chapter 65

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弗兰肯斯坦开始了艰辛的复仇之旅，失去亲朋的他活在世上的唯一意义就是复仇，而怪物也故意留下踪迹供他找寻……

-chapter 65-

As I still pursued my journey to the northward, the snows thickened and the

cold increased in a degree almost too severe to support. The peasants were

shut up in their hovels, and only a few of the most hardy ventured forth to

seize the animals whom starvation had forced from their hiding-places to

seek for prey. The rivers were covered with ice, and no fish could be

procured; and thus I was cut off from my chief article of maintenance.

The triumph of my enemy increased with the difficulty of my labours. One

inscription that he left was in these words: “Prepare! Your toils

only begin; wrap yourself in furs and provide food, for we shall soon enter

upon a journey where your sufferings will satisfy my everlasting

hatred.”

My courage and perseverance were invigorated by these scoffing words; I

resolved not to fail in my purpose, and calling on Heaven to support

me, I continued with unabated fervour to traverse immense deserts,

until the ocean appeared at a distance and formed the utmost boundary

of the horizon.  Oh!  How unlike it was to the blue seasons of the

south!  Covered with ice, it was only to be distinguished from land by

its superior wildness and ruggedness.  The Greeks wept for joy when

they beheld the Mediterranean from the hills of Asia, and hailed with

rapture the boundary of their toils.  I did not weep, but I knelt down

and with a full heart thanked my guiding spirit for conducting me in

safety to the place where I hoped, notwithstanding my adversary’s gibe,

to meet and grapple with him.

Some weeks before this period I had procured a sledge and dogs and thus

traversed the snows with inconceivable speed.  I know not whether the

fiend possessed the same advantages, but I found that, as before I had

daily lost ground in the pursuit, I now gained on him, so much so that

when I first saw the ocean he was but one day’s journey in advance, and

I hoped to intercept him before he should reach the beach.  With new

courage, therefore, I pressed on, and in two days arrived at a wretched

hamlet on the seashore.  I inquired of the inhabitants concerning the

fiend and gained accurate information.  A gigantic monster, they said,

had arrived the night before, armed with a gun and many pistols,

putting to flight the inhabitants of a solitary cottage through fear of

his terrific appearance.  He had carried off their store of winter

food, and placing it in a sledge, to draw which he had seized on a

numerous drove of trained dogs, he had harnessed them, and the same

night, to the joy of the horror-struck villagers, had pursued his

journey across the sea in a direction that led to no land; and they

conjectured that he must speedily be destroyed by the breaking of the

ice or frozen by the eternal  frosts.

On hearing this information I suffered a temporary access of despair.

He had escaped me, and I must commence a destructive and almost endless

journey across the mountainous ices of the ocean, amidst cold that few

of the inhabitants could long endure and which I, the native of a

genial and sunny climate, could not hope to survive.  Yet at the idea

that the fiend should live and be triumphant, my rage and vengeance

returned, and like a mighty tide, overwhelmed every other feeling.

After a slight repose, during which the spirits of the dead hovered

round and instigated me to toil and revenge, I prepared for my journey.

I exchanged my land-sledge for one fashioned for the inequalities of

the Frozen Ocean, and purchasing a plentiful stock of provisions, I

departed from land.

I cannot guess how many days have passed since then, but I have endured

misery which nothing but the eternal sentiment of a just retribution

burning within my heart could have enabled me to support.  Immense and

rugged mountains of ice often barred up my passage, and I often heard

the thunder of the ground sea, which threatened my destruction.  But

again the frost came and made the paths of the sea secure.

By the quantity of provision which I had consumed, I should guess that

I had passed three weeks in this journey; and the continual protraction

of hope, returning back upon the heart, often wrung bitter drops of

despondency and grief from my eyes.  Despair had indeed almost secured

her prey, and I should soon have sunk beneath this misery.  Once, after

the poor animals that conveyed me had with incredible toil gained the

summit of a sloping ice mountain, and one, sinking under his fatigue,

died, I viewed the expanse before me with anguish, when suddenly my eye

caught a dark speck upon the dusky plain.  I strained my sight to

discover what it could be and uttered a wild cry of ecstasy when I

distinguished a sledge and the distorted proportions of a well-known

form within.  Oh!  With what a burning gush did hope revisit my heart!

Warm tears filled my eyes, which I hastily wiped away, that they might

not intercept the view I had of the dæmon; but still my sight was

dimmed by the burning drops, until, giving way to the emotions that

oppressed me, I wept aloud.

But this was not the time for delay; I disencumbered the dogs of their

dead companion, gave them a plentiful portion of food, and after an

hour’s rest, which was absolutely necessary, and yet which was bitterly

irksome to me, I continued my route.  The sledge was still visible, nor

did I again lose sight of it except at the moments when for a short

time some ice-rock concealed it with its intervening crags.  I indeed

perceptibly gained on it, and when, after nearly two days’ journey, I

beheld my enemy at no more than a mile distant, my heart bounded within

me.

But now, when I appeared almost within grasp of my foe, my hopes were

suddenly extinguished, and I lost all trace of him more utterly than I had

ever done before. A ground sea was heard; the thunder of its progress, as

the waters rolled and swelled beneath me, became every moment more ominous

and terrific. I pressed on, but in vain. The wind arose; the sea roared;

and, as with the mighty shock of an earthquake, it split and cracked with a

tremendous and overwhelming sound. The work was soon finished; in a few

minutes a tumultuous sea rolled between me and my enemy, and I was left

drifting on a scattered piece of ice that was continually lessening and

thus preparing for me a hideous death.

（1132）

今日短语

1. cut off 切断

2. lose ground 失利

3. bar up拦住

4. wipe away 擦掉

5. lose sight of看不见……

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