Arlo climbed up to the top of the ridge¹ and looked out. "Where am I?" he asked himself, looking in every direction. The lump in his throat returned. "Where's home?" he whispered, breathing heavily. He was trying not to panic. But he couldn't see Clawtooth Mountain anywhere. Stretched before him were miles and miles of trees, shrubs², boulders³, and hills ... the vastness of it all made him feel like a tiny speck⁵. Nothing looked familiar. Even the river looked different. And it appeared to go on forever.

 

The river!

 

"I can—I can follow the river home," Arlo said to himself, remembering Poppa's words. He slowly trekked⁶ down, toward the river.

 

There was no simple, clear path to walk. Arlo had to carefully traipse around fallen trees with sharp, jagged branches. He walked cautiously, listening to all the strange sounds of the wilderness⁷. It took all his courage to focus on slowly putting one foot in front of the other.

 

After walking for a bit, Arlo noticed smashed berries scattered⁸ all around and gasped⁹ in excitement. He immediately looked up, and there, on a nearby hillside, he noticed a tree covered with berries.

 

Arlo was starving. He'd never been so hungry, or so happy to see a berry tree. He saw an angled boulder⁴ and balanced himself on top, leaning out to try and get one of the sweet, juicy berries. The boulder tilted¹⁰, but he managed to catch himself, straddling the tree. Craning his neck and stretching out as far as he could, he leaned, and stretched every part of his body. He even stuck his tongue out toward the branch, but he was unable to get to it. He took a deep breath and blew at it, causing it to swing back toward him and... Sweet, joy! He managed to get a quick bite of the juicy berry right before... BAM. He lost his balance and fell, landing on top of his leg!

 

Frustrated¹¹, he tried to pick himself up, but couldn't. His foot was buried under a pile of rocks wedged up against the boulder! He tried and tried, but couldn't break free. He was completely stuck.

 

Eventually, darkness fell over the wilderness. And, like most things, it became even scarier without the light of day. Arlo didn't want to give up. He'd worked hard to pull himself free, leaving hard tracks in the ground as proof. But he was starting to lose hope. The nighttime sounded much louder than the daytime, with many different animals and insects screeching¹² and chirping¹³. Frightened, tired, hungry, and unable to move, Arlo had no choice but to cover his head and try to block it all out. He curled up and closed his eyes.

 

阿乐爬上山背，举目张望。“我这是在哪儿呢？”他四下看了看，自言自语道。他的心又提到了嗓子眼。“家在哪儿呢？”他小声嘀咕着，呼吸也变沉重了。他努力让自己不要慌张，但却怎么也看不到爪牙山。在他眼前的是绵延数英里的树林、灌木、巨石和群山……这广袤无垠的一切让他觉得自己就如同一颗渺小的尘埃。一切都是那么陌生。甚至连河流看起来都不一样了，它似乎没有尽头。

 

河流！

 

“我可以……我可以沿着河流回到家。”阿乐想起了爸爸的话，自言自语地说。他艰难地从山脊上慢慢下来，朝着河流的方向前进。

 

根本就没有简单易行的路可走。阿乐不得不小心地拖着脚步穿行在落在地面尖锐的锯齿状树枝之间。听着荒野里各种奇怪的声音，他的每一步都走得如履薄冰。他鼓起全身的勇气，全神贯注，慢慢地一步步往前挪。

 

走了一会儿，阿乐看到地上散着很多摔碎的浆果，他兴奋得倒吸了一口气。他随即一抬头，发现附近的小山坡上有一棵长满浆果的树。

 

阿乐正饥肠辘辘。他从未如此饥饿过，也从未看到一棵浆果树就如此开心过。他看到一块倾斜的巨石，就踩在上面，站稳之后，倾斜着身子想去摘香甜多汁的浆果。巨石突然倾倒了，他横跨到树上，成功地救回了自己。他尽可能地伸长脖子，伸直四肢，身子前倾，伸展全身的每个部位。他还伸出舌头去够浆果，但是没成功。他深吸一口气，朝果子吹去，让果子摆回他面前……真甜呀，太棒了！他快速咬了一口这多汁的浆果。就在这时……砰！他失去了平衡，摔了下来，单腿着地！

 

他挫败地想从地上站起来，但却失败了。他的一只脚被埋在了巨石碎落下来的岩石堆里！他试了又试，还是没能挣脱出来，他完全被卡住了。

 

最后夜色降临了，黑暗笼罩着荒野。少了白天的光亮，荒野和大部分东西都一样，变得更加可怕了。阿乐不想放弃，他努力地想把自己拉出来，留在地上的深深的印迹就是证明。但是，慢慢地他有些心灰意冷了。各种动物和虫子叽叽喳喳地叫着，夜里的声音比白天要响亮得多。阿乐又怕、又累、又饿，还没法动，他别无选择，只能捂住头，努力不去想这一切。他蜷起身子，闭上了眼睛。

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