20 The Ticking-Thing Starts to Tick Louder

20. THE TICKING THING STARTS TO TICK LOUDER Again, I will not weary you with the details of the long journey home, the dragons they saw, the storms they survived, the perils of the crossing, or we would be here for ever. Every day, Hiccup checked the ticking-thing. As they grew closer and closer and closer to home, their hearts were lifting with excitement. But something had begun to worry Hiccup. It was something that Old Wrinkly had said on the beach, on the day of the Inter-Tribal Friendly Swimming Race. He had told Hiccup that he had to be back within three months, five days and six hours. Now, why would Old Wrinkly say that? It may seem obvious to you, dear Reader, for you know all the facts, but it never occurred to any of them that the Race they had been participating in was either particularly important in itself (it was only a Friendly, as far as they were concerned, after all, and there were always Competitions going on in the Archipelago), or that the Race could still be going on all that time later. So Hiccup didn't know why Old Wrinkly would say such a precise time. And it was concerning him,

20.。滴答声开始更响滴答声再一次，我不想用那些回家的漫长旅程的细节来烦你，他们看到的龙，他们度过的风暴，穿越的危险，否则我们就会永远在这里了。 小嗝嗝每天都检查滴答作响的东西。 当他们离家越来越近的时候，他们的心都兴奋起来了。 但是有些事情开始让小嗝嗝担心起来。 这是在部落间友好游泳比赛那天，老皱纹在海滩上说过的话。 他告诉小嗝嗝，他必须在3个月5天6小时内回来。 为什么老皱纹会这么说？ 亲爱的读者，在你看来，这似乎是显而易见的，因为你知道所有的事实，但他们谁也没有想到，他们参加的这场比赛本身是特别重要的（毕竟，对他们来说，这只是一场友谊赛，而群岛上总是有比赛的），也没有想到，比赛可能在这么长时间以后还会继续进行。 所以小嗝嗝不知道为什么老皱纹会说出这么精确的时间。 这是关于他的，

because according to his reading of the ticking-thing, they had now been gone for three months, four days and thirteen hours, and they were still at least two days' sailing away from the Archipelago. 'I don't know why you're worrying about this,' said Fishlegs, who was in a hugely happy mood now they were nearly home. 'It probably didn't mean anything at all. You know Old Wrinkly, he's not that great a soothsayer, and he's sometimes a bit batty.' 'But what if it did mean something?' insisted Hiccup. 'What if Old Wrinkly had seen what was going to happen to us… he knew we weren't going to come back that day, didn't he? And look, we're nearly coming in at exactly the time he said, it's just that we're going to be a bit late, and he particularly told me not to be late…' The next day, Hiccup was even more worried, and the ticking-thing began to tick louder, as Old Wrinkly had said it would. TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK. 'Look!' said Hiccup anxiously. 'That means there's only six hours left, and even though it's a very windy day, we're at least…' he checked the ticking- thing, 'TWENTY-FOUR-hours' sailing distance away… we're going to be late!'

因为根据他读出的滴答声，他们已经离开了三个月四天零十三个小时，离群岛至少还有两天的航程。 “我不明白你为什么要担心这个。”鱼腿说，现在他们快到家了，他的心情非常愉快。 “这可能根本没有任何意义。 你知道老皱纹，他不是一个很好的预言家，他有时有点疯狂。”“但是如果它确实有什么意思呢？小嗝嗝坚持说。 “如果老皱纹看到了我们将要发生的事情……他知道我们那天不会回来了，是不是？” 瞧，我们差不多正好在他说的时间到了，只是我们要晚一点，他特别叮嘱我不要迟到……”第二天，小嗝嗝更担心了，那东西的滴答声开始更响了，就像老皱纹说的那样。 TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK。 “看!小嗝嗝焦急地说。 “这意味着只剩下六个小时了，尽管今天风很大，但我们至少……”他看了看滴答作响的东西，“还有二十四小时的航行距离……我们要迟到了！”

'Late for what?' asked Fishlegs in exasperation. 'There's nothing we can do about it, anyway, and Old Wrinkly probably didn't mean anything when he said it.' Hiccup fiddled and fiddled with the ticking-thing as he worried, and the back of it fell open, and for the first time he noticed, along with the little delicate moving wheels on the inside, there was a tiny little inscription. Two letters. G.G. Hiccup's heart beat a little quicker, for he had seen those letters before, and he knew what they stood for. Grimbeard the Ghastly. Hiccup had assumed that this ticking-thing had been made by Norbert's father, Bigjob, and he had always felt a little guilty about stealing it from Norbert. But it seemed that Bigjob had perhaps stolen it himself. For this ticking-thing, surely, belonged to the Heir of Grimbeard the Ghastly, and the Heir to Grimbeard the Ghastly was… …Hiccup. And now he was absolutely sure that there was a precise reason for the time that Old Wrinkly had given him. He did not yet know what the reason was, but

“迟到什么？”鱼腿恼怒地问。 “不管怎么说，我们对此也无能为力，老皱纹说这话的时候，大概也没有别的意思。”小嗝嗝一边担心，一边不停地拨弄着那个滴答作响的东西，它的后面开了，他第一次注意到，除了里面那些精致的移动的小轮子外，还有一个小小的铭文。 两个字母。g·g·希卡普的心跳得更快了，因为他以前见过这些字母，知道它们代表着什么。 可怕的Grimbeard。小嗝嗝一直以为这个滴答作响的东西是诺伯特的父亲大约伯做的，他一直对从诺伯特那里偷走它感到有点内疚。 但似乎是Bigjob自己偷的。 因为这个滴答作响的东西，肯定是属于可怕的Grimbeard的继承人的，而可怕的Grimbeard的继承人就是... ...Hiccup。 现在他完全确信老皱纹给他的时间是有确切原因的。 他还不知道原因是什么，但是

he was certain that somehow there was some kind of pattern to it that he did not yet understand. Some way in which everything interconnected, like the little tiny wheels revolving in the instrument in front of him. Six hours. TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK went the ticking-thing, a little louder still. They were never going to get there in six hours… by boat. Hiccup looked up and his eye caught Norbert's defective Flying Machine, salvaged from the sea by the prudent Wanderers, and now lashed to the figurehead of one of the other Wanderer boats. There was a very strong wind today. Hiccup knew from the time that he had spent in a Roman Observation Balloon (it's a long story, don't ask)* that flying was much quicker than sailing. If only that Flying Machine actually WORKED. Fishlegs saw what Hiccup was looking at, and guessed what he was thinking. 'Oh no, Hiccup, oh, seriously, you have got to be JOKING! Remember how many times they tried that thing out on the journey? And how many times it fell out of the sky like a stone? That Flying Machine doesn't work.'

他确信其中有某种他还不明白的规律。 一切都以某种方式相互联系，就像他面前乐器里的小轮子一样。 6个小时。嘀嗒，嘀嗒，嘀嗒，嘀嗒，嘀嗒，嘀嗒，嘀嗒，嘀嗒，嘀嗒的东西在嘀嗒，声音更大了。 他们不可能在六个小时内到达那里……坐船。 小嗝嗝抬起头来，他的目光看到了诺伯特那架有缺陷的飞行器，它被谨慎的流浪者从海里救了出来，现在被绑在另一艘流浪者船的船首上。 今天风很大。 小嗝嗝从他在罗马观测气球上度过的时光中知道（这是一个很长的故事，不要问）*飞行比航海快得多。 要是那个飞行器真的能用就好了。 鱼腿看到了嗝嗝在看什么，猜到了他在想什么。 “哦，不，小嗝嗝，哦，说真的，你一定是在开玩笑！”还记得他们在旅途中试了多少次吗？ 有多少次它像石头一样从天上掉下来？ 那个飞行器坏了。”

'We thought the Stop-the-Boat-from-Sinkingand-Scare-Away-the-Big-Sea-Creatures Machine didn't work, didn't we?' Hiccup pointed out. 'And we were wrong.' 'But we're so close now… so close… and so ALIVE which is the important thing,' gasped Fishlegs. 'what is the POINT of risking it all right now, after all that we've been through, when we're so very nearly there? No, I'm putting my foot down this time, Hiccup, I can't let you do it…' TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCKTICK-TOCK went the ticking-thing.

“我们以为‘阻止船沉没并吓跑海洋生物’机器不起作用，不是吗？”小嗝嗝指出。 但我们错了。鱼腿气喘吁吁地说：“但我们现在离得很近了……很近……而且还活着，这才是最重要的。” “在经历了这么多之后，我们马上就要成功了，现在再去冒险有什么意义呢？” 不，这次我要坚决反对，小嗝嗝，我不能让你再这样做了……”嘀嗒、嘀嗒、嘀嗒、嘀嗒、嘀嗒、嘀嗒、嘀嗒、嘀嗒的声音又响了起来。