“If he keeps that way, maybe—— Ah!”
[Pg 147]
The moose called again, but further off. This was a disappointment, but they were on good ground for hunting and another chance would come. Meanwhile they would better make all haste to the thoroughfare. There would be the better place, and out in the canoe they’d have a wider range.
“Here, you. Give me the boat. Did you hear it?”
“Did I not? But you had the gun!”
“Wouldn’t have made any difference if you’d had it. Too far off. Let’s get on.”
Adrian lifted the pack and dropped it in disgust. “I can’t carry that load!”
Pierre was also disgusted—by the other’s ignorance and lack of endurance.
“What you don’t know about the woods beats all. Haven’t you seen anybody pack things before? I’ll show you. When there’s big game handy is no time to quarrel. If a pack’s too heavy, halve4 it. Watch and learn something.”
Pierre could be both swift and dexterous5 if [Pg 148]he chose, and he rapidly unrolled and divided the contents of the cotton tent. Putting part into the blanket he retied the rest in the sheeting, and now neither bundle was a very severe tax.
Pierre swung the canoe upon his head and directed:
“Catch hold them straps7. Carry one a few rods. drop it. Come back after the other. Carry that a ways beyond the first. drop it. Get number one. All time lap over, beyond, over, beyond. So.”
With a stick he illustrated8 on the ground, and wasting no further time nor speech, clasped his gun the tighter under his arm and trotted9 forward again.
Adrian obeyed instructions, and though it seemed, at first, a waste to go back and forth10 along the carry as he had been directed, found that, in the end, he had accomplished11 his task with small fatigue12 or delay.
[Pg 149]
“Another bit of woodcraft for my knowledge box. Useful elsewhere, too. Wish I could get through this country as fast as Pierre does. But he’ll have to wait for me, anyway.”
For a time Adrian could easily trace the route of his guide by the bruises13 the canoe had given the leaves and undergrowth but after awhile the forest grew more open and this trail was lost. Then he stopped to consider. He had no intention of losing himself again.
“We are aiming for the south. Good. All the big branches of these hemlocks14 point that way—so yonder’s my road. Queer, too, how mossy the tree trunks are on the north sides. I’ve heard that you could drop an Indian anywhere in any forest and he’d travel to either point of the compass he desired with nothing to guide him but his instinct. Wish I were an Indian! Wish, rather, I had my own compass and good outfit16 that went over in my canoe. Hurrah17! [Pg 150]There’s a glimmer18 of water. That’s the thoroughfare. Now a dash for it!”
Adrian was proud of his new skill in finding his own way through a trackless forest, but though he duly reached the stream he could not for a time see anything of Pierre. He did not wish to shout, lest the moose might be near and take fright, but at last he did give a faint halloo and an answer came at once. Then the boat shot out from behind a clump19 of alders20 and made down the river toward him.
The current was swift and strong and there was considerable poling to be done before it touched the shore and Pierre stepped out.
“I’ve been looking round. This is as good a place to camp to-night as we’ll find. Leave the things here, and might as well get ready now. Then we can stay out all day and come back when we like.”
“But I thought we were to go on up the thoroughfare. Why stop here at all? Other camping places are easy to find.”
[Pg 151]
“Are they? My, you can ask questions. Good many things go to making right sort of camp. Dry ground, good water to drink, fire-wood, poles—— Oh! shucks! If you don’t know, keep still and learn.”
This was excellent advice and Adrian was tired. He decided21 to trust to the other lad’s common sense and larger experience, and having so decided, calmly stretched himself out upon the level bank of the stream and went to sleep.
Pierre’s temper rose still higher and after he had endured the sight of Adrian’s indolence as long as possible he stepped to the river and dipped a bucket of water. Then he returned and quietly dashed it over the drowsy22 lad. The effect was all that Pierre desired.
“What did you do that for?”
“Take this axe23 and get to work. I’ve chopped long enough. It’s my turn to rest. Or would be, only I’m after moose.”
Adrian realized that he had given cause for [Pg 152]offense and laughed good-naturedly. His nap had rested him much more than his broken sleep of the night under the rocks, and the word “moose” had an inspiration all its own.
“I’ve cut the fire-wood. You get poles for the tent. I’ll get things ready for supper.”
Adrian laid his hand dramatically upon his stomach. “I’ve an inner conviction already that dinner precedes supper.”
“Cut, can’t you?”
“Cut, it is.”
In a few moments he had chopped down a few slender poles, and selecting two with forked branches he planted these upright on a little rise of the driest ground. Across the notches24 he laid a third pole, and over this he stretched their strip of sheeting. When this was pegged25 down at a convenient angle at the back and also secured at the ends, they had a very comfortable shelter from the dew and possible rain. The affair was open on one side and before this Pierre had heaped [Pg 153]the wood for the fire when they should return after the day’s hunt. Together they cut and spread the spruce and hemlock15 boughs26 for their bed, arranging them in overlapping27 rows, with an added quantity for pillows. Wrapped in their blankets, for even at midsummer these were not amiss, they hoped to sleep luxuriously28.
They stored their food in as safe a spot as possible, though Pierre said that nothing would molest29 it, unless it might be a hungry hedgehog, but Adrian preferred to take no risks. Then with knives freshly sharpened on the rocks, and the gun in hand, they cautiously stepped into the canoe and pushed off.
“One should not jump into a birch. Easiest thing in the world to split the bottom,” its owner had explained.
Adrian had no desire to do anything that would hinder their success, therefore submitted to his guide’s dictation with a meekness30 that would have amused Margot.
She would not have been amused by their [Pg 154]undertaking nor its but half-anticipated results. After a long and difficult warping-up the rapids, in which Adrian’s skill at using the sharp-pointed pole that helped to keep the canoe off the rocks surprised Ricord, they reached a dead water, with low, rush-dotted banks.
There, while they rested and listened, Pierre deftly32 rolled his strip of birch-bark into a horn of two feet in length, small at the mouth end but several inches wide at the other. He tied it with cedar33 thongs34 and putting it to his lips, uttered a call so like a cow-moose that Adrian wondered more and more.
“Hmm. I thought I was pretty smart, myself; but I’ll step down when you take the stand.”
“’Sh-h-h! Don’t move. Don’t speak. Don’t breathe, if you can help it.”
Again Pierre gave the moose-call, and—hark! what was that? An answering cry, a far-away crashing of boughs, the onrush of some big creature, hastening to its mate.
Noiselessly Pierre brought his gun into position, sighting one distant point from which he thought his prey37 would come. Adrian’s body dripped with a cold sweat, his hands trembled, specks38 floated before his staring eyes, every nerve was tense, and, as Margot would have said, he was a-thrill “with murder,” from head to foot! Oh! if the gun were his, and the shot!
Another call, another cry, and a magnificent head came into view. With horns erect39 and quivering nostrils the monarch40 of that wilderness41 came, seeking love, and faced his enemies.
“He’s within range—shoot!” whispered Adrian.
[Pg 156]
“Only anger him that way. ’Sh! When he turns——”
“Bang! bang—bang!” in swift succession.
The great horns tossed, the noble head came round again, then bent42, wavered and disappeared. The tragedy was over.
“I got him! I got him that time! Always shoot that way, never——”
Pierre picked up his paddle and sent the canoe forward at a leap. When there came no responding movement from his companion he looked back over his shoulder. Adrian’s face had gone white and the eagerness of his eyes had given place to unspeakable regret.
“What’s the matter? Sick?”
“Yes. Why, it was murder! Margot was right.”
“Oh! shucks!”
Whereupon Pierre pulled the faster toward the body of his victim.
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收听单词发音
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1
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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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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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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halve
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| vt.分成两半，平分；减少到一半 | |
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dexterous
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| adj.灵敏的；灵巧的 | |
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halving
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| n.对分，二等分，减半[航空、航海]等分v.把…分成两半( halve的现在分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊 | |
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7
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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8
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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9
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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13
bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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14
hemlocks
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| 由毒芹提取的毒药( hemlock的名词复数 ) | |
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hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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16
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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17
hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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19
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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alders
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| n.桤木( alder的名词复数 ) | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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23
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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24
notches
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| n.（边缘或表面上的）V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 )；刻痕；水平；等级 | |
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25
pegged
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| v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的过去式和过去分词 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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26
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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27
overlapping
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| adj./n.交迭（的） | |
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28
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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29
molest
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| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
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30
meekness
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| n.温顺，柔和 | |
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31
cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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32
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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33
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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34
thongs
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| 的东西 | |
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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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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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37
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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38
specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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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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40
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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41
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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42
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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