登陆注册
5161200000016

第16章 SIWASH(1)

"If I was a man--" Her words were in themselves indecisive, but the withering contempt which flashed from her black eyes was not lost upon the men-folk in the tent.

Tommy, the English sailor, squirmed, but chivalrous old Dick Humphries, Cornish fisherman and erstwhile American salmon capitalist, beamed upon her benevolently as ever.He bore women too large a portion of his rough heart to mind them, as he said, when they were in the doldrums, or when their limited vision would not permit them to see all around a thing.So they said nothing, these two men who had taken the half-frozen woman into their tent three days back, and who had warmed her, and fed her, and rescued her goods from the Indian packers.This latter had necessitated the payment of numerous dollars, to say nothing of a demonstration in force--Dick Humphries squinting along the sights of a Winchester while Tommy apportioned their wages among them at his own appraisement.It had been a little thing in itself, but it meant much to a woman playing a desperate single-hand in the equally desperate Klondike rush of '97.Men were occupied with their own pressing needs, nor did they approve of women playing, single-handed, the odds of the arctic winter."If I was a man, Iknow what I would do." Thus reiterated Molly, she of the flashing eyes, and therein spoke the cumulative grit of five American-born generations.

In the succeeding silence, Tommy thrust a pan of biscuits into the Yukon stove and piled on fresh fuel.A reddish flood pounded along under his sun-tanned skin, and as he stooped, the skin of his neck was scarlet.Dick palmed a three-cornered sail needle through a set of broken pack straps, his good nature in nowise disturbed by the feminine cataclysm which was threatening to burst in the storm-beaten tent.

"And if you was a man?" he asked, his voice vibrant with kindness.

The three-cornered needle jammed in the damp leather, and he suspended work for the moment.

"I'd be a man.I'd put the straps on my back and light out.Iwouldn't lay in camp here, with the Yukon like to freeze most any day, and the goods not half over the portage.And you--you are men, and you sit here, holding your hands, afraid of a little wind and wet.I tell you straight, Yankee-men are made of different stuff.They'd be hitting the trail for Dawson if they had to wade through hell-fire.And you, you--I wish I was a man.""I'm very glad, my dear, that you're not." Dick Humphries threw the bight of the sail twine over the point of the needle and drew it clear with a couple of deft turns and a jerk.

A snort of the gale dealt the tent a broad-handed slap as it hurtled past, and the sleet rat-tat-tatted with snappy spite against the thin canvas.The smoke, smothered in its exit, drove back through the fire-box door, carrying with it the pungent odor of green spruce.

"Good Gawd! Why can't a woman listen to reason?" Tommy lifted his head from the denser depths and turned upon her a pair of smoke-outraged eyes.

"And why can't a man show his manhood?"

Tommy sprang to his feet with an oath which would have shocked a woman of lesser heart, ripped loose the sturdy reef-knots and flung back the flaps of the tent.

The trio peered out.It was not a heartening spectacle.A few water-soaked tents formed the miserable foreground, from which the streaming ground sloped to a foaming gorge.Down this ramped a mountain torrent.Here and there, dwarf spruce, rooting and grovelling in the shallow alluvium, marked the proximity of the timber line.Beyond, on the opposing slope, the vague outlines of a glacier loomed dead-white through the driving rain.Even as they looked, its massive front crumbled into the valley, on the breast of some subterranean vomit, and it lifted its hoarse thunder above the screeching voice of the storm.Involuntarily, Molly shrank back.

"Look, woman! Look with all your eyes! Three miles in the teeth of the gale to Crater Lake, across two glaciers, along the slippery rim-rock, knee-deep in a howling river! Look, I say, you Yankee woman! Look! There's your Yankee-men!" Tommy pointed a passionate hand in the direction of the struggling tents.

"Yankees, the last mother's son of them.Are they on trail? Is there one of them with the straps to his back? And you would teach us men our work? Look, I say!"Another tremendous section of the glacier rumbled earthward.The wind whipped in at the open doorway, bulging out the sides of the tent till it swayed like a huge bladder at its guy ropes.The smoke swirled about them, and the sleet drove sharply into their flesh.Tommy pulled the flaps together hastily, and returned to his tearful task at the fire-box.Dick Humphries threw the mended pack straps into a corner and lighted his pipe.Even Molly was for the moment persuaded.

"There's my clothes," she half-whimpered, the feminine for the moment prevailing."They're right at the top of the cache, and they'll be ruined! I tell you, ruined!""There, there," Dick interposed, when the last quavering syllable had wailed itself out."Don't let that worry you, little woman.

I'm old enough to be your father's brother, and I've a daughter older than you, and I'll tog you out in fripperies when we get to Dawson if it takes my last dollar.""When we get to Dawson!" The scorn had come back to her throat with a sudden surge."You'll rot on the way, first.You'll drown in a mudhole.You--you--Britishers!"The last word, explosive, intensive, had strained the limits of her vituperation.If that would not stir these men, what could?

Tommy's neck ran red again, but he kept his tongue between his teeth.Dick's eyes mellowed.He had the advantage over Tommy, for he had once had a white woman for a wife.

The blood of five American-born generations is, under certain circumstances, an uncomfortable heritage; and among these circumstances might be enumerated that of being quartered with next of kin.These men were Britons.On sea and land her ancestry and the generations thereof had thrashed them and theirs.

同类推荐
  • 百香诗选

    百香诗选

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 桃花女阴阳斗传

    桃花女阴阳斗传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 冯延巳祠集评

    冯延巳祠集评

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A Monk of Fife

    A Monk of Fife

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 玉梨魂

    玉梨魂

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 回归,

    回归,

    是起点,还是终点;是殊途同归,还是劳燕分飞。
  • 凡世星辰

    凡世星辰

    是一个光怪陆离的位面大杂烩,在这我们有欢笑,有泪水,有掏心挖肺的千世痴恋,也有血染青天的快意恩仇。午后闲暇,盛满一杯香茗,一边淡看书中车马,一边回味人生百态。
  • 青少年应该知道的电脑与网络知识

    青少年应该知道的电脑与网络知识

    《青少年应该知道的知识小百科》共12册,是专为中国青少年量身定做的一套全方位知识图书。《青少年应该知道的知识小百科》涵盖了青少年成长过程中不可或缺的历史、科技、军事、文化等不同领域知识精华。本丛书旨在启发青少年学习积极性,积极引领中国青少年朋友走向未来,使青少年朋友们能够在轻松与快乐中学习知识、健康成长,是广大青少年学习新知识的理想读物。而这本《青少年应该知道的影视艺术知识》更是系统全面讲解影视知识,使青少年轻松学会。
  • 归来之霸气凌天

    归来之霸气凌天

    一代王者,十年铁血,强势归来!携强俯众生,霸气凌天下!踩最强之敌,喝最烈之酒,守最亲之人!
  • 暖恋微风

    暖恋微风

    七年前,因为误会,他们双双被分手,从此,她变得不敢再爱,他变得孤冷不再触碰爱情。七年后,他成为了娱乐圈的巨星,而她是一名小小的攻读硕士学位的研究生。他们在大学再次相遇,他霸气蛮横对众多女星的示爱视而不见,却独独对她柔情有加,带她参加庆功宴,让她当自己公司的跑腿,公开场合对她示爱,然而,不懂柔情的她,却将这些当成是他的捉弄,再加上痴情男生苦苦追求,萧大明星好苦恼!曾经青涩校园爱恋,还会死灰复燃吗?
  • 错上邪帝

    错上邪帝

    (本文一对一,男主狂宠女主,男女主身心干净,亲们,请放心入坑!)小白版简介:穿越最没谱的事是什么,那就是穿越之后身中烈性春药,还好死不死地砸中了一个解药;不管三七二十一,先上了再说!吃干抹净后拍拍屁股就走,隔天却遍地都是通缉自己的告示;手握神秘力量,神龙见首不见尾的一代邪帝,被一个女人当成了解药也就罢了,最可气的是,那女子竟然以为自己是个出来卖的小倌,还不怕死的留下欠条,他冷笑道,“将这女人给我绑了,正好本尊缺个邪后!”抽风版简介:一个超级全能特工,穿越到异世,拳打恶妇嫡姐,脚踢色狼恶霸,顺便与某位神秘人物斗智斗勇斗心机,一不小心有了某人的宝宝,直接抛下某人,带球逃跑,两个无敌宝宝,一邪恶一腹黑,表面却与平常宝宝无异,使得前来追求某女的众位都吃尽了苦头……★★初次交锋,她顺利的将他制住,还没来得及得意,身子一软便倒落在他的怀中,他在她那红唇上轻轻落下一吻,凑到她耳边笑道,“娘子,以后为夫希望,你的这股强势可以用到别的地方,比如说,床上!”★★再次交手她笑得一脸妩媚,含羞带怯的向着他伸伸小手,一副欲拒还迎的模样勾得某人心驰神往,他了然一笑,上前拥住她便要吻上那娇艳欲滴的红唇,却在瞬间变了脸色……★★“爹爹,有人要娶娘亲过门当押寨夫人!”某只萌宝宝天真的大眼睛中闪过一丝狡黠,“来人呐,将方圆五百里以内的所有山寨全都给本尊处理掉,一个不留!”某人大气地一挥手,面色冷冷地沉声喝道。“爹爹,有人说我是他儿子!”某只帅宝宝酷劲十足的双手叉腰,很有气势的道。“乖,爹爹出去好好‘会会’这个不知死活的人去!”某男闻言,面色微变,冷笑着大步踏出门去。“爹爹……”两只宝宝一起冲进来大喊。“又怎么了?”某男揉了揉青筋跳得正欢的额头“门外来了好多爹爹,都说要娶娘亲过门,我们忙不过来了!”“这该死的女人又给我出去招花惹草,看我怎么收拾她!”
  • 人生哲理枕边书

    人生哲理枕边书

    生活是自己创造的。每个人都会时常面临来自生活、工作和社会的各种各样的问题。我们的处世方法、工作态度、努力程度、思维方式和心态信念等等决定了我们一生的成败。不论干什么,我们都希望自己能够成功,都试图尽量避免失败或走弯路。《人生哲理枕边书(经典珍藏版)》正是你成功奔向自己理想、轻松而潇洒地生活的一盏明灯。
  • OPTIONS

    OPTIONS

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上仙

    上仙

    在我飞升那日,我的丈夫,秦亦亲手剜了我的心。他一脚把我踢飞,踩着我的手——在我耳边低语:你以为我这上万年和你一副如此丑陋的皮囊在一起,我有多恶心。自此我才知道,他和我在一起几万年,不过就是为了得到我这颗心,好助他飞升。几万年前,三界众生羡慕我长相丑陋却有一个俊俏的夫君疼爱。几万年后,我即将魂飞魄散,而他却当上了九重天的天尊。即使变成孤魂野鬼,即使万劫不复,我也要亲手剖开他的胸膛,把自己的心拿回来!终有一日,我嫁的男人,定比秦亦还俊美,法力比他还高强,翻手为云覆手为雨,带我纵横九重天。当初既是我点化你成仙,渡化你的劫,那么你余生所有的劫,都该我来背负。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 世界最具教育性的寓言故事(1)

    世界最具教育性的寓言故事(1)

    我的课外第一本书——震撼心灵阅读之旅经典文库,《阅读文库》编委会编。通过各种形式的故事和语言,讲述我们在成长中需要的知识。