As the big moon glowed above, Arlo, Spot, Nash, Ramsey, and Butch sat around a crackling campfire. Nash blew a tune¹ on a bug² harmonica while Ramsey played with Spot. She held a stick while Spot chased it around and tugged³ on it, growling⁴ and loving every second. Ramsey pulled back on the stick, and Spot held on so tightly that when she raised the stick up, she hoisted⁵ him into the air. Then he started chewing on her arm. "Aren't you the cutest?" Ramsey said, chuckling⁶.

 

"You and that critter showed real grit⁷ today," Butch said.

 

Arlo couldn't help but smile.

 

Nash stopped playing the harmonica and held it up. He asked Arlo if he would trade Spot for it.

 

"Thanks, but Spot ain't for tradin'," said Arlo.

 

"Your loss," said Nash. Then he tossed the bug into his mouth and ate it.

 

Arlo's forearm throbbed⁸ with pain. He touched the small bruise⁹ and cut, checking out its severity. Ramsey took a look at it and gently said, "That's a good one. Gonna scar up real good."

 

"That's nothing!" said Nash. "Look at this!" he lifted his foot and held up his leg, showing off an ugly scar on his calf¹⁰. "I run into fifteen outlaw¹¹ Steggos," he said, getting into the story. "They were all bigger 'n me. An' meaner than me."

 

"What happened?" Arlo asked, intrigued¹².

 

"Fought 'em off of course! Was winn' too, then one gets his dang spiky¹³ tail stuck in my foot, and pulls."

 

"Woah." Arlo was impressed.

 

Nash put his foot right into the campfire. "Still can't feel my toes," he said, holding his foot over the dancing flames and wiggling his toes.

 

Then Ramsey shared a story. "Once, a stampede of longhorns was comin' right at me. But my tail was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I was dead for sure." She whipped her tail around, revealing nothing but a short nub. "So I chewed the dang thing off!" She and Nash howled with laughter.

 

"Who does that? Nobody does that." Nash said through his laughter.

 

Arlo stared at Ramsey's chewed tail in shock. She held it up, close to his face, and he pretended to laugh along with them. But then he pushed it aside with an uncomfortable chuckle¹⁴.

 

Arlo turned to Butch and asked him how he got his scar.

 

"I don't know if you're ready for that story," said Butch ominously¹⁵.

 

"I can take it," answered Arlo.

 

Nash and Ramsey excitedly asked Butch to tell the story. It was one of their favorites. "That's a good one!" said Ramsey.

 

Butch turned his head to show off the huge scar along the side of his face. It looked even meaner in the firelight. Butch cleared his throat and began telling his tale.

 

"It was a hundred degrees in the shade. I walked for five days with no water. Then I saw it. A pretty pond. I bent¹⁶ down to take a drink, when these crocs launched outta the water! One croc bit me on the face. Ain't no way I wasn't its supper, except for one thing. I wasn't ready for dyin' that day. I bit one croc in half, tail whipped the other and the last one, well..." Butch paused dramatically as his eyes went wide, "... I drowned that croc in my own blood."

 

"Woah," Arlo said.

 

"Dang!" Ramsey and Nash sang.

 

"Look, look," said Nash, holding up his arm. "Gives me lil' goosies every time."

 

"I love that story," added Ramsey. "Show him your souvenir!"

 

Butch pulled back his cheek to show off a crocodile tooth lodged¹⁷ in his jaw¹⁸! He wiggled it back and forth¹⁹ with his tongue, like a loose tooth. Arlo went pale at the sight of it.

 

Ramsey leaned over to Arlo and whispered, "Aint' that just too good?"

 

Arlo nodded his head in awe²⁰.

 

Nash leaned over toward Butch. "Can I touch it this time?"

 

"No," said Butch, quickly.

 

"You guys would've liked my Poppa," Arlo said. "He wasn't scared of anything." Arlo sighed, thinking about Poppa. Butch watched Arlo's face, as if reading his thoughts. "I'm done being scared," Arlo added.

 

"Who said I'm not scared?" asked Butch.

 

Arlo looked at him with surprise. "But you took on a croc—"

 

"And I was scared doing it—if you ain't scared of a croc bitin' ya on the face, you ain't alive," Butch said.

 

Arlo had never thought about it that way.

 

"Listen kid, you can't get rid of fear. It's like mother nature. You can't beat her or out run her. But you can get through it. You can find out what you're made of."

 

Arlo gazed at Butch as he took in his words, thinking about what he had said. Then something drifted down from the sky, and fell right in front of Arlo. It immediately snapped him out of his thoughts. He focused and saw more floating down. "The first snow," said Arlo somberly.

 

"It's early this year," said Ramsey.

 

"And I gotta get home to Momma," Arlo said definitively²¹. He was worried about his family. He knew that once the snow started, the farm and their supplies had to be ready in order to make it through the winter.

 

"A deal's a deal," said Butch. "At first light, we ride."

 

一轮大大的月亮高悬空中，皎洁的月光下，阿乐、小不点、纳什、拉姆齐和布奇围坐在噼啪作响的篝火旁。纳什把一只虫子当作口琴在吹奏曲子，而拉姆齐则在和小不点玩耍。她拿着一根棍子，小不点就绕着她追拽着棍子，大叫着、享受着这每一分每一秒。拉姆齐拉回棍子，小不点抓得那么紧，以至于当她举起棍子的时候，小不点也被举到了空中。然后，小不点开始咬拉姆齐的手臂。“还有比你更可爱的吗？”拉姆齐咯咯地笑着说。

 

“你和那个小家伙今天表现得太勇敢了。”布奇说。

 

阿乐不禁笑了起来。

 

纳什停止吹奏口琴，把它举起来，问阿乐是否愿意拿小不点换这把口琴。

 

“谢谢，但是小不点不是用来交换的。”阿乐说。

 

“那你可亏大了。”纳什说。接着，他把这只虫子扔进嘴里，吃掉了。

 

阿乐的小臂有些隐隐作痛，他碰了碰身上的瘀青与伤口，检查到底严不严重。拉姆齐看了一下然后温和地说：“那个不错，将会留下一条漂亮的疤痕。”

 

“那点伤根本不足挂齿！”纳什说，“看这里！”他把脚伸了出来，抬起腿，向他们炫耀他小腿上一个丑陋的疤痕。“我遇到了十五只剑龙，它们都是亡命之徒，”他开始细说这段经历，“它们个头都比我大，而且比我要凶恶得多。”

 

“发生了什么呢？”阿乐好奇地问。

 

“当然是打得它们落花流水！正要取得胜利时，一只剑龙把它该死的尖尾巴刺进我的脚里，又拔了出来。”

 

“哇。”阿乐心生钦佩。

 

纳什把他的脚伸进篝火中，他把脚悬在跳动的火焰上方，扭动着自己的脚趾说：“我的脚趾还是没有恢复知觉。”

 

接着，拉姆齐也分享了她的故事。“有一次，长角牛群受到惊吓，直直地朝我冲过来，但是我的尾巴卡在了一块岩石和一处坚硬的地方之间，当时我就想我死定了。”她摇了摇只剩一小节的尾巴说道，“所以我就把这见鬼的尾巴咬断了！”她和纳什大声狂笑起来。

 

“谁还敢这么干？没人敢。”纳什大声笑着说。

 

阿乐震惊地盯着拉姆齐被咬断了的尾巴。她举起尾巴，凑近阿乐的脸，阿乐假装和大家一起大笑。但是，很快他就把尾巴推到了一边，不自在地轻声笑了笑。

 

阿乐转身问布奇，他脸上的疤痕是怎么来的。

 

“我不知道你是否做好了要听这个故事的准备。”布奇说道，让人感到一丝不祥。

 

“我准备好了。”阿乐回答道。

 

纳什和拉姆齐兴奋地央求布奇讲这个故事，这是他们最爱的故事之一。“那是个精彩的故事！”拉姆齐说。

 

布奇转过头去，向大家展示划过他脸上的一道巨大的疤痕，在火光的映衬下，疤痕看起来更加可怖了。布奇清了清嗓子，开始讲述他的故事。

 

“那是一个树荫下的温度都有一百度的天气，我走了五天，滴水未进。然后，我看到了水，那是一个很棒的池塘。就在我弯下腰去喝水的时候，好些鳄鱼跃出了水面！有一只鳄鱼咬住了我的脸。我决不能就这样成了它的晚餐，除非我死。那天我还不打算死。我将一只鳄鱼咬成了两截，用尾巴抽打了另一只鳄鱼，一直打到最后一只，嗯……”布奇睁大双眼戏剧性地暂停了一下，“……我用我的血把那只鳄鱼淹死了。”

 

“哇哦。”阿乐惊叹道。

 

“帅吧！”拉姆齐和纳什拿腔拿调地说。

 

“就是，就是，”纳什举起手臂说，“每次听我都起一身鸡皮疙瘩。”

 

“我喜欢这个故事，”拉姆齐接过话，“给他看看您的英雄疤！”

 

布奇扯开脸颊，让大家看嵌在他下巴里面的鳄鱼牙齿！他用舌头来来回回地拨弄着它，那颗牙就像他自己的一颗松动的牙齿。阿乐看到这一幕，脸都白了。

 

拉姆齐倚靠在阿乐身上，轻声说：“那个难道不是再酷不过了吗？”

 

阿乐心怀敬畏地点了点头。

 

纳什靠在布奇身上：“这次我能摸摸它吗？”

 

“不能。”布奇快速地说。

 

“如果你们认识我爸爸，你们会喜欢上他的，”阿乐说，“他无所畏惧。”想到爸爸，阿乐叹了口气。布奇看着阿乐的脸，好像要读懂他的心思。“我再也不会害怕了。”阿乐接着说。

 

“谁说我无所畏惧？”布奇问。

 

阿乐诧异地望着布奇：“但是你降服了鳄鱼……”

 

“这么做的时候，我也害怕——如果你不害怕鳄鱼咬你的脸，你就活不下来了。”布奇说。

 

阿乐从未用那种方式想过。

 

“听着，孩子，你无法摆脱恐惧。恐惧就像大自然母亲一样，你无法打败她或逃离她，但是你能克服它，然后你能发现自己的潜力。”

 

阿乐一边凝视着布奇，一边理解他的话，思考他所要表达的意思。就在这时，天空中飘落下什么东西，恰巧落在阿乐的面前，打断了他的思绪。他回过神来，看到更多东西飘落下来，“第一场雪来了。”阿乐忧郁地说。

 

“今年的雪下得早了些。”拉姆齐说。

 

“我要回家，回到妈妈的身边。”阿乐坚定地说。他担心他的家人，他深知一旦开始下雪，想要度过寒冬，农场就必须严阵以待，准备好过冬的物资。

 

“我说话算数，”布奇说，“天一亮我们就启程。”

点击收听单词发音