Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 PETER'S PLAN WAS SIMPLE. First they brought Shadow into the village. As soon as she crawled out from under Peter's hat, she saw the rats. And the rats saw her. Rats do not like kittens. Kittens do not like rats. Of course, there were other cats in the village. But the village cats were old, and lazy, and not at all interested in chasing around big, cheese-eating rats. Not when the cats could curl up in the sun and swish their tails about. But Shadow was young, and full of energy, and very much interested in chasing a bunch of cheese-eating rats.

彼得的计划很简单。 首先他们把黑影带进了村子。 她刚从彼得的帽子底下爬出来，就看见了老鼠。 老鼠看到了她。老鼠不喜欢小猫。 小猫不喜欢老鼠。当然，村里还有其他的猫。 但是村里的猫又老又懒，对追逐吃奶酪的大老鼠一点兴趣也没有。 当猫可以蜷缩在太阳下，摇着尾巴的时候就不会了。 但是影子很年轻，精力充沛，对追逐一群吃奶酪的老鼠很感兴趣。

The rats dropped their cheese wedges. Shadow hissed. The rats shrieked. Baron Von Grump had not mentioned anything about a kitten to the rats. He had promised cheese, and lots of it. But he had failed to mention anything about a spitting, biting, scratching kitten. And what if she woke up the rest of the older lazy, napping cats? What then? No way! "Run for your lives!" the big rat yelled. Then he burped. He really didn't have any manners at all. Rats hopped out of windows. They scurried up chimneys. They ran under doors and along rooftops. Everywhere they ran, Shadow followed, darting left and right, right and left. She chased them all in one direction... out of the village. Shadow did not really want to catch any of the rats. This was just a fun game for her. But the rats didn't know this, and the rats

老鼠掉了他们的楔形奶酪。 影子发出嘘嘘的声音。老鼠在尖叫。 冯·格朗普男爵没有对老鼠提过小猫的事。 他答应给我奶酪，而且是很多奶酪。 但是他没有提到任何关于一只又吐又咬又抓的小猫的事。 要是她把其他懒猫吵醒了怎么办？ 然后什么?没门!“快逃命！”大老鼠喊道。 然后他打了个嗝。他真的一点礼貌都没有。 老鼠从窗户跳出来。 他们急忙爬上烟囱。 它们从门下和屋顶上跑过。 他们跑到哪里，影子就跟到哪里，左窜右窜，左窜右窜。 她朝一个方向追赶他们。 出了村子。影子并不想抓住任何一只老鼠。 这对她来说只是一个有趣的游戏。 但是老鼠不知道这些，老鼠

were scared. There was a lot of pushing and shoving as the rats fled for their lives. "I feel bad for them," said Wolfy. "All they wanted was cheese." "They look pretty scared," said Vampyra. "I have an idea," said Franky. He leaned over and whispered into Peter's ear.

是害怕。当老鼠逃命时，有很多推搡。 “我为他们感到难过，”狼说。 “他们想要的只是奶酪。” “他们看起来很害怕。”万皮拉说。 “我有个主意，”弗兰基说。 他俯下身，在彼得耳边低语。

Franky was not telling secrets. That would have been rude. Rats have very good hearing, and Franky didn't want the rats to know what the Junior Monster Scouts were up to. Franky was quite clever. Peter grinned. "That is a very good idea," he said. He picked up his flute and played. It was a happy song. It was the kind of song that might make you think of ice cream, and your favorite toy, and warm, fuzzy blankets. When the rats heard it, they felt happy. Very happy. Even the big, burping rat with no manners was happy. The rats were so happy that they stopped running. They stopped pushing and shoving. They formed one line of happy, smiling rats, following Peter and his flute. "It's working!" said Wolfy. "But where should we lead them?" Franky asked. "Where can they be happy too?"

弗兰克没有透露秘密。 那就太粗鲁了。 老鼠的听力很好，弗兰克不想让老鼠知道少年怪兽童子军在做什么。 弗兰克很聪明。彼得咧嘴一笑。 “这是一个非常好的主意，”他说。 他拿起笛子吹了起来。 这是一首快乐的歌。这首歌可能会让你想起冰淇淋，你最喜欢的玩具，还有温暖的毛茸茸的毯子。 当老鼠听到这个消息时，他们感到很高兴。 非常高兴。就连那只大的、打嗝的、没有礼貌的老鼠也很高兴。 老鼠们高兴得停止了奔跑。 他们停止了推搡。 它们排成一行，快乐地微笑着，跟在彼得和他的笛子后面。 “成功了！”狼说。 “但是我们应该把他们带到哪里去呢？”弗兰奇问道。 “他们在哪里也能快乐呢？”

"I know!" said Vampyra. "There's plenty of room in the castle! I'm sure my mom and dad won't mind. We have a great big basement with more than enough room for all of these rats. They can even have Ping- Pong tournaments!" Peter played his flute and followed Vampyra, Franky, and Wolfy to Dracula's castle. The rats followed Peter. Shadow followed the rats. It was a very long line. They crossed the drawbridge over the moat. They marched into the castle. They went down, down, down into the basement. Then Peter stopped playing. "Here you go," said Vampyra to the rats. "You can stay here for as long as you like."

“我知道！”“城堡里有很多地方！”我相信我爸妈不会介意的。 我们有一个很大的地下室有足够的空间容纳这些老鼠。 他们甚至可以举办乒乓球锦标赛！”彼得吹着笛子，跟着吸血鬼、弗兰克和狼去了德古拉的城堡。 老鼠跟着彼得。影子跟着老鼠。 队伍很长。他们穿过了护城河上的吊桥。 他们开进了城堡。 他们往下，往下，往下进入地下室。 然后彼得停止了演奏。 “给你们。”万皮拉对老鼠说。 “你想待多久就待多久。”

She was right. There was lots of room! And lots of dark places and lots of cobwebs. It was perfect for a rat. "Thank you!" said the big rat. Well, maybe he had some manners. "What's this? What's going on?" said Vampyra's dad from the basement steps.

她是对的。有很多地方！还有很多黑暗的地方和蜘蛛网。 这对老鼠来说再合适不过了。“谢谢你！”大老鼠说。 也许他有点礼貌。 “这是什么?怎么回事？”吸血鬼的爸爸在地下室的台阶上问。