When Ungava Bob was gone, Shad Trowbridge returned to the deerskin lodge1 to think. Now that he was alone with the Indians, he was not at all sure that he did not regret his decision to remain with them and share their uncertain fortunes.
For a moment the thought occurred to him that he might even yet follow Bob's trail and overtake him in his night camp. But he thrust the impulse aside at once as unworthy consideration. He had come to his decision, and he was determined3 to remain and play the game to a finish.
He craved4 action and excitement, and the glamour5 of romance that surrounded the Indians and their nomadic6 life had attracted him. It was this, together with the human instinct to play at games of chance, and the primordial7 instinct slumbering8 in every strong man's breast to throw off restraint and, untrammelled, match his brains and strength against the forces of untamed nature, that had led Shad to adopt the red man's life for a period which he believed would not exceed three or four weeks at most.
In preparation for departure the following day, the Indians erected9 upon an elevated flat rock, which winds had swept bare of snow, a log shelter some five feet square and five feet high. After lining10 the bottom and sides of this shelter with spruce boughs11, a quantity of jerked venison and dried fish was deposited in it, the top covered with boughs, and the roof, consisting of logs laid closely side by side and weighted with stones, was placed in position. This precaution was taken to protect the cache from marauding animals.
In the dim light of the cold December morning the deerskin covering of the wigwam was stripped from the poles, folded and packed upon the toboggans, together with the simple housekeeping equipment of the Indians, and a sufficient quantity of fresh bear's meat and jerked venison to sustain them for a fortnight.
Immediately the march was begun toward the Lake of Willows12, Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn in turn taking the lead and breaking the trail, the others following, single file.
Day after day they pushed on and still on through scattered14 forests, across wide barrens and over frozen lakes, always on the alert for caribou15 but always disappointed.
Once a small flock of ptarmigans was seen along the willow13 brush that lined a stream. Shad drew his shotgun from his toboggan, but the Indians would not permit him to use it, and in disgust he returned it to its place while he watched Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn kill the birds with bows and arrows. He marvelled16 at their skill. Indeed, he did not observe a single arrow go astray of its mark.
Eleven birds were secured in this way--the first game they had seen, and the last they were to see for several days.
A dead, awful cold settled upon the earth. The very atmosphere was frozen. Rime17 in shimmering18, glittering particles hung suspended in space, and covered bushes, trees, and rocks--scintillating in the sunlight and seeming to intensify19 the cold.
The few brief hours of sunshine were disregarded. The sun rose only to tantalise. For three or four hours each day it hung close to the horizon, then dropped again below the southwestern hills; and its rays gave out no warmth.
No sign of game was seen near the Lake of Willows, and no halt was made. The life of the Indians depended upon the killing20 of caribou. The little cache of jerked venison and fish left near the Great Lake would scarcely have sustained them a month. The few ptarmigans killed now and again were of small assistance. The food they hauled was nearly exhausted21.
Then came a period of storm. For a week snow fell and gales22 blew with such terrific fury that no living thing could have existed in the open, and during this period a halt was unavoidable.
Once a day a small ration2 was doled23 out--pitifully small--enough to tantalise appetite, but not to still hunger. Shad was consumed with a craving24 for food. He could think of nothing but food. His days on the trails and in the tilts25 with the trappers were remembered as days of luxury and feasting. He wondered if Bob and the others had thought of him when they ate their Christmas dinner of geese and ptarmigans. "Oh, for one delicious meal of pork and camp bread. Oh, for one night of the luxurious27 warmth of the river tilt26!"
When the storm abated28 sufficiently29 to permit them to continue their journey, he moved his legs mechanically, even forgetting at last that the effort was painful. An insidious30 weakness was taking possession of him. It was an effort to draw his lightly-laden toboggan. It made him dizzy to swing an axe31 when he assisted Manikawan to cut wood for the fire. His knees gave way under him when he sat down.
Manikawan's plump cheeks were sunken. Her eyes were growing big and staring. Her mother had lost half her bulk, and Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn were also noticeably affected32. They no longer laughed and seldom spoke33.
As one performing a duty that must not under any circumstance or condition be neglected, Manikawan conscientiously34 looked after Shad's welfare; but still she treated him with the same degree of dignity and reserve, if not aloofness35, that she had always maintained toward him. He realised that what she did for him she did because he was the friend of her beloved White Brother of the Snow, and not for his own sake--as a dog will guard the thing which its master directs it to guard, faithfully and untiringly, for the master's sake, but with no other attachment36 for the thing itself.
He wondered why they did not return to their cache on the Great Lake after the long storm, and then it occurred to him that probably their destination was the trading post at Ungava, of which Bob had told him.
On the afternoon of the second day after the storm, they came upon a single wigwam. Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn looked into it and passed on. Shad raised the flap, and peering in saw the emaciated37 figure of an old Indian. He was quite stark38 and dead, his wide-open eyes staring vacantly into space. He had been abandoned to die.
That evening Shad stumbled over an object in the snow. He stooped to examine it in the starlight, and was horrified39 to discover the dead body of a woman.
The following morning, as they plodded40 wearily forward under the faint light of the stars, they came suddenly upon a group of wigwams. Men, women, and children came out to meet them--an emaciated, starved, unkempt horde41 that had more the appearance of ghouls and skeletons than human beings. Some of them tottered42 as they walked, some fell in the snow and with difficulty regained43 their feet.
"Atuk! Atuk! Have you found the atuk?" was the cry from all--a hopeless cry of desperation, as they crowded around the travellers.
"We have not found the atuk," answered Sishetakushin.
Some heard him stoically, others staggered hopelessly away to their wigwams, others wailed44:
"The Great Spirit of the Sky is angry. He has sent all the spirits to destroy us. The Spirit of Hunger--the Gaunt Gray Wolf--is at our back. The raven45, the Black Spirit of Death, is ready to attack us. The Spirit of the Tempest torments46 us. The Spirits of the Forest and of the Barrens mock us. The Great Spirit of the Sky has driven away the atuk, and our people are starving. Many of our people are dead. Four of our hunters now lie dead in their lodges47."
Shad Trowbridge could not understand what was said, but he could not fail to understand the situation.
For some inexplicable48 reason the caribou, upon which the Indians depended for food, had disappeared from the land. All living things save these starving wretches49 had vanished.
For twenty-four hours not a mouthful of food had passed Shad's own lips, and a sickening dread50 engulfed51 his soul.
[Footnote: This was the winter of 1890-1891, known as "the year of starvation," when for some unknown reason the caribou failed to appear in their accustomed haunts, and as a result one out of every three of the Indians of northern Labrador perished of starvation.]
收听单词发音 |
1
lodge
|
|
| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
ration
|
|
| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
craved
|
|
| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
glamour
|
|
| n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
nomadic
|
|
| adj.流浪的；游牧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
primordial
|
|
| adj.原始的；最初的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
slumbering
|
|
| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
lining
|
|
| n.衬里，衬料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
boughs
|
|
| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
willows
|
|
| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
willow
|
|
| n.柳树 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
caribou
|
|
| n.北美驯鹿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
marvelled
|
|
| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
rime
|
|
| n.白霜；v.使蒙霜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
shimmering
|
|
| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
intensify
|
|
| vt.加强；变强；加剧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
gales
|
|
| 龙猫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
doled
|
|
| 救济物( dole的过去式和过去分词 )； 失业救济金 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
craving
|
|
| n.渴望,热望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
tilts
|
|
| （意欲赢得某物或战胜某人的）企图，尝试( tilt的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
tilt
|
|
| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
luxurious
|
|
| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
abated
|
|
| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
insidious
|
|
| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
axe
|
|
| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
conscientiously
|
|
| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
aloofness
|
|
| 超然态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
attachment
|
|
| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
emaciated
|
|
| adj.衰弱的，消瘦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
stark
|
|
| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
horrified
|
|
| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
plodded
|
|
| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
horde
|
|
| n.群众，一大群 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
tottered
|
|
| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
regained
|
|
| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
wailed
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
raven
|
|
| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
torments
|
|
| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
lodges
|
|
| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
inexplicable
|
|
| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
wretches
|
|
| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
dread
|
|
| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
engulfed
|
|
| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |