“How we gwine chase him?” Skeeter asked, glancing pityingly at Shin’s gloomy face. “Skeeter cain’t think up no scheme to apply to him. He don’t ’pear to be skeart to shoot it out wid nobody.”
“Dar is somepin or yuther dat eve’y nigger in de worl’ is skeart of, fellers,” Vinegar declared. “Less find out whut dat coon’s pertickler skeer is, an’ put it on him.”
“How we gwine find out?” Shin asked.
There was no answer to this inquiry1, and the three sat silent for a long time, smoking their pipes in gloomy meditation3. At last Vinegar sprang to his feet with a yell.
“I got it!” he howled. “A nigger is skeart of anything dat he don’t know nothin’ about. Dead folks, pest-houses, ha’nts, bein’ all by yo’ lonely in de dark, hospitals—niggers is skeart of all dem things, because us don’t know nothin’ about ’em. You cain’t ax none of dem things a decent question an’ git a respeckful respondence.”
“Whut is dat Stranger nigger igernunt about?” Shin asked, his eyes gleaming with hope.
“Pigs!” Vinegar howled. “Is you niggers done fergot dat Marse Tom pulls off his big pig drive to-morrer?”
“Dat don’t he’p us none,” Skeeter said disdainfully.
“It do!” Vinegar declared. “Us’ll git Marse Tom to put dat exput-shootin’ nigger at de shootin’-post, an’ when he sees dem wild pigs swoopin’ down on him, he’ll jes’ nachelly sprout4 a couple o’ feathers an’ fly away from dar. Dem hawgs will run him plumb5 to de Gulf6 of Mexico.”
“I gitcher!” Skeeter exclaimed. “Yo’ mind is suttinly popped off a noble idear. Less go see Marse Tom.”
The most interesting event of the year in Tickfall is the wild-hog7 hunt. Gaitskill owned the Little Moccasin Swamp, and he had let hundreds of hogs8 run wild in that jungle and shift for themselves. They lived on the mast and traversed the forest in bands of a hundred or more. They never fattened9, being of the razorback variety; but they furnished plenty of cheap pork every year for the hundreds of negroes employed on the Gaitskill plantations10.
The weather was cool, and the time had come for the fall drive. There had been no rain for months, the swamp was dry underfoot, and a great picnic crowd assembled from all over the Parish.
Hundreds of men and hundreds of dogs spread out across the swamp, fan-shape, making every sort of a noise that would drive the hogs before them to a point near the Gaitskill hog camp. Here Little Moccasin Lake upon one side and Alligator12 Lake upon the other were divided by a narrow ridge13 of land, where the slaughter14 of the animals would take place.
In the slaughter of the hogs care was exercised not to kill the big fighting males. They were the leaders of the herd15, and when they led in a fight for the protection of the females or the young, everything cleared out of their path as before the onrush of an express train. The females were also protected. The young male hogs were slain16, their flesh being tender and easily made into hams, bacon, and salt shoulders for food on the plantation11.
This is one of the most dangerous games ever played in the Little Moccasin Swamp. Some of the big male hogs are six feet long and four feet high. They travel with the speed of a race-horse, and have the fighting instincts of a tiger. From their lower jaws17 great, ugly tusks19 protrude20. They can run at full speed past a horse, and by an upward thrust of that lower jaw18 can split the flesh of the animal’s leg as if cut by a razor, or disembowel him completely.
A man in the midst of a fighting herd is helpless. When he hears an old sow pop her jaws, or sees her coming through the underbrush with a swinish roar, he will climb a prickly ash-tree or jump into a vat21 of tar22 to escape.
As the herd on this day was hedged in between the lakes and driven forward, the men heard before them, at the point where the slaughter was to be, the crack, crack, of a rifle. When at last the entire crowd had converged23 at the shooting-post, they found a strange negro standing24 with dozens of dead hogs around him. A dozen rifles were resting upon the top of a stump25 by his side; and as the young pigs rushed past him he raised a gun with a careless gesture, fired with seeming indifference26 but with absolute accuracy, and at each shot a young hog rolled over with a broken neck.
The men watched this exhibition of sharpshooting with great astonishment27. The marksman never seemed to take aim, and yet never missed. Just as a man can reach up and put his finger on his nose, so this man could put a bullet through the neck of a running hog and think nothing of it.
In a little while nearly two hundred hogs were waiting for the knife of the butcher. Everybody lent a hand in the job of dressing28 them and loading them into wagons29 for their trip back to town.
Vinegar Atts, Skeeter Butts30, and Shin Bone worked together. They spent a great deal of their time in low-toned conversation.
“I figgered dem wild hawgs would chase dat nigger off’n de top of de world,” Vinegar lamented31 as he glanced malevolently32 toward the stranger, who was sitting beside a stump, smoking a cigarette.
“It didn’t pester33 him at all,” Skeeter sighed. “He looked like he enjoyed hisse’f real good. Reckon how come dat nigger didn’t git in de army, when he kin2 fight an’ shoot so good?”
“De only way to skeer dat nigger is to take his guns away from him,” Shin remarked. “He feels powerful secure when he’s got a gun, an’ I feels—otherwise.”
“Me, too,” Vinegar agreed. “An’ I bet he sleeps wid dem guns on his pusson!”
Before the day was over, the marksman had been so loudly proclaimed by the white men for his skill that the negroes were feeling proud of this representative of their race and color.
The negro women of Tickfall had prepared a great dinner at the hog camp. While the negroes were eating, the distinguished34 stranger suddenly left the side of Whiffle Bone and walked around the table to where Shin Bone was standing with Atts and Skeeter Butts.
Shin saw him coming, and turned almost white. When the stranger thrust his hand into his pocket, Shin bleached35 some more; but the stranger extended toward Shin Bone not a gun, but a ten-dollar bill!
“I owes you dis ten-dollar bill, Shinny,” he said, loud enough for everybody to hear.
“Naw, suh, but you loant me dis money a good many year ago, when you got married,” the stranger replied. “You bestowed37 dis loose change on me to buy some ice-cream an’ cake fer yo’ weddin’, an’ I rambled38 up-town an’ got in a little crap-game, an’ dem bones didn’t fall right fer me. I lost yo’ money, an’ I decided39 I better make myse’f absent.”
“My Lawd!” Shin Bone exclaimed, reaching for the money. “Is you Whiffle’s long-lost brudder?”
“Suttinly,” the gunman answered. “My name is Pewter Boone, an’ I jes’ got back from whar we fit de Kaiser.”
“Fer Gawd’s sake, how come you didn’t tell me who you wus a whole heap sooner?” Shin exclaimed.
“I did tell Whiffle,” Pewter replied; “but I wus ashamed to ’fess up to you onless I had de money to pay you back. Soldiers of dis here gover’mint don’t do like I done—dey is true to deir trust. I borrered de money from Skeeter an’ gib him some spy-glasses fer s’curity, an’ waited till I got me a job. Now I pays up an’ squares off wid de worl’.”
Colonel Tom Gaitskill came up at this moment and announced:
“Boys, Pewter Boone is the new superintendent40 of the hog camp. Isaiah is too old, and I hired Pewter to-day.”
Shin Bone threw his arms around the new superintendent and expressed his delight in vociferous41 tones. Whiffle came over and joined them in the jubilation42. The news quickly spread, and all the negroes in Tickfall welcomed the soldier.
“Look here, brudder,” Vinegar Atts bellowed43. “Us niggers gib Marse Tom de recommend whut got you de job of killin’ dem hawgs. We knowed you could shoot ’em all right, but we didn’t expeck you would. We figgered when you perceived dem hawgs a comin’ through de brush, you’d skedaddle.”
“Huh!” Pewter grunted44. “I don’t skeer so awful easy. All dem growlin’, gruntin’ hawgs reminded my mind of dem Bush Germuns. I jes’ nachelly craved45 to ’liminate ’em!”
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收听单词发音
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1
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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3
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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4
sprout
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| n.芽，萌芽；vt.使发芽，摘去芽；vi.长芽，抽条 | |
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5
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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6
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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7
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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8
hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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9
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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10
plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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12
alligator
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| n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼) | |
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13
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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14
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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17
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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19
tusks
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| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
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20
protrude
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| v.使突出，伸出，突出 | |
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vat
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| n.(=value added tax)增值税，大桶 | |
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22
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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converged
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| v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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24
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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25
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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26
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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28
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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29
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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30
butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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31
lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
malevolently
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pester
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| v.纠缠，强求 | |
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34
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
rambled
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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39
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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40
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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41
vociferous
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| adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的 | |
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42
jubilation
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| n.欢庆，喜悦 | |
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43
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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44
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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45
craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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