He then slips his feet through the cords of his snow-shoes, and throws the line of a small hand-sledge over his shoulder. Having attached the sledge to his back, he stoops to receive his gun from his faithful squaw, who has been watching his operations through a hole in the tent; and throwing it on his shoulder, strides off, without uttering a word, across the moonlit space in front of the tent, turns into a narrow track that leads down the dark ravine, and disappears in the shades of the forest.
然后，他把腳滑進雪鞋中，系好鞋帶，又把一柄長雪橇上的線甩在肩上。背上雪橇后，他彎腰從忠實的女人手中接過遞來的獵槍，而她則一直通過帳篷上的一個小洞看著他整理著一切；他扛上獵槍，一言不發，大步穿過帳篷前那塊灑滿月光的空地，轉入一個通向黝黑峽谷的狹窄小徑，繼而消失在森林陰影之中。
The forest is now almost dark, the foliage overhead having become so dense that the moon penetrates through it only in a few places, rendering the surrounding masses darker by contrast. The outline of an old snow-shoe track, at first faintly seen, is soon no longer visible; but still the Indian moves forward with rapid, noiseless step, as sure of his way as if a broad beaten track lay before him. In this manner he moves on for nearly two miles, sometimes stooping to examine closely the newly-made track of some wild animal, and occasionally giving a glance at the sky through the openings in the leafy canopy above him. Suddenly a faint sound in the bushes ahead brings him to a full stop.
現在森林里已經基本全黑了，頭頂上的枝葉變得愈發濃密，以至于只有幾個地方才能透進月光來，和周圍混亂的黑暗形成了鮮明的對比，一雙陳舊的雪靴子踩出的痕跡起初很模糊，很快得，連那個模糊的痕跡也消失了；可是，印第安人仍然快速的、靜悄悄的向前走著，似乎前方的路線早已為他開辟好了似的，他非常自信的大步向前行進著。就這樣，他大概走了兩英里遠，有時會停下來仔細檢查動物們新近留下的腳印，偶爾也會透過頭頂上茂密的天蓬看看天空。忽然間，前面灌木叢中發出的一個微弱的聲音讓他完全停下來。
He listens attentively, and a noise, like the rattling of a chain, is heard proceeding from the recesses of a dark, wild-looking hollow, a few paces in front. Another moment, and the rattle is again distinctly heard. A slight smile of satisfaction crosses the Indian's dark visage; for one of his traps is set in that place, and he knows that something has been caught. Quickly descending the slope, he enters the bushes whence the sound proceeds, and pauses when within a yard or two of his trap, to peer through the gloom.
他凝神聽著，那聲音有點像咔噠咔噠的廉政聲，從前方幾步遠一個黑暗的隱秘處傳來，那邊看上去有點荒涼。過了一陣子，他又聽到了那個聲音，這次他清楚的聽到了咯吱聲。印第安人黝黑的臉龐上掠過了一絲滿意的微笑；因為他設下的其中一個陷阱就在附近，他知道一定是有什么東西被抓住了。他快速的滑下坡去，走進那個聲音發出的灌木叢，在距離他設的陷阱一兩碼遠處停下來，在黑暗中張望著。
A cloud passes off the moon, and a faint ray reveals, it may be, a beautiful black fox caught in the snare. A slight blow on the snout from the Indian's axe-shaft kills the unfortunate animal; in ten minutes more it is tied on his sledge, the trap is re-set and again covered over with snow, so that it is almost impossible to tell that anything is there; and the Indian pursues his way.
一片烏云擋住了月亮，在微弱的光線中，他模糊的看到了一只漂亮的黑狐落入了陷阱。印第安人揮起大斧子，結果了這個不幸的動物；又過了十多分鐘，狐貍被綁在他的雪橇上，陷阱也被重新布置好，并用積雪覆蓋好，這樣就不太可能被動物發現了；印度安人繼續向前趕路。
評論
打印
