Lesson 7 The Dog Nobody Owned
Robert Murphy
The setter① first came to Jack Barlow’s door soon after he moved into the little village. Barlow wondered if the dog would be any good on grouse②. “Who owns the big setter?” he asked Gibney, the hotel manager.
“Nobody,” Gibney said, “and nobody ever w ill. But if I were you, I’d leave it alone.” His answer puzzled Barlow.
A few days later the dog was back. Barlow took it for a walk in the woods. It quartered③ back and forth like an expert.
The next day the grouse season opened. As Barlow ate his breakfast, he made several trips to the door to see if the dog had come. There was no sign of it. At last Barlow got into his jeep and drove off alone. He hunted all day and didn’t see one grouse.
But the next morning the setter was sitting on his porch. It followed him to the jeep and they drove off together.
In the woods the setter led Barlow across a stream. Then suddenly the dog disappeared. Barlow stopped to listen for it. A cloud covered the sun. A cold w ind sprang up. Thunder rolled④. Then all at once the sun came out again and the w ind fell. Barlow looked about him. The trees were huge, towering⑤. He seemed to be in an area where the trees had never been cut down. But how could that be? All the timber in that region⑥ had been thoroughly cut more than fifty years ago. In his shock Barlow forgot about the dog. When he looked for it again, the setter was pointing⑦.
Barlow moved in. A grouse flew up. Another followed. Barlow shot it. Then twelve more birds flew up.
Barlow couldn’t believe his eyes. No one had seen fourteen grouse together in that area for years. A queer feeling of unreality took hold of him.
The rest of the morning was the same. The setter found grouse everywhere. About noon Barlow heard the beating of many w ings above him. He looked up to see a great flock of birds passing between him and the sun. Barlow suddenly recognized them as passenger pigeons. He had read about the flocks of passenger pigeons that had once been so common in North America. But they had been gone from the earth for years.
Fear seized Barlow. He was alone in a strange world. Somehow he must have gone back in time—perhaps even to the days before white men settled in North America. He started to run madly, fighting his way through fallen timber. When he stopped at last to catch his breath, he saw the second-grow th timber around him once again. There were no more of the great ancient trees and no more pigeons. He sobbed with relief⑧.
By evening Barlow was calmer. He cleaned the six grouse he had shot that morning. Then he walked to the hotel to find Gibney. “I guess you did it,” Gibney said.
“Yes,” said Barlow. “Maybe now you can tell me what it was all about.”
“It’s quite a story,” Gibney said. “You see, that dog once belonged to a grouse hunter named Michaels. One day the dog displeased Michaels in some way. So he killed the beast. Later Michaels himself died. Then the dog began to be seen again. It would wait for grouse hunters. It would show them how good it was. And then it would take them back many years in time for the best hunt of their lives. But after that it would never have anything to do with them again.”
“Never?” Barlow asked. He was thinking of the big flocks of grouse, the great trees. He wanted to go back to that place.
“No,” said Gibney, “You can coax⑨ it all you want. But the dog—or whatever it is—will never come near you again.”
(651 words)
Notes
① setter [setə(r)] n. 塞特种猎狗
② grouse [ɡraʊs] n. 松鸡
③ quarter [ˑkwɔ:tə] vi. 到处搜索，来回搜索
n. 四分之一；一刻钟
④ roll [rəʊl] v. 发出持续震动的声音；（使）滚动
n. 卷；卷状物
⑤ towering [ˑtaʊərɪŋ] adj. 极高的，高大的
⑦ point [pɔɪnt] vi. (指猎狗)站定并用头指示猎物方向
⑧ relief [rɪˑli:f] n. (痛苦、困苦、忧虑等的) 减轻或解除
⑨ coax [kəʊks] vt. 哄骗，劝诱
Exercises
Ⅰ. How well did you read?
1. [See the reason] Nobody owned the dog because nobody could___.
A. make it stay with him
B. pay for it
C. feed it enough
2. [Note the facts] The dog didn’t go hunting with Barlow until___.
A. the day Gibney told him to leave it alone
B. the second day of the grouse season
C. the last day of the grouse season
3. [Grasp the main idea] Paragraph 6 tells about___.
A. a terrible hailstorm that came up
B. a change in Barlow’s surroundings
C. a strange dream Barlow had
4. [Follow the order] The first strange thing Barlow noticed was___.
A. the large number of grouse
B. the sound of passenger pigeons
C. the size of the trees
5. [See the reason] The pigeons frightened Barlow because___.
A. he didn’t like to be near birds
B. they made a great deal of noise
C. he knew they’d died out years before
6. [Note the fact] From the strange world he visited, Barlow brought back___.
A. grouse B. acorns C. nothing
7. [Read between the lines] Gibney’s story suggests that the dog was really a___.
A. ghost B. watchdog C. wolf
Ⅱ. Read for words and exp ressions
1. Choose one best paraphrase for the underlined words.
(1) All the timber in that region had been thoroughly cut more than fifty years ago. (Para. 6)
A. woods B. plants C. grass
(2) No one had seen fourteen grouse together in that area for years. A queer feeling of unreality took hold of him. (Para. 8)
A. exciting B. frightening C. strange
2. Choose one best paraphrase for the underlined expressions.
(1) A cloud covered the sun. A cold w ind sprang up. Thunder rolled. (Para. 6)
A. started suddenly
B. died down
C. stopped suddenly
(2) When he stopped at last to catch his breath, he saw the second-grow th timber around him once again. (Para. 10)
A. ancient trees B. young trees C. fallen trees
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