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入侵(杰克·伦敦短篇小说集5）(外研社双语读库)
杰克·伦敦 |
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本书由外研社授权掌阅科技电子版制作与发行
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At the Barracks a man was being tried for his life. He was an old man, a native from the Whitefish River, which empties into the Yukon below Lake Le Barge. All Dawson was wrought up over the affair, and likewise the Yukon—dwellers for a thousand miles up and down. It has been the custom of the land—robbing and sea—robbing Anglo—Saxon to give the law to conquered peoples, and ofttimes this law is harsh. But in the case of Imber the law for once seemed inadequate and weak. In the mathematical nature of things, equity did not reside in the punishment to be accorded him. The punishment was a foregone conclusion, there could be no doubt of that; and though it was capital, Imber had but one life, while the tale against him was one of scores.
兵营里一个人正在接受要被判死刑的审讯。他是个老头子，是当地的怀特菲什河人，那条河流入勒巴尔杰湖下游的育空河里。这件事轰动了整个道森，也震惊了育空河方圆千里的居民。在陆地上掠夺，在海洋上抢劫的盎格鲁萨克逊人一贯用法律统治被征服的民族，这种法律通常十分严酷。可是在英勃尔这件案子里，这种法律就第一次显得不适当和软弱无力了。单从数学方面的精准性上说，他要受的刑罚，远远抵不过他犯的罪。判刑是无可避免的结果，这毫无疑问；但是，尽管判的是死刑，英勃尔也只有一条命，而他的案子却牵涉到几十条人命。
In fact, the blood of so many was upon his hands that the killings attributed to him did not permit of precise enumeration. Smoking a pipe by the trailside or lounging around the stove, men made rough estimates of the numbers that had perished at his hand. They had been whites, all of them, these poor murdered people, and they had been slain singly, in pairs, and in parties. And so purposeless and wanton had been these killings, that they had long been a mystery to the mounted police, even in the time of the captains, and later, when the creeks realized, and a governor came from the Dominion to make the land pay for its prosperity. But more mysterious still was the coming of Imber to Dawson to give himself up. It was in the late spring, when the Yukon was growling and writhing under its ice, that the old Indian climbed painfully up the bank from the river trail and stood blinking on the main street. Men who had witnessed his advent, noted that he was weak and tottery, and that he staggered over to a heap of cabin—logs and sat down. He sat there a full day, staring straight before him at the unceasing tide of white men that flooded past. Many a head jerked curiously to the side to meet his stare, and more than one remark was dropped anent the old Siwash with so strange a look upon his face. No end of men remembered afterward that they had been struck by his extraordinary figure, and forever afterward prided themselves upon their swift discernment of the unusual.
事实上，他手上沾满那么多人的鲜血，谁也算不准他到底杀了多少人。人们在路旁抽着烟斗或者围炉烤火的时候，曾经粗略地估计过命丧他手的人数。这些不幸被他杀掉的人，全是白人，其中有单个被杀的，也有一对对或一群群被杀的。这种毫无目的、毫无顾忌的谋杀，长期以来，对那些骑警来说都是一个谜，甚至在警察队长们扬威的时代也一样。后来，小河里发现矿产，从大英帝国自治领派来的总督要这一带的人为当地的繁荣纳税的时候，这个谜仍未解开。不过，更不可思议的是，英勃尔竟会到道森来自首。此时正值暮春，育空河水在冰层下咆哮翻腾，这个老印第安人从河面吃力地爬上岸来，站在大街上直眨眼睛。凡是亲眼看见他来的人，都注意到他身体虚弱，步履蹒跚，摇摇晃晃地走到一堆盖房子的木料跟前坐下。他在那里坐了一整天，一直盯着面前像川流不息的潮水般涌过的白人。很多人都好奇地扭过头，瞧他那目不转睛的眼神，对这个神情古怪的锡沃斯老头议论纷纷。无数的人后来还记得，他的奇特外表当时就吸引住了他们，以致后来他们还一直夸耀自己的敏锐目光，说他们能够认出不寻常的事物。
But it remained for Dickensen, Little Dickensen, to be the hero of the occasion. Little Dickensen had come into the land with great dreams and a pocketful of cash; but with the cash the dreams vanished, and to earn his passage back to the States he had accepted a clerical position with the brokerage firm of Holbrook and Mason. Across the street from the office of Holbrook and Mason was the heap of cabin—logs upon which Imber sat. Dickensen looked out of the window at him before he went to lunch; and when he came back from lunch he looked out of the window, and the old Siwash was still there.
不过，这一次的主角，还得让迪肯森，小迪肯森做。小迪肯森抱着极大的梦想，带着一口袋现款来到这片土地；但是，钱用完了，梦想也破灭了，为了赚一笔回美国的路费，他只好在霍尔布鲁克—梅森经纪行里当个办事员。英勃尔坐着的那堆木料，就放在这家经纪行办公室对面的街上。迪肯森出去吃午饭前透过窗户瞧见了他，等吃完午饭回来，他又向窗外瞧了瞧，那个锡沃斯老头仍旧在那里。
Dickensen continued to look out of the window, and he, too, forever afterward prided himself upon his swiftness of discernment. He was a romantic little chap, and he likened the immobile old heathen to the genius of the Siwash race, gazing calm—eyed upon the hosts of the invading Saxon. The hours swept along, but Imber did not vary his posture, did not by a hair 's—breadth move a muscle; and Dickensen remembered the man who once sat upright on a sled in the main street where men passed to and fro. They thought the man was resting, but later, when they touched him, they found him stiff and cold, frozen to death in the midst of the busy street. To undouble him, that he might fit into a coffin, they had been forced to lug him to a fire and thaw him out a bit. Dickensen shivered at the recollection.
迪肯森不断地往窗户外面望，而且后来他也一直夸耀自己的目光敏锐。他是个爱幻想的小伙子，他把这个一动不动的老异教徒看作是锡沃斯族的化身，冷静地注视着那一群群入侵的萨克逊人。好几个钟头过去了，可是英勃尔并未改变姿势，仍旧丝毫不动；迪肯森于是想起了有一次，在人群往来不息的大街上，一个人直挺挺地坐在一架雪橇上。大伙儿以为这个人在休息，但后来他们碰了他一下，才发现他的身体僵硬又冰冷，他冻死在热闹的大街上了。为了把他弄直，好装进棺材，人们只好把他拖到一堆火旁边，给他化化冻。迪肯森一想起这件事就不由得打起寒颤。
Later on, Dickensen went out on the sidewalk to smoke a cigar and cool off; and a little later Emily Travis happened along. Emily Travis was dainty and delicate and rare, and whether in London or Klondike she gowned herself as befitted the daughter of a millionnaire mining engineer. Little Dickensen deposited his cigar on an outside window ledge where he could find it again, and lifted his hat.
后来，迪肯森走到外面人行道上抽了根雪茄，让头脑冷静冷静；过了没多久，埃米丽·特拉维斯碰巧从这里经过。埃米丽·特拉维斯是个优雅娇贵的绝色佳人。不论在伦敦还是在克朗代克，她都穿戴得合乎百万富翁金矿工程师女儿的身份。小迪肯森于是把他的雪茄烟放到路旁窗台上可以再找到的地方，向她行了个脱帽礼。
They chatted for ten minutes or so, when Emily Travis, glancing past Dickensen's shoulder, gave a startled little scream. Dickensen turned about to see, and was startled, too. Imber had crossed the street and was standing there, a gaunt and hungry—looking shadow, his gaze riveted upon the girl.
他们聊了十分钟左右，埃米丽·特拉维斯朝迪肯森肩后望了一眼，吓得小声叫了起来。迪肯森转身一看，也吓了一跳。英勃尔已经穿过马路，站在那里，他身形消瘦，面带饥容，像一个影子，他的眼睛一动不动地盯着埃米丽。
"What do you want? " Little Dickensen demanded, tremulously plucky.
“你想要干什么？” 小迪肯森鼓足勇气，用颤抖的声音问。
Imber grunted and stalked up to Emily Travis. He looked her over, keenly and carefully, every square inch of her. Especially did he appear interested in her silky brown hair, and in the color of her cheek, faintly sprayed and soft, like the downy bloom of a butterfly wing. He walked around her, surveying her with the calculating eye of a man who studies the lines upon which a horse or a boat is builded. In the course of his circuit the pink shell of her ear came between his eye and the westering sun, and he stopped to contemplate its rosy transparency. Then he returned to her face and looked long and intently into her blue eyes. He grunted and laid a hand on her arm midway between the shoulder and elbow. With his other hand he lifted her forearm and doubled it back. Disgust and wonder showed in his face, and he dropped her arm with a contemptuous grunt. Then he muttered a few guttural syllables, turned his back upon her, and addressed himself to Dickensen.
英勃尔咕噜了几句，就昂首阔步地走到埃米丽·特拉维斯跟前。他把她从头到脚、仔仔细细地打量了一番，看得非常透彻。他好像对她那丝一般的褐发，以及她那微微泛红的、柔嫩的、好像蝴蝶翅膀上绒毛似的粉霜一样的脸的颜色特别感兴趣。他绕着她走，用审慎的目光观察她，仿佛在研究一匹马的身型或一条船的轮廓。正在他兜圈子的时候，老头子忽然看见夕阳照在她粉红色的耳朵上，于是他停下来，端详着她那透明的玫瑰色耳廓。接着，他又重新瞧着她的脸，长久而专注地看着她那双蓝眼睛。他咕哝了一句，用一只手抓住她的上臂。他用另一只手把她的前臂折上来。这时他脸上露出厌恶又惊讶的神情，随后便丢开那只胳膊，鄙视地哼了一声。然后，他嘟哝着发出几个喉音，转过身子，对迪肯森说起话来。
Dickensen could not understand his speech, and Emily Travis laughed. Imber turned from one to the other, frowning, but both shook their heads. He was about to go away, when she called out:
迪肯森不明白他的话，埃米丽·特拉维斯笑了起来。英勃尔皱着眉头，来回问着他们两个，可是他们都摇摇头。正当他要走开的时候，埃米丽喊道：
"Oh, Jimmy! Come here! "
“喂，吉米！到这里来！”
Jimmy came from the other side of the street. He was a big, hulking Indian clad in approved white—man style, with an Eldorado king's sombrero on his head. He talked with Imber, haltingly, with throaty spasms. Jimmy was a Sitkan, possessed of no more than a passing knowledge of the interior dialects.
吉米从街对面走了过来。他是个身材高大粗陋的印第安人，身上是标准的白人服饰，头上戴着一顶埃尔多拉多国王式的宽边帽。他跟英勃尔谈话的时候，结结巴巴，好像咽喉痉挛了一样。吉米是锡特坎人，对于内地的方言，他只不过略知一二。
"Him Whitefish man, " he said to Emily Travis. "Me savve um talk no very much. Him want to look see chief white man. "
“他是怀特菲什人，” 他对埃米丽·特拉维斯说， “我不大明白他的话。他想见白人的首领。”
"The Governor, " suggested Dickensen.
“总督。” 迪肯森点明道。
Jimmy talked some more with the Whitefish man, and his face went grave and puzzled.
吉米跟这个怀特菲什人又谈了几句，他的脸色变得严肃而且疑惑。
"I t 'ink um want Cap' n Alexander, " he explained. "Him say um kill white man, white woman, white boy, plenty kill um white people. Him want to die. "
“我觉得他是想见亚历山大队长，” 他解释道， “他说他杀过白种男人，白种女人，白种小孩，他杀了很多白人。他想死。”
"Insane, I guess, " said Dickensen.
“我猜他是个疯子。” 迪肯森说。
"What you call dat? " queried Jimmy.
“你说他是什么？” 吉米问道。
Dickensen thrust a finger figuratively inside his head and imparted a rotary motion thereto.
迪肯森用一根手指指向自己的脑袋，画了一个圈，当作解释。
"Mebbe so, mebbe so, " said Jimmy, returning to Imber, who still demanded the chief man of the white men.
“可能，可能。” 吉米说着，回过头去又和英勃尔讲了几句，他仍然要见白人的首领。
A mounted policeman (unmounted for Klondike service) joined the group and heard Imber's wish repeated. He was a stalwart young fellow, broad—shouldered, deep—chested, legs cleanly built and stretched wide apart, and tall though Imber was, he towered above him by half a head. His eyes were cool, and gray, and steady, and he carried himself with the peculiar confidence of power that is bred of blood and tradition. His splendid masculinity was emphasized by his excessive boyishness, —he was a mere lad, —and his smooth cheek promised a blush as willingly as the cheek of a maid.
一个骑警（在克朗代克工作时已经不骑马了）来到这伙人中间，听到了英勃尔的再三要求。他是个结实的年轻人，宽肩膀，厚胸脯，匀称的双腿站立时叉得很开，英勃尔虽然个子高，但他比英勃尔还高半个头。他的双眼是灰色的，既冷静又沉着，而且他带着一副由于血统和习惯而产生的对于自己的权力特别信任的神气。过分的孩子气更加衬托出他雄壮的男子汉气概——他不过是个孩子——他那光滑的脸蛋，很容易发红，像个大姑娘。
Imber was drawn to him at once. The fire leaped into his eyes at sight of a sabre slash that scarred his cheek. He ran a withered hand down the young fellow's leg and caressed the swelling thew. He smote the broad chest with his knuckles, and pressed and prodded the thick muscle—pads that covered the shoulders like a cuirass. The group had been added to by curious passers—by—husky miners, mountaineers, and frontiersmen, sons of the long—legged and broad—shouldered generations. Imber glanced from one to another, then he spoke aloud in the Whitefish tongue.
英勃尔立刻被他吸引了。他一瞧见这个小伙子脸上的刀疤，眼睛里就闪闪发光。他先用一只干枯的手顺着小伙子的大腿轻抚他鼓起的肌肉。他又用指节敲敲他宽阔的胸膛，并且在肌肉厚得像铠甲一样的肩膀上，按了又按，戳了又戳。许多好奇的路人也围拢过来——有健壮的矿工，也有山区和边区的人，他们都是那种长腿宽肩的人的子孙。英勃尔朝他们一个接一个地瞧过去，然后用怀特菲什的方言大声说起话来。
"What did he say? " asked Dickensen.
“他说什么？” 迪肯森问道。
"Him say um all the same one man, dat p 'liceman, " Jimmy interpreted.
“他说他们全跟这个警察一个样。” 吉米解释道。
Little Dickensen was little, and what of Miss Travis, he felt sorry for having asked the question. The policeman was sorry for him and stepped into the breach. "I fancy there may be something in his story. I'll take him up to the captain for examination. Tell him to come along with me, Jimmy. "
小迪肯森个子很小，特拉维斯小姐也一样，他很懊悔问那句话。那个警察因为怕他难堪，就走过来解围。 “我想他说的事情也许有点道理。我要把他带到队长那里审问审问。吉米，告诉他，让他跟我走。”
Jimmy indulged in more throaty spasms, and Imber grunted and looked satisfied.
吉米又结结巴巴地说完，英勃尔咕哝了几声，看样子好像很满意。
"But ask him what he said, Jimmy, and what he meant when he took hold of my arm. "
“吉米，再问问他，之前他抓住我的胳膊时说了些什么话，他想干什么。”
So spoke Emily Travis, and Jimmy put the question and received the answer.
埃米丽·特拉维斯说完，吉米就把这个问题翻译过去并且得到了答复。
"Him say you no afraid, " said Jimmy.
“他说，你不用害怕。” 吉米说道。
Emily Travis looked pleased.
埃米丽·特拉维斯看起来很得意。
"Him say you no skookum, no strong, all the same very soft like little baby. Him break you, in um two hands, to little pieces. Him t 'ink much funny, very strange, how you can be mother of men so big, so strong, like dat p' liceman. "
“他还说你不中用，也不结实，嫩得完全像个小孩子。他用两只手就能把你撕碎，变成一块一块的。他觉得这种事很滑稽，很奇怪，你怎么能生出跟那个警察一样高大、一样健壮的男人。”
Emily Travers kept her eyes up and unfaltering, but her cheeks were sprayed with scarlet. Little Dickensen blushed and was quite embarrassed. The policeman's face blazed with his boy's blood.
埃米丽·特拉维斯没有垂下眼睛，她保持着镇定，但她却面泛红晕。小迪肯森面色通红，难堪不已。至于那个警察，他也满脸通红。
"Come along, you, " he said gruffly, setting his shoulder to the crowd and forcing a way.
“你跟我走吧。” 警察粗声喝道，用肩膀在人群中挤开了一条路。
Thus it was that Imber found his way to the Barracks, where he made full and voluntary confession, and from the precincts of which he never emerged.
于是，英勃尔就这样来到了兵营，在那里他主动地招认了一切，从此以后，他就没有走出过兵营。
Imber looked very tired. The fatigue of hopelessness and age was in his face. His shoulders drooped depressingly, and his eyes were lack—lustre. His mop of hair should have been white, but sun and weatherbeat had burned and bitten it so that it hung limp and lifeless and colorless. He took no interest in what went on around him. The courtroom was jammed with the men of the creeks and trails, and there was an ominous note in the rumble and grumble of their low—pitched voices, which came to his ears like the growl of the sea from deep caverns.
英勃尔看起来很疲倦。从他脸上可以看出因为毫无希望和上了岁数而产生的疲劳感。他沮丧地垂着双肩，眼睛里黯然无光。他那蓬乱的头发本来应该是白的，但风吹日晒已经让它们显得十分松弛，毫无生气和光泽。他对周围的所有事情都不感兴趣。审判室里挤满了在河里淘金和在山上打猎的人，他们低沉的声音里夹杂的隆隆声带着一种不祥的调子，在他听起来好像是海水在深穴里低吼。
He sat close by a window, and his apathetic eyes rested now and again on the dreary scene without. The sky was overcast, and a gray drizzle was falling. It was flood—time on the Yukon. The ice was gone, and the river was up in the town. Back and forth on the main street, in canoes and poling—boats, passed the people that never rested. Often he saw these boats turn aside from the street and enter the flooded square that marked the Barracks' parade—ground. Sometimes they disappeared beneath him, and he heard them jar against the house—logs and their occupants scramble in through the window. After that came the slush of water against men's legs as they waded across the lower room and mounted the stairs. Then they appeared in the doorway, with doffed hats and dripping sea—boots, and added themselves to the waiting crowd.
他靠窗边坐着，那双漠然的眼睛不时瞧着窗外凄凉的景色。天上阴云密布，正下着灰蒙蒙的细雨。目前正是育空河涨水的季节。冰已经融化了，河水漫进了城区。人们划着独木舟或用篙撑着船，在大街上不停地来来往往。他常常看到那些船从街上转弯，划到被水淹没的四四方方的一块地方，那是兵营的阅兵场。有时那些船划到他下面就不见了，他听到船轧轧地撞着房子的木头，船上的人就从窗外爬进来。随后便听到他们用腿搅着泥水，穿过楼下的房间，爬上楼梯。接着他们就出现在房门口，拎着脱下的帽子，穿着湿淋淋的航海靴子，加入到等待的人群里面。
And while they centred their looks on him, and in grim anticipation enjoyed the penalty he was to pay, Imber looked at them, and mused on their ways, and on their Law that never slept, but went on unceasing, in good times and bad, in flood and famine, through trouble and terror and death, and which would go on unceasing, it seemed to him, to the end of time. A man rapped sharply on a table, and the conversation droned away into silence. Imber looked at the man. He seemed one in authority, yet Imber divined the square—browed man who sat by a desk farther back to be the one chief over them all and over the man who had rapped. Another man by the same table uprose and began to read aloud from many fine sheets of paper. At the top of each sheet he cleared his throat, at the bottom moistened his fingers. Imber did not understand his speech, but the others did, and he knew that it made them angry. Sometimes it made them very angry, and once a man cursed him, in single syllables, stinging and tense, till a man at the table rapped him to silence.
当这些人的眼光集中在他身上，残酷地等待他被判刑而获得满足感的时候，英勃尔也瞧着他们，默默地想着他们的生活方式，他们的从不睡觉，永不停息的法律，不论好年头，坏年头，闹水灾还是闹饥荒，或者在人们遭受烦恼、恐惧同死亡的时候，它都永无休止，直到时间的尽头。一个人使劲地拍着桌子，于是谈话的声音就弱了下来，直至寂静无声。英勃尔瞧了瞧这个人。他好像是个很有权的人，但是英勃尔却认为那个坐在后面一张桌子旁边的方脑门的人才是他们的首领，他不仅在他们所有人之上，也在这个拍桌子的人之上。跟他同桌的另外一个人站起来，拿着许多张精美的纸，开始高声读起来。他读每一页开头的时候，总要清下嗓子，而读每一页末尾的时候，总要舔下手指。英勃尔不明白他的话，但其他人都懂，他看得出这些话使他们很生气。有时候还使他们恼羞成怒，有一次一个人还用简短的话骂他，很刺耳很激烈，直到桌子旁边有个人拍桌子，才使他安静下来。
For an interminable period the man read. His monotonous, sing—song utterance lured Imber to dreaming, and he was dreaming deeply when the man ceased. A voice spoke to him in his own Whitefish tongue, and he roused up, without surprise, to look upon the face of his sister's son, a young man who had wandered away years agone to make his dwelling with the whites.
那个人念了好久。他那单调拖长的声音使得英勃尔打起瞌睡来，等他念完，英勃尔已经睡得很沉了。这时一个人用他家乡怀特菲什的方言跟他说话，他醒过来，看见他姐姐的儿子的面孔并未感到惊讶，因为这个小伙子多年前就出去流浪，跟白人住在一起了。
"Thou dost not remember me, " he said by way of greeting.
“你不记得我了。” 那个人说着，算是跟他打招呼。
"Nay, " Imber answered. "Thou art Howkan who went away. Thy mother be dead. "
“记得，” 英勃尔回答道， “你就是走到外地去的霍坎。你妈去世啦。”
"She was an old woman, " said Howkan.
“她上岁数了。” 霍坎说。
But Imber did not hear, and Howkan, with hand upon his shoulder, roused him again.
可是英勃尔没有听到。霍坎将手搭在他的肩膀上，再次把他弄醒。
"I shall speak to thee what the man has spoken, which is the tale of the troubles thou hast done and which thou hast told, O fool, to the Captain Alexander. And thou shalt understand and say if it be true talk or talk not true. It is so commanded. "
“我要把刚才那个人念过的话跟你讲一下，他说的都是你惹出的乱子，也就是你，你这个傻瓜，对亚历山大队长讲的。你要明白，你得老实交待这些话究竟是真是假。这是法庭的命令。”
Howkan had fallen among the mission folk and been taught by them to read and write. In his hands he held the many fine sheets from which the man had read aloud, and which had been taken down by a clerk when Imber first made confession, through the mouth of Jimmy, to Captain Alexander. Howkan began to read. Imber listened for a space, when a wonderment rose up in his face and he broke in abruptly.
霍坎曾经跟教会里的人混过一阵，他们教会了他读书写字。他手里拿着先前那个人大声宣读过的许多讲究的纸张，纸上记的是英勃尔第一次通过吉米向亚历山大队长坦白的口供，一个书记员已将其记录下来。霍坎开始读起来。英勃尔听了一会儿，脸上露出诧异的神情，便突然插嘴道：
"That be my talk, Howkan. Yet from thy lips it comes when thy ears have not heard. "
“这是我说过的话，霍坎。你的耳朵并没有听到，可是嘴里怎么会说得出来。”
Howkan smirked with self—appreciation. His hair was parted in the middle. "Nay, from the paper it comes, O Imber. Never have my ears heard. From the paper it comes, through my eyes, into my head, and out of my mouth to thee. Thus it comes. "
霍坎洋洋自得地笑了笑。他的头发是从中间分开的。 “不，英勃尔，这些话都是纸上来的。我的耳朵根本没有听见过。它们写在纸上，通过我的眼睛，进入我的大脑，再由我的嘴读出来给你听。这些话就是这么来的。”
"Thus it comes? It be there in the paper? " Imber's voice sank in whisperful awe as he crackled the sheets't wixt thumb and finger and stared at the charactery scrawled thereon. "It be a great medicine, Howkan, and thou art a worker of wonders. "
“就是这么来的？这些话都在纸上？” 英勃尔的声音低沉，充满敬畏，用拇指和食指沙沙地拨弄那些纸，盯着涂在上面的文字。 “这真是一种了不起的法术，霍坎，你简直是创造奇迹的法师。”
"It be nothing, it be nothing, " the young man responded carelessly and pridefully. He read at hazard from the document: "In that year, before the break of the ice, came an old man, and a boy who was lame of one foot. These also did I kill, and the old man made much noise—
“算不了什么，算不了什么。” 这个小伙子满不在乎地说，非常得意。他拿起文件随便挑了一页读着： “那一年，在解冻之前，来了一个老头和一个跛脚的男孩。他们也是我杀的，那个老头叫唤得很厉害——”
"It be true, " Imber interrupted breathlessly. "He made much noise and would not die for a long time. But how dost thou know, Howkan? The chief man of the white men told thee, mayhap? No one beheld me, and him alone have I told. " Howkan shook his head with impatience. "Have I not told thee it be there in the paper, O fool? "
“这是真的，” 英勃尔上气不接下气地插嘴道， “他叫唤得很厉害，过了好久都不肯死。可是你怎么知道的，霍坎？大概是白人首领告诉你的吧？当时没人看见我，我只告诉过他一个人。” 霍坎不耐烦地摇了摇头。 “我不是跟你说过这些话写在纸上了吗？你这个傻瓜。”
Imber stared hard at the ink—scrawled surface. "As the hunter looks upon the snow and says, Here but yesterday there passed a rabbit; and here by the willow scrub it stood and listened, and heard, and was afraid; and here it turned upon its trail; and here it went with great swiftness, leaping wide; and here, with greater swiftness and wider leapings, came a lynx; and here, where the claws cut deep into the snow, the lynx made a very great leap; and here it struck, with the rabbit under and rolling belly up; and here leads off the trail of the lynx alone, and there is no more rabbit, —as the hunter looks upon the markings of the snow and says thus and so and here, dost thou, too, look upon the paper and say thus and so and here be the things old Imber hath done?
英勃尔使劲盯着纸上的笔迹。 “就像猎人瞅着雪地说，昨天有一只兔子从这里跑过；它在这片柳树丛旁停下听着，后来听到了什么，感到害怕，转身就往回跑；这里，它飞快地奔跑，用力地跳跃；可是这里来了一直山猫，跑得更快，跳得更远；这里，雪地里留下几个很深的猫爪子印，一定是那只山猫猛地一跳；这里，它扑倒了那只兔子，把它肚皮朝天翻了过来；这里，只留下山猫的脚印，再看不到兔子的了，——猎人看见雪上留下的印记，就会这么说，那么，你是不是也一样，看着那张纸，就会这么说，说老英勃尔干了些什么事？”
"Even so, " said Howkan. "And now do thou listen, and keep thy woman's tongue between thy teeth till thou art called upon for speech. "
“一点儿也不错，” 霍坎说， “现在你好好听着，管住你那根舌头，别像女人一样唠叨，叫你说话，你才可以说。”
Thereafter, and for a long time, Howkan read to him the confession, and Imber remained musing and silent. At the end, he said:
之后好长时间，霍坎都在对他宣读他的口供，英勃尔一直沉思不语。最后，他说：
"It be my talk, and true talk, but I am grown old, Howkan, and forgotten things come back to me which were well for the head man there to know. First, there was the man who came over the Ice Mountains, with cunning traps made of iron, who sought the beaver of the Whitefish. Him I slew. And there were three men seeking gold on the Whitefish long ago. Them also I slew, and left them to the wolverines. And at the Five Fingers there was a man with a raft and much meat. "
“这些是我说过的话，都是真的，但是我老了，霍坎，一些忘了的事情现在才想起来，这些也应该让那个首领知道。首先，有一个从冰山那面过来的人，带着灵巧的铁夹子，想在怀特菲什河里捉海狸。他被我杀了。很久以前还有三个到怀特菲什河淘金的人。我也把他们杀了，丢在那里喂狼了。还有在五指山，有一个人划着木筏，带了许多肉。”
At the moments when Imber paused to remember, Howkan translated and a clerk reduced to writing. The courtroom listened stolidly to each unadorned little tragedy, till Imber told of a red—haired man whose eyes were crossed and whom he had killed with a remarkably long shot.
每逢英勃尔停下来回忆的时候，霍坎就翻译，一个书记员连忙记录。审判室里的人麻木地听着每一个不加渲染的小悲剧，直到英勃尔讲到一个红发斜眼的男人被他远远地一枪打死。
"Hell, " said a man in the forefront of the onlookers. He said it soulfully and sorrowfully. He was red—haired. "Hell, " he repeated. "That was my brother Bill. " And at regular intervals throughout the session, his solemn "Hell" was heard in the courtroom; nor did his comrades check him, nor did the man at the table rap him to order.
“他妈的。” 坐在旁听席前排的一个人说。他说得很激动，很悲伤。他是红头发。 “他妈的，” 他又说了一遍， “那是我哥哥比尔。” 在整个审判过程中，每隔一段时间，审判室里就能听到他那声沉痛的 “他妈的” ；他的同伴没有阻拦他，坐在桌旁的那个人也不拍桌子制止他。
Imber's head drooped once more, and his eyes went dull, as though a film rose up and covered them from the world. And he dreamed as only age can dream upon the colossal futility of youth.
英勃尔的头又垂下去，他的双眼变得模糊，好像生了一层薄膜，看不见周围的世界。于是他做起梦来，梦见了只有上了岁数的人才会想起的无限虚度的青春岁月。
Later, Howkan roused him again, saying: "Stand up, O Imber. It be commanded that thou tellest why you did these troubles, and slew these people, and at the end journeyed here seeking the Law. "
后来，霍坎又一次叫醒了他，说道： “站起来，英勃尔。法庭命令你讲出为什么惹这些乱子，杀死这些人，最后又跑来这里自首。”
Imber rose feebly to his feet and swayed back and forth. He began to speak in a low and faintly rumbling voice, but Howkan interrupted him.
英勃尔无力地站起来，前后摇晃着。他开始说了，声音很低，微微发出隆隆声，但是霍坎打断了他。
"This old man, he is damn crazy, " he said in English to the square—browed man. "His talk is foolish and like that of a child. "