"Of course we cannot begin operations," he said, "until all is quiet; but as long as the men are sitting round the fires smoking and singing they will keep a very careless guard, and any noise we make will pass unobserved. When they once get quiet the sentries3 will begin to listen, but until then we might almost walk up to their fires without being observed."
It was necessary to move slowly and cautiously, lest they should fall over a rock or stump4; but the doctor led the way and the others followed close behind him. Twenty minutes' stealthy walking took them to the spot whence the doctor had before reconnoitred the house. A fire blazed on the terrace, and some fifteen men were sitting or lying round it. The light fell upon bottles and glasses. One of the party was playing upon a mandoline and singing, but few of the others were attending to him, a noisy conversation plentifully6 sprinkled with Spanish oaths being kept up.
"The room where your sisters are confined," the doctor said to Don Carlos, "is round the other side of the house. I did not mean to begin until all were asleep, but they are making such a noise down there that I do think it will be best to move at once, and if possible to let your sisters know that we are [340] here. So we will work quietly round to that side; they had no sentry7 there last time, but they may have to-night."
After twenty minutes of cautious movement, they reached the foot of the rock on which the house stood. The doctor had brought out from El Paso a small grapnel and rope. The former had been carefully wrapped round with strips of cloth so as to deaden any sound. It was now thrown up, and at the second attempt became firmly fixed9 above.
"Do you mount first, Lightning," he said to Hugh. "When you get up lie quiet for a minute or two. When you have quite assured yourself that all is clear give the rope a shake. We others will come up one by one. Let each man when he gets to the top lie down."
Don Carlos followed Hugh, and the others soon joined them.
"You see that light there," the doctor said to Don Carlos. "That is your sisters' room. As I told you, the windows on the ground floor are all blocked up, but three or four bricks have been left out just at the top of each, for the sake of light and air. Now, Sim and you had better go together; he will stand against the wall, and if you climb on to his shoulders I think you can just about reach that hole, pull yourself up, and look in. I need not tell you to be as silent as possible, for there may be someone in with them. If they are alone tell them what we are going to do. See whether there are any bars inside the brickwork. I am afraid there are sure to be, the Spanish houses most always have bars to the lower windows. Royce, you and I will go to the right-hand corner of the house; you go to the left, Lightning. If you hear anyone coming give a low hiss10 as a warning, then we must all lie down close to the wall. It is so dark now that unless a man kicks against us he won't see us. If he does touch one of you, he is likely to think that it is one of his own party lying down there for a sleep; but if he stoops over to see who it is, you have got either to stab [341] him or to grip him by the throat, so that he can't shout. Now, I think we all understand."
The five men crawled cautiously to their respective stations.
"Now, young fellow," Sim said to Don Carlos, "if, when you are mounted on my shoulders, you find you cannot reach the hole, put your foot on my head. You won't hurt me with them moccasins on. Directly you have got your fingers on the edge give a little pat with your foot to let me know, and I will put my hands under your feet and help hoist11 you up. You can put a biggish slice of your weight on me; when I am tired I will let you know. I will lean right forward against the wall—that will help you to climb up. Now!"
When he stood up on Sim's shoulders the young Mexican found that he could reach the opening. Getting his fingers firmly upon it, he gave the signal, and with Sim's aid had no difficulty in raising himself so that he could look into the room. Two candles burned upon the table, and by their light he could see the girls stretched on couches.
The two girls sprang to their feet. "Did you hear it, Nina?" the elder exclaimed in a low voice.
"Yes; it was the voice of Carlos. We could not both have been dreaming, surely!"
"I am up here at the opening," Carlos said. "We are here, girls, a party to rescue you; but we must get in beside you before we are discovered, or else harm might come to you. Wait a moment," he broke in, as the girls in their delight were about to throw themselves upon their knees to return thanks to the Virgin14, "I am being held up here, and must get down in an instant. I can see that there is a grating to the window. Is it a strong one?"
"Yes, a very strong one."
"Very well; we will saw through it presently. Do you keep [342] on talking loudly to each other to drown any noise that we may make. That will do, Sim; you can let me down now."
"Now, young fellow," Sim said as soon as Don Carlos reached the ground, "you go along and tell Bill Royce to come here and help. The doctor will go on keeping watch. Then go to the other end and send Lightning here, and you take his place. He is better for work than you are."
Sim was soon joined by Royce and Hugh. He had already set to work.
"These bricks are only adobe," he said. "My knife will soon cut through them."
In a very few minutes he had made a hole through the unbaked bricks. "Se?oritas," he said in Mexican, "place a chair against this hole and throw something over it, so that if any one comes it won't be observed."
The men worked in turns with their keen bowies, and in half an hour the hole was large enough for a head and shoulders to pass through.
"Now for the files, Lightning. You may as well take the first spell, as you have got them and the oil."
It took two hours' work to file through the bars. Just as the work was finished Sim said, "You had better fetch the lad, Lightning. Send him through first."
"Don't you think, doctor," Hugh said when they were gathered round the hole, "that we might get the girls off without a fight at all?"
"I doubt it," the doctor said. "The men have just gone in except two who are left as sentries, and the night is very still. They would be almost sure to hear some of us, and if they did the girls might get shot in the fight. Still, it might be worth trying. As soon as you get in, Don Carlos, begin to move the furniture quietly against the door."
All this time the girls had been singing hymns15, but their prudence16 left them as their brother entered the room. They [343] stopt singing abruptly17 and threw themselves into his arms with a little cry of joy. Almost instantly there was a loud knock at the door.
"What are you doing there? I am coming in," and the door was heard to unlock. Carlos threw himself against it.
"Fire the signal, doctor!" Sim exclaimed, as he thrust Hugh, who was in the act of getting through the hole, into the room, as he did so three shots were fired outside. The instant Hugh was through he leaped to his feet and ran forward. The pressure against the door had ceased, the man having, in his surprise at the sound of the shots, sprung back. Hugh seized the handle of the door so that it could not be turned.
"Pile up the furniture," he said to Don Carlos. "Get into the corner of the room, se?oritas; they will be firing through the door in a moment."
By this time a tremendous din5 was heard in the house. As yet none of the brigands knew what had happened, and their general impulse was to rush out on the terrace to hear the cause of the shots. The doctor had followed Hugh closely into the room, the hole being large enough to admit of his getting through without any difficulty. Royce followed immediately, and, as he got through, Sim Howlett's pistol cracked out twice, as the sentries ran round the corner of the house, their figures being visible to him by the light from the fire. Then he thrust himself through the opening. The instant he was through he seized one of the cushions of the couches and placed it across the hole by which he had entered. Several attempts had been made to turn the handle of the door, but Hugh held it firmly, while the doctor and Carlos moved the couches and chairs against it.
"Here, doctor, you watch this hole; I will do that work," Sim said.
They worked as silently as possible, and could hear through [344] the opening at the top of the window the sound of shouts and oaths as a number of men ran past on the terrace. Then one voice shouted angrily for silence.
"There is no one here," he said. "Martinez, go in and fetch torches. What has happened? What have you seen, Lopez?"
"I have seen nothing," the voice replied. "I was lying close to the door when Domingo, who was on guard at the se?oritas' door, said something, then almost directly three shots were fired outside. I jumped up and unfastened the door and ran out. Martos and Juan, who were on guard outside, were just running across. I heard two more shots fired, and down they both fell. I waited a moment until all the others came out, and then we ran round the corner together. As far as I see there is nobody here."
"Mille demonios!" the first speaker exclaimed; "it must be some plot to get the girls away. Perez, run in and ask Domingo if he heard any sounds within. Open the door and see that the captives are safe."
There was a pause for a minute, and then Perez ran out.
"Domingo cannot open the door," he said. "They are moving the furniture against it, and the handle won't turn; he says there must be something wrong there."
"Fool! What occasion is there to say that, as if anyone could not see there was something wrong. Ah! here come the torches. Search all round the terrace, and ask whoever is on guard at the gate whether he has heard anything. We will see about breaking down the door afterwards."
There was a pause, and then the men came back again.
"There is no one on the terrace. Nobody has been through the gate."
Then there was a sudden, sharp exclamation18. "See here, Vargas, there is a hole here. The bricks have been cut through." A fresh volley of oaths burst out, and then the man in authority gave his orders. [345]
"Perez, do you and Martinez take your post here. Whether there is one or half a dozen inside they can only crawl out one at a time. You have only got to fire at the first head you see. The rest come inside and break open the door. We will soon settle with them."
"That is much better than I expected," the doctor said. "We have gained nearly five minutes. Now let them come as soon as they like. Bill, will you stop at this end and guard this cushion. When the fight begins they may try to push it aside and fire through at us. Let the upper end lean back a little against this chair. Yes, like that. Now, you see, you can look down, and if you see a hand trying to push the cushion aside, put a bullet through it; don't attend to us unless we are badly pressed and call for you."
There was now a furious onslaught made on the door from the outside, heavy blows being struck upon it with axes and crowbars.
"Now, Sim, you may as well speak to them a little," the doctor said. "When you have emptied your Colt, I will have a turn while you are loading."
The noise of the blows was a sufficient indication to Sim where the men wielding19 the weapons were standing20. He had already recharged the two chambers21 he had emptied, and now, steadily22 and deliberately23, he fired six shots through the panels of the door, and the yells and oaths told him that some of them had taken effect. There was a pause for a moment, and then the assault recommenced. The wood gave way beneath the axes and the door began to splinter, while a number of shots were fired from the outside. The doctor, however, was stooping low, and the others stood outside the line of fire, while Bill at his end was kneeling by the cushion. The doctor's revolver answered the shots, and when he had emptied his pistol Hugh took his place. By the furious shouts and cries without there was no doubt the fire was doing execution. [346]
But the door was nearly yielding, and, just as Hugh began to fire, one of the panels was burst in. The lock, too, had now given, the piece of wood he had jammed into it having fallen out. The Mexicans, however, were unable to force their way in owing to the steady fire of the besieged24, who had extinguished their candles, and had the advantage of catching25 sight of their opponents through the open door, by the light of the torches without. The besieged shifted their places after each shot, so that the Mexicans fired almost at random26.
For ten minutes the fight had raged, when there was a sudden shout, followed by a discharge of firearms without. A cheer broke from the defenders27 of the room, and a cry of despair and fury from the Mexicans. The attack on the door ceased instantly, but a desperate struggle raged in the courtyard. This went on for three or four minutes, when the Mexicans shouted for mercy and the firing ceased. Then Don Ramon's voice was heard to call, "Where are you? Are you all safe?" There was a shout in reply. Then the furniture was pulled away and the splintered door removed, and as Don Ramon entered, his daughters, who had remained quietly in the corner while the fight went on, rushed into his arms.
The success of the surprise had been complete. The man on guard at the gate had left his post to take part in the struggle going on in the house, and the officer in command of the troops had gained the terrace unobserved. He at once surrounded the house, and the two men outside the opening had been shot down at the same moment that he, with a dozen of his men, rushed into the courtyard and attacked the Mexicans. None of these had escaped. Eighteen had fallen in the house, four had been killed outside, and twelve had thrown down their arms, and were now lying bound hand and foot in charge of the troops.
BESIEGED BY BRIGANDS.
No sooner had Don Ramon assured himself that his daughters were safe and uninjured, than he turned to their rescuers and [347] poured out his hearty28 thanks. They were not quite uninjured. Bill had escaped without a wound: Don Carlos was bleeding from a pistol ball which had grazed his cheek: Sim Howlett's right hand was disabled by a ball which had taken off his middle finger, and ploughed its way through the flesh of the forearm; Hugh had a bullet in the shoulder: the doctor's wound was the only serious one, he having been hit just above the hip29. One of the soldiers had been killed, and five wounded while fighting in the court-yard. Leaving Don Ramon and his son to question the girls as to what had befallen them, and to tell them how their rescue had been brought about, the others went outside.
"Let's have a blaze, lieutenant30." Sim said. "Most of us want dressing31 a bit, and the doctor is hit very hard. Let us make a good big fire out here on the terrace, then we shall see what we are doing. We were in a smother32 of gunpowder33 smoke inside."
The officer gave an order, and the soldiers fetched out billets of wood from the store and piled them on the fire on the terrace, and soon a broad sheet of flame leaped up.
"Now, then, let us look at the wounds." Sim went on. "Let us lift you up and make you a little comfortable, doctor. I am afraid that there is no doing anything with you till we get you down to the town. All you have got to do is to lie quiet."
"And drink, Sim."
"Ay, and drink. I am as thirsty myself as if I had been lost on an alkali plain. Bill, will you get us some drink, plenty of water, with just a drop of spirit in it; there is sure to be plenty in the house somewhere."
Royce soon returned with a large jar of cold water and a bottle of spirits.
"Only a few drops of spirits. Sim, if you don't want to get inflammation in that hand of yours." [348]
"What had I better do for it, doctor?"
"Well, it will be better to have that stump of the middle finger taken out altogether. I could do it for you if I could stand and had a knife of the right shape here. As it is, you can't do better than wrap your hand up in plenty of cloths, and keep them wet, and then put your arm in a sling34. What's yours, Lightning?"
"I am hit in the shoulder, doctor. I don't think that it is bleeding now."
"Well, you had better get Bill to bathe it in hot water, then lay a plug of cotton over the hole, and bandage it up; the doctor at the fort will get the ball out for you as soon as you get down there. He is a good man, they say, and, anyhow, he gets plenty of practice with pistol wounds at El Paso."
Royce did his best for his two friends. Then they all sat quietly talking until the young officer came out from the house.
"We have been searching it from top to bottom," he said. "There is a lot of booty stored away. I want you to have a look at the two leaders of these scoundrels; they have both been shot. Don Ramon said that he believed they were the murderers of his son, and that two of you might recognize them if they were, as you did a horse trade with them."
Hugh and Royce followed him to the other side of the house, where the bodies of the brigands who had fallen had been brought out and laid down. Two soldiers brought torches.
"I have no doubt whatever that these are the men," Hugh said after examining the bodies of the two leaders, who were placed at a short distance from the rest.
"Them's the fellows," Royce said positively35, "I could swear to them anywhere."
"They are notorious scoundrels," the officer said, "and have for years been the scourge36 of New Mexico. They were away, for a time, two years ago. We had made the place so hot for them that they had to quit. We learned that from some of [349] their gang whom we caught. They were away nearly a year; at least they were quiet. I suppose they carried on their games down in Texas, till they had to leave there too; and then thinking the affair had blown over they returned here. There has been a reward of ten thousand dollars for their capture anytime for the last five years. Properly that ought to be divided between you, as it is entirely37 your doing that they have been caught; but as the reward says death or capture, I suppose my men will have to share it with you."
"That is right enough," Sim Howlett said. "It will give us three or four hundred dollars apiece, and that don't make a bad week's work anyhow. When are you thinking of starting back, lieutenant, and what are you going to do with this house here?"
"I shall set fire to the house after we have got everything out of it. I guess it has been a den8 of brigands for the last ten years. I have sent four men down to keep guard at the mouth of the valley, and I expect we shall get all their horses in the morning. They must be somewhere about here. The prisoners will ride their own, and that will leave us twenty or more for carrying down the best part of the plunder38. There is a lot of wine and other things that they have carried off from the haciendas that they plundered39. I will send those down in carts with an escort of four of my men."
"Then I think we had better get a bed in one of the carts, and send my mate here down upon it. He has got a bullet somewhere in the hip, and won't be able to sit a horse."
"We will send him off the first thing in the morning," the officer said. "There is one of my own wounded to send down that way too."
"I will go with them as nurse," Sim said. "Get the cart to go straight through without a halt, lieutenant. The sooner my mate is in the hands of your doctor the better."
"I will see about it now," the lieutenant said; "no time [350] shall be lost. I will send a sergeant40 and four men down to the village at once to requisition a cart and bring it here. It will be much better for them travelling at night. I will tell the men I send as escort to get hold of another cart in the morning and send them straight on."
"Thank you, lieutenant. That will be the best plan by far."
Don Ramon now came out from the house, and joined the group.
"In the name of my children, their mother, and myself, I thank you most deeply, se?ors, for the noble way in which you have risked your lives for their rescue. Had it not been for you, God knows whether I should have seen my daughters again, for I know that no oaths would have bound those villains41, and that when they had obtained the ransom42 they would never have let my daughters free to give information that would have led to their capture. I shall always be your debtor43, and the only drawback to my pleasure is that three of you have been wounded."
"The doctor here is the only one wounded seriously," Sim Howlett said. "My hand and arm will soon heal up, and the loss of a finger is no great odds44 anyway. I don't suppose Lightning's shoulder will turn out worse than my arm. As for the doctor, he is hit hard, but he has been hit hard so many times, and has pulled through it, that I hope for the best."
"Se?or Hugh," Don Ramon said, "it was indeed a fortunate day for me when I questioned you concerning my son's horse, for it was to your advice and to your enlisting45 your friends on my behalf that I owe it chiefly that my daughters are with me this evening. I must leave it to their mother to thank you as you deserve."
Two hours later the doctor and one of the wounded soldiers were placed on a bed laid at the bottom of a cart, and started under the escort of two soldiers, Sim Howlett accompanying [351] them. As the girls had expressed the greatest disinclination to remain in the house where they had been prisoners and where so much blood had just been shed, they with the rest of the party returned with a sergeant and six soldiers carrying torches up the valley to the wood, where the horses had been left. Here two fires were soon blazing, and the girls were not long before they were asleep, wrapped in blankets that had been brought up from the house.
The following morning Hugh and Royce handed over their horses for the use of the girls, who were both accomplished46 horsewomen, and, mounting the horses of Sim and the doctor, they started with Don Ramon, his son, and daughters. Fifteen miles before they got to El Paso they passed the cart with the wounded men, and Hugh said he would ride into the fort to ensure the doctor being there when they arrived. Royce and he accompanied Don Ramon and his party to the gate of the hacienda, which they reached just at sunset. The Mexican was warm in his entreaties47 to Hugh to become his guest until his wound was healed, but he declined this on the ground that he should be well cared for at the fort, and should have the surgeon always at hand.
"I shall be over the first thing in the morning to see you," Don Carlos said. "I shall want my own face strapped48 up, and I warn you if the doctor says you can be moved I shall bring you back with me."
Royce accompanied Hugh to the fort. The commandant was highly gratified when he heard of the complete success of the expedition, and still more so when he learned that the two notorious brigands for whom he and his troopers had so often searched in vain were among the killed. Hugh was at once accommodated in the hospital, and the surgeon proceeded to examine his wound. It was so inflamed49 and swollen50 with the long ride, he said, that no attempt could be made at present to extract the ball, and rest and quiet were absolutely necessary. [352] Two hours later the cart arrived. The doctor was laid in a bed near that of Hugh, the third bed in the ward12 being allotted51 to Sim Howlett. The doctor's wound was pronounced by the surgeon to be a very serious one.
It was some days before, under the influence of poultices and embrocations, the inflammation subsided52 sufficiently53 for a search to be made for the bullet in Hugh's shoulder. The surgeon, however, was then successful in finding it imbedded in the flesh behind the shoulder-bone, and, having found its position, he cut it out from behind. After this Hugh's progress was rapid, and in a week he was out of bed with his arm in a sling. The doctor, contrary to the surgeon's expectations, also made fair progress. The bullet could not be found, and the surgeon, after one or two ineffectual attempts, decided54 that it would be better to allow it to remain where it was. The stump of Sim's finger was removed the morning after he came in, and the wound had almost completely healed by the time that Hugh was enabled to leave the hospital, a month after entering it.
Don Ramon and his son had ridden over every day to inquire after the invalids55, and had seen that they were provided with every possible luxury, and he carried off Hugh to the hacienda as soon as the surgeon gave his consent to his making a short journey in the carriage. Donna Maria received him as warmly as if he had been a son of her own, and he had the greatest difficulty in persuading her that he did not require to be treated as an invalid56, and was perfectly57 capable of doing everything for himself.
For a fortnight he lived a life of luxurious58 idleness, doing absolutely nothing beyond going over in the carriage every day to see how the doctor was going on. Hugh saw that he was not maintaining the progress that he had at first made. He had but little fever or pain, but he lay quiet and silent, and seemed incapable59 of making any effort whatever. Sim Howlett was very anxious about his comrade. [353]
"He don't seem to me to try to get well," he said to Hugh. "It looks to me like as if he thought he had done about enough, and was ready to go. If one could rouse him up a bit I believe he would pull round. He has gone through a lot has the doctor, and I expect he thinks there ain't much worth living for. He just smiles when I speak to him, but he don't take no interest in things. Do you get talking with me when you go in, Lightning, and asking about what we have been doing, and I will tell you some of the things he and I have gone through together. Maybe that may stir him up a bit."
"How long have you known him, Sim?"
"I came across him in '49. I came round by Panama, being one of the first lot to leave New York when the news of gold came. I had been away logging for some months, and had come down at the end of the season with six months' money in my pocket. I had been saving up for a year or two, and was going to put it all in partnership60 with a cousin of mine, who undertook the building of piers61 and wharves62 and such like on the Hudson. Well, the first news that met me when I came down to New York was that Jim had busted63 up, and had gone out west some said, others that he had drowned hisself. I was sorry for Jim, but I was mighty64 glad that I hadn't put my pile in.
"Waal, I was wondering what to start on next when the talk about gold began, and as soon as I larned there were no mistake about it I went down to the wharf65 and took my passage down to the isthmus66. I had been working about three months on the Yuba when I came across the doctor. I had seen him often afore we came to speak. If you wur to see the doctor now for the first time when he is just sitting quiet and talking in that woman sort of voice of his and with those big blue eyes, you would think maybe that he was a kind of softy, wouldn't you?"
"I dare say I might, Sim. I saw him for the first time when [354] he came up with you to take my part against that crowd of Mexicans. There didn't look anything soft about him then, and though I was struck with his gentle way of talking when I met him afterwards I knew so well there was lots of fight in him that it didn't strike me he was anything of a softy, as you say."
"No? Waal, the doctor has changed since I met him, but at that time he did look a softy, and most people put him down as being short of wits. He used just to go about the camp as if he paid no attention to what wur going on. Sometimes he would go down to a bit of a claim he had taken up and wash out the gravel67, just singing to himself, not as though it wur to amuse him, but as though he did not know as he wur singing, in a sort of curious far-off sort of voice; but mostly he went about doing odd sorts of jobs. If there wur a man down with the fever the doctor would just walk into his tent and take him in hand and look after him, and when he got better would just drift away, and like enough not seem to know the man the next time he met him.
"Waal, he got to be called Softy, but men allowed as he wur a good fellow, and was just as choke-full of kindness as his brain would hold, and, as he walked about, any chap who was taking his grub would ask him to share it, for it was sartin that what gold he got wouldn't buy enough to keep a cat alive, much less a man. Waal, it was this way. I got down with fever from working in the water under a hot sun. I hadn't any particular mates that time, and wur living in a bit of a tent made of a couple of blankets, and though the boys looked in and did any job that wur wanted I wur mighty bad and went off my head for a bit, and the first thing I seen when I came round was Softy in the tent tending me. Ef he had been a woman and I had been his son he couldn't have looked after me tenderer.
"I found when I began to get round he had been getting [355] meat for me from the boys and making soups, but as soon as I got round enough to know what was going on I pointed68 out to him the place where I had hid my dust, and he took charge of it and got me what was wanted, till I picked up and got middling strong again. As soon as I did Softy went off to look after someone else who was bad, but I think he took to me more than he had to anyone else, for he would come in and sit with me sometimes in the evening, and I found that he wurn't really short of wits as people thought, but would talk on most things just as straight as anyone. He didn't seem to have much interest in the digging, which wur about the only thing we thought of; but when I asked him what he had come to the mining camps for, if it wasn't to get gold, he just smiled gently and said he had a mission.
"What the mission wur he never said, and I concluded that though he was all there in other things his brain had somehow got mixed on that point, onless it wur that his mission was to look after the sick. Waal, we were a rough lot in '49, you bet. Lynch-law hadn't begun, and there wuz rows and fights of the wust kind. Our camp had been pretty quiet ontil someone set up a saloon and gambling69 shop, and some pretty tough characters came. That was just as I wur getting about agin, though not able to work regular. It wurn't long before two fellows became the terror of the camp, and they went on so bad that the boys began to talk among themselves that they must be put down; but no one cared about taking the lead. They had shot four fellows in the first week after they came.
"I hadn't seen Softy for ten days. He had been away nussing a woodman as had his leg broke by the fall of a tree. I was sitting outside my tent with a chap they called Red Sam. We had a bottle of brandy between us, when them two fellows came along, and one of them just stooped and took up the bottle and put it to his lips and drank half of it off, and then passed it to the other without saying by your leave or anything. Red [356] Sam said, 'Well, I'm blowed!' when the fellow who had drunk whipped out his bowie—six-shooters had hardly come in then—and afore Red Sam could get fairly to his feet he struck him under the ribs70. Waal, I jumped up and drew my bowie, for it wur my quarrel, you see. He made at me. I caught his wrist as the knife was coming down, and he caught mine; but I wur like a child in his arms. I thought it wur all over with me, when I heard a shout, and Softy sprang on the man like a wild cat and drove his knife right into him, and he went down like a log.
"The other shouted out an oath and drew. Softy faced him. It wur the strangest sight I ever seen. His hat had fallen off, and his hair, which wur just as white then as it is now, fell back from his face, and his eyes, that looked so soft and gentle, wur just blazing. It came across me then, as it have come across me many a time since, that he looked like a lion going to spring; and I think Buckskin, as the man called himself, who had often boasted as he didn't fear a living thing, was frighted. They stood facing each other for a moment, and then Softy sprang at him. He was so quick that instead of Buckskin's knife catching him, as he intended, just in front of the shoulder and going straight down to the heart, it caught him behind the shoulder, and laid open his back pretty near down to the waist.
"But there wur no mistake about Softy's stroke. It went fair between the ribs, and Buckskin fell back dead, with Softy on the top of him. Waal, after that it wur my turn to nuss the doctor, for no one called him Softy after that. He wur laid up for over a month, and I think that letting out of blood did him good and cleared his brain like. When he got well he wur just as you see him now, just as clear and as sensible a chap as you would see. Why, he has got as much sense as you would find in any man west of Missouri, and he's the truest mate and the kindest heart. I have never seen the doctor out of temper, for you can't call it being out of temper when he rises up and [357] goes for a man; that is his mission. He has never got that out of his head, and never will ontil he dies.
"He can put up with a deal, the doctor can; but when a man gits just too bad for anything, then it seems to him as he has got a call to wipe him out, and he wipes him out, you bet. You don't want lynch-law where the doctor is: he is a judge and a posse all to himself, and for years he was the terror of hard characters down in California. They was just skeered of him, and if a downright bad man came to a camp and heard the doctor wur there, he would in general clear straight out agin. He has been shot and cut all over, has the doctor, and half a dozen times it seemed to me I should never bring him round agin.
"It ain't no use talking to him and asking him why he should take on hisself to be a jedge and jury. When it's all over he always says in his gentle way that he is sorry about it, and I do think he is, and he says he will attend to his own business in future; but the next time it is just the same thing again. There ain't no holding him. You might just as well try to stop a mountain lion when he smells blood. At such times he ain't hisself. If you had once seen him you would never forget it. There wur a British painting fellow who wur travelling about taking pictures for a book. He wur in camp once when the doctor's dander rose, and he went for a man; and the Britisher said arterwards to me as it were like the bersek rage. I never heard tell of the berseks; but from what the chap said I guessed they lived in the old time. Waal, if they wur like the doctor I tell you that I shouldn't like to get into a muss with them. No, sir."
"Do you know what the doctor's history is, Sim?"
"Yes, I do know," he said, "but I don't suppose anyone else does. Maybe he will tell you some day if he gets over this."
"Oh! I don't want to know if it is a secret, Sim." [358]
"Waal, there ain't no secret in it, Lightning; but he don't talk about it, and in course I don't. It is a sort of thing that has happened to other men, and maybe after a bit they have got over it; but the doctor ain't. You see he ain't a common man: he has got the heart of a woman, and for a time it pretty nigh crazed him."
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1
brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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plentifully
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| adv. 许多地，丰饶地 | |
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sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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9
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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10
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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12
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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13
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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14
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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15
hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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16
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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18
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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19
wielding
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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20
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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21
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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22
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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23
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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26
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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28
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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33
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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sling
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| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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38
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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39
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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41
villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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42
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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43
debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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44
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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45
enlisting
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| v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的现在分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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46
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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47
entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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48
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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49
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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51
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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53
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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54
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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55
invalids
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| 病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
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56
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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57
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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58
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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59
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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60
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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61
piers
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| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
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62
wharves
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| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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63
busted
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| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
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64
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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65
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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66
isthmus
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| n.地峡 | |
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67
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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68
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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69
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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70
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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