“
Roll out, men, roll out!”
The sleeping men stirred under their robes and blankets and turned out, quickly awake, after the fashion of the wilderness1. The sentinel came in, his moccasins wet, his tunic2 girded tight against the cool of the morning, which even at that season was chill upon the high plains. Soon the fires were alight and the odors of roasting meat arose. The hour was scarce yet dawn.
“Ordway! Gass! Pryor!” Lewis called in the sergeants3 in charge of the three messes. “The boy Shannon has not returned. Which of your men, Ordway, will best serve to find Shannon and meet us up the river?”
“Myself, sir,” said Ordway, “if you please.”
“No, ’tis meself, sor,” interrupted Patrick Gass.
Pryor, with hand outstretched, also claimed the honor of the difficult undertaking5.
“You three are needed in the boats,” said the leader. “No, I think it will be better to send Drouillard and the two Fields boys. But tell me, Sergeant4 Ordway——”
[Pg 192]
“Yes, sir!”
“Has any boat passed up the river within the last day—for instance, while we were away at the hunt?”
“I think not, sir. Surely any one coming up the river would have turned in at our camp.”
Lewis turned to Gass, to Pryor; but both agreed that no boat could have gone by unnoticed.
“And no man has come into the camp from below—no horseman?”
They all shook their heads. Their leader looked from one to the other keenly, trying to see if anything was concealed6 from him; but the honest faces of his men showed no suspicion of his own doubts.
He dismissed them, feeling it beneath his dignity to make inquiry7 as to the bearer of the mysterious letter; nor did he mention it again to William Clark. He knew only that some one of his men had a secret from his commander.
“The men will find Shannon and bring him in ahead—we can’t afford to wait here for them. The water is falling now,” said Clark. “We are doing our twenty miles daily. The men laugh on the line, for the bars are exposed, and they can track along shore easily. Suppose Shannon were out three days—that would make it sixty miles upstream—or less, for him, for he could cut the bends. I make no doubt that when he found himself out for the night he started up the river; even before this time. En avant, Cruzatte!” he called. “You shall lead the line for the first draw. Make it lively for an hour! Sing some song, Cruzatte, if you can—some song of old Kaskaskia.”
[Pg 193]
“Sure, the Frenchmans, she’ll lead on the line this morning, Capitaine! I’ll put nine, seven Frenchmans on the line, and she’ll run on the bank on her bare feet two hour—one hour. This buffalo8 meat, she make Frenchmans strong like nothing!”
“Go on, Frenchy!” said Patrick Gass, Cruzatte’s sergeant, who stood near by. “Wait until time comes for my squad9 on the line—’tis thin we’ll make the elkhide hum! There’s a few of the Irish along.”
“Ho!” said Ordway, usually silent. “Wait rather for us Yankees—we’ll show you what old Vermont can do!”
“As to that,” said Pryor, “belike the Ohio and Kentucky men could serve a turn as well as the Irish or the French. Old Kaintuck has to help out the others, the way she did in the French and Indian War!”
“Well,” broke in Peter Weiser, joining them as they argued, “I am from Pennsylvania; but I am half Virginian, and there are some others from the Old Dominion10. When you are all done, call on us—ole Virginny never tires!”
The contagion11 of their light-heartedness, their loyalty12 and devotion, came as solace13 to the heart of Meriwether Lewis. He smiled in spite of himself, his eye kindling14 with confidence and admiration15 as he looked over his men.
They were stripping for their day’s work, ready for mud or water or sun, as the case might be. Amidships, on the highest locker16 on the barge17, one of the Kentuckians was flapping his arms lustily and giving the cockcrow, the river challenge of frontier days. Others [Pg 194]seated themselves at the long sweeps of the barge, while yet others were manning the pirogues.
A few moments later, with joyous18 shouts, they were on their way once more—and not setting their faces toward home. In an hour they were above the first long bend. The wilderness had closed behind them. No trace of the Indian village was left, no sight of the lingering smoke of their last camp fires.
Faithfully, patiently, day by day, they held their way, sustained by the renewed fascination19 of adventure, hardened and inured20 to risk and toil21 alike. The distance behind them lengthened22 so enormously that they began to figure upon the unknown rather than the known.
“We surely must be almost across now!” said some of the men.
All of them were sore distressed23 over the loss of Shannon. Two weeks had passed since they left the Yankton Sioux, and four times the faithful trailers had come back to the boats with no trace of the missing one.
“It certainly is in the off chance now,” assented24 William Clark seriously, one day as they lay in the noon encampment. “But perhaps he may be among the natives somewhere, and we may hear of him when we come back—if ever we do.”
“If he got by the Teton Sioux, and kept on up the river, in time he would find us somewhere among the Mandans,” said Meriwether Lewis. “But we will try once more before we give him up. Send a man to the top of the bluff25 with my spyglass.”
[Pg 195]
Busy in their labors26 over their maps, and in the recording27 of their compass bearings, for half an hour they forgot their messenger, until a shout called their attention. He was waving his hands, wildly beckoning28. Yonder, alone in the plains, bewildered, hopeless, wandering, was the lost man, who did not even know that the river was close at hand! Shannon’s escape from a miserable29 fate was but one more instance of the almost miraculous30 good fortune which seemed to attend the expedition.
“And she was lucky man, too!” said Drouillard, a half-hour later, nodding toward the opposite shore. “Suppose he is on that side, she’ll not go in today!”
“Two weeks on his foot!”
They looked where he pointed31. Red men, mounted, were visible, a dozen of them, motionless, on the rim32 of the farther bank, watching the explorers as they began to make ready for their journey. Lewis turned his great field glass in that direction.
“Sioux!” said he. “They are painted, too. I fancy,” he added, as he turned toward his associates, “that this must be Black Buffalo’s band of Tetons you’ve told us about, Drouillard.”
“Oui, oui, the Teton!” exclaimed Drouillard. “I’ll not spoke33 his language, me; but she’ll be bad Sioux. Prenez garde, Capitaine, prenez garde pour ces sauvages, les Sioux!”
And indeed this warning proved well founded. More Indians gathered in toward the shore that afternoon, riding along, parallel with the course of the boats, whooping34, shouting to the boatmen. At nightfall [Pg 196]there were a hundred of them assembled—painted warriors35, decked in all their savage36 finery, bold men, showing no fear of the newcomers.
The white men went about their camp duties in a mingling37 of figures, white and red. Lewis lined up his men, beat his drums, fired the great swivel piece to impress the savages38.
“Bring out the flag, Will,” said he. “Put up our council awning39. I’ll have a parley40 with their head man. Can you make him out, Drouillard?”
“He’ll said he was Black Buffalo,” replied the Frenchman. “I don’t understand him very good.”
“Take him these things, Drouillard,” said Lewis. “Give him a lace coat and hat, a red feather, some tobacco, and this medal. Tell him that when we get ready we’ll make a talk with him.”
But Black Buffalo and his men were not in the mood to wait for their parley. They crowded down to the bank angrily, excitedly, even after they had received the presents sent them. Lewis, busy about the barge, which had not yet found a good landing-place, turned at the sound of his friend’s voice, to see Clark struggling in the grasp of two or three of the Sioux, among them the Teton chief. A savage had his hand flung about the mast of the pirogue, others laid hold upon the painter. Clark, flushed and angry at the touch of another man’s hand, had whipped out his sword, and the Indians were drawing their bows from their cases.
At that moment Lewis gave a loud order, which arrested them all. The Sioux turned toward the barge, [Pg 197]to see the black mouth of the great swivel gun pointing at them—the gun whose thunder voice they had heard.
“Big medicine!” called out Black Buffalo in terror, and ordered his men back.
Clark offered his hand to Black Buffalo, but it was refused. Angry, he sprang into the pirogue and pushed off for the barge. Three of the Indians stepped into the pirogue with him, jabbering41 excitedly, and, with Clark, went aboard the barge, where they made themselves very much at home.
“Croyez moi!” ejaculated Drouillard. “These Hinjun, she’ll think he own this country!”
Here, then, they were, in the Teton country. No sleep that night for either of the leaders, nor for any of the men. They pulled the pirogues alongside the barge and sat, barricaded42 behind their goods, rifle in hand.
They kept their visitors prisoners all that night, and whatever might have been the construction the Tetons placed on their act, they themselves by dawn were far more placable. Continually they motioned that the whites should come ashore43, that they must stop, that they must not go on further up the river. But when all was prepared for the start on the following morning, Lewis ordered the great cable of the barge cast off.
Black Buffalo in turn ordered his men to lay hold upon it and retain the boat. Once more the Indians began to draw their bows. Once more Lewis turned upon them the muzzle44 of his cannon45. His men shook the priming into their pieces, and made ready to fire. An instant, and much blood might have been shed.
[Pg 198]
“Black Buffalo,” said Lewis, as best he might through his interpreter, “I heard you were a chief. You are not Black Buffalo, but some squaw! We are going to see if we can find Black Buffalo, the real chief. If he were here, he would accept our tobacco. The geese are flying down the river. Soon the snow will come. We cannot wait. See, I give you this tobacco on the prairie. Go and see if you can find Black Buffalo, the real chief!”
“Ha!” exclaimed the Teton leader, his dignity outraged46. “You say I am not Black Buffalo—that I am not a chief. I will show you!”
He caught the twists of good black Virginia tobacco tossed to him, and cast the rope far from him upon the tawny47 flood of the Missouri. An instant later the oars48 had caught the water and Cruzatte had spread the bowsail of the barge. So they won through one more of the most dangerous of the tribes against whom they had been warned.
“A near thing, Merne!” said Will Clark after a time. “There is some mighty49 Hand that seems to guide us—is it not the truth?”
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收听单词发音
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1
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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3
sergeants
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| 警官( sergeant的名词复数 )； （美国警察）警佐； （英国警察）巡佐； 陆军（或空军）中士 | |
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sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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6
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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7
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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8
buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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9
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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13
solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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14
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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15
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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16
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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inured
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| adj.坚强的，习惯的 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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28
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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29
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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32
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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33
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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34
whooping
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| 发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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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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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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awning
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| n.遮阳篷；雨篷 | |
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40
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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41
jabbering
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的现在分词 )；急促兴奋地说话；结结巴巴 | |
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42
barricaded
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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43
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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44
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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45
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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46
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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47
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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48
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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49
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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