Nearby, a creature blasted across a field of grass and into the cover of a grove¹ of trees. Three dogs chased it at top speed. The prey² dodged³ and ran, avoiding the traps that someone had set for it. It was a large, colorful bird. It couldn't fly, but it could run fast. Feathers flew as the bird burst from a grove. It came to a stop in front of a wall of rock. The bird was trapped! The dogs closed in…

But in a flash, the bird leaped over the rock and escaped!

The dogs were about to follow, but a shrill⁴ whine⁵ passed nearby. It was Carl's hearing aid. The noise hurt the dogs' sensitive ears. They ran away, whimpering in pain.

"Darn thing," Carl groused⁶ as he and Russell walked through the jungle. Carl adjusted his hearing aid again. But now it wasn't the hearing aid that was whining⁷. It was Russell.

"C'mon, Russell!" Carl called. "Would you hurry it up?"

"I'm tired and my knee hurts," Russell griped.

"Which knee?"

Russell ignored the question. "My elbow hurts and I have to go to the bathroom."

"I asked you about that five minutes ago!"

Russell dragged his feet. "Well, I didn't have to go then! I don't want to walk anymore." He lay face-down in the dirt.

With every step Carl took, Russell was dragged a little on the ground.

"Can we stop?" asked Russell.

Carl was getting impatient. "Russell! If you don't hurry up, the tigers will eat you."

"There's no tigers in South America." Russell rolled over onto his back and pointed⁸ to a badge with a paw print on it. "Zoology," he said, and then rolled back over onto his face.

"Oh, for the love of Pete." Carl waved at the shrubbery. "Go on into the bushes and do your business."

"Okay! Here, hold my stuff." Russell handed his backpack to Carl and hurried toward the bushes. He was carrying a small shovel¹⁰ and a handful of leaves. "I've always wanted to try this!"

Try this? Carl thought. Are you telling me the boy doesn't know how to go to the bathroom?

"Mr. Fredricksen?" Russell asked after a moment. "Am I supposed to dig the hole before or after?"

"Ugh. None of my concern!"

"Oh. It's before!" Russell called.

Carl shook his head.

Russell was just about to head back toward the house when he spotted¹¹ some weird¹² tracks in the dirt. They looked almost like bird tracks. Only they were huge. Russell could fit three of his own feet in one footprint. "Huh? Tracks? Snipe!" Remembering what Carl had told him, Russell clapped three times. "Here, snipe. Come on out, snipe. Sniiiiipe!"

Suddenly, the trail disappeared.

"Huh?" Russell stopped to think for a moment. He pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket.

Something rustled¹³ in the bushes nearby.

Russell turned to look. He caught a flash of a big orange beak¹⁴ out of the corner of his eye—as something took a nibble¹⁵ of chocolate! "Gotcha!" he cried as the creature disappeared into the shrub⁹. "Don't be afraid, little snipe. I am a Wilderness¹⁶ Explorer, so I am a friend to all of nature. Want some more?" Russell held out his chocolate bar.

The bird poked¹⁷ its beak out of the leaves and nibbled¹⁸ at the chocolate.

"Hi, boy." Russell's heart fluttered. He had never been this close to a wild bird before! "Don't eat it all. Come on out." The bird poked its blue-plumed head out of the shrubbery and glanced nervously¹⁹ at Russell. "Come on. Don't be afraid, little snipe," Russell urged. A long leg reached out of the bushes, followed by a pink and purple wing. "Nice snipe. Good little snipe." Another leg followed the first one, and the bird stood up.

Russell's eyes bugged²⁰. The bird was enormous— more than twice his height. "Nice … giant snipe!"

Russell couldn't wait to show Mr. Fredricksen! He took the bird gently by the wing and walked to where Carl was fiddling²¹ with the garden hose. He had his back to Russell.

"I found a snipe!" Russell announced.

"Oh, did you?" Carl didn't turn around.

"Are they tall?" Russell asked, looking up at the colorful bird.

Carl decided²² to humor the kid. "Oh, yes, they're very tall."

"Do they have a lot of colors?"

"They do indeed."

"Do they like chocolate?"

"Oh, yes… chocolate?" Wait a minute… Carl froze. Slowly, he turned around and saw Russell—standing²³ next to an enormous bird. Carl let out a shout. "What is that thing?"

The bird chirped²⁴ at Carl as if it were saying hello.

"It's a snipe!" Russell said.

"There's no such thing as a snipe!" Carl barked.

"But you said snipes eat your azaleas!" said Russell.

Carl grabbed Russell and pulled him away from Birdzilla. The bird hissed²⁶ at Carl. It grabbed Russell, holding him in its wings like a baby.

"Hey!" Carl shouted as Russell giggled²⁷. "Go on, get out of here." Carl shooed the bird. "Go on!"

The bird hissed again. Then it climbed a nearby tree. It tossed Russell into the air and caught him again.

Russell laughed. "Whoa!"

"Careful, Russell!" Carl shouted—as if Russell were in charge of the situation.

"Hey, look, Mr. Fredricksen," Russell called. "It likes me!" The bird held him upside down, and his cap fell off. "Whoa!" The bird pecked lightly at Russell's hair.

"No, stop!" Russell begged. "That tickles²⁸!"

Carl poked at the bird with his cane²⁹. "Get out of here. Go on, git!"

The bird set Russell down gently at the base of the tree. Then it hissed at Carl.

"Uh-oh!" Russell hurried to Carl's side. "No, no, no, Kevin," he told the bird, "it's okay. Mr. Fredricksen is nice!" He patted Carl on the head to demonstrate.

"Kevin?" Carl asked.

"Yeah. That's his name I just gave him."

The bird patted Carl on the head with its beak. "Beat it! Vamoose! Scram!" Carl waved his cane at the bird, but the creature ate it. Carl watched a cane-shaped bulge³⁰ slide down the bird's slim neck.

"Hey!" he griped. "That's mine."

The bird coughed up the cane. It landed at Carl's feet.

Carl let out a frustrated³¹ sigh. "Shoo, shoo!" He waved at the bird. The bird waved back. Carl couldn't believe it—the bird was mimicking³² him! "Get out of here," Carl said. "Go on, beat it."

But the bird didn't go anywhere.

Carl threw his hands in the air. He untied³³ the garden hose from a nearby tree and put his harness back on.

"Can we keep him?" Russell begged. Using the bird's legs as stilts³⁴, Russell walked the creature over to Carl. "Please? I'll get the food for him, I'll walk him, I'll change his newspapers."

"No!" Carl snapped.

But Russell wouldn't give up. "An Explorer is a friend to all, be it plants or fish or tiny mole," he said, reciting the Wilderness Explorers motto.

"That doesn't even rhyme," said Carl.

"Yeah, it does," Russell insisted. He pointed to the roof of Carl's house. "Hey, look—Kevin!"

Sure enough, the giant bird had hopped³⁵ on top of the house.

"What? Get down! You're not allowed up there!" Carl yelled.

Kevin pecked at the balloons, then swallowed one. A giant egg shape went down the bird's slender throat. Pop! The shape disappeared. Kevin coughed up a deflated³⁶ balloon.

"You come down here right now!" Carl insisted.

Kevin slid down the hose and hid behind Russell.

"Sheesh!" Carl grumbled³⁷. "Can you believe this, Ellie?"

Suddenly, Russell had an idea. Why was Carl the only one who could talk to Ellie? "Ellie?" Russell said to the house. "Uh, hey, Ellie, could I keep the bird? Uh-huh? Uh-huh?" He looked at Carl. "She said for you to let me."

Carl looked up at the house. "But I told him no—" Suddenly, he caught himself. "I told you no!" he scolded Russell. "N-O."

Kevin let out a harsh hiss²⁵.

Muttering to himself, Carl started walking. Pulling the house behind him was hard work, even with Russell's help. And Russell wasn't much help at the moment. He was distracted.

"I see you back there," said Carl.

Russell was walking slowly behind Carl, dropping pieces of chocolate. Kevin was following the chocolate trail—snatching up the pieces.

Carl turned back and yelled at the bird. "Go on, get out of here. Shoo! Go annoy someone else for a while."

"Hey, are you okay over there?" asked a voice.

With a squawk, the bird dashed away.

"Uh, hello?" Carl peered into the mist. Dimly, he could make out a human-shaped figure. It was standing above them, on a rock. "Oh, hello, sir. Thank goodness. It's nice to know someone else is up here."

"I can smell you," said the figure.

Carl stopped in his tracks. That was a peculiar³⁸ thing to say. "What? You can smell us?"

"I can smell you."

Carl took another step toward the figure. Just then, the fog lifted, and he saw that it wasn't a person he had been talking to.

Russell giggled. "You were talking to a rock!"

It was true—Carl had mistaken a rock formation for the profile of a person.

Russell pointed at another distinctive-looking rock. "Hey. That one looks like a turtle!"

Carl frowned. Russell was right.

"Look at that one! That one looks like a dog!" Russell said.

Just then, the rock moved.

"It is a dog!" Russell shrieked³⁹.

It was, in fact, a rather sweet and goofy-looking golden retriever. And he was wearing a very high-tech⁴⁰ collar.

"Uh, we're not allowed to have dogs in my apartment," Russell said a little tentatively.

The dog put his head under Russell's hand, so Russell gave him a little pat. Then he patted the dog again. The dog wagged his tail.

"Hey, I like dogs!" exclaimed Russell.

"We have your dog," Carl called. He figured the dog's owner couldn't be too far behind. After all, they'd just been talking to him.

Russell continued to scratch the dog under his chin, while the dog wiggled happily.

"I wonder who he belongs to," Carl muttered.

"Sit, boy," Russell said.

The dog sat.

"Hey, look! He's trained! Shake!"

The dog held out a paw, and Russell shook it.

"Uh-huh." Russell smiled. "Speak."

"Hi there," said the dog.

Carl's jaw⁴¹ dropped. Russell gasped⁴².

"Did that dog just say ‘hi there'?" Carl asked.

"Oh, yes," said the dog.

Carl shrieked and jumped back, but the dog just wagged his tail enthusiastically. "My name is Dug," the dog said. "I have just met you and I love you." Dug jumped up on Carl.

"What?" Carl couldn't believe it—he hoped that his hearing aid had gone haywire.

"My master made me this collar," Dug explained. "He is a good and smart master and he made me this collar so that I may talk—squirrel!" Dug froze and focused on a nearby tree.

Nothing moved. False alarm. No squirrel. "My master is good and smart," Dug repeated.

"It's not possible," Carl said.

"Oh, it is," Dug replied, "because my master is smart."

"Cool!" Russell leaned over to inspect Dug's collar. "What do these do, boy?" He pushed a few of the buttons.

"Hey," Dug said, suddenly switching to a foreign accent, "would you acuerdo contigo?"

What's that? Carl wondered. Italian?

Now Dug was talking like a robot. "I use that collar to—" Russell pressed a button and Dug switched to another language. "—watashi wa hanashimasu to talk with—" Russell punched another switch, and Dug's voice returned to normal. "I would be happy if you stopped."

"Russell, don't touch that!" Carl snapped. "It could be radioactive."

"I am a great tracker," Dug said. "My pack sent me on a special mission all by myself. Have you seen a bird? I want to find one and I have been on the scent⁴³. I'm a great tracker, did I mention that?"

Just then, Kevin leaped from the bushes and tackled Dug. The giant bird let out a dangerous hiss.

"Hey," Dug said happily, "that is the bird! I have never seen one up close, but this is the bird." He looked at Carl. "May I take your bird back to camp as my prisoner?"

To Carl, this seemed like a silly question, since the bird appeared to be holding Dug prisoner. Still—if Dug took the bird, two out of Carl's three biggest problems would be solved. "Yes! Yes! Take it! And on the way, learn how to bark like a real dog."

"Oh, I can bark." Dug let out a couple of good barks. "And here's howling." He howled.

The bird hissed at Dug.

"Can I keep him?" asked Russell.

"No," replied Carl.

Russell clasped his hands and fell to his knees, pleading.

"But it's a talking dog!" he cried.

"It's just a weird trick or something. Come on!" Carl pulled Russell away from Dug and Kevin.

The bird followed them, and Dug followed the bird.

"Please be my prisoner. Oh, please be my prisoner," Dug said to Kevin.

Carl rolled his eyes. What's going to follow us next? he wondered. A dancing hippopotamus⁴⁴?

 

不远处，一只小动物疾速穿过草地，跑进了一片灌木丛。三只狗在全速追赶。这只动物一边跑，一边躲避着他人设置的陷阱。这是一只体形巨大的鸟儿，羽毛五颜六色。虽然无法飞翔，但它的奔跑速度却相当快。鸟儿从树林中冲出来时，羽毛飞了起来。跑到一堵石墙前面后，它停了下来。鸟儿被困住了！三只狗逐渐逼近……

但就在一瞬间，鸟儿腾空跃起，从岩石上跳了出去，逃走了！

狗刚要追上去，附近传来一阵尖锐刺耳的声音。那是卡尔的助听器发出的响声。这种声音刺激了狗灵敏的耳朵，他们痛苦地呜咽着，跑远了。

“该死！”两人穿过丛林时，卡尔抱怨道。卡尔又调了调助听器。但这次的声音不是助听器发出的，而是小罗在大声说话。

“快点啊，小罗！”卡尔喊道，“你能快点吗？”

“我累了，膝盖好疼。”小罗抱怨道。

“哪边膝盖？”

小罗并没有回答，而是说：“我的胳膊肘也很疼，我还要去上厕所。”

“五分钟前我不是刚问过你嘛。”

小罗拖着脚艰难地走着，他说：“嗯，那个时候我还不想去嘛！我走不动了。”说完，便一头趴到了地上。

卡尔每走一步，小罗就会在地上被拖着往前跟一步。

“咱们停一下吧？”小罗问道。

卡尔变得不耐烦了：“小罗！如果你不快点的话，老虎就会把你吃掉。”

“南美洲才没有老虎呢。”小罗翻了个身，用手指着一枚印有爪印的徽章说道，“我在动物书上学到的。”说着，他又翻过身，趴向地面。

“哦，看在老天的分上。”卡尔向灌木丛摆了摆手，“快去灌木丛里解决个人问题吧。”

“好的！拿着，看好我的东西。”小罗把背包递给卡尔，匆匆地朝灌木丛走去。他拎着一把小铲子和一把树叶。“我早就想试一下这个了！”

试试这个？卡尔想着。难道是在告诉我这个男孩不知道怎么上厕所吗？

“费迪逊先生？”过了一小会儿，小罗问道：“我应该提前挖洞还是上完厕所再挖洞啊？”

“啊。这不关我事！”

“哦。那就是提前挖！”小罗喊道。

卡尔摇了摇头。

小罗正要向卡尔房子走去，这时，他发现地上有一些奇怪的痕迹。这些痕迹看起来很像鸟的足迹，只不过它们非常巨大，每一个脚印大概能容纳小罗的三只脚。“什么？脚印？鹬！”小罗记起了卡尔的话，边向前走，边击掌三次，喊道：“来吧，鹬。出来吧，鹬。鹬——！”

突然，足迹消失了。

“啊？”小罗停下来想了一会儿，接着从口袋里掏出来一块巧克力。

这时，附近灌木丛里传出了“沙沙”声。

小罗转过身，用眼角的余光瞥见了一只闪闪发光的橙色大嘴——那东西突然啄了一口巧克力！“我看到你了！”就在这个生物缩回灌木丛时，他喊道：“不要害怕，小鹬。我是一名野外探险家，所以我是大自然的朋友。你想再来点儿吗？”说着，小罗把他的巧克力递了上去。

这只鸟从树叶里探出了喙，一口一口地啄着小罗的巧克力。

“嗨，小家伙。”小罗的心怦怦直跳，他从没这么近距离地接近过一只野生的鸟！“别吃光了，出来吧。”这只鸟从灌木丛中伸出蓝色的头颈，紧张地瞥了小罗一眼。“来吧。不要害怕，小鹬，”小罗催促道。一条长长的腿从灌木丛中伸出，接着一只粉紫色的翅膀也露了出来。“美丽的鹬，可爱的小鹬。”接着，鸟的另一条腿也跟着露了出来，这样，大鸟就露出了全身。

小罗睁大了眼睛。这只鸟体形巨大——两个小罗加起来都没它高。“很好……大鹬！”

小罗迫不及待地要向费迪逊先生展示他的新发现！他轻轻地拉着鸟儿的翅膀，走到卡尔那里。此时卡尔正背对着小罗，在摆弄花园软管。

“我发现了一只鹬！”小罗宣布。

“哦，是嘛？”卡尔并没有转过身来。

“它们是不是很高？”小罗抬头看了看那只亮丽多彩的鸟儿问道。

卡尔决定逗逗这个孩子：“噢，是的，它们非常高。”

“它们是不是绚丽多彩？”

“是的，它们确实绚丽多彩。”

“那它们喜欢吃巧克力吗？”

“哦，是的……巧克力？”等一下……卡尔呆住了。他慢慢地转过身，看到小罗正站在一只巨形大鸟的旁边。卡尔大喊一声：“那是什么？”

那只鸟向卡尔发出啁啾声，好像在问好。

“是鹬！”小罗说。

“根本就没有什么鹬！”卡尔咆哮起来。

“但是你说鹬偷吃了你的杜鹃花！”小罗说。

卡尔抓住小罗，把他从这只大鸟旁边拉回来。鸟冲着卡尔发出“嘶嘶”声，一把抓住小罗，用翅膀像保护婴儿一样护着他。

“嘿！”卡尔看到小罗正冲他咯咯地笑着，吼道，“快点，离开这里。”卡尔去驱赶那只鸟，嘴里喊着，“快走！”

大鸟再次发出“嘶嘶”声，然后爬上了附近的一棵树。它把小罗抛到空中，又用爪子接住了他。

小罗开心地笑着。“哇喔！”

“小心，小罗！”卡尔喊道——好像是小罗在主导这一情况一样。

“嘿，看，费迪逊先生，”小罗叫道，“它喜欢我！”大鸟把小罗抛来抛去，小罗的帽子掉了下来。“哇喔！”大鸟轻轻地啄了啄小罗的头发。

“不，快停下来！”小罗恳求道，“好痒！”

卡尔拿着手杖来戳大鸟。“赶快离开这儿。走吧，蠢货！”

大鸟将小罗轻轻地放到大树旁，然后冲着卡尔“嘶嘶”地叫起来。

“哦哦！”小罗急忙跑到卡尔身边。“不，不，不，凯文，”他对那只鸟儿说，“没关系。费迪逊先生是好人！”他拍了拍卡尔的头，向大鸟展示卡尔的友好。

“凯文？”卡尔问道。

“是啊。那是我刚给他起的名字。”

那只鸟用它的喙轻轻地拍了拍卡尔的头。“打你！快跑！快跑开！”卡尔向那只大鸟挥舞着手杖，但手杖却被大鸟吃掉了。卡尔清楚地看到了一个手杖形状的凸起从那只鸟的细脖子上滑落下来。

“嘿！”他紧追着大鸟，“那是我的。”

鸟儿把手杖咳了出来，正好落到了卡尔脚旁。

卡尔沮丧地叹了一口气。“嘘，嘘！”他向那只鸟儿挥舞着手臂。鸟儿也向他挥挥手。卡尔简直不敢相信，这只鸟竟然在模仿他！“走开，”卡尔说，“来，打它。”

但是大鸟纹丝不动。

卡尔最终放弃了。他伸手把花园软管从旁边那棵树上解下来，然后系在了自己的身上。

“我们能留下他吗？”小罗恳求道。小罗踩着鸟腿，就像踩着高跷一样，一步步走到卡尔身旁。“求你了。我会给他找吃的，我会带它散步，我还会帮他换报纸。”

“不行！”卡尔厉声说道。

但小罗仍不放弃。“探险家是所有动物的朋友，不管是植物、鱼，还是小鼹鼠。”他背诵着野外探险家的口号。

“一点都不押韵。”卡尔说道。

“不，押韵，”小罗坚持说。他指了指卡尔家的屋顶。“嘿，看——凯文！”

果然，那只巨型大鸟在屋顶跳了一下。

“什么？下来！我不允许你到我房顶上！”卡尔喊道。

凯文啄着气球，然后吞下一只。只见一只巨大的气球滑过这只鸟细长的喉咙，然后“嘭”的一声，消失不见了。接着，凯文咳出一只泄了气的气球。

“立刻给我下来！”卡尔语气十分坚定地说。

凯文从软管上滑下来，躲到了小罗身后。

“天哪！”卡尔抱怨道,“艾莉，你相信吗？竟然有这样的事？”

突然小罗灵机一动，有了主意。为什么只有卡尔可以跟艾莉交流呢？“艾莉？”小罗对着房子说，“嗯，嗨，艾莉，我能留下那只鸟吗？嗯？嗯？”然后他看了看卡尔说，“她替你说了，可以。”

卡尔抬头看了看房子。“可我跟他说了不可以——”突然，卡尔反应了过来。于是，他冲小罗大吼道：“我告诉你不可以！不——可——以。”

凯文发出一声刺耳的“嘘”声。

卡尔喃喃自语着，开始继续向前走。虽然有小罗的帮助，但拖着身后的房子行走仍然是一项辛苦的工作。而此刻，小罗又在分心，并没有帮到多少忙。

“别以为你在我后面我就看不到。”卡尔说。

小罗跟在卡尔身后慢慢地走着，一块一块地扔着巧克力。凯文循着巧克力前行着——一点一点吃掉巧克力块。

卡尔转过身来，冲那只鸟儿喊道：“走吧，离开这里。嘘！去烦别人吧。”

“嘿，你没事吧？”一个声音忽然问道。

随着一声叫喊，鸟儿跑掉了。

“嗯，你好？”卡尔透过雾气张望着。朦胧中，他辨认出一个人的轮廓。那个身影正站在不远处一块较高的岩石上。“哦，你好，先生。谢天谢地。在这儿能见到其他人的感觉真好。”

“我能闻到了你们的气味。”这个身影继续说。

卡尔停下了脚步。这真是个奇特的本领。“什么？你能闻到我们的气味？”

“对，我能闻出你们的味道。”

卡尔朝着这个身影又迈进了一步。就在这时，雾散了，他看见刚刚和他说话的并不是一个人。

小罗咯咯地笑起来：“你在跟一块石头说话！”

确实——卡尔误把一块石头看成一个人了。

小罗指着另一块形状奇特的岩石说：“嘿，那块石头看起来像只乌龟！”

卡尔皱起了眉头。不过，小罗说得没错。

“看那块石头！真像一条狗！”小罗又说。

就在这时，那块岩石动了。

“真是一条狗！”小罗尖叫起来。

事实上，这是一只相当可爱、呆萌的金毛猎犬。他戴着一个高科技项圈。

“嗯，我们住的房子里禁止养狗。”小罗试探性地说道。

小狗用头拱了拱小罗的手，小罗顺手轻轻地拍了它一下。然后，小罗忍不住又轻轻地拍了一下。小狗摇起了尾巴。

“嘿，我喜欢狗！”小罗喊道。

“你的狗在我们这儿！”卡尔大喊了一声。他觉得狗主人应该不会离得太远。毕竟，他们刚才一直在跟狗主人说话。

小罗继续摸着小狗的下巴，小狗也快活地扭动着身子。

“这是谁的狗啊。”卡尔喃喃地说。

“小家伙，坐下。”小罗说。

小狗顺从地坐下了。

“嘿，看！他受过训练！握手！”

于是小狗伸出一只爪子，小罗伸手握了握。

“嗯，”小罗笑了。“说话。”

“嗨，你好。”狗说。

卡尔惊得下巴都快掉下来了，而小罗则不禁倒吸了一口凉气。

“那条狗是不是刚才说了‘嗨，你好’？”卡尔问。

“哦，是的。”狗回答道。

卡尔尖叫着往后跳了一步，但这条狗仍在热情地摇着尾巴。“我叫道格，”狗说，“虽然是初次见面，但我喜欢你。”道格跳到了卡尔身上。

“什么？”卡尔无法相信自己的耳朵——他倒希望是自己的助听器失灵了。

“我的主人给我做了这个项圈，”道格解释道，“他是个聪明的好主人，有了这个项圈，我就可以讲话了——松鼠！”道格顿住了，盯着附近的一棵树。

什么动静都没有。原来是假警报，并没有松鼠。“我的主人是个聪明的好主人。”道格重复道。

“这不可能。”卡尔说。

“哦，是真的，”道格回答道，“因为我的主人特别聪明。”

“酷！”小罗俯下身去检查道格的项圈。“这些按钮都有什么用呢，小家伙？”说着，他按下了几个按钮。

“嗨，”道格突然换成了一种外国口音，“你—Acuerdo—你？”

它在说什么？卡尔感到很疑惑，意大利语？

而现在道格说起话来就像一个机器人。“我用那个项圈——”话没说完，小罗按下了另一个按钮，道格又切换了一种不同的语言。“—watashi wa hanashimasu—讲话。”小罗打开另一个开关，道格的声音恢复了正常。“如果你停下来，我会很高兴的。”

“小罗，别碰它！”卡尔厉声说，“没准会有辐射什么的。”

“我是个很棒的追踪者，”道格说，“我的伙伴让我独立完成一项特殊的使命。你见过一只鸟吗？我想找到一只鸟，我一直在根据气味寻找它。我是一个伟大的追踪者，我跟您说过吗？”

就在这时，凯文从灌木丛中跳了出来，一下抓住道格。这只大鸟发出了可怕的“嘶嘶”声。

“嘿，”道格高兴地说，“就是这种鸟！虽然我从没这么近距离地观察过它，但我确定，就是它。”他看着卡尔，问道：“我可以把你这只大鸟当作俘虏带回营地吗？”

对卡尔来说，这真是一个愚蠢的问题，因为看起来更像是这只大鸟抓住了这条狗作俘虏。而且，如果道格带走了这只鸟，三大问题中的两个就都解决了。“好！好！带走它吧！回去的路上学一下怎么像真正的狗一样吠叫。”

“哦，我会吠叫。‘汪汪汪’。”道格连叫好几声。“我还会嗥叫。”说着就嗥了一声。

鸟儿向道格发出了“嘶嘶”声。

“我能把这只狗留下来吗？”小罗问道。

“不能。”卡尔回答道。

小罗紧握双手，跪了下来，恳求着。

“它可是一只会说话的狗啊！”他央求道。

“那不过是古怪的把戏之类的。快走吧！”卡尔把小罗从道格和凯文旁边拉走了。

但鸟儿还跟着他们，道格也跟着那只鸟。

“请做我的俘虏吧。求你了，做我的俘虏吧，”道格对凯文说。

卡尔翻了个白眼。接下来还会有什么跟着我们呢？他好奇地想着。难道还有会跳舞的河马？

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