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第二部 第五章 第二次冒险

所属教程:译林版·彩虹鸽

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2022年06月13日

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PART TWO Chapter Five Second Adventure

The next time we were taken to the front was after the Rasseldar recovered from his slight wounds. On this occasion he took both Hira and me. I knew at once that the message we were to carry was so important that two had to be trusted with it so that at least one might succeed. It was very cold. I felt as if I were living in a kingdom of ice. It rained all the time. The ground was so foul that every time you stepped on it your feet got caught in mud like quicksand, and your feet felt so cold, as if you had stepped on a corpse.

Now we reached a strange place. It was not a trench, but a small village. Around it beat and burst the tides of burning destruction. It was, by the look on the men's faces, a very sacred and important place, for they did not want to give it up, though the red tongues of death licked almost every roof, wall and tree of this place. I was very glad to be in an open space. One could see the grey sky low, oh, so very low. And one could see the frost-whited patches of ground where no shell had yet fallen. Even there, in that very heart of pounding and shooting, where houses fell as birds' nests in tempests, rats ran from hole to hole, mice stole cheese, and spiders spun webs to catch flies. They went on with the business of their lives as if the slaughtering of men by their brothers were as negligible as the clouds that covered the sky. After a while the booming stopped. And it looked as if the village—that is, what was left of it—were safe from attack. It grew darker and darker. The sky lowered so far that I could put my beak into it. The dank cold seized every feather of my body and began to pull it out, as it were. I found it utterly impossible to sit still in our cage. Hira and I hugged each other tight in order to keep warm.

Again firing broke out. This time from every direction. Our little village was an island surrounded by the enemy. Apparently under cover of the fog that had enwrapped everything, the enemy had cut off our connection from the rear. Then they started shooting the sky-rockets. It was dark and clammy like a Himalayan night, though it was hardly past noon. I wondered how men knew it was anything but night. Men, after all, know less than birds. Hira and I were released to carry our respective messages. We flew up, but not very far, for in a short time we were devoured by a thick fog. Our eyes could see nothing. A cold clammy film pressed itself on them, but I had anticipated something like this. I did what I would do under such circumstances, whether on a field of battle or in India. I flew upwards. It seemed as if I could go no farther than a foot at a time. My wings were wet. My breathing was caught in a long process of sneezing. I thought I should drop dead in an instant. Thank the Gods of the pigeons I could see for a few yards now! So I flew higher. Now my eyes began to smart. Suddenly I realized I must draw down my film—my second eyelids that I use in flying through a dust-storm—if I were to save myself from blindness, for we were not in a fog—it was an evil-smelling, eye-destroying smoke let out by men. My eyes pained as if somebody had stuck pins into them. My films now covered my eyes, and, holding my breath, I struggled upwards. Hira, who was accompanying me, rose too. He was choking to death with that gas. But he was not going to give up his flight. At last we rose clear of the sheet of poison smoke. The air was pure here, and as I removed the film from my eyes I saw, far away against the grey sky, our line. We flew towards it.

Hardly had we flown half-way homeward when a terrible eagle with black crosses all over it flew nearer and spat fire at us—puck puff, puck puff, pop pa.…We ducked and did the best we could. We flew back to its rear. There the machine could not hit us. Imagine us flying over the tail of that machine-eagle. It could do nothing. It began to circle. So did we. It turned somersaults. So did we. It could do nothing without wriggling its tail; unlike that of a real eagle, its tail was as stiff as a dead fish. We knew that if we once came in front of it again, we would be killed instantaneously. Time was passing. I realized that we could not go on staying over the tail of that machine-eagle forever. The village covered with poison gas that we had left behind held the Rasseldar and our friends. We must get our message through for their safety and succour.

Just then the machine-eagle played a trick. It flew back towards its home. We did not wish to go into the enemy's line flying over its tail in order to be sniped by sharpshooters. Now that we were half-way to our own home and in sight of our line, we gave up being careful; we turned away from the machine-eagle and flew at our highest speed, rising higher every few wing-beats. No sooner had we done that than the miserable beast turned and followed. Fortunately, it took him a little time. There was no doubt now that we were flying over our own lines. Just the same that plane rose to our level and kept on pouring fire on us—puff puff pop pa! Now we were forced to duck and dive. I made Hira fly under me. That protected him. So we flew, but fate is fate. From nowhere came an eagle and fired at the enemy. We felt so safe now that Hira and I flew abreast of each other. Just then a bullet buzzed by me and broke his wings. Poor wounded Hira! He circled and fell through the air like a silver leaf, fortunately in our line. Seeing that he was dead, I flew at lightning speed; never turning back to see the duel of the two eagles. When I got home I was taken to the Commander-in-Chief. He patted my back. Then, for the first time, I realized what an important message I had brought, for as soon as the old man had read the piece of paper he touched some queer ticking things, and he lifted a piece of horn and growled into it. Now Ghond took me to my nest. There, as I perched, thinking of Hira, I felt the very earth shake under me. Machine-eagles flew in the air as thick as locusts. They howled, whirred and barked. Below, from the ground, boomed and groaned innumerable metal dogs. Then came the deep-toned howl of the big spitfires like a whole forest of tigers gone mad. Ghond patted my head and said, 'You have saved the day.' But there was no day in sight. It was a darkening grey sky under which death coiled and screamed like a dragon, and crushed all in its grip. How bad it was you may gauge from this: when I flew near our base for exercise next morning I found that hardly a mile from my nest the ground was ploughed up by shells. And even rats and field-mice did not manage to escape: dozens of them had been slaughtered and cut to pieces. Oh! It was terrible. I felt so melancholy. Now that Hira was dead I was alone, and so weary!"

第二部 第五章 第二次冒险

“罗塞尔达轻伤痊愈之后,我们又被带到了前线。这一次,他带上了我和希拉。我马上明白我们要送的情报肯定至关重要,必须得托付给两只鸽子,以便至少有一只能成功。

“天气非常寒冷,我感觉就像生活在冰天雪地一样。雨一直下着,地面泥泞不堪,每次踩上去,就会陷入像流沙似的烂泥里,双脚冰冷,仿佛踩在了一具尸体上面。

“我们来到了一个陌生的地方,那不是战壕,而是一个小村子。村子周围是射击和爆炸产生的毁灭性的滚滚热浪。从人们脸上的表情可以看出来,这是一个重要的十分神圣的地方,因为尽管死亡的火舌几乎舔舐着这个地方的每个房顶、每堵墙和每棵树,但他们却不想放弃。我非常高兴能待在一片空地上,可以看到灰色天空低垂着,噢,垂得非常非常低。人们可以看到还没有炮弹落下的地方白霜斑驳的地面。即使在那里,在那个炮火密集的中心,房屋像暴风雨中的鸟巢一样纷纷倒塌,田鼠从这个洞窜向那个洞,家鼠偷吃奶酪,蜘蛛织网捕蝇,继续经营自己的生活,好像人类之间的屠杀就像覆盖天空的云彩一样微不足道。

“过了一会儿,轰炸声停止了,看上去村子——也就是留下的残垣断壁——不会再遭到袭击。天越来越暗,天空低得我可以把嘴伸进里面,湿冷攫住了我身体上的每一根羽毛,可以说就像开始拔我的毛一般。我发现我们在笼子里完全安坐不了了。我和希拉相互紧贴在一起,以便取暖。

“又一轮炮火突然开始了,这次来自四面八方,我们的小村成了一座被敌人团团包围的孤岛。显然,在包围一切的浓雾掩护下,敌人已经切断了我们跟后方的联系。随后,他们开始发射冲天火箭。尽管刚过正午,但天就像喜马拉雅的夜晚一样黑暗湿冷。我纳闷人们是怎么知道这根本不是夜晚的,毕竟,人类没有鸟类知道得多。

“我和希拉被放开了,带上了各自的情报,飞了起来,但没有飞多远,因为我们在很短的时间内就被一片浓雾吞没了,眼睛什么也看不见。一层寒冷黏湿的薄雾逼向我们,但我已经预料到了这种情况。无论是在战场上还是在印度,这种情况下我都会竭尽全力。我向上飞去,好像每一次都飞不到一英尺远,我的翅膀湿漉漉的。我长时间打喷嚏,呼吸困难,我想我会立刻倒地身亡。感谢鸽神,我现在可以看到几英尺远了!于是,我飞得更高。此刻,我的眼睛开始刺痛。突然,我意识到,我要是不想让自己失明的话,就必须拉下薄膜——我在飞过沙尘暴时使用的第二层眼睑,因为我们不是在浓雾里——这是人类释放的一种难闻且毁眼的烟雾。我的眼睛生疼,就像有人用大头针扎似的。薄膜此刻盖住了我的眼睛,我屏住呼吸,奋力向上飞,陪伴着我的希拉也向上飞。他快要被这种气体闷死了,可是,他不会放弃飞行。最后,我们终于飞离了那片毒雾,这里的空气纯净。当我收起眼上的第二层眼睑的时候,我看到我们的队伍在遥远的灰色天际。于是,我们向队伍飞去。

“我们朝家的方向刚飞到一半,突然一只浑身带着黑色十字架的可怕铁鹰越飞越近,冲我们喷火——啪噗,啪噗,噗啪……我们俯冲闪避,尽我们所能飞到了铁鹰后面。在那里,铁鹰打不中我们。想象一下我们在铁鹰屁股上方飞行的情景。它无可奈何,开始兜圈,我们也兜圈。它翻起了筋斗,我们也翻起了筋斗。铁鹰摆动不了尾巴,什么也做不了,跟真鹰的尾巴不一样,铁鹰的尾巴像死鱼一样僵硬。我们知道,要是我们再次出现在它前面,我们就会立即被射死。

“时间在流逝,我意识到,我们不能一直继续留在这铁鹰尾巴后方。我们撇在身后毒气弥漫的村子困住了罗塞尔达和我们的朋友们。我们必须把情报送出去,以便营救他们到达安全地带。

“正在这时,那只铁鹰玩了个花招,掉头飞回自己的营地。我们不希望尾随它飞进敌人的阵地,被神枪手狙击。我们正在飞往自己家的途中,看到了阵地,不再小心翼翼;我们避开铁鹰,以最快的速度飞行,每拍几下翅膀,就飞得更高。我们一这样做,那个卑鄙的畜生就掉头跟来。幸运的是,这花费了它一点时间。现在毫无疑问我们正飞行在自己的阵地上空。同样,铁鹰升到了跟我们水平的高度,继续向我们喷火——噗,噗,乓,啪!此刻,我们不得不闪避俯冲。我让希拉飞在我的下方,这样可以保护他。我们就这样飞着,但命运就是命运,不知从哪里飞来一只铁鹰,向敌人开火。我们现在感觉平安无事了,我和希拉彼此并肩飞行。就在这时,一颗子弹嗖地跟我擦身而过,打断了希拉的两只翅膀。可怜又受伤的希拉!他盘旋着,像一片银叶一样落下,幸好落在了我们的阵地上。看到希拉死去,我以闪电般的速度飞行,再也没有回头去看那两只铁鹰的决斗。

“回到家后,我被带到了司令官那里,他轻轻地拍了拍我的背。随后,我第一次意识到我送的是多么重要的情报,因为那位老人一看完那张纸就触摸了一下嘀嗒作响的怪东西。他拿起了一只喇叭,对着喇叭吼叫。如今,刚德把我带到了我的窝巢。到了那里,当我栖息在那里想着希拉的时候,我感觉下面的土地颤抖起来。铁鹰密如蝗虫般飞在空中,咆哮、轰鸣和尖叫,下面的地上数不清的铁狗轰隆作响。接着,传来了这些喷出巨大火团的铁狗发出的低沉怒号,就像整个森林里的老虎发了疯一般。刚德拍了拍我的脑袋,说:‘你挽救了大局。’不过,你看到的绝不是白天,那是一片阴沉的灰色天空,它的下面死亡像龙一样盘绕、尖叫,用魔爪压碎了所有的一切。你可以猜到这是多么糟糕:第二天早晨,当我在我们的基地附近练习飞行的时候,我发现距离我的巢穴几乎不到一英里的地方,地面都被炮弹犁成了沟,就连家鼠和田鼠也都没有逃脱,其中几十只都被屠杀,炸成了碎片。噢!这非常可怕。我郁郁寡欢。希拉死了,我孤孤单单,厌烦极了!”

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