Adventure

Оглавление

Джек Лондон. Adventure

CHAPTER I – SOMETHING TO BE DONE

CHAPTER II – SOMETHING IS DONE

CHAPTER III – THE JESSIE

CHAPTER IV – JOAN LACKLAND

CHAPTER V – SHE WOULD A PLANTER BE

CHAPTER VI – TEMPEST

CHAPTER VII – A HARD-BITTEN GANG

CHAPTER VIII – LOCAL COLOUR

CHAPTER IX – AS BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN

CHAPTER X – A MESSAGE FROM BOUCHER

CHAPTER XI – THE PORT ADAMS CROWD

CHAPTER XII – MR. MORGAN AND MR. RAFF

CHAPTER XIII – THE LOGIC OF YOUTH

CHAPTER XIV – THE MARTHA

CHAPTER XV – A DISCOURSE ON MANNERS

CHAPTER XVI – THE GIRL WHO HAD NOT GROWN UP

CHAPTER XVII – “YOUR” MISS LACKLAND

CHAPTER XVIII – MAKING THE BOOKS COME TRUE

CHAPTER XIX – THE LOST TOY

CHAPTER XX – A MAN-TALK

CHAPTER XXI – CONTRABAND

CHAPTER XXII – GOGOOMY FINISHES ALONG KWAQUE ALTOGETHER

CHAPTER XXIII – A MESSAGE FROM THE BUSH

CHAPTER XXIV – IN THE BUSH

CHAPTER XXV – THE HEAD-HUNTERS

CHAPTER XXVI – BURNING DAYLIGHT

CHAPTER XXVII – MODERN DUELLING

CHAPTER XXVIII – CAPITULATION

Отрывок из книги

He was a very sick white man. He rode pick-a-back on a woolly-headed, black-skinned savage, the lobes of whose ears had been pierced and stretched until one had torn out, while the other carried a circular block of carved wood three inches in diameter. The torn ear had been pierced again, but this time not so ambitiously, for the hole accommodated no more than a short clay pipe. The man-horse was greasy and dirty, and naked save for an exceedingly narrow and dirty loin-cloth; but the white man clung to him closely and desperately. At times, from weakness, his head drooped and rested on the woolly pate. At other times he lifted his head and stared with swimming eyes at the cocoanut palms that reeled and swung in the shimmering heat. He was clad in a thin undershirt and a strip of cotton cloth, that wrapped about his waist and descended to his knees. On his head was a battered Stetson, known to the trade as a Baden-Powell. About his middle was strapped a belt, which carried a large-calibred automatic pistol and several spare clips, loaded and ready for quick work.

The rear was brought up by a black boy of fourteen or fifteen, who carried medicine bottles, a pail of hot water, and various other hospital appurtenances. They passed out of the compound through a small wicker gate, and went on under the blazing sun, winding about among new-planted cocoanuts that threw no shade. There was not a breath of wind, and the superheated, stagnant air was heavy with pestilence. From the direction they were going arose a wild clamour, as of lost souls wailing and of men in torment. A long, low shed showed ahead, grass-walled and grass-thatched, and it was from here that the noise proceeded. There were shrieks and screams, some unmistakably of grief, others unmistakably of unendurable pain. As the white man drew closer he could hear a low and continuous moaning and groaning. He shuddered at the thought of entering, and for a moment was quite certain that he was going to faint. For that most dreaded of Solomon Island scourges, dysentery, had struck Berande plantation, and he was all alone to cope with it. Also, he was afflicted himself.

.....

He frowned, tightened his lips, then burst into laughter, in which she joined.

“It’s my own fault,” he confessed. “I shouldn’t have baited you. I’ll be careful in the future.”

.....