15 A Pal Finds a Pal

She sped down, food in her talons, and landed on the floor of the box. Oksi screamed. Sam watched, his fists clenched, his body tense. Frightful tore off a morsel and fed Oksi. "Phew!" Sam let out a long, long breath. IN WHICH A Pal Finds a Pal Oksi was six days old on that eventful day. She was a ball of white fuzz with huge shining eyes rimmed with saffron. Her beak was pale blue. She had two needs: food and Frightful's warm brood patch, and now, at last, she had both. She crawled into her mother's breast feathers and sat quietly. Sam closed down the waterwheel early and carried wood to his stone oven to make a fire. The oven sat a few yards away from his table and the four tree-stump chairs. All were in the umbra of the magnificent hemlock. When the fire was lit, he

她爪中抓着食物俯冲而下，落在了箱子底上。 奥克西叫出了声。 萨姆攥紧拳头，浑身紧绷，在一旁看着。 芙莱福扯下一小块肉喂给奥克西。 “呼！” 萨姆长长地舒了一口气。 本章节：伙伴寻得伙伴，意义非凡的这天，奥克西正好六天大。 她像一团白绒球，长着一双亮晶晶的大眼睛，眼眶是藏红花色的。 她的鸟喙是淡蓝色的。 她只有两个需求：食物和芙莱福温暖的抱卵区，如今，她终于两样都拥有了。 她爬进妈妈胸口的羽毛里，安安静静地待着。 萨姆早早关了水车，搬了木柴到石炉生火。 石炉摆在离他的桌子和四把树桩椅子几码远的地方。 它们都长在这棵高大铁杉的树荫之下。 火生起来之后，他

wrapped cattail tubers and trout in two large may- apple leaves and placed them in the oven. Then he rested his elbow on the table and scratched his head. The dark-haired man came back to mind. Sam jumped to his feet. "Skri! Bate!" he said out loud. He thought a moment. "It's eyas time. The poachers are at work for that Arabian agent again." Sam remembered how Sean Conklin and he had caught Skri leaving a cave at Beaver Corners last June. With him was the man called Bate and his friend. "That's it; Skri and Bate took the eyases." He sat down again. "But where are they?" While his supper cooked, his mind ran over all the possible answers to his question. "Bate won't be at his home in Altamont—too risky. They all know him." He thought harder. "Seems he goes incognito," he recalled. "He told me he was Leon Long-bridge, and he told Joe Cassini he was a government official. He's got to be someplace where he can act like somebody else and get away with it. Where's that?"

把香蒲块茎和鳟鱼用两片大夫手掌叶包好，放进了炉子里。 接着他把胳膊肘撑在桌上，挠了挠头。 那个黑发男人又浮现在了他的脑海里。 萨姆猛地站了起来。 “斯克里！贝特！” 他大声说出了这两个名字。 他思索了片刻。 “现在该偷雏鹰了。 偷猎者又在为那个阿拉伯代理人干活了。” 萨姆想起去年六月，他和肖恩·康克林在海狸角的洞穴外抓到斯克里的事。 和斯克里在一起的，就是那个叫贝特的男人和他的同伙。 “没错，就是他们，斯克里和贝特抓走了雏鹰。” 他又坐了下来。 “可他们在哪儿呢？” 趁晚饭还在烤着，他把所有可能的答案都在脑子里过了一遍。 “贝特不会回他奥尔特芒特的家——太危险了。 所有人都认识他。” 他想得更认真了。 “他好像会隐姓埋名，”他想起来了。 “他跟我说他叫里昂·朗布里奇，跟乔·卡西尼说他是政府官员。 他肯定待在一个能随便冒充别人还不会被发现的地方。 会是哪儿呢？”

The sun went down, and the troublesome day was over. Alice came up the twilit trail with a basket of sweet wild strawberries from Mrs. Strawberry's field. She sat down on a log stump at the table and decapped one. "I have a dog," she said, handing Sam the strawberry. "A dog?" said Sam, popping it into his mouth, then poking a stick into the trout to test its doneness. "I thought you were a pig girl." "Pigs are best," said Alice, "but this dog is special." "Where did you get him?" "Remember Hanni?" Sam blushed and smiled. "Of course I remember Hanni. What about Hanni?" "Well, she and Hendrik found this dog over near the Helderberg Escarpment and took him home. He was so terrified of people he chewed his leash and got away. Last week when Hanni was visiting the John Burroughs lodge, she found him again."

太阳落山了，这糟心的一天总算过去了。 艾丽斯提着一篮子斯特劳贝里太太田里摘的香甜野草莓，沿着暮色里的小径走了上来。 她在桌边的树桩上坐下，摘掉一颗草莓的蒂。 “我养了一只狗，”她说着把草莓递给萨姆。 “一只狗？”萨姆说着把草莓塞进嘴里，又拿棍子戳了戳鳟鱼看熟了没有。 “我还以为你只喜欢猪呢。” “养猪当然最好啦，”艾丽斯说，“但这只狗很特别。” “你从哪儿得到他的？” “还记得汉妮吗？” 萨姆红着脸笑了。 “我当然记得汉妮。 汉妮怎么了？” “唔，她和亨德里克在海尔德伯格悬崖附近发现了这只狗，把他带回了家。 他特别怕人，咬断牵引绳逃跑了。 上周汉妮去约翰·巴勒斯小屋的时候，又发现了他。”

"What was he doing at the John Burroughs lodge?" "Denning under it and living off the land, like he does." "Smart dog." Sam smiled. "I like his spirit." "Except there were two Park Service rangers there who were trying to shoot him for catching game. That's dumb." "Maybe. What happened?" "Hanni told them the dog was hers and took him home again." "She and Hendrik brought him to me. Hanni thought I could bring the love of people to him, like I did to Crystal, my pig." Alice smiled. "The dog's adorable—a yellow cur with long ears; big, sad eyes—and the best rabbit chaser I've ever seen." "What's his name?" "Hendrik and Hanni named him General, but their aunt and uncle said the people they bought the farm from called him Mole. He lived in a culvert. I like the name Mole." "So do I. And where is Mole?"

“他在约翰·巴勒斯小屋做什么呀？” “在那下面筑窝住着，靠野地里的猎物过活，就像你一样。” “真是只聪明狗。” 萨姆笑了。 “我喜欢他这股性子。” “不过当时有两个公园管理局的护林员在那儿，因为他抓野物要开枪打死他。 这太蠢了。” “也许吧。 后来怎么样了？” “汉妮告诉他们狗是她的，又把他带走了。” “她和亨德里克把狗送到我这儿。 汉妮觉得我能让他重新信任人类，就像我对我的小猪克里斯托那样。” 艾丽斯笑了。 “这只狗特别可爱——黄色的杂种狗，长耳朵，大大的忧郁眼睛，还是我见过最会追兔子的猎手。” “他叫什么名字？” “亨德里克和汉妮给他取名叫将军，但他们的叔叔阿姨说，原来买农场的那家人叫他鼹鼠。 他以前都住在涵洞里。 我喜欢鼹鼠这个名字。” “我也喜欢。 那鼹鼠现在在哪儿？”

"Down at the farm with Mrs. Strawberry. I'm going back. I just want to get some rawhide from you to make him a special collar. I want to braid it into a tough band so he can't get loose." "Sure he won't eat it?" "He can't reach it, silly," Alice said. "Alice," Sam said, taking his supper out of the oven, "did you say Hanni talked to two rangers at the John Burroughs house?" "Yes; you know, the Park Service owns it." "But the Park Service doesn't own it. It is owned by descendants of the John Burroughs family. There're no rangers on duty there. Bando and I camped there when we were looking for you last spring." "Well, whatever—two men were going to shoot him." Sam shared his meal with Alice. The trout was tender, but the cattail tubers were tough. When they had finished their meal with the delicious strawberries, Sam got deer hide from the mill house and cut off long strips for Alice.

“在下面斯特劳贝里太太的农场呢。 我等下就回去。 我就是来找你要点生皮，给他做一条特别的项圈。 我要把它编成结实的项圈，这样他就跑不掉了。” 你确定他咬不坏吗？ “他够不到呀，傻家伙，”艾丽斯说。 “艾丽斯，”萨姆一边把晚饭从炉子里拿出来一边说，“你刚才说汉妮在约翰·巴勒斯小屋碰到两个护林员？” “对呀，你知道的，公园管理局说那里是他们的。” “可公园管理局并没有拥有这里呀。 它归约翰·巴勒斯家族的后代所有。 那里根本没有值班的护林员。 去年春天我和班多找你的时候，还在那儿露营过呢。” “唔，不管怎么样，反正有两个男人想要开枪打死他。” 萨姆和艾丽斯一起分享了晚饭。 鳟鱼很嫩，可香蒲块茎有点硬。 他们吃完晚饭，又吃完了香甜的草莓，之后萨姆从磨房里拿出鹿皮，给艾丽斯切了好几长条生皮。

"Thanks," Alice said, and put them into her pocket. "I'm off now, to bring love to Mole." Sam was out of bed early the next morning. Barefoot and lacing up his deerskin shirt as he stepped outside, he looked over the pond into Frightful's nest box. He had placed it so that the opening faced him. Frightful was far back in the corner, mothering. Although all seemed well, it was not. There was no tiercel. Sam would have to bring food to Frightful until 426 came back. The eyas was still too young for Frightful to leave her and hunt. While Sam cooked cornmeal mush for breakfast, Frightful came to the front of the box and scanned the skies, looking for 426. Oksi was screaming to be fed. The air was chilly. She called for her mate. He did not answer. Around noon, when the air had warmed, Frightful gave the little eyas the last bites of the rat. Then she sat down and brooded her. Sam whistled that he had food for her, but she did not fly to him. Oksi was shivering. She needed her mother's warmth.

“谢谢你，”爱丽丝说着，把它们放进了自己的口袋。 “我现在要出发了，去给鼹鼠送爱心。” 第二天一大早，萨姆就起床了。 他光着脚走出房门，一边系着鹿皮衬衫的带子，一边望向池塘对岸福莱特的巢箱。 他特意把巢箱的开口对着自己这边放置。 福莱特远远缩在角落，照顾着幼崽。 虽然一切看起来平安无事，实际上出事了。 那只雄猎隼不见了。 在426回来之前，萨姆得给福莱特送去食物。 幼隼年纪还太小，福莱特不能离开它去打猎。 萨姆煮玉米粥当早餐时，福莱特飞到巢箱口，扫视着天空寻找426。 奥克西叫着想要吃东西。 空气凉飕飕的。 她呼唤着自己的伴侣。 他没有给出回应。 快到中午，气温回升后，福莱特把最后几口鼠肉喂给了小幼隼。 接着她坐下来，给幼隼取暖。 萨姆吹口哨告诉福莱特自己带了食物，可她并没有飞过来。 奥克西冻得浑身发抖。 它需要妈妈的温暖。