Chapter 4

Chapter 4 And now," said the Countess, "my personal policewoman will tell you about the crime." "Yo, I'm Sergeant Sniff," said a tough-looking Pekingese. "See, the Countess just bought the gold pickle in Fancitonia. Then we brought it back here on this choo-choo." "You mean the train?" "Yes." "I wish you wouldn't call it a choo-choo," I said. "It is a fine example of a mountain-type 4-8-4 streamlined steam-powered Z-class standard gauge New York & Montreal Express locomotive, one of the most advanced machines ever built." "Big wheel," said Nina, nibbling at a brake line.

第四章现在，”伯爵夫人说，“我的贴身女警将向您讲述案情。” “哟，我是嗅探中士，”一只表情强硬的北京哈巴狗说。 “你看，伯爵夫人刚在旧金山买了金泡菜。 然后我们用这辆火车把它带回来了。” “你是说火车？”“是的。” “我希望你不要叫它啾啾，”我说。 “这是山式4-8-4流线型蒸汽动力z级标准轨距纽约和蒙特利尔快车机车的一个很好的例子，是有史以来最先进的机器之一。” “大车轮，”尼娜说，咬着刹车线。

"Flytrap!" yapped the Countess. "Would you PLEASE focus on my pickle paperweight?" "Oh, yes, of course!" I said. "Where is it?" "It's MISSING, you fool!" "Er, sorry. I meant: Where WAS it?" "This way," said Sergeant Sniff. "It was locked inside this armored boxcar before we left Fancitonia." She pointed to a boxcar with thick walls. It looked like

“捕蝇草！”伯爵夫人叫道。 “你能把注意力集中在我的泡菜镇纸上吗？”“哦，是的，当然！”我说。 “它在哪儿？”“它不见了，你这个傻瓜！”“呃,抱歉。 我的意思是：它在哪儿？”“这边走，”嗅探警官说。 “在我们离开旧金山之前，它被锁在一辆装甲车厢里。” 她指着一节墙很厚的车厢。 看起来像是

a big bank safe on wheels. The door was open, and I noticed cameras and laser beams inside. "When we pulled into the station, the gold pickle was gone!" continued Sergeant Sniff. "The thief struck while the choo-choo was choo-chooing down the choo- choo track!" "What about the cameras and the laser-beam alarms? Didn't they catch the thief?"

一个带轮子的大银行保险箱。 门开着，我注意到里面有摄像头和激光束。 “当我们把车开进车站时，金泡菜不见了！” “小偷在火车沿着火车轨道行驶的时候动手了！”“那摄像头和激光警报器呢？” 他们没有抓住小偷吗？”

"Obviously not," said Sergeant Sniff, glaring at me. "The cameras only picked up a blur, and the thief' somehow dodged all the laser beams." "Nina, please wheel me over so I can have a closer look," I said. Nina pushed me over to the boxcar—way too fast, as usual—then jumped up on the back of the locomotive and started eating the coal. "Hmm," I said, examining the floor of the boxcar. "Look at these scratches! Are these dog claw marks?" "They are claw marks, but not from a dog," said Sergeant Sniff. "The police lab says they were made by something bigger and tougher than a dog claw."

“显然不是，”嗅嗅中士瞪着我说。 “摄像头只拍到了一个模糊的画面，小偷不知怎么地躲过了所有的激光束。” “尼娜，请把我推过去，让我仔细看看，”我说。 尼娜把我推到车厢旁——和往常一样，速度太快了——然后跳上火车头的后面，开始吃煤。 “嗯，”我说，检查着车厢的地板。 “看这些划痕！”这些是狗爪印吗？”“那是爪印，但不是狗的，”嗅探警官说。 “警方实验室说它们是由比狗爪更大更硬的东西造成的。”

"Hmm... Who else was on the train?" "Just us," said Sergeant Sniff. "The Countess and I were the only passengers. And MC FunkyFoot was driving the train." "So," I said, "if the thief wasn't on the train when it left the first station and wasn't on the train when it got to this station, then he must have gotten aboard the train while it was moving, stolen the pickle, and gotten back off again." "Isn't that what I said a minute ago?" snarled Sergeant Sniff. "The choo-choo bandit got on the choo-choo while it as choo-chooing from the choo- choo station to—" "AHA!" I interrupted. "I have solved the World's Greatest Mystery!"

“嗯……火车上还有谁？”“只有我们。”中士嗅嗅说。 “只有伯爵夫人和我是乘客。 MC FunkyFoot在开火车。” “所以，”我说，“如果小偷离开第一站时不在火车上，到达这一站时也不在火车上，那么他一定是在火车行驶时上了车，偷走了泡菜，然后又下了车。” “我一分钟前不是这么说的吗？” “火车正从火车站开往——”“啊哈！”我打断了。 “我解开了世界上最大的谜团！”