“I’m going to catch him,” thought the lad fiercely. “What does he mean by going on like this? What’s he following us for and spying on us? I’d like to find out what sort of tricks he is up to, and I’m going to.”
So saying he set off through the woods at a good pace, following as nearly as he could the direction the man had taken. But it soon dawned on him that he had undertaken an almost hopeless task. Judging from the man’s appearance, he had been a denizen2 of the woods for a long[141] period, although just how he lived was not apparent.
At any rate, before he had gone far Ralph was compelled to admit that there did not appear to be much chance of his catching3 up with the man. No sign of him was visible, and no crackling of brush or sound of footsteps betrayed in what direction he had gone.
“Guess I’ll have to give it up,” mused4 Ralph disgustedly. “At any rate I’m sure of one thing now, I’ve got nothing to fear from this strange customer, whatever may be his object in hanging about us like this. He must have followed us and——”
Ralph paused abruptly5. He had last seen the man on the other side of the brulee. It was hardly likely that he could have passed through such a tract6 of country. Yet, on the other hand, the boy could not doubt that the man he had seen on the rock overlooking their camp and the wild figure of the valley were one and the same.[142] There was a deep mystery about it all. One too deep for the boy to fathom7, for he broke off his meditations8 with a sigh.
“It’s no use keeping up the chase to-day,” he declared to himself with emphasis, “but if that fellow keeps on dodging9 our tracks he’s going to hear from me in no uncertain fashion.”
He rose from the stump10 on which he had sat down to think things over and resumed his search for the stray ponies11. As he moved along he munched12 his bread and chocolate, taking his lunch “on the hoof,” so to speak.
Before long he struck the trail of the missing ponies once more. This time it soon led him into a swampy13 country and he followed it rapidly. Along the floor of the valley he went till suddenly, on coming around a pile of great rocks, hurled14 from the summit of the ridge15 in some prehistoric16 convulsion, he saw something that gave him a big surprise. In a little clearing stood[143] a ruinous log cabin, and tethered outside it was one of the missing ponies!
Of the other there was no trace. All at once Ralph heard a scrambling17 and clambering among the rocks above him on the steep hillside. He glanced quickly and just in time to see the mysterious man remounted on the other pony18, rapidly urging it away from the hut.
“Stop thief!” yelled Ralph, carried away by excitement. “Come back here!”
“Stop or I’ll shoot!” he shouted the next instant throbbing19 with indignation.
He had no intention of hitting the fugitive20, but he did mean to frighten him into stopping if he could. For an instant the form of the stolen pony and its rider became visible among the trees through which the afternoon sun was sending down oblique21 shafts22 of light.
Ralph raised his rifle, sighted it to carry a bullet well above the fugitive’s head and fired.
“The next will come closer,” he warned; but[144] the next minute all other thoughts were rushed abruptly out of his mind when a bullet whizzed by his head close enough to fan his ear. The ping-g-g-g-g-g-g of the ball as it sped by, ruffling23 his hair, did not appeal to Ralph. Evidently the fugitive was a dead shot and was not inclined to be pursued if he could avoid it by putting his tracker out of the way.
“Jove!” exclaimed Ralph as he slipped behind a tree trunk, “that bullet was a message meant for me, all right. I don’t care to be at home to such callers.”
He listened an instant and then came the sound of the pony’s hoofs24 making off at a good pace through the trackless forest.
“He’s escaped me again,” exclaimed Ralph angrily. “Confound him, he’s worse than a mystery now. I’ll bet that it was he who stampeded the ponies last night and now he turns out to be a miserable25 horse thief. Wonder if I can’t get a clew to him at that hut yonder? At any[145] rate there’s Baldy tied up and safe and sound as ever. I suppose I ought to thank our mysterious friend for leaving him behind.”
The boy slipped from behind his tree trunk and made his way toward the hut. Baldy whinnied as the boy approached. It was plain that the pony was glad to see him.
“Good Baldy! Good old pony,” exclaimed Ralph, slapping the animal’s thigh26 and then giving him some bread. “I wish you could talk, old fellow, and then maybe you could throw some light on what in creation all this means anyhow.”
Ralph then looked all about him with much curiosity. The hut was moss-grown and moldering into decay. Judged from its exterior27 it had not been lived in for many years. At the rear of it a spring bubbled into a rusty28 iron pot beside which lay a rust-eaten dipper.
The door of the shack29—windows it had none—hung on one crazy hinge made of raw-hide.
“Guess I’ll take a look inside,” said Ralph, feeling[146] a very lively curiosity, “but from general appearances I don’t think our mysterious friend and horse thief actually lives here. Looks to me more as if he used it as a temporary camping place. Yet he could hardly have found his way here unless he previously30 knew of its existence.”
Cautiously, and with his rifle ready for a surprise, for he did not know what he might encounter next, Ralph entered the hut. It smelled moldy31 and stuffy32, and in the dim light he could not at first see very much of its interior.
Bit by bit the details began to grow out of the gloom. In the center of the shack was a rough board table and on it stood some rusted33 plates and cups. In a corner hung some old garments and a few moldering furs, skins of raccoons and minks34. A rusty stove stood in another corner, one leg missing and sagging35 drunkenly.
By the door Ralph now noticed a yellow bit of paper tacked36 up, with some writing on it. He[147] came closer to read it and made out in faded characters:
“Gone on April 16, 1888, Jess Boody, Trapper.”
This inscription37 made one thing plain to Ralph. The hut had once been occupied by one of those solitaries38 of the wilds whose trap lines are sometimes forty or fifty miles long. This Jess Boody had been such a man and had either “made his pile,” or getting disgusted with the location as a source for peltries had, as he tersely39 put it, “gone on.”
There were no traces of more recent occupancy of the hut, and Ralph was compelled to come back to his first theory; the mysterious man had used the place simply as a convenient shelter from time to time. Some ashes in the stove, that looked fairly fresh, appeared to lend color to this belief. Probably the horse thief had spent the night there.
“Well, if this hasn’t the makings of a first-class[148] mystery about it,” gasped40 Ralph, pushing back his sombrero and running one hand through his curly hair.
As there seemed to be no use in making any further investigation41 of the tumble-down shanty42, Ralph untied43 the pony left behind by the horse thief, and mounting it rode back toward camp in a thoughtful mood. He was deeply puzzled, and small wonder, by the events of the day.
He reached camp that evening shortly before dusk, and found that Mountain Jim had returned with the ponies that he had been after and which he had found in a glade44 across another ridge. The professor, and Jimmie, too, had had a successful day, having gathered in almost a sackful of what the professor called “specimens,” and Mountain Jim “rocks.” But of Harry45 Ware46 and Percy Simmons there was no sign.
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1
akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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denizen
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| n.居民，外籍居民 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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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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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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8
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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9
dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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munched
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swampy
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| adj.沼泽的，湿地的 | |
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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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15
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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17
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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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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ruffling
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| 弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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moldy
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| adj.发霉的 | |
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stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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rusted
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| v.（使）生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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minks
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| n.水貂( mink的名词复数 )；水貂皮 | |
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sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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36
tacked
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| 用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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solitaries
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| n.独居者，隐士( solitary的名词复数 ) | |
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39
tersely
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| adv. 简捷地, 简要地 | |
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40
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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41
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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42
shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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43
untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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44
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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45
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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46
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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