The Moon And Sixpence 47.3

When the doorsof the Asile de Nuit were closed to them, Strickland and Captain Nichols soughtthe hospitality of Tough Bill. This was the master of a sailors'boarding-house, a huge mulatto with a heavy fist, who gave the stranded marinerfood and shelter till he found him a berth. They lived with him a month,sleeping with a dozen others, Swedes, negroes, Brazilians, on the floor of thetwo bare rooms in his house which he assigned to his charges; and every daythey went with him to the Place Victor Gelu, whither came ships' captains insearch of a man. He was married to an American woman, obese and slatternly,fallen to this pass by Heaven knows what process of degradation, and every daythe boarders took it in turns to help her with the housework. Captain Nicholslooked upon it as a smart piece of work on Strickland's part that he had gotout of this by painting a portrait of Tough Bill. Tough Bill not only paid forthe canvas, colours, and brushes, but gave Strickland a pound of smuggledtobacco into the bargain. For all I know, this picture may still adorn theparlour of the tumbledown little house somewhere near the Quai de la Joliette,and I suppose it could now be sold for fifteen hundred pounds. Strickland'sidea was to ship on some vessel bound for Australia or New Zealand, and fromthere make his way to Samoa or Tahiti. I do not know how he had come upon thenotion of going to the South Seas, though I remember that his imagination hadlong been haunted by an island, all green and sunny, encircled by a sea moreblue than is found in Northern latitudes. I suppose that he clung to CaptainNichols because he was acquainted with those parts, and it was Captain Nicholswho persuaded him that he would be more comfortable in Tahiti."You see,Tahiti's French, " he explained to me. "And the French aren't sodamned technical. "I thought I sawhis point.当夜宿店对他们下了逐客令以后，思特里克兰德同尼柯尔斯船长就在硬汉子彼尔那里找到另外一处歇夜的地方。硬汉子彼尔是一家水手寄宿舍的老板，是一个身躯高大、生着一对硬拳头的黑白混血儿。他给暂时失业的水手们提供食宿，直到在船上给他们找到工作为止。思特里克兰德同尼柯尔斯船长在他这里住了一个月，同十来个别的人，瑞典人、黑人、巴西人，一起睡在寄宿舍两间屋子的地板上。这两间屋子什么家具也没有，彼尔就分配他们住在这里。每天他都带着这些人到维克多·耶鲁广场去，轮船的船长需要雇用什么人都到这个地方来。这个混血儿的老婆是一个非常邋遢的美国胖女人，谁也不知道这个美国人怎么会堕落到这一地步。寄宿的人每天轮流帮助她做家务事。思特里克兰德给硬汉子彼尔画了一张肖像作为食宿的报酬，尼柯尔斯船长认为这对思特里克兰德来讲是一件占了大便宜的事。彼尔不但出钱给他买了画布、油彩和画笔，而且还给了他一磅偷运上岸的烟草。据我所知，这幅画今天可能还挂在拉·柔那特码头附近一所破旧房子的客厅里，我估计现在可能值一千五百英镑了。思特里克兰德的计划是先搭一条去澳大利亚或新西兰的轮船，然后再转途去萨摩亚或者塔希提。我不知道他怎么会动念要到南太平洋去，虽然我还记得他早就幻想到一个充满阳光的绿色小岛，到一个四围一片碧波、海水比北半球任何海洋更蓝的地方去。我想他所以攀住尼柯尔斯船长不放也是因为尼柯尔斯熟悉这一地区，最后劝他到塔希提，认为这个地方比其他任何地方都更舒服，也完全是尼柯尔斯的主意。“你知道，塔希提是法国领土，”尼柯尔斯对我解释说，“法国人办事不他妈的那么机械。”我想我明白他说这句话的意思。