5. On the Trail

5 On the Trail "Must-a been spooked by the cave-in," Calamity moaned. "I'll have to track him before he gets too far!" The boys kept a safe distance behind— Calamity didn't seem in any mood for their company. Now and then they heard her muttering, "Gol-durned show-offs!" and they dropped back even farther. Stanley and Arthur felt miserable. They had been show-offs, and they knew it now. After a while, Calamity gave a little whoop and ran into a clearing. There stood Gold Rush, snorting and lathered in sweat. The cowgirl threw her arms around her horse. "Let's get you some water, fella," she said.

“一定是被塌方吓坏了，”Calamity呻吟道。 “我得在他走得太远之前跟踪他!”男孩们跟在后面保持着一段安全的距离——“灾难”似乎没有心情和他们在一起。 他们不时听到她嘟囔着:“穿金兜的炫耀者!”于是他们又往后退了。 斯坦利和阿瑟感到很痛苦。 他们一直在炫耀，现在他们知道了。 过了一会儿，“大灾难”轻轻叫了一声，跑进了一块空地。 “淘金”站在那里，喷着鼻息，汗流浃背。 女牛仔张开双臂搂住她的马。 “我给你拿点水来，伙计，”她说。

Calamity looked around. "We're a ways off from the stream," she worried out loud. "And I don't see any signs of a spring…" "I can help! I have an idea!" Stanley cried. Calamity shot him a look that said she'd heard just about enough from him. But Stanley did indeed have an idea.

“灾难”环顾四周。“我们离小溪很远，”她大声担心道。 “我没有看到任何春天的迹象……”“我可以帮忙!我有个主意!”斯坦利哭了。 “灾难”看了他一眼，似乎已经听够了。 但斯坦利确实有个主意。

He lay down in the grass in front of Gold Rush and curved himself into the shape of a trough. "Pour in some water from the canteens," he directed Calamity. Calamity did, and then Stanley held very still as the horse's big lips came right down and slurped from his belly. It tickled, but Stanley Lambchop did not move. And he did not spill one drop. When Gold Rush had finished drinking, Calamity helped Stanley to his feet. She wore a big grin as she shook his hand. "Maybe I was wrong about you, pardner," she said. "Any friend of my horse is a friend of mine." "So you're not angry with us anymore?" asked Arthur.

他躺在淘金热前面的草地上，把自己弯成一个食槽的形状。 “从食堂里倒些水进来。”他对“灾难”说。 大祸来了，然后斯坦利一动不动，马的大嘴唇垂下来，从他的肚子里发出嘶嘶声。 它很痒，但斯坦利·兰博切没有动。 他一滴也没洒。 “淘金”喝完酒后，“灾难”扶着斯坦利站了起来。 她和他握手时露出灿烂的笑容。 “也许我看错你了，伙伴，”她说。 “马的朋友就是我的朋友。” “所以你不再生我们的气了?”阿瑟问。

"Shucks, no. I reckon you two aren't half bad for a couple of greenhorns. Now I better fix us some grub. We're lost, pardners. We're gonna have to figure out how we get home from here. A cowboy can't think on an empty stomach." Calamity Jasper pulled a can of beans and a pot from her saddlebags. She built a fire, and soon the beans were bubbling cheerfully in the pot. "Cowboys always carry beans for emergencies," she confided. Arthur made a mental note to carry beans with him from now on. "How did you learn to be a cowboy?" he asked Calamity. "How did you learn to follow tracks like that? We didn't see anything, but you followed right to Gold Rush." "Following tracks isn't a cowboy skill. I'm part Lakota Sioux," Calamity said proudly. "We Native Americans know lots of useful things, like which plants make medicine and how to hunt and fish and how to use— Whoa, doggie! Smoke signals!" Calamity jumped to her feet. She ordered Arthur to gather a load of tumbleweeds. When he returned, she piled the tumbleweeds onto the campfire. Immediately, a dark thick smoke streamed upward.

“呸!,不。我觉得作为一对新手，你们俩已经很不错了。 现在我最好给我们弄点吃的。 我们迷路了，伙计们。我们得想办法从这里回家。 牛仔饿着肚子是没法思考的。” 祸不单行的贾斯珀从马鞍袋里拿出一罐豆子和一个罐子。 她生了一堆火，很快豆子就在锅里欢快地冒着泡泡。 “牛仔总是带着豆子以备不时之需，”她吐露道。 阿瑟心里记着，从今以后要随身携带豆子。 “你是怎么学会当牛仔的?”他问Calamity。 “你是怎么学会这样跟踪足迹的?” 我们什么也没看到，但你一直追到了淘金热。” “追踪足迹不是牛仔的技能。 我有拉科塔苏族血统，”Calamity自豪地说。 “我们印第安人知道很多有用的东西，比如哪些植物可以制成药物，如何狩猎和捕鱼，以及如何使用——哇，小狗!”烟雾信号!”灾难跳了起来。 她命令亚瑟收集一堆风滚草。 当他回来时，她把风滚草堆在篝火上。 立刻，一股浓浓的黑烟袅袅升起。

"What about a blanket?" Stanley asked. "Don't you need a blanket for smoke signals?" Calamity grinned. "That's where you come in, pardner!" Both boys understood at once. Arthur picked up Stanley's feet, and Calamity took hold of his arms. Together, they flapped Stanley over the fire, sending puffs of thick smoke into the clear air. Stanley very bravely held his breath and didn't cough once.

“毯子怎么样?”斯坦利问道。 “你不需要一条毯子来接收烟雾信号吗?”灾难咧嘴一笑。 “这就是你的用武之地，伙伴!”两个男孩立刻明白了。 阿瑟扶起斯坦利的脚，灾难抓住了他的胳膊。 他们一起把斯坦利拍在火上，向清澈的空气中喷出阵阵浓烟。 斯坦利勇敢地屏住呼吸，一次也没有咳嗽。

Before too long, they heard a rustling in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. The tour group! "We saw the signals," Calamity's father said. "Came to see what you youngsters were up to." "Looks like they're up to a real Wild West time!" said George Lambchop. "What a trip, eh,

没过多久，他们听到空地边上的灌木丛里有沙沙的声音。 旅行团!“我们看到了信号，”Calamity的父亲说。 “我来看看你们这些年轻人在干什么。” 乔治·兰普切说:“看来他们要来一次真正的狂野西部!” “多好的旅行啊，嗯，