"I think we have all overslept," I said, as I admitted him.
"Not a bit of it. Every wink1 you've had after such a day as yesterday is like money put in the bank. But the sleighing is better now than it will be later in the day. The sun'll be pretty powerful by noon, and the snow'll soon be slush. Now's your chance to get your traps up in a hurry. I can have a two-hoss sled ready in half an hour, and if you say so I can hire a big sleigh of a neighbor, and we'll have everything here by dinner-time. After you get things snug2, you won't care if the bottom does fall out of the roads for a time. Well, you HAVE had to rough it. Merton might have come and stayed with us."
"Oh, I'm all right," said the boy, rubbing his eyes open as he rose from the floor, at the same time learning from stiff joints3 that a carpet is not a mattress4.
"Nothing would suit me better, Mr. Jones, than your plan of prompt action, and I'm the luckiest man in the world in having such a long-headed, fore-handed neighbor to start with. I know you'll make a good bargain for the other team, and before I sleep to-night I wish to square up for everything. I mean at least to begin business in this way at Maizeville."
"Oh, go slow, go slow!" said Mr. Jones. "The town will mob you if they find you've got ready money in March. John junior will be over with a pot of coffee and a jug5 of milk in a few minutes, and we'll be off sharp."
There was a patter of feet overhead, and soon Bobsey came tearing down, half wild with excitement over the novelty of everything. He started for the door as if he were going head first into the snow.
I caught him, and said: "Do you see that chair? Well, we all have a busy day before us. You can help a good deal, and play a little, but you can't hinder and pester6 according to your own sweet will one bit. You must either obey orders or else be put under arrest and tied in the chair."
To go into the chair to-day would be torture indeed, and the little fellow was sobered at once.
The others soon joined us, eager to see everything by the broad light of day, and to enter upon the task of getting settled. We had scarcely come together before John junior appeared with the chief features of our breakfast. The children scanned this probable playmate very curiously7, and some of us could hardly repress a smile at his appearance. He was even more sandy than his father. Indeed his hair and eyebrows8 were nearly white, but out of his red and almost full-moon face his mother's black eyes twinkled shrewdly. They now expressed only good-will and bashfulness. Every one of us shook hands with him so cordially that his boy's heart was evidently won.
Merton, to break the ice more fully9, offered to show him his gun, which he had kept within reach ever since we left the boat. It made him feel more like a pioneer, no doubt. As he took it from its stout10 cloth cover I saw John junior's eyes sparkle. Evidently a deep chord was touched. He said, excitedly: "To-day's your time to try it. A rabbit can't stir without leaving his tracks, and the snow is so deep and soft that he can't get away. There's rabbits on your own place."
"O papa," cried my boy, fairly trembling with eagerness, "can't I go?"
"I need you very much this morning."
"But, papa, others will be out before me, and I may lose my chance;" and he was half ready to cry.
"Yes," I said; "there is a risk of that. Well, YOU shall decide in this case," I added, after a moment, seeing a chance to do a little character-building. "It is rarely best to put pleasure before business or prudence11. If you go out into the snow with those boots, you will spoil them, and very probably take a severe cold. Yet you may go if you will. If you help me we can be back by ten o'clock, and I will get you a pair of rubber boots as we return."
"Will there be any chance after ten o'clock?" he asked, quickly.
"Well," said John junior, in his matter-of-fact way, "that depends. As your pa says, there's a risk."
The temptation was too strong for the moment. "O dear!" exclaimed Merton, "I may never have so good a chance again. The snow will soon melt, and there won't be any more till next winter. I'll tie my trousers down about my boots, and I'll help all the rest of the day after I get back."
"Very well," I said quietly: and he began eating his breakfast—the abundant remains12 of our last night's lunch—very rapidly, while John junior started off to get his gun.
I saw that Merton was ill at ease, but I made a sign to his mother not to interfere13. More and more slowly he finished his breakfast, then took his gun and went to the room that would be his, to load and prepare. At last he came down and went out by another door, evidently not wishing to encounter me. John junior met him, and the boys were starting, when John senior drove into the yard and shouted, "John junior, step here a moment."
The boy returned slowly, Merton following. "You ain't said nothin' to me about goin' off with that gun," continued Mr. Jones, severely14.
"Well, Merton's pa said he might go if he wanted to, and I had to go along to show him."
"That first shot wasn't exactly straight, my young friend John. I told Merton that it wasn't best to put pleasure before business, but that he could go if he would. I wished to let him choose to do right, instead of making him do right."
"Oho, that's how the land lays. Well, John junior, you can have your choice, too. You may go right on with your gun, but you know the length and weight of that strap15 at home. Now, will you help me? or go after rabbits?"
The boy grinned pleasantly, and replied, "If you had said I couldn't go, I wouldn't; but if it's choosin' between shootin' rabbits and a strappin' afterward—come along, Merton."
"Well, go along then," chuckled16 his father; "you've made your bargain square, and I'll keep my part of it."
"Oh, hang the rabbits! You shan't have any strapping17 on my account," cried Merton; and he carried his gun resolutely18 to his room and locked the door on it.
John junior quietly went to the old barn, and hid his gun.
"Guess I'll go with you, pa," he said, joining us.
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Jones. "It was a good bargain to back out of. Come now, let's all be off as quick as we can. Neighbor Rollins down the road will join us as we go along."
"Merton," I said, "see if there isn't a barrel of apples in the cellar.
If you find one, you can fill your pockets."
He soon returned with bulging19 pockets and a smiling face, feeling that such virtue20 as he had shown had soon brought reward. My wife said that while we were gone she and the children would explore the house and plan how to arrange everything. We started in good spirits.
"Here's where you thought you was cast away last night," Mr. Jones remarked, as we passed out of the lane.
The contrast made by a few short hours was indeed wonderful. Then, in dense21 obscurity, a tempest had howled and shrieked22 about us; now, in the unclouded sunshine, a gemmed23 and sparkling world revealed beauty everywhere.
For a long distance our sleighs made the first tracks, and it seemed almost a pity to sully the purity of the white, drift-covered road.
"What a lot of mud's hid under this snow!" was John Jones's prose over the opening vistas24. "What's more, it will show itself before night. We can beat all creation at mud in Maizeville, when once we set about it."
Merton laughed, and munched25 his apples, but I saw that he was impressed by winter scenery such as he had never looked upon before. Soon, however, he and John junior were deep in the game question, and I noted26 that the latter kept a sharp lookout27 along the roadside. Before long, while passing a thicket28, he shouted, "There's tracks," and floundered out into the snow, Merton following.
"Let the boys have a few moments," I said. "They gave up this morning about as well as you could expect of boys. Would Junior have gone and taken a strapping if Merton hadn't returned?"
"Yes, indeed he would, and he knows my strappin's are no make-believe.
That boy has no sly, mean tricks to speak of, but he's as tough and
See him now a-p'intin' for that rabbit, like a hound."
True enough, the boy was showing good woodcraft. Restraining Merton, he cautiously approached the tracks, which by reason of the lightness and depth of the snow were not very distinct.
"He can't be far away," said Junior, excitedly. "Don't go too fast till I see which way he was a-p'intin'. We don't want to follow the tracks back, but for'ard. See, he came out of that old wall there, he went to these bushes and nibbled32 some twigs33, and here he goes—here he went—here—here—yes, he went into the wall again just here. Now, Merton, watch this hole while I jump over the other side of the fence and see if he comes out again. If he makes a start, grab him."
John Jones and I were now almost as excited as the boys, and Mr. Rollins, the neighbor who was following us, was standing34 up in his sleigh to see the sport. It came quickly. As if by some instinct the rabbit believed Junior to be the more dangerous, and made a break from the wall almost at Merton's feet, with such swiftness and power as to dash by him like a shot. The first force of its bound over, it was caught by nature's trap—snow too deep and soft to admit of rapid running.
John Jones soon proved that Junior came honestly by his passion for hunting. In a moment he was floundering through the bushes with his son and Merton. In such pursuit of game my boy had the advantage, for he was as agile35 as a cat. But a moment or two elapsed before he caught up with the rabbit, and threw himself upon it, then rose, white as a snow-man, shouting triumphantly36 and holding the little creature aloft by its ears.
"Never rate Junior for hunting again," I said, laughingly, to Mr.
Jones. "He's a chip of the old block."
"I rather guess he is," my neighbor acknowledged, with a grin. "I own up I used to be pretty hot on such larkin'. We all keep forgettin' we was boys once."
As we rode on, Merton was a picture of exultation37, and Junior was on the sharp lookout again. His father turned on him and said: "Now look a' here, enough's as good as a feast. I'll blindfold38 you if you don't let the tracks alone. Mrs. Durham wants her things, so she can begin to live. Get up there;" and a crack of the whip ended all further hopes on the part of the boys. But they felt well repaid for coming, and Merton assured Junior that he deserved half the credit, for only he knew how to manage the hunt.
该作者的其它作品
《他爱上了自己的妻子 He Fell In Love With His Wife》
《爱伦坡小说选 Allan Poe’s stories》
该作者的其它作品
《他爱上了自己的妻子 He Fell In Love With His Wife》
《爱伦坡小说选 Allan Poe’s stories》
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1
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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2
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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3
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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4
mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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5
jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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6
pester
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| v.纠缠，强求 | |
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7
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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8
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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9
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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11
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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12
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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13
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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14
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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15
strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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16
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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18
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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19
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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20
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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21
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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22
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
gemmed
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| 点缀（gem的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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24
vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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25
munched
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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27
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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28
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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29
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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30
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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31
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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32
nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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33
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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34
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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35
agile
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| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
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36
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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37
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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38
blindfold
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| vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物 | |
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