Buck1, the guide, and Elmer Grissom had reached their appointed rendezvous2 at two o'clock that afternoon. The hot journey had been tedious and uneventful. Only at the half-breed settlement twenty miles north of Clarkeville had they seen a human being. Therefore, after they had been in camp about an hour, even the vigilant3, experienced Buck was startled to observe suddenly a solitary4 Indian—his horse as statuesque as himself—watching them from a knoll5 some two hundred yards distant.
As the old scout6 raised both hands in signal of peace the Indian rode forward. The man was not in the Indian panoply7 of the old days, except that he wore moccasins and had two bands of red and yellow paint on his broad, dark face. A black wide-brimmed hat, a faded blue shirt and trousers completed his outfit8.
"How?" exclaimed the Indian.
"Navajo?" answered Buck.
"Ute!" came the answer. "Where go?"
"Right here," said Buck good-naturedly, pointing to the ground.
"Ute land!" retorted the Indian without a trace of expression in his face.
"No," retorted Buck sharply, "not Ute land. Ute land there," pointing north, "in Colorado."
Buck only shook his head.
Then the Indian suddenly threw himself from his horse, strode to the wagon10 and threw up the tail curtain. Safely stored therein he saw the protected tins of gasoline.
"Whisky?" he exclaimed.
"No," laughed Elmer, "not whisky."
"Whisky," repeated the stranger turning towards Buck; "drink!"
But Buck shook his head.
With out another word the Ute walked haughtily11 to his horse, threw himself upon it, and, clasping his heels to its sides, rode quickly away.
"I'm sorry," exclaimed the veteran at last.
"I had no idea that there were Utes around here."'
"He doesn't seem dangerous," commented Elmer.
"No," answered Buck, "men who'd cut your throat for a horse never do. The chances are he isn't alone."
Elmer looked up in surprise.
"We'll just make sure," exclaimed Buck, making as light of the affair as possible. "I don't want to lose my horses and you don't want to lose your freight. We'll make ourselves ready in case our friends come back to make us a little visit."
And as night came on and Elmer helped Buck draw the wagon close to the river bank, where approach from the rear would be difficult, the boy began to realize what it meant to get away from the telegraph and policemen and law and order. And when the experienced scout unloaded a portion of their heavier freight and began to build a small barrier Elmer's usual joviality13 cooled into silence. The three piles of brush and driftwood from the river were laid out some distance in front of the camp in preparation for the agreed signal fires and then, before the sun went down, the scout and his companion made their camp fire and had supper.
"What do yo' expec' dey'll do?" asked the colored lad at last.
"Well, you can't tell. Injuns are puzzles. When they steal they steal in the dark. When they fight they fight at daybreak."
"What do yo' suggest?"
"To tell the truth, son," answered Buck, "there ain't much to do but keep yer eyes open and pop it to the first red horse thief ye see crawlin' around in the night."
"Hadn't we better light our signal fires?" asked Elmer.
"There won't be any signal fires to-night," replied Buck, slowly, "if you want my advice. It's one thing for a bluffin' Ute to walk up in the daylight when you've got a fair chance to give him as good as he sends, and its another thing for him to get a bead14 on you a sittin' in the light o' yer camp fire—him in the dark."
Elmer saw and understood.
So night fell in silence with Buck and Elmer keyed up and ready to meet any possible attack.
Nothing happened until several hours had passed. Neither Elmer nor Buck were any the less alert, however. The old scout was pacing up and down in front of the barricade15 and perhaps a hundred feet from it. Elmer could just hear his soft footfalls in the sand. Suddenly these ceased. Almost at the same moment there was the crack of Buck's rifle, a groan16 and a moment later the scout was inside the barricade.
"I guess I got him all right," he whispered, "he was makin' too much noise."
This was the shot Ned heard miles away in the Cibola.
Again for some minutes there was no sound and then, suddenly and from the left, came a spit of flame in the dark. Almost before Elmer heard the explosion Buck's gun had spoken in reply. Both bullets went wild, but Buck explained that it was necessary to give shot for shot, "and right at 'em," said Buck, "as it takes a little o' the ginger17 out o' them."
But the besiegers had undoubtedly18 widened out. The next signs of them were two shots, almost together. Elmer's rifle made quick reply, but, to the boy's surprise, Buck failed to fire in return. The scout had disappeared from his companion's side. Before Elmer could call out he heard a rush at the end of the barricade, and then two explosions almost together and not ten feet away. He could not describe the sound that followed, but he knew that it meant the convulsions of human beings in agony. He whispered his companion's name, but there was no answer—only a gasp19.
In the black darkness the colored boy, revolver in hand, crawled forward. At the end of the barricade Buck's body was lying. As the boy's hand fell on the old man's breast he knew that it was blood he felt.
"Buck," he whispered, "Buck! Is yo' hurt?"
He put his arm under his friend's head. For a moment the unconscious form yielded and then convulsively straightened. Elmer knew that his companion and protector was dead.
With strength that he did not know he had Elmer laid Buck's dead body behind the little wall of freight boxes.
Then, as if by intuition, he sprang forward and found what he suspected—the unmoving form of an Indian. Unable to see, Elmer quickly felt over the adjacent ground with his hands and discovered the dead Ute's rifle. The revolver was gone. In the same manner he recovered both Buck's rifle and revolver, and then prepared to do his duty—to protect his employer's goods so long as he could.
He was scarcely entrenched20 again, with the three magazine rifles laid on the barricade before him, when his straining ears heard a new sound. Far away and faint, but meaning only one thing, the soft chugging of a motor. The Cibola! There could be no doubt of it. The instant feeling of relief was shattered even as it gave Elmer new courage; to attempt to light the signal fires would probably mean instant death. And without them how would his friends know his position or peril21? But one thing he could do; and even knowing that it would mean an answering shot from the skulking22 horse thieves he discharged his revolver into the air.
Then the sound of the motor died away and the long minutes dragged by. When it began again, and more softly, the sound was nearer. Nearer, and nearer it came and then the circle of light fell on the wagon and was gone. "At least they know where I am," thought Elmer to himself, and settled down courageously23 for renewed attack, determined24 to hold out to the last. At this moment came the shot that put out the Cibola's light.
The nervy boy had been tempted25 to abandon the wagon and follow the light, but his second judgment26 was against this. "If they can, the boys will come back," he argued, "and I'll only get out of this when I have to."
To Elmer's surprise the attackers had been strangely silent for some time. With more experience he would have known that this meant even greater danger, but he only hoped it was due to the distracting and mysterious flying light. Then the sepulchral27 green light burst out in its funnel-like volume. It was coming back. It flared28, went out, shot over the distant sands again like a searching' eye and then began moving straight up the river bank towards the wagon. Then came the earth rending29 explosion. Nor could the besieged30 boy know even then that Ned's well-aimed bomb had sent five Utes to their last sleep.
When the sound of the explosion had died away and Elmer had recovered himself—for the shock had thrown him forward on the barricade—the whirr of the Cibola's motor was again far away. But it was directly above him!
As if the attackers had been paralyzed by the explosion, the long interval31 continued without a shot. Then suddenly, from the right and left and front, the real attack began. One shot sounded as a signal, and then from a half circle before him half a dozen bullets tore their way towards the boy and his barricade. Most of them went wild. Two hit the boxes and half stunned32 the lone12 guardian33 behind them. The assailants did not know that one of the two white men was dead, and Elmer, in hopes temporarily to deceive them, fired two of the rifles at the same moment.
But his enemies were closing in; the half circle was growing smaller and the crash of the bullets in the wagon above him and in the barricade in front told the boy that the end could not be far away. To the right in the direction of the explosion there was a gap in the fast closing circle. It was folly34 to delay longer. If escape were possible, it was in that direction. He would make one desperate attempt. One shot remained in his rifles. Putting it where he thought it would do the most good, and catching35 up the two yet full revolvers, the colored boy crawled under the wagon and crept hastily along the river bank.
And yet he did not dare to attempt to pass the end of the Indian semi-circle. It was one chance in a thousand. Throwing himself on the ground, he waited. "Crack!" It was the rifle of an Indian, not fifty feet away and coming nearer. The stealthy footfalls told Elmer that his foe36 was heading straight for the river bank and that he was in the Ute's path. Then he could hear the Indian's deep breathing. Detection was inevitable37.
One last thing remained to be done—to kill the Indian and make a dash forward down the river bank. And he must act before his foe discovered him. Elmer's revolver flashed fire and he saw his foe of the red and yellow face bound into the air and then topple forward with a cry of anguish38.
The boy turned, but too late. Directly in front he heard the sudden shouts of other Indians. The river at his back! Flight down its cement-like bank was impossible. He might plunge39 forward and pray that the water was beneath.
The death cry of the man he had shot and the echoing yells of the Indians behind him had been taken up by others. He knew the determined savages41 were making a final rush. Indian cries seemed to come from the very ground at his feet. He hesitated no lodger42.
As he turned to the river a sudden and strange wave of cool air struck down on him from above. Without reasoning he paused. That pause saved his life. In that swift moment he heard the low creak of something straining. His eyes pierced the black about him. Was it a shadow? Something was brushing by him like a great bird asleep on the wing. Then it was on him.
"Ned?" It was only a whisper but it was enough.
"Elmer, here, quick!"
Even the whisper had brought an instant shot, but the colored boy had hurled43 himself toward the voice and an instant later a strong young arm was about the besieged lad.
It was Ned Napier on the swaying ladder of the Cibola.
"Cut away," came the low quick order and before even the nearby besiegers could locate the sound Bob Russell, high above, had slashed44 the lashings of a bag of ballast. The big balloon sprang forward, Elmer dangling45 in the air, and then settled again to the earth as the desperate colored boy found the last rung of the ladder and clung fast opposite his rescuer.
A thud on the ground told where another bag of ballast had fallen. The crash of the fallen fifty-pound bag of sand probably saved the Cibola. Shot after shot poured in the direction of the sound, although the Cibola, dragging forward, yet refused to rise. Elmer, at the bottom of the ladder, was helping47 the car onward48 in low bounds by touching49 the ground with one foot.
Then the air craft settled again. Elmer's weight was too much. A mad thought came into the boy's brain. The Indians had located the new invader50 and yells nearby told that hot pursuit was already being made. Then the spit, spit, of new shots showed the risk the boys had taken. Elmer realized it. Should he hang on and endanger the lives of his friends, or should he let go?
There seemed no time to think, but the boy's hand had already loosened when out of the black came the hot breath of the foremost pursuer. As the savage40 sprang forward Elmer's free arm gave him a blow full in the face. At the same instant the Cibola sprang upward like a bullet. A volley of shots rang out below, but they were too late. The balloon had saved Elmer's life, and even before the lad had made his way up the swaying ladder into the cabin it was a thousand feet in the air.
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1
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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3
vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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4
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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5
knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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6
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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7
panoply
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| n.全副甲胄，礼服 | |
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8
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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9
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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11
haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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12
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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13
joviality
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| n.快活 | |
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14
bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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barricade
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| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
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16
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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17
ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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18
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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entrenched
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| adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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22
skulking
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的现在分词 ) | |
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23
courageously
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| ad.勇敢地，无畏地 | |
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24
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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26
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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sepulchral
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| adj.坟墓的，阴深的 | |
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28
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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29
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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30
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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32
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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34
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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35
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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36
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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37
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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38
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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39
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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40
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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41
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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42
lodger
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| n.寄宿人，房客 | |
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43
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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44
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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45
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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46
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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47
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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48
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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49
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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50
invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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