Chapter 8 8. The buyer of the black mistletoe

Chapter One Yancy.The most disgraceful thing in Goley's law office was Goley himself sprawled in an old creaky armchair.The red-brick, rickety little office was a bit ashamed of itself on the streets of Bethel. Bethel is nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge.Above, towering mountains, below, the muddy Catawba River, glowing yellow in the gloomy valley. It is the hottest time of the day in June.Bethel dozed off in the not-so-cool shade.Trading came to a complete standstill.There was silence all around, and Goli, who was lying in his chair, clearly heard the clinking of chips coming from the grand jury room. It was people from the county government playing poker.Beyond the open back door of the office, a bare path winds its way through the grass to the county hall.This road cost Ge Li his entire family. First he lost his inheritance of several thousand yuan, then his ancestral home, and finally even his little pride and manliness.The gang kicked him out.The down-and-out gambler became a drunkard and a parasite; he finally saw that those who won his money didn't even give him a chance to make it back.His credit was worthless, too.The daily card game went on as usual, but he was assigned the humiliating role of bystander.The county magistrate, the clerk, a jesting police officer and a cheerful lawyer, and a pale man from the valley, still sat around the table; Come back after some oil and water.

Not long after, Gorley found this repulsion intolerable, and returned to his office, muttering to himself as he staggered down the ill-fated lane.He drank some whiskey from the decanter under the table, then sank into a chair and stared mournfully at the mountains melting into the summer mist.He saw a small white area next to the black mistletoe on the mountain, which was Laurel Village, and he was born and raised nearby.It was also the site of a feud between the Gorey and Coltrane families.Now, save for this down-and-out wretch, there are no direct descendants of the Gorri family.Coltrane also has only one male descendant, Abner.Major Coltrane; he was rich and powerful, a member of the state legislature, and the same generation as Gorley's father.Their feud was locally famous; it left a bloody trail of feuds, grievances and killings.

Now Yancey.Ge ideal is not feud.His drunken mind was hopelessly figuring out how to maintain his life and his beloved hobby in the future.Lately, old friends of the Gorri family have taken care of his feeding and sleeping problems, but they can't buy him whiskey, and he can't live without it.His legal practice was over; he hadn't been consulted for two years.He had been living off loans and idle food, and the only reason he hadn't gotten worse was that the time hadn't come yet.Give him one more chance, he told himself, let him play again, and he felt sure of winning; but he had nothing to sell, and his credit was long gone.

He thought of the man who bought him the old Goley house six months ago, and even in this distress he couldn't help smiling.Those were two of the weirdest guys from the other side of the mountains: Pike.The Garveys.When he said the word "that side", he waved his hand towards the side of the mountain, and the mountain dwellers knew that it referred to the most remote and inaccessible place, the unfathomable canyon, the forest haunted by desperadoes, wolves and bears. lair.For twenty years this eccentric couple lived in a log cabin on top of the black mistletoe in the most remote places.They had neither dogs nor children to relieve the dreary loneliness of the mountains.Few people in the reservation know Parker.Garvey, but those who had any dealings with him said he was insane, and he had no real occupations other than hunting squirrels; though he occasionally peddled bootleg liquor as a side note.Once the tax agents took him out of his den, and he fought like a hound and was sent to the state prison for two years.After serving his sentence, he burrowed into his den like an angry weasel.

Destiny, ignoring many eager suitors, flew whimsically to the bushy canyons of the black mistletoe, and favored Pike and his faithful old mate. One day, some rather ridiculous prospectors in glasses and knickerbockers invaded the neighborhood of the Garvey family's log cabin.Fearing that they were tax agents, Pike took off the squirrel-shooting rifle hanging on the wall and fired at them from afar.Fortunately he missed.Garvey discovered that they had nothing to do with law and order until those lucky, ignorant emissaries approached.Later, they explained their intention to buy the Garvey family's thirty acres of cleared land for a large sum of new and smooth cash, and said some inexplicable nonsense, referring to the mica deposits under the property, etc., as their madness. excuse to act.

When the Garveys had more money than they could count, the flaws in the Black Mistress's life became apparent.Pike began to talk about new shoes, put a large barrel of tobacco in the corner, put a new trigger on the rifle, and led Matera to a point on the side of the hill, and pointed out to her that if a small gun was mounted, their financial resources would be reduced. Doubtless it would be possible to control the only path leading to the cabin, and that would drive away the tax-smugglers and obnoxious strangers once and for all. But Adam was not thinking of his Eve when he was thinking.To him these things represented practical wealth, yet in his squalid cabin a dormant ambition soared above his primal needs.There was still something feminine somewhere in Mrs. Garvey that hadn't been killed by twenty years of black mistletoe.For a long time all she had heard was the sound of scaly bark peeling off in the woods at noon and the howling of wolves among the rocks at night, enough to wash away her vanity.But when the time came, she revived the desire to demand women's rights for some refreshment, some frivolity shopping, some ritual and formality to disguise the dire realities of life.So she coldly vetoed Pike's suggestion of strengthening the defenses, claiming that they should come down to the world and deal in the social field.

The matter was finally decided and brought to fruition.Mrs. Garvey likes a relatively large mountain town, while Pike is nostalgic for the primitive loneliness, and finally chose Laurel Village as a compromise.Laurel Village, which offered some less frequent social pastimes befitting Matra's ambitions, had its merits for Pike, too, for its proximity to the mountains allowed them to retire immediately should fashionable society turn them down. Chapter two When they came to Laurel Village, they ran into Yancey.Ge Li was eager to turn real estate into cash, so he bought the old house of Ge Li's family and handed over 4,000 yuan to the trembling hands of the prodigal son.

When the Gorley family was at the end of its rope, and the last disgraceful descendant lay in his disgraceful office, lost all his family fortune to his good friends, and was kicked away by them, strangers lived in his ancestors in the hall. A cloud of dust slowly rises from the hot street, and something is moving in the midst of the dust.A light wind blew the dust aside, and a new, brightly painted buggy could be seen pulling a lazy gray horse.When the car approached Golly's office, it left the middle of the street and stopped by the gutter in front of his door. In the front seat was a tall, thin man in black tweed and tight, yellow sheepskin gloves on his stiff hands.In the back seat is a lady who takes the June heat for granted.Her strong body was wrapped in a taut dress of so-called color-changing silk, of brilliant and changing colors.She sat upright, waving an intricately decorated fan, and stared blankly at the end of the street.Talk about Matra.How joyful Garvey felt about her new life, the black mistletoe had seriously affected her appearance.Hei Misty portrayed her appearance as an empty and dazed image, and infected her with the dullness of the stubborn stone and the indifference of the valley.No matter what the circumstances, she always seemed to be listening for the sound of scaly bark falling and rolling down the hillside.She had always felt the terrible stillness of the black mistletoe's quietest night.

Ge Li watched indifferently as the ostentatious carriage came to his door.When the lanky driver wrapped the reins around the whip, got out of the car awkwardly, and entered the office, Gorry staggered to his feet, went forward, and found it was Pike.Garvey, the changed, newly civilized Pike.Garvey. The mountain dweller sat in the chair that Goli pointed out to him.Those who doubted Garvey's sanity found strong proof in his appearance.His face was too long, dark red, and as dull as a statue.The short eyelashes and the round gray-blue eyes that don't flicker for a moment make his strange face look terrible.Gori could not figure out why he had come.

Is everything all right over there in Laurel, Mr. Garvey?he asked. All is well sir, Mrs Garvey and I are very pleased with the property.Mrs. Garvey loves your old house and the neighborhood.She thinks what she needs is socializing, and in fact she's socializing too.Rogers, Hapgood, Pratt, the Troys all came to see Mrs. Garvey, and she dined with most of them.The most elite people have invited her to participate in various entertainments.Mr. Gorry, I can't say that these things are suitable for me. I want it over there.Garvey's big yellow-gloved hand waved towards the hill where I belonged, among the bees and bears.But Mr. Gorey, I didn't come to you to say these things.It's for Mrs. Garvey and I want to ask you to buy something.

shopping!Ge Li responded, asking me to buy it?Then he laughed gruffly, and I think you must be mistaken.I've sold it all to you, as you said yourself, all the bottles.Not even a musketeer was left. You have this thing; and we need it, take the money, said Mrs Garvey, and buy it fairly. Gori shook his head, the cabinet was empty.He said. We have a lot of money, the mountain dweller went on to say, we used to be as poor as kangaroos, but now we can invite people to eat every day.Mrs. Garvey said that we had been recognized by the highest society.But we need something more, and we don't have it.She said it was supposed to be on the bill of sale, but it wasn't there, so take the money, she said, and buy it back in a fair way. Speak up.Gori's aching nerves grew impatient. Garvey threw his cocked hat on the table and leaned forward, fixing Gorley's unsteady eyes. Between yours and the Coltranes, he said clearly, slowly, there is an old blood feud. Gori frowned sullenly.According to mountain custom, it is taboo to bring up a grudge against a man who has a feud, and people from there know it as well as lawyers. Don't be mad, he went on, I'm all about business.Mrs. Garvey had researched all about the feud.Most of the high-ranking people in the mountains have feuds.The Settles and the Goforths, the Rankins and the Boyds, the Sailors and the Galloways, all had feuds of twenty to a hundred years old.The last vendetta was your uncle Paisley.After Judge Gorley retired from court, he shot Ryan D. from the bench.Coltrane was killed.Mrs. Garvey and I, we were poor whites.No one seeks revenge against those of us who have no roots.Mrs. Garvey said that high-class people everywhere have feuds.We're not gentleman, but we're going to buy a gentleman if we can, so take the money, Mrs. Garvey said, and buy Mr. Gorey's feud in a fair way. The squirrel-shooter stretched out one leg, walked almost halfway across the room, took a roll of banknotes from his trouser pocket, and threw it on the table. Here's two hundred bucks, Mr. Gorley, not a bad price for such a long-standing feud as yours.You're the only one left in your family to take revenge, and you're no good at killing people.I took it from you so that Mrs. Garvey and I could step into high society.money here. The small roll of banknotes on the table slowly and automatically loosened, tumbling and twisting.In the silence after Garvey finished speaking, the clink of poker chips from the county hall could be clearly heard.Gorley knew the sheriff had just won a round because the muffled applause of his winnings drifted across the yard in the heat.Beads of sweat formed on Gori's forehead.He bent down, took out the long-necked flask, which was only guarded by wicker, from under the table, and poured out a large glass. Would you like some corn whiskey, Mr. Garvey?You must be joking. What are you talking about?Opened up a brand new market, didn't it?First-rate feud, two hundred and fifty to three hundred.Two hundred bucks for a feud, I suppose, Mr. Garvey? Gori smiled unnaturally. The mountain dweller took the glass Golly offered him and drank it down without blinking his staring eyes.The lawyer admired this skill with admiration.He poured himself a glass and gulped it down like a drunkard, feeling the pleasure of smelling and tasting the wine. Two hundred yuan.Garvey repeated that the money is here. Ge Li suddenly burst into flames.He pounded his fist on the table.A bill bounced and touched his hand.As if stung, he quickly withdrew his hand. You come here with all seriousness, he exclaimed, and are you just bringing up such a ridiculous and insulting thing to me? That's fair.said the squirrel-shooter, but he stretched out his hand as if to take the money back; and Gorry realized then that his bout of anger was not out of pride or anger; it was out of hatred for himself, for he knew He will sink to a deeper substratum beneath his own feet.In an instant, he changed from a furious gentleman to a bargainer eager to brag about his wares. Take it easy, Garvey.He said that his face was flushed and his tongue couldn't work. I accept your suggestion, although two hundred yuan is too cheap.As long as the buyer and seller agree, the transaction will be completed.Shall I bandage you up, Mr. Garvey? Mrs. Garvey must have been pleased when Garvey stood up and shook his pea coat.From now on, the account belongs to the Coltrane and Garveys, not your business.Mr. Gorley, you are a lawyer, please write a note as evidence of our transaction. Of course, there must be a bill of sale, the name of the product, the ownership, the never-ending remorse of the buyer and the seller, and no, Garvey, we will not write about the protection of rights and interests.Gorley laughed and said it was up to you to assert ownership. The mountain dweller took the strange paper handed to him by the lawyer, folded it vigorously, and put it carefully in his pocket. Ge Li stood near the window, come over, he held up his finger and said, I'll show you your newly bought enemy.He just walked across the street. The mountain dweller bent his slender body and looked out the window in the direction Gori pointed.Abner.Major Coltrane passed on the opposite sidewalk. He was a tall and straight man in his late fifties, wearing the double-breasted frock coat and an old silk hat that are indispensable to Southern congressmen.As Garvey watched the man, Gorley glanced at his face.If there were such an animal as the yellow wolf, Garvey's face would be the model.Garvey's impersonal eyes tracked the moving figure, baring a mouthful of long amber teeth and growling. So it was him?Hey, this is the guy who sent me to jail! He had been the District Attorney before.Gori said casually that, by the way, he was a first-rate marksman. I could hit a squirrel in the eye a hundred yards away, Garvey said, and it was Coltrane!The deal I did was better than I expected.Mr. Gorey, this feud is much better handled by me than by you. He went to the door, but lingered there, looking a little embarrassed. Do you want anything else today?Got some family traditions, ghosts of ancestors, or skeletons from a closet, Gori asked sarcastically?The price couldn't be lower. One more thing, replied the unwavering squirrel-shooter, that was Mrs Garvey's idea.I didn't mean it, but Mrs. Garvey insisted I ask, and if you would, she said, buy it fair and square.You know, Mr. Gorry, there's a cemetery under the cedar trees in the backyard of your old house.Buried there are those of your family who were killed by the Coltrane family.There are names on the tombstone.Mrs. Garvey said it was a mark of nobility for a family to have its own cemetery.She said if we got a feud, there had to be something that came with it.The last name on the tombstone is Gorley, but it can be changed to ours go!go!Gori, turning purple with rage, screamed.He held out his hands to the mountain dweller, fingers twisted and trembling, go, bastard!You actually hit my ancestral grave! The squirrel-shooter walked slowly out to the carriage.As he got into the car, Gori picked up the banknotes that had fallen from his hands with frantic speed.When the car turned a corner slowly, the newly grown sheep hurried towards the county government in an unseemly manner. At three o'clock in the morning they carried him back to the office.He was unconscious and his new hair had been shorn.The county magistrate, the joking police officer, the county clerk, and Lotte's lawyer carried him, escorted by a pale-faced escort from the valley. Put it on the table.They then carried him to a table littered with useless books and papers, one of them said. After Yancey has had his fill of wine, he always takes the young couple too seriously.said the magistrate with a sigh of thought. Too much.Lotte's lawyers said a drinker like him shouldn't be playing poker at all.I don't know how much he lost tonight. Nearly two hundred yuan.I don't know where he got it.As far as I know, Yancey has not had any money around him for more than a month. Maybe a litigator was found.Well, let's go home before dawn.He'll be fine when he wakes up, except for the buzzing in his head. Those people ran away quietly in the faint morning light.Then it was the sun of day that looked at poor Golly.It peeped in through an uncurtained opening, flooded the sleeping man with a pale golden light, and soon poured down his red-spotted flesh with the penetrating heat of summer.Gorley moved vaguely on the cluttered table, trying to turn his face away from the window.With this movement, he knocked over a thick law book and dropped it to the ground with a loud thud.He opened his eyes to see a man in a black suit leaning over him.He looked up and saw an old silk top hat, under which was Abner.Major Coltrane's mild and smooth face. The major was a little uncertain about the outcome of the meeting, so he looked to see if the other party showed signs of knowing him.For twenty years, the male members of these two families have never met face to face without incident.Gori narrowed his blurred eyes to get a better look at the guest, and then he smiled calmly. Didn't you bring Stella and Lucy to play?he asked calmly. Do you know me, Yancey?Coltrane asked. Of course I do, you bought me a whip with a whistle on it. That was twenty-four years ago; Yancey's father was Coltrane's best friend back then. Golly's eyes surveyed the room.The major knows what he wants, lie still and I'll get you some.He said.There was a water pump in the backyard, and Gori closed his eyes, listening with delight to the click of the handle and the gurgle of the running water.Coltrane brought a pitcher of cold water and offered it to him.Gorley sat up at once, a sad wretch, with his sackcloth summer suit dirty and wrinkled, disgraceful, and his wobbly head disheveled.He tried to wave to the major. Please forgive me everything.He said I must have drunk too much last night and slept on the table.He frowned in confusion. Hanging out with friends for a while?Coltrane asked kindly. No, I didn't go anywhere.For two months, I had no money.I think it's probably because, as usual, the bottles were touched too much. Coltrane patted him on the shoulder. Just now, Yancey, he started, you asked if I brought Stella and Lucy over to play.You were not fully awake at the time, and you must have been dreaming that you were a child again.Now that you are sober, I hope you will listen to what I have to say.I came from Stella and Lucy for their old playmates, and my old friend's son.They know I intend to take you home with them, and you will find them welcoming you as before.I want you to stay with me until you are fully recovered, as long as you like.We have heard that you are in a bad situation, and are in temptation, and we all think that you should come to our house once more.Would you like to go, child?Are you willing to ignore the old evils of our family and come with me? Old evil?Gorley opened his eyes wide and said, As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing old or bad among us.I think we've always been great friends.But lord, major, how can I go to your house like this? I'm a poor drunk, worthless, depraved prodigal and gambler. He tipped from the table, sank into the armchair, and began to weep, tears of real remorse and shame.Coltrane insisted on talking to him reasonably, reminding him of the joys of the simple mountain life he had once loved so much, and repeated his sincere invitation. In the end, he said that he expected Geli to help him with a plan to transport a large amount of felled timber from the side of the mountain to the waterway, so Geli agreed.He knew that Gorley had invented a method of conveying timber before, a set of slides and chutes, of which Gorley was proud.The poor fellow was delighted to find himself useful, and at once spread the paper on the table, and quickly drew some sketches with piteously trembling hands, showing what he could and intended to do. The man had grown disgusted with drunkenness; his prodigal heart was longing for the mountains again.His mind was still strangely dull, and his thoughts and memories just came back one by one, like homing pigeons on a stormy sea.But Coltrane is pretty pleased with his progress. third chapter For the first time in their lives that afternoon, the people of Bethel were amazed to see a Coltrane pass the town in amicable company with a Gorey.Riding side by side, they left the dusty streets and stunned residents across the bridge and headed towards the mountains.The prodigal son had been groomed and looked a little more presentable, but he kept staggering on his horse and seemed to be wrestling with some troublesome problem.Coltrane didn't bother him either, hoping that the change of environment would help him regain his psychological balance. On one occasion Gori suffered a sudden tremor and almost fell off his horse.He had to dismount and rest on the side of the road.The Major, anticipating this, brought a small bottle of whiskey for him to drink on the road; but when he offered it to Golly, Golly refused it almost brusquely, declaring that he would never drink it again.After a while he regained his former shape, and rode quietly for a mile or two.Then suddenly he reined in his horse and said: I lost two hundred dollars playing poker last night, where did I get the money from? Forget it, Yancey.The mountain air will figure it out in no time.We first went to Pinnacle Waterfall to go fishing.There the trout hopped like frogs.We took Stella and Lucy with us and went to Eagle Rock for a picnic.Have you ever forgotten, Yancey, what it's like for a hungry fisherman to eat his bread with walnut-smoked ham? The major evidently did not believe that he had lost; Gorley fell into deep thought again. It was twelve miles from Bethel to Laurel, and by evening they had covered ten miles.Less than half a mile from Laurel Village was the Goleys' old house; a mile or two further on was the Coltrane's.Now the road is steep and strenuous to walk, but there are many things that make up for it.The forest is like a canopy, with vines and leaves, and the fragrance of birds and flowers.Refreshing air makes medicine pale in comparison.The clearings are bright and dark, dark with mossy lichens, bright with brooks glistening among ferns and laurel.Looking out from among the foliage, they had a marvelous view of a distant valley looming in the milky mist. Coltrane was delighted to see his companion captivated by the charms of the woods.Now they had only to go around Painter's Rock, cross Elderberry Creek, and climb the hill over there, and Gorry could see the ancestral home he had sold.Every rock, every tree and every foot of road he passed was familiar to him.Though he forgot the mountains, they fascinated him like the tune of "Sweet Home." They rounded the rocks to the banks of Elderberry Creek, and stopped for a while to let the horses drink in the rushing stream.On the right is a fence, which turns at that point and follows the road and stream.On the right is a fence, which turns at that point and follows the road and stream.Inside the fence was a tall thick row of pokeweed, elderberry, sassafras and sassafras.There was a rustling in the trees, and both Gorley and Coltrane looked up, and saw a long, yellow, wolf-like face above the fence, staring at them with gray, unblinking eyes.The face was soon gone; the bushes shook violently, and a hideous figure ran zigzagging through the apple orchard towards the house among the trees. That's Garvey, said Coltrane, the man you sold the estate to.There must be something wrong with his head.I had to send him to jail once a few years ago for bootlegging, although I don't believe he was fully responsible.Hey, what's the matter, Yancey? Ge Li is wiping his forehead, and there is no blood on his face. I look very strange, don't I?he asked, with a forced smile, I just remembered something.The alcohol in his head evaporated a little, and I remembered how the two hundred dollars came from. Forget it.Coltrane said cheerfully, we will solve it together later. They got on their horses and crossed the creek, and when they reached the foot of the hill Gori stopped again. Don't you know that I'm very vain, Major?He asked, a little too particular about appearance? The major could not bear to see his dirty, shabby linen suit and faded cocked hat. I seem to remember that, although he didn't understand it, he still told him that a playboy in his twenties counted the best-fitting clothes, the smoothest hair, and the most athletic mount in the Blue Ridge area. Not bad at all.Ge Li said eagerly, "Although I can't see it on the outside, I am still vain in my heart.Oh, I'm as vain as a turkey and as haughty as Satan.I beg you to grant me this weakness in a small matter. Go ahead, Yancey.We'll make you Duke of Laurel and Baron of Blue Ridge if you like; and we'll pluck a feather from Stella's peacock's tail for you to wear in your hat. I'm not kidding.In a few minutes we will pass the house on the hill where I was born and where my relatives lived for nearly a century.Strangers live there now but look at me!I'm going to appear to them so ragged, like a vagabond and a beggar.Major Coltrane, I have no face to do this.I beg you to let me wear your cloak, out of their sight.I know you'll take this as stupid vanity, but when I pass an old house I always want to be as public as possible. Hey, what does this mean?Coltrane wondered that his companion's strange request did not match his present sobriety and calm demeanor.But he quickly agreed, unbuttoning his jacket as if the idea wasn't weird at all. The coat and hat fit Gori well.He buttoned his coat with satisfaction and pompously.He was about the same size as Coltrane and was fairly tall, burly, and erect.They were twenty-five years apart, but they looked like brothers in appearance.Gorley looked old, his face puffy and lined; the major's peace of mind made his countenance radiant.He put on Golly's shabby old linen jacket and faded hat with a floppy brim. Now, said Golly, taking the rein, I'm respectable.I want you to stay ten feet behind me when we pass there, Major, to give them a good look at me.They're going to find out that I'm not a chronographer, absolutely not.I figured anyway, I'm going to have one more show in front of them.let's go. He galloped off towards the hill, and the major followed as he had requested. Gorley sat upright on the horse, with his head held high, but his eyes flicked to the right, carefully examining every bush, fence, and hiding place in the old house.He said to himself: Will that crazy fool really do it, or is this just my own wild imagination? When he reached the opposite side of the small cemetery, he saw a wisp of white smoke rising from the thick fir bushes in the corner of what he was looking for.He fell slowly to the left, and the major galloped after him and put his arms around him. The squirrel shooter didn't boast too much about his eyesight.His bullet hit Abner Gorry exactly where he wanted it, where Gorry expected it to be.The front of Major Coltrane's black tweed jacket. Gorley leaned heavily on Coltrane, but didn't fall off.The two horses walked side by side, and the major supported him with his arm.A cluster of white little houses gleamed among the trees in a cluster of laurel trees half a mile away.Gorley groped with his hand and finally found Coltrane's hand that held the rein for him. good friend.That's all he said. Yancy.Gorley made the most of the show that was in his power as he passed the ancestral home.