“Hello! What do you think of that, Brandon?” he gasped2. “The yacht has actually gone off without me.”
“Of course not, Vic!”
“Perhaps it’s right before my eyes—only I can’t see it?” exclaimed Victor, witheringly. “Or maybe you think Uncle Ralph is putting the ‘Fearless’ through some funny capers3 a mile up in the sky?”
“It’s a kind of puzzle, I’ll admit. But——”
“I don’t like it a little bit,” broke in Victor, beginning to pace the wharf5. “Uncle Ralph intended to leave at ten. It’s nine-fifteen now.”
“Very likely he has taken Bob and Charlie on a short cruise,” suggested Dave, consolingly.
“What for, I’d like to know?”
[75]“So should I.”
“Looks mighty6 queer to me.” A heavy scowl7 rested on Victor’s face. “Let’s get off this old pile of boards, and——”
“Go back to the hotel, I suppose?”
“You suppose wrong, as usual. In the mood I’m in I might give the by-law committee what I almost handed to Joe Rodgers. Back to that fine combination of Spudger and Whiffin.”
“But there’s three-quarters of an hour to spare, and the yacht is almost sure to be back within that time,” objected Dave, glancing at his watch.
“I won’t wait.”
Dave’s resourcefulness was called into play. By means of a vigorous argument he managed to prolong their stay for a few moments, at the expiration8 of which he found himself alone. Laughing softly, he sat down on a box on the edge of the wharf.
Ten o’clock arrived. Dave took another careful survey of the river, but, seeing no signs of the motor yacht, he accordingly walked off to join the figure loitering in the distance.
[76]“I knew it wouldn’t be there,” was Victor’s greeting.
“Nix,” interrupted Victor. “Uncle Ralph has kept me waiting; I’ll keep him waiting. I’m going to the circus.”
“Tyrant!” laughed Dave. “Lead on, Prince. I’ll follow.”
“Human nature is indeed a curious study,” sighed the historian.
After another trip to Spudger’s the boys started for the wharf again.
Uncle Ralph wasn’t there. And if Victor did give it up he kept right on talking.
The lad’s face reflected his keen disappointment. He was beginning to feel very angry and disgusted. He was also extremely mystified. What could it mean?
“It looks as if I’m going to get cheated out of that dandy motor yacht trip to-day, Brandon.” The scowling12 lines on his forehead[77] deepened. “By George, I never felt so mad in all my life. It’s after eleven, now.”
The two were so busily engaged in conversation that they failed to notice a little fat man who presently emerged from a shanty14 not far away and ambled15 slowly out on the wharf toward them.
With his face wreathed in smiles he approached, coughing in a sort of apologetic fashion as he said, touching16 his cap:
“I beg pardon, gents, but I’d like to speak to ye jist a moment.”
Victor eyed his slouchy figure with a disdainful stare.
“No—no; not even a cent!” he exclaimed almost spitefully. “You’re husky enough to work. Go hustle17 after a job!”
The humorous light instantly left the little fat man’s eyes, to be followed by such a ferocious18 expression that Victor thought it wise to walk briskly away.
“Wal, if it don’t beat all,” growled19 the offended citizen. He struck the palm of his hand a savage20 blow. “Wonder what the captain ’ud say to that?”
Finding no answer to this perplexing problem,[78] he started to follow the retreating lads; then, apparently21 reconsidering, stopped short.
When Victor, a few moments later, shot a glance over his shoulder he saw the man walking slowly away from the wharf.
“He didn’t,” returned Dave.
“Well, he was going to. I’m glad I called him down. And I don’t care what you say, Brandon, there’s something funny about this boat business,” Victor almost screeched24.
“We’ll go right over to the hotel now, and see Tom,” said Dave, firmly.
There was a significance in his manner which Victor had already learned to comprehend—it meant that his wishes were to be obeyed. Fuming25 with impatience26, and feeling a deep sense of personal injury at the way things had gone, he followed his companion.
“The garage is on our way,” remarked Dave, a few minutes later. “I want to see if that motor car has been made ready for our trip.”
[79]Benjamin Rochester, the colored lad, with an oily rag and a can of gasoline in his hand, looked up quickly as their forms were silhouetted27 against the open doorway28.
“Fo’ de land’s sake,” he gasped, “I thought you fellers had done gone!”
“Hello!” cried Dave.
He looked sharply around the garage. But the huge form of the Rambler Club’s motor car was not revealed to his eager gaze.
“What has become of our car, Benjamin?” he demanded, sternly.
“De lan’ sake! You didn’t know?”
“Now what’s coming, I wonder!” growled Victor.
“Why, dat tall young gemman has jist took it away, suh,” answered Benjamin, scenting29 a mystery, and beginning to show the whites of his eyes.
“Took it away?” exclaimed Dave, incredulously. “You can’t mean that our Tom took the machine away?”
“Fo’ de lan’s sake! An’ yo’ didn’t know?”
“Well, this beats the Dutch, and the American, and the English, all put together!” exploded Victor, so fiercely that[80] Benjamin, somewhat startled, side-stepped out of range.
“And where was he going?”
“To Milwaukee, suh.”
“To Milwaukee?” echoed Dave and Victor, almost in the same breath.
“Dat’s perxactly what he done said, suh.”
The boys looked at each other in amazement30. Victor clenched31 his small fists and whistled shrilly32, while Dave gazed thoughtfully at the grinning countenance33 of Benjamin Rochester.
“No, suh; de gemman didn’t say nuffin,” answered Benjamin. He wagged his head knowingly. “But I had me s’picions, suh; ’deed I had. He acted awful queer, like he were done skeered, suh; an’ kep’ a-lookin’ an’ a-lookin’.”
“Here, Brownie”—Victor Collins seized Dave’s wrist and fairly dragged him toward the door—“come right along. I’ve got an idea.”
The instant they were outside, Victor, his[81] eyes sparkling, stopped by the curb35 and began a broadside.
“Say, Brandon, remember how I kidded Clifton this morning?” he demanded.
“Yes,” answered Dave.
“Well, I guess he was actually thin-skinned enough to believe I really meant it. I’ll bet he went tearing over to Uncle Ralph and jollied him into going off without me.”
“What a ridiculous idea, Vic!” laughed Dave. “Why should Tom have done such a thing?”
Victor eyed him scornfully.
“Just to get ahead of the game, that’s why. Don’t you see?”
“No, I don’t, Vic.”
“Then brush up your perceptive36 faculties37 a bit. Here it is a second time: he was so afraid that I might get Uncle Ralph to take you chaps to Milwaukee as a joke—see?—that he sets his wits to work, goes over to the yacht to find out, discovers that you and I are at the circus, and plays the joke first. See again?”
“Bob and Charlie would never have stood for such a thing,” declared Dave.
“They would!” returned Victor. “And I[82] know Uncle Ralph; he’s just the one to fall for a game like that.”
The stout boy raised his hand protestingly.
“Why, Vic!”
“Oh, don’t ‘why Vic’ me!” snapped Victor. “I tell you, Uncle Ralph Bunderley probably sat down and roared.”
“You won’t think so when you feel in a better humor,” laughed Dave.
“I don’t care what you say, Brandon; that’s the way I figure it out. Anyway, if that long-legged Indian did engineer it”—he flourished his fists savagely—“he’ll stop a few of these!”
“Let’s try and reason——”
“There isn’t any reason to it. That Clifton fellow has just turned the trick; he’s getting square for some of the true things I said about him.”
“Nothing of the sort,” said Dave.
“Oh, I reckon you’ll stand up for that grand and perfect Clifton. Honest, though, I didn’t think the sly, foxy Indian would do Brownie up brown like this.”
Dave, refusing to countenance such an idea, propounded38 theory after theory, each of which his companion promptly39 rejected.
[83]“There’s no use talking, Brandon,” he exclaimed, at length. “I declare, I’m mad enough to punch his head off. The yacht’s gone; the gasoline tank’s gone; and we’re here in Kenosha.”
“And I’m likely to stay for some time to come, unless the fellows turn up.”
The worried expression on the historian’s face gave place to a broad grin.
“Why?” demanded Victor.
“Because I’m stranded—broke—cast into the seething40 vortex of life without gold, silver, nickel, or even copper41 to lend me a helping42 hand.”
“How in the dickens did such a thing as that happen?”
“It’s this way, Vic: after I’d paid my way out to Chicago I didn’t have a red cent left. So I was obliged to throw myself on the tender mercies of the crowd until we reach Milwaukee.”
“Not a bit of it, Vic.”
“Well, if they’ve been lending you cash how is it you’re broke?”
[84]“I was going to get another five from Bob this morning.”
Victor’s eyes began to twinkle. Then, like a flash, his mood completely changed. A wide grin merged13 into a laugh; his slender form shook with a perfect storm of merriment, while Benjamin, from the doorway, looked on with wondering eyes.
“My, oh my, but don’t I feel sorry for you, Brownie!” he gasped, between another succession of outbursts. “Broke? Gee! I’ll bet you are just shaking in your shoes.”
Dave smiled calmly.
“Maybe so, Vic,” he returned, good-naturedly. “Perhaps our stay in Kenosha may add more pages to my history than I anticipated.”
To Victor’s mind there was something extremely comical in Dave Brandon’s unexpected situation. His face now actually beamed. Things were at last breaking in a way to suit him. Without a move on his part, events had so shaped themselves that at least one member of the Rambler Club was likely to come tumbling down several pegs44 in a hurry.
[85]Victor wasn’t really such a bad chap. He simply possessed45 an over-supply of the weaknesses of human nature, which had been fostered—unintentionally, of course—by a too-indulgent parent.
“I’ll lend the big Indian just as much of the cash as he wants,” reflected the boy, “but he’ll have to get off his high perch46 and ask me for it. Gee, won’t I laugh when the great depending-upon-himself fellow hollers for help!”
In a moment, slapping Dave on the shoulder, he said:
“What are you going to do?”
“Go back to the hotel. Perhaps Tom may have left some message for us.”
“Well, I don’t believe it.”
With a sigh, Dave started off.
“Good-bye, Benjamin,” he called, catching47 sight of the wondering colored lad. “I only hope this is ‘much ado about nothing,’ or——”
“It won’t be any ‘Tempest in a teapot’ when I get hold of Wyoming Tom,” said Victor, decidedly; “and don’t you forget it.”
“Dar am sartingly somethin’ queer ’bout dat[86] dar bunch,” murmured Benjamin Rochester, shaking his head knowingly.
When the two arrived at the hotel the clerk told them that Tom had left no message.
“Of course the tall Indian didn’t!” exclaimed the smaller lad.
To his astonishment, Dave ambled slowly into the reception room and took a seat.
“I say, Brownie,” remarked Victor, “I’m going out to get some grub.”
“Hope you’ll enjoy it,” came an easy response.
“Why in thunder doesn’t he ask?” thought Victor. Then, aloud, he added:
“Aren’t you hungry, Brownie?”
“Sure, Vic; always am.”
“Coming, then?”
“Can’t!”
“Why not?”
“For obvious reasons, my dear sir.”
“Humph! Wants me to offer it to him. Not on your life!” was another of Victor’s reflections. “How are you going to manage, Brandon?”
“Time will tell, Vic.”
The Chicago boy stood, irresolute48; his better[87] nature prompted him to offer assistance. But the slights Victor imagined he had suffered suddenly flashed into his mind.
“No; I won’t do it. If the duffer is too all-fired proud to speak up he’ll get out of his fix the best way he can.”
“No use to wait for me, Vic,” said Dave.
“Just as you say, Brandon. So-long!”
Once outside the room, however, Victor’s conscience smote49 him. He walked back and poked50 his head inside the doorway. “I’ll give him another chance,” he said to himself.
“Say, Brandon, what’s your program?”
“Time will tell, Vic,” responded the stout boy.
With a snort of disgust, Victor turned on his heel.
“This ought to teach the big Indian a jolly good lesson,” he muttered, fiercely. “After a while he’ll be singing a mighty different tune51.”
When Victor Collins, refreshed by an ample repast, returned to the hotel he received his third surprise of the day.
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收听单词发音
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1
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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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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3
capers
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| n.开玩笑( caper的名词复数 )；刺山柑v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的第三人称单数 ) | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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8
expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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prattling
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| v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话( prattle的现在分词 )；发出连续而无意义的声音；闲扯；东拉西扯 | |
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gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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12
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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13
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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14
shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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ambled
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| v.（马）缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 )；从容地走，漫步 | |
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16
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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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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18
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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19
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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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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21
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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22
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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23
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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24
screeched
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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25
fuming
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| 愤怒( fume的现在分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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silhouetted
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| 显出轮廓的，显示影像的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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scenting
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| vt.闻到（scent的现在分词形式） | |
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30
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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31
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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shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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perceptive
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| adj.知觉的，有洞察力的，感知的 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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38
propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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40
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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41
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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42
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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43
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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44
pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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45
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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46
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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48
irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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49
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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50
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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51
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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