Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 "Saladin!" Dan screamed as his head popped above the water's surface. Saladin was paddling, his wet fur matted to his face. He was all eyes, as if they'd grown twice their normal size. He seemed frightened to death. "Dan… swim to shore!" cried Amy. She was to his right, treading water. "I see it. We're not that far!" "Saladin!" Dan repeated. "For heaven's sake, let the cat go!" Alistair cried out. "It's only an animal!" Lightning flashed nearby, and Dan could hear a tree branch crack. Dan could see two shapes converging toward him, large and small. One was the boat, tacking left and right as Nellie strained to see him over the

第四章“萨拉丁！”丹尖叫着，他的头突然露出水面。 萨拉丁在划桨，湿漉漉的皮毛贴在脸上。 他目不转睛地看着他们，好像他们长得比平时大一倍。 他似乎吓得要死。 “丹……游到岸边去！”艾米叫道。 她在他的右边，踩着水。 “我看到了。我们没那么远！”“萨拉丁!”丹重复。 “看在上帝的份上，让猫走吧！”阿利斯泰尔喊道。 “它只是一只动物！”附近闪过一道闪电，丹能听到树枝裂开的声音。 丹可以看到两个人影向他靠拢，一个大一个小。 一艘是小船，当内利在海面上使劲看他时，它在左右摇摆

steering wheel. The other was Alistair, swimming with slow, even strokes, somehow managing to keep hold of his cane. Dan swam faster. He did not want to be grabbed in the water by anyone. Not before reaching Saladin. "Gotcha!" As he grabbed the Mau and drew him close, Saladin yelped and scratched. "Easy, now…" A wave slapped his face. He let himself rise with it, trying not to swallow. Trying not to let go of Saladin. Where was the shore? On the downwash of the wave, Dan looked desperately around for some sense of direction. Through the rain he could see a small flashing light. He began swimming, holding tight to Saladin. Alistair was soon by Dan's side. "Good, Daniel!" he cried. "Mrrrrrooooowwwwwrr!" Saladin whined. Amy was just ahead of him. The boat had stalled. Nellie and Arif were now by the railing, arguing in two different languages. Nellie was

方向盘。另一个是阿利斯泰尔，他游得很慢，划水均匀，不知怎么还能抓住手杖。 丹游得更快了。他不想在水里被任何人抓住。 在找到萨拉丁之前。 “明白了!”他一把抓住马，把他拉近时，萨拉丁又叫又抓。 “别紧张……”一个波浪打在他脸上。 他让自己和它一起上升，尽量不咽下去。 努力不让萨拉丁离开。 海岸在哪里？在波浪的下坡上，丹绝望地四处寻找方向。 透过雨，他看见一个小小的闪光。 他开始游泳，紧紧抓住萨拉丁。 阿利斯泰尔很快来到丹身边。 “好啊，丹尼尔！”“Mrrrrrooooowwwwwrr !”萨拉丁嘟哝道。 艾米就在他前面。 船抛锚了。耐莉和阿里夫现在站在栏杆旁，用两种不同的语言争论着。 内莉是

strapping on a life jacket and preparing to jump. A wave broke over Dan's head and he gulped seawater. He could feel it filling up his lungs. Swimming with one hand was exhausting, even with a life jacket. The spray from the sea's surface blinded him…. And then his head bashed into Amy's knee. "REEOOOW!" screeched Saladin. Dan's feet dropped— and he felt sand beneath him. Saladin shivered, his chest pounding fast and hard. Dan stood, cradling the Mau in his arms. He glanced behind him for the police boat but could see nothing through the fog and rain. Swimming against the rough surf, Nellie shouted, "I'm at your back!" "Are you okay?" Amy asked Dan. Dan nodded. "I'm good. Thanks. Saladin, too." As he watched Nellie stand in the shallows, a white light from the shore momentarily blinded him. Dan shielded Saladin's eyes as the light traveled to Amy, then Nellie. Finally, it settled on Alistair.

穿上救生衣，准备跳下去。 一个海浪从丹的头上冲了过来，他大口地喝着海水。 他能感觉到它充满了他的肺。 即使穿着救生衣，单手游泳也是很累的。 海面上的浪花使他睁不开眼睛.... 然后他的头撞到了艾米的膝盖上。 “嗬——嗬！”萨拉丁尖叫道。 丹的脚垂了下来——他感到脚下有沙子。 萨拉丁颤抖着，胸膛剧烈地跳动着。 丹站着，怀里抱着茅茅。 他瞥了一眼身后的警船，但在雾和雨中什么也看不见。 迎着汹涌的海浪游着，内莉喊道：“我在你背后！”“你还好吗？”艾米问丹。 丹点了点头。“我很好。谢谢。 萨拉丁也。”当他望着内莉站在浅滩上时，岸上一道白光暂时使他看不清。 丹挡住了萨拉丁的眼睛，光线照到了艾米，然后是内莉。 最后，他们选定了阿利斯泰尔。

A hand came out of the mist, grabbing Dan and pulling him onto the sand. A couple of others reached out for Nellie and Amy. "Itu dia!" a voice called out. Alistair's voice, muffled but agitated, came through the pattering of the rain. "I beg your pardon, officers, unhand me! This is a mistake!" "Ikuti kami!" the voice snapped back. Dan turned to see one of the cops slapping a pair of handcuffs on Alistair and dragging him toward a van. Dan shook loose and ran toward them. "Stay back, Dan!" Alistair shouted over his shoulder. "Isabel must have pinned the fire on me! I may be able to turn this to our advantage— but only if you don't make trouble! I can handle this." "But— but they can't do this!" Dan shouted back. One of the cops turned toward Dan. Glorp. Dan swallowed his next words of protest. He sheltered Saladin in his chest and shrank back.

一只手从雾中伸出来，抓住丹，把他拉到沙滩上。 还有几个人联系了内莉和艾米。 “Itu - dia!”一个声音喊道。 阿利斯泰尔的声音低沉而激动，从淅淅沥沥的雨声中传来。 “请原谅，警官们，放开我！”这是一个错误！”“Ikuti kami!”那个声音厉声回答。 丹转过身，看到一个警察给阿利斯泰尔戴上手铐，把他拖向一辆货车。 丹挣脱了束缚，向他们跑去。 “退后，丹！”阿利斯泰尔回过头喊道。 “一定是伊莎贝尔把火压在我身上了！”我也许能把这变成我们的优势——但前提是你不制造麻烦！我能处理好。” “可是——可是他们不能这么做！”丹喊道。 一个警察转向丹。 Glorp。丹忍住了接下来的抗议。 他把萨拉丁抱在胸前，往后退缩。

"Dan, stand still," Nellie commanded. "Both of you, be safe!" Out of the corner of his eye, Dan could see the boat floating just offshore. Arif was still aboard, talking quietly into his cell phone. The cop glowered at each of them and began pointing. "Tetap di situ! You, you, you, you… stay!" Then, barking a command, he shoved Alistair into the van and shut the door. He slid into the driver's seat, and the van slipped away into the fog. "It's a trumped-up charge," Nellie said. "It can't stick. He'll be out in no time." "Why would Isabel pin it on him?" Amy asked. Dan nodded, shifting the pet carrier from his right hand to his left. "We were the ones she wanted to kill. It doesn't make sense." "I guess he took the hit for you," Nellie said. "You owe him, big-time." Amy's shoes squished loudly as they all trudged

“丹，站着别动，”内莉命令道。 “你们两个都要注意安全！”丹用眼角余光看到那艘船就漂在岸边。 阿里夫还在船上，静静地对着手机说话。 警察瞪着他们每个人，开始指指点点。 “原地不动！”你，你，你，你……别动！”然后，他大声命令，把阿利斯泰尔推进车里，关上了门。 他溜进驾驶座，面包车在雾中溜走了。 “这是莫须有的指控，”内莉说。 “它粘不住。他很快就会出来的。” “伊莎贝尔为什么要把责任推到他身上？”艾米问。 丹点点头，把宠物袋从右手移到左手。 “我们是她想杀的人。 这没有道理。”“我猜他替你受了罪，”内莉说。 “你欠他一个大人情。”艾米的鞋子嘎吱嘎吱地走着

into town from the dock. The rain had stopped as suddenly as it had started, and the late morning had a crisp feeling. After Alistair had been carted away, they'd retrieved their stuff from the boat, but everything was drenched—except for Dan's computer, which he had wrapped in plastic, in true Dan style. Alistair had been on Amy's mind a lot, but she didn't want to admit what she was thinking— that it wouldn't bother her a bit if he were jailed in Indonesia for a long, long time. Owe him? For all Amy knew, Alistair could have staged the whole thing. To slip away again. We gave him the clue. We trusted him. How did he do it? And how did they end up trusting a guy… A guy who was at our house the night of the fire and didn't do a thing to stop it. "We don't owe him anything," Amy growled. Dan looked at her, startled. "Hey, Alistair was ready to die for us last night." "I think he's up to something," Amy said, "and Isabel may still be after us." The sun hit her eyes. It was peeking through trees now, dappling the

从码头到镇上。雨突然停了，就像它突然下起来一样，傍晚的天气给人一种清爽的感觉。 阿利斯泰尔被运走后，他们从船上取回了他们的东西，但所有的东西都湿透了——除了丹的电脑，他用塑料包裹着，这是真正的丹风格。 阿利斯泰尔一直萦绕在艾米的脑海里，但她不想承认自己的想法——即使他在印度尼西亚被监禁很长很长一段时间，她也不会感到一点困扰。 欠他吗?艾米知道，可能是阿利斯泰尔策划了整件事。 再次溜走。我们给了他线索。 我们信任他。他是怎么做到的？ 他们怎么会相信一个人，一个火灾那晚在我们家，却没有采取任何措施阻止火灾的人。 “我们不欠他什么，”艾米咆哮道。 丹看着她，吓了一跳。 “嘿，阿利斯泰尔昨晚准备为我们而死” “我想他有什么打算，”艾美说，“伊莎贝尔可能还在追我们。” 阳光照在她的眼睛上。此刻，它正透过树丛向外窥视，把天空点缀得斑驳