Shoe-Bar Stratton - Chapter 22
时间：2021-02-24 02:34:24
（单词翻译:单击）
"That just about saved my life," he murmured.
Mary Thorne carefully set down the improvised2 water-bucket, its contents much depleted3, and taking out her handkerchief, soaked it thoroughly4.
"Don't," he protested, as the moist bit of cambric touched his hair. "You'll spoil it."
"As if that mattered!" she retorted. "Just rest your head on your arms; it'll be easier."
With deft6, gentle touches, she cleaned away the blood and grime, parting his thick hair now and then with delicate care. Her hands were steady now, and having steeled herself for anything, the sight of a jagged, ugly-looking cut on his scalp did not make her flinch8. She even bent9 forward a little to examine it more closely, and saw that a ridge10 of clotted11 blood had temporarily stopped its oozing12.
"I think I'd better let it alone," she said aloud. "I might start it bleeding again. How--how did it happen?"
Buck raised his head and regarded her with a slow, thoughtful stare.
"I fell off the cliff back there," he replied at length.
Her eyes widened. "You--fell off the cliff!" she gasped13. "It's a wonder-- But is this the only place you're hurt?"
His lips twisted in a grim smile. "Oh, no! I've got a sprained14 ankle and what feels like a broken rib15, though it may be only bruises16. But as you're thinking, I'm darned lucky to get off alive. I must have struck a ledge17 or something part way down, but how I managed from there I haven't the least idea."
"I thought perhaps you might be strong enough in a little while to ride back with me to the ranch19. I--I could help you mount, and we could go very slowly. But of course that's impossible. I'd better start at once and bring back some of the men."
She made a move to rise, but he stopped her with a quick, imperative20 gesture. "No, you mustn't," he said firmly. "That won't do at all. I can't go to the ranch." He paused, his forehead wrinkled thoughtfully. "You may not have guessed it, but Lynch and I don't pull together at all," he finished, with a whimsical intonation21.
"But surely that wouldn't make any difference--now!" she protested.
"Only the difference that he'd have me just where he wanted me," he retorted. He was regarding her with a steady, questioning stare, and presently he gave a little sigh. "I'll have to tell you something I didn't mean to," he said. "In my opinion Tex Lynch is pretty much of a scoundrel. He knows I know it, and there isn't anything he wouldn't do to shut my mouth--for good."
To his amazement22, instead of showing the indignation he expected, the girl merely stared at him in surprise.
"What!" she cried. "You believe that, too?"
"I'm sure of it. But I thought you trusted--"
"I don't any longer." She was surprised at the immensity of the relief that surged over her at this chance to unburden her soul of the load of perplexity and trouble which harassed23 her. "For a long time I haven't--There've been a number of things. I still haven't an idea of what it's all about, but--"
"I'm mighty24 glad you feel that way," Buck said, as she paused. "I'm not quite sure myself just what he's up to, but I believe I'm on the right trail." Very briefly25 he told her of the steps he had taken since leaving the Shoe-Bar. "You see how impossible it would be to trust myself in his power again," he concluded.
For a moment or two Mary Thorne sat silent, regarding him with a curious expression.
"So that was the reason," she murmured at length.
His eyes questioned her mutely, and a slow flush crept into her face.
"The reason you--you couldn't say you had no--special object in being on the Shoe-Bar," she explained haltingly. "I'm--sorry I didn't understand."
"I couldn't very well tell you without running the risk of Lynch's finding out. As it happened, I was trying my best to think up a reasonable excuse for leaving the outfit26 to do some investigating from this end, so you really did me a good turn."
"Investigating what? Haven't you any idea what he's up to?"
Buck hesitated. "A very little, but it's too indefinite to put into words just yet. I've a feeling I'll get at the bottom of it soon, though, and then I'll tell you. In the meantime, when you go back, don't breathe a word of having seen me, and on no account let any one persuade you to--sell the outfit."
She stared at him with crinkled brows. "But what are you going to do now?" she asked suddenly, her mind flashing back to the present difficulty.
He dragged himself into a sitting posture27. He was evidently feeling stronger and looked much more like himself.
"Try and get back to that camp of mine I told you of," he explained. "I reckon I'll have to lay up there a while, but there's food a-plenty, and a good spring, so--"
"Likely it's only one and I can strap29 that good and tight with a piece of my shirt or something. Then if you could catch Pete and bring him over here, I'll manage to climb into the saddle some way. It's only three or four miles, and the going's not so very bad."
She made no further protest, but her lips straightened firmly and there was a look of decision in her girlish face as she set about helping30 him with his preparations.
It was she who tore a broad band from his flannel31 shirt, roughly fringed the ends with Buck's knife and tied it so tightly about his body that he had hard work to keep from wincing32. She insisted on bandaging his head, and while he rested in the shade went back into the gulch33 to look for his hat and the Colt that had fallen from his holster.
She finally found them both under a narrow ledge that thrust out a dozen feet below the edge of the trail. A stunted34 bush, rooted deep in some hidden crevice35, grew up before it, and, staring upward at it, the girl guessed that to this little bush alone Buck owed his life. He had been able to give her no further details of his descent, but she saw that it would be possible for a man to crawl along the narrow ledge to where another crossed it at a descending36 angle, and thence gain the bottom of the gulch.
"I wonder how he ever came to fall," she murmured, remembering how wide the trail was at the summit.
Returning, however, she asked no questions. In the face of what lay before her, the matter seemed trivial and unimportant. She caught the Rocking-R horse without much trouble and led him back to a broad, flat boulder37 on which Buck had managed to crawl. Obliged to hold the animal, whose slightest movement might prove disastrous38, she could give no further aid, but was forced to stand helpless, watching with troubled, sympathetic eyes the man's painful struggles to gain the saddle. When at last he succeeded and slumped39 there, mouth twisted and face bathed in perspiration40, her knees were shaking and she felt limp and nerveless.
"We'll stop at the spring first for more water," she said, pulling herself together with an effort.
Too exhausted41 for speech, Buck merely nodded, and the girl, gathering42 up Freckles43's bridle44 in her other hand, led the two horses slowly toward the trail. At the spring Buck drank deeply of the water she handed him, and seemed much refreshed.
"That's good," he murmured, with an effort to straighten his bent body. "Well, I reckon I'd better be starting. I--I can't thank you enough for all you've done, Miss--Thorne. It was mighty plucky--"
"You mustn't waste your strength talking," she interrupted quietly. "Just tell me which way to go, and we'll start."
"We?" he repeated sharply. "But you're not going."
"Of course I am. Did you think for a moment I'd let you take that ride alone?" She smiled faintly with a brave attempt at lightness. "You'd be falling off and breaking another rib. Please don't make difficulties. I'm going with you, and that's an end of it."
Perhaps the firmness of her manner made Buck realize the futility45 of further protest, or possibly he was in no condition to argue. At all events he gave in, and when the girl swung herself into the saddle, the slow journey began.
To Mary Thorne the memory of it remained ever afterward46 in her mind a chaotic47 medley48 of strange emotions and impressions, vague yet vivid. At first, where the width of the trail permitted it, she rode beside him, making an effort to talk casually49 and lightly, yet not too constantly, but continually keeping a watchful50 eye on the drooping51 figure at her right, whose hands presently sought and gripped the saddle-horn.
When they left the trail for rougher ground, she dismounted in spite of Buck's protest, and walked beside him, and it was well she did. Once when the horse slipped or stumbled on a loose stone and the man's body swayed perilously52 in the saddle, she put up both hands swiftly and held him there.
Before they had gone a mile her boots began to hurt her, but the pain was so trifling53 in comparison with what Buck must be suffering that she scarcely noticed it. He was putting up a brave front, but there were signs that were difficult to conceal54, and toward the end of that toilsome journey it was evident that he could not possibly have kept his seat much longer. Indeed, when they had ridden the short length of the little cañon and stopped before the overhanging shelf of rocks, he toppled suddenly sidewise, and only the girl's frail55 body prevented him from crashing roughly to the ground.
She brought him water from the spring, and searching through his belongings56 found a flask57 of brandy and forced some between his teeth. When he had recovered from his momentary58 faintness, she managed somehow to get him over to the blankets spread beneath the ledge. Then she built a fire and set some coffee on it to boil, unsaddled Pete, fed and watered the three horses, finally returning with a cup of steaming liquid to where Buck lay exhausted with closed eyes.
His face was drawn59 and haggard, and his lashes60, long and soft and thick, lay against a skin drained of every particle of color. A sudden choking sob61 rose to the girl's lips, but she managed to force it back, and when the man's lids slowly lifted, she smiled tremulously.
"You're all nerve," he murmured when the cup was empty. He lay silent for a few moments. "Don't you think you'd better be starting back?" he asked at length.
"How can I go and leave you like this?" she protested. "You're so weak. You might get fever. Anything might happen."
"But you certainly can't stay," he retorted with unexpected decision. "Let alone a whole lot of other reasons," he went on, watching her mutinous63 face, "if you did, Tex would have a posse out hunting for you in no time. Sooner or later they'd find this place, and you know what that would mean. I'm feeling better every minute--honest. By to-morrow I'll be able to hobble around and look after myself fine."
His logic64 was irresistible65, and for a time she sat silent, torn by a conflict of emotions. Then all at once her face brightened.
"I've got it!" she cried. "Why can't I send Bud out? He's to be trusted surely?"
"Bud? Sure, he's all right. That's one fine idea. You'll have to be careful Lynch doesn't know where he's going, though."
"I'll manage that all right."
Reluctant to go, yet feeling that she ought to make haste, the girl got out some crackers67 and placed them, with a pail of water, within his reach. Then she listened while Stratton told her of a short cut out to the middle pasture.
"I understand," she nodded. "You'll promise to be careful, won't you? Bud ought to be here in a couple of hours, though he may be delayed a little longer. You'd better not try and move until he comes."
"I won't," Buck answered. "I'm too darn comfortable."
"Well, good-by, then," she said briefly, moving over to her horse.
"Good-by; and--thank you a thousand times!"
She made no answer, but a faint, enigmatic smile quivered for an instant on her lips as she turned the stirrup and swung herself into the saddle. When Freckles had reached a little distance, she glanced back and waved her hand. From where he lay Stratton could see almost the whole length of the little cañon, and as long as the slight figure on the big gray horse remained in sight, his eyes followed her intently, a sort of wistful hunger in their depths. But when she disappeared, the man's head fell back limply on the blankets and his eyes closed.
点击
收听单词发音
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1
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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depleted
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| adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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flinch
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| v.畏缩，退缩 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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clotted
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| adj.凝结的v.凝固( clot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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oozing
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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sprained
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| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
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rib
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| n.肋骨，肋状物 | |
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bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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28
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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wincing
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的现在分词 ) | |
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gulch
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| n.深谷，峡谷 | |
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stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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crevice
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| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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slumped
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| 大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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futility
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| n.无用 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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medley
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| n.混合 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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perilously
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| adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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gulps
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| n.一大口（尤指液体）( gulp的名词复数 )v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的第三人称单数 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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mutinous
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| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
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logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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crackers
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| adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘 | |
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