登陆注册
14726500000008

第8章

From planters’ homes and swamp cabins, a varied array of firearms came to each muster. There were long squirrel guns that had been new when first the Alleghenies were crossed, old muzzle-loaders that had claimed many an Indian when Georgia was new, horse pistols that had seen service in 1812, in the Seminole wars and in Mexico, silver-mounted dueling pistols, pocket derringers, double-barreled hunting pieces and handsome new rifles of English make with shining stocks of fine wood.

Drill always ended in the saloons of Jonesboro, and by nightfall so many fights had broken out that the officers were hard put to ward off casualties until the Yankees could inflict them. It was during one of these brawls that Stuart Tarleton had shot Cade Calvert and Tony Fontaine had shot Brent. The twins had been at home, freshly expelled from the University of Virginia, at the time the Troop was organized and they had joined enthusiastically; but after the shooting episode, two months ago, their mother had packed them off to the state university, with orders to stay there. They had sorely missed the excitement of the drills while away, and they counted education well lost if only they could ride and yell and shoot off rifles in the company of their friends.

“Well, let’s cut across country to Abel’s,” suggested Brent. “We can go through Mr. O’Hara’s river bottom and the Fontaine’s pasture and get there in no time.”

“We ain’ gwine git nothin’ ter eat ‘cept possum an’ greens,” argued Jeems.

“You ain’t going to get anything,” grinned Stuart “Because you are going home and tell Ma that we won’t be home for supper.”

“No, Ah ain’!” cried Jeems in alarm. “No, Ah ain’! Ah doan git no mo’ fun outer havin’ Miss Beetriss lay me out dan y’all does. Fust place she’ll ast me huccome Ah let y’all git expelled agin. An’ nex’ thing, huccome Ah din’ bring y’all home ternight so she could lay you out An’ den she’ll light on me lak a duck on a June bug, an’ fust thing Ah know Ah’ll be ter blame fer it all. Ef y’all doan tek me ter Mist’ Wynder’s, Ah’ll lay out in de woods all night an’ maybe de patterollers git me, ‘cause Ah heap ruther de patterollers git me dan Miss Beetriss when she in a state.”

The twins looked at the determined black boy in perplexity and indignation.

“He’d be just fool enough to let the patterollers get him and that would give Ma something else to talk about for weeks. I swear, darkies are more trouble. Sometimes I think the Abolitionists have got the right idea.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be right to make Jeems face what we don’t want to face. We’ll have to take him. But, look, you impudent black fool, if you put on any airs in front of the Wynder darkies and hint that we all the time have fried chicken and ham, while they don’t have nothing but rabbit and possum, I’ll—I’ll tell Ma. And we won’t let you go to the war with us, either.”

“Airs? Me put on airs fo’ dem cheap niggers? Nawsuh, Ah got better manners. Ain’ Miss Beetriss taught me manners same as she taught y’all?”

“She didn’t do a very good job on any of the three of us,” said Stuart. “Come on, let’s get going.”

He backed his big red horse and then, putting spurs to his side, lifted him easily over the split rail fence into the soft field of Gerald O’Hara’s plantation. Brent’s horse followed and then Jeems’, with Jeems clinging to pommel and mane. Jeems did not like to jump fences, but he had jumped higher ones than this in order to keep up with his masters.

As they picked their way across the red furrows and down the hill to the river bottom in the deepening dusk, Brent yelled to his brother:

“Look, Stu! Don’t it seem like to you that Scarlett would have asked us to supper?”

“I kept thinking she would,” yelled Stuart “Why do you suppose ...”

CHAPTER II

WHEN THE TWINS left Scarlett standing on the porch of Tara and the last sound of flying hooves had died away, she went back to her chair like a sleepwalker. Her face felt stiff as from pain and her mouth actually hurt from having stretched it, unwillingly, in smiles to prevent the twins from learning her secret. She sat down wearily, tucking one foot under her, and her heart swelled up with misery, until it felt too large for her bosom. It beat with odd little jerks; her hands were cold, and a feeling of disaster oppressed her. There were pain and bewilderment in her face, the bewilderment of a pampered child who has always had her own way for the asking and who now, for the first time, was in contact with the unpleasantness of life.

Ashley to marry Melanie Hamilton!

Oh, it couldn’t be true! The twins were mistaken. They were playing one of their jokes on her. Ashley couldn’t, couldn’t be in love with her. Nobody could, not with a mousy little person like Melanie. Scarlett recalled with contempt Melanie’s thin childish figure, her serious heart-shaped face that was plain almost to homeliness. And Ashley couldn’t have seen her in months. He hadn’t been in Atlanta more than twice since the house party he gave last year at Twelve Oaks. No, Ashley couldn’t be in love with Melanie, because—oh, she couldn’t be mistaken!—because he was in love with her! She, Scarlett, was the one he loved—she knew it!

Scarlett heard Mammy’s lumbering tread shaking the floor of the hall and she hastily untucked her foot and tried to rearrange her face in more placid lines. It would never do for Mammy to suspect that anything was wrong. Mammy felt that she owned the O’Haras, body and soul, that their secrets were her secrets; and even a hint of a mystery was enough to set her upon the trail as relentlessly as a bloodhound. Scarlett knew from experience that, if Mammy’s curiosity were not immediately satisfied, she would take up the matter with Ellen, and then Scarlett would be forced to reveal everything to her mother, or think up some plausible lie.

同类推荐
  • 佛说栴檀树经

    佛说栴檀树经

    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。
  • 柘轩集

    柘轩集

    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。
  • 戒庵老人漫笔

    戒庵老人漫笔

    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。
  • The Queen of Hearts

    The Queen of Hearts

    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。
  • 邯郸遗稿

    邯郸遗稿

    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。
热门推荐
  • 夜色梦境

    夜色梦境

    苏言锦小时候有个小跟班,一个畏畏缩缩的小胖子,经常被人欺负,好歹也是她的跟班,苏言锦怎么能让人随便欺负他呢。再次遇到小胖子的时候,小胖子已经不再是小胖子,而是一个大病号,一个长的很不错的大病号,好吧,念及革命友谊,该帮还是得帮忙的。进入他的梦里让他苏醒?黑科技啊。一下掉入了一个吸血鬼的世界,有没有搞错?为什么她在里面长的这么丑?喂喂喂,还有你这个唧唧歪歪的一路嘴欠的路人,谁给你加这么多戏的?(想写一本完结的,所以改了)
  • 浑天传记

    浑天传记

    世间的灵气从何而来?翻手为云的强大生灵为何不敢肆意屠杀凡人?
  • 剑侠之问情

    剑侠之问情

    轻声一舞霓裳衣,丝竹一曲凤求凰初次下山的青风不解红尘世故性格嚣张,在京都长安遭遇了牢狱之灾,而后他结识了翩翩佳公子百里无极,刁蛮小姐王梦茴,蜀山剑仙白子渝,魔女陆琪瑶,豁达随心的魔公子步逍遥,冷傲孤僻的敖渊。然而元会之数已定,天地骤变,必生劫难,八方涌动却都在天数之下。命由天定,运由己造,且看少年儿郎历经红尘人情,看过烟云飘散,最后举剑问天:“你可有情”?红尘漫漫,滚滚江流不尽,只有初心不变,才可法空见真。银铃摇坠,声稀稀而音殇,琴弦拨弄,胡风起而曲生。
  • 金三角之谜

    金三角之谜

    "20世纪50年代末期,潜伏在大陆的国民党特务组织梅花党蠢蠢欲动,配合盘踞在台湾的蒋帮阴谋策划各种破坏活动。在东南亚金三角地区有一个特训班,从1948年起每期只招40个学员,其中20个男学员,20个女学员,来自世界各地,两年一期,毕业后分赴世界各地执行特殊任务。毕业生名单藏在金三角特训班教务长黄栌的书房里。深夜黄栌经常被书房里的警铃惊醒,是谁潜入书房企图盗取梅花图?是中共特工,苏联克格勃,还是美国的FBI?"
  • 迎面撞上禅2:万物有情

    迎面撞上禅2:万物有情

    禅是清风明月,禅是工作学习,禅是喝茶吃饭,最质朴的常理,就是禅的真谛。十字街头好修禅,都市繁华蕴禅机。读禅,让心灵进入自在无碍的自由世界。在《迎面撞上禅(2):万物有情》中,千百位禅师的灵感,将带你寻回青春时代的恋恋深情。修禅,不是让你在心灵中发动一场战争,而是让黑暗融入光明。禅邀请你微笑,教你学会与自己和解。
  • 火影之争锋

    火影之争锋

    火影同人大家都看过许多吧!而这本和以往的所有同人都有所不同。在这里你可以看到初代火影、宇智波斑、二代火影以及各个血继家族的鼻祖争锋的情境。霸绝无双的英雄人物他们都可以在这里一网打尽。这是一位帅哥理发师的忍者之路。我想写一本不一样的同人,我心中的火影。PS:火影已然完结,或不舍,或无奈。致我们心中的回忆!(虽然笔者是愤青,但是对于这部漫画,笔者有着特殊的情感。毕竟,这代表这笔者的童年!)
  • 红蚂蚁

    红蚂蚁

    红蚂蚁怎样与猛兽搏斗,最后被。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
  • 论男神的正确攻略方式

    论男神的正确攻略方式

    话说正确的男神攻略方式是怎样的呢?对此,众说纷纭。当被问到这个问题时,季言洛表示,男神永远都不是用来攻略的,男神永远都是自己贴上来的........
  • 帝都秘藏

    帝都秘藏

    世界上绝大多数人都是普通得不能再普通的普通人,他们终日里为了生计奔波或者为了梦想劳碌,可他们无论怎样努力依然赚不到大钱泡不到女神也上不了头条。若是有一天,这些普通人也有了超级英雄一般的能力,他们的生活会有怎样的变化?成为拯救地球的英雄还是作个毁灭世界野心家?是金戈铁马的打江山君临天下还是风花雪月的泡妹子开后宫?或许……都不是……
  • 甜

    十七岁那一年,吻过她的脸,就以为能和她永远。有没有那么一张书签,停止那一天。让我们定居在那一夜。