Chapter 10

ChAPTER TEN They agreed to meet on the main deck at midnight. The moon was a big saucer of milk in the inky sky, and all around were the buzzings and rustlings of the jungle. Somewhere out there, Kate thought, silver wibblers were lurking, perhaps snuggling down under a blanket in their treehouse, or roasting a fish over a fire. Kate knew Catherine Rodríguez would be proud of

第十章 他们约好午夜在主甲板碰面。 墨黑的夜空里，月亮像一大盘牛奶，四周全是丛林里的窸窣响动和嗡嗡声。 凯特心想，外面的某个地方，银色晃悠兽正躲着呢，说不定正缩在树屋的小毯子底下，或是在火堆上烤鱼。 凯特知道，凯瑟琳·罗德里格斯肯定会为她骄傲的

her in this moment, shrimps or no shrimps. "Pssst!" It was Bertie. He was sporting a pair of wobbly cardboard glasses and had a jar of fireflies tucked under his arm. "Er..." said Kate, looking pointedly at the glasses. This operation had to be executed with slyness and stealth, and Bertie had all the grace of, well, a Bird Brigader in cardboard goggles.

此刻的她，不管有没有抓到小虾都一样。 “嘘！” 是伯蒂。 他得意地戴着一副晃悠悠的硬纸板眼镜，胳膊底下还夹着一罐萤火虫。 “呃……”凯特盯着他的眼镜说道。 这次行动得鬼鬼祟祟、悄无声息才行，可伯蒂现在的样子，活脱脱就是个戴硬纸板护目镜的飞鸟队队员。

"They're my night goggles!" said Bertie defensively. "For seeing things! At night!" Kate decided not to point out that her own lack of night goggles didn't seem to be a problem- there were more important things to attend to, like lowering The Shrimp Swindler into the waters below without a sound. "Come on!" whispered Rupert. "We need to get a move on!" Like most of the things aboard Miss Custard, the riverboat was rusty, rickety and didn't look as if it could swindle anything, let alone shrimp. Still, the band bundled their provisions inside (taking special care with the trumpetberries) and began to lower The Swindler down the side

“这是我的夜视镜！”伯蒂辩解道。 “用来看东西的呀！ 晚上用的！” 凯特没去说自己没夜视镜也没差——还有更重要的事要做，比如要悄无声息地把“小虾骗子号”放到下面的水里。 “快点！” 鲁珀特小声说。 “我们得赶紧走！” 就像“奶油小姐号”上的大多数东西一样，这艘小汽船锈迹斑斑、摇摇晃晃的，看着连骗个什么东西都做不到，更别说骗小虾了。 不过，大伙还是把物资都塞到了船里（特别小心对待小号浆果），开始把“骗子号”往船舷下面放

of Miss Custard. Although Kate was used to sneaking, stealing a whole boat was quite something. They lowered it past rows of balconies and life rings, past the kitchen, until it was swinging just outside the portholes of the Bird Brigade Dormitory. They were nearly there— a little bit more, and a bit to the left- CRUUUUNE

放到“奶油小姐号”的外侧。 虽然凯特平时就偷偷摸摸惯了，但偷一整艘船还是头一回。 他们放船的时候经过了一排排阳台和救生圈，又经过了厨房，最后船晃悠悠地停在了飞鸟队宿舍的舷窗外面。 马上就到了——再往下一点，再往左一点——嘎啦——

The Shrimp Swindler swung dangerously, scraping the side of Miss Custard and hitting the water with a loud splash. "I'm okay!" squeaked Rupert from below. "Bertie!" hissed Kate. "What's going on?" "Oh, winking prawns!" cursed bertie, scrambling for the rope he'd just dropped. A light came on below them. There was no time! "Drop the ropes!" shouted Kate. "We have to jump! NOW!" "I don't want to die," yelled Bertie. "Someone's at the window!" squealed Rupert. There was absolutely nothing for it!

“小虾骗子号”危险地晃来晃去，刮到了“奶油小姐号”的船身，“啪嗒”一声重重掉进了水里。 “我没事！”鲁珀特在下面尖声喊。 “伯蒂！”凯特压低声音呵斥。 “怎么回事？” “哦，该死的眨眼虾！” 伯蒂骂了一句，手忙脚乱地去抓他刚才掉的绳子。 他们下面的一盏灯亮了。 没时间了！ “把绳子丢了！”凯特喊道。 “我们得跳下去！ 现在就跳！” “我不想死啊。”伯蒂大叫。 “有人在窗户那边！”鲁珀特尖叫起来。 现在完全没有别的办法了！

ONE... TWO... ThREEe

一……二…… 三——