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The Lone Star Ranger-Part23_Zane Gray(1872-1939)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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tied his gun in an oilskin bag and put it in his pocket.,

The bank was steep and crumbly. He must not break off any earth



to splash into the water. There was a willow growing back some

few feet from the edge of the bank. Cautiously he pulled it



down, bent it over the water so that when he released it there

would be no springing back. Then he trusted his weight to it,



with his feet sliding carefully down the bank. He went into the

water almost up to his knees, felt the quicksand grip his feet;



then, leaning forward till he reached the plank, he pulled it

toward him and lay upon it.



Without a sound one end went slowly under water and the farther

end appeared lightly braced against the overhanging willows.



Very carefully then Duane began to extricate his right foot

from the sucking sand. It seemed as if his foot was incased in



solid rock. But there was a movementupward, and he pulled with

all the power he dared use. It came slowly and at length was



free. The left one he released with less difficulty. The next

few moments he put all his attention on the plank to ascertain



if his weight would sink it into the sand. The far end slipped

off the willows with a little splash and gradually settled to



rest upon the bottom. But it sank no farther, and Duane's

greatest concern was relieved. However, as it was manifestly



impossible for him to keep his head up for long he carefully

crawled out upon the plank until he could rest an arm and



shoulder upon the willows.

When he looked up it was to find the night strangely luminous



with fires. There was a bonfire on the extreme end of the,

bluff, another a hundred paces beyond. A great flare extended



over the brake in that direction. Duane heard a roaring on the

wind, and he knew his pursuers had fired the willows. He did



not believe that would help them much. The brake was dry

enough, but too green to burn readily. And as for the bonfires



he discovered that the men, probably having run out of wood,

were keeping up the light with oil and stuff from the village.



A dozen men kept watch on the bluff scarcely fifty paces from

where Duane lay concealed by the willows. They talked, cracked



jokes, sang songs, and manifestly considered this

outlaw-hunting a great lark. As long as the bright light lasted



Duane dared not move. He had the patience and the endurance to

wait for the breaking of the storm, and if that did not come,



then the early hour before dawn when the gray fog and gloom

were over the river.



Escape was now in his grasp. He felt it. And with that in his

mind he waited, strong as steel in his conviction, capable of



withstanding any strain endurable by the human frame.

The wind blew in puffs, grew wilder, and roared through the



willows, carrying bright sparks upward. Thunder rolled down

over the river, and lightning began to flash. Then the rain



fell in heavy sheets, but not steadily. The flashes of

lightning and the broad flares played so incessantly that Duane



could not trust himself out on the open river. Certainly the

storm rather increased the watchfulness of the men on the



bluff. He knew how to wait, and he waited, grimlystanding pain

and cramp and chill. The storm wore away as desultorily as it



had come, and the long night set in. There were times when

Duane thought he was paralyzed, others when he grew sick,



giddy, weak from the strained posture. The first paling of the

stars quickened him with a kind of wild joy. He watched them



grow paler, dimmer, disappear one by one. A shadow hovered

down, rested upon the river, and gradually thickened. The



bonfire on the bluff showed as through a foggy veil. The

watchers were mere groping dark figures.



Duane, aware of how cramped he had become from long inaction,

began to move his legs and uninjured arm and body, and at



length overcame a paralyzing stiffness. Then, digging his hand

in the sand and holding the plank with his knees, he edged it



out into the river. Inch by inch he advanced until clear of the

willows. Looking upward, he saw the shadowy figures of the men



on the bluff. He realized they ought to see him, feared that

they would. But he kept on, cautiously, noiselessly, with a






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