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第27节

whirligigs-第27节

小说: whirligigs 字数: 每页4000字

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the confidential clerk; was standing by his chair; hesitating

to speak。  There was a confused hum of wheels below; and

the sedative buzz of an electric fan。



〃Ahem!  Peabody;〃 said Dodson; blinking。  〃I must

have fallen asleep。  I had a most remarkable dream。

What is it; Peabody?〃



〃Mr。 Williams; sir; of Tracy & Williams; is outside。

He has come to settle his deal in X。 Y。 Z。 The market

caught him short; sir; if you remember。〃



〃Yes; I remember。  What is X。 Y。 Z。 quoted at to…day;

Peabody?〃



〃One eighty…five; sir。〃



〃Then that's his price。〃



〃Excuse me;〃 said Peabody; rather nervously 〃for

speaking of it; but I've been talking to Williams。  He's

an old friend of yours; Mr。 Dodson; and you practically

have a corner in X。 Y。 Z。 I thought you might  that is;

I thought you might not remember that he sold you

the stock at 98。  If he settles at the market price it will

take every cent he has in the world and his home too to

deliver the shares。〃



The expression on Dodson's face changed in an instant

to one of cold ferocity mingled with inexorable cupidity。

The soul of the man showed itself for a moment like an

evil face in the window of a reputable house。



〃He will settle at one eighty…five;〃 said Dodson。

〃Bolivar cannot carry double。〃







            A BLACKJACK BARGAINER



The most disreputable thing in Yancey Goree's law

office was Goree himself; sprawled in his creakv old arm…

chair。  The rickety little office; built of red brick; was

set flush with the street  the main street of the town of

Bethel。



Bethel rested upon the foot…hills of the Blue Ridge。

Above it the mountains were piled to the sky。  Far

below it the turbid Catawba gleamed yellow along its

disconsolate valley。



The June day was at its sultriest hour。  Bethel dozed

in the tepid shade。  Trade was not。  It was so still that

Goree; reclining in his chair; distinctly heard the clicking

of the chips in the grand…jury room; where the 〃court…

house gang〃 was playing poker。  From the open back

door of the office a well…worn path meandered across the

grassy lot to the court…house。  The treading out of that

path had cost Goree all he ever had  first inheritance

of a few thousand dollars; next the old family home; and;

latterly the last shreds of his self…respect and manhood。

The 〃gang〃 had cleaned him out。  The broken gambler

had turned drunkard and parasite; he had lived to see

this day come when the men who had stripped him

denied him a seat at the game。  His word was no longer

to be taken。  The daily bouts at cards had arranged itself

accordingly; and to him was assigned the ignoble part of

the onlooker。  The sheriff; the county clerk; a sportive

deputy; a gay attorney; and a chalk…faced man hailing

〃from the valley;〃 sat at table; and the sheared one

was thus tacitly advised to go and grow more wool。



Soon wearying of his ostracism; Goree had departed

for his office; muttering to himself as he unsteadily tra…

versed the unlucky pathway。  After a drink of corn

whiskey from a demijohn under the table; he had flung

himself into the chair; staring; in a sort of maudlin apathy;

out at the mountains immersed in the summer haze。

The little white patch he saw away up on the side of

Blackjack was Laurel; the village near which he had been

born and bred。  There; also; was the birthplace of the

feud between the Gorees and the Coltranes。  Now no

direct heir of the Gorees survived except this plucked

and singed bird of misfortune。  To the Coltranes; also;

but one male supporter was left  Colonel Abner Col…

trane; a man of substance and standing; a member of the

State Legislature; and a contemporary with Goree's

father。  The feud had been a typical one of the region;

it had left a red record of hate; wrong and slaughter。

But Yancey Goree was not thinking of feuds。  His

befuddled brain was hopelessly attacking the problem

of the future maintenance of himself and his favourite

follies。  Of late; old friends of the family had seen to it

that he had whereof to eat and a place to sleep  but whiskey

they would not buy for him; and he must have whiskey。

His law business was extinct; no case had been intrusted

to him in two years。  He had been a borrower and a

sponge; and it seemed that if he fell no lower it would be

from lack of opportunity。  One more chance  he was

saying to himself  if he had one more stake at the game;

he thought he could win; but he had nothing left to sell;

and his credit was more than exhausted。



He could not help smiling; even in his misery; as he

thought of the man to whom; six months before; he had

sold the old Goree homestead。  There had come from

〃back yan'〃 in the mountains two of the strangest

creatures; a man named Pike Garvey and his wife。  〃Back

yan';〃 with a wave of the hand toward the hills; was

understood among the mountaineers to designate the

remotest fastnesses; the unplumbed gorges; the haunts of

lawbreakers; the wolf's den; and the boudoir of the bear。

In the cabin far up on Blackjack's shoulder; in the wildest

part of these retreats; this odd couple had lived for twenty

years。  They had neither dog nor children to mitigate

the heavy silence of the hills。  Pike Garvey was little

known in the settlements; but all who had dealt with him

pronounced him 〃crazy as a loon。〃  He acknowledged

no occupation save that of a squirrel hunter; but he

〃moonshined〃 occasionally by way of diversion。  Once

the 〃revenues〃 had dragged him from his lair; fighting

silently and desperately like a terrier; and he had been

sent to state's prison for two years。  Released; he popped

back into his hole like an angry weasel。



Fortune; passing over many anxious wooers; made a

freakish flight into Blackjack's bosky pockets to smile

upon Pike and his faithful partner。



One day a party of spectacled; knickerbockered; and

altogether absurd prospectors invaded the vicinity of

the Garvey's cabin。  Pike lifted his squirrel rifle off the

hooks and took a shot at them at long range on the chance

of their being revenues。  Happily he missed; and the

unconscious agents of good luck drew nearer; disclosing

their innocence of anything resembling law or justice。

Later on; they offered the Garveys an enormous quantity

of ready; green; crisp money for their thirty…acre patch

of cleared land; mentioning; as an excuse for such a mad

action; some irrelevant and inadequate nonsense about

a bed of mica underlying the said property。



When the Garveys became possessed of so many dol…

lars that they faltered in computing them; the deficiencies

of life on Blackjack began to grow prominent。  Pike

began to talk of new shoes; a hogshead of tobacco to

set in the corner; a new lock to his rifle; and; leading

Martella to a certain spot on the mountain…side; he

pointed out to her how a small cannon  doubtless a

thing not beyond the scope of their fortune in price 

might be planted so as to command and defend the sole

accessible trail to the cabin; to the confusion of revenues

and meddling strangers forever。



But Adam reckoned without his Eve。  These things

represented to him the applied power of wealth; but

there slumbered in his dingy cabin an ambition that

soared far above his primitive wants。  Somewhere in

Mrs。 Garvey's bosom still survived a spot of femininity

unstarved by twenty years of Blackjack。  For so long

a time the sounds in her ears had been the scaly…barks

dropping in the woods at noon; and the wolves singing

among the rocks at night; and it was enough to have

purged her of vanities。  She had grown fat and sad and

yellow and dull。  But when the means came; she felt a

rekindled desire to assume the perquisites of her sex 

to sit at tea tables; to buy futile things; to whitewash

the hideous veracity of life with a little form and ceremony。

So she coldly vetoed Pike's proposed system of fortifica…

tions; and announced that thev would descend upon the

world; and gyrate socially。



And thus; at length; it was decided; and the thing

done。  The village of Laurel was their compromise

between Mrs。 Garvey's preference for one of the large

valley towns and Pike's hankering for primeval solitudes。

Laurel yielded a halting round of feeble social distractions

omportable with Martella's ambitions; and was not

entirely without recommendation to Pike; its contiguity

to the mountains presenting advantages for sudden retreat

in case fashionable society should make it advisable。



Their descent upon Laurel had been coincident with

Yancey Goree's feverish desire to convert property into

cash; and they bought the old Goree homestead; paying

four thousand dollars ready money into the spendthrift's

shaking hands。



Thus it happened that while the disreputable last of

the Gorees sprawled in his disreputable office; at the end

of his row; spurned by the cronies whom he had gorged;

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