兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第七冊 Afternoon on the Amazon 09

9 Master of the Animals

The sabertooth crept forward.

Jack stared in horror.

“Play the flute，”whispered Annie.

Is she nuts?Jack thought.

“Try!”said Annie.

Jack held the mammoth-bone flute to his lips.He blew.

The flute made a strange sound.

The tiger froze.He glared at Jack.

Jack’s hands shook.

The tiger growled.He took another step.

The mammoth roared and stomped the ground.

“Play it!”said Annie.“Keep playing!”

Jack blew again.

The sabertooth froze again.

Jack kept blowing until he ran out of breath.

The tiger snarled.

“He’s still here，”whispered Annie.“Keep it up.”

Jack closed his eyes.He took a deep breath.Then he blew as hard and as long as he could.He covered and uncovered the holes on the bone.

The music sounded strange—as if it were coming from another world.

“He’s leaving!”Annie whispered.

Jack raised his eyes.The sabertooth was slinking off toward the cliffs.

“We did it!”said Annie.

Jack lowered the flute.He felt very tired.

The mammoth waved her trunk happily.

“To the tree house，Lulu，”said Annie.

The woolly mammoth snorted.Then she lumbered over to the tallest tree.

From the back of the mammoth，Jack grabbed the rope ladder.He held it for Annie.

She stroked the mammoth’s giant ear.“Bye，Lulu.Thank you，”she said.

Annie grabbed the rope ladder.Then she started up.Peanut climbed up，too.

After they disappeared into the tree house，Jack climbed onto the ladder.

He looked back at the woolly mammoth.“Bye，girl，”he said.“Go home now.And watch out for the sabertooth.”

The mammoth walked away into the sunset.

When Jack couldn’t see her anymore，he started up the rope ladder.He pulled himself into the tree house.

“Ta-da!”said Annie.She handed the Pennsylvania book to Jack.

Jack smiled.Now he was positive they had found the third M thing.Their mission was complete.

“Before we leave，we have to give our coats back，”said Annie.

“Oh right，”said Jack.

They took off their reindeer-skin coats and dropped them to the ground.

“Brrr!”said Annie.“I hope the Cro-Magnon people find them.”

Jack stared out the window.He wanted to take one last look at the prehistoric world.

The sun was setting behind the hills.Four people were crossing the snowy plain.It was the Cro-Magnon family.

“Hey!”shouted Annie.

“Shhh!”said Jack.

The Cro-Magnons stopped and peered in Annie and Jack’s direction.

“We left your reindeer skins!”Down there!“Annie pointed to the ground.

The tallest person stepped forward and raised a spear.

“Time to go，”said Jack.

He grabbed the Pennsylvania book.He found the picture of Frog Creek and pointed at it.“I wish we could go home，”he said.

“Good-bye!Good luck!”Annie called，waving out the window.

The wind started to blow.And the tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

9動物之主

劍齒虎緩緩靠近。

杰克恐懼地凝視著。

“快吹笛子。”安妮低聲說。

她是大傻帽?杰克想。

“試一試!”安妮說。

杰克把猛犸骨笛放在嘴唇上。他吹了起來。

笛子發(fā)出一種奇特的聲音。

劍齒虎呆了。它盯住杰克。

杰克雙手顫抖起來。

劍齒虎大叫一聲，又向前進了一步。

猛犸吼叫起來，跺著地面。

“吹笛子!”安妮說，“不停地吹!”

杰克又吹了起來。

劍齒虎又一次呆住了。

杰克不停地吹呀吹呀，吹得上氣不接下氣。

劍齒虎咆哮著。

“它還在這兒。”安妮低聲說，“接著吹。”

杰克閉住雙眼，深深地吸了一口氣。然后他拿出吃奶的勁兒，拼命地吹，不停地吹。他在骨笛的洞上不停地按上、松開。

音樂聲聽起來十分奇特——像是從另一個世界傳來的。

“它要離開了!”安妮低聲說。

杰克抬了抬眼睛。劍齒虎正悄悄地溜向懸崖那邊。

“我們成功了!”安妮說。

杰克放下笛子。他感到非常疲倦。

猛犸高興地揮舞著它的鼻子。

“向著樹屋前進，露露。”安妮說。

長毛猛犸鼻子里噴了噴氣。然后它隆隆地向最高的那棵樹走去。

杰克從猛犸的背上抓住了繩梯。他幫安妮掌穩(wěn)繩梯。

安妮撫摸著猛犸的大耳朵。“再見了，露露。謝謝你。”她說。

安妮抓住繩梯，接著開始向上爬?；ㄉ才懒松先?。

她們鉆進了樹屋之后，杰克也登上了繩梯。

他回頭看了一眼長毛猛犸。“再見了，小姑娘。”他說，“現(xiàn)在回家去吧。當心劍齒虎呀!”

猛犸離開了，漸漸消失在夕陽的余輝之中。

當猛犸的身影完全消失的時候，杰克這才順著繩梯往上爬，鉆進樹屋里。

“嗒——噠!”安妮說。她把賓夕法尼亞那本書遞給杰克。

杰克笑了笑。此刻他確信他們已經(jīng)找到了第三樣帶M的東西。他們這次的任務(wù)完成了。

“我們離開之前，要把外套還回去。”安妮說。

“啊，你說得對。”杰克說。

他們脫下馴鹿皮外套，把它們?nèi)拥降孛嫔稀?/p>

“好冷呀!”安妮說，“我希望克羅馬農(nóng)人能發(fā)現(xiàn)它們。”

杰克凝視著窗外。他想把這史前的世界再看上最后一眼。

太陽正在落山。有四個人正在橫越雪原。這是克羅馬農(nóng)人的那一家子。

“嗨!”安妮大喊大叫著。

“噓!”杰克制止著。

克羅馬農(nóng)人停了下來，凝視著安妮和杰克的這個方向。

“我們把你們的馴鹿皮留下來了!就在那下面!”安妮指了指地面。

最高的那人走上前，舉起了矛。

“是走的時候了。”杰克說。

他抓起賓夕法尼亞那本書。他找到蛙溪鎮(zhèn)那幅畫，并指著它。“我希望我們能回家。”他說。

“再見了!祝你們好運!”安妮說著，朝窗外揮了揮手。

風吹了起來。

樹屋開始打轉(zhuǎn)。

轉(zhuǎn)得越來越快。

然后一切都平靜了。

絕對的平靜。