She stepped back again, caught her ankle against the root of a tree and fell over backwards.

第一只松鼠立马跳起来蹦倒她身上，它沿着她的肚子往上窜，眼里闪烁着冷酷的决心，拳头里捏着一块湿漉漉的破布。

Instantly the first squirrel darted forward and was on top of her, advancing along her stomach with cold purpose in its eyes, and a piece of wet rag in its fist.

兰登试着往上蹦，却只蹦起来大约一寸高。松鼠被她吓了一跳，反过来又把她吓了一跳。它愣住了，小爪子透过兰登湿透的衬衣抓住她的皮肤，然后它慢慢地，一寸一寸地往上爬；它停下来，把破布递给她。

Random tried to jump up, but only managed to jump about an inch. The startled movement of the squirrel on her stomach startled her in return. The squirrel froze, gripping her skin through her soaking shirt with its tiny claws. Then slowly, inch by inch, it made its way up her, stopped, and proffered her the rag.

眼前的一切如此诡异，兰登几乎让这东西和它亮晶晶的小眼睛催眠了。它又把破布递给她。它不断把布往她这边送，不肯罢休地吱吱叫着，最后兰登尽管紧张的要命，也只好犹犹豫豫地把破布接过来。它继续专注地望着她的脸，眼珠子不停地打转。她完全不知道该怎么办才好。她脸上流着雨水和泥巴，肚皮上还坐着只松鼠。她用那块破布擦了擦眼睛上的泥。

She felt almost hypnotised by the strangeness of the thing and its tiny glinting eyes. It proffered her the rag again. It pushed it at her repeatedly, screeching insistently, till at last, nervously, hesitantly, she took the thing from it. It continued to watch her intently, its eyes darting all over her face. She had no idea what to do. Rain and mud were streaming down her face and she had a squirrel sitting on her. She wiped some mud out of her eyes with the rag.

松鼠志得意满地尖叫了一声，一把抓过破布，从她身上跳下去，蹦蹦跳跳地跑进了漆黑的夜色里。它跳上一棵树，钻进树干上的一个洞，舒舒服服地坐下来点了支香烟。

The squirrel shrieked triumphantly, grabbed the rag back, leapt off her, ran scampering into the dark, enclosing night, darted up into a tree, dived into a hole in the trunk, settled back and lit a cigarette.

与此同时，兰登正视图避开拿着纸片和橡子杯地那两只松鼠。她坐在地上往后蹭。

Meanwhile Random was trying to fend off the squirrel with the acorn cup full of rain and the one with the paper. She shuffled backwards on her bottom.

“不！”她喊道，“走开！”

‘No!’ she shouted. ‘Go away!’

它们被吓得往后一跃，然后又拿着自己的礼物冲过来，丝毫不见气馁。她朝它们挥动自己的石块。“滚！”她吼道。

They darted back, in fright, and then darted right forward again with their gifts. She brandished her rock at them. ‘Go!’ she yelled.

松鼠们惊慌失措地原地打转。接着其中一只朝她猛扑过来，把橡子杯丢在她大腿上，转身跑进了黑夜。另一只站着抖了一会，然后把自己的纸片平平展展地放在她面前，也消失了。

The squirrels scampered round in consternation. Then one darted straight at her, dropped the acorn cup in her lap, turned and ran off into the night. The other stood quivering for a moment, then put its scrap of paper neatly down in front of her and disappeared as well.

现在剩下兰登一个人，只不过这次还要加上些惊魂未定的哆嗦。她摇摇晃晃地站起来，捡起自己的石头和包裹，然后迟疑片刻，把纸片也捡了起来，它已经被雨水浸透，而且残缺不全，很难说原来究竟是什么东西，不过看起来倒挺像是飞船上某本杂志的碎片。

She was alone again, but trembling with confusion. She got unsteadily to her feet, picked up her rock and her parcel, then paused and picked up the scrap of paper as well. It was so soggy and dilapidated it was hard to make out what it was. It seemed just to be a fragment of an in-flight magazine.

她正努力理解这一切究竟代表着什么意义，却见一个男人走进了她所在的那一小片空地，他举起一把凶巴巴的枪朝她开了火。

Just as Random was trying to understand exactly what it was that this all meant, a man walked out into the clearing in which she was standing, raised a vicious-looking gun and shot her. Arthur was thrashing around hopelessly two or three miles behind her, on the upward side of the hill.

此时，阿瑟还在她身后两三里远的地方，无望地挣扎在上山的小路上。