolee rovnom vetre opasnost' byla by ne tak velika, no "Prizrak" kachalo na dlinnoj volne, kak skorlupku, i pri kazhdom krene sudna parusa hlopali i poloskalis', a faly to oslabevali, to vdrug natyagivalis' ryvkom. Oni mogli stryahnut' s sebya cheloveka, kak voznica stryahivaet muhu s knuta. Harrison heard the order and understood what was demanded of him, but hesitated. It was probably the first time he had been aloft in his life. Johansen, who had caught the contagion of Wolf Larsen's masterfulness, burst out with a volley of abuse and curses. Garrison slyshal prikaz i ponyal, chego ot nego trebuyut, no vse eshche meshkal. Byt' mozhet, emu pervyj raz v zhizni prihodilos' rabotat' na machte. Iogansen, kotoryj uspel uzhe perenyat' maneru Volka Larsena, razrazilsya gradom rugatel'stv. "That'll do, Johansen," Wolf Larsen said brusquely. "I'll have you know that I do the swearing on this ship. If I need your assistance, I'll call you in." -- Budet, Iogansen! -- oborval ego kapitan. -- Na etom sudne rugayus' ya, pora by vam eto ponyat'. Esli mne ponadobitsya vasha pomoshch', ya vam skazhu. "Yes, sir," the mate acknowledged submissively. -- Est', ser, -- pokorno otozvalsya pomoshchnik. In the meantime Harrison had started out on the halyards. I was looking up from the galley door, and I could see him trembling, as if with ague, in every limb. He proceeded very slowly and cautiously, an inch at a time. Outlined against the clear blue of the sky, he had the appearance of an enormous spider crawling along the tracery of its web. V eto vremya Garrison uzhe lez po falam. YA smotrel na nego iz dveri kambuza i videl, chto on ves' drozhit, slovno v lihoradke. On podvigalsya vpered ochen' me