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1、【英文文学】Archibald HughsonChapter One.Archibald Hughson, a young Shetland lad, having a strong desire to go to sea, and his mother withholding her consent, determines to run from home.He is treacherously assisted by Max Inkster, a wicked sailor, who succeeds in getting him stowed away on board the “Kat
2、e,” a Greenland whaler.“Where are you going, Archy?” asked Maggie Hughson, as she ran after her brother, who was stealing away from the house, evidently not wishing to be intercepted.The young Hughsons home stood high up on the slope of a hill on the small island of Bressay, one of the Shetland grou
3、p. Hence the eye ranged over the northern ocean, while to the eastward appeared the isle of Noss, with the rocky Holm of Noss beyond, the abode of numberless sea-fowl, and to be reached by a rope-way cradle over a broad chasm of fearful depth. The house, roofed with stone, and strongly-built, as it
4、needed to be to withstand the fierce gales blowing over that wild sea, was surrounded by patches of cultivated ground, without trench or bank, or a tree to be seen far or near.Archy stopped when he heard his sisters voice; for, though headstrong and obstinate, he loved her more than any other human
5、being.“I am going over to Lerwick to see Max Inkster,” he answered, looking back at her. “The Kate sails to-morrow, and I promised him a visit before he goes.”“Oh, surely you dont forget that our mother told you she wished you would not have anything to say to that man!” exclaimed Maggie. “He is bad
6、 in many ways, and he can only do you harm.”“I am not going to be led by any one,” answered Archy. “I like to hear his tales of the sea, and his adventures when chasing the whale, or hunting white bears, and those sort of things away in Greenland, and perhaps some day I may go to sea myself, and I w
7、ant to know what sort of a life I am likely to lead. I am not going to be kept digging potatoes, and tending cattle and sheep all my life.”“Oh Archy! dont think of it,” said Maggie. “It would break our mothers heart to have you go. You know that our father was lost at sea, and so was uncle Magnus, a
8、nd many other relations and friends. God will bless you, and you will be far happier, if, in obedience to her, you give up your wild notions and stay at home.”“I am not going to be dictated to, Maggie, by mother or you,” exclaimed Archy. “Max is a fine fellow, notwithstanding what you say. He is exp
9、ecting me, and I am not going to break my engagement; so, good-bye, Maggie. Go back home, and look after motherthats your duty, which you are so fond of talking about.”Maggie, finding that her arguments were of no avail, returned home, as she could not venture longer to leave her mother, who was ill
10、 in bed.Archy took his way till he was out of sight of the house, and then from beneath a large stone, he pulled out a bundle, which he slung at the end of a stick over his shoulder, and proceeded across the island till he came to the shore of the sound which divides it from the mainland. Several la
11、rge black high-sided ships lay at anchor, with numerous boats hanging to the davits, and mostly barque-rigged. They were whalers, belonging to Hull and other English and Scotch ports, on their way to Baffin Bay, or the shores of Greenland.Archy found a boat just about to cross the sound to Lerwick,
12、and, asking for a passage, he jumped in. On landing, he made his way to the house where Max Inkster lodged. The door was open. Archy walked in. Max was alone in a little room on one side of the passage; he was smoking, and a bottle and glass were on the table.“Glad to see you, lad,” he said. “Sit do
13、wn. I doubted that you would come.”“Why?” asked Archy.“I thought your mother and sister would advise you to keep away from a fellow like me,” answered Max, looking hard at his young guest. He was a strongly-built broad-shouldered man, with an unpleasant expression in his weather-beaten countenance.“
14、My mother is ill, and did not know I was coming, and I am not going to be dictated to by Maggie,” said Archy.“Thats the right spirit, boy,” said Max. “If they suspect what you intend doing, they will take good care to prevent you.”“I dont intend to let them know,” replied Archy. “But I wish mother w
15、as not ill. I am half inclined to stop at home till next season, and then Ill do what I choose, whatever they may say.”“I see how it is,” observed Max, with a sneer on his lips. “You are beginning to think we lead too hard a life for you, and you would rather be looking after the cows, and being at
16、the beck and call of mistress Maggie. I thought you had more spirit. You are afraidthats the truth of it.”“No one shall say I am afraid,” exclaimed Archy. “I have asked several captains to take me, but they refused without my mothers leave, and that she wont give, just because my father and uncle Magnus were lost at sea, and so she has taken it into her head that I shall be lost also. If you ca
