Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22 Dan squeezed his eyes shut because he didn't want to see this: the ground rushing toward them, death rushing toward them. Amy will be so sad, he thought. Nellie, too. I hope they're kind of mad at me, too, so they're not just crying all the time…. Dan realized that he seemed to have a lot of time to think for someone plunging toward the ground. Then he realized he'd stopped falling. "Huh," Hamilton said. "Guess it's a good thing I still had the rope attached to my climbing harness." Dan dared to open his eyes. They were dangling alongside the cliff again. Dan could see straight down to the cemetery, far below. He looked up: Hamilton was above him, clutching Dan's wrists every bit as tightly as Dan

第二十二章丹闭上眼睛，因为他不想看到：大地向他们冲来，死亡向他们冲来。 艾米会很伤心的，他想。 内莉。我希望他们也生我的气，这样他们就不会一直哭.... 丹意识到，他似乎有很多时间来思考一个向地面坠落的人。 然后他意识到自己不再往下掉了。 “嗯，”汉密尔顿说。“我想这是一件好事，我还把绳子系在我的攀岩带上。” 丹鼓起勇气睁开眼睛。 他们又在悬崖边上晃来晃去。 丹可以看到远处的墓地。 他抬头一看，汉密尔顿就在他上面，和丹一样紧紧地抓着丹的手腕

was holding on to Ham's arm. But Dan wasn't wearing a climbing harness. Dan wasn't attached to any rope. I could still fall, Dan thought. If my hands slip, if Hamilton lets go… He didn't dare to look down again. He didn't want to see all the empty air between him and the cemetery— empty air that would be so easy to fall through. "Didn't I tell you not to endanger my son?" Eisenhower bellowed from above them, clutching the rope that was attached to Hamilton's harness. "Dad, why don't you pull us up before you start screaming?" Hamilton said. He spoke calmly, but Dan could feel his hands beginning to slide. They were sweating. Slippery. Losing their grip. "The way these ropes are, I'm not sure I can save you both," Eisenhower said frantically. He seemed to be yanking ropes around, diving for extra clips. Hamilton and Dan lurched a little lower. "I can't—" "You're going to have to," Hamilton said.

抓住哈姆的胳膊。 但丹没有戴登山带。 丹没有被绑在任何绳子上。 我还是会摔倒的，丹想。 如果我的手滑了，如果汉密尔顿松手……他不敢再往下看。 他不想看到他和墓地之间的空无一物——空无一物很容易掉下去。 “我不是告诉过你不要危及我儿子吗？”艾森豪威尔抓着拴在汉密尔顿挽具上的绳子，在他们上面吼道。 “爸爸，在你开始尖叫之前，为什么不把我们拉上来呢？”汉密尔顿说。 他平静地说着，但丹能感觉到他的手开始滑动。 他们在流汗。滑。 失去控制。“这些绳子是这样的，我不确定我能不能救你们俩，”艾森豪威尔疯狂地说。 他似乎在猛拉绳子，想找些额外的夹子。 汉密尔顿和丹踉踉跄跄地往下走。 “我不能——”“你必须这么做，"汉密尔顿说。

"Because I'm not letting Dan fall." Dan's ears were ringing too much to hear what Eisenhower or Hamilton said next. But the rope jerked up. And then it was Eisenhower's hands lifting him over the rim of the cliff, pulling him back to safety. Dan scooted as far away from the ledge as he could, across the rock, through the open door in the rock wall. He wasn't thinking about where the door might lead. He wasn't even thinking about the Clue hunt anymore. He let his eyes close again. Safe, he thought. I'm safe. I'm not going to die. Hamilton didn't let me fall. Eisenhower didn't let me fall. He wasn't even going to hurt me before. I just got scared. Then Eisenhower punched him right in the face. "You could have killed my son!" Eisenhower screamed at Dan. Now that everyone was safe, Eisenhower let the fury flow over him. He grabbed Dan by the shoulders and shook him. Dan's head rattled against the ground. He looked groggily up at

“因为我不会让丹倒下。” 丹的耳朵太响了，听不见艾森豪威尔或汉密尔顿接下来说什么。 但是绳子猛地拉了起来。然后是艾森豪威尔的手把他从悬崖边上抬起来，把他拉回安全地带。 丹跑得尽可能远，越过岩石，穿过岩壁上开着的门。 他没有想到这扇门会通向哪里。 他甚至不再考虑寻找线索的事了。 他又闭上了眼睛。 安全了，他想。我是安全的。 我不会死的。汉密尔顿没有让我掉下去。 艾森豪威尔没有让我倒下。 他之前都没打算伤害我。 我只是有点害怕。然后艾森豪威尔一拳打在他脸上。 “你差点害死我儿子！”艾森豪威尔对丹大喊大叫。 现在每个人都安全了，艾森豪威尔让愤怒在他身上流淌。 他抓住丹的肩膀摇晃他。 丹的头碰在地上发出格格的响声。 他昏昏沉沉地抬头看着

Eisenhower, like a quarterback who'd taken too many hits. "You could have made me lose Hamilton!" Eisenhower repeated. He had to make Dan understand how awful that would have been, how close Dan had come to ruining everything. Dan blinked. "You mean, like I lost my mom and dad?" he asked. "Dad, stop it!" Hamilton yelled, tackling his father and knocking him away from Dan. Eisenhower let go. Does Dan think it's my fault his parents died? he thought. It wasn't, but… what does Hamilton think? "Dad, what's wrong with you? Dan's on our team!" Hamilton was screaming, pinning Eisenhower back against some sort of wall. Eisenhower bit back the words, "No, he isn't! Not really!" How had he thought he could lie to his own son?

艾森豪威尔，就像一个被打得太多的四分卫。 “你本来可以让我失去汉密尔顿的！”艾森豪威尔重复。 他必须让丹明白，那样做会有多可怕，丹差一点就毁了一切。 丹眨了眨眼睛。“你是说，就像我失去了父母一样？”他问。 “爸爸，住手！”汉密尔顿喊道，抓住他的父亲，把他从丹身边推开。 艾森豪威尔放手了。丹觉得他父母的死是我的错吗？ 他想。不是的，但是汉密尔顿怎么想？ “爸爸，你怎么了？” 丹是我们队的！”汉密尔顿尖叫着，把艾森豪威尔按在某种墙上。 艾森豪威尔忍住没说，“不，他不是！不是真的!”他怎么能对自己的儿子撒谎呢？

What does Hamilton see when he looks at me? Eisenhower wondered. Doesn't he know— everything I've done, everything I'm doing— it's so he can be proud of me? Now Eisenhower felt like the world around him had gone dark, and he was plunging down. Like everything he'd ever believed in was falling away, and the very ground beneath him was dropping. Wait—it really had gotten dark, and the ground was plunging downward. "Is this an earthquake?" Eisenhower bellowed. "A rock slide?" He grabbed Hamilton by the shoulders. "Quick— let's get someplace safe!" "Dad, I think it's just an elevator," Hamilton said, shoving him away. Eisenhower put together the sensations. The darkness could have been from a door closing behind them. And the falling was slow and steady. Exactly like an elevator. "Right," he said gruffly. "I was just testing you, son." Everything was going to be okay. The elevator was undoubtedly taking them to the final prize.

汉密尔顿看我的时候看到了什么？ 艾森豪威尔疑惑。难道他不知道——我所做的一切，我正在做的一切——都是为了让他为我感到骄傲吗？ 现在，艾森豪威尔觉得他周围的世界都变黑了，他正在沉沦。 就像他曾经相信的一切都在消失，他脚下的土地也在下沉。 等等——天真的黑下来了，地面也在往下陷。 “这是地震吗？”艾森豪威尔大声。 “岩石滑坡？”他抓住汉密尔顿的肩膀。 “快——我们找个安全的地方吧！”“爸爸，我想那只是一部电梯。”汉密尔顿一边说一边把他推开。 艾森豪威尔把这些感觉整合在一起。 黑暗可能是一扇门在他们身后关上的。 下落是缓慢而稳定的。 就像电梯一样。“好吧。”他粗声粗气地说。 “我只是在考验你，儿子。” 一切都会好起来的。 毫无疑问，电梯正把他们带到最后的目的地。

The Holts were still going to win. The elevator stopped moving. The door slid open. They were back at sea level. Back by the cemetery.

霍尔特队还是会赢。 电梯停了。 门滑开了。他们回到了海平面。 在墓地后面。