Bud Heyland's animal began with a very moderate pace, but he increased it so rapidly that by the time the angry driver was on the run, the quadruped was going almost equally as fast.
"Whoa! whoa! Stop, or I'll kill you!"
If the horse understood the command, he did not appreciate the threat, and, therefore, it served rather as a spur to his exertion2, for he went faster than ever.
It is well known, also, that under such circumstances the sagacious animal is only intent on reaching home with the least delay, and he does not care a pin whether his flight injures the vehicle behind him or not. In fact, he seems to be better pleased if it does suffer some disarrangement.
When, therefore, the animal debouched from the wood into the faint light under the stars he was on a gallop3, and the wagon4 was bounding along from side to[Pg 176] side in an alarming way. Bud was not far behind it, and shouting in his fiercest manner, he soon saw that he was only wasting his strength. He then ceased his outcries and devoted5 all his energies to overtaking the runaway6 horse.
"It'll be just like him to smash the wagon all to flinders," growled7 Bud, "and I'll have to pay for the damages."
As nearly as could be determined8, horse and lad were going at the same pace, the boy slightly gaining, perhaps, and growing more furious each minute, for this piece of treachery on the part of the horse.
Some twenty yards separated the pursuer from the team, when a heavy, lumbering9 wagon loomed10 to view ahead.
"Get out of the road!" called Bud, excitedly. "This hoss is running away, and he'll smash you if you don't!"
At such times a farmer is slow to grasp the situation, and the old gentleman, who was half asleep, could not understand what all the rumpus was about, until the galloping11 horse was upon him. Then he wrenched12 his lines, hoping to pull his team aside in time, but his honest nags13 were as slow as their owner, and all they did was to get themselves out of the way, so as to allow the light vehicle to crash into that to which they were attached.
It is the frailer14 vessel15 which generally goes to the wall at such times, though Bud's was armed with a good deal of momentum16. As it was the front wheel was twisted off, and the frightened horse continued at a swifter gait[Pg 177] than ever toward his home, while Bud, seeing how useless it was to try to overtake him, turned upon the old farmer, who was carefully climbing out of his wagon to see whether his property had suffered any damage.
"Why didn't you get out the way when I hollered to you?" demanded the panting Bud, advancing threateningly upon him.
"Why didn't you holler sooner, my young friend?" asked the old gentleman, in a soft voice.
"I yelled to you soon enough, and you're a big fool that you didn't pull aside as I told you. I hope your old rattle-trap has been hurt so it can't be fixed17 up."
"I can't diskiver that it's been hurt at all, and I'm very thankful," remarked the farmer, stooping down and feeling the spokes18 and axletree with his hands; "but don't you know it is very disrespectful for a boy like you to call an old man a fool?"
"I generally say just what I mean, and what are you going to do about it, old Hay Seed?"
The gentleman thus alluded20 to showed what he meant to do about it, for he reached quietly upward and lifted his whip from its socket21 in the front of the wagon.
"I say again," added Bud, not noticing the movement, and swaggering about, "that any man who acts like you is a natural born fool, and the best thing you can do is to go home——"
Just then something cracked like a pistol shot and the whip of the old farmer whizzed about the legs of the astounded22 scapegrace, who, with a howl similar to that[Pg 178] which Fred Sheldon uttered under similar treatment, bounded high in air and started on a run in the direction of his flying vehicle.
At the second step the whip descended23 again, and it was repeated several times before the terrified Bud could get beyond reach of the indignant gentleman, who certainly showed more vigor24 than any one not knowing him would have looked for.
"Some boys is very disrespectful, and should be teached manners," he muttered, turning calmly about and going back to his team, which stood sleepily in the road awaiting him.
"What's getting into folks?" growled Bud Heyland, trying to rub his smarting legs in half a dozen places at once; "that's the sassiest old curmudgeon25 I ever seen. If I'd knowed he was so sensitive I wouldn't have argued the matter so strong. Jingo! But he knows how to swing a whip. When he brought down the lash26 on to me, I orter just jumped right into him and knocked him down, and I'd done it, too, if I hadn't been afraid of one thing, which was that he'd knocked me down first. Plague on him! I'll get even with him yet. I wish——"
Bud stopped short in inexpressible disgust, for just then he recalled that he had his loaded revolver with him, and he ought to have used it to defend himself.
The assault of the old gentleman was so sudden that his victim had no time to think of anything but to place himself beyond reach of his strong and active arm.
"I don't know what makes me so blamed slow in thinking of things," added Bud, resuming the rubbing[Pg 179] of his legs and his walk toward Tottenville, "but I must learn to wake up sooner. I'm sure I got in some good work to-day, and I'll finish it up in style to-morrow night, or my name ain't Nathaniel Higgins Heyland, and then I'm going to skip out of this slow place in a hurry and have a good time with the boys. What's that?"
He discerned the dim outlines of some peculiar27 looking object in the road, and going to it, suddenly saw what it was.
"Yes, I might have knowed it!" he muttered, with another forcible expression; "it's a wagon wheel; the second one off that good-for-nothing one I hired of Grimsby, and I'll have a pretty bill to pay when I get there. I 'spose I'll find the rest of the wagon strewed28 all along the road; yes——"
Bud was not far wrong in his supposition, for a little further on he came upon a third wheel, which was leaning against the fence, as though it were "tired," and near by was the fourth.
After that the fragments of the ruined vehicle were met with continually, until the angered young man wondered how it was there could be so much material in such an ordinary structure.
"It's about time I begun to find something of the horse," he added, with a grim sense of the grotesque29 humor of the idea; "I wouldn't care if I came across his head and legs scattered30 along the road, for I'm mad enough agin him to blow him up, but I won't get the chance, for old Grimsby won't let me have him agin when I go out to take a ride to-morrow night."
[Pg 180]
Things could not have been in a worse condition than when Bud, tired and angry, walked up on the porch of the hotel and dropped wearily into one of the chairs that were always there.
Old Mr. Grimsby was awaiting him, and said the animal was badly bruised31, and as for the wagon, the only portion he could find any trace of was the shafts32, which came bounding into the village behind the flying horse.
Mr. Grimsby's principal grief seemed to be that Bud himself had not shared the fate of the wagon, and he did not hesitate to so express himself.
"The damages won't be a cent less than a hundred dollars," added the angry keeper of the livery stable.
"Will you call it square for that?" asked Bud, looking at the man, who was leaning against the post in front of him.
"Yes, of course I will?"
"Very well; write out a receipt in full and sign it and I'll pay it."
"If you're in earnest come over to my office."
Bud got up and followed him into his little dingy34 office, where he kept a record of his humble35 livery business, and after considerable fumbling36 with his oil-lamp, found pen and paper and the receipt was written and signed.
While he was thus employed Bud Heyland had counted one hundred dollars in ten-dollar bills, which he passed over to Mr. Grimsby, who, as was his custom, counted them over several times.
[Pg 181]
As he did so he noticed that they were crisp, new bills, and looked as if they were in circulation for the first time.
He carefully folded them up and put them away in his wallet with a grim smile, such as is apt to be shown by a man of that character when he thinks he has got the better of a friend in a bargain or trade.
And as Bud Heyland walked out he smiled, too, in a very meaning way.
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1
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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2
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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3
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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7
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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10
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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11
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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12
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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13
nags
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| n.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的名词复数 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的第三人称单数 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
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14
frailer
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| 脆弱的( frail的比较级 )； 易损的； 易碎的 | |
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15
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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16
momentum
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| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
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17
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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spokes
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| n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 | |
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19
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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23
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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24
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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25
curmudgeon
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| n. 脾气暴躁之人，守财奴，吝啬鬼 | |
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26
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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27
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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28
strewed
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| v.撒在…上( strew的过去式和过去分词 )；散落于；点缀；撒满 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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31
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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32
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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35
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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36
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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