According to Pee-wee Harris of the Raven3 Patrol, Westy was the only Silver Fox who was not crazy. Yet in one way he was crazy; he was crazy to go out west. He had even saved up a hundred dollars toward a projected trip to the Yellowstone National Park. He did not know exactly when or how he would be able to make this trip alone, but one “saves up” for all sorts of things unplanned. To date, Westy had only the one hundred dollars and the dream of going. When he had saved another hundred, he would begin to develop plans.
“I’ll tell you what you do,” Westy’s father had said to him. “You go up to Uncle Dick’s and spend the summer and help around. You know what Uncle Dick told you; any summer he’d be glad to have you help around the farm and be glad to pay you so much a week. There’s your chance, my boy. At Temple Camp you can’t earn any money.
“My suggestion is that you pass up Temple Camp this summer and go up on the farm. By next summer maybe you’ll have enough to go west, and I’ll help you out,” he added significantly. “I may even go with you myself and take a look at those geezers or geysers or whatever they call them. I’d kind of half like to get a squint4 at a grizzly5 myself.”
“Oh, boy!” said Westy.
“I wish I were,” said his father.
“Well, I guess I’ll do that,” said Westy hesitatingly. He liked Temple Camp and the troop, and the independent enterprise proposed by his father was not to be considered without certain lingering regrets.
“It will be sort of like camping—in a way,” he said wistfully. “I can take my cooking set and my rifle——”
“I don’t think I’d take the rifle if I were you,” said Mr. Martin, in the chummy way he had when talking with Westy.
“Jiminies, I’d hate to leave it home,” said Westy, a little surprised and disappointed.
“Well, you’ll be working up there and won’t have much time to use it,” said Mr. Martin.
Westy sensed that this was not his father’s true reason for objecting to the rifle. The son recalled that his father had been no more than lukewarm when the purchase of the rifle had first been proposed. Mr. Martin did not like rifles. He had observed, as several million other people had observed, that it is always the gun which is not loaded that kills people.
The purchase of the coveted6 rifle had not closed the matter. The rifle had done no harm, that was the trouble; it had not even killed Mr. Martin’s haunting fears.
Westy was straightforward7 enough to take his father’s true meaning and to ignore the one which had been given. It left his father a little chagrined8 but just the same he liked this straightforwardness9 in Westy.
“Oh, there’d be time enough to use it up there,” Westy said. “And if there wasn’t any time, why, then I couldn’t use it, that’s all. There wouldn’t be any harm taking it. I promised you I’d never shoot at anything but targets and I never have.”
“I know you haven’t, but up there, why, there are lots of——”
“There’s just one thing up there that I’m thinking about,” said Westy plainly, “and that’s the side of the big barn where I can put a target. That’s the only thing I want to shoot at, believe me. And I’ve got two eyes in my head to see if anybody is around who might get hit. That big, red barn is like—why, it’s just like a building in the middle of the Sahara Desert. I don’t see why you’re still worrying.”
“How do you know what’s back of the target?” Mr. Martin asked. “How do you know who’s inside the barn?”
“If I just tell you I’ll be careful, I should think that would be enough,” said Westy.
“And I’ll promise you again so you can be sure.”
“I don’t want any more promises about your not shooting at anything but targets, my boy,” said Mr. Martin. “You gave me your promise a month ago and that’s enough. But I want you to promise me again that you’ll be careful. Understand?”
“I tell you what I’ll do, Dad,” said he. “First I’ll see that there’s nobody in the barn. Then I’ll lock the barn doors. Then I’ll get a big sheet of iron that I saw up there and I’ll hang it on the side of the barn. Then I’ll paste the target against that, see? No bullet could get through that iron and it’s about, oh, five times larger than the target.”
“Suppose your shot should go wild and hit those old punky boards beyond the edge of the iron sheet?” Mr. Martin asked.
“Good night, you’re a scream!” laughed Westy.
“I suppose you think I might shoot in the wrong direction and hit one of those grizzlies12 out in Yellowstone Park,” Westy laughed. “Safety first is your middle name all right.”
“Well, you go up to Uncle Dick’s and don’t point your gun out west,” said Mr. Martin, “and maybe we can talk your mother into letting us go to Yellowstone next year.”
“And will you make me a promise?” asked Westy.
“Well, what is it?”
“That you won’t worry?”
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1
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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2
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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3
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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4
squint
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| 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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5
grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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6
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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7
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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8
chagrined
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| adj.懊恼的，苦恼的v.使懊恼，使懊丧，使悔恨( chagrin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
straightforwardness
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| n.坦白，率直 | |
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10
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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11
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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12
grizzlies
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| 北美洲灰熊( grizzly的名词复数 ) | |
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