Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 It wasn't quite pitch–black in the cave. A lighter shade of black, if that was possible. Dan was leading the way. The light from the entrance and the beam of the flashlight showed that the walls and ceiling were pitted and craggy. Dan stopped every step or two so he could shine the flashlight's beam all around. It was slow going. After about twenty cautious paces, Dan reached the far wall. "That's it," he said. "It doesn't go any farther." They now knew that the cave was not very big, perhaps fifteen feet across and thirty feet long, narrower at the entrance and toward the ceiling. No passages branched off, nor were there any niches or alcoves in the rock walls. "We must have missed something," Amy said. "How do you know we're in the right place? There could be another cave around here

第五章山洞里并不是一片漆黑。 如果可能的话，用浅一点的黑色。 丹在前面带路。入口的光线和手电筒的光束显示出墙壁和天花板上坑坑洼洼，凹凸不平。 丹每走一两步就停下来，这样他就能把手电筒的光束照到周围。 事情进展缓慢。小心翼翼地走了大约二十步后，丹来到了远处的墙边。 “就是这样，”他说。“它不会走得更远。” 他们现在知道这个洞不大，大概十五英尺宽，三十英尺长，洞口和通向天花板的地方比较窄。 没有分叉的通道，岩壁上也没有壁龛或凹室。 “我们一定错过了什么，”艾米说。 “你怎么知道我们来对地方了？” 这附近可能还有另一个洞穴

somewhere." "With the Tomas crest over the door?" "Well, no cats in here, that's for sure," he said. "Let's walk around the edge now," Amy suggested. They turned to their right and made their way slowly around the side of the cave. Dan touched the wall gingerly. It was rough, maybe granite. The water slapped at the walls all around, not big waves, just wavelets. Each small surge brought the water to almost chest level. Chest level? "The tide!" he said. "It's coming in!" "Then we better find it quick," Amy said grimly. They took another couple of steps to the right. Dan flashed the light at the side wall. "Not so fast," Amy said. "Do it, like, a square foot at a time." They went over that section of wall slowly. Dan glanced anxiously down at the water. Then it hit him. They were only searching above the waterline!

某个地方。”“门上有托马斯的徽章吗？”“嗯，这里没有猫，这是肯定的，”他说。 “我们现在绕着边缘走一圈吧。”艾米建议道。 他们向右转，慢慢地绕过洞穴的一侧。 丹小心翼翼地摸着墙。 它很粗糙，可能是花岗岩。 水拍打着四周的墙壁，不是大浪，只是小波。 每一次小的浪涌都使水几乎达到胸部的高度。 胸部水平?“潮水！”他说。 “它进来了！”“那我们最好快点找到它，”艾米冷酷地说。 他们又向右走了几步。 丹用灯照着侧壁。 “别那么快，”艾米说。“一次做一平方英尺。” 他们慢慢地翻过那段墙。 丹焦急地望着水面。 然后他突然想到。他们只在水线以上搜索！

"Oh, no," he said. "What if it's down there somewhere?" He pointed the flashlight beam through the water. Amy groaned. "We'll have to come back when the tide is out all the way. Maybe we could just sort of guard the place until the tide goes down— Nellie could go back to the boat and tell them we're staying here—" Dan hardly heard her. "Here," he said, handing her the flashlight. "Aim it straight down there." He pointed the beam of light at where the wall of the cave joined the ocean floor. It wasn't a neat, right–angle seam as it would have been for a room indoors; there were rocks of all sizes sticking out from both the ocean floor and the wall itself. He hadn't really seen anything. It was so dark, with the water moving and the flashlight beam wavering…. But maybe he had seen something, just not clearly enough or long enough for his brain to put a name to it. He adjusted his mask and snorkel, took a deep breath, and ducked under the surface. Bent over, half swimming and half crawling, he groped

“哦，不，”他说。“如果它就在下面什么地方呢？”他把手电筒的光束穿过水面。 艾米呻吟着。“我们得等潮水退了再回来。 也许我们可以守着这个地方，直到退潮——内莉可以回到船上，告诉他们我们要呆在这里——”丹几乎没听见她的话。 “给你，”他说着，把手电筒递给她。 “对准那里。” 他把光束对准岩壁与海底相连的地方。 它不是一个整洁的直角缝，不像在室内的房间里那样；海底和岩壁上都有大小不一的岩石伸出来。 他什么也没看见。 天太黑了，水在流动，手电筒的光束在摇摆.... 但也许他确实看到了什么，只是不够清晰或时间不够长，他的大脑无法给它起个名字。 他调整好面罩和呼吸管，深吸一口气，潜到水面下。 他弯下腰，半游半爬地摸索着

around the rocks at the bottom, trying to remember what he had seen or thought he'd seen. Here? Or closer to the wall? He surfaced and spat out the snorkel mouthpiece. "Can't you hold the light steady?" he said. "It's wobbling around so much I can't get a bead on anything." "I am holding it still," she said. "It's the waves. And the reflection." "Refraction," he corrected her. "Whatever. Dan, it's not going to be safe here much longer." The water level now rose to Amy's chest, which meant that it was almost up to Dan's neck. He knew she was right. "I'm gonna go down once or twice more," he said. "I think—" But he didn't finish the thought. Maybe that would jinx him. He fixed the snorkel in place again and went back underwater. Rock. Bigger rock. Rock. He touched each one with his fingertips as he moved toward the wall to make sure he wasn't missing anything. Rock, tiny pebbles, rock…

绕着底部的岩石，努力回忆他所看到的或自以为看到的东西。 这里吗?还是靠近墙？ 他浮出水面，吐出了通气管嘴。 “你不能把灯拿稳吗？”他说。 “它晃得太厉害了，我什么都看不清。” “我拿着它不动，”她说。 “是海浪。还有倒影。” “折射。”他纠正她。 “不管。丹，这里安全不了多久了。” 现在水位涨到了艾米的胸口，这意味着水位几乎到了丹的脖子。 他知道她是对的。“我还会再下去一两次，”他说。 “我想——”但他没把话说完。 也许那会使他倒霉。 他又把通气管固定好，回到水下。 岩石。大的岩石。岩石。他一边向墙移动，一边用指尖触摸着每一个，以确保自己没有错过任何东西。 岩石，小卵石，岩石……

Wait. Tiny pebbles? There weren't any other tiny pebbles around. All the rocks were at least the size of baseballs. Those pebbles… He surfaced. "Gimme the flashlight," he said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Did you find something?" "No. I don't know." He shone the light on the area he'd been searching. "Man! Why didn't we bring an underwater flashlight?" One more circuit with the light, a square foot at a time… "There! Hold the light right here— don't move a muscle!" He went back under again. They weren't tiny pebbles. They were links that formed some kind of chain lodged firmly between two rocks. He got two fingers under the links and tugged. They didn't budge. Dan put his foot on the chain and stood up straight again. When his head broke the surface, it was the only body part that did. The water was up to his chin now, and the waves grew rougher as the water was forced into the narrower confines of

等待。小石子呢?周围没有其他的小鹅卵石。 所有的石头至少有棒球那么大。 他浮出水面。 “把手电筒给我。”他说，努力让自己的声音保持平静。 “你找到什么了吗？”“没有。 我不知道。”他把灯照在他一直在寻找的地方。 “男人!我们为什么不带一个水下手电筒呢？”再用灯绕一圈，一次一平方英尺……把灯拿在这儿——一动也别动！”他又钻进了水里。 它们不是小石子。 它们是固定在两块岩石之间的链环。 他把两只手指伸到链子下面，使劲拉。 他们没有让步。丹把脚放在链子上，又站直了。 当他的头露出水面时，它是身体唯一露出水面的部分。 现在水已经没到他的下巴了，随着水被挤进更窄的范围，波浪变得更汹涌了

the cave's upper reaches. "Dan! We have to get out of here!" Amy was now holding the flashlight up above her shoulder to keep it out of the water. "I've got something! It's right here!" He went back down again and yanked frantically at the chain. With his other hand, he pushed at one of the rocks. It didn't budge, either. He switched to using both hands on the rock… was it moving? Just then he felt a hand on his shoulder, yanking him up. "Dan, come on!" "No!" he said, and inhaled a little seawater as a wave rose over the top of the snorkel. He hacked and coughed for a few moments, feeling his chest start to tighten. "Just one more try," he gasped, and plunged back down again. With all his might, Dan shoved at the rock. Finally, he felt it give, grabbed the chain, and gave it a yank. It came free! He stood up straight again and wrapped the chain around his wrist twice. Only the tips of his

洞穴的上游。“丹!我们必须离开这里！”艾米现在把手电筒举过肩膀，以免触到水。 “我找到东西了！”它就在这儿！”他又下去，疯狂地拉着铁链。 他用另一只手推着其中的一块石头。 它也没有动。他转而用两只手抓石头，石头在动吗？ 就在这时，他感到有一只手搭在他的肩膀上，把他拉了起来。 “丹，别这样！”“不！”他说，吸了一点海水，这时一股海浪从通气管顶部升起。 他砍了砍，咳嗽了一会儿，感觉胸口开始发紧。 “再试一次。”他喘着气说，又往下一跳。 丹使出全身力气猛推那块岩石。 最后，他感到绳子松动了，抓起链子猛地一拉。 它是免费的！他又站直了身子，把链子绕在手腕上绕了两圈。 只有他的尖端