Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 "Are you out of your mind?" Dan spun around. In the setting sun, he saw Nellie in silhouette. With her current hairstyle, she looked like a tiny stegosaurus mounted on a human body. "He winked," Dan said. "Meaning it's okay to do this." "You are out of your mind," Nellie said. "He winked because he likes your sister. Amy is being held captive by the mad chess fiend of South Africa." Dan looked over her shoulder. Through the window he could see the older man was chatting, fixing something on a stove, while Amy and Kurt sat playing chess. When they weren't looking at the board, they were sneaking glances at each other.

第十七章“你疯了吗？”丹转过身来。 在夕阳的余晖中，他看到了内莉的剪影。 按照她现在的发型，她看起来就像一头小剑龙骑在人体上。 “他眨了眨眼，”丹说。“意思是这样做是可以的。” “你疯了，”内莉说。 他眨眼是因为他喜欢你妹妹。 艾米被南非的疯狂象棋迷俘虏了。” 丹回头看了看。 透过窗户，他看到老人在聊天，在炉子上修理什么东西，而艾米和库尔特坐在那里下棋。 当他们不看黑板的时候，他们就偷偷地看对方一眼。

"They're perfect together," Dan said. "And he was exaggerating about this mine. These guys get all nervous about this stuff for insurance reasons." "Do you even know what that means?" Nellie asked. "No," Dan said. "But hey, it's been here since the eighteen-hundreds, right?" Nellie thought a moment. Then she reached around, unhooked her backpack, and pulled out a flashlight. "Take this. If I hear one pebble come loose, I pull you up for safety reasons. Duck down into the shaft. Do not fall. If you find something written on the wall, I will help you write it down. If you don't, that's it. We're out of here. Got it?" Dan grabbed the flashlight. "You are awesome." "I know. Now hurry." Dan ran toward the shack and darted around back. In the center of a fenced-in area was a wide hole with the top of a frayed rope ladder bolted to the rim. He gulped. "This ladder is looking a little vintage." Nellie peered over. "Okay, Plan B. You lean over and look. That's it. I'll hold your legs. Hurry!"

“他们在一起是完美的，”丹说。 “他夸大了这个矿。 这些人都因为保险的原因对这些东西感到紧张。” “你知道那是什么意思吗？”内莉问道。 “不，”丹说。“但是，嘿，它从十八世纪就在这里了，对吧？”内利想了一会儿。 然后，她把手伸到周围，解开背包，拿出一个手电筒。 “把这个。如果我听到一颗石子松动，出于安全考虑，我就把你拉上来。 蹲下到竖井里。不要跌倒。 如果你发现墙上写着什么，我会帮你写下来。 如果你不这样做，那就完了。我们走吧。 明白了吗?”丹抓起手电筒。 “你太棒了。”“我知道。 现在快点。”丹朝小屋跑去，又在后面跑了一圈。 在一个围起来的区域的中央有一个大洞，一个磨损的绳梯的顶部用螺栓固定在边缘上。 他一饮而尽。“这梯子看起来有点过时了。” 内莉往那边看了看。“好吧，B计划。 你俯下身去看。就是这样。 我扶着你的腿。快点!”

"Right." For a moment Dan froze. The last time he was in a mine, in Coober Pedy, Australia, he had encountered poisonous spiders and a deadly snake. Not to mention asthma. You're not actually going in, he told himself. Just dipping down a little. Swallowing hard, Dan got on all fours at the edge of the hole. He could feel Nellie's hands gripping his ankles as he flicked on the flashlight. The hole was wide enough for one person. The walls were slick, as if painted with shellac. The rope ladder hung down, disappearing into nothingness and swaying slowly on the current of some invisible breeze. An acrid, vaguely rotten stench wafted upward. My fetid hidey hole in Witbank's mines… Churchill had written. "What do you see?" Nellie hissed. "Hold tight," Dan said. The rock walls were rough and pocked, and a jagged crack ran down the opposite side. Dan thought he could spot some writing, but it was just the accumulation of gravelly dirt on a narrow

“对的。”丹僵住了一会儿。 上一次他在澳大利亚库伯佩迪的一个矿井里，他遇到了有毒的蜘蛛和一条致命的蛇。 更不用说哮喘了。你不会真的进去的，他告诉自己。 只是蘸了一点。 丹使劲吞咽，四肢着地站在洞边。 当他打开手电筒时，他能感觉到内莉的手抓住了他的脚踝。 这个洞够一个人住的。 墙壁光滑，好像涂上了紫胶。 绳梯垂了下来，消失在虚无中，在一股看不见的微风中慢慢摇摆。 一股刺鼻的、隐约腐烂的恶臭向上飘来。 我在威特班克矿区的臭洞……丘吉尔写道。 “你看到了什么？”内莉发出嘘嘘的声音。 “抓紧，”丹说。岩壁粗糙不平，坑坑洼洼的，对面有一道参差不齐的裂缝。 丹以为他能看到一些文字，但那只是一堆砾石般的泥土堆积在一个狭窄的地方

ledge. "I hear something!" Nellie said. "Make it fast!" Nada. Dan exhaled. It was too dark, too much pressure. "Beam me up, Scotty," he said. The words caught in his mouth. His flashlight was angled inward now, shining on the wall just below him. And there, carefully carved into the rock about four feet directly underneath him, were several lines of writing. "Wait! I got it!" Dan cried. "Lower me a little! I see something!" Nellie inched forward. Dan sank lower into the shaft. Pebbles shook loose from the rim and rained downward into the hole— into silence. Dan never heard them reach bottom. Dan squinted, reaching down with the flashlight to the writing on the wall. It was too hard to read. A rubbing. That would do the trick. "Pull me up!" Dan said. In a moment, Dan was over the edge of the

窗台。“我听到了什么声音！”内莉说。 “快点！”没有什么结果。丹呼出。 太黑了，压力太大。 “把我传送上去，斯科蒂。”他说。 他一时说不出话来。 他的手电筒现在向内倾斜，照在他下面的墙上。 在他正下方大约四英尺的岩石上，小心地刻着几行字。 “等等!我知道了！”丹哭了。 “放低一点！”我看到东西了！”内莉慢慢向前挪动。 丹往井里陷得更深了。 卵石从边缘松动下来，像雨点一样落进洞里——陷入寂静。 丹从来没有听到他们到达底部。 丹眯起眼睛，用手电筒照着墙上的字。 它太难读了。一个摩擦。 这样就可以了。“拉我上去！”丹说。 不一会儿，丹就越过了悬崖的边缘

hole. "Okay, Nellie, I need to go back down, this time with a sheet of paper and pencil. There's writing down there, and I can get it by rubbing it." "Now I know you're crazy," she said. "Checkmate!" Amy's voice echoed from the hut, followed by a laugh from the old man and a playful moan from Kurt. "We have a few more minutes," Dan said. "He's going to ask for a rematch." "How do you know?" "It's a guy thing!" Nellie sighed. Rummaging around in Dan's pack, she pulled out a pencil and a notebook, ripping out a sheet. "Okay, but be quick." Maneuvering the light, the pencil, and the paper wasn't going to be easy. "I'll need spares," he said. "In case I drop something." With a look of exasperation, Nellie tore off more sheets and found two other pencils. Dan stuffed them into his pants pocket and held on to the originals. Clasping the flashlight in his mouth, he said,

洞。“好了，内莉，我需要回去，这次带着一张纸和一支笔。 那儿有字，我揉一下就能得到。” “现在我知道你疯了，”她说。 “将军!”小屋里回荡着艾米的声音，接着是老人的笑声和库尔特顽皮的呻吟声。 “我们还有几分钟，”丹说。 “他会要求重赛的。” “你怎么知道的？”“这是男人的事！”内莉叹了口气。 她在丹的背包里翻来翻去，抽出一支铅笔和一本笔记本，撕下一张纸。 “好吧，不过要快点。”操控灯光、铅笔和纸并不容易。 “我需要备件，”他说。 “以防我掉了什么东西。” 带着恼怒的表情，内莉撕下更多的纸，找到另外两支铅笔。 丹把它们塞进裤子口袋，留下了原版。 他把手电筒夹在嘴里，说：

"Chhochhay, chech go!" Dan stretched out on his stomach at the hole's edge. He felt a shudder and heard the sound of pebbles slipping down the wall beneath him. He moved left, until he gripped what felt like solid rock. "Chhere!" Dan said, inching over the edge. "Just a minute, dude, you have something sticky in your pack," Nellie said. "I'm getting it off my—" Suddenly, the ground beneath Dan fell in an explosion of black soil. He felt himself drop abruptly. And then he was hurtling down into the darkness, his mouth open in a silent scream. "GOTCHA!" "YAAAAGH!" Dan thought his left leg was going to be pulled out from its socket. He was hanging by it, with Nellie's hand clasped around his ankle. His arms flailed. Pen and paper fell. The flashlight flung away, casting a wild, brief light

“Chhochhay, checch go!”丹趴在洞边。 他感到一阵颤栗，听到鹅卵石从他脚下的墙上滑落的声音。 他向左移动，直到抓住了一块感觉像坚硬岩石的东西。 “Chhere !”丹边说边慢慢爬过悬崖。 “等一下，伙计，你的背包里有黏糊糊的东西，”内莉说。 “我要把它从我的——”突然间，丹脚下的土地在一片黑土的爆炸中塌陷了。 他感到自己突然倒下了。 然后他冲进黑暗中，嘴巴张着，发出无声的尖叫。 “明白了!”“YAAAAGH !”丹觉得他的左腿要被人从腿窝里拔出来了。 他吊在那棵树上，内利的手紧紧抓住他的脚踝。 他的双臂挥舞着。笔和纸掉了下来。 手电筒猛地一闪，发出一阵狂乱而短暂的光