登陆注册
15464200000055

第55章 CHAPTER XII(3)

"Look there," he said, presently, pointing to fresh tracks, larger than those made by Bo's mustang. "Elk tracks. We've scared a big bull an' he's right ahead of us. Look sharp an' you'll see him."

Helen never climbed so hard and fast before, and when they reached the ridge-top she was all tuckered out. It was all she could do to get on her horse. Dale led along the crest of this wooded ridge toward the western end, which was considerably higher. In places open rocky ground split the green timber. Dale pointed toward a promontory.

Helen saw a splendid elk silhouetted against the sky. He was a light gray over all his hindquarters, with shoulders and head black. His ponderous, wide-spread antlers towered over him, adding to the wildness of his magnificent poise as he stood there, looking down into the valley, no doubt listening for the bay of the hound. When he heard Dale's horse he gave one bound, gracefully and wonderfully carrying his antlers, to disappear in the green.

Again on a bare patch of ground Dale pointed down. Helen saw big round tracks, toeing in a little, that gave her a chill.

She knew these were grizzly tracks.

Hard riding was not possible on this ridge crest, a fact that gave Helen time to catch her breath. At length, coming out upon the very summit of the mountain, Dale heard the hound. Helen's eyes feasted afar upon a wild scene of rugged grandeur, before she looked down on this western slope at her feet to see bare, gradual descent, leading down to sparsely wooded bench and on to deep-green canuon.

"Ride hard now!" yelled Dale. "I see Bo, an' I'll have to ride to catch her."Dale spurred down the slope. Helen rode in his tracks and, though she plunged so fast that she felt her hair stand up with fright, she saw him draw away from her. Sometimes her horse slid on his haunches for a few yards, and at these hazardous moments she got her feet out of the stirrups so as to fall free from him if he went down. She let him choose the way, while she gazed ahead at Dale, and then farther on, in the hope of seeing Bo. At last she was rewarded. Far Down the wooded bench she saw a gray flash of the little mustang and a bright glint of Bo's hair. Her heart swelled. Dale would soon overhaul Bo and come between her and peril. And on the instant, though Helen was unconscious of it then, a remarkable change came over her spirit. Fear left her. And a hot, exalting, incomprehensible something took possession of her.

She let the horse run, and when he had plunged to the foot of that slope of soft ground he broke out across the open bench at a pace that made the wind bite Helen's cheeks and roar in her ears. She lost sight of Dale. It gave her a strange, grim exultance. She bent her eager gaze to find the tracks of his horse, and she found them. Also she made out the tracks of Bo's mustang and the bear and the hound. Her horse, scenting game, perhaps, and afraid to be left alone, settled into a fleet and powerful stride, sailing over logs and brush. That open bench had looked short, but it was long, and Helen rode down the gradual descent at breakneck speed. She would not be left behind. She had awakened to a heedlessness of risk. Something burned steadily within her.

A grim, hard anger of joy! When she saw, far down another open, gradual descent, that Dale had passed Bo and that Bo was riding the little mustang as never before, then Helen flamed with a madness to catch her, to beat her in that wonderful chase, to show her and Dale what there really was in the depths of Helen Rayner.

Her ambition was to be short-lived, she divined from the lay of the land ahead, but the ride she lived then for a flying mile was something that would always blanch her cheeks and prick her skin in remembrance.

The open ground was only too short. That thundering pace soon brought Helen's horse to the timber. Here it took all her strength to check his headlong flight over deadfalls and between small jack-pines. Helen lost sight of Bo, and she realized it would take all her wits to keep from getting lost. She had to follow the trail, and in some places it was hard to see from horseback.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 白色眷恋

    白色眷恋

    因为不满皇马6比2的比分,中国青年律师沈星怒砸啤酒瓶,结果电光火石间,他穿越成了佛罗伦蒂诺的儿子,且看来自09年的小伙子如何玩转03年的欧洲足坛
  • 神玄帝尊

    神玄帝尊

    前世,叶玄少林习武十七年,中东雇佣兵生涯七载,被冠以“修罗”的称号,成为违背科学存在的男人。今生,叶玄隐居三载,在十八岁的最后关头,觉醒玄魂成功,成为一名玄师,掌控不同于他人的金色玄魂能力。玄魂能力,共分五大系别,强化系,具现化系,变化系,自然系,特质系。千奇百怪的玄魂能力,极致华丽的战斗方式,热血豪情,杀伐果断,真正的战斗,活着的永远是最强者。叶玄的能力,就是名为“疯狂的小丑”。“嘟~~~口中有轮盘,数字‘1’到‘9’,祝你好运,抽取到想要的号码,嘟~~~”它,到底是能力演化的小丑,还是叶玄心底最深处的意念。前世,失去了踏上巅峰的可能,今生,就让我成为那至高无上的——神玄帝尊!
  • 愿我的世界有个你

    愿我的世界有个你

    人物借用了当下韩国人气男团MonstaX的成员名字和性格特点。两位主角是一个人气男模,一个白天是幼师晚上是酒吧歌手,两位看似八竿子打不着的人因为一项活动便从此驻扎在心里。究竟这两位会发生什么激动人心或是虐得不行的故事呢?敬请期待吧!(第一次尝试写小说,望大家多多包涵~)
  • 薄情红颜俏娇妻

    薄情红颜俏娇妻

    女人长得漂亮并非是福,往往就会因为漂亮,就会使她的命运与她的容颜成了反比。
  • 邪帝追妻:霸宠小医妃

    邪帝追妻:霸宠小医妃

    本以为只是一场意外而来到这个世界,没想到这却是命中注定。(本人是新人,不喜勿喷。)【读者要入坑的话,那请原谅我,前几章写的很乱。】
  • 绝色俏公主

    绝色俏公主

    她前世是冥神的女儿,蚩尤的天妃,后世是四国北倾中不受宠的公主,相爱相杀,到底如何
  • 嚣张公主驯服驸马爷

    嚣张公主驯服驸马爷

    她是授宠爱于万千的公主殿下,可是她却不喜欢面对那些冠冕堂皇的话,所以为了逃避这些她所不喜欢的一切,她选择了离开,宁愿当一个平民,在夜黑风高的晚上,她遇见了连自己都不知道的白马王子,经过重重困难,和自己的爱人在一起,可是在关键时刻,父亲却告诉她,她已经和别人有了婚约,而他亦也有了属于自己的婚约,为了和自己爱的人在一起,他们选择了私奔,却不曾想这只是乌龙一场。。。。。。
  • tfboys之无法原谅

    tfboys之无法原谅

    女主本和男主过的很开心,可能男主却不相信女主没有做过的事,后来分手了,女主成了很火的明星,男主不管怎么求女主女主,都没有原谅他们。
  • 鸾凤于归:最强美人鱼

    鸾凤于归:最强美人鱼

    凤于归怎么也没有想到,自己醒来的时候会变成一条浮在水面上的美人鱼!而且她的家,竟然是深海里的城堡?城堡里转来转去的美男鱼都是城堡里的守卫?不行,她的世界观已经被刷新了。她受不了了,她要回到她的人类世界,就算掉进宫斗圈也不要呆在这里...
  • 清幽一刹遇君倾

    清幽一刹遇君倾

    他是当朝王爷,邪魅腹黑。他是首富独子,温润如玉。那日,他被下药时在树林的小河畔遇见了他。事后他每每纠缠于他,谁知这一纠缠便是纠缠一辈子。那日,他闲来无事想清静一番却在河畔遇见了他,帮他解除了药力。事后便喜欢上了他,他每日都想见一见他,不知是为何,每天不见便心绞的厉害。谁知这每日一见便是一辈子。谁人都知琼澜过有一倾王是圣上最宠溺的孩子,倾国容貌,天之骄子,迷倒了许多的少女,就连奶娃和老太太都暗许芳心脸红的不得了,谁知倾王偏偏是个断袖。京城有才子,谁人都知首富之子学识渊博温柔如玉,媒婆也踏破了门槛可谁知当时人却当没事人一样“她说的不是我一般”。最后,谁许谁的生生世世。