Chapter 10

AFTER breakfast I wanted to talk about the dead man and guess out how he come to be killed, but Jim didn't want to. He said it would fetch bad luck; and besides, he said, he might come and ha'nt us; he said a man that warn't buried was more likely to go aha'nting around than one that was planted and comfortable. That sounded pretty reasonable, so I didn't say no more; but I couldn't keep from studying over it and wishing I knowed who shot the man, and what they done it for.

We rummaged¹ the clothes we'd got, and found eight dollars in silver sewed up in the lining² of an old blanket overcoat. Jim said he reckoned the people in that house stole the coat, because if they'd a knowed the money was there they wouldn't a left it. I said I reckoned they killed him, too; but Jim didn't want to talk about that. I says:

"Now you think it's bad luck; but what did you say when I fetched in the snake-skin that I found on the top of the ridge³ day before yesterday? You said it was the worst bad luck in the world to touch a snake-skin with my hands. Well, here's your bad luck! We've raked in all this truck and eight dollars besides. I wish we could have some bad luck like this every day, Jim."

"Never you mind, honey, never you mind. Don't you git too peart. It's a-comin'. Mind I tell you, it's a-comin'."

It did come, too. It was a Tuesday that we had that talk. Well, after dinner Friday we was laying around in the grass at the upper end of the ridge, and got out of tobacco. I went to the cavern⁴ to get some, and found a rattlesnake in there. I killed him, and curled him up on the foot of Jim's blanket, ever so natural, thinking there'd be some fun when Jim found him there. Well, by night I forgot all about the snake, and when Jim flung himself down on the blanket while I struck a light the snake's mate was there, and bit him.

He jumped up yelling, and the first thing the light showed was the varmint curled up and ready for another spring. I laid him out in a second with a stick, and Jim grabbed pap's whisky-jug⁶ and begun to pour it down.

He was barefooted, and the snake bit him right on the heel. That all comes of my being such a fool as to not remember that wherever you leave a dead snake its mate always comes there and curls around it. Jim told me to chop off the snake's head and throw it away, and then skin the body and roast a piece of it. I done it, and he eat it and said it would help cure him. He made me take off the rattles⁵ and tie them around his wrist, too. He said that that would help. Then I slid out quiet and throwed the snakes clear away amongst the bushes; for I warn't going to let Jim find out it was all my fault, not if I could help it.

Jim sucked and sucked at the jug, and now and then he got out of his head and pitched around and yelled; but every time he come to himself he went to sucking at the jug again. His foot swelled⁷ up pretty big, and so did his leg; but by and by the drunk begun to come, and so I judged he was all right; but I'd druther been bit with a snake than pap's whisky.

Jim was laid up for four days and nights. Then the swelling⁸ was all gone and he was around again. I made up my mind I wouldn't ever take a-holt of a snake-skin again with my hands, now that I see what had come of it. Jim said he reckoned I would believe him next time. And he said that handling a snakeskin was such awful bad luck that maybe we hadn't got to the end of it yet. He said he druther see the new moon over his left shoulder as much as a thousand times than take up a snake-skin in his hand. Well, I was getting to feel that way myself, though I've always reckoned that looking at the new moon over your left shoulder is one of the carelessest and foolishest things a body can do. Old Hank Bunker done it once, and bragged⁹ about it; and in less than two years he got drunk and fell off of the shot-tower, and spread himself out so that he was just a kind of a layer, as you may say; and they slid him edgeways between two barn doors for a coffin¹⁰, and buried him so, so they say, but I didn't see it. Pap told me. But anyway it all come of looking at the moon that way, like a fool.

Well, the days went along, and the river went down between its banks again; and about the first thing we done was to bait one of the big hooks with a skinned rabbit and set it and catch a catfish¹¹ that was as big as a man, being six foot two inches long, and weighed over two hundred pounds. We couldn't handle him, of course; he would a flung us into Illinois. We just set there and watched him rip and tear around till he drownded. We found a brass¹² button in his stomach and a round ball, and lots of rubbage. We split the ball open with the hatchet¹³, and there was a spool¹⁴ in it. Jim said he'd had it there a long time, to coat it over so and make a ball of it. It was as big a fish as was ever catched in the Mississippi, I reckon. Jim said he hadn't ever seen a bigger one. He would a been worth a good deal over at the village. They peddle¹⁵ out such a fish as that by the pound in the markethouse there; everybody buys some of him; his meat's as white as snow and makes a good fry.

Next morning I said it was getting slow and dull, and I wanted to get a stirring up some way. I said I reckoned I would slip over the river and find out what was going on. Jim liked that notion; but he said I must go in the dark and look sharp. Then he studied it over and said, couldn't I put on some of them old things and dress up like a girl? That was a good notion, too. So we shortened up one of the calico gowns, and I turned up my trouser-legs to my knees and got into it. Jim hitched¹⁶ it behind with the hooks, and it was a fair fit. I put on the sun-bonnet and tied it under my chin, and then for a body to look in and see my face was like looking down a joint¹⁷ of stovepipe. Jim said nobody would know me, even in the daytime, hardly. I practiced around all day to get the hang of the things, and by and by I could do pretty well in them, only Jim said I didn't walk like a girl; and he said I must quit pulling up my gown to get at my britches-pocket. I took notice, and done better.

I started up the Illinois shore in the canoe just after dark.

I started across to the town from a little below the ferry-landing, and the drift of the current fetched me in at the bottom of the town. I tied up and started along the bank. There was a light burning in a little shanty¹⁸ that hadn't been lived in for a long time, and I wondered who had took up quarters there. I slipped up and peeped in at the window. There was a woman about forty year old in there knitting by a candle that was on a pine table. I didn't know her face; she was a stranger, for you couldn't start a face in that town that I didn't know. Now this was lucky, because I was weakening; I was getting afraid I had come; people might know my voice and find me out. But if this woman had been in such a little town two days she could tell me all I wanted to know; so I knocked at the door, and made up my mind I wouldn't forget I was a girl.


　　早饭过后，我很想谈谈那个死人，猜测他是怎么给人杀死的，可是吉姆不情愿，他说那会招来坏运气，另外，他说，他还有可能来找我们，他说一个没被埋掉的死人总乐意到处游荡，不像入土为安、舒舒服服的死人那样老实。这话听起来有几分道理，我也就不多说了；可是我还是忍不住要仔细琢磨琢磨这件事，希望能搞清楚是谁对那人开的枪，他们干嘛要那么做。我们彻底地搜查了弄来的衣服，翻到八块银元，这些钱是被缝在一件旧毯子大衣的衬里儿里面的。吉姆估计是房子里的人偷来的那件大衣，因为要是他们知道钱在里面，他们就不会将它丢在那里。我说我估计也是他们把那人给杀了，可以吉姆不想谈这事。我说："现在，你为这是坏运气；可是，前天我把在山脊顶上捡到的那条蛇皮带回来时，你是怎么说的？你说用手摸蛇皮会带来世界上最坏的运气。瞧瞧看吧，这就是你的坏运！我们找到了这么多东西，外加八块钱。我倒希望我们天天能有这样的坏运气，吉姆。""别急，宝贝儿，别急。你别高兴得太早。它快来了。记住我跟你说过，它快来了。"它果然来了。我们说这些是在星期二。嘿，在星期五晚饭后，我们正在山脊上头的草地上躺着，烟叶已经抽完，我就回洞里再去拿点儿，看见了一条响尾蛇在里面。我把蛇打死了，又把它盘起来，放在吉姆的毯子底下，一点不留痕迹。我心想，当吉姆发现那里有条死蛇时，肯定会很好玩儿的。可是到了晚上，我已经把这事忘得一干二净，当吉姆往毯子上一躺的时候，我刚好划火柴，那条死蛇的同伴在毯子底下，咬了他。

　　他尖叫一声跳起来，刚一有亮光，就看到那个害人毒虫正缩成一团，还想再扑过来。我一棍打死了它，吉姆抓起爸的酒罐，大口灌了起来。

　　他光着脚，蛇正好咬在他的脚后跟上。都怪我太傻了，没记住不管你把死蛇放在哪里，它的同伴都会过来盘住它的。吉姆告诉我将蛇头砍下来扔掉，再把蛇皮剥了，烤一块蛇肉。我一一照办，他吃下蛇肉，说这对他恢复有帮助。他又叫我把蛇的响环弄下来系在他手腕上。他说那样会有好处。然后，我悄悄儿走出去，把死蛇远远地扔到树丛里，因为我不想让吉姆发觉那全是我的错，能瞒过去就瞒过去吧。

　　吉姆抱着酒罐啜了又啜，一会儿发一阵酒疯，四处乱撞，狂嚎瞎叫；但每次酒醒之后，赶快又啜起酒来。他的脚肿得老高，腿也肿了；不过酒力渐渐见效，我也就认为他没什么事了，可我宁愿让蛇咬也不去惹爸的威士忌。

　　吉姆躺了四天四夜。后来，肿全消下去了，他又能来回活动了。我下定决心再也不用手拿蛇皮了，这一次我可看到了这样做的后果。吉姆说他觉得下次我就该相信他的话了。他还说摸蛇皮叫人倒大霉，也许我们还有要吃苦头。

　　好了，日子一天天过去，大河又退到两岸中间去了。大概我们做的第一件事是把一只剥了皮的兔子作为诱饵装在一个大鱼钩上，放入河里，钓住了一条像人那么大的鲇鱼，六英尺二英寸长，二百多磅重。我们自然弄不动它，它会把我们甩到伊利诺斯那边去。我们就坐在那里看着它来回不住撕扯，直到它淹死为止。我们从它肚里发现一个铜纽扣和一个圆团团，还有许多杂物。我们用斧头把圆团团劈开，里面有个线轴。吉姆说它吞下去很久了，才包来绕去成了这么个圆团团。我敢夸口，密西西比河上从没人捉到过这么大的鱼。吉姆说他也从没见过比这更大的鱼。要是在村里，它会值很多钱。他们在集市上把这么大的鱼都是论磅零卖，每个人买一点，鱼肉白如雪，用油一炸，味道绝妙。

　　第二天早上，我说日子过得又慢又单调，我想让它热闹点儿。我说我认为可以悄悄划船过河，看看那边的情况。吉姆赞成这个主意。但是他说，我得在夜里去，还得多加小心。他仔细想想又说，我能否穿上那些旧衣服，打扮成个女孩儿？那也是个好主意。于是，我们把一件印花睡衣弄短，我把自己的裤腿卷到膝盖上，穿上了那件衣服。吉姆在后边用鱼钩帮我钩住，衣服就很合身了。我戴上那顶太阳帽，在下巴上系好，谁要想看我的脸，就像朝一截火炉烟筒里往下看一般费劲。吉姆说没人能认出我，哪怕是在大白天也难。我反复练习了一整天，总在找窍门儿，慢慢地我穿衣服就习惯了，装着也像了，不过吉姆说我走路看上去不像女孩子，他说我必须改掉老是提袍子，手往裤子口袋里插的习惯。我稍加注意，便装得更像了。天一擦黑，我就乘独木舟，动身前往伊利诺斯岸边。

　　我从渡口往下一点的地方朝镇上划去，水流把我冲到镇下头去了。我拴好小舟，沿河岸走去。一个许久没有人住的小屋里透出了灯光，我想知道里面住的什么人。我悄悄过去，偷偷地往窗户里瞧。一个大约四十岁的妇女正在坐在蜡烛下织毛线，蜡烛放在松木桌上。我从未见过她的面，她是个生人，因为在那镇上，人人都认识我。这下还算运气，因为我正在畏缩犹豫，正犯愁自己已经来了，怕人们听出我的声音，认出我。但是，只要这个女人来这个小镇上两天，她就会把我想知道的事情全都告诉我。于是，我敲敲门，拿定主意要记着我是个女孩儿。

1 rummaged   

翻找，搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 )； 已经海关检查

参考例句：

• I rummaged through all the boxes but still could not find it. 几个箱子都翻腾遍了也没有找到。
• The customs officers rummaged the ship suspected to have contraband goods. 海关人员仔细搜查了一艘有走私嫌疑的海轮。

2 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

3 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

4 cavern   

n.洞穴，大山洞

参考例句：

• The cavern walls echoed his cries.大山洞的四壁回响着他的喊声。
• It suddenly began to shower,and we took refuge in the cavern.天突然下起雨来，我们在一个山洞里避雨。

5 rattles   

（使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧

参考例句：

• It rattles the windowpane and sends the dog scratching to get under the bed. 它把窗玻璃震得格格作响，把狗吓得往床底下钻。
• How thin it is, and how dainty and frail; and how it rattles. 你看它够多么薄，多么精致，多么不结实；还老那么哗楞哗楞地响。

6 jug   

n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂

参考例句：

• He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐，保持着平衡往前走。
• She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。

7 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

8 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

9 bragged   

v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He bragged to his friends about the crime. 他向朋友炫耀他的罪行。
• Mary bragged that she could run faster than Jack. 玛丽夸口说她比杰克跑得快。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

11 catfish   

n.鲶鱼

参考例句：

• Huge catfish are skinned and dressed by hand.用手剥去巨鲇的皮并剖洗干净。
• We gigged for catfish off the pier.我们在码头以鱼叉叉鲶鱼。

12 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

13 hatchet   

n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀

参考例句：

• I shall have to take a hatchet to that stump.我得用一把短柄斧来劈这树桩。
• Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.别用斧头拍打朋友额头上的苍蝇。

14 spool   

n.（缠录音带等的）卷盘（轴）；v.把…绕在卷轴上

参考例句：

• Can you wind this film back on to its spool?你能把这胶卷卷回到卷轴上去吗？
• Thomas squatted on the forward deck,whistling tunelessly,polishing the broze spool of the anchor winch.托马斯蹲在前甲板上擦起锚绞车的黄铜轴，边擦边胡乱吹着口哨。

15 peddle   

vt.(沿街)叫卖，兜售；宣传，散播

参考例句：

• She loves to peddle gossip round the village.她喜欢在村里到处说闲话。
• Street vendors peddle their goods along the sidewalk.街头摊贩沿著人行道兜售他们的商品。

16 hitched   

（免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上

参考例句：

• They hitched a ride in a truck. 他们搭乘了一辆路过的货车。
• We hitched a ride in a truck yesterday. 我们昨天顺便搭乘了一辆卡车。

17 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

18 shanty   

n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子

参考例句：

• His childhood was spent in a shanty.他的童年是在一个简陋小屋里度过的。
• I want to quit this shanty.我想离开这烂房子。