The guerilleros now halted and dismounted. We were left in our saddles. Our mules1 were picketed3 upon long lazos, and commenced browsing4. They carried us under the thorny5 branches of the wild locust6. The maguey, with its bill-shaped claws, had torn our uniform overalls7 to shreds8. Our limbs were lacerated, and the cactus9 had lodged10 its poisoned prickles in our knees. But these were nothing to the pain of being compelled to keep our saddles, or rather saddle-trees—for we were upon the naked wood. Our hips11 ached intensely, and our limbs smarted under the chafing12 thong13.
There was a crackling of fires around us. Our captors were cooking their breakfasts, and chattering14 gaily15 over their chocolate. Neither food nor drink was offered to us, although we were both thirsty and hungry. We were kept in this place for about an hour.
“They have joined another party here,” said Raoul, “with pack-mules.”
“How know you?” I inquired.
“I can tell by the shouts of the arrieros. Listen!—they are making ready to start.”
There was a mingling16 of voices—exclamations addressed to their animals by the arrieros, such as:
“Mula! anda! vaya! levantate! carrai! mula—mulita!—anda!—st!—st!”
In the midst of this din17 I fancied that I heard the voice of a woman.
“Can it be—?”
The thought was too painful.
A bugle18 at length sounded, and we felt ourselves again moving onward19.
Our road appeared to run along the naked ridge20. There were no trees, and the heat became intense. Our serapes, that had served us during the night, should have been dispensed21 with now, had we been consulted in relation to the matter. I did not know, until some time after, why these blankets had been given to us, as they had been hitherto very useful in the cold. It was not from any anxiety in regard to our comfort, as I learned afterwards.
We began to suffer from thirst, and Raoul asked one of the guerilleros for water.
“Carajo!” answered the man, “it’s no use: you’ll be choked by and by with something else than thirst.”
The brutal22 jest called forth23 a peal24 of laughter from his comrades.
About noon we commenced descending25 a long hill. I could hear the sound of water ahead.
“Where are we, Raoul?” I inquired faintly.
“Going down to a stream—a branch of the Antigua.”
“We are coming to another precipice26?” I asked, with some uneasiness, as the roar of the torrent27 began to be heard more under our feet, and I snuffed the cold air from below.
“There is one, Captain. There is a good road, though, and well paved.”
“Paved! why, the country around is wild—is it not?”
“True; but the road was paved by the priests.”
“By the priests!” I exclaimed with some astonishment28.
“Yes, Captain; there’s a convent in the valley, near the crossing; that is, there was one. It is now a ruin.”
We crept slowly down, our mules at times seeming to walk on their heads. The hissing29 of the torrent grew gradually louder, until our ears were filled with its hoarse30 rushing.
I heard Raoul below me shouting some words in a warning voice, when suddenly he seemed borne away, as if he had been tumbled over the precipice.
I expected to feel myself next moment launched after him into empty space, when my mule2, uttering a loud whinny, sprang forward and downward.
Down—down! the next leap into eternity31! No—she keeps her feet! she gallops32 along a level path! I am safe!
I was swung about until the thongs34 seemed to cut through my limbs; and with a heavy plunge35 I felt myself carried thigh-deep into water.
Here the animal suddenly halted.
As soon as I could gain breath I shouted at the top of my voice for the Frenchman.
“Here, Captain!” he answered, close by my side, but, as I fancied, with a strange, gurgling voice.
“Are you hurt, Raoul?” I inquired.
“Hurt? No, Captain.”
“What was it, then?”
“Oh! I wished to warn you, but I was too late. I might have known they would stampede, as the poor brutes36 have been no better treated than ourselves. Hear how they draw it up!”
“I am choking!” I exclaimed, listening to the water as it filtered through the teeth of my mule.
“Do as I do, Captain,” said Raoul, speaking as if from the bottom of a well.
“How?” I asked.
“Bend down, and let the water run into your mouth.”
This accounted for Raoul’s voice sounding so strangely.
“They may not give us a drop,” continued he. “It is our only chance.”
“I have not even that,” I replied, after having vainly endeavoured to reach the surface with my face.
“Why?” asked my comrade.
“I cannot reach it.”
“How deep are you?”
“To the saddle-flaps.”
“Ride this way, Captain. It’s deeper here.”
“How can I? My mule is her own master, as far as I am concerned.”
“Parbleu!” said the Frenchman. “I did not think of that.”
But, whether to oblige me, or moved by a desire to cool her flanks, the animal plunged37 forward into a deeper part of the stream.
After straining myself to the utmost, I was enabled to “duck” my head. In this painful position I contrived38 to get a couple of swallows; but I should think I took in quite as much at my nose and ears.
Clayley and Chane followed our example, the Irishman swearing loudly that it was a “burnin’ shame to make a dacent Christyin dhrink like a horse in winkers.”
Our guards now commenced driving our mules out of the water. As we were climbing the bank, someone touched me lightly upon the arm; and at the same instant a voice whispered in my ear, “Courage, Captain!”
I started—it was the voice of a female. I was about to reply, when a soft, small hand was thrust under the tapojo, and pushed something between my lips. The hand was immediately withdrawn39, and I heard the voice urging a horse onward.
The clatter40 of hoofs41, as of a horse passing me in a gallop33, convinced me that this mysterious agent was gone, and I remained silent.
“Who can it be Jack42? No. Jack has a soft voice—a small hand; but how could he be here, and with his hands free? No—no—no! Who then? It was certainly the voice of a woman—the hand, too. What other should have made this demonstration43? I know no other—it must—it must have been—.”
I continued my analysis of probabilities, always arriving at the same result. It was both pleasant and painful: pleasant to believe she was thus, like an angel, watching over me—painful to think that she might be in the power of my fiendish enemy.
But is she so? Lincoln’s blow may have ended him. We have heard nothing of him since. Would to heaven—!
It was an impious wish, but I could not control it.
“What have I got between my lips? A slip of paper! Why was it placed there, and not in my bosom44 or my button-hole? Ha! there is more providence45 in the manner of the act than at first thought appears. How could I have taken it from either the one or the other, bound as I am? Moreover it may contain what would destroy the writer, if known to—. Cunning thought—for one so young and innocent, too—but love—.”
I pressed the paper against the tapojo, covering it with my lips, so as to conceal46 it in case the blind should be removed.
“Halted again?”
“It is the ruin, Captain—the old convent of Santa Bernardina.”
“But why do they halt here?”
“Likely to noon and breakfast—that on the ridge was only their desayuna. The Mexicans of the tierra caliente never travel during mid-day. They will doubtless rest here until the cool of the evening.”
“I trust they will extend the same favour to us,” said Clayley: “God knows we stand in need of rest. I’d give them three months’ pay for an hour upon the treadmill47, only to stretch my limbs.”
“They will take us down, I think—not on our account, but to ease the mules. Poor brutes! they are no parties to this transaction.”
Raoul’s conjecture48 proved correct. We were taken out of our saddles, and, being carefully bound as before, we were hauled into a damp room, and flung down upon the floor. Our captors went out. A heavy door closed after them, and we could hear the regular footfall of a sentry49 on the stone pavement without. For the first time since our capture we were left alone. This my comrades tested by rolling themselves all over the floor of our prison to see if anyone was present with us. It was but a scant50 addition to our liberty; but we could converse51 freely, and that was something.
Note. Desayuna is a slight early meal.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
mules
|
|
| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
mule
|
|
| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
picketed
|
|
| 用尖桩围住（picket的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
browsing
|
|
| v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
thorny
|
|
| adj.多刺的，棘手的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
locust
|
|
| n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
overalls
|
|
| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
shreds
|
|
| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
cactus
|
|
| n.仙人掌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
lodged
|
|
| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
hips
|
|
| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
chafing
|
|
| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
thong
|
|
| n.皮带；皮鞭；v.装皮带 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
chattering
|
|
| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
gaily
|
|
| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
mingling
|
|
| adj.混合的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
din
|
|
| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
bugle
|
|
| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
onward
|
|
| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
ridge
|
|
| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
dispensed
|
|
| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
brutal
|
|
| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
peal
|
|
| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
precipice
|
|
| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
hissing
|
|
| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
hoarse
|
|
| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
eternity
|
|
| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
gallops
|
|
| （马等）奔驰，骑马奔驰( gallop的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
gallop
|
|
| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
thongs
|
|
| 的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
brutes
|
|
| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
withdrawn
|
|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
clatter
|
|
| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
hoofs
|
|
| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
demonstration
|
|
| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
providence
|
|
| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
conceal
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
treadmill
|
|
| n.踏车；单调的工作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
conjecture
|
|
| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
sentry
|
|
| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
scant
|
|
| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
converse
|
|
| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |