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首页 » 经典英文小说 » The Boy Hunters of Kentucky » CHAPTER XI. GEORGE MAKES A SHOT.
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CHAPTER XI. GEORGE MAKES A SHOT.
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The bear found not one, but two boys, who would serve equally well as substitutes for the one that had just escaped him. Will stood less than fifty feet away, hastily ramming1 a bullet into his rifle, while George was a little farther to the right, busy at the same thing. Bruin decided2 that the lad who was the nearer of the two would serve him best, so he straightway went after him.
 
No one could hold the hug of a bear in greater dread3 than did Will Burton. Had he coolly stood still, and kept on re-loading his gun, it is likely he would have had it ready to fire before the beast reached him; but, as the boy expressed it, he was taking no such chances. He whirled on his heel, and followed the example of Jack4, with a suppleness5 fully6 equal to his.
 
One of the hardest things for a man or boy to do is to climb a tree with a gun in hand. Much as Will wanted to keep his weapon, so as to use it when perched above the reach of his enemy, he did not dare to try to do so. He threw it from him, and even then the pursuit was so close that he escaped by a chance as narrow as that of Jack himself.
 
From his perch7 in the sapling the latter saw all this, which, you must remember, took place in a very brief time. The two elder boys of the little company had been treed by a huge bear, and neither of them had his gun with which to defend himself. It was clear that much now depended on George, the youngest of the company.
 
"Don't let him see you," called Jack. "Keep out of sight until your gun is loaded, and then make your aim sure."
 
George did not reply, through fear of attracting the notice of the bear, but he was doing his duty like a hero. During the fracas8 between Bruin and Will he had dodged9 behind the trunk of a tree large enough to screen his body, and then gave his whole attention to re-loading his weapon.
 
Now and then he peeped forth10, taking care to show as little of himself as possible. What he saw encouraged him to hope that he would be able to do all that was expected of him.
 
For the second time the bear found his victim slipping away from him after he was within reach. You cannot wonder that he was in the angriest possible mood. He must have called to mind, too, that a third boy was somewhere near, for he could not have failed to see him when he started after the bigger lad.
 
But where was the third of the party?
 
The bear looked here, there, everywhere, but saw nothing of him.
 
Ah! if the brute11 had gazed a little closer at that big oak trunk, off to his left, he would have seen a short, sturdy-looking boy, who had just finished pouring the priming into the pan of his rifle, and drawing back the hammer, was stealthily peering around the trunk, so as to decide how best to aim at the creature.
 
It so happened that the latter was in the best position to receive such a charge, and George took but a few seconds to make his aim sure. When he let fly, the little sphere of lead that whistled from his rifle tore its way through the heart of the beast, which rolled over on his side and died immediately, almost without a struggle.
 
You remember there were two other bears. They were lumbering12 along the trail some distance behind the leader, but quite close together. They did not become aware that anything unusual was going on until Jack fired his first shot. Then they looked up in their stupid way, and stood still while the first part of the stirring incidents took place.
 
Before the crisis was reached, the couple seemed to conclude that there was no necessity to stay where they were likely to get hurt. So, without turning aside from the trail, they pushed on in the direction they were following when first seen.
 
Jack and Will quickly slid down from the saplings in which they had taken refuge, and, catching13 up their guns, ran towards the carcase of the bear, reached it almost at the same time with George, the three converging14 from different directions.
 
"He's dead sure enough," said Jack, kicking the bulky body.
 
"He ought to be, with three or four bullets in him," said Will; "George and I struck him the first time we fired, and you must have hit him. How was it, Jack, that you didn't kill him?"
 
"I'll find out," replied Jack, stooping down and examining the skull15 of the brute.
 
"I see how it is," he said, straightening up again; "I fired for his eye, but there was a stick across my line of aim--just enough to turn the ball aside, so that it didn't hurt him much."
 
"But it made him mad," suggested George.
 
"I should say it did; and then the other two balls made him so mad that he couldn't get any madder."
 
"He stood just right for me," said George; "and since he couldn't see me, I had all the time I wanted to take aim."
 
"And you did it well," added Jack; "and it was fortunate for us, for we couldn't use our guns. But what's become of the other two bears?" he asked, looking around.
 
"They didn't see any fun in staying here," replied Will, "and so they went off."
 
"Let's follow them."
 
But Will was not inclined to do so.
 
"You know we started out for a hunt," said he, "and I am in favour of making it as varied16 as we can. You found a couple of painters last night, and an Indian or two this morning. Awhile ago, you had a little fun with a bull buffalo17, and he had more fun with you. We are just through with the bears, and I'm in favour of trying something else."
 
"What shall it be?" asked his brother.
 
"Whatever comes along--wolves, deer, or anything that turns up."
 
While the three stood near the carcase they were busy re-loading their guns, for the brothers, as well as Jack, had been taught that that was the first duty after discharging their weapons.
 
Naturally the boys were in high spirits over their adventure, which had ended without harm to any one of the company.
 
"It seems to me," said George, "that we can find all the fun we want by following this path to the lick."
 
"It looks to me," added Jack, "as though we may find more than we want."
 
"Not unless we meet more buffaloes," remarked Will, with a sly glance at Jack, whose face flushed.
 
"I wouldn't mind having one of them, for it will soon be dinner time, and their meat is good at this season."
 
"There may be others along the path, and then you can run out and scare one to death."
 
"To do that," retorted Jack, "I would have to run as fast as you did when the bear was at your heels."
 
"But hardly as fast as you ran when you missed your shot and got up the tree just in time."
 
"Any boy that will run from a wounded bear will run from a buffalo bull when he has his head down and is coming for him: I think one is as bad as the other."
 
"That may be, which is a good reason why you shouldn't try to drive him off as though he were a rooster scratching up your corn."
 
George grinned over this bit of conversation, which took place with the best nature on both sides. When it had gone on for a few minutes more, Will stopped, laughed, and reached out his hand.
 
"Shake," said he; "I have laughed until I can't laugh any more, and now we'll drop it."
 
"I notice one thing that you may not know," said Will, looking up as he spoke18, through the tree tops, "and that is that the sky is not anything like as clear as it was a little while ago."
 
"And it is colder," added Jack, with a shiver; "it looks to me very much as though a storm is coming."
 
"If there is, it's likely to be a snow-storm, I feel sure."
 
"It's well I brought this blanket along with me," said George; "Will didn't think we needed it at all."
 
"I didn't think so as long as I believed mother meant that I should carry it. When I found that you were to take charge of it, why I concluded it well to bring it."
 
"I almost wish I had mine," said Jack; "but there are plenty of places where we can build a good roaring fire and the wind won't reach us, and so after all we will be comfortable, and that's everything."
 
"Yes," said Will, looking around as though he half expected to see what they were talking about; "there are spots where we could sleep without a blanket, after we had kindled19 a good fire, and it won't take us very long to find one of them."
 
At that moment, when all three were about to move toward the trail, they heard the report of a rifle. It sounded perhaps a quarter of a mile off, and directly to the south.
 
Now, there was nothing in this to cause any excitement on the part of the boys, but they looked in each other's faces with a half scared and half wondering expression, as though in doubt whether there was ground for fear or whether there was not.
 
"I believe that gun was fired by an Indian," said George in a whisper.
 
"How can you know that?" asked his brother, impatiently.
 
"I don't know it," answered the younger, "but I only think so."
 
"I don't know that it makes any difference to us whether it was an Indian or white man who fired it."
 
"Of course; and we can't know until we find out for ourselves," was the sensible but not altogether necessary remark of Master Jack.
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 ramming 4441fdbac871e16f59396559e88be322     
n.打结炉底v.夯实(土等)( ram的现在分词 );猛撞;猛压;反复灌输
参考例句:
  • They are ramming earth down. 他们在夯实泥土。 来自辞典例句
  • Father keeps ramming it down my throat that I should become a doctor. 父亲一直逼我当医生。 来自辞典例句
2 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
3 dread Ekpz8     
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧
参考例句:
  • We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
  • Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。
4 jack 53Hxp     
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
参考例句:
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
5 suppleness b4e82c9f5182546d8ba09ca5c2afd3ff     
柔软; 灵活; 易弯曲; 顺从
参考例句:
  • The leather may need to be oiled every two to three weeks in order to retain its suppleness. 为了保持皮革的柔韧性,可能两三周就要上一次油。
  • She tried to recover her lost fitness and suppleness. 她试图恢复她失去的身体的康健和轻柔。
6 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
7 perch 5u1yp     
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 fracas 260yo     
n.打架;吵闹
参考例句:
  • A couple of mobsters were rubbed out in a fracas with the law.几个暴徒在与警方喧闹的斗争中丧命。
  • The police were called in to stop the fracas.警察奉命去制止骚乱。
9 dodged ae7efa6756c9d8f3b24f8e00db5e28ee     
v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 );回避
参考例句:
  • He dodged cleverly when she threw her sabot at him. 她用木底鞋砸向他时,他机敏地闪开了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He dodged the book that I threw at him. 他躲开了我扔向他的书。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
11 brute GSjya     
n.野兽,兽性
参考例句:
  • The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
  • That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲,它咬人。
12 lumbering FA7xm     
n.采伐林木
参考例句:
  • Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
  • Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家,伐木业十分重要。
13 catching cwVztY     
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住
参考例句:
  • There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
  • Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
14 converging 23823b9401b4f5d440f61879a369ae50     
adj.收敛[缩]的,会聚的,趋同的v.(线条、运动的物体等)会于一点( converge的现在分词 );(趋于)相似或相同;人或车辆汇集;聚集
参考例句:
  • Plants had gradually evolved along diverging and converging pathways. 植物是沿着趋异和趋同两种途径逐渐演化的。 来自辞典例句
  • This very slowly converging series was known to Leibniz in 1674. 这个收敛很慢的级数是莱布尼茨在1674年得到的。 来自辞典例句
15 skull CETyO     
n.头骨;颅骨
参考例句:
  • The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
  • He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去,跌裂了颅骨。
16 varied giIw9     
adj.多样的,多变化的
参考例句:
  • The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
  • The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。
17 buffalo 1Sby4     
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛
参考例句:
  • Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
  • The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。
18 spoke XryyC     
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:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
19 kindled d35b7382b991feaaaa3e8ddbbcca9c46     
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光
参考例句:
  • We watched as the fire slowly kindled. 我们看着火慢慢地燃烧起来。
  • The teacher's praise kindled a spark of hope inside her. 老师的赞扬激起了她内心的希望。


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