大約正午時分，我們在一個茂密的灌木叢中躺下睡覺。艾倫擔任頭班警戒，我擔任下一班。我們沒有鍾表，艾倫就在地上插了一根樹枝，在東邊地上做了個記號，讓我等樹枝的影子照到記號那地方時叫醒他。
He told me to wake him when the shadow ofthe heather reached the mark. Suddenly I openedmy eyes. The sun had moved a long way. I looked atthe stick of heather. I was filled with shame andfear. I had slept during my watch. We were in danger！
Red - coats vere moving towards us from thesouth - east. They were riding their horses throughthe deep parts of the heather.
我 突然醒來，睜開了眼睛。太陽已經移動了一大截子。我看了看樹枝，感到既內疚，又害怕。我在擔任警戒時竟然睡著了。我們的處境很危險！紅外套從東南方向朝我們包抄過來，他們騎著馬，從灌木叢深處蜂擁而來。
I woke Alan. He looked at the soldiers，andthen at the sun’s position. His face was sharp andanxious，but he said no words of blame.
我叫醒了艾倫。他瞅了瞅紅外套，又看了看太陽的位置，臉色既嚴峻又焦急，可是沒有說一句責怪我的話。
“We mus t run ，”he said.“Le t us go towa rdsBe n Ald e r. ”He pointed to a mountain in the north
“咱們跑吧，往本奧爾德爾山那邊跑。”他指了指東北方向的一座
ｅａｓｔ．“It is a wild ，empty mounta in with hills a nd hollows. If we ca n g e t the re be fore morning ，we ma y bes a fe .”
山，對我說。“那座山上荒無人煙，到處是山崗和穀地。咱們要是能在天亮前趕到那裏，也許可以脫險。”
“But Ala n ，”I cried，“tha t will le a d us a cros s thepa th of the soldie rs ！”
“可是，艾倫，這樣咱們就得從那些士兵的路中間插過去。”找大聲說。
“I know tha t，”he said.“But if we turn ba ck toAppin ，we sha ll be two de a d me n . Now，Da vid ，hurry！”
艾倫說：“這我知道。可是，咱們要是折回亞品，就隻能死在半道上。好了，大衛，快！”
He moved quickly forward on his hands andknees. We wound in and out of the moorland hollows.
Our faces were covered with dust，and ourbodies ached. Now and again there was a sound ofwings. A bird was rising out of the heather. We haddisturbed it. We lay still.