CHAPTER XII. BLUNT’S “SURPRISE.”

The cowboy pushed his way into the tent and sat down beside Ballard on a pile of blankets.
“First off,” said he, “let me ask you if you’re satisfied Schuster gave me a straight tip when I met him on the way back from Gold Hill?”
“Why, yes,” Frank answered, “Schuster had a pretty good line on the situation, all except that ‘getting even’ part.”
Blunt screwed up his black eyes and gave Merriwell a keen sizing.
“What do you think about that bowlder that dropped from the cliff?” he asked.
“Accident,” said Frank briefly¹.
“Well, holy smoke!” grunted² the cowboy, in disgust. “Is that what you really think, Chip?”
“It is, Barzy.”
Blunt removed his hat and ran his fingers through his long, jet-black hair.
“You’re a little shy in your headpiece,” he remarked. “Either that or else you’ve got a fool notion about not wanting to go on record with what you really think. Some of the lads outside kind of told me the way you were leaning, and how you’d been cracking Jode Lenning up as something of a man, in spite of his shortcomings. What Schuster said Lenning and Shoup had up their sleeves for you, Chip, worried me a heap. I got to thinking more of keeping the three of you apart than I had thought about recovering the money. Pretty soon after
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 I left you and Bleeker in the hills, I tied up my horse and started to skirmishing in some difficult places on foot.
“First thing I knew I was in the brush on top of the Point. The canoe race was going on below, and I could hear the yells pretty near as plain as though I had been down in the bottom of the gulch³. Shoup and Lenning were skulking⁴ back of the cliff’s edge. They had a rock poised⁵ on the brink⁶. Lenning was waiting to push it over, while Shoup was looking down, ready to give the signal at the right time.
“It was a few minutes before I got on to what they might be up to. Just as it rushed over me, and I started to get busy with the coyotes, Shoup gave the signal and Lenning pushed the rock over. Then both of them took to their heels. I was right after ’em, but they pulled a canoe out of the bushes when they got near the water, and slid beyond my reach.
“I started back toward the place where I had left my horse, but stopped again when I got a glimpse of the river and saw you and Clancy chasing the other canoe. I saw the rest of what happened, too, including the bat Shoup gave Lenning on the head, and the way you and Clancy went to the rescue. I reckon that was fine, considering all that those skunks⁷ had tried to do to you, but, pard, it was a whole lot more than I’d have done in your place.”
“No, it wasn’t,” said Merriwell decidedly.
“No? Seems like you’re putting me in your own class. Chip, and you know as well as I do that I don’t belong there. Well, we’ll let that pass. I went for my horse with my thoughts and feelings sort of scrambled⁸, so that I didn’t know how I really felt. I sort of forgot about the stolen money, and about everything else, but the way those two sneaks⁹ pushed the bowlder down on you, and
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 the way you went into the drink to save the fellow that did the most of it. Finally I got into my saddle and rode for this camp, where I was told how you believed that bowlder business was an accident, and that Lenning had done the square thing with the money. Then I was at sixes and sevens again. I didn’t want to jolt¹⁰ you with the truth about Lenning, and yet I couldn’t see how you were so dense¹¹ as not to figure it out for yourself. Now, Chip, I come to you as an eyewitness¹², and you’re getting the facts. Schuster had it pretty straight, didn’t he?”
“Surest thing you know, Barzy,” Frank answered. “Here’s the money,” he added, passing over the roll. “It’s all there but twenty dollars. Shoup spent that in Ophir.”
“I’m glad enough to get hands on it, even if it is a twenty short. Mam is coming in for quite a wad of coin, on account of that mine deal, so maybe she wouldn’t have missed this so much as she might. It was the way Shoup took it, more than anything else, that got me all worked up. Now, Chip, tell me this: What’s your opinion about Lenning?”
“It was the best thing that ever happened to him when Colonel Hawtrey kicked him out,” said Merriwell. “There’s good stuff in Lenning and he’s going to prove it a good many times—just as he proved it this afternoon.”
“Bosh!” said Bleeker, thrusting his head into the tent, “you’re dippy on that point, Chip.”
“Wait and see, Bleek.”
“Supper’s ready—that’s what I looked in to tell you. Place for you, Blunt. Going back to Ophir to-night?”
“I hear there’s a race on to-morrow forenoon,” returned Blunt, “and I’d sort of made up my mind to hang around and take a hand in it.”
“Good for you!” cried Merriwell.
“But,” the cowboy went on, with an odd gleam in his
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 black eyes, “I don’t want any more bowlders tumbling from Apache Point if I’m to be in one of the canoes.”
“Now that Shoup and Lenning have cleared out,” cried Clancy, “I’ll guarantee there won’t be any more rocks rolling down the cliff. Come on and let’s eat.”

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 grunted   

（猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说

参考例句：

• She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声，继续看书，不屑抬起头来看一眼。
• She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。

3 gulch   

n.深谷，峡谷

参考例句：

• The trail ducks into a narrow gulch.这条羊肠小道突然下到一个狭窄的峡谷里。
• This is a picture of California Gulch.这是加利福尼亚峡谷的图片。

4 skulking   

v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• There was someone skulking behind the bushes. 有人藏在灌木后面。
• There were half a dozen foxes skulking in the undergrowth. 在林下灌丛中潜伏着五六只狐狸。 来自辞典例句

5 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

6 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。

7 skunks   

n.臭鼬( skunk的名词复数 )；臭鼬毛皮；卑鄙的人；可恶的人

参考例句：

• Slim swans and slender skunks swim in the slippery slime. 苗条的天鹅和纤细的臭鼬在滑滑的黏泥上游泳。 来自互联网
• But not all baby skunks are so lucky. -We're coming down. 但不是所有的臭鼬宝宝都会如此幸运。-我们正在下来。 来自互联网

8 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 sneaks   

abbr.sneakers (tennis shoes) 胶底运动鞋（网球鞋）v.潜行( sneak的第三人称单数 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• Typhoid fever sneaks in when sanitation fails. 环境卫生搞不好，伤寒就会乘虚而入。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Honest boys scorn sneaks and liars. 诚实的人看不起狡诈和撒谎的人。 来自辞典例句

10 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

11 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。

12 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。