Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 AUGUST 24 7:00 A.M. THE MOUNTAIN VESUVIUS They took the twisting path that wound up the mountain. The sun was barely up, but already it roasted their backs. Tata kept stopping to look around. He seemed to be taking the mountain apart with his eyes, inch by inch. He kept crouching down, scooping up handfuls of soil, rubbing it between his fingers. He ripped up pieces of grass, sniffing them, and even touching them to his tongue.

第十章8月24日上午7时 维苏威火山他们走了那条蜿蜒上山的小路。 太阳刚刚升起，但已经把他们的背烤焦了。 塔塔不停地停下来环顾四周。 他似乎正在用眼睛把这座山一寸一寸地拆开。 他一直蹲下身子，捧起一把土，用手指搓着。 他撕开一片片草，闻一闻，甚至用舌头舔一舔。

"Do you notice the quiet?" he asked at one point. "There are no birds or insects anywhere." Tata was right. Normally at this time of morning, the air would be alive with chirping and singing and chattering. But Marcus had not seen one creature since they came up on the mountain, not a deer, a squirrel, nor even a fly. No people, either. There were pastures on this side of Vesuvius, and they'd passed two shepherd shacks. But they hadn't seen a soul. "Where did they all go?" Marcus asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "It might be that there's not enough water," Tata said. "It could be the heat drove them off." They'd already discovered that the streams higher up on the mountain were mysteriously dried up. They'd managed to find just one that still ran. And the trickle of water tasted so foul they could barely choke it down. Peg wouldn't go near it, even though she'd barely had a drink since before they'd slept last night. Maybe that was why she was walking so slowly, why she kept stopping and stamping her feet.

“你注意到这里很安静吗?”他一度问道。 “到处都没有鸟或昆虫。” 塔塔是对的。通常在早晨的这个时候，空气中充满了啾啾、歌唱和叽叽喳喳的声音。 但自从他们上山后，马库斯就没见过任何生物，鹿，松鼠，甚至连苍蝇都没见过。 也没有人。维苏威火山这边有牧场，他们经过了两个牧羊人的小屋。 但是他们一个人也没看见。 “他们都去哪儿了?”马库斯问，努力不让自己的声音颤抖。 “可能是没有足够的水，”塔塔说。 “可能是高温把它们赶走了。” 他们已经发现山上更高的溪流神秘地干涸了。 他们只找到了一条还能跑的。 涓涓细流的水很难闻，他们几乎无法咽下去。 佩格不愿靠近它，尽管她从昨晚睡觉前就几乎没喝过酒。 也许这就是为什么她走得那么慢，为什么她不停地停下来跺着脚。

But now, as they passed through a cluster of pine trees, Peg stopped short. Tata pulled at her rope, but she refused to move. Marcus gave her a pat. "Come on, Peg," he said. The mare refused to budge. She looked at Marcus with wide, fearful eyes. Neigh! Was she trying to warn them about something? Marcus found the answer when he peered through the trees, into a meadow. The first thing he noticed was the grass was brown, as though it had been burned. Then he saw the sheep — at least twenty of them — all splayed out on their sides or backs. Marcus knew right away that they were all dead. "Good Jupiter," Tata whispered in shock, stepping slowly into the field. Once again, Marcus had to force himself to follow his father. Tata crouched down next to one of the sheep. "There's not a mark on her," Tata said, laying a gentle hand over the poor creature's head.

但是现在，当他们穿过一丛松树时，佩格突然停了下来。 塔塔拉她的绳子，但她拒绝移动。 马库斯拍了拍她。“来吧，佩格，”他说。 母马不肯动。 她惊恐地瞪大眼睛看着马库斯。 马嘶声!她是想警告他们什么吗? 当马库斯透过树林向一片草地望去时，他找到了答案。 他首先注意到的是草是棕色的，好像被烧过似的。 接着，他看见了羊群——至少有二十只——全都四下或背对着。 马库斯马上就知道他们都死了。 “天哪，朱庇特。”塔塔震惊地低声说，慢慢地走进田地。 马库斯又一次不得不强迫自己跟随父亲。 塔塔蹲在一只羊旁边。 “她身上没有一点痕迹。”塔塔说，一只手轻轻地放在这个可怜的家伙的头上。

It was true — there was not a speck of blood, no bite marks, no wounds at all. But her tongue bulged out of her mouth and her eyes were wide in agony. All the sheep looked the same. What could have killed them? Tata said a prayer in his old Germanic language and then stood up. "I've seen enough," he said. "We must leave here. Now." But as they turned, there was a low rumbling from deep inside the earth. It quickly rose to a roar as the ground started to shake. Marcus half expected a great beast to burst through the soil, for a giant clawed hand to grab him around the throat. What he saw next was almost more horrifying. As the ground boiled, the field suddenly ripped apart right in front of them. The gaping crack looked like an evil smiling mouth, ready to devour them. Great chunks of earth and dead sheep tumbled into the blackness. Marcus and Tata staggered back. And then — Boom!

这是真的——没有一点血迹，没有咬痕，根本没有伤口。 但是她的舌头伸出了嘴，眼睛因痛苦而睁得大大的。 所有的羊看起来都一样。 是什么杀死了他们? 塔塔用他古老的日耳曼语做了祷告，然后站了起来。 “我看够了，”他说。 “我们必须离开这里。现在。” 但当他们转身时，从地下深处传来了低沉的隆隆声。 随着地面开始震动，它迅速变成了咆哮声。 马库斯还以为会有一只巨兽从地里冲出来，一只有爪子的大手会抓住他的喉咙。 接下来他看到的几乎更可怕。 当地面沸腾时，田地突然在他们面前裂开了。 裂开的裂缝看起来像一个邪恶的微笑的嘴，准备吃掉他们。 大块大块的泥土和死羊滚落在黑暗中。 马库斯和塔塔摇摇晃晃地后退。 然后——砰!

An explosion shattered the air. Fire leaped out of the crack, a massive flaming tongue that seemed to lick the sky and then disappear. The force of the blast knocked them over, and sent Marcus tumbling down the steep slope. He rolled and twisted, his neck cracking, his arms tangling, his face scraping the rocky dirt as he slid down the hill. He crashed into a tree, which knocked every bit of air out of his lungs. Finally the ground stopped shaking. The fire was gone. But now ash rained down on them, a silent blizzard of hot flakes. Marcus sat there, numb with terror, dizzy from his fall. Tata came hurtling down the hill with Peg. "Are you hurt?" he gasped, dropping to his knees next to Marcus. Marcus shook his head dumbly, slowly rising to his feet. Moments later, they were speeding down the mountain on Peg. The mare ran like she had the day before, her hooves barely touching the ground.

一声爆炸震碎了空气。 火从裂缝里窜了出来，一个巨大的燃烧的舌头，似乎舔了舔天空，然后消失了。 爆炸的力量把他们撞倒了，马库斯从陡峭的斜坡上滚了下来。 他滚来滚去，扭来扭去，脖子嘎吱作响，胳膊缠在一起，滑下山坡时，他的脸刮着岩石的泥土。 他撞在一棵树上，把肺里的空气都抽光了。 最后，地面停止了震动。 火熄灭了。但现在灰烬像雨点一样落在他们身上，像无声的热雪暴雪。 马库斯坐在那里，吓得麻木，摔倒后头晕。 塔塔带着佩格冲下山来。 “你受伤了吗?”他喘着气，跪在马库斯身边。 马库斯默默地摇了摇头，慢慢地站了起来。 片刻之后，他们在佩格山上疾驰而下。 母马像昨天一样跑着，她的蹄子几乎没有碰到地面。

Finally, Tata spoke. "A terrible fire is burning under the mountain," he warned. "I believe the entire mountain will explode." Marcus was too stunned to speak, or even think. All he could hear was a ragged voice whispering in his mind. The beggar woman's voice. "This world will burn."

塔塔终于开口了。他警告说:“山下有一场可怕的大火正在燃烧。” “我相信整座山都会爆炸。” 马库斯吓得说不出话来，甚至连想都不敢想。 他能听到的只有一个粗糙的声音在他的脑海里低语。 乞丐女人的声音。“这个世界将被烧毁。”