“What’s biting you two, anyhow?” he asked.
In the fewest possible words, Frank told Ballard and Blunt about the robbery in the cañon.
“Thunder!” exclaimed Ballard. “Why, the stage went past us with both horses on the run while we were tangled1 up with that pig. I wondered then why the mischief2 the driver was in such a tearing hurry.”
“That must have been right after the robbery,” said the excited cowboy, “and the driver was in a rush to get to town and spread the news. Gee3, but this is a stunner!”
“Those two fellows we saw on horseback were the robbers,” went on Ballard. “The things they had in front of them were the mail bags!”
“Great head, Pink!” approved Clancy.
“But, of course,” observed Blunt, “the juniper we thought was Lenning couldn’t have been Lenning at all. Looked a heap like him, though.”
“Um!” grunted4 Burke; “I don’t know about that. Lenning left the mine yesterday and hadn’t returned up to something like an hour ago. He took my horse when he went—and my horse is a sorrel, with a white stocking foot.”
Frank was sorry the superintendent5 had thought it necessary to throw in any comments about Lenning. The only result would be to crowd suspicion upon the absent watchman, when, in all likelihood, he was as blameless of the robbery as Burke himself.
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The superintendent, however, was never backward about airing his views. Ballard stared as he listened to Burke, and then turned and looked at Barzy Blunt.
Blunt’s face was a study. Up to the time of that ball game with Gold Hill, the cowboy had had no sort of use for Jode Lenning. In fact, right to Lenning’s face, Blunt had declared that no respectable fellow would take part in a game in which a crook6 like Lenning was booked to play.
But the game itself had changed all that. Blunt, and all the players, had been won over by Lenning’s clever work, and by his meeting in masterly fashion that thrilling moment when victory or defeat for Ophir hung on his efforts alone.
Had the enthusiasm inspired by Lenning’s splendid work in a crisis developed a friendship that could not last? Frank watched Blunt critically.
“I reckon you haven’t got it right, Burke,” said the cowboy finally. “It wasn’t so mighty7 long ago when I’d have believed Lenning equal to any sort of skullduggery. It used to make me sore to see Chip, there, standing8 up for the fellow, getting him a job, and all that; but, on the day of that ball game, I made up my mind that Chip Merriwell’s judgment9 was warranted not to come out in the wash. ‘What’s good enough for Chip,’ I said to myself, ‘is good enough for me, and right here’s where I quit handing it to Lenning every time a chance comes my way.’ I’d be a pretty measly sort of a coyote if I shook hands with Lenning on Saturday and then turned against him Monday. Sorrel horse or no, that couldn’t have been Lenning we saw in the cañon.”
“Bully for you, Barzy!” exclaimed Merriwell, deeply gratified by the stand the cowboy had taken.
Burke shook his head, by way of dissent10.
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“The circumstantial evidence is pretty strong,” said he.
“The same kind of circumstantial evidence, Burke,” returned Merry, “that led you to think Lenning had made off with that bullion11. Remember that? Lenning was missing, and the bullion was missing, so you thought——”
“This isn’t the same, Chip, not by a whole row of ’dobies,” broke in the superintendent. “Lenning’s record is all against him.”
“So it was the night the bullion was taken,” said Frank warmly, “and Lenning has been making a mighty fine record since then.”
“Well, this sort of talk won’t get us anywhere. It doesn’t make any difference, just now, whether Lenning was one of the thieves or whether he wasn’t. The main point is, Ballard and Blunt saw the thieves galloping12 off after the stage was held up. Hawkins ought to be put in possession of what they know without loss of a moment’s time. I’m going to hustle13 for town and tell some one who can get the news to the deputy sheriff in short order.”
His spurs rattled14, and he kicked up the dust on the road to Ophir.
“It gets my goat,” muttered Ballard, “the way Lenning drops into trouble. Just as he gets started on the right road, something like this has to happen and put him all to the bad again. I’ll be hanged if I can understand how he manages it.”
“Somebody else manages it for him,” said Clancy. “That’s an easy guess. It was Shoup that engineered the bullion plot.”
“Who engineered this one?” queried15 Ballard.
“Maybe it was Shoup again.”
“Did the fellow you saw with the one who looked like Lenning resemble Billy Shoup?” asked Frank.
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“No more than I do,” said Blunt. “He was a square, chunk16 of a man. Of course, you understand we weren’t near enough to see either of ’em very clearly.”
“I understand that. Well, let’s get to town, fellows. I’m all worked up about this thing. The professor’s check was in that batch17 of stolen mail, and if he doesn’t get it back we’ll have to hang out here until another check can come on from New York.”
“How many more will that mule18 carry?” inquired Ballard, looking at Uncle Sam wistfully.
“He’s loaded to the guards now, Pink,” answered Clancy. “If you got on with Chip and me, we’d swamp him. Besides,” and here the red-headed chap’s voice grew rather lofty, “you don’t know how to ride a mule, anyway. There’s a knack19 about it that only comes of long practice.”
“Oh, splash!” grunted Ballard. “You’re sitting up there like a frog on a toadstool. Let’s see what sort of a mule rider you are.”
He was standing within arm’s length of Uncle Sam, and he reached out suddenly and touched the mule’s flank with one end of the ear of corn. Thereupon Uncle Sam tried to stand on his head, Blunt had to dodge20 his flying heels, and Ballard, in trying to get out of the way, stumbled over the pig and fell flat. As for Clancy, in spite of his implied prowess as a mule rider, he was jolted21 off, and Merriwell had all he could do to stick in the saddle.
“There, Pink, cut that out!” cried Merry. “We want to get back to town, and we don’t want any more foolishness. This business of Lenning’s needs attention.”
“I’m anxious to get back to town, too,” said Ballard, picking himself up, “but we can’t leave Woo Sing. Suppose we rope the pig and let it ride in Clancy’s place,
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Chip? I don’t believe the mule will know the difference.”
“Good idea,” approved Merry. “Tie the pig and boost it up here.”
“Velly fine!” cried the Chinaman, his slant22 eyes sparkling.
Blunt, Ballard, and Woo Sing fell upon the small porker, and, while the air was torn with squeals23, they bound his feet together and then hoisted24 him to Uncle Sam’s back. There was a good deal of wriggling25 and squirming on the pig’s part, but Uncle Sam took it good-naturedly, and ambled26 off.
Clancy, Ballard, Blunt, and Woo Sing kept pace with the mule, and they all arrived in town together. The pig was unloaded in the waiting pen, out back of the hotel, and Uncle Sam was turned into the small corral where he passed most of his time. The Chinaman was so happy over the safe ending of his work with the pig that he almost shed tears.
“Melliwell,” he snuffled, “you do a heap plenty fo’ Woo Sing. China boy nev’ fo’gettee.”
“Not a word for us,” said Ballard disgustedly, as he walked away with Frank and the rest, “and Blunt and I helped capture the porker in the cañon. I always said that chink had a wooden head. Next time he goes pig catching27, by George! he can take Clancy and Chip.”
There was a buzz of excitement in Ophir’s main street. Everywhere the stage robbery was being discussed. Riders were leaving town by twos and threes, all heading for the cañon, and fired with a desire to do something to help run the robbers to earth.
The boys saw Burke just as they turned to mount the steps leading to the hotel veranda28. Burke was sitting on his horse by the hitching29 pole in front. He had just
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mounted, it appeared, preparatory to returning to the mine.
“Hawkins was gone long before I got here,” said he, “but I sent word to him by two or three of those who just pulled out for the cañon. Maybe they’ll see the deputy sheriff, and maybe they won’t. I’ve done the best I could, though.”
“Telephone in, will you, Burke,” requested Merry, “in case Lenning is at the mine when you get there?”
“Glad to,” was the answer, “but,” and a grim look crossed the superintendent’s face as he spoke30, “don’t waste any time waiting for the message, Chip. Lenning’s in this up to his eyes.”
It was dinner time at the Ophir House, and the gong which called guests to meals had long since sounded. Frank and his friends, as soon as they could get some of the dust off their faces and hands, went into the dining room and took their places at the table.
As the robbery had been the one exciting topic in the street, so was it now the principal event discussed by those at the tables. Lawlessness is always a theme that draws universal attention, and this was particularly the case in a town like Ophir.
Although a Western town with a past that was pretty turbulent, in later years it had settled down into a peaceful and orderly little burg. The robbery, therefore, had caused a ripple31 of excitement, since crime of any sort was in such decided32 contrast to the ordinary mood of the place.
Frank was no more than half through his meal when, somewhat to his surprise, Pophagan called to him from the dinning-room door: “Ye’re wanted at the phone, Merriwell!”
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“There it is!” exclaimed Blunt, with much satisfaction. “Burke’s calling to tell you that Lenning’s at the mine.”
“That must be the case!” exclaimed Frank, hurrying from the room to answer the call.
The rest of the boys finished their meal hurriedly, and, by the time they were done and out in the office, Frank came out of the little booth where he had been receiving his message. There had been a change in his face. It no longer wore a pleased expression, but was heavy and troubled.
“What’s to pay, pard?” demanded Blunt.
“The message wasn’t from Burke,” said Merry, “and that’s about all I can tell you now. Will you take a ride with me, Barzy?”
“A ride? Where?”
“Tell you later. This is a rush order, and we’ve got to be on the move.”
“Sure, I’ll ride with you, Chip—anywhere.”
“Come on, then,” said Merriwell, and hurriedly led the way out of the office.
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收听单词发音
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1
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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2
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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3
gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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4
grunted
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| （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 | |
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5
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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6
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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7
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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9
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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11
bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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12
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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13
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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14
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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15
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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16
chunk
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| n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量） | |
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batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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21
jolted
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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23
squeals
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| n.长而尖锐的叫声( squeal的名词复数 )v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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24
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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26
ambled
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| v.（马）缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 )；从容地走，漫步 | |
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27
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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28
veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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29
hitching
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| 搭乘； （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的现在分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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31
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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32
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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