As the wind blew her gown one could see the copper-colored legs, and through the scant6 sleeves could catch a glimpse of the immature7 red-bronze arms of the young girl. In her hair a turquoise8 strand9 repeated the touch of blue that was woven and interwoven in the beading of her gown. She was standing10 near the trail that led to Maverick11. To the left and to the right the plains stretched into an eternity12 of space. Nat-u-ritch shaded her eyes with straight, stiffened13 fingers, and from under the set hands gazed over the country. Towards the west a circular cloud, repeated at intervals14, told her that horsemen were making their way to the cow town. From behind a wickyup close to her emerged an Indian chief—heavy, tall, with the sublime15 dignity of the red man, unimpaired even by the halting, swaying walk that told of his surrender to the white man's fire-water.
Quietly Nat-u-ritch watched her father, Tabywana, mount his pinto pony16, his flapping scarlet17 chaps gleaming against the white body of the animal. He looked neither to the right nor left, nor behind him, as Nat-u-ritch followed with her eyes his disappearing form. It was twenty-six miles into Maverick, and she knew she must follow the trail that led there, but she made no movement yet towards departure. Immovable, she stood and watched from under rigid18 hands an alkali whirlwind swallow up the horse and his rider.
Her brain was busy with the problem that lay before her. For two days Cash Hawkins, the bad man of the adjoining barren land, had been with her father; for two nights Tabywana had drunk from the bottle that the white man had brought to him. Not once for forty-eight hours had her father called her to him, not once had he likened her to the flower of the tree of his love—the spirit-mother. She clinched19 her long, narrow hands until they tore the fringes of her robe. The pleading, dumb look of her dark eyes gave way to quick defiance20; they seemed to become chasms21 of gloom, unfathomable but determined22; they showed the decision and strength of which her resolve was capable.
Her father was to sell that day a large herd23 of cattle to Cash Hawkins. Intuitively she knew what the two days' visit from Hawkins would mean for them—despair when her father realized the trick the white man had played on him, scarcity24 of food and many privations for her, then long weeks of silent suffering for both.
Still she stood staring into the winding25, desolate26 land, the stretching heavens, the stretching plains—both flat, straight, unbroken, like two skies. A world might be above one or under the other. Could this intermediate space of ambient atmosphere lay claim to a life of fact and reality?
But no such thoughts came to Nat-u-ritch as she watched the sandy face of the country. The desert was her home. She had toddled27 across its burning ground, following, as far as her baby strength would permit, her father's pony. In the solitude28 of the waste land she had grown into womanhood. She knew that to-day's dreariness29 could be broken until the entire place echoed and re-echoed to the life of the men whose cattle thundered at their heels. She had heard the desert answer to the fanatical outburst of her tribes; had seen the white men drive her people farther and farther back. For her and her people it had been their refuge.
Suddenly she stretched out her delicate arms. Her figure grew erect30. From the distance came the distinct beat of horse's hoofs31; it passed so close within her vision that she could easily distinguish the features of the rider. He was a stranger who had recently settled there, the stranger whom she had first met at a bear-dance down at the agency.
She remembered that with the squaw's privilege of choosing her partner she had selected him. She remembered his eyes. As she did so her own turned and followed the man who, unlike the other horsemen of the prairie, rose in his stirrups, and into her sphinx-like face came a look of unutterable yearning32. She watched the clouds of dust envelop33 him as they had swallowed up her father, but this time she no longer stood staring into the prairie. Swiftly she caught her pony, mounted him, and let him gallop34 across a trail that led to a short cut to Maverick.
For a long time she lay flat on her animal, the hot sun sizzling down on her clinging figure. She only drew her hair as a veil over her face, while her wistful eyes watched the stranger across the plains as she sped close on his track. She was glad that she was gaining ground, too long had she lingered after her father's departure. She soon reached the short cut, and a wise smile lighted up her face. She would be in Maverick ahead of the man riding across the plains, and she wondered whether she would see him at the Long Horn saloon. Then the smile died away; she was not going to Maverick for that purpose. First she must find and guard her father from Cash Hawkins's machinations; and then—
She tightened35 her hold on her pony. She gave a curious low cry to the animal. His ears stood erect in answer as Nat-u-ritch flashed across the sand track.
The man on the horse only vaguely36 saw Nat-u-ritch. His thoughts were busy with the wearying business of the day's shipping37 of cattle. It was Jim's second year at his ranch38. When he left England he did not arrest his journey until he reached the Far West—that Mecca of all Englishmen. With the small sum of money that he had lifted from his bank, he had purchased a ranch near Green River, and under the name of Carston had begun forming the ties that now made up his life.
As he rode his face and body showed the beneficial results of his work in the open. The cow-boy clothes seemed to have become almost part of him. A certain neatness and precision in his mode of wearing the picturesque39 garments of the plains alone differentiated40 him from the hundreds of wearers of flapping leather chaps, flannel41 shirt, sombrero, and loosely knotted kerchief.
Jim was wondering if his men had reached Maverick. He had sent Big Bill, his foreman, on ahead of him with a message from him cautioning them to beware of being drawn42 into a quarrel with Cash Hawkins, who he had learned would be there. For days the "boys'" anger had been incited43 by the discovery made by Jim and Big Bill that Cash Hawkins had been mixing his cattle with theirs, for Hawkins's gain. This complaint of "rustling44" he found was not uncommon45. Its penalty when proven was not a pleasant one; the law was not consulted—punishment was meted46 out by the cow-boys themselves. But for the present Jim preferred to avert47 a fight with Hawkins. In the future he meant to take greater precautions to protect his property.
As Jim rode he planned out many details of his new life's work. Thus often for days all other thoughts would be blotted48 out. It was a big game to fight and win in this barren land. It absorbed all his time and vitality49, and memories of dew-drenched England were burned out in this dry, brilliant land where the tender half-light was unknown and where often his English eyes yearned50 in vain, when he abandoned himself to the past, for a touch of the soft gray of his own country in protest against the hard brilliance51 of the sun and unending sand plains.
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1
silhouetted
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| 显出轮廓的，显示影像的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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immature
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| adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的 | |
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turquoise
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| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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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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maverick
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| adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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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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scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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toddled
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| v.（幼儿等）东倒西歪地走( toddle的过去式和过去分词 )；蹒跚行走；溜达；散步 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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dreariness
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| 沉寂，可怕，凄凉 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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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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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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envelop
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| vt.包，封，遮盖；包围 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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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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differentiated
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| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
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flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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42
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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45
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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meted
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| v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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50
yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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