登陆注册
15401000000005

第5章 IV(2)

"Oh,he didn't mean to hit me.Not that he ain't mean enough to shoot from the bresh,"Rome broke out savagely."That's jes whut I'm afeard he will do.Thar was too much daylight fer him.Ef he jes don't come a-sneakin'over hyeh,'n'waitin'in the lorrel atter dark fer me,it's all I axe."Waitin'in the lorrel!"Old Gabe could hold back no longer."Hit's a shame,a burn-in'shame!I don'know whut things air comm'to!

'Pears like all you young folks think about is killin'somebody.

Folks usen to talk about how fer they could kill a deer;now it's how fer they kin kill a man.I hev knowed the time when a man would 'a'been druv out o'the county fer drawin'a knife ur a pistol;'n'ef a feller was ever killed,it was kinder accidental,by a Barlow.

I reckon folks got use'to weepons 'n'killin''n'bushwhackin'in the war.Looks like it's been gittin'wuss ever sence,'n'now hit's dirk 'n'

Winchester,'n'shootin'from the bushes all the time.Hit's wuss 'n stealin'money to take a feller-creetur's life that way!

The old miller's indignation sprang from memories of a better youth.For the courtesies of the code went on to the Blue Grass,and before the war the mountaineer fought with English fairness and his fists.It was a disgrace to use a deadly weapon in those days;it was a disgrace now not to use it.

Oh,I know all the excuses folks make,"he went on:"hit's fa'r fer one as 'tis fer t'other;y'u can't fight a man fa'r 'n'squar'who'll shoot you in the back;a pore man can't fight money in the couhts;'n'thar hain't no witnesses in the lorrel but leaves;'n'dead men don't hev much to say.I know it all.Hit's cur'us,but it act'-ally looks like lots o'decent young folks hev got usen to the idee-thar's so much of it goin'on,'n'thar's so much talk 'bout killin''n'layin'out in the lorrel.Reckon folks 'll git to pesterm'women n'strangers bimeby,'n'robbin''n'thievin'.Hit's bad enough thar's so leetle law thet folks hev to take it in their own hands oncet in a while,but this shootin'from the bresh-hit's p'int'ly a sin 'n'shame!Why,"he concluded,pointing his remonstrance as he always did,"I seed your grandad and young Jas's fight up thar in Hazlan full two hours 'fore the war-fist and skull-'n'your grandad was whooped.They got up and shuk hands.I don't see why folks can't fight that way now.I wish Rufe 'n'old Jas 'n'you 'n'young Jas could have it out fist and skull,'n'stop this killin'o'people like hogs.Thar's nobody left but you four.But thar's no chance o'that,I reckon.""I'll fight him anyway,'n'I reckon ef he don't die till I lay out in the lorrel fer him,he'll live a long time.Ef a Stetson ever done sech meanness as that I never heerd it."Nother hev I,"said the old man,with quick justice."You air a over-bearin'race,all o'ye,but I never knowed ye to be that mean.

Hit's all the wus fer ye thet ye air in sech doin's.I tell ye,Rome--A faint cry rose above the drone of the millstones,and old Gabe stopped with open lips to listen.The boy's face was pressed close to the logs.A wet paddle had flashed into the sunlight from out the bushes across the river.He could just see a canoe in the shadows under them,and with quick suspicion his brain pictured Jasper's horse hitched in the bushes,and Jasper stealing across the river to waylay Rome.But the canoe moved slowly out of sight downstream and toward the deep water,the paddler unseen,and the boy looked around with a weak smile.Neither seemed to have heard him.Rome was brooding,with his sullen face in his hands;the old miller was busy with his own thoughts;and the boy turned again to his watch.

Jasper did not come.Isom's eyes began to ache from the steady gaze,and now and then he would drop them to the water swirling beneath.A slow wind swayed the overhanging branches at the mouth of the stream,and under them was an eddy.Escaping this,the froth and bubbles raced out to the gleams beating the air from the sunlit river.He saw one tiny fleet caught;a mass of yellow scum bore down and,sweeping through bubbles and eddy,was itself struck into fragments by something afloat.A tremulous shadow shot through a space of sunlight into the gloom cast by a thicket of rhododendrons,and the boy caught his breath sharply.Amoment more,and the shape of a boat and a human figure quivered on the water running under him.The stern of a Lewallen canoe swung into the basin,and he sprang to his feet.

"Rome!"The cry cut sharply through the drowsy air."Thar he is!

Hit's Jas"

The old miller rose to his feet.The boy threw himself behind the sacks of grain.Rome wheeled for his rifle,and stood rigid before the door.There was a light step without,the click of a gun-lock within;a shadow fell across the doorway,and a girl stood at the threshold with an empty bag in her hand.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 丹师史记

    丹师史记

    一个不知道从哪来的婴儿,被村里一对夫妇养大,送到大城里当一名书童,而从一次差一点丢掉性命后,开始学习凡俗的武功,剑法,每一样都深入精髓,天赋异禀的少年不甘只在凡人国度下生活,一步一步走向修真之路。
  • 龙兄鼠弟:皇宫魅影

    龙兄鼠弟:皇宫魅影

    不满自己的老鼠身份,一心想做大人物的工匠鼠乐乐,误打误撞进入故宫博物院,并和灵兽小龙成为好朋友。为了挽救大难来临的故宫,龙兄鼠弟齐心协力寻找历史上早已丢失的传国之玺。在整个历险过程中,故宫内各种各样的奇珍异宝,跳出了教科书中死气沉沉的文物形象,变成一个个性格独特的生动卡通角色,怀着他们的使命,轮番上演了一系列妙趣横生的历险故事。
  • 诱拐小娇妻

    诱拐小娇妻

    五年前一场闹剧让二人之间有了关系,就在骆昊以为能够抱得小娇妻时,朱媚却毅然出国五年时间让两人成长,工作的交集让两人清晰的看到了对方的努力和蜕变。怎奈何世事难料,阴谋的出现和家庭的变化,让两人应接不暇!两人强强联手见招拆招,魑魅魍魉纷纷招架不住,跪地求饶。本以为两人可以共度余生,却凭空蹦出来一个私生子,两人的裂隙再现,这次能否解开所有的谜团,让两人破镜重圆呢?
  • 花落涟漪,夕夜迢迢

    花落涟漪,夕夜迢迢

    对于一支吸血鬼来说,穿越没有什么可惊讶的。但对于落雨来说,这简直就是一个天大的........喜事;为什么这么说呢,因为落雨从小的愿望就是能够穿越到古代去,这下真的踩到狗屎运了,哈哈哈哈哈。不过,这一个个本来唾弃我像唾弃狗一样的京城六大美男,咋一个个都送上门来啦,既然你们自己来,那就别怪我这个君子没有成人之美啦!!!精彩片段一:“走,晓婷(女主忠心耿耿的丫鬟),咱们去青楼玩玩!”落雨突然说。在硬逼晓婷穿上男装之后,就准备启程啦。这时候,落雨就该偷笑了(来青楼可是每个穿越者的愿望啊)。但是却没想到,在青楼里惹到了那个不该惹的人..........
  • tfboys少爷,我们不约

    tfboys少爷,我们不约

    看可爱的千玺,是怎样变成大灰狼的,把我们的女主弄到手的。
  • 魂祖传奇

    魂祖传奇

    十年磨一剑,宝剑锋从磨砺出。乱世群雄逐鹿,看天下谁主沉浮。一代天骄,举世皆尊。大丈夫生于乱世,当持三尺青锋立不世之功。亿万年之后,生子当如古魂祖。
  • 空之旅

    空之旅

    被禁锢的土地,被禁锢的世界。如今回想起那个可怕的人,我依心有余悸。也正是如此,在某天的清晨醒来之际,我内心的不安积蓄到了某个程度,令我决定在当天晚上,离开原本居住的家。说实话,其实打从一开始起,那里就根本不存在家。被暴风圈所禁锢的世界中,有八大物种。深海,与高空,我该去往何方……
  • 赶尸诡异录

    赶尸诡异录

    女尸产子,天生灵婴。黑白无常,千年阴王。无头的僵尸,勾魂的厉鬼,李晨天生通灵,自幼跟着爷爷一块赶尸,经历了许多千奇百怪,灵异怪谈之事。直到有一天,一个年轻貌美的女鬼打算跟着李晨……“咳,咳。安抚亡灵是赶尸匠的职责。”李晨打量着女鬼,大义凛然的说道。
  • 无限玄机

    无限玄机

    天地幻化,大道莫测,万古缥缈,众生生而为蝼蚁?众族林立,强大如初的伴随天道而生的强大生物,如何求得一线生机?追寻自己的本源力量,吞噬苍穹,炼化诸天,为求至德之世。
  • 时锦韶华

    时锦韶华

    混沌初开,与盘古神斧相伴生的是两把剑,一曰宿命,一曰轮回。那日,少年一袭浅金色长袍缓缓走到他的面前,带来的,是缠绵千年的蚀骨执念。最后,他拿着宿命剑,空洞的目光注视着轮回剑,用力将宿命插在它旁边,头也不回的离开了他用力的想要握住,只是却握不住……我得到了这个世界……却失去了他……