Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 Nate stood very still. "Are you a pirate?" Nate asked. "Yes," the voice said. "A pie-wit. I want my tweasure." Nate's heart lifted up. He whirled around to face his attacker: three-year-old Theo, Eliza's little boy. He was waving

内特一动不动地站着。 “你是海盗吗?”内特问道。 “是的，”那声音说。“pie-wit。 我要我的钱。”内特的心一下子振作了起来。 他转过身来面对攻击他的人:三岁的西奥，伊丽莎的小男孩。 他在挥手

his pirate sword — a spindly stick from the cherry tree. Theo was supposed to be napping — and out of Storch's sight. But here he was, wide awake. "You are very fierce!" Nate told his friend. Theo stood proudly, his brown eyes gleaming like polished gold. He'd been wild about pirates for months now, ever since Nate started telling him stories about his adventures at sea. Theo waved his stick sword. "Aargh!" he shouted out in his most pirate-like voice. Nate grabbed Theo around the waist and picked him up. Theo's happy giggles rose up, whooshing over Nate like a breeze. Seconds later Eliza came rushing out of the house, her skirt swirling around her shoes. Eliza had Theo's same dark brown skin and big, bright eyes. But unlike Theo, Eliza wasn't smiling. "You both need to hush!" she warned, looking toward the house. "You know what he could do if

他的海盗剑——一根从樱桃树上摘下来的细长木棍。 西奥应该在睡觉，而且不在斯托奇的视线之内。 但他在这里，完全清醒。 “你真凶猛!”内特告诉他的朋友。 西奥骄傲地站着，棕色的眼睛闪闪发光，像擦过的金子。 自从内特开始给他讲他在海上的冒险故事以来，他对海盗已经狂热了好几个月了。 西奥挥舞着他的木棍剑。 “啊!”他用海盗般的声音喊道。 内特抓住西奥的腰，把他抱了起来。 西奥开心的咯咯笑起来，像微风一样吹过内特。 几秒钟后，伊丽莎冲出屋子，裙子绕着鞋子打转。 伊莱莎有着和西奥一样的深棕色皮肤和明亮的大眼睛。 但与西奥不同的是，伊丽莎没有笑。 “你们俩都得安静!”她朝房子那边看了看，警告道。 “你知道他会做什么

he hears!" He, of course, was Storch. He had no patience for giggling, and even less for Theo himself. Eliza's worst nightmare was that Storch would sell Theo, just like he'd sold Eliza's husband, Gregory, a few months before Nate arrived. Eliza rarely talked about Gregory — it hurt her too much, Nate knew. But she had told Nate a few things about her husband — that he was joyful like Theo and had those same bright eyes, that not one hour went by without her missing him.

他听到了!”当然，他就是斯托奇。 他没有笑的耐心，对西奥更是如此。 伊丽莎最可怕的噩梦是斯托奇会卖掉西奥，就像他在内特到来前几个月卖掉伊丽莎的丈夫格雷戈里一样。 伊丽莎很少谈起格雷戈里——内特知道，这太伤她的心了。 但是她告诉内特一些关于她丈夫的事情——他像西奥一样快乐，有一双同样明亮的眼睛，没有一个小时她不想念他。

What a fool Nate was, getting Theo all riled up! Luckily Storch was probably too busy cursing George Washington to notice Theo's giggles. "Mama," Theo said very quietly. "I a pie-wit." Eliza's eyes softened, and she and Nate shared a little smile. "Even pirates have to be quiet," Eliza said, kissing Theo on the nose. "Or they get into trouble."

内特真是个傻瓜，把西奥惹毛了!幸运的是，斯托奇可能正忙着诅咒乔治·华盛顿，没有注意到西奥的咯咯笑。 “妈妈，”西奥平静地说。 “我是个馅饼天才。”伊丽莎的眼神柔和了，她和内特一起露出了一丝微笑。 “即使是海盗也要保持安静，”伊丽莎说着，吻了吻西奥的鼻子。 “否则他们就会陷入麻烦。”

Storch's voice bellowed from the house. "Cake!" "I'll keep this pirate out of trouble," Nate promised. Eliza rushed inside to serve Storch and his friend. Theo put his face close to Nate's. "Tell a pie-wit story!" Theo begged. "Tell about Slash!" Slash was Slash O'Shea, the greatest living pirate. Nate had grown up hearing Papa's stories about Slash. And Nate had shared most of them with Theo. Slash got his name from the dagger strapped to the stump where his hand used to be. Some pirates were nothing more than low-life thieves. They captured ships and stole everything they could. They murdered anyone who got in their way. Not Slash. He'd never killed a man. And he gave some of his treasure away — mostly to orphans. He'd sneak into cities disguised in

斯托奇的声音从屋里传来。 “蛋糕!”“我会让这个海盗远离麻烦，”内特保证道。 伊丽莎冲进去招待斯托奇和他的朋友。 西奥把脸凑近内特的脸。 “讲一个馅饼的故事!”西奥恳求。 “说说斜杠!”Slash就是Slash O'Shea，最伟大的海盗。 内特是听着爸爸讲述Slash的故事长大的。 大部分都是内特和西奥分享的。 Slash的名字来源于绑在他手所在位置的匕首。 有些海盗不过是些下流的小偷。 他们夺取船只，偷走一切可以偷走的东西。 他们杀了所有挡道的人。 不是削减。他从来没有杀过人。 他还把自己的一些财宝捐了出去——大部分给了孤儿。 他会乔装打扮潜入城市

ragged beggar's clothes and hand out gold coins to kids living on the streets. "I'll tell you a Slash story later," said Nate. "How about a song?" A grin spread across Theo's face. He loved when Nate sang shanties — the songs sailors crooned as they did their work. Nate sang Theo one of Papa's favorites, about the sun rising up over the sea. Soon enough Theo's eyes were closed. Nate gently pried the stick-sword from Theo's hand. He lifted his little friend up and carried him to a soft patch of grass. Then Nate went back to his weeds and worms. Storch and Marston had finished their cake and were puffing on cigars. They were still talking about the war. "Don't worry, my friend; this war will be over soon," Storch was saying. "The king sent hundreds of ships. The big battle is coming any

穿上乞丐的破衣服，给流落街头的孩子们分发金币。 “我稍后会给你讲一个Slash的故事，”内特说。 “唱首歌怎么样?”西奥的脸上绽开了笑容。 他喜欢听内特唱“棚屋”——水手们在工作时哼唱的歌。 内特给西奥唱了一首爸爸最喜欢的歌，是关于太阳从海上升起的。 西奥很快闭上了眼睛。 内特轻轻地从西奥手中撬开了那把木棍剑。 他把他的小朋友抱起来，带到一块柔软的草地上。 然后内特又回到了他的杂草和蠕虫。 斯托奇和马斯顿已经吃完蛋糕，正在抽雪茄。 他们还在谈论战争。 “别担心，我的朋友;这场战争很快就会结束，”斯托奇说。 国王派出了数百艘船。 一场大战即将来临