Now, this process is so different from ordinary human baptism that it deserves a word of itself. A vast iron cauldron with half the fires of Avernus beneath it is partly filled with water that soon boils furiously. Into that is cast concentrated lye, lime, and sulphur, which is allowed to stew5 and fume6 until the witches' broth7 is strong enough to scorch8 the third arm of Palladino herself.
Then this concentrated brew9 is mixed in a long, deep vat10 with cubic gallons of hot water, and the sheep are caught by their hind11 legs and flung into the compound. After being thoroughly12 ducked by means of a forked pole in the hands of a gentleman detailed13 for that purpose, they are allowed to clamber up an incline into a corral and dry or die, as the state of their constitutions may decree. If you ever caught an able-bodied, two-year-old mutton by the hind legs and felt the 750 volts14 of kicking that he can send though your arm seventeen times before you can hurl15 him into the vat, you will, of course, hope that he may die instead of dry.
But this is merely to explain why Bud Oakley and I gladly stretched ourselves on the bank of the nearby charco after the dipping, glad for the welcome inanition and pure contact with the earth after our muscle-racking labours. The flock was a small one, and we finished at three in the afternoon; so Bud brought from the morral on his saddle horn, coffee and a coffeepot and a big hunk of bread and some side bacon. Mr. Mills, the ranch owner and my old friend, rode away to the ranch with his force of Mexican trabajadores.
While the bacon was frizzling nicely, there was the sound of horses' hoofs16 behind us. Bud's six-shooter lay in its scabbard ten feet away from his hand. He paid not the slightest heed18 to the approaching horseman. This attitude of a Texas ranchman was so different from the old-time custom that I marvelled19. Instinctively20 I turned to inspect the possible foe21 that menaced us in the rear. I saw a horseman dressed in black, who might have been a lawyer or a parson or an undertaker, trotting22 peaceably along the road by the arroyo23.
Bud noticed my precautionary movement and smiled sarcastically24 and sorrowfully.
"You've been away too long," said he. "You don't need to look around any more when anybody gallops25 up behind you in this state, unless something hits you in the back; and even then it's liable to be only a bunch of tracts26 or a petition to sign against the trusts. I never looked at that hombre that rode by; but I'll bet a quart of sheep dip that he's some double-dyed son of a popgun out rounding up prohibition27 votes."
"Times have changed, Bud," said I, oracularly. "Law and order is the rule now in the South and the Southwest."
I caught a cold gleam from Bud's pale blue eyes.
"Not that I—" I began, hastily.
"Of course you don't," said Bud warmly. "You know better. You've lived here before. Law and order, you say? Twenty years ago we had 'em here. We only had two or three laws, such as against murder before witnesses, and being caught stealing horses, and voting the Republican ticket. But how is it now? All we get is orders; and the laws go out of the state. Them legislators set up there at Austin and don't do nothing but make laws against kerosene28 oil and schoolbooks being brought into the state. I reckon they was afraid some man would go home some evening after work and light up and get an education and go to work and make laws to repeal29 aforesaid laws. Me, I'm for the old days when law and order meant what they said. A law was a law, and a order was a order."
"But—" I began.
"I was going on," continued Bud, "while this coffee is boiling, to describe to you a case of genuine law and order that I knew of once in the times when cases was decided30 in the chambers31 of a six-shooter instead of a supreme32 court.
"You've heard of old Ben Kirkman, the cattle king? His ranch run from the Nueces to the Rio Grande. In them days, as you know, there was cattle barons33 and cattle kings. The difference was this: when a cattleman went to San Antone and bought beer for the newspaper reporters and only give them the number of cattle he actually owned, they wrote him up for a baron34. When he bought 'em champagne35 wine and added in the amount of cattle he had stole, they called him a king.
"Luke Summers was one of his range bosses. And down to the king's ranch comes one day a bunch of these Oriental people from New York or Kansas City or thereabouts. Luke was detailed with a squad36 to ride about with 'em, and see that the rattlesnakes got fair warning when they was coming, and drive the deer out of their way. Among the bunch was a black-eyed girl that wore a number two shoe. That's all I noticed about her. But Luke must have seen more, for he married her one day before the caballard started back, and went over on Canada Verde and set up a ranch of his own. I'm skipping over the sentimental37 stuff on purpose, because I never saw or wanted to see any of it. And Luke takes me along with him because we was old friends and I handled cattle to suit him.
"I'm skipping over much what followed, because I never saw or wanted to see any of it—but three years afterward38 there was a boy kid stumbling and blubbering around the galleries and floors of Luke's ranch. I never had no use for kids; but it seems they did. And I'm skipping over much what followed until one day out to the ranch drives in hacks39 and buckboards a lot of Mrs. Summers's friends from the East—a sister or so and two or three men. One looked like an uncle to somebody; and one looked like nothing; and the other one had on corkscrew pants and spoke41 in a tone of voice. I never liked a man who spoke in a tone of voice.
"I'm skipping over much what followed; but one afternoon when I rides up to the ranch house to get some orders about a drove of beeves that was to be shipped, I hears something like a popgun go off. I waits at the hitching42 rack, not wishing to intrude44 on private affairs. In a little while Luke comes out and gives some orders to some of his Mexican hands, and they go and hitch43 up sundry45 and divers46 vehicles; and mighty47 soon out comes one of the sisters or so and some of the two or three men. But two of the two or three men carries between 'em the corkscrew man who spoke in a tone of voice, and lays him flat down in one of the wagons48. And they all might have been seen wending their way away.
"'Bud,' says Luke to me, 'I want you to fix up a little and go up to San Antone with me.'
"'Let me get on my Mexican spurs,' says I, 'and I'm your company.'
"One of the sisters or so seems to have stayed at the ranch with Mrs. Summers and the kid. We rides to Encinal and catches the International, and hits San Antone in the morning. After breakfast Luke steers49 me straight to the office of a lawyer. They go in a room and talk and then come out.
"'Oh, there won't be any trouble, Mr. Summers,' says the lawyer. 'I'll acquaint Judge Simmons with the facts to-day; and the matter will be put through as promptly50 as possible. Law and order reigns51 in this state as swift and sure as any in the country.'
"'I'll wait for the decree if it won't take over half an hour,' says Luke.
"'Tut, tut,' says the lawyer man. 'Law must take its course. Come back day after to-morrow at half-past nine.'
"At that time me and Luke shows up, and the lawyer hands him a folded document. And Luke writes him out a check.
"On the sidewalk Luke holds up the paper to me and puts a finger the size of a kitchen door latch52 on it and says:
"'Decree of ab-so-lute divorce with cus-to-dy of the child.'
"'Skipping over much what has happened of which I know nothing,' says I, 'it looks to me like a split. Couldn't the lawyer man have made it a strike for you?'
"'Bud,' says he, in a pained style, 'that child is the one thing I have to live for. She may go; but the boy is mine!—think of it—I have cus-to-dy of the child.'
"'All right,' says I. 'If it's the law, let's abide53 by it. But I think,' says I, 'that Judge Simmons might have used exemplary clemency54, or whatever is the legal term, in our case.'
"You see, I wasn't inveigled55 much into the desirableness of having infants around a ranch, except the kind that feed themselves and sell for so much on the hoof17 when they grow up. But Luke was struck with that sort of parental56 foolishness that I never could understand. All the way riding from the station back to the ranch, he kept pulling that decree out of his pocket and laying his finger on the back of it and reading off to me the sum and substance of it. 'Cus-to-dy of the child, Bud,' says he. 'Don't forget it—cus-to-dy of the child.'
"But when we hits the ranch we finds our decree of court obviated57, nolle prossed, and remanded for trial. Mrs. Summers and the kid was gone. They tell us that an hour after me and Luke had started for San Antone she had a team hitched58 and lit out for the nearest station with her trunks and the youngster.
"Luke takes out his decree once more and reads off its emoluments59.
"'It ain't possible, Bud,' says he, 'for this to be. It's contrary to law and order. It's wrote as plain as day here—"Cus-to-dy of the child."'
"'There is what you might call a human leaning,' says I, 'toward smashing 'em both—not to mention the child.'
"'Judge Simmons,' goes on Luke, 'is a incorporated officer of the law. She can't take the boy away. He belongs to me by statutes61 passed and approved by the state of Texas.'
"'And he's removed from the jurisdiction62 of mundane63 mandamuses,' says I, 'by the unearthly statutes of female partiality. Let us praise the Lord and be thankful for whatever small mercies—' I begins; but I see Luke don't listen to me. Tired as he was, he calls for a fresh horse and starts back again for the station.
"He come back two weeks afterward, not saying much.
"'We can't get the trail,' says he; 'but we've done all the telegraphing that the wires'll stand, and we've got these city rangers64 they call detectives on the lookout65. In the meantime, Bud,' says he, 'we'll round up them cows on Brush Creek66, and wait for the law to take its course.'"
"Skipping over much what happened in the next twelve years, Luke was made sheriff of Mojada County. He made me his office deputy. Now, don't get in your mind no wrong apparitions69 of a office deputy doing sums in a book or mashing60 letters in a cider press. In them days his job was to watch the back windows so nobody didn't plug the sheriff in the rear while he was adding up mileage70 at his desk in front. And in them days I had qualifications for the job. And there was law and order in Mojada County, and schoolbooks, and all the whiskey you wanted, and the Government built its own battleships instead of collecting nickels from the school children to do it with. And, as I say, there was law and order instead of enactments71 and restrictions72 such as disfigure our umpire state to-day. We had our office at Bildad, the county seat, from which we emerged forth73 on necessary occasions to soothe74 whatever fracases and unrest that might occur in our jurisdiction.
"Skipping over much what happened while me and Luke was sheriff, I want to give you an idea of how the law was respected in them days. Luke was what you would call one of the most conscious men in the world. He never knew much book law, but he had the inner emoluments of justice and mercy inculcated into his system. If a respectable citizen shot a Mexican or held up a train and cleaned out the safe in the express car, and Luke ever got hold of him, he'd give the guilty party such a reprimand and a cussin' out that he'd probable never do it again. But once let somebody steal a horse (unless it was a Spanish pony), or cut a wire fence, or otherwise impair75 the peace and indignity76 of Mojada County, Luke and me would be on 'em with habeas corpuses and smokeless powder and all the modern inventions of equity77 and etiquette78.
"We certainly had our county on a basis of lawfulness79. I've known persons of Eastern classification with little spotted80 caps and buttoned-up shoes to get off the train at Bildad and eat sandwiches at the railroad station without being shot at or even roped and drug about by the citizens of the town.
"Luke had his own ideas of legality and justice. He was kind of training me to succeed him when he went out of office. He was always looking ahead to the time when he'd quit sheriffing. What he wanted to do was to build a yellow house with lattice-work under the porch and have hens scratching in the yard. The one main thing in his mind seemed to be the yard.
"'Bud,' he says to me, 'by instinct and sentiment I'm a contractor81. I want to be a contractor. That's what I'll be when I get out of office.'
"'What kind of a contractor?' says I. 'It sounds like a kind of a business to me. You ain't going to haul cement or establish branches or work on a railroad, are you?'
"'You don't understand,' says Luke. 'I'm tired of space and horizons and territory and distances and things like that. What I want is reasonable contraction82. I want a yard with a fence around it that you can go out and set on after supper and listen to whip-poor-wills,' says Luke.
"That's the kind of a man he was. He was home-like, although he'd had bad luck in such investments. But he never talked about them times on the ranch. It seemed like he'd forgotten about it. I wondered how, with his ideas of yards and chickens and notions of lattice-work, he'd seemed to have got out of his mind that kid of his that had been taken away from him, unlawful, in spite of his decree of court. But he wasn't a man you could ask about such things as he didn't refer to in his own conversation.
"I reckon he'd put all his emotions and ideas into being sheriff. I've read in books about men that was disappointed in these poetic83 and fine-haired and high-collared affairs with ladies renouncing84 truck of that kind and wrapping themselves up into some occupation like painting pictures, or herding85 sheep, or science, or teaching school—something to make 'em forget. Well, I guess that was the way with Luke. But, as he couldn't paint pictures, he took it out in rounding up horse thieves and in making Mojada County a safe place to sleep in if you was well armed and not afraid of requisitions or tarantulas.
"One day there passes through Bildad a bunch of these money investors87 from the East, and they stopped off there, Bildad being the dinner station on the I. & G. N. They was just coming back from Mexico looking after mines and such. There was five of 'em—four solid parties, with gold watch chains, that would grade up over two hundred pounds on the hoof, and one kid about seventeen or eighteen.
"This youngster had on one of them cowboy suits such as tenderfoots bring West with 'em; and you could see he was aching to wing a couple of Indians or bag a grizzly88 or two with the little pearl-handled gun he had buckled89 around his waist.
"I walked down to the depot90 to keep an eye on the outfit91 and see that they didn't locate any land or scare the cow ponies92 hitched in front of Murchison's store or act otherwise unseemly. Luke was away after a gang of cattle thieves down on the Frio, and I always looked after the law and order when he wasn't there.
"After dinner this boy comes out of the dining-room while the train was waiting, and prances93 up and down the platform ready to shoot all antelope94, lions, or private citizens that might endeavour to molest95 or come too near him. He was a good-looking kid; only he was like all them tenderfoots—he didn't know a law-and-order town when he saw it.
"By and by along comes Pedro Johnson, the proprietor96 of the Crystal Palace chili-con-carne stand in Bildad. Pedro was a man who liked to amuse himself; so he kind of herd86 rides this youngster, laughing at him, tickled97 to death. I was too far away to hear, but the kid seems to mention some remarks to Pedro, and Pedro goes up and slaps him about nine feet away, and laughs harder than ever. And then the boy gets up quicker than he fell and jerks out his little pearl-handle, and—bing! bing! bing! Pedro gets it three times in special and treasured portions of his carcass. I saw the dust fly off his clothes every time the bullets hit. Sometimes them little thirty-twos cause worry at close range.
"The engine bell was ringing, and the train starting off slow. I goes up to the kid and places him under arrest, and takes away his gun. But the first thing I knew that caballard of capitalists makes a break for the train. One of 'em hesitates in front of me for a second, and kind of smiles and shoves his hand up against my chin, and I sort of laid down on the platform and took a nap. I never was afraid of guns; but I don't want any person except a barber to take liberties like that with my face again. When I woke up, the whole outfit—train, boy, and all—was gone. I asked about Pedro, and they told me the doctor said he would recover provided his wounds didn't turn out to be fatal.
"When Luke got back three days later, and I told him about it, he was mad all over.
"'Why'n't you telegraph to San Antone,' he asks, 'and have the bunch arrested there?'
"'Oh, well,' says I, 'I always did admire telegraphy; but astronomy was what I had took up just then.' That capitalist sure knew how to gesticulate with his hands.
"Luke got madder and madder. He investigates and finds in the depot a card one of the men had dropped that gives the address of some hombre called Scudder in New York City.
"'Bud,' says Luke, 'I'm going after that bunch. I'm going there and get the man or boy, as you say he was, and bring him back. I'm sheriff of Mojada County, and I shall keep law and order in its precincts while I'm able to draw a gun. And I want you to go with me. No Eastern Yankee can shoot up a respectable and well-known citizen of Bildad, 'specially98 with a thirty-two calibre, and escape the law. Pedro Johnson,' says Luke, 'is one of our most prominent citizens and business men. I'll appoint Sam Bell acting99 sheriff with penitentiary100 powers while I'm away, and you and me will take the six forty-five northbound to-morrow evening and follow up this trail.'
"'I'm your company,' says I. 'I never see this New York, but I'd like to. But, Luke,' says I, 'don't you have to have a dispensation or a habeas corpus or something from the state, when you reach out that far for rich men and malefactors?'
"'Did I have a requisition,' says Luke, 'when I went over into the Brazos bottoms and brought back Bill Grimes and two more for holding up the International? Did me and you have a search warrant or a posse comitatus when we rounded up them six Mexican cow thieves down in Hidalgo? It's my business to keep order in Mojada County.'
"'And it's my business as office deputy,' says I, 'to see that business is carried on according to law. Between us both we ought to keep things pretty well cleaned up.'
"So, the next day, Luke packs a blanket and some collars and his mileage book in a haversack, and him and me hits the breeze for New York. It was a powerful long ride. The seats in the cars was too short for six-footers like us to sleep comfortable on; and the conductor had to keep us from getting off at every town that had five-story houses in it. But we got there finally; and we seemed to see right away that he was right about it.
"'Luke,' says I, 'as office deputy and from a law standpoint, it don't look to me like this place is properly and legally in the jurisdiction of Mojada County, Texas.'
"'From the standpoint of order,' says he, 'it's amenable101 to answer for its sins to the properly appointed authorities from Bildad to Jerusalem.'
"'Amen,' says I. 'But let's turn our trick sudden, and ride. I don't like the looks of this place.'
"'Think of Pedro Johnson,' says Luke, 'a friend of mine and yours shot down by one of these gilded102 abolitionists at his very door!'
"'It was at the door of the freight depot,' says I. 'But the law will not be balked103 at a quibble like that.'
"We put up at one of them big hotels on Broadway. The next morning I goes down about two miles of stairsteps to the bottom and hunts for Luke. It ain't no use. It looks like San Jacinto day in San Antone. There's a thousand folks milling around in a kind of a roofed-over plaza104 with marble pavements and trees growing right out of 'em, and I see no more chance of finding Luke than if we was hunting each other in the big pear flat down below Old Fort Ewell. But soon Luke and me runs together in one of the turns of them marble alleys105.
"'It ain't no use, Bud,' says he. 'I can't find no place to eat at. I've been looking for restaurant signs and smelling for ham all over the camp. But I'm used to going hungry when I have to. Now,' says he, 'I'm going out and get a hack40 and ride down to the address on this Scudder card. You stay here and try to hustle106 some grub. But I doubt if you'll find it. I wish we'd brought along some cornmeal and bacon and beans. I'll be back when I see this Scudder, if the trail ain't wiped out.'
"So I starts foraging107 for breakfast. For the honour of old Mojada County I didn't want to seem green to them abolitionists, so every time I turned a corner in them marble halls I went up to the first desk or counter I see and looks around for grub. If I didn't see what I wanted I asked for something else. In about half an hour I had a dozen cigars, five story magazines, and seven or eight railroad time-tables in my pockets, and never a smell of coffee or bacon to point out the trail.
"Once a lady sitting at a table and playing a game kind of like pushpin told me to go into a closet that she called Number 3. I went in and shut the door, and the blamed thing lit itself up. I set down on a stool before a shelf and waited. Thinks I, 'This is a private dining-room.' But no waiter never came. When I got to sweating good and hard, I goes out again.
"'Did you get what you wanted?' says she.
"'No, ma'am,' says I. 'Not a bite.'
"'Then there's no charge,' says she.
"'Thanky, ma'am,' says I, and I takes up the trail again.
"By and by I thinks I'll shed etiquette; and I picks up one of them boys with blue clothes and yellow buttons in front, and he leads me to what he calls the caffay breakfast room. And the first thing I lays my eyes on when I go in is that boy that had shot Pedro Johnson. He was setting all alone at a little table, hitting a egg with a spoon like he was afraid he'd break it.
"I takes the chair across the table from him; and he looks insulted and makes a move like he was going to get up.
"'Keep still, son,' says I. 'You're apprehended108, arrested, and in charge of the Texas authorities. Go on and hammer that egg some more if it's the inside of it you want. Now, what did you shoot Mr. Johnson, of Bildad, for?'
"And may I ask who you are?' says he.
"'You may,' says I. 'Go ahead.'
"'I suppose you're on,' says this kid, without batting his eyes. 'But what are you eating? Here, waiter!' he calls out, raising his finger. 'Take this gentleman's order.
"'A beefsteak,' says I, 'and some fried eggs and a can of peaches and a quart of coffee will about suffice.'
"We talk awhile about the sundries of life and then he says:
"'What are you going to do about that shooting? I had a right to shoot that man,' says he. 'He called me names that I couldn't overlook, and then he struck me. He carried a gun, too. What else could I do?'
"'We'll have to take you back to Texas,' says I.
"'I'd like to go back,' says the boy, with a kind of a grin—'if it wasn't on an occasion of this kind. It's the life I like. I've always wanted to ride and shoot and live in the open air ever since I can remember.'
"'My stepfather,' says he, 'and some business partners of his in some Mexican mining and land schemes.'
"'I saw you shoot Pedro Johnson,' says I, 'and I took that little popgun away from you that you did it with. And when I did so I noticed three or four little scars in a row over your right eyebrow110. You've been in rookus before, haven't you?'
"'I've had these scars ever since I can remember,' says he. 'I don't know how they came there.'
"'Was you ever in Texas before?' says I.
"'Not that I remember of,' says he. 'But I thought I had when we struck the prairie country. But I guess I hadn't.'
"'Have you got a mother?' I asks.
"'She died five years ago,' says he.
"Skipping over the most of what followed—when Luke came back I turned the kid over to him. He had seen Scudder and told him what he wanted; and it seems that Scudder got active with one of these telephones as soon as he left. For in about an hour afterward there comes to our hotel some of these city rangers in everyday clothes that they call detectives, and marches the whole outfit of us to what they call a magistrate's court. They accuse Luke of attempted kidnapping, and ask him what he has to say.
"'This snipe,' says Luke to the judge, 'shot and wilfully111 punctured112 with malice113 and forethought one of the most respected and prominent citizens of the town of Bildad, Texas, Your Honor. And in so doing laid himself liable to the penitence114 of law and order. And I hereby make claim and demand restitution115 of the State of New York City for the said alleged116 criminal; and I know he done it.'
"'Have you the usual and necessary requisition papers from the governor of your state?' asks the judge.
"'My usual papers,' says Luke, 'was taken away from me at the hotel by these gentlemen who represent law and order in your city. They was two Colt's .45's that I've packed for nine years; and if I don't get 'em back, there'll be more trouble. You can ask anybody in Mojada County about Luke Summers. I don't usually need any other kind of papers for what I do.'
"I see the judge looks mad, so I steps up and says:
"'Your Honor, the aforesaid defendant117, Mr. Luke Summers, sheriff of Mojada County, Texas, is as fine a man as ever threw a rope or upheld the statutes and codicils118 of the greatest state in the union. But he—'
"The judge hits his table with a wooden hammer and asks who I am.
"Bud Oakley,' says I. 'Office deputy of the sheriff's office of Mojada County, Texas. Representing,' says I, 'the Law. Luke Summers,' I goes on, 'represents Order. And if Your Honor will give me about ten minutes in private talk, I'll explain the whole thing to you, and show you the equitable119 and legal requisition papers which I carry in my pocket.'
"The judge kind of half smiles and says he will talk with me in his private room. In there I put the whole thing up to him in such language as I had, and when we goes outside, he announces the verdict that the young man is delivered into the hands of the Texas authorities; and calls the next case.
"Skipping over much of what happened on the way back, I'll tell you how the thing wound up in Bildad.
"When we got the prisoner in the sheriff's office, I says to Luke:
"'You, remember that kid of yours—that two-year old that they stole away from you when the bust-up come?'
"Luke looks black and angry. He'd never let anybody talk to him about that business, and he never mentioned it himself.
"'Toe the mark,' says I. 'Do you remember when he was toddling120 around on the porch and fell down on a pair of Mexican spurs and cut four little holes over his right eye? Look at the prisoner,' says I, 'look at his nose and the shape of his head and—why, you old fool, don't you know your own son?—I knew him,' says I, 'when he perforated Mr. Johnson at the depot.'
"Luke comes over to me shaking all over. I never saw him lose his nerve before.
"'Bud,' says he. 'I've never had that boy out of my mind one day or one night since he was took away. But I never let on. But can we hold him?— Can we make him stay?— I'll make the best man of him that ever put his foot in a stirrup. Wait a minute,' says he, all excited and out of his mind—'I've got some-thing here in my desk—I reckon it'll hold legal yet—I've looked at it a thousand times—"Cus-to-dy of the child,"' says Luke—'"Cus-to-dy of the child." We can hold him on that, can't we? Le'me see if I can find that decree.'
"Luke begins to tear his desk to pieces.
"'Hold on,' says I. 'You are Order and I'm Law. You needn't look for that paper, Luke. It ain't a decree any more. It's requisition papers. It's on file in that Magistrate's office in New York. I took it along when we went, because I was office deputy and knew the law.'
"'I've got him back,' says Luke. 'He's mine again. I never thought—'
"'Wait a minute,' says I. 'We've got to have law and order. You and me have got to preserve 'em both in Mojada County according to our oath and conscience. The kid shot Pedro Johnson, one of Bildad's most prominent and—'
"'Oh, hell!' says Luke. 'That don't amount to anything. That fellow was half Mexican, anyhow.'"
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1 vistas | |
长条形景色( vista的名词复数 ); 回顾; 展望; (未来可能发生的)一系列情景 | |
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2 ranch | |
n.大牧场,大农场 | |
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3 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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4 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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5 stew | |
n.炖汤,焖,烦恼;v.炖汤,焖,忧虑 | |
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6 fume | |
n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟,气,汽 | |
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7 broth | |
n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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8 scorch | |
v.烧焦,烤焦;高速疾驶;n.烧焦处,焦痕 | |
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9 brew | |
v.酿造,调制 | |
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10 vat | |
n.(=value added tax)增值税,大桶 | |
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11 hind | |
adj.后面的,后部的 | |
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12 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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13 detailed | |
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的 | |
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14 volts | |
n.(电压单位)伏特( volt的名词复数 ) | |
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15 hurl | |
vt.猛投,力掷,声叫骂 | |
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16 hoofs | |
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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17 hoof | |
n.(马,牛等的)蹄 | |
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18 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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19 marvelled | |
v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
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21 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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22 trotting | |
小跑,急走( trot的现在分词 ); 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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23 arroyo | |
n.干涸的河床,小河 | |
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24 sarcastically | |
adv.挖苦地,讽刺地 | |
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25 gallops | |
(马等)奔驰,骑马奔驰( gallop的名词复数 ) | |
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26 tracts | |
大片土地( tract的名词复数 ); 地带; (体内的)道; (尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的)短文 | |
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27 prohibition | |
n.禁止;禁令,禁律 | |
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28 kerosene | |
n.(kerosine)煤油,火油 | |
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29 repeal | |
n.废止,撤消;v.废止,撤消 | |
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30 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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31 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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32 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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33 barons | |
男爵( baron的名词复数 ); 巨头; 大王; 大亨 | |
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34 baron | |
n.男爵;(商业界等)巨头,大王 | |
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35 champagne | |
n.香槟酒;微黄色 | |
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36 squad | |
n.班,小队,小团体;vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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37 sentimental | |
adj.多愁善感的,感伤的 | |
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38 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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39 hacks | |
黑客 | |
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40 hack | |
n.劈,砍,出租马车;v.劈,砍,干咳 | |
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41 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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42 hitching | |
搭乘; (免费)搭乘他人之车( hitch的现在分词 ); 搭便车; 攀上; 跃上 | |
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43 hitch | |
v.免费搭(车旅行);系住;急提;n.故障;急拉 | |
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44 intrude | |
vi.闯入;侵入;打扰,侵扰 | |
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45 sundry | |
adj.各式各样的,种种的 | |
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46 divers | |
adj.不同的;种种的 | |
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47 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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48 wagons | |
n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 );铁路货车;小手推车 | |
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49 steers | |
n.阉公牛,肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
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50 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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51 reigns | |
n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 );君主统治时期;任期;当政期 | |
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52 latch | |
n.门闩,窗闩;弹簧锁 | |
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53 abide | |
vi.遵守;坚持;vt.忍受 | |
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54 clemency | |
n.温和,仁慈,宽厚 | |
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55 inveigled | |
v.诱骗,引诱( inveigle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56 parental | |
adj.父母的;父的;母的 | |
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57 obviated | |
v.避免,消除(贫困、不方便等)( obviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58 hitched | |
(免费)搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 ); 搭便车; 攀上; 跃上 | |
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59 emoluments | |
n.报酬,薪水( emolument的名词复数 ) | |
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60 mashing | |
捣碎 | |
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61 statutes | |
成文法( statute的名词复数 ); 法令; 法规; 章程 | |
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62 jurisdiction | |
n.司法权,审判权,管辖权,控制权 | |
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63 mundane | |
adj.平凡的;尘世的;宇宙的 | |
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64 rangers | |
护林者( ranger的名词复数 ); 突击队员 | |
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65 lookout | |
n.注意,前途,瞭望台 | |
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66 creek | |
n.小溪,小河,小湾 | |
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67 alluded | |
提及,暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68 allusions | |
暗指,间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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69 apparitions | |
n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 );幽灵;鬼;(特异景象等的)出现 | |
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70 mileage | |
n.里程,英里数;好处,利润 | |
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71 enactments | |
n.演出( enactment的名词复数 );展现;规定;通过 | |
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72 restrictions | |
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
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73 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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74 soothe | |
v.安慰;使平静;使减轻;缓和;奉承 | |
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75 impair | |
v.损害,损伤;削弱,减少 | |
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76 indignity | |
n.侮辱,伤害尊严,轻蔑 | |
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77 equity | |
n.公正,公平,(无固定利息的)股票 | |
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78 etiquette | |
n.礼仪,礼节;规矩 | |
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79 lawfulness | |
法制,合法 | |
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80 spotted | |
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
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81 contractor | |
n.订约人,承包人,收缩肌 | |
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82 contraction | |
n.缩略词,缩写式,害病 | |
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83 poetic | |
adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
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84 renouncing | |
v.声明放弃( renounce的现在分词 );宣布放弃;宣布与…决裂;宣布摒弃 | |
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85 herding | |
中畜群 | |
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86 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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87 investors | |
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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88 grizzly | |
adj.略为灰色的,呈灰色的;n.灰色大熊 | |
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89 buckled | |
a. 有带扣的 | |
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90 depot | |
n.仓库,储藏处;公共汽车站;火车站 | |
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91 outfit | |
n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装 | |
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92 ponies | |
矮种马,小型马( pony的名词复数 ); £25 25 英镑 | |
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93 prances | |
v.(马)腾跃( prance的第三人称单数 ) | |
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94 antelope | |
n.羚羊;羚羊皮 | |
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95 molest | |
vt.骚扰,干扰,调戏 | |
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96 proprietor | |
n.所有人;业主;经营者 | |
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97 tickled | |
(使)发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)愉快,逗乐 | |
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98 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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99 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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100 penitentiary | |
n.感化院;监狱 | |
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101 amenable | |
adj.经得起检验的;顺从的;对负有义务的 | |
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102 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
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103 balked | |
v.畏缩不前,犹豫( balk的过去式和过去分词 );(指马)不肯跑 | |
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104 plaza | |
n.广场,市场 | |
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105 alleys | |
胡同,小巷( alley的名词复数 ); 小径 | |
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106 hustle | |
v.推搡;竭力兜售或获取;催促;n.奔忙(碌) | |
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107 foraging | |
v.搜寻(食物),尤指动物觅(食)( forage的现在分词 );(尤指用手)搜寻(东西) | |
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108 apprehended | |
逮捕,拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 ); 理解 | |
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110 eyebrow | |
n.眉毛,眉 | |
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111 wilfully | |
adv.任性固执地;蓄意地 | |
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112 punctured | |
v.在(某物)上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 );刺穿(某物);削弱(某人的傲气、信心等);泄某人的气 | |
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113 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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114 penitence | |
n.忏悔,赎罪;悔过 | |
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115 restitution | |
n.赔偿;恢复原状 | |
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116 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
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117 defendant | |
n.被告;adj.处于被告地位的 | |
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118 codicils | |
n.遗嘱的附件( codicil的名词复数 ) | |
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119 equitable | |
adj.公平的;公正的 | |
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120 toddling | |
v.(幼儿等)东倒西歪地走( toddle的现在分词 );蹒跚行走;溜达;散步 | |
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