英文故事-Beneath-the-Saddle(附理解练习).doc

Beneath the Saddle
by Russell Gordon Carter
Nathan Cathcart sat upright in bed, his heart pounding. In his ears still rang the pistol shot that had awakened him, and from the frozen road at the base of the hill came the clatter of hoofbeats. He was about to hurry to the window, when a heavy object struck the front door, causing the whole house to tremble.
“Open in the King’s name!” came a harsh voice. And another added, “Aye, and be quick!”
Vividly aware that he was alone in the little isolated farmhouse, he thought of his mother and longed for her comforting presence. These men at the door were hostile British soldiers, there could be little doubt of that! With teeth chattering, the boy got hastily into his clothes and made his way down the steep, narrow stairway. As he reached the door, it jarred under a succession of powerful blows that threatened to splinter it.
“Who is there?” he called in a shaking voice.
“You will soon find out if you keep us waiting longer!” Nathan drew aside the heavy oak bar and lifted the latch, and with a rush of cold air the door swung inward. In front of him stood two British dragoons in scarlet uniforms. Beyond them he had a glimpse of others, on their way up the hill, leading their horses.
“Whose house is this?” demanded one of the men in the doorway. As he spoke, the two strode inside.
“I – I live here with my mother.” Nathan replied. “Tonight I’m alone, because she had to go to Norfolk to nurse my aunt, who is ill.”
“Well, young rebel,” the dragoon ordered, “go and fetch candles, for we mean to have look about. Mind you lose no time.”
Nathan hesitated, then went into the living room, where a square of moonlight lay upon the wide floor. Why did these men wish to search the house? What could they expect to find?”
In a few minutes he was back in the hallway with two lighted candles in brass candlesticks. By that time the rest of the party had reached the house. They strode noisily inside and then hurriedly closed the door.
“You wait right here, young puppy,” one of them said to Nathan.
“But – but what is it you are seeking?” the boy asked.
“Never you mind that,” was the reply.
Shivering with cold and excitement, Nathan stood silent beside the door. There were now almost a dozen soldiers in the house, some of them upstairs, some on the lower floor. The candles, which they carried from room to room, sent strange shadows dancing wildly about on walls and floor and ceiling. From snatches of conversation, Nathan understood that they were searching for someone, but who it was he was unable to determine.
At last those on the second floor came clumping down the stairs. “We are wasting our time here!” one of them shouted. Then the whole party went outside. Standing in the doorway, Nathan saw them mount their horses and ride down the hillside, search as they rode.
Closing the door, he went upstairs to find the bedrooms in great disorder. On the floor of his own room a candle was burning dangerously close to the bed covering. He carried it downstairs and placed it upon the high mantelpiece above the fireplace, where the soldiers had left the second one. Despite the cold that filled the room, he stood for some time motionless before the hearth, his head bent, his forehead wrinkled. Who was it the dragoons were seeking? He remembered the pistol shot that had awakened him. What did it all mean?
Stepping forward, he snuffed the candles. He was on his way toward the stairs, when a gentle knock at the door caused him to stiffen and catch his breath. His first thought was that the dragoons had returned, but he thrust it quickly aside. No redcoat would knock like that! He went close to the door. “Who is there?” he asked.
“A friend,” came the reply in a low voice.
Nathan hesitated. “Who are you?” he demanded.
“A friend.” the voice repeated.
Nathan swung the door open and then uttered a little cry of surprise. There in the moonlight stood a man in the uniform of the Continental army, a blood-stained kerchief round his head. In a flash the boy understood. This was the man for whom the British were searching!
“Thank ye, lad,” said the stranger, as he entered the house. “The night is cold.”
“And they’ve wounded you!” exclaimed Nathan.
“Aye, that is true, but this not a bad wound.” The man laughed mirthlessly. “So they thought to find me in the house, eh? Little they knew I was watching whilst they came up the hill! You are alone here, lad?”
Yes,” said Nathan. “My mother is at Norfolk for a day or two.”
In the living room, the stranger dropped wearily upon a bench in front of the hearth and covered his face abruptly with his hands. “A sorry mess I have made of things!” he muttered.
Nathan regarded him uneasily, questioningly. “What has happened, sir? I – I would like to be of help, if there is anything I can do!”
The man lifted his head. “Lad,” he said, with bitter self-reproach, “I have made a sorry mess of an important assignment! My name is Dawson, and I am a dispatch rider. I was carrying important papers from General Washington, at White Plains. Yonder dragoons laid an ambush for me. I sought to evade them by desperate riding, but they fired, and a pistol ball grazed the side of my head, causing me to lose control of my horse. The creature raced up the road and then bolted into the woods, where a branch swept me to the ground. They found my horse, but they were unable to fine me!”
“Oh,” exclaimed Nathan, “then tis not so bad after all!”
“Not so bad?” repeated the courier. “In truth, affairs could hardly be worse!”
Nathan looked at hi wonderingly. “The papers I carried were on the horse,” Dawson explained bitterly. “I had thrust them between the saddle and blanket, thinking it would be safe, and now the British have m horse! They will soon discover the packet, if they have not already come upon it, and then –“ He flung out his hands in a dramatic gesture. “Ah, if only – “
He suddenly checked himself and rose to his feet. From the direction of the road came the ring and clatter of hoofbeats and the sound of excited voices! The dragoons were returning .
“Come!” cried Nathan, seizing the man’s arm. “You must hide!”
“Aye, but where?” Dawson glanced wildly about.
Nathan strode to the great fireplace and stepped inside. With shoulder against the wooden wall at one end, he pressed until it yielded, revealing an opening perhaps a foot wide, but deep enough to hold a man. “Squeeze in there!” he ordered. “Then push the wall back into place. My grandfather once hide there from the Indians. You will be safe if you make no sound. Quick!” He thrust the man forward.
Only when the panel had closed behind the fugitive was Nathan able to control his trembling hands. Running to the window, he beheld the whole troop riding and searching at a fast pace up the hillside. What should he do? Suddenly he ran to the door, slide back the bar which held it fast, and went swiftly up the stairway to his room. The cords of his bed creaked as he flung himself into it.
A few seconds later he heard the soldiers in the hall, then in the lower rooms. He lay with thumping heart while the stairs resounded under the tread of heavy boots. Now the Redcoats were on the second floor. Now they were in his room! One of them flashed his tinder box, revealing the by sitting up, wide-eyed, in bed, the blankets about his shoulders.
“Where is the rebel horseman? Where is he hiding?”
Nathan swallowed hard and remained silent. “Have you no tongue in your head, young whelp?” Before the boy could answer, a dragoon caught hold of him and flung him on to the floor. Then they proceeded to prod the mattress with the points of their swords.
Bruised and shaken, Nathan rose and made his way downstairs, intending to flee to the nearby woods. As he emerged from the doorway, he ran into a dragoon who was holding the bridles of half a dozen horses.
“Wait a bit, lad!” the man exclaimed, and his voice sounded kindly. “Wait a bit, I say. We mean ye no harm, and that be the truth!”
Nathan hesitated. “Eh, 'tis a cold night!” observed the soldier, blowing on his hands. “The horses, they feel it too!”
“They are fine-looking horses, sir,” Nathan remarked with an effort.
“Aye, fine animals they are indeed!”
The boy was studying them carefully. Which was the dispatch rider’s horse? He singled out a sleek black mare that looked more tired than the others. And then he observed that her saddle was different from the other saddles.
In a casual manner he walked over to her and patted her nose. At that moment one of the soldiers stepped to the doorway and began to talk to the man who held the bridles. Nathan heard no word of what they were saying, for his fingers were upon the mare’s blanket, inching upward under the saddle while the terrific beating of his heart seemed to jar his whole body! At last his fingers touched something … something … just then one of the British horses nipped at the black, and she backed away, almost knocking the boy over.
“Steady, there!” yelled the Redcoat, and then resumed his talk with the man in the doorway.
As Nathan thrust his fingers under the saddle again, he heard the dragoons coming down the stairs. Evidently the search was ended and they were about to ride off! Again his hand was touching something beneath the saddle. With thumb and forefinger upon a corner of the object, he drew it slowly downwards. The moonlight flashed momentarily on an oblong white packet as he jerked it forth and thrust it beneath his shirt.
Nathan was nowhere in sight when the British rode off. He had retreated to the shelter of a brush heap at the north of the house, ready to retreat farther into the woods if the soldiers should decide to hunt for him. But they were not interested in a mere boy. They had searched the house twice and were satisfied that the rebel horseman was not within.
The British had been gone at least a quarter of an hour when Nathan entered the living room and thrust his shoulder against the panel at the end of the fireplace. Dawson stepped forth, blinking in the candle light. “Eh?” he demanded, gazing hard at something in the boy’s extended hand. Eh, what- what-“
“I took it from beneath the saddle,” said Nathan.
“You – you – what?” With a hoarse cry the man seized the packet and examined it. Then his legs wavered under him, and he sat down hard upon the bench. “Lad!” he muttered. “You- you- tricked them!” Suddenly he sprang to his feet and threw his arms about Nathan’s neck. “You’ve done me a service! I cannot thank you enough. Aye, you’ve done your country a service! I’ll never forget it as long as I live! Tell me your name, lad!”
“Nathan Cathcart, sir.”
“Cathcart, eh? I’ll not be likely to forget that name! I had a friend, Jack Cathcart, who fell at Bunker Hill.”
“He was my father,” Nathan said in a low voice.
For several seconds the man and the boy stood facing each other in silence …
“Well, lad,” the soldier said at last, “I must be off. The Blue Fox Tavern lies but a few miles up the road, and there I can procure another horse. Your hand, Nathan, and I promise you that General Washington shall hear of what has happened this night!”
Nathan watched his as he made his way down the slope in the moonlight. Then the boy climbed the stairs once more to his room, this time to undisturbed sleep.
Exercises
Pre-Reading/Listening Exercises:
1. Vocabulary 2. Expressions
pistol shot clatter of hoofbeats you’ll soon find out
tremble teeth chattering young puppy
splinter British dragoons never you mind
fetch shivering unable to determine
stiffen forehead wrinkled snuffed the candles
to evade them bitter self-reproach catch his breath
ambush trembling hands a sorry mess of things
grazed swallowed hard we mean you no harm
bruised shaken to jar his whole body
bridle saddle you’ve done me a service
jerked it thrust it
a hoarse cry
2. American History:
Give some background to the US War of Independence
3. American Culture
Old American homes – upstairs, downstairs, chimney, door with latch and pole across it, bench, candles, etc.
4. Question:
a. What would you do if someone came to your home when you were all alone?
b. Do you remember an experience that frightened you? What happened?
c. How do you feel when you are scared?
Post-Reading/Listening Exercises:
1. Comprehension Questions:
a. Why was the small boy alone that night?
b. Who came to his house first?
c. Who were they looking for?
d. Who knocked quietly at his door?
e. Where did Nathan hide the man?
f. What was the man’s response to Nathan?
2. Understanding the Meaning:
a. Try to guess what was in the papers?
b. Try to examine from Nathan the difference between feeling brave and acting brave?
c. What were the many quick decisions that Nathan made?
d. What decision had Nathan made before this event ever happened that allowed him to be so courageous?(he knew which side he was on)
3. Discussion or Writing topics:
a. What things am I afraid of?
b. 1 time I showed courage.
c. The most courageous act I know