章节正文
We went to bed about eleven o'clock. We spread down
some wide blankets and quilts and put Red Chief between
us. We weren't afraid he'd run away. He kept us
awake for three hours, jumping up and reaching for his
rifle and screeching: "Hist! pard," in mine and Bill's
ears, as the fancied crackle of a twig or the rustle of a
leaf revealed to his young imagination the stealthy
approach of the outlaw band. At last, I fell into a
troubled sleep, and dreamed that I had been kidnapped
and chained to a tree by a ferociouspirate with red hair.
Just at daybreak, I was awakened by a series of awful
screams from Bill. They weren't yells, or howls, or
shouts, or whoops, or yalps, such as you'd expect from
a manly set of vocal organs -- they were simply indecent,
terrifying, humiliating screams, such as women emit
when they see ghosts or caterpillars. It's an awful thing
to hear a strong, desperate, fat man scream incontinently
in a cave at daybreak.
I jumped up to see what the matter was. Red Chief
was sitting on Bill's chest, with one hand twined in Bill's
hair. In the other he had the sharp case-knife we used
for slicing, bacon; and he was industriously and realistically
trying to take Bill's scalp, according to the sentence that
had been pronounced upon him the evening before.
I got the knife away from the kid and made him lie
down again. But, from that moment, Bill's spirit was
broken. He laid down on his side of the bed, but he never
closed an eye again in sleep as long as that boy was with us.
I dozed off for a while, but along toward sun-up I remem-
bered that Red Chief had said I was to be burned at the
stake at the rising of the sun. I wasn't nervous or afraid;
but I sat up and lit my pipe and leaned against a rock.
"What you getting up so soon for, Sam?" asked Bill.
"Me?" says I. "Oh, I got a kind of a pain in
my shoulder. I thought sitting up would rest it."
"You're a liar!" says Bill. "You're afraid. You
was to be burned at sunrise, and you was afraid he'd
do it. And he would, too, if he could find a match.
Ain't it awful, Sam? Do you think anybody will pay
out money to get a little imp like that back home?"
"Sure," said I. "A rowdy kid like that is just the kind
that parents dote on. Now, you and the Chief get up and
cook breakfast, while I go up on the top of this mountain
and reconnoitre."
I went up on the peak of the little mountain and ran my
eye over the contiguous vicinity. Over toward Summit I
expected to see the sturdy yeomanry of the village armed
with scythes and pitchforks beating the countryside for
the dastardly kidnappers. But what I saw was a peaceful
landscape dotted with one man ploughing with a dun
mule. Nobody was dragging the creek; no couriers
dashed hither and yon, bringing tidings of no news to the
distracted parents. There was a sylvan attitude of
somnolent sleepiness pervading that section of the external
outward surface of Alabama that lay exposed to my view.
"Perhaps," says I to myself, "it has not yet been discov-
ered that the wolves have home away the tender lambkin
from the fold. Heaven help the wolves!" says I, and I
went down the mountain to breakfast.
When I got to the cave I found Bill backed up against
the side of it, breathing hard, and the boy threatening
to smash him with a rock half as big as a cocoanut.
"He put a red-hot boiled potato down my back,"
explained Bill, "and the mashed it with his foot; and
I boxed his ears. Have you got a gun about you,
Sam?
I took the rock away from the boy and kind of patched
up the argument. "I'll fix you," says the kid to Bill.
"No man ever yet struck the Red Chief but what he got
paid for it. You better beware!"
After breakfast the kid takes a piece of leather with
strings wrapped around it out of his pocket and goes out-
side the cave unwinding it.
"What's he up to now?" says Bill, anxiously. "You
don't think he'll run away, do you, Sam?"
"No fear of it," says I. "He don't seem to be much of
a home body. But we've got to fix up some plan about the
ransom. There don't seem to be much excitement around
Summit on account of his disappearance; but maybe
they haven't realized yet that he's gone. His folks
may think he's spending the night with Aunt Jane or one
of the neighbours. Anyhow, he'll be missed to-day.
To-night we must get a message to his father demanding
the two thousand dollars for his return."
Just then we heard a kind Of war-whoop, such as David
might have emitted when he knocked out the champion
Goliath. It was a sling that Red Chief had pulled out
of his pocket, and he was whirling it around his head.
I dodged, and heard a heavy thud and a kind of a sigh
from Bill, like a horse gives out when you take his saddle
off. A niggerhead rock the size of an egg had caught
Bill just behind his left ear. He loosened himself all over
and fell in the fire across the frying pan of hot water for
washing the dishes. I dragged him out and poured cold
water on his head for half an hour.
By and by, Bill sits up and feels behind his ear and
says: "Sam, do you know who my favourite Biblical
character is?"
"Take it easy," says I. "You'll come to your senses
presently."
"King Herod," says he. "You won't go away and
leave me here alone, will you, Sam?"
I went out and caught that boy and shook him until
his freckles rattled.
"If you don't behave," says I, "I'll take you straight
home. Now, are you going to be good, or not?"
"I was only funning," says he sullenly. "I didn't
mean to hurt Old Hank. But what did he hit me for?
"I'll behave, Snake-eye, if you won't send me home, and
if you'll let me play the Black Scout to-day."
"I don't know the game," says I. "That's for you and
Mr. Bill to decide. He's your playmate for the day.
I'm going away for a while, on business. Now, you
come in and make friends with him and say you are
sorry for hurting him, or home you go, at once."
I made him and Bill shake hands, and then I took Bill
aside and told him I was going to Poplar Cove, a little
village three miles from the cave, and find out what I
could about how the kidnapping had been regarded in
Summit. Also, I thought it best to send a peremptory
letter to old man Dorset that day, demanding the ransom
and dictating how it should be paid.
"You know, Sam," says Bill, "I've stood by you with-
out batting an eye in earthquakes, fire and flood -- in
poker games, dynamite outrages, police raids, train
robberies and cyclones. I never lost my nerve yet till
we kidnapped that two-legged skyrocket of a kid. He's
got me going. You won't leave me long with him, will
you, Sam?"
"I'll be back some time this afternoon," says I. "You
must keep the boy amused and quiet till I return. And
now we'll write the letter to old Dorset."
Bill and I got paper and pencil and worked on the
letter while Red Chief, with a blanket wrapped around
him, strutted up and down, guarding the mouth of the
cave. Bill begged me tearfully to make the ransom
fifteen hundred dollars instead of two thousand. "I
ain't attempting," says he, "to decry the celebrated moral
aspect of parental affection, but we're dealing with
humans, and it ain't human for anybody to give up two
thousand dollars for that forty-pound chunk of freckled
wildcat. I'm willing to take a chance at fifteen hundred
dollars. You can charge the difference up to me."
So, to relieve Bill, I acceded, and we collaborated a
letter that ran this way:
Ebenezer Dorset, Esq.:
We have your boy concealed in a place far from Summit.
It is useless for you or the most skilful detectives to
attempt to find him. Absolutely, the only terms on
which you can have him restored to you are these: We
demand fifteen hundred dollars in large bills for his return;
the money to be left at midnight to-night at the same
spot and in the same box as your reply -- as hereinafter
described. If you agree to these terms, send your answer
in writing by a solitarymessenger to-night at half-past
eight o'clock. After crossing Owl Creek, on the road
to Poplar Cove, there are three large trees about a hundred
yards apart, close to the fence of the wheat field on the
right-hand side. At the bottom of the fence-post, opposite
the third tree, will be found a small pasteboard box.
The messenger will place the answer in this box and
return immediately to Summit.
If you attempt any treachery or fail to comply with
our demand as stated, you will never see your boy again.
If you pay the money as demanded, he will be returned
to you safe and well within three hours. These terms
are final, and if you do not accede to them no further coin-
munication will be attempted.
TWO DESPERATE MEN.
I addressed this letter to Dorset, and put it in my pocket.
As I was about to start, the kid comes up to me and says:
"Aw, Snake-eye, you said I could play the Black Scout
while you was gone."
"Play it, of course," says I. "Mr. Bill will play
with you. What kind of a game is it?"
"I'm the Black Scout," says Red Chief, "and I
have to ride to the stockade to warn the settlers that the
Indians are coming. I'm tired of playing Indian myself.
I want to be the Black Scout."
"All right," says I. "It sounds harmless to me.
I guess Mr. Bill will help you foil the pesky
savages."
"What am I to do?" asks Bill, looking at the kid
suspiciously.
"You are the hoss," says Black Scout. "Get down
on your hands and knees. How can I ride to the stockade
without a hoss?"
"You'd better keep him interested," said I, "till we
get the scheme going. Loosen up."
Bill gets down on his all fours, and a look comes in
his eye like a rabbit's when you catch it in a trap.
"How far is it to the stockade, kid?" he asks, in a husky
manner of voice.
"Ninety miles," says the Black Scout. "And you have
to hump yourself to get there on time. Whoa, now!"
The Black Scout jumps on Bill's back and digs his
heels in his side.
"For Heaven's sake," says Bill, "hurry back, Sam,
as soon as you can. I wish we hadn't made the ransom
more than a thousand. Say, you quit kicking me or I'll
get up and warm you good."
some wide blankets and quilts and put Red Chief between
us. We weren't afraid he'd run away. He kept us
awake for three hours, jumping up and reaching for his
rifle and screeching: "Hist! pard," in mine and Bill's
ears, as the fancied crackle of a twig or the rustle of a
leaf revealed to his young imagination the stealthy
approach of the outlaw band. At last, I fell into a
troubled sleep, and dreamed that I had been kidnapped
and chained to a tree by a ferociouspirate with red hair.
Just at daybreak, I was awakened by a series of awful
screams from Bill. They weren't yells, or howls, or
shouts, or whoops, or yalps, such as you'd expect from
a manly set of vocal organs -- they were simply indecent,
terrifying, humiliating screams, such as women emit
when they see ghosts or caterpillars. It's an awful thing
to hear a strong, desperate, fat man scream incontinently
in a cave at daybreak.
I jumped up to see what the matter was. Red Chief
was sitting on Bill's chest, with one hand twined in Bill's
hair. In the other he had the sharp case-knife we used
for slicing, bacon; and he was industriously and realistically
trying to take Bill's scalp, according to the sentence that
had been pronounced upon him the evening before.
I got the knife away from the kid and made him lie
down again. But, from that moment, Bill's spirit was
broken. He laid down on his side of the bed, but he never
closed an eye again in sleep as long as that boy was with us.
I dozed off for a while, but along toward sun-up I remem-
bered that Red Chief had said I was to be burned at the
stake at the rising of the sun. I wasn't nervous or afraid;
but I sat up and lit my pipe and leaned against a rock.
"What you getting up so soon for, Sam?" asked Bill.
"Me?" says I. "Oh, I got a kind of a pain in
my shoulder. I thought sitting up would rest it."
"You're a liar!" says Bill. "You're afraid. You
was to be burned at sunrise, and you was afraid he'd
do it. And he would, too, if he could find a match.
Ain't it awful, Sam? Do you think anybody will pay
out money to get a little imp like that back home?"
"Sure," said I. "A rowdy kid like that is just the kind
that parents dote on. Now, you and the Chief get up and
cook breakfast, while I go up on the top of this mountain
and reconnoitre."
I went up on the peak of the little mountain and ran my
eye over the contiguous vicinity. Over toward Summit I
expected to see the sturdy yeomanry of the village armed
with scythes and pitchforks beating the countryside for
the dastardly kidnappers. But what I saw was a peaceful
landscape dotted with one man ploughing with a dun
mule. Nobody was dragging the creek; no couriers
dashed hither and yon, bringing tidings of no news to the
distracted parents. There was a sylvan attitude of
somnolent sleepiness pervading that section of the external
outward surface of Alabama that lay exposed to my view.
"Perhaps," says I to myself, "it has not yet been discov-
ered that the wolves have home away the tender lambkin
from the fold. Heaven help the wolves!" says I, and I
went down the mountain to breakfast.
When I got to the cave I found Bill backed up against
the side of it, breathing hard, and the boy threatening
to smash him with a rock half as big as a cocoanut.
"He put a red-hot boiled potato down my back,"
explained Bill, "and the mashed it with his foot; and
I boxed his ears. Have you got a gun about you,
Sam?
I took the rock away from the boy and kind of patched
up the argument. "I'll fix you," says the kid to Bill.
"No man ever yet struck the Red Chief but what he got
paid for it. You better beware!"
After breakfast the kid takes a piece of leather with
strings wrapped around it out of his pocket and goes out-
side the cave unwinding it.
"What's he up to now?" says Bill, anxiously. "You
don't think he'll run away, do you, Sam?"
"No fear of it," says I. "He don't seem to be much of
a home body. But we've got to fix up some plan about the
ransom. There don't seem to be much excitement around
Summit on account of his disappearance; but maybe
they haven't realized yet that he's gone. His folks
may think he's spending the night with Aunt Jane or one
of the neighbours. Anyhow, he'll be missed to-day.
To-night we must get a message to his father demanding
the two thousand dollars for his return."
Just then we heard a kind Of war-whoop, such as David
might have emitted when he knocked out the champion
Goliath. It was a sling that Red Chief had pulled out
of his pocket, and he was whirling it around his head.
I dodged, and heard a heavy thud and a kind of a sigh
from Bill, like a horse gives out when you take his saddle
off. A niggerhead rock the size of an egg had caught
Bill just behind his left ear. He loosened himself all over
and fell in the fire across the frying pan of hot water for
washing the dishes. I dragged him out and poured cold
water on his head for half an hour.
By and by, Bill sits up and feels behind his ear and
says: "Sam, do you know who my favourite Biblical
character is?"
"Take it easy," says I. "You'll come to your senses
presently."
"King Herod," says he. "You won't go away and
leave me here alone, will you, Sam?"
I went out and caught that boy and shook him until
his freckles rattled.
"If you don't behave," says I, "I'll take you straight
home. Now, are you going to be good, or not?"
"I was only funning," says he sullenly. "I didn't
mean to hurt Old Hank. But what did he hit me for?
"I'll behave, Snake-eye, if you won't send me home, and
if you'll let me play the Black Scout to-day."
"I don't know the game," says I. "That's for you and
Mr. Bill to decide. He's your playmate for the day.
I'm going away for a while, on business. Now, you
come in and make friends with him and say you are
sorry for hurting him, or home you go, at once."
I made him and Bill shake hands, and then I took Bill
aside and told him I was going to Poplar Cove, a little
village three miles from the cave, and find out what I
could about how the kidnapping had been regarded in
Summit. Also, I thought it best to send a peremptory
letter to old man Dorset that day, demanding the ransom
and dictating how it should be paid.
"You know, Sam," says Bill, "I've stood by you with-
out batting an eye in earthquakes, fire and flood -- in
poker games, dynamite outrages, police raids, train
robberies and cyclones. I never lost my nerve yet till
we kidnapped that two-legged skyrocket of a kid. He's
got me going. You won't leave me long with him, will
you, Sam?"
"I'll be back some time this afternoon," says I. "You
must keep the boy amused and quiet till I return. And
now we'll write the letter to old Dorset."
Bill and I got paper and pencil and worked on the
letter while Red Chief, with a blanket wrapped around
him, strutted up and down, guarding the mouth of the
cave. Bill begged me tearfully to make the ransom
fifteen hundred dollars instead of two thousand. "I
ain't attempting," says he, "to decry the celebrated moral
aspect of parental affection, but we're dealing with
humans, and it ain't human for anybody to give up two
thousand dollars for that forty-pound chunk of freckled
wildcat. I'm willing to take a chance at fifteen hundred
dollars. You can charge the difference up to me."
So, to relieve Bill, I acceded, and we collaborated a
letter that ran this way:
Ebenezer Dorset, Esq.:
We have your boy concealed in a place far from Summit.
It is useless for you or the most skilful detectives to
attempt to find him. Absolutely, the only terms on
which you can have him restored to you are these: We
demand fifteen hundred dollars in large bills for his return;
the money to be left at midnight to-night at the same
spot and in the same box as your reply -- as hereinafter
described. If you agree to these terms, send your answer
in writing by a solitarymessenger to-night at half-past
eight o'clock. After crossing Owl Creek, on the road
to Poplar Cove, there are three large trees about a hundred
yards apart, close to the fence of the wheat field on the
right-hand side. At the bottom of the fence-post, opposite
the third tree, will be found a small pasteboard box.
The messenger will place the answer in this box and
return immediately to Summit.
If you attempt any treachery or fail to comply with
our demand as stated, you will never see your boy again.
If you pay the money as demanded, he will be returned
to you safe and well within three hours. These terms
are final, and if you do not accede to them no further coin-
munication will be attempted.
TWO DESPERATE MEN.
I addressed this letter to Dorset, and put it in my pocket.
As I was about to start, the kid comes up to me and says:
"Aw, Snake-eye, you said I could play the Black Scout
while you was gone."
"Play it, of course," says I. "Mr. Bill will play
with you. What kind of a game is it?"
"I'm the Black Scout," says Red Chief, "and I
have to ride to the stockade to warn the settlers that the
Indians are coming. I'm tired of playing Indian myself.
I want to be the Black Scout."
"All right," says I. "It sounds harmless to me.
I guess Mr. Bill will help you foil the pesky
savages."
"What am I to do?" asks Bill, looking at the kid
suspiciously.
"You are the hoss," says Black Scout. "Get down
on your hands and knees. How can I ride to the stockade
without a hoss?"
"You'd better keep him interested," said I, "till we
get the scheme going. Loosen up."
Bill gets down on his all fours, and a look comes in
his eye like a rabbit's when you catch it in a trap.
"How far is it to the stockade, kid?" he asks, in a husky
manner of voice.
"Ninety miles," says the Black Scout. "And you have
to hump yourself to get there on time. Whoa, now!"
The Black Scout jumps on Bill's back and digs his
heels in his side.
"For Heaven's sake," says Bill, "hurry back, Sam,
as soon as you can. I wish we hadn't made the ransom
more than a thousand. Say, you quit kicking me or I'll
get up and warm you good."
- rustle [´rʌsl]
v.&n.(使)沙沙作响 (初中英语单词) - imagination [i,mædʒi´neiʃən] n.想象(力) (初中英语单词)
- series [´siəri:z] n.连续；系列；丛书 (初中英语单词)
- desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
- scream [skri:m] v.&n.尖叫(声) (初中英语单词)
- sentence [´sentəns] n.判决 vt.宣判；处刑 (初中英语单词)
- nervous [´nə:vəs] a.神经的；神经过敏的 (初中英语单词)
- hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
- argument [´ɑ:gjumənt] n.辩论；争论；论证 (初中英语单词)
- excitement [ik´saitmənt] n.兴奋；骚动；煽动 (初中英语单词)
- account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
- behave [bi´heiv] v.举止；表现；举止端正 (初中英语单词)
- celebrated [´selibreitid] a.著名的 (初中英语单词)
- affection [ə´fekʃən] n.友爱；慈爱 (初中英语单词)
- willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
- charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
- relieve [ri´li:v] v.救济，援救；减轻 (初中英语单词)
- useless [´ju:sləs] a.无用的，无价值的 (初中英语单词)
- absolutely [´æbsəlu:tli] ad.绝对地；确实 (初中英语单词)
- midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)
- writing [´raitiŋ] n.书写；写作；书法 (初中英语单词)
- messenger [´mesindʒə] n.使者；送信人 (初中英语单词)
- indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)
- scheme [ski:m] n.计划；阴谋，诡计 (初中英语单词)
- pirate [´paiərət] n.海盗 v.做海盗；掠夺 (高中英语单词)
- pronounced [prə´naunst] a.发出音的；显著的 (高中英语单词)
- sunrise [´sʌnraiz] n.日出，黎明 (高中英语单词)
- summit [´sʌmit] n.顶(点)；绝顶 (高中英语单词)
- sturdy [´stə:di] a.坚强的；坚定的 (高中英语单词)
- tidings [´taidiŋz] n.消息，音信 (高中英语单词)
- anxiously [´æŋkʃəsli] ad.挂念地；渴望地 (高中英语单词)
- playmate [´pleimeit] n.游戏伙伴 (高中英语单词)
- dealing [´di:liŋ] n.交易；来往 (高中英语单词)
- solitary [´sɔlitəri] a.独居的；孤独的 (高中英语单词)
- treachery [´tretʃəri] n.背叛；背信弃义 (高中英语单词)
- harmless [´hɑ:mləs] a.无害的，无恶意的 (高中英语单词)
- loosen [´lu:sən] v.放松；松弛 (高中英语单词)
- crackle [´krækəl] v.劈啪地响 n.劈啪声 (英语四级单词)
- outlaw [´autlɔ:] n.歹徒 vt.将...放逐 (英语四级单词)
- daybreak [´deibreik] n.黎明，拂晓 (英语四级单词)
- vicinity [vi´siniti] n.邻近，附近，接近 (英语四级单词)
- countryside [´kʌntrisaid] n.乡下，农村 (英语四级单词)
- alabama [,ælə´bæmə] n.亚拉巴马(州) (英语四级单词)
- poplar [´pɔplə] n.白杨；杨木 (英语四级单词)
- comply [kəm´plai] vi.照做 (英语四级单词)
- ferocious [fə´rəuʃəs] a.凶猛的；残忍的 (英语六级单词)
- beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)
- disappearance [,disə´piərəns] n.消失；失踪 (英语六级单词)
- sullenly [´sʌlənli] ad.不高兴地 (英语六级单词)
- dynamite [´dainəmait] n.&vt.(用)炸药(爆破) (英语六级单词)
- stockade [stɔ´keid, stɑ-] n.围栅；围椿 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
京公网安备 11011202003401号
