Chapter 19 A Narrow Escape

"Row, brothers, row," said Gerald "Kape it up, you're doin' fine."

"How are we going?" asked Rand.

"Almost as fasht as Oi c'ud walk," replied Gerald in his richest brogue. "Av ye hit it up a bit mebbe ye c'ud be in toime to see the ind av it to-morrow, Oi dunno."

"But truly, Geraid," asked Donald, "how are we doing?"

"As weil as c'ud be ixpected av a lot of farmers," replied the irrepressible Gerald. "Ye moight do worse, Oi dunno. Mebbe av ye tho't ye were hoeing potatoes ye c'ud do betther. Can't ye hit up a bit?"

"I guess we can; a little," replied Rand, who was rowing stroke, slightly increasing his effort. "How is that?"

"Betther," responded the other, and the boat shot ahead a little faster.

The Uncas crew were out for a final spin over the course before the race, which had been set for the following day. Beside the Uncas and the Highpoint, the Alton, from farther up the river, had also entered. It was not thought, even by their friends, that the Uncas had much chance against the others, whose crews, particularly the Alton's, were much heavier and stronger.

"Is that better?" asked Rand, after they had rowed a short time.

"'Tis a thrifle betther," replied Gerald. "Av ye do as well to-morrow, mebbe we won't be disgraced intirely, Oi dunno."

"Come now, Gerald," pleaded Jack¹, "tell us how we are doing?"

"Shure, Oi don't want to discourage ye intirely," replied Gerald, "but ye didn't do any betther than three minutes in the lasht moile."

"Three minutes!" shouted Don; "did we do it in that?"

"Hurrah³!" cried Jack; "we'll be in it yet."

"In what?" asked Dick.

"In the water," chuckled⁴ Jack.

"You will be," retorted Donald, "if you spring anything like that on us again."

"That reminds me--" began Dick.

"What does?" asked Donald.

"What is the matter, Gerald?" broke in Rand, as the coxswain, with a sudden exclamation⁵, threw the rudder hard down and called:

"Up oars⁶, all!"

The boys raised their oars just in time as the shell grazed the stern of a heavy skiff, which a boy, who was rowing, had stopped just in the course of the shell.

"Hey, there!" shouted Rand as the boats swept apart: "what are you trying to do, run us down?"

"What are you trying to do, yourself?" retorted a man, who was sitting in the stern of the skiff. "Don't you think anybody has any right on the river but you? Think you own the whole place, don't you?"

"But you had plenty of room without getting in the way," persisted Rand. "I think you did it on purpose."

"Aw, go wan²!" returned the man. "Don't get too funny or I'll come over there and take you over my knee."

"Come over and try it, if you think you can do it," replied Rand hotly.

"Monkey Rae again," murmured Jack. "I thought we had got rid of him."

"Keep cool, Rand," advised Don; "it isn't worth while making a fuss over."

"He ought to have his head punched," put in Dick.

"Who?" asked Jack. "Don?"

"No; that fellow in the boat," answered Dick.

"That isn't the way to teach him good manners," objected Jack.

"It's the only way you can teach some people," argued Dick. "Who is he?"

"Oh, that's the man that took our boat up the river," replied Jack.

"What do you think he was trying to do?" went on Dick.

"Trying to steal it, of course," replied Jack.

"I mean now."

"Oh, smash us up so we couldn't row to-morrow," guessed Jack.

"But what for?" persisted Dick.

"Oh, just pure ugliness, I guess," replied Jack.

"Then, you know, Monkey has it in for Rand for the thrashing he once gave him for beating his dog."

"Does he carry malice⁷ like that?" asked Donald.

"He will carry it all his life," replied Jack, "and then some more. Then Monkey doesn't like any of us because he was always behind us in school. He says we got ahead by favor, for we aren't any smarter than he is."

"Let fall!" ordered Gerald. "Let's try it again."

The boys bent⁸ to their work, but they had lost their vim⁹, and they did not strike their pace again.

"I don't understand about Monkey," began Jack, as they drew into the landing. "There is something back of all this, and I mean to find out what it is."

"What have you been doing," cried Pepper, who was waiting for them on the landing, "fishing?"

"No; monkeying," answered Rand. "Jim Rae got in the way, and we had to stop for fear of smashing into him."

"Why didn't you do it and get rid of him?" asked Pepper.

"It would more likely have got rid of us," replied Rand; "and I guess that is what he was trying to do."

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。

3 hurrah   

int.好哇，万岁，乌拉

参考例句：

• We hurrah when we see the soldiers go by.我们看到士兵经过时向他们欢呼。
• The assistants raised a formidable hurrah.助手们发出了一片震天的欢呼声。

4 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

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 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 vim   

n.精力，活力

参考例句：

• He set to his task with renewed vim and vigour.他再度抖擞精神，手完成自己的工作。
• This young fellow does his work with vim and vigour.这小伙子干活真冲。