British Columbia -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Revenge -- Fiction; Sawmills -- Fiction
She set them off singing and more drink was brought in, and still
Annawillee said she was very "keely" or sad. Indeed, she was weeping
drunk and no one paid any attention to her, least of all Chihuahua.
Jack sang a chanty about Dandy Rob of the Orinoco and a pleasing meal
of boiled sawdust and bullock's liver, "blow, my bully boys, blow!"
and wept to think of Whitechapel. An encore resulted in "My rorty
carrotty Sal, who kems from W'itechapal," and then Jack subsided amid
applause, and slept the sleep of great success.
But Pete was now "full" and could speak to Chihuahua and to Spanish
Joe and Skookum Charlie who had come in together.
"Why you come here, Pete?" asked Skookum. "They say you have a good
jhob up to Kamloops."
"I tell you, tilikum," said Pete. "Me and Jenny here was with Ned
Quin, Cultus Muckamuck we call him up alound the Dly Belt. Ain't he
a son of a gun, Jenny?"
Jenny nodded and took a cigarette from Chihuahua with a heavenly
smile. They were all lying around the fire but Pete and Jenny. The
other klootchmen were mostly fast asleep: Indian Annie was
insensible. Pete went on talking in a high pitched but not
unpleasant voice. His English was by no means so bad though not so
good as Jenny's.
"Mary, my sister, she's Ned Quin's klootchman," said Pete, "and has
been with him years, since his white woman died. I forget how long:
nika kopet kumtuks, it's so long. So me and Jenny work there: she
with Mary, me outside with the moos-mooses, wagon, plowin',
harrowin', and scraper team. Oh, I work lika hell all one year,
dollar a day and muckamuck: and old Ned he was Cultus Muckamuck, oh,
you bet, tilikums: mean as mud. Him and me don't hit it off, but I
lika the place, not too wet, good kieutans to ride, and, when I get
sick and full up of Cultus, Jenny here she fond of my sister and when
she was full up of Mary I just happen to pull with Cultus, so that's
why we stay. Sometime the old dog he allow a dollar a day too much
for me, and me workin' lika a mule. Oh, I work alla time, by God,
velly little dlunk only sometime in Kamloops. And I say 'Look here,
Cultus, I not care one damn, I can go. I can quit:--you pay me!'
But when it came to pay out dolla he very sick, for sure. So I say,
'You be damn,' and he laughed and went away, for I had a neck-yoke in
my hand, ha!"
Pete showed his teeth savagely, and the others grinned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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