“All right. You’re next, Gil.”
“Well, how would ‘Crofton’ do?”
“Kindly await your turn, Mr. Endicott,” said Jeff. “What do you say, Hope?”
“I think something like—like ‘Dragon Fly’ would be pretty.”
“That’s not bad,” said Gil.
“Now, Poke.”
“‘Tippy,’” replied Poke promptly.
“It isn’t tippy,” denied Jeff.
“All canoes are tippy. Call this one ‘Tippi-canoe,’ only call it ‘Tippy’ for short. Get me?”
“I don’t know,” said Jim. “I think what[206] Hope suggested is pretty good. Or you might call it ‘Kingfisher.’”
“Yes,” said Jeffrey, “or ‘Lotus.’”
“Yes, or ‘Pink Carnation,’” jeered5 Poke. “Or ‘Canary Bird.’ Why don’t you think of something appropriate? Now, ‘Tippy’—”
“Is idiotic,” interrupted Gil. “I think you need a short name, Jeff; something with ‘go’ to it—”
“That’s it!” exclaimed Jim, almost upsetting his coffee cup.
“What’s it?” they asked.
“‘Go To It’!”
“Really, that’s not bad,” commented Poke.
The others agreed, all save Hope. Hope said she thought it was a bit slangy.
“But that’s the kind of name you want,” insisted Gil. “Something snappy, Jeff.”
“Why not call it ‘Poke’?” asked that youth.
“Yes, ‘Slow Poke,’” amended6 Jim. “But I don’t call that snappy. What’s the matter with something Indian?”
“That’s the ticket!” cried Poke. “Jimmy, old boy, you’re coming on. Let’s call it ‘Laughing Water.’”
“Or ‘Minnehaha.’”
[207]
“Or ‘Silver Heels.’”
“‘Rain-in-the-Face!’”
“Oh, cut it out, Poke! Be sensible.” This from Gil. “I guess all the Indian names have been used up, Jeff. Why not call it ‘Hope’?”
Hope laughed merrily at that, and Poke grinned. “I wish you would,” he said eagerly. “You certainly would get your share of joshing, Senator.”
“Well, it’s getting on, fellows, and we don’t seem to have found anything very good yet. Can’t any one think of anything?”
There was a depressed7 silence until Jim said feebly: “Call it ‘Noname.’” This met with the reception it deserved. Hope knitted her brows and forgot, in her absorption, to finish the slice of cake she held. Finally Poke broke the stillness. “Who’s got a pencil?” he asked.
“Give it back?” inquired Jeffrey.
“I certainly will,” replied Poke, viewing it in disgust. “Now who’s got a piece of paper?”
“Any other little thing you’d like?” asked Gil, tossing him a box-lid. “A twenty-dollar gold piece or a silk hat?”
“Yes, I’d like silence,” said Poke severely8.[208] He began to write on the lid and the others, glad of a respite9 from thinking, watched him curiously10. For a minute Poke scribbled11 and erased12 and frowned, but finally a satisfied smile dawned over his countenance13.
“I’ve got it,” he announced. “Gil said all the Indian names had been used, my friends, but Gil, as usual, was wrong. Here, Jeff, is the name of your canoe.”
He tossed the box-lid to Jeffrey. On it he had printed in big letters:
MI-KA-NOO.
“What’s that mean?” asked Jeffrey. Then it dawned on him and he burst into a laugh and handed the inscription14 on to Jim. “That’s bully15, Poke! It really does look like Indian at first, too!”
“My Canoe,” Jim translated as he passed it on. “How did you think of it, Poke?”
Poke waved his hand airily, signifying that the thing was too trivial to be worth attention.
“The only thing,” said Gil, with a grin, “is that you’re pretty sure to call it ‘Mike’ for short.”
“Great!” laughed Jim. “You wanted[209] something short and snappy and there it is; Mike. You can’t beat it.”
Hope was less enthusiastic about the name than the others, and said she thought it would be a shame to call anything as pretty as the crimson16 canoe, “Mike,” but Jeffrey was delighted with the suggestion. “It will look bully when it’s painted on,” he declared. “I suppose they’ll do it in gold, won’t they, Gil?”
“If you tell them to they will, I guess. Let’s get a move on, or we won’t get home before the game begins. Toss me another banana, Poke.”
“How many have you had already?” asked his chum severely.
“Only one; honest.”
“All right; catch. Who wants some more cake? There are three bananas left, too. Have one, Jim? Any one else in the audience like a banana? Shove the basket over, Hope, and I’ll dump these things in. What time is it?”
“After twelve,” replied Gil. “We’ll have to hurry a bit.”
“It won’t take us twenty minutes to get back after we’re started,” said Jeffrey. “We’ve got the current with us, you know.”
[210]
“Jeff,” asked Hope as they retraced18 their steps, “will you teach me to paddle sometime? I’d love to know how. It isn’t hard, is it? It doesn’t look hard, anyway.”
“No, it isn’t hard, except when you’re going against the stream or the wind,” Jeffrey answered. “I’ll show you how any day you like after I get ‘Mike.’”
Hope made a face. “I think that’s a perfectly—perfectly suggy name, Jeff.”
“Suggy? What’s suggy?”
“Horrid, of course.”
“I guess so,” replied Hope. “I don’t believe I know what an-an-anto—what that is, though.”
They returned to the float, and while Jeffrey and Gil went on to the office to see about having the name put on the canoe, Jim and Poke launched the craft and made ready for the return trip. Then, as the others had not come back, Poke excused himself with the vague explanation that he thought he’d just look around a minute, and disappeared up the hill.[211] Jeffrey and Gil returned presently and after they had waited several minutes for Poke that young gentleman sauntered into sight with a huge bag of peanuts from which he was industriously20 eating.
“Pig!” shouted Gil scathingly.
“For that,” remarked Poke tranquilly21, “you get none, my friend. Who wants some peanuts?”
It seemed that they all did, for Gil and Jim captured the bag by main force and made an equal distribution of its contents. As Jim remarked a few minutes later, it was a lucky thing that they did not have to paddle going back, for paddling would have interfered22 seriously with eating the peanuts. As it was, they left a floating trail of shells all the way from Riverbend to the boat-house at Crofton.
Jeffrey and Hope returned to Sunnywood, but the others remained at school to await the time for the game with St. Luke’s Academy. Poke declared that Jeffrey was going home to get more dinner, and showed a strong disposition23 to accompany him. Gil and Jim, however, restrained him by force of arms.
“Oh, I don’t want anything myself,” he[212] said, “but some one ought to go along and see that those two don’t get any more. My—my motive24, Gil, was quite disinterested25.”
“You’re coming back to see the game, aren’t you, Jeff?” called Jim.
“Yes, indeed. So is Hope. And we’re going to bring Lady if she will come,” answered Jeffrey.
The three seated themselves on the steps of the gymnasium and watched Jeffrey go swinging along with the aid of his crutches26, Hope beside him suiting her steps to his.
“He gets along mighty27 well, doesn’t he?” observed Gil. “Gee, if I was in his shoes, fellows, I’d have a grouch28 all the time. Think of knowing that you’ve got to go through life like that! Br-r-r!”
“Think of not being able to play football or tennis or any of the things we do,” said Poke soberly. “That’s what would get me, I guess.”
“He certainly can handle a canoe, though,” said Jim.
“And he told me last night that he could swim,” Gil added. “In fact he seemed to think he could do that about as well as I can.”
[213]
“I should hope so!” exclaimed Poke. “You’re a punk swimmer.”
“Am I? I noticed that I had no trouble swimming all around you last summer, Pokey.”
“Shucks! I wasn’t well that day. You know I’d eaten too much breakfast.”
“You usually do,” replied Gil sweetly. “I suppose you can swim like a fish, Jim?”
“N-no, I can’t swim much; I mean I can’t do many fancy tricks like fellows I’ve seen. I can keep it up a long time, though. I swam six miles one day last summer.”
“Six miles!” Poke whistled expressively29. “What for?”
“Nothing; just to see if I could.”
“Weren’t you dead when you got through?”
“A little tired; not much. I swam out to the island first; that’s nearly a mile; and then I went to the breakwater, which is a good two miles, and then back the same way. It makes a good swim.”
“Oh, yes,” said Poke carelessly, “but a trifle short; what? Did you rest any?”
“No, not to speak of. I stayed in the water all the time, but I rested a couple of minutes at the island and about as long as that at the end[214] of the breakwater. I didn’t stop at all coming back.”
“Where’s this place you live?” asked Gil. “Near here, isn’t it?”
“Yes, just over there.” Jim nodded in the general direction of the coast. “Only about thirty miles. Essexport, you know.”
“I’ve heard of it. Folks go there in summer, don’t they?”
“Some, but it isn’t a fashionable summer resort at all. A good many artists go there. You stumble over them all the time on the wharves30 and around the harbor. They sit under white umbrellas and paint any old thing they can find. They’re rather nice folks, artists.”
Jim shook his head. “I don’t know. You see, we’ve rented our house. We might go back for a little while, I suppose. I dare say it’s pretty hot here in summer.”
“I’ll bet it is!” said Gil. “It was so hot last spring at commencement that we nearly died. Had to dress up in our best togs, you know, and make a hit with our relatives.”
[215]
“And other fellows’ relatives,” growled32 Poke. “I nearly danced my poor little heart out that night, Gil. It was my fatal fascination33, Jim. The girls simply had to have a dance with me!”
“I certainly do,” replied Poke with dignity. “It is the poetry of motion. Gil is envious,” he explained, turning to Jim. “He dances like a trained bear on the end of a chain. Ever see one? Like this.” And Poke began to revolve35 around and around on the landing in ludicrous imitation of a bear. Even Gil had to laugh at the performance. Then Poke declared that he had to have a drink of water and they sauntered over to Memorial, meeting a few late diners on the way. After that it was almost time to think of dressing36 for the game, and they returned to the gymnasium, loitered awhile on the steps and then descended37 to the locker-room and leisurely38 got into their togs.
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收听单词发音
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1
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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4
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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5
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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7
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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8
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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9
respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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10
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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11
scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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12
erased
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| v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除 | |
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13
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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14
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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15
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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16
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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17
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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18
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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19
antonym
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| n.反义词 | |
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industriously
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tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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23
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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26
crutches
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| n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑 | |
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27
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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28
grouch
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| n.牢骚，不满；v.抱怨 | |
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29
expressively
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| ad.表示(某事物)地；表达地 | |
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30
wharves
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| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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31
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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32
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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33
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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34
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
revolve
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| vi.(使)旋转；循环出现 | |
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36
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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37
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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38
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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