Chapter 1

The Ninth Nugget

第九个金块

Chapter 1 Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose watched the small airplane rise into the late afternoon sky. They'd just arrived in Bozeman, Montana, for a week's vacation at the Western Wheat dude ranch. As the kids waited outside the airport for their ride, the sky turned purple. The sun slipped slowly

丁克、乔希和露丝·罗斯看着那架小飞机升上了傍晚的天空。 他们刚到蒙大拿州的波兹曼，在西部小麦度假农场度过一周的假期。 当孩子们在机场外等车时，天空变成了紫色。 太阳慢慢地落下

behind the mountains. "What time is it?" Josh asked. "They said someone would pick us up at five o'clock." Ruth Rose checked her watch. "It's twenty past," she said. Dink shielded his eyes against the setting sun. "This might be him," he said. A dusty station wagon pulled up and stopped. A lanky, smiling guy swung out of the driver's seat. "Are you the kids from Connecticut?" he asked. Dink nodded. "Are you from Wheat Ranch?" "You betcha, and welcome to Montana!" the man said. "Sorry I'm late. I'm Jud Wheat." "I'm Dink, and these are my friends Josh and Ruth Rose," Dink said. Jud was long-legged and looked about twenty years old. He wore jeans, a western shirt, and scuffed cowboy boots. "Let me get your stuff," Jud said. He grabbed the kids' backpacks and slung them into the car through a rear window.

在山的后面。“现在几点了?”杰克问。 “他们说五点钟会有人来接我们。” 露丝·罗斯看了看表。 “过二十分了，”她说。 丁克遮住眼睛，挡住夕阳的余晖。 “这可能就是他，”他说。 一辆满是灰尘的旅行车停了下来。 一个瘦长、面带微笑的家伙从驾驶座上晃了出来。 “你们是康涅狄格来的孩子吗?”他问。 丁克点点头。“你是从小麦牧场来的吗?”“当然，欢迎来到蒙大拿!”那人说。 “对不起，我迟到了。我是贾德·惠特。” “我是丁克，这是我的朋友乔希和露丝·罗斯，”丁克说。 朱迪长着两条腿，看上去有二十来岁。 他穿着牛仔裤、西式衬衫和磨破的牛仔靴。 “我来帮你拿东西，”贾德说。 他抓起孩子们的书包，从后窗扔进了车里。

"Hop in and let's ride!" he said. Ruth Rose and Josh rode up front with Jud. Dink sat behind them with the backpacks, a jumble of harnesses, and a saddle. "What's that smell?" Josh asked. Jud laughed. "Some of it's horse, some of it's leather, and the rest is me," he said as he pulled onto the main road. Only a few other cars and trucks shared the country road. Through his window, Dink saw plenty of flat land and millions of cows behind neat fences. "You kids looking forward to riding horses this week?" Jud asked.

“上车，我们一起骑吧!”他说。 露丝·罗斯和乔希和朱迪一起骑在前面。 丁克坐在他们后面，背着背包、一堆背带和马鞍。 “那是什么味道?”杰克问。 Jud笑了。“有些是马的，有些是皮的，剩下的是我，”他边说边把车开上主干道。 只有其他几辆汽车和卡车共用这条乡村公路。 透过窗户，丁克看到了大片平坦的土地和整齐的栅栏后面的数百万头牛。 “孩子们，你们期待这周骑马吗?”Jud问道。

"Um, I never rode a horse before," Josh said. "No problem," Jud said. "Most of our guests haven't. I'll show you all you need to know." "What do you do at the ranch?" Ruth Rose asked Jud. "A little of everything, miss," he answered. "My folks own the place, and I grew up there. I was supposed to go back to college this fall, but I have to stay on to help out. The ranch isn't earning much money these days." "What are you going to college for?" asked Dink. "I want to be a teacher," Jud said. "I'd rather spend my days with kids than cows." Jud pulled up in front of a gas station. "Gotta fill up," he said, stepping out of the car. "I'll just be a minute." The kids watched as Jud pumped gas into the wagon. Then he loped toward the cashier's window, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. "I hope he brings back a few candy bars," Josh said. "I'm starving." Dink laughed. "After eating about twenty bags of peanuts on the plane?"

“嗯，我以前从来没有骑过马，”乔希说。 “没问题，”裘德说。“我们的大多数客人都没有。 我会告诉你所有你需要知道的。” “你在牧场做什么?”露丝·罗斯问朱迪。 “什么都吃一点，小姐，”他回答。 “我的父母拥有这个地方，我在那里长大。 我本应该今年秋天回大学的，但我得留下来帮忙。 这些天牧场赚不了多少钱。” “你上大学是为了什么?”丁克问。 “我想当一名老师，”贾德说。 “我宁愿和孩子们在一起，也不愿和奶牛在一起。” 朱迪把车停在一个加油站前。 “得加油了，”他说着下了车。 “我马上就来。”孩子们看着贾德给马车加油。 然后他快步走向收银台的窗口，把手伸进后口袋拿钱包。 “我希望他能带几块糖果回来，”乔希说。 “我饿了。”丁克笑了。 “在飞机上吃了大约20袋花生之后?”

Jud stomped back to the car and flung himself into the driver's seat. "Can you beat that?" he said. "I go into my wallet to pay, and it's totally empty! I'm almost positive I had two twenties in there this afternoon." Jud shook his head, then grinned. "Well, good thing I had my credit card. Otherwise, we'd be walking!" Jud drove through more countryside. Dink had never seen so much land! He rolled down his window and felt a hot, dry breeze. "Look, a hawk!" Josh suddenly yelled. "He's looking for a nice fat mouse for his supper," Jud said. Just then Josh's stomach let out a loud growl. "Someone else is hungry," Jud said, grinning. "We'll be there in a few minutes. How'd you kids happen to pick our dude ranch?" "We didn't pick it," Dink answered. "A friend of ours gave us this trip as a gift." Jud grinned into the rearview mirror. "Nice friend," he said. "His lottery ticket was stolen, and we got it back for him," Ruth Rose explained.

裘德跺着脚回到车上，猛地坐到驾驶座上。 “你能打败它吗?”他说。 “我把手伸进钱包想付钱，结果里面空无一物!”我几乎可以肯定，今天下午我有两张20元的钞票。” 裘德摇摇头，然后咧嘴一笑。 “嗯，还好我有信用卡。 否则，我们就得走路了!”裘德开车穿过更多的乡村。 丁克从来没有见过这么大的陆地!他摇下车窗，感到一阵干热的微风。 “看，一只鹰!”乔希突然喊道。 “他在找一只肥美的老鼠当晚餐，”裘德说。 就在这时，乔希的肚子发出了一声咆哮。 “又有人饿了。”裘德咧嘴笑着说。 “我们几分钟后就到。 你们这些孩子怎么碰巧选了我们的度假牧场?”“不是我们摘的，”丁克回答。 “我们的一个朋友把这次旅行作为礼物送给了我们。” 裘德对着后视镜咧嘴一笑。 “好朋友，”他说。“他的彩票被偷了，我们帮他找回来了，”露丝·罗斯解释道。