From the time he was sixteen he had lived chiefly in tents and line-camp cabins, his world the land of far horizons, of big sins, and virtues3 bigger. One creed4 he owned: to live "square," fight square, and to be loyal to his friends and his "outfit5." Little things did not count much with him, and for that reason he was the more enraged6 against the Pilgrim, because he did not quite know what it was all about. So far as he had heard or seen, the Pilgrim had offered no insult to Miss Bridger—"the girl," as he called her simply in his mind. Still, he had felt all along that the mere7 presence of the Pilgrim was an offense8 to her, no less real because it was intangible and not to be put into words; and for that offense the Pilgrim must pay.
But for the presence of the Pilgrim, he told himself ill-temperedly, they might have waited for breakfast; but he had been so anxious to get her away from under the man's leering gaze that he had not thought of eating. And if the Pilgrim had been a man, he might have sent him over to Bridger's for her father and a horse. But the Pilgrim would have lost himself, or have refused to go, and the latter possibility would have caused a scene unfit for the eyes of a young woman.
So he rode slowly and thought of many things he might have done which would have been better than what he did do; and wondered what the girl thought about it and if she blamed him for not doing something different. And for every mile of the way he cursed the Pilgrim anew.
In that unfriendly mood he opened the door of the cabin, stood a minute just inside, then closed it after him with a slam. The cabin, in contrast with the bright light of sun shining on new-fallen snow, was dark and so utterly9 cheerless and chill that he shrugged10 shoulders impatiently at its atmosphere, which was as intangibly offensive as had been the conduct of the Pilgrim.
The Pilgrim was sprawled11 upon the bunk12 with his face in his arms, snoring in a peculiarly rasping way that Billy, heavy-eyed as he was, resented most unreasonably13. Also, the untidy table showed that the Pilgrim had eaten unstintedly—and Billy was exceedingly hungry. He went over and lifted a snowy boot to the ribs14 of the sleeper15 and commanded him bluntly to "Come alive."
"What-yuh-want?" mumbled16 the Pilgrim thickly, making one word of the three and lifting his red-rimmed eyes to the other. He raised to an elbow with a lazy doubling of his body and stared dully for a space before he grinned unpleasantly. "Took 'er home all right, did yuh?" he leered, as if they two were in possession of a huge joke of the kind which may not be told in mixed company.
If Charming Billy Boyle had needed anything more to stir him to the fighting point, that one sentence admirably supplied the lack. "Yuh low-down skunk17!" he cried, and struck him full upon the insulting, smiling mouth. "If I was as rotten-minded as you are, I'd go drown myself in the stalest alkali hole I could find. I dunno why I'm dirtying my hands on yuh—yuh ain't fit to be clubbed to death with a tent pole!" He was, however, using his hands freely and to very good purpose, probably feeling that, since the Pilgrim was much bigger than he, there was need of getting a good start.
But the Pilgrim was not the sort to lie on his bunk and take a thrashing. He came up after the second blow, pushing Billy back with the very weight of his body, and they were fighting all over the little cabin, surging against the walls and the table and knocking the coffee-pot off the stove as they lurched this way and that. Not much was said after the first outburst of Billy's, save a panting curse now and then between blows, a threat gasped18 while they wrestled19.
It was the dog, sneaking20 panther-like behind Billy and setting treacherous21 teeth viciously into his leathern chaps, that brought the crisis. Billy tore loose and snatched his gun from the scabbard at his hip22, held the Pilgrim momentarily at bay with one hand while he took a shot at the dog, missed, kicked him back from another rush, and turned again on the Pilgrim.
"Get that dawg outdoors, then," he panted, "or I'll kill him sure." The Pilgrim, for answer, struck a blow that staggered Billy, and tried to grab the gun. Billy, hooking a foot around a table-leg, threw it between them, swept the blood from his eyes and turned his gun once more on the dog that was watching treacherously23 for another chance.
"That's the time I got him," he gritted24 through the smoke, holding the Pilgrim quiet before him with the gun. "But I've got a heap more respect for him than I have for you, yuh damn', low-down brute25. I'd ought to kill yuh like I would a coyote. Yuh throw your traps together and light out uh here, before I forget and shoot yuh up. There ain't room in this camp for you and me no more."
The Pilgrim backed, eying Billy malevolently26. "I never done nothing," he defended sullenly27. "The boss'll have something to say about this—and I'll kill you first chance I get, for shooting my dog."
"It ain't what yuh done, it's what yuh woulda done if you'd had the chance," answered Billy, for the first time finding words for what was surging bitterly in the heart of him. "And I'm willing to take a whirl with yuh any old time; any dawg that'll lick the boots of a man like you had ought to be shot for not having more sense. I ain't saying anything about him biting me—which I'd kill him for, anyhow. Now, git! I want my breakfast, and I can't eat with any relish28 whilst you're spoiling the air in here for me."
At heart the Pilgrim was a coward as well as a beast, and he packed his few belongings29 hurriedly and started for the door.
"Come back here, and drag your dawg outside," commanded Billy, and the Pilgrim obeyed.
"You'll hear about this later on," he snarled30. "The boss won't stand for anything like this. I never done a thing, and I'm going to tell him so."
"Aw, go on and tell him, yuh—!" snapped Billy. "Only yuh don't want to get absent-minded enough to come back—not whilst I'm here; things unpleasant might happen." He stood in the doorway31 and watched while the Pilgrim saddled his horse and rode away. When not even the pluckety-pluck of his horse's feet came back to offend the ears of him, Charming Billy put away his gun and went in and hoisted32 the overturned table upon its legs again. A coarse, earthenware33 plate, which the Pilgrim had used for his breakfast, lay unbroken at the feet of him. Billy picked it up, went to the door and cast it violently forth34, watching with grim satisfaction the pieces when they scattered35 over the frozen ground. "No white man'll ever have to eat after him," he muttered. To ease his outraged36 feelings still farther, he picked up the Pilgrim's knife and fork, and sent them after the plate—and knives and forks were not numerous in that particular camp, either. After that he felt better and picked up the coffee-pot, lighted a fire and cooked himself some breakfast, which he ate hungrily, his wrath37 cooling a bit with the cheer of warm food and strong coffee.
The routine work of the line-camp was performed in a hurried, perfunctory manner that day. Charming Billy, riding the high-lines to make sure the cattle had not drifted where they should not, was vaguely38 ill at ease. He told himself it was the want of a smoke that made him uncomfortable, and he planned a hurried trip to Hardup, if the weather held good for another day, when he would lay in a supply of tobacco and papers that would last till roundup. This running out every two or three weeks, and living in hell till you got more, was plumb39 wearisome and unnecessary.
On the way back, his trail crossed that of a breed wolfer on his way into the Bad Lands. Billy immediately asked for tobacco, and the breed somewhat reluctantly opened his pack and exchanged two small sacks for a two-bit piece. Billy, rolling a cigarette with eager fingers, felt for the moment a deep satisfaction with life. He even felt some compunction about killing40 the Pilgrim's dog, when he passed the body stiffening41 on the snow. "Poor devil! Yuh hadn't ought to expect much from a dawg—and he was a heap more white-acting than what his owner was," was his tribute to the dead.
It seemed as though, when he closed the cabin door behind him, he somehow shut out his newborn satisfaction. "A shack42 with one window is sure unpleasant when the sun is shining outside," he said fretfully to himself. "This joint43 looks a heap like a cellar. I wonder what the girl thought of it; I reckon it looked pretty sousy, to her—and them with everything shining. Oh, hell!" He took off his chaps and his spurs, rolled another cigarette and smoked it meditatively44. When it had burned down so that it came near scorching45 his lips, he lighted a fire, carried water from the creek46, filled the dishpan and set it on the stove to heat. "Darn a dirty shack!" he muttered, half apologetically, while he was taking the accumulation of ashes out of the hearth47.
For the rest of that day he was exceedingly busy, and he did not attempt further explanations to himself. He overhauled48 the bunk and spread the blankets out on the wild rose bushes to sun while he cleaned the floor. Billy's way of cleaning the floor was characteristic of the man, and calculated to be effectual in the main without descending49 to petty details. All superfluous50 objects that were small enough, he merely pushed as far as possible under the bunk. Boxes and benches he piled on top; then he brought buckets of water and sloshed it upon the worst places, sweeping51 and spreading it with a broom. When the water grew quite black, he opened the door, swept it outside and sloshed fresh water upon the grimy boards. While he worked, his mind swung slowly back to normal, so that he sang crooningly in an undertone; and the song was what he had sung for months and years, until it was a part of him and had earned him his nickname.
"Oh, where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Oh, where have you been, charming Billy?
I've been to see my wife,
She's the joy of my life,
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother."
Certainly it was neither musical nor inspiring, but Billy had somehow adopted the ditty and made it his own, so far as eternally singing it could do so, and his comrades had found it not unpleasant; for the voice of Billy was youthful, and had a melodious52 smoothness that atoned53 for much in the way of imbecile words and monotonous54 tune55.
He had washed all the dishes and had repeated the ditty fifteen times, and was for the sixteenth time tunefully inquiring:
Can she make a punkin pie, charming Billy?
when he opened the door to throw out the dishwater, and narrowly escaped landing it full upon the fur-coated form of his foreman.
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1
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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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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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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7
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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8
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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12
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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13
unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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15
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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16
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
skunk
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| n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥 | |
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18
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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19
wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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20
sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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21
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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22
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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24
gritted
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| v.以沙砾覆盖（某物），撒沙砾于( grit的过去式和过去分词 )；咬紧牙关 | |
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25
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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26
malevolently
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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28
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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29
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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30
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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31
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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32
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
earthenware
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| n.土器，陶器 | |
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34
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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35
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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36
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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37
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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38
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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39
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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40
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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41
stiffening
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| n. (使衣服等)变硬的材料, 硬化 动词stiffen的现在分词形式 | |
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42
shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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43
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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44
meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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45
scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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46
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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47
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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48
overhauled
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| v.彻底检查( overhaul的过去式和过去分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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49
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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50
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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51
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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52
melodious
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| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
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53
atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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54
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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55
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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