Chapter 11

ChAPTER ELEVEN Kate opened her eyes. She definitely wasn't dead, which was excellent news. They had landed on the soft canopy of The Swindler, and Rupert had calmly taken the wheel beneath them and started the outboard motor. Miss Custard was far behind them- a fading star in the black. "Bertie! What happened?" Kate asked as she brushed herself down. "Why did you drop the rope?"

第十一章 凯特睁开了眼睛。 她百分百还活着，这可真是个天大的好消息。 他们落在了“骗子号”柔软的船篷上，鲁珀特已经镇定地坐到他们下方的驾驶位，发动了舷外马达。 卡斯塔德小姐远远落在他们身后——是黑夜中一颗正在淡去的星星。 “伯蒂！ 刚才发生什么事了？” 凯特一边拍掉身上的灰一边问。 “你刚才为什么要松开绳子呀？”

"I heard the silver wibbler!" said Bertie, who was straightening his cardboard glasses. "Cross my heart! It was the song that was written in C. A. Bloom's diary too!" "Holy mackerel," Kate whispered. "We must be on the right tracks!" "Speaking of close calls," said Rupert from below, "we may have been spotted." "Did you see who it was?" asked Kate. "I can't be too sure," said Rupert, "but I think it was a Bird Brigader. There were badges involved, he added gravely. Bertie shuddered. "If it was General Hornbill, I'm birdseed. I might as well not go back." "Come on, Bertie!" said Kate. "You

“我听见银晃晃的摇摇摆鸟的叫声啦！”伯蒂一边整理他的硬纸板眼镜一边说。 “我发誓！ 那也是C·A·布鲁姆日记里写过的那首歌呀！” “我的天呐，”凯特小声惊呼。 “我们肯定走对路了！” “说到刚才的惊险时刻，”下方的鲁珀特开口说，“我们可能被人发现了。” “你看清是谁了吗？”凯特问。 “我不太确定，”鲁珀特说，“但我觉得是鸟类旅的人。 他身上戴着徽章呢。”他严肃地补充道。 伯蒂打了个寒颤。 “如果是犀鸟将军的话，我肯定要变成鸟食了。 我干脆别回去了。” “加油呀，伯蒂！”凯特说。 “你

could be the one to finally catch the silver wibbler and become the best Bird Brigader of them all. I bet we're closer than we think. Pass me the map, Roo... See, we've passed the island that looks like a beak... those are the balancing rocks, just behind us... "I thought the balancing rock was the beaky island, protested Bertie. "They're exactly the same shape? "And look- Rupert traced the tip of his tail along the dotted lines- "we've passed this last landmark here, but none of the ones along the way- not the Venomous Vine Curtains, Red-Herring Rapids, or even the Curiously-Artistic- Carved-Log-Structure..."

说不定能成为第一个抓到银晃晃的摇摇摆鸟的人，变成有史以来最厉害的鸟类旅成员呢。 我打赌我们离它比我们想的要近得多。 把地图递给我，鲁鲁……你看，我们已经飞过了那个长得像鸟喙的岛……那些平衡石就在我们身后…… “我还以为平衡石就是那个像鸟喙的岛呢。”伯蒂不服气地说。 “它们长得一模一样啊？” “还有你看——”鲁珀特用尾巴尖沿着虚线划了划“我们已经过了最后这个地标，可路上的那些地标我们一个都没见着——不管是毒藤帘、红鲱鱼急流，就连那个造型奇怪的艺术木雕建筑都没看见……”

"We're rubbish!" moaned Bertie, face in his hands. "We're rubbish and we're lost!" Kate couldn't believe it. They had studied C. A. Bloom's diary to the letter. One mistake was understandable, but this? It simply didn't make sense. She remembered what Catherine Rodríguez had said about maps— knowing where you had come from was just as important as knowing where you were headed. Kate took out her trusty pencil and began scribbling over the map, redrawing their route. They were not rubbish, nor lost. She was just lining up her compass when the water around The Swindler started to bubble.

“我们太没用了！”伯蒂把脸埋在手里哀嚎道。 “我们既没用，又迷路了！” 凯特简直不敢相信。 他们当初可是一字不落地把C·A·布鲁姆的日记研究透了的。 出一个错还能理解，怎么会错成这样？ 这根本说不通啊。 她想起了凯瑟琳·罗德里格斯说过的关于地图的话——清楚自己从哪里来，和知道自己要往哪里去同样重要。 凯特掏出她那支靠谱的铅笔，开始在地图上涂涂画画，重新标出他们的路线。 他们才不是没用，也没有迷路。 她刚要把指南针对准方向，“骗子号”周围的水面突然开始冒泡泡了。

"W-what's going on?" said Bertie. Kate shone her trusty torch over the edge of the boat. The bubbles were getting bigger, frothing and gurgling and causing the boat to rock from side to side. But what was that? A faint greenish glow was appearing from the depths of the water. Kate ducked just in the nick of time. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! A vivid green stream of slime erupted out of the water and landed with a heavy slap on the deck. More and more followed, wriggling and twisting in a giant knot of... RIVER SNAKES! In two seconds, they were everywhere. One knocked over the jar of fireflies

“什、什么情况？”伯蒂说。 凯特举着她可靠的手电筒往船边照去。 泡泡越来越大，翻着白沫、咕嘟作响，晃得船左右摇摆。 可那是什么呀？ 一道淡淡的绿光正从水底下冒出来。 凯特猛地一低头，刚好躲过。 咿——呀——！ 一道亮绿色的黏糊糊的水柱从水里喷出来，“啪嗒”一声重重砸在甲板上。 更多的黏液跟着喷出来，扭来扭去缠成了好大一团……是河蛇！ 两秒钟的工夫，船上到处都是蛇了。 有一条还撞翻了装萤火虫的罐子