NCERT Book Class 8 English (It So Happened) Chapter 6 The fight

6 The fight
I
• Ranji discovers a pool in the forest and plunges into it for a swim.
• There is serious trouble between him and someone else over who
has a right to the pool. A fight ensues.
• The first round ends in a draw.

RANJI had been less than a month in Rajpur when he discovered the
pool in the forest. It was the height of summer, and his school had
not yet opened, and, having as yet made no friends in this semi-hill
station, he wandered about a good deal by himself into the hills
and forests that stretched away interminably on all sides of the
town. It was hot, very hot, at that time of the year, and Ranji walked
about in his vest and shorts, his brown feet white with the chalky
dust that flew up from the ground. The earth was parched, the
grass brown, the trees listless, hardly stirring, waiting for a cool
wind or a refreshing shower of rain.
It was on such a day — a hot, tired day — that Ranji found the
pool in the forest. The water had a gentle translucency, and you
could see the smooth round pebbles at the bottom of the pool. A
small stream emerged from a cluster of rocks to feed the pool. During
the monsoon, this stream would be a gushing torrent, cascading
down from the hills, but during the summer, it was barely a trickle.
interminably: endlessly parched: hot and dry translucency: clarity (possible to see
through) torrent: rushing stream (of water) cascading: coming down (like a waterfall)
trickle: weak or thin flow of water.