登陆注册
15445700000112

第112章 CHAPTER 21(8)

The heat grew steadily fiercer; all distant objects were visibly shimmering and palpitating under it. At noon a mirage appeared on the hills to the northwest. McTeague halted the mule, and drank from the tepid water in the canteen, dampening the sack around the canary's cage. As soon as he ceased his tramp and the noise of his crunching, grinding footsteps died away, the silence, vast, illimitable, enfolded him like an immeasurable tide. From all that gigantic landscape, that colossal reach of baking sand, there arose not a single sound. Not a twig rattled, not an insect hummed, not a bird or beast invaded that huge solitude with call or cry. Everything as far as the eye could reach, to north, to south, to east, and west, lay inert, absolutely quiet and moveless under the remorseless scourge of the noon sun. The very shadows shrank away, hiding under sage-bushes, retreating to the farthest nooks and crevices in the canyons of the hills. All the world was one gigantic blinding glare, silent, motionless. "If it gets much hotter," murmured the dentist again, moving his head from side to side, "if it gets much hotter, I don' know what I'll do."

Steadily the heat increased. At three o'clock it was even more terrible than it had been at noon.

"Ain't it EVER going to let up?" groaned the dentist, rolling his eyes at the sky of hot blue brass. Then, as he spoke, the stillness was abruptly stabbed through and through by a shrill sound that seemed to come from all sides at once. It ceased; then, as McTeague took another forward step, began again with the suddenness of a blow, shriller, nearer at hand, a hideous, prolonged note that brought both man and mule to an instant halt.

"I know what THAT is," exclaimed the dentist. His eyes searched the ground swiftly until he saw what he expected he should see--the round thick coil, the slowly waving clover- shaped head and erect whirring tail with its vibrant rattles.

For fully thirty seconds the man and snake remained looking into each other's eyes. Then the snake uncoiled and swiftly wound from sight amidst the sagebrush. McTeague drew breath again, and his eyes once more beheld the illimitable leagues of quivering sand and alkali.

"Good Lord! What a country!" he exclaimed. But his voice was trembling as he urged forward the mule once more.

Fiercer and fiercer grew the heat as the afternoon advanced.

At four McTeague stopped again. He was dripping at every pore, but there was no relief in perspiration. The very touch of his clothes upon his body was unendurable. The mule's ears were drooping and his tongue lolled from his mouth. The cattle trails seemed to be drawing together toward a common point; perhaps a water hole was near by.

"I'll have to lay up, sure," muttered the dentist. "I ain't made to travel in such heat as this."

He drove the mule up into one of the larger canyons and halted in the shadow of a pile of red rock. After a long search he found water, a few quarts, warm and brackish, at the bottom of a hollow of sunwracked mud; it was little more than enough to water the mule and refill his canteen. Here he camped, easing the mule of the saddle, and turning him loose to find what nourishment he might. A few hours later the sun set in a cloudless glory of red and gold, and the heat became by degrees less intolerable. McTeague cooked his supper, chiefly coffee and bacon, and watched the twilight come on, revelling in the delicious coolness of the evening. As he spread his blankets on the ground he resolved that hereafter he would travel only at night, laying up in the daytime in the shade of the canyons. He was exhausted with his terrible day's march. Never in his life had sleep seemed so sweet to him.

But suddenly he was broad awake, his jaded senses all alert.

"What was that?" he muttered. "I thought I heard something --saw something."

He rose to his feet, reaching for the Winchester. Desolation lay still around him. There was not a sound but his own breathing; on the face of the desert not a grain of sand was in motion. McTeague looked furtively and quickly from side to side, his teeth set, his eyes rolling. Once more the rowel was in his flanks, once more an unseen hand reined him toward the east. After all the miles of that dreadful day's flight he was no better off than when he started. If anything, he was worse, for never had that mysterious instinct in him been more insistent than now; never had the impulse toward precipitate flight been stronger; never had the spur bit deeper. Every nerve of his body cried aloud for rest; yet every instinct seemed aroused and alive, goading him to hurry on, to hurry on.

"What IS it, then? What is it?" he cried, between his teeth. "Can't I ever get rid of you? Ain't I EVER going to shake you off? Don' keep it up this way. Show yourselves. Let's have it out right away. Come on. I ain't afraid if you'll only come on; but don't skulk this way." Suddenly he cried aloud in a frenzy of exasperation, "Damn you, come on, will you? Come on and have it out."

His rifle was at his shoulder, he was covering bush after bush, rock after rock, aiming at every denser shadow. All at once, and quite involuntarily, his forefinger crooked, and the rifle spoke and flamed. The canyons roared back the echo, tossing it out far over the desert in a rippling, widening wave of sound.

McTeague lowered the rifle hastily, with an exclamation of dismay.

"You fool," he said to himself, "you fool. You've done it now. They could hear that miles away. You've done it now."

He stood listening intently, the rifle smoking in his hands.

The last echo died away. The smoke vanished, the vast silence closed upon the passing echoes of the rifle as the ocean closes upon a ship's wake. Nothing moved; yet McTeague bestirred himself sharply, rolling up his blankets, resaddling the mule, getting his outfit together again.

From time to time he muttered:

"Hurry now; hurry on. You fool, you've done it now. They could hear that miles away. Hurry now. They ain't far off now."

同类推荐
  • The Little Dream

    The Little Dream

    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。
  • 平平言

    平平言

    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。
  • 摄论章

    摄论章

    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。
  • 先进遗风

    先进遗风

    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。
  • 培远堂手札节要

    培远堂手札节要

    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
  • 道德经(中国古代经典集粹)

    道德经(中国古代经典集粹)

    中国古典文学是中国文学史上闪烁着灿烂光辉的经典性作品或优秀作品,它是世界文学宝库中令人瞩目的瑰宝。几千年来,中国传统文化养育了中国古典文学,中国古典文学又大大丰富了中国传统文化,使传统文化更具有深刻的影响力。
  • 宇宙第一的你

    宇宙第一的你

    螃蟹在剥我的壳,笔记本在写我。漫天的我落在枫叶上雪花上,而你在想我。也许只有世界颠覆,你才会如我所愿。也许只有颠覆世界,我才能摆正你的倒影!想让时光永远停在那一秒,却一瞬间花海绚烂,旧颜换新。心动那么短,念你的时光那么长。一个人等你的日子,就算狼狈不堪,也会抬头挺胸,昂首微笑,仿若宇宙第一的花,花瓣层层叠叠地舒展,骄傲怒放。
  • 花都极品狂兵

    花都极品狂兵

    地下王者,杀手之王。奉旨保护冰山美女校花,怎奈桃花债太多。火辣女警,暴走萝莉,清纯校花,纷至沓来。群美环绕,苏辰只能无奈大喊“各位美女,我只卖艺不卖身啊!”
  • 竹马男神,请说我爱你

    竹马男神,请说我爱你

    (兰小染)(此文停更中)初遇,她5岁,他7岁。然后“老公……”“谁是你老公,老公是能乱叫的吗?”“但是顾妈妈让我叫你老公的啊!”“什么顾妈妈,那是我妈!不是你妈!”“我知道啊,可是她是你妈,也是我的顾妈妈啊!”……她18他20“老婆,我想你了!”“帅哥,虽然你很帅,我也知道我长的挺漂亮的,但是你也不能随便认老婆啊”“你能叫我老公,我为什么不能叫你老婆?”……
  • 企业创新的组织基础

    企业创新的组织基础

    本书从组织与战略的角度出发研究企业组织背景(要素)对创新的影响和作用,探讨了主要的组织背景因素与企业创新之间的关系,从知识创造的角度分析了人力资源(人力资本)对创新的作用机制,最后探讨了研究开发人员的组织激励及其实施和产品创新中组织设计与变革问题。
  • 百剑谱之剑灵佚文录

    百剑谱之剑灵佚文录

    世间兵器诸多,自古以来以剑为尊,然神兵通灵,吸纳天地之气,化身为人,只不过在铸剑师一族中流传着一个说法,维系天道永恒,必集百剑铸轩辕。而这个故事就是由那些化灵的剑灵所谱写故事
  • 花恋晴雨天

    花恋晴雨天

    阳台上的风铃,静听着年轻的梦。花,开在晴雨天时,不自觉恋上年少不羁。轻轻一口青苹果,本想品读盈盈心事。不是景致迷人,而是你的情怀,本是诗。。。。。
  • 属于一个人的路

    属于一个人的路

    妈了个蛋!我好好地写简介没人看吗!各位都给我速速滚进来!看好了,主角带你装逼带你飞!在末世爆发后大杀四方,到处装逼肏丧尸。最后醒掌天下权,醉卧美人膝,迎娶白富美,从此走上人生巅峰!我决定断更一个月!重新写一份大纲,提高一下水平!你们都特么给老子滚进来收藏,等着瞧吧!拜谢!
  • 绝代状元妻:侯府千金俘君心

    绝代状元妻:侯府千金俘君心

    她是自力更生的白富美,一朝失足撞了月食,穿越成为侯府千金。奉承成婚,却被贴了小三的标签……他是骄傲的状元郎,洞房之夜却被砸了西瓜瓢,逃了夫人又舍了金……他是情痴睿智的太子爷,偏偏落入情网爱上他人妻,撞到南墙也不回头……她是娇柔的情妹妹,却擅长耍阴斗狠算阴谋,几次将情敌逼至死亡线……桃花劫要斩,痴情债要还,更有恩怨情仇要去破,命运一波三折,几次绝处逢生,她不想做东方不败,却要挥剑练神功……亡命红颜,谁在她的心头写上“只要不放弃”?
  • 曾国藩家书(中华国学经典)

    曾国藩家书(中华国学经典)

    《曾国藩家书》是曾国藩的书信集,成书于清19世纪中叶。该书信集记录了曾国藩在清道光30年至同治10年前后达30年的翰苑和从武生涯,近1500封。所涉及的内容极为广泛,是曾国藩一生的主要活动和其治政、治家、治学之道的生动反映。曾氏家书行文从容镇定,形式自由,随想而到,挥笔自如,在平淡家常中蕴育真知良言,具有极强的说服力和感召力。尽管曾氏留传下来的著作太少,但仅就一部家书中可以体现他的学识造诣和道德修养。曾国藩作为清代著名的理学家、文学家,对书信格式极为讲究,显示了他恭肃、严谨的作风。