CHAPTER XIII WARDE AND ED

 “Don’t call to him,” said Ed. “As long as we haven’t got our fire started yet, what’s the use calling? He likes to be alone, sometimes; I know Westy all right. Don’t call.”

It was this consideration on the part of Ed for the mood and nature of his friend that saved Westy at the moment. And incidentally it saved Warde and Ed themselves from discovery. Westy knew his peril¹, but they did not know theirs.

Ed stood at the brink² of the stream fishing, his partly unraveled sweater tied around his waist, giving a Spanish touch to his appearance. It was a funny habit of his to wear clothes the wrong way. He was always springing some ludicrous effect by freakish arrangement of his apparel. Warde was gathering³ sticks for their fire.

“Here’s another killie,” said Ed. “Small, but nifty. That makes seven so far, and about ’steen of these other kind, whatever they are. Don’t call till you have to. Westy had this little lonely stroll coming to him ever since Mr. Wilde West sprung that stuff on us. He likes to communicate with Nature, or commune or commute⁴ or whatever you call it. He’s imagining he’s hundreds and hundreds of miles off now—I bet he is. He’s thinking what a punk scout⁵ he is. He likes to kid himself; let him alone, don’t call.”

“There’s one thing I want to say to you,” said Warde, “now we’re alone. I guess you never quarreled with a fellow, did you?”

“Here’s another killie—a little one,” said Ed.

“Well, all I wanted to say was,” said Warde, “I’d like to let you know that I think you’re about as good an all-round scout as any there ever was, Indians, or I don’t care what. Understanding everything in nature is all right, but understanding all about people is something, too. Isn’t it?”

“I suppose it must be if you say so,” said Ed.

“This pin’s only good for the little ones——”

“I mean you understand Westy, you know just how to handle him,” said Warde. “Scouts⁶ have to deal with men, maybe wild men, just the same as they have to deal with nature, I guess. You can read Westy like a—a—like a trail. Gee⁷, in the beginning I was hoping Westy and I could come out here alone. Now I just can’t think of the trip without you along. Do you ever get mad?”

“I get mad every time this blamed worsted breaks,” said Ed.

“I know Westy’s kind of—you know—he’s kind of sensitive. He’s awful serious about scouting⁸. That Mr. Wilde just got him. Now he’ll do something big if it kills him. And what good will it do him? That’s what I say. Mr. Wilde will never see him again. You can’t make Indians out of civilized⁹ white people, can you? Now he thinks none of us are regular scouts. And that’s just what I want to tell you now while we’re alone. I want to tell you that you’re my idea of a scout; he is too, but so are you. What’s your idea of a scout, anyway? I was kind of wondering; you’re all the time joking and never say anything about it.”

“I guess you might as well start the fire now,” said Ed. “Thank goodness, he isn’t here to see you using matches; he’s mad at matches. Get the fire started good and then we’ll give him a war-whoop. I’ll clean the fish.”

1 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

2 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

3 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

4 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

5 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

6 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

7 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

8 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

9 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为