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CHAPTER VI A WILD RIDE
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 Rick and Chot seemed to feel a thrill go through them at these words. What was going to happen? Something exciting they hoped. Perhaps robbers were going to “hold them up,” and certainly the scene was wild enough to imagine almost anything taking place.
 
“Quiet, Ruddy!” ordered Rick, for the dog was trying to leap from the car.
 
Suddenly there came a most vivid flash of lightning—brighter than any that had yet presaged1 the coming of the blast. It was followed by a clap of thunder, coming so closely after the glare as to indicate that the storm was very near—if not ready to break instantly.
 
And in that startling flare2 the occupants of the automobile4 saw something that caused them to gasp5 in fear.
 
For the machine had come to a stop not five feet from the edge of a broken bridge—a bridge that spanned a deep and rocky ravine, and had they rolled into it not one might have escaped death.
 
For a moment no one spoke6—even Ruddy ceased his howls and his frantic7 efforts to get out of the auto3. And then, as another vivid flash came, and more details of the broken bridge impressed themselves on the visions of Mr. Campbell and the boys, there were gasps8 of relief at the danger escaped.
 
“Say,” exclaimed Chot with a show of righteous indignation, “it’s dangerous to have bridges like that—all broken. They ought to have some sort of a warning.”
 
“That’s right!” agreed Rick. “There ought to be a red lamp here!”
 
“There may have been,” said Mr. Campbell, “and the wind may have blown it out. I can’t believe any one who knew of this broken bridge would neglect to put out a warning sign. That is unless the bridge has just collapsed9. We’ll take a look. But I think we owe our lives to Ruddy.”
 
“Do you think he knew about it?” asked Chot in an awed10 voice.
 
“It seems so; doesn’t it?” asked Rick. “He howled just at the right time to stop us; didn’t he?”
 
“He surely did,” agreed Mr. Campbell. “His howls and the queer way he acted convinced me that something was wrong which we couldn’t see or know about. So I thought it best to stop suddenly, though at the time I felt it might be a foolish and superstitious11 notion. But it wasn’t.”
 
“How do you s’pose Ruddy knew about it?” inquired Chot.
 
“Same as dogs know when a person’s going to die,” said Rick. “Dogs always howl the night before a person’s going to die.”
 
“Who told you that?” asked Mr. Campbell, as he prepared to alight from the car.
 
“Sartin Sure, the colored man who works for us—he told me,” said the boy. “He said he never knew it to fail, that when he heard a dog howl, the next day somebody would be dead.”
 
“That’s all bosh!” laughed Mr. Campbell. “I admit that a dog may howl in the night, and somewhere in our city a person may be dead next day. But that doesn’t prove anything. Dogs will howl more on moonlight nights than any other, but more persons don’t die on such nights than on nights when there is no moon.
 
“It’s just a coincidence—an accidental happening so to speak. Dogs can’t possibly know when a person is going to die—that is unless they are right with them, and perhaps a dog who has been associated with his master many years may then, in some strange way, sense when the end comes.”
 
“But don’t you think Ruddy knew about this broken bridge?” asked Rick.
 
Mr. Campbell was silent for a moment as he alighted from the auto, followed by Rick, Chot and Ruddy.
 
“Well,” came the answer at last, “I won’t say that he actually knew about it, in the way that we would have known had some one told us. But he must have sensed it, just as Ruddy may often have known, Rick, the moment you came in the house when he was asleep, though you may have entered so quietly as to make no noise.”
 
“Yes, I’ve had that happen,” admitted Rick.
 
“Well, perhaps in the same strange, mysterious way Ruddy may have sensed that there was something wrong with this bridge and he howled—the only way he had of warning us. And he certainly did warn us.”
 
“In time, too,” added Chot. “If you’d gone a few feet farther—”
 
He did not finish the sentence, but they all knew what he meant. In silence they walked to the edge of the broken bridge, and in the glare of the car headlights, which gleamed sufficiently12 when the lightning was not flashing more brightly, they saw what had happened.
 
The bridge was old and rotten—perhaps it would not have held up the weight of the auto—and the two main supporting beams had broken close to the end nearest the travelers. The bridge had fallen into the ravine, the farther end supported on the other side like a hinge. And as more lightning flashes came they revealed the sharp and jagged rocks below—rocks on which they would have been impaled13 and smashed but for Ruddy’s timely warning.
 
They talked it all over again—waiting there for the storm to break. They wondered how Ruddy could have known—they even wondered if he really did know. Was it not all just a coincidence? Was not Ruddy merely howling because he didn’t like lightning? And did not Mr. Campbell stop instinctively14, as, perhaps, you have stopped suddenly, and for no reason when about to step into danger?
 
These were questions that never could be answered. So they gave up trying to find suitable replies, and patted Ruddy with thankful feelings in their hearts over their escape from danger. As for Ruddy, he seemed content, now that he had warned his friends, and howled no more.
 
There came another vivid glare of the sky-fireworks, followed by a resounding15 crash, at which Ruddy gave a little howl and snuggled closer to Rick. Then the silence that ensued was broken by a curious pattering sound all around the travelers who stood near the car.
 
“Rain!” exclaimed Rick.
 
“That’s right,” echoed Mr. Campbell. “We’d better get under cover.”
 
He led the way to the automobile and began getting out the side curtains from the overhead pocket beneath the top. The boys helped him, and though it was hard work to adjust them in the increasing wind and darkness, they managed to get them in place. The lightning was a hinderance rather than a help for though it was brilliantly light one moment, it was intensely dark the next, and the darkness lasted longer than did the light.
 
However they were finally as well protected as possible against the rain which came down with increasing volume as they worked at the side curtains, and when they were at last sheltered in the car there descended17 a veritable deluge18.
 
“What are you going to do, Mr. Campbell?” asked Rick as the electric starter spun19 the fly wheel and set the engine in motion.
 
“I’m going to get off this road,” was the answer. “We can’t go any farther this way on account of the broken bridge. I don’t know any other back route to Elmwood. I was foolish to take this short cut. I should have stuck to the main road. But I guess we’ll find some place we can stay all night, for I think this storm is going to last and get worse.”
 
Certainly it seemed to bear out that prediction, for the wind, the rain, the thunder and lightning produced an effect that was not at all pleasant. Ruddy curled up in the rear among the blankets and baggage, and Rick and Chot almost wished they could forget everything as the dog seemed to be doing. He had no responsibility.
 
But Rick and Chot were not shirkers. They were willing to do all they could to help in this time of stress and trouble. They were not Boy Scouts20 for nothing. They wanted to play their parts like men if need arose. And so, as they sat on the front seat with Mr. Campbell—for there was room for all three—they were on the alert for any further danger that might come up.
 
Mr. Campbell began carefully backing the car to turn it, and this was not easily done as the road was narrow where it approached the bridge. Just as he got the machine around, and was about to start off, there was a crash behind and the sound of broken glass.
 
“What’s that?” cried the man at the wheel.
 
“We’ve smashed something,” said Rick. “I’ll see what it is.”
 
“Here, put your rain coat on and take a flash light,” ordered Mr. Campbell, reaching forward into one of the side pockets. “No use getting any wetter.”
 
The boys had brought rain coats with them. They were in the rear of the machine and Rick quickly donned his and slipped out back to see what had happened. In the flash of the pocket electric light he saw where the auto had backed into a pole that had held a red danger lantern. Doubtless this had been placed to warn travelers of the broken bridge, but the red light was out when our friends drove up.
 
“You ran right into it,” Rick explained to Mr. Campbell. “It’s all smashed—I mean the red lantern is.”
 
“Well, it had probably burned out, anyhow,” was his reply. “That’s why it gave us no warning. But I wish we had some way of letting others who might come along here know that the bridge is down. I’ll stop at the first house we pass and leave word. But meanwhile some one may happen to come this road, though it isn’t likely in the storm.”
 
“Couldn’t we put a rail, or something across the road?” suggested Chot. “I mean something that would break easy so it wouldn’t damage any car that ran into it. When they hit it they’d stop, and then they could see the broken bridge.”
 
“That’s a good idea,” said Mr. Campbell. “We’ll do it. As you say, they’ll stop when they crash into a light rail or small tree, and they won’t be going very fast—not on this road in this storm.”
 
It was not a very agreeable task to get out in the mud, water and darkness, amid glaring lightning and resounding thunder and fix some sort of warning. But at last they managed to span the road with a light barrier that would easily break when a car ran into it. And once a motorist crashed into this harmless obstruction21 he would, very likely, look ahead to see the reason it was placed across the road. Then he would discover the broken bridge.
 
“There, it’s the best we can do,” said Mr. Campbell as they entered the machine again. “Say,” he suddenly asked, “aren’t you boys hungry?”
 
“A little,” admitted Rick.
 
“Same here,” echoed Chot.
 
“Well, why didn’t you tell me?”
 
“We didn’t know you had anything to eat,” said Rick.
 
“I haven’t very much, but at the last place we stopped I had them put me up some sandwiches and a thermos22 bottle of hot chocolate. I reckon it will come in good now; eh?”
 
“Oh, boy!” murmured Chot.
 
“It’s better than a Thanksgiving turkey!” exclaimed Rick.
 
Mr. Campbell got out the little lunch, and never had an elaborate meal tasted better to the boys—or to Ruddy also, for he had his share of sandwich ends and was grateful.
 
Then, heartened and warmed—for the rain was cold in spite of the summer weather that had prevailed—they started off. If the road had been hard to travel earlier in the evening, before the rain, it was doubly so now.
 
The auto lurched and swayed from side to side. Now one wheel would descend16 into some mud hole and again another would slip into a miniature ravine, throwing all in the car to one side.
 
All the while the flood of rain kept up, the lightning glared and the thunder, at times, was almost deafening24. The only occupant of the car on that wild ride, who seemed in comfort was Ruddy, well protected in the rear among the baggage.
 
“Let me know if any of you see a light ahead,” suggested Mr. Campbell to the boys. “I’ve got to keep my eyes on the road,” and as he spoke the steering25 wheel was almost jerked from his hands by the lurch23 of the car.
 
“Do you mean the lights of another auto coming?” asked Chot.
 
“Any glimmer26 at all,” was the answer. “What I’d like to see would be the lights of some hotel, or inn. We can’t travel this way all night. We’ve got to put up somewhere.”
 
They rode along for perhaps ten minutes more and then Rick suddenly called:
 
“I see a light!”

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 presaged 3ef3a64d0ddb42df75d28a43e76324ae     
v.预示,预兆( presage的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • This experience presaged my later return as CEA chairman in 2003. 这次的经历预示了我作为经济顾问理事会主席在2003年的回归。 来自互联网
  • He emphasized self-expression, the warm personal note presaged by C.P.E. Bach and Mozart. 他强调自我表现,这种热情的、带有个人色彩的表现足巴赫和莫扎特所预示过的。 来自互联网
2 flare LgQz9     
v.闪耀,闪烁;n.潮红;突发
参考例句:
  • The match gave a flare.火柴发出闪光。
  • You need not flare up merely because I mentioned your work.你大可不必因为我提到你的工作就动怒。
3 auto ZOnyW     
n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车
参考例句:
  • Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
  • The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。
4 automobile rP1yv     
n.汽车,机动车
参考例句:
  • He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
  • The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。
5 gasp UfxzL     
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说
参考例句:
  • She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
  • The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。
6 spoke XryyC     
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:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
7 frantic Jfyzr     
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的
参考例句:
  • I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
  • He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。
8 gasps 3c56dd6bfe73becb6277f1550eaac478     
v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要
参考例句:
  • He leant against the railing, his breath coming in short gasps. 他倚着栏杆,急促地喘气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • My breaths were coming in gasps. 我急促地喘起气来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 collapsed cwWzSG     
adj.倒塌的
参考例句:
  • Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
  • The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。
10 awed a0ab9008d911a954b6ce264ddc63f5c8     
adj.充满敬畏的,表示敬畏的v.使敬畏,使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The audience was awed into silence by her stunning performance. 观众席上鸦雀无声,人们对他出色的表演感到惊叹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I was awed by the huge gorilla. 那只大猩猩使我惊惧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 superstitious BHEzf     
adj.迷信的
参考例句:
  • They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
  • These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。
12 sufficiently 0htzMB     
adv.足够地,充分地
参考例句:
  • It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
  • The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。
13 impaled 448a5e4f96c325988b1ac8ae08453c0e     
钉在尖桩上( impale的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She impaled a lump of meat on her fork. 她用叉子戳起一块肉。
  • He fell out of the window and was impaled on the iron railings. 他从窗口跌下去,身体被铁栏杆刺穿了。
14 instinctively 2qezD2     
adv.本能地
参考例句:
  • As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近,她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 resounding zkCzZC     
adj. 响亮的
参考例句:
  • The astronaut was welcomed with joyous,resounding acclaim. 人们欢声雷动地迎接那位宇航员。
  • He hit the water with a resounding slap. 他啪的一声拍了一下水。
16 descend descend     
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降
参考例句:
  • I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
  • We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。
17 descended guQzoy     
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的
参考例句:
  • A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
  • The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。
18 deluge a9nyg     
n./vt.洪水,暴雨,使泛滥
参考例句:
  • This little stream can become a deluge when it rains heavily.雨大的时候,这条小溪能变作洪流。
  • I got caught in the deluge on the way home.我在回家的路上遇到倾盆大雨。
19 spun kvjwT     
v.纺,杜撰,急转身
参考例句:
  • His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
  • Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。
20 scouts e6d47327278af4317aaf05d42afdbe25     
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。
21 obstruction HRrzR     
n.阻塞,堵塞;障碍物
参考例句:
  • She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
  • The road was cleared from obstruction.那条路已被清除了障碍。
22 thermos TqjyE     
n.保湿瓶,热水瓶
参考例句:
  • Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗?
  • It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。
23 lurch QR8z9     
n.突然向前或旁边倒;v.蹒跚而行
参考例句:
  • It has been suggested that the ground movements were a form of lurch movements.地震的地面运动曾被认为是一种突然倾斜的运动形式。
  • He walked with a lurch.他步履蹒跚。
24 deafening deafening     
adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • The noise of the siren was deafening her. 汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
  • The noise of the machine was deafening. 机器的轰鸣声震耳欲聋。
25 steering 3hRzbi     
n.操舵装置
参考例句:
  • He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
  • Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵,口吻也马上变得温和了。
26 glimmer 5gTxU     
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光
参考例句:
  • I looked at her and felt a glimmer of hope.我注视她,感到了一线希望。
  • A glimmer of amusement showed in her eyes.她的眼中露出一丝笑意。


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