CHAPTER XXIII IRA GOES A-HUNTING

 When Westy strode away after making his sensational¹ announcement at the farm, Ira Hasbrook watched the departing figure through a dense² cloud of tobacco smoke. He was puzzled. For a while he smoked leisurely³, submitting with languid amiability⁴ to the tirade⁵ of Aunt Mira. And when she finally withdrew to the sitting room to write to Bridgeboro he continued smoking and thinking for fully⁶ half an hour. Only once in all that time did he make any audible comment.

“Some kid,” he mused⁷ aloud.

It would be hard to say whether this comment was in approval of Westy’s sudden inspiration to kill a deer or in perplexity as to what he actually had done. Certainly Ira would not have held it to the boy’s discredit⁸ if he had killed a deer. He rather liked Westy’s unexplained decision to reform and kill a deer. With such a fine beginning he might some day even go after an Indian or run away to sea. Ira was greatly amused at the na?ve way in which Westy had suddenly come out into the open as a lawless adventurer....

But he was puzzled. For one thing it seemed odd to him that Westy, directly after his bizarre exploit, should have chanced upon Luke Meadows, the leading poacher of the neighborhood and the bane of farmers and game wardens¹⁰ for miles around.

Ira’s attitude with respect to Westy’s sensational confession¹¹ was not the moral attitude.

“I’ll be gol darned, I don’t believe he did it,” he mused. His thought seemed to be that it was too good to be true.

He slowly drew himself to his feet, pulled his outlandish felt hat from its peg¹², refilled his pipe, and sauntered over into the woods where he soon hit the trail which formed the short cut to Chandler. He had not walked fifteen minutes when he heard voices and presently came upon a little group of people gazing at the carcass of the deer. Terry, the game warden⁹, and Farmer Sands were very much in evidence.

“What cher goin’ to do with him; drag him out?” Ira inquired without wasting any words in greeting.

“H’lo, Iry,” said the game warden. “Work of the boy scouts¹³; pretty good job, huh?”

“Yere, so he was tellin’ me,” drawled Ira. “Plunked him right in the bean, huh?”

“Who was tellin’ yer?” inquired Farmer Sands with aggressive shrewdness.

“The kid,” drawled Ira.

“Yer don’t mean he come back and told yer?” Farmer Sands inquired incredulously.

“Uh huh, work of the boy scouts,” said Ira. “I was thinkin’ he might ’a been lyin’ only I don’t believe he knows how ter lie any more’n he knows how to shoot. Got a match, Terry?”

Ira leisurely lighted his unwilling¹⁴ pipe and proceeded in his lazy way to examine the carcass.

“Plunked him twice, huh—one under the belly¹⁵ there.”

Ira wandered about, kicking the bushes while the men fixed¹⁶ a rope about the head of the carcass.

“I s’pose you know all ’bout what happened then, if the boy went back to the farm?” Terry called to him.

“Me?” Ira answered. “Naah, I don’t know nuthin ’bout what happened. I know the kid lost a hundred dollars he was savin’ up. This here tobaccy package b’long to you, Terry?”

“Where’d you find that?” Terry called.

“Over here in the bushes. Me and you never smoked such mild tobaccy as Mechanical Delights or whatever it is. Howling Bulldog Plug Cut for us, hey? Do you need any help, you men? Prob’ly the kid was smokin’ Mechanical Delights and didn’t know what he was doin’, that’s my theory. He couldn’t see through the smoke.”

He stuffed the empty tinfoil¹⁷ package into his pocket and started ambling¹⁸ through the woods toward Barrett’s.

“Thar’s the man ’at’s to blame fer this here vila-shun of the law,” said Farmer Sands shrewdly. “Him’s the man ’at turned that thar youngster’s head—I tell yer that, Terry.”

“Like enough,” said Terry. “Him and that scoutin’ craze.”

“Maybe it was the scouting¹⁹ craze that made him tell the truth,” said a bystander, evidently a city boarder in the neighborhood. “It seems a queer thing that a young boy should break the law and shoot big game and then go and give himself up.”

“No, ’tain’t nuther,” said Farmer Sands. “He got sceered, that’s why he confessed. He was sceered outer his skin soon as he clapped eyes on me an’ Terry. You can’t fool me, by gum! I see jes haow it was the minute I set eyes on the little varmint!”

But he hadn’t seen how it was at all. Nor had Terry seen how it was. For the explanation of this whole business was locked up in that dungeon²⁰ of mysteries in Mr. Martin’s library. It had been under their very noses and they had not so much as examined it. And now it was in that closet of dark traditions away off in Bridgeboro, under the grim and autocratic guard of Westy’s father. And there it remained until a stronger man than Mr. Martin ordered him to bring it out.

1 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 leisurely   

adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的

参考例句：

• We walked in a leisurely manner,looking in all the windows.我们慢悠悠地走着，看遍所有的橱窗。
• He had a leisurely breakfast and drove cheerfully to work.他从容的吃了早餐，高兴的开车去工作。

4 amiability   

n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的

参考例句：

• His amiability condemns him to being a constant advisor to other people's troubles. 他那和蔼可亲的性格使他成为经常为他人排忧解难的开导者。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• I watched my master's face pass from amiability to sternness. 我瞧着老师的脸上从和蔼变成严峻。 来自辞典例句

5 tirade   

n.冗长的攻击性演说

参考例句：

• Her tirade provoked a counterblast from her husband.她的长篇大论激起了她丈夫的强烈反对。
• He delivered a long tirade against the government.他发表了反政府的长篇演说。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 mused   

v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事）

参考例句：

• \"I wonder if I shall ever see them again, \"he mused. “我不知道是否还可以再见到他们，”他沉思自问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Where are we going from here?\" mused one of Rutherford's guests. 卢瑟福的一位客人忍不住说道：‘我们这是在干什么？” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

8 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。

9 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。

10 wardens   

n.看守人( warden的名词复数 )；管理员；监察员；监察官

参考例句：

• Air raid wardens in tin hats self-importantly stalked the streets. 空袭民防队员戴着钢盔神气活现地走在街上昂首阔步。 来自辞典例句
• The game wardens tranquillized the rhinoceros with a drugged dart. 猎物保护区管理员用麻醉射器让犀牛静了下来。 来自辞典例句

11 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

12 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

13 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。

14 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

15 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

16 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

17 tinfoil   

n.锡纸，锡箔

参考例句：

• You can wrap it up in tinfoil.你可以用锡箔纸裹住它。
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto tinfoil.Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.用大餐勺把刚刚搅拌好的糊糊盛到锡纸上，烘烤9至11分钟，直到变成金黄色。

18 ambling   

v.（马）缓行( amble的现在分词 )；从容地走，漫步

参考例句：

• At that moment the tiger commenced ambling towards his victim. 就在这时，老虎开始缓步向它的猎物走去。 来自辞典例句
• Implied meaning: drinking, ambling, the people who make golf all relatively succeed. 寓意：喝酒，赌博，打高尔夫的人都比较成功。 来自互联网

19 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

20 dungeon   

n.地牢，土牢

参考例句：

• They were driven into a dark dungeon.他们被人驱赶进入一个黑暗的地牢。
• He was just set free from a dungeon a few days ago.几天前，他刚从土牢里被放出来。