“Gettin’ tired of bein’ nurse to an old man?” he asked suddenly.
June smiled at him and shook her head.
“No, I’m not tired, Mr. Reber.”
“That’s good. I like you, June. You saved my life that night. Buck Priest is a good shot. He meant to kill me, yuh see. You shore thought real quick, June. You’ve got a head, girl. I’ve watched yuh around here and I’ve talked to yuh. You’ve got sense—too much sense to be playing a violin in a honkatonk.”
June smiled at him.
“One must eat, Mr. Reber. And you have paid me better than I could get any other place.”
“You’ve earned it, June. I wondered how they’d take yore kind of music. But cowboys are sentimental3. I’ve seen ’em cry over yore music. Give the average cowboy a few drinks and he’ll cry over ‘Home Sweet Home’. Yes, they will, June. Lot’s of ’em never had a regular home; lots of ’em were kicked out early in life—but they’ll cry, just the same.”
“I suppose,” said June, nodding.
“And you never asked me anythin’ about Buck Priest. That night he called me a dirty cow thief, didn’t he?”
Park Reber smiled bitterly.
“Mebbe Buck was drunk. He’s hated me for years, June. Oh, I’m no angel. I tried to run Buck out of this country. He’s a fighter. He’s not sorry he shot me, but sorry he didn’t kill me.”
“Why didn’t you have him arrested, Mr. Reber?”
“Arrested? For shootin’ me? Why, no, June, it was an even break. My shoulder-holster—well, it isn’t a fast draw. I’d have killed him. Oh, he hates me! Funny, isn’t it, June? We used to be pardners—me and Buck.
“And it was all over a woman—a woman like you, June. She was like you in lots of ways, I think. The valley wasn’t what it is now. Tomahawk was a tradin’ post. This girl came here with her family in a covered wagon4. I was in the south end of the valley at that time, where me and Buck had a small herd5 of cattle. Buck was here at the post, and met her.
“He was two days late bringing in supplies, and when he came he told me about her. I told him he was a fool to even think of a girl. It was a bad country to bring a girl into. The Cheyennes were unfriendly then, and there were a lot of them in the valley. They stole cattle and horses. It kept us busy protectin’ our herds6.
“But Buck went back to the post, over thirty miles from our ranch7, and was gone five days. He was going to bring in more ammunition8, but when he came back he was drunk and had no ammunition, so I left him there and went after it.
“And I met this girl. Her name was Janice Gray. Pretty name, eh? And she was pretty. I found that Buck had proposed to her and she had turned him down. Two days later we were married and went back to the ranch.”
Park Reber smiled bitterly and looked at the ceiling.
“I don’t know why she married me, June. I can see the look on Buck’s face yet when we rode in and told him. And I had forgotten the ammunition. He didn’t say much. Didn’t wish us happiness—just sat there and looked at the ground. Finally he said—
“‘Park, I’ll pay you for this some day.’”
“I didn’t know what he meant at the time. He saddled his horse and rode away. Later on he built a cabin at the forks of the river and sent two men for half of the stock. I helped them round up all the cattle and horses, and we divided them equally.
“But he never came near me. I heard that he said he would pay me back for what I had done, but I did not pay any attention to what I heard. We were happy, Janice and I. The spring came and turned into summer. There were few settlers. The Cheyennes were gettin’ worse, but every one said that when the winter came they’d be driven out by the deep snows and lack of game. The deer all move over to Clear Valley in the winter, because of the laurel, which does not grow here.
“The winter came early that season. I had cut a lot of wild hay on the bottoms, but not enough to feed stock all winter. In October there was three feet of snow, and it did not go off. By Christmas my hay was all gone, and I was in a desperate condition.
“I knew that the north end of the valley was open, and there was only one thing to try and do—to take my herd out of my range. I had one man working for me. He was a young man by the name of Sneed—John Sneed—a good boy. I couldn’t leave Janice alone, yuh see. There would be a baby along soon, and some one had to stay with her. There was a doctor at the trading post. I tell yuh, I was desperate, so I broke trail with horses and led my cattle to the upper end of the valley. It was a tough pull. I took them past Buck’s place, but didn’t see him. He had moved his cattle out a few days before, and the trail was open from there.
“I had to bring those half-starved cattle almost up to here, where I threw them in with Buck’s cattle, and came on to the post. It was bitter cold that night I rode in, but it warmed up a little, and by morning the worst blizzard9 that ever swept this country came down through here.
“This whole valley was a howling hell of wind and snow, June. I don’t suppose our cattle lasted one night. You couldn’t see a man at your elbow. A man couldn’t live in it. Twenty below and a fifty-mile gale10. I swore I’d go home, but they stopped me. It lasted five days.
“And when the wind died down the temperature died with it, until the thermometer at the post froze. Then we started for my place, the doctor and me, traveling on snowshoes. The valley was a place of the dead. There was not even a rabbit-track. Our cattle were under the drifts.
“There was some one at Buck’s cabin. We could see a thread of smoke from his chimney; the rest of the cabin was buried in the snow. But there was no smoke from my chimney.”
Park Reber shut his eyes, and for a while June thought he had fallen asleep. Then:
“No, there was no smoke, June; the cabin was empty. We dug our way down to the door and went in. There was John Sneed, lying face down in the middle of the room—dead. His head had been cut open—his scalp taken. The Cheyennes had been there. The doctor said he had been dead quite a while. I think they had been there ahead of the blizzard.
“I don’t remember just what I did, June. They told me that I went hunting for the Cheyenne camp; I don’t remember. Later I went back to the post and spent the winter. In the spring I went to the Cheyennes and tried to find some trace of my wife, but it was useless. They treated me like a crazy man—and I reckon I was. Later on I went further north and opened a saloon in a new mining camp. It was a money-maker, and in two years I came back here and went into cattle again.
“Buck was still here; still hatin’ me. We met one day and he taunted11 me with my loss. I tried to kill him with my hands and almost succeeded. It didn’t help any. Buck Priest ain’t the kind you can whip into friendship.
“And I think he hates me for being successful. I own practically all of the Valley. They call it Reber’s Valley. That must hurt Buck Priest. I tried to buy him out, but he wouldn’t sell. He shot my cattle when they came on his range, and I—I shot his cattle on my range.
“Oh, it’s been a battle for years. Finally I gave my men orders to let him and his cattle alone. It seemed to be a mutual12 truce13. But my cattle have disappeared. I don’t think Buck Priest took them.”
“Jack Silver?”
“Yes, I heard his name spoken, Mr. Reber.”
“Jack Silver,” mused16 Reber. “A handsome devil of a breed, June. He’s tall, graceful—too smart for my men. He comes to Tomahawk. He’s not afraid of me. Half Cheyenne. There are no Cheyennes in the Valley now, June. Uncle Sam keeps ’em on a reservation. But Jack Silver lives back on Trapper Creek17, twenty miles southwest of here. We’ve tried to catch him stealing my cattle, but he eludes18 us.
“McLeese of the Two Bar X and Nort Jackson of the Lightnin’ have trailed him for weeks; and Slim Patterson has tried to trap him, but he’s too clever. He’s got the cunning of the Cheyenne, the brain of a white man.”
June sat in an old rocker, her chin resting on the palm of her right hand, as she thought over Reber’s story. It was the first time she had ever heard the reasons for Buck Priest’s hatred19 of Park Reber.
“How many head of cattle has Jack Silver stolen from you?” she asked.
Reber shook his head slowly.
“Who knows, June? More than I care to lose.”
He smiled at the thoughtful expression on her face.
“What would you do if you was in my place, June?”
“I was just thinking,” said June, “that if I were in your place I’d hire Jack Silver to work for me.”
Reber frowned quickly. “Hire him to—”
“Why not? You’d save money—and he would be worth what you paid him, wouldn’t he?”
“I never thought of that, June.”
They were interrupted by Hop20 Lee, who came in and told Reber that Slim Patterson of the Half-Wheel was waiting to see him. June left the room when Patterson came in.
“How’re yuh comin’?” asked Slim, sitting down in the chair June had vacated.
“All right,” said Reber. “Be out in a day or so.”
“Good! Say, I was back between Trapper Creek and the West Fork yesterday and I found about a hundred cows bunched in a draw back there. It shore looked as though somebody was all set for a drive. Me and ‘Chuck’ Avery laid there until night waitin’ for somebody to show up, but they didn’t.
“I left Chuck there and went home. Sent ‘Biddy’ Conley and Abe Lehman out to keep him company and pulled out for here this mornin’, after Biddy came in and said they hadn’t seen anybody yet.”
Reber sighed wearily.
“I dunno, Slim,” he said slowly. “I talked with McLeese the other day and he suggested that we post men in that Trapper Creek pass. It might be a good scheme. They can’t get past the Two Bar X into West Fork pass without bein’ seen by some of the boys, and those are the only two ways out, except past here.
“I’ll tell yuh what I want yuh to do, Slim. Send about three of yore men to Trapper Creek pass, and then pack a message to Jackson, McLeese, Franks and Carlin to be here at my place tomorrow night, and you come with ’em. I’ve got a scheme to stop Jack Silver.”
“You have? That’s fine.”
Slim got to his feet and picked up his hat.
“I’ll pass the word to the boys for tomorrow night. Heard anythin’ more of Buck Priest?”
“Not a word, Slim. Have you?”
“Only that he says yo’re stealin’ his cows. I think he’s tryin’ to excuse himself for shootin’ yuh.”
Reber smiled slowly, and Slim went out.
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收听单词发音
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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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2
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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3
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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4
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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5
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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6
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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7
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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8
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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9
blizzard
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| n.暴风雪 | |
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10
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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11
taunted
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| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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12
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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13
truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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14
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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15
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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16
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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17
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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18
eludes
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的第三人称单数 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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19
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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20
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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