"Burroughs, Edgar Rice - People That Time Forgot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

tongue raced with time; yet all to no avail. I could say man
and tree and cliff and lion and a number of
other words in perfect Caspakian; but such a vocabulary was
only tantalizing; it did not lend itself well to a very general
conversation, and the result was that Ajor would wax so wroth
that she would clench her little fists and beat me on the
breast as hard as ever she could, and then she would sink back
laughing as the humor of the situation captured her.

She was trying to teach me some verbs by going through the
actions herself as she repeated the proper word. We were very
much engrossed--so much so that we were giving no heed to what
went on beyond our cave--when Ajor stopped very suddenly,
crying: "Kazor!" Now she had been trying to teach me that
ju meant stop; so when she cried kazor and at the same
time stopped, I thought for a moment that this was part of my
lesson--for the moment I forgot that kazor means beware.
I therefore repeated the word after her; but when I saw the
expression in her eyes as they were directed past me and saw
her point toward the entrance to the cave, I turned quickly--
to see a hideous face at the small aperture leading out into
the night. It was the fierce and snarling countenance of a
gigantic bear. I have hunted silvertips in the White
Mountains of Arizona and thought them quite the largest and
most formidable of big game; but from the appearance of the
head of this awful creature I judged that the largest grizzly I
had ever seen would shrink by comparison to the dimensions of a
Newfoundland dog.

Our fire was just within the cave, the smoke rising through the
apertures between the rocks that I had piled in such a way that
they arched inward toward the cliff at the top. The opening by
means of which we were to reach the outside was barricaded with
a few large fragments which did not by any means close it
entirely; but through the apertures thus left no large animal
could gain ingress. I had depended most, however, upon our
fire, feeling that none of the dangerous nocturnal beasts of
prey would venture close to the flames. In this, however, I
was quite evidently in error, for the great bear stood with his
nose not a foot from the blaze, which was now low, owing to the
fact that I had been so occupied with my lesson and my teacher
that I had neglected to replenish it.

Ajor whipped out her futile little knife and pointed to my rifle.
At the same time she spoke in a quite level voice entirely devoid
of nervousness or any evidence of fear or panic. I knew she was
exhorting me to fire upon the beast; but this I did not wish to
do other than as a last resort, for I was quite sure that even
my heavy bullets would not more than further enrage him--in which
case he might easily force an entrance to our cave.