CHAPTER III. AN IMPENDING ATTACK.

 The afternoon wore away, but no bands of hostile Indians appeared in sight. Buffalo¹ Bill and Wild Bill headed scouting² parties, and rode some five miles from the fort, but they saw no signs which led them to suppose that an attack was imminent³.

 

The party of soldiers who had chased Wild Bill’s pursuers returned to the fort during the course of the afternoon, and reported that they had followed the Indians about ten miles without coming up to them.

 

Then they saw another party of Indians, at least five hundred strong, riding across the prairie to join the fugitives⁴, so the lieutenant⁵ in command wisely gave the order to turn the horses’ heads back toward the fort. The Indians did not chase them.

 

More settlers came in during the afternoon, and they lighted fires in the courtyard of the fort, and prepared to cook their dinner, for there was no proper accommodation for them.

 

As their bear steaks and deer meat frizzled and sizzled on the fire, they told one another queer yarns⁶ of Western life, for they were all men who had seen the rough and humorous side of the frontier.

 

“We’ll come out of this yer business all right,” observed one of the men. “I’ve come through worse gol-durned contraptions than this, by a long sight.”

 

“Yes, it’s an old saying out in my country,” said a hunter from Arizona, “that if you let things alone long enough they will even up of themselves.

 

“Take, for instance, the case of Jack⁷ Cade. There were two brothers of them—Jack and Bill—and one day a crowd got after Bill for horse stealing, and caught and strung him up. He protested his innocence⁸, but it was no go. We found out a month later, however, that we had actually hung the wrong man and let the real thief get out of the country.”

 

“And did things even up later on?” he was asked.

 

“They did. We couldn’t restore Bill to life, and beg his pardon, and elect him alderman of the town, but when we caught his brother Jack, after he had robbed a settler of his outfit⁹, we not only let him off the hanging, but made him sheriff and squared things in proper shape.

 

“Things don’t always even up for the man who’s been planted, but if he leaves any relatives behind, the public will see to it that his loss turns out to be their gain.”

 

Just before it grew dark several of the scouts¹⁰ and outposts who had been placed by Buffalo Bill rode into the fort, and reported that a very strong force of Indians was advancing over the prairie in three columns.

 

Some of the men estimated that the war party numbered more than four thousand men, but others placed it at not over half that number.

 

The colonel called Buffalo Bill and Hickok to him, and held a hasty council of war.

 

“It is as I expected,” said the border king. “The Indians are fondest of attacking either at dusk or just at daybreak. They think sentries¹¹ are likely to be less vigilant¹² at those times, and I guess they are right, as a rule.

 

“But luckily we are ready for them. If I might make a suggestion, colonel, I think it would be a good plan to pretend that we are much less numerous than we actually are. They are not likely to know our strength.

 

 

“Let only fifty or a hundred men reply to their fire. Keep about four hundred in reserve, ready to pour a terrible volley into the redskins when they try to rush the fort, encouraged by what they suppose to be our weakness.

 

“A surprise like that always knocks the heart out of an Indian. As soon as they recoil¹³, we might make a sudden sortie and charge them vigorously.

 

“By adopting this plan, I believe we shall have a good chance of inflicting¹⁴ a crushing defeat upon them, although they so greatly outnumber us.”

 

“It’s a capital idea,” said the colonel, “and we will carry it out. I won’t let more than about seventy men reply to their first volleys, and I’ll tell the officers in charge of our four field guns not to fire until the redskins are swarming¹⁵ outside the walls.”

 

He hurried away to give these orders, and by the time he had done so the redskin host appeared in sight.

 

It numbered between two and three thousand men, and approached swiftly, for all the braves were mounted. They belonged to tribes which practically lived in the saddle—the Sioux, the Cheyennes, and the Crows.

 

1 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

2 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

3 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

4 fugitives   

n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Three fugitives from the prison are still at large. 三名逃犯仍然未被抓获。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Members of the provisional government were prisoners or fugitives. 临时政府的成员或被捕或逃亡。 来自演讲部分

5 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

6 yarns   

n.纱( yarn的名词复数 )；纱线；奇闻漫谈；旅行轶事

参考例句：

• ...vegetable-dyed yarns. 用植物染料染过色的纱线 来自辞典例句
• Fibers may be loosely or tightly twisted into yarns. 纤维可以是膨松地或紧密地捻成纱线。 来自辞典例句

7 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

8 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

9 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

10 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

11 sentries   

哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We posted sentries at the gates of the camp. 我们在军营的大门口布置哨兵。
• We were guarded by sentries against surprise attack. 我们由哨兵守卫，以免遭受突袭。

12 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

13 recoil   

vi.退却，退缩，畏缩

参考例句：

• Most people would recoil at the sight of the snake.许多人看见蛇都会向后退缩。
• Revenge may recoil upon the person who takes it.报复者常会受到报应。

14 inflicting   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. 他被控蓄意严重伤害他人身体。
• It's impossible to do research without inflicting some pain on animals. 搞研究不让动物遭点罪是不可能的。

15 swarming   

密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
• The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。