In the higher altitudes the mountains are less bare; more friendly in a grim, uncompromising way and grown over scantily14 sometimes with piñons and juniper and the flat-leafed cedar15 whose wood is never too wet to burn with a great snapping, and is as likely to char16 temperamentally and go black. In these great buttes secret stores of water send little searching streams out through crevices17 among the rocks. Each cañon has its spring hidden away somewhere, and the water is clear and cold, stealing away from the melting snows on top.
A rough, little-used trail barely passable to a car, led into Johnnywater Cañon. To Gary the place was a distinct relief from the barren land that stretched between this butte and Las Vegas. The green of the piñon trees was refreshing18 as cool water on a hot day. The tiny stream that trickled19 over water-worn rocks in the little gully beside the cabin astonished him. For hours he had ridden through the parched20 waste land. For hours Monty had talked of scanty21 grazing and little water. In spite of himself, Gary’s eyes brightened with pleasure when he first looked upon Johnnywater.
The sun still shone into the cañon, though presently it would drop behind the high shoulder of the butte. The little cabin squatting22 secretively between two tall piñons looked an ideal “set” for some border romance.
“It’s not a bad-looking place,” he commented with some reluctance23. “Maybe Pat didn’t pull such a boner after all.” He climbed out of the car and walked toward the tiny stream. “Golly grandma, what’s that! Chickens?”
“It shore enough is—but I kinda thought the coyotes and link-cats would of got all Waddy’s chickens. He’s been gone a week away.”
“Good heck! I thought chickens liked to partake of a little nourishment24 occasionally. All the kinds I’ve met do.”
Monty laughed lazily.
“Oh, Waddell he fixed25 a kind of feed box for ’em that lets down a few grains at a time. I reckon he filled it up before he went.” Monty sent seeking glances into the undergrowth along the creek26. “There ought to be a couple of shoats around here, too. And a cat.”
Gary went into the cabin and stood looking around him curiously27. Some attempt had been made to furnish the place with a few comforts, but the attempt had evidently perished of inanition. Flowered calico would have hidden the cubboard decently, had the curtains been clean. A box tacked28 against the wall held magazines and a book or two. The bunk29 was draped around the edge with the same flowered calico, with an old shoe protruding30 from beneath. One square window with a single sash looked down upon the little creek. Its twin looked down the cañon. Cast-off garments hung against the wall at the foot of the bunk.
“Great interior set for a poverty scene,” Gary decided31, rolling himself a smoke. “I don’t intend to stay out on this location, you know. I’m here to sell the damned place. What’s the quickest way to do that—quietly? I mean, without advertising32 it.”
Monty Girard turned slowly and stared.
“There ain’t no quick way,” he said finally. “Waddy, he’s been tryin’ for three months to sell it—advertisin’ in all the papers. He was in about as much of a hurry as a man could get in—and he was just about at the point where he was goin’ to walk off and leave it, when this Mr. Connolly bit.”
“Bit?”
“Bought. Yuh-all must have misunderstood.”
“Either way, I don’t feature it.” Gary lighted the cigarette thoughtfully. “It looks a pretty fair place—for a hermit33, or a man that’s hiding out. What did this man Waddell buy it for? And how long ago?”
“I reckon he thought he wanted it. A couple of years ago, I reckon he aimed to settle down here.”
“Well, why the heck didn’t he do it then?” Gary sat down on the edge of the table and folded his arms. “Spread ’em out on the table, Monty. I won’t shoot.”
“You say yuh-all don’t aim to stay here?” Monty leveled a glance at him.
“Not any longer than it takes to sell out. You look like a live wire. I’m going to appoint you my agent and see if you can’t rustle34 a buyer—quick. I’ll go back with you, when you go. That will be in a couple of days, you said. So tell me the joke, Monty. I asked you in town, yesterday, and you didn’t do it.”
“I can’t say as I rightly know. I reckon maybe it was Waddy himself that was wrong, and nothin’ the matter with Johnnywater. He got along all right here for awhile—but I guess he got kind of edgey, livin’ alone here so much. He got to kinda imaginin’ he was seein’ things. And along last spring he got to hearin’ ’em. So then he wanted to sell out right away quick.”
“Oh.” Gary sounded rather crestfallen35. “A nut, hunh? I thought there was something faked about the place itself.”
“Yuh-all read what I swore to,” Monty reminded him with a touch of dignity. “I wouldn’t help nobody fake a deal; not even a fellow in the shape Waddy was in. He had his money in here, and he had to git it out before he could leave. At that, he sold out at a loss. This is a right nice little place, Mr. Marshall, for anybody that wants a place like this.”
“But you don’t, hunh? Couldn’t you buy the cattle?”
Monty shook his head regretfully.
“No, I couldn’t. I couldn’t buy out the Walkin’ X brand now at a dime36 a head, and that’s a fact. Cattle’s away down. I’m just hangin’ on, Mr. Marshall, and that’s the case with every cattle owner in the country. It ain’t my put-in, maybe, but if Johnnywater was mine, I know what I’d do.”
“Well, let’s hear it.”
“Well, I’d fix things up best I could around here, and hang on to it awhile till times git better. Waddell asked seven thousand at first—and it’d be worth that if there was any market at all for cattle. Up the cañon here a piece, Waddy’s got as pretty a patch of alfalfa as you’d want to look at. And a patch of potatoes that was doing fine, the last I see of ’em. He was aimin’ to put the whole cañon bottom into alfalfa; and that’s worth money in this country, now I’m tellin’ yuh.
“Yuh see, Johnnywater’s different from most of these cañons. It’s wider and bigger every way, and it’s got more water. A man could hang on to his cattle, and by kinda pettin’ ’em along through the winter, and herdin’ ’em away from the loco patches in the spring, he could make this a good payin’ investment. That’s what I reckoned this Mr. Connolly aimed to do.”
“Pat Connolly bought this place,” said Gary shortly, “because it sounded nice in the ad. It was a nut idea from the start. I’m here to try and fish the five thousand up out of the hole.”
“Well, I reckon maybe that same ad would sound good to somebody else,” Monty ventured.
But Gary shook his head. Since Patricia made up her mailing lists from the newspapers, Gary emphatically did not want to advertise.
They ended by cooking late dinner together, frying six fresh eggs which Gary discovered in the little dugout chicken house. After which Monty Girard unloaded what supplies Gary had brought, smoked a farewell cigarette and drove away to his own camp twenty miles farther on.
“It’s a great life if you don’t weaken,” Gary observed tritely37. “I might get a kick out of this, if Pat hadn’t been so darned fresh about the movies, and so gol-darned stubborn about me camping here and doing the long-haired hick act for the rest of my life.”
He went away then to hunt for the chicken feed; found it in another dugout cellar, and fed the chickens that came running hysterically38 out of the bushes when Gary rattled39 the pan and called them as he had seen gingham-gowned ingénues do in rural scenes.
“Golly grandma! If I could catch a young duck now, and cuddle it up under my dimpled chin, I’d make a swell40 Mary Pickford close-up,” he chuckled41 to himself. “Down on the farm, by gum! ‘Left the town to have some fun, and I’m a goin’ to have some, yes, by gum!’ Pat Connolly’s going to do some plain and fancy knuckling42 under, to pay for this stunt43. Gosh, and there’s the cat!”
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1
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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2
sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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3
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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4
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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5
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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6
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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7
sporadic
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| adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的 | |
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8
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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9
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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10
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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11
softens
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| （使）变软( soften的第三人称单数 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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12
bleakness
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| adj. 萧瑟的, 严寒的, 阴郁的 | |
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13
hummocks
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| n.小丘，岗( hummock的名词复数 ) | |
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14
scantily
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| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
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15
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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char
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| v.烧焦；使...燃烧成焦炭 | |
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crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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18
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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19
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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20
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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21
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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22
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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23
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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24
nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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25
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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28
tacked
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| 用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝 | |
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29
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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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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advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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33
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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34
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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35
crestfallen
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| adj. 挫败的，失望的，沮丧的 | |
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36
dime
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| n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角 | |
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37
tritely
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| adv.平凡地，陈腐地 | |
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38
hysterically
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| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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39
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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40
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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41
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
knuckling
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| n.突球v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的现在分词 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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43
stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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