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Random reached the crest of the hill and looked down into the next valley. It had been a longer and harder climb than she had anticipated. She was a little worried that doing the trip at night was not that great an idea, but her father had been mooching around near the hut all day trying to pretend to either her or himself that he wasn’t guarding the parcel. At last he’d had to go over to the forge to talk with Strinder about the knives, and Random had seized her opportunity and done a runner with the parcel.
兰登在小山顶上俯瞰下一个山谷。这一路爬上来比她想象的还要远还要难。她有些担心，夜里走这条路恐怕不是个太好的主意。可她父亲在茅屋里晃了一整天，努力装出不是在看守包裹的样子，也不知道是想骗她还是骗他自己。最后他不得不去铁匠铺跟斯林德讨论刀子的问题，于是兰登抓住机会带上包裹开溜了。
It was perfectly clear that she couldn’t just open the thing there, in the hut, or even in the village. He might have come across her at any moment. Which meant that she had to go where she wouldn’t be followed.
很显然，她不可能在茅屋里拆包裹，就算在村子里也不行，因为他随时都可能出现。这意味着她得找个他不会跟来的地方。
She could stop where she was now. She had gone this way in the hope that he wouldn’t follow her, and even if he did he would never find her up in the wooded parts of the hill with night drawing in and the rain starting.
现在这地方应该可以了。他选这条路就是希望他不会跟来，而且就算他跟过来，现在夜色越来越暗，又下起了雨，他根本不可能在这么一大片山林里发现自己。
All the way up, the parcel had been jiggling under her arm. It was a satisfyingly hunky sort of thing: a box with a square top about the length of her forearm on each side, and about the length of her hand deep, wrapped up in brown plasper with an ingenious new form of self-knotting string. It didn’t rattle as she shook it, but she sensed that its weight was concentrated excitingly at the centre.
这一路上包裹都在他胳膊底下蹦跳。这是个挺叫人满意的大块头：正方形的盒顶，边长大概跟她的上臂相当，有她手掌的长度，用棕色的有机材料包裹着，还带着新型的自动绳结，非常精巧。她把它拿起来摇了摇，里头没什么动静，但她能感觉到它的重量集中在中心，真让人激动。
Having come so far, though, there was a certain satisfaction in not stopping here, but carrying on down into what seemed to be almost a forbidden area – where her father’s ship had come down. She wasn’t exactly certain what the word ‘haunted’ meant, but it might be fun to find out. She would keep going and save the parcel up for when she got there.
不过，既然已经走了这么远，她隐约觉得不在这儿逗留会更有成就感，于是继续往那个几乎是禁忌的地方走去——那个她父亲的飞船坠毁的地方。兰登不大确定“闹鬼”究竟是什么意思，不过去看看应该会挺有意思。她准备继续前进，等到了那儿再打开包裹。
It was getting darker, though. She hadn’t used her tiny electric torch yet, because she didn’t want to be visible from a distance. She would have to use it now, but it probably didn’t matter since she would be on the other side of the hill which divided the valleys from each other.
可天色越来越暗了。她还没拿出自己的小手电筒，免得人家远远地就能发现自己。现在她不得不用了，但这大概也不会有什么关系因为两个山谷之间有小山隔开，而她马上就要下到另一边去。
She turned her torch on. Almost at the same moment a fork of lightning ripped across the valley into which she was heading and startled her considerably. As the darkness shuddered back around her and a clap of thunder rolled out across the land she felt suddenly rather small and lost with just a feeble pencil of light bobbing in her hand. Perhaps she should stop after all and open the parcel here. Or maybe she should go back and come out again tomorrow. It was only a momentary hesitation, though. She knew there was no going back tonight, and sensed that there was no going back ever.
她打开手电。几乎在同一时刻，一道霹雳照亮了她正要去的那个山谷，把她狠狠地吓了一跳。黑暗哆哆嗦嗦地回到她周围，一串轰雷隆隆地滚过大地，她突然觉得自己和手里细小的光线是那么的渺小迷惘。或许她还是该停下，就在这儿把包裹拆开。或者她该回去，明天再出来。不过这只是瞬间的忧郁。她知道今晚不能回去，而且感觉到自己是永远回不去了。
She headed on down the side of the hill. The rain was beginning to pick up now. Where a short while ago it had been a few heavy blobs it was settling in for a good pour now, hissing in the trees, and the ground was getting slippery under her feet.
她继续朝山脚下跑。雨势越来越大。片刻之前还只是几粒沉甸甸的雨点，现在却已经打定主意来个倾盆而下。雨水在树里嘶嘶叫唤，她的脚底开始打滑。
At least, she thought it was the rain hissing in the trees. Shadows were leaping and leering at her as her light bobbed through the trees. Onwards and downwards.
至少，她觉得在树里嘶嘶叫唤的应该是雨水才对。她的手电从树上扫过，上上下下，有阴影在跳跃着，在窥视着她。
She hurried on for another ten or fifteen minutes, soaked to the skin now and shivering, and gradually became aware that there seemed to be some other light somewhere ahead of her. It was very faint and she wasn’t certain if she was imagining it or not. She turned off her torch to see. There did seem to be some sort of dim glow ahead. She couldn’t tell what it was. She turned her torch back on and continued down the hill, towards whatever it was.
她又快步走了十到十五步。眼下她已经被雨水浇了个透，浑身发抖，而且渐渐意识到前头似乎还有别的什么亮光。光线非常弱，她不大确定这是不是自己的想象。她关掉手电筒想看看清楚。前头似乎的确有些淡淡的光芒，只是看不出是什么东西。她再次打开手电，继续下山，不管那是什么她都要过去。
There was something wrong with the woods though.
不过这树林的确有些古怪。
