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1、【英文读物】Colonel Thorndykes SecretCHAPTER 1 Totan, hetman of the northern Spanish cave-folk, sat upon the threshold of Castillo, watching a party of men coming toward him up the mountainside. His people, to the number of eighty or more, were behind him gathered about a roaring fire. All were clad in th
2、e skins of beasts and armed with wooden clubs and javelins. They stared down at the newcomers with hungry wolfish eyes. Those approaching from below were short, thick-set men with hairy bodies and bent limbsgaunt, hollow-cheeked and beast-like, and yet men. They clambered up to the cavern threshold
3、where Totan and his band awaited them. In the van strode Gonch the Muskman. All greeted him in sullen silence, for it was plain to be seen that neither he nor his companions brought food of any kind. Totan rose to his feet livid with rage. He was a giant in strength, a grotesque and misshapen Hercul
4、es, bandy-legged and short-armed. His head was apparently without neck,2 so closely did it set upon his brawny shoulders. His low forehead sloped to a pair of heavily bone-ribbed eyes and thick aquiline nose. His big bull-teeth gleamed from his protruding muzzle. His bushy brows were drawn down in a
5、 terrible scowl. “No food!” he roared. “Again our hunters return empty-handed. We must eat. Who shall it be?” He glared fiercely from one man to another. All cringed before him like beaten curs. He was about to vent his wrath upon Gonch, the leader of the party, when his eyes lifted with astonishmen
6、t at sight of something in the Muskmans right hand. “Wherewhere did you get that?” he stammered. A look of triumph came over Gonchs face. He opened his hand and held it palm upward so that all could see. There lay a superb flint-blade; large, well-formed and keen-edged. It was the finest stone weapo
7、n that the Castillans had ever seen. “A marvelous flint,” said Gonch. “It was made by the Mammoth Man.” Totan emitted an astonished grunt. His head may have been as dense as his muscles, but he could tell a fine blade when he saw one. Speech was a laborious process at best and now he could find no w
8、ords to say. “It was in the low country,” Gonch said, pointing eastward to the rock-strewn plains bordering the River Pas. “We found a man.” He paused impressively. Not a sound broke the3 stillness. All held their breaths and waited in suspense for his next words. “He was a strange man,” Gonch conti
9、nued. “He lay upon his back. The flesh was wasted from his bones. He gave me this flint hoping thereby to escape death. I questioned him to learn how it came into his possession. He said that it was the work of the Mammoth Man.” Totan began to find the use of his tongue. “The Mammoth Man? Who is he?
10、” “Hetman of a far-off tribe,” Gonch replied. “Leader of skilled hunters who have prospered mightily because of him. He makes flints like this one and supplies them to his men.” Totan sneered incredulously. “Their leader a flint-worker? That is hard to believe.” “The man said so,” Gonch maintained s
11、toutly; “and I believe he told the truth as to the flints. He also told lies. Because of them I killed him.” “Good food gone to waste,” Totan growled. “You should have brought his carcass here.” Gonch rubbed his stomach with one open hand all the time grinning like a hyena. Gone to waste? Hardly. Go
12、nch was never guilty of such carelessness as that. He was a prince of cannibals and his body so reeked with the stench of his man-feasting that he smelled like a flesh-eating beast. For that reason men called him the Muskman. “The stranger lied about the Mammoth Man; a giant mightier than the Hairy
13、Elephant; one who has made the beasts his slaves; his home, a4 lions den; and yet a man who will neither hunt nor fight.” “Coward,” sneered the hetman. “No doubt,” Gonch agreed. “And yet he must be a flint-worker of extraordinary skill. This blade proves that; and he who made it can make more. If he
14、 made them for us, our hunting would be a very different matter. We would have all we wanted of meat and hides.” “Aye, thats true,” said Totan with a sigh. “What a pity he is not here to make us the fine blades. Does he live so very far away?” “Very, very far,” replied Gonch, gazing to the northeast
15、. “His is a tribe of big strong men who live in a broad valley near a river winding between walls of stone. All are armed with these weapons and know how to use them.” The hetman looked at the ground and shook his head. “So far away and the men are big and strong. Our warriors would not have much ch
16、ance fighting them with sticks. I fear that we cannot secure the fine weapons.” “Um-m, I am not so sure about that,” said Gonch craftily. “Even though it be a long journey and strong men to contend with, I believe that I can do it.” The crowd of cave-men stared and gasped. Totan only sneered: “You?
17、Be careful with your boasting or you will be the choice for our next meal.” Gonch shuddered. He feared the giant Totan.5 Had it not been for the latter, he would not long have contented himself with second place among the Castillan cave-men. It was his brain against the hetmans brawn and so far, bra
18、wn had the best of it. “It is not a question of strength,” he said. “If I go to the Mammoth Mans country, I will be only a fox among wolves. In no other way can I finally secure the blades.” “Ugh!” Totan grunted. “And so you intend to steal them. You will get only a cracked head for your pains.” Gon
19、ch laughed scornfully. “Steal them? No indeed. I know of a much better way than that. I will go to the far-off country and see the Mammoth Man. When I return, I will bring with me” “The flints?” growled Totan. “No, the Mammoth Man himself. Flints without him would in time be lost or broken, but with
20、 him, when they are lost or broken, he can make more.” Chapter 2 Gonch toiled until dusk making ready for the beginning of his undertaking on the morrow. His was no small task and he overlooked nothing in the way of preparation. Those were days when even a short journey invited many dangers and priv
21、ations, particularly for one travelling alone. Men went about in small bands as a rule and rarely ventured far from their caves. And yet knowing all this, the Muskman was determined to carry out the bold project he had planned. His equipment consisted of a hide, a wooden javelin with fire-hardened p
22、oint and a flint-ax. The latter, his main reliance, was his recently acquired blade bound to a long wooden haft. He had spent much time upon this his masterpiece. “No man with such a weapon need starve,” he calculated. Had Gonch thought otherwise, he would never have considered making the journey. T
23、he hide he carried was intended as a body covering when he stopped at night to rest. Provisions he had none because the Castillan larder was as bare as a bone. He must depend upon his own hunting from the very start. At sunrise the next day, he stood at the cave-mouth7 fully equipped for his perilou
24、s undertaking. He warmed himself by the fire which burned at the threshold. This was to be the last time he did so for many a long day. Fire meant health and comfort; more than that, frequently it was all that stood between the cave-men and death. Men treasured it even more than they did their lives
25、. Gonch was now leaving his one and only true friend: the fire that blazed upon the cave-hearth. Every Castillan was on hand to bid the Muskman farewell. The children, those which famine and disease had spared, looked upon him wonderingly. The women admired. The men had caught the spirit of this adv
26、enture. Any or all of them would have been glad to accompany him, had he but said the word. But the word was not said. This was a one-man project requiring much thought and care for its successful execution and Gonch would trust nobody but himself. His was a bold undertaking which promised rich retu
27、rns if successful. He was to see the Mammoth Man in person and persuade or force that wonderful being to return to Castillo with him. Once there, he would make flint weapons for his new masters and the whole tribe would prosper accordingly. It was an admirable conception. All that remained was for t
28、he Muskman to carry it out. As he left the fire, the cave-men pressed about him to wish him good luck. Totan alone stood aloof scowling ferociously. He was chief of the Castillans and Gonch only second man but in the8 latter he saw possibilities of a dangerous rival; not one whom he need fear in sin
29、gle combat but who might accomplish by chicanery what he could not do by force. The hetman was saying to himself: “You have undertaken too much, vain boaster. If you are lucky enough to escape death in the far-off country, you will find it here when you return to disappoint us”; and Gonch was thinki
30、ng at the same time as he observed the hetman glaring at him: “I am not risking my life for you, stupid pig. Some day you and all the rest of these savages will be my slaves.” Then he turned away and clambered down the mountain side while the men of Castillo yelled themselves hoarse and finally retu
31、rned to the fire to warm themselves, leaving the Muskman to go the rest of his way alone. His path led directly eastward along the northern slopes of the Cantabrian Mountains. It was a strange country to him, once he had travelled several days journey beyond the province of Castillo. Its inhabitants
32、men and beastswere strange too and looked askance at the intrudera lone man armed with a flint-ax and wooden spear. However, Gonch led a charmed life. He met occasional bands of roving hunters, some of which he fled from and others avoided by concealing himself. Animals were far more numerous than h
33、uman beings. Gonch encountered them everywhere and at all times, singly and in groups, packs and herds: horse, bison and long-horned ox of the meadow lands; moose, boar and stag of the forests; and9 various other lesser creatures of field, hill and glade. As a rule, all grazing and browsing animals
34、made a practice of avoiding the rough country where rocks, hills and thickets abounded, for in such regions all manner of flesh-eaters made their homes. It was not a fellow feeling that attracted the cannibal man to the rough country. He felt more at home there because it suited his physical being b
35、est. This refers mainly to his foot structure. Short heels and flexible toes were best fitted for clambering over cliffs and through the timber; not for travelling hard level roads. And so Gonch sought the broken region which, although his favorite element, had its drawbacks, for now he came in clos
36、e contact with the prowling flesh-eaters. Hyenas were too cowardly to attack him and lynxes, which usually hunted singly, he looked upon as a fair match because of his flint-ax; a formidable weapon in the hands of a strong and courageous man. Gonch was a strong and courageous man who feared no beast
37、 nor human being, Totan alone excepted. His knowledge of woodcraft, powers of scent, sight and hearing were a match for any animal. These gifts in addition to his human wit and cunning carried him through many apparently hopeless situations. A fortnight of incessant plodding brought him to a broad p
38、ass running through the Cantabrians from north to south. A river flowed through it to the Gascon Gulf. As he stood upon the bank of this river, his sharp ears caught the sound of distant10 howls coming from behind him. Far away he saw a group of animals, mere specks racing over the hills and after h
39、im full cry. Fastening his hide and weapons about his shoulders in a pack so as to leave his arms free, Gonch waded into the river and swam across. On nearing the eastern shore, he made no effort to continue his flight, not even attempting a landing but remaining in the water which reached to above
40、his knees. Here he rid himself of his spear and hide, tossing them to the bank above his head. Thus free of all encumbrance except his ax, he rested and made ready to defend himself. The howling grew louder and as the fugitive looked to the west bank from whence he had come, he saw a dozen or more w
41、olves tearing down the slopes to where he had first entered the water. Here the trail was lost and for a time the fierce beasts were at fault running up and down near the waters edge and occasionally stopping to look across the river; but finally all waded in and the flotilla of heads came sailing a
42、cross the stream. Gonch stood motionless in the water awaiting them, holding his ax in his jaws and with a stone snatched from the river bottom, held in either hand. As the pack came within throwing range, they were greeted with a volley of stones, one following another as fast as Gonch could pluck
43、them from the river-bed. This was more than his assailants had bargained for. Many of the missiles reached their marks and the howls changed to yelps of pain. The wolves of the mountain slopes were a poor lot compared with their giant cousins, the Cave and Timber variety, or the Muskman would probab
44、ly have been obliged to finally decide the issue at close quarters with the flint-ax. However, in the present circumstances, this proved unnecessary. His enemies, although having stomach for food, had little for fighting and were only too glad to swim back the way they had come as soon as they found
45、 themselves getting the worst of it.Finding himself in no further immediate danger, Gonch climbed the bank, recovered his spear and hide and then resumed his journey. Near the eastern terminus of the Cantabrians, a region of rocks and ravines, he was obliged to pass through the lion country. This wa
46、s by far the most difficult and most dangerous portion of his journey. It would appear that the good fortune he had experienced thus far was about to desert him, for just when he needed his wits and strength most, an attack of mountain influenza sapped his vitality and almost destroyed his power of
47、scent. He strove to continue but finding the task too great while the malady was upon him, he climbed to the loftiest and most inaccessible rocks he could find, there to lie in his hide-wrappings in a torment of pain and burning fever. For two long nights and days, he lay there while great shaggy li
48、ons glided in and out among the rocks and underbrush, snarling and growling and frequently emitting thunderous roars, for in some13 way it had become known to them that a puny Trog-man had dared intrude upon their domains. During the second night of his sickness, Gonchs fever left him and he became
49、conscious of what was going on about him. Above his head was the dark blue sky and a full moon flooding the country with its jejune light. Below him, the rocks cast deep shadows one upon another. Then appeared other shadows which moved to the accompaniment of low snuffling growls and he discerned four figures crawling at the foot of the very rocks among whose tops h