Waking up at earliest dawn, Levin tried to wake his companions. Vassenka, lying on his stomach, with one leg in a stocking thrust out, was sleeping so soundly that he could elicit1 no response. Oblonsky, half asleep, declined to get up so early. Even Laska, who was asleep, curled up in the hay, got up unwillingly2, and lazily stretched out and straightened her hind3 legs one after the other. Getting on his boots and stockings, taking his gun, and carefully opening the creaking door of the barn, Levin went out into the road. The coachmen were sleeping in their carriages, the horses were dozing5. Only one was lazily eating oats, dipping its nose into the manger. It was still gray out-of-doors.
"Why are you up so early, my dear?" the old woman, their hostess, said, coming out of the hut and addressing him affectionately as an old friend.
"Going shooting, granny. Do I go this way to the marsh6?"
"Straight out at the back; by our threshing floor, my dear, and hemp7 patches; there's a little footpath8." Stepping carefully with her sunburnt, bare feet, the old woman conducted Levin, and moved back the fence for him by the threshing floor.
"Straight on and you'll come to the marsh. Our lads drove the cattle there yesterday evening."
Laska ran eagerly forward along the little path. Levin followed her with a light, rapid step, continually looking at the sky. He hoped the sun would not be up before he reached the marsh. But the sun did not delay. The moon, which had been bright when he went out, by now shone only like a crescent of quicksilver. The pink flush of dawn, which one could not help seeing before, now had to be sought to be discerned at all. What were before undefined, vague blurs10 in the distant countryside could now be distinctly seen. They were sheaves of rye. The dew, not visible till the sun was up, wetted Levin's legs and his blouse above his belt in the high growing, fragrant11 hemp patch, from which the pollen12 had already fallen out. In the transparent13 stillness of morning the smallest sounds were audible. A bee flew by Levin's ear with the whizzing sound of a bullet. He looked carefully, and saw a second and a third. They were all flying from the beehives behind the hedge, and they disappeared over the hemp patch in the direction of the marsh. The path led straight to the marsh. The marsh could be recognized by the mist which rose from it, thicker in one place and thinner in another, so that the reeds and willow14 bushes swayed like islands in this mist. At the edge of the marsh and the road, peasant boys and men, who had been herding15 for the night, were lying, and in the dawn all were asleep under their coats. Not far from them were three hobbled horses. One of them clanked a chain. Laska walked beside her master, pressing a little forward and looking round. Passing the sleeping peasants and reaching the first reeds, Levin examined his pistols and let his dog off. One of the horses, a sleek16, dark-brown three-year-old, seeing the dog, started away, switched its tail and snorted. The other horses too were frightened, and splashing through the water with their hobbled legs, and drawing their hoofs17 out of the thick mud with a squelching18 sound, they bounded out of the marsh. Laska stopped, looking ironically at the horses and inquiringly at Levin. Levin patted Laska, and whistled as a sign that she might begin.
Laska ran joyfully19 and anxiously through the slush that swayed under her.
Running into the marsh among the familiar scents20 of roots, marsh plants, and slime, and the extraneous21 smell of horse dung, Laska detected at once a smell that pervaded22 the whole marsh, the scent9 of that strong-smelling bird that always excited her more than any other. Here and there among the moss23 and marsh plants this scent was very strong, but it was impossible to determine in which direction it grew stronger or fainter. To find the direction, she had to go farther away from the wind. Not feeling the motion of her legs, Laska bounded with a stiff gallop24, so that at each bound she could stop short, to the right, away from the wind that blew from the east before sunrise, and turned facing the wind. Sniffing25 in the air with dilated26 nostrils27, she felt at once that not their tracks only but they themselves were here before her, and not one, but many. Laska slackened her speed. They were here, but where precisely28 she could not yet determine. To find the very spot, she began to make a circle, when suddenly her master's voice drew her off. "Laska! here?" he asked, pointing her to a different direction. She stopped, asking him if she had better not go on doing as she had begun. But he repeated his command in an angry voice, pointing to a spot covered with water, where there could not be anything. She obeyed him, pretending she was looking, so as to please him, went round it, and went back to her former position, and was at once aware of the scent again. Now when he was not hindering her, she knew what to do, and without looking at what was under her feet, and to her vexation stumbling over a high stump29 into the water, but righting herself with her strong, supple30 legs, she began making the circle which was to make all clear to her. The scent of them reached her, stronger and stronger, and more and more defined, and all at once it became perfectly31 clear to her that one of them was here, behind this tuft of reeds, five paces in front of her; she stopped, and her whole body was still and rigid32. On her short legs she could see nothing in front of her, but by the scent she knew it was sitting not more than five paces off. She stood still, feeling more and more conscious of it, and enjoying it in anticipation33. Her tail was stretched straight and tense, and only wagging at the extreme end. Her mouth was slightly open, her ears raised. One ear had been turned wrong side out as she ran up, and she breathed heavily but warily34, and still more warily looked round, but more with her eyes than her head, to her master. He was coming along with the face she knew so well, though the eyes were always terrible to her. He stumbled over the stump as he came, and moved, as she thought, extraordinarily35 slowly. She thought he came slowly, but he was running.
Noticing Laska's special attitude as she crouched36 on the ground, as it were, scratching big prints with her hind paws, and with her mouth slightly open, Levin knew she was pointing at grouse37, and with an inward prayer for luck, especially with the first bird, he ran up to her. Coming quite close up to her, he could from his height look beyond her, and he saw with his eyes what she was seeing with her nose. In a space between two little thickets38, to a couple of yards' distance, he could see a grouse. Turning its head, it was listening. Then lightly preening39 and folding its wings, it disappeared round a corner with a clumsy wag of its tail.
"Fetch it, fetch it!" shouted Levin, giving Laska a shove from behind.
"But I can't go," thought Laska. "Where am I to go? From here I feel them, but if I move forward I shall know nothing of where they are or who they are." But then he shoved her with his knee, and in an excited whisper said, "Fetch it, Laska."
"Well, if that's what he wishes, I'll do it, but I can't answer for myself now," she thought, and darted40 forward as fast as her legs would carry her between the thick bushes. She scented41 nothing now; she could only see and hear, without understanding anything.
Ten paces from her former place a grouse rose with a guttural cry and the peculiar42 round sound of its wings. And immediately after the shot it splashed heavily with its white breast on the wet mire43. Another bird did not linger, but rose behind Levin without the dog. When Levin turned towards it, it was already some way off. But his shot caught it. Flying twenty paces further, the second grouse rose upwards44, and whirling round like a ball, dropped heavily on a dry place.
"Come, this is going to be some good!" thought Levin, packing the warm and fat grouse into his game bag. "Eh, Laska, will it be good?"
When Levin, after loading his gun, moved on, the sun had fully4 risen, though unseen behind the storm-clouds. The moon had lost all of its luster45, and was like a white cloud in the sky. Not a single star could be seen. The sedge, silvery with dew before, now shone like gold. The stagnant46 pools were all like amber47. The blue of the grass had changed to yellow-green. The marsh birds twittered and swarmed48 about the brook49 and upon the bushes that glittered with dew and cast long shadows. A hawk50 woke up and settled on a haycock, turning its head from side to side and looking discontentedly at the marsh. Crows were flying about the field, and a bare-legged boy was driving the horses to an old man, who had got up from under his long coat and was combing his hair. The smoke from the gun was white as milk over the green of the grass.
One of the boys ran up to Levin.
"Uncle, there were ducks here yesterday!" he shouted to him, and he walked a little way off behind him.
And Levin was doubly pleased, in sight of the boy, who expressed his approval, at killing51 three snipe, one after another, straight off.
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elicit
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| v.引出,抽出,引起 | |
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unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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hemp
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| n.大麻；纤维 | |
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footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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blurs
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| n.模糊( blur的名词复数 )；模糊之物；（移动的）模糊形状；模糊的记忆v.（使）变模糊( blur的第三人称单数 )；（使）难以区分 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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pollen
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| n.[植]花粉 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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herding
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| 中畜群 | |
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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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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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squelching
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| v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的现在分词 )；制止；压制；遏制 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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extraneous
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| adj.体外的；外来的；外部的 | |
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pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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grouse
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| n.松鸡；v.牢骚，诉苦 | |
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thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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preening
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| v.（鸟）用嘴整理（羽毛）( preen的现在分词 ) | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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luster
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| n.光辉；光泽，光亮；荣誉 | |
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stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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48
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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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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50
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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51
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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