What a joy to see her, and to initiate2 her into the ways of our life in Arizona! Everything was new, everything was a wonder to her and to my nephew. At first, he seemed to gain perceptibly, and we had great hopes of his recovery.
It was now cool enough to sleep indoors, and we began to know what it was to have a good night's rest.
But no sooner had we gotten one part of our life comfortably arranged, before another part seemed to fall out of adjustment. Accidents and climatic conditions kept my mind in a perpetual state of unrest.
Our dining-room door opened through two small rooms into the kitchen, and one day, as I sat at the table, waiting for Jack3 to come in to supper, I heard a strange sort of crashing noise. Looking towards the kitchen, through the vista4 of open doorways5, I saw Ellen rush to the door which led to the courtyard. She turned a livid white, threw up her hands, and cried, "Great God! the Captain!" She was transfixed with horror.
I flew to the door, and saw that the pump had collapsed6 and gone down into the deep sulphur well. In a second, Jack's head and hands appeared at the edge; he seemed to be caught in the debris7 of rotten timber. Before I could get to him, he had scrambled8 half way out. "Don't come near this place," he cried, "it's all caving in!"
And so it seemed; for, as he worked himself up and out, the entire structure feel in, and half the corral with it, as it looked to me.
Jack escaped what might have been an unlucky bath in his sulphur well, and we all recovered our composure as best we could.
Surely, if life was dull at Ehrenberg, it could not be called exactly monotonous9. We were not obliged to seek our excitement outside; we had plenty of it, such as it was, within our walls.
My confidence in Ehrenberg, however, as a salubrious dwelling-place, was being gradually and literally10 undermined. I began to be distrustful of the very ground beneath my feet. Ellen felt the same way, evidently, although we did not talk much about it. She probably longed also for some of her own kind; and when, one morning, we went into the dining-room for breakfast, Ellen stood, hat on, bag in hand, at the door. Dreading11 to meet my chagrin12, she said: "Good-bye, Captain; good-bye, missis, you've been very kind to me. I'm leaving on the stage for Tucson—where I first started for, you know."
And she tripped out and climbed up into the dusty, rickety vehicle called "the stage." I had felt so safe about Ellen, as I did not know that any stage line ran through the place.
And now I was in a fine plight13! I took a sunshade, and ran over to Fisher's house. "Mr. Fisher, what shall I do? Ellen has gone to Tucson!"
Fisher bethought himself, and we went out together in the village. Not a woman to be found who would come to cook for us! There was only one thing to do. The Quartermaster was allowed a soldier, to assist in the Government work. I asked him if he understood cooking; he said he had never done any, but he would try, if I would show him how.
This proved a hopeless task, and I finally gave it up. Jack dispatched an Indian runner to Fort Yuma, ninety miles or more down river, begging Captain Ernest to send us a soldier-cook on the next boat.
This was a long time to wait; the inconveniences were intolerable: there were our four selves, Patrocina and Jesusita, the soldier-clerk and the Indian, to be provided for: Patrocina prepared carni seca with peppers, a little boy came around with cuajada, a delicious sweet curd14 cheese, and I tried my hand at bread, following out Ellen's instructions.
How often I said to my husband. "If we must live in this wretched place, let's give up civilization and live as the Mexicans do! They are the only happy beings around here.
"Look at them, as you pass along the street! At nearly any hour in the day you can see them, sitting under their ramada, their backs propped15 against the wall of their casa, calmly smoking cigarettes and gazing at nothing, with a look of ineffable16 contentment upon their features! They surely have solved the problem of life!"
But we seemed never to be able to free ourselves from the fetters17 of civilization, and so I struggled on.
One evening after dusk, I went into the kitchen, opened the kitchen closet door to take out some dish, when clatter18! bang! down fell the bread-pan, and a shower of other tin ware19, and before I could fairly get my breath, out jumped two young squaws and without deigning20 to glance at me they darted21 across the kitchen and leaped out the window like two frightened fawn22.
They had on nothing but their birthday clothes and as I was somewhat startled at the sight of them, I stood transfixed, my eyes gazing at the open space through which they had flown.
Charley, the Indian, was in the corral, filling the ollas, and, hearing the commotion23, came in and saw just the disappearing heels of the two squaws.
I said, very sternly: "Charley, how came those squaws in my closet?" He looked very much ashamed and said: "Oh, me tell you: bad man go to kill 'em; I hide 'em."
"Well," said I, "do not hide any more girls in this casa! You savez that?"
He bowed his head in acquiescence24.
I afterwards learned that one of the girls was his sister.
The weather was now fairly comfortable, and in the evenings we sat under the ramada, in front of the house, and watched the beautiful pink glow which spread over the entire heavens and illuminated25 the distant mountains of Lower California. I have never seen anything like that wonderful color, which spread itself over sky, river and desert. For an hour, one could have believed oneself in a magician's realm.
At about this time, the sad-eyed Patrocina found it expedient26 to withdraw into the green valleys of Lower California, to recuperate27 for a few months. With the impish Jesusita in her arms, she bade me a mournful good-bye. Worthless as she was from the standpoint of civilized28 morals, I was attached to her and felt sorry to part with her.
Then I took a Mexican woman from Chihuahua. Now the Chihuahuans hold their heads high, and it was rather with awe29 that I greeted the tall middle-aged30 Chihuahuan lady who came to be our little son's nurse. Her name was Angela. "Angel of light," I thought, how fortunate I am to get her!
After a few weeks, Fisher observed that the whole village was eating Ferris ham, an unusual delicacy31 in Ehrenberg, and that the Goldwaters' had sold none. So he suggested that our commissary storehouse be looked to; and it was found that a dozen hams or so had been withdrawn32 from their canvas covers, the covers stuffed with straw, and hung back in place. Verily the Chihuahuan was adding to her pin-money in a most unworthy fashion, and she had to go. After that, I was left without a nurse. My little son was now about nine months old.
Milk began to be more plentiful33 at this season, and, with my sister's advice and help, I decided34 to make the one great change in a baby's life i.e., to take him from his mother. Modern methods were unknown then, and we had neither of us any experience in these matters and there was no doctor in the place.
The result was, that both the baby and myself were painfully and desperately35 ill and not knowing which way to turn for aid, when, by a lucky turn of Fortune's wheel, our good, dear Doctor Henry Lippincott came through Ehrenberg on his way out to the States. Once more he took care of us, and it is to him that I believe I owe my life.
Captain Ernest sent us a cook from Yuma, and soon some officers came for the duck-shooting. There were thousands of ducks around the various lagoons36 in the neighborhood, and the sport was rare. We had all the ducks we could eat.
Then came an earthquake, which tore and rent the baked earth apart. The ground shivered, the windows rattled38, the birds fell close to the ground and could not fly, the stove-pipes fell to the floor, the thick walls cracked and finally, the earth rocked to and fro like some huge thing trying to get its balance.
It was in the afternoon. My sister and I were sitting with our needle-work in the living-room. Little Harry39 was on the floor, occupied with some toys. I was paralyzed with fear; my sister did not move. We sat gazing at each other, scarce daring to breathe, expecting every instant the heavy walls to crumble40 about our heads. The earth rocked and rocked, and rocked again, then swayed and swayed and finally was still. My sister caught Harry in her arms, and then Jack and Willie came breathlessly in. "Did you feel it?" said Jack.
"Did we feel it!" said I, scornfully.
Sarah was silent, and I looked so reproachfully at Jack, that he dropped his light tone, and said: "It was pretty awful. We were in the Goldwaters' store, when suddenly it grew dark and the lamps above our heads began to rattle37 and swing, and we all rushed out into the middle of the street and stood, rather dazed, for we scarcely knew what had happened; then we hurried home. But it's all over now."
"I do not believe it," said I; "we shall have more"; and, in fact, we did have two light shocks in the night, but no more followed, and the next morning, we recovered, in a measure, from our fright and went out to see the great fissures41 in that treacherous42 crust of earth upon which Ehrenberg was built.
I grew afraid, after that, and the idea that the earth would eventually open and engulf43 us all took possession of my mind.
My health, already weakened by shocks and severe strains, gave way entirely44. I, who had gloried in the most perfect health, and had a constitution of iron, became an emaciated45 invalid46.
From my window, one evening at sundown, I saw a weird47 procession moving slowly along towards the outskirts48 of the village. It must be a funeral, thought I, and it flashed across my mind that I had never seen the burying-ground.
A man with a rude cross led the procession. Then came some Mexicans with violins and guitars. After the musicians, came the body of the deceased, wrapped in a white cloth, borne on a bier by friends, and followed by the little band of weeping women, with black ribosos folded about their heads. They did not use coffins49 at Ehrenberg, because they had none, I suppose.
The next day I asked Jack to walk to the grave-yard with me. He postponed50 it from day to day, but I insisted upon going. At last, he took me to see it.
There was no enclosure, but the bare, sloping, sandy place was sprinkled with graves, marked by heaps of stones, and in some instances by rude crosses of wood, some of which had been wrenched51 from their upright position by the fierce sand-storms. There was not a blade of grass, a tree, or a flower. I walked about among these graves, and close beside some of them I saw deep holes and whitnened bones. I was quite ignorant or unthinking, and asked what the holes were.
"It is where the coyotes and wolves come in the nights," said Jack.
My heart sickened as I thought of these horrors, and I wondered if Ehrenberg held anything in store for me worse than what I had already seen. We turned away from this unhallowed grave-yard and walked to our quarters. I had never known much about "nerves," but I began to see spectres in the night, and those ghastly graves with their coyote-holes were ever before me. The place was but a stone's throw from us, and the uneasy spirits from these desecrated52 graves began to haunt me. I could not sit alone on the porch at night, for they peered through the lattice, and mocked at me, and beckoned53. Some had no heads, some no arms, but they pointed54 or nodded towards the grewsome burying-ground: "You'll be with us soon, you'll be with us soon."
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1
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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initiate
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| vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入 | |
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3
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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6
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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8
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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9
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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13
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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14
curd
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| n.凝乳；凝乳状物 | |
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15
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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17
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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18
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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19
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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20
deigning
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的现在分词 ) | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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22
fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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23
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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25
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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26
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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27
recuperate
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| v.恢复 | |
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28
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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29
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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30
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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31
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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32
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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33
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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34
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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35
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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36
lagoons
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| n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 )；潟湖；（大湖或江河附近的）小而浅的淡水湖；温泉形成的池塘 | |
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37
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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38
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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39
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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40
crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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41
fissures
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| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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42
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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43
engulf
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| vt.吞没，吞食 | |
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44
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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45
emaciated
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| adj.衰弱的，消瘦的 | |
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46
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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47
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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48
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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49
coffins
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| n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物 | |
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50
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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51
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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52
desecrated
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| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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