green mansions-第56章
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h me; cautiously threading her way through the undergrowth of immeasurable forests; spying out the distant villages and hiding herself from the sight of all men; as she knew so well how to hide; studying the outlines of distant mountains; to recognize some familiar landmark at last; and so find her way back to the old wood once more! Even now; while I sat there idly musing; she might be somewhere in the woodsomewhere near me; but after so long an absence full of apprehension; waiting in concealment for what tomorrow's light might show。
I started up and replenished the fire with trembling hands; then set the door open to let the welcoming stream out into the wood。 But Rima had done more; going out into the black forest in the pitiless storm; she had found and led me home。 Could I do less! I was quickly out in the shadows of the wood。 Surely it was more than a mere hope that made my heart beat so wildly! How could a sensation so strangely sudden; so irresistible in its power; possess me unless she were living and near? Can it be; can it be that we shall meet again? To look again into your divine eyesto hold you again in my arms at last! I so changedso different! But the old love remains; and of all that has happened in your absence I shall tell you nothingnot one word; all shall be forgotten nowsufferings; madness; crime; remorse! Nothing shall ever vex you againnot Nuflo; who vexed you every day; for he is dead nowmurdered; only I shall not say thatand I have decently buried his poor old sinful bones。 We alone together in the woodOUR wood now! The sweet old days again; for I know that you would not have it different; nor would I。
Thus I talked to myself; mad with the thoughts of the joy that would soon be mine; and at intervals I stood still and made the forest echo with my calls。 〃Rima! Rima!〃 I called again and again; and waited for some response; and heard only the familiar night…soundsvoices of insect and bird and tinkling tree…frog; and a low murmur in the topmost foliage; moved by some light breath of wind unfelt below。 I was drenched with dew; bruised and bleeding from falls in the dark; and from rocks and thorns and rough branches; but had felt nothing; gradually the excitement burnt itself out; I was hoarse with shouting and ready to drop down with fatigue; and hope was dead: and at length I crept back to my hut; to cast myself on my grass bed and sink into a dull; miserable; desponding stupor。
But on the following morning I was out once more; determined to search the forest well; since; if no evidence of the great fire Kua…ko had described to me existed; it would still be possible to believe that he had lied to me; and that Rima lived。 I searched all day and found nothing; but the area was large; and to search it thoroughly would require several days。
On the third day I discovered the fatal spot; and knew that never again would I behold Rima in the flesh; that my last hope had indeed been a vain one。 There could be no mistake: just such an open place as the Indian had pictured to me was here; with giant trees standing apart; while one tree stood killed and blackened by fire; surrounded by a huge heap; sixty or seventy yards across; of prostrate charred tree…trunks and ashes。 Here and there slender plants had sprung up through the ashes; and the omnipresent small…leaved creepers were beginning to throw their pale green embroidery over the blackened trunks。 I looked long at the vast funeral tree that had a buttressed girth of not less than fifty feet; and rose straight as a ship's mast; with its top about a hundred and fifty feet from the earth。 What a distance to fall; through burning leaves and smoke; like a white bird shot dead with a poisoned arrow; swift and straight into that sea of flame below! How cruel imagination was to turn that desolate ash…heap; in spite of feathery foliage and embroidery of creepers; into roaring leaping flames againto bring those dead savages back; men; women; and childreneven the little ones I had played withto set them yelling around me: 〃Burn! burn!〃 Oh; no; this damnable spot must not be her last resting…place! If the fire had not utterly consumed her; bones as well as sweet tender flesh; shrivelling her like a frail white…winged moth into the finest white ashes; mixed inseparably with the ashes of stems and leaves innumerable; then whatever remained of her must be conveyed elsewhere to be with me; to mingle with my ashes at last。
Having resolved to sift and examine the entire heap; I at once set about my task。 If she had climbed into the central highest branch; and had fallen straight; then she would have dropped into the flames not far from the roots; and so to begin I made a path to the trunk; and when darkness overtook me I had worked all round the tree; in a width of three to four yards; without discovering any remains。 At noon on the following day I found the skeleton; or; at all events; the larger bones; rendered so fragile by the fierce heat they had been subjected to; that they fell to pieces when handled。 But I was carefulhow careful!to save these last sacred relics; all that was now left of Rima!kissing each white fragment as I lifted it; and gathering them all in my old frayed cloak; spread out to receive them。 And when I had recovered them all; even to the smallest; I took my treasure home。
Another storm had shaken my soul; and had been succeeded by a second calm; which was more complete and promised to be more enduring than the first。 But it was no lethargic calm; my brain was more active than ever; and by and by it found a work for my hands to do; of such a character as to distinguish me from all other forest hermits; fugitives from their fellows; in that savage land。 The calcined bones I had rescued were kept in one of the big; rudely shaped; half…burnt earthen jars which Nuflo had used for storing grain and other food…stuff。 It was of a wood…ash colour; and after I had given up my search for the peculiar fine clay he had used in its manufacturefor it had been in my mind to make a more shapely funeral urn myselfI set to work to ornament its surface。 A portion of each day was given to this artistic labour; and when the surface was covered with a pattern of thorny stems; and a trailing creeper with curving leaf and twining tendril; and pendent bud and blossom; I gave it colour。 Purples and black only were used; obtained from the juices of some deeply coloured berries; and when a tint; or shade; or line failed to satisfy me I erased it; to do it again; and this so often that I never completed my work。 I might; in the proudly modest spirit of the old sculptors; have inscribed on the vase the words: Abel was doing this。 For was not my ideal beautiful like theirs; and the best that my art could do only an imperfect copya rude sketch? A serpent was represented wound round the lower portion of the jar; dull…hued; with a chain of irregular black spots or blotches extending along its body; and if any person had curiously examined these spots he would have discovered that every other one was a rudely shaped letter; and that the letters; by being properly divided; made the following words:
Sin vos y siu dios y mi。
Words that to some might seem wild; even insane in their extravagance; sung by some ancient forgotten poet; or possibly the motto of some love…sick knight…errant; whose passion was consumed to ashes long centuries ago。 But not wild nor insane to me; dwelling alone on a vast stony plain in everlasting twilight; where there was no motion; nor any sound; but all things; even trees; ferns; and grasses; were stone。 And in that place I had sat for many a thousand years; drawn up and motionless; with stony fingers clasped round my legs; and forehead resting on my knees; and there would I sit; unmoving; immovable; for many a thousand years to comeI; no longer I; in a universe where she was not; and God was not。
The days went by; and to others grouped themselves into weeks and months; to me they were only daysnot Saturday; Sunday; Monday; but nameless。 They were so many and their sum so great that all my previous life; all the years I had existed before this solitary time; now looked like a small island immeasurably far awa