老沙頭被火燙了似的跳起來，跑向門外，朝蛇裏張望。他的心縮緊了，不敢承認的事情被證實了：他們在佗子裏打獵！
他能數得清沱子裏有幾窩野兔，有幾隻山雞。承包後這幾年，沱子裏有了些草木，好不容易出現了飛禽走獸，現在正是繁殖的旺季，哪堪這般殺戮！老頭兒痛悔不迭。
他突然想起那隻老沙狐！他渾身一顫。不好，它帶著患子，千萬別碰上他們的槍口！他焦the departing party and then moved his stiff legstowards the chickens in his yard. Here in thedesert, he usually let them roam the dunes, sothey were quite wild. He chased them andcouldn't catch a feather. Panting and angry, hecollected the eggs, went in for a handful of riceand called them. The chickens quickly followedhim in. He closed the door behind them.
The room was instantly in a commotion asthe chickens cackled and fluttered among thepots and rice bowls.
A shot rang out from way down the dunes asthe old man was happily slaughtering his chick-ens. He did it in a strange way, breaking thechicken's spine first, twisting its head round totuck under a wing, then dashing it to the groundso that its legs stretched and went stiff. In thisway he killed six, one for each person to eat andtwo for the men to take away. He did not grudgethem, for chickens, growing mainly on theirown in the dunes, were nothing precious. Thesound of the gunshot stunned him. He gaped and心了，不由得抬步朝佗子裏跑去。可沙佗茫茫，人在何處？他跑得上氣不接下氣，胸脯急劇起伏。他停下來歇息，觀望起周圍的沙佗。對這周圍的世界他太熟悉了，熟悉每座沙包，每棵植物。他知道這裏年降水量才幾十毫米，蒸發量卻達到近一千毫米， 炎熱幹旱主宰著一切，每棵植物為生存不得不都畸形發展。它們有的縮小自己的綠葉麵積，減少水分的蒸發，如怪柳把葉子縮小成珠狀或棒狀，沙篙的葉先碎裂成絲狀，梭梭和沙拐棗幹脆把葉片退化幹淨，全靠枝杆進行光合作用。為了躲避沙沱裏咄咄逼人的紫外線照射，在強光下生存，多數植物又演變成灰白色以反射陽光。為了逆境中生存，可以說，沙漠裏的所有生命每時每刻都在死亡的鬥爭中成長著。他欽佩這裏的植物和動物，把這裏的所有生命都當作自己的同夥和楷模，當作不畏懼沙漠這妖魔的勇士。這裏，為對付沙漠這妖魔，人、獸和草木結成了和諧的自然聯盟。
老沙頭振作起來，向前走去。
這時迎麵來了一位騎者。原來是他的女兒dashed outside, cocking his ear towards thedunes, but they had fallen silent again.
"Perhaps it went off accidentally, or theywere shooting for fun, " he consoled himself. Hereturned indoors, where the six plucked chickenslay in a row on the chopping board waiting to becooked.
"Bang! Bang!" More shots rang out.
Jumping up as if scalded, he dashed out andlooked towards the dunes, his heart contracting.What he had dreaded was happening: They werehunting.
He knew on his finger tips how many haresand pheasants there were in the dunes. After hehad contracted and planted the dunes, animalsand birds had begun to appear in the last fewyears. It was now breeding time. It wouldn't doto slaughter them like this. He could have kickedhimself.
The thought of the fox made him shudder.She had cubs. Let her stay clear of them. Hisanxiety carried him flying towards the dunes.But where were they? His chest heaved as hepanted along. He stopped to take a breath andlooked around at the world he was so familiar沙柳！老頭兒默默地望著女兒。女兒臉上那股高興勁沒有了，不敢正視父親那雙眼睛，低下了頭。緘默。
“他們在打獵……”
老沙頭默不作聲，望著她。
“…打咱們的野兔、山雞……”
老頭兒仍然盯著女兒的那張顯得疲倦的臉。
“他們的槍法真準，該死的！佗子外邊的人都這麼壞嗎？”