When the soldiers were safely away Hunky Ben returned to the cave and brought Leather down.
Charlie Brooke’s love for his old school-fellow and playmate seemed to become a new passion, now that the wreck1 of life and limb presented by Shank had awakened2 within him the sensation of profound pity. And Shank’s admiration3 for and devotion to Charlie increased tenfold now that the terrible barrier of self had been so greatly eliminated from his own nature, and a new spirit put within him.
By slow degrees, and bit by bit, each came to know and understand the other under the influence of new lights and feelings. But their thoughts about themselves, and their joy at meeting in such peculiar4 circumstances, had to be repressed to some extent in the presence of their common friend Ralph Ritson—alias Buck5 Tom—for Charlie knew him only as an old school-fellow, though to Leather he had been a friend and chum ever since they had landed in the New World.
The scout6, during the first interval7 of leisure on the previous day, had extracted the ball without much difficulty from Buck’s chest, through which it had passed, and was found lying close under the skin at his back. The relief thus afforded, and rest obtained under the influence of some medicine administered by Captain Wilmot, had brightened the poor fellow up to some extent; and Leather, seeing him look so much better on his return, began to entertain some hopes of his recovery.
Buck himself had no such hope; but, being a man of strong will, he refused to let it be seen in his demeanour that he thought his case to be hopeless. Yet he did not act from bravado8, or the slightest tincture of that spirit which resolves to “die game.” The approach of death had indeed torn away the veil and permitted him to see himself in his true colours, but he did not at that time see Jesus to be the Saviour9 of even “the chief of sinners.” Therefore his hopelessness took the form of silent submission10 to the inevitable11.
Of course Charlie Brooke spoke12 to him more than once of the love of God in Christ, and of the dying thief who had looked to Jesus on the cross and was saved, but Buck only shook his head. One afternoon in particular Charlie tried hard to remove the poor man’s perplexities.
“It’s all very well, Brooke,” said Buck Tom, “and very kind of you to interest yourself in me, but the love of God and the salvation13 of Christ are not for me. You don’t know what a sinner I have been, a rebel all my life—all my life, mark you. I would count it mean to come whining14 for pardon now that the game is up. I deserve hell—or whatever sort o’ punishment is due—an’ I’m willing to take it.”
“Ralph Ritson,” said Brooke impressively, “you are a far greater sinner than you think or admit.”
“Perhaps I am,” returned the outlaw15 sadly, and with a slight expression of surprise. “Perhaps I am,” he repeated. “Indeed I admit that you are right, but—but your saying so is a somewhat strange way to comfort a dying man. Is it not?”
“I am not trying to comfort you. I am trying, by God’s grace, to convince you. You tell me that you have been a rebel all your days?”
“Yes; I admit it.”
“There are still, it may be, a few days yet to run, and you are determined16, it seems, to spend these in rebellion too—up to the very end!”
“Nay, I do not say that. Have I not said that I submit to whatever punishment is due? Surely that is not rebellion. I can do nothing now to make up for a mis-spent life, so I am willing to accept the consequences. Is not that submission to God—at least as far as lies in my power?”
“No; it is not submission. Bear with me when I say it is rebellion, still deeper rebellion than ever. God says to you, ‘You have destroyed yourself but in me is your help.’ He says, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet17 they shall be white as snow.’ He says, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved,’ and assures you that ‘whoever will’ may come to Him, and that no one who comes shall be cast out—yet in the face of all that you tell me that the love of God and the salvation of Christ are not for you! Ralph, my friend, you think that if you had a chance of living your life over again you would do better and so deserve salvation. That is exactly what God tells us we cannot do, and then He tells us that He Himself, in Jesus Christ, has provided salvation from sin for us, offers it as a free unmerited gift; and immediately we dive to the deepest depth of sin by deliberately18 refusing this deliverance from sin unless we can somehow manage to deserve it.”
“I cannot see it,” said the wounded man thoughtfully.
“Only God Himself, by His Holy Spirit, can enable you to see it,” said his companion; and then, in a low earnest voice, with eyes closed and his hand on his friend’s arm, he prayed that the outlaw might be “born again.”
Charlie Brooke was not one of those who make long prayers, either “for a pretence” or otherwise. Buck Tom smiled slightly when his friend stopped at the end of this one sentence.
“Your prayer is not long-winded, anyhow!” he said.
“True, Ralph, but it is comprehensive. It requires a good deal of expounding20 and explaining to make man understand what we say or think. The Almighty21 needs none of that. Indeed He does not need even the asking but He bids us ask, and that is enough for me. I have seen enough of life to understand the value of unquestioning obedience22 whether one comprehends the reason of an order or not.”
“Ay,” returned Buck quickly, “when he who gives the order has a right to command.”
“That is so much a matter of course,” rejoined Charlie, “that I would not think of referring to it while conversing23 with an intelligent man. By the way—which name would you like to be called, by Ralph or Buck?”
“It matters little to me,” returned the outlaw languidly, “and it won’t matter to anybody long. I should prefer ‘Ralph,’ for it is not associated with so much evil as the other, but you know our circumstances are peculiar just now, so, all things considered, I had better remain Buck Tom to the end of the chapter. I’ll answer to whichever name comes first when the roll is called in the next world.”
The conversation was interrupted at this point by the entrance of Hunky Ben bearing a deer on his lusty shoulders. He was followed by Dick Darvall.
“There,” said the former, throwing the carcass on the floor, “I told ye I wouldn’t be long o’ bringin’ in somethin’ for the pot.”
“Ay, an’ the way he shot it too,” said the seaman24, laying aside his rifle, “would have made even a monkey stare with astonishment25. Has Leather come back, by the way? I see’d him goin’ full sail through the woods when I went out this mornin’.”
“He has not yet returned,” said Charlie. “When I relieved him and sat down to watch by our friend here, he said he felt so much better and stronger that he would take his gun and see if he couldn’t find something for the pot. I advised him not to trust his feelings too much, and not to go far, but—ah, here he comes to answer for himself.”
As he spoke a step was heard outside, and next moment Shank entered, carrying a brace26 of rabbits which he flung down, and then threw himself on a couch in a state of considerable exhaustion27.
“There,” said he, wiping the perspiration28 from his forehead. “They’ve cost me more trouble than they’re worth, for I’m quite done up. I had no idea I had become so weak in the legs. Ralph, my dear fellow,” he added, forgetting himself for the moment as he rose and went to his friend’s side, “I have more sympathy with you, now that I have found out the extent of my own weakness. Do you feel better!”
“Yes, old boy—much—much better.”
“That’s all right. I’m convinced that—hallo! why, who shot the deer!”
“Hunky Ben has beat you,” said Charlie.
“Beat Leather!” exclaimed Darvall, “why, he beats all creation. I never see’d anything like it since I went to sea.”
“Since you came ashore29, you should say. But come, Dick,” said Charlie, “let’s hear about this wonderful shooting. I’m sure it will amuse Buck—unless he’s too wearied to listen.”
“Well, you must know, messmates,” said he, “that I set sail alone this mornin’, havin’ in my pocket the small compass I always carry about me—also my bearin’s before startin’, so as I shouldn’t go lost in the woods—though that wouldn’t be likely in such an narrow inlet as this Traitor’s Trap, to say nothin’ o’ the landmarks32 alow and aloft of all sorts. I carried a Winchester with me, because, not bein’ what you may call a crack shot, I thought it would give me a better chance to have a lot o’ resarve shots in the locker33, d’ye see? I carried also a six-shooter, as it might come handy, you know, if I fell in wi’ a Redskin or a bear, an’ got to close quarters. Also my cutlass, for I’ve bin34 used to that aboard ship when I was in the navy.
“Well, away I went—makin’ sail down the valley to begin with, an’ then a long tack35 into the mountains right in the wind’s eye, that bein’ the way to get on the blind side o’ game. I hadn’t gone far when up starts a bird o’ some sort—”
“What like was it?” asked the scout.
“No more notion than the man in the moon,” returned the sailor. “What wi’ the flutter an’ scurry36 an’ leaves, branches an’ feathers—an’ the start—I see’d nothin’ clear, an’ I was so anxious to git somethin’ for the pot, that six shots went arter it out o’ the Winchester, before I was quite sure I’d begun to fire—for you must know I’ve larned to fire uncommon37 fast since I come to these parts. Hows’ever, I hit nothin’—”
“Not quite so bad as that, Dick,” interrupted the scout gravely.
“Well, that’s true, but you better tell that part of it yourself, Hunky, as you know more about it than me.”
“It wasn’t of much consequence,” said the scout betraying the slightest possible twinkle in his grey eyes, “but Dick has a knack38 o’ lettin’ drive without much regard to what’s in front of him. I happened to be more in front of him than that bird when he began to fire, an’ the first shot hit my right leggin’, but by good luck only grazed the bark. Of course I dropped behind a rock when the storm began and lay quiet there, and when a lull39 came I halloo’d.”
“Yes, he did halloo,” said Dick, resuming the narrative40, “an’ that halloo was more like the yell of a bull of Bashan than the cry of a mortal man. It made my heart jump into my throat an’ stick there, for I thought I must have killed a whole Redskin tribe at one shot—”
“Six shots, Dick. Tell the exact truth an’ don’t contradic’ yourself,” said Hunky.
“No, it wasn’t,” retorted the seaman stoutly41. “It was arter the first shot that you gave the yell. Hows’ever, I allow that the echoes kep’ it goin’ till the six shots was off—an’ I can tell you, messmates, that the hallooin’ an’ flutterin’ an’ scurryin’ an echoin’ an’ thought of Redskins in my brain all mixed up wi’ the blatterin’ shots, caused such a rumpus that I experienced considerable relief when the smoke cleared away an’ I see’d Hunky Ben in front o’ me laughin’ fit to bu’st his sides.”
“Well, to make a long yarn42 short, I joined Hunky and allowed him to lead, seein’ that he understands the navigation hereaway better than me.
“‘Come along,’ says he, ‘an’ I’ll let you have a chance at a deer.’
“‘All right,’ says I, an’ away we went up one hill an’ down another—for all the world as if we was walkin’ over a heavy Atlantic swell—till we come to a sort o’ pass among the rocks.
“‘I’m goin’ to leave you here to watch,’ says he, ‘an’ I’ll go round by the futt o’ the gully an’ drive the deer up. They’ll pass quite close, so you’ve only to—’
“Hunky stopped short as he was speakin’ and flopped43 down as if he’d bin shot-haulin’ me along wi’ him.
“‘Keep quiet,’ says he, in a low voice. ‘We’re in luck, an’ don’t need to drive. There’s a deer comin’ up at this very minute—a young one. You’ll take it. I won’t fire unless you miss.’
“You may be sure I kep’ quiet, messmates, arter that. I took just one peep, an’ there, sure enough, I saw a brown beast comin’ up the pass. So we kep’ close as mice. There was a lot o’ small bushes not ten yards in front of us, which ended in a cut—a sort o’ crack—in the hill-side, a hundred yards or more from the place where we was crouchin’.
“‘Now,’ whispers Hunky to—”
“I never whisper!” remarked the scout.
“Well, well; he said, in a low v’ice to me, says he, ‘d’ye see that openin’ in the bushes?’ ‘I do,’ says I. ‘Well then,’ says he, ‘it’s about ten yards off; be ready to commence firin’ when it comes to that openin’.’ ‘I will,’ says I. An’, sure enough, when the brown critter came for’id at a walk an’ stopped sudden wi’ a look o’ surprise as if it hadn’t expected to see me, bang went my Winchester four times, like winkin’, an’ up went the deer four times in the air, but niver a bit the worse was he. Snap I went a fifth time; but there was no shot, an’ I gave a yell, for I knew the cartridges44 was done. By that time the critter had reached the crack in the hill I told ye of, an’ up in the air he went to clear it, like an Indy-rubber ball. I felt a’most like to fling my rifle at it in my rage, when bang! went a shot at my ear that all but deaf’ned me, an’ I wish I may niver fire another shot or furl another t’gallant-s’l if that deer didn’t crumple45 up in the air an’ drop down stone dead—as dead as it now lays there on the floor.”
By the time Dick Darvall had ended his narrative—which was much more extensive than our report of it—steaks of the deer were sputtering46 in a frying-pan, and other preparations were being made for a hearty47 meal, to which all the healthy men did ample justice. Shank Leather did what he could, and even Buck Tom made a feeble attempt to join.
That night a strict watch was kept outside the cave—each taking it by turns, for it was just possible, though not probable, that the outlaws48 might return to their old haunt. No one appeared, however, and for the succeeding eight weeks the party remained there undisturbed, Shank Leather slowly but surely regaining49 strength; his friend, Buck Tom, as slowly and surely losing it; while Charlie, Dick, and Hunky Ben ranged the neighbouring forest in order to procure50 food. Leather usually remained in the cave to cook for and nurse his friend. It was pleasant work to Shank, for love and pity were at the foundation of the service. Buck Tom perceived this and fully19 appreciated it. Perchance he obtained some valuable light on spiritual subjects from Shank’s changed tone and manner, which the logic51 of his friend Brooke had failed to convey. Who can tell?
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1
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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2
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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3
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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4
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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5
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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6
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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7
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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8
bravado
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| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
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9
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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10
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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11
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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12
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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13
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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14
whining
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| n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚 | |
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15
outlaw
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| n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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16
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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17
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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18
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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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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20
expounding
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的现在分词 ) | |
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21
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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24
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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25
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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26
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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27
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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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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exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
landmarks
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| n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址） | |
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33
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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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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35
tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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36
scurry
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| vi.急匆匆地走；使急赶；催促；n.快步急跑，疾走；仓皇奔跑声；骤雨，骤雪；短距离赛马 | |
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37
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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38
knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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39
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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40
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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41
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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42
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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43
flopped
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| v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
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44
cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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45
crumple
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| v.把...弄皱，满是皱痕，压碎，崩溃 | |
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46
sputtering
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| n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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47
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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48
outlaws
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| 歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯 | |
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49
regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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50
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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51
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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