Rows of artistic6 seats ran here and there, and each was occupied by jaded7 immigrants, worn out by their journey in the sweltering Colonist8 cars. Piles of dilapidated baggage surrounded them, and among it exhausted9 children lay asleep. Drowsy10, dusty women, with careworn11 faces, were huddled12 beside them; men bearing the stamp of ill-paid toil13 sat in dejected apathy14; and all about each group the floor, which was wet with drippings from the roof, was strewn with banana skins, crumbs15, and scraps16 of food. There had been heavy rains, and the atmosphere was hot and humid. It was, however, the silence of these newcomers that struck George most. There was no grumbling17 among them—they scarcely seemed vigorous enough for that—but as he passed one row he heard a woman's low sobbing18 and the wail19 of a fretful child.
After a while the girl he had met on the train appeared and intimated by a smile that he might join her. They found an unoccupied seat, and a smartly-attired young man who was approaching it stopped when he saw them.
"Well," he said coolly, "I guess I won't intrude20."
George felt seriously annoyed with him, but he was reassured21 when his companion laughed with candid22 amusement. Though there was no doubt of her prettiness, he had already noticed that she did not impress one most forcibly with the fact that she was an attractive young woman. It seemed to sink into the background when one spoke23 to her.
"It was rather tedious waiting in the hotel," she explained. "There was nobody I could talk to; my father is busy with a grain broker24."
"Then he is a farmer?"
"Yes," said the girl, "he has a farm."
"And you live out in the West with him?"
"Of course," she said, smiling. "Still, I have been in Montreal, and England." Then she turned and glanced at the jaded immigrants. "One feels sorry for them; they have so much to bear."
George felt that she wished to change the subject, and he followed her lead.
"I feel inclined to wonder where they all go to and how you employ them. Your people still seem anxious to bring them in."
"Yes," she replied thoughtfully, "It's rather a difficult question. Of course, we pay high wages—people who say they must dispense25 with help and can't carry out useful projects would like to see them lower—but there's the long winter when, out West at least, very few men can work. Then what the others have earned in summer rapidly melts."
"But what do the Canadian farm-hands and mechanics think? It wouldn't suit them to have wages broken down."
West had come up a few moments earlier.
"It doesn't matter," he laughed; "they won't be consulted. It's the other people who pull the strings26, and they're adopting a forward policy—rush them all in; it's their lookout27 when they get here. That's my opinion; though I'll own that I know remarkably28 little about western Canada."
"You won't admit he's right," George said to the girl.
She looked grave.
"Sometimes," she answered, "I wonder."
Then she turned to West.
"You don't seem impressed with the country," she said.
"As a rule, I try to be truthful29. The country strikes me as being pretty mixed, full of contrasts. There's this place, for instance; one could imagine they had meant to build a Greek temple, and now it looks more like a swimming-bath. After planning the rest magnificently, why couldn't they put on a roof that wouldn't leak?"
"It has been an exceptionally heavy rain," the girl reminded him.
"Just so. But couldn't somebody get a broom and sweep the water out?
Our unimaginative English folk could rise as far as that."
She laughed good-humoredly, and her father sauntered up to them.
"Any news of the train yet?" he asked.
"No, sir," said Edgar. "In my opinion, any attempt to extract reliable information from a Canadian railroad-hand is a waste of time. No doubt, it's so scarce that it hurts them to part with it."
The Westerner looked at him with a little hard smile. He was tall and gaunt and dressed in baggy30 clothes, but there was a hint of power in his face, which was lined, and deeply bronzed by exposure to the weather.
"Well," he retorted, "what do you expect, Percy, if you talk to them like that? But I want to thank you and your partner for taking care of my girl when she went to see the wreck31. Fellow on the cars told me—said you were a gritty pup!"
Edgar looked confused, but the man drew an old skin bag out of his pocket.
"It's domestic leaf; take a smoke."
"No, thanks," said Edgar quickly. "I've no doubt it's excellent, but I really prefer the common Virginia stuff."
"Matter of habit," replied the other. "I don't carry cigars; they're expensive. Going far West?"
"We get off at Sage33 Butte."
"It's called Butte. I'm located in that district."
"Then I wonder if you knew an Englishman named Marston?" George interposed.
"I certainly did; he died last winter. Oughtn't to have come out farming; he hadn't the grip."
George felt surprised. He had always admired Marston, who had excelled in whatever he took in hand. It was strange and disconcerting to hear him disparaged34.
"Will you tell me what you mean by that?" he asked.
"Why, yes. I've nothing against the man. I liked him—guess everybody did—but the contract he was up against was too big for him. Had his first crop frozen, and lost his nerve and judgment35 after that—the man who gets ahead here must have the grit32 to stand up against a few bad seasons. Marston acted foolishly; wasted his money buying machines and teams he could have done without, and then let up when he saw it wouldn't pay him to use them right off; but that was part his wife's fault. She drove him pretty hard—though, in some ways, I guess he needed it."
George frowned. Sylvia, he admitted, was ambitious, and she might have put a little pressure upon Marston now and then; but that she should have urged him on toward ruin in her eagerness to get rich was incredible.
"I think you must be mistaken about his wife," he remarked.
"Well," drawled the Canadian, "I'm not always right."
Then a bell tolled36 outside, an official shouted the names of towns, and there was a sudden stir and murmur37 of voices in the great waiting-room. Men seized their bags and bundles, women dragged sleepy children to their feet, and a crowd began to press about the outlet38.
"Guess that's our train. She's going to be pretty full," said the
Canadian.
The party joined a stream of hurrying passengers, and regretted their haste when they were violently driven through the door and into a railed-off space on the platform, where shouting railroad-hands were endeavoring to restrain the surging crowd. Nobody heeded39 them; the immigrants' patience was exhausted, and they had suddenly changed from a dully apathetic40 multitude waiting in various stages of dejection to a savage41 mob fired by one determined42 purpose. Near by stood a long row of lighted cars, and the immigrants meant to get on board them without loss of time. There were two gates, guarded by officials who endeavored to discriminate43 between the holders44 of first and second class tickets, but the crowd was in no mood to submit to the separation.
It raged behind the barrier, and when one gate was rashly pushed back a little too far, a clamorous45, jostling mass of humanity stormed the opening. Its guardians46 were flung aside, helpless, and the foremost of the mob poured out upon the platform, while the pressure about the gap grew insupportable. Women screamed, children were reft away from their mothers, panting men trampled47 over bags and bundles torn from their owners' hands, and George and the elderly Canadian struggled determinedly48 to prevent the girl's being badly crushed. Edgar had disappeared, though they once heard his voice, raised in angry protest.
They were forced close up to the outlet, when there was a check. More officials had been summoned; somebody had dropped a heavy box which obstructed49 the passage, and a group of passengers began a savage fight for its recovery. George seized a man who was jostling the girl and thrust him backward; but the next moment he was struck by somebody, and he saw nothing of his companions when, after being violently driven to and fro, he reached the gate. A woman with two screaming children clinging to her appeared beside him, and he held a man so that she might pass. He was breathless, and almost exhausted, but he secured her a little room; and then the pressure suddenly slackened. The crowd swept out like a flood from a broken dam, and in a few more moments George stood, gasping50, on the platform amid a thinner stream of running people. There was no sign of the Canadian or his daughter; the cars were besieged51; and George waited until Edgar joined him, flushed and disheveled.
"I suppose I was lucky in getting through with only my jacket badly torn," said the lad, "I wondered why the railroad people caged up their passengers behind iron bars, but now I know."
George laughed.
"I don't think this kind of thing is altogether usual. Owing to the accident, they've no doubt had two trainloads to handle instead of one. But the platform's emptying; shall we look for a place?"
They managed to enter a car, though the stream of passengers, pouring in by the two vestibules, met within in dire52 confusion, choking up the passage with their baggage. Order was, however, restored at last; and, with the tolling53 of the bell, and a jerk that flung those unprepared off their feet, the great express got off.
"Nobody left behind," Edgar announced, after a glance through the window. "I can't imagine where they put them all; though I've never seen a train like this. But what has become of our Canadian friends?"
George said he did not know, and Edgar resumed:
"I'm rather taken with the girl—strikes me as intelligent as well as fetching. The man's a grim old savage, but I'm inclined to think he's prosperous; when a fellow says he can't afford cigars I generally suspect him of being rich. It's a pity that stinginess is one of the roads to affluence54."
The car, glaringly lighted by huge lamps, was crowded and very hot, and after a while George went out on to the rear platform for a breath of air. The train had now left the city, and glancing back as it swung around a curve, he wondered how one locomotive could haul the long row of heavy cars. Then he looked out across the wide expanse of grass that stretched away in the moonlight to the dim blur55 of woods on the horizon. Here and there clumps56 of willows57 dotted the waste, but it lay silent and empty, without sign of human life. The air was pleasantly fresh after heavy rain; and the stillness of the vast prairie was soothing58 by contrast with the tumult59 from which they had recently escaped.
Lighting60 his pipe, George leaned contentedly61 on the rail. Then remembering what the Canadian had said, he thought of his old friend Marston, a man of charm and varied62 talents, whom he had long admired and often rather humbly63 referred to. It was hard to understand how Dick had failed in Canada, and harder still to see why he had made his plodding64 comrade his executor; for George, having seldom had occasion to exert his abilities, had no great belief in them. He had suffered keenly when Sylvia married Dick, but the homage65 he had offered her had always been characterized by diffidence, springing from a doubt that she could be content with him; and after a sharp struggle he succeeded in convincing himself that his wound did not matter if she were happier with the more brilliant man. He had entertained no hard thoughts of her: Sylvia could do no wrong. His love for her sprang rather from respect than passion; in his eyes she was all that a woman ought to be.
In the meanwhile his new friends were discussing him in a car farther back along the train.
"I'm glad I had that Englishman by me in the crowd," the man remarked. "He's cool and kept his head, did what was needed and nothing else. I allow you owe him something for bringing you through."
"Yes," said the girl; "he was quick and resolute66." Then reserving the rest of her thoughts, she added: "His friend's amusing."
"Percy? Oh, yes," agreed her father. "Nothing to notice about him—he's just one of the boys. The other's different. What that fellow takes in hand he'll go through with."
"You haven't much to form an opinion on."
"That doesn't count. I can tell if a man's to be trusted when I see him."
"You're generally right," the girl admitted. "You were about Marston.
I was rather impressed by him when he first came out."
Her father smiled.
"Just so. Marston had only one trouble—he was all on top. You saw all his good points in the first few minutes. It was rough on him that they weren't the ones that are needed in this country."
"It's a country that demands a great deal," the girl said thoughtfully.
"Sure," was the dry reply. "The prairie breaks the weak and shiftless pretty quick; we only have room for hard men who'll stand up against whatever comes along."
"And do you think that description fits the Englishman we met?"
"Well," said her father, "I guess he wouldn't back down if things went against him."
He went out for a smoke, and the girl considered what he had said. It was not a matter of much consequence, but she knew he seldom made mistakes, and in this instance she agreed with him. As it happened, George's English relatives included one or two clever people, but none of them held his talents in much esteem67. They thought him honest, rather painstaking68, and good-natured, but that was all. It was left for two strangers to form a juster opinion; which was, perhaps, a not altogether unusual thing. Besides, the standards are different in western Canada. There, a man is judged by what he can do.
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1
palatial
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| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
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2
domed
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| adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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3
gorges
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| n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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6
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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7
jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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colonist
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| n.殖民者，移民 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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10
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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11
careworn
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| adj.疲倦的，饱经忧患的 | |
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12
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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13
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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14
apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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15
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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16
scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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18
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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19
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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20
intrude
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| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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21
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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22
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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23
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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24
broker
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| n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排 | |
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25
dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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26
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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27
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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28
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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29
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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30
baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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31
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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32
grit
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| n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关 | |
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33
sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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34
disparaged
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| v.轻视( disparage的过去式和过去分词 )；贬低；批评；非难 | |
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35
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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36
tolled
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| 鸣钟（toll的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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37
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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38
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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39
heeded
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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41
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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42
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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43
discriminate
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| v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待 | |
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44
holders
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| 支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物 | |
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45
clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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46
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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47
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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48
determinedly
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| adv.决意地；坚决地，坚定地 | |
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49
obstructed
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| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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50
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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51
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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53
tolling
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| [财]来料加工 | |
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54
affluence
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| n.充裕，富足 | |
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55
blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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56
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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57
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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58
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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59
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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60
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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61
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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62
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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63
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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64
plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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65
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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66
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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67
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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68
painstaking
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| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
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