【英文原著类】a millionaire of rough-and-ready(粗犷的百万富翁).pdf

A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY
A MILLIONAIRE OF
ROUGH-AND-READY
by BRET HARTE
1
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY
PROLOGUE
There was no mistake this time: he had struck gold at last!
It had lain there before him a moment ago--a misshapen piece of
brown-stained quartz, interspersed with dull yellow metal; yielding
enough to have allowed the points of his pick to rate its
bed recesses, yet heavy enough to drop from the point of his
pick as he endeavored to lift it from the red earth.
He was seeing all this plainly, although he found himself, he knew not
why, at some distance from the scene of his discovery, his heart foolishly
beating, his breath impotently hurried. Yet he was walking slowly and
vaguely; conscious of stopping and staring at the landscape, which no
longer looked familiar to him. He was hoping for some instinct or force
of habit to recall him to himself; yet when he saw a neighbor at work in an
adjacent claim, he hesitated, and then turned his back upon him. Yet only
a moment before he had thought of running to him, saying, "By Jingo!
I've struck it," or "D--n it, old man, I've got it"; but that moment had
passed, and now it seemed to him that he could scarce raise his voice, or,
if he did, the ejaculation would appear forced and artificial. Neither
could he go over to him coolly and tell his good fortune; and, partly from
this strange shyness, and partly with a hope that another survey of the
treasure might restore him to natural expression, he walked back to his
tunnel.
Yes; it was there! No mere "pocket" or "deposit," but a part of the
actual vein he had been so long seeking. It was there, sure enough, lying
beside the pick and the debris of the "face" of the vein that he had exposed
sufficiently, after the first shock of discovery, to assure himself of the fact
and the permanence of his fortune. It was there, and with it the refutation
of his enemies' sneers, the corroboration of his friends' belief, the pra