By this time the night was well advanced, and he concluded that the wisest thing he could do was to hunt up some place where he could sleep until morning. This did not seem to be difficult in a country so cut up and broken by rocks, and he moved away from the camp-fire with a sense of deep gratitude1 for the extraordinary good fortune that had followed him from the time Lone2 Wolf had withdrawn3 him from the main party.
“Now, if I could only get a horse,” he said to himself, “I would be set up in business. I could find the way back to New Boston in a day or two, shooting what game I want, and keeping out of the way of all Indians. I wonder what has become of Sut Simpson? I expected he would be somewhere around here before this. It would be very handy to come across him just now and have him help me home. And there's Mickey Rooney. He went off on one of the best horses; and if he could pick me up and take me along, it wouldn't need much time for us to get back home. Ah, if I only had Hurricane here,” he sighed. “How we would go back through that ravine, leaving behind us the best horses in the country; but there's no use of thinking of that. Hurricane is at home, and so he can't be here, and I must trust to Providence4 to get back. I have something now that is of more use than a horse. If I miss with one charge, I can—”
He stopped suddenly in amazement5, for at that juncture6 he recalled a piece of great stupidity which he had committed. He had secured the rifle, and yet he had left without one thought of the indispensable ammunition7 that was required to make the weapon of any use. He did not know whether the gun in his hand was loaded or not, in which latter case it was of no more account than a piece of wood.
“Well, if that don't beat everything,” he muttered, at a loss to understand how he could have committed such an oversight8. “I never once thought of it till this minute, and now it's too late!”
The reflection of his great need inclined him to return to the camp-fire and incur9 the risk involved in the effort to repair the blunder that he had committed.
“That Indian cannot hurt me, and I don't suppose that any of the others have come back. It won't take me long to get what I want; and I will do it, too.”
He was but a short distance from the place, and, having decided10 upon the proper course, he moved rapidly back upon the path he had just trod, and in a few minutes was beside the rock, which was becoming familiar in a certain sense. Mindful of the danger to which one was always exposed in that section, Fred peered around the rock with the same silence and caution as before. The result was a disappointment. The Kiowa had disappeared.
“Now it can't be that he was only pretending he was asleep all the time,” thought the puzzled lad. “And yet, if he wasn't, how was it he managed to get away?”
A few minutes' reflection convinced Fred that it was impossible that there should have been any such thing as he had imagined at first. The more reasonable theory was that some of the Kiowas had returned and taken the body of their comrade away, fearful, perhaps, that some of the Apaches might put in an appearance again and rob him of his scalp. However, whatever the explanation was, Fred saw that his expedition was a failure. There was nothing to be gained by remaining where he was, while there was unmistakable risk of being detected by some of the copper-colored prowlers.
He noticed that the camp-fire bore very much the same appearance as when he last saw it, and the probabilities were that the Kiowas were some distance away at that very time; but the young fugitive11 had already run enough risk, without incurring12 any more, and he resolved to spend an hour or two in getting out of the neighborhood altogether.
There was little choice of direction, but it was natural that he should prefer the back-trail, and, clambering down into the ravine again, he turned his face to the southward, directly through the ravine that he had traversed during the day upon the back of Waukko's mustang.
“I can tell when I reach the place where Lone Wolf and his men left us,” he said to himself. “That will take me a good while, but when I do find it, the trail will be so much larger and plainer that there will be no trouble about following it, but it will take me several days to do it, and it is going to be hard work. I need all the time possible, so I guess it will be best to keep going all night.”
There was not so much amusement in this as he fancied, but he kept it up bravely for some two or three hours, during which he made good headway. The walking was comparatively easy in the ravine, which was one of those openings encountered at intervals13 among the mountains in the West, and which are known under the name of passes. In many places it would be utterly14 out of the question for parties to force their way through the chains but for these avenues, which nature has kindly15 furnished.
The moonlight was just sufficient to make the boy feel uneasy. He could discern objects, although indistinctly, nearly a hundred yards away, and where the character of the gorge16 was continually shifting to a certain extent there was abundant play for the imagination.
He had been walking but a short time when he abruptly17 halted, under the impression that he had seen an Indian run across the gorge directly in front of him. This caused a wilder throbbing18 of his heart, and another examination of his gun, which was loaded, as he had assured himself some time before, and ready at any time to do him one good turn, if no more.
“He wouldn't have skipped over in that style if he had known I was so near,” was the reflection of the boy, as he sheltered himself in the shadow of the rocks and looked and listened. “How did he know but what I might have picked him off? What was to hinder me? If he did n't know I was here, why, it ain't likely that he would loaf along the side of the ravine.”
By such a course of reasoning, he was not long in convincing himself that the way was open for his advance. He hurried by on tiptoe, and drew a long breath of relief when certain that he had passed the dangerous spot. But he was only a short distance beyond when his hair fairly arose on end, for he became certain that he heard the groan19 of a man among the boulders20 over his head.
“I wonder what the matter is there?” he whispered, peering upward in the gloom and shadow. “It may be some white man that the Indians have left for dead, and that still has some life in his body, or it may be an Indian himself who has met with an accident—helloa!”—
Just then it sounded again, and a cold shiver of terror crept over him from head to foot, as he was able to locate the precise point from which it came. The frightful21 groaning22 did not stop as suddenly as before, but rose and sank, with a sound like the wail23 of some suffering human being.
As Fred stood trembling and listening, his shuddering24 fear collapsed25; for the sound which had transfixed him with such dread26, he now recognized as the whistling of the wind, which, slight in itself, was still manipulated in some peculiar27 fashion by a nook in the rocks overhead.
“That does sound odd enough to scare a person,” he muttered, as he resumed his walk. “It must be a regular trumpet-blast when the wind is high, for there isn't much now.”
The two incidents resulting so harmlessly, Fred was inspired with greater confidence, and advanced at a more rapid walk along the ravine, suffering no check until he had gone fully28 a mile further. Just then, while striding along with increasing courage, he came to a place where the side of the ravine was perpendicular29 for two or three hundred feet.
He was close to this, so as to use the protection of the shadow, and was dreaming of no danger, when a rattling30 of gravel31 and debris32 caused him to look up, and he saw an immense mass of rock, that had become loosened in some way, descending33 straight for his head.
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1
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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7
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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8
oversight
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| n.勘漏，失察，疏忽 | |
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9
incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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11
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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incurring
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| 遭受，招致，引起( incur的现在分词 ) | |
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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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14
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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16
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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20
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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24
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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30
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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31
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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32
debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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33
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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