In a big hog-wallow lay the skeletons of three Mexicans. Their clothing alone served to identify them. The largest of the figures had once been Sebastiano Saldar. His great, costly3 sombrero, heavy with gold ornamentation—a hat famous all along the Rio Grande—lay there pierced by three bullets. Along the ridge4 of the hog-wallow rested the rusting5 Winchesters of the Mexicans—all pointing in the same direction.
The rangers6 rode in that direction for fifty yards. There, in a little depression of the ground, with his rifle still bearing upon the three, lay another skeleton. It had been a battle of extermination8. There was nothing to identify the solitary9 defender10. His clothing—such as the elements had left distinguishable—seemed to be of the kind that any ranchman or cowboy might have worn.
"Some cow-puncher," said Manning, "that they caught out alone. Good boy! He put up a dandy scrap11 before they got him. So that's why we didn't hear from Don Sebastiano any more!"
And then, from beneath the weather-beaten rags of the dead man, there wriggled12 out a horned frog with a faded red ribbon around its neck, and sat upon the shoulder of its long quiet master. Mutely it told the story of the untried youth and the swift "paint" pony—how they had outstripped13 all their comrades that day in the pursuit of the Mexican raiders, and how the boy had gone down upholding the honour of the company.
The ranger7 troop herded14 close, and a simultaneous wild yell arose from their lips. The outburst was at once a dirge15, an apology, an epitaph, and a pæan of triumph. A strange requiem16, you may say, over the body of a fallen, comrade; but if Jimmy Hayes could have heard it he would have understood.
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1 smuggling | |
n.走私 | |
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2 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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3 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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4 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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5 rusting | |
n.生锈v.(使)生锈( rust的现在分词 ) | |
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6 rangers | |
护林者( ranger的名词复数 ); 突击队员 | |
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7 ranger | |
n.国家公园管理员,护林员;骑兵巡逻队员 | |
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8 extermination | |
n.消灭,根绝 | |
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9 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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10 defender | |
n.保卫者,拥护者,辩护人 | |
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11 scrap | |
n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废 | |
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12 wriggled | |
v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等) | |
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13 outstripped | |
v.做得比…更好,(在赛跑等中)超过( outstrip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 herded | |
群集,纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 ); 放牧; (使)向…移动 | |
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15 dirge | |
n.哀乐,挽歌,庄重悲哀的乐曲 | |
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16 requiem | |
n.安魂曲,安灵曲 | |
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