(雙語)月亮和六便士 第56章(1)

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Chapter 56

第五十六章

Then two years more went by, or perhaps three, for time passes imperceptibly in Tahiti, and it is hard to keep count of it; but at last a message was brought to Dr. Coutras that Strickland was dying. Ata had waylaid the cart that took the mail into Papeete, and besought the man who drove it to go at once to the doctor. But the doctor was out when the summons came, and it was evening when he received it. It was impossible to start at so late an hour, and so it was not till next day soon after dawn that he set out. He arrived at Taravao, and for the last time tramped the seven kilometres that led to Ata's house. The path was overgrown, and it was clear that for years now it had remained all but untrodden. It was not easy to find the way. Sometimes he had to stumble along the bed of the stream, and sometimes he had to push through shrubs, dense and thorny; often he was obliged to climb over rocks in order to avoid the hornet-nests that hung on the trees over his head. The silence was intense.

兩年又過去了，也許是三年，因為在塔希提，時間總是不知不覺地流逝過去，沒有人費心去計算。但是最后終于有人給庫特拉斯醫(yī)生帶來個信兒，說是思特里克蘭德很快就要死了。愛塔在路上攔住一輛往帕皮提遞送郵件的馬車，請求趕車的人立刻到醫(yī)生那里去一趟。但是消息帶到的時候，醫(yī)生恰巧不在家。直到傍晚他才聽到這個信兒。天已經(jīng)太晚了，他當天無法動身；他是第二天清早才啟程去的。他首先到了塔拉窩，然后下車步行；這是他最后一次走七公里的路到愛塔家去。小路幾乎已被荒草遮住，看來已經(jīng)有好幾年沒有行人的足跡了。路很不好走；有時候他得跋涉過一段河灘；有時候他得分開長滿荊棘的茂密的矮樹叢。有好幾次他不得不從巖石上爬過去，為了躲避掛在頭頂樹枝上的野蜂窩。密林里萬籟無聲。

It was with a sigh of relief that at last he came upon the little unpainted house, extraordinarily bedraggled now, and unkempt; but here too was the same intolerable silence. He walked up, and a little boy, playing unconcernedly in the sunshine, started at his approach and fled quickly away: to him the stranger was the enemy. Dr. Coutras had a sense that the child was stealthily watching him from behind a tree. The door was wide open. He called out, but no one answered. He stepped in. He knocked at a door, but again there was no answer. He turned the handle and entered. The stench that assailed him turned him horribly sick. He put his handkerchief to his nose and forced himself to go in. The light was dim, and after the brilliant sunshine for a while he could see nothing. Then he gave a start. He could not make out where he was. He seemed on a sudden to have entered a magic world. He had a vague impression of a great primeval forest and of naked people walking beneath the trees. Then he saw that there were paintings on the walls.

最后他走到那座沒有油漆過的木房子前面時，他長舒了一口氣。這所房子現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)破舊得不成樣子，而且一片齷齪，不堪入目。迎接他的仍是一片無法忍受的寂靜。他走到陽臺上，一個小孩兒正在陽光底下玩兒，一看見他便飛快地跑掉了；在這個孩子的眼睛里，所有陌生人都是敵人。庫特拉斯醫(yī)生意識到孩子正躲在一棵樹后面偷偷地看著他。房門敞開著。他叫了一聲，但是沒有人回答。他走了進去。他在另一扇門上敲了敲，仍然沒有回答。他把門柄一扭便走進去。撲鼻而來的一股臭味幾乎叫他嘔吐出來。他用手帕堵著鼻子，硬逼著自己走進去。屋子里光線非常暗，從外面燦爛的陽光下走進來，一時他什么也看不見。當他的眼睛適應了室內(nèi)的光線時，他嚇了一大跳。他不知道自己走到什么地方來了，仿佛是，他突然走入了一個神奇的世界；矇矇眬眬中，他好象覺得自己正置身于一個原始大森林中，大樹下面徜徉著一些赤身裸體的人。過了一會兒他才知道，他看到的是四壁上的巨大壁畫。