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

The Land of Footprints-Part11_Stewart Edward White(1873-1946)_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
for, in the first place, the tail is absurdly inadequate; and, in

the second place, flies are not among his troubles. Flies



wouldn't bother you either, if you had a skin two inches thick.

So there they stood, inert and solid as two huge brown rocks,



save for the deep, wickedtwinkle of their little eyes.

Yes, we were close enough to "see the whites of their eyes," if



they had had any: and also to be within the range of their

limited vision. Of course we were now stalking, and taking



advantage of all the cover.

Those rhinoceroses looked to me like two Dreadnaughts. The



African two-horned rhinoceros is a bigger animal anyway than our

circus friend, who generally comes from India. One of these



brutes I measured went five feet nine inches at the shoulder, and

was thirteen feet six inches from bow to stern. Compare these



dimensions with your own height and with the length of your motor

car. It is one thing to take on such beasts in the hurry of



surprise, the excitement of a charge, or to stalk up to within a

respectable range of them with a gun at ready. But this



deliberate sneaking up with the hope of being able to sneak away

again was a little too slow and cold-blooded. It made me nervous.



I liked it, but I knew at the time I was going to like it a whole

lot better when it was triumphantly over.



We were now within twenty yards (they were standing starboard

side on), and I prepared to get my picture. To do so I would



either have to step quietly out into sight, trusting to the

shadow and the slowness of my movements to escape observation, or



hold the camera above the bush, directing it by guess work. It

was a little difficult to decide. I knew what I OUGHT to do-



Without the slightest premonitory warning those two brutes

snorted and whirled in their tracks to stand facing in our



direction. After the dead stillness they made a tremendous row,

what with the jerky suddenness of their movements, their loud



snorts, and the avalanche of echoing stones and boulders they

started down the hill.



This was the magnificent opportunity. At this point I should

boldly have stepped out from behind my bush, levelled my trusty



3A, and coolly snapped the beasts, "charging at fifteen yards."

Then, if B.'s and F.'s shots went absolutely true, or if the



brutes didn't happen to smash the camera as well as me, I, or my

executors as the case might be, would have had a fine picture.



But I didn't. I dropped that expensive 3A Special on some hard

rocks, and grabbed my rifle from Memba Sasa. If you want really



to know why, go confront your motor car at fifteen or twenty

paces, multiply him by two, and endow him with an eagerly



malicious disposition.

They advanced several yards, halted, faced us for perhaps five or



six seconds, uttered snort, whirled with the agility of polo

ponies, departed at a swinging trot and with surprising agility



along the steep side hill.

I recovered the camera, undamaged, and we continued our climb.



The top of the mesa was disappointing as far as game was

concerned. It was covered all over with red stones, round, and as



large as a man's head. Thornbushes found some sort of sustenance

in the interstices.



But we had gained to a magnificent view. Below us lay the narrow

flat, then the winding jungle of our river, then long rolling



desert country, gray with thorn scrub, sweepingupward to the

base of castellated buttes and one tremendous riven cliff



mountain, dropping over the horizon to a very distant blue range.

Behind us eight or ten miles away was the low ridge through which



our journey had come. The mesa on which we stood broke back at

right angles to admit another stream flowing into our own. Beyond



this stream were rolling hills, and scrub country, the hint of

blue peaks and illimitable distances falling away to the unknown



Tara Desert and the sea.

There seemed to be nothing much to be gained here, so we made up



our minds to cut across the mesa, and from the other edge of it

to overlook the valley of the tributary river. This we would






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