Close to the waters of the Tepee River, now returned to its normal sluggishness1 with the rapidity of mountain-fed streams, a man sat on his heels in a clump2 of spruce. There, two miles above the construction camp, the canyon3 fell away more gradually to the old river bottom, and the trees, encouraged by a century of immunity4 from floods, crept ever downward until they pressed to the very edge of the channel that held the waters of the Tepee fifty weeks of the year.
It was evening. Clear as lines on a white sheet the woods on the other side stood out in the dustless air against the flaming sky. The wide band of water that intervened gleamed in the setting sun, scarce revealing the existence of a current. Save for the low chatter5 of nesting birds and the gentle gurgle of water beneath the bank there was not a sound. The wind was against the camp. For all the solitary6 man could hear he might have been the only human within the northland.
About him was a furtiveness7 of the wilds, not guilty but protective. In such surroundings he had been born, there he had spent most of his days. You could read it in the crouch8, the quiet, unwasted movements, the unconscious attitudes.
His face told much of his story. Those bright, darting9 eyes, crooked10 though they were, missed nothing; those sudden spaces of motionlessness, the peculiar11, utterly12 still tilt13 of the head, were the natural impulses of one ever listening; the calm immobility of the dusky face was bred of a life of self-sufficiency, where muscle and eye were ever-active guardians14. The coarse black hair that straggled from beneath a dirty Stetson, the high cheek bones, the swarthy complexion15; these the outward signals of his half-breed origin. Yet from Stetson to high-heeled boots he was a cowboy, with the individual eccentricities16 in dress that scorned hairy chaps for leather, and walked with an arch of leg that craved17 the back of a horse to fill it.
The half breed was whittling18, yet even in that simple recreation of the careless he bent19 to his surroundings. No crackling of hasty knife, no splashing about of shavings. Already one capacious pocket was filled with them, and those just made lay in a neat heap for hasty collection.
Often his hand held to listen, and always as he listened his eyes sought the shadows among the trees on the far shore. A scowl20 was twisting his face, of worry, not of anger; sometimes the knife bit into the soft stick with muscular response to his thoughts.
Presently he pushed the dirty Stetson back and ran a sleeve across his forehead, though it was not warm. Raising himself to his feet within the limited range of the clump of trees, he peered anxiously across the river, searching the opposite bank from the east to where it curved southward above the camp.
"Gor swizzle! Ef she don't come soon I gotta git over thar an' trail her. . . . An' that means givin' up the job . . . an' mebbe losin' out. Suthin' 's happened; she never took so long before. . . . But pshaw! what with Whiskers 'n' Juno--they'd take's good keer o' her as I cud myself."
He resumed his seat, but not the whittling, leaning against a tree with closed eyes. But he was not resting, for deep sighs broke from him, and his muscles were not loose.
Suddenly his eyes opened wide with a look of alarm, though not a muscle twitched21. His quick ears had caught a sound among the trees at his back. On the instant he appraised22 the risk of the gleaming water before him, and then, like a part of the shadows, seemed to melt into the ground. The clump of spruce was there, and the shadows, just as they had been all these years, but not a shaving, not a mark.
Far out in the current the smooth gleam of the water was broken in moving eddies23. Some round object was making its way toward the bank. In the cover of another cluster of trees further down the bank the halfbreed leaned out over the water and waved a warning hand. He dare not whistle or shout. But the round object, not forty yards out, turned sideways, revealing the head of a large dog.
At the same moment a rifle snapped from the thickets26 behind, and even as the halfbreed flattened27 out he noted28 the swift flash of spume close to the dog's head. Instantly the head dived. Instantly, too, the second cluster of trees was empty, though there had been no sound, no perceptible movement.
Yards further down the stream the head reappeared, directed now to the far bank and moving more swiftly. A second shot from the thicket25 told of a watchful29 enemy.
Before the echo had returned from the opposite bank, a third shot, this time that of a revolver, split the evening silence. A stifled30 exclamation31 of alarm, and then the crashing of hasty flight up the slope.
The half breed thrust his gun in his belt and glided32 across the open to pick up a rifle with shattered stock.
"Don't know wot makes me so squeamish these days," he drawled, with a slow smile. "He sartin desarved it in the throat. That Pole 'n' me's goin' to butt33 agin each other some more. I never was wuth shucks when it comes to justice . . . an' I allus suffer fer it after. Look at Bilsy, an' Dutch Henry, an' a bunch more!"
He carried the broken rifle to the river's edge and whistled. The dog, now near the opposite shore, turned about. As it approached the clump that hid the halfbreed, ears came forward to assist eyes and nose, and a waggle of welcome told that all was well. With a shudder34 that sent a cloud of spray about, a great cross-bred Russian wolf-hound, with the head of a mastiff, clambered up the bank and bounded into the trees. The halfbreed threw his arms about the wet neck and hugged it in silent joy. His eyes were moist as he glanced sheepishly across to the other shore.
"Juno, ole woman, I sure love yuh to-night."
From about the dog's neck he untied35 a tiny water-proof bag and exposed a note, which he laboriously36 spelt out. Then, moving to the water's edge, he reached down and waved a hand twice back and forward.
Followed by the dog, he struck noiselessly upstream through the woods, and at last lowered himself over the gravel37 bank by means of overhanging boughs38. Ankle-deep, screened by the foliage39, he untied a raft of freshly cut logs, made a careful survey of the shore about him, and shoved out into the river, pointing slightly upstream. The dog established herself on the bow, her eyes on the shore they were approaching.
As he worked the sweep at the stern the man talked to the dog.
"Guess you 'n' Whiskers 'n' the missus has bin40 gallivantin', eh, Juno, ole woman? Sort o' leadin' the gay life all down them coupla hunderd miles to the Hills whar nobody lives. Trust the women! Yuh wudn't 'member thar was a feller back here chewin' his fingers off worryin' about yuh . . . an' workin' the shart offen his back an' gittin' thin fer the fambly, an' not even a horse to git about. . . . Nobody but a bunch o' roughnecks an' houn's--'poligisin' tuh yuh, Juno, fer callin' them critters houn's. They're c'yutes, that's wot they are. Ef thar was trees 'nough I'd len' my bes' rope to hang 'em . . . every dang one of 'em, 'cept Mister Conrad 'n' the boss."
Juno's only response was a periodic and perfunctory wagging of a limited tail, further limited by being sat on.
"'Magine me, Blue Pete, bes' shot in the Badlands, an' Canada, too, fer that matter--least that's so, now Dutchy's gone, an' it was nip 'n' tuck between us--'magine me, cow-puncher from my born days, sometime rustler41, sometime Mounted P'lice detective, sometime--oh, sometime pretty near everythin' with a horse in it, an' a rifle, an' a rope--'magine me workin' 'longside a gang o' Dagoes 'n' Poles that think a knife's fer stickin' people, an' a rifle fer the P'lice . . . me shovin' rocks 'n' logs into a hole in the groun' that won't fill this side everlastin'! . . . Kin24 yuh 'magine it, ole woman? An' them joshin' 'n' guyin' me, an' me swallerin' it like a tenderfoot! . . . An' never did fer one of 'em!"
The dog evidently considered it too preposterous42 for caudal comment; eyes and ears and nose were stretched toward the shore they were nearing.
"Yah, she's thar all right, eh, Juno? Yer eyes is better'n mine--but I bet I kin feel her thar. That's whar I git the bulge43 on yuh, ole woman." The half-breed chuckled44, and leaned more powerfully to the sweep. "An 'magine me shakin' chaps fer overalls45, an' this ole Stetson fer a fi'-cent cap, an' these nifty ridin' boots fer things as big as this scow . . . an' takin' back-talk from a two-by-five Pole I cud break over one knee 'n' kick the pieces tuh Medicine Hat. . . . But it won't be fer long now, Juno. Jest two more little horses 'n' it's did . . . all did. . . . An' then mebbe we kin go back an' hold up our heads, Mira 'n' you 'n' Whiskers 'n' me. . . . Wonder wot Whiskers thinks o' me these days!"
He concentrated on the working of the sweep. Juno raised herself to give every inch of her stubby tail a chance. Blue Pete peered eagerly into the shadows along the shore.
A few powerful movements of his arm swept the raft sideways against the bank. A woman, small and dainty, swarthy but without Indian blood, leaned eagerly forward--eager but shy. Waves of dark hair peeped from beneath her Stetson, and her green blouse blazed against the darker hue47 of the trees as she stood, one foot advanced, holding her arms toward the halfbreed.
Tossing the painter to the dog, Blue Pete leaped ashore48 and gathered her in his arms without a word. Then, tremulously happy but abashed49 by the fervour of their meeting, he released her and looked enquiringly about.
He laughed and whistled twice, and out from the trees trotted51 an ugly little pinto, all blotches52 of yellowish white and faded red, with a ragged53 tail that looked as if something had started to make a meal of it but became disgusted just before the end; and the left ear drooped54 humorously in its upper third. It nosed up against the halfbreed, nibbling55 playfully at his ears, his hands, the brim of his Stetson, the leather fringe of his chaps, the ends of the polka-dot handkerchief knotted about his neck.
"Yuh're some glad to see me, Whiskers, ole gal--if Mira ain't. But then yuh 'n' me knowed each other longer, an' sort o' got to see the good p'ints."
He laughed slyly at Mira from the corner of his eyes, and she laughed back, with a tinge56 of sadness in the tone, and turned away to take the painter from Juno. A second horse that had followed Whiskers from the trees stepped aboard the raft after the pinto.
"Bes' wait till it's darker," advised Blue Pete. "They got mighty57 peery since that las' raft showed us up. How d'yuh like the new one? 'Tain't's nifty 's the ole one, but it's easier handled, an' it'll last us through, I guess."
Mira was examining it soberly. "What's the matter with it? It don't seem even somehow."
He looked it over sheepishly. "I figured if I made it a bit shorter one side, yuh'd have less to pull. What bustin' I've did's run more to horses than boats, but ain't that about right? But the dang thing don't seem to work--like a loco'ed cayuse. Anyway it was a job. Them bohunks is getting' to roamin' about real annoyin', an' Koppy wust of all."
"Who was shooting just before you gave me the signal?"
"The bohunks, out after sparrow pie fer supper, I guess," he lied placidly59, "ur larnin' which end a gun fires at. It's real dangerous in the bush these days. Fus' thing we know we'll have to show ourselves 'n' ask 'em to shoot at us to be safe. These loose bullets ain't a bit reasonable."
Mira let him ramble60 on; she loved to hear him, loved it now more than ever, after her absence south with the last lot of stolen horses.
"Ain't it a bit small for horses, Pete?"
He eyed the raft doubtfully. "Thar's jes' two more, yuh know. It'll carry 'em, I guess. Anyway we kin make two trips of it." He paused and turned his gleaming eyes full on her face. "Jes' two more, Mira, an' then we kin clear out!"
"Where to, Pete?" She looked up at him in sudden fright then that she had spoken so plainly.
"Why--why--down south--to the 3-bar-Y--to suthin' wuth livin' fer--to whar yuh'll be a sight better off than with a rough cuss like me."
The wistfulness that had stilled her laugh and sobered her face these many weeks spoke61 at last; her eyes were wet.
"Have you thought, Pete, dear--thought what'll happen when they get us again?"
"Sure I have," he replied bravely. "Wot d'yuh mean?"
"What will the Police say?"
He reached out to tickle62 Whiskers' neck with a twig63 and laughed lightly. "I don' know wot they'll say, an' I don' care, but I know wot they'll do. They'll take hold o' my hands an'--an'--Gor-swizzle! I shud oughta know the Sergeant64. . . . No more I ain't skeered o' th' Inspector65."
"But we're still stealing horses, Pete."
"Yuh still want me to pay Torrance, the ole sinner, fer horses he knew was stole when he bought 'em?" He frowned. "If yuh say so when I got the money myself, I'll give him the ten bucks66 a head he paid me fer 'em las' year . . . but I'm sure goin' to git them horses back fust the way they come, an' I'm not goin' to take any o' your money. Anyway he wudn't sell fer ten bucks."
"The Police never forgive," she sighed.
The half breed leaned thoughtfully against a tree, chewing the twig.
"I kind o' feel, Mira," he said presently, "th' Inspector's got feelin's some bigger'n that furrin sign he faces every day over his desk, 'maintins he drut,'[1] ur suthin' like that. He's a bully67 P'liceman, but he's a bully sight better friend, I'm gamblin'. Have any trouble this trip?"
She threw aside her melancholy68. "The two corrals this side of the Red Deer are falling to pieces. Whiskers and Juno and I managed to keep them in at nights, but we couldn't do it again, I'm afraid. I used the old ford69 near the H-Lazy-Z; the water was too high to risk the other. Of course I crossed at night. Met a farmer just over the railway, but it was too dark to mean anything. Bert is having an easy time with the bunch in the Hills, but we moved them further east. He's saw the Police poking70 about the Hills a lot, specially71 Sergeant Mahon. . . . I'll be glad when it's over, Pete. Things has gone too easy for a long time. Something always turns up to spoil things."
"Didn't the raft 'most get away on us in the rapids? Ain't that 'nough to happen?"
"I wasn't scared a bit," she said. "I knew you'd get us through."
"Swizzled if I did," he laughed. "I was skeered stiff."
"Well, you fooled me," patting his cheek with loving incredulity.
"An' all the time my knees fair tremblin'--wuss'n when Dutchy had the drop on me an' me without a gun. Juno, ole woman, yuh done us fine that time. . . . Only two more to git, Mira, an' then we're free. I don' say them two ain't goin' to take some gittin'; they're in the boss's own stable, an' he has ears like a gopher. He 'n' the young missus ride 'em--ur they think they do."
He handed her aboard the raft and took his place at the stern.
"Lie down, Whiskers; yer legs is too teetery fer this craft. Yuh might take a day off 'n' larn that fool jinny o' Mira's to lie down when she's told to. No, Mira, I'll git it across myself. It's down stream, an' I wantuh show yuh she ain't so bad a boat fer a cow-puncher to make with wooden trees outen a wooden head. I got all my ole muscles back . . . workin' fer Torrance, dang hard work, too, to say nothin' o' them dirty Poles and other cats. . . . I gotta turn up to the minute every mornin' ur they wanta know why. That nigger, Koppy! Some day I'll jes' natcherl bust58 up an' take him to Heaven with me. I'm sure losin' my spunk72."
[1] "Maintiens le droit," the motto of the Mounted Police.
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1
sluggishness
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| 不振，萧条，呆滞；惰性；滞性；惯性 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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4
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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6
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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furtiveness
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| 偷偷摸摸，鬼鬼祟祟 | |
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crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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9
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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10
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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14
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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16
eccentricities
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| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
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craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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whittling
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| v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的现在分词 ) | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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21
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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appraised
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| v.估价( appraise的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；估量；评价 | |
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23
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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32
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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40
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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41
rustler
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| n.[美口]偷牛贼 | |
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42
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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43
bulge
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| n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀 | |
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44
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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46
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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47
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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48
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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49
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
pouted
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| v.撅（嘴）( pout的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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52
blotches
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| n.（皮肤上的）红斑，疹块( blotch的名词复数 )；大滴 [大片]（墨水或颜色的）污渍 | |
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53
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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54
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
nibbling
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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56
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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57
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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58
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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59
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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60
ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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61
spoke
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| 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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62
tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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63
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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64
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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65
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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66
bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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67
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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68
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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69
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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70
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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71
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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72
spunk
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| n.勇气，胆量 | |
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