He turned his head and saw June looking at him. She had slept for several hours.
“How are yuh feelin’, June?” he asked.
“All right, Jack. Oh, I must have slept a long time. Why, it’s morning!”
“Just about. We’ll get some breakfast and then I’ll rope a couple of horses. I dunno what became of my horse, but I think they took him away. We’re goin’ back to Tomahawk, June. Somethin’ is wrong out here.”
She nodded and got up from her chair.
“I’ll get the breakfast, Jack. I can cook.”
“I’ll betcha,” he smiled. “Yo’re quite a woman, June. I don’t blame Reber for likin’ yuh. I never knew that women had the nerve you’ve got. After what you went through since yuh left Tomahawk yesterday, it’s a wonder you’ve got any nerve left.”
“But I’ve been frightened,” confessed June. “If you had said ‘boo!’ to me yesterday I’d have dropped your gun.”
“Mebbe not,” said Jack smiling. “That gun is too easy on the trigger to take any chances. I might have just booed a bullet into my nervous system.”
Jack laughed and turned back to the window, leaning forward tensely. There were cattle drifting past the rear of the corrals and sheds—a compact mass of moving animals heading northwest toward the West Fork pass. Jack stepped to the door and opened it enough to give him a farther view down the valley. As far as he could see down the valley there were cattle surging ahead like a brown wave.
Jack shut the door quickly. A man had slipped through the corral-fence at the corner of a shed, a man carrying a rifle in his hand.
“What is it, Jack?” asked June anxiously.
“The big steal!” he exclaimed. “I know the answer now, June. Reber’s own men are stealing from him—taking a big herd4 over the West Fork pass. That’s why they stole yuh, don’t yuh see? They didn’t want anybody here to see ’em. That’s why there wasn’t anybody here, June.
“That’s why they’ve blocked the road against Reber. McLeese had this framed before Reber fired him. God knows how many of Reber’s men are in on it. They’re tryin’ to send ’em over the pass before anybody can get out here to catch ’em.”
“But—but they know we’re here,” panted June.
“They sure do,” said Jack bitterly. “Keep out of line with the windows. I’ve got the doors fastened and I’ve got two guns. But our best chance is to lay low. We know too much for them to let us get out alive, June. Their plans were upset when Reber sent you out here.”
“But won’t they be in such a hurry to get the cattle over the pass that they’ll leave us alone?”
June’s answer came in the form of a bullet, which smashed out a pane5 of glass and thudded into the rear wall of the room. Jack drew June back against the wall, and they edged their way to the front of the room.
“Flat on the floor under the windows,” said Jack. “They’ll not shoot that low.”
A shower of glass sprayed over them when a bullet tore through the window casing.
“Shootin’ wild,” said Jack easily. “Listen to the cattle.”
“You ought to be glad,” said June wearily.
“I wonder if I am? If it was anybody but his own men I might.”
“If yuh mean trustin’ a friend or an employee—yes.”
“You’ve been to school?”
Jack nodded shortly.
“Six years, June—in Cheyenne.”
“Who sent you there?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know who paid for it. I was sent from the reservation when I was about eight years old. I never went back there, June. I was fourteen when I came here. I worked for Buck11 Priest quite a while, and then I built me a place on Trapper Creek12. I was goin’ to be a cowman, and I had a good start, but Park Reber’s men killed off my cattle. I’ve been in the valley eleven years.”
“You are twenty-five years old, Jack?”
“I think so.”
“Who was your father?”
He looked queerly at her. Another bullet smashed through the kitchen window and ricocheted off the stove.
“I don’t know who he was,” said Jack. He ran his fingers along the barrel of his six-shooter. “No one would tell me after I came back from school. They said I was the son of a squaw-man.”
Jack sat up with his shoulders against the corner of the room. Some one had come on the porch and was near the door. Jack leaned sidewise and sent a bullet angling through the center panel. His shot was echoed by a yelp13 and a curse.
“They’re still in there!” yelled a voice.
Bullets came through the door about two feet above the floor and more came through the smashed windows. The opposite wall of the room was beginning to show signs of wear. A bullet smashed the lamp, causing a small shower of kerosene14.
Some one was trying to open the kitchen door. Jack snaked along the wall to the kitchen entrance and sent a bullet through the door just above the knob. He heard a sharp cry and turned to see June, one hand across her face. She had tried to follow him.
He rolled back to her and drew her back under the window. A bullet had come through just below the sill, and had scored her temple just enough to break the skin and raise a blue welt. She was dazed, bewildered. She tried to get to her feet, but Jack pulled her down.
“You’re all right, June,” he told her. “It’s not serious. Stay down, girl!”
He held to her with one hand. There was smoke drifting in through the broken window—too much smoke to be caused by the shooting. Jack sniffed15 at it.
Wood smoke! They had fired the ranchhouse!
He could hear the flames crackling now, and the smoke was getting heavier. June was recovering, but it seemed that the injury had broken her nerve. She began crying softly and Jack patted her on the arm.
“It’s all right, June,” he told her. “Don’t cry. You’ve got to hang on to yore nerve, girl. They’ve set the house on fire. It’s do or die, I guess. We can’t stay here and burn to death.”
The wall was getting hot. There was a little breeze, and the seasoned old building was as dry as tinder. June blinked at him through her tears. She understood what he was saying.
“We’ll crawl to the kitchen door,” he told her. “I’ll open the door and jump out. Mebbe I can drive ’em back so you can get away. It’s our only chance. They might let yuh go and figure on catchin’ yuh. I’ll stop ’em as long as I can, June.”
They slid along the wall to the kitchen.
The shooting had stopped. Jack knew they were merely waiting for them to try to make a break. Beside the door they stopped and Jack held out his hand to her.
“Good-by, June. You stay here until I tell yuh when to come out—if I last that long.”
“Good-by, Jack.” June’s face was white and drawn16. “I forced you into this. If it hadn’t been for me you’d be free.”
“Tha’s all right; it was a mistake, June. It’s all in the game. I reckon I’d forgive you for anythin’. Good-by.”
He raised up from his haunches, grasped the door with his left hand and gave it a jerk. It stuck fast. He dropped the gun in his holster and grasped the door with both hands but it refused to open.
“Stay here, June,” he panted, dropping to his knees and crawled back to the front door.
The room was full of smoke now.
He went to the door, got to his feet and tried to open it. He could force it open about two inches—enough to see that a rope ran from the knob to a porch-post.
A bullet smashed through the paneling and raked him along the forearm. He dropped to his knees, coughing from the smoke, and crawled back to June. His left forearm and hand were covered with blood.
June merely stared at him, her mind refusing to work.
“You mean, we can’t get out—we’ve got to burn?”
Jack was staring at a spot in the center of the floor. There was a metal ring sunk in the floor, and beyond it were two hinges—the roothouse trap-door.
He sprawled18 over and dug the ring loose. With a heave he opened the trap, and the odor of musty old vegetables filled the room. An old ladder led down to the bottom. June went down first. There was more shooting, but they could not hear the bullets now.
Jack left the trap open to give them a little light. The roothouse was about six feet deep and of about the width of the kitchen. It was cool down there, and no smoke penetrated19. They took deep breaths to rid their lungs of the smoke.
On one side was an accumulation of old boxes and barrels. Jack lighted a match and almost shouted with joy. Behind those old boxes and barrels was a stairway which led to an outside roothouse door.
He flung the boxes aside, clearing the disused stairway, a prayer in his heart that the door might not be nailed down. They could hear the snapping of the flames now, the hoarse20 shouts of men, the crackle of guns.
Jack put his shoulder against the old slanting21 door and lifted enough to find that it was not fastened down.
“We’ll beat ’em yet, June,” he panted. “The fire seems to be mostly at the front of the house yet. We can stay here for a few minutes.”
June was swaying sidewise, and before Jack could spring to her assistance she had fainted. He lifted her up and held her in his arms. In falling she had struck her head against the corner of a box, cutting it badly.
He tore the muffler from around his neck and bound it around her head. Then he picked her up in his arms and staggered up the old steps, where he hunched22 in as low as possible, bracing23 his right shoulder against the door.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
streaked
|
|
| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
huddled
|
|
| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
herd
|
|
| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
pane
|
|
| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
rumble
|
|
| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
bawling
|
|
| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的现在分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
calves
|
|
| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
buck
|
|
| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
creek
|
|
| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
yelp
|
|
| vi.狗吠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
kerosene
|
|
| n.(kerosine)煤油，火油 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
sniffed
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
riddle
|
|
| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
sprawled
|
|
| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
penetrated
|
|
| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
hoarse
|
|
| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
slanting
|
|
| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
hunched
|
|
| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bracing
|
|
| adj.令人振奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |