15 The Sea Chase

15. THE SEA CHASE They all rushed onto the beach. Jim was riding Bones, and his dad was running along with the Blackhole under his arm. Grandpa was still staggering about on the deck of the rolling ship, firing out the tiny cannonballs. Each of them grabbed something from the pile of beach things on their way by leaving only the tent flapping in the wind. They clambered aboard their vehicle, fastening buckles

15. 他们都冲到海滩上。 吉姆骑着“骨头”，他爸爸夹着“黑洞”跑着。 爷爷还在船的甲板上摇摇晃晃地走着，发射着小小的炮弹。 他们每个人都从海滩上的一堆东西里抓了些东西，只留下帐篷在风中飘动。 他们爬上他们的车，扣好安全带

as swiftly as they could. Jim's dad flicked the key and floored the accelerator and the wheels churned up sand and pebbles as they surged into the water. Jim Lad looked back toward the rocks and saw the three hags scurrying along a wooden jetty toward a small motorboat. Flashes and crackles followed them, like a miniature lightning storm. They had their boat untied in seconds. Thick clouds of smoke poured from the exhaust as its

他们越快越好。吉姆的爸爸轻弹钥匙，踩下油门，车轮冲进水里搅起了沙子和鹅卵石。 吉姆·拉德回头看了看岩石，看见三个母夜叉沿着一个木制防波堤朝一艘小摩托艇奔去。 闪电和噼啪声跟随着他们，就像一场微型雷暴。 他们几秒钟就把船解开了。 浓烟滚滚地从排气口冒出来

engine gurgled into life. They headed toward Matilda and the Jolley-Rogers. "Ye'd better be quick with them spells!" Jim said to Matilda. "They'll be on us quick enough...." Matilda was frantically turning pages, pointing the wand at the Blackhole and muttering spells, but nothing was happening. All the time, the sea hags were gaining on them. Their vehicle could travel on land and sea, but in the water it wasn't as quick as a regular boat. The sea hags were getting closer. Dabberlocks was at the wheel, and her sisters were hanging over the sides, firing shards of lightning that exploded around

发动机嘎嘎作响地发动起来了。他们朝玛蒂尔达和乔利-罗杰斯走去。 “你们最好快点念咒语！”吉姆对玛蒂尔达说。 “他们很快就会追上我们的....” 玛蒂尔达疯狂地翻动着书页，用魔杖指着黑洞，念着咒语，但什么也没有发生。 海妖一直在向他们逼近。 他们的车可以在陆地和海上行驶，但在水中却不如普通的船快。 海妖越来越近了。 达博洛克斯坐在驾驶座上，她的姐妹们站在边上，发射着四处爆炸的闪电碎片

them, showering sparks. They were traveling farther and farther from the shore, and the waves were getting bigger and bigger. Bow waves crashed over the front of the Jolley-Rogers' vehicle and poured into the cabin, soaking everyone's feet. "YER ALL GETTIN' A SOAKIN!" Jim laughed from his high point on a surfboard at the back end of the vehicle. "Yeah, very funny," grumbled Nugget. "Look out!" Jim Lad ducked as a stream of light fizzed past his head. They hit another wave and Jim lost his balance and fell into the seawater swilling about the footwell.

他们，火花四溅。他们离海岸越来越远，海浪也越来越大。 巨浪从乔利-罗杰斯的车前冲过，涌进船舱，把每个人的脚都湿透了。 “你们都湿透了！”吉姆站在车后端的冲浪板上笑了起来。 “是啊，真有趣。” “当心!”吉姆·拉德闪身一闪，一束光从他头顶掠过。 他们又碰上了一个浪头，吉姆失去了平衡，掉进了涌向脚井的海水里。

"Jim!" cried Matilda, and reached down to try and help him— but before she could pluck him from the water— POP! Jim burst back to his normal size. "It's the water!" cried Jim, pulling himself up. "The seawater reverses the spell! As soon as I hit the water, I felt the change!" Matilda stuck the wand in her belt and reached for the Blackhole with both hands. She scooped up water into the bottle, where it poured around the shrunken ship, then quickly threw the whole thing overboard. POP! The Blackhole shattered the glass bottle and burst back to its enormous,

“吉姆！”玛蒂尔达叫道，她伸手想救他——可是还没来得及把他从水里捞出来——砰！吉姆突然恢复了正常的身材。 “是水！”吉姆叫着，爬了上来。 “海水会逆转咒语！”我一下水，就感觉到了变化！”玛蒂尔达把魔杖插在腰带上，双手伸向黑洞。 她把水舀进瓶子里，水倒在萎缩的船周围，然后迅速把整艘船扔到海里。 流行!黑洞打碎了玻璃瓶，又炸回了它那巨大的、

normal size, its sails immediately catching the wind. "QUICK! THROW A LINE, JIM!" yelled Dad. Jim hurled a rope toward Grandpa, who was hanging over the rail of the Blackhole and, though he was still minus a contact lens, managed to grab the rope in his flapping arms. He quickly secured it to the windlass on deck, and yanked the vehicle across the water, safely out of reach of the sea hags.

正常大小，它的船帆立即迎风。 “快!扔一条线，吉姆！”爸爸喊道。 吉姆向吊在黑洞栏杆上的爷爷扔了一根绳子，爷爷虽然还没戴隐形眼镜，但还是用摆动的手臂抓住了绳子。 他迅速地把它固定在甲板上的绞车上，然后把车拉过水面，安全地远离了海妖。