Titanic

Chapter 8

A reporter tells the story of the cursed mummy that he made up on the deck, and Jack, who is knowledgeable and well-informed, debunks it on the spot, which attracts Ruth's admiration for him.From the reporter's mouth, Jack learned that he had a nightmare about the sinking of the "Titanic", and his ominous premonition became stronger.

The Titanic took revenge on Jack, and Ruth was in a particularly good mood, bouncing around on the deck, humming a tune she learned from somewhere.After tossing around for a while, Ruth gradually felt a little tired, and was about to return to her cabin to take a nap, when she suddenly found a group of people on the deck not far ahead, who seemed to be listening to some very interesting stories.

Ruth was attracted, squeezed into the crowd, and found a man smoking a cigar while talking to everyone with joy.Coincidentally, Fleet, the lookout, had just come down from the crow's nest and was also listening to the story in the crowd, standing next to Ruth.

Ruth: "Mr. Fleet, what's going on?"

Seeing Ruth, Fleet explained: "This is Mr. William Steady, a well-known reporter from London. He wants to tell you a gripping story."

After hearing their conversation, Stadler turned around and saw a beautiful young lady, who smiled complacently and told the story even more vigorously. "I'm a mystic, and I believe in spiritualism and supernatural powers. I also created a publication. I suggest you read it when you have time. There are many things in this world that we can't understand. If we don't understand, it doesn't mean that these things don't exist. If If you are skeptical about this, then well, I will tell a true story." Everyone, including Ruth, held their breath and listened to the story that this person who is good at telling secrets was going to tell.

"In Egypt more than 3000 years ago, there was a princess named Amon Ra. After her death, her mummy was buried by the Nile River. However, tomb robbers entered her tomb, disregarding the curse on the coffin, and her mummy Even the coffin was stolen. This is where the disaster began.

"About 20 years ago, that is, at the end of 1890, four British people traveled to Egypt. Someone sold them a coffin containing a mummy, which belonged to Princess Amun-Ra. These unlucky ghosts were curious Driven by their hearts, after some discussions, they decided that the richest of them would buy the mummy and the coffin at a price of several thousand pounds. They took Princess Amonra back to their hotel, and since then, Bad luck began to befall them.

"Just a few hours later, the rich man who paid for the mummy disappeared. For some unknown reason, he left the hotel and entered the desert not far away, and has never been seen again. This is not the end , The next day, another one of them was murdered inexplicably at the market, and although he saved his life, he was seriously injured and lost an arm."

At this point, Stadler took a puff on his cigar and looked triumphantly around the people who were listening intently to his story.He has a strong vanity and likes to stand in the center of the stage and become the focus of everyone's attention.

"You may ask, are the remaining two guys lucky and not in any trouble? No, one of them went bankrupt after returning home; the other was seriously ill and destitute, and ended up selling matches on the street .

"However, the mummy of Princess Amonra was still sent to England, and a lot of strange things happened along the way. After arriving in England, a rich man who was very obsessed with ancient Egyptian cultural relics bought it at a high price. But, no How long has it been since three of the rich man's family members were seriously injured in a bizarre car accident, and his home also caught fire. The rich man has long heard of the weird things that happened around the mummy, but he didn't believe in evil at first. He insisted on buying the mummy. Now, what happened to him made him believe it. The terrified rich man ignored the mummy and donated it to the British Museum free of charge.

"This cursed mummy continued to bring bad luck to those who approached it. The car transporting the mummy suddenly lost control and hit a pedestrian. When the porters carried the mummy into the museum, the coffin fell off in the stairwell, One of them crushed his foot. Two days later, the other died suddenly, unharmed.

"Ever since the mummy was sent to the British Museum and placed in the Egyptian Pavilion, it has been haunted. When the guards were on duty at night, they would hear the knocking and crying of Princess Amon Ra. Not long after, a guard Died suddenly while on duty, others were terrified and prepared to resign collectively. The management of the museum was helpless, and finally decided to send the mummy of Princess Amun-Ra to the basement and seal it up, hoping to prevent the disaster from spreading. Guess what What? Within a week, the executive who decided to send the mummy to the basement was dead."

Stead took two steps on the deck, glanced at Ruth, and continued: "Of course, there are brave people at any time who are desperate to achieve their goals. There is a reporter who risked his life to enter the British Museum He took a lot of photos of the mummy. While developing the photos, something weird happened, and a horrible human face appeared on one of the photos. As for whether this face is Princess Amonra herself, that is I don’t know. However, the reporter was found dead in his home the next day, and he committed suicide by shooting himself.

"The British Museum finally found a collector who was willing to take in the mummy. The collector turned to the famous sorceress Madame Bolawatsky. Madame Bolawatsky tried to exorcise the mummy, but, although she I tried my best, but in the end I had to admit that I had failed. Mrs. Bolawatsky said that the mummy of Princess Amonra contained an astonishingly powerful evil force, possessed by demons, and no one could do anything about it.”

"Whose hands did the mummy go into?" a man who listened enthralled asked.

Stead: "As I said, there are always brave people. An archaeologist in the United States bought a mummy for a fortune. He intends to ship the mummy to New York. Guess what?" Guess which ship transported the mummy of Princess Amun-Ra?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing whether what he said was true or not.Stadler smiled secretly, asked himself and answered: "It's the 'Titanic' we were on."

People froze for a moment, you looked at me, I looked at you, and after a while, they burst out laughing.Stadler laughed too.No one believed that the cursed mummy really existed, let alone that it was on the ship they were on.

After laughing, Ruth took a step forward and asked half-jokingly and half-seriously: "Mr. Stadler, what I want to ask is, if the story of the mummy you told is true, how did you know it so clearly? "

Stadler has probably told this story many times, and answered the same question more than once, so he answered calmly and calmly: "I'll tell you, my friend—Douglas? British. He was an Egyptologist, and he did it himself. When the mummy was brought back to England, it was originally placed in the house of another friend of ours. As a result, the next morning, the family Surprised that everything that could break was broken in the room where the mummies were kept. They moved the mummies from room to room and it was the same. I have seen coffins with mummies in person and I was impressed , behind the distorted face on the coffin lid, there must be a soul in great pain. I think it is the resentment of this soul that has caused so many tragedies." ﹡﹡﹡﹡ As the people were about to leave, Ruth turned and went to the reading room to read.A familiar voice sounded from behind her, "Mr. Stadler, I doubt the veracity of your story."

Ruth looked back and was taken aback. Jack came over at some point, his cold eyes gliding across Ruth's face, and looked at Stadler.Stadler comes across as confident, as if he has everything under control, and takes any questions about the story with ease.

Stead: "Please state your question."

Jack: "First of all, I have heard about the Mrs. Bolavatsky you mentioned. However, she died of influenza in 1891. According to your statement, if the mummy of Princess Amonra was discovered in 1890 It was bought by an unlucky British tourist, and so many things happened in the middle, it seems that Mrs. Bolawatsky exorcised it not during her lifetime, but after her death. So, did she exorcise the mummy, or should she exorcise it? She exorcising evil spirits?"

Jack's deadpan humor elicited a round of laughter.Stadler's face flushed immediately, and he said hesitantly: "Those things probably happened...before she died! It's also possible!"

Jack asked persistently: "So, where is the mummy of Princess Amonra in the next 20 years? What happened? If it just lay quietly somewhere, it seems to be the same Its style of making waves is inconsistent!"

The laughter in the crowd grew louder.Jack went on to say, "I'm a crew member. I've seen the manifest, and there isn't any mummy you mentioned on it."

Ruth whispered, "A crew member who wants to be a deserter!" Although she now admires Jack's clear-sightedness, she still can't help mocking him.Jack gave Ruth a hard look and hinted at her: "I'll settle the score with you!"

Stadler dealt with it with some despair. He had never met someone as smart and serious as Jack before.Everyone listens to it as a story, and no one takes it seriously, so they don't pursue the flaws in his story. "Perhaps the captain erased it from the manifest to avoid causing panic among the passengers!"

He wanted to run away, but Jack refused to let him go. "Let me tell you! Although I haven't seen the mummy of Princess Amonra you mentioned, I have seen her coffin. To be precise, it is a part of the coffin—the coffin lid. It is in the Egyptian Pavilion of the British Museum. According to expert identification, its time should be from the late 21st Dynasty to the early 22nd Dynasty of ancient Egypt (about 950 BC to 900 BC).

"As for the Princess Amon-Ra you mentioned, it is precisely the priestess of Amun-Ra. Probably during the spread of this story, people confused the words Priestess and Princess, so you will be wrong. There is a woman on the painted coffin cover The portrait and prayers, but the name and identity of the owner are not recorded. However, according to the workmanship and materials of the coffin lid, this woman should have a high social status. I checked the records of the British Museum, and the description of her is "Amon" was originally a small god in Thebes, Egypt, and later combined with the sun god "Ra" to become the king of gods, the father of Pharaoh, and the god of creation. The usual image is Male wearing a top hat. Serving at the ceremony'. So, I deduce that she is a priestess, not some kind of princess. Also, it was donated to the British Museum in 1889 by Sir Arthur Wheeler, It seems to be earlier than those few tourists bought it in Egypt."

The crowd roared with laughter.Ruth stared at Jack dumbfounded as if she had discovered a new world. It was completely unimaginable for her to be able to say these things from the bottom of a rude guy.Fleet whispered in her ear: "I told you, Jack is not as simple as it seems on the surface. He knows a lot. We call him 'Mr. Incredible' in private, and we don't know. Where did he get all this knowledge? I heard that he has traveled all over the world and read a lot of books."

Although she admired Jack very much in her heart, the stubborn Ruth still refused to admit defeat. "Mean fellow, for showing off his knowledge, he has made Mr. Steads ashamed."

Fleet joked, "If there was a crack in the deck, Mr. Stead would have slipped in."

Ruth couldn't help laughing too.Sure enough, Stadler was speechless, turned around and left, muttering as he walked, "I'm going to the United States to attend the World Peace Forum called by President Taft. I have a lot of preparations to do, and I don't have time here." Discuss with you."Even in a crushing defeat, he managed to salvage his poor self-esteem.

The protagonist left, and the crowd dispersed automatically.Jack went straight to Ruth. He ignored the hostile expression on Ruth's face, and he still couldn't forgive Ruth in his heart.Jack glanced at the books under Ruth's arm, and said mockingly, "Miss who always carries books and pretends to be knowledgeable, you have never heard of these things!"

Ruth's face flushed immediately, and the goodwill in her heart was replaced by hostility again.Before she could open her mouth, Fleet couldn't stand it any longer. He blamed Jack and said, "Jack, why do you treat Miss Ruth like this? Even if there was any unpleasantness between you, it's impolite to do so. Take care of Ma'am, it's us men." responsibilities. Don’t worry about it!”

Jack sneered and strode away.Fleet comforted Ruth and said, "Don't be angry, Jack really went too far this time! I hope you don't take it to heart."

In fact, Jack didn't go far away, he was staring at Ruth not far away, like a hunter ready to shoot staring at his prey. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ Ruth still had the original manuscript of the Rubaiyat in her heart, so Jack had to be put aside for the time being.She returned to her cabin for an afternoon nap, ready to take action this evening when she was refreshed.

It was a little windy at sea, and Jack went back to the deck below, where there was a glass-windowed corridor that protected him from the wind and rain.He stood in front of the glass window, looking at the sea, thinking about his own thoughts. "Coffey doesn't know where he is now. He escaped this catastrophe, but what about me? It's all because of that bitch!" Jack was furious when he thought of it, wishing he could tear Ruth to pieces.

Suddenly, Jack felt a "boom" in his body, as if he had been hit hard by a Hercules in the chest, making him dizzy and out of breath.Jack held on to the window frame, hunched over, trying not to let himself collapse on the deck.At this time, a picture quickly flashed in his mind, it was just a moment, but it was real, as if it happened right in front of his eyes.

On a pitch-black sea, a huge ship stood upside down on the water, the bow of the ship had plunged into the water, and the stern was at a ninety-degree angle to the water.There was a miserable cry for help from the sea, and figures struggling in the sea could be faintly seen, walking around the sunken ship, densely packed.There seemed to be some people on the upright stern, trying in vain to delay the time of falling into the water.That scene was hell on earth!
Jack was pale with fright, with cold sweat on his forehead.An icy feeling spread through his body, as if he himself had been immersed in the bone-chilling sea water.

At the same time, Ruth, who was taking a nap in the cabin, also woke up from the nightmare.In the dream, she saw almost exactly the same scene, a huge ship standing upside down on the sea, victims struggling in the sea and calling for help... After waking up, she immediately thought of the strange dream last night, in which Umar predicted disaster occur.Although she felt something was wrong in her heart, Ruth didn't think much about it. She focused on her action plan and didn't want to be disturbed by other things.

On the deck, Jack finally regained his composure. He took out the "Useless Work" from his trouser pocket, stared at the ominous book, and cursed in his heart: "It's all the fault of this book, otherwise all this would have happened." It will happen, and I won't be so suspicious." He was about to tear it apart as if venting, but he couldn't do it, so he simply threw it to the other side of the corridor, keeping it away from himself.

The book fell on the deck and was picked up by a man.Jack knew the man, Mr. Stead, whom he had just humiliated.Stadl dusted off the cover and flipped through the book casually.Now Jack also felt that he had treated Mr. Stead too harshly and let him lose face, so he walked over with guilt and asked in a friendly way: "I'm sorry, Mr. Stadler. Don't get me wrong, I didn't throw it at you. Yours. I didn't see you, and I didn't intend to provoke you. I was too rude just now, arguing with you in public, I hope you don't take it to heart."

Stadler smiled generously, "Young man, don't worry about it. I like to talk and brag everywhere, but I'm not a narrow-minded person. It's my pleasure to make up stories, to make myself happy and to make everyone happy." , harmless. I have never thought of really deceiving anyone and gaining any benefits. However, it is the first time I have met you who are so knowledgeable and like serious people. It seems that I have to improve my bragging level in the future. A seamless story to come."

Jack smiled and said, "It seems that your story has been told to many people. Aren't you afraid that these people will talk about you behind your back?"

Stadler shrugged and looked indifferent, "What does it matter? I am a reporter and a public figure. If no one talks about me, that is my sorrow."

Jack admired this Mr. Stead who could think about everything.To prove what he said, Stadler said to Jack: "You know, I once wrote an article telling everyone that child prostitution is rampant. In the article, I said that I bought a 13-year-old for five pounds. Girl, the purpose is to prove that buying a child prostitute is very easy. As a result, it has attracted overwhelming abuse. Actually, I just made up a story and didn't really do it. So what can I do? I have attracted everyone's attention .Now people are starting to pay attention to the problem of child prostitutes, and I am also famous, isn’t it a good thing to kill two birds with one stone? Haha”

Stadler looked very pleased with himself.Jack smiled helplessly. He had nothing to say to this eccentric Mr. Stead.

Steid: "Have you read the book?"

Jack nodded without speaking.

Stadler: "I have read it too, and I have read it a long time ago. I also wrote a review analyzing the reasons why the shipwreck described in the novel caused heavy casualties. Haha, I can not only make up stories, And do some serious stuff."

Jack looked at Stadler in astonishment.After a while, Stadler didn't go on talking. He liked to keep things close and waited for Jack to ask himself.

Jack: "What do you think caused it?"

Stead: "I think the main problem is that there aren't enough lifeboats on board. It's not anyone's fault though, the way the rules are now, no ship will have enough lifeboats to accommodate all the passengers."

Jack: "Including 'Titanic'."

Stadler: "You know? Before I got on the boat, I had a terrible dream. In the dream, I saw myself standing on the deck of a sinking ship with no life jacket on. And the lifeboat sailed away right in front of me. I remember the name of the ship..."

Staring into Jack's eyes, Stead said word for word, "Ti-tan-nic-k-!"

Jack thought of the picture that appeared in his mind just now, and his expression made Steid very satisfied.

Jack: "Are you making up stories again?"

Stadler: "Think what you will, in fact, a fortune teller told me a long time ago that I had 'difficulty with water'. I distinctly remember his exact words—'You will sail to America , but I see the catastrophe ahead, thousands of people crying for help in the sea, and you are among these poor people'."

Jack: "You must be making up stories again. If it's true, why are you waiting to get on this ship and die?"

Stadler: "How could I have missed it if it happened? I'm an adventurer, and if I survived the sea, I'd be able to tell the story of it all my life. I'd be famous and immortal. .”

Jack: "It may also be buried in the belly of a fish!"

Stadler: "Who knows? It's fate. But there are people who are too scared to get on the boat because they have the same dream."

Jack asked in surprise, "Who?"

Stadler: "It's a rich man named John Oyo. He struggled to get a ticket for the Titanic, but he had nightmares for two nights. In the dream, he saw A similar scene where the 'Titanic' sank and many passengers died at sea. As a result, he was terrified and refunded his ticket."

Jack muttered to himself: "How could it be such a coincidence? Just like the prophecy in this book. You must remember that the ship in the book is called 'Titan', and it is also its maiden voyage. The boat is almost identical."

Stead patted Jack on the shoulder and said indifferently: "Young man, listen to my advice, don't worry about yourself, take the time to enjoy life, and let God arrange the rest! Goodbye."

Looking at Stadler's back going away, Jack's mind went blank.

(End of this chapter)