The installment1 of scenery visible to the eye looked mighty2 poor. As far as we could see was red hills all washed down with gullies and scattered3 over with patches of piny woods. Blackberry bushes was all that kept the rail fences from falling down. About fifteen miles over to the north was a little range of well-timbered mountains.
That town of Mountain Valley wasn't going. About a dozen people permeated4 along the sidewalks; but what you saw mostly was rain-barrels and roosters, and boys poking5 around with sticks in piles of ashes made by burning the scenery of Uncle Tom shows.
And just then there passes down on the other side of the street a high man in a long black coat and a beaver6 hat. All the people in sight bowed, and some crossed the street to shake hands with him; folks came out of stores and houses to holler at him; women leaned out of windows and smiled; and all the kids stopped playing to look at him. Our landlord stepped out on the porch and bent7 himself double like a carpenter's rule, and sung out, "Good-morning, Colonel," when he was a dozen yards gone by.
"And is that Alexander, pa?" says Caligula to the landlord; "and why is he called great?"
"That, gentlemen," says the landlord, "is no less than Colonel Jackson T. Rockingham, the president of the Sunrise & Edenville Tap Railroad, mayor of Mountain Valley, and chairman of the Perry County board of immigration and public improvements."
"Been away a good many years, hasn't he?" I asked.
"No, sir; Colonel Rockingham is going down to the post-office for his mail. His fellow-citizens take pleasure in greeting him thus every morning. The colonel is our most prominent citizen. Besides the height of the stock of the Sunrise & Edenville Tap Railroad, he owns a thousand acres of that land across the creek8. Mountain Valley delights, sir, to honor a citizen of such worth and public spirit."
For an hour that afternoon Caligula sat on the back of his neck on the porch and studied a newspaper, which was unusual in a man who despised print. When he was through he took me to the end of the porch among the sunlight and drying dish-towels. I knew that Caligula had invented a new graft9. For he chewed the ends of his mustache and ran the left catch of his suspenders up and down, which was his way.
"What is it now?" I asks. "Just so it ain't floating mining stocks or raising Pennsylvania pinks, we'll talk it over."
"Pennsylvania pinks? Oh, that refers to a coin-raising scheme of the Keystoners. They burn the soles of old women's feet to make them tell where their money's hid."
Caligula's words in business was always few and bitter.
"You see them mountains," said he, pointing. "And you seen that colonel man that owns railroads and cuts more ice when he goes to the post-office than Roosevelt does when he cleans 'em out. What we're going to do is to kidnap the latter into the former, and inflict10 a ransom11 of ten thousand dollars."
"Illegality," says I, shaking my head.
"I knew you'd say that," says Caligula. "At first sight it does seem to jar peace and dignity. But it don't. I got the idea out of that newspaper. Would you commit aspersions on a equitable12 graft that the United States itself has condoned13 and indorsed and ratified14?"
"Kidnapping," says I, "is an immoral15 function in the derogatory list of the statutes16. If the United States upholds it, it must be a recent enactment17 of ethics18, along with race suicide and rural delivery."
"Listen," says Caligula, "and I'll explain the case set down in the papers. Here was a Greek citizen named Burdick Harris," says he, "captured for a graft by Africans; and the United States sends two gunboats to the State of Tangiers and makes the King of Morocco give up seventy thousand dollars to Raisuli."
"Go slow," says I. "That sounds too international to take in all at once. It's like 'thimble, thimble, who's got the naturalization papers?'"
"'Twas press despatches from Constantinople," says Caligula. "You'll see, six months from now. They'll be confirmed by the monthly magazines; and then it won't be long till you'll notice 'em alongside the photos of the Mount Pelee eruption19 photos in the while-you-get-your-hair-cut weeklies. It's all right, Pick. This African man Raisuli hides Burdick Harris up in the mountains, and advertises his price to the governments of different nations. Now, you wouldn't think for a minute," goes on Caligula, "that John Hay would have chipped in and helped this graft along if it wasn't a square game, would you?"
"Why, no," says I. "I've always stood right in with Bryan's policies, and I couldn't consciously say a word against the Republican administration just now. But if Harris was a Greek, on what system of international protocols20 did Hay interfere21?"
"It ain't exactly set forth22 in the papers," says Caligula. "I suppose it's a matter of sentiment. You know he wrote this poem, 'Little Breeches'; and them Greeks wear little or none. But anyhow, John Hay sends the Brooklyn and the Olympia over, and they cover Africa with thirty-inch guns. And then Hay cables after the health of the persona grata. 'And how are they this morning?' he wires. 'Is Burdick Harris alive yet, or Mr. Raisuli dead?' And the King of Morocco sends up the seventy thousand dollars, and they turn Burdick Harris loose. And there's not half the hard feelings among the nations about this little kidnapping matter as there was about the peace congress. And Burdick Harris says to the reporters, in the Greek language, that he's often heard about the United States, and he admires Roosevelt next to Raisuli, who is one of the whitest and most gentlemanly kidnappers23 that he ever worked alongside of. So you see, Pick," winds up Caligula, "we've got the law of nations on our side. We'll cut this colonel man out of the herd24, and corral him in them little mountains, and stick up his heirs and assigns for ten thousand dollars."
"Well, you seldom little red-headed territorial25 terror," I answers, "you can't bluff26 your uncle Tecumseh Pickens! I'll be your company in this graft. But I misdoubt if you've absorbed the inwardness of this Burdick Harris case, Calig; and if on any morning we get a telegram from the Secretary of State asking about the health of the scheme, I propose to acquire the most propinquitous and celeritous mule27 in this section and gallop28 diplomatically over into the neighboring and peaceful nation of Alabama."
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1 installment | |
n.(instalment)分期付款;(连载的)一期 | |
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2 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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3 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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4 permeated | |
弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 ); 遍布; 渗入; 渗透 | |
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5 poking | |
n. 刺,戳,袋 vt. 拨开,刺,戳 vi. 戳,刺,捅,搜索,伸出,行动散慢 | |
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6 beaver | |
n.海狸,河狸 | |
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7 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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8 creek | |
n.小溪,小河,小湾 | |
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9 graft | |
n.移植,嫁接,艰苦工作,贪污;v.移植,嫁接 | |
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10 inflict | |
vt.(on)把…强加给,使遭受,使承担 | |
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11 ransom | |
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救 | |
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12 equitable | |
adj.公平的;公正的 | |
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13 condoned | |
v.容忍,宽恕,原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 ratified | |
v.批准,签认(合约等)( ratify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15 immoral | |
adj.不道德的,淫荡的,荒淫的,有伤风化的 | |
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16 statutes | |
成文法( statute的名词复数 ); 法令; 法规; 章程 | |
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17 enactment | |
n.演出,担任…角色;制订,通过 | |
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18 ethics | |
n.伦理学;伦理观,道德标准 | |
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19 eruption | |
n.火山爆发;(战争等)爆发;(疾病等)发作 | |
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20 protocols | |
n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 );(外交条约的)草案;(数据传递的)协议;科学实验报告(或计划) | |
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21 interfere | |
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
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22 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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23 kidnappers | |
n.拐子,绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 ) | |
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24 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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25 territorial | |
adj.领土的,领地的 | |
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26 bluff | |
v.虚张声势,用假象骗人;n.虚张声势,欺骗 | |
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27 mule | |
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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28 gallop | |
v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔;飞速发展 | |
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