Chapter 10 Chapter nine

Someone was banging on the door. Pamela hurried out to open the door, fumbling to throw a long nightgown over her.The dormitory floors of the old La Force Hotel shook. "who is it?" "Phil Ruhr." She opened the door, startled. The last time she saw him was the morning after the Japanese attack, impassioned in his jungle warfare uniform, about to fly to the front in a rented private jet.Ruhr is a flying athlete. In order to search for the deeds on the battlefield, he is willing to go all out.Back in the Spanish Civil War, she had been fascinated by the stories of him flying a plane to fight enemy planes with such madness.His romantic tales, with their Marxist rhetoric, reminded her of Malraux.Now he was drenched, his hair hung down in locks, his unshaven face was gaunt, his eyes were sunken, and one bandaged hand was horribly red and swollen.There was another person beside him, he was short and stern, with iron-gray hair, and he was drenched all over.He was an army officer, and he was beating his palms with a wet, light cane.

"My God, Phil! Come in." "This is Denton. Major Shep." Tudsbury limped out of his bedroom in a baggy yellow silk pajamas. "My God, Philip, you fell into the river," he yawned. "It's raining hard outside. Can we have some brandy? Penang has fallen. We've just come from there." "My good God, Penang? Nothing." "Lost it, I tell you. Lost it." "Have they pushed so far south? Oh, the island is as strong as a castle!" "It used to be like this. The whole of Malaya is about to fall. It's a rout and the news you're broadcasting is a disgraceful lie. My God, why are you flattering those bastards who lie about the victory and do nothing? They've screwed up the game, and maybe ruined an empire—not that it's worth saving."

"I'm reporting the truth, Phil." Tudsbury handed the two men two glasses of brandy, his face flushed. "Said what I could find out." "Nonsense. It's not a whole lot of good stuff from 'Rule Britain'. Malaya is lost, lost!" "I say, the brandy croaks!" The major's voice was so high and sweet, it was almost girlish, and it was surprising. "Never mind Phil, he's frightened. He's never lost a battle like this. Malaya isn't lost. We can still beat the little bastards." "Denton is on General Dobby's staff," Rule said hoarsely to Tudsbury. "I don't agree with him, but listen to him! He'll give you something to broadcast."

Pamela went back to her room and put on a bathrobe to save Philip.Ruhr kept staring at her breasts and thighs under the thin silk pajamas. As Tudsbury refilled his glass, Shep asked in a high-pitched voice, "Have you got a map of Malaya?" "Here it is." Tudsbury walked to the middle of the room and turned on a chandelier above the wicker table. Shep traced the map with his light walking stick as a pointing stick, showing that the battle had been fully anticipated.He himself had been a part of General Dobby's staff in planning the exercises.Many years ago they predicted where the Ridges might land if they attacked, and how they would advance.Dobby even staged a mock attack during the monsoon to prove it would work.But no one in the current command in Malaya seems to be aware of Dobby's research work.In a storm that hit at night, the Indian and British troops in the north were caught off guard by the Japanese setting up beachheads, and the defense troops were routed and retreated.The advance of the Japanese army was overwhelming, and the second line of defense established around Jitra and equipped with adequate supplies, which was supposed to hold for a month, fell in a few hours.Since then, the British army has been retreating steadily, and there is no battle plan at all.

Besides, the British army was scattered over the peninsula—Shep pointed here and there with his cane—and was thinly manned, in order to protect the airfields, and the location of the airfields was so foolishly chosen by the RAF without prior consultation with the army. Negotiate.There is no way to coordinate operations and defend the airport.Several airfields have been lost.In this way, the Japanese army won the air supremacy.To make matters worse, the Japanese had tanks.In Malaya there were not a single British tank.The War Office in London had decided that tanks were useless in jungle warfare.It's a pity (Shepp said in a dry, high-pitched nasal tone) that the Japanese Army was not informed of this insight.Although their tanks were not very good, they went on a rampage without encountering any resistance, and the Asian troops fled.There are anti-tank barriers piled high in Singapore, but no one is putting them where they should be.

Despite the defeat, the British defense was superior, Shepp insisted.There were three divisions of the Japanese army that landed.The British army can mobilize five divisions, and air and ground reinforcements are still coming in a steady stream.The Japanese army was well trained for jungle warfare - light and casual.Feeds on fruit and wild roots, is equipped with thousands of bicycles, and can move quickly once the roads are captured - but the Japanese strike across the Pacific; it is probable that this landing force will have to supply and ammunition all by itself Bring it or grab it.If the defenders implement a scorched-earth policy, dragging down with the invading army, forcing them to consume all food, fuel, and ammunition on the long southward route.When the ammunition and food ran out, they had to stop advancing.Then they can be wiped out in one fell swoop.

Shepp pointed out on the map where strong fortifications should have been long ago.General Dobby had sent a report asking for them to be built in peacetime--nothing had been done--what a mistake--but it was still in time.The required materials are available in the warehouse.A labor force of two million Chinese and Malays (who both hated and feared the Japanese) could be called at any moment.They can build the fortifications in a week or ten days.Two very strong lines of defense need to be built, close to the city: one in Johor State across the strait, and the other along the north shore of Singapore Island itself, including underwater obstacles, oil pipelines, searchlights, bunkers, barbed wire, machine guns The bunker—"But the fortifications have been made there," interrupted Tudsbury. "The North Shore has long been impregnable."

"You're wrong," replied Shep, his strange girlish thin voice thickened with brandy. "There's nothing else on the north shore of this island but marshes." est.Tudsbury's eyes widened, and he was silent for a while before he said, "I saw with my own eyes that there are very strong fortifications there." "What you're looking at is the outer wall of the base, the wall that keeps out meddling people. It's not a base that can be defended." "Are you saying that the BBC has listened to lies and been duped by the highest authorities in Singapore?"

"Ah, my good friend, the BBC is a propaganda channel. They are using you. That's what I'm here for. I hope you have some way to mobilize the Malaya Command." Shep smiled. He tapped the stick lightly on the palm of his hand. "Phil says you're a strong man, and you say compliments like that. The Empire is crumbling, Tudsbury. That's not newspaper propaganda. That's military fact." Tudsbury watched the quiet, persuasive, dripping officer. "Okay. About nine o'clock in the morning, can you come in here again?" He limped around the room excitedly. "I'm going to drive this story out overnight. Then I want you to check the manuscript."

"Really? Nine o'clock? Great! I'd love to help." "But you have to cover Denton," Rule broke in. "Even if people use red-hot tongs to pull out your bird pellets." Shep is gone.Rule asked if he could stay and take a nap in the armchair.He was going to the hospital at dawn. "Listen, take off your fat wet clothes and hang them up. You go take a shower," Tudsbury said. "I have an empty bed in my room, go to sleep after taking a bath." "Thank you so much. I stink all over. In Jitra we walked through muddy pools. I had to pull forty leeches off myself. These little scary filths!"

"What's the matter with your hands?" Pamela asked. "It looks scary." "Oh, it was made like this by two idiot military doctors in Jitra with a lancet." Ruhr looked at his hand pitifully and worriedly. "I hope I don't lose this hand. Maybe a little blood poisoning, Pam. I'm shaking all over." Pamela smiled.Although Ruhr is not afraid of heaven and earth, this man has always been suspicious, thinking that he has some kind of disease."Where's your plane, Phil?" Tudsbury asked. "At the Malacca airport. We got an army truck there. They wouldn't put gas on my plane. Denton and I flew there from Penang. At Penang we had to hold the plane. , get rid of those people, Taoji, I mean white people. In fact, officers of the Army Corps!" Pamela put water in the tub and put clean towels on him, but it turned out that he was already asleep with his clothes on.She took off his boots and his outer uniform (which reeked of swampland) and tucked the mosquito net around the sides for him.When she turned his body, he was still talking in his sleep. She suddenly remembered the past.Up until now, in Singapore, he had been her past lover: older, glib flirtatious, obnoxious.But the exhausted, disheveled white-skinned big man in front of him, wearing a warm undershirt and trousers, naked, sleeping there, is more like Phil in Paris that year.ruhr.A Russian wife, and everything else, made him at least unusual!In Paris, he (unkempt, so shabby) was always amusing. "What's going on, Pamela?" cried Tudsbury. "Sit down to the typewriter and let's get to work" He paced back and forth with plodding steps, waving his arms, and dictated a radio transcript—"Conversations with a Defeatist."So he reported; at the golf club he had once had a conversation with a retired army colonel, an alarmist old stubborn.Denton.Shep's opinion turned out to come out of the mouth of a critical old man.Tudsbury pointed out that defeatism tends to evoke such nightmares; and this report also shows the human side of Singapore's defenders.The author himself stated that he was convinced that there was a fixed line of defense, and that the retreat while fighting was carried out completely according to the plan. The north shore of Singapore Island had already set up traps, and there were many swords and guns, which would be the burial place for the invaders.The above episode is nothing more than proof that freedom of speech is still enjoyed in the fortress of Singapore, and that "democracy" still maintains confidence in Malaya. When he finished dictating, Pamela drew back the blackout curtains.The east has revealed fish white.It was still raining hard. "Very strategic, isn't it?" her dad asked, seeing that she hadn't commented on the article. "The situation was revealed, but they couldn't find fault with me." She rubbed her eyes and said, "Once this thing is taken out, you will never be able to get away." "We'll see. I've got to hurry up and get an hour's sleep right now." Major Shep, much neater, with a pith helmet on, arrived just at nine o'clock.He made a few hasty corrections in pencil on the typescript, and shouted in a high voice: "I say, you have a good memory, and you didn't say anything, Tudsbury." "I haven't been in this business for a year or two." "Very well, this is a quack report. Fantastic writing. Congratulations! Hope it makes an impact. I'll be listening to it on the radio up north. I couldn't be happier that Phil accompanied me here. " Pamela sent the manuscript to the press inspection office, and went shopping on the street.I saw that the shops were crowded with customers coming in and out. Most of these shops were opened by Chinese people. The stocks of daily necessities were still very sufficient, and the prices were much lower than those in London—women’s silk underwear, jewelry, exquisite food. Ah, the wine, the suede gloves, and the elegant shoes and purses.But now almost every shop hangs the same notice, in newly printed red letters (something like a Southeast Asian handwriting: "All cash transactions-no credit." "Are you back, Pam?" Tudsbury called as she heard her throw her shopping on the map table. "It's me. Any news?" "Yes. The government office called me." He came out of his room, freshly shaved, flushed, dressed in white linen, with his hat on one side, like a libertine. , Two fierce lights appeared in his eyes. "Old articles from Berlin are coming again!" "Has Phil woke up?" "Wake up early. He left a note in your bedroom. Good-bye!" Ruhr wrote in childlike print: "Dear ones, I write with my left hand out of helplessness, please forgive me. Thank you for your care and cover it with a mosquito net. I can't help it because of the past, so I have to wear it Yukata, I'm so sorry. My hands are so sore. Good day, Malraux." She threw the note into the wastebasket and fell asleep on the couch.The phone ringing woke her up.An hour has passed. "Hello, Pam?" Tudsbury's voice sounded excited and light. "Pack me a traveling bag. I'm going away for a week or so." "Going out? Where are you going?" "I can't tell right now." "Should I clean up too?" "don't want." After a while, he came back, only to see that the sweat from his armpits had soaked his shirt and turned into two big black spots. "Where's the travel bag?" "In your bed; all packed." "Let me have a strong gin and tonic. It's a hornet's nest, Pamela. My destination is Australia." "Australia!" "I'm having a hard time, dear." He hurriedly took off his jacket, untied his tie, and sat down in the armchair, which creaked. "Worse than in Berlin. Good God, that manuscript made some hearts go crazy! The Governor and Brooke Popham are in a rage. I've been treated unreasonably badly by the locals, Pam. Really trying to scare me. Damn fools, they're in trouble themselves. But they're determined to strangle whoever wakes them from their dream world. It's time to reveal the truth— — Pam, the painful, ominous truth. What I see is the smog that fills the uppermost floors. Ah, thank you." He swallowed his drink. "What should I do? Come with you?" "No. Brooke Popham's shift. You'll have to find out some way. Get it in your notebook. I'll be right back to get this fight; but the transcript must be broadcast." "Taoji, Australia also has press censorship." "It can't be compared with here. It's impossible. No reason, no reason to contradict! You see, they first say they have a fixed line of defense. Then they say that's not the case, and they admit that there is no such line of defense. , because of the lack of labor! About Shep's idea, using the local labor force, they call it nonsense nonsense. Malaya's mission is to make money. Even if a local person is drawn from a rubber plantation, from a tin mine, he will Disrupting the deployment of preparations for war—note that when these words are being said, mines and plantations are falling into the hands of the Japanese one by one every day! Besides, the wages paid by plantation owners and mining companies cannot be paid by the government. According to The government pays the standard requisition of labor, and it takes three months to send letters to and from the War Department. That's the way they think about it, Pamela, and at the same time Penang is lost and the Japanese are marching furiously south!" "Singapore is going to fall sooner or later," said Pam, at a loss as to how she would get out of this place in the future. "If the authorities had taken Shep's advice, it wouldn't have fallen. I've been on the side of this government suicide hoax. Now I've got to pay for it. Thank God Phil brought Shep to see me— Ha, here it comes!" He rushed towards the ringing phone. "What? What? - ah, nice job! Great job. Thank you - Pam, they've done it! They've knocked a poor American businessman out of the seaplane. I'm on my way .” "So you're spending Christmas in Australia. I'm spending Christmas here." "What can I do, Pam? It's war. It's going to be a historic broadcast. The BBC can fire me afterward. I don't care much. When this is done, it's If the turmoil subsides, I'll come back, or else you'll fly to Australia." Tudsbury was busy combing his hair, adjusting his tie, and rushing to get his travel bag. "I'm sorry, I just slipped away like this. Fortunately, it's only a few days." "But will the Japanese come in these few days? That's what I'm thinking about." "Do you think I'm going to leave you alone and let you face the difficulties yourself? The Japanese are still three hundred miles away, and they only advance a few miles a day." "Come on, all right. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to be raped by rows of drooling Orientals." "Listen, do you think I'm wronging you?" "Come on, Talkey, you're on your way! Merry Christmas to you!" "This is my good boy. Good-bye." Major Shep was telling the truth.The Singapore Fortress was nothing more than an illusion.The Tudsburys could see it clearly from the plane when they first arrived.There was no such fortress; and the passing of an empire is like the passing of a cloudy day without sunset in sight.Its end of life was not announced on the radio, and its death was not read in the morning papers.The British Empire had brought itself to the breaking point in this great, but slow, struggle to beat Hitler off.The British people had long wanted the empire to die quickly, so they elected an appeasementist leader to slash the military budget.Having said that, it is still unbearable to wait until the moment of the end comes.Fantasy is an analgesic, born of the gap between subjective desire and objective reality.That fantasy is Fortress Singapore. I don't mean to scare people by saying this.One need only read Churchill's memoirs and it becomes clear that even he really thought Singapore was a fortress.All the personnel on the ground—officers of the army, officers of the navy, and the Colonial Administrator, all the way up this vast chain of command—none of them reported to the Prime Minister that the Singapore Fort did not exist.But the British belief in the “impregnable walls of the empire” was contagious—at least to Europeans.Many months before the Japanese attack, Hermann.Goering had warned a visiting Japanese general that the Singapore fortress could hold out for a year and six months.But it was this same general who captured Singapore in seventy days. This fantasy did not come out of thin air.Singapore sits on the shipping lane between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, controlling major eastern trade routes.During those wasted years of appeasement, millions of pounds were poured into Singapore as military grants because the Japanese threat was anticipated.At the beginning of this century, it was the British themselves who helped Japan build a modern navy, and the British shipyards reaped a lot of dividends.The eccentric and feudal Japanese quickly caught up and defeated the Tsarist Russian navy to the rapturous applause of the British newspapers.But after the smoke of the First World War dissipated, the changing balance of power in the world suggested that perhaps it was these eccentric Japanese who would someday come to take on the British Empire.So a huge naval base was established in Singapore, which has the ability to accommodate and repair the entire Royal Fleet.The original plan was that if Japan was about to make a move, the main fleet would sail to Singapore immediately, and use deterrence or force to prevent it from acting rashly.Maybe the Germans came out to make trouble at the same time, so the main fleet needs to stay in the mainland.seems to be ignored. Therefore, the food, fuel and munitions stored in Singapore are enough to withstand a 70-day siege.During these seventy days, try to mobilize the fleet and rush to Singapore.There is also a huge fort, with the muzzle pointed at the sea, which can resist any attack by the Japanese fleet before the reinforcements arrive.It all gives a fortress feel. But the sea does not surround Singapore like a moat.The enemy can come south along the desolate Malay Peninsula from the north, cross the narrow Johor Strait, and attack by land.Policy makers decided that four hundred miles of tropical jungle would be stronger than a fortified rampart.Besides, they felt that if a wall was really erected on the north shore of the island, wouldn't it mean that the Japanese army might come from the north one day, and the British army would not be able to hold them back.The British Empire ruled Asia with invincible prestige.With the capital fleet seventy days away, what pressing need was there to take such humiliating precautions?This barrier was not built after all.In order to be more at ease, they doubled the storage materials on Singapore Island, enough to last for 140 days. This is where the image of "Singapore Fortress" comes from.The years of planning, the large sums of money spent without borrowing money, the ink that has been poured into rivers and magazines, the political and military debates that rage all day long-all these have fueled A fantasy that has spread almost all over the world, into the minds of the highest British leadership and throughout the Western world: a fortress has been raised in Singapore.The clothing, food, and flesh and blood of the British working class are spent on this twenty-mile-square naval base, where there is the largest shipyard in the world, with cranes, machine repair shops, all kinds of machinery and spare parts, elegant housing and recreational facilities; and enough munitions, food, and oil to supply an entire fleet for several months, all stored in sprawling concrete basements beneath the swamp.It is in a class in its own right, like the Maginot Line, an engineering marvel that astounds. But until February, the last brigade of Scottish troops retreated across the causeway blowing bagpipes, and the dynamite packs blew a hole in the ring hole connecting to the mainland, and the Japanese troops on the mainland were swarming in. The north shore of the North Coast was never fortified—Churchill always thought it was fortified; in his own words, he thought that "a battleship without a bottom can never get into the water." As a result, the British fleet never came.It is too late to fight against the German navy in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Mediterranean Sea, and in its own territorial waters.A large amount of equipment remained unused until the Japanese army approached only one mile, and the British army tried their best to blow up and burn these equipment.However, when the base fell into the hands of the enemy, it was still relatively intact, which was an amazing military gain.Churchill, in spite of everything, clings to the 70-day plan, even if it has reached the point where it is in disarray, he still has to give it a try.He sent the "Prince of Wales" and the "Repulse" to help, but only let them go to the bottom of the sea. Malaya has also opened up a lot of airports, equipped with a lot of supplies - but there are no planes.The British Royal Air Force has never sent a large number of planes. In order to defend the skies over Britain from the Luftwaffe, it lost many planes and shipped hundreds of them to the Soviet Union. Many of them never took off. On the way, he was sent to the bottom of the sea by a torpedo from a German submarine.The few remaining aircraft in Malaya were quickly shot down.It is said that the Japanese aircraft made of "bamboo shoots and rice paper" turned out to be the Zero aircraft-at that time, it was the most advanced fighter jet in the world.The Japanese captured those excellent airstrips they called "Churchill Fields"; from these well-supplied airfields their planes coordinated with the Army to force Singapore to surrender. The record about Singapore seems to be such a muddled account today.The U.S. Congress investigated the Pearl Harbor incident, but the British Parliament did not investigate the Singapore issue.Churchill took all the blame, fell down an inch or two, and fought on. Even place names are confusing. What does "Singapore" mean?Singapore refers to the city; Singapore refers to the island; Singapore refers to the naval base; Singapore refers to the "fortress of the empire."But to put it bluntly, "Singapore" is a narcotic myth that turns the pain into a dull sensation when the European arm of the white man is amputated close to Asia. It was discovered after World War II that the strategic deployment of General Dobby, who was not adopted, was indeed very clever—it turned out that when the invading army marched into Singapore, it was really just the last breath, and their number was much smaller than that of the local defenders. The army has almost reached the point of exhaustion.When the Japanese army launched their last attack, they made up their minds to burn the boat and used up all the existing fuel and ammunition.The high command in Singapore collapsed, and the colored Malays were replaced by colored new masters. est.Tudsbury broadcast his manuscript in Australia.Pamela heard the broadcast from the McMahon guest house.philip.Ruhr, with one arm in a sling, was lying in bed recuperating.He had another cut in that hand and he had to rest for a week.In the main room, the McMahons and their dinner guests didn't want to hear her dad's radio.After a good deal of Basset, and a good supper with several kinds of wine, they sang Christmas carols round the piano.In the dark night, the heavy rain poured down, and the bullfrogs in the nearby mangroves made a low-pitched noise, but Pamela in the hut could still faintly hear the singing that floated over.She was sitting under a large electric fan that was slowly rotating, the wind was blowing her hair, and her long thin skirt was fluttering non-stop.The dim light from the dial of the radio (perhaps half as bright as a candle) painted the room a pale orange.The rain splashed in through the open window, and so did the faint scent of frangipani. The radio reception was good and the script of the broadcast was almost intact.The fictional colonel no longer complains that the north shore of Singapore Island is undefended; he says the line needs to be "reinforced with urgency."No longer accusing the Royal Air Force of only knowing how to set up airfields, but regardless of whether these airfields can be defended.Tudsbury ended with a more emphatic tone by dissociating himself from the matter. "Is this story worth the trouble, Phil?" Pamela asked, keeping the radio down but keeping the little light on the dial on. He was smoking a cigarette, and the deep wrinkles on his face revealed a poignant, mocking expression.He looks much better.Ruhr was strong and strong, and within a few days of rest, he got rid of his bad temper. "Kind of a gimmick. This crazy old geezer sounds like himself on the radio. No one takes it seriously—at least not the powerful ones." Pay attention to it." "What else can Taoji do?" "I can't tell. I'm surprised it's come through and thrown out." "Phil, will Singapore fall?" Ruhr's laugh was hard to hear. "My dear, I'm afraid it's inevitable. You'll blame the governor, or you'll blame Brooke Popham, you'll blame Duff. Cooper, you'll even blame Churchill, it's no use. That's how it goes: total breakdown. Hopeless, the whole The machines are all rusted, and the parts are falling off one by one. In the north, there is no leader at all. The brothers have to fight. They try to find a way, even the Indian army has to fight. Who knows from It's cowardly Singapore's order after order - back off, back off, back off. I see the brethren weeping with the orders. There's no humanity in those bastards at Tanglein's, Pam. They're just a piece of crap. They're afraid of the Japanese army, and they're afraid of our own Asians. Speaking of which, the fact that European whites rule Asia is as stupid as ever. This kind of thing It's not going to last. Now that it's over, why grieve over it?" "How can I get out of Singapore?" "You can get away. The Japanese are still far away. There are ships ready to take out the white women and children. You know, that's what they do in Langyu. They take Europeans—soldiers, etc. Wait—removed together, leaving the Asians and their women and children to face the Japanese. Do you know what happened? Afterwards, Duff Cooper announced on the radio: The entire population of Penang is out of danger! He I mean it, Pamela. To Duff Cooper, Asians were just an animal that grew up on the nuclear island. Now there is a strong reaction—about what happened then and What he said. I don't think Asians care a bit about who's the master here. Maybe we're softer than the Japanese, but at least the Japanese are colored. Asians would rather suffer tyranny than contempt." "Everyone is talking about the US sending an expeditionary force to rescue us, do you believe it?" "It's wishful thinking. The U.S. doesn't have a fleet. The fleet sank at Pearl Harbor." "No one understands what happened at Pearl Harbor." "Denton. Shep knows. They have eight battleships in total, and they are all sunk. For the next two years (not to mention forever), there will be no American business in the Pacific. Sending rescue troops to Singapore is like sending troops from Switzerland." It's just as impossible to send help, but—what's the matter with you?" Pamela.Tudsbury buried her face in the crook of an arm resting on the back of the chair. "Pamela! What's the matter?" She didn't answer. "Oh my God, you're missing your Yankee! I feel bad for you, girl. I thought of Denton when he told me. I don't know anything about the casualties, Pam. It is very possible that your sweetheart is safe and sound. Those warships sank in the harbor, in shallow water." She still didn't say a word, didn't move.Outside the hut, only the sound of rain, the sound of bullfrogs and a chorus from afar could be heard: God bless you, be happy, don’t let what makes you unhappy——Suddenly, just outside the window, there seemed to be a frightened The lunatic was talking nonsense and giggling there.Pamela sat up straight and cried. "Sorry! My God! What's that?" "Don't be afraid. That's our apricot monkey. It's walking around in the woods. It sounds scary, but it doesn't hurt anyone." "God, I hate Singapore! I would hate Singapore even if there was no war." Pamela stumbled to her feet and wiped her moist forehead. "Let the Japanese take Singapore away, it's only good! I'm going back to the main house. Are you okay? Do you need anything else?" "I'll be lonely, but there's no reason why you shouldn't have fun. Go ahead." "Happy! I just don't want to be rude to my master. They might think I'm in bed with a sick man." "Well, why don't you come to sleep, Pam?" She glared at him. "Really, isn't it fun? Christmas Eve and all that? Remember Christmas Eve in Montmartre? The day Slote and Natalie got into a fight at dawn , this one is really worth mentioning, and the two of us sneaked to Lehar's restaurant to eat onion soup?" Phil's mustache twisted, and slowly revealed a cute and familiar smile ，映着收音机的桔黄色微光，显得很朦胧。他伸出他那条没受伤的手臂。 “来吧，塔茨伯利。” “你是头猪，菲利普，一头贼性不改的猪，”啪姆的声音也发抖了，“在巴士底纪念日那天的小小谈话中，我骂你的那些话也都骂得对。” “心肝儿，我出生在一个腐朽的社会里，所以我可能是个腐朽的人——如果'腐朽的人'这个词儿讲得通的话。我们不要再把过去的争吵又搬出来，不过你是不是有些前后矛盾？在这社会总崩溃的时候，除了寻欢作乐，还能怎么样呢。你自己也相信这个。我是爱逢场作戏的，你却坚持要戏剧中的爱情。本性难改啊，错不了。我爱着你呢。” “那么对你的妻子呢？我只是感到好奇，问问罢了。在巴黎，至少你还没有妻子。” “心肝儿，我不知道她现在是不是还活着。如果还活着，我希望她正把哪个正在休假的、有资格享乐的漂亮俄国战士勾上了；话虽这么说，我不相信她会干得出来，她比起今天的大多数英国妇女来，还要古板。” 帕米拉一头冲出门去。 “你该拿把伞呀，”他冲着她的背影叫道。 她拐回来，拿起雨伞就朝外冲。她在黑暗中还没跨出十步，那猴子几乎就在她耳边怪叫起来，让人听着血都凝住了。帕米拉轻轻叫了一声，往前直冲，直撞在一株树上，树皮刮破了她的脸，树枝横扫过来，打落了她手里的伞，树上的雨珠都泻落在她身上。她把伞拣起来，痴呆地站在那儿，浑身都湿透了。几乎就在她正前方，她听到有歌声送来——只要村里还有一条小路，总会有一个英国在。可是那一夜是一片漆黑。她本是趁两场骤雨之间雨势稍歇的当儿在星光底下寻路而来的。她如今闹不清楚该怎样往前走。小路在两行夹竹桃和热带花草之间弯弯曲曲，很是陡峭。 在这一时刻里，帕米拉的心境大不好受了。她父亲的广播使她灰心丧气。她本来因为孤单单的一个人，没人保护，心里已很不安，现在又听到从千里外传来的亲人的声音，就越发使她心里不安。近来这一阵，日本人在广播里用蹩脚的英语发出威胁，她听了害怕。外邦人带着喉音的声音听起来就象在你面前，真叫人害怕！她几乎感到有双指甲粗厚、长满老茧的手伸过来在扯破她的衬裤，使劲掰开她的两条大腿。在大难临头的那许许多多妇女中，就她知道得最清楚新加坡是多么不中用。 加上现在鲁尔又从谢普那儿听得了维克多。亨利的那条军舰已沉没了！即使亨利死里逃生，也会重新委派他别的差使。即使她从新加坡脱身出来，也说不定会从此再见不到他了。即使凭着某种异乎寻常的巧遇再见到他。So what?他不是有妇之夫吗？她走遍了天涯海角，却如海底捞月，现在只落得一个人，在这炎热的黑夜里，撑着一把雨伞，顶着倾盆大雨，在陌生人的花园里，浑身湿透，四顾茫茫。而今天正是圣诞节前夜——也许这是她一生中最后一个圣诞节了。 不怕会少掉一个英国，英国总是会自由——她可不愿去跟这些喝醉了酒的新加坡英国人合在一起唱歌。这支廉价的小曲不可忍受地把她带回到战争的初期，那时正是明朗的夏天，也是她生命中最美好的时刻，“不列颠之战”正在进行，海军中校亨利在空袭柏林之后飞回英国，她扑进了他的怀抱。这一段光荣史现在都已化为灰烬了。她喜欢麦克马洪夫妇俩，可是他们的那些朋友却是从俱乐部和陆军部来的蠢货。自从喝了“巴喜特”以后，两个参谋部的年轻中尉一直在向她献殷勤。这两个人都讨厌到极点，但倒是两头漂亮的牲口——尤其是那个金发长脸的中尉，懒洋洋的，带着李斯廉。霍华德那种神情。只要她一回到正屋，他们又会来追求她（如果她在黑夜里寻路没有一交跌得满脸污泥的话）。很明显，他们两个都一心要想跟她睡觉——假使不是在今夜，那就在明夜、后夜。 他们错到哪儿去了啊！这又有什么关系呢？她这样不明不白地为了维克多。亨利的缘故洁身自守，算得上什么呢？这不过是愚蠢的笑话罢了；守身如玉，完全用不到她身上，因为她早已不止一次地跟人胡搞过了。 在她背后，客舍里敞开着的窗子看上去象黑夜中一块淡黄色的长方形。不知道那儿确有一座客舍的人，会以为这是视神经的幻觉呢。前后左右一团漆黑，大雨滂沦，只有那儿有一点隐隐约约的光亮，她也只有这一条路好走。