Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 NOVEMBER 8, 1863 BURLINGTON, VERMONT Thomas sat at a desk next to Birdie, carefully writing out his letters. All around the schoolroom, children sat quietly as their pretty teacher watched over them. Every so often she came to Thomas's desk. "Fine work, Thomas," said Miss Ashford — Mary. Henry's sweetheart. Thomas nodded, hoping he didn't look too proud. It had been five months since they arrived, and his handwriting was looking better. He

第十六章1863年11月8日佛蒙特州伯灵顿托马斯坐在伯蒂旁边的一张桌子旁，认真地写着他的信。 在教室的四周，孩子们安静地坐着，他们漂亮的老师看着他们。 她时不时地到托马斯的办公桌前来。 “干得好，托马斯，”阿什福德-玛丽小姐说。 亨利的甜心。托马斯点了点头，希望自己看起来不要太骄傲。 他们来这儿已经五个月了，他的字看起来好多了。 他

practiced for hours every night, sitting at Henry's old desk as Mr. and Mrs. Green sat nearby and read. Henry's parents still weren't sleeping much, and they seemed glad to have a reason to keep their candles burning into the night. "Look at mine, Miss Ashford!" Birdie said, holding up her paper, covered with wobbly letters. Miss Ashford smiled at Birdie, then put her finger in front of her lip with a gentle shush. Birdie loved school more than anyone, but she kept forgetting she wasn't the only student. At lunchtime Thomas and Birdie sat under a tree. It was getting colder, and the sky was gray. Soon winter would come. Mrs. Green had already sewn three wool dresses for Birdie, and two new pairs of trousers for Thomas. Thomas ate his lunch and looked around the schoolyard. The air smelled like apples. Just like Henry had said. Thomas swallowed hard, and glanced at Birdie. She didn't have to ask him why he was sad.

每天晚上练习几个小时，坐在亨利的旧桌子前，格林夫妇坐在旁边看书。 亨利的父母仍然睡得不多，他们似乎很高兴有理由让蜡烛一直烧到晚上。 “看看我的，阿什福德小姐!”伯蒂说，举起她那张写满了摇摇晃晃的字母的纸。 阿什福德小姐对伯迪笑了笑，然后把手指放在嘴唇前，轻轻地嘘了一声。 伯迪比任何人都爱学校，但她总是忘记她不是唯一的学生。 午餐时，托马斯和伯蒂坐在树下。 天气越来越冷，天空变得灰暗。 冬天很快就要来了。格林太太已经给伯蒂缝了三件羊毛衣服，给托马斯缝了两条新裤子。 托马斯吃完午饭，环顾了一下校园。 空气中弥漫着苹果的味道。 就像亨利说的。托马斯使劲咽了口气，瞥了伯蒂一眼。 她不必问他为什么难过。

No, Henry hadn't made it. But they had come here to Vermont, like he told them to, and his family had welcomed them, just like he promised they would. The whole town did. Thomas had been shocked to see the stacks of letters Henry had written, pages filled with stories about Thomas and Birdie. "What a gift to have you here with us," Mrs. Green had said when they first arrived. "A gift from Henry." It was Clem who'd brought them here, on the train, one month after Gettysburg. During that long ride Clem had told them every detail of what had happened to him after he was taken away from Mr. Knox's. The plantation in Mississippi had been a brutal place, where slaves were worked to the bone picking cotton in the blistering sun. After a year, Clem escaped. He'd traveled more than six hundred miles on his own, dodging snakes and bears and slave

不，亨利没有成功。但他们来到了佛蒙特州，就像他告诉他们的那样，他的家人也欢迎他们，就像他承诺的那样。 全镇的人都这么做了。托马斯看到亨利写的一摞摞的信时感到很震惊，那一页页都是关于托马斯和伯蒂的故事。 “你能和我们在一起真是太好了，”他们刚到的时候，格林太太说。 “亨利送的礼物。”葛底斯堡后一个月，是克莱姆把他们带到这里来的。 在那次长途旅行中，克莱姆把他从诺克斯先生那里被带走后所发生的一切细节都告诉了他们。 密西西比州的种植园曾经是一个残酷的地方，奴隶们在烈日下辛苦地摘棉花。 一年后，克莱姆逃走了。 他独自跋涉了六百多英里，躲避蛇、熊和奴隶

catchers. "I was coming to get you both," he said. "I wanted us to go north together." But in North Carolina, he was caught by a band of rebel soldiers, taken just like Birdie. They got him halfway back to Mississippi when he was freed by a band of teamsters, who attacked the rebel camp at night and helped Clem and four other men escape. Clem went to work with them, running wagon trains filled with supplies. After Gettysburg, Clem had loved being in Vermont with Thomas, Birdie, and Mr. and Mrs. Green. But he could only stay one week before he headed back down south. Mr. and Mrs. Green wanted him to stay longer, but Clem had a new plan: to be a soldier for the North. He had already signed up to be in one of the first black regiments of the Union army. "I'll be back here," Clem had said as he'd hugged them all good-bye. "I promise I'll be back

捕手。“我是来接你们俩的，”他说。 “我想和你一起去北方。” 但在北卡罗来纳，他被一群叛军抓住了，就像伯迪一样。 他们把克莱姆送回到密西西比的半路上，一群卡车司机把他救了出来。这些卡车司机在夜里袭击了叛军营地，帮助克莱姆和另外四个人逃跑。 克莱姆和他们一起工作，开着满载物资的马车队。 葛底斯堡之后，克莱姆喜欢和托马斯、伯迪以及格林夫妇一起住在佛蒙特州。 但他只能待一个星期，然后就回南方去了。 格林夫妇想让他多待一会儿，但克莱姆有了一个新计划:为北方当兵。 他已经报名加入了联邦军队中最早的黑人团之一。 “我会回来的。”克莱姆拥抱他们道别时说。 “我保证会回来的

when it's all done." He wrote to them almost every day now, and Thomas would sit for hours sounding out every word. He could hear Clem's voice in his mind, describing the battles, the people he met, his plans for after the war. "We'll be together," he wrote. "Can you picture it?" And Thomas could. His mind was filled with bright pictures now. At first, most of the pictures had appeared in his nightmares: the wagon in flames, the vultures that had circled above the battlefield as he lay wounded, the glowing red eyes of the rebel who shot him. But there were happier pictures, too: the memories of Birdie and Clem standing by his bed in the hospital tent, of Mr. and Mrs. Green waiting for them at the train station. And now, in the schoolyard, he closed his eyes, and he saw the newest pictures, the pictures of his

等一切都结束了。”现在他几乎每天都给他们写信，托马斯会坐上几个小时，逐字逐句地读出来。 他可以听到克莱姆的声音在他的脑海里，描述战斗，他遇到的人，他的战后计划。 “我们会在一起的，”他写道。 “你能想象吗?”托马斯可以。 现在他的脑海里充满了美好的画面。 起初，大部分画面都出现在他的噩梦中:燃烧的马车，当他受伤躺在地上时在战场上空盘旋的秃鹫，向他开枪的叛军的红眼睛。 但也有更快乐的画面:在医院帐篷里，伯迪和克莱姆站在他床边的记忆，格林先生和夫人在火车站等他们的记忆。 现在，在校园里，他闭上眼睛，看到了最新的照片，他的照片

hopes: that this terrible war would end; that Clem would be back with them soon; that they would be here, together and free. His eyes were still closed when he felt something cold on his cheeks. He looked up and saw white flakes drifting in the air. "Thomas!" Birdie cried. "It's snow!" Thomas put his arms around his little sister. And together they watched the icy flowers fall from the sky.

希望:这场可怕的战争会结束;克莱姆很快就会和他们一起回来;他们会在这里，在一起，自由自在。 他的眼睛仍然闭着，这时他感到脸颊上有什么冷的东西。 他抬头一看，只见空中飘着白色的雪花。 “托马斯!”小鸟哭了。“这是雪!”托马斯搂着他的小妹妹。 他们一起看着冰冷的花朵从天上落下。