4 MERHORSES!

CHAPTER 4 MERHORSES! "Hey, cutie!" I said to the merhorse I held in my cupped hand underwater. I gently pet it with my thumb. Summer was such a great time to visit the merhorses because the creek water wasn't so freezing cold on my bare legs and hands! I'd been so busy with the aphids and kale that we hadn't gone to see the merhorses all week! Now that the ladybug larvae were on the job, I could finally take a break from the pests.

第四章人鱼！“嘿,漂亮的女孩!”我对我在水下捧着的那匹马说。 我轻轻地用拇指抚摸它。 夏天是参观人鱼的好时机，因为小溪的水对我裸露的腿和手来说不那么冰冷了！我一直忙于蚜虫和羽衣甘蓝，以至于我们整个星期都没有去看美人鱼！既然瓢虫幼虫开始工作了，我终于可以从害虫中休息一下了。

The merhorse batted its eyes and said something back to me, but without Pip here to translate, all I saw was bubbles. Oh well. I'm sure it said something nice. "Isn't this one's mane so beautiful, Sassafras?" I moved my hands through the water toward where Sassafras was sitting. Only… Sassafras wasn't there anymore. "Sass?" I turned around and saw his poof of a tail twitching a little ways behind me. "What do you hear, buddy?" I strained my ears. Oh! Something was rustling—maybe a bird? It was making a weird noise. "What is that?" I let the merhorse out of my hands to get a better view of Sassafras when the merhorse kicked me! "OW!" I exclaimed. The happy-just-a-minute- ago merhorse pawed at my hands really hard with its front hoof. "Oh my goodness! What's the matter?" It frowned and snorted. I quickly put it in the stream by another merhorse. Now I could hear even more of those weird noises behind me, but I wanted to make sure the merhorse I'd been holding was

那匹马眨了眨眼睛，对我说了些什么，但没有匹普在这里翻译，我所看到的只是泡沫。 哦。我肯定上面写了些好听的话。 “这匹马的鬃毛真漂亮，萨萨弗拉斯？”我把手伸进水里，朝萨萨弗拉斯坐着的地方走去。 只是……黄樟已经不在了。 “萨斯?”我转过身来，看见它的尖尾巴在我身后微微抽搐着。 “你听到了什么，伙计？”我竖起耳朵。 哦!有什么东西在沙沙作响——也许是一只鸟？ 它发出一种奇怪的声音。 “那是什么？”我把马从我手里放开，想看得更清楚一点，结果马踢了我一脚！“噢!”我叫道。 就在一分钟前，那只快乐的马用它的前蹄狠狠地抓着我的手。 “哦，我的天哪！怎么啦？”它皱着眉头，哼着鼻子。 我赶紧把它放在另一匹马旁边的小溪里。 现在我能听到身后更多奇怪的声音，但我想确定我抱着的那匹马

OK. I grabbed my underwater viewer so I could see under the surface better. And oh gosh—the two merhorses were fighting! They were kicking at each other! Over near some tall grass, Sassafras gave a loud "mrrowww!" "One sec, Sass!" I called out. I used the viewer to look across the stream. The merhorses on the other side of the stream seemed fine. Maybe these two just didn't get along? Still… I'd never seen merhorses be anything but sweet to each other and to me. Sassafras chattered. I looked up just as he leapt over some grass and ran toward the trees. "Sassafras! Wait!" I dropped my underwater viewer and bounded after him. He stopped a few feet away and sniffed at something in the sandy dirt. I crouched down and gave him a pet. "Whoaaa!" I reached a hand out to touch what he'd found. "Those are some seriously weird footprints! What kind of creature left these?"

好的。我抓起我的水下观看器，这样我就能更清楚地看到水面下。 哦，天哪——两只人鱼在打架！他们在互相踢！在高高的草丛附近，黄樟发出了一声响亮的“呜！”“等一下，萨斯！”我喊道。 我用观察器看小溪的对面。 河对岸的人鱼看起来很好。 也许他们俩就是合不来？ 尽管如此，我从未见过人鱼对彼此和对我都很温柔。 黄樟直打颤。我抬头一看，他正跳过一片草地，向树林跑去。 “黄樟!等等!”我扔下我的水下观察者，跳着去追他。 他在几英尺远的地方停了下来，在沙土里嗅了嗅什么东西。 我蹲下来，给了他一个宠物。 “Whoaaa !”我伸手去摸他找到的东西。 “这些脚印真的很奇怪！”这是什么生物留下的？”