登陆注册
15467600000044

第44章

"Why don't you speak to the pastor, and have him arrested?" said Arnfinn, impatient of Hans's long-winded recital.

"No, no, say nothing to father," demanded Augusta, eagerly. "Why should you arrest a poor man as long as he does nothing worse than sleep in the barns in the out-fields?""As you say, miss," retorted Hans, and departed.

The moon came up pale and mist-like over the eastern mountain ridges, struggled for a few brief moments feebly with the sunlight, and then vanished.

"It is strange," said Arnfinn, "how everything reminds me of Strand to- night.What gloriously absurd apostrophes to the moon he could make! I have not told you, cousin, of a very singular gift which he possesses. He can attract all kinds of birds and wild animals to himself; he can imitate their voices, and they flock around him, as if he were one of them, without fear of harm.""How delightful," cried Augusta, with sudden animation. "What a glorious man your friend must be!""Because the snipes and the wild ducks like him? You seem to have greater confidence in their judgment than in mine.""Of course I have--at least as long as you persist in joking.But,jesting aside, what a wondrously beautiful life he must lead whom Nature takes thus into her confidence; who has, as it were, an inner and subtler sense, corresponding to each grosser and external one; who is keen- sighted enough to read the character of every individual beast, and has ears sensitive to the full pathos of joy or sorrow in the song of the birds that inhabit our woodlands.""Whether he has any such second set of senses as you speak of, I don't know; but there can be no doubt that his familiarity, not to say intimacy, with birds and beasts gives him a great advantage as a naturalist. I suppose you know that his little book has been translated into French, and rewarded with the gold medal of the Academy.""Hush!What is that?" Augusta sprang up, and held her hand to herear.

"Some love-lorn mountain-cock playing yonder in the pine copse,"suggested Arnfinn, amused at his cousin's eagerness.

"You silly boy! Don't you know the mountain- cock never plays except at sunrise?""He would have a sorry time of it now, then, when there IS no sunrise.""And so he has; he does not play except in early spring."The noise, at first faint, now grew louder. It began with a series of mellow, plaintive clucks that followed thickly one upon another, like smooth pearls of sound that rolled through the throat in a continuous current; then came a few sharp notes as of a large bird that snaps his bill; then a long, half-melodious rumbling, intermingled with cacklings and snaps, and at last, a sort of diminuendo movement of the same round, pearly clucks. There was a whizzing of wing-beats in the air; two large birds swept over their heads and struck down into the copse whence the sound had issued.

"This is indeed a most singular thing," said Augusta, under her breath, and with wide-eyed wonder. "Let us go nearer, and see what it can be.""I am sure I can go if you can," responded Arnfinn, not any too eagerly. "Give me your hand, and we can climb the better."As they approached the pine copse, which

projected like a promontory from the line of the denser forest, the noise ceased, and only the plaintive whistling of a mountain-hen, calling her scattered young together, and now and then the shrill response of a snipe to the cry of its lonely mate, fell upon the summer night, not as an interruption, but as an outgrowth of the very silence. Augusta stole with soundless tread through the transparent gloom which lingered under those huge black crowns, and Arnfinn followed impatiently after. Suddenly she motioned to him to stand still, and herself bent forward in an attitude of surprise and eager observation. On the ground, some fifty steps from where she was stationed, she saw a man stretched out full length, with a knapsack under his head, and surrounded by a flock of downy, half-grown birds, which responded with a low, anxious piping to his alluring cluck, then scattered with sudden alarm, only to return again in the same curious, cautious fashion as before. Now and then there was a great flapping of wings in the trees overhead, and a heavy brown and black speckled mountain-hen alighted close to the man's head, stretched out her neck toward him, cocked her head, called her scattered brood together, and departed with slow and deliberate wing-beats.

同类推荐
  • 邵兰荪医案

    邵兰荪医案

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 元史纪事本末

    元史纪事本末

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 相贝经

    相贝经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 定庵诗话续编

    定庵诗话续编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 大般涅槃经后分

    大般涅槃经后分

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 花千骨之校园风波

    花千骨之校园风波

    花千骨死后轮回到了现代,身怀异香的她没有朋友朋友,因在上世死之前让所有人复活,让白子画不老不死,白子画找到了她,与所有人接连相遇,并且所有人合力帮她恢复记忆,重生后的她还会选择谁呢?
  • 贪恋,霸道男神不要追

    贪恋,霸道男神不要追

    你给我记住,这辈子你就是我的人,不管你逃到天涯海角,我都要把你追回来!
  • 我的修炼之路

    我的修炼之路

    一切都在主角遇到一个神秘和尚之后开始变得不同。一个预言将在江湖上带来腥风血雨——一个已死之人与一个失忆之妖将释放死者之魂。爱恨情仇,各大门派纷争,面对重重困难,“我”究竟该何去何从……
  • 邪王嗜宠:倾城逆天小姐

    邪王嗜宠:倾城逆天小姐

    前世遗憾,今生弥补,前世离影无缘相爱相守,今生她不认识他,他也不认识她,这一生,他们都将比上一世坎坷,前世,她痛不欲生,今生,她狠戾冷绝,宁可她负天下人,也不愿天下人负她;前世,他未能守护好她,为雪之戒杀了她,今生,他忘掉了一切,却只想弥补前世遗憾,和她从头开始,不顾一切追寻,只为一朝能够相爱相守。他们的未来必定披荆斩棘。可是就在那一日,那一刻,雪之界横空出世,那段记忆终于回到了她的脑海中,而他也恢复记忆,他爱她,但是他却杀了她,她在前世说好定将他变得生不如死,但她也爱他,她愿与他天长地久,她拔剑刺杀了他,他没有反抗。十年之约,她喝下毒药,来到奈何桥边,遇见的,还是那个他.......
  • 羽麟天尊

    羽麟天尊

    他,眼睁睁看着,他国家硝烟四起,却无能为力;他的子民被践踏掠杀,他只能袖手旁观;他的父母被敌国斩首,他只能淡定自若;他是亡国之子,他是未来希望,他要在天下间,银河间立刀磨剑,他要……报仇!
  • 鼎国佳人

    鼎国佳人

    她是一个高贵的公主,年幼失散,聪明、美丽、多才多艺。相认前,她过得非常坎坷;相认后,她享尽荣华富贵。
  • 弑神噬天

    弑神噬天

    原本普普通通的高中生叶恒,因一次意外而死亡,死后发现自己竟然变成了一具骷髅,一次偶遇,让他得到了黑暗与火之王的传承,重新变回“人类”。但,随即而来的也有变回人类所付出的代价:拥有自己的势力,毁灭光明神殿……
  • 为了理想去奋斗(保持学生良好心态的故事全集)

    为了理想去奋斗(保持学生良好心态的故事全集)

    走进如歌的生命,走过诗意的青春。曾几何时,我们叹息时光的飞逝,叹惋落日的凄美,却任凭美好从身边转瞬即逝。不是青春短暂、岁月苍白,而是我们不曾将它涂上丰富的色彩。何不于喧闹中体会宁静,于繁杂中感受简约,以平静的心情看待得失,以良好的心态面对功利,“不以物喜,不以己悲”才是人生之大境界。
  • 算道与胜局:做成心中事的16种行动绝学

    算道与胜局:做成心中事的16种行动绝学

    大家知道,天下事并非皆可手到擒来,更多的是需要与之不断地“较劲”,才能有所成。因此,你所掌握的算道多少,往往起决定性的作用——善用之,则无坚不摧;不善用之,则百试不灵。那么,又如何运用算道呢?这正是本书关心的一个重要问题。为此,全书分析了许多有关“算道”的类型,可供大家参考:
  • 傲天之掌控宇宙

    傲天之掌控宇宙

    讲述一个盘古身死之后力量的来源被封引.后被一个少年来吸取了这个力量.之后他的一生就从此改变.