英语听书《白鲸记》第16期

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 I 'll give ye a glim in a jiffy;and so saying he lighted a candle and held it towards me,offering to lead the way. 

 But I stood irresolute;when looking at a clock in the corner, 

 he exclaimed I vum it's Sunday you will not see that harpooneer to night;he's come to anchor somewherecome along then;DO come;will not ye come? 

 I considered the matter a moment,and then up stairs we went,and I was ushered² into a small room,cold as a clam, 

 and furnished,sure enough,with a prodigious³ bed,almost big enough indeed for any four harpooneers to sleep abreast⁴. 

 There,said the landlord,placing the candle on a crazy old sea chest that did double duty as a wash stand and centre table; 

 there,make yourself comfortable now,and good night to ye.I turned round from eyeing the bed,but he had disappeared. 

 Folding back the counterpane,I stooped over the bed.Though none of the most elegant,it yet stood the scrutiny⁵ tolerably well. 

 I then glanced round the room;and besides the bedstead and centre table,could see no other furniture belonging to the place, 

 but a rude shelf,the four walls,and a papered fireboard representing a man striking a whale.Of things not properly belonging to the room, 

 there was a hammock lashed⁶ up,and thrown upon the floor in one corner;also a large seaman's bag, 

 containing the harpooneer's wardrobe,no doubt in lieu of a land trunk.Likewise, 

 there was a parcel of outlandish bone fish hooks on the shelf over the fire place,and a tall harpoon¹ standing⁷ at the head of the bed. 

 But what is this on the chest?I took it up,and held it close to the light,and felt it, 

 and smelt⁸ it,and tried every way possible to arrive at some satisfactory conclusion concerning it. 

 I can compare it to nothing but a large door mat, 

 ornamented at the edges with little tinkling⁹ tags something like the stained porcupine¹⁰ quills¹¹ round an Indian moccasin. 

 There was a hole or slit¹² in the middle of this mat,as you see the same in South American ponchos¹³. 

 But could it be possible that any sober harpooneer would get into a door mat, 

 and parade the streets of any Christian¹⁴ town in that sort of guise¹⁵?I put it on, 

 to try it,and it weighed me down like a hamper,being uncommonly¹⁶ shaggy and thick,and I thought a little damp, 

 as though this mysterious harpooneer had been wearing it of a rainy day. 

 I went up in it to a bit of glass stuck against the wall,and I never saw such a sight in my life. 

 I tore myself out of it in such a hurry that I gave myself a kink in the neck. 

 I sat down on the side of the bed,and commenced thinking about this head peddling¹⁷ harpooneer,and his door mat. 

 After thinking some time on the bed side,I got up and took off my monkey jacket,and then stood in the middle of the room thinking. 

 I then took off my coat,and thought a little more in my shirt sleeves. 

 But beginning to feel very cold now,half undressed as I was, 

 and remembering what the landlord said about the harpooneer's not coming home at all that night, 

 it being so very late,I made no more ado,but jumped out of my pantaloons and boots, 

 and then blowing out the light tumbled into bed,and commended myself to the care of heaven. 

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