“He can’t get it; he can’t get a hold of it，” Morvenna cried. She thrust suddenly with the end of a twig， trying to push the ant up the shifting sand-slope of the pit. But her brother， lying opposite her， filled his cheeks with air and blew hard. The ant fell back to the pit-bottom， and in a moment the little fury of jaws burst out at it， seized it， vanished again. Only a flurry of sand in the bottom of the little pit marked for a few seconds the ant’s last struggle.

“它抓不到，它抓不住。”莫文娜喊道。她突然用一根小树枝的梢头戳了一下，试图把蚂蚁从小坑的流沙坡推上去。她的弟弟却趴在对面，鼓起腮帮子使劲吹气。蚂蚁又落回了坑底。这时，有一对小颚立即怒气冲冲地朝蚂蚁伸过去，一下子逮住它，然后又不见了踪影。只有小坑底一阵沙子乱动，表明蚂蚁最后挣扎了几秒钟。

The two children sat up slowly. They looked at each other with a kind of guilt. Max’s face was quite red; Morvenna’s mouth was open.

两个孩子慢慢坐起，面面相觑，一副内疚的样子。马克斯脸色通红；莫文娜张着嘴巴。

“How many would he kill， I wonder？” Max said. “That’s three we’ve given him， but they were all little ones. I’ll get a meat-ant and see what he does.”

“我想知道它会咬死多少？”马克斯说，“我们已经给了它三只，但给的都是小不点儿。我去抓一只食肉蚁，看看它会做什么。”

“Oh no， Max， don’t. I don’t want you to.” Morvenna clenched her hands， but she could not help looking round in the grass for the meat-ant track that led to the anthill further up the slope. Max went across to it， holding his twig， and bent down. Morvenna gave a scream. “If you do， Maxie， I’ll kill the lion. I will， truly.”

“噢，不，马克斯，不要。我不希望你那样做。”莫文娜握紧双手，但她不由得环顾草地四周，寻找食肉蚁爬向坡上蚁冢的路径。马克斯拿着小树枝走到蚁冢旁，弯下了腰。莫文娜发出一声尖叫：“马克西，你要是那样做，我就灭了蚁狮。我真的说到做到。”

“Don’t you dare，” Max said. “It’s the first ant-lion we’ve ever seen and we might never find another. I want to show it to everyone.” He came back， holding his twig gingerly and turning it from end to end as the red ant rushed along it. Meat-ants could bite.

“你可不敢。”马克斯说，“这是我们见到的第一只蚁狮，我们可能永远都不会再找到另一只了。我想给大家瞧瞧。”马克斯回来时小心翼翼地拿着小树枝。食肉红蚁顺着小树枝匆匆爬，他就把树枝掉转过来拿着另一端。食肉蚁可是会咬人的。

“Now I’ll put it in，” he said. “Look， Morv.” He shook the twig hard over the little pit， but the ant was obstinate and clung. Angry， intent， he finally dislodged it with a blade of grass.

“现在我要把它放进去。”马克斯说，“瞧，莫芙。”他在小坑上方使劲摇晃树枝，但那只食肉蚁十分顽强，紧抓树枝不放。马克斯既生气又着急，最终用一片草叶把食肉蚁拂了下去。

Morvenna sat with her hands over her eyes. “No， I won’t look，” she said. “It’s awful of you.”

莫文娜双手捂眼坐在那里。“不，我不看。”她说，“你可真狠。”

But the ant was in the pit. She peered through the crack between her fingers and saw it. It looked big and strong， frenziedly pulling down the sand of the slope in its struggle to escape. Perhaps it might get away. She took down her hands and leaned forward.

不过，那只食肉蚁就在坑里。