Valu-ra Nesia 3

 3. The Black Spot

        _3. U Melano Makula

About noon I stopped at the captain’s door with some cooling drinks and medicines.

_Mi pa ki a kamera de navi-cefa peri meso-di ko plu frigi bibe e medika-ma. 

"Jim, you’ll bring me one noggin of rum, now, won’t you, matey?"

_An dice, "Jim, tu fu moti u mero ex rum a mi, qe, ami?" 

"The doctor--" I began.

Mi proto dice, "U medika-an - " 

But he broke in cursing the doctor.

_An proto dice plu no-sankti ra de medika-an.

"And now, matey, did that doctor say how long I was to lie here in this old berth?"

_Sti logi, ami, qe u-la medika-an dice; u metri de tem mi debi es ci in u-ci paleo kli?"

"A week at least," said I.

_Mi dice, "Mo setimana u mini metri." 

"Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can’t do that; they’d have the black spot on me by then.

_An dice per mega voka, "Bronto! Mo setimana! Mi ne pote akti u-la. Mu fu dona melano makula a mi la-kron." 

"Now, if I can’t get away nohow, and they tip me the black spot, mind you, it’s my old sea-chest they’re after; you get on a horse--you can, can’t you? Well, then, you get on a horse, and go to--well, yes, I will!--to that eternal doctor swab, and tell him to pipe all hands--magistrates and sich--and he’ll lay ’em aboard at the Admiral Benbow--all old Flint’s crew, man and boy, all on ’em that’s left. I was first mate, I was, old Flint’s first mate, and I’m the on’y one as knows the place.

_An dice, "Sti logi. Postula, mi ne fu pote akti fugi, e mu dona melano makula a mi, sti logi; mu volu paleo mari-teka de mi. Tu ki per eqi - tu pote, qe? Sti logi; tu ki per eqi, e ki a - boni, ja, mi fu dice! - ad u-la no-logi medika-an. Dice ad an; sti vigi panto ergo-pe - plu judika-pe e tali homi. An fu akti rapi de mu lo Navi-fa-Cefa Benbo - panto mu, andro e ju-an, panto-pe; qi nu es. Mi pa es un ami mo - mi pa es - un ami mo de paleo Flint. Plus-co mi es solo homi; qi habe logi de u-la loka."

"But what is the black spot, captain?" I asked.

_Mi dice u qestio, "Anti-co qo-ra es melano makula, navi-cefa?"

"That’s a summons, mate." 

_"Id es u voka a tribuna, ami."

Soon after I had given him his medicine, which he took like a child, with the remark, "If ever a seaman wanted drugs, it’s me," he fell at last into a heavy, swoon-like sleep.

_Mikro tem po mi dona medika-ma ad an; an pa gene homo un infanti tem dice reakti, "Ali-kron u mari-an pa volu plu medika-ma, an es mi," an pa gene u forti somni a fini-kron.

My poor father died quite suddenly that evening, which put all other matters on one side.

_Mi sti-konsola an-parenta pa lose bio subito tem u-la vespera; qi pa sti; panto plus ra es a latu.

He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and had his meals as usual, though he ate little and had more, I am afraid, than his usual supply of rum, for he helped himself out of the bar.

_An pa pote ki ad infra kron seqe matina, sura, e gene su vora akorda more. Anti-co an pa gene mikro vora-ma e ma mega metri - mi este fobo - de rum akorda more, ka an auto pa gene id ex bibe vendo-lo. 

So things passed until, the day after the funeral, and about three o’clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the door for a moment, full of sad thoughts about my father, when I saw someone drawing slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a stick and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose.

_Panto-ra pa gene tali acide, a-kron mo di po in-tera, peri tri horo de u frigi e glacia po-meso-di. Mi pa es lo porta-lo mo minuta; ple per plu tristi idea de an-parenta, kron mi vide; un homi ki lento ma proxi akorda via. An habe sura nuli vide-pote, ka an bate ante se per auxi-baci, e habe u kloro veli ante bi oku e nasa. 

He stopped a little from the inn, and raising his voice in an odd sing-song, addressed the air in front of him, "Will any kind friend inform a poor blind man, who has lost the precious sight of his eyes in the gracious defence of his native country, England--and God bless King George!--where or in what part of this country he may now be?"

_An pa sto ki u mikro metri ante viagia-pe-do, e sti dice per xeno kanta voka, tem dice ad aero ante se, "Qe, ali liberali ami dice info a sti-konsola ze-vide andro; qi pa lase fo-valu vide-pote de bi oku tem tena imuni u natio de se; lo qi alo lo tali mero de natio an nu es?"

"You are at the Admiral Benbow, Black Hill Cove, my good man," said I.

_Mi dice, "Tu es lo Navi-fa-Cefa Benbo, Baia Melano Monti, boni-an."

"I hear a voice," said he, "a young voice. Will you give me your hand, my kind young friend, and lead me in?"

_An dice, "Mi audi u juve voka. Qe, tu fu dona manu a mi, mi juve ami, e moti mi in la?"

I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, eyeless creature gripped it in a moment like a vise.

_Mi pa dona manu. Ko-co u-la sti-fobo, mikro-voka, minus-oku bio-ra pa gene rapi de id subito homo u tena-ru.

"Now, boy," he said, "take me in to the captain... Take me in straight or I’ll break your arm... and when I’m in view, cry out, ‘Here’s a friend for you, Bill.’"

_An dice, "Ju-an, moti mi tako a navi-cefa. Moti mi rekti in la. Alo-co mi fu sti frakti braki de tu. Plus-co kron mi es in vista, dice per mega voka, 'Un ami es ci pro tu, Bili.'"

The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look the rum went out of him and left him staring sober.

_U sti-konsola navi-cefa pa moti bi oku ad an. U rum pa ki ab an ko vista de an, e lase vigi an.

"Now, Bill, sit where you are," said the beggar. "If I can’t see, I can hear a finger stirring... Boy, take his left hand by the wrist and bring it near to my right."

_U no-puri andro dice, "Sti logi, Bili; dura es; lo qi tu es. Mi ne pote vide, anti mi pote audi mo digi ki. Ju-an, moti levo manu de an lo karpu proxi dextro de mi."

I saw him pass something from the hollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain’s.

_Mi pa vide; an moti ra ab manu; qi tena baci, a manu de navi-cefa.

The blind man... with incredible accuracy and nimbleness, skipped out of the parlour and into the road, where... I could hear his stick go tap-tap-tapping into the distance.

_U no-vide-an pa akti salta ex sedi-ka a via per fo-korekti e tekno; lo qi mi pote audi baci de an ko soni "tap-tap" a tele.

The captain... drew in his hand and looked sharply into the palm.

_U navi-cefa pa tira manu, e vide kura in id.

"Ten o’clock!" he cried. "Six hours. We’ll do them yet," and he sprang to his feet...

_An dice per mega voka, "Deka horo! Sixa horo ab nu-tem. Na fu akti anti mu." Po-co an akti tako sta.

...then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his whole height face foremost to the floor.

_Po-co an gene kade ko xeno soni ab holo alti a facia epi pedi-lo.

It is a curious thing to understand, for I had certainly never liked the man, though of late I had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was dead, I burst into a flood of tears.

_Id es u volu-logi ra, ka mi pa este amo de u-la andro nuli-kron, anti mi pa este konsola ad an pre mikro tem. Anti-co kron mi vide; an pa lose bio, mi pa proto bali poli lakrima.