At the United States end of an international river bridge, four armed rangers sweltered in a little ‘dobe hut, keeping a fairly faithful espionage upon the lagging trail of passengers from the Mexican side.
在国际河桥的美国一侧，有四名武装护林员挤在一间小土屋里，对来自墨西哥一侧的旅客的行踪保持相对忠实的监视。

Bud Dawson, proprietor of the Top Notch Saloon, had, on the evening previous, violently ejected from his premises one Leandro Garcia, for alleged violation of the Top Notch code of behaviour. —
布德·道森是“顶级酒吧”老板，前一晚他因疑似违反“顶级酒吧”的行为准则而将利安德罗·加西亚暴力驱离。 —

Garcia had mentioned twenty-four hours as a limit, by which time he would call and collect a painful indemnity for personal satisfaction.
加西亚提到了24小时的限期，届时他将前来收取一笔痛苦的赔偿以满足个人要求。

This Mexican, although a tremendous braggart, was thoroughly courageous, and each side of the river respected him for one of these attributes. —
尽管这位墨西哥人是一个夸夸其谈的人，但他非常勇敢，而河对岸的每一方都因为这种特质而尊重他。 —

He and a following of similar bravoes were addicted to the pastime of retrieving towns from stagnation.
他和一群类似的暴徒们沉迷于使陷入停滞的城镇重新焕发活力的游戏。

The day designated by Garcia for retribution was to be further signalised on the American side by a cattlemen’s convention, a bull fight, and an old settlers’ barbecue and picnic. —
加西亚确定的这一天也是美国一侧的一个牧场主大会、斗牛赛和老开拓者烧烤野餐会的标志性日子。 —

Knowing the avenger to be a man of his word, and believing it prudent to court peace while three such gently social relaxations were in progress, Captain McNulty, of the ranger company stationed there, detailed his lieutenant and three men for duty at the end of the bridge. —
知道复仇者言而有信，并且认为在这三次如此轻松的社交放松活动期间追求和平是明智的，驻扎在那里的游骑队队长麦克纳尔蒂上尉详细介绍了他的副官和三名士兵在桥的尽头执勤。 —

Their instructions were to prevent the invasion of Garcia, either alone or attended by his gang.
他们的任务是防止加西亚，无论是独自一人还是与他的团伙一起入侵。

Travel was slight that sultry afternoon, and the rangers swore gently, and mopped their brows in their convenient but close quarters. —
在那个燥热的下午，旅行很少，游骑队员们轻轻咒骂着，拿着毛巾擦拭着自己的额头，他们的住处虽然方便却很狭小。 —

For an hour no one had crossed save an old woman enveloped in a brown wrapper and a black mantilla, driving before her a burro loaded with kindling wood tied in small bundles for peddling. —
一个小时过去了，除了一位包裹在棕色披肩和黑色头巾中的老妇人赶着一只满载柴火捆包的驴子过去以外，没有人过桥。 —

Then three shots were fired down the street, the sound coming clear and snappy through the still air.
然后，三声枪响响彻整条街道，声音在静止的空气中清晰而尖锐。

The four rangers quickened from sprawling, symbolic figures of indolence to alert life, but only one rose to his feet. —
四名游骑队员从慵懒的象征性姿态迅速转变为警觉的状态，但只有一人站了起来。 —

Three turned their eyes beseechingly but hopelessly upon the fourth, who had gotten nimbly up and was buckling his cartridge-belt around him. —
三人绝望而恳求地望向第四个人，他敏捷地站起来，开始在身上系上弹药带。 —

The three knew that Lieutenant Bob Buckley, in command, would allow no man of them the privilege of investigating a row when he himself might go.
这三个人明白，指挥着他们的鲍勃·巴克利中尉不会让他们中的任何一个去调查骚扰事件，而他自己却可以去。

The agile, broad-chested lieutenant, without a change of expression in his smooth, yellow-brown, melancholy face, shot the belt strap through the guard of the buckle, hefted his sixes in their holsters as a belle gives the finishing touches to her toilette, caught up his Winchester, and dived for the door. —
这位敏捷而宽胸襟的中尉，他光滑、黄褐色、忧郁的脸上没有丝毫表情的变化，将皮带绑扣穿过扣环，像一个美女为她打扮划上完美的句号一样自己拿起了手枪，在枪套里前后摆弄几下，抓起Winchester步枪，冲向门口。 —

There he paused long enough to caution his comrades to maintain their watch upon the bridge, and then plunged into the broiling highway.
他在那里停了一会，足够警告他的战友们继续看守桥梁，然后冲进了灼热的大街。

The three relapsed into resigned inertia and plaintive comment.
三个人又一次陷入了屈服的惰性和哀怨的评论。

“I’ve heard of fellows,” grumbled Broncho Leathers, “what was wedded to danger, but if Bob Buckley ain’t committed bigamy with trouble, I’m a son of a gun.”
“我听说过有些人,“布朗科·利瑟斯抱怨道，” 一生都与危险为伍，但如果鲍勃·巴克利没有与麻烦结婚，我就是个傻瓜。”

“Peculiarness of Bob is,” inserted the Nueces Kid, “he ain’t had proper trainin’. —
“鲍勃的奇特之处在于，他没有接受过适当的训练。 —

He never learned how to git skeered. —
他从来没有学会害怕。” —

Now, a man ought to be skeered enough when he tackles a fuss to hanker after readin’ his name on the list of survivors, anyway.”
“现在，一个人在处理纷争时，应该害怕到渴望在幸存者名单上看到自己的名字，无论如何。”

“Buckley,” commented Ranger No. 3, who was a misguided Eastern man, burdened with an education, “scraps in such a solemn manner that I have been led to doubt its spontaneity. —
“巴克利，”评论了第三名德克萨斯游骑兵，他是一个受教育程度过高的东部人，“争斗以一种庄重的方式，让我怀疑它是否自发发生。” —

I’m not quite onto his system, but he fights, like Tybalt, by the book of arithmetic.”
“我对他的方法并不太了解，但他打架的方式就像是按照算术书来的，就像泰伯尔特一样。”

“I never heard,” mentioned Broncho, “about any of Dibble’s ways of mixin’ scrappin’ and cipherin’.”
“我从来没有听说过迪布尔混合打斗和算术的方法。”

“Triggernometry?” suggested the Nueces infant.
“扳机几何？” Nueces 的孩子建议道。

“That’s rather better than I hoped from you,” nodded the Easterner, approvingly. —
“这比我对你期望的要好一些。”东部人认可地点了点头。 —

“The other meaning is that Buckley never goes into a fight without giving away weight.
“另一种意思是，巴克利在打斗时从来不占优势。”

He seems to dread taking the slightest advantage. —
他似乎很害怕稍微利用一点优势。 —

That’s quite close to foolhardiness when you are dealing with horse-thieves and fence-cutters who would ambush you any night, and shoot you in the back if they could. —
当你与偷马贼和破坏篱笆的人打交道时，这就接近鲁莽了，因为他们会在任何夜晚埋伏你，并在背后射杀你。 —

Buckley’s too full of sand. —
巴克利太过勇敢。 —

He’ll play Horatius and hold the bridge once too often some day.”
总有一天他会像霍拉修斯一样，过于频繁地保卫桥梁。

“I’m on there,” drawled the Kid; —
“我在那儿，”小孩垂着嗓音说道； —

“I mind that bridge gang in the reader. —
“我记得读者上的那个桥梁帮派。” —

Me, I go instructed for the other chap–Spurious Somebody–the one that fought and pulled his freight, to fight ‘em on some other day.”
我，则为另一个家伙打算好了——某个伪造的人——那个战斗并逃离的人，让他们在其他日子里再战。

“Anyway,” summed up Broncho, “Bob’s about the gamest man I ever see along the Rio Bravo. Great Sam Houston! —
毕竟，布朗科总结道：“鲍勃是我在里奥布拉沃河边见过的最勇敢的人。伟大的山姆·休斯顿啊！ —

If she gets any hotter she’ll sizzle!” Broncho whacked at a scorpion with his four-pound Stetson felt, and the three watchers relapsed into comfortless silence.
如果再热一点，它就要沸腾了！”布朗科用他的四磅重的 Stetson 帽子打了一下蝎子，三个旁观者陷入了不舒服的沉默中。

How well Bob Buckley had kept his secret, since these men, for two years his side comrades in countless border raids and dangers, thus spake of him, not knowing that he was the most arrant physical coward in all that Rio Bravo country! —
鲍勃·巴克利是如何好好保守着他的秘密的，因为这些人，两年来与他并肩作战，共同经历了无数次边境袭击和危险，他们对他这样评价，并不知道他是里约布拉沃地区最胆怯的人！ —

Neither his friends nor his enemies had suspected him of aught else than the finest courage. —
无论是他的朋友还是他的敌人，都没有怀疑过他除了最高尚的勇气之外的任何东西。 —

It was purely a physical cowardice, and only by an extreme, grim effort of will had he forced his craven body to do the bravest deeds. —
这完全是一种身体上的懦弱，只有通过极度坚定的意志努力，他才能强迫自己去做最勇敢的事情。 —

Scourging himself always, as a monk whips his besetting sin, Buckley threw himself with apparent recklessness into every danger, with the hope of some day ridding himself of the despised affliction. —
像一位修士鞭策自己的战胜罪恶一样，巴克利毫不畏惧地投身于每一个危险之中，希望有一天能摆脱这受人鄙视的困扰。 —

But each successive test brought no relief, and the ranger’s face, by nature adapted to cheerfulness and good-humour, became set to the guise of gloomy melancholy. —
然而，每一次考验都没有带来任何的缓解，这位游骑兵的面容，原本适应欢乐和好脾气的，变得沉重和忧郁。 —

Thus, while the frontier admired his deeds, and his prowess was celebrated in print and by word of mouth in many camp- fires in the valley of the Bravo, his heart was sick within him. —
因此，虽然边境地带钦佩他的事迹，他的威名在布拉河谷的篝火中通过印刷和口头传播庆祝，但他内心却感到痛苦。 —

Only himself knew of the horrible tightening of the chest, the dry mouth, the weakening of the spine, the agony of the strung nerves–the never- failing symptoms of his shameful malady.
只有他自己知道胸口被可怕的压迫感束缚，口干舌燥，脊柱无力，神经紧绷的痛苦，这些是他可耻病症的常见症状。

One mere boy in his company was wont to enter a fray with a leg perched flippantly about the horn of his saddle, a cigarette hanging from his lips, which emitted smoke and original slogans of clever invention. —
他团队中的一名年轻人常常带着一条腿随意地搁在马鞍上参与战斗，嘴里叼着一支香烟，冒出烟雾和经过巧妙发明的原创口号。 —

Buckley would have given a year’s pay to attain that devil- may-care method. —
Buckley愿意放弃一年的工资来获得这种恣意的行事方式。 —

Once the debonair youth said to him: —
那个狂放的年轻人曾对他说过： —

“Buck, you go into a scrap like it was a funeral. Not,” he added, with a complimentary wave of his tin cup, “but what it generally is.”
“Buck，你进入战斗就像参加葬礼一样。不过，”他补充道，并颇有赞赏地摇了摇锡杯，“通常的情况也就是这样。”

Buckley’s conscience was of the New England order with Western adjustments, and he continued to get his rebellious body into as many difficulties as possible; —
Buckley的良心具有新英格兰的特点，但有了西部的调整，他继续尽可能让自己的叛逆身体陷入困境。 —

wherefore, on that sultry afternoon he chose to drive his own protesting limbs to investigation of that sudden alarm that had startled the peace and dignity of the State.
在那个闷热的下午，他选择驱使自己的抗议的肢体去调查那突如其来的警报，它惊动了国家的和平和尊严。

Two squares down the street stood the Top Notch Saloon. —
在街道的十字路口有一家顶级酒吧。 —

Here Buckley came upon signs of recent upheaval. —
巴克利在这里发现了最近的动荡迹象。 —

A few curious spectators pressed about its front entrance, grinding beneath their heels the fragments of a plate-glass window. —
几个好奇的围观者站在前门口，脚下踩着一块玻璃窗的碎片。 —

Inside, Buckley found Bud Dawson utterly ignoring a bullet wound in his shoulder, while he feelingly wept at having to explain why he failed to drop the “blamed masquerooter,” who shot him. —
在里面，巴克利发现巴德·道森完全无视肩膀上的枪伤，而满怀感情地哭泣，解释为什么他没能击倒那个”该死的面具者”。 —

At the entrance of the ranger Bud turned appealingly to him for confirmation of the devastation he might have dealt.
在游侠的门口，巴德恳求他证实他可能造成的破坏。

“You know, Buck, I’d ‘a’ plum got him, first rattle, if I’d thought a minute. —
“你知道的，巴克，如果我再多想一分钟，我就能干掉他。 —

Come in a-masque-rootin’, playin’ female till he got the drop, and turned loose. —
他以一个带着面具装扮的女人的方式进来，直到他控制了形势。 —

I never reached for a gun, thinkin’ it was sure Chihuahua Betty, or Mrs. Atwater, or anyhow one of the Mayfield girls comin’ a-gunnin’, which they might, liable as not. —
我从未伸手拿枪，以为是肯定是吉娃娃贝蒂，或者是阿特沃特夫人，或者是梅菲尔德姐妹中的任何一个拿枪而来，说不定她们会这样干。 —

I never thought of that blamed Garcia until–”
我直到……才想起那个该死的加西亚。

“Garcia!” snapped Buckley. “How did he get over here?”
“加西亚！”巴克利急切地问道，“他怎么到这里来了？

Bud’s bartender took the ranger by the arm and led him to the side door. —
巴德的酒保拉住游骑兵的胳膊，带他走到侧门。 —

There stood a patient grey burro cropping the grass along the gutter, with a load of kindling wood tied across its back. —
草丛边，有一只耐心的灰色驴子，背上绑着一堆柴。 —

On the ground lay a black shawl and a voluminous brown dress.
地上躺着一块黑色披肩和一条大褐色连衣裙。

“Masquerootin’ in them things,” called Bud, still resisting attempted ministrations to his wounds. —
“穿得像个妇女”，巴德喊道，仍然抗拒着人家试图治疗他的伤口。 —

“Thought he was a lady till he gave a yell and winged me.”
“以为他是个女人，直到他大叫一声并打中了我。

“He went down this side street,” said the bartender. —
“他走过这条小街，”酒保说道，”他一个人， —

“He was alone, and he’ll hide out till night when his gang comes over. —
他会躲藏起来，等到晚上他的帮众过来。 —

You ought to find him in that Mexican lay-out below the depot. —
你应该在车站下面那个墨西哥人聚集地找到他。 —

He’s got a girl down there–Pancha Sales.”
他在那里有个女孩——潘查·塞尔斯。

“How was he armed?” asked Buckley.
“他持有什么武器？”巴克利问道。

“Two pearl-handled sixes, and a knife.”
“两把镶珍珠的六连发手枪和一把刀。”

“Keep this for me, Billy,” said the ranger, handing over his Winchester. Quixotic, perhaps, but it was Bob Buckley’s way. —
“帮我保管一下，比利”，游侠说着递给比利他的温彻斯特步枪。或许有些异想天开，但这是鲍勃·巴克利的方式。 —

Another man–and a braver one–might have raised a posse to accompany him. —
另一个人——一个更勇敢的人——可能会组织一队人去陪同他。 —

It was Buckley’s rule to discard all preliminary advantage.
巴克利的原则是放弃所有的初步优势。

The Mexican had left behind him a wake of closed doors and an empty street, but now people were beginning to emerge from their places of refuge with assumed unconsciousness of anything having happened. —
墨西哥人在他身后留下一条关门闭户的街道，但现在人们开始从他们的藏身之地悄悄出来，装作对发生的事情毫不知情。 —

Many citizens who knew the ranger pointed out to him with alacrity the course of Garcia’s retreat.
许多认识游侠的市民急切地指给他加西亚的撤退路线。

As Buckley swung along upon the trail he felt the beginning of the suffocating constriction about his throat, the cold sweat under the brim of his hat, the old, shameful, dreaded sinking of his heart as it went down, down, down in his bosom.
当巴克利沿着小径迅速走过时，他感到喉咙开始被一种窒息的压迫感所紧束，帽檐下面冒出的冷汗，他内心的那种旧怀被深深地抑制下去，一点点下沉，下沉，下沉。

*****

The morning train of the Mexican Central had that day been three hours late, thus failing to connect with the I. & G.N. on the other side of the river. —
那天，墨西哥中央铁路的早班火车晚点了三个小时，因此无法与河对岸的I.＆G.N.连接。 —

Passengers for Los Estados Unidos grumblingly sought entertainment in the little swaggering mongrel town of two nations, for, until the morrow, no other train would come to rescue them. —
前往美国的乘客们抱怨着在这个两国小镇上寻找娱乐，因为在明天之前，没有其他火车会来拯救他们。 —

Grumblingly, because two days later would begin the great fair and races in San Antone. —
抱怨着，因为两天后将在圣安东尼奥开始大型博览会和赛马会。 —

Consider that at that time San Antone was the hub of the wheel of Fortune, and the names of its spokes were Cattle, Wool, Faro, Running Horses, and Ozone. In those times cattlemen played at crack-loo on the sidewalks with double-eagles, and gentlemen backed their conception of the fortuitous card with stacks limited in height only by the interference of gravity. —
请考虑那时圣安东尼奥是财富之轮的中心，其轴是牛、羊毛、麻将、赛马和新鲜空气。那个时候，牛仔们在人行道上玩起了Crack-Loo，用双鹰硬币进行赌博，并且绅士们用仅有重力为限制的巨额筹码下注于他们对幸运卡牌的理解。 —

Wherefore, thither journeyed the sowers and the reapers–they who stampeded the dollars, and they who rounded them up. —
因此，种田的人和割麦的人纷纷前往那里 - 那些引领着美元的人，以及那些将它们聚集起来的人。 —

Especially did the caterers to the amusement of the people haste to San Antone. —
特别是餐饮人员匆忙赶往圣安东尼奥，引人们的兴致。 —

Two greatest shows on earth were already there, and dozens of smallest ones were on the way.
地球上最盛大的两场表演已经在那里，还有数十场小型表演即将到来。

On a side track near the mean little ‘dobe depot stood a private car, left there by the Mexican train that morning and doomed by an ineffectual schedule to ignobly await, amid squalid surroundings, connection with the next day’s regular.
在一个小破土房附近的侧轨上，停着一辆私人车厢，早上被墨西哥火车抛下，注定在肮脏的环境中无助地等待与第二天的正常车接驳。

The car had been once a common day-coach, but those who had sat in it and gringed to the conductor’s hat-band slips would never have recognised it in its transformation. —
这辆车厢曾经是一辆普通的日间客车，但曾坐在里面并不满意地对着列车长的帽子漏斗的人们，再也无法认出它的变化。 —

Paint and gilding and certain domestic touches had liberated it from any suspicion of public servitude. —
油漆和镀金以及某些家居装饰使它摆脱了任何公共服务的嫌疑。 —

The whitest of lace curtains judiciously screened its windows. —
最白的花边帘幕巧妙地遮住了车窗。 —

From its fore end drooped in the torrid air the flag of Mexico. —
在酷热的空气中，墨西哥国旗从车头飘下。 —

From its rear projected the Stars and Stripes and a busy stovepipe, the latter reinforcing in its suggestion of culinary comforts the general suggestion of privacy and ease. —
从车尾伸出来的是星条旗和一个忙碌的烟囱，后者在暗示烹饪舒适性的同时，也增加了总体上的私密和舒适感。 —

The beholder’s eye, regarding its gorgeous sides, found interest to culminate in a single name in gold and blue letters extending almost its entire length–a single name, the audacious privilege of royalty and genius. —
注视者的眼睛，关于其绚丽的侧面，发现对一个单一的名字产生了兴趣，这个名字以黄金和蓝色的字母延伸几乎整个长度——一个单一的名字，这是皇室和天才的大胆特权。 —

Doubly, then, was this arrogant nomenclature here justified; —
因此，这个傲慢的命名在这里是有道理的； —

for the name was that of “Alvarita, Queen of the Serpent Tribe.” This, her car, was back from a triumphant tour of the principal Mexican cities, and now headed for San Antonio, where, according to promissory advertisement, she would exhibit her “Marvellous Dominion and Fearless Control over Deadly and Venomous Serpents, Handling them with Ease as they Coil and Hiss to the Terror of Thousands of Tongue-tied Tremblers!”
因为这个名字就是“阿尔瓦里塔，蛇族的女王”的名字。她的汽车刚刚结束了一次在墨西哥主要城市的胜利之旅，现在正驶向圣安东尼奥，根据承诺的广告，她将展示她对“危险和有毒蛇的奇妙统治和无畏控制，轻松地操纵它们，让成千上万的人们恐惧地颤抖着！”

One hundred in the shade kept the vicinity somewhat depeopled. —
在附近保持温度在100度以上，使这个地区有些人烟稀少。 —

This quarter of the town was a ragged edge; —
这个城市的这个地区是一个破烂的边缘； —

its denizens the bubbling froth of five nations; —
它的居民来自五个不同的国家； —

its architecture tent, jacal, and ‘dobe; —
建筑物是帐篷、简易小屋和土坯房。 —

its distractions the hurdy-gurdy and the informal contribution to the sudden stranger’s store of experience. —
它的分心之处在于风琴和对那陌生人的经验贡献是随意的。 —

Beyond this dishonourable fringe upon the old town’s jowl rose a dense mass of trees, surmounting and filling a little hollow. —
在这个不光彩的边缘之外，老城的下颌上方升起了一片密集的树丛，填满了一个小小的凹地。 —

Through this bickered a small stream that perished down the sheer and disconcerting side of the great canon of the Rio Bravo del Norte.
一条小溪从中间穿过，沿着里奥布拉河大峡谷的陡峭而令人困惑的一侧消失了。

In this sordid spot was condemned to remain for certain hours the impotent transport of the Queen of the Serpent Tribe.
在这个肮脏的地方，被禁囚在这里的是蛇部落的女王无能的交通工具。

The front door of the car was open. —
汽车的前门是开着的。 —

Its forward end was curtained off into a small reception-room. —
它的前端被帘子隔开，形成一个小的接待室。 —

Here the admiring and propitiatory reporters were wont to sit and transpose the music of Senorita Alvarita’s talk into the more florid key of the press. —
在这里，仰慕和抚慰的记者们习惯于坐着，将阿尔瓦丽塔小姐的话语转化为更华丽的新闻语言。 —

A picture of Abraham Lincoln hung against a wall; —
一张亚伯拉罕·林肯的画挂在一面墙上； —

one of a cluster of school-girls grouped upon stone steps was in another place; —
另一个地方是一群学生女孩聚集在石阶上的照片； —

a third was Easter lilies in a blood-red frame. —
第三个是一个鲜红色框架里的复活节百合花。 —

A neat carpet was under foot. —
脚下是一张整洁的地毯。 —

A pitcher, sweating cold drops, and a glass stood on a fragile stand. —
一只汗水冷冽的水壶和一个放在脆弱的支架上的玻璃杯。 —

In a willow rocker, reading a newspaper, sat Alvarita.
阿尔瓦里塔坐在柳木摇椅上看报纸。

Spanish, you would say; Andalusian, or, better still, Basque; that compound, like the diamond, of darkness and fire. —
如果用西班牙语来说，应该是安达卢西亚人，或者更好的选项是巴斯克人。那种混合着黑暗和火焰的复合物，就像钻石一样。 —

Hair, the shade of purple grapes viewed at midnight. Eyes, long, dusky, and disquieting with their untroubled directness of gaze. —
头发是午夜时分看到的紫葡萄的颜色。长长的眼睛，昏暗而不安宁，直视着你，毫不犹豫。 —

Face, haughty and bold, touched with a pretty insolence that gave it life. —
脸上带着一种傲慢而大胆的表情，充满了一种可爱的傲慢感，给予了它生命。 —

To hasten conviction of her charm, but glance at the stacks of handbills in the corner, green, and yellow, and white. —
要加速对她的魅力的认可，只需看一眼角落里堆积如山的传单，有绿色、黄色和白色的。 —

Upon them you see an incompetent presentment of the senorita in her professional garb and pose. —
你可以看到一幅描述她专业着装和姿势的无能的画像。 —

Irresistible, in black lace and yellow ribbons, she faces you; a blue racer is spiralled upon each bare arm; —
不可抗拒地，她穿着黑色蕾丝和黄色丝带，面对着你；每只赤脚上都盘绕着一条蓝色的赛蛇； —

coiled twice about her waist and once about her neck, his horrid head close to hers, you perceive Kuku, the great eleven-foot Asian python.
绕着她的腰部缠了两圈，头紧贴着她的脖子，你可以看到库庫，这条骇人的十一英尺长的亚洲巨蟒。

A hand drew aside the curtain that partitioned the car, and a middle- aged, faded woman holding a knife and a half-peeled potato looked in and said:
一只手拉开了车厢里的帘子，一个中年的褪色女人拿着一把刀和一颗剥好一半的土豆向里面看了看，说道：

“Alviry, are you right busy?”
“阿尔维拉，你可是挺忙的吧？”

“I’m reading the home paper, ma. What do you think! —
“妈，我正在看家里的报纸呢，你猜！ —

that pale, tow- headed Matilda Price got the most votes in the News for the prettiest girl in Gallipo–lees.”
那个苍白的、金发的玛蒂尔达·普赖斯在《盖利波里斯新闻》的最美女孩投票中得了最多的票。”

“Shush! She wouldn’t of done it if you’d been home, Alviry. —
“嘘！如果你在家就不会发生这种事了，阿尔维拉。 —

Lord knows, I hope we’ll be there before fall’s over. —
天知道，我希望我们能在秋天结束之前回去。 —

I’m tired gallopin’ round the world playin’ we are dagoes, and givin’ snake shows. But that ain’t what I wanted to say. —
我累得像只厮混到世界各地的达菲工人，还要搞蛇秀。但这不是我想说的。 —

That there biggest snake’s gone again. —
那条最大的蛇又跑了。 —

I’ve looked all over the car and can’t find him. —
我在车厢里找了好久也找不到他。 —

He must have been gone an hour. —
他可能已经离开有一个小时了。 —

I remember hearin’ somethin’ rustlin’ along the floor, but I thought it was you.”
我记得听到有东西在地板上沙沙作响，但我以为是你。”

“Oh, blame that old rascal!” exclaimed the Queen, throwing down her paper. —
“哦，可恶的老流氓！”女王气呼呼地丢下报纸。 —

“This is the third time he’s got away. —
“这已经是他第三次逃走了。 —

George never will fasten down the lid to his box properly. —
乔治永远都不会正确地扣紧他的箱子盖子。 —

I do believe he’s afraid of Kuku. Now I’ve got to go hunt him.”
我相信他怕库库。现在我得去追捕他了。

“Better hurry; somebody might hurt him.”
最好快点，别让别人伤害他。

The Queen’s teeth showed in a gleaming, contemptuous smile. —
女王咧嘴露出了嘲弄的笑容。“没危险。 —

“No danger. When they see Kuku outside they simply scoot away and buy bromides. —
他们一看到库库在外面，立刻就逃之夭夭，买溴化物。 —

There’s a crick over between here and the river. —
这里和河流之间有一处弯曲处。 —

That old scamp’d swap his skin any time for a drink of running water. —
那老家伙随时都会为了流动的水而换皮。 —

I guess I’ll find him there, all right.”
我想我会在那儿找到他的，没错。

A few minutes later Alvarita stopped upon the forward platform, ready for her quest. —
几分钟后，阿尔瓦丽塔停在前面的平台上，准备寻找。 —

Her handsome black skirt was shaped to the most recent proclamation of fashion. —
她漂亮的黑裙子符合最新的时尚宣言。 —

Her spotless shirt-waist gladdened the eye in that desert of sunshine, a swelling oasis, cool and fresh. —
她一尘不染的衬衫在阳光的沙漠中令人欣喜，宛如一片蓬勃的绿洲，清凉而新鲜。 —

A man’s split-straw hat sat firmly on her coiled, abundant hair.
一个男人的分裂麦秸帽牢牢地戴在她盘起的浓密头发上。

Beneath her serene, round, impudent chin a man’s four-in-hand tie was jauntily knotted about a man’s high, stiff collar. —
在她安详、圆润、狡诈的下巴下，一个男人的四手带结着一个男人的高直领。 —

A parasol she carried, of white silk, and its fringe was lace, yellowly genuine.
她披着一把白色丝绸的阳伞，边缘是黄色的真正蕾丝。

I will grant Gallipolis as to her costume, but firmly to Seville or Valladolid I am held by her eyes; —
我承认她的服饰带有加利波利斯的风格，但她的眼睛让我坚定地认为她来自塞维利亚或巴达露迪德。 —

castanets, balconies, mantillas, serenades, ambuscades, escapades–all these their dark depths guaranteed.
拍手、阳台、披肩、夜曲、埋伏、逃脱 - 所有这些深深地保证了它们的黑暗深处。

“Ain’t you afraid to go out alone, Alviry?” queried the Queen-mother anxiously. —
“你不怕独自出门吗，阿尔维丽？” 女王妈妈焦虑地问道。 —

“There’s so many rough people about. Mebbe you’d better–”
“这里有那么多粗鲁的人。也许你最好…”

“I never saw anything I was afraid of yet, ma. —
“我从没见过我害怕的东西，妈妈。 —

‘Specially people. And men in particular. —
尤其是人。尤其是男人。 —

Don’t you fret. I’ll trot along back as soon as I find that runaway scamp.”
你别担心。我找到那个逃跑的家伙后马上就回来。”

The dust lay thick upon the bare ground near the tracks. —
尘土厚厚地铺在离铁轨不远的光秃土地上。 —

Alvarita’s eye soon discovered the serrated trail of the escaped python. —
阿尔瓦丽塔的眼睛很快就发现了逃跑的巨蟒留下的锯齿状痕迹。 —

It led across the depot grounds and away down a smaller street in the direction of the little canon, as predicted by her. —
它穿过车站场地，沿着一个较小的街道走向小峡谷的方向，正如她预料的那样。 —

A stillness and lack of excitement in the neighbourhood encouraged the hope that, as yet, the inhabitants were unaware that so formidable a guest traversed their highways. —
小区的安静和缺乏激动，让人相信居民们还不知道有如此强大的客人在他们的大道上穿行。 —

The heat had driven them indoors, whence outdrifted occasional shrill laughs, or the depressing whine of a maltreated concertina. —
酷热的天气迫使他们躲在室内，偶尔传来尖锐的笑声，或是破旧手风琴令人沮丧的嗡嗡声。 —

In the shade a few Mexican children, like vivified stolid idols in clay, stared from their play, vision-struck and silent, as Alvarita came and went. —
在阴影下，一些墨西哥的孩子们像泥土中栩栩如生的木雕一样，凝视着她们的游戏，被触动的视线沉默不语，在阿尔瓦丽塔来来去去的时候。 —

Here and there a woman peeped from a door and stood dumb, reduced to silence by the aspect of the white silk parasol.
有时候，一个女人从门口窥视出来，沉默站在那里，白色丝绸阳伞的样子使她无语。

A hundred yards and the limits of the town were passed, scattered chaparral succeeding, and then a noble grove, overflowing the bijou canon. —
走过一百码后，小镇的界限已经被越过，散布着茂盛的灌木丛，然后是一个宏伟的树林溢出着小型断崖。 —

Through this a small bright stream meandered. —
小溪蜿蜒穿过这里，如同一个明亮的公园， —

Park-like it was, with a kind of cockney ruralness further endorsed by the waste papers and rifled tins of picnickers. —
还有一种伦敦郊区的乡村风情，上面还有野餐者乱扔的废纸和翻找后的罐头。 —

Up this stream, and down it, among its pseudo-sylvan glades and depressions, wandered the bright and unruffled Alvarita. —
在这条小溪上游和下游之间，明亮而平静的阿尔瓦里塔徘徊在它的伪丛林间隔和洼地中。 —

Once she saw evidence of the recreant reptile’s progress in his distinctive trail across a spread of fine sand in the arroyo. —
有一次她在河谷的一片细沙上发现了这只背叛的爬行动物留下的独特痕迹。 —

The living water was bound to lure him; —
活水肯定会吸引他， —

he could not be far away.
他一定不远了。

So sure was she of his immediate proximity that she perched herself to idle for a time in the curve of a great creeper that looped down from a giant water-elm. —
她如此肯定他就在附近，她便坐在一条从巨大的水榆树上垂下来的大藤蔓的弯曲处，无所事事。 —

To reach this she climbed from the pathway a little distance up the side of a steep and rugged incline. —
为了到达这里，她从小山坡的路径爬了一段距离。 —

Around her chaparral grew thick and high. —
她周围的灌木丛茂密而高大。 —

A late-blooming ratama tree dispensed from its yellow petals a sweet and persistent odour. —
一棵迟开的霸玛树散发着甜美而持久的黄色花瓣的香气。 —

Adown the ravine rustled a seductive wind, melancholy with the taste of sodden, fallen leaves.
从峡谷里传来一阵撩人的风，带着湿漉漉的枯叶的忧郁味道。

Alvarita removed her hat, and undoing the oppressive convolutions of her hair, began to slowly arrange it in two long, dusky plaits.
阿尔瓦里塔摘下帽子，解开沉重的头发，开始慢慢把它分成两条长长的黑暗辫子。

From the obscure depths of a thick clump of evergreen shrubs five feet away, two small jewel-bright eyes were steadfastly regarding her. —
从茂密的常青灌木丛中，离她五英尺远的地方，有两只小小的闪亮的眼睛在坚定地注视着她。 —

Coiled there lay Kuku, the great python; Kuku, the magnificent, he of the plated muzzle, the grooved lips, the eleven-foot stretch of elegantly and brilliantly mottled skin. —
蛇卷在那里，那只伟大的蚺蛇；库库，那只宏伟的蚺蛇，它有装甲状的口鼻、有纹路的嘴唇，长达十一英尺的优雅而光彩夺目的斑纹皮肤。 —

The great python was viewing his mistress without a sound or motion to disclose his presence. —
这只伟大的蚺蛇无声无动地观察着它的主人。 —

Perhaps the splendid truant forefelt his capture, but, screened by the foliage, thought to prolong the delight of his escapade. —
也许这位华丽的逃亡者感到了他的被捕，但是，被树叶掩盖着，他想延长他的逃亡的愉悦。 —

What pleasure it was, after the hot and dusty car, to lie thus, smelling the running water, and feeling the agreeable roughness of the earth and stones against his body! —
在炎热而尘土飞扬的车辆之后，躺在这里，嗅着流水，感受着身体上愉快的土地和石头的粗糙感，真是太愉快了！ —

Soon, very soon the Queen would find him, and he, powerless as a worm in her audacious hands, would be returned to the dark chest in the narrow house that ran on wheels.
很快，非常快，女王就会找到他，而他，像个蠕虫一样无能为力地被她可耻的手抓住，将被送回那个带着轮子的狭小房子里的黑暗箱中。

Alvarita heard a sudden crunching of the gravel below her. —
阿尔瓦丽塔听到脚下碎石的声音。她转过头去， —

Turning her head she saw a big, swarthy Mexican, with a daring and evil expression, contemplating her with an ominous, dull eye.
看见一个身材魁梧、黑皮肤的墨西哥人，眼神威胁且邪恶，用一双沉闷的眼睛注视着她。

“What do you want?” she asked as sharply as five hairpins between her lips would permit, continuing to plait her hair, and looking him over with placid contempt. —
她带着五根发夹夹在嘴唇间，尖刻地问道：“你想干什么？”她继续编着自己的头发，一边鄙视地打量着他。 —

The Mexican continued to gaze at her, and showed his teeth in a white, jagged smile.
墨西哥人继续凝视着她，露出一口白牙，咧嘴一笑。

“I no hurt-y you, Senorita,” he said.
“我不会伤害你，小姐。”他说道。

“You bet you won’t,” answered the Queen, shaking back one finished, massive plait. —
“当然不会。”女王回答道，一根已编好的厚辫被她摇了回去。 —

“But don’t you think you’d better move on?”
“但是你不觉得你最好走开吗？”

“Not hurt-y you–no. But maybeso take one beso–one li’l kees, you call him.”
“不会伤害你–不会的。但或许可以带一个吻–一个小小的吻，你叫它‘beso’。”

The man smiled again, and set his foot to ascend the slope. —
男人再次微笑，并抬脚开始爬坡。 —

Alvarita leaned swiftly and picked up a stone the size of a cocoanut.
阿尔瓦丽塔迅速弯腰捡起一个像椰子那么大的石头。

“Vamoose, quick,” she ordered peremptorily, “you coon!”
“快点滚蛋！”她命令道，“你这个黑鬼！”

The red of insult burned through the Mexican’s dark skin.
墨西哥人被这种侮辱激怒，红色的愤怒透过他深色的皮肤。

“Hidalgo, Yo!” he shot between his fangs. —
“嘿达尔戈，哟！”他咬牙切齿地喊道。 —

“I am not neg-r-ro! Diabla bonita, for that you shall pay me.”
“我不是小贩！可爱的恶魔，因此你得付我代价。”

He made two quick upward steps this time, but the stone, hurled by no weak arm, struck him square in the chest. —
这次他迅速向上迈了两步，但那块被一个力气不小的手投掷的石头，直接击中了他胸口。 —

He staggered back to the footway, swerved half around, and met another sight that drove all thoughts of the girl from his head. —
他摇摇晃晃地回到人行道，转了半圈，看到了另一个让他完全忘记了那个女孩的景象。 —

She turned her eyes to see what had diverted his interest. —
她转过头，想看看是什么让他如此感兴趣。 —

A man with red-brown, curling hair and a melancholy, sunburned, smooth-shaven face was coming up the path, twenty yards away. —
一个红棕色卷曲发，阳光晒得黝黑，面庞平滑红肿的男人正从二十码外的路径走来。 —

Around the Mexican’s waist was buckled a pistol belt with two empty holsters.
墨西哥人的腰间系着一条有两个空枪套的手枪腰带。

He had laid aside his sixes–possibly in the jacal of the fair Pancha–and had forgotten them when the passing of the fairer Alvarita had enticed him to her trail. —
他已经把他的两把手枪放在一边了——可能放在了公平女邦查的简陋小屋，当更美丽的阿尔瓦里塔引他追赶的时候，他竟忘记了带上它们。 —

His hands now flew instinctively to the holsters, but finding the weapons gone, he spread his fingers outward with the eloquent, abjuring, deprecating Latin gesture, and stood like a rock. —
现在他的手本能地飞向枪套，但却发现武器不见了，于是他张开手指做了个富有表情、不容置疑、求饶的拉丁手势，像一座磐石一样站在那里。 —

Seeing his plight, the newcomer unbuckled his own belt containing two revolvers, threw it upon the ground, and continued to advance.
看到他的困境，新来的人解开了自己的腰带（上面挂着两把左轮手枪），扔在了地上，继续前进。

“Splendid!” murmured Alvarita, with flashing eyes.
“太棒了！”阿尔瓦里达喃喃道，眼神闪闪发亮。

*****

As Bob Buckley, according to the mad code of bravery that his sensitive conscience imposed upon his cowardly nerves, abandoned his guns and closed in upon his enemy, the old, inevitable nausea of abject fear wrung him. —
根据那个声音使他内心脆弱的勇气条令，鲍勃·巴克利丢下了手枪，向敌人靠近，激烈的恐惧使他的胃不断抽痛。 —

His breath whistled through his constricted air passages. —
他呼吸急促，空气道狭窄。 —

His feet seemed like lumps of lead. —
他的脚仿佛是两块铅。 —

His mouth was dry as dust. —
他口干如尘。 —

His heart, congested with blood, hurt his ribs as it thumped against them. —
充满血液的心脏痛得压迫住他的肋骨，像在肋骨上重重地撞击。 —

The hot June day turned to moist November. —
炎热的六月天变成了潮湿的十一月天。 —

And still he advanced, spurred by a mandatory pride that strained its uttermost against his weakling flesh.
然而他还是前进着，凭借着一股强迫的骄傲，使尽全力去抵挡他软弱的肉体。

The distance between the two men slowly lessened. —
两个人之间的距离慢慢拉近。 —

The Mexican stood, immovable, waiting. —
那个墨西哥人站着一动不动，等待着。 —

When scarce five yards separated them a little shower of loosened gravel rattled down from above to the ranger’s feet. —
当他们之间仅剩下五码的距离时，一小股松散的小石子从上面掉在了游骑兵的脚边。 —

He glanced upward with instinctive caution. —
他下意识地抬起头，警觉地环顾四周。 —

A pair of dark eyes, brilliantly soft, and fierily tender, encountered and held his own. —
一双黑眸，明亮而温柔，充满了炽热的柔情，与他的目光相遇并定住。 —

The most fearful heart and the boldest one in all the Rio Bravo country exchanged a silent and inscrutable communication. —
在整个里奥布拉河国家中，最胆怯的心和最勇敢的心交换了一种无声而深奥的交流。 —

Alvarita, still seated within her vine, leaned forward above the breast-high chaparral. —
阿尔瓦丽塔仍坐在葡萄藤上，向前倾身超过胸高的灌木丛。 —

One hand was laid across her bosom. —
她一只手搭在胸前。 —

One great dark braid curved forward over her shoulder. —
一条乌黑的大辫子垂在她的肩膀上。 —

Her lips were parted; her face was lit with what seemed but wonder–great and absolute wonder. —
她的嘴唇微微张开，脸上洋溢着似乎只是惊奇的表情–无比的、纯粹的惊奇。 —

Her eyes lingered upon Buckley’s. —
她的眼睛停留在巴克利的眼睛上。 —

Let no one ask or presume to tell through what subtle medium the miracle was performed. —
不要有人问或假设通过怎样微妙的媒介这个奇迹完成了。 —

As by a lightning flash two clouds will accomplish counterpoise and compensation of electric surcharge, so on that eyeglance the man received his complement of manhood, and the maid conceded what enriched her womanly grace by its loss.
就像一道闪电，两朵云彼此互相补偿和平衡电荷，男子在那一眼中得到了他的成人礼，少女因失去而让她女性的优雅得到了丰富。

The Mexican, suddenly stirring, ventilated his attitude of apathetic waiting by conjuring swiftly from his bootleg a long knife. —
这个墨西哥人突然动了起来，他从自制酒中迅速掏出一把长刀，表达出他对无所事事等待的冷漠态度。 —

Buckley cast aside his hat, and laughed once aloud, like a happy school-boy at a frolic. —
巴克利扔掉了帽子，高兴地笑了一声，像一个快乐的学童在嬉戏中一样。 —

Then, empty-handed, he sprang nimbly, and Garcia met him without default.
然后他空手跳起，而加西亚毫不示弱地迎了上去。

So soon was the engagement ended that disappointment imposed upon the ranger’s warlike ecstasy. —
这场交战结束得太快，让游侠的战斗狂喜感到失望。 —

Instead of dealing the traditional downward stroke, the Mexican lunged straight with his knife. —
墨西哥人没有采取传统的下劈一刀，而是直刺出刀尖。 —

Buckley took the precarious chance, and caught his wrist, fair and firm. —
巴克利冒险一试，果断地抓住了他的手腕。 —

Then he delivered the good Saxon knock-out blow–always so pathetically disastrous to the fistless Latin races–and Garcia was down and out, with his head under a clump of prickly pears. —
然后他给了致命的撞击，这对于无拳头的拉丁种族总是如此令人痛心的毁灭性一击，加西亚不敌倒地，头部被一丛仙人掌躲住了。 —

The ranger looked up again to the Queen of the Serpents.
游侠再次抬头看着那位蛇女皇。

Alvarita scrambled down to the path.
阿尔瓦丽塔匆忙从小路上下来。

“I’m mighty glad I happened along when I did,” said the ranger.
“我真高兴我刚好在需要的时候出现了，” 游侠说道。

“He–he frightened me so!” cooed Alvarita.
“他…他吓到我了！”阿尔瓦丽塔轻声说道。

They did not hear the long, low hiss of the python under the shrubs. —
他们没有听到灌木丛中蟒蛇发出的长而低的嘶嘶声。 —

Wiliest of the beasts, no doubt he was expressing the humiliation he felt at having so long dwelt in subjection to this trembling and colouring mistress of his whom he had deemed so strong and potent and fearsome.
作为最狡猾的野兽，毫无疑问，它在表达它长久以来受制于这个战栗而变色的女主人的屈辱感，他曾经认为她如此强大、有威力和可怕。

Then came galloping to the spot the civic authorities; —
随后市政当局赶到了现场； —

and to them the ranger awarded the prostrate disturber of the peace, whom they bore away limply across the saddle of one of their mounts. —
护林员把那个扰乱治安的人摔倒在地，然后他们将他一动不动地带走，横放在其中一匹马的鞍鞯上。 —

But Buckley and Alvarita lingered.
但巴克利和阿尔瓦丽塔还在停留。

Slowly, slowly they walked. —
他们慢慢地走着。 —

The ranger regained his belt of weapons. —
护林员重新系上了武器腰带。 —

With a fine timidity she begged the indulgence of fingering the great .45’s, with little “Ohs” and “Ahs” of new-born, delicious shyness.
她轻轻恳求，羞怯地伸手去摸那把.45口径的大炮，小声地发出“哦”和“啊”的声音，感到新生的、美妙的害羞。

The canoncito was growing dusky. —
小河谷正变得昏暗。 —

Beyond its terminus in the river bluff they could see the outer world yet suffused with the waning glory of sunset.
在河堤的尽头，他们能看到外面的世界还沐浴在夕阳逐渐消退的荣光中。

A scream–a piercing scream of fright from Alvarita. —
阿尔瓦丽塔发出一声尖叫，充满恐惧。 —

Back she cowered, and the ready, protecting arm of Buckley formed her refuge. —
她蜷缩起来，巴克利伸出护臂，成为她的庇护所。 —

What terror so dire as to thus beset the close of the reign of the never- before-daunted Queen?
有什么恐怖能够如此困扰这位从未胆怯过的女王统治的殿堂？

Across the path there crawled a caterpillar–a horrid, fuzzy, two- inch caterpillar! —
小路上爬着一只毛茸茸、恶心的两英寸长的毛毛虫！ —

Truly, Kuku, thou went avenged. —
确实，库库，你得到了报仇。 —

Thus abdicated the Queen of the Serpent Tribe–viva la reina!
蛇族女王的退位就这样宣告了——viva la reina！