VII SOLDIER BOY AND SHEKELS

 “Did you do as I told you?  Did you look up the Mexican Plug?”

 

“Yes, I made his acquaintance before night and got his friendship.”

 

“I liked him.  Did you?”

 

“Not at first.  He took me for a reptile¹, and it troubled me, because I didn’t know whether it was a compliment or not.  I couldn’t ask him, because it would look ignorant.  So I didn’t say anything, and soon liked him very well indeed.  Was it a compliment, do you think?”

 

“Yes, that is what it was.  They are very rare, the reptiles²; very few left, now-a-days.”

 

“Is that so?  What is a reptile?”

 

“It is a plantigrade circumflex vertebrate bacterium³ that hasn’t any wings and is uncertain.”

 

“Well, it—it sounds fine, it surely does.”

 

“And it is fine.  You may be thankful you are one.”

 

“I am.  It seems wonderfully grand and elegant for a person that is so humble⁴ as I am; but I am thankful, I am indeed, and will try to live up to it.  It is hard to remember.  Will you say it again, please, and say it slow?”

 

“Plantigrade circumflex vertebrate bacterium that hasn’t any wings and is uncertain.”

 

“It is beautiful, anybody must grant it; beautiful, and of a noble sound.  I hope it will not make me proud and stuck-up—I should not like to be that.  It is much more distinguished⁵ and honorable to be a reptile than a dog, don’t you think, Soldier?”

 

“Why, there’s no comparison.  It is awfully⁶ aristocratic.  Often a duke is called a reptile; it is set down so, in history.”

 

“Isn’t that grand!  Potter wouldn’t ever associate with me, but I reckon he’ll be glad to when he finds out what I am.”

 

“You can depend upon it.”

 

“I will thank Mongrel for this. He is a very good sort, for a Mexican Plug.  Don’t you think he is?”

 

“It is my opinion of him; and as for his birth, he cannot help that.  We cannot all be reptiles, we cannot all be fossils; we have to take what comes and be thankful it is no worse.  It is the true philosophy.”

 

“For those others?”

 

“Stick to the subject, please.  Did it turn out that my suspicions were right?”

 

“Yes, perfectly⁷ right.  Mongrel has heard them planning.  They are after BB’s life, for running them out of Medicine Bow and taking their stolen horses away from them.”

 

“Well, they’ll get him yet, for sure.”

 

“Not if he keeps a sharp look-out.”

 

“He keep a sharp lookout⁸!  He never does; he despises them, and all their kind.  His life is always being threatened, and so it has come to be monotonous⁹.”

 

“Does he know they are here?”

 

“Oh yes, he knows it.  He is always the earliest to know who comes and who goes.  But he cares nothing for them and their threats; he only laughs when people warn him.  They’ll shoot him from behind a tree the first he knows.  Did Mongrel tell you their plans?”

 

“Yes.  They have found out that he starts for Fort Clayton day after to-morrow, with one of his scouts¹⁰; so they will leave to-morrow, letting on to go south, but they will fetch around north all in good time.”

 

“Shekels, I don’t like the look of it.”

1 reptile   

n.爬行动物；两栖动物

参考例句：

• The frog is not a true reptile.青蛙并非真正的爬行动物。
• So you should not be surprised to see someone keep a reptile as a pet.所以，你不必惊奇有人养了一只爬行动物作为宠物。

2 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

4 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

5 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

6 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

9 monotonous   

adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的

参考例句：

• She thought life in the small town was monotonous.她觉得小镇上的生活单调而乏味。
• His articles are fixed in form and monotonous in content.他的文章千篇一律，一个调调儿。

10 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。