牛津書蟲系列 金銀島 7 The apple barrel

7 The apple barrel

7 蘋果桶

We sailed at the first light of day. I was more tired than ever before, but everything was so new and interest-ing I would not leave the deck.

晨曦微露，我們就啟航了。我比以前任何時候都累，可是航行對我來說又新鮮又有趣，我一直不愿離開甲板。

‘let's have a song!’cried one of the men.

“我們唱個歌吧!”一個人建議。

Long John began to sing that song I knew so well:

于是高個約翰唱起了我熟悉的老調(diào)：

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—

十五個人趴著死人箱——

And the whole crew joined with him:

所有船員都跟著他唱起來：

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

唷呵呵，快來嘗一杯朗姆酒!

Even at that exciting moment, I remembered the old Admi-ral Benbow ,and I seemed to hear the voice of old Bill, thr sea-man, singing with them. But soon the sails began to fill with wind, and the land and other ships moved past on each side. The Hispaniola had begun her voyage to Treasure Island.

即使在這么激動的時刻，我還能記起本葆將軍酒店，我好像聽見老船長比爾也在和他們一起唱。不一會兒，帆就鼓滿了風(fēng)，陸地和其他的船在兩旁迅速地向后退去。伊斯帕尼奧拉號向金銀島的航行開始了。

I am not going to describe the voyage in detail. The ship was indeed a good ship ,the crew were good seamen ,and the captain knew his business well. But Mr Arrow was even worse than the captain had feared. The men did as they pleased with him ,and after a day or two at sea, he began to drink too much. Where he got the drink was a mystery, and if we asked him, he would only laugh. Then one wild, dark night with a rough sea, he disappeared and was seen no more.

我不想詳盡地描述這次航行。船是條好船，船員也不錯，船長也熟稔他的行當。但是埃羅卻比船長所擔心的更壞。他我行我素，過了一兩天以后便開始酗酒。他從哪兒弄來的酒始終是個謎，我們問他時，他只是笑。在一個月黑風(fēng)高的夜里，他終于失蹤了，再也沒人見過他。

‘Fallen overboard!’said the captain.‘Gentlemen, we'll do better without him.’

“他準是掉到海里了!”船長說。“沒有他我們會做得更好。”

But we were without a first officer. Mr Trelawney had been to sea before and knew enough to be useful, and one of the men, Israel Hands, was a careful and experienced seaman who was able to help with almost anything. He was a great friend of Long John Silver.

但我們畢竟少了一名大副。屈利勞尼先生曾當過水手，他的海上知識足夠用的。伊斯萊爾·漢茲，船上的一名水手，謹慎且經(jīng)驗豐富，是個幾乎任何事都可以托付給他的人。他和高個約翰·西爾弗是至交。

All the crew liked and even obeyed Silver, and he was always pleased to see me in the kitchen, which he kept as clean as a new pin. He kept his parrot in cage ,in the corner.

所有的船員都喜歡西爾弗，甚至很聽他的話，他總是很高興我在廚房里，他總是把廚房收拾得干干凈凈。在一個角落里，他在一個籠子里養(yǎng)著一只鸚鵡。

‘ I call him Captain Flint,’he told me,‘after the famous pi-rate.’

“我管它叫弗林特船長，”他說，“以那個出名的海盜來命名。”

And the parrot used to scream,‘Pieces of eight !Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!’

那只鸚鵡常常叫道：“八個里亞爾!八個里亞爾!八個里亞爾!”

The captain and Mr Trelawney still did not like each other, and the squire didn't try to hide it. The captain spoke few words, but agreed that the crew were better than he'd hoprd for ,and that the ship was a fine one.

船長和屈利勞尼先生還是互不喜歡，鄉(xiāng)紳也毫不掩飾這一點。船長很少說話，但他認為船員比他希望的還好，船也是條好船。

The crew seemed happy, which was not really surprising. No ship's company was ever so well looked after ,with plenty to eat and drink; and a barrel of apples open for any man to take one.

船員們似乎都很高興。這也不足為怪，因為沒有一艘船有這樣的待遇。船員們有足夠的吃喝，還有一桶蘋果，任何人都可以吃。

And it was the apple barrel that saved our lives.

而正是這蘋果桶救了我們的命。

It was the day before we expected to see Treasure Island. The sun had gone down ,all my work was done, and I thought I should like an apple. The barrel was nearly empty and I had to climb right inside to get my apple. As I sat there in the dark, the ship moving gently in the water, I almost fell asleep.

那天是我們預(yù)計到達金銀島的前一天。太陽已經(jīng)落山，我也忙完了手中的活計，我準備吃個蘋果。蘋果桶快空了，我只好鉆進去拿蘋果。我在黑暗中坐著，船在水上輕輕顛晃，我都快睡著了。

Suddenly ,the barrel shook as a heavy man sat down and rested his shoulders against it. The man began to speak and it was Silver's voice. Before I had heard a dozen words, I was trembling with fear .I understood from those words that the lives of all honest men on the ship depended on me alone!

忽然，蘋果桶劇烈地晃了一下，一個人坐下來，倚在蘋果桶上。那個人開始講話，我聽出是西爾弗的聲音。只聽他說幾句話，我就嚇得直發(fā)抖。那些話使我知道船上所有好人的生命都系于我一身。

‘Flint was captain ot me,’said Silver.‘In the same battle that I lost my leg, old Pew lost his sight .But I got two thou-sand when I sailed with Flint——and it's all safe in the bank at home.’

“那時弗林特是船長，不是我，”西爾弗說。“在那一仗中我失去了這條腿，老皮尤瞎了眼。我和弗林特出海時得到2000英鎊——現(xiàn)在存在家鄉(xiāng)的銀行里。”

‘But what if you don't live to get home again?’asked an-other, doubtful voice. I recognized the voice of the youngest seaman aboard.

“如果你不能活著回去怎么辦?”另一個人懷疑地問。我聽出那是船上一個最年輕的船員。

‘Pirates live rough,’agreed Silver.‘They live dangerously and some get caught and die by the law .But they eat and drink the best, and when the voyage is done, it's hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds ofPence in their pockets. Once I'm back from this trip ,I'll live like a gentleman .But I began life like you—a clever young seaman without a penny in my pocket!’

“海盜們都很粗暴，”西爾弗說。“海盜們時刻生活在危險之中，其中有些人被抓住后送上絞架。但海盜們吃得好喝得好，一趟出海歸來，就會有幾百英鎊裝入腰包，而不是幾百便士。我這次旅行回來后，就像個紳士一樣生活。我開始時也和你一樣——身無分文。”

‘I didn't like this job until this talk woth you, John,’said the young seaman,‘but I'm with you now.’

“在此談話之前我并不喜歡這個工作約翰，”年輕人說。“但現(xiàn)在我和你一起干了。”

They shook hands so hard that the barrel shook as well, with me inside it.By this time, I understood that Silver had just turned an honest seaman into a pirate.Perhaps every man in the crew was now a pirate!

他們倆熱烈握手，蘋果桶劇烈地晃起來，當時我就在里面。這時我意識到西爾弗已經(jīng)把一個正直的人變成了海盜。也許船上每個人都是海盜!

Silver gave a quiet call and a third man came and sat down with them.‘Dick's with us,’said Silver.

西爾弗輕輕叫了一聲，又一個人過來坐在他旁邊。“迪克也是我們的人，”西爾弗說。

‘I knew Dick was all right,’ replied the voice of Israel Hands.‘But how long are we going to wait? I've had enoughof Captain Smollett.’

“我知道迪克是我們的人，”伊斯萊爾·漢茲說。“還要等多久我們才能下手?我已經(jīng)無法忍受斯摩列特船長了。”

‘Until the last moment!’cried Silver.‘Captain Smollett's a first-class seaman, and the squire and doctor have the map. Let them find the treasure and bring it aboard—then we'll see. I'd rather have Captain Smollett sail us half-way home before I moved, but I know the rest of the men won't wait that long So I'll finish with the captain and the others at the island.’

“要等到最后一刻!”西爾弗喊道。“斯摩列特船長是個一流的水手，而鄉(xiāng)紳和大夫那兒有藏寶圖。讓他們?nèi)フ业綄毑夭⑦\上船——我們再作決定。依我看我們應(yīng)該讓斯摩列特船長送我們半程再干掉他，但我知道其余的人肯定等不了這么久。那么我們就在島上干掉那些人。”

‘But what do we do with them?’ asked Dick.

“我們對他們怎么辦呢?”迪克問。

‘They must die, said Silver.‘We don't want them coming home later, to tell what happened Now, Dick ,get me an apple .I'm thirsty.’

“他們必須得死，”西爾弗說。“我們不能讓他們有朝一日回去把真相講出來。迪克，給我拿個蘋果來，我口渴得很。”

You can imagine my horror! I heard Dick begin to rise ,but Hands said,‘Oh, let's have some rum ,John.’

你可以想像我有多恐懼!我聽見迪克已經(jīng)站起來，可是漢茲說：“噢，約翰，咱們喝點朗姆酒吧。”

Silver sent Dick to fetch the rum, then Israel said something to the cook in a low voice, and I heard only a word or two .But they were important words:‘Not another man will join.’So there were still some honest men on board.

西爾弗讓迪克去取酒，伊斯萊爾和廚子低語了幾句，我只聽見幾個字，但很重要：“有個人不肯參加我們的行列。”看來還有和我們站在一起的人。

I looked up and saw the moon had risen. At the same time ,the voice of one of the crew shouted:‘ Land!’

我抬頭看去，月亮已經(jīng)升起來了。正在這時有個人喊道：“陸地!”

There was the sound of many feet running across the deck. I quickly got out of the barrel and was in time to join Hunter and Dr Livesey and the rest, at the side of the ship.

甲板上頓時響起了腳步聲。我也乘機跳出蘋果桶，正好遇上亨特和李甫西大夫等人，便和他們一起沖上船邊。

Away to the south-west,we saw two hills. Rising behind one of them was a third hill, even higher ,and with its top still hid-den in fog. Captain Smollett gave orders ,and the Hispaniola turned so that the ship would sail just clear of the island on the east.

我們朝西南方向望去，可以看見兩座小山。其中一座小山后面還有一座高一點的小山，山的頂部還籠罩在霧中。斯摩列特船長下了命令，伊斯帕尼奧拉號掉頭從東面靠近小島。

‘Has anyone seen that land before?’he said.

“有人見過這小島嗎?”他問。

‘I have, sir,’said Silver.‘I was cook on a ship that stopped here once. There's a safe place to anchor in the south, behind a little island called Skeleton Island. Those three hills we can see are on the big island. They're in a row running south-the biggest is called Spyglass.’

“我見過，先生，”西爾弗說。“我曾在一艘船上做廚子，那船在這兒停過。島南面有個安全的地方可以下錨，就在那個叫骷髏島的小島后面。我們能看見的三座小山在大島上，它們向南排成一列，那最大的山叫望遠鏡山。

‘Thank you,’said Captain Smollett.‘Later on ,I'll ask you to give us some help.You may go now.’

“謝謝你，”斯摩列特船長說。“以后我還要請你幫忙。你現(xiàn)在可以走了。”

Dr Livesey called me ,meaning to ask me to fetch his pipe ,but I spoke quickly.‘Doctor, get the captain and squire down to the cabin. I have some terrible news.’

李甫西大夫叫我去給他拿煙斗來，我急促地說：“叫船長和鄉(xiāng)紳都到下面船艙去，我有可怕的消息告訴你們。”

He went across and spoke to the other two, then the three of them went below. Soon after ,a message came that I was want-ed in the cabin.

他去找那兩個人了，然后他們?nèi)齻€人一起下去。不久，有人傳話來讓我到船艙去。

I told them in as few words as possible what Sliver and the others had said, and they listened without speaking. It was a warm night and I saw the moon shining on the sea as I told my story.

我盡可能簡短地給他們講了西爾弗和其他人都說了些什么，大家默默地聽著。那是一個暖和的夜晚，月光灑滿了海面。

‘Captain, said the squire when I'd finished,‘ you were right,and I was wrong.’

“船長，”我講完后鄉(xiāng)紳說，“你是對的，我錯了。”

‘But I've never known a crew planning to mutiny that did not show some sign of it before.’ said the captain.

“我還從沒遇到過海員醞釀暴亂而不露聲色的，”船長說。

‘That's Silver,’said the doctor.‘He's a very clever man.’

“這就是西爾弗，”大夫說。“他是個精明人。”

‘He'd look very clever with a rope around his neck, sir!’replied the captain.‘But we must make a plan .We can't go back, or they would know at once. But we have some time be-fore the treasure is found, and there are some honest men a-mong the crew. Your men, squire?’

“他精明得快上絞架啦，先生!”船長答道。“但我們必須想個對策。我們不能返航，那樣他們馬上就知道了。我們在找到寶藏之前還有時間，船員中還有幾個正直的人。你的人如何，鄉(xiāng)紳?

‘As honest as myself,’agreed Mr Trelawney.

“和我一樣可靠，”鄉(xiāng)紳說。

‘And ourselves, ’said the captain.‘That's seven, with young Hawkins here .Now, what other honest men are there?’

“加上我們這些人，”船長說，“一共七個人，包括霍金斯在內(nèi)。還有其他可靠的人嗎?”

‘Probably the men Trelawney chose before he met Silver,’said the doctor.

“屈利勞尼先生在遇到西爾弗之前選的人也許可靠，”大夫說。

‘No,’said the squire.‘Hands was one of them.’

“不，”鄉(xiāng)紳說，“漢茲就是他們的人。”

‘Well, gentlemen,’ said the captain.‘We must wait and watch carefully ,until we know our men.’

“好吧，先生們，”船長說，“我們必須坐觀事態(tài)發(fā)展，等待摸清敵我之間的情況后再說。”