Three mornings the shepherds marched in the same manner, when they came in view of a range of hills so high that to Felix they appeared mountains. The home of the tribe was in these hills, and once there they were comparatively safe from attack. In early spring when the herbage on the downs was scarce, the flocks moved to the meadowlike lands far in the valleys; in summer they returned to the hills; in autumn they went to the vales again. Soon after noon on the third day the scouts2 reported that a large body of gipsies were moving in a direction which would cut off their course to the hills on the morrow.
The chief held a council, and it was determined3 that a forced march should be made at once by another route, more to the left, and it was thought that in this way they might reach the base of the slopes by evening. The distance was not great, and could easily have been traversed by the men; the flocks and herds1, however, could not be hurried much. A messenger was despatched to the hills for assistance, and the march began. It was a tedious movement. Felix was wearied, and walked in a drowsy4 state. Towards six o’clock, as he guessed, the trees began to thin, and the column reached the first slopes of the hills. Here about thirty shepherds joined them, a contingent5 from the nearest camp. It was considered that the danger was now past, and that the gipsies would not attack them on the hill; but it was a mistake.
A large body almost immediately appeared, coming along the slope on the right, not less than two hundred; and from their open movements and numbers it was evident that they intended battle. The flocks and herds were driven hastily into a coombe, or narrow valley, and there left to their fate. All the armed men formed in a circle; the women occupied the centre. Felix took his stand outside the circle by a gnarled and decayed oak. There was just there a slight rise in the ground, which he knew would give him some advantage in discharging his arrows, and would also allow him a clear view. His friends earnestly entreated6 him to enter the circle, and even sought to bring him within it by force, till he explained to them that he could not shoot if so surrounded, and promised if the gipsies charged to rush inside.
Felix unslung his quiver, and placed it on the ground before him; a second quiver he put beside it; four or five arrows he stuck upright in the sward, so that he could catch hold of them quickly; two arrows he held in his left hand, another he fitted to the string. Thus prepared, he watched the gipsies advance. They came walking their short wiry horses to within half a mile, when they began to trot7 down the slope; they could not surround the shepherds because of the steep-sided coombe and some brushwood, and could advance only on two fronts. Felix rapidly became so excited that his sight was affected8, and his head whirled. His heart beat with such speed that his breath seemed going. His limbs tottered9, and he dreaded10 lest he should faint.
His intensely nervous organization, strung up to its highest pitch, shook him in its grasp, and his will was powerless to control it. He felt that he should disgrace himself once more before these rugged11 but brave shepherds, who betrayed not the slightest symptom of agitation12. For one hour of Oliver’s calm courage and utter absence of nervousness he would have given years of his life. His friends in the circle observed his agitation, and renewed their entreaties13 to him to come inside it. This only was needed to complete his discomfiture14. He lost his head altogether; he saw nothing but a confused mass of yellow and red rushing towards him, for each of the gipsies wore a yellow or red scarf, some about the body, some over the shoulder, others round the head. They were now within three hundred yards.
A murmur15 from the shepherd spearmen. Felix had discharged an arrow. It stuck in the ground about twenty paces from him. He shot again; it flew wild and quivering, and dropped harmlessly. Another murmur; they expressed to each other their contempt for the bow. This immediately restored Felix; he forgot the enemy as an enemy, he forgot himself; he thought only of his skill as an archer16, now in question. Pride upheld him. The third arrow he fitted properly to the string, he planted his left foot slightly in advance, and looked steadfastly17 at the horsemen before he drew his bow.
At a distance of one hundred and fifty yards they had paused, and were widening out so as to advance in loose open rank and allow each man to throw his javelin18. They shouted; the spearmen in the circle replied, and levelled their spears. Felix fixed19 his eye on one of the gipsies who was ordering and marshalling the rest, a chief. He drew the arrow swiftly but quietly, the string hummed, the pliant20 yew21 obeyed, and the long arrow shot forward in a steady swift flight like a line of gossamer22 drawn23 through the air. It missed the chief, but pierced the horse he rode just in front of the rider’s thigh24. The maddened horse reared and fell backwards25 on his rider.
The spearmen shouted. Before the sound could leave their lips another arrow had sped; a gipsy threw up his arms with a shriek26; the arrow had gone through his body. A third, a fourth, a fifth — six gipsies rolled on the sward. Shout upon shout rent the air from the spearmen. Utterly27 unused to this mode of fighting, the gipsies fell back. Still the fatal arrows pursued them, and ere they were out of range three others fell. Now the rage of battle burned in Felix; his eyes gleamed, his lips were open, his nostrils28 wide like a horse running a race. He shouted to the spearmen to follow him, and snatching up his quiver ran forward. Gathered together in a group, the gipsy band consulted.
Felix ran at full speed; swift of foot, he left the heavy spearmen behind. Alone he approached the horsemen; all the Aquila courage was up within him. He kept the higher ground as he ran, and stopped suddenly on a little knoll29 or tumulus. His arrow flew, a gipsy fell. Again, and a third. Their anger gave them fresh courage; to be repulsed30 by one only! Twenty of them started to charge and run him down. The keen arrows flew faster than their horses’ feet. Now the horse and now the man met those sharp points. Six fell; the rest returned. The shepherds came running; Felix ordered them to charge the gipsies. His success gave him authority; they obeyed; and as they charged, he shot nine more arrows; nine more deadly wounds. Suddenly the gipsy band turned and fled into the brushwood on the lower slopes.
Breathless, Felix sat down on the knoll, and the spearmen swarmed31 around him. Hardly had they begun to speak to him than there was a shout, and they saw a body of shepherds descending32 the hill. There were three hundred of them; warned by the messenger, the whole country had risen to repel33 the gipsies. Too late to join in the fight, they had seen the last of it. They examined the field. There were ten dead and six wounded, who were taken prisoners; the rest escaped, though hurt. In many cases the arrow had gone clean through the body. Then, for the first time, they understood the immense power of the yew bow in strong and skilful34 hands.
Felix was overwhelmed; they almost crushed him with their attentions; the women fell at his feet and kissed them. But the archer could scarcely reply; his intense nervous excitement had left him weak and almost faint; his one idea was to rest. As he walked back to the camp between the chiefs of the shepherd spearmen, his eyes closed, his limbs tottered, and they had to support him. At the camp he threw himself on the sward, under the gnarled oak, and was instantly fast asleep. Immediately the camp was stilled, not to disturb him.
His adventures in the marshes35 of the buried city, his canoe, his archery, were talked of the livelong night. Next morning the camp set out for their home in the mountains, and he was escorted by nearly four hundred spearmen. They had saved for him the ornaments36 of the gipsies who had fallen, golden earrings37 and nose-rings. He gave them to the women, except one, a finger-ring, set with turquoise38, and evidently of ancient make, which he kept for Aurora39. Two marches brought them to the home of the tribe, where the rest of the spearmen left them. The place was called Wolfstead.
Felix saw at once how easily this spot might be fortified40. There was a deep and narrow valley like a groove41 or green trench42 opening to the south. At the upper end of the valley rose a hill, not very high, but steep, narrow at the ridge43, and steep again on the other side. Over it was a broad, wooded, and beautiful vale; beyond that again the higher mountains. Towards the foot of the narrow ridge here, there was a succession of chalk cliffs, so that to climb up on that side in the face of opposition44 would be extremely difficult. In the gorge45 of the enclosed narrow valley a spring rose. The shepherds had formed eight pools, one after the other, water being of great importance to them; and farther down, where the valley opened, there were forty or fifty acres of irrigated46 meadow. The spring then ran into a considerable brook47, across which was the forest.
Felix’s idea was to run a palisade along the margin48 of the brook, and up both sides of the valley to the ridge. There he would build a fort. The edges of the chalk cliffs he would connect with a palisade or a wall, and so form a complete enclosure. He mentioned his scheme to the shepherds; they did not greatly care for it, as they had always been secure without it, the rugged nature of the country not permitting horsemen to penetrate49. But they were so completely under his influence that to please him they set about the work. He had to show them how to make a palisade; they had never seen one, and he made the first part of it himself. At building a wall with loose stones, without mortar50, the shepherds were skilful; the wall along the verge51 of the cliffs was soon up, and so was the fort on the top of the ridge. The fort consisted merely of a circular wall, breast high, with embrasures or crenellations.
When this was finished, Felix had a sense of mastership, for in this fort he felt as if he could rule the whole country. From day to day shepherds came from the more distant parts to see the famous archer, and to admire the enclosure. Though the idea of it had never occurred to them, now they saw it they fully52 understood its advantages, and two other chiefs began to erect53 similar forts and palisades.
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herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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javelin
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| n.标枪，投枪 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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yew
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| n.紫杉属树木 | |
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gossamer
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| n.薄纱，游丝 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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31
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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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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earrings
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| n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子 | |
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turquoise
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| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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39
aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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40
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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41
groove
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| n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯 | |
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42
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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43
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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45
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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46
irrigated
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| [医]冲洗的 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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48
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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49
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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50
mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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51
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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52
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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53
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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