He decided2 finally in favor of the latter course. They would take Rand with them. Surely if he were wrapped warmly in blankets and placed in the empty sleigh, he could endure the cold, would be safe and comfortable.
166
Then suddenly he remembered that he needed that sleigh upon his return. That morning he had unloaded it for the purpose of pursuing the Indian thief. Either he must secure another one here at the village, together with a team of huskies, or abandon his plan.
To his great joy and happiness, therefore, upon making inquiry3, he and Toma were informed that not only would the chief gladly sell them a team and sleigh, but also would lend them three of his best drivers, men who could absolutely be depended upon to help them on their journey to Keechewan. More than that—an act of generosity4, which struck both boys almost dumb with gratitude—he would present them with caribou5 meat and a goodly supply of frozen fish for the dogs.
In the end, Dick purchased two dog teams and sledges6 in place of one. They left the village just as the sun slipped down below the rim8 of the valley and abrupt9 Arctic night drew on. Across the lonely face of the hills, they speeded on their way. The Northern Lights hissed10 and cracked above their heads. About them beat the trembling pulse of a vast and impenetrable silence.
It was after midnight when they reached their destination, shouting and happy, storming down upon the row of chilly11 white tents. Their furious halloos soon brought Sandy and Dr. Brady shivering outside.
“That you, Dick?” called out Sandy’s anxious voice. “Who’s with you?”
167
“Friends,” came the jubilant answer. “Stir up the fires, Sandy, we’re almost famished12. No!—Come over here, you and Dr. Brady. I have a surprise for you.”
“What’s that?”
Sandy and the physician looked down at the sleeping form, then across at Dick and Toma in perplexity.
“Guess.”
“The Indian with the boots. You’ve half-killed him.”
“Wrong. Guess again.”
“One of our former dog drivers—probably Fontaine,” said Dr. Brady.
“No. You’re not right either. I’ll give you one more chance.”
“Look here,” Sandy growled13 impatiently. “Enough of this. You’re not a child any more. Who is it?”
“The man who owns the boots.”
“The Indian owns the boots,” exclaimed Sandy triumphantly14. “I guessed right after all.”
“No, you didn’t. The Indian don’t own the boots. He stole them.”
“Pshaw! I know now,” sudden light dawned upon the young Scotchman. “It’s—it’s a mounted policeman.”
“You’re right. Corporal Rand.”
168
Breathlessly, Sandy leaned forward over the sledge7. A parka concealed15 the sleeper’s face. Blankets, many thick folds, enwrapped him. None of the features was visible. Yet Sandy had seen enough to convince him that this man was not Rand.
“I don’t see why you should try to deceive me, Dick,” remonstrated16 Sandy. “That isn’t the corporal at all. Too thin. Don’t attempt to fool me.”
“It is the corporal,” insisted Dick. “But he’s changed a lot. I met him face to face, and at first didn’t even recognize him. He must have had a terrible time. He was picked up two days ago by an Indian hunter, where he’d fallen in the snow. His feet were badly frozen.”
“What did he say to you?”
“Well, not much. You see, Sandy, he didn’t know me. He’s out of his head. I brought him over here so that Dr. Brady can help him. We’ll have to take him along with us.”
“We’d better not disturb him tonight,” Dr. Brady cut in. “I wonder if it will be possible, when you unhitch that team of dogs, to push this sledge inside one of the tents. He might wake up if you attempt to lift him up. In the morning, I’ll make my examination.”
“A good idea,” said Dick, moving forward to unharness the team.
169
Sandy followed him excitedly and touched his shoulder as he stooped forward. He pointed17 one arm in the direction of the other sleighs and dog teams, where the forms of men were seen hurrying here and there through the half-light.
“What’s all that?” he demanded. “Two extra teams and more men! I see you’ve recovered the mail sledge. Who are those fellows, Dick?”
“Those,” answered Dick, happily, “are our new drivers. And the teams and sledges I purchased over at the Indian village, where we captured the thief.”
“What Indian village do you mean?”
“It’s up in the hills to the westward18, that chain of hills you saw on this side of the Wapiti. They run parallel with the river. We followed the tracks of the thief all the way there, and overtook him just as he pulled up at the village. He’s a renegade member of that tribe and the chief will punish him. He’s the same man who stole Corporal Rand’s boots and revolver.”
Sandy straightened up, glaring about him angrily.
“Too bad we didn’t find that out before.”
“It’s a good thing for that Indian that we didn’t.”
“I think I’d have shot him,” Sandy bristled19, “although shooting’s too good for him. He ought to be flayed20 alive, tortured, the way they used to do.”
Fires were quickly re-kindled, and a lunch prepared. It was nearly two o’clock before everyone finally retired21 and the camp became hushed in sleep.
170
On the following morning the sun had already risen, when Toma, the first to awake, crawled wearily from his blankets into the bitter air of forty below and proceeded to arouse his comrades. Immediately there began again the monotonous22 routine of building fires and preparing breakfast, assembling the dogs, and making ready for the day’s journey. But on this occasion, there was in evidence much more spirit and enthusiasm than at any time during the preceding two weeks. Dick was reminded of the day they had left the Mackenzie. Now and again one might hear the cheery whistle or laugh of one of the drivers. During breakfast, conversation flourished, and, after the meal, there took place a keen rivalry24 as to who would be the first to harness his team and take his place at the head of the column.
By mutual25 arrangement, it fell to the lot of Sandy to drive the team which conveyed Corporal Rand. Dr. Brady had completed his examination earlier in the morning.
“It is a pitiable case,” he told the boys. “Rand’s condition was caused by hardships, privations, hunger and exposure. He has a wonderful constitution, or he would never have been able to endure the half of it. I don’t wonder that his mind has become unhinged. Yet, I haven’t the least doubt but he’ll recover his memory and his reasoning powers as his health improves.”
“So you really think he’ll get better?”
171
“Yes. I don’t believe there is any question about that. But he’ll never be able to take his place again in the ranks of the mounted.”
A deep silence followed this statement. Both Dick’s and Sandy’s face fell.
“What’s that? You really mean that, doctor? Will have to give up his duties—— Won’t——”
Dick left the sentence incompleted as he turned beseechingly26 to the physician.
“No, he’ll never be able to resume his duties,” Brady answered gravely.
“But why?” argued Sandy. “You just said that he’d recover, would get well again. You said——”
“But I never said that he’d ever walk again,” the doctor reminded him. “His feet—terrible! Frozen, bruised27 and cut. I may possibly have to amputate them. Even if I don’t, they’ll never be right again. But,” and the doctor looked from one grave face to the other, “we can be mighty28 thankful that his life has been spared, that with proper care and attention, he’ll soon recover his full mental and physical powers.”
Dick turned his head to hide the tears that had come unbidden to his eyes. Sandy kicked disconsolately29 into a drift of snow, his gaze searching the ground. Both boys left immediately to take their places within the line of waiting teams and sledges.
172
“I still insist that we ought to go back and string up that Indian who stole Corporal Rand’s boots,” Sandy declared savagely30 as he and Dick parted, the former to go to the invalid’s side, the latter to the mail sledge. “The way I feel now, I could gladly tear that sneaking31 thief limb from limb.”
“Mush! Mush!” The words floated down along the waiting line. “Mush, boys, mush!”
A creaking of sledges, the cracking of whips, a shout here and there—and they were away, an orderly column which, after the first forty or fifty yards, gathered momentum32 until it had gained its maximum of speed, then settled down to a steady, unchanging pace.
Whatever enjoyment33 the others might have had at the commencement of that exhilarating ride, it was not shared by Dick. For him the day, which had begun so propitiously34, was entirely35 spoiled. Dr. Brady’s assertion had wrung36 his heart. Time and time again, he turned his head and glanced back at Sandy’s sledge to the helpless form lying there, and sighed bitterly.
“He may never walk again,” the sentence haunted him. “A pitiable case! He’ll never be able to take his place again in the ranks of the mounted.”
173
He wondered what Cameron would say when the news had been brought to him. And Sergeant37 Richardson—what would he say? Rand! One of the noblest, bravest spirits that had ever come into that land of noble and brave spirits. No longer a policeman? That seemed incomprehensible. Rand in civilian38 clothes? Dick snorted at the mere39 suggestion. To think of the service at all, was to think of Rand. Rand might have his feet frozen, yea, and his arms too, and his body hopelessly crushed; yet, notwithstanding this, in spirit, in reality, in fact, he would still be a policeman, and nothing else. A mounted policeman. A scarlet-coated, high-booted, undaunted and courageous40 soul.
He was still brooding over this when they pulled up at the noon hour, hilarious41 and joyful42. They had made a record run that morning, in spite of the late start. Drivers shouted at each other as they stepped from the back of their sledges and dropped their whips. Dick moved automatically, and he, too, dropped his whip. But he did not shout. He did not even smile.
“Hello, Dick.”
“Hello.”
“We made good time, didn’t we?” The voice was that of Dr. Brady.
“I guess we did.”
“Hope this keeps up.”
“Yes.”
“Good gracious, boy,” exclaimed Brady in alarm, “you look—why you look positively43 ill.”
“I—I guess I’m tired,” said Dick.
174
“Well, a good sleep for you tonight. I’ll prescribe it. You’ve been worrying too much lately. It isn’t good for you. Yet here I’ve come, blundering ass23 that I am, to sprinkle a few more gray hairs in your young head.”
“I thrive on responsibility,” Dick smiled a little, “so you’d better trot44 it out. What’s wrong? Did you lose your medicine case?”
Dr. Brady laughed.
“Sometimes I almost wish that I could lose it. No, this worry isn’t related to so trivial a thing as a mere medicine case. It’s more important than that. I’m not fooling now, Dick. I’m in earnest. I’ve been thinking——”
“And the more you think, the worse you feel,” interrupted Dick, a little bitterly.
“Come now, that’s not very kind of you.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Dick flushed. “I was referring to—to—— Oh, hang it all, doctor, I’m all upset about Rand.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
plight
|
|
| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
generosity
|
|
| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
caribou
|
|
| n.北美驯鹿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
sledges
|
|
| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
sledge
|
|
| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
rim
|
|
| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
abrupt
|
|
| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
hissed
|
|
| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
chilly
|
|
| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
famished
|
|
| adj.饥饿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
growled
|
|
| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
triumphantly
|
|
| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
remonstrated
|
|
| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
westward
|
|
| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bristled
|
|
| adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
flayed
|
|
| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
monotonous
|
|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
rivalry
|
|
| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
mutual
|
|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
beseechingly
|
|
| adv. 恳求地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
bruised
|
|
| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
disconsolately
|
|
| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
savagely
|
|
| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
sneaking
|
|
| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
momentum
|
|
| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
propitiously
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
35
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
wrung
|
|
| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
civilian
|
|
| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
courageous
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
hilarious
|
|
| adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
joyful
|
|
| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
trot
|
|
| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |