(雙語)月亮和六便士 第47章(9)

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"I guess you'd better get out of Marseilles before Tough Bill comes out of hospital," he said to Strickland, when they had got back to the Chink's Head and were cleaning themselves.

“我看在硬漢子彼爾出院以前，你還是離開馬賽吧，”當他倆回到“中國茅房”開始清洗的時候，他對思特里克蘭德說。

"This beats cock-fighting," said Strickland.

“真比斗雞還熱鬧，”思特里克蘭德說。

I could see his sardonic smile.

我仿佛看到了他臉上譏嘲的笑容。

Captain Nichols was anxious. He knew Tough Bill's vindictiveness. Strickland had downed the mulatto twice, and the mulatto, sober, was a man to be reckoned with. He would bide his time stealthily. He would be in no hurry, but one night Strickland would get a knife-thrust in his back, and in a day or two the corpse of a nameless beach-comber would be fished out of the dirty water of the harbour. Nichols went next evening to Tough Bill's house and made enquiries. He was in hospital still, but his wife, who had been to see him, said he was swearing hard to kill Strickland when they let him out.

尼柯爾斯船長非常擔心。他知道硬漢子彼爾是睚眥必報的。思特里克蘭德叫這個混血兒丟了大臉，彼爾頭腦清醒的時候，是要小心提防的。他不會馬上就動手，他會暗中等待一個適宜時機。早晚有一天夜里，思特里克蘭德的脊背上會叫人捅上一刀，一兩天以后，從港口的污水里會撈上一具無名流浪漢的尸體。第二天晚上尼柯爾斯到硬漢子彼爾家里去打聽了一下。彼爾仍然住在醫(yī)院里，但是他妻子已經(jīng)去看過他。據(jù)他妻子說，彼爾賭天誓日說，他一出院就要結(jié)果思特里克蘭德的性命。

A week passed.

又過了一個星期。

"That's what I always say," reflected Captain Nichols, "when you hurt a man, hurt him bad. It gives you a bit of time to look about and think what you'll do next."

“我總是說，”尼柯爾斯船長繼續(xù)回憶當時的情況，“要打人就把他打得厲厲害害的。這會給你一點時間，思考一下下一步該怎么辦?！?/p>

Then Strickland had a bit of luck. A ship bound for Australia had sent to the Sailors' Home for a stoker in place of one who had thrown himself overboard off Gibraltar in an attack of delirium tremens.

這以后思特里克蘭德交了一步好運。一艘開往澳大利亞的輪船到水手之家去要一名司爐，原來的司爐因為神經(jīng)錯亂在直布羅陀附近投海自殺了。

"You double down to the harbour, my lad," said the Captain to Strickland, "and sign on. You've got your papers."

“你一分鐘也別耽誤，伙計，立刻到碼頭去，”船長對思特里克蘭德說，“趕快簽上你的名字。你是有證明文件的?！?/p>

Strickland set off at once, and that was the last Captain Nichols saw of him. The ship was only in port for six hours, and in the evening Captain Nichols watched the vanishing smoke from her funnels as she ploughed East through the wintry sea.

思特里克蘭德馬上就出發(fā)了。尼柯爾斯船長從此再也沒有同他見面。這艘輪船在碼頭只停泊了六小時，傍晚時分，尼柯爾斯船長看著輪船煙囪冒出的黑煙逐漸稀薄，輪船正在寒冬的海面上乘風破浪向東駛?cè)ァ?/p>

I have narrated all this as best I could, because I like the contrast of these episodes with the life that I had seen Strickland live in Ashley Gardens when he was occupied with stocks and shares; but I am aware that Captain Nichols was an outrageous liar, and I dare say there is not a word of truth in anything he told me. I should not be surprised to learn that he had never seen Strickland in his life, and owed his knowledge of Marseilles to the pages of a magazine.

我盡量把這些故事敘述得生動一些，因為我喜歡拿這一段經(jīng)歷同他住在倫敦阿施里花園時的生活進行對比，當時他忙著做股票生意，那時的生活我是親眼見過的。但是我也非常清楚，尼柯爾斯船長是個大言不慚的牛皮大王，他告訴我的這些事也有可能沒有一句是真話。今后我如果發(fā)現(xiàn)思特里克蘭德在世的時候根本不認識他，他對馬賽的知識完全來自一本雜志，我是一點也不會感到吃驚的。