CHAPTER X—JIM BARTLETT CALLS

ALL the rest of the day Hunch¹ paced up and down on the shore ice, watching the schooner² until the foremast went over and the timber was strewn for a mile along the beach.

At dusk two of the crew men came up and made Hunch go home. He spent the evening stretched out on the bed, trying to think. Later he fell asleep, and in the morning, when he awoke, his clothes felt heavy and stiff. After breakfast he went up the beach. The Dean was battered³ out of shape. Two fragments of the foremast had been cast up on the ice, but the mainmast had disappeared. He stayed until he was sure that the schooner was a total loss, then he returned to his room.

A year earlier in Hunch’s life such a catastrophe⁴ would have set him drinking; but now, while he thought of it for a moment, the idea of a bout⁵ in Herve’s bar-room with the old crowd of loafers, who would know exactly why he had come, and would, before the night was over, probably know all about his state of mind, did not appeal to him. He could not bring himself to go to Bartlett’s; he did not want Jess to see him when he was weak and unable to help himself. But on the second evening after the wreck⁶, Jim Bartlett came up and found him lying on the bed with his clothes on.

“Good evening, Hunch,” he said. “Kind of hard luck; ain’t it?”

“Sit down,” said Hunch.

“Thanks, can’t stay but a minute. I just wanted to talk to you—you see I’ve been talking with Jess. She’s all broke up about the schooner. ‘Most as bad as you are. She thinks a lot of you, Hunch. She says you ain’t been ‘round.”

“No, I ain’t yet.”

“She says she didn’t know whether you was coming or not.”

“I dunno’s there’s much good in seeing her.”

“You mean things is different?”

“It don’t make much difference what I mean.” Jim’s face was not very sympathetic, and Hunch was not in a mood to open his heart.

“Well—I’ll be square, Hunch—it’s as much what I think as what she thinks—but she can’t help thinking—well, you see how it is yourself, Hunch. You ain’t in just the position you was in before. It’s different—it can’t help being different.”

“What’s she want to do?”

“Now, don’t take it mean, Hunch; but she don’t see—and I must say I don’t either—that things ought to be just as they was.”

“No, I don’t s’pose so.”

“But you’ll come around and see us anyhow, Hunch, won’t you, and talk it over. Mebbe Jess won’t feel this way.”

“No,” said Hunch, “that ain’t no use.” Bartlett stood at the door. “I’m sorry you feel this way, Hunch, I—well, I guess there ain’t much else to say.”

“No, I guess there ain’t.”

Bartlett went out and closed the door. Hunch lay still for a long time, wondering over the turn of events. Now that it was settled, and in spite of the hurt a strong man feels when the control of his actions is taken away from him, he began to feel a slight sense of relief. Anyway, he had his strength left, and he was free to begin again.

1 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。

2 schooner   

n.纵帆船

参考例句：

• The schooner was driven ashore.那条帆船被冲上了岸。
• The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate.急流正以同样的速度将小筏子和帆船一起冲向南方。

3 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

4 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

5 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

6 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。