19-6-24 美国文学选读《痛苦的帐篷—熊口历险记》 A Tent in Agony

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A Tent in Agony - by Stephen Crane

Edited version

1.      Four men once came to a wet place in the forestto fish. They set up their tent upon a ridge of rocks from where they could hear the trees and the lake below. On fragrant hemlock boughs they slept the sleep of unsuccessful fishermen, for upon thelake the sun made them lazy and the rain made them wet. Finally, they ate thelast bit of bacon and smoked and burned the last fearful and wonderful hoecake.

2.      Immediately a little man volunteered to stayand hold the camp while the remaining three should go to the nearest farmhousefor supplies. They gazed at him dismally."There's only one of you--the devil makes a twin," they said in malediction,and disappeared down the hill.

3.      When it came night and the hemlocks began to closetheir flowers, they had not returned. The little man sat close to hiscompanion, the campfire, and encouraged it with logs. He puffed fiercely at a pipe, and watched a thousand shadows from the campfire which seemed towant to assault him. Suddenly, heheard the approach of something unknown: crackling of twigs and rustling of dead leaves.

4.      The little man arose slowly to his feet, hispipe dropped from his mouth, his knees touched each other, for they wereshaking with fear. "Hah!" he cried out. A growl replied and a bear paced into the light of the fire. Thelittle man supported himself with a tree and regarded his visitor.

5.      The bear was clearly a fighter and a bitolder, for the black of his coat had become yellowish-brown with age. There wasconfidence in his movements and arrogance in his small, twinkling eye. He rolledback his lips and showed his white teeth. The fire emphasized the red of hismouth. The little man had never before been confronted with something that terrible, and he could not deal withit. "Hah!" he roared. The bear interpreted this as the challenge of a gladiator.He approached warily.

6.      As he came near, the boots of fear weresuddenly upon the little man's feet. He cried out and then ran around thecampfire. "Ho!" said the bear to himself, "this thing won'tfight--it runs. Well, suppose I catch it." So he started to run around thecampfire also. The little man shrieked and ran furiously. Twice around theywent.

7.      The hand of heaven sometimes falls heavilyupon the righteous. The bear gaineddistance. In desperation the little man flew into the tent. The bear stoppedand sniffed at the entrance. He scented the scent of many men. Finally, hewalked in.

8.      The little man crouched in a distant corner. The bear advanced, creeping, hisblood burning, his hair straight up, his jaws dripping. The little man yelledand moved around clumsily in the tent. The bear made a jump to grab his game. The little man, now without thetent, felt a tremendous paw grabbing his coat. He squirmed and wriggled out ofhis coat like a schoolboy in the hands of his bully.

9.      The bear jerked the coat into the tent and took two bites, a punch and a hug before hediscovered his man was not in it. Then he grew not very angry, for a bear isnot a pirate. He lay down on hisback, took the coat on his four paws and began to play with it. The mostappalling yells came from where the little man was crying in a treetop. He moaned a little speech meant as aprayer and clung to the bendingbranches. He gazed with tears in his eyes at where the campfire was givingdying flickers and crackles.Finally, there was a roar from the tent which eclipsed all roars; a snarl which it seemed would shake the silence of the mountain and cause it to shrugits shoulders. The little man saw the white tent quiver and fall with a crash. The bear's merry play had disturbedthe centre pole and brought a chaos of canvas upon his head.

10.  Now the little man became the witness of a mightyscene. The tent began to flounder.It took flopping strides in the direction of the lake.Marvellous sounds came from within the tent--rips and tears, and great groans.The little man started giggling hysterically.

11.  So it came to pass that three men, clambering up the hill with bundles and baskets, saw their tentapproaching. It seemed to them like a white phantom that moaned. The three men dropped their bundles and ran toone side, their eyes gleaming withfear. The canvas ghost swept past them. They leaned against trees and listened,their blood froze. Below them the tent struck a great pine tree. The threewatched it a moment and then ran to the top of the hill. As they left, the bearcut loose from the tent with mighty efforts. He gave an agonized look at the white thing, and then started wildly back intothe forest.

12.  The three fear-stricken men ran to thecampfire. The little man was sitting by it calmly and was smoking. Theyimmediately overwhelmed him with questions. He only contemplated for a moment, took a long, pompous puff from hispipe and said: "There's only one of me--and the devil made a twin."