Scott knew that they must be in the turpentine orchard5. It was the first one he had ever seen. He was very curious to know all about it, but he did not want to appear too ignorant. “Is this a very large orchard?” he asked.
“About twenty crops,” Mr. Graham answered absently.
That meant over two hundred thousand cups and it seemed to Scott like an enormous number. It did not seem possible to take care of so many. It was not long till they saw a darky in overalls6 and undershirt shambling about from tree to tree.
“Ever seen them chip?” Mr. Graham asked, suddenly realizing that it must all be entirely7 new to Scott. Scott admitted that he had not.
“They are pretty clever at it,” Mr. Graham continued, riding over to the darky, who greeted them with a pleased grin. “Show us a good one now, Josh. This gentleman has never seen it done.”
There is nothing that a darky likes better than showing off an accomplishment8 to a stranger. He was carrying a heavy iron, weighted with a ball at the lower end and bent9 into a loop of sharpened steel at the top. He gave this instrument a fantastic flourish, leaned down over a cup, and with a few deft10 strokes cut a new scratch in the outer wood of the tree, perfectly11 straight and overlapping12 just a little the streak13 below it. He repeated the operation on the other side of the cup and straightened up with another grin.
“Pretty good!” Mr. Graham exclaimed approvingly.
“Couldn’t beat dat one, boss,” replied the darky with a chuckle14.
“Been over to the pond lately, Josh?”
“Who, me? No, suh, you don’t ketch dis heah niggah hangin’ roun’ deah. Dat eah place hanted, boss, sho nuf hanted. Dey tell me you kin1 put a log in de watah deah and see it ’solve smack15 befo’ yo’ eyes.” And his own eyes rolled strangely and showed a broad expanse of white.
“Sounds bad,” said Mr. Graham, laughing as he turned to ride away. “No danger of his stealing any logs out of there,” he remarked to Scott when they were out of hearing. “Looked easy enough to see him cut that streak, didn’t it? Try it yourself once. It would take you ten minutes and then it would look like beaver16 work. That man has to make the rounds of his crop every week; over three thousand streaks17 a day.”
Just twenty men were putting two streaks a week over each one of those two hundred thousand cups. It seemed marvelous to Scott. In another place he saw a man with a large wooden bucket and a paddle going from tree to tree, emptying the cups. He emptied his bucket into barrels beside the road and a wagon18 collected the barrels. Scott could not help thinking what a glorious fire there would be if it ever got started in all that resin19.
Before long they came in sight of a group of rough board buildings strung along the road like the main street of a small town.
“That,” Mr. Graham explained, “is the still. The darkies and their families live in those little board shacks20 pretty much as they used to in slavery days. The company keeps a store here for them, the superintendent21 lives in that house next to the store and the still is down at the other end of the street. It’s quite a town. They will use this camp for their turpentine operations for thirteen years and then log for three years more.”
Slovenly22 negro women, many of the older ones smoking pipes, gazed at them from the doorways23, and shiny black pickaninnies rolled the whites of their eyes in awed24 attention as they passed. Near the store they met Mr. Roberts, the superintendent, coming home to dinner. He acknowledged Scott’s introduction very effusively25 and promptly26 invited them both in to dinner. His wife was of the cracker27 type and looked old at thirty-five.
In spite of the man’s cordiality Scott did not like his looks. He had a sallow, malarial28 complexion29, shifty eyes and loose-knit, gangling30 build. There was a hard, cunning look about his mouth, and he wore a large revolver very conspicuously31 on his belt. Scott had the feeling that he was being very narrowly watched, but whenever he looked at Mr. Roberts he found him deeply absorbed in something else. They finished their salt pork, hominy and grease-soaked beet32 greens in comparative silence.
“Reckon maybe you’d like to see the still if you are new to these parts,” Mr. Roberts remarked to Scott.
“Yes,” Mr. Graham answered for him, “we both want to see it. I never get tired of hearing that old still growl33.”
They walked down the street a little way to the still. It was not a very imposing-looking building. A roof set on posts over a copper34 still which was built into a brick firebox. There was a platform at the side on which the crude resin was unloaded from the wagons35 and dumped into the retort and a shed on the other side where the turpentine was stored. Sitting on the ground and a little apart from the shed was a small army of rough barrels full to the top with solid resin.
Mr. Graham explained the process to Scott. “You see they dump the resin just as they bring it in from the woods into that retort and heat it. The turpentine is boiled out and goes out of that little pipe at the top in the form of gas. Then they run the pipe down through some cold water and the gas condenses into liquid turpentine which they put into those tight barrels. When it makes just the right noise they pour some water into the retort to help the process along. Is she pretty near ready to growl, George?” he called to an old darky who was tending the retort.
“Ought to be pretty nigh, boss,” the old man grinned. It was evidently a familiar question for which he was listening and it tickled36 him.
“When all the turpentine has gone off they pour the resin into those rough barrels,” Mr. Graham continued. “It hardens so quickly that the barrels do not have to be very tight. They put them together right here.”
“Is that all they have to do to get the kind of turpentine that is used in paint?” Scott asked.
“Oh, some of it is redistilled and refined a little for certain uses but much of it is used just so.”
They walked around the place a little and Scott learned many interesting facts about the turpentine industry. There was a lot more he wanted to know but the old darky called them excitedly. “She’s startin’ to howl, boss.”
They hurried over to the still and could hear a peculiar37 growling38 sound coming from the retort. “That’s the stuff,” Mr. Graham chuckled39. “Now listen to her when the water goes in.”
The water was poured in and the roar was up to expectations. “That makes her talk,” Mr. Graham laughed. “Now we might as well be going. She won’t growl again for a long time.”
“Dat’s right,” the old darky chuckled. “Won’t be nuffin’ mo’ fo’ yo’ to heah for some time.” He fully40 appreciated Mr. Graham’s joke of hearing the old still growl.
Mr. Roberts walked back to the house with them to get their horses. “See anything suspicious at the pond this morning, Mr. Burton?” he asked casually41.
“Oh, no, nothing except Murphy,” he added with a laugh. He said it as carelessly as he could, but he watched Roberts keenly. He felt somehow that this sallow cracker was surely connected with the pond mystery and he wanted to see if the mention of Murphy’s name as a suspicious character would affect him. If it did, he did not show it. He seemed to have asked the question simply to make conversation and only grinned at Scott’s answer.
As they were mounting Mr. Roberts pulled his revolver and carelessly shot a toad42 which was hopping43 across the road some fifteen yards away. “Getting near pay day,” he said in explanation, “and I have to get in practice.”
Possibly it was nothing more than the natural temptation for a man with a gun to shoot any live thing he sees, but Scott, with his intuitive dislike of the man, felt sure that it was meant for a warning display of his skill with a gun and he thought about it in silence on the ride home through the whispering pines.
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1
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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2
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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3
gutters
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| （路边）排水沟( gutter的名词复数 )； 阴沟； （屋顶的）天沟； 贫贱的境地 | |
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4
slits
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| n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子 | |
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5
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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7
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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8
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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9
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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overlapping
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| adj./n.交迭（的） | |
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13
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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14
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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15
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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16
beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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18
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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resin
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| n.树脂，松香，树脂制品；vt.涂树脂 | |
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shacks
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| n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 ) | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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22
slovenly
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| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
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doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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24
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
effusively
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| adv.变溢地，热情洋溢地 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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cracker
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| n.（无甜味的）薄脆饼干 | |
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malarial
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| 患疟疾的，毒气的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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gangling
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| adj.瘦长得难看的 | |
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conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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32
beet
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| n.甜菜；甜菜根 | |
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33
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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34
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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35
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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37
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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38
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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39
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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41
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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42
toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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43
hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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