Every one knows the general appearance of a counting-room. There are one or two peculiar1 features about such apartments that are quite unmistakable and very characteristic; and the counting-room at Fort Garry, although many hundred miles distant from other specimens2 of its race, and, from the peculiar circumstances of its position, not therefore likely to bear them much resemblance, possessed4 one or two features of similarity, in the shape of two large desks and several very tall stools, besides sundry5 ink-bottles, rulers, books, and sheets of blotting-paper. But there were other implements6 there, savouring strongly of the backwoods and savage7 life, which merit more particular notice.
The room itself was small, and lighted by two little windows, which opened into the courtyard. The entire apartment was made of wood. The floor was of unpainted fir boards. The walls were of the same material, painted blue from the floor upwards8 to about three feet, where the blue was unceremoniously stopped short by a stripe of bright red, above which the somewhat fanciful decorator had laid on a coat of pale yellow; and the ceiling, by way of variety, was of a deep ochre. As the occupants of Red River office were, however, addicted9 to the use of tobacco and tallow candies, the original colour of the ceiling had vanished entirely10, and that of the walls had considerably11 changed.
There were three doors in the room (besides the door of entrance), each opening into another apartment, where the three clerks were wont12 to court the favour of Morpheus after the labours of the day. No carpets graced the floors of any of these rooms, and with the exception of the paint aforementioned, no ornament13 whatever broke the pleasing uniformity of the scene. This was compensated14, however, to some extent by several scarlet15 sashes, bright-coloured shot-belts, and gay portions of winter costume, peculiar to the country, which depended from sundry nails in the bedroom walls; and as the three doors always stood open, these objects, together with one or two fowling-pieces and canoe-paddles, formed quite a brilliant and highly suggestive background to the otherwise sombre picture. A large open fireplace stood in one corner of the room, devoid16 of a grate, and so constructed that large logs of wood might be piled up on end to any extent. And really the fires made in this manner, and in this individual fireplace, were exquisite17 beyond description. A wood-fire is a particularly cheerful thing. Those who have never seen one can form but a faint idea of its splendour; especially on a sharp winter night in the arctic regions, where the thermometer falls to forty degrees below zero, without inducing the inhabitants to suppose that the world has reached its conclusion. The billets are usually piled up on end, so that the flames rise and twine18 round them with a fierce intensity19 that causes them to crack and sputter20 cheerfully, sending innumerable sparks of fire into the room, and throwing out a rich glow of brilliant light that warms a man even to look at it, and renders candles quite unnecessary.
The clerks who inhabited this counting-room were, like itself, peculiar. There were three—corresponding to the bedrooms. The senior was a tall, broad-shouldered, muscular man—a Scotchman—very good-humoured, yet a man whose under-lip met the upper with that peculiar degree of precision that indicated the presence of other qualities besides that of good-humour. He was book-keeper and accountant, and managed the affairs entrusted21 to his care with the same dogged perseverance22 with which he would have led an expedition of discovery to the North Pole. He was thirty or thereabouts.
The second was a small man—also a Scotchman. It is curious to note how numerous Scotchmen are in the wilds of North America. This specimen3 was diminutive23 and sharp. Moreover, he played the flute24—an accomplishment25 of which he was so proud that he ordered out from England a flute of ebony, so elaborately enriched with silver keys that one’s fingers ached to behold26 it. This beautiful instrument, like most other instruments of a delicate nature, found the climate too much for its constitution, and, soon after the winter began, split from top to bottom. Peter Mactavish, however, was a genius by nature, and a mechanical genius by tendency; so that, instead of giving way to despair, he laboriously27 bound the flute together with waxed thread, which, although it could not restore it to its pristine29 elegance30, enabled him to play with great effect sundry doleful airs, whose influence, when performed at night, usually sent his companions to sleep, or, failing this, drove them to distraction31.
The third inhabitant of the office was a ruddy, smooth-chinned youth of about fourteen, who had left home seven months before, in the hope of gratifying a desire to lead a wild life, which he had entertained ever since he read “Jack the Giant Killer,” and found himself most unexpectedly fastened, during the greater part of each day, to a stool. His name was Harry32 Somerville, and a fine, cheerful little fellow he was, full of spirits, and curiously33 addicted to poking34 and arranging the fire at least every ten minutes—a propensity35 which tested the forbearance of the senior clerk rather severely36, and would have surprised any one not aware of poor Harry’s incurable37 antipathy38 to the desk, and the yearning39 desire with which he longed for physical action.
Harry was busily engaged with the refractory40 fire when Charley, as stated at the conclusion of the last chapter, burst into the room.
“Hollo!” he exclaimed, suspending his operations for a moment, “what’s up?”
“Nothing,” said Charley, “but father’s temper, that’s all. He gave me a splendid description of his life in the woods, and then threw his pipe at me because I admired it too much.”
“Ho!” exclaimed Harry, making a vigorous thrust at the fire, “then you’ve no chance now.”
“No chance! what do you mean?”
“Only that we are to have a wolf-hunt in the plains tomorrow; and if you’ve aggravated41 your father, he’ll be taking you home to-night, that’s all.”
“Oh! no fear of that,” said Charley, with a look that seemed to imply that there was very great fear of “that,”—much more, in fact, than he was willing to admit even to himself. “My dear old father never keeps his anger long. I’m sure that he’ll be all right again in half an hour.”
“Hope so, but doubt it I do,” said Harry, making another deadly poke42 at the fire, and returning, with a deep sigh, to his stool.
“Would you like to go with us, Charley?” said the senior clerk, laying down his pen and turning round on his chair (the senior clerk never sat on a stool) with a benign43 smile.
“Oh, very, very much indeed,” cried Charley; “but even should father agree to stay all night at the fort, I have no horse, and I’m sure he would not let me have the mare44 after what I did to-day.”
“Do you think he’s not open to persuasion45?” said the senior clerk.
“No, I’m sure he’s not.”
“Well, well, it don’t much signify; perhaps we can mount you.” (Charley’s face brightened.) “Go,” he continued, addressing Harry Somerville—“go, tell Tom Whyte I wish to speak to him.”
Harry sprang from his stool with a suddenness and vigour46 that might have justified47 the belief that he had been fixed48 to it by means of a powerful spring, which had been set free with a sharp recoil49, and shot him out at the door, for he disappeared in a trice. In a few minutes he returned, followed by the groom50 Tom Whyte.
“Tom,” said the senior clerk, “do you think we could manage to mount Charley to-morrow?”
“Why, sir, I don’t think as how we could. There ain’t an ’oss in the stable except them wot’s required and them wot’s badly.”
“Couldn’t he have the brown pony51?” suggested the senior clerk.
Tom Whyte was a cockney and an old soldier, and stood so bolt upright that it seemed quite a marvel52 how the words ever managed to climb up the steep ascent53 of his throat, and turn the corner so as to get out at his mouth. Perhaps this was the cause of his speaking on all occasions with great deliberation and slowness.
“Why, you see, sir,” he replied, “the brown pony’s got cut under the fetlock of the right hind54 leg; and I ’ad ’im down to L’Esperance the smith’s, sir, to look at ’im, sir; and he says to me, says he, ‘That don’t look well, that ’oss don’t,’—and he’s a knowing feller, sir, is L’Esperance, though he is an ’alf-breed—”
“Never mind what he said, Tom,” interrupted the senior clerk; “is the pony fit for use? that’s the question.”
“No, sir, ’e hain’t.”
“And the black mare, can he not have that?”
“No, sir; Mr Grant is to ride ’er to-morrow.”
“That’s unfortunate,” said the senior clerk.—“I fear, Charley, that you’ll need to ride behind Harry on his gray pony. It wouldn’t improve his speed, to be sure, having two on his back; but then he’s so like a pig in his movements at any rate, I don’t think it would spoil his pace much.”
“Could he not try the new horse?” he continued, turning to the groom.
“The noo ’oss, sir! he might as well try to ride a mad buffalo55 bull, sir. He’s quite a young colt, sir, only ’alf broke—kicks like a windmill, sir, and’s got an ’ead like a steam-engine; ’e couldn’t ’old ’im in no’ow, sir. I ’ad ’im down to the smith t’other day, sir, an’ says ’e to me, says ’e, ‘That’s a screamer, that is.’ ‘Yes,’ says I, ‘that his a fact.’ ‘Well,’ says ’e—”
“Hang the smith!” cried the senior clerk, losing all patience; “can’t you answer me without so much talk? Is the horse too wild to ride?”
“Yes, sir, ’e is,” said the groom, with a look of slightly offended dignity, and drawing himself up—if we may use such an expression to one who was always drawn56 up to such an extent that he seemed to be just balanced on his heels, and required only a gentle push to lay him flat on his back.
“Oh, I have it!” cried Peter Mactavish, who had been standing57 during the conversation with his back to the fire, and a short pipe in his mouth: “John Fowler, the miller58, has just purchased a new pony. I’m told it’s an old buffalo-runner, and I’m certain he would lend it to Charley at once.”
“The very thing,” said the senior clerk.—“Run, Tom; give the miller my compliments, and beg the loan of his horse for Charley Kennedy.—I think he knows you, Charley?”
The dinner-bell rang as the groom departed, and the clerks prepared for their mid-day meal.
The senior clerk’s order to “run” was a mere59 form of speech, intended to indicate that haste was desirable. No man imagined for a moment that Tom Whyte could by any possibility run. He hadn’t run since he was dismissed from the army, twenty years before, for incurable drunkenness; and most of Tom’s friends entertained the belief that if he ever attempted to run he would crack all over, and go to pieces like a disentombed Egyptian mummy. Tom therefore walked off to the row of buildings inhabited by the men, where he sat down on a bench in front of his bed, and proceeded leisurely60 to fill his pipe.
The room in which he sat was a fair specimen of the dwellings61 devoted62 to the employés of the Hudson’s Bay Company throughout the country. It was large, and low in the roof, built entirely of wood, which was unpainted; a matter, however, of no consequence, as, from long exposure to dust and tobacco-smoke, the floor, walls, and ceiling had become one deep, uniform brown. The men’s berths63 were constructed after the fashion of berths on board ship, being wooden boxes ranged in tiers round the room. Several tables and benches were strewn miscellaneously about the floor, in the centre of which stood a large double iron stove, with the word “Carron” stamped on it. This served at once for cooking, and warming the place. Numerous guns, axes, and canoe-paddles hung round the walls or were piled in corners, and the rafters sustained a miscellaneous mass of materials, the more conspicuous64 among which were snow-shoes, dog-sledges, axe28 handles, and nets.
Having filled and lighted his pipe, Tom Whyte thrust his hands into his deerskin mittens65, and sauntered off to perform his errand.
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1
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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2
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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6
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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7
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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8
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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10
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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11
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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12
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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13
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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14
compensated
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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15
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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16
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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17
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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18
twine
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| v.搓，织，编饰；（使）缠绕 | |
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19
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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20
sputter
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| n.喷溅声；v.喷溅 | |
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21
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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23
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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24
flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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25
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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26
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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28
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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29
pristine
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| adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的 | |
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30
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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31
distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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32
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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33
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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34
poking
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| 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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35
propensity
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| n.倾向；习性 | |
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36
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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38
antipathy
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| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
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39
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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40
refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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41
aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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42
poke
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| 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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43
benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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44
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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45
persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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46
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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47
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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48
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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49
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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50
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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51
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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52
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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53
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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54
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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55
buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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56
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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57
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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58
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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59
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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60
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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61
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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62
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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63
berths
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| n.（船、列车等的）卧铺( berth的名词复数 )；（船舶的）停泊位或锚位；差事；船台vt.v.停泊( berth的第三人称单数 )；占铺位 | |
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64
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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65
mittens
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| 不分指手套 | |
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