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CHAPTER XXV
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After the laundry my sister and her husband grubstaked me into the Klondike. It was the first gold rush into that region, the early fall rush of 1897. I was twenty-one years old, and in splendid physical condition. I remember, at the end of the twenty-eight-mile portage across Chilcoot from Dyea Beach to Lake Linderman, I was packing up with the Indians and out-packing many an Indian. The last pack into Linderman was three miles. I back-tripped it four times a day, and on each forward trip carried one hundred and fifty pounds. This means that over the worst trails I daily travelled twenty-four miles, twelve of which were under a burden of one hundred and fifty pounds.
Yes, I had let career go hang, and was on the adventure-path again in quest of fortune. And of course, on the adventure-path, I met John Barleycorn. Here were the chesty men again, rovers and adventurers, and while they didn't mind a grub famine, whisky they could not do without. Whisky went over the trail, while the flour lay cached and untouched by the trail-side.
As good fortune would have it, the three men in my party were not drinkers. Therefore I didn't drink save on rare occasions and disgracefully when with other men. In my personal medicine chest was a quart of whisky. I never drew the cork1 till six months afterward2, in a lonely camp, where, without anaesthetics, a doctor was compelled to operate on a man. The doctor and the patient emptied my bottle between them and then proceeded to the operation.
Back in California a year later, recovering from scurvy3, I found that my father was dead and that I was the head and the sole bread-winner of a household. When I state that I had passed coal on a steamship4 from Behring Sea to British Columbia, and travelled in the steerage from there to San Francisco, it will be understood that I brought nothing back from the Klondike but my scurvy.
Times were hard. Work of any sort was difficult to get. And work of any sort was what I had to take, for I was still an unskilled labourer. I had no thought of career. That was over and done with. I had to find food for two mouths beside my own and keep a roof over our heads—yes, and buy a winter suit, my one suit being decidedly summery. I had to get some sort of work immediately. After that, when I had caught my breath, I might think about my future.
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1
cork
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| n.软木,软木塞 | |
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2
afterward
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| adv.后来;以后 | |
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3
scurvy
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| adj.下流的,卑鄙的,无礼的;n.坏血病 | |
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4
steamship
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| n.汽船,轮船 | |
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5
pawn
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| n.典当,抵押,小人物,走卒;v.典当,抵押 | |
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pawned
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| v.典当,抵押( pawn的过去式和过去分词 );以(某事物)担保 | |
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7
legacy
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| n.遗产,遗赠;先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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pawnbroker
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| n.典当商,当铺老板 | |
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9
peddled
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| (沿街)叫卖( peddle的过去式和过去分词 ); 兜售; 宣传; 散播 | |
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10
redeem
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| v.买回,赎回,挽回,恢复,履行(诺言等) | |
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11
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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12
invalids
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| 病人,残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
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13
forgo
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| v.放弃,抛弃 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的;轻率的 | |
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romped
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| v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的过去式和过去分词 );(尤指在赛跑或竞选等中)轻易获胜 | |
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mowed
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| v.刈,割( mow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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18
vacancy
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| n.(旅馆的)空位,空房,(职务的)空缺 | |
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19
procure
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| vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条 | |
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20
wielded
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| 手持着使用(武器、工具等)( wield的过去式和过去分词 ); 具有; 运用(权力); 施加(影响) | |
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21
serial
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| n.连本影片,连本电视节目;adj.连续的 | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人;葡萄牙语 | |
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23
budged
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| v.(使)稍微移动( budge的过去式和过去分词 );(使)改变主意,(使)让步 | |
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24
frankly
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| adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的;(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为,残忍,野蛮 | |
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CHAPTER XXIV
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CHAPTER XXVI
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