Shoe-Bar Stratton - Chapter 15

More than once during the next ten minutes Buck ¹ cursed himself inwardly for not having brought along the small but powerful pair of field-glasses that were tucked away in his bag. He had picked them up at the Divisional Headquarters only a week or two before the Belleau Woods business, and how they had stuck to him until his arrival in America remained one of the minor ² mysteries of that vanished year. He would have given anything for them now, for though he could make out fairly well the movements of the two men, he was too far away to distinguish their faces., ,Watching closely, he saw that the first fellow was taking down a short section of the fence, either by cutting or by pulling out the staples ³. When this lay flat he remounted and, joining his companion, the two proceeded to drive through the gap nothing more significant than a solitary ⁴ steer ⁵., ,It was a yearling, Buck could easily see even at that distance, and he almost laughed aloud at the sudden let-down of suspense ⁶. By this time a little individual trick of carriage made him suspect that the foremost puncher was Butch Siegrist, and when the men came into clearer view, he recognized scarcely without question the big sorrel with white trimmings on which Kreeger had ridden off that morning. The two men had found a Shoe-Bar stray; that was all. And yet, on second thought, how did they come to be here when they were supposed to be working at the very opposite extremity ⁷ of the ranch ⁸?, , ,Under the lash ¹⁴ of a rope, the animal had lumbered ¹⁵ across the pasture for several hundred yards, where he paused languidly to crunch ¹⁶ some bunch-grass. There was an air of lassitude and weakness about the creature which made Buck, as he approached, eye it with anxious intentness. A dozen feet or so away he jerked his horse to a standstill and caught his breath with an odd whistling sound., ,"Great Godfrey!" he breathed., ,The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。,The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色 。