“I tell you,” said Bidwell, at the end of the fourth day, when he had celebrated8 his release from purgatory9, “it pays, Ruggles.”
“What pays?”
“The reward you git for all this. At the end of a week you’ll have a thirst that you wouldn’t take a thousand dollars fur.”
“Don’t you do it! Hold fast to it.”
“That’s what I’m doing, ’cause I can’t help myself. Howsumever it’s the thirst that’s holding fast to me.”
58
“That’s the beauty of it; it’ll git stronger and stronger, and then it’s so big that you can’t well handle it. It seems to me that ten minutes after I’ve had a drink, I’m thirsty agin, which reminds me; I’d like to invite you, Wade11.”
“Invite all you want to, ’cause it won’t do any more hurt than good; don’t let me keep you,” added Ruggles, observing the longing12 eyes his friend cast in the direction of the Heavenly Bower13. Bidwell moved off with pretended reluctance14, out of consideration for the feelings of his friend, but once inside, he gave another demonstration15 of the truth of his remarks concerning thirst.
As for Ruggles, only he who has been similarly placed can appreciate his trial. No man is so deserving of sympathy as he who is making a resolute16 effort to conquer the debasing appetite that has brought him to the gutter17.
On that fourth night the thirst of the fellow was a raging fever. He drank copious18 draughts20 of spring water, but all the help it gave was to fill him up. The insatiate craving21 remained and could not be soothed22. It seemed as if every nerve was crying out for the stimulant23 which it was denied.
“The only time I ever went through anything like this,” he said to himself, “was twenty years ago, when a party of us were lost in the Death Valley. Three of 59 ’em died of thirst, and I come so nigh it that it makes me shudder24 to think of it even at this late day.”
A wonderful experience came to Wade Ruggles. To his unbounded amazement25, he noticed a sensible diminution26, on the fifth day, of his thirst. It startled him at first and caused something in the nature of alarm. He feared some radical27 change had taken place in his system which threatened a dangerous issue. When this misgiving28 passed, it was succeeded by something of the nature of regret. One consoling reflection from the moment his torture began, was the reward which Al Bidwell had named, that is,––the glorious enjoyment29 of fully quenching30 his terrific craving, but, if that craving diminished, the future bliss31 must shrink in a corresponding ratio, and that was a calamity32 to make a man like him shudder.
On the evening of the fifth day, he ventured for the first time during his penal6 term, to enter the Heavenly Bower. He wished to test his self-control. When he sat quietly and saw his friends imbibing33, and was yet able to restrain himself from a headlong rush to join them, he knew that beyond all question, his fearful appetite had lost a part of its control over him. Still he believed it was only a temporary disarrangement, and that the following day would bring a renewal34 of his thirst, with all its merciless violence.
But lo! on the sixth morning, the appetite was 60 weaker than ever. His craving was so moderate that, after a deep draught19 of mountain spring water, he was hardly conscious of any longing for liquor. He seemed to be losing his memory of it.
“I don’t understand it,” he mused35, keeping the astonishing truth to himself; “It’s less than a week ago that I was one of the heaviest drinkers in New Constantinople, and if anyone had told me of this, I would have been sure he’d lost his senses, which the same may be what’s the matter with me.”
But there was no awakening36 of his torment37 during the day, and when he lay down at night, he was disturbed by strange musings.
“If we had a doctor in the place, I would ask him to tell me what it means. The queerest thing ’bout the whole bus’ness is that I feel three thousand per cent. better. I wonder if it can be on ’count of my not swallerin’ any of Ortigies’ pison which the same he calls Mountain Dew. I guess it must be that.”
But that night he was restless, and gradually his thoughts turned into a new channel. A momentous38 problem presented itself for solution.
“If I’ve improved so much after goin’ six days without drinkin’, won’t I feel a blamed sight better, if I try it for six weeks––six months––six years––forever.”
And as an extraordinary, a marvelous resolution simmered and finally crystallized, he chortled.
61
“What’ll the boys say? What’ll the parson think? What’ll I think? What would that good old mother of mine think, if she was alive? But she died afore she knowed what a good for nothin’ man her boy turned out to be. God rest her soul!” he added softly, “she must have prayed over me a good many hundred times; if she’s kept track of me all these years, this is an answer to her prayers.”
Budge39 Isham was the partner of Wade, and shared his cabin with him. He slept across the room, and noticed how his friend tossed and muttered in his sleep.
“Great Gee40!” he exclaimed, “but Wade’s got it pretty bad; I wonder if it’s the jim jams that is getting hold of him; I’ll sleep with one eye open, for he will need looking after. What a blessed thing it is that he has only one more day. Then he can celebrate and be happy. I have no doubt that by the end of another week, he will have brought things up to their old average.”
And with this conclusion, the man who a few years before took the first honors at Yale, shifted his position, so as to keep an eye on his comrade, and straightway proceeded to drop into a sound slumber41, which was not broken until the sun rose on the following morning.
The sympathy for Wade was general. Had he not insisted upon carrying out in spirit and letter the full punishment pronounced upon him, there would have 62 been a unanimous agreement to commute42 his term by one or two days at least; but all knew the grit43 or “sand” of the fellow too well to propose it.
His actions on the seventh day caused considerable disquietude. He had labored44 in the mines, in a desultory45 fashion up to that time, but he did not do a stroke of work during the concluding hours of his ordeal46. It was observed by his partner, Budge Isham, that his appetite was unusually good and he seemed to be in high spirits. His friends attributed this to the closeness of his reward for his abstention, but he took several walks up the mountain side and was gone for a good while. He wore a smiling face and Vose Adams declared that he overheard him communing with himself, when he thought he was too far off for the act to be noticed.
“No use of talkin’,” whispered Vose; “Wade ain’t quite himself; he’s a little off and won’t be exactly right till after two or three days.”
“He has my sympathy,” remarked the parson, “but it will serve as a lesson which he will always remember.”
“And won’t we remember it?” said Ike Hoe, with a shudder. “When we’re disposed to say one of them unproper words, the picture of that miserable47 scamp going a full week without a touch of Mountain Dew, will freeze up our lips closer than a clam48.”
63
That night the usual group was gathered at the Heavenly Bower. There were the same merry jests, the reminiscences, the conjectures49 how certain diggings would pan out, the small talk and the general good feeling. Common hardship and suffering had brought these rough men close to one another. They were indulgent and charitable and each one would have eagerly risked his life for the sake of the rest. Quick to anger, they were equally quick to forgive, mutually rejoicing in good fortune, and mutually sympathetic in sorrow.
There was more than one furtive50 glance at Ruggles, who was among the first arrivals. Whispers had passed around of his strange actions, and the surprise would not have been great had it been found that he had gone clean daft; but nothing in his manner indicated anything of that nature. He was as full of quip and jest as ever, and none was in higher or more buoyant spirits than he.
He suddenly called:
“Dawson, what time is it?”
The latest comer among them carried a watch which he drew out and examined.
“It is exactly half-past nine.”
“When did my punishment begin?”
“No danger of my ever forgetting it,” grimly responded 64 Ruggles; “what I want to know is whether I have served out my full term.”
“You have unquestionably.”
“Is there anyone here disposed to dispute this statement?” asked Wade, standing52 very erect53 and looking around in the faces of his friends.
No one interposed an objection. He had not only the sympathy but the respect of every one.
“You sarved your time like a man,” remarked Ike Hoe; “the week is up and you’ve give good measure.”
Never was an invitation responded to with more enthusiasm. The grinning Ortigies set out a couple of bottles, intending as a matter of course to join in the celebration. He feelingly remarked:
“Wade, my heart bled for you and thar ain’t a pard here that wouldn’t have been willing to take your place––that is for a limited time,” the landlord hastened to add.
Each tumbler was half-filled with the fiery55 stuff and all looked in smiling expectancy56 at their host to give the cue. He poured a small quantity into his glass, and elevating it almost to a level with his lips, looked over the top.
“Are you ready, pards? here goes.”
Up went every glass and down went the stuff. But 65 there was one exception. While the glass was at his lips, and while the familiar odor was in his nostrils57, Wade Ruggles deliberately58 inverted59 the tumbler and emptied the contents on the floor.
It was the strangest incident that had ever occurred in New Constantinople.
该作者的其它作品
《The Boy Miners》
《The Hunters of the Ozark》
该作者的其它作品
《The Boy Miners》
《The Hunters of the Ozark》
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1
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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deprivation
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| n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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10
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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12
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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14
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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15
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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16
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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18
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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19
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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20
draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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21
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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23
stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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25
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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quenching
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| 淬火，熄 | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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32
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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imbibing
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| v.吸收( imbibe的现在分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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renewal
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| adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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budge
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| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
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gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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41
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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commute
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| vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通 | |
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grit
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| n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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clam
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| n.蛤，蛤肉 | |
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49
conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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50
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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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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53
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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54
liquidate
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| v.偿付，清算，扫除；整理，破产 | |
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55
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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56
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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57
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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58
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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