On the afternoon of the day following Ralph's outbreak and their midnight reconciliation3 her curiosity finally found vent4 in speech. Passing down the largest of the lakes a strong head wind had blown up, and after struggling against it for a couple of hours, and thoroughly5 wetting themselves and their baggage without making much progress, Nahnya had ordered a landing. They now lay in rustling6 grass on a point of land blown upon by the strong fresh wind, and deliciously warmed by the sun. Charley had fallen asleep. When Ralph brought out the diary Nahnya said:
"What do you write in your little book?"
"Just what we see every day," said Ralph.
Nahnya frowned a little. "You promise me you never tell what you see," she said.
"I never will," said Ralph quickly. "No one but myself shall ever read this."
"Maybe some one find it," said Nahnya. "What good is your promise then?"
"It is written in shorthand," he said, exhibiting it. "No one can read it but me."
She was mollified. "It is like the Cree writing that the missionaries7 teach," she said. "Read it to me," she added with a kind of shy boldness.
Ralph was nothing loath8. It was his matter-of-fact self that guided the pencil. "Estimate it seventy-five miles from Hat Lake to Beaver9 Lake," he began. "Probably less than half that in a straight line, because the river is as crooked10 as a corkscrew. Called the second lake Beaver Lake because of the hills to the west; a medium size hill for the head, a big hill for the body, and a long, low hill for the tail."
"That is a good name," interrupted Nahnya.
"Couldn't see the whole of Beaver Lake at once, but you head straight down the lake from point to point; then about twenty miles more of river to Breeches Lake. It's shaped like a pair of breeches. As you start down it a long, thin point faces you almost dividing it in two. Nothing doing in the left leg; the right leg goes through. The water of all the lakes is amber11 coloured, but black as onyx when you look straight down. It's great to see the shores without a tree chopped down, or a house anywhere to spoil the natural effect.
"The river is full of mother wild ducks and their newly hatched families. Comical little puff-balls. Hell to pay when we come along. Old Mis' Duck she plays every trick she knows to lead us away from the family, and the babies they just keep on diving till they are too tired to wiggle their tails any more."
Nahnya laughed.
"Can't tell which way you're going in the river, but all the lakes stretch north and south, so I figure we're travelling due north. Charley bent12 a piece of tin like a trolling spoon and caught a thumping13 salmon14 trout15. They call it sapi. Best fish I ever tasted. I call the fourth lake Sword Lake; it's long and narrow and straight, with a bend at the top like a handle. There are hills both sides all the way—bluest I ever saw. We are camped on the point at the beginning of the bend and I can't see what's around it."
"This McIlwraith Lake," said Nahnya.
Ralph made the entry.
"Is that all?" she asked.
"That's all," he said.
"Nothing about me?" she said, archly smiling and wistful, affecting a great surprise.
Ralph, avoiding her eye, shook his head. It was the truth. He could not bare his heart concerning Nahnya, even to the discreet16 little book.
"Why do you write it?" Nahnya asked.
"Oh, when you take a bully17 trip you like to have a record of it—to read when you are old, I suppose."
"When you are old I think you will laugh at this," Nahnya said, looking away.
"Think so?" said Ralph.
Half-measures were impossible to Nahnya. When she was on her guard a wall was no stonier18; when she gave her confidence she gave it all. To-day her eyes were as open and affectionate as a child's; there was gratitude19 in their wistful depths, a hint of humility20. This in the same girl who had beaten Ralph about the head only the day before!
Ralph, without altogether understanding the change in her, was touched and thrilled by her look. Alas21! for his good resolutions. It had been easy the night before under stress of emotion to swear he would never touch her, never alarm her by his passion. He dimly understood that it was her reliance on his promise that made her so free with him to-day, and yet—his arms ached for her a hundred times more than before, and when in the business about camp they accidentally touched each other, the same old unregenerate madness made his brain reel.
Tossed between two thoughts, he was happy and he was miserable22. "She does care! She couldn't look at me like that if she didn't! No! She only looks like that because she feels safe from my love-making!"
This was the undercurrent; on the surface all was serene23. The combination of strong, cool wind and hot sunshine was delicious. Nahnya was soling the same pair of moccasins, while Ralph, more tractable24 to-day, shaped and smoothed the handle of his paddle with a knife. Nahnya developed a faculty25 for asking questions.
"How long you live in Fort Edward, Ralph?"
The initial "R" was difficult for her tongue to encompass26. She delicately aspirated his name thus, "Hoo-ralph." He thought the sound of it enchanting27.
"Six weeks."
"You like it there?"
"Dull as ditch-water."
"They tell me plenty fun at Fort Edward."
"Not my kind of fun."
"Plenty girls."
"Girls? Lord! Frights!"
"I suppose you like outside fun better, waltz-dancing and high-toned girls and all."
"Society, you mean? I never was much for that."
"Where did you live before you came to Fort Edward?"
"New York, last, working in a hospital."
"I know hospitals. They have good times. The doctors go out with the nurses."
"Not this doctor. Nurses are too—too iodoformy."
"What's that, Ralph?"
"Oh, too professional."
"Some nurses are sweet."
"I never had any luck that way."
"What you do when you go out in New York?"
"Oh, hang round with the fellows, and go to shows. I never had any money."
Nahnya, very intent on her sewing: "Did you know any of the actresses?"
"Lord! No! Not my style at all!"
"Didn't you know any girls in New York?"
"Nary a one!"
"That is too bad! But at your other college you have fun?"
"McGill, yes, plenty doing there."
"Nice girls?"
"Rather! Plenty of 'em. Dear little things!"
A pause here while Nahnya bit the thread with he! sharp teeth, and took up the other moccasin. "What is plenty?" she said with a little air of scorn. "There is always one."
"Not for me," Ralph said. "I rushed the bunch."
"Where was your home, Ralph; where you were born?"
"At Millersville in Ontario. One of those sleepy little burgs with a brick Odd Fellows' Hall with blue shades, a Royal Hotel on the corner, and cracked cement sidewalks. They're all alike."
"Ralph never guessed he was being searched through and through by a woman's loving, jealous curiosity"
"Ralph never guessed he was being searched through and through by a woman's loving, jealous curiosity"
Nahnya had a score of questions to ask about his home and his family. Ralph, as his eyes softened28 with recollection, grew more outrageously29 facetious30. Nahnya, glancing at him through her lashes31, understood. Finally, threading a needle with an elaborately careless air, she remarked:
"I guess you liked the Millersville girls best."
"Print dresses and rosy32 cheeks," said Ralph dreamily. "Short on fine clothes and long on health and good nature! Choir33 practice and school picnics and country dances! That was good! There was a girl there——"
"Ah!"
"Patty Lake her name was. We called her Pattycake. She was sweet. Always wore pink, and had two fat, brown braids hanging down her back."
"Well?" a little breathlessly.
"Married the butcher's boy, that's all."
There were many breaks and pauses in this conversation. So off-hand was Nahnya's manner, and such her preoccupation with the needle, that Ralph never guessed he was being searched through and through by a woman's loving, jealous curiosity.
The little black book continued:
"When we left our grassy34 point and paddled around the big curve in McIlwraith Lake, suddenly we hove in sight of half a dozen whitewashed35 huts on the shore. And a flag-pole with a flag against the blue! Gave me a regular thrill. The Hudson's Bay Company uses the union Jack36 with the letters H.B.C. in white. The fellows up here say it stands for 'Here Before Christ.' As we paddled by, a white man came out of the store and hailed us. Nahnya wouldn't stop. 'Ask too much questions,' she said. This was Fort McIlwraith that I have heard of.
"Immediately afterward37 we got in the river again. It is deeper and swifter after every lake. Here it is called the Pony38 River, Nahnya says. There were some ugly snags. Nahnya is a wonder with the paddle. We camped in the middle of a wide, burned-over stretch. It was like a farm-field. You kept looking around for fences and cattle, and a house somewhere.
"Next morning the river slowed up and lost itself among a lot of low islands covered with gigantic cottonwood trees. You could see there was a change coming. As we paddled around the end of an island, me all unawares, we were snatched up—snatched is the word—by a violent green current that raced us down half a mile, and wet us in a rapid before I got my bearings.
"Nahnya says this is the Rice River. It is half a dozen times as big as the Pony. It is a thick, yellowish-green colour like jade39, and a funny hissing40 sound comes up from the surface. Nahnya says it is made by the stones chasing along the stony41 bottom. It is a gaunt, ragged42, bad-tempered43 looking stream, always gnawing44 under its banks and bringing the trees down on the run, and then piling the debris45 in untidy heaps on naked pebble46 bars in the middle. The cut-banks are astonishing—some of them a hundred feet high, the trees looking like toys along the top edge, waiting their turn to fall over. Out of these smooth slopes, naked as railway embankments, harder strata47 of earth stick up like castles, with millions of swallows building in them.
"We camped in another burned-out place. This is the loneliest spot on earth almost, and even here man has left his dirty work. The man, red or white, who is responsible for a fire ought to be drawn48 and quartered. It's ghastly. Nahnya has put the fear of God into Charley. Last thing before we move on she makes him haul water until every spark is quenched49. Mosquitoes bad to-night.
"Couldn't sleep. This violent, ugly river, and the ghastly burned-over country, and other things gave me the willies. A brute50 of a bird flew in circles over the tent half the night, uttering a single croaking51 note like a cracked funeral bell. Lord! we're a long way off from folks! Fancy Charley and Nahnya taking these trips by themselves. She sleeps like a baby, without ever moving or missing a breath.
"Next day. The old river doesn't look so bad with the sun shining on it. Saw three bears as we went flying down. How does anybody get up this current I wonder. You can't always be going down-stream. Nothing but cut-banks, bars, drift-piles, and vicious little rapids on the bends. Eagles sailing like aeroplanes overhead, and screaming as if they had steel springs in their throats.
"Third day on the Rice River. We have come nearly two hundred miles on this stream, I guess, and not a soul, red or white, not a hut, nor the remains52 of a hut all the way. The current seems to be slackening, and we lose ourselves in a mess of islands; so I suppose there is something saving for us ahead. This is the sixth day from Gisborne, so we ought to arrive there to-morrow, wherever and whatever 'there' is."
The entries in the little black book ended with these words.
Ralph's diary confined itself discreetly53 to the visual aspects of the journey, avoiding the psychological. All was not smooth sailing here of course. Ralph was keeping a tight hold on himself that entailed54 no little nervous strain, and he was apt to break out unreasonably55. Nahnya, while generally friendly, had an exasperating56 way of relapsing at any time into the mysterious inscrutability which maddened him. Only Charley was always the same.
On the afternoon of the third day on the Rice River, after one of the colloquies57 in Cree with her brother that always irritated Ralph, Nahnya suddenly brought the dugout around in the current, and grounded it on a shelving, stony beach. Charley got out and pulled it up.
"What's this for?" said Ralph, surprised. "It isn't but an hour since we ate."
Nahnya affected58 not to hear him.
Ralph instantly flew into a passion. "Oh, very well!" he cried. "If you want to be mysterious!"
He strode off and sat down by himself on a drift-log, dignified59 and sore. He filled his pipe with care, and lighted it. It tasted bad, and he put it back in his pocket.
Nahnya brought cold victuals60 ashore61, and she and Charley sat down together. Ralph, watching out of the corner of his eye, had at least the satisfaction of seeing that she could not eat. She sat with her hands in her lap, unusual for her. He could not see her face. Charley, who could always eat, stuffed himself with moose-meat and cold bannock.
When Charley had eaten as much as he could hold, he carried the remains back to the dugout and put them away. He returned to Nahnya with a coil of light, strong cord in his hands, a tracking-line. Holding it out toward her, he said something in Cree.
To Ralph's astonishment62 Nahnya sprang up in a rage, snatched the line out of Charley's hands, and soundly boxed his ears. A pretty family quarrel resulted. Charley, thunderstruck at first, answered back in tones of resentful injury. More than once Ralph heard his own name, and wondered mightily63 what he had to do with it.
Charley flung off, and sat down by himself, and there were the three of them up and down the beach, perfectly64 sore and unhappy; Ralph in addition mystified by it all.
Ralph was the first to give in. "Oh, I say, this is too ridiculous!" he cried. "Nahnya, come here!"
She went to him with a face like a mask of bronze.
"What's the matter, Nahnya?" he demanded to know. "We're all acting65 like children!"
She shrugged66 slightly, and looked away.
Seeing that he would get nothing out of her this way, he changed his tone. "For my part I'm sorry I lost my temper," he said warmly. "Honest, I am."
This told. She frowned and looked uncomfortable; sure sign, as he knew by now, that her feelings were touched.
"We were always going to be friends," he said, following up his advantage. "Is this being friends? What's the matter, Nahnya?"
To his surprise he saw her eyes begin to fill. She made to turn from him, but he caught her wrists and forced her to face him. "Nahnya, I am your friend," he said.
She angrily shook the tears from her eyes. "I one fool!" she muttered. "Like a white woman, I cry when I need sense!"
"What's the matter?" repeated Ralph.
"Let me go!" she said.
He released her.
"I think you going to hate me by and by," she said.
"Why should I hate you?" he demanded.
She gave him an extraordinary look, at once determined67 and deprecating, and said a little breathlessly: "Ralph, I got to tie your eyes, now."
"Blindfold68 me?" cried Ralph, amazed. "What for?"
"You must not see where we go now."
"But I gave you my word!" cried Ralph. "I promised I'd say nothing of where I had been or of what I had seen."
"I know," she said, "you will keep your promise. But you must not come back yourself."
Ralph stared at her as if she were a witch. Thus to hit upon his secret intention, scarcely confessed to himself!
After a while she said: "Will you promise never to come back?"
"No!" cried Ralph, very red in the face. "I am a free agent!"
"Then I got to tie your eyes," she said.
"I won't submit to it!" cried Ralph hotly.
She shrugged and turned away. She gave an order to the sulky Charley, and between them they unloaded the dugout. Though it was scarcely four in the afternoon, the three little tents were set up in a row on top of the bank, and every preparation made for spending the night.
The mosquitoes soon drove them in, each under his own shelter, where they lay for the rest of the afternoon, sleeping, sulking, or sorrowing as the case was. They issued out for a hasty, silent supper and turned in again. There was a gorgeous, troubled sunset above the pines across the river, and afterward the evening star came out like a lighthouse in a canary sea with dark blue islands. The hard, swift face of the river mellowed69 in the fading light, and gleamed with the soft lustre70 of old, blue stained glass. None of those in the little tents gave any heed71.
In the middle of the night Ralph was rudely awakened72 by the descent of two heavy knees between his shoulders. While he still struggled with the mists of sleep, his wrists were secured behind him. He put up the best fight he could, but his ankles were soon tied, too. Then it was easy to bandage his eyes.
Harder to bear than the indignity73 of bondage74 was the pain of betrayal that stabbed him.
"Is this your friendship?" he cried.
There was no answer out of the dark.
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收听单词发音
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1
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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2
basked
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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3
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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5
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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6
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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7
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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8
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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10
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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11
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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12
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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13
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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14
salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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15
trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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16
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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17
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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18
stonier
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| 多石头的( stony的比较级 )； 冷酷的，无情的 | |
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19
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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21
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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22
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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23
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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24
tractable
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| adj.易驾驭的；温顺的 | |
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25
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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26
encompass
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| vt.围绕，包围；包含，包括；完成 | |
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27
enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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28
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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29
outrageously
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| 凶残地； 肆无忌惮地； 令人不能容忍地； 不寻常地 | |
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30
facetious
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| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
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31
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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32
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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33
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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34
grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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37
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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38
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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39
jade
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| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
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40
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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41
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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42
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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43
bad-tempered
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| adj.脾气坏的 | |
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44
gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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45
debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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46
pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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47
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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48
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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49
quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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50
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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51
croaking
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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52
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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53
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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54
entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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55
unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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56
exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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57
colloquies
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| n.谈话，对话( colloquy的名词复数 ) | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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59
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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60
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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61
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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62
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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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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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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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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blindfold
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| vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物 | |
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mellowed
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| （使）成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 )； 使色彩更加柔和，使酒更加醇香 | |
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70
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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71
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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72
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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73
indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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