6 A Pup in Peril

Chapter 6 A Pup in Peril Sofia waved her arms and jumped up and down, trying to scare the seals into swimming the other way. But they only swam closer, as if they were curious about the silly girl dancing on their rocks. "Wait, I've got an idea!" Max quickly climbed back on board Wind Rider and slid belowdecks. He reappeared a moment later, holding the kite. "It distracted the seals before," he called over the railing. "Let's see if it works again!" He ran toward the stern of the boat and pulled at the string of the kite,

索非亚挥舞着手臂，跳上跳下，试图吓唬海豹游向另一边。 但他们只是游得更近了，似乎对那个在他们的岩石上跳舞的傻女孩很好奇。 “等等，我有个主意！”马克斯迅速爬回“风骑士”号，滑到甲板下面。 过了一会儿，他又出现了，手里拿着风筝。 “它之前分散了海豹的注意力，”他隔着栏杆喊道。 “让我们看看它能不能再起作用！”他跑向船尾，拉着风筝的线，

making it swoop up and down, like it was dancing in the wind, high above the seal herd. "Hey, seals!" he called. "Check this out!" Sofia held her breath and watched. One by one, the seals stopped. They turned their sleek heads away from the oil spill, toward the bobbing kite. And they began to swim. "Yes!" she cheered. "Keep going!" But Wind Rider was still tied to Bonnie, so they weren't far enough from the spill. "We have to set sail," Max called. "We have to get farther away. Untie the rope. Hurry!" Maisie glanced sadly at the rope that connected Bonnie to Wind Rider.

让它上下俯冲，就像在风中跳舞，高高在海豹群之上。 “嘿，海豹们！”他喊道。“看看这个！”索菲亚屏住呼吸看着。 海豹们一个接一个地停下来。 他们把光滑的头从漏油处转到浮动的风筝上。 他们开始游泳。“是的！”她欢呼道。 “继续!”但风骑士还绑在邦妮身上，所以他们离泄漏点还不够远。 “我们得启航了。”麦克斯喊道。 “我们必须走得更远。 解开绳子。快点!”麦齐伤心地看了一眼把邦妮和风骑士连接在一起的绳子。

"We'll come back for your boat," Sofia said softly. "I promise." Maisie set her jaw and nodded. Then she quickly untied the rope. When the girls were back on Wind Rider, the boat seemed to know what to do. Slowly, it raised its anchor and drifted away from the oil spill. Max tied the kite to the rail so that it flew above the seals. "They're all following us," said Sofia, breathing a sigh of relief. "Wait, all except one." One small, dark head turned away from the others and headed back toward the rocks. "It's the baby!" she realized with horror. "Where is it going?" Her eyes tracked the path of the pup, straight back to the rocks. There, beside the wrecked Bonnie, a large seal struggled to climb out of the water. Even from afar, Sofia could see dark oil streaked across the seal's back. Her stomach dropped. "The pup is swimming back to its ma!" Maisie cried.

“我们会回来拿你的船的。”索菲亚轻声说。 “我保证。”麦茜咬紧牙关点了点头。 然后她迅速解开绳子。 当女孩们回到风骑士号时，船似乎知道该怎么做。 慢慢地，它抬起锚，漂离了漏油点。 马克斯把风筝绑在栏杆上，这样它就能飞过海豹。 “他们都跟着我们。”索非亚说，松了一口气。 “等等，除了一个。”一个黑色的小脑袋离开了其他人，朝着岩石走去。 “是孩子！”她惊恐地意识到。 “它要去哪里？”她的目光追踪着小狗的踪迹，一直回到岩石上。 那里，在失事的邦妮号旁边，一只大海豹挣扎着从水里爬出来。 即使从很远的地方，索非亚也能看到海豹背上有黑色的油痕。 她的胃一沉。“小狗游回妈妈身边了！”梅齐哭了。

"And she's got oil on her!" Sofia shouted. "Quick! We have to stop the pup from going in the oil, too!" She put a foot on the rail, as if she were about to jump overboard. Max grabbed Sofia's hand. "You can't swim to them," he said. "You'll freeze!" Sofia's eyes widened. "We have wet suits," she remembered. "And the kayak—seals like kayaks. Maisie said so!" Maisie bobbed her head in agreement. "Yes," she said. "The selkie might follow the kayak!" At those words, Sofia took off running toward the hatch, with Max close behind. By the time they had pulled on their wet suits, Maisie had inflated the orange kayak using a battery-powered pump. Then she helped them lower it overboard. "Let me sit in back," said Max. "I'll steer, and you can sit up front and talk to the seal pup." "Be careful and don't get too close," Maisie warned. "The seals are wild, and that pup's ma won't like you going near her baby." Max and Sofia began paddling. But the waves were

“她身上还涂了油呢！”索非亚喊道。 “快!我们还得阻止小狗掉进油里！”她把一只脚踩在栏杆上，好像要跳船似的。 马克斯抓住索菲亚的手。“你游不过去，”他说。 “你会冻结!”索菲亚睁大了眼睛。 “我们有潜水衣，”她回忆道。 “海豹也喜欢皮划艇。 麦奇这么说的！”麦齐点头表示同意。 “是的，”她说。“selkie可能会跟着皮艇！”听到这些话，索非亚飞快地跑向舱口，马克斯紧跟在后面。 当他们穿上潜水衣的时候，麦齐已经用一个电池驱动的泵给橙色的皮艇充气了。 然后她帮他们把它从船上放下来。 “让我坐在后面，”马克斯说。 “我来掌舵，你可以坐在前面和小海豹说话。” “小心，不要靠得太近，”麦齐警告说。 “海豹是野生的，那只小狗的妈妈不会喜欢你靠近她的孩子的。” 马克斯和索菲亚开始划水。 但是海浪是

so strong! Max struggled with each stroke. He switched sides, paddling first on the left and then on the right, trying to keep the kayak on course. "Do you see the pup?" he called to Sofia. She took another stroke and searched the waves. The seal pup's dark head popped out of the water. "There!" she cried, pointing at the spot, a few yards away. As the pup swiveled its head to look at them, the mother barked a warning from the rocks. It responded with a cry of its own. "Mah, mah!" The sound nearly broke Sofia's heart. "What now?" Max whispered. Sofia splashed the water playfully with her paddle until the pup turned again. Then she twirled the end of the paddle, creating a kaleidoscope of orange. The seal swam closer, then closer still, until Sofia could see its sweet face and shiny

如此强烈!马克斯每划一次都很吃力。 他换了个方向，先是向左划桨，然后又向右划桨，试图让皮艇保持在航线上。 “你看见小狗了吗？”他对索非亚喊道。 她又划了一划，搜寻着海浪。 小海豹的黑脑袋探出水面。 “在那儿！”她指着几码外的那个地方叫道。 当幼崽转过头来看着他们时，母熊在岩石上吠叫着发出警告。 它用自己的叫声回应。 “Mah, Mah !”这声音几乎使索非亚心碎。 “现在?”马克斯低声说。 索非亚顽皮地用她的桨溅水，直到小狗再次转身。 然后她旋转桨的末端，创造了一个橙色的万花筒。 海豹越游越近，越游越近，直到索非亚看到它那可爱的脸，闪闪发光

black eyes. "It's working!" Max whispered. "Sofia, you're a seal whisperer!" Sofia could barely breathe as the pup swam a full circle around the kayak. As it passed, it lifted its muzzle and sniffed at them, as if to say hello. Sofia's heart leaped. "Hello, my sweet selkie," she cooed, using Maisie's word for seal. "Hello, little one," Max whispered from behind. Then something caught his eye. Maisie was waving from Wind Rider and pointing back toward the cliffs where the puffins nested. "She's showing us where the other seals went," said Max. "Can you make the pup follow us, Sofia?" Sofia met Max's eyes, swallowed hard, and then nodded. She had to try! As Max set his course and began paddling, Sofia kept watch to make sure the seal pup was following. Whenever it seemed distracted, she twirled her paddle and called gently to it. Slowly, stroke by stroke, they crossed the choppy sea, with the seal pup close behind. When they finally reached the rocks where the other seals were sunning, Max slowed the kayak to a crawl. "Time to join your family," he called to the seal pup. "Go on now." The pup waited near the kayak, as if wondering

黑色的眼睛。“这是工作!”马克斯低声说。 “索菲亚，你会说海豹语！”当这只小狗绕着皮划艇游了一圈时，索菲亚几乎无法呼吸。 当它经过的时候，它抬起嘴嗅了嗅他们，好像在打招呼。 索菲亚的心怦怦直跳。“你好，我亲爱的selkie，”她低声说，用的是Maisie对海豹的称呼。 “你好，小家伙。”马克斯从后面小声说。 然后，有什么东西引起了他的注意。 麦茜在《风骑士》上挥手，指着海雀筑巢的悬崖。 “她在告诉我们其他海豹去了哪里，”马克斯说。 “你能让小狗跟着我们吗，索菲亚？”索菲亚看着马克斯的眼睛，使劲咽了口气，然后点了点头。 她必须试试！当马克斯设定路线并开始划水时，索菲亚一直在看着，以确保小海豹跟在后面。 每当它看起来心烦意乱的时候，她就转动桨，轻轻地叫它。 它们慢慢地，一划一划地穿过波涛汹涌的海面，小海豹紧跟在后面。 当他们终于到达其他海豹正在晒太阳的岩石时，马克斯放慢了皮艇的速度。 “是时候加入你的家庭了，”他对小海豹喊道。 “去吧。”小狗崽在皮艇旁等着，好像很好奇