登陆注册
5255300000026

第26章 THE UNEXPECTED(4)

She glanced back at Dennin, but her eyes returned to the tilted plate. It was so ridiculous! She felt a hysterical impulse to laugh. Then she noticed the silence, and forgot the plate in a desire for something to happen. The monotonous drip of the coffee from the table to the floor merely emphasized the silence. Why did not Hans do something? say something? She looked at him and was about to speak, when she discovered that her tongue refused its wonted duty. There was a peculiar ache in her throat, and her mouth was dry and furry. She could only look at Hans, who, in turn, looked at her.

Suddenly the silence was broken by a sharp, metallic clang. She screamed, jerking her eyes back to the table. The plate had fallen down. Hans sighed as though awakening from sleep. The clang of the plate had aroused them to life in a new world. The cabin epitomized the new world in which they must thenceforth live and move. The old cabin was gone forever. The horizon of life was totally new and unfamiliar. The unexpected had swept its wizardry over the face of things, changing the perspective, juggling values, and shuffling the real and the unreal into perplexing confusion.

"My God, Hans!" was Edith's first speech.

He did not answer, but stared at her with horror. Slowly his eyes wandered over the room, for the first time taking in its details.

Then he put on his cap and started for the door.

"Where are you going?" Edith demanded, in an agony of apprehension.

His hand was on the door-knob, and he half turned as he answered, "To dig some graves."

"Don't leave me, Hans, with - " her eyes swept the room - "with this."

"The graves must be dug sometime," he said.

"But you do not know how many," she objected desperately. She noted his indecision, and added, "Besides, I'll go with you and help."

Hans stepped back to the table and mechanically snuffed the candle.

Then between them they made the examination. Both Harkey and Dutchy were dead - frightfully dead, because of the close range of the shot-gun. Hans refused to go near Dennin, and Edith was forced to conduct this portion of the investigation by herself.

"He isn't dead," she called to Hans.

He walked over and looked down at the murderer.

"What did you say?" Edith demanded, having caught the rumble of inarticulate speech in her husband's throat.

"I said it was a damn shame that he isn't dead," came the reply.

Edith was bending over the body.

"Leave him alone," Hans commanded harshly, in a strange voice.

She looked at him in sudden alarm. He had picked up the shot-gun dropped by Dennin and was thrusting in the shells.

"What are you going to do?" she cried, rising swiftly from her bending position.

Hans did not answer, but she saw the shot-gun going to his shoulder. She grasped the muzzle with her hand and threw it up.

"Leave me alone!" he cried hoarsely.

He tried to jerk the weapon away from her, but she came in closer and clung to him.

"Hans! Hans! Wake up!" she cried. "Don't be crazy!"

"He killed Dutchy and Harkey!" was her husband's reply; "and I am going to kill him."

"But that is wrong," she objected. "There is the law."

He sneered his incredulity of the law's potency in such a region, but he merely iterated, dispassionately, doggedly, "He killed Dutchy and Harkey."

Long she argued it with him, but the argument was one-sided, for he contented himself with repeating again and again, "He killed Dutchy and Harkey." But she could not escape from her childhood training nor from the blood that was in her. The heritage of law was hers, and right conduct, to her, was the fulfilment of the law. She could see no other righteous course to pursue. Hans's taking the law in his own hands was no more justifiable than Dennin's deed.

Two wrongs did not make a right, she contended, and there was only one way to punish Dennin, and that was the legal way arranged by society. At last Hans gave in to her.

"All right," he said. "Have it your own way. And to-morrow or next day look to see him kill you and me."

She shook her head and held out her hand for the shot-gun. He started to hand it to her, then hesitated.

"Better let me shoot him," he pleaded.

Again she shook her head, and again he started to pass her the gun, when the door opened, and an Indian, without knocking, came in. A blast of wind and flurry of snow came in with him. They turned and faced him, Hans still holding the shot-gun. The intruder took in the scene without a quiver. His eyes embraced the dead and wounded in a sweeping glance. No surprise showed in his face, not even curiosity. Harkey lay at his feet, but he took no notice of him.

So far as he was concerned, Harkey's body did not exist.

"Much wind," the Indian remarked by way of salutation. "All well?

Very well?"

Hans, still grasping the gun, felt sure that the Indian attributed to him the mangled corpses. He glanced appealingly at his wife.

"Good morning, Negook," she said, her voice betraying her effort.

"No, not very well. Much trouble."

"Good-by, I go now, much hurry", the Indian said, and without semblance of haste, with great deliberation stepping clear of a red pool on the floor, he opened the door and went out.

The man and woman looked at each other.

"He thinks we did it," Hans gasped, "that I did it."

Edith was silent for a space. Then she said, briefly, in a businesslike way:

"Never mind what he thinks. That will come after. At present we have two graves to dig. But first of all, we've got to tie up Dennin so he can't escape."

Hans refused to touch Dennin, but Edith lashed him securely, hand and foot. Then she and Hans went out into the snow. The ground was frozen. It was impervious to a blow of the pick. They first gathered wood, then scraped the snow away and on the frozen surface built a fire. When the fire had burned for an hour, several inches of dirt had thawed. This they shovelled out, and then built a fresh fire. Their descent into the earth progressed at the rate of two or three inches an hour.

同类推荐
  • Aucassin and Nicolete

    Aucassin and Nicolete

    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。
  • 困知记

    困知记

    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。
  • 海忠介公全集

    海忠介公全集

    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。
  • 黄庭外景经

    黄庭外景经

    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。
  • 高王观世音经

    高王观世音经

    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
  • 天赐暖婚:帝少宠妻入骨

    天赐暖婚:帝少宠妻入骨

    一场利益的趋势,她被家族抛弃贱卖,阴差阳错嫁给了京城帝少霍宇擎。岂知,她一步步走入他精心编织的柔情大网中。“霍少,我们只是协议结婚,不包括陪睡。”“协议里写了,老婆你没看到么?”一纸霸王条款协议,安沁雅从此过上了各种被扑倒压倒的悲催生活。他宠她入骨,爱她入髓,捧她成为全世界女人望尘莫及的存在。她说:“在人生最低谷的时刻嫁给他,是她这一生最大的幸福。”他说:“老婆,我也很性福。”【1对1,甜宠,长篇,金牌坑品,欢迎入坑】
  • 我在剑仙路上

    我在剑仙路上

    荀若到了一个修仙的世界,有了实力超强的师父,既然师父那么强,那世界岂不是任我闯!......世间藏龙卧虎之辈比比皆是,在这里除了后台硬,还要自身硬。在这条修道路上,秉持一颗侠心,大步向前走去。
  • 月系魔法师II

    月系魔法师II

    《月系魔法师》第二部,月系魔法再次传承!千年之后,黑暗女神后裔卷土重来,月系魔法之源的月亮离奇消失,月之家族遭遇前所未有的危机!然而,身为月华大陆之神、月之家族大长老的风梦寻(风夕月)却被暗算,灵魂被打成碎片,散落在无数次元之中。为了担负起拯救家族的重任,被称为“最接近于风夕月的少女”风落云,与同伴一起游走于不同的世界,开启了奇幻的次元之旅。孰正孰恶的黑白精灵,只有孩童的萌之世界,存在于梦境中的魔法国度,盛开在冰封碧湖之中的奇迹樱花……缤纷多彩的世界展现在眼前,或许,还会遇到前作中熟悉的面孔哦。
  • 刁蛮小娇妃:误惹腹黑邪王

    刁蛮小娇妃:误惹腹黑邪王

    新书《撩宠成瘾:皇叔,来呀》已发布,求大家收藏投票票哦!霸道王爷宠妻有道:濯日王朝从里到外,从上到下,王妃说了算!问曰:皇上怎么办?王爷答:王妃说了算!王妃问:床上怎么办?王爷搂着怀中娇俏的人儿,邪魅一笑:这件事,本王说了算!春宵苦短日高起,从此王爷不早朝——王妃人前风光,人后哭嚎:魂淡啊啊啊啊!老娘腰好痛……逸然读者粉丝群号:367884290
  • 名家教子书:父亲的榜样(中国篇)

    名家教子书:父亲的榜样(中国篇)

    古语说:“子不教,父之过。”从古到今,父亲在孩子成长教育中的角色是不可替代的,责任重大。父亲如果没有尽到自己应尽的教育子女的责任和义务,那将是非常严重的过失,父亲是孩子人生的导师,孩子的点滴进步离不开父亲对他的科学培养。本书介绍了近现代中外36位成功父亲的教子经验,这些“榜样父亲”的教子经验包含了丰富而深刻的教育哲理,在中国家庭教育的历史上、在今天都有着广泛的影响,意义深远,而且他们的教育智慧在今天的实践中依然不断地被运用。本书可读性强,指导意义深远,具有一定的前瞻性,力求对中国的父母起到真正意义上的教子指导作用,是当代父母不可多得的重要参考。
  • 宠妻上瘾:总裁大人惹不起

    宠妻上瘾:总裁大人惹不起

    "渣男男票与妹妹高调偷——情,万念俱灰之下,夏雨裳酒吧喝酒约炮,没想到走错房间与陌生男人发生一晚缠——绵——一夕之间父亲车祸去世,暴雨肆虐的天气,夏雨裳被父母和妹妹赶出家门,从千金小姐到落魄街头,她又该何去何从"情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 贞观公私画史

    贞观公私画史

    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。
  • 游戏

    游戏

    阿舍,女,原名杨咏,维吾尔族,1971年生,新疆尉犁人,西北第二民族学院毕业。银川文学院签约作家。出版长篇历史小说《乌孙》。散文《小席走了》获2004年第五届“PSI—新语丝”网络文学一等奖;散文《山鬼》获2011年《民族文学》年度奖。
  • 淑女不当道:赖皮校草的疯丫头

    淑女不当道:赖皮校草的疯丫头

    那年他们相遇于雨后夏季,风速单车驶过水坑溅起污水脏了她的白裙。从此溅起了一段情缘。李子宸耷拉着脑袋叹气,“长得这么丑,脾气又爆又那么粗鲁,只有神经错乱的沈学长才会看得上你。疯丫头你做人也太失败吧!”陶箬琳不客气踹他一脚,“你个贱嘴,你不损我会死啊!!”他尴尬的摸摸鼻子说,“可惜呀!可惜!!这么一表人才的帅哥就要被你惨遭毒手了。为此我代表万千帅哥向你致谢世上又少一位帅哥!”
  • 凤涅重生:倾尽天下

    凤涅重生:倾尽天下

    她乃是凤凰后裔,神兽之首,百鸟之王,灵魂穿越至二十一世纪学习,意外死亡,灵魂再度回归八荒世界,可是……她的真身竟变成了废材一枚?被人贱骂,皇后欺凌,姐妹相残,人人践踏,就连最卑微的恶奴都可以欺压上身?真魂回归,她锋芒毕露,惊才艳艳,翻手为云覆手为雨,势必重掌王位!