Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Paul let go of Nate and stepped back. His smile had fallen away. Now his expression was almost angry, like Nate had hurt him somehow. "I sent you at least ten letters!" Paul said. "I rode in a wagon for two days to get to your uncle's house. And when I got there, he told me you wouldn't see me. He slammed the door right in my face!"

保罗放开内特，向后退了一步。 他的笑容消失了。 现在他的表情几乎是愤怒的，好像内特不知怎么伤害了他。 “我至少给你寄了十封信!”保罗说。 “我坐了两天马车才到你叔叔家。 当我到那里时，他告诉我你不愿见我。 他当着我的面把门砰地关上了!”

Nate stood there in shock. Storch was a lying, evil rat! He'd made Nate believe that his only old friend in the world had forgotten about him! Tears burned Nate's eyes. "I didn't know," he said, barely choking out the words. Paul looked surprised at first. But his eyes drifted down to Nate's neck, which still hurt from Storch's strangling attack. Paul's face turned white. "Where did you get those bruises?" he said softly. "Did he…" Nate hadn't seen himself in a mirror. But from Paul's horrified expression, Nate realized he must look worse than he imagined. Those angry bruises told Paul everything he needed to know about life with Storch. "Good Lord, Nate," Paul whispered. "If I had known…"

内特震惊地站在那里。 斯托奇是一只撒谎的、邪恶的老鼠!他让内特相信，他在这个世界上唯一的老朋友已经忘记了他!内特热泪盈眶。 “我不知道，”他说，几乎喘不过气来。 保罗起初看起来很惊讶。 但他的目光落到了内特的脖子上，因为斯托奇的掐死，内特的脖子还在疼。 保罗的脸变白了。“你的瘀伤是哪里来的?”他轻声问。 “他……”内特没有在镜子里看到自己。 但从保罗惊恐的表情，内特意识到他看起来一定比他想象的还要糟糕。 那些愤怒的伤痕告诉了保罗他需要知道的关于斯托奇生活的一切。 “天哪，内特，”保罗低声说。 “要是我早知道……”

Nate looked away so Paul wouldn't see his tears. But Paul was crying, too. And anyway, Nate wasn't crying about Storch — he wouldn't waste a tear on that snake-hearted beast. Nate was crying because he'd let himself lose faith in Paul. Neither cried for long. Paul put his hands on Nate's shoulders. He leaned close. "Well," he said. "We found each other, didn't we?" They sat down in a shady spot near the tents. Paul peeled off his ugly green hat and placed it carefully on the ground. "My lucky charm," he said. Nate tried not to stare at Paul, but he kept thinking of the devilish teenager who'd clowned around on Papa's ships. He'd sneak vinegar into the men's canteens. He'd taught the ship's parrot to cuss in French. Nobody drove Papa and his men crazier — or made them laugh harder.

内特把目光移开，不让保罗看到他的眼泪。 但是保罗也哭了。不管怎么说，内特并没有为斯托奇而哭泣——他不会在那个阴险的野兽身上浪费一滴眼泪。 内特哭是因为他对保罗失去了信心。 两人都没哭多久。保罗把手放在内特的肩膀上。 他靠得更近了。“嗯，”他说。 “我们找到了彼此，不是吗?”他们在帐篷附近一个阴凉的地方坐了下来。 保罗脱下他那顶难看的绿帽子，小心地放在地上。 “我的幸运符，”他说。 内特尽量不盯着保罗看，但他一直在想那个在爸爸的船上胡闹的恶魔少年。 他会偷偷把醋放进男食堂。 他教船上的鹦鹉用法语骂人。 没有人能让爸爸和他的手下更疯狂，也没有人能让他们笑得更开心。

But now Paul's eyes looked serious and thoughtful. He listened closely as Nate told him about Storch, and how Eliza and Theo had become like family to him. He explained how he'd fled from Storch and had hoped to find a job on a ship. Paul shook his head. "Hardly any ships coming or going from New York City these days. The British attack is coming any day." British warships had been streaming into the harbor all month, Paul said. Each one was packed tight with Redcoats. There were hundreds of ships here already, and tens of thousands of soldiers. The ships were anchored about eight miles from here, off Staten Island. "Those two warships today gave us just a little hint of what's to come," Paul said. "They just wanted to give us a little scare, and catch us by surprise. Next time we'll be ready." Paul told Nate that he'd been in the army for more than eighteen months, and stationed here in New York City since May. Before that he'd been

但是现在保罗的眼睛显得严肃而沉思。 他仔细地听着内特讲述斯托奇的故事，以及伊丽莎和西奥是如何像家人一样对待他的。 他解释了自己是如何逃离斯托奇，希望在船上找到一份工作的。 保罗摇了摇头。“这些天几乎没有船只来往于纽约市。 英国的进攻随时可能到来。” 保罗说，英国军舰整个月都在源源不断地进入这个港口。 每辆车上都挤满了英国士兵。 这里已经有数百艘船和数万名士兵。 这些船停泊在离这里八英里的斯塔顿岛附近。 保罗说:“今天的两艘军舰给了我们一个小小的暗示，告诉我们接下来会发生什么。” “他们只是想给我们一点惊吓，给我们一个惊喜。 下次我们会准备好的。” 保罗告诉内特，他已经参军18个多月了，从5月起就驻扎在纽约市。 在那之前他是

living on his family's farm in northern Connecticut. "I figured you'd gone back to sea," Nate said. Paul shook his head, and a shadow passed across Paul's face. "I couldn't even look at the ocean. Not after…" Nate finished the sentence in his mind. After we lost Papa. He and Nate were quiet for moment. And then Paul went on. He told Nate about his life on the farm, how he'd loved being with his parents but had nearly gone crazy with boredom. "The chickens never laughed at my jokes," he said. Paul wanted an adventure. He thought about heading out west, to the wilds of Ohio. But then, in April of 1775, everything changed. That was when the first battle broke out between British and American troops, in and around the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord.

他住在康涅狄格州北部自家的农场里。 “我以为你又回到海上去了，”内特说。 保罗摇了摇头，一个阴影掠过他的脸。 “我甚至不敢看大海。 内特在心里把这句话说完。 在我们失去爸爸之后。他和内特沉默了一会儿。 保罗接着说。他告诉内特他在农场的生活，他多么喜欢和父母在一起，但又无聊得快发疯了。 他说:“我讲的笑话从来不让鸡发笑。” 保罗想要一次冒险。他想去西部，去俄亥俄州的荒野。 但在1775年4月，一切都变了。 就在那时，英国和美国军队在马萨诸塞州的莱克星顿和康科德镇及其周围爆发了第一场战争。

The Revolutionary War had begun. Within a week, Paul had joined the fight. "I had no idea what it meant to be a soldier," Paul said. "The first time I fired a musket, I almost blew my hand off." He held out his thumb. It looked like the tip had been gnawed off by a barracuda. Paul chuckled. "But I had to learn pretty quick," Paul said, serious again. That's because just about seven weeks later, he found himself in the bloody Battle of Bunker Hill. "I almost didn't make it out of that one alive," he said quietly. And then Paul told Nate the story of how he almost died on a hill outside of Boston.

独立战争开始了。 不到一个星期，保罗就加入了战斗。 “我不知道当一名士兵意味着什么，”保罗说。 “我第一次用火枪射击时，差点把自己的手炸掉。” 他伸出大拇指。它的尖端看起来像是被梭鱼咬掉的。 保罗笑了。“但我必须学得很快，”保罗说，又严肃起来。 这是因为仅仅七周后，他就卷入了血腥的邦克山战役。 “我差点没能活着逃出去，”他平静地说。 然后保罗给内特讲了他差点死在波士顿外的小山上的故事。