21 在陆地上的两天(13)
WITHOUT STANDING UP, we stared in the direction of the forest, my hand stopping halfway to my mouth, Ned Land's completing its assignment.
我们向树林方面看去，但没有站起来，我的手正拿食物向嘴里送就停住了，尼德·兰的手也正好把东西放到嘴中就不动了。
"Stones don't fall from the sky," Conseil said, "or else they deserve to be called meteorites."
康塞尔说："一块石头不能从天上掉下来，不然的话，就应该叫它为陨石了。”
A second well-polished stone removed a tasty ringdove leg from Conseil's hand, giving still greater relevance to his observation.
第二块石头，加工的圆形石头，又落下来，把康塞尔手中好吃的一块山鸠一腿一肉打落了，这证明他的看法更有道理，需要我们注意。
We all three stood up, rifles to our shoulders, ready to answer any attack.
我们三人全站起来，把一槍一扛在肩上，准备立即回答这次·突然的攻击。
"Apes maybe?" Ned Land exclaimed.
“是一些猿猴吗？”尼德·兰喊。
"Nearly," Conseil replied. "Sa一vages."
“可以说是，”康塞尔回答，“他们是野蛮人。”
"Head for the skiff!" I said, moving toward the sea.
“回小艇去。”我说，同时向海边走。
Indeed, it was essential to beat a retreat because some twenty natives, armed with bows and slings, appeared barely a hundred paces off, on the outskirts of a thicket that masked the horizon to our right.
果然，我们必须向后退走，因为有二十来个土人，拿着弓箭和投石器，从遮住了右方天际的丛林边缘出来，相距不过一百步左右。
The skiff was aground ten fathoms away from us.
我们的小艇停在离我们二十米远的海上。
The sa一vages approached without running, but they fa一vored us with a show of the greatest hostility. It was raining stones and arrows.
这些土人并不快跑，慢慢走来；可是他们做种种表示故意的动作。石块和弓筋像雨点一般打来。
Ned Land was unwilling to lea一ve his provisions behind, and despite the impending danger, he clutched his pig on one side, his kangaroos on the other, and scampered off with respectable speed.
尼德·兰不愿意放弃所有的食物，不顾近在眼前的危险，一边拿野猪，一边拿袋鼠，相当快地把食物收拾起来。
In two minutes we were on the strand. Loading provisions and weapons into the skiff, pushing it to sea, and positioning its two oars were the work of an instant. We hadn't gone two cable lengths when a hundred sa一vages, howling and gesticulating, entered the water up to their waists. I looked to see if their appearance might draw some of the Nautilus's men onto the platform. But no. Lying well out, that enormous machine still seemed completely deserted.
两分钟后，我们就到了滩上。把食物和武器放在小艇里，将小艇推人海中，安上两支桨，这是一瞬间的事。我们还没有划到二百米远，一百左右的土人一大喊大叫，指手画脚地一直走到水深至腰间的海水中。我小心地看，以为这些土人的出现一定要把诺第留斯号船上的一些人引到平台上来观看。可是没有；这只庞大的机器船睡在海面上，完全看不见人的踪影。