The Call of the Wild: Selected Short Stories by Jack London

Chapter 20: An Odyssey in the North (3)
He fell backwards, the sound almost dead.Malmute?Gide grabbed his wrist and asked loudly, "Who is it? Who doesn't want to come back?"

"It's her, she's Enka. She teased and beat me, yes—at last—"

"what?"

"at last--"

"What happened in the end?"

"At last she lay down in the snow, and was silent for a long time. Till now, she still--still--lies in the snow."

Gide and Prince looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Who the hell is that guy lying in the snow?"

"It's her, she's Enka. She looked at me with resentment in her eyes, and finally—"

"Huh? Huh?"

"At the end she had the knife, and the knife, and the knife, yes—but she was so weak. I've been walking slowly along the way. There's a lot of gold hidden there, a lot."

According to Malmute?It was Gide's understanding that that Enka might be somewhere a mile or so away, dying by now. "Where is Enka?" He kept asking while shaking the man desperately, "Where is Enka? Who is she?"

"She's - lying - in the - snow - ground -."

Gide firmly held his wrist and said, "Continue!"

"So - I - would - also want to - stay in - the snow, but - I'm - going to - pay - a - debt... I'm going to - go - pay —debt, it's—quite—heavy...I—go—to—pay—the—debt—" He stopped his paused words, and reached out to take a buckskin bag out of his luggage. "I want - pay - debt - here - is - five pounds - gold - Malmute - Gide - advance - funds - I -" His head hit the table On, he has exhausted all his strength, Malmute?Gide could not support him no matter what.

Gide threw the bag of gold on the table and said calmly: "He is Ulysses, Axel? Gundersen and his wife probably lost their lives. Let's carry him to the bed together and cover him up." Nice blanket. The Indian will turn the corner, and maybe we'll get a story out of him."

They slit his clothes and took them off when they discovered two stab wounds on the right side of his chest, which were stiff but not yet healed.

(three)

"I think you guys can understand what I've been through, so I'm going to tell them all. I'm going to start from the very beginning, and the first thing I want to say is me and that woman, about that man. I'll talk about it later."

The man who exchanged the sea otter skin for the dog seemed to have lost his own fire, and he was afraid that the gift given to him by Prometheus, who stole the fire from the sky to the mortal world, would suddenly disappear without a trace, so he moved closer to the stove. .In order for the light of the oil lamp to be reflected on the face of the storyteller, Malmute?Gide deliberately turned on the light and moved the oil lamp to another place.Prince moved from the bed to be beside them.

"My name is Nass, and my father was a chieftain, and I was the same. I was born in my father's kayak, when the sun had set and had not yet risen again, and there was a dark sea around me. That We fought the storm all night, the men paddling the oars and the women scooping out the seawater that poured into the boat. The seawater froze on my mother's chest and tasted salty. She was in Breathing my last breath as the waves calmed down, I survived. I yelled until the storm stopped.

"The place where we live is called Akatun..."

Malmute?Gide asked, "Where?"

"Acatan, just beyond the Aleutian Islands. The islands of Zygnico, Caldarak, and Unimak are all far away. We live in Acatan, which is in the middle of the sea and at the end of the world, As I have just said. We went to the salt lakes to catch fish, seals, and sea otters. We built houses on the edge of the forest, and each family was close to each other. We put the kayaks in the yellow On the beach, and on the long and narrow rocks in it. We are a few people living together in a small world. On our east side, there are several strange islands similar to Akatun. Because of this, we form And strengthened the idea that the world is made up of islands.

"I am an outlier among my people. There is only a few distorted skeletons and a few planks that were knocked upside down by the waves, lying on the beach by the sea. This kind of boat is definitely not made by my people. .Our island faces the sea on three sides, and a well-proportioned, tall and tall pine tree appeared on the edge of the island. In my impression, this tree has never existed on our island before. I heard people say that there Once there were two men, they stayed there for many days in a row, started to turn around at dawn, and didn't stop until night fell. The two of them came from the other side of the sea, and the ship on the beach was only a wreck. Their boats are their means of transport here. Their skin is very white, similar to yours. Their bodies are weak, like the hungry children that hunters see when they return home empty-handed after the escaped seals. I heard these things from my parents, and then told me. These two white people, who have never met us, were very disgusted with our living habits at first, but the nourishment of fish and oil made them more and more They became stronger and stronger and braver. They later built their own houses, and their wives were the best girls in our area. After a while, they both became fathers. My great-grandfather was there born some time ago.

"Just a moment ago, I mentioned that part of my blood belongs to foreigners, they are the strong white people who came to Akatun across the ocean, so I am an outlier among the people. I heard people say, Our original rules and regulations were not what they are now, and this change was caused by the arrival of these two white people. They often fought with our people, they were so brave, and they were so keen on disputes. As time went on, They had no match for a fight. They took the chiefdom and made a whole new rule of law to replace ours. Our rule was that a man is his mother's son, but according to their According to the rules, he should be his father's son. There is another rule in their rules: All children except the eldest son must rely on their own strength to make a living, and only the eldest son has the right to inherit all the family property of his father. These are just for them Part of the rules and regulations we make. We have lots of bears in our woods, and from them we learn whole new ways of catching fish and bears. They also teach us to store more More food. These things are naturally good.

"Since they ascended to the position of chief, no one dared to offend them, but at this moment, these two Caucasians from a foreign land started fighting among themselves. The Caucasian who is related to me Immediately, the harpoon used for stabbing the seal was impaled on another man, deep enough to reach an arm. Then their son continued to fight, followed by their grandson. In the fierce hatred Driven by their hearts, they often hurt each other, until my generation, the situation is still the same. The end result is that each family has only one person left to continue the incense. I am the only survivor in our family, and the other family has only one survivor A girl, namely Enka. Enka lived with her mother. One night my father and Enka's father went out fishing, and there was no news of their visit. After a while, the waves washed them to the beach On, when their bodies were still tightly entangled.

"Everyone thought the enmity between our two families was incredible. The elders shook their heads and concluded, without exception, that this war would continue between her children and mine. When I was They told me that when I was a child. Gradually I took it for granted, and it seemed to me that Enka's future children would mingle with my children, so I put Enka as an enemy. It was on my mind all the time. When I was a grown man, I asked them why they had to make things go this way anyway. The answer they gave me was: 'We I only know that this is what your ancestors have always done. We don't understand the specific reason. 'The war of the dead must be continued by the descendants. Is this reasonable? I find it hard to understand. It's just weird. But I was just a lad at the time, and everyone said it was the only option we had.

"They suggested that I get married and have children, so that my children would grow into strong adults beforehand. As a chief, I can do this easily. Everyone is full of enthusiasm for me. I pay homage both because of what my ancestors have done to them and the rules and regulations that have been laid down for them, and because of the wealth I have. To be my wife is one thing that all girls dream of, but I have no I don’t like any of them. During that time, many hunters sent rich dowry gifts to Enka’s mother. Facing such a situation, the old man and the girl’s mother asked me to speed up the pace of action. .If Enka's children grow up before my children, then there is no doubt that my children will lose their lives in the end.

"But I never fell in love with a girl until one evening, when I returned from fishing, just as the sun was setting, and my eyes were in the sun's already low light. Between the white waves In the middle of the day, several kayaks galloped over with the wind. Enka's kayak passed me suddenly, her hair was flying like black clouds, her cheeks were wet by the splashing waves, and she looked at me. At that moment, my eyes were facing the sun, I was a young man, I mentioned all this. But suddenly, I woke up completely, although I didn't understand why I woke up. I knew love at first sight That's it. She took the oar and made two more strokes to drive the boat forward. At this moment, she turned her head to look at me again-only a woman like Enka can use this. This way of looking at people - the implication is clear to me. We paddled through the wind and waves, we left behind those slow-moving huge kayaks, and we quickly moved ahead. Everyone cheered for us .She was paddling so fast that I didn't run after her, though my heart was like a full sail.The wind picked up later, and the silvery white waves rolled over the boat. Speeding forward in the waves, like a seal. In the sound of the waves, we went straight to the golden sun on the sea.

"Nas has already removed half of his body from the stool, and bowed to imitate rowing, as if entering a rowing race again. The wobbly kayak, Enka, was blown up by the oncoming wind His hair seemed to appear again behind the stove. The sound of the wind seemed to have reached his ears, and the salty smell of sea water seemed to have reached his nostrils.

"But then she landed. She got to the beach, and she ran and laughed. Finally, she came back to the house where her mother was. That night, a remarkable thought came to my mind - could Having such a thought, I am really the well-deserved leader of Akatun. When the moon was rising, I came to her mother's house, and Axi Nuxi placed some things in front of her door. I looked at Those things—that was the betrothal gift of Yashi Nuxixia, the strong and strong hunter who wanted to conceive a child with Enka. Besides him, there were several other young men’s betrothal gifts there, but they After that, they voluntarily withdrew these betrothal gifts back home. The betrothal gifts of all the latecomers were a little more than the betrothal gifts of the former.

"Facing the moon and the stars, I laughed heartily, and followed me to the room where I stored my belongings. I moved several batches of belongings, and finally my pile of betrothal gifts was higher than Axi? Angry There was a pile of dowry, and it was as high as an arm. My dowry included dried and smoked fish, forty seal skins, and twenty animal skins. These sixty skins were filled with oil and sealed. In addition to these I had ten bear skins which I had hunted in the woods where bears frequented in the spring. I traded with men from the East for glass beads , blankets, red cloth, these things are also included in my dowry, their original owners live in the east of the east. As the chief of Akatun, I have treasures that other boys can't match. Looking at Axi? I couldn’t help laughing again. The people will remember my ancestors’ names for generations, because they have made great contributions to everyone and formulated many rules and regulations.

"As soon as dawn came, I moved to the beach and secretly kept an eye on Enka's mother's house. My dowry was placed where it was, and no one went to touch it. Many women were there laughing and laughing. Whispering. Since such a large dowry has never been presented before, this result is very confusing to me. After dark, I brought a lot of belongings, and a well-tanned kayak— —It has never touched the sea yet, so I put them all next to the original pile of dowry gifts. However, on the next day, no one came to touch my dowry gift. It became the object of everyone's ridicule. There is nothing I can do about it. I feel very angry that Enka's mother is so cunning that she insulted me in front of my people like this. I can't accept it. Because of this, I brought a lot of property that night, and they joined Inflated the scale of my dowry. In addition, I dragged my own kayak ashore, which was equivalent to twenty kayaks, and I let it join the dowry. In this way, my dowry was Disappeared the next morning.

"Then I started to prepare for the wedding. Even the residents on the east coast of the sea came to our wedding, because our wedding banquet was extremely rich, and the guests who attended the banquet could also receive gifts. If we calculate the age according to our method, Then Enka is four suns older than me. My father was a chief, and I am a chief myself, so it doesn't matter if I'm just a young lad.

"At this moment, a ship appeared on the sea, and its sails were gradually inflated by gusts of wind. Above the scupper of the ship, someone was eagerly and vigorously starting the water pump. The water flowed out from the scupper. Standing on the prow was a rather tall man who gazed at the depth of the water and gave orders in a thunderous voice. His eyes were the pale blue of sea water, and he His hair looks like the mane of a sea lion. His hair is yellow, which makes them like the rice harvested by the people in the southern regions, and like the jute from Manila, which is the raw material for the sailors to weave the rope.

"We have seen many great ships from afar in the past few years, but none of them docked on the coast of Akatun except that ship. Our feasting paused, and the men took up their spears and bows, Ready to meet the gang, women and children retreated to their homes. People we had never met ignored us after the bow touched the beach and went about their business. Waiting until the tide went out Immediately thereafter, the brig was put in a sideways position touching the ground. Afterwards, they began to mend a large hole in the bottom. At this moment, our banquet began again, hiding in the house The women are already out.

"The vagrants cast down the anchor of the brig in deep water when the tide was high, and they came to us. They looked nice, and brought presents for the We. Under such circumstances, I arranged for them to be seated. Because that day was my big day, and I was the chief of Akatun, so I generously gave them some gifts in return. For everyone present A guest, that's what I do. The man with the hair like a sea lion's mane also came to the banquet. His tall and strong body gave people the impression that the ground would tremble under his trample. He had been looking at Enka intently, with his arms folded across his chest. At last he returned to the ship, when the sun had gone down and the stars were shining in the sky. I shook my hand as soon as he had gone. hold Enka's hand and take her back to my house where the guests are singing and laughing and my female relatives are behaving like normal women at weddings and they all come and laugh at me and Enka We didn't take it to heart at all, though. In the end, everyone went home and it was just the two of us.

(End of this chapter)