By good luck the camp motor car was going over to Bay Minette, and Lockwood went there in it. The afternoon train was crowded, full of well-dressed people and the stir of life from which it seemed to him that he had been long exiled. He reached Mobile late in the day; the sunshine lay low on the palms of Government Street as he walked up from the Louisville & Nashville depot2, and he knew that it was too late to make any investigations3 that day.
He lodged4 himself at the St. Andrew Hotel, and he sat that evening and smoked under the live oaks of Bienville Square, where the fountain splashed and gurgled. Only four blocks away stood the Maury Building, where the office of the “oil company” was said to be. In the morning he would find out if there was any oil company there, and, if not, the secretary of the board of trade would probably tell him all he wished to know.
He spent an impatient and restless night in a stifling5 hot hotel bedroom, and shortly after nine o’clock next morning he went up in the elevator of the Maury Building. The door of No. 24 was locked. There was no sign, no lettering on the ground glass, nothing but the uninforming number. Disappointed, he went down again, and sought information from the colored elevator boy, passing a quarter.
“Who’s in Number 24?”
“Numbah twenty-fo’? Dat’s Mr. Harding’s room, suh.”
“What time does he generally get down?”
“Why, he ain’t noways reg’lar, captain. Sometimes he don’t come down at all. Mostly he’s here ’fo’ noon.”
“I see. Is the office of the Pascagoula Oil Company in this building?”
“Dunno, sur. Ain’t never heard of ’em.”
Lockwood returned toward ten o’clock, finding the office still closed. It was not till past eleven that he at last found the door of No. 24 unlocked. He went in without ceremony. The room was quite unfurnished, but for a shabby flat desk and a couple of chairs. There were cigar stubs on the floor and a strong odor of stale smoke in the air. Behind the desk sat a well-dressed, heavy-faced man of middle age, smoking and reading the Mobile Register.
At the first glance Lockwood had a flash of memory from his past life that was like a shock; but it was vague, and he could not localize it. He stared in silence at the man, who had put down the paper and was looking at him.
“Are you—are you Mr. Harding?” Lockwood got out at last, trying to recover himself.
“Yes, sir. That’s my name,” replied the cigar smoker6, in distinctly Northern accents. And at that moment Lockwood’s memory found its mark.
He had a painful vision of his own real-estate office long ago, of McGibbon, of Maxwell sullenly7 stating the forced terms that meant ruin. Yes, it was Maxwell, it was Hanna’s old confederate, here in Mobile, here in the rooms of the “Pascagoula Oil Company;” and a great flood of illumination swept over Lockwood’s whole mind. It was through Mobile that the orders for the Powers’ reckless purchases had gone. Ten to one it was through this office, leaving a fifty-per-cent commission.
“I am,” Lockwood stated, “a piano salesman.”
“Well?” returned Harding, who was plainly far from recognizing his visitor.
“I’ve just come down from Rainbow Landing. I guess you know the Powers there?”
“I’ve heard of them.”
“They’re thinking of buying a piano. I called to see you. I believe the order will go through you, won’t it?”
“I guessed at it. There are all sorts of discounts and commissions, you know.”
“I don’t know how you’ve got this idea. I’m not in the piano business. If you want to sell the Powers a piano, why go ahead. But this is a law office.”
“Oh, a law office!” said Lockwood, inwardly tickled10 at the word. “I thought you represented the Pascagoula Oil Company.”
Harding was visibly taken aback this time, and stared hard at his interlocutor.
“Never heard of it,” he returned.
“But,” Lockwood insisted, “this is the address given on their stationery11 and literature.”
“Hum!” said Harding reflectively. His manner softened12 a good deal. “Come to think of it, I do believe I’ve heard of ’em. I’ve only been in this office a couple of months. I guess they were the people here before me. But they’re gone. Yes, sir, they’ve moved. But I can find ’em for you. Ain’t they in the telephone book? Well, I can find out, anyhow.”
“I wish you would.”
“I certainly will,” said Harding, growing more genial13. “Are you located in town? At the St. Andrew? Good! I’ll telephone you just as soon as I find the address.”
They parted with great mutual14 cordiality, and Lockwood chuckled15 when he was on the street again. He chuckled with success; he was almost certain now; but to make absolutely certain he called at the office of the Pascagoula Land and Development Company, whose name he had accidentally heard that day.
Their offices were decorated with semitropical fruits and vegetables of every description, and he learned from the manager that oil was almost the sole natural product which their territory could not furnish. No oil had ever been discovered in that county; no boring had ever been done; and he could not be in error, for he had spent his life there.
It was merely what Lockwood had been certain of all along, but he felt that the matter was now clinched16. He planned to take the midnight train back to Bay Minette. He returned to his hotel, and, to his extreme surprise, was handed a note which Harding had sent over by messenger an hour before. He had located the Pascagoula Oil Company, Harding said; if Lockwood would call again in the Maury Building the next morning he would receive the information he wanted.
Of course Harding could very well have put the address in his note, but he evidently had planned some move, and Lockwood was sufficiently17 curious to wait over. He spent another night at the hotel, and it was with the expectation of an extremely curious and interesting conversation that he opened the door of office No. 24 the next morning. Harding was not there, but Hanna sat looking across the desk at his entrance.
Lockwood paused, bewildered, and then remembered the long-distance telephone. Undoubtedly18 Harding had sent a hurry call. Hanna had had just time to motor to the railway and catch the Mobile train.
The nerves thrilled down his spine19. It was going to come to a show-down at last. He felt the pressure of the little automatic at his hip—not that this office building was the place for pistols, with the click of typewriters, the coming and going of people in the adjoining rooms.
“I didn’t need to look much,” Lockwood returned, without sitting down. “I got my material for a report without much trouble.”
“And you’re fixing to make a report?”
“I surely am.”
“What do you expect to get out of it?”
“I get you, out of it, Hanna.”
“I see!” said the crook21 reflectively. “Well, that’s a good stunt22. Blackmail23, hey? Ever since you came to Rainbow Landing I’ve been trying to figger out what you came for. ’Course I seen right away that you wasn’t there for the turpentine business. For a while I did think you were after the girl.”
“The girl is neither your affair nor mine,” said Lockwood.
“Well, I thought you might be sweet on her,” went on Hanna, looking keenly at his opponent’s face. “I was sweet on her myself, one time. Fact is, I could have her now, if I wanted her. But I’ve got other fish to fry.”
“I know you’re lying, Hanna!” Lockwood returned.
“Well, that’s neither here nor there,” Hanna resumed, with no air of resentment24. “You’ll find out soon. But I was going to say that we might do a deal. I’ll let you alone with the girl, and you let me alone with the rest of ’em. I could block your game in a minute, you know. What I say goes in that family.”
“Not so much as you think. But I’m making no such deal.”
“Well, then, what’s your figure?”
“For what?”
“Why, suppose you don’t go back with any report on oil stocks. In fact, you don’t go back there at all. Supposing I fall for your blackmailing25 scheme. Supposing I pay into a bank—say at Chicago—two thousand dollars, and you go there and draw it.”
“And leave you to clean out the Power bank roll?”
“Not so bad as that. I’m not going to put them clean out of business. They’ll still be rich compared to what they were before. Those people are bound to get skinned. They’re begging for it. If I don’t get it, somebody else will.”
“Still, when I make friends with folks I hate to rob them,” said Lockwood cautiously.
“Maybe, but it’s the way of the world,” Hanna returned. “I happened on them by chance. Say, you’ve no idea of the state I found them in. Money was burning holes in their pockets, and they hadn’t the faintest notion how to spend it. I expect you’ve seen through my game. You know they paid about double for everything they bought. The orders all went through me. But still, Lord! I did let them have something. Most men would have turned them inside out.”
“Well, that’s what you’re planning to do now.”
“I don’t know,” Hanna replied thoughtfully. “Sometimes I’ve thought of settling down and spending the rest of my life on that plantation26. Why not? But, anyhow. I’m the dog in the manger—see? You’ve got to keep out, and I’m prepared to bonus you for it.”
“Suppose I reported all this talk to our friends?”
“They wouldn’t believe you, son,” said the bandit with assurance. “I won’t deny that you might make me some little trouble, if you came back with a fishy27 tale about my oil well. I might have to take Tom down the coast and show him some oil derricks. There’s heaps of ’em near Mobile. But you might bother me some, and so I say, what’s your figure? I’ll make it five thousand.”
“Not enough!” said Lockwood.
“Why, I won’t clear much over twice that!” Hanna complained. “You’re a devil of a hard man to do business with. I’ll go six thousand, and that’s my last raise, by gad28! It’ll be paid you in Chicago, and you’ll have to sign a statement that you’ve investigated my oil well and found it all right, and that you’ve left Alabama for good.”
“Then what the deuce do you want?” Hanna demanded.
“Ten thousand cash, or a certified30 check payable31 to Henry Power. I figure that’s about the amount you’ve got out of him so far.”
Hanna exploded a tremendous and astonished oath. His eyes and forehead wrinkled up like a bulldog’s, and he stared at Lockwood venomously.
“What’s your game?” he exclaimed. “Who are you, anyway? I know I’ve seen you outside of Alabama.”
“No, you don’t know me, Hanna,” said Lockwood with equal animosity. “My only game is to beat you and break you. You’d better not go back to Rainbow Landing yourself. Or go, if you like, and I’ll meet you and beat you on your own ground.”
“That’s to be seen,” Hanna returned, resuming apparent coolness. “I could blacken your name so that the boys would shoot you on sight. But no use quarreling. I’ve made you an offer. I’ll split the game, but I won’t spoil it. What do you say? It’s your last chance.”
“It’s yours,” said Lockwood. “Will you disgorge, or are you going to go back to Rainbow Landing and risk it. You’ll be jailed or shot.”
Hanna grinned at him across the desk without saying anything. Lockwood walked to the door, opened it, and turned back. If he expected Hanna to back down at the last moment, he was disappointed. The confidence man still grinned derisively32, and Lockwood went out.
He felt agitated33 and flurried now, sorry, too, that he had become involved in a wordy wrangle34, sorry that he had showed his hand. His great need now was to get back as fast as possible to Rainbow Landing, for he knew well that Hanna would waste no moments now. There was a train at three o’clock, and his watch said that it was noon.
For greater certainty he determined35 to get into touch with Louise at once. There was no telegraph connection, but there was the telephone, and he went to the city central office, and asked to be put through, but at last he had to give it up. There was just time to get his suit case at the hotel and go to the depot. When he arrived there he learned that the time had been changed, and that his train had been gone half an hour.
However, it was boat day, and the steamer would leave for upriver points at five o’clock. Considering the long drive from Bay Minette to Craig’s camp, and the uncertainty36 of being able to obtain a motor, he thought that his chance was probably better by boat than by rail.
The boat, as always, was an hour late in getting off. Lockwood did not sleep much that night. He did not undress, but he lay down in his berth37 for a few hours, marking each landing as they passed it. The great searchlight swung its long finger of light ahead; the cypress38 swamps, the marshy39 headlands, the ghostly line of sycamores and live oaks slipped past. A heavy, hot smell of vegetable decay came off the land.
The lumbering40 steamer made good speed that night. Shortly after midnight they came up to the colored bluffs41 of Rainbow Landing, and hauled in to the warehouse42, amid the usual shouting and excitement of the negroes. Lockwood was the only passenger to land, and there were no more than three or four waiting figures ashore43. He had hardly stepped off the plank44 when one of these figures stepped forward to meet him.
“Mr. Craig sent me over to meet you, Mr. Lockwood. His car’s busted45 a tire, but I’ve got my buggy to drive you to the camp.”
Lockwood could not see the man’s face in the gloom, but he guessed it to be one of the farmers of the neighborhood. They all knew him by this time, and he had met most of them, though he could hardly have remembered their names.
“Thanks—all right!” he said gladly. “How did Mr. Craig know I was coming on this boat?”
“I reckoned you sent him word,” said the man, leading the way to where a horse was hitched46 back in the darkness. When he thought of it, Lockwood believed that he had told Craig that he would be up on the first boat. They drove away at a fast trot47 through the swamp, up to the crossroad, down past the post office—all familiar ground now. They passed the Power house, wrapped in complete darkness.
“Do you know if Mr. Hanna is back?” he inquired.
“Yes, sir. Seen him this evenin’,” the driver answered.
Hanna had beaten him then. Lockwood was revolving48 this fact anxiously when the driver pulled up suddenly, got out and went behind the buggy, uttering a disgusted curse. They had just reached the bayou bridge.
“Wish you’d please git out, sir. Tire’s done come off.”
Lockwood swung out. He had one foot on the step and one on the ground when there was a silent and ferocious49 rush upon him out of the darkness. Something fell like thunder upon his skull50. Fire flamed over his brain, and vanished suddenly in black darkness.
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收听单词发音
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1
alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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depot
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| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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4
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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smoker
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| n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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8
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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9
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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10
tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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11
stationery
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| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
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12
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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13
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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14
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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15
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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17
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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23
blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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blackmailing
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| 胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的现在分词 ) | |
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26
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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fishy
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| adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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30
certified
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| a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的 | |
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payable
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| adj.可付的，应付的，有利益的 | |
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32
derisively
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| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
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33
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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wrangle
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| vi.争吵 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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cypress
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| n.柏树 | |
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marshy
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| adj.沼泽的 | |
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40
lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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41
bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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42
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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43
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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44
plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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45
busted
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| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
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46
hitched
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| （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 | |
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47
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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48
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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49
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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50
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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