CHAPTER XXX. THE MYSTERY SOLVED.

One day the two were sitting in the doorway¹ of Bill Dawkins’ hut, where the hospitable² owner still made them welcome. They were looking over the few specimens³ of rock “rich in fine silver” that Mr. Ransom⁴ had produced that first day, when the man thrust his hands into his pockets to see if any more fragments remained there. Finally from an inside pocket he added to the growing pile of treasures a piece of flat, tarnished⁵ metal. He gave a little shudder⁶ as his fingers released it, and Jimmie glanced up in time to see a sudden change in his father’s eye, like a glimpse of suddenly remembered fear.

“What is it, father?” Jimmie cried sharply.

The man started, looked down and then smiled foolishly.

[301]

“I don’t know, son,” he replied slowly.

Jimmie picked up the bit of tarnished metal, and gave a sudden start in his turn. Quickly controlling himself, he asked as quietly as possible, “Where did you get this, father?”

“I don’t know, son,” repeated the man again. “I don’t know. I must have had it a long time,—son,—a long time.”

Jimmie looked at the little dull article a moment and then leaning forward fastened it to the breast of his father’s coat. Mr. Ransom began to look uneasy and a wild light sprang to his eyes for an instant. Jimmie immediately detached the metal piece and put it in his pocket. Then he began to chat with his father about the trees, the mountains, the hut and kindred matters, and apparently⁷ forgot all about the incident.

But the moment that Bill Dawkins returned from his day’s hunting in the mountains, Jimmie was off like an arrow from a bow for the camp down on the Big Bend.

[302]

The party were just enjoying a quiet evening meal prepared under Mountain Jim’s tutelage, when Jimmie burst in upon them.

“See that!” he cried breathlessly, holding up the piece of tarnished metal. “And that!” he added, turning the article over so as to show its blackened under side.

“It’s a badge!” cried Persimmons.

“A Northwest Mounted badge!” added Ralph.

“And it has a name scratched on the back!” reported the professor.

“And the name—is—Nevins!” concluded Mountain Jim in a tone of awe⁸.

“And my father had that in his pocket!” said Jimmie, tears of excitement rolling down his cheeks.

“Could your father—possibly—be—Nevins?” asked the professor slowly.

“But Nevins died in the snow!” protested Harry⁹ Ware¹⁰.

[303]

“No, Carthew only thought he died. No one knew,” said Mountain Jim reminiscently.

“But the Indians?” suggested Ralph.

“Maybe they saved him,—who knows?” said Jimmie, his eyes shining. “And maybe they let him wander away when he got stronger because they saw he was crazy!”

And so the talk went on, one suggestion and one surmise¹¹ following another until the long evening was spent. The mystery could not be fully¹² solved, but all agreed not to remind Jimmie’s father of the horrible experience that had been his, if he were, indeed, the subject of Trooper Carthew’s tale.

The next day the faithful doctor approved this decision. He also promised that he would get word to the trooper of this strange sequel to his story.

To digress, for a moment, as we may not linger much longer over the happy ending of Jimmie’s search. Time and the trooper proved,[304] that Mr. Ransom and “Nevins of Ours” were, indeed, one and the same. The second name had been assumed as a protection, and so had prevented the finding of Jimmie’s father long ago. A year or two after the incidents just related there was a reunion of the two men who had long before faced death together on the solitary¹³ trail, and by that time the clouds of forgetfulness had been so largely dissipated from Mr. Ransom’s befogged brain that he was able to thank the stalwart trooper for his efforts in his behalf.

Although much that had intervened between the time of Mr. Ransom’s disappearance¹⁴ in the snow and the time of his mental recovery was never clearly known, yet flashes of memory recalled to him Indians, warm blankets and good food. And his friends concluded that the Indians had really captured and saved him, but through some superstitious¹⁵ regard for his crazed[305] condition, had been kindly¹⁶ disposed toward him and given him his freedom.

But the silver? It was many days before Horace Ransom was strong enough to compel his brain to work backward to locate the spot where he had found the rich ore. Finally he succeeded, and the professor and the boys eventually accompanied him to the recess¹⁷ in the hills where the rich find had been made. The professor declared that the vein¹⁸ was of great richness and would yield a vast amount of silver, and so it subsequently proved.

The new Horace Ransom—the alert, middle-aged¹⁹ man of property that had arisen from the ashes of the mysterious derelict of the mountains—was anxious for the boys and the professor all to take shares in his mine, but they refused. Instead they turned their interest, which Mr. Ransom insisted they possessed²⁰, over to Mountain Jim.

All this, of course, did not take place in a day.[306] While Mr. Ransom was convalescing²¹, the boys had much sport on the great Columbia in native canoes. They also had several adventurous²² hunting trips and memorable²³ mountain climbs. But possibly of all their recollections of the Canadian Rockies the remembrance of the strange reunion of “the boy from nowhere” and his father was destined²⁴ to stand out as the brightest and best. Little did they imagine when Ralph rescued Jimmie from the hands of the brutal²⁵ brakeman, that before many years had rolled by the waif would be partner in the “Border Boy” silver mine, answering to the name “Mr. James Ransom.”

And here we will break off this tale. Another volume might easily be written relating further doings of these boys in the Canadian Rockies. But space forbids, and we must defer²⁶ further acquaintance with our lads till we meet them once more in the next volume of this series, The Border Boys on the St. Lawrence.

The End

1 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

2 hospitable   

adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的

参考例句：

• The man is very hospitable.He keeps open house for his friends and fellow-workers.那人十分好客，无论是他的朋友还是同事，他都盛情接待。
• The locals are hospitable and welcoming.当地人热情好客。

3 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

5 tarnished   

（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏

参考例句：

• The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。
• His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

6 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

9 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

10 ware   

n.(常用复数)商品，货物

参考例句：

• The shop sells a great variety of porcelain ware.这家店铺出售品种繁多的瓷器。
• Good ware will never want a chapman.好货不须叫卖。

11 surmise   

v./n.猜想，推测

参考例句：

• It turned out that my surmise was correct.结果表明我的推测没有错。
• I surmise that he will take the job.我推测他会接受这份工作。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

14 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

15 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

16 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

17 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

18 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

19 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

20 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

21 convalescing   

v.康复( convalesce的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She is convalescing at home after her operation. 手术后她正在家休养康复。
• The patient is convalescing nicely. 病人正在顺利地康复。 来自辞典例句

22 adventurous   

adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的　

参考例句：

• I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
• He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。

23 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

24 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

25 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

26 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。