top of him. We”re pre te nding tha t he”s s ick，a ndwhe n yo ur dog is s ic k you ha ve to be ve ry ca re fulwith him.”
不要坐到它的身上去。我们假装它病了。当你的狗生了病，你得对他格外地当心。”
It was a great game，and Little Arliss fell inwith it. He sat where Mama told him to. He heldOld Yeller’s head in his lap，waiting for the ride tostart.
这游戏十分有趣，小阿里斯十分乐意做这个游戏。他坐在妈妈指定他坐的地方，把阿黄的头放在他的膝上，等待着出发。
It didn’t take cong. I’d already but I rope roundJumper’s neck. leaving the loop big so that itwould pull back against his shoulders. Then，oneach side of Jumper，we tied another rope on to theone round his shoulders. and carried the ends ofthem back to the cowhide. I made two cuts with myknife at the edge of the cowhide and then tied arope into each one. We made sure that both ropeswere the same length and that they were long enough.
We didn’t want the cowhide to touch Jumper’sheels. Like most mules，Jumper didn”t likeanything touching his heels.
我不能再忍受，我已经准备好把绳子套到“跳高能手”的脖子上。
绳子的圈打得松松的，这样就能把绳子往后拉到它的肩膀上。然后在“跳高能手”的两边又系上一根绳子，把它结在套着骡子肩膀的那根绳子；再将绳子的两头往后拉到那张牛皮那儿。我用刀在牛皮的边上戳了两个洞眼，然后把两根绳子分别穿在这两个洞眼里结牢。我们比量了一下，使两根绳子一样长，而且长度也够了。我们不想让牛皮碰撞“跳高能手”的后脚跟。象大多数的骡子一样，“跳高能手”也是不愿意有东西碰它的脚的。
“Now，Tra vis ，”Mama said，“you ride him，a ndI’ll le a d him.”
“现在，特拉维斯，”妈妈说，“你骑上去，我来牵它。”
“You”d be tte r le t me wa lk，”I said.“Jumpe rma y throw a fit with tha t hide bumping a lon g be hind，a nd you might not be a ble to hold him by yours e lf.”
“还是让我自己走吧，”我说，“‘ 跳高能手’可能因为那张牛皮在后面碰碰撞撞而大发脾气，你一个人可能管不住它。”
“You ride him，”Mama said.“I don”t wa nt youwa lking on tha t le g a ny more.If Jumpe r pla ys up jus tonc e ，I’ll ta ke a c lub to him.”
“你骑上去，”妈妈说：“我再也不许你用那条腿走路了。如果‘ 跳高能手’有一点儿不老实，我就用棍子来对付它。”
We started off，with Little Arliss pleased as anythingwith the fine ride he was getting on a dragginghide. Sure enough，at the first sound of thehide，Jumper jumped. But Mama pulled down onhis rope and I hit him between the ears with a deadstick. With the two of us coming at him like that，Jumper felt it was more than he wanted. He beganto go quietly，but now and then bending his neckround to have a look at what he was dragging. Youcould tell he didn”t like it，but I suppose hethought he’d better put up with it.
我们出发了。小阿里斯坐在那张拖曳着的牛皮上，对他那样的骑法非常得意。果然，一听到那张牛皮的响声，“跳高能手”就蹦了起来。但是妈妈抽了一下缰绳，而我则用一根枯枝朝它当头一棒。我俩这样地整治它，使它感到这决不是它所能受得了的。它开始安安稳稳地走着，不过仍不时地扭过脖子来看一看它拖的是什么。可以看得出，它并不喜欢这东西，但是我猜想，它考虑下来觉得还是忍耐一下为妙。
Littie Ariissnever had a finer time than he didon that ride home. He enjoyed every long hour ofit. And part of the time I think it wasn’t too roughon Old Yeller. It was quite gentle and even as longas we stayed in the dry riverbed. Even when we leftthe sand and started across the open ground itwasn’t too bad. Mama led Jumper a long，roundaboutway，keeping as much as she could to theplaces where tall grass grew. The grass would benddown under the hide，making a soft cushion overwhich it slipped easily. But this was rough country，
乘坐那玩意儿回家是小阿里斯最为高兴不过的。每一个漫长的钟点都令他兴高采烈。同时，我觉得，有一段时间对阿黄来说也并不太艰苦。我们在干涸的河床上行进时，道路一直是相当平坦，甚至在我们离开沙地开始穿过旷野时，道路也并不怎么坏。妈妈牵着“跳高能手”弯弯曲曲绕道而走，尽可能走在草丛很深的地方。草在牛皮下面倒伏下去，形成一种柔软的坐垫，牛皮在这坐垫上不费劲地滑动着。但是
and however hard she tried not to，Mama sometimeshad togo over rocky places. The hide went over therocks，in the same way as over the grass and sand，but it couldn”t do it without bumping the ridersquite a lot.
这儿是崎岖的山村，尽管妈妈绕道而行，有时她也难免要走在那七高八低的岩石路上。那张牛皮虽仍象在过草地、沙地时那样地拖着，但坐在上面的人却上下颠簸得十分厉害。
Little Arliss would laugh when the hidebumped him along over the rocks until his teethrattled.He got as much fun out of that as the rest ofthe ride But the bumping hurt Old Yeller so muchthat sometimes be couldn’t hold in his whimpers.
在岩石路上，当牛皮的颠簸把小阿里斯的牙齿震得格格作响时，他哈哈大笑起来。象其余的行程一样，这样的颠簸使他兴高采烈。但是，这却使阿黄痛苦不堪，有时它忍不住呜咽起来。
When Yeller’s whimpers told us how much hewas hurting，we’d have to stop and wait for him torest. At other times，we stopped to give him water.
Once we got water from a little spring in the rocks，and next time it was at Birdsong Creek.
每当阿黄发出的呜咽声告诉我们它有多痛苦的时候，我们就不得不停下来等它缓口气。有时候我们还停下来给它喝点水。一次我们从岩石缝里的一条小山泉里取水给它喝，另一次则是从鸟鸣河里取水。
Mama’d bring him water in my hat. He wastoo weak to get up and drink，so Mama would holdthe water right under his nose and I’d lift him upfrom the pillows and hold him so close that hecould reach down and lap the water with histongue.
妈妈用我的帽子盛水给它喝。
它虚弱得无法爬起来喝水，因此妈妈就把水放在它的鼻子底下，我把它从枕头上扶起来使它尽可能地靠近帽子。这样它就能够伸出舌头去舐水了。
Going so far，so slowly，and with so manystops，I thought we were never going to get home.
But we were home in the end just about as it gotdark enough for the stars to show.
路途是那么远，走得又是那么慢，而且还得常常停下来。于是，我感到我们永远也到不了家了。不过，我们终于到家了，这已经差不多是夜幕降临，群星闪烁的时候。
By then，my hurt leg was very stiff. I couldn’treally feel it. It was like a lump of wood. When Islid down from Jumper’s back，it wouldn”t holdme. I fell to the ground and lay there too tired andhurt to get up.
这时我那条受伤的腿已经僵硬。
简直没有什么感觉了，象一块木头一样。当我以“跳高能手”背上下来时，我的腿已经支撑不住了，我跌倒在地，又累又痛，站也站不起来。
Mama made a great fuss about how weak andhurt I was，but I didn’t mind. We’d got Old Yellerhome，and he was still alive. There，in the light ofthe stars，I could see him licking Little Arliss’sface.
妈妈大惊小怪地说我是怎么怎么的虚弱，又是怎么怎么的疼痛，但我对这些都不在乎。我们已经把阿黄带回了家，而且它还活着。借着星光，我可以看见它正舐着小阿里斯的脸蛋。
Little Arliss was sound asleep.
小阿里斯睡得十分香甜。