酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Betty Zane-Part37_Zane Gray(1872-1939)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
Almost as Silas spoke the tall form of the hunter confronted him. Clarke and

the other men were almost as prompt.



"Wetzel, run to the south wall. The Indians are cutting a hole through the

fence."



Wetzel turned, grabbed his rifle and an axe and was gone like a flash.

"Sullivan, you handle the men here. Bessie, do what you can for this brave



lad. Come, Bennet, Clarke, we must follow Wetzel," commanded Silas.

Mrs. Zane hastened to the side of the fainting lad. She washed away the blood



from the wound over his temple. She saw that a bullet had glanced on the bone

and that the wound was not deep or dangerous. She unlaced the hunting shirt at



the neck and pulled the flaps apart. There on the right breast, on a line with

the apex of the lung, was a horrible gaping wound. A murderous British slug



had passed through the lad. From the hole at every heart-beat poured the dark,

crimson life-tide. Mrs. Zane turned her white face away for a second; then she



folded a small piece of linen, pressed it tightly over the wound, and wrapped

a towel round the lad's breast.



"Don't waste time on me. It's all over," he whispered. "Will you call Betty

here a minute?"



Betty came, white-faced and horror-stricken. For forty hours she had been

living in a maze of terror. Her movements had almost become mechanical. She



had almost ceased to hear and feel. But the light in the eyes of this dying

boy brought her back to the horriblereality of the present.



"Oh, Harry! Harry! Harry!" was all Betty could whisper.

"I'm goin', Betty. And I wanted--you to say a little prayer for me--and say



good-bye to me," he panted.

Betty knelt by the bench and tried to pray.



"I hated to run, Betty, but I waited and waited and nobody came, and the

Injuns was getting' in. They'll find dead Injuns in piles out there. I was



shootin' fer you, Betty, and even time I aimed I thought of you."

The lad rambled on, his voice growing weaker and weaker and finally ceasing.



The hand which had clasped Betty's so closely loosened its hold. His eyes

closed. Betty thought he was dead, but no! he still breathed. Suddenly his



eyes opened. The shadow of pain was gone. In its place shone a beautiful

radiance.



"Betty, I've cared a lot for you--and I'm dyin'--happy because I've fought fer

you--and somethin' tells me--you'll--be saved. Good-bye." A smile transformed



his face and his gray eyes gazed steadily into hers. Then his head fell back.

With a sigh his brave spirit fled.



Hugh Bennet looked once at the pale face of his son, then he ran down the

stairs after Silas and Clarke. When the three men emerged from behind Capt.



Boggs' cabin, which was adjacent to the block-house, and which hid the south

wall from their view, they were two hundred feet from Wetzel They heard the



heavy thump of a log being rammed against the fence; then a splitting and

splintering of one of the six-inch oak planks. Another and another smashing



blow and the lower half of one of the planks fell inwards, leaving an aperture

large enough to admit an Indian. The men dashed forward to the assistance of



Wetzel, who stood by the hole with upraised axe. At the same moment a shot

rang out. Bennet stumbled and fell headlong. An Indian had shot through the



hole in the fence. Silas and Alfred sheered off toward the fence, out of line.

When within twenty yards of Wetzel they saw a swarthy-faced and athletic



savagesqueeze through the narrow crevice. He had not straightened up before

the axe, wielded by the giant hunter, descended on his head, cracking his



skull as if it were an eggshell. The savage sank to the earth without even a

moan. Another savage naked and powerful, slipped in. He had to stoop to get



through. He raised himself, and seeing Wetzel, he tried to dodge the lightning

sweep of the axe. It missed his head, at which it had been aimed, but struck



just over the shoulders, and buried itself in flesh and bone. The Indian

uttered an agonizing yell which ended in a choking, gurgling sound as the



blood spurted from his throat. Wetzel pulled the weapon from the body of his

victim, and with the same motion he swung it around. This time the blunt end



met the next Indian's head with a thud like that made by the butcher when he

strikes the bullock to the ground. The Indian's rifle dropped, his tomahawk



flew into the air, while his body rolled down the little embankment into the

spring. Another and another Indian met the same fate. Then two Indians



endeavored to get through the aperture. The awful axe swung by those steel

arms, dispatched both of than in the twinkling of an eye. Their bodies stuck



in the hole.

Silas and Alfred stood riveted to the spot. Just then Wetzel in all his



horrible glory was a sight to freeze the marrow of any man. He had cast aside

his hunting shirt in that run to the fence and was now stripped to the waist.



He was covered with blood. The muscles of his broad back and his brawny arms

swelled and rippled under the brown skin. At every swing of the gory axe he



let out a yell the like of which had never before been heard by the white men.

It was the hunter's mad yell of revenge. In his thirst for vengeance he had






文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号