24 Another Shipwreck

CHAPTER 24 Another Shipwreck? Now, my homes on the island were secure. My cooking cave worked well, and my daily watches were a good routine. I felt safe, but I still kept busy to keep my mind off the natives. One awful night, I heard a cannon shot in the distance. I raced up to my lookout hill and tried to see what might be out there—

第二十四章又一次沉船？ 现在，我在岛上的家很安全。 我的烹饪洞穴工作得很好，我每天的值班也很好。 我觉得很安全，但我还是忙着不去想当地人。 一个可怕的夜晚，我听到远处有一声炮响。 我跑上瞭望台，想看看外面有什么

but it was too dark. "It must be a ship in distress!" I said to the night. "They could rescue me!" Even though I knew it was dangerous, I lit a big bonfire. "They must see it! They must!" I muttered to myself as I scrambled to keep the fire blazing. The winds were high and it was a challenge to keep it all under control. Almost moments later, I heard two more cannon shots, and then a few gun shots. They must have seen my signal! Dawn soon arrived. The fog started to clear up as the sun warmed the island. I could just barely make out a ship in the distance. I ran all the way to the south side of the island. I dropped to my knees as soon as I reached the beach. A wreck! Oh no! Those poor men—their ship was dashed on the very rocks that almost killed me all those years ago. My heart sank as I knew there could be

但是天太黑了。“这一定是一艘遇难的船！”我对黑夜说。 “他们可以救我！”尽管我知道这很危险，我还是生了一堆篝火。 “他们一定要看到！”他们必须!”我一边挣扎着让火继续燃烧，一边自言自语。 风很大，要控制住这一切是一项挑战。 差不多过了一会儿，我又听到两声炮响，然后是几声枪响。 他们一定是看到了我的信号！天很快就亮了。 太阳温暖了小岛，雾开始散去。 我几乎看不清远处有一艘船。 我一路跑到岛的南边。 我一到海滩就跪了下来。 残骸!噢,不!那些可怜的人——他们的船撞在了多年前几乎要了我的命的礁石上。 我的心一沉，因为我知道可能会有

no survivors. They sent out a signal and no ship saved them. In the dark, they must not have seen my island. I wept. "If only one had survived, just one!" I felt more alone at that very moment than I had in all of the twenty-odd years I had spent by myself. The only choice I had to make now was whether or not to use my boat and see if I could gather supplies. In the end, I decided it was worth the risk. But I waited until the next morning, when the tide was low. I didn't want to get swept out to sea. As soon as I came close to the boat, I heard a dog barking. I called out to him and he jumped right in my boat. He was a scrappy little fellow, that's for sure. Much of the ship's cargo was ruined by the water. But I managed to save a few copper pots, a few seamen's chests, some barrels of liquid, and some gunpowder. The ship was very

没有幸存者。他们发出了一个信号，没有船来救他们。 在黑暗中，他们一定没有看到我的岛。 我哭了。“要是有一个活下来就好了，就一个！”在那一刻，我感到比我独自度过的二十多年里任何时候都更加孤独。 我现在唯一要做的选择就是要不要用我的船，看看能不能收集补给。 最后，我觉得值得冒这个险。 但我一直等到第二天早上退潮的时候。 我可不想被冲到海里去。 我刚走近船，就听到狗在叫。 我叫他一声，他就跳上了我的船。 他是个好斗的小家伙，这是肯定的。 船上的大部分货物被水毁了。 但是我设法保存了几个铜罐、几个水手的箱子、几桶液体和一些火药。 这艘船非常

unstable. I worked quickly and packed everything up on my little boat. It took me lots of trips to carry the cargo back to my camp. What riches I found when I finally opened up the chests. They were full of extraordinary treasures! One had a fine case of bottles, filled with flavored drinks. They were delicious, that's for sure. Another was filled with sweetmeats, and yet another carried brand-new shirts. In the last chest I opened, there were three great big bags of gold. They just sat there next to two pairs of shoes! I stored a lot of these new-found treasures in my cave, just to make sure they were safe. The excitement of my discoveries barely lasted two or three days. I ate up all the sweetmeats and drank all the cordial waters. Life returned to normal. It was back to checking the lookout every morning. But something was different now because I had a

不稳定的。我干得很快，把所有东西都打包到我的小船上。 我跑了很多次才把货物运回营地。 当我终于打开箱子时，我发现了多么丰富的东西啊。 它们充满了非凡的宝藏！一个人有一箱精美的瓶子，里面装满了调味饮料。 它们很好吃，这是肯定的。 另一个装满了糖果，还有一个拿着崭新的衬衫。 在我打开的最后一个箱子里，有三大包金子。 他们只是坐在两双鞋子旁边！为了确保它们的安全，我把这些新发现的宝物储存在我的洞穴里。 我对新发现的兴奋只持续了两三天。 我吃光了所有的糖果，喝光了所有的甜水。 生活恢复了正常。于是又回到了每天早上去把风。 但现在有些不同了，因为我有

new dog to keep me company. I named him Scruffy. He was an excellent little companion. Soon after the shipwreck, I celebrated my twenty-fourth year on the island. Hours passed that day as I sat and thought about everything that had happened. They were happy years of hard work and lots of success. But now, I spent so much time worrying about being discovered by the natives that it was hard to enjoy my life. My anniversary passed and I convinced myself it was time to escape. But how would I get off the island? I spent the entire rainy season that year thinking and planning an escape. The key to all of my plans were the natives. If I could make peace with them, they would be able to show me a way off the island. Would it work? Would I be able to make friends with them?

新狗陪我。 我给他起名叫斯库菲。他是一个极好的小伙伴。 海难发生后不久，我庆祝了我在岛上的第24个年头。 那天过去了好几个小时，我坐在那里，想着发生的一切。 他们度过了快乐的岁月，努力工作，取得了许多成功。 但现在，我花了太多时间担心被当地人发现，以至于很难享受我的生活。 结婚纪念日过去了，我说服自己是时候逃离了。 但我怎么离开这个岛呢？ 那年的整个雨季，我都在考虑和计划逃跑。 我所有计划的关键是当地人。 如果我能和他们讲和，他们就能告诉我离开这个岛的路。 这能行吗？我能和他们交朋友吗？