In a few minutes the sound of heavy feet and gruff voices was heard in the outside passage, and next moment ten men filed into the room and saluted3 their chief heartily4.
Charlie felt an almost irresistible5 tendency to open his eyes, but knew that the risk was too great, and contented6 himself with his ears. These told him pretty eloquently7 what was going on, for suddenly, the noise of voices and clattering8 of footsteps ceased, a dead silence ensued, and Charlie knew that the whole band were gazing at him with wide open eyes and, probably, open mouths. Their attention had been directed to the stranger by the chief. The silence was only momentary9, however.
“Now, don’t begin to whisper, pards,” said Buck10 Tom, in a slightly sarcastic11 tone. “When will ye learn that there is nothing so likely to waken a sleeper12 as whisperin’? Be natural—be natural, and tell me, as softly as ye can in your natural tones, what has brought you back so soon. Come, Jake, you have got the quietest voice. The poor man is pretty well knocked up and needs rest. I brought him here.”
“Has he got much?” the sentence was completed by Jake significantly slapping his pocket.
“A goodish lot. But come, sit down and out wi’ the news. Something must be wrong.”
“Wall, I guess that somethin’ is wrong. Everything’s wrong, as far as I can see. The Redskins are up, an’ the troops are out, an’ so it seemed o’ no use our goin’ to bust13 up the ranch of Roarin’ Bull, seein’ that the red devils are likely to be there before us. So we came back here, an’ I’m glad you’ve got suthin’ in the pot, for we’re about as empty as kettledrums.”
“Humph!” ejaculated Buck, “didn’t I tell you not to trouble Roarin’ Bull—that he and his boys could lick you if you had been twenty instead of ten. But how came ye to hear o’ this cock-and-bull story about the Redskins?”
“We got it from Hunky Ben, an’ he’s not the boy to go spreadin’ false reports.”
Charlie Brooke ventured at this point to open his eye-lids the smallest possible bit, so that any one looking at him would have failed to observe any motion in them. The little slit14 however, admitted the whole scene to the retina, and he perceived that ten of the most cut-throat-looking men conceivable were seated in a semicircle in the act of receiving portions from the big pot into tin plates. Most of them were clothed in hunters’ leathern costume, wore long boots with spurs, and were more or less bronzed and bearded.
Buck Tom, alias15 Ralph Ritson, although as tall and strong as any of them, seemed a being of quite angelic gentleness beside them. Yet Buck was their acknowledged chief. No doubt it was due to the superiority of mind over matter, for those out-laws were grossly material and matter-of-fact!
“There must be some truth in the report if Hunky Ben carried it,” said Buck, looking up quickly, “but I left Ben sitting quietly in David’s store not many hours ago.”
“No doubt that’s true, Captain,” said Jake, as he ladled the soup into his capacious mouth; “nevertheless we met Hunky Ben on the pine-river prairie scourin’ over the turf like all possessed16 on Black Polly. We stopped him of course an’ asked the news.”
“‘News!’ cried he, ‘why, the Redskins have dug up the hatchet17 an’ riz like one man. They’ve clar’d out Yellow Bluff18, an’ are pourin’ like Niagara down upon Rasper’s Creek19. It’s said that they’ll visit Roarin’ Bull’s ranch to-morrow. No time for more talk, boys. Oratin’ ain’t in my line. I’m off to Quester Creek to rouse up the troops.’ Wi’ that Hunky wheeled round an’ went off like a runaway20 streak21 o’ lightnin’. I sent a couple o’ shots after him, for I’d took a fancy to Black Polly—but them bullets didn’t seem to hit somehow.”
“Boys,” cried Buck Tom, jumping up when he heard this, “if Hunky Ben said all that, you may depend on’t it’s true, an’ we won’t have to waste time this night if we’re to save the ranch of Roarin’ Bull.”
“But we don’t want to save the ranch of Roarin’ Bull, as far as I’m consarned,” said Jake rather sulkily.
Buck wheeled round on the man with a fierce glare, but, as if suddenly changing his mind, he said in a tone of well-feigned surprise—
“What! you, Jake, of all men—such a noted22 lady-killer—indifferent about the fate of the ranch of Roaring Bull, and pretty Miss Mary Jackson in it at the mercy of the Redskins!”
“Well, if it comes to that, Captain, I’ll ride as far and as fast as any man to rescue a girl, pretty or plain, from the Redskins,” said Jake, recovering his good-humour.
“Well, then, cram23 as much grub as you can into you in five minutes, for we must be off by that time. Rise, sir,” said Buck, shaking Charlie with some violence. “We ride on a matter of life an’ death—to save women. Will you join us?”
“Of course I will!” cried Charlie, starting up with a degree of alacrity24 and vigour25 that favourably26 impressed the outlaws27, and shaking off his simulated sleep with wonderful facility.
“Follow me, then,” cried Buck, hastening out of the cave.
“But what of Shank?” asked Charlie, in some anxiety, when they got outside. “He cannot accompany us; may we safely leave him behind?”
“Quite safely. This place is not known to the savages29 who are on the warpath, and there is nothing to tempt30 them this way even if it were. Besides, Shank is well enough to get up and gather firewood, kindle31 his fire, and boil the kettle for himself. He is used to being left alone. See, here is our stable under the cliff, and yonder stands your horse. Saddle him. The boys will be at our heels in a moment. Some of them are only too glad to have a brush wi’ the Redskins, for they killed two of our band lately.”
This last remark raised an uncomfortable feeling in the mind of Charlie, for was he not virtually allying himself with a band of outlaws, with intent to attack a band of Indians of whom he knew little or nothing, and with whom he had no quarrel? There was no time, however, to weigh the case critically. The fact that savages were about to attack the ranch in which his comrade Dick Darvall was staying, and that there were females in the place, was enough to settle the question. In a minute or two he had saddled his horse, which he led out and fastened to a tree, and, while the outlaws were busy making preparations for a start, he ran back to the cave.
“Shank,” said he, sitting down beside his friend and taking his hand, “you have heard the news. My comrade Darvall is in great danger. I must away to his rescue. But be sure, old fellow, that I will return to you soon.”
“Yes, yes—I know,” returned Shank, with a look of great anxiety; “but, Charlie, you don’t know half the danger you run. Don’t fight with Buck Tom—do you hear?”
“Of course I won’t,” said Charlie, in some surprise.
“No, no, that’s not what I mean,” said Shank, with increasing anxiety. “Don’t fight in company with him.”
At that moment the voice of the outlaw28 was heard at the entrance shouting, “Come along, Brooke, we’re all ready.”
“Don’t be anxious about me, Shank; I’ll take good care,” said Charlie, as he hastily pressed the hand of the invalid32 and hurried away.
The ten men with Buck at their head were already mounted when he ran out.
Down the Traitor’s Trap they went at what was to Charlie a break-neck but satisfactory pace, for now that he was fairly on the road a desperate anxiety lest they should be too late took possession of him. Across an open space they went at the bottom of which ran a brawling35 rivulet36. There was no bridge, but over or through it went the whole band without the slightest check, and onward37 at full gallop38, for the country became more level and open just beyond.
The moon was still shining although sinking towards the horizon, and now for the first time Charlie began to note with what a stern and reckless band of men he was riding, and a feeling of something like exultation39 arose within him as he thought on the one hand of the irresistible sweep of an onslaught from such men, and, on the other, of the cruelties that savages were known to practise. In short, rushing to the rescue was naturally congenial to our hero.
About the same time that the outlaws were thus hastening for once on an honourable40 mission—though some of them went from anything but honourable motives—two other bands of men were converging41 to the same point as fast as they could go. These were a company of United States troops, guided by Hunky Ben, and a large band of Indians under their warlike chief Bigfoot.
Jackson, alias Roaring Bull, had once inadvertently given offence to Bigfoot, and as that chief was both by nature and profession an unforgiving man he had vowed42 to have his revenge. Jackson treated the threat lightly, but his pretty daughter Mary was not quite as indifferent about it as her father.
The stories of Indian raids and frontier wars and barbarous cruelties had made a deep impression on her sensitive mind, and when her mother died, leaving her the only woman at her father’s ranch—with the exception of one or two half-breed women, who could not be much to her as companions—her life had been very lonely, and her spirit had been subjected to frequent, though hitherto groundless, alarms.
But pretty Moll, as she was generally called, was well protected, for her father, besides having been a noted pugilist in his youth, was a big, powerful man, and an expert with rifle and revolver. Moreover, there was not a cow-boy within a hundred miles of her who would not (at least thought he would not) have attacked single-handed the whole race of Redskins if Moll had ordered him to do so as a proof of affection.
Now, when strapping43, good-looking Dick Darvall came to the ranch in the course of his travels and beheld44 Mary Jackson, and received the first broadside from her bright blue eyes, he hauled down his colours and surrendered with a celerity which would have mightily45 amused the many comrades to whom he had said in days of yore that his heart was as hard as rock, and he had never yet seen the woman as could soften46 it!
But Dick, more than most of his calling, was a modest, almost a bashful, man. He behaved to Mary with the politeness that was natural to him, and with which he would have approached any woman. He did not make the slightest attempt to show his admiration47 of her, though it is quite within the bounds of possibility that his “speaking” brown eyes may have said something without his permission! Mary Jackson, being also modest in a degree, of course did not reveal the state of her feelings, and made no visible attempt to ascertain48 his, but her bluff sagacious old father was not obtuse—neither was he reticent49. He was a man of the world—at least of the back-woods world—and his knowledge of life, as there exhibited, was founded on somewhat acute experience. He knew that his daughter was young and remarkably50 pretty. He saw that Dick Darvall was also young—a dashing and unusually handsome sailor—something like what Tom Bowling51 may have been. Putting these things together, he came to the very natural conclusion that a wedding would be desirable; believing, as he did, that human nature in the Rockies is very much the same as to its foundation elements as it is elsewhere. Moreover, Roaring Bull was very much in want of a stout52 son-in-law at that time, so he fanned the flame which he fondly hoped was beginning to arise. This he did in a somewhat blundering and obvious manner, but Dick was too much engrossed53 with Mary to notice it and Mary was too ignorant of the civilised world’s ways to care much for the proprieties54 of life.
Of course this state of things created an awful commotion55 in the breasts of the cow-boys who were in the employment of Mary’s father and herded56 his cattle. Their mutual57 jealousies58 were sunk in the supreme59 danger that threatened them all, and they were only restrained from picking a quarrel with Dick and shooting him by the calmly resolute60 look in his brown eyes, coupled with his great physical power and his irresistible good-nature. Urbanity seemed to have been the mould in which the spirit of this man-of-the-sea had been cast and gentleness was one of his chief characteristics. Moreover, he could tell a good story, and sing a good song in a fine bass61 voice. Still further, although these gallant62 cow-boys felt intensely jealous of this newcomer, they could not but admit that they had nothing tangible63 to go upon, for the sailor did not apparently64 pay any pointed65 attention to Mary, and she certainly gave no special encouragement to him.
There was one cow-boy, however, of Irish descent, who could not or would not make up his mind to take things quietly, but resolved, as far as he was concerned, to bring matters to a head. His name was Pat Reilly.
He entered the kitchen on the day after Dick’s arrival and found Mary alone and busily engaged with the dinner.
“Miss Jackson,” said Pat, “there’s a question I’ve bin66 wantin’ to ax ye for a long time past, an’ with your lave I’ll putt it now.”
“What is it Mr Reilly?” asked the girl somewhat stiffly, for she had a suspicion of what was coming. A little negro girl in the back kitchen named Buttercup also had a suspicion of what was coming, and stationed herself with intense delight behind the door, through a crack in which she could both hear and see.
“Mary, my dear,” said Pat insinuatingly67, “how would you like to jump into double harness with me an’ jog along the path o’ life together?”
Poor Mary, being agitated68 by the proposal, and much amused by the manner of it, bent69 over a pot of something and tried to hide her blushes and amusement in the steam. Buttercup glared, grinned, hugged herself, and waited for more.
Pat, erroneously supposing that silence meant consent, slipped an arm round Mary’s waist. No man had ever yet dared to do such a thing to her. The indignant girl suddenly wheeled round and brought her pretty little palm down on the cow-boy’s cheek with all her might—and that was considerable!
“Who’s a-firin’ off pistles in de kitchen?” demanded Buttercup in a serious tone, as she popped her woolly head through the doorway70.
“Nobody, me black darlin’,” said Pat; “it’s only Miss Mary expressin’ her failin’s in a cheeky manner. That’s all!”
So saying the rejected cow-boy left the scene of his discomfiture71, mounted his mustang, took his departure from the ranch of Roarin’ Bull without saying farewell, and when next heard of had crossed the lonely Guadaloupe mountains into Lincoln County, New Mexico.
But to return. While the troops and the outlaws were hastening thus to the rescue of the dwellers72 in Bull’s ranch, and the blood-thirsty Redskins were making for the same point, bent on the destruction of all its inhabitants, Roaring Bull himself, his pretty daughter, and Dick Darvall, were seated in the ranch enjoying their supper, all ignorant alike of the movements of friend and foe1, with Buttercup waiting on them.
One messenger, however, was speeding on his way to warn them of danger. This was the cowboy Crux73, who had been despatched on Bluefire by Hunky Ben just before that sturdy scout74 had started to call out the cavalry75 at Quester Creek.
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1
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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alias
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| n.化名；别名；adv.又名 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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cram
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| v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习 | |
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alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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outlaws
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| 歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯 | |
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outlaw
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| n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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vaulting
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| n.（天花板或屋顶的）拱形结构 | |
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trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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brawling
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| n.争吵，喧嚷 | |
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rivulet
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| n.小溪，小河 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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proprieties
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| n.礼仪，礼节；礼貌( propriety的名词复数 )；规矩；正当；合适 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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jealousies
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| n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 )；妒羡 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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insinuatingly
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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72
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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73
crux
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| adj.十字形；难事，关键，最重要点 | |
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74
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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75
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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