章节正文
herd, which had only moved a few yards, gave us the chance of
a second shot. The first cow had fallen dead almost where
she stood. The second we found at the foot of the hill, also
with two bullet wounds behind the shoulder. The tongues,
humps, and tender loins, with some other choice morsels, were
soon cut off and packed, and we returned to camp with a grand
supply of beef for Jacob's larder.
CHAPTER XXII
AT the risk of being tedious, I will tell of one more day's
buffalohunting, to show the vicissitudes of this kind of
sport. Before doing so we will glance at another important
feature of prairie life, a camp of Sioux Indians.
One evening, after halting on the banks of the Platte, we
heard distant sounds of tomtoms on the other side of the
river. Jim, the half-breed, and Louis differed as to the
tribe, and hence the friendliness or hostility, of our
neighbours. Louis advised saddling up and putting the night
between us; he regaled us to boot with a few blood-curdling
tales of Indian tortures, and of NOUS AUTRES EN HAUT. Jim
treated these with scorn, and declared he knew by the 'tunes'
(!) that the pow-wow was Sioux. Just now, he asserted, the
Sioux were friendly, and this 'village' was on its way to
Fort Laramie to barter 'robes' (buffalo skins) for blankets
and ammunition. He was quite willing to go over and talk to
them if we had no objection.
Fred, ever ready for adventure, would have joined him in a
minute; but the river, which was running strong, was full of
nasty currents, and his injured knee disabled him from
swimming. No one else seemed tempted; so, following Jim's
example, I stripped to my flannel shirt and moccasins, and
crossed the river, which was easier to get into than out of,
and soon reached the 'village.' Jim was right, - they were
Sioux, and friendly. They offered us a pipe of kinik (the
dried bark of the red willow), and jabbered away with their
kinsman, who seemed almost more at home with them than with
us.
Seeing one of their 'braves' with three fresh scalps at his
belt, I asked for the history of them. In Sioux gutturals
the story was a long one. Jim's translation amounted to
this: The scalps were 'lifted' from two Crows and a Ponkaw.
The Crows, it appeared, were the Sioux' natural enemies
'anyhow,' for they occasionally hunted on each other's
ranges. But the Ponkaw, whom he would not otherwise have
injured, was casually met by him on a horse which the Sioux
recognised for a white man's. Upon being questioned how he
came by it, the Ponkaw simply replied that it was his own.
Whereupon the Sioux called him a liar; and proved it by
sending an arrow through his body.
I didn't quite see it. But then, strictlyspeaking, I am no
collector of scalps. To preserve my own, I kept the hair on
it as short as a tooth-brush.
Before we left, our hosts fed us on raw buffalo meat. This,
cut in slices, and dried crisp in the sun, is excellent.
Their lodges were very comfortable, most of them large enough
to hold a dozen people. The ground inside was covered with
buffalo robes; and the sewn skins, spread tight upon the
converging poles, formed a tent stout enough to defy all
weathers. In winter the lodge can be entirely closed; and
when a fire is kindled in the centre, the smoke escaping at a
small hole where the poles join, the snugness is complete.
At the entrance of one of these lodges I watched a squaw and
her child prepare a meal. When the fuel was collected, a fat
puppy, playing with the child, was seized by the squaw, and
knocked on the throat - not head - with a stick. The puppy
was then returned, kicking, to the tender mercies of the
infant; who exerted its small might to add to the animal's
miseries, while the mother fed the fire and filled a kettle
for the stew. The puppy, much more alive than dead, was held
by the hind leg over the flames as long as the squaw's
fingers could stand them. She then let it fall on the
embers, where it struggled and squealed horribly, and would
have wriggled off, but for the little savage, who took good
care to provide for the satisfactory singeing of its
playmate.
Considering the length of its lineage, how remarkably hale
and well preserved is our own barbarity!
We may now take our last look at the buffaloes, for we shall
see them no more. Again I quote my journal:
'JULY 5TH. - Men sulky because they have nothing to eat but
rancid ham, and biscuit dust which has been so often soaked
that it is mouldy and sour. They are a dainty lot! Samson
and I left camp early with the hopes of getting meat. While
he was shooting prairie dogs his horse made off, and cost me
nearly an hour's riding to catch. Then, accidentally letting
go of my mustang, he too escaped; and I had to run him down
with the other. Towards evening, spied a small band of
buffaloes, which we approached by leading our horses up a
hollow. They got our wind, however, and were gone before we
were aware of it. They were all young, and so fast, it took
a twenty minutes' gallop to come up with them. Samson's
horse put his foot in a hole, and the cropper they both got
gave the band a long start, as it became a stern chase, and
no heading off.
'At length I managed to separate one from the herd by firing
my pistol into the "brown," and then devoted my efforts to
him alone. Once or twice he turned and glared savagely
through his mane. When quite isolated he pulled up short, so
did I. We were about sixty yards apart. I flung the reins
upon the neck of the mustang, who was too blown to stir, and
handling my rifle, waited for the bull to move so that I
might see something more than the great shaggy front, which
screened his body. But he stood his ground, tossing up the
sand with his hoofs. Presently, instead of turning tail, he
put his head down, and bellowing with rage, came at me as
hard as he could tear. I had but a moment for decision, - to
dig spurs into the mustang, or risk the shot. I chose the
latter; paused till I was sure of his neck, and fired when he
was almost under me. In an instant I was sent flying; and
the mustang was on his back with all four legs in the air.
'The bull was probably as much astonished as we were. His
charge had carried him about thirty yards, at most, beyond
us. There he now stood; facing me, pawing the ground and
snorting as before. Badly wounded I knew him to be, - that
was the worst of it; especially as my rifle, with its
remaining loaded barrel, lay right between us. To hesitate
for a second only, was to lose the game. There was no time
to think of bruises; I crawled, eyes on him, straight for my
weapon: got it - it was already cocked, and the stock
unbroken - raised my knee for a rest. We were only twenty
yards apart (the shot meant death for one of the two), and
just catching a glimpse of his shoulder-blade, I pulled. I
could hear the thud of the heavy bullet, and - what was
sweeter music - the ugh! of the fatal groan. The beast
dropped on his knees, and a gush of blood spurted from his
nostrils.
'But the wild devil of a mustang? that was my first thought
now. Whenever one dismounted, it was necessary to loosen his
long lariat, and let it trail on the ground. Without this
there was no chance of catching him. I saw at once what had
happened: by the greatest good fortune, at the last moment,
he must have made an instinctive start, which probably saved
his life, and mine too. The bull's horns had just missed his
entrails and my leg, - we were broadside on to the charge, -
and had caught him in the thigh, below the hip. There was a
big hole, and he was bleeding plentifully. For all that, he
wouldn't let me catch him. He could go faster on three legs
than I on two.
'It was getting dark, I had not touched food since starting,
nor had I wetted my lips. My thirst was now intolerable.
The travelling rule, about keeping on, was an ugly incubus.
Samson would go his own ways - he had sense enough for that -
but how, when, where, was I to quench my thirst? Oh! for the
tip of Lazarus' finger - or for choice, a bottle of Bass - to
cool my tongue! Then too, whither would the mustang stray in
the night if I rested or fell asleep? Again and again I
tried to stalk him by the starlight. Twice I got hold of his
tail, but he broke away. If I drove him down to the river
banks the chance of catching him would be no better, and I
should lose the dry ground to rest on.
'It was about as unpleasant a night as I had yet passed.
Every now and then I sat down, and dropped off to sleep from
sheer exhaustion. Every time this happened I dreamed of
sparkling drinks; then woke with a start to a lively sense of
the reality, and anxious searches for the mustang.
'Directly the day dawned I drove the animal, now very stiff,
straight down for the Platte. He wanted water fully as much
as his master; and when we sighted it he needed no more
driving. Such a hurry was he in that, in his rush for the
river, he got bogged in the muddy swamp at its edge. I
seized my chance, and had him fast in a minute. We both
plunged into the stream; I, clothes and all, and drank, and
drank, and drank.'
That evening I caught up the cavalcade.
How curious it is to look back upon such experiences from a
different stage of life's journey! How would it have fared
with me had my rifle exploded with the fall? it was knocked
out of my hands at full cock. How if the stock had been
broken? It had been thrown at least ten yards. How if the
horn had entered my thigh instead of the horse's? How if I
had fractured a limb, or had been stunned, or the bull had
charged again while I was creeping up to him? Any one, or
more than one, of these contingencies were more likely to
happen than not. But nothing did happen, save - the best.
Not a thought of the kind ever crossed my mind, either at the
time or afterwards. Yet I was not a thoughtless man, only an
average man. Nine Englishmen out of ten with a love of sport
- as most Englishmen are - would have done, and have felt,
just as I did. I was bruised and still; but so one is after
a run with hounds. I had had many a nastier fall hunting in
Derbyshire. The worst that could happen did not happen; but
the worst never - well, so rarely does. One might shoot
oneself instead of the pigeon, or be caught picking forbidden
fruit. Narrow escapes are as good as broad ones. The truth
is, when we are young, and active, and healthy, whatever
happens, of the pleasant or lucky kind, we accept as a matter
of course.
Ah! youth! youth! If we only knew when we were well off,
when we were happy, when we possessed all that this world has
to give! If we but knew that love is only a matter of course
so long as youth and its bounteous train is ours, we might
perhaps make the most of it, and give up looking for -
something better. But what then? Give up the 'something
better'? Give up pursuit, - the effort that makes us strong?
'Give up the sweets of hope'? No! 'tis better as it is,
perhaps. The kitten plays with its tail, and the nightingale
sings; but they think no more of happiness than the rose-bud
of its beauty. May be happiness comes not of too much
knowing, or too much thinking either.
CHAPTER XXIII
FORT LARAMIE was a military station and trading post
combined. It was a stone building in what they called a
a second shot. The first cow had fallen dead almost where
she stood. The second we found at the foot of the hill, also
with two bullet wounds behind the shoulder. The tongues,
humps, and tender loins, with some other choice morsels, were
soon cut off and packed, and we returned to camp with a grand
supply of beef for Jacob's larder.
CHAPTER XXII
AT the risk of being tedious, I will tell of one more day's
buffalohunting, to show the vicissitudes of this kind of
sport. Before doing so we will glance at another important
feature of prairie life, a camp of Sioux Indians.
One evening, after halting on the banks of the Platte, we
heard distant sounds of tomtoms on the other side of the
river. Jim, the half-breed, and Louis differed as to the
tribe, and hence the friendliness or hostility, of our
neighbours. Louis advised saddling up and putting the night
between us; he regaled us to boot with a few blood-curdling
tales of Indian tortures, and of NOUS AUTRES EN HAUT. Jim
treated these with scorn, and declared he knew by the 'tunes'
(!) that the pow-wow was Sioux. Just now, he asserted, the
Sioux were friendly, and this 'village' was on its way to
Fort Laramie to barter 'robes' (buffalo skins) for blankets
and ammunition. He was quite willing to go over and talk to
them if we had no objection.
Fred, ever ready for adventure, would have joined him in a
minute; but the river, which was running strong, was full of
nasty currents, and his injured knee disabled him from
swimming. No one else seemed tempted; so, following Jim's
example, I stripped to my flannel shirt and moccasins, and
crossed the river, which was easier to get into than out of,
and soon reached the 'village.' Jim was right, - they were
Sioux, and friendly. They offered us a pipe of kinik (the
dried bark of the red willow), and jabbered away with their
kinsman, who seemed almost more at home with them than with
us.
Seeing one of their 'braves' with three fresh scalps at his
belt, I asked for the history of them. In Sioux gutturals
the story was a long one. Jim's translation amounted to
this: The scalps were 'lifted' from two Crows and a Ponkaw.
The Crows, it appeared, were the Sioux' natural enemies
'anyhow,' for they occasionally hunted on each other's
ranges. But the Ponkaw, whom he would not otherwise have
injured, was casually met by him on a horse which the Sioux
recognised for a white man's. Upon being questioned how he
came by it, the Ponkaw simply replied that it was his own.
Whereupon the Sioux called him a liar; and proved it by
sending an arrow through his body.
I didn't quite see it. But then, strictlyspeaking, I am no
collector of scalps. To preserve my own, I kept the hair on
it as short as a tooth-brush.
Before we left, our hosts fed us on raw buffalo meat. This,
cut in slices, and dried crisp in the sun, is excellent.
Their lodges were very comfortable, most of them large enough
to hold a dozen people. The ground inside was covered with
buffalo robes; and the sewn skins, spread tight upon the
converging poles, formed a tent stout enough to defy all
weathers. In winter the lodge can be entirely closed; and
when a fire is kindled in the centre, the smoke escaping at a
small hole where the poles join, the snugness is complete.
At the entrance of one of these lodges I watched a squaw and
her child prepare a meal. When the fuel was collected, a fat
puppy, playing with the child, was seized by the squaw, and
knocked on the throat - not head - with a stick. The puppy
was then returned, kicking, to the tender mercies of the
infant; who exerted its small might to add to the animal's
miseries, while the mother fed the fire and filled a kettle
for the stew. The puppy, much more alive than dead, was held
by the hind leg over the flames as long as the squaw's
fingers could stand them. She then let it fall on the
embers, where it struggled and squealed horribly, and would
have wriggled off, but for the little savage, who took good
care to provide for the satisfactory singeing of its
playmate.
Considering the length of its lineage, how remarkably hale
and well preserved is our own barbarity!
We may now take our last look at the buffaloes, for we shall
see them no more. Again I quote my journal:
'JULY 5TH. - Men sulky because they have nothing to eat but
rancid ham, and biscuit dust which has been so often soaked
that it is mouldy and sour. They are a dainty lot! Samson
and I left camp early with the hopes of getting meat. While
he was shooting prairie dogs his horse made off, and cost me
nearly an hour's riding to catch. Then, accidentally letting
go of my mustang, he too escaped; and I had to run him down
with the other. Towards evening, spied a small band of
buffaloes, which we approached by leading our horses up a
hollow. They got our wind, however, and were gone before we
were aware of it. They were all young, and so fast, it took
a twenty minutes' gallop to come up with them. Samson's
horse put his foot in a hole, and the cropper they both got
gave the band a long start, as it became a stern chase, and
no heading off.
'At length I managed to separate one from the herd by firing
my pistol into the "brown," and then devoted my efforts to
him alone. Once or twice he turned and glared savagely
through his mane. When quite isolated he pulled up short, so
did I. We were about sixty yards apart. I flung the reins
upon the neck of the mustang, who was too blown to stir, and
handling my rifle, waited for the bull to move so that I
might see something more than the great shaggy front, which
screened his body. But he stood his ground, tossing up the
sand with his hoofs. Presently, instead of turning tail, he
put his head down, and bellowing with rage, came at me as
hard as he could tear. I had but a moment for decision, - to
dig spurs into the mustang, or risk the shot. I chose the
latter; paused till I was sure of his neck, and fired when he
was almost under me. In an instant I was sent flying; and
the mustang was on his back with all four legs in the air.
'The bull was probably as much astonished as we were. His
charge had carried him about thirty yards, at most, beyond
us. There he now stood; facing me, pawing the ground and
snorting as before. Badly wounded I knew him to be, - that
was the worst of it; especially as my rifle, with its
remaining loaded barrel, lay right between us. To hesitate
for a second only, was to lose the game. There was no time
to think of bruises; I crawled, eyes on him, straight for my
weapon: got it - it was already cocked, and the stock
unbroken - raised my knee for a rest. We were only twenty
yards apart (the shot meant death for one of the two), and
just catching a glimpse of his shoulder-blade, I pulled. I
could hear the thud of the heavy bullet, and - what was
sweeter music - the ugh! of the fatal groan. The beast
dropped on his knees, and a gush of blood spurted from his
nostrils.
'But the wild devil of a mustang? that was my first thought
now. Whenever one dismounted, it was necessary to loosen his
long lariat, and let it trail on the ground. Without this
there was no chance of catching him. I saw at once what had
happened: by the greatest good fortune, at the last moment,
he must have made an instinctive start, which probably saved
his life, and mine too. The bull's horns had just missed his
entrails and my leg, - we were broadside on to the charge, -
and had caught him in the thigh, below the hip. There was a
big hole, and he was bleeding plentifully. For all that, he
wouldn't let me catch him. He could go faster on three legs
than I on two.
'It was getting dark, I had not touched food since starting,
nor had I wetted my lips. My thirst was now intolerable.
The travelling rule, about keeping on, was an ugly incubus.
Samson would go his own ways - he had sense enough for that -
but how, when, where, was I to quench my thirst? Oh! for the
tip of Lazarus' finger - or for choice, a bottle of Bass - to
cool my tongue! Then too, whither would the mustang stray in
the night if I rested or fell asleep? Again and again I
tried to stalk him by the starlight. Twice I got hold of his
tail, but he broke away. If I drove him down to the river
banks the chance of catching him would be no better, and I
should lose the dry ground to rest on.
'It was about as unpleasant a night as I had yet passed.
Every now and then I sat down, and dropped off to sleep from
sheer exhaustion. Every time this happened I dreamed of
sparkling drinks; then woke with a start to a lively sense of
the reality, and anxious searches for the mustang.
'Directly the day dawned I drove the animal, now very stiff,
straight down for the Platte. He wanted water fully as much
as his master; and when we sighted it he needed no more
driving. Such a hurry was he in that, in his rush for the
river, he got bogged in the muddy swamp at its edge. I
seized my chance, and had him fast in a minute. We both
plunged into the stream; I, clothes and all, and drank, and
drank, and drank.'
That evening I caught up the cavalcade.
How curious it is to look back upon such experiences from a
different stage of life's journey! How would it have fared
with me had my rifle exploded with the fall? it was knocked
out of my hands at full cock. How if the stock had been
broken? It had been thrown at least ten yards. How if the
horn had entered my thigh instead of the horse's? How if I
had fractured a limb, or had been stunned, or the bull had
charged again while I was creeping up to him? Any one, or
more than one, of these contingencies were more likely to
happen than not. But nothing did happen, save - the best.
Not a thought of the kind ever crossed my mind, either at the
time or afterwards. Yet I was not a thoughtless man, only an
average man. Nine Englishmen out of ten with a love of sport
- as most Englishmen are - would have done, and have felt,
just as I did. I was bruised and still; but so one is after
a run with hounds. I had had many a nastier fall hunting in
Derbyshire. The worst that could happen did not happen; but
the worst never - well, so rarely does. One might shoot
oneself instead of the pigeon, or be caught picking forbidden
fruit. Narrow escapes are as good as broad ones. The truth
is, when we are young, and active, and healthy, whatever
happens, of the pleasant or lucky kind, we accept as a matter
of course.
Ah! youth! youth! If we only knew when we were well off,
when we were happy, when we possessed all that this world has
to give! If we but knew that love is only a matter of course
so long as youth and its bounteous train is ours, we might
perhaps make the most of it, and give up looking for -
something better. But what then? Give up the 'something
better'? Give up pursuit, - the effort that makes us strong?
'Give up the sweets of hope'? No! 'tis better as it is,
perhaps. The kitten plays with its tail, and the nightingale
sings; but they think no more of happiness than the rose-bud
of its beauty. May be happiness comes not of too much
knowing, or too much thinking either.
CHAPTER XXIII
FORT LARAMIE was a military station and trading post
combined. It was a stone building in what they called a
- bullet [´bulit]
n.子弹 (初中英语单词) - prairie [´preəri] n.大草原 (初中英语单词)
- indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)
- willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- occasionally [ə´keiʒənəli] ad.偶然地；非经常地 (初中英语单词)
- otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz] ad.另外 conj.否则 (初中英语单词)
- preserve [pri´zə:v] v.保藏 n.保藏物 (初中英语单词)
- throat [θrəut] n.咽喉；嗓子；出入口 (初中英语单词)
- savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)
- satisfactory [,sætis´fæktəri] a.令人满意的 (初中英语单词)
- gallop [´gæləp] n.&v.奔驰；急速行进 (初中英语单词)
- pistol [´pistl] n.手枪 vt.用手枪射击 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词)
- barrel [´bærəl] n.(琵琶)桶；圆筒 (初中英语单词)
- glimpse [glimps] n.&v.瞥见 (初中英语单词)
- whenever [wen´evə] conj.&ad.无论何时 (初中英语单词)
- charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
- thirst [θə:st] n.渴，口渴；渴望 (初中英语单词)
- lively [´laivli] a.活泼的；热烈的 (初中英语单词)
- reality [ri´æliti] n.现实(性)；真实；逼真 (初中英语单词)
- anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)
- stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
- rarely [´reəli] ad.难得；非凡地 (初中英语单词)
- pigeon [pidʒin] n.鸽子 (初中英语单词)
- healthy [´helθi] a.健康的 (初中英语单词)
- pursuit [pə´sju:t] n.追踪；追击；事务 (初中英语单词)
- kitten [´kitn] n.小猫 (初中英语单词)
- hostility [hɔ´stiliti] n.敌意 战斗(争) (高中英语单词)
- translation [træns´leiʃən, trænz-] n.翻译；译文；译本 (高中英语单词)
- strictly [´striktli] ad.严格地 (高中英语单词)
- buffalo [´bʌfələu] n.水牛；野牛 (高中英语单词)
- biscuit [´biskit] n.饼干 (高中英语单词)
- dainty [´deinti] a.秀丽的 n.美味 (高中英语单词)
- loosen [´lu:sən] v.放松；松弛 (高中英语单词)
- quench [kwentʃ] v.熄灭；平息；压制 (高中英语单词)
- unpleasant [ʌn´plezənt] a.不愉快的；不合意的 (高中英语单词)
- tedious [´ti:diəs] a.冗长的；乏味的 (英语四级单词)
- ammunition [,æmju´niʃən] n.军火，弹药 (英语四级单词)
- flannel [´flænl] n.法兰绒 (英语四级单词)
- remarkably [ri´mɑ:kəbli] ad.非凡地；显著地 (英语四级单词)
- devoted [di´vəutid] a.献身...的，忠实的 (英语四级单词)
- shaggy [´ʃægi] a.蓬乱的；多粗毛的 (英语四级单词)
- exhaustion [ig´zɔ:stʃən] n.用完；精疲力尽 (英语四级单词)
- hunting [´hʌntiŋ] n.打猎 (英语六级单词)
- friendliness [´frendlis] n.友爱，友好，友谊 (英语六级单词)
- barter [´bɑ:tə] v.交换(货物) n.互换品 (英语六级单词)
- speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)
- horribly [´hɔrəbli] ad.恐怖地 (英语六级单词)
- accidentally [,æksi´dentəli] ad.偶然地 (英语六级单词)
- instinctive [in´stiŋktiv] a.本能的，天性的 (英语六级单词)
- starlight [´stɑ:lait] n.星光 (英语六级单词)
- thoughtless [´θɔ:tləs] a.粗心的，轻率的 (英语六级单词)
- bounteous [´bauntiəs] a.宽宏大量的；丰富的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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