Guiding their course by the stars the fugitives1 continue on—no longer going in a run, nor even in a very rapid walk. Despite the resolution with which he endeavours to nerve himself, the wounded man is still too weak to make much progress, and he advances but laggingly. His companion does not urge him to quicken his pace. The experienced prairie man knows it will be better to go slowly than get broken down by straining forward too eagerly. There is no sign or sound of Indian, either behind or before them. The stillness of the desert is around them—its silence only interrupted by the “whip-whip” of the night-hawk’s wings, and at intervals2 its soft note answering to the shriller cry of the kid-deer plover3 that rises screaming before their feet. These, with the constant skirr of the ground-crickets and the prolonged whine4 of the coyote, are the only sounds that salute5 them as they glide6 on—none of which are of a kind to cause alarm.
There appears no great reason for making haste now. They have all the night before them, and, ere daylight can discover them, they will be sure to find some place of concealment9.
The ground is favourable10 to pedestrianism in the darkness. The surface, hard-baked by the sun, is level as a set flagstone, and in most places so smooth that a carriage could run upon it as on the drive of a park. Well for them it is so. Had the path been a rugged11 one the wounded man would not go far before giving out. Even as it is, the toil12 soon begins to tell on his wasted strength. His veins13 are almost emptied of blood.
Nor do they proceed a very great distance before again coming to a halt; though far enough to feel sure that, standing14 erect15, they cannot be descried16 by any one who may have ascended17 the cliff at the place where they took departure from it.
But they have also reached that which offers them a chance of concealment—in short, a forest. It is a forest not discernible at more than a mile’s distance, for the trees that compose it are “shin oaks,” the tallest rising to the height of only eighteen inches above the surface of the ground. Eighteen inches is enough to conceal8 the body of a man lying in a prostrate18 attitude; and as the Lilliputian trees grow thick as jimson weeds, the cover will be a secure one. Unless the pursuers should stray so close as to tread upon them, there will be no danger of their being seen. Further reflection has by this time satisfied them that the Indians are not upon the upper plain. It is not likely, after the pains they had taken to smoke them in the cave and afterwards shut them up. Besides, the distribution of the spoils would be an attraction sure to draw them back to the waggons19, and speedily.
Becoming satisfied that there is no longer a likelihood of their being pursued across the plain, Wilder proposes that they again make stop; this time to obtain sleep, which in their anxiety during their previous spell of rest they did not attempt. He makes the proposal out of consideration for his comrade, who for some time, as he can see, has evidently been hard pressed to keep up with him.
“We kin7 lie by till sun-up,” says Walt; “an’ then, if we see any sign o’ pursoot, kin stay hyar till the sun goes down agin. These shin oaks will gie us kiver enuf. Squatted20, there’ll be no chance o’ thar diskiverin’ us, unless they stumble right atop o’ us.” His companion is not in the mood to make objection, and the two lay themselves along the earth. The miniature forest not only gives them the protection of a screen but a soft bed, as the tiny trunks and leaf-laden branches become pressed down beneath their bodies.
They remain awake only long enough to give Hamersley’s wound such dressing21 as the circumstances permit, and then both sink into slumber22.
With the young prairie merchant it is neither deep nor profound. Horrid23 visions float before his rapt senses—scenes of red carnage—causing him ever and anon to awake with a start, once or twice with a cry that wakes his companion.
Otherwise Walt Wilder would have slept as soundly as if reposing24 on the couch of a log cabin a thousand miles removed from any scene of danger. It is no new thing for him to go to sleep with the yell of savages25 sounding in his ears. For a period of over twenty years he has daily, as nightly, stretched his huge form along mountain slope or level prairie, and often with far more danger of having his “hair raised” before rising erect again. For ten years he belonged to the “Texas Rangers26”—that strange organisation27 that has existed ever since Stephen Austin first planted his colony in the land of the “Lone Star.” If on this night the ex-Ranger is more than usually restless, it is from anxiety about his comrade, coupled with the state of his nervous system, stirred to feverish28 excitement by the terrible conflict through which they have just passed. Notwithstanding all, he slumbers29 in long spells, at times snoring like an alligator30.
At no time does the ex-Ranger stand in need of much sleep, even after the most protracted31 toil. Six hours is his usual daily or nocturnal dose; and as the grey dawn begins to glimmer32 over the tops of the shin oaks, he springs to his feet, shakes the dew from his shoulders like a startled stag, and then stoops down to examine the condition of his wounded comrade.
“Don’t ye git up yit, Frank,” he says. “We mustn’t start till we hev a clar view all roun’, an’ be sure there’s neery redskin in sight. Then we kin take the sun a leetle on our left side, an’ make tracks to the south-eastart. How is’t wi’ ye?”
“I feel weak as water. Still I fancy I can travel a little farther.”
“Wall, we’ll go slow. Ef there’s none o’ the skunks34 arter us, we kin take our time. Durn me! I’m still a wonderin’ what Injuns they war; I’m a’most sartint thar the Tenawa Kimanch—a band o’ the Buffler-eaters an’ the wust lot on all the parairia. Many’s the fight we rangers used to hev wi’ ’em, and many’s the one o’ ’em this child hev rubbed out. Ef I only hed my rifle hyar—durn the luck hevin’ to desart that gun—I ked show you nine nicks on her timmer as stan’ for nine Tenawa Kimanch. Ef’t be them, we’ve got to keep well to the southart. Thar range lays most in the Canadyen, or round the head o’ Big Wichitu, an’ they mout cross a corner o’ the Staked Plain on thar way home. Tharfer we must go southart a good bit, and try for the north fork o’ the Brazos. Ef we meet Indian thar, they’d be Southern Kimanch—not nigh sech feeroshus varmints as them. Do you know, Frank, I’ve been hevin’ a dream ’bout them Injuns as attacked us?”
“A dream! So have I. It is not strange for either of us to dream of them. What was yours, Walt?”
“Kewrus enuf mine war, though it warn’t all a dreem. I reck’n I war more ’n half awake when I tuk to thinkin’ about ’em, an’ ’twar somethin’ I seed durin’ the skrimmage. Didn’t you observe nothin’ queery?”
“Rather say, nothing that was not that way. It was all queer enough, and terrible, too.”
“That this child will admit wi’ full freedom. But I’ve f’t redskin afore in all sorts an’ shapes, yet niver seed redskin sech as them.”
“In what did they differ from other savages? I saw nothing different.”
“But I did; leastways, I suspeck I did. Didn’t you spy ’mong the lot two or three that had ha’r on thar faces?”
“Yes; I noticed that. I thought nothing of it. It’s common among the Comanches and other tribes of the Mexican territory, many of whom are of mixed breed—from the captive Mexican women they have among them.”
“The ha’r I seed didn’t look like it grew on the face o’ a mixed blood.”
“But there are pure white men among them—outlaws who have run away from civilisation35 and turned renegades—as also captives they have taken, who become Indianised, as the Mexicans call it. Doubtless it may have been some of these we saw.”
“Wall, you may be right, Frank. Sartint thar war one I seed wi’ a beard ’most as big as my own—only it war black. His hide war black, too, or nigh to it; but ef that skunk33 wan’t white un’erneath a coatin’ o’ charcoal36 an’ vermilion then Walt Wilder don’t know a Kristyun from a heethun. I ain’t no use spek’latin’ on’t now. White, black, yella-belly, or red, they’ve put us afoot on the parairia, an’ kim darned nigh wipin’ us out althegither. We’ve got a fair chance o’ goin’ un’er yet, eyther from thirst or the famishment o’ empty stomaks. I’m hungry enuf already to eat a coyat. Thar’s a heavy row afore us, Frank, an’ we must strengthen our hearts to hoein’ o’ it. Wall, the sun’s up; an’ as thar don’t appear to be any obstrukshun, I reck’n we’d best be makin’ tracks.”
Hamersley slowly and somewhat reluctantly rises to his feet. He still feels in poor condition for travelling. But to stay there is to die; and bracing37 himself to the effort, he steps out side by side with his colossal38 companion.
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1
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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2
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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3
plover
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| n.珩，珩科鸟，千鸟 | |
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4
whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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5
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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6
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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7
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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10
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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11
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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12
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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13
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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14
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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15
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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16
descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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17
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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19
waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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20
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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21
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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22
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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23
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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24
reposing
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的现在分词 ) | |
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25
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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26
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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27
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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28
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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29
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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30
alligator
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| n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼) | |
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31
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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32
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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33
skunk
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| n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥 | |
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34
skunks
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| n.臭鼬( skunk的名词复数 )；臭鼬毛皮；卑鄙的人；可恶的人 | |
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35
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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36
charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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37
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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38
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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