The nearest approach to a smile that Big Thompson could command overspread his face, as he removed his pipe from his mouth long enough to address this question to his employer.
It was the first time he had in any way referred to the incidents that had happened at the ranchman’s dug-out.
The guide was seated on his blanket in front of a cheerful fire; and Oscar stood in front of the open door, watching the storm that was raging.
The air was filled with snow-flakes, and the evergreens2 behind the cabin were bending low before a furious gale3.
203The short winter’s day was drawing to a close, and as the young hunter gazed at the fading landscape before him, and listened to the howling of the wind, he thrust his hands deeper into his pockets, shivered almost involuntarily, and thanked his lucky stars that he was comfortably sheltered.
Big Thompson’s question aroused him from his revery. He stepped back into the cabin, closed the door behind him, and dropped the heavy bar that secured it in its place.
“Yes, I did think so,” said he, as he turned down his coat-collar and shook the snow-flakes from his cap. “All you did for me was to take that gun out of Ike Barker’s hands. After you had done that, you stood and looked on with the utmost indifference4.”
“Wal, no,” answered the guide slowly. “I heard every word he said to ye, an’ if I hadn’t knowed the man I might have jined in the talk ye had with him. But, ye see, I knowed him. I knowed the mu-el was his’n, kase he said so; but that didn’t pester5 me none, fur I was sartin that when he found out who ye was an’ all about ye, he wouldn’t 204make no furse about the critter. That’s why I kept my mouth shet. I knowed ye wasn’t in no danger.”
Oscar and his guide were now fairly settled in their camp in the foot-hills; and if Leon Parker could have looked in upon them that stormy night he would have gone into ecstasies6.
Their journey from Ike Barker’s ranch1 had been accomplished7 without the occurrence of any incident worthy8 of note.
The weather was all they could have desired, and Oscar and Big Thompson got on very well together.
The guide no longer held himself aloof9, as he did at the beginning of the journey. He admired the courage the boy had exhibited, and used his best endeavors to prove himself an agreeable and entertaining companion.
The first thing he did was to take Oscar’s place in the wagon10, and give the boy his pony11 to ride.
They made rapid progress after that, for the mule12 was not long in finding out that in Big 205Thompson he had a driver who knew how to manage him.
The guide had an almost inexhaustible fund of stories at his command, and enlivened many a weary mile of the way by relating them to his employer, who was always glad to listen.
This camp was located in a pleasant valley in the very heart of the foot-hills; and they supposed that there was not a human being within a hundred miles of them.
The valley, so the guide informed Oscar, was twenty miles long and half as wide. A deep and rocky ravine gave entrance to it; and it was in a sheltered nook, about halfway13 between the mouth of this ravine and the opposite end of the valley, that the camp had been made.
This was the place for which Big Thompson had been aiming ever since leaving the fort. He assured Oscar that it was a fine hunting-ground; and they had not been in the valley twenty-four hours, before the boy saw enough with his own eyes to convince him that such was the fact.
206The game, which always retreats to the foot-hills on the approach of cold weather, seemed to have flocked here for shelter; and a better winter abode14 could not have been found.
The high and thickly wooded hills, that arose on every side, effectually shut off the icy blasts that came roaring down from the mountains; the pasturage was rich and abundant; and the clear, dancing trout-brook15 that wound through the valley afforded a never failing supply of water.
Oscar had discovered an otter-slide on the banks of the stream; and that indicated that fur-bearing animals were to be found in the vicinity.
He had seen a big-horn watching him from the summit of a distant hill; the first blow he struck with his axe16, when he went out to cut logs for the cabin, had frightened from his concealment17 in the bushes the first mule-deer he had ever seen; and a herd18 of lordly elk19, led by a magnificent buck20, which Oscar resolved he would one day secure, had fled precipitately21 at the sight of their first camp-fire.
207But such harmless animals as these were not the only inhabitants of the valley. The fierce carnivora that preyed23 upon them had followed them from the mountains; and the first night that Oscar passed in the valley had been enlivened by a chorus from a pack of gray wolves, followed by a solo from a panther.
A trap, baited with a muskrat24, which Oscar had set for a mink25, was robbed by a wolverine; and one morning, while they were out hunting for their breakfast, Big Thompson showed him where a bear had crossed the brook. All these things seemed to indicate that their opportunities for sport and excitement would prove to be excellent.
The hunters’ first care, on arriving at their camping-ground, was to provide a house for themselves, which they did by erecting26 a neat and roomy log cabin in the sheltered nook before spoken of.
It was different from those erected27 by the early settlers, in that it had no windows and no chimney; all the light, during the daytime, being admitted through the door, and through 208an opening in the roof, at which the smoke passed out.
Under this opening a hole about two feet square had been dug in the dirt floor, and this served as the fireplace.
Oscar and his guide had been exceedingly busy during the last three days; but now their work was all done, and they were securely housed for the winter.
Although it was cold and bleak28 outside, the interior of the cabin was warm and cheerful. A fire burned merrily on the hearth29; and, by the aid of the light it threw out, one could easily see that the hunters had not neglected to provide for their comfort in various ways.
The cabin was provided with a table, a cupboard for the dishes, and a stool for each of its occupants—all made of slabs30 split from pine-logs, hewn smooth with an axe; and the various articles comprising their outfit31 were disposed about the room in orderly array.
There were no buffalo-robes for beds, but there were fragrant32 pine-boughs instead, 209blankets in abundance, and a joint33 of venison hanging from the rafters overhead.
One end of the cabin was occupied by the wagon, which had been taken to pieces and stored there for protection from the weather.
In the rear of this cabin was another, not quite so carefully built, into which the pony and mule were driven every night. During the day they were allowed to roam at will in the valley (the guide said that when the snow came and covered the grass they would be obliged to cut down cottonwood trees for them to browse34 upon); and, as soon as it began to grow dark, they were shut up for security.
All the “signs” indicated that beasts of prey22 were abundant in the valley; and, if a pack of wolves or a hungry grizzly35 should chance to make a meal of the mule, how would they get Oscar’s specimens36 and chest of tools back to the fort in the spring?
Taken altogether, it was just such a camp as he had often read of; and Oscar, as he rubbed his hands over the fire and gazed about their comfortable quarters, grew enthusiastic.
210“Now, this is what I call comfort,” said he. “With plenty to eat, a good supply of firewood close at hand, a tight roof to shelter us from the storm, and no enemies to trouble us—what more could a couple of hunters ask for? I don’t think spending a winter in the foot-hills is so bad after all.”
The guide smiled and nodded his head significantly, but made no other reply. He knew that this was the poetry of a hunter’s life, and that the prose would come soon enough.
Having arranged his blankets and thrown a few sticks of wood upon the fire, Oscar removed his boots and coat and lay down to rest, leaving Big Thompson to the companionship of his pipe and his own thoughts.
He lay for a long time watching the sparks as they ascended37 toward the opening in the roof, and listening to the roaring storm, which seemed to increase in violence every moment; and finally, while he was laying elaborate plans for the capture of some of the wolves, whose mournful howls now and then came faintly to his ears, he passed quietly into the land of dreams.
211He did not know that there was another camp in the valley, and that other ears besides his own were listening to the howls of those same wolves, but such was the fact.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
ranch
|
|
| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
evergreens
|
|
| n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
gale
|
|
| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
pester
|
|
| v.纠缠，强求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
ecstasies
|
|
| 狂喜( ecstasy的名词复数 )； 出神； 入迷； 迷幻药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
accomplished
|
|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
aloof
|
|
| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
wagon
|
|
| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
pony
|
|
| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
mule
|
|
| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
halfway
|
|
| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
abode
|
|
| n.住处，住所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
brook
|
|
| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
axe
|
|
| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
concealment
|
|
| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
herd
|
|
| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
elk
|
|
| n.麋鹿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
buck
|
|
| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
precipitately
|
|
| adv.猛进地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
prey
|
|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
preyed
|
|
| v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
muskrat
|
|
| n.麝香鼠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
mink
|
|
| n.貂，貂皮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
erecting
|
|
| v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
bleak
|
|
| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
hearth
|
|
| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
slabs
|
|
| n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
fragrant
|
|
| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
joint
|
|
| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
browse
|
|
| vi.随意翻阅，浏览；(牛、羊等)吃草 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
grizzly
|
|
| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
specimens
|
|
| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |