16 Frightful and Oksi Run the Show

Sam backed down the steps, found his pack in the hemlock grove, and whistled for Mole. Together, they crossed the field in the direction of the mountains. The two men saw them stride along. "I think we should have gone to town." Henry said. "We're not free to do anything but what we did," Sean answered, watching with no little longing the young man who walked to his own inner music. IN WHICH Frightful and Oksi Run the Show The sun was held back by rain clouds the morning Frightful saw Sam and Mole come home from their wanderings. Sam whistled hello, but she did not reply. She was concerned with Oksi. This day had dawned cold, Chup was out hunting, and she had to brood the eyas.

萨姆走下台阶，在铁杉林里找到自己的背包，吹口哨喊鼹鼠过来。 他们俩一起穿过田野，朝着大山的方向走去。 两个男人看见他们大步走过。 "我觉得咱们该去镇上才对。" 亨利说道。 "我们身不由己，只能做已经做了的事，"肖恩答道，满心羡慕地望着这个循着自己内心节拍前行的年轻人。 本章：惊狂与奥克西主导一切 惊狂看见萨姆和鼹鼠外出漫游回家的那个早上，雨云遮住了太阳。 萨姆吹口哨打招呼，可她没有回应。 她正操心着奥克西。 这天天亮就转冷，丘普外出打猎，她得孵着幼鹰。

Just as Sam and Mole went into the tree house, Chup came home to feed and brood Oksi, and Frightful took off. She sped with the air currents into a thermal that spiraled her high above Delhi. At the top of the warm air bubble, she peeled off and dove straight down. She landed on the cupola of the county courthouse. Frightful drew herself up tall. The courthouse pigeon flock was winging into sight. She knew each pigeon personally. She knew the healthy and quick on wing. She knew the dumb and the clumsy. And she knew those with the highly contagious pox virus. She selected one of these and struck. The virus died with the bird, and she carried it back to Oksi. When Frightful returned with food that day, Chup was freed from his nest brooding. Oksi was old enough to be left alone while Frightful hunted. He flew from tall tree to the tallest, spread his wings, and soared far from Frightful's Mountain. He had never been comfortable in the forest. He was a bird of the cliffs, open river valleys, and the bottoms of clouds. Spread-winged, he rode an air current to a cliff in Catskill Park, a three-minute

萨姆和鼹鼠刚走进树屋，丘普就回巢给奥克西喂食孵卵，惊狂便飞了出去。 她顺着气流飞入了一股上升热旋流，把她托到德里镇的高空。 到了暖气泡的顶端，她转身猛地直直俯冲下来。 她落在了县法院的穹顶上。 惊狂挺直了身子，昂起头。 法院的鸽群正展翅飞入她的视野。 她对每一只鸽子都熟得很。 她知道哪些鸽子健康敏捷飞得快。 她知道哪些鸽子迟钝又笨拙。 她还清楚哪些鸽子带着传染性极强的痘病毒。 她选了其中一只，发动了袭击。 病毒跟着死在了猎物身上，她把猎物带回给了奥克西。 那天惊狂带着食物回来后，丘普就不用再守在巢里孵卵了。 奥克西已经长大了，惊狂外出打猎时，完全可以把她独自留下。 他从高树飞到最高的那棵树上，展开翅膀，远远飞出了惊狂山。 他在森林里从来都觉得不自在。 他本就是属于悬崖、开阔河谷与云层底下的鸟儿。 他展开翅膀，乘着气流飞到卡茨基尔公园的一处悬崖，这是一趟三分钟的

falcon flight from Oksi. He was still concerned about her. While Sam and Mole were away, Oksi had changed. The tips of her flight feathers had grown in, and she could stand and walk. She jumped on leaves that blew into the box and watched every bird that flew past. But the greatest change of all was that she jabbed a foot at Frightful when she came into the box with food. Chup returned to the box one day to find no food at the aerie. He flew down to the river and brought back a duck. Alighting on the box, he was met by Oksi's two yellow feet and black talons. He left the food and took off. As she grew and changed, the wooden box intrigued Oksi. It was far different from her first home. It did not look out on a vast landscape, but on a hemlock forest. From it she did not see ducks, but frogs and songbirds. The winds around her did not jet, but swirled and bumped. Instinctively she disliked it, but because her parents fed her here, she became accustomed to it. Sam would sit at his table at mealtimes and watch Oksi. He knew the box in the forest was all wrong

从奥克西的住处出发的猎鹰航程。 他心里仍然一直惦记着奥克西。 萨姆和鼹鼠出门在外的这段时间，奥克西变了。 她的飞羽尖端已经长齐，现在能够站立和走路了。 她在吹进巢箱的树叶上蹦跳，盯着每一只飞过的鸟儿看。 但最大的变化是，惊狂叼着食物进巢箱时，奥克西会伸爪子戳她了。 一天丘普回到巢箱，发现鹰巢里一点食物都没有。 他飞到河边，抓了一只鸭子回来。 他落在巢箱上，迎上来的是奥克西两只黄脚和黑色的利爪。 他放下食物就飞走了。 随着奥克西长大变化，这个木巢箱勾起了她的好奇心。 这里和她最初的家截然不同。 从这里望出去看不到开阔原野，只有一片铁杉林。 在这里她看不到鸭子，只能看见青蛙和鸣禽。 周围的风不是急流般的风，而是打着旋儿、四处冲撞。 她本能地不喜欢这里，但因为父母都在这里喂她，也就慢慢习惯了。 吃饭的时候萨姆会坐在自己的桌边，看着奥克西。 他知道森林里的这个巢箱完全不适合

for a peregrine, and so he would wonder what would happen when it came time for her to pick her own nesting site. Would she choose a cliff, a bridge—or, he mused almost longingly, would she pick a beautiful hemlock forest like this? Was she imprinted on Frightful's Mountain? He was watching Oksi through the binocs one evening when Jessie Coon James came up to him and begged for a handout. Sam laughed and gave her his leftover rabbit stew. Ordinarily he gave it to Mole, but Mole was chasing a fox, and that could take all night. Jessie ate voraciously, then climbed the old hemlock and draped herself over a limb. She closed her eyes. "Are you sleeping out tonight, Jessie?" Sam asked. "That's a good idea. Think I will, too. It's a balmy night." A breeze rocked Jessie on her willowy limb. Sam spread his deerskin sleeping bag on the big stone table and, after completing his chores and writing in his journal, he lay down and watched the stars come out. Sam listened to the night sounds. A screech owl awoke and called, the barred owl by the mill

游隼，所以他忍不住好奇，等奥克西到了选自己巢址的时候会发生什么。 她会选悬崖，还是大桥？又或者——萨姆满怀憧憬地暗想，她会不会选一片像这样漂亮的铁杉林呢？ 她已经把惊狂山认作自己的家了吗？ 一天晚上，他正用双筒望远镜观察奥克西，浣熊杰茜走到他跟前，讨吃的。 萨姆笑了，把吃剩的炖兔肉给了她。 平常这些剩饭都给鼹鼠，可鼹鼠这会儿正在追狐狸，这一搞说不定要一整夜。 杰茜狼吞虎咽吃完，接着爬上老铁杉，把身子摊开搭在树枝上。 她闭上了眼睛。 "你今晚要睡在外头吗，杰茜？" 萨姆问道。 "这是个好主意。 我想我也睡外头好了。 今晚舒服得很。" 微风吹得杰茜趴着的细枝晃来晃去。 萨姆把鹿皮睡袋铺在大石桌上，做完杂事写完日记后，他躺下来看着星星慢慢出来。 萨姆听着夜晚的各种声响。 一只鸣角鸮醒了过来，发出鸣叫，磨坊边的横斑林鸮

house hooted, and from far away, he heard the lugubrious voice of Mole reporting his progress in a game of "catch the fox," a game both animals thoroughly enjoyed. After Mole found the scent and began the chase, the fox took great pleasure in tricking him. When Mole got too close, the fox would splash into a stream and wash away his trail, or he would sit in a scented wintergreen patch and watch Mole run right past him. Sometimes he fooled Mole by running the tops of fences or turning around and going back over his own trail. Before dawn, they both understood, the game ended. The fox would slip into his den, and Mole would go home, panting happily. This night it was Jessie Coon James who had the game plan. When Sam was asleep, she stole down the tree and circled Baron Weasel's den. Moving quietly, she swam across the millpond to the sluice

也在鸣叫，远远的，萨姆听见鼹鼠瓮声瓮气的叫声，那是他在播报「抓狐狸」游戏的进展，这可是两只动物都格外喜欢的游戏。 鼹鼠找到气味开始追逐后，狐狸可喜欢捉弄他了。 等鼹鼠追得太近，狐狸就会跳进溪水里冲掉气味痕迹，或是躲在香味浓浓的冬青丛里，看着鼹鼠从自己跟前跑过去。 有时候狐狸会沿着栅栏顶跑，或是掉头顺着自己的脚印往回走，把鼹鼠耍得团团转。 他俩都清楚，这场游戏在天亮前就会结束。 狐狸会悄悄溜回自己的洞穴，鼹鼠则会开开心心喘着气回家。 可这天晚上，轮到杰茜·库恩·詹姆斯安排玩乐计划了。 等萨姆睡着后，她偷偷爬下树，绕着黄鼠狼男爵的洞口转了一圈。 她悄无声息地游动，游过磨坊池塘，朝着泄水口

and climbed up the wall. The shale bricks made perfect hand- and footholds. She was headed for the roof but was stopped by the overhang. She backed down and tried climbing the down-mountain side of the mill house. Again she was turned back by the overhang. While she puzzled, Oksi slept, Frightful slept, Sam slept, and Mole ran the top of an old stone fence, following the fox. Jessie Coon James was not defeated. She walked to the up-mountain side of the mill house. She climbed again, and this time she reached the stovepipe. It was metal and slippery but was braced with steel bands. She caught a band with one front claw and was able to grab the overhang with her hind feet and, scratching hard on the shakes, pull herself up onto the roof. Oksi awoke. It was dark. She could not see, but she could hear. Something was coming her way. She felt fear for the first time and backed into the corner of the box. Jessie could see as well in the dark as she could in daylight. She approached the box, hooked eight

接着爬上了墙。 页岩砖刚好能放手和落脚。 她想去屋顶，却被屋檐挡了下来。 她退下来，改爬磨坊靠山下的那一侧。 她又一次被屋檐挡了回去。 她正犯愁时，奥克西睡了，芙莱特睡了，山姆睡了，鼹鼠沿着旧石围栏顶追着狐狸跑。 浣熊杰西才没有认输。 她走到磨坊靠山上的那一侧。 她再次往上爬，这一回爬到了烟囱管那儿。 烟囱管是金属的，滑溜溜的，还有钢箍固定着。 她一只前爪抓住钢箍，后爪够住屋檐，使劲扣住木瓦，把自己拉上了屋顶。 奥克西醒了。 四周黑漆漆的。 她看不见，却能听见动静。 有东西正朝她过来。 她第一次感到害怕，退到了巢箱的角落里。 杰西在黑暗里也能看得和白天一样清楚。 她靠近巢箱，八只