“Already I felt their terrible teeth. Those that had first crawled to my feet I had endeavoured to brush off; but some had got upon my ankles, and were biting me through my thick woollen socks! My clothes would be no protection.
“I had mounted to the highest part of the cone5, and was standing6 upon its apex7. It was so sharp I could scarcely balance myself, but the painful stings of the insects caused me to dance upon it like a mountebank8.
“But what signified those, that had already stung my ankles, to the numbers that were likely soon to pierce me with their venomous darts9? Already these were swarming up the last terrace. They would soon cover the apex of the cone upon which I was standing. They would crawl up my limbs in myriads10—they would—
“I could reflect no longer on what they would do. I preferred taking my chance with the wildebeest. I would leap down. Perhaps some lucky accident might aid me. I would battle with the gnoo, using my gun. Perhaps I might succeed in escaping to some other hill. Perhaps—
“I was actually on the spring to leap down, when a new thought came into my mind; and I wondered I had been so silly as not to think of it before. What was to hinder me from keeping off the termites11? They had no wings—the soldiers have none—nor the workers neither, for that matter. They could not fly upon me. They could only crawl up the cone. With my jacket I could brush them back. Certainly I could—why did I not think of it before?
“I was not long in taking off my jacket. I laid aside my useless gun, dropping it upon one of the lower terraces. I caught the jacket by the collar; and, using it as a duster, I cleared the sides of the cone in a few moments, having sent thousands of the termites tumbling headlong below.
“Pshaw! how simply the thing was done! why had I not done it before? It cost scarcely an effort to brush the myriads away, and a slight effort would keep them off as long as I pleased.
“The only annoyance12 I felt now was from the few that had got under my trousers, and that still continued to bite me; but these I would get rid of in time.
“Well—I remained on the apex, now bending down to beat back the soldiers that still swarmed13 upward, and then occupying myself in trying to get rid of the few that crawled upon me. I felt no longer any uneasiness on the score of the insects—though I was not a bit better off as regarded the bull, who still kept guard below. I fancied, however, that he now showed symptoms of weariness, and would soon raise the siege; and this prospect14 made me feel more cheerful.
“A sudden change came over me. A new thrill of terror awaited me.
“While jumping about upon the top of the cone, my footing suddenly gave way—the baked clay broke with a dead crash, and I sank through the roof. My feet shot down into the hollow dome15—till I thought I must have crushed the great queen in her chamber—and I stood buried to the neck.
“I was surprised, and a little terrified, not by the shock I had experienced in the sudden descent. That was natural enough, and a few moments would have restored my equanimity16; but it was something else that frightened me. It was something that moved under my feet as they touched bottom,—something that moved and heaved under them, and then passed quickly away, letting me still farther down!
“What could it be? Was it the great swarm2 of living ants that I pressed upon: I did not think it was. It did not feel like them. It seemed to be something bulky and strong, for it held up my whole weight for a moment or two, before it slipped from under me.
“Whatever it was, it frightened me very considerably17; and I did not leave my feet in its company for five seconds time. No: the hottest furnace would scarce have scorched18 them during the time they remained inside the dark dome. In five seconds they were on the walls again—on the broken edges, where I had mounted up, and where I now stood quite speechless with surprise!
“What next? I could keep the ants off no longer. I gazed down the dark cavity; they were swarming up that way in thick crowds. I could brush them down no more.
“My eyes at this moment chanced to wander to the bull. He was standing at three or four paces distance from the base of the hill. He was standing sideways with his head turned to it, and regarding it with a wild look. His attitude was entirely19 changed, and so, I thought, was the expression of his eye. He looked as if he had just run off to his new position, and was ready to make a second start. He looked as if something had also terrified him!
“Something evidently had; for, in another moment, he uttered a sharp rout20, galloped22 several paces farther out, wheeled again, halted, and stood gazing as before!
“What could it mean? Was it the breaking through of the roof and my sudden descent that had frightened him?
“At first I thought so, but I observed that he did not look upward to the top. His gaze seemed bent on some object near the base of the hill—though from where I stood I could see nothing there to frighten him.
“I had not time to reflect what it could be, before the bull uttered a fresh snort; and, raising his tail high into the air, struck off at full gallop21 over the plain!
“Rejoiced at seeing this, I thought no more of what had relieved me of his company. It must have been my curious fall, I concluded; but no matter now that the brute23 was gone. So seizing hold of my gun, I prepared to descend24 from the elevated position, of which I was thoroughly25 tired.
“Just as I had got half down the side, I chanced to look below; and there was the object that terrified the old bull. No wonder. It might have terrified anything,—the odd-looking creature that it was. From out a hole in the clay wall protruded26 a long naked cylindrical27 snout, mounted by a pair of ears nearly as long as itself, that stood erect28 like the horns of a steinbuck, and gave to the animal that bore them a wild and vicious look. It would have badly frightened me, had I not known what it was; but I recognised it at once as one of the most inoffensive creatures in the world—the ‘aard-vark.’
“His appearance accounted for the retreat of the bull, and also explained why the ants had been crawling about on my first reaching their hill.
“Without saying a word, or making the slightest noise, I clubbed my gun; and, bending downward, struck the protruded snout a blow with the butt29. It was a most wicked blow; and, considering the service the creature had just done me in frightening off the wildebeest, a most ungrateful return. But I was not master of my feelings at the moment. I did not reflect—only that I liked aard-vark flesh—and the blow was given.
“Poor fellow! It did the job for him. With scarce a kick he dropped dead in the opening he had scraped with his own claws.
“Well—my day’s adventures were not yet ended. They seemed as though they were never to end. I had got the aard-vark over my shoulders, and was about heading homeward, when, to my astonishment30, I observed that the bull-gnoo—not the one that had besieged31 me, but his late antagonist—was still out upon the plain where I had last seen him! I observed, moreover, that he was still in a sort of half-lying half-kneeling attitude, with his head close to the ground!
“His odd movements seemed stranger than anything else. I fancied he had been badly hurt by the other, and was not able to get away.
“At first I was cautious about going near him—remembering my late narrow escape—and I thought of giving him a wide berth32, and leaving him alone. Even though wounded, he might be strong enough to charge upon me; and my empty gun, as I had already proved, would be but a poor weapon with which to defend myself.
“I hesitated about going near him; but curiosity grew strong within me, as I watched his queer manoeuvres; until at length I walked up within a dozen yards of where he was kneeling.
“Fancy my surprise on discovering the cause of his oblique33 movements. No hurt had he received of any kind—not even a scratch; but for all that, he was as completely crippled as if he had lost his best pair of legs.
“In a very singular manner was he rendered thus helpless. In his struggle with the other bull, one of his fore-legs had, somehow or other, got passed over his horn; and there it stuck—not only depriving him of the use of the limb itself, but holding his head so close to the ground that he was quite unable to stir from the spot!
“At first I designed helping34 him out of his difficulty, and letting him go. On second thoughts, I remembered the story of the husbandman and the frozen snake, which quite changed my intention.
“I next thought of killing35 him for venison; but having no bullet, I did not like to beat him to death with my gun. Besides the aard-vark was my load to camp, and I knew that the jackals would eat the bull up before we could go back for him. I thought it probable he would be safer left as he was—as these ravenous36 brutes37, seeing him alive, might not so readily approach him.
“So I left him with his ‘head under his arm,’ in hopes that we may find him there to-morrow.”
So ended Hans’s narrative38 of his day’s adventures.
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1
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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2
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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4
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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5
cone
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| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
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6
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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7
apex
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| n.顶点，最高点 | |
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8
mountebank
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| n.江湖郎中；骗子 | |
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9
darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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10
myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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11
termites
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| n.白蚁( termite的名词复数 ) | |
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12
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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13
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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14
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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15
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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16
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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17
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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18
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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19
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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20
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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21
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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22
galloped
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| （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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23
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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24
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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25
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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26
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
cylindrical
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| adj.圆筒形的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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29
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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30
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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31
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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33
oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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34
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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35
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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36
ravenous
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| adj.极饿的，贪婪的 | |
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37
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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