7 The Free Men

CHAPTER 7 The Free Men We sailed for five days before we stopped. We were well away from Sallee by then and had sailed up a great river. I didn't know exactly where we were, but it didn't matter —I was free. Xury wasn't as excited to be away from the master as I was. He was very scared. The more we traveled up the river, the more he begged me not to go on shore,

第七章自由人我们航行了五天才停了下来。 那时我们已经远离萨利，顺着一条大河逆流而上。 我不知道我们到底在哪里，但没关系——我是自由的。 苏里对离开大师不像我那么兴奋。 他非常害怕。我们越逆流而上，他就越求我不要上岸，

especially after we heard the loud roar of animals we didn't know. The sun was setting, so I did as Xury asked and didn't venture off the boat that night. We lay down on deck and looked across to see if anything would happen. Soon it did! Massive beasts came to the water's edge. They made loud and awful noises; horrible sounds my ears had never heard before. We were both frightened. When one of the beasts swam toward us we both panicked! What if it made it to the ship? What if it climbed on board? What if it sunk the ship? What would we do then? I raced up and grabbed one of our guns and fired into the air to scare the animal. It worked! The beast quickly turned and swam back to shore. "What shall we do?" Xury asked. "Well, we need drinking water." I

尤其是在我们听到不认识的动物的大声吼叫之后。 太阳要下山了，所以我照佐立的吩咐做了，那天晚上没有冒险下船。 我们躺在甲板上，望着对岸，看会不会发生什么事。 很快它就做到了！巨大的野兽来到水边。 它们发出巨大而可怕的声音；可怕的声音，我的耳朵从来没有听到过。 我们俩都吓坏了。当其中一只野兽向我们游过来时，我们俩都慌了！如果它跑到船上去了呢？ 如果它爬上了飞机呢？ 如果它把船弄沉了怎么办？那我们该怎么办呢？ 我跑上前去，抓起一支枪朝天开了一枪，想吓唬那只动物。 它工作!野兽迅速转身游回岸边。 “我们该怎么办呢？”Xury问道。 “嗯，我们需要喝水。” 我

answered. "We don't have any left. Even though we're scared, we must go ashore tomorrow." The sun rose early the next morning. We rowed slowly toward the mainland, and dropped the anchor. Then, Xury and I jumped in and swam as fast we could to shore. I was afraid natives might steal our boat, so I didn't want to go too far. I had heard awful stories about sailors being stranded with unfriendly people who would steal their boats and all of their goods. These sailors were never heard from again! Xury said he would be the brave man and go find drinking water. I stayed with the boat and kept watch with my binoculars. A short time later, he ran back. I thought something might be chasing him, so I ran to him to see if I could help. When we reached each other, Xury proudly showed me that he had shot a wild animal. It looked like a hare,

回答。“我们没有剩下的了。 尽管我们很害怕，但我们明天必须上岸。” 第二天早晨太阳升起得很早。 我们慢慢地向大陆划去，下了锚。 然后，佐里和我跳进水里，以最快的速度游向岸边。 我担心当地人会偷我们的船，所以我不想走得太远。 我听过一些可怕的故事，说水手被困在不友好的人身边，这些人会偷走他们的船和所有的货物。 这些水手从此杳无音信！佐立说他会勇敢地去找水喝。 我留在船上，用双筒望远镜监视着。 过了一会儿，他跑了回来。 我觉得可能有什么东西在追他，所以我跑过去看能不能帮上忙。 当我们走到一起时，佐里自豪地向我展示他射中了一只野兽。 它看起来像一只野兔，

but it had different colors and longer legs. This land was one of great surprises, that's for sure! "Good job, Xury!" I exclaimed. We ate well that night. We were really happy that we had found water and food without finding either natives or those awful beasts from last night. My previous voyages to the North African coast made me think we were close to the Canary Islands, but without instruments, I couldn't be sure of our exact location. Without knowing where we were going, we continued along the shoreline. My hope was to come across an English trading ship that could take us both back to my homeland. We sailed past lush landscapes filled with interesting animals. A lot of beasts we didn't recognize roamed around, but there were also many we knew, like lions, tigers, and leopards. We stopped every couple of days to

但它有不同的颜色和更长的腿。 这片土地是一个巨大的惊喜，这是肯定的！“干得好，苏里！”我叫道。 那天晚上我们吃得很好。我们真的很高兴，因为我们找到了水和食物，既没有发现当地人，也没有发现昨晚那些可怕的野兽。 我以前到北非海岸的航行，使我以为我们离加那利群岛很近，但由于没有仪器，我不能确定我们的确切位置。 我们不知道要去哪里，就沿着海岸线继续前进。 我希望能遇到一艘英国商船，把我们俩都带回我的祖国。 我们驶过郁郁葱葱的风景，那里到处都是有趣的动物。 许多我们不认识的野兽四处游荡，但也有许多我们认识的，比如狮子、老虎和豹子。 我们每隔几天就会停下来

find more drinking water. We went so long without seeing people that I was convinced no one even lived in these parts.

寻找更多的饮用水。我们走了很长一段时间都没有见到人，以至于我相信这些地方根本没有人住。