4 A trade Comes My Way

Chapter 4 IN WHICH A Trade Comes My Way "Midday, June 20 "I'm back. I stayed on the Spillkill three nights practicing with the sling and grieving for Frightful. I got one squirrel, which I brought home to eat. I missed forty times. Not good." "Hall-oo, the tree! Hall-oo the house!" It's Bando. I blow out my deer-fat candle and run outside to meet this old friend who is trudging up the trail. "Hall-ooooo," I shout. I am always glad to see Bando. He's a wonderful guy. During my first year on the mountain he would hike up the steep trail and spend holidays with me. He teaches English in a college near the Hudson River, and during the long school vacations he helped me with difficult chores, like making clay pots and

第四章 我遇上一桩新买卖 “六月二十日，正午” “我回来了。 我在斯皮尔山待了三晚，练习弹弓，也思念着佛来福。 我打到一只松鼠，带回来当吃的。 我打空了四十次。 可不太妙。” “喂——，大树你好！ 屋子你好！” 是班多来了。 我吹灭鹿脂蜡烛，跑出门去接这位正沿小路费力上山的老朋友。 “喂————”我大声喊。 我见到班多总是特别开心。 他是个超棒的人。 我在山上的第一年，他总爬陡路上山，陪我一起过节。 他在哈德逊河附近的大学教英文，放长假时就帮我做费劲的活，比如做陶罐，还有

blueberry jam. During those days I got to know and admire him. Furthermore, he understood that I wanted to live on my own in the wilderness to test my skills and to learn. He also understood that I didn't want anyone to know where I was, because I would undoubtedly be shipped home. He never told anyone. And he was always encouraging, especially when I thought I could not make it through the blizzards of winter to spring. Bando fell in love with this mountain that year and last spring he bought a cabin on the dirt road about two miles down the mountain from here. Three weeks later he married. His wife, Zella, is a lawyer. She's a pretty lady and I like her. She's not crazy about the cabin, however. It has no electricity or running water. The only heat comes from the fireplace. The log walls are chinked with bark and clay to keep out the cold, but they don't do the job when the wind blows hard. When they moved in, the floor was earthen. It's one of the original cabins of the Westward Movement and, like the Iroquois Indians, the pioneers put furs down for floors, not boards. One day after Zella had swept the floor to make it look

做蓝莓酱。 相处久了，我越来越了解他，也很佩服他。 而且，他理解我想要独自在野外生活，锻炼能力、学习本领。 他也懂我不想让人知道我的位置，不然我肯定会被送回家。 他从来没告诉过任何人。 他也总鼓励我，尤其是我觉得熬不过冬天暴风雪、等不到春天的时候。 班多当年就爱上了这座山，去年春天在距离这儿下山两英里的土路边买了一间小木屋。 三周之后他结婚了。 他的妻子泽拉是一名律师。 她长得很漂亮，我很喜欢她。 不过她不太喜欢这间小木屋。 这里既没有电，也没有自来水。 唯一的取暖来源就是壁炉。 圆木墙缝填了树皮和黏土挡寒，可大风刮起来根本不顶用。 他们搬进去的时候，地面还是泥土地。 这是西进运动时期留下的老木屋，开拓者和易洛魁印第安人一样，地上铺兽皮不铺木板。 有一天，泽拉扫完地想让屋子看起来

neat and clean, she picked up a stick and drew a rug of flowers, deer, and butterflies in the earth. Bando was so pleased that he told her he wasn't going to make the oak-plank floor he was planning. That afternoon he came up the mountain to tell me he didn't understand Zella. "Her rug drawing was so wonderful," he said, "that I didn't want to cover it with a wooden floor. I thought I was complimenting her, but she turned on her heel and walked out the door. Did I miss a point?" "Yes," I said. "She wants a floor." Smiling as I recall that day, I join him at the top of the last steep ascent. "Sam, I'm glad you're home." At the water mill door he drops several small logs on top of others he apparently carried up earlier. "I came by this morning, but no one was here." "Not even Alice?" I realize I haven't seen her since I came home. "Not even Alice." "Maybe she's down at the library reading about waterfalls," I say. "The last I heard from her she

干净整洁，之后她捡起一根棍子，在泥土上画了一块印着花儿、小鹿和蝴蝶的地毯。 班多特别开心，告诉她自己不打算按计划做橡木地板了。 那天下午他上山来找我，说他搞不懂泽拉。 “她画的地毯太美了，”他说，“我实在不想把它用木地板盖住。 我以为我在夸她，结果她一转身就出门走了。 我到底哪里错了呀？” “是啊，”我说。 “她就是想要一块正经地板呀。” 我想起这件事笑了，走到最后那段陡坡顶和他汇合。 “山姆，真高兴你回来了。” 在水磨坊门口，他把几根小圆木丢在那堆木头上，那些看样子是他之前扛上来的。 “我今早来过这儿，但是没人。” “连爱丽丝都不在吗？” 我才反应过来，我回家之后就没见过她。 “确实连爱丽丝都不在。” “说不定她去山下图书馆查瀑布的资料了，”我说。 “我上次听她说，她

said she was "thinking waterfalls.'" Bando raises an eyebrow. "Watch out, Sam. When Alice is thinking, things happen." I smile, but not wholeheartedly. "Sam," Bando says, pointing to the logs, "I need to saw these lengthwise—down the middle from tip to base." "What are you making?" "You know those two chairs I put together when you were making your chaise longue?" I nod. He and I had a good time finding limbs that were twisted and bent by the wind, the sun, and the ice. And we had a good time fashioning them into arms and legs for chairs. "Listen to this," Bando says. "A man saw them in front of my cabin and offered me so much money for them, I couldn't refuse. He said they were fine examples of Adirondack furniture." "What's Adirondack furniture?" "Furniture made with the unpeeled branches and crooked forks of trees. The bark is kept on to give them that rustic look. We left it on for the same

说她正在‘琢磨瀑布’呢。” 班多挑了挑眉毛。 “你小心点，山姆。 爱丽丝一琢磨，肯定要搞出点事情来。” 我笑了笑，可心里没那么轻松。 “山姆，”班多指着木头说，“我得把这些顺着锯开——从顶端到底端沿中间劈开。” “你在做什么呀？” “你还记得我那两把椅子吗？就是你做躺椅的时候我拼的那两把。” 我点了点头。 我俩之前找树枝找得可开心，找的都是被风、日晒和冰压得扭曲变形的枝条。 我们还一起开心地把这些枝条做成椅子的扶手和椅腿。 “你听我说，”班多说。 “有个人在我木屋门口看见了这两把椅子，出了大价钱买，我没法拒绝。 他说这是正宗的阿迪朗达克家具。” “阿迪朗达克家具是什么呀？” “就是用没剥皮的树枝和弯树杈做的家具。 留着树皮就是为了那种质朴的野趣感。 我们留着树皮也是因为同样的

reason, but we didn't know we were stylish. Adirondack furniture was very popular at the turn of the century when people were passionate nature lovers. And, suddenly, now it is popular again." "A man bought them, you say? Paid money for our twisted armrests and crooked chair legs?" "Yes, and he paid a lot. I thought I'd make some more." Bando has just showed me another solution to my problem. I can make Adirondack furniture and sell it. If I can't get enough meat with my sling, I can, and may have to, earn money. I cringe at the thought of shopping, then remember Alice likes stores. "Want to join me in this trade?" he asks. "I'll help you, Bando. It would be fun," I say. "But I don't want a business." I think of Frightful and pick up one of Bando's sapling logs and concentrate on it to erase her from my mind. "Open the sluice gate," I tell him. "I'll take the pins out of the wheel and get the saw lined up."

原因，可我们原来都不知道这还挺时髦。 世纪初阿迪朗达克家具就很流行，那时候人们都热爱自然。 结果现在一下子又流行起来啦。” “你说真有人买走了？ 还花钱买我们这歪歪扭扭的扶手和弯椅腿？” “对呀，他还给了好多钱呢。 所以我想着多做一些。” 班多这一下子就给我指了另一条出路。 我也可以做阿迪朗达克家具拿去卖。 要是我用弹弓打不到足够的猎物，我就可以，说不定还得靠挣钱过日子。 我一想到逛商店就发怵，接着想起爱丽丝喜欢逛商店。 “你要不要和我一起做这桩买卖？”他问。 “我会帮你的，班多。 这肯定挺好玩的，”我说。 “不过我可不想做生意。” 我想起了佛来福，拿起班多带来的一根幼木，把注意力放在木头上，好不去想它。 “打开水闸门，”我对他说。 “我来拔水轮的插销，把锯子对准位置。”

"Good," he says. "The sooner we get going the better. Zella wants an outdoor chair again so she can sit and look at the mountains. She's somewhat miffed that I sold her chair out from under her, as she puts it." He winks and both of his black eyebrows rise to meet his cap of white hair. I carry a log inside the millhouse and place it against the saw, which is held in place vertically by a strong wooden frame that Bando and I made after he visited a waterwheel sawmill on the other side of the Hudson. With a jerk of my wrist, I pull out the pins that keep the wheel from turning when not in use. It's balanced so well that when Jessie Coon James climbed up on it one day, she was carried around twice before she let go and fell in the water. After that, I locked it with pins. "Let her roll!" I shout and look out the window. Bando is coming down the pond hill. He passes Frightful's empty perch without noticing she's gone. I am grateful. I still can't bring myself to talk about her. In minutes I hear the water gushing down the sluiceway, bubbling and chortling along until it

“好，”他说。 “我们越早动身越好。” 泽拉还想要一把户外椅，这样就能坐着看山了。 用她的话说，她挺生气，我居然把她屁股底下的椅子给卖了。” 他眨了眨眼，两道黑眉毛往上挑，碰到了头顶的白发。 我扛了一根原木进磨坊，把它靠在锯子旁。锯子垂直固定在结实的木框里，这个木框是班多去哈德逊河对岸参观水车锯木厂后，我俩一起做的。 我手腕一甩，拔掉了不用时卡住轮子不让它转动的插销。 这个轮子平衡得极好，那天杰西·库恩·詹姆斯爬上去，被带着转了两圈才松手，掉进了水里。 从那之后，我就用插销把轮子锁死了。 “让它转起来！” 我大喊着，朝窗外望去。 班多正沿着池塘边的山坡走下来。 他经过飞芙空着的栖架，都没发现她不见了。 我暗暗感激。 我还是没办法开口谈论她的事。 几分钟后，我听见河水顺着泄水槽奔涌而下，咕嘟咕嘟翻着泡泡往前流，一直到