CHAPTER VI The Hunt for the Mammoths

It was a long way to where Bolo had seen the herd¹, and they were all afraid the animals might have wandered away. Bolo and Fisher ran eagerly ahead, and Bolo pointed² out to Fisher the things he had noticed while searching for his mother. One Eye said very little, but he sent men up into every tall tree they passed to see if they could discover the herd. They traveled all day, and when night came they built a great circle of fire and lay down to rest. One Eye chose four men to carry torches, and it was their duty to see that the fires did not go out.

 

When they came to the valley where Bolo had seen the mammoths they found nothing but trampled⁴ grass and the broken limbs of trees. They went very slowly and carefully after that. It was not long till a man, who had climbed into a very tall tree on a hilltop, called out excitedly that he could see something moving at the base of a cliff that hung high and steep above the river. One Eye climbed the tree himself, and looked long and closely where the man pointed.

 

“It is the herd,” he said. “Now let every man do just as I say.”

 

He divided the cave men into two parties. One was to move up very slowly from the side where they were, the other was to travel rapidly around through a valley[30] behind some hills and come upon the herd from the other side. Bolo, young as he was, was appointed to lead the first party, while One Eye himself led the second division through the valley. The men seemed pleased at this for they thought Bolo deserved some honor.

 

When the cave men had surrounded the herd in this fashion they were to close in upon them, each man carrying a blazing torch, and try to drive the animals up the landward slope of the cliff, and over it into the river. They knew they could never kill one of these huge beasts with any weapons they had. So they thought to kill them by driving them over the cliff and making them fall upon the rocks below. Some of the cave men who had never seen a mammoth³ were very much frightened at the terrible beasts. They said they were going back to the caves. But the others taunted⁵ them and called them women, until they grew ashamed and went on with the rest.

 

Very stealthily and carefully the two bodies of cave men drew toward the great herd of grazing animals. One of the older men told in whispers of another such hunt he had taken part in when a young man. He said he had never tasted any meat so good as that of the mammoth.

 

Bolo watched carefully for his father’s signal. At last it came, and when he saw the tossing torch he motioned his men to light their torches and go on quickly.

 

In a very few minutes the surprised mammoths found themselves attacked from three sides by a screaming, leaping line of cave men, each swinging a fiery⁶ torch[31] above his head. At first the huge beasts stood still. Then they turned and went awkwardly up the long slope on the landward side of the bluff⁷. The men followed as closely as they dared, for they feared that when the animals came to the edge of the bluff they would swing around and rush through the line of their attackers, trampling⁸ them under their great feet.

 

One Eye was again leading the entire band. Always he was at the very front, shouting and waving his torch. One man, more daring than the rest, ran up and thrust his burning firebrand right against the shaggy side of the nearest mammoth. The frenzied⁹ beast, with a bellow¹⁰ of rage, turned and tore back through the yelling mass of hunters. In spite of all their efforts to escape, two men were killed and three more badly hurt. The rest of the herd, terrified by the confusion, huddled¹¹ together on the edge of the bluff.

 

“Close in! close in!” shouted One Eye, brandishing¹² his torch in a fury of excitement. But the cave men were too much frightened to obey. They were scattered¹³ by the stampeding mammoth, and were too scared and confused to obey their leader. What made things worse was that they had never been used to obeying the orders of anyone.

 

But Bolo and Fisher obeyed. Bolo had drawn¹⁴ a little away from the rest of the hunters. He had swung his stout¹⁵ bow down from his shoulder and carefully fitted an arrow to the taut¹⁶ string. No one noticed the sharp twang as the arrow left the bowstring, but all saw one of the mammoths rear suddenly with pain and plunge¹⁷ into the[32] midst of the herd. Startled at this sudden onslaught, the herd pressed a little closer to the edge of the cliff, and then—

 

Never in all his life did Bolo hear again such a terrific shriek¹⁸ as the falling mammoth gave. For many nights after that he covered his ears as he lay down to sleep so that he might not hear it again in his dreams. Then came the sickening crash as the gigantic body struck the rocks below. The men turned and fled, and the remaining mammoths, in a frenzy¹⁹ of fear, tore back down the landward side of the cliffs into the valley. For some moments the hunters, wide-eyed and breathless, watched the herd as it lumbered²⁰ down the valley, until at last it passed behind the hills and was gone.

 

When the cave men hurried down to the river’s edge they found the immense, shaggy carcass of the dead mammoth lying in the shallow water at the base of the cliff. They could not move it to dry land, so they waded²¹ out to it and went to work to cut it up with their long flint knives right where it was.

 

But first they sent four of the swiftest runners back to the Valley of Caves, and to another Clan²² who lived far up the river, to tell them all to come and partake of the feast. From every direction they came, men, women and children, and by the time the hunters had the great carcass cut up and carried to the shore there was a great gathering²³ of hungry cave people who all rejoiced at the prospect²⁴ of so delicious a feast.

 

They stayed here several days, feasting and resting. Then, every woman, loaded with meat, and every man,[33] carrying a heavy club to protect the party from attacks of wild beasts, they took their way back to the Valley of Caves. They all knew that if the men should carry the meat themselves they might all be killed by wolves or other savage²⁵ beasts. So the men kept themselves ready to fight while the women bore the burdens.

 

There was great rejoicing when they reached home again. Every one praised One Eye for his wisdom and courage, and they all agreed that he should be their leader as long as he lived.

 

“Bolo will be as wise as his father,” said Flame. “Wiser, too, perhaps,” she added, nodding her head sagely²⁶, for she thought of the important secret that no one in the Clan knew except herself and the two boys.

 

“Then Bolo shall be our leader after his father is dead,” said old Bek. But he suspected what Flame meant.

1 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

4 trampled   

踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• He gripped his brother's arm lest he be trampled by the mob. 他紧抓着他兄弟的胳膊，怕他让暴民踩着。
• People were trampled underfoot in the rush for the exit. 有人在拼命涌向出口时被踩在脚下。

5 taunted   

嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落

参考例句：

• The other kids continually taunted him about his size. 其他孩子不断地耻笑他的个头儿。
• Some of the girls taunted her about her weight. 有些女孩子笑她胖。

6 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

7 bluff   

v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗

参考例句：

• His threats are merely bluff.他的威胁仅仅是虚张声势。
• John is a deep card.No one can bluff him easily.约翰是个机灵鬼。谁也不容易欺骗他。

8 trampling   

踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• Diplomats denounced the leaders for trampling their citizens' civil rights. 外交官谴责这些领导人践踏其公民的公民权。
• They don't want people trampling the grass, pitching tents or building fires. 他们不希望人们踩踏草坪、支帐篷或生火。

9 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

10 bellow   

v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道

参考例句：

• The music is so loud that we have to bellow at each other to be heard.音乐的声音实在太大，我们只有彼此大声喊叫才能把话听清。
• After a while,the bull began to bellow in pain.过了一会儿公牛开始痛苦地吼叫。

11 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

12 brandishing   

v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀

参考例句：

• The horseman came up to Robin Hood, brandishing his sword. 那个骑士挥舞着剑，来到罗宾汉面前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He appeared in the lounge brandishing a knife. 他挥舞着一把小刀，出现在休息室里。 来自辞典例句

13 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

14 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

15   

参考例句：

16 taut   

adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的

参考例句：

• The bowstring is stretched taut.弓弦绷得很紧。
• Scarlett's taut nerves almost cracked as a sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them. 思嘉紧张的神经几乎一下绷裂了，因为她听见附近灌木丛中突然冒出的一个声音。

17 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

18 shriek   

v./n.尖叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
• People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧，气愤或疼痛而尖叫。

19 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

20 lumbered   

砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• A rhinoceros lumbered towards them. 一头犀牛笨重地向他们走来。
• A heavy truck lumbered by. 一辆重型卡车隆隆驶过。

21 waded   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
• He waded into the water to push the boat out. 他蹚进水里把船推出来。

22 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

23 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

24 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

25 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

26 sagely   

adv. 贤能地，贤明地

参考例句：

• Even the ones who understand may nod sagely. 即使对方知道这一点，也会一本正经地点头同意。
• Well, that's about all of the sagely advice this old grey head can come up with. 好了，以上就是我这个满头银发的老头儿给你们的充满睿智的忠告。