The hotel and its inmates9 had rendered the distillery and its furtive10 operatives very uneasy of late, and now as Tolliver in his due turn stood guard by night he considered the probability of having to look for some better situation for his obscure manufactory with a species of sadness which it would be impossible to describe. He thought with deep bitterness of all the annoyance11 he had suffered at the hands of meddling12 government agents and from the outside world in general and he tried to understand how any person could pretend to see justice in[56] such persecution13. What had he done to merit being hunted like a wild beast? Nothing but buy his neighbor’s apples at the fair price of twenty cents a bushel and distil6 them into apple brandy! Could this possibly be any injury to any government official, or to anybody else? He paid for his still, he paid for the apples, he paid fair wages to the men who worked for him, what more could be justly demanded of him?
It was while he was wholly absorbed in trying to solve this knotty14 problem that far above a strange clink and clatter15 began, which sounded to him as if it were falling from among the stars. Nothing within his knowledge or experience suggested an explanation of such a phenomenon. He felt a thrill of superstitious16 terror creep through his iron nerves as the aerial racket increased and seemed to whisk itself from place to place with lightning celerity. An eccentric echo due to the angles and projections17 of the cliff added weird19 effect to the sounds.
The dog uttered a low plaintive20 whine21 and crept close to his master, and even wedged himself with tremulous desperation between the knees of that wondering and startled sentinel.
The clinking and clanging soon became loud and continuous, falling in a cataract22 down the escarpment, accompanied now and again by small fragments of stone and soil.
At last Tolliver got control of himself sufficiently23, and looked out from his shadowy station[57] and up towards the dizzy crown of Eagle’s Nest.
Just at that moment there was a crash and a scream. He saw a wide-winged, ghostly object come over the edge and swoop24 down. Another scream, another and another, a tearing sound, a crushing of cedar boughs25, a shower of small stones and lumps of soil.
Tolliver, frightened as he never before had been, turned and fled, followed by his ecstatic dog.
A voice, keen, clear, high, beseeching26 pursued him and reached his ears.
“Help! help! Oh, help!”
Surely this was the “Harnt that walks Mt. Boab!” This syren of the mountains had lured27 many a hunter to his doom28.
“Oh, me! Oh, my! Oh, mercy on me! Help! help!”
Tolliver ran all the faster, as the voice seemed to follow him, turn as he would. He bruised29 his shins on angular rocks, he ran against trees, he fell over logs, and at last found himself hopelessly entangled30 in a net of wild grape-vines, with his enthusiastic dog still faithfully wriggling31 between his knees.
The plaintive voice of the syren, now greatly modified by distance, assailed32 his ears with piteous persistence33, as he vainly struggled to free himself. The spot was dark as Erebus, being in the bottom of a ravine, and the more he exerted himself the worse off he became.
It was his turn to call for help, but if any of[58] his friends heard they did not heed34 his supplications, thinking them but baleful echoes of the Harnt’s deceitful voice.
It was at the gray of dawn when at last Tolliver got clear of the vines and made his way out of the ravine. By this time he had entirely35 overcome his fright, and with that stubbornness characteristic of all mountain men, he betook himself back to the exact spot whence he had so precipitately36 retreated. His dog, forlornly nonchalant, trotted37 behind him to the place and resumed the seat from which the Harnt had driven him a few hours ago. In this attitude, the animal drooped38 his nose and indifferently sniffed39 a curious object lying near.
“What’s thet ther’ thing, Mose?” inquired Tolliver, addressing the dog.
“Well I’ll ber dorg-goned!” he added, as he picked up a woman’s bonnet40. “If this here don’t beat the worl’ an’ all camp meetin’! Hit air—well, I’ll ber dorged—hit air—I’m er ghost if hit aint Miss Sara’ Anna Crabb’s bonnet, by Ned!”
He held it up by one silk string and gazed at it with a ludicrously puzzled stare. The dog whined41 and wagged his tail in humble42 sympathy with his master’s bewilderment.
“Hit’s kinder interestin’, haint it, Mose?” Tolliver went on dryly. “We’ll hev ter look inter43 this here thing, won’t we, Mose?”
As for Mose, he was looking into it with all his eyes. Indeed he was beginning to show[59] extreme interest, and his tail was pounding the ground with great rapidity.
Suddenly a thought leaped into Tolliver’s brain and with a start he glanced up the escarpment, his mouth open and his brown cheeks betraying strong emotion. Mose followed his master’s movements with kindling44 eyes, and whined dolefully, his wolfish nose lifted almost vertically45.
“Is that you, Mr. Tolliver?” fell a voice out of a cedar clump a little way up the side of the cliff.
“Hit air me,” he responded, as he saw Miss Crabb perched among the thick branches. She had her little red note-book open and was writing vigorously. Her yellow hair was disheveled so that it appeared to surround her face with a flickering46 light which to Tolliver’s mind gave it a most beautiful and altogether lovely expression.
“Now, Mr. Tolliver, won’t you please help me down from here?” she demanded, closing her note-book and placing her pencil behind her ear. “I’m awfully49 cramped50, sitting in this position so long.”
The chivalrous51 mountaineer did not wait to be appealed to a second time, but laying down his gun to which he had clung throughout the night, he clambered up the steep face of the rock, from projection18 to projection, until he reached the tree in which Miss Crabb sat.[60] Meantime she watched him with admiring eyes and just as he was about to take her in his arms and descend52 with her she exclaimed:
She took her note-book and pencil again and hurriedly made the following entry: Sinewy54, virile55, lithe56, hirsute57, fearless, plucky58, bronzed, vigorous, lank59, Greek-eyed, Roman-nosed, prompt, large-eared, typical American. Good hero for dramatic, short, winning dialect story. The magazines never refuse dialect stories.
“Now, if you please, Mr. Tolliver, I will go with you.”
It was an Herculean labor60, but Tolliver was a true hero. With one arm wound around her, after the fashion of the serpent in the group of the Laocoön, and with her long yellow hair streaming in crinkled jets over his shoulder, he slowly made his way down to the ground.
Meantime Mose, the dog, with true canine61 sympathy and helpfulness, had torn the bonnet into pathetic shreds62, and was now lying half asleep under a tree with a bit of ribbon in his teeth.
“Well, I’ll jest ber—beg parding Miss Crabb, but thet ther dog hev et up yer head-gear,” said Tolliver as he viewed with dilating63 eyes the scattered64 fragments.
She comprehended her calamity65 with one swift glance, but she had caught a new dialect phrase at the same time.
“Head-gear, you call it, I believe?” she inquired, again producing book and pencil.
“Beg parding all over, Miss Crabb, I meant bonnet,” he hurried to say.
“Oh, it’s all right, I assure you,” she replied, writing rapidly, “it’s a delightfully66 fresh and artistic67 bit of special coloring.”
Miss Crabb’s clothes were badly torn and she looked as if she had spent the night wretchedly, but with the exception of a few slight scratches and bruises68 she was unhurt.
“Well jes’ look a there, will ye!” exclaimed Tolliver as he spied Mose. There was more of admiration69 than anger in his voice. “Ef thet ther ’fernal dog haint got yer chin-ribbon in his ole mouth, I’m er rooster!”
“Chin-ribbon,” repeated Miss Crabb, making a note, “I’m er rooster,” and she smiled with intense satisfaction. “You don’t know, Mr. Tolliver, how much I am indebted to you.”
“Not a tall, Miss Crabb, not a tall. Don’t mention of it,” he humbly70 said, “hit taint71 wo’th talkin’ erbout.”
The morning was in full blow now and the cat-birds were singing sweetly down the ravine. Overhead a patch of blue sky gleamed and burned with the true empyrean glow. Far away, down in the valley by the little river, a breakfast horn was blown with many a mellow72 flourish and a cool gentle breeze with dew on its wings fanned Miss Crabb’s sallow cheeks and rustled73 Tolliver’s tawny74 beard. At the sound of the horn Mose sprang to his feet and[62] loped away with the bit of ribbon fluttering from his mouth.
点击收听单词发音
1 cedar | |
n.雪松,香柏(木) | |
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2 clump | |
n.树丛,草丛;vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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3 garb | |
n.服装,装束 | |
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4 sketch | |
n.草图;梗概;素描;v.素描;概述 | |
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5 illustrate | |
v.举例说明,阐明;图解,加插图 | |
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6 distil | |
vt.蒸馏;提取…的精华,精选出 | |
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7 elusive | |
adj.难以表达(捉摸)的;令人困惑的;逃避的 | |
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8 ignoble | |
adj.不光彩的,卑鄙的;可耻的 | |
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9 inmates | |
n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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10 furtive | |
adj.鬼鬼崇崇的,偷偷摸摸的 | |
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11 annoyance | |
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼 | |
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12 meddling | |
v.干涉,干预(他人事务)( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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13 persecution | |
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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14 knotty | |
adj.有结的,多节的,多瘤的,棘手的 | |
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15 clatter | |
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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16 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
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17 projections | |
预测( projection的名词复数 ); 投影; 投掷; 突起物 | |
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18 projection | |
n.发射,计划,突出部分 | |
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19 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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20 plaintive | |
adj.可怜的,伤心的 | |
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21 whine | |
v.哀号,号哭;n.哀鸣 | |
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22 cataract | |
n.大瀑布,奔流,洪水,白内障 | |
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23 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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24 swoop | |
n.俯冲,攫取;v.抓取,突然袭击 | |
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25 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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26 beseeching | |
adj.恳求似的v.恳求,乞求(某事物)( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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27 lured | |
吸引,引诱(lure的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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28 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
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29 bruised | |
[医]青肿的,瘀紫的 | |
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30 entangled | |
adj.卷入的;陷入的;被缠住的;缠在一起的v.使某人(某物/自己)缠绕,纠缠于(某物中),使某人(自己)陷入(困难或复杂的环境中)( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31 wriggling | |
v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等);蠕蠕 | |
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32 assailed | |
v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 );困扰;质问;毅然应对 | |
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33 persistence | |
n.坚持,持续,存留 | |
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34 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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35 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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36 precipitately | |
adv.猛进地 | |
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37 trotted | |
小跑,急走( trot的过去分词 ); 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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38 drooped | |
弯曲或下垂,发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39 sniffed | |
v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说 | |
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40 bonnet | |
n.无边女帽;童帽 | |
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41 whined | |
v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 );哀诉,诉怨 | |
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42 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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43 inter | |
v.埋葬 | |
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44 kindling | |
n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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45 vertically | |
adv.垂直地 | |
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46 flickering | |
adj.闪烁的,摇曳的,一闪一闪的 | |
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47 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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48 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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49 awfully | |
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地 | |
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50 cramped | |
a.狭窄的 | |
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51 chivalrous | |
adj.武士精神的;对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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52 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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53 jot | |
n.少量;vi.草草记下;vt.匆匆写下 | |
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54 sinewy | |
adj.多腱的,强壮有力的 | |
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55 virile | |
adj.男性的;有男性生殖力的;有男子气概的;强有力的 | |
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56 lithe | |
adj.(指人、身体)柔软的,易弯的 | |
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57 hirsute | |
adj.多毛的 | |
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58 plucky | |
adj.勇敢的 | |
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59 lank | |
adj.瘦削的;稀疏的 | |
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60 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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61 canine | |
adj.犬的,犬科的 | |
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62 shreds | |
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件) | |
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63 dilating | |
v.(使某物)扩大,膨胀,张大( dilate的现在分词 ) | |
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64 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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65 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
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66 delightfully | |
大喜,欣然 | |
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67 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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68 bruises | |
n.瘀伤,伤痕,擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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69 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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70 humbly | |
adv. 恭顺地,谦卑地 | |
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71 taint | |
n.污点;感染;腐坏;v.使感染;污染 | |
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72 mellow | |
adj.柔和的;熟透的;v.变柔和;(使)成熟 | |
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73 rustled | |
v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74 tawny | |
adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色 | |
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