In the morning he thatched smooth the roof of the shelter, using for the purpose the thick branches of hemlocks2; placed two green spruce logs side by side as cooking range; slung3 his pot on a rod across two forked sticks; cut and split a quantity of wood; spread his blankets; and called himself established. His beard was already well grown, and his clothes had become worn by the brush and faded by the sun and rain. In the course of the morning he lay in wait very patiently near a spot overflowed4 by the river, where, the day before, he had noticed lily-pads growing. After a time a doe and a spotted5 fawn6 came and stood ankle-deep in the water, and ate of the lily-pads. Thorpe lurked7 motionless behind his screen of leaves; and as he had taken the precaution so to station himself that his hiding-place lay downwind, the beautiful animals were unaware8 of his presence.
By and by a prong-buck9 joined them. He was a two-year-old, young, tender, with the velvet10 just off his antlers. Thorpe aimed at his shoulder, six inches above the belly-line, and pressed the trigger. As though by enchantment11 the three woods creatures disappeared. But the hunter had noticed that, whereas the doe and fawn flourished bravely the broad white flags of their tails, the buck had seemed but a streak12 of brown. By this he knew he had hit.
Sure enough, after two hundred yards of following the prints of sharp hoofs13 and occasional gobbets of blood on the leaves, he came upon his prey14 dead. It became necessary to transport the animal to camp. Thorpe stuck his hunting knife deep into the front of the deer's chest, where the neck joins, which allowed most of the blood to drain away. Then he fastened wild grape vines about the antlers, and, with a little exertion15 drew the body after him as though it had been a toboggan.
It slid more easily than one would imagine, along the grain; but not as easily as by some other methods with which Thorpe was unfamiliar16.
At camp he skinned the deer, cut most of the meat into thin strips which he salted and placed in the sun to dry, and hung the remainder in a cool arbor17 of boughs18. The hide he suspended over a pole.
All these things he did hastily, as though he might be in a hurry; as indeed he was.
At noon he cooked himself a venison steak and some tea. Then with his hatchet19 he cut several small pine poles, which he fashioned roughly in a number of shapes and put aside for the future. The brains of the deer, saved for the purpose, he boiled with water in his tin pail, wishing it were larger. With the liquor thus obtained he intended later to remove the hair and grain from the deer hide. Toward evening he caught a dozen trout20 in the pool below the dam. These he ate for supper.
Next day he spread the buck's hide out on the ground and drenched21 it liberally with the product of deer-brains. Later the hide was soaked in the river, after which, by means of a rough two-handled spatula22, Thorpe was enabled after much labor23 to scrape away entirely24 the hair and grain. He cut from the edge of the hide a number of long strips of raw-hide, but anointed the body of the skin liberally with the brain liquor.
"Glad I don't have to do that every day!" he commented, wiping his brow with the back of his wrist.
As the skin dried he worked and kneaded it to softness. The result was a fair quality of white buckskin, the first Thorpe had ever made. If wetted, it would harden dry and stiff. Thorough smoking in the fumes25 of punk maple26 would obviate27 this, but that detail Thorpe left until later.
"I don't know whether it's all necessary," he said to himself doubtfully, "but if you're going to assume a disguise, let it be a good one."
In the meantime, he had bound together with his rawhide28 thongs29 several of the oddly shaped pine timbers to form a species of dead-fall trap. It was slow work, for Thorpe's knowledge of such things was theoretical. He had learned his theory well, however, and in the end arrived.
All this time he had made no effort to look over the pine, nor did he intend to begin until he could be sure of doing so in safety. His object now was to give his knoll30 the appearances of a trapper's camp.
Towards the end of the week he received his first visit. Evening was drawing on, and Thorpe was busily engaged in cooking a panful of trout, resting the frying pan across the two green spruce logs between which glowed the coals. Suddenly he became aware of a presence at his side. How it had reached the spot he could not imagine, for he had heard no approach. He looked up quickly.
"How do," greeted the newcomer gravely.
The man was an Indian, silent, solemn, with the straight, unwinking gaze of his race.
"How do," replied Thorpe.
The Indian without further ceremony threw his pack to the ground, and, squatting31 on his heels, watched the white man's preparations. When the meal was cooked, he coolly produced a knife, selected a clean bit of hemlock1 bark, and helped himself. Then he lit a pipe, and gazed keenly about him. The buckskin interested him.
"No good," said he, feeling of its texture32.
Thorpe laughed. "Not very," he confessed.
"Good," continued the Indian, touching33 lightly his own moccasins.
"What you do?" he inquired after a long silence, punctuated34 by the puffs35 of tobacco.
"Hunt; trap; fish," replied Thorpe with equal sententiousness.
"Good," concluded the Indian, after a ruminative36 pause.
That night he slept on the ground. Next day he made a better shelter than Thorpe's in less than half the time; and was off hunting before the sun was an hour high. He was armed with an old-fashioned smooth-bore muzzle-loader; and Thorpe was astonished, after he had become better acquainted with his new companion's methods, to find that he hunted deer with fine bird shot. The Indian never expected to kill or even mortally wound his game; but he would follow for miles the blood drops caused by his little wounds, until the animals in sheer exhaustion37 allowed him to approach close enough for a dispatching blow. At two o'clock he returned with a small buck, tied scientifically together for toting, with the waste parts cut away, but every ounce of utility retained.
"I show," said the Indian:--and he did. Thorpe learned the Indian tan; of what use are the hollow shank bones; how the spinal38 cord is the toughest, softest, and most pliable39 sewing-thread known.
The Indian appeared to intend making the birch-knoll his permanent headquarters. Thorpe was at first a little suspicious of his new companion, but the man appeared scrupulously40 honest, was never intrusive41, and even seemed genuinely desirous of teaching the white little tricks of the woods brought to their perfection by the Indian alone. He ended by liking42 him. The two rarely spoke43. They merely sat near each other, and smoked. One evening the Indian suddenly remarked:
"You look 'um tree."
"What's that?" cried Thorpe, startled.
"You no hunter, no trapper. You look 'um tree, for make 'um lumber44."
The white had not begun as yet his explorations. He did not dare until the return of the logging crew or the passing of someone in authority at the up-river camp, for he wished first to establish in their minds the innocence45 of his intentions.
"What makes you think that, Charley?" he asked.
"You good man in woods," replied Injin Charley sententiously, "I tell by way you look at him pine."
"Charley," said he, "why are you staying here with me?"
"Big frien'," replied the Indian promptly47.
"Why are you my friend? What have I ever done for you?"
"You gottum chief's eye," replied his companion with simplicity48.
Thorpe looked at the Indian again. There seemed to be only one course.
"Yes, I'm a lumberman," he confessed, "and I'm looking for pine. But, Charley, the men up the river must not know what I'm after."
"They gettum pine," interjected the Indian like a flash.
"Exactly," replied Thorpe, surprised afresh at the other's perspicacity49.
"Good!" ejaculated Injin Charley, and fell silent.
With this, the longest conversation the two had attempted in their peculiar50 acquaintance, Thorpe was forced to be content. He was, however, ill at ease over the incident. It added an element of uncertainty51 to an already precarious52 position.
Three days later he was intensely thankful the conversation had taken place.
After the noon meal he lay on his blanket under the hemlock shelter, smoking and lazily watching Injin Charley busy at the side of the trail. The Indian had terminated a long two days' search by toting from the forest a number of strips of the outer bark of white birch, in its green state pliable as cotton, thick as leather, and light as air. These he had cut into arbitrary patterns known only to himself, and was now sewing as a long shapeless sort of bag or sac to a slender beech-wood oval. Later it was to become a birch-bark canoe, and the beech-wood oval would be the gunwale.
So idly intent was Thorpe on this piece of construction that he did not notice the approach of two men from the down-stream side. They were short, alert men, plodding53 along with the knee-bent persistency54 of the woods-walker, dressed in broad hats, flannel55 shirts, coarse trousers tucked in high laced "cruisers "; and carrying each a bulging56 meal sack looped by a cord across the shoulders and chest. Both were armed with long slender scaler's rules. The first intimation Thorpe received of the presence of these two men was the sound of their voices addressing Injin Charley.
"Hullo Charley," said one of them, "what you doing here? Ain't seen you since th' Sturgeon district."
"Mak' 'um canoe," replied Charley rather obviously.
"So I see. But what you expect to get in this Godforsaken country?"
"Beaver57, muskrat58, mink59, otter60."
"Trapping, eh?" The man gazed keenly at Thorpe's recumbent figure.
"Who's the other fellow?"
Thorpe held his breath; then exhaled61 it in a long sigh of relief.
"Him white man," Injin Charley was replying, "him hunt too. He mak' 'um buckskin."
The landlooker arose lazily and sauntered toward the group. It was part of his plan to be well recognized so that in the future he might arouse no suspicions.
"Howdy," he drawled, "got any smokin'?"
"How are you," replied one of the scalers, eying him sharply, and tendering his pouch62. Thorpe filled his pipe deliberately63, and returned it with a heavy-lidded glance of thanks. To all appearances he was one of the lazy, shiftless white hunters of the backwoods. Seized with an inspiration, he said, "What sort of chances is they at your camp for a little flour? Me and Charley's about out. I'll bring you meat; or I'll make you boys moccasins. I got some good buckskin."
It was the usual proposition.
"Pretty good, I guess. Come up and see," advised the scaler. "The crew's right behind us."
"I'll send up Charley," drawled Thorpe, "I'm busy now makin' traps," he waved his pipe, calling attention to the pine and rawhide dead-falls.
They chatted a few moments, practically and with an eye to the strict utility of things about them, as became woodsmen. Then two wagons64 creaked lurching by, followed by fifteen or twenty men. The last of these, evidently the foreman, was joined by the two scalers.
"What's that outfit65?" he inquired with the sharpness of suspicion.
"Old Injin Charley--you remember, the old boy that tanned that buck for you down on Cedar66 Creek67."
"Yes, but the other fellow."
"Oh, a hunter," replied the scaler carelessly.
"Sure?"
The man laughed. "Couldn't be nothin' else," he asserted with confidence. "Regular old backwoods mossback."
At the same time Injin Charley was setting about the splitting of a cedar log.
"You see," he remarked, "I big frien'."
收听单词发音 |
1
hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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hemlocks
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| 由毒芹提取的毒药( hemlock的名词复数 ) | |
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slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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arbor
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| n.凉亭；树木 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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spatula
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| n.抹刀 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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maple
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| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
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obviate
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| v.除去，排除，避免，预防 | |
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rawhide
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| n.生牛皮 | |
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thongs
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| 的东西 | |
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knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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punctuated
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| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
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puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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ruminative
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| adj.沉思的，默想的，爱反复思考的 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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spinal
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| adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的 | |
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pliable
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| adj.易受影响的；易弯的；柔顺的，易驾驭的 | |
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scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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intrusive
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| adj.打搅的；侵扰的 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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43
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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46
ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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48
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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49
perspicacity
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| n. 敏锐, 聪明, 洞察力 | |
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50
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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51
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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52
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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54
persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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55
flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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56
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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muskrat
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| n.麝香鼠 | |
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mink
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| n.貂，貂皮 | |
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otter
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| n.水獭 | |
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exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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62
pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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