He asked me where I proposed to begin.
I told him the tarn4 called the Loch o’ the Threshes, which lies over the back of the Muneraw on another watershed5. It is on the ground of the Rhynns Forest, and I had fished it of old from the Forest House. I knew the merits of the trout6, and I knew its virtues7 in a south-west wind, so I had resolved to go thus far afield.
The shepherd heard the name in silence. ‘Your best road will be ower that rig, and syne8 on to the water o’ Caulds. Keep abune the moss9 till ye come to the place they ca’ the Nick o’ the Threshes. That will take ye to the very lochside, but it’s a lang road and a sair.’
The morning was breaking over the bleak10 hills. Little clouds drifted athwart the corries, and wisps of haze11 fluttered from the peaks. A great rosy12 flush lay over one side of the glen, which caught the edge of the sluggish13 bog14-pools and turned them to fire. Never before had I seen the mountain-land so clear, for far back into the east and west I saw mountain-tops set as close as flowers in a border, black crags seamed with silver lines which I knew for mighty15 waterfalls, and below at my feet the lower slopes fresh with the dewy green of spring. A name stuck in my memory from the last night’s talk.
‘Where are the Scarts of the Muneraw?’ I asked.
The shepherd pointed16 to the great hill which bears the name, and which lies, a huge mass, above the watershed.
‘D’ye see yon corrie at the east that runs straucht up the side? It looks a bit scart, but it’s sae deep that it’s aye derk at the bottom o’t. Weel, at the tap o’ the rig it meets anither corrie that runs doun the ither side, and that one they ca’ the Scarts. There is a sort o’ burn in it that flows intil the Dule and sae intil the Aller, and, indeed, if ye were gaun there it wad be from Aller Glen that your best road wad lie. But it’s an ill bit, and ye’ll be sair guidit if ye try’t.’
There he left me and went across the glen, while I struck upwards17 over the ridge18. At the top I halted and looked down on the wide glen of the Caulds, which there is little better than a bog, but lower down grows into a green pastoral valley. The great Muneraw still dominated the landscape, and the black scaur on its side seemed blacker than before. The place fascinated me, for in that fresh morning air the shepherd’s fears seemed monstrous19. ‘Some day,’ said I to myself, ‘I will go and explore the whole of that mighty hill.’ Then I descended20 and struggled over the moss, found the Nick, and in two hours’ time was on the loch’s edge.
I have little in the way of good to report of the fishing. For perhaps one hour the trout took well; after that they sulked steadily22 for the day. The promise, too, of fine weather had been deceptive. By midday the rain was falling in that soft soaking fashion which gives no hope of clearing. The mist was down to the edge of the water, and I cast my flies into a blind sea of white. It was hopeless work, and yet from a sort of ill-temper I stuck to it long after my better judgment23 had warned me of its folly24. At last, about three in the afternoon, I struck my camp, and prepared myself for a long and toilsome retreat.
And long and toilsome it was beyond anything I had ever encountered. Had I had a vestige25 of sense I would have followed the burn from the loch down to the Forest House. The place was shut up, but the keeper would gladly have given me shelter for the night. But foolish pride was too strong in me. I had found my road in mist before, and could do it again.
Before I got to the top of the hill I had repented26 my decision; when I got there I repented it more. For below me was a dizzy chaos27 of grey; there was no landmark28 visible; and before me I knew was the bog through which the Caulds Water twined. I had crossed it with some trouble in the morning, but then I had light to pick my steps. Now I could only stumble on, and in five minutes I might be in a bog-hole, and in five more in a better world.
But there was no help to be got from hesitation29, so with a rueful courage I set off. The place was if possible worse than I had feared. Wading30 up to the knees with nothing before you but a blank wall of mist and the cheerful consciousness that your next step may be your last — such was my state for one weary mile. The stream itself was high, and rose to my armpits, and once and again I only saved myself by a violent leap backwards31 from a pitiless green slough32. But at last it was past, and I was once more on the solid ground of the hillside.
Now, in the thick weather I had crossed the glen much lower down than in the morning, and the result was that the hill on which I stood was one of the giants which, with the Muneraw for centre, guard the watershed. Had I taken the proper way, the Nick o’ the Threshes would have led me to the Caulds, and then once over the bog a little ridge was all that stood between me and the glen of Farawa. But instead I had come a wild cross-country road, and was now, though I did not know it, nearly as far from my destination as at the start.
Well for me that I did not know, for I was wet and dispirited, and had I not fancied myself all but home, I should scarcely have had the energy to make this last ascent33. But soon I found it was not the little ridge I had expected. I looked at my watch and saw that it was five o’clock. When, after the weariest climb, I lay on a piece of level ground which seemed the top, I was not surprised to find that it was now seven. The darkening must be at hand, and sure enough the mist seemed to be deepening into a greyish black. I began to grow desperate. Here was I on the summit of some infernal mountain, without any certainty where my road lay. I was lost with a vengeance34, and at the thought I began to be acutely afraid.
I took what seemed to me the way I had come, and began to descend21 steeply. Then something made me halt, and the next instant I was lying on my face trying painfully to retrace35 my steps. For I had found myself slipping, and before I could stop, my feet were dangling36 over a precipice37 with Heaven alone knows how many yards of sheer mist between me and the bottom. Then I tried keeping the ridge, and took that to the right, which I thought would bring me nearer home. It was no good trying to think out a direction, for in the fog my brain was running round, and I seemed to stand on a pin-point of space where the laws of the compass had ceased to hold.
It was the roughest sort of walking, now stepping warily38 over acres of loose stones, now crawling down the face of some battered39 rock, and now wading in the long dripping heather. The soft rain had begun to fall again, which completed my discomfort40. I was now seriously tired, and, like all men who in their day have bent41 too much over books, I began to feel it in my back. My spine42 ached, and my breath came in short broken pants. It was a pitiable state of affairs for an honest man who had never encountered much grave discomfort. To ease myself I was compelled to leave my basket behind me, trusting to return and find it, if I should ever reach safety and discover on what pathless hill I had been strayed. My rod I used as a staff, but it was of little use, for my fingers were getting too numb43 to hold it.
Suddenly from the blankness I heard a sound as of human speech. At first I thought it mere44 craziness — the cry of a weasel or a hill-bird distorted by my ears. But again it came, thick and faint, as through acres of mist, and yet clearly the sound of ‘articulate-speaking men.’ In a moment I lost my despair and cried out in answer. This was some forwandered traveller like myself, and between us we could surely find some road to safety. So I yelled back at the pitch of my voice and waited intently.
But the sound ceased, and there was utter silence again. Still I waited, and then from some place much nearer came the same soft mumbling45 speech. I could make nothing of it. Heard in that drear place it made the nerves tense and the heart timorous46. It was the strangest jumble47 of vowels48 and consonants49 I had ever met.
A dozen solutions flashed through my brain. It was some maniac50 talking Jabberwock to himself. It was some belated traveller whose wits had given out in fear. Perhaps it was only some shepherd who was amusing himself thus, and whiling the way with nonsense. Once again I cried out and waited.
Then suddenly in the hollow trough of mist before me, where things could still be half discerned, there appeared a figure. It was little and squat51 and dark; naked, apparently52, but so rough with hair that it wore the appearance of a skin-covered being. It crossed my line of vision, not staying for a moment, but in its face and eyes there seemed to lurk53 an elder world of mystery and barbarism, a troll-like life which was too horrible for words.
The shepherd’s fear came back on me like a thunderclap. For one awful instant my legs failed me, and I had almost fallen. The next I had turned and ran shrieking54 up the hill.
If he who may read this narrative55 has never felt the force of an overmastering terror, then let him thank his Maker56 and pray that he never may. I am no weak child, but a strong grown man, accredited57 in general with sound sense and little suspected of hysterics. And yet I went up that brae-face with my heart fluttering like a bird and my throat aching with fear. I screamed in short dry gasps58; involuntarily, for my mind was beyond any purpose. I felt that beast-like clutch at my throat; those red eyes seemed to be staring at me from the mist; I heard ever behind and before and on all sides the patter of those inhuman59 feet.
Before I knew I was down, slipping over a rock and falling some dozen feet into a soft marshy60 hollow. I was conscious of lying still for a second and whimpering like a child. But as I lay there I awoke to the silence of the place. There was no sound of pursuit; perhaps they had lost my track and given up. My courage began to return, and from this it was an easy step to hope. Perhaps after all it had been merely an illusion, for folk do not see clearly in the mist, and I was already done with weariness.
But even as I lay in the green moss and began to hope, the faces of my pursuers grew up through the mist. I stumbled madly to my feet; but I was hemmed61 in, the rock behind and my enemies before. With a cry I rushed forward, and struck wildly with my rod at the first dark body. It was as if I had struck an animal, and the next second the thing was wrenched62 from my grasp. But still they came no nearer. I stood trembling there in the centre of those malignant63 devils, my brain a mere weathercock, and my heart crushed shapeless with horror. At last the end came, for with the vigour64 of madness I flung myself on the nearest, and we rolled on the ground. Then the monstrous things seemed to close over me, and with a choking cry I passed into unconsciousness.
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1
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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deceptive
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| adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的 | |
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boded
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| v.预示，预告，预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待 | |
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tarn
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| n.山中的小湖或小潭 | |
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watershed
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| n.转折点，分水岭，分界线 | |
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trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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7
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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8
syne
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| adv.自彼时至此时，曾经 | |
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9
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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10
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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12
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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13
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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15
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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16
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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19
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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20
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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21
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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22
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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23
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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28
landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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30
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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31
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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32
slough
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| v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃 | |
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33
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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35
retrace
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| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
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36
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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42
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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43
numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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44
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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45
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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46
timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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47
jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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48
vowels
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| n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 ) | |
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49
consonants
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| n.辅音，子音( consonant的名词复数 )；辅音字母 | |
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50
maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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51
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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52
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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53
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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54
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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55
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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56
maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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accredited
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| adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于 | |
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58
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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59
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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60
marshy
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| adj.沼泽的 | |
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61
hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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62
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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63
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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64
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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