Murray slept the clock around, and wakened hungry but very weak. All strength seemed to have fled out of him. The rare sunstroke of the desert had smitten1 fiercely. When he heard Claire's narrative2 of what had happened during the preceding night, his first thought was to get back to the aid of Bill Hobbs; but when the girl inspected the car, she pronounced the task hopeless.
"The front axle's all crooked3, and the left wheel is half twisted off," she reported, her eyes resting upon him anxiously. "I must have done it getting up here——"
"No matter," said Murray, losing all energy. The least movement appeared to drain his strength. The slightest touch of that blinding sunlight sent his brain whirling and reeling.
"I give up," he went on. "I'm good for nothing. Take a look around for rattlers; you have to watch out for them this season, for they give no warning but strike blindly;—and they're bad medicine. Lord, but I'm helpless!"
As he lay there, he reviewed the girl's story of the attempted arrest, and believed that he understood it very plainly, although he did not attempt to explain matters to Claire. She had enough to worry her, he decided4.
He remembered that Scudder had been talking with the contractor5 when Hennesy left to get the sheriff. He knew already that Scudder had opium6, for the use of Tom Lee. It would have been no hard matter for Scudder to have planted some of the drug among his own effects, he reflected.
Toward sunset they searched the horizon, but vainly. What was happening beyond that horizon, over the rim8 of the world? Murray worried, more about his friends than himself, for he was little concerned over Scudder's enmity and attempts to disprove him in the eyes of Tom Lee.
But Sandy Mackintavers was in the toils9, and as for Bill Hobbs—Murray groaned10 at the thought. He knew that Willyum had only recently come out of "stir" when he had picked up the ex-burglar. Now that Bill Hobbs had deliberately11 sacrificed himself in order to save Murray and Claire Lee, it meant a setback12 that would put him in the criminal ranks again for good. And at this moment, when both his friends needed him so sorely, Murray was stretched out here in the desert, helpless and impotent—himself under the menace of a cloud!
During that day, Murray and the girl lived long, came to know each other deeply; not with the superficial words and phrases and acts of civilized14 life, but in primitive15 ways and fashions. When the night closed down again like a mantle16 above the desert, it drew them yet closer together.
"Your father will be here tomorrow at latest," said Murray reflectively.
"He should have come long ago." Claire's eyes were filled with somber17 shadows. "I'm afraid that—that Doctor Scudder has been keeping him under the influence of opium. How I detest18 and fear that man! I wish that Father could be made to see him as I see him, that he would break with the man!"
"I think he will, eventually," said Murray, and smiled grimly to himself at thought of the reckoning he would have with Scudder.
The night passed. Once, Murray wakened; it seemed to him that he caught, in the desert silence and cold stillness, the throbbing19 motor of an automobile20. Yet he could see no lights, and Claire had not wakened. He lay for a space, watching vainly, and at last fell asleep again.
With the morning, Murray opened his eyes to find Claire already up and breakfast nearly ready. He tried to rise, and managed to leave his blankets, but he was giddy and too weak to walk. With a muttered curse at his own feebleness, he sank down again upon the sand.
"If no one shows up here by afternoon," he declared resolutely21, while they breakfasted and discussed the situation, "I think we'd better make an effort to get back with the car. She may run; when it comes to flivvers, the days of miracles are by no means over——"
At this instant, Claire sprang to her feet with a cry of joy.
"Look—look! A car!"
Murray twisted around, and saw a moving object upon the desert face. From where they were upon the hillside, it was possible to see only the stretch of the ca?on floor immediately below them; a twist in the ca?on walls hid the remainder of the road from their sight, until it came out again upon the desert basin half a mile away. It was out there, crawling in from the low horizon, that the moving automobile appeared.
"It's Father!" cried the girl, watching the car intently as it rapidly drew closer to them. "It's our car! I know it because we had to put the license22 plate on the right fender—oh, I'm so glad. Now everything's all right!"
Silence fell upon them both. They watched without further speech as the car came in toward them, and finally vanished from sight. Five minutes later, it appeared down below in the little valley, its cheerful thrum reverberating23 upon the morning silence, echoing back from the ca?on walls. But, as Claire watched, uneasiness grew in her eyes.
There was but one man in the car, the driver. The flivver was halted down by the shack24, and its driver alighted. Murray glanced at the girl, and read a swift flutter of fear in her eyes.
"It's not Father at all—it's Doctor Scudder!" she breathed.
"Don't worry," said Murray coolly. "I expect your father sent him here. Ah, he's coming up! That's good."
His calm manner exerted a quieting effect upon Claire. Toward them from the ca?on climbed Doctor Scudder. As he came closer, his cheery "Good morning!" floated to them, and both Murray and Claire made answer. Scudder completed the climb, panting a little, and removed his hat to wipe his brow.
"Where's Father?" exclaimed Claire eagerly.
"I'm sorry to say, Miss Lee, that he's not well," returned Scudder, his eyes taking in each detail of the scene. "Hobbs came into town yesterday in custody25 of the sheriff, and told us of the situation here. Your father hoped to be able to come himself, but early this morning he was taken rather ill. So I came in his place."
"Did you give him more opium?" cried the girl accusingly. Scudder's brows lifted.
"No, I mean that he was really ill, Miss Lee. For the past two days he has not touched the drug, and his system is not yet inured26 to the deprivation27. What's this, Murray—sunstroke? I hope you'll let me do anything in my power——"
"Thanks," said Murray quietly. Instinct told him that the words of Scudder were a tissue of lies, yet he knew that he was in need of the man's skill. "I'd like to have a talk with you all alone. Miss Lee, would you have any objection to leaving me and Doctor Scudder in private for a few moments?"
"Ah!" said Scudder suavely28. "I was about to make the same request!" He smiled thinly. "And I have a very good excuse, Miss Lee. The contractor arrived yesterday to come out here with your father; but as their trip has been temporarily delayed, your father asked if you would take some pictures of the ground just back and above the place he had selected as a building site. It has something to do, I believe, with the building of a tank or a reservoir for water from the spring. You'll find the camera in the rear of the car."
"Very well," said Claire, with a nod of her head.
She departed down the hillside, and Scudder gazed reflectively after her, watching her lift the camera from his car, and then start toward the wall of manzanita that cloaked the upper end of the valley. Murray's voice caused him to turn.
"Well, Scudder, we'd better have a showdown," said Murray calmly, gazing up at the man. "The sheriff was out here, as you know, and told about finding dope in my belongings29. What made you plant the dope there? That was a silly way to try and discredit30 me in the eyes of Tom Lee."
Scudder looked down at him and smiled. There was nothing mirthful in the smile, however. It was a cold, hard, deadly smile, like the fixed31 and drawn-back lips of a snake waiting to strike.
"You guessed right, Murray," he said unexpectedly. "It was a rather futile32 thing, and I've found a much better way. I don't mind telling you that I gave Tom Lee enough opium last night to keep him doped for a week, so there'll be no interference."
Murray swore. "You damned whelp!" he said, trying to raise himself, but vainly. "If——"
"No more fisticuffs, eh?" he sneered34. "Not in condition just now, are you? Well, I'll have you fixed up in no time! Morphia victim, weren't you? Well, I'll pump morphia into you for about three weeks—and turn you loose. That'll take care of you, I guess."
From his pocket, Scudder took a hypodermic case, and a bottle of tablets. He filled the tiny thimble-cup with water from the spring, dropped a tablet into it, unfolded the inch-square metal stand, and set the cup in place. Then he put the stand down, struck a match, and held it beneath the cup.
"Handy affair, this!" he observed.
Murray watched him in horror which changed from incredulity to realization35 that the man intended his words literally36. Knowing that Murray had been a morphia victim, he was now deliberately taking advantage of his helplessness to inject the drug again—and with Murray in his charge, he could put him hopelessly under the spell of the drug once more!
"Good God, man!" cried Murray, getting up on one elbow. "You can't mean——"
Scudder put out a foot and shoved him back again.
"Lie put, will you?" he chuckled37. "Wait till I get this syringe filled, and by the time Claire comes back, you'll be past speech! And you won't speak to her again until I'm ready to let you."
While he spoke38, Scudder filled the syringe, and adjusted a needle. Then, the syringe in his hand, he came and stood over Murray.
Murray struck at him—struck weakly and vainly. Scudder seized his right wrist and drew it down—put it under his foot and held it there. Then he seized Murray's left arm, gripped the wrist, and drew it up to meet the syringe.
"Now for happyland!" he said. "One slight prick——"
He paused suddenly—paused and jerked himself upright, a flood of color sweeping40 into his pale features as his head came up. From the clumps41 of manzanita twenty feet away, had come a voice.
"Hold on, Scudder!"
And from that covert42 of twisting, grotesque43, blood-red manzanita trees, stepped Tom Lee. Murray felt something of the fright that had seized upon Scudder, for the presence of Tom Lee seemed nothing short of an apparition44.
"I waited for this, Scudder!" rang out the voice of the yellow man, his eyes fastened upon the horrified45 gaze of Scudder. "When you gave me all that dope last night, I guessed that you were coming here; I discovered that you had planted the stuff in Doctor Murray's suitcase, I had begun to penetrate46 your wiles47 and deviltry! Now it's ended."
Tom Lee came forward. Before him, Scudder shrank. The syringe dropped from his nerveless fingers; he stepped back from the figure of Murray, retreated from the advancing form of Tom Lee in visible terror and consternation48.
"You devil!" cried the oriental, a deep and surging passion filling his voice. "I came here last night in Hennesy's car—I've been waiting for you! I heard all your lies, heard all your plotted deviltry. You thought you'd dispose of Murray and have Claire in your power, didn't you?"
There was reason for the sheer terror that filled Scudder. The face of the advancing man had changed into a frightful49 mask; it had changed and altered into the face of the great stone Buddha50 that watches over the Yungmen caves—it had become a purely51 Asian face, filled with terrible and deadly things, unguessed menaces.
Murray painfully got to one elbow again and watched. The others were oblivious52 of him; all their attention was fastened upon each other. Still Scudder retreated, and still Tom Lee advanced upon him, weaponless, yet in his advance a potent13 and fearful threat. Before that threat, Scudder still retreated, his face ghastly.
"You can't get away from me," said Tom Lee impassively. "I'm going to have a reckoning with you."
"No, but I can stop your game!" retorted Scudder with an oath. The mask was gone now, and he cursed luridly54. "You can't run any damned Chinese bluff55 on me——"
With the words, he plucked a revolver from his pocket and fired.
The shot echoed and re?choed in the ca?on. Tom Lee did not move. Scudder glared up at him and made as if to lift the weapon again, then he hurled56 it from him with another curse, and kicked at something on the sand at his feet. A shrill scream broke from him. Something fell away from his kick—an incoherent, feeble object that slipped to the sand and blended there, shapeless and invisible; a stark-blind thing, a living volute of death and venom—a rattler, that had struck blind, but that had struck home!
With that scream still on his lips, Scudder whirled about and began to run. He fled, as though after him pursued some invisible and awful thing. He ran blindly down the valley as though in search of something, desperate in his extremity57; he passed the automobile in which he had come, running, stumbling through the soft sand. And so out of sight around the twist in the ca?on.
"Let him go! It is finished."
The words came from Tom Lee. He turned to Murray, smiling, and the smile seemed fastened in his face. He lifted his arm, and looked at the hand, curiously58. A cry broke from Murray, for the hand was streaming with a scarlet59 fluid.
Abruptly60, Tom Lee pitched forward and lay in a heap, just as Claire, called by the shot, appeared.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
smitten
|
|
| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
narrative
|
|
| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
crooked
|
|
| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
contractor
|
|
| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
opium
|
|
| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
vowed
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
rim
|
|
| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
toils
|
|
| 网 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
deliberately
|
|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
setback
|
|
| n.退步，挫折，挫败 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
potent
|
|
| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
civilized
|
|
| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
primitive
|
|
| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
mantle
|
|
| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
somber
|
|
| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
detest
|
|
| vt.痛恨，憎恶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
throbbing
|
|
| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
automobile
|
|
| n.汽车，机动车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
resolutely
|
|
| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
license
|
|
| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
reverberating
|
|
| 回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
shack
|
|
| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
custody
|
|
| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
inured
|
|
| adj.坚强的，习惯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
deprivation
|
|
| n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
suavely
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
belongings
|
|
| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
discredit
|
|
| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
futile
|
|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
chuckle
|
|
| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
sneered
|
|
| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
realization
|
|
| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
literally
|
|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
chuckled
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
sweeping
|
|
| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
clumps
|
|
| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
covert
|
|
| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
grotesque
|
|
| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
apparition
|
|
| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
horrified
|
|
| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
penetrate
|
|
| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
wiles
|
|
| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
consternation
|
|
| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
frightful
|
|
| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
Buddha
|
|
| n.佛；佛像；佛陀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
oblivious
|
|
| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
shrill
|
|
| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
luridly
|
|
| adv. 青灰色的(苍白的, 深浓色的, 火焰等火红的) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
bluff
|
|
| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
hurled
|
|
| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
extremity
|
|
| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |