书城童书义犬阿黄
3938300000025

第25章

I got my hands away only just in time,andshouted“Ye lle r!”at him. Then he knew I wasn’t abuzzard. The mad light went out of his eyes,and heput his head down quietly,as if,at last ,he’d had aload taken off his mind.

幸好我及时把手缩回来,对它吆喝道:“阿黄!”这样,它就知道我不是帝鸟肩鸟,眼睛里那种狂野的光芒消失了,它悄悄地低下头,好象终于卸下了心头沉重的负担。

Mama helped me to drag the tree roots away.

Then we reached in and rolled his hurt body overon its back and brought him out into the light.

妈妈帮我把树根拖走,然后我们将手伸进洞去,把它那受伤的身体背着地翻过来,再把它弄到外面亮处。

Mama didn’t bother to look at the bloodcaked

妈妈看也不看它布满头部和肩

cuts all over his head and shoulders. She startedstraight away to undo the strips of shirt from roundhis body.

上的那些已经凝成血块的伤口,而是立即动手把绑在它身上的那些衬衣布条解开。

Then Little Arliss came pushing past me,askingin a frightened voice what was wrong with OldYeller.

这时,小阿里斯推开我走了过来,吃惊地问我们阿黄出了什么事。

Mama stopped.“Arlis s ,”she said,“do you thinkyou c ould go down the rive r - be d a nd find Ma ma apre tty gre e n liza rd ? I tho ught I s aw one down the reround the firs t be nd .”

妈妈停下手来,说:“阿里斯,你看你能不能到河床那边给妈妈捉一只漂亮的绿蜥蜴来? 记得我在第一道河弯那儿看到过一只。”

Little Arliss was as pleased as I was surprised.

Always before,Mama had just sort of put up withthe lizards he caught. Now she was wanting him tocatch one just for her. A happy smile came over hisface. He turned and ran down the river - bed ashard as he could go.

小阿里斯的高兴劲儿不亚于我的惊诧。过去,妈妈对他抓来的蜥蜴一直是有点无可奈何,而现在却要他去为她自己捉蜥蜴了。他的脸上露出了幸福的微笑。他转过身竭尽全力向河床跑去。

Mama smiled up at me,and then I knew whatshe was doing. She was just getting Little Arliss outof the way so that he wouldn’t have to look at theterrible sight of Yeller’s torn belly.

妈妈抬头朝我笑笑,我这才明白她的意思。她只是想把小阿里斯支开,这样他就看不到阿黄那可怕的裂了口的肚子了。

She said to me,“Go a nd ge t a long h a ir out ofJ umpe r’s ta il,s on. But s ta n d to one s ide so tha t hedoe s n’t kic k you.”

妈 妈对我说:“孩子,到‘ 跳高能手’的尾巴上去拔一根长长的毛下来。但是要站在它旁边,这样它就踢不到你了。”

I went and stood to one side of Jumper andpulled a long hair out of his tail. Sure enough,hekicked at me,but he missed. I took the hair back to

我 走过去站在“跳高能手”的一边,从它的尾巴上拔下一根长长的毛。不出所料,它果然朝我踢来,

Mama,wondering as much about it as I had aboutthe green lizard. But when Mama pulled a sewingneedle from the front of her dress and pushed thesmall end of the tail hair through it,I knew then.

但是没有踢着,我拿了这根毛回到妈妈身边,感到迷惑不解,就象我那时不理解绿蜥蜴一样。但是,当妈妈从胸前衣襟上拉下一枚缝衣针并把那根尾毛细小的一头穿过针眼时,我才一切都明白了。

Mama asked me if any of Yeller’s insides hadbeen cut and I told her I didn’t think so.

妈妈问我阿黄的肠子有没有受伤,我回答说估计没有受伤。

“We ll,I won’t bothe r them the n,”she said.“Anyway,if the y a re ,I don”t think the re”s a n ything Ic ould do .”

“好吧,那么我就不去管它们了,”她说。“即使肠子有伤,看来我也无能为力了。”

It was a long,slow job,sewing up Old Yeller’sbelly. It must have hurt an awful lot when Mamapushed and pulled the needle through. But if itdid,Old Yeller didn”t say anything about it. Hejust lay there and licked my hands while I heldhim.

缝补阿黄的肚子是一桩长久和缓慢的活儿。当妈妈把针插进去拔出来时,阿黄一定感到痛苦异常。

但是即使如此,它也没有哼一声。

我抱着它,它躺在那儿,还不时地舔舔我的手。

We were wrapping him up in some clean ragsMama had brought with her when back came LittleArliss. He was running as hard as he’d run whenhe left. He was shouting happily at Mama. And inhis right hand he was carrying a green lizard.

正当我们用妈妈带来的干净布条把它包扎好的时候,小阿里斯回来了。他跑得和离开时一样地起劲。他兴高采烈地喊着妈妈,他的右手捏着一只绿色的蜥蜴。

How on earth he’d been able to catch anythingwhich ran as fast as those green lizards,I don”tknow. But he had one.

他究竟怎么能抓住跑得象绿蜥蜴那样快的东西,我不得而知。但是,他确实抓到了一只。

He had a really pleased look on his face whenhe handed Mama the lizard. The look on Mama’s

当他把蜥蜴交给妈妈的时候,脸上露出十分得意的神色。而妈妈

face as she took it was sort of helpless. She’d neverliked lizard and snakes and beetles and things,andyou could tell it was making her skin crawl to haveto touch that one. But she took it ,and said it waspretty,and thanked Arliss. Then she asked him ifhe’d keep it for her till we got home. Which LittleArliss was glad to do.

在接那玩意儿时,样子倒是有点尴尬。她从来不喜欢蜥蜴啊,蛇啊,硬壳虫啊之类的东西,可以看得出,她是硬着头皮去接这只蜥蜴的,这使她浑身泛起了鸡皮疙瘩。但是她还是拿了,说它挺漂亮,并且还谢谢阿里斯呢。接着,她又问他能否在回家以前为他保管这只蜥蜴,小阿里斯高高兴兴地答应了。

“Now,Arlis s ,”she told him,“we”re going topla y a game.We”re going to pre te nd tha t Old Ye lle ris s ick,a nd you’re going to look a fte r him. We”re goingto le t you both ride on a cowhide ,like the India nsdo some time s whe n the y’re s ick.”

“阿里斯,”她对他说,“让我们来做个游戏: 假装阿黄病了,由你来照料它。我们让你和它一起骑坐在那张牛皮上,就象有时候印第安人生病时所做的那样。”

It always pleased Little Arliss to play any sortof game,and this was a new one that he’d neverheard of before. He couldn’t wait to start and keptgetting in the way while we got things ready.

任何游戏都使小阿里斯感到高兴,何况这个游戏又是他以前从未听说过的新花样。他迫不及待地要开始,因此,在我们做回去的准备时,他老是碍手碍脚。

As soon as Mama took the cowhide off Jumper’sback and placed it hair - side down on theground,I began to see what we were going to do.

She put the soft pillows on top of the hide,thenhelped me to lift Old Yeller’s hurt body on to thepillows.

当 妈妈把牛皮从“跳高能手”

的背上拿下来,把它毛朝下地放在地上时,我就明白我们要干什么了。

她把软绵绵的枕头放在牛皮上面,然后帮我把阿黄受伤的身体抬起来放到枕头上去。

“Now,Arlis s ,”Mama said,“you s it the re on thepillows with Old Ye lle r a nd he lp hold him on.But re -membe r now,don”t pla y with him a nd d on’t ge t on

“好了,阿里斯,”妈妈说,“你和阿黄一起坐在枕头上,帮着把它抱住。但是,得记住,不要跟它玩,