Page:04 The Iron Moonhunter (Chang).jpg

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過了幾個星期,我們要用炸葯在花崗岩上開了一條通路, 関家兄弟坐在從懸崖上吊下來的籃子裏,他們在岩石上鑽 孔,將火葯和導火管放在那些鑽好的孔內。然後燃着 導火管,把籃子拉到安全的地方,讓岩石爆炸。這樣一點 一點的爆炸,將岩石的孔擴大,鉄路就可以通過了。

関家兄弟非常喜歡這種工作。他們喜歡高飛的鷹,他 們站在那高高的內華達山上,可以看到很遠。

有一天,不幸的事情發生了。関合在工作的時候,他坐的籃 子的䋲断了,他和籃子一直摔到二千多呎的懸崖下。関明和関 强很悲傷,他們爬下懸崖找到関合,把他葬在崖下的河边。


A few weeks later, we were blasting a ledge into a granite cliff. The Kwan cousins dangled over the edge of the cliff in baskets. They drilled holes in the rock and put gunpowder and a fuse in the holes. Then they lit the fuses and pulled their baskets to safety as the rock beneath them exploded. Bit by bit a path wide enough for a railroad was carved into the granite face face of the mountain.

The Kwans liked their work. They liked being high as hawks, able to see far across the Sierra Nevadas. They liked the rugged wilds of Gum Sahn. They said they would work hard and get rich and start their families here.

But then one day the rope that held up Kwan Hop's basket broke. Kwan Hop fell to his death in the river gorge, two thousand feet below. Sadly, Kwan Ming and Kwan Cheong climbed down the cliff to bury their cousin by the side of the river.