Then the branches closed over his head again (затем над его головой снова сомкнулись ветви; to close – закрывать/ся/; смыкаться), and Kala Nag began to go down into the valley (и Кала Наг начал спускаться в долину) – not quietly this time (не спокойно на этот раз), but as a runaway gun goes down a steep bank (а как сбежавшая = сорвавшаяся пушка спускается = катится с крутого берега; runaway – беглый, сбежавший) – in one rush (стремительно: «в одном броске»; rush – стремительное движение, бросок). The huge limbs moved as steadily as pistons (громадные ноги /слона/ двигались равномерно, точно поршни; limb – конечность /человека или животного/), eight feet to each stride (шагая через восемь футов сразу: «восемь футов на каждый шаг»), and the wrinkled skin of the elbow points rustled (и морщинистая кожа на сгибах /его ног/ шелестела; wrinkle – морщина, складка; elbow – локоть; изгиб; point – точка; to rustle – трещать, шелестеть).
Toomai leaned forward and looked, and he felt that the forest was awake below him – awake and alive and crowded. A big brown fruit-eating bat brushed past his ear; a porcupine’s quills rattled in the thicket; and in the darkness between the tree stems he heard a hog-bear digging hard in the moist warm earth, and snuffing as it digged.
Then the branches closed over his head again, and Kala Nag began to go down into the valley – not quietly this time, but as a runaway gun goes down a steep bank – in one rush. The huge limbs moved as steadily as pistons, eight feet to each stride, and the wrinkled skin of the elbow points rustled.
