Finally, seeing no other way to compass his desire, Joshua opened his father’s strong box with a key which he had found, and abstracted from it fifty dollars in gold, and a five-twenty government bond for five hundred dollars, excusing himself for the theft by the specious2 reasoning that it was only taking in advance what would be his some day.
Thus provided, he secretly left the house, and took the train for New York, saying to himself, in exultation3, as he took his seat at the car window, “Now I am going to see life.”
Joshua felt immensely wealthy with the proceeds of the robbery, amounting, at the price of bonds, to over six hundred dollars. Accustomed to the paltry4 sum of twenty-five cents a week, never having had in his possession more than a dollar at a time, and seldom that, it is not surprising that he should have regarded six hundred dollars as a small fortune. He knew nothing of the city and its dangers. He had an idea that he should easily get a situation in a week or two, which time he proposed to spend in seeing life.
When he reached New York, he left the depot5 and went out into the street. He felt bewildered. The change from the quiet streets of Stapleton to the thronged6 avenues of the great city was very great, and he hardly knew whether he stood on his head or his heels. But he realized, with a thrill of exultation, that he was in the city of which he had so often dreamed. He felt that a new page was to be turned over in his life, and that his future would be much more brilliant than his past.
Joshua knew nobody in the city except Sam Crawford. His first desire was to find out where Sam lived. Sam he was accustomed to regard as a personage of a good deal of importance. But how to find him--that was the question. He knew that Sam was a clerk in a shoe store on Eighth avenue, but where that avenue was he had not the least idea.
While he was standing7 outside the depot in some perplexity, wondering how far off Sam’s store was, he was accosted8 by a sharp-looking bootblack, whose hands indicated his profession.
“Shine yer boots, mister?”
Joshua was not reckless in his expenditures9, and he inquired, cautiously, “How much do you ask?”
“Twenty-five cents,” said the bootblack.
“Twenty-five cents!” exclaimed Joshua, aghast, reflecting that the sum asked represented what hitherto had been his entire weekly allowance.
“Well,” said the bootblack, “seein’ you’re from the country, I’ll call it twenty cents.”
“I saw you git off the cars,” said the bootblack, not caring to offend a possible customer by commenting on his verdant11 appearance.
“Yes,” said Joshua, satisfied; “I came from the country this morning. I don’t know much about the city. I’ve got a friend here. He is in a store in Eighth avenue. His name is Sam Crawford. Do you know him?”
“Know Sam Crawford? In course I do,” said the bootblack, who had never heard the name before. “I black his boots every mornin’.”
“Do you?” asked Joshua, brightening up.
“Yes. He always gives me twenty cents. He wouldn’t go round with no such lookin’ boots as yours. They ain’t respectable here in the city.”
Joshua believed all this. He was not yet accustomed to the “ways that are dark and tricks that are vain” of city street Arabs, and he decided12 to have his boots blacked notwithstanding the price, which he could not help regarding as very steep. He was anxious to conform, as speedily as possible, to city fashions, and, if it was not respectable to walk about in unpolished boots, he decided to have them blacked, so that his friend Sam might not feel ashamed of him when he came into his store.
“I guess I’ll have my boots blacked,” he said. “Can’t you take less than twenty cents?”
“That’s the regular price, fixed13 by the city gov’ment,” protested the bootblack. “If I was to take less, I’d have my license14 took away.”
“Do you have a license?” asked Joshua, with curiosity.
“In course I do.”
“Have you got it here?”
“No, I’ve got it to home, along with my gold valooables. I had to pay fifty dollars for it.”
“That’s high, isn’t it?” asked Joshua, who was gathering15 valuable information with great rapidity.
“Yes, it is; but then, you see we have to support the gov’ment.”
Meanwhile the mendacious16 young bootblack was vigorously employed upon Joshua’s boots. He had a hard job. They were made of cow-hide, for Jacob Drummond was not in the habit of spending much for the outfit17 of his son, and they had never been well polished since they were new. At length, however, they were polished, and certainly were greatly improved by the process, though in shape they would hardly have been taken for the work of a fashionable city bootmaker.
“There,” said the young Arab, surveying his work complacently18, “now they look respectable.”
“They do look better than they did,” Joshua was compelled to admit. He drew out twenty cents from his vest pocket and handed it to the boy.
“Is it far to Sam Crawford’s store?” he asked.
“About two miles,” was the answer.
“Could I find the way easy?”
“Yes; all you’ve got to do is to go up Madison avenue till you get to the Battery. Go round it; then cross Madison square, keepin’ the Astor House on your left hand. Turn into the Bowery at Trinity Church; then cross over to Twenty-seventh street. Go up Twenty-seventh street six blocks till you get to A. T. Stewart’s store; then take a short cut to Eighth avenue, and there you are.”
These false and absurd directions were delivered with great volubility by the bootblack; but it is needless to say that they made a very confused impression upon the mind of Joshua, who felt more bewildered and helpless than before.
“I don’t know any of those places,” he said. “I am afraid I couldn’t find the way.”
“Maybe you couldn’t. I know a man who was two days findin’ a place only a mile off. If he’d paid a dollar to somebody that knew the way he’d been all right.”
This put a new idea into Joshua’s mind.
“If you’ll show me the way to Sam Crawford’s, I’ll give you fifty cents,” he said.
“That’s too little,” said the boy. “I couldn’t neglect my business so long for that. I should lose money.”
“How much do you want?”
“A dollar. It’s worth a dollar to go so fur. I might lose half a dozen shines.”
The boy would have stood out for a dollar but for the fact that another bootblack had come up--one of his rivals in business--and he was afraid he might offer to go for less. Accordingly he hastened to strike a bargain.
“All right,” said he. “Hand over your money.”
“Wait till I get there,” said Joshua, cautiously.
“Payment in advance,” said the young Arab. “That’s the way they do business in the city.”
Joshua drew out seventy-five cents, and placed them in his hand.
“Follow me, mister,” said the young conductor. “I guess I won’t go the way I told you. I’ll take a short cut,” he added.
The bootblack led Joshua by a pretty direct course to Eighth avenue. It was a considerable walk, and to Joshua an interesting one. As he noted19 block after block of elegant buildings he felt elated to think that his home was from henceforth to be in the great city. Some time or other, when his father had forgiven him, he would go back to Stapleton, and show off the same city airs which had so impressed him in the case of Sam Crawford. He was rather alarmed when he came to cross Broadway, and came near being run over by a passing omnibus.
“Look out, mister,” said his young guide, “or you’ll get knocked into a cocked hat. Folks is in such a hurry here that they don’t stop to pick up dead bodies.”
Arrived in Eighth avenue, the bootblack, who had cunningly managed to find out Sam Crawford’s business, pointed20 to the first shoe store they reached, and said, “That’s the place.”
“Does Sam Crawford work there?”
“In course he does. You jest go in, and you’ll see him at the back of the store.”
Joshua went in, never dreaming that he had been deceived. Meanwhile his guide took to his heels with the money he had extracted from Joshua by false pretenses21.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
specious
|
|
| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
exultation
|
|
| n.狂喜，得意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
paltry
|
|
| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
depot
|
|
| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
thronged
|
|
| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
accosted
|
|
| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
expenditures
|
|
| n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
rustic
|
|
| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
verdant
|
|
| adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
license
|
|
| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
mendacious
|
|
| adj.不真的，撒谎的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
complacently
|
|
| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
pretenses
|
|
| n.借口（pretense的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |