Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 They lifted open the door and peered into the darkness. All they could see was a rickety wooden ladder leading down into the blackness. The smell of sulfur wafted up, stinging Marcus's eyes. "It must lead to some kind of tunnel," Tata said. "Where does the tunnel go?" Marcus asked. "There are tunnels under many Roman cities," Tata said. "Most lead out of the city. People used them to escape in an enemy attack." But what if this tunnel didn't lead out of the city? Before he could ask, Tata was climbing down the ladder. He was quickly swallowed by the pitch

第十六章他们打开门，向黑暗中窥视。 他们只能看到一架摇摇晃晃的木梯通向黑暗。 硫磺的气味飘了上来，刺痛了马库斯的眼睛。 塔塔表示:“这条路肯定通向某种隧道。” “这条隧道通到哪里?”马库斯问道。 “许多罗马城市的地下都有隧道，”塔塔说。 “大多数都是出城的。 人们用它们来躲避敌人的袭击。” 但如果这条隧道不是通往城外的呢? 他还没来得及问，塔塔就开始走下坡路了。 他很快就被球场吞没了

darkness. Seconds later his voice echoed up from below. "Yes, Marcus, it's a tunnel! Come quickly!" Marcus climbed onto the ladder and fumbled his way down, down, down. When he reached the bottom, Tata took his arm. "This way," Tata said, turning him. "Follow closely behind me." They moved blindly into a narrow passage, crawling on their hands and knees. It was hot as an oven and the passage was so narrow that their shoulders brushed against the rough sides. The stink of sulfur made Marcus gag. Sweat poured into his eyes. His heart hammered. The tunnel seemed endless. And the farther they went, the more terrified Marcus felt. What if the sulfur killed them? What if the tunnel collapsed? Marcus tried to fix his thoughts on his heroes, to gather strength from the stories that had always inspired him. He imagined he was Odysseus, braving the wild seas as he returned home from a decade of fighting. He thought of Hercules, fighting the ferocious beasts. But those stories

黑暗。几秒钟后，他的声音从下面传来。 “是的，马库斯，这是一条隧道!”快来!”马库斯爬上梯子，摸索着往下，往下，往下。 当他到达底部时，塔塔抓住了他的手臂。 “这边，”塔塔转过身说。 “跟在我后面。” 他们盲目地走进一条狭窄的通道，用手和膝盖爬行。 热得像火炉，通道又窄，他们的肩膀都擦到了粗糙的边沿。 硫磺的臭味使马库斯作呕。 汗水涌进了他的眼睛。 他的心怦怦直跳。隧道似乎没有尽头。 他们走得越远，马库斯越感到害怕。 如果硫杀死了它们呢? 如果隧道坍塌了怎么办? 马库斯试图把他的思想集中在他的英雄身上，从那些一直激励着他的故事中汲取力量。 他想象自己是奥德修斯，在经历了十年的战斗后，冒着汹涌的大海回家。 他想起了与凶猛野兽搏斗的赫拉克勒斯。 但是那些故事

were of no help to him now. His muscles cramped, his arms and legs shook so violently that it was hard to move. A terrifying idea took hold of him: that this tunnel would never end, that he would be forever trapped in this evil darkness. They'd never make it out. But suddenly his mind flashed to a new story, one that was still being written. And it was this story that gave Marcus the strength to keep moving. It was the story of a slave boy who saved his own father by hurling a live cobra through the air, who escaped from killer clouds, leaping flames, and fiery boulders that came hurtling from the sky. He was not favored by the gods or aided by powerful kings. It was the strange words of a mysterious beggar woman that guided him. A tattered mare who carried him. And his father — so wise and good and brave — who showed him the way through the darkness. It was this heroic boy who kept crawling through the tunnel as tears poured from his stinging eyes, who found the strength to help Tata kick open the door at the end of the tunnel. They

现在对他没有任何帮助了。 他的肌肉痉挛，胳膊和腿抖得很厉害，很难移动。 一个可怕的念头攫住了他:这条隧道永远没有尽头，他将永远被困在这邪恶的黑暗中。 他们永远也逃不出来。但突然，他的脑海里闪现出一个新的故事，一个还在写的故事。 正是这个故事给了马库斯继续前进的力量。 这是一个奴隶男孩的故事，他把一条活的眼镜蛇扔向空中，救了自己的父亲，他从致命的云层、跳跃的火焰和从天空中呼啸而来的炽热巨石中逃脱了。 他没有得到诸神的宠爱，也没有得到强大国王的帮助。 引导他的是一个神秘的女乞丐的奇怪话语。 一匹驮着他的破母马。 还有他的父亲——如此睿智、善良和勇敢——他为他指明了穿越黑暗的道路。 正是这个英雄般的男孩在隧道中爬行，泪水从他刺痛的眼睛里涌出，他找到了帮助塔塔在隧道尽头踢开门的力量。 他们

clawed through piles of rocks to get to the surface, just outside the city gates of Pompeii. They staggered across a stone-covered field to the olive grove. The old white mare was waiting for them. Marcus put his face close to Peg's, looking into her gentle eye. Tata gently brushed away the rocks and ash that covered her coat. "You waited," Marcus said. Snort. Of course she hadn't left them. Marcus and Tata climbed onto Peg's back. Without so much as a tap, the mare took off toward Rome. She ran swiftly, her feet barely touching the ground. They were many miles away when the cloud of ash and gas above Vesuvius collapsed down to earth. The cloud ignited, turning into a flaming whirlwind that blasted down the mountain at speeds faster than any chariot. Within seconds, the city of Pompeii was burned and buried. But the horror of Pompeii was now behind Marcus, and all he felt of the mountain's fury was

在庞贝城门外，他们从成堆的岩石中爬到了地面。 他们摇摇晃晃地穿过一块石头覆盖的田野，来到橄榄林。 那匹老白母马在等着他们。 马库斯把脸凑近佩格的脸，看着她温柔的眼睛。 塔塔轻轻地拂去外套上的岩石和灰烬。 “你在等，”马库斯说。 Snort。她当然没有离开他们。 马库斯和塔塔爬到佩格的背上。 没敲一下，母马就向罗马飞去了。 她飞快地跑着，脚几乎没有着地。 当维苏威火山上空的火山灰和气体云坠落到地球上时，他们离地球还有许多英里远。 云点燃了，变成了燃烧的旋风，以比任何战车都快的速度从山上呼啸而下。 几秒钟之内，庞贝城被烧毁并掩埋。 但是庞贝古城的恐怖已经在马库斯的身后，他所感受到的是这座山的愤怒

a whisper of heat on his back. He gripped Tata tightly, and together they looked ahead, for the bright lights of Rome.

热在他背上嘀咕。 他紧紧地抓着塔塔，他们一起向前看，寻找罗马明亮的灯光。