i subconsciously1（潜意识地） thought it odd to see *ll any where outside his home - i had actually n*r seen him anywhere but within about 10 yards of his house. he rarely ventured *n outside of his backyard domain2, but the fuss next-door but two drew him. seeing him now was like looking at a lost member of captain scott's antarctic expedition - not only that, but he was walking straight into a mantrap in his carpet slippers3.
*ngo was in no mood to be talked down, won over with tid *ts, clucked at, cooed（咕咕叫） over or asked:
"whassamarrer then yer silly lad? eh, whassup with him then?"
dad called over the rose trellis（格子，框架） work which arched unsteadily across our shoulder high wall:
"i should leave well enough alone here, *ll!"
*ll peeked4 between the gaps in the trellis:
"oh, it's only old *ngo! what the dickens are you doing here, you daft bugger?"
"he'll have you, *ll, he's gone for me - you want to see what he did to the mop as i was keeping him back with!"
*ngo was anxiously glancing from one to the other, from dad to *ll and back again. he had his mouth open, and his tongue hanging as he panted, his longer teeth visible.
the dog was waiting for one of the men to make a move.
"barrie, let me tell yer, i'm not much good with ba*es, i'm hopeless with cars, but dogs ... well, i've got a way with dogs," said *ll, and he pinched out the cigarette nub, and placed it behind his ear.
*ll moved to open our back yard gate, and my dad was alarmed,
"*ll, leave it, i mean it! he'll bloody6 have you!"
by now, *ngo had lost all sense of his original mission, and was hell bent7 on a vengeance8（复仇） which he had lost control of. *ngo noticed that *ll had disappeared from the wall, and detected the movement of the gate handle. the dog curled his lip, and sloped toward the widening gap, and *ll's slippered9 feet.
my father later described *ngo's movement as reminding him of a hyena10（土狼） , shoulders hunched11, head low, eyes sliding from side to side as he kept watch on all movement around him - a low, guttural（咽喉的） growl12 creating violent mood music.
my father moved gently to get behind the dog, and in particular, the dog's hind5 quarters - he meant to get a good kick at *ngo's backside. *ll saw this, and gestured for my father to stop. *ll walked slowly backward away from the gate, and into the backs, and *ngo tracked him, now toe to toe with an enemy on whom he was going to unleash13 his thwarted14（挫败的） venom15.
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