Valu-ra Nesia 2

 

        2. Black Dog Appears and Disappears

        _2. Melano Kani dona e apo vista de se

        

It was one January morning, very early--a pinching, frosty morning--

_Id pa es u certa meno-mo matina - u frigi, glacia matina.

The captain had risen earlier than usual.

_U navi-cefa pa ki ex kli pre more kron.

Well, mother was upstairs with father and I was laying the breakfast-table against the captain’s return when the parlour door opened and a man stepped in on whom I had never set my eyes before. He was a pale, tallowy creature, wanting two fingers of the left hand, and though he wore a cutlass, he did not look much like a fighter.

_U fe-parenta pa es lo supra kon an-parenta. Mi pa moti plu vora-ru a mensa, tem atende u re-ki de navi-cefa, kron u sedi-ka porta gene aperi. Un andro; mi ne pa vide pre-kron, pa ki per porta-lo. An pa habe debili kroma e feno ko minus de bi levo-manu digi. An pa habe gladia. Anti-co an ne feno es boni milita-pe. 

I asked him what was for his service, and he said he would take rum; but as I was going out of the room to fetch it, he sat down upon a table and motioned me to draw near.

_An pa gene sedi epi mensa, e face manu signi; mi debi ki proxi. 

"Is this here table for my mate Bill?" he asked with a kind of leer.

_An dice ko facia signi; qi pa es mixa de mali e hedo, "Qe, u-ci mensa es de ami de mi, Bili?"

I told him I did not know his mate Bill, and this was for a person who stayed in our house whom we called the captain.

_Mi pa dice an; mi habe nuli logi de Bili. U-ci mensa es pro persona in domi; de qi na habe nomina navi-cefa.

"Well," said he, "my mate Bill would be called the captain, as like as not. We’ll put it, for argument like, that your captain has a cut on one cheek--and we’ll put it, if you like, that that cheek’s the right one. Ah, well!

_An dice, "Boni, u-ci ami de posi habe nomina navi-cefa, posi ne. Na postula; u-ci navi-cefa habe vulne epi mo buka - e u-ci buka es dextra buka. O, boni."

I told him he was out walking.

_Mi pa dice; an akti gradu extra domi.

The stranger kept hanging about just inside the inn door, peering round the corner like a cat waiting for a mouse.

_U-la xeno-an pa du es proxi porta in domi, tem skope mikro ultra gono, homo u feli akti atende de mus.

"And here, sure enough, is my mate Bill. You and me’ll just go back into the parlour, sonny, and get behind the door, and we’ll give Bill a little surprise."

_An dice, "Sura, ami Bili es ci. Tu e mi fu ki in sedi-ka, fili, e ki po porta. Na fu dona hedo subito a Bili."

He cleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in the sheath;

_An pa sti no-fixa gladia in gladia-va.

At last in strode the captain, slammed the door behind him, without looking to the right or left, and marched straight across the room to where his breakfast awaited him.

_Fini-co u navi-cefa pa ki in, e, minus skope a dextra alo levo, rekti trans kamera a lo; lo es matena vora.

"Bill," said the stranger. 

_U xeno-an dice, "Bili." 

The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us; all the brown had gone out of his face, and even his nose was blue; he had the look of a man who sees a ghost.

_U navi-cefa pa akti tropi tako, e skope a na. An pa habe feno de homi; qi vide spiritu de morta-pe.

"Black Dog!" said he.

_An dice, "Melano Kani!"

"And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his ease. "Black Dog as ever was, come for to see his old shipmate Billy, 

_U difere-pe reakti, "Melano Kani veri, pro vide paleo ami Bili. 

"And we’ll sit down, if you please, and talk square, like old shipmates."

_"Plus-co na fu gene sedi, e dice justi, homo bi paleo navi-ami."

I left them together and retired into the bar.

_Mi pa lase bi mu kon alelo, e ki a bibe servi-lo.

Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous explosion of oaths and other noises--the chair and table went over in a lump, a clash of steel followed, and then a cry of pain, and the next instant I saw Black Dog in full flight, and the captain hotly pursuing, both with drawn cutlasses, and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder.

_Po-co id pa es subito bronto ex plu no-sankti dice. U mensa e sedi pa ki a pedi-lo homo amorfo. Id pa es plu soni de dura-fero anti dura-fero e voka de algo. Subito po-co mi vide Melano Kani sti fugi tako ko navi-cefa seqe - bi mu ko ge-tira gladia - un andro mo ko hema flu ex levo skapa.

Black Dog, in spite of his wound, showed a wonderful clean pair of heels and disappeared over the edge of the hill in half a minute.

_Melano Kani pa apo vista de se ultra margina de monti po semi minuta. U navi-cefa pa moti manu trans bi oku plu kron. Fini-co an pa ki re in domi. 

"Rum," he repeated. "I must get away from here. Rum! Rum!"

_An dice re e re, "Mi nece ki ab ci. Rum!"

While I was still getting in my own way, I heard a loud fall in the parlour, and running in, beheld the captain lying full length upon the floor.

_Tem mi tenta sti korekti logi de se, mi pa audi mega kade in sedi-ka. Po ki, mi pa vide navi-cefa holo epi pedi-lo. Iso-kron fe-parenta pa este fobo kausa plu voka e milita, e ki ad infra pro dona auxi. An pa habe no-facili spira ko mega soni.

It was a happy relief for us when the door opened and Doctor Livesey came in, on his visit to my father.

_Id pa es hedo laxa, kron u porta gene aperi, e Medika Livsi ki in, tem dona visita ad an-parenta. 

"Oh, doctor," we cried, "what shall we do? Where is he wounded?"

_Na dice per voka, "O, medika-an! Na fu akti qo-ra? U vulne es qo-lo?"

"Wounded? A fiddle-stick’s end!" said the doctor. "No more wounded than

you or I. The man has had a stroke, as I warned him. Jim, you get me a basin."

_U medika dice, "Vulne? Tali falsi! U-ci andro pa habe cerebra pato, iso mi dice monito ad an. Jim, tu gene u vasa pro mi."

When I got back with the basin, the doctor had already ripped up the captain’s sleeve and exposed his great sinewy arm. It was tattooed in several places. "Here’s luck," "A fair wind," and "Billy Bones his fancy."

_Kron mi ki ko vasa a la, u medika-an pa pre skizo braki-te de navi-cefa, e dona vista de plu mega muskula. Id pa habe plu derma pikto: "Boni okasio," "Boni venti," "Boni-feno Bili Bon."

But suddenly his colour changed, and he tried to raise himself, crying, "Where’s Black Dog?"

_Anti-co u kroma de navi-cefa pa gene muta. An pa tenta akti leva de se, tem dice per mega soni, "Melano Kani es qo-lo?"

"You have had a stroke, precisely as I told you; and I have just, very much against my own will, dragged you headforemost out of the grave. Now, Mr. Bones--"

_U medika-an dice, "Tu pa habe cerebra pato, iso mi pa dice a tu. Plus-co mi - forti anti mi auto volu - pa apo tu ab morta kavita. Ka-co, Andro Bon - "

"That’s not my name," he interrupted.

_An dice subito, "U-la ra ne es nomina de mi." 

"One glass of rum won’t kill you, but if you take one you’ll take another and another, and I stake my wig if you don’t break off short, you’ll die--"

_U medika-an reakti, "Mo tasa ko rum ne fu apo bio de tu. Anti-co, postula; tu gene mo. Po-kron tu fu gene mo plus e mo plus tasa. Plus-co - mi dona falsi kapila de mi - postula, tu ne fu sto bibe per holo mode, tu fu lose bio."

Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him upstairs, and laid him on his bed.

_Bi na pa pote tira an ko mega ergo a supra, e moti an ad-epi kli.