3 THE SEAL

CHAPTER 3 THE SEAL The gull swooped past the crowd of creatures and cried, "Help! Roz! Follow me!" Then she swung back around the way she had come. Roz started running, and Brightbill started flying, and together they followed Gale north across the island and down to the rocky shore. Seabirds and otters and crabs had gathered on the rocks, and lying in the middle of the gathering was a seal. His nose was bleeding. His eyes were swollen shut. Roz knelt and inspected his injuries. From the seal's mouth came a weak voice. "The poison tide is coming!" "I do not understand," said the robot. "I was hunting in the north with my friends and family when we noticed a shimmering patch of water,"

第三章海豹海鸥从人群中飞过，喊道：“救命啊！警察!跟我来!”然后她又沿着来时的路转了回去。 罗兹开始跑，布莱特比尔开始飞，他们一起跟着盖尔向北穿过小岛，来到岩石海岸。 海鸟、水獭和螃蟹都聚集在岩石上，一只海豹躺在这堆东西的中间。 他的鼻子在流血。他的眼睛肿得闭上了。 罗兹跪下来检查自己的伤势。 从海豹嘴里传来一个微弱的声音。 “毒潮来了！”“我不明白，”机器人说。 “我和朋友和家人在北方打猎，突然注意到一片闪闪发光的水域，”

said the seal. "We were curious, so we swam closer. And then we felt the poison. The shimmering water burned our mouths and our noses and our eyes! I couldn't see, and I called out for the others, but nobody called back. The poison tide kept washing over me, and the pain was too much, so I turned and swam for my life, back into clear ocean water, and I just kept swimming, for days, until I arrived here." "What is the poison tide?" said the robot. "Where did it come from?" But the seal couldn't answer because he suddenly erupted into a fit of coughing. The animals exchanged nervous glances as the seal coughed and coughed. Everyone wanted to help him, but there was nothing they could do. When he finally stopped coughing, the seal hardly had enough strength to speak. "Please," he whispered. "I want to feel the ocean." Very carefully, Roz lifted him up, carried him across the rocks, and released him into the shallows. The touch of salt water against his body brought a faint smile to the seal's face. It was too hard for him to speak, so without saying a word he slowly swam away and disappeared beneath the waves.

海豹说。我们很好奇，就游得更近了。 然后我们感觉到了毒药。 闪闪发光的水烫着我们的嘴、鼻子和眼睛！我看不见，我大声喊其他人，但没有人回喊。 毒潮不停地向我袭来，我太疼了，于是我转身拼命地游回清澈的海水中，我就这样一直游了好几天，直到我来到这里。” “什么是毒潮？”机器人问。 “它是从哪儿来的？”但是海豹说不出话来，因为他突然咳嗽起来。 海豹不停地咳嗽，动物们紧张地交换着眼色。 每个人都想帮助他，但却无能为力。 当他终于停止咳嗽时，海豹几乎没有力气说话了。 “求你了，”他低声说。“我想感受一下大海。” 罗兹小心翼翼地把他举起来，带着他越过岩石，然后把他放回浅滩。 海水碰触着海豹的身体，海豹的脸上露出了一丝微笑。 他说不出话来，于是一句话也没说，慢慢地游开了，消失在海浪下面。