“Hats Off!”
Within the city of Chihuahua, metropolis1 of the northern provinces of Mexico—for the most part built of mud—standing2 in the midst of vast barren plains, o’ertopped by bold porphyritic mountains—plains with a population sparse3 as their timber—in the old city of Chihuahua lies the first scene of our story.
Less than twenty thousand people dwell within the walls of this North Mexican metropolis, and in the country surrounding it a like limited number.
Once they were thicker on the soil; but the tomahawk of the Comanche and the spear of the Apache have thinned off the descendants of the Conquistadores, until country houses stand at wide distances apart, with more than an equal number of ruins between.
Yet this same city of Chihuahua challenges weird4 and wonderful memories. At the mention of its name springs up a host of strange records, the souvenirs of a frontier life altogether different from that wreathed round the history of Anglo-American borderland. It recalls the cowled monk5 with his cross, and the soldier close following with his sword; the old mission-house, with its church and garrison6 beside it; the fierce savage7 lured8 from a roving life, and changed into a toiling9 peon, afterwards to revolt against a system of slavery that even religion failed to make endurable; the neophyte10 turning his hand against his priestly instructor11, equally his oppressor; revolt followed by a deluge12 of blood, with ruinous devastation13, until the walls of both mission and military cuartel are left tenantless14, and the redskin has returned to his roving.
Such a history has had the city of Chihuahua and the settlements in its neighbourhood. Nor is the latter portion of it all a chronicle of the olden time. Much of it belongs to modern days; ay, similar scenes are transpiring15 even now. But a few years ago a stranger entering its gates would have seen nailed overhead, and whisked to and fro by the wind, some scores of objects similar to one another, and resembling tufts of hair, long, trailing, and black, as if taken from the manes or tails of horses. But it came not thence; it was human hair; and the patches of skin that served to keep the bunches together had been stripped from human skulls16! They were scalps—the scalps of Indians, showing that the Comanche and Apache savages17 had not had it all their own way.
Beside them could be seen other elevated objects of auricle shape, set in rows or circles like a festooning of child peppers strung up for preservation18. No doubt their procurement19 had drawn20 tears from the eyes of those whose heads had furnished them, for they were human ears!
These ghastly souvenirs were the bounty21 warrants of a band whose deeds have been already chronicled by this same pen. They were the trophies22 of “Scalp Hunters”—vouchers for the number of Indians they had killed.
They were there less than a quarter of a century ago, waving in the dry wind that sweeps over the plains of Chihuahua. For aught the writer knows, they may be there still; or, if not the same, others of like gory23 record replacing or supplementing them.
It is not with the “Scalp Hunters” we have now to do—only with the city of Chihuahua. And not much with it either. A single scene occurring in its streets is all of Chihuahuaense life to be depicted24 in this tale.
It was the spectacle of a religious procession—a thing far from uncommon25 in Chihuahua or any other Mexican town; on the contrary, so common that at least weekly the like may be witnessed. This was one of the grandest, representing the story of the Crucifixion. Citizens of all classes assisted at the ceremony, the soldiery also taking part in it. The clergy26, of course, both secular27 and regular, were its chief supports and propagators. To them it brought bread, and if not butter—since there is none in Chihuahua—it added to their incomes and influence, by the sale of leaden crosses, images of the Virgin28 Mother, and the numerous sisterhood of saints. In the funcion figured the usual Scripture29 characters:—The Redeemer conducted to the place of Passion; the crucifix, borne on the shoulders of a brawny30, brown-skinned Simon; Pilate the oppressor; Judas the betrayer—in short, every prominent personage spoken of as having been present on that occasion when the Son of Man suffered for our sins.
There is, or was then, an American hotel in Chihuahua, or at least one conducted in the American fashion, though only a mere31 posada. Among its guests was a gentleman, stranger to the town, as the country. His dress and general appearance bespoke32 him from the States, and by the same tokens it could be told that he belonged to their southern section. He was in truth a Kentuckian; but so far from representing the type, tall, rough, and stalwart, usually ascribed to the people “Kaintuck,” he was a man of medium size, with a build comparable to that of the Belvidere Apollo. He had a figure tersely33 set, with limbs well knitted; a handsome face and features of amiable34 cast, at the same time expressing confidence and courage. A costly35 Guayaquil hat upon his head, and coat to correspond, bespoke him respectable; his tout36 ensemble37 proclaimed him a man of leisure; while his air and bearing were unmistakably such as could only belong to a born gentleman.
Why he was in Chihuahua, or whence he had come to it, no one seemed to know or care. Enough that he was there, and gazing at the spectacular procession as it filed past the posada.
He was regarding it with no eye of wonderment. In all likelihood he had seen such before. He could not have travelled far through Mexico without witnessing some ceremony of a similar kind.
Whether interested in this one or no he was soon notified that he was not regarding it in the manner proper or customary to the country. Standing half behind one of the pillars of the hotel porch, he had not thought it necessary to take off his hat. Perhaps placed in a more conspicuous38 position he would have done this. Frank Hamersley—for such was his name—was not the sort of man to seek notoriety by an exhibition of bravado39, and, being a Protestant of a most liberal creed40, he would have shrunk from offending the slightest sensibilities of those belonging to an opposite faith—even the most bigoted41 Roman Catholic of that most bigoted land. That his “Guayaquil” still remained upon his head was due to simple forgetfulness of its being there; it had not occurred to him to uncover.
While silently standing with eyes turned towards the procession, he observed scowling42 looks, and heard low growlings from the crowd as it swayed slowly past. He knew enough to be conscious of what this meant; but he felt at the same time disinclined to humiliate43 himself by a too facile compliance44. A proud American, in the midst of a people he had learned to despise—their idolatrous observances along with them—no wonder he should feel a little defiant45 and a good deal exasperated46. Enough yielding, he thought, to withdraw farther back from behind the pillar, which he did.
It was too late. The keen eye of a fanatic47 had been upon him—one who appeared to have authority for meting48 out chastisement49. An officer, bearded and grandly bedizened, riding at the head of a troop of lancers, quickly wheeled his horse from out of the line of march, and spurred him towards the porch of the posada. In another instant his bared blade was waving over the hatted head of the Kentuckian.
“Gringo! alto su sombrero! Abajo! a sus rodillas!” (“Off with your hat, greenhorn! Down upon your knees!”) were the words that came hissing50 from the moustached lips of the lancer.
As they failed to beget51 compliance, they were instantly followed by a blow from the blade of his sabre. It was given sideways, but with sufficient sleight52 and force to send the Guayaquil hat whirling over the pavement, and its wearer reeling against the wall.
It was but the stagger of a sudden and unexpected surprise. In another instant the “gringo” had drawn a revolving53 pistol, and in yet another its bullet would have been through the brain of the swaggering aggressor, but for a third personage, who, rushing from behind, laid hold of the Kentuckian’s arm, and restrained the firing.
At first it seemed to Hamersley the act of another enemy; but in a moment he knew it to be the behaviour of a friend—at least a pacificator bent54 upon seeing fair play.
“You are wrong, Captain Uraga,” interposed he who had intermeddled, addressing himself to the officer. “This gentleman is a stranger in the country, and not acquainted with our customs.”
“Then it is time the heretico should be taught them, and, at the same time, respect for the Holy Church. But what right, Colonel Miranda, have you to interfere55?”
“The right, first of humanity, second of hospitality, and third that I am your superior officer.”
“Bah! You mistake yourself. Remember, señor coronel, you are not in your own district. If it was in Albuquerque, I might take commands from you. This is the city of Chihuahua.”
“Chihuahua or not, you shall be made answerable for this outrage56. Don’t imagine that your patron, Santa Anna, is now Dictator, with power to endorse57 such base conduct as yours. You seem to forget, Captain Uraga, that you carry your commission under a new regime—one that holds itself responsible, not only to fixed58 laws, but to the code of decency—responsible also for international courtesy to the great Republic of which, I believe, this gentleman is a citizen.”
“Bah!” once more exclaimed the bedizened bully59. “Preach your palabras to ears that have time to listen to them. I shan’t stop the procession for either you or your Yankee protégé. So you can both go to the devil.”
With this benevolent60 permission the captain of lancers struck the spurs into his horse, and once more placed himself at the head of his troop. The crowd collected by the exciting episode soon scattered61 away—the sooner that the strange gentleman, along with his generous defender62, had disappeared from the portico63, having gone inside the inn.
The procession was still passing, and its irresistible64 attractions swept the loiterers along in its current—most of them soon forgetting a scene which, in that land, where “law secures not life,” is of too frequent occurrence to be either much thought of or for long remembered.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
metropolis
|
|
| n.首府；大城市 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
sparse
|
|
| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
weird
|
|
| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
monk
|
|
| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
garrison
|
|
| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
lured
|
|
| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
toiling
|
|
| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
neophyte
|
|
| n.新信徒；开始者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
instructor
|
|
| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
deluge
|
|
| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
devastation
|
|
| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
tenantless
|
|
| adj.无人租赁的，无人居住的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
15
transpiring
|
|
| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的现在分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
skulls
|
|
| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
savages
|
|
| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
preservation
|
|
| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
procurement
|
|
| n.采购；获得 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
bounty
|
|
| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
trophies
|
|
| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
gory
|
|
| adj.流血的；残酷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
depicted
|
|
| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
uncommon
|
|
| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
clergy
|
|
| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
secular
|
|
| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
virgin
|
|
| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
scripture
|
|
| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
brawny
|
|
| adj.强壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
bespoke
|
|
| adj.（产品）订做的；专做订货的v.预定( bespeak的过去式 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
tersely
|
|
| adv. 简捷地, 简要地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
amiable
|
|
| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
costly
|
|
| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
tout
|
|
| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
ensemble
|
|
| n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
bravado
|
|
| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
creed
|
|
| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
bigoted
|
|
| adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
scowling
|
|
| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
humiliate
|
|
| v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
compliance
|
|
| n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
defiant
|
|
| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
exasperated
|
|
| adj.恼怒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
fanatic
|
|
| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
meting
|
|
| v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
chastisement
|
|
| n.惩罚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
hissing
|
|
| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
beget
|
|
| v.引起；产生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
sleight
|
|
| n.技巧，花招 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
revolving
|
|
| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
outrage
|
|
| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
endorse
|
|
| vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
bully
|
|
| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
benevolent
|
|
| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
defender
|
|
| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
portico
|
|
| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
irresistible
|
|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |