About four o’clock that afternoon I met David and the dogs at the spinney which leads into the Sweet Fern Covent. The three setters, Voyou, Gamin, and Mioche, were in fine feather — David had killed a woodcock and a brace1 of grouse2 over them that morning — and they were thrashing about the spinney an short range when I came up, gun under arm and pipe lighted.
“What’s the prospect3, David,” I asked, trying to keep my feet in the tangle4 of wagging, whining5 dogs; “hello, what’s amiss with Mioche?”
“A brier in his foot sir; I drew it and stopped the wound but I guess the gravel6’s got in. If you have no objection, sir, I might take him back with me.”
“It’s safer,” I said; “take Gamin too, I only want one dog this afternoon. What is the situation?”
“Fair, sir; the grouse lie within a quarter of a mile of the oak second-growth. The woodcock are mostly on the alders7. I saw any number of snipe on the meadows. There’s something else in by the lake — I can’t just tell what, but the wood-duck set up a clatter8 when I was in the thicket9 and they come dashing through the wood as if a dozen foxes was snappin’ at their tail feathers.”
“Probably a fox,” I said; “leash those dogs — they must learn to stand in. I’ll be back by dinner time.”
“There is one more thing sir,” said David, lingering with his gun under his arm.
“Well,” said I.
“I saw a man in the woods by the Oak Covern — at least I think I did.”
“A lumberman?”
“I think not sir — at least — do they have Chinamen among them?”
“Chinese? No. You didn’t see a Chinaman in the woods here?”
“Did the dogs notice it?”
“I can’t say — exactly. They acted queer like. Gamin here lay down an’ whined13 — it may have been colic — and Mioche whimpered — perhaps it was the brier.”
“And Voyou?”
“Voyou, he was most remarkable14 sir, and the hair on his back stood up, I did see a groundhog makin’ for a tree near by.”
“Then no wonder Voyou bristled15. David, your Chinaman was a stump16 or tussock. Take the dogs now.”
“I guess it was sir; good afternoon, sir,” said David, and walked away with the Gordons leaving me alone with Voyou in the spinney.
I looked at the dog and he looked at me.
“Voyou!”
“You’re a fraud,” I said; “which shall it be, the alders or the upland? Upland? Good! — now for the grouse — heel, my friend, and show your miraculous18 self-restraint.”
Voyou wheeled into my tracks and followed close, nobly refusing to notice the impudent19 chipmunks20 and the thousand and one alluring21 and important smells which an ordinary dog would have lost no time in investigating.
The brown and yellow autumn woods were crisp with drifting heaps of leaves and twigs22 that crackled under foot as we turned from the spinney into the forest. Every silent little stream hurrying toward the lake was gay with painted leaves afloat, scarlet23 maple24 or yellow oak. Spots of sunlight fell upon the pools, searching the brown depths, illuminating25 the gravel bottom where shoals of minnows swam to and fro, and to and fro again, busy with the purpose of their little lives. The crickets were chirping26 in the long brittle27 grass on the edge of the woods, but we left them far behind in the silence of the deeper forest.
“Now!” said I to Voyou.
The dog sprang to the front, circled once, zigzagged29 through the ferns around us and, all in a moment, stiffened30 stock still, rigid31 as sculptured bronze. I stepped forward, raising my gun, two paces, three paces, ten perhaps, before a great cock-grouse blundered up from the brake and burst through the thicket fringe toward the deeper growth. There was a flash and puff32 from my gun, a crash of echoes among the low wooded cliffs, and through the faint veil of smoke something dark dropped from mid-air amid a cloud of feathers, brown as the brown leaves under foot.
“Fetch!”
Up from the ground sprang Voyou, and in a moment he came galloping33 back, neck arched, tail stiff but waving, holding tenderly in his pink mouth a mass of mottled bronzed feathers. Very gravely he laid the bird at my feet and crouched34 close beside in, his silky ears across his paws, his muzzle35 on the ground.
I dropped the grouse into my pocket, held for a moment a silent caressing36 communion with Voyou, then swung my gun under my arm and motioned the dog on.
It must have been five o’clock when I walked into a little opening in the woods and sat down to breathe. Voyou came and sat down in front of me.
Voyou gravely presented one paw which I took.
“We will never get back in time for dinner,” said I, “so we might as well take it easy. It’s all your fault, you know. Is there a brier in your foot? — let’s see — there! it’s out my friend and you are free to nose about and lick it. If you loll your tongue out you’ll get it all over twigs and moss38.
“Can’t you lie down and try to pant less? No, there is no use in sniffing39 and looking an that fern patch, for we are going to smoke a little, doze10 a little, and go home by moonlight. Think what a big dinner we will have! Think of Howlett’s despair when we are not in time! Think of all the stories you will have to tell to Gamin and Mioche! Think what a good dog you have been!
Voyou was a little tired. He stretched out on the leaves at my feet but whether or not he really slept I could not be certain, until his hind28 legs twitched41 and I knew he was dreaming of mighty42 deeds.
Now I may have taken forty winks, but the sun seemed to be no lower when I sat up and unclosed my lids. Voyou raised his head, saw in my eyes that I was not going yet, thumped43 his tail half a dozen times on the dried leaves, and settled back with a sigh.
I looked lazily around, and for the first rime44 noticed what a wonderfully beautiful spot I had chosen for a nap. It was an oval glade45 in the heart of the forest, level and carpeted with green grass. The trees that surrounded it were gigantic; they formed one towering circular wall of verdure, blotting46 out all except the turquoise47 blue of the sky-oval above. And now I noticed that in the centre of the greensward lay a pool of water, crystal clear, glimmering48 like a mirror in the meadow grass, beside a block of granite49. It scarcely seemed possible that the symmetry of tree and lawn and lucent pool could have been one of nature’s accidents. I had never before seen this glade nor had I ever heard it spoken of by either Pierpont on Barris. It was a marvel50, this diamond-clean basin, regular and graceful51 as a Roman fountain, set in the gem52 of turf. And these great trees — they also belonged, not in America but in some legend-haunted forest of France, where moss-grown marbles stand neglected in dim glades53, and the twilight54 of the forest shelters fairies and slender shapes from shadow-land.
I lay and watched the sunlight showering the tangled55 thicket where masses of crimson56 Cardinal57-flowers glowed, or where one long dusty sunbeam tipped the edge of the floating leaves in the pool, turning them to palest gilt58. There were birds too, passing through the dim avenues of trees like jets of flame — the gorgeous Cardinal–Bird in his deep-stained crimson robe — the bird that gave to the woods, to the village fifteen miles away, to the whole country, the name of Cardinal.
I rolled over on my back and looked up an the sky. How pale — paler than a robin’s egg — it was. I seemed to be lying at the bottom of a well, walled with verdure, high towering on every side. And, as I lay, all about me the air became sweet scented59. Sweeter and sweeter and more penetrating60 grew the perfume, and I wondered what stray breeze, blowing over acres of lilies, could have brought in. But there was no breeze; the air was still. A gilded61 fly alighted on my hand — a honey-fly. It was as troubled as I by the scented silence.
I sat quite still at first, hardly breathing, but my eyes were fixed63 on a shape that moved along the edge of the pool among the meadow grasses. The dog had ceased growling64 and was now snarling65, alert and trembling.
At last I rose and walked rapidly down to the pool, my dog following close to heel.
The figure, a woman’s, turned slowly toward us.
点击收听单词发音
1 brace | |
n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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2 grouse | |
n.松鸡;v.牢骚,诉苦 | |
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3 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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4 tangle | |
n.纠缠;缠结;混乱;v.(使)缠绕;变乱 | |
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5 whining | |
n. 抱怨,牢骚 v. 哭诉,发牢骚 | |
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6 gravel | |
n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石 | |
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7 alders | |
n.桤木( alder的名词复数 ) | |
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8 clatter | |
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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9 thicket | |
n.灌木丛,树林 | |
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10 doze | |
v.打瞌睡;n.打盹,假寐 | |
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11 positively | |
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实 | |
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12 covert | |
adj.隐藏的;暗地里的 | |
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13 whined | |
v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 );哀诉,诉怨 | |
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14 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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15 bristled | |
adj. 直立的,多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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16 stump | |
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走 | |
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17 fore | |
adv.在前面;adj.先前的;在前部的;n.前部 | |
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18 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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19 impudent | |
adj.鲁莽的,卑鄙的,厚颜无耻的 | |
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20 chipmunks | |
n.金花鼠( chipmunk的名词复数 ) | |
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21 alluring | |
adj.吸引人的,迷人的 | |
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22 twigs | |
细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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23 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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24 maple | |
n.槭树,枫树,槭木 | |
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25 illuminating | |
a.富于启发性的,有助阐明的 | |
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26 chirping | |
鸟叫,虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 ) | |
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27 brittle | |
adj.易碎的;脆弱的;冷淡的;(声音)尖利的 | |
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28 hind | |
adj.后面的,后部的 | |
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29 zigzagged | |
adj.呈之字形移动的v.弯弯曲曲地走路,曲折地前进( zigzag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30 stiffened | |
加强的 | |
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31 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
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32 puff | |
n.一口(气);一阵(风);v.喷气,喘气 | |
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33 galloping | |
adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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34 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35 muzzle | |
n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默 | |
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36 caressing | |
爱抚的,表现爱情的,亲切的 | |
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37 enquired | |
打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 ); 询问; 问问题; 查问 | |
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38 moss | |
n.苔,藓,地衣 | |
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39 sniffing | |
n.探查法v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的现在分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说 | |
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40 winks | |
v.使眼色( wink的第三人称单数 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮 | |
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41 twitched | |
vt.& vi.(使)抽动,(使)颤动(twitch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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42 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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43 thumped | |
v.重击, (指心脏)急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44 rime | |
n.白霜;v.使蒙霜 | |
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45 glade | |
n.林间空地,一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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46 blotting | |
吸墨水纸 | |
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47 turquoise | |
n.绿宝石;adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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48 glimmering | |
n.微光,隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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49 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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50 marvel | |
vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异;n.令人惊异的事 | |
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51 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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52 gem | |
n.宝石,珠宝;受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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53 glades | |
n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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54 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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55 tangled | |
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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56 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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57 cardinal | |
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
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58 gilt | |
adj.镀金的;n.金边证券 | |
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59 scented | |
adj.有香味的;洒香水的;有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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60 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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61 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
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62 growled | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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63 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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64 growling | |
n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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65 snarling | |
v.(指狗)吠,嗥叫, (人)咆哮( snarl的现在分词 );咆哮着说,厉声地说 | |
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