酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Boyhood in Norway-Part14_Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen(1848-1895)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页


mine for me as quick as you can."

The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the head of a big



brown she-bear became visible among the bushes. She paused in

the path, where her cub was lying, turned him over with her paw,



licked his face, grumbled with a low soothing tone, snuffed him

all over and rubbed her nose against his snout. But unwarily she



must have touched some sore spot; for the cub gave a sharp yelp

of pain and writhed and whimpered as he looked up into his



mother's eyes, clumsily returning her caresses. The boys, half

emerged from their hiding-places, stood watching this



demonstration of affection not without sympathy; and

Skull-Splitter, for one, heartily wished that the chief had not



wounded the little bear. Quite ignorant as he was of the nature

of bears, he allowed his compassion to get the better of his



judgment. It seemed such a pity that the poor little beast

should lie there and suffer with one eye put out and forty or



fifty bits of lead distributed through its body. It would be

much more merciful to put it out of its miseryaltogether. And



accordingly when Erling the Lop-Sided handed him his gun to pass

on to the chief, Skull-Splitter started forward, flung the gun to



his cheek, and blazed away at the little bear once more, entirely

heedless of consequences. It was a random, unskilful shot, which



was about equally shared by the cub and its mother. And the

latter was not in a mood to be trifled with. With an angry roar



she rose on her hind legs and advanced against the unhappy

Skull-Splitter with two uplifted paws. In another moment she



would give him one of her vigorous "left-handers," which would

probably pacify him forever. Ironbeard gave a scream of terror



and Thore the Hound broke down an alder-sapling in his

excitement. But Wolf-in-the-Temple, remembering that he had



sworn foster-brotherhood with this brave and foolish little lad,

thought that now was the time to show his heroism. Here it was



no longer play, but dead earnest. Down he leaped from his rock,

and just as the she-bear was within a foot of the Skull-Splitter,



he dealt her a blow in the head with the butt end of his gun

which made the sparks dance before her eyes. She turned suddenly



toward her new assailant, growling savagely, and scratched her

ear with her paw. And Skull-Splitter, who had slipped on the



pine needles and fallen, scrambled to his feet again, leaving his

gun on the ground, and with a few aimless steps tumbled once more



into the brook. Ironbeard, seeing that he was being outdone by

his chief, was quick to seize the gun, and rushing forward dealt



the she-bear another blow, which, instead of disabling her, only

exasperated her further. She glared with her small bloodshot



eyes now at the one, now at the other boy, as if in doubt which

she would tackle first. It was an awful moment; one or the other



might have saved himself by flight, but each was determined to

stand his ground. Vikings could die, but never flee. With a



furious growl the she-bear started toward her last assailant,

lifting her terrible paw. Ironbeard backed a few steps, pointing



his gun before him; and with benumbing force the paw descended

upon the gun-barrel, striking it out of his hands.



It seemed all of a sudden to the boy as if his arms were asleep

up to the shoulders; he had a stinging sensation in his flesh and



a humming in his ears, which made him fear that his last hour had

come. If the bear renewed the attack now, he was utterly



defenceless. He was not exactly afraid, but he was numb all

over. It seemed to matter little what became of him.



But now a strange thing happened. To his unutterable

astonishment he saw the she-bear drop down on all fours and vent



her rage on the gun, which, in a trice, was bent and broken into

a dozen fragments. But in this diversion she was interrupted by



Wolf-in-the-Temple, who hammered away again at her head with the

heavy end of his weapon. Again she rose, and presented two rows



of white teeth which looked as if they meant business. It was

the chief's turn now to meet his fate; and it was the more



serious because his helper was disarmed and could give him no

assistance. With a wildly thumping heart he raised the butt end



of his gun and dashed forward, when as by a miracle a shot was

heard--a sharp, loud shot that rumbled away with manifold



reverberations among the mountains. In the same instant the huge

brown bear tumbled forward, rolled over, with a gasping growl,



and was dead.




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号