In a day or two Dick was attacked by the fearful _mal de raquette_, which tortures into knots the muscles of the leg below the knee; and by cramps1 that doubled him up in his blankets. This was the direct result of his previous inaction. He moved only with pain; and yet, by the stern north-country code, he made no complaint and moved as rapidly as possible. Each time he raised his knee a sharp pain stabbed his groin, as though he had been stuck by a penknife; each time he bent2 his ankle in the recover the _mal de raquette_ twisted his calves3, and stretched his ankle tendons until he felt that his very feet were insecurely attached and would drop off. During the evening he sat quiet, but after he had fallen asleep from the mere4 exhaustion5 of the day's toil6, he doubled up, straightened out, groaned7 aloud, and spoke8 rapidly in the strained voice of one who suffers. Often he would strip his legs by the fire, in order that Sam could twist a cleft9 stick vigorously about the affected10 muscles; which is the Indian treatment. As for the cramps, they took care of themselves. The day's journey was necessarily shortened until he had partly recovered, but even after the worst was over, a long tramp always brought a slight recurrence11.
For the space of nearly ten weeks these people travelled thus in the region of the Kabinikágam. Sometimes they made long marches; sometimes they camped for the hunting; sometimes the great, fierce storms of the north drove them to shelter, snowed them under, and passed on shrieking12. The wind opposed them. At first of little account, its very insistence13 gave it value. Always the stinging snow whirling into the face; always the eyes watering and smarting; always the unyielding opposition14 against which to bend the head; always the rush of sound in the ears,--a distraction15 against which the senses had to struggle before they could take their needed cognisance of trail and of game. An uneasiness was abroad with the wind, an uneasiness that infected the men, the dogs, the forest creatures, the very insentient trees themselves. It racked the nerves. In it the inimical Spirit of the North seemed to find its plainest symbol; though many difficulties she cast in the way were greater to be overcome.
Ever the days grew shorter. The sun swung above the horizon, low to the south, and dipped back as though pulled by some invisible string. Slanting16 through the trees it gave little cheer and no warmth. Early in the afternoon it sank, silhouetting17 the pointed18 firs, casting across the snow long, crimson19 shadows, which faded into gray. It was replaced by a moon, chill and remote, dead as the white world on which it looked.
In the great frost continually the trees were splitting with loud, sudden reports. The cold had long since squeezed the last drops of moisture from the atmosphere. It was metallic20, clear, hard as ice, brilliant as the stars, compressed with the freezing. The moon, the stars, the earth, the very heavens glistened21 like polished steel. Frost lay on the land thick as a coverlid. It hid the east like clouds of smoke. Snow remained unmelted two feet from the camp-fire.
And the fire alone saved these people from the enemy. If Sam stooped for a moment to adjust his snow-shoe strap22, he straightened his back with a certain reluctance,--already the benumbing preliminary to freezing had begun. If Dick, flipping23 his mitten24 from his hand to light his pipe, did not catch the fire at the second tug25, he had to resume the mitten and beat the circulation into his hand before renewing the attempt, lest the ends of his fingers become frosted. Movement, always and incessantly26, movement alone could keep going the vital forces on these few coldest days until the fire had been built to fight back the white death.
It was the land of ghosts. Except for the few hours at midday these people moved in the gloom and shadow of a nether27 world. The long twilight28 was succeeded by longer night, with its burnished29 stars, its dead moon, its unearthly aurora30. On the fresh snow were the tracks of creatures, but in the flesh they glided31 almost invisible. The ptarmigan's bead32 eye alone betrayed him, he had no outline. The ermine's black tip was the only indication of his presence. Even the larger animals,--the caribou33, the moose--had either turned a dull gray, or were so rimed by the frost as to have lost all appearance of solidity. It was ever a surprise to find these phantoms34 bleeding red, to discover that their flesh would resist the knife. During the strife35 of the heavy northwest storms one side of each tree had become more or less plastered with snow, so that even their dark trunks flashed mysteriously into and out of view. In the entire world of the great white silence the only solid, enduring, palpable reality was the tiny sledge36 train crawling with infinite patience across its vastness.
White space, a feeling of littleness and impotence, twilight gloom, burnished night, bitter cold, unreality, phantasmagoria, ghosts like those which surged about Aeneas, and finally clogging37, white silence,--these were the simple but dreadful elements of that journey which lasted, without event, from the middle of November until the latter part of January.
Never in all that time was an hour of real comfort to be anticipated. The labours of the day were succeeded by the shiverings of the night. Exhaustion alone induced sleep; and the racking chill of early morning alone broke it. The invariable diet was meat, tea, and pemmican. Besides the resolution required for the day's journey and the night's discomfort38, was the mental anxiety as to whether or not game would be found. Discouragements were many. Sometimes with full anticipation39 of a good day's run, they would consume hours in painfully dragging the sledge over unexpected obstructions40. At such times Wolf, always of an evil disposition41, made trouble. Thus besides the resolution of spirit necessary to the work, there had to be pumped up a surplusage to meet the demands of difficult dog-driving. And when, as often happened, a band of the gray wolves would flank them within smelling distance, the exasperation42 of it became almost unbearable43. Time and again Sam had almost forcibly to restrain Dick from using the butt44 of his whip on Wolf's head.
Nor could they treat themselves in the weary succession of days to an occasional visit with human beings. During the course of their journey they investigated in turn three of the four trapping districts of the Kabinikágam. But Sam's judgment45 advised that they should not show themselves to the trappers. He argued that no sane46 man would look for winter posts at this time of year, and it might be difficult otherwise to explain the presence of white men. It was quite easy to read by the signs how many people were to be accounted for in each district, and then it was equally easy to ambush47 in a tree, during the rounds for examination of the traps, until their identities had all been established. It was necessary to climb a tree in order to escape discovery by the trapper's dog. Of course the trail of our travellers would be found by the trapper, but unless he actually saw them he would most probably conclude them to be Indians moving to the west. Accordingly Dick made long detours48 to intercept49 the trappers, and spent many cold hours waiting for them to pass, while Sam and the girl hunted in another direction to replenish50 the supplies. In this manner the frequenters of these districts had been struck from the list. No one of them was Jingoss. There remained but one section, and that the most northerly. If that failed, then there was nothing to do but to retrace51 the long, weary journey up the Kabinikágam, past the rapids where Dick had hurt himself, over the portage, down the Mattawishgina, across the Missinaíbie, on which they had started their travels, to the country of the Nipissing. Discussing this possibility one rest-time, Dick said:
"We'd be right back where we started. I think it would pay us to go down to Brunswick House and get a new outfit52. It's only about a week up the Missináibie." Then, led by inevitable53 association of ideas, "Wonder if those Crees had a good time? And I wonder if they've knocked our friend Ah-tek, the Chippewa, on the head yet? He was a bad customer."
"You better hope they have," replied Sam. "He's got it in for you."
Dick shrugged54 his shoulders and laughed easily.
"That's all right," insisted the older man; "just the same, an Injun never forgets and never fails to get even. You may think he's forgotten, but he's layin' for you just the same," and then, because they happened to be resting in the lea of a bank and the sun was at its highest for the day, Sam went on to detail one example after another from his wide observation of the tenacity55 with which an Indian pursues an obligation, whether of gratitude56 or enmity. "They'll travel a thousand miles to get even," he concluded. "They'll drop the most important business they got, if they think they have a good chance to make a killing57. He'll run up against you some day, my son, and then you'll have it out."
"All right," agreed Dick, "I'll take care of him. Perhaps I'd better get organised; he may be laying for me around the next bend."
"I don't know what made us talk about it," said Sam, "but funnier things have happened to me." Dick, with mock solicitude58, loosened his knife.
But Sam had suddenly become grave. "I believe in those things," he said, a little fearfully. "They save a man sometimes, and sometimes they help him to get what he wants. It's a Chippewa we're after; it's a Chippewa we've been talkin' about. They's something in it."
"I don't know what you're driving at," said Dick.
"I don't know," confessed Sam, "but I have a kind of a hunch59 we won't have to go back to the Nipissing." He looked gropingly about, without seeing, in the manner of an old man.
"I hope your hunch is a good one," replied Dick. "Well, mush on!"
The little cavalcade60 had made barely a dozen steps in advance when Sam, who was leading, came to a dead halt.
"Well, what do you make of that?" he asked.
Across the way lay the trunk of a fallen tree. It had been entirely61 covered with snow, whose line ran clear and unbroken its entire length except at one point, where it dipped to a shallow notch62.
"Well, what do you make of that?" Sam inquired again.
"What?" asked Dick.
Sam pointed to the shallow depression in the snow covering the prostrate63 tree-trunk.
收听单词发音 |
1
cramps
|
|
| n. 抽筋, 腹部绞痛, 铁箍 adj. 狭窄的, 难解的 v. 使...抽筋, 以铁箍扣紧, 束缚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
calves
|
|
| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
exhaustion
|
|
| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
toil
|
|
| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
cleft
|
|
| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
recurrence
|
|
| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
shrieking
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
insistence
|
|
| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
distraction
|
|
| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
slanting
|
|
| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
silhouetting
|
|
| 使呈现影子（silhouette的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
18
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
metallic
|
|
| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
glistened
|
|
| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
strap
|
|
| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
flipping
|
|
| 讨厌之极的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
mitten
|
|
| n.连指手套，露指手套 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
tug
|
|
| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
incessantly
|
|
| ad.不停地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
nether
|
|
| adj.下部的，下面的；n.阴间；下层社会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
burnished
|
|
| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
aurora
|
|
| n.极光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
glided
|
|
| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
bead
|
|
| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
caribou
|
|
| n.北美驯鹿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
phantoms
|
|
| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
strife
|
|
| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
sledge
|
|
| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
clogging
|
|
| 堵塞，闭合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
discomfort
|
|
| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
anticipation
|
|
| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
obstructions
|
|
| n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
exasperation
|
|
| n.愤慨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
unbearable
|
|
| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
sane
|
|
| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
ambush
|
|
| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
detours
|
|
| 绕行的路( detour的名词复数 )； 绕道，兜圈子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
intercept
|
|
| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
replenish
|
|
| vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
retrace
|
|
| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
tenacity
|
|
| n.坚韧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
solicitude
|
|
| n.焦虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
hunch
|
|
| n.预感，直觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
cavalcade
|
|
| n.车队等的行列 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
notch
|
|
| n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
prostrate
|
|
| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |