SECTION 8.

 Hal judged that he had now exhausted¹ his legal resources in Pedro; the Chief of Police had not suggested any one else he might call upon, so there seemed nothing he could do but go back to MacKellar's and await the hour of the night train to Western City. He started to give his guardians² another run, by way of working off at least a part of his own temper; but he found that they had anticipated this difficulty. An automobile³ came up and the three of them stepped in. Not to be outdone, Hal engaged a hack⁴, and so the expedition returned in pomp to MacKellar's.

Hal found the old cripple in a state of perturbation. All that afternoon his telephone had been ringing; one person after another had warned him—some pleading with him, some abusing him. It was evident that among them were people who had a hold on the old man; but he was undaunted, and would not hear of Hal's going to stay at the hotel until train-time.

Then Keating returned, with an exciting tale to tell. Schulman, general manager of the “G. F. C.,” had been sending out messengers to hunt for him, and finally had got him in his office, arguing and pleading, cajoling and denouncing him by turns. He had got Cartwright on the telephone, and the North Valley superintendent⁵ had laboured to convince Keating that he had done the company a wrong. Cartwright had told a story about Hal's efforts to hold up the company for money. “Incidentally,” said Keating, “he added the charge that you had seduced⁶ a girl in his camp.”

Hal stared at his friend. “Seduced a girl!” he exclaimed.

“That's what he said; a red-headed Irish girl.”

“Well, damn his soul!”

There followed a silence, broken by a laugh from Billy. “Don't glare at me like that. I didn't say it!”

But Hal continued to glare, nevertheless. “The dirty little skunk⁷!”

“Take it easy, sonny,” said the fat man, soothingly⁸. “It's quite the usual thing, to drag in a woman. It's so easy—for of course there always is a woman. There's one in this case, I suppose?”

“There's a perfectly⁹ decent girl.”

“But you've been friendly with her? You've been walking around where people can see you?”

“Yes.”

“So you see, they've got you. There's nothing you can do about a thing of that sort.”

“You wait and see!” Hal burst out.

The other gazed curiously¹⁰ at the angry young miner. “What'll you do? Beat him up some night?”

But the young miner did not answer. “You say he described the girl?”

“He was kind enough to say she was a red-headed beauty, and with no one to protect her but a drunken father. I could understand that must have made it pretty hard for her, in one of these coal-camps.” There was a pause. “But see here,” said the reporter, “you'll only do the girl harm by making a row. Nobody believes that women in coal-camps have any virtue¹¹. God knows, I don't see how they do have, considering the sort of men who run the camps, and the power they have.”

“Mr. Keating,” said Hal, “did you believe what Cartwright told you?”

Keating had started to light a cigar. He stopped in the middle, and his eyes met Hal's. “My dear boy,” said he, “I didn't consider it my business to have an opinion.”

“But what did you say to Cartwright?”

“Ah! That's another matter. I said that I'd been a newspaper man for a good many years, and I knew his game.”

“Thank you for that,” said Hal. “You may be interested to know there isn't any truth in the story.”

“Glad to hear it,” said the other. “I believe you.”

“Also you may be interested to know that I shan't drop the matter until I've made Cartwright take it back.”

“Well, you're an enterprising cuss!” laughed the reporter. “Haven't you got enough on your hands, with all the men you're going to get out of the mine?”

1 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

2 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

3 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

4 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

5 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

6 seduced   

诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷

参考例句：

• The promise of huge profits seduced him into parting with his money. 高额利润的许诺诱使他把钱出了手。
• His doctrines have seduced many into error. 他的学说把许多人诱入歧途。

7 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

8 soothingly   

adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地

参考例句：

• The mother talked soothingly to her child. 母亲对自己的孩子安慰地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He continued to talk quietly and soothingly to the girl until her frightened grip on his arm was relaxed. 他继续柔声安慰那姑娘，她那因恐惧而紧抓住他的手终于放松了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

10 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

11 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。