LESSON 34 Capturing the wild horse

第三十四课 围捕野马

We left the buffalo camp about eight o'clock, and had a toilsome and harassing march of two hours, over ridges of hills covered with a ragged forest of scrub oaks and broken by deep gullies.

我们从水牛营地出发时大概八点钟，爬山涉水走了两个小时。山上满是矮橡树和遍地的深壑。

About ten o'clock in the morning we came to where this line of rugged hills swept down into a valley, through which flowed the north fork of Red River. A beautiful meadow, about half a mile wide, enamelled with yellow autumnal flowers, stretched for two or three miles along the foot of the hills.

大约上午十点，我们来到一处山谷，这里可通向红河谷的北支流。一片大约半英里宽的草地上开满了秋天的花朵，黄油油的一片，沿着山脚延伸出两三英里外。

The meadow was finely diversified by groves and clumps of trees, so happily disposed that they seemed as if set out by the hand of Art. As we cast our eyes over this fresh and delightful valley, we beheld a troop of wild horses, quietly grazing on a green lawn about a mile distant, to our right; while to our left, at nearly the same distance, were several buffaloes, some feeding, others reposing and ruminating, among the high, rich herbage, under the shade of a clump of cotton-wood trees. The whole had the appearance of a broad beautiful tract of pasture-land on the highly ornamental estate of some gentleman farmer, with his cattle grazing about the lawns and meadows.

树丛将草地装点得很美，布局之精妙像是艺术之手的作品。顺着山谷放眼望去，我们看到了一群野马，在我们右边一英里外的草地上静静地吃草；但是，在我们左边大约同样远的地方有几头水牛，在又高又肥的牧草从中和杨树林的树荫下，它们有的在吃草，有的躺在地上歇息。这一景象很好看，就像是在一个精心护理的农场中，牧民们在草地上放牧的景象。

A council of war was now held, and it was determined to profit by the present favourable opportunity, and try our hand at the grand hunting man?uvre, which is called "ringing the wild horse." This requires a large party of horsemen, well mounted. They extend themselves in every direction, at certain distances apart, and gradually form a ring of two or three miles in circumference, so as to surround the game. This must be done with extreme care, for the wild horse is the most readily alarmed inhabitant of the prairie, and can scent a hunter at a great distance, if to windward.

我们开始讨论要如何开始猎杀，最后决定利用当前有利时机，在大围捕中大显身手，我们把这个计划称为“围捕野马。“这需要很多骑术精湛的骑士。他们往四方去，在一定距离分开，渐渐形成一个两到三英里的圆圈，以此来保卫猎物。这需要非常小心，因为野马上草原上最警觉的动物，如果他们迎风站立，很远就能嗅到猎人的气味。

The ring being formed, two or three ride toward the horses, which start off in the opposite direction.

包围圈已经形成，两三个骑士从不同的方向开始向马群方向去。