“It isn’t as bad as all that,” he said, tacitly ignoring what they had just heard. “No doubt some rough people do come to these gatherings7; but, on the other hand, if a man is fond of shooting, why, don’t you see, this furnishes him with the best kind of test of his skill. Really, there is no reason why he shouldn’t come—and—besides—”
Reuben was not clever at saying things he did not wholly mean, and his good-natured attempt to gloss8 over the facts came to an abrupt9 halt from sheer lack of ideas.
“I suppose I shall have to learn to be a Thessalian all over again,” said Horace. “If you don’t mind, well go in. It’s just as well to see the thing.”
Suiting the action to the word, he moved toward the gate. Reuben hesitated for a moment, and then, with an “All right—for a few minutes”—followed him into the yard. The two young men stood upon the outskirts10 of the crowd for a time, and then, as opportunity favored, edged their way through until they were a part of the inner half-ring around a table, upon which were rifles, cartridges11, cleaning rags, a bottle and some tumblers. At their feet, under and about the table, lay several piles of turkeys. The largest of these heaps, containing some dozen birds, was, as they were furtively12 informed by a small boy, the property of the “General.”
This gentleman, who stood well to the front of the table, might be pardoned for not turning around to note the presence of new-comers, since he himself had some money wagered13 on his work. He had on the instant fired his third shot, and stood with the smoking gun lowered, and his eyes fixed14 on the target in concentrated expectancy15. The turkey made a movement and somebody called out “hit!” But the General’s keen vision told him better. “No, it was a line shot,” he said, “a foot too high.” He kept his gaze still fixed on the remote object, mechanically taking the fresh gun which was handed to him, but not immediately raising it to his shoulder.
General Sylvanus—familiarly called “Vane”—Boyce was now close upon sixty, of middle height and a thick and portly figure, and with perfectly16 white, close-cropped hair and mustache. His face had in its day boasted both regular, well-cut features and a clear complexion17. But the skin was now of one uniform florid tint18, even to the back of his neck, and the outlines of the profile were blurred19 and fattened20. His gray eyes, as they swept the field of snow, had still their old, sharp, commanding glance, but they looked out from red and puffy lids.
Just as he lifted his gun, an interested bystander professed21 to discover Horace for the first time, and called out exuberantly22: “Why, hello, Hod! I say, ‘Vane, here’s your boy Hod!”
“Oh, here, fair play!” shouted some of the General’s backers; “you mustn’t try that on—spoiling his aim in that way.” Their solicitude23 was uncalled for.
“Damn my boy Hod, and you too!” remarked the General calmly, raising his rifle with an uninterrupted movement, levelling it with deliberation, firing, and killing24 his bird.
Amid the hum of conversation which arose at this, the General turned, laid his gun down, and stepped across the space to where Horace and Reuben stood.
“Well, my lad,” he said heartily25, shaking his son’s hand, “I’m glad to see you back. I’d have been at the dép?t to meet you, only I had this match on with Blodgett, and the money was up. I hope you didn’t mind my damning you just now—I daresay I haven’t enough influence to have it do you much harm—and it was Grigg’s scheme to rattle26 my nerve just as I was going to shoot. How are you, anyway? How de do, Tracy? What’ll you both drink? This is rye whiskey here, but they’ll bring out anything else you want.”
“I’ll take a mouthful of this,” said Horace; “hold on, not so much.” He poured back some of the generous portion which had been given him, and touched glasses with his father.
“You’re sure you won’t have anything, Tracy?” said the General. “No? You don’t know what’s good for you. Standing27 around in the cold here, a man needs something.”
“But I’m not going to stand around in the cold,” answered Reuben with a half-smile. “I must be going on in a moment or two.”
“Don’t go yet,” said the General, cheerily, as he put down his glass and took up the gun. “Wait and see me shoot my score. I’ve got the range now.”
“You’ve got to kill every bird but one, now, General,” said one of his friends, in admonition.
“All right; don’t be afraid,” replied the champion, in a confident tone.
But it turned out not to be all right. The seventh shot was a miss, and so was the tenth, upon which, as the final and conclusive28 one, great interest hung. Some of those who had lost money by reason of their faith in the General seemed to take it to heart, but the General himself displayed no sign of gloom. He took another drink, and then emptied his pockets of all the bank-bills they contained, and distributed them among his creditors29 with perfect amiability30. There was not enough money to go around, evidently, for he called out in a pleasant voice to his son:
“Come here a minute, Hod. Have you got thirty dollars loose in your pocket? I’m that much short.” He pushed about the heap of limp turkeys on the snow under the table with one foot, in amused contemplation, and added: “These skinny wretches31 have cost us about nine dollars apiece. You might at least have fed ’em a trifle better, Dave.”
Horace produced the sum mentioned and handed it over to his father with a somewhat subdued32, not to say rueful, air. He did not quite like the way in which the little word “us” had been used.
While the General was light-heartedly engaged in apportioning33 out his son’s money, and settling his bill, a new man came up, and, taking a rifle in his hands, inquired the price of a shot. He was told that it was ten cents, and to this information was added with cold emphasis the remark that before he fooled with the guns he must put down his money.
“Oh, I’ve got the coin fast enough,” said the newcomer, ringing four dimes34 on the table.
“Wait a moment,” said Horace to his father and Reuben, who were about to quit the yard. “Let’s watch Ben Lawton shoot. I might as well see the last of my half-dollar. He’s had one drink out of it already.”
Lawton lifted the gun as if he were accustomed to firearms, and after he had made sure of his footing on the hard-trodden snow, took a long, careful aim, and fired. It was with evident sorrow that he saw the snow fly a few feet to one side of the turkey. He decided35 to have only two shots more, and one drink, and the drink first—a drink of such full and notable dimensions that Dave Rantell was half-tempted to intervene between the cup and the lip. The two shots which followed were very good shots indeed—one of them even seemed to have cut some feathers into the air—but they killed no turkey.
Poor Ben looked for a long time after his last bullet, as if in some vague hope that it might have paused on the way, and would resume its fatal course in due season. Then he laid the rifle down with a deep sigh, and walked slowly out, with his hands plunged36 dejectedly into his trousers pockets, and his shoulders more rounded than ever. The habitual37 expression of helpless melancholy38 which his meagre, characterless visage wore was deepened now to despair.
“Well, Ben,” said Horace to him, as he shuffled39 past them, “you were right. You might just as well have hung around the dép?t, and let some one else carry my things. You’ve got no more to show for it now than if you had.”
The young man spoke40 in the tone of easy, paternal41 banter42 which prosperous people find it natural to adopt toward their avowedly43 weak and foolish brethren, and it did not occur to Lawton to resent it. He stopped, and lifted his head just high enough to look in a gloomy way at Horace and his companions for a moment; then he dropped it again and turned to resume his course without answering. On second thought he halted, and without again looking up, groaned44 out:
“There ain’t another such a darned worthless fool as I be in the whole darned county. I don’t know what I’ll say to her. I’m a good mind not to go home at all. Here I was, figurin’ on havin’ a real Thanksgiving dinner for her, to try and make her feel glad she’d come back amongst us again; and if I’d saved my money and fired all five shots, I’d a got a bird, sure—and that’s what makes me so blamed mad. It’s always my darned luck!”
While he spoke a boy came up to them, dragging a hand-sled upon which General Boyce’s costly45 collection of poultry46 was piled. Horace stopped the lad, and took from the top of the heap two of the best of the fowls47.
“Here, Ben,” he said, “take these home with you. We’ve got more than we know what to do with. We should only give them away to people who didn’t need them.”
Lawton had been moved almost to tears by the force of his self-depreciatory emotions. His face brightened now on the instant, as he grasped the legs of the turkeys and felt their weight. He looked satisfiedly down at their ruffling48 circumference49 of blue-black feathers, and at their pimply50 pink heads dragging sidewise on the snow.
“You’re a regular brick, Hod,” he said, with more animation51 than it was his wont52 to display. “They’ll be tickled53 to death down to the house. I’m obliged to you, and so she’ll be—”
He stopped short, weighed the birds again in his hand with a saddened air, and held them out toward Horace. All the joy had gone out of his countenance54 and tone.
“No; I’m much obliged to you, Hod, but I can’t take ’em,” he said, with pathetic reluctance55.
“Nonsense!” replied the young man, curtly56. “Don’t make a fool of yourself twice in the same afternoon. Of course you’ll take them. Only go straight home with them, instead of selling them for drinks.”
Horace turned upon his heel as he spoke and rejoined his father and Reuben, who had walked on slowly ahead. The General had been telling his companion some funny story, and his eyes were still twinkling with merriment as his son came up, and he repeated to him the gist57 of his humorous narrative58.
Horace did not seem to appreciate the joke, and kept a serious face even at the most comical part of the anecdote59. This haunting recurrence60 of the Lawton business, as he termed it in his thoughts, annoyed him; and still more was he disturbed and vexed61 by what he had seen of his father. During his previous visit to Thessaly upon his return from Europe, some months before, the General had been leading a temperate62 and almost monastic life under the combined restraints of rheumatism63 and hay-fever, and this present revelation of his tastes and habits came therefore in the nature of a surprise to Horace. The latter was unable to find any elements of pleasure in this surprise, and scowled64 at the snow accordingly, instead of joining in his father’s laughter. Besides, the story was not altogether of the kind which sits with most dignity on paternal lips.
The General noted65 his son’s solemnity and deferred66 to it. “I’m glad you gave that poor devil the turkeys,” he said. “I suppose they’re as poor as they make ’em. Only—what do you think, Tracy; as long as I’d shot all the birds, I might have been consulted, eh, about giving them away?”
The query67 was put in a jocular enough tone, but it grated upon the young man’s mood. “I don’t think the turkey business is one that either of us particularly shines in,” he replied, with a snap in his tone. “You say that your turkeys cost you nine dollars apiece. Apparently68 I am by way of paying fifteen dollars each for my two.”
“‘By way of’—that’s an English expression, isn’t it?” put in Reuben, hastily, to avert69 the threatened domestic dispute. “I’ve seen it in novels, but I never heard it used before.”
The talk was fortunately turned at this from poultry to philology70; and the General, though he took no part in the conversation, evinced no desire to return to the less pleasant subject. Thus the three walked on to the corner where their ways separated. As they stood here for the parting moment, Reuben said in an aside to Horace:
“That was a kindly71 act of yours—to give Lawton the turkeys. I can’t tell you how much it pleased me. Those little things show the character of a man. If you like to come down to my office Friday, and are still of the same mind about a partnership72, we will talk it over.”
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1
compassionate
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| adj.有同情心的，表示同情的 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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brawling
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| n.争吵，喧嚷 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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5
disillusion
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| vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭 | |
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6
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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7
gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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8
gloss
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| n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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10
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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12
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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13
wagered
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| v.在（某物）上赌钱，打赌( wager的过去式和过去分词 )；保证，担保 | |
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14
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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15
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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16
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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17
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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18
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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19
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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fattened
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| v.喂肥( fatten的过去式和过去分词 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值 | |
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21
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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exuberantly
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| adv.兴高采烈地，活跃地，愉快地 | |
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23
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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27
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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28
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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29
creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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30
amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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31
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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32
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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33
apportioning
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| vt.分摊，分配（apportion的现在分词形式） | |
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34
dimes
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| n.（美国、加拿大的）10分铸币( dime的名词复数 ) | |
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35
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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36
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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37
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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38
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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39
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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40
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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41
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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42
banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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43
avowedly
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| adv.公然地 | |
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44
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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45
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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46
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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47
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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48
ruffling
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| 弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱 | |
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49
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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50
pimply
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| adj.肿泡的；有疙瘩的；多粉刺的；有丘疹的 | |
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51
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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52
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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53
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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54
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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55
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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56
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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57
gist
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| n.要旨；梗概 | |
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58
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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60
recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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61
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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62
temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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63
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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64
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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66
deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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67
query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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68
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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69
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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70
philology
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| n.语言学；语文学 | |
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71
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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72
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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