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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c32877 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53667 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53667) diff --git a/old/53667-0.txt b/old/53667-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7901d85..0000000 --- a/old/53667-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6710 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Song of Hugh Glass, by John Gneisenau Neihardt - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Song of Hugh Glass - -Author: John Gneisenau Neihardt - -Commentator: Julius T. House - -Release Date: December 4, 2016 [EBook #53667] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS - - -[Illustration] - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS - ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO - - MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED - LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA - MELBOURNE - - THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. - TORONTO - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS - - - BY - - JOHN G. NEIHARDT - - WITH NOTES - - BY - - JULIUS T. HOUSE - - HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AT THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, WAYNE, - NEBRASKA - - - New York - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - - 1921 - - _All rights reserved_ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1915, 1919, - - BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. - - Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1915. - - - Norwood Press - J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. - Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TO SIGURD, SCARCELY THREE - - - When you are old enough to know - The joys of kite and boat and bow - And other suchlike splendid things - That boyhood’s rounded decade brings, - I shall not give you tropes and rhymes; - But, rising to those rousing times, - I shall ply well the craft I know - Of shaping kite and boat and bow, - For you shall teach me once again - The goodly art of being ten. - - Meanwhile, as on a rainy day - When ‘tis not possible to play, - The while you do your best to grow - I ply the other craft I know - And strive to build for you the mood - Of daring and of fortitude - With fitted word and shapen phrase, - Against those later wonder-days - When first you glimpse the world of men - Beyond the bleaker side of ten. - - - - - NOTE - - -The following narrative is based upon an episode taken from that much -neglected portion of our history, the era of the American Fur Trade. My -interest in that period may be said to have begun at the age of six -when, clinging to the forefinger of my father, I discovered the Missouri -River from a bluff top at Kansas City. It was flood time, and the -impression I received was deep and lasting. Even now I cannot think of -that stream without a thrill of awe and something of the reverence one -feels for mighty things. It was for me what the sea must have been to -the Greek boys of antiquity. And as those ancient boys must have been -eager to hear of perils nobly encountered on the deep and in the lands -adjacent, so was I eager to learn of the heroes who had travelled my -river as an imperial road. Nor was I disappointed in what I learned of -them; for they seemed to me in every way equal to the heroes of old. I -came to think of them with a sense of personal ownership, for any one of -many of them might have been my grandfather—and so a little of their -purple fell on me. As I grew older and came to possess more of my -inheritance, I began to see that what had enthralled me was, in fact, of -the stuff of sagas, a genuine epic cycle in the rough. Furthermore, I -realized that this raw material had been undergoing a process of -digestion in my consciousness, corresponding in a way to the process of -infinite repetition and fond elaboration which, as certain scholars tell -us, foreran the heroic narratives of old time. - -I decided that some day I would begin to tell these hero tales in verse; -and in 1908, as a preparation for what I had in mind, I descended the -Missouri in an open boat, and also ascended the Yellowstone for a -considerable distance. On the upper river the country was practically -unchanged; and for one familiar with what had taken place there, it was -no difficult feat of the imagination to revive the details of that -time—the men, the trails, the boats, the trading posts where veritable -satraps once ruled under the sway of the American Fur Company. - -The Hugh Glass episode is to be found in Chittenden’s “History of the -American Fur Trade” where it is quoted from its three printed sources: -the _Missouri Intelligencer_, Sage’s “Scenes in the Rocky Mountains,” -and Cooke’s “Scenes in the United States Army.” The present narrative -begins after that military fiasco known as the Leavenworth Campaign -against the Aricaras, which took place at the mouth of the Grand River -in what is now South Dakota. - - J. G. N. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. GRAYBEARD AND GOLDHAIR 1 - - II. THE AWAKENING 26 - - III. THE CRAWL 37 - - IV. THE RETURN OF THE GHOST 94 - - V. JAMIE 109 - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - -If the average student of Western American History in our schools were -asked to recall those names which loom large for him during the four -decades from the purchase of the Louisiana Territory to the coming of -the settlers, he would doubtless think of Lewis and Clark, Lieutenant -Pike, Major Long, and General Frémont, with perhaps one or two others. -That is to say, the average student of Western History is familiar with -the names of official explorers; and but for their exploits, those forty -wonderful years would seem to him little more than a lapse of empty time -in a vast region waiting for the westering white man. - -It is true that the deeds of those above named were important. The -journey of Lewis and Clark from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia, -and back again, has immense significance in the story of our national -life, and it was truly a “magnificent adventure,” to use the phrase of -Emerson Hough. Pike holds and deserves a high place for his explorations -in the Southwest. Long’s contribution to the early knowledge of the West -was considerable; and Frémont’s expeditions served, at least, to awaken -the popular Eastern mind to the great possibilities of the -Trans-Missouri region. Frémont’s reputation, however, is out of all -proportion to his real accomplishment, for the trails he travelled were -well known to white men long before he ventured into the wilderness. In -this connection, Major Chittenden, one of the foremost authorities on -the subject, tells us that “there never has been a time until very -recently when the geography of the West was so thoroughly understood as -it was by the trader and trapper from 1830 to 1840.” - -When Lewis and Clark were descending the Missouri River in the summer of -1806 on their return from the mouth of the Columbia, they met bands of -traders pushing on toward the country from whence the explorers had just -come. These were the vanguard of the real history makers of the Early -West. It was such men as these who, during the next generation, as -Chittenden says, “first explored and established the routes of travel -which are now and always will be the avenues of commerce in that -region.” The period that followed the return of Lewis and Clark was one -of the most enthralling in the entire story of the human race, and yet -the very names of its principal heroes are practically unknown except to -specialists in Western History. The stories of their exploits have not -yet reached our schools, and are to be found, for the most part, hidden -away in the collections of state historical societies and in -contemporary journals and books of travel long since out of print. The -Mormon Emigration, the Mexican War, the Gold Rush to California, and the -Oregon Question filled the popular imagination during the early years of -the West, and thus an important phase of our national development was -overlooked and forgotten. - -Nevertheless, it remains true that the story of the West during the -first four decades of the nineteenth century is the story of the -wandering bands of trappers and traders who explored the wilderness in -search of furs from the British boundary to Mexico and from the Missouri -to the Pacific. History, as written in the past, has been too much a -chronological record of official governmental acts, too little an -intimate account of the lives of the people themselves. Doubtless, the -democratic spirit that now seems to be sweeping the world will, if it -continues to spread, revolutionize our whole conception of history, -bringing us to realize that the glory of the race is not the glory of a -chosen few, but that it radiates from the precious heroic stuff of -common human lives. And that view, I am proud to say, is quite in -keeping with our dearest national traditions. - -Now the fur trade on the Missouri River dates well back into the -eighteenth century, and at the time of the Revolutionary War, parties of -trappers had already ascended as far north as the Big Bend in the -present state of South Dakota. But it was not until after the return of -Lewis and Clark from the Northwest, and of Lieutenant Pike from the -Southwest, that the great era of the fur trade began. In 1807 the -Spanish trader, Manuel Lisa, ascended the Missouri and the Yellowstone -to the mouth of the Big Horn, where he erected a trading post. Returning -to St. Louis the next year, he became the leading spirit in the “St. -Louis Missouri Fur Company,” the troubled career of which, during the -succeeding fifteen years, was rich in the stuff of which epics are made. -Major Andrew Henry, who appears in “The Song of Hugh Glass” as leader of -the westbound expedition from the mouth of the Grand River, was a member -of that company, ascending the Missouri to the Three Forks in the summer -of 1809. Driven thence by the Blackfeet, he crossed the Great Divide and -built a post on what has since been called Henry’s fork of the Snake -River, thus being the first American trader to operate on the Pacific -side of the Rockies. - -In the spring of 1811, the Overland Astorians, under the command of W. -P. Hunt, left St. Louis, bound for the mouth of the Columbia where they -expected to join forces with a sea expedition that had set sail from New -York during the previous autumn for the long and hazardous voyage around -Cape Horn. This is the only widely known expedition in the whole history -of the Trans-Missouri fur trade, thanks to Washington Irving, whose -account of it is an American classic. - -During the War of 1812 the fur trade on the Missouri declined; and -though in the year 1819 five companies of some importance were operating -from St. Louis, none of these was doing a profitable business. The -revival of the trade, which ushered in the great epic period of our -national development, may be dated from March 20th, 1822, when the -following advertisement appeared in the _Missouri Republican_ of St. -Louis: - - To Enterprising Young Men: - - The subscriber wishes to engage one hundred young men to ascend the - Missouri River to its source, there to be employed for one, two or - three years. For particulars enquire of Major Andrew Henry, near the - lead mines in the County of Washington, who will ascend with and - command the party; or of the subscriber near St. Louis. - - (Signed) WILLIAM H. ASHLEY. - -Major Henry has already been mentioned as a veteran trader of the upper -country. Ashley, who was at that time General of the Missouri Militia -and Lieutenant Governor of the recently admitted state, was about to -make his first trip into the wilderness. - -Setting out in the spring of 1822, Major Henry, with his one hundred -“enterprising young men” (some of whom were young only in spirit), -ascended to the mouth of the Yellowstone. This was before the era of the -Missouri River steamboat, and the two keelboats, that bore the trading -stock and supplies of the party, were “cordelled,” that is to say, -pulled by tow-line. General Ashley accompanied the expedition, returning -to St. Louis in the fall. Early in the spring of 1823 he started north -again with a second band of one hundred men. Stopping to trade for -horses at the Ree villages near the mouth of the Grand, he was attacked -by that most treacherous of the Missouri River tribes, received a sound -drubbing, lost most of his horses, and was compelled to drop down stream -to await reënforcements. It was in this battle that old Hugh Glass -received his hip wound. - -Jedediah Smith, who was a member of the defeated party, and who had -fought with conspicuous bravery, volunteered to carry the news of -disaster to Henry at the mouth of the Yellowstone. He was then but -twenty-four years old; yet during the next six years he was destined to -discover and explore the central and southwestern routes to the -Pacific—an achievement of equal importance with that of Lewis and Clark, -and performed under much greater difficulties. Immediately upon the -arrival of Smith at the mouth of the Yellowstone, Henry, with most of -his band, started south to the relief of Ashley. - -In the meanwhile, Ashley had apprised the Indian Agent and military -authorities at Fort Atkinson of his rough treatment; and Colonel -Leavenworth started north with 220 men, intent upon chastising the Rees -and making the Missouri River safe for American traders. The campaign -that followed, in which the Whites were aided by a band of Sioux, was in -some important respects a fiasco, as the opening lines of the poem -suggest. But that does not greatly matter here. - -What does matter, is the fact that the muster roll of the two parties of -Ashley and Henry, then united at the mouth of the Grand, contained -nearly all of the great names in the history of the West from the time -of Lewis and Clark to the coming of the settlers. Harrison Clifford -Dale, whose “Ashley-Smith Explorations to the Pacific” easily ranks him -as the supreme authority on this particular period, has the following to -say regarding the Ashley-Henry men: “The wanderings of this group during -the next ten or fifteen years cover the entire West.... It was the most -significant group of continental explorers ever brought together.” - -After the Leavenworth campaign against the Rees, Major Henry, with -eighty men, set out for the mouth of the Big Horn by way of the Grand -River valley. Hugh Glass acted as hunter for the westbound party, and it -is at this point that the following narrative begins. Old Glass was not -himself an explorer, yet his adventures serve to illustrate the heroic -temper of the men who explored the West, as well as the nature of the -difficulties they encountered. - -In building the epic cycle, of which “The Song of Hugh Glass” and “The -Song of Three Friends” are parts (each, however, being complete in -itself), I am concerned with the wanderings of that group of men who -were assembled for the last time at the mouth of the Grand. Long ago, -when I was younger than most of you who are now about to study the poem -here presented, I dreamed of making those men live again for the young -men and women of my country. The tremendous mood of heroism that was -developed in our American West during that period is properly a part of -your racial inheritance; and certainly no less important a part than the -memory of ancient heroes. Indeed, it can be shown that those -men—Kentuckians, Virginians, Pennsylvanians, Ohioans—were direct -descendants, in the epic line, of all the heroes of our Aryan race that -have been celebrated by the poets of the Past; descendants of Achilles -and Hector, of Æneas, of Roland, of Sigurd, and of the knights of -Arthur’s court. They went as torch-bearers in the van of our westering -civilization. Your Present is, in a great measure, a heritage from their -Past. - -And their blood is in your veins! - - JOHN G. NEIHARDT. - - - - - THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS - - - - - I - GRAYBEARD AND GOLDHAIR - - - The year was eighteen hundred twenty three. - - ‘Twas when the guns that blustered at the Ree - Had ceased to brag, and ten score martial clowns - Turned from the unwhipped Aricara towns, - Earning the scornful laughter of the Sioux. - A withering blast the arid South still blew, - And creeks ran thin beneath the glaring sky; - For ‘twas a month ere honking geese would fly - Southward before the Great White Hunter’s face: - And many generations of their race, - As bow-flung arrows, now have fallen spent. - - It happened then that Major Henry went - With eighty trappers up the dwindling Grand, - Bound through the weird, unfriending barren-land - For where the Big Horn meets the Yellowstone; - And old Hugh Glass went with them. - Large of bone, - Deep-chested, that his great heart might have play, - Gray-bearded, gray of eye and crowned with gray - Was Glass. It seemed he never had been young; - And, for the grudging habit of his tongue, - None knew the place or season of his birth. - Slowly he ‘woke to anger or to mirth; - Yet none laughed louder when the rare mood fell, - And hate in him was like a still, white hell, - A thing of doom not lightly reconciled. - What memory he kept of wife or child - Was never told; for when his comrades sat - About the evening fire with pipe and chat, - Exchanging talk of home and gentler days, - Old Hugh stared long upon the pictured blaze, - And what he saw went upward in the smoke. - - But once, as with an inner lightning stroke, - The veil was rent, and briefly men discerned - What pent-up fires of selfless passion burned - Beneath the still gray smoldering of him. - There was a rakehell lad, called Little Jim, - Jamie or Petit Jacques; for scarce began - The downy beard to mark him for a man. - Blue-eyed was he and femininely fair. - A maiden might have coveted his hair - That trapped the sunlight in its tangled skein: - So, tardily, outflowered the wild blond strain - That gutted Rome grown overfat in sloth. - A Ganymedes haunted by a Goth - Was Jamie. When the restive ghost was laid, - He seemed some fancy-ridden child who played - At manliness ‘mid all those bearded men. - The sternest heart was drawn to Jamie then. - But his one mood ne’er linked two hours together. - To schedule Jamie’s way, as prairie weather, - Was to get fact by wedding doubt and whim; - For very lightly slept that ghost in him. - No cloudy brooding went before his wrath - That, like a thunder-squall, recked not its path, - But raged upon what happened in its way. - Some called him brave who saw him on that day - When Ashley stormed a bluff town of the Ree, - And all save beardless Jamie turned to flee - For shelter from that steep, lead-harrowed slope. - Yet, hardly courage, but blind rage agrope - Inspired the foolish deed. - - ‘Twas then old Hugh - Tore off the gray mask, and the heart shone through. - For, halting in a dry, flood-guttered draw, - The trappers rallied, looked aloft and saw - That travesty of war against the sky. - Out of a breathless hush, the old man’s cry - Leaped shivering, an anguished cry and wild - As of some mother fearing for her child, - And up the steep he went with mighty bounds. - Long afterward the story went the rounds, - How old Glass fought that day. With gun for club, - Grim as a grizzly fighting for a cub, - He laid about him, cleared the way, and so, - Supported by the firing from below, - Brought Jamie back. And when the deed was done, - Taking the lad upon his knee: “My Son, - Brave men are not ashamed to fear,” said Hugh, - “And I’ve a mind to make a man of you; - So here’s your first acquaintance with the law!” - Whereat he spanked the lad with vigorous paw - And, having done so, limped away to bed; - For, wounded in the hip, the old man bled. - - It was a month before he hobbled out, - And Jamie, like a fond son, hung about - The old man’s tent and waited upon him. - And often would the deep gray eyes grow dim - With gazing on the boy; and there would go— - As though Spring-fire should waken out of snow— - A wistful light across that mask of gray. - And once Hugh smiled his enigmatic way, - While poring long on Jamie’s face, and said: - “So with their sons are women brought to bed, - Sore wounded!” - Thus united were the two: - And some would dub the old man ‘Mother Hugh’; - While those in whom all living waters sank - To some dull inner pool that teemed and stank - With formless evil, into that morass - Gazed, and saw darkly there, as in a glass, - The foul shape of some weakly envied sin. - For each man builds a world and dwells therein. - Nor could these know what mocking ghost of Spring - Stirred Hugh’s gray world with dreams of blossoming - That wooed no seed to swell or bird to sing. - So might a dawn-struck digit of the moon - Dream back the rain of some old lunar June - And ache through all its craters to be green. - Little they know what life’s one love can mean, - Who shrine it in a bower of peace and bliss: - Pang dwelling in a puckered cicatrice - More truly figures this belated love. - Yet very precious was the hurt thereof, - Grievous to bear, too dear to cast away. - Now Jamie went with Hugh; but who shall say - If ‘twas a warm heart or a wind of whim, - Love, or the rover’s teasing itch in him, - Moved Jamie? Howsoe’er, ‘twas good to see - Graybeard and Goldhair riding knee to knee, - One age in young adventure. One who saw - Has likened to a February thaw - Hugh’s mellow mood those days; and truly so, - For when the tempering Southwest wakes to blow - A phantom April over melting snow, - Deep in the North some new white wrath is brewed. - Out of a dim-trailed inner solitude - The old man summoned many a stirring story, - Lived grimly once, but now shot through with glory - Caught from the wondering eyes of him who heard— - Tales jaggéd with the bleak unstudied word, - Stark saga-stuff. “A fellow that I knew,” - So nameless went the hero that was Hugh— - A mere pelt merchant, as it seemed to him; - Yet trailing epic thunders through the dim, - Whist world of Jamie’s awe. - And so they went, - One heart, it seemed, and that heart well content - With tale and snatch of song and careless laughter. - Never before, and surely never after, - The gray old man seemed nearer to his youth— - That myth that somehow had to be the truth, - Yet could not be convincing any more. - - Now when the days of travel numbered four - And nearer drew the barrens with their need, - On Glass, the hunter, fell the task to feed - Those four score hungers when the game should fail. - For no young eye could trace so dim a trail, - Or line the rifle sights with speed so true. - Nor might the wistful Jamie go with Hugh; - “For,” so Hugh chaffed, “my trick of getting game - Might teach young eyes to put old eyes to shame. - An old dog never risks his only bone.” - ‘Wolves prey in packs, the lion hunts alone’ - Is somewhat nearer what he should have meant. - - And so with merry jest the old man went; - And so they parted at an unseen gate - That even then some gust of moody fate - Clanged to betwixt them; each a tale to spell— - One in the nightmare scrawl of dreams from hell, - One in the blistering trail of days a-crawl, - Venomous footed. Nor might it ere befall - These two should meet in after days and be - Graybeard and Goldhair riding knee to knee, - Recounting with a bluff, heroic scorn - The haps of either tale. - ‘Twas early morn - When Hugh went forth, and all day Jamie rode - With Henry’s men, while more and more the goad - Of eager youth sore fretted him, and made - The dusty progress of the cavalcade - The journey of a snail flock to the moon; - Until the shadow-weaving afternoon - Turned many fingers nightward—then he fled, - Pricking his horse, nor deigned to turn his head - At any dwindling voice of reprimand; - For somewhere in the breaks along the Grand - Surely Hugh waited with a goodly kill. - Hoofbeats of ghostly steeds on every hill, - Mysterious, muffled hoofs on every bluff! - Spurred echo horses clattering up the rough - Confluent draws! These flying Jamie heard. - The lagging air droned like the drowsy word - Of one who tells weird stories late at night. - Half headlong joy and half delicious fright, - His day-dream’s pace outstripped the plunging steed’s. - Lean galloper in a wind of splendid deeds, - Like Hugh’s, he seemed unto himself, until, - Snorting, a-haunch above a breakneck hill, - The horse stopped short—then Jamie was aware - Of lonesome flatlands fading skyward there - Beneath him, and, zigzag on either hand, - A purple haze denoted how the Grand - Forked wide ‘twixt sunset and the polar star. - - A-tiptoe in the stirrups, gazing far, - He saw no Hugh nor any moving thing, - Save for a welter of cawing crows, a-wing - About some banquet in the further hush. - One faint star, set above the fading blush - Of sunset, saw the coming night, and grew. - With hand for trumpet, Jamie gave halloo; - And once again. For answer, the horse neighed. - Some vague mistrust now made him half afraid— - Some formless dread that stirred beneath the will - As far as sleep from waking. - Down the hill, - Close-footed in the skitter of the shale, - The spurred horse floundered to the solid vale - And galloped to the northwest, whinnying. - The outstripped air moaned like a wounded thing; - But Jamie gave the lie unto his dread. - “The old man’s camping out to-night,” he said, - “Somewhere about the forks, as like as not; - And there’ll be hunks of fresh meat steaming hot, - And fighting stories by a dying fire!” - - The sunset reared a luminous phantom spire - That, crumbling, sifted ashes down the sky. - - Now, pausing, Jamie sent a searching cry - Into the twilit river-skirting brush, - And in the vast denial of the hush - The champing of the snaffled horse seemed loud. - - Then, startling as a voice beneath a shroud, - A muffled boom woke somewhere up the stream - And, like vague thunder hearkened in a dream, - Drawled back to silence. Now, with heart abound, - Keen for the quarter of the perished sound, - The lad spurred gaily; for he doubted not - His cry had brought Hugh’s answering rifle shot. - The laggard air was like a voice that sang, - And Jamie half believed he sniffed the tang - Of woodsmoke and the smell of flesh a-roast; - When presently before him, like a ghost, - Upstanding, huge in twilight, arms flung wide, - A gray form loomed. The wise horse reared and shied, - Snorting his inborn terror of the bear! - And in the whirlwind of a moment there, - Betwixt the brute’s hoarse challenge and the charge, - The lad beheld, upon the grassy marge - Of a small spring that bullberries stooped to scan, - A ragged heap that should have been a man, - A huddled, broken thing—and it was Hugh! - - There was no need for any closer view. - As, on the instant of a lightning flash - Ere yet the split gloom closes with a crash, - A landscape stares with every circumstance - Of rock and shrub—just so the fatal chance - Of Hugh’s one shot, made futile with surprise, - Was clear to Jamie. Then before his eyes - The light whirled in a giddy dance of red; - And, doubting not the crumpled thing was dead - That was a friend, with but a skinning knife - He would have striven for the hated life - That triumphed there: but with a shriek of fright - The mad horse bolted through the falling night, - And Jamie, fumbling at his rifle boot, - Heard the brush crash behind him where the brute - Came headlong, close upon the straining flanks. - But when at length low-lying river banks— - White rubble in the gloaming—glimmered near, - A swift thought swept the mind of Jamie clear - Of anger and of anguish for the dead. - Scarce seemed the raging beast a thing to dread, - But some foul-playing braggart to outwit. - Now hurling all his strength upon the bit, - He sank the spurs, and with a groan of pain - The plunging horse, obedient to the rein, - Swerved sharply streamward. Sliddering in the sand, - The bear shot past. And suddenly the Grand - Loomed up beneath and rose to meet the pair - That rode a moment upon empty air, - Then smote the water in a shower of spray. - And when again the slowly ebbing day - Came back to them, a-drip from nose to flank, - The steed was scrambling up the further bank, - And Jamie saw across the narrow stream, - Like some vague shape of fury in a dream, - The checked beast ramping at the water’s rim. - Doubt struggled with a victor’s thrill in him. - As, hand to buckle of the rifle-sheath, - He thought of dampened powder; but beneath - The rawhide flap the gun lay snug and dry. - Then as the horse wheeled and the mark went by— - A patch of shadow dancing upon gray— - He fired. A sluggish thunder trailed away; - The spreading smoke-rack lifted slow, and there, - Floundering in a seethe of foam, the bear - Hugged yielding water for the foe that slew! - - Triumphant, Jamie wondered what old Hugh - Would think of such a “trick of getting game”! - “Young eyes” indeed!—And then that memory came, - Like a dull blade thrust back into a wound. - One moment ‘twas as though the lad had swooned - Into a dream-adventure, waking there - To sicken at the ghastly land, a-stare - Like some familiar face gone strange at last. - But as the hot tears came, the moment passed. - Song snatches, broken tales—a troop forlorn, - Like merry friends of eld come back to mourn— - O’erwhelmed him there. And when the black bulk churned - The star-flecked stream no longer, Jamie turned, - Recrossed the river and rode back to Hugh. - - A burning twist of valley grasses threw - Blear light about the region of the spring. - Then Jamie, torch aloft and shuddering, - Knelt there beside his friend, and moaned: “O Hugh, - If I had been with you—just been with you! - We might be laughing now—and you are dead.” - With gentle hand he turned the hoary head - That he might see the good gray face again. - The torch burned out, the dark swooped back, and then - His grief was frozen with an icy plunge - In horror. ‘Twas as though a bloody sponge - Had wiped the pictured features from a slate! - So, pillaged by an army drunk with hate, - Home stares upon the homing refugee. - A red gout clung where either brow should be; - The haughty nose lay crushed amid the beard, - Thick with slow ooze, whence like a devil leered - The battered mouth convulsed into a grin. - - Nor did the darkness cover, for therein - Some torch, unsnuffed, with blear funereal flare, - Still painted upon black that alien stare - To make the lad more terribly alone. - - Then in the gloom there rose a broken moan, - Quick stifled; and it seemed that something stirred - About the body. Doubting that he heard, - The lad felt, with a panic catch of breath, - Pale vagrants from the legendry of death - Potential in the shadows there. But when - The motion and the moaning came again, - Hope, like a shower at daybreak, cleansed the dark, - And in the lad’s heart something like a lark - Sang morning. Bending low, he crooned: “Hugh, Hugh, - It’s Jamie—don’t you know?—I’m here with you.” - - As one who in a nightmare strives to tell— - Shouting across the gap of some dim hell— - What things assail him; so it seemed Hugh heard, - And flung some unintelligible word - Athwart the muffling distance of his swoon. - - Now kindled by the yet unrisen moon, - The East went pale; and like a naked thing - A little wind ran vexed and shivering - Along the dusk, till Jamie shivered too - And worried lest ‘twere bitter cold where Hugh - Hung clutching at the bleak, raw edge of life. - So Jamie rose, and with his hunting-knife - Split wood and built a fire. Nor did he fear - The staring face now, for he found it dear - With the warm presence of a friend returned. - The fire made cozy chatter as it burned, - And reared a tent of light in that lone place. - Then Jamie set about to bathe the face - With water from the spring, oft crooning low, - “It’s Jamie here beside you—don’t you know?” - Yet came no answer save the labored breath - Of one who wrestled mightily with Death - Where watched no referee to call the foul. - - The moon now cleared the world’s end, and the owl - Gave voice unto the wizardry of light; - While in some dim-lit chancel of the night, - Snouts to the goddess, wolfish corybants - Intoned their wild antiphonary chants— - The oldest, saddest worship in the world. - - And Jamie watched until the firelight swirled - Softly about him. Sound and glimmer merged - To make an eerie void, through which he urged - With frantic spur some whirlwind of a steed - That made the way as glass beneath his speed, - Yet scarce kept pace with something dear that fled - On, ever on—just half a dream ahead: - Until it seemed, by some vague shape dismayed, - He cried aloud for Hugh, and the steed neighed— - A neigh that was a burst of light, not sound. - And Jamie, sprawling on the dewy ground, - Knew that his horse was sniffing at his hair, - While, mumbling through the early morning air, - There came a roll of many hoofs—and then - He saw the swinging troop of Henry’s men - A-canter up the valley with the sun. - - Of all Hugh’s comrades crowding round, not one - But would have given heavy odds on Death; - For, though the graybeard fought with sobbing breath, - No man, it seemed, might break upon the hip - So stern a wrestler with the strangling grip - That made the neck veins like a purple thong - Tangled with knots. Nor might Hugh tarry long - There where the trail forked outward far and dim; - Or so it seemed. And when they lifted him, - His moan went treble like a song of pain, - He was so tortured. Surely it were vain - To hope he might endure the toilsome ride - Across the barrens. Better let him bide - There on the grassy couch beside the spring. - And, furthermore, it seemed a foolish thing - That eighty men should wait the issue there; - For dying is a game of solitaire - And all men play the losing hand alone. - - But when at noon he had not ceased to moan, - And fought still like the strong man he had been, - There grew a vague mistrust that he might win, - And all this be a tale for wondering ears. - So Major Henry called for volunteers, - Two men among the eighty who would stay - To wait on Glass and keep the wolves away - Until he did whatever he should do. - All quite agreed ‘twas bitter bread for Hugh, - Yet none, save Jamie, felt in duty bound - To run the risk—until the hat went round, - And pity wakened, at the silver’s clink, - In Jules Le Bon. - - ‘He would not have them think - That mercenary motives prompted him. - But somehow just the grief of Little Jim - Was quite sufficient—not to mention Hugh. - He weighed the risk. As everybody knew, - The Rickarees were scattered to the West: - The late campaign had stirred a hornet’s nest - To fill the land with stingers (which was so), - And yet—’ - Three days a southwest wind may blow - False April with no drop of dew at heart. - So Jules ran on, while, ready for the start, - The pawing horses nickered and the men, - Impatient in their saddles, yawned. And then, - With brief advice, a round of bluff good-byes - And some few reassuring backward cries, - The troop rode up the valley with the day. - - Intent upon his friend, with naught to say, - Sat Jamie; while Le Bon discussed at length - The reasonable limits of man’s strength— - A self-conducted dialectic strife - That made absurd all argument for life - And granted but a fresh-dug hole for Hugh. - ‘Twas half like murder. Yet it seemed Jules knew - Unnumbered tales accordant with the case, - Each circumstantial as to time and place - And furnished with a death’s head colophon. - - Vivaciously despondent, Jules ran on. - ‘Did he not share his judgment with the rest? - You see, ‘twas some contusion of the chest - That did the trick—heart, lungs and all that, mixed - In such a way they never could be fixed. - A bear’s hug—ugh!’ - And often Jamie winced - At some knife-thrust of reason that convinced - Yet left him sick with unrelinquished hope. - As one who in a darkened room might grope - For some belovéd face, with shuddering - Anticipation of a clammy thing; - So in the lad’s heart sorrow fumbled round - For some old joy to lean upon, and found - The stark, cold something Jamie knew was there. - Yet, womanlike, he stroked the hoary hair - Or bathed the face; while Jules found tales to tell— - Lugubriously garrulous. - Night fell. - At sundown, day-long winds are like to veer; - So, summoning a mood of relished fear, - Le Bon remembered dire alarms by night— - The swoop of savage hordes, the desperate fight - Of men outnumbered: and, like him of old, - In all that made Jules shudder as he told, - His the great part—a man by field and flood - Fate-tossed. Upon the gloom he limned in blood - Their situation’s possibilities: - Two men against the fury of the Rees— - A game in which two hundred men had failed! - He pointed out how little it availed - To run the risk for one as good as dead; - Yet, Jules Le Bon meant every word he said, - And had a scalp to lose, if need should be. - - That night through Jamie’s dreaming swarmed the Ree. - Gray-souled, he wakened to a dawn of gray, - And felt that something strong had gone away, - Nor knew what thing. Some whisper of the will - Bade him rejoice that Hugh was living still; - But Hugh, the real, seemed somehow otherwhere. - Jules, snug and snoring in his blanket there, - Was half a life the nearer. Just so, pain - Is nearer than the peace we seek in vain, - And by its very sting compels belief. - Jules woke, and with a fine restraint of grief - Saw early dissolution. ‘One more night, - And then the poor old man would lose the fight— - Ah, such a man!’ - A day and night crept by, - And yet the stubborn fighter would not die, - But grappled with the angel. All the while, - With some conviction, but with more of guile, - Jules colonized the vacancy with Rees; - Till Jamie felt that looseness of the knees - That comes of oozing courage. Many men - May tower for a white-hot moment, when - The wild blood surges at a sudden shock; - But when, insistent as a ticking clock, - Blind peril haunts and whispers, fewer dare. - Dread hovered in the hushed and moony air - The long night through; nor might a fire be lit, - Lest some far-seeing foe take note of it. - And day-long Jamie scanned the blank sky rim - For hoof-flung dust clouds; till there woke in him - A childish anger—dumb for ruth and shame— - That Hugh so dallied. - But the fourth dawn came - And with it lulled the fight, as on a field - Where broken armies sleep but will not yield. - Or had one conquered? Was it Hugh or Death? - The old man breathed with faintly fluttering breath, - Nor did his body shudder as before. - Jules triumphed sadly. ‘It would soon be o’er; - So men grew quiet when they lost their grip - And did not care. At sundown he would slip - Into the deeper silence.’ - Jamie wept, - Unwitting how a furtive gladness crept - Into his heart that gained a stronger beat. - So cities, long beleaguered, take defeat— - Unto themselves half traitors. - Jules began - To dig a hole that might conceal a man; - And, as his sheath knife broke the stubborn sod, - He spoke in kindly vein of Life and God - And Mutability and Rectitude. - The immemorial funerary mood - Brought tears, mute tribute to the mother-dust; - And Jamie, seeing, felt each cutting thrust - Less like a stab into the flesh of Hugh. - The sun crept up and down the arc of blue - And through the air a chill of evening ran; - But, though the grave yawned, waiting for the man, - The man seemed scarce yet ready for the grave. - - Now prompted by a coward or a knave - That lurked in him, Le Bon began to hear - Faint sounds that to the lad’s less cunning ear - Were silence; more like tremors of the ground - They were, Jules said, than any proper sound— - Thus one detected horsemen miles away. - For many moments big with fate, he lay, - Ear pressed to earth; then rose and shook his head - As one perplexed. “There’s something wrong,” he said. - And—as at daybreak whiten winter skies, - Agape and staring with a wild surmise— - The lad’s face whitened at the other’s word. - Jules could not quite interpret what he heard; - A hundred horse might noise their whereabouts - In just that fashion; yet he had his doubts. - It could be bison moving, quite as well. - But if ‘twere Rees—there’d be a tale to tell - That two men he might name should never hear. - He reckoned scalps that Fall were selling dear, - In keeping with the limited supply. - Men, fit to live, were not afraid to die! - - Then, in that caution suits not courage ill, - Jules saddled up and cantered to the hill, - A white dam set against the twilight stream; - And as a horseman riding in a dream - The lad beheld him; watched him clamber up - To where the dusk, as from a brimming cup, - Ran over; saw him pause against the gloom, - Portentous, huge—a brooder upon doom. - What did he look upon? - Some moments passed; - Then suddenly it seemed as though a blast - Of wind, keen-cutting with the whips of sleet, - Smote horse and rider. Haunched on huddled feet, - The steed shrank from the ridge, then, rearing, wheeled - And took the rubbly incline fury-heeled. - - Those days and nights, like seasons creeping slow, - Had told on Jamie. Better blow on blow - Of evil hap, with doom seen clear ahead, - Than that monotonous, abrasive dread, - Blind gnawer at the soul-thews of the blind. - Thin-worn, the last heart-string that held him kind; - Strung taut, the final tie that kept him true - Now snapped in Jamie, as he saw the two - So goaded by some terrifying sight. - Death riding with the vanguard of the Night, - Life dwindling yonder with the rear of Day! - What choice for one whom panic swept away - From moorings in the sanity of will? - - Jules came and summed the vision of the hill - In one hoarse cry that left no word to say: - “Rees! Saddle up! We’ve got to get away!” - - Small wit had Jamie left to ferret guile, - But fumblingly obeyed Le Bon; the while - Jules knelt beside the man who could not flee: - For big hearts lack not time for charity - However thick the blows of fate may fall. - Yet, in that Jules Le Bon was practical, - He could not quite ignore a hunting knife, - A flint, a gun, a blanket—gear of life - Scarce suited to the customs of the dead! - - And Hugh slept soundly in his ample bed, - Star-canopied and blanketed with night, - Unwitting how Venality and Fright - Made hot the westward trail of Henry’s men. - - - - - II - THE AWAKENING - - - No one may say what time elapsed, or when - The slumberous shadow lifted over Hugh: - But some globose immensity of blue - Enfolded him at last, within whose light - He seemed to float, as some faint swimmer might, - A deep beneath and overhead a deep. - So one late plunged into the lethal sleep, - A spirit diver fighting for his breath, - Swoops through the many-fathomed glooms of death, - Emerging in a daylight strange and new. - - Rousing a languid wonder, came on Hugh - The quiet, steep-arched splendor of the day. - Agrope for some dim memory, he lay - Upon his back, and watched a lucent fleece - Fade in the blue profundity of peace - As did the memory he sought in vain. - Then with a stirring of mysterious pain, - Old habit of the body bade him rise; - But when he would obey, the hollow skies - Broke as a bubble punctured, and went out. - - Again he woke, and with a drowsy doubt, - Remote unto his horizontal gaze - He saw the world’s end kindle to a blaze - And up the smoky steep pale heralds run. - And when at length he knew it for the sun, - Dawn found the darkling reaches of his mind, - Where in the twilight he began to find - Strewn shards and torsos of familiar things. - As from the rubble in a place of kings - Men school the dream to build the past anew, - So out of dream and fragment builded Hugh, - And came upon the reason of his plight: - The bear’s attack—the shot—and then the night - Wherein men talked as ghosts above a grave. - - Some consciousness of will the memory gave: - He would get up. The painful effort spent - Made the wide heavens billow as a tent - Wind-struck, the shaken prairie sag and roll. - Some moments with an effort at control - He swayed, half raised upon his arms, until - The dizzy cosmos righted, and was still. - Then would he stand erect and be again - The man he was: an overwhelming pain - Smote him to earth, and one unruly limb - Refused the weight and crumpled under him. - - Sickened with torture he lay huddled there, - Gazing about him with a great despair - Proportioned to the might that felt the chain. - Far-flung as dawn, collusive sky and plain - Stared bleak denial back. - Why strive at all?— - That vacancy about him like a wall, - Yielding as light, a granite scarp to climb! - Some little waiting on the creep of time, - Abandonment to circumstance; and then— - - Here flashed a sudden thought of Henry’s men - Into his mind and drove the gloom away. - They would be riding westward with the day! - How strange he had forgot! That battered leg - Or some scalp wound, had set his wits a-beg! - Was this Hugh Glass to whimper like a squaw? - Grimly amused, he raised his head and saw— - The empty distance: listened long and heard— - Naught but the twitter of a lonely bird - That emphasized the hush. - Was something wrong? - ‘Twas not the Major’s way to dally long, - And surely they had camped not far behind. - Now woke a query in his troubled mind— - Where was his horse? Again came creeping back - The circumstances of the bear’s attack. - He had dismounted, thinking at the spring - To spend the night—and then the grisly thing— - Of course the horse had bolted; plain enough! - But why was all the soil about so rough - As though a herd of horses had been there? - The riddle vexed him till his vacant stare - Fell on a heap of earth beside a pit. - What did that mean? He wormed his way to it, - The newly wakened wonder dulling pain. - No paw of beast had scooped it—that was plain. - ‘Twas squared; indeed, ‘twas like a grave, he thought. - A grave—a grave—the mental echo wrought - Sick fancies! Who had risen from the dead? - Who, lying there, had heard above his head - The ghostly talkers deaf unto his shout? - - Now searching all the region round about, - As though the answer were a lurking thing, - He saw along the margin of the spring - An ash-heap and the litter of a camp. - Suspicion, like a little smoky lamp - That daubs the murk but cannot fathom it, - Flung blear grotesques before his groping wit. - Had Rees been there? And he alive? Who then? - And were he dead, it might be Henry’s men! - How many suns had risen while he slept? - The smoky glow flared wildly, and he crept, - The dragged limb throbbing, till at length he found - The trail of many horses westward bound; - And in one breath the groping light became - A gloom-devouring ecstasy of flame, - A dazing conflagration of belief! - - Plunged deeper than the seats of hate and grief, - He gazed about for aught that might deny - Such baseness: saw the non-committal sky, - The prairie apathetic in a shroud, - The bland complacence of a vagrant cloud— - World-wide connivance! Smilingly the sun - Approved a land wherein such deeds were done; - And careless breezes, like a troop of youth, - Unawed before the presence of such truth, - Went scampering amid the tousled brush. - Then bye and bye came on him with a rush - His weakness and the consciousness of pain, - While, with the chill insistence of a rain - That pelts the sodden wreck of Summer’s end, - His manifest betrayal by a friend - Beat in upon him. Jamie had been there; - And Jamie—Jamie—Jamie did not care! - - What no man yet had witnessed, the wide sky - Looked down and saw; a light wind idling by - Heard what no ear of mortal yet had heard: - For he—whose name was like a magic word - To conjure the remote heroic mood - Of valiant deed and splendid fortitude, - Wherever two that shared a fire might be,— - Gave way to grief and wept unmanfully. - Yet not as they for whom tears fall like dew - To green a frosted heart again, wept Hugh. - So thewed to strive, so engined to prevail - And make harsh fate the zany of a tale, - His own might shook and tore him. - For a span - He lay, a gray old ruin of a man - With all his years upon him like a snow. - And then at length, as from the long ago, - Remote beyond the other side of wrong, - The old love came like some remembered song - Whereof the strain is sweet, the burden sad. - A retrospective vision of the lad - Grew up in him, as in a foggy night - The witchery of semilunar light - Mysteriously quickens all the air. - Some memory of wind-blown golden hair, - The boyish laugh, the merry eyes of blue, - Wrought marvelously in the heart of Hugh, - As under snow the dæmon of the Spring. - And momently it seemed a little thing - To suffer; nor might treachery recall - The miracle of being loved at all, - The privilege of loving to the end. - And thereupon a longing for his friend - Made life once more a struggle for a prize— - To look again upon the merry eyes, - To see again the wind-blown golden hair. - Aye, one should lavish very tender care - Upon the vessel of a hope so great, - Lest it be shattered, and the precious freight, - As water on the arid waste, poured out. - Yet, though he longed to live, a subtle doubt - Still turned on him the weapon of his pain: - Now, as before, collusive sky and plain - Outstared his purpose for a puny thing. - - Praying to live, he crawled back to the spring, - With something in his heart like gratitude - That by good luck his gun might furnish food, - His blanket, shelter, and his flint, a fire. - For, after all, what thing do men desire - To be or have, but these condition it? - These with a purpose and a little wit, - And howsoever smitten, one might rise, - Push back the curtain of the curving skies, - And come upon the living dream at last. - - Exhausted, by the spring he lay and cast - Dull eyes about him. What did it portend? - Naught but the footprints of a fickle friend, - A yawning grave and ashes met his eyes! - Scarce feeling yet the shock of a surprise, - He searched about him for his flint and knife; - Knew vaguely that his seeking was for life, - And that the place was empty where he sought. - No food, no fire, no shelter! Dully wrought - The bleak negation in him, slowly crept - To where, despite the pain, his love had kept - A shrine for Jamie undefiled of doubt. - Then suddenly conviction, like a shout, - Aroused him. Jamie—Jamie was a thief! - The very difficulty of belief - Was fuel for the simmering of rage; - That grew and grew, the more he strove to gage - The underlying motive of the deed. - Untempered youth might fail a friend in need; - But here had wrought some devil of the will, - Some heartless thing, too cowardly to kill, - That left to Nature what it dared not do! - - So bellowsed, all the kindled soul of Hugh - Became a still white hell of brooding ire, - And through his veins regenerating fire - Ran, driving out the lethargy of pain. - Now once again he scanned the yellow plain, - Conspirant with the overbending skies; - And lo, the one was blue as Jamie’s eyes, - The other of the color of his hair— - Twin hues of falseness merging to a stare, - As though such guilt, thus visibly immense, - Regarded its effect with insolence! - - Alas for those who fondly place above - The act of loving, what they chance to love; - Who prize the goal more dearly than the way! - For time shall plunder them, and change betray, - And life shall find them vulnerable still. - - A bitter-sweet narcotic to the will, - Hugh’s love increased the peril of his plight; - But anger broke the slumber of his might, - Quickened the heart and warmed the blood that ran - Defiance for the treachery of Man, - Defiance for the meaning of his pain, - Defiance for the distance of the plain - That seemed to gloat, ‘You can not master me.’ - And for one burning moment he felt free - To rise and conquer in a wind of rage. - But as a tiger, conscious of the cage, - A-smoulder with a purpose, broods and waits, - So with the sullen patience that is hate’s - Hugh taught his wrath to bide expedience. - - Now cognizant of every quickened sense, - Thirst came upon him. Leaning to the spring, - He stared with fascination on a thing - That rose from giddy deeps to share the draught— - A face, it was, so tortured that it laughed, - A ghastly mask that Murder well might wear; - And while as one they drank together there, - It was as though the deed he meant to do - Took shape and came to kiss the lips of Hugh, - Lest that revenge might falter. Hunger woke; - And from the bush with leafage gray as smoke, - Wherein like flame the bullberries glinted red - (Scarce sweeter than the heart of him they fed), - Hugh feasted. - And the hours of waiting crept, - A-gloom, a-glow; and though he waked or slept, - The pondered purpose or a dream that wrought, - By night, the murder of his waking thought, - Sustained him till he felt his strength returned. - And then at length the longed-for morning burned - And beckoned down the vast way he should crawl— - That waste to be surmounted as a wall, - Sky-rims and yet more sky-rims steep to climb— - That simulacrum of enduring Time— - The hundred empty miles ‘twixt him and where - The stark Missouri ran! - Yet why not dare? - Despite the useless leg, he could not die - One hairsbreadth farther from the earth and sky, - Or more remote from kindness. - - - - - III - THE CRAWL - - - Straight away - Beneath the flare of dawn, the Ree land lay, - And through it ran the short trail to the goal. - Thereon a grim turnpikeman waited toll: - But ‘twas so doomed that southering geese should flee - Nine times, ere yet the vengeance of the Ree - Should make their foe the haunter of a tale. - - Midway to safety on the northern trail - The scoriac region of a hell burned black - Forbade the crawler. And for all his lack, - Hugh had no heart to journey with the suns: - No suppliant unto those faithless ones - Should bid for pity at the Big Horn’s mouth. - - The greater odds for safety in the South - Allured him; so he felt the midday sun - Blaze down the coulee of a little run - That dwindled upward to the watershed - Whereon the feeders of the Moreau head— - Scarce more than deep-carved runes of vernal rain. - The trailing leg was like a galling chain, - And bound him to a doubt that would not pass. - Defiant clumps of thirst-embittered grass - That bit parched earth with bared and fang-like roots; - Dwarf thickets, jealous for their stunted fruits, - Harsh-tempered by their disinheritance— - These symbolized the enmity of Chance - For him who, with his fate unreconciled, - Equipped for travel as a weanling child, - Essayed the journey of a mighty man. - - Like agitated oil the heat-waves ran - And made the scabrous gulch appear to shake - As some reflected landscape in a lake - Where laggard breezes move. A taunting reek - Rose from the grudging seepage of the creek, - Whereof Hugh drank and drank, and still would drink. - And where the mottled shadow dripped as ink - From scanty thickets on the yellow glare, - The crawler faltered with no heart to dare - Again the torture of that toil, until - The master-thought of vengeance ‘woke the will - To goad him forth. And when the sun quiesced - Amid ironic heavens in the West— - The region of false friends—Hugh gained a rise - Whence to the fading cincture of the skies - A purpling panorama swept away. - Scarce farther than a shout might carry, lay - The place of his betrayal. He could see - The yellow blotch of earth where treachery - Had digged his grave. O futile wrath and toil! - Tucked in beneath yon coverlet of soil, - Turned back for him, how soundly had he slept! - Fool, fool! to struggle when he might have crept - So short a space, yet farther than the flight - Of swiftest dreaming through the longest night, - Into the quiet house of no false friend. - - Alas for those who seek a journey’s end— - They have it ever with them like a ghost: - Nor shall they find, who deem they seek it most, - But crave the end of human ends—as Hugh. - - Now swoopingly the world of dream broke through - The figured wall of sense. It seemed he ran - As wind above the creeping ways of man, - And came upon the place of his desire, - Where burned, far-luring as a beacon-fire, - The face of Jamie. But the vengeful stroke - Bit air. The darkness lifted like a smoke— - And it was early morning. - Gazing far, - From where the West yet kept a pallid star - To thinner sky where dawn was wearing through, - Hugh shrank with dread, reluctant to renew - The war with that serene antagonist. - More fearsome than a smashing iron fist - Seemed that vast negativity of might; - Until the frustrate vision of the night - Came moonwise on the gloom of his despair. - And lo, the foe was naught but yielding air, - A vacancy to fill with his intent! - So from his spacious bed he ‘rose and went - Three-footed; and the vision goaded him. - - All morning southward to the bare sky rim - The rugged coulee zigzagged, mounting slow; - And ever as it ‘rose, the lean creek’s flow - Dwindled and dwindled steadily, until - At last a scooped-out basin would not fill; - And thenceforth ‘twas a way of mocking dust. - But, in that Hugh still kept the driving lust - For vengeance, this new circumstance of fate - Served but to brew more venom for his hate, - And nerved him to avail the most with least. - Ere noon the crawler chanced upon a feast - Of breadroot sunning in a favored draw. - A sentry gopher from his stronghold saw - Some three-legged beast, bear-like, yet not a bear, - With quite misguided fury digging where - No hapless brother gopher might be found. - And while, with stripéd nose above his mound, - The sentinel chirped shrilly to his clan - Scare-tales of that anomaly, the man - Devoured the chance-flung manna of the plains - That some vague reminiscence of old rains - Kept succulent, despite the burning drouth. - - So with new vigor Hugh assailed the South, - His pockets laden with the precious roots - Against that coming traverse, where no fruits - Of herb or vine or shrub might brave the land - Spread rooflike ‘twixt the Moreau and the Grand. - - The coulee deepened; yellow walls flung high, - Sheer to the ragged strip of blinding sky, - Dazzled and sweltered in the glare of day. - Capricious draughts that woke and died away - Into the heavy drowse, were breatht as flame. - And midway down the afternoon, Hugh came - Upon a little patch of spongy ground. - His thirst became a rage. He gazed around, - Seeking a spring; but all about was dry - As strewn bones bleaching to a desert sky; - Nor did a clawed hole, bought with needed strength, - Return a grateful ooze. And when at length - Hugh sucked the mud, he spat it in disgust. - It had the acrid tang of broken trust, - The sweetish, tepid taste of feigning love! - - Still hopeful of a spring somewhere above, - He crawled the faster for his taunted thirst. - More damp spots, no less grudging than the first, - Occurred with growing frequence on the way, - Until amid the purple wane of day - The crawler came upon a little pool! - Clear as a friend’s heart, ‘twas, and seeming cool— - A crystal bowl whence skyey deeps looked up. - So might a god set down his drinking cup - Charged with a distillation of haut skies. - As famished horses, thrusting to the eyes - Parched muzzles, take a long-sought water-hole, - Hugh plunged his head into the brimming bowl - As though to share the joy with every sense. - And lo, the tang of that wide insolence - Of sky and plain was acrid in the draught! - How ripplingly the lying water laughed! - How like fine sentiment the mirrored sky - Won credence for a sink of alkali! - So with false friends. And yet, as may accrue - From specious love some profit of the true, - One gift of kindness had the tainted sink. - Stripped of his clothes, Hugh let his body drink - At every thirsting pore. Through trunk and limb - The elemental blessing solaced him; - Nor did he rise till, vague with stellar light, - The lone gulch, buttressing an arch of night, - Was like a temple to the Holy Ghost. - As priests in slow procession with the Host, - A gusty breeze intoned—now low, now loud, - And now, as to the murmur of a crowd, - Yielding the dim-torched wonder of the nave. - Aloft along the dusky architrave - The wander-tale of drifting stars evolved; - And Hugh lay gazing till the whole resolved - Into a haze. - It seemed that Little Jim - Had come to share a merry fire with him, - And there had been no trouble ‘twixt the two. - And Jamie listened eagerly while Hugh - Essayed a tangled tale of bears and men, - Bread-root and stars. But ever now and then - The shifting smoke-cloud dimmed the golden hair, - The leal blue eyes; until with sudden flare - The flame effaced them utterly—and lo, - The gulch bank-full with morning! - Loath to go, - Hugh lay beside the pool and pondered fate. - He saw his age-long pilgrimage of hate - Stretch out—a fool’s trail; and it made him cringe; - For still amid the nightly vision’s fringe - His dull wit strayed, companioned with regret. - But when the sun, a tilted cauldron set - Upon the gulch rim, poured a blaze of day, - He rose and bathed again, and went his way, - Sustaining wrath returning with the toil. - - At noon the gulch walls, hewn in lighter soil, - Fell back; and coulees dense with shrub and vine - Climbed zigzag to the sharp horizon line, - Whence one might choose the pilotage of crows. - He labored upward through the noonday doze. - Of breathless shade, where plums were turning red - In tangled bowers, and grapevines overhead - Purpled with fruit to taunt the crawler’s thirst. - With little effort Hugh attained the first; - The latter bargained sharply ere they sold - Their luscious clusters for the hoarded gold - Of strength that had so very much to buy. - Now, having feasted, it was sweet to lie - Beneath a sun-proof canopy; and sleep - Came swiftly. - Hugh awakened to some deep - Star-snuffing well of night. Awhile he lay - And wondered what had happened to the day - And where he was and what were best to do. - But when, fog-like, the drowse dispersed, he knew - How from the rim above the plain stretched far - To where the evening and the morning are, - And that ‘twere better he should crawl by night, - Sleep out the glare. With groping hands for sight, - Skyward along the broken steep he crawled, - And saw at length, immense and purple-walled— - Or sensed—the dusky mystery of plain. - Gazing aloft, he found the capsized Wain - In mid-plunge down the polar steep. Thereto - He set his back; and far ahead there grew, - As some pale blossom from a darkling root, - The star-blanched summit of a lonely butte, - And thitherward he dragged his heavy limb. - - It seemed naught moved. Time hovered over him, - An instant of incipient endeavor. - ‘Twas ever thus, and should be thus forever— - This groping for the same armful of space, - An insubstantial essence of one place, - Extentless on a weird frontier of sleep. - Sheer deep upon unfathomable deep - The flood of dusk bore down without a sound, - As ocean on the spirits of the drowned - Awakened headlong leagues beneath the light. - - So lapsed the drowsy æon of the night— - A strangely tensile moment in a trance. - And then, as quickened to somnambulance, - The heavens, imperceptibly in motion, - Were altered as the upward deeps of ocean - Diluted with a seepage of the moon. - The butte-top, late a gossamer balloon - In mid-air tethered hovering, grew down - And rooted in a blear expanse of brown, - That, lifting slowly with the ebb of night, - Took on the harsh solidity of light— - And day was on the prairie like a flame. - - Scarce had he munched the hoarded roots, when came - A vertigo of slumber. Snatchy dreams - Of sick pools, inaccessible cool streams, - Lured on through giddy vacancies of heat - In swooping flights; now hills of roasting meat - Made savory the oven of the world, - Yet kept remote peripheries and whirled - About a burning center that was Hugh. - Then all were gone, save one, and it turned blue - And was a heap of cool and luscious fruit, - Until at length he knew it for the butte - Now mantled with a weaving of the gloam. - It was the hour when cattle straggle home. - Across the clearing in a hush of sleep - They saunter, lowing; loiter belly-deep - Amid the lush grass by the meadow stream. - How like the sound of water in a dream - The intermittent tinkle of yon bell. - A windlass creaks contentment from a well, - And cool deeps gurgle as the bucket sinks. - Now blowing at the trough the plow-team drinks; - The shaken harness rattles. Sleepy quails - Call far. The warm milk hisses in the pails - There in the dusky barn-lot. Crickets cry. - The meadow twinkles with the glowing fly. - One hears the horses munching at their oats. - The green grows black. A veil of slumber floats - Across the haunts of home-enamored men. - - Some freak of memory brought back again - The boyhood world of sight and scent and sound: - It perished, and the prairie ringed him round, - Blank as the face of fate. In listless mood - Hugh set his face against the solitude - And met the night. The new moon, low and far, - A frail cup tilted, nor the high-swung star, - It seemed, might glint on any stream or spring - Or touch with silver any toothsome thing. - The kiote voiced the universal lack. - As from a nether fire, the plain gave back - The swelter of the noon-glare to the gloom. - In the hot hush Hugh heard his temples boom. - Thirst tortured. Motion was a languid pain. - Why seek some further nowhere on the plain? - Here might the kiotes feast as well as there. - So spoke some loose-lipped spirit of despair; - And still Hugh moved, volitionless—a weight - Submissive to that now unconscious hate, - As darkling water to the hidden moon. - - Now when the night wore on in middle swoon, - The crawler, roused from stupor, was aware - Of some strange alteration in the air. - To breathe became an act of conscious will. - The starry waste was ominously still. - The far-off kiote’s yelp came sharp and clear - As through a tunnel in the atmosphere— - A ponderable, resonating mass. - The limp leg dragging on the sun-dried grass - Produced a sound unnaturally loud. - - Crouched, panting, Hugh looked up but saw no cloud. - An oily film seemed spread upon the sky - Now dully staring as the open eye - Of one in fever. Gasping, choked with thirst, - A childish rage assailed Hugh, and he cursed: - ‘Twas like a broken spirit’s outcry, tossed - Upon hell’s burlesque sabbath for the lost, - And briefly space seemed crowded with the voice. - - To wait and die, to move and die—what choice? - Hugh chose not, yet he crawled; though more and more - He felt the futile strife was nearly o’er. - And as he went, a muffled rumbling grew, - More felt than heard; for long it puzzled Hugh. - Somehow ‘twas coextensive with his thirst, - Yet boundless; swollen blood-veins ere they burst - Might give such warning, so he thought. And still - The drone seemed heaping up a phonic hill - That towered in a listening profound. - Then suddenly a mountain peak of sound - Came toppling to a heaven-jolting fall! - The prairie shuddered, and a raucous drawl - Ran far and perished in the outer deep. - - As one too roughly shaken out of sleep, - Hugh stared bewildered. Still the face of night - Remained the same, save where upon his right - The moon had vanished ‘neath the prairie rim. - Then suddenly the meaning came to him. - He turned and saw athwart the northwest sky, - Like some black eyelid shutting on an eye, - A coming night to which the night was day! - Star-hungry, ranged in regular array, - The lifting mass assailed the Dragon’s lair, - Submerged the region of the hounded Bear, - Out-topped the tall Ox-Driver and the Pole. - And all the while there came a low-toned roll, - Less sound in air than tremor in the earth, - From where, like flame upon a windy hearth, - Deep in the further murk sheet-lightning flared. - And still the southern arc of heaven stared, - A half-shut eye, near blind with fever rheum; - And still the plain lay tranquil as a tomb - Wherein the dead reck not a menaced world. - - What turmoil now? Lo, ragged columns hurled - Pell-mell up stellar slopes! Swift blue fires leap - Above the wild assailants of the steep! - Along the solid rear a dull boom runs! - So light horse squadrons charge beneath the guns. - Now once again the night is deathly still. - What ghastly peace upon the zenith hill, - No longer starry? Not a sound is heard. - So poised the hush, it seems a whispered word - Might loose all noises in an avalanche. - Only the black mass moves, and far glooms blanch - With fitful flashes. The capricious flare - Reveals the butte-top tall and lonely there - Like some gray prophet contemplating doom. - - But hark! What spirits whisper in the gloom? - What sibilation of conspiracies - Ruffles the hush—or murmuring of trees, - Ghosts of the ancient forest—or old rain, - In some hallucination of the plain, - A frustrate phantom mourning? All around, - That e’er evolving, ne’er resolving sound - Gropes in the stifling hollow of the night. - - Then—once—twice—thrice—a blade of blinding light - Ripped up the heavens, and the deluge came— - A burst of wind and water, noise and flame - That hurled the watcher flat upon the ground. - A moment past Hugh famished; now, half drowned, - He gasped for breath amid the hurtling drench. - - So might a testy god, long sought to quench - A puny thirst, pour wassail, hurling after - The crashing bowl with wild sardonic laughter - To see man wrestle with his answered prayer! - - Prone to the roaring flaw and ceaseless flare, - The man drank deeply with the drinking grass; - Until it seemed the storm would never pass - But ravin down the painted murk for aye. - When had what dreamer seen a glaring day - And leagues of prairie pantingly aquiver? - Flame, flood, wind, noise and darkness were a river - Tearing a cosmic channel to no sea. - - The tortured night wore on; then suddenly - Peace fell. Remotely the retreating Wrath - Trailed dull, reluctant thunders in its path, - And up along a broken stair of cloud - The Dawn came creeping whitely. Like a shroud - Gray vapors clung along the sodden plain. - Up rose the sun to wipe the final stain - Of fury from the sky and drink the mist. - Against a flawless arch of amethyst - The butte soared, like a soul serene and white - Because of the katharsis of the night. - - All day Hugh fought with sleep and struggled on - Southeastward; for the heavy heat was gone - Despite the naked sun. The blank Northwest - Breathed coolly; and the crawler thought it best - To move while yet each little break and hollow - And shallow basin of the bison-wallow - Begrudged the earth and air its dwindling store. - But now that thirst was conquered, more and more - He felt the gnaw of hunger like a rage. - And once, from dozing in a clump of sage, - A lone jackrabbit bounded. As a flame - Hope flared in Hugh, until the memory came - Of him who robbed a sleeping friend and fled. - Then hate and hunger merged; the man saw red, - And momently the hare and Little Jim - Were one blurred mark for murder unto him— - Elusive, taunting, sweet to clutch and tear. - The rabbit paused to scan the crippled bear - That ground its teeth as though it chewed a root. - But when, in witless rage, Hugh drew his boot - And hurled it with a curse, the hare loped off, - Its critic ears turned back, as though to scoff - At silly brutes that threw their legs away. - - Night like a shadow on enduring day - Swooped by. The dream of crawling and the act - Were phases of one everlasting fact: - Hugh woke, and he was doing what he dreamed. - The butte, outstripped at eventide, now seemed - Intent to follow. Ever now and then - The crawler paused to calculate again - What dear-bought yawn of distance dwarfed the hill. - Close in the rear it soared, a Titan still, - Whose hand-in-pocket saunter kept the pace. - - Distinct along the southern rim of space - A low ridge lay, the crest of the divide. - What rest and plenty on the other side! - Through what lush valleys ran what crystal brooks! - And there in virgin meadows wayside nooks - With leaf and purple cluster dulled the light! - - All day it seemed that distant Pisgah Height - Retreated, and the tall butte dogged the rear. - At eve a stripéd gopher chirping near - Gave Hugh an inspiration. Now, at least, - No thieving friend should rob him of a feast. - His great idea stirred him as a shout. - Off came a boot, a sock was ravelled out. - The coarse yarn, fashioned to a running snare, - He placed about the gopher’s hole with care, - And then withdrew to hold the yarn and wait. - The night-bound moments, ponderous with fate, - Crept slowly by. The battered gray face leered - In expectation. Down the grizzled beard - Ran slaver from anticipating jaws. - Evolving twilight hovered to a pause. - The light wind fell. Again and yet again - The man devoured his fancied prey: and then - Within the noose a timid snout was thrust. - His hand unsteadied with the hunger lust, - Hugh jerked the yarn. It broke. - - Down swooped the night, - A shadow of despair. Bleak height on height, - It seemed, a sheer abyss enclosed him round. - Clutching a strand of yarn, he heard the sound - Of some infernal turmoil under him. - Grimly he strove to reach the ragged rim - That snared a star, until the skyey space - Was darkened with a roof of Jamie’s face, - And then the yarn was broken, and he fell. - A-tumble like a stricken bat, his yell - Woke hordes of laughers down the giddy yawn - Of that black pit—and suddenly ‘twas dawn. - - Dream-dawn, dream-noon, dream-twilight! Yet, possest - By one stern dream more clamorous than the rest, - Hugh headed for a gap that notched the hills, - Wherethrough a luring murmur of cool rills, - A haunting smell of verdure seemed to creep. - By fits the wild adventure of his sleep - Became the cause of all his waking care, - And he complained unto the empty air - How Jamie broke the yarn. - - The sun and breeze - Had drunk all shallow basins to the lees, - But now and then some gully, choked with mud, - Retained a turbid relict of the flood. - Dream-dawn, dream-noon, dream-night! And still obsessed - By that one dream more clamorous than the rest, - Hugh struggled for the crest of the divide. - And when at length he saw the other side, - ‘Twas but a rumpled waste of yellow hills! - The deep-sunk, wiser self had known the rills - And nooks to be the facture of a whim; - Yet had the pleasant lie befriended him, - And now the brutal fact had come to stare. - - Succumbing to a languorous despair, - He mourned his fate with childish uncontrol - And nursed that deadly adder of the soul, - Self-pity. Let the crows swoop down and feed, - Aye, batten on a thing that died of need, - A poor old wretch betrayed of God and Man! - So peevishly his broken musing ran, - Till, glutted with the luxury of woe, - He turned to see the butte, that he might know - How little all his striving could avail - Against ill-luck. And lo, a finger-nail, - At arm-length held, could blot it out of space! - A goading purpose and a creeping pace - Had dwarfed the Titan in a haze of blue! - And suddenly new power came to Hugh - With gazing on his masterpiece of will. - So fare the wise on Pisgah. - - Down the hill, - Unto the higher vision consecrate, - Now sallied forth the new triumvirate— - A Weariness, a Hunger and a Glory— - Against tyrannic Chance. As in a story - Some higher Hugh observed the baser part. - So sits the artist throned above his art, - Nor recks the travail so the end be fair. - It seemed the wrinkled hills pressed in to stare, - The arch of heaven was an eye a-gaze. - And as Hugh went, he fashioned many a phrase - For use when, by some friendly ember-light, - His tale of things endured should speed the night - And all this gloom grow golden in the sharing. - So wrought the old evangel of high daring, - The duty and the beauty of endeavor, - The privilege of going on forever, - A victor in the moment. - Ah, but when - The night slipped by and morning came again, - The sky and hill were only sky and hill - And crawling but an agony of will. - So once again the old triumvirate, - A buzzard Hunger and a viper Hate - Together with the baser part of Hugh, - Went visionless. - That day the wild geese flew, - Vague in a gray profundity of sky; - And on into the night their muffled cry - Haunted the moonlight like a far farewell. - It made Hugh homesick, though he could not tell - For what he yearned; and in his fitful sleeping - The cry became the sound of Jamie weeping, - Immeasurably distant. - Morning broke, - Blear, chilly, through a fog that drove as smoke - Before the booming Northwest. Sweet and sad - Came creeping back old visions of the lad— - Some trick of speech, some merry little lilt, - The brooding blue of eyes too clear for guilt, - The wind-blown golden hair. Hate slept that day, - And half of Hugh was half a life away, - A wandering spirit wistful of the past; - And half went drifting with the autumn blast - That mourned among the melancholy hills; - For something of the lethargy that kills - Came creeping close upon the ebb of hate. - Only the raw wind, like the lash of Fate, - Could have availed to move him any more. - At last the buzzard beak no longer tore - His vitals, and he ceased to think of food. - The fighter slumbered, and a maudlin mood - Foretold the dissolution of the man. - He sobbed, and down his beard the big tears ran. - And now the scene is changed; the bleak wind’s cry - Becomes a flight of bullets snarling by - From where on yonder summit skulk the Rees. - Against the sky, in silhouette, he sees - The headstrong Jamie in the leaden rain. - And now serenely beautiful and slain - The dear lad lies within a gusty tent. - - Thus vexed with doleful whims the crawler went - Adrift before the wind, nor saw the trail; - Till close on night he knew a rugged vale - Had closed about him; and a hush was there, - Though still a moaning in the upper air - Told how the gray-winged gale blew out the day. - Beneath a clump of brush he swooned away - Into an icy void; and waking numb, - It seemed the still white dawn of death had come - On this, some cradle-valley of the soul. - He saw a dim, enchanted hollow roll - Beneath him, and the brush thereof was fleece; - And, like the body of the perfect peace - That thralled the whole, abode the break of day. - It seemed no wind had ever come that way, - Nor sound dwelt there, nor echo found the place. - And Hugh lay lapped in wonderment a space, - Vexed with a snarl whereof the ends were lost, - Till, shivering, he wondered if a frost - Had fallen with the dying of the blast. - So, vaguely troubled, listlessly he cast - A gaze about him: lo, above his head - The gray-green curtain of his chilly bed - Was broidered thick with plums! Or so it seemed, - For he was half persuaded that he dreamed; - And with a steady stare he strove to keep - That treasure for the other side of sleep. - - Returning hunger bade him rise; in vain - He struggled with a fine-spun mesh of pain - That trammelled him, until a yellow stream - Of day flowed down the white vale of a dream - And left it disenchanted in the glare. - Then, warmed and soothed, Hugh rose and feasted there, - And thought once more of reaching the Moreau. - - To southward with a painful pace and slow - He went stiff-jointed; and a gnawing ache - In that hip-wound he had for Jamie’s sake - Oft made him groan—nor wrought a tender mood: - The rankling weapon of ingratitude - Was turned again with every puckering twinge. - - Far down the vale a narrow winding fringe - Of wilted green betokened how a spring - There sent a little rill meandering; - And Hugh was greatly heartened, for he knew - What fruits and herbs might flourish in the slough, - And thirst, henceforth, should torture not again. - - So day on day, despite the crawler’s pain, - All in the windless, golden autumn weather, - These two, as comrades, struggled south together— - The homeless graybeard and the homing rill: - And one was sullen with the lust to kill, - And one went crooning of the moon-wooed vast; - For each the many-fathomed peace at last, - But oh the boon of singing on the way! - So came these in the golden fall of day - Unto a sudden turn in the ravine, - Wherefrom Hugh saw a flat of cluttered green - Beneath the further bluffs of the Moreau. - - With sinking heart he paused and gazed below - Upon the goal of so much toil and pain. - Yon green had seemed a paradise to gain - The while he thirsted where the lonely butte - Looked far and saw no toothsome herb or fruit - In all that yellow barren dim with heat. - But now the wasting body cried for meat, - And sickness was upon him. Game should pass, - Nor deign to fear the mighty hunter Glass, - But curiously sniffing, pause to stare. - - Now while thus musing, Hugh became aware - Of some low murmur, phasic and profound, - Scarce risen o’er the border line of sound. - It might have been the coursing of his blood, - Or thunder heard remotely, or a flood - Flung down a wooded valley far away. - Yet that had been no weather-breeding day; - ‘Twould frost that night; amid the thirsty land - All streams ran thin; and when he pressed a hand - On either ear, the world seemed very still. - - The deep-worn channel of the little rill - Here fell away to eastward, rising, rough - With old rain-furrows, to a lofty bluff - That faced the river with a yellow wall. - Thereto, perplexed, Hugh set about to crawl, - Nor reached the summit till the sun was low. - Far-spread, shade-dimpled in the level glow, - The still land told not whence the murmur grew; - But where the green strip melted into blue - Far down the winding valley of the stream, - Hugh saw what seemed the tempest of a dream - At mimic havoc in the timber-glooms. - As from the sweeping of gigantic brooms, - A dust cloud deepened down the dwindling river; - Upon the distant tree-tops ran a shiver - And huddled thickets writhed as in a gale. - - On creeps the windless tempest up the vale, - The while the murmur deepens to a roar, - As with the wider yawning of a door. - And now the agitated green gloom gapes - To belch a flood of countless dusky shapes - That mill and wrangle in a turbid flow— - Migrating myriads of the buffalo - Bound for the winter pastures of the Platte! - - Exhausted, faint with need of meat, Hugh sat - And watched the mounting of the living flood. - Down came the night, and like a blot of blood - The lopped moon weltered in the dust-bleared East. - Sleep came and gave a Barmecidal feast. - About a merry flame were simmering - Sweet haunches of the calving of the Spring, - And tender tongues that never tasted snow, - And marrow bones that yielded to a blow - Such treasure! Hugh awoke with gnashing teeth, - And heard the mooing drone of cows beneath, - The roll of hoofs, the challenge of the bull. - So sounds a freshet when the banks are full - And bursting brush-jams bellow to the croon - Of water through green leaves. The ragged moon - Now drenched the valley in an eerie rain: - Below, the semblance of a hurricane; - Above, the perfect calm of brooding frost, - Through which the wolves in doleful tenson tossed - From hill to hill the ancient hunger-song. - In broken sleep Hugh rolled the chill night long, - Half conscious of the flowing flesh below. - And now he trailed a bison in the snow - That deepened till he could not lift his feet. - Again, he battled for a chunk of meat - With some gray beast that fought with icy fang. - And when he woke, the wolves no longer sang; - White dawn athwart a white world smote the hill, - And thunder rolled along the valley still. - - Morn, wiping up the frost as with a sponge, - Day on the steep and down the nightward plunge, - And Twilight saw the myriads moving on. - Dust to the westward where the van had gone, - And dust and muffled thunder in the east! - Hugh starved while gazing on a Titan feast. - The tons of beef, that eddied there and swirled, - Had stilled the crying hungers of the world, - Yet not one little morsel was for him. - - The red sun, pausing on the dusty rim, - Induced a panic aspect of his plight: - The herd would pass and vanish in the night - And be another dream to cling and flout. - Now scanning all the summit round about, - Amid the rubble of the ancient drift - He saw a bowlder. ‘Twas too big to lift, - Yet he might roll it. Painfully and slow - He worked it to the edge, then let it go - And breathlessly expectant watched it fall. - It hurtled down the leaning yellow wall, - And bounding from a brushy ledge’s brow, - It barely grazed the buttocks of a cow - And made a moment’s eddy where it struck. - - In peevish wrath Hugh cursed his evil luck, - And seizing rubble, gave his fury vent - By pelting bison till his strength was spent: - So might a child assail the crowding sea! - Then, sick at heart and musing bitterly, - He shambled down the steep way to the creek, - And having stayed the tearing buzzard beak - With breadroot and the waters of the rill, - Slept till the white of morning o’er the hill - Was like a whisper groping in a hush. - The stream’s low trill seemed loud. The tumbled brush - And rumpled tree-tops in the flat below, - Upon a fog that clung like spectral snow, - Lay motionless; nor any sound was there. - No frost had fallen, but the crystal air - Smacked of the autumn, and a heavy dew - Lay hoar upon the grass. There came on Hugh - A picture, vivid in the moment’s thrill, - Of martialed corn-shocks marching up a hill - And spiked fields dotted with the pumpkin’s gold. - It vanished; and, a-shiver with the cold, - He brooded on the mockeries of Chance, - The shrewd malignity of Circumstance - That either gave too little or too much. - - Yet, with the fragment of a hope for crutch, - His spirit rallied, and he rose to go, - Though each stiff joint resisted as a foe - And that old hip-wound battled with his will. - So down along the channel of the rill - Unto the vale below he fought his way. - The frore fog, rifting in the risen day, - Revealed the havoc of the living flood— - The river shallows beaten into mud, - The slender saplings shattered in the crush, - All lower leafage stripped, the tousled brush - Despoiled of fruitage, winter-thin, aghast. - And where the avalanche of hoofs had passed - It seemed nor herb nor grass had ever been. - And this the hard-won paradise, wherein - A food-devouring plethora of food - Had come to make a starving solitude! - - Yet hope and courage mounted with the sun. - Surely, Hugh thought, some ill-begotten one - Of all that striving mass had lost the strife - And perished in the headlong stream of life— - A feast to fill the bellies of the strong, - That still the weak might perish. All day long - He struggled down the stricken vale, nor saw - What thing he sought. But when the twilight awe - Was creeping in, beyond a bend arose - A din as though the kiotes and the crows - Fought there with shrill and raucous battle cries. - - Small need had Hugh to ponder and surmise - What guerdon beak and fang contended for. - Within himself the oldest cause of war - Brought forth upon the instant fang and beak. - He too would fight! Nor had he far to seek - Amid the driftwood strewn about the sand - For weapons suited to a brawny hand - With such a purpose. Armed with club and stone - He forged ahead into the battle zone, - And from a screening thicket spied his foes. - - He saw a bison carcass black with crows, - And over it a welter of black wings, - And round about, a press of tawny rings - That, like a muddy current churned to foam - Upon a snag, flashed whitely in the gloam - With naked teeth; while close about the prize - Red beaks and muzzles bloody to the eyes - Betrayed how worth a struggle was the feast. - - Then came on Hugh the fury of the beast— - To eat or to be eaten! Better so - To die contending with a living foe, - Than fight the yielding distance and the lack. - Masked by the brush he opened the attack, - And ever where a stone or club fell true, - About the stricken one an uproar grew - And brute tore brute, forgetful of the prey, - Until the whole pack tumbled in the fray - With bleeding flanks and lacerated throats. - Then, as the leader of a host who notes - The cannon-wrought confusion of the foe, - Hugh seized the moment for a daring blow. - - The wolf’s a coward, who, in goodly packs, - May counterfeit the courage that he lacks - And with a craven’s fury crush the bold. - But when the disunited mass that rolled - In suicidal strife, became aware - How some great beast that shambled like a bear - Bore down with roaring challenge, fell a hush - Upon the pack, some slinking to the brush - With tails a-droop; while some that whined in pain - Writhed off on reddened trails. With bristled mane - Before the flying stones a bolder few - Snarled menace at the foe as they withdrew - To fill the outer dusk with clamorings. - Aloft upon a moaning wind of wings - The crows with harsh, vituperative cries - Now saw a gray wolf of prodigious size - Devouring with the frenzy of the starved. - Thus fell to Hugh a bison killed and carved; - And so Fate’s whims mysteriously trend— - Woe in the silken meshes of the friend, - Weal in the might and menace of the foe. - But with the fading of the afterglow - The routed wolves found courage to return: - Amid the brush Hugh saw their eye-balls burn; - And well he knew how futile stick and stone - Should prove by night to keep them from their own. - Better is less with safety, than enough - With ruin. He retreated to a bluff, - And scarce had reached it when the pack swooped in - Upon the carcass. - All night long, the din - Of wrangling wolves assailed the starry air, - While high above them in a brushy lair - Hugh dreamed of gnawing at the bloody feast. - - Along about the blanching of the east, - When sleep is weirdest and a moment’s flight, - Remembered coextensive with the night, - May teem with hapful years; as light in smoke, - Upon the jumble of Hugh’s dreaming broke - A buzz of human voices. Once again - He rode the westward trail with Henry’s men— - Hoof-smitten leagues consuming in a dust. - And now the nightmare of that broken trust - Was on him, and he lay beside the spring, - A corpse, yet heard the muffled parleying - Above him of the looters of the dead: - But when he might have riddled what they said, - The babble flattened to a blur of gray— - And lo, upon a bleak frontier of day, - The spent moon staring down! A little space - Hugh scrutinized the featureless white face, - As though ‘twould speak. But when again the sound - Grew up, and seemed to come from under ground, - He cast the drowse, and peering down the slope, - Beheld what set at grapple fear and hope— - Three Indian horsemen riding at a jog! - Their ponies, wading belly-deep in fog, - That clung along the valley, seemed to swim, - And through a thinner vapor moving dim, - The men were ghost-like. - Could they be the Sioux? - Almost the wish became belief in Hugh. - Or were they Rees? As readily the doubt - Withheld him from the hazard of a shout. - And while he followed them with baffled gaze, - Grown large and vague, dissolving in the haze, - They vanished westward. - Knowing well the wont - Of Indians moving on the bison-hunt, - Forthwith Hugh guessed the early riders were - The outflung feelers of a tribe a-stir - Like some huge cat gone mousing. So he lay - Concealed, impatient with the sleepy day - That dawdled in the dawning. Would it bring - Good luck or ill? His eager questioning, - As crawling fog, took on a golden hue - From sunrise. He was waiting for the Sioux, - Their parfleche panniers fat with sun-dried maize - And wasna! From the mint of evil days - He would coin tales and be no begging guest - About the tribal feast-fires burning west, - But kinsman of the blood of daring men. - And when the crawler stood erect again— - O Friend-Betrayer at the Big Horn’s mouth, - Beware of someone riding from the South - To do the deed that he had lived to do! - - Now when the sun stood hour-high in the blue, - From where a cloud of startled blackbirds rose - Down stream, a panic tumult broke the doze - Of windless morning. What unwelcome news - Embroiled the parliament of feathered shrews? - A boiling cloud against the sun they lower, - Flackering strepent; now a sooty shower, - Big-flaked, squall-driven westward, down they flutter - To set a clump of cottonwoods a-sputter - With cold black fire! And once again, some shock - Of sight or sound flings panic in the flock— - Gray boughs exploding in a ruck of birds! - - What augury in orniscopic words - Did yon swart sibyls on the morning scrawl? - - Now broke abruptly through the clacking brawl - A camp-dog’s barking and a pony’s neigh; - Whereat a running nicker fled away, - Attenuating to a rearward hush; - And lo! in hailing distance ‘round the brush - That fringed a jutting bluff’s base like a beard - Upon a stubborn chin out-thrust, appeared - A band of mounted warriors! In their van - Aloof and lonely rode a gnarled old man - Upon a piebald stallion. Stooped was he - Beneath his heavy years, yet haughtily - He wore them like the purple of a king. - Keen for a goal, as from the driving string - A barbed and feathered arrow truly sped, - His face was like a flinty arrow-head, - And brooded westward in a steady stare. - There was a sift of winter in his hair, - The bleakness of brown winter in his look. - Hugh saw, and huddled closer in his nook. - Fled the bright dreams of safety, feast and rest - Before that keen, cold brooder on the West, - As gaudy leaves before the blizzard flee. - ‘Twas Elk Tongue, fighting chieftain of the Ree, - With all his people at his pony’s tail— - Full two-score lodges emptied on the trail - Of hunger! - On they came in ravelled rank, - And many a haggard eye and hollow flank - Made plain how close and pitilessly pressed - The enemy that drove them to the West— - Such foeman as no warrior ever slew. - A tale of cornfields plundered by the Sioux - Their sagging panniers told. Yet rich enough - They seemed to him who watched them from the bluff; - Yea, pampered nigh the limit of desire! - No friend had filched from them the boon of fire - And hurled them shivering back upon the beast. - Erect they went, full-armed to strive, at least; - And nightly in a cozy ember-glow - Hope fed them with a dream of buffalo - Soon to be overtaken. After that, - Home with their Pawnee cousins on the Platte, - Much meat and merry-making till the Spring. - On dragged the rabble like a fraying string - Too tautly drawn. The rich-in-ponies rode, - For much is light and little is a load - Among all heathen with no Christ to save! - Gray seekers for the yet begrudging grave, - Bent with the hoeing of forgotten maize, - Wood-hewers, water-bearers all their days, - Toiled ‘neath the life-long hoarding of their packs. - And nursing squaws, their babies at their backs - Whining because the milk they got was thinned - In dugs of famine, strove as with a wind. - Invincibly equipped with their first bows - The striplings strutted, knowing, as youth knows, - How fair life is beyond the beckoning blue. - Cold-eyed the grandsires plodded, for they knew, - As frosted heads may know, how all trails merge - In what lone land. Raw maidens on the verge - Of some half-guessed-at mystery of life, - In wistful emulation of the wife - Stooped to the fancied burden of the race; - Nor read upon the withered granddam’s face - The scrawled tale of that burden and its woe. - Slant to the sagging poles of the travaux, - Numb to the squaw’s harsh railing and the goad, - The lean cayuses toiled. And children rode - A-top the household plunder, wonder-eyed - To see a world flow by on either side, - From blue air sprung to vanish in blue air, - A river of enchantments. - Here and there - The camp-curs loped upon a vexing quest - Where countless hoofs had left a palimpsest, - A taunting snarl of broken scents. And now - They sniff the clean bones of the bison cow, - Howl to the skies; and now with manes a-rough - They nose the man-smell leading to the bluff; - Pause puzzled at the base and sweep the height - With questioning yelps. Aloft, crouched low in fright, - Already Hugh can hear the braves’ guffaws - At their scorned foeman yielded to the squaws’ - Inverted mercy and a slow-won grave. - Since Earth’s first mother scolded from a cave - And that dear riddle of her love began, - No man has wrought a weapon against man - To match the deadly venom brewed above - The lean, blue, blinding heart-fires of her love. - Well might the hunted hunter shrink aghast! - But thrice three seasons yet should swell the past, - So was it writ, ere Fate’s keen harriers - Should run Hugh Glass to earth. - The hungry curs - Took up again the tangled scent of food. - Still flowed the rabble through the solitude— - A thinning stream now of the halt, the weak - And all who had not very far to seek - For that weird pass whereto the fleet are slow, - And out of it keen winds and numbing blow, - Shrill with the fleeing voices of the dead. - Slowly the scattered stragglers, making head - Against their weariness as up a steep, - Fled westward; and the morning lay asleep - Upon the valley fallen wondrous still. - - Hugh kept his nook, nor ventured forth, until - The high day toppled to the blue descent, - When thirst became a master, and he went - With painful scrambling down the broken scarp, - Lured by the stream, that like a smitten harp - Rippled a muted music to the sun. - - Scarce had he crossed the open flat, and won - The half-way fringe of willows, when he saw, - Slow plodding up the trail, a tottering squaw - Whose years made big the little pack she bore. - Crouched in the brush Hugh watched her. More and more - The little burden tempted him. Why not? - A thin cry throttled in that lonely spot - Could bring no succor. None should ever know, - Save him, the feasted kiote and the crow, - Why one poor crone found not the midnight fire. - Nor would the vanguard, quick with young desire, - Devouring distance westward like a flame, - Regret this ash dropped rearward. - On she came, - Slow-footed, staring blankly on the sand— - So close now that it needed but a hand - Out-thrust to overthrow her; aye, to win - That priceless spoil, a little tent of skin, - A flint and steel, a kettle and a knife! - What did the dying with the means of life, - That thus the fit-to-live should suffer lack? - - Poised for the lunge, what whimsy held him back? - Why did he gaze upon the passing prize, - Nor seize it? Did some gust of ghostly cries - Awaken round her—whisperings of Eld, - Wraith-voices of the babies she had held— - To plead for pity on her graveward days? - Far down a moment’s cleavage in the haze - Of backward years Hugh saw her now—nor saw - The little burden and the feeble squaw, - But someone sitting haloed like a saint - Beside a hearth long cold. The dream grew faint; - And when he looked again, the crone was gone - Beyond a clump of willow. - Crawling on, - He reached the river. Leaning to a pool - Calm in its cup of sand, he saw—a fool! - A wild, wry mask of mirth, a-grin, yet grim, - Rose there to claim identity with him - And ridicule his folly. Pity? Faugh! - Who pitied this, that it should spare a squaw - Spent in the spawning of a scorpion brood? - - He drank and hastened down the solitude, - Fleeing that thing which fleered him, and was Hugh. - And as he went his self-accusing grew - And with it, anger; till it came to seem - That somehow some sly Jamie of a dream - Had plundered him again; and he was strong - With lust of vengeance and the sting of wrong, - So that he travelled faster than for days. - - Now when the eve in many-shaded grays - Wove the day’s shroud, and through the lower lands - Lean fog-arms groped with chilling spirit hands, - Hugh paused perplexed. Elusive, haunting, dim, - As though some memory that stirred in him, - Invasive of the real, outgrew the dream, - There came upon the breeze that stole up stream - A whiff of woodsmoke. - ‘Twixt a beat and beat - Of Hugh’s deluded heart, it seemed the sweet - Allure of home.—A brief way, and one came - Upon the clearing where the sumach flame - Ran round the forest-fringe; and just beyond - One saw the slough grass nodding in the pond - Unto the sleepy troll the bullfrogs sung. - And then one saw the place where one was young— - The log-house sitting on a stumpy rise. - Hearth-lit within, its windows were as eyes - That love much and are faded with old tears. - It seemed regretful of a life’s arrears, - Yet patient, with a self-denying poise, - Like some old mother for her bearded boys - Waiting sweet-hearted and a little sad.— - So briefly dreamed a recrudescent lad - Beneath gray hairs, and fled. - Through chill and damp - Still groped the odor, hinting at a camp, - A two-tongued herald wooing hope and fear. - Was hospitality or danger near? - A Sioux war-party hot upon the trail, - Or laggard Rees? Hugh crawled across the vale, - Toiled up along a zigzag gully’s bed - And reached a bluff’s top. In a smudge of red - The West burned low. Hill summits, yet alight, - And pools of gloom anticipating night - Mottled the landscape to the dull blue rim. - What freak of fancy had imposed on him? - Could one smell home-smoke fifty years away? - He saw no fire; no pluming spire of gray - Rose in the dimming air to woo or warn. - - He lay upon the bare height, fagged, forlorn, - And old times came upon him with the creep - Of subtle drugs that put the will to sleep - And wreak doom to the soothing of a dream. - So listlessly he scanned the sombrous stream, - Scarce seeing what he scanned. The dark increased; - A chill wind wakened from the frowning east - And soughed along the vale. - Then with a start - He saw what broke the torpor of his heart - And set the wild blood free. From where he lay - An easy point-blank rifle-shot away, - Appeared a mystic germinating spark - That in some secret garden of the dark - Upreared a frail, blue, nodding stem, whereon - A ruddy lily flourished—and was gone! - What miracle was this? Again it grew, - The scarlet blossom on the stem of blue, - And withered back again into the night. - - With pounding heart Hugh crawled along the height - And reached a point of vantage whence, below, - He saw capricious witch-lights dim and glow - Like far-spent embers quickened in a breeze. - ‘Twas surely not a camp of laggard Rees, - Nor yet of Siouan warriors hot in chase. - Dusk and a quiet bivouacked in that place. - A doddering vagrant with numb hands, the Wind - Fumbled the dying ashes there, and whined. - It was the day-old camp-ground of the foe! - - Glad-hearted now, Hugh gained the vale below, - Keen to possess once more the ancient gift. - Nearing the glow, he saw vague shadows lift - Out of the painted gloom of smouldering logs— - Distorted bulks that bristled, and were dogs - Snarling at this invasion of their lair. - Hugh charged upon them, growling like a bear, - And sent them whining. - Now again to view - The burgeoning of scarlet, gold and blue, - The immemorial miracle of fire! - From heaped-up twigs a tenuous smoky spire - Arose, and made an altar of the place. - The spark-glow, faint upon the grizzled face, - Transformed the kneeling outcast to a priest; - And, native of the light-begetting East, - The Wind became a chanting acolyte. - These two, entempled in the vaulted night, - Breathed conjuries of interwoven breath. - Then, hark!—the snapping of the chains of Death! - From dead wood, lo!—the epiphanic god! - - Once more the freightage of the fennel rod - Dissolved the chilling pall of Jovian scorn. - The wonder of the resurrection morn, - The face apocalyptic and the sword, - The glory of the many-symboled Lord, - Hugh, lifting up his eyes about him, saw! - And something in him like a vernal thaw, - Voiced with the sound of many waters, ran - And quickened to the laughter of a man. - - Light-heartedly he fed the singing flame - And took its blessing: till a soft sleep came - With dreaming that was like a pleasant tale. - - The far white dawn was peering up the vale - When he awoke to indolent content. - A few shorn stars in pale astonishment - Were huddled westward; and the fire was low. - Three scrawny camp-curs, mustered in a row - Beyond the heap of embers, heads askew, - Ears pricked to question what the man might do, - Sat wistfully regardant. He arose; - And they, grown canny in a school of blows, - Skulked to a safer distance, there to raise - A dolorous chanting of the evil days, - Their gray breath like the body of a prayer. - Hugh nursed the sullen embers to a flare, - Then set about to view an empty camp - As once before; but now no smoky lamp - Of blear suspicion searched a gloom of fraud - Wherein a smirking Friendship, like a bawd, - Embraced a coward Safety; now no grief, - ‘Twixt hideous revelation and belief, - Made womanish the man; but glad to strive, - With hope to nerve him and a will to drive, - He knew that he could finish in the race. - The staring impassivity of space - No longer mocked; the dreadful skyward climb, - Where distance seemed identical with time, - Was past now; and that mystic something, luck, - Without which worth may flounder in the ruck, - Had turned to him again. - So flamelike soared - Rekindled hope in him as he explored - Among the ash-heaps; and the lean dogs ran - And barked about him, for the love of man - Wistful, yet fearing. Surely he could find - Some trifle in the hurry left behind— - Or haply hidden in the trampled sand— - That to the cunning of a needy hand - Should prove the master-key of circumstance: - For ‘tis the little gifts of grudging Chance, - Well husbanded, make victors. - Long he sought - Without avail; and, crawling back, he thought - Of how the dogs were growing less afraid, - And how one might be skinned without a blade. - A flake of flint might do it: he would try. - And then he saw—or did the servile eye - Trick out a mental image like the real? - He saw a glimmering of whetted steel - Beside a heap now washed with morning light! - - Scarce more of marvel and the sense of might - Moved Arthur when he reached a hand to take - The fay-wrought brand emerging from the lake, - Whereby a kingdom should be lopped of strife, - Than Hugh now, pouncing on a trader’s knife - Worn hollow in the use of bounteous days! - - And now behold a rich man by the blaze - Of his own hearth—a lord of steel and fire! - Not having, but the measure of desire - Determines wealth. Who gaining more, seek most, - Are ever the pursuers of a ghost - And lend their fleetness to the fugitive. - For Hugh, long goaded by the wish to live, - What gage of mastery in fire and tool!— - That twain wherewith Time put the brute to school, - Evolving Man, the maker and the seer. - - ‘Twixt urging hunger and restraining fear - The gaunt dogs hovered round the man; while he - Cajoled them in the language of the Ree - And simulated feeding them with sand, - Until the boldest dared to sniff his hand, - Bare-fanged and with conciliative whine. - Through bristled mane the quick blade bit the spine - Below the skull; and as a flame-struck thing - The body humped and shuddered, withering; - The lank limbs huddled, wilted. - Now to skin - The carcass, dig a hole, arrange therein - And fix the pelt with stakes, the flesh-side up. - This done, he shaped the bladder to a cup - On willow withes, and filled the rawhide pot - With water from the river—made it hot - With roasted stones, and set the meat a-boil. - Those days of famine and prodigious toil - Had wrought bulimic cravings in the man, - And scarce the cooking of the flesh outran - The eating of it. As a fed flame towers - According to the fuel it devours, - His hunger with indulgence grew, nor ceased - Until the kettle, empty of the feast, - Went dim, the sky and valley, merging, swirled - In subtle smoke that smothered out the world. - Hugh slept. - And then—as divers, mounting, sunder - A murmuring murk to blink in sudden wonder - Upon a dazzling upper deep of blue— - He rose again to consciousness, and knew - The low sun beating slantly on his face. - - Now indolently gazing round the place, - He noted how the curs had revelled there— - The bones and entrails gone; some scattered hair - Alone remaining of the pot of hide. - How strange he had not heard them at his side! - And granting but one afternoon had passed, - What could have made the fire burn out so fast? - Had daylight waned, night fallen, morning crept, - Noon blazed, a new day dwindled while he slept? - And was the friendlike fire a Jamie too? - Across the twilit consciousness of Hugh - The old obsession like a wounded bird - Fluttered. - He got upon his knees and stirred - The feathery ash; but not a spark was there. - Already with the failing sun the air - Went keen, betokening a frosty night. - Hugh winced with something like the clutch of fright. - How could he bear the torture, how sustain - The sting of that antiquity of pain - Rolled back upon him—face again the foe, - That yielding victor, fleet in being slow, - That huge, impersonal malevolence? - - So readily the tentacles of sense - Root in the larger standard of desire, - That Hugh fell farther in the loss of fire - Than in the finding of it he arose. - And suddenly the place grew strange, as grows - A friend’s house, when the friend is on his bier, - And all that was familiar there and dear - Puts on a blank, inhospitable look. - Hugh set his face against the east, and took - That dreariest of ways, the trail of flight. - He would outcrawl the shadow of the night - And have the day to blanket him in sleep. - But as he went to meet the gloom a-creep, - Bemused with life’s irrational rebuffs, - A yelping of the dogs among the bluffs - Rose, hunger-whetted, stabbing; rent the pall - Of evening silence; blunted to a drawl - Amid the arid waterways, and died. - And as the echo to the sound replied, - So in the troubled mind of Hugh was wrought - A reminiscent cry of thought to thought - That, groping, found an unlocked door to life: - The dogs—keen flint to skin one—then the knife - Discovered. Why, that made a flint and steel! - No further with the subtle foe at heel - He fled; for all about him in the rock, - To waken when the needy hand might knock, - A savior slept! He found a flake of flint, - Scraped from his shirt a little wad of lint, - Spilled on it from the smitten stone a shower - Of ruddy seed; and saw the mystic flower - That genders its own summer, bloom anew! - - And so capricious luck came back to Hugh; - And he was happier than he had been - Since Jamie to that unforgiven sin - Had yielded, ages back upon the Grand. - Now he would turn the cunning of his hand - To carving crutches, that he might arise, - Be manlike, lift more rapidly the skies - That crouched between his purpose and the mark. - The warm glow housed him from the frosty dark, - And there he wrought in very joyous mood - And sang by fits—whereat the solitude - Set laggard singers snatching at the tune. - The gaunter for their hunt, the dogs came soon - To haunt the shaken fringes of the glow, - And, pitching voices to the timeless woe, - Outwailed the lilting. So the Chorus sings - Of terror, pity and the tears of things - When most the doomed protagonist is gay. - The stars swarmed over, and the front of day - Whitened above a white world, and the sun - Rose on a sleeper with a task well done, - Nor roused him till its burning topped the blue. - - When Hugh awoke, there woke a younger Hugh, - Now half a stranger; and ‘twas good to feel - With ebbing sleep the old green vigor steal, - Thrilling, along his muscles and his veins, - As in a lull of winter-cleansing rains - The gray bough quickens to the sap a-creep. - It chanced the dogs lay near him, sound asleep, - Curled nose to buttock in the noonday glow. - He killed the larger with a well-aimed blow, - Skinned, dressed and set it roasting on a spit; - And when ‘twas cooked, ate sparingly of it, - For need might yet make little seem a feast. - - Fording the river shallows, south by east - He hobbled now along a withered rill - That issued where old floods had gashed the hill— - A cyclopean portal yawning sheer. - No storm of countless hoofs had entered here: - It seemed a place where nothing ever comes - But change of season. He could hear the plums - Plash in the frosted thicket, over-lush; - While, like a spirit lisping in the hush, - The crisp leaves whispered round him as they fell. - And ever now and then the autumn spell - Was broken by an ululating cry - From where far back with muzzle to the sky - The lone dog followed, mourning. Darkness came; - And huddled up beside a cozy flame, - Hugh’s sleep was but a momentary flight - Across a little shadow into light. - - So day on day he toiled: and when, afloat - Above the sunset like a stygian boat, - The new moon bore the spectre of the old, - He saw—a dwindling strip of blue outrolled— - The valley of the tortuous Cheyenne. - And ere the half moon sailed the night again, - Those far lone leagues had sloughed their garb of blue, - And dwindled, dwindled, dwindled after Hugh, - Until he saw that Titan of the plains, - The sinewy Missouri. Dearth of rains - Had made the Giant gaunt as he who saw. - This loud Chain-Smasher of a late March thaw - Seemed never to have bellowed at his banks; - And yet, with staring ribs and hollow flanks, - The urge of an indomitable will - Proclaimed him of the breed of giants still; - And where the current ran a boiling track, - ‘Twas like the muscles of a mighty back - Grown Atlantean in the wrestler’s craft. - - Hugh set to work and built a little raft - Of driftwood bound with grapevines. So it fell - That one with an amazing tale to tell - Came drifting to the gates of Kiowa. - - - - - IV - THE RETURN OF THE GHOST - - - Not long Hugh let the lust of vengeance gnaw - Upon him idling; though the tale he told - And what report proclaimed him, were as gold - To buy a winter’s comfort at the Post. - “I can not rest; for I am but the ghost - Of someone murdered by a friend,” he said, - “So long as yonder traitor thinks me dead, - Aye, buried in the bellies of the crows - And kiotes!” - Whereupon said one of those - Who heard him, noting how the old man shook - As with a chill: “God fend that one should look - With such a blizzard of a face for me!” - For he went grayer like a poplar tree - That shivers, ruffling to the first faint breath - Of storm, while yet the world is still as death - Save where, far off, the kenneled thunders bay. - - So brooding, he grew stronger day by day, - Until at last he laid the crutches by. - And then one evening came a rousing cry - From where the year’s last keelboat hove in view - Around the bend, its swarthy, sweating crew - Slant to the shouldered line. - Men sang that night - In Kiowa, and by the ruddy light - Of leaping fires amid the wooden walls - The cups went round; and there were merry brawls - Of bearded lads no older for the beard; - And laughing stories vied with tales of weird - By stream and prairie trail and mountain pass, - Until the tipsy Bourgeois bawled for Glass - To ‘shame these with a man’s tale fit to hear.’ - - The graybeard, sitting where the light was blear, - With little heart for revelry, began - His story, told as of another man - Who, loving late, loved much and was betrayed. - He spoke unwitting how his passion played - Upon them, how their eyes grew soft or hard - With what he told; yet something of the bard - He seemed, and his the purpose that is art’s, - Whereby men make a vintage of their hearts - And with the wine of beauty deaden pain. - Low-toned, insistent as October rain, - His voice beat on; and now and then would flit - Across the melancholy gray of it - A glimmer of cold fire that, like the flare - Of soundless lightning, showed a world made bare, - Green Summer slain and all its leafage stripped. - - And bronze jaws tightened, brawny hands were gripped, - As though each hearer had a fickle friend. - But when the old man might have made an end, - Rounding the story to a peaceful close - At Kiowa, songlike his voice arose, - The grinning gray mask lifted and the eyes - Burned as a bard’s who sees and prophesies, - Conning the future as a time long gone. - Swaying to rhythm the dizzy tale plunged on - Even to the cutting of the traitor’s throat, - And ceased—as though a bloody strangling smote - The voice of that gray chanter, drunk with doom. - And there was shuddering in the blue-smeared gloom - Of fallen fires. It seemed the deed was done - Before their eyes who heard. - The morrow’s sun, - Low over leagues of frost-enchanted plain, - Saw Glass upon his pilgrimage again, - Northbound as hunter for the keelboat’s crew. - And many times the wide autumnal blue - Burned out and darkened to a deep of stars; - And still they toiled among the snags and bars— - Those lean up-stream men, straining at the rope, - Lashed by the doubt and strengthened by the hope - Of backward winter—engines wrought of bone - And muscle, panting for the Yellowstone, - Bend after bend and yet more bends away. - Now was the river like a sandy bay - At ebb-tide, and the far-off cutbank’s boom - Mocked them in shallows; now ‘twas like a flume - With which the toilers, barely creeping, strove. - And bend by bend the selfsame poplar grove, - Set on the selfsame headland, so it seemed, - Confronted them, as though they merely dreamed - Of passing one drear point. - So on and up - Past where the tawny Titan gulps the cup - Of Cheyenne waters, past the Moreau’s mouth; - And still wry league and stubborn league fell south, - Becoming haze and weary memory. - Then past the empty lodges of the Ree - That gaped at cornfields plundered by the Sioux; - And there old times came mightily on Hugh, - For much of him was born and buried there. - Some troubled glory of that wind-tossed hair - Was on the trampled corn; the lonely skies, - So haunted with the blue of Jamie’s eyes, - Seemed taunting him; and through the frosted wood - Along the flat, where once their tent had stood, - A chill wind sorrowed, and the blackbirds’ brawl - Amid the funeral torches of the Fall - Ran raucously, a desecrating din. - - Past where the Cannon Ball and Heart come in - They labored. Now the Northwest ‘woke at last. - The gaunt bluffs bellowed back the trumpet blast - Of charging winds that made the sandbars smoke. - To breathe now was to gulp fine sand, and choke: - The stinging air was sibilant with whips. - Leaning the more and with the firmer grips, - Still northward the embattled toilers pressed - To where the river yaws into the west. - There stood the Mandan village. - Now began - The chaining of the Titan. Drift-ice ran. - The wingéd hounds of Winter ceased to bay. - The stupor of a doom completed lay - Upon the world. The biting darkness fell. - Out in the night, resounding as a well, - They heard the deck-planks popping in a vise - Of frost; all night the smithies of the ice - Reëchoed with the griding jar and clink - Of ghostly hammers welding link to link: - And morning found the world without a sound. - There lay the stubborn Prairie Titan bound, - To wait the far-off Heraclean thaw, - Though still in silent rage he strove to gnaw - The ragged shackles knitting at his breast. - - And so the boatman won a winter’s rest - Among the Mandan traders: but for Hugh - There yet remained a weary work to do. - Across the naked country west by south - His purpose called him at the Big Horn’s mouth— - Three hundred miles of winging for the crow; - But by the river trail that he must go - ‘Twas seven hundred winding miles at least. - - So now he turned his back upon the feast, - Snug ease, the pleasant tale, the merry mood, - And took the bare, foot-sounding solitude - Northwestward. Long they watched him from the Post, - Skied on a bluff-rim, fading like a ghost - At gray cock-crow; and hooded in his breath, - He seemed indeed a fugitive from Death - On whom some tatter of the shroud still clung. - Blank space engulfed him. - Now the moon was young - When he set forth; and day by day he strode, - His scarce healed wounds upon him like a load; - And dusk by dusk his fire out-flared the moon - That waxed until it wrought a spectral noon - At nightfall. Then he came to where, awhirl - With Spring’s wild rage, the snow-born Titan girl, - A skyey wonder on her virgin face, - Receives the virile Yellowstone’s embrace - And bears the lusty Seeker for the Sea. - A bleak, horizon-wide serenity - Clung round the valley where the twain lay dead. - A winding sheet was on the marriage bed. - - ‘Twas warmer now; the sky grew overcast; - And as Hugh strode southwestward, all the vast - Gray void seemed suddenly astir with wings - And multitudinary whisperings— - The muffled sibilance of tumbling snow. - It seemed no more might living waters flow, - Moon gleam, star glint, dawn smoulder through, bird sing, - Or ever any fair familiar thing - Be so again. The outworn winds were furled. - Weird weavers of the twilight of a world - Wrought, thread on kissing thread, the web of doom. - Grown insubstantial in the knitted gloom, - The bluffs loomed eerie, and the scanty trees - Were dwindled to remote dream-traceries - That never might be green or shield a nest. - - All day with swinging stride Hugh forged southwest - Along the Yellowstone’s smooth-paven stream, - A dream-shape moving in a troubled dream; - And all day long the whispering weavers wove. - And close on dark he came to where a grove - Of cottonwoods rose tall and shadow-thin - Against the northern bluffs. He camped therein - And with cut boughs made shelter as he might. - - Close pressed the blackness of the snow-choked night - About him, and his fire of plum wood purred. - Athwart a soft penumbral drowse he heard - The tumbling snowflakes sighing all around, - Till sleep transformed it to a Summer sound - Of boyish memory—susurrant bees, - The Southwind in the tousled apple trees - And slumber flowing from their leafy gloom. - - He wakened to the cottonwoods’ deep boom. - Black fury was the world. The northwest’s roar, - As of a surf upon a shipwreck shore, - Plunged high above him from the sheer bluff’s verge; - And, like the backward sucking of the surge, - Far fled the sobbing of the wild snow-spray. - - Black blindness grew white blindness—and ‘twas day. - All being now seemed narrowed to a span - That held a sputtering wood fire and a man; - Beyond was tumult and a whirling maze. - The trees were but a roaring in a haze; - The sheer bluff-wall that took the blizzard’s charge - Was thunder flung along the hidden marge - Of chaos, stridden by the ghost of light. - White blindness grew black blindness—and ‘twas night - Wherethrough nor moon nor any star might grope. - - Two days since, Hugh had killed an antelope - And what remained sufficed the time of storm. - The snow banked round his shelter kept him warm - And there was wood to burn for many a day. - - The third dawn, oozing through a smudge of gray, - Awoke him. It was growing colder fast. - Still from the bluff high over boomed the blast, - But now it took the void with numbing wings. - By noon the woven mystery of things - Frayed raggedly, and through a sudden rift - At length Hugh saw the beetling bluff-wall lift - A sturdy shoulder to the flying rack. - Slowly the sense of distances came back - As with the waning day the great wind fell. - The pale sun set upon a frozen hell. - The wolves howled. - - Hugh had left the Mandan town - When, heifer-horned, the maiden moon lies down - Beside the sea of evening. Now she rose - Scar-faced and staring blankly on the snows - While yet the twilight tarried in the west; - And more and more she came a tardy guest - As Hugh pushed onward through the frozen waste - Until she stole on midnight shadow-faced, - A haggard spectre; then no more appeared. - - ‘Twas on that time the man of hoary beard - Paused in the early twilight, looming lone - Upon a bluff-rim of the Yellowstone, - And peered across the white stream to the south - Where in the flatland at the Big Horn’s mouth - The new fort stood that Henry’s men had built. - What perfect peace for such a nest of guilt! - What satisfied immunity from woe! - Yon sprawling shadow, pied with candle-glow - And plumed with sparkling woodsmoke, might have been - A homestead with the children gathered in - To share its bounty through the holidays. - Hugh saw their faces round the gay hearth-blaze: - The hale old father in a mood for yarns - Or boastful of the plenty of his barns, - Fruitage of honest toil and grateful lands; - And, half a stranger to her folded hands, - The mother with October in her hair - And August in her face. One moment there - Hugh saw it. Then the monstrous brutal fact - Wiped out the dream and goaded him to act, - Though now to act seemed strangely like a dream. - - Descending from the bluff, he crossed the stream, - The dry snow fifing to his eager stride. - Reaching the fort stockade, he paused to bide - The passing of a whimsy. Was it true? - Or was this but the fretted wraith of Hugh - Whose flesh had fed the kiotes long ago? - - Still through a chink he saw the candle-glow, - So like an eye that brazened out a wrong. - And now there came a flight of muffled song, - The rhythmic thudding of a booted heel - That timed a squeaking fiddle to a reel! - How swiftly men forget! The spawning Earth - Is fat with graves; and what is one man worth - That fiddles should be muted at his fall? - He should have died and did not—that was all. - Well, let the living jig it! He would turn - Back to the night, the spacious unconcern - Of wilderness that never played the friend. - - Now came the song and fiddling to an end, - And someone laughed within. The old man winced, - Listened with bated breath, and was convinced - ‘Twas Jamie laughing! Once again he heard. - Joy filled a hush ‘twixt heart-beats like a bird; - Then like a famished cat his lurking hate - Pounced crushingly. - He found the outer gate, - Beat on it with his shoulder, raised a cry. - No doubt ‘twas deemed a fitful wind went by; - None stirred. But when he did not cease to shout, - A door creaked open and a man came out - Amid the spilling candle-glimmer, raised - The wicket in the outer gate and gazed - One moment on a face as white as death, - Because the beard was thick with frosted breath - Made mystic by the stars. Then came a gasp, - The clatter of the falling wicket’s hasp, - The crunch of panic feet along the snow; - And someone stammered huskily and low: - “My God! I saw the Old Man’s ghost out there!” - ‘Twas spoken as one speaks who feels his hair - Prickle the scalp. And then another said— - It seemed like Henry’s voice—“The dead are dead: - What talk is this, Le Bon? You saw him die! - Who’s there?” - Hugh strove to shout, to give the lie - To those within; but could not fetch a sound. - Just so he dreamed of lying under ground - Beside the Grand and hearing overhead - The talk of men. Or was he really dead, - And all this but a maggot in the brain? - - Then suddenly the clatter of a chain - Aroused him, and he saw the portal yawn - And saw a bright rectangled patch of dawn - As through a grave’s mouth—no, ‘twas candlelight - Poured through the open doorway on the night; - And those were men before him, bulking black - Against the glow. - Reality flashed back; - He strode ahead and entered at the door. - A falling fiddle jangled on the floor - And left a deathly silence. On his bench - The fiddler shrank. A row of eyes, a-blench - With terror, ran about the naked hall. - And there was one who huddled by the wall - And hid his face and shivered. - For a spell - That silence clung; and then the old man: “Well, - Is this the sort of welcome that I get? - ‘Twas not my time to feed the kiotes yet! - Put on the pot and stew a chunk of meat - And you shall see how much a ghost can eat! - I’ve journeyed far if what I hear be true!” - - Now in that none might doubt the voice of Hugh, - Nor yet the face, however it might seem - A blurred reflection in a flowing stream, - A buzz of wonder broke the trance of dread. - “Good God!” the Major gasped; “We thought you dead! - Two men have testified they saw you die!” - “If they speak truth,” Hugh answered, “then I lie - Both here and by the Grand. If I be right, - Then two lie here and shall lie from this night. - Which are they?” - Henry answered: “Yon is one.” - - The old man set the trigger of his gun - And gazed on Jules who cowered by the wall. - Eyes blinked, expectant of the hammer’s fall; - Ears strained, anticipative of the roar. - But Hugh walked leisurely across the floor - And kicked the croucher, saying: “Come, get up - And wag your tail! I couldn’t kill a pup!” - Then turning round: “I had a faithful friend; - No doubt he too was with me to the end! - Where’s Jamie?” - “Started out before the snows - For Atkinson.” - - - - - V - JAMIE - - - The Country of the Crows, - Through which the Big Horn and the Rosebud run, - Sees over mountain peaks the setting sun; - And southward from the Yellowstone flung wide, - It broadens ever to the morning side - And has the Powder on its vague frontier. - About the subtle changing of the year, - Ere even favored valleys felt the stir - Of Spring, and yet expectancy of her - Was like a pleasant rumor all repeat - Yet none may prove, the sound of horses’ feet - Went eastward through the silence of that land. - For then it was there rode a little band - Of trappers out of Henry’s Post, to bear - Dispatches down to Atkinson, and there - To furnish out a keelboat for the Horn. - And four went lightly, but the fifth seemed worn - As with a heavy heart; for that was he - Who should have died but did not. - Silently - He heard the careless parley of his men, - And thought of how the Spring should come again, - That garish strumpet with her world-old lure, - To waken hope where nothing may endure, - To quicken love where loving is betrayed. - Yet now and then some dream of Jamie made - Slow music in him for a little while; - And they who rode beside him saw a smile - Glimmer upon that ruined face of gray, - As on a winter fog the groping day - Pours glory through a momentary rift. - Yet never did the gloom that bound him, lift; - He seemed as one who feeds upon his heart - And finds, despite the bitter and the smart, - A little sweetness and is glad for that. - - Now up the Powder, striking for the Platte - Across the bleak divide the horsemen went; - Attained that river where its course is bent - From north to east: and spurring on apace - Along the wintry valley, reached the place - Where from the west flows in the Laramie. - Thence, fearing to encounter with the Ree, - They headed eastward through the barren land - To where, fleet-footed down a track of sand, - The Niobrara races for the morn— - A gaunt-loined runner. - - Here at length was born - Upon the southern slopes the baby Spring, - A timid, fretful, ill-begotten thing, - A-suckle at the Winter’s withered paps: - Not such as when announced by thunder-claps - And ringed with swords of lightning, she would ride, - The haughty victrix and the mystic bride, - Clad splendidly as never Sheba’s Queen, - Before her marching multitudes of green - In many-bannered triumph! Grudging, slow, - Amid the fraying fringes of the snow - The bunch-grass sprouted; and the air was chill. - Along the northern slopes ‘twas winter still, - And no root dreamed what Triumph-over-Death - Was nurtured now in some bleak Nazareth - Beyond the crest to sunward. - On they spurred - Through vacancies that waited for the bird, - And everywhere the Odic Presence dwelt. - The Southwest blew, the snow began to melt; - And when they reached the valley of the Snake, - The Niobrara’s ice began to break, - And all night long and all day long it made - A sound as of a random cannonade - With rifles snarling down a skirmish line. - - The geese went over. Every tree and vine - Was dotted thick with leaf-buds when they saw - The little river of Keyapaha - Grown mighty for the moment. Then they came, - One evening when all thickets were aflame - With pale green witch-fires and the windflowers blew, - To where the headlong Niobrara threw - His speed against the swoln Missouri’s flank - And hurled him roaring to the further bank— - A giant staggered by a pigmy’s sling. - Thence, plunging ever deeper into Spring, - Across the greening prairie east by south - They rode, and, just above the Platte’s wide mouth, - Came, weary with the trail, to Atkinson. - - There all the vernal wonder-work was done: - No care-free heart might find aught lacking there. - The dove’s call wandered in the drowsy air; - A love-dream brooded in the lucent haze. - Priapic revellers, the shrieking jays - Held mystic worship in the secret shade. - Woodpeckers briskly plied their noisy trade - Along the tree-boles, and their scarlet hoods - Flashed flamelike in the smoky cottonwoods. - What lacked? Not sweetness in the sun-lulled breeze; - The plum bloom murmurous with bumblebees - Was drifted deep in every draw and slough. - Not color; witcheries of gold and blue - The dandelion and the violet - Wove in the green. Might not the sad forget, - The happy here have nothing more to seek? - Lo, yonder by that pleasant little creek, - How one might loll upon the grass and fish - And build the temple of one’s wildest wish - ‘Twixt nibbles! Surely there was quite enough - Of wizard-timber and of wonder-stuff - To rear it nobly to the blue-domed roof! - - Yet there was one whose spirit stood aloof - From all this joyousness—a gray old man, - No nearer now than when the quest began - To what he sought on that long winter trail. - - Aye, Jamie had been there; but when the tale - That roving trappers brought from Kiowa - Was told to him, he seemed as one who saw - A ghost, and could but stare on it, they said: - Until one day he mounted horse and fled - Into the North, a devil-ridden man. - “I’ve got to go and find him if I can,” - Was all he said for days before he left. - - And what of Hugh? So long of love bereft, - So long sustained and driven by his hate, - A touch of ruth now made him desolate. - No longer eager to avenge the wrong, - With not enough of pity to be strong - And just enough of love to choke and sting, - A gray old hulk amid the surge of Spring - He floundered on a lee-shore of the heart. - - But when the boat was ready for the start - Up the long watery stairway to the Horn, - Hugh joined the party. And the year was shorn - Of blooming girlhood as they forged amain - Into the North; the late green-mantled plain - Grew sallow; and the ruthless golden shower - Of Summer wrought in lust upon the flower - That withered in the endless martyrdom - To seed. The scarlet quickened on the plum - About the Heart’s mouth when they came thereto; - Among the Mandans grapes were turning blue, - And they were purple at the Yellowstone. - A frosted scrub-oak, standing out alone - Upon a barren bluff top, gazing far - Above the crossing at the Powder’s bar, - Was spattered with the blood of Summer slain. - So it was Autumn in the world again, - And all those months of toil had yielded nought - To Hugh. (How often is the seeker sought - By what he seeks—a blind, heart-breaking game!) - For always had the answer been the same - From roving trapper and at trading post: - Aye, one who seemed to stare upon a ghost - And followed willy-nilly where it led, - Had gone that way in search of Hugh, they said— - A haggard, blue-eyed, yellow-headed chap. - - And often had the old man thought, ‘Mayhap - He’ll be at Henry’s Post and we shall meet; - And to forgive and to forget were sweet: - ‘Tis for its nurse that Vengeance whets the tooth! - And oh the golden time of Jamie’s youth, - That it should darken for a graybeard’s whim!’ - So Hugh had brooded, till there came on him - The pity of a slow rain after drouth. - - But at the crossing of the Rosebud’s mouth - A shadow fell upon his growing dream. - A band of Henry’s traders, bound down stream, - Who paused to traffic in the latest word— - Down-river news for matters seen and heard - In higher waters—had not met the lad, - Not yet encountered anyone who had. - - Alas, the journey back to yesterwhiles! - How tangled are the trails! The stubborn miles, - How wearily they stretch! And if one win - The long way back in search of what has been, - Shall he find aught that is not strange and new? - - Thus wrought the melancholy news in Hugh, - As he turned back with those who brought the news; - For more and more he dreaded now to lose - What doubtful seeking rendered doubly dear. - And in the time when keen winds stripped the year - He came with those to where the Poplar joins - The greater river. There Assinoboines, - Rich from the Summer’s hunting, had come down - And flung along the flat their ragged town, - That traders might bring goods and winter there. - - So leave the heartsick graybeard. Otherwhere - The final curtain rises on the play. - ‘Tis dead of Winter now. For day on day - The blizzard wind has thundered, sweeping wide - From Mississippi to the Great Divide - Out of the North beyond Saskatchewan. - Brief evening glimmers like an inverse dawn - After a long white night. The tempest dies; - The snow-haze lifts. Now let the curtain rise - Upon Milk River valley, and reveal - The stars like broken glass on frosted steel - Above the Piegan lodges, huddled deep - In snowdrifts, like a freezing flock of sheep. - A crystal weight the dread cold crushes down - And no one moves about the little town - That seems to grovel as a thing that fears. - - But see! a lodge-flap swings; a squaw appears, - Hunched with the sudden cold. Her footsteps creak - Shrill in the hush. She stares upon the bleak, - White skyline for a moment, then goes in. - We follow her, push back the flap of skin, - Enter the lodge, inhale the smoke-tanged air - And blink upon the little faggot-flare - That blossoms in the center of the room. - Unsteady shadows haunt the outer gloom - Wherein the walls are guessed at. Upward, far, - The smoke-vent now and then reveals a star - As in a well. The ancient squaw, a-stoop, - Her face light-stricken, stirs a pot of soup - That simmers with a pleasant smell and sound. - A gnarled old man, cross-legged upon the ground, - Sits brooding near. He feeds the flame with sticks; - It brightens. Lo, a leaden crucifix - Upon the wall! These heathen eyes, though dim, - Have seen the white man’s God and cling to Him, - Lest on the sunset trail slow feet should err. - - But look again. From yonder bed of fur - Beside the wall a white man strives to rise. - He lifts his head, with yearning sightless eyes - Gropes for the light. A mass of golden hair - Falls round the face that sickness and despair - Somehow make old, albeit he is young. - His weak voice, stumbling to the mongrel tongue - Of traders, flings a question to the squaw: - “You saw no Black Robe? Tell me what you saw!” - And she, brief-spoken as her race, replies: - “Heaped snow—sharp stars—a kiote on the rise.” - - The blind youth huddles moaning in the furs. - The firewood spits and pops, the boiled pot purrs - And sputters. On this little isle of sound - The sea of winter silence presses round— - One feels it like a menace. - Now the crone - Dips out a cup of soup, and having blown - Upon it, takes it to the sick man there - And bids him eat. With wild, unseeing stare - He turns upon her: “Why are they so long? - I can not eat! I’ve done a mighty wrong; - It chokes me! Oh no, no, I must not die - Until the Black Robe comes!” His feeble cry - Sinks to a whisper. “Tell me, did they go— - Your kinsmen?” - “They went south before the snow.” - “And will they tell the Black Robe?” - “They will tell.” - - The crackling of the faggots for a spell - Seems very loud. Again the sick man moans - And, struggling with the weakness in his bones, - Would gain his feet, but can not. “Go again, - And tell me that you see the bulks of men - Dim in the distance there.” - The squaw obeys; - Returns anon to crouch beside the blaze, - Numb-fingered and a-shudder from the night. - The vacant eyes that hunger for the light - Are turned upon her: “Tell me what you saw! - Or maybe snowshoes sounded up the draw. - Quick, tell me what you saw and heard out there!” - “Heaped snow—sharp stars—big stillness everywhere.” - - One clutching at thin ice with numbing grip - Cries while he hopes; but when his fingers slip, - He takes the final plunge without a sound. - So sinks the youth now, hopeless. All around - The winter silence presses in; the walls - Grow vague and vanish in the gloom that crawls - Close to the failing fire. - The Piegans sleep. - Night hovers midway down the morning steep. - The sick man drowses. Nervously he starts - And listens; hears no sound except his heart’s - And that weird murmur brooding stillness makes. - But stealthily upon the quiet breaks— - Vague as the coursing of the hearer’s blood— - A muffled, rhythmic beating, thud on thud, - That, growing nearer, deepens to a crunch. - So, hungry for the distance, snowshoes munch - The crusted leagues of Winter, stride by stride. - A camp-dog barks; the hollow world outside - Brims with the running howl of many curs. - - Now wide-awake, half risen in the furs, - The youth can hear low voices and the creak - Of snowshoes near the lodge. His thin, wild shriek - Startles the old folk from their slumberings: - “He comes! The Black Robe!” - Now the door-flap swings, - And briefly one who splutters Piegan, bars - The way, then enters. Now the patch of stars - Is darkened with a greater bulk that bends - Beneath the lintel. “Peace be with you, friends! - And peace with him herein who suffers pain!” - So speaks the second comer of the twain— - A white man by his voice. And he who lies - Beside the wall, with empty, groping eyes - Turned to the speaker: “There can be no peace - For me, good Father, till this gnawing cease— - The gnawing of a great wrong I have done.” - - The big man leans above the youth: “My son—” - (Grown husky with the word, the deep voice breaks, - And for a little spell the whole man shakes - As with the clinging cold) “—have faith and hope! - ‘Tis often nearest dawn when most we grope. - Does not the Good Book say, Who seek shall find?” - - “But, Father, I am broken now and blind, - And I have sought, and I have lost the way.” - To which the stranger: “What would Jesus say? - Hark! In the silence of the heart ‘tis said— - By their own weakness are the feeble sped; - The humblest feet are surest for the goal; - The blind shall see the City of the Soul. - Lay down your burden at His feet to-night.” - - Now while the fire, replenished, bathes in light - The young face scrawled with suffering and care, - Flinging ironic glories on the hair - And glinting on dull eyes that once flashed blue, - The sick one tells the story of old Hugh - To him whose face, averted from the glow, - Still lurks in gloom. The winds of battle blow - Once more along the steep. Again one sees - The rescue from the fury of the Rees, - The graybeard’s fondness for the gay lad; then - The westward march with Major Henry’s men - With all that happened there upon the Grand. - - “And so we hit the trail of Henry’s band,” - The youth continues; “for we feared to die: - And dread of shame was ready with the lie - We carried to our comrades. Hugh was dead - And buried there beside the Grand, we said. - Could any doubt that what we said was true? - They even praised our courage! But I knew! - The nights were hell because I heard his cries - And saw the crows a-pecking at his eyes, - The kiotes tearing at him. O my God! - I tried and tried to think him under sod; - But every time I slept it was the same. - And then one night—I lay awake—he came! - I say he came—I know I hadn’t slept! - Amid a light like rainy dawn, he crept - Out of the dark upon his hands and knees. - The wound he got that day among the Rees - Was like red fire. A snarl of bloody hair - Hung round the eyes that had a pleading stare, - And down the ruined face and gory beard - Big tear-drops rolled. He went as he appeared, - Trailing a fog of light that died away. - And I grew old before I saw the day. - O Father, I had paid too much for breath! - The Devil traffics in the fear of death, - And may God pity anyone who buys - What I have bought with treachery and lies— - This rat-like gnawing in my breast! - - “I knew - I couldn’t rest until I buried Hugh; - And so I told the Major I would go - To Atkinson with letters, ere the snow - Had choked the trails. Jules wouldn’t come along; - He didn’t seem to realize the wrong; - He called me foolish, couldn’t understand. - I rode alone—not south, but to the Grand. - Daylong my horse beat thunder from the sod, - Accusing me; and all my prayers to God - Seemed flung in vain at bolted gates of brass. - And in the night the wind among the grass - Hissed endlessly the story of my shame. - - “I do not know how long I rode: I came - Upon the Grand at last, and found the place, - And it was empty. Not a sign or trace - Was left to show what end had come to Hugh. - And oh that grave! It gaped upon the blue, - A death-wound pleading dumbly for the slain. - I filled it up and fled across the plain, - And somehow came to Atkinson at last. - And there I heard the living Hugh had passed - Along the river northward in the Fall! - O Father, he had found the strength to crawl - That long, heart-breaking distance back to life, - Though Jules had taken blanket, steel and knife, - And I, his trusted comrade, had his gun! - - “They said I’d better stay at Atkinson, - Because old Hugh was surely hunting me, - White-hot to kill. I did not want to flee - Or hide from him. I even wished to die, - If so this aching cancer of a lie - Might be torn out forever. So I went, - As eager as the homesick homeward bent, - In search of him and peace. - But I was cursed. - For even when his stolen rifle burst - And spewed upon me this eternal night, - I might not die as any other might; - But God so willed that friendly Piegans came - To spare me yet a little unto shame. - O Father, is there any hope for me?” - - “Great hope indeed, my son!” so huskily - The other answers. “I recall a case - Like yours—no matter what the time and place— - ‘Twas somewhat like the story that you tell; - Each seeking and each sought, and both in hell; - But in the tale I mind, they met at last.” - - The youth sits up, white-faced and breathing fast: - “They met, you say? What happened? Quick! Oh quick!” - - “The old man found the dear lad blind and sick - And both forgave—‘twas easy to forgive— - For oh we have so short a time to live—” - Whereat the youth: “Who’s here? The Black Robe’s gone! - Whose voice is this?” - - The gray of winter dawn - Now creeping round the door-flap, lights the place - And shows thin fingers groping for a face - Deep-scarred and hoary with the frost of years - Whereover runs a new springtide of tears. - - “O Jamie, Jamie, Jamie—I am Hugh! - There was no Black Robe yonder—Will I do?” - - - - - NOTES - - - BY JULIUS T. HOUSE, PH.D. (Chicago) - - Head of the Department of English at the State Normal School, Wayne, - Nebraska - -[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF HUGH GLASS IN HIS SEARCH FOR -JAMIE. THE “FIRST TRAIL,” RUNNING NORTHWARD FROM FORT KIOWA, TRACES THE -HERO’S WANDERINGS UP TO HIS ARRIVAL AT FORT ATKINSON (PAGE 112). THE -“SECOND TRAIL” INDICATES HUGH’S JOURNEY FROM THAT POINT TO HIS MEETING -WITH THE BOY AMONG THE PIEGANS. FORT ATKINSON WAS SITUATED ON THE WEST -BANK OF THE MISSOURI RIVER SIXTEEN MILES UP-STREAM FROM WHERE OMAHA NOW -STANDS.] - - - - - NOTES - - - GRAYBEARD AND GOLDHAIR - - Before beginning the poem carefully read the Introduction. - - - PAGE 1 - -In the study of this poem it is necessary to learn the geography and -topography of the country. Define “topography.” Tell about Leavenworth -Campaign; Major Henry. - -The story of Hugh Glass is historical and may be found in the following -works: Chittenden’s History of the American Fur Trade, New York, 1902; -Sage’s Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, Boston, 1857; Ruxton’s Adventures -in Mexico, London, 1847; Howe’s Historical Collections of the Great -West, Cincinnati, 1857; Cooke’s Scenes and Adventures in the U. S. Army, -Philadelphia, 1857; The Missouri Intelligencer for June 18, 1825. -Accounts of the death of Hugh Glass, in 1832, are given in The Life and -Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, London, 1892, and in Maximilian’s -Travels, London, 1843. - -=2.= ‘Twas when the guns that blustered at the Ree - - Ree—Aricara or Rickaree Indians. Locate them in 1823. - - Where are they now? - -=3.= Had ceased to brag, and ten score martial clowns - - Why “clowns”? See Introduction. - -=6.= A withering blast the arid South still blew, - - What is “South”? Why capitalized? Did Homer and Vergil personify - the winds? - -=9.= Southward before the Great White Hunter’s face: - - Who is the Great White Hunter? What is the time of year? - -=13.= With eighty trappers up the dwindling Grand, - - Why “dwindling”? - -=14.= Bound through the weird, unfriending barren-land - - “Unfriending” whom? - -=15.= For where the Big Horn meets the Yellowstone; - - Locate the junction of the streams. - - - PAGE 2 - -=1.= Deep-chested, that his great heart might have play, - - Describe Hugh Glass. Hugh’s physical characteristics are drawn - in large lines. Compare this with the more elaborate - descriptions of persons in other books. Which is more effective? - -=2.= Gray-bearded, gray of eye and crowned with gray - - Our author’s descriptions leave much room for the play of the - reader’s imagination. Is this method effective with you? - -=4.= And, for the grudging habit of his tongue, - - “For”—by reason of. - -=8.= And hate in him was like a still, white hell, - - Why “white”? - -=9.= A thing of doom not lightly reconciled. - - What does “reconciled” modify? What is this figure called? - -=14.= Old Hugh stared long upon the pictured blaze, - - What were the pictures Hugh saw in the blaze? Would you like to - know more of Hugh’s past? Why does not the author tell us more - concerning it? - -=17.= The veil was rent, and briefly men discerned - - What “veil”? - -=19.= Beneath the still gray smoldering of him. - - What figure in “still gray smoldering”? Was Hugh a good fighter? - A man whose anger was to be feared? - - - PAGE 3 - -=2.= So, tardily, outflowered the wild blond strain - - Whence the “wild blond strain”? - -=4.= A Ganymedes haunted by a Goth - - Who was Ganymedes? The Goths? - -=5.= When the restive ghost was laid, - - What was the “restive ghost”? How old was Jamie? - -=17.= When Ashley stormed a bluff town of the Ree, - - Who was Ashley? See Introduction. - -=20.= Yet, hardly courage, but blind rage agrope - - What is courage? - -=23.= Tore off the gray mask, and the heart shone through. - - What was the “gray mask”? - -=24.= For, halting in a dry, flood-guttered draw, - - Define “draw” as here used. How does it differ from “ravine”? - from “gully”? - - - PAGE 4 - -=24.= As though spring-fire should waken out of snow. - - Explain the figure. - - - PAGE 5 - -=4.= So with their sons are women brought to bed, - - Of whom is Hugh thinking when he uses these words? - -=13.= Nor could these know what mocking ghost of Spring - - Express in other words the idea contained in “mocking ghost of - Spring.” - -=16.= So might a dawn-struck digit of the moon - - Explain the figure and interpret it in terms of Hugh’s feelings - for Jamie. - -=18.= And ache through all its craters to be green. - - What is the present condition of the surface of the moon? - -=21.= Pang dwelling in a puckered cicatrice - - Define “cicatrice.” Explain the figure. - -=23.= Yet very precious was the hurt thereof, - -=24.= Grievous to bear, too dear to cast away. - - These lines constitute a paradox. Define “paradox.” Explain the - meaning of the lines. Can pain be “precious”? - - - PAGE 6 - -What lines in this page forecast an approaching disaster? Can you recall -such forecasts in other pieces of literature? - -=10.= A phantom April over melting snow, - - Why “phantom” April? - -=11.= Deep in the North some new white wrath is brewed. - - Express the meaning of this line in other language. How does it - apply to the story? - -=16.= Tales jaggéd with the bleak unstudied word, - - Was the language of Hugh’s stories polished? Effective? Are men - natural story tellers? Answer from your own experience. - - What does the life of primitive man tell us with regard to the - matter? - -=17.= Stark saga-stuff. - - Define “saga.” What is meant by the words: “stark saga-stuff”? - -=19.= A mere pelt merchant, as it seemed to him; - - Define: pelt, epic, whist. Is “Hugh Glass” epic in material and - form? - - - PAGE 7 - -Which of these men loves the other more? In case of severe trial will -each be true to the other? Is either likely to be vengeful? unforgiving? -fickle? - -=3.= That myth that somehow had to be the truth, - - What is “that myth”? What feeling is expressed in “had to be the - truth”? - -=4.= Yet could not be convincing any more. - - Why could it not “be convincing any more”? - -=17.= And so with merry jest the old man went; - - Note in the passage the second forecast of disaster. - - - PAGE 8 - -=9.= The dusty progress of the cavalcade - -=10.= The journey of a snail flock to the moon; - - What feeling in Jamie is made clear in this figure? - -=11.= Until the shadow-weaving afternoon - - Explain the figure “shadow-weaving afternoon,” etc. - -=17.= Hoofbeats of ghostly steeds on every hill, - -=18.= Mysterious, muffled hoofs on every bluff! - -=19.= Spurred echo horses clattering up the rough, etc. - - Explain “hoofbeats of ghostly steeds,” “muffled hoofs,” “echo - horses.” - -=21.= The lagging air droned like the drowsy word - - Why “drowsy” word? The transfer of an epithet is called a - “trope,” from a Greek word meaning _to turn_. - - - PAGE 9 - -=1.= Lean galloper in a wind of splendid deeds, - - Note the vivid imagery and the effect of the broken meter. - -=4.= The horse stopped short—then Jamie was aware, etc. - - What gives the effect of loneliness in these lines? - - Note the effect of vast stretches of space in the use of the - names of heavenly bodies to denote the points of the compass. A - sense of the infinity of space arises often in the reader of - this poem. - - Any imaginative person feels this sense ever deepening upon him - on looking long at the prairies. - -=11.= Save for a welter of cawing crows, - - What is the effect of the cawing of the crows in the general - stillness? - - Note that the meter is intentionally changed. What effect? - -=13.= One faint star, set above the fading blush, etc. - - What is the effect of the mention of the star and its growing - from faint to clear? - -=16.= For answer, the horse neighed. - - What is the effect of the neighing of the horse? - -=17.= Some vague mistrust now made him half afraid, etc. - - Mistrust of what? Is disaster near? - - - PAGE 10 - -=1.= “Somewhere about the forks as like as not; - -=2.= And there’ll be hunks of fresh meat steaming hot, - -=3.= And fighting stories by a dying fire!” - - Why does Jamie talk to himself? - -=4.= The sunset reared a luminous phantom spire - -=5.= That, crumbling, sifted ashes down the sky. - - What is the effect of these two lines? - -=8.= And in the vast denial of the hush - -=9.= The champing of the snaffled horse seemed loud. - - What is the effect of these two lines? What is the “vast - denial”? - - Why mention “the champing of the horse”? Pages 9 and 10 are used - to induce in the reader a sense of extreme loneliness. - - Where is the climax? What devices have been employed for the - purpose? - -=17.= The laggard air was like a voice that sang, - - Why is the air now as a voice that sings rather than drowsy and - weird? - -=18.= And Jamie half believed he sniffed the tang - -=19.= Of woodsmoke and the smell of flesh a-roast; - - These lines indicate the lad’s eagerness. - - - PAGE 11 - -=2.= And in the whirlwind of a moment there, etc. - - Could Jamie perceive so much in so brief a time under such - circumstances? Does the picture in “huddled, broken thing” seem - realistic? - -=11.= A landscape stares with every circumstance etc. - - Jamie’s experience in the preceding lines is here explained. Did - you ever notice how plainly things stand out in a flare of - lightning? - -=14.= Then before his eyes, etc. - - Is this consistent with the part of Jamie in the fight with the - Rees? - -=22.= Heard the brush crash etc. - - Onomatopœia. Define “rubble.” - - - PAGE 12 - -=1.= A swift thought swept the mind of Jamie clear, etc. - - Is the change in Jamie from anger to coolness good psychology? - - Why? - -=8.= Swerved sharply streamward. Sliddering in the sand, - - Note onomatopœia. How did Jamie elude the bear? - -=17.= Like some vague shape of fury in a dream, - - Why did the sight of the bear seem thus to Jamie? - - - PAGE 13 - -=4.= Would think of such a “trick of getting game”! - - For a moment Jamie feels as if Hugh were still living and he can - now triumph in his skill. Was that natural in a boy? - -=6.= Like a dull blade thrust back into a wound. - - Memory of sorrow “like a dull blade,” etc. Is that true to life? - -=10.= Like some familiar face gone strange at last. - - Meaning of “gone strange at last”? - - In this and the next three pages note the sincerity and the - boyishness of Jamie’s affection and grief. It is necessary to - understand Jamie now that the reader may interpret his later - conduct. - - Define: eld, blear. - - - PAGE 14 - -=6.= Had wiped the pictured features from a slate! etc. - - Note two powerful similes in these lines. Do they convey - adequately the horror of the spectator? This “ruined face” of - Hugh’s has much in the remainder of the story. The lines are not - pleasant to read, but life is not always pleasant. Homer and - Shakespeare often wrote lines that shock by their naked truth. - -=15.= Still painted upon black that alien stare - - Why “alien stare”? - -=16.= To make the lad more terribly alone. - - Why “more terribly alone”? - -=21.= Pale vagrants from the legendry of death - - Pale vagrants, _i.e._ ghosts. - - Define: funereal, alien, legendry, potential. - - - PAGE 17 - -=6.= For, though the graybeard fought with sobbing breath, etc. - - A wrestling match in which death has a “strangling grip” on - Hugh. Note the vividness of physical imagery, “neck veins like a - purple thong tangled with knots.” What biblical allusion in - “break upon the hip”? - -=11.= There where the trail forked outward far and dim; - - What “trail forked outward”? - -=13.= His moan went treble like a song of pain, - - Does the voice become like a shrill song under such - circumstances? - -=20.= For dying is a game of solitaire, etc. - - A grim epigram. - - Define: treble, solitaire. - - - PAGE 18 - -The rest of this division of the poem develops the catastrophe of -cowardice and treachery. The elements of it are (1) Jamie’s youthfulness -and unsettled character, (2) Le Bon’s ability to play upon his weakness, -(3) the actual nearness of the Rees, (4) the apparently hopeless -condition of Hugh prolonged over several days. - -=12.= That mercenary motives prompted him. - - Do you believe the protestations of Jules that mercenary motives - do not prompt him? Does he “protest too much”? - -=16.= The Rickarees were scattered to the West: - - Why mention the Indians so early? - -=19.= Three days a southwest wind may blow - - A southwest wind on the plains is always warm, and seldom - carries rain. - - Explain the application. - - - PAGE 19 - -Why does Jules talk always as though the death of Hugh were certain? - -=10.= Unnumbered tales accordant with the case, - - Do you think Le Bon knew these tales? - -=18.= A bear’s hug—ugh!’ And Jamie winced etc. - - What was the effect on Jamie? - - Define: dialectic, colophon. - - - PAGE 20 - -=8.= So summoning a mood etc. - - How do Le Bon’s stories change as night comes on? Is his - psychology effective? Note the increase in the fears of Jamie. - -=11.= Of men outnumbered: and like him of old, etc. - - “Him of old”—Æneas in Æneid, Book II. - -=23.= Gray-souled, he wakened to a dawn of gray, - - “Gray-souled”—meaning? “A poet is known by his epithets.” - - Define: lugubriously, garrulous. - - - PAGE 21 - -=1.= And felt that something strong had gone away. - - What strong thing had gone away? - -=5.= Jules, snug and snoring in his blanket there, etc. - - Is it natural that the conscious living Jules should seem more - real to the boy than his unconscious friend? - -=6.= Just so, pain etc. - - Note the epigram. Is it a true one? - -=14.= But grappled with the angel. - - Jacob in Genesis. - -=18.= Many men May tower, etc. - - Would such a statement be peculiarly true of a boy like Jamie? - - Recall his conduct in the Ree fight. - -=24.= Nor might a fire be lit, - - Note the shrewdness of Jules in failing to light a fire. - - - PAGE 22 - -What shows that Jamie is at the breaking point? - -=4.= And with it lulled the fight, as on a field, etc. - - The crisis of the disease. - -=9.= It would soon be o’er, etc. - - Jules talks in sentimental vein. Sentimental people are very - often cruel. - -=17.= To dig a hole that might conceal a man; - - Would Jamie have resented the digging of a grave four days - earlier? - - Jules easily weeps. So do many insincere people. - - Define: beleaguered, mutability, immemorial, funerary. - - - PAGES 23–25 - -The last stage of Jamie’s breakdown. - -Had you any doubt that Jules would beget panic in Jamie? How much do you -blame Jamie? Why did Le Bon take Hugh’s gun, blanket, and knife? - - - THE AWAKENING - - - PAGE 26 - -Note that the last line of the first division of the poem rhymes with -the first line of the second division. Have you noticed that many times -the rhyming lines close one paragraph and open the next? The effect of -this device is to keep the mind of the reader in strain for what is to -follow. - -What is a couplet? Is the poem written in couplets? How is the cæsura -handled in this poem? Compare with Pope’s method in “Essay on Man.” - -=3.= But some globose immensity of blue - - Note epithets in this line. How comprehensive! - -=7.= So one late plunged into the lethal sleep, etc. - - The sensation of the awakening is likened to the possible - experience of one in death. The author is much interested in - such matters. - - Define “lethal.” What literary associations with this word? - -=12.= The quiet steep-arched splendor of the day. - - At what time of day did Hugh awake? - - - PAGE 27 - -=2.= But when he would obey, the hollow skies etc. - - Note the suddenness of the loss of consciousness as expressed in - the metaphor: “the hollow skies,” etc. - -=5.= Remote unto his horizontal gaze - -=6.= He saw the world’s end kindle to a blaze etc. - - At what time did Hugh re-awaken? - - What is the effect upon the reader of the expression “world’s - end” rather than “east”? - -=9.= Dawn found the darkling reaches of his mind, etc. - - A figure from archæology. Explain. - -=13.= Men school the dream to build the past anew - - What part of speech is “school”? - -=17.= Wherein men talked as ghosts above a grave. - - This is the second suggestion that Hugh was vaguely conscious of - what happened before his awakening. - - Define: shards, torsos, rubble, sag. - - - PAGE 28 - -=5.= Sickened with torture he lay huddled there. - - Note the vividness of such words as, “sickened,” “torture,” - “huddled,” which appeal both to muscular sense and to sight. - -=7.= Proportioned to the might that felt the chain. - - Explain. - -=10.= That vacancy about him like a wall, etc. - - The power of that which yields and yet restrains suggests the - sense of helplessness that came to Hugh. This feeling is often - brought out in the later portions of the poem. - -=20.= Grimly amused, he raised his head, etc. - - What was the effect of “the empty distance” and “the twitter of - a lonely bird” on Hugh? Why question whether there was something - wrong? - - Define: collusive, bleak. - - - PAGE 29 - -On this and the following page we have the stages by which Hugh learns -that he has been deserted. Note the steps: (1) Major Henry is prompt, -(2) many hoof prints of horses, (3) the grave known for a grave by its -shape, (4) ash heap and litter of a camp, (5) the trail. - -=8.= Of course the horse had bolted - - That is, run away. - -=17.= A grave—a grave, etc. - - Does Hugh really wonder if he has been dead and has arisen? - - For the third time it is stated that Hugh heard the talk of his - comrades while he was prostrate from the bear’s attack. - -=25.= Suspicion, like a little smoky lamp etc. - - Note simile. Is it effective? - - - PAGE 30 - -=1.= That daubs the murk but cannot fathom it, - - Hugh’s suspicions are vague as yet. - -=6.= The smoky glow flared wildly, - - What “smoky glow”? - -=10.= A gloom-devouring ecstasy of flame, - -=11.= A dazing conflagration of belief! - - Suspicion passes to certainty. Explain the whole figure from the - beginning. - -=12.= Plunged deeper than the seats of hate and grief, etc. - - Does nature sometimes seem to mock our moods? The older - literatures seem unconscious of this psychology. Note Bryant’s - “Death of the Flowers.” - - Define: daub, grotesque, ecstasy, apathetic, complacence, - connivance. - - - PAGE 31 - -=2.= His manifest betrayal by a friend - - Why does the desertion of Jamie make that of others seem - nothing? - -=13.= Yet not as they for whom tears fall like dew etc. - - Hugh’s tears are not shallow; they indicate a lasting sorrow. - - Those who weep easily, easily forget. - -=18.= He lay, a gray old ruin of a man, etc. - - Both physically and emotionally, a remarkable metaphor. - -=20.= And then at length, as from the long ago, etc. - - His suffering makes the time of friendship seem long ago. A song - may be both sweet and sad, as may also love. - -=25.= ... as in a foggy night - - - PAGE 32 - -=1.= The witchery of semilunar light, etc. - - A fine comparison of the spiritual to the material. - - Define: zany, retrospective. - -=6.= As under snow the dæmon of the Spring. - - “Dæmon,” spirit. - -=8.= Nor might treachery recall, etc. - - He had been loved, nothing could change that; he could go on - loving and nothing could change that either. This is the high - note in devotion. “If ye love them that love you, what thank - have ye?” - -=16.= Upon the vessel of a hope so great, etc. - - The lover is only the vessel of the great passion. - -=21.= Now, as before, collusive sky and plain etc. - - Sky and plain have conspired to take Hugh’s life, so it seems to - him. They represent distance that yields but still is - unconquered. This idea haunts the “Crawl.” - - - PAGE 33 - -=1.= For, after all, what thing do men desire, etc. - - Food and shelter are necessary to any life; all values rest upon - them. This idea is fundamental in modern thinking. - -=20.= Jamie was a thief! - - Why Jamie more than others? - - Define “gage.” - - - PAGE 34 - -=5.= And through his veins regenerating fire etc. - - Anger made him strong, while grief made him weak. Is that not - true to nature? - -=7.= Now once again he scanned the yellow plain, etc. - - Hugh projects his subjective condition on nature. This idea - occurs often in the poem. Is it a true conception? - -=14.= Alas for those who fondly place above, etc. - - A continuation of the philosophy found on page 32. Love is the - supreme thing, not the person who is loved. The way is itself - the goal. - -=19.= A bitter-sweet narcotic to the will, etc. - - Note how Hugh’s hate arouses his energies. For his purposes it - is stronger than love. - - Define: bellowsed, regenerating, lethargy, conspirant, merging, - vulnerable, narcotic. - - - PAGE 35 - -=11.= Leaning to the spring, etc. - - The final horror, his face, fixes Hugh’s hate to a steady, - burning purpose, seeming equal to his task. - - - PAGE 36 - -=5.= That waste to be surmounted as a wall, - -=6.= Sky-rims and yet more sky-rims steep to climb— - - In gazing across a vast space to the horizon, one seems to be - looking uphill. This is especially noticeable on the ocean. - -=7.= That simulacrum of enduring Time— - - One traveling long distances by his own power, and having no - means of measurement, conceives space not in miles, but in - duration of effort. - -=8.= The hundred empty miles ‘twixt him and where - - Why “empty” miles? - -=11.= One hairsbreadth farther from the earth and sky - - He was as remote from all things as it was possible to be, so - why not try! - - Define “simulacrum.” - - - THE CRAWL - - - PAGE 37 - -The Crawl is the most detailed account of physical suffering and -endurance extant in poetry. Note the large number of words that make -direct appeal to the sensations of thirst, weariness, chronic pain, -fever, delirium. Again the sense of loneliness, of betrayal, of a -conspiracy to destroy him appears everywhere in Hugh’s experience. The -monotony of the journey appears in its slowness, which is indicated in -many ways. - -Before describing the Crawl, Neihardt first found out what vegetable -growths would be found on the trail, the character of the soil, how the -streams would erode, etc. The poet is true to all nature, even natural -science. - -=3.= And through it ran the short trail to the goal. - - What was the “goal”? Ree villages lay nearly directly east. - -=4.= Thereon a grim turnpikeman waited toll: - - Who is the “grim turnpikeman”? - -=7.= Should make their foe the haunter of a tale. - - Hugh was killed on the Yellowstone by the Rees in 1832. - -=9.= The scoriac region of a hell burned black - - The bad lands of the Little Missouri, so made to appear by - spontaneous combustion of lignite deposits. - -=13.= Should bid for pity at the Big Horn’s mouth. - - Locate the Big Horn’s mouth, where Henry and his men spent the - winter of 1823–1824. - - - PAGE 38 - -=2.= Whereon the feeders of the Moreau head— - - Head waters of the Moreau. Locate the Moreau. - -=3.= Scarce more than deep-carved runes of vernal rain. - - The rune was a character in the ancient alphabet and ultimately - came to stand for poetry. Here the original meaning as a deep - cut is restored. - -=6.= Defiant clumps of thirst embittered grass, etc. - - Note how exactly the characteristics of an arid landscape are - set forth in such phrases as “thirst embittered grass,” “parched - earth,” “bared and fang-like roots,” “dwarf thickets,” “stunted - fruits.” The poet is shown by exactness, not inaccuracy. - -=15.= And made the scabrous gulch appear to shake - - The very sound of the word “scabrous” suggests dryness. - -=20.= And where the mottled shadow dripped as ink etc. - - The shadow of leaves on the yellow earth is black. The - description is absolutely accurate. “A poet is known by his - epithets.” - - - PAGE 39 - -=3.= Amid ironic heavens in the West— - - Why “ironic heavens”? - -=6.= A purpling panorama swept away. - - Why “purpling”? - -=7.= Scarce farther than a shout might carry - - How far had Hugh traveled in the day? - -=16.= Into the quiet house of no false friend. - - What “quiet house”? - -=17–20.= Alas for those who seek a journey’s end—etc. - - The philosophy of these lines is that the way is the important - thing, not the end. This is a part of Neihardt’s - life-philosophy. - -=21.= Now swoopingly the world of dream broke through - - Note that no two of Hugh’s dreams are alike. In this dream his - revenge is futile. Is that the nature of revenge, to defeat - itself? - - How many lines are taken to tell this dream? How much in little - space! - - - PAGE 40 - -=1.= Gazing far, etc. - - Another remarkable description of the sky and prairie and their - effect upon Hugh. - - Make a list of epithets descriptive of both sky and prairie as - you find them on pages 26–27–28–29–30–32–34–36–39. Epithets may - be adjectives or verbs or nouns. Such are “globose immensity,” - “smoky steep,” “serene antagonist,” “negativity of might.” - -=9.= Seemed that vast negativity of might; etc. - - In what sense is the might of distance negative? - - What was the “frustrate vision of the night”? - - What does the poet mean by saying it came “moonwise”? - - What is Hugh’s mood when he feels that the foe is “naught but - yielding air”? - -=13.= A vacancy to fill with his intent! - - What is the grammatical construction of “to fill”? - -=15.= Three-footed; and the vision goaded him. - - What vision “goaded him”? - -=24.= Served but to brew more venom for his hate, - - Why is hate spoken of as venomous? What has modern Physiology to - say of this? - -=25.= And nerved him to avail the most with least. - - What is meant by “avail the most with least”? - - - PAGE 41 - -=10.= Devoured the chance-flung manna of the plains - - “Manna”—what is the reference? - -=18.= The coulee deepened; yellow walls flung high, etc. - - Accurate description of arid conditions by their effect on Hugh. - - - PAGE 42 - -=6.= It had the acrid tang of broken trust - -=7.= The sweetish, tepid taste of feigning love! - - A projection of the subjective into the objective. - -=14.= Clear as a friend’s heart, ‘twas, and seeming cool— - - The same as above. - -=22.= And lo, the tang of that wide insolence - -=23.= Of sky and plain was acrid in the draught! - - Note again the attitude of nature, as Hugh sees it, in its “wide - insolence.” - -=25.= How like fine sentiment the mirrored sky etc. - - The cruelty of sentimentalism. Note on this page the steps by - which the sense of thirst is induced in the reader and the - corresponding disappointment increased; “dry as strewn bones - bleaching to a desert sky,” “grateful ooze,” “sucked the mud,” - “sweetish, tepid taste,” “taunted thirst,” “damp spots,” then - the description of the pool and the “famished horses.” Is not - the reader as thirsty as Hugh and nearly as keenly disappointed? - - - PAGE 43 - -=8.= Nor did he rise till, vague with stellar light, etc. - - Compare with Bryant’s “Forest Hymn.” - - At what line does Hugh fall asleep? At what line does he begin - to awake? How many days since “The Crawl” began? - -=17.= And Hugh lay gazing till the whole resolved etc. - - What is the difference between this dream and that of the - previous night? Why? Does Hugh still love Jamie? Would he kill - him in such a mood? How many lines in the dream? - - Define: specious, gulch, buttressing, Host, nave, architrave. - - - PAGE 44 - -Hugh has not yet reached the prairie on the divide between the Grand and -the Moreau, though he has journeyed two days. How far do you think he -has crawled? - -=3.= Loath to go, Hugh lay beside the pool and pondered fate, etc. - - Why is Hugh less eager to renew his journey than on the previous - morning? Do you suppose his dream had anything to do with the - matter? His weariness? - -=11.= Sustaining wrath returning with the toil. - - Why does wrath return? - -=23.= Of strength that had so very much to buy. - - What had his strength “to buy”? - - Define: efface, cauldron. - - - PAGE 45 - -=11.= Sleep out the glare. With groping hands for sight, - - Hugh sleeps on the afternoon of the third day of his journey. - - Explain “groping hands for sight.” - -=14.= Or sensed—the dusky mystery of plain. - - Why dusky mystery? Can you see a prairie by starlight? - -=15.= Gazing aloft, he found the capsized Wain - - “Capsized Wain,” Bear. What time of night? - -=16–17.= Thereto he set his back; - - What direction did he take? How much knowledge of the - constellations must have meant to primitive men! To sailors! To - hunters! Read Bryant’s “Hymn to the North Star.” - -=19.= The star-blanched summit of a lonely butte - -=20.= And thitherward he dragged his heavy limb. - - Note the butte used to guide the crawler. Could a plainsman see - a butte by starlight? Could a “tenderfoot”? - -=21.= It seemed naught moved, etc. - - The movement on a prairie and in the night seems objectless. - - It gives a supreme sense of monotony. Time stopped. We measure - time by events; no events, no time. - - Define: blanched, incipient. - - - PAGE 46 - -=4.= Sheer deep upon unfathomable deep, etc. - - A curious but vivid figure, expressing a sense of darkness and - uninterrupted silence. - -=8.= So lapsed the drowsy æon of the night— - - The monotony makes the hours seem a moment drawn out. - -=10.= And then, as quickened to somnambulance, etc. - - Note the steps of the dawning, and the suddenness of the coming - of day. The description is not only vivid but accurate. - -=20.= Scarce had he munched the hoarded roots, when came etc. - - Why the difference between this and previous dreams? - - Define “tensile.” - - - PAGE 47 - -=8.= It was the hour when cattle straggle home etc. - - A fine lyric. This is one of many memory pictures of Hugh’s - travels. Nothing in the poem tells directly of Hugh’s past. - - This silence suggests tragedy dimly illumined by the memory - pictures. Is Hugh an imaginative man? Enumerate the evening - sounds. Note the steps marking the transition from evening to - night. How many days has Hugh crawled? Hugh is known to have - been a Pennsylvanian of Scotch descent. - - Define “peripheries.” - - - PAGE 48 - -=1.= Blank as the face of fate. In listless mood etc. - - Fate is associated with the inevitable and unrevealed. “In - listless mood” etc.—the end of a day of feverish dreams finds - Hugh weakened and caring less to live. - -=3.= And met the night. The new moon, low and far, etc. - - Note the phase of the moon. - -=7.= The kiote voiced the universal lack. - - Hunger. - -=8.= As from a nether fire, the plain gave back - -=9.= The swelter of the noon-glare to the gloom. - - The heat of the prairie is often very noticeable after sunset. - -=12.= Why seek some further nowhere on the plain? - - What “nowhere”? - -=14.= So spoke some loose-lipped spirit of despair; - - Why “loose-lipped”? - -=15.= And still Hugh moved, volitionless—a weight, etc. - - Volitionless—The power of habit is compared to that of the moon - over the tides. - -=18.= Now when the night wore on in middle swoon, - -=21.= To breathe became an act of conscious will. - -=22.= The starry waste was ominously still. - -=24.= As through a tunnel in the atmosphere— - - Note the steps of the coming storm: _middle swoon_, a drowsy - night, stifling condition of the air, utter silence with sense - of impending disaster, _as through a tunnel_, etc. - - The description of the storm is exact to the minutest detail. It - is not interspersed with more or less sentimental comments as is - Byron’s description of the storm on the Alps (Childe Harold, - Canto III), yet it gains in power by its adherence to truth. - - - PAGE 49 - -=4.= An oily film seemed spread upon the sky - - Storm still approaching. “The oily film,” the gradual darkening - of the atmosphere. - -=9.= Upon hell’s burlesque sabbath for the lost, - - What could be more hopeless than “Sabbath in Hell”? - -=12.= Hugh chose not, yet he crawled; - - Habit keeps him moving. - -=13.= He felt the futile strife was nearly o’er. - - Hugh will die unless relief comes. - -=14.= And as he went, a muffled rumbling grew, - - Far away thunder, the next step in the approach of the storm. - -=16.= Somehow ‘twas coextensive with his thirst, - - Confusion of objective and subjective, a not uncommon experience - of extreme weakness. - - - PAGE 50 - -=12.= Star-hungry, ranged in regular array, etc. - - Note the use of constellations to indicate the vast expanse and - swift movement of the cloud; another illustration of the poet’s - power to see things in the large. Locate the constellations - named. - - Explain the figure, “star-hungry.” - -=19.= Deep in the further murk sheet-lightning flared. - - Sheet-lightning—covering the sky like a sheet, sometimes called - heat lightning—a common phenomenon in prairie storms. - -=24.= What turmoil now? Lo, ragged columns hurled, etc. - - Explain “ragged columns.” - - - PAGE 51 - -=2.= Along the solid rear a dull boom runs! - - Explain “solid rear.” - -=11.= Reveals the butte-top tall and lonely there - -=12.= Like some gray prophet contemplating doom. - - The second time the butte has been described. - -=16.= Ghosts of the ancient forest—or old rain, etc. - - Geology tells us that these plains were once covered with - forests. - -=19.= That e’er evolving, ne’er resolving sound - -=20.= Gropes in the stifling hollow of the night. - - Never fully developing. “Evolving,” “resolving”—technical - expressions in music. - - - PAGE 52 - -The rush of the rain, the constant flare of lightning, the sudden -cessation, as well as the slow and dread beginning, are characteristic -of storms in semi-arid countries. This poem reveals every phase of -nature on the prairies and none more vividly than the storm. - -Define: hurtling, wassail, sardonic, flaw, ravin, murk, cosmic, sodden. - - - PAGE 53 - -=3.= The butte soared, like a soul serene and white - -=4.= Because of the katharsis of the night. - - The butte appears again, this time as the symbol of a soul that - has struggled and triumphed. The principle of Katharsis, - purification, is a principle of the Greek drama as worked out by - Aristotle. To what degree is it a principle of life? - -=5.= All day Hugh fought with sleep and struggled on - - Which day? Why does Hugh no longer travel at night? - -=16.= Hope flared in Hugh, until the memory came - -=17.= Of him who robbed a sleeping friend and fled. - - Explain. - -=18.= Then hate and hunger merged; etc. - - Note again that Hugh finds Jamie’s treachery everywhere. It is - an obsession with him. - - Define “amethyst.” - - - PAGE 54 - -How many days has Hugh crawled? How far has he journeyed? - -=5.= Swooped by. The dream of crawling and the act etc. - - An appeal to the muscular sense. - - Such dreams bespeak extreme weariness. - -=8.= The butte, outstripped at eventide, now seemed etc. - - The butte now becomes the measure of a progress infinitely slow, - a source of discouragement. - -=13.= Whose hand-in-pocket saunter kept the pace. - - Why “hand-in-pocket”? - -=16.= What rest and plenty on the other side! - - Hugh must have encouragement. The break in the prairie, the - crest of the divide, furnishes that. Explain the psychology. How - far is the divide from the Grand? - -=20.= All day it seemed that distant Pisgah Height - - Why “Pisgah”? - - Define “lush.” - - - PAGE 55 - -Hugh is near to starvation. The adventure with the gopher goes from -waking reality to dream on the following night and to waking dream the -next day, revealing how sick Hugh had become. - -=10.= The battered gray face leered etc. - - Note that the vivid picture of the face of Hugh is secured by - the choice of a few meaningful words, battered, leered, slaver, - anticipating jaws. - -=13.= Evolving twilight hovered to a pause - - The twilight pause means what? - -=18.= Hugh jerked the yarn. It broke. - - Note the brevity of the climax, “It broke.” - -=19.= Down swooped the night, - - How many days of journeying? The dream is a nightmare while the - previous one was relatively peaceful. Why the difference? - - - PAGE 56 - -=3.= Woke hordes of laughers down the giddy yawn - - What “hordes of laughers”? - -=5.= Dream dawn, dream-noon, dream-twilight! - - Night and day are “telescoped” for Hugh by the monotony of - crawling either awake or in dreams and never getting anywhere. - -=17.= Dream-dawn, dream-noon, dream-night! And still obsessed - - Why the repetition? - -=18.= By that one dream more clamorous than the rest, - - What is the one dream? Why is it a dream? - - Define: gully, turbid, relict. - - - PAGE 57 - -=3.= Yet had the pleasant lie befriended him, - -=4.= And now the brutal fact had come to stare. - - What was the “pleasant lie”? The brutal fact? - -=7.= And nursed that deadly adder of the soul, - -=8.= Self-pity. Let the crows swoop down and feed, etc. - - Sentimentalism is soul-flabbiness. - -=15.= And lo, a finger-nail, etc. - - The accumulation of great results by infinitesimal accretions is - one of the everlasting surprises in life. - -=21.= So fare the wise on Pisgah. - - How do the wise use their Pisgahs? To enjoy or to inspire to - further effort? - - Define: facture, dwarfed, Titan, triumvirate. - - - PAGE 58 - -=2.= Some higher Hugh observed the baser part. - - What was the higher, what the baser part? - -=3.= So sits the artist throned above his art, etc. - - The hurt is nothing, the achievement is all. No man who is worth - anything but counts his work as more than all else. - -=5.= It seemed the wrinkled hills pressed in to stare, etc. - - The manifestations of nature become Hugh’s audience and he falls - into the throes of composition. Most of our thinking is in words - uttered to persons present, absent, or imagined. - -=11.= So wrought the old evangel of high daring, etc. - - The true philosophy of life, to be a “victor in the moment.” - -=23.= That day the wild geese flew - - What is the effect of their cries? Describe the appearance of - the sky. - - Define: recks, travail, evangel. - - - PAGE 59 - -Present, past and fancy are all mingled in Hugh’s experiences this day, -showing his weakened condition, and the feeling for Jamie obsesses him. - -=9.= Hate slept that day, - - Was it hate or an inversion of love? - -=18.= At last the buzzard beak no longer tore - - What “buzzard beak”? - - Define: lethargy, maudlin. - - - PAGE 60 - -=4.= And now serenely beautiful etc. - - These lines were suggested to the author by a picture, “The - Death of Absalom.” - -=6.= Thus vexed with doleful whims the crawler went etc. - - Hugh would have died at this time had he not drifted into the - rugged vale. - -=11.= Told how the gray-winged gale blew out the day. - - Why “gray-winged”? - -=20.= It seemed no wind had ever come that way, - -=21.= Nor sound dwelt there, nor echo found the place. - - How is utter quiet expressed! - - - PAGE 61 - -=7.= Returning hunger bade him rise; in vain - -=8.= He struggled with a fine-spun mesh of pain etc. - - An appeal to muscular sense. - -=16.= In that hip-wound he had for Jamie’s sake - - That “hip-wound” brings back the desire for revenge, a close - association of ideas. Have you had such experiences? - -=19.= Was turned again with every puckering twinge. - - “Puckering twinge,” another appeal to muscular sense. - -=20.= Far down the vale a narrow winding fringe etc. - - Having passed the divide Hugh slept at the head of a valley that - farther down becomes the bed of a little creek flowing into the - Moreau. - - Define: mesh, trammelled, puckering, betokened. - - - PAGE 62 - -=6.= These two, as comrades, struggled south together— - - Contrast the two “comrades,” each journeying to the many - fathomed peace, one consumed with “lust to kill,” the other - singing on the way. A bit of wise philosophy is suggested. - -=9.= And one went crooning of the moon-wooed vast; - - What is the “moon-wooed vast” and to what is it compared? - - - PAGE 63 - -=12.= All streams ran thin; and when he pressed a hand etc. - - Why did he do this? - -=20.= Far-spread, shade-dimpled in the level glow, - - Another of many sunset pictures in the poem and no two are - alike. “Far-spread, shade-dimpled in the level glow,” a prairie - sunset in one line. - -=24.= Hugh saw what seemed the tempest of a dream - - Why a “dream” tempest? - - Define: phasic, weather-breeding. - - - PAGE 64 - -=3.= A dust cloud deepened down the dwindling river; - -=4.= Upon the distant tree-tops ran a shiver etc. - - Note the pictures suggested in “dust cloud deepened,” “upon the - distant tree-tops ran a shiver,” “huddle thickets writhed,” - “green gloom gapes,” “mill and wrangle in a turbid flow.” - -=13.= Bound for the winter pastures of the Platte! - - The Platte was an especially fine bison country. - -=17.= The lopped moon weltered in the dust-bleared East. - - How long since Hugh began his journey? - -=18.= Sleep came and gave a Barmecidal feast. - - In the Arabian Nights one of the Barmecides, a wealthy family, - served a beggar a pretended feast on beautiful dishes that were - empty. - -=19.= About a merry flame were simmering etc. - - The appeal to the sense of hunger is powerful. Compare Vergil, - Æneid, Book I, 210–215. - -=21.= And tender tongues that never tasted snow, - - Why “never tasted snow”? - - - PAGE 65 - -=2.= So sounds a freshet when the banks are full etc. - - Note comparison of the movement of the herd to a swollen river - clogged by débris. - -=8.= Through which the wolves in doleful tenson tossed - - Tenson: among the troubadours a contest between two singers. - -=9.= From hill to hill the ancient hunger-song. - - Hunger is the oldest form of suffering, and prayer for food the - oldest prayer. - -=15.= With some gray beast that fought with icy fang. - - Why “icy” fang? “white world”? - - Define: eerie, myriads. - - - PAGE 66 - -=8.= The herd would pass and vanish in the night - - How long was the herd in passing? - - During this time, and for fifty years thereafter, bison herds - often covered the plains as far as the eye could see. In the - 60’s travellers on the old Oregon trail often journeyed through - one solid herd for as much as three days, and on either side the - prairie was filled to the horizon. - -=23.= So might a child assail the crowding sea! - - The comparison of the on-rushing herd to high sea tide, notable - in itself, is greatly strengthened by the comparison of Hugh to - a child assaulting the waters. Note the impulse of the defeated - to act in absurd ways. Note the epithet, “crowding.” - - - PAGE 67 - -=2.= Slept till the white of morning o’er the hill - -=3.= Was like a whisper groping in a hush. - - The comparison of light to sound, “the white of morning like a - whisper,” is unusual but true. - -=4.= The stream’s low trill seemed loud. - - Why seemed the low trill loud? - -=9.= Smacked of the autumn, and a heavy dew etc. - - What association of sensations brings the picture of the autumn - fields? - - Note how quickly the vision passed, an illustration of the - author’s power of concentration. Hugh was born in Pennsylvania. - What was his father’s business? How do you know from this and - other passages? See the lyrical passage on page 47. - -=15.= He brooded on the mockeries of Chance, - - On page 58 we saw Hugh in the act of literary composition; now - we see him a philosopher. This is a common fact among what we - call the “common” people. Note the grave-digger scene in Hamlet, - Act V. - - Define: smacked, hoar, frore. - - - PAGE 68 - -=1.= Revealed the havoc of the living flood, etc. - - Point out each word and statement that pictures the havoc - wrought in the valley by the herd. - -=9.= A food-devouring plethora of food - - Devouring what food? What plethora? - -=10.= Had come to make a starving solitude! - - What idea is modified by the word “starving”? - -=16.= That still the weak might perish. - - Express this idea in other terms. Note unusual use of the word - “still.” State the biological “law of evolution.” - -=24.= Within himself the oldest cause of war - - What is the “oldest cause of war”? The newest? - - Define: plethora, raucous, guerdon. - - - PAGE 69 - -=8.= He saw a bison carcass black with crows, etc. - - This picture is unique, cruel, almost revolting, but wonderfully - true. - -=18.= To die contending with a living foe, - -=19.= Than fight the yielding distance and the lack. - - To engage in a short struggle with a visible foe with a definite - end near and certain is far easier than to endure the long drawn - and indefinite. This is because man is primarily well equipped - for the immediate struggle of hunting and war, but is not gifted - by nature with power to endure. - - - PAGE 70 - -=5.= The wolf’s a coward, who, in goodly packs, etc. - - The wolf pack symbolizes the mob. The law of mob life is - cruelty, and cruelty is always cowardly. - -=10.= How some great beast that shambled like a bear - - Why “shambled like a bear”? - -=24.= Woe in the silken meshes of the friend, - -=25.= Weal in the might and menace of the foe. - - The friend often weakens his friend. The opposition of the enemy - develops his strength. - - Define: lacerated, vituperative, prodigious, frenzy, weal. - - - PAGE 71 - -=14.= When sleep is weirdest and a moment’s flight, - - Dreams often come just before waking. - -=20.= Hoof-smitten leagues consuming in a dust. - - What is the syntax of “leagues”? Explain the line. - -=23.= A corpse, yet heard the muffled parleying etc. - - Note how the idea that he was really dead haunts Hugh both - sleeping and waking. Find other places in the poem where this is - true. - - - PAGE 72 - -=3.= The babble flattened to a blur of gray— - - A comparison of sound to light. - -=15.= Could they be the Sioux? - - The Sioux had been allies in the Leavenworth Campaign, while the - Rees were enemies. Note page 1. - - Note on this page the vivid picture of the Indians riding in the - fog. - -=24.= The outflung feelers of a tribe a-stir - - Meaning of “feelers”? - - - PAGE 73 - -=8.= And wasna! - - Bison meat, shredded, dried, and mixed with bison tallow and - dried bullberries, the mixture being packed in bladders. - -=11.= But kinsman of the blood of daring men. - - Actual “blood brotherhood” between Indian and White was not - uncommon and bravery and loyalty were the basis of such - relation. - -=13.= O Friend-Betrayer at the Big Horn’s mouth, etc. - - Note how Hugh’s imagination rushes on to the killing of Jamie. - -=17.= From where a cloud of startled blackbirds rose - - What startles the blackbirds? - - Note on this page, and the next, various hints of the coming of - the Indians and how important the matter was to the starving - watcher from the bluff. - -=20.= Embroiled the parliament of feathered shrews? - - What are the “feathered shrews”? - -=22.= Flackering strepent; now a sooty shower, etc. - - “Flackering strepent”—fluttering and noisy, a fitting - description of the startled flock; onomatopœia. - - The entire picture of the blackbirds is notable. They are a - “boiling cloud,” “a sooty shower,” with big flakes and driven by - a squall, they are “cold black fire.” All these terms are - startling but exact. - - Define: parfleche, panniers, maize, parliament, shrews. - - - PAGE 74 - -=4.= What augury in orniscopic words - -=5.= Did yon swart sibyls on the morning scrawl? - - A rhetorical question to indicate the dread interest Hugh felt - in the question “Sioux or Ree?” - - Note the fancy that words are written on the sky. - -=13.= In their van - -=14.= Aloof and lonely rode a gnarled old man etc. - - “Gnarled” like a tree. A most vivid picture of Elk Tongue, a - famous Ree chief. - -=16.= Beneath his heavy years, yet haughtily - -=17.= He wore them like the purple of a king. - - His great age is like a royal robe. “Gray hairs are a crown of - glory.” - -=18.= Keen for a goal, as from the driving string etc. - - In how many and significant ways his face is described in these - lines: keen for a goal, like a flinty arrow-head, with a - brooding stare. Directions for a statue could scarcely be more - exact or more full of suggestion. - - Define: ruck, augury, orniscopic, swart, sibyl, attenuated, - gnarled, piebald. - - - PAGE 75 - -Read the entire description of the Indians at one sitting and get the -unified effect. - -=12.= Such foeman as no warrior ever slew. - - Hunger. - -=18.= And hurled them shivering back upon the beast. - - According to the Greek myth men were little better than beasts - until Prometheus brought fire to them from heaven in a reed. - - How nearly does the myth accord with truth? - -=21.= Hope fed them with a dream of buffalo etc. - - With primitive man feast and famine were often close together. - -=23.= Home with their Pawnee cousins on the Platte, - - Locate the Platte. The Rees and Pawnees speak the same tongue - with slight variations. - - Define “ravelled.” - - - PAGE 76 - -=2.= The rich-in-ponies rode, etc. - - The first scene in the moving picture shows the contrast of rich - and poor that existed even in the most primitive society. - -=3.= For much is light and little is a load etc. - - What is meant? The sentence is a paradox. - -=10.= Whining because the milk they got was thinned etc. - - The squaws with their crying babies are the material of the - second scene, followed by the striplings. - -=14.= How fair life is beyond the beckoning blue, etc. - - “Distance lends enchantment.” - -=15.= Cold-eyed the grandsires plodded, for they knew, etc. - - Note contrasting words: striplings, grandsires; strutted, - plodded. - - One group saw visions, the other was disillusioned. - -=17.= In what lone land. - - What is meant? - -=20.= Stooped to the fancied burden of the race; - - What is the “burden of the race”? - -=25.= The lean cayuses toiled. - - Cayuse, a broncho, originally one bred by the Cayuse Indians. - -=27.= To see a world flow by on either side, - - How does the world “flow by”? - - - PAGE 77 - -The dog was an ever present feature of Indian life. Note the author’s -familiarity with the dog. - -=12.= Yielded to the squaws’ - -=13.= Inverted mercy and a slow-won grave. - - “The female of the species is more deadly than the male.” Why? - - For the sake of the protection of the young. Indian fighters had - a special horror of falling into the hands of the squaws. - - Hate and love are opposite sides of the same shield. In - proportion as woman loves her children and the protectors of - them she hates anybody and anything that menaces them. - -=14.= Since Earth’s first mother scolded from a cave - - A true picture of social origins. - -=17.= To match the deadly venom brewed above - -=18.= The lean, blue, blinding heart-fires of her love. - - Note the witches’ cauldron that bubbles here and the fire that - burns below it. - -=20.= But thrice three seasons yet should swell the past, etc. - - Glass was killed by the Rees in 1832. - -=21.= So was it writ, ere Fate’s keen harriers etc. - - Why is Fate capitalized? - - Define: palimpsest, harriers. - - - PAGE 78 - -=3.= For that weird pass whereto the fleet are slow, - - The fleet are the young, but the old reach the “weird pass” - first. - -=16.= Scarce had he crossed the open flat, and won etc. - - On this page and the next we have the temptation of Hugh to kill - the squaw. (_a_) Do you feel that Hugh will kill her? (_b_) - Would he be justified in so doing? (_c_) Would you be satisfied - to have the hero of the story slay a weak old woman, though an - Indian? - - Whom does Hugh see sitting haloed like a saint? (page 79) - - What impression on Hugh does the whole adventure make? - - - PAGE 80 - -=3.= He reached a river. Leaning to a pool etc. - - Was the reaction against his own pity natural? - -=14.= That somehow some sly Jamie of a dream - -=15.= Had plundered him again; - - Again the obsession concerning Jamie. There seems a suggestion - of insanity in this. Is the pursuit of vengeance always insane? - -=18.= Now when the eve in many-shaded grays etc. - - Another prairie sunset. Note that every description of the - prairie is woven directly into the story. No two are alike. - -=21.= Hugh paused perplexed. Elusive, haunting, dim, etc. - - A comparison of pure sense to pure idea is unusual but true, for - ideas rest upon sense perception. - - Define: crone, fleered. - - - PAGE 81 - -=4.= It seemed the sweet - -=5.= Allure of home. - - Association by sense of smell—smoke, fire, home in the evening. - -=12.= Hearth-lit within, its windows were as eyes etc. - - The comparison of an old farmhouse to an old mother. Point out - pathos in each. - -=21.= A two-tongued herald wooing hope and fear, - - Meaning? Compare Æneid, Book I, 661. - - Select a lyric from this page. - - Define: troll, recrudescent. - - - PAGE 82 - -=2.= And reached a bluff’s top. In a smudge of red etc. - - Another sunset picture. Where were the “pools of gloom”? - - How comes the “mottled” effect? - -=10.= He lay upon the bare height, fagged, forlorn, - - Hugh is again near to collapse. - -=17.= Then with a start etc. - - How well the first stage of the finding and appropriation of - fire has been pictured as the effect of smell! Now comes the - second stage. The whole incident epitomizes in wonderful way the - meaning of fire to mankind. Note the beauty of the comparison of - the flame to a lily. - - Define: mottled, pluming. - - - PAGE 83 - -=4.= With pounding heart Hugh crawled along the height - - Why “with pounding heart”? - -=15.= Keen to possess once more the ancient gift. - - Of Prometheus to man. - - Define: doddering, burgeoning, tenuous. - - - PAGE 84 - -=1.= Arose, and made an altar of the place. - - Fire worship is as old as the race. Hugh is the priest, the East - Wind a religious novice who sings in the ceremonials, the night - is the temple, and in response to the worship, “Conjuries of - interwoven breath,” the fire god appears in the burning wood. - -=5.= The Wind became a chanting acolyte. - - Why have an East Wind? - -=10.= Once more the freightage of the fennel rod - - Prometheus used a fennel rod to bring fire to mortals. - -=11.= Dissolved the chilling pall of Jovian scorn. - - Jove despised men and refused them fire. - -=13.= The face apocalyptic, and the sword - -=14.= The glory of the many-symboled Lord - -=17.= Voiced with the sound of many waters, - - All this is from Revelations, Chapter I. - - Define: acolyte, epiphanic. - - - PAGE 85 - -=11.= Then set about to view an empty camp - -=12.= As once before, etc. - - See pages 29 and 30. - - - PAGE 86 - -=1.= Among the ash-heaps; and the lean dogs ran - -=2.= And barked about him, for the love of man etc. - - Some one has said that the dog was a candidate for humanity and - just missed it. - -=8.= For ‘tis the little gifts of grudging Chance, - -=9.= Well husbanded, make victors. - - This is a principle of economy often illustrated. - -=18.= Scarce more of marvel and the sense of might, etc. - - Tennyson makes poetry out of a miraculous sword, Neihardt out of - a man-made knife. One is romanticism, the other realism. - - Which is more poetic? - - - PAGE 87 - -=1.= Not having, but the measure of desire etc. - - “A man’s riches consist of what he can do without.” Socrates - taught this philosophy. - -=2.= Who gaining more, seek most, etc. - - Explain. - -=7.= That twain wherewith Time put the brute to school, - - Who was the “brute”? How “put to school”? - -=6.= What gage of mastery in fire and tool!— - - The control of fire was the first great step in civilization and - someone has said that the invention of the bow and arrow wrought - greater changes in human life than any other invention. By - enabling man to kill at a greater range it increased his supply - of meat and so made it possible to live in larger groups. - - - PAGE 88 - -Why didn’t Hugh roast the dog instead of boiling? Note details of -preparation. Hugh ate the entire dog. Two starved Indian hunters have -been known to eat the whole carcass of a deer at one sitting. - -=13.= Hugh slept. And then—as divers, mounting, sunder etc. - - A vivid expression of a common experience on waking from - especially profound sleep. - - Define: bulimic, gage. - - - PAGE 89 - -=3.= And was the friendlike fire a Jamie too? etc. - - The natural return of a monomania. - -=12.= The sting of that antiquity of pain - - After a long rest, his former suffering seemed ancient. - -=14.= That yielding victor, fleet in being slow - - Always more space to be conquered, hence slow and certain to win - over Hugh. - -=16.= So readily the tentacles of sense, etc. - - Thinkers are just beginning to realize something of the hypnotic - power of habit and custom in the individual and in society. The - loss of the accustomed may disintegrate the life. Our author - shows keen understanding when he likens the effect upon Hugh of - the loss of fire to that of the loss of a dear one by death. A - moment ago he was here, vital, real. Now he is gone. How strange - is the world without him! - - - PAGE 90 - -=7.= A yelping of the dogs among the bluffs, etc. - - The one sound in the desolate night, the yelping of the dogs, - starts a train of ideas. The power of abstraction has made man - able to survive where less intelligent forms have perished. - - Flint can be used to skin a dog, so can steel, the two smitten - together make fire, so Hugh found his “unlocked door to life.” - -=22.= Spilled on it from the smitten stone a shower - -=23.= Of ruddy seed; and saw the mystic flower - -=24.= That genders its own summer, bloom anew! - - Explain the metaphor. - - An absolutely new figure regarding fire. - - - PAGE 91 - -=10.= Set laggard singers snatching at the tune. - - What “laggard singers”? - -=13.= And, pitching voices to the timeless woe, - - Life fundamentally sad. - -=14.= Outwailed the lilting. So the Chorus sings etc. - - In the Greek theater the Chorus sang after the actor had spoken, - always taking an opposite tone. So Hugh’s joyous song is drowned - in the wailing of the dogs. - - - PAGE 92 - -=8.= He hobbled now along a withered rill etc. - - Note the quiet of the autumn spell over the secluded place, and - the onomatopœia indicating the falling of the plums and - whispering leaves; also the crying of the lonesome dog that - makes the stillness more intense and sad. - -=10.= A cyclopean portal yawning sheer. - - “Cyclopean portal,” Homer’s Odyssey. - -=25.= Above the sunset like a stygian boat, - - The boat of Charon on the Styx, the river of the underworld. - - - PAGE 93 - -=1.= The new moon bore the spectre of the old, - - Explain. - -=3.= The valley of the tortuous Cheyenne. - - Locate the Cheyenne. - -=4.= And ere the half moon sailed the night again, etc. - - How long since Hugh left the forks of the Grand? - -=17.= Grown Atlantean in the wrestler’s craft. - - Explain “Atlantean.” - - Read “The River and I,” Chapter I, by the same author, to get - his feeling for the Missouri. - - - THE RETURN OF THE GHOST - - - PAGE 94 - -=1.= Not long Hugh let the lust of vengeance gnaw - - Note that the first line of the division of the poem rhymes with - the last line of the former. How often does this happen in the - poem? This device keeps the mind on a stretch and so keeps - interest alive. The same device is often used by the author in - passing from one paragraph to the next. - -=5.= I can not rest; for I am but the ghost etc. - - The old obsession that he actually died by the Grand, though - here used less seriously than in other places. - -=12.= With such a blizzard of a face for me! - - The epithet reveals how Hugh’s gray “ruined face” impressed men. - -=13.= For he went grayer like a poplar tree, etc. - - The simile of the face of Glass in mentioning Jamie’s treachery - and the poplar tree shaken by the first wind of a storm is true - to nature, for a poplar turns the gray side of its leaves when - shaken. - - Define: fend, kenneled. - - - PAGE 95 - -=1.= From where the year’s last keelboat hove in view - - The keelboat, shaped with keel and hence so called, from forty - to sixty feet long, carrying as much as sixty tons and pulled by - fifteen to twenty-five men, was used on the Missouri and other - navigable rivers before the day of the steamboat. - -=10.= Until the tipsy Bourgeois bawled for Glass - - The head of a trading post in the fur trading period was called - Bourgeois, a French word meaning tradesman. - -=12.= The graybeard, sitting where the light was blear, etc. - - The whole account of Hugh’s telling of this great tragedy is of - the highest excellence. We already know that Hugh is a story - teller; we have seen him composing this very tale (page 58), and - we know how his imagination sometimes carries him beyond the - actual, as when he saw Jamie dead (page 60). The effect of his - face, with its changing expressions suiting all the moods - associated with love and betrayal, his chanting songlike tones, - is shown in the muscular responses of the listeners and their - shudders when the story ends. The supreme touch comes when Hugh - tells of the slaying of Jamie as if already done. - -=19.= And his the purpose that is art’s, etc. - - To centre attention on human experience at the crucial moment - and so render it immortal. - -=20.= Whereby men make a vintage of their hearts etc. - - Turn sorrow into beauty. Is there comfort in a sad story well - told? - - - PAGE 97 - -Select the lines on this page that convey a sense of monotony. - -=16.= Past where the tawny Titan gulps the cup - - Titan, the Missouri. - -=22.= And there old times came mightily on Hugh, etc. - - Do you believe Hugh capable now of killing Jamie? - -=24.= Some troubled glory of that wind-tossed hair - - Hugh’s memory of Jamie is sad, not bitter. - - Define: cutbank, wry, tawny. - - - PAGE 98 - -=2.= So haunted with the blue of Jamie’s eyes, etc. - - The blue is sad but not treacherous as once. - -=8.= Past where the Cannon Ball and Heart come in - - Locate the Cannon Ball and the Heart. - -=18.= The chaining of the Titan. Drift ice ran. - - The story of the freezing of the river is worth noting for its - vividness, its alliterations and onomatopœia. - -=19.= The wingéd hounds of Winter ceased to bay. - - What were the “wingéd hounds”? - - - PAGE 99 - -=5.= To wait the far-off Heraclean thaw, - - Heraclean—Hercules. What chained Titan did Hercules release? - -=12.= His purpose called him at the Big Horn’s mouth— - - Locate the Big Horn. What purpose? Who was there? - -=18.= And took the bare, foot-sounding solitude - - Why “foot-sounding”? - -=22.= He seemed indeed a fugitive from Death etc. - - Another reference to Hugh’s fancy that he had actually died. - - It gives added force to that fancy to make his frosted breath - suggest a shroud. - -=24.= Now the moon was young - - Note the phase of the moon for later reference. - - - PAGE 100 - -=6.= With Spring’s wild rage, the snow-born Titan girl, etc. - - The Yellowstone is larger at the junction than is the Missouri. - - Hence the Missouri is the Titan girl rushing into the arms of - her lover. But in the winter with snow covering the ice, “A - winding sheet was on the marriage bed.” Why “snow-born”? - -=15.= Gray void seemed suddenly astir with wings etc. - - Note onomatopœia in the lines indicating that snow begins to - fall. - - - PAGE 101 - -=1.= The bluffs loomed eerie, and the scanty trees - - Describe the appearance of the trees. - -=15.= The tumbling snowflakes sighing all around, - - What associations brought Hugh a dream of boyhood? - -=18.= The Southwind in the tousled apple trees - -=19.= And slumber flowing from their leafy gloom. - - These lines are an intentional “literary echoing” of one of the - most beautiful of the Sapphic fragments,—fragment 4 in Bergk’s - text. - - Define: penumbral, susurrant. - - - PAGE 102 - -The blizzard is a storm characteristic of the plains. It generally lasts -three days, is terribly cold, and the whirling snow is blinding. - -=4.= Black blindness grew white blindness - - Indicating the slight difference between night and day. - - Note in how few lines the poet pictures the passing of the day. - -=5.= All being now seemed narrowed to a span, etc. - - All else was shut from sight and to a degree from the mind. - - - PAGE 103 - -=7.= As with the waning day the great wind fell. - - The sudden cessation of the wind at the close of the third day - of the storm is characteristic, as is also the intense cold. - Forty degrees below zero is not unusual, often even fifty - degrees. - -=10.= When, heifer-horned, the maiden moon lies down - - A reference to the maiden Diana, goddess of the moon. - - How long was Hugh on this journey? - - - PAGE 104 - -=3.= Yon sprawling shadow, pied with candle-glow etc. - - Another of the gripping memory pictures. Can a man who dreams - such a waking dream kill another, even one who has betrayed him, - in cold blood? - -=21.= Or was this but the fretted wraith of Hugh etc. - - The feeling that he is a ghost comes to Hugh twice in this - incident of finding the fort. His long journey, his weakened - physical condition and his exhausted emotions combine to make - life seem unreal. - - - PAGE 105 - -=14.= Joy filled a hush twixt heart-beats like a bird; etc. - - Joy rather than anger comes first in his feeling about Jamie. - - That is significant. - - - PAGE 106 - -=7.= “My God! I saw the Old Man’s ghost out there!” - - Belief in ghosts was common among the trappers. - -=12–21.= “Hugh strove to shout,” etc. - - For the last time we see Hugh with the feeling that he is dead. - - - PAGE 108 - -Are you surprised that Hugh does not kill Le Bon? Would you excuse the -deed if he had? - - - JAMIE - - - PAGE 109 - -Locate the Country of the Crows (Absaroka), the Big Horn, the Powder, -Fort Atkinson. - - - PAGE 110 - -=16.= Now up the Powder, etc. - - Trace the journey on the map. - - Locate the Laramie. - - - PAGE 111 - -=2.= The Niobrara races for the morn— - - Locate the Niobrara. It is a very swift stream. Note the entire - description of the coming of spring on the prairie. It is a - lyric and includes a description of both late and early-coming - of spring. - -=3.= Here at length was born -Upon the southern slopes the baby spring, etc. - - A slow spring. - -=6.= Not such as when announced by thunder-claps etc. - - A description of a swiftly coming spring. - -=9.= Clad splendidly as never Sheba’s Queen, - - Sheba’s Queen—The Bible, 1st Kings. - -=15.= And no root dreamed what Triumph-over-Death - -=16.= Was nurtured now in some bleak Nazareth, etc. - - The coming of spring suggests the resurrection. - -=19.= And everywhere the Odic Presence dwelt. - - “Odic”: from “od,” an arbitrary scientific term signifying the - mysterious vital force in nature. - -=21.= And when they reached the valley of the Snake, - - Locate the Snake. - -=22.= The Niobrara’s ice began to break, - - The next step in the coming of spring. - - - PAGE 112 - -=4.= The geese went over, - - A sure sign that spring is almost come. - -=6.= The little river of Keyapaha - - Locate the Keyapaha. - -=10.= To where the headlong Niobrara etc. - - Locate the mouth of the Niobrara. A student in one of my classes - once wrote an interesting essay telling how her father’s farm - had been swept away by the rushing of the Niobrara into the - Missouri at the spring flood. At such times the smaller river - hurls the Missouri as much as a mile beyond its normal course. - -=13.= A giant staggered by a pigmy’s sling. - - What Bible story is here referred to? - -=18.= There all the vernal wonder-work was done: etc. - - From here on select the color words that give the picture of the - progress of spring. Another lyric. - - - PAGE 113 - -=14.= Of wizard-timber and of wonder-stuff etc. - - Are day dreams built of “wizard-timber and of wonder-stuff”? - - Note the alliteration. - - - PAGE 114 - -=1.= Into the North, a devil-ridden man. - - The first picture of Jamie since he deserted Hugh. Will it - arouse Hugh’s pity? - -=13.= Up the long watery stairway to the Horn, - - What is the “watery stairway to the Horn”? Horn—Big Horn River. - -=14.= And the year was shorn etc. - - How long is it since the story opened? - - Note the entire description of the coming of autumn. - -=19.= That withered in the endless martyrdom - - Why “martyrdom”? - -=20.= The scarlet quickened on the plum etc. - - Note the steps of the coming of autumn at the Heart, among the - Mandans, at the Yellowstone, the Powder. - - - PAGE 115 - -=1.= Was spattered with the blood of Summer slain. - - A remarkable figure. - -=8.= Aye, one who seemed to stare upon a ghost etc. - - A second picture of Jamie’s suffering. - -=14.= And to forgive and to forget were sweet: etc. - - There will be no murder; our interest now is that the men may - meet and in the manner of reconciliation. - -=15.= ‘Tis for its nurse etc. - - Explain. Is this not true? - -=20.= But at the crossing of the Rosebud’s mouth - - Locate the Rosebud. - - - PAGE 116 - -=3.= Alas, the journey back to yesterwhiles! etc. - - There is no going back to the old days. - -=13.= He came with those to where the Poplar joins etc. - - Locate the Poplar. - -=22.= From Mississippi to the Great Divide - - Locate the Great Divide. - - - PAGE 117 - -=5.= Upon Milk River valley, - - Locate Milk River. - -=7.= Above the Piegan lodges, - - Piegans—one of the principal divisions of the Blackfoot tribe of - Indians. Locate the Piegan village. - - - PAGE 118 - -=7.= Lest on the sunset trail slow feet should err. - - What is the “sunset trail”? - -=16.= You saw no Black Robe? - - Black Robe, priest, so-called by all Indians. - -=18.= “Heaped snow—sharp stars—a kiote on the rise.” - - The answer is true to the laconic Indian speech, but it is - beautiful. - - - PAGE 122 - -=2.= By their own weakness are the feeble sped; etc. - - Three paradoxes—“He that loseth his life shall find it.” - - - PAGE 123 - -The vision of Hugh as seen by Jamie corresponds to the description of -Hugh on pages 59 and 60. May we say that Jamie may indeed have seen -Hugh? The Society for Psychic Research records such phenomena. - -=15.= O, Father, I had paid too much for breath! - - For what will a man give his life? What higher values than life - are there? It is Satan who says in Job, “All that a man hath - will he give for his life.” - - Show that the principle of Katharsis is illustrated in this - poem. - - - Printed in the United States of America. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Silently corrected typographical errors. - 2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - 4. Enclosed bold font in =equals=. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Song of Hugh Glass, by John Gneisenau Neihardt - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS *** - -***** This file should be named 53667-0.txt or 53667-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/6/6/53667/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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} - .c015 { margin-top: 1em; font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c016 { font-size: 90%; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c017 { margin-left: 11.11%; font-size: 90%; margin-top: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c018 { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - div.tnotes { padding-left:1em;padding-right:1em;background-color:#E3E4FA; - border:1px solid silver; margin:2em 10% 0 10%; } - .covernote { visibility: hidden; display: none; } - div.tnotes p { text-align:left; } - @media handheld { .covernote { visibility: visible; display: block;} } - img {max-width: 100%; height:auto; } - .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; - margin: .67em auto; } - .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; - } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's The Song of Hugh Glass, by John Gneisenau Neihardt - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Song of Hugh Glass - -Author: John Gneisenau Neihardt - -Commentator: Julius T. House - -Release Date: December 4, 2016 [EBook #53667] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='tnotes covernote'> - -<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber's Note:</strong></p> - -<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_002.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</div> - <div>NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS</div> - <div>ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO</div> - <div class='c003'>MACMILLAN & CO., <span class='sc'>Limited</span></div> - <div>LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA</div> - <div>MELBOURNE</div> - <div class='c003'>THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class='sc'>Ltd.</span></div> - <div>TORONTO</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div> - <h1 class='c004'>THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>BY</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='xlarge'>JOHN G. NEIHARDT</span></div> - <div class='c003'>WITH NOTES</div> - <div class='c003'>BY</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>JULIUS T. HOUSE</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Head of the Department of English at the State Normal School, Wayne, Nebraska</span></div> - <div class='c002'><span class='large'>New York</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>1921</span></div> - <div class='c003'><em>All rights reserved</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='sc'>Copyright</span>, 1915, 1919,</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>By</span> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.</div> - <div class='c003'>Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1915.</div> - <div class='c002'>Norwood Press</div> - <div>J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.</div> - <div>Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>TO SIGURD, SCARCELY THREE</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When you are old enough to know</div> - <div class='line'>The joys of kite and boat and bow</div> - <div class='line'>And other suchlike splendid things</div> - <div class='line'>That boyhood’s rounded decade brings,</div> - <div class='line'>I shall not give you tropes and rhymes;</div> - <div class='line'>But, rising to those rousing times,</div> - <div class='line'>I shall ply well the craft I know</div> - <div class='line'>Of shaping kite and boat and bow,</div> - <div class='line'>For you shall teach me once again</div> - <div class='line'>The goodly art of being ten.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Meanwhile, as on a rainy day</div> - <div class='line'>When ‘tis not possible to play,</div> - <div class='line'>The while you do your best to grow</div> - <div class='line'>I ply the other craft I know</div> - <div class='line'>And strive to build for you the mood</div> - <div class='line'>Of daring and of fortitude</div> - <div class='line'>With fitted word and shapen phrase,</div> - <div class='line'>Against those later wonder-days</div> - <div class='line'>When first you glimpse the world of men</div> - <div class='line'>Beyond the bleaker side of ten.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span> - <h2 class='c005'>NOTE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>The following narrative is based upon an episode taken -from that much neglected portion of our history, the era -of the American Fur Trade. My interest in that period -may be said to have begun at the age of six when, clinging -to the forefinger of my father, I discovered the Missouri -River from a bluff top at Kansas City. It was flood -time, and the impression I received was deep and lasting. -Even now I cannot think of that stream without a thrill -of awe and something of the reverence one feels for -mighty things. It was for me what the sea must have -been to the Greek boys of antiquity. And as those ancient -boys must have been eager to hear of perils nobly -encountered on the deep and in the lands adjacent, so -was I eager to learn of the heroes who had travelled my -river as an imperial road. Nor was I disappointed in -what I learned of them; for they seemed to me in every -way equal to the heroes of old. I came to think of them -with a sense of personal ownership, for any one of many -of them might have been my grandfather—and so a little -of their purple fell on me. As I grew older and came -to possess more of my inheritance, I began to see that -what had enthralled me was, in fact, of the stuff of sagas, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>a genuine epic cycle in the rough. Furthermore, I realized -that this raw material had been undergoing a process -of digestion in my consciousness, corresponding in a way -to the process of infinite repetition and fond elaboration -which, as certain scholars tell us, foreran the heroic narratives -of old time.</p> - -<p class='c000'>I decided that some day I would begin to tell these -hero tales in verse; and in 1908, as a preparation for -what I had in mind, I descended the Missouri in an -open boat, and also ascended the Yellowstone for a considerable -distance. On the upper river the country was -practically unchanged; and for one familiar with what -had taken place there, it was no difficult feat of the -imagination to revive the details of that time—the men, -the trails, the boats, the trading posts where veritable -satraps once ruled under the sway of the American Fur -Company.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The Hugh Glass episode is to be found in Chittenden’s -“History of the American Fur Trade” where it -is quoted from its three printed sources: the <em>Missouri -Intelligencer</em>, Sage’s “Scenes in the Rocky Mountains,” -and Cooke’s “Scenes in the United States Army.” The -present narrative begins after that military fiasco known -as the Leavenworth Campaign against the Aricaras, which -took place at the mouth of the Grand River in what is -now South Dakota.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>J. G. N.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary='CONTENTS'> - <tr> - <th class='c007'>CHAPTER</th> - <th class='c008'> </th> - <th class='c009'>PAGE</th> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>I.</td> - <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Graybeard and Goldhair</span></td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>II.</td> - <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Awakening</span></td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_26'>26</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>III.</td> - <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Crawl</span></td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_37'>37</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>IV.</td> - <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Return of the Ghost</span></td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_94'>94</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>V.</td> - <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Jamie</span></td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_109'>109</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span> - <h2 class='c005'>INTRODUCTION</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>If the average student of Western American History -in our schools were asked to recall those names which -loom large for him during the four decades from the -purchase of the Louisiana Territory to the coming -of the settlers, he would doubtless think of Lewis -and Clark, Lieutenant Pike, Major Long, and General -Frémont, with perhaps one or two others. That is -to say, the average student of Western History is -familiar with the names of official explorers; and but -for their exploits, those forty wonderful years would -seem to him little more than a lapse of empty time -in a vast region waiting for the westering white man.</p> - -<p class='c000'>It is true that the deeds of those above named -were important. The journey of Lewis and Clark -from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia, and -back again, has immense significance in the story of -our national life, and it was truly a “magnificent -adventure,” to use the phrase of Emerson Hough. -Pike holds and deserves a high place for his explorations -in the Southwest. Long’s contribution to the -early knowledge of the West was considerable; and -Frémont’s expeditions served, at least, to awaken the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>popular Eastern mind to the great possibilities of the -Trans-Missouri region. Frémont’s reputation, however, -is out of all proportion to his real accomplishment, -for the trails he travelled were well known to white -men long before he ventured into the wilderness. In -this connection, Major Chittenden, one of the foremost -authorities on the subject, tells us that “there -never has been a time until very recently when the -geography of the West was so thoroughly understood -as it was by the trader and trapper from 1830 to 1840.”</p> - -<p class='c000'>When Lewis and Clark were descending the Missouri -River in the summer of 1806 on their return from -the mouth of the Columbia, they met bands of traders -pushing on toward the country from whence the explorers -had just come. These were the vanguard of -the real history makers of the Early West. It was -such men as these who, during the next generation, -as Chittenden says, “first explored and established -the routes of travel which are now and always will be -the avenues of commerce in that region.” The period -that followed the return of Lewis and Clark was one -of the most enthralling in the entire story of the human -race, and yet the very names of its principal heroes -are practically unknown except to specialists in Western -History. The stories of their exploits have not -yet reached our schools, and are to be found, for the -most part, hidden away in the collections of state -<span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span>historical societies and in contemporary journals and -books of travel long since out of print. The Mormon -Emigration, the Mexican War, the Gold Rush to -California, and the Oregon Question filled the popular -imagination during the early years of the West, and -thus an important phase of our national development -was overlooked and forgotten.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Nevertheless, it remains true that the story of the -West during the first four decades of the nineteenth -century is the story of the wandering bands of trappers -and traders who explored the wilderness in search of -furs from the British boundary to Mexico and from -the Missouri to the Pacific. History, as written in -the past, has been too much a chronological record of -official governmental acts, too little an intimate account -of the lives of the people themselves. Doubtless, -the democratic spirit that now seems to be sweeping -the world will, if it continues to spread, revolutionize -our whole conception of history, bringing us -to realize that the glory of the race is not the glory -of a chosen few, but that it radiates from the precious -heroic stuff of common human lives. And that view, -I am proud to say, is quite in keeping with our dearest -national traditions.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Now the fur trade on the Missouri River dates well -back into the eighteenth century, and at the time of -the Revolutionary War, parties of trappers had already -<span class='pageno' id='Page_xiv'>xiv</span>ascended as far north as the Big Bend in the -present state of South Dakota. But it was not until -after the return of Lewis and Clark from the Northwest, -and of Lieutenant Pike from the Southwest, -that the great era of the fur trade began. In 1807 -the Spanish trader, Manuel Lisa, ascended the -Missouri and the Yellowstone to the mouth of the -Big Horn, where he erected a trading post. Returning -to St. Louis the next year, he became the leading -spirit in the “St. Louis Missouri Fur Company,” the -troubled career of which, during the succeeding fifteen -years, was rich in the stuff of which epics are -made. Major Andrew Henry, who appears in “The -Song of Hugh Glass” as leader of the westbound expedition -from the mouth of the Grand River, was a -member of that company, ascending the Missouri to -the Three Forks in the summer of 1809. Driven -thence by the Blackfeet, he crossed the Great Divide -and built a post on what has since been called Henry’s -fork of the Snake River, thus being the first American -trader to operate on the Pacific side of the Rockies.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the spring of 1811, the Overland Astorians, under -the command of W. P. Hunt, left St. Louis, bound for -the mouth of the Columbia where they expected to -join forces with a sea expedition that had set sail from -New York during the previous autumn for the long -and hazardous voyage around Cape Horn. This is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_xv'>xv</span>the only widely known expedition in the whole history -of the Trans-Missouri fur trade, thanks to Washington -Irving, whose account of it is an American classic.</p> - -<p class='c000'>During the War of 1812 the fur trade on the Missouri -declined; and though in the year 1819 five companies -of some importance were operating from St. Louis, -none of these was doing a profitable business. The -revival of the trade, which ushered in the great epic -period of our national development, may be dated -from March 20th, 1822, when the following advertisement -appeared in the <em>Missouri Republican</em> of -St. Louis:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c010'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>To Enterprising Young Men:</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The subscriber wishes to engage one hundred young men -to ascend the Missouri River to its source, there to be -employed for one, two or three years. For particulars -enquire of Major Andrew Henry, near the lead mines in -the County of Washington, who will ascend with and -command the party; or of the subscriber near St. Louis.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c010'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>(Signed) <span class='sc'>William H. Ashley.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>Major Henry has already been mentioned as a -veteran trader of the upper country. Ashley, who -was at that time General of the Missouri Militia and -Lieutenant Governor of the recently admitted state, -was about to make his first trip into the wilderness.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Setting out in the spring of 1822, Major Henry, -with his one hundred “enterprising young men” -(some of whom were young only in spirit), ascended -<span class='pageno' id='Page_xvi'>xvi</span>to the mouth of the Yellowstone. This was before -the era of the Missouri River steamboat, and the two -keelboats, that bore the trading stock and supplies -of the party, were “cordelled,” that is to say, pulled -by tow-line. General Ashley accompanied the expedition, -returning to St. Louis in the fall. Early in -the spring of 1823 he started north again with a second -band of one hundred men. Stopping to trade for -horses at the Ree villages near the mouth of the Grand, -he was attacked by that most treacherous of the -Missouri River tribes, received a sound drubbing, lost -most of his horses, and was compelled to drop down -stream to await reënforcements. It was in this battle -that old Hugh Glass received his hip wound.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Jedediah Smith, who was a member of the defeated -party, and who had fought with conspicuous bravery, -volunteered to carry the news of disaster to Henry -at the mouth of the Yellowstone. He was then but -twenty-four years old; yet during the next six years -he was destined to discover and explore the central -and southwestern routes to the Pacific—an achievement -of equal importance with that of Lewis and -Clark, and performed under much greater difficulties. -Immediately upon the arrival of Smith at the mouth -of the Yellowstone, Henry, with most of his band, -started south to the relief of Ashley.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the meanwhile, Ashley had apprised the Indian -<span class='pageno' id='Page_xvii'>xvii</span>Agent and military authorities at Fort Atkinson of his -rough treatment; and Colonel Leavenworth started -north with 220 men, intent upon chastising the Rees -and making the Missouri River safe for American -traders. The campaign that followed, in which the -Whites were aided by a band of Sioux, was in some -important respects a fiasco, as the opening lines of the -poem suggest. But that does not greatly matter here.</p> - -<p class='c000'>What does matter, is the fact that the muster roll -of the two parties of Ashley and Henry, then united -at the mouth of the Grand, contained nearly all of the -great names in the history of the West from the time -of Lewis and Clark to the coming of the settlers. -Harrison Clifford Dale, whose “Ashley-Smith Explorations -to the Pacific” easily ranks him as the -supreme authority on this particular period, has the -following to say regarding the Ashley-Henry men: -“The wanderings of this group during the next ten -or fifteen years cover the entire West.... It was the -most significant group of continental explorers ever -brought together.”</p> - -<p class='c000'>After the Leavenworth campaign against the Rees, -Major Henry, with eighty men, set out for the mouth -of the Big Horn by way of the Grand River valley. -Hugh Glass acted as hunter for the westbound party, -and it is at this point that the following narrative begins. -Old Glass was not himself an explorer, yet his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_xviii'>xviii</span>adventures serve to illustrate the heroic temper of -the men who explored the West, as well as the nature -of the difficulties they encountered.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In building the epic cycle, of which “The Song of -Hugh Glass” and “The Song of Three Friends” are -parts (each, however, being complete in itself), I am -concerned with the wanderings of that group of men -who were assembled for the last time at the mouth of -the Grand. Long ago, when I was younger than most -of you who are now about to study the poem here -presented, I dreamed of making those men live again -for the young men and women of my country. The -tremendous mood of heroism that was developed in -our American West during that period is properly a -part of your racial inheritance; and certainly no less -important a part than the memory of ancient heroes. -Indeed, it can be shown that those men—Kentuckians, -Virginians, Pennsylvanians, Ohioans—were -direct descendants, in the epic line, of all the heroes -of our Aryan race that have been celebrated by the -poets of the Past; descendants of Achilles and Hector, -of Æneas, of Roland, of Sigurd, and of the knights -of Arthur’s court. They went as torch-bearers in the -van of our westering civilization. Your Present is, -in a great measure, a heritage from their Past.</p> - -<p class='c000'>And their blood is in your veins!</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>John G. Neihardt.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> - <h2 class='c005'>I<br /> GRAYBEARD AND GOLDHAIR</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The year was eighteen hundred twenty three.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Twas when the guns that blustered at the Ree</div> - <div class='line'>Had ceased to brag, and ten score martial clowns</div> - <div class='line'>Turned from the unwhipped Aricara towns,</div> - <div class='line'>Earning the scornful laughter of the Sioux.</div> - <div class='line'>A withering blast the arid South still blew,</div> - <div class='line'>And creeks ran thin beneath the glaring sky;</div> - <div class='line'>For ‘twas a month ere honking geese would fly</div> - <div class='line'>Southward before the Great White Hunter’s face:</div> - <div class='line'>And many generations of their race,</div> - <div class='line'>As bow-flung arrows, now have fallen spent.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>It happened then that Major Henry went</div> - <div class='line'>With eighty trappers up the dwindling Grand,</div> - <div class='line'>Bound through the weird, unfriending barren-land</div> - <div class='line'>For where the Big Horn meets the Yellowstone;</div> - <div class='line'>And old Hugh Glass went with them.</div> - <div class='line in32'>Large of bone,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>Deep-chested, that his great heart might have play,</div> - <div class='line'>Gray-bearded, gray of eye and crowned with gray</div> - <div class='line'>Was Glass. It seemed he never had been young;</div> - <div class='line'>And, for the grudging habit of his tongue,</div> - <div class='line'>None knew the place or season of his birth.</div> - <div class='line'>Slowly he ‘woke to anger or to mirth;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet none laughed louder when the rare mood fell,</div> - <div class='line'>And hate in him was like a still, white hell,</div> - <div class='line'>A thing of doom not lightly reconciled.</div> - <div class='line'>What memory he kept of wife or child</div> - <div class='line'>Was never told; for when his comrades sat</div> - <div class='line'>About the evening fire with pipe and chat,</div> - <div class='line'>Exchanging talk of home and gentler days,</div> - <div class='line'>Old Hugh stared long upon the pictured blaze,</div> - <div class='line'>And what he saw went upward in the smoke.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But once, as with an inner lightning stroke,</div> - <div class='line'>The veil was rent, and briefly men discerned</div> - <div class='line'>What pent-up fires of selfless passion burned</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath the still gray smoldering of him.</div> - <div class='line'>There was a rakehell lad, called Little Jim,</div> - <div class='line'>Jamie or Petit Jacques; for scarce began</div> - <div class='line'>The downy beard to mark him for a man.</div> - <div class='line'>Blue-eyed was he and femininely fair.</div> - <div class='line'>A maiden might have coveted his hair</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>That trapped the sunlight in its tangled skein:</div> - <div class='line'>So, tardily, outflowered the wild blond strain</div> - <div class='line'>That gutted Rome grown overfat in sloth.</div> - <div class='line'>A Ganymedes haunted by a Goth</div> - <div class='line'>Was Jamie. When the restive ghost was laid,</div> - <div class='line'>He seemed some fancy-ridden child who played</div> - <div class='line'>At manliness ‘mid all those bearded men.</div> - <div class='line'>The sternest heart was drawn to Jamie then.</div> - <div class='line'>But his one mood ne’er linked two hours together.</div> - <div class='line'>To schedule Jamie’s way, as prairie weather,</div> - <div class='line'>Was to get fact by wedding doubt and whim;</div> - <div class='line'>For very lightly slept that ghost in him.</div> - <div class='line'>No cloudy brooding went before his wrath</div> - <div class='line'>That, like a thunder-squall, recked not its path,</div> - <div class='line'>But raged upon what happened in its way.</div> - <div class='line'>Some called him brave who saw him on that day</div> - <div class='line'>When Ashley stormed a bluff town of the Ree,</div> - <div class='line'>And all save beardless Jamie turned to flee</div> - <div class='line'>For shelter from that steep, lead-harrowed slope.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet, hardly courage, but blind rage agrope</div> - <div class='line'>Inspired the foolish deed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in24'>‘Twas then old Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>Tore off the gray mask, and the heart shone through.</div> - <div class='line'>For, halting in a dry, flood-guttered draw,</div> - <div class='line'>The trappers rallied, looked aloft and saw</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>That travesty of war against the sky.</div> - <div class='line'>Out of a breathless hush, the old man’s cry</div> - <div class='line'>Leaped shivering, an anguished cry and wild</div> - <div class='line'>As of some mother fearing for her child,</div> - <div class='line'>And up the steep he went with mighty bounds.</div> - <div class='line'>Long afterward the story went the rounds,</div> - <div class='line'>How old Glass fought that day. With gun for club,</div> - <div class='line'>Grim as a grizzly fighting for a cub,</div> - <div class='line'>He laid about him, cleared the way, and so,</div> - <div class='line'>Supported by the firing from below,</div> - <div class='line'>Brought Jamie back. And when the deed was done,</div> - <div class='line'>Taking the lad upon his knee: “My Son,</div> - <div class='line'>Brave men are not ashamed to fear,” said Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>“And I’ve a mind to make a man of you;</div> - <div class='line'>So here’s your first acquaintance with the law!”</div> - <div class='line'>Whereat he spanked the lad with vigorous paw</div> - <div class='line'>And, having done so, limped away to bed;</div> - <div class='line'>For, wounded in the hip, the old man bled.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>It was a month before he hobbled out,</div> - <div class='line'>And Jamie, like a fond son, hung about</div> - <div class='line'>The old man’s tent and waited upon him.</div> - <div class='line'>And often would the deep gray eyes grow dim</div> - <div class='line'>With gazing on the boy; and there would go—</div> - <div class='line'>As though Spring-fire should waken out of snow—</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>A wistful light across that mask of gray.</div> - <div class='line'>And once Hugh smiled his enigmatic way,</div> - <div class='line'>While poring long on Jamie’s face, and said:</div> - <div class='line'>“So with their sons are women brought to bed,</div> - <div class='line'>Sore wounded!”</div> - <div class='line in16'>Thus united were the two:</div> - <div class='line'>And some would dub the old man ‘Mother Hugh’;</div> - <div class='line'>While those in whom all living waters sank</div> - <div class='line'>To some dull inner pool that teemed and stank</div> - <div class='line'>With formless evil, into that morass</div> - <div class='line'>Gazed, and saw darkly there, as in a glass,</div> - <div class='line'>The foul shape of some weakly envied sin.</div> - <div class='line'>For each man builds a world and dwells therein.</div> - <div class='line'>Nor could these know what mocking ghost of Spring</div> - <div class='line'>Stirred Hugh’s gray world with dreams of blossoming</div> - <div class='line'>That wooed no seed to swell or bird to sing.</div> - <div class='line'>So might a dawn-struck digit of the moon</div> - <div class='line'>Dream back the rain of some old lunar June</div> - <div class='line'>And ache through all its craters to be green.</div> - <div class='line'>Little they know what life’s one love can mean,</div> - <div class='line'>Who shrine it in a bower of peace and bliss:</div> - <div class='line'>Pang dwelling in a puckered cicatrice</div> - <div class='line'>More truly figures this belated love.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet very precious was the hurt thereof,</div> - <div class='line'>Grievous to bear, too dear to cast away.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>Now Jamie went with Hugh; but who shall say</div> - <div class='line'>If ‘twas a warm heart or a wind of whim,</div> - <div class='line'>Love, or the rover’s teasing itch in him,</div> - <div class='line'>Moved Jamie? Howsoe’er, ‘twas good to see</div> - <div class='line'>Graybeard and Goldhair riding knee to knee,</div> - <div class='line'>One age in young adventure. One who saw</div> - <div class='line'>Has likened to a February thaw</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh’s mellow mood those days; and truly so,</div> - <div class='line'>For when the tempering Southwest wakes to blow</div> - <div class='line'>A phantom April over melting snow,</div> - <div class='line'>Deep in the North some new white wrath is brewed.</div> - <div class='line'>Out of a dim-trailed inner solitude</div> - <div class='line'>The old man summoned many a stirring story,</div> - <div class='line'>Lived grimly once, but now shot through with glory</div> - <div class='line'>Caught from the wondering eyes of him who heard—</div> - <div class='line'>Tales jaggéd with the bleak unstudied word,</div> - <div class='line'>Stark saga-stuff. “A fellow that I knew,”</div> - <div class='line'>So nameless went the hero that was Hugh—</div> - <div class='line'>A mere pelt merchant, as it seemed to him;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet trailing epic thunders through the dim,</div> - <div class='line'>Whist world of Jamie’s awe.</div> - <div class='line in32'>And so they went,</div> - <div class='line'>One heart, it seemed, and that heart well content</div> - <div class='line'>With tale and snatch of song and careless laughter.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>Never before, and surely never after,</div> - <div class='line'>The gray old man seemed nearer to his youth—</div> - <div class='line'>That myth that somehow had to be the truth,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet could not be convincing any more.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now when the days of travel numbered four</div> - <div class='line'>And nearer drew the barrens with their need,</div> - <div class='line'>On Glass, the hunter, fell the task to feed</div> - <div class='line'>Those four score hungers when the game should fail.</div> - <div class='line'>For no young eye could trace so dim a trail,</div> - <div class='line'>Or line the rifle sights with speed so true.</div> - <div class='line'>Nor might the wistful Jamie go with Hugh;</div> - <div class='line'>“For,” so Hugh chaffed, “my trick of getting game</div> - <div class='line'>Might teach young eyes to put old eyes to shame.</div> - <div class='line'>An old dog never risks his only bone.”</div> - <div class='line'>‘Wolves prey in packs, the lion hunts alone’</div> - <div class='line'>Is somewhat nearer what he should have meant.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so with merry jest the old man went;</div> - <div class='line'>And so they parted at an unseen gate</div> - <div class='line'>That even then some gust of moody fate</div> - <div class='line'>Clanged to betwixt them; each a tale to spell—</div> - <div class='line'>One in the nightmare scrawl of dreams from hell,</div> - <div class='line'>One in the blistering trail of days a-crawl,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>Venomous footed. Nor might it ere befall</div> - <div class='line'>These two should meet in after days and be</div> - <div class='line'>Graybeard and Goldhair riding knee to knee,</div> - <div class='line'>Recounting with a bluff, heroic scorn</div> - <div class='line'>The haps of either tale.</div> - <div class='line in25'>‘Twas early morn</div> - <div class='line'>When Hugh went forth, and all day Jamie rode</div> - <div class='line'>With Henry’s men, while more and more the goad</div> - <div class='line'>Of eager youth sore fretted him, and made</div> - <div class='line'>The dusty progress of the cavalcade</div> - <div class='line'>The journey of a snail flock to the moon;</div> - <div class='line'>Until the shadow-weaving afternoon</div> - <div class='line'>Turned many fingers nightward—then he fled,</div> - <div class='line'>Pricking his horse, nor deigned to turn his head</div> - <div class='line'>At any dwindling voice of reprimand;</div> - <div class='line'>For somewhere in the breaks along the Grand</div> - <div class='line'>Surely Hugh waited with a goodly kill.</div> - <div class='line'>Hoofbeats of ghostly steeds on every hill,</div> - <div class='line'>Mysterious, muffled hoofs on every bluff!</div> - <div class='line'>Spurred echo horses clattering up the rough</div> - <div class='line'>Confluent draws! These flying Jamie heard.</div> - <div class='line'>The lagging air droned like the drowsy word</div> - <div class='line'>Of one who tells weird stories late at night.</div> - <div class='line'>Half headlong joy and half delicious fright,</div> - <div class='line'>His day-dream’s pace outstripped the plunging steed’s.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>Lean galloper in a wind of splendid deeds,</div> - <div class='line'>Like Hugh’s, he seemed unto himself, until,</div> - <div class='line'>Snorting, a-haunch above a breakneck hill,</div> - <div class='line'>The horse stopped short—then Jamie was aware</div> - <div class='line'>Of lonesome flatlands fading skyward there</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath him, and, zigzag on either hand,</div> - <div class='line'>A purple haze denoted how the Grand</div> - <div class='line'>Forked wide ‘twixt sunset and the polar star.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>A-tiptoe in the stirrups, gazing far,</div> - <div class='line'>He saw no Hugh nor any moving thing,</div> - <div class='line'>Save for a welter of cawing crows, a-wing</div> - <div class='line'>About some banquet in the further hush.</div> - <div class='line'>One faint star, set above the fading blush</div> - <div class='line'>Of sunset, saw the coming night, and grew.</div> - <div class='line'>With hand for trumpet, Jamie gave halloo;</div> - <div class='line'>And once again. For answer, the horse neighed.</div> - <div class='line'>Some vague mistrust now made him half afraid—</div> - <div class='line'>Some formless dread that stirred beneath the will</div> - <div class='line'>As far as sleep from waking.</div> - <div class='line in32'>Down the hill,</div> - <div class='line'>Close-footed in the skitter of the shale,</div> - <div class='line'>The spurred horse floundered to the solid vale</div> - <div class='line'>And galloped to the northwest, whinnying.</div> - <div class='line'>The outstripped air moaned like a wounded thing;</div> - <div class='line'>But Jamie gave the lie unto his dread.</div> - <div class='line'>“The old man’s camping out to-night,” he said,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>“Somewhere about the forks, as like as not;</div> - <div class='line'>And there’ll be hunks of fresh meat steaming hot,</div> - <div class='line'>And fighting stories by a dying fire!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The sunset reared a luminous phantom spire</div> - <div class='line'>That, crumbling, sifted ashes down the sky.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now, pausing, Jamie sent a searching cry</div> - <div class='line'>Into the twilit river-skirting brush,</div> - <div class='line'>And in the vast denial of the hush</div> - <div class='line'>The champing of the snaffled horse seemed loud.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then, startling as a voice beneath a shroud,</div> - <div class='line'>A muffled boom woke somewhere up the stream</div> - <div class='line'>And, like vague thunder hearkened in a dream,</div> - <div class='line'>Drawled back to silence. Now, with heart abound,</div> - <div class='line'>Keen for the quarter of the perished sound,</div> - <div class='line'>The lad spurred gaily; for he doubted not</div> - <div class='line'>His cry had brought Hugh’s answering rifle shot.</div> - <div class='line'>The laggard air was like a voice that sang,</div> - <div class='line'>And Jamie half believed he sniffed the tang</div> - <div class='line'>Of woodsmoke and the smell of flesh a-roast;</div> - <div class='line'>When presently before him, like a ghost,</div> - <div class='line'>Upstanding, huge in twilight, arms flung wide,</div> - <div class='line'>A gray form loomed. The wise horse reared and shied,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>Snorting his inborn terror of the bear!</div> - <div class='line'>And in the whirlwind of a moment there,</div> - <div class='line'>Betwixt the brute’s hoarse challenge and the charge,</div> - <div class='line'>The lad beheld, upon the grassy marge</div> - <div class='line'>Of a small spring that bullberries stooped to scan,</div> - <div class='line'>A ragged heap that should have been a man,</div> - <div class='line'>A huddled, broken thing—and it was Hugh!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There was no need for any closer view.</div> - <div class='line'>As, on the instant of a lightning flash</div> - <div class='line'>Ere yet the split gloom closes with a crash,</div> - <div class='line'>A landscape stares with every circumstance</div> - <div class='line'>Of rock and shrub—just so the fatal chance</div> - <div class='line'>Of Hugh’s one shot, made futile with surprise,</div> - <div class='line'>Was clear to Jamie. Then before his eyes</div> - <div class='line'>The light whirled in a giddy dance of red;</div> - <div class='line'>And, doubting not the crumpled thing was dead</div> - <div class='line'>That was a friend, with but a skinning knife</div> - <div class='line'>He would have striven for the hated life</div> - <div class='line'>That triumphed there: but with a shriek of fright</div> - <div class='line'>The mad horse bolted through the falling night,</div> - <div class='line'>And Jamie, fumbling at his rifle boot,</div> - <div class='line'>Heard the brush crash behind him where the brute</div> - <div class='line'>Came headlong, close upon the straining flanks.</div> - <div class='line'>But when at length low-lying river banks—</div> - <div class='line'>White rubble in the gloaming—glimmered near,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>A swift thought swept the mind of Jamie clear</div> - <div class='line'>Of anger and of anguish for the dead.</div> - <div class='line'>Scarce seemed the raging beast a thing to dread,</div> - <div class='line'>But some foul-playing braggart to outwit.</div> - <div class='line'>Now hurling all his strength upon the bit,</div> - <div class='line'>He sank the spurs, and with a groan of pain</div> - <div class='line'>The plunging horse, obedient to the rein,</div> - <div class='line'>Swerved sharply streamward. Sliddering in the sand,</div> - <div class='line'>The bear shot past. And suddenly the Grand</div> - <div class='line'>Loomed up beneath and rose to meet the pair</div> - <div class='line'>That rode a moment upon empty air,</div> - <div class='line'>Then smote the water in a shower of spray.</div> - <div class='line'>And when again the slowly ebbing day</div> - <div class='line'>Came back to them, a-drip from nose to flank,</div> - <div class='line'>The steed was scrambling up the further bank,</div> - <div class='line'>And Jamie saw across the narrow stream,</div> - <div class='line'>Like some vague shape of fury in a dream,</div> - <div class='line'>The checked beast ramping at the water’s rim.</div> - <div class='line'>Doubt struggled with a victor’s thrill in him.</div> - <div class='line'>As, hand to buckle of the rifle-sheath,</div> - <div class='line'>He thought of dampened powder; but beneath</div> - <div class='line'>The rawhide flap the gun lay snug and dry.</div> - <div class='line'>Then as the horse wheeled and the mark went by—</div> - <div class='line'>A patch of shadow dancing upon gray—</div> - <div class='line'>He fired. A sluggish thunder trailed away;</div> - <div class='line'>The spreading smoke-rack lifted slow, and there,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>Floundering in a seethe of foam, the bear</div> - <div class='line'>Hugged yielding water for the foe that slew!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Triumphant, Jamie wondered what old Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>Would think of such a “trick of getting game”!</div> - <div class='line'>“Young eyes” indeed!—And then that memory came,</div> - <div class='line'>Like a dull blade thrust back into a wound.</div> - <div class='line'>One moment ‘twas as though the lad had swooned</div> - <div class='line'>Into a dream-adventure, waking there</div> - <div class='line'>To sicken at the ghastly land, a-stare</div> - <div class='line'>Like some familiar face gone strange at last.</div> - <div class='line'>But as the hot tears came, the moment passed.</div> - <div class='line'>Song snatches, broken tales—a troop forlorn,</div> - <div class='line'>Like merry friends of eld come back to mourn—</div> - <div class='line'>O’erwhelmed him there. And when the black bulk churned</div> - <div class='line'>The star-flecked stream no longer, Jamie turned,</div> - <div class='line'>Recrossed the river and rode back to Hugh.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>A burning twist of valley grasses threw</div> - <div class='line'>Blear light about the region of the spring.</div> - <div class='line'>Then Jamie, torch aloft and shuddering,</div> - <div class='line'>Knelt there beside his friend, and moaned: “O Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>If I had been with you—just been with you!</div> - <div class='line'>We might be laughing now—and you are dead.”</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>With gentle hand he turned the hoary head</div> - <div class='line'>That he might see the good gray face again.</div> - <div class='line'>The torch burned out, the dark swooped back, and then</div> - <div class='line'>His grief was frozen with an icy plunge</div> - <div class='line'>In horror. ‘Twas as though a bloody sponge</div> - <div class='line'>Had wiped the pictured features from a slate!</div> - <div class='line'>So, pillaged by an army drunk with hate,</div> - <div class='line'>Home stares upon the homing refugee.</div> - <div class='line'>A red gout clung where either brow should be;</div> - <div class='line'>The haughty nose lay crushed amid the beard,</div> - <div class='line'>Thick with slow ooze, whence like a devil leered</div> - <div class='line'>The battered mouth convulsed into a grin.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Nor did the darkness cover, for therein</div> - <div class='line'>Some torch, unsnuffed, with blear funereal flare,</div> - <div class='line'>Still painted upon black that alien stare</div> - <div class='line'>To make the lad more terribly alone.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then in the gloom there rose a broken moan,</div> - <div class='line'>Quick stifled; and it seemed that something stirred</div> - <div class='line'>About the body. Doubting that he heard,</div> - <div class='line'>The lad felt, with a panic catch of breath,</div> - <div class='line'>Pale vagrants from the legendry of death</div> - <div class='line'>Potential in the shadows there. But when</div> - <div class='line'>The motion and the moaning came again,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>Hope, like a shower at daybreak, cleansed the dark,</div> - <div class='line'>And in the lad’s heart something like a lark</div> - <div class='line'>Sang morning. Bending low, he crooned: “Hugh, Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>It’s Jamie—don’t you know?—I’m here with you.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>As one who in a nightmare strives to tell—</div> - <div class='line'>Shouting across the gap of some dim hell—</div> - <div class='line'>What things assail him; so it seemed Hugh heard,</div> - <div class='line'>And flung some unintelligible word</div> - <div class='line'>Athwart the muffling distance of his swoon.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now kindled by the yet unrisen moon,</div> - <div class='line'>The East went pale; and like a naked thing</div> - <div class='line'>A little wind ran vexed and shivering</div> - <div class='line'>Along the dusk, till Jamie shivered too</div> - <div class='line'>And worried lest ‘twere bitter cold where Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>Hung clutching at the bleak, raw edge of life.</div> - <div class='line'>So Jamie rose, and with his hunting-knife</div> - <div class='line'>Split wood and built a fire. Nor did he fear</div> - <div class='line'>The staring face now, for he found it dear</div> - <div class='line'>With the warm presence of a friend returned.</div> - <div class='line'>The fire made cozy chatter as it burned,</div> - <div class='line'>And reared a tent of light in that lone place.</div> - <div class='line'>Then Jamie set about to bathe the face</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>With water from the spring, oft crooning low,</div> - <div class='line'>“It’s Jamie here beside you—don’t you know?”</div> - <div class='line'>Yet came no answer save the labored breath</div> - <div class='line'>Of one who wrestled mightily with Death</div> - <div class='line'>Where watched no referee to call the foul.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The moon now cleared the world’s end, and the owl</div> - <div class='line'>Gave voice unto the wizardry of light;</div> - <div class='line'>While in some dim-lit chancel of the night,</div> - <div class='line'>Snouts to the goddess, wolfish corybants</div> - <div class='line'>Intoned their wild antiphonary chants—</div> - <div class='line'>The oldest, saddest worship in the world.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And Jamie watched until the firelight swirled</div> - <div class='line'>Softly about him. Sound and glimmer merged</div> - <div class='line'>To make an eerie void, through which he urged</div> - <div class='line'>With frantic spur some whirlwind of a steed</div> - <div class='line'>That made the way as glass beneath his speed,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet scarce kept pace with something dear that fled</div> - <div class='line'>On, ever on—just half a dream ahead:</div> - <div class='line'>Until it seemed, by some vague shape dismayed,</div> - <div class='line'>He cried aloud for Hugh, and the steed neighed—</div> - <div class='line'>A neigh that was a burst of light, not sound.</div> - <div class='line'>And Jamie, sprawling on the dewy ground,</div> - <div class='line'>Knew that his horse was sniffing at his hair,</div> - <div class='line'>While, mumbling through the early morning air,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>There came a roll of many hoofs—and then</div> - <div class='line'>He saw the swinging troop of Henry’s men</div> - <div class='line'>A-canter up the valley with the sun.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Of all Hugh’s comrades crowding round, not one</div> - <div class='line'>But would have given heavy odds on Death;</div> - <div class='line'>For, though the graybeard fought with sobbing breath,</div> - <div class='line'>No man, it seemed, might break upon the hip</div> - <div class='line'>So stern a wrestler with the strangling grip</div> - <div class='line'>That made the neck veins like a purple thong</div> - <div class='line'>Tangled with knots. Nor might Hugh tarry long</div> - <div class='line'>There where the trail forked outward far and dim;</div> - <div class='line'>Or so it seemed. And when they lifted him,</div> - <div class='line'>His moan went treble like a song of pain,</div> - <div class='line'>He was so tortured. Surely it were vain</div> - <div class='line'>To hope he might endure the toilsome ride</div> - <div class='line'>Across the barrens. Better let him bide</div> - <div class='line'>There on the grassy couch beside the spring.</div> - <div class='line'>And, furthermore, it seemed a foolish thing</div> - <div class='line'>That eighty men should wait the issue there;</div> - <div class='line'>For dying is a game of solitaire</div> - <div class='line'>And all men play the losing hand alone.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But when at noon he had not ceased to moan,</div> - <div class='line'>And fought still like the strong man he had been,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>There grew a vague mistrust that he might win,</div> - <div class='line'>And all this be a tale for wondering ears.</div> - <div class='line'>So Major Henry called for volunteers,</div> - <div class='line'>Two men among the eighty who would stay</div> - <div class='line'>To wait on Glass and keep the wolves away</div> - <div class='line'>Until he did whatever he should do.</div> - <div class='line'>All quite agreed ‘twas bitter bread for Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet none, save Jamie, felt in duty bound</div> - <div class='line'>To run the risk—until the hat went round,</div> - <div class='line'>And pity wakened, at the silver’s clink,</div> - <div class='line'>In Jules Le Bon.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>‘He would not have them think</div> - <div class='line'>That mercenary motives prompted him.</div> - <div class='line'>But somehow just the grief of Little Jim</div> - <div class='line'>Was quite sufficient—not to mention Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'>He weighed the risk. As everybody knew,</div> - <div class='line'>The Rickarees were scattered to the West:</div> - <div class='line'>The late campaign had stirred a hornet’s nest</div> - <div class='line'>To fill the land with stingers (which was so),</div> - <div class='line'>And yet—’</div> - <div class='line in6'>Three days a southwest wind may blow</div> - <div class='line'>False April with no drop of dew at heart.</div> - <div class='line'>So Jules ran on, while, ready for the start,</div> - <div class='line'>The pawing horses nickered and the men,</div> - <div class='line'>Impatient in their saddles, yawned. And then,</div> - <div class='line'>With brief advice, a round of bluff good-byes</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>And some few reassuring backward cries,</div> - <div class='line'>The troop rode up the valley with the day.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Intent upon his friend, with naught to say,</div> - <div class='line'>Sat Jamie; while Le Bon discussed at length</div> - <div class='line'>The reasonable limits of man’s strength—</div> - <div class='line'>A self-conducted dialectic strife</div> - <div class='line'>That made absurd all argument for life</div> - <div class='line'>And granted but a fresh-dug hole for Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas half like murder. Yet it seemed Jules knew</div> - <div class='line'>Unnumbered tales accordant with the case,</div> - <div class='line'>Each circumstantial as to time and place</div> - <div class='line'>And furnished with a death’s head colophon.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Vivaciously despondent, Jules ran on.</div> - <div class='line'>‘Did he not share his judgment with the rest?</div> - <div class='line'>You see, ‘twas some contusion of the chest</div> - <div class='line'>That did the trick—heart, lungs and all that, mixed</div> - <div class='line'>In such a way they never could be fixed.</div> - <div class='line'>A bear’s hug—ugh!’</div> - <div class='line in24'>And often Jamie winced</div> - <div class='line'>At some knife-thrust of reason that convinced</div> - <div class='line'>Yet left him sick with unrelinquished hope.</div> - <div class='line'>As one who in a darkened room might grope</div> - <div class='line'>For some belovéd face, with shuddering</div> - <div class='line'>Anticipation of a clammy thing;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>So in the lad’s heart sorrow fumbled round</div> - <div class='line'>For some old joy to lean upon, and found</div> - <div class='line'>The stark, cold something Jamie knew was there.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet, womanlike, he stroked the hoary hair</div> - <div class='line'>Or bathed the face; while Jules found tales to tell—</div> - <div class='line'>Lugubriously garrulous.</div> - <div class='line in24'>Night fell.</div> - <div class='line'>At sundown, day-long winds are like to veer;</div> - <div class='line'>So, summoning a mood of relished fear,</div> - <div class='line'>Le Bon remembered dire alarms by night—</div> - <div class='line'>The swoop of savage hordes, the desperate fight</div> - <div class='line'>Of men outnumbered: and, like him of old,</div> - <div class='line'>In all that made Jules shudder as he told,</div> - <div class='line'>His the great part—a man by field and flood</div> - <div class='line'>Fate-tossed. Upon the gloom he limned in blood</div> - <div class='line'>Their situation’s possibilities:</div> - <div class='line'>Two men against the fury of the Rees—</div> - <div class='line'>A game in which two hundred men had failed!</div> - <div class='line'>He pointed out how little it availed</div> - <div class='line'>To run the risk for one as good as dead;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet, Jules Le Bon meant every word he said,</div> - <div class='line'>And had a scalp to lose, if need should be.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>That night through Jamie’s dreaming swarmed the Ree.</div> - <div class='line'>Gray-souled, he wakened to a dawn of gray,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>And felt that something strong had gone away,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor knew what thing. Some whisper of the will</div> - <div class='line'>Bade him rejoice that Hugh was living still;</div> - <div class='line'>But Hugh, the real, seemed somehow otherwhere.</div> - <div class='line'>Jules, snug and snoring in his blanket there,</div> - <div class='line'>Was half a life the nearer. Just so, pain</div> - <div class='line'>Is nearer than the peace we seek in vain,</div> - <div class='line'>And by its very sting compels belief.</div> - <div class='line'>Jules woke, and with a fine restraint of grief</div> - <div class='line'>Saw early dissolution. ‘One more night,</div> - <div class='line'>And then the poor old man would lose the fight—</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, such a man!’</div> - <div class='line in18'>A day and night crept by,</div> - <div class='line'>And yet the stubborn fighter would not die,</div> - <div class='line'>But grappled with the angel. All the while,</div> - <div class='line'>With some conviction, but with more of guile,</div> - <div class='line'>Jules colonized the vacancy with Rees;</div> - <div class='line'>Till Jamie felt that looseness of the knees</div> - <div class='line'>That comes of oozing courage. Many men</div> - <div class='line'>May tower for a white-hot moment, when</div> - <div class='line'>The wild blood surges at a sudden shock;</div> - <div class='line'>But when, insistent as a ticking clock,</div> - <div class='line'>Blind peril haunts and whispers, fewer dare.</div> - <div class='line'>Dread hovered in the hushed and moony air</div> - <div class='line'>The long night through; nor might a fire be lit,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest some far-seeing foe take note of it.</div> - <div class='line'>And day-long Jamie scanned the blank sky rim</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>For hoof-flung dust clouds; till there woke in him</div> - <div class='line'>A childish anger—dumb for ruth and shame—</div> - <div class='line'>That Hugh so dallied.</div> - <div class='line in22'>But the fourth dawn came</div> - <div class='line'>And with it lulled the fight, as on a field</div> - <div class='line'>Where broken armies sleep but will not yield.</div> - <div class='line'>Or had one conquered? Was it Hugh or Death?</div> - <div class='line'>The old man breathed with faintly fluttering breath,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor did his body shudder as before.</div> - <div class='line'>Jules triumphed sadly. ‘It would soon be o’er;</div> - <div class='line'>So men grew quiet when they lost their grip</div> - <div class='line'>And did not care. At sundown he would slip</div> - <div class='line'>Into the deeper silence.’</div> - <div class='line in26'>Jamie wept,</div> - <div class='line'>Unwitting how a furtive gladness crept</div> - <div class='line'>Into his heart that gained a stronger beat.</div> - <div class='line'>So cities, long beleaguered, take defeat—</div> - <div class='line'>Unto themselves half traitors.</div> - <div class='line in32'>Jules began</div> - <div class='line'>To dig a hole that might conceal a man;</div> - <div class='line'>And, as his sheath knife broke the stubborn sod,</div> - <div class='line'>He spoke in kindly vein of Life and God</div> - <div class='line'>And Mutability and Rectitude.</div> - <div class='line'>The immemorial funerary mood</div> - <div class='line'>Brought tears, mute tribute to the mother-dust;</div> - <div class='line'>And Jamie, seeing, felt each cutting thrust</div> - <div class='line'>Less like a stab into the flesh of Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>The sun crept up and down the arc of blue</div> - <div class='line'>And through the air a chill of evening ran;</div> - <div class='line'>But, though the grave yawned, waiting for the man,</div> - <div class='line'>The man seemed scarce yet ready for the grave.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now prompted by a coward or a knave</div> - <div class='line'>That lurked in him, Le Bon began to hear</div> - <div class='line'>Faint sounds that to the lad’s less cunning ear</div> - <div class='line'>Were silence; more like tremors of the ground</div> - <div class='line'>They were, Jules said, than any proper sound—</div> - <div class='line'>Thus one detected horsemen miles away.</div> - <div class='line'>For many moments big with fate, he lay,</div> - <div class='line'>Ear pressed to earth; then rose and shook his head</div> - <div class='line'>As one perplexed. “There’s something wrong,” he said.</div> - <div class='line'>And—as at daybreak whiten winter skies,</div> - <div class='line'>Agape and staring with a wild surmise—</div> - <div class='line'>The lad’s face whitened at the other’s word.</div> - <div class='line'>Jules could not quite interpret what he heard;</div> - <div class='line'>A hundred horse might noise their whereabouts</div> - <div class='line'>In just that fashion; yet he had his doubts.</div> - <div class='line'>It could be bison moving, quite as well.</div> - <div class='line'>But if ‘twere Rees—there’d be a tale to tell</div> - <div class='line'>That two men he might name should never hear.</div> - <div class='line'>He reckoned scalps that Fall were selling dear,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>In keeping with the limited supply.</div> - <div class='line'>Men, fit to live, were not afraid to die!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then, in that caution suits not courage ill,</div> - <div class='line'>Jules saddled up and cantered to the hill,</div> - <div class='line'>A white dam set against the twilight stream;</div> - <div class='line'>And as a horseman riding in a dream</div> - <div class='line'>The lad beheld him; watched him clamber up</div> - <div class='line'>To where the dusk, as from a brimming cup,</div> - <div class='line'>Ran over; saw him pause against the gloom,</div> - <div class='line'>Portentous, huge—a brooder upon doom.</div> - <div class='line'>What did he look upon?</div> - <div class='line in24'>Some moments passed;</div> - <div class='line'>Then suddenly it seemed as though a blast</div> - <div class='line'>Of wind, keen-cutting with the whips of sleet,</div> - <div class='line'>Smote horse and rider. Haunched on huddled feet,</div> - <div class='line'>The steed shrank from the ridge, then, rearing, wheeled</div> - <div class='line'>And took the rubbly incline fury-heeled.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Those days and nights, like seasons creeping slow,</div> - <div class='line'>Had told on Jamie. Better blow on blow</div> - <div class='line'>Of evil hap, with doom seen clear ahead,</div> - <div class='line'>Than that monotonous, abrasive dread,</div> - <div class='line'>Blind gnawer at the soul-thews of the blind.</div> - <div class='line'>Thin-worn, the last heart-string that held him kind;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>Strung taut, the final tie that kept him true</div> - <div class='line'>Now snapped in Jamie, as he saw the two</div> - <div class='line'>So goaded by some terrifying sight.</div> - <div class='line'>Death riding with the vanguard of the Night,</div> - <div class='line'>Life dwindling yonder with the rear of Day!</div> - <div class='line'>What choice for one whom panic swept away</div> - <div class='line'>From moorings in the sanity of will?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Jules came and summed the vision of the hill</div> - <div class='line'>In one hoarse cry that left no word to say:</div> - <div class='line'>“Rees! Saddle up! We’ve got to get away!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Small wit had Jamie left to ferret guile,</div> - <div class='line'>But fumblingly obeyed Le Bon; the while</div> - <div class='line'>Jules knelt beside the man who could not flee:</div> - <div class='line'>For big hearts lack not time for charity</div> - <div class='line'>However thick the blows of fate may fall.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet, in that Jules Le Bon was practical,</div> - <div class='line'>He could not quite ignore a hunting knife,</div> - <div class='line'>A flint, a gun, a blanket—gear of life</div> - <div class='line'>Scarce suited to the customs of the dead!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And Hugh slept soundly in his ample bed,</div> - <div class='line'>Star-canopied and blanketed with night,</div> - <div class='line'>Unwitting how Venality and Fright</div> - <div class='line'>Made hot the westward trail of Henry’s men.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span> - <h2 class='c005'>II<br /> THE AWAKENING</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>No one may say what time elapsed, or when</div> - <div class='line'>The slumberous shadow lifted over Hugh:</div> - <div class='line'>But some globose immensity of blue</div> - <div class='line'>Enfolded him at last, within whose light</div> - <div class='line'>He seemed to float, as some faint swimmer might,</div> - <div class='line'>A deep beneath and overhead a deep.</div> - <div class='line'>So one late plunged into the lethal sleep,</div> - <div class='line'>A spirit diver fighting for his breath,</div> - <div class='line'>Swoops through the many-fathomed glooms of death,</div> - <div class='line'>Emerging in a daylight strange and new.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Rousing a languid wonder, came on Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>The quiet, steep-arched splendor of the day.</div> - <div class='line'>Agrope for some dim memory, he lay</div> - <div class='line'>Upon his back, and watched a lucent fleece</div> - <div class='line'>Fade in the blue profundity of peace</div> - <div class='line'>As did the memory he sought in vain.</div> - <div class='line'>Then with a stirring of mysterious pain,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>Old habit of the body bade him rise;</div> - <div class='line'>But when he would obey, the hollow skies</div> - <div class='line'>Broke as a bubble punctured, and went out.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Again he woke, and with a drowsy doubt,</div> - <div class='line'>Remote unto his horizontal gaze</div> - <div class='line'>He saw the world’s end kindle to a blaze</div> - <div class='line'>And up the smoky steep pale heralds run.</div> - <div class='line'>And when at length he knew it for the sun,</div> - <div class='line'>Dawn found the darkling reaches of his mind,</div> - <div class='line'>Where in the twilight he began to find</div> - <div class='line'>Strewn shards and torsos of familiar things.</div> - <div class='line'>As from the rubble in a place of kings</div> - <div class='line'>Men school the dream to build the past anew,</div> - <div class='line'>So out of dream and fragment builded Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>And came upon the reason of his plight:</div> - <div class='line'>The bear’s attack—the shot—and then the night</div> - <div class='line'>Wherein men talked as ghosts above a grave.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Some consciousness of will the memory gave:</div> - <div class='line'>He would get up. The painful effort spent</div> - <div class='line'>Made the wide heavens billow as a tent</div> - <div class='line'>Wind-struck, the shaken prairie sag and roll.</div> - <div class='line'>Some moments with an effort at control</div> - <div class='line'>He swayed, half raised upon his arms, until</div> - <div class='line'>The dizzy cosmos righted, and was still.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>Then would he stand erect and be again</div> - <div class='line'>The man he was: an overwhelming pain</div> - <div class='line'>Smote him to earth, and one unruly limb</div> - <div class='line'>Refused the weight and crumpled under him.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Sickened with torture he lay huddled there,</div> - <div class='line'>Gazing about him with a great despair</div> - <div class='line'>Proportioned to the might that felt the chain.</div> - <div class='line'>Far-flung as dawn, collusive sky and plain</div> - <div class='line'>Stared bleak denial back.</div> - <div class='line in26'>Why strive at all?—</div> - <div class='line'>That vacancy about him like a wall,</div> - <div class='line'>Yielding as light, a granite scarp to climb!</div> - <div class='line'>Some little waiting on the creep of time,</div> - <div class='line'>Abandonment to circumstance; and then—</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Here flashed a sudden thought of Henry’s men</div> - <div class='line'>Into his mind and drove the gloom away.</div> - <div class='line'>They would be riding westward with the day!</div> - <div class='line'>How strange he had forgot! That battered leg</div> - <div class='line'>Or some scalp wound, had set his wits a-beg!</div> - <div class='line'>Was this Hugh Glass to whimper like a squaw?</div> - <div class='line'>Grimly amused, he raised his head and saw—</div> - <div class='line'>The empty distance: listened long and heard—</div> - <div class='line'>Naught but the twitter of a lonely bird</div> - <div class='line'>That emphasized the hush.</div> - <div class='line in24'>Was something wrong?</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>‘Twas not the Major’s way to dally long,</div> - <div class='line'>And surely they had camped not far behind.</div> - <div class='line'>Now woke a query in his troubled mind—</div> - <div class='line'>Where was his horse? Again came creeping back</div> - <div class='line'>The circumstances of the bear’s attack.</div> - <div class='line'>He had dismounted, thinking at the spring</div> - <div class='line'>To spend the night—and then the grisly thing—</div> - <div class='line'>Of course the horse had bolted; plain enough!</div> - <div class='line'>But why was all the soil about so rough</div> - <div class='line'>As though a herd of horses had been there?</div> - <div class='line'>The riddle vexed him till his vacant stare</div> - <div class='line'>Fell on a heap of earth beside a pit.</div> - <div class='line'>What did that mean? He wormed his way to it,</div> - <div class='line'>The newly wakened wonder dulling pain.</div> - <div class='line'>No paw of beast had scooped it—that was plain.</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas squared; indeed, ‘twas like a grave, he thought.</div> - <div class='line'>A grave—a grave—the mental echo wrought</div> - <div class='line'>Sick fancies! Who had risen from the dead?</div> - <div class='line'>Who, lying there, had heard above his head</div> - <div class='line'>The ghostly talkers deaf unto his shout?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now searching all the region round about,</div> - <div class='line'>As though the answer were a lurking thing,</div> - <div class='line'>He saw along the margin of the spring</div> - <div class='line'>An ash-heap and the litter of a camp.</div> - <div class='line'>Suspicion, like a little smoky lamp</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>That daubs the murk but cannot fathom it,</div> - <div class='line'>Flung blear grotesques before his groping wit.</div> - <div class='line'>Had Rees been there? And he alive? Who then?</div> - <div class='line'>And were he dead, it might be Henry’s men!</div> - <div class='line'>How many suns had risen while he slept?</div> - <div class='line'>The smoky glow flared wildly, and he crept,</div> - <div class='line'>The dragged limb throbbing, till at length he found</div> - <div class='line'>The trail of many horses westward bound;</div> - <div class='line'>And in one breath the groping light became</div> - <div class='line'>A gloom-devouring ecstasy of flame,</div> - <div class='line'>A dazing conflagration of belief!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Plunged deeper than the seats of hate and grief,</div> - <div class='line'>He gazed about for aught that might deny</div> - <div class='line'>Such baseness: saw the non-committal sky,</div> - <div class='line'>The prairie apathetic in a shroud,</div> - <div class='line'>The bland complacence of a vagrant cloud—</div> - <div class='line'>World-wide connivance! Smilingly the sun</div> - <div class='line'>Approved a land wherein such deeds were done;</div> - <div class='line'>And careless breezes, like a troop of youth,</div> - <div class='line'>Unawed before the presence of such truth,</div> - <div class='line'>Went scampering amid the tousled brush.</div> - <div class='line'>Then bye and bye came on him with a rush</div> - <div class='line'>His weakness and the consciousness of pain,</div> - <div class='line'>While, with the chill insistence of a rain</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>That pelts the sodden wreck of Summer’s end,</div> - <div class='line'>His manifest betrayal by a friend</div> - <div class='line'>Beat in upon him. Jamie had been there;</div> - <div class='line'>And Jamie—Jamie—Jamie did not care!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What no man yet had witnessed, the wide sky</div> - <div class='line'>Looked down and saw; a light wind idling by</div> - <div class='line'>Heard what no ear of mortal yet had heard:</div> - <div class='line'>For he—whose name was like a magic word</div> - <div class='line'>To conjure the remote heroic mood</div> - <div class='line'>Of valiant deed and splendid fortitude,</div> - <div class='line'>Wherever two that shared a fire might be,—</div> - <div class='line'>Gave way to grief and wept unmanfully.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet not as they for whom tears fall like dew</div> - <div class='line'>To green a frosted heart again, wept Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'>So thewed to strive, so engined to prevail</div> - <div class='line'>And make harsh fate the zany of a tale,</div> - <div class='line'>His own might shook and tore him.</div> - <div class='line in36'>For a span</div> - <div class='line'>He lay, a gray old ruin of a man</div> - <div class='line'>With all his years upon him like a snow.</div> - <div class='line'>And then at length, as from the long ago,</div> - <div class='line'>Remote beyond the other side of wrong,</div> - <div class='line'>The old love came like some remembered song</div> - <div class='line'>Whereof the strain is sweet, the burden sad.</div> - <div class='line'>A retrospective vision of the lad</div> - <div class='line'>Grew up in him, as in a foggy night</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>The witchery of semilunar light</div> - <div class='line'>Mysteriously quickens all the air.</div> - <div class='line'>Some memory of wind-blown golden hair,</div> - <div class='line'>The boyish laugh, the merry eyes of blue,</div> - <div class='line'>Wrought marvelously in the heart of Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>As under snow the dæmon of the Spring.</div> - <div class='line'>And momently it seemed a little thing</div> - <div class='line'>To suffer; nor might treachery recall</div> - <div class='line'>The miracle of being loved at all,</div> - <div class='line'>The privilege of loving to the end.</div> - <div class='line'>And thereupon a longing for his friend</div> - <div class='line'>Made life once more a struggle for a prize—</div> - <div class='line'>To look again upon the merry eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>To see again the wind-blown golden hair.</div> - <div class='line'>Aye, one should lavish very tender care</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the vessel of a hope so great,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest it be shattered, and the precious freight,</div> - <div class='line'>As water on the arid waste, poured out.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet, though he longed to live, a subtle doubt</div> - <div class='line'>Still turned on him the weapon of his pain:</div> - <div class='line'>Now, as before, collusive sky and plain</div> - <div class='line'>Outstared his purpose for a puny thing.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Praying to live, he crawled back to the spring,</div> - <div class='line'>With something in his heart like gratitude</div> - <div class='line'>That by good luck his gun might furnish food,</div> - <div class='line'>His blanket, shelter, and his flint, a fire.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>For, after all, what thing do men desire</div> - <div class='line'>To be or have, but these condition it?</div> - <div class='line'>These with a purpose and a little wit,</div> - <div class='line'>And howsoever smitten, one might rise,</div> - <div class='line'>Push back the curtain of the curving skies,</div> - <div class='line'>And come upon the living dream at last.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Exhausted, by the spring he lay and cast</div> - <div class='line'>Dull eyes about him. What did it portend?</div> - <div class='line'>Naught but the footprints of a fickle friend,</div> - <div class='line'>A yawning grave and ashes met his eyes!</div> - <div class='line'>Scarce feeling yet the shock of a surprise,</div> - <div class='line'>He searched about him for his flint and knife;</div> - <div class='line'>Knew vaguely that his seeking was for life,</div> - <div class='line'>And that the place was empty where he sought.</div> - <div class='line'>No food, no fire, no shelter! Dully wrought</div> - <div class='line'>The bleak negation in him, slowly crept</div> - <div class='line'>To where, despite the pain, his love had kept</div> - <div class='line'>A shrine for Jamie undefiled of doubt.</div> - <div class='line'>Then suddenly conviction, like a shout,</div> - <div class='line'>Aroused him. Jamie—Jamie was a thief!</div> - <div class='line'>The very difficulty of belief</div> - <div class='line'>Was fuel for the simmering of rage;</div> - <div class='line'>That grew and grew, the more he strove to gage</div> - <div class='line'>The underlying motive of the deed.</div> - <div class='line'>Untempered youth might fail a friend in need;</div> - <div class='line'>But here had wrought some devil of the will,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>Some heartless thing, too cowardly to kill,</div> - <div class='line'>That left to Nature what it dared not do!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So bellowsed, all the kindled soul of Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>Became a still white hell of brooding ire,</div> - <div class='line'>And through his veins regenerating fire</div> - <div class='line'>Ran, driving out the lethargy of pain.</div> - <div class='line'>Now once again he scanned the yellow plain,</div> - <div class='line'>Conspirant with the overbending skies;</div> - <div class='line'>And lo, the one was blue as Jamie’s eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>The other of the color of his hair—</div> - <div class='line'>Twin hues of falseness merging to a stare,</div> - <div class='line'>As though such guilt, thus visibly immense,</div> - <div class='line'>Regarded its effect with insolence!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Alas for those who fondly place above</div> - <div class='line'>The act of loving, what they chance to love;</div> - <div class='line'>Who prize the goal more dearly than the way!</div> - <div class='line'>For time shall plunder them, and change betray,</div> - <div class='line'>And life shall find them vulnerable still.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>A bitter-sweet narcotic to the will,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh’s love increased the peril of his plight;</div> - <div class='line'>But anger broke the slumber of his might,</div> - <div class='line'>Quickened the heart and warmed the blood that ran</div> - <div class='line'>Defiance for the treachery of Man,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>Defiance for the meaning of his pain,</div> - <div class='line'>Defiance for the distance of the plain</div> - <div class='line'>That seemed to gloat, ‘You can not master me.’</div> - <div class='line'>And for one burning moment he felt free</div> - <div class='line'>To rise and conquer in a wind of rage.</div> - <div class='line'>But as a tiger, conscious of the cage,</div> - <div class='line'>A-smoulder with a purpose, broods and waits,</div> - <div class='line'>So with the sullen patience that is hate’s</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh taught his wrath to bide expedience.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now cognizant of every quickened sense,</div> - <div class='line'>Thirst came upon him. Leaning to the spring,</div> - <div class='line'>He stared with fascination on a thing</div> - <div class='line'>That rose from giddy deeps to share the draught—</div> - <div class='line'>A face, it was, so tortured that it laughed,</div> - <div class='line'>A ghastly mask that Murder well might wear;</div> - <div class='line'>And while as one they drank together there,</div> - <div class='line'>It was as though the deed he meant to do</div> - <div class='line'>Took shape and came to kiss the lips of Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest that revenge might falter. Hunger woke;</div> - <div class='line'>And from the bush with leafage gray as smoke,</div> - <div class='line'>Wherein like flame the bullberries glinted red</div> - <div class='line'>(Scarce sweeter than the heart of him they fed),</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh feasted.</div> - <div class='line in16'>And the hours of waiting crept,</div> - <div class='line'>A-gloom, a-glow; and though he waked or slept,</div> - <div class='line'>The pondered purpose or a dream that wrought,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>By night, the murder of his waking thought,</div> - <div class='line'>Sustained him till he felt his strength returned.</div> - <div class='line'>And then at length the longed-for morning burned</div> - <div class='line'>And beckoned down the vast way he should crawl—</div> - <div class='line'>That waste to be surmounted as a wall,</div> - <div class='line'>Sky-rims and yet more sky-rims steep to climb—</div> - <div class='line'>That simulacrum of enduring Time—</div> - <div class='line'>The hundred empty miles ‘twixt him and where</div> - <div class='line'>The stark Missouri ran!</div> - <div class='line in28'>Yet why not dare?</div> - <div class='line'>Despite the useless leg, he could not die</div> - <div class='line'>One hairsbreadth farther from the earth and sky,</div> - <div class='line'>Or more remote from kindness.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span> - <h2 class='c005'>III<br /> THE CRAWL</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in32'>Straight away</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath the flare of dawn, the Ree land lay,</div> - <div class='line'>And through it ran the short trail to the goal.</div> - <div class='line'>Thereon a grim turnpikeman waited toll:</div> - <div class='line'>But ‘twas so doomed that southering geese should flee</div> - <div class='line'>Nine times, ere yet the vengeance of the Ree</div> - <div class='line'>Should make their foe the haunter of a tale.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Midway to safety on the northern trail</div> - <div class='line'>The scoriac region of a hell burned black</div> - <div class='line'>Forbade the crawler. And for all his lack,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh had no heart to journey with the suns:</div> - <div class='line'>No suppliant unto those faithless ones</div> - <div class='line'>Should bid for pity at the Big Horn’s mouth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The greater odds for safety in the South</div> - <div class='line'>Allured him; so he felt the midday sun</div> - <div class='line'>Blaze down the coulee of a little run</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>That dwindled upward to the watershed</div> - <div class='line'>Whereon the feeders of the Moreau head—</div> - <div class='line'>Scarce more than deep-carved runes of vernal rain.</div> - <div class='line'>The trailing leg was like a galling chain,</div> - <div class='line'>And bound him to a doubt that would not pass.</div> - <div class='line'>Defiant clumps of thirst-embittered grass</div> - <div class='line'>That bit parched earth with bared and fang-like roots;</div> - <div class='line'>Dwarf thickets, jealous for their stunted fruits,</div> - <div class='line'>Harsh-tempered by their disinheritance—</div> - <div class='line'>These symbolized the enmity of Chance</div> - <div class='line'>For him who, with his fate unreconciled,</div> - <div class='line'>Equipped for travel as a weanling child,</div> - <div class='line'>Essayed the journey of a mighty man.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Like agitated oil the heat-waves ran</div> - <div class='line'>And made the scabrous gulch appear to shake</div> - <div class='line'>As some reflected landscape in a lake</div> - <div class='line'>Where laggard breezes move. A taunting reek</div> - <div class='line'>Rose from the grudging seepage of the creek,</div> - <div class='line'>Whereof Hugh drank and drank, and still would drink.</div> - <div class='line'>And where the mottled shadow dripped as ink</div> - <div class='line'>From scanty thickets on the yellow glare,</div> - <div class='line'>The crawler faltered with no heart to dare</div> - <div class='line'>Again the torture of that toil, until</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>The master-thought of vengeance ‘woke the will</div> - <div class='line'>To goad him forth. And when the sun quiesced</div> - <div class='line'>Amid ironic heavens in the West—</div> - <div class='line'>The region of false friends—Hugh gained a rise</div> - <div class='line'>Whence to the fading cincture of the skies</div> - <div class='line'>A purpling panorama swept away.</div> - <div class='line'>Scarce farther than a shout might carry, lay</div> - <div class='line'>The place of his betrayal. He could see</div> - <div class='line'>The yellow blotch of earth where treachery</div> - <div class='line'>Had digged his grave. O futile wrath and toil!</div> - <div class='line'>Tucked in beneath yon coverlet of soil,</div> - <div class='line'>Turned back for him, how soundly had he slept!</div> - <div class='line'>Fool, fool! to struggle when he might have crept</div> - <div class='line'>So short a space, yet farther than the flight</div> - <div class='line'>Of swiftest dreaming through the longest night,</div> - <div class='line'>Into the quiet house of no false friend.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Alas for those who seek a journey’s end—</div> - <div class='line'>They have it ever with them like a ghost:</div> - <div class='line'>Nor shall they find, who deem they seek it most,</div> - <div class='line'>But crave the end of human ends—as Hugh.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now swoopingly the world of dream broke through</div> - <div class='line'>The figured wall of sense. It seemed he ran</div> - <div class='line'>As wind above the creeping ways of man,</div> - <div class='line'>And came upon the place of his desire,</div> - <div class='line'>Where burned, far-luring as a beacon-fire,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>The face of Jamie. But the vengeful stroke</div> - <div class='line'>Bit air. The darkness lifted like a smoke—</div> - <div class='line'>And it was early morning.</div> - <div class='line in26'>Gazing far,</div> - <div class='line'>From where the West yet kept a pallid star</div> - <div class='line'>To thinner sky where dawn was wearing through,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh shrank with dread, reluctant to renew</div> - <div class='line'>The war with that serene antagonist.</div> - <div class='line'>More fearsome than a smashing iron fist</div> - <div class='line'>Seemed that vast negativity of might;</div> - <div class='line'>Until the frustrate vision of the night</div> - <div class='line'>Came moonwise on the gloom of his despair.</div> - <div class='line'>And lo, the foe was naught but yielding air,</div> - <div class='line'>A vacancy to fill with his intent!</div> - <div class='line'>So from his spacious bed he ‘rose and went</div> - <div class='line'>Three-footed; and the vision goaded him.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All morning southward to the bare sky rim</div> - <div class='line'>The rugged coulee zigzagged, mounting slow;</div> - <div class='line'>And ever as it ‘rose, the lean creek’s flow</div> - <div class='line'>Dwindled and dwindled steadily, until</div> - <div class='line'>At last a scooped-out basin would not fill;</div> - <div class='line'>And thenceforth ‘twas a way of mocking dust.</div> - <div class='line'>But, in that Hugh still kept the driving lust</div> - <div class='line'>For vengeance, this new circumstance of fate</div> - <div class='line'>Served but to brew more venom for his hate,</div> - <div class='line'>And nerved him to avail the most with least.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>Ere noon the crawler chanced upon a feast</div> - <div class='line'>Of breadroot sunning in a favored draw.</div> - <div class='line'>A sentry gopher from his stronghold saw</div> - <div class='line'>Some three-legged beast, bear-like, yet not a bear,</div> - <div class='line'>With quite misguided fury digging where</div> - <div class='line'>No hapless brother gopher might be found.</div> - <div class='line'>And while, with stripéd nose above his mound,</div> - <div class='line'>The sentinel chirped shrilly to his clan</div> - <div class='line'>Scare-tales of that anomaly, the man</div> - <div class='line'>Devoured the chance-flung manna of the plains</div> - <div class='line'>That some vague reminiscence of old rains</div> - <div class='line'>Kept succulent, despite the burning drouth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So with new vigor Hugh assailed the South,</div> - <div class='line'>His pockets laden with the precious roots</div> - <div class='line'>Against that coming traverse, where no fruits</div> - <div class='line'>Of herb or vine or shrub might brave the land</div> - <div class='line'>Spread rooflike ‘twixt the Moreau and the Grand.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The coulee deepened; yellow walls flung high,</div> - <div class='line'>Sheer to the ragged strip of blinding sky,</div> - <div class='line'>Dazzled and sweltered in the glare of day.</div> - <div class='line'>Capricious draughts that woke and died away</div> - <div class='line'>Into the heavy drowse, were breatht as flame.</div> - <div class='line'>And midway down the afternoon, Hugh came</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a little patch of spongy ground.</div> - <div class='line'>His thirst became a rage. He gazed around,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>Seeking a spring; but all about was dry</div> - <div class='line'>As strewn bones bleaching to a desert sky;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor did a clawed hole, bought with needed strength,</div> - <div class='line'>Return a grateful ooze. And when at length</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh sucked the mud, he spat it in disgust.</div> - <div class='line'>It had the acrid tang of broken trust,</div> - <div class='line'>The sweetish, tepid taste of feigning love!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Still hopeful of a spring somewhere above,</div> - <div class='line'>He crawled the faster for his taunted thirst.</div> - <div class='line'>More damp spots, no less grudging than the first,</div> - <div class='line'>Occurred with growing frequence on the way,</div> - <div class='line'>Until amid the purple wane of day</div> - <div class='line'>The crawler came upon a little pool!</div> - <div class='line'>Clear as a friend’s heart, ‘twas, and seeming cool—</div> - <div class='line'>A crystal bowl whence skyey deeps looked up.</div> - <div class='line'>So might a god set down his drinking cup</div> - <div class='line'>Charged with a distillation of haut skies.</div> - <div class='line'>As famished horses, thrusting to the eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Parched muzzles, take a long-sought water-hole,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh plunged his head into the brimming bowl</div> - <div class='line'>As though to share the joy with every sense.</div> - <div class='line'>And lo, the tang of that wide insolence</div> - <div class='line'>Of sky and plain was acrid in the draught!</div> - <div class='line'>How ripplingly the lying water laughed!</div> - <div class='line'>How like fine sentiment the mirrored sky</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>Won credence for a sink of alkali!</div> - <div class='line'>So with false friends. And yet, as may accrue</div> - <div class='line'>From specious love some profit of the true,</div> - <div class='line'>One gift of kindness had the tainted sink.</div> - <div class='line'>Stripped of his clothes, Hugh let his body drink</div> - <div class='line'>At every thirsting pore. Through trunk and limb</div> - <div class='line'>The elemental blessing solaced him;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor did he rise till, vague with stellar light,</div> - <div class='line'>The lone gulch, buttressing an arch of night,</div> - <div class='line'>Was like a temple to the Holy Ghost.</div> - <div class='line'>As priests in slow procession with the Host,</div> - <div class='line'>A gusty breeze intoned—now low, now loud,</div> - <div class='line'>And now, as to the murmur of a crowd,</div> - <div class='line'>Yielding the dim-torched wonder of the nave.</div> - <div class='line'>Aloft along the dusky architrave</div> - <div class='line'>The wander-tale of drifting stars evolved;</div> - <div class='line'>And Hugh lay gazing till the whole resolved</div> - <div class='line'>Into a haze.</div> - <div class='line in14'>It seemed that Little Jim</div> - <div class='line'>Had come to share a merry fire with him,</div> - <div class='line'>And there had been no trouble ‘twixt the two.</div> - <div class='line'>And Jamie listened eagerly while Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>Essayed a tangled tale of bears and men,</div> - <div class='line'>Bread-root and stars. But ever now and then</div> - <div class='line'>The shifting smoke-cloud dimmed the golden hair,</div> - <div class='line'>The leal blue eyes; until with sudden flare</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>The flame effaced them utterly—and lo,</div> - <div class='line'>The gulch bank-full with morning!</div> - <div class='line in34'>Loath to go,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh lay beside the pool and pondered fate.</div> - <div class='line'>He saw his age-long pilgrimage of hate</div> - <div class='line'>Stretch out—a fool’s trail; and it made him cringe;</div> - <div class='line'>For still amid the nightly vision’s fringe</div> - <div class='line'>His dull wit strayed, companioned with regret.</div> - <div class='line'>But when the sun, a tilted cauldron set</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the gulch rim, poured a blaze of day,</div> - <div class='line'>He rose and bathed again, and went his way,</div> - <div class='line'>Sustaining wrath returning with the toil.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>At noon the gulch walls, hewn in lighter soil,</div> - <div class='line'>Fell back; and coulees dense with shrub and vine</div> - <div class='line'>Climbed zigzag to the sharp horizon line,</div> - <div class='line'>Whence one might choose the pilotage of crows.</div> - <div class='line'>He labored upward through the noonday doze.</div> - <div class='line'>Of breathless shade, where plums were turning red</div> - <div class='line'>In tangled bowers, and grapevines overhead</div> - <div class='line'>Purpled with fruit to taunt the crawler’s thirst.</div> - <div class='line'>With little effort Hugh attained the first;</div> - <div class='line'>The latter bargained sharply ere they sold</div> - <div class='line'>Their luscious clusters for the hoarded gold</div> - <div class='line'>Of strength that had so very much to buy.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>Now, having feasted, it was sweet to lie</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath a sun-proof canopy; and sleep</div> - <div class='line'>Came swiftly.</div> - <div class='line in16'>Hugh awakened to some deep</div> - <div class='line'>Star-snuffing well of night. Awhile he lay</div> - <div class='line'>And wondered what had happened to the day</div> - <div class='line'>And where he was and what were best to do.</div> - <div class='line'>But when, fog-like, the drowse dispersed, he knew</div> - <div class='line'>How from the rim above the plain stretched far</div> - <div class='line'>To where the evening and the morning are,</div> - <div class='line'>And that ‘twere better he should crawl by night,</div> - <div class='line'>Sleep out the glare. With groping hands for sight,</div> - <div class='line'>Skyward along the broken steep he crawled,</div> - <div class='line'>And saw at length, immense and purple-walled—</div> - <div class='line'>Or sensed—the dusky mystery of plain.</div> - <div class='line'>Gazing aloft, he found the capsized Wain</div> - <div class='line'>In mid-plunge down the polar steep. Thereto</div> - <div class='line'>He set his back; and far ahead there grew,</div> - <div class='line'>As some pale blossom from a darkling root,</div> - <div class='line'>The star-blanched summit of a lonely butte,</div> - <div class='line'>And thitherward he dragged his heavy limb.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>It seemed naught moved. Time hovered over him,</div> - <div class='line'>An instant of incipient endeavor.</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas ever thus, and should be thus forever—</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>This groping for the same armful of space,</div> - <div class='line'>An insubstantial essence of one place,</div> - <div class='line'>Extentless on a weird frontier of sleep.</div> - <div class='line'>Sheer deep upon unfathomable deep</div> - <div class='line'>The flood of dusk bore down without a sound,</div> - <div class='line'>As ocean on the spirits of the drowned</div> - <div class='line'>Awakened headlong leagues beneath the light.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So lapsed the drowsy æon of the night—</div> - <div class='line'>A strangely tensile moment in a trance.</div> - <div class='line'>And then, as quickened to somnambulance,</div> - <div class='line'>The heavens, imperceptibly in motion,</div> - <div class='line'>Were altered as the upward deeps of ocean</div> - <div class='line'>Diluted with a seepage of the moon.</div> - <div class='line'>The butte-top, late a gossamer balloon</div> - <div class='line'>In mid-air tethered hovering, grew down</div> - <div class='line'>And rooted in a blear expanse of brown,</div> - <div class='line'>That, lifting slowly with the ebb of night,</div> - <div class='line'>Took on the harsh solidity of light—</div> - <div class='line'>And day was on the prairie like a flame.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Scarce had he munched the hoarded roots, when came</div> - <div class='line'>A vertigo of slumber. Snatchy dreams</div> - <div class='line'>Of sick pools, inaccessible cool streams,</div> - <div class='line'>Lured on through giddy vacancies of heat</div> - <div class='line'>In swooping flights; now hills of roasting meat</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>Made savory the oven of the world,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet kept remote peripheries and whirled</div> - <div class='line'>About a burning center that was Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'>Then all were gone, save one, and it turned blue</div> - <div class='line'>And was a heap of cool and luscious fruit,</div> - <div class='line'>Until at length he knew it for the butte</div> - <div class='line'>Now mantled with a weaving of the gloam.</div> - <div class='line in2'>It was the hour when cattle straggle home.</div> - <div class='line'>Across the clearing in a hush of sleep</div> - <div class='line'>They saunter, lowing; loiter belly-deep</div> - <div class='line'>Amid the lush grass by the meadow stream.</div> - <div class='line'>How like the sound of water in a dream</div> - <div class='line'>The intermittent tinkle of yon bell.</div> - <div class='line'>A windlass creaks contentment from a well,</div> - <div class='line'>And cool deeps gurgle as the bucket sinks.</div> - <div class='line'>Now blowing at the trough the plow-team drinks;</div> - <div class='line'>The shaken harness rattles. Sleepy quails</div> - <div class='line'>Call far. The warm milk hisses in the pails</div> - <div class='line'>There in the dusky barn-lot. Crickets cry.</div> - <div class='line'>The meadow twinkles with the glowing fly.</div> - <div class='line'>One hears the horses munching at their oats.</div> - <div class='line'>The green grows black. A veil of slumber floats</div> - <div class='line'>Across the haunts of home-enamored men.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Some freak of memory brought back again</div> - <div class='line'>The boyhood world of sight and scent and sound:</div> - <div class='line'>It perished, and the prairie ringed him round,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>Blank as the face of fate. In listless mood</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh set his face against the solitude</div> - <div class='line'>And met the night. The new moon, low and far,</div> - <div class='line'>A frail cup tilted, nor the high-swung star,</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed, might glint on any stream or spring</div> - <div class='line'>Or touch with silver any toothsome thing.</div> - <div class='line'>The kiote voiced the universal lack.</div> - <div class='line'>As from a nether fire, the plain gave back</div> - <div class='line'>The swelter of the noon-glare to the gloom.</div> - <div class='line'>In the hot hush Hugh heard his temples boom.</div> - <div class='line'>Thirst tortured. Motion was a languid pain.</div> - <div class='line'>Why seek some further nowhere on the plain?</div> - <div class='line'>Here might the kiotes feast as well as there.</div> - <div class='line'>So spoke some loose-lipped spirit of despair;</div> - <div class='line'>And still Hugh moved, volitionless—a weight</div> - <div class='line'>Submissive to that now unconscious hate,</div> - <div class='line'>As darkling water to the hidden moon.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>Now when the night wore on in middle swoon,</div> - <div class='line'>The crawler, roused from stupor, was aware</div> - <div class='line'>Of some strange alteration in the air.</div> - <div class='line'>To breathe became an act of conscious will.</div> - <div class='line'>The starry waste was ominously still.</div> - <div class='line'>The far-off kiote’s yelp came sharp and clear</div> - <div class='line'>As through a tunnel in the atmosphere—</div> - <div class='line'>A ponderable, resonating mass.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>The limp leg dragging on the sun-dried grass</div> - <div class='line'>Produced a sound unnaturally loud.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Crouched, panting, Hugh looked up but saw no cloud.</div> - <div class='line'>An oily film seemed spread upon the sky</div> - <div class='line'>Now dully staring as the open eye</div> - <div class='line'>Of one in fever. Gasping, choked with thirst,</div> - <div class='line'>A childish rage assailed Hugh, and he cursed:</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas like a broken spirit’s outcry, tossed</div> - <div class='line'>Upon hell’s burlesque sabbath for the lost,</div> - <div class='line'>And briefly space seemed crowded with the voice.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>To wait and die, to move and die—what choice?</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh chose not, yet he crawled; though more and more</div> - <div class='line'>He felt the futile strife was nearly o’er.</div> - <div class='line'>And as he went, a muffled rumbling grew,</div> - <div class='line'>More felt than heard; for long it puzzled Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'>Somehow ‘twas coextensive with his thirst,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet boundless; swollen blood-veins ere they burst</div> - <div class='line'>Might give such warning, so he thought. And still</div> - <div class='line'>The drone seemed heaping up a phonic hill</div> - <div class='line'>That towered in a listening profound.</div> - <div class='line'>Then suddenly a mountain peak of sound</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>Came toppling to a heaven-jolting fall!</div> - <div class='line'>The prairie shuddered, and a raucous drawl</div> - <div class='line'>Ran far and perished in the outer deep.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>As one too roughly shaken out of sleep,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh stared bewildered. Still the face of night</div> - <div class='line'>Remained the same, save where upon his right</div> - <div class='line'>The moon had vanished ‘neath the prairie rim.</div> - <div class='line'>Then suddenly the meaning came to him.</div> - <div class='line'>He turned and saw athwart the northwest sky,</div> - <div class='line'>Like some black eyelid shutting on an eye,</div> - <div class='line'>A coming night to which the night was day!</div> - <div class='line'>Star-hungry, ranged in regular array,</div> - <div class='line'>The lifting mass assailed the Dragon’s lair,</div> - <div class='line'>Submerged the region of the hounded Bear,</div> - <div class='line'>Out-topped the tall Ox-Driver and the Pole.</div> - <div class='line'>And all the while there came a low-toned roll,</div> - <div class='line'>Less sound in air than tremor in the earth,</div> - <div class='line'>From where, like flame upon a windy hearth,</div> - <div class='line'>Deep in the further murk sheet-lightning flared.</div> - <div class='line'>And still the southern arc of heaven stared,</div> - <div class='line'>A half-shut eye, near blind with fever rheum;</div> - <div class='line'>And still the plain lay tranquil as a tomb</div> - <div class='line'>Wherein the dead reck not a menaced world.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What turmoil now? Lo, ragged columns hurled</div> - <div class='line'>Pell-mell up stellar slopes! Swift blue fires leap</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>Above the wild assailants of the steep!</div> - <div class='line'>Along the solid rear a dull boom runs!</div> - <div class='line'>So light horse squadrons charge beneath the guns.</div> - <div class='line'>Now once again the night is deathly still.</div> - <div class='line'>What ghastly peace upon the zenith hill,</div> - <div class='line'>No longer starry? Not a sound is heard.</div> - <div class='line'>So poised the hush, it seems a whispered word</div> - <div class='line'>Might loose all noises in an avalanche.</div> - <div class='line'>Only the black mass moves, and far glooms blanch</div> - <div class='line'>With fitful flashes. The capricious flare</div> - <div class='line'>Reveals the butte-top tall and lonely there</div> - <div class='line'>Like some gray prophet contemplating doom.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But hark! What spirits whisper in the gloom?</div> - <div class='line'>What sibilation of conspiracies</div> - <div class='line'>Ruffles the hush—or murmuring of trees,</div> - <div class='line'>Ghosts of the ancient forest—or old rain,</div> - <div class='line'>In some hallucination of the plain,</div> - <div class='line'>A frustrate phantom mourning? All around,</div> - <div class='line'>That e’er evolving, ne’er resolving sound</div> - <div class='line'>Gropes in the stifling hollow of the night.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then—once—twice—thrice—a blade of blinding light</div> - <div class='line'>Ripped up the heavens, and the deluge came—</div> - <div class='line'>A burst of wind and water, noise and flame</div> - <div class='line'>That hurled the watcher flat upon the ground.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>A moment past Hugh famished; now, half drowned,</div> - <div class='line'>He gasped for breath amid the hurtling drench.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So might a testy god, long sought to quench</div> - <div class='line'>A puny thirst, pour wassail, hurling after</div> - <div class='line'>The crashing bowl with wild sardonic laughter</div> - <div class='line'>To see man wrestle with his answered prayer!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Prone to the roaring flaw and ceaseless flare,</div> - <div class='line'>The man drank deeply with the drinking grass;</div> - <div class='line'>Until it seemed the storm would never pass</div> - <div class='line'>But ravin down the painted murk for aye.</div> - <div class='line'>When had what dreamer seen a glaring day</div> - <div class='line'>And leagues of prairie pantingly aquiver?</div> - <div class='line'>Flame, flood, wind, noise and darkness were a river</div> - <div class='line'>Tearing a cosmic channel to no sea.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The tortured night wore on; then suddenly</div> - <div class='line'>Peace fell. Remotely the retreating Wrath</div> - <div class='line'>Trailed dull, reluctant thunders in its path,</div> - <div class='line'>And up along a broken stair of cloud</div> - <div class='line'>The Dawn came creeping whitely. Like a shroud</div> - <div class='line'>Gray vapors clung along the sodden plain.</div> - <div class='line'>Up rose the sun to wipe the final stain</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>Of fury from the sky and drink the mist.</div> - <div class='line'>Against a flawless arch of amethyst</div> - <div class='line'>The butte soared, like a soul serene and white</div> - <div class='line'>Because of the katharsis of the night.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All day Hugh fought with sleep and struggled on</div> - <div class='line'>Southeastward; for the heavy heat was gone</div> - <div class='line'>Despite the naked sun. The blank Northwest</div> - <div class='line'>Breathed coolly; and the crawler thought it best</div> - <div class='line'>To move while yet each little break and hollow</div> - <div class='line'>And shallow basin of the bison-wallow</div> - <div class='line'>Begrudged the earth and air its dwindling store.</div> - <div class='line'>But now that thirst was conquered, more and more</div> - <div class='line'>He felt the gnaw of hunger like a rage.</div> - <div class='line'>And once, from dozing in a clump of sage,</div> - <div class='line'>A lone jackrabbit bounded. As a flame</div> - <div class='line'>Hope flared in Hugh, until the memory came</div> - <div class='line'>Of him who robbed a sleeping friend and fled.</div> - <div class='line'>Then hate and hunger merged; the man saw red,</div> - <div class='line'>And momently the hare and Little Jim</div> - <div class='line'>Were one blurred mark for murder unto him—</div> - <div class='line'>Elusive, taunting, sweet to clutch and tear.</div> - <div class='line'>The rabbit paused to scan the crippled bear</div> - <div class='line'>That ground its teeth as though it chewed a root.</div> - <div class='line'>But when, in witless rage, Hugh drew his boot</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>And hurled it with a curse, the hare loped off,</div> - <div class='line'>Its critic ears turned back, as though to scoff</div> - <div class='line'>At silly brutes that threw their legs away.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Night like a shadow on enduring day</div> - <div class='line'>Swooped by. The dream of crawling and the act</div> - <div class='line'>Were phases of one everlasting fact:</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh woke, and he was doing what he dreamed.</div> - <div class='line'>The butte, outstripped at eventide, now seemed</div> - <div class='line'>Intent to follow. Ever now and then</div> - <div class='line'>The crawler paused to calculate again</div> - <div class='line'>What dear-bought yawn of distance dwarfed the hill.</div> - <div class='line'>Close in the rear it soared, a Titan still,</div> - <div class='line'>Whose hand-in-pocket saunter kept the pace.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Distinct along the southern rim of space</div> - <div class='line'>A low ridge lay, the crest of the divide.</div> - <div class='line'>What rest and plenty on the other side!</div> - <div class='line'>Through what lush valleys ran what crystal brooks!</div> - <div class='line'>And there in virgin meadows wayside nooks</div> - <div class='line'>With leaf and purple cluster dulled the light!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All day it seemed that distant Pisgah Height</div> - <div class='line'>Retreated, and the tall butte dogged the rear.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>At eve a stripéd gopher chirping near</div> - <div class='line'>Gave Hugh an inspiration. Now, at least,</div> - <div class='line'>No thieving friend should rob him of a feast.</div> - <div class='line'>His great idea stirred him as a shout.</div> - <div class='line'>Off came a boot, a sock was ravelled out.</div> - <div class='line'>The coarse yarn, fashioned to a running snare,</div> - <div class='line'>He placed about the gopher’s hole with care,</div> - <div class='line'>And then withdrew to hold the yarn and wait.</div> - <div class='line'>The night-bound moments, ponderous with fate,</div> - <div class='line'>Crept slowly by. The battered gray face leered</div> - <div class='line'>In expectation. Down the grizzled beard</div> - <div class='line'>Ran slaver from anticipating jaws.</div> - <div class='line'>Evolving twilight hovered to a pause.</div> - <div class='line'>The light wind fell. Again and yet again</div> - <div class='line'>The man devoured his fancied prey: and then</div> - <div class='line'>Within the noose a timid snout was thrust.</div> - <div class='line'>His hand unsteadied with the hunger lust,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh jerked the yarn. It broke.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in22'>Down swooped the night,</div> - <div class='line'>A shadow of despair. Bleak height on height,</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed, a sheer abyss enclosed him round.</div> - <div class='line'>Clutching a strand of yarn, he heard the sound</div> - <div class='line'>Of some infernal turmoil under him.</div> - <div class='line'>Grimly he strove to reach the ragged rim</div> - <div class='line'>That snared a star, until the skyey space</div> - <div class='line'>Was darkened with a roof of Jamie’s face,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>And then the yarn was broken, and he fell.</div> - <div class='line'>A-tumble like a stricken bat, his yell</div> - <div class='line'>Woke hordes of laughers down the giddy yawn</div> - <div class='line'>Of that black pit—and suddenly ‘twas dawn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Dream-dawn, dream-noon, dream-twilight! Yet, possest</div> - <div class='line'>By one stern dream more clamorous than the rest,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh headed for a gap that notched the hills,</div> - <div class='line'>Wherethrough a luring murmur of cool rills,</div> - <div class='line'>A haunting smell of verdure seemed to creep.</div> - <div class='line'>By fits the wild adventure of his sleep</div> - <div class='line'>Became the cause of all his waking care,</div> - <div class='line'>And he complained unto the empty air</div> - <div class='line'>How Jamie broke the yarn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in30'>The sun and breeze</div> - <div class='line'>Had drunk all shallow basins to the lees,</div> - <div class='line'>But now and then some gully, choked with mud,</div> - <div class='line'>Retained a turbid relict of the flood.</div> - <div class='line'>Dream-dawn, dream-noon, dream-night! And still obsessed</div> - <div class='line'>By that one dream more clamorous than the rest,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh struggled for the crest of the divide.</div> - <div class='line'>And when at length he saw the other side,</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas but a rumpled waste of yellow hills!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>The deep-sunk, wiser self had known the rills</div> - <div class='line'>And nooks to be the facture of a whim;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet had the pleasant lie befriended him,</div> - <div class='line'>And now the brutal fact had come to stare.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Succumbing to a languorous despair,</div> - <div class='line'>He mourned his fate with childish uncontrol</div> - <div class='line'>And nursed that deadly adder of the soul,</div> - <div class='line'>Self-pity. Let the crows swoop down and feed,</div> - <div class='line'>Aye, batten on a thing that died of need,</div> - <div class='line'>A poor old wretch betrayed of God and Man!</div> - <div class='line'>So peevishly his broken musing ran,</div> - <div class='line'>Till, glutted with the luxury of woe,</div> - <div class='line'>He turned to see the butte, that he might know</div> - <div class='line'>How little all his striving could avail</div> - <div class='line'>Against ill-luck. And lo, a finger-nail,</div> - <div class='line'>At arm-length held, could blot it out of space!</div> - <div class='line'>A goading purpose and a creeping pace</div> - <div class='line'>Had dwarfed the Titan in a haze of blue!</div> - <div class='line'>And suddenly new power came to Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>With gazing on his masterpiece of will.</div> - <div class='line'>So fare the wise on Pisgah.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in28'>Down the hill,</div> - <div class='line'>Unto the higher vision consecrate,</div> - <div class='line'>Now sallied forth the new triumvirate—</div> - <div class='line'>A Weariness, a Hunger and a Glory—</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>Against tyrannic Chance. As in a story</div> - <div class='line'>Some higher Hugh observed the baser part.</div> - <div class='line'>So sits the artist throned above his art,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor recks the travail so the end be fair.</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed the wrinkled hills pressed in to stare,</div> - <div class='line'>The arch of heaven was an eye a-gaze.</div> - <div class='line'>And as Hugh went, he fashioned many a phrase</div> - <div class='line'>For use when, by some friendly ember-light,</div> - <div class='line'>His tale of things endured should speed the night</div> - <div class='line'>And all this gloom grow golden in the sharing.</div> - <div class='line'>So wrought the old evangel of high daring,</div> - <div class='line'>The duty and the beauty of endeavor,</div> - <div class='line'>The privilege of going on forever,</div> - <div class='line'>A victor in the moment.</div> - <div class='line in24'>Ah, but when</div> - <div class='line'>The night slipped by and morning came again,</div> - <div class='line'>The sky and hill were only sky and hill</div> - <div class='line'>And crawling but an agony of will.</div> - <div class='line'>So once again the old triumvirate,</div> - <div class='line'>A buzzard Hunger and a viper Hate</div> - <div class='line'>Together with the baser part of Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>Went visionless.</div> - <div class='line in18'>That day the wild geese flew,</div> - <div class='line'>Vague in a gray profundity of sky;</div> - <div class='line'>And on into the night their muffled cry</div> - <div class='line'>Haunted the moonlight like a far farewell.</div> - <div class='line'>It made Hugh homesick, though he could not tell</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>For what he yearned; and in his fitful sleeping</div> - <div class='line'>The cry became the sound of Jamie weeping,</div> - <div class='line'>Immeasurably distant.</div> - <div class='line in22'>Morning broke,</div> - <div class='line'>Blear, chilly, through a fog that drove as smoke</div> - <div class='line'>Before the booming Northwest. Sweet and sad</div> - <div class='line'>Came creeping back old visions of the lad—</div> - <div class='line'>Some trick of speech, some merry little lilt,</div> - <div class='line'>The brooding blue of eyes too clear for guilt,</div> - <div class='line'>The wind-blown golden hair. Hate slept that day,</div> - <div class='line'>And half of Hugh was half a life away,</div> - <div class='line'>A wandering spirit wistful of the past;</div> - <div class='line'>And half went drifting with the autumn blast</div> - <div class='line'>That mourned among the melancholy hills;</div> - <div class='line'>For something of the lethargy that kills</div> - <div class='line'>Came creeping close upon the ebb of hate.</div> - <div class='line'>Only the raw wind, like the lash of Fate,</div> - <div class='line'>Could have availed to move him any more.</div> - <div class='line'>At last the buzzard beak no longer tore</div> - <div class='line'>His vitals, and he ceased to think of food.</div> - <div class='line'>The fighter slumbered, and a maudlin mood</div> - <div class='line'>Foretold the dissolution of the man.</div> - <div class='line'>He sobbed, and down his beard the big tears ran.</div> - <div class='line'>And now the scene is changed; the bleak wind’s cry</div> - <div class='line'>Becomes a flight of bullets snarling by</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>From where on yonder summit skulk the Rees.</div> - <div class='line'>Against the sky, in silhouette, he sees</div> - <div class='line'>The headstrong Jamie in the leaden rain.</div> - <div class='line'>And now serenely beautiful and slain</div> - <div class='line'>The dear lad lies within a gusty tent.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Thus vexed with doleful whims the crawler went</div> - <div class='line'>Adrift before the wind, nor saw the trail;</div> - <div class='line'>Till close on night he knew a rugged vale</div> - <div class='line'>Had closed about him; and a hush was there,</div> - <div class='line'>Though still a moaning in the upper air</div> - <div class='line'>Told how the gray-winged gale blew out the day.</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath a clump of brush he swooned away</div> - <div class='line'>Into an icy void; and waking numb,</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed the still white dawn of death had come</div> - <div class='line'>On this, some cradle-valley of the soul.</div> - <div class='line'>He saw a dim, enchanted hollow roll</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath him, and the brush thereof was fleece;</div> - <div class='line'>And, like the body of the perfect peace</div> - <div class='line'>That thralled the whole, abode the break of day.</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed no wind had ever come that way,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor sound dwelt there, nor echo found the place.</div> - <div class='line'>And Hugh lay lapped in wonderment a space,</div> - <div class='line'>Vexed with a snarl whereof the ends were lost,</div> - <div class='line'>Till, shivering, he wondered if a frost</div> - <div class='line'>Had fallen with the dying of the blast.</div> - <div class='line'>So, vaguely troubled, listlessly he cast</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>A gaze about him: lo, above his head</div> - <div class='line'>The gray-green curtain of his chilly bed</div> - <div class='line'>Was broidered thick with plums! Or so it seemed,</div> - <div class='line'>For he was half persuaded that he dreamed;</div> - <div class='line'>And with a steady stare he strove to keep</div> - <div class='line'>That treasure for the other side of sleep.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Returning hunger bade him rise; in vain</div> - <div class='line'>He struggled with a fine-spun mesh of pain</div> - <div class='line'>That trammelled him, until a yellow stream</div> - <div class='line'>Of day flowed down the white vale of a dream</div> - <div class='line'>And left it disenchanted in the glare.</div> - <div class='line'>Then, warmed and soothed, Hugh rose and feasted there,</div> - <div class='line'>And thought once more of reaching the Moreau.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>To southward with a painful pace and slow</div> - <div class='line'>He went stiff-jointed; and a gnawing ache</div> - <div class='line'>In that hip-wound he had for Jamie’s sake</div> - <div class='line'>Oft made him groan—nor wrought a tender mood:</div> - <div class='line'>The rankling weapon of ingratitude</div> - <div class='line'>Was turned again with every puckering twinge.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Far down the vale a narrow winding fringe</div> - <div class='line'>Of wilted green betokened how a spring</div> - <div class='line'>There sent a little rill meandering;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>And Hugh was greatly heartened, for he knew</div> - <div class='line'>What fruits and herbs might flourish in the slough,</div> - <div class='line'>And thirst, henceforth, should torture not again.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So day on day, despite the crawler’s pain,</div> - <div class='line'>All in the windless, golden autumn weather,</div> - <div class='line'>These two, as comrades, struggled south together—</div> - <div class='line'>The homeless graybeard and the homing rill:</div> - <div class='line'>And one was sullen with the lust to kill,</div> - <div class='line'>And one went crooning of the moon-wooed vast;</div> - <div class='line'>For each the many-fathomed peace at last,</div> - <div class='line'>But oh the boon of singing on the way!</div> - <div class='line'>So came these in the golden fall of day</div> - <div class='line'>Unto a sudden turn in the ravine,</div> - <div class='line'>Wherefrom Hugh saw a flat of cluttered green</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath the further bluffs of the Moreau.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>With sinking heart he paused and gazed below</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the goal of so much toil and pain.</div> - <div class='line'>Yon green had seemed a paradise to gain</div> - <div class='line'>The while he thirsted where the lonely butte</div> - <div class='line'>Looked far and saw no toothsome herb or fruit</div> - <div class='line'>In all that yellow barren dim with heat.</div> - <div class='line'>But now the wasting body cried for meat,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>And sickness was upon him. Game should pass,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor deign to fear the mighty hunter Glass,</div> - <div class='line'>But curiously sniffing, pause to stare.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now while thus musing, Hugh became aware</div> - <div class='line'>Of some low murmur, phasic and profound,</div> - <div class='line'>Scarce risen o’er the border line of sound.</div> - <div class='line'>It might have been the coursing of his blood,</div> - <div class='line'>Or thunder heard remotely, or a flood</div> - <div class='line'>Flung down a wooded valley far away.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet that had been no weather-breeding day;</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twould frost that night; amid the thirsty land</div> - <div class='line'>All streams ran thin; and when he pressed a hand</div> - <div class='line'>On either ear, the world seemed very still.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The deep-worn channel of the little rill</div> - <div class='line'>Here fell away to eastward, rising, rough</div> - <div class='line'>With old rain-furrows, to a lofty bluff</div> - <div class='line'>That faced the river with a yellow wall.</div> - <div class='line'>Thereto, perplexed, Hugh set about to crawl,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor reached the summit till the sun was low.</div> - <div class='line'>Far-spread, shade-dimpled in the level glow,</div> - <div class='line'>The still land told not whence the murmur grew;</div> - <div class='line'>But where the green strip melted into blue</div> - <div class='line'>Far down the winding valley of the stream,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh saw what seemed the tempest of a dream</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>At mimic havoc in the timber-glooms.</div> - <div class='line'>As from the sweeping of gigantic brooms,</div> - <div class='line'>A dust cloud deepened down the dwindling river;</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the distant tree-tops ran a shiver</div> - <div class='line'>And huddled thickets writhed as in a gale.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>On creeps the windless tempest up the vale,</div> - <div class='line'>The while the murmur deepens to a roar,</div> - <div class='line'>As with the wider yawning of a door.</div> - <div class='line'>And now the agitated green gloom gapes</div> - <div class='line'>To belch a flood of countless dusky shapes</div> - <div class='line'>That mill and wrangle in a turbid flow—</div> - <div class='line'>Migrating myriads of the buffalo</div> - <div class='line'>Bound for the winter pastures of the Platte!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Exhausted, faint with need of meat, Hugh sat</div> - <div class='line'>And watched the mounting of the living flood.</div> - <div class='line'>Down came the night, and like a blot of blood</div> - <div class='line'>The lopped moon weltered in the dust-bleared East.</div> - <div class='line'>Sleep came and gave a Barmecidal feast.</div> - <div class='line'>About a merry flame were simmering</div> - <div class='line'>Sweet haunches of the calving of the Spring,</div> - <div class='line'>And tender tongues that never tasted snow,</div> - <div class='line'>And marrow bones that yielded to a blow</div> - <div class='line'>Such treasure! Hugh awoke with gnashing teeth,</div> - <div class='line'>And heard the mooing drone of cows beneath,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>The roll of hoofs, the challenge of the bull.</div> - <div class='line'>So sounds a freshet when the banks are full</div> - <div class='line'>And bursting brush-jams bellow to the croon</div> - <div class='line'>Of water through green leaves. The ragged moon</div> - <div class='line'>Now drenched the valley in an eerie rain:</div> - <div class='line'>Below, the semblance of a hurricane;</div> - <div class='line'>Above, the perfect calm of brooding frost,</div> - <div class='line'>Through which the wolves in doleful tenson tossed</div> - <div class='line'>From hill to hill the ancient hunger-song.</div> - <div class='line'>In broken sleep Hugh rolled the chill night long,</div> - <div class='line'>Half conscious of the flowing flesh below.</div> - <div class='line'>And now he trailed a bison in the snow</div> - <div class='line'>That deepened till he could not lift his feet.</div> - <div class='line'>Again, he battled for a chunk of meat</div> - <div class='line'>With some gray beast that fought with icy fang.</div> - <div class='line'>And when he woke, the wolves no longer sang;</div> - <div class='line'>White dawn athwart a white world smote the hill,</div> - <div class='line'>And thunder rolled along the valley still.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Morn, wiping up the frost as with a sponge,</div> - <div class='line'>Day on the steep and down the nightward plunge,</div> - <div class='line'>And Twilight saw the myriads moving on.</div> - <div class='line'>Dust to the westward where the van had gone,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>And dust and muffled thunder in the east!</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh starved while gazing on a Titan feast.</div> - <div class='line'>The tons of beef, that eddied there and swirled,</div> - <div class='line'>Had stilled the crying hungers of the world,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet not one little morsel was for him.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The red sun, pausing on the dusty rim,</div> - <div class='line'>Induced a panic aspect of his plight:</div> - <div class='line'>The herd would pass and vanish in the night</div> - <div class='line'>And be another dream to cling and flout.</div> - <div class='line'>Now scanning all the summit round about,</div> - <div class='line'>Amid the rubble of the ancient drift</div> - <div class='line'>He saw a bowlder. ‘Twas too big to lift,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet he might roll it. Painfully and slow</div> - <div class='line'>He worked it to the edge, then let it go</div> - <div class='line'>And breathlessly expectant watched it fall.</div> - <div class='line'>It hurtled down the leaning yellow wall,</div> - <div class='line'>And bounding from a brushy ledge’s brow,</div> - <div class='line'>It barely grazed the buttocks of a cow</div> - <div class='line'>And made a moment’s eddy where it struck.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>In peevish wrath Hugh cursed his evil luck,</div> - <div class='line'>And seizing rubble, gave his fury vent</div> - <div class='line'>By pelting bison till his strength was spent:</div> - <div class='line'>So might a child assail the crowding sea!</div> - <div class='line'>Then, sick at heart and musing bitterly,</div> - <div class='line'>He shambled down the steep way to the creek,</div> - <div class='line'>And having stayed the tearing buzzard beak</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>With breadroot and the waters of the rill,</div> - <div class='line'>Slept till the white of morning o’er the hill</div> - <div class='line'>Was like a whisper groping in a hush.</div> - <div class='line'>The stream’s low trill seemed loud. The tumbled brush</div> - <div class='line'>And rumpled tree-tops in the flat below,</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a fog that clung like spectral snow,</div> - <div class='line'>Lay motionless; nor any sound was there.</div> - <div class='line'>No frost had fallen, but the crystal air</div> - <div class='line'>Smacked of the autumn, and a heavy dew</div> - <div class='line'>Lay hoar upon the grass. There came on Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>A picture, vivid in the moment’s thrill,</div> - <div class='line'>Of martialed corn-shocks marching up a hill</div> - <div class='line'>And spiked fields dotted with the pumpkin’s gold.</div> - <div class='line'>It vanished; and, a-shiver with the cold,</div> - <div class='line'>He brooded on the mockeries of Chance,</div> - <div class='line'>The shrewd malignity of Circumstance</div> - <div class='line'>That either gave too little or too much.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet, with the fragment of a hope for crutch,</div> - <div class='line'>His spirit rallied, and he rose to go,</div> - <div class='line'>Though each stiff joint resisted as a foe</div> - <div class='line'>And that old hip-wound battled with his will.</div> - <div class='line'>So down along the channel of the rill</div> - <div class='line'>Unto the vale below he fought his way.</div> - <div class='line'>The frore fog, rifting in the risen day,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>Revealed the havoc of the living flood—</div> - <div class='line'>The river shallows beaten into mud,</div> - <div class='line'>The slender saplings shattered in the crush,</div> - <div class='line'>All lower leafage stripped, the tousled brush</div> - <div class='line'>Despoiled of fruitage, winter-thin, aghast.</div> - <div class='line'>And where the avalanche of hoofs had passed</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed nor herb nor grass had ever been.</div> - <div class='line'>And this the hard-won paradise, wherein</div> - <div class='line'>A food-devouring plethora of food</div> - <div class='line'>Had come to make a starving solitude!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet hope and courage mounted with the sun.</div> - <div class='line'>Surely, Hugh thought, some ill-begotten one</div> - <div class='line'>Of all that striving mass had lost the strife</div> - <div class='line'>And perished in the headlong stream of life—</div> - <div class='line'>A feast to fill the bellies of the strong,</div> - <div class='line'>That still the weak might perish. All day long</div> - <div class='line'>He struggled down the stricken vale, nor saw</div> - <div class='line'>What thing he sought. But when the twilight awe</div> - <div class='line'>Was creeping in, beyond a bend arose</div> - <div class='line'>A din as though the kiotes and the crows</div> - <div class='line'>Fought there with shrill and raucous battle cries.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Small need had Hugh to ponder and surmise</div> - <div class='line'>What guerdon beak and fang contended for.</div> - <div class='line'>Within himself the oldest cause of war</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>Brought forth upon the instant fang and beak.</div> - <div class='line'>He too would fight! Nor had he far to seek</div> - <div class='line'>Amid the driftwood strewn about the sand</div> - <div class='line'>For weapons suited to a brawny hand</div> - <div class='line'>With such a purpose. Armed with club and stone</div> - <div class='line'>He forged ahead into the battle zone,</div> - <div class='line'>And from a screening thicket spied his foes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>He saw a bison carcass black with crows,</div> - <div class='line'>And over it a welter of black wings,</div> - <div class='line'>And round about, a press of tawny rings</div> - <div class='line'>That, like a muddy current churned to foam</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a snag, flashed whitely in the gloam</div> - <div class='line'>With naked teeth; while close about the prize</div> - <div class='line'>Red beaks and muzzles bloody to the eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Betrayed how worth a struggle was the feast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then came on Hugh the fury of the beast—</div> - <div class='line'>To eat or to be eaten! Better so</div> - <div class='line'>To die contending with a living foe,</div> - <div class='line'>Than fight the yielding distance and the lack.</div> - <div class='line'>Masked by the brush he opened the attack,</div> - <div class='line'>And ever where a stone or club fell true,</div> - <div class='line'>About the stricken one an uproar grew</div> - <div class='line'>And brute tore brute, forgetful of the prey,</div> - <div class='line'>Until the whole pack tumbled in the fray</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>With bleeding flanks and lacerated throats.</div> - <div class='line'>Then, as the leader of a host who notes</div> - <div class='line'>The cannon-wrought confusion of the foe,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh seized the moment for a daring blow.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The wolf’s a coward, who, in goodly packs,</div> - <div class='line'>May counterfeit the courage that he lacks</div> - <div class='line'>And with a craven’s fury crush the bold.</div> - <div class='line'>But when the disunited mass that rolled</div> - <div class='line'>In suicidal strife, became aware</div> - <div class='line'>How some great beast that shambled like a bear</div> - <div class='line'>Bore down with roaring challenge, fell a hush</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the pack, some slinking to the brush</div> - <div class='line'>With tails a-droop; while some that whined in pain</div> - <div class='line'>Writhed off on reddened trails. With bristled mane</div> - <div class='line'>Before the flying stones a bolder few</div> - <div class='line'>Snarled menace at the foe as they withdrew</div> - <div class='line'>To fill the outer dusk with clamorings.</div> - <div class='line'>Aloft upon a moaning wind of wings</div> - <div class='line'>The crows with harsh, vituperative cries</div> - <div class='line'>Now saw a gray wolf of prodigious size</div> - <div class='line'>Devouring with the frenzy of the starved.</div> - <div class='line'>Thus fell to Hugh a bison killed and carved;</div> - <div class='line'>And so Fate’s whims mysteriously trend—</div> - <div class='line'>Woe in the silken meshes of the friend,</div> - <div class='line'>Weal in the might and menace of the foe.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>But with the fading of the afterglow</div> - <div class='line'>The routed wolves found courage to return:</div> - <div class='line'>Amid the brush Hugh saw their eye-balls burn;</div> - <div class='line'>And well he knew how futile stick and stone</div> - <div class='line'>Should prove by night to keep them from their own.</div> - <div class='line'>Better is less with safety, than enough</div> - <div class='line'>With ruin. He retreated to a bluff,</div> - <div class='line'>And scarce had reached it when the pack swooped in</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the carcass.</div> - <div class='line in18'>All night long, the din</div> - <div class='line'>Of wrangling wolves assailed the starry air,</div> - <div class='line'>While high above them in a brushy lair</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh dreamed of gnawing at the bloody feast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Along about the blanching of the east,</div> - <div class='line'>When sleep is weirdest and a moment’s flight,</div> - <div class='line'>Remembered coextensive with the night,</div> - <div class='line'>May teem with hapful years; as light in smoke,</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the jumble of Hugh’s dreaming broke</div> - <div class='line'>A buzz of human voices. Once again</div> - <div class='line'>He rode the westward trail with Henry’s men—</div> - <div class='line'>Hoof-smitten leagues consuming in a dust.</div> - <div class='line'>And now the nightmare of that broken trust</div> - <div class='line'>Was on him, and he lay beside the spring,</div> - <div class='line'>A corpse, yet heard the muffled parleying</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>Above him of the looters of the dead:</div> - <div class='line'>But when he might have riddled what they said,</div> - <div class='line'>The babble flattened to a blur of gray—</div> - <div class='line'>And lo, upon a bleak frontier of day,</div> - <div class='line'>The spent moon staring down! A little space</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh scrutinized the featureless white face,</div> - <div class='line'>As though ‘twould speak. But when again the sound</div> - <div class='line'>Grew up, and seemed to come from under ground,</div> - <div class='line'>He cast the drowse, and peering down the slope,</div> - <div class='line'>Beheld what set at grapple fear and hope—</div> - <div class='line'>Three Indian horsemen riding at a jog!</div> - <div class='line'>Their ponies, wading belly-deep in fog,</div> - <div class='line'>That clung along the valley, seemed to swim,</div> - <div class='line'>And through a thinner vapor moving dim,</div> - <div class='line'>The men were ghost-like.</div> - <div class='line in26'>Could they be the Sioux?</div> - <div class='line'>Almost the wish became belief in Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'>Or were they Rees? As readily the doubt</div> - <div class='line'>Withheld him from the hazard of a shout.</div> - <div class='line'>And while he followed them with baffled gaze,</div> - <div class='line'>Grown large and vague, dissolving in the haze,</div> - <div class='line'>They vanished westward.</div> - <div class='line in24'>Knowing well the wont</div> - <div class='line'>Of Indians moving on the bison-hunt,</div> - <div class='line'>Forthwith Hugh guessed the early riders were</div> - <div class='line'>The outflung feelers of a tribe a-stir</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>Like some huge cat gone mousing. So he lay</div> - <div class='line'>Concealed, impatient with the sleepy day</div> - <div class='line'>That dawdled in the dawning. Would it bring</div> - <div class='line'>Good luck or ill? His eager questioning,</div> - <div class='line'>As crawling fog, took on a golden hue</div> - <div class='line'>From sunrise. He was waiting for the Sioux,</div> - <div class='line'>Their parfleche panniers fat with sun-dried maize</div> - <div class='line'>And wasna! From the mint of evil days</div> - <div class='line'>He would coin tales and be no begging guest</div> - <div class='line'>About the tribal feast-fires burning west,</div> - <div class='line'>But kinsman of the blood of daring men.</div> - <div class='line'>And when the crawler stood erect again—</div> - <div class='line'>O Friend-Betrayer at the Big Horn’s mouth,</div> - <div class='line'>Beware of someone riding from the South</div> - <div class='line'>To do the deed that he had lived to do!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now when the sun stood hour-high in the blue,</div> - <div class='line'>From where a cloud of startled blackbirds rose</div> - <div class='line'>Down stream, a panic tumult broke the doze</div> - <div class='line'>Of windless morning. What unwelcome news</div> - <div class='line'>Embroiled the parliament of feathered shrews?</div> - <div class='line'>A boiling cloud against the sun they lower,</div> - <div class='line'>Flackering strepent; now a sooty shower,</div> - <div class='line'>Big-flaked, squall-driven westward, down they flutter</div> - <div class='line'>To set a clump of cottonwoods a-sputter</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>With cold black fire! And once again, some shock</div> - <div class='line'>Of sight or sound flings panic in the flock—</div> - <div class='line'>Gray boughs exploding in a ruck of birds!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What augury in orniscopic words</div> - <div class='line'>Did yon swart sibyls on the morning scrawl?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now broke abruptly through the clacking brawl</div> - <div class='line'>A camp-dog’s barking and a pony’s neigh;</div> - <div class='line'>Whereat a running nicker fled away,</div> - <div class='line'>Attenuating to a rearward hush;</div> - <div class='line'>And lo! in hailing distance ‘round the brush</div> - <div class='line'>That fringed a jutting bluff’s base like a beard</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a stubborn chin out-thrust, appeared</div> - <div class='line'>A band of mounted warriors! In their van</div> - <div class='line'>Aloof and lonely rode a gnarled old man</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a piebald stallion. Stooped was he</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath his heavy years, yet haughtily</div> - <div class='line'>He wore them like the purple of a king.</div> - <div class='line'>Keen for a goal, as from the driving string</div> - <div class='line'>A barbed and feathered arrow truly sped,</div> - <div class='line'>His face was like a flinty arrow-head,</div> - <div class='line'>And brooded westward in a steady stare.</div> - <div class='line'>There was a sift of winter in his hair,</div> - <div class='line'>The bleakness of brown winter in his look.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>Hugh saw, and huddled closer in his nook.</div> - <div class='line'>Fled the bright dreams of safety, feast and rest</div> - <div class='line'>Before that keen, cold brooder on the West,</div> - <div class='line'>As gaudy leaves before the blizzard flee.</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas Elk Tongue, fighting chieftain of the Ree,</div> - <div class='line'>With all his people at his pony’s tail—</div> - <div class='line'>Full two-score lodges emptied on the trail</div> - <div class='line'>Of hunger!</div> - <div class='line in12'>On they came in ravelled rank,</div> - <div class='line'>And many a haggard eye and hollow flank</div> - <div class='line'>Made plain how close and pitilessly pressed</div> - <div class='line'>The enemy that drove them to the West—</div> - <div class='line'>Such foeman as no warrior ever slew.</div> - <div class='line'>A tale of cornfields plundered by the Sioux</div> - <div class='line'>Their sagging panniers told. Yet rich enough</div> - <div class='line'>They seemed to him who watched them from the bluff;</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, pampered nigh the limit of desire!</div> - <div class='line'>No friend had filched from them the boon of fire</div> - <div class='line'>And hurled them shivering back upon the beast.</div> - <div class='line'>Erect they went, full-armed to strive, at least;</div> - <div class='line'>And nightly in a cozy ember-glow</div> - <div class='line'>Hope fed them with a dream of buffalo</div> - <div class='line'>Soon to be overtaken. After that,</div> - <div class='line'>Home with their Pawnee cousins on the Platte,</div> - <div class='line'>Much meat and merry-making till the Spring.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>On dragged the rabble like a fraying string</div> - <div class='line'>Too tautly drawn. The rich-in-ponies rode,</div> - <div class='line'>For much is light and little is a load</div> - <div class='line'>Among all heathen with no Christ to save!</div> - <div class='line'>Gray seekers for the yet begrudging grave,</div> - <div class='line'>Bent with the hoeing of forgotten maize,</div> - <div class='line'>Wood-hewers, water-bearers all their days,</div> - <div class='line'>Toiled ‘neath the life-long hoarding of their packs.</div> - <div class='line'>And nursing squaws, their babies at their backs</div> - <div class='line'>Whining because the milk they got was thinned</div> - <div class='line'>In dugs of famine, strove as with a wind.</div> - <div class='line'>Invincibly equipped with their first bows</div> - <div class='line'>The striplings strutted, knowing, as youth knows,</div> - <div class='line'>How fair life is beyond the beckoning blue.</div> - <div class='line'>Cold-eyed the grandsires plodded, for they knew,</div> - <div class='line'>As frosted heads may know, how all trails merge</div> - <div class='line'>In what lone land. Raw maidens on the verge</div> - <div class='line'>Of some half-guessed-at mystery of life,</div> - <div class='line'>In wistful emulation of the wife</div> - <div class='line'>Stooped to the fancied burden of the race;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor read upon the withered granddam’s face</div> - <div class='line'>The scrawled tale of that burden and its woe.</div> - <div class='line'>Slant to the sagging poles of the travaux,</div> - <div class='line'>Numb to the squaw’s harsh railing and the goad,</div> - <div class='line'>The lean cayuses toiled. And children rode</div> - <div class='line'>A-top the household plunder, wonder-eyed</div> - <div class='line'>To see a world flow by on either side,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>From blue air sprung to vanish in blue air,</div> - <div class='line'>A river of enchantments.</div> - <div class='line in26'>Here and there</div> - <div class='line'>The camp-curs loped upon a vexing quest</div> - <div class='line'>Where countless hoofs had left a palimpsest,</div> - <div class='line'>A taunting snarl of broken scents. And now</div> - <div class='line'>They sniff the clean bones of the bison cow,</div> - <div class='line'>Howl to the skies; and now with manes a-rough</div> - <div class='line'>They nose the man-smell leading to the bluff;</div> - <div class='line'>Pause puzzled at the base and sweep the height</div> - <div class='line'>With questioning yelps. Aloft, crouched low in fright,</div> - <div class='line'>Already Hugh can hear the braves’ guffaws</div> - <div class='line'>At their scorned foeman yielded to the squaws’</div> - <div class='line'>Inverted mercy and a slow-won grave.</div> - <div class='line'>Since Earth’s first mother scolded from a cave</div> - <div class='line'>And that dear riddle of her love began,</div> - <div class='line'>No man has wrought a weapon against man</div> - <div class='line'>To match the deadly venom brewed above</div> - <div class='line'>The lean, blue, blinding heart-fires of her love.</div> - <div class='line'>Well might the hunted hunter shrink aghast!</div> - <div class='line'>But thrice three seasons yet should swell the past,</div> - <div class='line'>So was it writ, ere Fate’s keen harriers</div> - <div class='line'>Should run Hugh Glass to earth.</div> - <div class='line in32'>The hungry curs</div> - <div class='line'>Took up again the tangled scent of food.</div> - <div class='line'>Still flowed the rabble through the solitude—</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>A thinning stream now of the halt, the weak</div> - <div class='line'>And all who had not very far to seek</div> - <div class='line'>For that weird pass whereto the fleet are slow,</div> - <div class='line'>And out of it keen winds and numbing blow,</div> - <div class='line'>Shrill with the fleeing voices of the dead.</div> - <div class='line'>Slowly the scattered stragglers, making head</div> - <div class='line'>Against their weariness as up a steep,</div> - <div class='line'>Fled westward; and the morning lay asleep</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the valley fallen wondrous still.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Hugh kept his nook, nor ventured forth, until</div> - <div class='line'>The high day toppled to the blue descent,</div> - <div class='line'>When thirst became a master, and he went</div> - <div class='line'>With painful scrambling down the broken scarp,</div> - <div class='line'>Lured by the stream, that like a smitten harp</div> - <div class='line'>Rippled a muted music to the sun.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Scarce had he crossed the open flat, and won</div> - <div class='line'>The half-way fringe of willows, when he saw,</div> - <div class='line'>Slow plodding up the trail, a tottering squaw</div> - <div class='line'>Whose years made big the little pack she bore.</div> - <div class='line'>Crouched in the brush Hugh watched her. More and more</div> - <div class='line'>The little burden tempted him. Why not?</div> - <div class='line'>A thin cry throttled in that lonely spot</div> - <div class='line'>Could bring no succor. None should ever know,</div> - <div class='line'>Save him, the feasted kiote and the crow,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>Why one poor crone found not the midnight fire.</div> - <div class='line'>Nor would the vanguard, quick with young desire,</div> - <div class='line'>Devouring distance westward like a flame,</div> - <div class='line'>Regret this ash dropped rearward.</div> - <div class='line in36'>On she came,</div> - <div class='line'>Slow-footed, staring blankly on the sand—</div> - <div class='line'>So close now that it needed but a hand</div> - <div class='line'>Out-thrust to overthrow her; aye, to win</div> - <div class='line'>That priceless spoil, a little tent of skin,</div> - <div class='line'>A flint and steel, a kettle and a knife!</div> - <div class='line'>What did the dying with the means of life,</div> - <div class='line'>That thus the fit-to-live should suffer lack?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Poised for the lunge, what whimsy held him back?</div> - <div class='line'>Why did he gaze upon the passing prize,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor seize it? Did some gust of ghostly cries</div> - <div class='line'>Awaken round her—whisperings of Eld,</div> - <div class='line'>Wraith-voices of the babies she had held—</div> - <div class='line'>To plead for pity on her graveward days?</div> - <div class='line'>Far down a moment’s cleavage in the haze</div> - <div class='line'>Of backward years Hugh saw her now—nor saw</div> - <div class='line'>The little burden and the feeble squaw,</div> - <div class='line'>But someone sitting haloed like a saint</div> - <div class='line'>Beside a hearth long cold. The dream grew faint;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>And when he looked again, the crone was gone</div> - <div class='line'>Beyond a clump of willow.</div> - <div class='line in26'>Crawling on,</div> - <div class='line'>He reached the river. Leaning to a pool</div> - <div class='line'>Calm in its cup of sand, he saw—a fool!</div> - <div class='line'>A wild, wry mask of mirth, a-grin, yet grim,</div> - <div class='line'>Rose there to claim identity with him</div> - <div class='line'>And ridicule his folly. Pity? Faugh!</div> - <div class='line'>Who pitied this, that it should spare a squaw</div> - <div class='line'>Spent in the spawning of a scorpion brood?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>He drank and hastened down the solitude,</div> - <div class='line'>Fleeing that thing which fleered him, and was Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'>And as he went his self-accusing grew</div> - <div class='line'>And with it, anger; till it came to seem</div> - <div class='line'>That somehow some sly Jamie of a dream</div> - <div class='line'>Had plundered him again; and he was strong</div> - <div class='line'>With lust of vengeance and the sting of wrong,</div> - <div class='line'>So that he travelled faster than for days.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now when the eve in many-shaded grays</div> - <div class='line'>Wove the day’s shroud, and through the lower lands</div> - <div class='line'>Lean fog-arms groped with chilling spirit hands,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh paused perplexed. Elusive, haunting, dim,</div> - <div class='line'>As though some memory that stirred in him,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>Invasive of the real, outgrew the dream,</div> - <div class='line'>There came upon the breeze that stole up stream</div> - <div class='line'>A whiff of woodsmoke.</div> - <div class='line in24'>‘Twixt a beat and beat</div> - <div class='line'>Of Hugh’s deluded heart, it seemed the sweet</div> - <div class='line'>Allure of home.—A brief way, and one came</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the clearing where the sumach flame</div> - <div class='line'>Ran round the forest-fringe; and just beyond</div> - <div class='line'>One saw the slough grass nodding in the pond</div> - <div class='line'>Unto the sleepy troll the bullfrogs sung.</div> - <div class='line'>And then one saw the place where one was young—</div> - <div class='line'>The log-house sitting on a stumpy rise.</div> - <div class='line'>Hearth-lit within, its windows were as eyes</div> - <div class='line'>That love much and are faded with old tears.</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed regretful of a life’s arrears,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet patient, with a self-denying poise,</div> - <div class='line'>Like some old mother for her bearded boys</div> - <div class='line'>Waiting sweet-hearted and a little sad.—</div> - <div class='line'>So briefly dreamed a recrudescent lad</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath gray hairs, and fled.</div> - <div class='line in26'>Through chill and damp</div> - <div class='line'>Still groped the odor, hinting at a camp,</div> - <div class='line'>A two-tongued herald wooing hope and fear.</div> - <div class='line'>Was hospitality or danger near?</div> - <div class='line'>A Sioux war-party hot upon the trail,</div> - <div class='line'>Or laggard Rees? Hugh crawled across the vale,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>Toiled up along a zigzag gully’s bed</div> - <div class='line'>And reached a bluff’s top. In a smudge of red</div> - <div class='line'>The West burned low. Hill summits, yet alight,</div> - <div class='line'>And pools of gloom anticipating night</div> - <div class='line'>Mottled the landscape to the dull blue rim.</div> - <div class='line'>What freak of fancy had imposed on him?</div> - <div class='line'>Could one smell home-smoke fifty years away?</div> - <div class='line'>He saw no fire; no pluming spire of gray</div> - <div class='line'>Rose in the dimming air to woo or warn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>He lay upon the bare height, fagged, forlorn,</div> - <div class='line'>And old times came upon him with the creep</div> - <div class='line'>Of subtle drugs that put the will to sleep</div> - <div class='line'>And wreak doom to the soothing of a dream.</div> - <div class='line'>So listlessly he scanned the sombrous stream,</div> - <div class='line'>Scarce seeing what he scanned. The dark increased;</div> - <div class='line'>A chill wind wakened from the frowning east</div> - <div class='line'>And soughed along the vale.</div> - <div class='line in28'>Then with a start</div> - <div class='line'>He saw what broke the torpor of his heart</div> - <div class='line'>And set the wild blood free. From where he lay</div> - <div class='line'>An easy point-blank rifle-shot away,</div> - <div class='line'>Appeared a mystic germinating spark</div> - <div class='line'>That in some secret garden of the dark</div> - <div class='line'>Upreared a frail, blue, nodding stem, whereon</div> - <div class='line'>A ruddy lily flourished—and was gone!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>What miracle was this? Again it grew,</div> - <div class='line'>The scarlet blossom on the stem of blue,</div> - <div class='line'>And withered back again into the night.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>With pounding heart Hugh crawled along the height</div> - <div class='line'>And reached a point of vantage whence, below,</div> - <div class='line'>He saw capricious witch-lights dim and glow</div> - <div class='line'>Like far-spent embers quickened in a breeze.</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas surely not a camp of laggard Rees,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor yet of Siouan warriors hot in chase.</div> - <div class='line'>Dusk and a quiet bivouacked in that place.</div> - <div class='line'>A doddering vagrant with numb hands, the Wind</div> - <div class='line'>Fumbled the dying ashes there, and whined.</div> - <div class='line'>It was the day-old camp-ground of the foe!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Glad-hearted now, Hugh gained the vale below,</div> - <div class='line'>Keen to possess once more the ancient gift.</div> - <div class='line'>Nearing the glow, he saw vague shadows lift</div> - <div class='line'>Out of the painted gloom of smouldering logs—</div> - <div class='line'>Distorted bulks that bristled, and were dogs</div> - <div class='line'>Snarling at this invasion of their lair.</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh charged upon them, growling like a bear,</div> - <div class='line'>And sent them whining.</div> - <div class='line in26'>Now again to view</div> - <div class='line'>The burgeoning of scarlet, gold and blue,</div> - <div class='line'>The immemorial miracle of fire!</div> - <div class='line'>From heaped-up twigs a tenuous smoky spire</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>Arose, and made an altar of the place.</div> - <div class='line'>The spark-glow, faint upon the grizzled face,</div> - <div class='line'>Transformed the kneeling outcast to a priest;</div> - <div class='line'>And, native of the light-begetting East,</div> - <div class='line'>The Wind became a chanting acolyte.</div> - <div class='line'>These two, entempled in the vaulted night,</div> - <div class='line'>Breathed conjuries of interwoven breath.</div> - <div class='line'>Then, hark!—the snapping of the chains of Death!</div> - <div class='line'>From dead wood, lo!—the epiphanic god!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Once more the freightage of the fennel rod</div> - <div class='line'>Dissolved the chilling pall of Jovian scorn.</div> - <div class='line'>The wonder of the resurrection morn,</div> - <div class='line'>The face apocalyptic and the sword,</div> - <div class='line'>The glory of the many-symboled Lord,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh, lifting up his eyes about him, saw!</div> - <div class='line'>And something in him like a vernal thaw,</div> - <div class='line'>Voiced with the sound of many waters, ran</div> - <div class='line'>And quickened to the laughter of a man.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Light-heartedly he fed the singing flame</div> - <div class='line'>And took its blessing: till a soft sleep came</div> - <div class='line'>With dreaming that was like a pleasant tale.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The far white dawn was peering up the vale</div> - <div class='line'>When he awoke to indolent content.</div> - <div class='line'>A few shorn stars in pale astonishment</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>Were huddled westward; and the fire was low.</div> - <div class='line'>Three scrawny camp-curs, mustered in a row</div> - <div class='line'>Beyond the heap of embers, heads askew,</div> - <div class='line'>Ears pricked to question what the man might do,</div> - <div class='line'>Sat wistfully regardant. He arose;</div> - <div class='line'>And they, grown canny in a school of blows,</div> - <div class='line'>Skulked to a safer distance, there to raise</div> - <div class='line'>A dolorous chanting of the evil days,</div> - <div class='line'>Their gray breath like the body of a prayer.</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh nursed the sullen embers to a flare,</div> - <div class='line'>Then set about to view an empty camp</div> - <div class='line'>As once before; but now no smoky lamp</div> - <div class='line'>Of blear suspicion searched a gloom of fraud</div> - <div class='line'>Wherein a smirking Friendship, like a bawd,</div> - <div class='line'>Embraced a coward Safety; now no grief,</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twixt hideous revelation and belief,</div> - <div class='line'>Made womanish the man; but glad to strive,</div> - <div class='line'>With hope to nerve him and a will to drive,</div> - <div class='line'>He knew that he could finish in the race.</div> - <div class='line'>The staring impassivity of space</div> - <div class='line'>No longer mocked; the dreadful skyward climb,</div> - <div class='line'>Where distance seemed identical with time,</div> - <div class='line'>Was past now; and that mystic something, luck,</div> - <div class='line'>Without which worth may flounder in the ruck,</div> - <div class='line'>Had turned to him again.</div> - <div class='line in26'>So flamelike soared</div> - <div class='line'>Rekindled hope in him as he explored</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>Among the ash-heaps; and the lean dogs ran</div> - <div class='line'>And barked about him, for the love of man</div> - <div class='line'>Wistful, yet fearing. Surely he could find</div> - <div class='line'>Some trifle in the hurry left behind—</div> - <div class='line'>Or haply hidden in the trampled sand—</div> - <div class='line'>That to the cunning of a needy hand</div> - <div class='line'>Should prove the master-key of circumstance:</div> - <div class='line'>For ‘tis the little gifts of grudging Chance,</div> - <div class='line'>Well husbanded, make victors.</div> - <div class='line in30'>Long he sought</div> - <div class='line'>Without avail; and, crawling back, he thought</div> - <div class='line'>Of how the dogs were growing less afraid,</div> - <div class='line'>And how one might be skinned without a blade.</div> - <div class='line'>A flake of flint might do it: he would try.</div> - <div class='line'>And then he saw—or did the servile eye</div> - <div class='line'>Trick out a mental image like the real?</div> - <div class='line'>He saw a glimmering of whetted steel</div> - <div class='line'>Beside a heap now washed with morning light!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Scarce more of marvel and the sense of might</div> - <div class='line'>Moved Arthur when he reached a hand to take</div> - <div class='line'>The fay-wrought brand emerging from the lake,</div> - <div class='line'>Whereby a kingdom should be lopped of strife,</div> - <div class='line'>Than Hugh now, pouncing on a trader’s knife</div> - <div class='line'>Worn hollow in the use of bounteous days!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And now behold a rich man by the blaze</div> - <div class='line'>Of his own hearth—a lord of steel and fire!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>Not having, but the measure of desire</div> - <div class='line'>Determines wealth. Who gaining more, seek most,</div> - <div class='line'>Are ever the pursuers of a ghost</div> - <div class='line'>And lend their fleetness to the fugitive.</div> - <div class='line'>For Hugh, long goaded by the wish to live,</div> - <div class='line'>What gage of mastery in fire and tool!—</div> - <div class='line'>That twain wherewith Time put the brute to school,</div> - <div class='line'>Evolving Man, the maker and the seer.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Twixt urging hunger and restraining fear</div> - <div class='line'>The gaunt dogs hovered round the man; while he</div> - <div class='line'>Cajoled them in the language of the Ree</div> - <div class='line'>And simulated feeding them with sand,</div> - <div class='line'>Until the boldest dared to sniff his hand,</div> - <div class='line'>Bare-fanged and with conciliative whine.</div> - <div class='line'>Through bristled mane the quick blade bit the spine</div> - <div class='line'>Below the skull; and as a flame-struck thing</div> - <div class='line'>The body humped and shuddered, withering;</div> - <div class='line'>The lank limbs huddled, wilted.</div> - <div class='line in34'>Now to skin</div> - <div class='line'>The carcass, dig a hole, arrange therein</div> - <div class='line'>And fix the pelt with stakes, the flesh-side up.</div> - <div class='line'>This done, he shaped the bladder to a cup</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>On willow withes, and filled the rawhide pot</div> - <div class='line'>With water from the river—made it hot</div> - <div class='line'>With roasted stones, and set the meat a-boil.</div> - <div class='line'>Those days of famine and prodigious toil</div> - <div class='line'>Had wrought bulimic cravings in the man,</div> - <div class='line'>And scarce the cooking of the flesh outran</div> - <div class='line'>The eating of it. As a fed flame towers</div> - <div class='line'>According to the fuel it devours,</div> - <div class='line'>His hunger with indulgence grew, nor ceased</div> - <div class='line'>Until the kettle, empty of the feast,</div> - <div class='line'>Went dim, the sky and valley, merging, swirled</div> - <div class='line'>In subtle smoke that smothered out the world.</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh slept.</div> - <div class='line in8'>And then—as divers, mounting, sunder</div> - <div class='line'>A murmuring murk to blink in sudden wonder</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a dazzling upper deep of blue—</div> - <div class='line'>He rose again to consciousness, and knew</div> - <div class='line'>The low sun beating slantly on his face.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now indolently gazing round the place,</div> - <div class='line'>He noted how the curs had revelled there—</div> - <div class='line'>The bones and entrails gone; some scattered hair</div> - <div class='line'>Alone remaining of the pot of hide.</div> - <div class='line'>How strange he had not heard them at his side!</div> - <div class='line'>And granting but one afternoon had passed,</div> - <div class='line'>What could have made the fire burn out so fast?</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>Had daylight waned, night fallen, morning crept,</div> - <div class='line'>Noon blazed, a new day dwindled while he slept?</div> - <div class='line'>And was the friendlike fire a Jamie too?</div> - <div class='line'>Across the twilit consciousness of Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>The old obsession like a wounded bird</div> - <div class='line'>Fluttered.</div> - <div class='line in12'>He got upon his knees and stirred</div> - <div class='line'>The feathery ash; but not a spark was there.</div> - <div class='line'>Already with the failing sun the air</div> - <div class='line'>Went keen, betokening a frosty night.</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh winced with something like the clutch of fright.</div> - <div class='line'>How could he bear the torture, how sustain</div> - <div class='line'>The sting of that antiquity of pain</div> - <div class='line'>Rolled back upon him—face again the foe,</div> - <div class='line'>That yielding victor, fleet in being slow,</div> - <div class='line'>That huge, impersonal malevolence?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So readily the tentacles of sense</div> - <div class='line'>Root in the larger standard of desire,</div> - <div class='line'>That Hugh fell farther in the loss of fire</div> - <div class='line'>Than in the finding of it he arose.</div> - <div class='line'>And suddenly the place grew strange, as grows</div> - <div class='line'>A friend’s house, when the friend is on his bier,</div> - <div class='line'>And all that was familiar there and dear</div> - <div class='line'>Puts on a blank, inhospitable look.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>Hugh set his face against the east, and took</div> - <div class='line'>That dreariest of ways, the trail of flight.</div> - <div class='line'>He would outcrawl the shadow of the night</div> - <div class='line'>And have the day to blanket him in sleep.</div> - <div class='line'>But as he went to meet the gloom a-creep,</div> - <div class='line'>Bemused with life’s irrational rebuffs,</div> - <div class='line'>A yelping of the dogs among the bluffs</div> - <div class='line'>Rose, hunger-whetted, stabbing; rent the pall</div> - <div class='line'>Of evening silence; blunted to a drawl</div> - <div class='line'>Amid the arid waterways, and died.</div> - <div class='line'>And as the echo to the sound replied,</div> - <div class='line'>So in the troubled mind of Hugh was wrought</div> - <div class='line'>A reminiscent cry of thought to thought</div> - <div class='line'>That, groping, found an unlocked door to life:</div> - <div class='line'>The dogs—keen flint to skin one—then the knife</div> - <div class='line'>Discovered. Why, that made a flint and steel!</div> - <div class='line'>No further with the subtle foe at heel</div> - <div class='line'>He fled; for all about him in the rock,</div> - <div class='line'>To waken when the needy hand might knock,</div> - <div class='line'>A savior slept! He found a flake of flint,</div> - <div class='line'>Scraped from his shirt a little wad of lint,</div> - <div class='line'>Spilled on it from the smitten stone a shower</div> - <div class='line'>Of ruddy seed; and saw the mystic flower</div> - <div class='line'>That genders its own summer, bloom anew!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so capricious luck came back to Hugh;</div> - <div class='line'>And he was happier than he had been</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>Since Jamie to that unforgiven sin</div> - <div class='line'>Had yielded, ages back upon the Grand.</div> - <div class='line'>Now he would turn the cunning of his hand</div> - <div class='line'>To carving crutches, that he might arise,</div> - <div class='line'>Be manlike, lift more rapidly the skies</div> - <div class='line'>That crouched between his purpose and the mark.</div> - <div class='line'>The warm glow housed him from the frosty dark,</div> - <div class='line'>And there he wrought in very joyous mood</div> - <div class='line'>And sang by fits—whereat the solitude</div> - <div class='line'>Set laggard singers snatching at the tune.</div> - <div class='line'>The gaunter for their hunt, the dogs came soon</div> - <div class='line'>To haunt the shaken fringes of the glow,</div> - <div class='line'>And, pitching voices to the timeless woe,</div> - <div class='line'>Outwailed the lilting. So the Chorus sings</div> - <div class='line'>Of terror, pity and the tears of things</div> - <div class='line'>When most the doomed protagonist is gay.</div> - <div class='line'>The stars swarmed over, and the front of day</div> - <div class='line'>Whitened above a white world, and the sun</div> - <div class='line'>Rose on a sleeper with a task well done,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor roused him till its burning topped the blue.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When Hugh awoke, there woke a younger Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>Now half a stranger; and ‘twas good to feel</div> - <div class='line'>With ebbing sleep the old green vigor steal,</div> - <div class='line'>Thrilling, along his muscles and his veins,</div> - <div class='line'>As in a lull of winter-cleansing rains</div> - <div class='line'>The gray bough quickens to the sap a-creep.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>It chanced the dogs lay near him, sound asleep,</div> - <div class='line'>Curled nose to buttock in the noonday glow.</div> - <div class='line'>He killed the larger with a well-aimed blow,</div> - <div class='line'>Skinned, dressed and set it roasting on a spit;</div> - <div class='line'>And when ‘twas cooked, ate sparingly of it,</div> - <div class='line'>For need might yet make little seem a feast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Fording the river shallows, south by east</div> - <div class='line'>He hobbled now along a withered rill</div> - <div class='line'>That issued where old floods had gashed the hill—</div> - <div class='line'>A cyclopean portal yawning sheer.</div> - <div class='line'>No storm of countless hoofs had entered here:</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed a place where nothing ever comes</div> - <div class='line'>But change of season. He could hear the plums</div> - <div class='line'>Plash in the frosted thicket, over-lush;</div> - <div class='line'>While, like a spirit lisping in the hush,</div> - <div class='line'>The crisp leaves whispered round him as they fell.</div> - <div class='line'>And ever now and then the autumn spell</div> - <div class='line'>Was broken by an ululating cry</div> - <div class='line'>From where far back with muzzle to the sky</div> - <div class='line'>The lone dog followed, mourning. Darkness came;</div> - <div class='line'>And huddled up beside a cozy flame,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh’s sleep was but a momentary flight</div> - <div class='line'>Across a little shadow into light.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So day on day he toiled: and when, afloat</div> - <div class='line'>Above the sunset like a stygian boat,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>The new moon bore the spectre of the old,</div> - <div class='line'>He saw—a dwindling strip of blue outrolled—</div> - <div class='line'>The valley of the tortuous Cheyenne.</div> - <div class='line'>And ere the half moon sailed the night again,</div> - <div class='line'>Those far lone leagues had sloughed their garb of blue,</div> - <div class='line'>And dwindled, dwindled, dwindled after Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>Until he saw that Titan of the plains,</div> - <div class='line'>The sinewy Missouri. Dearth of rains</div> - <div class='line'>Had made the Giant gaunt as he who saw.</div> - <div class='line'>This loud Chain-Smasher of a late March thaw</div> - <div class='line'>Seemed never to have bellowed at his banks;</div> - <div class='line'>And yet, with staring ribs and hollow flanks,</div> - <div class='line'>The urge of an indomitable will</div> - <div class='line'>Proclaimed him of the breed of giants still;</div> - <div class='line'>And where the current ran a boiling track,</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas like the muscles of a mighty back</div> - <div class='line'>Grown Atlantean in the wrestler’s craft.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Hugh set to work and built a little raft</div> - <div class='line'>Of driftwood bound with grapevines. So it fell</div> - <div class='line'>That one with an amazing tale to tell</div> - <div class='line'>Came drifting to the gates of Kiowa.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span> - <h2 class='c005'>IV<br /> THE RETURN OF THE GHOST</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Not long Hugh let the lust of vengeance gnaw</div> - <div class='line'>Upon him idling; though the tale he told</div> - <div class='line'>And what report proclaimed him, were as gold</div> - <div class='line'>To buy a winter’s comfort at the Post.</div> - <div class='line'>“I can not rest; for I am but the ghost</div> - <div class='line'>Of someone murdered by a friend,” he said,</div> - <div class='line'>“So long as yonder traitor thinks me dead,</div> - <div class='line'>Aye, buried in the bellies of the crows</div> - <div class='line'>And kiotes!”</div> - <div class='line in14'>Whereupon said one of those</div> - <div class='line'>Who heard him, noting how the old man shook</div> - <div class='line'>As with a chill: “God fend that one should look</div> - <div class='line'>With such a blizzard of a face for me!”</div> - <div class='line'>For he went grayer like a poplar tree</div> - <div class='line'>That shivers, ruffling to the first faint breath</div> - <div class='line'>Of storm, while yet the world is still as death</div> - <div class='line'>Save where, far off, the kenneled thunders bay.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So brooding, he grew stronger day by day,</div> - <div class='line'>Until at last he laid the crutches by.</div> - <div class='line'>And then one evening came a rousing cry</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>From where the year’s last keelboat hove in view</div> - <div class='line'>Around the bend, its swarthy, sweating crew</div> - <div class='line'>Slant to the shouldered line.</div> - <div class='line in28'>Men sang that night</div> - <div class='line'>In Kiowa, and by the ruddy light</div> - <div class='line'>Of leaping fires amid the wooden walls</div> - <div class='line'>The cups went round; and there were merry brawls</div> - <div class='line'>Of bearded lads no older for the beard;</div> - <div class='line'>And laughing stories vied with tales of weird</div> - <div class='line'>By stream and prairie trail and mountain pass,</div> - <div class='line'>Until the tipsy Bourgeois bawled for Glass</div> - <div class='line'>To ‘shame these with a man’s tale fit to hear.’</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The graybeard, sitting where the light was blear,</div> - <div class='line'>With little heart for revelry, began</div> - <div class='line'>His story, told as of another man</div> - <div class='line'>Who, loving late, loved much and was betrayed.</div> - <div class='line'>He spoke unwitting how his passion played</div> - <div class='line'>Upon them, how their eyes grew soft or hard</div> - <div class='line'>With what he told; yet something of the bard</div> - <div class='line'>He seemed, and his the purpose that is art’s,</div> - <div class='line'>Whereby men make a vintage of their hearts</div> - <div class='line'>And with the wine of beauty deaden pain.</div> - <div class='line'>Low-toned, insistent as October rain,</div> - <div class='line'>His voice beat on; and now and then would flit</div> - <div class='line'>Across the melancholy gray of it</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>A glimmer of cold fire that, like the flare</div> - <div class='line'>Of soundless lightning, showed a world made bare,</div> - <div class='line'>Green Summer slain and all its leafage stripped.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And bronze jaws tightened, brawny hands were gripped,</div> - <div class='line'>As though each hearer had a fickle friend.</div> - <div class='line'>But when the old man might have made an end,</div> - <div class='line'>Rounding the story to a peaceful close</div> - <div class='line'>At Kiowa, songlike his voice arose,</div> - <div class='line'>The grinning gray mask lifted and the eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Burned as a bard’s who sees and prophesies,</div> - <div class='line'>Conning the future as a time long gone.</div> - <div class='line'>Swaying to rhythm the dizzy tale plunged on</div> - <div class='line'>Even to the cutting of the traitor’s throat,</div> - <div class='line'>And ceased—as though a bloody strangling smote</div> - <div class='line'>The voice of that gray chanter, drunk with doom.</div> - <div class='line'>And there was shuddering in the blue-smeared gloom</div> - <div class='line'>Of fallen fires. It seemed the deed was done</div> - <div class='line'>Before their eyes who heard.</div> - <div class='line in30'>The morrow’s sun,</div> - <div class='line'>Low over leagues of frost-enchanted plain,</div> - <div class='line'>Saw Glass upon his pilgrimage again,</div> - <div class='line'>Northbound as hunter for the keelboat’s crew.</div> - <div class='line'>And many times the wide autumnal blue</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>Burned out and darkened to a deep of stars;</div> - <div class='line'>And still they toiled among the snags and bars—</div> - <div class='line'>Those lean up-stream men, straining at the rope,</div> - <div class='line'>Lashed by the doubt and strengthened by the hope</div> - <div class='line'>Of backward winter—engines wrought of bone</div> - <div class='line'>And muscle, panting for the Yellowstone,</div> - <div class='line'>Bend after bend and yet more bends away.</div> - <div class='line'>Now was the river like a sandy bay</div> - <div class='line'>At ebb-tide, and the far-off cutbank’s boom</div> - <div class='line'>Mocked them in shallows; now ‘twas like a flume</div> - <div class='line'>With which the toilers, barely creeping, strove.</div> - <div class='line'>And bend by bend the selfsame poplar grove,</div> - <div class='line'>Set on the selfsame headland, so it seemed,</div> - <div class='line'>Confronted them, as though they merely dreamed</div> - <div class='line'>Of passing one drear point.</div> - <div class='line in28'>So on and up</div> - <div class='line'>Past where the tawny Titan gulps the cup</div> - <div class='line'>Of Cheyenne waters, past the Moreau’s mouth;</div> - <div class='line'>And still wry league and stubborn league fell south,</div> - <div class='line'>Becoming haze and weary memory.</div> - <div class='line'>Then past the empty lodges of the Ree</div> - <div class='line'>That gaped at cornfields plundered by the Sioux;</div> - <div class='line'>And there old times came mightily on Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>For much of him was born and buried there.</div> - <div class='line'>Some troubled glory of that wind-tossed hair</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>Was on the trampled corn; the lonely skies,</div> - <div class='line'>So haunted with the blue of Jamie’s eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>Seemed taunting him; and through the frosted wood</div> - <div class='line'>Along the flat, where once their tent had stood,</div> - <div class='line'>A chill wind sorrowed, and the blackbirds’ brawl</div> - <div class='line'>Amid the funeral torches of the Fall</div> - <div class='line'>Ran raucously, a desecrating din.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Past where the Cannon Ball and Heart come in</div> - <div class='line'>They labored. Now the Northwest ‘woke at last.</div> - <div class='line'>The gaunt bluffs bellowed back the trumpet blast</div> - <div class='line'>Of charging winds that made the sandbars smoke.</div> - <div class='line'>To breathe now was to gulp fine sand, and choke:</div> - <div class='line'>The stinging air was sibilant with whips.</div> - <div class='line'>Leaning the more and with the firmer grips,</div> - <div class='line'>Still northward the embattled toilers pressed</div> - <div class='line'>To where the river yaws into the west.</div> - <div class='line'>There stood the Mandan village.</div> - <div class='line in34'>Now began</div> - <div class='line'>The chaining of the Titan. Drift-ice ran.</div> - <div class='line'>The wingéd hounds of Winter ceased to bay.</div> - <div class='line'>The stupor of a doom completed lay</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the world. The biting darkness fell.</div> - <div class='line'>Out in the night, resounding as a well,</div> - <div class='line'>They heard the deck-planks popping in a vise</div> - <div class='line'>Of frost; all night the smithies of the ice</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>Reëchoed with the griding jar and clink</div> - <div class='line'>Of ghostly hammers welding link to link:</div> - <div class='line'>And morning found the world without a sound.</div> - <div class='line'>There lay the stubborn Prairie Titan bound,</div> - <div class='line'>To wait the far-off Heraclean thaw,</div> - <div class='line'>Though still in silent rage he strove to gnaw</div> - <div class='line'>The ragged shackles knitting at his breast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so the boatman won a winter’s rest</div> - <div class='line'>Among the Mandan traders: but for Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>There yet remained a weary work to do.</div> - <div class='line'>Across the naked country west by south</div> - <div class='line'>His purpose called him at the Big Horn’s mouth—</div> - <div class='line'>Three hundred miles of winging for the crow;</div> - <div class='line'>But by the river trail that he must go</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas seven hundred winding miles at least.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So now he turned his back upon the feast,</div> - <div class='line'>Snug ease, the pleasant tale, the merry mood,</div> - <div class='line'>And took the bare, foot-sounding solitude</div> - <div class='line'>Northwestward. Long they watched him from the Post,</div> - <div class='line'>Skied on a bluff-rim, fading like a ghost</div> - <div class='line'>At gray cock-crow; and hooded in his breath,</div> - <div class='line'>He seemed indeed a fugitive from Death</div> - <div class='line'>On whom some tatter of the shroud still clung.</div> - <div class='line'>Blank space engulfed him.</div> - <div class='line in22'>Now the moon was young</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>When he set forth; and day by day he strode,</div> - <div class='line'>His scarce healed wounds upon him like a load;</div> - <div class='line'>And dusk by dusk his fire out-flared the moon</div> - <div class='line'>That waxed until it wrought a spectral noon</div> - <div class='line'>At nightfall. Then he came to where, awhirl</div> - <div class='line'>With Spring’s wild rage, the snow-born Titan girl,</div> - <div class='line'>A skyey wonder on her virgin face,</div> - <div class='line'>Receives the virile Yellowstone’s embrace</div> - <div class='line'>And bears the lusty Seeker for the Sea.</div> - <div class='line'>A bleak, horizon-wide serenity</div> - <div class='line'>Clung round the valley where the twain lay dead.</div> - <div class='line'>A winding sheet was on the marriage bed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Twas warmer now; the sky grew overcast;</div> - <div class='line'>And as Hugh strode southwestward, all the vast</div> - <div class='line'>Gray void seemed suddenly astir with wings</div> - <div class='line'>And multitudinary whisperings—</div> - <div class='line'>The muffled sibilance of tumbling snow.</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed no more might living waters flow,</div> - <div class='line'>Moon gleam, star glint, dawn smoulder through, bird sing,</div> - <div class='line'>Or ever any fair familiar thing</div> - <div class='line'>Be so again. The outworn winds were furled.</div> - <div class='line'>Weird weavers of the twilight of a world</div> - <div class='line'>Wrought, thread on kissing thread, the web of doom.</div> - <div class='line'>Grown insubstantial in the knitted gloom,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>The bluffs loomed eerie, and the scanty trees</div> - <div class='line'>Were dwindled to remote dream-traceries</div> - <div class='line'>That never might be green or shield a nest.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All day with swinging stride Hugh forged southwest</div> - <div class='line'>Along the Yellowstone’s smooth-paven stream,</div> - <div class='line'>A dream-shape moving in a troubled dream;</div> - <div class='line'>And all day long the whispering weavers wove.</div> - <div class='line'>And close on dark he came to where a grove</div> - <div class='line'>Of cottonwoods rose tall and shadow-thin</div> - <div class='line'>Against the northern bluffs. He camped therein</div> - <div class='line'>And with cut boughs made shelter as he might.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Close pressed the blackness of the snow-choked night</div> - <div class='line'>About him, and his fire of plum wood purred.</div> - <div class='line'>Athwart a soft penumbral drowse he heard</div> - <div class='line'>The tumbling snowflakes sighing all around,</div> - <div class='line'>Till sleep transformed it to a Summer sound</div> - <div class='line'>Of boyish memory—susurrant bees,</div> - <div class='line'>The Southwind in the tousled apple trees</div> - <div class='line'>And slumber flowing from their leafy gloom.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>He wakened to the cottonwoods’ deep boom.</div> - <div class='line'>Black fury was the world. The northwest’s roar,</div> - <div class='line'>As of a surf upon a shipwreck shore,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>Plunged high above him from the sheer bluff’s verge;</div> - <div class='line'>And, like the backward sucking of the surge,</div> - <div class='line'>Far fled the sobbing of the wild snow-spray.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Black blindness grew white blindness—and ‘twas day.</div> - <div class='line'>All being now seemed narrowed to a span</div> - <div class='line'>That held a sputtering wood fire and a man;</div> - <div class='line'>Beyond was tumult and a whirling maze.</div> - <div class='line'>The trees were but a roaring in a haze;</div> - <div class='line'>The sheer bluff-wall that took the blizzard’s charge</div> - <div class='line'>Was thunder flung along the hidden marge</div> - <div class='line'>Of chaos, stridden by the ghost of light.</div> - <div class='line'>White blindness grew black blindness—and ‘twas night</div> - <div class='line'>Wherethrough nor moon nor any star might grope.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Two days since, Hugh had killed an antelope</div> - <div class='line'>And what remained sufficed the time of storm.</div> - <div class='line'>The snow banked round his shelter kept him warm</div> - <div class='line'>And there was wood to burn for many a day.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The third dawn, oozing through a smudge of gray,</div> - <div class='line'>Awoke him. It was growing colder fast.</div> - <div class='line'>Still from the bluff high over boomed the blast,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>But now it took the void with numbing wings.</div> - <div class='line'>By noon the woven mystery of things</div> - <div class='line'>Frayed raggedly, and through a sudden rift</div> - <div class='line'>At length Hugh saw the beetling bluff-wall lift</div> - <div class='line'>A sturdy shoulder to the flying rack.</div> - <div class='line'>Slowly the sense of distances came back</div> - <div class='line'>As with the waning day the great wind fell.</div> - <div class='line'>The pale sun set upon a frozen hell.</div> - <div class='line'>The wolves howled.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in16'>Hugh had left the Mandan town</div> - <div class='line'>When, heifer-horned, the maiden moon lies down</div> - <div class='line'>Beside the sea of evening. Now she rose</div> - <div class='line'>Scar-faced and staring blankly on the snows</div> - <div class='line'>While yet the twilight tarried in the west;</div> - <div class='line'>And more and more she came a tardy guest</div> - <div class='line'>As Hugh pushed onward through the frozen waste</div> - <div class='line'>Until she stole on midnight shadow-faced,</div> - <div class='line'>A haggard spectre; then no more appeared.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Twas on that time the man of hoary beard</div> - <div class='line'>Paused in the early twilight, looming lone</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a bluff-rim of the Yellowstone,</div> - <div class='line'>And peered across the white stream to the south</div> - <div class='line'>Where in the flatland at the Big Horn’s mouth</div> - <div class='line'>The new fort stood that Henry’s men had built.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>What perfect peace for such a nest of guilt!</div> - <div class='line'>What satisfied immunity from woe!</div> - <div class='line'>Yon sprawling shadow, pied with candle-glow</div> - <div class='line'>And plumed with sparkling woodsmoke, might have been</div> - <div class='line'>A homestead with the children gathered in</div> - <div class='line'>To share its bounty through the holidays.</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh saw their faces round the gay hearth-blaze:</div> - <div class='line'>The hale old father in a mood for yarns</div> - <div class='line'>Or boastful of the plenty of his barns,</div> - <div class='line'>Fruitage of honest toil and grateful lands;</div> - <div class='line'>And, half a stranger to her folded hands,</div> - <div class='line'>The mother with October in her hair</div> - <div class='line'>And August in her face. One moment there</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh saw it. Then the monstrous brutal fact</div> - <div class='line'>Wiped out the dream and goaded him to act,</div> - <div class='line'>Though now to act seemed strangely like a dream.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Descending from the bluff, he crossed the stream,</div> - <div class='line'>The dry snow fifing to his eager stride.</div> - <div class='line'>Reaching the fort stockade, he paused to bide</div> - <div class='line'>The passing of a whimsy. Was it true?</div> - <div class='line'>Or was this but the fretted wraith of Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>Whose flesh had fed the kiotes long ago?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Still through a chink he saw the candle-glow,</div> - <div class='line'>So like an eye that brazened out a wrong.</div> - <div class='line'>And now there came a flight of muffled song,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>The rhythmic thudding of a booted heel</div> - <div class='line'>That timed a squeaking fiddle to a reel!</div> - <div class='line'>How swiftly men forget! The spawning Earth</div> - <div class='line'>Is fat with graves; and what is one man worth</div> - <div class='line'>That fiddles should be muted at his fall?</div> - <div class='line'>He should have died and did not—that was all.</div> - <div class='line'>Well, let the living jig it! He would turn</div> - <div class='line'>Back to the night, the spacious unconcern</div> - <div class='line'>Of wilderness that never played the friend.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now came the song and fiddling to an end,</div> - <div class='line'>And someone laughed within. The old man winced,</div> - <div class='line'>Listened with bated breath, and was convinced</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas Jamie laughing! Once again he heard.</div> - <div class='line'>Joy filled a hush ‘twixt heart-beats like a bird;</div> - <div class='line'>Then like a famished cat his lurking hate</div> - <div class='line'>Pounced crushingly.</div> - <div class='line in22'>He found the outer gate,</div> - <div class='line'>Beat on it with his shoulder, raised a cry.</div> - <div class='line'>No doubt ‘twas deemed a fitful wind went by;</div> - <div class='line'>None stirred. But when he did not cease to shout,</div> - <div class='line'>A door creaked open and a man came out</div> - <div class='line'>Amid the spilling candle-glimmer, raised</div> - <div class='line'>The wicket in the outer gate and gazed</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>One moment on a face as white as death,</div> - <div class='line'>Because the beard was thick with frosted breath</div> - <div class='line'>Made mystic by the stars. Then came a gasp,</div> - <div class='line'>The clatter of the falling wicket’s hasp,</div> - <div class='line'>The crunch of panic feet along the snow;</div> - <div class='line'>And someone stammered huskily and low:</div> - <div class='line'>“My God! I saw the Old Man’s ghost out there!”</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas spoken as one speaks who feels his hair</div> - <div class='line'>Prickle the scalp. And then another said—</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed like Henry’s voice—“The dead are dead:</div> - <div class='line'>What talk is this, Le Bon? You saw him die!</div> - <div class='line'>Who’s there?”</div> - <div class='line in12'>Hugh strove to shout, to give the lie</div> - <div class='line'>To those within; but could not fetch a sound.</div> - <div class='line'>Just so he dreamed of lying under ground</div> - <div class='line'>Beside the Grand and hearing overhead</div> - <div class='line'>The talk of men. Or was he really dead,</div> - <div class='line'>And all this but a maggot in the brain?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then suddenly the clatter of a chain</div> - <div class='line'>Aroused him, and he saw the portal yawn</div> - <div class='line'>And saw a bright rectangled patch of dawn</div> - <div class='line'>As through a grave’s mouth—no, ‘twas candlelight</div> - <div class='line'>Poured through the open doorway on the night;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>And those were men before him, bulking black</div> - <div class='line'>Against the glow.</div> - <div class='line in18'>Reality flashed back;</div> - <div class='line'>He strode ahead and entered at the door.</div> - <div class='line'>A falling fiddle jangled on the floor</div> - <div class='line'>And left a deathly silence. On his bench</div> - <div class='line'>The fiddler shrank. A row of eyes, a-blench</div> - <div class='line'>With terror, ran about the naked hall.</div> - <div class='line'>And there was one who huddled by the wall</div> - <div class='line'>And hid his face and shivered.</div> - <div class='line in32'>For a spell</div> - <div class='line'>That silence clung; and then the old man: “Well,</div> - <div class='line'>Is this the sort of welcome that I get?</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas not my time to feed the kiotes yet!</div> - <div class='line'>Put on the pot and stew a chunk of meat</div> - <div class='line'>And you shall see how much a ghost can eat!</div> - <div class='line'>I’ve journeyed far if what I hear be true!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now in that none might doubt the voice of Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor yet the face, however it might seem</div> - <div class='line'>A blurred reflection in a flowing stream,</div> - <div class='line'>A buzz of wonder broke the trance of dread.</div> - <div class='line'>“Good God!” the Major gasped; “We thought you dead!</div> - <div class='line'>Two men have testified they saw you die!”</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>“If they speak truth,” Hugh answered, “then I lie</div> - <div class='line'>Both here and by the Grand. If I be right,</div> - <div class='line'>Then two lie here and shall lie from this night.</div> - <div class='line'>Which are they?”</div> - <div class='line in16'>Henry answered: “Yon is one.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The old man set the trigger of his gun</div> - <div class='line'>And gazed on Jules who cowered by the wall.</div> - <div class='line'>Eyes blinked, expectant of the hammer’s fall;</div> - <div class='line'>Ears strained, anticipative of the roar.</div> - <div class='line'>But Hugh walked leisurely across the floor</div> - <div class='line'>And kicked the croucher, saying: “Come, get up</div> - <div class='line'>And wag your tail! I couldn’t kill a pup!”</div> - <div class='line'>Then turning round: “I had a faithful friend;</div> - <div class='line'>No doubt he too was with me to the end!</div> - <div class='line'>Where’s Jamie?”</div> - <div class='line in16'>“Started out before the snows</div> - <div class='line'>For Atkinson.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span> - <h2 class='c005'>V<br /> JAMIE</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in12'>The Country of the Crows,</div> - <div class='line'>Through which the Big Horn and the Rosebud run,</div> - <div class='line'>Sees over mountain peaks the setting sun;</div> - <div class='line'>And southward from the Yellowstone flung wide,</div> - <div class='line'>It broadens ever to the morning side</div> - <div class='line'>And has the Powder on its vague frontier.</div> - <div class='line'>About the subtle changing of the year,</div> - <div class='line'>Ere even favored valleys felt the stir</div> - <div class='line'>Of Spring, and yet expectancy of her</div> - <div class='line'>Was like a pleasant rumor all repeat</div> - <div class='line'>Yet none may prove, the sound of horses’ feet</div> - <div class='line'>Went eastward through the silence of that land.</div> - <div class='line'>For then it was there rode a little band</div> - <div class='line'>Of trappers out of Henry’s Post, to bear</div> - <div class='line'>Dispatches down to Atkinson, and there</div> - <div class='line'>To furnish out a keelboat for the Horn.</div> - <div class='line'>And four went lightly, but the fifth seemed worn</div> - <div class='line'>As with a heavy heart; for that was he</div> - <div class='line'>Who should have died but did not.</div> - <div class='line in38'><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>Silently</div> - <div class='line'>He heard the careless parley of his men,</div> - <div class='line'>And thought of how the Spring should come again,</div> - <div class='line'>That garish strumpet with her world-old lure,</div> - <div class='line'>To waken hope where nothing may endure,</div> - <div class='line'>To quicken love where loving is betrayed.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet now and then some dream of Jamie made</div> - <div class='line'>Slow music in him for a little while;</div> - <div class='line'>And they who rode beside him saw a smile</div> - <div class='line'>Glimmer upon that ruined face of gray,</div> - <div class='line'>As on a winter fog the groping day</div> - <div class='line'>Pours glory through a momentary rift.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet never did the gloom that bound him, lift;</div> - <div class='line'>He seemed as one who feeds upon his heart</div> - <div class='line'>And finds, despite the bitter and the smart,</div> - <div class='line'>A little sweetness and is glad for that.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now up the Powder, striking for the Platte</div> - <div class='line'>Across the bleak divide the horsemen went;</div> - <div class='line'>Attained that river where its course is bent</div> - <div class='line'>From north to east: and spurring on apace</div> - <div class='line'>Along the wintry valley, reached the place</div> - <div class='line'>Where from the west flows in the Laramie.</div> - <div class='line'>Thence, fearing to encounter with the Ree,</div> - <div class='line'>They headed eastward through the barren land</div> - <div class='line'>To where, fleet-footed down a track of sand,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>The Niobrara races for the morn—</div> - <div class='line'>A gaunt-loined runner.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in24'>Here at length was born</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the southern slopes the baby Spring,</div> - <div class='line'>A timid, fretful, ill-begotten thing,</div> - <div class='line'>A-suckle at the Winter’s withered paps:</div> - <div class='line'>Not such as when announced by thunder-claps</div> - <div class='line'>And ringed with swords of lightning, she would ride,</div> - <div class='line'>The haughty victrix and the mystic bride,</div> - <div class='line'>Clad splendidly as never Sheba’s Queen,</div> - <div class='line'>Before her marching multitudes of green</div> - <div class='line'>In many-bannered triumph! Grudging, slow,</div> - <div class='line'>Amid the fraying fringes of the snow</div> - <div class='line'>The bunch-grass sprouted; and the air was chill.</div> - <div class='line'>Along the northern slopes ‘twas winter still,</div> - <div class='line'>And no root dreamed what Triumph-over-Death</div> - <div class='line'>Was nurtured now in some bleak Nazareth</div> - <div class='line'>Beyond the crest to sunward.</div> - <div class='line in30'>On they spurred</div> - <div class='line'>Through vacancies that waited for the bird,</div> - <div class='line'>And everywhere the Odic Presence dwelt.</div> - <div class='line'>The Southwest blew, the snow began to melt;</div> - <div class='line'>And when they reached the valley of the Snake,</div> - <div class='line'>The Niobrara’s ice began to break,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>And all night long and all day long it made</div> - <div class='line'>A sound as of a random cannonade</div> - <div class='line'>With rifles snarling down a skirmish line.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The geese went over. Every tree and vine</div> - <div class='line'>Was dotted thick with leaf-buds when they saw</div> - <div class='line'>The little river of Keyapaha</div> - <div class='line'>Grown mighty for the moment. Then they came,</div> - <div class='line'>One evening when all thickets were aflame</div> - <div class='line'>With pale green witch-fires and the windflowers blew,</div> - <div class='line'>To where the headlong Niobrara threw</div> - <div class='line'>His speed against the swoln Missouri’s flank</div> - <div class='line'>And hurled him roaring to the further bank—</div> - <div class='line'>A giant staggered by a pigmy’s sling.</div> - <div class='line'>Thence, plunging ever deeper into Spring,</div> - <div class='line'>Across the greening prairie east by south</div> - <div class='line'>They rode, and, just above the Platte’s wide mouth,</div> - <div class='line'>Came, weary with the trail, to Atkinson.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There all the vernal wonder-work was done:</div> - <div class='line'>No care-free heart might find aught lacking there.</div> - <div class='line'>The dove’s call wandered in the drowsy air;</div> - <div class='line'>A love-dream brooded in the lucent haze.</div> - <div class='line'>Priapic revellers, the shrieking jays</div> - <div class='line'>Held mystic worship in the secret shade.</div> - <div class='line'>Woodpeckers briskly plied their noisy trade</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>Along the tree-boles, and their scarlet hoods</div> - <div class='line'>Flashed flamelike in the smoky cottonwoods.</div> - <div class='line'>What lacked? Not sweetness in the sun-lulled breeze;</div> - <div class='line'>The plum bloom murmurous with bumblebees</div> - <div class='line'>Was drifted deep in every draw and slough.</div> - <div class='line'>Not color; witcheries of gold and blue</div> - <div class='line'>The dandelion and the violet</div> - <div class='line'>Wove in the green. Might not the sad forget,</div> - <div class='line'>The happy here have nothing more to seek?</div> - <div class='line'>Lo, yonder by that pleasant little creek,</div> - <div class='line'>How one might loll upon the grass and fish</div> - <div class='line'>And build the temple of one’s wildest wish</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twixt nibbles! Surely there was quite enough</div> - <div class='line'>Of wizard-timber and of wonder-stuff</div> - <div class='line'>To rear it nobly to the blue-domed roof!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet there was one whose spirit stood aloof</div> - <div class='line'>From all this joyousness—a gray old man,</div> - <div class='line'>No nearer now than when the quest began</div> - <div class='line'>To what he sought on that long winter trail.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Aye, Jamie had been there; but when the tale</div> - <div class='line'>That roving trappers brought from Kiowa</div> - <div class='line'>Was told to him, he seemed as one who saw</div> - <div class='line'>A ghost, and could but stare on it, they said:</div> - <div class='line'>Until one day he mounted horse and fled</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>Into the North, a devil-ridden man.</div> - <div class='line'>“I’ve got to go and find him if I can,”</div> - <div class='line'>Was all he said for days before he left.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And what of Hugh? So long of love bereft,</div> - <div class='line'>So long sustained and driven by his hate,</div> - <div class='line'>A touch of ruth now made him desolate.</div> - <div class='line'>No longer eager to avenge the wrong,</div> - <div class='line'>With not enough of pity to be strong</div> - <div class='line'>And just enough of love to choke and sting,</div> - <div class='line'>A gray old hulk amid the surge of Spring</div> - <div class='line'>He floundered on a lee-shore of the heart.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But when the boat was ready for the start</div> - <div class='line'>Up the long watery stairway to the Horn,</div> - <div class='line'>Hugh joined the party. And the year was shorn</div> - <div class='line'>Of blooming girlhood as they forged amain</div> - <div class='line'>Into the North; the late green-mantled plain</div> - <div class='line'>Grew sallow; and the ruthless golden shower</div> - <div class='line'>Of Summer wrought in lust upon the flower</div> - <div class='line'>That withered in the endless martyrdom</div> - <div class='line'>To seed. The scarlet quickened on the plum</div> - <div class='line'>About the Heart’s mouth when they came thereto;</div> - <div class='line'>Among the Mandans grapes were turning blue,</div> - <div class='line'>And they were purple at the Yellowstone.</div> - <div class='line'>A frosted scrub-oak, standing out alone</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a barren bluff top, gazing far</div> - <div class='line'>Above the crossing at the Powder’s bar,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>Was spattered with the blood of Summer slain.</div> - <div class='line'>So it was Autumn in the world again,</div> - <div class='line'>And all those months of toil had yielded nought</div> - <div class='line'>To Hugh. (How often is the seeker sought</div> - <div class='line'>By what he seeks—a blind, heart-breaking game!)</div> - <div class='line'>For always had the answer been the same</div> - <div class='line'>From roving trapper and at trading post:</div> - <div class='line'>Aye, one who seemed to stare upon a ghost</div> - <div class='line'>And followed willy-nilly where it led,</div> - <div class='line'>Had gone that way in search of Hugh, they said—</div> - <div class='line'>A haggard, blue-eyed, yellow-headed chap.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And often had the old man thought, ‘Mayhap</div> - <div class='line'>He’ll be at Henry’s Post and we shall meet;</div> - <div class='line'>And to forgive and to forget were sweet:</div> - <div class='line'>‘Tis for its nurse that Vengeance whets the tooth!</div> - <div class='line'>And oh the golden time of Jamie’s youth,</div> - <div class='line'>That it should darken for a graybeard’s whim!’</div> - <div class='line'>So Hugh had brooded, till there came on him</div> - <div class='line'>The pity of a slow rain after drouth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But at the crossing of the Rosebud’s mouth</div> - <div class='line'>A shadow fell upon his growing dream.</div> - <div class='line'>A band of Henry’s traders, bound down stream,</div> - <div class='line'>Who paused to traffic in the latest word—</div> - <div class='line'>Down-river news for matters seen and heard</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>In higher waters—had not met the lad,</div> - <div class='line'>Not yet encountered anyone who had.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Alas, the journey back to yesterwhiles!</div> - <div class='line'>How tangled are the trails! The stubborn miles,</div> - <div class='line'>How wearily they stretch! And if one win</div> - <div class='line'>The long way back in search of what has been,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall he find aught that is not strange and new?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Thus wrought the melancholy news in Hugh,</div> - <div class='line'>As he turned back with those who brought the news;</div> - <div class='line'>For more and more he dreaded now to lose</div> - <div class='line'>What doubtful seeking rendered doubly dear.</div> - <div class='line'>And in the time when keen winds stripped the year</div> - <div class='line'>He came with those to where the Poplar joins</div> - <div class='line'>The greater river. There Assinoboines,</div> - <div class='line'>Rich from the Summer’s hunting, had come down</div> - <div class='line'>And flung along the flat their ragged town,</div> - <div class='line'>That traders might bring goods and winter there.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So leave the heartsick graybeard. Otherwhere</div> - <div class='line'>The final curtain rises on the play.</div> - <div class='line'>‘Tis dead of Winter now. For day on day</div> - <div class='line'>The blizzard wind has thundered, sweeping wide</div> - <div class='line'>From Mississippi to the Great Divide</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>Out of the North beyond Saskatchewan.</div> - <div class='line'>Brief evening glimmers like an inverse dawn</div> - <div class='line'>After a long white night. The tempest dies;</div> - <div class='line'>The snow-haze lifts. Now let the curtain rise</div> - <div class='line'>Upon Milk River valley, and reveal</div> - <div class='line'>The stars like broken glass on frosted steel</div> - <div class='line'>Above the Piegan lodges, huddled deep</div> - <div class='line'>In snowdrifts, like a freezing flock of sheep.</div> - <div class='line'>A crystal weight the dread cold crushes down</div> - <div class='line'>And no one moves about the little town</div> - <div class='line'>That seems to grovel as a thing that fears.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But see! a lodge-flap swings; a squaw appears,</div> - <div class='line'>Hunched with the sudden cold. Her footsteps creak</div> - <div class='line'>Shrill in the hush. She stares upon the bleak,</div> - <div class='line'>White skyline for a moment, then goes in.</div> - <div class='line'>We follow her, push back the flap of skin,</div> - <div class='line'>Enter the lodge, inhale the smoke-tanged air</div> - <div class='line'>And blink upon the little faggot-flare</div> - <div class='line'>That blossoms in the center of the room.</div> - <div class='line'>Unsteady shadows haunt the outer gloom</div> - <div class='line'>Wherein the walls are guessed at. Upward, far,</div> - <div class='line'>The smoke-vent now and then reveals a star</div> - <div class='line'>As in a well. The ancient squaw, a-stoop,</div> - <div class='line'>Her face light-stricken, stirs a pot of soup</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>That simmers with a pleasant smell and sound.</div> - <div class='line'>A gnarled old man, cross-legged upon the ground,</div> - <div class='line'>Sits brooding near. He feeds the flame with sticks;</div> - <div class='line'>It brightens. Lo, a leaden crucifix</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the wall! These heathen eyes, though dim,</div> - <div class='line'>Have seen the white man’s God and cling to Him,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest on the sunset trail slow feet should err.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But look again. From yonder bed of fur</div> - <div class='line'>Beside the wall a white man strives to rise.</div> - <div class='line'>He lifts his head, with yearning sightless eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Gropes for the light. A mass of golden hair</div> - <div class='line'>Falls round the face that sickness and despair</div> - <div class='line'>Somehow make old, albeit he is young.</div> - <div class='line'>His weak voice, stumbling to the mongrel tongue</div> - <div class='line'>Of traders, flings a question to the squaw:</div> - <div class='line'>“You saw no Black Robe? Tell me what you saw!”</div> - <div class='line'>And she, brief-spoken as her race, replies:</div> - <div class='line'>“Heaped snow—sharp stars—a kiote on the rise.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The blind youth huddles moaning in the furs.</div> - <div class='line'>The firewood spits and pops, the boiled pot purrs</div> - <div class='line'>And sputters. On this little isle of sound</div> - <div class='line'>The sea of winter silence presses round—</div> - <div class='line'>One feels it like a menace.</div> - <div class='line in28'><span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>Now the crone</div> - <div class='line'>Dips out a cup of soup, and having blown</div> - <div class='line'>Upon it, takes it to the sick man there</div> - <div class='line'>And bids him eat. With wild, unseeing stare</div> - <div class='line'>He turns upon her: “Why are they so long?</div> - <div class='line'>I can not eat! I’ve done a mighty wrong;</div> - <div class='line'>It chokes me! Oh no, no, I must not die</div> - <div class='line'>Until the Black Robe comes!” His feeble cry</div> - <div class='line'>Sinks to a whisper. “Tell me, did they go—</div> - <div class='line'>Your kinsmen?”</div> - <div class='line in14'>“They went south before the snow.”</div> - <div class='line'>“And will they tell the Black Robe?”</div> - <div class='line in32'>“They will tell.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The crackling of the faggots for a spell</div> - <div class='line'>Seems very loud. Again the sick man moans</div> - <div class='line'>And, struggling with the weakness in his bones,</div> - <div class='line'>Would gain his feet, but can not. “Go again,</div> - <div class='line'>And tell me that you see the bulks of men</div> - <div class='line'>Dim in the distance there.”</div> - <div class='line in30'>The squaw obeys;</div> - <div class='line'>Returns anon to crouch beside the blaze,</div> - <div class='line'>Numb-fingered and a-shudder from the night.</div> - <div class='line'>The vacant eyes that hunger for the light</div> - <div class='line'>Are turned upon her: “Tell me what you saw!</div> - <div class='line'>Or maybe snowshoes sounded up the draw.</div> - <div class='line'>Quick, tell me what you saw and heard out there!”</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>“Heaped snow—sharp stars—big stillness everywhere.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>One clutching at thin ice with numbing grip</div> - <div class='line'>Cries while he hopes; but when his fingers slip,</div> - <div class='line'>He takes the final plunge without a sound.</div> - <div class='line'>So sinks the youth now, hopeless. All around</div> - <div class='line'>The winter silence presses in; the walls</div> - <div class='line'>Grow vague and vanish in the gloom that crawls</div> - <div class='line'>Close to the failing fire.</div> - <div class='line in28'>The Piegans sleep.</div> - <div class='line'>Night hovers midway down the morning steep.</div> - <div class='line'>The sick man drowses. Nervously he starts</div> - <div class='line'>And listens; hears no sound except his heart’s</div> - <div class='line'>And that weird murmur brooding stillness makes.</div> - <div class='line'>But stealthily upon the quiet breaks—</div> - <div class='line'>Vague as the coursing of the hearer’s blood—</div> - <div class='line'>A muffled, rhythmic beating, thud on thud,</div> - <div class='line'>That, growing nearer, deepens to a crunch.</div> - <div class='line'>So, hungry for the distance, snowshoes munch</div> - <div class='line'>The crusted leagues of Winter, stride by stride.</div> - <div class='line'>A camp-dog barks; the hollow world outside</div> - <div class='line'>Brims with the running howl of many curs.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now wide-awake, half risen in the furs,</div> - <div class='line'>The youth can hear low voices and the creak</div> - <div class='line'>Of snowshoes near the lodge. His thin, wild shriek</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>Startles the old folk from their slumberings:</div> - <div class='line'>“He comes! The Black Robe!”</div> - <div class='line in24'>Now the door-flap swings,</div> - <div class='line'>And briefly one who splutters Piegan, bars</div> - <div class='line'>The way, then enters. Now the patch of stars</div> - <div class='line'>Is darkened with a greater bulk that bends</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath the lintel. “Peace be with you, friends!</div> - <div class='line'>And peace with him herein who suffers pain!”</div> - <div class='line'>So speaks the second comer of the twain—</div> - <div class='line'>A white man by his voice. And he who lies</div> - <div class='line'>Beside the wall, with empty, groping eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Turned to the speaker: “There can be no peace</div> - <div class='line'>For me, good Father, till this gnawing cease—</div> - <div class='line'>The gnawing of a great wrong I have done.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The big man leans above the youth: “My son—”</div> - <div class='line'>(Grown husky with the word, the deep voice breaks,</div> - <div class='line'>And for a little spell the whole man shakes</div> - <div class='line'>As with the clinging cold) “—have faith and hope!</div> - <div class='line'>‘Tis often nearest dawn when most we grope.</div> - <div class='line'>Does not the Good Book say, Who seek shall find?”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“But, Father, I am broken now and blind,</div> - <div class='line'>And I have sought, and I have lost the way.”</div> - <div class='line'>To which the stranger: “What would Jesus say?</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>Hark! In the silence of the heart ‘tis said—</div> - <div class='line'>By their own weakness are the feeble sped;</div> - <div class='line'>The humblest feet are surest for the goal;</div> - <div class='line'>The blind shall see the City of the Soul.</div> - <div class='line'>Lay down your burden at His feet to-night.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now while the fire, replenished, bathes in light</div> - <div class='line'>The young face scrawled with suffering and care,</div> - <div class='line'>Flinging ironic glories on the hair</div> - <div class='line'>And glinting on dull eyes that once flashed blue,</div> - <div class='line'>The sick one tells the story of old Hugh</div> - <div class='line'>To him whose face, averted from the glow,</div> - <div class='line'>Still lurks in gloom. The winds of battle blow</div> - <div class='line'>Once more along the steep. Again one sees</div> - <div class='line'>The rescue from the fury of the Rees,</div> - <div class='line'>The graybeard’s fondness for the gay lad; then</div> - <div class='line'>The westward march with Major Henry’s men</div> - <div class='line'>With all that happened there upon the Grand.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And so we hit the trail of Henry’s band,”</div> - <div class='line'>The youth continues; “for we feared to die:</div> - <div class='line'>And dread of shame was ready with the lie</div> - <div class='line'>We carried to our comrades. Hugh was dead</div> - <div class='line'>And buried there beside the Grand, we said.</div> - <div class='line'>Could any doubt that what we said was true?</div> - <div class='line'>They even praised our courage! But I knew!</div> - <div class='line'>The nights were hell because I heard his cries</div> - <div class='line'>And saw the crows a-pecking at his eyes,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>The kiotes tearing at him. O my God!</div> - <div class='line'>I tried and tried to think him under sod;</div> - <div class='line'>But every time I slept it was the same.</div> - <div class='line'>And then one night—I lay awake—he came!</div> - <div class='line'>I say he came—I know I hadn’t slept!</div> - <div class='line'>Amid a light like rainy dawn, he crept</div> - <div class='line'>Out of the dark upon his hands and knees.</div> - <div class='line'>The wound he got that day among the Rees</div> - <div class='line'>Was like red fire. A snarl of bloody hair</div> - <div class='line'>Hung round the eyes that had a pleading stare,</div> - <div class='line'>And down the ruined face and gory beard</div> - <div class='line'>Big tear-drops rolled. He went as he appeared,</div> - <div class='line'>Trailing a fog of light that died away.</div> - <div class='line'>And I grew old before I saw the day.</div> - <div class='line'>O Father, I had paid too much for breath!</div> - <div class='line'>The Devil traffics in the fear of death,</div> - <div class='line'>And may God pity anyone who buys</div> - <div class='line'>What I have bought with treachery and lies—</div> - <div class='line'>This rat-like gnawing in my breast!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in36'>“I knew</div> - <div class='line'>I couldn’t rest until I buried Hugh;</div> - <div class='line'>And so I told the Major I would go</div> - <div class='line'>To Atkinson with letters, ere the snow</div> - <div class='line'>Had choked the trails. Jules wouldn’t come along;</div> - <div class='line'>He didn’t seem to realize the wrong;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>He called me foolish, couldn’t understand.</div> - <div class='line'>I rode alone—not south, but to the Grand.</div> - <div class='line'>Daylong my horse beat thunder from the sod,</div> - <div class='line'>Accusing me; and all my prayers to God</div> - <div class='line'>Seemed flung in vain at bolted gates of brass.</div> - <div class='line'>And in the night the wind among the grass</div> - <div class='line'>Hissed endlessly the story of my shame.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I do not know how long I rode: I came</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the Grand at last, and found the place,</div> - <div class='line'>And it was empty. Not a sign or trace</div> - <div class='line'>Was left to show what end had come to Hugh.</div> - <div class='line'>And oh that grave! It gaped upon the blue,</div> - <div class='line'>A death-wound pleading dumbly for the slain.</div> - <div class='line'>I filled it up and fled across the plain,</div> - <div class='line'>And somehow came to Atkinson at last.</div> - <div class='line'>And there I heard the living Hugh had passed</div> - <div class='line'>Along the river northward in the Fall!</div> - <div class='line'>O Father, he had found the strength to crawl</div> - <div class='line'>That long, heart-breaking distance back to life,</div> - <div class='line'>Though Jules had taken blanket, steel and knife,</div> - <div class='line'>And I, his trusted comrade, had his gun!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“They said I’d better stay at Atkinson,</div> - <div class='line'>Because old Hugh was surely hunting me,</div> - <div class='line'>White-hot to kill. I did not want to flee</div> - <div class='line'>Or hide from him. I even wished to die,</div> - <div class='line'>If so this aching cancer of a lie</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>Might be torn out forever. So I went,</div> - <div class='line'>As eager as the homesick homeward bent,</div> - <div class='line'>In search of him and peace.</div> - <div class='line in28'>But I was cursed.</div> - <div class='line'>For even when his stolen rifle burst</div> - <div class='line'>And spewed upon me this eternal night,</div> - <div class='line'>I might not die as any other might;</div> - <div class='line'>But God so willed that friendly Piegans came</div> - <div class='line'>To spare me yet a little unto shame.</div> - <div class='line'>O Father, is there any hope for me?”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Great hope indeed, my son!” so huskily</div> - <div class='line'>The other answers. “I recall a case</div> - <div class='line'>Like yours—no matter what the time and place—</div> - <div class='line'>‘Twas somewhat like the story that you tell;</div> - <div class='line'>Each seeking and each sought, and both in hell;</div> - <div class='line'>But in the tale I mind, they met at last.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The youth sits up, white-faced and breathing fast:</div> - <div class='line'>“They met, you say? What happened? Quick! Oh quick!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The old man found the dear lad blind and sick</div> - <div class='line'>And both forgave—‘twas easy to forgive—</div> - <div class='line'>For oh we have so short a time to live—”</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>Whereat the youth: “Who’s here? The Black Robe’s gone!</div> - <div class='line'>Whose voice is this?”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in20'>The gray of winter dawn</div> - <div class='line'>Now creeping round the door-flap, lights the place</div> - <div class='line'>And shows thin fingers groping for a face</div> - <div class='line'>Deep-scarred and hoary with the frost of years</div> - <div class='line'>Whereover runs a new springtide of tears.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“O Jamie, Jamie, Jamie—I am Hugh!</div> - <div class='line'>There was no Black Robe yonder—Will I do?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span> - <h2 class='c005'>NOTES</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>By Julius T. House, Ph.D.</span> (Chicago)</div> - <div class='c003'>Head of the Department of English at the State Normal School, Wayne, Nebraska</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span> -<img src='images/i_001.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><span class='sc'>Map showing the route of Hugh Glass in his search for Jamie. The “first trail,” running northward from Fort Kiowa, traces the hero’s wanderings up to his arrival at Fort Atkinson (page <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>). The “second trail” indicates Hugh’s journey from that point to his meeting with the boy among the Piegans. Fort Atkinson was situated on the west bank of the Missouri River sixteen miles up-stream from where Omaha now stands.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span></div> -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>NOTES</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> -<h3 class='c012'><span class='sc'>Graybeard and Goldhair</span></h3> - -<p class='c013'>Before beginning the poem carefully read the Introduction.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_1'>1</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>In the study of this poem it is necessary to learn the geography and topography of the country. Define “topography.” Tell about Leavenworth Campaign; Major Henry.</p> - -<p class='c016'>The story of Hugh Glass is historical and may be found in the following works: Chittenden’s History of the American Fur Trade, New York, 1902; Sage’s Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, Boston, 1857; Ruxton’s Adventures in Mexico, London, 1847; Howe’s Historical Collections of the Great West, Cincinnati, 1857; Cooke’s Scenes and Adventures in the U. S. Army, Philadelphia, 1857; The Missouri Intelligencer for June 18, 1825. Accounts of the death of Hugh Glass, in 1832, are given in The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, London, 1892, and in Maximilian’s Travels, London, 1843.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>2.</b> ‘Twas when the guns that blustered at the Ree</p> - -<p class='c017'>Ree—Aricara or Rickaree Indians. Locate them in 1823.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Where are they now?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> Had ceased to brag, and ten score martial clowns</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “clowns”? See Introduction.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> A withering blast the arid South still blew,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is “South”? Why capitalized? Did Homer and Vergil -personify the winds?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> Southward before the Great White Hunter’s face:</p> - -<p class='c017'>Who is the Great White Hunter? What is the time of year?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span><b>13.</b> With eighty trappers up the dwindling Grand,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “dwindling”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> Bound through the weird, unfriending barren-land</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Unfriending” whom?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> For where the Big Horn meets the Yellowstone;</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the junction of the streams.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_2'>2</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Deep-chested, that his great heart might have play,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Describe Hugh Glass. Hugh’s physical characteristics are drawn -in large lines. Compare this with the more elaborate descriptions -of persons in other books. Which is more effective?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>2.</b> Gray-bearded, gray of eye and crowned with gray</p> - -<p class='c017'>Our author’s descriptions leave much room for the play of the -reader’s imagination. Is this method effective with you?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> And, for the grudging habit of his tongue,</p> - -<p class='c017'>“For”—by reason of.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> And hate in him was like a still, white hell,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “white”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> A thing of doom not lightly reconciled.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What does “reconciled” modify? What is this figure called?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> Old Hugh stared long upon the pictured blaze,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What were the pictures Hugh saw in the blaze? Would you like -to know more of Hugh’s past? Why does not the author tell us -more concerning it?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> The veil was rent, and briefly men discerned</p> - -<p class='c017'>What “veil”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> Beneath the still gray smoldering of him.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What figure in “still gray smoldering”? Was Hugh a good -fighter? A man whose anger was to be feared?</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_3'>3</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> So, tardily, outflowered the wild blond strain</p> - -<p class='c017'>Whence the “wild blond strain”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> A Ganymedes haunted by a Goth</p> - -<p class='c017'>Who was Ganymedes? The Goths?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> When the restive ghost was laid,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What was the “restive ghost”? How old was Jamie?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> When Ashley stormed a bluff town of the Ree,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Who was Ashley? See Introduction.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Yet, hardly courage, but blind rage agrope</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is courage?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> Tore off the gray mask, and the heart shone through.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What was the “gray mask”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> For, halting in a dry, flood-guttered draw,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “draw” as here used. How does it differ from “ravine”? -from “gully”?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>24.</b> As though spring-fire should waken out of snow.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain the figure.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> So with their sons are women brought to bed,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Of whom is Hugh thinking when he uses these words?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Nor could these know what mocking ghost of Spring</p> - -<p class='c017'>Express in other words the idea contained in “mocking ghost -of Spring.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> So might a dawn-struck digit of the moon</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain the figure and interpret it in terms of Hugh’s feelings for -Jamie.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span><b>18.</b> And ache through all its craters to be green.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the present condition of the surface of the moon?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> Pang dwelling in a puckered cicatrice</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “cicatrice.” Explain the figure.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> Yet very precious was the hurt thereof,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> Grievous to bear, too dear to cast away.</p> - -<p class='c017'>These lines constitute a paradox. Define “paradox.” Explain -the meaning of the lines. Can pain be “precious”?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_6'>6</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>What lines in this page forecast an approaching disaster? Can you -recall such forecasts in other pieces of literature?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> A phantom April over melting snow,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “phantom” April?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> Deep in the North some new white wrath is brewed.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Express the meaning of this line in other language. How does -it apply to the story?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Tales jaggéd with the bleak unstudied word,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Was the language of Hugh’s stories polished? Effective? Are -men natural story tellers? Answer from your own experience.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What does the life of primitive man tell us with regard to the -matter?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Stark saga-stuff.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “saga.” What is meant by the words: “stark saga-stuff”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> A mere pelt merchant, as it seemed to him;</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: pelt, epic, whist. Is “Hugh Glass” epic in material -and form?</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>Which of these men loves the other more? In case of severe trial will -each be true to the other? Is either likely to be vengeful? unforgiving? -fickle?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> That myth that somehow had to be the truth,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is “that myth”? What feeling is expressed in “had to be -the truth”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> Yet could not be convincing any more.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why could it not “be convincing any more”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> And so with merry jest the old man went;</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note in the passage the second forecast of disaster.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>9.</b> The dusty progress of the cavalcade</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> The journey of a snail flock to the moon;</p> - -<p class='c017'>What feeling in Jamie is made clear in this figure?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> Until the shadow-weaving afternoon</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain the figure “shadow-weaving afternoon,” etc.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Hoofbeats of ghostly steeds on every hill,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> Mysterious, muffled hoofs on every bluff!</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> Spurred echo horses clattering up the rough, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain “hoofbeats of ghostly steeds,” “muffled hoofs,” “echo -horses.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> The lagging air droned like the drowsy word</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “drowsy” word? The transfer of an epithet is called a -“trope,” from a Greek word meaning <em>to turn</em>.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Lean galloper in a wind of splendid deeds,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the vivid imagery and the effect of the broken meter.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span><b>4.</b> The horse stopped short—then Jamie was aware, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What gives the effect of loneliness in these lines?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the effect of vast stretches of space in the use of the names -of heavenly bodies to denote the points of the compass. A sense -of the infinity of space arises often in the reader of this poem.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Any imaginative person feels this sense ever deepening upon him -on looking long at the prairies.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> Save for a welter of cawing crows,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the effect of the cawing of the crows in the general stillness?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note that the meter is intentionally changed. What effect?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> One faint star, set above the fading blush, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the effect of the mention of the star and its growing from -faint to clear?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> For answer, the horse neighed.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the effect of the neighing of the horse?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Some vague mistrust now made him half afraid, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Mistrust of what? Is disaster near?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_10'>10</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> “Somewhere about the forks as like as not;</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>2.</b> And there’ll be hunks of fresh meat steaming hot,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> And fighting stories by a dying fire!”</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why does Jamie talk to himself?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> The sunset reared a luminous phantom spire</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> That, crumbling, sifted ashes down the sky.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the effect of these two lines?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> And in the vast denial of the hush</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> The champing of the snaffled horse seemed loud.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the effect of these two lines? What is the “vast denial”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why mention “the champing of the horse”? Pages <a href='#Page_9'>9</a> and <a href='#Page_10'>10</a> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>are used to induce in the reader a sense of extreme loneliness.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Where is the climax? What devices have been employed for the -purpose?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> The laggard air was like a voice that sang,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why is the air now as a voice that sings rather than drowsy and -weird?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> And Jamie half believed he sniffed the tang</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> Of woodsmoke and the smell of flesh a-roast;</p> - -<p class='c017'>These lines indicate the lad’s eagerness.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> And in the whirlwind of a moment there, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Could Jamie perceive so much in so brief a time under such circumstances? -Does the picture in “huddled, broken thing” -seem realistic?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> A landscape stares with every circumstance etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Jamie’s experience in the preceding lines is here explained. Did -you ever notice how plainly things stand out in a flare of lightning?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> Then before his eyes, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Is this consistent with the part of Jamie in the fight with the -Rees?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> Heard the brush crash etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Onomatopœia. Define “rubble.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> A swift thought swept the mind of Jamie clear, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Is the change in Jamie from anger to coolness good psychology?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span><b>8.</b> Swerved sharply streamward. Sliddering in the sand,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note onomatopœia. How did Jamie elude the bear?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Like some vague shape of fury in a dream,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why did the sight of the bear seem thus to Jamie?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> Would think of such a “trick of getting game”!</p> - -<p class='c017'>For a moment Jamie feels as if Hugh were still living and he can -now triumph in his skill. Was that natural in a boy?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> Like a dull blade thrust back into a wound.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Memory of sorrow “like a dull blade,” etc. Is that true to life?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> Like some familiar face gone strange at last.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Meaning of “gone strange at last”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>In this and the next three pages note the sincerity and the boyishness -of Jamie’s affection and grief. It is necessary to understand -Jamie now that the reader may interpret his later conduct.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: eld, blear.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_14'>14</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>6.</b> Had wiped the pictured features from a slate! etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note two powerful similes in these lines. Do they convey adequately -the horror of the spectator? This “ruined face” of -Hugh’s has much in the remainder of the story. The lines -are not pleasant to read, but life is not always pleasant. Homer -and Shakespeare often wrote lines that shock by their naked -truth.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> Still painted upon black that alien stare</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “alien stare”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> To make the lad more terribly alone.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “more terribly alone”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span><b>21.</b> Pale vagrants from the legendry of death</p> - -<p class='c017'>Pale vagrants, <em>i.e.</em> ghosts.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: funereal, alien, legendry, potential.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>6.</b> For, though the graybeard fought with sobbing breath, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A wrestling match in which death has a “strangling grip” on -Hugh. Note the vividness of physical imagery, “neck veins -like a purple thong tangled with knots.” What biblical allusion -in “break upon the hip”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> There where the trail forked outward far and dim;</p> - -<p class='c017'>What “trail forked outward”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> His moan went treble like a song of pain,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Does the voice become like a shrill song under such circumstances?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> For dying is a game of solitaire, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A grim epigram.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: treble, solitaire.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>The rest of this division of the poem develops the catastrophe of -cowardice and treachery. The elements of it are (1) Jamie’s youthfulness -and unsettled character, (2) Le Bon’s ability to play upon his -weakness, (3) the actual nearness of the Rees, (4) the apparently hopeless -condition of Hugh prolonged over several days.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> That mercenary motives prompted him.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Do you believe the protestations of Jules that mercenary motives -do not prompt him? Does he “protest too much”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> The Rickarees were scattered to the West:</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why mention the Indians so early?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span><b>19.</b> Three days a southwest wind may blow</p> - -<p class='c017'>A southwest wind on the plains is always warm, and seldom -carries rain.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain the application.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Why does Jules talk always as though the death of Hugh were certain?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> Unnumbered tales accordant with the case,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Do you think Le Bon knew these tales?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> A bear’s hug—ugh!’ And Jamie winced etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What was the effect on Jamie?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: dialectic, colophon.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>8.</b> So summoning a mood etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How do Le Bon’s stories change as night comes on? Is his -psychology effective? Note the increase in the fears of Jamie.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> Of men outnumbered: and like him of old, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Him of old”—Æneas in Æneid, Book II.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> Gray-souled, he wakened to a dawn of gray,</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Gray-souled”—meaning? “A poet is known by his epithets.”</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: lugubriously, garrulous.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> And felt that something strong had gone away.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What strong thing had gone away?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> Jules, snug and snoring in his blanket there, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Is it natural that the conscious living Jules should seem more -real to the boy than his unconscious friend?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> Just so, pain etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the epigram. Is it a true one?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span><b>14.</b> But grappled with the angel.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Jacob in Genesis.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> Many men May tower, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Would such a statement be peculiarly true of a boy like Jamie?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Recall his conduct in the Ree fight.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> Nor might a fire be lit,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the shrewdness of Jules in failing to light a fire.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_22'>22</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>What shows that Jamie is at the breaking point?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> And with it lulled the fight, as on a field, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The crisis of the disease.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> It would soon be o’er, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Jules talks in sentimental vein. Sentimental people are very -often cruel.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> To dig a hole that might conceal a man;</p> - -<p class='c017'>Would Jamie have resented the digging of a grave four days -earlier?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Jules easily weeps. So do many insincere people.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: beleaguered, mutability, immemorial, funerary.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGES <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>–<a href='#Page_25'>25</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>The last stage of Jamie’s breakdown.</p> - -<p class='c016'>Had you any doubt that Jules would beget panic in Jamie? How -much do you blame Jamie? Why did Le Bon take Hugh’s gun, blanket, -and knife?</p> - -<h3 class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Awakening</span></h3> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Note that the last line of the first division of the poem rhymes with -the first line of the second division. Have you noticed that many times -the rhyming lines close one paragraph and open the next? The effect -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>of this device is to keep the mind of the reader in strain for what is to -follow.</p> - -<p class='c016'>What is a couplet? Is the poem written in couplets? How is the -cæsura handled in this poem? Compare with Pope’s method in -“Essay on Man.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> But some globose immensity of blue</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note epithets in this line. How comprehensive!</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> So one late plunged into the lethal sleep, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The sensation of the awakening is likened to the possible experience -of one in death. The author is much interested in such -matters.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “lethal.” What literary associations with this word?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> The quiet steep-arched splendor of the day.</p> - -<p class='c017'>At what time of day did Hugh awake?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> But when he would obey, the hollow skies etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the suddenness of the loss of consciousness as expressed in -the metaphor: “the hollow skies,” etc.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> Remote unto his horizontal gaze</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> He saw the world’s end kindle to a blaze etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>At what time did Hugh re-awaken?</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the effect upon the reader of the expression “world’s -end” rather than “east”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> Dawn found the darkling reaches of his mind, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A figure from archæology. Explain.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Men school the dream to build the past anew</p> - -<p class='c017'>What part of speech is “school”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Wherein men talked as ghosts above a grave.</p> - -<p class='c017'>This is the second suggestion that Hugh was vaguely conscious -of what happened before his awakening.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: shards, torsos, rubble, sag.</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>5.</b> Sickened with torture he lay huddled there.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the vividness of such words as, “sickened,” “torture,” -“huddled,” which appeal both to muscular sense and to sight.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> Proportioned to the might that felt the chain.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> That vacancy about him like a wall, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The power of that which yields and yet restrains suggests the -sense of helplessness that came to Hugh. This feeling is often -brought out in the later portions of the poem.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Grimly amused, he raised his head, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What was the effect of “the empty distance” and “the twitter -of a lonely bird” on Hugh? Why question whether there was -something wrong?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: collusive, bleak.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>On this and the following page we have the stages by which Hugh -learns that he has been deserted. Note the steps: (1) Major Henry is -prompt, (2) many hoof prints of horses, (3) the grave known for a grave -by its shape, (4) ash heap and litter of a camp, (5) the trail.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> Of course the horse had bolted</p> - -<p class='c017'>That is, run away.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> A grave—a grave, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Does Hugh really wonder if he has been dead and has arisen?</p> - -<p class='c017'>For the third time it is stated that Hugh heard the talk of his -comrades while he was prostrate from the bear’s attack.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>25.</b> Suspicion, like a little smoky lamp etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note simile. Is it effective?</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> That daubs the murk but cannot fathom it,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh’s suspicions are vague as yet.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> The smoky glow flared wildly,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What “smoky glow”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> A gloom-devouring ecstasy of flame,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> A dazing conflagration of belief!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Suspicion passes to certainty. Explain the whole figure from -the beginning.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> Plunged deeper than the seats of hate and grief, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Does nature sometimes seem to mock our moods? The older -literatures seem unconscious of this psychology. Note Bryant’s -“Death of the Flowers.”</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: daub, grotesque, ecstasy, apathetic, complacence, connivance.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_31'>31</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> His manifest betrayal by a friend</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why does the desertion of Jamie make that of others seem nothing?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Yet not as they for whom tears fall like dew etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh’s tears are not shallow; they indicate a lasting sorrow.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Those who weep easily, easily forget.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> He lay, a gray old ruin of a man, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Both physically and emotionally, a remarkable metaphor.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> And then at length, as from the long ago, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>His suffering makes the time of friendship seem long ago. A -song may be both sweet and sad, as may also love.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>25.</b> ... as in a foggy night</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_32'>32</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> The witchery of semilunar light, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A fine comparison of the spiritual to the material.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: zany, retrospective.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span><b>6.</b> As under snow the dæmon of the Spring.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Dæmon,” spirit.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> Nor might treachery recall, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>He had been loved, nothing could change that; he could go on -loving and nothing could change that either. This is the high -note in devotion. “If ye love them that love you, what thank -have ye?”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Upon the vessel of a hope so great, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The lover is only the vessel of the great passion.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> Now, as before, collusive sky and plain etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Sky and plain have conspired to take Hugh’s life, so it seems to -him. They represent distance that yields but still is unconquered. -This idea haunts the “Crawl.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> For, after all, what thing do men desire, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Food and shelter are necessary to any life; all values rest upon -them. This idea is fundamental in modern thinking.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Jamie was a thief!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why Jamie more than others?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “gage.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>5.</b> And through his veins regenerating fire etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Anger made him strong, while grief made him weak. Is that -not true to nature?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> Now once again he scanned the yellow plain, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh projects his subjective condition on nature. This idea -occurs often in the poem. Is it a true conception?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span><b>14.</b> Alas for those who fondly place above, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A continuation of the philosophy found on page <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>. Love is the -supreme thing, not the person who is loved. The way is itself -the goal.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> A bitter-sweet narcotic to the will, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note how Hugh’s hate arouses his energies. For his purposes it -is stronger than love.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: bellowsed, regenerating, lethargy, conspirant, merging, -vulnerable, narcotic.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>11.</b> Leaning to the spring, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The final horror, his face, fixes Hugh’s hate to a steady, burning -purpose, seeming equal to his task.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>5.</b> That waste to be surmounted as a wall,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> Sky-rims and yet more sky-rims steep to climb—</p> - -<p class='c017'>In gazing across a vast space to the horizon, one seems to be -looking uphill. This is especially noticeable on the ocean.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> That simulacrum of enduring Time—</p> - -<p class='c017'>One traveling long distances by his own power, and having no -means of measurement, conceives space not in miles, but in -duration of effort.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> The hundred empty miles ‘twixt him and where</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “empty” miles?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> One hairsbreadth farther from the earth and sky</p> - -<p class='c017'>He was as remote from all things as it was possible to be, so why -not try!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “simulacrum.”</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span> - <h3 class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Crawl</span></h3> -</div> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_37'>37</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>The Crawl is the most detailed account of physical suffering and endurance -extant in poetry. Note the large number of words that make -direct appeal to the sensations of thirst, weariness, chronic pain, fever, -delirium. Again the sense of loneliness, of betrayal, of a conspiracy to -destroy him appears everywhere in Hugh’s experience. The monotony -of the journey appears in its slowness, which is indicated in many ways.</p> - -<p class='c016'>Before describing the Crawl, Neihardt first found out what vegetable -growths would be found on the trail, the character of the soil, how the -streams would erode, etc. The poet is true to all nature, even natural -science.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> And through it ran the short trail to the goal.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What was the “goal”? Ree villages lay nearly directly east.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> Thereon a grim turnpikeman waited toll:</p> - -<p class='c017'>Who is the “grim turnpikeman”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> Should make their foe the haunter of a tale.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh was killed on the Yellowstone by the Rees in 1832.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> The scoriac region of a hell burned black</p> - -<p class='c017'>The bad lands of the Little Missouri, so made to appear by spontaneous -combustion of lignite deposits.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Should bid for pity at the Big Horn’s mouth.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Big Horn’s mouth, where Henry and his men spent -the winter of 1823–1824.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_38'>38</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> Whereon the feeders of the Moreau head—</p> - -<p class='c017'>Head waters of the Moreau. Locate the Moreau.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span><b>3.</b> Scarce more than deep-carved runes of vernal rain.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The rune was a character in the ancient alphabet and ultimately -came to stand for poetry. Here the original meaning as a deep -cut is restored.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> Defiant clumps of thirst embittered grass, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note how exactly the characteristics of an arid landscape are -set forth in such phrases as “thirst embittered grass,” “parched -earth,” “bared and fang-like roots,” “dwarf thickets,” “stunted -fruits.” The poet is shown by exactness, not inaccuracy.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> And made the scabrous gulch appear to shake</p> - -<p class='c017'>The very sound of the word “scabrous” suggests dryness.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> And where the mottled shadow dripped as ink etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The shadow of leaves on the yellow earth is black. The description -is absolutely accurate. “A poet is known by his epithets.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> Amid ironic heavens in the West—</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “ironic heavens”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> A purpling panorama swept away.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “purpling”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> Scarce farther than a shout might carry</p> - -<p class='c017'>How far had Hugh traveled in the day?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Into the quiet house of no false friend.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What “quiet house”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17–20.</b> Alas for those who seek a journey’s end—etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The philosophy of these lines is that the way is the important -thing, not the end. This is a part of Neihardt’s life-philosophy.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> Now swoopingly the world of dream broke through</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note that no two of Hugh’s dreams are alike. In this dream his -revenge is futile. Is that the nature of revenge, to defeat itself?</p> - -<p class='c017'>How many lines are taken to tell this dream? How much in -little space!</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Gazing far, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Another remarkable description of the sky and prairie and their -effect upon Hugh.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Make a list of epithets descriptive of both sky and prairie as -you find them on pages <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>–<a href='#Page_27'>27</a>–<a href='#Page_28'>28</a>–<a href='#Page_29'>29</a>–<a href='#Page_30'>30</a>–<a href='#Page_32'>32</a>–<a href='#Page_34'>34</a>–<a href='#Page_36'>36</a>–<a href='#Page_39'>39</a>. Epithets -may be adjectives or verbs or nouns. Such are “globose immensity,” -“smoky steep,” “serene antagonist,” “negativity of -might.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> Seemed that vast negativity of might; etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>In what sense is the might of distance negative?</p> - -<p class='c017'>What was the “frustrate vision of the night”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>What does the poet mean by saying it came “moonwise”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is Hugh’s mood when he feels that the foe is “naught but -yielding air”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> A vacancy to fill with his intent!</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the grammatical construction of “to fill”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> Three-footed; and the vision goaded him.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What vision “goaded him”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> Served but to brew more venom for his hate,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why is hate spoken of as venomous? What has modern Physiology -to say of this?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>25.</b> And nerved him to avail the most with least.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is meant by “avail the most with least”?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>10.</b> Devoured the chance-flung manna of the plains</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Manna”—what is the reference?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> The coulee deepened; yellow walls flung high, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Accurate description of arid conditions by their effect on Hugh.</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>6.</b> It had the acrid tang of broken trust</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> The sweetish, tepid taste of feigning love!</p> - -<p class='c017'>A projection of the subjective into the objective.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> Clear as a friend’s heart, ‘twas, and seeming cool—</p> - -<p class='c017'>The same as above.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> And lo, the tang of that wide insolence</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> Of sky and plain was acrid in the draught!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note again the attitude of nature, as Hugh sees it, in its “wide -insolence.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>25.</b> How like fine sentiment the mirrored sky etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The cruelty of sentimentalism. Note on this page the steps by -which the sense of thirst is induced in the reader and the corresponding -disappointment increased; “dry as strewn bones -bleaching to a desert sky,” “grateful ooze,” “sucked the mud,” -“sweetish, tepid taste,” “taunted thirst,” “damp spots,” then -the description of the pool and the “famished horses.” Is not -the reader as thirsty as Hugh and nearly as keenly disappointed?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>8.</b> Nor did he rise till, vague with stellar light, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Compare with Bryant’s “Forest Hymn.”</p> - -<p class='c017'>At what line does Hugh fall asleep? At what line does he begin -to awake? How many days since “The Crawl” began?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> And Hugh lay gazing till the whole resolved etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the difference between this dream and that of the previous -night? Why? Does Hugh still love Jamie? Would he kill -him in such a mood? How many lines in the dream?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: specious, gulch, buttressing, Host, nave, architrave.</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>Hugh has not yet reached the prairie on the divide between the Grand -and the Moreau, though he has journeyed two days. How far do you -think he has crawled?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> Loath to go, Hugh lay beside the pool and pondered fate, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why is Hugh less eager to renew his journey than on the previous -morning? Do you suppose his dream had anything to do with -the matter? His weariness?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> Sustaining wrath returning with the toil.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why does wrath return?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> Of strength that had so very much to buy.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What had his strength “to buy”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: efface, cauldron.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>11.</b> Sleep out the glare. With groping hands for sight,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh sleeps on the afternoon of the third day of his journey.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain “groping hands for sight.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> Or sensed—the dusky mystery of plain.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why dusky mystery? Can you see a prairie by starlight?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> Gazing aloft, he found the capsized Wain</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Capsized Wain,” Bear. What time of night?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16–17.</b> Thereto he set his back;</p> - -<p class='c017'>What direction did he take? How much knowledge of the constellations -must have meant to primitive men! To sailors! To -hunters! Read Bryant’s “Hymn to the North Star.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> The star-blanched summit of a lonely butte</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> And thitherward he dragged his heavy limb.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the butte used to guide the crawler. Could a plainsman -see a butte by starlight? Could a “tenderfoot”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span><b>21.</b> It seemed naught moved, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The movement on a prairie and in the night seems objectless.</p> - -<p class='c017'>It gives a supreme sense of monotony. Time stopped. We -measure time by events; no events, no time.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: blanched, incipient.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_46'>46</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> Sheer deep upon unfathomable deep, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A curious but vivid figure, expressing a sense of darkness and uninterrupted -silence.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> So lapsed the drowsy æon of the night—</p> - -<p class='c017'>The monotony makes the hours seem a moment drawn out.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> And then, as quickened to somnambulance, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the steps of the dawning, and the suddenness of the coming -of day. The description is not only vivid but accurate.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Scarce had he munched the hoarded roots, when came etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why the difference between this and previous dreams?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “tensile.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>8.</b> It was the hour when cattle straggle home etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A fine lyric. This is one of many memory pictures of Hugh’s -travels. Nothing in the poem tells directly of Hugh’s past.</p> - -<p class='c017'>This silence suggests tragedy dimly illumined by the memory -pictures. Is Hugh an imaginative man? Enumerate the evening -sounds. Note the steps marking the transition from evening -to night. How many days has Hugh crawled? Hugh is known -to have been a Pennsylvanian of Scotch descent.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “peripheries.”</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Blank as the face of fate. In listless mood etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Fate is associated with the inevitable and unrevealed. “In listless -mood” etc.—the end of a day of feverish dreams finds -Hugh weakened and caring less to live.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> And met the night. The new moon, low and far, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the phase of the moon.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> The kiote voiced the universal lack.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hunger.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> As from a nether fire, the plain gave back</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> The swelter of the noon-glare to the gloom.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The heat of the prairie is often very noticeable after sunset.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> Why seek some further nowhere on the plain?</p> - -<p class='c017'>What “nowhere”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> So spoke some loose-lipped spirit of despair;</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “loose-lipped”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> And still Hugh moved, volitionless—a weight, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Volitionless—The power of habit is compared to that of the moon -over the tides.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> Now when the night wore on in middle swoon,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> To breathe became an act of conscious will.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> The starry waste was ominously still.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> As through a tunnel in the atmosphere—</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the steps of the coming storm: <em>middle swoon</em>, a drowsy night, -stifling condition of the air, utter silence with sense of impending -disaster, <em>as through a tunnel</em>, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The description of the storm is exact to the minutest detail. It -is not interspersed with more or less sentimental comments as -is Byron’s description of the storm on the Alps (Childe Harold, -Canto III), yet it gains in power by its adherence to truth.</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> An oily film seemed spread upon the sky</p> - -<p class='c017'>Storm still approaching. “The oily film,” the gradual darkening -of the atmosphere.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> Upon hell’s burlesque sabbath for the lost,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What could be more hopeless than “Sabbath in Hell”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> Hugh chose not, yet he crawled;</p> - -<p class='c017'>Habit keeps him moving.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> He felt the futile strife was nearly o’er.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh will die unless relief comes.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> And as he went, a muffled rumbling grew,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Far away thunder, the next step in the approach of the storm.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Somehow ‘twas coextensive with his thirst,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Confusion of objective and subjective, a not uncommon experience -of extreme weakness.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>12.</b> Star-hungry, ranged in regular array, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the use of constellations to indicate the vast expanse and -swift movement of the cloud; another illustration of the poet’s -power to see things in the large. Locate the constellations named.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain the figure, “star-hungry.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> Deep in the further murk sheet-lightning flared.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Sheet-lightning—covering the sky like a sheet, sometimes called -heat lightning—a common phenomenon in prairie storms.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> What turmoil now? Lo, ragged columns hurled, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain “ragged columns.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_51'>51</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> Along the solid rear a dull boom runs!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain “solid rear.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span><b>11.</b> Reveals the butte-top tall and lonely there</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> Like some gray prophet contemplating doom.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The second time the butte has been described.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Ghosts of the ancient forest—or old rain, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Geology tells us that these plains were once covered with forests.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> That e’er evolving, ne’er resolving sound</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Gropes in the stifling hollow of the night.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Never fully developing. “Evolving,” “resolving”—technical -expressions in music.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>The rush of the rain, the constant flare of lightning, the sudden cessation, -as well as the slow and dread beginning, are characteristic of storms -in semi-arid countries. This poem reveals every phase of nature on the -prairies and none more vividly than the storm.</p> - -<p class='c016'>Define: hurtling, wassail, sardonic, flaw, ravin, murk, cosmic, -sodden.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> The butte soared, like a soul serene and white</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> Because of the katharsis of the night.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The butte appears again, this time as the symbol of a soul that -has struggled and triumphed. The principle of Katharsis, purification, -is a principle of the Greek drama as worked out by -Aristotle. To what degree is it a principle of life?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> All day Hugh fought with sleep and struggled on</p> - -<p class='c017'>Which day? Why does Hugh no longer travel at night?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Hope flared in Hugh, until the memory came</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Of him who robbed a sleeping friend and fled.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span><b>18.</b> Then hate and hunger merged; etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note again that Hugh finds Jamie’s treachery everywhere. It is -an obsession with him.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “amethyst.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>How many days has Hugh crawled? How far has he journeyed?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> Swooped by. The dream of crawling and the act etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>An appeal to the muscular sense.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Such dreams bespeak extreme weariness.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> The butte, outstripped at eventide, now seemed etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The butte now becomes the measure of a progress infinitely slow, -a source of discouragement.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Whose hand-in-pocket saunter kept the pace.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “hand-in-pocket”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> What rest and plenty on the other side!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh must have encouragement. The break in the prairie, the -crest of the divide, furnishes that. Explain the psychology. How -far is the divide from the Grand?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> All day it seemed that distant Pisgah Height</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “Pisgah”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “lush.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_55'>55</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Hugh is near to starvation. The adventure with the gopher goes -from waking reality to dream on the following night and to waking dream -the next day, revealing how sick Hugh had become.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> The battered gray face leered etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note that the vivid picture of the face of Hugh is secured by the -choice of a few meaningful words, battered, leered, slaver, anticipating -jaws.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span><b>13.</b> Evolving twilight hovered to a pause</p> - -<p class='c017'>The twilight pause means what?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> Hugh jerked the yarn. It broke.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the brevity of the climax, “It broke.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> Down swooped the night,</p> - -<p class='c017'>How many days of journeying? The dream is a nightmare -while the previous one was relatively peaceful. Why the difference?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> Woke hordes of laughers down the giddy yawn</p> - -<p class='c017'>What “hordes of laughers”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> Dream dawn, dream-noon, dream-twilight!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Night and day are “telescoped” for Hugh by the monotony of -crawling either awake or in dreams and never getting anywhere.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Dream-dawn, dream-noon, dream-night! And still obsessed</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why the repetition?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> By that one dream more clamorous than the rest,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the one dream? Why is it a dream?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: gully, turbid, relict.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> Yet had the pleasant lie befriended him,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> And now the brutal fact had come to stare.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What was the “pleasant lie”? The brutal fact?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> And nursed that deadly adder of the soul,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> Self-pity. Let the crows swoop down and feed, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Sentimentalism is soul-flabbiness.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> And lo, a finger-nail, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The accumulation of great results by infinitesimal accretions is -one of the everlasting surprises in life.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span><b>21.</b> So fare the wise on Pisgah.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How do the wise use their Pisgahs? To enjoy or to inspire to -further effort?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: facture, dwarfed, Titan, triumvirate.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> Some higher Hugh observed the baser part.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What was the higher, what the baser part?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> So sits the artist throned above his art, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The hurt is nothing, the achievement is all. No man who is -worth anything but counts his work as more than all else.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> It seemed the wrinkled hills pressed in to stare, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The manifestations of nature become Hugh’s audience and he -falls into the throes of composition. Most of our thinking is in -words uttered to persons present, absent, or imagined.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> So wrought the old evangel of high daring, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The true philosophy of life, to be a “victor in the moment.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> That day the wild geese flew</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the effect of their cries? Describe the appearance of -the sky.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: recks, travail, evangel.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Present, past and fancy are all mingled in Hugh’s experiences this day, -showing his weakened condition, and the feeling for Jamie obsesses him.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> Hate slept that day,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Was it hate or an inversion of love?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> At last the buzzard beak no longer tore</p> - -<p class='c017'>What “buzzard beak”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: lethargy, maudlin.</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> And now serenely beautiful etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>These lines were suggested to the author by a picture, “The -Death of Absalom.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> Thus vexed with doleful whims the crawler went etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh would have died at this time had he not drifted into the -rugged vale.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> Told how the gray-winged gale blew out the day.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “gray-winged”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> It seemed no wind had ever come that way,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> Nor sound dwelt there, nor echo found the place.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How is utter quiet expressed!</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>7.</b> Returning hunger bade him rise; in vain</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> He struggled with a fine-spun mesh of pain etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>An appeal to muscular sense.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> In that hip-wound he had for Jamie’s sake</p> - -<p class='c017'>That “hip-wound” brings back the desire for revenge, a close -association of ideas. Have you had such experiences?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> Was turned again with every puckering twinge.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Puckering twinge,” another appeal to muscular sense.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Far down the vale a narrow winding fringe etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Having passed the divide Hugh slept at the head of a valley that -farther down becomes the bed of a little creek flowing into the -Moreau.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: mesh, trammelled, puckering, betokened.</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_62'>62</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>6.</b> These two, as comrades, struggled south together—</p> - -<p class='c017'>Contrast the two “comrades,” each journeying to the many -fathomed peace, one consumed with “lust to kill,” the other -singing on the way. A bit of wise philosophy is suggested.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> And one went crooning of the moon-wooed vast;</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the “moon-wooed vast” and to what is it compared?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_63'>63</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>12.</b> All streams ran thin; and when he pressed a hand etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why did he do this?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Far-spread, shade-dimpled in the level glow,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Another of many sunset pictures in the poem and no two are alike. -“Far-spread, shade-dimpled in the level glow,” a prairie sunset -in one line.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> Hugh saw what seemed the tempest of a dream</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why a “dream” tempest?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: phasic, weather-breeding.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> A dust cloud deepened down the dwindling river;</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> Upon the distant tree-tops ran a shiver etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the pictures suggested in “dust cloud deepened,” “upon -the distant tree-tops ran a shiver,” “huddle thickets writhed,” -“green gloom gapes,” “mill and wrangle in a turbid flow.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Bound for the winter pastures of the Platte!</p> - -<p class='c017'>The Platte was an especially fine bison country.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> The lopped moon weltered in the dust-bleared East.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How long since Hugh began his journey?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> Sleep came and gave a Barmecidal feast.</p> - -<p class='c017'>In the Arabian Nights one of the Barmecides, a wealthy family, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>served a beggar a pretended feast on beautiful dishes that were -empty.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> About a merry flame were simmering etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The appeal to the sense of hunger is powerful. Compare Vergil, -Æneid, Book I, 210–215.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> And tender tongues that never tasted snow,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “never tasted snow”?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> So sounds a freshet when the banks are full etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note comparison of the movement of the herd to a swollen river -clogged by <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">débris</span>.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> Through which the wolves in doleful tenson tossed</p> - -<p class='c017'>Tenson: among the troubadours a contest between two singers.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> From hill to hill the ancient hunger-song.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hunger is the oldest form of suffering, and prayer for food the -oldest prayer.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> With some gray beast that fought with icy fang.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “icy” fang? “white world”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: eerie, myriads.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_66'>66</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>8.</b> The herd would pass and vanish in the night</p> - -<p class='c017'>How long was the herd in passing?</p> - -<p class='c017'>During this time, and for fifty years thereafter, bison herds often -covered the plains as far as the eye could see. In the 60’s -travellers on the old Oregon trail often journeyed through one -solid herd for as much as three days, and on either side the -prairie was filled to the horizon.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span><b>23.</b> So might a child assail the crowding sea!</p> - -<p class='c017'>The comparison of the on-rushing herd to high sea tide, notable -in itself, is greatly strengthened by the comparison of Hugh to -a child assaulting the waters. Note the impulse of the defeated -to act in absurd ways. Note the epithet, “crowding.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> Slept till the white of morning o’er the hill</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> Was like a whisper groping in a hush.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The comparison of light to sound, “the white of morning like a -whisper,” is unusual but true.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> The stream’s low trill seemed loud.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why seemed the low trill loud?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> Smacked of the autumn, and a heavy dew etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What association of sensations brings the picture of the autumn -fields?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note how quickly the vision passed, an illustration of the author’s -power of concentration. Hugh was born in Pennsylvania. What -was his father’s business? How do you know from this and -other passages? See the lyrical passage on page <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> He brooded on the mockeries of Chance,</p> - -<p class='c017'>On page <a href='#Page_58'>58</a> we saw Hugh in the act of literary composition; now -we see him a philosopher. This is a common fact among what -we call the “common” people. Note the grave-digger scene in -Hamlet, Act V.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: smacked, hoar, frore.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Revealed the havoc of the living flood, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Point out each word and statement that pictures the havoc -wrought in the valley by the herd.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span><b>9.</b> A food-devouring plethora of food</p> - -<p class='c017'>Devouring what food? What plethora?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> Had come to make a starving solitude!</p> - -<p class='c017'>What idea is modified by the word “starving”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> That still the weak might perish.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Express this idea in other terms. Note unusual use of the word -“still.” State the biological “law of evolution.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> Within himself the oldest cause of war</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the “oldest cause of war”? The newest?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: plethora, raucous, guerdon.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>8.</b> He saw a bison carcass black with crows, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>This picture is unique, cruel, almost revolting, but wonderfully -true.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> To die contending with a living foe,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> Than fight the yielding distance and the lack.</p> - -<p class='c017'>To engage in a short struggle with a visible foe with a definite -end near and certain is far easier than to endure the long drawn -and indefinite. This is because man is primarily well equipped -for the immediate struggle of hunting and war, but is not gifted -by nature with power to endure.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>5.</b> The wolf’s a coward, who, in goodly packs, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The wolf pack symbolizes the mob. The law of mob life is -cruelty, and cruelty is always cowardly.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> How some great beast that shambled like a bear</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “shambled like a bear”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> Woe in the silken meshes of the friend,</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span><b>25.</b> Weal in the might and menace of the foe.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The friend often weakens his friend. The opposition of the -enemy develops his strength.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: lacerated, vituperative, prodigious, frenzy, weal.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_71'>71</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>14.</b> When sleep is weirdest and a moment’s flight,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Dreams often come just before waking.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Hoof-smitten leagues consuming in a dust.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the syntax of “leagues”? Explain the line.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> A corpse, yet heard the muffled parleying etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note how the idea that he was really dead haunts Hugh both -sleeping and waking. Find other places in the poem where this -is true.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> The babble flattened to a blur of gray—</p> - -<p class='c017'>A comparison of sound to light.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> Could they be the Sioux?</p> - -<p class='c017'>The Sioux had been allies in the Leavenworth Campaign, while -the Rees were enemies. Note page <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note on this page the vivid picture of the Indians riding in the -fog.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> The outflung feelers of a tribe a-stir</p> - -<p class='c017'>Meaning of “feelers”?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_73'>73</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>8.</b> And wasna!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Bison meat, shredded, dried, and mixed with bison tallow and -dried bullberries, the mixture being packed in bladders.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span><b>11.</b> But kinsman of the blood of daring men.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Actual “blood brotherhood” between Indian and White was not -uncommon and bravery and loyalty were the basis of such relation.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> O Friend-Betrayer at the Big Horn’s mouth, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note how Hugh’s imagination rushes on to the killing of Jamie.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> From where a cloud of startled blackbirds rose</p> - -<p class='c017'>What startles the blackbirds?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note on this page, and the next, various hints of the coming of -the Indians and how important the matter was to the starving -watcher from the bluff.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Embroiled the parliament of feathered shrews?</p> - -<p class='c017'>What are the “feathered shrews”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> Flackering strepent; now a sooty shower, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Flackering strepent”—fluttering and noisy, a fitting description -of the startled flock; onomatopœia.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The entire picture of the blackbirds is notable. They are a -“boiling cloud,” “a sooty shower,” with big flakes and driven -by a squall, they are “cold black fire.” All these terms are -startling but exact.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: parfleche, panniers, maize, parliament, shrews.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> What augury in orniscopic words</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> Did yon swart sibyls on the morning scrawl?</p> - -<p class='c017'>A rhetorical question to indicate the dread interest Hugh felt -in the question “Sioux or Ree?”</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the fancy that words are written on the sky.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> In their van</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> Aloof and lonely rode a gnarled old man etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Gnarled” like a tree. A most vivid picture of Elk Tongue, a -famous Ree chief.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span><b>16.</b> Beneath his heavy years, yet haughtily</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> He wore them like the purple of a king.</p> - -<p class='c017'>His great age is like a royal robe. “Gray hairs are a crown of -glory.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> Keen for a goal, as from the driving string etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>In how many and significant ways his face is described in these -lines: keen for a goal, like a flinty arrow-head, with a brooding -stare. Directions for a statue could scarcely be more exact or -more full of suggestion.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: ruck, augury, orniscopic, swart, sibyl, attenuated, gnarled, -piebald.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Read the entire description of the Indians at one sitting and get the -unified effect.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> Such foeman as no warrior ever slew.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hunger.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> And hurled them shivering back upon the beast.</p> - -<p class='c017'>According to the Greek myth men were little better than beasts -until Prometheus brought fire to them from heaven in a reed.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How nearly does the myth accord with truth?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> Hope fed them with a dream of buffalo etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>With primitive man feast and famine were often close together.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> Home with their Pawnee cousins on the Platte,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Platte. The Rees and Pawnees speak the same -tongue with slight variations.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define “ravelled.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> The rich-in-ponies rode, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The first scene in the moving picture shows the contrast of rich -and poor that existed even in the most primitive society.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span><b>3.</b> For much is light and little is a load etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is meant? The sentence is a paradox.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> Whining because the milk they got was thinned etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The squaws with their crying babies are the material of the -second scene, followed by the striplings.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> How fair life is beyond the beckoning blue, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Distance lends enchantment.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> Cold-eyed the grandsires plodded, for they knew, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note contrasting words: striplings, grandsires; strutted, plodded.</p> - -<p class='c017'>One group saw visions, the other was disillusioned.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> In what lone land.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is meant?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Stooped to the fancied burden of the race;</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the “burden of the race”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>25.</b> The lean cayuses toiled.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Cayuse, a broncho, originally one bred by the Cayuse Indians.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>27.</b> To see a world flow by on either side,</p> - -<p class='c017'>How does the world “flow by”?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>The dog was an ever present feature of Indian life. Note the author’s -familiarity with the dog.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> Yielded to the squaws’</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Inverted mercy and a slow-won grave.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“The female of the species is more deadly than the male.” Why?</p> - -<p class='c017'>For the sake of the protection of the young. Indian fighters -had a special horror of falling into the hands of the squaws.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hate and love are opposite sides of the same shield. In proportion -as woman loves her children and the protectors of them she -hates anybody and anything that menaces them.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span><b>14.</b> Since Earth’s first mother scolded from a cave</p> - -<p class='c017'>A true picture of social origins.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> To match the deadly venom brewed above</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> The lean, blue, blinding heart-fires of her love.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the witches’ cauldron that bubbles here and the fire that -burns below it.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> But thrice three seasons yet should swell the past, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Glass was killed by the Rees in 1832.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> So was it writ, ere Fate’s keen harriers etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why is Fate capitalized?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: palimpsest, harriers.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> For that weird pass whereto the fleet are slow,</p> - -<p class='c017'>The fleet are the young, but the old reach the “weird pass” first.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Scarce had he crossed the open flat, and won etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>On this page and the next we have the temptation of Hugh to -kill the squaw. (<em>a</em>) Do you feel that Hugh will kill her? (<em>b</em>) Would -he be justified in so doing? (<em>c</em>) Would you be satisfied to have -the hero of the story slay a weak old woman, though an Indian?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Whom does Hugh see sitting haloed like a saint? (page <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>)</p> - -<p class='c017'>What impression on Hugh does the whole adventure make?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> He reached a river. Leaning to a pool etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Was the reaction against his own pity natural?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> That somehow some sly Jamie of a dream</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> Had plundered him again;</p> - -<p class='c017'>Again the obsession concerning Jamie. There seems a suggestion -of insanity in this. Is the pursuit of vengeance always insane?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span><b>18.</b> Now when the eve in many-shaded grays etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Another prairie sunset. Note that every description of the -prairie is woven directly into the story. No two are alike.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> Hugh paused perplexed. Elusive, haunting, dim, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A comparison of pure sense to pure idea is unusual but true, for -ideas rest upon sense perception.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: crone, fleered.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_81'>81</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> It seemed the sweet</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> Allure of home.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Association by sense of smell—smoke, fire, home in the evening.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> Hearth-lit within, its windows were as eyes etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The comparison of an old farmhouse to an old mother. Point -out pathos in each.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> A two-tongued herald wooing hope and fear,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Meaning? Compare Æneid, Book I, 661.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Select a lyric from this page.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: troll, recrudescent.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> And reached a bluff’s top. In a smudge of red etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Another sunset picture. Where were the “pools of gloom”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>How comes the “mottled” effect?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> He lay upon the bare height, fagged, forlorn,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh is again near to collapse.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Then with a start etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How well the first stage of the finding and appropriation of fire -has been pictured as the effect of smell! Now comes the second -stage. The whole incident epitomizes in wonderful way the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>meaning of fire to mankind. Note the beauty of the comparison -of the flame to a lily.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: mottled, pluming.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> With pounding heart Hugh crawled along the height</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “with pounding heart”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> Keen to possess once more the ancient gift.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Of Prometheus to man.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: doddering, burgeoning, tenuous.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Arose, and made an altar of the place.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Fire worship is as old as the race. Hugh is the priest, the East -Wind a religious novice who sings in the ceremonials, the night -is the temple, and in response to the worship, “Conjuries of -interwoven breath,” the fire god appears in the burning wood.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> The Wind became a chanting acolyte.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why have an East Wind?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> Once more the freightage of the fennel rod</p> - -<p class='c017'>Prometheus used a fennel rod to bring fire to mortals.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>11.</b> Dissolved the chilling pall of Jovian scorn.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Jove despised men and refused them fire.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> The face apocalyptic, and the sword</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> The glory of the many-symboled Lord</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Voiced with the sound of many waters,</p> - -<p class='c017'>All this is from Revelations, Chapter I.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: acolyte, epiphanic.</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_85'>85</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>11.</b> Then set about to view an empty camp</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> As once before, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>See pages <a href='#Page_29'>29</a> and <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Among the ash-heaps; and the lean dogs ran</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>2.</b> And barked about him, for the love of man etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Some one has said that the dog was a candidate for humanity -and just missed it.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> For ‘tis the little gifts of grudging Chance,</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> Well husbanded, make victors.</p> - -<p class='c017'>This is a principle of economy often illustrated.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> Scarce more of marvel and the sense of might, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Tennyson makes poetry out of a miraculous sword, Neihardt -out of a man-made knife. One is romanticism, the other realism.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Which is more poetic?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Not having, but the measure of desire etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“A man’s riches consist of what he can do without.” Socrates -taught this philosophy.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>2.</b> Who gaining more, seek most, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>7.</b> That twain wherewith Time put the brute to school,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Who was the “brute”? How “put to school”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> What gage of mastery in fire and tool!—</p> - -<p class='c017'>The control of fire was the first great step in civilization and -someone has said that the invention of the bow and arrow wrought -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>greater changes in human life than any other invention. By -enabling man to kill at a greater range it increased his supply -of meat and so made it possible to live in larger groups.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Why didn’t Hugh roast the dog instead of boiling? Note details of -preparation. Hugh ate the entire dog. Two starved Indian hunters -have been known to eat the whole carcass of a deer at one sitting.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Hugh slept. And then—as divers, mounting, sunder etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A vivid expression of a common experience on waking from especially -profound sleep.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: bulimic, gage.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> And was the friendlike fire a Jamie too? etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The natural return of a monomania.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> The sting of that antiquity of pain</p> - -<p class='c017'>After a long rest, his former suffering seemed ancient.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> That yielding victor, fleet in being slow</p> - -<p class='c017'>Always more space to be conquered, hence slow and certain to -win over Hugh.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> So readily the tentacles of sense, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Thinkers are just beginning to realize something of the hypnotic -power of habit and custom in the individual and in society. The -loss of the accustomed may disintegrate the life. Our author -shows keen understanding when he likens the effect upon Hugh -of the loss of fire to that of the loss of a dear one by death. A -moment ago he was here, vital, real. Now he is gone. How -strange is the world without him!</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_90'>90</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>7.</b> A yelping of the dogs among the bluffs, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The one sound in the desolate night, the yelping of the dogs, -starts a train of ideas. The power of abstraction has made man -able to survive where less intelligent forms have perished.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Flint can be used to skin a dog, so can steel, the two smitten together -make fire, so Hugh found his “unlocked door to life.”</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> Spilled on it from the smitten stone a shower</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>23.</b> Of ruddy seed; and saw the mystic flower</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> That genders its own summer, bloom anew!</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain the metaphor.</p> - -<p class='c017'>An absolutely new figure regarding fire.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>10.</b> Set laggard singers snatching at the tune.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What “laggard singers”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> And, pitching voices to the timeless woe,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Life fundamentally sad.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> Outwailed the lilting. So the Chorus sings etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>In the Greek theater the Chorus sang after the actor had spoken, -always taking an opposite tone. So Hugh’s joyous song is -drowned in the wailing of the dogs.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>8.</b> He hobbled now along a withered rill etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the quiet of the autumn spell over the secluded place, and -the onomatopœia indicating the falling of the plums and whispering -leaves; also the crying of the lonesome dog that makes the -stillness more intense and sad.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span><b>10.</b> A cyclopean portal yawning sheer.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Cyclopean portal,” Homer’s Odyssey.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>25.</b> Above the sunset like a stygian boat,</p> - -<p class='c017'>The boat of Charon on the Styx, the river of the underworld.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> The new moon bore the spectre of the old,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>3.</b> The valley of the tortuous Cheyenne.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Cheyenne.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> And ere the half moon sailed the night again, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How long since Hugh left the forks of the Grand?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>17.</b> Grown Atlantean in the wrestler’s craft.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain “Atlantean.”</p> - -<p class='c017'>Read “The River and I,” Chapter I, by the same author, to get -his feeling for the Missouri.</p> - -<h3 class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Return of the Ghost</span></h3> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Not long Hugh let the lust of vengeance gnaw</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note that the first line of the division of the poem rhymes with -the last line of the former. How often does this happen in the -poem? This device keeps the mind on a stretch and so keeps -interest alive. The same device is often used by the author in -passing from one paragraph to the next.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> I can not rest; for I am but the ghost etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The old obsession that he actually died by the Grand, though -here used less seriously than in other places.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span><b>12.</b> With such a blizzard of a face for me!</p> - -<p class='c017'>The epithet reveals how Hugh’s gray “ruined face” impressed -men.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> For he went grayer like a poplar tree, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The simile of the face of Glass in mentioning Jamie’s treachery -and the poplar tree shaken by the first wind of a storm is true -to nature, for a poplar turns the gray side of its leaves when -shaken.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: fend, kenneled.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_95'>95</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> From where the year’s last keelboat hove in view</p> - -<p class='c017'>The keelboat, shaped with keel and hence so called, from forty -to sixty feet long, carrying as much as sixty tons and pulled by -fifteen to twenty-five men, was used on the Missouri and other -navigable rivers before the day of the steamboat.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> Until the tipsy Bourgeois bawled for Glass</p> - -<p class='c017'>The head of a trading post in the fur trading period was called -Bourgeois, a French word meaning tradesman.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> The graybeard, sitting where the light was blear, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The whole account of Hugh’s telling of this great tragedy is of -the highest excellence. We already know that Hugh is a story -teller; we have seen him composing this very tale (page <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>), and -we know how his imagination sometimes carries him beyond the -actual, as when he saw Jamie dead (page <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>). The effect of his -face, with its changing expressions suiting all the moods associated -with love and betrayal, his chanting songlike tones, is -shown in the muscular responses of the listeners and their shudders -when the story ends. The supreme touch comes when Hugh -tells of the slaying of Jamie as if already done.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span><b>19.</b> And his the purpose that is art’s, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>To centre attention on human experience at the crucial moment -and so render it immortal.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> Whereby men make a vintage of their hearts etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Turn sorrow into beauty. Is there comfort in a sad story well -told?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Select the lines on this page that convey a sense of monotony.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Past where the tawny Titan gulps the cup</p> - -<p class='c017'>Titan, the Missouri.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> And there old times came mightily on Hugh, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Do you believe Hugh capable now of killing Jamie?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> Some troubled glory of that wind-tossed hair</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hugh’s memory of Jamie is sad, not bitter.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: cutbank, wry, tawny.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_98'>98</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> So haunted with the blue of Jamie’s eyes, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The blue is sad but not treacherous as once.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> Past where the Cannon Ball and Heart come in</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Cannon Ball and the Heart.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> The chaining of the Titan. Drift ice ran.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The story of the freezing of the river is worth noting for its vividness, -its alliterations and onomatopœia.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> The wingéd hounds of Winter ceased to bay.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What were the “wingéd hounds”?</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_99'>99</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>5.</b> To wait the far-off Heraclean thaw,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Heraclean—Hercules. What chained Titan did Hercules release?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12.</b> His purpose called him at the Big Horn’s mouth—</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Big Horn. What purpose? Who was there?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> And took the bare, foot-sounding solitude</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “foot-sounding”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> He seemed indeed a fugitive from Death etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Another reference to Hugh’s fancy that he had actually died.</p> - -<p class='c017'>It gives added force to that fancy to make his frosted breath -suggest a shroud.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>24.</b> Now the moon was young</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the phase of the moon for later reference.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>6.</b> With Spring’s wild rage, the snow-born Titan girl, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The Yellowstone is larger at the junction than is the Missouri.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Hence the Missouri is the Titan girl rushing into the arms of her -lover. But in the winter with snow covering the ice, “A winding -sheet was on the marriage bed.” Why “snow-born”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> Gray void seemed suddenly astir with wings etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note onomatopœia in the lines indicating that snow begins to -fall.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_101'>101</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> The bluffs loomed eerie, and the scanty trees</p> - -<p class='c017'>Describe the appearance of the trees.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> The tumbling snowflakes sighing all around,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What associations brought Hugh a dream of boyhood?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span><b>18.</b> The Southwind in the tousled apple trees</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> And slumber flowing from their leafy gloom.</p> - -<p class='c017'>These lines are an intentional “literary echoing” of one of the -most beautiful of the Sapphic fragments,—fragment 4 in Bergk’s -text.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Define: penumbral, susurrant.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>The blizzard is a storm characteristic of the plains. It generally -lasts three days, is terribly cold, and the whirling snow is blinding.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>4.</b> Black blindness grew white blindness</p> - -<p class='c017'>Indicating the slight difference between night and day.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note in how few lines the poet pictures the passing of the day.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>5.</b> All being now seemed narrowed to a span, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>All else was shut from sight and to a degree from the mind.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_103'>103</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>7.</b> As with the waning day the great wind fell.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The sudden cessation of the wind at the close of the third day of -the storm is characteristic, as is also the intense cold. Forty -degrees below zero is not unusual, often even fifty degrees.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>10.</b> When, heifer-horned, the maiden moon lies down</p> - -<p class='c017'>A reference to the maiden Diana, goddess of the moon.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How long was Hugh on this journey?</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> Yon sprawling shadow, pied with candle-glow etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Another of the gripping memory pictures. Can a man who -dreams such a waking dream kill another, even one who has -betrayed him, in cold blood?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span><b>21.</b> Or was this but the fretted wraith of Hugh etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The feeling that he is a ghost comes to Hugh twice in this incident -of finding the fort. His long journey, his weakened physical -condition and his exhausted emotions combine to make life seem -unreal.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>14.</b> Joy filled a hush twixt heart-beats like a bird; etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Joy rather than anger comes first in his feeling about Jamie.</p> - -<p class='c017'>That is significant.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_106'>106</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>7.</b> “My God! I saw the Old Man’s ghost out there!”</p> - -<p class='c017'>Belief in ghosts was common among the trappers.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>12–21.</b> “Hugh strove to shout,” etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>For the last time we see Hugh with the feeling that he is dead.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Are you surprised that Hugh does not kill Le Bon? Would you excuse -the deed if he had?</p> - -<h3 class='c012'><span class='sc'>Jamie</span></h3> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>Locate the Country of the Crows (Absaroka), the Big Horn, the -Powder, Fort Atkinson.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_110'>110</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>16.</b> Now up the Powder, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Trace the journey on the map.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Laramie.</p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span> - <h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_111'>111</a></h4> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> The Niobrara races for the morn—</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Niobrara. It is a very swift stream. Note the entire -description of the coming of spring on the prairie. It is a lyric -and includes a description of both late and early-coming of spring.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><b>3.</b> Here at length was born</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the southern slopes the baby spring, etc.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>A slow spring.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> Not such as when announced by thunder-claps etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A description of a swiftly coming spring.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>9.</b> Clad splendidly as never Sheba’s Queen,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Sheba’s Queen—The Bible, 1st Kings.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> And no root dreamed what Triumph-over-Death</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> Was nurtured now in some bleak Nazareth, etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The coming of spring suggests the resurrection.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> And everywhere the Odic Presence dwelt.</p> - -<p class='c017'>“Odic”: from “od,” an arbitrary scientific term signifying the -mysterious vital force in nature.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>21.</b> And when they reached the valley of the Snake,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Snake.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> The Niobrara’s ice began to break,</p> - -<p class='c017'>The next step in the coming of spring.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>4.</b> The geese went over,</p> - -<p class='c017'>A sure sign that spring is almost come.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>6.</b> The little river of Keyapaha</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Keyapaha.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span><b>10.</b> To where the headlong Niobrara etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the mouth of the Niobrara. A student in one of my -classes once wrote an interesting essay telling how her father’s -farm had been swept away by the rushing of the Niobrara into -the Missouri at the spring flood. At such times the smaller -river hurls the Missouri as much as a mile beyond its normal -course.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> A giant staggered by a pigmy’s sling.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What Bible story is here referred to?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> There all the vernal wonder-work was done: etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>From here on select the color words that give the picture of the -progress of spring. Another lyric.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>14.</b> Of wizard-timber and of wonder-stuff etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Are day dreams built of “wizard-timber and of wonder-stuff”?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the alliteration.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Into the North, a devil-ridden man.</p> - -<p class='c017'>The first picture of Jamie since he deserted Hugh. Will it arouse -Hugh’s pity?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> Up the long watery stairway to the Horn,</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the “watery stairway to the Horn”? Horn—Big -Horn River.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> And the year was shorn etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>How long is it since the story opened?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the entire description of the coming of autumn.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>19.</b> That withered in the endless martyrdom</p> - -<p class='c017'>Why “martyrdom”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span><b>20.</b> The scarlet quickened on the plum etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Note the steps of the coming of autumn at the Heart, among the -Mandans, at the Yellowstone, the Powder.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>1.</b> Was spattered with the blood of Summer slain.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A remarkable figure.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>8.</b> Aye, one who seemed to stare upon a ghost etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>A second picture of Jamie’s suffering.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>14.</b> And to forgive and to forget were sweet: etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>There will be no murder; our interest now is that the men may -meet and in the manner of reconciliation.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> ‘Tis for its nurse etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Explain. Is this not true?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>20.</b> But at the crossing of the Rosebud’s mouth</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Rosebud.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>3.</b> Alas, the journey back to yesterwhiles! etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>There is no going back to the old days.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>13.</b> He came with those to where the Poplar joins etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Poplar.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>22.</b> From Mississippi to the Great Divide</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate the Great Divide.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>5.</b> Upon Milk River valley,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Locate Milk River.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span><b>7.</b> Above the Piegan lodges,</p> - -<p class='c017'>Piegans—one of the principal divisions of the Blackfoot tribe -of Indians. Locate the Piegan village.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>7.</b> Lest on the sunset trail slow feet should err.</p> - -<p class='c017'>What is the “sunset trail”?</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>16.</b> You saw no Black Robe?</p> - -<p class='c017'>Black Robe, priest, so-called by all Indians.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>18.</b> “Heaped snow—sharp stars—a kiote on the rise.”</p> - -<p class='c017'>The answer is true to the laconic Indian speech, but it is -beautiful.</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></h4> - -<p class='c018'><b>2.</b> By their own weakness are the feeble sped; etc.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Three paradoxes—“He that loseth his life shall find it.”</p> - -<h4 class='c014'>PAGE <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></h4> - -<p class='c015'>The vision of Hugh as seen by Jamie corresponds to the description -of Hugh on pages <a href='#Page_59'>59</a> and <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>. May we say that Jamie may indeed have -seen Hugh? The Society for Psychic Research records such phenomena.</p> - -<p class='c000'><b>15.</b> O, Father, I had paid too much for breath!</p> - -<p class='c017'>For what will a man give his life? What higher values than life -are there? It is Satan who says in Job, “All that a man hath -will he give for his life.”</p> - -<p class='c017'>Show that the principle of Katharsis is illustrated in this poem.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>Printed in the United States of America.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</h2> -</div> - <ol class='ol_1 c002'> - <li>Silently corrected typographical errors. - - </li> - <li>Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - </li> - </ol> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Song of Hugh Glass, by John Gneisenau Neihardt - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS *** - -***** This file should be named 53667-h.htm or 53667-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/6/6/53667/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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