“得啦，得啦，”獾拍拍他的肩头说，“你这是头回接触他们。其实，他们也并不真那么坏；咱们活，也让别人活嘛。不过，我明天要给他们打个招呼，那样，你以后就不会再遇到麻烦了。在这个地区，但凡是我的朋友，都可以畅行无阻，要不然，我就要查明原因何在！”
他们又回到厨房时，只见河鼠正焦躁不安地来回踱步。地下的空气压迫他，使他神经紧张，他像是真的担心，要是再不回去照看那条河，河就会跑掉似的。他穿上外套，把一排手枪插在腰带上。“来吧，鼹鼠，”他一见鼹鼠和獾，就急切地说，“咱们得趁白天的时光回去。不能在野林里再过一夜了。”
‘It’ll be all right, my fine fellow,’ said the Otter. ‘I’m coming along with you, and I know every path blindfold; and if there’s a head that needs to be punched, you can confidently rely upon me to punch it.’
“这不成问题，亲爱的朋友，“水獭说。“我陪你们一道走。我就是蒙上眼睛，也认得出每一条路。要是有哪个家伙欠揍，看我不好好揍他一顿。”
‘You really needn’t fret, Ratty,’ added the Badger placidly. ‘My passages run further than you think, and I’ve bolt-holes to the edge of the wood in several directions, though I don’t care for everybody to know about them. When you really have to go, you shall leave by one of my short cuts. Meantime, make yourself easy, and sit down again.’
“河鼠，你不必烦恼，”獾平静地说。“我的通道比你想象的要长得多。我还有许多避难孔，从几个方向通往树林的边缘，只是我不愿让外人知道就是了。你真要走的话，你们可以抄一条近道。眼下，尽管安下心来，再坐一会儿。”
The Rat was nevertheless still anxious to be off and attend to his river, so the Badger, taking up his lantern again, led the way along a damp and airless tunnel that wound and dipped, part vaulted, part hewn through solid rock, for a weary distance that seemed to be miles. At last daylight began to show itself confusedly through tangled growth overhanging the mouth of the passage; and the Badger, bidding them a hasty good-bye, pushed them hurriedly through the opening, made everything look as natural as possible again, with creepers, brushwood, and dead leaves, and retreated.
然而，河鼠还是急着要回去照看他的河，于是獾又打起灯笼，在前面领路，穿过一条曲曲弯弯的隧道，洞里潮湿气闷，滴着水，一部分有穹顶，一部分是从坚硬的岩石里凿开的。走了很累人的一段长路，似乎有好几里长，末了，透过悬在隧道出口处杂乱的草木，终于看到了零碎的天光。獾向他们匆匆道了别，快快地把他们推出洞口，然后用藤蔓、断枝、枯叶把洞口隐蔽好，尽可能不露痕迹，就转身回去了。
They found themselves standing on the very edge of the Wild Wood. Rocks and brambles and tree-roots behind them, confusedly heaped and tangled; in front, a great space of quiet fields, hemmed by lines of hedges black on the snow, and, far ahead, a glint of the familiar old river, while the wintry sun hung red and low on the horizon. The Otter, as knowing all the paths, took charge of the party, and they trailed out on a bee-line for a distant stile. Pausing there a moment and looking back, they saw the whole mass of the Wild Wood, dense, menacing, compact, grimly set in vast white surroundings; simultaneously they turned and made swiftly for Home, for firelight and the familiar things it played on, for the voice, sounding cheerily outside their window, of the river that they knew and trusted in all its moods, that never made them afraid with any amazement.
他们发现自己已站在野林的边边上。后面，岩石、荆棘、树根，杂乱无章地互相堆砌缠绕，前面，是一望无际的宁静的田野，被雪地衬得黑黝黝的一行行树篱，镶着田野的边。再往前，就见那条老河在闪闪发光，冬天的太阳红彤彤的，低悬在天边。水獭熟悉所有的小道，他负责带领他们走一条直线，来到远处的一个栅栏门。他们在那儿歇了歇脚，回头眺望，只见那座庞然大物的野林，密密层层，严严实实，阴阴森森，嵌在一望无际的白色原野当中，显得好怕人。他们不约而同掉转身来，急忙赶路回家，奔向炉火和火光映照下熟悉的东西，奔向窗外那条欢唱的河。他们熟悉那条河的种种脾性，他们信赖它，因为它绝不会做出使他们惊恐的怪异行径。
As he hurried along, eagerly anticipating the moment when he would be at Home again among the things he knew and liked, the Mole saw clearly that he was an animal of tilled field and hedge-row, linked to the ploughed furrow, the frequented pasture, the lane of evening lingerings, the cultivated garden-plot. For others the asperities, the stubborn endurance, or the clash of actual conflict, that went with Nature in the rough; he must be wise, must keep to the pleasant places in which his lines were laid and which held adventure enough, in their way, to last for a lifetime.
鼹鼠匆匆赶路，急切巴望着到家，回到他熟悉和喜爱的事物中去。这时，他才清楚地看到，他原是一只属于耕地和树篱的动物，与他息息相关的是犁沟，是他常来常往的牧场，是他在暮色留连忘返的树夹道，是人们培植的花园草坪。至于严酷的环境，顽强的忍受，或者同狂暴的大自然进行的货真价实的冲突较量，让别的动物去承受吧。他必须放聪明些，老老实实厮守着他的乐土。那是他祖祖辈辈繁衍生息的所在，那里也自有它的种种探险奇遇，足够他消遣解闷一辈子的了。
V DULCE DOMUM
