登陆注册
5429300000011

第11章 CHAPTER IV(3)

"What an odd phrase! And what are the drums of jeopardy?" asked Kitty, leaning on her arms. Odd, but suddenly she felt a longing to go somewhere, thousands and thousands of miles away. She had never been west of Chicago or east of Boston. Until this moment she had never felt the call of the blood - her father's. Cocoanut palms and birds of paradise! And drums in the night going tumpi-tum-tump! tumpi-tum-tump!

"I've always been mad over green things," began Cutty. "A wheat field in the spring, leafing maples. It's Nature's choice and mine.

My passion is emeralds; and I haven't any because those I want are beyond reach. They are owned by the great houses of Europe and Asia, and lie in royal caskets; or did. If I could go into a mine and find an emerald as big as my fist I should be only partly happy if it chanced to be of fine colour. In a little while I should lose interest in it. It wouldn't be alive, if you can get what I mean.

Just as a man would rather have a homely woman to talk to than a beautiful window dummy to admire. A stone to interest me must have a story - a story of murder and loot, of beautiful women, palaces.

"Br-r-r!" cried Burlingame.

"Why, I've seen emeralds I would steal with half a chance. I couldn't help it. Fact," declared Cutty, earnestly. "Think of the loot in the Romanoff palaces! What's become of all those magnificent stones? In a little while they'll be turning up in Amsterdam to be cut - some of them. Or maybe Mister Bolsheviki's inamorata will be stringing them round her neck. Loot."

"But the drums of jeopardy!" said Kitty.

"Emeralds, green as an English lawn in May after a shower, Kitty.

By the way, do you mind if I call you Kitty? I used to."

"And I've always thought of you as Cutty. Fifty-fifty."

"It's a bargain. Well, the drums to my thinking are the finest two examples of the green beryl in the world. Polished, of course, as emeralds always should be. I should say that they were about the size of those peppermint chocolate drops there."

"Have one?" said Kitty.

"No. Spoil the taste of the pipe."

"You ought to spoil that taste once in a while," was Burlingame's observation. "But go on."

"I suppose originally there was a single stone, later cut into halves, because they are perfect matches. The drums proper are exquisitely carved ivory statuettes, of Hindu or Mohammedan drummers, squatting, the golden base of the drums between the knees, and the drumheads the emeralds. Lord, how they got to me! I wanted to run off with them. The history of murder and loot they could tell!

Some Delhi mogul owned them first. Then Nadir Shah carried them off to Persia, along with the famous peacock throne. I saw them in a palace on the Caspian in 1912. Russia was very strong in Persia at one time. Perhaps they were gifts; perhaps they were stolen - these emeralds. Anyhow, I'd never heard of them until that year. And I travelled all the way up from Constantinople to get a glimpse of them if it were possible. I had to do some mighty fine wire-pulling.

For one of those stones I would give half of all I own. To see them in the possession of another man would be a supreme test to my honesty."

"You old pirate!" said Burlingame.

"But why the word jeopardy?" persisted Kitty, who was intrigued by the phrase.

"Probably some Hindu trick. It is a language of flowery metaphors.

It means, I suppose, that when you touch the drums they bite. In journeying from one spot to another they always leave misfortune behind, as I understand it. Just coincidence; but you couldn't drive that into an Oriental skull. This is what makes the study of precious stones so interesting. There is always some enchantment, some evil spell. To handle the drums is to invite a minor accident.

Call it twaddle; probably is; and yet I have reason to believe that there's something to the superstition."

Burlingame sniffed.

"I can prove it," Cutty declared. "I held those drums in my hands one day. I carried them to a window the better to observe them.

On my return to the hotel I was knocked down by a horse and laid up in bed for a week. That same night someone tried to kill the man who showed me the emeralds. Coincidence? Perhaps. But these days I'm shying at thirteen, the wrong side of the street, ladders, and religious curses."

"An old hard-boiled egg like you?" Burlingame threw up his hands in mock despair.

"I laugh, too; but I duck, nevertheless. The chap who showed me the stones was what you'd call the honorary custodian; a privileged character because of his genius. Before approaching him I sent him a copy of my monograph on green stones. I found that he was quite as crazy over green as I. That brought us together; and while I drew him out I kept wondering where I had seen him before. Both his name and his face were vaguely familiar. lt seems a superstition had come along with the stones, from India to Persia, from there to Russia. A maid fortunate enough to see the drums would marry and be happy. The old fellow confessed that occasionally he secretly admitted a peasant maid to gaze upon the stones. But he never let the male inmates of the palace find this out. He knew them a little too intimately. A bad lot."

"And this palace?" asked Kitty.

"Not one stone on another. The proletariat rose up and destroyed it. To mobs anything beautiful is offensive. Palaces looted, banks, museums, houses. The ignorant toying with hand grenades, thinking them sceptres. All the scum in the world boiling to the top. After the Red Day comes the Red Night."

"Whatever will become of them - the little kings and princes and dukes?" After all, thought Kitty, they were human beings; they would not suffer any the less because they had been born to the purple.

同类推荐
  • 校邠庐抗议

    校邠庐抗议

    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。
  • 菩萨藏修道众经抄

    菩萨藏修道众经抄

    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。
  • Over the Sliprails

    Over the Sliprails

    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。
  • 王旭高临证医案

    王旭高临证医案

    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。
  • 淡新凤三县简明总括图册

    淡新凤三县简明总括图册

    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
  • 候门最强贵妻

    候门最强贵妻

    书香名门的岳家有四女:娴,兰,妤,涵。奈何四女天生智障,家族污点,被人陷害而死。一朝重生,灵魂已经换。意外死亡的岳绮涵觉得能重活一世不能辜负上天的好意。这辈子一定要吃好睡好玩好。所以为了后半辈的幸福生活首先要找一个金米缸。众人议论:岳家四女不但智障,还有妄想症,被夫家退婚后,竟然妄想嫁候门贵族。让众人想到的是,竟然真有候门敢娶她。如偿所愿找到金米缸的岳绮涵却发现这个金米缸跟她想的好像有点不一样。
  • 病骨未忘忧

    病骨未忘忧

    非典型中二少女一朝穿越,于乱世还天地一个海晏河清。纪元即将终结,百族复苏,群魔乱舞,残破的“旧大陆”上又将拉开怎样的混战?纯粹的善与纯粹的恶皆无立足之处,真正的自由是否存在?在生存面前,人性的阴暗面被无限放大,善的种子究竟在何处萌芽?无数徘徊在光明与黑暗之间的人,是自救还是沉沦?过往种种,烟消云散,唯有向死求生,方得救赎!(东野圭吾说过:即使这个世界陷入疯狂,仍有我们必须守护的东西。)
  • 布克熊之经典精读系列:呐喊·彷徨

    布克熊之经典精读系列:呐喊·彷徨

    《呐喊》和《彷徨》都是鲁迅的短篇小说集。《呐喊》真实地描绘了从辛亥革命到五四运动时期的社会生活,表现出对民族生存浓重的忧患意识和对社会变革的强烈希望。《彷徨》收录了11篇短篇小说,文中深刻剖析了国民性,文笔深沉悲壮,所刻画的丰满的人物形象具有典型的意义。重读鲁迅的文字,还能感受到其中巨大的精神力量,不愧为经典之作。
  • 天生小医女—迷糊王妃

    天生小医女—迷糊王妃

    暮小洛穿越到一个自带解毒识毒的小姑娘身上,自从遇到君驰城,暮小洛就觉得天生命运多舛,随时都命悬一线,还好爱情终成眷属,俘获高冷太子芳心。。。
  • 不懂说话,就当不好经理

    不懂说话,就当不好经理

    一个企业的兴衰成败,经理人的领导水平和决策能力是至关重要的,中外企业概莫能外。在许多情况下,能够成功交流和沟通的经理人,可以轻而易举地扩展其人际关系。因为人人都愿意和他在一起,听他说话,所以这样的经理人会在人气上占据绝对优势。一个人的才干要被人认识,要被人了解,如果不借助口才,那结果是很难想象的。因为工作要交谈,政治要辩论,学术需争鸣,合同需谈判,而这些无一不需要口才。因此,经理人一定要掌握良好的交际方法,才能脱颖而出,成为人际交往中的成功者。经理人有没有水平,很重要的一点表现在说话上。
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 青瞳1

    青瞳1

    或许在我们自以为一片死寂的星球上,生命早已悄然诞生,甚至以一种不一样的形式超越了我们。
  • 或许是冒险

    或许是冒险

    平凡人的恋爱不狗血不玛丽苏不适合小学生观看
  • 一本书读懂众筹

    一本书读懂众筹

    众筹的方向有很多,一般不受局限,包括设计、科技、音乐、影视、食品、漫画、出版、游戏、摄影等。众筹为更多小本经营或创作的人提供了无限的可能。浏览众筹项目的所有人群,均可根据自己的经济实力、兴趣爱好、专业特长、生活需求,对这些项目进行赞助、支持和投资。可以说,众筹天生具有社交基因,可切实地将消费需求融入众筹项目。筹人、筹智、筹钱、筹未来!有梦大家帮你实现,每个人都看得懂的众筹入门书。
  • 美洲寓言(语文新课标课外必读第八辑)

    美洲寓言(语文新课标课外必读第八辑)

    国家教育部颁布了最新《语文课程标准》,统称新课标,对中、小学语文教学指定了阅读书目,对阅读的数量、内容、质量以及速度都提出了明确的要求,这对于提高学生的阅读能力,培养语文素养,陶冶情操,促进学生终身学习和终身可持续发展,对于提高广大人民的文学素养具有极大的意义。