"If you are not feeling quite yourself, William, perhaps we would do better to postpone2 our conversation until morning," Dill was saying while he rocked awkwardly, his hands folded loosely together, his elbows on the rocker—arms and his round, melancholy3 eyes regarding Billy solemnly. "I wanted to ask how you came out—with the Double-Crank."
"Go ahead; I'm all right," said Billy. "I aim to hit the trail by sun-up, so we'll have our little say now." He made him a cigarette and looked wistfully at Dill, while he felt for a match. "Go ahead. What do yuh want to know the worst?"
"Well, I did not see Brown, and it occurred to me that after I left you must have gathered more stock than you anticipated. I discovered from the men that you have paid them off. I rode out there to-day, you know. I arrived about two hours after you had left."
"You're still in the hole on the cow-business," Billy stated flatly, as if there were no use in trying to soften4 the telling. "Yuh owe Brown two thousand odd dollars. I turned in a few over two hundred head—I've got it all down here, and yuh can see the exact figure yourself. Yuh didn't show up, and I didn't want to hold the men and let their time run on and nothing doing to make it pay, so I give 'em their money and let 'em off—all but Jim Bleeker. I didn't pay him, because I wanted him to look after things at the Bridger place till yuh got back, and I knew if I give him any money he'd burn the earth getting to where he could spend it. He's a fine fellow when he's broke—Jim is."
"But I owed the men for several months' work. Where did you raise the amount, William?" Dill cleared his throat raspingly.
"Me? Oh, I had some uh my wages saved up. I used that." It never occurred to Billy that he had done anything out of the ordinary.
"H-m-m!" Dill cleared his throat again and rocked, his eyes on Billy's moody5 face. "I observe, William, that—er—they are not shipping6 any skates to—er—hell, yet!"
"Huh?" Billy had not been listening.
"Oh, that's all right," Billy cut in carelessly.
"—And I should like to have you with me on a new venture I have in mind. You probably have not heard of it here, but it is an assured fact that the railroad company are about to build a cut-off that will shut out Tower completely and put Hardup on the main line. In fact, they have actually started work at the other end, and though they are always very secretive about a thing like that, I happen to have a friend on the inside, so that my information is absolutely authentic8. I have raised fifty thousand dollars among my good friends in Michigan, and I intend to start a first-class general store here. I have already bargained for ten acres of land over there on the creek9, where I feel sure the main part of the town will be situated10. If you will come in with me we will form a partnership11, equal shares. It is borrowed capital," he added hastily, "so that I am not giving you anything, William. You will take the same risk I take, and—"
"Sorry, Dilly, but I couldn't come through. Fine counter-jumper I'd make! Thank yuh all the same, Dilly."
"But there is the Bridger place. I shall keep that and go into thoroughbred stock—good, middle-weight horses, I think, that will find a ready sale among the settlers who are going to flock in here. You could take charge there and—"
"No, Dilly, I couldn't. I—I'm thinking uh drifting down into New Mexico. I—I want to see that country, bad."
Dill crossed his long legs the other way, let his hands drop loosely, and stared wistfully at Billy. "I really wish I could induce you to stay, William," he murmured.
"Well, yuh can't. I hope yuh come through better than yuh did with the Double-Crank—but I guess it'll be some considerable time before the towns and the gentle farmer (damn him!) are crowded to the wall by your damn' Progress." It was the first direct protest against changing conditions which Billy had so far put into words, and he looked sorry for having said so much. "Oh, here's your little blue book," he added, feeling it in his pocket. "I found it behind the trunk when everything else was packed."
"You saw—er—you saw Bridger, then? He is going to take his wife and Flora12 up North with him in the spring. It seems he has done well."
"I know—he told me."
Dill turned the leaves of the book slowly, and consciously refrained from looking at Billy. "They were about to leave when I was there. It is a shame. I am very sorry for Flora—she does not want to go. If—" He cleared his throat again and guiltily pretended to be reading a bit, here and there, and to be speaking casually14. "If I were a marrying man, I am not sure but I should make love to Flora—h-m-m!—this 'Bachelor's Complaint' here—have you read it, William? It is very—here, for instance—'Nothing is to me more distasteful than the entire complacency and satisfaction which beam in the countenances15 of a new-married couple'—and so on. I feel tempted16 sometimes when I look at Flora—only she looks upon me as a—er—piece of furniture—the kind that sticks out in the way and you have to feel your way around it in the dark—awkward, but necessary. Poor girl, she cried in the most heartbroken way when I told her we would not be likely to see her again, and—I wonder what is the trouble between her and Walland? They used to be quite friendly, in a way, but she has not spoken to him, to my certain knowledge, since last spring. Whenever he came to the ranch18 she would go to her room and refuse to come out until he had left. H-m-m! Did she ever tell you, William?"
"I know positively20 that she cut him dead, as they say, at the last Fourth-of-July dance. He asked her to dance, and she refused almost rudely and immediately got up and danced with that boy of Gunderson's—the one with the hair-lip. She could not have been taken with the hair-lipped fellow—at least, I should scarcely think so. Should you, William?"
This time William did not answer at all. Dill, watching his bent head tenderly, puckered21 his face into his peculiar22 smile.
"H-m-m! They stopped at the hotel to-night—Bridgers, I mean. Drove in after dark from the ranch. They mean to catch the noon train from Tower to-morrow, Bridger told me. It will be an immense benefit, William, when those big through-trains get to running through Hardup. There is some talk among the powers-that-be of making this a division point. It will develop the country wonderfully. I really feel tempted to cut down my investment in a store for the present, and buy more land. What do you think, William?"
"Oh, I dunno," said Billy in a let-me-alone kind of tone.
"Well, it's very late. Everybody who lays any claim to respectability should be in his bed," Dill remarked placidly23. "You say you start at sunrise? H-m-m! You will have to call me so that I can go over to the hotel and get the money to refund24 what you used of your own. I left my cash in the hotel safe. But they will be stirring early—they will have to get the Bridgers off, you know."
It was Dill who lay and smiled quizzically into the dark and listened to the wide-awake breathing of the man beside him—breathing which betrayed deep emotion held rigidly25 in check so far as outward movement went. He fell asleep knowing well that the other was lying there wide-eyed and would probably stay so until day. He had had a hard day and had done many things, but what he had done last pleased him best.
Now this is a bald, unpolished record of the morning: Billy saw the dawn come, and rose in the perfect silence he had learned from years of sleeping in a tent with tired men, and of having to get up at all hours and take his turn at night-guarding; for tired, sleeping cowboys do not like to be disturbed unnecessarily, and so they one and all learn speedily the Golden Rule and how to apply it. That is why Dill, always a light sleeper26, did not hear Billy go out.
Billy did not quite know what he was going to do, but habit bade him first feed and water his horse. After that—well, he did not know. Dill might not have things straight, or he might just be trying to jolly him up a little, or he might be a meddlesome27 old granny-gossip. What had looked dear and straight, say at three o'clock in the morning, was at day-dawn hazy28 with doubt. So he led Barney down to the creek behind the hotel, where in that primitive29 little place they watered their horses.
The sun was rising redly, and the hurrying ripples30 were all tipped with gold, and the sky above a bewildering, tumbled fabric31 of barbaric coloring. Would the sun rise like that in New Mexico? Billy wondered, and watched the coming of his last day here, where he had lived, had loved, had dreamed dreams and builded castles—and had seen the dreams change to bitterness, and the castles go toppling to ruins. He would like to stay with Dill, for he had grown fond of the lank32, whimsical man who was like no one Billy had ever known. He would have stayed even in the face of the change that had come to the range-land—but he could not bear to see the familiar line of low hills which marked the Double-Crank and, farther down, the line-camp, and know that Flora was gone quite away from him into the North.
He caught himself back from brooding, and gave a pull at the halter by way of hinting to Barney that he need not drink the creek entirely33 dry—when suddenly he quivered and stood so still that he scarcely breathed.
"Oh, where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Oh, where have you been, charming Billy?"
Some one at the top of the creek-bank was singing it; some one with an exceedingly small, shaky little voice that was trying to be daring and mocking and indifferent, and that was none of these things—but only wistful and a bit pathetic.
Charming Billy, his face quite pale, turned his head cautiously as though he feared too abrupt34 a glance would drive her away, and looked at her standing35 there with her gray felt hat tilted36 against the sun, flipping37 her gloves nervously38 against her skirt. She was obviously trying to seem perfectly39 at ease, but her eyes were giving the lie to her manner.
Billy tried to smile, but instead his lips quivered and his eyes blinked.
"I have been to see my wife—"
he began to sing gamely, and stuck there, because something came up in his throat and squeezed his voice to a whisper. By main strength he pulled Barney away from the gold-tipped ripples, and came stumbling over the loose rocks.
She watched him warily40, half-turned, ready to run away. "We—I—aren't you going to be nice and say good-by to me?"
He came on, staring at her and saying nothing.
"Well, if you still want to sulk—I wouldn't be as nasty as that, and—and hold a grudge41 the way you do—and I was going to be nice and forgiving; but if you don't care, and don't want—"
By this time he was close—quite close. "Yuh know I care! And yuh know I want—you. Oh, girlie, girlie!"
The colors had all left the sky, save blue and silver-gray, and the sun was a commonplace, dazzling ball of yellow. Charming Billy Boyle, his hat set back upon his head at a most eloquent42 angle, led Barney from the creek up to the stable. His eyes were alight and his brow was unwrinkled. His lips had quite lost their bitter lines, and once more had the humorous, care-free quirk43 at the corners.
He slammed the stable-door behind him and went off down the street, singing exultantly44:
"—I have been to see my-wife,
She's the joy of my life—"
He jerked open the door of the shack, gave a whoop45 to raise the dead, and took Dill ungently by the shoulder.
"Come alive, yuh seven-foot Dill-pickle! What yuh want to lay here snoring for at this time uh day? Don't yuh know it's morning?"
Dill sat up and blinked, much like an owl13 in the sunshine. He puckered his face into a smile. "Aren't you rather uproarious—for so early in the day, William? I was under the impression that one usually grew hilarious—"
"Oh, there's other things besides whisky to make a man feel good," grinned Billy, his cheeks showing a tinge46 of red. "I'm in a hurry, Dilly. I've got to hit the trail immediate—and if it ain't too much trouble to let me have that money yuh spoke17 about—"
Billy ran the green shade up from the window so energetically that it slipped from his fingers and buzzed noisily at file top. He craned his neck, trying to see the hotel. "Maybe yuh'd call it that—an old bachelor like you! Yuh see, Dilly, I've got business over in Tower. I've got to be there before noon, and I need—aw, thunder! How's a man going to get married when he's only got six dollars in his jeans?"
"I should say that would be scarcely feasible, William." Dill was smiling down at the lacing of his shoes. "We can soon remedy that, however. I'm—I'm very glad, William."
The cheeks of Charming Billy Boyle grew quite red. "And, by the way, Dilly," he said hurriedly, as if he shied at the subject of his love and his marriage, "I've changed my mind about going to New Mexico. I—we'll settle down on the Bridger place, if yuh still want me to. She says she'd rather stay here in this country."
Dill settled himself into his clothes, went over, and laid a hand awkwardly upon Billy's arm, "I am very glad, William," he said simply.
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1
shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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postpone
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| v.延期，推迟 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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4
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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6
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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7
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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8
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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9
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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10
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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15
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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17
spoke
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| 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 | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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19
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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20
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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refund
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| v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款 | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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meddlesome
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| adj.爱管闲事的 | |
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hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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31
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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32
lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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33
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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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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36
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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flipping
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| 讨厌之极的 | |
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38
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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41
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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42
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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43
quirk
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| n.奇事，巧合；古怪的举动 | |
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44
exultantly
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| adv.狂欢地，欢欣鼓舞地 | |
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45
whoop
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| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
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46
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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47
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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