Burned Bridges by Bertrand W. Sinclair (win 10 ebook reader .TXT) 📖
- Author: Bertrand W. Sinclair
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Be Aboot When 'Tis Forty Below--An' Gettin' Colder. I'm Thinkin' He'd
Relish A Taste O' Hell-Fire Then, For A Change--Eh, Mike?"
The Two Of Them Went Off Into A Fit Of Silent Laughter, For The Abysmal
Ignorance Of Wesley Thompson Concerning Practical Things, His Awkward
Length Of Body, His Student's Pallor That The Athabasca Sun Had Played
Such Havoc With, His Blue Eyes That Looked So Often With Trepidation Or
Amazement On The Commonplaces Of Their World, His General Incapacity And
Blind Belief That An All-Wise Providence Would Personally Intervene To
Make Things Go Right When They Went Wrong, Had Not Struck These Two
Hardy Children Of The Solitudes As Other Than A Side-Splitting Joke.
"He Rises I' The Mornin'," Macdonald Continued, "Win' A Word Frae The
Book Aboot The Lord Providin', An' He'd Starve If Nabody Was By T' Cook
Chapter 1 (The First Problem) Pg 11His Meal. He Canna Build A Fire Wi'oot Scorchin' His Fingers. He Lays
Hold O' A Paddle Like A Three Months' Babby. He Bids Ye Pit Yer Trust I'
The Lord, An' Himself Rises Up Wi' A Start Every Time A Wolf Raises The
Long Howl At Nicht. I Didna Believe There Was Ever Sae Helpless A
Creature. An' For A' That He's The Laddie That's Here Tae Show The
Heathen--Thae Puir, Sinfu' Heathen, Mind Ye--How Tae Find Grace. No That
He's Any Doot Aboot Bein' Equal Tae The Job. For A' That He's Nigh
Helpless I' The Woods He Was Forever Ying-Yangin' At Me An' Mike For
What He Ca's Sinfu' Pride In Oor Ain' Persons. I've A Notion That If Yon
Had A Bit O' That Same Sinfu' Pride He'd Be The Better Able Tae Make His
Way."
Old Macphee Took The Blackened Clay Pipe From His Mouth And Puffed A
Blue Spiral Into The Dead, Sultry Air. A Sour Expression Gathered About
His Withered Lips.
"Dinna Gibe At Yon Puir Mortal," He Rebuked. "Ye Canna Keep Fools Frae
Wanderin'. I've Seen Manny's The Man Like Him. It's Likely That Once
He's Had A Fair Taste O' The North He'll Be Less A Saint An' More A
Man."
The Afternoon Was Far Spent When They Landed. Breyette And Macdonald
Made Themselves Comfortable With Their Backs Against The Wall. Supper
Came And Was Eaten. Evening Closed In. The Bold, Scorching Stare Of The
Sun Faded. Little Cooling Breezes Fluttered Along The Lake Shore,
Banishing The Last Trace Of That Brassy Heat. Men Who Had Lounged
Indoors, Or Against Shaded Walls Roamed About, And Half-Breed Women
Chattered In Voluble Gutturals Back And Forth Between The Cabins.
Chapter 2 (The Deserted Cabin) Pg 12
In The Factor's Comfortable Quarters Mr. Thompson Sat Down To The First
Meal He Had Thoroughly Relished In Two Weeks. A Corner Of The Verandah
Was Screened Off With Wire Netting. Outside That Barrier Mosquitoes And
Sandflies Buzzed And Swarmed In Futile Activity. Within Stood An Easy
Chair Or Two And A Small Table Which Was Presently Spread With A Linen
Cloth, Set With Porcelain Dishes, And Garnished With Silverware. All The
Way Down The Athabasca Thompson Had Found Every Meal Beset With
Exasperating Difficulties, Fruitful Of Things That Offended Both His
Stomach And His Sense Of Fitness. He Had Not Been Able To Accommodate
Himself To The Necessity Of Juggling A Tin Plate Beside A Campfire, Of
Eating With One Hand And Fending Off Flies With The Other. Also He
Objected To Grains Of Sand And Particles Of Ash And Charred Wood Being
Incorporated With Bread And Meat. Neither Breyette Nor Macdonald Seemed
To Mind. But Thompson Had Never Learned To Adapt Himself To Conditions
That Were Unavoidable. Pitchforked Into A Comparatively Primitive Mode
Chapter 2 (The Deserted Cabin) Pg 13Of Existence And Transportation His First Reaction To It Took The Form
Of Offended Resentment. There Were Times When He Forgot Why He Was
There, Enduring These Things. After Such A Lapse He Prayed For Guidance
And A Patient Heart.
These Creature Comforts Now At Hand Were In A Measure What He Had Been
Accustomed To, What He Had, With No Thought On The Matter, Taken As The
Accepted And Usual Order Of Things, Save That His Needs Had Been
Administered By Two Prim And Elderly Spinster Aunts Instead Of A
Black-Browed Scotchman And A Half-Breed Servant Girl.
Thompson Sat Back After His Supper, Fanning Himself With An Ancient
Newspaper, For The Day's Heat Still Lingered. Across The Table On Which
He Rested An Elbow Macleod, Bearded, Aggressive, Capable, Regarded His
Guest With Half-Contemptuous Pity Under Cover Of The Gathering Dusk.
Macleod Smoked A Pipe. Thompson Chewed The Cud Of Reflection.
"And So," The Factor Began Suddenly, "Ye Are A Missionary To The Lone
Moose Crees. It Will Be A Thankless Task; A Tougher One Nor I'd Care To
Tackle. I Ha' Seen The Job Undertaken Before By Folk Who--Beggin' Your
Pardon--Ha' Little Conception Of The Country, The People In It, Or The
Needs Of Either. Ye'll Find The Cree Has More Concern For Meat An'
Clothes, For Traps An' Powder, Than He Has For His Soul. Ye'll
Understand This Better When Ye Ha' More Experience In The North. Indeed,
It's No Impossible Ye Might Come To The Same Way Of Thinkin' In Time."
The Dusk Hid The Shocked Expression That Gathered On Thompson's Face.
"'What Shall It Profit A Man To Gain The Whole World If He Knoweth Not
God?'" He Quoted Gravely. "The Priests Of The Catholic Church Have Long
Carried On Missionary Work Among These Tribes. We Of The Protestant
Faith Would Be Lacking If We Did Not Try To Extend Our Field, If We Made
No Effort To Bear Light Into The Dark Places. Man's Spiritual Need Is
Always Greater Than Any Material Need Can Ever Be. I Hardly Expect To
Accomplish A Great Deal At First. But The Work Will Grow."
"I See, I See," Macleod Chuckled Dryly. "It's Partly A Matter Of The
Methodist Church Tryin' To Compete With The Fathers, Eh? Well, I Am No
What Ye'd Call Devout. I Ha' Had Much Experience Wi' These Red Folk, An'
Them That's Both Red An' White. An' I Dinna Agree With Ye Aboot Their
Speeritual Needs. I Think Ye Sky-Pilots Would Do Better To Leave Them To
Their Ain Gods, Such As They Are. Man, Do Ye Know That It's Better Than
A Century Since The Fathers Began Their Missionary Labors? A Hundred
Years Of Teachin' An' Preachin'. The Sum Of It A' Is Next To
Nothin'--An' Naebody Knows That Better Than The Same Fathers. They're
Wise, Keen-Sighted Men, Too. What Good They Do They Do In A Material
Way. If Men Like Ye Came Here Wi' Any Certitude Of Lightenin' The
Struggle For Existence--But Ye Canna Do That; Or At Least Ye Dinna Do
That. Ye'll Find That Neither Red Men Nor White Ha' Time Or Inclination
To Praise The Lord An' His Grace An' Bounty When Their Life's One Long
Struggle Wi' Hardships An' Adversity. The God Ye Offer Them Disna
Mitigate These Things. Forbye That, The Indian Disna Want To Be
Christianized. When Ye Come To A Determination Of Abstract Qualities,
His Pagan Beliefs Are As Good For Him As The God Of The Bible. What
Right Ha' We To Cram Oor Speeritual Dogmas Doon His Gullet?"
Chapter 2 (The Deserted Cabin) Pg 14
Macleod Applied Himself To Relighting His Pipe. Thompson Gathered
Himself Together. He Was Momentarily Stricken With Speechless Amazement.
He Knew There Were Such Things As Critical Unbelievers, But He Had Never
Encountered One In The Flesh. His Life Had Been Too Excellently
Supervised And Directed In Youth By The Spinster Aunts. Nor Does
Materialistic Philosophy Flourish In A Theological Seminary. Young Men
In Training For The Ministry Are Taught To Strangle Doubt Whenever It
Rears Its Horrid Head, To See Only With The Single Eye Of Faith.
Neither The Bitterness Of Experience Nor A Natural Gentleness Of Spirit
Had Ever Permitted Thompson To Know The Beauty And Wisdom Of Tolerance.
Whosoever Disputed His Creed And His Consecrated Purpose Must Be In
Error. The Evangelical Spirit Glowed Within Him When He Faced The Factor
Across The Little Table. Figuratively Speaking He Cleared For Action.
His Host, Being A Hard-Headed Son Of A Disputatious Race, Met Him More
Than Half-Way. As A Result Midnight Found Them Still Wordily Engaged,
One Maintaining With Emotional Fervor That Man's Spiritual Welfare Was
The End And Aim Of Human Existence; The Other As Outspoken--If More
Calmly And Critically So--In His Assertion That A Tooth-And-Toenail
Struggle For Existence Left No Room In Any Rational Man's Life For The
Manner Of Religion Set Forth In General By Churches And Churchmen. The
Edge Of Acrimony Crept Into The Argument.
"The Lord Said, 'Leave All Thou Hast And Follow Me,'" Thompson Declared.
"My Dear Sir, You Cannot Dispute--"
"Ay, But Yon Word Was Said Eighteen Hundred Years Past," Macleod
Interrupted. "Since Which Day There's Been A Fair Rate O' Progress In
Man's Knowledge Of Himself An' His Needs. The Biblical Meeracles In The
Way O' Provender Dinna Happen Nowadays--Although Some Ither Modern
Commonplaces Would Partake O' The Meeraculous If We Didna Have A
Rational Knowledge Of Their Process. Men Are No Fed Wi' Loaves And
Fishes Until They Themselves Ha' First Gotten The Loaves An' The Fish.
At Least, It Disna So Happen I' The Pachugan Deestreect. It's Much The
Same The World Over, But Up Here Especially Ye'll Find That The Problem
O' Subsistence Is First An' Foremost, An' Excludes A' Else Till It's
Solved."
With This Macleod, Weary Of An Unprofitable Controversy, Arose, Took Up
A Candle And Showed His Scandalized Guest The Way To Bed.
Thompson Was Full Of A Willingness To Revive The Argument When He Was
Roused For Breakfast At Sunrise. But Macleod Had Said
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