I struck up friendships with the reporters of the other journals, and we swapped3 “regulars” with each other and thus economized4 work. “Regulars” are permanent sources of news, like courts, bullion5 returns, “clean-ups” at the quartz6 mills, and inquests. Inasmuch as everybody went armed, we had an inquest about every day, and so this department was naturally set down among the “regulars.” We had lively papers in those days. My great competitor among the reporters was Boggs of the union. He was an excellent reporter. Once in three or four months he would get a little intoxicated7, but as a general thing he was a wary8 and cautious drinker although always ready to tamper9 a little with the enemy. He had the advantage of me in one thing; he could get the monthly public school report and I could not, because the principal hated the Enterprise. One snowy night when the report was due, I started out sadly wondering how I was going to get it. Presently, a few steps up the almost deserted10 street I stumbled on Boggs and asked him where he was going.
“After the school report.”
“I’ll go along with you.”
“No, sir. I’ll excuse you.”
“Just as you say.”
A saloon-keeper’s boy passed by with a steaming pitcher11 of hot punch, and Boggs snuffed the fragrance12 gratefully. He gazed fondly after the boy and saw him start up the Enterprise stairs. I said:
“I wish you could help me get that school business, but since you can’t, I must run up to the union office and see if I can get them to let me have a proof of it after they have set it up, though I don’t begin to suppose they will. Good night.”
“Hold on a minute. I don’t mind getting the report and sitting around with the boys a little, while you copy it, if you’re willing to drop down to the principal’s with me.”
“Now you talk like a rational being. Come along.”
We plowed13 a couple of blocks through the snow, got the report and returned to our office. It was a short document and soon copied. Meantime Boggs helped himself to the punch. I gave the manuscript back to him and we started out to get an inquest, for we heard pistol shots near by. We got the particulars with little loss of time, for it was only an inferior sort of bar-room murder, and of little interest to the public, and then we separated. Away at three o’clock in the morning, when we had gone to press and were having a relaxing concert as usual—for some of the printers were good singers and others good performers on the guitar and on that atrocity14 the accordion—the proprietor15 of the union strode in and desired to know if anybody had heard anything of Boggs or the school report. We stated the case, and all turned out to help hunt for the delinquent16. We found him standing17 on a table in a saloon, with an old tin lantern in one hand and the school report in the other, haranguing18 a gang of intoxicated Cornish miners on the iniquity19 of squandering20 the public moneys on education “when hundreds and hundreds of honest hard-working men are literally21 starving for whiskey.” [Riotous applause.] He had been assisting in a regal spree with those parties for hours. We dragged him away and put him to bed.
Of course there was no school report in the union, and Boggs held me accountable, though I was innocent of any intention or desire to compass its absence from that paper and was as sorry as any one that the misfortune had occurred.
But we were perfectly22 friendly. The day that the school report was next due, the proprietor of the “Genessee” mine furnished us a buggy and asked us to go down and write something about the property—a very common request and one always gladly acceded23 to when people furnished buggies, for we were as fond of pleasure excursions as other people. In due time we arrived at the “mine”—nothing but a hole in the ground ninety feet deep, and no way of getting down into it but by holding on to a rope and being lowered with a windlass. The workmen had just gone off somewhere to dinner. I was not strong enough to lower Boggs’s bulk; so I took an unlighted candle in my teeth, made a loop for my foot in the end of the rope, implored24 Boggs not to go to sleep or let the windlass get the start of him, and then swung out over the shaft25. I reached the bottom muddy and bruised26 about the elbows, but safe. I lit the candle, made an examination of the rock, selected some specimens27 and shouted to Boggs to hoist28 away. No answer. Presently a head appeared in the circle of daylight away aloft, and a voice came down:
“Are you all set?”
“All set—hoist away.”
“Are you comfortable?”
“Perfectly.”
“Could you wait a little?”
“Oh certainly—no particular hurry.”
“Well—good by.”
“Why? Where are you going?”
“After the school report!”
And he did. I staid down there an hour, and surprised the workmen when they hauled up and found a man on the rope instead of a bucket of rock. I walked home, too—five miles—up hill. We had no school report next morning; but the union had.
Six months after my entry into journalism29 the grand “flush times” of Silverland began, and they continued with unabated splendor30 for three years. All difficulty about filling up the “local department” ceased, and the only trouble now was how to make the lengthened31 columns hold the world of incidents and happenings that came to our literary net every day. Virginia had grown to be the “livest” town, for its age and population, that America had ever produced. The sidewalks swarmed32 with people—to such an extent, indeed, that it was generally no easy matter to stem the human tide. The streets themselves were just as crowded with quartz wagons33, freight teams and other vehicles. The procession was endless. So great was the pack, that buggies frequently had to wait half an hour for an opportunity to cross the principal street. Joy sat on every countenance34, and there was a glad, almost fierce, intensity35 in every eye, that told of the money-getting schemes that were seething36 in every brain and the high hope that held sway in every heart. Money was as plenty as dust; every individual considered himself wealthy, and a melancholy37 countenance was nowhere to be seen. There were military companies, fire companies, brass38 bands, banks, hotels, theatres, “hurdy- gurdy houses,” wide-open gambling39 palaces, political pow-wows, civic40 processions, street fights, murders, inquests, riots, a whiskey mill every fifteen steps, a Board of Aldermen, a Mayor, a City Surveyor, a City Engineer, a Chief of the Fire Department, with First, Second and Third Assistants, a Chief of Police, City Marshal and a large police force, two Boards of Mining Brokers41, a dozen breweries42 and half a dozen jails and station-houses in full operation, and some talk of building a church. The “flush times” were in magnificent flower! Large fire-proof brick buildings were going up in the principal streets, and the wooden suburbs were spreading out in all directions. Town lots soared up to prices that were amazing.
The great “Comstock lode” stretched its opulent length straight through the town from north to south, and every mine on it was in diligent43 process of development. One of these mines alone employed six hundred and seventy-five men, and in the matter of elections the adage44 was, “as the ‘Gould and Curry’ goes, so goes the city.” Laboring45 men’s wages were four and six dollars a day, and they worked in three “shifts” or gangs, and the blasting and picking and shoveling went on without ceasing, night and day.
The “city” of Virginia roosted royally midway up the steep side of Mount Davidson, seven thousand two hundred feet above the level of the sea, and in the clear Nevada atmosphere was visible from a distance of fifty miles! It claimed a population of fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand, and all day long half of this little army swarmed the streets like bees and the other half swarmed among the drifts and tunnels of the “Comstock,” hundreds of feet down in the earth directly under those same streets. Often we felt our chairs jar, and heard the faint boom of a blast down in the bowels46 of the earth under the office.
The mountain side was so steep that the entire town had a slant47 to it like a roof. Each street was a terrace, and from each to the next street below the descent was forty or fifty feet. The fronts of the houses were level with the street they faced, but their rear first floors were propped48 on lofty stilts49; a man could stand at a rear first floor window of a C street house and look down the chimneys of the row of houses below him facing D street. It was a laborious50 climb, in that thin atmosphere, to ascend51 from D to A street, and you were panting and out of breath when you got there; but you could turn around and go down again like a house a-fire—so to speak. The atmosphere was so rarified, on account of the great altitude, that one’s blood lay near the surface always, and the scratch of a pin was a disaster worth worrying about, for the chances were that a grievous erysipelas would ensue. But to offset52 this, the thin atmosphere seemed to carry healing to gunshot wounds, and therefore, to simply shoot your adversary53 through both lungs was a thing not likely to afford you any permanent satisfaction, for he would be nearly certain to be around looking for you within the month, and not with an opera glass, either.
From Virginia’s airy situation one could look over a vast, far-reaching panorama54 of mountain ranges and deserts; and whether the day was bright or overcast55, whether the sun was rising or setting, or flaming in the zenith, or whether night and the moon held sway, the spectacle was always impressive and beautiful. Over your head Mount Davidson lifted its gray dome56, and before and below you a rugged57 canyon58 clove59 the battlemented hills, making a sombre gateway60 through which a soft-tinted desert was glimpsed, with the silver thread of a river winding61 through it, bordered with trees which many miles of distance diminished to a delicate fringe; and still further away the snowy mountains rose up and stretched their long barrier to the filmy horizon—far enough beyond a lake that burned in the desert like a fallen sun, though that, itself, lay fifty miles removed. Look from your window where you would, there was fascination62 in the picture. At rare intervals—but very rare—there were clouds in our skies, and then the setting sun would gild63 and flush and glorify64 this mighty65 expanse of scenery with a bewildering pomp of color that held the eye like a spell and moved the spirit like music.
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1
diverging
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| 分开( diverge的现在分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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swapped
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| 交换（工作）( swap的过去式和过去分词 )； 用…替换，把…换成，掉换（过来） | |
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economized
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| v.节省，减少开支( economize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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quartz
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| n.石英 | |
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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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tamper
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| v.干预，玩弄，贿赂，窜改，削弱，损害 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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pitcher
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| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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14
atrocity
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| n.残暴，暴行 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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delinquent
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| adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者 | |
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17
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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18
haranguing
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| v.高谈阔论( harangue的现在分词 ) | |
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iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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20
squandering
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| v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的现在分词 ) | |
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21
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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22
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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23
acceded
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| v.（正式）加入( accede的过去式和过去分词 )；答应；（通过财产的添附而）增加；开始任职 | |
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24
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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26
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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27
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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28
hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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29
journalism
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| n.新闻工作，报业 | |
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30
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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31
lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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33
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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34
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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35
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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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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38
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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39
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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40
civic
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| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
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41
brokers
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| n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排… | |
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42
breweries
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| 酿造厂，啤酒厂( brewery的名词复数 ) | |
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43
diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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44
adage
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| n.格言，古训 | |
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45
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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46
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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47
slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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48
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
stilts
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| n.（支撑建筑物高出地面或水面的）桩子，支柱( stilt的名词复数 )；高跷 | |
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50
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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51
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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52
offset
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| n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿 | |
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53
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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54
panorama
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| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
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55
overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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56
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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57
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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58
canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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59
clove
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| n.丁香味 | |
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60
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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61
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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62
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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63
gild
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| vt.给…镀金，把…漆成金色，使呈金色 | |
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64
glorify
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| vt.颂扬，赞美，使增光，美化 | |
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65
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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