Late in the evening Hoseason put his head insidethe round - house door.
入夜以後很久，霍西森把頭伸進後甲板室，說：
“He re ，”he said，“come out a n d look a t this .”“喂，你們出來看看。”
“Is this a nothe r tra p？”Alan asked. “你又要玩什麼把戲？”艾倫問道。
“Don ’t wa s te time ！”the captain cried.“Mybrig ’s in da nge r ！”
“別嗦！我的船遇險了！”船長大聲說。
We saw he was serious. Alan and I stepped ondeck. It was cold. The wind blew hard and therewas a full moon. The brig was sailing fast past thewest coast of the island of Mull. She rose suddenlyon the top of a high wave. The captain pointedsouth to a line of rocks. The sea was breaking overthem in great white waves. A little farther on，therewere more rocks.
看 得出來，他講的是真話。艾倫和我上了甲板。外麵很冷，刮著大風，一輪滿月掛在天空。雙桅船正繞著馬爾島的兩岸向前航行。突然，船被一個高大的浪頭掀起。船長指了指的麵的一排礁石，海水朝著它們衝去，激起一陣陣巨大的白浪。再往南一點，礁石更多。船長說：
“Look！”Hoseason said.“I did not know of the s eroc ks . Are the re ma ny of them？”
“你們看！我沒有聽說過這裏有礁石。是不是有很多呢？”
“S ir，I am no pilot，”Alan replied.“I think the rea re te n mile s of them.”
“先生，我對領航一竅不通。這裏的礁石大概有十英裏長。”艾倫回答說。
The captain looked at Mr Riach，and Mr Riachlooked at the captain.
船長和裏亞契先生麵麵相覷，不知該怎麼辦才好。霍西森說：
“If only we ha d Mr S hua n！”Hoseason said.
“The re ’s a wa y through ，I suppos e ？”
“夏先生要是還在就好了！我估計總會有一條航道吧？”
“I don ’t know，”Alan replied，“but I remembe rs ome thing . It is cle a re r ne a r the la nd.”
“那我說不來。不過，我記得好象靠近海岸的地方礁石不多。”艾倫答道。
There were only three seamen on the deck，besides the officers. Most of the others were wounded.
The captain sent Mr Riach up among the sails toexamine the coast.
甲板上除了船長和裏亞契先生外，另外隻有三名水手，其餘的人大都受了傷。船長讓裏亞契爬上桅杆去察看海岸地形。
“It is cle a re r in by the la nd ，”he shouted。aftera time.
過了一會兒，他大聲說：“靠近陸地的地方障礙少一些。”
“We ll，s ir，”Hoseason said to Alan，“we will tryyour wa y. P ra y God you’re righ t！”
霍西森對艾倫說；“那麼，先生，咱們就按你說的辦吧。但願上帝保佑你沒有說錯。”
“Pra y God I am！”Alan said to me.“I’m nots ure .”