CHAPTER VIII KILLER FINDS THE POND MIGHTY LONESOME

 “Tad Coon!” gasped¹ Chaik Jay. “What are you doing here? My, but I’m glad you came.” And he dropped down from the trunk of the pickery thorn tree.

 

He told Tad all about everything; how the other Woodsfolk had gone up to stay at Tommy Peele’s barn while Killer² lived at the pond, and how he’d fooled the mice into leaving it, and scared the birds so the wicked beast wouldn’t find a thing to eat when he did wake up except crawfish and snails³, and angleworms, and he doesn’t like them.

 

“Te-hee!” snickered Tad into his fur, because he was trying not to make any noise about it. “That’s a wonderful joke. How hungry he’s going to be! And hunger bites the inside of your ribs⁴ worse than the Buzzers⁵ with hot tails I shook down on Trailer the Hound bite the outside of them. Not a thing can he eat anywhere around unless he tries to catch the hawk⁶. I believe I’ll paddle out to his perch⁷ and warn him.”

 

“Yes,” cheeped Chaik, in a discouraged voice, “or unless he catches me. I still can’t use my wing.”

 

“Oh, you can come up to the barn,” said Tad easily. “There are lots of fine places to perch in.”

 

“But I can’t get there,” Chaik explained.

 

“Sure you can,” Tad grinned. “I came down here with Louie Thomson. Watch the Dog said he was coming after his little skin tree he sleeps in. (Tad meant Louie’s blanket tent, you know.) He’s going to live with the house folks until after the big storm that’s coming. Just let him catch you and he’ll take you home and feed you till you can fly.”

 

“Oh, no! Oh, no! I wouldn’t dare do that! Not even with Tommy Peele,” fluttered Chaik. “I couldn’t stand being locked up.”

 

“Locked up! How long do you s’pose you’d be locked up while I was running around with my handy-paws? It’s better than being eaten, isn’t it?” Tad demanded.

 

“Ye-es,” chirped⁸ the bird, rather doubtfully.

 

“Then get on a branch and flutter so he’ll see you,” ordered Tad, as cheerfully as though it were the most natural thing in the world for birds to let themselves be caught by their little boy friends.

 

So Chaik hopped⁹ and sidled out to the tip of a bough¹⁰ where Louie could see him.

 

The little boy couldn’t have helped finding him, for there sat Tad Coon right beneath him, with his sniffy black nose turned up, pointing straight at him. And Chaik Jay was fluttering in a scared way.

 

“You rascally¹¹ old thing!” scolded Louie. Of course he thought Tad was the one the pretty blue bird was afraid of; he never dreamed any one would be afraid of him any more, because he never dreamed of hurting his wild friends. “Is that the kind of a beast you are? You’re all right while you know you can’t catch him, but the minute he can’t fly you want to eat him. Well, I won’t let you. If you’re so hungry you can’t wait till supper time you can go catch yourself a frog!”

 

A lot Tad cared! He knew Louie wouldn’t hurt him, and he didn’t know what the scolding was about—he guessed maybe Louie thought someone had hurt Chaik’s wing on purpose. He just winked¹² the tips of his ears to cheer up the bird when the little boy reached out his hand to take him.

 

It was a very gentle hand.

 

It tried very softly to untangle Chaik’s feet from the branch. Before either of them knew just exactly how it happened Chaik found himself holding on very tight to Louie’s soft, warm finger instead of the rough wood, balancing himself with his well wing. And suddenly he found he wasn’t scared any more. He felt perfectly¹³ safe and happy. And you know how Louie Thomson would feel! He was so pleased and proud he just couldn’t get home fast enough to show his mother.

 

Do you know how happy Chaik Jay felt when he went riding up the lane perched on Louie’s finger? He felt so happy he got actually impudent¹⁴. He looked up at the marsh¹⁵ hawk, still skimming over Doctor Muskrat’s Pond wondering who had called him, and gave the hawk’s hunting call again. That brought the hawk circling right over them. The hawk came so near Louie could see the black tips to his blue-gray wings, like a seagull’s, and the wide black bar on the end of his tail, and his feathery whiskers—even the surprised look in his eyes, as bright and coppery as a new penny.

 

“Well, I’m ruffled¹⁶!” he exclaimed, quite indignantly. “Were you the one giving my call?”

 

“Surely,” said that very impudent jay, bobbing his head and flicking¹⁷ his own striped tail. “I thought you might want to know there’s not a claw stirring in all these Woods and Fields except yours and Killer the Weasel’s and those of the Bad Little Owls¹⁸.”

 

“Ha-a-ah!” The hawk made a cup of his tail and wings and hung above them for a moment while he thought this over. “Thanks,” he said, and his voice wasn’t nearly as harsh. “I’m glad to know it. If that’s what’s going on, the pond is no place for me!” He’s not a very big hawk, you know—not nearly as big as the fine red lady hawk who came to help Stripes Skunk¹⁹ kill the crook-tailed snake which stole eggs from the meadowlarks. He had good reason to be afraid of Killer. So round he turned and Louie saw the queer white patch on his back that you only notice from behind go jogging off toward his mate on the far-off side of the Deep Woods.

 

So when the wicked weasel woke up and squeezed himself through the narrow crack between his two stones, he didn’t see any one at all. “That’s queer,” he thought. “It’s certainly supper time for those juicy little rabbits.” He listened. He didn’t hear any one at all, so he began exploring, with his nose to the ground. And he could smell where all the Woodsfolk had been scuttling²⁰ around—tracks and tracks of them. That satisfied him. “They’ll be coming down for a drink before long,” he told himself. “I’ll just step under this bush, where they won’t see me too soon, and wait for them.”

该作者的其它作品

《Tad Coon's Tricks》

《Nibble Rabbit Makes More Friends》

《The Sins of Silvertip the Fox》

 

1 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 snails   

n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

5 buzzers   

n.门铃( buzzer的名词复数 )；蜂音器（的声音）；发嗡嗡声的东西或人；汽笛

参考例句：

• Scout in with Buzzers(Via The Swarm) or whatever fast unit you have. 用技能召唤的蜂群（或者任何你拥有的快速单位）探路。 来自互联网
• Buzzers have the ability to clear garrisoned structures. 蜂群拥有清除驻军建筑得能力。 来自互联网

6 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

7 perch   

n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于

参考例句：

• The bird took its perch.鸟停歇在栖木上。
• Little birds perch themselves on the branches.小鸟儿栖歇在树枝上。

8 chirped   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 )

参考例句：

• So chirped fiber gratings have broad reflection bandwidth. 所以chirped光纤光栅具有宽的反射带宽，在反射带宽内具有渐变的群时延等其它类型的光纤光栅所不具备的特点。
• The crickets chirped faster and louder. 蟋蟀叫得更欢了。

9 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

10 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。

11 rascally   

adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地

参考例句：

• They said Kelso got some rascally adventurer, some Belgian brute, to insult his son-in-law in public. 他们说是凯尔索指使某个下贱的冒险家，一个比利时恶棍，来当众侮辱他的女婿。
• Ms Taiwan: Can't work at all, but still brag and quibble rascally. 台湾小姐：明明不行，还要硬拗、赖皮逞强。

12 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

14 impudent   

adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的

参考例句：

• She's tolerant toward those impudent colleagues.她对那些无礼的同事采取容忍的态度。
• The teacher threatened to kick the impudent pupil out of the room.老师威胁着要把这无礼的小学生撵出教室。

15 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

16 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。

17 flicking   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的现在分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• He helped her up before flicking the reins. 他帮她上马，之后挥动了缰绳。
• There's something flicking around my toes. 有什么东西老在叮我的脚指头。

18 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

19 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

20 scuttling   

n.船底穿孔，打开通海阀（沉船用）v.使船沉没( scuttle的现在分词 )；快跑，急走

参考例句：

• I could hear an animal scuttling about in the undergrowth. 我可以听到一只动物在矮树丛中跑来跑去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• First of all, scuttling Yu Lung (this yuncheng Hejin) , flood discharge. 大禹首先凿开龙门（今运城河津市），分洪下泄。 来自互联网