For five days Thorpe cut wood, made fires, drew water, swept floors, and ran errands. Sometimes he would look across the broad stump-dotted plain to the distant forest. He had imagination. No business man succeeds without it. With him the great struggle to wrest1 from an impassive and aloof2 nature what she has so long held securely as her own, took on the proportions of a battle. The distant forest was the front. To it went the new bands of fighters. From it came the caissons for food, that ammunition3 of the frontier; messengers bringing tidings of defeat or victory; sometimes men groaning4 on their litters from the twisting and crushing and breaking inflicted5 on them by the calm, ruthless enemy; once a dead man bearing still on his chest the mark of the tree that had killed him. Here at headquarters sat the general, map in hand, issuing his orders, directing his forces.
And out of the forest came mystery. Hunters brought deer on sledges6. Indians, observant and grave, swung silently across the reaches on their snowshoes, and silently back again carrying their meager7 purchases. In the daytime ravens8 wheeled and croaked9 about the outskirts10 of the town, bearing the shadow of the woods on their plumes11 and of the north-wind in the somber12 quality of their voices; rare eagles wheeled gracefully13 to and fro; snow squalls coquetted with the landscape. At night the many creatures of the forest ventured out across the plains in search of food,--weasels; big white hares; deer, planting daintily their little sharp hoofs14 where the frozen turnips16 were most plentiful17; porcupines18 in quest of anything they could get their keen teeth into;--and often the big timber wolves would send shivering across the waste a long whining19 howl. And in the morning their tracks would embroider20 the snow with many stories.
The talk about the great stove in the boarding-house office also possessed21 the charm of balsam fragrance22. One told the other occult facts about the "Southeast of the southwest of eight." The second in turn vouchsafed23 information about another point of the compass. Thorpe heard of many curious practical expedients24. He learned that one can prevent awkward air-holes in lakes by "tapping" the ice with an ax,--for the air must get out, naturally or artificially; that the top log on a load should not be large because of the probability, when one side has dumped with a rush, of its falling straight down from its original height, so breaking the sleigh; that a thin slice of salt pork well peppered is good when tied about a sore throat; that choking a horse will cause him to swell25 up and float on the top of the water, thus rendering26 it easy to slide him out on the ice from a hole he may have broken into; that a tree lodged27 against another may be brought to the ground by felling a third against it; that snowshoes made of caribou28 hide do not become baggy29, because caribou shrinks when wet, whereas other rawhide30 stretches. These, and many other things too complicated to elaborate here, he heard discussed by expert opinion. Gradually he acquired an enthusiasm for the woods, just as a boy conceives a longing31 for the out-of-door life of which he hears in the conversation of his elders about the winter fire. He became eager to get away to the front, to stand among the pines, to grapple with the difficulties of thicket32, hill, snow, and cold that nature silently interposes between the man and his task.
At the end of the week he received four dollars from his employer; dumped his valise into a low bobsleigh driven by a man muffled33 in a fur coat; assisted in loading the sleigh with a variety of things, from Spearhead plug to raisins34; and turned his face at last toward the land of his hopes and desires.
The long drive to camp was at once a delight and a misery35 to him. Its miles stretched longer and longer as time went on; and the miles of a route new to a man are always one and a half at least. The forest, so mysterious and inviting36 from afar, drew within itself coldly when Thorpe entered it. He was as yet a stranger. The snow became the prevailing37 note. The white was everywhere, concealing38 jealously beneath rounded uniformity the secrets of the woods. And it was cold. First Thorpe's feet became numb39, then his hands, then his nose was nipped, and finally his warm clothes were lifted from him by invisible hands, and he was left naked to shivers and tremblings. He found it torture to sit still on the top of the bale of hay; and yet he could not bear to contemplate40 the cold shock of jumping from the sleigh to the ground,--of touching41 foot to the chilling snow. The driver pulled up to breathe his horses at the top of a hill, and to fasten under one runner a heavy chain, which, grinding into the snow, would act as a brake on the descent.
"You're dressed pretty light," he advised; "better hoof15 it a ways and get warm."
The words tipped the balance of Thorpe's decision. He descended42 stiffly, conscious of a disagreeable shock from a six-inch jump.
In ten minutes, the wallowing, slipping, and leaping after the tail of the sled had sent his blood tingling43 to the last of his protesting members. Cold withdrew. He saw now that the pines were beautiful and solemn and still; and that in the temple of their columns dwelt winter enthroned. Across the carpet of the snow wandered the trails of her creatures,--the stately regular prints of the partridge; the series of pairs made by the squirrel; those of the weasel and mink44, just like the squirrels' except that the prints were not quite side by side, and that between every other pair stretched the mark of the animal's long, slender body; the delicate tracery of the deer mouse; the fan of the rabbit; the print of a baby's hand that the raccoon left; the broad pad of a lynx; the dog-like trail of wolves;--these, and a dozen others, all equally unknown, gave Thorpe the impression of a great mysterious multitude of living things which moved about him invisible. In a thicket of cedar45 and scrub willow46 near the bed of a stream, he encountered one of those strangely assorted47 bands of woods-creatures which are always cruising it through the country. He heard the cheerful little chickadee; he saw the grave nuthatch with its appearance of a total lack of humor; he glimpsed a black-and-white woodpecker or so, and was reviled48 by a ribald blue jay. Already the wilderness49 was taking its character to him.
After a little while, they arrived by way of a hill, over which they plunged50 into the middle of the camp. Thorpe saw three large buildings, backed end to end, and two smaller ones, all built of heavy logs, roofed with plank51, and lighted sparsely52 through one or two windows apiece. The driver pulled up opposite the space between two of the larger buildings, and began to unload his provisions. Thorpe set about aiding him, and so found himself for the first time in a "cook camp."
It was a commodious53 building,--Thorpe had no idea a log structure ever contained so much room. One end furnished space for two cooking ranges and two bunks54 placed one over the other. Along one side ran a broad table-shelf, with other shelves over it and numerous barrels underneath55, all filled with cans, loaves of bread, cookies, and pies. The center was occupied by four long bench-flanked tables, down whose middle straggled utensils56 containing sugar, apple-butter, condiments57, and sauces, and whose edges were set with tin dishes for about forty men. The cook, a rather thin-faced man with a mustache, directed where the provisions were to be stowed; and the "cookee," a hulking youth, assisted Thorpe and the driver to carry them in. During the course of the work Thorpe made a mistake.
"That stuff doesn't come here," objected the cookee, indicating a box of tobacco the newcomer was carrying. "She goes to the 'van.'"
Thorpe did not know what the "van" might be, but he replaced the tobacco on the sleigh. In a few moments the task was finished, with the exception of a half dozen other cases, which the driver designated as also for the "van." The horses were unhitched, and stabled in the third of the big log buildings. The driver indicated the second.
"Better go into the men's camp and sit down 'till th' boss gets in," he advised.
Thorpe entered a dim, over-heated structure, lined on two sides by a double tier of large bunks partitioned from one another like cabins of boats, and centered by a huge stove over which hung slender poles. The latter were to dry clothes on. Just outside the bunks ran a straight hard bench. Thorpe stood at the entrance trying to accustom59 his eyes to the dimness.
"Set down," said a voice, "on th' floor if you want to; but I'd prefer th' deacon seat."
Thorpe obediently took position on the bench, or "deacon seat." His eyes, more used to the light, could make out a thin, tall, bent60 old man, with bare cranium, two visible teeth, and a three days' stubble of white beard over his meager, twisted face.
He caught, perhaps, Thorpe's surprised expression.
"You think th' old man's no good, do you?" he cackled, without the slightest malice61, "looks is deceivin'!" He sprang up swiftly, seized the toe of his right foot in his left hand, and jumped his left foot through the loop thus formed. Then he sat down again, and laughed at Thorpe's astonishment62.
"Old Jackson's still purty smart," said he. "I'm barn-boss. They ain't a man in th' country knows as much about hosses as I do. We ain't had but two sick this fall, an' between you an' me, they's a skate lot. You're a greenhorn, ain't you?"
"Yes," confessed Thorpe.
"Well," said Jackson, reflectively but rapidly, "Le Fabian, he's quiet but bad; and O'Grady, he talks loud but you can bluff63 him; and Perry, he's only bad when he gets full of red likker; and Norton he's bad when he gets mad like, and will use axes."
Thorpe did not know he was getting valuable points on the camp bullies64. The old man hitched58 nearer and peered in his face.
"They don't bluff you a bit," he said, "unless you likes them, and then they can back you way off the skidway."
Thorpe smiled at the old fellow's volubility. He did not know how near to the truth the woodsman's shrewdness had hit; for to himself, as to most strong characters, his peculiarities65 were the normal, and therefore the unnoticed. His habit of thought in respect to other people was rather objective than subjective66. He inquired so impersonally67 the significance of whatever was before him, that it lost the human quality both as to itself and himself. To him men were things. This attitude relieved him of self-consciousness. He never bothered his head as to what the other man thought of him, his ignorance, or his awkwardness, simply because to him the other man was nothing but an element in his problem. So in such circumstances he learned fast. Once introduce the human element, however, and his absurdly sensitive self-consciousness asserted itself. He was, as Jackson expressed it, backed off the skidway.
At dark the old man lit two lamps, which served dimly to gloze the shadows, and thrust logs of wood into the cast-iron stove. Soon after, the men came in. They were a queer, mixed lot. Some carried the indisputable stamp of the frontiersman in their bearing and glance; others looked to be mere68 day-laborers, capable of performing whatever task they were set to, and of finding the trail home again. There were active, clean-built, precise Frenchmen, with small hands and feet, and a peculiarly trim way of wearing their rough garments; typical native-born American lumber-jacks powerful in frame, rakish in air, reckless in manner; big blonde Scandinavians and Swedes, strong men at the sawing; an Indian or so, strangely in contrast to the rest; and a variety of Irishmen, Englishmen, and Canadians. These men tramped in without a word, and set busily to work at various tasks. Some sat on the "deacon seat" and began to take off their socks and rubbers; others washed at a little wooden sink; still others selected and lit lanterns from a pendant row near the window, and followed old Jackson out of doors. They were the teamsters.
"You'll find the old man in the office," said Jackson.
Thorpe made his way across to the small log cabin indicated as the office, and pushed open the door. He found himself in a little room containing two bunks, a stove, a counter and desk, and a number of shelves full of supplies. About the walls hung firearms, snowshoes, and a variety of clothes.
A man sat at the desk placing figures on a sheet of paper. He obtained the figures from statistics pencilled on three thin leaves of beech-wood riveted69 together. In a chair by the stove lounged a bulkier figure, which Thorpe concluded to be that of the "old man."
"I was sent here by Shearer," said Thorpe directly; "he said you might give me some work."
So long a silence fell that the applicant70 began to wonder if his question had been heard.
"I might," replied the man drily at last.
"Well, will you?" Thorpe inquired, the humor of the situation overcoming him.
"Have you ever worked in the woods?"
"No."
The man smoked silently.
"I'll put you on the road in the morning," he concluded, as though this were the deciding qualification.
One of the men entered abruptly71 and approached the counter. The writer at the desk laid aside his tablets.
"What is it, Albert?" he added.
"Jot72 of chewin'," was the reply.
The scaler took from the shelf a long plug of tobacco and cut off two inches.
"Ain't hitting the van much, are you, Albert?" he commented, putting the man's name and the amount in a little book. Thorpe went out, after leaving his name for the time book, enlightened as to the method of obtaining supplies. He promised himself some warm clothing from the van, when he should have worked out the necessary credit.
At supper he learned something else,--that he must not talk at table. A moment's reflection taught him the common-sense of the rule. For one thing, supper was a much briefer affair than it would have been had every man felt privileged to take his will in conversation; not to speak of the absence of noise and the presence of peace. Each man asked for what he wanted.
"Please pass the beans," he said with the deliberate intonation73 of a man who does not expect that his request will be granted.
Besides the beans were fried salt pork, boiled potatoes, canned corn, mince74 pie, a variety of cookies and doughnuts, and strong green tea. Thorpe found himself eating ravenously75 of the crude fare.
That evening he underwent a catechism, a few practical jokes, which he took good-naturedly, and a vast deal of chaffing. At nine the lights were all out. By daylight he and a dozen other men were at work, hewing76 a road that had to be as smooth and level as a New York boulevard.
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wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sledges
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| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
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meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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ravens
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| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
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croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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turnips
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| 芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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porcupines
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| n.豪猪，箭猪( porcupine的名词复数 ) | |
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whining
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| n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚 | |
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embroider
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| v.刺绣于(布)上；给…添枝加叶，润饰 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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caribou
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| n.北美驯鹿 | |
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baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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rawhide
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| n.生牛皮 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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raisins
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| n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 ) | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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mink
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| n.貂，貂皮 | |
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cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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assorted
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| adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的 | |
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reviled
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| v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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53
commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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54
bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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condiments
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| n.调味品 | |
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hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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accustom
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| vt.使适应，使习惯 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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bullies
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| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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impersonally
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| ad.非人称地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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applicant
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| n.申请人，求职者，请求者 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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jot
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| n.少量；vi.草草记下；vt.匆匆写下 | |
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73
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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74
mince
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| n.切碎物；v.切碎，矫揉做作地说 | |
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75
ravenously
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| adv.大嚼地，饥饿地 | |
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76
hewing
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的现在分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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