牛津書蟲系列 金銀島 9 The man of the island

9 The man of the island

9 島中人

But almost immediately I ran into a new danger.As I ran, I heard some small stones falling from the side of a steep hill. I stopped to look round, and saw a figure jump quickly behind a tree.Frightened, I turned back towards the boats, but the figure appeared again and moved with the speedof an animal. But it was a man, I knew that now.

幾乎是在同時，我又碰到了新的危險。在我跑的時候，我聽見許多石塊從陡峭的山坡上紛紛落下。我停下腳步環(huán)視，看見一個身影迅捷地跳到一棵樹后。我很害怕，轉身向船跑去，那個身影又出現(xiàn)了，跑得和野獸一樣快。這回我看清楚了，那是一個人。

I remembered I had a pistol if I needed it, and turned back towards this man of the island. He was hiding behind another tree but stepped out to meet me.

我忽然想起我?guī)е鴺專谑俏肄D過身去面對那個島中人。他正躲在一棵樹后面，這時他走出來面對著我。

‘Who are you ?I asked, staring at him.

“你是什么人?”我盯著他問。

‘Ben Gunn ,’he answered, and his voice sounded rough andstrange .His skin was burnt nearly black by the sun and his clothes were made from pieces of a ship's sail.‘Poor Ben Gunn,’he went on.‘Alone for three years.’

“本·葛恩，”他說，聲音沙啞而怪異。他的皮膚被曬黑了，衣服是船帆的破布條。“我是可憐的本·葛恩，”他繼續(xù)說，“我一個人在這兒三年了。”

‘Were you shipwrecked?’I asked.

“你的船遇難了嗎?”我問道。

‘No ,my friend,’he said.‘Marooned.’

“不是，我的朋友，”他說，“是流放。”

I had heard the word before, and knew it meant a cruel pun-ishment often used by pirates-leaving a man alone on some distant, empty island.

我聽說過這個詞，知道是海盜們使用的一種殘酷的懲罰手段——受罰者被放逐到一個遙遠的荒島上。

‘Marooned three years, he continued,‘ living on wild goats and fish. But I'm desperate for real English food. You don't have a piece of cheese, do you? Many nights I've dreamed of cheese.’

“三年前我被放逐到這里，”他繼續(xù)說，“從此一直靠吃野山羊和生魚過活。但我多么想吃真正的英國飯啊!你是不是帶著干酪什么的?我不知多少個夜晚都夢見過干酪。”

‘If I can get on board ship again, ’I said, ‘you can have as much cheese as you want.’

“我要是能回到船上去，”我說，“你要多少干酪都可以。”

‘Who's going to prevent you?’he said.‘And tell me your name.

“那么誰不讓你回去呢?”他說。“還有，你叫什么名字?”

‘Jim,’I told him.

“吉姆，”我告訴他。

‘Well, Jim,’he said, looking around and lowering his voice to a whisper, ‘I'm rich.’I was now sure the poor man was crazy ,but he repeated his words.‘Rich, I say! Now ,Jim ,that isn't Flint's ship, is it?’

“那好，吉姆，”他說，他四處張望了一下，把嗓門壓低了，“我發(fā)財啦!”我確信他一定是瘋了，可他重復他的話：“我發(fā)財啦!吉姆，那是不是弗林特的船?”

I began to think that I had found a friend, and I answered him at once.‘It's not Flint's ship. Flint is dead, but there are some of Flint's men aboard, and that's bad news for us.’

我意識到我找到了一位朋友，我馬上告訴他：“那不是弗林特的船，弗林特已經死了，但船上有幾個是弗林特的同伙，這是個不幸的消息。”

‘A man with one leg?’he asked, fear in his voice.

“他們中有個一條腿的人嗎?”他問，聲音中有恐懼。

‘Silver?’I asked.

“西爾弗吧?”我問。

‘Yes ,Silver,’he said,‘that was his name.’

“對，這就是他的名字。”

‘He's the cook, and their leader ,too.’ And I told him the whole story of our voyage, and the danger we were now in.

“他是船上的廚子，也是那幫人的頭頭。”我把這次航行的來龍去脈都講給他聽，也告訴他我們的危險處境。

‘You're in trouble, Jim,’he said when I'd finished.‘Well, Ben Gunn will help you. Will your squire be generous if I do, do you think? I don't want him to give me a job, but will he give me one thousand pounds out of money that's really mine?’

“你們很危險，吉姆，”他說。“不過，本·葛恩會幫你們的。如果我?guī)湍銈兠撾U，那位鄉(xiāng)紳先生會不會比較慷慨?我的意思不是讓他給我一個工作。能不能讓他從本來就是我的錢中拿出1000英鎊來作為酬勞?”

‘I'm sure he will,’I said.

“我相信他一定愿意，”我說。

‘And take me home on your ship?’

“而且讓我坐你們的船回去?”

‘If we can escape from the others,’I told him,‘we'll need your help to get the ship home.’

“如果我們能擺脫他們的話，”我告訴他，“我們也需要你把船開回去。”

He seemed happy with this.‘I was in Flint's ship when he and six seamen hid the treasure，’he said.‘They were on shore nearly a week，then Flint came back alone.Not a man on board could guess how he had killed the others.Then I was in another ship，three years ago，and we saw this island.“Boys，”I said，“let's go ashore and find Flint's treasure.”Twelve days we searched，and the men got angrier with me every day.Then they went back to the ship.“Ben Gunn，”they said，“you can stay here and find Flint's money.Here's a gun，a spade and an axe.”Well，Jim，I've been here for three years，and no real food from that day to this.But I've found things to do，oh yes!’Here he closed one eye and smiled at me.‘Now go to your squire and tell him Ben Gunn is a good man.

他似乎對我的承諾很滿意。“弗林特和六個船員藏寶的時候我正在船上，”他說。“他們上岸有一星期左右，結果只有弗林特一個人回來了。船上的人誰也不知道他怎樣干掉了其余的人。三年前，我在另一條船上，我們看見了這個島。‘伙計們，’我說，這里有弗林特的寶藏，我們上岸去找吧。’我們找了12天，大家一天比一天恨我。直到有一天，他們都回到船上。‘本·葛恩，’他們說，‘給你一枝槍，一把鏟和一把斧頭。你留在這兒找弗林特的寶藏吧。’就這樣，吉姆，我在這里呆了三年，我沒吃過一頓正經的飯。但我找到了我可做的事!”說到這兒，他閉上一只眼睛，沖我笑。“你去告訴鄉(xiāng)紳，本·葛恩是個好人。”

‘I will，’I said，‘but how will I get on board?’

“我會的，”我說，“但我們怎么回船上去?”

‘There's my boat that I made with my two hands，’he said.‘I keep her under the white rock.We might try that after dark.’

“我有一只小船，是我用這兩只手做的，”他說。“我把它藏在白色巖石下面。天黑以后咱們去試試。”

Although there was another hour before the sun went down，we suddenly heard the sound of the ship's gun.

盡管離日落還有一個小時，我們忽然聽見船上傳來一聲槍響。

‘They've begun to fight!’I cried.‘Follow me.’

“他們開火了!”我驚叫起來。“跟我來。”