9 Frightful Finds Sam

isn't going to do much good." "Three," said the pole climber. "We've been told to change three. Which ones do you want changed?" "That one on our hill," Jon said, pointing to the pole that had killed his falcon. "And the one by the Roxbury Elementary School," Susan said. "In fact, it would make a lot of children happy if you fixed all the utility poles." "Three," said the large man. "Our orders are to fix three." IN WHICH Frightful Finds Sam In early March the first of the migrating falcons and hawks returned to the Catskill Mountains. Frightful was in her nuptial plumage. She had molted completely. The scarred and broken feathers were gone. The white on her tail and

不会有多大用处的。" "三，"爬电线杆的工人说。 "我们接到通知要换三根。 你想换哪几根呀？" "就是我们山上那根，"乔恩指着害死了他猎鹰的那根电线杆说。 "还有罗克斯伯里小学旁边那根，"苏珊说。 "说真的，要是你把所有电线杆都修好，会让好多孩子开心的。" "三根，"大个子男人说。 "我们接到的命令是修三根。" 本章：惊隼找到萨姆 三月初，第一批迁徙的游隼和老鹰回到了卡茨基尔山脉。 惊隼已经换上了婚羽。 它已经完成了全部换羽。 带疤痕、折断的旧羽毛都全部换掉了。 它尾部的白毛和

under her chin was as bright as new snow. Her back was thunderhead blue, her rose-tinted breast had the brightness of cloud tops. Her head was almost black. She was healthy, and educated in rats and pigeons. She knew the pigeons and their flight patterns especially well. Her mews faced the cote, and she watched the birds long hours. She saw how they dodged Jon's young falcons with twists and turns. She saw them return home to the cote on smooth, slow glides. Jon noted Frightful's interest in the pigeons and rats, and on a bright but chilly morning he carried her to the top of his mountain. Susan hurried behind him, jumping patches of soggy snow. Frightful cocked her head as Jon took off her jesses. She stood free but did not fly. Drawing herself up tall, she mapped the direction to the one mountain among thousands, the one tree among millions. No spring force pulled her north with the returning falcons. She was home, and not far from Sam. Jon touched her beak with his finger. Susan hugged her arms to her body and watched

下巴下方一样白得鲜亮，就像新落的雪。 它的背是雷云般的灰蓝色，淡粉的胸脯像云顶一样光洁明亮。 它的头部几乎是纯黑色的。 它很健康，早就练会了怎么捕捉老鼠和鸽子。 它尤其熟悉鸽子，还有鸽子的飞行规律。 它的窝正对鸽子棚，常常一连好几个小时观察这些鸽子。 它见过鸽子怎么靠着急转弯躲开乔恩的年轻猎鹰。 它见过它们平稳缓慢地滑翔，回到鸽子棚。 乔恩看出惊隼对鸽子和老鼠很感兴趣，于是在一个晴朗却寒冷的清晨，把它带到了自己那座山的山顶。 苏珊匆忙跟在他身后，跳着躲开一块块湿软的残雪。 乔恩解开它的脚绊时，惊隼歪起了脑袋。 它自由站在那里，却没有飞走。 它挺直身子，在成千上万座山里认准了目标那座，在数百万棵树里认准了目标那棵。 春天的拉力没有拉着它跟其他归巢的隼一起往北飞。 它到家了，萨姆就在不远的地方。 乔恩用手指碰了碰它的喙。 苏珊抱紧胳膊，静静地望着

wistfully. She loved and hated the moment when they set birds free. "Good-bye," Jon said, and cast her from his hand with a strong thrust of his arm. Frightful bulleted into the sky and opened her wings. Susan called, "I'll miss you, Destiny." She moved closer to Jon. "Oh, why do I get so involved with these birds?" she asked. "It's so hard to tell them good-bye." Jon nodded and concentrated on the disappearing speck. "I wonder why she's going toward Delhi?" he finally said. "That's the last place in the world for

满心不舍。 她既期待又不舍放飞鸟儿的这一刻。 "再见了，"乔恩说着，用力挥手把它抛向空中。 惊隼像子弹一样冲向天空，张开了翅膀。 苏珊喊道："我会想你的，黛斯蒂妮。" 她往乔恩身边靠了靠。 "唉，我怎么会对这些鸟儿这么动心呀？"她问道。 "跟它们说再见真的太难受了。" 乔恩点点头，目光紧紧追着那个越来越小的黑点。 "我好奇它怎么往德里方向飞呀？" 他终于开口说道。 那可是全世界最不适合

a peregrine falcon to nest. No cliffs over there." Frightful knew exactly where she was going. She sped into the wind and covered the thirty miles to the one mountain among thousands in less than ten minutes. She dropped down onto the one hemlock among millions and came to rest. "Creee, creee, creee, car-reet," she called. There was silence, then, "Frightful!" Sam put down the plumping-mill crossbar he was repairing and jumped to the rock by Baron Weasel's home. Frightful peered at him through lacy hemlock limbs. "Frightful!" She dropped down three limbs. "Frightful." Sam's voice lowered to a whisper. "You came back." She hopped down to the next limb and looked for her perch. It was not there. But the plumping-mill crossbar was. Frightful alighted on it. "Creee, creee, creee, car-reet." She was home. Sam leaped from the rock and walked slowly toward her. His blue eyes looked into hers. His

游隼筑巢的地方了。 那边连悬崖都没有。" 惊隼清楚地知道自己要去哪里。 它迎风疾飞，不到十分钟就飞完三十英里，抵达了千山万水中那座属于它的山。 它落在数百万棵铁杉里那棵属于它的树上，停了下来。 "叽咿，叽咿，叽咿，咔——利特，"它叫道。 先是一片安静，接着传来一声："惊隼！" 萨姆放下正在修理的舂磨机横杆，跳到黄鼠狼男爵巢穴边的岩石上。 惊隼透过铁杉疏疏的枝叶盯着他看。 "惊隼!" 它向下跳了三根树枝。 "惊隼。" 萨姆的声音放低，变成了耳语。 "你回来了。" 它跳到下一根树枝，寻找自己原来的栖木。 原来的栖木已经不在了。 但舂磨机的横杆还在那里。 惊隼落在了横杆上。 "叽咿，叽咿，叽咿，咔——利特。" 它到家了。 萨姆从岩石上跳下来，慢慢走向它。 他蓝色的眼睛凝视着它的眼睛。 他的

suntanned face creased with his big smile of wonder. "Now, what do I do with you, beautiful bird?" he asked. "I can't keep you. The Feds say I'm not old enough to have a falconer's license." Frightful tipped her head and focused an eye on Sam. "If I keep you, the Fish and Wildlife Service will just take you away from me. Maybe even jail me. You're an endangered species. I can't harbor an endangered species. I've learned that much! "But," he said, leaning closer to her, "if I don't jess and leash you, you're not a captive bird. "Will you stay anyway?" Frightful made soft noises and flew to the Baron Weasel rock. The plumping-mill stick slipped and fell to the ground. It hit with a force that scared Frightful. She flew to the lowest limb of the hemlock. Sam sat still. "I missed you," he said. She lifted her feathers and softened her eyes. His words held the sounds she recognized as human love and affection. He chatted on.

晒黑的脸上堆满惊喜的笑容，挤出了道道纹路。 "好了，美丽的小鸟，我该拿你怎么办呢？" 他问道。 "我不能把你留在身边。 联邦说我年纪太小，拿不到驯鹰师的执照。" 惊隼歪起头，一只眼睛牢牢盯着萨姆。 "要是我留着你，鱼类和野生动物管理局只会把你从我身边带走。 搞不好还会把我抓起来。 你是濒危物种。 我不能收留一个濒危物种。 这点我可太清楚了!" "但是，"他凑近她说道，"要是我不给你上脚绊、拴锁链，你就不算被俘的鸟。 "你还愿意留下来吗？" 惊隼发出轻轻的鸣叫，飞到了黄鼠狼男爵的岩石上。 舂磨机的横杆滑了一下，掉在了地上。 横杆掉落的力道吓着了惊隼。 它飞到了铁杉最矮的那根树枝上。 萨姆一动不动地坐着。 "我想你了，"他说。 它松开羽毛，眼神变得柔软起来。 他的话里带着它熟悉的、人类的爱和温柔。 他絮絮叨叨地说着话。

"I'm pretty good at getting squirrels now, Frightful," he said. "I had to learn to hunt them after they took you from me. I use the same kind of sling David used to kill Goliath. It's accurate and packs a wallop. But it's not like hunting with you. We were a team, and we shared such good food. Tasty rabbit for you, rabbit stew for me; good pheasant liver for you, pheasant pot pie for me. Squirrels just don't quite make it." Frightful bobbed her head and listened. Sam talked on. "Alice and Mrs. Strawberry eat pork. Alice bred Crystal, her pet pig, and she and Mrs. Strawberry raised the piglets. They sold several of them for lots of money. They butchered one. It's pretty good. They saved three for breeders. "I go down to the farm several times a week to help Mrs. Strawberry with her crops and garden. She can't do the heavy work anymore, and Alice is busy with the pigs and livestock. I like the work. I learn from the land and the sun and rain." Frightful bent her knees to fly, but Sam spoke on, softly and rhythmically. She straightened up and listened.

““惊风，我现在抓松鼠可厉害了”，他说。 “它们把你从我身边抢走后，我就得学着猎松鼠了。 我用的弹弓，和大卫杀死歌利亚用的是同一种。 准头好，力道还大。 但这和跟你一起打猎完全不一样。 我们以前是好搭档，还能分享好多好吃的。 美味兔肉给你，炖兔肉给我；鲜美的野鸡肝归你，野鸡派归我。 松鼠就是比不上呀。” 惊风点了点头，认真听着。 山姆接着往下说。 “爱丽丝和草莓太太吃猪肉。 爱丽丝繁育了她的宠物猪克莉丝朵，她和草莓太太一起养大了猪崽。 他们卖了好几只，赚了不少钱。 他们宰了一只吃。 味道还挺不错。 他们留了三只当种猪。 “我每周都要去农场好几回，帮草莓太太打理庄稼和菜园。 她干不动重活了，爱丽丝又忙着喂猪照料其他牲畜。 我挺喜欢干这些活的。 我从土地、太阳和雨水里学到好多东西。” 惊风弯起腿准备飞，可山姆还在轻轻悠悠地往下说。 她又直起身，接着听。