厄斯金·考德威尔/Erskine Caldwell
The driver stopped at the suspended footbridge and pointed out to me the house across the river.I paid him the quarter fare for the ride from the station two miles away and stepped from the car.After he had gone I was alone with the chill night and the star-pointed lights twinkling in the valley and the broad green river flowing warm below me.All around me the mountains rose like black clouds in the night,and only by looking straight heavenward could I see anything of the dim afterglow of sunset.
The creaking footbridge swayed with the rhythm of my stride and the momentum of its swing soon overcame my pace.Only by walking faster and faster could I cling to the pendulum as it swung in its wide arc over the river.When at last I could see the other side,where the mountain came down abruptly and slid under the warm water,I gripped my handbag tighter and ran with all my might.
Even then,even after my feet had crunched upon the gravel path,I was afraid.I knew that by day I might walk the bridge without fear,but at night,in a strange country,with dark mountains towering all around me and a broad green river flowing beneath me,I could not keep my hands from trembling and my heart from pounding against my chest.
I found the house easily,and laughed at myself for having run from the river.The house was the first one to come upon after leaving the footbridge,and even if I should have missed it,Gretchen would,have called me.She was there on the steps of the porch waiting for me.When I heard her familiar voice calling my name,I was ashamed of myself for having been frightened by the mountains and the broad river flowing below.
She ran down the gravel path to meet me.
“Did the footbridge frighten you,Richard?”she asked excitedly,holding my arm with both of her hands and guiding me up the path to the house.
“I think it did,Gretchen,”I said:“but I hope I outran it.”
“Everyone tries to do that at first,but after going over it once,It’s like walking a tight-rope.I used to walk tight-ropes when I was small-didn’t you do that,too,Richard？We had a rope stretched across the floor of our barn to practice on.”