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-Part22_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


to pulling in a team. To restrain this frisky animal had

required all Bonnyboy's strength, and he stood wiping his brow



with the sleeve of his shirt. Just at that moment a terrified

yell sounded from above: "Run for your lives! The upper dam is



breaking!"

The engineer from the top of the log-pile cast a swift glance up



the valley, and saw at once from the increasing volume of water

that the report was true.



"Save yourselves, lads!" he screamed. "Run to the woods!"

And suiting his action to his words, he tumbled down from the log



pile, and darted up the hill-side toward the forest. The other

men, hearing the wild rush and roar above them, lost no time in



following his example. Only Bonnyboy, slow of comprehension as

always, did not obey. Suddenly there flared up a wild resolution



in his face. He pulled out his knife, cut the traces, and leaped

upon the colt's back. Lashing the beast, and shouting at the top



of his voice, he dashed down the hill-side at a break-neck pace.

"The dam is breaking!" he roared. "Run for the woods!"



He glanced anxiously behind him to see if the flood was

overtaking him. A great cloud of spray was rising against the



sky, and he heard the yells of men and the frenzied neighing of

horses through the thunderous roar. But happily there was time.



The dam was giving way gradually, and had not yet let loose the

tremendousvolume of death and desolation which it held enclosed



within its frail timbers. The colt, catching the spirit of

excitement in the air, flew like the wind, leaving farm after



farm behind it, until it reached the village.

"The dam is breaking! Run for your lives!" cried Bonnyboy, with



a rousing clarion yell which rose above all other poises; and up

and down the valley the dread tidings spread like wildfire. In



an instant all was in wildest commotion. Terrified mothers, with

babes in their arms, came bursting out of the houses, and little



girls, hugging kittens or cages with canary-birds, clung weeping

to their skirts; shouting men, shrieking women, crying children,



barking dogs, gusty showers sweeping from nowhere down upon the

distracted fugitives, and above all the ominous, throbbing,



pulsating roar as of a mightychorus of cataracts. It came

nearer and nearer. It filled the great vault of the sky with a



rush as of colossal wing-beats. Then there came a deafening

creaking and crashing; then a huge brownish-white rolling wall,



upon which the moonlight gleamed for an instant, and then the

very trump of doom--a writhing, brawling, weltering chaos of



cattle, dogs, men, lumber, houses, barns, whirling and struggling

upon the destroying flood.



VI.

It was the morning after the disaster. The sun rose red and



threatening, circled with a ring of fiery mist. People encamped

upon the hill-side greeted each other as on the morn of



resurrection. For many were found among the living who were

being mourned as dead. Mothers hugged their children with



tearful joy, thanking God that they had been spared; and husbands

who had heard through the night the agonized cries of their



drowning wives, finding them at dawn safe and sound, felt as if

they had recovered them from the very gates of death. When all



were counted, it was ascertained that but very few of the

villagers had been overtaken by the flood. The timely warning



had enabled all to save themselves, except some who in their

eagerness to rescue their goods had lingered too long.



Impoverished most of them were by the loss of their houses and

cattle. The calamity was indeed overwhelming. But when they



considered how much greater the disaster would have been if the

flood had come upon them unheralded, they felt that they had



cause for gratitude in the midst of their sorrow. And who was it

that brought the tidings that snatched them from the jaws of



death? Well, nobody knew. He rode too fast. And each was too

much startled by the message to take note of the messenger. But



who could he possibly have been? An angel from Heaven, perhaps

sent by God in His mercy. That was indeed more than likely. The



belief was at once accepted that the rescuer was an angel from




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