The two boys flew on and on, toward the village, speechless with horror. —
两个男孩飞快地朝着村庄飞行，恐怖使得他们说不出话来。 —

They glanced backward over their shoulders from time to time, apprehensively, as if they feared they might be followed. —
他们不时地紧张地回头看，好像害怕有人跟踪他们。 —

Every stump that started up in their path seemed a man and an enemy, and made them catch their breath; —
他们径直飞越过他们路径上的每一株树桩，似乎每一株都是一个敌人，使他们屏住呼吸； —

and as they sped by some outlying cottages that lay near the village, the barking of the aroused watch-dogs seemed to give wings to their feet.
当他们飞越村庄附近的一些农舍时，被惊动的看门狗的吠声似乎给了他们翅膀。

“If we can only get to the old tannery before we break down! —
“如果我们能在崩溃之前到达老鞣制厂就好了！”汤姆在呼吸间隙中低声说。 —

” whispered Tom, in short catches between breaths. —
”我快撑不住了。” —

“I can’t stand it much longer.”
哈克贝利用气喘吁吁作为回答，两个男孩将目光投向了他们希望的目标，并努力奋斗着去实现它。

Huckleberry’s hard pantings were his only reply, and the boys fixed their eyes on the goal of their hopes and bent to their work to win it. —
他们稳步地靠近它，最后，胸贴胸地突破开放的门，感激地、精疲力尽地倒在了遮蔽的阴影中。 —

They gained steadily on it, and at last, breast to breast, they burst through the open door and fell grateful and exhausted in the sheltering shadows beyond. —
过了一会儿，他们的脉搏慢了下来，汤姆低声说： —

By and by their pulses slowed down, and Tom whispered:
“手脚都要断了。”

“Huckleberry, what do you reckon’ll come of this?”
“哈克贝利，你觉得会发生什么事情？”

“If Doctor Robinson dies, I reckon hanging’ll come of it.”
“如果罗宾逊医生死了，我觉得会有绞刑。”

“Do you though?”
“真的吗？”

“Why, I know it, Tom.”
“是的，汤姆，我知道。”

Tom thought a while, then he said:
汤姆想了一会儿，然后说：

“Who’ll tell? We?”
“我们会告诉别人吗？”

“What are you talking about? S’pose something happened and Injun Joe didn’t hang? —
“你在说什么？假设发生了什么事情，印第安乔没有被绞刑呢？” —

Why, he’d kill us some time or other, just as dead sure as we’re a laying here.”
“哦，他迟早会杀了我们，就和我们现在躺在这里一样确定。”

“That’s just what I was thinking to myself, Huck.”
“我也正是这么想的，哈克。”

“If anybody tells, let Muff Potter do it, if he’s fool enough. He’s generally drunk enough.”
“如果有人要说，就让那个白痴玛夫波特说吧。他通常喝得够多。”

Tom said nothing—went on thinking. Presently he whispered:
汤姆没有说话，继续思考。过了一会儿他低声说：

“Huck, Muff Potter don’t know it. How can he tell?”
“哈克，玛夫波特不知道。他怎么能说呢？”

“What’s the reason he don’t know it?”
“他为什么不知道呢？”

“Because he’d just got that whack when Injun Joe done it. —
“因为当印第安乔做这件事的时候，他被打了一下。你觉得他能看到什么吗？你觉得他知道什么吗？” —

D’you reckon he could see anything? D’you reckon he knowed anything?”
“这倒是我也在想的，哈克。”

“By hokey, that’s so, Tom!”
“天哪，汤姆，这太对了！”

“And besides, look-a-here—maybe that whack done for him!”
“而且，你看看——也许是他被袭击了！”

“No, ’taint likely, Tom. He had liquor in him; I could see that; and besides, he always has. —
“不，汤姆，不太可能。他喝酒了，我看得出来，而且他总是这样。” —

Well, when pap’s full, you might take and belt him over the head with a church and you couldn’t phase him. —
嗯，当爸爸喝醉了，你可以拿教堂的头打到他头上，也不会影响他。 —

He says so, his own self. So it’s the same with Muff Potter, of course. —
他自己这么说的。当然，莫夫·波特也是一样。 —

But if a man was dead sober, I reckon maybe that whack might fetch him; I dono.”
但是如果一个人完全清醒，也许那一击会让他倒下。我不知道。”

After another reflective silence, Tom said:
在另一次沉默思考后，汤姆说道：

“Hucky, you sure you can keep mum?”
“哈基，你确定你能保守秘密吗？”

“Tom, we got to keep mum. You know that. —
“汤姆，我们必须保守秘密。你知道的。” —

That Injun devil wouldn’t make any more of drownding us than a couple of cats, if we was to squeak ’bout this and they didn’t hang him. —
如果我们就这件事尖叫出来，而他们又不把他绞死，那个印第安魔鬼对我们的淹死也不会比对待两只猫差。 —

Now, look-a-here, Tom, less take and swear to one another—that’s what we got to do—swear to keep mum.”
现在，听着，汤姆，我们互相发誓——这是我们必须做的——发誓保守秘密。”

“I’m agreed. It’s the best thing. Would you just hold hands and swear that we—”
“我同意。这是最好的办法。你能不能牵着手发誓，我们——”

“Oh no, that wouldn’t do for this. That’s good enough for little rubbishy common things—specially with gals, cuz they go back on you anyway, and blab if they get in a huff—but there orter be writing ’bout a big thing like this. And blood.”
“哦不，对这个来说不够好。这只够用于小小的琐碎常见的事物——特别是涉及到女孩，因为她们反正会背叛你，如果她们生气了还会说出去——但是这样的大事务应该写下来。而且还有血。”

Tom’s whole being applauded this idea. It was deep, and dark, and awful; —
汤姆的整个人都对这个主意鼓掌。它深奥、黑暗、可怕； —

the hour, the circumstances, the surroundings, were in keeping with it. —
时刻、情况、环境都与之相符。 —

He picked up a clean pine shingle that lay in the moon-light, took a little fragment of “red keel” out of his pocket, got the moon on his work, and painfully scrawled these lines, emphasizing each slow down-stroke by clamping his tongue between his teeth, and letting up the pressure on the up-strokes.
他拿起一块摆在月光下的干净的松木橡皮，从口袋里拿出一小片“红漆”，让月光照在他的作品上，并辛苦地写下了这些句子，每一次缓慢的下笔他都用牙齿夹住舌头，上笔时放松了压力。

“Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer swears they will keep mum about This and They wish They may Drop down dead in Their Tracks if They ever Tell and Rot.”
“哈克·费恩和汤姆·索亚发誓他们会对此保密，他们希望如果他们说出去就会立即死掉并腐烂。”

Huckleberry was filled with admiration of Tom’s facility in writing, and the sublimity of his language. —
哈克贝里对汤姆写作的能力和他的辞藻的崇拜充满了。 —

He at once took a pin from his lapel and was going to prick his flesh, but Tom said:
他立刻从胸针上拿起一根针，正要戳自己的肉，但汤姆说：

“Hold on! Don’t do that. A pin’s brass. It might have verdigrease on it.”
“等等！别这样。针是黄铜的。上面可能有绿锈。”

“What’s verdigrease?”
“什么是绿锈？”

“It’s p’ison. That’s what it is. You just swaller some of it once—you’ll see.”
“那是毒药。就是这样。你只要吞下一点点—你就会知道。”

So Tom unwound the thread from one of his needles, and each boy pricked the ball of his thumb and squeezed out a drop of blood. —
于是，汤姆解开了一个针上的线，每个男孩戳了一下拇指球，挤出一滴血。 —

In time, after many squeezes, Tom managed to sign his initials, using the ball of his little finger for a pen. —
经过多次挤压，汤姆终于用小拇指球签上了自己的名字首字母。 —

Then he showed Huckleberry how to make an H and an F, and the oath was complete. —
然后他教赫克贝利如何写H和F字母，誓约算是完成了。 —

They buried the shingle close to the wall, with some dismal ceremonies and incantations, and the fetters that bound their tongues were considered to be locked and the key thrown away.
他们把木板埋在墙边，进行了一些忧郁的仪式和咒语，他们认为束缚住他们的舌头的锁已经被锁上，钥匙也被扔掉了。

A figure crept stealthily through a break in the other end of the ruined building, now, but they did not notice it.
一个身影悄悄从废墟的另一端探身进来，但他们没有注意到。

“Tom,” whispered Huckleberry, “does this keep us from ever telling—always?”
“汤姆，”哈克贝利低声说，“这是不是意味着我们永远不能说出去—永远？”

“Of course it does. It don’t make any difference what happens, we got to keep mum. —
“当然,是这样的。不管发生什么事，我们都得保持缄默。 —

We’d drop down dead—don’t you know that?”
我们会当场死掉的，你不知道吗?”

“Yes, I reckon that’s so.”
“是的，我想是这样。”

They continued to whisper for some little time. —
他们继续低声交谈了一会儿。 —

Presently a dog set up a long, lugubrious howl just outside—within ten feet of them. The boys clasped each other suddenly, in an agony of fright.
不一会儿，一条狗在外面凄凉地嗥叫了起来，离他们只有十英尺远。男孩们突然紧紧抱在一起，极度害怕。

“Which of us does he mean?” gasped Huckleberry.
“他是指的我们中的哪个?” 哈克贝利喘息着问道。

“I dono—peep through the crack. Quick!”
“我不知道，看看裂缝里。” 快点!”

“No, you, Tom!”
“不，是你，汤姆!”

“I can’t—I can’t do it, Huck!”
“我不行，我没法做到，哈克!”

“Please, Tom. There ’tis again!”
“求你了，汤姆。又来了!”

“Oh, lordy, I’m thankful!” whispered Tom. “I know his voice. It’s Bull Harbison.” *
“哦，天哪，谢天谢地!” 汤姆低声说道。“我认得他的声音，那是布尔·哈比森。” *

[* If Mr. Harbison owned a slave named Bull, Tom would have spoken of him as “Harbison’s Bull, ” but a son or a dog of that name was “Bull Harbison.”]
[*如果哈比森先生拥有一只叫布尔的奴隶，汤姆会把他称为“哈比森的布尔”，但如果他有个儿子或者一条叫布尔的狗，就称为“布尔·哈比森”。]

“Oh, that’s good—I tell you, Tom, I was most scared to death; —
“哦，太好了——我告诉你，汤姆，我差点吓死了; —

I’d a bet anything it was a stray dog.”
我打赌那是一只走失的狗。”

The dog howled again. The boys’ hearts sank once more.
狗又嗥叫了一声。男孩们的心再次沉了下来。

“Oh, my! that ain’t no Bull Harbison!” whispered Huckleberry. “Do, Tom!”
“哦，天哪，那不是布尔·哈比森！”哈克低声说。“行动吧，汤姆！”

Tom, quaking with fear, yielded, and put his eye to the crack. —
汤姆胆战心惊地屈服了，把眼睛贴在缝隙上。 —

His whisper was hardly audible when he said:
当他低声说出时，几乎听不见他的呢喃声：

“Oh, Huck, it’s a stray dog!”
“哦，哈克，是一只迷路的狗！”

“Quick, Tom, quick! Who does he mean?”
“快点，汤姆，快点！他指的是谁？”

“Huck, he must mean us both—we’re right together.”
“哈克，他一定是指的我们俩，我们正好在一起。”

“Oh, Tom, I reckon we’re goners. I reckon there ain’t no mistake ’bout where I’ll go to. —
“哦，汤姆，我猜我们都完蛋了。我觉得我要去的地方不会有任何错误的。” —

I been so wicked.”
我真是太坏了。

“Dad fetch it! This comes of playing hookey and doing everything a feller’s told not to do. —
这都是玩忽职守、做了一切被告诉不要做的事情带来的。 —

I might a been good, like Sid, if I’d a tried—but no, I wouldn’t, of course. —
如果我像西德那样努力，我也可能会变好，但当然我不会。 —

But if ever I get off this time, I lay I’ll just waller in Sunday-schools! —
但是如果我这次能摆脱困境，我发誓我将去参加周日学校！ —

” And Tom began to snuffle a little.
汤姆开始嗫嚅了一下。

“You bad!” and Huckleberry began to snuffle too. —
“你才坏呢！”哈克贝利也开始嗫哝。 —

“Consound it, Tom Sawyer, you’re just old pie, ’long-side o’ what I am. —
“该死的，汤姆索亚，和我相比你就只是个小丑。 —

Oh, lordy, lordy, lordy, I wisht I only had half your chance.”
哦，天哪，天哪，天哪，我真希望我只有你一半的机会。”

Tom choked off and whispered:
汤姆噎住了，低声说：

“Look, Hucky, look! He’s got his back to us!”
“看，哈基，看！他把背对着我们！”

Hucky looked, with joy in his heart.
哈基欣喜地看了过去。

“Well, he has, by jingoes! Did he before?”
“对，他把背对着我们！之前他也这样吗？”

“Yes, he did. But I, like a fool, never thought. —
“是的，他之前也是这样。但是我像个傻瓜一样从没想过。” —

Oh, this is bully, you know. Now who can he mean?”
哦，这太好了，你知道。现在他指的是谁呢？”

The howling stopped. Tom pricked up his ears.
哭声停了。汤姆竖起耳朵。

“Sh! What’s that?” he whispered.
“嘘！那是什么？”他小声说。

“Sounds like—like hogs grunting. No—it’s somebody snoring, Tom.”
“听起来像……像猪叫。不对，是有人打呼噜，汤姆。”

“That is it! Where ’bouts is it, Huck?”
“就是那个！哈克，声音是从哪儿传来的？”

“I bleeve it’s down at ’tother end. Sounds so, anyway. —
“我觉得是在另一边。不管怎样，听起来是那样。” —

Pap used to sleep there, sometimes, ’long with the hogs, but laws bless you, he just lifts things when he snores. —
“爸爸有时候和猪一起睡在那儿，但天哪，当他打呼噜的时候，东西都会颤动。” —

Besides, I reckon he ain’t ever coming back to this town any more.”
“而且，我觉得他再也不会回到这个镇上了。”

The spirit of adventure rose in the boys’ souls once more.
冒险的精神再次在男孩们的心中升腾起来。

“Hucky, do you das’t to go if I lead?”
“哈基，如果我领路，你敢去吗？”

“I don’t like to, much. Tom, s’pose it’s Injun Joe!”
“我不太想去。汤姆，要是那是印第安乔怎么办！”

Tom quailed. But presently the temptation rose up strong again and the boys agreed to try, with the understanding that they would take to their heels if the snoring stopped. —
汤姆开始害怕了。但是诱惑再次占了上风，两个男孩同意试一试，条件是如果打呼噜停止，他们会立刻逃跑。 —

So they went tiptoeing stealthily down, the one behind the other. —
于是他们小心翼翼地一个接一个地蹑手蹑脚地下去。 —

When they had got to within five steps of the snorer, Tom stepped on a stick, and it broke with a sharp snap. —
当他们离打呼噜的人只有五步之遥时，汤姆踩到了一根树枝，它发出了一声清脆的断裂声。 —

The man moaned, writhed a little, and his face came into the moonlight. It was Muff Potter. —
那人呻吟着，扭动了一下，他的脸出现在月光中。那是马夫•波特。 —

The boys’ hearts had stood still, and their hopes too, when the man moved, but their fears passed away now. —
男孩们的心停了下来，他们的希望也停止了，当那个人动了起来时，他们的恐惧也消散了。 —

They tip-toed out, through the broken weather-boarding, and stopped at a little distance to exchange a parting word. —
他们蹑手蹑脚地走出来，穿过破碎的板壁，在稍远的地方停下来交换了几句道别的话。 —

That long, lugubrious howl rose on the night air again! —
那长长的悲鸣再次在夜空中响起！ —

They turned and saw the strange dog standing within a few feet of where Potter was lying, and facing Potter, with his nose pointing heavenward.
他们转过身，看到那只奇怪的狗站在离波特躺着的地方几英尺远的地方，面对着波特，鼻子朝天。

“Oh, geeminy, it’s him!” exclaimed both boys, in a breath.
“哦，天哪，是他！”两个男孩同时喊道。

“Say, Tom—they say a stray dog come howling around Johnny Miller’s house, ’bout midnight, as much as two weeks ago; —
“说起来，汤姆，据说大概两周前，有只杂狗在约翰尼•米勒家附近狂叫了一夜； —

and a whippoorwill come in and lit on the banisters and sung, the very same evening; —
还有一只夜鹰在楼梯扶手上嗖的一声落下来，唱了一支曲子，就在那个晚上； —

and there ain’t anybody dead there yet.”
但是至今还没有人死在那里。”

“Well, I know that. And suppose there ain’t. —
“好吧，我知道。就算是这样又如何。” —

Didn’t Gracie Miller fall in the kitchen fire and burn herself terrible the very next Saturday?”
“Grace Miller不是在厨房火灾中跌倒并严重烧伤了吗？还不是在下个星期六？”

“Yes, but she ain’t dead. And what’s more, she’s getting better, too.”
“是的，但她没有死。而且更重要的是，她还在康复。”

“All right, you wait and see. She’s a goner, just as dead sure as Muff Potter’s a goner. —
“好吧，你等着瞧。她是个完蛋，就和Muff Potter一样完蛋。” —

That’s what the niggers say, and they know all about these kind of things, Huck.”
“这是黑奴们说的，他们对这种事情很有经验，Huck。”

Then they separated, cogitating. When Tom crept in at his bedroom window the night was almost spent. —
然后他们分开思考。当汤姆爬进卧室的窗户时，夜晚已经接近尾声。 —

He undressed with excessive caution, and fell asleep congratulating himself that nobody knew of his escapade. —
他小心翼翼地脱衣服，然后陷入了沉睡，为自己的冒险而祝贺，因为没有人知道。 —

He was not aware that the gently-snoring Sid was awake, and had been so for an hour.
他不知道轻轻打鼾的Sid醒着，已经醒了一个小时了。

When Tom awoke, Sid was dressed and gone. —
当汤姆醒来时，Sid已经穿好衣服离开了。 —

There was a late look in the light, a late sense in the atmosphere. He was startled. —
光中有一种晚熟的感觉，空气中有一种晚熟的感觉。他感到惊讶。 —

Why had he not been called—persecuted till he was up, as usual? —
“为什么他没有像往常一样，被叫醒，被迫起床呢？” —

The thought filled him with bodings. Within five minutes he was dressed and down-stairs, feeling sore and drowsy. —
这个念头让他充满了不详的预感。五分钟内，他穿好衣服下楼，感到疼痛和昏昏欲睡。 —

The family were still at table, but they had finished breakfast. There was no voice of rebuke; —
家人们仍然坐在桌子旁，但是他们早已吃完早餐。没有责备的声音， —

but there were averted eyes; there was a silence and an air of solemnity that struck a chill to the culprit’s heart. —
但是他们的目光避开，一片寂静和庄严的氛围让罪犯的心凉了下来。 —

He sat down and tried to seem gay, but it was up-hill work; —
他坐下来，努力显得快乐，但是这很艰难； —

it roused no smile, no response, and he lapsed into silence and let his heart sink down to the depths.
没有引起笑声，没有回应，他陷入了沉默，心情沉沉地往下沉。

After breakfast his aunt took him aside, and Tom almost brightened in the hope that he was going to be flogged; —
早饭过后，他的姑姑把他带到一边，汤姆几乎为要挨打而感到欣喜； —

but it was not so. His aunt wept over him and asked him how he could go and break her old heart so; —
但事实并非如此。他的姑姑为他哭泣，并问他怎么会去伤害她的老心， —

and finally told him to go on, and ruin himself and bring her gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, for it was no use for her to try any more. —
最后告诉他继续前行，毁灭自己，并让她的白发因悲伤埋葬在坟墓里，因为她再也无力挽回。 —

This was worse than a thousand whippings, and Tom’s heart was sorer now than his body. —
这比一千次鞭打还要糟糕，汤姆的心比肉体更痛苦。 —

He cried, he pleaded for forgiveness, promised to reform over and over again, and then received his dismissal, feeling that he had won but an imperfect forgiveness and established but a feeble confidence.
他哭了，他恳求原谅，一遍又一遍地承诺要改过自新，然后被解雇了，觉得自己赢了，但是没有完美的宽恕，也只建立了脆弱的信任。

He left the presence too miserable to even feel revengeful toward Sid; —
他离开了那里，心情糟糕得连向Sid报复的心情都没有。 —

and so the latter’s prompt retreat through the back gate was unnecessary. —
所以后者从后门逃走是多余的。 —

He moped to school gloomy and sad, and took his flogging, along with Joe Harper, for playing hookey the day before, with the air of one whose heart was busy with heavier woes and wholly dead to trifles. —
他闷闷不乐地去上学，心情沮丧，因为前一天逃学被打了，与乔·哈珀一起，他的心忙于更重大的悲伤，对琐事完全漠不关心。 —

Then he betook himself to his seat, rested his elbows on his desk and his jaws in his hands, and stared at the wall with the stony stare of suffering that has reached the limit and can no further go. —
然后他回到座位上，把手肘靠在桌子上，把下巴托在手上，用石化的眼神凝视着墙壁，这种眼神是痛苦达到极限，再也无法继续的。 —

His elbow was pressing against some hard substance. —
他的手肘上有硬物在压着。 —

After a long time he slowly and sadly changed his position, and took up this object with a sigh. —
很长一段时间后，他缓慢而悲伤地改变了姿势，叹了口气，拿起了这个物体。 —

It was in a paper. He unrolled it. A long, lingering, colossal sigh followed, and his heart broke. —
这是一张纸。他展开了它。接着是一声长久而沉重的叹息，他的心碎了。 —

It was his brass andiron knob!
这是他那铜质火炉旋钮！

This final feather broke the camel’s back.
这最后一根羽毛压垮了骆驼的脊背。