CHAPTER XXII. A SLIGHT MISTAKE.

“Tell me what this is, Pink,” said Clancy, “and you can have it.”
The red-headed chap had pulled a short, thick bar from the bag. The surface of the bar was rough, and plainly it was of some sort of metal.
Ballard took the bar and weighed it in his hands; then he held it in one hand and rubbed the other hand over it.
“Feels like a chunk² of lead,” said he. “Weighs nine or ten pounds, I should think. Wait till I strike a match and get a better look at it.”
The bar did not improve any upon being examined in the flare³ of a match. It had a brown, dingy⁴ look, and Ballard dropped it with an exclamation⁵ of disgust.
“Anything else in the bag, Red?” he asked.
“Three more bars, just like that one,” was the reply.
“I’d like to know why those fellows were taking so much trouble with that stuff. Looked to me as though they were running off with it.”
“That’s an easy guess. They’re a couple of thieves, Pink, and they’ve been stealing.”
“Where have they been stealing?”
“At the mine; there’s no other place handy where there’s anything valuable. Thunder!” The exclamation broke excitedly from Clancy, for at last the right idea had dawned upon him. “Pink,” he cried, “this stuff is bullion⁶!”
“Bullion?”
“It’s a cinch. Those fellows were trying to get away with it, and we happened around just in time to block
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 proceedings. Say, old man, we’re starring ourselves to-night!”
“I thought bullion was gold,” observed Ballard.
“That’s what it is.”
“Well, gold is yellow. Strikes me this bullion is off-color a good deal.”
“Probably it’s base bullion—gold mixed with other kinds of metal.”
“I guess you’re right, Red,” said Ballard, after a brief period of thought. “Those two fellows stole the bullion at the mine—and left their horses here while they were doing it. We blundered on the horses, and then you cut loose with a yell that scared them into thinking some one from the Ophir Mine was ‘laying for them.’ They pulled out in such a hurry they lost the bag, and didn’t dare come back after it. It’s a case of blind luck. Now, let’s carry the bag to the mine and get the reward.”
Clancy dropped the one bar that had been brought out for purposes of inspection⁷ back into the bag, and began binding⁸ the cord around the open end.
“Wasn’t there something familiar about the voice of that robber, Pink?” asked Clancy. “Seems to me I have heard it somewhere before.”
“Come to think of it,” said Ballard, “the voice did have a familiar ring. Where the deuce have I heard it?”
Both lads racked their brains for a few moments. It was Clancy who finally recalled the owner of the voice.
“It was that pasty-faced Shoup!” he declared. “Lenning’s particular crony, Billy Shoup.”
“That’s right!” cried Ballard. “A job like this is about what we might expect of Shoup. But who was the other fellow? It’s so dark in here I couldn’t see much of either of them. The other fellow didn’t do any talking, did he?”
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“No; neither of them wasted much time in talk. I wonder,” and Clancy drew a quick breath, “if that second fellow was Lenning?”
“Why, no!” exclaimed the startled Ballard. “Lenning is night watchman at the cyanide works.”
“That doesn’t cut any ice. He might have got the job as watchman just to make this robbery easier for him and Shoup.”
“Those two wouldn’t work together, Clan¹; that is, not after what happened in the gulch⁹.”
“You wouldn’t think so, if they were any other fellows than Shoup and Lenning. But you never can tell what those chaps will do. They may have patched up their differences, and got together for this piece of lawless work.”
“Perhaps you’ve hit it off, Red, but I wouldn’t be sure about it. Right now we’ve got to think of getting on to the mine. If Shoup and that other fellow should make up their minds to come back here and get the bag, you and I would be in a fine row of stumps¹⁰.”
This was a point that hadn’t occurred to the lads until that moment. It helped to spur them on toward the mine with the bag of bullion. Each holding an end of the sack, they made their way out of the chaparral and back to the trail; then, looking behind them in the direction taken by the two riders to make sure they were not returning, they crossed the rise and started down the slope beyond.
At this point, three or four lanterns appeared at a little distance, bobbing around like so many fireflies. The lights, it soon became manifest, were converging¹¹ toward a certain place—and that place was the ground on which Clancy and Ballard were standing¹².
“There are some of the miners, now,” said Clancy.
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“They’re coming this way, too,” added Ballard. “Aiming for us, Red, if I’m any prophet.”
“Listen!” exclaimed Clancy.
“Halt, there!” bellowed¹³ a voice, making itself heard above the stamps. “Don’t try to run, or you’ll be sorry for it.”
“Just as though we could run with a load as heavy as this!” said Clancy, in a disgusted tone. “What do those miners take us for?”
Four lanterns clustered close, drawing in upon the two chums from four different directions.
“Try to shoot,” threatened a voice, “and we’ll beat you to it. You’re prisoners.”
“We haven’t anything to shoot with,” called Ballard. “And what do you mean by saying we’re prisoners?”
“You know well enough.”
Two of the men with lanterns jumped up on either side of the boys, and each had his arm gripped by a muscular hand.
“Here’s the bag of loot, Sim!” exulted¹⁴ one of the men.
The man called Sim appeared to be the leader. He was a bushy-bearded fellow in greasy¹⁵ overclothes, and he held up his lantern to get a good look at the faces of the boys.
“What!” he roared. “Say, ain’t I seen you kids some’r’s before?”
“I guess you have, if you work at the Ophir Mine,” replied Clancy. “We’re chums of Frank Merriwell’s.”
“Well, sufferin’ Ike!” gasped¹⁶ Sim. “It can’t be that you’ve been robbin’ the safe in the labr’tory.”
“You think we’re the thieves that ran away with this bullion?” gulped¹⁷ Ballard, horrified¹⁸.
“We was out lookin’ for the thieves,” apologized Sim,
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 “an’ we hopped¹⁹ onto you two with the bullion. What was we to think?”
“You’ve made a slight mistake, that’s all,” laughed Clancy.
“Where’d you git that bag of loot?”
Both Clancy and Ballard took a hand in explaining that part of it. The explanation was accepted at once, and the jubilant miners had a good laugh over the mistake they had made.
“You’ve done a mighty²⁰ big thing, you two,” declared Sim. “Come on to the labr’tory with the boodle. Hank and I will scoot on ahead an’ sort of ease off the tension that’s prevailin’ in the vicinity of the cyanide works. Joe, you and Lafe come along with Ballard and Clancy. Better tote the bag for ’em, I reckon; they’ve purty nigh done enough work for one night.”
Sim and Hank rushed away with their lanterns. Joe and Lafe relieved the two boys of the bag, and the four made such good time toward the laboratory building that they bid fair to reach it neck and neck with Sim and Hank.
As a matter of fact, Clancy and Ballard were only a little way behind the two who had gone on ahead; and when they stepped into the building, the first person they saw was Merriwell. Frank was thunder-struck.
“Howdy, Chip,” grinned Clancy.
“Thought we’d find you here, old man,” added Ballard.
“Great Scott!” murmured Frank. “What are you doing here?”
“A whole lot more than we expected to do when we started out,” said Clancy. “You see, Chip, we just about knew you had come to the mine for a talk with Lenning. I had figured that out——”
“With some help from me,” struck in Ballard forcibly.
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“Yes,” corrected Clancy, “with some help from Pink. Having settled that in our minds, we started along the trail to meet you and escort you back to the hotel. But, instead of meeting you, we encountered some one else.”
At this juncture²¹, Joe and Lafe tramped in with the bag and dropped it, with a thud, on the brick floor.
“What’s that?” demanded Hawkins, pointing to the bag.
“That’s the bullion,” said Clancy, “four bars of it.”
“We gathered it in on our way to the mine,” added Ballard, “and came mighty near being gathered in ourselves by a bunch of men with lanterns.”
“Meanin’ us,” beamed Sim. “At first we took ’em for the robbers.”
Mr. Bradlaugh, dazed by the sudden trend of events, pushed forward.
“Do you mean to say, my lads,” he asked, “that you recovered the stolen bullion on your way here from town?”
“Yes,” came from both Clancy and Ballard.
“How in the world did you do it?” queried²² the perplexed²³ general manager.
“It was a case of blind luck,” said Ballard, and, for the second time, he and Clancy explained how they had found the horses in the chaparral, and had later been fortunate enough to recover the bag of bullion.
“Well, of all the darn-fool plays I ever heard of,” grunted²⁴ Hawkins, “that takes the banner. Why, you boys didn’t even know there’d been a robbery here.”
“Didn’t even know we’d got hold of bullion, at first,” laughed Ballard, “and after looking at one of the bars at that.”
“It’s one of those things,” said the overjoyed Mr. Bradlaugh, “which could happen about once in a thousand times.”
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“Once in a million times,” declared Burke. “Merriwell, you’re lucky to have two such fellows for pards.”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to impress upon him for a long time,” remarked Ballard plaintively²⁵. “Now I guess he knows what a fine pair of star actors we are.”
“You’re all to the mustard, both of you!” cried the delighted Merriwell.
“All that’s left for me to do, I suppose,” growled²⁶ Hawkins, “is to find Lenning and Shoup. This business is being wound up in short order, Mr. Bradlaugh.”

1 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

2 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

3 flare   

v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发

参考例句：

• The match gave a flare.火柴发出闪光。
• You need not flare up merely because I mentioned your work.你大可不必因为我提到你的工作就动怒。

4 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

5 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

6 bullion   

n.金条，银条

参考例句：

• In the London bullion market yesterday,the price of gold was steady.昨天伦敦金银市场黄金价格稳定。
• Police have launched a man-hunt for the bullion robbers.警方已大举搜捕抢劫金条的罪犯。

7 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

8 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

9 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。

10 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

参考例句：

• Rocks and stumps supplied the place of chairs at the picnic. 野餐时石头和树桩都充当了椅子。
• If you don't stir your stumps, Tom, you'll be late for school again. 汤姆，如果你不快走，上学又要迟到了。

11 converging   

adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Plants had gradually evolved along diverging and converging pathways. 植物是沿着趋异和趋同两种途径逐渐演化的。 来自辞典例句
• This very slowly converging series was known to Leibniz in 1674. 这个收敛很慢的级数是莱布尼茨在1674年得到的。 来自辞典例句

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

13 bellowed   

v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫

参考例句：

• They bellowed at her to stop. 他们吼叫着让她停下。
• He bellowed with pain when the tooth was pulled out. 当牙齿被拔掉时，他痛得大叫。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 exulted   

狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The people exulted at the victory. 人们因胜利而欢腾。
• The people all over the country exulted in the success in launching a new satellite. 全国人民为成功地发射了一颗新的人造卫星而欢欣鼓舞。

15 greasy   

adj. 多脂的，油脂的

参考例句：

• He bought a heavy-duty cleanser to clean his greasy oven.昨天他买了强力清洁剂来清洗油污的炉子。
• You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时，你会厌恶油腻的气味。

16 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》

17 gulped   

v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住

参考例句：

• He gulped down the rest of his tea and went out. 他把剩下的茶一饮而尽便出去了。
• She gulped nervously, as if the question bothered her. 她紧张地咽了一下，似乎那问题把她难住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

19 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

20 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

21 juncture   

n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头

参考例句：

• The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
• It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。

22 queried   

v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问

参考例句：

• She queried what he said. 她对他说的话表示怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"What does he have to do?\" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事？”琴向觉民问道，她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

23 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

24 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。

25 plaintively   

adv.悲哀地，哀怨地

参考例句：

• The last note of the song rang out plaintively. 歌曲最后道出了离别的哀怨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds cry plaintively before they die, men speak kindly in the presence of death. 鸟之将死，其鸣也哀；人之将死，其言也善。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

26 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》