正文内容第 4 章
木乃伊的诅咒
这个袋子实在太沉了,我们俩根本抬不动,只好拖着它在丛林中缓慢 行进。本来沿着河岸的沙滩回家很快就能到的,但我不想被人看见,也不 想让爸爸妈妈知道我们捡了五十万块钱,他们肯定会让我们把钱都交给警 察的。
“你们不能把这五十万据为己有,”我能想象妈妈说的话,“一定是 谁不小心给弄丢了。”
“把它交给警察,”我能听到爸爸说,“他们会找到它合法的主人。”
丛林还是最好的躲避强盗的地方。如果强盗正好划着船沿着危机河漫 游,看见我们拖着这么大一袋现金,这些钱还能是我们的吗?恐怕顷刻间 就会化为乌有!我们呢?恐怕也会顷刻间化为乌有!
在丛林中,我们远离所有人。但在丛林中拖动这只运动袋可真不容易。 一袋钱比你想象的要重得多,一张五十元很轻,但成千上万张五十元就很 重很重。我并不抱怨,为了能把这五十万藏到一个安全的地方,我才不介 意流点汗,但本不行,他抱怨个没完。
“我们要把这些钱拉多远啊?”他哼哼唧唧地埋怨着。钱袋子被卡 在了两棵瘦骨嶙峋的小树中间。这已经是我们离开红树林后第五十次被 卡住了。
“我们应该沿着河岸走,那样更快一点儿。”本说。 “是更快,但更不安全。”我说。 我们用力把袋子从树中间拽了出来。只要没有遮挡,我就透过树枝窥
探,来判断我们所在的位置。在前面我已经能看到房子了,我们就快到家了。 “我们应该把钱藏在这里。”我说,“要找一个我们能看见但别人看
Chapter 4
the MUMMY’S CUrSe
The bag is too heavy to carry so Ben and I drag it through the bush. It would be much faster to go home along the sandy riverbank. But I don’t want to be seen. I don’t want Mum and Dad to know we’ve found half a million dollars. They’ll make us give it to the police.
‘You can’t keep five hundred thousand dollars,’ I can imagine Mum saying.
‘It must belong to someone.’
‘Hand it over to the police,’ I can hear Dad saying. ‘They’ll find the rightful owners.’
The bush is also the best place to avoid robbers. How long would our money last if a robber cruised down Hazard River in his boat and saw us dragging a huge bag of cash? It wouldn’t last a second. And what would happen to us? We wouldn’t last a second, either.
Here in the bush we’re away from everyone. But it’s not easy to drag the sports bag through the bush. Bags of money are a lot heavier than you’d think. One fifty-dollar note is light, but thousands of them are very heavy. Not that I’m complaining. I don’t mind sweating a bit to get half a million dollars into a nice safe hiding spot. But Ben does. He’s complaining a lot.
‘How far do we have to take this money?’ he whines. The bag is wedged between two thin trees. It’s the fiftieth time it’s been stuck since we left the mangroves.
‘We should have gone along the river. It’s quicker,’ Ben says.
‘Quicker, but not safer,’ I say.
We wriggle the bag free of the trees. Once it’s clear, I peer through the branches to assess our position. Ahead, I can see houses. We are almost home.
‘We should hide the money around here,’ I say. ‘We need a place that we