Chapter 11

Chapter 11 "Tell us, Josh," Wallis said. "I was thinking about the mother wolf," Josh said. "She would know if those were her babies whimpering on the tape." Everyone stared at Josh. "I don't get it," Dink said. "I do!" Ruth Rose cried. "We let the mother wolf listen to the tape, right, Josh?" Josh nodded. "Yeah, we can take the tape recorder to her den and play it. If the mother wolf is there, she should do something when she hears her babies crying."

“告诉我们，乔希。”沃利斯说。 “我在想那只母狼，”乔希说。 “如果磁带上的哭声是她的孩子，她会知道的。” 每个人都盯着乔希。“我不明白，”丁克说。 “我做的!”露丝·罗斯哭了。“我们让母狼听磁带，对吧，乔希?”杰克点了点头。 “是啊，我们可以把录音机拿到她的窝里放。 如果母狼在那里，当她听到孩子们的哭声时，她应该做点什么。”

"If those really are her babies on the tape," Wallis reminded them. "There's only one way to find out," Walker said. "Come on, kids!" Dink, Josh, Ruth Rose, and Walker left the cabin and hiked into the woods. Ruth Rose carried Abbi's tape recorder and a copy of the tape in her backpack. Walker had slung his camera around his neck. "I sure hope this works," Dink said as they trekked through the trees. "Me too," Walker said. "Abbi will be heartbroken if we don't get those wolf pups back with their mother." They stopped talking when they saw the tall dead tree. Dink, Josh, and Walker found a place to stay out of sight. Ruth Rose set the tape recorder on the ground about fifty feet from the lair. She pressed PLAY, then ran to where the others waited. Seconds later, they heard the taped whimpering noises. All four watchers had their fingers crossed.

“如果录像带上的真的是她的孩子，”沃利斯提醒他们。 “只有一种方法可以找到答案，”沃克说。 “加油，孩子们!”丁克、乔希、露丝·罗斯和沃克离开小屋，徒步进入树林。 露丝·罗斯背着阿比的录音机，背包里还装着一盘磁带。 沃克把照相机挂在脖子上。 “我真希望这能起作用，”丁克一边说一边穿过树林。 “我也是，”沃克说。“如果我们不能让这些狼崽回到它们的妈妈身边，阿比会伤心欲绝的。” 当他们看到那棵高大的枯树时，他们停止了谈话。 丁克，乔什和沃克找了个隐蔽的地方。 露丝·罗斯把录音机放在离巢穴大约50英尺的地上。 她按下PLAY键，然后跑到其他人等待的地方。 几秒钟后，他们听到了录音里的呜咽声。 四位观众都为他祈祷。

Suddenly a white blur shot out of the rock cave. The mother wolf hurled herself at the tape recorder. Lying on her stomach, she made her own whimpering sounds. She put her nose next to the tape recorder, as if trying to smell her babies. Walker was recording it all on his digital camera. After a moment, the whimpering noises stopped, and the kids' conversation came from the tape.

突然，一个白色的模糊物从岩洞中射出。 母狼扑向录音机。 她俯卧着，发出自己的呜咽声。 她把鼻子贴在录音机旁边，好像要闻闻她的孩子。 沃克用他的数码相机记录下了这一切。 过了一会儿，呜咽声停止了，孩子们的谈话声从磁带中传来。

The mother wolf leaped to her feet, and her ears went straight up. She barked at the tape recorder as if it were alive. Walker motioned that they should leave, and the four backed away. When they were on the trail toward home, they stopped and high-fived each other. "Did you see her?" Josh asked. "If that isn't proof, I don't know what is!" "And Walker got it all on camera!" Ruth Rose said. "I sure hope Abbi was watching," Dink said. "Will she be mad that we left her tape recorder up there?" Walker laughed. "She'll forgive us," he said. "Between your tape and these pictures, I'm pretty sure the game warden will agree to take a boat ride out to talk to the Dacks." Abbi and Wallis were waiting on the deck when the kids and Walker emerged from the woods. "We saw it all!" Abbi cried. "I told you those were wolf whimpers!"

母狼跳了起来，耳朵竖了起来。 她对着录音机狂吠，好像它是活的一样。 沃克示意他们离开，四个人就退了回去。 在回家的路上，他们停下来互相击掌。 “你看见她了吗?”杰克问。 “如果这都不是证据，我不知道还有什么能证明!”“沃克把这一切都拍下来了!”露丝·罗斯说。 “我真希望阿比在看，”丁克说。 “她会因为我们把录音机落在上面而生气吗?”沃克笑了。 “她会原谅我们的，”他说。 “有了你的录像带和这些照片，我很确定狩猎管理员会同意乘船出去和达克一家谈谈的。” 当孩子们和沃克从树林里出来时，阿比和沃利斯正在甲板上等着。 “我们都看到了!”艾比哭了。 “我告诉过你那是狼的呜咽声!”

Walker grinned. "You were right on, honey," he told Abbi. "We had to leave your tape recorder up there, though." "It was so cool," Josh said. "That mother wolf practically crawled inside the tape recorder." "Now can we call the police and have them arrested?" Abbi asked. "Now we can ask Nadine to pay those people a visit," Wallis said. Nadine showed up twenty minutes later with another game warden named Jason. They borrowed Walker's camera and motored toward the island with the blue awning. The four kids waited on the dock. To kill time, they counted all the boats they could see. The boys got a point for each motorboat, and the girls for each sailboat. The girls were ahead eighteen sailboats to eleven motorboats when Ruth Rose screamed, "HERE THEY COME!" Sure enough, Nadine was sitting in the bow of the boat as Jason guided it toward the dock. In the middle of the boat was a lump covered with an old blanket.

沃克咧嘴一笑。“你说得对，亲爱的。”他告诉艾比。 “不过，我们不得不把你的录音机留在那里。” “太酷了，”乔希说。 “那只母狼几乎爬进了录音机里。” “现在我们可以叫警察逮捕他们了吗?”艾比问道。 “现在我们可以请纳丁去拜访那些人了，”沃利斯说。 20分钟后，纳丁和另一个叫杰森的猎场看守人出现了。 他们借了沃克的相机，带着蓝色的遮阳篷向那个岛驶去。 四个孩子在码头上等着。 为了消磨时间，他们数了数所能看到的船。 男生每乘一艘摩托艇得一分，女生每乘一艘帆船得一分。 女孩们已经领先十八艘帆船对十一艘摩托艇了，这时露丝·罗斯尖叫道:“他们来了!”果然，当杰森把船驶向码头时，纳丁正坐在船头。 在船的中央有一块东西，上面盖着一条旧毯子。

"Did you get them?" asked Abbi as Nadine stepped onto the dock. "Piece of cake," Nadine said.

“拿到了吗?”纳丁走上码头时，阿比问道。 “小菜一碟，”纳丁说。