CHAPTER III—THE CALL

TEN days before the wedding, they were lying at Manistee, waiting for a load of salt. Bruce had been growing more restless and absent-minded. The fault grew unchecked, because an instinctive¹ fineness in Hunch² held back the reproof³ that would ordinarily have followed slipshod work. But about the time of the Manistee trip, Bruce appeared in a new light. He was growing self-confident and independent. The old meekness⁴ was giving place to a certain animal pride.

The last night at Manistee, Bruce went uptown to buy a present for Mamie. He met an old friend on the street and told him of his luck. This called for congratulations, and in the confidence of his new strength Bruce followed his friend through a swinging, green baize door. He returned at eleven o’clock. Hunch was in the cabin, wrestling with his accounts.

Bruce came slowly down the steps and balanced carefully at the bottom.

“Hello, Hunch,” he said, slyly.

Badeau looked up. Bruce walked across the cabin and sat on his bunk⁵, holding his head erect⁶ and looking straight before him.

“Where you been?”

“See a fren’.”

Badeau looked at him. Bruce grew so nervous that he forgot his caution.

“What’s matter? What you lookin’ me like that for? You’re fren’ o’ mine, Hunch. Shake han’s, ol’ man. Shake——-”

Badeau struck him without a word. Bruce showed fight, and in a moment they were rolling about the floor. Billy, up forward, heard the noise, and, tiptoeing along the deck in his underclothes, peered down the open gangway. He saw Bruce, his face red with drink and rage, break away from Badeau and seize a knife from the rack on the bulkhead. Badeau sprang forward. The table was jammed into the stove. Then the light went out. There was a fall, then a silence. Billy groped cautiously down the gangway.

“That you, Billy?” came in Badeau’s voice. “Get a match. Guess I smashed him pretty hard.”

As soon as he and Billy could get Bruce undressed and into his bunk, Hunch ran for a doctor. Bruce finally went to sleep with a stitched-up scalp, a purple eye, and a broken’ rib⁷. In the morning they got underway for Liddington, Billy and Hunch doing all the work. Bruce was quiet during the morning, but in the afternoon, and after they reached Liddington, he started several times to blurt⁸ out an apology, which Hunch each time cut short. At supper-time, Hunch propped⁹ him up with blankets.

“Say, Hunch, I s’pose you ain’t got nothing to say to me.”

“Guess not.”

“Well, say, Hunch, I—got a date with her to-night; I ain’t fit to ever see her again, but—she’ll wonder why I don’t come. Say, you go up there, Hunch. Come on. Tell her I’m sick.”

So Hunch went. And when he sat stiffly in the parlor¹⁰ (in Bruce’s checked tie, for fear that she might recognize the red one), he wished himself miles away, or dead and buried, and he wondered what he could say. But after a while Mamie came in, blushing. His tongue tripped over her name, and they both laughed.

“S’pose you’re s’prised to see me,” he said.

“Why—I don’t know. I’m always glad to see you, Mr. Badeau.”

Hunch blushed.

“Say, Bruce’s sick.”

“Oh—really?”

“Yes—oh, it’s all right. Nothing very bad. He’ll be around in a day or two. But I guess he thought you’d feel bad if you didn’t know why he didn’t show up.”

During the silence that followed Hunch winked¹¹ at her knowingly, and she blushed again.

“‘Most ready for the wedding,” he said, intending to cover her confusion; but for some reason she grew more distressed¹². “Let’s see,” he went on, talking rapidly, “it’s coming pretty soon now, ain’t it? Next Friday, eh? Well, say, we’ve got to be at Milwaukee Thursday morning, but I told Bruce we’d get back here Friday afternoon if it took the sticks clean out of the old Dean. And we will, too. Sorry I’ve got to lose Bruce. He’s going in with your old man, ain’t he?”

Already he was beginning to feel at ease. He liked to talk to this girl who looked shyly at him, and who was pleased when he told her of Bruce. This latter fact led him on until he found himself talking enormously about Bruce’s courage and resource and kindness of heart, telling her in Bruce’s name a large part of his own personal history. And at length, when he paused for breath in a glow of falsehood, and saw the light dancing in her eyes, and her eager smile, he felt a thousand times repaid.

It was after a very long stay that he rose to go. She followed him to the door, and stood for the moment on the porch.

“Mr. Badeau,” she said, “Bruce has told me about you; how kind you’ve been to him. And I’ve wanted, to thank you myself. You’ll be our friend, won’t you, after-” she said it bravely-“after we’re married. And you’ll come and see us real often.”

Then she suddenly reached up, far up on her tiptoes, and while he stood looking down, she kissed him on the cheek and fled indoors.

1 instinctive   

adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的

参考例句：

• He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.他试图饰盖自己对这一想法本能的厌恶。
• Animals have an instinctive fear of fire.动物本能地怕火。

2 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。

3 reproof   

n.斥责，责备

参考例句：

• A smart reproof is better than smooth deceit.严厉的责难胜过温和的欺骗。
• He is impatient of reproof.他不能忍受指责。

4 meekness   

n.温顺，柔和

参考例句：

• Amy sewed with outward meekness and inward rebellion till dusk. 阿密阳奉阴违地一直缝到黄昏。 来自辞典例句
• 'I am pretty well, I thank you,' answered Mr. Lorry, with meekness; 'how are you?' “很好，谢谢，”罗瑞先生回答，态度温驯，“你好么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

5 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

6 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

7 rib   

n.肋骨，肋状物

参考例句：

• He broke a rib when he fell off his horse.他从马上摔下来折断了一根肋骨。
• He has broken a rib and the doctor has strapped it up.他断了一根肋骨，医生已包扎好了。

8 blurt   

vt.突然说出，脱口说出

参考例句：

• If you can blurt out 300 sentences,you can make a living in America.如果你能脱口而出300句英语，你可以在美国工作。
• I will blurt out one passage every week.我每星期要脱口而出一篇短文！

9 propped   

支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
• This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。

10 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

11 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。