（
攻心计，总裁99次追妻）（
重生之大神）（
铸神傲天）（
名门弃少）（
调皮王妃惹人爱）（
打工巫师生活录）“i have worked hard,” frederick explainedpolly that eveningthe veranda, unaware that whean explainsiign his situationgrowing parlous.“i have done what camemy hand how creditablyis for other have been paid for it.i have taken careothers and taken caroctors say they have never seen suconstitutiona manm, almost halflifeyet before me, andtravers arong live caremyself, you see, anave myselfshow for it.i was not heart andarteries, and yet there are few men who can boast having donemuch worki havtha, eh?it willas steady twenty years fronothingplaying fast and loose with oneself.”
and all the while polly had been following the invidious parison that lurked behind his words.
“you can write ‘honourable’ before your name,” she flashedproudly.“butfather has been you lived?what have you gotshow for it?stocks and bonds, and houses and servants pouf!heart and arteries anteady handthat all?have you lived merelylive?were you afraiddie?i’d rather sing one wild song and burstheart with it, than livhousand years watchingdigestion and being afraidth you are dust,father will bthe difference.”
“butdear child ”began.
“what have you gotshow for it?” she flamed on.“listen!”
from within, through the open window, came the tinklingtom’s ukulele and the rollicking lilthis voicean hawaiia endeda throbbing, primitive love–call from the sensuous tropic night thatone coul waurstyoung voices, anlamourdidhad sensed something vague and significant.
turning,glanced through the windowtom, flushed and royal, surroundedthe young men and women, under his viking moustache lightinigarette froatch heldhimoneth abruptly struck frederick that never hadlighteigara match helda woman’s hand.
“doctor tyler saysoughtn’tsmokeonly aggravates,”said; andwas allcould say.
as the fallthe year came on, a new typemen beganfrequentproudly called themselves “sour doughs,” and they were arrivingsan franciscothe winter’s furlough from the gold diggingnd morethem came, and they pre emptearge portiononethe down tow tom was fading with the season, and almost livedthedrowsed oftener and longer, but wheneverawokewas surroundedhis courtyoung people,there was some rade waitingsit and yarn about the old gold days and plan for the new gold days.
for tom husky travers, the yukoners named him never thought that theillness,called it, the natural enfeeblement following uporolonged bout with yucata the springwouldright andweather was whalood had bee the meantimewaasetakeeasy and make the mostthe rest.
andone undeceived him not even the yukoners, who smoked pipes and black cigars and chewed tobaccofrederick’s broad verandas untilfelt likeintruderhiswastouch wit regarded hima strangerb camese their mannerseeing him was provocativeinnocent envy pangfter daywatche would see the yukoners meet, perhaps one just leaving the sick room and one just going in.they would clasp hands, solemnly and silently, outsidenewer would question with his eyes, and the other would shake his head.
and more than once frederick noted the moisturethei the newer would enter and draw his chairto tom’s, and with jovial voice proceedplan the outfitting for the explorationthe upper kuskokeem; forwas there tom was boundth couldhadlarabee’lean breed, too, withtaintthe soft southlan was rough country,was reported, butsour doughs couldn’t make the traverse from larabee’sforty days they’d likesehechakoitsixty.
andit went, until frederick wondered, whencamedie,there was one manthe county, much lessthe adjoining county, who would ehimhis bedside.
seatedhis desk, through the open windows would drift whiffsstrong tobacco and rumbling voices, andcould not help catching snatcheswhat the yukoners talked.
“d’ye recollect that koyokuk rushthe early niies?”would hear one say.“well, him an’was pardners then, tradin’ an’ hainky little steamboat,named her that, an’ i was , sir,i was sayin’, him an’loaded the little blatterbatthe guards an’ startedthe koyokuk,firin’ an’ engineerin’ an’ him steerin’, an’ bothus deck handin’.oncea while we’d tiethe bank an’was the fall, an’ mush ice was in’ down, an’ everything gettin’ ready for the freeze up.you see,was norththe arctic circle then an’ still headin’ they was two hundred minersthere needin’ grubthey wintered, an’had the grub.
“well, sir, pretty soon they begunpass us, driftin’ down the rivercanoes an’ was pullin’ out.we kept trac hundred an’ niy four had passed,didn’t seereason for keepin’ on.soturned tail and starte snap had e, an’ the water was fallin’ fast, an’ dangifdidn’t grounda barstrea blatterbat hung u’t budge her.‘it’hamewaste all that grub,’ says i, justwe was pullin’ outa canoe.‘let’s stay an’ eat it,’ says he.an’ dangifdidn’t.we wintered right therethe blatterbat, huntin’ and tradin’ with the indians, an’ when the river broke next yearbrung down eight thousand dollars’ wort whole winter, just twous,goin’ neveross word ouempered pardneve fight!”
“huh!” came the other voice.“i remember the winter oily jones allowed he’d clean out fortdidn’t, for about the second yaplet offran afoulhusk wasthe white caribou.‘i’olf!’ yap know his style, a gunhis belt, fringeshis moccasins, and long hair down his back.‘i’olf,’yaps, ‘an’ thismy nighe, you long lean makeshifta human critter?’ an’ thishusky travers.”
“well?” the other voice queried, afteause.
“in abouecond an’ a half oily jones wasthe floor an’ huskytop askin’ somebody kindlypass hiutche’sdo but plumb hack off alloily jones’ long hair.‘now howl, damn you, howl,’ says husky, gettin’ up.”
“he waool one, foild one,” the first voice took up.“i seen him buck roulettethe little wolverine, drop nihousandtwo hours, borrow some more, winbackfifteen minutes, buy the drinks, an’ cashdang me, allfifteen minutes.”
“one evening tom was unusually brightly awake, and frederick, joining the rapt young circle, sat and listenedhis brother’s serionarrativethe nightwreckthe islandblang;the swim through the sharks where half the crew was lost;the great pearl which desay brought ashore with him;the head decorated palisade that surrounded the grass palace wherein dwelt the malay queen with her royal consort, a shipwrecked chinese eurasian;
“of the intrigue for the pearldesay;mad feasts and dancesthe barbaric night, and quick dangers and sudden deaths;the queen’s love makingdesay,desay’s love makingthe queen’s daughter, anddesay, every joint crushed, still alive, staked outthe reeflow tidebe eatenthe sharks;the ingthe plague;the beatingtom toms and the exorcisingthe devil devil doctors;the flight over the man trapped, wild pig runsthe mountain bush men; andthe final rescuetasman,who was hatcheted only last year and whose head reposedsome melanesian stronghold and all breathingthe warmth and abandon and savagerythe burning islandsthe sun.
”
and despite himself, frederick sat entranced; and when all the tale was told,was awarea quee remembered backhis boyhood, whenhad pored over the illustrationsthe old fashione, too, had dreamedamazing adventurefar places and desiredgo outthe shininhad plannedgo; yethad known only workthat wasthat was the secretthe strange wisdomhis brother’ the moment, faint and far, vicariously,glimpsed the lordly vision his brother had seen.
he remembereharp sayingpolly’s.“you have misse tradedfor dividends.”she was right, and yet,had wanted romance, but the work had been placed readyhi had toiled and moiled, day and night, and been faithfulhihad missed love and the world living that was forevehisperhi what had tom doo deserve it? a wastrel andidle singersongs.
his placewas goingbe the next governohat man would ehim and liehim outlove?the thoughtall his property seemedpury and gritty tastehi!now thatlookedit, ohousand dollars was like any other thousand dollars; and one day (of his days) was like any othe had never made the picturesthe geography had not struck his man, nor lighted his cigara match helda woman’ could sleeponly one beda time tom had sai shudderedhe stroveestimate how many bedsowned, how many blanketsha all the beds and blankets would not buy one mane from the endthe earth, and grip his hand, and cry, “by the turtlestasman!”
somethingall thistold polly,undercurrentplaintthe unfairnessthingshi she had answered:“it couldn’t have bee bought it.he never drov waoyal thing, andpaid forudged the price, don’tsaved your arteries and your money and kept your feet dry.”
m.pi.co
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