“It’s all a fizzle,” grumbled4 Tavia. “That’s what I call it. Why! I thought we would be able to look right down into the dooryard at the ranch5.”
“It did look so from below. And if we could climb the trees here, I expect we would be able to see much of the range between the mountain and the ranch-house,” agreed Dorothy.
“Well! let us spend no time in vain repinings,” quoth Tavia, briskly. “We’ll tumble down and get into the saddle again. Guess we’re poor mountain climbers, Doro.”
“Oh, I think we have done very well.”
“Not a bit of it. Regular mountain climbers would have known from the start that nothing could be seen from the top of this mountain.”
“Every one to his trade,” laughed Dorothy.
“And mountain climbing is a trade like everything else. Of course,” added Tavia, whimsically, “to learn any trade, you have to begin at the bottom and work up.”
“Dear me! how smart you are,” said Tavia. “That reminds me of one my brother Johnny got off—because it is so different! It was when he was going to the little old school in Dalton.”
“What fun we had there,” sighed Dorothy.
“Yea, verily! Ages and ages ago—when we were young,” sniffed7 Tavia. “Anyhow, the teacher asked Johnny to tell what an anecdote8 was. ‘A short, funny tale,’ says Johnny.
“‘True,’ says the teacher. ‘Go to the blackboard and write a sentence containing the word.’
“So Johnny did so,” chuckled Tavia. “He wrote: ‘A rabbit has four legs and one anecdote.’”
“Now, Tavia!” cried Dorothy, panting and laughing, too. “You know that is a made-up story. And I bet you stole it from somewhere.”
“Pshaw!” returned Tavia. “Where do you184 suppose all the funny people since Noah got their jokes?”
“Out of a joke-book published just before the Flood,” giggled9 Dorothy. “And you certainly must have a copy that you read on the sly.”
Just then the two girls, who had been all this time descending10 the hill, burst through a screen of bushes into an opening.
“Here we are!” cried Dorothy, with satisfaction.
“Hi! is this the place?” queried12 Tavia. “Of course it is!” she added, answering her own question. “There’s that scarred tree,” pointing to a lightning-riven pine across the glade13.
“Oh, that is so,” admitted Dorothy. Then she suddenly screamed: “Tavia Travers! where are the ponies?”
“Goodness!” said Dorothy Dale. “Have they run away—or been stolen?”
“It’s plain to be seen they are not to be seen,” said Tavia. “It’s—it’s dreadfully unfortunate, Doro.”
“All right, Miss. We’ll fly.”
“We’ll find the ponies,” declared the practical Dorothy, recovering to a degree from her panic. “Come on.”
But the two girls from the East were not familiar with the wilds. As for trailing horses through the woods, they did not know one single thing about that business. They could not even find the spot where the ponies had been tied, side by side.
“My goodness me, Doro,” asked Tavia, at length, “whatever shall we do? The ponies are lost. What will your Aunt Winnie say to that?”
“I guess she won’t trouble much about the loss of the ponies—and I’m not going to,” declared Dorothy. “But we don’t want to get lost.”
“Do we?”
“Right down the hill to the brink17 of that gorge18 where we saw the surveyors; then south to that water-fall. From that point there is a regular trail—you know there is, Doro!”
“Ye—es,” admitted Dorothy, doubtfully. “It sounds simple enough.”
“It’s perfectly all right,” declared Tavia, again. “Come on.”
“Well, dear, I’ll let you lead,” said Dorothy, quietly.
While they had searched about the dell, and discussed the situation, time had been flying. Already the red globe of the sun was disappearing behind a western peak.
186 All the sky there was shrouded19 in rolling clouds. The sun plunging20 into these wreaths of mist turned them all to gold and crimson21. Such a gorgeous sunset would have transfixed the girls with delight at another time.
But, as Tavia said, this was no moment to “worship at the shrine22 of beauty.” “Oh, Doro! I’m thinking of Mrs. Ledger’s hot biscuit, and ham, and potato chips. Goodness! how hungry I am. Never mind the sunset.”
“I am not minding it,” Dorothy said, quietly. “But you suggested leading the way down this ‘bad eminence’ to which we were reckless enough to climb. Go on.”
Tavia started, and stared about the opening in the trees. It would seem to be a simple matter to leave this place, descend11 through the woods to the plateau, and so down the riverside.
But there was not a landmark23 to guide them. They had not thought to take note of the trees and rocks, in relation to each other, while they made the ascent24. Their knowledge of the points of the compass were somewhat vague, despite the view they had of the setting sun.
“Oh, Doro!” wailed Tavia, suddenly. “I’m afraid! I’m afraid of these woods. I’m afraid we’ll get down into that deep gorge where those men were. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! let’s not move from this spot.”
Tavia was almost hysterical25. That was the way it was with her—always. If she was startled she lost her self-possession entirely26.
But with Dorothy it was different. A situation like this brought her better sense to the surface. She was determined27 to keep cool—especially when her chum showed the white feather.
“Now, Tavia! do be sensible,” begged Dorothy Dale. “We’ve got to face the thing squarely. Of course, without the horses we could not get home to-night. And to wander around in the dark, seeking a way that is none too clear by daylight, would be a perfectly ridiculous thing to do, under any circumstances.”
“Well, Doro! do you mean to stay here?”
“Why not?”
“The bears—wolves—cat-o’-mountains——”
“Are probably creations of Nat’s vivid imagination,” interposed Dorothy, with decision.
“Well, there was a snake,” murmured Tavia.
“We’ll build a fire. That will keep away snakes, at least,” Dorothy said, cheerfully.
“Oh, Doro!” shrieked Tavia. “You don’t mean to stay in this awful place all night?”
“Do you know a better? It is open. There is shelter beside that big boulder28. There’s a little rill that must be sweet water—— By the way! I didn’t notice that stream when we came here first. Did you, Tavia?”
“Oh, I don’t know!” wailed Tavia.
“Do you suppose we have found the place where we left the ponies tied?” asked Dorothy, anxiously.
“Of course. And the nasty things have run away. I’ll never trust one of those broncs again.”
“Don’t be foolish, dear. It must have been our own fault. We did not tie them properly.”
“I know I tied mine tight enough,” grumbled Tavia. “And say! how you going to build a fire?”
“Just the same as anybody else would build one,” Dorothy declared.
“But you can’t.”
“Why not?” asked Dorothy, in surprise.
“By rubbing one stick upon a stone,” chuckled Dorothy. “I have matches.”
“I’m glad you find it such a joke, Dorothy Dale.”
“You talk as though you had never been out in the open all night before.”
“But it wasn’t like this, you know very well. This isn’t like our woods at home. This is the West——”
“The wild and woolly West, eh?” laughed Dorothy. “Come! don’t be a goose, dear. Let’s gather plenty of fuel before it grows too dark.”
They did this, breaking off the dead branches of the trees which skirted the glade and gathering30 sticks already fallen on the ground. But Tavia cast fearful glances into the now darkening forest and would not venture beneath the trees at all.
“We don’t know what’s in there,” she said.
“Well! we haven’t got to know,” her chum said, cheerfully. “We’ll keep out of the woods to-night.”
“Maybe something will come out of them after us.”
“Not if we keep a fire burning. And in the morning, as soon as it’s light, we’ll start for home. We can walk it by noon.”
“If we are alive,” sighed Tavia.
Dorothy refused to be depressed31 by her friend’s melancholy32. She proposed making a couch of leaves and branches, and they did this. When it really grew dark and the stars came out, she produced matches and lit the fire.
She did not make a big blaze. Really, there was no need of it at all, for the evening was warm enough and a spark of light on this hillside would never be seen by any party looking for them.
By this time, of course, word had gone over the ranch that the girls were lost. Aunt Winnie would be worried. Ned and Nat would be out after them with all the men who could be spared.
“And in all probability,” Dorothy said, gravely, “nobody—not even Flores—noticed in which direction we headed on leaving the corral.”
“Well! We should worry about their worries. It’s our worries that worry me.”
Dorothy laughed. “You speak quite as intelligibly,” she said, “as the old catch question and answer: ‘What sort of a noise annoys an oyster33? Why, a noisy noise annoys an oyster!’”
“My goodness! I wouldn’t mind being an oyster right now.”
“Mercy! What for?”
“’Cause I could close my shell tight and nothing could get at me. Oh, Doro! what is that?”
A belated bird flew overhead and its cry had startled Tavia. Dorothy laughed at her again.
“Let’s be brave, Tavia.”
“What for? There’s nobody to see us. It’s other folks looking on that makes people brave. I know you so well, Doro, that I don’t care if you do know I’m afraid.”
The sky arched them like a dome34 of dark blue velvet35 on which silver spangles had been sewn. The woods were filled with deep shadows.
A breathless silence seemed to have fallen over the hillside. The girls, huddled36 together on their rude couch, could distinguish the faint tinkle37 of the little rill at which they had quenched38 their thirst.
“But our appetites!” groaned40 Tavia. “There’s nothing to quench39 them. Oh, Doro! you are so nice and plump. I’d like to bite you.”
Dorothy’s cheerfulness had its limits. As they huddled there in the shelter of the overhanging boulder, the night seemed to drop down upon them, and Tavia hid her eyes against Dorothy’s shoulder. With their arms about each other they remained speechless for a while, and then both girls must have dozed42.
Suddenly Tavia tightened43 her grip upon her chum and uttered a terrified gasp44. It awoke Dorothy—her eyes opened wide. Tavia was pointing straight out into the darkness before them, and she was trembling hysterically45.
The fire had died down to a little bed of embers, but one stick laid across the coals suddenly snapped in two and the ends burst into flame.
The flickering46 light glittered upon two bright spots which were seemingly across the glade, just at the edge of the forest.
Without a word passing between them the terrified girls knew what those sparkling objects were. The firelight was reflected in the eyes of some beast which was staring fixedly47 at them!
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1
ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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2
retrace
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| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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4
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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5
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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6
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
sniffed
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| 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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8
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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9
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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12
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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13
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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14
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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17
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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18
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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19
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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20
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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21
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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22
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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23
landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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24
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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25
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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26
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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28
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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29
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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31
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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32
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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33
oyster
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| n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人 | |
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34
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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35
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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36
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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37
tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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38
quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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39
quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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40
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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41
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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42
dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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44
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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45
hysterically
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| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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46
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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47
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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