"Bierce, Ambrose - The Damned Thing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bierce Ambrose)

yards in advance. Suddenly, we heard, at a little distance to our right, and
partly in front, a noise as of some animal thrashing about in the bushes, which
we could see were violently agitated.
"'We've started a deer,' I said. 'I wish we had brought a rifle.'
"Morgan, who had stopped and was intently watching the agitated chaparral, said
nothing, but had cocked both barrels of his gun, and was holding it in readiness
to aim. I thought him a trifle excited, which surprised me, for he had a
reputation for exceptional coolness, even in moments of sudden and imminent
peril.
"'O, come!' I said. 'You are not going to fill up a deer with quail-shot, are
you?'
"Still he did not reply; but, catching a sight of his face as he turned it
slightly toward me, I was struck by the pallor of it. Then I understood that we
had serious business on hand, and my first conjecture was that we had 'jumped' a
grizzly. I advanced to Morgan's side, cocking my piece as I moved.
"The bushes were now quiet, and the sounds had ceased, but Morgan was as
attentive to the place as before.
"'What is it? What the devil is it?' I asked.
"'That Damned Thing!' he replied, without turning his head. His voice was husky
and unnatural. He trembled visibly.
"I was about to speak further, when I observed the wild oats near the place of
the disturbance moving in the most inexplicable way. I can hardly describe it.
It seemed as if stirred by a streak of wind, which not only bent it, but pressed
it downЧ crushed it so that it did not rise, and this movement was slowly
prolonging itself directly toward us, "Nothing that I had ever seen had affected
me so strangely as this unfamiliar and unaccountable phenomenon, yet I am unable
to recall any sense of fear. I rememberЧ and tell it here because, singularly
enough, I recollected it thenЧ that once, in looking carelessly out of an open
window, I momentarily mistook a small tree close at hand for one of a group of
larger trees at a little distance away. It looked the same size as the others,
but, being more distinctly and sharply defined in mass and detail, seemed out of
harmony with them. It was a mere falsification of the law of aerial perspective,
but it startled, almost terrified me. We so rely upon the orderly operation of
familiar natural laws that any seeming suspension of them is noted as a menace
to our safety, a warning of unthinkable calamity. So now the apparently
causeless movement of the herbage, and the slow, undeviating approach of the
line of disturbance were distinctly disquieting. My companion appeared actually
frightened, and I could hardly credit my senses when I saw him suddenly throw
his gun to his shoulders and fire both barrels at the agitated grass! Before the
smoke of the discharge had cleared away I heard a loud savage cryЧ a scream like
that of a wild animalЧ and, flinging his gun upon the ground, Morgan sprang away
and ran swiftly from the spot. At the same instant I was thrown violently to the
ground by the impact of something unseen in the smokeЧ some soft, heavy
substance that seemed thrown against me with great force.
"Before I could get upon my feet and recover my gun, which seemed to have been
struck from my hands, I heard Morgan crying out as if in mortal agony, and
mingling with his cries were such hoarse, savage sounds as one hears from
fighting dogs. Inexpressibly terrified, I struggled to my feet and looked in the
direction of Morgan's retreat; and may heaven in mercy spare me from another
sight like that! At a distance of less than thirty yards was my friend, down