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肩書を与える: The 砂漠 Islander
Author: Stella Benson
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eBook No.: 0605221h.html
Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd: August 2006
Date most recently updated: August 2006

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The 砂漠 Islander

by

Stella Benson

CONSTANTINE hopefully followed the Chinese servant through the unknown house. He felt 希望に満ちた of success in his 計画（する） of begging this Englishman for help, for he knew that an Englishman, alone の中で people of a different colour (as this Englishman was alone in this South 中国 town), 扱う／治療するd the helping of 逸脱する white men almost as part of the White Man's 重荷（を負わせる）. But even without his （人命などを）奪う，主張する of one lonely white man upon another, Constantine would have felt 希望に満ちた. He knew himself to be a man of 説得力のある manner in spite of his ugly, too long 直面する, and his ugly, too short 脚s.

As Constantine stumped in on his hobnailed 単独のs, Mr. White--who was evidently not a very tactful man--said, "Oh, are you another 見捨てる人／脱走兵 from the Foreign Legion?"

"I am Constantine Andreievitch Soloviev," said Constantine, surprised. He spoke and understood English almost perfectly (his mother had been English), yet he could not remember ever having heard the word another 適用するd to himself. In fact it did not--could not かもしれない--so 適用する. There was only one of him, he knew.

Of course, in a way there was some sense in what this stupid Englishman said. Constantine had certainly been a légionnaire in Tonkin up till last Thursday--his 狭くする 麻薬を吸う-clayed helmet, stiff khaki greatcoat, shabby 演習 uniform, puttees, 厚かましさ／高級将校連 buttons, and inflexible boots were all the 所有物／資産／財産 of the French 政府. But the 核心--the pearl inside this vulgar, horny 爆撃する--was Constantine Andreievitch Soloviev. That made all the difference.

Constantine saw that he must take this Didymus of an Englishman in 手渡す at once and tell him a few exciting stories about his dangerous adventures between the Tonkin 国境 and this Chinese city. Snakes, tigers, love-crazed Chinese princesses and brigands passed 速く through his mind, and he chose the last, because he had 以前 planned several impressive things to do if he should be attacked by brigands. So now, though he had not 現実に met a brigand, those 計画（する）s would come in useful. Constantine ーするつもりであるd to 令状 his autobiography some day when he should have married a rich wife and settled 負かす／撃墜する. Not only did his actual life seem to him a very rare one but, also, lives were so 利益／興味ing to （不足などを）補う.

Constantine was a 砂漠 islander--a spiritual Robinson Crusoe. He made up everything himself and he wasted nothing. Robinson Crusoe was his favourite 調書をとる／予約する--in fact, almost the only 調書をとる／予約する he had ever read--and he was proud to be, like his hero, a 砂漠 islander. He 現実に preferred 着せる／賦与するing his spirit in the 肌s of wild thoughts that had been the prey of his wits and 避難所ing it from the world's 天候 in a leaky hut of his brain's own contriving, to enjoying the good tailoring and 住宅 that dwellers on the 本土／大陸 call experience and education. He enjoyed 存在 barbarous, he enjoyed living alone on his island, 受託するing nothing, imitating nothing, believing nothing, adapting himself to nothing--implacably home-made. Even his 有形の 所有／入手s were those of a marooned man rather than of a civilized 国民 of this 井戸／弁護士席-furnished world. At this moment his only luggage was a balalaika that he had made himself out of cigar-boxes, and to this he sang songs of his own composition--very imperfect songs. He would not have （人命などを）奪う，主張するd that either his songs or his 器具 were better than the songs and 器具s made by song-製造者s and balalaika-製造者s; they were, however, much more rapturously his than any acquired music could have been and, indeed, in this as in almost all things, it 簡単に never occurred to him to take rather than make. There was no 本土／大陸 on the horizon of his 砂漠 island.

"I am not a beggar," said Constantine. "Until yesterday I had sixty piastres which I had saved by many sacrifices during my service in the Legion. But yesterday, passing through a dark forest of pines in the twilight, about twenty versts from here, I met---"

"You met a 禁止（する）d of brigands," said Mr. White. "Yes, I know you all say that."

Constantine 星／主役にするd at him. He had not lived, a 砂漠 islander, in a （人が）群がるd and over-civilized world without 会合 many rebuffs, so this one did not surprise him--did not even 感情を害する／違反する him. On the contrary, for a minute he almost loved the uncompromising Mr. White, as a sportsman almost loves the chamois on a peculiarly inaccessible crag. This was a friend 価値（がある） a good 取引，協定 of trouble to 安全な・保証する, Constantine saw. He realized at once that the 砂漠 islander's line here was to discard the brigands and to discard noble independence.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席 then," said Constantine. "I did not 会合，会う brigands. I am a beggar. I started without a penny and I still have no penny. I hope you will give me something. That is why I have come." He paused, 製図／抽選 long pleased breaths through his large nose. This, he felt, was a distinctly self-made line of talk; it 始める，決める him apart from all previous 砂漠ing légionnaires.

Mr. White evidently thought so too. He gave a short grunting laugh. "That's better," he said.

"These English," thought Constantine lovingly. "They are the next best thing to 存在 初めのs, for they admire 初めのs." "I like you," he 追加するd extravagantly, aloud. "I like the English. I am so glad I 設立する an Englishman to beg of instead of an American--though an American would have been much richer than you are, I 推定する／予想する. Still, to a beggar a little is enough. I dislike Americans; I dislike their women's wet finger-nails."

"Wet finger-nails?" exclaimed Mr. White. "Oh, you mean their manicure polishes. Yes ... they do always have wet finger-nails ... ha, ha ... so they do. I should never have thought of that myself."

"Of course not," said Constantine, genuinely surprised. "I thought of it. Why should you have thought of it?" After a moment he 追加するd, "I am not a gramophone."

Mr. White thought that he had said, "Have you got a gramophone?" and replied at once with some 楽しみ, "Yes, I have--it is a very precious companion. Are you musical? But of course you are, 存在 ロシアの. I should be very lonely without my daily ration of Chopin. Would you like some music while the servants are getting you something to eat?"

"I should like some music," said Constantine, "but I should not like to hear a gramophone. I will play you some music--some unique and only music on a unique and only 器具."

"Thank you very much," said Mr. White, peering doubtfully through his glasses at the cigar-box balalaika. "What good English you speak," he 追加するd, trying to コースを変える his guest's attention from his musical 目的. "But all ロシアのs, of course, are wonderful linguists."

"I will play you my music," said Constantine. "But first I must tell you that I do not like you to say to me, '存在 ロシアの you are musical' or 'All ロシアのs speak good English.' To me it seems so stupid to see me as one of many."

"Each one of us is one of many," sighed Mr. White 根気よく.

"You, perhaps--but I, not," said Constantine. "When you notice my English words instead of my thoughts it seems to me that you are listening wrongly--you are listening to sounds only, in the same way as you listen to your senseless gramophone---"

"But you 港／避難所't heard my gramophone," interrupted Mr. White, stung on his darling's に代わって.

"What does it 事柄 what sounds a man makes--what words he uses? Words are ありふれた to all men; thoughts belong to one man only."

Mr. White considered telling his guest to go to hell, but he said instead, "You're やめる a philosopher, aren't you?"

"I am not やめる an anything," said Constantine 突然の. "I am me. All people who like Chopin also say, 'You're やめる a philosopher.'"

"Now you're generalizing, yourself," said Mr. White, 粘着するing to his good temper. "正確に／まさに what you've just complained of my doing."

"Some people are general," said Constantine. "Now I will play you my music, and you will 収容する／認める that it is not one of many musics."

He sang a song with ロシアの words which Mr. White did not understand. As a 事柄 of fact, such was Constantine's horror of imitating that the words of his song were just a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of the 指名するs of the 病気s of horses, learned while Constantine was a veterinary 外科医 in the ウクライナ共和国. His 発言する／表明する was certainly peculiar to himself; it was hoarse--so hoarse that one felt as if a light cough or a 控えめの blowing of that long nose would （疑いを）晴らす the hoarseness away; it was 隠すd, as though heard from behind an 介入するing stillness; yet with all its hoarseness and unsonorousness, it was 柔軟な, alive, and exciting. His 器具 had the same 質 of 静かな ugliness and oddity; it was almost enchanting. It was as if an animal--say, a goat--had 設立する a way to 支配（する）／統制する its 発言する／表明する into a 天然のまま goblin concord.

"That's my music," said Constantine. "Do you like it?"

"率直に," said Mr. White, "I prefer Chopin."

"On the gramophone?"

"On the gramophone."

"Yet one is a thing you never heard before and will never hear again--and the other is a machine that makes the same sound for millions."

"I don't care."

Constantine chewed his upper lip for a minute, thinking this over. Then he shook himself. "にもかかわらず, I like you," he said insolently. "You are almost a person. Would you like me to tell you about my life, or would you rather I explained to you my idea about ジグザグのs?"

"I would rather see you eat a good meal," said Mr. White, roused to a 確かな 真心--as almost all Anglo-Saxons are--by the 適切な時期 of dispensing food and drink.

"I can tell you my ジグザグの idea while I eat," said Constantine, 主要な the way に向かって the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する at the other end of the room. "Are you not eating too?"

"I'm not in the habit of eating a meat meal at ten o'clock at night."

"Is 'not 存在 in the habit' a 推論する／理由 for not doing it now?"

"To me it is."

"Oh--oh--oh--I wish I were like you," said Constantine 熱心に. "It is so tiring 存在 me--having no guide. I do like you."

"Help yourself to spinach," said Mr. White crossly.

"Now shall I tell you my ジグザグの idea?"

"If you can eat 同様に as talk."

Constantine was exceedingly hungry; he bent low over his plate, though he sat sideways to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, 直面するing Mr. White, ready to 開始する，打ち上げる a frontal attack of talk. His mouth was too 十分な for a moment to 許す him to begin to speak, but quick, agonized ちらりと見ることs out of his 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs implored his host to be silent till his lips should be ready. "You know," he said, swallowing hurriedly, "I always think of a ジグザグの as going downwards. I draw it in the 空気／公表する, so ... a straight honest line, then--see--a diagonal subtle line 削減（する）s the 空気／公表する away from under it--so ... Do you see what I mean? I will call the zig a to, and the zag a from. Now---"

"Why is one of your 脚s fatter than the other?" asked Mr. White.

"It is 包帯d. Now, I think of this ジグザグの as a diagram of human minds. Always human minds are zigs or zags--a to or a from--the 勇敢に立ち向かう zig is straight, so ... the cleverer, crueller zag 削減（する）s away below. So are men's---"

"But why is it 包帯d?"

"It was kicked by a horse. 井戸／弁護士席, so are men's understandings. Here I draw the simple, faithful understanding--and here--zag--the 平易な, clever understanding that sees through the simple 約束. Now below that--see--zig once more--the wise, the serene, and now a zag 否定するs once more; this is the cynic who knows all answers to serenity. Then below, once more---"

"May I see your 脚?" asked Mr. White. "I was in an 救急車 部隊 during the war."

"Oh, what is this talk of 脚s?" cried Constantine. "脚s are all the same; they belong to millions. All 脚s are made of 血 and bone and muscle--all vulgar things. Your 救急車 削減（する）s off 脚s, mends 脚s, fits bones together, corks up 血. It 扱う／治療するs men like bundles of bones and 血. This is so dull. 団体／死体s are so dull. Minds are the only onliness in men."

"Yes," said Mr. White. "But minds have to have 脚s to walk about on. Let me see your 脚."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席, then, let us talk of 脚s. We have at least 脚s in ありふれた, you and I."

"Hadn't you got more sense than to put such a dirty rag 一連の会議、交渉／完成する an open 負傷させる?"

"It is not dirty; it is 簡単に of a grey colour. I washed it in a rice field." Constantine spoke in a muffled 発言する／表明する from somewhere 近づく his 膝-cap, for he was now bent 二塁打, wholeheartedly 利益／興味d in his 脚. "I washed the 負傷させる too, and three boils which are behind my 膝. This blackness is not dirt; it is a blackness belonging to the 傷害."

Mr. White said nothing, but he rose to his feet as though he had heard a call. Constantine, leaving his puttee in limp coils about his foot like a dead snake, went on eating. He began to talk again about the ジグザグの while he stuffed food into his mouth, but he stopped talking soon, for Mr. White was walking up and 負かす／撃墜する the long room and not pretending to listen. Constantine, watching his host restively pacing the far end of the room, imagined that he himself perhaps smelled disagreeable, for this was a constant 恐れる of his--that his 団体／死体 should play his rare personality this horrid trick. "What is the 事柄?" he asked anxiously, with a shamed look. "Why are you so far?"

Mr. White's lazy, 穏やかな manner was やめる changed. His 発言する／表明する seemed to burst out of seething irritation. "It's a dam nuisance just now. It couldn't happen at a worse time. I've a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of work to do--and this fighting all over the 州 makes a 旅行 so dam---"

"What is so dam?" asked Constantine, his bewilderment 影響する／感情ing his English.

"I'll tell you what," said Mr. White, standing in 前線 of Constantine with his feet wide apart and speaking in an angry 発言する／表明する. "You're going to bed now in my attic, and to-morrow at daylight you're going to be waked up and driven 負かす／撃墜する in my car, by me (damn it!) to Lao-chow, to the hospital--a two days' 運動--three hundred miles-over the worst roads you ever saw."

Constantine's heart gave a sickening lurch. "Why to hospital? You think my 脚 is dangerous?"

"If I know anything of 脚s," said Mr. White rather 残酷に, "the doctor won't let you keep that one an hour longer than he has to."

Constantine's mouth began 即時に to tremble so much that he could scarcely speak. He thought, "I shall die--I shall die like this--of a stupid 黒人／ボイコット 脚--this 価値のある lonely me will die."

He glared at Mr. White, hungry for なぐさみ. "He isn't 価値のある--he's one of many ... of course he could easily be 勇敢に立ち向かう."

Mr. White, once more indolent and indifferent, led the little ロシアの to the attic and left him there. As soon as Constantine saw the white sheets neatly 倍のd 支援する, the pleasant blue rugs squarely 始める，決める upon the 床に打ち倒す, the open wardrobe fringed with hangers, he 疑問d whether, after all, he did value himself so much. For in this neat room he felt betrayed by this 団体／死体 of his--this unwashed, unshaven, tired 団体／死体, encased in coarse dirty 着せる／賦与するs, propped on an 不快な／攻撃, festering 脚. He decided to take all his 着せる／賦与するs off, even though he had no other 衣料品 with him to put on; he would feel more appropriate to the shiny linen in his own shiny 肌, he thought. He would have washed, but his attention was コースを変えるd as be pulled his 着せる／賦与するs off by the 負傷させる on his 脚. Though it was not very painful, it made him nearly sick with disgust now. Every 神経 in his 団体／死体 seemed on tiptoe, 警報 to feel agony, as he 熟考する／考慮するd the 負傷させる. He saw that a new sore place was beginning, 井戸／弁護士席 above the 膝. With only his shirt on, he 急ぐd downstairs, and in at the only lighted doorway. "Look--look," he cried. "A new sore place.... Does this mean the danger is greater even than we thought?"

Mr. White, in neat blue-and-white pyjamas, was carefully 圧力（をかける）ing a tie in a tie-圧力（をかける）. Constantine had never felt so far away from a human 存在 in his life as he felt on seeing the tie-圧力（をかける）, those pyjamas, those monogrammed silver 小衝突s, that elastic apparatus for 減ずるing 演習s that hung upon the door.

"Oh, go to bed," said Mr. White irascibly. "For God's sake, show a little sense."

Constantine was 支援する in his attic before he thought, "I せねばならない have said, 'For God's sake, show a little nonsense yourself.' Sense is so vulgar."

Sense, however, was to 運動 him three hundred miles to safety, next day.

All night the exhausted Constantine, sleeping only for a few minutes at a time, dreamed trivial, broken dreams about 設立するing his own 優越, finding, for instance, that he had after all managed to bring with him a スーツケース 十分な of clean, 流行の／上流の 着せる／賦与するs, or noticing that his host was wearing a filthy 包帯 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck instead of a tie.

Constantine was asleep when Mr. White, fully dressed, woke him next morning. A （疑いを）晴らす, steely light was slanting in at the window. Constantine was always fully conscious at the second of waking, and he was すぐに horrified to see Mr. White looking expressionlessly at the disorderly heap of dirty 着せる／賦与するs that he had thrown in disgust on the 床に打ち倒す the night before. Trying to コースを変える his host's attention, Constantine put on a merry and 勇敢な manner. "井戸／弁護士席, how is the 天候 for our モーター-car jaunt?"

"It could hardly be worse," said Mr. White placidly. "Sheets of rain. God knows what the roads will be like."

"井戸／弁護士席, we are lucky to have roads at all, in this benighted 中国."

"I don't know about that. If there weren't any roads we shouldn't be setting off on this beastly trip."

"I shall be ready in two jiffies," said Constantine, springing naked out of bed and shuffling his dreadful 着せる／賦与するs out of Mr. White's sight. "But just tell me," he 追加するd as his host went through the door, "why do you 運動 three hundred miles on a horrible wet day just to take a perfect stranger--a beggar too--to hospital?" (He thought, "Now he must say something showing that he 認めるs my value.")

"Because I can't 削減（する） off your 脚 myself," said Mr. White gloomily. Constantine did not 圧力（をかける） his question because this new 言及／関連 to the Cutting off of 脚s 始める，決める his 神経s jangling again; his 手渡すs trembled so that he could scarcely button his 着せる／賦与するs. Service in the Foreign Legion, though it was certainly no suitable adventure for a rare and 極度の慎重さを要する man, had never 強いるd him to 直面する anything more 脅すing than 非，不，無-評価, coarse food, and stupid 治療. 非，不，無 of these things could humiliate him--on the contrary, all 確認するd him in his 説得／派閥 of his own value. Only the thought of 存在 at the mercy of his 団体／死体 could humiliate the excited and glowing spirit of Constantine. Death was the final, most loathsome 勝利 of the 団体／死体; death meant dumbness and decay--yet even death he could have 直面するd courageously could he have been flattered to its very brink.

The car, a ramshackle Ford, stood in the rain on the bald gravel of the 構内／化合物, as Constantine, white with excitement, limped out through the 前線 door. His limp, though not consciously assumed, had developed only since last night. His whole 脚 now felt dangerous, its 肌 縮むing and tingling. Constantine looked into the car. In the 支援する seat sat Mr. White's coolie, clasping a conspicuously neat little white canvas 道具-捕らえる、獲得する with leather ひもで縛るs. The 道具-捕らえる、獲得する held Constantine's 注目する，もくろむ and attacked his self-尊敬（する）・点 as the tie-圧力（をかける） had attacked and haunted him the night before. Every one of his host's 所有／入手s was like a perfectly 井戸／弁護士席-balanced, indisputable 声明 in a world of fevered conjecture. "And a （軍の）野営地，陣営-bed--so nicely rolled," said Constantine, leaning into the car, fascinated and humiliated. "But only one...."

"I have only one," said Mr. White.

"And you are bringing it--for me?" said Constantine, looking at him ardently, overjoyed at this 尊敬の印.

"I am bringing it for myself," said Mr. White with his unamused and short-sighted smile. "I am assuming that a légionnaire is used to sleeping rough. I'm not. I'm rather 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in my habits and I have a horror of the 手はず／準備 in Chinese inns."

"He is morally 勇敢に立ち向かう," thought Constantine, though, for the first time, it occurred to him how 満足な it would be to 非難する his host's 直面する. "A man いっそう少なく 勇敢に立ち向かう would have changed his 計画（する）s about the （軍の）野営地，陣営-bed at once and said, 'For you, my dear man, of course--why not?'" Constantine chattered nervously as he took his seat in the car next to his host, the driver. "I feel such 賞賛 for a man who can 運動 a モーター-car. I adore the machine when it does not--like the gramophone--trespass on 事柄s outside its sphere. The machine's sphere is space, you see--it 支配（する）／統制するs space--and that is so admirable--even when the machine is so very unimpressive as this one. Mr. White, your モーター-car is very unimpressive indeed. Are you sure it will run three hundred miles?"

"It always seems to," said Mr. White. "I never do anything to it except 注ぐ 石油, oil, and water into the proper 開始s. I am 完全に unmechanical."

"You cannot be if you work a gramophone."

"You seem to have my gramophone on your mind. To me it doesn't answer the 目的 of a machine--it 簡単に is Chopin, to me."

Constantine stamped his foot in almost delighted irritation, for this made him feel a god beside this groundling. After a few minutes of self-satisfaction, however, a terrible thought 侵略するd him. He became obsessed with an idea that he had left fleas in his bed in Mr. White's attic. That smug, immaculate Chinese servant would see them when he made the bed, and on Mr. White's return would say, "That foreign 兵士 left fleas in our attic bed." How 激しく did Constantine wish that he had 診察するd the bed carefully before leaving the room, or alternatively, that he could invent some (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する 嘘（をつく） that would 妨げる Mr. White from believing this 反乱ing 告訴，告発. Constantine's mind, already racked with the 恐れる of 苦痛 and death and with the agony of his impotence to impress his companion, became 曇った with the hopelessness and remorselessness of everything. Everything despairing seemed a fact beyond 論争; everything 希望に満ちた, a mere dream. His growing certainty about the fleas, the persistence of the rain, 連合させるd with the leakiness of the car's 味方する-curtains, the skiddiness of the road, the festering of his 脚, the thought of the 外科医's saw, the perfection of that complacent 道具-捕らえる、獲得する in the 支援する seat, with the poor cigar-box balalaika tinkling beside it, the overstability and overrightness of his friend in need--there was not one 甘い or flattering thought to which his poor 罠にかける mind could turn.

The absurdly 不十分な bullock-追跡する only just served the 目的 of a road for the Ford. The wheels slid about, wrenching themselves from groove to groove. Constantine's comment on the difficulties of the road was silenced by a polite request on the part of Mr. White. "I can't talk while I'm 運動ing, if you don't mind. I'm not a good driver, and I need all my attention, 特に on such a bad road."

"I will talk and you need not answer. That is my ideal 計画（する） of conversation. I will tell you why I joined the Foreign Legion. You must have been wondering about this. It will be a 救済 for me from my misfortunes, to talk."

"I'd rather not, if you don't mind," said his host serenely.

"Mean old horse," thought Constantine passionately, his heart 契約ing with offence. "It is so English to give away nothing but the 明らかにする, bald, stony fact of help--no decorations of graciousnesses and smilings. A ロシアの would be a much poorer helper, but a how much better friend."

The car ground on. Constantine turned over again and again in his mind the 事柄 of the fleas. The wet ochre-and-green country of South 中国 streamed unevenly past, the neat, コンビナート／複合体 形態／調整s of rice fields altering, 崩壊するing and re-forming, like groups in a country dance. Abrupt horns of 激しく揺する began piercing through the flat rain-（土地などの）細長い一片d valley, and these, it seemed, were the 先触れ（する）s of a mountain 範囲 that 閉めだした the path of the travellers, for soon cliffs towered above the road. A village which clung to a slope at the mouth of a gorge was 占領するd by 兵士s. "This is where our troubles begin," said Mr. White 平和的に. The 兵士s were indolent, shabby, ineffectual-looking creatures, scarcely distinguishable from 苦力s, but their machine-guns, またがるing mosquito-like about the forlorn village street, looked disagreeably wideawake and keen. Constantine felt as if his precious heart were the cynosure of all the machine-guns' waspish ちらりと見ることs, as the car splashed between them. "Is this 安全な?" he asked. "モーターing through a Chinese war?"

"Not 特に," smiled Mr. White. "But it's safer than neglecting that 脚 of yours."

Constantine uttered a small, shrill, nervous exclamation--half a 悪口を言う／悪態, "Is a man nothing more than a 脚 to you?"

As he spoke, from one 味方する of the gorge along which they were now 運動ing, a ライフル銃／探して盗む 発射 割れ目d, like the breaking of a taut wire. Its echoes were overtaken by the sputtering of more 発射s from a higher crag. Constantine had been tensely held for just such an attack on his courage as this--and yet he was not ready for it. His 団体／死体 moved 即時に by itself, without 協議するing his self-尊敬（する）・点; it flung its 武器 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Mr. White. The car, thus immobilized at its source of energy, swerved, skidded, and stood still askew upon the 追跡する. Constantine, sweating violently, 解任するd his pride and 組立て直すd his sprawling 武器. Mr. White said nothing, but he looked with a 冷淡な benevolence into Constantine's 直面する and shook his 長，率いる わずかに. Then he started the car again and drove on in silence. There was no more 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing.

"Oh, oh, I do wish you had been a little bit 脅すd too," said Constantine, clenching his 握りこぶしs. He was too much of a 砂漠 islander to 否定する his own fright, as a 国民 of the tradition-支配するd 本土／大陸 might have 否定するd it. 勇敢に立ち向かう or afraid, Constantine was his own 創造; he had made himself, he would stand or 落ちる by this self that he had made. It was indeed, in a way, more 利益／興味ing to have been afraid than to have been 勇敢に立ち向かう. Only, unfortunately, this exasperating benefactor of his did not think so.

The noon-light was scarcely brighter than the light of 早期に morning. The unremitting rain slanted across the grey 空気／公表する. Trees, skies, valleys mountains, seen through the rain-spotted windshield, were like a distorted, stippled landscape painted by a beginner who has not yet learned to wring living colour from his palette. However, sun or no sun, noontime it was at last, and Mr. White, 製図／抽選 his car conscientiously to the 味方する of the bullock-追跡する, as if a 行列 of Rolls-Royces might be 推定する／予想するd to pass, unpacked a neat jigsaw puzzle of a 挟む-box.

"I brought a few caviare 挟むs for you," he said gently: "I know ロシアのs like caviare."

"Are your 挟むs then made of Old England's Rosbif?" asked Constantine crossly, for it seemed to him that this man used nothing but 集団の／共同の nouns.

"No; of bloater paste."

They said nothing more but munched in a rather sullen silence.

Constantine had lost his 願望（する） to tell Mr. White why he had joined the Foreign Legion--or to tell him anything else, for that 事柄. There was something about Mr. White that destroyed the excitement of telling ingenious lies--or even the ありふれた truth; and this something Constantine resented more and more, though he was uncertain how to define it. Mr. White leaned over the steering-wheel and covered his 注目する，もくろむs with his 手渡すs, for 運動ing tired him. The caviare, and his host's evident weariness, irritated Constantine more and more; these things seemed like a 天然のまま 主張 on his 増加するing 義務. "I suppose you are tired of the very sight of me," he felt impelled to say 激しく.

"No, no," said Mr. White politely but indifferently. "Don't worry about me. It'll all be the same a hundred years hence."

"Whether my 脚 is off or on--whether I die in agony or live--it will all be the same a hundred years hence, I suppose you would say," said Constantine, morbidly goading his companion into repeating this 侮辱 to the priceless mystery of personality.

"My good man, I can't do more than I am doing about your 脚, can I?" said Mr. White irritably, as he 再開するd the car.

"A million times more--a million times more," thought Constantine hysterically, but with an 成果／努力 he said nothing.

As the wet evening light smouldered to an ashen twilight, they drove into Mo-ming, which was to be their night's stopping-place. Outside the city 塀で囲む they were stopped by 兵士s; for Mo-ming was 存在 defended against the enemy's 前進する. After twenty minutes' talk in the clanking Cantonese tongue, the two white men were 許すd to go through the city gate on foot, leaving the Ford in a shed outside, in the care of Mr. White's coolie. Mr. White carried his beautiful little 道具-捕らえる、獲得する and 推定する／予想するd Constantine to carry the （軍の）野営地，陣営-bed.

"What--and leave my balalaika in the car?" 抗議するd Constantine childishly.

"I think it would be 安全な," said Mr. White, only faintly ironic. "Hurry up. I must go at once and call on the general in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 here. I don't want to have my car （軍用に）徴発する／ハイジャックするd."

Constantine limped along behind him, the （軍の）野営地，陣営-bed on one shoulder, the balalaika faintly tinkling under his arm. They 設立する the inn in the centre of a 絡まる of 宙返り飛行d, frayed, untidy streets--a box-like gaunt house, one corner of which was partly 廃虚d, for the city had been 砲撃するd that day. The inn, which could never have been a comfortable place, was wholly disorganized by its 最近の misfortune; most of the servants had fled, and the innkeeper was--完全に engrossed in counting and piling up on the verandah his 救助（する）d 所有／入手s from the 難破させるd rooms. An impudent little boy, naked 負かす／撃墜する to the waist--the only remaining servant--showed Mr. White and Constantine to the only room the inn could 申し込む／申し出.

"One room between us?" cried Constantine, thinking of his shameful, かもしれない verminous, 着せる／賦与するs and his unwashed 団体／死体. He felt unable to 耐える the idea of unbuttoning even the greasy collar of his tunic within sight of that virgin--new 道具-捕らえる、獲得する. Its luminous whiteness would seem in the night like 勝利を得た civilization's 注目する，もくろむ 直す／買収する，八百長をするd upon the barbarian--like the smug beam of a lighthouse glowing from the 本土／大陸 upon that uncouth obstruction, a 砂漠 island. "I'm not 一貫した," thought Constantine. "That's my trouble. I せねばならない be proud of 存在 dirty. At least that is a home-made 条件."

"Yes--one room between us," said Mr. White tardy. "We must do the best we can. You look after things here, will you, while I go and see the general and make the car-安全な."

Left alone, Constantine decided not to take off any 着せる／賦与するs at all--even his coarse greatcoat--but to say that he had fever and needed all the warmth he could get. No sooner had he come to this 決定／判定勝ち（する） than he felt 納得させるd that he 現実に was feverish; his 長，率いる and his 負傷させるd 脚 ached and throbbed as though all the hot 血 in his 団体／死体 had concentrated in those two 地域s, while ice seemed to settle 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his heart and loins. The room was dreary and very sparsely furnished with an ugly, too high （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and rigid 議長，司会を務めるs to match. The beds were 簡単に 休会s in the 塀で囲む, draped with dirty mud-brown mosquito-隠すs. Constantine, however, stepped more bravely into this hard, matted 棺 than he had into Mr. White's clean attic bed. As he lay 負かす／撃墜する, his 脚 燃やすd and throbbed more ひどく than ever, and he began to imagine the amputation--the 血, the yawning of the flesh, the 捨てるing of the saw upon the bone. His imagination did not 供給（する） an anaesthetic. Fever （機の）カム upon him now in good earnest; he shook so much that his 団体／死体 seemed to jump like a fish upon the unyielding matting, he seemed to breathe in heat, without 存在 able to melt the ice in his bones. Yet he remained artistically conscious all the time of his 苦境, and even 誇張するd the shivering spasms of his 四肢s. He was やめる pleased to think that Mr. White would presently return and find him in this 条件, and so be 強いるd to be 利益／興味d and compassionate. Yet as he heard Mr. White's 激しい step on the stair, poor Constantine's 注目する，もくろむ fell on the fastidious white 道具-捕らえる、獲得する, and he suddenly remembered all his fancies and 恐れるs about vermin and smells. By the time Mr. White was 現実に standing over him, Constantine was 納得させるd that the deepest loathing was 明確に shown on that superior, 非常に高い 直面する.

"I can't help it--I can't help it," cried Constantine, between his chattering teeth.

Mr. White seemed to ignore the ロシアの's agitation. "I think the car'll be all 権利 now," he said. "I left the coolie sleeping in it, to make sure. The general was やめる civil and gave me a 許す to get home; but it seems it's utterly impossible for us to 運動 on to Lao-chow. Fighting on the road is 特に hot, and the 橋（渡しをする）s are all destroyed. The enemy have reached the opposite 味方する of the river, and they've been 砲撃するing the city all day. I told the general about your 事例／患者; he 示唆するs you go by river in a sampan 負かす／撃墜する to Lao-chow to-morrow. You may be 解雇する／砲火／射撃d on just as you leave the city, but nothing to 事柄, I dare say. After that, you'd be all 権利--the river makes a stiff bend south here, and gets 権利 away from the country they're fighting over. It would take you only about eighteen hours to Lao-chow, going 負かす／撃墜する stream. I've already got a sampan for you.... Oh, Lord, isn't this disgusting?" he 追加するd, looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the dreadful room and wrinkling his nose. "How I loathe this 肉親，親類d of thing."

"I can't help it. I can't help it." Constantine began first to moan and then to cry. He was by now in 広大な／多数の／重要な 苦痛, and he did not try to 支配（する）／統制する his 苦しめる. It passed through his mind that crying was the last thing a stupid Englishman would 推定する／予想する of a légionnaire; so far so good, therefore--he was a 砂漠 islander even in his degradation. Yet he loathed himself; all his morbid 恐れるs of 存在 不快な／攻撃 were upon him, and the unaccustomed 演習 of crying, 連合させるd with the fever, nauseated him. Mr. White, still wearing his 表現 of repugnance, （機の）カム to his help, 緩和するd that greasy collar, lent a handkerchief, ordered some refreshing hot Chinese tea.

"You should have known me in Odessa," gasped Constantine in an interval between his paroxysms. "Three of the prettiest women in the town were madly in love with me. You know me only at my worst."

Mr. White, soaking a 倍のd silk handkerchief in 冷淡な water, before laying it on Constantine's 燃やすing forehead, did not answer. He unrolled the pillow from his （軍の）野営地，陣営-bed and put it under Constantine's 長，率いる. As he did so, he recoiled a little, but after a second's hesitation, he 押し進めるd the immaculate little pillow into place with a heroic firmness.

"I wore only silk next the 肌 then," snuffled Constantine. The fever rose in a wave in his brain, and he shouted 悪口を言う／悪態s upon his cruelly perfect friend.

Mr. White lay only 断続的に on his （軍の）野営地，陣営-bed that night. He was kept busy making use of his past experience as a member of an 救急車 部隊. Only at daylight he slept for an hour or so.

Constantine, awakened from a short sleep by the sound of 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing outside, lay on his 味方する and watched Mr. White's relaxed, sleeping 直面する. The fever had left Constantine, and he was now sunk in 冷淡な, limp 不景気 and 恐れる. Luckily, he thought, there was no need to 動かす, for certainly he could not be 推定する／予想するd--a sick man--to 始める，決める 前へ／外へ in a sampan through such dangers as the 執拗な 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing 示唆するd. At least in this inn he knew the worst, he thought wearily, and his companion knew the worst too. "I will not leave him," Constantine 公約するd, "until I have somehow cured him of these frightful memories of me--somehow amputated his memory of me...." He lay watching his companion's 直面する--hating it--obscurely wishing that those 注目する，もくろむs, which had seen the worst during this loathsome night, might remain for ever shut.

Mr. White woke up やめる suddenly. "Good Lord!" he said, peering at his watch. "Nearly seven. I told the sampan man to be at the foot of the steps at daylight."

"Are you mad?" asked Constantine shrilly. "Listen to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing--やめる 近づく. Besides--I'm a very sick man, as you should know by now. I couldn't even walk--much いっそう少なく dodge through a （人が）群がる of Chinese 暗殺者s."

Mr. White, faintly whistling Chopin, laboriously keeping his temper, left the room, and could presently be heard hee-hawing in the Chinese language on the verandah to the hee-hawing innkeeper.

When he （機の）カム 支援する, he said, "The sampaneer's there, waiting--only too anxious to get away from the 爆破 they're 推定する／予想するing to-day. He's tied up only about a hundred yards away. You'll be beyond the reach of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing as soon as you're 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the bend. Hurry up, man; the sooner you get 負かす／撃墜する to hospital, and I get off on the road home, the better for us both."

Constantine, genuinely exhausted after his 哀れな night, did not speak, but lay with his 注目する，もくろむs shut and his 直面する obstinately turned to the 塀で囲む. He certainly felt too ill to be 勇敢に立ち向かう or to 直面する the crackling dangers of the 戦う／戦い-ridden streets, but he was conscious of no 計画（する） except a 決意 to be as obstructive as he could--to 主張する at least this ignoble 力／強力にする over his tyrant.

"Get up, you damn fool," shouted Mr. White, suddenly plucking the pillow from under the sick man's 長，率いる, "or I'll drag you 負かす／撃墜する to the river by the scruff of your dirty neck."

Dirty neck! 即時に Constantine sat up--hopeless now of curing this man's contempt, 十分な of an almost unendurable craving to be far away from him--to wipe him from his horizon--to be 許すd to imagine him dead. Invigorated by this violent impulse, he rolled out of bed and sullenly watched Mr. White settle up with the innkeeper and take a few 一括s out of that revoltingly 精製するd 道具-捕らえる、獲得する.

"A small tin of water-薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s," said Mr. White, almost apologetically, "and the remains of the bloater paste. It's all I have with me, but it せねばならない keep you alive till you get to Lao-chow to-morrow morning.... I'll see you 負かす／撃墜する to the river first and then 選ぶ up these things." He spoke as if he were trying to make little neat 計画（する）s still against this disorderly and unwonted background. He 小衝突d his splashed coat with a silver 着せる／賦与するs-小衝突, wearing the 熱望して 安全な 表現 Constantine had seen on his 直面する as he bent over the tie-圧力（をかける） the night before last. The 整然とした man was trying to 持続する his 静かな impersonal self-尊敬（する）・点 まっただ中に surroundings that humiliated him. Even Constantine understood ばく然と that his 攻撃者 was himself 存在 attacked. "井戸／弁護士席, I've done my best," 追加するd Mr. White, straightening his 支援する after buckling the last ひもで縛る of the 道具-捕らえる、獲得する, and looking at Constantine with an あいまいな, almost 控訴，上告ing look.

They left the inn. The 法外な street that led 負かす／撃墜する to the river between mean, バリケードd shops was 砂漠d. The 空気／公表する of it was 乱暴／暴力を加えるd by the whipping sound of ライフル銃／探して盗む 解雇する／砲火／射撃--echoes clanked はっきりと from 塀で囲む to 塀で囲む.

"It is not 安全な--it is not 安全な," muttered Constantine, suddenly standing rooted, feeling that his next step must bring him into the path of a 弾丸.

"It's safer than a gangrenous 脚." With his 広大な／多数の／重要な 手渡す, Mr. White 掴むd the little ロシアの's arm and dragged him almost gaily 負かす／撃墜する the steps. Constantine was by now so hopelessly 苦境に陥るd in humiliation that he did not even try to disguise his terror. He hung 支援する like a 反抗的な child, but he was tweaked and twitched along, つまずくing behind his 救助者. He was 圧力（をかける）d into the little boat. "Here, take the 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s--good-bye--good luck," shouted Mr. White, and a smile of real gaiety broke out at last upon his 直面する. The （土地などの）細長い一片 of 雨の 空気／公表する and water 広げるd between the friends.

"Strike him dead, God!" said Constantine.

The smile did not fade at once from the Englishman's 直面する, as his 脚s curiously crumpled into a ひさまづくing position. He seemed trying to ひさまづく on 空気／公表する; he clutched at his breast with one 手渡す while the other 手渡す still waved good-bye; he turned his 警報, smiling 直面する に向かって Constantine as though he were going to say again--"Good-bye--good luck." Then he fell, 長，率いる downward, on the steps, the bald 栄冠を与える of his 長，率いる just dipping into the water. Mud was splashed over the coat he had 小衝突d only five minutes before.

There was a loud 激しい抗議 from the sampan man and his wife. They seemed to be calling Constantine's already riveted attention to the fallen man--still only twenty yards away; they seemed uncertain whether he would now let them 列／漕ぐ／騒動 yet more quickly away, as they 願望（する）d, or 主張する on returning to the help of his friend.

"列／漕ぐ／騒動 on--列／漕ぐ／騒動 on," cried Constantine in ロシアの and, to show them what he meant, he snatched up a spare 政治家 and tried to 増加する the 速度(を上げる） of the boat as it swerved into the 現在の. Spaces of water were broadening all about the 砂漠 islander--home on his 砂漠 island again at last. As Constantine swayed over the 政治家, he looked 支援する over his shoulder and flaunted his 長，率いる, afraid no more of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing now that one blessed 弾丸 had carried away unpardonable memory out of the brain of his friend.

THE END

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