登陆注册
5151900000072

第72章

"Looks right down on Bostil's place," Slone soliloquized, with glee."Won't he just be mad! An' Lucy!...Whatever's she goin' to think?"The more Slone looked around and thought, the more he became convinced that good fortune had knocked at his door at last.And when he returned to Brackton's he was in an exultant mood.The old storekeeper gave him a nudge and pointed underhand to a young man of ragged aspect sitting gloomily on a box.Slone recognized Joel Creech.The fellow surely made a pathetic sight, and Slone pitied him.He looked needy and hungry.

"Say," said Slone, impulsively, "want to help me carry some grub an' stuff?""Howdy!" replied Creech, raising his head."Sure do."Slone sustained the queerest shock of his life when he met the gaze of those contrasting eyes.Yet he did not believe that his strange feeling came from sight of different-colored eyes.There was an instinct or portent in that meeting.

He purchased a bill of goods from Brackton, and, with Creech helping, carried it up to the cabin under the bluff.Three trips were needed to pack up all the supplies, and meanwhile Creech had but few words to say, and these of no moment.Slone offered him money, which he refused.

"I'll help you fix up, an' eat a bite," he said."Nice up hyar."He seemed rational enough and certainly responded to kindness.Slone found that Vorhees had left the cabin so clean there was little cleaning to do.An open fireplace of stone required some repair and there was wood to cut.

"Joel, you start a fire while I go down after my horses," said Slone.

Young Creech nodded and Slone left him there.It was not easy to catch Wildfire, nor any easier to get him into the new corral; but at last Slone saw him safely there.And the bars and locks on the gate might have defied any effort to open or break them quickly.Creech was standing in the doorway, watching the horses, and somehow Slone saw, or imagined he saw, that Creech wore a different aspect.

"Grand wild hoss! He did what Blue was a-goin' to do--beat thet there d--d Bostil's King!"Creech wagged his head.He was gloomy and strange.His eyes were unpleasant to look into.His face changed.And he mumbled.Slone pitied him the more, but wished to see the last of him.Creech stayed on, however, and grew stranger and more talkative during the meal.He repeated things often--talked disconnectedly, and gave other indications that he was not wholly right in his mind.Yet Slone suspected that Creech's want of balance consisted only in what concerned horses and the Bostils.And Slone, wanting to learn all he could, encouraged Creech to talk about his father and the racers and the river and boat, and finally Bostil.

Slone became convinced that, whether young Creech was half crazy or not, he knew his father's horses were doomed, and that the boat at the ferry had been cut adrift.Slone could not understand why he was convinced, but he was.

Finally Creech told how he had gone down to the river only a day before; how he had found the flood still raging, but much lower; how he had worked round the cliffs and had pulled up the rope cables to find they had been cut.

"You see, Bostil cut them when he didn't need to," continued Creech, shrewdly.

"But he didn't know the flood was comin' down so quick.He was afeared we'd come across an' git the boat thet night.An' he meant to take away them cut cables.But he hadn't no time.""Bostil?" queried Slone, as he gazed hard at Creech.The fellow had told that rationally enough.Slone wondered if Bostil could have been so base.No! and yet--when it came to horses Bostil was scarcely human.

Slone's query served to send Creech off on another tangent which wound up in dark, mysterious threats.Then Slone caught the name of Lucy.It abruptly killed his sympathy for Creech.

"What's the girl got to do with it?" he demanded, angrily."If you want to talk to me don't use her name.""I'll use her name when I want," shouted Creech.

"Not to me!"

"Yes, to you, mister.I ain't carin' a d--n fer you!""You crazy loon!" exclaimed Slone, with impatience and disgust added to anger.

"What's the use of being decent to you?"

Creech crouched low, his hands digging like claws into the table, as if he were making ready to spring.At that instant he was hideous.

"Crazy, am I?" he yelled."Mebbe not d--n crazy! I kin tell you're gone on Lucy Bostil! I seen you with her out there in the rocks the mornin' of the race.I seen what you did to her.An' I'm a-goin' to tell it!...An' I'm a-goin' to ketch Lucy Bostil an' strip her naked, an' when I git through with her I'll tie her on a hoss an' fire the grass! By Gawd! I am!" Livid and wild, he breathed hard as he got up, facing Slone malignantly.

"Crazy or not, here goes!" muttered Slone, grimly; and, leaping up, with one blow he knocked Creech half out of the door, and then kicked him the rest of the way."Go on and have a fit!" cried Slone."I'm liable to kill you if you don't have one!"Creech got up and ran down the path, turning twice on the way.Then he disappeared among the trees.

Slone sat down."Lost my temper again!" he said."This has been a day.Guess I'd better cool off right now an' stay here....That poor devil! Maybe he's not so crazy.But he's wilder than an Indian.I must warn Lucy....Lord! Iwonder if Bostil could have held back repairin' that boat, an' then cut it loose? I wonder? Yesterday I'd have sworn never.To-day--"Slone drove the conclusion of that thought out of his consciousness before he wholly admitted it.Then he set to work cutting the long grass from the wet and shady nooks under the bluff where the spring made the ground rich.He carried an armful down to the corral.Nagger was roaming around outside, picking grass for himself.Wildfire snorted as always when he saw Slone, and Slone as always, when time permitted, tried to coax the stallion to him.He had never succeeded, nor did he this time.When he left the bundle of grass on the ground and went outside Wildfire readily came for it.

"You're that tame, anyhow, you hungry red devil," said Slone, jealously.

同类推荐
  • 言毒篇

    言毒篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 革除逸史

    革除逸史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 述报法兵侵台纪事残辑

    述报法兵侵台纪事残辑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 成唯识论演秘

    成唯识论演秘

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 爱吟草

    爱吟草

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 承蒙关照,季先生

    承蒙关照,季先生

    一场算计,乔慕慕成为了季离的契约妻子。明明生下孩子,慕慕就可以脱离苦海,只是后来才发现,自己早已离不开他。意想不到的意外,才是意外。
  • 动物农场

    动物农场

    《动物农场》是一部政治寓言体小说,故事描述了一场“动物主义”革命的酝酿、兴起和最终蜕变;一个农庄的动物不堪人类主人的压迫,在猪的带领下起来反抗,赶走了农场主,牲畜们实现了“当家作主”的愿望,农场更名为“动物农场”,奉行“所有动物一律平等”;之后,两只处于领导地位的猪为了权力而互相倾轧,胜利者一方宣布另一方是叛徒、内奸。此后,获取了领导权的猪拥有了越来越大的权力,成为新的特权阶级;动物们稍有不满,便会招致血腥的清洗:农庄的理想被修正为“有的动物较之其他动物更为平等”,动物们又恢复到从前的悲惨状况。
  • 倾城妻好美味

    倾城妻好美味

    【曼珠沙华出品】【感谢神画设计提供封面】奈何桥边,彼岸花开。五百年的孤苦等待,换来的却是他一句“妖孽”矛盾的对立,他们能否相爱。当一切打破了世俗,再次付出了所有,却始终逃避不了。残了身,伤了情,一刀两断。最终,再回头,命运的纠葛,是否还可以重来?
  • 三界大陆之幻魔瞳

    三界大陆之幻魔瞳

    她是二十一世纪最出名的杀手;她是凌天大陆百年难得一见的废物。有朝一日,她穿越而去。别人是三顾茅庐,我是棒打白莲花。别人是辛苦修炼,我是修炼如喝水。别人是求天而来一只幻兽,而我,幻兽天天求我来。别人说我那么拽,我就拽给他看!别人骂我是废物,我就亮瞎他们的狗眼。但,我差点就忘了,我只是个有可爱人设的小可怜。无cp,无大纲。
  • 荣耀巅峰之叶落双秋

    荣耀巅峰之叶落双秋

    (全职高手同人衍生向小说)十年前的荣耀,十年前的友人,十年前的故事,十年前的斗神。年少轻狂的叶修离家出走路遇相知,约定在荣耀中杀出血路。荣耀首件银武却邪,荣耀最无解的组合。创世一代五大神在荣耀大陆各展风采。大漠孤烟:我想与他一战。扫地焚香:他才是真正的战术天才。索克萨尔:要骂他我们可以一起,但没有我的话,不准。王不留行:一个开了挂的手和一个开了挂的头,怎么打。落花狼藉:我只有一个人,打不过。荣耀玩家:不要惹嘉王朝,当一叶之秋身边有枪声的时候,他们就所向披靡。一叶之秋:我来了。
  • 狱中杂记

    狱中杂记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 神傲苍穹

    神傲苍穹

    逆天行武道,以命博还生。满天飞雪寒风中,风卷残云空谷幽。虽拥有绝世废体,但偏要逆天行事,受地狱之苦,得锻骨之体。勇者无惧,只道是明知山有虎,偏上虎山行……
  • 葛仙翁太极冲玄至道心传

    葛仙翁太极冲玄至道心传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 如何提高自己的工作效率

    如何提高自己的工作效率

    提高工作效率,就能用最短的时间和最少的投入,出色地完成各项工作。在激烈的竞争条件下,提高工作工作效率,是提升个人竞争力的最有利的武器。本书共分九章,分别从端正自己的工作态度、提高时间的利用效率、加强工作的执行力度、分清工作的轻重缓急、解决工作中的困难、理顺工作中的人际关系、达成有效的沟通、提升自己的工作能力、增加工作中的乐趣等九个方面,全方位地为职场人士怎样提高工作效率提供了一个立体式的可行方案。无论你是行政人员还是普通职员,无论你是经营者还是管理者,无论你是推销员还是技术员,无论你是办公室人员还是自由职业者……通过阅读本书,你都能从中受益。
  • 天运鬼瞳之悍妻养成

    天运鬼瞳之悍妻养成

    亲人相残只为一枚玉佩,二十五岁的秦子璇重生回到十岁。重活一世,她发誓凭借一双鬼眼寻找父母考古失踪真相,有仇必报。古旧玉佩认主,身上的异能逐渐出现,红房子里的兽宠越来越多……她能自由行走于阴阳两界,专职捉鬼盗墓打僵尸,副业寻宝考古伏魔收妖。古董太多,她家萌货拿来垫桌底!名利扰人,她恨不得躲在古墓里不出来!拥有倾国财力的帝国首富、人人跪求一见的天运相师、带着神秘面纱的第一夫人,这些都是她。看运道、辩神魔、观天地之气,聚八方之财!古董堆里打滚,死人墓里睡觉,名动九州,声震华夏!※成长型女主,都市励志,女强异能爽文。美妞们别忘了点击【放入书架】,读者的收藏、留言、订阅是支持某蓝写作的最大动力。PS:本文纯属虚构,资料源于网络,涉及多方面知识,若遇行家请一笑置之。坑品保证,妞们放心跳吧。