Previous Story
三人合力拉開(kāi)了石門(mén)，轉(zhuǎn)而進(jìn)入了無(wú)盡頭的隧道，再一次感受到死神的時(shí)候三人聽(tīng)到了流水的聲音，并摸索到了河邊。
?
Chapter 33
Then we heard a splash, and a great struggle.
Another minute and he had grabbed at and caught Sir Henry's outstretched hand, and we had pulled him up high and dry into the tunnel.
“My word!”?he said, between his gasps, “that was touch and go.
If I hadn't managed to catch that rock, and known how to swim, I should have been done.
It runs like a mill-race（激流）, and I could feel no bottom.”
We dared not follow the banks of the subterranean river for fear lest we should fall into it again in the darkness.
So after Good had rested a while, and we had drunk our fill of the water, which was sweet and fresh, and washed our faces, that needed it sadly, as well as we could, we started from the banks of this African Styx(非洲冥河), and began to retrace our steps along the tunnel, Good dripping unpleasantly in front of us.
At length we came to another gallery leading to our right.
“We may as well take it," said Sir Henry wearily; “all roads are alike here; we can only go on till we drop.”
Slowly, for a long, long while, we stumbled, utterly exhausted, along this new tunnel, Sir Henry now leading the way.
Again I thought of abandoning that basket, but did not.
Suddenly he stopped, and we bumped up against him.
"Look!" he whispered, "is my brain going, or is that light?"
We stared with all our eyes, and there, yes, there, far ahead of us, was a faint, glimmering（發(fā)光的）?spot, no larger than a cottage window pane.
It was so?faint that I doubt if any eyes, except those which, like ours, had for days seen nothing but blackness, could have perceived it at all.
With a gasp of hope we pushed on.
In five minutes there was no longer any doubt; it was a patch of faint light.
A minute more and a breath of real live air was fanning us.
On we struggled. All at once the tunnel narrowed.
Sir Henry went on his knees.
Smaller yet it grew, till it was only the size of a large fox's earth — it was earth now, mind you; the rock had ceased.
A squeeze, a struggle, and Sir Henry was out, and so was Good, and so was I, dragging Foulata's basket after me; and there above us were the blessed stars, and in our nostrils（鼻孔）?was the sweet air.
Then suddenly something gave, and we were all rolling over and over and over through grass and bushes and soft, wet soil.
The basket caught in something and I stopped.
Sitting up I halloed lustily（大聲呼喊）.
An answering shout came from below, where Sir Henry's wild career had been checked by some level ground.
I scrambled to him, and found him unhurt, though breathless.
Then we looked for Good.
A little way off we discovered him also, hammed in a forked（分叉的）?root.
He was a good deal knocked about, but soon came to himself.
We sat down together, there on the grass, and the revulsion（變化）?of feeling was so great that really I think we cried with joy.
We had escaped from that awful dungeon（地牢）, which was so near to becoming our grave.
Surely some merciful Power guided our footsteps to the jackal hole（狼洞）, for that is what?it?must?have?been,?at?the?termination?of?the?tunnel.?And?see,?yonder（那邊）?on the mountains the dawn we had never thought to look upon again was blushing rosy red.
Presently the grey light stole down the slopes, and we saw that we were at the bottom, or rather, nearly at the bottom, of the vast pit in front of the entrance to the cave.
Now we could make out the dim forms of the three Colossi who sat upon its verge.
Doubtless those awful passages, along which we had wandered the livelong night, had been originally in some way connected with the great diamond mine.
As for the subterranean river in the bowels of the mountain, Heaven only knows what it is, or whence it flows, or whither it goes.
I, for one, have no anxiety to trace its course.
Lighter it grew, and lighter yet.
We could see each other now, and such a spectacle as we presented I have never set eyes upon before or since.
Gaunt-cheeked, hollow-eyed wretches, smeared all over with dust and mud, bruised, bleeding, the long fear of imminent death yet written on?our countenances（面容）, we were, indeed, a sight to frighten the daylight.
And yet it is a solemn fact that Good's eye-glass was still fixed in Good's eye.
I doubt whether he had ever taken it out at all.
Neither the darkness, nor the plunge in the subterranean river, nor the roll down the slope, had been able to separate Good and his eyeglass.
Presently we rose, fearing that our limbs would stiffen if we stopped there longe, and commenced with slow and painful steps to struggle up the sloping sides of the great pit.
For an hour or more we toiled steadfastly up the blue clay, dragging ourselves on by the help of the roots and grasses with which it was clothed.
But now I had no more thought of leaving the basket; indeed, nothing but death should have parted us.
At last it was done, and we stood by the great road, on that side of the pit which is opposite to the Colossi.
At the side of the road, a hundred yards off, a fire was burning in front of some huts, and round the fire were figures.
We staggered towards them, supporting one another, and halting every few paces.
Presently one of the figures rose, saw us and fell on to the ground, crying out for fear.
"Infadoos, Infadoos! it is we, thy friends." He rose; he ran to us, staring wildly, and still shaking with fear.
“Oh, my lords, my lords, it is indeed you come back from the dead! — come back from the dead!”
And the old warrior flung himself down before us, and clasping Sir Henry's knees, he wept aloud for joy.
-今日短語(yǔ)-
1. grab at?抓住
2. bumped up against 撞到
3. knock about碰撞
4. come to oneself蘇醒，恢復(fù)知覺(jué)
5. set eyes on 看到，瞧見(jiàn)
備注：本專輯為知米閱讀提升營(yíng)配套音頻，方便學(xué)員循環(huán)收聽(tīng)。
對(duì)英文原著學(xué)習(xí)的小伙伴可以關(guān)注我們的微信公眾號(hào)【知米閱讀】，加入我們的學(xué)習(xí)軍團(tuán)，和上萬(wàn)名小伙伴一起閱讀英文原著。100天讀3-4本英文原著，思想和英語(yǔ)同時(shí)進(jìn)步！
用戶評(píng)論