Yosemite Jim, or a Tale of the Great White Death

     YOSEMITE JIM wuz the name he had,

          And he came from no one knowed whar;

      Quiet, easy goin' sort of a cuss,

          And wuz reckoned on the squar'.

      Ridin' a route for the Wells Fargo folks

          May have made him stern and grim;

      But thar wasn't a man that crossed the divide

          But 'ud swar by Yosemite Jim.

 

      He wa'n't one of the regular sort

          What you'd meet thar any day,

      But as near as the camp could figure it out,

          In a show down he'd likely stay.

      A shambling, awkward figure,

          Rawboned, tall and slim,

      And his schaps and togs in general

          Jist looked like they'd fell on him.

 

      I wuz somewhat of a tenderfoot then,

          Hadn't jist got the lay of the land;

      Thar wuz a good many things in them thar parts

          As I couldn't quite understand.

      But I took a likin' to Yosemite Jim,

          Wuz with him on my very first trick;

      And from that time on I stuck to him

          Like a kitten to a good warm brick.

 

      Our headquarters then wuz the valley camp,

          It wuz down by the redwood way,

       With Chaparel across the spur,

          'Bout¹ fifty miles away.

      Wall, what I'm goin' to tell you, pard,

          Happened thar whar the trail runs into the sky;

      And if it hadn't a-bin fer Yosemite Jim,

          Wall, I'd be countin' my chips on high.

 

      The galoot that wuz punchin' the broncos fer me

          Wuz a greaser from down Monterey;

      And Jim used to say, "Keep your eye on him, pard,

          I don't think he's cum fer to stay;

      His eyes are too shifty and yeller,

          And his face is sullen² and hard;

      And 'taint³ that so much as a feelin' I have;

          Anyhow, keep your eye on him, pard."

 

      One day when the mercury wuz way out of sight,

          And the frost it wuz on every nail,

      With jist the mail sack and specie box,

          The greaser and I hit the trail.

      We picked two passengers up at Big Pine,

          And while the broncos were changed that day

      I noticed them havin' a sneakin' chat

          With the greaser from down Monterey.

 

      Did you ever hear tell of the Great White Death,

          That creeps down the mountain side,

      Leavin' behind it a ghastly track

          Whar those who have met it died?

      Wall, pard, as true as I'm a-livin',

          No man wants to see it twice;

      White and grim as a funeral shroud⁵,

          A mass of mist and ice.

 

      Wall, we hadn't got far from the Big Pine relay

          When my hair it commenced to rise,

      For I saw across by the Lone⁶ Bear spur

          A cloud of most monstrous⁷ size.

      And the greaser acted sort of peculiar⁸,

          And the broncos commenced to neigh;

      Wall, some thoughts went through my mind jist then

          I won't forgit till my dyin' day.

 

      In less time than it takes to tell it,

          We were into the Great White Death,

      With its millions of frozen snowflakes

          A-takin' away our breath.

      And jist then somethin' happened, pard,

          The greaser from down Monterey

      Tried to sneak⁴ off with the specie box,

          Along with the passengers from Big Pine relay.

 

      All at once a figure on hossback

          Cum a-whoopin' it down the trail,

      And bullets from out of a Winchester

          Commenced to fly like hail.

      The greaser and them two passengers

          Cashed in their chips to him,

      Fer the feller what wuz doin' the shootin'

          Wuz my friend, Yosemite Jim.

 

      Wall, we planted them thar together,

          When the cloud had passed away;

      And all they've got fer a tombstone

          Is the mountains, dull and gray.

      So, pard, let's take one together,

          And I'll drink a toast to him,

      Fer though he wuz rough and ready,

          He'd a heart, YOSEMITE JIM.

The Great White Death, so named by the Indians, occurs in the higher altitudes of the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is almost indescribable. It might properly be termed a frozen fog. It has the effect of bringing on acute congestion⁹ of the lungs, from which few rarely recover. Viewed at a distance it is a magnificent sight, each and every particle of the frozen moisture being a miniature prism, which reflects the sun's rays in a manner once seen never to be forgotten.—By CAL. STEWART, formerly¹⁰ Overland Messenger for the Wells-Fargo Express Company.

1 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

2 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

3 taint   

n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染

参考例句：

• Everything possible should be done to free them from the economic taint.应尽可能把他们从经济的腐蚀中解脱出来。
• Moral taint has spread among young people.道德的败坏在年轻人之间蔓延。

4 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

5 shroud   

n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏

参考例句：

• His past was enveloped in a shroud of mystery.他的过去被裹上一层神秘色彩。
• How can I do under shroud of a dark sky?在黑暗的天空的笼罩下，我该怎么做呢？

6 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

7 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

8 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

9 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

10 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。