“By the holy poker3, cunnel,” quoth the borderer, rubbing his eyes and stretching, “you’re ahead of me this hyar mornin’. Wal, let’s get up and make tracks.”
As he spoke4, he yawned portentously5, and sat up, only to fall back the next moment with a loud exclamation6 of:
“Who in the Old Scratch be you, anyhow?”
Boone lay fast asleep opposite, and by the fire, between them, sat a young girl, looking intently at Kenton.
“I am Ruby8 Roland,” said one of the sweetest voices he had ever heard; and the girl smiled in his face, fearlessly.
Simon Kenton slowly rose up to a sitting posture9 and stared at the new-comer in utter amazement10, just as Boone also awoke, and rolling half over, fixed11 his steady gaze on the girl, but without exhibiting the surprise displayed by Kenton.
The girl was a little creature of some seventeen summers, with a dark, foreign-looking face, very pretty, lighted with black eyes, and set off with black hair, arranged in two long plaits. She was attired12 in the costume of an Indian chief’s daughter, of the richest materials in use among the Shawnees, and carried with her a bow and arrows.
First Simon drew in his feet, and sat up in a more polite position, then Daniel Boone slowly rose and sat looking at[21] the strange maiden13; and then a deep silence fell on all three, which was first broken by the girl who called herself Ruby Roland.
“You two are Simon Kenton and Colonel Boone, are you not?” she asked, in her musical voice, slightly accented with a French intonation14.
Boone himself answered her with great respect:
“We are, Miss. I am Colonel Daniel Boone, and this is Captain Simon Kenton.”
The Kentucky borderers were always remarkably15 tenacious16 of their military titles, and very proud of them. In reality they represented deeds requiring courage and conduct of a kind such as few regular soldiers could have boasted of.
Ruby Roland smiled graciously on the two Kentuckians.
“I suppose, then, you will not be afraid to run into danger on my account, will you? I warn you that a deadly peril17 is round us all three, which you can only escape by leaving me to face it alone. Will you do that?”
“Simon Kenton will not, madam; I will answer for that,” said the quiet voice of Boone.
“And Cunnel Boone ’ll let the red varmints chaw him up ter fiddle-strings, afore he deserts a lady. I’ll go a house and farm on that. So now,” was Kenton’s characteristic reply.
Ruby smiled at them both as she said:
“I knew I was not wrong. You have heard of Tabac, the Grand Door of the Wabash. I am his daughter.”
Kenton looked more and more astonished. He scratched his head in a dubious18 manner, and observed:
“Then, by the holy poker, Miss, all I kin7 say is that the Grand Door opens into a very pretty place; but—”
Ruby smiled as he hesitated.
“But you wonder how I come to talk English so well, and how I come here; is it not so?”
“Wal, Miss, I ain’t denyin’ that same,” said Kenton, frankly19.
“I will tell you, then. The Grand Door is not my own father. No, alas20! he died when I was a baby. But, I have been adopted by the chief since then, and my mother reigned21 over all the tribes of the Wabash till her death, last year. It was only six weeks ago when I escaped from the Indian town[22] by St. Vincent’s, and came here. Gentlemen, I want to see Colonel George Rogers Clark.”
Both the scouts22 uttered an involuntary exclamation of wonder, the first that had escaped the lips of Boone.
“Colonel Clark is at Harrodsburg, Miss,” said the elder hunter, gravely; “and we shall find it difficult to penetrate23 there, for Blackfish, the Shawnee chief, is round it with his band.”
Ruby Roland smiled with some little appearance of scorn.
“My father was a French officer, and I am the adopted child of the first war-chief of the West,” she said. “I suppose you think you could get into Harrodsburg, do you not?”
“I suppose so, Miss,” said Boone, quietly.
“Very well; then I will go with you,” said this little fragile-looking girl, with equal calmness. “You are both good warriors24 and scouts, and yet I fooled you both last night.”
“What! was it you, then, as was on this hyar island?” asked Kenton, in amazement. “Why, whar in the Old Scratch did ye hide, Miss, ef it ain’t axin’ too much?”
Ruby laughed, and pointed25 to a great tree that overhung the camp-fire itself.
“Up there in a hollow, and heard every word you said. Had you been Shawnees, as you made me think by your whoops26, both would have been dead long ere this. I made up this fire half an hour ago, and neither of you waked.”
Boone and Kenton looked at each other in silence for several minutes. The practiced woodmen had been outwitted by this quiet, modest little girl, and both instinctively27 felt that she was no common personage.
Daniel Boone rose to his feet and shook himself, then looked to the priming of his rifle and examined his weapons before he spoke. At last he said:
“I am at your orders, Miss. What do you wish us to do?”
“I am very hungry,” said the girl, simply. “I want something to eat first. The Shawnees are on my trail, and I must get to Harrodsburg in some way. I have no rifle, and I am too weak to shoot well with the bow. I want you to take me to see Colonel Clark.”
Boone made a sign to Kenton, and the latter disappeared[23] among the bushes on the shallow side of the river. As soon as he was gone, the veteran hunter asked:
“How do you know the Shawnees are on your trail, Miss?”
“I saw them, only yesterday morning,” she answered. “I threw them out by floating down the river on a log, and they are by this time ranging up and down the river to find me.”
Boone frowned thoughtfully and remained silent for some minutes, when he asked:
“How far off did you leave them, do you think?”
“About thirty-five miles up the stream,” was the quiet reply.
The old hunter looked with grave admiration28 at the girl.
“You are a brave girl!” he said. “I have known warriors not half as brave and skillful. Simon and I did not find a single sign all of yesterday, and we were on different tracks too. Do you think they will follow you close?”
“I know it,” said Ruby, quietly. “They will follow me to kill me, till I am safe in Harrodsburg!”
Another man might have asked “why.” Boone had no idle curiosity; he judged unerringly that the girl was telling the truth, and wished for no reasons. She gave them herself a moment later.
“They know my errand to Colonel Clark, and Governor Hamilton has sent them after me,” she said, meaningly.
Then Boone knew all. The great chief of the Wabash tribes had doubtless sent his daughter to open negotiations29 with the Americans, and the English Governor at Detroit had got wind of it in some manner, and was resolved to intercept30 the fair messenger; for the Revolutionary War was at its hight, and the British were reckless in subsidizing savages31.
As he thought over the atrocious scheme, the old hunter’s lips compressed themselves into an iron line, and he growled32:
“If the dogs cross my path to Harrodsburg, they must look to themselves. You shall go there safe, Miss.”
The report of a rifle a short way off, was followed by the cheery shout of Kenton, “A fat buck33, and no Injun sign yet.”
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收听单词发音
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1
chilliness
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| n.寒冷，寒意，严寒 | |
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assails
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| v.攻击( assail的第三人称单数 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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3
poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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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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portentously
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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7
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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8
ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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9
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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11
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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12
attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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14
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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15
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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16
tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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17
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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18
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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19
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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20
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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21
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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22
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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23
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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26
whoops
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| int.呼喊声 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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28
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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29
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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30
intercept
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| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
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31
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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32
growled
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| 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 | |
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33
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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