On the other hand, San Francisco's attitude toward Daylight had undergone a change. While he, with his slashing7 buccaneer methods, was a distinct menace to the more orthodox financial gamblers, he was nevertheless so grave a menace that they were glad enough to leave him alone. He had already taught them the excellence8 of letting a sleeping dog lie. Many of the men, who knew that they were in danger of his big bear-paw when it reached out for the honey vats9, even made efforts to placate10 him, to get on the friendly side of him. The Alta-Pacific approached him confidentially11 with an offer of reinstatement, which he promptly12 declined. He was after a number of men in that club, and, whenever opportunity offered, he reached out for them and mangled13 them. Even the newspapers, with one or two blackmailing14 exceptions, ceased abusing him and became respectful. In short, he was looked upon as a bald-faced grizzly15 from the Arctic wilds to whom it was considered expedient16 to give the trail. At the time he raided the steamship17 companies, they had yapped at him and worried him, the whole pack of them, only to have him whirl around and whip them in the fiercest pitched battle San Francisco had ever known. Not easily forgotten was the Pacific Slope Seaman's strike and the giving over of the municipal government to the labor18 bosses and grafters. The destruction of Charles Klinkner and the California and Altamont Trust Company had been a warning. But it was an isolated19 case; they had been confident in strength in numbers—until he taught them better.
Daylight still engaged in daring speculations21, as, for instance, at the impending22 outbreak of the Japanese-Russian War, when, in the face of the experience and power of the shipping23 gamblers, he reached out and clutched practically a monopoly of available steamer-charters. There was scarcely a battered24 tramp on the Seven Seas that was not his on time charter. As usual, his position was, "You've got to come and see me"; which they did, and, to use another of his phrases, they "paid through the nose" for the privilege. And all his venturing and fighting had now but one motive25. Some day, as he confided26 to Hegan, when he'd made a sufficient stake, he was going back to New York and knock the spots out of Messrs. Dowsett, Letton, and Guggenhammer. He'd show them what an all-around general buzz-saw he was and what a mistake they'd made ever to monkey with him. But he never lost his head, and he knew that he was not yet strong enough to go into death-grapples with those three early enemies. In the meantime the black marks against them remained for a future easement day.
Dede Mason was still in the office. He had made no more overtures27, discussed no more books and no more grammar. He had no active interest in her, and she was to him a pleasant memory of what had never happened, a joy, which, by his essential nature, he was barred from ever knowing. Yet, while his interest had gone to sleep and his energy was consumed in the endless battles he waged, he knew every trick of the light on her hair, every quick denote mannerism28 of movement, every line of her figure as expounded29 by her tailor-made gowns. Several times, six months or so apart, he had increased her salary, until now she was receiving ninety dollars a month. Beyond this he dared not go, though he had got around it by making the work easier. This he had accomplished30 after her return from a vacation, by retaining her substitute as an assistant. Also, he had changed his office suite31, so that now the two girls had a room by themselves.
His eye had become quite critical wherever Dede Mason was concerned. He had long since noted32 her pride of carriage. It was unobtrusive, yet it was there. He decided33, from the way she carried it, that she deemed her body a thing to be proud of, to be cared for as a beautiful and valued possession. In this, and in the way she carried her clothes, he compared her with her assistant, with the stenographers he encountered in other offices, with the women he saw on the sidewalks. "She's sure well put up," he communed with himself; "and she sure knows how to dress and carry it off without being stuck on herself and without laying it on thick."
The more he saw of her, and the more he thought he knew of her, the more unapproachable did she seem to him. But since he had no intention of approaching her, this was anything but an unsatisfactory fact. He was glad he had her in his office, and hoped she'd stay, and that was about all.
Daylight did not improve with the passing years. The life was not good for him. He was growing stout34 and soft, and there was unwonted flabbiness in his muscles. The more he drank cocktails35, the more he was compelled to drink in order to get the desired result, the inhibitions that eased him down from the concert pitch of his operations. And with this went wine, too, at meals, and the long drinks after dinner of Scotch36 and soda37 at the Riverside. Then, too, his body suffered from lack of exercise; and, from lack of decent human associations, his moral fibres were weakening. Never a man to hide anything, some of his escapades became public, such as speeding, and of joy-rides in his big red motor-car down to San Jose with companions distinctly sporty—incidents that were narrated38 as good fun and comically in the newspapers.
Nor was there anything to save him. Religion had passed him by. "A long time dead" was his epitome39 of that phase of speculation20. He was not interested in humanity. According to his rough-hewn sociology, it was all a gamble. God was a whimsical, abstract, mad thing called Luck. As to how one happened to be born—whether a sucker or a robber—was a gamble to begin with; Luck dealt out the cards, and the little babies picked up the hands allotted41 them. Protest was vain. Those were their cards and they had to play them, willy-nilly, hunchbacked or straight backed, crippled or clean-limbed, addle-pated or clear-headed. There was no fairness in it. The cards most picked up put them into the sucker class; the cards of a few enabled them to become robbers. The playing of the cards was life—the crowd of players, society.
The table was the earth, and the earth, in lumps and chunks42, from loaves of bread to big red motor-cars, was the stake. And in the end, lucky and unlucky, they were all a long time dead.
It was hard on the stupid lowly, for they were coppered to lose from the start; but the more he saw of the others, the apparent winners, the less it seemed to him that they had anything to brag43 about. They, too, were a long time dead, and their living did not amount to much. It was a wild animal fight; the strong trampled44 the weak, and the strong, he had already discovered,—men like Dowsett, and Letton, and Guggenhammer,—were not necessarily the best. He remembered his miner comrades of the Arctic. They were the stupid lowly, they did the hard work and were robbed of the fruit of their toil45 just as was the old woman making wine in the Sonoma hills; and yet they had finer qualities of truth, and loyalty46, and square-dealing than did the men who robbed them. The winners seemed to be the crooked47 ones, the unfaithful ones, the wicked ones. And even they had no say in the matter. They played the cards that were given them; and Luck, the monstrous48, mad-god thing, the owner of the whole shebang, looked on and grinned. It was he who stacked the universal card-deck of existence.
There was no justice in the deal. The little men that came, the little pulpy49 babies, were not even asked if they wanted to try a flutter at the game. They had no choice. Luck jerked them into life, slammed them up against the jostling table, and told them: "Now play, damn you, play!" And they did their best, poor little devils. The play of some led to steam yachts and mansions50; of others, to the asylum51 or the pauper's ward6. Some played the one same card, over and over, and made wine all their days in the chaparral, hoping, at the end, to pull down a set of false teeth and a coffin52. Others quit the game early, having drawn53 cards that called for violent death, or famine in the Barrens, or loathsome54 and lingering disease. The hands of some called for kingship and irresponsible and numerated55 power; other hands called for ambition, for wealth in untold56 sums, for disgrace and shame, or for women and wine.
As for himself, he had drawn a lucky hand, though he could not see all the cards. Somebody or something might get him yet. The mad god, Luck, might be tricking him along to some such end. An unfortunate set of circumstances, and in a month's time the robber gang might be war-dancing around his financial carcass. This very day a street-car might run him down, or a sign fall from a building and smash in his skull57. Or there was disease, ever rampant58, one of Luck's grimmest whims40. Who could say? To-morrow, or some other day, a ptomaine bug59, or some other of a thousand bugs60, might jump out upon him and drag him down. There was Doctor Bascom, Lee Bascom who had stood beside him a week ago and talked and argued, a picture of magnificent youth, and strength, and health. And in three days he was dead—pneumonia, rheumatism61 of the heart, and heaven knew what else—at the end screaming in agony that could be heard a block away. That had been terrible. It was a fresh, raw stroke in Daylight's consciousness. And when would his own turn come? Who could say?
In the meantime there was nothing to do but play the cards he could see in his hand, and they were BATTLE, REVENGE, AND COCKTAILS. And Luck sat over all and grinned.
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收听单词发音
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1
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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erased
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| v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除 | |
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camaraderie
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| n.同志之爱，友情 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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7
slashing
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| adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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vats
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| varieties 变化，多样性，种类 | |
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placate
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| v.抚慰，平息(愤怒) | |
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confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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blackmailing
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| 胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的现在分词 ) | |
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15
grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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mannerism
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| n.特殊习惯，怪癖 | |
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expounded
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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cocktails
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| n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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narrated
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| v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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epitome
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| n.典型，梗概 | |
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40
WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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41
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
chunks
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| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
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43
brag
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| v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的 | |
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44
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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45
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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46
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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47
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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48
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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49
pulpy
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| 果肉状的，多汁的，柔软的； 烂糊； 稀烂 | |
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50
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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51
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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52
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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53
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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54
loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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55
numerated
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| v.识数的，有计算能力的( numerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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57
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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rampant
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| adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的 | |
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59
bug
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| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
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60
bugs
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| 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 | |
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rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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