Captain Grant's Children

Chapter 19 Red Wolf (1)
It is a moonless night.The faint starlight shone on the silently flowing Guamini River, and a thin mist rose on the water.Birds, beasts, insects and fish have all fallen asleep, and the earth is silent at this time.Feeling the control of the same natural laws, Glenarvan, Robert, and Tarcave also entered a deep sleep state.Glenarvan's and Robert's horses were also lying on the ground and fell asleep, but Taojia maintained his heroic posture as a rare horse and slept standing up.The yard was quite quiet, the last red light of the charcoal fire was still flickering.Takaf woke up at this moment.

It was 10 o'clock at night, and they had just slept for a while!Takaf opened his eyes, held his breath, and listened to everything quietly.A trace of uneasiness flitted across his face.Is it an Indian?Or a tiger?Or what beast?Something must be coming here!I'm guessing it's probably the last thing!After making this judgment in his heart, he immediately ran out to look at the pile of dried alfalfa in the yard.

Obviously, that wasn't enough to burn at all!Relying on fire cannot stop the attack of beasts for a long time.

Is there really no other way! ?Takaf was half lying on the ground, frowning tightly, motionless, as if awakened from a dream by sudden troubles.An hour passed.If it were someone else, I didn't hear any more sounds, and I lay down and fell asleep a long time ago.

But Tarcaf didn't. The Indian's unique sensitivity made him feel that the danger was approaching step by step!

At this time, Taojia also began to cry in a low voice, and its nostrils were blowing vigorously towards the field without fences.

Takaf sat up abruptly: Even "Taojia heard it." So he stood up and walked quickly to the door.

Although there was no sound, it was no longer the original tranquility just now.Shadows can be vaguely seen floating in the grass; some light spots flowing with the waves, flickering, like phosphorous fire in the swamp.Maybe you will say, that is the firefly in Pampas!But Takaf knew exactly what that was!I saw him grabbing a loaded gun and hiding on the side of the fence gate.After a while, there were mournful howls and barks on the grassland.The gun went off.The shrill bark instantly changed into a terrifying cry.

At this time, Glenarvan and Robert were both awakened by the gunshots, and they stood up immediately.

"What's the matter?" asked little Robert. "An Indian?" asked Glenarvan.

"No," Tarcaf replied, "it's 'Aguara'." Robert looked at Glenarvan in puzzlement. "'Aguala'?"

asked Robert.It's "red wolf! Red wolf unique to the pampas grassland!" Glenarvan replied.Meanwhile, they had grabbed their guns and ran to Tarcaf.

Tarcaf pointed them both out to the dark prairie from which the howling came.

Robert took a step back involuntarily after hearing this. "Scared, child?"

Glenarvan asked. "No, sir, I'm not afraid of anything as long as I'm with you!"

Robert said firmly to Sir. "Yeah, red wolves are nothing special, as long as they're not in packs, I won't even look at them!"

"Yes," said little Robert, "we've got guns, let them come!"

"Come, eat them!" Glenarvan said, entirely to reassure the child.With such a large group of beasts attacking together in the dark night, I think anyone will be terrified!There may be hundreds of wolves outside, but there are only three of us. Even if we have guns, it would be a disaster!Glenarvan understood that the red wolf that the Indians called "Aguala" was actually a hyena, a carnivorous beast that looked like a big dog but had a head like a fox.

The fur of the red wolf is brown red, and there is a black hair on the back.Red wolves are quick and agile, accustomed to inhabiting swampy areas, and can also hunt in water, often attacking cattle, sheep and horses.They are generally nocturnal, act in groups, and are extremely harmful.

In fact, people would rather face a jaguar in front of them than fight a pack of red wolves.Because these animals are in groups, you can't take care of the back when you hit the front, and you often suffer big losses.

Glenarvan could tell from the black shadows of the buildings and the howling sounds that the number of red wolves that came this time was not a small number.

They are not only aimed at horses, but also at people.The encirclement of the wolves is shrinking step by step.

The horses in the horse fence also neighed horribly, pawing the ground and breaking free from the reins.

The owners of the horses hurried over to pat and comfort them for a long time before they finally calmed down.Glenarvan and Robert's guns were aimed outside, ready to fire at the red wolf that was rushing forward.At this moment, Tarcaf suddenly grabbed their guns. "What does he mean by that?"

asked Robert. "Did he not let us shoot?" Glenarvan replied. "Why?" "Because the time has not yet come."

In fact, Tarcaf has more important reasons.Seeing him turn over the bullet pouch for the two of them to see, Glenarvan immediately understood what he meant. "how?"

Robert hurriedly asked Glenarvan. "It's to save ammunition. I went hunting today and used up a lot of bullets. There are less than 20 rounds left!" Robert said nothing. "Are you afraid, Robert?" "No, sir."

"Good boy." There was a bang, and another shot was fired.

A wolf that boldly rushed in was killed by Tarcaf's extremely accurate marksmanship.

Large groups of wolves lined up horizontally, crowding less than 100 steps away from them.

Tarcaf turned and waved to him; Glenarvan understood, and immediately went up to take his place.

Tarcaf then ran into the yard, and quickly piled up hay, dry clover, and everything that could be burned to the gate of the horse fence.

After that, he found a piece of coal and threw it into the grass.The fire started immediately.The flames sealed the door of the horse fence.Through the flames, you can clearly see that there are red wolves everywhere!
This was the first time Glenarvan had seen so many wolves.The fire kept the wolves out, which enraged them still more; a few even rushed to the fire, burned their hair in the raging fire, and retreated howling.

The wolves were also brewing, and groups of wolves rushed forward again, and at this time the gunshots rang out again.

Within an hour, 15 wolves had been lying down by the fire.As long as there is fire and ammunition, even the wolves outside seem to be nothing to fear.

But what if there is nothing to burn, not even ammunition?

Glenarvan looked at Robert, feeling very sad at this moment; but the courage shown by Robert was far beyond his years.Although his face looked pale, he was still clutching his gun tightly, ready to face the pounce of the red wolf at any time.

Glenarvan was nervously thinking about his next course of action.It can last for an hour at most, as long as the ammunition is exhausted, the consequences will be unimaginable.He yelled at Tarcaf, chatting with him intermittently in the few Spanish words he had.The reason for the intermittent phenomenon is firstly because there are not enough words, and secondly because we have to shoot at the wolves that pounce on us from time to time.It is very difficult for them to understand each other and understand each other's meaning only by language alone; fortunately, Glenarvan knows the habits of the red wolf well, so he can understand the gestures made by Tarcaf.

In spite of this, it was still a quarter of an hour before Glenarvan conveyed Tarcalf's meaning to Robert.

Glenarvan asked Tarcalf if there was any other way to deal with this hopeless situation?
"What did he say?" asked Robert.

"He said that no matter what, we must persist until dawn. The habit of red wolves is nocturnal, so they are afraid of the sun!"

"Then we must hold on until dawn!" "Yes, boy. If there is no ammunition, use a knife!" At this time Tarcaf was already using a knife; a wolf rushed to the fire, and the tower Kraft slashed through with his knife, and in an instant, he retracted the bloody knife.

(End of this chapter)