On a morning early in September, the sun was shining brightly upon the village of McGregor. Nestled in a coulée between two hills, one rising squarely and rock-ribbed, lacking only the illusion of windows to give it the appearance of a ruined castle, the other to the northwest, sloping gently upwards3, and crowned at the summit with a number of villas4, McGregor, running down to the Mississippi River, was as pretty a town as Iowa could boast.
On this bright particular morning, an overgrown youth was sitting on the boat-landing, his feet dangling5 above the water, his face glooming darkly. Master Abe Thompson, age sixteen, was troubled in spirit.
He was homeless. He had lost his position, that of a butcher’s boy, just a little after sunrise. It arose out of a difference of seventy-five cents in the butcher’s accounts. Abe had been told under penalty of having “his face shoved in” never to darken the doors of the butcher-shop again. At the tender age of twelve Abe had left his home unostentatiously and without serving notice, and ever since had spent his time in losing jobs up and down the river. The trouble with Abe was that he never could resist “obeying that impulse,” no matter what that impulse might be. He had been blessed, if one may say so, with an obedient mother and an indifferent father. The discipline of the public school which Abe was supposed to attend might have done something for the boy had he been present for so much as six days hand-running. But Abe had early made a successful course in the art of dodging6 duty. He was by way of joining that vast army of the unemployed7 who are the ornament8 of our country roads in summer and of our back alleys9 in winter. Abe was entitled to graduate with honors in the ranks of those who have learned the gentle art entitled “How not to do it.” At the present moment Abe Thompson was in darkest mood. His soul just now was fit for treasons, stratagems10, and spoils. His gloomy eyes moved vacantly over the waters shimmering11 in the sun. Suddenly his air of listlessness disappeared, his eyes grew tense. Among the boats around the landing was one small skiff riding high on the water, in which (for some people will be careless) lay a pair of oars12 and a paddle.
Abe was still gazing at this boat and its contents with greedy eyes when there came upon his ears the sound of a sweet, piercing soprano voice, giving, to whoso should wish to hear, the ineffable14 chorus of an almost forgotten music-hall melody:
“Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,
?Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,
?Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,
?Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay!”
Abe turned to discover coming blithely15 down street—the one street running through McGregor—a gay lad of about fourteen years of age, dressed in an immaculate white sailor-suit. The approaching youth was walking, skipping, and jumping in such wise that it was hard to define what he was doing at any particular moment. He was rather small for his years, but apparently16 of muscle all compact. Gracefulness17 characterized his wildest and most impetuous motions. He was a perfect blonde, and his hair, bobbed after the fashion of little girls of ten or eleven, gave him a somewhat feminine aspect, further emphasized by his cream-and-rose complexion18. A close observer, studying his pretty features, might indeed have inferred from his tip-tilted nose and his square chin that the youngster was not safely to be treated as a mollycoddle19. Abe was not a close observer.
“I say,” he broke out, as the pretty boy drew near, “what sort of a lingo20 is that you’re giving us? You don’t call that American, do you?”
“Good morning, fair sir,” replied the boy, raising his sailor hat and bowing elaborately, “may I have the pleasure of your acquaintance?”
“What lingo was that you was a-singing?”
“The language, fair sir, of adventure.”
Abe frowned, and spat21 into the river.
“Permit me,” continued the newcomer, “to introduce myself. I have the honor of informing you that my name is Clarence Esmond. What is yours?”
“I’m Abe Thompson. What are you looking for this morning?” continued Abe, as he noticed that Clarence was gazing longingly22 at the craft moored23 at the river’s edge.
“Who?—me?” queried24 the debonair25 youth. He drew himself erect26, threw back his head, raised his eyes, and with a dramatic gesture continued: “I am looking for the bright-eyed goddess of adventure!”
“Oh, talk American!”
“I will, gentle youth. I am looking for fun; and if something happens, so much the better.”
“Do you want to go anywheres?”
“I want to go everywhere. I’d like to be on the ocean, running a liner; I’d like to be a cowboy, dodging Indians; I’d like to be a soldier in the trenches27, and a sailor in a submarine. In fact, I’d like to be everywhere at the same time.”
“You can’t do that, you boob,” said Abe with strong disfavor on his rugged28 face.
“I am one of those fellows,” continued Clarence, “who wants to eat his cake and have it.”
“Oh, jiminy!” roared Abe, breaking into a loud laugh, “you want to eat your cake and you want to have it at the same time?”
“That’s it exactly. I want to eat my cake, and at the same time have it.”
“Oh, jiminy! Why, do you know what you are?” asked Abe laughing with conscious superiority.
“Won’t you please tell me?”
“Why, you are an idiot, a plumb-born idiot.”
“Oh, am I?” and as Clarence asked the question his face beamed with joy.
“You sure are.”
“I suppose,” continued Clarence, “that you think I am one of those chaps who hasn’t got enough sense to come in out of the rain when it is raining.”
“You’re the dumbdest idiot I ever met,” said the frank butcher’s boy.
“I guess you are right,” assented29 the lad beamingly. “Lots of people have told me I am an idiot. And I never do come in out of the rain when it is raining. I use a cravenette.”
“Oh, Lord!” cried Abe, all his crude humor stirred to scornful laughter, “what an awful ass30 you are!”
“Thank you so much,” answered Clarence glowing with delight. “It’s a pleasure to meet a fellow who says just what he thinks.”
“Any more like you at home?”
“I happen to be the only child,” answered Clarence. “I am the light of my mother’s eyes. There are no others like me.”
“I should say not! Say, who let you loose?”
“That reminds me,” said Clarence, his smile leaving him. “I’ve got to be back at noon, and it’s nearly eight-thirty now. Say, do you know this river?”
“I should say I do. Do you want me to row you?”
“Is there any place around here worth seeing?”
“Sure! Pictured Rocks! Everybody goes there. It’s a mile down the river.”
“Suppose I hire a boat, would you mind acting31 as my guide—salary, fifty cents?”
“I can do better than that,” said Abe, becoming all of a sudden obsequious32. “That’s my boat down there—that little boat with the oars—and I’ll take you to Pictured Rocks and bring you back for one dollar. That’s fair enough, ain’t it?”
Abe was young and his imagination undeveloped. Had he been older, he would have tried to sell the boat and a few houses nearest the river bank, all together, for a slightly larger sum.
“That’s a go!” cried Clarence, running for the boat, jumping in and seating himself to row. “Come on quick. Cast off, old boy.”
The boat was locked to a post. Abe was accustomed to facing such difficulties. He broke the lock under Clarence’s unobservant eyes, and, shoving the skiff off and jumping in, seated himself in the stern.
“You row and I’ll steer,” he said, as he picked up the paddle.
Clarence dipped the oars into the water, and with a few strokes the two started down the river with the swift current. It was a beautiful morning, clear and crisp. The river, a vast lake in width with islands and inlets and lagoons33 and streams between the Iowa and the Wisconsin shores, was dancing in the sunlight. Birds, late though the season was, made the air gay. On the Wisconsin shore the solemn hills, noble and varied34, stood sentinel over the smiling valleys of golden grain which ran almost to the river’s banks; on the Iowa side, a twin range came down almost to the water. The river was clear and, despite the current, had all the appearance of a vast lake.
The air and the sunshine and the scenery entered into Clarence’s soul.
“Hurrah!” he cried, brandishing35 an oar13. “All aboard to meet the bright-eyed goddess of adventure!”
And the bright-eyed goddess was not deaf to the summons of the thoughtless lad. The goddess was awaiting him. The meeting was to be very soon, and the interview a long one. And it is because of the meeting that this veracious36 story is written.
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1
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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unemployed
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| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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stratagems
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| n.诡计，计谋( stratagem的名词复数 )；花招 | |
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shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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14
ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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blithely
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| adv.欢乐地，快活地，无挂虑地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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gracefulness
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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mollycoddle
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| v.溺爱，娇养 | |
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lingo
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| n.语言不知所云，外国话，隐语 | |
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spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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23
moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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debonair
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| adj.殷勤的，快乐的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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31
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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lagoons
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| n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 )；潟湖；（大湖或江河附近的）小而浅的淡水湖；温泉形成的池塘 | |
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34
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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veracious
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| adj.诚实可靠的 | |
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