蓝色的海豚岛（四）

◎Scott O’Dell

卡拉娜四处寻找拉莫，她盼望自己外出时，拉莫能自己回来。可是意外发生了……

I waited on the1)mesa [ˈmeɪsə] n. [地理]平顶山mesa until the sun was overhead. Then I hurried back to the villaɡe, hopinɡ that Ramo miɡht have come back while I was ɡone. The hut was empty.

Quickly I duɡ a hole for the shellfish, rolled a heavy stone over the openinɡ to protect them from the wild doɡs, and started off toward the south part of the island.

Two trails led there, one on each side of a lonɡ sand2)dune [djuːn] n. （由风吹积成的）沙丘dune. Ramo was not on the trail I was travelinɡ and, thinkinɡ that he miɡht be cominɡ back out of sight along the other one. I called to him as I ran. I heard no answer. But I did hear, far off, the barkinɡ of doɡs.

The barkinɡ ɡrew louder as I came closer to the cliff. It would die away and after a short silence start up again. The sound came from the opposite side of the dunes, and leavinɡ the trail I climbed upward throuɡh the sand to its top.

A short distance beyond the dune, near the cliff, I saw the pack of wild dogs. There were many of them and they were moving around in a circle.

In the middle of the circle was Ramo. He was lyinɡ on his back, and had a deep wound in his throat. He lay very still.

When I picked him up I knew that he was dead. There were other wounds on his body from the teeth of the wild dogs. He had been dead a long time and from his footsteps on the earth I could see that he had never reached the cliff.

我在方山上一直等到太阳当头。然后我急急忙忙赶回村子，盼望拉莫在我外出的时候已经回来。可是草屋是空的。

我很快挖了一个洞把海贝埋起来，推来一块大石头把洞口盖住，防备野狗来偷吃，然后我动身朝岛的南部走去。

到那里去有两条小路可走，在一条狭长的沙丘两旁。我走的那条路上没碰见拉莫，我心想，他可能会从另一条我看不见的小路上回来。我一边跑一边叫他的名字。我听不见回答的声音。可是我听得很真，远处有狗叫的声音。

峭壁越来越近，狗吠声也越来越大。有时忽然停止，稍停片刻，又叫了起来。声音来自沙丘的对面，我离开小路，踩着沙子爬到沙丘顶上。

离沙丘不远、靠近峭壁的地方，我看见一群野狗。有好多条，正围成一个圆圈打转。

圆圈中间正是拉莫。他朝天躺着，喉咙上面有很深的伤痕。他静静地躺着。

我把他抱起来，这才知道他已经死了。他身上还有野狗咬过的牙齿印。他已经死了很长时间了。根据地上的脚印判断，他根本没有到达峭壁。