"London, Jack - The Son of the Wolf and Other Tales of the North" - читать интересную книгу автора (London Jack)

Morning brought consciousness to the stricken man, and Malemute
Kid bent closer to catch his whispers.
'You remember when we foregathered on the Tanana, four years come
next ice run? I didn't care so much for her then. It was more like she
was pretty, and there was a smack of excitement about it, I think. But
d'ye know, I've come to think a heap of her. She's been a good wife to
me, always at my shoulder in the pinch. And when it comes to
trading, you know there isn't her equal. D'ye recollect the time she
shot the Moosehorn Rapids to pull you and me off that rock, the
bullets whipping the water like hailstones?- and the time of the
famine at Nuklukyeto?- when she raced the ice run to bring the news?
Yes, she's been a good wife to me, better'n that other one. Didn't
know I'd been there? Never told you, eh? Well, I tried it once, down
in the States. That's why I'm here. Been raised together, too. I
came away to give her a chance for divorce. She got it.
'But that's got nothing to do with Ruth. I had thought of cleaning
up and pulling for the Outside next year- her and I- but it's too
late. Don't send her back to her people, Kid. It's beastly hard for
a woman to go back. Think of it!- nearly four years on our bacon and
beans and flour and dried fruit, and then to go back to her fish and
caribou. It's not good for her to have tried our ways, to come to know
they're better'n her people's, and then return to them. Take care of
her, Kid- why don't you- but no, you always fought shy of them- and
you never told me why you came to this country. Be kind to her, and
send her back to the States as soon as you can. But fix it so she
can come back- liable to get homesick, you know.
'And the youngster- it's drawn us closer, Kid. I only hope it is a
boy. Think of it!- flesh of my flesh, Kid. He mustn't stop in this
country. And if it's a girl, why, she can't. Sell my furs; they'll
fetch at least five thousand, and I've got as much more with the
company. And handle my interests with yours. I think that bench
claim will show up. See that he gets a good schooling; and Kid,
above all, don't let him come back. This country was not made for
white men.
'I'm a gone man, Kid. Three or four sleeps at the best. You've got
to go on. You must go on! Remember, it's my wife, it's my boy- O
God! I hope it's a boy! You can't stay by me- and I charge you, a
dying man, to pull on.'
'Give me three days,' pleaded Malemute Kid. 'You may change for
the better; something may turn up.'
'No.'
'Just three days.'
'You must pull on.'
'Two days.'
'It's my wife and my boy, Kid. You would not ask it.'
'One day.'
'No, no! I charge-'
'Only one day. We can shave it through on the grub, and I might
knock over a moose.'
'No- all right; one day, but not a minute more. And, Kid, don't-