Several sentinels had been placed around the camp, but, by careful scouting3 and judiciously4 taking advantage of cover, the two comrades managed to dodge6 them and get inside the cordon7.
When they had accomplished8 this feat9, Buffalo Bill uttered a sigh of relief. They were now fairly safe, unless they were observed by some of the braves around the fire. In that event, the sentries10 were likely to cut off their retreat, unless it were made too rapidly to give them time to take up the alarm.
Nothing was going on around the first two fires except the dancing, which both Buffalo Bill and Wharton had seen many a time before.
Taking shelter behind a clump11 of bushes, they crawled forward until they were right in the center of the camp, and opposite the largest of the bivouac fires.
Here they saw that most of the leading chiefs of the three tribes were gathered, and they rightly concluded that a war council was being held.
Four braves were posted near the camp fire, evidently for the purpose of keeping the other Indians from intruding12 while the chiefs and the old men discussed their plan of campaign.
He was smoking a big pipe, which looked incongruous in the midst of such wild and weird14 surroundings. His face was stained with blood from a wound in the forehead where a bullet had grazed him, and this intensified15 his ordinary ferocious16 look.
Nick Wharton drew his revolver—the rifles had been left behind with Wild Bill—and in another moment would have sent a bullet through the head of the renegade, but Buffalo Bill seized his arm and signed to him to control himself.
They crept nearer and nearer to the camp fire, until they were within about fifteen paces of it, lying hidden in a small clump of low brushwood.
They could get no nearer, for the light of the fire brightly illuminated17 the surroundings, and there was no other cover.
The Indians were talking angrily in the Sioux tongue, and the scouts, who were both familiar with it, were pleased to find that they were loudly abusing Kennelly for the failure of the attack on Fort Larned.
One after another denounced him as a bad leader, who had betrayed them into believing that they had hardly any opposition18 to meet, and had then taken them up against an almost impregnable position.
At last, after a young war chief had denounced him as a lying traitor19, Kennelly took the pipe from between his lips and broke silence for the first time.
“Listen, my brothers, and pay heed20 to my words, for I do not speak with a false tongue,” he said. “I told you that it would not be easy to take the fort, and that you must be willing to lose many braves in the attempt.
“I told you that Long Hair, the slayer22 of many buffaloes23, was there, and you know well that he is worth a hundred men in himself. Yet you persisted in making[35] the attempt, and you have no right to blame me for the failure.
“Did I hang back in the charge? Did I not lead your young men up to the walls of the fort? If they had followed me, we would have got inside and taken the scalps of all the men there.
“It was not my fault that they reeled back and would not follow me when the big firing began. How was I to know that your warriors24 are nothing but women and babes?”
At this gross insult half a dozen of the chiefs sprang to their feet and menaced the renegade with the tomahawks which they drew from their belts.
But the Irishman, in spite of his villainy, was a brave man. He merely gazed at them contemptuously, without deigning26 to draw his gun, and went on:
“You think that you have a quarrel with me. Very well. Name your champion, and I will meet him in single combat before you all.
“If he overcomes me, he may take my scalp; but if I slay21 him there must be no more disputing of my orders. My brothers, the Sioux, chose me for their war chief in this fight, and I will be obeyed.”
The young chief who had denounced Kennelly most hotly eagerly accepted this challenge, and begged his red comrades to let him act as their champion.
After a few minutes’ consultation27 among themselves, they agreed. Kennelly watched them from the corner of his squint28 eye, but pretended to be utterly29 uninterested in the matter which spelled life or death to him.
The young chief threw off his buffalo robe and stepped out into an open space near the fire, naked to the waist, but gorgeously painted with the war colors of his tribe. He was a Cheyenne.
As he stood in the firelight, straight as a young sapling,[36] with his right hand resting upon the tomahawk in his belt, he looked a formidable foe30.
Kennelly glanced at him for a few moments through half-closed eyelids31, and then yawned sleepily and knocked the ashes out of the bowl of his pipe.
The Indians, on the one side, and the two scouts, hidden behind the bushes on the other, watched the scene with interest.
The young chief stamped his foot impatiently, and Kennelly slowly raised his huge, bulky form from the ground.
Once he was upon his feet, however, a wonderful change came over him.
Seated upon the ground, he had seemed as lazy and inert32 as a hog33, but now his body was as tense and active as that of a panther.
Stealthily he crept toward the Indian, and they looked into one another’s eyes as intently as if they were both hypnotized.
An old Crow chieftain gave the signal for the duel34 to commence by dropping his tomahawk to the ground.
Instantly the young Cheyenne rushed forward, whirled his tomahawk around his head, and flung it straight at the skull35 of his enemy.
But he had reckoned without his adversary’s lightninglike quickness of eye.
Kennelly ducked just in time to escape the deadly missile, which tore off part of one of the feathers in his headdress.
Straightening himself immediately, he flung his own tomahawk at the Cheyenne, burying it deep in his skull.
The man staggered, yelling his death whoop36; but before he could fall to the ground Kennelly leaped upon him, caught him in his arms as if he was a baby, and tossed him high into the air over his own head.
He fell to the ground, and when the other Indians[37] rushed up to examine him they found that not only was his skull cleft37, but that his neck had been broken by the terrible fall.
Bad Eye calmly drew his knife and took the dead man’s scalp, although he knew that that act would doubly enrage38 the already furious Cheyennes.
Then, holding the bloodstained knife above his head, and dangling39 the scalp in the other hand, he cried:
“I have overcome your champion, oh, chiefs! Who will be next to yield up his scalp to Bad Eye?”
There was no response to this challenge. The Indians were brave men, and the Cheyennes, at least, were much irritated at the death of their champion; but not one among them cared to try conclusions with such a redoubtable40 fighter as Kennelly had shown himself to be.
Suddenly Buffalo Bill rose from a clump of bushes in which he had lain concealed41, and stalked, a majestic42 figure, into the circle of light cast by the glow of the fire.
To say that the Indians were surprised by this sudden apparition43 is but faintly to convey their absolute amazement44. They looked as if a ghost had suddenly emerged into their midst.
The renegade Kennelly was not less astonished. He stared at the border king for a moment, and then sat down heavily upon the ground, picked up his discarded pipe, and began to fill it with tobacco.
Buffalo Bill surveyed the scene for a moment with quiet amusement, and then said, in the Sioux tongue:
“Greeting to you, chiefs and elders of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Crow tribes! I have heard the challenge thrown down by Bad Eye, and I come into your midst to accept it.
“You know me for your enemy. I am Long Hair, and I have slain45 many of your braves. But I come fearlessly among you for the ordeal46 by single combat, for I know your code of honor must give me a fair start on my horse after the fight is over, supposing that I come out of it victorious47. Is it not so, oh, chiefs?”
Cody’s action might have seemed to the outsider to be nothing else but suicide. To a man acquainted with the Indian laws of chivalry48, however, there was nothing so very extraordinary about it.
One of their most stringent49 rules was that an enemy who challenged one of their braves to the ordeal by single combat must be held sacred, like an envoy50 under the white man’s flag of truce51; and after the fight was over he must be allowed a good chance of retreat.
The oldest chieftain by the camp fire, after looking round the circle and catching52 the eyes of his comrades, acted as spokesman. He bent53 his head gravely, and said:
“It is as you say, Long Hair. You are a great warrior25, and your fame has been sung by our young men round the camp fires. You shall fight Bad Eye if you desire to do so, and at the end, if you live, you shall go forth54 unharmed and bestride your horse, and ride away from us. None of our braves shall seek your scalp until you are half a mile distant.”
Buffalo Bill saluted55 the chief gravely, after the Sioux fashion, and then turned to Kennelly, who sat smoking and glowering56 at him, and asked:
“What weapons?”
Nick Wharton had followed Buffalo Bill, after a moment’s pause, due to his absolute amazement at the bold course Cody had taken. His appearance did not alarm or surprise the Indians. Too many startling events had happened that evening for one more to have any effect on them.
“Durn my cats, Buffler!” said old Nick, after he had glanced defiantly58 round the circle of Indians. “You are the queerest duck I ever struck in my galumpin’ existence. What in thunder d’ye want to butt59 into this yere controversy60 for? Let me tackle thet thar Irish mountain o’ flesh! I guess I kin5 manage to settle his hash for him.”
The border king waved his friend aside, and whispered:
“Be on the watch, Nick, in case any of the Indians tries to get me in the back while I am fighting him.”
Wharton nodded, and promptly61 rested his hand upon his six-shooter in his belt, ready to whip it out and fire at a moment’s notice.
The Indians formed a ring, which was speedily added to by hundreds of other braves who flocked to the scene from the camp fires near by.
Buffalo Bill and the renegade stood in the center.
Kennelly held his tomahawk, red with the blood of the slain Cheyenne, in his hand.
Buffalo Bill did not possess such a weapon, but a Cheyenne brave stepped out of the circle of onlookers62 and handed one to him.
It was a weird and impressive scene.
The firelight cast a fitful glow on the faces of the duelists, and illumined their eyes as they circled around for a few moments, waiting the opportunity to send their sharp-edged weapons whizzing to the mark.
Suddenly Kennelly stepped forward with a rapid motion and flung his tomahawk at the border king’s head.
Buffalo Bill had held his eyes, just as the pugilist does those of his opponent, and instinctively63 he knew what was coming a second before Kennelly raised his hand.
He flung himself forward, and the tomahawk passed harmlessly a foot above his head.
“Wah!” cried the Indians, in admiration64 of the border king’s clever movement.
Before the exclamation65 had died upon their lips, Buffalo Bill had darted66 forward and struck Kennelly a terrible blow on the crown, which cleft his head asunder67 almost to the chin.
Bad Eye would trouble the peace of the border no more. The renegade had met with his deserts at last.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
buffalo
|
|
| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
tribal
|
|
| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
scouting
|
|
| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
judiciously
|
|
| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
dodge
|
|
| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
cordon
|
|
| n.警戒线，哨兵线 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
accomplished
|
|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
feat
|
|
| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
sentries
|
|
| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
clump
|
|
| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
intruding
|
|
| v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的现在分词)；把…强加于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
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： |
|
|
|
|
14
weird
|
|
| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
intensified
|
|
| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
ferocious
|
|
| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
illuminated
|
|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
traitor
|
|
| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
heed
|
|
| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
slay
|
|
| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
slayer
|
|
| n. 杀人者，凶手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
buffaloes
|
|
| n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
warrior
|
|
| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
deigning
|
|
| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
consultation
|
|
| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
squint
|
|
| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
foe
|
|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
eyelids
|
|
| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
inert
|
|
| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
hog
|
|
| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
duel
|
|
| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
skull
|
|
| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
whoop
|
|
| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
cleft
|
|
| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
enrage
|
|
| v.触怒，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
dangling
|
|
| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
redoubtable
|
|
| adj.可敬的；可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
majestic
|
|
| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
apparition
|
|
| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
slain
|
|
| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
ordeal
|
|
| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
victorious
|
|
| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
chivalry
|
|
| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
stringent
|
|
| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
envoy
|
|
| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
truce
|
|
| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
catching
|
|
| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
saluted
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
glowering
|
|
| v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
growled
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
defiantly
|
|
| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
controversy
|
|
| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
onlookers
|
|
| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
instinctively
|
|
| adv.本能地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
exclamation
|
|
| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
darted
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
asunder
|
|
| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |