Dan and Fred were up and had breakfast well under way; for they knew that Pat would not be in any fettle to do the cooking that day.
“Foine gintlemen ye are, may hiven bless ye fer givin’ a helpin’ hand,” Pat called out as he tumbled off his horse.
“Bully boys,” echoed Jim, “to stay at home and have breakfast a smokin’ fer the fellers that’s had the fun. That’s just what my good old mother used to do for this rattle-brain boy of hers.”
“Gee, but I’m sleepy!” said Dick, throwing his head on the saddle he had just jerked from his pony3.
“No wonder at all, at all,” returned Jim, “but brighten up, Dickie, and take your rations;{43} you can’t doze4 off and dream of fancy girls about here to-day.”
Dick was asleep before the sermon was finished. Seeing this, Jim filled a cup with cold water and dashed it in the sleeper’s face. Dick jumped up, sputtering5 and grumbling6 sleepily, “Oh, cheese it, Jimmie! Let a feller snooze a little.”
“No snooze for the wicked,” returned Jim, while they all laughed at Dick’s discomfiture7; “and you’ve been mighty8 wicked to flirt9 with pretty Alta, and shoot poor Bud in the toes. What do you say, boys, first fellow that goes to sleep again to-day gets soused in the creek10?”
“Good enough,” shouted the boys.
That settled it. The crowd had to keep awake all day, though it was a sore trial to most of them. But cowboys must get used to that sort of thing, especially during the roundup days, when it often happens that the work means riding all day and herding11 all night.
To-day, however, it was not the roundup, but a “barn-raising” that called for the help of all hands and the cook. Captain Hanks was anxious to get the big barn up before haying time came, and it took a great deal of muscle to raise the heavy timber.{44}
“Now, all together—yo-hee!” the foreman would shout to the boys ranged along the great logs, and with much straining and puffing13 they slowly lifted them into place, one on top of the other.
Between lifts the sleepy ones would tumble back on the grass, amusing themselves with poking14 fun at one another. The dance gave them enough to talk about. But the one thing that touched them off again and again into spasms15 of laughter was the suggestion of Uncle Toby’s tumble from his fiddler’s perch16, and Bud’s yell and flight.
“Now all together, yo-hee!” Captain Hanks shouted for the twentieth time that day. The log was beginning slowly to rise when Jim suddenly let go his hold and yelled, “Now, altogether—whoopee!”
“You fellows must have had a high time last night,” said Fred, “the fuss you make about it.”
“Bully time it was, Teddy,” returned Jim; “why didn’t you turn up and help swing the ranch lassies off their feet?”
“Don’t be too sure about that, Dick,” retorted Fred; “I’ll just take in the next dance to show you how.”
“Good fer you, me boy,” said Pat, “and we’ll leave Dick home to do the cookin’, next toime.”
“You’ll go damned hungry if you do,” snapped Dick.
“Oh, well, me boy, oh well,” Pat broke out singing:
It’s divil a rap do I care,
It’s divil a rap do I care,
As long as a drap is left, is left,
In the old demijohn next mornin’.
“That reminds me,” said Cap Hanks, “there’s a demijohn under my bunk19, Pat; go get it. The boys need a drop to keep ’em awake to-day.”
“I’m off,” said Pat, jogging away to the old shack. He found a gallon jug20 of choice old rye where the foreman had said, and was soon back to the barn.
“Now do the honors, cook,” said Hanks, “the treat’s on me.”
“You’re a gintleman!” said Pat, pouring out and passing round the whisky. When his turn came he took a long drink, rubbing his stomach with his free hand the while, then smacking21 his lips, he raised his eyes and said solemnly, “Hiven at last.{46}”
When the laughter that greeted Pat’s performance subsided22, Jim said, “You’d better watch out, Dicky, or Teddy here will be leadin’ you a merry chase after your ranch lassie.”
“Yes,” added Pat; “you know that the loikes of ye can’t talk poetry, and Teddy can.”
“Oh, I’ll risk it; he’s harmless,” returned Dick.
“Don’t you be too sure; you can’t tell how far a toad23 can jump by his looks,” said Jim dryly; “and remember you promised to make me boss when old Morgan deeds the ranch to you.”
“A bunch of Injuns, by ginger25!” said Cap Hanks; “I hope they won’t pitch their wickiups about here. They’ll beg the boots off our feet.”
“They’re heading this way,” said Dan.
“Holy mither, defind us poor sinners,” said Pat in mock fright. “Me head is bald as a button already; it’s no ither scalp I have to spare.”
“Hike to the shack with that whisky, Pat,” said the foreman, “and put it out of sight.”
“Right ye are, Captain”; Pat grabbed up the demijohn and dashed off. When inside the shack he took another drink, then placing the jug in the cupboard, returned to see the In{47}dians, who were trailing along slowly toward the waiting cowboys.
“Looks like old Copperhead’s band,” said Dan. “Dave Johnson told me they were in the valley.”
“Yes, and they hev been slaughterin’ game; the warden’s watchin’ ’em,” added one of the boys.
“Them Redskins’ll stir up trouble in this country yet,” said Cap Hanks; “they’ll get mean when the new game laws are pulled on ’em. But Dave says he’s going to do it.”
The Indians by this time were filing past the ranch gate a few rods from the barn. A frowsled, straggly band it was, but picturesque26 withal, with its rough herd12 of vari-colored ponies27, ragged28, wolfish dogs, towsled, half-clad papooses, squaws in bright but tattered29 calicoes, and sober bucks30, decked in spangled and fringed buckskins, with gay blankets.
The cowboys, out of curiosity, had dropped their work and gone to the gate to get a closer look at the dusky travelers.
“Hullo! Where now?” called Cap Hanks to the leader.
“Maybe so over there,” returned the chief, lifting his head and looking upward across the eastern mountains.{48}
“Maybe so game man catchum Injun,” Dick put in smartly.
“Huh!” snapped the chief angrily; “maybe so white man put elk here, huh?”
“Oh, hold on, Chief, don’t get mad,” said Cap Hanks. “White man no stingy; let Injun kill all he needs to eat, but no heap kill ’em for buckskin.”
Old Copperhead’s eyes flashed. “What white man kill ’em for? Not meat, not buckskin. Heap fun. White man let Injun be, Injun let white man be. You savey?” With an angry jerk of the rein34, he whirled his pony and started off when Dick, full of mischief35, broke out again by jerking a flask36 from his pocket and saying, “Here, big Injun, maybe this cool ’em down; you likem whisky, huh?”
“You smart fool!” Dan rebuked37 him, “put that stuff up. They’re chuck full of the devil all ready. Hell only knows what they’d do if they got whisky down their black throats.”
Dick took the cut without a word, and put the bottle back, but not before the Indian had caught sight of it.
The suggestion was enough to wake their thirst; but they filed away sulkily behind their{49} chief, and pitched their tepees across the ford38 on the flat near an aspen grove39.
Later in the day several of the bucks came back, ostensibly to swap40 things with the cowboys, who were gathered about the old shack, Hanks having let them quit work somewhat earlier than usual. Pat was getting things ready for supper when they rode up. The Indians began to beg for tea, sugar, and everything else in sight, but they didn’t make much headway with Pat.
Finally one of them caught sight of a flask projecting from the Irishman’s hip pocket and said, “Gimme fire water.”
“Go way wid ye!” snapped Pat.
“Give shirt and gloves,” persisted the buck.
“Go long wid ye!” Pat grew stubborn.
“Give pony!”
“Not a drap, ye spalpeen! Didn’t I tell ye?”
“Why don’t I?” echoed Pat. “Why, the likes of it! And can’t ye see it’s the last swig in me bottle? D’ye think I’d let that red devil{50} have it when me own throat’s a-parchin’?” He had uncorked and raised the bottle while he spoke44 and now he drained it before the thirsty eyes of the Indians. Then tossing the bottle to the begging buck, who caught it eagerly, he said, “There! I’ll not be stingy wid ye. Take the last swate smell.”
But while the boys were roaring over Pat’s actions, another act was being performed with no audience to watch. One of the bucks, unnoticed, had slipped into and out of the shack. His blanket might have appeared bulgy45, if one had looked closely, but the boys paid no attention to it.
After the Redskins had gone, however, Cap Hanks went to the cupboard for a good-night toddy and found his gallon jug of choice old rye gone. Immediately there was an uproar46 of swearing and accusation47, which resulted in rightly placing the blame on the Indians.
But a greater roar followed shortly after dusk, when the drunken bucks began to make night hideous48 over among the wickiups. The yelling and screaming of the bucks, the frightened squaws and papooses, shocked the silent valley.
“It’s the devil’s own fun that’s up,” said Cap Hanks as he half rose from his bunk to listen.
“Let’s go over and see the circus,” said Dick.{51}
“Not for me,” returned Cap Hanks. “You need some of the smartness taken out of you, so you’d better try it. The thing I’m going to do is to get my breeches on and load my gun. There’s no tellin’ what might happen.”
The other boys followed the suggestion. Then they lay down again to listen rather nervously49 to the yelling and shrieking50 that cut fitfully through the murmur51 of the trees and the sound of the stream. It was only a faint suggestion of the savage52 orgie that was being enacted53 around the wigwam fires by the whisky crazed bucks and terrified squaws and little ones. The suggestion of what might come to them sobered the crowd of cowboys. They had little to say as they lay listening till things grew calm again. It was nearly daybreak, however, before they had all quieted into sleep.
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1
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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sputtering
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| n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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6
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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8
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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10
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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11
herding
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| 中畜群 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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13
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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14
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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15
spasms
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| n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作 | |
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16
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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17
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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18
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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20
jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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21
smacking
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| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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26
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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27
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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28
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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30
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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31
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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elk
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| n.麋鹿 | |
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33
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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35
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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36
flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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37
rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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39
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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40
swap
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| n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易 | |
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41
gaudily
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| adv.俗丽地 | |
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42
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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43
quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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44
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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45
bulgy
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| a.膨胀的；凸出的 | |
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46
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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47
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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48
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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49
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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50
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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51
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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52
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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53
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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