Джек Лондон / Jack London
Белый клык / White Fang
Адаптация текста, составление комментариев, упражнений и словаря Д. А. Демидовой
© Д. А. Демидова, адаптация текста, комментарии, упражнения, словарь
© ООО «Издательство АСТ»
Part I
Chapter I. The Trail of the Meat
Dark forest was on both sides of the waterway. The trees had been damaged by a recent wind and seemed to lean on each other. Silence ruled over the land. The land itself was lifeless, so lonely and cold that it was not even sad. There was laughter in it, but laughter more terrible than any sadness. It was the masterful wisdom of eternity laughing at the uselessness of life. It was the frozen-hearted Northland Wild.
But there was life. Down the frozen waterway ran a string of dogs. Their fur was in frost. Their breath froze in the air. Leather harness was on the dogs, and leather traces attached them to a sled which dragged behind. On the sled there was a long and narrow oblong box. There were other things blankets, an axe, a coffee-pot and a frying-pan; but the long and narrow oblong box occupied the most space.
Before the dogs, on wide snowshoes, walked a man. Behind the sled walked a second man. On the sled, in the box, lay a third man whose walk was over, a man whom the Wild had conquered and beaten. Life is an offence to the Wild, because life is movement; and the Wild wants to destroy movement. It freezes the water; it drives the sap out of the trees; and most terribly of all it treats man man who is the most active of life.
But before and after the dogs walked the two men who were not yet dead. Their bodies were covered with fur and leather; eyelashes, cheeks and lips were covered with the crystals from their frozen breath; so they looked like undertakers at the funeral of some ghost. But they were men, going through the land of silence, adventurers on colossal adventure.
They travelled on without speaking to save their breath. On every side was the pressing silence. It affected their minds as the many atmospheres of deep water affect the body of the diver. It pressed all the false self-values of the human soul out of them, like juices from the grape. They felt small, having little wisdom against the great blind elements.
An hour went by, and a second hour. The light of the short sunless day was beginning to fade, when a faint far cry sounded on the air and then slowly died away. There was anger and hunger in it. The front man turned his head and his eyes met the eyes of the man behind. And then, across the narrow oblong box, they nodded to each other.
There was a second cry, somewhere behind. A third and answering cry sounded in the air.
Theyre after us, Bill, said the man at the front.
Theres little meat, answered his comrade. I havent seen a rabbit for days.
They spoke no more, but listened attentively.
When it became dark they took the dogs into a cluster of trees and made a camp. The coffin served for seat and table. The dogs clustered on the far side of the fire, snarled among themselves, but didnt go into the darkness.
Seems to me, theyre staying remarkably close to camp, Bill said.
His companion nodded, then took his seat on the coffin and began to eat.
Henry, did you notice how the dogs behaved when I was feeding them?
They played more than usual.
How many dogs have we got, Henry?
Six.
Well, Henry Bill stopped for a moment, in order to sound more significant. As I was saying, I took six fish out of the bag. I gave one fish to each dog, and, Henry, I was one fish short.
You counted wrong.
Weve got six dogs. I took out six fish. One Ear didnt get a fish. I came back to the bag afterward and got him his fish.
Weve only got six dogs, Henry said.
Then there were seven of them that got fish.
Henry stopped eating to count the dogs.
Theres only six now, he said.
I saw the other one run off. I saw seven.
Henry looked at him and said, Ill be very glad when this trip is over.
What do you mean?
I mean that our load is getting on your nerves,[1] and youre beginning to see things.[2]
But I saw its tracks on the snow. I can show them to you.
Henry didnt reply at once. He had a final cup of coffee and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Then you think it was one of them?
Bill nodded.
I think youre mistaken, Henry said.
Henry he paused. Henry, I was thinking he was much luckier than you and me. He pointed at the box on which they sat, When we die, well be lucky if we get enough stones over our bodies to keep the dogs off of us.
But we dont have people, money and all the rest, like him. Long-distance funerals is something we cant afford.
What worries me, Henry, is why a chap like this, who is a kind of lord in his own country, comes to the end of the earth.
Yes, he might have lived to old age if hed stayed at home.
Bill opened his mouth to speak, but changed his mind. Instead, he pointed towards the wall of darkness that pressed about them from every side. Nothing could be seen there but a pair of eyes gleaming like coals. Henry indicated with his head a second pair, and a third. A circle of the gleaming eyes was around their camp.
The unrest of the dogs was increasing. One of them came too close to the fire and yelped with pain and fright. The circle of eyes withdraw a bit, but it appeared again when the dogs became quiet.
Henry, its a misfortune to be out of ammunition.
Bill had finished his pipe and was helping his companion to spread the bed of fur and blanket.
How many cartridges did you leave? Henry asked.
Three. And I wish it was three hundred!
He shook his fist angrily at the gleaming eyes, and put his moccasins before the fire.
And I wish it was not so cold he went on. It has been fifty below zero for two weeks now. And I wish Id never started on this trip, Henry. I dont like it. And I wish the trip was over, and you and I were sitting by the fire in Fort McGurry and playing cards.
Henry grunted and crawled into bed. Then he was woken by his comrades voice.
Say, Henry, that other one that came in and got a fish why didnt the dogs bite it? Thats whats bothering me.
Youre bothering too much, Bill. Just shut up now, and go to sleep. You have a stomach ache, thats whats bothering you.
The men slept, breathing heavily, side by side, under the one covering. The fire died down, and the gleaming eyes drew closer. The dogs kept together in fear. Once their noise became so loud that Bill woke up. He got out of bed carefully and threw more wood on the fire. The circle of eyes drew back. He glanced at the dogs, then rubbed his eyes and looked at them again. Then he crawled back into the blankets.
Henry, he said. Oh, Henry.
Henry groaned, Whats wrong now?
Nothing, only theres seven of them again. I just counted.
Henry grunted again and fell asleep.
In the morning it was he who awoke first and woke up his companion. It was still dark, though it was already six oclock; and Henry started preparing breakfast, while Bill rolled the blankets and made the sled ready.
Say, Henry, he asked suddenly, how many dogs did you say we had?
Six.
Wrong, Bill said triumphantly.
Seven again?
No, five; ones gone.
The hell! Henry cried in anger, left the cooking and went to count the dogs.
Youre right, Bill, he concluded. Fattys gone. They just swallowed him alive, damn them!
He always was a fool dog.
But not fool enough to commit suicide. I bet none of the others would do it.
Couldnt drive them away from the fire with a club, Bill agreed. I always thought there was something wrong with Fatty anyway.
And this was the epitaph of a dead dog on the Northland trail, and it was longer than the epitaphs of many other dogs, many other men.
Chapter II. The She-Wolf
After breakfast the men set off again. Fiercely sad cries called through the darkness to one another and answered back. Daylight came at nine oclock. At midday the sky to the south warmed to rose-colour, but it soon faded. After the grey light of day faded as well, the Arctic night descended upon the land.
As darkness came, the hunting-cries around them drew closer so close that the dogs had occasional periods of panic. It was getting on mens nerves.
Henry was cooking supper when he heard the sound of a blow, an exclamation from Bill, and a cry of pain from dogs. He straightened up in time to see a dim silhouette running into the dark. Then he saw Bill, standing among the dogs, in one hand a club, in the other the tail and part of the body of a salmon.
I got half of it, he announced; but it got the other half. Did you hear it squeal?
What did it look like?
Couldnt see. But it had four legs and a mouth and hair and looked like any dog.
Must be a tame wolf, I reckon.
Damn! It must be tame, whatever it is, if it is coming here at feeding time.
That night, when supper was finished and they sat on the oblong box and smoked, the circle of gleaming eyes drew in even closer than before.
I wish theyd go away and leave us alone,[3] Bill said.
For a quarter of an hour they sat on in silence, Henry staring at the fire, and Bill at the circle of eyes that burned in the darkness.
I wish we were going into McGurry right now, he began again.
Shut up your wishing, Henry said angrily. Your have a stomach ache. Thats whats bothering you. Take a spoonful of sody, and youll be a more pleasant company.
In the morning Henry was awakened by Bills swearing. He saw his comrade standing among the dogs, his arms raised and his face angry.
Hello! Henry called. Whats up now?
Frogs gone.
No.
I tell you yes.
Henry came to the dogs, counted them with care, and then joined his partner in cursing the Wild that had robbed them of another dog.
Frog was our strongest dog, Bill said finally.
And he was no fool, Henry added.
And so it was the second epitaph in two days.
The next day was a repetition of the days that had gone before. All was silent in the world but[4] the cries of their pursuers.
There, thatll fix you, fool creatures, Bill said with satisfaction that night. He tied the dogs, after the Indian method, with sticks. About the neck of each dog was a leather thong. To this he had tied a stick four or five feet[5] in length. The other end of the stick, in turn, was attached to a stake in the ground.