第28章

Steamhissedandpanted。Atintervalstheengine-roombelljarreduponthecar。Atintervals，also，thetiller-chainsslidtoandfrowithadull，rattlingsound。Yet，owingtothesomnolentstillnesssettledupontheriver，thesesoundsescaped，failedtocatchone’sattention。

Throughthedrynessofthesummerthewaterwaslow。

Periodically，inthesteamer’sbow，adeckhandlikeaking，amanwithalean，，yellow，black-avisedfaceandapairoflanguishingeyes，threwoverboardapolishedlogasintonesofmeltingmelancholyhechanted:

“Se-em，se-em，shest！“

[“Seven，seven，six！“(thedepthofwater，reckonedinsazheniorfathoms)]

Itwasasthoughhewerewailing:

“Seyem，seyem，ayest-NISHEVO“

[Letuseat，letuseat，buttoeatthereis——nothing]

Meanwhile，thesteamerkeptturningherstearlet-like[Thestearletisafishofthesalmonspecies]prowdeliberatelyandalternatelytowardseitherbankasthebargeyawedbehindher，andthegreyhawserkepttauteningandquivering，andsendingoutshowersofgoldandsilversparkles。Everandanon，too，thecaptainonthebridgekeptshouting，hoarselythroughaspeaking-trumpet:

“About，there！“

Underthestemofthebargeawaveranwhich，dividedintoapairofwhitewings，serpentinedawaytowardseitherbank。

Inthemeadoweddistancepeatseemedtobebeingburnt，andovertheblackforesttherehadgatheredanopalescentcloudofsmokewhichalsosuffusedtheneighbouringmarshes。

Totheright，thebankoftherivertoweredupintolofty，precipitous，clayeyslopesintersectedwithravineswhereinaspensandbirchesfoundshelter。

Everythingashorehadaboutitarestful，sultry，desertedlook。

Eveninthedullblue，torridskytherewasnoughtsaveawhite-hotsun。

Inendlessvistaweremeadowsstuddedwithtrees——treessleepinginlonelyisolation，and，inplaces，surmountedwitheitherthecrossofaruralchurchwhichlookedlikeadaystarorthesailsofawindmill；whilefurtherbackfromthebankslaythetissueclothsofripeningcrops，with，hereandthere，ahumanhabitation。

Throughout，thescenewasindistinct。Everythinginitwascalm，touchinglysimple，intimate，intelligible，gratefultothesoul。

Somuchsothatasonecontemplatedtheslowly-varyingvistaspresentedbytheloftierbank，theimmutablestretchesofmeadowland，andthegreen，timbereddance-ringswheretheforestapproachedtheriver，togazeatitselfinthewaterymirror，and

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