“Why, I thrashed Jake Amsden within an hour,” said the tourist, “for an attack upon Gerald.”
“He doesn’t seem to have improved then,” said Carter. “Does he live hereabouts?”
“Yes.”
“Is he in business in this neighborhood?”
“His chief business,” answered Gerald, “is to get drunk, and when he can’t raise money any other way he steals it.”
“Evidently he is the same man. He is the cause of all my misfortunes.”
“Here he is coming back!” said Gerald suddenly.
“Good!” exclaimed the tourist. “I have some business with him.”
Jake had evidently visited Pete Johnson’s saloon[110] again, judging from his flushed face and unsteady gait. Still he was in a condition to get around.
“Stay in the cabin till I call you!” whispered Noel Brooke to Carter.
“Well,” he said, turning to meet Amsden, “have you come back for another boxing lesson?”
“What then?”
“I thought you might like a guide, considerin’ this is your first visit to Colorado. Don’t you want to go up Pike’s Peak?”
“I have engaged Gerald here to go about with me.”
“He’s a boy. He don’t know nothin’ of the country.”
“He will satisfy me as a companion better than you.”
“If you’re goin’ away, Gerald,” said Amsden with unabashed assurance, “won’t you let me live in the cabin till you come back?”
“It has been engaged by another tenant,” answered Gerald.
“Who is it? It isn’t Pete Johnson, is it?”
“No, I don’t propose to let my cabin for a saloon.”
“You’re right, boy. You’d better let me have it.”
[111]
“But I told you that it was already promised to another party.”
“Who is it?”
“An old acquaintance of yours.”
At a signal from Noel Brooke John Carter came out, leading Oscar by the hand. He looked earnestly at Jake Amsden. It was the first time in many years that he had seen the man who was the prime mover in the events that had brought about his financial ruin. He would hardly have known Jake, so much had his appearance suffered from habitual2 intemperance3.
Jake Amsden on his part scanned Carter with curious perplexity.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
“You knew me once. I have good reason to remember you,” answered John Carter gravely.
Something in his voice recalled him to Amsden.
“Why, it’s Carter,” he said, “John Carter. How are you, Carter, old fellow? It does me good to set eyes on an old friend.”
Carter was unprepared for this cordial welcome, and when Jake Amsden approached with hand extended, he put his own behind his back.
“I can’t take your hand, Jake,” he said. “You’ve done me too much harm.”
“Oh, you mean that old affair,” said Jake in[112] an airy tone. “I did act meanly, that’s a fact, but we’re both older now. Let bygones be bygones. It’s all over now.”
“It isn’t all over. That false accusation4 of yours has blighted5 my life. It has driven me from factory to factory, and finally driven me out here in the hope that I might begin a new life where it would no longer be in my way.”
“I’m sorry for that, Carter,” said Jake Amsden. “’Pon my soul, I am. I know it was a mean trick I played upon you, but it was either you or I.”
“And you ruined this man’s reputation to save your own?” said Noel Brooke sternly.
“I didn’t think much about it, squire, I really didn’t,” said Jake. “You see I run in a hole, and I was ready to do anything to get out.”
“It was the act of a scoundrel, Amsden. There is only one thing to do.”
“What is it? Take another lickin’?”
“No, that wouldn’t mend matters. You must sign a confession6 that you committed the theft of which Carter was unjustly accused, so that he may have this to show whenever the old charge is brought up against him hereafter.”
“I’ll do it, squire. I’d have done it long ago if I’d known.”
[113]
“It is better late than not at all. Come into the cabin, both of you.”
His orders were obeyed, and after asking questions as to details he wrote out a confession exonerating7 John Carter and laying the blame on the right party. Gerald furnished him with pen, ink and paper.
“Now,” he said, when the document was completed, “I want you, Jake Amsden, to sign this and Gerald and I will subscribe8 our names as witnesses.”
“All right, squire, I’ll do it. You must not mind the writin’ for I haven’t handled a pen for so long that I have almost forgotten how to write.”
Jake Amsden affixed9 his signature in a large scrawling10 hand, and the two witnesses subscribed11 after him.
“Now, Mr. Carter,” said Noel Brooke, as he handed him the paper, “keep this carefully, and whenever that scoundrel who has made it his business to persecute12 you engages again in the same work you can show this document, and it will be a satisfactory answer to his base charges.”
“I thank you, Mr. Brooke,” said Carter in a deep voice. “You cannot conceive what a favor you have done me. I feel that a great burden[114] has been lifted from my life, and that it has passed out of the shadow which has obscured it for so long. Now I shall be able to leave Oscar an untarnished name!”
During the day Carter made a trip to a point two miles distant where he had left his modest luggage, and returned to take possession of the cabin. In the afternoon Jake Amsden made another call, and informed him that he could obtain employment at a lumber13 camp not far distant.
“Are you going to work there, Mr. Amsden?” asked Gerald.
“I am offered employment,” answered Jake, “but my health won’t allow me to do hard work, so I gave my chance to Carter.”
Gerald smiled, for he understood this was not the real objection. Jake Amsden was naturally stronger and more robust14 than John Carter, but he had for years led a life of idleness, and the mere15 thought of working all day fatigued16 him.
John Carter felt relieved at the prospect17 of obtaining work and grateful to the man whom for years he had regarded as his enemy for his agency in securing it.
“What pay will I receive?” he asked.
“Four dollars a day.”
“Why, that is twice as much as I was paid at[115] the factory,” he said. “Now I can see my way clear to support Oscar and myself comfortably. Jake Amsden, I never expected to feel grateful to you, but if I get this job I will forget the past and feel kindly18 towards you from henceforth.”
“It’s all right, Carter, old boy. I ain’t all black, you see.”
But there were certainly some pretty dark spots still on his character, not the least of which was his compact with Bradley Wentworth concerning the papers in Gerald’s possession, which the crafty19 Amsden had by no means forgotten.
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1
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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3
intemperance
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| n.放纵 | |
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4
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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5
blighted
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| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
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6
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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7
exonerating
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| v.使免罪，免除( exonerate的现在分词 ) | |
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8
subscribe
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| vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助 | |
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9
affixed
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| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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10
scrawling
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的现在分词 ) | |
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subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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12
persecute
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| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
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13
lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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14
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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15
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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16
fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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18
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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