CHAPTER XXIV. — THE PRIMITIVE FORT.

 "Move a little lively, boys," added the captain, spurring his horse to a faster gait; "there'll be some shooting, and they're closer than they ought to be."

 

By a providential coincidence, the whole party of rustlers halted before ascending² the ridge³, which would give them a view of the building in which the stockmen were about to make a stand. They probably saw the impossibility of overtaking the fugitives⁴ by a direct pursuit, and paused to decide upon some different course of action.

 

This was proven by what they did a few minutes later, for they separated into two divisions, one turning to the right and the other to the left. They seemed to think that the course of their enemies must change soon, in which case there was a chance of heading them off and bringing them between two fires. The rustlers were more familiar with the country than the stockmen, and, had the chase continued, it is likely it would have resulted as they expected.

 

But, strangely enough, these people forgot the Whitney home, upon which it may be said the horsemen stumbled the next moment.

 

Down the ridge rode the dozen or more, Hawkridge, Sterry and Capt. Asbury at the head, with the others almost upon their heels. In the brisk morning air the frightened Jennie Whitney hastened to the door and gazed wonderingly upon the party.

 

She recognized the handsome youth, who doffed⁵ his hat, a courtesy instantly imitated by Hawkridge, the captain, and then the rest of the men, as they halted in front of the door, where stood the pale and startled mother, at a loss to understand the meaning of the strange sight.

 

"Good-morning!" called Sterry. "Where's Fred?"

 

"He's on the range with the men, looking after the cattle."

 

"And are you and your mother alone?"

 

"We are the only ones in the house. What is the meaning of all this?" she asked, looking with astonishment⁶ at the horsemen.

 

"We are pursued by a company of rustlers," replied Hawkridge; "they are directly behind us; I started to lead our friends to my ranch⁷, but they headed us off, and we were compelled to apply here for shelter."

 

"You are welcome," Mrs. Whitney hastened to say; "dismount and come in as soon as you can."

 

Sterry, Hawkridge and Capt. Asbury thanked her simultaneously⁸. Time was beyond value. They expected every instant to hear the crack of the rifles and the shouts of their enemies on the crest⁹ of the ridge, and could not comprehend why they were delayed.

 

They dashed to the structure at the rear and a short distance from the dwelling¹⁰, into which they ran their horses, slipped off their trappings, and hurried back to the house.

 

Every one was inside and not a shot fired, nor was a rustler¹ seen. It was beyond explanation.

 

But the stockmen were wise enough to turn to the best account the grace thus given to them.

 

They stationed themselves at the front and rear doors and windows with loaded weapons, on the alert to wing the first rustler who showed himself.

 

Sterry found time to exchange a few words with Jennie and her mother.

 

"It is too bad," he said, "to put you to this trouble and danger; but the rustlers outnumber us more than two to one, and it was the only hope that offered itself."

 

"And glad am I that it did present itself. O, if my poor husband had been here when they attacked him!"

 

"When do you expect the return of Fred?"

 

"Not before night, and the hands may not come with him. He does not dream of anything like this."

 

"Nor did we, a little while ago. Had any other refuge presented itself we would have seized it; but I never suspected we were near your home until we came over the ridge and saw it but a few rods away."

 

"But, where are they?" asked the wondering Jennie.

 

"That's something I don't understand, for they were near enough for their bullets to whistle about our ears."

 

"They have seen where you took shelter and are afraid to attack you."

 

"That may be; but why don't they show themselves?"

 

At this moment Capt. Asbury approached. Repeating his regrets that they should place their friends in such danger, he said:

 

"As there is no saying how long we shall have to stay here, we ought to learn the nature of our defences. Our horses are in the stables, where, if the rustlers choose, they can get them, and they will be pretty sure to choose to do it. They can steal to the rear of the sheds and take them out without risk. Now, Mrs. Whitney, we have enough rations¹¹ with us to last, in a pinch, for three or four days; how are you fixed¹²?"

 

"We have but a small quantity of food in the house—none worth mentioning."

 

"No matter how slight, it is worth mentioning. Under the circumstances, I think we can say we are provisioned for the whole time of the siege, which must be over in less than a week."

 

"But how will it end?" asked the lady.

 

The captain shrugged¹³ his shoulders.

 

"Take no thought of the morrow; but what worries me is the question of water—how about that?"

 

A hurried examination disclosed that there was not quite two pailfuls in the house. Even that was more than usual. The small stream from which the supply was obtained was beyond the stables in which the horses were sheltered. Water from that source was out of the question while the siege continued.

 

Several of the men had a small quantity in their canteens, but, inasmuch as no such contingency¹⁴ as this was anticipated, little preparation had been made.

 

Still Capt. Asbury expressed himself gratified at the result of his investigation¹⁵. The weather was so cool that a moderate amount of the precious fluid would prevent suffering, and he decided¹⁶ that, dispensing¹⁷ with what ordinarily was used for cooking purposes, they could get along quite well for three days, and possibly longer.

 

The lower part of the flat building consisted of two parts, used respectively for the kitchen and the dining and sitting-room¹⁸. There were four apartments above—one for the parents, one each for the son and daughter, and one for visitors. These, of course, would be held sacred for the members of the family, while the others found sleep, as opportunity presented, below stairs.

 

There were windows on all sides of the house; and the structure, while not strong, was, of course, bullet-proof.

 

Before all this was ascertained¹⁹ the rustlers showed themselves. But instead of appearing on the ridge, over which the cattlemen had ridden, half of them showed themselves on the other side, having circled around back of the stables.

 

A moment later the rest were observed on top of the ridge. Thus, with the exception of the broad level plain stretching in the direction of the Big Horn Mountains, it may be said that the ranch was surrounded by the rustlers, who held the stockmen at bay.

 

What would be the result? None could foresee.

 

Hawkridge drew Sterry aside and said, in a guarded undertone:

 

"There is only one thing to be feared."

 

"What is that?"

 

"It is easy for them to burn this building."

 

"Do you think they will do that, when they know a couple of women are inside?"

 

"It doesn't follow that there is any necessity of their being burned, nor indeed of any of us suffering from fire. When you touch off a barn the rats get out, and that's what we shall have to do."

 

"But they will give us a chance, first."

 

"Yes, a chance to surrender, and we might have done that without putting ourselves to all this trouble."

 

"And suppose we do surrender, after making the best fight we can—what are likely to be the terms offered?"

 

"They will treat the majority, including myself, as prisoners of war; but Capt. Asbury, and probably you, will be excepted—he because of the killing²⁰ of Perkins last night, and you because you have disregarded the warning to leave the country when ordered to do so."

 

"All of which is mighty²¹ interesting to the captain and myself," remarked Sterry, with little evidence of fear; "but we will hope for better things."

1 rustler   

n.[美口]偷牛贼

参考例句：

• The ants have cornered the rustler and are attacking it. 蚂蚁把大虫围困起来并展开进攻。
• Roffman is a cattle-rustler, and he'sgot some stuff for sale. 罗夫曼是个盗肉贼，他又有赃可销了。

2 ascending   

adj.上升的，向上的

参考例句：

• Now draw or trace ten dinosaurs in ascending order of size.现在按照体型由小到大的顺序画出或是临摹出10只恐龙。

3 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

4 fugitives   

n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Three fugitives from the prison are still at large. 三名逃犯仍然未被抓获。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Members of the provisional government were prisoners or fugitives. 临时政府的成员或被捕或逃亡。 来自演讲部分

5 doffed   

v.脱去，（尤指）脱帽( doff的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He doffed his hat. 他脱掉帽子。 来自互联网
• The teacher is forced to help her pull next pulling again mouth, unlock button, doffed jacket. 老师只好再帮她拉下拉口，解开扣子，将外套脱了下来。 来自互联网

6 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

7 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

8 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

9 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

10 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

11 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

12 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。

13 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 dispensing   

v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• A dispensing optician supplies glasses, but doesn't test your eyes. 配镜师为你提供眼镜，但不检查眼睛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The firm has been dispensing ointments. 本公司配制药膏。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

19 ascertained   

v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The previously unidentified objects have now been definitely ascertained as being satellites. 原来所说的不明飞行物现在已证实是卫星。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I ascertained that she was dead. 我断定她已经死了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

21 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。