Chapter 9

Chapter 9 "Something's down there!" Ruth Rose whispered. Josh's eyes were huge. "Not some-thing," he whispered. "Someone. It's the ghost of Emory Scott!" Dink put his hand in his pocket and felt the three green parrot feathers. Taking a deep breath, he put a foot on the top step. "I'm going down," he said. Dink walked down the steps, feeling along the cold stone walls. He tried not to think about slimy things that hung out in damp tunnels.

第九章“下面有东西!”露丝·罗斯低声说。 乔希的眼睛很大。“不是什么。”他低声说。 ”的人。是埃默里·斯科特的鬼魂!”丁克把手伸进口袋，摸了摸那三根绿色的鹦鹉羽毛。 他深吸一口气，把一只脚踩在最上面的台阶上。 “我要下去了，”他说。 丁克沿着冰冷的石墙摸索着走下台阶。 他尽量不去想挂在潮湿隧道里的黏糊糊的东西。

Then his hand touched something square and hard. A light switch! He flipped it up, and the space was suddenly flooded with light. "It's a long tunnel!" he yelled. Ruth Rose hurried down the steps. She turned to Josh. "Coming?"

然后他的手摸到了一个又方又硬的东西。 电灯开关!他把它翻了起来，整个空间突然充满了光。 “这是一条很长的隧道!” 露丝·罗斯匆匆走下台阶。 她转向乔希。“未来?”

"All right," Josh sighed. "But if anything touches me, I'm out of here!" The tunnel was cold and narrow. They walked along the dirt floor. Small, cobweb-covered light bulbs hung from the ceiling. The air smelled rotten. The tunnel went straight for a while, then turned a corner. "Listen," Ruth Rose said. "I hear water." "I hate this," Josh said. "I really do." Dink turned the corner and found himself standing in water. Something let out a screech, and Dink froze. Josh grabbed Dink around the neck. "What the heck was that?" he squeaked. "Josh, you're strangling me!" Dink croaked. "Sorry," Josh said. "Where are we?" Ruth Rose asked. They were standing at the entrance to a cave. The rock walls oozed, and the floor was under water. Off to the left, another tunnel continued out of sight. "I think I know where we are," Dink whispered. "Me too," Josh said, "We're in the dungeon. I'd better not see any skeletons!"

“好吧，”乔希叹了口气。“但如果有什么东西碰我，我就离开这里!”隧道又冷又窄。 他们在泥地上走着。 天花板上挂着覆盖着蜘蛛网的小灯泡。 空气有股腐臭的味道。隧道直走了一会儿，然后拐了个弯。 “听着，”露丝·罗斯说。“我听到水的声音。” “我讨厌这样，”乔希说。“真的。” 丁克转过弯，发现自己站在水里。 什么东西发出一声尖叫，丁克吓呆了。 乔希抓住丁克的脖子。 “那是什么鬼东西?”他尖叫道。 “乔希，你掐死我了!”丁克呱呱的声音。 “对不起，”乔希说。“我们在哪儿?”露丝·罗斯问。 他们站在一个山洞的入口处。 岩壁渗出水来，地板被水淹没了。 在左边，另一条隧道继续消失在视线之外。 “我想我知道我们在哪儿了。”丁克低声说。 “我也是，”乔希说，“我们在地牢里。 我最好不要看到任何骷髅!”

"I think if we'd kept going through the cave yesterday," Dink continued, "we'd have ended up here." "It's one long tunnel," Ruth Rose said. "From the playhouse to the ocean!" Then something behind them made a loud squawk. Josh jumped, nearly knocking Dink over. "Look, guys," Ruth Rose said. "Over there!" She pointed to a dark mound up against one wall. Dink walked over, splashing through the cold water. "It's a tarp," he said. Holding his breath, Dink grabbed one corner and yanked it away. Under the tarp were two cages, one on top of the other. Each cage held four large green parrots. The birds panicked, beating their wings against the cage bars. Their screams echoed again and again off the cave walls. "So much for the ghost of Emory Scott," Ruth Rose said. Josh laughed. "Good! I don't know what I'd have done if I'd bumped into him!"

“我想，如果我们昨天继续穿过这个洞，”丁克继续说，“我们就会到这里来了。” “这是一条很长的隧道，”露丝·罗斯说。 “从剧场到大海!”然后，他们身后的什么东西发出了一声响亮的尖叫声。 乔希跳了起来，差点把丁克撞倒。 “听着，伙计们，”露丝·罗斯说。 “在那边!”她指着靠墙的一个黑乎乎的土堆。 丁克走了过来，在冰冷的水中溅起水花。 “这是一块防水布，”他说。丁克屏住呼吸，抓住一个角，猛地把它拽开。 篷布下面有两个笼子，一个叠在另一个上面。 每个笼子里放着四只绿色的大鹦鹉。 鸟儿惊慌失措，用翅膀拍打着笼子的栏杆。 他们的尖叫声在岩壁上一遍又一遍地回响。 “埃默里·斯科特的鬼魂就到此为止了，”露丝·罗斯说。 杰克笑了。“好!我真不知道如果我撞到了他，我该怎么办!”

Dink pulled the feathers from his pocket. He held them next to one of the parrots. "They're the same," he said. "What the heck is this place?" Ruth Rose asked. "Who'd hide parrots in a cave?" "I don't know," Dink said. "Guys!" Ruth Rose said. She was looking down. "The tide must be coming in. The water is getting deeper!" Dink and Josh looked down. The water was up to their ankles! "The parrots!" Josh said. The bottom cage was getting wet. The parrots shrieked at the rising water. "Let's get them outside!" Dink said, grabbing the top cage. He lugged it into the dry tunnel. Josh and Ruth Rose took the other cage. They hurried back along the tunnel with the parrots squawking in fear. Dink stopped at the bottom of the stone steps and looked up. "Uh-oh." "What?" Ruth Rose gasped. "I thought we left the trapdoor open," Dink said. "We did," Josh said.

丁克从口袋里掏出羽毛。 他把它们放在一只鹦鹉旁边。 “它们是一样的，”他说。 “这到底是什么地方?”露丝·罗斯问。 “谁会把鹦鹉藏在山洞里?”“我不知道，”丁克说。 “男人!”露丝·罗斯说。她往下看。 “一定是涨潮了。 水越来越深了!”丁克和乔希低下头。 水没过他们的脚踝!“鹦鹉!”杰克说。 底部的笼子湿了。 鹦鹉因水位上涨而尖叫。 “我们把他们弄到外面去吧!”丁克说着抓住了最上面的笼子。 他把它拖进了干燥的隧道。 乔什和露丝·罗斯拿走了另一个笼子。 他们沿着隧道匆匆返回，鹦鹉们惊恐地尖叫着。 丁克在石阶底下停了下来，抬起头来。 “哦。”“什么?”露丝·罗斯倒抽了一口冷气。 “我以为我们让活板门开着呢，”丁克说。 “是的，”乔希说。

"Well, it's closed now." Dink set his cage on the floor. He walked up the steps and pushed on the door. It didn't budge. Josh climbed the steps, and they both shoved against the door. "It's no use," Dink said. "The door must have fallen, and the lock snapped shut." "What can we do?" Ruth Rose asked. "If the tide floods this tunnel…" Dink walked back down the steps. "There's another way out. But we'll have to swim."

“嗯，现在关门了。”丁克把笼子放在地板上。 他走上台阶，推了推门。 它没有动。乔希爬上台阶，两人都推着门。 “没用的，”丁克说。“肯定是门倒了，锁啪的一声关上了。” “我们能做什么?”露丝·罗斯问。 “如果潮水淹没了隧道……”丁克走下台阶。 “还有另一条出路。但我们必须游过去。”