In the sledge8, which flew along over the hard snow-surface, Dick and Toma sat muffled9 to their ears. From time to time, they beat their arms about their shivering bodies and urged on the dogs. Already they had come eight or ten miles along the faint trail they had made on the previous day.
In their pursuit of the Indian they had expected, quite naturally, to go southwestward in the direction of the Indian encampment. With their lighter10 load and swifter team; they would rapidly gain on him. Before night, surely, they would overtake him. It was all simply a matter of time and patience and perseverance11. In the end, they would be successful.
155
Much to their surprise, the thief chose a different route entirely12. Apparently13 he had no intention of returning to his home and friends with his ill-gained booty. A few miles farther on, he had set his course to the west, following a hill-chain that ran parallel to the Wapiti River.
The boys turned sharply and continued the pursuit. The sledge tracks of the thief could be discerned quite plainly.
“I can’t imagine where he’s going,” mused14 Dick. “It isn’t to his own home. Where do you suppose, Toma?”
“Mebbe up in the hills somewhere to another encampment. Mebbe him ’fraid to go back to his own people.”
“Or,” guessed the other, “perhaps his purpose is to make a secret cache up there in the hills. He thinks, no doubt, that the mail sacks and medicine chests are filled with valuable provisions. I’d like to see his face when he opens one of them.”
Toma broke into a low chuckle15.
“It make me laugh if he try drink medicine an’ get very sick. Mebbe him fool enough to think medicine some new kind of whiskey.”
“God help him, if he does. I don’t know what sort of medicine Dr. Brady may have there. There’s vaccine16 for smallpox17 and drugs of all kinds. I’m sure that some of them are deadly poison. He’s apt to be more than sick if he tries it.”
156
Presently the trail wound into the hills. It went up and up and up, and then down and then up again. It skirted deep ravines and dangerous precipices18. It crossed the wide basin of a lake. It continued on—the rutted tracks of that thief’s sledge—with the unbroken insistence19 of the passing of time itself.
“He’s certainly travelling and no mistake. He must be going almost as fast as we are,” complained Dick. “He’ll kill that team of mine.”
“Don’t you worry, we catch him. Pretty soon we catch him.”
“We will, of course, if we don’t lose his trail. The fool will be compelled to stop soon for something to eat.”
“Sometimes Indians go days without stop for something to eat,” commented Toma.
“Not if he thinks he has a store of precious things aboard,” grinned his companion. “His fingers will be itching20 to get at those sacks. He’ll want to explore the mystery of those medicine chests.”
Again Toma chuckled21.
“This mail all same like ’em paper?” he inquired.
157
“It is paper,” replied Dick. “Envelopes, hundreds of envelopes, bulging22 with paper. Then, in the second-class mail pouches23, there’ll be circulars and catalogs and newspapers, hundreds of pounds altogether to tempt24 his mounting appetite. I think he’ll relish25 the stamps too. They’ll be green and red, with a picture of King George on one side and mucilage on the other. The mucilage has a sweet, toothsome taste he’ll like.”
Toma doubled up in a paroxysm of laughter.
“I think that very good joke on that Indian. Mebbe him find out it bad thing to steal.”
“I don’t know about that. He looks as if he were beyond redemption.”
Toma cracked his whip, and the huskies sprang forward, scrambling26 up an incline. It was steep here, so Dick got out and trotted27 behind. The exercise warmed his feet and sent the blood racing28 through his body.
When he tumbled back on the sledge again, Toma half-turned and with the butt29 of his whip pointed30 excitedly at the dogs.
“Look!” he cried.
The sudden change in the behavior of the huskies was very noticeable. Their ears were pricked31 higher. The leader, a beautiful long-haired malemute, so much resembling a wolf that it was almost impossible to tell the difference, had commenced to whine32 softly, straining at her harness in fitful, nervous leaps.
“Somebody close ahead,” Toma whispered. “We see ’em pretty quick now.”
158
Dick leaned forward and picked up his rifle, and commenced fumbling33 with the breech. His expression had grown suddenly tense. He rose to a position on his knees, swaying there from the motion of the sleigh, his gaze set unwaveringly, expectantly, on the trail ahead.
At a furious rate of speed, they descended34 another slope, then, more slowly, began circling up around the next hill, emerging to a sparsely35 wooded area, which, in turn, at the farther side, dropped abruptly36 to a deep tree-covered valley.
Abruptly, the boys turned toward each other. Toma muttered something under his breath; Dick relaxed to a sitting position, whistling his astonishment37.
“I didn’t expect anything like this,” remarked Dick, recovering somewhat from his surprise. “An Indian village! Look, Toma, there are scores of tepees down there. No wonder he came this way.”
Again they started—but not at the sight of those tepees, strung along the floor of the valley, nor yet at the sight of the Indians themselves, here and there plainly distinguishable—but at the appearance of a loaded sledge behind a team of gray malemutes, proceeding38 quickly toward the village.
“He isn’t very far ahead of us,” exulted39 Dick. “He’ll soon be cornered. He can’t get away. We’ve won, Toma.”
Toma’s eyes were shining.
“Him big fool to come here. What you think?”
159
“He may have friends. Perhaps they’ll want to shield him.”
The young Indian’s answer was to crack his whip and to shout to the huskies. The sledge leaped forward. It threw up a quantity of loose snow, through which it plowed40. It rocked perilously41 as it negotiated the top of the valley slope, then, in spite of Dick’s foot pressed hard on the brake-board, shot down, almost running over the dogs.
Taking a steeper but more direct route to the village than had been attempted by the thief, they were only a few yards behind him when they made their final whirlwind spurt42 through the orderly row of tepees and the gaping43 crowds, and came to a jarring but dramatic halt.
The thief was unaware44 of his danger, had not even a premonition of the near presence of his pursuers, until, with a certain amusing dignity, he slipped from the top of his precious load and waved an exaggerated greeting to the crowd.
His triumph was short-lived. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw two figures who looked strangely familiar. In order to make sure, he turned his head and in that moment his self-confidence poured from him like water out of a bucket.
160
A tiny squeak45, of the sort a mouse makes under the heel of an enraged46 householder, and his mittened48 hands went straight up. He came forward, bellowing49 for mercy. Tears of terror welled into his eyes. Never before had Dick seen any person more craven, cowardly-weak and utterly50 disgusting than he. Somehow, it blunted the edge of his own and Toma’s victory to take a man like that. It was too easy.
Startled at first, the onlookers51 broke into a roar of laughter. They were quick to grasp the situation. In a trice, the two boys and their prisoner were the pivot52 around which circled and revolved53 a jeering54, highly-amused crowd.
“They ask ’em me to make ’em talk about how it all happen,” Toma shouted in Dick’s ear.
“Tell them that we’ll explain later,” Dick instructed. “Say that we want something to eat. Tell them——”
He broke off as the milling throng55 unexpectedly drew back, making a path for a white-haired old man, who carried himself with great dignity.
“Chief,” said Toma.
“You talk to him.”
“What I say?”
“Tell the truth, Toma. Nothing else. Explain to him that this man is a thief, that we followed him here to recover valuable mail and medicine for the sick. I’m sure he’ll believe you. Be honest and straightforward56, Toma.”
161
Dick found it utterly impossible to keep his place at his chum’s side. A forward surge of the inquisitive57 swept him and his prisoner this way and that, while shoulders bumped shoulders and curious eyes peered into his. He was glad when the interview came to an end and the chief motioned for the crowd to disperse58. Toma sought him out, smiling with satisfaction.
“Ever’thing all right, Dick. Chief him know this man for very bad fellow. He say him very glad if you leave him to be punish.”
“Does he belong to this tribe?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve a good notion to do it. It will save us a lot of trouble and worry. By the way, did you remember to tell him about the police boots and revolver?”
“Yes, I tell him that too.”
“What did he say?”
“After while I tell you.”
“Why not now, Toma?”
“You understand bye-’n’-bye. You come with me pretty soon to chief’s tepee.”
“All right. Well, they can have this cowardly sneak59 if they want him. I’m sure I don’t.”
162
A little later, escorted by one of the headmen of the village, Dick and Toma arrived at the tepee of the chief. On hands and knees, they crawled through the aperture60, over which hung a wide strip of tanned moose-hide, soft as chamois. Bear-skins covered the earth floor within, except in the center space, where a wood fire burned cheerfully. It was warm inside the tepee and clean and tidy. A faint odor of wood smoke mingled61 with the more pungent62 and appetizing smell of broiling63 meat.
Dick’s first impression was that it was pleasant to be there in so warm and comfortable a place; his next, a condition accentuated64, no doubt, by the boiling kettle, was a feeling of hunger and weariness. Presently curiosity induced him to examine the interior more closely. Looking about, he perceived several persons of both sexes. One was the white-haired chief, who had interviewed Toma. Behind the chief, at a respectful distance, an aged47 squaw—probably the chief’s wife, and beyond her an individual of such unusual appearance that Dick’s eyes, resting upon him, remained there as if transfixed.
The man was emaciated65, worn almost to a skeleton. From the depths of sunken sockets66, burned two feverish67 eyes. A heavy beard-growth covered, but did not conceal68, the deep hollows under the protruding69 cheek bones.
Dick continued to look at the man for several minutes, conscious of a steadily70 increasing horror. The person’s forehead was ghastly white, curving up to a matted crop of straw-colored hair. Around the drooping71 shoulders a blanket was held in place with considerable difficulty by a thin, wasted hand.
163
Dick was about to turn his gaze toward something less pathetic and terrible, when the effort of holding the blanket in place, proved too much for the unfortunate creature, and it slipped down over one thin shoulder, revealing—to Dick’s unutterable amazement—a crimson72, tattered73 garment, the tunic74 of the royal mounted police.
Reaching out, Dick seized Toma’s arm, holding it in a vice-like grip.
“May God help him! Is that Rand?”
“Yes,” said Toma, his voice seeming to come from a great distance, “it Corporal Rand. All time, before I come here, I knew that. The chief him tell me all about it. Indian hunter find ’em Corporal Rand two days ago, where he lay down in the snow. Half dead, feet froze, no eat, no rifle—nothing. He get much better after while. Bye-’n’-bye mebbe all right. Get his sense back. Jus’ like crazy man now.”
Dick gulped75 down a lump in his throat, and hurried to the side of the mounted policeman. Gently, he placed one hand on the corporal’s head.
“Corporal Rand.”
No answer.
“Corporal Rand.”
Still no answer.
“You know me, corporal. This is Dick Kent. Toma is here, too. Look up at me, corporal. Look up! We’re here to help you. Look up!”
164
Corporal Rand looked up.
“This is Dick Kent,” beseeched that young man. “Don’t you understand—Dick Kent.”
“Of course,” muttered the mounted policeman, and his eyes burned into Dick’s, “I’ll remember that—certainly. Tomorrow, gentlemen, we’ll divide the flour. Two to Bill, two to Thomas, two to me. That’s all there is. You’re welcome, I’m sure. It was my fault entirely.”
Rand paused, mumbling76 to himself, wholly unaware that a tear had fallen from somewhere above to the thatch77 of straw-colored hair. His chin dropped forward until it rested on his chest. His eyes closed wearily. For a moment he seemed to doze78. But only for a moment—then——
“Provoking, isn’t it?” he made a pathetic attempt at a smile. “I’d begun to fear I’d lost them.”
“Lost what?” gulped Dick.
“Boots,” came the prompt rejoinder, “a pair of boots.”
“Yes! Yes! But what else?”
The answer was disappointing:
“Three fishhooks and a ball of string. I’m very sorry, gentlemen.”
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收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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3
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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4
trumpeting
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| 大声说出或宣告（trumpet的现在分词形式） | |
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canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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wanly
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| adv.虚弱地；苍白地，无血色地 | |
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7
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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sledge
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| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
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9
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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10
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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11
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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12
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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13
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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14
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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15
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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vaccine
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| n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的 | |
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17
smallpox
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| n.天花 | |
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18
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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19
insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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itching
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| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
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21
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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23
pouches
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| n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋 | |
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24
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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26
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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27
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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28
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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29
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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30
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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31
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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32
whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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33
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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34
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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35
sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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36
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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37
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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38
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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39
exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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41
perilously
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| adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地 | |
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42
spurt
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| v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆 | |
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43
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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44
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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45
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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46
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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47
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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48
mittened
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| v.（使）变得潮湿，变得湿润( moisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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50
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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51
onlookers
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| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
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52
pivot
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| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
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53
revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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54
jeering
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| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
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55
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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56
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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57
inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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58
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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59
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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60
aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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61
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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62
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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63
broiling
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| adj.酷热的，炽热的，似烧的v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的现在分词 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
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64
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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65
emaciated
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| adj.衰弱的，消瘦的 | |
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66
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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67
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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68
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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69
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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70
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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71
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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72
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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73
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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74
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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75
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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76
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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77
thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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78
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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