Great Expectations

 

As the night was fast falling,and as the moon,being past the full,would not rise early,we held a little council:a short one,for clearly our course was to lie by at the first lonely tavern we could find.So,they plied their oars once more,and I looked out for anything like a house.Thus we held on,speaking little,for four or five dull miles.It was very cold,and,a collier coming by us,with her gallery-fire smoking and flaring,looked like a comfortable home.The night was as dark by this time as it would be until morning;and what light we had,seemed to come more from the river than the sky,as the oars in their dipping stuck at a few reflected stars.

 

天黑得很快，偏巧这天又是下弦月，月亮不会很早升起。我们就稍稍商量了一下，可是也用不着多讨论，因为情况是明摆着的，再划下去我们一遇到冷落的酒店就得投宿。于是他们又使劲打起浆来，我则用心寻找岸上是否隐隐约约有什么房屋的模样。这样又赶了四五英里路，一路上好不气闷，大家简直不说一句话。天气非常冷，一艘煤船从我们近旁驶过，船上厨房里生着火，炊烟缕缕，火光荧荧，在我们看来简直就是个安乐家了。这时夜已透黑，看来就要这样一直黑到天明，我们仅有的一点光亮似乎不是来自天空，而是来自河上，一浆又一浆的，搅动着那寥寥几颗倒映在水里的寒星。