“Do I look like a banker?” he asked, humorously. “Why do you want to rob a boy?”
“The way you’re togged out, you must have something,” growled1 the tramp, “and I haven’t got a penny.”
“Your business doesn’t seem to pay, then?”
“Don’t you make fun of me, or I’ll wring2 your neck! Just hand over your money and be quick about it! I haven’t time to stand fooling here all day.”
A bright idea came to Carl. He couldn’t spare the silver coin, which constituted all his available wealth, but he still had the counterfeit3 note.
“You won’t take all my money, will you?” he said, earnestly.
Carl, with apparent reluctance5, drew out the ten-dollar bill.
The tramp’s face lighted up.
“Is your name Vanderbilt?” he asked. “I didn’t expect to make such a haul.”
“Can’t you give me back a dollar out of it? I don’t want to lose all I have.”
“I haven’t got a cent. You’ll have to wait till we meet again. So long, boy! You’ve helped me out of a scrape.”
“Or into one,” thought Carl.
The tramp straightened up, buttoned his dilapidated coat, and walked off with the consciousness of being a capitalist.
Carl watched him with a smile.
“I hope I won’t meet him after he has discovered that the bill is a counterfeit,” he said to himself.
He congratulated himself upon being still the possessor of twenty-five cents in silver. It was not much, but it seemed a great deal better than being penniless. A week before he would have thought it impossible that such a paltry6 sum would have made him feel comfortable, but he had passed through a great deal since then.
About the middle of the afternoon he came to a field, in which something appeared to be going on. Some forty or fifty young persons, boys and girls, were walking about the grass, and seemed to be preparing for some interesting event.
Carl stopped to rest and look on.
“What’s going on here?” he asked of a boy who was sitting on the fence.
“What are they doing?”
“I suppose I may stay and look on?” he said, inquiringly.
“Why, of course. Jump over the fence and I’ll go round with you.”
It seemed pleasant to Carl to associate once more with boys of his own age. Thrown unexpectedly upon his own resources, he had almost forgotten that he was a boy. Face to face with a cold and unsympathizing world, he seemed to himself twenty-five at least.
“Those who wish to compete for the archery prize will come forward,” announced Robert Gardiner, a young man of nineteen, who, as Carl learned, was the president of the association. “You all understand the conditions. The entry fee to competitors is ten cents. The prize to the most successful archer9 is one dollar.”
Several boys came forward and paid the entrance fee.
“Would you like to compete?” asked Edward Downie, the boy whose acquaintance Carl had made.
“I am an outsider,” said Carl. “I don’t belong to the association.”
“I’ll speak to the president, if you like.”
“It won’t be considered an intrusion. You pay the entrance fee and take your chances.”
Edward went to the president and spoke12 to him in a low voice. The result was that he advanced to Carl, and said, courteously13:
“If you would like to enter into our games, you are quite at liberty to do so.”
“Thank you,” responded Carl. “I have had a little practice in archery, and will enter my name for that prize.”
He paid over his quarter and received back fifteen cents in change. It seemed rather an imprudent outlay14, considering his small capital; but he had good hopes of carrying off the prize, and that would be a great lift for him. Seven boys entered besides Carl. The first was Victor Russell, a lad of fourteen, whose arrow went three feet above the mark.
“The prize is mine if none of you do better than that,” laughed Victor, good-naturedly.
“I hope not, for the credit of the club,” said the president. “Mr. Crawford, will you shoot next?”
“I would prefer to be the last,” said Carl, modestly.
“John Livermore, your turn now.”
John came a little nearer than his predecessor15, but did not distinguish himself.
Next came Frank Stockton, whose arrow stuck only three inches from the center of the target.
“Good for Fred!” cried Edward Downie. “Just wait till you see me shoot!”
“Are you a dangerous rival?” asked Carl, smiling.
“I can hit a barn door if I am only near enough,” replied Edward.
“Edward Downie!” called the president.
There was a murmur18 of surprise when his arrow struck only an inch to the right of the centre. No one was more amazed than Edward himself, for he was accounted far from skillful. It was indeed a lucky accident.
“What do you say to that?” asked Edward, triumphantly19.
“I think the prize is yours. I had no idea you could shoot like that,” said Carl.
“Nor I,” rejoined Edward, laughing.
“Carl Crawford!” called the president.
Carl took his position, and bent his bow with the greatest care. He exercised unusual deliberation, for success meant more to him than to any of the others. A dollar to him in his present circumstances would be a small fortune, while the loss of even ten cents would be sensibly felt. His heart throbbed20 with excitement as he let the arrow speed on its mission.
His unusual deliberation, and the fact that he was a stranger, excited strong interest, and all eyes followed the arrow with eager attentiveness21.
There was a sudden shout of irrepressible excitement.
Carl’s arrow had struck the bull’s-eye and the prize was his.
“Christopher!” exclaimed Edward Downie, “you’ve beaten me, after all!”
“I’m almost sorry,” said Carl, apologetically, but the light in his eyes hardly bore out the statement.
“Never mind. Everybody would have called it a fluke if I had won,” said Edward. “I expect to get the prize for the long jump. I am good at that.”
“So am I, but I won’t compete; I will leave it to you.”
“No, no. I want to win fair.”
Carl accordingly entered his name. He made the second best jump, but Edward’s exceeded his by a couple of inches, and the prize was adjudged to him.
“I have my revenge,” he said, smiling. “I am glad I won, for it wouldn’t have been to the credit of the club to have an outsider carry off two prizes.”
Carl decided23 not to compete for any other prize. He had invested twenty cents and got back a dollar, which left him a profit of eighty cents. This, with his original quarter, made him the possessor of a dollar and five cents.
“My luck seems to have turned,” he said to himself, and the thought gave him fresh courage.
It was five o’clock when the games were over, and Carl prepared to start again on his journey.
“Where are you going to take supper?” asked Downie.
“I—don’t—know.”
“Come home with me. If you are in no hurry, you may as well stay overnight, and go on in the morning.”
“Are you sure it won’t inconvenience you?”
“Not at all.”
“Then I’ll accept with thanks.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
growled
|
|
| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
wring
|
|
| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
counterfeit
|
|
| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
pricking
|
|
| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
reluctance
|
|
| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
paltry
|
|
| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
athletic
|
|
| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
vaulting
|
|
| n.（天花板或屋顶的）拱形结构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
archer
|
|
| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
manly
|
|
| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
intrude
|
|
| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
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： |
|
|
|
|
13
courteously
|
|
| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
outlay
|
|
| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
predecessor
|
|
| n.前辈，前任 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
murmur
|
|
| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
triumphantly
|
|
| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
throbbed
|
|
| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
attentiveness
|
|
| [医]注意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |