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第123章 公元1603~1881年的英格兰(31)

11.占领加尔各答的印度王子叫做苏贾拉·道拉。他的专制和残暴使得克莱夫前往孟加拉报复对方的“黑洞”罪行。“黑洞”所在位置已经被总督和对方的指挥官遗弃,但是这个年少的恶魔俘虏了146名欧洲人,将他们赶进一间又矮又黑、仅有20平方英尺的小屋子;除了两个用铁闩栓上的小窗外,一点也不透气。

12.才过了几分钟,他们就开始感到窒息,于是大声呼叫卫兵,但卫兵却只是大笑。于是,这些囚犯开始拼命地向小窗靠近,因为他们生存的希望全在于此。在斗争过程中,身体最弱的人经受不住,倒地身亡。他们愿意向哨兵出很多钱,前提是哨兵们愿意去叫醒王子;但是对方却拒绝了,因为这些东方暴徒砍下一个人的脑袋,往往就像把人从睡梦中叫醒那样只是举手之劳。

13.一个小时又一个小时过去了,喊叫声和抗争行动越来越微弱,因为极少数仍然活着的人也极度虚弱,没有力气叫喊。当上午传来一道开门的命令时,一股刺鼻的恶臭味从屋里的尸体传来,几乎将打开门锁的人熏倒。在23个尚且活着的人当中,又有几个人由于发烧很快丧命。

14.这一罪行在普拉西战场上受到惩罚。在那里,重新占领加尔各答的克莱夫在战役中与残忍的纳波布总督遭遇。当地的军队人数众多,而英国军队人数很少。印军将大炮架在高台上,前面用白色的公牛拉,后面再用大象推。由于英军防线受到一层泥墙的保护,因此猛烈的炮火对他们毫发无损。

15.克莱夫静静地等着敌人对他攻击。实际上,在这危险关头他极为冷静,以至于由于疲惫而躺下睡觉了,但是,敌军实际上只是一伙配备有火绳枪和长矛的乌合之众,所以也没有采取什么让人瞩目的作战动作。他们装弹并开火,直到一阵倾盆大雨浇湿他们的弹药后,便开始撤退。克莱夫迅速抓住了这一时机。他指挥炮兵向防线混乱的敌军瞄准,将他们的混乱变成溃逃。纳波布失去了所有的炮兵装备和辎重。从那一天起,英国巩固了在印度的统治地位。

133

THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM

亚伯拉罕平原

accompanied,went along with.

achieving,effecting.destined,fated;ordained.dislodge,remove.

heraldry,high birth;nobility.

indicated,showed.

inevitable,not able to be avoided.

instructions,orders.previously,before.projection,headland.supporting,holding up.undaunted,fearless;bold.

1.A young English General,named James Wolfe,set out to ascend the St.Lawrence one summer,as soon as the ice of that river had broken up and floated down to the sea.Though only thirty-one years of age,he commanded a force of about eight thousand men.In the fleet which accompanied him there were two men destined to future greatness.The one was Jervis,who,with Nelson’s aid,won the Battle of St.Vincent;the other was James Cook,the great explorer of the Pacific.The object of the expedition was the capture of Quebec,the capital of Canada,which was then a French province.

2.Quebec stands on the point of a rocky projection,looking down the river St.Lawrence.The bank of the stream is high and craggy:and some miles below Quebec,in the centre,dividing the current into two branches,lies an island,called the Isle of Orleans.Opposite this island,on the north bank of the river,a tributary called the Montmorency,after leaping from a ledge of rock 250feet high,flows quietly into the St.Lawrence.

3.From the camp which Wolfe formed on the Isle of Orleans,the steep rock of Quebec could be seen.He soon took possession of a point called Point Levi,on the south bank,from which he could pour red-hot shot and shells into the town,and set the houses on fire.This,however,did not harm the Citadel.For nearly two months Wolfe lay on the island and beside the Montmorency,gaining little or no advantage in his attacks.

4.Twice the British fleet was assailed by fireships,which came blazing down the stream at night,lighting up the woods and rocks with a red glare.But the British managed to draw them aside with grappling-irons,and left them to burnPLAN OF QUEBEC AND NEIGHBOURHOOD.

to the water‘s edge.It seemed to Wolfe,whose health was ver y frail,that he was destined to die without achieving any good for his country.E ver y landingplac e and ledge of rock was guarded by floating batteries;for the French had a great many gun-boats.

5.At last,as he sailed up the stream,examining the banks with a careful eye,he noticed a bay,from which a narrow,winding path ran up the rocks toward the Plains of Abraham,as the tableland above the town was called.There were a few tents at the top of the path;but they indicated a guard of only about one hundred men.At this spot Wolfe resolved to land by night.

6.His ships and men had been previously moved up the river,for the purpose of drawing the attention of the enemy from what he was about to do.Having spent a day in preparing his men and giving them instructions,he rowed from one ship to another to see that all understood their duty.

7.At one in the morning the boats full of soldiers were unmoored,and drifted slowly down the current.No sail was set;and as the oars were muffled,no noise was made.Everything was favourable to a surprise.As the boat containing Wolfe and his staff dropped down the stream,the general repeated Gray’s Elegy in a low voice,dwelling solemnly on that verse which speaks of the common lot:-“The boast of heraldry,the pomp of power,And all that beauty,all that youth e‘er gave,Await alike the inevitable hour:

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”

8.Some light infantry,leaping ashore,climbed up the face of the cliffs,swinging themselves from one ledge to another by means of the ash and the maple trees that clothed the steep.Their duty was to dislodge the sentinels on the top;which they did by firing a few shots.The rest of the army then walked two abreast up the winding-path;and at dawn Wolfe had them drawn out on the lofty plain with a forest behind them.

9.“It can only be a small party come to burn a few houses and then go away,”said Montcalm,the French General,when he heard that men in British uniform were seen on the heights.But he soon knew that it was the British army drawn up in order of battle.His own army was stronger than the British,and his spirit was undaunted.

10.After some firing on both sides from the artillery,Montcalm led the French to the attack.But the ground was full of hollows and was crossed with rail fences in many places,so that the soldiers in their advance fell into disorder and fired very wildly.Wolfe had told his men not to pull a trigger until the enemy were within forty yards of them;and consequently the discharge of the English muskets was very close and deadly.

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