Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 Brambleclaw jumped awake when a paw prodded him in the side. Squirrelpaw's voice meowed urgently, "Wake up, Brambleclaw! Feathertail and Crowpaw—are gone!" Brambleclaw sat up, blinking. Tawnypelt was on her paws, and Stormfur was just emerging from the nest he had made for himself under a clump of ferns. But Squirrelpaw was right. There was no sign of Feathertail and Crowpaw. His head whirling, he staggered to his paws. The sun had already climbed above the horizon in a bright blue sky dotted with puffs of white cloud. A stiff breeze was blowing, rippling the grass in the field, but it brought no scent of the missing cats. For a couple of heartbeats Brambleclaw wondered if they had gone home. They had not received the saltwater sign from StarClan; had that made them feel like giving up, as if they had been judged and found lacking? And if Feathertail and Crowpaw had turned back, could he and Tawnypelt succeed if they

第17章 一根爪子戳了戳荆爪的腰侧，他一下子惊醒了。 松鼠爪急急忙忙地喵呜喊道：“快醒醒，荆爪！ 羽尾和鸦爪——不见了！” 荆爪眨了眨眼睛，坐了起来。 藤尾已经站起身了，风暴毛正从他蕨丛下搭的窝里钻出来。 不过松鼠爪说的没错。 这里完全没有羽尾和鸦爪的踪影。 他脑袋晕乎乎的，摇摇晃晃站了起来。 太阳已经升到地平线以上，亮蓝色的天空点缀着朵朵白云。 一阵劲风吹过，吹得田野里的草泛起波纹，却没带来那两只失踪猫儿的气味。 有那么一小会儿，荆爪心想他们是不是回家了。 他们还没收到星族的海水信号； 难道这让他们想要放弃，就好像他们被审判过，发现不合格吗？ 要是羽尾和鸦爪真的掉头回去了，那他和藤尾继续

went on alone? Then he realized he was being stupid. Crowpaw might think like that, but Feathertail never would, and wherever the two cats had gone they must be together. And it was unlikely that a predator had taken them; there were no scents of danger here, and in any case the noise would have woken the rest of them. "See if they've gone for a drink at the pool," he suggested to Squirrelpaw, who was still gazing at him with panic in her green eyes. "I already have," she mewed. "I'm not mouse- brained." "No, okay, then..." Brambleclaw glanced around wildly, desperate to come up with a plan, and caught sight of two small figures, pale gray and black, approaching across the field. The wind, blowing toward the broken-down wall, had carried their scent away. "There they are!" he exclaimed. Feathertail and Crowpaw trotted briskly up to the stones. Their mouths were full of fresh-kill, and their eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "Where have you been?" Brambleclaw

独自走下去，还能成功吗？ 接着他反应过来自己想错了。 鸦爪说不定会这么想，但羽尾绝不会，而且不管这两只猫儿去了哪儿，他们肯定在一起。 而且不太可能是掠食者抓走了他们； 这里没有危险的气味，而且真有危险的话，动静肯定会把其他猫都吵醒的。 “去看看他们是不是去水塘喝水了，”他对松鼠爪提议，此刻松鼠爪绿色的眼睛里还满是惊慌，正盯着他看。 “我已经去过了，”她喵呜说道。 “我又不是笨老鼠。” “好吧，那接下来……” 荆爪慌乱地环顾四周，迫切地想要想出办法，然后他看见两个小小的身影，浅灰带黑，正穿过田野往这边走来。 风朝着坍塌的墙吹，把他们的气味带走了。 “他们在那儿！” 他喊道。 羽尾和鸦爪迈着轻快的步子跑到石堆这儿。 他们嘴里叼着刚捉到的猎物，眼睛里闪着满足的光。 “你去哪儿了？” 荆爪

demanded. "We were worried about you." "You shouldn't wander off like that," Stormfur added to his sister. "What does it look like?" Crowpaw snapped, dropping the two mice he was carrying. "You were all snoring like hedgehogs in winter, so we thought we'd go and hunt." "There's lots of prey over there." Feathertail gestured with her tail toward a thicket in the next field. "We caught a whole pile, but we'll have to go back and fetch the rest." "Let these lazy lumps do it themselves," Crowpaw muttered. "Of course we'll help," meowed Brambleclaw, his mouth already starting to water at the smell of the fresh-kill. "You've done brilliantly. You stay and eat, and we'll fetch the rest of the prey." Crowpaw had already crouched down, ready to take a bite from one of the mice. "Don't talk to us as if you're our mentor," he growled. He was obviously determined to be difficult, so Brambleclaw left him to it. In spite of the younger cat's bad temper, he couldn't help feeling optimistic. They had survived the trouble

追问道。 “我们都担心死你了。” “你不该这么乱跑的，”风暴毛对自己的妹妹补充道。 “你看不出来我们干嘛去了吗？” 鸦爪厉声说，扔下了他叼着的两只老鼠。 “你们全都睡得打呼，跟冬天的刺猬似的，所以我们就想着出去打猎啦。” “那边猎物可多了。” 羽尾用尾巴指了指隔壁田野的一处灌木丛。 “我们抓了一大堆呢，不过得回去拿剩下的。” “让这些懒家伙自己去拿呗，”鸦爪嘟囔着。 “我们当然会帮忙，”荆爪喵呜说道，闻到新鲜猎物的味道，他已经开始流口水了。 “你们干得太棒了。 你留下来吃，我们去拿剩下的猎物。” 鸦爪早就伏下身子，准备咬一口其中一只老鼠了。 “别用你好像是我们族长的语气跟我们说话，”他低吼道。 很明显这只年轻猫就是要找事儿，所以荆爪由着他去了。 尽管这只年轻猫儿脾气很差，荆爪还是忍不住觉得乐观。 他们熬过了麻烦

in the Twoleg gardens, Tawnypelt's sign meant that they were still following the will of StarClan, and now they had a good meal to look forward to. As he led the way toward the thicket he decided that things could be a good deal worse. "What are those?" Brambleclaw asked. Three days had passed since the trouble in the Twoleg gardens, and the journeying cats had traveled on across farmland, avoiding the Twoleg nests dotted here and there, and meeting nothing more threatening than sheep. Now they were crouched in a ditch that ran along the line of a hedge between two fields. They were peering out at two of the biggest animals Brambleclaw had ever seen, which were running back and forth across the field, snorting and tossing up their heads. The impact of their huge feet made the ground shudder. "Horses," Crowpaw replied loftily; his eyes gleamed as if he was delighted to know something that Brambleclaw didn't. "They run across our territory sometimes with Twolegs on their backs." Brambleclaw thought he had never heard

在两脚兽的花园里，藤尾收到的信号说明他们一直遵从着星族的旨意，现在他们还能美美饱餐一顿，真不错。 在领着大家往灌木丛走的时候，荆爪觉得情况还没糟到不可收拾。 “那是什么东西？” 荆爪问道。 两脚兽花园的麻烦已经过去三天了，这群赶路的猫儿穿过农田，避开随处可见的两脚兽巢穴，一路上只遇到过绵羊，没碰到什么更危险的东西。 现在他们蹲在一道沟渠里，沟渠沿着两块农田之间的树篱延伸。 他们正盯着两只大动物，那是荆爪见过的最大的动物了，它们在田野里来回跑，喷着鼻息，还不停晃着脑袋。 它们硕大的蹄子踩在地上，震得地面都发抖。 “是马，”鸦爪傲慢地回答； 他眼睛发亮，好像因为自己知道荆爪不知道的事儿而开心。 “有时候它们会被两脚兽骑着，从我们领地上穿过。” 荆爪觉得自己从来没听过

anything so mad in his life. "I guess even Twolegs want four legs sometimes," he joked. Crowpaw shrugged. "Can we please get going?" Squirrelpaw mewed plaintively. "There's water in this ditch, and my tail is getting wet." "Fine, go," Brambleclaw muttered. "But I don't fancy getting crushed." "I don't think horses are dangerous," Stormfur meowed. "We've seen them at the farm on the edge of RiverClan territory. They never pay much attention to us." "If they did tread on us, they wouldn't mean to," Feathertail added. Brambleclaw felt that wouldn't be much consolation; a blow from one of those feet, which looked like chunks of weathered stone, could break a cat's spine. "We just need to run across while they're down at the other end," Tawnypelt pointed out. "I doubt they'd follow us. They must be quite stupid, or they wouldn't let Twolegs on their backs." "Okay." That sounded like good sense to

他这辈子从没发过这么大的火 "我猜就算两脚兽有时候也想要四条腿呀，"他开玩笑说。 鸦爪耸了耸肩。 "我们能不能快点出发呀？" 松鼠爪可怜巴巴地喵叫着。 "这条沟里有水，我的尾巴都打湿了。" "行吧，走吧，"棘爪咕哝道。 "可我才不想被踩扁。" "我觉得马儿不危险，"暴毛喵道。 "我们在河族领地边缘的农场见过它们。 它们从来都不怎么搭理我们。" "就算它们真踩到我们，也不是故意的，"羽尾补充道。 棘爪觉得这根本算不上什么安慰； 它们的蹄子像一块块风化的石头，挨一下就能打断猫的脊梁。 "我们只要趁它们走到那头的时候跑过去就行，"褐皮指出。 "我觉得它们不会追我们。 它们肯定很笨，不然才不会让两脚兽骑在背上呢。" "好吧。" 这话听起来很合理，对

Brambleclaw. "Straight across this field and through that hedge opposite. And for StarClan's sake, let's stay together this time." They waited until the horses had cantered off to the other end of the field. "Now!" mewed Brambleclaw. He launched himself into the open, wind streaming through his fur, aware of his companions racing beside him. He thought he could hear the pounding of the horses" massive feet, but he did not dare slow down to take a look. Then he was leaping the ditch that bordered the hedge on the far side, and plunging into the shelter of low-growing bushes. Peering out cautiously, he saw that the others had reached safety with him. "Great!" he meowed. "I think we're starting to get the hang of this." "It's about time." Crowpaw sniffed. There were large animals in the next field too, this time standing together in the shade of a couple of trees, swishing their tails and munching grass. These were cows: Brambleclaw had seen them near Ravenpaw's barn on his apprentice

棘爪而言。 直接穿过这片田野，从对面那片树篱过去。 看在星族的份上，我们这次一定要待在一起。" 他们一直等到马儿跑到了田野的另一头。 "现在！"棘爪喵道。 他一下子冲到空地上，风刮过他的皮毛，感觉到同伴们就在他身边奔跑。 他仿佛能听见马儿巨蹄踏地的轰隆声，但他不敢放慢脚步去看。 接着他跳过远侧树篱边的水沟，一头扎进矮灌木丛躲起来。 他小心探出头，看到其他猫也都和他一起到了安全地方。 "太棒了！"他喵道。 "我觉得我们开始摸出点门道来了。" "也该是时候了。" 鸦爪哼了一声。 下一片田野里也有大动物，它们一起站在几棵树的树荫下，甩着尾巴嚼青草。 这些就是牛：棘爪曾在鸦爪谷仓旁见过它们，那是在他学徒