Smoke obeyed her call with alacrity4. The man did not exist in Dawson who would not have been flattered by the notice of Lucille Arral, the singing soubrette of the tiny stock company that performed nightly at the Palace Opera House.
“Things are dead,” she complained, with pretty petulance5, as soon as they had shaken hands. “There hasn't been a stampede for a week. That masked ball Skiff Mitchell was going to give us has been postponed6. There's no dust in circulation. There's always standing-room now at the Opera House. And there hasn't been a mail from the Outside for two whole weeks. In short, this burg has crawled into its cave and gone to sleep. We've got to do something. It needs livening—and you and I can do it. We can give it excitement if anybody can. I've broken with Wild Water, you know.”
Smoke caught two almost simultaneous visions. One was of Joy Gastell; the other was of himself, in the midst of a bleak7 snow-stretch, under a cold arctic moon, being pot-shotted with accurateness and dispatch by the aforesaid Wild Water. Smoke's reluctance8 at raising excitement with the aid of Lucille Arral was too patent for her to miss.
“I'm not thinking what you are thinking at all, thank you,” she chided, with a laugh and a pout9. “When I throw myself at your head you'll have to have more eyes and better ones than you have now to see me.”
“Men have died of heart disease at the sudden announcement of good fortune,” he murmured in the unveracious gladness of relief.
“Liar,” she retorted graciously. “You were more scared to death than anything else. Now take it from me, Mr. Smoke Bellew, I'm not going to make love to you, and if you dare to make love to me, Wild Water will take care of your case. You know HIM. Besides, I—I haven't really broken with him.”
“Go on with your puzzles,” he jeered10. “Maybe I can start guessing what you're driving at after a while.”
“There's no guessing, Smoke. I'll give it to you straight. Wild Water thinks I've broken with him, don't you see.”
“Well, have you, or haven't you?”
“I haven't—there! But it's between you and me in confidence. He thinks I have. I made a noise like breaking with him, and he deserved it, too.”
“Where do I come in, stalking-horse or fall-guy?”
“Neither. You make a pot of money, we put across the laugh on Wild Water and cheer Dawson up, and, best of all, and the reason for it all, he gets disciplined. He needs it. He's—well, the best way to put it is, he's too turbulent. Just because he's a big husky, because he owns more rich claims than he can keep count of—”
“And because he's engaged to the prettiest little woman in Alaska,” Smoke interpolated.
“Yes, and because of that, too, thank you, is no reason for him to get riotous11. He broke out last night again. Sowed the floor of the M. & M. with gold-dust. All of a thousand dollars. Just opened his poke12 and scattered13 it under the feet of the dancers. You've heard of it, of course.”
“Yes; this morning. I'd like to be the sweeper in that establishment. But still I don't get you. Where do I come in?”
“Listen. He was too turbulent. I broke our engagement, and he's going around making a noise like a broken heart. Now we come to it. I like eggs.”
“They're off!” Smoke cried in despair. “Which way? Which way?”
“Wait.”
“But what have eggs and appetite got to do with it?” he demanded.
“Everything, if you'll only listen.”
“Listening, listening,” he chanted.
“Then for Heaven's sake listen. I like eggs. There's only a limited supply of eggs in Dawson.”
“Sure. I know that, too. Slavovitch's restaurant has most of them. Ham and one egg, three dollars. Ham and two eggs, five dollars. That means two dollars an egg, retail14. And only the swells15 and the Arrals and the Wild Waters can afford them.”
“He likes eggs, too,” she continued. “But that's not the point. I like them. I have breakfast every morning at eleven o'clock at Slavovitch's. I invariably eat two eggs.” She paused impressively. “Suppose, just suppose, somebody corners eggs.”
She waited, and Smoke regarded her with admiring eyes, while in his heart he backed with approval Wild Water's choice of her.
“You're not following,” she said.
“Go on,” he replied. “I give up. What's the answer?”
“Stupid! You know Wild Water. When he sees I'm languishing16 for eggs, and I know his mind like a book, and I know how to languish17, what will he do?”
“You answer it. Go on.”
“Why, he'll just start stampeding for the man that's got the corner in eggs. He'll buy the corner, no matter what it costs. Picture: I come into Slavovitch's at eleven o'clock. Wild Water will be at the next table. He'll make it his business to be there. 'Two eggs, shirred,' I'll say to the waiter. 'Sorry, Miss Arral,' the waiter will say; 'they ain't no more eggs.' Then up speaks Wild Water, in that big bear voice of his, 'Waiter, six eggs, soft boiled.' And the waiter says, 'Yes, sir,' and the eggs are brought. Picture: Wild Water looks sideways at me, and I look like a particularly indignant icicle and summon the waiter. 'Sorry, Miss Arral,' he says, 'but them eggs is Mr. Wild Water's. You see, Miss, he owns 'em.' Picture: Wild Water, triumphant18, doing his best to look unconscious while he eats his six eggs.
“Another picture: Slavovitch himself bringing two shirred eggs to me and saying, 'Compliments of Mr. Wild Water, Miss.' What can I do? What can I possibly do but smile at Wild Water, and then we make up, of course, and he'll consider it cheap if he has been compelled to pay ten dollars for each and every egg in the corner.”
“Go on, go on,” Smoke urged. “At what station do I climb onto the choo-choo cars, or at what water-tank do I get thrown off?”
“Ninny! You don't get thrown off. You ride the egg-train straight into the union Depot19. You make that corner in eggs. You start in immediately, to-day. You can buy every egg in Dawson for three dollars and sell out to Wild Water at almost any advance. And then, afterward20, we'll let the inside history come out. The laugh will be on Wild Water. His turbulence21 will be some subdued22. You and I share the glory of it. You make a pile of money. And Dawson wakes up with a grand ha! ha! Of course—if—if you think the speculation23 too risky24, I'll put up the dust for the corner.”
This last was too much for Smoke. Being only a mere25 mortal Western man, with queer obsessions26 about money and women, he declined with scorn the proffer27 of her dust.
“Hey! Shorty!” Smoke called across the main street to his partner, who was trudging28 along in his swift, slack-jointed way, a naked bottle with frozen contents conspicuously30 tucked under his arm. Smoke crossed over.
“Where have you been all morning? Been looking for you everywhere.”
“Up to Doc's,” Shorty answered, holding out the bottle. “Something's wrong with Sally. I seen last night, at feedin'-time, the hair on her tail an' flanks was fallin' out. The Doc says—”
“Never mind that,” Smoke broke in impatiently. “What I want—”
“What's eatin' you?” Shorty demanded in indignant astonishment31. “An' Sally gettin' naked bald in this crimpy weather! I tell you that dog's sick. Doc says—”
“Let Sally wait. Listen to me—”
“I tell you she can't wait. It's cruelty to animals. She'll be frost-bit. What are you in such a fever about anyway? Has that Monte Cristo strike proved up?”
“I don't know, Shorty. But I want you to do me a favor.”
“Sure,” Shorty said gallantly33, immediately appeased34 and acquiescent35. “What is it? Let her rip. Me for you.”
“I want you to buy eggs for me—”
“Sure, an' Floridy water an' talcum powder, if you say the word. An' poor Sally sheddin' something scand'lous! Look here, Smoke, if you want to go in for high livin' you go an' buy your own eggs. Beans an' bacon's good enough for me.”
“I am going to buy, but I want you to help me to buy. Now, shut up, Shorty. I've got the floor. You go right straight to Slavovitch's. Pay as high as three dollars, but buy all he's got.”
“Three dollars!” Shorty groaned36. “An' I heard tell only yesterday that he's got all of seven hundred in stock! Twenty-one hundred dollars for hen-fruit! Say, Smoke, I tell you what. You run right up and see the Doc. He'll tend to your case. An' he'll only charge you an ounce for the first prescription37. So-long, I gotta to be pullin' my freight.”
He started off, but Smoke caught his partner by the shoulder, arresting his progress and whirling him around.
“Smoke, I'd sure do anything for you,” Shorty protested earnestly. “If you had a cold in the head an' was layin' with both arms broke, I'd set by your bedside, day an' night, an' wipe your nose for you. But I'll be everlastin'ly damned if I'll squander38 twenty-one hundred good iron dollars on hen-fruit for you or any other two-legged man.”
“They're not your dollars, but mine, Shorty. It's a deal I have on. What I'm after is to corner every blessed egg in Dawson, in the Klondike, on the Yukon. You've got to help me out. I haven't the time to tell you of the inwardness of the deal. I will afterward, and let you go half on it if you want to. But the thing right now is to get the eggs. Now you hustle39 up to Slavovitch's and buy all he's got.”
“But what'll I tell 'm? He'll sure know I ain't goin' to eat 'em.”
“Tell him nothing. Money talks. He sells them cooked for two dollars. Offer him up to three for them uncooked. If he gets curious, tell him you're starting a chicken ranch40. What I want is the eggs. And then keep on; nose out every egg in Dawson and buy it. Understand? Buy it! That little joint29 across the street from Slavovitch's has a few. Buy them. I'm going over to Klondike City. There's an old man there, with a bad leg, who's broke and who has six dozen. He's held them all winter for the rise, intending to get enough out of them to pay his passage back to Seattle. I'll see he gets his passage, and I'll get the eggs. Now hustle. And they say that little woman down beyond the sawmill who makes moccasins has a couple of dozen.”
“All right, if you say so, Smoke. But Slavovitch seems the main squeeze. I'll just get an iron-bound option, black an' white, an' gather in the scatterin' first.”
“All right. Hustle. And I'll tell you the scheme tonight.”
But Shorty flourished the bottle. “I'm goin' to doctor up Sally first. The eggs can wait that long. If they ain't all eaten, they won't be eaten while I'm takin' care of a poor sick dog that's saved your life an' mine more 'n once.”
Never was a market cornered more quickly. In three days every known egg in Dawson, with the exception of several dozen, was in the hands of Smoke and Shorty. Smoke had been more liberal in purchasing. He unblushingly pleaded guilty to having given the old man in Klondike City five dollars apiece for his seventy-two eggs. Shorty had bought most of the eggs, and he had driven bargains. He had given only two dollars an egg to the woman who made moccasins, and he prided himself that he had come off fairly well with Slavovitch, whose seven hundred and fifteen eggs he had bought at a flat rate of two dollars and a half. On the other hand, he grumbled41 because the little restaurant across the street had held him up for two dollars and seventy-five cents for a paltry42 hundred and thirty-four eggs.
The several dozen not yet gathered in were in the hands of two persons. One, with whom Shorty was dealing43, was an Indian woman who lived in a cabin on the hill back of the hospital.
“I'll get her to-day,” Shorty announced next morning. “You wash the dishes, Smoke. I'll be back in a jiffy, if I don't bust44 myself a-shovin' dust at her. Gimme a man to deal with every time. These blamed women—it's something sad the way they can hold out on a buyer. The only way to get 'em is sellin'. Why, you'd think them eggs of hern was solid nuggets.”
In the afternoon, when Smoke returned to the cabin, he found Shorty squatted45 on the floor, rubbing ointment46 into Sally's tail, his countenance47 so expressionless that it was suspicious.
“What luck?” Shorty asked carelessly, after several minutes had passed.
“Nothing doing,” Smoke answered. “How did you get on with the squaw?”
Shorty cocked his head triumphantly48 toward a tin pail of eggs on the table. “Seven dollars a clatter49, though,” he confessed, after another minute of silent rubbing.
“I offered ten dollars finally,” Smoke said, “and then the fellow told me he'd already sold his eggs. Now that looks bad, Shorty. Somebody else is in the market. Those twenty-eight eggs are liable to cause us trouble. You see, the success of the corner consists in holding every last—”
He broke off to stare at his partner. A pronounced change was coming over Shorty—one of agitation50 masked by extreme deliberation. He closed the salve-box, wiped his hands slowly and thoroughly51 on Sally's furry52 coat, stood up, went over to the corner and looked at the thermometer, and came back again. He spoke53 in a low, toneless, and super-polite voice.
“Do you mind kindly54 just repeating over how many eggs you said the man didn't sell to you?” he asked.
“Twenty-eight.”
“Hum,” Shorty communed to himself, with a slight duck of the head of careless acknowledgment. Then he glanced with slumbering55 anger at the stove. “Smoke, we'll have to dig up a new stove. That fire-box is burned plumb56 into the oven so it blacks the biscuits.”
“Let the fire-box alone,” Smoke commanded, “and tell me what's the matter.”
“Matter? An' you want to know what's the matter? Well, kindly please direct them handsome eyes of yourn at that there pail settin' on the table. See it?”
Smoke nodded.
“Well, I want to tell you one thing, just one thing. They's just exactly, preecisely, nor nothin' more or anythin' less'n twenty-eight eggs in the pail, an' they cost, every danged last one of 'em, just exactly seven great big round iron dollars a throw. If you stand in cryin' need of any further items of information, I'm willin' and free to impart.”
“Go on,” Smoke requested.
Smoke nodded, and continued to nod to each question.
“He's got one cheek half gone where a bald-face grizzly58 swatted him. Am I right? He's a dog-trader—right, eh? His name is Scar-Face Jim. That's so, ain't it? D'ye get my drift?”
“You mean we've been bidding—?”
“Against each other. Sure thing. That squaw's his wife, an' they keep house on the hill back of the hospital. I could 'a' got them eggs for two a throw if you hadn't butted59 in.”
“And so could I,” Smoke laughed, “if you'd kept out, blame you! But it doesn't amount to anything. We know that we've got the corner. That's the big thing.”
Shorty spent the next hour wrestling with a stub of a pencil on the margin60 of a three-year-old newspaper, and the more interminable and hieroglyphic61 grew his figures the more cheerful he became.
“There she stands,” he said at last. “Pretty? I guess yes. Lemme give you the totals. You an' me has right now in our possession exactly nine hundred an' seventy-three eggs. They cost us exactly two thousand, seven hundred an' sixty dollars, reckonin' dust at sixteen an ounce an' not countin' time. An' now listen to me. If we stick up Wild Water for ten dollars a egg we stand to win, clean net an' all to the good, just exactly six thousand nine hundred and seventy dollars. Now that's a book-makin' what is, if anybody should ride up on a dog-sled an' ask you. An' I'm in half on it! Put her there, Smoke. I'm that thankful I'm sure droolin' gratitude62. Book-makin'! Say, I'd sooner run with the chicks than the ponies63 any day.”
At eleven that night Smoke was routed from sound sleep by Shorty, whose fur parka exhaled64 an atmosphere of keen frost and whose hand was extremely cold in its contact with Smoke's cheek.
“What is it now?” Smoke grumbled. “Rest of Sally's hair fallen out?”
“Nope. But I just had to tell you the good news. I seen Slavovitch. Or Slavovitch seen me, I guess, because he started the seance. He says to me: 'Shorty, I want to speak to you about them eggs. I've kept it quiet. Nobody knows I sold 'em to you. But if you're speculatin', I can put you wise to a good thing.' An' he did, too, Smoke. Now what'd you guess that good thing is?”
“Go on. Name it.”
“Well, maybe it sounds incredible, but that good thing was Wild Water Charley. He's lookin' to buy eggs. He goes around to Slavovitch an' offers him five dollars an egg, an' before he quits he's offerin' eight. An' Slavovitch ain't got no eggs. Last thing Wild Water says to Slavovitch is that he'll beat the head offen him if he ever finds out Slavovitch has eggs cached away somewheres. Slavovitch had to tell 'm he'd sold the eggs, but that the buyer was secret.
“Slavovitch says to let him say the word to Wild Water who's got the eggs. 'Shorty,' he says to me, 'Wild Water'll come a-runnin'. You can hold him up for eight dollars.' 'Eight dollars, your grandmother,' I says. 'He'll fall for ten before I'm done with him.' Anyway, I told Slavovitch I'd think it over and let him know in the mornin'. Of course we'll let 'm pass the word on to Wild Water. Am I right?”
“You certainly are, Shorty. First thing in the morning tip off Slavovitch. Have him tell Wild Water that you and I are partners in the deal.”
Five minutes later Smoke was again aroused by Shorty.
“Say! Smoke! Oh, Smoke!”
“Yes?”
“Not a cent less than ten a throw. Do you get that?”
“Sure thing—all right,” Smoke returned sleepily.
In the morning Smoke chanced upon Lucille Arral again at the dry-goods counter of the A. C. Store.
“It's working,” he jubilated. “It's working. Wild Water's been around to Slavovitch, trying to buy or bully65 eggs out of him. And by this time Slavovitch has told him that Shorty and I own the corner.”
Lucille Arral's eyes sparkled with delight. “I'm going to breakfast right now,” she cried. “And I'll ask the waiter for eggs, and be so plaintive66 when there aren't any as to melt a heart of stone. And you know Wild Water's been around to Slavovitch, trying to buy the corner if it costs him one of his mines. I know him. And hold out for a stiff figure. Nothing less than ten dollars will satisfy me, and if you sell for anything less, Smoke, I'll never forgive you.”
That noon, up in their cabin, Shorty placed on the table a pot of beans, a pot of coffee, a pan of sourdough biscuits, a tin of butter and a tin of condensed cream, a smoking platter of moose-meat and bacon, a plate of stewed67 dried peaches, and called: “Grub's ready. Take a slant68 at Sally first.”
Smoke put aside the harness on which he was sewing, opened the door, and saw Sally and Bright spiritedly driving away a bunch of foraging69 sled-dogs that belonged to the next cabin. Also he saw something else that made him close the door hurriedly and dash to the stove. The frying-pan, still hot from the moose-meat and bacon, he put back on the front lid. Into the frying-pan he put a generous dab70 of butter, then reached for an egg, which he broke and dropped spluttering into the pan. As he reached for a second egg, Shorty gained his side and clutched his arm in an excited grip.
“Hey! What you doin'?” he demanded.
“Frying eggs,” Smoke informed him, breaking the second one and throwing off Shorty's detaining hand. “What's the matter with your eyesight? Did you think I was combing my hair?”
“Don't you feel well?” Shorty queried71 anxiously, as Smoke broke a third egg and dexterously72 thrust him back with a stiff-arm jolt73 on the breast. “Or are you just plain loco? That's thirty dollars' worth of eggs already.”
“And I'm going to make it sixty dollars' worth,” was the answer, as Smoke broke the fourth. “Get out of the way, Shorty. Wild Water's coming up the hill, and he'll be here in five minutes.”
Shorty sighed vastly with commingled74 comprehension and relief, and sat down at the table. By the time the expected knock came at the door, Smoke was facing him across the table, and, before each, was a plate containing three hot, fried eggs.
“Come in!” Smoke called.
Wild Water Charley, a strapping75 young giant just a fraction of an inch under six feet in height and carrying a clean weight of one hundred and ninety pounds, entered and shook hands.
“Set down an' have a bite, Wild Water,” Shorty invited. “Smoke, fry him some eggs. I'll bet he ain't scoffed76 an egg in a coon's age.”
Smoke broke three more eggs into the hot pan, and in several minutes placed them before his guest, who looked at them with so strange and strained an expression that Shorty confessed afterward his fear that Wild Water would slip them into his pocket and carry them away.
“Say, them swells down in the States ain't got nothin' over us in the matter of eats,” Shorty gloated. “Here's you an' me an' Smoke gettin' outside ninety dollars' worth of eggs an' not battin' an eye.”
“Pitch in an' eat,” Smoke encouraged.
“They—they ain't worth no ten dollars,” Wild Water said slowly.
Shorty accepted the challenge. “A thing's worth what you can get for it, ain't it?” he demanded.
“Yes, but—”
“But nothin'. I'm tellin' you what we can get for 'em. Ten a throw, just like that. We're the egg trust, Smoke an' me, an' don't you forget it. When we say ten a throw, ten a throw goes.” He mopped his plate with a biscuit. “I could almost eat a couple more,” he sighed, then helped himself to the beans.
“You can't eat eggs like that,” Wild Water objected. “It—it ain't right.”
“We just dote on eggs, Smoke an' me,” was Shorty's excuse.
Wild Water finished his own plate in a half-hearted way and gazed dubiously78 at the two comrades. “Say, you fellows can do me a great favor,” he began tentatively. “Sell me, or lend me, or give me, about a dozen of them eggs.”
“Sure,” Smoke answered. “I know what a yearning79 for eggs is myself. But we're not so poor that we have to sell our hospitality. They'll cost you nothing—” Here a sharp kick under the table admonished80 him that Shorty was getting nervous. “A dozen, did you say, Wild Water?”
Wild Water nodded.
“Go ahead, Shorty,” Smoke went on. “Cook them up for him. I can sympathize. I've seen the time myself when I could eat a dozen, straight off the bat.”
But Wild Water laid a restraining hand on the eager Shorty as he explained. “I don't mean cooked. I want them with the shells on.”
“So that you can carry 'em away?”
“That's the idea.”
“But that ain't hospitality,” Shorty objected. “It's—it's tradin'.”
Smoke nodded concurrence81. “That's different, Wild Water. I thought you just wanted to eat them. You see, we went into this for a speculation.”
The dangerous blue of Wild Water's eyes began to grow more dangerous. “I'll pay you for them,” he said sharply. “How much?”
“Oh, not a dozen,” Smoke replied. “We couldn't sell a dozen. We're not retailers82; we're speculators. We can't break our own market. We've got a hard and fast corner, and when we sell out it's the whole corner or nothing.”
“How many have you got, and how much do you want for them?”
“How many have we, Shorty?” Smoke inquired.
Shorty cleared his throat and performed mental arithmetic aloud. “Lemme see. Nine hundred an' seventy-three minus nine, that leaves nine hundred an' sixty-two. An' the whole shootin'-match, at ten a throw, will tote up just about nine thousand six hundred an' twenty iron dollars. Of course, Wild Water, we're playin' fair, an' it's money back for bad ones, though they ain't none. That's one thing I never seen in the Klondike—a bad egg. No man's fool enough to bring in a bad egg.”
“That's fair,” Smoke added. “Money back for the bad ones, Wild Water. And there's our proposition—nine thousand six hundred and twenty dollars for every egg in the Klondike.”
“You might play them up to twenty a throw an' double your money,” Shorty suggested.
Wild Water shook his head sadly and helped himself to the beans. “That would be too expensive, Shorty. I only want a few. I'll give you ten dollars for a couple of dozen. I'll give you twenty—but I can't buy 'em all.”
“Look here, you two,” Wild Water said in a burst of confidence. “I'll be perfectly84 honest with you, an' don't let it go any further. You know Miss Arral an' I was engaged. Well, she's broken everything off. You know it. Everybody knows it. It's for her I want them eggs.”
“Huh!” Shorty jeered. “It's clear an' plain why you want 'em with the shells on. But I never thought it of you.”
“Thought what?”
“It's low-down mean, that's what it is,” Shorty rushed on, virtuously85 indignant. “I wouldn't wonder somebody filled you full of lead for it, an' you'd deserve it, too.”
Wild Water began to flame toward the verge86 of one of his notorious Berserker rages. His hands clenched87 until the cheap fork in one of them began to bend, while his blue eyes flashed warning sparks. “Now look here, Shorty, just what do you mean? If you think anything underhanded—”
“I mean what I mean,” Shorty retorted doggedly88, “an' you bet your sweet life I don't mean anything underhanded. Overhand's the only way to do it. You can't throw 'em any other way.”
“Throw what?”
“Eggs, prunes89, baseballs, anything. But Wild Water, you're makin' a mistake. They ain't no crowd ever sat at the Opery House that'll stand for it. Just because she's a actress is no reason you can publicly lambaste her with hen-fruit.”
For the moment it seemed that Wild Water was going to burst or have apoplexy. He gulped90 down a mouthful of scalding coffee and slowly recovered himself.
“You're in wrong, Shorty,” he said with cold deliberation. “I'm not going to throw eggs at her. Why, man,” he cried, with growing excitement, “I want to give them eggs to her, on a platter, shirred—that's the way she likes 'em.”
“I knowed I was wrong,” Shorty cried generously, “I knowed you couldn't do a low-down trick like that.”
“That's all right, Shorty,” Wild Water forgave him. “But let's get down to business. You see why I want them eggs. I want 'em bad.”
“Do you want 'em ninety-six hundred an' twenty dollars' worth?” Shorty queried.
“Aw, listen to reason,” Wild Water pleaded. “I only want a couple of dozen. I'll give you twenty apiece for 'em. What do I want with all the rest of them eggs? I've went years in this country without eggs, an' I guess I can keep on managin' without 'em somehow.”
“Don't get het up about it,” Shorty counseled. “If you don't want 'em, that settles it. We ain't a-forcin' 'em on you.”
“But I do want 'em,” Wild Water complained.
“Then you know what they'll cost you—ninety-six hundred an' twenty dollars, an' if my figurin's wrong, I'll treat.”
“But maybe they won't turn the trick,” Wild Water objected. “Maybe Miss Arral's lost her taste for eggs by this time.”
“I should say Miss Arral's worth the price of the eggs,” Smoke put in quietly.
“Worth it!” Wild Water stood up in the heat of his eloquence93. “She's worth a million dollars. She's worth all I've got. She's worth all the dust in the Klondike.” He sat down, and went on in a calmer voice. “But that ain't no call for me to gamble ten thousand dollars on a breakfast for her. Now I've got a proposition. Lend me a couple of dozen of them eggs. I'll turn 'em over to Slavovitch. He'll feed 'em to her with my compliments. She ain't smiled to me for a hundred years. If them eggs gets a smile for me, I'll take the whole boiling off your hands.”
“Will you sign a contract to that effect?” Smoke said quickly; for he knew that Lucille Arral had agreed to smile.
Wild Water gasped94. “You're almighty95 swift with business up here on the hill,” he said, with a hint of a snarl96.
“We're only accepting your own proposition,” Smoke answered.
“All right—bring on the paper—make it out, hard and fast,” Wild Water cried in the anger of surrender.
Smoke immediately wrote out the document, wherein Wild Water agreed to take every egg delivered to him at ten dollars per egg, provided that the two dozen advanced to him brought about a reconciliation97 with Lucille Arral.
Wild Water paused, with uplifted pen, as he was about to sign. “Hold on,” he said. “When I buy eggs I buy good eggs.”
“They ain't a bad egg in the Klondike,” Shorty snorted.
“Just the same, if I find one bad egg you've got to come back with the ten I paid for it.”
“An' every bad egg you come back with I'll eat,” Shorty declared.
Smoke inserted the word “good” in the contract, and Wild Water sullenly99 signed, received the trial two dozen in a tin pail, pulled on his mittens, and opened the door.
Smoke was a witness to the play next morning in Slavovitch's. He sat, as Wild Water's guest, at the table adjoining Lucille Arral's. Almost to the letter, as she had forecast it, did the scene come off.
“Haven't you found any eggs yet?” she murmured plaintively101 to the waiter.
“No, ma'am,” came the answer. “They say somebody's cornered every egg in Dawson. Mr. Slavovitch is trying to buy a few just especially for you. But the fellow that's got the corner won't let loose.”
It was at this juncture102 that Wild Water beckoned the proprietor103 to him, and, with one hand on his shoulder, drew his head down. “Look here, Slavovitch,” Wild Water whispered hoarsely104, “I turned over a couple of dozen eggs to you last night. Where are they?”
“I don't want 'em for myself,” Wild Water breathed in a still lower voice. “Shir 'em up and present 'em to Miss Arral there.”
“I'll attend to it personally myself,” Slavovitch assured him.
“An' don't forget—compliments of me,” Wild Water concluded, relaxing his detaining clutch on the proprietor's shoulder.
Pretty Lucille Arral was gazing forlornly at the strip of breakfast bacon and the tinned mashed106 potatoes on her plate when Slavovitch placed before her two shirred eggs.
“Compliments of Mr. Wild Water,” they at the next table heard him say.
Smoke acknowledged to himself that it was a fine bit of acting—the quick, joyous107 flash in the face of her, the impulsive108 turn of the head, the spontaneous forerunner109 of a smile that was only checked by a superb self-control which resolutely110 drew her face back so that she could say something to the restaurant proprietor.
Smoke felt the kick of Wild Water's moccasined foot under the table.
“Will she eat 'em?—that's the question—will she eat 'em?” the latter whispered agonizingly.
And with sidelong glances they saw Lucille Arral hesitate, almost push the dish from her, then surrender to its lure111.
“I'll take them eggs,” Wild Water said to Smoke. “The contract holds. Did you see her? Did you see her! She almost smiled. I know her. It's all fixed112. Two more eggs to-morrow an' she'll forgive an' make up. If she wasn't here I'd shake hands, Smoke, I'm that grateful. You ain't a robber; you're a philanthropist.”
Smoke returned jubilantly up the hill to the cabin, only to find Shorty playing solitaire in black despair. Smoke had long since learned that whenever his partner got out the cards for solitaire it was a warning signal that the bottom had dropped out of the world.
“Go 'way, don't talk to me,” was the first rebuff Smoke received.
But Shorty soon thawed into a freshet of speech.
“It's all off with the big Swede,” he groaned. “The corner's busted113. They'll be sellin' sherry an' egg in all the saloons to-morrow at a dollar a flip114. They ain't no starvin' orphan115 child in Dawson that won't be wrappin' its tummy around eggs. What d'ye think I run into?—a geezer with three thousan' eggs—d'ye get me? Three thousan', an' just freighted in from Forty Mile.”
“Fairy stories,” Smoke doubted.
“Fairy hell! I seen them eggs. Gautereaux's his name—a whackin' big, blue-eyed French-Canadian husky. He asked for you first, then took me to the side and jabbed me straight to the heart. It was our cornerin' eggs that got him started. He knowed about them three thousan' at Forty Mile an' just went an' got 'em. 'Show 'em to me,' I says. An' he did. There was his dog-teams, an' a couple of Indian drivers, restin' down the bank where they'd just pulled in from Forty Mile. An' on the sleds was soap-boxes—teeny wooden soap-boxes.
“We took one out behind a ice-jam in the middle of the river an' busted it open. Eggs!—full of 'em, all packed in sawdust. Smoke, you an' me lose. We've been gamblin'. D'ye know what he had the gall32 to say to me?—that they was all ourn at ten dollars a egg. D'ye know what he was doin' when I left his cabin?—drawin' a sign of eggs for sale. Said he'd give us first choice, at ten a throw, till 2 P. M., an' after that, if we didn't come across, he'd bust the market higher'n a kite. Said he wasn't no business man, but that he knowed a good thing when he seen it—meanin' you an' me, as I took it.”
“It's all right,” Smoke said cheerfully. “Keep your shirt on an' let me think a moment. Quick action and team play is all that's needed. I'll get Wild Water here at two o'clock to take delivery of eggs. You buy that Gautereaux's eggs. Try and make a bargain. Even if you pay ten dollars apiece for them, Wild Water will take them off our hands at the same price. If you can get them cheaper, why, we make a profit as well. Now go to it. Have them here by not later than two o'clock. Borrow Colonel Bowie's dogs and take our team. Have them here by two sharp.”
“Say, Smoke,” Shorty called, as his partner started down the hill. “Better take an umbrella. I wouldn't be none surprised to see the weather rainin' eggs before you get back.”
Smoke found Wild Water at the M. & M., and a stormy half-hour ensued.
“I warn you we've picked up some more eggs,” Smoke said, after Wild Water had agreed to bring his dust to the cabin at two o'clock and pay on delivery.
“You're luckier at finding eggs than me,” Wild Water admitted. “Now, how many eggs have you got now?—an' how much dust do I tote up the hill?”
Smoke consulted his notebook. “As it stands now, according to Shorty's figures, we've three thousand nine hundred and sixty-two eggs. Multiply by ten—”
“Forty thousand dollars!” Wild Water bellowed116. “You said there was only something like nine hundred eggs. It's a stickup! I won't stand for it!”
Smoke drew the contract from his pocket and pointed117 to the PAY ON DELIVERY. “No mention is made of the number of eggs to be delivered. You agreed to pay ten dollars for every egg we delivered to you. Well, we've got the eggs, and a signed contract is a signed contract. Honestly, though, Wild Water, we didn't know about those other eggs until afterward. Then we had to buy them in order to make our corner good.”
For five long minutes, in choking silence, Wild Water fought a battle with himself, then reluctantly gave in.
“I'm in bad,” he said brokenly. “The landscape's fair sproutin' eggs. An' the quicker I get out the better. There might come a landslide118 of 'em. I'll be there at two o'clock. But forty thousand dollars!”
“It's only thirty-nine thousand six hundred an' twenty,” Smoke corrected. “It'll weigh two hundred pounds,” Wild Water raved119 on. “I'll have to freight it up with a dog-team.”
“We'll lend you our teams to carry the eggs away,” Smoke volunteered.
“But where'll I cache 'em? Never mind. I'll be there. But as long as I live I'll never eat another egg. I'm full sick of 'em.”
At half-past one, doubling the dog-teams for the steep pitch of the hill, Shorty arrived with Gautereaux's eggs. “We dang near double our winnings,” Shorty told Smoke, as they piled the soap-boxes inside the cabin. “I holds 'm down to eight dollars, an' after he cussed loco in French he falls for it. Now that's two dollars clear profit to us for each egg, an' they're three thousan' of 'em. I paid 'm in full. Here's the receipt.”
While Smoke got out the gold-scales and prepared for business, Shorty devoted120 himself to calculation.
“There's the figgers,” he announced triumphantly. “We win twelve thousan' nine hundred an' seventy dollars. An' we don't do Wild Water no harm. He wins Miss Arral. Besides, he gets all them eggs. It's sure a bargain-counter all around. Nobody loses.”
“Even Gautereaux's twenty-four thousand to the good,” Smoke laughed, “minus, of course, what the eggs and the freighting cost him. And if Wild Water plays the corner, he may make a profit out of the eggs himself.”
Promptly121 at two o'clock, Shorty, peeping, saw Wild Water coming up the hill. When he entered he was brisk and businesslike. He took off his big bearskin coat, hung it on a nail, and sat down at the table.
“Bring on them eggs, you pirates,” he commenced. “An' after this day, if you know what's good for you, never mention eggs to me again.”
They began on the miscellaneous assortment122 of the original corner, all three men counting. When two hundred had been reached, Wild Water suddenly cracked an egg on the edge of the table and opened it deftly123 with his thumbs.
“Hey! Hold on!” Shorty objected.
“It's my egg, ain't it?” Wild Water snarled124. “I'm paying ten dollars for it, ain't I? But I ain't buying no pig in a poke. When I cough up ten bucks125 an egg I want to know what I'm gettin'.”
“If you don't like it, I'll eat it,” Shorty volunteered maliciously126.
Wild Water looked and smelled and shook his head. “No, you don't, Shorty. That's a good egg. Gimme a pail. I'm goin' to eat it myself for supper.”
Thrice again Wild Water cracked good eggs experimentally and put them in the pail beside him.
“Two more than you figgered, Shorty,” he said at the end of the count. “Nine hundred an' sixty-four, not sixty-two.”
“My mistake,” Shorty acknowledged handsomely. “We'll throw 'em in for good measure.”
“Guess you can afford to,” Wild Water accepted grimly. “Pass the batch127. Nine thousan' six hundred an' twenty dollars. I'll pay for it now. Write a receipt, Smoke.”
“Why not count the rest,” Smoke suggested, “and pay all at once?”
Wild Water shook his head. “I'm no good at figgers. One batch at a time an' no mistakes.”
Going to his fur coat, from each of the side pockets he drew forth128 two sacks of dust, so rotund and long that they resembled bologna sausages. When the first batch had been paid for, there remained in the gold-sacks not more than several hundred dollars.
A soap-box was carried to the table, and the count of the three thousand began. At the end of one hundred, Wild Water struck an egg sharply against the edge of the table. There was no crack. The resultant sound was like that of the striking of a sphere of solid marble.
“Frozen solid,” he remarked, striking more sharply.
He held the egg up, and they could see the shell powdered to minute fragments along the line of impact.
“Huh!” said Shorty. “It ought to be solid, seein' it has just been freighted up from Forty Mile. It'll take an ax to bust it.”
“Me for the ax,” said Wild Water.
Smoke brought the ax, and Wild Water, with the clever hand and eye of the woodsman, split the egg cleanly in half. The appearance of the egg's interior was anything but satisfactory. Smoke felt a premonitory chill. Shorty was more valiant129. He held one of the halves to his nose.
“Smells all right,” he said.
“But it looks all wrong,” Wild Water contended. “An' how can it smell when the smell's frozen along with the rest of it? Wait a minute.”
He put the two halves into a frying-pan and placed the latter on the front lid of the hot stove. Then the three men, with distended130, questing nostrils131, waited in silence. Slowly an unmistakable odor began to drift through the room. Wild Water forbore to speak, and Shorty remained dumb despite conviction.
“What's the good?” asked Wild Water. “We've got to sample the rest.”
“Not in this cabin.” Smoke coughed and conquered a qualm. “Chop them open, and we can test by looking at them. Throw it out, Shorty—Throw it out! Phew! And leave the door open!”
Box after box was opened; egg after egg, chosen at random133, was chopped in two; and every egg carried the same message of hopeless, irremediable decay.
“I won't ask you to eat 'em, Shorty,” Wild Water jeered, “an' if you don't mind, I can't get outa here too quick. My contract called for GOOD eggs. If you'll loan me a sled an' team I'll haul them good ones away before they get contaminated.”
Smoke helped in loading the sled. Shorty sat at the table, the cards laid before him for solitaire.
Smoke made no reply, and, with one glance at his absorbed partner, proceeded to fling the soap boxes out into the snow.
“Say, Shorty, how much did you say you paid for that three thousand?” Smoke queried gently.
“Eight dollars. Go 'way. Don't talk to me. I can figger as well as you. We lose seventeen thousan' on the flutter, if anybody should ride up on a dog-sled an' ask you. I figgered that out while waitin' for the first egg to smell.”
Smoke pondered a few minutes, then again broke silence. “Say, Shorty. Forty thousand dollars gold weighs two hundred pounds. Wild Water borrowed our sled and team to haul away his eggs. He came up the hill without a sled. Those two sacks of dust in his coat pockets weighed about twenty pounds each. The understanding was cash on delivery. He brought enough dust to pay for the good eggs. He never expected to pay for those three thousand. He knew they were bad. Now how did he know they were bad? What do you make of it, anyway?”
Shorty gathered the cards, started to shuffle135 a new deal, then paused. “Huh! That ain't nothin'. A child could answer it. We lose seventeen thousan'. Wild Water wins seventeen thousan'. Them eggs of Gautereaux's was Wild Water's all the time. Anything else you're curious to know?”
“Yes. Why in the name of common sense didn't you find out whether those eggs were good before you paid for them?”
“Just as easy as the first question. Wild Water swung the bunco game timed to seconds. I hadn't no time to examine them eggs. I had to hustle to get 'em here for delivery. An' now, Smoke, lemme ask you one civil question. What did you say was the party's name that put this egg corner idea into your head?”
Shorty had lost the sixteenth consecutive136 game of solitaire, and Smoke was casting about to begin the preparation of supper, when Colonel Bowie knocked at the door, handed Smoke a letter, and went on to his own cabin.
“Did you see his face?” Shorty raved. “He was almost bustin' to keep it straight. It's the big ha! ha! for you an' me, Smoke. We won't never dast show our faces again in Dawson.”
The letter was from Wild Water, and Smoke read it aloud:
Dear Smoke and Shorty: I write to ask, with compliments of the season, your presence at a supper to-night at Slavovitch's joint. Miss Arral will be there and so will Gautereaux. Him and me was pardners down at Circle five years ago. He is all right and is going to be best man. About them eggs. They come into the country four years back. They was bad when they come in. They was bad when they left California. They always was bad. They stopped at Carluk one winter, and one winter at Nutlik, and last winter at Forty Mile, where they was sold for storage. And this winter I guess they stop at Dawson. Don't keep them in a hot room. Lucille says to say you and her and me has sure made some excitement for Dawson. And I say the drinks is on you, and that goes.
Respectfully your friend,
W. W.
“Well? What have you got to say?” Smoke queried. “We accept the invitation, of course?”
“I got one thing to say,” Shorty answered. “An' that is Wild Water won't never suffer if he goes broke. He's a good actor—a gosh-blamed good actor. An' I got another thing to say: my figgers is all wrong. Wild Water wins seventeen thousan' all right, but he wins more 'n that. You an' me has made him a present of every good egg in the Klondike—nine hundred an' sixty-four of 'em, two thrown in for good measure. An' he was that ornery, mean cussed that he packed off the three opened ones in the pail. An' I got a last thing to say. You an' me is legitimate137 prospectors138 an' practical gold-miners. But when it comes to fi-nance we're sure the fattest suckers that ever fell for the get-rich-quick bunco. After this it's you an' me for the high rocks an' tall timber, an' if you ever mention eggs to me we dissolve pardnership there an' then. Get me?”
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收听单词发音
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1
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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mittens
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| 不分指手套 | |
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alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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5
petulance
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| n.发脾气，生气，易怒，暴躁，性急 | |
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6
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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7
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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8
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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9
pout
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| v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴 | |
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10
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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12
poke
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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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13
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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14
retail
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| v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格 | |
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15
swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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16
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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17
languish
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| vi.变得衰弱无力，失去活力，（植物等）凋萎 | |
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18
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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19
depot
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| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
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20
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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21
turbulence
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| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
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22
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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23
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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24
risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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25
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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26
obsessions
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| n.使人痴迷的人（或物）( obsession的名词复数 )；着魔；困扰 | |
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27
proffer
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| v.献出，赠送；n.提议，建议 | |
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28
trudging
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式） | |
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29
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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30
conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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31
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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32
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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33
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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34
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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35
acquiescent
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| adj.默许的，默认的 | |
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36
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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37
prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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38
squander
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| v.浪费，挥霍 | |
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39
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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40
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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41
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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42
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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43
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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44
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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45
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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46
ointment
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| n.药膏，油膏，软膏 | |
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47
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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48
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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49
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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50
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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51
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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52
furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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53
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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54
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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55
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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56
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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57
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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58
grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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59
butted
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| 对接的 | |
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60
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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61
hieroglyphic
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| n.象形文字 | |
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62
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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63
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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64
exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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65
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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66
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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67
stewed
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| adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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68
slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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69
foraging
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| 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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70
dab
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| v.轻触，轻拍，轻涂；n.(颜料等的)轻涂 | |
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71
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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72
dexterously
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| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
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73
jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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74
commingled
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| v.混合，掺和，合并( commingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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76
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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78
dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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79
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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80
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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81
concurrence
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| n.同意；并发 | |
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82
retailers
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| 零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 ) | |
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83
ultimatum
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| n.最后通牒 | |
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84
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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85
virtuously
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| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
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86
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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87
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88
doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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89
prunes
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| n.西梅脯，西梅干( prune的名词复数 )v.修剪（树木等）( prune的第三人称单数 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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90
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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91
irately
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92
peddling
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| 忙于琐事的，无关紧要的 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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94
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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95
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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98
placated
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| v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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100
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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101
plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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102
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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103
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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104
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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105
thawed
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| 解冻 | |
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106
mashed
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| a.捣烂的 | |
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107
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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108
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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109
forerunner
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| n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先 | |
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110
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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111
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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112
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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113
busted
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| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
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114
flip
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| vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的 | |
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115
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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116
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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117
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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118
landslide
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| n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利 | |
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119
raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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120
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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121
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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122
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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123
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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124
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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125
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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126
maliciously
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| adv.有敌意地 | |
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127
batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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128
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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129
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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130
distended
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| v.（使）膨胀，肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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131
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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132
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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133
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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134
gibe
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| n.讥笑；嘲弄 | |
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135
shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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136
consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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137
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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138
prospectors
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| n.勘探者，探矿者( prospector的名词复数 ) | |
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