“Just deep enough for tracking,” Oscar remarked, as he gave his hands and face a thorough washing in it.
Of course the first thing on the programme was a hunt.
That was what the boy came out there for, and he was anxious to begin operations at once.
He longed to bring down one of the big-horns he had seen watching him at his work, and to knock over one of the lordly elk1 that had 213scurried away with such haste when he and Big Thompson kindled2 their first camp-fire in the valley.
So very impatient was he that the breakfast the guide had so carefully prepared did not delay him more than five minutes.
He did not sit down to the table at all, but swallowed his coffee scalding hot, and walked up and down the cabin, buckling5 on his accoutrements with one hand, while he had his venison and cracker6 in the other.
The guide was more deliberate in his movements. He was almost too deliberate, Oscar thought.
After he had fully3 satisfied his appetite, he put away the dishes, slowly filled and lighted his pipe; and, not until he had set the cabin in order did he take his rifle down from the pegs7 on which it rested, and sling8 on his powderhorn and bullet-pouch.
Then a short consultation9 was held; and, after the guide had repeated some of the instructions he had given Oscar in regard to deer-hunting, and described to him the place at which he intended to camp at noon, they 214left the cabin, Big Thompson turning his face toward the brook10 that flowed through the valley, while Oscar directed his course along the base of the cliffs.
“Now, perfessor, yer sartin ye aint afeard of nothing?” said the guide, as they were about to separate.
“Of course not,” answered Oscar promptly11. “You must have asked me that question a dozen times since we planned our hunt yesterday afternoon.”
“Wal, I know it. I ax ye kase it aint every tenderfoot who would care to go philanderin’ off by himself in a country like this.”
“You suggested it yourself,” said Oscar. “You said that if we hunted about half a mile apart, we would stand a better chance of scaring up game than we would if we went together.”
“An’ I say so now.”
“Then we’ll carry out our plan. I shall not be afraid until I see something to be afraid of. Good-by! If you reach the camping-ground before I do, don’t forget to give me the signal.”
215“He’s a cool one, if he is a tenderfoot,” muttered Big Thompson, as he shifted his heavy rifle to the other shoulder, and continued on his way toward the brook. “If I could see him facin’ some kind of a varmint, like a grizzly12 or panther, I could tell jist how much pluck he’s got. I’ll be kinder keerful how I go too fur away frum him, kase he may see sumthin’ to be afeard of afore he knows it.”
Meanwhile, Oscar was walking slowly along, just outside the bushes and evergreens13 that lined the base of the bluffs14, looking for a ravine that would lead him from the valley into the hills.
“Thompson gave me emphatic16 instructions to keep within hearing of him,” said the boy to himself; “but I shall do as I please about that. He may find a deer or two drinking at the brook; but my chances for jumping game along here are not worth a copper17. I am hunter enough to know that; so I’ll just go up this way and see if I can find one of those sheep.”
As Oscar said this, he turned into a deep 216gorge that opened into the valley, and began picking his way carefully over the snow-covered bowlders toward the hill which had served as a lookout19 station for the sentinel big-horn.
All that the young hunter knew of the habits of these animals he had gained from conversation with his guide.
He had learned that, like the antelope20, they always put out sentinels when they were feeding; that those sentries21 invariably stationed themselves on the highest hills in the vicinity of the flock; that their eyes were keen, and their noses so sharp that they had been known to detect the presence of the hunter while he was yet more than half a mile away; that they were to be found on their feeding-grounds only in the morning or late in the afternoon; that when they had satisfied their appetites they retreated to the most inaccessible22 ledges23, to which no enemy could follow them without their knowledge; and that, owing to their timidity and vigilance, it was almost impossible to bring one of them to bay, except under the most favorable circumstances.
217Oscar thought of all these things as he toiled24 slowly up the gorge18, stopping every few feet to examine the ground before him, and making use of every bush and bowlder to cover his advance; and the difficulties he saw in his way made him all the more determined25 to succeed.
“Big Thompson doesn’t think much of my abilities as a hunter,” said he to himself, “and I don’t know how I could surprise him more than by shooting a big-horn, unless I were to shoot a panther or a grizzly, and that is something I don’t expect to do. In fact, I have no desire to attempt it. The wind is in my favor, and that is something upon which I can congratulate myself.”
For nearly an hour Oscar continued to work his way along the ravine; and, when he believed that he had arrived at a point opposite the pinnacle26 on which he had seen the sentinel big-horn, he turned into the bushes and began clambering slowly up the cliff.
As it was almost perpendicular27, his progress was necessarily slow, but he reached the top at 218last; and, cautiously raising his head, looked over it.
He had no sooner done so than he uttered an exclamation28 under his breath, and drew his head quickly back again.
He crouched29 behind the cliff long enough to cock his gun, and then he straightened up, at the same time drawing the weapon to his shoulder.
Before him was a level plateau, containing perhaps ten or fifteen acres. On the right, and in front, it was bounded by the gorge that Oscar had been following; and on the left was the valley in which the camp was located.
On the other side rose a perpendicular wall of rock that extended entirely30 across the plateau. Near the base of this rock were the objects that had attracted Oscar’s attention—four gray wolves, which were feasting on a mountain sheep they had killed for their breakfast. Oscar knew at once that it was a sheep, for he could see the head and horns.
“What a pity that I didn’t happen along here when they first killed him!” was the boy’s mental reflection. “He must have been 219a fine fellow, judging by the size of those horns. Well, as I didn’t get the sheep, I’ll knock over a couple of the wolves for our museum; and the horns I’ll give to Sam Hynes to put up in his mother’s dining-room.”
So saying, Oscar rested his rifle over the top of the bluff15; and, drawing a bead31 on the largest of the wolves, waited with all the patience he could command for one of his companions to get behind him, hoping to kill both of them with one bullet.
The wolves gnawed32 and snapped at one another over their meal; and, although they were constantly changing their positions, and the two that Oscar wished to secure frequently came within range, their motions were so rapid that he dared not fire at them for fear of missing his mark.
At the report of his gun they would doubtless take to their heels, and his chances for shooting one on the run were not one in a thousand.
While the boy was waiting for a shot, he was suddenly startled by hearing a loud snort close at hand; and, turning his head quickly, 220he was astonished almost beyond measure to see an immense mountain-sheep standing33 on the edge of the plateau.
His gaze was fastened upon the wolves, whose presence did not seem to cause him the least alarm. It rather seemed to encourage him; for now and then he lifted one of his forefeet, and stamped it spitefully on the ground, after the manner of a domestic sheep.
It was the first of these animals of which Oscar had ever obtained so near a view; and he told himself that in color and shape it resembled a deer more than it resembled anything else.
It was covered with hair instead of wool, and its color was tawny34, changing to white on the flanks and breast. But it carried the horns of a sheep, and they were really magnificent.
Where the animal came from so suddenly Oscar did not know, nor did he stop to ask himself the question. He was there, and the next thing was to secure him.
Remembering the mountain-sheep’s wary35 221nature, Oscar exercised the utmost caution in turning the muzzle36 of his rifle from the wolves toward the buck4.
Fortunately he succeeded in accomplishing this without alarming the timid animal, which was giving all his attention to the wolves; and, glancing along the clean, brown barrel, the boy was on the very point of pressing the trigger when another interruption occurred.
Three or four heads, adorned37 with horns like the gnarled branches of an oak, suddenly appeared above the edge of the plateau, and as many more came close behind them; these were followed by others; and, in less than a minute, a dozen full-grown bucks38 were standing in plain view of the young hunter, and not more than fifty yards away.
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1
elk
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| n.麋鹿 | |
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2
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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3
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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4
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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5
buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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cracker
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| n.（无甜味的）薄脆饼干 | |
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7
pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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8
sling
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| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
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9
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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10
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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12
grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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13
evergreens
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| n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 ) | |
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14
bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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15
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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16
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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18
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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19
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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antelope
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| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
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sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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24
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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pinnacle
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| n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰 | |
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27
perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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28
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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29
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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31
bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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32
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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33
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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34
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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35
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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36
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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37
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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38
bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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