Scott dreamed that he was lying on the battlefield with other wounded and dying men groaning2 all around him. The ambulance corps3 picked him up and carried him far back of the lines to a peaceful little French village surrounded by high mountains and put him in a little cabin beside a lake. He could hear the babbling4 of many small streams and the gentle lapping of tiny waves on a pebbly5 shore. They were soothing6, lulling7 sounds but woven through them he could still hear the groans8 of the dying. The cabin was becoming unbearably9 warm and oppressive. He writhed10 about on his burning couch until the discomfort11 awoke him.
The groaning continued and Scott sat up suddenly to find that Dawson had regained12 consciousness. His jaw13 was badly broken, and it was his moaning that Scott had heard in his dreams. The sun was shining directly on them both with a blistering14 heat unusual for that time of the year. Scott did not know how long he had been asleep but it must have been a long time. The sun had shifted to the western half of the sky, a warm breeze was ruffling15 the surface of the reservoir, and black clouds were peeping over the horizon. Dawson was half delirious16 from suffering and lack of water in the blazing sun. He was moaning constantly and talking incoherently. He did not seem to recognize Scott or to know where he was.
Scott picked up the suffering man as carefully as he could and carried him into the cabin. All his feeling against Dawson was gone now and he saw only a human being in agony. He reproached himself for going to sleep and leaving him in such a condition. He realized now how panic-stricken he must have been to bind17 the wrists of a crippled man when he himself was armed with the cripple’s revolver. He removed the belt from Dawson’s wrists and ran out to get some water from the reservoir. He poured some of it on the parched18 lips and the injured man swallowed eagerly though every movement of his mouth seemed to cause new agony. Scott bathed his fevered brow, gave him a little more water to drink and then bound up his jaw with his handkerchief. He wondered how he could get him home. There were two horses there now, but Jed was not well enough trained to be trusted with one end of a stretcher. A trailing pole stretcher on Dawson’s horse would be too rough. He decided19 that his best move would be to ’phone down to Baxter or Benny for help.
His anxiety to aid the suffering man had so completely occupied Scott’s attention that he had not noticed what was going on outside. A sudden gust20 of wind forced his attention. He ran to the door. The little black clouds which were just peeping over the horizon a short time before had spread over half the sky. The heat was oppressive and a warm, sultry wind which was blowing half a gale21 seemed only to accentuate22 it. Angry little waves were beating on the shore now and the growing streams on the other side of the reservoir were beginning to roar ominously23.
Scott ran down to the edge of the reservoir to look at the mark he had set on the dam the day before. The water had already risen a foot since he had noticed it that morning and he knew from the rush of waters in the ca?ons that it was rising now at an alarming rate. He glanced at his watch. It was five o’clock. Ordinarily the cool of the approaching evening had begun to tie up the springs of ice and snow in the hidden ca?ons before that time and the streams would be drying up, but to-day that hot wind was searching its way into every cranny of the rocks and melting the winter’s store of ice at a tremendous rate. Nor would they cease to melt even with the setting of the sun as long as that wind continued. A warm rain on top of that was almost sure to be disastrous24.
Even while Scott looked the last patch of blue was blotted25 from the sky and the little basin was thrown into semi-darkness. The swiftness of the onrushing storm was bewildering. He would ’phone Baxter for help to get Dawson out of there and then open the sluice26 gates without waiting for the level of the reservoir to reach the danger point. He feared that it would reach it all too quickly even with the sluice gates open.
Scott rushed up the bank to the little camp and grabbed the telephone. He gave Baxter’s ring and waited what seemed an age. He tried three times without getting any answer. Baxter must be either out on the range or out of hearing of the ’phone. He tried Benny. Benny was always there.
“Hello,” came the prompt answer.
“That you, Benny? This is—”
He was interrupted by a blinding flash followed instantly by a deafening27 explosion. The receiver was apparently28 wrenched29 from his hand and he stood dazed while the reverberations of the mighty30 report were hurled31 crashing from peak to peak. The storm was on them. He grasped the ’phone again desperately32 but the fuses were burned out and the line was dead.
The echoes of the first crash of thunder had not died away in the distant hills when the rain came down in torrents33. A half hour of that and the reservoir would overflow34 even if the dam itself did not go out before that. The opening of the sluice gates was the only thing which he could do. He could not imagine those sluice gates taking care of the mad torrents which would soon be raging down the ca?ons from all those encircling barren peaks, but the storm might possibly cease as suddenly as it had begun.
Scott sprang to the gates and was already bending his back to the old-fashioned windlass when he remembered that Jed was on the other side of the meadow. Once he had opened those gates it would be impossible to get him across to the trail. He had to have Jed to get help for Dawson and carry the warning of the impending35 danger to the ranchers along the course that the flood would take if the dam should burst.
The rain continued to fall in a deluge36 which almost blinded him, but he managed to stagger across the meadow to the clump37 of willows38 where he had left Jed. He feared that the horse might have been frightened by the storm and run away. The booming of the thunder in those hollow ca?ons was enough to terrify either horse or man. But Jed had spent his life in the open. Thunder storms in the mountains were nothing new to him. Close in the lee of the bushes, with his tail to the storm, he was waiting patiently. He greeted Scott with a little nicker of recognition.
Scott jumped on to his slippery, wet back and rode across the darkening meadow toward the place where he had hidden the saddle. He put on the saddle while there was yet light and leaving Jed well up from the trail, he dashed once more for the sluice gates. In the trail at the foot of the dam he almost ran into a strange horse. The poor beast was saddled and bridled39 and steaming in the rain from hard riding. Its breath was coming in great gasps40, its head hung down until its nose was almost on the ground, and its feet were spread wide, a sign of total exhaustion41. Some one had ridden up that steep ca?on trail at a killing42 pace.
“It must be Baxter,” Scott thought as he ran past the heaving horse and made for the sluice gates. There was not enough daylight left to recognize objects at any distance, but almost continuous lightning flashes made things stand out momentarily with vivid distinctness. Scott was just rounding a clump of bushes not more than ten yards from the sluice gates, when one of these lurid43 flashes revealed a picture which brought him to a sudden halt with his heart in his mouth.
Seated on top of the sluice gates was not Baxter, but Jed Clark.
He was crazy with drink. He was holding a forty-five in either hand. After every flash of lightning he waved the revolvers wildly in the air and shouted his vengeance44 against the forest service, the government and all law in general. He seemed to revel45 in the wildness of the storm. He was raving46 mad.
Scott stood as one stunned47. He was in the shadow of the bushes and Jed had not seen him. He knew that Jed had come up there with the original intention of getting him. Failing to find Scott his crazed brain had now hit on the still more devilish scheme of reeking48 his vengeance on the forest service by bringing about the destruction of the dam. None knew the country better than he. None knew better than he how impossible it would be for that old dam to withstand the flood which was gathering49 against it. Now utterly50 regardless of his own danger he was seated on the sluice gates of the very dam he was planning to destroy, recklessly chanting his vengeance in the face of the raging elements.
The whole thing seemed so fiendish, so utterly inhuman51, that Scott stared helplessly for a moment in an agony of dismay. His first impulse was to rush the maniac52, for the gates must be opened and that quickly. But he gave up the idea almost as soon as he conceived it. Jed was well known to be a dead shot, drunk or sober, and the experience of the morning had shown Scott how perfectly53 helpless he would be.
There was only one way out. Dawson’s revolver. It had been in his way when he was ministering to Dawson’s hurts and he had taken it off. He started for the cabin and it suddenly occurred to him that Jed would have gone there the first thing. He remembered the unrecorded mortgage and Jed’s veiled threat at that night meeting below the chute. He trembled to think what he might find in the cabin. Shivering he groped his way across the room to the bed. He leaned over it and waited for the next flash of lightning. It came and the frozen look of horror in the wide staring eyes of the man before him made his blood run cold. He wanted to run from the cabin but Dawson grabbed him by the sleeve. He tried to tell Scott something but the mumbled54 words from the tightly bound jaws55 were lost in the raging of the storm.
Scott realized that Jed had been to the cabin. He apparently had not in his drunken search noticed Dawson, but the injured man, helpless as he was, had been dreading56 his return. When Scott leaned over him he had thought that it was Jed and felt that his time had come. He held onto Scott now until the next flash could show him pointing to the dam. “Jed,” he tried to say between his closed teeth.
Scott understood. He leaned close to Dawson’s ear and shouted above the booming of the storm, “I saw him. I’m going after him now.”
He picked up the revolver from the table and started out of the cabin. The last of the daylight was gone now and the frequent flashes of blinding lightning were separated by short periods of Stygian darkness. The recurring57 echoes of one mighty crash of thunder never died away till there was another crash that seemed louder yet. The effect was cumulative58. It was as though all the storms of the ages had been dumped into that little caldron in the midst of the mountain peaks.
If the ground had been more familiar it would have been an easy matter for Scott to have utilized59 the lightning flashes to locate the next patch of shelter and to have run to it in the ensuing darkness, but he had not been there long enough for that. The vivid flashes confused him and everything looked strange in the weird60 light. It did not matter how much noise he made for nothing would be heard above the storm but he had to keep under cover for the lightning made objects stand out with uncanny clearness.
He trembled to think what he was going to do. It seemed the irony61 of fate that he, who had always shunned62 the use of a revolver and shuddered63 at the thought of shooting a man even in the heat of action, should now be called upon to shoot a man in cold blood. But there was nothing else to do. The lives of women and children in the valley below hung on the chance of getting that maniac away from the sluice gates. Scott accepted the call of fate, closed his senses to his own feelings, and crept on with unwavering determination. His mind was made up. He would shoot this man as he would shoot a mad dog to save the lives of others.
He had made his way almost to the clump of bushes where he had first discovered Jed—he had to get close or he knew that he would miss—when a flash of lightning revealed another object crawling around that same clump of bushes. Surprised as he was he recognized it even in that brief flash. He recognized the cautious snake-like crawl, and that gleaming steel. It had been graven on his memory that evening at the cabin when he had sat in the shadow of the forest and watched that same snake-like object crawl toward his cabin window. He could recognize it instantly anywhere.
But what was Dugan doing there at this out-of-the-way dam in a raging storm, and crawling inch by inch with a gun in hand toward the man who had been his friend? Either he had not recognized Jed and thought that he was stalking Scott, or had some ulterior motive64 which Scott did not know anything about for disposing of Jed. It was probably the former. Scott noticed that Jed was no longer brandishing65 his guns and shouting curses in the teeth of the storm. A fit of sullen66 depression had apparently come over him and he was crouched67 in a heap so that it was difficult even to recognize him as a man, to say nothing of determining his identity.
Dugan evidently wanted to make sure. He could easily have picked the man off from where he was, but he wormed his way steadily68 nearer. He was beyond the last piece of cover now and was working his way across the narrow open space which separated him from the sluice gates of the dam.
The storm instead of abating69 seemed to be increasing in fury. Flash followed flash almost without cessation. The crashing of the thunder sounded like a barrage70 of hundreds of big guns. And through it all there sounded the rush of waters. There seemed to be but one inanimate object in the whole scene. Trees and rocks and mountain peaks seemed to be dancing in the fickle71 flashes of light. The man on the sluice gates only seemed motionless. Perhaps he had gone to sleep in that perilous72 position on those groaning sluice gates.
Scott watched with a curious fascination73. It seemed to him that fate had thought better of her irony and was sending this special agent to relieve him of his odious74 task. He was perfectly willing to have it so. It was like a reprieve75 from a horrible sentence. It had but one disagreeable feature. It was so maddeningly slow. He dreaded76 lest he should hear the dam giving way almost any minute.
Dugan did not seem to be in any hurry. He wanted to make sure. He evidently doubted whether the motionless object on the sluice gates was his man. He was lying perfectly still now watching it. He did not want to risk a shot at a scarecrow and sound a warning. Convinced at last that he was mistaken he rose to his feet and took a step toward the sluice gates.
There was a spit of flame, the roar of a forty-five, accompanied by a mocking laugh from the motionless object on the sluice gates, and Dugan staggered. He was hard hit but he was not the man to go alone. He steadied himself. There were two more reports almost simultaneously77 and the flashes from the two revolvers almost met.
Jed pitched backwards78 into the deep boiling waters of the reservoir and Dugan sank silently beside the sluice gates. Fate worked it out without Scott’s aid.
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1
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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2
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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3
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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4
babbling
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| n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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5
pebbly
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| 多卵石的，有卵石花纹的 | |
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6
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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7
lulling
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的现在分词形式） | |
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8
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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9
unbearably
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| adv.不能忍受地，无法容忍地；慌 | |
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10
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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12
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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13
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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14
blistering
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| adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡 | |
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15
ruffling
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| 弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱 | |
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16
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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17
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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18
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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19
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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20
gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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21
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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22
accentuate
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| v.着重，强调 | |
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23
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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24
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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25
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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26
sluice
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| n.水闸 | |
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27
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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28
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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29
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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30
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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31
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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32
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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33
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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34
overflow
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| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
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35
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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36
deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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37
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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38
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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39
bridled
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| 给…套龙头( bridle的过去式和过去分词 )； 控制； 昂首表示轻蔑（或怨忿等）； 动怒，生气 | |
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40
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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41
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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42
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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43
lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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44
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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45
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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46
raving
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| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
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47
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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48
reeking
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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49
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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50
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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51
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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52
maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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53
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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54
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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56
dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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57
recurring
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| adj.往复的，再次发生的 | |
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58
cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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59
utilized
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| v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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61
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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62
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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64
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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65
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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66
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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67
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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69
abating
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| 减少( abate的现在分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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70
barrage
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| n.火力网，弹幕 | |
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71
fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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reprieve
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| n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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