Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 Michael and Dr. Gomez rolled into Bethlehem with little hope of finding Merle and Pearl. The disappointment of not intercepting them at Nabi Musa grew stronger at Mar Saba, the last stop on the trail before Bethlehem. "Where did they go?" Michael wondered. "We should have caught up to them by now, right, Dad?" "If they left Jericho when the innkeeper said they did and were walking to Bethlehem, we definitely should have found them by now," Dr. Gomez said. "The only thing that makes sense to me is that they were headed someplace else."

第十七章迈克尔和医生 戈麦斯冲进伯利恒，几乎没有希望找到梅尔和珀尔。 在纳比穆萨没有拦截他们的失望情绪在马尔萨巴变得更加强烈，马尔萨巴是通往伯利恒的最后一站。 “他们去哪儿了？”迈克尔想知道。 “我们现在应该赶上他们了，对吧，爸爸？”“如果他们像旅馆老板说的那样离开耶利哥，然后步行去伯利恒，我们现在肯定应该已经找到他们了。” 戈麦斯说。“对我来说，唯一说得通的是他们去了别的地方。”

"Where?" "There's three possibilities; back up to Nazareth, over to Jerusalem along the Old Jericho Road, or down to the Dead Sea." "The Dead Sea?" Michael gasped. He knew how much Merle and Pearl feared returning to the place where they had been petrified for 2,000 years. "That doesn't make sense to me, though. If the Dead Sea was their intended destination, they would have been brought there in the first place, not to a big city like Nazareth," Dr. Gomez reasoned. "Going back up to Nazareth would also not be likely— Ruben probably thinks we're still there." "So Jerusalem," Michael said. Dr. Gomez nodded and turned north.

“在哪里?”“有三种可能性；回到拿撒勒，沿着老耶利哥路到耶路撒冷，或者下到死海。” “死海？”迈克尔气喘吁吁地说。 他知道莫尔和珀尔多么害怕回到他们被石化了两千年的地方。 “不过，这对我来说没有意义。 如果死海是他们的目的地，他们一开始就会被带到那里，而不是像拿撒勒这样的大城市。 戈麦斯推理。“回到拿撒勒也不太可能——鲁本可能认为我们还在那里。” 米迦勒说，耶路撒冷也是如此。 戈麦斯医生点点头，转向北方。