"Tressa! Quick!"
But Tressa was too busy in the kitchen.
She came skipping through the door. "If it's only the trestle again--"
Torrance pointed2 dramatically across the trestle to the far bank. "This time it's our first callers." He turned to the pair of saddled horses tied to rings in the wall beyond the front door. "No, we're not riding to-night. We're entertaining. That is, if the local nabobs over there don't funk the trestle. I'd run the speeder over if I thought it wouldn't give them a fit. You never know what scares an Indian."
On the distant bank an Indian and his squaw were seated like statues on horses as motionless as themselves. The former, his horse seemingly on the very brink3 of the chasm4, was leaning forward, his eyes shaded by his hand. The squaw, on higher ground, outlined against the sky, waited phlegmatically5.
"Are you sure they're alive, daddy?"
"Certain. I saw Mrs. Indian's horse's tail flicker6. Like to have a close-up, wouldn't you? Staring at us like that, it makes a fellow feel as if he's been stealing something of theirs and they're taking a good look in time for the scalping season."
He climbed the loose sand of the grade and waved.
The response was immediate7. At a jerk of the squaw's hand her horse cantered down to where her lord had taken his stand. And for a time they sat side by side watching the distant welcome of the white man.
Suddenly the Indian's heels flew out and in, and the odd little broncho wheeled on its hind8 legs and swung into a wide circle. The squaw did not even look interested.
"Some rider, eh?" applauded Torrance. "If your old dad could ride like that he'd never have taken up railway building. Funny nag9, that of his. Looks like a hobby horse come to life. What's he trying to tell us? Regrets he can't come? Or is it a challenge to bring my bow and arrow and settle the old feud10? Anyway, it's a rattling11 good stunt--and I'd like to know the answer."
"I think he wants time to consider your invitation."
"By hickory, Tressa, another year and we'd have missed this. It takes only about one season to muddle12 up their riding with the white man's booze--or the white man's treaty money. Why don't we leave well enough alone--that is, if they'd let us build railways?"
The horse continued to gyrate, its rider performing the familiar Indian tricks--now leaning far over until his twin braids brushed the ground, now leaping off in full flight and on again as the horse came round in the circle; lying flat along the horse's side until only one leg from knee to foot was visible, leaning far over to peer at them under the horse's neck. As a finale he stood erect14 while the broncho dashed headlong for the bank. At the very brink it dropped back with braced15 legs, and the Indian, leaping gracefully16 backward, turned a somersault and landed on his feet.
"By hickory!" Torrance whistled through his teeth. "I know a showman would swop his whole caboodle for half an hour of that. I wonder what I'm expected to do over here to hold up my end. I want to be civil. I don't know anything that wouldn't look cheap after that. Wish I'd done mine first. Hi, you!" He was adding voice to arms. "That trestle'll bear you anyway. Trot17 over and shake. Bring that little beast that looks like a horse, and I'll get you the biggest audience this side of Winnipeg."
Down in the camp half a thousand bohunks were watching every move.
The Indians had dismounted. He was pointing across the trestle. His squaw seemed to hesitate.
"If I made a sound like a bottle of fire-water," grinned Torrance, "he'd beat the record."
"You're not to let them have a drop. Now remember, daddy."
"The nearest bar's too far away to waste it on an Indian, my dear. But there's methylated spirits somewhere in the stores--and you've a bottle or two of flavoring extract, haven't you? All it needs is a smell. . . . They're tackling the trestle, Tressa. Bully18 for you, Big Chief! You got Murphy beat a mile. Must have heard us talking about fire-water. Wonderful ears, them Indians have."
Adrian Conrad, ready for his evening visit, slipped his automatic in his pocket and hastened up the slope. He arrived as the squaw, with a nervous little run, covered the last few yards of the trestle and stamped moccasined feet on solid ground. The Indian, frightened as he plainly was, stalked stolidly19 on to her side. "Nothing the white man can do," he seemed to say, "will flurry me."
Torrance met them with extended hand.
"I hope my little conversation with my daughter didn't raise false hopes, Big Chief. I haven't a drop that's fit to swallow."
The Indians stared at the extended hand in silence.
"I don't know whether they shake hands in your language," explained Torrance, "but it's all the rage with us. I'm straining to show how pleased I am. Ah--how's all the little papooses? Has the hired girl kicked for another afternoon a week, and who's the latest married man to run away with another woman? That may not be wigwam gossip, but it's all we know in our set; it's all the small-talk I have."
The Indian solemnly accepted the preferred hand, studying it curiously20 as his own brown one shook to Torrance's welcome.
Torrance grinned foolishly. "Good--Lord!"
"Me spik English, too," murmured the squaw sweetly.
"Well, I'm bunco'ed!" Torrance rolled his eyes helplessly. "Take a hand, Tressa. Fancy meeting a family of redskins a thousand miles from nowhere and asking what make o' car they use!"
"Both spik English," said the Indian without a smile.
"Look at that, Adrian. That's prairie manners for you. I suppose if I asked him to jump off the trestle--"
The Indian shifted about and gravely regarded the long drop. Torrance clutched his arm and led toward the shack24.
"Don't you do it, Chief. I ain't worth it."
He brought chairs from the sitting room.
"I don't even know whether you sit down. I haven't a pipe that would go round, but there's a fair tobacco you're welcome to. It don't make bad chewing. Tressa's awful glad to see you. We haven't had a caller since the new curtains went up."
The Indian was not listening; his eyes were on the two horses tied beyond the door. Gathering25 his blanket about him, he went to them, running a hand over them with the air of a connoisseur26. He stooped to their feet, his two braids, twined through and through with bits of coloured cloth, falling over his ears.
"Good!" he grunted.
"Just what I said," agreed Torrance amiably27, "--of course, after I'd paid for them. Best bits o' horseflesh this side of anywhere. Broke 'em myself, so I ought to know."
"Daddy!"
"Maybe not quite broke 'em," corrected Torrance easily, "but they nearly broke me. Picked 'em from a bunch of the finest animals ever came off a ranch--"
"Daddy!"
"That was a fine lot, Tressa--and those two were the best of the bunch."
"How much?" The Indian's face was expressionless.
The contractor28 blinked. "You don't want to buy? I thought Indians always stole what-- The worst of me is I talk too fast. You see I lost a lot of horses not long ago, and it's temporarily affected29 my judgment30. I don't say it was Indians stole 'em--in fact I saw the guy, but it was too far to catch his pedigree. Anyway, he was dressed white. One of three got 'em--either my own men, or contractors31 out west, or the Indians. If I thought it was my men there'd be a new line of graves to-morrow--and I don't somehow think the contractors would risk it. It seemed safer to blame the Indians then. Now? Oh, I guess I must have been crazy. Them horses weren't stolen. They've taken a holiday to get a drink, or gone for the World's Series baseball games."
"How much?" repeated the Indian stoically.
"But you don't want horses like them, when you've a circus beast over there would make them look like a wheelbarrow without the wheel."
"How much?"
Torrance sighed. "Is that all the English teacher knew at your school? Conrad, he's making me name a price, because I don't know any other way to stop him. Indian-who-spiks-English, they cost me two hundred dollars each, and--"
"Daddy!"
"Oh, bother!" Torrance mopped his forehead. "That's the worst of bringing up a daughter too strict. A real liar13 hasn't half a chance. Did I say fifty dollars?"
"Fifty dollars," offered the Indian, unfolding a wallet from his blanket.
"One hundred dollars--in cold cash--out here in the bush! Say"--he walked reverently32 round the Indian, looking him over--"where d'you keep his scalp? I warn you I haven't ten dollars in the shack--and I'm getting bald about the crown."
"Fifty dollars!" grunted the Indian.
"I got to turn it down, old friend. They're the only saddle horses, bar the Police, within a week's journey."
"One hundred dollars."
Torrance walked reverently over to the horses and stared at them.
"I bet they're a damn sight better'n I thought."
"Two hundred each!" There was a finality about the extravagant33 offer that impressed Torrance.
"Big Chief," he murmured, "let's see that bank again. To tell you the truth, I paid exactly ten dollars each for them--and I couldn't rob a decent citizen. So you see the deal's off: I wouldn't take the money, and you couldn't go back on your offer."
The Indian was holding out a huge roll of bills. Torrance blinked at it and turned to Tressa.
"You can't sell, daddy. One is mine, and I'm learning to ride. But we'll give them the horses for nothing when we leave."
Torrance extended his hands helplessly. "That ends it, you see. She's boss. We can't sell, but we'll hand 'em over f.o.b. when we go--and if you've oats enough in your tribe for that red fellow I wish you'd give me your address and let me know when nobody's home."
The eyes of the Indian and his squaw met. The latter sighed. The Indian slowly thrust the wallet within his blanket. Then without another word he took her hand and they started back across the trestle.
The Indians stalked on.
"I might be able to scare up a bottle of fire-water--"
No response. Torrance sank into a chair and drew his sleeve across his forehead.
"Talkative? By hickory, they reek35 with it. They sure got my goat. All the squaws I ever saw before were so thick with grease, and the things that stick to it. . . . I'm beginning to feel for the squaw-man after seeing that girl."
"Wasn't she pretty?" Tressa was staring regretfully after the receding36 couple. "I didn't know they were so dainty---"
"Wasn't I telling you they aren't--"
"Me, too," said Torrance. "But I can't imagine not picking him out of any Indians I ever met. They don't grow 'em like him. Our fire-water, with here and there a missionary38 for good measure, sees to that. Oh, hello, Sergeant39!" Unheard, Sergeant Mahon had come along the soft grade and was watching the Indians now almost at the other end of the trestle. "You missed the fun. Highest velocity40 conversation on two words ever."
The Sergeant whipped out his binoculars41. He did not move again until the Indians had galloped42 out of sight.
"What d'you make of 'em, Sergeant?"
"Strange!" muttered the Policeman, slowly replacing the glasses.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
epoch
|
|
| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
brink
|
|
| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
chasm
|
|
| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
phlegmatically
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
flicker
|
|
| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
hind
|
|
| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
nag
|
|
| v.(对…)不停地唠叨；n.爱唠叨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
feud
|
|
| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
rattling
|
|
| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
muddle
|
|
| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
liar
|
|
| n.说谎的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
braced
|
|
| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
gracefully
|
|
| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
trot
|
|
| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
bully
|
|
| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
stolidly
|
|
| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
grunted
|
|
| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
mechanism
|
|
| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
shack
|
|
| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
connoisseur
|
|
| n.鉴赏家，行家，内行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
amiably
|
|
| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
contractor
|
|
| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
contractors
|
|
| n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
reverently
|
|
| adv.虔诚地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
extravagant
|
|
| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
reek
|
|
| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
receding
|
|
| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
missionary
|
|
| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
velocity
|
|
| n.速度，速率 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
binoculars
|
|
| n.双筒望远镜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
galloped
|
|
| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |