“The Wolf Demon4 will make mince-meat out of him ef he puts his claws onto him,” replied Kenton, in the same cautious whisper that Boone had used.
“I wonder if the spook will come?” said Boone.
“I reckon not; them things never come when they’re expected. They alers take their own time,” returned Kenton.
“How easy we could ‘rub’ him out now, eh?” Boone observed, suggestively.
“I’m afeard it would bring a hull5 grist of his relations down on top of us, thick as skeeters in a swamp,” said Kenton.
“That’s so.”
A movement on the part of the Indian put a stop to their conversation, and eagerly they bent6 their eyes upon him.
After pronouncing his war-like defiance, the warrior, with his tomahawk in one hand and his keen-edged scalping-knife in the other, remained motionless as a bronze statue.
Full five minutes he waited.
He heard each rustling8 leaf that stirred in obedience9 to the soft night-wind’s commands; the noise of the pinions10 of the owl11, winging its nocturnal flight through the dim aisles12 of the great, green wood; the cry of the tree-toad; the chirrup of the cricket, deep down in the earth. But, none of these stirred the senses of the Indian. He knew the voices of the night full well, for he was a child of the forest and had slept many an hour beneath the shadows of the spreading boughs13.
He listened for a sound that he heard not—the tread of the great gray wolf, who wore the face of a man.
Impatient, the warrior uttered a guttural exclamation14.
Again he addressed the silence and the gloom, called for the dread15 being to appear, at whose approach all living things of the earth or air fled.
“The warrior is weary of waiting. If the Wolf Demon is in the thicket16 let him come forth17. The White Dog will strip off his hide, or else the Wolf Demon shall take his scalp and mark the totem of the Red Arrow on his breast.”
But the silence and the gloom replied not to the bold defiance.
After a pause of a few moments the warrior uttered a contemptuous exclamation.
“The Wolf Demon should wear the skin of the muskrat18; he skulks19 in the dark and fears to meet his foe20 face to face.”
The chief turned upon his heel and thrust his scalping-knife into his girdle as if to depart.
One single step he made, and then a sound fell upon his ears that made him pause; made him draw the keen-edged knife again from his belt; made him prepare for battle.
The quick ear of the Indian—trained from infancy21 to note the noises of the forest, the plain and river—heard a stealthy step prowling through the thicket.
The noise came from behind him. Quick as thought the warrior turned and faced the point from whence the noise proceeded.
No form stepped from the timber into the little glade22, whereon the soft moonbeams fell, but the Indian still heard the sound of the stealthy steps.
The steps seemed to come no nearer, and yet the sound grew no fainter.
Whoever was within the wood was circling around the Indian as if to attack him in the rear, and by surprise.
The chief guessed the truth, and as the unknown foe moved, he moved. Slowly he turned, keeping his face always in the direction from whence came the sound of the steps.
The two borderers, concealed23 in the thicket, watched the movements of the Indian with astonishment24.
“He hears something,” he whispered.
“’Pears like it,” Kenton replied.
And as they watched the Shawnee, they, too, heard the sound of stealthy steps approaching them.
They noted26 that, as the steps approached, the face of the chief seemed to follow the direction of the steps.
At once the Indian-fighters guessed the truth; guessed that the terrible Wolf Demon, lurking27 in the thicket, was circling around the chief, eager to spring upon him unawares.
The stealthy steps came nearer and nearer to the concealed men.
Boone, stretched out so near to Kenton that he touched him, felt that the stout28 borderer was trembling like an aspen leaf; and, to speak the truth, the blood in Boone’s veins29 was running cold with horror.
There, not a dozen paces from them, within the thicket, they saw the terrible form of the Wolf Demon.
With stealthy step he moved through the wood, his eyes glaring, like coals of fire, upon the Indian warrior. In his paw he carried the fatal tomahawk that had brained so many Shawnee chieftains.
The terrible form was moving in a circle around the warrior. But the Indian was on his guard, and, guided by the sound of the stealthy steps, kept his front always to his foe.
The Wolf Demon completed the circle, and then, as if fully30 satisfied that he could not take the warrior by surprise, came slowly from the thicket and stood within the open space; not, though, in the soft light of the moonbeams, but half hid by the shadows thrown by the forest monarchs31 that hemmed32 in the little glade.
The keen eyes of the Indian detected the appearance of the terrible form.
The light of fierce determination shone upon the face of the Shawnee warrior, and firmly he grasped his weapons and waited for the onset33 of the foe.
Boone and Kenton, in breathless suspense34, watched from their leafy covert35, eager to see the issue of the contest that was, apparently36, so near at hand.
A few seconds only the Wolf Demon paused within the friendly shadows of the wood; then, with the swiftness of forked lightning, he leaped upon the Shawnee warrior.
Bravely the Indian met the assault. With his tomahawk he parried the blow aimed at his head, and, at the same moment, drove his long knife, up to its haft, in the side of the phantom37 foe; but, the glittering blade met no flesh in its passage, and not a single drop of blood dimmed the brightness of the steel.
The thrust of the Shawnee chieftain cost him dear, for, ere he could withdraw his knife again, the tomahawk of the Wolf Demon descended39 upon his head. By a quick motion of his own ax he partly parried the blow, but the force of the stroke bore him over backward to the earth.
With a howl of triumph the Wolf Demon planted his foot upon the warrior’s breast, and the glittering tomahawk gleamed before his eyes, raised to give the death-blow.
The warrior felt that he was lost.
The death-note of his nation broke from his lips.
Then, forth from the timber, from the direction in which the Indian village lay, came the Shawnee girl, Le-a-pah.
She had arrived upon the scene of conflict just in time to witness the discomfiture40 of her lover.
With outstretched arms and a cry of horror—regardless of her own life—she rushed forward to save her lover from the edge of the fatal tomahawk, which was raised to drink his blood.
The paw of the Wolf Demon which clutched the tomahawk remained poised41 in the air as the girl advanced. The blow descended not upon the unprotected head of the prostrate42 man.
The phantom form, motionless as one of the forest oaks, glared upon the Indian girl with its eyes of fire as if struck dumb with horror.
The scouts44 looked on with awe-struck eyes. They expect each instant to see the tomahawk descend38, and the Indian girl fall lifeless at the blow.
Steadily45 for a few moments the Demon form glared at the girl, and then, taking its foot from the breast of the down-trodden chief, it retreated backward with slow steps, toward the forest, still, however, keeping its eyes upon the face of the girl as though under the influence of some terrible enchantment46.
The Indian chief, hardly able to realize that he was saved from the death that but a moment before seemed so certain, made no effort to rise, but appeared transfixed with horror.
The Wolf Demon gained the shadow of the thicket, and then—as if the spell that had bound him had been broken—with a terrible cry, that rung through the forest like the wail47 of a lost soul, doomed48 forever to eternal fires, he vanished amid the darkness.
The cry of the Wolf Demon froze the blood of his hearers with horror.
Rising, the Shawnee warrior tenderly lifted the light form of Le-a-pah from the greensward.
“Light of my heart, thou hast saved the life of the red chief!” cried the warrior.
“Le-a-pah could not bear the thought that her lover should seek the terrible Wolf Demon in the wood; she followed in his track to urge him to return,” said the maiden50.
“The White Dog has tried to win Le-a-pah. If he has[42] failed to kill the Wolf Demon, it is because the Great Spirit wills that he shall not die by the hand of a red-man.”
“Let us seek my father. I will beg him to release you from the cruel task.”
Then the chief and the maiden left the glade.
After a few minutes Boone and Kenton came from their hiding-place.
“Now, let’s look for Lark,” said Boone. “I’ve a thought that he has met this terrible Wolf Demon when he was hyer afore, and that the sight has made him mad.”
The two left the glade, and to their surprise found they stood before the hollow oak which had served them as a rendezvous51 when in the wood before.
At the foot of the oak they found Lark’s cap. As Boone picked it up, it felt moist.
He looked at his hand.
It was stained with blood.
“By heaven!” he cried, in horror. “Lark has been killed, and perhaps by the Wolf Demon!”
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收听单词发音
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1
plucky
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| adj.勇敢的 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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pinions
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的第三人称单数 ) | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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aisles
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| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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13
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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muskrat
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| n.麝香鼠 | |
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skulks
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的第三人称单数 ) | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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29
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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30
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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31
monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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32
hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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33
onset
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| n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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36
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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38
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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39
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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40
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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43
tableau
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| n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面） | |
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44
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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45
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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46
enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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47
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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48
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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49
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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50
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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51
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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