What are the thrilling journeys?

In the early summer of 1861, the American Civil War started, and artillery fire spread to the Mississippi River. All ships were forced to stop sailing, and Mark Twain lost his job.

"Should we support the North or the South?" Mark Twain, like many people in his hometown, did not know what to do. He opposed the war. Some of his friends joined the Northern Army, while others joined. He was suffering from the fact that the Southern troops were fighting among themselves. He returns home.

One day, Mark Twain was walking around the house, thinking about what he should do. There was a knock on the door. Twain's mother carefully opened the door a crack, and carefully He looked at the man outside the door and then let him in.

The person who came was Twain’s childhood friend. He leaned close to Twain’s ear and kept saying something. Twain nodded slightly. Afterwards, Twain finished his meal at home, said hello to his mother and went out.

At night, Mark Twain and 14 young men gathered at a secret location in the town to form a small army and vowed to fight the invading enemies to the end.

A group of rabble rabble: refers to a group of people without organization and discipline. We set out under the cover of darkness and walked all night, finally arriving at a camp belonging to the Southern Army. The people there were all just like Twain's army, some confused young men from the towns. After arriving, everyone was already exhausted (pí) and (bèi) (kān). As soon as they sat down, they started to get food and eat, and then settled here.

In the early days, they borrowed some horses and mules (luó) from local farmers and practiced riding. They lived happily. Then one day, several farmers came to report that an enemy was advancing here. As soon as the news came out, the team was as lively as a pot.

"Run quickly, we can't beat them." Someone shouted in horror.

"Where should we retreat? Oh my God, we are definitely doomed." Many people in the team didn't know what to do.

Twain said loudly: "Guys, be quiet. We haven't got accurate information yet. We don't need to retreat right away. Don't panic."

"You stay and wait. "Die, I'm leaving." Several people in the team shouted (rānɡ) to retreat (chè), "Leave early, it will be too late."

So, the team began to retreat. , a group of people ran in a panic and lost all their guns, ammunition and borrowed horses and mules. They came to a farm and stopped to rest. When someone said that the enemy was coming soon, they immediately ran away again. , ran into the woods, huddled under a tree, and spent a stormy night.

On the second day, they realized that this was a false alarm, but they were still afraid. As soon as they heard about the enemy, they ran away and retreated every few days. Everyone groaned from exhaustion. (áo) Call directly. In the end, they decided not to leave and wanted to have a comfortable sleep first, so they found a farmhouse with a fence and stayed temporarily.

But at night, no one could sleep well, and everyone never closed their eyes. Suddenly, there was a dull sound of horse hooves in the distance, and everyone rushed to the fence, looking out, searching for figures under the dim moonlight.

A man on horseback appeared on the path ahead. "The enemy is coming!" someone said nervously. The young men who had never fought in a war regarded him as a large group of people and trembled. Then he raised his gun and fired. "Bang, bang..." Six gunshots rang out, and the horseman fell off his horse and died.

Everyone held their guns and prepared to continue firing, but no large group of people appeared. After a long time, they started to act cautiously and carefully (yì): originally used to describe a serious and pious look, now it is used to describe actions that are very cautious, without any trace of fear. Dare to neglect. He walked out of the fence and came to the man's side and found that he was not wearing a military uniform or carrying a weapon. He is not an enemy, just a stranger passing by!

Among these six shots, there was also one shot by Mark Twain. He bent down and touched the cold forehead of the deceased, wishing he could bring him back to life.

"Every night, when I think of him, I feel very painful. This killing of innocent people is so cruel. This incident seems to be the epitome of war. All wars are like this. People who have never met each other They kill each other not because they have any hatred for each other.

"Many years later, Mark Twain still could not forget this incident and could not get rid of the feeling of crime.

Mark Twain no longer wanted to fight such a ridiculous war. He returned home with a few friends.

After returning home, Twain got some surprising news. Thanks to the help of a friend, his brother Orion was going to be the chief executive of another state. Take Twain to be his personal secretary. "Would you like to go? It's pretty tough there. "My brother asked Twain for his opinion.

"As long as there is no war, I will go anywhere! "Mark Twain replied happily.

In August 1861, the Mark Twain brothers set out in an old-fashioned six-horse carriage, driving day and night.

As the carriage passed through the desolate Indian areas of the American West, the people in the carriage became nervous. Mark Twain sat on a pile of mail bags with a pistol on his waist. Always looking behind the carriage.

One night, a postman ran past the carriage on a fast horse. Suddenly, a gunshot broke the silence around him. The postman was shot by a bullet from nowhere. Hit. He endured the pain and ran into the distance like a gust of wind.

The coachman comforted them and said: "It's nothing, guys, the road ahead." That's terrible. I was quite full, but I would rather have died there because the Indians had shot me full of bullet holes and all the food I had eaten fell out. "After saying that, he laughed heartily.

The next day, the carriage entered the high mountains and dense forests. At night, the surroundings were dark, and only the whistling of the wind and the sound of raindrops hitting the roof of the car were heard. Mark ·Twain closed the car window, put the pistol beside him, and lay on the mail bag to sleep. Suddenly, a miserable, miserable cry came from the night sky:

"Help." ah! Help! ”

Then there were two gunshots and the sound of sticks hitting people. Twain was about to open the car window to see the situation, when the carriage sped (jí) and quickly left the scene of the accident. place.

In the daytime, Twain learned that a carriage driving in front of them was ambushed by gangsters. The carriage driver did not bring a pistol and was beaten to death. All the items were looted.

“Who are those gangsters? "Twain asked.

"Hey, it's probably Slade's gang who did it," the driver in Twain's car said. "They've killed more than twenty people. . If you sneeze in the wrong place and offend Slade, your life will be worse than a broken horseshoe. Sometimes Slade hates when people laugh, and that person doesn't get a second chance to laugh because he's already dead. "

When he said the words "Slade", the coachman's voice was as soft as a whisper, for fear that others would hear him. Slade is the most terrifying person in the West.

The carriage traveled for eight days and stopped at a small station on the mountain. The passengers got off to eat. The restaurant was full of savage-looking men with dicks tied around their waists. Mark Twain came to a very handsome man. Twain sat down next to the amiable stranger, who also spoke very politely. Twain felt that it was safer to sit next to him. The meal was very comfortable, especially with the drink, which was rare these days. Twain drank the coffee in a few gulps.

The kind-looking stranger was also drinking coffee. At this time, a strong man with a fierce look came over. Xian Yin Qin: "I'll get you some more coffee, Mr. Slade. "

"No need," the man sitting next to Twain said politely: "There is still some in the pot. "

Twain was stunned. It turned out that he was the murderous Slade! He chewed a piece of bread in his mouth a few times, and now it stopped there.< /p>

“Young man, the coffee is very fragrant, isn’t it? Come, let me pour you some. "Slade turned his head to Twain and said equally politely.

"No, thank you, sir, thank you. You can use it yourself. "Twain declined carefully. He was worried that maybe this murderer (mó) king hadn't killed anyone yet this morning.

Slade repeatedly wanted to give Twain his coffee, but insisted on pouring it. into his cup, and Twain drank.

Back in the car, Twain talked about what he had just experienced. The driver turned pale with fright and drove away quickly.

On a gentle slope, they encountered a convoy of immigrants. The men and women were all out of breath. They had been walking like this for a month or two. There are also the white bones of dead mules and cattle on the roadside, as well as some new graves piled with planks and stones, left by previous immigrants. Seeing such a scene, Mark Twain felt much more comfortable sitting in the carriage.

At the mouth of a canyon, Twain saw an army of 60 men who had just returned from fighting. The day before, they had a small encounter with 400 Indians. The Indians disappeared into the mountains and are probably still hiding in this area, ready to attack passing white vehicles at any time.

The journey is full of hardships and dangers, but it also has rare fun. Sometimes, when dinner was approaching, the coachman parked the car in a secluded place, shot a hare crossing the road with his gun, and then built a bonfire by the roadside. The roasted hare tasted so delicious that Twain thought it was the most delicious dish he had ever eaten growing up. After the picnic, camping is also wonderful. Twain could stretch out, lie on the ground for an hour or two, gaze at the stars, enjoy the warmth of the campfire, and then crawl into the car for a good night's sleep.

After twenty days of arduous journey, crossing countless mountains and plains, Mark Twain and his brother Orion finally reached their destination.

The place where the brothers came was a small western town. There was a gold rush going on here. Everyone wanted to dig out silver mines in the ground and make a fortune. Mark Twain Later, I was also affected by this atmosphere and longed to make a fortune all of a sudden.

In December 1861, he formed an exploration team with two young men and 60-year-old Balu, bought a carriage, loaded it with food and tools, and went to a place far away from the small town. Prospecting. The four people trudged through the ice and snow for half a month before reaching their destination.

They traveled over mountains and ridges, carefully explored under the guidance of old Balu, who had been a blacksmith (jiànɡ), learned to identify silver ore, and used explosives to blast hard rock formations. A few weeks passed. Although several ore veins were explored, the four people had no choice because the ore was buried deep. In addition, the food they brought was almost finished, so they had to throw a lot of ore into a temporary In the work shed, I went home.

Mark Twain, Baloo and a miner were riding back to the small town when a flood broke out. They hurriedly hid in a two-story wooden house at a post station by the river. About 30 people squeezed in.

Surrounded by a vast ocean, the higher-lying post station became an isolated island. They were besieged by floods for eight days and nights. Dozens of people were so crowded in the room that they couldn't move, people were constantly making noises, and the air was filled with all kinds of unpleasant smells. Mark Twain felt that life was really difficult. When the flood subsided a little, he, Balu, and the miner couldn't wait to leave the wooden house and ride through the water on horseback.

Unfortunately, it snowed heavily, and the three people lost their way. After wandering for a whole day, they returned to the inn where they had escaped from the flood. They saw many carriages wading across the river, so Mark Twain They decided to follow the carriage.

At night, there was another heavy snowfall, which buried all the traces of the carriage in front, and the carriage disappeared without a trace. They were dejected and decided to camp out all night, planning to make a bonfire to keep warm and to let the horses rest. Balu had four matches. He lit one and extinguished the other. He lit them all but did not light the bonfire. "I'll have some." Twain shouted anxiously at this moment, but when he loosened his grip, the rein (jiānɡ) fell to the ground, and the horse took the opportunity to run away and disappeared.

They are in this inaccessible wilderness, with nowhere to live (qī) and face a desperate situation. The three of them were exhausted (jié). As long as they fell in the snow, they could easily go from coma to eternal sleep (mián). Mark Twain heard people describe this terrible scene many times. He tried his best to keep his mind awake and tried every means to prevent others from sleeping. But their footsteps became heavier and heavier. The miner fell down, and so did Baloo. The snow covered them up layer by layer. Finally, Twain could no longer hold on and slowly fell into the snow.

A few hours later, Mark Twain was awakened by bursts of shouting. It turned out that the three of them were not completely frozen (jiānɡ). Baloo woke up first and woke them up. Lu's whole body was covered with white snow, like a white pillow. He pointed his finger forward and said pitifully: "Which of you can do well and give me a kick from behind!" He really couldn't walk anymore.

More than ten meters away, a wooden wooden house of an inn stood upright in the dawn light. They thought they were dead, but they didn't expect that a warm shelter was waiting for them right in front of them. Even their runaway horses were standing in the stable, as if they knew they were coming.

Mark Twain wanted to find a silver mine and make a fortune, but after struggling for more than a year, he was still empty-handed. The money he brought from home had already been spent. Later, he had to work in a mine. Coolies work from dawn to dusk every day, earning only 10 yuan a week.

“It’s great to make a fortune, but am I the one? There are thousands of people here dreaming of getting rich, but less than 50 of them have actually succeeded. Forget it. "Mark Twain lost interest in mining. He thought of his hometown and those happy days in the past, and suddenly he had an idea. In the past, he had written several read-through articles for "Enterprise News" and got them published. "It's better to go to the newspaper office and do my old job!" He took the Made up one's mind.

So, he wrote a letter to his brother, asking him to tell the editor of "Enterprise News" that he was willing to write articles for them, as long as he could get 10 yuan per week as a manuscript fee. To meet urgent needs.

A few days later, the "Enterprise" wrote back, saying that a reporter from the newspaper was going back to visit relatives and would be away for three months. He asked Mark Twain if he would like to go to Virginia City to take over his job. The weekly salary is 25 yuan. Twain was very happy and felt that he was on the right track. He had gone through a lot of troubles in finding silver mines and got nothing, but he was right in the first try when he entered the newspaper office. He accepted the job immediately and set out for Virginia City.

Mark Twain wrote some words to point out the evils of the times. bianbì (biānbì): a metaphor for finding or pointing out errors. The article directly pointed out all kinds of liars and exposed their ugly faces, which has an increasing influence among readers.

In order to attract readers, Mark Twain also wrote some jokes and anecdotes. In a humorous sketch, he drew up a ridiculous "Guest Instructions" for the hotel, which stipulated that every guest must take off his shoes before going to bed; if the guest complied, he could rent out the Nightmare at a low price. Such articles by Mark Twain are also popular.

Mark Twain was a serious and responsible reporter who did a good job. The newspaper increased his salary to forty yuan per week. He became a prestigious figure in the small town, and the officials looked upon him with special regard. The mine boss tried his best to establish friendship with him and gave him stocks, which kept him busy all day long.

Two years passed in a hurry, and in April 1864, the owner of the newspaper went on vacation and asked Mark Twain to act as editor-in-chief during this period. One of the tasks of the editor-in-chief was to write editorials. Mark Twain was not very interested in this. He was suffering from no subject matter to write, so he adopted the old method of asking Lierde, his old rival in editorials and the owner of another newspaper, who often litigated with each other. Attacked, Lielder also fired back, saying that Mark Twain was a liar.

According to the custom of the time, a person who was attacked or insulted had to initiate a duel to preserve dignity. Mark Twain did not want to duel, saying that life was child's play and not worth it. But the two young editors of the newspaper were determined to engage in a duel. One of them wrote to Lierde in the name of Mark Twain, proposing a duel. Lied was originally a well-known and excellent shooter in the small town. He was unwilling to fight, but the challenge was issued, so he reluctantly agreed to challenge.

This is a trap for Mark Twain. You know, his marksmanship is very bad (zāo) (ɡāo) and he is no match for Lied.

The day of the duel arrived. At 4 o'clock in the morning, Mark Twain's assistant Steve led him to an empty (kuànɡ) canyon and patiently taught him how to use a revolver. He aimed at the opponent's calf and shot, saying:

"Don't beat him to death, beat him to a disability, let his mother take care of him. In this way, you will win." "

Twain was holding the pistol, his body was shaking involuntarily, and his heart was beating violently.

He practiced his marksmanship against a warehouse door more than 20 meters away, but he could only hit the hillside, not the door. At this time, Lierde was also doing target shooting in the canyon.

"How can you fight a duel if you can't even hit the door?" Steve was a little anxious and said to Twain: "Look at me. This is how we should fight."

Steve raised his pistol, and with a bang (pēnɡ), a tit fell down in the distance. Mark Twain ran over to pick up the tit. It happened that Lierde and his assistant came from the other side of the hill. Come running.

"Who shot this?" Seeing that the head of the tit was beaten to pieces, Lierd was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he quickly asked Steve.

"Mark Twain." Steve lied. He wanted to psychologically overwhelm the other person.

"Ah... not bad, how far away was the shot?"

"Not too far, about 30 meters."

"It turned out to be a sharpshooter ! I thought he couldn’t hit a house.”

At this time, Lierde's assistant walked up to him and followed him, whispering: "Never fight a duel with such a person. Isn't this tantamount to suicide?"

"Goodbye ." Lied and his assistant turned away, refusing to duel with Mark Twain.

According to the new law, anyone who proposes a duel will be arrested and imprisoned, so Mark Twain and Steve took the shuttle bus early the next morning and escaped from the town.

Mark Twain and Steve fled to San Francisco and lived in a hotel. The two were inseparable and as close as brothers. In order to make a living, Twain found a newspaper as a reporter.

One night, Steve got into a fight (ōu) with someone and seriously injured the tavern owner. He was immediately arrested for attempted murder (suì). Mark Twain went to the police station to vouch for a friend. But after Steve was paroled, he ran away again. Without going to court for trial, the police department pursued the legal responsibility of the surety, Mark Twain, and he was forced to flee San Francisco.

Steve’s brother James is an old gold digger. He built a wooden house in the deep mountains and forests. He heard that he always likes to cause trouble and cause trouble: Cause trouble or dispute. His brother made Mark Twain implicated and had nowhere to go, so he repeatedly invited him to hide in the wooden house for a while, and Mark Twain had no choice but to agree.

In April 1865, after the Civil War ended, Mark Twain left the mountains and forests and returned to San Francisco. By this time, Steve's case had been properly mediated, and Mark Twain was no longer in trouble.

At the beginning of the next year, Mark Twain was hired by a newspaper as a special correspondent and went to the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific for interviews. He was required to write 4 newsletters per month and receive a salary for each newsletter. (chóu) is 20 yuan. He visited there for more than four months, enjoying the beautiful natural scenery and seeing the world's largest active volcano erupting molten rock.