CHAPTER XXVI. KIT IS MADE A PRISONER.

 It had been a day of exciting adventure, but so far as Kit¹ was concerned the end was not yet. He performed as usual, but as his second act was over at quarter past nine, he thought, being fatigued², that he would not wait until the close, but go at once to the circus car in which he had a berth³, and go to bed.

 

He crossed the lot, and emerged into the street.

 

It was moderately dark, there being no moon, and only the light of a few stars to relieve the gloom.

 

Kit had not taken a dozen steps from the lot when two stout⁴ men approached him, both evidently miners.

 

"That's the kid that prevented my cutting the rope," he heard one say.

 

"Is he? I saw him with the giant."

 

"I mean to settle his hash for him," said the first.

 

Kit saw that he was in danger, and turned to run back to his friends. But it was too late! The first[Pg 129] speaker laid a strong arm upon his shoulder, and his boyish strength was not able to overcome it.

 

"Don't be in such a hurry, kid," said his captor.

 

"Let me go," cried Kit.

 

"You belong to the circus, don't you?"

 

"Yes."

 

"What do you do?"

 

"I am an acrobat⁵."

 

"What's that?"

 

"I leap and turn somersaults, and so on."

 

"Yes, I know. Do you remember me?"

 

"I might if it were lighter⁶."

 

The man lit a match and held it close to his face.

 

"Do you know me now?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Who am I?"

 

"You are the man who tried to cut the ropes of the tent."

 

"Right you are. I would have succeeded but for you."

 

"I suppose you would."

 

"Did you call that giant to pitch into me?"

 

"No; I didn't know he was near."

 

"He treated me like a brute," said the man, wrathfully. "My limbs are aching now from the fall he gave me."

 

Kit did not answer.

 

"I'd like to give him a broken head, as he gave some of my friends. Where is he?"

 

"I suppose he is somewhere in the lot. I'll go and call him, if you want me to."

 

"That's too thin! Now I've got you I won't let you off so easy."

 

"What do you intend to do?" asked Kit becoming alarmed.[Pg 130]

 

"To give you a lesson."

 

Kit did not ask what kind of a lesson was meant, but he feared it included bodily injury. Then at least, if never before, he wished himself back at his uncle's house in Smyrna, uncongenial as it was otherwise.

 

The first speaker spoke⁷ in a low voice to the second. Kit did not hear the words, but judged what they were from what followed.

 

The two men placed him beside them, and he was sternly ordered to move on.

 

They kept the road for perhaps half a mile, then turned off into a narrow lane which appeared to ascend⁸ a hill. Finally they stopped in front of a dark cabin, of one story, which seemed to be unoccupied. The outer door was fastened by a bolt.

 

One of the men drew out a bolt, and threw open the door. A dark interior was revealed. One of the men lit a match, throwing a fitful light upon an empty room. At one end of the apartment was a ring, fixed⁹ in a beam, and in the corner was a stout rope.

 

"That will do," said the first speaker.

 

He took the rope, secured one end of it to the ring, and then tied Kit firmly with the balance. It was long enough to allow of his lying down.

 

"Now," said the first man grimly, "I reckon the kid will be safe here till to-morrow."

 

They prepared to leave the cabin.

 

"Are you going to leave me here?" asked Kit, in dismay.

 

"Yes."

 

"What good will it do you?"

 

"You'll see—to-morrow."

 

Kit had ten dollars in his pocket, and he thought of[Pg 131] offering it in return for his freedom, but it occurred to him fortunately that his captors would deprive him of it, as it was quite within their power to do, and not compensate¹⁰ him in any way. He understood by this time the character of the men into whose hands he had fallen, and he thought it prudent¹¹ to remain silent.

 

As the first captor stood with the door open, while just on the point of leaving, he said grimly, "How do you like it, kid?"

 

"Not at all," answered Kit.

 

"If you beg my pardon for what you did, I might let you go."

 

Kit did not believe this, and he had no intention of humiliating himself for nothing.

 

"I only did my duty," he said. "I have nothing to ask pardon for."

 

"You may change your mind—to-morrow!"

 

Another ominous¹² reference to to-morrow. Evidently he was only deferring¹³ his vengeance¹⁴, and intended to wreak¹⁵ it on his young prisoner the next day.

 

It was not a comforting thought, nor was it calculated to sooth Kit, weary as he was, to sleep.

 

The door was closed, and Kit heard the sliding of the bolt on the outside. He was a prisoner, securely enough, and with small chance of rescue.

 

Now, though Kit is my hero, I do not mean to represent him as above human weakness, and I won't pretend that he didn't feel anxious and disturbed. His prospects¹⁶ seemed very dark. He could not hope for mercy from the brutal¹⁷ men who had captured him. As they could not get hold of the giant they would undoubtedly¹⁸ seek to make him expiate¹⁹ the offenses²⁰ of Achilles Henderson as well as his own.

 

"If only Mr. Henderson knew where I was," he said to himself, "I should soon be free."[Pg 132]

 

But there seemed little hope of this. He had not told any one that he intended to retire to the circus cars earlier than usual. The chances were that he would not be missed till the circus company had reached the next town on their route, ten miles away. Then there would be no clew to his whereabouts, and even if there were he might be killed before any help could come to him. So far as he had been able to observe, the miners were—a portion of them, at least—a lawless set of men, who were not likely to be influenced by considerations of pity or ordinary humanity.

 

Kit had been very religiously brought up during his father's life, at least, and he had not lost his faith in an overruling Providence²¹. So in this great peril²² it was natural for him to pray to God for deliverance from danger. When his prayer was concluded, he felt easier, and in spite of his disagreeable surroundings he managed to fall asleep.

 

Meanwhile the circus performance terminated, and preparations were commenced for the journey to the next town. The canvas men swarmed²³ around the tents and swiftly took them down and conveyed them to the freight cars, where they assisted the razorbacks to pack them in small compass.

 

Harry²⁴ Thorne, who had his berth next to Kit, turned in rather late. He looked into Kit's bed, and to his surprise found it unoccupied.

 

"What can have become of the boy?" he asked himself.

 

He went outside, and espying²⁵ Achilles Henderson, he said: "Have you seen anything of Kit Watson?"

 

"Isn't he in his berth?" asked Mr. Henderson, surprised.

 

"No."[Pg 133]

 

Inquiry²⁶ developed the fact that Kit had not been seen by any one since the conclusion of his act.

 

"I am afraid the boy has come to harm," said Achilles. "This is a rough place, and there are plenty of tough characters about, as our experience this afternoon showed."

 

"What shall we do? The cars will soon be starting, and we must leave him behind."

 

"If he doesn't show up before that time, I will stay behind and hunt him up. He is too good a boy to be left to his fate."

1 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

2 fatigued   

adj. 疲乏的

参考例句：

• The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
• The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑，疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。

3 berth   

n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊

参考例句：

• She booked a berth on the train from London to Aberdeen.她订了一张由伦敦开往阿伯丁的火车卧铺票。
• They took up a berth near the harbor.他们在港口附近找了个位置下锚。

5 acrobat   

n.特技演员，杂技演员

参考例句：

• The acrobat balanced a long pole on his left shoulder.杂技演员让一根长杆在他的左肩上保持平衡。
• The acrobat could bend himself into a hoop.这个杂技演员可以把身体蜷曲成圆形。

6 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

7 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：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 ascend   

vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上

参考例句：

• We watched the airplane ascend higher and higher.我们看着飞机逐渐升高。
• We ascend in the order of time and of development.我们按时间和发展顺序向上溯。

9 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。

10 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

11 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

12 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

13 deferring   

v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的现在分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• Recently, the Supreme Court has focused on an additional reason for deferring to administrative agencies. 最近，最高法院强调了尊重行政机构的另一种理由。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Think of it as deferring part of the compiler's job to runtime. 可以认为这是将编译器的部分工作延迟到了运行时。 来自互联网

14 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

15 wreak   

v.发泄；报复

参考例句：

• She had a burning desire to wreak revenge.她复仇心切。
• Timid people always wreak their peevishness on the gentle.怯懦的人总是把满腹牢骚向温和的人发泄。

16 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

17 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

18 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

19 expiate   

v.抵补，赎罪

参考例句：

• He tried to expiate his crimes by giving money to the church.他以捐款给教会来赎罪。
• It seemed that Alice was expiating her father's sins with her charity work.似乎艾丽斯正在通过自己的慈善工作来弥补父亲的罪过。

20 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

21 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

22 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

23 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

24 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

25 espying   

v.看到( espy的现在分词 )

参考例句：

26 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。