第8章 THE PRAIRIE ON FIRE (II) 大草原失火记（二）

Before time had been allowed for remonstrance, the old man, who had continued during the whole scene like one much at a loss how to proceed, though, also, like one who was rather perplexed than alarmed, suddenly assumed a decided air, as if he no longer doubted as to the course it was most advisable to pursue.

“It is time to be doing,” he said, interrupting the controversy that was about to ensue between the naturalist and the bee hunter; “it is time to leave off books and moanings, and to be doing.”

“You have come to your recollection too late, miserable old man!” cried Middleton.“The flames are within a quarter of a mile of us, and the wind is bringing them down in this direction with dreadful rapidity.”

“Anan! the flames! I care but little for the flames! If I only knew how to circumvent the cunning of the Tetons as I know how to cheat the fire of its prey, there would be nothing needed but thanks to the Lord for our deliverance. Do you call that a fire! If you had seen what I have witnessed in the eastern hills, when mighty mountains were like the furnace of a smith, you would have known what it was to fear the flames, and to be thankful that you were spared.—Come, lads, come; 'tis time to be doing now, and to cease talking, for yonder curling flame is truly coming on like a trotting moose. Put hands upon this short and withered grass where we stand, and lay bare the earth.”

“Would you think to deprive the fire of its victims in this childish manner?”exclaimed Middleton.

A faint but solemn smile passed over the features of the old man, as he answered,“Your grandfather would have said, that when the enemy was nigh, a soldier could do no better than obey.”

The captain felt the reproof, and instantly began to imitate the industry of Paul, who was tearing the decayed herbage from the ground in a sort of desperate compliance with the trapper's direction. Even Ellen lent her hands to the labour; nor was it long before Inez was seen similarly employed, though none among them knew why. A very few moments sufficed to lay bare a spot of some twenty feet in diameter.

To one side of this little area the trapper brought the females, directing Middleton and Paul to cover their light and inflammable dresses with the blankets of the party. Then the old man, crossing to the other side, approached the grass, which still environed them in a dangerous circle, and selecting a handful of the driest of the herbage, he placed it over the pan of his rifle. The light combustible kindled at the flash. Then he placed the little flame in a bed of the standing fog, and patiently awaited the result.

The subtle element seized with avidity upon its new fuel, and in a moment forked flames were gliding among the grass, as the tongues of ruminating animals are seen rolling among their food, apparently in quest of its sweetest portions.

“Now,” said the old man, holding up a finger, and laughing in his peculiarly silent manner, “you shall see fire fight fire. Ah's me! many is the time I have burned a path from wanton laziness to pick my way across a tangled bottom.”

“But is this not fatal?” cried the amazed Middleton; “are you not bringing the enemy nigher to us, instead of avoiding it?”

“Do you scorch so easily? Your grandfather had a tougher skin. But we shall live to see, —we shall all live to see.”

The experience of the trapper was in the right. As the fire gained strength, it began to spread on three sides, dying of itself on the fourth for want of aliment. As it increased, and the sullen roaring announced its power, it cleared everything before it, leaving the black and smoking soil far more naked than if the scythe had swept the place. The area in which the fugitives had taken refuge increased as the fire advanced;and by going to the spot where it had been first kindled by the trapper, they avoided the excessive heat. In a very few moments the flames began to recede in every direction, leaving the party enveloped in a cloud of smoke, but perfectly safe from the torrent of fire that was still furiously rolling onward.

The others regarded the simple expedient of the trapper with that species of wonder with which the courtiers of Ferdinand are said to have viewed the manner in which Columbus made his egg to stand on its end, —though with feelings that were filled with gratitude instead of envy.

“Most wonderful!” said Middleton, when he saw the complete success of the device: “the thought was a gift from Heaven.”

“Old trapper,” cried Paul, thrusting his fingers through his shaggy locks, “I have lined many a loaded bee into his hole, and know something of the nature of the woods, but this is robbing a hornet of his sting without touching the insect!”

“It will do—it will do,” returned the old man, who, after the first moment of his success, seemed to think no more of the exploit. “Let the flames do their work for a short half hour, and then we will mount. That time is needed to cool the meadow; for these unshod beasts are tender on the hoof as a barefooted girl.”

The veteran, on whose experience they all so implicitly relied for protection, employed himself in reconnoitering objects in the distance, through the openings which the air occasionally made in the immense bodies of smoke, that by this time lay in enormous piles on every part of the plain.

—J. FENIMORE COOPER

Words

aliment,nourishment.

apparently,seemingly.

avidity,greediness.

avoiding,shunning.

compliance,obedience.

controversy,dispute.

deliverance,release.

deprive,cheat.

device,plan.

employed,occupied.

enveloped,enclosed.

expedience,contrivance.

exploit,achievement.

features,countenance.

fugitives,wanderers.

gratitude,thankfulness.

implicitly,confidently.

inflammable,combustible.

occasionally,sometimes.

perplexed,puzzled.

rapidity,celerity.

recollection,remembrance.

remonstrance,expostulation.

reproof,rebuke.

returned,answered.

subtle,wily.

sullen,dismal.

tangled,intricate.

veteran,old man.

witnessed,beheld.

Questions

What did the trapper presently instruct his companions to do? How large a space did they clear? Where did the trapper place the females? What did the trapper do at the other side? What was the result? With what feelings did the others regard the trapper's device?

已经没时间用来责备诘问了，那老人继续像那不知所措地强调前进的人一样，其实，也像一个与其说是被吓坏了，不如说是感到困惑的人一样，突然间打定了主意，好像不再怀疑接下来要走的路是最佳路线似的。

“是时候行动起来了，”他说到，打断了即将在自然主义者和捕蜂人之间产生的争论，“是时候甩开书本和抱怨，开始行动了。”

“你现在开窍得太晚了，可怜的老人家！”米德尔顿喊道。“大火离着咱们只有不到四分之一英里的距离了，而风把火向着我们这边吹着，速度惊人。”

“啊！大火！我一点儿都不关心大火！如果我知道如何把狡猾的提顿族人包围在中间，就像我知道如何能不让大火吞噬它眼前的猎物的话，那我们不需要做任何事情，只需要感谢上帝对我们的救赎就好了。你把这叫作大火！如果你曾经看见过我在东边山上曾见到的景象，那高山崇岭就像铁匠的火炉一样，你就会知道什么叫对大火的恐惧了，就会知道如何感恩自己逃过一劫了。来吧，孩子们，来吧，是时候行动起来了，不要再争辩了，因为那边卷动的火焰正向这边袭来，就像跑动着的麋鹿一样。动手拔光那些矮小枯萎的草吧，也就是我们站立的地方的草，然后躺在地上。”

“你觉得这样过家家的方式就能让我们躲过这个大劫吗？”米德尔顿喊道。

老人脸上掠过一丝淡淡的但威严的微笑，他答道，“你的祖父会说，当敌近在眼前，遵从命令是士兵最好的选择。”

上尉听出了话里的责备之音，于是马上开始学着保罗，以一种绝望的遵从，顺着布置陷阱的人指出的方向拔着地上的枯萎的草木。艾伦甚至也出力帮忙；不一会儿，恩兹也同样拔起草来，虽然他们没有人知道为什么要这么做。过了好一会儿，他们就有直径二十英尺的地方可以直接躺在地上了。

布置陷阱的人把女人带到这片小地方的一边，指导米德尔顿和保罗把轻盈而易燃的衣物覆盖到毯子上。然后这老人，走到另一边，走近那把他们包围进危险的圈子的草木中，选了一把干草，把它堵在来复枪的枪口上。轻盈的易燃物马上就着起了火。然后他把这小火堆放到了冒起的烟上，耐心等待结果。

柔软的火焰一遇到新燃料的加入就欢腾起来，不一会儿的工夫，火焰就在草丛中蔓延开来，就像在食物中打滚的反刍动物的舌头一样，很显然是在寻找着其中最美味的东西。

“现在，”老人说道，他举起一根手指，笑得奇怪而沉默，“你们即将看到火和火的搏斗。啊，我啊！有许多次我都从那火焰的慵懒中烧出一条纠结的路径。”

“但这样就没事了？”惊奇的米德尔顿叫道，“你这样不是把敌人带得离着我们更近了，而不是避免遇上它？”

“你怎么这么容易发出诘问！你的祖父性格更坚毅。但我们会活着见识到的，我们会活着见识到的。”

布置陷阱的人的经验是对的。当火势很足的时候，火开始时向三个方向弥散，为了获取更多的燃料，便会向第四个方向蔓延。当火势渐猛，那沉闷的吼叫声表明它的力量，它会把一切出现在自己面前的东西都吞噬掉，只留下漆黑的冒着烟的光秃秃的土地，那光秃程度要比镰刀割过之后更彻底。随着大火的到来，逃亡者们藏身之地的范围在变大；当火到达之前被布置陷阱的人点燃的地方的时候，他们躲避过了过高的热浪。不一会儿，每一个方向的火焰都开始减弱了，里头的人被包围在浓烟滚滚之中，但他们却非常安全，不会受到那无情的依然滚滚向前的火焰的吞噬了。

其他人把布置陷阱人的简单的权宜之计看成人类的又一奇迹，就好像菲尔迪南的追随者们说自己曾见过哥伦布让鸡蛋站立时的神情一样——尽管他们心中充满了感恩而不是嫉妒。

“太棒了！”米德尔顿说道，当他看到这个办法完全起了作用：“这简直是神来之笔。”

“年老的布置陷阱的人，”保罗叫道，他把手指从自己破破烂烂的衣兜里伸出来，“我曾经从蜂窝里捕过不少的蜜蜂，我了解树林的特点，但你这么做简直是把蜜蜂的毒刺从它身上摘掉却一点都不沾到蜜蜂身上！”

“成了——成了，”老人家回答道，他在自己成功之后似乎马上想到，不要再做什么了。“让大火再烧上半个钟头吧，然后我们再继续前进。草原需要时间冷却；赤脚的野兽在这样的热土地上用蹄子走路就像光脚走路的小姑娘一样柔弱。”

他们曾如此公开依赖的兽医，曾如此依靠他的经验来保命的兽医，则自顾自地观测着远处的动静，风偶尔从大片的烟堆的缺口吹出来，那大片大片的烟到此时已经遍布草原的各个角落。

——J.费尼莫尔·库珀