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The Night Horseman by Max Brand, CHAPTER XXXIII. DOCTOR BYRNE SHOWS THE TRUTH

CHAPTER XXXIII. DOCTOR BYRNE SHOWS THE TRUTH

On this day of low-lying mists, this day so dull that not a shadow was cast by tree or house or man, there was no graver place than the room of old Joe Cumberland; even lamp light was more merciful in the room, for it left the corners of the big apartment in obscurity, but this meagre daylight stripped away all illusion and left the room naked and ugly. Those colours of wall and carpet, once brighter than spring, showed now as faded and lifeless as foliage in the dead days of late November when the leaves have no life except what keeps them clinging to the twig, and when their fallen fellows are lifted and rustled on the ground by every faint wind, with a sound like breathing in the forest. And like autumn, too, was the face of Joe Cumberland, with a colour neither flushed nor pale, but a dull sallow which foretells death. Beside his bed sat Doctor Randall Byrne and kept the pressure of two fingers upon the wrist of the rancher.

When he removed the thermometer from between the lips of Cumberland the old man spoke, but without lifting his closed eyelids, as if even this were an effort which he could only accomplish by a great concentration of the will.

"No fever to-day, doc?" "You feel a little better?" asked Byrne.

"They ain't no feelin'. But I ain't hot; jest sort of middlin' cold." Doctor Byrne glanced down at the thermometer with a frown, and then shook down the mercury.

"No," he admitted, "there is no fever." Joe Cumberland opened his eyes a trifle and peered up at Byrne.

"You ain't satisfied, doc?" Doctor Randall Byrne was of that merciless modern school which believes in acquainting the patient with the truth.

"I am not," he said. "H-m-m!" murmured the sick man. "And what might be wrong?" "Your pulse is uneven and weak," said the doctor. "I been feelin' sort of weak since I seen Dan last night," admitted the other. "But that news Kate brought me will bring me up! She's kept him here, lad, think of that!" "I am thinking of it," answered the doctor coldly. "Your last interview with him nearly—killed you. If you see him again I shall wash my hands of the case. When he first came you felt better at once—in fact, I admit that you seemed to do better both in body and mind. But the thing could not last. It was a false stimulus, and when the first effects had passed away, it left you in this condition. Mr. Cumberland, you must see him no more!" But Joe Cumberland laughed long and softly.

"Life," he murmured, "ain't worth that much! Not half!" "I can do no more than advise," said the doctor, as reserved as before. "I cannot command." "A bit peeved, doc?" queried the old man. "Well, sir, I know they ain't much longer for me. Lord, man, I can feel myself going out like a flame in a lamp when the oil runs up. I can feel life jest makin' its last few jumps in me like the flame up the chimney. But listen to me——" he reached out a long, large knuckled, claw-like hand and drew the doctor down over him, and his eyes were earnest—"I got to live till I see 'em standin' here beside me, hand in hand, doc!" The doctor, even by that dim light, had changed colour. He passed his hand slowly across his forehead.

"You expect to see that?" "I expect nothin'. I only hope!" The bitterness of Byrne's heart came up in his throat. "It will be an oddly suited match," he said, "if they marry. But they will not marry." "Ha!" cried Cumberland, and starting up in bed he braced himself on a quaking elbow. "What's that?" "Lie down!" ordered the doctor, and pressed the ranchman back against the pillows.

"But what d'you mean?" "It would be a long story—the scientific explanation." "Doc, where Dan is concerned I got more patience than Job." "In brief, then, I will prove to you that there is no mystery in this Daniel Barry." "If you can do that, doc, you're more of a man than I been guessing you for. Start now!" "In primitive times," said Doctor Randall Byrne, "man was nearly related to what we now call the lower animals. In those days he could not surround himself with an artificial protective environment. He depended on the unassisted strength of his body. His muscular and sensuous development, therefore, was far in advance of that of the modern man. For modern man has used his mind at the expense of his body. The very quality of his muscles is altered; and the senses of sight and hearing, for instance, are much blunted. For in the primitive days the ear kept guard over man even when he slept in terror of a thousand deadly enemies, each stronger than he; and the eye had to be keenly attuned to probe the shadows of the forest for lurking foes.

"Now, sir, there is in biology the thing known, as the sport. You will have heard that all living organisms undergo gradual processes of change. Season by season and year by year, environment affects the individual; yet these gradual changes are extremely slow. Between steps of noticeable change there elapse periods many times longer than the life of historic man. All speed in changes such as these comes in what we call 'sports'. That is, a particular plant, for instance, gradually tends to have fewer leaves and a thicker bark, but the change is slight from age to age until suddenly a single instance occurs of plant which realises suddenly in a single step the 'ideal' towards which the species has been striving. In a word, it has very, very few leaves, and an extraordinarily thick bark.

"For a particular instance, one species of orange tended to have few and fewer seeds. But finally came an orange tree whose fruit had no seeds at all. That was the origin of the navel orange. And that was a typical 'sport'. "Now, there is the reverse of the sport. Instead of jumping long distance ahead, an individual may lapse back towards the primitive. That individual is called an atavism. For instance, in this mountain-desert there has, for several generations, been a pressure of environment calling for a species of man which will be able to live with comparative comfort in a waste region—a man, in a word, equipped with such powerful organisms that he will be as much at home in the heart of the desert as an ordinary man would be in a drawing-room. You gather the drift of my argument.

"I have observed this man Barry carefully. I am thoroughly convinced that he is such an atavism.

"Among other men he seems strange. He is different and therefore he seems mysterious. As a matter of fact, he is quite a common freak. I could name you others like him in differing from common men, though not differing from them in exactly the same manner.

"You see the result of this? Daniel Barry is a man to whom the desert is necessary, because he was made for the desert. He is lonely among crowds—you have said it yourself—but he is at home in a mountain wilderness with a horse and a dog." "Doc, you talk well," broke in Joe Cumberland, "but if he ain't human, why do humans like him so much? Why does he mean so much to me—to Kate?" "Simply because he is different. You get from him what you could get from no other man in the world, perhaps, and you fail to see that the fellow is really more akin to his wolf-dog than he is to a man." "Supposin' I said you was right," murmured the old man, frowning, "how d'you explain why he likes other folks. According to you, the desert and the mountains and animals is what he wants. Then how is it that he took so much care of me when he come back this time? How is it that he likes Kate, enough to give up a trail of blood to stay here with her?" "It is easy to explain the girl's attraction," said the doctor. "All animals wish to mate, Mr. Cumberland, and an age old instinct is now working out in Dan Barry. But while you and Kate may please him, you are not necessary to him. He left you once before and he was quite happy in his desert. And I tell you, Mr. Cumberland, that he will leave you again. You cannot tame the untameable. It is not habit that rules this man. It is instinct a million years old. The call which he will hear is the call of the wilderness, and to answer it he will leave father and wife and children and ride out with his horse and his dog!" The old man lay quite motionless, staring at the ceiling.

"I don't want to believe you," he said slowly, "but before God I think you're right. Oh, lad, why was I bound up in a tangle like this one? And Kate—what will she do?" The doctor was quivering with excitement.

"Let the man stay with her. In time she will come to see the brute nature of Daniel Barry. That will be the end of him with her." "Brute. Doc. They ain't nobody as gentle as Dan!" "Till he tastes blood, a lion can be raised like a house-dog," answered the doctor. "Then she mustn't marry him? Ay, I've felt it—jest what you've put in words. It's livin' death for Kate if she marries him! She's kept him here to-day. To-morrow something may cross him, and the minute he feels the pull of it, he'll be off on the trail—the blow of a man, the hollering out of the wild geese—God knows what it'll take to start him wild again and forget us all—jest the way a child forgets its parents!" A voice broke in upon them, calling far away: "Dan! Dan Barry!"

CHAPTER XXXIII. DOCTOR BYRNE SHOWS THE TRUTH ГЛАВА XXXIII. ДОКТОР БАЙРН ПОКАЗЫВАЕТ ПРАВДУ

On this day of low-lying mists, this day so dull that not a shadow was cast by tree or house or man, there was no graver place than the room of old Joe Cumberland; even lamp light was more merciful in the room, for it left the corners of the big apartment in obscurity, but this meagre daylight stripped away all illusion and left the room naked and ugly. Nesse dia de neblina baixa, tão monótono que nenhuma sombra era projetada por árvore, casa ou homem, não havia lugar mais grave do que o quarto do velho Joe Cumberland; até a luz do lampião era mais misericordiosa no quarto, pois deixava os cantos do grande apartamento na obscuridade, mas essa escassa luz do dia tirava toda a ilusão e deixava o quarto nu e feio. Those colours of wall and carpet, once brighter than spring, showed now as faded and lifeless as foliage in the dead days of late November when the leaves have no life except what keeps them clinging to the twig, and when their fallen fellows are lifted and rustled on the ground by every faint wind, with a sound like breathing in the forest. Aquelas cores de parede e carpete, outrora mais brilhantes que a primavera, mostravam-se agora tão desbotadas e sem vida quanto a folhagem nos dias mortos do final de novembro, quando as folhas não têm vida, exceto o que as mantém agarradas ao galho, e quando seus companheiros caídos são levantados e farfalhado no chão por cada vento fraco, com um som como respirar na floresta. And like autumn, too, was the face of Joe Cumberland, with a colour neither flushed nor pale, but a dull sallow which foretells death. E como o outono também era o rosto de Joe Cumberland, com uma cor nem ruborizada nem pálida, mas um pálido pálido que anuncia a morte. Beside his bed sat Doctor Randall Byrne and kept the pressure of two fingers upon the wrist of the rancher. Ao lado de sua cama sentou-se o Dr. Randall Byrne e manteve a pressão de dois dedos sobre o pulso do fazendeiro.

When he removed the thermometer from between the lips of Cumberland the old man spoke, but without lifting his closed eyelids, as if even this were an effort which he could only accomplish by a great concentration of the will. Quando retirou o termômetro de entre os lábios de Cumberland, o velho falou, mas sem levantar as pálpebras fechadas, como se mesmo isso fosse um esforço que só pudesse realizar com uma grande concentração de vontade.

"No fever to-day, doc?" "You feel a little better?" asked Byrne.

"They ain't no feelin'. "Eles não estão sentindo. But I ain't hot; jest sort of middlin' cold." Mas eu não sou quente; meio que meio frio." Doctor Byrne glanced down at the thermometer with a frown, and then shook down the mercury. O doutor Byrne baixou os olhos para o termômetro com o cenho franzido e depois sacudiu o mercúrio.

"No," he admitted, "there is no fever." Joe Cumberland opened his eyes a trifle and peered up at Byrne. Joe Cumberland abriu um pouco os olhos e olhou para Byrne.

"You ain't satisfied, doc?" Doctor Randall Byrne was of that merciless modern school which believes in acquainting the patient with the truth. O doutor Randall Byrne era daquela escola moderna impiedosa que acredita em informar o paciente com a verdade.

"I am not," he said. "H-m-m!" murmured the sick man. "And what might be wrong?" "Your pulse is uneven and weak," said the doctor. "Seu pulso é irregular e fraco", disse o médico. "I been feelin' sort of weak since I seen Dan last night," admitted the other. "But that news Kate brought me will bring me up! "Mas essa notícia que Kate me trouxe vai me trazer à tona! She's kept him here, lad, think of that!" Ela o manteve aqui, rapaz, pense nisso!" "I am thinking of it," answered the doctor coldly. "Your last interview with him nearly—killed you. "Sua última entrevista com ele quase matou você. If you see him again I shall wash my hands of the case. When he first came you felt better at once—in fact, I admit that you seemed to do better both in body and mind. But the thing could not last. Mas a coisa não poderia durar. It was a false stimulus, and when the first effects had passed away, it left you in this condition. Mr. Cumberland, you must see him no more!" But Joe Cumberland laughed long and softly. Mas Joe Cumberland riu longa e suavemente.

"Life," he murmured, "ain't worth that much! Not half!" "I can do no more than advise," said the doctor, as reserved as before. "I cannot command." "A bit peeved, doc?" "Um pouco irritado, doutor?" queried the old man. "Well, sir, I know they ain't much longer for me. "Bem, senhor, eu sei que eles não são muito mais longos para mim. Lord, man, I can feel myself going out like a flame in a lamp when the oil runs up. Senhor, cara, eu posso me sentir apagando como a chama de uma lâmpada quando o óleo acaba. I can feel life jest makin' its last few jumps in me like the flame up the chimney. Eu posso sentir a brincadeira da vida dando seus últimos saltos em mim como a chama na chaminé. But listen to me——" he reached out a long, large knuckled, claw-like hand and drew the doctor down over him, and his eyes were earnest—"I got to live till I see 'em standin' here beside me, hand in hand, doc!" Mas me escute... — ele estendeu uma mão comprida e grande, com nós dos dedos, em forma de garra, e puxou o médico para cima dele, e seus olhos estavam sérios — "Eu tenho que viver até vê-los aqui ao meu lado, de mãos dadas, doutor!" The doctor, even by that dim light, had changed colour. O médico, mesmo com aquela luz fraca, havia mudado de cor. He passed his hand slowly across his forehead.

"You expect to see that?" "I expect nothin'. I only hope!" The bitterness of Byrne's heart came up in his throat. A amargura do coração de Byrne subiu em sua garganta. "It will be an oddly suited match," he said, "if they marry. "Será um casamento estranhamente adequado", disse ele, "se eles se casarem. But they will not marry." "Ha!" cried Cumberland, and starting up in bed he braced himself on a quaking elbow. gritou Cumberland, e, levantando-se na cama, apoiou-se num cotovelo trêmulo. "What's that?" "Lie down!" ordered the doctor, and pressed the ranchman back against the pillows. ordenou o médico, e pressionou o rancheiro contra os travesseiros.

"But what d'you mean?" "It would be a long story—the scientific explanation." "Doc, where Dan is concerned I got more patience than Job." "Doc, no que diz respeito a Dan, eu tenho mais paciência do que Job." "In brief, then, I will prove to you that there is no mystery in this Daniel Barry." "Em resumo, então, vou provar a você que não há mistério neste Daniel Barry." "If you can do that, doc, you're more of a man than I been guessing you for. "Se você pode fazer isso, doutor, você é mais homem do que eu imaginava. Start now!" "In primitive times," said Doctor Randall Byrne, "man was nearly related to what we now call the lower animals. In those days he could not surround himself with an artificial protective environment. Naqueles dias, ele não podia cercar-se de um ambiente protetor artificial. He depended on the unassisted strength of his body. Ele dependia da força desassistida de seu corpo. His muscular and sensuous development, therefore, was far in advance of that of the modern man. Seu desenvolvimento muscular e sensual, portanto, estava muito à frente do homem moderno. For modern man has used his mind at the expense of his body. Pois o homem moderno usou sua mente em detrimento de seu corpo. The very quality of his muscles is altered; and the senses of sight and hearing, for instance, are much blunted. A própria qualidade de seus músculos é alterada; e os sentidos da visão e da audição, por exemplo, estão muito embotados. For in the primitive days the ear kept guard over man even when he slept in terror of a thousand deadly enemies, each stronger than he; and the eye had to be keenly attuned to probe the shadows of the forest for lurking foes. Pois nos dias primitivos o ouvido guardava o homem mesmo quando ele dormia aterrorizado por mil inimigos mortais, cada um mais forte do que ele; e o olho tinha que estar bem sintonizado para sondar as sombras da floresta em busca de inimigos à espreita.

"Now, sir, there is in biology the thing known, as the sport. "Agora, senhor, existe na biologia a coisa conhecida, como o esporte. You will have heard that all living organisms undergo gradual processes of change. Você já deve ter ouvido falar que todos os organismos vivos passam por processos graduais de mudança. Season by season and year by year, environment affects the individual; yet these gradual changes are extremely slow. Between steps of noticeable change there elapse periods many times longer than the life of historic man. Entre etapas de mudança perceptível transcorrem períodos muitas vezes mais longos do que a vida do homem histórico. All speed in changes such as these comes in what we call 'sports'. Toda velocidade em mudanças como essas vem no que chamamos de 'esportes'. That is, a particular plant, for instance, gradually tends to have fewer leaves and a thicker bark, but the change is slight from age to age until suddenly a single instance occurs of plant which realises suddenly in a single step the 'ideal' towards which the species has been striving. Ou seja, uma determinada planta, por exemplo, gradualmente tende a ter menos folhas e uma casca mais grossa, mas a mudança é pequena de idade para idade até que de repente ocorre um único exemplo de planta que percebe de repente em um único passo o 'ideal' para que a espécie tem lutado. In a word, it has very, very few leaves, and an extraordinarily thick bark. Em uma palavra, tem muito, muito poucas folhas e uma casca extraordinariamente grossa.

"For a particular instance, one species of orange tended to have few and fewer seeds. "Para um caso particular, uma espécie de laranja tendia a ter cada vez menos sementes. But finally came an orange tree whose fruit had no seeds at all. That was the origin of the navel orange. Essa foi a origem da laranja do umbigo. And that was a typical 'sport'. E isso era um 'esporte' típico. "Now, there is the reverse of the sport. Instead of jumping long distance ahead, an individual may lapse back towards the primitive. Em vez de saltar longas distâncias à frente, um indivíduo pode retroceder em direção ao primitivo. That individual is called an atavism. Esse indivíduo é chamado de atavismo. For instance, in this mountain-desert there has, for several generations, been a pressure of environment calling for a species of man which will be able to live with comparative comfort in a waste region—a man, in a word, equipped with such powerful organisms that he will be as much at home in the heart of the desert as an ordinary man would be in a drawing-room. Por exemplo, neste deserto montanhoso tem havido, por várias gerações, uma pressão do meio ambiente exigindo uma espécie de homem que será capaz de viver com relativo conforto em uma região devastada – um homem, em uma palavra, equipado com tais organismos poderosos que ele se sentirá tão à vontade no coração do deserto quanto um homem comum estaria em uma sala de visitas. You gather the drift of my argument. Você entende a deriva do meu argumento.

"I have observed this man Barry carefully. I am thoroughly convinced that he is such an atavism. Estou completamente convencido de que ele é um tal atavismo.

"Among other men he seems strange. He is different and therefore he seems mysterious. As a matter of fact, he is quite a common freak. Na verdade, ele é uma aberração bastante comum. I could name you others like him in differing from common men, though not differing from them in exactly the same manner. Eu poderia nomeá-lo outros como ele em diferir dos homens comuns, embora não diferindo deles exatamente da mesma maneira.

"You see the result of this? Daniel Barry is a man to whom the desert is necessary, because he was made for the desert. Daniel Barry é um homem para quem o deserto é necessário, porque foi feito para o deserto. He is lonely among crowds—you have said it yourself—but he is at home in a mountain wilderness with a horse and a dog." Ele está sozinho entre as multidões - você mesmo disse - mas ele está em casa em um deserto montanhoso com um cavalo e um cachorro." "Doc, you talk well," broke in Joe Cumberland, "but if he ain't human, why do humans like him so much? "Doutor, você fala bem", interrompeu Joe Cumberland, "mas se ele não é humano, por que os humanos gostam tanto dele? Why does he mean so much to me—to Kate?" "Simply because he is different. You get from him what you could get from no other man in the world, perhaps, and you fail to see that the fellow is really more akin to his wolf-dog than he is to a man." Você consegue dele o que não conseguiria de nenhum outro homem no mundo, talvez, e não consegue ver que o sujeito é realmente mais parecido com seu cão-lobo do que com um homem. "Supposin' I said you was right," murmured the old man, frowning, "how d'you explain why he likes other folks. "Supondo que eu disse que você estava certo", murmurou o velho, franzindo a testa, "como você explica por que ele gosta de outras pessoas. According to you, the desert and the mountains and animals is what he wants. Then how is it that he took so much care of me when he come back this time? Então como é que ele cuidou tanto de mim quando voltou desta vez? How is it that he likes Kate, enough to give up a trail of blood to stay here with her?" "It is easy to explain the girl's attraction," said the doctor. "All animals wish to mate, Mr. Cumberland, and an age old instinct is now working out in Dan Barry. "Todos os animais desejam acasalar, Sr. Cumberland, e um instinto antigo está funcionando agora em Dan Barry. But while you and Kate may please him, you are not necessary to him. Mas enquanto você e Kate podem agradá-lo, você não é necessária para ele. He left you once before and he was quite happy in his desert. And I tell you, Mr. Cumberland, that he will leave you again. You cannot tame the untameable. Você não pode domar o indomável. It is not habit that rules this man. Não é o hábito que governa este homem. It is instinct a million years old. The call which he will hear is the call of the wilderness, and to answer it he will leave father and wife and children and ride out with his horse and his dog!" O chamado que ele ouvirá é o chamado do deserto, e para respondê-lo ele deixará pai, esposa e filhos e sairá com seu cavalo e seu cachorro!" The old man lay quite motionless, staring at the ceiling. O velho ficou imóvel, olhando para o teto.

"I don't want to believe you," he said slowly, "but before God I think you're right. "Eu não quero acreditar em você", ele disse lentamente, "mas diante de Deus eu acho que você está certo. Oh, lad, why was I bound up in a tangle like this one? Oh, rapaz, por que eu estava amarrado em um emaranhado como este? And Kate—what will she do?" The doctor was quivering with excitement. O médico estava tremendo de excitação.

"Let the man stay with her. In time she will come to see the brute nature of Daniel Barry. That will be the end of him with her." "Brute. Doc. They ain't nobody as gentle as Dan!" "Till he tastes blood, a lion can be raised like a house-dog," answered the doctor. "Até que ele prove o sangue, um leão pode ser criado como um cão doméstico", respondeu o médico. "Then she mustn't marry him? "Então ela não deve se casar com ele? Ay, I've felt it—jest what you've put in words. Sim, eu senti isso – apenas o que você colocou em palavras. It's livin' death for Kate if she marries him! É viver a morte para Kate se ela se casar com ele! She's kept him here to-day. Ela o manteve aqui hoje. To-morrow something may cross him, and the minute he feels the pull of it, he'll be off on the trail—the blow of a man, the hollering out of the wild geese—God knows what it'll take to start him wild again and forget us all—jest the way a child forgets its parents!" Amanhã algo pode atravessá-lo, e no minuto em que ele sentir a força disso, ele estará na trilha - o golpe de um homem, os gritos dos gansos selvagens - Deus sabe o que será necessário para começar ele selvagem de novo e esqueça de todos nós - brinca do jeito que uma criança esquece seus pais!" A voice broke in upon them, calling far away: "Dan! Uma voz irrompeu sobre eles, chamando ao longe: "Dan! Dan Barry!"