Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 At least the men had not hurt Birdie. She'd lost one of her little front teeth when she fell from the wagon. Her mouth was still bleeding a bit. But otherwise she was all right. And incredibly, she did not seem scared. "Don't worry, Thomas," Birdie whispered. "Our men are coming for us." Thomas didn't have the heart to tell her the truth: that they were on their own. "All right!" the burly man shouted. "Let's move out of here!" Thomas felt doomed.

至少那些人没有伤害伯蒂。 她从马车上摔下来的时候掉了一颗门牙。 她的嘴还在流血。 但除此之外，她一切都好。 令人难以置信的是，她似乎并不害怕。 “别担心，托马斯，”小鸟低声说。 “我们的人来找我们了。” 托马斯不忍心告诉她真相:他们只能靠自己了。 “好吧!”魁梧的男人喊道。 “我们离开这里吧!”托马斯觉得自己完蛋了。

He'd heard about the slave auctions, where they'd be lined up like animals. Buyers would check their teeth and their feet. There was little chance that he and Birdie would be sold to the same owner. He looked up at the sky, wishing, praying, searching for one last flicker of hope. And then, Boom! A rifle shot echoed through the forest, sending birds flapping wildly out of the trees and bushes. A familiar voice bellowed. "Drop your weapons!" It was Captain Campbell. Thomas's heart leaped as familiar faces appeared through the trees. The captain. Henry. Homer. Even Lester was there, though he was hobbling and in obvious pain.

他听说过奴隶拍卖，奴隶们像动物一样排着队。 买家会检查他们的牙齿和脚。 他和伯迪几乎不可能被卖给同一个主人。 他抬头望着天空，希望着，祈祷着，寻找着最后的一线希望。 然后，砰!一声枪响在森林中回荡，鸟儿们从树林和灌木丛中疯狂地拍打着翅膀。 一个熟悉的声音吼道。 “放下武器!”是坎贝尔上尉。 当熟悉的面孔从树丛中出现时，托马斯的心怦怦直跳。 船长。亨利。荷马。 连雷斯脱也在那里，虽然他步履蹒跚，显然很痛苦。

There were at least fifty more Union soldiers with them. "We have you surrounded," the captain said. "We will shoot every one of you if you don't put your rifles down." Thomas couldn't imagine how they had managed to sneak into the woods. But they had, and now they had formed an armed circle around the rebels. The cavalrymen put down their rifles. Captain Campbell stepped forward. "We have not come here to do battle. We have not come to take prisoners. We have come for the children." The burly man stepped forward. "We didn't hurt them," he said. "We didn't lay a hand on them." Captain Campbell signaled to Henry, who headed for Thomas and Birdie. The tall man glared at him with narrow eyes.

他们至少还有50多名联邦士兵。 “我们把你包围了，”上尉说。 “如果你们不把枪放下，我们就把你们每个人都打死。” 托马斯想不出他们是怎么溜进树林的。 但是他们做到了，现在他们在叛军周围形成了一个武装圈。 骑兵们放下了步枪。 坎贝尔上尉走上前去。 “我们不是来打仗的。 我们不是来抓俘虏的。 我们是来救孩子们的。” 那个魁梧的男人走上前来。 “我们没有伤害他们，”他说。 “我们没有对他们下手。” 坎贝尔上尉向亨利打了个信号，亨利朝托马斯和伯蒂走去。 那个高个子男人眯着眼睛瞪着他。

And then, quick as a flash, he reached behind himself and grabbed something from his belt. His pistol! He aimed it at Henry. Boom! The tall man jerked back, dropped his weapon, and fell to the ground, clutching his leg. "Anyone else?" the captain shouted, lowering his smoking rifle. The rebels stood silent, their hands in the air. Henry grabbed the pistol from the dirt. He rushed over to the tall man, his eyes flashing with wild fury. He aimed the gun at the man's head. He stood for a moment, his hand steady, the pistol glinting in the sun. Henry looked like a different person, his eyes filled with fury … and even hate. But then he lowered his arm. "No," he said. He turned and hurled the pistol into the churning waters of the nearby stream, which

然后，像闪电一样快，他把手伸到身后，从腰带上抓起了什么东西。 他的手枪!他把枪对准亨利。 繁荣!那个高个子男人猛地往后一跳，放下武器，倒在地上，抓着自己的腿。 “还有人吗?”上尉喊道，放下了冒烟的步枪。 反叛者们默默地站着，双手举在空中。 亨利从泥土里抓起手枪。 他冲向那个高个子，眼睛里闪着狂怒的光芒。 他把枪对准那人的头。 他站了一会儿，手握得很稳，手枪在阳光下闪闪发光。 亨利看起来像变了一个人，他的眼睛里充满了愤怒……甚至是仇恨。 但随后他放下了手臂。 “不，”他说。他转过身，把手枪扔进了附近湍急的小溪里

swept it away. Some of the men gasped; Thomas knew how prized those Confederate pistols were, and that some Union soldiers tried to capture them on the battlefields, to bring home as trophies. But not Henry. He strode over and cut Thomas and Birdie's ropes with his knife. Thomas picked up Birdie and held her tight. Her whole body trembled, and she buried her face in his neck. Henry wrapped a strong arm around Thomas's shoulder, and they walked slowly together toward the road. Thomas braced himself for more shots. But they made it to the road, and minutes later, the rest of the soldiers appeared. They'd captured all of the men's horses and their rifles. "Those rebs won't be bothering us again," Captain Campbell said.

把它扫了。有些人倒吸了一口气;托马斯知道邦联的手枪有多珍贵，一些联邦士兵试图在战场上夺取这些手枪，作为战利品带回家。 但亨利不是。他大步走过去，用刀割断了托马斯和伯蒂的绳子。 托马斯抱起小鸟，紧紧地抱着她。 她全身发抖，把脸埋在他的脖子里。 亨利用一只有力的胳膊搂住托马斯的肩膀，他们一起慢慢地朝大路走去。 托马斯鼓起勇气准备再打几枪。 但他们还是走到了路上，几分钟后，其余的士兵也出现了。 他们缴获了所有士兵的马匹和步枪。 “那些叛军不会再来骚扰我们了，”坎贝尔上尉说。

The rest of the regiment was ahead, and now they'd have to move quickly to catch up. Thomas climbed into the supply wagon with Birdie; he was going to stick close to her from now on. Before long, she fell asleep on Thomas's shoulder. Henry and Captain Campbell walked alongside the wagon, their eyes scanning the woods, their rifles loaded and ready. Thomas kept a grip on Birdie. It was some time before he stopped shaking, before he could peel his eyes away from the hills. For a few minutes he even managed to sleep. But soon there was thundering in the distance, and great clouds of black and white smoke billowing in the sky. At first Thomas thought it was a rainstorm coming toward them. But no. "Cannons," Henry said. It was the Battle of Gettysburg.

该团的其他人在前面，现在他们必须迅速行动才能赶上。 托马斯和伯蒂一起爬上了补给车;从现在起，他要紧紧地跟着她。 没过多久，她就在托马斯的肩膀上睡着了。 亨利和坎贝尔上尉走在马车旁边，眼睛扫视着树林，他们的步枪上了膛，准备好了。 托马斯紧紧抓住伯蒂。 过了好一会儿，他才停止颤抖，才把目光从山丘上移开。 有几分钟，他甚至睡着了。 但很快远处就响起了雷鸣，大片的黑烟和白烟在天空中翻滚。 起初托马斯以为是暴风雨朝他们袭来。 但是没有。“大炮，”亨利说。 这就是葛底斯堡战役。