Chapter 2-5

CHAPTER FIVE In which Florizella fears that she only had a baby brother for four days Bennett dived and Florizella dived too. They went down and down, deep into the water to see if they could find Courier trapped in the weeds, or perhaps with his foot caught by a giant clam. Worse still, he could have been kidnapped by mermaids, or stampeded by seahorses, or turned into a whelk by a water witch, or suffered any of the many accidents that happen to unfortunate princes underwater. But there was no trace of

第五章 这一章里，弗洛里泽拉担心自己才刚拥有小弟弟四天，就要失去他了。班尼特扎进水里，弗洛里泽拉也跟着跳了下去。 他们不断往下潜，潜到深深的水底，想看看信使是不是被困在水草里，或是脚被巨型蛤蜊夹住了。 更糟的是，他有可能被美人鱼绑架了，或是被海马群撞晕了，或是被水巫变成了峨螺，还可能遭遇不幸的王子在水下会碰到的各种意外。 但是完全找不到他的踪迹，

him, and though they caught two dolphins and rode them around, they couldn't see him anywhere. "And the pirates will still be coming to shore," Bennett reminded her, bobbing up in the waves. "We've got to save the kingdom." "You go and stop the pirates; I'll go on looking for Courier," Florizella said. She was very frightened. "He's my little brother– I should never have put him in any danger." Bennett didn't know what was best. "I don't want to leave you here. You know what happens in fairy tales: as soon as someone leaves the princess, something terrible happens to her." "It's happened already," Florizella said grimly. "What could be worse than this? You go and get rid of the pirates. Then come back here. And bring the Sea Serpent with you. It should be able to find Courier, even if we can't." Bennett nodded and swam to shore as Florizella dived down and swam around searching. Then she dived– again and again.

尽管他们拦住了两只海豚，骑着它们到处转，还是哪儿都找不到他。 “而且海盗们还是会往岸上来的。”班尼特在海浪里浮上来，提醒她。 “我们得拯救王国。” “你去拦住海盗，我接着找信使。”弗洛里泽拉说。 她害怕极了。 “他是我的小弟弟——我根本不该让他陷入任何危险的。” 班尼特也不知道怎么做才最好。 “我不想把你一个人留在这儿。 你知道童话里的规律：只要有人一离开公主，公主马上就会遇上可怕的事。” “可怕的事已经发生了。”弗洛里泽拉沉着脸说。 “还有比这更糟的吗？ 你先去把海盗赶走， 然后再回这儿来， 把海蛇也带上。 就算我们找不到信使，它肯定能找到。” 班特点点头，游向岸边，弗洛里泽拉则潜下水，四处游着搜寻。 她一次又一次地潜进水里。

On the clifftop, the Sea Serpent was waiting irritably, as Bennett reappeared, panting and very wet, having swum to the shore and run beside the train track to the top of the cliff. "Where did you go?" the Sea Serpent asked. "One minute you were there, and the next you were gone." "The cannon recoil hit us and sent us over the edge and into the sea," Bennett explained. "But now Courier is missing, and Florizella is hunting for him. As soon as we have sorted out the pirates, you have to come and find him." "I?" said the Sea Serpent. "I find him? I'm not really interested in finding him. Unless it's "finders eaters", of course." "You have to help us," Bennett said earnestly. "We have to find him. And anyway, there's no picnic for anyone until we do." The Sea Serpent sighed, as if Bennett was being very unreasonable. "Well, do you want to warn

悬崖顶上，海蛇正烦躁地等着，这时班尼特出现了，他喘着气，浑身湿透，他先是游到岸边，又沿着铁轨跑到了悬崖顶。 “你刚才去哪儿了？” 海蛇问道。 “前一秒你还在这儿，下一秒就不见人影了。” “大炮的后坐力把我们弹飞了，我们掉下悬崖掉进了海里。”班尼特解释道。 “但是现在信使不见了，弗洛里泽拉正在找他。 等我们搞定海盗，你就得过来帮忙找他。” “我？”海蛇说， “我去找他？ 我对找他可没什么兴趣。 当然了，除非规矩是‘谁找到谁吃’。” “你必须帮我们。”班尼特恳切地说， “我们一定得找到他。 再说了，不找到他，谁都别想有野餐吃。” 海蛇叹了口气，好像班尼特的要求特别不讲理似的。 “好吧，那你是想要去警告

these pirates? The ships are all hove to, and they're all shouting at each other." "They're what?" "Stopped where they are," the Sea Serpent explained. "Oh, all right. Can I signal to them from here?" "Why don't you ride behind my gills? We could go out to them and we would look– I say it myself– spectacular." "I could ride on your neck?" Bennett was still worried for Courier. But this was pretty awesome. In answer, the Sea Serpent bowed its great head and Bennett slung his leg over the great scaly neck and looked down the long noble nose. "You may hold my ears for balance," the Sea Serpent said graciously. Bennett, feeling that this was a little bit too intimate, got a good grip and looked out to sea where he could see the three pirate ships, quite close to the bay, dropping their sails and not sure what to do.

这些海盗吗？ 那些船都停航了，船上的人正互相吼来吼去呢。” “他们怎么了？” “就停在原地不动了。”海蛇解释道。 “哦，行吧。 我能在这儿给他们发信号吗？” “你干嘛不骑在我鳃后面？ 我们一起朝他们过去，我自己都觉得，那场面肯定特别壮观。” “我能骑在你脖子上吗？” 班尼特还在为信使担心， 但这事实在是太酷了。 作为回答，海蛇低下了它巨大的脑袋，班尼特抬腿跨上它那覆满鳞片的粗脖子，低头看着它长长的、气派的鼻子。 “你可以抓着我的耳朵保持平衡。”海蛇大方地说。 班尼特觉得这有点太亲密了，不过还是紧紧抓稳，望向海面，他能看到三艘海盗船离海湾已经很近了，正落下帆，不知道该怎么办。

"Ready?" the Sea Serpent asked. "Get set, go!" Bennett said, like he was starting a wonderful race. "I was going anyway," the Sea Serpent remarked, and it swooshed through the water towards the pirate ship so fast that they left a great bow wave behind them, like a dark blue V. "Hold tight," it said as it reared up high over the first ship and then dived into the sea beside it. Then it came up beside the second ship, jumped over that and into the sea, and the same to the third, so that when it came up and looked back all three pirate ships were held tight in the Sea Serpent's scaly green coils. They couldn't go forwards or backwards, but they could definitely go down. "Now you can tell them," the Sea Serpent said with confidence. "And I think you'll find they won't argue." "Pirates!" Bennett yelled from his wonderful place on the Sea Serpent's high head. "You are under arrest. You are to come with me to the Queasy Quays, where no one sets sail but the

“准备好了？” 海蛇问。 “各就各位，出发！” 班尼特说，就像他正在启动一场超棒的比赛。 “我本来就要走了。”海蛇嘟囔着，嗖地一下穿过水面朝海盗船冲去，速度快得在身后留下一道巨大的艏波，像个深蓝色的V字。“抓稳了。”它说着，猛地在第一艘船上方高高立起，接着扎进船旁边的海里。 然后它在第二艘船旁边浮出水面，跳过船身又扎进海里，对第三艘船也做了同样的事，等它浮起来回头看时，三艘海盗船都被海蛇覆着绿鳞的线圈牢牢缠住了。 它们前进不了，也后退不得，但倒是绝对会往下沉。 “现在你可以跟他们说了。”海蛇信心满满地说， “我觉得你会发现他们不敢顶嘴的。” “海盗们！” 班尼特坐在海蛇高高的头顶上，这个位置太棒了，他大喊道： “你们被捕了。 你们得跟我去晕船码头，那儿除了晕船的人没人能出海，