By the time the coroner's inquest and the funeral in town were over it was three o'clock of the afternoon. As I only occasionally managed Soda1 Springs I felt no inclination2 to hurry on the return journey. My intention was to watch the Overland through, to make some small purchases at the Lone3 Star Emporium, to hoist4 one or two at McGrue's, and to dine sumptuously5 at the best--and only--hotel. A programme simple in theme but susceptible6 to variations.
The latter began early. After posing kiddishly as a rough, woolly, romantic cowboy before the passengers of the Overland, I found myself chaperoning a visitor to our midst. By sheer accident the visitor had singled me out for an inquiry7.
"Can you tell me how to get to Hooper's ranch8?" he asked.
So I annexed9 him promptly10 in hope of developments.
He was certainly no prize package, for he was small, pale, nervous, shifty, and rat-like; and neither his hands nor his eyes were still for an instant. Further to set him apart he wore a hard-boiled hat, a flaming tie, a checked vest, a coat cut too tight for even his emaciated12 little figure, and long toothpick shoes of patent leather. A fairer mark for cowboy humour would be difficult to find; but I had a personal interest and a determined13 character so the gang took a look at me and bided14 their time.
But immediately I discovered I was going to have my hands full. It seemed that the little, shifty, rat-faced man had been possessed15 of a small handbag which the negro porter had failed to put off the train; and which was of tremendous importance. At the discovery it was lacking my new friend went into hysterics. He ran a few feet after the disappearing train; he called upon high heaven to destroy utterly16 the race of negro porters; he threatened terrible reprisals17 against a delinquent18 railroad company; he seized upon a bewildered station agent over whom he poured his troubles in one gush19; and he lifted up his voice and wept--literally wept! This to the vast enjoyment20 of my friends.
"What ails21 the small party?" asked Windy Bill coming up.
"He's lost the family jewels!" "The papers are missing." "Sandy here (meaning me) won't give him his bottle and it's past feeding time." "Sandy's took away his stick of candy and won't give it back." "The little son-of-a-gun's just remembered that he give the nigger porter two bits," were some of the replies he got.
On the general principle of "never start anything you can't finish," I managed to quell22 the disturbance23; I got a description of the bag, and arranged to have it wired for at the next station. On receiving the news that it could not possibly be returned before the following morning, my protege showed signs of another outburst. To prevent it I took him firmly by the arm and led him across to McGrue's. He was shivering as though from a violent chill.
The multitude trailed interestedly after; but I took my man into one of McGrue's private rooms and firmly closed the door.
"Put that under your belt," I invited, pouring him a half tumbler of McGrue's best, "and pull yourself together."
He smelled it.
"It's only whiskey," he observed, mournfully. "That won't help much."
"You don't know this stuff," I encouraged.
He took off the half tumbler without a blink, shook his head, and poured himself another. In spite of his scepticism I thought his nervousness became less marked.
"Now," said I, "if you don't mind, why do you descend24 on a peaceful community and stir it all up because of the derelictions of an absent coon? And why do you set such store by your travelling bag? And why do you weep in the face of high heaven and outraged25 manhood? And why do you want to find Hooper's ranch? And why are you and your vaudeville26 make up?"
But he proved singularly embarrassed and nervous and uncommunicative, darting27 his glance here and there about him, twisting his hands, never by any chance meeting my eye. I leaned back and surveyed him in considerable disgust.
"Look here, brother," I pointed28 out to him. "You don't seem to realize. A man like you can't get away with himself in this country except behind footlights--and there ain't any footlights. All I got to do is to throw open yonder door and withdraw my beneficent protection and you will be set upon by a pack of ravening29 wolves with their own ideas of humour, among whom I especially mention one Windy Bill. I'm about the only thing that looks like a friend you've got."
He caught at the last sentence only.
"You my friend?" he said, breathlessly, "then tell me: is there a doctor around here?"
"No," said I, looking at him closely, "not this side of Tucson. Are you sick?"
"Is there a drug store in town, then?"
"Nary drug store."
He jumped to his feet, knocking over his chair as he did so.
"My God!" he cried in uncontrollable excitement, "I've got to get my bag! How far is it to the next station where they're going to put it off? Ain't there some way of getting there? I got to get to my bag."
"It's near to forty miles," I replied, leaning back.
"And there's no drug store here? What kind of a bum30 tank town is this, anyhow?"
"They keep a few patent medicines and such over at the Lone Star Emporium----" I started to tell him. I never had a chance to finish my sentence. He darted31 around the table, grabbed me by the arm, and urged me to my feet.
"Show me!" he panted.
We sailed through the bar room under full head of steam, leaving the gang staring after us open-mouthed. I could feel we were exciting considerable public interest. At the Lone Star Emporium the little freak looked wildly about him until his eyes fell on the bottle shelves. Then he rushed right in behind the counter and began to paw them over. I headed off Sol Levi, who was coming front making war medicine.
"_Loco_," says I to him. "If there's any damage, I'll settle."
It looked like there was going to be damage all right, the way he snatched up one bottle after the other, read the labels, and thrust them one side. At last he uttered a crow of delight, just like a kid.
"How many you got of these?" he demanded, holding up a bottle of soothing32 syrup33.
"You only take a tablespoon of that stuff----" began Sol.
"How many you got--how much are they?" interrupted the stranger.
"Six--three dollars a bottle," says Sol, boosting the price.
The little man peeled a twenty off a roll of bills and threw it down.
"Keep the other five bottles for me!" he cried in a shaky voice, and ran out, with me after him, forgetting his change and to shut the door behind us.
Back through McGrue's bar we trailed like one of these moving-picture chases and into the back room.
"Well, here we are home again," said I.
The stranger grabbed a glass and filled it half full of soothing syrup.
"Here, you aren't going to drink that!" I yelled at him. "Didn't you hear Sol tell you the dose is a spoonful?"
But he didn't pay me any attention. His hand was shaking so he could hardly connect with his own mouth, and he was panting as though he'd run a race.
"Well, no accounting34 for tastes," I said. "Where do you want me to ship your remains35?"
He drank her down, shut his eyes a few minutes, and held still. He had quit his shaking, and he looked me square in the face.
"What's it _to_ you?" he demanded. "Huh? Ain't you never seen a guy hit the hop11 before?"
He stared at me so truculently36 that I was moved to righteous wrath37; and I answered him back. I told him what I thought of him and his clothes and his conduct at quite some length. When I had finished he seemed to have gained a new attitude of aggravating38 wise superiority.
"That's all right, kid; that's all right," he assured me; "keep your hair on. I ain't such a bad scout39; but you gotta get used to me. Give me my hop and I'm all right. Now about this Hooper; you say you know him?"
"None better," I rejoined. "But what's that to you? That's a fair question."
He bored me with his beady rat eyes for several seconds.
"Friend of yours?" he asked, briefly40.
Something in the intonations41 of his voice induced me to frankness.
"I have good cause to think he's trying to kill me," I replied.
He produced a pocketbook, fumbled42 in it for a moment, and laid before me a clipping. It was from the Want column of a newspaper, and read as follows:
A.A.B.--Will deal with you on your terms. H.H.
"A.A.B. that's me--Artie Brower. And H.H.--that's him--Henry Hooper," he explained. "And that lil' piece of paper means that's he's caved, come off, war's over. Means I'm rich, that I can have my own ponies43 if I want to, 'stead of touting44 somebody else's old dogs. It means that I got old H.H.--Henry Hooper--where the hair is short, and he's got to come my way!"
His eyes were glittering restlessly, and the pupils seemed to be unduly45 dilated46. The whiskey and opium47 together--probably an unaccustomed combination--were too much for his ill-balanced control. Every indication of his face and his narrow eyes was for secrecy48 and craft; yet for the moment he was opening up to me, a stranger, like an oyster49. Even my inexperience could see that much, and I eagerly took advantage of my chance.
"You are a horseman, then?" I suggested.
"Me a horseman? Say, kid, you didn't get my name. Brower--Artie Brower. Why, I've ridden more winning races than any other man on the Pacific Coast. That's how I got onto old H.H. I rode for him. He knows a good horse all right--the old skunk50. Used to have a pretty string."
"He's got at least one good Morgan stallion now," said I. "I've seen him at Hooper's ranch."
"I know the old crock--trotter," scorned the true riding jockey. "Probably old Tim Westmore is hanging around, too. He's in love with that horse."
"Is he in love with Hooper, too?" I asked.
"Just like I am," said the jockey with a leer.
"So you're going to be rich," said I. "How's that?"
He leered at me again, going foxy.
"Don't you wish you knew! But I'll tell you this: old H.H. is going to give me all I want--just because I ask him to."
I took another tack51, affecting incredulity.
"The hell he is! He'll hand you over to Ramon and that will be the last of a certain jockey."
"No, he won't do no such trick. I've fixed52 that; and he knows it. If he kills me, he'll lose _all_ he's got 'stead of only part."
"You're drunk or dreaming," said I. "If you bother him, he'll just plain have you killed. That's a little way of his."
"And if he does a friend of mine will just go to a certain place and get certain papers and give 'em to a certain lawyer--and then where's old H.H.? And he knows it, damn well. And he's going to be good to Artie and give him what he wants. We'll get along fine. Took him a long time to come to it; but I didn't take no chances while he was making up his mind; you can bet on that."
"Blackmail53, eh?" I said, with just enough of a sneer54 to fire him.
"Blackmail nothing!" he shouted. "It ain't blackmail to take away what don't belong to a man at all!"
"What don't belong to him?"
"Nothing. Not a damn thing except his money. This ranch. The oil wells in California. The cattle. Not a damn thing. That was the agreement with his pardner when they split. And I've got the agreement! Now what you got to say?"
"Say? Why its _loco_! Why doesn't the pardner raise a row?"
"He's dead."
"His heirs then?"
"He hasn't got but one heir--his daughter." My heart skipped a beat in the amazement55 of a half idea. "And she knew nothing about the agreement. Nobody knows but old H.H.--and me." He sat back, visibly gloating over me. But his mood was passing. His earlier exhilaration had died, and with it was dying the expansiveness of his confidence. The triumph of his last speech savoured he slipped again into his normal self. He looked at me suspiciously, and raised his whiskey to cover his confusion.
"What's it to yuh, anyway?" he muttered into his glass darkly. His eyes were again shifting here and there; and his lips were snarled56 back malevolently57 to show his teeth.
At this precise moment the lords of chance willed Windy Bill and others to intrude58 on our privacy by opening the door and hurling59 several whiskey-flavoured sarcasms60 at the pair of us. The jockey seemed to explode after the fashion of an over-inflated ball. He squeaked61 like a rat, leaped to his feet, hurled62 the chair on which he had been sitting crash against the door from which Windy Bill _et al_ had withdrawn63 hastily, and ended by producing a small wicked-looking automatic--then a new and strange weapon--and rushing out into the main saloon. There he announced that he was known to the cognoscenti as Art the Blood and was a city gunman in comparison with which these plain, so-called bad men were as sucking doves to the untamed eagle. Thence he glanced briefly at their ancestry64 as far as known; and ended by rushing forth65 in the general direction of McCloud's hotel.
"Suffering giraffes!" gasped66 Windy Bill after the whirlwind had passed. "Was that the scared little rabbit that wept all them salt tears over at the depot67? What brand of licker did you feed him, Sandy?"
I silently handed him the bottle.
"Soothing syrup--my God!" said Windy in hushed tones.
收听单词发音 |
1
soda
|
|
| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
inclination
|
|
| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
lone
|
|
| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
hoist
|
|
| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
sumptuously
|
|
| 奢侈地，豪华地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
susceptible
|
|
| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ranch
|
|
| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
annexed
|
|
| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
hop
|
|
| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
emaciated
|
|
| adj.衰弱的，消瘦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
bided
|
|
| v.等待，停留( bide的过去式 )；居住；等待；面临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
reprisals
|
|
| n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
delinquent
|
|
| adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
gush
|
|
| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
ails
|
|
| v.生病( ail的第三人称单数 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
quell
|
|
| v.压制，平息，减轻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
disturbance
|
|
| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
outraged
|
|
| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
vaudeville
|
|
| n.歌舞杂耍表演 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
darting
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
ravening
|
|
| a.贪婪而饥饿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
bum
|
|
| n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
darted
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
soothing
|
|
| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
syrup
|
|
| n.糖浆，糖水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
accounting
|
|
| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
truculently
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
aggravating
|
|
| adj.恼人的，讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
scout
|
|
| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
briefly
|
|
| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
intonations
|
|
| n.语调，说话的抑扬顿挫( intonation的名词复数 )；（演奏或唱歌中的）音准 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
fumbled
|
|
| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
ponies
|
|
| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
touting
|
|
| v.兜售( tout的现在分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
unduly
|
|
| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
dilated
|
|
| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
opium
|
|
| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
secrecy
|
|
| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
oyster
|
|
| n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
skunk
|
|
| n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
tack
|
|
| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
blackmail
|
|
| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
sneer
|
|
| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
snarled
|
|
| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
malevolently
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
intrude
|
|
| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
hurling
|
|
| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
sarcasms
|
|
| n.讥讽，讽刺，挖苦( sarcasm的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
squeaked
|
|
| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
hurled
|
|
| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
withdrawn
|
|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
ancestry
|
|
| n.祖先，家世 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
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： |
|
|
|
|
67
depot
|
|
| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |