He bore away to the left, stopping now and again to eat muskeg berries. His ankle had stiffened, his limp was more pronounced, but the pain of it was as nothing compared with the pain of his stomach. The hunger pangs were sharp. They gnawed and gnawed until he could not keep his mind steady on the course he must pursue to gain the land of little sticks. The muskeg berries did not allay this gnawing, while they made his tongue and the roof of his mouth sore with their irritating bite.
He came upon a valley (он натолкнулся на лощину; to come upon – натолкнуться на что-либо, неожиданно найти что-либо) where rock ptarmigan rose on whirring wings from the ledges and muskegs (где с /каменных/ уступов и торфяной почвы поднялись на хлопающих крыльях скальные белые куропатки; to rise – подниматься, вставать). Ker – ker – ker was the cry they made («кыр-кыр-кыр» было криком, который они издавали). He threw stones at them (он бросал по ним камнями; to throw – бросать), but could not hit them (но не мог попасть в них; to hit – ударять; поражать; попадать в цель). He placed his pack on the ground and stalked them as a cat stalks a sparrow (он положил ранец на землю и стал подкрадываться к ним, как кот подкрадывается к воробью). The sharp rocks cut through his pants’ legs (острые камни прорезали: «резали сквозь» его штанины) till his knees left a trail of blood (пока его колени не оставили = не стали оставлять кровавую дорожку); but the hurt was lost in the hurt of his hunger (но эта боль потерялась в боли от его голода). He squirmed over the wet moss (он двигался, извиваясь, по мокрому мху; to squirm – извиваться, изгибаться; двигаться извиваясь /как змея, червяк/), saturating his clothes and chilling his body (пропитывая /водой/ одежду и охлаждая тело; to saturate – насыщать, пропитывать); but he was not aware of it (но он не осознавал этого; aware of – осознающий /что-либо/), so great was his fever for food (так велико было его нервное возбуждение /в погоне/ за пищей; fever – лихорадка). And always the ptarmigan rose, whirring, before him (а белые куропатки все время поднимались, вспархивая с шелестом крыльев перед ним; to whirr – проноситься с шумом, свистом; вспархивать /с шумом/), till their ker – ker – ker became a mock to him (пока их «кыр-кыр-кыр» не стало насмешкой над ним), and he cursed them and cried aloud at them with their own cry (и он проклинал их и кричал во все горло на них их /же/ собственным криком; aloud – вслух; во весь голос, громко, громогласно; loud – громкий).
He came upon a valley where rock ptarmigan rose on whirring wings from the ledges and muskegs. Ker – ker – ker was the cry they made. He threw stones at them, but could not hit them. He placed his pack on the ground and stalked them as a cat stalks a sparrow. The sharp rocks cut through his pants’ legs till his knees left a trail of blood; but the hurt was lost in the hurt of his hunger. He squirmed over the wet moss, saturating his clothes and chilling his body; but he was not aware of it, so great was his fever for food. And always the ptarmigan rose, whirring, before him, till their ker – ker – ker became a mock to him, and he cursed them and cried aloud at them with their own cry.
Once he crawled upon one that must have been asleep (однажды он наткнулся на одну, которая, наверное, спала). He did not see it till it shot up in his face from its rocky nook (он не видел ее, пока она не взлетела ему в лицо из своего скального укрытия; to shoot up – вскочить, взлететь; nook – угол; укромный