《飞屋环游记》第8章

"Wow!" Carl said as he poked around Muntz's trophyroom. It was packed with rare treasures. "Would you look at that? Ah, Ellie. I can't believe I'm actually here!"

He chuckled as Muntz led him past weapons, statues, pottery, jewelry, and other objects from around the world.

"I see you like my collection," Muntz said. "This comforts me, as the years pass. A reminder of who I am. One can lose one's way on these mountains, and over time, one can forget."

Carl was barely listening. He was too entranced with the artifacts around him. "Oh, will you look at that!" he cried. "The Giant Somalian Leopard Tortoise!"

Just then, Alpha entered the room. "Master," he said in a squeaky voice, "dinner is ready."

"Oh, dear," Muntz said. He leaned over to fix the dog's broken translator.

"Thank you, Master," Alpha said in a deep, frightening voice.

"I liked his other voice," Russell said. He cast a nervous glance at Alpha.

Muntz laughed. "Well, dinner is served!"

Muntz fed Carl and Russell hot dogs. "My Ellie would have loved all this," Carl told Muntz. "You know, it's because of you she had this dream to come down here and live by Paradise Falls."

"It's a pleasure to have guests," Muntz said. "More often I get thieves, come to steal what's rightfully mine." Muntz picked up a lantern. He held it high so that Carl could see the hundreds of drawings, photos, and feathers that lined the room. They were all his research on one creature—the Monster of Paradise Falls.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Muntz said, gazing upon his obsession.

Carl looked at the pictures. They seemed very familiar. In fact, it looked as if Muntz had spent decades searching for … Kevin.

"I've spent a lifetime tracking it," Muntz went on. "Trying to smoke it out of that deathly labyrinth where it lives …"

"Hey," Russell said suddenly. "That looks like Kevin!"

Muntz's eyes narrowed. "Kevin?"

"My new giant bird pet," Russell explained.

"But it ran away!" Carl added quickly. "It's gone now."

Muntz gave Carl a long, hard look. Then he walked over to a table that was covered in old flight helmets. "Carl. Those people who come here, they all have a story. A ‘surveyor' making a map." He knocked a helmet to the ground with his cane. "A ‘botanist' cataloging plants." Another helmet tumbled to the floor. "An old man taking his house to Paradise Falls." Muntz tossed a last helmet to the ground. It rolled to a stop at Carl's feet.

Carl didn't like where this conversation was headed. He glanced out the window. Kevin was sitting on the roof of his house! The bird had followed them into the cave. "Well, it's been a wonderful evening, but we'd better get going." Carl grabbed Russell's arm and dragged him out of the room. Muntz followed, his dogs at his heels.

Just then, a wail echoed through the cave.

"Kevin?" Russell cried.

Muntz gasped and looked out the window. "It's here."

He turned toward Carl and Russell—but they had slipped out the door! "Get them!" Muntz shouted to the dogs.

Carl and Russell darted down the gangplank. The dogs bolted after them.

"Hurry!" Carl urged as he and Russell worked to untie the house.

"I am hurrying," Russell insisted.

Just then, the house came loose. They slipped on their harnesses and ran, pulling the house as fast as they could.

A moment later, the dogs poured down the gangplank.

"They're coming!" Russell cried.

"Master, over here!" Dug called out. He showed them a side cave.

Carl and Russell darted toward it, but they weren't fast enough. The dogs were closing in on them.

Kevin leaped from the roof of the house. She picked up Russell and put him on her back. Then she scooped up Carl. She took off, dragging the house.

The bird raced through the cave, dogs hot on her heels. Kevin wove around the tall rock formations. Carl clung to her neck for dear life. Above him, balloons popped as they dragged against the rough ceiling.

Carl's eyes grew wide with dismay.

A giant rock loomed in front of them. The house slammed into it, and Russell fell to the ground. He was still tied into the hose harness. He was being pulled behind Kevin, bumping over the ground.

The dogs were right behind Russell. Alpha snapped at his heels!

Carl stabbed his cane at the dog. "Get back!" Alpha was closing in…

Suddenly, there was a rumble. Then a roar… and in a moment, a wave of rocks swept between the dogs and Russell. The dogs had to stop short.

Russell and Carl looked back as the bird kept running.

A golden figure wearing a large funnel stood at the top of the canyon wall. It was Dug!

"Go on, Master! I will stop the dogs!" Dug slid down the wall. He leaped into a gap between two boulders and turned to face Alpha. "Stop, you dogs!" he commanded.

Alpha lunged. He threw Dug against the wall, hard. The Cone of Shame popped off. Dug was okay, but the dogs raced through the gap.

Kevin blasted forward, then turned suddenly to the right. Russell swung out … over the edge of a cliff. The bird jumped over tall, narrow rocks. They were shaped like five-thousand-foot-tall candles. Russell bounced between the candle-like rocks. "Help!"

"Give me your hand!" Carl commanded. He pulled Russell back onto the bird just as they dropped to a landing.

Kevin came to a sudden stop. They were at the edge of a cliff. At the bottom was a river. "Oh, no!" Russell cried. The dogs were coming behind them. They were trapped.

Overhead, the house kept moving. Carl realized it was about to drag them forward …

"Hang on to Kevin!" he shouted just as the house yanked them over the edge.

The dogs leaped after them. Gamma and Beta fell into the river, but Alpha's teeth sank into Kevin's leg. Kevin cried out, but she managed to shake Alpha off. The dog landed in the water with a splash.

Carl let out a grunt as they landed on the other side of the canyon. He could hear distant barking as the river carried the dogs downstream.

Carl struggled to his feet, breathing hard. He checked his limbs. Nothing broken. He checked his house. No serious damage. He heaved a sigh of relief. He glanced over at Russell.

The boy was rushing toward Kevin. The bird couldn't stand up. She squawked pitifully and fell to the ground. Alpha's bite had injured her leg badly.

Russell bandaged her as well as he could with his first-aid kit. The bird tried to stand up, but she couldn't.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Russell urged. "Kevin! Stay down!" He turned to Carl. "She's hurt real bad. Can't we help her get home?"

Carl peered at the falls. If he waited much longer, the balloons would deflate. Then he'd never make it. But he'd promised Ellie—even crossed his heart.

But he'd made a promise to Russell, too.

Carl glanced at the rock maze.

"All right," Carl said to Russell reluctantly. "But we've got to hurry."

“哇哦！”卡尔发出一声惊呼。他正在参观蒙兹的战利品陈列室，这里满是奇珍异宝。“你看到了吗？啊，艾莉。我真不敢相信自己竟然真的登上了‘探险精神号’！”

蒙兹带他参观了从世界各地搜罗来的武器、雕塑、陶器、珠宝等各类藏品，卡尔笑得合不拢嘴。

“看来你很喜欢我的藏品，”蒙兹说道：“长久以来，它让我感到慰藉，时刻提醒着我是谁。一个人可能会在这些山中迷失方向，随着时间流逝，很容易就会忘了自己的初衷。”

然而卡尔几乎没听进去，他正如痴如醉地欣赏着他周围那些艺术品。“哦，看那个！”他惊呼道，“索马里巨型豹龟！”

这时，大宝走进屋子。“主人，晚餐准备好了。”他说道，依旧顶着那副尖嗓子。

“哦，天哪。”蒙兹边说边俯身去修大宝出了问题的翻译器。

“谢谢你，主人。”大宝用一种深沉恐怖的声音说道。

“我还是喜欢他刚才的声音。”说完，小罗紧张地朝大宝瞥了一眼。

蒙兹大笑道：“好了，去吃晚餐吧！”

蒙兹给卡尔和小罗准备了热狗。“我家艾莉一定会爱上这一切的，”卡尔对蒙兹说，“知道吗？因为你，她一直梦想着能来这儿，住到天堂瀑布旁边。”

“有客人来真好。”蒙兹说，“大多数情况下，只有小偷来偷我的合法财产。”他提起一盏灯笼，举过头顶，以便让卡尔看到整齐排列着的许许多多的图片、照片和羽毛。这全都是他对天堂瀑布里那个怪物的研究。

“很漂亮，对不对？”蒙兹专注地盯着他的收藏品说道。

卡尔看着这些图片，感觉异常熟悉。事实上，似乎蒙兹几十年来一直在寻找的是……凯文！

“我毕生都在寻找它，”蒙兹继续道，“甚至试过用烟把它从它生活着的死亡迷宫中熏出来……”

“嘿，”小罗忽然插嘴道，“那看上去很像凯文！”

蒙兹眯起眼睛反问了一句：“凯文？”

“我的巨鸟新宠物。”小罗解释道。

“可是它跑了！”卡尔连忙补充道，“它现在不见了。”

蒙兹久久地注视着卡尔，目光锐利。然后他走到一张桌子前，桌上放着几个旧飞行头盔。“卡尔，到这儿来的人都有自己的故事。有绘制地图的测量员。”他用手杖把一个头盔扫到地上，继续说道，“有给植物编目的植物学家。”又一个头盔被打翻在地，他继续说道，“还有把房子搬到天堂瀑布的老头。”蒙兹把最后一个头盔扔到地上，头盔滚落到卡尔脚边，停住了。

卡尔不想继续谈论这个话题。他向窗外瞟了一眼，竟然看见凯文正坐在他的房顶上！这只鸟竟然跟着他们进了山洞！“哦，真是个愉快的夜晚，但我们必须得走了。”卡尔一把抓住小罗的胳膊，将他从屋子里往外拖。蒙兹跟着他们，他的狗也紧随其后。

就在这时，山洞里回响起一声哀鸣。

“凯文？”小罗喊道。

蒙兹倒吸了一口气，向窗外望去：“它在这儿！”

他转向卡尔和小罗，但发现这两人已经溜出去了！他冲那群狗喊道：“抓住他们！”

卡尔和小罗冲下舷梯，一群狗紧追在他们身后。

“快点！”卡尔催促道，他和小罗正奋力解开拴着房子的软管。

“我已经很快了。”小罗说。

终于，系着的软管松开了。他们迅速套上软管，拉着房子拼命向前跑。

不一会儿，狗从舷梯上冲了下来。

“狗追来了！”小罗大喊道。

“主人，来这边！”道格站在旁边一个洞口喊道。

卡尔和小罗狂奔过去，但显然他们还不够快，那些狗离他们越来越近。

这时，凯文从房顶上跳下来，她叼起小罗，把他放到自己背上，然后又迅速抱起卡尔，拖着房子飞奔起来。

凯文在山洞中狂奔，狗在她后面穷追不舍。她在高耸的岩石间不断穿梭，卡尔不得不紧紧抱住她的脖子，以免自己掉下去。经过一片粗糙的岩顶时，卡尔听到头顶上气球“砰砰”的爆裂声。

他沮丧地睁大眼睛。

忽然，他们面前出现了一块巨大的岩石，房子撞了上去，小罗也因此掉到了地上。但因为他还套着软管做成的背带，所以被凯文拖在身后，在地面上颠簸。

那群狗紧跟在小罗身后，大宝扑上前去咬他的脚后跟！

卡尔用手杖戳向大宝：“滚回去！”但大宝却离得越来越近……

一阵轰隆声忽然传来，接着又是一声轰鸣……瞬间，一大堆岩石落在了小罗和那群狗中间，狗被迫停了下来。

凯文继续向前跑着，小罗和卡尔回头看了看。

他们看见一道带着大漏斗的金黄色身影正站在峡谷壁顶端，是道格！

“快跑，主人！我来拦住他们！”道格顺着岩壁滑下来，跳到左右两块巨石间的空隙上，转身面向大宝，命令道：“你们这些狗，都给我停下！”

大宝扑过来，狠狠地将道格甩向岩壁，“耻辱锥帽”被撞碎了。不过道格并无大碍，只是那群狗便顺利地从空隙中冲了过去。

凯文大叫着向前冲，忽然转向右边。小罗一下子被甩了出去，吊在悬崖边上左右摇摆。凯文跃过高耸狭窄的岩石，那些石头看起来就像是五千英尺高的蜡烛一样，小罗就在这之间弹来弹去，他吓得大叫：“救命啊！”

“把手给我！”卡尔命令道。他一把将小罗拽到了凯文背上，紧接着他们便跳上前方的一块陆地。

凯文忽然来了个急刹车，因为前面是悬崖，而下面就是一条河。“哦，不！”小罗大叫道。狗追到了他们身后，他们被困住了。

头顶上，房子还在移动着。卡尔意识到他们会被房子拖着向 前走……

“抱紧凯文！”他刚说完，房子猛地一拉，把他们带离了悬崖边。

那群狗跳起来想要抓住他们。小宝和二宝掉进了河里，但大宝却紧紧咬住了凯文的腿。凯文大叫一声，用力一甩，成功地把大宝甩开了。大宝也“扑通”一声掉进河里，溅起一片水花。

降落到峡谷另一边时，卡尔哼了一声。河水把那群狗带向了下游，狗吠声变得越来越弱。

卡尔喘着粗气，挣扎着站了起来。他活动了一下筋骨，还好，没有骨折。他又检查了一下房子，也还好，并无大碍。然后他松了口气，朝小罗瞥去。

小罗正奔向凯文。凯文站不起来了，她痛苦地哀鸣着，跌倒在地上。大宝刚刚咬的那一口，让她的腿受了重伤。

小罗尽全力用急救包里的物品给凯文包扎了伤口。凯文试图站起来，但却未能如愿。

“不，不，不，不，不！”小罗着急道，“凯文！躺着别动！”他又转头看向卡尔说：“她伤得很重，我们能送她回家吗？”

卡尔凝望着瀑布。如果再拖下去，气球就都漏气了，那样他就永远都到不了天堂瀑布。可是他对艾莉许诺过，甚至发过誓。

但是，他对小罗也许过承诺。

卡尔瞅了一眼远处的岩石迷宫。

最终他不情愿地对小罗说道：“好吧，但我们得快点。”