章节正文
trudged homeward across Rainbow Bottom. His brain whirled in a
tumult of conflicting passions, and his heart pained worse than
his swelling face. In one instant the knowledge that Jimmy had
struck him, possessed him with a desire to turn back and do
murder. In the next, a sense of profound scorn for the cowardly
lie which had driven him to the rage that kills encompassed him,
and then in a surge came compassion for Jimmy, at the remberence
of the excuse he had offered for saying that thing. How childish!
But how like Jimmy! What was the use in trying to deal with him
as if he were a man? A great spoiled, selfish baby was all he
ever would be.
The fallen leaves rustled about Dannie's feet. The blackbirds
above him in chattering debate discussed migration. A stiff
breeze swept the fields, topped the embankment, and rushed down
circling about Dannie, and setting his teeth chattering, for he
was almost as wet as if he had been completely immersed. As the
chill struck in, from force of habit he thought of Jimmy. If he
was ever going to learn how to take care of himself, a man past
thirty-five should know. Would he come home and put on dry
clothing? But when had Jimmy taken care of himself? Dannie felt
that he should go back, bring him home, and make him dress
quickly.
A sharp pain shot across Dannie's swollen face. His lips shut
firmly. No! Jimmy had struck him. And Jimmy was in the wrong. The
fish was his, and he had a right to it. No man living would have
given it up to Jimmy, after he had changed poles. And slipped
away with a boy and gotten those minnows, too! And wouldn't offer
him even one. Much good they had done him. Caught a catfish on a
dead one! Wonder if he would take the catfish to town and have
its picture taken! Mighty fine fish, too, that channel cat! If it
hadn't been for the Black Bass, they would have wondered and
exclaimed over it, and carefully weighed it, and commented on the
gamy fight it made. Just the same he was glad, that he landed the
Bass. And he got it fairly. If Jimmy's old catfish mixed up with
his line, he could not help that. He baited, hooked, played, and
landed the Bass all right, and without any minnows either.
When he reached the top of the hill he realized that he was going
to look back. In spite of Jimmy's selfishness, in spite of the
blow, in spite of the ugly lie, Jimmy had been his lifelong
partner, and his only friend, and stiffen his neck as he would,
Dannie felt his head turning. He deliberately swung his fish pole
into the bushes, and when it caught, as he knew it would, he set
down his load, and turned as if to release it. Not a sight of
Jimmy anywhere! Dannie started on.
"We are after you, Jimmy Malone!"
A thin, little, wiry thread of a cry, that seemed to come
twisting as if wrung from the chill air about him, whispered in
his ear, and Dannie jumped, dropped his load, and ran for the
river. He couldn't see a sign of Jimmy. He hurried over the shaky
little bridge they had built. The catfish lay gasping on the
grass, the case and jointed rod lay on a log, but Jimmy was gone.
Dannie gave the catfish a shove that sent it well into the river,
and ran for the shoals at the lower curve of Horseshoe Bend. The
tracks of Jimmy's crossing were plain, and after him hurried
Dannie. He ran up the hill, and as he reached the top he saw
Jimmy climb on a wagon out on the road. Dannie called, but the
farmer touched up his horses and trotted away without hearing
him. "The fool! To ride!" thought Dannie. "Noo he will chill to
the bone!".
Dannie cut across the fields to the lane and gathered up his
load. With the knowledge that Jimmy had started for town came the
thought of Mary. What was he going to say to her? He would have
to make a clean breast of it, and he did not like the showing. In
fact, he simply could not make a clean breast of it. Tell her? He
could not tell her. He would lie to her once more, this one time
for himself. He would tell her he fell in the river to account
for his wet clothing and bruised face, and wait until Jimmy came
home and see what he told her.
He went to the cabin and tapped at the door; there was no answer,
so he opened it and set the lunch basket inside. Then he hurried
home, built a fire, bathed, and put on dry clothing. He wondered
where Mary was. He was ravenously hungry now. He did all the
evening work, and as she still did not come, he concluded that
she had gone to town, and that Jimmy knew she was there. Of
course, that was it! Jimmy could get dry clothing of his
brother-in-law. To be sure, Mary had gone to town. That was why
Jimmy went.
And he was right. Mary had gone to town. When sense slowly
returned to her she sat up in the bushes and stared about her.
Then she arose and looked toward the river. The men were gone.
Mary guessed the situation rightly. They were too much of river
men to drown in a few feet of water; they scarcely would kill
each other. They had fought, and Dannie had gone home, and Jimmy
to the consolation of Casey's. WHERE SHOULD SHE GO? Mary Malone's
lips set in a firm line.
"It's the truth! It's the truth!" she panted over and over, and
now that there was no one to hear, she found that she could say
it quite plainly. As the sense of her outraged womanhood swept
over her she grew almost delirious. "I hope you killed him,
Dannie Micnoun," she raved. "I hope you killed him, for if you
didn't, I will. Oh! Oh!"
She was almost suffocating with rage. The only thing clear to her
was that she never again would live an hour with Jimmy Malone. He
might have gone home. Probably he did go for dry clothing. She
would go to her sister. She hurried across the bottom, with
wavering knees she climbed the embankment, then skirting the
fields, she half walked, half ran to the village, and selecting
back streets and alleys, tumbled, half distracted, into the home
of her sister.
"Holy Vargin!" screamed Katy Dolan. "Whativer do be ailin' you,
Mary Malone?"
"Jimmy! Jimmy!" sobbed the shivering Mary.
"I knew it! I knew it! I've ixpicted it for years!" cried Katy.
"They've had a fight----"
"Just what I looked for! I always told you they were too thick to
last!"
"And Jimmy told Dannie he'd lied to me and married me
himsilf----"
"He did! I saw him do it!" screamed Katy.
"And Dannie tried to kill him----"
"I hope to Hivin he got it done, for if any man iver naded
killin'! A carpse named Jimmy Malone would a looked good to me
any time these fiftane years. I always said----"
"And he took it back----"
"Just like the rid divil! I knew he'd do it! And of course that
mutton-head of a Dannie Micnoun belaved him, whativer he said"
"Of course he did!"
"I knew it! Didn't I say so first?"
"And I tried to scrame and me tongue stuck----"
"Sure! You poor lamb! My tongue always sticks! Just what I
ixpicted!"
"And me head just went round and I keeled over in the bushes----"
"I've told Dolan a thousand times! I knew it! It's no news to
me!"
"And whin I came to, they were gone, and I don't know where, and
I don't care! But I won't go back! I won't go back! I'll not live
with him another day. Oh, Katy! Think how you'd feel if some one
had siparated you and Dolan before you'd iver been togither!"
Katie Dolan gathered her sister into her arms. "You poor lamb,"
she wailed. "I've known ivery word of this for fiftane years, and
if I'd had the laste idea 'twas so, I'd a busted Jimmy Malone to
smithereens before it iver happened!"
"I won't go back! I won't go back!" raved Mary.
"I guess you won't go back," cried Katy, patting every available
spot on Mary, or making dashes at her own eyes to stop the flow
of tears. "I guess you won't go back! You'll stay right here with
me. I've always wanted you! I always said I'd love to have you!
I've told thim from the start there was something wrong out
there! I've ixpicted you ivry day for years, and I niver was so
surprised in all me life as whin you came! Now, don't you shed
another tear. The Lord knows this is enough, for anybody. None at
all would be too many for Jimmy Malone. You get right into bid,
and I'll make you a cup of rid-pipper tay to take the chill out
of you. And if Jimmy Malone comes around this house I'll lav him
out with the poker, and if Dannie Micnoun comes saft-saddering
after him I'll stritch him out too; yis, and if Dolan's got
anything to say, he can take his midicine like the rist. The min
are all of a pace anyhow! I've always said it! If I wouldn't like
to get me fingers on that haythen; never goin' to confission,
spindin' ivrything on himself you naded for dacent livin'! Lit
him come! Just lit him come!"
Thus forestalled with knowledge, and overwhelmed with kindness,
Mary Malone cuddled up in bed and sobbed herself to sleep, and
Katy Dolan assured her, as long as she was conscious, that she
always had known it, and if Jimmy Malone came near, she had the
poker ready.
Dannie did the evening work. When he milked he drank most of it,
but that only made him hungrier, so he ate the lunch he had
brought back from the river, as he sat before a roaring fire. His
heart warmed with his body. Irresponsible Jimmy always had
aroused something of the paternalinstinct in Dannie. Some one
had to be responsible, so Dannie had been. Some way he felt
responsible now. With another man like himself, it would have
been man to man, but he always had spoiled Jimmy; now who was to
blame that he was spoiled?
Dannie was very tired, his face throbbed and ached painfully, and
it was a sight to see. His bed never had looked so inviting, and
never had the chance to sleep been further away. With a sigh, he
buttoned his coat, twisted an old scarf around his neck, and
started for the barn. There was going to be a black frost. The
cold seemed to pierce him. He hitched to the single buggy, and
drove to town. He went to Casey's, and asked for Jimmy.
"He isn't here," said Casey.
"Has he been here?" asked Dannie.
Casey hesitated, and then blurted out, "He said you wasn't his
keeper, and if you came after him, to tell you to go to Hell."
Then Dannie was sure that Jimmy was in the back room, drying his
clothing. So he drove to Mrs. Dolan's, and asked if Mary were
there for the night. Mrs. Dolan said she was, and she was going
to stay, and he might tell Jimmy Malone that he need not come
near them, unless he wanted his head laid open. She shut the door
forcibly.
Dannie waited until Casey closed at eleven, and to his
astonishment Jimmy was not among the men who came out. That meant
that he had drank lightly after all, slipped from the back door,
and gone home. And yet, would he do it, after what he had said
about being afraid? If he had not drank heavily, he would not go
into the night alone, when he had been afraid in the daytime.
Dannie climbed from the buggy once more, and patiently searched
the alley and the street leading to the footpath across farms. No
Jimmy. Then Dannie drove home, stabled his horse, and tried
Jimmy's back door. It was unlocked. If Jimmy were there, he
probably would be lying across the bed in his clothing, and
Dannie knew that Mary was in town. He made a light, and
cautiously entered the sleeping room, intending to undress and
cover Jimmy, but Jimmy was not there.
Dannie's mouth fell open. He put out the light, and stood on the
back steps. The frost had settled in a silver sheen over the
roofs of the barns and the sheds, and a scum of ice had frozen
over a tub of drippings at the well. Dannie was bitterly cold. He
went home, and hunted out his winter overcoat, lighted his
tumult of conflicting passions, and his heart pained worse than
his swelling face. In one instant the knowledge that Jimmy had
struck him, possessed him with a desire to turn back and do
murder. In the next, a sense of profound scorn for the cowardly
lie which had driven him to the rage that kills encompassed him,
and then in a surge came compassion for Jimmy, at the remberence
of the excuse he had offered for saying that thing. How childish!
But how like Jimmy! What was the use in trying to deal with him
as if he were a man? A great spoiled, selfish baby was all he
ever would be.
The fallen leaves rustled about Dannie's feet. The blackbirds
above him in chattering debate discussed migration. A stiff
breeze swept the fields, topped the embankment, and rushed down
circling about Dannie, and setting his teeth chattering, for he
was almost as wet as if he had been completely immersed. As the
chill struck in, from force of habit he thought of Jimmy. If he
was ever going to learn how to take care of himself, a man past
thirty-five should know. Would he come home and put on dry
clothing? But when had Jimmy taken care of himself? Dannie felt
that he should go back, bring him home, and make him dress
quickly.
A sharp pain shot across Dannie's swollen face. His lips shut
firmly. No! Jimmy had struck him. And Jimmy was in the wrong. The
fish was his, and he had a right to it. No man living would have
given it up to Jimmy, after he had changed poles. And slipped
away with a boy and gotten those minnows, too! And wouldn't offer
him even one. Much good they had done him. Caught a catfish on a
dead one! Wonder if he would take the catfish to town and have
its picture taken! Mighty fine fish, too, that channel cat! If it
hadn't been for the Black Bass, they would have wondered and
exclaimed over it, and carefully weighed it, and commented on the
gamy fight it made. Just the same he was glad, that he landed the
Bass. And he got it fairly. If Jimmy's old catfish mixed up with
his line, he could not help that. He baited, hooked, played, and
landed the Bass all right, and without any minnows either.
When he reached the top of the hill he realized that he was going
to look back. In spite of Jimmy's selfishness, in spite of the
blow, in spite of the ugly lie, Jimmy had been his lifelong
partner, and his only friend, and stiffen his neck as he would,
Dannie felt his head turning. He deliberately swung his fish pole
into the bushes, and when it caught, as he knew it would, he set
down his load, and turned as if to release it. Not a sight of
Jimmy anywhere! Dannie started on.
"We are after you, Jimmy Malone!"
A thin, little, wiry thread of a cry, that seemed to come
twisting as if wrung from the chill air about him, whispered in
his ear, and Dannie jumped, dropped his load, and ran for the
river. He couldn't see a sign of Jimmy. He hurried over the shaky
little bridge they had built. The catfish lay gasping on the
grass, the case and jointed rod lay on a log, but Jimmy was gone.
Dannie gave the catfish a shove that sent it well into the river,
and ran for the shoals at the lower curve of Horseshoe Bend. The
tracks of Jimmy's crossing were plain, and after him hurried
Dannie. He ran up the hill, and as he reached the top he saw
Jimmy climb on a wagon out on the road. Dannie called, but the
farmer touched up his horses and trotted away without hearing
him. "The fool! To ride!" thought Dannie. "Noo he will chill to
the bone!".
Dannie cut across the fields to the lane and gathered up his
load. With the knowledge that Jimmy had started for town came the
thought of Mary. What was he going to say to her? He would have
to make a clean breast of it, and he did not like the showing. In
fact, he simply could not make a clean breast of it. Tell her? He
could not tell her. He would lie to her once more, this one time
for himself. He would tell her he fell in the river to account
for his wet clothing and bruised face, and wait until Jimmy came
home and see what he told her.
He went to the cabin and tapped at the door; there was no answer,
so he opened it and set the lunch basket inside. Then he hurried
home, built a fire, bathed, and put on dry clothing. He wondered
where Mary was. He was ravenously hungry now. He did all the
evening work, and as she still did not come, he concluded that
she had gone to town, and that Jimmy knew she was there. Of
course, that was it! Jimmy could get dry clothing of his
brother-in-law. To be sure, Mary had gone to town. That was why
Jimmy went.
And he was right. Mary had gone to town. When sense slowly
returned to her she sat up in the bushes and stared about her.
Then she arose and looked toward the river. The men were gone.
Mary guessed the situation rightly. They were too much of river
men to drown in a few feet of water; they scarcely would kill
each other. They had fought, and Dannie had gone home, and Jimmy
to the consolation of Casey's. WHERE SHOULD SHE GO? Mary Malone's
lips set in a firm line.
"It's the truth! It's the truth!" she panted over and over, and
now that there was no one to hear, she found that she could say
it quite plainly. As the sense of her outraged womanhood swept
over her she grew almost delirious. "I hope you killed him,
Dannie Micnoun," she raved. "I hope you killed him, for if you
didn't, I will. Oh! Oh!"
She was almost suffocating with rage. The only thing clear to her
was that she never again would live an hour with Jimmy Malone. He
might have gone home. Probably he did go for dry clothing. She
would go to her sister. She hurried across the bottom, with
wavering knees she climbed the embankment, then skirting the
fields, she half walked, half ran to the village, and selecting
back streets and alleys, tumbled, half distracted, into the home
of her sister.
"Holy Vargin!" screamed Katy Dolan. "Whativer do be ailin' you,
Mary Malone?"
"Jimmy! Jimmy!" sobbed the shivering Mary.
"I knew it! I knew it! I've ixpicted it for years!" cried Katy.
"They've had a fight----"
"Just what I looked for! I always told you they were too thick to
last!"
"And Jimmy told Dannie he'd lied to me and married me
himsilf----"
"He did! I saw him do it!" screamed Katy.
"And Dannie tried to kill him----"
"I hope to Hivin he got it done, for if any man iver naded
killin'! A carpse named Jimmy Malone would a looked good to me
any time these fiftane years. I always said----"
"And he took it back----"
"Just like the rid divil! I knew he'd do it! And of course that
mutton-head of a Dannie Micnoun belaved him, whativer he said"
"Of course he did!"
"I knew it! Didn't I say so first?"
"And I tried to scrame and me tongue stuck----"
"Sure! You poor lamb! My tongue always sticks! Just what I
ixpicted!"
"And me head just went round and I keeled over in the bushes----"
"I've told Dolan a thousand times! I knew it! It's no news to
me!"
"And whin I came to, they were gone, and I don't know where, and
I don't care! But I won't go back! I won't go back! I'll not live
with him another day. Oh, Katy! Think how you'd feel if some one
had siparated you and Dolan before you'd iver been togither!"
Katie Dolan gathered her sister into her arms. "You poor lamb,"
she wailed. "I've known ivery word of this for fiftane years, and
if I'd had the laste idea 'twas so, I'd a busted Jimmy Malone to
smithereens before it iver happened!"
"I won't go back! I won't go back!" raved Mary.
"I guess you won't go back," cried Katy, patting every available
spot on Mary, or making dashes at her own eyes to stop the flow
of tears. "I guess you won't go back! You'll stay right here with
me. I've always wanted you! I always said I'd love to have you!
I've told thim from the start there was something wrong out
there! I've ixpicted you ivry day for years, and I niver was so
surprised in all me life as whin you came! Now, don't you shed
another tear. The Lord knows this is enough, for anybody. None at
all would be too many for Jimmy Malone. You get right into bid,
and I'll make you a cup of rid-pipper tay to take the chill out
of you. And if Jimmy Malone comes around this house I'll lav him
out with the poker, and if Dannie Micnoun comes saft-saddering
after him I'll stritch him out too; yis, and if Dolan's got
anything to say, he can take his midicine like the rist. The min
are all of a pace anyhow! I've always said it! If I wouldn't like
to get me fingers on that haythen; never goin' to confission,
spindin' ivrything on himself you naded for dacent livin'! Lit
him come! Just lit him come!"
Thus forestalled with knowledge, and overwhelmed with kindness,
Mary Malone cuddled up in bed and sobbed herself to sleep, and
Katy Dolan assured her, as long as she was conscious, that she
always had known it, and if Jimmy Malone came near, she had the
poker ready.
Dannie did the evening work. When he milked he drank most of it,
but that only made him hungrier, so he ate the lunch he had
brought back from the river, as he sat before a roaring fire. His
heart warmed with his body. Irresponsible Jimmy always had
aroused something of the paternalinstinct in Dannie. Some one
had to be responsible, so Dannie had been. Some way he felt
responsible now. With another man like himself, it would have
been man to man, but he always had spoiled Jimmy; now who was to
blame that he was spoiled?
Dannie was very tired, his face throbbed and ached painfully, and
it was a sight to see. His bed never had looked so inviting, and
never had the chance to sleep been further away. With a sigh, he
buttoned his coat, twisted an old scarf around his neck, and
started for the barn. There was going to be a black frost. The
cold seemed to pierce him. He hitched to the single buggy, and
drove to town. He went to Casey's, and asked for Jimmy.
"He isn't here," said Casey.
"Has he been here?" asked Dannie.
Casey hesitated, and then blurted out, "He said you wasn't his
keeper, and if you came after him, to tell you to go to Hell."
Then Dannie was sure that Jimmy was in the back room, drying his
clothing. So he drove to Mrs. Dolan's, and asked if Mary were
there for the night. Mrs. Dolan said she was, and she was going
to stay, and he might tell Jimmy Malone that he need not come
near them, unless he wanted his head laid open. She shut the door
forcibly.
Dannie waited until Casey closed at eleven, and to his
astonishment Jimmy was not among the men who came out. That meant
that he had drank lightly after all, slipped from the back door,
and gone home. And yet, would he do it, after what he had said
about being afraid? If he had not drank heavily, he would not go
into the night alone, when he had been afraid in the daytime.
Dannie climbed from the buggy once more, and patiently searched
the alley and the street leading to the footpath across farms. No
Jimmy. Then Dannie drove home, stabled his horse, and tried
Jimmy's back door. It was unlocked. If Jimmy were there, he
probably would be lying across the bed in his clothing, and
Dannie knew that Mary was in town. He made a light, and
cautiously entered the sleeping room, intending to undress and
cover Jimmy, but Jimmy was not there.
Dannie's mouth fell open. He put out the light, and stood on the
back steps. The frost had settled in a silver sheen over the
roofs of the barns and the sheds, and a scum of ice had frozen
over a tub of drippings at the well. Dannie was bitterly cold. He
went home, and hunted out his winter overcoat, lighted his
- instant [´instənt]
a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词) - driven [´driv(ə)n] drive 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- selfish [´selfiʃ] a.自私的，利己的 (初中英语单词)
- debate [di´beit] n.&v.讨论，辩论 (初中英语单词)
- channel [´tʃænəl] n.海峡；航道；途径 (初中英语单词)
- hooked [hukt] a.钩状的；上瘾的 (初中英语单词)
- release [ri´li:s] vt&n.释放；放松；赦免 (初中英语单词)
- plainly [´pleinli] ad.平坦地；简单地 (初中英语单词)
- conscious [´kɔnʃəs] a.意识的；自觉的 (初中英语单词)
- instinct [´instiŋkt] n.本能；直觉；天资 (初中英语单词)
- responsible [ri´spɔnsəbəl] a.尽责的；责任重大的 (初中英语单词)
- pierce [piəs] v.刺穿；突破；洞察 (初中英语单词)
- lightly [´laitli] ad.轻微地，稍微 (初中英语单词)
- sleeping [´sli:piŋ] n.&a.睡着(的) (初中英语单词)
- bitterly [´bitəli] ad.悲痛地；憎恨地 (初中英语单词)
- homeward [´həumwəd] ad.&a.回家(的) (高中英语单词)
- rainbow [´reinbəu] n.彩虹 (高中英语单词)
- profound [prə´faund] a.深奥的；渊博的 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
- deliberately [di´libərətli] ad.故意地；慎重地 (高中英语单词)
- hurried [´hʌrid] a.仓促的，慌忙的 (高中英语单词)
- patiently [´peiʃəntli] ad.有耐心地；坚韧地 (高中英语单词)
- overcoat [´əuvəkəut] n.大衣 (高中英语单词)
- compassion [kəm´pæʃən] n.同情；怜悯 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- migration [mai´greiʃən] n.迁移；移居 (英语四级单词)
- setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
- swollen [´swəulən] swell的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
- gotten [´gɔtn] get的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
- stiffen [´stifən] vt.弄硬；加强 (英语四级单词)
- bridge [bridʒ] n.桥(梁)；鼻梁；桥牌 (英语四级单词)
- rightly [´raitli] ad.正义地；正确地 (英语四级单词)
- consolation [,kɔnsə´leiʃən] n.安慰，慰问 (英语四级单词)
- painfully [´peinfuli] ad.痛苦地；费力地 (英语四级单词)
- undress [ʌn´dres] v.(给)脱衣 (英语四级单词)
- selfishness [´selfiʃnis] n.自私；不顾别人 (英语六级单词)
- horseshoe [´hɔ:s,ʃu] n.马蹄铁；马蹄铁形 (英语六级单词)
- assured [ə´ʃuəd] a.确实的 n.被保险人 (英语六级单词)
- paternal [pə´tə:nl] a.(象)父亲的；父方的 (英语六级单词)
- inviting [in´vaitiŋ] a.动人的 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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