CHAPTER XXXVI AN IMPORTANT PAPER

 “With the exception of the Declaration of Independence,” said Mr. Wilde, “this is the most valuable paper in the world.”

He handed it to Westy and the three boys, reading it together, saw that it was a permit issued by the director of the National Park Service at Washington to Mr. Alexander Creston, President of the Educational Film Company of New York to “dispatch employees of said Educational Film Company into such remote sections of the Yellowstone National Park as should be designated by the local park authorities for the purpose of securing photographs of the wild life, the use of traps and firearms being strictly¹ prohibited. This permit expires——” And so forth² and so forth. It concluded with the signature of the director of the National Park Service.

“Gee williger!” said Westy.

“Talking about stalking!” said Ed.

“No wonder you laugh at us,” said Warde.

“Did you ever try stalking officials in Washington?” Mr. Wilde asked.

“We never stalked anything but robins³ and—and turtles and things like that,” said Warde with a note of self-disgust in his voice.

“Never hit the red tape trail, hey? Well I guess turtles are pretty near as slow as Washington officials. I’ve been just exactly three weeks in Washington stalking this permit. Pretty good specimen⁴, hey? That’s more valuable than any grizzly⁵, that is.” He gazed at it with a look of whimsical affection and tucked it safely away in his wallet.

“It makes us feel kind of silly,” said Westy, “to think of the kind of things you’re going to do. I guess it’s no wonder you make fun of us.”

“Well, I’ll tell you,” said Mr. Wilde not unkindly and with some approach to seriousness in his voice and manner, “you scout⁶ kids are all right. You get lots of fresh air and exercise and they’re the best things for you. You go stalking June-bugs and caterpillars⁷ and it keeps you out of mischief⁸. It’s just the difference between the amateur and the professional. Now you kids go in for these things as a pastime and that’s all right. You’re having the time of your lives. I’m for the boy scouts⁹ first, last and always. Stalking, tracking, etc., you make games out of all those things, and they’re bully¹⁰ good games too. You’re a pretty wide-awake bunch. But you’ll never do these things in a serious way because you don’t have to. Get me?”

“We don’t get a chance,” said Westy.

“Now you take a kid born out in the wilds—like this kid I’ve got waiting for me—Stove Polish or whatever his name is; he’s an Indian.”

“Who?” said Westy.

“What?” said Warde.

“Stove Polish?” gasped¹¹ Ed.

“Shining Sun his name is,” said Mr. Wilde. “Sounds like some kind of stove polish so I call him Stove Polish——”

“Where is he?” Westy asked, all excitement.

“He’s waiting out at the Mammoth¹² Hotel at Hot Springs with Mr. Creston; you’ll see him. He’s going up in the mountains with Clip and me. Now that kid is what you’d call a scout, the little rascal¹³. He had to be a scout or starve. He didn’t read his little book and raise up his hand and say he was going to be a scout. He just got to be a scout because he had to.

“When you’re in the Rocky Mountains a couple of hundred miles from the nearest town and the nearest town consists of one house, why, it’s a case of you or the Rocky Mountains—which wins. See? If you stay lost you starve. If you don’t know the signs you’re out of luck. If you don’t know what herbs to eat you don’t get any dinner. If you can’t tell where to look for a cave by the looks of the land, why then, you stay out in the rain and snow. See? If you haven’t got a gun the only way you can catch a bird is to fool him. So he knows how to fool them. You fellows are scouts because you want to have a lot of fun. But Stove Polish is a scout because he wants to live; he has to be one, or he did have to up to a year or two ago. He knows how to run without making a sound because if he made a sound it would be all up with him.”

“You said it,” enthused Warde.

“Why, a couple of years or more ago,” continued Mr. Wilde, “when that little rascal escaped from the Cheyenne reservation right back here a few miles, he got into the mountains and nobody heard a word from him for a year and a half—never even sent a post card saying he was having a nice time or anything. Beaver¹⁴ Pete found him up in the mountains and brought him down to Yellowstone and Mr. Creston snapped him up like a used Cadillac. Well now, that kid is a full-blooded Cheyenne Indian; he’s a grandson of old Stick-in-the-mud who was in the Custer scrap¹⁵. You’ve heard of that old geezer, haven’t you?

“Well, sir, that kid could call like a hawk¹⁶ and bring the hawk near enough so he could drop it with a stone—absolutely. Beaver Pete told me that when he found that kid in the trapping season he was wearing a bearskin from a bear he had caught and killed without so much as a bean-shooter. Nature couldn’t freeze him or starve him. He could find water by instinct same as an animal does. You see, boys, what you have to do you can do. There is no such thing as scouting¹⁷ in the midst of civilization or in neighbor Smith’s woods. Scouts are scouts because they have to be scouts; it isn’t an outdoor sport. A scout is a fellow who has fought because he had to fight with nature and has won out. Scouts are silent people as a rule, I’ve met some of them. They’re taciturn and silent. The boy scouts are the noisiest bunch I ever met in my life.”

The door at the end of the car opened and the voice of a trainman put an end to Mr. Wilde’s talk.

“Emigrant¹⁸. The next stop is Emigrant.”

1 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 robins   

n.知更鸟，鸫( robin的名词复数 )；（签名者不分先后，以避免受责的）圆形签名抗议书（或请愿书）

参考例句：

• The robins occupied their former nest. 那些知更鸟占了它们的老窝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Benjamin Robins then entered the fray with articles and a book. 而后，Benjamin Robins以他的几篇专论和一本书参加争论。 来自辞典例句

4 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

5 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

6 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。

7 caterpillars   

n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带

参考例句：

• Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
• Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句

8 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

9 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。

10 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

11 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

13 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

14 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

15 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

16 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

17 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

18 emigrant   

adj.移居的，移民的；n.移居外国的人，移民

参考例句：

• He is a British emigrant to Australia.他是个移居澳大利亚的英国人。
• I always think area like this is unsuited for human beings,but it is also unpractical to emigrant in a large scale.我一直觉得，像这样的地方是不适宜人类居住的，可大规模的移民又是不现实的。