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The Big Buffalo Bass
大布法罗河鲈鱼
Weldon Stone
韦尔登·斯通
I had first heard of him two years before, when I had just begun to fall in love with the Big Buffalo River. That day I had been walking slowly downstream, doing more exploring than fishing, when I came to a spring shaded by a giant tree. I drank my fill, rolled a cigarette, and sat down to rest. Suddenly, across the river, I spotted a squirrel in a scrubby pine, and then, lower down, I saw a man sitting on a rock. He had a gun held ready and he was staring into the river below him.
我第一次听说他还是在两年前，那时我刚刚开始喜欢上大布法罗河。那天，我正沿着河边慢慢往下游走，与其说是在钓鱼不如说是在进行考察，后来我来到了一棵大树遮阴的泉水旁。我先喝了个饱，卷了一支烟，坐下来休息。突然，在河对面，我发现一棵、松树上有一只松鼠，再往下看，一个男人正坐在一块岩石上，他端着杆枪，眼睛盯着下面的河水，做好了随时开枪的准备。
I whistled. The man looked at me, and I pointed to the squirrel. He casually lifted the gun and fired. The report of the gun, rebounding from the bluff, was deafening.
我吹了声口哨。那人看了看我，我用手指了指那松鼠。他漫不经心地端起枪，开了火。枪声从周围峭壁上回荡过来，震耳欲聋。
A few minutes later he appeared on the spring path and dropped the squirrel at my feet.
几分钟后，他出现在泉水边的小道上，把松鼠丢在了我的脚下。
It's yours he said and, leaning his rifle against the tree, kneeled down and drank from the spring.
“它是你的，”他说着，把他的来复枪靠在树上，跪下去，喝起泉水来。
But you shot it, I protested.
“但那是你打下来的，”我表示不同意。
I don't hanker after squirrel meat, he replied, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“我可不爱吃松鼠肉，”他一边回答，一边用手背擦了擦嘴。
I pulled out my sack of tobacco and offered it. He rolled a cigarette and handed it back to me without a word.
我拿出自己的烟袋递给他。他卷了一支烟，然后一言不发地把烟袋又还给了我。
Well, he said finally, "I reckon I'll go on home," and, picking up his rifle, he walked away.
“好了，”他最后开口道，“我想我该回家了。”他拿起来复枪，走开了。
He had scarcely disappeared when I heard a rustling of leaves behind me and a man stepped out of the undergrowth in back of the spring.
他刚刚消失，我就听到身后有树叶沙沙作响，一个人从泉水后面的灌木丛中走了出来。
