He looked down at her curled asleep in her little hollow. It struck him that this must have been her destination each time she crossed the creek8 and started up the bluff9. But why should the cat come away up here every day? Gary did not attempt to explain the vagaries10 of a cat so eccentric as Faith had proved herself to be. He wondered idly if he were becoming eccentric also, just from constant association with Faith.
He laughed a little to himself and picked up a piece of malapi rock; balanced it in his hand while he thought of other things, and tossed it down the slide. It landed ten feet below him and began rolling farther, carrying with it a small avalanche11 of loose rocks. Gary watched the slide with languid interest. Even so small a thing could make a tiny ripple12 in the dead calm of the cañon that day.
The slide started by that one rock spread farther. Other rocks loosened and went rolling down the bluff, and Gary’s eyes followed them and went higher, watching to see where next a rock would slip away from the mass and go rolling down. It seemed to him that the whole slide might be easily set in motion with no more than a kick or two at the top. He got up and began to experiment, kicking a rock loose here and there. There was no danger to himself, since he stood at the top of the slide. As for Faith, she had sprung up in a furry14 arch at the first slithering clatter15 and was now viewing the scene with extreme disfavor from the secure vantage point of a shelf on the ledge16 above Gary.
In a very few minutes Gary had set the whole surface of the slide in motion. The noise it made pleased him immensely. It served to break that waiting silence in the cañon. When the rocks ceased rolling, he started others. Finally he found himself standing17 upon firm ground again, with an outcropping of gray quartz18 just below him. His eyes fixed19 themselves upon the quartz in a steady stare before he dug heels into the slope and edged down to it.
With a malapi rock bigger than his two fists he hammered off a piece of quartz and held it in the shade of his body while he examined it closely. He turned it this way and that, fearful of deceiving himself by the very strength of his desire. But all the while he knew what were those little yellow specks20 that gleamed in the shade.
He knelt and pounded off other pieces of the quartz and compared them anxiously with the first. They were all identical in character: steel gray, with here and there the specks of gold in the gray, and the chocolate brown streaks22 and splotches of hematite—the “red oxide” iron which runs as high as seventy per cent. iron. Hematite and free gold in gray quartz——
“A prettier combination for free gold I couldn’t have made to order!” he whispered, almost as if he were praying. “It’s good enough for my girl’s ‘million-dollar mine’—though they do get rich off a piece of gold float in the movies!” He began to laugh nervously23. A weaker-souled man would probably have wept instead.
With the side of his foot he tore away the rubble from the quartz outcropping. There, just where he had been kneeling, he discovered a narrow vein24 of the bird’s-eye porphyry such as he had found at the cabin. Here, then, lay the object of all his tiresome25 prospecting26. So far as he could judge, with only his hands and feet for digging, the vein averaged about eight inches in width. Whether the porphyry formed a wall for the quartz he could not tell at the surface; but he hoped fervently27 that it did. With hematite, gray quartz and bird’s-eye porphyry he would have the ideal combination for a rich, permanent gold mine. And Pat, he reflected breathlessly, might really have her millions after all.
He picked up what he believed to be average samples of the vein and started back down the bluff, his imagination building air castles, mostly for Patricia. If he dramatized the event and cast himself for the leading man playing opposite Patricia, who was the star, surely he had earned the right to paint rose tints28 across the veil that hid his future and hers.
He had forgotten all about the cat; but when he reached the cabin, there she was at his heels looking extremely self-satisfied and waving her tail with a gentle air of importance. Gary laid his ore samples on the table and stood with his hands on his hips29, looking down at Faith with a peculiar30 expression in his eyes. Suddenly he smiled endearingly at the cat, stooped and picked her up, holding her by his two hands so that he could look into her eyes.
“Doggone you, Faith, I wish to heck you could talk! I wouldn’t put it past you to think like humans. I’ll bet you’ve been trying all along to show me that outcropping. And I thought you were hunting mice and birds and gophers just like a plain, ordinary cat! You can’t tell me—you knew all about that gold! I’ll bet you’ve got a name all picked out for the mine, too. But it won’t go, I’ll tell a meddlesome31 world. That is, unless you’ve decided it ought to be called ‘The Pat Connolly.’ Because that’s the way it’s going on record, if Handsome Gary has anything to say about it—and I rather think he has!”
Faith blinked at him and mewed understandingly. Gary wooled her a bit and put her down, considerately smoothing down the fur he had roughed. Faith was a forgiving cat, and she immediately began purring under his fingers. After that she tagged him indefatigably32 while he got mortar33, pestle34 and pan, and carried them down to a shady spot beside the creek.
Gary’s glance strayed often to the bluff while he broke bits off each sample of quartz and dropped them into the iron mortar. Then, with the mortar held firmly between his knees, Gary picked up the eight-inch length of iron with the round knob on the end and began to pulverize35 the ore. For a full quarter of an hour the quiet air of the grove throbbed36 to the steady pung, pung, pung, of the iron pestle striking upon rock particles in the deep iron bowl.
About twice in every minute, Gary would stop, dip thumb and finger into the mortar, and bring up a pinch of pulverized37 rock at which he would squint38 with the wholly unconscious eagerness of a small boy. Naturally, since he was not flattening39 a nugget of solid gold in the mortar, he failed to see anything except once when he caught an unmistakable yellow gleam from a speck21 of gold almost half the size of a small pinhead.
He gloated over that speck for a full minute before he shook it carefully back into the mortar. And then you should have heard him pound!
He was all aquiver with hope and eager expectancy40 when at last he poured the pulverized quartz into the gold pan and went digging his heels down the bank to the water. Faith came forward and stood upon a dry rock, mewing and purring by turns, and waving her tail encouragingly while she watched him.
Those who plod41 along the beaten trail toward commercial success can scarcely apprehend42 the thrill of winning from nature herself the symbol that promises fulfillment of hope and dreams coming true. The ardency43 of Gary’s desire was measurable only by the depth of his love for Patricia. For himself he had a man’s normal hunger for achievement. To discover a gold mine here in Johnnywater Cañon, to develop it in secret to the point where he could command what capital he needed for the making of a real mine, that in itself seemed to Gary a goal worth striving for. To fill Patricia’s hands with virgin44 gold which he had found for her, there spoke45 the primitive46 desire of man since the world was young; to bring the spoils of war or the chase and lay them, proud offering of love, at the feet of his Woman.
Gary turned and tilted47 the pan, tenderly as a young mother cradles her first-born. He dipped and rocked and spilled the water carefully over the rim13; dipped and rocked and tilted again. The three deep creases48 stood between his straight, dark eyebrows49, but now they betokened50 eager concentration upon his work. At last, he poured clear water from the pan carefully, almost drop by drop. He tilted the pan slowly in the sunlight and bent51 his head, peering sharply into the pan. His heart seemed to be beating in his throat when he saw the trail of tiny yellow particles following sluggishly52 the spoonful of black sand when he tilted the pan.
“I’ve got it, Steve,” he exclaimed, looking up over his shoulder. He caught his breath in the sudden realization53 that he was looking into the empty sunlight. Absorbed as he had been in the gold, the felt presence of Steve Carson looking over his shoulder had seemed perfectly natural and altogether real.
The momentary54 shock sobered him. But the old dread55 of that felt presence no longer assailed56 him as something he must combat by feigning57 unconsciousness. The unreasoning impression that Steve Carson—the mind of him—was there just behind his shoulder, watching and sharing in his delight, persisted nevertheless. Gary caught himself wondering if the thing was really only a prank58 of his imagination. Feeling a bit foolish, but choosing to indulge the whimsy59, he stood up and turned deliberately60, the pan held out before him.
“Steve Carson, if dead people go on living and thinking, and if you really are hanging around just out of sight but watching the game, I’m here to say that I hope you’re glad I found this vein. And I want to tell you right now that if there’s any money to be made out of it, it’s going to the finest, squarest little girl in the world. So if there is such a thing as a spirit, just take it from me everything’s going to be on the square.”
He carried the pan up to the cabin and carefully rinsed61 the gold down into a jelly glass. He made no apology to himself for the little speech to a man dead and gone these five years. Having made himself as clear on the subject as was diplomatic—supposing Steve Carson’s spirit had been present and could hear—he felt a certain relief and could lay the subject aside and devote himself to the fascination63 of hunting the gold out of the hills where it had lain buried for ages.
It occurred to him that he might find some particularly rich specimens64, mortar them by hand and pan them for Patricia. A wedding ring made from the first gold taken and panned by hand—the hand of Gary Marshall—from “The Pat Connolly” mine, appealed to him irresistibly65. Before he had mortared a lump of porphyry the size of a pigeon’s egg, Gary had resolved to pan enough gold for that very purpose. He pictured himself pulling the ring from his vest pocket while the minister waited. He experienced a prophetic thrill of ecstasy66 when he slipped the ring upon Patricia’s finger. The dreamed sentence, “I now pronounce you man and wife,” intoned by an imaginary minister, thrilled him to the soul.
Pung, pung, pung! It wouldn’t take so very long, if he mortared rock evenings, say, instead of killing67 time minute by minute playing solitaire with the deck of cards Waddell had thumbed before him. Pung, pung, pung! He could mortar the quartz in the evenings and pan it in the morning before he went to work. Pung, pung, pung, pung! He would hunt up a cow’s horn and fix it as he had seen old prospectors68 do, so that he could blow the sand from the panned gold and carry it unmixed to the jeweler. Pung, pung! The porphyry sample was fine as corn meal under the miniature stamp-mill of Gary’s pounding.
He was mighty69 careful of that handful of pulp70. He even dipped the mortar half full of water and sloshed it round and round, pouring it afterward71 into the pan to rinse62 out what gold may have stuck to the iron. His finger tips stirred the wet mass caressingly72 in the pan, muddying the water with the waste matter and pouring that out before he squatted73 on his heels at the edge of the stream.
The result was gratifying in the extreme. Granting that the values were inclined to “jump” from quartz to porphyry and back again to the quartz, he would still lose none of the gold. He tried to be very conservative in estimating the probable value of the vein. He knew that, granting quartz and porphyry were in place from the surface downward, the values should increase with depth. It would take some digging, however, to determine that point. He was glad that Patricia knew nothing at all about it. If there were to be disappointment later on, he wanted to bear it alone. The joys of success he was perfectly willing to share; but not the sickening certitude of failure. He judged that the outcropping would run several hundred dollars to the ton, provided his panned samples had run a fair average of the vein.
Material for air castles aplenty, that! Gary was afraid to believe it. He kept warning himself headily that the world would be peopled entirely74 with multimillionaires if every man’s dream of wealth came true and every man’s hopes were realized.
“Ninety-nine per cent. of all mineral prospects75 are failures, Faith,” he told the spotted76 cat admonishingly. “We may get the raspberry yet on this proposition. I’m just waiting to see whether you’re a mascot77 or a jinx. I wish to heck you were a dog—I’d make you get busy and help dig!”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
offhand
|
|
| adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
neatly
|
|
| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
rubble
|
|
| n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
grove
|
|
| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
ridge
|
|
| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
creek
|
|
| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
bluff
|
|
| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
vagaries
|
|
| n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 )；异想天开；异常行为；难以预测的情况 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
avalanche
|
|
| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
ripple
|
|
| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
rim
|
|
| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
furry
|
|
| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
clatter
|
|
| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
ledge
|
|
| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
quartz
|
|
| n.石英 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
specks
|
|
| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
speck
|
|
| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
streaks
|
|
| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
nervously
|
|
| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
vein
|
|
| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
tiresome
|
|
| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
prospecting
|
|
| n.探矿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
fervently
|
|
| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
tints
|
|
| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
hips
|
|
| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
meddlesome
|
|
| adj.爱管闲事的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
indefatigably
|
|
| adv.不厌倦地，不屈不挠地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
mortar
|
|
| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
pestle
|
|
| n.杵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
pulverize
|
|
| v.研磨成粉；摧毁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
throbbed
|
|
| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
pulverized
|
|
| adj.[医]雾化的，粉末状的v.将…弄碎( pulverize的过去式和过去分词 )；将…弄成粉末或尘埃；摧毁；粉碎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
squint
|
|
| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
flattening
|
|
| n. 修平 动词flatten的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
expectancy
|
|
| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
plod
|
|
| v.沉重缓慢地走，孜孜地工作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
apprehend
|
|
| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
ardency
|
|
| n.热心，热烈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
virgin
|
|
| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
primitive
|
|
| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
tilted
|
|
| v. 倾斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
creases
|
|
| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
betokened
|
|
| v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
sluggishly
|
|
| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
realization
|
|
| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
momentary
|
|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
dread
|
|
| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
assailed
|
|
| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
feigning
|
|
| 假装，伪装( feign的现在分词 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
prank
|
|
| n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
whimsy
|
|
| n.古怪，异想天开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
deliberately
|
|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
rinsed
|
|
| v.漂洗( rinse的过去式和过去分词 )；冲洗；用清水漂洗掉（肥皂泡等）；（用清水）冲掉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
rinse
|
|
| v.用清水漂洗，用清水冲洗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
fascination
|
|
| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
specimens
|
|
| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
irresistibly
|
|
| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
prospectors
|
|
| n.勘探者，探矿者( prospector的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
pulp
|
|
| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
caressingly
|
|
| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
squatted
|
|
| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；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。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
prospects
|
|
| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
spotted
|
|
| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
mascot
|
|
| n.福神，吉祥的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |