And of these things had been bred a certain contempt for his own people—a contempt which he had made it a custom to conceal4, but which now burst forth5 in a polyglot6 whirlwind of curses upon the heads of Kah-Chucte and Gowhee. They cringed before him like a brace7 of snarling8 wolf dogs, too cowardly to spring, too wolfish to cover their fangs9. They were not handsome creatures. Neither was Sitka Charley. All three were frightful-looking. There was no flesh to their faces; their cheekbones were massed with hideous10 scabs which had cracked and frozen alternately under the intense frost; while their eyes burned luridly11 with the light which is born of desperation and hunger. Men so situated12, beyond the pale of the honor and the law, are not to be trusted. Sitka Charley knew this; and this was why he had forced them to abandon their rifles with the rest of the camp outfit13 ten days before. His rifle and Captain Eppingwell's were the only ones that remained.
'Come, get a fire started,' he commanded, drawing out the precious matchbox with its attendant strips of dry birchbark.
The two Indians fell sullenly14 to the task of gathering15 dead branches and underwood. They were weak and paused often, catching16 themselves, in the act of stooping, with giddy motions, or staggering to the center of operations with their knees shaking like castanets.
After each trip they rested for a moment, as though sick and deadly weary. At times their eyes took on the patient stoicism of dumb suffering; and again the ego18 seemed almost burst forth with its wild cry, 'I, I, I want to exist!'—the dominant19 note of the whole living universe.
A light breath of air blew from the south, nipping the exposed portions of their bodies and driving the frost, in needles of fire, through fur and flesh to the bones. So, when the fire had grown lusty and thawed20 a damp circle in the snow about it, Sitka Charley forced his reluctant comrades to lend a hand in pitching a fly. It was a primitive21 affair, merely a blanket stretched parallel with the fire and to windward of it, at an angle of perhaps forty-five degrees. This shut out the chill wind and threw the heat backward and down upon those who were to huddle22 in its shelter. Then a layer of green spruce boughs23 were spread, that their bodies might not come in contact with the snow. When this task was completed, Kah-Chucte and Gowhee proceeded to take care of their feet. Their icebound moccasins were sadly worn by much travel, and the sharp ice of the river jams had cut them to rags.
Their Siwash socks were similarly conditioned, and when these had been thawed and removed, the dead-white tips of the toes, in the various stages of mortification24, told their simple tale of the trail.
Leaving the two to the drying of their footgear, Sitka Charley turned back over the course he had come. He, too, had a mighty25 longing26 to sit by the fire and tend his complaining flesh, but the honor and the law forbade. He toiled27 painfully over the frozen field, each step a protest, every muscle in revolt. Several times, where the open water between the jams had recently crusted, he was forced to miserably28 accelerate his movements as the fragile footing swayed and threatened beneath him. In such places death was quick and easy; but it was not his desire to endure no more.
His deepening anxiety vanished as two Indians dragged into view round a bend in the river. They staggered and panted like men under heavy burdens; yet the packs on their backs were a matter of but a few pounds. He questioned them eagerly, and their replies seemed to relieve him. He hurried on. Next came two white men, supporting between them a woman. They also behaved as though drunken, and their limbs shook with weakness. But the woman leaned lightly upon them, choosing to carry herself forward with her own strength. At the sight of her a flash of joy cast its fleeting29 light across Sitka Charley's face. He cherished a very great regard for Mrs. Eppingwell. He had seen many white women, but this was the first to travel the trail with him. When Captain Eppingwell proposed the hazardous30 undertaking31 and made him an offer for his services, he had shaken his head gravely; for it was an unknown journey through the dismal32 vastnesses of the Northland, and he knew it to be of the kind that try to the uttermost the souls of men.
But when he learned that the captain's wife was to accompany them, he had refused flatly to have anything further to do with it. Had it been a woman of his own race he would have harbored no objections; but these women of the Southland—no, no, they were too soft, too tender, for such enterprises.
Sitka Charley did not know this kind of woman. Five minutes before, he did not even dream of taking charge of the expedition; but when she came to him with her wonderful smile and her straight clean English, and talked to the point, without pleading or persuading, he had incontinently yielded. Had there been a softness and appeal to mercy in the eyes, a tremble to the voice, a taking advantage of sex, he would have stiffened33 to steel; instead her clear-searching eyes and clear-ringing voice, her utter frankness and tacit assumption of equality, had robbed him of his reason. He felt, then, that this was a new breed of woman; and ere they had been trail mates for many days he knew why the sons of such women mastered the land and the sea, and why the sons of his own womankind could not prevail against them. Tender and soft! Day after day he watched her, muscle-weary, exhausted35, indomitable, and the words beat in upon him in a perennial36 refrain. Tender and soft! He knew her feet had been born to easy paths and sunny lands, strangers to the moccasined pain of the North, unkissed by the chill lips of the frost, and he watched and marveled at them twinkling ever through the weary day.
She had always a smile and a word of cheer, from which not even the meanest packer was excluded. As the way grew darker she seemed to stiffen34 and gather greater strength, and when Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, who had bragged37 that they knew every landmark38 of the way as a child did the skin bails39 of the tepee, acknowledged that they knew not where they were, it was she who raised a forgiving voice amid the curses of the men. She had sung to them that night till they felt the weariness fall from them and were ready to face the future with fresh hope. And when the food failed and each scant40 stint41 was measured jealously, she it was who rebelled against the machinations of her husband and Sitka Charley, and demanded and received a share neither greater nor less than that of the others.
Sitka Charley was proud to know this woman. A new richness, a greater breadth, had come into his life with her presence. Hitherto he had been his own mentor42, had turned to right or left at no man's beck; he had moulded himself according to his own dictates43, nourished his manhood regardless of all save his own opinion. For the first time he had felt a call from without for the best that was in him, just a glance of appreciation44 from the clear-searching eyes, a word of thanks from the clear-ringing voice, just a slight wreathing of the lips in the wonderful smile, and he walked with the gods for hours to come. It was a new stimulant45 to his manhood; for the first time he thrilled with a conscious pride in his wisdom of the trail; and between the twain they ever lifted the sinking hearts of their comrades. The faces of the two men and the woman brightened as they saw him, for after all he was the staff they leaned upon. But Sitka Charley, rigid46 as was his wont47, concealing48 pain and pleasure impartially49 beneath an iron exterior50, asked them the welfare of the rest, told the distance to the fire, and continued on the back-trip.
Next he met a single Indian, unburdened, limping, lips compressed, and eyes set with the pain of a foot in which the quick fought a losing battle with the dead. All possible care had been taken of him, but in the last extremity51 the weak and unfortunate must perish, and Sitka Charley deemed his days to be few. The man could not keep up for long, so he gave him rough cheering words. After that came two more Indians, to whom he had allotted52 the task of helping53 along Joe, the third white man of the party. They had deserted54 him. Sitka Charley saw at a glance the lurking55 spring in their bodies, and knew they had at last cast off his mastery. So he was not taken unawares when he ordered them back in quest of their abandoned charge, and saw the gleam of the hunting knives that they drew from the sheaths. A pitiful spectacle, three weak men lifting their puny56 strength in the face of the mighty vastness; but the two recoiled57 under the fierce rifle blows of the one and returned like beaten dogs to the leash58. Two hours later, with Joe reeling between them and Sitka Charley bringing up the rear, they came to the fire, where the remainder of the expedition crouched59 in the shelter of the fly.
'A few words, my comrades, before we sleep,' Sitka Charley said after they had devoured60 their slim rations17 of unleavened bread. He was speaking to the Indians in their own tongue, having already given the import to the whites. 'A few words, my comrades, for your own good, that ye may yet perchance live. I shall give you the law; on his own head by the death of him that breaks it. We have passed the Hills of Silence, and we now travel the head reaches of the Stuart. It may be one sleep, it may be several, it may be many sleeps, but in time we shall come among the men of the Yukon, who have much grub. It were well that we look to the law. Today Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, whom I commanded to break trail, forgot they were men, and like frightened children ran away.
'True, they forgot; so let us forget. But hereafter, let them remember. If it should happen they do not...' He touched his rifle carelessly, grimly. 'Tomorrow they shall carry the flour and see that the white man Joe lies not down by the trail. The cups of flour are counted; should so much as an ounce be wanting at nightfall... Do ye understand? Today there were others that forgot. Moose Head and Three Salmon61 left the white man Joe to lie in the snow. Let them forget no more. With the light of day shall they go forth and break trail. Ye have heard the law. Look well, lest ye break it.' Sitka Charley found it beyond him to keep the line close up. From Moose Head and Three Salmon, who broke trail in advance, to Kah-Chucte, Gowhee, and Joe, it straggled out over a mile. Each staggered, fell or rested as he saw fit.
The line of march was a progression through a chain of irregular halts. Each drew upon the last remnant of his strength and stumbled onward62 till it was expended63, but in some miraculous64 way there was always another last remnant. Each time a man fell it was with the firm belief that he would rise no more; yet he did rise, and again and again. The flesh yielded, the will conquered; but each triumph was a tragedy. The Indian with the frozen foot, no longer erect65, crawled forward on hand and knee. He rarely rested, for he knew the penalty exacted by the frost.
Even Mrs. Eppingwell's lips were at last set in a stony66 smile, and her eyes, seeing, saw not. Often she stopped, pressing a mittened67 hand to her heart, gasping68 and dizzy.
Joe, the white man, had passed beyond the stage of suffering. He no longer begged to be let alone, prayed to die; but was soothed69 and content under the anodyne70 of delirium71. Kah-Chucte and Gowhee dragged him on roughly, venting72 upon him many a savage73 glance or blow. To them it was the acme74 of injustice75.
Their hearts were bitter with hate, heavy with fear. Why should they cumber76 their strength with his weakness? To do so meant death; not to do so—and they remembered the law of Sitka Charley, and the rifle.
Joe fell with greater frequency as the daylight waned77, and so hard was he to raise that they dropped farther and farther behind. Sometimes all three pitched into the snow, so weak had the Indians become. Yet on their backs was life, and strength, and warmth.
Within the flour sacks were all the potentialities of existence. They could not but think of this, and it was not strange, that which came to pass. They had fallen by the side of a great timber jam where a thousand cords of firewood waited the match. Near by was an air hole through the ice. Kah-Chucte looked on the wood and the water, as did Gowhee; then they looked at each other.
Never a word was spoken. Gowhee struck a fire; Kah-Chucte filled a tin cup with water and heated it; Joe babbled79 of things in another land, in a tongue they did not understand.
They mixed flour with the warm water till it was a thin paste, and of this they drank many cups. They did not offer any to Joe; but he did not mind. He did not mind anything, not even his moccasins, which scorched80 and smoked among the coals.
A crystal mist of snow fell about them, softly, caressingly81, wrapping them in clinging robes of white. And their feet would have yet trod many trails had not destiny brushed the clouds aside and cleared the air. Nay82, ten minutes' delay would have been salvation83.
Sitka Charley, looking back, saw the pillared smoke of their fire, and guessed. And he looked ahead at those who were faithful, and at Mrs. Eppingwell. 'So, my good comrades, ye have again forgotten that you were men? Good! Very good. There will be fewer bellies84 to feed.' Sitka Charley retied the flour as he spoke78, strapping85 the pack to the one on his own back. He kicked Joe till the pain broke through the poor devil's bliss86 and brought him doddering to his feet. Then he shoved him out upon the trail and started him on his way. The two Indians attempted to slip off.
'Hold, Gowhee! And thou, too, Kah-Chucte! Hath the flour given such strength to thy legs that they may outrun the swift-winged lead? Think not to cheat the law. Be men for the last time, and be content that ye die full-stomached.
Come, step up, back to the timber, shoulder to shoulder. Come!' The two men obeyed, quietly, without fear; for it is the future which pressed upon the man, not the present.
'Thou, Gowhee, hast a wife and children and a deerskin lodge87 in the Chipewyan. What is thy will in the matter?' 'Give thou her of the goods which are mine by the word of the captain—the blankets, the beads88, the tobacco, the box which makes strange sounds after the manner of the white men. Say that I did die on the trail, but say not how.' 'And thou, Kah-Chucte, who hast nor wife nor child?' 'Mine is a sister, the wife of the factor at Koshim. He beats her, and she is not happy. Give thou her the goods which are mine by the contract, and tell her it were well she go back to her own people. Shouldst thou meet the man, and be so minded, it were a good deed that he should die. He beats her, and she is afraid.' 'Are ye content to die by the law?' 'We are.' 'Then good-bye, my good comrades. May ye sit by the well-filled pot, in warm lodges89, ere the day is done.' As he spoke he raised his rifle, and many echoes broke the silence. Hardly had they died away when other rifles spoke in the distance. Sitka Charley started.
There had been more than one shot, yet there was but one other rifle in the party.
He gave a fleeting glance at the men who lay so quietly, smiled viciously at the wisdom of the trail, and hurried on to meet the men of the Yukon.
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1
aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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venerating
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| 敬重（某人或某事物），崇敬( venerate的现在分词 ) | |
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cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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polyglot
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| adj.通晓数种语言的；n.通晓多种语言的人 | |
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7
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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10
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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luridly
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| adv. 青灰色的(苍白的, 深浓色的, 火焰等火红的) | |
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12
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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18
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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thawed
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| 解冻 | |
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21
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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huddle
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| vi.挤作一团；蜷缩；vt.聚集；n.挤在一起的人 | |
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23
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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24
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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28
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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30
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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32
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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stiffen
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| v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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perennial
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| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
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bragged
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| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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39
bails
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| （法庭命令缴付的）保释金( bail的名词复数 )； 三柱门上的横木 | |
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40
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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41
stint
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| v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事 | |
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42
mentor
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| n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导 | |
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43
dictates
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| n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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44
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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45
stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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46
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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47
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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48
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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49
impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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50
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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51
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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52
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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54
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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55
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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56
puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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57
recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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58
leash
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| n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住 | |
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59
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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61
salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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64
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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65
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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66
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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67
mittened
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| v.（使）变得潮湿，变得湿润( moisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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69
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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70
anodyne
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| n.解除痛苦的东西，止痛剂 | |
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71
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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72
venting
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| 消除； 泄去； 排去； 通风 | |
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73
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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74
acme
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| n.顶点，极点 | |
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75
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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76
cumber
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| v.拖累，妨碍；n.妨害；拖累 | |
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77
waned
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| v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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78
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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79
babbled
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| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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80
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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81
caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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82
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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83
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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84
bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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85
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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86
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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87
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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88
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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89
lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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