Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19 "Ending a sentence with a preposition," said the official at the Shaka Museum in Durban, "is something up with which I shall not put!" "Say what?" Dan was not in the mood for this. The ride the previous night had taken hours. And now, after a few hours sleep in Durban, the center of the KwaZulu-Natal province, and a trip to the museum, all he had asked for was the bathroom. Not a grammar lesson. The guide smiled. "You are Churchill people, no? You don't recognize your hero's quote? He was famous for saying it to someone like you. You said, 'Where's the bathroom at?' This is ending a sentence with a preposition! Very bad!" "Um, I gotta go, Mister…" Dan said. "Cole," the man said. "First door on your right."

第19章“用介词结束一个句子，”德班沙卡博物馆的官员说，“这是我不能容忍的！”“你说什么?”丹没心情听这个。 前一天晚上的旅程花了好几个小时。 现在，在夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省（KwaZulu-Natal）中心德班睡了几个小时，又去了趟博物馆，他只要求去洗手间。 不是语法课。导游笑了。 “你们是丘吉尔家的人，不是吗？” 你不认识你英雄的话？ 他因为对你这样的人说这句话而出名。 你说，‘洗手间在哪儿？’这是用介词结束句子！非常糟糕!”“嗯，我得走了，先生……”丹说。 “科尔，”那人说。“在你右边的第一个门。”

On the way in, Dan nearly collided with an ancient guy whose face was nearly skeletal. "Sorry, dude." When he was finally relieved, Dan skipped back outside. The old man, moving very slowly, hadn't even made it across the room. "Over the years, from time to time," Mr. Cole was saying to Nellie and Amy, "some people have inquired about the relationship between Churchill and Shaka Zulu. Father doesn't like those visitors very much." He gestured toward the old man. "Well, Churchill couldn't have had a relationship with Shaka," Amy pointed out. "He was born almost fifty years after Shaka died." "Indeed," Mr. Cole said. "We told this to our visitors time and again. Then, one day, after a visit, one of our prized possessions disappeared— a very large shield that belonged to Shaka. My father was on duty at the time, and he has never forgiven himself." "The shield these guys took?" Dan said, pulling his Shaka card out of his pocket and turning it toward the man. "Did it look like this?"

在进门的路上，丹差点撞到一个脸几乎枯槁的老人。 “对不起,伙计。”当丹终于松了一口气时，他蹦蹦跳跳地回到了外面。 老人走得很慢，甚至还没穿过房间。 “这些年来，”科尔先生对内莉和艾米说，“不时有人打听丘吉尔和沙卡·祖鲁之间的关系。 爸爸不太喜欢这些客人。” 他向老人做了个手势。 “嗯，丘吉尔不可能和沙卡有关系，”艾米指出。 “他是在沙卡死后将近五十年出生的。” “的确，”科尔说。“我们一遍又一遍地告诉来访者这一点。 然后，有一天，在一次拜访之后，我们的一件珍贵的东西不见了——沙卡的一个非常大的盾牌。 我父亲当时正在执勤，他从未原谅过自己。” “这些家伙拿走的盾牌？”丹说着，从口袋里掏出他的沙卡，转向那个人。 “是这样的吗？”

Mr. Cole nodded. "Very much so." "And this group— did they happen to be, like, big?" Dan asked. "And, like, loud and bossy?" He couldn't help noticing that the old man had almost reached them. The man was scowling, and when he spoke, his voice was a whispery rasp. "Why do you want to know about Churchill?" he demanded. "Father, please, these are children, not thieves." Mr. Cole smiled apologetically. "My great- grandfather— my father's grandfather—knew Churchill." "Churchill was sneaky," the old man said. "Obsessed with Shaka. That is why he traveled to South Africa. Not to report. Not to fight. To find out about the isipho." Dan glanced warily at his sister, then back at the old man, whose eyes were reddening. "Isipho?" "It is something Shaka gave to the Europeans," the old man said. "They saved his life with their medicine, and he thought they had magic powers. But they were looking for something, too. Something the Zulu had. Something the

科尔点点头。“确实如此。” “这群人——他们碰巧很大吗？”丹问道。 “而且，声音很大，很专横？”他不禁注意到老人已经快到他们跟前了。 那人皱着眉头，说话时声音低沉刺耳。 “你为什么想知道丘吉尔？”他问道。 “爸爸，求你了，他们是孩子，不是小偷。” 科尔先生抱歉地笑了。 “我的曾祖父——我父亲的祖父——认识丘吉尔。” “丘吉尔很狡猾，”老人说。 “痴迷于沙卡。这就是他前往南非的原因。 不报告。不要打架。 去了解伊西弗。” 丹小心翼翼地瞥了妹妹一眼，然后又看了看老人，老人的眼睛正在变红。 “Isipho ?”“这是沙卡送给欧洲人的东西，”老人说。 “他们用药救了他的命，他以为他们有魔力。 但他们也在寻找一些东西。 祖鲁人有的东西。的东西

Europeans took and transformed into a potion. It was said to have magnified his powers." Amy's eyes were saying exactly what Dan was thinking. Sounds like Cahills. "A p-potion?" Amy asked. "Nonsense, of course!" the old man shot back. "But they said Shaka could be one of them— their family. Shaka trusted them! He should have trusted no one! Shaka should have given Fynn the aniklwa!" "Father, please, let us not start again," Mr. Cole said. As he led his father back to the exhibit, he gave Dan an apologetic shrug. "Feel free to explore." "The Tomas!" Amy said as Nellie turned onto the highway. "That's who Mr. Cole was talking about." "Big meatheads asking about Shaka and Churchill," Nellie said. "That'd make sense." "And stealing a shield that just happened to have the Tomas crest on it," Dan remarked, his

欧洲人把它变成了一种药水。 据说这放大了他的力量。” 艾米的眼神和丹的想法一模一样。 听起来像卡希尔。“p-potion ?”艾米问。 “当然是胡说八道！”老人反驳道。 “但是他们说Shaka可以成为他们中的一员——他们的家人。 沙卡信任他们！他不应该相信任何人！沙卡应该给芬一巴掌的！”“父亲，求你了，我们不要再开始了，”科尔说。 当他领着父亲回到展览馆时，他给了丹一个道歉的耸肩。 “尽情探索吧。”“托马斯!”艾米说，这时内莉转上了高速公路。 “这就是科尔先生说的那个人。” “大傻瓜在打听沙卡和丘吉尔的事，”内莉说。 “这是有道理的。”“还偷了一个恰好有托马斯徽章的盾牌，”丹说，他的

nose buried in his Shaka biography. "Remember what Mr. Holt was whining about," Amy said. "The other Tomas finding the clue, blah blah blah? I thought he was being paranoid, but maybe he was right. Maybe the thieves who visited this museum were the ones who eventually found the clue." "Fynn— okay, here he is!" Dan said, pointing to a page in the Shaka biography. "This is the guy the old man was talking about— Henry Francis Fynn. After a battle, he gave Shaka medical help and weapons. Shaka was so grateful he allowed the Brits to hang out in the Zulu kingdom. Then things started going bad. Way bad. Years later, Fynn was dissing Shaka in some book. Saying he was a monster." Amy nodded. "England was trying to colonize South Africa, mostly because of the diamonds." "Right!" Dan said. "And anyway, even without the European rifles Shaka was a superstar. Before him, tribes would throw long spears at each other and wait. Like, ho hum, arrow arrow in the air, hey, want some coffee? Shaka said no way, José—

把鼻子埋在他的沙卡传记里。 “还记得霍尔特先生在抱怨什么吗？”艾米说。 “另一个托马斯找到了线索，等等等等？” 我以为他是多疑了，但也许他是对的。 也许参观这个博物馆的小偷是最终找到线索的人。” “芬恩——好了，他来了！”丹指着沙卡传记中的一页说。 “这就是老人说的那个人——亨利·弗朗西斯·芬。 一场战斗之后，他给了沙卡医疗帮助和武器。 沙卡非常感激，他允许英国人在祖鲁王国闲逛。 然后事情开始变糟。 坏的方式。多年后，芬恩在某本书里侮辱了夏卡。 说他是个怪物。”艾米点点头。 “英国试图殖民南非，主要是因为那里的钻石。” “没错!”丹说。不管怎样，即使没有欧洲步枪，沙卡也是一个超级明星。 在他之前，部落会互相投掷长枪并等待。 就像，哦哼，空中的箭，嘿，要喝咖啡吗？ 沙卡说没门，约瑟

well, maybe not José but the Zulu equivalent— short spears are better! Then you can go right up to your enemy's ugly face and wham! Stab! Arrrrgghh!" "Have you considered a writing career?" Nellie said. "Does your book say what an isipho is?" Amy asked. "Negatory," Dan said, shaking his head. "Dan…" Amy said. "Fynn and the other Europeans… they told Shaka he was one of the family. That's what the old man said. Maybe Shaka was a Cahill after all. Not by birth, but because of something they exchanged. The isipho." Following Carlos's guidance, Nellie drove out of Durban going northwest toward -29.086341/31.32817. Small villages dotted the countryside, each a cluster of circular mud-brick huts with tightly thatched roofs. In one village, a group of men herded cattle into a rickety wooden pen. In another, Dan exchanged waves with a team

好吧，也许不是乔斯维尔，而是祖鲁人的同类——短矛更好！然后你就可以直接走到敌人丑陋的脸上，然后砰的一声！刺!Arrrrgghh !”“你考虑过从事写作吗？”内莉说。 “你的书里说了什么是伊西弗吗？”艾米问。 “没有。”丹摇着头说。 “丹……”艾米说。“芬恩和其他欧洲人……他们告诉沙卡，他是家里的一员。 那是老人说的。 也许沙卡就是卡荷尔家的人。 不是因为出生，而是因为他们交换的东西。 isipho。”在卡洛斯的指引下，内莉开车离开德班，向西北方向-29.086341/31.32817驶去。 乡间点缀着一个个小村庄，每个村庄都有一堆圆形的泥砖小屋，屋顶盖着密密麻麻的茅草。 在一个村子里，一群人把牛赶进一个摇摇晃晃的木圈里。 在另一个场景中，丹和一个团队挥手致意