They chugged into the bay and out of the awakening2 river traffic. Dawn had broken through and glimmerings of dancing light peeped over the horizon. An hour more and they would be in sight of Watson’s Channel.
“We’ll not be goin’ straight for the Channel, we’ll not,” called Big Joe as if anticipating Skippy’s fears. “We’ll be layin’ quite like below here a ways ’till the Minnehaha gets in the Channel. ’Tis a funny name, hey kid?”
“Mm,” Skippy answered. “It’s a Indian name, Big Joe—I think it means sumpin’ like Laughing—Laughing sumpin’.”
Big Joe’s mirth knew no bounds.
140
“Sure and just about now Minnie ain’t laughin’, she ain’t,” he said. “’Tis us.”
“Not me,” Skippy said gloomily. “I won’t laugh ... not till after.”
An hour later they were chugging noisily toward Watson’s Channel. The sun was glorious and the water glistened3 under its warm spring rays. Gulls4 frolicked about in the foaming5 spray and Skippy tried hard to believe there was nothing but peace in his busy mind.
After a time they heard a distant sound, faint at first but growing louder within a few minutes. Tully grinned at Skippy’s questioning face and nodded as the piercing note of a siren cut the silent sunlit air.
“Sure, and I wonder what that might be?” he said with mock-seriousness. “Sounds like distress6 I’d be sayin’, I would.”
“Stop kiddin’, Big Joe,” Skippy pleaded. “You mean you think it’s them?”
“Well now I wouldn’ be s’prised,” the big fellow answered. Then seriously, he said: “We’ll be gettin’ there, kid! Don’t be lookin’ as if they was drownin’ or somethin’. Sure they could keep afloat for hours so they could, and look at the tide besides.”
141
Skippy glanced at the quietly rolling swell7 and felt somewhat reassured8. But the voice of the siren jarred him and he was glad to see that Big Joe looked serious and determined9. He hadn’t liked that note of raillery in his friend’s voice.
But despite Skippy’s fears Tully answered the siren call with all the haste of a good Samaritan. One might have supposed that he gloried in the duties of heroic service. And when he reached the Channel and they sighted the distressed10 launch, he opened wide his throttle11 until the old hull12 shook to the vibrations13 of the engine.
Skippy clenched14 his slim, brown fingers and sat tense in his seat while a spray rained into the boat. Big Joe coughed significantly and drove his ramshackle craft straight for the disabled cruiser.
“Now ain’t she the sweet lookin’ baby,” he observed as if he had never seen the launch before.
Skippy said nothing but grimly watched the three men who awaited their coming. Crosley he recognized at once, but the man standing15 alongside of him was a stranger. The third occupant of the Minnehaha was Marty Skinner. Skippy remembered him from his father’s trial and from the night Skinner had ordered him off the Apollyon without a hearing.
142
“You see him?” he asked Big Joe between clenched teeth.
“’Tis all the better,” Big Joe seemed to say in his bland16 smile.
He brought the kicker up alongside the Minnehaha and laid a life preserver over the coaming of his boat to prevent its scratching the gleaming hull of the launch. Skippy scrambled17 to the rescue and held the kicker as the ill-assorted pair rocked and rubbed in the heavy swell.
“Sure I don’t want to be scratchin’ her,” said Tully with a fine assumption of humble18 respect for the launch. “I was tellin’ the kid here, she’s some baby, hey? What’s bein’ the matter; power give out did she? ’Tis too bad, so ’tis.”
Skippy kept his eyes on space, but he had the feeling that Big Joe and he were being scrutinized19 with unfriendly stares.
Crosley sniffed20 the air contemptuously before he spoke21.
“She’s pumping oil to beat the band,” he said. “We don’t seem to be getting any compression either. We can’t get a kick out of her. Been flopping22 around for an hour.”
“Sure maybe ye be needin’ new rings,” said Tully. “Guess ye been pushin’ her too hard, hey?”
143
He glanced into the cockpit and with a fine show of rueful astonishment23, beheld24 the disastrous25 results of his own handiwork. She was indeed pumping oil. The engine head was covered with it, and it was streaming down the side over the carburetor. Three or four spark plugs had been taken out and lay on a locker26 in little puddles27 of oozy28 muck.
“If ’t was only one cylinder29 now, I’d be sayin’ ye had a busted30 ring, or even a cracked piston,” Tully said blandly31. “But shiverin’ swordfish if it don’t look like the whole six o’ thim, don’t it? Ye can’t do nothin’ here. Looks like ye was racin’ her a lot.” His detestable device had worked so well that he seemed moved to offer gratuitous32 suggestions. “I knowed a guy was stuck on the bar over by Inland Beach and he kept racin’ his motor, and somehow—I dunno just how—she sucked in a lot o’ beach sand and it sanded down his cylinder wall good an’ plenty, so it did.”
Skinner’s lips were drawn33 in a thin line above his pointed34 chin.
“Does that mean we’ll have to be towed back, Crosley?” he asked his host petulantly35.
“Afraid so, Marty,” answered Crosley. “I can’t imagine how a fine engine like mine could break down so soon.”
144
“Sure and if that ain’t just like some guys,” said Tully glibly36. “They’re fine’s a fiddle37 one day and the next—they’re done for, ain’t it so?”
Crosley nodded indifferently.
“Could you tow us in?” he asked as if the question were distasteful. His aversion to the uncouth38, but amiable39 river man was too obvious to escape Skippy’s sensitive eyes.
If Tully was aware of it too, he did not betray it. His face looked grave and thoughtful.
“Trouble is I’m due at the Hook,” he said hesitantly. “Have an all day’s job towin’ a barge40. I’m late as ’tis. And if I ain’t there in twinty minutes I lose the job, so I do. ’Tis the first good payin’ job I’ve had in a long....”
Crosley waved his hand in entreaty41.
“We’ll see that you’re paid for the loss of your day’s job, man. How much would you get for it, eh?”
Tully moved his large head and shrugged42 his powerful shoulders. “Seventy-five bucks43 is what they’re goin’ to pay me,” he said modestly.
Crosley gasped44 audibly.
“That’s a lot of money, but....”
“It’s a hold up!” snapped Skinner between his tightly drawn lips.
145
“Sure and it’s what they’re payin’ me, boss,” said Big Joe with a look of hurt pride. “I ain’t askin’ ye’ for a cent, I’m not considerin’ I may lose my customer for future jobs. ’Tis not only I’m losin’ that seventy-five bucks, ’tis....”
“All right,” Crosley sniffed angrily. “You’re taking advantage of us. I don’t believe you can earn seventy-five dollars for a day’s work. But you have us at a disadvantage—the Lord knows who else we could get to our rescue in this unfrequented channel.”
“So and that’s all the thanks I get,” said Tully. “Comin’ way out o’ me way....”
“All right,” Skinner interposed. “Give it to him, Crosley. I know who this fellow is. We’re at his mercy. But I’ll remember this, Tully—you’re occupying the mud banks at Brown’s Basin. You and this boy, Dare, may want some consideration when you people have to get out of the Basin. And I’ll remember who’s living on the Minnie M. Baxter!”
“You oughta!” Skippy shouted angrily, rising to his feet. “Your cheatin’ boss what’s dead put it there, that’s what, an’ my father’ll never see the sun on the river again on account of it too! So try an’ take it away.”
146
Skinner’s cold dignity seemed unruffled. He averted45 his gaze while Crosley counted out seventy-five dollars to Big Joe Tully. Skippy stood by, his heart full of hate, and at that moment he thought that he could cheerfully see the Minnehaha sink to the bottom of the Channel while Skinner begged to be saved.
While leisurely46 chugging back toward the Basin that afternoon he and Tully talked it over seriously.
“Well, and we got seventy-five bucks aisy money out o’ the tightwads,” Tully chuckled47 in conclusion.
“Seventy-five bucks an’ the promise of trouble from Skinner, Big Joe,” Skippy reminded him with a note of apprehension48 in his voice.
Tully’s face darkened.
“I hate Skinner for sayin’ what he did, so I do,” he said ominously49. “Sufferin’ swordfish if he do be makin’ ye scared and drivin’ ye outa the only home ye got—well, he better be lettin’ ye ’lone. Me, I don’t care much where I live, but you ... I’ll be fixin’ him if he....”
“Don’t say it, Big Joe!” Skippy pleaded earnestly. “It scares me, ’cause that’s just what Pop said the night he went to see old Mr. Flint on the Apollyon! It’s sorta——”
147
“And ’tis all right, kid, so ’tis.” Tully smiled. “Now ye be forgettin’ it.”
Skippy tried to; certainly he had forgotten that he himself had wished Marty Skinner a like fate only that morning.
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收听单词发音
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1
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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3
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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6
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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7
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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8
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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throttle
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| n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压 | |
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12
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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13
vibrations
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| n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动 | |
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14
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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16
bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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17
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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18
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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19
scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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21
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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22
flopping
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| n.贬调v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的现在分词 )；（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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23
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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24
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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25
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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26
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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27
puddles
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| n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 ) | |
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28
oozy
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| adj.软泥的 | |
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29
cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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30
busted
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| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
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31
blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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32
gratuitous
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| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
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33
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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34
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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35
petulantly
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36
glibly
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| adv.流利地，流畅地；满口 | |
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37
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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38
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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39
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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40
barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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41
entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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42
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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43
bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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44
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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45
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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46
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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47
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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49
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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