Tom’s sensible advice only strengthened his stubbornness. He felt that it would be weak and inadequate3 to contrive4 an explanation after the event. His pride was now involved and he would maintain it at the expense of misjudgement. It was the same Wilfred Cowell who had let the boys in Bridgeboro believe the he had run away from Madden, and tripped and fallen, rather than condescend5 to advertise the plain facts of the case. No one could every really help such a boy as Wilfred; he would be his own ruin or his own salvation6.
Tom, simple and straightforward7, was puzzled at the boy’s queer reasoning. But indeed there was no reasoning about it. Wilfred was the victim of his own inward pride, and this produced the sorry effects which in turn cut his pride.
“Hanged if I get him,” said Tom.
Wilfred spent all morning with the young assistant manager who was making vigorous assaults against a couple of stumps9 in the adjacent woods. He was captivated, as he always was, by Wilfred’s ludicrous squint10 at things which on this day had a flavor of pathetic ruefulness.
“The only thing I got so far in connection with scouting,” he said, “is a time-table on the West Shore road. I think it will be very useful soon.”
“Well, you’re the doctor,” said Tom, as he chopped away.
“I wish I were,” said Wilfred, who was standing11 watching him. “I’d give myself a doctor’s certificate right away quick, and start things.”
“You seem to have started things all right,” Tom laughed.
One bright ray shone upon the lonely and discredited12 boy that day. Allison Berry, patrol leader of the New Haven13 troop, looked him up and his talk must have sounded like music in Wilfred’s ears. The leader’s sleeve was decorated with a dozen merit badge, he seemed very much a scout, and Wilfred experienced a little thrill of pride at finding himself the recipient14 of hearty15 tribute from this fine, clean-cut, sportsman-like fellow.
“Well, you didn’t pick me for a winner, did you?” he laughed at Tom, who kept busy at his chopping. “Didn’t think I’d lift the flag from the old home folks, did you?”
“Oh, I’m through picking winners,” said Tom.
“Yes? Well, you picked one in Will all right, didn’t you? May I sit down on this other stump8? Do you know this fellow saved my life once in the dim, dim past, Slady? With one exception he’s the best swimmer this side of Mars. And that exception is a fish.”
“I hear you say so,” said Wilfred.
“If you’d been down at the lake this morning, you’d have heard me say so. I’ve been telling everybody you’re a hero.”
“Did you have to chloroform them to get them to listen?” Wilfred asked.
“Now look here, Will. You’re the same old Chinese puzzle that you were in Connecticut. Nobody here that has any sense believes you deliberately16 let me get that emblem17; treason, that’s a lot of bunk18. You got rattled19, that’s what I told them. For the minute you didn’t realize; then biff, it was too late. You see I’m such a terribly fast runner—it’s wonderful.
“The old home folks, the Ravens20, didn’t know what struck them. How about that, Slady? They had twigs21 all around. Why, do you know—this is what I told the bunch—do you know if I had been out with Archie Dennison, I would have been likely to do any crazy thing; I might even have committed a murder. You know, Will, it wouldn’t have done you any good anyway; you couldn’t have caught me; the case was hopeless. Well, how do you like New Jersey22, anyway? I hear they don’t give you a holiday on Election; that’s some punk state.”
“It’s good to see you,” said Wilfred.
“Well, if you don’t like to see me, you have only yourself to blame; you’re the one that saved my life. I’ve been telling the whole camp about it, too. I’ve been telling them that maybe the reason you get rattled on land is because you really belong in the water. One fellow said you flopped23 last night. I said, ‘Well, what do you expect a fish out of water to do?’”
“Have you seen any of my—of the Ravens?”
“No, it would only make them sad to look at me. I was up there last night and nobody paid any attention to me.”
“They’ll call on you,” Tom said.
“When they wake up?”
“I’ve been peddling24 that radio set around all morning,” Allison continued. “I’ve been telling the crowd that if Will goes in for it, Mary Temple might just as well send it direct to him and not bother to come up—the contest is all over.”
“Yes?”
“Absolutely,” said Tom.
“Well, I’ll tell her Will got the wave in his hair from being so much in the ocean waves. What do you think of that wavy26 hair, Slade? Ever notice how he closes one eye on the road when he gets mad?”
“I never saw him mad,” said Tom.
点击收听单词发音
1 scout | |
n.童子军,侦察员;v.侦察,搜索 | |
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2 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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3 inadequate | |
adj.(for,to)不充足的,不适当的 | |
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4 contrive | |
vt.谋划,策划;设法做到;设计,想出 | |
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5 condescend | |
v.俯就,屈尊;堕落,丢丑 | |
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6 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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7 straightforward | |
adj.正直的,坦率的;易懂的,简单的 | |
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8 stump | |
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走 | |
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9 stumps | |
(被砍下的树的)树桩( stump的名词复数 ); 残肢; (板球三柱门的)柱; 残余部分 | |
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10 squint | |
v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
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11 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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12 discredited | |
不足信的,不名誉的 | |
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13 haven | |
n.安全的地方,避难所,庇护所 | |
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14 recipient | |
a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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15 hearty | |
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的 | |
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16 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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17 emblem | |
n.象征,标志;徽章 | |
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18 bunk | |
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位;废话 | |
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19 rattled | |
慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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20 ravens | |
n.低质煤;渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
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21 twigs | |
细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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22 jersey | |
n.运动衫 | |
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23 flopped | |
v.(指书、戏剧等)彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 );(因疲惫而)猛然坐下;(笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地)移动或落下;砸锅 | |
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24 peddling | |
忙于琐事的,无关紧要的 | |
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25 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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26 wavy | |
adj.有波浪的,多浪的,波浪状的,波动的,不稳定的 | |
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