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第10章

the silverado squatters-第10章

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lest the banker; after having taken her cheque; should deny 

all knowledge of it … a fear I have myself every time I go to 

a bank; and how crossing the Luneburger Heath; an old lady; 

witnessing her trouble and finding whither she was bound; had 

given her 〃the blessing of a person eighty years old; which 

would be sure to bring her safely to the States。  And the 

first thing I did;〃 added Mrs。 Guele; 〃was to fall 

downstairs。〃



At length we got out of the house; and some of us into the 

trap; when … judgment of Heaven! … here came Mr。 Guele from 

his vineyard。  So another quarter of an hour went by; till at 

length; at our earnest pleading; we set forth again in 

earnest; Fanny and I white…faced and silent; but the Jews 

still smiling。  The heart fails me。  There was yet another 

stoppage!  And we drove at last into Calistoga past two in 

the afternoon; Fanny and I having breakfasted at six in the 

morning; eight mortal hours before。  We were a pallid couple; 

but still the Jews were smiling。



So ended our excursion with the village usurers; and; now 

that it was done; we had no more idea of the nature of the 

business; nor of the part we had been playing in it; than the 

child unborn。  That all the people we had met were the slaves 

of Kelmar; though in various degrees of servitude; that we 

ourselves had been sent up the mountain in the interests of 

none but Kelmar; that the money we laid out; dollar by 

dollar; cent by cent; and through the hands of various 

intermediaries; should all hop ultimately into Kelmar's till; 

… these were facts that we only grew to recognize in the 

course of time and by the accumulation of evidence。  At 

length all doubt was quieted; when one of the kettle…holders 

confessed。  Stopping his trap in the moonlight; a little way 

out of Calistoga; he told me; in so many words; that he dare 

not show face therewith an empty pocket。  〃You see; I don't 

mind if it was only five dollars; Mr。 Stevens;〃 he said; 〃but 

I must give Mr。 Kelmar SOMETHING。〃



Even now; when the whole tyranny is plain to me; I cannot 

find it in my heart to be as angry as perhaps I should be 

with the Hebrew tyrant。  The whole game of business is beggar 

my neighbour; and though perhaps that game looks uglier when 

played at such close quarters and on so small a scale; it is 

none the more intrinsically inhumane for that。  The village 

usurer is not so sad a feature of humanity and human progress 

as the millionaire manufacturer; fattening on the toil and 

loss of thousands; and yet declaiming from the platform 

against the greed and dishonesty of landlords。  If it were 

fair for Cobden to buy up land from owners whom he thought 

unconscious of its proper value; it was fair enough for my 

Russian Jew to give credit to his farmers。  Kelmar; if he was 

unconscious of the beam in his own eye; was at least silent 

in the matter of his brother's mote。







THE ACT OF SQUATTING







THERE were four of us squatters … myself and my wife; the 

King and Queen of Silverado; Sam; the Crown Prince; and 

Chuchu; the Grand Duke。  Chuchu; a setter crossed with 

spaniel; was the most unsuited for a rough life。  He had been 

nurtured tenderly in the society of ladies; his heart was 

large and soft; he regarded the sofa…cushion as a bed…rook 

necessary of existence。  Though about the size of a sheep; he 

loved to sit in ladies' laps; he never said a bad word in all 

his blameless days; and if he had seen a flute; I am sure he 

could have played upon it by nature。  It may seem hard to say 

it of a dog; but Chuchu was a tame cat。



The king and queen; the grand duke; and a basket of cold 

provender for immediate use; set forth from Calistoga in a 

double buggy; the crown prince; on horseback; led the way 

like an outrider。  Bags and boxes and a second…hand stove 

were to follow close upon our heels by Hanson's team。



It was a beautiful still day; the sky was one field of azure。  

Not a leaf moved; not a speck appeared in heaven。  Only from 

the summit of the mountain one little snowy wisp of cloud 

after another kept detaching itself; like smoke from a 

volcano; and blowing southward in some high stream of air:  

Mount Saint Helena still at her interminable task; making the 

weather; like a Lapland witch。



By noon we had come in sight of the mill:  a great brown 

building; half…way up the hill; big as a factory; two stories 

high; and with tanks and ladders along the roof; which; as a 

pendicle of Silverado mine; we held to be an outlying 

province of our own。  Thither; then; we went; crossing the 

valley by a grassy trail; and there lunched out of the 

basket; sitting in a kind of portico; and wondering; while we 

ate; at this great bulk of useless building。  Through a chink 

we could look far down into the interior; and see sunbeams 

floating in the dust and striking on tier after tier of 

silent; rusty machinery。  It cost six thousand dollars; 

twelve hundred English sovereigns; and now; here it stands 

deserted; like the temple of a forgotten religion; the busy 

millers toiling somewhere else。  All the time we were there; 

mill and mill town showed no sign of life; that part of the 

mountain…side; which is very open and green; was tenanted by 

no living creature but ourselves and the insects; and nothing 

stirred but the cloud manufactory upon the mountain summit。  

It was odd to compare this with the former days; when the 

engine was in fall blast; the mill palpitating to its 

strokes; and the carts came rattling down from Silverado; 

charged with ore。



By two we had been landed at the mine; the buggy was gone 

again; and we were left to our own reflections and the basket 

of cold provender; until Hanson should arrive。  Hot as it was 

by the sun; there was something chill in such a home…coming; 

in that world of wreck and rust; splinter and rolling gravel; 

where for so many years no fire had smoked。



Silverado platform filled the whole width of the canyon。  

Above; as I have said; this was a wild; red; stony gully in 

the mountains; but below it was a wooded dingle。  And through 

this; I was told; there had gone a path between the mine and 

the Toll House … our natural north…west passage to 

civilization。  I found and followed it; clearing my way as I 

went through fallen branches and dead trees。  It went 

straight down that steep canyon; till it brought you out 

abruptly over the roofs of the hotel。  There was nowhere any 

break in the descent。  It almost seemed as if; were you to 

drop a stone down the old iron chute at our platform; it 

would never rest until it hopped upon the Toll House 

shingles。  Signs were not wanting of the ancient greatness of 

Silverado。  The footpath was well marked; and had been well 

trodden in the old clays by thirsty miners。  And far down; 

buried in foliage; deep out of sight of Silverado; I came on 

a last outpost of the mine … a mound of gravel; some wreck of 

wooden aqueduct; and the mouth of a tunnel; like a treasure 

grotto in a fairy story。  A stream of water; fed by the 

invisible leakage from our shaft; and dyed red with cinnabar 

or iron; ran trippingly forth out of the bowels of the cave; 

and; looking far under the arch; I could see something like 

an iron lantern fastened on the rocky wall。  It was a 

promising spot for the imagination。  No boy could have left 

it unexplored。



The stream thenceforward stole along the bottom of the 

dingle; and made; for that dry land; a pleasant warbling in 

the leaves。  Once; I suppose; it ran splashing down the whole 

length of the canyon; but now its head waters had been tapped 

by the shaft at Silverado; and for a great part of its course 

it wandered sunless among the joints of the mountain。  No 

wonder that it should better its pace when it sees; far 

before it; daylight whitening in the arch; or that it should 

come trotting

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