Curly the tramp sidled toward the free-lunch counter. —
卷发流浪汉悄悄地走向免费午餐柜台。 —

He caught a fleeting glance from the bartender’s eye, and stood still, trying to look like a business man who had just dined at the Menger and was waiting for a friend who had promised to pick him up in his motor car. —
他从酒保的眼神中捕捉到一瞥,然后站在那里,努力看起来像是刚在蒙哥酒店用餐完,正在等一个答应开摩托车来接他的朋友。 —

Curly’s histrionic powers were equal to the impersonation; —
卷发的演技能力可以胜任这个角色扮演, —

but his make-up was wanting.
但他的化妆不够完美。

The bartender rounded the bar in a casual way, looking up at the ceiling as though he was pondering some intricate problem of kalsomining, and then fell upon Curly so suddenly that the roadster had no excuses ready. —
酒保以一副随意的样子绕过酒吧,抬头看着天花板,仿佛思考着某个关于粉刷墙壁的复杂问题,然后突然冲向卷发,以一种近乎冷漠的态度将他推向门,这种漠然几乎达到了悲伤的程度。 —

Irresistibly, but so composedly that it seemed almost absendmindedness on his part, the dispenser of drinks pushed Curly to the swinging doors and kicked him out, with a nonchalance that almost amounted to sadness. —
那就是西南部的做事方式。 —

That was the way of the Southwest.
卷发悠闲地从街沟中爬起来。他对他的驱逐者没有任何愤怒或怨恨。

Curly arose from the gutter leisurely. —
请等值酒保由于一种近乎心不在焉的态度将卷发推了出去后, —

He felt no anger or resentment toward his ejector. —
悠悠然地从地上站起身来。 —

Fifteen years of tramphood spent out of the twenty-two years of his life had hardened the fibres of his spirit. —
他生命中的22年里,有15年被流浪生活所磨砺,使他的精神变得坚韧。 —

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune fell blunted from the buckler of his armoured pride. —
那些厄运的暴戾之箭只是在他坚固的盾牌下钝了。 —

With especial resignation did he suffer contumely and injury at the hands of bartenders. —
他特别忍受了酒保对他的轻蔑和伤害。当然, —

Naturally, they were his enemies; —
他们是他的敌人; —

and unnaturally, they were often his friends. —
而令人反常的是,他们常常又是他的朋友。 —

He had to take his chances with them. —
他必须冒险与他们相处。 —

But he had not yet learned to estimate these cool, languid, Southwestern knights of the bungstarter, who had the manners of an Earl of Pawtucket, and who, when they disapproved of your presence, moved you with the silence and despatch of a chess automaton advancing a pawn.
然而,他还没有学会评估这些冷静、懒洋洋的西南酒保骑士,他们有着帕塔基特伯爵的风度。当他们对你的存在不满时,他们会用象棋自动装置推进兵一样飞快而沉默地让你离开。

Curly stood for a few moments in the narrow, mesquite-paved street. San Antonio puzzled and disturbed him. —
Curly在狭窄的灌木铺地街道上站了几分钟。圣安东尼奥让他感到困惑和不安。 —

Three days he had been a non- paying guest of the town, having dropped off there from a box car of an I. & G.N. freight, because Greaser Johnny had told him in Des Moines that the Alamo City was manna fallen, gathered, cooked, and served free with cream and sugar. —
他已经在镇上呆了三天,作为一个不付费的客人,因为他从一辆I. & G.N.货运列车的货箱中下车,因为墨西哥人约翰尼在得梅因告诉他阿拉摩城是天上掉下来的礼物,可以免费享用,加上奶油和糖。 —

Curly had found the tip partly a good one. —
Curly发现这个提示一部分是好的。 —

There was hospitality in plenty of a careless, liberal, irregular sort. —
这里有大量慷慨的、随意的好客。 —

But the town itself was a weight upon his spirits after his experience with the rushing, business-like, systematised cities of the North and East. Here he was often flung a dollar, but too frequently a good-natured kick would follow it. —
但这个镇对他的精神产生了压力,尤其是在他与北方和东部的忙碌、商业化、系统化的城市的经历之后。在这里,他经常被仍给一美元,但太频繁地,一个好心的踢跟随着。 —

Once a band of hilarious cowboys had roped him on Military Plaza and dragged him across the black soil until no respectable rag-bag would have stood sponsor for his clothes. —
有一次,一群欢乐的牛仔们在军事广场上把他拴住,把他拖过黑土,直到不可敬的破布包也不会为他的衣服辩护。 —

The winding, doubling streets, leading nowhere, bewildered him. —
曲折、蜿蜒的街道导致了他的困惑,这些街道似乎没有任何目的地。 —

And then there was a little river, crooked as a pot-hook, that crawled through the middle of the town, crossed by a hundred little bridges so nearly alike that they got on Curly’s nerves. —
然后有一条小河,弯曲得像一个勺钩,蜿蜒穿过这个小镇,在无数相似的小桥上交错而过,以致它让Curly感到厌烦。 —

And the last bartender wore a number nine shoe.
最后一位酒保穿着号码九的鞋子。

The saloon stood on a corner. The hour was eight o’clock. —
酒吧位于拐角处。此时是八点钟。 —

Homefarers and outgoers jostled Curly on the narrow stone sidewalk. —
Curly在狭窄的石板路上与回家的人和外出的人挤在了一起。 —

Between the buildings to his left he looked down a cleft that proclaimed itself another thoroughfare. —
在他左边的建筑之间,他朝下看了一个表示自己是另一条大街的裂缝。 —

The alley was dark except for one patch of light. —
巷子里很暗,只有一块光亮的区域。 —

Where there was light there were sure to be human beings. —
有光亮的地方肯定有人。 —

Where there were human beings after nightfall in San Antonio there might be food, and there was sure to be drink. —
在圣安东尼奥,夜幕降临后,人群聚集的地方可能有食物,肯定有酒。 —

So Curly headed for the light.
所以Curly朝着光亮的方向走去。

The illumination came from Schwegel’s Cafe. On the sidewalk in front of it Curly picked up an old envelope. —
那里的照明来自Schwegel’s Cafe。Curly在它前面的人行道上捡起了一张旧信封。 —

It might have contained a check for a million. —
它可能装着一张价值百万美元的支票, —

It was empty; —
但是里面是空的。 —

but the wanderer read the address, “Mr. Otto Schwegel,” and the name of the town and State. The postmark was Detroit.
但流浪汉读到了地址上的“奥托·施韦格尔先生”以及城镇和州的名字。邮戳显示是底特律。

Curly entered the saloon. —
Curly走进了酒馆。 —

And now in the light it could be perceived that he bore the stamp of many years of vagabondage. —
现在在光线下可以看到他身上有多年流浪的痕迹。 —

He had none of the tidiness of the calculating and shrewd professional tramp. —
他没有精心打扮和精明的职业流浪汉的整洁。 —

His wardrobe represented the cast-off specimens of half a dozen fashions and eras. —
他的衣橱里有半打流行款式和时代的弃物。 —

Two factories had combined their efforts in providing shoes for his feet. —
两家工厂合作为他提供了鞋子。 —

As you gazed at him there passed through your mind vague impressions of mummies, wax figures, Russian exiles, and men lost on desert islands. —
当你凝视着他时,脑海中会浮现出木乃伊、蜡像、俄国流亡者和沙漠岛屿上迷失的人的模糊印象。 —

His face was covered almost to his eyes with a curly brown beard that he kept trimmed short with a pocket-knife, and that had furnished him with his nom de route. —
他的脸几乎被一头卷曲的棕色胡须遮住了眼睛,他用口袋刀修剪得很短,这使他取得了他的名字。 —

Light-blue eyes, full of sullenness, fear, cunning, impudence, and fawning, witnessed the stress that had been laid upon his soul.
浑浊的蓝眼睛中充满了愤怒、害怕、狡诈、厚颜和奉承的神色,见证了他灵魂上所受的压力。

The saloon was small, and in its atmosphere the odours of meat and drink struggled for the ascendancy. —
酒吧很小,气氛中食肉和饮品的气味争夺优势。 —

The pig and the cabbage wrestled with hydrogen and oxygen. —
猪和卷心菜与氢和氧搏斗。在吧台后面, —

Behind the bar Schwegel laboured with an assistant whose epidermal pores showed no signs of being obstructed. —
舒韦格和他的助手辛勤工作,他们的毛孔表面看起来并没有阻塞的迹象。 —

Hot weinerwurst and sauerkraut were being served to purchasers of beer. —
热维纳香肠和酸菜被提供给购买啤酒的人。 —

Curly shuffled to the end of the bar, coughed hollowly, and told Schwegel that he was a Detroit cabinet-maker out of a job.
卷毛走到吧台的尽头,发出空荡荡的咳嗽声,告诉舒韦格他是一名失业的底特律家具制造商。

It followed as the night the day that he got his schooner and lunch.
正如夜晚到来一样,他得到了他的大杯啤酒和午餐。

“Was you acquainted maybe with Heinrich Strauss in Detroit?” asked Schwegel.
“你是否可能熟悉底特律的海因里希·施特劳斯?”舒韦格问道。

“Did I know Heinrich Strauss?” repeated Curly, affectionately. —
“我认识海因里希·施特劳斯?”卷毛充满深情地重复道。 —

“Why, say, ‘Bo, I wish I had a dollar for every game of pinochle me and Heine has played on Sunday afternoons.”
“为什么,嘿,伙计,我真希望有一美元,为我们每周日下午打的每一把成对牌打上计分。”

More beer and a second plate of steaming food was set before the diplomat. —
酒酣食肆地为这位外交官奉上了更多的啤酒和第二盘热腾腾的食物。 —

And then Curly, knowing to a fluid-drachm how far a “con” game would go, shuffled out into the unpromising street.
然后,卷毛明白了“骗局”能走多远,嘟哝着走上了那条前景黯淡的街道。

And now he began to perceive the inconveniences of this stony Southern town. —
现在,他开始感受到这个多岩石的南方小镇的不便之处。 —

There was none of the outdoor gaiety and brilliancy and music that provided distraction even to the poorest in the cities of the North. Here, even so early, the gloomy, rock-walled houses were closed and barred against the murky dampness of the night. —
这里没有北方城市中即使最贫穷的人也能找到的户外欢乐、灿烂和音乐。在这里,即使是这么早,阴郁的、有岩壁的房屋被关闭并用栅栏阻挡着夜晚阴沉的潮湿。 —

The streets were mere fissures through which flowed grey wreaths of river mist. —
街道只是一条条裂缝,从中流过灰色的河雾。 —

As he walked he heard laughter and the chink of coin and chips behind darkened windows, and music coming from every chink of wood and stone. —
当他走着走着,他听到了笑声和硬币的叮当声,从黑暗的窗户后还有音乐从每一个木头和石头的缝隙中传来。 —

But the diversions were selfish; —
但这些娱乐都是自私的; —

the day of popular pastimes had not yet come to San Antonio.
大众消遣的时代还未到达圣安东尼奥。

But at length Curly, as he strayed, turned the sharp angle of another lost street and came upon a rollicking band of stockmen from the outlying ranches celebrating in the open in front of an ancient wooden hotel. —
但最后,科利迷失在又一个弯曲的街角,看到了一群从周边牧场来的闹哄哄的牧人,正在一个古老的木质旅馆前面欢庆。 —

One great roisterer from the sheep country who had just instigated a movement toward the bar, swept Curly in like a stray goat with the rest of his flock. —
一位来自羊区的喧闹者正率领一群人朝酒吧走去,他像一只迷路的山羊一样把Curly带进了酒吧。 —

The princes of kine and wool hailed him as a new zoological discovery, and uproariously strove to preserve him in the diluted alcohol of their compliments and regards.
牛和羊的贵族们把他视为一种新的动物发现,并热烈地试图用他们的赞美和关心来保护他。

An hour afterward Curly staggered from the hotel barroom dismissed by his fickle friends, whose interest in him had subsided as quickly as it had risen. —
一个小时后,Curly摇摇晃晃地从旅馆的酒吧里走了出来,他的青睐者们的兴趣就像泡沫一样迅速消退。 —

Full–stoked with alcoholic fuel and cargoed with food, the only question remaining to disturb him was that of shelter and bed.
满载着酒精燃料和食物,只剩下一个问题困扰着Curly,那就是住所和床铺的问题。

A drizzling, cold Texas rain had begun to fall–an endless, lazy, unintermittent downfall that lowered the spirits of men and raised a reluctant steam from the warm stones of the streets and houses. —
一场毛毛细雨开始下起来,冷冷的德克萨斯雨是一种没完没了、懒洋洋、间断不停的降水,让人们情绪低落,从街道和房屋的热石头上升起一股勉强的蒸汽。 —

Thus comes the “norther” dousing gentle spring and amiable autumn with the chilling salutes and adieux of coming and departing winter.
于是,“北风”带来了寒冷的问候和告别,冰冻着温暖的春天和宜人的秋天。

Curly followed his nose down the first tortuous street into which his irresponsible feet conducted him. —
卷发跟随着它那不负责任的双脚,顺着第一条曲折的街道走了下去。 —

At the lower end of it, on the bank of the serpentine stream, he perceived an open gate in a cemented rock wall. —
在街道的下端,他看到了一道水泥厚壁上的敞开的大门。 —

Inside he saw camp fires and a row of low wooden sheds built against three sides of the enclosing wall. —
门里面,他看到了篝火和一排低矮的木棚,建在围墙的三边。 —

He entered the enclosure. —
他进入了这个园区。 —

Under the sheds many horses were champing at their oats and corn. —
在棚子下面,许多马正在大口地吃着它们的燕麦和玉米。 —

Many wagons and buckboards stood about with their teams’ harness thrown carelessly upon the shafts and doubletrees. —
许多马车和双座马车停在周围,它们的马具随意地扔在车杆和拉杆上面。 —

Curly recognised the place as a wagon-yard, such as is provided by merchants for their out-of- town friends and customers. —
卷发认出来这地方是一个马车场,这是商人为他们外地的朋友和顾客提供的。 —

No one was in sight. —
看不到任何人。 —

No doubt the drivers of those wagons were scattered about the town “seeing the elephant and hearing the owl.” In their haste to become patrons of the town’s dispensaries of mirth and good cheer the last ones to depart must have left the great wooden gate swinging open.
毫无疑问,那些马车的驾驶员散落在这个城镇周围“看大象、听猫头鹰”。在他们匆忙地成为这个城镇欢乐与愉悦的享受者时,最后一个离开的人一定把大木门留开了。

Curly had satisfied the hunger of an anaconda and the thirst of a camel, so he was neither in the mood nor the condition of an explorer. —
卡利既满足了一条巨蟒的饥饿,又解了一只骆驼的口渴,所以他既没有探险的心情,也没有探险的条件。 —

He zigzagged his way to the first wagon that his eyesight distinguished in the semi-darkness under the shed. —
他在棚子下的半明暗中蜿蜒而行,直到他的眼睛辨认清了第一辆马车。 —

It was a two-horse wagon with a top of white canvas. —
那是一辆由两匹马拉着的白帆布顶的马车。 —

The wagon was half filled with loose piles of wool sacks, two or three great bundles of grey blankets, and a number of bales, bundles, and boxes. —
马车上堆着散乱的羊毛袋,还有两三捆灰色毯子和一些包裹、捆扎和盒子。 —

A reasoning eye would have estimated the load at once as ranch supplies, bound on the morrow for some outlying hacienda. —
一个有理智的眼睛一下子就可以判断出这是运往某个偏远庄园的牧场用品。 —

But to the drowsy intelligence of Curly they represented only warmth and softness and protection against the cold humidity of the night. —
但对于卡利那瞌睡的头脑来说,这些东西只代表着温暖、柔软和对抗寒湿夜晚的保护。 —

After several unlucky efforts, at last he conquered gravity so far as to climb over a wheel and pitch forward upon the best and warmest bed he had fallen upon in many a day. —
经过几次不幸的尝试,他终于战胜了地心引力,成功地爬过一个车轮,向最好、最温暖的床上扑去,这是他这么多天以来睡过的最舒适的床。 —

Then he became instinctively a burrowing animal, and dug his way like a prairie-dog down among the sacks and blankets, hiding himself from the cold air as snug and safe as a bear in his den. —
然后他本能地成为一只挖洞的动物,像草原犬一样挖洞穿过袋子和毯子,从寒冷的空气中躲藏起来,像熊在洞里一样舒适而安全。 —

For three nights sleep had visited Curly only in broken and shivering doses. —
连续三个夜晚,Curly只能碎片般地、颤抖地入睡。 —

So now, when Morpheus condescended to pay him a call, Curly got such a strangle hold on the mythological old gentleman that it was a wonder that anyone else in the whole world got a wink of sleep that night.
所以现在,当梦神亲临时,Curly像是抓住了神话般的老人一样,整晚没人能安眠。


*****

Six cowpunchers of the Cibolo Ranch were waiting around the door of the ranch store. —
锡博洛牧场的六名牧马人在牧场商店的门口等候。 —

Their ponies cropped grass near by, tied in the Texas fashion–which is not tied at all. —
他们的小马在附近吃草,以德州的方式绑在一起——这根本就没有绑。 —

Their bridle reins had been dropped to the earth, which is a more effectual way of securing them (such is the power of habit and imagination) than you could devise out of a half-inch rope and a live-oak tree.
他们的缰绳放在地上,这比你用一根半英寸粗的绳子和一棵活橡树想象出来的任何方式都更有效(习惯和想象力的力量) 。

These guardians of the cow lounged about, each with a brown cigarette paper in his hand, and gently but unceasingly cursed Sam Revell, the storekeeper. Sam stood in the door, snapping the red elastic bands on his pink madras shirtsleeves and looking down affectionately at the only pair of tan shoes within a forty-mile radius. —
这几个看护着牛的人懒散地躺着,每人手里都拿着一张棕色的香烟纸,温和而不停地诅咒着店主山姆·雷维尔。山姆站在门口,用红色橡皮筋扣着他那件粉色马德拉斯衬衫的袖口,深情地望着整个四十英里范围内唯一一双棕色鞋子。 —

His offence had been serious, and he was divided between humble apology and admiration for the beauty of his raiment. —
他的罪行很严重,他既想谦卑地道歉,又对他的装束之美心生赞叹。 —

He had allowed the ranch stock of “smoking” to become exhausted.
他竟然让牧场的”烟草”用完了。

“I thought sure there was another case of it under the counter, boys,” he explained. “But it happened to be catterdges.”
“我本来以为柜台下还有一箱,伙计们,” 他解释道。 “但原来是子弹。

“You’ve sure got a case of happenedicitis,” said Poky Rodgers, fency rider of the Largo Verde potrero. —
“你可真是得了一种‘碰巧病’,” 拉戈·维尔德马厩的骑手波基·罗杰斯说。 —

“Somebody ought to happen to give you a knock on the head with the butt end of a quirt. —
“有人应该碰巧用马鞭的末端猛敲你一下脑袋。 —

I’ve rode in nine miles for some tobacco; —
“我骑了九英里来买烟草; —

and it don’t appear natural and seemly that you ought to be allowed to live.”
你还能继续活着,这真是不自然,不得体。”

“The boys was smokin’ cut plug and dried mesquite leaves mixed when I left,” sighed Mustang Taylor, horse wrangler of the Three Elm camp. —
“当我离开时,那些男孩正在吸食切碎的烟叶和干峨嵋树叶混合的烟草,” Three Elm营地的马牧师马斯坦格·泰勒叹息道。 —

“They’ll be lookin’ for me back by nine. —
“他们会在九点前找我, —

They’ll be settin’ up, with their papers ready to roll a whiff of the real thing before bedtime. —
准备好他们的纸张,在睡前卷一卷真正的东西。” —

And I’ve got to tell ‘em that this pink-eyed, sheep-headed, sulphur- footed, shirt-waisted son of a calico broncho, Sam Revell, hasn’t got no tobacco on hand.”
“而我得告诉他们这个粉红眼睛、头像绵羊、硫磺脚、穿着衬衫的卡利科斯野马之子,萨姆·瑞维尔,手头上没有烟草。”

Gregorio Falcon, Mexican vaquero and best thrower of the rope on the Cibolo, pushed his heavy, silver-embroidered straw sombrero back upon his thicket of jet black curls, and scraped the bottoms of his pockets for a few crumbs of the precious weed.
格雷戈里奥·法尔科恩,墨西哥牛仔和Cibolo最佳的绳子投掷者,将他那带着重型银线绣花凉帽向后拉开,露出他浓密的乌黑鬈发,并在他的口袋底部搜寻一些珍贵的烟草碎屑。

“Ah, Don Samuel,” he said, reproachfully, but with his touch of Castilian manners, “escuse me. —
“啊,塞缪尔先生,”他以有礼貌的卡斯蒂利亚风格责备道,“请原谅我。” —

Dthey say dthe jackrabbeet and dthe sheep have dthe most leetle sesos–how you call dthem–brain-es? —
“他们说野兔和绵羊的脑袋最小,你怎么说,大脑? —

Ah don’t believe dthat, Don Samuel–escuse me. —
“啊,我不相信这个,唐·塞缪尔——对不起。 —

Ah dthink people w’at don’t keep esmokin’ tobacco, dthey–bot you weel escuse me, Don Samuel.”
我认为不吸烟的人,他们——不过你会原谅我,唐·塞缪尔。”

“Now, what’s the use of chewin’ the rag, boys,” said the untroubled Sam, stooping over to rub the toes of his shoes with a red-and-yellow handkerchief. —
“现在,谈些什么有什么用呢,伙计们?”不为所动的萨姆说道,弯下腰用一块红黄相间的手帕擦鞋头。 —

“Ranse took the order for some more smokin’ to San Antone with him Tuesday. —
“兰斯星期二带着一些更多的烟草去圣安东尼奥了。” —

Pancho rode Ranse’s hoss back yesterday; —
奇洛骑着兰斯的马昨天回来了; —

and Ranse is goin’ to drive the wagon back himself. —
而兰斯打算亲自驾驶马车回来。 —

There wa’n’t much of a load–just some woolsacks and blankets and nails and canned peaches and a few things we was out of. —
车上没装多少货物——只是一些羊毛袋、毯子、钉子和一些我们缺的东西。 —

I look for Ranse to roll in to-day sure. —
我期待兰斯今天一定会到。 —

He’s an early starter and a hell-to-split driver, and he ought to be here not far from sundown.”
他是个早出发、风驰电掣的驾驶员,不久就应该在日落前到达这里。

“What plugs is he drivin’?” asked Mustang Taylor, with a smack of hope in his tones.
“他开的是哪批马匹?”马驴泰勒问道,语气里带着一丝希望。

“The buckboard greys,” said Sam.
“那辆源泉礼轿子上的铁灰色马匹,” 萨姆说。

“I’ll wait a spell, then,” said the wrangler. —
“那我就等一段时间。”牧马人说。 —

“Them plugs eat up a trail like a road-runner swallowin’ a whip snake. —
“那些马匹像一只快速吞食鞭蛇的食蟾鸟一样飞快。” —

And you may bust me open a can of greengage plums, Sam, while I’m waitin’ for somethin’ better.”
当我在等更好的东西的时候,山姆,你可以给我打开一罐青加果。

“Open me some yellow clings,” ordered Poky Rodgers. “I’ll wait, too.”
“打开给我一些黄色水蜜桃”,波基·罗杰斯命令道,“我也会等待”。

The tobaccoless punchers arranged themselves comfortably on the steps of the store. —
没有烟草的牧马人们舒适地坐在店铺的台阶上。 —

Inside Sam chopped open with a hatchet the tops of the cans of fruit.
山姆用斧头砍开了水果罐的盖子。

The store, a big, white wooden building like a barn, stood fifty yards from the ranch-house. —
这座店铺是一座大型的白色木制建筑物,像一个谷仓,离农舍有五十码远。 —

Beyond it were the horse corrals; —
在它的后面是马圈; —

and still farther the wool sheds and the brush-topped shearing pens–for the Rancho Cibolo raised both cattle and sheep. —
再往前是羊毛仓库和有着刷子顶的修剪畜栏——因为西博洛牧场养殖牛和羊。 —

Behind the store, at a little distance, were the grass-thatched jacals of the Mexicans who bestowed their allegiance upon the Cibolo.
在店铺后面稍远的地方,是墨西哥人的草顶小屋,他们向西博洛牧场表示效忠。

The ranch-house was composed of four large rooms, with plastered adobe walls, and a two-room wooden ell. —
农舍由四个大房间组成,有粉刷过的泥砖墙,还有一个两房间的木制部分。 —

A twenty-feet-wide “gallery” circumvented the structure. —
一条宽二十英尺的“画廊”绕过了这座建筑。 —

It was set in a grove of immense live-oaks and water-elms near a lake–a long, not very wide, and tremendously deep lake in which at nightfall, great gars leaped to the surface and plunged with the noise of hippopotamuses frolicking at their bath. —
它被安置在一片巨大的活栎和水榆树林中的湖边——一片又长又深,声势浩大的湖泊,在夜幕降临时,巨大的迂回鱼跃出水面,发出如河马嬉戏的声音。 —

From the trees hung garlands and massive pendants of the melancholy grey moss of the South. Indeed, the Cibolo ranch-house seemed more of the South than of the West. It looked as if old “Kiowa” Truesdell might have brought it with him from the lowlands of Mississippi when he came to Texas with his rifle in the hollow of his arm in ‘55.
树上挂满了南方忧郁的灰苔花环和巨大的挂饰。事实上,西布罗牧场的房屋更像南方而不是西方。看起来就像是”布卢斯维尔”特鲁斯代尔在1855年带着他的步枪来到德克萨斯时,从密西西比的低地带来的。

But, though he did not bring the family mansion, Truesdell did bring something in the way of a family inheritance that was more lasting than brick or stone. —
然而,虽然特鲁斯代尔没有带来这座家族的豪宅,但他确实带来了一项比砖石更持久的家族遗产。 —

He brought one end of the Truesdell-Curtis family feud. —
他解决了特鲁德尔-柯蒂斯家族的世仇。 —

And when a Curtis bought the Rancho de los Olmos, sixteen miles from the Cibolo, there were lively times on the pear flats and in the chaparral thickets off the Southwest. —
当柯蒂斯买下圣奥尔莫斯农牧场,距西南边的希博洛河有十六英里时,梨平地和灌木丛里的活动变得热闹起来。 —

In those days Truesdell cleaned the brush of many a wolf and tiger cat and Mexican lion; —
在那些日子里,特鲁德尔除掉了许多狼、美洲虎和墨西哥狮子的杂草。 —

and one or two Curtises fell heirs to notches on his rifle stock. —
而且有一两个柯蒂斯家的人也在他的枪托上留下了记号。 —

Also he buried a brother with a Curtis bullet in him on the bank of the lake at Cibolo. —
他还在希博洛湖边,埋葬了一位被柯蒂斯子弹击中的兄弟。 —

And then the Kiowa Indians made their last raid upon the ranches between the Frio and the Rio Grande, and Truesdell at the head of his rangers rid the earth of them to the last brave, earning his sobriquet. —
接着,基瓦印第安人最后一次袭击了弗里奥河和里约格兰德河之间的牧场,特鲁德尔率领他的游骑兵彻底消灭了他们,因此得了他的绰号。 —

Then came prosperity in the form of waxing herds and broadening lands. —
然后,随着牛群的增多和土地的扩张,繁荣来临了。 —

And then old age and bitterness, when he sat, with his great mane of hair as white as the Spanish-dagger blossoms and his fierce, pale-blue eyes, on the shaded gallery at Cibolo, growling like the pumas that he had slain. —
但后来他年老和充满苦涩,坐在希博洛的阴凉露台上,他那一头雪白如西班牙杀人者花朵的鬃毛和他的凶狠苍白的蓝眼睛,像他杀死的美洲狮一样咆哮着。 —

He snapped his fingers at old age; —
他在年老时握紧了拳头; —

the bitter taste to life did not come from that. —
生活的苦涩滋味并不来自此。 —

The cup that stuck at his lips was that his only son Ransom wanted to marry a Curtis, the last youthful survivor of the other end of the feud.
那杯牢牢顶在他嘴唇上,是因为他的独生子兰瑟姆想要和柯蒂斯家的最后一个年轻幸存者结婚。


*****

For a while the only sounds to be heard at the store were the rattling of the tin spoons and the gurgling intake of the juicy fruits by the cowpunchers, the stamping of the grazing ponies, and the singing of a doleful song by Sam as he contentedly brushed his stiff auburn hair for the twentieth time that day before a crinkly mirror.
商店里一时之间只能听到铁勺的咔嗒声和牛仔们吃着多汁水果发出的吞咽声,散养的小马踩踏着地面,而山姆则一边满足地刷着已经硬梆梆的奥本头发,一边在一个皱巴巴的镜子前无数次唱着悲伤的歌曲。

From the door of the store could be seen the irregular, sloping stretch of prairie to the south, with its reaches of light-green, billowy mesquite flats in the lower places, and its rises crowned with nearly black masses of short chaparral. —
从商店的门口可以看到南边那不规则的、倾斜的草原,低洼处是一片淡绿色、波浪状的刺槐灌木丛,而山峰上则覆盖着近乎黑色的矮篱笆。 —

Through the mesquite flat wound the ranch road that, five miles away, flowed into the old government trail to San Antonio. —
穿过刺槐灌木丛的平地上弯曲着一条牧场道路,五英里之外连接到通往圣安东尼奥的旧政府小径。 —

The sun was so low that the gentlest elevation cast its grey shadow miles into the green-gold sea of sunshine.
太阳已经低得只有最轻微的升高就将其苍灰的影子投射到绿金色的阳光海里。

That evening ears were quicker than eyes.
那天晚上,耳朵比眼睛更灵敏。

The Mexican held up a tawny finger to still the scraping of tin against tin.
墨西哥人抬起一根棕色的手指,以停止铁与铁的刮擦声。

“One waggeen,” said he, “cross dthe Arroyo Hondo. Ah hear dthe wheel. —
“一辆马车,”他说,“横穿洪多溪。我听到车轮声了。 —

Verree rockee place, dthe Hondo.”
很难走的地方,洪多溪。”

“You’ve got good ears, Gregorio,” said Mustang Taylor. —
“你的耳朵真好,格雷戈里奥, —

“I never heard nothin’ but the song-bird in the bush and the zephyr skallyhootin’ across the peaceful dell.”
”小野马泰勒说。“我只听到了丛林中的鸟鸣和和煦的微风穿过宁静的山谷。”

In ten minutes Taylor remarked: —
十分钟后,泰勒说: —

“I see the dust of a wagon risin’ right above the fur end of the flat.”
“我看见一辆马车的尘土正在平地的尽头升起。”

“You have verree good eyes, senor,” said Gregorio, smiling.
“你的眼睛真好,先生,”格雷戈里奥微笑着说。

Two miles away they saw a faint cloud dimming the green ripples of the mesquites. —
两英里外,他们看见一片淡淡的云雾,模糊了股字树的绿色波纹。 —

In twenty minutes they heard the clatter of the horses’ hoofs: —
20分钟后,他们听到了马蹄的噪音: —

in five minutes more the grey plugs dashed out of the thicket, whickering for oats and drawing the light wagon behind them like a toy.
再过五分钟,灰色的马匹从灌木丛中冲了出来,嘶哩哩地要粮食,轻便的马车像玩具一样被拖在它们的后面。

From the jacals came a cry of: “El Amo! El Amo!” Four Mexican youths raced to unharness the greys. —
从小木屋里传来一声呼喊:“主人!主人!”四个墨西哥年轻人飞快地解下了灰色马匹的挽索。 —

The cowpunchers gave a yell of greeting and delight.
牛仔们欢呼着表示问候和喜悦。

Ranse Truesdell, driving, threw the reins to the ground and laughed.
兰斯·特鲁斯德尔开车,把缰绳扔在地上笑了起来。

“It’s under the wagon sheet, boys,” he said. —
“箱子在车篷下面,伙计们。”他说。 —

“I know what you’re waiting for. —
“我知道你们在等什么。 —

If Sam lets it run out again we’ll use those yellow shoes of his for a target. —
如果萨姆再让烟用完,我们就用他那些黄鞋子当靶子。 —

There’s two cases. Pull ‘em out and light up. I know you all want a smoke.”
有两箱,拿出来点燃吧。我知道你们都想抽烟。”

After striking dry country Ranse had removed the wagon sheet from the bows and thrown it over the goods in the wagon. —
在经过干旱地区后,兰斯已经将车篷从车子上拆下来,然后扔在车厢里的货物上方。 —

Six pair of hasty hands dragged it off and grabbled beneath the sacks and blankets for the cases of tobacco.
六双急促的手将车篷拖走,然后在袋子和毯子下面乱翻找烟草。

Long Collins, tobacco messenger from the San Gabriel outfit, who rode with the longest stirrups west of the Mississippi, delved with an arm like the tongue of a wagon. —
长柄科林斯,圣加布里埃尔牧场的烟草传送员,他的马镫在密西西比河以西是最长的,他用像汽车的车轮一样长的手臂搜寻着。 —

He caught something harder than a blanket and pulled out a fearful thing–a shapeless, muddy bunch of leather tied together with wire and twine. —
他抓住了一块比毛毯更坚硬的东西,拉出了一个可怕的东西-一堆用铁丝和麻线捆在一起的没有形状的泥泞皮革。 —

From its ragged end, like the head and claws of a disturbed turtle, protruded human toes.
从破烂的末端,就像一个被打扰的乌龟的头和爪子伸了出来,露出了人的脚趾。

“Who-ee!” yelled Long Collins. “Ranse, are you a-packin’ around of corpuses? —
“嗨呀!“朗·科林斯大叫道。 “兰斯,你在携带尸体吗? —

Here’s a–howlin’ grasshoppers!”
这是一个-天哪!”

Up from his long slumber popped Curly, like some vile worm from its burrow. —
卡利像一条令人作呕的蠕虫从洞穴里冒出来。他费力地爬了出来, —

He clawed his way out and sat blinking like a disreputable, drunken owl. —
坐着像一个不体面的、醉醺醺的猫头鹰眨巴着眼睛。 —

His face was as bluish-red and puffed and seamed and cross-lined as the cheapest round steak of the butcher. —
他的脸发红发紫,肿胀,布满皱纹,就像肉铺里最便宜的圆牛排。 —

His eyes were swollen slits; —
他的眼睛肿成了条缝; —

his nose a pickled beet; his hair would have made the wildest thatch of a Jack-in-the-box look like the satin poll of a Cleo de Merode. —
他的鼻子像个腌制的甜菜,头发把一个“杰克盒子”中最疯狂的秸秆也比下去,看起来像一个Cleo de Merode的绸缎。 —

The rest of him was scarecrow done to the life.
他的其余部分恰似稻草人活生生的样子。

Ranse jumped down from his seat and looked at his strange cargo with wide-open eyes.
兰斯跳下座位,睁大眼睛看着他奇怪的货物。

“Here, you maverick, what are you doing in my wagon? —
“喂,你这个流浪儿,你在我的马车里做什么? —

How did you get in there?”
你是怎么进去的?”

The punchers gathered around in delight. —
拳手们欢快地聚集在一起。 —

For the time they had forgotten tobacco.
这一时刻他们忘记了烟草。

Curly looked around him slowly in every direction. —
Curly慢慢地向四周环顾着, —

He snarled like a Scotch terrier through his ragged beard.
从他蓬乱的胡须中传出像苏格兰梗犬一般的咆哮声。

“Where is this?” he rasped through his parched throat. —
“这是哪里?”他沙哑地问道, —

“It’s a damn farm in an old field. —
“这是一个该死的农场在旧地里。 —

What’d you bring me here for–say? —
你们为什么把我带到这里来?” —

Did I say I wanted to come here? —
“我说过我想来这里吗? —

What are you Reubs rubberin’ at–hey? —
你们怎么一直盯着我看,嘿?” —

G’wan or I’ll punch some of yer faces.”
“给我滚,否则我会揍你们几个的脸。”

“Drag him out, Collins,” said Ranse.
“拖出去,Collins。”Ranse说。

Curly took a slide and felt the ground rise up and collide with his shoulder blades. —
Curly滑倒了一下,感觉地面顶起来撞到他的肩胛骨上。 —

He got up and sat on the steps of the store shivering from outraged nerves, hugging his knees and sneering. —
他起身坐在店铺的门廊上,因为愤怒的神经而发抖,紧抱着双膝嘲笑着。 —

Taylor lifted out a case of tobacco and wrenched off its top. —
Taylor拿出一个烟草盒,拧下盖子。 —

Six cigarettes began to glow, bringing peace and forgiveness to Sam.
六支香烟开始发出熊熊的光芒,给Sam带来了平静与宽恕。

“How’d you come in my wagon?” repeated Ranse, this time in a voice that drew a reply.
“你怎么搭我的马车来的?”Ranse重复着问道,这次他的声音引得了回答。

Curly recognised the tone. —
Curly听出了声音的语气, —

He had heard it used by freight brakemen and large persons in blue carrying clubs.
他曾经听过货运员和身穿蓝色制服的大个子使用这种语气。

“Me?” he growled. “Oh, was you talkin’ to me? Why, I was on my way to the Menger, but my valet had forgot to pack my pyjamas. —
“我?”他咆哮道。“噢,你在跟我说话吗?那我本来正要去门格酒店,但是我的贴身男仆忘记给我打包睡衣。 —

So I crawled into that wagon in the wagon-yard–see? —
所以我爬进了马车,停在马场里——你看见了吗? —

I never told you to bring me out to this bloomin’ farm–see?”
我从来没告诉你把我带到这个该死的农场——你明白吗?

“What is it, Mustang?” asked Poky Rodgers, almost forgetting to smoke in his ecstasy. —
“马斯坦格,这是什么?”波基·罗杰斯问道,几乎忘记了抽烟,他陷入了狂喜中。 —

“What do it live on?”
“它依靠什么生活?”

“It’s a galliwampus, Poky,” said Mustang. —
“这是一只嗥叫着在低洼地里的橡树上’威利沃卢’的怪物, —

“It’s the thing that hollers ‘willi-walloo’ up in ellum trees in the low grounds of nights. —
波基,”马斯坦格说。 —

I don’t know if it bites.”
“我不知道它咬人吗。”

“No, it ain’t, Mustang,” volunteered Long Collins. —
“不,不是这样,马斯坦格,”隆·科林斯自告奋勇地说。 —

“Them galliwampuses has fins on their backs, and eighteen toes. This here is a hicklesnifter. —
“那些怪物背上有鳍,还有18只脚趾。这个是一只特殊的大鲵。 —

It lives under the ground and eats cherries. —
它生活在地下,吃樱桃。 —

Don’t stand so close to it. —
不要站得离它太近。 —

It wipes out villages with one stroke of its prehensile tail.”
它能一下子用它那能抓东西的尾巴摧毁整个村庄。”

Sam, the cosmopolite, who called bartenders in San Antone by their first name, stood in the door. He was a better zoologist.
山姆,这个世界通人,在圣安东尼奥的酒保们叫他的名字,站在门口。他是一个更好的动物学家。

“Well, ain’t that a Willie for your whiskers?” he commented. “Where’d you dig up the hobo, Ranse? —
“哇,真是个令人惊讶的事情!”他评论道。“Ranse,你从哪里挖来这个流浪汉? —

Goin’ to make an auditorium for inbreviates out of the ranch?”
你要用这个牧场建一个给矮子们的礼堂吗?

“Say,” said Curly, from whose panoplied breast all shafts of wit fell blunted. —
“喂,”Curly说,他那堆满幽默的胸膛无一不被磨尖了。 —

“Any of you kiddin’ guys got a drink on you? Have your fun. —
“你们开玩笑的家伙们,有人带点饮料吗?开心吧。 —

Say, I’ve been hittin’ the stuff till I don’t know straight up.”
说实在的,我已经喝得不知道东南西北了。”

He turned to Ranse. “Say, you shanghaied me on your d–d old prairie schooner–did I tell you to drive me to a farm? —
他转向Ranse。“告诉你个事啊,你把我骗上你这该死的牧场车————我告诉你开去农场吗? —

I want a drink. I’m goin’ all to little pieces. —
我想要一杯酒。我都快支离破碎了。 —

What’s doin’?”
怎么回事?”

Ranse saw that the tramp’s nerves were racking him. —
Ranse看到流浪汉的神经已经被折磨得不行了。 —

He despatched one of the Mexican boys to the ranch-house for a glass of whisky. —
他派一个墨西哥男孩去牧场的房子里拿一杯威士忌。 —

Curly gulped it down; and into his eyes came a brief, grateful glow–as human as the expression in the eye of a faithful setter dog.
Curly一口气喝下,眼神中浮现出一丝感激之色——就像忠诚的牧羊犬眼中那种人类的表情一样。

“Thanky, boss,” he said, quietly.
“谢谢你,老板,”他平静地说道。

“You’re thirty miles from a railroad, and forty miles from a saloon,” said Ranse.
“你离铁路有30英里,离酒吧有40英里,”兰斯说。

Curly fell back weakly against the steps.
科利虚弱地倒在台阶上。

“Since you are here,” continued the ranchman, “come along with me. We can’t turn you out on the prairie. —
“既然你在这儿,”庄园主继续说,“就跟我一起来吧。我们不能把你赶到大草原上。 —

A rabbit might tear you to pieces.”
一只兔子可能会把你撕成碎片。”

He conducted Curly to a large shed where the ranch vehicles were kept. —
他带科利到一个放置牧场载具的大棚子里。 —

There he spread out a canvas cot and brought blankets.
在那里他铺开一张帆布床和带来毛毯。

“I don’t suppose you can sleep,” said Ranse, “since you’ve been pounding your ear for twenty-four hours. —
兰斯说:“我猜你可能睡不着,因为你已经打瞌睡了24个小时了。 —

But you can camp here till morning. —
但你可以在这里露宿到早上。 —

I’ll have Pedro fetch you up some grub.”
我会让佩德罗给你弄点食物上来。”

“Sleep!” said Curly. “I can sleep a week. Say, sport, have you got a coffin nail on you?”
科利说:“睡觉!”“我可以睡一周。听着,伙计,你身上有支烟吗?”


*****

Fifty miles had Ransom Truesdell driven that day. —
那一天,兰斯·特鲁斯代尔一共开车开了五十英里。 —

And yet this is what he did.
但这才是他所做的。

Old “Kiowa” Truesdell sat in his great wicker chair reading by the light of an immense oil lamp. —
老人“科瓦”·特鲁斯代尔坐在他的大柳椅里,借着一盏巨大的油灯读书。 —

Ranse laid a bundle of newspapers fresh from town at his elbow.
兰斯在他旁边放了一捆刚从城里拿来的报纸。

“Back, Ranse?” said the old man, looking up.
“回来了,兰斯?”老人抬起头问道。

“Son,” old “Kiowa” continued, “I’ve been thinking all day about a certain matter that we have talked about. —
“孩子,”老“基奥瓦”继续说道,” 我整天都在考虑我们谈到的某个问题。 —

I want you to tell me again. —
我想让你再告诉我一遍。 —

I’ve lived for you. I’ve fought wolves and Indians and worse white men to protect you. —
我为了你而活。我为了保护你而与狼、印第安人和更可怕的白人战斗过。 —

You never had any mother that you can remember. —
你从来没有任何你能记住的母亲。 —

I’ve taught you to shoot straight, ride hard, and live clean. Later on I’ve worked to pile up dollars that’ll be yours. —
我教会你射击准确、骑马快速,并且生活纯洁。后来我努力存下了将会属于你的钱。 —

You’ll be a rich man, Ranse, when my chunk goes out. —
当我的日子到尽头时,你会成为一个富有的人, —

I’ve made you. I’ve licked you into shape like a leopard cat licks its cubs. —
兰斯。我养育了你。我像猎豹般舔舐着你把你塑造成型。 —

You don’t belong to yourself –you’ve got to be a Truesdell first. —
你不是属于自己的人 - 你首先是一个特鲁斯德尔。 —

Now, is there to be any more nonsense about this Curtis girl?”
现在,对于这个柯蒂斯女孩还会有其他废话吗?

“I’ll tell you once more,” said Ranse, slowly. —
“我再告诉你一次,”兰斯慢慢地说道, —

“As I am a Truesdell and as you are my father, I’ll never marry a Curtis.”
“作为一个特鲁斯德尔,也作为你的父亲,我永远不会娶柯蒂斯女孩。”

“Good boy,” said old “Kiowa.” “You’d better go get some supper.”
“乖孩子,”老“基奥瓦”说道,”你最好去吃点晚餐吧。”

Ranse went to the kitchen at the rear of the house. Pedro, the Mexican cook, sprang up to bring the food he was keeping warm in the stove.
兰斯走进了房子后面的厨房。墨西哥厨师佩德罗跳了起来,拿来他在炉子里保温的食物。

“Just a cup of coffee, Pedro,” he said, and drank it standing. And then:
“给我一杯咖啡,Pedro,”他说着,站着喝完了。然后:

“There’s a tramp on a cot in the wagon-shed. —
“驳棚里有个流浪汉躺着, —

Take him something to eat. —
给他拿点吃的。 —

Better make it enough for two.”
最好准备够两个人的份量。”

Ranse walked out toward the jacals. A boy came running.
Ranse走向茅舍。一个男孩跑过来。

“Manuel, can you catch Vaminos, in the little pasture, for me?”
“Manuel,能帮我抓一下小牧场的Vaminos吗?”

“Why not, senor? I saw him near the puerta but two hours past. —
“为什么不行,先生?我两个小时前在门口看见它了, —

He bears a drag-rope.”
还带着拖绳呢。”

“Get him and saddle him as quick as you can.”
“赶紧去抓住它,然后给它套上马鞍。”

“Prontito, senor.”
“马上就去,先生。”

Soon, mounted on Vaminos, Ranse leaned in the saddle, pressed with his knees, and galloped eastward past the store, where sat Sam trying his guitar in the moonlight.
不久后,骑着Vaminos,Ranse靠在鞍座上,用腿夹住它,向东方飞驰而过,经过了商店,那里的Sam正坐在月光下试着弹吉他。

Vaminos shall have a word–Vaminos the good dun horse. —
Vaminos应该得到一句话——Vaminos是匹好马。 —

The Mexicans, who have a hundred names for the colours of a horse, called him gruyo. —
墨西哥人对马的颜色有各种说法,他们称之为gruyo(鼠色)。 —

He was a mouse-coloured, slate-coloured, flea-bitten roan- dun, if you can conceive it. —
它是一匹灰色、铅灰色、麦片色的驼毛马,如果你能想象得到的话。 —

Down his back from his mane to his tail went a line of black. —
它的背上从鬃毛到尾巴有一道黑线。 —

He would live forever; —
它将永远活下去。 —

and surveyors have not laid off as many miles in the world as he could travel in a day.
勘测员在世界上所测量的里程尚不及他一天内所能行驶的里程。

Eight miles east of the Cibolo ranch-house Ranse loosened the pressure of his knees, and Vaminos stopped under a big ratama tree. —
西波洛牧场之东八英里处,兰斯松开双腿的压力,瓦米诺斯停在一棵大茂树下。 —

The yellow ratama blossoms showered fragrance that would have undone the roses of France. —
黄色的茂密花朵飘散着香气,它能让法国的玫瑰相形见绌。 —

The moon made the earth a great concave bowl with a crystal sky for a lid. —
月亮使大地成为一个凹凸有致的碗,由一片晶莹的天空作为盖子。 —

In a glade five jack-rabbits leaped and played together like kittens. —
在一片林地中,五只野兔像小猫一样跳跃嬉戏。 —

Eight miles farther east shone a faint star that appeared to have dropped below the horizon. —
更东边的八英里处闪烁着一颗微弱的恒星,似乎已经掉入了地平线下。 —

Night riders, who often steered their course by it, knew it to be the light in the Rancho de los Olmos.
常常以它为导航的夜行人知道那是洛斯奥尔莫斯庄园中的灯光。

In ten minutes Yenna Curtis galloped to the tree on her sorrel pony Dancer. —
十分钟后,耶娜·柯蒂斯骑着她的栗色小马“舞者”来到这棵树下。 —

The two leaned and clasped hands heartily.
两人倾身相拥,热情地握手。

“I ought to have ridden nearer your home,” said Ranse. “But you never will let me.”
“我本应更靠近你家来骑的,”兰斯说道。“但是你始终不允许我。”

Yenna laughed. And in the soft light you could see her strong white teeth and fearless eyes. —
耶娜笑了。在柔和的光线下,你能看到她强健洁白的牙齿和无畏的眼神。 —

No sentimentality there, in spite of the moonlight, the odour of the ratamas, and the admirable figure of Ranse Truesdell, the lover. —
在那里没有情感,尽管有月光,花香,以及可爱的兰斯·特鲁斯代尔,恋人。 —

But she was there, eight miles from her home, to meet him.
但是她在那里,离她家八英里远,去见他。

“How often have I told you, Ranse,” she said, “that I am your half-way girl? —
“兰斯,我告诉你多少次了,”她说,“我是你的半路女孩, —

Always half-way.”
永远只是半路。”

“Well?” said Ranse, with a question in his tones.
“嗯?”兰斯说,语气中带着疑问。

“I did,” said Yenna, with almost a sigh. —
“我是的,”耶娜说,几乎带着叹息, —

“I told him after dinner when I thought he would be in a good humour. —
“我在晚餐后告诉了他,因为我觉得那时他可能心情不错。” —

Did you ever wake up a lion, Ranse, with the mistaken idea that he would be a kitten? —
你有没有试过去吵醒一只狮子,兰斯,却错误地以为它会是只小猫? —

He almost tore the ranch to pieces. —
它差点把牧场拆掉了。情况完全糟糕。 —

It’s all up. —

I love my daddy, Ranse, and I’m afraid–I’m afraid of him too. —
兰斯,我爱我爸爸,但我也害怕他。 —

He ordered me to promise that I’d never marry a Truesdell. —
他命令我承诺永远不嫁给特鲁斯代尔家的人。 —

I promised. —
我答应了。 —

That’s all. What luck did you have?”
就这样。你的运气如何?

“The same,” said Ranse, slowly. —
“一样的,”兰斯慢慢地说, —

“I promised him that his son would never marry a Curtis. —
“我答应他,他的儿子永远不会娶柯蒂斯家的人。 —

Somehow I couldn’t go against him. —
不知怎么地,我不能违背他。 —

He’s mighty old. I’m sorry, Yenna.”
他已经年纪很大了。对不起,耶娜。

The girl leaned in her saddle and laid one hand on Ranse’s, on the horn of his saddle.
女孩倚在鞍上,一只手搭在Ranse的鞍角上。

“I never thought I’d like you better for giving me up,” she said ardently, “but I do. —
“我从来没想过因为你放弃我而更喜欢你,”她热切地说道,” 可是我现在真的喜欢你了。 —

I must ride back now, Ranse. I slipped out of the house and saddled Dancer myself. —
我现在必须回去了,Ranse。我溜出了家门,自己给Dancer上了鞍。 —

Good-night, neighbour.”
晚安,邻居。

“Good-night,” said Ranse. “Ride carefully over them badger holes.”
“晚安,”Ranse说道,”小心那些土拨鼠洞。

They wheeled and rode away in opposite directions. —
他们调转马头,朝着相反的方向骑去。 —

Yenna turned in her saddle and called clearly:
Yenna转过身来,清晰地喊道:

“Don’t forget I’m your half-way girl, Ranse.”
“别忘了我是你的中间人,Ranse。

“Damn all family feuds and inherited scraps,” muttered Ranse vindictively to the breeze as he rode back to the Cibolo.
“见鬼,所有的家族争斗和继承下来的乱七八糟,” Ranse恶狠狠地对着微风嘀咕道,而他骑回希博罗。

Ranse turned his horse into the small pasture and went to his own room. —
Ranse把马放进小牧场,回到了自己的房间。 —

He opened the lowest drawer of an old bureau to get out the packet of letters that Yenna had written him one summer when she had gone to Mississippi for a visit. —
他打开了一张旧梳妆台的最底层抽屉,拿出了Yenna在一个夏天给他写的信件。那年夏天她去密西西比探亲。 —

The drawer stuck, and he yanked at it savagely–as a man will. —
抽屉卡住了,他愤怒地用力拉了一下——就像一个人会做的那样。 —

It came out of the bureau, and bruised both his shins–as a drawer will. —
抽屉从梳妆台上掉了下来,擦破了他的两条小腿——就像一个抽屉会做的那样。 —

An old, folded yellow letter without an envelope fell from somewhere–probably from where it had lodged in one of the upper drawers. —
一封古旧的折叠的黄色信件从某处掉了下来-很可能是从上面的一个抽屉里掉下来的。 —

Ranse took it to the lamp and read it curiously.
Ranse把它拿到灯前好奇地阅读了起来。

Then he took his hat and walked to one of the Mexican jacals.
然后他戴上帽子,走到墨西哥的一个农舍。

“Tia Juana,” he said, “I would like to talk with you a while.”
“Tia Juana,”他说,“我想和你谈一会儿。”

An old, old Mexican woman, white-haired and wonderfully wrinkled, rose from a stool.
一位古老、白发苍苍、皱纹纵横的墨西哥老妇人从凳子上站起来。

“Sit down,” said Ranse, removing his hat and taking the one chair in the jacal. —
“坐下,”Ranse说,摘下帽子,坐在农舍里的唯一一把椅子上。 —

“Who am I, Tia Juana?” he asked, speaking Spanish.
“我是谁,Tia Juana?”他用西班牙语问道。

“Don Ransom, our good friend and employer. —
“Ransee,我们的好朋友和雇主。 —

Why do you ask?” answered the old woman wonderingly.
你为什么问?”老妇人惊讶地回答道。

“Tia Juana, who am I?” he repeated, with his stern eyes looking into hers.
“Tia Juana,我是谁?”他再一次严厉地盯着她的眼睛问道。

A frightened look came in the old woman’s face. —
老妇人的脸上露出惊恐的表情。 —

She fumbled with her black shawl.
她在黑色披肩上摸索着。

“Who am I, Tia Juana?” said Ranse once more.
“我是谁,Tia Juana?”Ranse再次问道。

“Thirty-two years I have lived on the Rancho Cibolo,” said Tia Juana. “I thought to be buried under the coma mott beyond the garden before these things should be known. —
“我在Rancho Cibolo上生活了三十二年,”Tia Juana说。“我本以为在这些事情被知道之前,我会埋在花园后面的昏迷中。” —

Close the door, Don Ransom, and I will speak. —
关上门,唐·兰瑟姆,我要说话。 —

I see in your face that you know.”
从你的脸上我看得出你知道。

An hour Ranse spent behind Tia Juana’s closed door. —
兰瑟姆花了一个小时在蒂亚华纳封闭的门后面。 —

As he was on his way back to the house Curly called to him from the wagon-shed.
当他回到房子时,科利从货车棚里叫住了他。

The tramp sat on his cot, swinging his feet and smoking.
流浪汉坐在他的铺位上,摇摆着脚,抽着烟。

“Say, sport,” he grumbled. —
“喂,小伙子”他抱怨道。” —

“This is no way to treat a man after kidnappin’ him. —
绑架了一个人,就不能好好对待他吗? —

I went up to the store and borrowed a razor from that fresh guy and had a shave. —
我去商店借了一把剃刀,刮了个胡子。 —

But that ain’t all a man needs. —
但人还需要别的东西呢。 —

Say–can’t you loosen up for about three fingers more of that booze? —
说吧,你能不能再给我多倒三个指头的那种烈酒? —

I never asked you to bring me to your d–d farm.”
我从来没让你把我带到你这个死农场来。

“Stand up out here in the light,” said Ranse, looking at him closely.
“站在这里的亮光下站起来,” 兰瑟姆说着,仔细看着他。

Curly got up sullenly and took a step or two.
科利闷闷不乐地站起身来,走了几步。

His face, now shaven smooth, seemed transformed. —
他的脸,现在完全剃得光滑,似乎变了样。 —

His hair had been combed, and it fell back from the right side of his forehead with a peculiar wave. —
他的头发梳理得整齐,从额头的右侧往后垂下,形成一道独特的浪卷。 —

The moonlight charitably softened the ravages of drink; —
月光慈爱地淡化了酒精的毁坏; —

and his aquiline, well-shaped nose and small, square cleft chin almost gave distinction to his looks.
他那弯曲的鹰勾鼻和小巧的方形下巴几乎赋予了他独特的外貌特点。

Ranse sat on the foot of the cot and looked at him curiously.
Ranse坐在床尾上,好奇地看着他。

“Where did you come from–have you got any home or folks anywhere?”
“你是从哪里来的 - 你有家庭或亲戚吗?”

“Me? Why, I’m a dook,” said Curly. “I’m Sir Reginald–oh, cheese it. No; I don’t know anything about my ancestors. —
“我吗?嗯,我是个贵族,”Curly说道。”我是雷贾纳德爵士-噢,滚蛋吧。不,我对我的祖先一无所知。 —

I’ve been a tramp ever since I can remember. Say, old pal, are you going to set ‘em up again to-night or not?”
自从我记事起我就一直是个流浪汉。嘿,老哥,你今晚还准备再买一轮吗?”

“You answer my questions and maybe I will. —
“你回答我的问题,也许我会买单。 —

How did you come to be a tramp?”
你是怎么成为一个流浪汉的?”

“Me?” answered Curly. “Why, I adopted that profession when I was an infant. —
“我?”Curly回答道。”嗯,我在婴儿时期就选择了这个职业。 —

Case of had to. —
没有办法。 —

First thing I can remember, I belonged to a big, lazy hobo called Beefsteak Charley. —
我的记忆中最早的事情是,我属于一个叫做牛排查理的大懒汉。 —

He sent me around to houses to beg. —
他派我去房子里乞讨。 —

I wasn’t hardly big enough to reach the latch of a gate.”
那时我还不够老,去够到一个门闩。

“Did he ever tell you how he got you?” asked Ranse.
“他有没有告诉过你他是如何得到你的?”Ranse问道。

“Once when he was sober he said he bought me for an old six-shooter and six bits from a band of drunken Mexican sheep-shearers. —
“有一次他清醒时说他用一把旧六连发手枪和几美元买了我,是从一群醉醺醺的墨西哥修剪羊毛的人那里买的。” —

But what’s the diff? That’s all I know.”
但有什么区别吗?这就是我知道的。

“All right,” said Ranse. “I reckon you’re a maverick for certain. —
“好吧,”兰斯说。 “我猜你确实是个无法捉摸的人。 —

I’m going to put the Rancho Cibolo brand on you. —
明天我会给你印上Cibolo牌的烙印。 —

I’ll start you to work in one of the camps to-morrow.”
我会让你从明天开始在其中一个营地工作。”

“Work!” sniffed Curly, disdainfully. —
“工作!” Curly 耸了耸肩,不屑地说。 “你以为我会追着牛跑来跑去, —

“What do you take me for? —
像商店里那个粉红色和黄色的家伙说的这些鲁蛇一样吗?忘了吧。” —

Do you think I’d chase cows, and hop-skip-and-jump around after crazy sheep like that pink and yellow guy at the store says these Reubs do? —
“哦,等你习惯了就会喜欢的,” 兰斯说。 “是的,我会让Pedro给你送上一杯酒,我想我设法让你成为一名一流的牛仔之前, —

Forget it.”
你会喜欢这份工作的。”

“Oh, you’ll like it when you get used to it,” said Ranse. “Yes, I’ll send you up one more drink by Pedro. I think you’ll make a first-class cowpuncher before I get through with you.”
“我?” Curly 说。 “我可怜你让我监督的那些牛。它们可以自己追赶去。别忘了给我送上一杯睡前酒,老板。”

“Me?” said Curly. “I pity the cows you set me to chaperon. —

They can go chase themselves. —

Don’t forget my nightcap, please, boss.”

Ranse paid a visit to the store before going to the house. —
朗斯先去了商店,然后再去了房子。 —

Sam Rivell was taking off his tan shoes regretting and preparing for bed.
萨姆·里维尔正在脱下他的棕色鞋子,忏悔着准备上床睡觉。

“Any of the boys from the San Gabriel camp riding in early in the morning?” asked Ranse.
“明天早上有任何来自圣加布里埃尔营地的男孩骑来吗?” 朗斯问道。

“Long Collins,” said Sam briefly. “For the mail.”
“龙·科林斯,” 萨姆简洁地回答道。 “为了送信。”

“Tell him,” said Ranse, “to take that tramp out to camp with him and keep him till I get there.”
“告诉他,” 朗斯说道,”把那个流浪汉带到营地,并一直留着直到我到那里为止。”

Curly was sitting on his blankets in the San Gabriel camp cursing talentedly when Ranse Truesdell rode up and dismounted on the next afternoon. —
当朗斯·特鲁斯代尔在第二天下午骑着马走近时,卡利正坐在他的毯子上痛骂着。 —

The cowpunchers were ignoring the stray. —
牛仔们都不理睬这个流浪汉。 —

He was grimy with dust and black dirt. —
他浑身灰尘和黑泥。 —

His clothes were making their last stand in favour of the conventions.
他的衣服正在为保持传统而奋斗。

Ranse went up to Buck Rabb, the camp boss, and spoke briefly.
朗斯走到营地老板巴克·拉布身边,简短地说了几句话。

“He’s a plumb buzzard,” said Buck. “He won’t work, and he’s the low- downest passel of inhumanity I ever see. —
“他是个彻头彻尾的废物,” 巴克说道。 “他不工作,是我见过的最卑鄙的不人道的家伙。 —

I didn’t know what you wanted done with him, Ranse, so I just let him set. That seems to suit him. —
朗斯,我不知道你想让他怎么处理,所以我就任凭他自己待着。看起来这样对他挺合适的。 —

He’s been condemned to death by the boys a dozen times, but I told ‘em maybe you was savin’ him for the torture.”
他被这些孩子们已经被判死刑了十几次,但是我告诉他们也许你在留着他给折磨。

Ranse took off his coat.
Ranse脱掉了他的外套。

“I’ve got a hard job before me, Buck, I reckon, but it has to be done. I’ve got to make a man out of that thing. —
“我有个艰巨的任务在我面前,巴克,我猜想,但是它必须完成。我必须把那个东西培养成一个人。 —

That’s what I’ve come to camp for.”
这就是我来营地的目的。”

He went up to Curly.
他走向了科莉。

“Brother,” he said, “don’t you think if you had a bath it would allow you to take a seat in the company of your fellow-man with less injustice to the atmosphere.”
“兄弟,”他说,“你不觉得如果你洗个澡,就能在你的同胞们中央坐下来,对环境造成更少的不公平吗?”

“Run away, farmer,” said Curly, sardonically. —
“跑开,农夫,”科莉讽刺地说。 —

“Willie will send for nursey when he feels like having his tub.”
“威利感觉想要洗澡的时候,会打电话给保姆的。”

The charco, or water hole, was twelve yards away. —
灰汁坑,或者水坑,离这里有十二码远。 —

Ranse took one of Curly’s ankles and dragged him like a sack of potatoes to the brink. —
Ranse抓住了Curly的一只脚踝,像拎一袋土豆一样把他拖到了边上。 —

Then with the strength and sleight of a hammer-throw he hurled the offending member of society far into the lake.
然后用锤子扔的力量和技巧,他把这个社会的败类狠狠地扔进了湖里。

Curly crawled out and up the bank spluttering like a porpoise.
Curly爬上岸,像海豚一样呛水。

Ranse met him with a piece of soap and a coarse towel in his hands.
Ranse拿着一块肥皂和一条粗糙的毛巾走上去。

“Go to the other end of the lake and use this,” he said. —
“去湖的另一边去,用这个,”他说。 —

“Buck will give you some dry clothes at the wagon.”
“Buck会在马车那里给你一些干衣服。”

The tramp obeyed without protest. —
无家可归的人没有抗议,顺从地去了。 —

By the time supper was ready he had returned to camp. —
晚饭准备好的时候,他已经回到了营地。 —

He was hardly to be recognised in his new shirt and brown duck clothes. —
他穿上新的衬衫和褐色的鸭布衣服,几乎认不出来他了。 —

Ranse observed him out of the corner of his eye.
Ranse斜眼观察着他。

“Lordy, I hope he ain’t a coward,” he was saying to himself. —
“天哪,我希望他不是个懦夫,”他自言自语。 —

“I hope he won’t turn out to be a coward.”
“希望他不会是个懦夫。”

His doubts were soon allayed. —
他的疑虑很快被排除了。 —

Curly walked straight to where he stood. —
Curly径直走到他站着的地方, —

His light-blue eyes were blazing.
他的亮蓝色眼睛闪烁着火光。

“Now I’m clean,” he said meaningly, “maybe you’ll talk to me. —
“现在我干净了,”他含义深远地说,“也许你愿意和我说话了。 —

Think you’ve got a picnic here, do you? —
你觉得这里是个野餐吗?” —

You clodhoppers think you can run over a man because you know he can’t get away. —
你们这些蠢人认为你们能够欺负一个人,因为你们知道他无处可逃。 —

All right. —
好吧。 —

Now, what do you think of that?”
你们对此有什么看法?

Curly planted a stinging slap against Ranse’s left cheek. —
Curly狠狠地给Ranse的左脸掌了一个耳光, —

The print of his hand stood out a dull red against the tan.
他的手印在那糟黄的脸上呈现出暗红的色彩。

Ranse smiled happily.
Ranse高兴地笑了。

The cowpunchers talk to this day of the battle that followed.
牛仔们至今还在谈论随后发生的战斗。

Somewhere in his restless tour of the cities Curly had acquired the art of self-defence. —
在他闲逛城市的时候,Curly学会了自卫的技巧。 —

The ranchman was equipped only with the splendid strength and equilibrium of perfect health and the endurance conferred by decent living. —
这个牧场主只依靠着出色的体力和平衡能力以及端正的生活方式所赐予的持久力。 —

The two attributes nearly matched. —
这两种优点几乎不相上下。 —

There were no formal rounds. —
没有规定的回合。最后, —

At last the fibre of the clean liver prevailed. —
素质良好的肝脏战胜了对手。 —

The last time Curly went down from one of the ranchman’s awkward but powerful blows he remained on the grass, but looking up with an unquenched eye.
Curly最后一次被牧场主的笨拙而强有力的一击打倒在地,但他仍然在草地上仰视着,眼神坚定。

Ranse went to the water barrel and washed the red from a cut on his chin in the stream from the faucet.
Ranse走到水桶前,在水龙头的水流中冲洗下下巴上的伤口的血迹。

On his face was a grin of satisfaction.
他脸上带着满足的笑容。

Much benefit might accrue to educators and moralists if they could know the details of the curriculum of reclamation through which Ranse put his waif during the month that he spent in the San Gabriel camp. —
如果教育者和道德家能了解兰斯在圣加布里埃尔营地度过的那一个月里把他的野小孩教育得如何,那对他们可能有很大的好处。 —

The ranchman had no fine theories to work out–perhaps his whole stock of pedagogy embraced only a knowledge of horse-breaking and a belief in heredity.
这个牧场主没有什么高深的理论要去实践,也许他整个教育经验的全部内容只包括驯马和信仰遗传。

The cowpunchers saw that their boss was trying to make a man out of the strange animal that he had sent among them; —
牛仔们看到他们的老板正在试图培养这只奇怪的动物变成一个合格的人; —

and they tacitly organised themselves into a faculty of assistants. —
于是他们默契地组成了一个助教团队。 —

But their system was their own.
但他们的教育体系是他们自己制定的。

Curly’s first lesson stuck. —
柯利的第一课很有用。 —

He became on friendly and then on intimate terms with soap and water. —
他与肥皂和清水亲近起来。 —

And the thing that pleased Ranse most was that his “subject” held his ground at each successive higher step. —
让兰斯最高兴的是,他的“学生”在每一个更高的阶段都表现得很稳健。 —

But the steps were sometimes far apart.
但这些阶段有时相隔甚远。

Once he got at the quart bottle of whisky kept sacredly in the grub tent for rattlesnake bites, and spent sixteen hours on the grass, magnificently drunk. —
有一次他弄到了帐篷里保存着专门用于抗击蛇咬的四分之一瓶威士忌,然后在草地上豪醉了整整十六个小时。 —

But when he staggered to his feet his first move was to find his soap and towel and start for the charco. —
但是当他摇摇晃晃地站起来时,他的第一个动作是找到他的肥皂和毛巾,然后走向木炭炉。 —

And once, when a treat came from the ranch in the form of a basket of fresh tomatoes and young onions, Curly devoured the entire consignment before the punchers reached the camp at supper time.
有一次,当农场送来了一篮新鲜的西红柿和年轻的洋葱时,卡利在牧场工人晚饭时间到达营地之前就把整篮货吃光了。

And then the punchers punished him in their own way. —
然后牧场工人们用他们自己的方式对他进行惩罚。 —

For three days they did not speak to him, except to reply to his own questions or remarks. —
三天里,他们不和他说话,除非对他自己的问题或评论做出回应。 —

And they spoke with absolute and unfailing politeness. —
而且他们绝对而又恒久地礼貌地说话。 —

They played tricks on one another; —
他们彼此玩恶作剧, —

they pounded one another hurtfully and affectionately; —
彼此互相打击,既伤人又深情; —

they heaped upon one another’s heads friendly curses and obloquy; —
他们互相诅咒和辱骂; —

but they were polite to Curly. He saw it, and it stung him as much as Ranse hoped it would.
但是他们对卡利很客气。他看到了,而且这让他受伤,正如兰斯希望的那样。

Then came a night that brought a cold, wet norther. Wilson, the youngest of the outfit, had lain in camp two days, ill with fever. —
然后来了一个带来寒冷而湿冷北风的夜晚。威尔森,这个小队中最年轻的人,已经在营地里躺了两天,发着烧。 —

When Joe got up at daylight to begin breakfast he found Curly sitting asleep against a wheel of the grub wagon with only a saddle blanket around him, while Curly’s blankets were stretched over Wilson to protect him from the rain and wind.
当乔在天亮时起床准备早餐的时候,他发现卡利正靠在食品马车的车轮上睡觉,只用一块马鞍毯围着自己,而卡利的毯子则盖在威尔逊身上,保护他不受雨风侵袭。

Three nights after that Curly rolled himself in his blanket and went to sleep. —
三天后,卡利卷缩在毯子里,入睡了。 —

Then the other punchers rose up softly and began to make preparations. —
接着,其他牧牛工们悄悄起身,开始准备。 —

Ranse saw Long Collins tie a rope to the horn of a saddle. —
兰斯看到隆·科林斯把绳子系在马鞍的号角上。 —

Others were getting out their six-shooters.
其他人拿出了六连发手枪。

“Boys,” said Ranse, “I’m much obliged. —
“伙计们,”兰斯说,“非常感谢你们。 —

I was hoping you would. But I didn’t like to ask.”
我本来希望你们这么做。但我不好开口。”

Half a dozen six-shooters began to pop–awful yells rent the air–Long Collins galloped wildly across Curly’s bed, dragging the saddle after him. —
半打六连发手枪开始响起——可怕的呐喊声划破空气——隆·科林斯疯狂地冲过卡利的床,拖着鞍子。 —

That was merely their way of gently awaking their victim. —
这只是他们温和唤醒他们的方法。然后, —

Then they hazed him for an hour, carefully and ridiculously, after the code of cow camps. —
他们按照牛舍的规矩,把他捉弄了一个小时,无比小心且荒诞可笑。 —

Whenever he uttered protest they held him stretched over a roll of blankets and thrashed him woefully with a pair of leather leggings.
每当他表示抗议时,他们就把他伸展在一卷毯子上,用一双皮裤残忍地鞭打他。

And all this meant that Curly had won his spurs, that he was receiving the puncher’s accolade. —

Nevermore would they be polite to him. —
这一切意味着Curly获得了他应得的荣耀, —

But he would be their “pardner” and stirrup-brother, foot to foot.
他正在接受牛仔的赞赏。

When the fooling was ended all hands made a raid on Joe’s big coffee- pot by the fire for a Java nightcap. —
他们再也不会对他客气了。但是他会成为他们的“同伴”和马镫兄弟,脚踝贴脚踝。 —

Ranse watched the new knight carefully to see if he understood and was worthy. —
当开玩笑结束后,大家都走到火边的Joe的咖啡壶前,来一杯咖啡作为夜饮。 —

Curly limped with his cup of coffee to a log and sat upon it. —
Ranse专心地观察着这个新骑士,看他是否理解并且值得被接纳。 —

Long Collins followed and sat by his side. —

Buck Rabb went and sat at the other. —
Curly拿着他的咖啡杯一瘸一拐地走到一根圆木上坐下。 —

Curly–grinned.

And then Ranse furnished Curly with mounts and saddle and equipment, and turned him over to Buck Rabb, instructing him to finish the job.
Long Collins跟着他坐在他身边,Buck Rabb坐在另一个圆木上。Curly笑了笑。

Three weeks later Ranse rode from the ranch into Rabb’s camp, which was then in Snake Valley. —
然后Ranse提供了Curly的坐骑、鞍具和装备,并把他交给了Buck Rabb,告诉他要完成这个任务。 —

The boys were saddling for the day’s ride. —
男孩们正在备好装备准备出发骑马。 —

He sought out Long Collins among them.
他在他们中间寻找朗·科林斯。

“How about that bronco?” he asked.
“那匹野马怎么样?”他问道。

Long Collins grinned.
隆·科林斯咧嘴一笑。

“Reach out your hand, Ranse Truesdell,” he said, “and you’ll touch him. —
“伸出你的手,兰斯·特鲁斯戴尔,” 他说道,”你就会碰到他了。 —

And you can shake his’n, too, if you like, for he’s plumb white and there’s none better in no camp.”
如果你愿意,你也可以和他握手,因为他是十分善良的,没有比他更好的了。”

Ranse looked again at the clear-faced, bronzed, smiling cowpuncher who stood at Collins’s side. —
兰斯再次看着身旁的明亮面庞、晒黑的、笑容可掬的牛仔人。那就是卷发吗? —

Could that be Curly? —

He held out his hand, and Curly grasped it with the muscles of a bronco-buster.
他伸出手,卷发用牛仔驯马师的力量握住了他。

“I want you at the ranch,” said Ranse.
“我想请你来农场,”兰斯说道。

“All right, sport,” said Curly, heartily. —
“没问题,伙计,”卷发热情地说道。” —

“But I want to come back again. Say, pal, this is a dandy farm. —
但我还想再回来。说吧,老兄,这是个棒极了的农场。 —

And I don’t want any better fun than hustlin’ cows with this bunch of guys. —
和这群人一起驱赶牛是我最快乐的事情,我不想要更好的了。 —

They’re all to the merry- merry.”
他们都很开心到极致。”

At the Cibolo ranch-house they dismounted. —
他们在西博洛牧场的住房前下马。 —

Ranse bade Curly wait at the door of the living room. —
兰斯让卷发在起居室的门口等候。 —

He walked inside. Old “Kiowa” Truesdell was reading at a table.
他走进屋里。老特鲁斯戴尔正在桌子旁阅读。

“Good-morning, Mr. Truesdell,” said Ranse.
“早上好,特鲁斯戴尔先生,”兰斯说道。

The old man turned his white head quickly.
老人迅速转过了他的白发头。

“How is this?” he began. “Why do you call me ‘Mr.–’?”
“这是怎么回事?”他开始说。“为什么你叫我‘先生’?”

When he looked at Ranse’s face he stopped, and the hand that held his newspaper shook slightly.
当他看着Ranse的脸时,停下了,他拿着报纸的手微微颤抖着。

“Boy,” he said slowly, “how did you find it out?”
“孩子,”他慢慢地说,“你是怎么发现的?”

“It’s all right,” said Ranse, with a smile. —
“没事的,”Ranse笑着说。 —

“I made Tia Juana tell me. —
“我让提亚华娜告诉我的。 —

It was kind of by accident, but it’s all right.”
可能有点意外,但没关系。”

“You’ve been like a son to me,” said old “Kiowa,” trembling.
“你一直像我的儿子一样,”老“基奥瓦”颤抖着说。

“Tia Juana told me all about it,” said Ranse. “She told me how you adopted me when I was knee-high to a puddle duck out of a wagon train of prospectors that was bound West. And she told me how the kid–your own kid, you know–got lost or was run away with. —
“提亚华娜告诉我了一切,”Ranse说。“她告诉我你在我还很小的时候就收养了我,那是一个向西方开的一群淘金者的马车队里。她还告诉我,那个孩子——你自己的孩子,你知道的——走丢了或者被带走了。” —

And she said it was the same day that the sheep-shearers got on a bender and left the ranch.”
“而且她说,正好是在那天,剃羊毛工们喝醉了酒,离开了牧场。”

“Our boy strayed from the house when he was two years old,” said the old man. —
“我们的孩子在两岁的时候离开了家,”老人说。 —

“And then along came those emigrant wagons with a youngster they didn’t want; —
“然后一队移民的马车来了,带着一个他们不想要的孩子; —

and we took you. —
我们收养了你。” —

I never intended you to know, Ranse. We never heard of our boy again.”
我从未打算让你知道,Ranse。我们再也没有听到我们的孩子的消息了。

“He’s right outside, unless I’m mighty mistaken,” said Ranse, opening the door and beckoning.
“他就在外面,除非我搞错了,”Ranse说着打开门并示意。

Curly walked in.
Curly走了进来。

No one could have doubted. —
没有人会怀疑。 —

The old man and the young had the same sweep of hair, the same nose, chin, line of face, and prominent light- blue eyes.
老人和年轻人的发型、鼻子、下巴、脸部轮廓和饱满的蓝眼睛都是一样的。

Old “Kiowa” rose eagerly.
“老Kiowa”兴奋地站了起来。

Curly looked about the room curiously. —
Curly好奇地环顾了房间。 —

A puzzled expression came over his face. —
他的脸上露出了疑惑的表情。 —

He pointed to the wall opposite.
他指着对面的墙壁。

“Where’s the tick-tock?” he asked, absent-mindedly.
“钟呢?”他心不在焉地问道。

“The clock,” cried old “Kiowa” loudly. —
“那个钟,”老“Kiowa”大声喊道。 —

“The eight-day clock used to stand there. Why–”
“那架八天钟就放在那儿。怎么会……”

He turned to Ranse, but Ranse was not there.
他转向Ranse,但Ranse已经不在那里了。

Already a hundred yards away, Vaminos, the good flea-bitten dun, was bearing him eastward like a racer through dust and chaparral towards the Rancho de los Olmos.
已经有了一百码远,Vaminos,那匹优秀的斑点灰马,像赛马一样带着他穿过尘土和灌木丛朝着Rancho de los Olmos的东方飞驰。