At almost any other time he would have plied2 the officer with questions regarding the class of nomads3 known as “wolfers,” for he would like to have learned more about them; but he had already found out all he cared to know just then.
Tom was suspected of complicity in some crime that rendered him liable to punishment; and, if he escaped and went to the hills with Lish, he would run the risk of being robbed by him.
Oscar thought it was his duty to warn him of these dangers. He knew that the lieutenant4 would carry out his instructions with the 108utmost promptness and decision—these regulars waste no time when acting5 under orders—and not a moment was to be lost.
The colonel settled back in his chair as though he had nothing more to say just then, and Oscar arose to his feet and went into his bedroom.
After slinging6 on his powder-flask and shot-pouch, and making sure that the little box in the stock of his fowling-piece was filled with caps, he opened his trunk, and, taking from it a sum of money sufficient to pay for the clothes he had promised to purchase for his brother, he went back into the colonel’s room.
There the officer detained him for a few minutes in order to describe the localities in the immediate7 vicinity of the fort in which he would be likely to find the most game, and to tell him how to shape his course in order to reach those localities. He thought he was doing the boy a kindness; but instead of that he was putting him on nettles8.
Oscar listened as patiently as he could; and, when the colonel ceased speaking, he bade him good-by and left the room.
109He bolted through the outer door, and ran at the top of his speed across the parade-ground to the sutler’s store. Fortunately there were no customers present, and so the sutler was at liberty to attend to his wants at once.
Slinging his double-barrel over his shoulder by the broad strap9 that was attached to it, Oscar quickly selected the articles he thought his brother needed, paid the price demanded for them, and, as soon as they had been tied up in a compact bundle, he hurried to the stable after his horse.
The animal, as before, showed a desire to use his heels, but Oscar, having no time to waste, paid not the slightest attention to him. The curb10 and the rawhide11 lasso were both brought into requisition; and, before the vicious little beast was fairly through smarting under the energetic pulls and blows he had received, he had carried his rider through the gate and out of sight of the flag-staff.
The pony12 accomplished13 the distance that lay between the fort and the mouth of the gully in much less time than he had accomplished it before; for Oscar made no effort to 110check him, not even when he was moving with headlong speed down the steep path that led through the sage-brush.
Almost before he knew it, the boy found himself in the mouth of the ravine, and there he drew rein14 and brought his pony to a stand-still.
He now had another cause for uneasiness. Suppose the lieutenant had found Lish at the village, and that the wolfer had said or done something to warrant his arrest! Suppose, too, having placed Lish safely in the guard-house, the young officer should come after Tom, and find Oscar there in the ravine!
Even if he did not suspect him of something—and it is hard to see how the lieutenant could help it when he caught sight of the big bundle that was tied to the horn of Oscar’s saddle—would he not mention the circumstance to the colonel when he made his report, and wouldn’t the colonel have a word or two to say about it?
“Gracious!” exclaimed Oscar; “I’ll be in trouble myself if I don’t look out. What could I say to the colonel if he should ask me 111what I was doing here, and what I had in my bundle? Tom!” he added, calling as loudly as he dared. “If you are about here, show yourself without any fooling. I am in a great hurry, and I have news for you.”
Tom was about there, but he would not show himself. He was lying at the foot of a scrub-oak, on the other side of the ravine, keeping a close watch over his brother’s movements; but not even the announcement that Oscar had some news to communicate, could induce him to stir from his place of concealment15. He felt so heartily17 ashamed of himself that he did not want to meet his brother face to face again, if he could help it.
“I can’t waste any words on him. There are his clothes, and when he wants them he can come after them,” said Oscar, pitching the bundle down behind the rock Tom had described to him. “Now then, I don’t know whether or not I shall have time to do it, but I’ll take the risk.”
So saying, Oscar drew from his pocket a diary and lead-pencil, and dashed off a short 112note to his brother, using the pommel of his saddle for a writing-desk. The pony was as motionless as the rock beside which he stood.
Probably he thought—if he was able to think at all—that Oscar had ridden into the bushes in order to conceal16 himself from some enemy who was in pursuit of him. At any rate, he showed the training he had received at the hands of his Indian master.
The note ran as follows:
Dear Tom:
Here are the clothes you need. I am sorry I cannot see you again, for I should like to ask you some questions in regard to a certain “affair” that happened last summer; and in which you and Lish, the Wolfer, are supposed to have been engaged. If you had anything to do with it, you will know what I mean, and you had better dig out of here without the loss of a minute’s time. Go off somewhere among white folks; begin all over again, with an earnest resolution to do better, and, as soon as you are able, make amends18 for what you have done. But first drop Lish, as you would drop a hot potato. You will never amount to a row of pins so long as you have anything to do with him or men like him. I have as good evidence as I want that he will rob you before the season is over, as Frank Fuller and Eben Webster robbed Leon Parker. If you had no hand in that “affair,” whatever it may be, come up to the fort as 113soon as you have read this note and put on these clothes, and I will do everything in my power to give you a start. In either case drop Lish. It would be better for you to work for nothing and board around, as you did in Denver, than to associate longer with him.
For prudential reasons, Oscar signed no name to the note; and, indeed, no signature was needed to tell Tom where it came from. He read it over hastily, and bending down from his saddle, he thrust it under the string with which the bundle of clothing was tied up.
“It isn’t as emphatic19 as I wish it was,” thought he, “but I have no time to re-write it, and I don’t know that I could make any improvements in it if I should try. I would much rather talk to him, and I wish he had——”
Just then the pony’s head came up with a jerk, and his ears were thrown back as if he were listening to some sound behind him.
He did not turn about as most horses would have done, nor did he move one of his feet an inch—not even when the clatter20 of hoofs21 on the hard path began to ring out clearly and distinctly, as it did a moment later.
114Somebody was coming through the sage-brush toward the ravine—that was evident. Beyond a doubt it was the lieutenant; and here was Oscar, fairly cornered.
A person thinks rapidly when placed in a situation like this, and it did not take the boy an instant to make up his mind that everything depended on his pony.
The rock behind which he had hidden the bundle stood on the hillside, fully22 twenty feet from the path, and the intervening space was thickly covered with trees and bushes.
If the pony could be kept from revealing his presence, it was possible that the approaching horseman might pass on into the ravine, without suspecting that there was anyone near him.
“It’s rather a slender chance,” Oscar thought, as he swung himself from the saddle and seized his pony by the bit; “but it is the only one I have. Now, old fellow,” he added in a whisper, “just imagine that I am an Indian hiding here to escape from a white man who wants to shoot me!”
If the pony had been able to understand 115every word his master said to him, he could not have behaved with more circumspection23.
He stood perfectly24 still, and there was nothing but the motion of his ears to indicate that he heard anything.
Oscar kept a close watch of the path through a convenient opening in the bushes, and presently the horseman passed across the range of his vision.
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收听单词发音
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1
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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2
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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3
nomads
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| n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活 | |
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4
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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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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6
slinging
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| 抛( sling的现在分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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7
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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8
nettles
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| n.荨麻( nettle的名词复数 ) | |
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9
strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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10
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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11
rawhide
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| n.生牛皮 | |
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12
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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13
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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14
rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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15
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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16
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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17
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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18
amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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19
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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20
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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22
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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23
circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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