Chapter 22 The Arrival at Murphy's

 One morning about eleven o'clock they came in sight of Murphy's. It was only a mining-settlement of the most primitive¹ description. A few tents and cabins, with rough, bearded men scattered² here and there, intent upon working their claims, gave it a picturesque⁴ appearance, which it has lost now. It was then a more important place than at present, however, for the surface diggings are exhausted⁵, and it is best known-to-day by its vicinity to the famous Calaveras grove⁶ of big trees.

 

'So this is Murphy's?' said Ben, rather disappointed. 'It doesn't seem to be much of a place.'

 

'You didn't expect to see a regular town, did you?' asked Bradley.

 

'I don't know. I hardly knew what to expect. It seems a rough place.'

 

'And I suppose the people seem rough, too?'

 

'Yes.'

 

'So they are in appearance; but you can't tell what a man has been, by his looks here. Why, the man that worked the next claim to me was a college graduate, and not far away was another who had been mayor of a Western city.'

 

'And were they dressed like these men here?' asked Ben.

 

'Quite as roughly. It won't do to wear store-clothes at the mines.'

 

'No, I suppose not; but these men look like immigrants just come over.'

 

Bradley laughed.

 

'Wait till we have been at work a little while, and we shall look no better,' he said, laughing.

 

'What is that?' asked Ben suddenly, stopping short while an expression of horror came over his face.

 

Bradley followed the direction of his finger, and saw suspended from a tree the inanimate body of a man, the features livid and distorted, and wearing an expression of terror and dismay, as if his fate had come upon him without time for preparation.

 

'I reckon that's a thief,' answered Bradley unconcernedly.

 

'A thief! Do they hang people for stealing out here?'

 

'Yes, they have to. You see, my lad, there ain't any laws here, nor courts. If a man steals, the miners just take the matter into their own hands, and if there ain't a doubt of it, they hang him as soon as they catch him.'

 

'It's horrible!' said Ben, who had never before seen the victim of a violent death.

 

'Maybe it is, but what can we do?'

 

'Put him in prison,' suggested Ben.

 

'There ain't any prisons, and, if there were, there would be nobody to keep them.'

 

Just then Bradley was hailed by a rough-looking man, whom at home Ben would have taken for a tramp.

 

'What, Bradley, back again? I didn't expect to see you here?'

 

'I didn't expect to come, Hunter, but I fooled away my money in 'Frisco, and have come back for more.'

 

'And who's this boy-your son, or nephew?'

 

'No; he's no kin³ to me. I ran across him down to 'Frisco. Ben, let me make you acquainted with my old chum, Frank Hunter. He isn't much to look at, but-'

 

'I have seen better days,' interrupted Hunter, smiling. 'I was rather a dandy in my college days at old Yale, though I don't look like it now.'

 

Ben regarded him with surprise. He had not dreamed that this sun-brown, bearded man, in the roughest of mining-garbs, had ever seen the inside of a college.

 

Hunter smiled at the boy's evident surprise.

 

'I don't look like a college graduate, do I? But I assure you I am not the worst-dressed man in camp. My friend, the mayor, is rougher-looking than I. Some time I hope to return to the haunts of civilization, and then I will try to conform to habits which I have almost forgotten.'

 

'How are you making out, Hunter?' asked Bradley.

 

'Pretty well. I have made more here in six months than I did by three years' practise of law before I came out here.'

 

'Do you like it as well, Mr. Hunter?' Ben could not help asking curiously⁸.

 

'No, I don't; but then, it's only for a time, as I say to myself when I get tired of the rough life I am leading. When I've made a respectable pile I shall start for 'Frisco, and take passage home, put up my shingle⁹ again, and wait for clients with money enough to pay my board while I'm waiting. A young lawyer needs that always.'

 

'Perhaps you'll be Judge Hunter, in time,' said Bradley.

 

'I've served in that capacity already,' said Hunter unexpectedly, 'and that not longer ago than yesterday. Do you see that poor wretch¹⁰ up there?' and he pointed⁷ to the suspended body already referred to.

 

'Yes; what did he do?'

 

'He was a notorious thief-served a term in the penitentiary¹¹ East for stealing, and came out here to practise his profession. But this climate is unhealthy for gentlemen in that line of business.'

 

'Did he rob anybody here?'

 

'Yes; you remember Johnson?'

 

'Is he still here?'

 

'He is about ready to go home, with money enough to lift the mortgage from his farm. We all knew it, for Johnson was so happy that he took everybody into his confidence. He had all his money tied up in a bag which he kept in his tent.

 

'Imprudent, of course, but we haven't any banks or safes here,' added Hunter, meeting the question in Ben's eyes. 'Well, this rascal¹², Ross, wormed himself into his confidence, found out exactly where the bag was kept, and night before last, in the middle of the night, he crept to the tent, and was in the act of carrying off the bag, when, as luck would have it, my friend, the mayor, who was taking a night walk in the hope of curing a severe headache, came upon him.

 

'Ross showed fight, but was overpowered, and tied securely till morning. When morning came we tried him, I being judge. He was found guilty, and sentenced to be hung. The sentence was carried into effect in the afternoon. He won't steal any more, I reckon.'

 

Ben took another hasty look at the dangling¹³ criminal whose end had been so sudden and horrible, and he shuddered¹⁴.

 

'Why don't you take him down?' he asked.

 

'It was ordered that he hang for twenty-four hours, as a warning to any others in camp who might be tempted¹⁵ to steal. The time isn't up yet.

 

'You are a young gold-hunter,' said Hunter, scanning over hero's youthful face.

 

'Yes, I am,' Ben confessed; 'but I had to earn a living, and I thought I could do it better here than at home.'

 

'Are you from the East?'

 

'I am from Hampton, in New York State.'

 

'I know something of Hampton,' said Hunter. 'I have never been there; but I have a distant relative living there.'

 

'Who is it?' asked Ben, with interest. 'I know everybody there.'

 

'I dare say you know my relative, for I am given to understand that he is the great man of Hampton.'

 

'Mayor Sturgis?'

 

'Yes, that is his name. He married a cousin of my mother, so the relationship is not very close. He is rich, isn't he?'

 

'He is the richest man in Hampton.'

 

'I suppose he is aware of that fact,' said Hunter, laughing.

 

'If he isn't, his son, Sam, is,' replied Ben. 'Sam wanted to engage me as his servant before I came away. He wanted me to black his boots.'

 

'And you objected, I suppose?'

 

'I wouldn't work for Sam Sturgis for a hundred dollars a month!' said Ben emphatically.

 

'Then you don't like him?'

 

'He is very big-feeling,' said Ben, using a boy's word, 'and likes to boss all the rest of the boys. He thinks he is far above us all.'

 

'He ought to come out here. California takes the airs out of a man if he has any. We are all on an equality here, and the best man wins-I mean the man of the most pluck-for success doesn't depend on moral excellence¹⁶ exactly. Well, old friend, are you going to settle down among us again?'

 

It was to Bradley this question was addressed.

 

'I don't know. I'm here on a little matter of business, along of this boy. Is Richard Dewey here now?'

 

'Dewey? No. He had poor luck, and he dusted a month ago.'

 

Ben and his companion exchanged glances of disappointment.

 

'Where did he go?' asked Bradley, who was evidently getting discouraged.

 

'He was going to the mountains,' he said. 'He had been studying up something about minerals, and he had an idea that he'd find a rich ledge¹⁷ among the Sierras that would pay better than this surface-mining.'

 

'Is there anybody that knows what direction he took?'

 

'My friend, the mayor, knows as well as any man. Dewey was his next neighbor, and often talked over his plans with him.'

 

'Then we will go and see the mayor.'

 

'No need of going, here he comes.' 

1 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

2 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

3 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

4 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

5 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

6 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

9 shingle   

n.木瓦板；小招牌(尤指医生或律师挂的营业招牌)；v.用木瓦板盖（屋顶）；把（女子头发）剪短

参考例句：

• He scraped away the dirt,and exposed a pine shingle.他刨去泥土，下面露出一块松木瓦块。
• He hung out his grandfather's shingle.他挂出了祖父的行医招牌。

10 wretch   

n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人

参考例句：

• You are really an ungrateful wretch to complain instead of thanking him.你不但不谢他，还埋怨他，真不知好歹。
• The dead husband is not the dishonoured wretch they fancied him.死去的丈夫不是他们所想象的不光彩的坏蛋。

11 penitentiary   

n.感化院；监狱

参考例句：

• He worked as a warden at the state penitentiary.他在这所州监狱任看守长。
• While he was in the penitentiary her father died and the family broke up.他坐牢的时候，她的父亲死了，家庭就拆散了。

12 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

13 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

14 shuddered   

v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• He slammed on the brakes and the car shuddered to a halt. 他猛踩刹车，车颤抖着停住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I shuddered at the sight of the dead body. 我一看见那尸体就战栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

16 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

17 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。