A window was open and Andrew could hear a girl singing. A rattle5 of crockery which suggested that Mrs. Graham was busy with domestic duties also reached him now and then; and a lad who had greeted him pleasantly as he passed sat on the nearest fir stump2 talking with a companion. Graham seemed to indicate it all with a movement of his pipe as he turned to Andrew.
"My world, Mr. Allinson," he said. "A happy one, but narrow."
"I feel inclined to envy you," Andrew replied.
"I am to be envied; I admit it with gratitude6." Graham glanced half wistfully at a map on the table. "For all that, I remember the wide spaces up yonder now and then."
[Pg 90]"If I were in your place, I wouldn't study that map too much."
"Ah! It isn't an amusement that I often indulge in; but sometimes, when I've spent a week making up trumpery7 lumber bills or getting in five-dollar accounts, I find it a solace8 to recall what I used to do. However, I've inconsistently practised prudent9 self-denial in other ways. There was a moose head—a beast I shot—I took off its stand and gave to the Institute; an old pair of snowshoes that hung above the mantel I gave my boy. He said they were very poor things and sadly out of date."
Andrew glanced at the map and noticed the lines penciled across it. He felt that he was not acting10 considerately in tempting11 Graham, but he could not resist.
"Those marks show the marches you have made?" he asked.
Graham laid his finger on the map, moving it from spot to spot.
"Yes. I don't need a diary; I can see it all again. We started here one winter and made three hundred miles on half rations12, with wind and snow ahead all the way. There we camped three days in a blizzard13 among a clump14 of willows15, while the snow piled up six feet deep to lee of us. I made this line through a country new to me; two hundred miles over soft snow, with the dogs playing out and the timber wolves on my trail for the last few days. This lake ends in a big muskeg, and we snagged our canoe there one fall. As she'd ripped her bilge open, we left her and spent a day and a half floundering through two or three feet of water and tall reeds, and carrying loads of sixty pounds." He paused and indicated a line that[Pg 91] broke off abruptly16 in a wide bare space. "The lode17 lies south of here, and I believe I'm the only survivor18 of the few who knew of it. One half-breed was drowned in a rapid, another lost in a blizzard; the agent, so I heard afterward19, left the factory to visit some Indians three or four miles off and they found him next day in a snowdrift, frozen to death."
"A grim country," Andrew said thoughtfully, "One to make a man afraid, and yet——"
Graham laughed, rather harshly.
"Yes; I think you know! Well, I'm glad that for twenty years I've mastered the longing20 and kept my head. Now, however, my children have made a fair start, with prospects21 of going farther than I have done, and my responsibility is lightening. A winter up there would satisfy me—I'm afraid it would be all I could stand now—and though it's still out of the question, I've a feeling that a way may be found before I grow too old."
He rolled up the map resolutely22 and laid it aside, and soon afterward Mrs. Graham's voice reached them.
Andrew rose and followed Graham into his sitting-room24. It was very small and there were signs of economy in its appointments, but it had a homelike charm. Two or three sketches25 in color which showed some talent hung on the varnished26 board walls. The lamp, though obviously cheap, was of artistic27 design; the rug on the stained floor and the hangings were of harmonious28 hue29. Mrs. Graham, a little, faded woman with a cheerful air, sat sewing at a table, and opposite her a girl was busy with some papers. Both greeted Andrew cordially, and a few minutes later the[Pg 92] young man he had seen outside came in with a humorous tale he had heard.
He was a handsome lad, quicker of speech and more assertive30 than his father, and the girl, who now and then made a remark, had a decided31 air. Though Graham would occasionally talk without reserve, he was as a rule quiet and dreamy. It was not from him that his children had acquired a trace of the somewhat aggressive smartness which characterizes the inhabitants of the new western cities: he had more in common with the silent dwellers32 in the lonely wilds. These are, for the most part, sentimentalists of a kind; loving the wilderness33, not for what can be made out of it, and untouched by the materialistic34 ideas of the towns, where the business chance is the chief thing sought. Their gifts become most manifest when the ice breaks up on the rivers across which they must get the dog-sleds, and when all the powers of mind and body are taxed to traverse the frozen waste before starvation cuts short the march. It struck Andrew that Graham, dressed in shabby clothes, listening good-humoredly while his children talked, had somehow the look of a captive eagle, conscious of crippled wings, though the simile35 was a bad one because there was no predatory fierceness in him.
"One of you might shut the door," said Mrs. Graham. "The nights are getting colder fast; we'll soon have to light the basement heater." She turned to Andrew. "This is a hard country in winter. I've seen the thermometer stand a week at fifty below."
"Don't be scared, Mr. Allinson," laughed the lad, as he closed the door. "It's not often too fierce, and in a place like the Landing there's generally something going on. Will the frost interfere36 with your mining?"
[Pg 93]"Not underground," said Andrew. "I understand that nothing can be done on the surface, but we expect to send off a good lot of ore for experimental reduction in the next week or two. Then we'll have something to base our plans on."
"Mappin's going to handle the transport, I guess. That man's surely on to a soft thing. I s'pose you know he's making his pile out of the Rain Bluff37?"
"I don't think you should talk to Mr. Allinson in that manner, Jim. He's a good deal older and more experienced than you are."
"Your ideas are out of date, Mother; we've grown ahead of them. Mr. Allinson doesn't look as if he minded. Anyway, he doesn't know as much as I do about the Canadian contractor39." He turned to Andrew. "Do you like it up yonder?"
"Yes," Andrew answered good-humoredly; "I like the work better than anything I remember having done."
"A matter of taste. Now, I can't see much amusement in rolling rocks about or standing40 in wet slickers in a dark pit watching the boys punch the drills."
"Mr. Allinson is not doing it for amusement," said his mother.
"Well, money isn't often made that way. You don't get rich by knowing how to use the hammer and giant-powder."
"I believe that's true," Andrew responded with a smile.
"A sure thing! Money is made by sitting tight in your office and hiring other fellows to do the rough work. They break up the rocks and cut the milling logs; you take the profit. It's business, first and last, for mine!"
[Pg 94]"Then it's fortunate there are people with different views," his sister interposed. "If nobody were willing to live in the logging camps all winter and go prospecting41 in the bush, you would be badly off."
"But so long as there are people who like doing that kind of thing, we're glad to let them."
"This is a favorite pose of his," the girl explained to Andrew. "It's the latest fashion among the boys; they're afraid of being thought altruistic42."
"Now that everything is controlled by mergers43 and they make all we need so dear, one is forced to be practical," Mrs. Graham remarked feelingly. "For all that, it jars on me to hear our young people talk as they do."
"We're realists, with no use for sentiment," Jim replied. "We don't let our imagination run away with us. It doesn't pay."
"You may be wrong in that," said Andrew, smiling, "I'm not much of a philosopher, but it seems to me that imagination's now and then a useful thing. I've seen it help a man through tight places. Take your prospectors44, for example; they often face risks that couldn't be justified45 by a return in money. I heard of one fellow crossing a lake in a savage46 storm in a leaky canoe, to keep the time he'd allowed for his journey, because he wouldn't be beaten; and of another making two hundred miles on snowshoes with very little food, because a party he'd promised to meet was expecting him."
"That," said the lad, "is the kind of thing father would do; he's given to impractical47 idealism. There's a mine up in the barrens he has talked about as long as I remember; but if he found it I believe he'd be content with that and sell the claim to any one for a few hun[Pg 95]dred dollars. Getting yourself frozen for an abstract idea isn't good business."
Graham laughed and changed the subject, and soon afterward Andrew took his leave. He spent the next evening with Frobisher, whom he had now visited several times, and on the following morning set out for the mine, where he worked very hard for a few weeks. They were still using the old adit, though the new one was being driven toward the lower level. Then he and Carnally left the camp in a canoe to hurry forward some stores and, after arranging for their quicker transport, stood on a little promontory48, looking down the river, late one gloomy afternoon.
Winter had set in with unusual rigor49. The gray sky was barred with leaden cloud; the pines, which looked strangely ragged50 and somber51, stood out with harsh distinctness against the first thin snow; and the river flowed, a dark-colored riband, through a clean-cut channel in the ice. A nipping wind blew down the gorge52, and now and then light flakes53 of snow fell.
"We had better push on," Carnally suggested. "It looks as if the messenger hadn't got through, and we'll hardly make the mine before midnight. There's heavy snow coming and we have no provisions or camp outfit54."
"Wait an hour," said Andrew. "The smelter people promised to let me know the results they got and the letter was due yesterday. I'm anxious about the thing."
Carnally agreed. They had sent out a quantity of ore for reduction, and particulars of the yield in refined metal would throw a useful light on the prospects of the mine. The last analysis of specimens55 selected to represent the bulk had not been encouraging, but this test was unsatisfactory because the ore was variable.
[Pg 96]"Let's get out of the wind," Carnally said. "If I'd expected this kind of weather, I'd have brought my fur-coat along."
They found a sheltered spot among a clump of pines, where they sat down; but Andrew felt disturbed and apprehensive56. The Company had spent money freely, the mine was expensive to work, and of late Watson had grown morose57 and reserved. Even when Andrew pressed him, he had avoided giving his opinion. The report of the smelting58 company would, however, show how matters stood, and Andrew looked out anxiously for the expected messenger.
It got dark, though they could still see the glimmer59 of the ice, and at length they heard a faint, regular splashing, made by canoe poles. A shout answered their hail, and when they ran down the bank a man came cautiously across the fringe of ice.
"Here's your mail," he said, handing Andrew some letters. "Now that I've given it to you, we'll get back."
"Won't you come on to the mine with us?"
"No, sir! It's steep chances you don't get there to-night and we can make a Mappin camp in about three hours down-stream."
"It would be wiser to follow him," Carnally suggested. "We'll have heavy snow before long."
"I'm going on," said Andrew doggedly60. "I must compare the report with our books and get Watson to tell me what he thinks as soon as possible."
Launching their canoe, they poled her laboriously61 against the current, which ran fast between its banks of ice. Andrew was thankful that the snow on the frozen surface threw up a faint light and they could see the glimmer of the floes that drifted down, though it[Pg 97] was not always possible to avoid them. Once or twice there was a crash as a heavy mass struck the canoe, which was too lightly built to stand much of this buffeting62. Andrew had thick mittens63, but they soon got wet and his hands grew numbed64. He was not clad for rigorous weather, and his exertions65 failed to keep him warm.
Still, they were making progress, and they met with no serious difficulty until they entered a slacker reach. It had been open when they came down, but now the channel made by the current was glazed66 with thin ice, through which they could hardly drive the canoe. Indeed, in some places Carnally was forced to break the crust with the pole while Andrew paddled.
"If there's much more of this, it will be late to-morrow before we make camp," Andrew remarked.
"We'll have to leave the river pretty soon, but we'll stick to it as long as we can," Carnally replied. "It's rough traveling through the bush, and the shore ice is hardly safe yet."
They got through the reach, paddled laboriously against a swifter stream, and dragged the canoe over a portage, stumbling among big stones and across frozen pools. During this passage Andrew fell and hurt himself; but stopping was out of the question. Launching the craft on the upper edge of the rapid, they drove her out. For a minute or two they made no progress, and Andrew, straining at his pole, feared that they would be swept down the wild, foaming67 rush; but they found slacker water and the ominous68 roar of the rapid died away. Then snow began to fall, making it difficult to see, though they had the faint glimmer of the shore-ice for a guide. In the reach up which they were poling, it did not run out far because the stream[Pg 98] was strong, and they had gone some distance when there was a heavy thud and a curious crunch69 at the bows.
"In with her!" cried Carnally. "Head for the slack behind the point!"
They ran in through crackling ice and had reached the thicker strip along the bank when Andrew felt his knees grow wet. Feeling with his hand, he found there was an inch or two of water in the bottom of the craft.
"Skin's punched through," Carnally explained. "We can't bale her and use the pole. You'll have to get out."
Andrew did so hastily, but the ice on which he landed cracked as he moved, and he had gone several yards before it seemed strong enough to bear him. Carnally dragged the canoe out, and then turned cautiously up-stream.
"We'll have to chance the ice for the next mile or two," he said. "It's rough country—steep rock and very thick scrub—on this side."
As they moved forward Andrew noticed that the snow was falling faster and the wind freshening. The cold flakes drove into his tingling70 face and he had to brace71 himself against the gusts72. The gorge they followed was wrapped in obscurity and filled with the roar of water and the wailing73 of the trees. However, he held on for some time; and then suddenly felt no support for his foot. It was too late to stop; the next moment he was in the water. The shock took his breath away; he had a horrible fear of being drawn74 under the ice, and it was with vast relief that he found he could stand up waist-deep. Moving cautiously, he got his knee upon the ice, but it broke away; then he[Pg 99] saw that Carnally was lying down near the edge and holding out his hand.
"Get your arms on it, and catch hold," he said. As he obeyed, Andrew heard the ice crack, but his weight was now well distributed and he crawled forward, clutching Carnally's hand. Then he got up, dripping and shaking with cold.
"Thanks!" he said. "That's a risk I don't mean to run again. If it had been a foot deeper I'd never have got out."
Carnally turned toward the bank and, in thick darkness, they scrambled75 up a steep slope among stunted76 pines. Leaving its summit, they floundered over the rounded surfaces of outcropping rocks and plunged77 into hollows filled with thick brush. The pines were smaller farther on, which made things worse, for they had to force a passage through the snow-laden needles. Some had been partly blown down and leaned on one another in tangles78 which would have been difficult to traverse in daylight. How Carnally kept his line Andrew could not tell, for they had lost the sound of the river, and the snow was thick; but he steadily79 pushed on and after a while the country grew more open. Here the wind was worse and Andrew, who was getting worn out, struggled forward stupidly with lowered head and labored80 breath. He could not remember how long he kept it up, but at last a light blinked among the trees and he recognized joyfully81 that it came from a shack82 at the mine.
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1
veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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trumpery
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| n.无价值的杂物；adj.（物品）中看不中用的 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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blizzard
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| n.暴风雪 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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lode
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| n.矿脉 | |
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survivor
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| n.生存者，残存者，幸存者 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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varnished
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| 浸渍过的，涂漆的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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assertive
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| adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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materialistic
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| a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的 | |
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simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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contractor
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| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
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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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prospecting
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| n.探矿 | |
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altruistic
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| adj.无私的，为他人着想的 | |
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mergers
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| n.（两个公司的）合并( merger的名词复数 ) | |
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prospectors
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| n.勘探者，探矿者( prospector的名词复数 ) | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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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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impractical
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| adj.不现实的，不实用的，不切实际的 | |
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promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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rigor
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| n.严酷，严格，严厉 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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53
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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smelting
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| n.熔炼v.熔炼，提炼（矿石）( smelt的现在分词 ) | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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buffeting
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| 振动 | |
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mittens
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| 不分指手套 | |
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numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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67
foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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68
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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69
crunch
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| n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声 | |
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70
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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71
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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72
gusts
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| 一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作 | |
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73
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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74
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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75
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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76
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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77
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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78
tangles
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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79
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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80
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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81
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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82
shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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