Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 Nate took off his big knapsack and grabbed some ammunition cartridges. He stuffed them into his pockets. Then he crawled back to his tree. He held his weapon like Samuel had showed him, and aimed up the hill. He could see the soldiers in their bloodred coats hiding in the trees. It looked like only about twenty men. Probably soldiers sent ahead as scouts.

内特卸下他的大背包，抓起一些弹壳。 他把它们塞进口袋里。 然后他爬回他的树。 他像塞缪尔给他看的那样拿着武器，瞄准了山上。 他能看见穿着血红色大衣的士兵躲在树林里。 看上去只有大约二十个人。 可能是派去侦查的士兵。

He waited for Captain Marsh's orders. "Pre-sent!" Captain Marsh shouted. Nate clicked back the flintlock, holding his aim. "Fire!" Nate pulled the trigger. KI-crack! The gunpowder exploded inside the gun. The musket ball streaked out of the barrel like a comet, trailing flames and smoke. The other men shot at the same time. And Nate's musket ball joined theirs in the blizzard of metal sweeping up the hill. The Redcoats scattered. Nate and the men all reloaded. He aimed again, ready to shoot. But the Redcoats didn't come back. They all waited for them to return. Minutes ticked by. Finally Captain Marsh gave the order for them to line up again. "We need to get to our camp, men!" he shouted. Nate stood up. "Captain!" he called. "It's Samuel, sir."

他等待着马什上尉的命令。 “人!”马什船长喊道。 内特握着他的目标，咔哒一声把燧发枪放回原位。 “火!”内特扣动了扳机。 KI-crack !火药在枪里爆炸了。 火枪子弹像彗星一样从枪管里窜了出来，拖着火焰和烟雾。 其他的人同时开枪了。 内特的火枪弹加入了他们的行列，在席卷山头的金属暴风雪中。 英军四散了。内特和其他人都重新上膛了。 他再次瞄准，准备射击。 但是英国人没有回来。 他们都等着他们回来。 一分钟一分钟地过去了。最后，马什上尉命令他们重新列队。 “伙计们，我们得回营地去!”他喊道。 内特站了起来。“船长!”他喊道。 “是塞缪尔，先生。”

A moment later all of the men were gathered around Samuel's body. Martin knelt down and put his hand on Samuel's blood-soaked chest. He looked up at Captain Marsh. "He's gone, sir." Captain Marsh's stony face seemed to crumble for a moment, and then he regained his steely determination. The men all said a prayer. And then they stood silently. But then a chilling song shattered the moment. RAT, tat, tat, tat, tat. RAT, tat, tat, tat, tat. Battle drums, like from Nate's nightmare. Except these were real. The sound got louder. Rat, tat, tat, tat, tat. Rat, tat, tat, tat, tat. Rat, tat, tat, tat, tat. "What will we do, captain?" Paul asked.

过了一会儿，所有的人都聚集在撒母耳的尸体旁。 马丁跪下来，把手放在塞缪尔浸透了鲜血的胸膛上。 他抬头看着马什上尉。 “他走了，先生。”一时间，马什船长那张冷冰冰的脸似乎要崩溃了，然后他又恢复了钢铁般的决心。 男人们都做了祷告。 然后他们静静地站着。 但随后，一首令人心寒的歌曲打破了这一时刻。 老鼠，那，那，那，那。老鼠，那，那，那，那。 战鼓，就像内特的噩梦一样。 但这些都是真的。声音越来越大。 老鼠，那，那，那，那。老鼠，那，那，那，那。 老鼠，那，那，那，那。“我们怎么办呢，船长?”保罗问。

Paul had an unusual look in his eyes, one that Nate had seen only once before: during the storm that took Papa. It was fear. "We need to get back to the fort," Captain Marsh said. But it was too late. Before they could take a step, the ground started to shake. It sounded like a stampede of giants was heading right for them. And in a way, that was exactly what was happening. Suddenly hundreds of soldiers were charging over the top of the ridge. They were not Redcoats. They were not American. They wore dark green-and-red uniforms and tall, pointed silver hats. They carried muskets topped with long glinting bayonets. Hessians! The hillside exploded into a wall of flames and gunpowder smoke.

保罗的眼睛里有一种不同寻常的眼神，这种眼神内特以前只见过一次:在爸爸被暴风雨带走的时候。 那是恐惧。“我们得回堡垒去，”马什上尉说。 但为时已晚。他们还没来得及迈步，地面就开始摇晃了。 听起来像是一群巨人正朝他们冲过来。 在某种程度上，这正是当时正在发生的事情。 突然，数百名士兵从山脊上冲了过来。 他们不是英国人。他们不是美国人。 他们穿着深红绿相间的制服，头戴高高的尖顶银色帽子。 他们带着火枪，上面有闪闪发光的长刺刀。 麻布!山坡爆炸成一堵火焰和火药烟雾的墙。

Balls hissed by, smacking into the trees and cutting holes in the ground. And this time there was no way for the men of the Connecticut 5th to shoot back. The Hessians were pouring over the hills, like a churning wave of green and red and silver. "Retreat!" Captain Marsh bellowed. The men scattered in different directions. Paul grabbed Nate by the arm and they tore through the woods. Cannon blasts rang out. Boom! Boom! That evil sizzling sound of approaching cannonballs filled the air. Crash! A cannonball shattered a tree right in front of them. Shards of wood flew like daggers. A sharp piece hit Nate on the cheek, an inch from his eye. Paul lost his grip on Nate.

球嘶嘶作响，打在树上，在地上挖出一个个洞。 这一次，康涅狄格第5团的士兵没有还击的余地。 黑森人蜂拥而过，像一股绿色、红色和银色的翻腾的波浪。 “撤退!”马什船长吼道。 这些人分散在不同的方向。 保罗抓住内特的胳膊，他们一起穿过树林。 炮声响起。繁荣!繁荣!空中充满了炮弹逼近时发出的可怕的咝咝声。 崩溃!一颗炮弹打碎了他们面前的一棵树。 木头碎片像匕首一样飞来飞去。 一块锋利的碎片击中了内特的脸颊，距离他的眼睛只有一英寸。 保罗失去了对内特的控制。

The smoke was so thick now. Nate could hardly see. He lost Paul and ran almost blindly, stumbling over rocks and weaving around trees. Musket balls whizzed by. Nate heard footsteps behind him. Paul! But when he looked over his shoulder he didn't see his friend. Instead he saw a man in a silver hat — a Hessian. He was chasing after Nate with his bayonet held straight out in front of him, shouting angrily in a language Nate had never heard. But Nate did not need to understand the words. Even through the smoke, Nate could see the hatred and fury in the man's eyes.

现在烟太浓了。 内特几乎看不见。他失去了保罗，几乎是盲目地跑着，在岩石上绊倒，在树木间迂回。 火枪子弹嗖嗖地飞过。内特听到身后有脚步声。 保罗!但是当他回头看时，他没有看到他的朋友。 相反，他看到了一个戴着银帽子的人——一个黑森人。 他拿着刺刀追着内特，用内特从未听过的语言怒吼着。 但内特不需要理解这些话。 即使在烟雾中，内特也能看到那个人眼中的仇恨和愤怒。