In fact, the blood of so many was upon his hands that the killings6 attributed to him did not permit of precise enumeration7. Smoking a pipe by the trail-side or lounging around the stove, men made rough estimates of the numbers that had perished at his hand. They had been whites, all of them, these poor murdered people, and they had been slain8 singly, in pairs, and in parties. And so purposeless and wanton had been these killings, that they had long been a mystery to the mounted police, even in the time of the captains, and later, when the creeks9 realized, and a governor came from the Dominion10 to make the land pay for its prosperity.
But more mysterious still was the coming of Imber to Dawson to give himself up. It was in the late spring, when the Yukon was growling12 and writhing14 under its ice, that the old Indian climbed painfully up the bank from the river trail and stood blinking on the main street. Men who had witnessed his advent15, noted16 that he was weak and tottery17, and that he staggered over to a heap of cabin-logs and sat down. He sat there a full day, staring straight before him at the unceasing tide of white men that flooded past. Many a head jerked curiously18 to the side to meet his stare, and more than one remark was dropped anent the old Siwash with so strange a look upon his face. No end of men remembered afterward19 that they had been struck by his extraordinary figure, and forever afterward prided themselves upon their swift discernment of the unusual.
But it remained for Dickensen, Little Dickensen, to be the hero of the occasion. Little Dickensen had come into the land with great dreams and a pocketful of cash; but with the cash the dreams vanished, and to earn his passage back to the States he had accepted a clerical position with the brokerage firm of Holbrook and Mason. Across the street from the office of Holbrook and Mason was the heap of cabin-logs upon which Imber sat. Dickensen looked out of the window at him before he went to lunch; and when he came back from lunch he looked out of the window, and the old Siwash was still there.
Dickensen continued to look out of the window, and he, too, forever afterward prided himself upon his swiftness of discernment. He was a romantic little chap, and he likened the immobile old heathen to the genius of the Siwash race, gazing calm-eyed upon the hosts of the invading Saxon. The hours swept along, but Imber did not vary his posture20, did not by a hair's-breadth move a muscle; and Dickensen remembered the man who once sat upright on a sled in the main street where men passed to and fro. They thought the man was resting, but later, when they touched him, they found him stiff and cold, frozen to death in the midst of the busy street. To undouble him, that he might fit into a coffin21, they had been forced to lug22 him to a fire and thaw23 him out a bit. Dickensen shivered at the recollection.
Later on, Dickensen went out on the sidewalk to smoke a cigar and cool off; and a little later Emily Travis happened along. Emily Travis was dainty and delicate and rare, and whether in London or Klondike she gowned herself as befitted the daughter of a millionnaire mining engineer. Little Dickensen deposited his cigar on an outside window ledge24 where he could find it again, and lifted his hat.
They chatted for ten minutes or so, when Emily Travis, glancing past Dickensen's shoulder, gave a startled little scream. Dickensen turned about to see, and was startled, too. Imber had crossed the street and was standing25 there, a gaunt and hungry-looking shadow, his gaze riveted26 upon the girl.
Imber grunted29 and stalked up to Emily Travis. He looked her over, keenly and carefully, every square inch of her. Especially did he appear interested in her silky brown hair, and in the color of her cheek, faintly sprayed and soft, like the downy bloom of a butterfly wing. He walked around her, surveying her with the calculating eye of a man who studies the lines upon which a horse or a boat is builded. In the course of his circuit the pink shell of her ear came between his eye and the westering sun, and he stopped to contemplate30 its rosy31 transparency. Then he returned to her face and looked long and intently into her blue eyes. He grunted and laid a hand on her arm midway between the shoulder and elbow. With his other hand he lifted her forearm and doubled it back. Disgust and wonder showed in his face, and he dropped her arm with a contemptuous grunt28. Then he muttered a few guttural syllables32, turned his back upon her, and addressed himself to Dickensen.
Dickensen could not understand his speech, and Emily Travis laughed. Imber turned from one to the other, frowning, but both shook their heads. He was about to go away, when she called out:
"Oh, Jimmy! Come here!"
Jimmy came from the other side of the street. He was a big, hulking Indian clad in approved white-man style, with an Eldorado king's sombrero on his head. He talked with Imber, haltingly, with throaty spasms33. Jimmy was a Sitkan, possessed34 of no more than a passing knowledge of the interior dialects.
"Him Whitefish man," he said to Emily Travis. "Me savve um talk no very much. Him want to look see chief white man."
"The Governor," suggested Dickensen.
Jimmy talked some more with the Whitefish man, and his face went grave and puzzled.
"I t'ink um want Cap'n Alexander," he explained. "Him say um kill white man, white woman, white boy, plenty kill um white people. Him want to die."
"Insane, I guess," said Dickensen.
"Mebbe so, mebbe so," said Jimmy, returning to Imber, who still demanded the chief man of the white men.
A mounted policeman (unmounted for Klondike service) joined the group and heard Imber's wish repeated. He was a stalwart young fellow, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, legs cleanly built and stretched wide apart, and tall though Imber was, he towered above him by half a head. His eyes were cool, and gray, and steady, and he carried himself with the peculiar37 confidence of power that is bred of blood and tradition. His splendid masculinity was emphasized by his excessive boyishness,—he was a mere38 lad,—and his smooth cheek promised a blush as willingly as the cheek of a maid.
Imber was drawn39 to him at once. The fire leaped into his eyes at sight of a sabre slash40 that scarred his cheek. He ran a withered41 hand down the young fellow's leg and caressed42 the swelling43 thew. He smote44 the broad chest with his knuckles45, and pressed and prodded46 the thick muscle-pads that covered the shoulders like a cuirass. The group had been added to by curious passers-by—husky miners, mountaineers, and frontiersmen, sons of the long-legged and broad-shouldered generations. Imber glanced from one to another, then he spoke47 aloud in the Whitefish tongue.
"What did he say?" asked Dickensen.
"Him say um all the same one man, dat p'liceman," Jimmy interpreted.
Little Dickensen was little, and what of Miss Travis, he felt sorry for having asked the question.
The policeman was sorry for him and stepped into the breach48. "I fancy there may be something in his story. I'll take him up to the captain for examination. Tell him to come along with me, Jimmy."
Jimmy indulged in more throaty spasms, and Imber grunted and looked satisfied.
"But ask him what he said, Jimmy, and what he meant when he took hold of my arm."
So spoke Emily Travis, and Jimmy put the question and received the answer.
"Him say you no afraid," said Jimmy.
Emily Travis looked pleased.
"Him say you no skookum, no strong, all the same very soft like little baby. Him break you, in um two hands, to little pieces. Him t'ink much funny, very strange, how you can be mother of men so big, so strong, like dat p'liceman."
Emily Travers kept her eyes up and unfaltering, but her cheeks were sprayed with scarlet49. Little Dickensen blushed and was quite embarrassed. The policeman's face blazed with his boy's blood.
"Come along, you," he said gruffly, setting his shoulder to the crowd and forcing a way.
Thus it was that Imber found his way to the Barracks, where he made full and voluntary confession50, and from the precincts of which he never emerged.
Imber looked very tired. The fatigue51 of hopelessness and age was in his face. His shoulders drooped52 depressingly, and his eyes were lack-lustre. His mop of hair should have been white, but sun and weatherbeat had burned and bitten it so that it hung limp and lifeless and colorless. He took no interest in what went on around him. The courtroom was jammed with the men of the creeks and trails, and there was an ominous53 note in the rumble54 and grumble55 of their low-pitched voices, which came to his ears like the growl13 of the sea from deep caverns56.
He sat close by a window, and his apathetic57 eyes rested now and again on the dreary58 scene without. The sky was overcast59, and a gray drizzle60 was falling. It was flood-time on the Yukon. The ice was gone, and the river was up in the town. Back and forth61 on the main street, in canoes and poling-boats, passed the people that never rested. Often he saw these boats turn aside from the street and enter the flooded square that marked the Barracks' parade-ground. Sometimes they disappeared beneath him, and he heard them jar against the house-logs and their occupants scramble62 in through the window. After that came the slush of water against men's legs as they waded63 across the lower room and mounted the stairs. Then they appeared in the doorway64, with doffed65 hats and dripping sea-boots, and added themselves to the waiting crowd.
And while they centred their looks on him, and in grim anticipation66 enjoyed the penalty he was to pay, Imber looked at them, and mused67 on their ways, and on their Law that never slept, but went on unceasing, in good times and bad, in flood and famine, through trouble and terror and death, and which would go on unceasing, it seemed to him, to the end of time.
A man rapped sharply on a table, and the conversation droned away into silence. Imber looked at the man. He seemed one in authority, yet Imber divined the square-browed man who sat by a desk farther back to be the one chief over them all and over the man who had rapped. Another man by the same table uprose and began to read aloud from many fine sheets of paper. At the top of each sheet he cleared his throat, at the bottom moistened his fingers. Imber did not understand his speech, but the others did, and he knew that it made them angry. Sometimes it made them very angry, and once a man cursed him, in single syllables, stinging and tense, till a man at the table rapped him to silence.
For an interminable period the man read. His monotonous68, sing-song utterance69 lured70 Imber to dreaming, and he was dreaming deeply when the man ceased. A voice spoke to him in his own Whitefish tongue, and he roused up, without surprise, to look upon the face of his sister's son, a young man who had wandered away years agone to make his dwelling71 with the whites.
"Thou dost not remember me," he said by way of greeting.
"She was an old woman," said Howkan.
But Imber did not hear, and Howkan, with hand upon his shoulder, roused him again.
"I shall speak to thee what the man has spoken, which is the tale of the troubles thou hast done and which thou hast told, O fool, to the Captain Alexander. And thou shalt understand and say if it be true talk or talk not true. It is so commanded."
Howkan had fallen among the mission folk and been taught by them to read and write. In his hands he held the many fine sheets from which the man had read aloud, and which had been taken down by a clerk when Imber first made confession, through the mouth of Jimmy, to Captain Alexander. Howkan began to read. Imber listened for a space, when a wonderment rose up in his face and he broke in abruptly73.
"That be my talk, Howkan. Yet from thy lips it comes when thy ears have not heard."
Howkan smirked74 with self-appreciation. His hair was parted in the middle. "Nay, from the paper it comes, O Imber. Never have my ears heard. From the paper it comes, through my eyes, into my head, and out of my mouth to thee. Thus it comes."
"Thus it comes? It be there in the paper?" Imber's voice sank in whisperful awe75 as he crackled the sheets 'twixt thumb and finger and stared at the charactery scrawled76 thereon. "It be a great medicine, Howkan, and thou art a worker of wonders."
"It be nothing, it be nothing," the young man responded carelessly and pridefully. He read at hazard from the document: "In that year, before the break of the ice, came an old man, and a boy who was lame77 of one foot. These also did I kill, and the old man made much noise—"
"It be true," Imber interrupted breathlessly. "He made much noise and would not die for a long time. But how dost thou know, Howkan? The chief man of the white men told thee, mayhap? No one beheld78 me, and him alone have I told."
Howkan shook his head with impatience79. "Have I not told thee it be there in the paper, O fool?"
Imber stared hard at the ink-scrawled surface. "As the hunter looks upon the snow and says, Here but yesterday there passed a rabbit; and here by the willow80 scrub it stood and listened, and heard, and was afraid; and here it turned upon its trail; and here it went with great swiftness, leaping wide; and here, with greater swiftness and wider leapings, came a lynx; and here, where the claws cut deep into the snow, the lynx made a very great leap; and here it struck, with the rabbit under and rolling belly81 up; and here leads off the trail of the lynx alone, and there is no more rabbit,—as the hunter looks upon the markings of the snow and says thus and so and here, dost thou, too, look upon the paper and say thus and so and here be the things old Imber hath done?"
"Even so," said Howkan. "And now do thou listen, and keep thy woman's tongue between thy teeth till thou art called upon for speech."
Thereafter, and for a long time, Howkan read to him the confession, and Imber remained musing82 and silent At the end, he said:
"It be my talk, and true talk, but I am grown old, Howkan, and forgotten things come back to me which were well for the head man there to know. First, there was the man who came over the Ice Mountains, with cunning traps made of iron, who sought the beaver83 of the Whitefish. Him I slew84. And there were three men seeking gold on the Whitefish long ago. Them also I slew, and left them to the wolverines. And at the Five Fingers there was a man with a raft and much meat."
At the moments when Imber paused to remember, Howkan translated and a clerk reduced to writing. The courtroom listened stolidly85 to each unadorned little tragedy, till Imber told of a red-haired man whose eyes were crossed and whom he had killed with a remarkably86 long shot.
"Hell," said a man in the forefront of the onlookers87. He said it soulfully and sorrowfully. He was red-haired. "Hell," he repeated. "That was my brother Bill." And at regular intervals88 throughout the session, his solemn "Hell" was heard in the courtroom; nor did his comrades check him, nor did the man at the table rap him to order.
Imber's head drooped once more, and his eyes went dull, as though a film rose up and covered them from the world. And he dreamed as only age can dream upon the colossal89 futility90 of youth.
Later, Howkan roused him again, saying: "Stand up, O Imber. It be commanded that thou tellest why you did these troubles, and slew these people, and at the end journeyed here seeking the Law."
Imber rose feebly to his feet and swayed back and forth. He began to speak in a low and faintly rumbling91 voice, but Howkan interrupted him.
"This old man, he is damn crazy," he said in English to the square-browed man. "His talk is foolish and like that of a child."
"We will hear his talk which is like that of a child," said the square-browed man. "And we will hear it, word for word, as he speaks it. Do you understand?"
Howkan understood, and Imber's eyes flashed, for he had witnessed the play between his sister's son and the man in authority. And then began the story, the epic92 of a bronze patriot93 which might well itself be wrought into bronze for the generations unborn. The crowd fell strangely silent, and the square-browed judge leaned head on hand and pondered his soul and the soul of his race. Only was heard the deep tones of Imber, rhythmically94 alternating with the shrill95 voice of the interpreter, and now and again, like the bell of the Lord, the wondering and meditative96 "Hell" of the red-haired man.
"I am Imber of the Whitefish people." So ran the interpretation97 of Howkan, whose inherent barbarism gripped hold of him, and who lost his mission culture and veneered civilization as he caught the savage98 ring and rhythm of old Imber's tale. "My father was Otsbaok, a strong man. The land was warm with sunshine and gladness when I was a boy. The people did not hunger after strange things, nor hearken to new voices, and the ways of their fathers were their ways. The women found favor in the eyes of the young men, and the young men looked upon them with content. Babes hung at the breasts of the women, and they were heavy-hipped with increase of the tribe. Men were men in those days. In peace and plenty, and in war and famine, they were men.
"At that time there was more fish in the water than now, and more meat in the forest. Our dogs were wolves, warm with thick hides and hard to the frost and storm. And as with our dogs so with us, for we were likewise hard to the frost and storm. And when the Pellys came into our land we slew them and were slain. For we were men, we Whitefish, and our fathers and our fathers' fathers had fought against the Pellys and determined99 the bounds of the land.
"As I say, with our dogs, so with us. And one day came the first white man. He dragged himself, so, on hand and knee, in the snow. And his skin was stretched tight, and his bones were sharp beneath. Never was such a man, we thought, and we wondered of what strange tribe he was, and of its land. And he was weak, most weak, like a little child, so that we gave him a place by the fire, and warm furs to lie upon, and we gave him food as little children are given food.
"And with him was a dog, large as three of our dogs, and very weak. The hair of this dog was short, and not warm, and the tail was frozen so that the end fell off. And this strange dog we fed, and bedded by the fire, and fought from it our dogs, which else would have killed him. And what of the moose meat and the sun-dried salmon100, the man and dog took strength to themselves; and what of the strength they became big and unafraid. And the man spoke loud words and laughed at the old men and young men, and looked boldly upon the maidens101. And the dog fought with our dogs, and for all of his short hair and softness slew three of them in one day.
"When we asked the man concerning his people, he said, 'I have many brothers,' and laughed in a way that was not good. And when he was in his full strength he went away, and with him went Noda, daughter to the chief. First, after that, was one of our bitches brought to pup. And never was there such a breed of dogs,—big-headed, thick-jawed, and short-haired, and helpless. Well do I remember my father, Otsbaok, a strong man. His face was black with anger at such helplessness, and he took a stone, so, and so, and there was no more helplessness. And two summers after that came Noda back to us with a man-child in the hollow of her arm.
"And that was the beginning. Came a second white man, with short-haired dogs, which he left behind him when he went. And with him went six of our strongest dogs, for which, in trade, he had given Koo-So-Tee, my mother's brother, a wonderful pistol that fired with great swiftness six times. And Koo-So-Tee was very big, what of the pistol, and laughed at our bows and arrows. 'Woman's things,' he called them, and went forth against the bald-face grizzly102, with the pistol in his hand. Now it be known that it is not good to hunt the bald-face with a pistol, but how were we to know? and how was Koo-So-Tee to know? So he went against the bald-face, very brave, and fired the pistol with great swiftness six times; and the bald-face but grunted and broke in his breast like it were an egg, and like honey from a bee's nest dripped the brains of Koo-So-Tee upon the ground. He was a good hunter, and there was no one to bring meat to his squaw and children. And we were bitter, and we said, 'That which for the white men is well, is for us not well.' And this be true. There be many white men and fat, but their ways have made us few and lean.
"Came the third white man, with great wealth of all manner of wonderful foods and things. And twenty of our strongest dogs he took from us in trade. Also, what of presents and great promises, ten of our young hunters did he take with him on a journey which fared no man knew where. It is said they died in the snow of the Ice Mountains where man has never been, or in the Hills of Silence which are beyond the edge of the earth. Be that as it may, dogs and young hunters were seen never again by the Whitefish people.
"And more white men came with the years, and ever, with pay and presents, they led the young men away with them. And sometimes the young men came back with strange tales of dangers and toils103 in the lands beyond the Pellys, and sometimes they did not come back. And we said: 'If they be unafraid of life, these white men, it is because they have many lives; but we be few by the Whitefish, and the young men shall go away no more.' But the young men did go away; and the young women went also; and we were very wroth.
"It be true, we ate flour, and salt pork, and drank tea which was a great delight; only, when we could not get tea, it was very bad and we became short of speech and quick of anger. So we grew to hunger for the things the white men brought in trade. Trade! trade! all the time was it trade! One winter we sold our meat for clocks that would not go, and watches with broken guts104, and files worn smooth, and pistols without cartridges105 and worthless. And then came famine, and we were without meat, and two score died ere the break of spring.
"'Now are we grown weak,' we said; 'and the Pellys will fall upon us, and our bounds be overthrown106.' But as it fared with us, so had it fared with the Pellys, and they were too weak to come against us.
"My father, Otsbaok, a strong man, was now old and very wise. And he spoke to the chief, saying: 'Behold107, our dogs be worthless. No longer are they thick-furred and strong, and they die in the frost and harness. Let us go into the village and kill them, saving only the wolf ones, and these let us tie out in the night that they may mate with the wild wolves of the forest. Thus shall we have dogs warm and strong again.'
"And his word was harkened to, and we Whitefish became known for our dogs, which were the best in the land. But known we were not for ourselves. The best of our young men and women had gone away with the white men to wander on trail and river to far places. And the young women came back old and broken, as Noda had come, or they came not at all. And the young men came back to sit by our fires for a time, full of ill speech and rough ways, drinking evil drinks and gambling108 through long nights and days, with a great unrest always in their hearts, till the call of the white men came to them and they went away again to the unknown places. And they were without honor and respect, jeering109 the old-time customs and laughing in the faces of chief and shamans.
"As I say, we were become a weak breed, we Whitefish. We sold our warm skins and furs for tobacco and whiskey and thin cotton things that left us shivering in the cold. And the coughing sickness came upon us, and men and women coughed and sweated through the long nights, and the hunters on trail spat110 blood upon the snow. And now one, and now another, bled swiftly from the mouth and died. And the women bore few children, and those they bore were weak and given to sickness. And other sicknesses came to us from the white men, the like of which we had never known and could not understand. Smallpox111, likewise measles112, have I heard these sicknesses named, and we died of them as die the salmon in the still eddies113 when in the fall their eggs are spawned114 and there is no longer need for them to live.
"And yet, and here be the strangeness of it, the white men come as the breath of death; all their ways lead to death, their nostrils115 are filled with it; and yet they do not die. Theirs the whiskey, and tobacco, and short-haired dogs; theirs the many sicknesses, the smallpox and measles, the coughing and mouth-bleeding; theirs the white skin, and softness to the frost and storm; and theirs the pistols that shoot six times very swift and are worthless. And yet they grow fat on their many ills, and prosper11, and lay a heavy hand over all the world and tread mightily116 upon its peoples. And their women, too, are soft as little babes, most breakable and never broken, the mothers of men. And out of all this softness, and sickness, and weakness, come strength, and power, and authority. They be gods, or devils, as the case may be. I do not know. What do I know, I, old Imber of the Whitefish? Only do I know that they are past understanding, these white men, far-wanderers and fighters over the earth that they be.
"As I say, the meat in the forest became less and less. It be true, the white man's gun is most excellent and kills a long way off; but of what worth the gun, when there is no meat to kill? When I was a boy on the Whitefish there was moose on every hill, and each year came the caribou117 uncountable. But now the hunter may take the trail ten days and not one moose gladden his eyes, while the caribou uncountable come no more at all. Small worth the gun, I say, killing5 a long way off, when there be nothing to kill.
"And I, Imber, pondered upon these things, watching the while the Whitefish, and the Pellys, and all the tribes of the land, perishing as perished the meat of the forest. Long I pondered. I talked with the shamans and the old men who were wise. I went apart that the sounds of the village might not disturb me, and I ate no meat so that my belly should not press upon me and make me slow of eye and ear. I sat long and sleepless118 in the forest, wide-eyed for the sign, my ears patient and keen for the word that was to come. And I wandered alone in the blackness of night to the river bank, where was wind-moaning and sobbing119 of water, and where I sought wisdom from the ghosts of old shamans in the trees and dead and gone.
"And in the end, as in a vision, came to me the short-haired and detestable dogs, and the way seemed plain. By the wisdom of Otsbaok, my father and a strong man, had the blood of our own wolf-dogs been kept clean, wherefore had they remained warm of hide and strong in the harness. So I returned to my village and made oration120 to the men. 'This be a tribe, these white men,' I said. 'A very large tribe, and doubtless there is no longer meat in their land, and they are come among us to make a new land for themselves. But they weaken us, and we die. They are a very hungry folk. Already has our meat gone from us, and it were well, if we would live, that we deal by them as we have dealt by their dogs.'
"And further oration I made, counselling fight. And the men of the Whitefish listened, and some said one thing, and some another, and some spoke of other and worthless things, and no man made brave talk of deeds and war. But while the young men were weak as water and afraid, I watched that the old men sat silent, and that in their eyes fires came and went. And later, when the village slept and no one knew, I drew the old men away into the forest and made more talk. And now we were agreed, and we remembered the good young days, and the free land, and the times of plenty, and the gladness and sunshine; and we called ourselves brothers, and swore great secrecy121, and a mighty122 oath to cleanse123 the land of the evil breed that had come upon it. It be plain we were fools, but how were we to know, we old men of the Whitefish?
"And to hearten the others, I did the first deed. I kept guard upon the Yukon till the first canoe came down. In it were two white men, and when I stood upright upon the bank and raised my hand they changed their course and drove in to me. And as the man in the bow lifted his head, so, that he might know wherefore I wanted him, my arrow sang through the air straight to his throat, and he knew. The second man, who held paddle in the stern, had his rifle half to his shoulder when the first of my three spear-casts smote him.
"'These be the first,' I said, when the old men had gathered to me. 'Later we will bind124 together all the old men of all the tribes, and after that the young men who remain strong, and the work will become easy.'
"And then the two dead white men we cast into the river. And of the canoe, which was a very good canoe, we made a fire, and a fire, also, of the things within the canoe. But first we looked at the things, and they were pouches125 of leather which we cut open with our knives. And inside these pouches were many papers, like that from which thou hast read, O Howkan, with markings on them which we marvelled126 at and could not understand. Now, I am become wise, and I know them for the speech of men as thou hast told me."
A whisper and buzz went around the courtroom when Howkan finished interpreting the affair of the canoe, and one man's voice spoke up: "That was the lost '91 mail, Peter James and Delaney bringing it in and last spoken at Le Barge by Matthews going out." The clerk scratched steadily127 away, and another paragraph was added to the history of the North.
"There be little more," Imber went on slowly. "It be there on the paper, the things we did. We were old men, and we did not understand. Even I, Imber, do not now understand. Secretly we slew, and continued to slay128, for with our years we were crafty129 and we had learned the swiftness of going without haste. When white men came among us with black looks and rough words, and took away six of the young men with irons binding130 them helpless, we knew we must slay wider and farther. And one by one we old men departed up river and down to the unknown lands. It was a brave thing. Old we were, and unafraid, but the fear of far places is a terrible fear to men who are old.
"So we slew, without haste and craftily131. On the Chilcoot and in the Delta132 we slew, from the passes to the sea, wherever the white men camped or broke their trails. It be true, they died, but it was without worth. Ever did they come over the mountains, ever did they grow and grow, while we, being old, became less and less. I remember, by the Caribou Crossing, the camp of a white man. He was a very little white man, and three of the old men came upon him in his sleep. And the next day I came upon the four of them. The white man alone still breathed, and there was breath in him to curse me once and well before he died.
"And so it went, now one old man, and now another. Sometimes the word reached us long after of how they died, and sometimes it did not reach us. And the old men of the other tribes were weak and afraid, and would not join with us. As I say, one by one, till I alone was left. I am Imber, of the Whitefish people. My father was Otsbaok, a strong man. There are no Whitefish now. Of the old men I am the last. The young men and young women are gone away, some to live with the Pellys, some with the Salmons133, and more with the white men. I am very old, and very tired, and it being vain fighting the Law, as thou sayest, Howkan, I am come seeking the Law."
"O Imber, thou art indeed a fool," said Howkan.
But Imber was dreaming. The square-browed judge likewise dreamed, and all his race rose up before him in a mighty phantasmagoria—his steel-shod, mail-clad race, the lawgiver and world-maker among the families of men. He saw it dawn red-flickering across the dark forests and sullen134 seas; he saw it blaze, bloody135 and red, to full and triumphant136 noon; and down the shaded slope he saw the blood-red sands dropping into night. And through it all he observed the Law, pitiless and potent137, ever unswerving and ever ordaining138, greater than the motes139 of men who fulfilled it or were crushed by it, even as it was greater than he, his heart speaking for softness.
《Martin Eden马丁·伊登》
《Martin Eden马丁·伊登》
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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2
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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3
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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4
equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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5
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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killings
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| 谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发 | |
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7
enumeration
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| n.计数，列举；细目；详表；点查 | |
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8
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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10
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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11
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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12
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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13
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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14
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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15
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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16
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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17
tottery
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| adj.蹒跚的，摇摇欲倒 | |
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18
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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19
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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20
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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21
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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22
lug
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| n.柄，突出部，螺帽；(英）耳朵；（俚）笨蛋；vt.拖，拉，用力拖动 | |
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23
thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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24
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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25
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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26
riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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27
plucky
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| adj.勇敢的 | |
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28
grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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29
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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30
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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31
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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32
syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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33
spasms
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| n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作 | |
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34
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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35
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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36
rotary
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| adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的 | |
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37
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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38
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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39
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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40
slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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41
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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42
caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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44
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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45
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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46
prodded
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| v.刺，戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳 | |
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47
spoke
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| 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 | |
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48
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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49
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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50
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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51
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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52
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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54
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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55
grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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56
caverns
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| 大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
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57
apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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58
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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59
overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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60
drizzle
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| v.下毛毛雨；n.毛毛雨，蒙蒙细雨 | |
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61
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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62
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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63
waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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65
doffed
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| v.脱去，（尤指）脱帽( doff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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67
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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68
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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69
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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70
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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71
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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72
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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73
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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74
smirked
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| v.傻笑( smirk的过去分词 ) | |
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75
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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76
scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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78
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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79
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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80
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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81
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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82
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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83
beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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84
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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85
stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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86
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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87
onlookers
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| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
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88
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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89
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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90
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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91
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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92
epic
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| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
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93
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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94
rhythmically
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| adv.有节奏地 | |
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95
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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96
meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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97
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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98
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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99
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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100
salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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101
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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102
grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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103
toils
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| 网 | |
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104
guts
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| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
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105
cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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106
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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107
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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108
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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109
jeering
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| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
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110
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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111
smallpox
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| n.天花 | |
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112
measles
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| n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子 | |
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113
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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114
spawned
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| （鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产 | |
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115
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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116
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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117
caribou
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| n.北美驯鹿 | |
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118
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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119
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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120
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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121
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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122
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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123
cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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124
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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pouches
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| n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋 | |
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126
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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127
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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128
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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130
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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craftily
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| 狡猾地，狡诈地 | |
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132
delta
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| n.（流的）角洲 | |
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133
salmons
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| n.鲑鱼，大马哈鱼( salmon的名词复数 ) | |
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134
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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136
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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138
ordaining
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的现在分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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139
motes
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| n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点 | |
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