Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 Alistair did not mind growing old. He did mind being outsmarted by an eleven-year-old nephew. Gold. Of course the boy was right. Gold was the "highest element" of alchemy. The alchemical symbol— the "elements united"— was the key to entrance. No doubt this came from the mind of Hideyoshi. Being a son of Thomas Cahill, he would also be a student of alchemy! Alistair cursed himself inwardly. He should have detected it from the beginning. He could have saved all this trouble, all this danger. All this unnecessary risking of his nephew's and niece's lives. This was bound to happen. He was bound to discover a Clue he had already

第十五章阿利斯泰尔并不介意变老。 他确实介意被一个11岁的侄子比聪明。 黄金。男孩当然是对的。 黄金是炼金术的“最高元素”。 炼金术符号——“元素结合”——是入口的钥匙。 毫无疑问，这是丰臣秀吉的想法。 作为托马斯·卡希尔的儿子，他也将成为炼金术的学生！阿利斯泰尔在心里咒骂自己。 他应该从一开始就发现的。 他本可以省去这一切麻烦和危险的。 这一切都是他侄儿和侄女的不必要的生命危险。 这是注定要发生的。他一定会发现他已经发现的线索

known. He tried to smile. To the Cahill children, this was all new. They had not been searching for a lifetime as he had. They were dancing now with the Kabras, doing dance moves they called hip- hop, which, when he attempted to join, made his hips hurt. He kept his eyes on the Kabra boy. Surely the Kabras knew this Clue also. The Lucians had been collecting Clues as long as the Ekats. Perhaps they were just better actors than he. "Brava!" Ian cried out, lifting Amy in the air. "I knew this cooperation between branches would pay off!" As he let her down, she allowed her face to brush gently against his. Alistair felt his blood go cold. The gambit with the Kabras had proved profitable. Without Ian's coin, they could not have found this cavern. But this was not the sort of alliance he'd imagined. "I— suggest we leave now," Alistair said. "Perhaps we can discuss what to do next over

已知的。他试图微笑。对卡希尔家的孩子们来说，这一切都是全新的。 他们没有像他那样用一生的时间去寻找。 他们现在正在和卡布拉一家跳舞，跳着他们称之为“嘻哈”的舞蹈动作，当他试图加入时，他的臀部就疼了。 他一直盯着那个叫卡布拉的男孩。 当然，卡布拉也知道这个线索。 卢西亚人收集线索的时间和埃卡特人一样长。 也许他们只是比他演得好。 “好极了!”伊恩喊道，把艾米举到空中。 “我知道分支机构之间的合作会有回报的！”他把她放下来时，她让自己的脸轻轻地擦过他的脸。 阿利斯泰尔觉得他的血液都凉了。 事实证明，与卡布拉家族的策略是有利可图的。 没有伊恩的硬币，他们不可能找到这个洞穴。 但这并不是他想象中的那种联盟。 “我——我建议我们现在就走。”阿利斯泰尔说。 “也许我们可以再讨论一下下一步该做什么

dinner." "Not so fast," Ian said. He was walking away from Amy now, intent on the mirror. "Correct me if I'm wrong. It seems to me that whenever you find a clue, you seem to find a lead to the next one." "Right, Euro-boy," Dan said. "But don't tax your brain. I'm betting the next clue is not rock dust." Ian was eyeing the mirror now. "What do you suppose these letters mean?" Alistair joined him, shining a light on the triangular mirror frame. Along two sides ran a strange set of symbols.

晚餐。”“别那么快，”伊恩说。 他正从艾米身边走开，一心盯着镜子看。 “如果我说错了，请纠正我。在我看来，每当你找到一条线索，你似乎就找到了通向下一条线索的线索。” “对，欧洲小子。”丹说。 “但是不要让你的大脑负担过重。 我打赌下一个线索不是岩石尘埃。” 伊恩现在正盯着镜子。 “你认为这些字母是什么意思？”阿利斯泰尔走到他身边，用一盏灯照着三角形的镜框。 两边写着一组奇怪的符号。

"Greek to me," Natalie said. "Guys, I know those letters!" Dan exclaimed. "From the inscription we found on the sword in Venice. Remember, Uncle Alistair, when we were looking at those tattoos? I told you there were some letters missing. Here they are!" "I don't think this is any one tongue," Alistair said, running the letters through his knowledge of thirteen languages. "Perhaps some kind of secret message?" Natalie began brushing her hair in the mirror with a gold-handled brush. "Mirror, mirror on the

“我不懂，”娜塔莉说。 “伙计们，我认得那些字母！”丹喊道。 “这是我们在威尼斯发现的剑上的铭文。 还记得阿利斯泰尔叔叔，我们看那些纹身的时候吗？ 我告诉过你有几封信不见了。 他们来了！”“我不认为这是任何一种语言，”阿利斯泰尔一边说，一边用他对13种语言的了解翻阅这些字母。 “也许是什么秘密消息？”娜塔莉开始用一把金柄梳子对着镜子梳头。 “照镜子，照镜子。

wall, who's the richest and smartest and hottest and—" "That's it, Natalie!" Dan said. Natalie blushed. "Thank you, I amaze myself sometimes…." "No! Words on a mirror… mirror writing!" Dan quickly pulled out a mechanical pencil and his paperback copy of Classic All-Time Movie Comedies. Ripping out a blank sheet in back, he turned the book sideways for support and began copying the letters onto the sheet. Then he held them in the mirror. It was still nonsense. Amy cocked her head. "The letters are symmetrical," she said. "The top of each one is a mirror reflection of the bottom. Maybe each letter is a mirrored half letter. So if you could see the half letter alone, you'd know what it was?" "That is the stupidest, most far-fetched thing I've ever heard," Dan said. Amy grabbed the paper and began erasing half of each latter:

沃尔，谁最富有，最聪明，最性感，还有——”“就是这样，娜塔莉！”丹说。 娜塔莉脸红了。“谢谢你，我有时会让自己大吃一惊....” “不!镜子上的字……镜子上的字！”丹迅速拿出一支自动铅笔和一本平装的《经典电影喜剧》。 他从后面撕下一张白纸，把书翻到一边，以便支撑，然后开始在纸上抄写字母。 然后他拿着它们对着镜子。 这仍然是无稽之谈。艾米歪着头。 “这些字母是对称的，”她说。 “每个人的顶部都是底部的镜像。 也许每个字母都是镜像的半字母。 所以如果你能看到那半个字母，你就知道那是什么了？”“这是我听过的最愚蠢、最牵强的事情，”丹说。 艾米抓起那张纸，开始擦掉每张纸的一半。

Slowly, she began filling in each letter: "Ahstkael…" Amy said. "Isn't that a health food chain in Sweden?" "Our next clue is in Sweden?" Natalie said eagerly. "I do need a new fur." Dan tapped his chin. "Um, dudes, these are English? Shouldn't we be trying to make Japanese letters? Or Korean?" "Hideyoshi was the son of Thomas Cahill," Alistair said. "It stands to reason that English was spoken in the home. Hideyoshi would have been fluent. And because the East had not yet opened to the West, words using English letters would have been an unbreakable code." Dan was scribbling furiously again. He began arranging the letters crazily, in all different combinations.

她慢慢地开始填写每封信：“Ahstkael……”艾米说。 “那不是瑞典的一家健康食品连锁店吗？”“我们的下一个线索在瑞典？”娜塔莉急切地说。 “我确实需要一件新皮毛。”丹拍了拍下巴。 “嗯，伙计们，这些是英国人吗？” 我们不应该试着写日文字母吗？ 还是韩国?”“丰臣秀吉是托马斯·卡希尔的儿子，”阿利斯泰尔说。 “在家里说英语是理所当然的。 丰臣秀吉会说得很流利。 而且因为东方还没有向西方开放，用英文字母写的单词将是一种牢不可破的密码。” 丹又在疯狂地乱涂乱画。 他开始疯狂地排列字母，以各种不同的组合。