When this had been accomplished2, Murdock came from his covert3 in the bushes, and approached the two.
The blackened muzzle4 of Murdock’s rifle told plainly that it was he who had fired the shot which had stricken the young stranger, Harvey Winthrop, to the earth, even while the kisses of the girl he loved were fresh upon his lips.
“The girl has fainted,” said Benton, who supported the light form of the hapless Virginia in his arms.
“So much the better!” exclaimed Murdock; “it aids our purpose. We must convey her at once to the lonely cabin of the Kanawha.”
“And this critter?” said Bob, kicking the motionless form of Winthrop with his foot, carelessly, as he spoke5.
“Is he dead?” asked Murdock.
Bob knelt down by the side of the young man.
“Yes, he’s gone dead,” replied the borderer, after a slight examination.
“I did not think it likely that he lived,” said Murdock, with a grim smile. “I seldom have to fire twice.”
“Well, you’ve settled him, for sure,” observed Bob, with a grin.
“Leave him alone, then; the crows and wolves will finish him before the morrow,” said Murdock.
“He ought to have known better than to fool round this piece of calico,” observed Bob, with another grin.
“He won’t be apt to do it again.”
“No, dog my cats if he will!” cried Bob, expressively6.
“Can you carry the girl, Benton?” asked Murdock.
“Yes, easily,” replied the one addressed, raising the motionless form of the young girl in his arms, apparently7 without an effort.
“Let us be going, then. If we can reach the cabin before she recovers, so much the better for my plan.”
Murdock led the way, followed closely by Benton carrying the girl while Bob brought up the rear.
[11]
Swiftly through the forest they went.
A half-hour’s march up the Kanawha and Murdock halted by the bank of the river. Drawing a dug-out from its concealment8 in some bushes that overhung the water, by its aid the party crossed the river.
On the other bank of the stream, they again plunged9 into the forest—first, however, carefully concealing10 the dug-out in a similar hiding-place to that in which they found it.
After a three hours’ tramp through the thicket11, they came to a little log-cabin in the center of a little clearing. The cabin bore the marks of decay, and the long grass that grew thick over the threshold told that the builder had long since abandoned the dwelling12.
Terrible indeed were the feelings of the young girl. A prisoner in the hands of the merciless red-men—for she had no suspicions that her captors were white—she shrunk from the thought of what her fate would be. Then, too, when she remembered that she had seen her lover fall before her eyes, perhaps mortally wounded, she felt as if her heart would break.
The two disguised men placed the girl in the cabin; then Bob left Benton alone with the maid. Murdock was afraid that Virginia might recognize the borderer in spite of his disguise; but as Benton was a stranger there was but little danger that the girl would suspect her captors to be of her own race and blood.
Benton removed the bandage from the eyes of the girl.
“Squaw—prisoner to Shawnee,” said the disguised white, imitating the manner and speech of the red-skin. “No try to run or warrior14 take scalp.”
Then Benton joined the other two on the outside of the cabin, closing the door carefully behind him.
“Yes,” replied Murdock, a grim smile of satisfaction upon his sallow face. “Now you two keep watch here and be sure that the girl does not escape. I will return to the station. Her absence will be discovered before long and search will probably be made. If they discover the body of the stranger, this Winthrop, in the ravine, which they will be sure to do if any saw them leave the settlement together, which is probable, it will lead all to suspect that the man was murdered by some strolling red-skins and the girl carried off by them.”
“But may they not trace us?” asked Benton, shrewdly. “There are keen scouts17 in the station. If they once strike our trail, they’ll be apt to run us to earth.”
“There is little danger in that,” replied Murdock. “After we left the ravine we struck the regular trail leading up the river. There are many fresh footprints on the trail; it will be difficult for even the best Indian scout16 on the border to pick out the marks left by us from the others. Besides, crossing the river would be apt to throw the keenest trailer off the scent18. I do not think that any one will discover or even suspect our agency in the girl’s disappearance19.”
“’Tain’t likely,” observed Bob.
“No, I think that you are right, and that you will succeed in your plan regarding the girl,” said Benton. There was a strange sound in the voice of the man as he uttered the simple sentence, and a peculiar20 expression in his dark, snake-like eyes. Murdock did not notice the strangeness of the tone nor the look.
“I can not fail,” said Murdock, decidedly. “You will need food for the girl. Here in the hollow of this tree,” and Murdock led the way to a small white oak, some dozen paces from where they stood, “is some dried deer-meat. I think I shall rescue the girl to-morrow,” and Murdock laughed slightly, at the idea, as he spoke. “There is a small hole under the logs in the back of the cabin, by which I can creep inside and appear to the girl in my new character of a saving angel, periling21 all to rescue her from the hands of the red-skins.”
“Yes, but may she not discover this hole and escape through it?” asked Benton.
“No, a heavy log on the outside, that can not be stirred from the inside of the cabin, prevents that.”
“To-morrow, then, you’ll return?”
“Yes, to-morrow.”
Then Murdock left the twain to watch the cabin and the prisoner, and plunging22 into the forest took his way back to Point Pleasant. And in his heart, as he walked along, he gloated over the success of the plan that had struck a hated rival from his path and given entirely23 into his power the girl whose fortune he craved24.
We will now return to the little ravine wherein, stark25 and ghastly, lay the form of the young stranger, Harvey Winthrop; the man who had left home and friends to carve out a future by the banks of the Ohio, and who had fallen by the ball of the assassin, without even a chance to struggle for his life.
The little ravine looked bright and beautiful; the rays of the fast-dying sun glinted down, gayly, through the tree-tops, and played in beams of lambent light upon the pale face, whose open eyes glared, as if in mockery, on all around.
The rocky glade26 was as fair to look upon with the dreadful evidence of man’s crime lying in its center, as when, but a short hour before, its leafy branches had formed a living frame to a picture of true love.
A huge black crow flying high and lazily in the air caught sight of the white face that so steadily27 stared with its stony28 and fixed29 eyes at the sky.
Each circle was smaller than the previous one, each second brought the bird nearer to its destined33 prey34.
Still stared the eyes upward—still on the white face played the flickering35 sunbeams.
The blood that stained the hunting-shirt of the silent figure crimsoned37 the talons38 of the disgusting bird.
With a hoarse39 note the crow flapped its sable40 wings as if in gloating triumph over the coming feast.
One short minute more and the great eyes would stare no more at the sky above. The beak41 of the carrion crow would be scarlet42 with human gore43.
But, ere ten seconds of that minute passed away, a slight rustle44 came from the tangled45 thicket that fringed the ravine. The crow, with a hoarse note of anger, spread its wings and, cheated of its prey—cheated of the great eyes and the banquet of blood—soared lazily upward.
Then from the thicket, with stealthy tread, came a gaunt wolf.
A moment later the beast stood upon the edge of the ravine. Then it scented46 the blood that had trickled47 from the breast of the man who lay motionless upon the rocks.
The fierce eyes of the wolf peered into the face of the human, and the huge jaws49 opened and shut with an ominous50 clash.
Then from the tree-top the carrion bird stooped again to earth.
Alarmed for a moment by the flap of the wings, the wolf lifted its huge jowl and displayed its white tusks51 in anger. The prowling beast was willing to fight for the human banquet.
But the carrion crow and the huge gray wolf were comrades of old in the great greenwood, and many a banquet had they shared together.
The crow opened its beak and the wolf licked its jaws as they stood by the side of the fallen man.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
blindfolding
|
|
| v.（尤指用布）挡住（某人）的视线( blindfold的现在分词 )；蒙住（某人）的眼睛；使不理解；蒙骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
2
accomplished
|
|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
covert
|
|
| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
muzzle
|
|
| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
expressively
|
|
| ad.表示(某事物)地；表达地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
concealment
|
|
| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
concealing
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
thicket
|
|
| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
warrior
|
|
| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
chuckle
|
|
| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
scout
|
|
| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
scouts
|
|
| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
scent
|
|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
disappearance
|
|
| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
periling
|
|
| 置…于危险中（peril的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
22
plunging
|
|
| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
craved
|
|
| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
stark
|
|
| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
glade
|
|
| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
stony
|
|
| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
omen
|
|
| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
swooped
|
|
| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
swoop
|
|
| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
destined
|
|
| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
prey
|
|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
flickering
|
|
| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
carrion
|
|
| n.腐肉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
crimsoned
|
|
| 变为深红色（crimson的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
talons
|
|
| n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
hoarse
|
|
| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
sable
|
|
| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
beak
|
|
| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
gore
|
|
| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
rustle
|
|
| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
tangled
|
|
| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
scented
|
|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
trickled
|
|
| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
onward
|
|
| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
jaws
|
|
| n.口部；嘴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
ominous
|
|
| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
tusks
|
|
| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |