There was at that time in Montreal a sort of news room and public exchange, which made a place of general meeting. It was supplied with newspapers and the like, and kept up by subscriptions1 of the town merchants—a spacious2 room made out of the old Methodist chapel3 on St. Joseph Street. I knew this for a place of town gossip, and hoped I might hit upon something to aid me in my errand, which was no more than begun, it seemed. Entering the place shortly before noon, I made pretense4 of reading, all the while with an eye and an ear out for anything that might happen.
As I stared in pretense at the page before me, I fumbled5 idly in a pocket, with unthinking hand, and brought out to place before me on the table, an object of which at first I was unconscious—the little Indian blanket clasp. As it lay before me I felt seized of a sudden hatred6 for it, and let fall on it a heavy hand. As I did so, I heard a voice at my ear.
"Mein Gott, man, do not! You break it, surely."
I started at this. I had not heard any one approach. I discovered now that the speaker had taken a seat near me at the table, and could not fail to see this object which lay before me.
"I beg pardon," he said, in a broken speech which showed his foreign birth; "but it iss so beautiful; to break it iss wrong."
Something in his appearance and speech fixed7 my attention. He was a tall, bent8 man, perhaps sixty years of age, of gray hair and beard, with the glasses and the unmistakable air of the student. His stooped shoulders, his weakened eye, his thin, blue-veined hand, the iron-gray hair standing9 like a ruff above his forehead, marked him not as one acquainted with a wild life, but better fitted for other days and scenes.
I pushed the trinket along the table towards him.
"'Tis of little value," I said, "and is always in the way when I would find anything in my pocket."
"But once some one hass made it; once it hass had value. Tell me where you get it?"
"North of the Platte, in our western territories," I said. "I once traded in that country."
"You are American?"
"Yes."
"So," he said thoughtfully. "So. A great country, a very great country. Me, I also live in it."
"Indeed?" I said. "In what part?"
"It iss five years since I cross the Rockies."
"You have crossed the Rockies? I envy you."
"You meesunderstand me. I live west of them for five years. I am now come east."
"All the more, then, I envy you! You have perhaps seen the Oregon country? That has always been my dream."
My eye must have kindled10 at that, for he smiled at me.
"You are like all Americans. They leave their own homes and make new governments, yess? Those men in Oregon haf made a new government for themselfs, and they tax those English traders to pay for a government which iss American!"
I studied him now closely. If he had indeed lived so long in the Oregon settlements, he knew far more about certain things than I did.
"News travels slowly over so great a distance," said I. "Of course I know nothing of these matters except that last year and the year before the missionaries11 have come east to ask us for more settlers to come out to Oregon. I presume they want their churches filled."
"But most their farms!" said the old man.
"You have been at Fort Vancouver?"
He nodded. "Also to Fort Colville, far north; also to what they call California, far south; and again to what they may yet call Fort Victoria. I haf seen many posts of the Hudson Bay Company."
I was afraid my eyes showed my interest; but he went on.
"I haf been, in the Columbia country, and in the Willamette country, where most of your Americans are settled. I know somewhat of California. Mr. Howard, of the Hudson Bay Company, knows also of this country of California. He said to those English gentlemans at our meeting last night that England should haf someting to offset12 California on the west coast; because, though Mexico claims California, the Yankees really rule there, and will rule there yet more. He iss right; but they laughed at him."
"Oh, I think little will come of all this talk," I said carelessly. "It is very far, out to Oregon." Yet all the time my heart was leaping. So he had been there, at that very meeting of which I could learn nothing!
"You know not what you say. A thousand men came into Oregon last year. It iss like one of the great migrations13 of the peoples of Asia, of Europe. I say to you, it iss a great epoch14. There iss a folk-movement such as we haf not seen since the days of the Huns, the Goths, the Vandals, since the Cimri movement. It iss an epoch, my friend! It iss fate that iss in it."
"So, then, it is a great country?" I asked.
"It iss so great, these traders do not wish it known. They wish only that it may be savage15; also that their posts and their harems may be undisturbed. That iss what they wish. These Scots go wild again, in the wilderness16. They trade and they travel, but it iss not homes they build. Sir George Simpson wants steel traps and not ploughs west of the Rockies. That iss all!"
"They do not speak so of Doctor McLaughlin," I began tentatively.
"My friend, a great man, McLaughlin, believe me! But he iss not McKay; he iss not Simpson; he iss not Behrens; he iss not Colville; he iss not Douglas. And I say to you, as I learned last night—you see, they asked me also to tell what I knew of Oregon—I say to you that last night McLaughlin was deposed17. He iss in charge no more—so soon as they can get word to him, he loses his place at Vancouver."
"After a lifetime in the service!" I commented.
"Yess, after a lifetime; and McLaughlin had brain and heart, too. If England would listen to him, she would learn sometings. He plants, he plows18, he bass19 gardens and mills and houses and herds20. Yess, if they let McLaughlin alone, they would haf a civilization on the Columbia, and not a fur-trading post. Then they could oppose your civilization there. That iss what he preaches. Simpson preaches otherwise. Simpson loses Oregon to England, it may be."
"You know much about affairs out in Oregon," I ventured again. "Now, I did not happen to be present at the little meeting last night."
"I heard it all," he remarked carelessly, "until I went to sleep. I wass bored. I care not to hear of the splendor21 of England!"
"Then you think there is a chance of trouble between our country and England, out there?"
He smiled. "It iss not a chance, but a certainty," he said. "Those settlers will not gif up. And England is planning to push them out!"
"We had not heard that!" I ventured.
"It wass only agreed last night. England will march this summer seven hundred men up the Peace River. In the fall they will be across the Rockies. So! They can take boats easily down the streams to Oregon. You ask if there will be troubles. I tell you, yess."
"And which wins, my friend?" I feared he would hear my heart thumping22 at this news.
"If you stop where you are, England wins. If you keep on going over the mountains England shall lose."
"What time can England make with her brigades, west-bound, my friend?" I asked him casually24. He answered with gratifying scientific precision.
"From Edmonton to Fort Colville, west of the Rockies, it hass been done in six weeks and five days, by Sir George himself. From Fort Colville down it iss easy by boats. It takes the voyageur three months to cross, or four months. It would take troops twice that long, or more. For you in the States, you can go faster. And, ah! my friend, it iss worth the race, that Oregon. Believe me, it iss full of bugs25—of new bugs; twelve new species I haf discovered and named. It iss sometings of honor, iss it not?"
"What you say interests me very much, sir," I said. "I am only an American trader, knocking around to see the world a little bit. You seem to have been engaged in some scientific pursuit in that country."
"Yess," he said. "Mein own government and mein own university, they send me to this country to do what hass not been done. I am insectologer. Shall I show you my bugs of Oregon? You shall see them, yess? Come with me to my hotel. You shall see many bugs, such as science hass not yet known."
I was willing enough to go with him; and true to his word he did show me such quantities of carefully prepared and classified insects as I had not dreamed our own country offered.
"Twelve new species!" he said, with pride. "Mein own country will gif me honor for this. Five years I spend. Now I go back home.
"I shall not tell you what nickname they gif me in Oregon," he added, smiling; "but my real name iss Wolfram von Rittenhofen. Berlin, it wass last my home. Tell me, you go soon to Oregon?"
"That is very possible," I answered; and this time at least I spoke26 the truth. "We are bound in opposite directions, but if you are sailing for Europe this spring, you would save time and gain comfort by starting from New York. It would give us great pleasure if we could welcome so distinguished27 a scientist in Washington."
"No, I am not yet distinguished. Only shall I be distinguished when I have shown my twelve new species to mein own university."
"But it would give me pleasure also to show you Washington. You should see also the government of those backwoodsmen who are crowding out to Oregon. Would you not like to travel with me in America so far as that?"
He shook his head doubtfully. "Perhaps I make mistake to come by the St. Lawrence? It would be shorter to go by New York? Well, I haf no hurry. I think it over, yess."
"But tell me, where did you get that leetle thing?" he asked me again presently, taking up in his hand the Indian clasp.
"I traded for it among the Crow Indians."
"You know what it iss, eh?"
"No, except that it is Indian made."
He scanned the round disks carefully. "Wait!" he exclaimed. "I show you sometings."
He reached for my pencil, drew toward him a piece of paper, taking from his pocket meantime a bit of string. Using the latter for a radius28, he drew a circle on the piece of paper.
"Now look what I do!" he said, as I bent over curiously29. "See, I draw a straight line through the circle. I divide it in half, so. I divide it in half once more, and make a point. Now I shorten my string, one-half. On each side of my long line I make me a half circle—only half way round on the opposite sides. So, now, what I got, eh? You understand him?"
I shook my head. He pointed30 in turn to the rude ornamentation in the shell clasp. I declare that then I could see a resemblance between the two designs!
"It is curious," I said.
"Mein Gott! it iss more than curious. It iss vonderful! I haf two Amazonias collected by my own bands, and twelve species of my own discovery, yess, in butterflies alone. That iss much? Listen. It iss notings! Here iss the discovery!"
He took a pace or two excitedly, and came back to thump23 with his forefinger31 on the little desk.
"What you see before you iss the sign of the Great Monad! It iss known in China, in Burmah, in all Asia, in all Japan. It iss sign of the great One, of the great Two. In your hand iss the Tah Gook—the Oriental symbol for life, for sex. Myself, I haf seen that in Sitka on Chinese brasses32; I haf seen it on Japanese signs, in one land and in another land. But here you show it to me made by the hand of some ignorant aborigine of this continent! On this continent, where it did not originate and does not belong! It iss a discovery! Science shall hear of it. It iss the link of Asia to America. It brings me fame!"
He put his hand into a pocket, and drew it out half filled with gold pieces and with raw gold in the form of nuggets, as though he would offer exchange. I waved him back. "No," said I; "you are welcome to one of these disks, if you please. If you wish, I will take one little bit of these. But tell me, where did you find these pieces of raw gold?"
"Those? They are notings. I recollect33 me I found these one day up on the Rogue34 River, not far from my cabin. I am pursuing a most beautiful moth35, such as I haf not in all my collection. So, I fall on a log; I skin me my leg. In the moss36 I find some bits of rock. I recollect me not where, but believe it wass somewhere there. But what I find now, here, by a stranger—it iss worth more than gold! My friend, I thank you, I embrace you! I am favored by fate to meet you. Go with you to Washington? Yess, yess, I go!"
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
subscriptions
|
|
| n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
spacious
|
|
| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
chapel
|
|
| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
pretense
|
|
| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
fumbled
|
|
| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
kindled
|
|
| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
missionaries
|
|
| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
offset
|
|
| n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
migrations
|
|
| n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
epoch
|
|
| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
deposed
|
|
| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
plows
|
|
| n.犁( plow的名词复数 )；犁型铲雪机v.耕( plow的第三人称单数 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bass
|
|
| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
herds
|
|
| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
splendor
|
|
| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
thumping
|
|
| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
thump
|
|
| v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
casually
|
|
| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
bugs
|
|
| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
radius
|
|
| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
forefinger
|
|
| n.食指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
brasses
|
|
| n.黄铜( brass的名词复数 )；铜管乐器；钱；黄铜饰品（尤指马挽具上的黄铜圆片） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
recollect
|
|
| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
rogue
|
|
| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
moth
|
|
| n.蛾，蛀虫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
moss
|
|
| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |