Bod was a quiet child with sober grey eyes and a mop of tousled, mouse-colored hair. He was, for the most part, obedient. He learned how to talk, and, once he had learned, he would pester the graveyard folk with questions. “Why amn’t I allowed out of the graveyard?” he would ask, or “How do I do what he just did?” or “Who lives in here?” The adults would do their best to answer his questions, but their answers were often vague, or confusing, or contradictory, and then Bod would walk down to the old chapel and talk to Silas.
伯蒂[1]是个安静的孩子，他有一双素净的灰眼睛，一头乱蓬蓬的鼠灰色头发，大多数时候都很听话。在学会说话后，他开始没完没了地向坟场的居民提问：“为什么我不能出坟场？”“他刚才做的我怎么才能做到？”“这里住着的是谁？”大人们会绞尽脑汁给出回答，可答案常常含糊不清、令人迷惑或自相矛盾。一旦碰上这种情况，伯蒂常常会去老教堂向赛拉斯请教。【注：[1]伯蒂（Bod）为诺伯蒂（Nobody）的昵称。】
His guardian could always be counted upon to explain matters clearly and lucidly and as simply as Bod needed in order to understand.
赛拉斯非常靠得住，他能将问题讲解得清晰透彻，浅显易懂。比如——
He would be there waiting at sunset, just before Silas awakened.
他会在那儿等待日落。赛拉斯会在日落后醒来。
“You aren’t allowed out of the graveyard — it’s aren’t, by the way, not amn’t, not these days — because it’s only in the graveyard that we can keep you safe. This is where you live and this is where those who love you can be found. Outside would not be safe for you. Not yet.”
“你不能走出坟场，因为只有在坟场我们才能保护你，你才是安全的。你住在这里，这儿有爱你的人。外头对你来说，目前还不安全。”
Or,
或者——
“You go outside. You go outside every night.”
“可你能出去啊，你每晚都到外头去。”
“I wish that that were true. But as long as you stay here, you are safe.”
“但愿如此吧。不过只要你待在这里，你就一直很安全。”
“I am infinitely older than you, lad. And I am safe wherever I am.”
“我比你大得多，小家伙，我到哪儿都是安全的。”
“I’m safe there too.”
“那我在外头也安全。”
“I want to be like you,” said Bod, pushing out his lower lip.
“我想和你一样。”伯蒂嘟起嘴巴。
“You were given the Freedom of the Graveyard, after all,” Silas would tell him. “So the Graveyard is taking care of you. While you are here, you can see in the darkness. You can walk some of the ways that the living should not travel. The eyes of the living will slip from you. I too was given the Freedom of the Graveyard, although in my case it comes with nothing but the right of abode.”
“你被赋予在坟场里自由活动的权利，”赛拉斯告诉伯蒂，“所以坟场会照顾你。只要你在这里，就能在黑暗中看见东西，就能进一些活人进不去的地方，活人的目光会从你身上滑过。我也有权在坟场里自由活动，不过这对我而言意义不大，仅仅是有个睡觉的地方而已。”
“How could you do that? Some skills can be attained by education, and some by practice, and some by time. Those skills will come if you study. Soon enough you will master Fading and Sliding and Dreamwalking. But some skills cannot be mastered by the living, and for those you must wait a little longer. Still, I do not doubt that you will acquire even those, in time.
“你怎么才能做到？有些技能需要人教，有些需要练习，有些则需要时间，这些技能你只要好好学就能掌握。很快你就能学会隐身术、滑行术和梦游术了。但有些技能活人是学不会的，那些你就得等久一些了，但我相信，总有一天你能学会。”
“No,” said Silas, firmly. “You do not.”
“不，你不行。”赛拉斯一口否决。
Or,
或者——
“My what?”
“我们的什么？”
“Who lies there? You know, Bod, in many cases it is written on the stone. Can you read yet? Do you know your alphabet?”
“谁住在那儿？大多数人的名字都刻在墓碑上。你会读吗？你认识你们的字母表吗？”
Silas gave Bod a quest — to find each of the twenty-six letters in the graveyard — and Bod finished it, proudly, with the discovery of Ezekiel Ulmsley’s stone, built into the side of the wall in the old chapel. His guardian was pleased with him.
赛拉斯给了伯蒂一个任务：在坟场里找齐二十六个字母。伯蒂完成了这个任务，颇为自豪。他还发现了伊齐基尔·乌尔姆斯里的墓碑，就嵌在老教堂的墙里。赛拉斯对他的表现很满意。
Silas shook his head, but said nothing. Mr. and Mrs. Owens had never been much for reading when they were alive, and there were no alphabet books in the graveyard.
赛拉斯摇了摇头，什么也没说。欧文斯夫妇在世时没受过多少教育，坟场里也没有学字母的书。
The next night, Silas appeared at the front of the Owenses’ cozy tomb carrying three large books — two of them brightly colored alphabet books (A is for Apple, B is for Ball) and a copy of The Cat in the Hat. He also had paper and a packet of wax crayons. Then he walked Bod around the graveyard, placing the boy’s small fingers on the newest and clearest of the headstones and the plaques, and taught Bod how to find the letters of the alphabet when they appeared, beginning with the sharp steeple of the capital A.
次日晚上，赛拉斯带着三本大书来到欧文斯夫妇温暖的坟墓——两本是色彩鲜艳的字母书《A是苹果，B是球》[2]，一本是复印的《戴帽子的猫》。他还带来了纸和一盒蜡笔。随后，赛拉斯领着伯蒂在坟场里转了一圈，让他把手指搁在最新最清晰的墓碑和纪念碑上，从尖顶的大写字母A开始，教他找到书中对应的字母。【注：[2]苹果（Apple）一词首字母为A，球（Ball）一词首字母为B。】
The face on the other side of the gorse bush crumpled into a gargoyle, tongue sticking out, eyes popping, then returned to girl.
金雀花丛那一边的人皱起脸蛋，舌头往外伸，双眼往外凸，做了个滴水兽雕像般的鬼脸，接着又变回女孩的模样。
“Nuffing,” said Bod. He stuck out his tongue.
伯蒂说：“嘘。他伸出舌头。”
Every day Bod would take his paper and crayons into the graveyard and he would copy names and words and numbers as best he could, and each night, before Silas would go off into the world, Bod would make Silas explain to him what he had written, and make him translate the snatches of Latin which had, for the most part, baffled the Owenses.
每天白天，伯蒂会拿着纸和蜡笔来到坟场，尽其所能抄下墓碑上的名字、单词和数字。每天晚上，在赛拉斯外出前，伯蒂会让他解释自己记在纸上的东西，让他翻译几段拉丁文，因为欧文斯夫妇对拉丁文几乎一窍不通。
Bod looked up. There was someone on the other side of the gorse bush, watching him.
伯蒂抬起头，看到金雀花丛的另一边有个人正在看着他。
A sunny day: bumblebees explored the wildflowers that grew in the corner of the graveyard, dangling from the gorse and the bluebells, droning their deep lazy buzz, while Bod lay in the spring sunlight watching a bronze-colored beetle wandering across the stone of Geo. Reeder, his wife, Dorcas, and their son Sebastian (Fidelis ad Mortem). Bod had copied down their inscription and now he was only thinking about the beetle when somebody said, “Boy? What’re you doing?”
有一天艳阳高照，大黄蜂在坟场角落的野花丛中探寻，从金雀花悬荡到风铃草上，懒洋洋地哼着嗡嗡的小调。伯蒂躺在春日暖阳里，看着一只红褐色的甲虫慢吞吞地爬过乔治·里德、他的妻子多卡斯和儿子塞巴斯蒂安的墓碑。伯蒂刚抄下碑文“至死不渝”，正满脑子在想甲虫的事，忽然听见有人对他说：“嘿，你在做什么呢？”
“No.”
“不知道。”
“How old are you?” said the girl. “What are you doing here? Do you live here? What’s your name?”
“你多大了？”女孩问，“你在这里做什么？你住在这里吗？你叫什么名字？”
“Oh.” Bod thought. “You mean, like P is for Pig?”
“哦。”伯蒂想了想，“你是说P所指的猪[3]？”【注：[3]猪（Pig）一词首字母为P。】
“Of course like that. Hang on.”
“那当然。你等我一下。”
Bod nodded.
伯蒂点点头。
She came around the gorse bush and stood next to Bod, who got to his feet. She was a little older than he was, a little taller, and was dressed in bright colors, yellow and pink and orange. Bod, in his grey winding sheet, felt dowdy and drab.
女孩绕过金雀花丛，来到已站起身的伯蒂身边。女孩比他大一些，高一些，衣着很鲜艳，有黄有粉又有橙。相比之下，穿着灰色裹尸布的伯蒂显得寒碜而单调。
“I know my name,” said Bod. “And I know what I’m doing here. But I don’t know the other thing you said.”
“我知道自己的名字，也知道自己在这里做什么，但我不知道你问的第一个问题。”
“You don’t know your name?” said the girl. “‘Course you do. Everybody knows their own name. Fibber.”
“你不知道你的名字？得了吧，没有人不知道自己的名字。小骗子。”
“That was good,” said Bod, impressed.
“挺不错的。”伯蒂感叹道。
“I can make really good faces,” said the girl. “Look at this one.” She pushed her nose up with one finger, creased her mouth into a huge, satisfied smile, squinted her eyes, puffed out her cheeks. “Do you know what that was?”
“我能做好些超棒的鬼脸，瞧瞧这个。”她用一根手指顶起鼻尖，咧开嘴，眯起双眼，鼓起腮帮，“你知道这是什么吗？”
“I don’t know,” said Bod.
“我不知道。”伯蒂说。
“How old you are?”
“你不知道你多大了？”
“Well,” said the girl, “what was you when you was last birthday?”
“好吧。”女孩说，“你上次过生日是什么时候？”
“It was a pig, silly.”
“这是猪。傻瓜。”
“I’m a stranger,” pointed out Bod.
“我就是个陌生人啊。”伯蒂说。
“Everybody gets birthdays. You mean you never had cake or candles or stuff?”
“每个人都有生日。难道你从来没吃过蛋糕，吹过蜡烛吗？”
“Bod. It’s short for Nobody.”
“伯蒂，大名叫诺伯蒂。”
Bod smiled rarely, but he smiled then, hugely and with delight. “I’m your friend,” he said.
伯蒂很少笑，可他笑了，笑得非常灿烂：“我是你的朋友。”
Her name was Scarlett Amber Perkins, she told him, and she lived in a flat with no garden. Her mother was sitting on a bench by the chapel at the bottom of the hill, reading a magazine, and she had told Scarlett to be back in half an hour, and to get some exercise, and not to get into trouble or talk to strangers.
女孩说她叫斯卡莉特·安贝尔·帕金斯，住在一栋没花园的公寓里。她妈妈正坐在教堂边的长凳上看杂志。来之前妈妈曾叮嘱她出去松松筋骨可以，但要在半小时内回去，还叫她不要卷进什么麻烦，也不要和陌生人说话。
“ABCs,” said Bod. “From the stones. I have to write them down.”
“学字母，用这些墓碑，我要把上头的单词抄下来。”
“You’re not,” she said, definitely. “You’re a little boy.” And then she said, “And you’re my friend. So you can’t be a stranger.”
“你不是。”女孩笃定地说，“你是个小男孩，你还是我的朋友，所以你不是陌生人。”
Bod nodded enthusiastically. He was not going to argue with his new friend. She made him happy.
伯蒂忙不迭地点点头。这个女孩让他很开心，他不想违她的意。
She laughed then. “Funny sort of a name,” she said. “What are you doing now?”
“有趣的名字。”女孩笑了笑，“你在这里做什么？”
“What’s your name?”
“你叫什么名字？”
Bod shook his head.
伯蒂摇摇头。
The girl looked sympathetic. “Poor thing. I’m five. I bet you’re five too.”
“你好可怜啊。”女孩眼中满是同情，“我五岁，我赌你也是五岁。”
“I didn’t,” said Bod. “I never was.”
“我从来没有过过生日。”
“Can I do it with you?”
“我能和你一起吗？”
For a moment Bod felt protective — the gravestones were his, weren’t they?– and then he realized how foolish he was being, and he thought that there were things that might be more fun done in the sunlight with a friend. He said, “Yes.”
有那么一瞬，伯蒂想护住自己的所有物——墓碑是他的，不是吗？但他当即意识到自己有多蠢，有些事在阳光下和一个朋友一起做才更有乐趣。于是他说：“好啊。”
They copied down names from tombstones, Scarlett helping Bod pronounce unfamiliar names and words, Bod telling Scarlett what the Latin meant, if he already knew, and it seemed much too soon when they heard a voice further down the hill shouting, “Scarlett!”
他们抄下墓碑上的名字。斯卡莉特教伯蒂念他不熟悉的名字和单词，伯蒂则告诉她自己认识的拉丁文的含义。时间在不知不觉间流逝，仿佛没过多久，山脚下就传来一声大喊：“斯卡莉特！”
The girl thrust the crayons and paper back at Bod. “I got to go,” she said.
女孩把蜡笔和纸丢给伯蒂，说：“我得走了。”
“Where do you live?” she asked.
“你住在哪儿？”女孩问。
“I’ll see you next time,” said Bod. “Won’t I?”
“我们还会再见面的，对吧？”伯蒂说。
“Here,” he said. And he stood and watched her as she ran down the hill.
“就住在这里。”伯蒂站在原地，目送女孩跑下山。
On the way home Scarlett told her mother about the boy called Nobody who lived in the graveyard and had played with her, and that night Scarlett’s mother mentioned it to Scarlett’s father, who said that he believed that imaginary friends were a common phenomenon at that age, and nothing at all to be concerned about, and that they were fortunate to have a nature reserve so near.
回家的路上，斯卡莉特告诉妈妈，坟场里住着一个叫诺伯蒂的男孩，她刚刚还和他一起玩了一会儿。当天晚上，斯卡莉特的妈妈跟她爸爸说了这事，她爸爸认为这个年纪的小孩有个想象中的朋友很正常，完全不必担心，而且在这么近的地方有片自然保护区能让孩子玩得尽兴，实在是很幸运。
Bod would introduce Scarlett to some of his other friends. That she could not see them did not seem to matter. She had already been told firmly by her parents that Bod was imaginary and that there was nothing at all wrong with that — her mother had, for a few days, even insisted on laying an extra place at the dinner table for Bod — so it came as no surprise to her that Bod also had imaginary friends. He would pass on their comments to her.
伯蒂将斯卡莉特介绍给了自己的一些朋友。斯卡莉特看不到他们，不过没关系。父母告诉过她，伯蒂是她想象中的朋友，这完全没问题。她妈妈几天前甚至坚持在晚餐时给伯蒂留个座位。因此对于伯蒂也有想象中的朋友这一点，斯卡莉特一点儿都不惊讶。伯蒂会把他的朋友对斯卡莉特的看法告诉她。
After that initial meeting, Scarlett never saw Bod first. On days when it was not raining one of her parents would bring her to the graveyard. The parent would sit on the bench and read while Scarlett would wander off the path, a splash of fluorescent green or orange or pink, and explore. Then, always sooner rather than later, she would see a small, grave face and grey eyes staring up at her from beneath a mop of mouse-colored hair, and then Bod and she would play — hide-and-seek, sometimes, or climbing things, or being quiet and watching the rabbits behind the old chapel.
初次见面后，每次都是斯卡莉特去找伯蒂。天不下雨时，她的爸爸或妈妈会带她到坟场，自己坐在长凳上读书看报，任由她在路上闲逛，在一抹抹绿莹莹、黄澄澄或粉艳艳的花丛中探寻。通常过不了多久，她就会发现一头乱蓬蓬的鼠灰色头发、头发下方灰色的小脸和盯着她看的灰色眼睛。随后两个孩子就会一起玩：捉迷藏，爬上爬下，或静静地看着老教堂后头的兔子。
“So does he. And why does he talk so funny? Doesn’t he mean squashed tomato?”
“他才长那样呢！唉，他这人说话怎么这么好笑？他是说我的脸像捣烂的土豆吗？”
Scarlett was happy. She was a bright, lonely child, whose mother worked for a distant university teaching people she never met face-to-face, grading English papers sent to her over the computer, and sending messages of advice or encouragement back. Her father taught particle physics, but there were, Scarlett told Bod, too many people who wanted to teach particle physics and not enough people who wanted to learn it, so Scarlett’s family had to keep moving to different university towns, and in each town her father would hope for a permanent teaching position that never came.
斯卡莉特很开心。她是个聪明又寂寞的孩子。母亲任职于一所离这里很远的大学，为从未面对面见过的学生上课，批改电脑上传过来的英语试卷，并给予建议或鼓励等反馈。父亲教授粒子物理，不过呢，斯卡莉特告诉伯蒂，想教粒子物理的人很多，可想学的人很少，所以他们一家不停地从一个大学城搬到另一个大学城。在每个城市父亲都想谋得一个终身教职，可从未如愿。
“Bartleby says that thou dost have a face like unto a squishèd plum,” he would tell her.
“巴特比说你的脸像被压扁了的红李。”
“I don’t think that they had tomatoes when he comes from,” said Bod. “And that’s just how they talk then.”
“我想他在世的年代还没有土豆，那是他那个年代的表达。”
“What’s particle physics?” asked Bod.
“什么是粒子物理？”伯蒂问。
Scarlett shrugged. “Well,” she said. “There’s atoms, which is things that is too small to see, that’s what we’re all made of. And there’s things that’s smaller than atoms, and that’s particle physics.”
斯卡莉特耸了耸肩。“让我想想。你知道原子吧，非常小，小到看不见，而我们就是由原子构成的。不过世上还有比原子更小的东西，那就是粒子。”
Bod and Scarlett wandered the graveyard together every weekday afternoon, tracing names with their fingers, writing them down. Bod would tell Scarlett whatever he knew of the inhabitants of the grave or mausoleum or tomb, and she would tell him stories that she had been read or learned, and sometimes she would tell him about the world outside, about cars and buses and television and aeroplanes (Bod had seen them flying high overhead, had thought them loud silver birds, but had never been curious about them until now). He in his turn would tell her about the days when the people in the graves had been alive — how Sebastian Reeder had been to London Town and had seen the Queen, who had been a fat woman in a fur cap who had glared at everyone and spoke no English. Sebastian Reeder could not remember which queen she had been, but he did not think she had been queen for very long.
伯蒂和斯卡莉特每天下午都会在坟场里散步，用手指描墓碑上的名字，再抄写下来。伯蒂会给斯卡莉特讲住在墓穴、陵墓或坟头里的人各自有怎样的过往，而斯卡莉特会将自己刚读过或学过的故事讲给伯蒂听。有时斯卡莉特会说起外头的世界，比如汽车、公交车、电视和飞机。（伯蒂曾抬头望见过天上的飞机，以为那是叫声响亮的银色大鸟，但此前他从未对此产生过兴趣。）轮到伯蒂时，他会讲到坟场居民们生前的见闻。比如塞巴斯蒂安·里德曾到过伦敦，见到过女王。女王是个胖女人。她戴着毛皮帽，盯着在场的每一个人，讲的不是英语。塞巴斯蒂安·里德记不起她是哪位女王，但他认为这位女王在位的时间不会很长。
“When was this?” Scarlett asked.
“这是什么时候的事？”斯卡莉特问。
“He died in 1583, it says on his tombstone, so before then.”
“塞巴斯蒂安的坟墓上写着他于1583年去世，那就比这更早些。”
Bod nodded and decided that Scarlett’s father was probably interested in imaginary things.
伯蒂点点头，心想斯卡莉特的父亲可能对想象中的虚幻事物很感兴趣。
“The graveyard,” he explained. “I got the Freedom of the Graveyard. It lets me go places.”
“因为我得到了在坟场里行动的自由，所以我哪儿都进得去。”
“So he’s the oldest?”
“所以他是最老的喽？”
“Can you get in?”
“你进得去吗？”
“You can’t get in. It’s locked. They all are.”
“全都上锁了，你进不去。”
“I think so.”
“应该吧。”
“Of course.”
“当然。”
“You can’t.”
“不行。”
“I want to go in the stone house and make little houses.”
“我想进石屋子里盖小房子。”
“Where did you hear about the Romans?” asked her father.
“罗马人你是从哪儿听来的？”父亲问。
“You’re just mean.”
“小气。”
Bod frowned. “Probably Caius Pompeius. He came here a hundred years after the Romans first got here. He told me about it. He liked the roads.”
伯蒂皱起眉头。“也许是凯厄斯·庞培吧。第一批罗马人到这儿一百年后，他就到了这里。这是他告诉我的。他喜欢这里的路。”
“Why can’t I?”
“那我为什么不行？”
“Meany.”
“小气鬼！”
“Can we make a little house in one of those stone houses?”
“那些石屋子，我们能不能进其中的一间搭个小房子？”
“Not.”
“我没有。”
“Not.”
“我没有！”
That night, over dinner, she asked her mother and father if there was anyone in the country before the Romans came.
吃晚饭时，斯卡莉特问爸妈，在罗马人到来前，这个国家有人吗？
“Who is the oldest person here. In the whole graveyard?” asked Scarlett.
“整个坟场里最老的人是谁？”
Scarlett put her hands into the pocket of her anorak and walked down the hill without saying good-bye, convinced that Bod was holding out on her, and at the same time suspecting that she was being unfair, which made her angrier.
斯卡莉特把手插进兜帽夹克的衣兜，连再见也没说就下山了。她怀疑伯蒂有事瞒着她，可又怕自己错怪他。想到这里，她更生气了。
On the bench beside the old chapel, Bod was having a similar conversation.
老教堂边的长凳上也在上演类似的对话。
“Everybody knows,” said Scarlett, with withering scorn. “Was there?”
“这谁不知道啊。”斯卡莉特不屑地说，“在罗马人来之前，这儿有人吗？”
“There were Celts,” said her mother. “They were here first. They go back before the Romans. They were the people that the Romans conquered.”
“有，凯尔特人。”母亲说，“凯尔特人最先来，比罗马人要早，后来他们被罗马人征服了。”
“Good, I think. When do I learn joined-up letters?”
“还不错。我什么时候开始学字母组合？”
Bod was thrilled. He imagined a future in which he could read everything, in which all stories could be opened and discovered.
伯蒂兴奋极了。他想象将来有一天，自己什么都能读懂，所有故事都会在他面前尽数展现。
“The oldest?” said Silas. “Honestly, Bod, I don’t know. The oldest in the graveyard that I’ve encountered is Caius Pompeius. But there were people here before the Romans came. Lots of them, going back a long time. How are your letters coming along?”
“最老的人？”赛拉斯说，“说实话，我不知道。在坟场，我认识的人当中最老的是凯厄斯·庞培。但在罗马人到来之前，这里就有人了，有很多，很早很早之前就有。对了，你的字母学得怎么样了？”
When Silas had left the graveyard to go about his own affairs, Bod walked to the willow tree beside the old chapel, and called Caius Pompeius.
赛拉斯离开坟场去做自己的事了。伯蒂来到老教堂旁的柳树下，喊凯厄斯·庞培的名字。
Silas paused. “I have no doubt,” he said, after a moment’s reflection, “that there are, among the many talented individuals interred here, at least a smattering of teachers. I shall make inquiries.”
赛拉斯顿了一下。“不出我所料。”他思索了片刻，“这儿埋葬了许多才华卓绝的人，我敢说其中至少有几位老师。我得去问问。”
Bod said, “I do very well, sir.”
“我很好，先生。”
A hesitation. “Almost the first,” said Caius Pompeius. “Before the Celts there were other people on this island. One of them was buried here.”
凯厄斯·庞培犹豫了一下，说：“差不多是第一个，不过在凯尔特人到来之前，这座岛上就已经有人了，其中一个就被葬在这里。”
“Are you the oldest?” asked Bod.
“你是最老的吗？”伯蒂问。
“Good. I am pleased to hear it.” The old Roman’s hair was pale in the moonlight, and he wore the toga in which he had been buried, with, beneath it, a thick woolen vest and leggings because this was a cold country at the edge of the world, and the only place colder was Caledonia to the North, where the men were more animal than human and covered in orange fur, and were too savage even to be conquered by the Romans, so would soon be walled off in their perpetual winter.
“听你这么说我真高兴。”这位古罗马人的头发在月光下略显苍白。他身着下葬时就穿在身上的托加长袍，袍子下是厚实的羊毛马甲和羊毛裹腿，因为这是一个地处世界边缘的寒冷国家，比这儿还冷的地方只有北方的喀里多尼亚。那里的人与其说是人，不如说更像是野兽，裹着橙色毛皮，野性十足，连罗马人也无法将之征服，而那儿漫长的冬天也像围墙一样将他们与世隔绝。
“The oldest in the graveyard? I am.”
“坟场里吗？是的。”
“So you were the first to be buried here?”
“那就是说你是第一个下葬在这里的？”
Caius shook his head.
凯厄斯摇了摇头。
Caius pointed up the hill.
凯厄斯指向山坡。
“Then what?”
“那在哪儿？”
“Oh.” Bod thought for a moment. “Where’s his grave?”
“哦。”伯蒂想了想，“那他的坟墓在哪里？”
“He’s up at the top,” said Bod.
“在山顶上？”
The old Roman came out of his grave with a yawn. “Ah. Yes. The living boy,” he said. “How are you, living boy?”
凯厄斯·庞培从自己的墓穴里出来，伸了个懒腰，说：“哦，是你啊，活人男孩。你好吗？”
“What did he see?”
“他看到了什么？”
The old Roman reached down and he ruffled Bod’s hair. “In the hill,” he said. “Inside it. I was first brought here by my friends, followed in their turn by the local officials and the mimes, who wore the wax faces of my wife, taken by a fever in Camulodonum, and my father, killed in a border skirmish in Gaul. Three hundred years after my death a farmer, seeking a new place to graze his sheep, discovered the boulder that covered the entrance, and rolled it away, and went down, thinking there might be treasure. He came out a little later, his dark hair now as white as mine…”
“在山的里面。”凯厄斯弯下腰，揉了揉伯蒂的头发，“我被朋友们抬到这里，后面跟着当地官员和哑剧演员，哑剧演员戴着我已故妻子和父亲的石蜡面具。我妻子在卡姆罗多努发高烧过世，我父亲在高卢的一场边境冲突中丧命。我死后三百年，一个农民来这里寻找放牧羊群的新草场，偶然发现一块堵住坟墓入口的大石头。他推开石头，走了下去，指望里头有宝藏。没过多久他出来了，原本的一头黑发变得和我一样白…”
“Was his hair white when he came up?”
“他上来时头发也白了吗？”
Caius said nothing, then, “He would not speak of it. Or ever return. They put the boulder back, and in time, they forgot. And then, two hundred years ago, when they were building the Frobisher vault, they found it once more. The young man who found the place dreamed of riches, so he told no one, and he hid the doorway behind Ephraim Pettyfer’s casket, and went down one night, unobserved, or so he thought.”
凯厄斯没有回答。那个人不会把见闻说出来，更不会重返那个坟墓。“他不会说出来。后来人们把石头搬回原位，过了一段时间就把这事给忘了。再后来，大约两百年前，在修建弗罗比歇陵墓时，又有个年轻人发现了那个入口。他想发大财，就没把这事告诉别人。他用以法莲·佩蒂弗的棺椁挡住入口，在一天晚上神不知鬼不觉地下到墓穴里，或者说他自以为神不知鬼不觉的。”
“He did not come up.”
“他没有上来。”
“All I could feel,” said Caius Pompeius, “was the waiting.”
“我能感觉到的，就只有等待。”
Caius shook his head. “I do not know, young Owens. But I felt him, back when this place was empty. I could feel something waiting even then, deep in the hill.”
凯厄斯摇摇头。“我不知道，但我能感觉到他，当这个地方还一片空荡时他就在了。刚来时我就感觉到，有什么东西在山里等待。”
“Stay on the path, dear.”
“别离开小路，宝贝儿。”
Scarlett was carrying a large picture book, and she sat next to her mother on the green bench near the gates, and she read her book while her mother inspected an educational supplement. She enjoyed the spring sunshine and she did her best to ignore the small boy who waved at her first from behind an ivy-covered monument, then, when she had resolved to no longer look at the monument, the boy popped up — literally, like a jack-in-a-box — from behind a tombstone (Joji G. Shoji, d. 1921, I was a stranger and you took me in). He gestured towards her, frantically. She ignored him.
斯卡莉特带着一本大大的图画书，与母亲一同坐在大门边的绿色长凳上，她看她的书，母亲则在研读一本教育副刊。斯卡莉特享受着春日的融融暖阳，竭尽全力忽视那个从覆满常春藤的纪念碑后头向她招手的小男孩。当她定下心神不再往那儿看时，男孩忽然像玩具盒里的小丑一样，啪一下从纪念碑（久吉·G。修吉，逝世于1921年，我是个陌路人，你欺骗了我）后蹦了出来，拼命地向斯卡莉特打手势，可她就是不理睬。
“Um. Oh. So, who is buried down there?”
“好吧。那么到底是谁被埋在下面？”
She stayed on the path until she was round the corner, and she could see Bod waving at her from further up the hill. She made a face at him.
斯卡莉特沿着小路走到拐角，看到伯蒂正在山坡上冲她挥手，就冲他做了个鬼脸。
“What was he waiting for?”
“等待什么？”
Eventually she put her book down on the bench. “Mummy? I’m going for a walk, now.”
最后，她把书放在长凳上，对母亲说：“妈妈，我想去散个步。”
“There were people before the Romans,” she said. “Way back. They lived, I mean, when they died they put them underground in these hills, with treasure and stuff. And they were called barrows.”
斯卡莉特说：“罗马人之前还有别的民族，比罗马人更早居住在这里。他们死后会埋在山里，随葬的还有宝藏之类的东西。他们的墓叫作古墓。”
“I’ve found things out,” said Scarlett.
“我找到答案了。”斯卡莉特说。
“Oh. Right,” said Bod. “That explains it. Do you want to come and see one?”
“没错。”伯蒂说，“这就说得通了。你想去见见古墓吗？”
“Me too,” said Bod.
“我也是。”伯蒂说。
In reply, he held up a large, rusted, iron key. “This was in the chapel,” he said. “It should open most of the gates up there. They used the same key for all of them. It was less work.”
伯蒂举起一把锈迹斑斑的铁质大钥匙，说：“这是教堂里的钥匙，能打开这儿大多数的门。所有门用一把钥匙，多省事啊。”
She scrambled up the hillside beside him.
斯卡莉特跟在伯蒂身边，爬上山坡。
“Now?” Scarlett looked doubtful. “You don’t really know where one is, do you? And you know I can’t always follow you where you go.” She had seen him slip through walls, like a shadow.
“现在？”斯卡莉特一脸疑惑，“你真的知道哪里有古墓？你能去的地方，我可不一定能去。”毕竟她曾看见伯蒂像个影子一样穿墙而过。
He nodded, a pleased smile dancing at the corners of his lips. “Come on,” he said.
伯蒂点点头，嘴角舞动着愉悦的笑容。“来吧。”
It was a perfect spring day, and the air was alive with birdsong and bee hum. The daffodils bustled in the breeze and here and there on the side of the hill a few early tulips nodded. A blue powdering of forget-me-nots and fine, fat yellow primroses punctuated the green of the slope as the two children walked up the hill toward the Frobishers’ little mausoleum.
春意盎然，风和日丽。鸟儿的叫声和蜜蜂的嗡嗡声让空气变得生机勃勃，水仙花在微风中尽情绽放，山坡上零星几朵早开的郁金香迎风点头，一大片星星点点的勿忘我和优雅饱满的黄樱草点缀在翠绿的山坡上。两个孩子爬上山，朝着弗罗比歇的小陵墓走去。
“You’re telling the truth?”
“你说的是真的吗？”
“I don’t need light,” said Bod. “Not while I’m in the graveyard.”
“我不需要光。”伯蒂说，“只要在坟场，我就不需要。”
It was old and simple in design, a small, forgotten stone house with a metal gate for a door. Bod unlocked the gate with his key, and they went in.
那是一座被人遗忘已久的古老小石屋，样式简单，安着一扇金属门。伯蒂用钥匙打开锁，两人走了进去。
“It’s a hole,” said Bod. “Or a door. Behind one of the coffins.”
“这里有一个洞，”伯蒂说，“或有一扇门，就在一具棺材后头。”
“I do,” said Scarlett. “It’s dark.”
“我需要。”斯卡莉特说，“太黑了。”
Scarlett found herself suddenly enjoying the adventure rather less. She said, “We can’t see down there. It’s dark.”
斯卡莉特忽然打起了退堂鼓。她说：“下面太黑了，我们看不清。”
Bod thought about the reassuring things that he could say, like “there’s nothing bad down there,” but the tales of hair turning white and people never returning meant that he could not have said them with a clear conscience, so he said, “I’ll go down. You wait for me up here.”
伯蒂绞尽脑汁，思索有什么安慰的话能说，比如“下面没有可怕的东西”之类的。可头发变白和一去不复返的传说让他无法心安理得地把话说出口。再三考虑后，他说：“我先下去，你在上头等我。”
“I’ll go down,” said Bod, “and I’ll see who’s there, and I’ll come back and tell you all about it.”
“我先下去，看看下头是什么人，然后上来把看到的都告诉你。”
They found it behind a coffin on the bottom shelf — a simple crawl space. “Down there,” said Bod. “We go down there.”
他们在底层架子上的一具棺材后找到了入口——一个狭窄的通道。“就在下面。”伯蒂说，“我们下去吧。”
Scarlett frowned. “You shouldn’t leave me,” she said.
斯卡莉特皱起眉头。“你不该离开我。”
He turned to the opening, bent down, and clambered through on his hands and knees. He was in a space big enough to stand up in, and he could see steps cut into the stone. “I’m going down the steps now,” he said.
伯蒂转向洞口，弯下腰，手脚并用爬了进去。他来到一片大到能直起身的空间，并看到了一段向下的石阶。“我要下台阶了。”
“Do they go down a long way?”
“台阶很长吗？”
“It’s dark,” said Bod. “But I can see.”
“虽然很黑，但我看得见。”
“Can you really see?” she asked.
“你真的看得见吗？”
“If you held my hand and told me where I was walking,” she said, “then I could come with you. If you make sure I’m okay.”
“如果你能一直牵着我的手，如果你能保护我，我就跟你下去。”
“I think so.”
“应该吧。”
“You can stand up,” Bod told her. He took her hand. “The steps are just here. If you put a foot forward you can find it. There. Now I’ll go first.”
“你可以站起来。”伯蒂拉住她的手，“台阶就在前面，你往前迈一步就能感觉到。我开始走了。”
“Of course,” said Bod, and before he had finished speaking the girl was coming through the hole on her hands and her knees.
“当然可以。”伯蒂话音未落，女孩已经手脚并用爬进了洞口。
“What kind of painting?”
“什么样的画？”
He began to lead Scarlett down the steps, deep into the hill, and to describe what he saw to her as they went. “It’s steps down,” he said. “Made of stone. And there’s stone all above us. Someone’s made a painting on the wall.”
伯蒂领着斯卡莉特走下台阶，进入山体深处，边走边告诉她自己看到了什么。“这是段向下的石头台阶。我们头顶上也全是石头，墙壁上还刻了一幅画。”
“A big hairy C is for Cow, I think. With horns. Then something that’s more like a pattern, like a big knot. It’s sort of carved in the stone too, not just painted, see?” and he took her fingers and placed them onto the carved knot-work.
“一头牛，个头大，毛又多，还长着角。然后是一团花纹一样的东西，像一个巨大的结，似乎是刻进石头而不光是画上去的。你摸摸。”伯蒂抓起斯卡莉特的手指，放到那个结上。
“I can feel it!” she said.
“我感觉到了！”
“Now the steps are getting bigger. We are coming out into some kind of big room, now, but the steps are still going. Don’t move. Okay, now I am between you and the room. Keep your left hand on the wall.”
“现在石阶变宽了，前面是一个房间，还有几级台阶。别动。好，现在我就在你和房间之间。用你的左手扶着墙。”
They kept going down. “One more step and we are on the rock floor,” said Bod. “It’s a bit uneven.”
他们继续往下走。“再下一级，我们就到石地板上了。”伯蒂说，“地不太平。”
The room was small. There was a slab of stone on the ground, and a low ledge in one corner, with some small objects on it. There were bones on the ground, very old bones indeed, although below where the steps entered the room Bod could see a crumpled corpse, dressed in the remains of a long brown coat — the young man who had dreamed of riches, Bod decided. He must have slipped and fallen in the dark.
这是个小房间。地上铺了一层石板，角落里有个低矮的岩架，上头放着一些小物件。地上散落着几截尸骨，年代非常久远。不过在房间入口处，伯蒂看见了一具蜷曲的尸体，尸身上还残留着褐色长外套的碎片——想必是那个想发大财的年轻人吧，他一定是在黑暗中滑倒了。
The noise began all about them, a rustling slither, like a snake twining through dry leaves. Scarlett’s grip on Bod’s hand was harder.
周围响起了某种声音，一种沙沙的蛇行声，像一条蛇在干枯的树叶中游走。斯卡莉特把伯蒂的手抓得更紧了。
“No.”
“没有。”
Scarlett made a noise that was half gasp and half wail, and Bod saw something, and he knew without asking that she could see it too.
斯卡莉特叫出了声——半是惊愕，半是痛苦。伯蒂看到了一个东西，问都不用问，斯卡莉特也一定看到了。
“What’s that? Do you see anything?”
“什么声音？你有看见什么吗？”
There was a light at the end of the room, and in the light a man came walking, walking through the rock, and Bod heard Scarlett choking back a scream.
房间尽头亮了起来，光亮中，一名男子从岩石中走了出来。伯蒂听到斯卡莉特生生把尖叫咽了回去。
“Who are you?” asked Bod. He squeezed Scarlett’s hand as he said it.
“你是谁？”伯蒂边说边捏紧了斯卡莉特的手。
The man looked well-preserved, but still like something that had been dead for a long while. His skin was painted (Bod thought) or tattooed (Scarlett thought) with purple designs and patterns. Around his neck hung a necklace of sharp, long teeth.
男子看上去皮肉无损，但依然像是死了很久很久。他的皮肤上有紫色的花纹图案，伯蒂觉得是画上去的，斯卡莉特觉得是文身。他的脖子上围着一串用长长的尖牙齿串成的项链。
His eyes were huge in his head. Bod realized it was because he had circles drawn around them in purple, making his face look like an owl’s.
他的眼睛显得特别大。伯蒂定睛一看，原来他的眼眶外描了一个个紫色的同心圆，让他的脸变得像一只猫头鹰。
“I am the master of this place!” said the figure, in words so ancient and guttural that they were scarcely words at all. “I guard this place from all who would harm it!”
“我是这里的主人。”男子说。他用词很古老，从喉咙深处发出的声音含糊不清。“我是这里的守护者，谁都休想破坏此地！”
The Indigo Man did not seem to have heard the question. He looked at them fiercely.
刺青人似乎没有听见，依旧恶狠狠地盯着两人。
“Leave this place!” he said in words that Bod heard in his head, words that were also a guttural growl.
“离开这里！”刺青人发自喉咙深处的吼叫在伯蒂脑中轰鸣。
“I don’t think so,” said Bod. Then, to the Indigo Man, he said, as he had been taught, “I have the Freedom of the Graveyard and I may walk where I choose.”
“我觉得不会。”伯蒂照着别人教他的那样对刺青人说，“我有在坟场自由行动的权利，我想去哪儿都可以。”
“Is he going to hurt us?” asked Scarlett.
“他会伤害我们吗？”斯卡莉特问。
Bod looked at the remains of the gentleman in the brown coat. There was a lamp beside him, broken on the rocky floor. “He ran away,” said Bod aloud. “He ran because he was scared. And he slipped or he tripped on the stairs and he fell off.”
伯蒂看了看石地板上那个穿着褐色外套的乡绅的遗体，遗体边有盏摔破的灯。“他想逃跑，”伯蒂大声说，“因为他受惊了，然后他就滑倒了，或者在石阶上绊倒后摔了下来。”
There was no reaction to this by the Indigo Man, which puzzled Bod even more because even the most irritable inhabitants of the graveyard had been calmed by this statement. Bod said, “Scarlett, can you see him?”
刺青人一点反应也没有，这倒让伯蒂愣住了。就算是坟场里脾气最冲的居民，听了这话也会安静下来。“斯卡莉特，你能看到他吗？”
“The man on the floor.”
“地上那个男人。”
“Of course I can see him. He’s a big scary tattooey man and he wants to kill us. Bod, make him go away!”
“废话，我当然看得见，一个又大又可怕的刺青人，他想杀了我们。伯蒂，让他走开！”
Scarlett sounded irritated now, as well as puzzled and scared. “What man on the floor? It’s too dark. The only man I can see is the tattooey man.”
斯卡莉特的语气带上了怒火、困惑与恐惧。“什么地上的男人？这儿太黑了，我看到的只有那个刺青人。”
Bod was no longer scared, though.
不过伯蒂倒是不害怕了。
And then, as if to make quite sure that they knew that he was there, the Indigo Man threw back his head and let out a series of yodeling screams, a full-throated ululation that made Scarlett grip Bod’s hand so tightly that her fingernails pressed into his flesh.
这时，仿佛确定了两人知晓自己的存在，刺青人一仰头，发出一连串的号叫，如同约德尔唱法般咕噜咕噜，不绝于耳，吓得斯卡莉特紧紧抓住伯蒂的手，指甲都抠进了他的肉里。
“Who did?”
“你说的‘他’是谁？”
“No, you won’t,” said Scarlett, with a huge sigh. “Bod’s right.” Then she said, “I think maybe it’s a scarecrow.”
“不，你做不到。”斯卡莉特长舒了一口气，“伯蒂说得没错，你不过是一个稻草人。”
“Imaginary.”
“是想象中的。”
“I will feast on your liver!” screamed the Indigo Man.
“我要吃了你们的肝脏！”刺青人咆哮。
The Indigo Man raised something over his head. It looked like a sharp stone blade. “All who invade this place will die!” he shouted, in his guttural speech. Bod thought about the man whose hair had turned white after he had discovered the chamber, how he would never return to the graveyard or speak of what he had seen.
刺青人把什么东西举过头顶，看上去像一把锋利的石斧。“入侵者格杀勿论！”他用发自喉咙深处的声音大声嚷嚷。伯蒂想起了那个发现石室后头发瞬间白了的男人，想起他再也没回过坟场或说起自己的所见所闻。
“Don’t be stupid,” said Scarlett. “I can see it.”
“别说傻话了。我能看见他。”
“Yes,” said Bod. “And you can’t see dead people.” He looked around the chamber. “You can stop now,” he said. “We know it’s not real.”
“对，但你看不到地上的那个人。”伯蒂环视石室，对刺青人说：“你停下吧，我们知道这不是真的。”
“I’m sorry I said they were imaginary,” said Scarlett. “I believe now. They’re real.”
“我错怪你了，我之前还说他们是想象中的东西。”斯卡莉特说，“我现在信了，他们是真的。”
“Is what?”
“是什么？”
“What’s a scarecrow?” asked Bod.
“稻草人是什么？”伯蒂问。
“It’s a thing farmers put in fields to scare crows.”
“稻草人是农民放在田野里用来吓唬乌鸦的。”
“Why would they do that?” Bod quite liked crows. He thought they were funny, and he liked the way they helped to keep the graveyard tidy.
“他们为什么这么做？”伯蒂挺喜欢乌鸦的，他觉得乌鸦很有趣，多亏了它们，坟场才一直干干净净。
“No,” said Bod. “I think you’re right. I think this one is.”
“不。”伯蒂说，“你是对的，这家伙的确是…”
The Indigo Man stopped. It walked over to the rock slab and it lay down on it. Then it was gone.
刺青人停了下来，走到石板边躺下，接着就消失了。
Bod looked around the chamber. He said, “Whoever you are, it isn’t working. It doesn’t scare us. We know it isn’t real. Just stop.”
伯蒂四下看了看，说：“不管你是什么东西，你这套不管用了，我们一点儿都不害怕。我们知道你不是真的，停手吧。”
“I don’t know exactly. I’ll ask Mummy. But I saw one from a train and I asked what it was. Crows think it’s a real person. It’s just a made-up thing, that looks like a person, but it’s not. It’s just to scare the crows away.”
“我不太清楚，回头我问问妈妈。有一次我坐在火车上看到窗外有个稻草人，就问妈妈那是什么。妈妈说乌鸦会把稻草人当作真的人。但稻草人是人造的，看起来像人，实际上不是，人们用稻草人来把乌鸦吓跑。”
Something said, WE ARE THE SLEER.
那声音说：我们是杀戮者。
For Scarlett the chamber was once more swallowed by the darkness. But in the darkness, she could hear the twining sound again, getting louder and louder, as if something were circling the round room.
在斯卡莉特眼中，石室再一次被黑暗吞没。可在黑暗之中，她听到了蜿蜒爬行的声音，越来越响，仿佛有什么东西在环绕房间爬动。
“Did you hear that?” he asked Scarlett.
“你听到了吗？”伯蒂问斯卡莉特。
The hairs on the back of Bod’s neck began to prickle. The voice in his head was something very old and very dry, like the scraping of a dead twig against the window of the chapel, and it seemed to Bod that there was more than one voice there, that they were talking in unison.
伯蒂后颈上的汗毛都竖了起来，耳中的声音十分古老，极其干涩，如同枯枝在刮擦教堂的窗户，不像一个人的声音，而像一群人异口同声。
“I didn’t hear anything, just a slithery noise. It made me feel strange. All prickly in my tummy. Like something horrible is going to happen.”
“我只听到了什么东西在爬行的声音，这让我心里直发毛，胃里一阵刺痒，感觉有坏事要发生了。”
THE SLEER GUARDS THE TREASURES. THE BROOCH, THE GOBLET, THE KNIFE. WE GUARD THEM FOR THE MASTER, WHEN HE RETURNS. IT COMES BACK. IT ALWAYS COMES BACK.
杀戮者守卫宝藏：胸针、酒杯和刀。我们为主人守卫珍宝，等待主人归来。他定会归来，他终会归来。
But the Sleer said nothing. The inside of Bod’s head felt as if it were filled with cobwebs, and he shook it, trying to clear it. Then he squeezed Scarlett’s hand. “We should go,” he said.
杀戮者一言不发。伯蒂的脑海里像是结满了蜘蛛网，他用力甩头，想清醒一下头脑。他抓住斯卡莉特的手，说：“我们该走了。”
“Nothing horrible is going to happen,” said Bod. Then, to the chamber, he said, “What are you?”
“不会有坏事发生的。”伯蒂安慰道，接着他冲着石室问，“你们是什么人？”
“You can’t touch us,” said Bod. “All you can do is scare.”
“你触碰不到我们。”伯蒂说，“你们只能吓唬吓唬外来者。”
Bod looked down at the ledge. “Are those the treasures of your master? An old brooch, a cup, and a little stone knife? They don’t look like much.”
伯蒂低头看向岩架。“这些就是你主人的宝藏？一枚旧胸针，一个杯子，还有一柄小石刀？看上去不过如此嘛。”
The twining voices sounded petulant.
对方似乎被激怒了。
He led her past the dead man in the brown coat — and honestly, thought Bod, if he hadn’t got scared and fallen the man would have been disappointed in his hunt for treasure. The treasures of ten thousand years ago were not the treasures of today. Bod led Scarlett carefully up the steps, through the hill, into the jutting black masonry of the Frobisher mausoleum.
伯蒂带着斯卡莉特绕过那个穿褐色外衣的死人，心想：说实话，如果这人没有被吓得摔死，那他一定会对自己的寻宝之旅大失所望——数千年前的宝藏和今日的宝藏有着云泥之别。伯蒂领着斯卡莉特小心翼翼地走上石阶，穿过洞口，进入弗罗比歇黝黑的陵墓。
THE RESTING PLACE OF THE MASTER. THIS IS THE HOLIEST OF ALL HOLY PLACES, AND IT IS GUARDED BY THE SLEER.
守卫主人的休憩之地。此地为最神圣的圣地，由杀戮者守卫。
“How many of you are there?”
“你们有多少人？”
“What do you protect?”
“守卫什么？”
FEAR IS A WEAPON OF THE SLEER.
恐惧是杀戮者的武器之一。
WE ARE THE SLEER. WE GUARD AND WE PROTECT.
我们是杀戮者。我们在此地守卫。
Further down the hill somebody — quite a few some-bodies — was shouting. Shouting loudly. Shouting frantically.
在山下，有好几个人在喊叫，大喊大叫，疯狂地大喊大叫。
Late spring sunlight shone through the breaks in the masonry and through the barred door, shocking in its brightness, and Scarlett blinked and covered her eyes at the suddenness of the glare. Birds sang in the bushes, a bumblebee droned past, everything was surprising in its normality.
晚春的阳光透过陵墓的间隙和金属门栏杆的间隔照了进来，亮得晃眼，突如其来的光让斯卡莉特连忙闭上眼睛，用手盖住。鸟儿在灌木丛间唱歌，一只黄蜂嗡嗡飞过，一切都平常得不可思议。
Someone called, “Scarlett? Scarlett Perkins?” and Scarlett said “Yes? Hello?” and before she and Bod had a chance to discuss what they had seen, or to talk about the Indigo Man, there was a woman in a fluorescent yellow jacket with POLICE on the back demanding to know if she was okay, and where she had been, and if someone had tried to kidnap her, and then the woman was talking on a radio, letting them know that the child had been found.
他们在大喊：“斯卡莉特？斯卡莉特·帕金斯？”斯卡莉特回应：“我在这儿！”还没等她和伯蒂来得及谈刚才的经历，谈那个刺青人，一个穿着后背带“警察”字样的亮黄色马甲的女人就开始追问她有没有出事，问她去了哪里，有没有遭人绑架。问完后，这位女警拿起对讲机，告诉那头的人孩子找到了。
Bod pushed open the mausoleum door, and then locked it again behind them.
伯蒂推开陵墓的门，出来后又将门锁上。
Scarlett’s bright clothes were covered in grime and cobwebs, and her dark face and hands were pale with dust.
斯卡莉特鲜艳的衣服上满是尘垢和蜘蛛网，深肤色的脸蛋和手沾满灰尘，变成了白色。
Bod slipped along beside them as they walked down the hill. The door to the chapel was open, and inside both of Scarlett’s parents were waiting, her mother in tears, her father worriedly talking to people on a mobile phone, along with another policewoman. No one saw Bod as he waited in the corner.
女警和斯卡莉特向山下走去，伯蒂亦步亦趋地跟着她们。教堂的门开着，斯卡莉特的父母在里面等候，母亲泪流满面，父亲正在焦急地打电话，另一位女警正陪着他们。没有人看到等候在角落里的伯蒂。
The people kept asking Scarlett what had happened to her, and she answered, as honestly as she could, told them about a boy called Nobody who took her deep inside a hill where a purple tattoo man appeared in the dark, but he was really a scarecrow. They gave her a chocolate bar and they wiped her face and asked if the tattooed man had ridden a motorbike, and Scarlett’s mother and father, now that they were relieved and not afraid for her any longer were angry with themselves and with her, and they told each other that it was the other one’s fault for letting their little girl play in a cemetery, even if it was a nature reserve, and that the world was a very dangerous place these days, and if you didn’t keep your eyes on your children every second you could not imagine what awful things they would be plunged into. Especially a child like Scarlett.
大家围着斯卡莉特问个不停，问她出了什么事，斯卡莉特一五一十地如实问答。她说有个叫诺伯蒂的男孩带她进入了山体深处，黑暗中出现了一个刺青人，不过那只是个唬人的稻草人罢了。大伙儿给了她一根巧克力棒，为她擦了擦脸，并问她那个刺青人有没有骑摩托车。已从恐惧中解脱的父母开始生气，生女儿的气，也生自己的气。他们彼此指责这是你的过错，居然让女儿一个人在坟场里玩耍，就算那是个自然保护区。这年月世上处处暗藏凶险，你若是一刻没留意自己的孩子，孩子就可能陷入无从想象的险境，特别是像斯卡莉特这样的孩子。
It was twilight in the graveyard by now, and Silas came and found Bod, up near the amphitheater, looking out over the town. He stood beside the boy and he said nothing, which was his way.
坟场已是黄昏时分，赛拉斯在环形剧场找到了伯蒂，他正俯瞰着城镇。赛拉斯跟平常一样，一言不发地站在伯蒂身边。
“Into the middle of the hill, to see the oldest grave. Only there isn’t anybody in there. Just a snaky thing called a Sleer who scares people.”
“我带她到了山里面，去看最古老的坟墓。可那儿一个人也没有，只有一个像蛇一样的叫‘杀戮者’的东西在吓人。”
Scarlett’s mother began sobbing, which made Scarlett cry, and one of the policewomen got into an argument with Scarlett’s father, who tried to tell her that he, as a taxpayer, paid her wages, and she told him that she was a taxpayer too and probably paid his wages, while Bod sat in the shadows in the corner of the chapel, unseen by anyone, not even Scarlett, and watched and listened until he could take no more.
斯卡莉特的母亲开始抽泣，听见母亲哭，斯卡莉特也不禁哭了。她的父亲和一位女警吵了起来，父亲说你的工资全靠我这样的纳税人，女警也不甘示弱，对他说我也是纳税人，你的工资没准也得靠我。此刻伯蒂正坐在教堂角落的阴影中，没人看见他，连斯卡莉特也没有。他就这么看着，听着，直到再也承受不住。
“It wasn’t her fault,” said Bod. “It was mine. And now she’s in trouble.”
“这不是她的错。”伯蒂说，“这是我的错，现在她遇到麻烦了。”
“Where did you take her?” asked Silas.
“你带她去了哪儿？”赛拉斯问。
“Fascinating.”
“有意思。”
They walked back down the hill together, watched as the old chapel was locked up once more and the police and Scarlett and her parents went off into the night.
他们一起走下山，看到教堂再一次被锁上，警察和斯卡莉特一家步入夜色。
They walked on the path together, a small girl in a bright orange anorak and a small boy in a grey winding sheet.
一个穿着明黄色兜帽夹克的小女孩，一个穿着灰色裹尸布的小男孩，两人一同走在小路上。
“Scotland. There’s a university there. For Dad to teach particle physics.”
“苏格兰。那里有一所大学，我爸爸要去那儿教粒子物理。”
“The girl? I very much doubt it.”
“那个女孩？估计不会。”
They insisted that she remain in sight at all times, although they trailed a little behind her. Scarlett’s mother occasionally exclaimed about how morbid this all was and how fine and good it was that they would soon be leaving it behind forever.
尽管父母在她身后拉开了一段距离，但他们一刻也不允许她离开自己的视线。斯卡莉特的母亲时而会抱怨这一切真是太邪门了，好在他们很快就能把这一切抛在脑后。
But Silas was wrong. Three weeks later, on a grey afternoon, Scarlett came to the graveyard, accompanied by both her parents.
可赛拉斯错了。三周后，一个灰蒙蒙的下午，斯卡莉特在父母的陪同下来到了坟场。
“Do you think I’ll ever see her again?”
“你觉得我还能再见到她吗？”
“Yes,” said Bod. “Ages ago. Can you bring me more books?”
“早就看完了，你能再为我多带些书吗？”
“Hi,” said Scarlett, very quietly. “I didn’t think I’d see you again. I told them I wouldn’t go with them unless they brought me back here one last time.”
“嘿，”斯卡莉特轻声说，“我想这是我最后一次来见你了。我和爸妈说，若不带我来这里最后一次，我就不和他们走。”
When Scarlett’s parents began to talk to each other, Bod said, “Hello.”
当斯卡莉特的父母开始聊天时，伯蒂说：“嘿。”
“I expect so,” said Silas.
“应该行。”
“Miss Borrows will teach you joined-up letters,” said Silas. “Have you read The Cat in the Hat yet?”
“伯萝丝小姐会教你字母组合。”赛拉斯说，“你看过《戴帽子的猫》吗？”
“Go where?”
“走？去哪儿？”
“Silas. My family. Everybody.”
“赛拉斯，我的家人，每个人。”
Her father called, “Scarlett! Come on, love. Time to go. You’ve had your last trip to the graveyard. Now let’s go home.”
父亲开始叫她：“斯卡莉特！回来吧，亲爱的，该走了。最后一趟坟场之行结束了。我们回家吧。”
“Well, you can’t stay here all your life. Can you? One day you’ll grow up and then you will have to go and live in the world outside.”
“所以说，你不能一生都待在这里呀。有朝一日你会长大，那时你就得到外面的世界生活了。”
“Oh.”
“哦。”
“Is Scotland a long way away?”
“苏格兰离这里远吗？”
“‘Course not.”
“当然不是。”
He shook his head. “It’s not safe for me out there.”
伯蒂摇摇头。“外面的世界对我来说不安全。”
“Who says?”
“谁这么说的？”
“Yes,” she said.
“远。”
She was silent.
斯卡莉特沉默了。
“But you aren’t dead, are you, Nobody Owens?”
“可你并不是个死人，对吧，诺伯蒂·欧文斯？”
“I’m always here.”
“我一直在这里。”
Scarlett said to Bod, “You’re brave. You are the bravest person I know, and you are my friend. I don’t care if you are imaginary.” Then she fled down the path back the way they had come, to her parents and the world.
斯卡莉特对伯蒂说：“你很勇敢，你是我见过的最勇敢的人，而且你是我的朋友，就算你是我想象中的又如何呢？”说罢，她沿着来时的路，向着父母和世界跑去。
“I hoped you’d be here. To say good-bye.”
“来之前我很希望你在这里，这样我就能和你说声再见。”
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