He wondered anxiously what Hanna’s relations with the girl might be. It made him furious to think that he should have any relations at all. But what, indeed, were Hanna’s relations with the whole family?
In a broad way, Lockwood thought he could answer that. It was undoubtedly6 a confidence game that was being worked. Hanna was winning the money at cards, perhaps, or appropriating it in some even more crafty7 manner. Lockwood chuckled8 rather grimly as he thought how opportunely9 he had arrived. It would put a fine edge on his vengeance10 to spoil Hanna’s game before killing11 him.
The next morning a thunderstorm passed crashing over the woods, with torrents12 of terrific rain that lasted for twenty minutes. A jet of hail followed it. Lockwood and his horse sheltered in a deserted13 negro cabin, and immediately afterward14 the sun burst out again with torrid heat. The earth steamed and reeked15.
In this hot weather the turpentine gum had been running very fast, and the cups filled rapidly. “Dipping” was going on in Lockwood’s area. At intervals16 through the woods he came upon a sweating, half-naked negro staggering with one of the enormously heavy wooden “dip buckets,” filling it from the gum cups. At intervals empty barrels had been sent down, into which the buckets were emptied, and mule17 wagons18 were slowly making the rounds, hauling the full barrels to the camp and leaving empty ones. In a day or two the still would be at work.
Lockwood had a continual, unreasoning expectation of again seeing Louise in the motor boat every time he went by the bayou. He took pains with his costume; he polished his boots, removed some of the gum stains from his khaki breeches, and put a preen20 tie under his low collar. But she did not come.
On the third day afterward, however, he did hear the throbbing21 of the motor boat coming up the water, and his heart jumped. He was fifty yards back from the bayou, but he drove his horse hastily forward, just in time to see the boat come in sight. It was the Powers’ boat certainly, but all it held was young Jackson Power. Lockwood rode down to the shore and halloed a greeting, and the boy steered22 in at once.
“Engine running all right now?” Lockwood inquired.
“Seems like. I don’t reckon there was nothing wrong with her really. This boat sure ought to run good. She cost three thousand dollars.”
“What?” exclaimed Lockwood.
“Yes, sir. We got her in Mobile.”
Lockwood scrutinized23 the boy, suspecting a stupid lie.
“Well, I think you paid too much,” he said. “You could have got it for fifteen hundred at the outside if you’d gone to the right place.”
“Well, it did seem a heap of money to me,” Jackson admitted. “But Mr. Hanna said it was all right. It was Mr. Hanna sent the order.”
Hanna had bought the boat! Lockwood seemed to get a sudden glimpse of his enemy’s game. Jackson was looking at him with a half question, reflective and sober; but Lockwood judged that criticisms would be premature24 just then.
“Well, maybe it’s a better boat than I thought,” he said easily.
“Reckon it must be.” Jackson lounged back comfortably, took out a silver and pearl cigarette case and offered to toss it to Lockwood, who shook his head.
“Sis says she used to know you in N’Orleans,” he remarked, striking a match.
“Oh, I wasn’t in her class,” Lockwood laughed. “She was a young business lady. I was just an auto25 mechanic in overalls26. It’s kind of her to remember me at all.”
“Great place, N’Orleans, they say,” went on Jackson wistfully. “I expect you’ve seen lots of fine towns like that, though.”
The turpentine rider smiled. He knew that throughout the Gulf27 States New Orleans is the ideal of metropolitan28 romance. It is what Paris is to Europe, what New York is to the Northeast.
“I ain’t never been nowhere,” the boy continued. “I do sure aim to go to Mobile and N’Orleans one day. We’re green, but what’s it matter? We’ve got the price. I’d like to go by Pascagoula, too. We-all have got investments there,” he added with pride.
“Buying land?”
“Naw. A heap better’n land. Say,” he pursued in a confidential29 tone. “I reckon you know a whole lot about cars. What do you reckon our big car cost?”
“Well, I know just what the catalogue price of that car is—or what it was last fall,” Lockwood returned. “I could have got you that car in New Orleans for two thousand six hundred dollars.”
“Well, she cost us close to six thousand.”
“What?”
“Yes, sir. But she’s a special model—not another like her.”
“Seems a big price,” said Lockwood, still noncommittal.
“Yes, sir. It sure does. Looks like the dealers30 knowed we didn’t know nothin’, and hit us all round, don’t it? Well, I reckon we kin19 stand it—once or twice. But Hanna must certainly have picked out all the high spots.”
It seemed as if Jackson was prepared to become confidential with a little encouragement, but the habit of suspicion made Lockwood hold back. The boy might be trying to pump him. Hanna might somehow have scented31 hostility32 already.
“Oh, I expect it’s all right. I really didn’t look closely at your car,” he said hastily. “Don’t tell Mr. Hanna what I said. It isn’t any of my business. I expect he knows what he’s doing.”
“I’ll bet he does,” said Jackson with conviction. “He’s the wisest guy I ever saw—up to all the city tricks. You don’t know him, do you? Well, you’re going to see him to-night, I hope. I was just heading for Craig’s camp to find you. We-all want you to come over and eat supper with us to-night. Sis sent you a special invitation.”
“Thanks. I’ll be mighty33 glad to,” Lockwood accepted, after a momentary34 shrinking from the idea of sitting at supper with his enemy. But the meeting would have to come sooner or later.
“I dunno what she’s fixed35 to eat, but she’s been making the niggers fly round the kitchen all mornin’,” Jackson added. “We kin sure give you something to drink, anyway, and maybe we’ll play a little cards after supper. I’ll come over with the car, and carry you across.”
“No, don’t trouble to do that. I can ride, or walk,” said Lockwood.
Lockwood returned to camp rather earlier than usual that afternoon, shaved with care, and changed his clothes. It had come—the moment for confronting his enemy, and a last-moment fear of being recognized overcame him. He examined himself in the mirror, and then from his baggage he rummaged36 out a small photograph, which he scrutinized in comparison.
The picture showed a rather boyish face, with a short, soft, pointed37 beard, and hair worn just a little longer than usual. He had had a fancy in those days for looking artistic38. That was less than seven years ago, and it might have been twenty, he thought, looking at himself in the glass. The absence of the beard and mustache threw out the strong, rather hard lines of the mouth and chin. The hair was short now, and slightly touched with premature gray—prison gray. The face was crossed with scores of tiny wrinkles—prison wrinkles. The expression had changed; it was no longer the same man. There was little chance that any one from his former life would recognize him.
A little before six o’clock he reached the broken-down gate of the old mansion39. From the driveway he discerned a row of men in rocking-chairs on the front gallery—Henry Power and his two boys, and a fourth, Hanna himself.
The boys shouted a welcome to him at twenty yards, and a negro rushed up to take his horse. Old Henry shook hands with him in a ceremonious fashion, making him welcome in old-fashioned phrases; and then he was introduced to Hanna. He had braced40 himself to the ordeal41 of shaking hands, but at the last moment he could not bring himself to it. He created a diversion by dropping his hat, which rolled down the gallery steps.
A selection of chairs was offered him, but Tom Power beckoned42 him mysteriously into the house with a wink43. Inside, signs of age and neglect were plain enough. Evidently the Powers had done little in the way of repairs; but there was a new and gorgeously gaudy44 rug on the hard-pine floor, and a magnificent hall lamp hung by gilded45 chains from the ceiling. When Tom led him into the dining room there was the same incongruity—a new table and sideboard of magnificent mahogany, worthless new pictures on the walls in blinding frames. There were cracked windowpanes and plaster, and smoked ceiling, and a vast old-fashioned fireplace, big enough to roast a whole hog46, yawning black and sooty over its hearth47 of uneven48 red brick.
The table was already laid for supper, shining with new china and silver. At that moment Louise came in hurriedly on some affair of preparation. She gave a startled exclamation49, shook hands charmingly with Lockwood, and looked slightly disapproving50 as her brother led him toward the sideboard. Then she disappeared again toward the kitchen.
“What’ll you take?” Tom inquired. “We’ve got ’most everything.”
The sideboard indeed resembled a bar. There was a row of all sorts of bottles—plebeian native corn whisky, liqueurs, gin, cocktails51, even aristocratic gold necks. Lockwood was about to decline anything at all; but he saw Tom’s shocked and mortified53 expression, and he accepted a very small cocktail52. Tom himself took a rather large one, and it was plainly not his first that day. But he still could not be called anything but sober, and they went back to the gallery, lighted now by the sunset, and Lockwood found a chair as far from Hanna as possible.
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1
culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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opportunely
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| adv.恰好地，适时地 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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reeked
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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preen
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| v.（人）打扮修饰 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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auto
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| n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
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overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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metropolitan
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| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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rummaged
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| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 )； 已经海关检查 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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44
gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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47
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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50
disapproving
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| adj.不满的，反对的v.不赞成( disapprove的现在分词 ) | |
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51
cocktails
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| n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物 | |
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52
cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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53
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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