CHAPTER IV ON SHORE

 So the little boy went into the house and was soon fast asleep.

 

 

The mother lay down on a bearskin and rested her head on a clay crescent.

 

The Lake-Dweller women needed these head-rests because they did not take down their hair when they slept, and the bronze and bone pins made their heads very heavy.

 

And now while the men were on guard peace rested upon the village of the Dormorants.

 

The next day, the watchers slept while others took their places.

 

For three days, the Lake-Dwellers looked for signs of the enemy, but the Bear tribe¹ seemed to have forgotten them and to have returned to their homes.

 

If the Lake-Dweller chief had been on land, he might have seen some of the Bear tribe hiding behind the tall oak² and cedar³ trees in the forest.

 

 

They were watching to see what the lake people would do, and to report what they saw to their chief.

 

On the fourth day, when everything seemed quiet, the chief of the Dormorants ordered the drawbridge to be put in place, and stationed a man at the end to watch for the enemy. Then he sent a messenger⁴ to the chief of a Lake-Dweller village near by.

 

The messenger was to ask the chief to be ready at any time to help the Dormorants, if the Bear tribe should attack them.

 

Then the chief ordered his men to be prepared for battle at any moment, because he was afraid that the enemy would soon try again to reach the village.

 

He ordered them to sharpen⁵ their swords, lances and axes⁶, and get ready their bows and arrows.

 

Lodrix was so excited that he could not keep still, and almost hoped that the enemy would come back, so that he might have a chance to fight.

 

The chief’s son had never been in a battle, and he was anxious to take part in one.

 

He begged his father to let him take the sword which hung in the bronze scabbard on the wall.

 

 

But his father gave him another sword, because the one in the scabbard was too large and heavy for a young boy.

 

Lodrix was very proud of his sword, and ran about showing it to his friends.

 

 

Soon the men were ready to start. Some of them lowered their cedar dugouts, and climbed down the notched⁷ poles with their fishing spears in their hands.

 

They paddled to that part of the lake where they knew they could catch some fine fish.

 

Others crossed the bridge, with their bows and arrows hanging from their shoulders.

 

They wished to kill some deer in the forest and cut down some cedar trees for fire-wood.

 

Lodrix pleaded⁸ so hard to go hunting that his father said he might go, so he started off with the men.

 

They stopped to look at the fruit trees growing along the shore.

 

“Where is the fruit?” asked Lodrix.

 

 

“The Bear people have taken it!” answered one of the men.

 

“See! They have taken our grain, too!” said another.

 

This made Lodrix wish more than ever that he might fight these people.

 

He knew his father would be angry, too, when they told him what had been done.

 

They wondered where they would get food for the winter.

 

They knew they must work very hard to get the soil ready for more grain, and that they must fish and hunt a great deal or they would have no dried meat to store away.

 

These thoughts made them very sad, and they did not say much as they walked on through the forests.

 

1 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

2 oak   

n.栎树，橡树，栎木，橡木

参考例句：

• The chair is of solid oak.这把椅子是纯橡木的。
• The carpenter will floor this room with oak.木匠将用橡木铺设这个房间的地板。

3 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

4 messenger   

n.报信者，先驱

参考例句：

• By the time the messenger reached him,the damage had been done.送信人赶到他那儿时，损失已经造成了。
• I'll order a special messenger to deliver the document.我会派专人把文件送去。

5 sharpen   

v.（使）变锐利，削尖

参考例句：

• This exercise will help students sharpen up their reading skills.这个练习将帮助学生提高阅读能力。
• When you sharpen a pencil,you make chips.你削铅笔时，会削下许多碎屑。

6 axes   

n.轴；斧头( ax的名词复数 )；斧子( axe的名词复数 )；（遭）解雇；倒闭；被停业；轴( axis的名词复数 )；轴线；核心；对称中心线（将物体平分为二）v.（用斧）砍( axe的第三人称单数 )；精简（机构等）；大量削减（经费等）

参考例句：

• They used axes to clear a path through the forest. 他们用斧子开辟出一条穿过森林的小道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They equipped themselves with a pair of sharp axes and set off for the forest. 他们带上两把利斧便朝森林走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 notched   

a.有凹口的，有缺口的

参考例句：

• Torino notched up a 2-1 win at Lazio. 都灵队以2 比1 赢了拉齐奧队。
• He notched up ten points in the first five minutes of the game. 他在比赛开始后的五分钟里得了十分。

8 pleaded   

恳求，请求( plead的过去式和过去分词 )； 提出…为借口[理由]； （向法庭）陈述案情； （在法庭）申辩，认罪，辩护

参考例句：

• She pleaded with him not to go. 她恳求他不要离开。
• She wept and pleaded until he agreed to do as she wished. 她哭着恳求他，一直到他答应按她的愿望去做。