So now, when all was lost, I fell to kneading out this sodden5 dough6 of afterwit with Ephraim Yeates; but when I sought to carry off the blame as mine by right, the old borderer would not give me leave.
"Fair and easy, Cap'n John; fair and easy," he protested. "Let's give that old sarpent, which is the devil and Satan, his dues. Ez I allow, there was the whole enduring passel of us to ricollact all them things. To be sure, we had our warnings, mistrusting all along that this here dad-blame' hoss-captain had his finger in the pie. But, lawzee! we had ne'er a man o' God 'mongst us to rise up and prophesy7 what was a-going to happen if we didn't get up and scratch gravel8 immejitly, if not sooner; though I won't deny that Cap'n Dick did try his hand that-away."
"True; and I would now we had listened to him," said I, gloomily enough. "We have lost our chance, and God knows if we shall ever have another. Falconnet must have half a hundred men, red and white, in the powder train; and by this time he has learned from the Indian who reconnoitered us on the mountain that we are within striking distance. With the enemy forewarned, as he is, we might as well try to cut the women out of my Lord Cornwallis's headquarters."
The old man chuckled9 his dry little laugh, though what food for merriment he could find in the hopeless prospect10 was more than I could understand.
"Ho! ho! Cap'n John; I reckon ez how ye're a-taking that word from yonder down-hearted boy of our'n. Wait a spell till ye're ez old ez I be; then you'll never say die till ye're plumb11 dead."
Now, truly, though I was dismally12 disheartened, I could reassure13 him on the point of perseverance14. 'Tis an Ireton failing to lose heart and hope when the skies are dark; but this is counterbalanced in some of us by a certain quality of unreasoning persistence15 which will go on running long after the race is well lost. My father had this stubborn virtue16 to the full; and so had that old Ironside Ireton from whom we are descended17.
"That's the kind o' talk!" was the old man's comment. "Now we'll set to work in sure-enough arnest. Ez I said a spell back, my stummick is crying cupboard till I can't make out to hear my brain a-sizzling. Maybe you took notice o' me a-praying down yonder that the good Lord'd vouchsafe18 to give us scalps and provender19. For our onfaithfulness He's seed fit to withhold20 the one; but maybe we'll find a raven21 'r two, or a widder's mite22 'r meal-bar'l, somewheres in this howling wilderness23, yit."
So saying, he summoned the Catawba with a low whistle, and when Uncanoola joined us, told him to stay with Jennifer whilst we should make another effort to find the ford.
"There's nobody like an Injun for a nuss when a man's chin-deep into trouble," quoth this wise old woodsman, when we were feeling our way cautiously along the margin24 of the swift little river. "If Cap'n Dick rips and tears and pulls the grass up by the roots, the chief'll only say, 'Wah!' If he sits up and cusses till he's black in the face, the chief'll say, 'Ugh!' And that's just about all a man hankers for when his sore's a-running in the night season, and all Thy waters have gone over his head. Selah!"
Now you are to remember the sky was overcast25 and the night was pitchy dark, and how the old borderer could read a sign of any sort was far beyond my comprehension. Yet when we had gone a scant26 half-mile along the river brink27 he stopped short, sniffed28 the air and stooped to feel and grope on the ground like a blind man seeking for something he had lost.
"Right about here-away is where they made out to cross," he announced; "the whole enduring passel of 'em, ez I reckon—our seven varmints and the hoss-captain's powder train. Give me the heft o' your shoulder till we take the water and projec' 'round a spell on t'other side."
We squared ourselves, wholly by the sense of touch, with the river's edge, locked arms for the better bracing29 against the swift current, and so essayed the ford. It was no more than thigh30 deep, and though the water lashed31 and foamed32 over the shoal like a torrent33 in flood, there was a clean bottom and good footing. Once safe across, we turned our faces down-stream, and in a little time came to the deserted34 glade35 with the embers of the kidnappers36' fire glowing dully in the midst.
Here a sign of some later visitants than Falconnet's horsemen set us warily37 on our guard. The tepee-lodge of dressed skins, which had been left undisturbed by the sham38 rescuers, had vanished.
"Umph! The redskins have been back to make sure o' what they left behind," said Yeates, in a whisper. "I jing! that's jest the one thing I was a-hoping they'd forget to do. I reckon ez how that spiles our last living chance o' finding anything that mought help slack off on the belly-pinch."
So he said, but for this once his wisdom was at fault and tricky39 fortune favored us. When we had found the covert40 in the bushes where the two horses had been concealed41 we lighted upon a precious prize. 'Twas a bag of parched42 corn in the grain; some share of the provision of the captive party overlooked by those who had returned to gather up the leavings.
With this treasure-trove we made all haste to rejoin our companions. And now behold43 what a miracle of reanimation may be wrought44 by a few handfuls of bread grain! In a trice the Catawba had found a water-worn stone to serve for a mortar45, and another for a pestle46. These and the bag of corn were carried back to a sheltered ravine which we had crossed on our late advance; and here the Indian fell to work to grind the corn into coarse meal, whilst Yeates and I kindled47 a fire to heat the baking-stones.
In these preparations for the breaking of our long fast even Richard bestirred himself to help; and when the cakes were baked and eaten—with what zestful48 sharp-sauce of appetite none but the famished49 may ever know—we were all in better heart, and better able to face the new and far more desperate plight50 in which our lack of common foresight51 had entangled52 us.
For now, since we knew the full measure of the peril53 menacing our dear lady, there was need for swift determination and a blow as swift and sure; a coup54 de main which should atone55 in one shrewd push for the sleeveless failure of the night. So we would grip hands around, even to the stolid56 Indian, and swear a solemn oath to cut the women out or else to leave our bones to whiten in the forest wilderness.
You'll laugh at all these vowings and handstrikings, I dare say, and protest there was a deal of such fustian57 heroics in your doddering old chronicler's day.
Mayhap there was. But, my dears, I would you might remember as you laugh that we of that simple-hearted elder time lived by some half-century nearer to that age of chivalry58 you dote on—in the story-books. Also, I would you might mingle59 with your merriment a little of the saving grace of charity; letting it hint that, perchance, these you call "heroics" were but the free, untrammeled folk-speech of that sincerer natural heart which you have learned to silence and suppress. For I dare affirm that now, as then and always, there will be some spark of the Promethean fire in every heart of man or maid, else this would indeed be a sorry world to live in.
So, as I say, we four struck hands anew on the desperate venture; and, after carefully burying the fire to the end that it might not betray us while we slept, we burrowed60 in the nearest leaf bed to snatch an hour or two of rest before the toils61 and hazards of the chase should begin afresh.
In the thick darkness following hard upon the douting of the fire, I saw not who my nearest bed-fellow might be. But ere I slept a hand was laid on my shoulder, and a voice that I knew well, said: "Are you waking yet, Jack62?"
I said I was; and at that my poor lad would blurt63 out all his sorrow and shame for the mad fit of despair that had set him on to rail and curse me.
"You will say with good reason that I am but a sorry jockey for a friend—to fly out at you like a madman as I did," he added, by way of fitting epilogue; and to this I gave him the answer he wished, bidding him never let a thought of it spoil him of the rest he needed.
"The debt of obligation and forgiveness is all upon the other side, as you will some day know, Dick, my lad," said I, hovering64, as a coward always will, upon the innuendo-edge of the confession65 he will never make.
He mistook the pointing of this protest, as he was bound to.
"Never say that, Jack. 'Twould be a dog-in-the-manger trick in me to blame you for loving her. And since you speak of debts, I do protest I owe you somewhat, too. With so fair a chance to cut a clean swath in that fair-weather month at Appleby Hundred, another man would have left me scant gleanings in the field, I'll be bound; whereas—"
"Damn you!" I broke in roughly, "will you never have done and go to sleep?" And so, taking surly harshness for a mask when my heart was nigh bursting with shame and grief, I turned my back and cut him off.
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1
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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7
prophesy
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| v.预言；预示 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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17
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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vouchsafe
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| v.惠予，准许 | |
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provender
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| n.刍草；秣料 | |
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withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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25
overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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26
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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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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bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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31
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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32
foamed
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| 泡沫的 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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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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kidnappers
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| n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 ) | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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40
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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41
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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42
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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43
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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44
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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45
mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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46
pestle
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| n.杵 | |
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47
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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48
zestful
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| adj.有滋味 | |
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49
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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50
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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51
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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52
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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54
coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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55
atone
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| v.赎罪，补偿 | |
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56
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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57
fustian
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| n.浮夸的；厚粗棉布 | |
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58
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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59
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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60
burrowed
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| v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 )；翻寻 | |
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61
toils
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| 网 | |
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62
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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63
blurt
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| vt.突然说出，脱口说出 | |
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64
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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65
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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