The lodges were hardly erected18 when, with their usual precipitation, the Indians set about accomplishing the object that had brought them there; that is, the obtaining poles for supporting their new lodges. Half the population, men, women and boys, mounted their horses and set out for the interior of the mountains. As they rode at full gallop19 over the shingly20 rocks and into the dark opening of the defile beyond, I thought I had never read or dreamed of a more strange or picturesque21 cavalcade22. We passed between precipices more than a thousand feet high, sharp and splintering at the tops, their sides beetling23 over the defile or descending24 in abrupt25 declivities, bristling26 with black fir trees. On our left they rose close to us like a wall, but on the right a winding brook with a narrow strip of marshy27 soil intervened. The stream was clogged28 with old beaver dams, and spread frequently into wide pools. There were thick bushes and many dead and blasted trees along its course, though frequently nothing remained but stumps29 cut close to the ground by the beaver, and marked with the sharp chisel-like teeth of those indefatigable30 laborers31. Sometimes we were driving among trees, and then emerging upon open spots, over which, Indian-like, all galloped32 at full speed. As Pauline bounded over the rocks I felt her saddle-girth slipping, and alighted to draw it tighter; when the whole array swept past me in a moment, the women with their gaudy33 ornaments34 tinkling35 as they rode, the men whooping36, and laughing, and lashing37 forward their horses. Two black-tailed deer bounded away among the rocks; Raymond shot at them from horseback; the sharp report of his rifle was answered by another equally sharp from the opposing cliffs, and then the echoes, leaping in rapid succession from side to side, died away rattling38 far amid the mountains.
After having ridden in this manner for six or eight miles, the appearance of the scene began to change, and all the declivities around us were covered with forests of tall, slender pine trees. The Indians began to fall off to the right and left, and dispersed39 with their hatchets40 and knives among these woods, to cut the poles which they had come to seek. Soon I was left almost alone; but in the deep stillness of those lonely mountains, the stroke of hatchets and the sound of voices might be heard from far and near.
Reynal, who imitated the Indians in their habits as well as the worst features of their character, had killed buffalo41 enough to make a lodge9 for himself and his squaw, and now he was eager to get the poles necessary to complete it. He asked me to let Raymond go with him and assist in the work. I assented42, and the two men immediately entered the thickest part of the wood. Having left my horse in Raymond’s keeping, I began to climb the mountain. I was weak and weary and made slow progress, often pausing to rest, but after an hour had elapsed, I gained a height, whence the little valley out of which I had climbed seemed like a deep, dark gulf43, though the inaccessible44 peak of the mountain was still towering to a much greater distance above. Objects familiar from childhood surrounded me; crags and rocks, a black and sullen45 brook that gurgled with a hollow voice deep among the crevices46, a wood of mossy distorted trees and prostrate47 trunks flung down by age and storms, scattered48 among the rocks, or damming the foaming49 waters of the little brook. The objects were the same, yet they were thrown into a wilder and more startling scene, for the black crags and the savage50 trees assumed a grim and threatening aspect, and close across the valley the opposing mountain confronted me, rising from the gulf for thousands of feet, with its bare pinnacles51 and its ragged52 covering of pines. Yet the scene was not without its milder features. As I ascended53, I found frequent little grassy terraces, and there was one of these close at hand, across which the brook was stealing, beneath the shade of scattered trees that seemed artificially planted. Here I made a welcome discovery, no other than a bed of strawberries, with their white flowers and their red fruit, close nestled among the grass by the side of the brook, and I sat down by them, hailing them as old acquaintances; for among those lonely and perilous54 mountains they awakened55 delicious associations of the gardens and peaceful homes of far-distant New England.
Yet wild as they were, these mountains were thickly peopled. As I climbed farther, I found the broad dusty paths made by the elk56, as they filed across the mountainside. The grass on all the terraces was trampled57 down by deer; there were numerous tracks of wolves, and in some of the rougher and more precipitous parts of the ascent58, I found foot-prints different from any that I had ever seen, and which I took to be those of the Rocky Mountain sheep. I sat down upon a rock; there was a perfect stillness. No wind was stirring, and not even an insect could be heard. I recollected59 the danger of becoming lost in such a place, and therefore I fixed60 my eye upon one of the tallest pinnacles of the opposite mountain. It rose sheer upright from the woods below, and by an extraordinary freak of nature sustained aloft on its very summit a large loose rock. Such a landmark61 could never be mistaken, and feeling once more secure, I began again to move forward. A white wolf jumped up from among some bushes, and leaped clumsily away; but he stopped for a moment, and turned back his keen eye and his grim bristling muzzle62. I longed to take his scalp and carry it back with me, as an appropriate trophy63 of the Black Hills, but before I could fire, he was gone among the rocks. Soon I heard a rustling64 sound, with a cracking of twigs65 at a little distance, and saw moving above the tall bushes the branching antlers of an elk. I was in the midst of a hunter’s paradise.
Such are the Black Hills, as I found them in July; but they wear a different garb66 when winter sets in, when the broad boughs67 of the fir tree are bent68 to the ground by the load of snow, and the dark mountains are whitened with it. At that season the mountain-trappers, returned from their autumn expeditions, often build their rude cabins in the midst of these solitudes69, and live in abundance and luxury on the game that harbors there. I have heard them relate, how with their tawny70 mistresses, and perhaps a few young Indian companions, they have spent months in total seclusion71. They would dig pitfalls72, and set traps for the white wolves, the sables73, and the martens, and though through the whole night the awful chorus of the wolves would resound74 from the frozen mountains around them, yet within their massive walls of logs they would lie in careless ease and comfort before the blazing fire, and in the morning shoot the elk and the deer from their very door.
点击收听单词发音
1 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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2 ridges | |
n.脊( ridge的名词复数 );山脊;脊状突起;大气层的)高压脊 | |
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3 arid | |
adj.干旱的;(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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4 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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5 defile | |
v.弄污,弄脏;n.(山间)小道 | |
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6 brook | |
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让 | |
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7 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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8 beaver | |
n.海狸,河狸 | |
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9 lodge | |
v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆 | |
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10 lodges | |
v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 );暂住;埋入;(权利、权威等)归属 | |
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11 precipices | |
n.悬崖,峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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12 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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13 clump | |
n.树丛,草丛;vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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14 rugged | |
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
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15 verge | |
n.边,边缘;v.接近,濒临 | |
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16 grassy | |
adj.盖满草的;长满草的 | |
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17 encompassed | |
v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 );包围;包含;包括 | |
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18 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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19 gallop | |
v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔;飞速发展 | |
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20 shingly | |
adj.小石子多的 | |
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21 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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22 cavalcade | |
n.车队等的行列 | |
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23 beetling | |
adj.突出的,悬垂的v.快速移动( beetle的现在分词 ) | |
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24 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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25 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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26 bristling | |
a.竖立的 | |
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27 marshy | |
adj.沼泽的 | |
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28 clogged | |
(使)阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 ); 淤滞 | |
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29 stumps | |
(被砍下的树的)树桩( stump的名词复数 ); 残肢; (板球三柱门的)柱; 残余部分 | |
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30 indefatigable | |
adj.不知疲倦的,不屈不挠的 | |
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31 laborers | |
n.体力劳动者,工人( laborer的名词复数 );(熟练工人的)辅助工 | |
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32 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
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33 gaudy | |
adj.华而不实的;俗丽的 | |
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34 ornaments | |
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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35 tinkling | |
n.丁当作响声 | |
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36 whooping | |
发嗬嗬声的,发咳声的 | |
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37 lashing | |
n.鞭打;痛斥;大量;许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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38 rattling | |
adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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39 dispersed | |
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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40 hatchets | |
n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 );恶毒攻击;诽谤;休战 | |
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41 buffalo | |
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛 | |
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42 assented | |
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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44 inaccessible | |
adj.达不到的,难接近的 | |
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45 sullen | |
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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46 crevices | |
n.(尤指岩石的)裂缝,缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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47 prostrate | |
v.拜倒,平卧,衰竭;adj.拜倒的,平卧的,衰竭的 | |
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48 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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49 foaming | |
adj.布满泡沫的;发泡 | |
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50 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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51 pinnacles | |
顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 ); 顶点; 尖顶; 小尖塔 | |
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52 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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53 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54 perilous | |
adj.危险的,冒险的 | |
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55 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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56 elk | |
n.麋鹿 | |
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57 trampled | |
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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58 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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59 recollected | |
adj.冷静的;镇定的;被回忆起的;沉思默想的v.记起,想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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61 landmark | |
n.陆标,划时代的事,地界标 | |
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62 muzzle | |
n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默 | |
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63 trophy | |
n.优胜旗,奖品,奖杯,战胜品,纪念品 | |
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64 rustling | |
n. 瑟瑟声,沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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65 twigs | |
细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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66 garb | |
n.服装,装束 | |
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67 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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68 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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69 solitudes | |
n.独居( solitude的名词复数 );孤独;荒僻的地方;人迹罕至的地方 | |
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70 tawny | |
adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色 | |
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71 seclusion | |
n.隐遁,隔离 | |
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72 pitfalls | |
(捕猎野兽用的)陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 ); 意想不到的困难,易犯的错误 | |
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73 sables | |
n.紫貂( sable的名词复数 );紫貂皮;阴暗的;暗夜 | |
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74 resound | |
v.回响 | |
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