Chapter 5

CHAPTER five, Leo sat down on the flea-bitten horse blanket that he used as a bed. He rubbed his sore jaw. His stomach grumbled. The best thing, he realized, would be to close his eyes, get to sleep, and forget about this day. He closed his eyes. But kept thinking about what Morris had said. We could trick them. The words had wormed their way into his mind. Finally Leo sat up and lit a candle. Maybe Morris was onto something. Of course Leo couldn't make those two goons hand over the gold. But maybe there was a way to trick them. Like the way Grandpop had tricked the grizzly bear.

利奥坐在被跳蚤咬过的马毯上当床。 他揉了揉疼痛的下巴。他的肚子咕咕叫。 他意识到，最好的办法就是闭上眼睛，睡一觉，忘掉这一天。 他闭上了眼睛。但我一直在想莫里斯说的话。 我们可以欺骗他们。这些话已在他的脑海里留下了深刻的印象。 最后利奥坐起来，点燃了一支蜡烛。 也许莫里斯说对了什么。 利奥当然没法让那两个打手交出金子。 但也许有办法骗过他们。 就像爷爷骗灰熊那样。

Leo could hear Papa's voice now in his mind, telling the story. It was 1849, and Grandpop was only sixteen years old. Gold had been discovered in a streambed in northern California, and Grandpop was heading west to make his fortune. It had been a tough journey. He'd been held up by bandits near St. Louis. He came this close to getting bitten by a four-foot-long rattlesnake in the Indian Territory. Finally he'd made it high into the Rocky Mountains. It was rough country, but beautiful too, with streams as blue as the sky and fields of wildflowers that stretched out like rainbows. The sun was setting, and Grandpop had made his camp and built his fire. He got up to fetch some wood for the night. He was coming back over a hill when he saw an enormous bear. "Three times the size of a man," Papa would say, stretching his arms up to the ceiling. The bear rose up and roared at Grandpop, baring enormous teeth. Grandpop knew about the Rocky Mountain grizzlies. They ran faster than mountain lions.

利奥现在可以听到爸爸的声音，在他的脑海里讲述着这个故事。 那是1849年，爷爷只有16岁。 在加利福尼亚北部的一个河床上发现了金子，爷爷要到西部去发财。 这是一段艰难的旅程。 他在圣。 路易。在印度领土上，他差一点就被一条四英尺长的响尾蛇咬伤。 最后，他到达了落基山脉的高处。 这是一个崎岖不平的地方，但也很美丽，有像天空一样蓝的小溪和像彩虹一样伸展的野花。 太阳下山了，爷爷已经搭好了帐篷，生起了火。 他起身去取一些过夜用的木柴。 当他翻过一座小山回来时，他看到了一只巨大的熊。 “是人的三倍大，”爸爸一边说，一边把胳膊伸向天花板。 熊站了起来，冲着爷爷吼叫，露出巨大的牙齿。 爷爷知道落基山灰熊的事。 它们跑得比美洲狮还快。

They could climb trees. They could rip a person to shreds with a swipe of a paw. Grandpop could see the bear's claws, ten black daggers glistening in the setting sun. The bear stood there, ready to attack. All Grandpop wanted to do was run. But no one can outrun a grizzly. They're too fast. All travelers are told this. And yet most men can't help themselves. The urge to run is just too strong to resist. But Grandpop wasn't like other men.

他们可以爬树。它们一挥爪子就能把人撕成碎片。 爷爷可以看到熊的爪子，十把黑色的匕首在夕阳下闪闪发光。 熊站在那里，准备攻击。 爷爷只想跑。 但没人能跑得过灰熊。 他们太快了。所有的旅行者都被告知这一点。 然而，大多数男人都无法控制自己。 逃跑的冲动太强烈了，难以抗拒。 但是爷爷和其他人不一样。

Every muscle in his body was ready to run. But he planted his feet into the ground. Think, he told himself. Think. He couldn't escape from that grizzly bear. He couldn't kill the grizzly. His gun was in his tent. His only hope was to scare that grizzly away. But how? And then Grandpop remembered: The rattle.

他身上的每一块肌肉都准备好了奔跑。 但他却脚踏实地。 想想吧，他告诉自己。思考。 他逃不掉那只灰熊。 他杀不了灰熊。 他的枪在帐篷里。他唯一的希望就是把灰熊吓跑。 但如何?然后爷爷想起了:拨浪鼓。

The rattle of that monster rattlesnake he'd killed in Pawnee Indian land. The snake was as thick as Grandpop's leg. Its rattle was five inches long. That snake could have killed him. He'd almost stepped on it when he was walking through the tall plains grass, hunting for rabbits. By the time Grandpop heard the rattling noise, the snake was coiled and ready to strike. Shkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshk, shkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshk, shkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshk. Without a thought, Grandpop had grabbed his knife from his belt and threw it. By some stroke of luck, the blade landed in the center of the snake's head. The snake didn't die right away. It thrashed wildly, its body coiling around Grandpop's legs. Grandpop had to hit it with the handle of his rifle. And then, when the snake was dead, Grandpop cut off the rattle for good luck. Far from those tall grasses in the prairie, the grizzly bear snarled at Grandpop, inching closer.

他在波尼印第安人的土地上杀死的那条响尾蛇发出的声音。 那条蛇和爷爷的腿一样粗。 它的拨浪鼓有五英寸长。 那条蛇差点害死他。 他在平原上的草丛中打兔子时，差点踩到它。 当爷爷听到咔哒咔哒的声音时，那条蛇已经盘绕起来，准备攻击了。 咔嚓咔嚓，咔嚓咔嚓，咔嚓咔嚓，咔嚓嚓。 爷爷不假思索地从腰带上抓起刀扔了出去。 幸运的是，刀刃落在了蛇的头部中央。 那条蛇并没有马上死掉。 它疯狂地扭动着，身体盘绕在爷爷的腿上。 爷爷只好用来复枪的把手打它。 然后，当蛇死了，爷爷为了好运把拨浪鼓剪掉。 远离草原上那些高大的草，灰熊向爷爷咆哮着，一点点靠近。

Grandpop put his hand in his pocket and started shaking the snake's rattle. The sound rose up around them. Shkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshk, shkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshk, shkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshkshk. Grandpop hoped that grizzlies were afraid of rattlesnakes. He hoped he could trick it into thinking that he was some kind of huge rattlesnake-man. A fearsome monster. The bear looked around, and Grandpop could see the fear in its eyes. It let off one last roar, and then scampered off. Now, sitting on his flea-bitten blanket, Leo realized that Morris was right. There might be a way to scare Fletch and Wilkie, to trick them into giving back the gold just like Grandpop had tricked that bear into running away. And sure enough, sometime in the middle of the night, Leo had come up with a plan.

爷爷把手伸进口袋，开始摇响尾蛇。 声音在他们周围响起。 咔嚓咔嚓，咔嚓咔嚓，咔嚓咔嚓，咔嚓嚓。 爷爷希望灰熊害怕响尾蛇。 他希望他能欺骗它，让它以为他是某种巨大的响尾蛇人。 一个可怕的怪物。熊环顾四周，爷爷可以看到它眼中的恐惧。 它发出最后一声咆哮，然后蹦蹦跳跳地跑开了。 现在，利奥坐在被跳蚤咬过的毯子上，意识到莫里斯是对的。 也许有办法吓唬弗莱彻和威尔基，哄骗他们把金子还给他们，就像爷爷哄骗那只熊逃跑一样。 果然，在半夜的某个时候，里奥想出了一个计划。