These gentlemen were Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley, hailing originally from Missouri, but not reflecting any particular credit on their native State. They were in fact adventurers, having a strong objection to honest work and a decided3 preference for gaining a living by unlawful means. The very horses they bestrode were stolen, having once belonged to Jake Bradley and Ben Stanton. The circumstances under which they were stolen will be remembered by readers of The Young Explorer.
[Pg 31]"Beastly place, this, Tom!" said Bill Mosely, with a strong expression of disgust.
"I should say so," answered Hadley, who was wont4 by this phrase to echo the sentiments expressed by his companion and leader.
"I wouldn't have come up here if it had proved safe to stay lower down," continued Bill Mosely. "That last man we relieved of his gold-dust might prove troublesome if we should fall in with him again—eh, Tom?"
"I should say so," remarked Mr. Hadley in a tone of sincere conviction.
"I should like to see him when he wakes up and finds his bag of dust missing," said Mosely, with a laugh.
As he spoke5 he drew from his pocket a good-sized bag which appeared to be nearly full of dust. "There must be several hundred dollars' worth there," he said, complacently6.
He expected to hear Hadley answer in his usual style, but was disappointed.
"When are we going to divide?" asked Hadley, with an expression of interest not unmingled with anxiety.
[Pg 32]"You'd better let me carry it, Tom; it's all the same."
"I should say so. No, I would prefer to take charge of my part," said Hadley, "or at least to carry the bag part of the time."
Bill Mosely frowned darkly, and he brought his hand near the pocket in which he carried his pistol. "Hadley," he said, sternly, "do you doubt my honor?"
"I should say—not," answered Tom Hadley in a dissatisfied tone, bringing out the last word after a slight pause; "but I don't see why I shouldn't carry the bag part of the time."
"Had you doubted my honor," continued Mosely with a grand air, "though you are my friend, I should have been compelled to take your life. I never take any back talk. I chaw up any one who insults me. I'm a regular out-and-out desperado, I am, when I'm riled."
"I've heard all that before," said Tom Hadley, rather impatiently.
It was quite true, for this was the style in which Bill Mosely was accustomed to address new acquaint[Pg 33]ances. It had not succeeded with Jake Bradley, who had enough knowledge of human nature to detect the falsity of Mosely's pretensions8 and the sham9 character of his valor10.
"You've heard it before," said Mosely, severely11, "but ain't it true? That's what I ask you, Tom Hadley."
"'Tis well," said Mosely, waving his hand. "You know it and you believe it. I'm a bad man to insult, I am. I generally chaw up them that stand in my way."
Tom Hadley was really a braver man than Mosely, and he answered obstinately13, "Give me half that gold-dust, or I'll take it."
Bill Mosely saw his determined14 face and felt that it was necessary to back down. "I don't know why I don't shoot you," he said, trying to keep up his air of domination.
He produced a pouch16, and Bill Mosely, much[Pg 34] against his will, was compelled to divide the contents of the stolen bag, managing, however, to retain the larger share himself.
"I don't want to quarrel with a friend," said Bill, more mildly, "but you don't act friendly to-day."
"It's all right now," said Hadley, satisfied.
"Maybe you think I don't want to act fair," continued Mosely in an injured tone. "Why, the very horse you are riding is a proof to the contrary. I didn't ask for both horses, did I?"
"You couldn't ride both," answered Tom Hadley, with practical good sense.
"I wonder where the fellows are we took them from?" said Mosely, with a change of subject. "The man was a regular fire-eater: I wouldn't like to meet him again."
"I should say so," chimed in Hadley, emphatically.
Bradley had paid Mosely in his own coin, and boasted of his prowess even more extravagantly17 than that braggadocio18, claiming to have killed from seventy to eighty men in the course of his[Pg 35] experience. Mosely had been taken in by his confident tone, and knowing that he was himself a sham desperado, though a genuine thief and highwayman, had been made to feel uneasy while in Bradley's company.
"I wonder what became of them?" continued Mosely, thoughtfully.
As Tom Hadley's special phrase could not come in here appropriately, he forbore to make any remark.
"He thought he would scare me by his fierce talk," said Mosely, who would hardly have spoken so confidently had he known that Bradley was only two miles distant from him at that identical moment. "It takes a good deal to scare a man like me—eh, Tom?"
"I should say so," returned Hadley, but it was noticeable that he spoke rather dubiously19, and not with his usual positiveness.
"I'm a hard man to handle," continued Mosely, complacently, relapsing into the style of talk which he most enjoyed. "I'm as bad as they make 'em."
[Pg 36]"I should say so," chimed in Tom Hadley; and there was nothing doubtful in his tone now.
Bill Mosely looked at him as if he suspected there was something suspicious under this speech, but Tom Hadley wore his usual look, and his companion dismissed his momentary20 doubt. "You never saw me afraid of any living man—eh, Tom?"
"I should say so," answered Hadley.
"Can't you say anything but that?" he grumbled22. "It looks as if you doubted my statement. No man doubt my word—and lives."
Tom Hadley merely shrugged23 his shoulders. He was not a man of brilliant intellectual ability or of rare penetration24, but there were times when even he was led to suspect that his companion was a humbug25. Yet Mosely had greater force of character, and took uncommon26 pains to retain his ascendency over his more simple-minded companion, and had in the main been successful, though in the matter of the gold-dust he had been obliged to score a defeat.
[Pg 37]As Hadley did not see fit to express any doubt of this last statement, Bill Mosely was content to let the matter drop, assuming that he had gained a victory and recovered his ascendency over his echo.
They had met no one for some hours, and did not look for an encounter with anything wearing the semblance2 of humanity, when all at once Tom Hadley uttered an exclamation27.
"What is it, Tom?" asked Mosely.
"Look there!" was the only answer, as Hadley, with outstretched finger, pointed7 to a Chinaman walking slowly up the hill.
"I should say so," echoed Hadley.
Mosely urged his mustang to greater speed, and soon overtook Ki Sing, for it was Richard Dewey's attendant whom the two adventurers had fallen in with.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
parlance
|
|
| n.说法；语调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
semblance
|
|
| n.外貌，外表 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
wont
|
|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
complacently
|
|
| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
pretensions
|
|
| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
sham
|
|
| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
valor
|
|
| n.勇气，英勇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
severely
|
|
| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
habitual
|
|
| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
obstinately
|
|
| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
doggedly
|
|
| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
pouch
|
|
| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
extravagantly
|
|
| adv.挥霍无度地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
braggadocio
|
|
| n.吹牛大王 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
dubiously
|
|
| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
momentary
|
|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
vexed
|
|
| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
penetration
|
|
| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
humbug
|
|
| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
uncommon
|
|
| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
exclamation
|
|
| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
animation
|
|
| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |