Now It Can Be Told

THE WENDIGO

温迪戈

Algernon Blackwood

阿尔吉农·布莱克伍德

1910

1910年

A considerable number of hunting parties were out that year without finding so much as a fresh trail; for the moose were uncommonly shy, and the various Nimrods returned to the bosoms of their respective families with the best excuses the facts of their imaginations could suggest.

那一年，相当多的狩猎队出去了，却连一条新的踪迹都没有找到。因为驼鹿非常害羞，各个宁录人都带着他们想象中的事实所暗示的最好借口回到了各自家庭的怀抱。

Dr. Cathcart, among others, came back without a trophy; but he brought instead the memory of an experience which he declares was worth all the bull moose that had ever been shot.

卡思卡特博士和其他人一样，没有获得奖杯。但他带来了一段经历，他声称这段经历值得所有被射杀的公驼鹿。

But then Cathcart, of Aberdeen, was interested in other things besides moose--amongst them the vagaries of the human mind.

但后来，来自阿伯丁的卡思卡特除了驼鹿之外，还对其他事物感兴趣，其中包括人类思想的变幻莫测。

This particular story, however, found no mention in his book on Collective Hallucination for the simple reason (so he confided once to a fellow colleague) that he himself played too intimate a part in it to form a competent judgment of the affair as a whole....

然而，这个特殊的故事在他关于集体幻觉的书中没有提及，原因很简单（他曾经向一位同事吐露过），他自己在其中扮演的角色太亲密，无法对整个事件做出有效的判断……

Besides himself and his guide, Hank Davis, there was young Simpson, his nephew, a divinity student destined for the "Wee Kirk" (then on his first visit to Canadian backwoods), and the latter's guide, Défago.

除了他自己和他的向导汉克·戴维斯之外，还有年轻的辛普森，他的侄子，一名注定要前往“威柯克”（当时是他第一次访问加拿大偏远地区）的神学院学生，以及后者的向导德法戈。

Joseph Défago was a French "Canuck," who had strayed from his native Province of Quebec years before, and had got caught in Rat Portage when the Canadian Pacific Railway was a-building; a man who, in addition to his unparalleled knowledge of wood-craft and bush-lore, could also sing the old _voyageur_ songs and tell a capital hunting yarn into the bargain.

约瑟夫·德法戈（Joseph Défago）是法国“加纳克人”，多年前他离开家乡魁北克省，在加拿大太平洋铁路修建时被困在拉特波蒂奇（Rat Portage）。这个人除了对木工和丛林知识有着无与伦比的了解外，还可以唱古老的_voyageur_歌曲并讲述资本狩猎故事。

He was deeply susceptible, moreover, to that singular spell which the wilderness lays upon certain lonely natures, and he loved the wild solitudes with a kind of romantic passion that amounted almost to an obsession.

此外，他对荒野对某些孤独的本性所施加的奇异魔力非常敏感，他以一种近乎痴迷的浪漫激情热爱荒野的孤独。

The life of the backwoods fascinated him--whence, doubtless, his surpassing efficiency in dealing with their mysteries.

偏僻森林的生活让他着迷——毫无疑问，这也是他在解开这些谜团时表现出的超凡效率的原因。

On this particular expedition he was Hank's choice.

在这次特别的探险中，他是汉克的选择。

Hank knew him and swore by him.

汉克认识他并且向他发誓。

He also swore at him, "jest as a pal might," and since he had a vocabulary of picturesque, if utterly meaningless, oaths, the conversation between the two stalwart and hardy woodsmen was often of a rather lively description.

他还对他咒骂，“像朋友一样开玩笑”，而且由于他有一套风景如画的咒语词汇，尽管完全毫无意义，所以两个坚定而顽强的樵夫之间的谈话常常是相当生动的描述。

This river of expletives, however, Hank agreed to dam a little out of respect for his old "hunting boss," Dr. Cathcart, whom of course he addressed after the fashion of the country as "Doc," and also because he understood that young Simpson was already a "bit of a parson." He had, however, one objection to Défago, and one only--which was, that the French Canadian sometimes exhibited what Hank described as "the output of a cursed and dismal mind," meaning apparently that he sometimes was true to type, Latin type, and suffered fits of a kind of silent moroseness when nothing could induce him to utter speech.

然而，出于对他的老“狩猎老板”卡思卡特博士的尊重，汉克同意拦住这滔滔不绝的咒骂，当然，他按照这个国家的时尚称呼卡思卡特博士为“医生”，也因为他明白年轻的辛普森已经是一个“有点牧师”了。然而，他对德法戈有一个反对意见，而且只有一个反对意见，那就是，这位法裔加拿大人有时会表现出汉克所描述的“受诅咒和阴郁思想的产物”，这显然意味着他有时忠实于类型，拉丁类型，当没有什么可以促使他说话时，他会遭受一种沉默的忧郁的发作。

Défago, that is to say, was imaginative and melancholy.

也就是说，德法戈富有想象力且忧郁。

And, as a rule, it was too long a spell of "civilization" that induced the attacks, for a few days of the wilderness invariably cured them.

而且，通常来说，“文明”时期引发这些攻击的时间太长了，几天的荒野总会治愈它们。

This, then, was the party of four that found themselves in camp the last week in October of that "shy moose year" 'way up in the wilderness north of Rat Portage--a forsaken and desolate country.

那么，这就是“害羞的驼鹿年”十月最后一周的四人小组，他们在拉特波蒂奇北部的荒野中扎营，那是一个被遗弃的荒凉国家。

There was also Punk, an Indian, who had accompanied Dr. Cathcart and Hank on their hunting trips in previous years, and who acted as cook.

还有朋克，一个印第安人，前几年陪伴卡思卡特博士和汉克打猎，并担任厨师。

His duty was merely to stay in camp, catch fish, and prepare venison steaks and coffee at a few minutes' notice.

他的职责只是留在营地，抓鱼，并在几分钟后准备鹿肉排和咖啡。

He dressed in the worn-out clothes bequeathed to him by former patrons, and, except for his coarse black hair and dark skin, he looked in these city garments no more like a real redskin than a stage Negro looks like a real African.

他穿着以前顾客留给他的破旧衣服，除了粗黑的头发和深色的皮肤外，他穿着这些城市服装看起来不像一个真正的印第安人，就像舞台上的黑人看起来不像一个真正的非洲人一样。

For all that, however, Punk had in him still the instincts of his dying race; his taciturn silence and his endurance survived; also his superstition.

然而，尽管如此，朋克身上仍然保留着他濒临灭绝的种族的本能。他的沉默寡言和忍耐力依然存在。也是他的迷信。

The party round the blazing fire that night were despondent, for a week had passed without a single sign of recent moose discovering itself.

那天晚上，篝火旁的人们都很沮丧，一周过去了，没有任何驼鹿发现自己的迹象。

Défago had sung his song and plunged into a story, but Hank, in bad humor, reminded him so often that "he kep' mussing-up the fac's so, that it was 'most all nothin' but a petered-out lie," that the Frenchman had finally subsided into a sulky silence which nothing seemed likely to break.

德法戈唱着歌，开始讲故事，但汉克心情不好，经常提醒他“他总是把事实搞得一团糟，这‘几乎什么都不是’，只不过是一个逐渐消失的谎言”，法国人最终陷入了一种闷闷不乐的沉默，似乎没有什么可以打破。

Dr. Cathcart and his nephew were fairly done after an exhausting day.

经过疲惫的一天后，卡思卡特医生和他的侄子已经相当疲惫了。

Punk was washing up the dishes, grunting to himself under the lean-to of branches, where he later also slept.

朋克正在洗碗，在树枝斜顶下咕哝着，后来他也睡在那里。

No one troubled to stir the slowly dying fire.

没有人费心去搅动正在慢慢熄灭的火。

Overhead the stars were brilliant in a sky quite wintry, and there was so little wind that ice was already forming stealthily along the shores of the still lake behind them.

头顶上的星星在寒冷的天空中闪闪发光，而且风很小，以至于它们身后平静的湖岸上已经悄悄地结了冰。

The silence of the vast listening forest stole forward and enveloped them.

广阔的倾听森林的寂静悄然向前蔓延，将他们包围。

Hank broke in suddenly with his nasal voice.

汉克突然用鼻音插话道。

"I'm in favor of breaking new ground tomorrow, Doc," he observed with energy, looking across at his employer.

“我赞成明天开辟新天地，博士，”他充满活力地说道，看着他的雇主。

"We don't stand a dead Dago's chance around here."

“我们这里没有达戈死的机会。”

"Agreed," said Cathcart, always a man of few words.

“同意。”一向沉默寡言的卡思卡特说道。

"Think the idea's good."

“觉得这个主意不错。”

"Sure pop, it's good," Hank resumed with confidence.

“当然啦，这很好，”汉克自信地说道。

"S'pose, now, you and I strike west, up Garden Lake way for a change!

“假设，现在，你和我向西，沿着花园湖方向前进，寻求改变！

None of us ain't touched that quiet bit o' land yet--"

我们还没有人接触过那片安静的土地——”

"I'm with you."

“我和你在一起。”

"And you, Défago, take Mr. Simpson along in the small canoe, skip across the lake, portage over into Fifty Island Water, and take a good squint down that thar southern shore.

“德法戈，你带着辛普森先生乘坐小独木舟，跳过湖面，驶入五十岛水域，仔细观察南岸。

The moose 'yarded' there like hell last year, and for all we know they may be doin' it agin this year jest to spite us."

去年，驼鹿像地狱一样“围在”那里，据我们所知，今年它们可能会再次这样做，只是为了刁难我们。”

Défago, keeping his eyes on the fire, said nothing by way of reply.

德法戈眼睛盯着火，没有回答。

He was still offended, possibly, about his interrupted story.

可能他仍然对自己的故事被打断感到生气。

"No one's been up that way this year, an' I'll lay my bottom dollar on _that!_" Hank added with emphasis, as though he had a reason for knowing.

“今年没有人能达到这样的水平，我会把我的底钱押在这上面！”汉克强调地补充道，好像他有理由知道。

He looked over at his partner sharply.

他目光锐利地看着他的搭档。

"Better take the little silk tent and stay away a couple o' nights," he concluded, as though the matter were definitely settled.

“最好带上小丝绸帐篷，离开几个晚上，”他总结道，好像事情已经彻底解决了。

For Hank was recognized as general organizer of the hunt, and in charge of the party.

因为汉克被认为是狩猎的总组织者，并负责聚会。

It was obvious to anyone that Défago did not jump at the plan, but his silence seemed to convey something more than ordinary disapproval, and across his sensitive dark face there passed a curious expression like a flash of firelight--not so quickly, however, that the three men had not time to catch it.

任何人都清楚，德法戈并没有对这个计划欣喜若狂，但他的沉默似乎传达出的不仅仅是一般的不赞成，在他敏感的黑脸上掠过一种好奇的表情，就像一道火光——不过速度不那么快，三个人来不及捕捉到它。

"He funked for some reason, _I_ thought," Simpson said afterwards in the tent he shared with his uncle.

“我想，他因为某种原因而害怕，”辛普森事后在他与叔叔共用的帐篷里说道。

Dr. Cathcart made no immediate reply, although the look had interested him enough at the time for him to make a mental note of it.

卡思卡特医生没有立即回答，尽管当时那个眼神让他很感兴趣，让他在心里记下了这一点。

The expression had caused him a passing uneasiness he could not quite account for at the moment.

这种表情让他感到一阵短暂的不安，他此刻无法完全解释清楚。

But Hank, of course, had been the first to notice it, and the odd thing was that instead of becoming explosive or angry over the other's reluctance, he at once began to humor him a bit.

但汉克当然是第一个注意到这一点的人，奇怪的是，他并没有因为对方的不情愿而变得暴躁或愤怒，而是立即开始对他进行一点迁就。

"But there ain't no _speshul_ reason why no one's been up there this year," he said with a perceptible hush in his tone; "not the reason you mean, anyway!

“但是今年没有人去那里，这并没有什么特别的原因，”他说道，语气中明显有一种平静。 “反正不是你说的原因！

Las' year it was the fires that kep' folks out, and this year I guess--I guess it jest happened so, that's all!" His manner was clearly meant to be encouraging.

去年是火灾把人们挡在了门外，而今年我想——我想事情就是这样发生的，仅此而已！”他的态度显然是为了鼓励。

Joseph Défago raised his eyes a moment, then dropped them again.

约瑟夫·德法戈抬起眼睛片刻，然后又垂下。

A breath of wind stole out of the forest and stirred the embers into a passing blaze.

一阵风从森林里吹了出来，把余烬搅成了一团熊熊的火焰。

Dr. Cathcart again noticed the expression in the guide's face, and again he did not like it.

卡思卡特医生再次注意到导游脸上的表情，但他还是不喜欢这样。

But this time the nature of the look betrayed itself.

但这一次，这种表情的本质暴露了。

In those eyes, for an instant, he caught the gleam of a man scared in his very soul.

那双眼睛里，一瞬间，他看到了灵魂深处恐惧的光芒。

It disquieted him more than he cared to admit.

这让他感到不安，超出了他愿意承认的程度。

"Bad Indians up that way?" he asked, with a laugh to ease matters a little, while Simpson, too sleepy to notice this subtle by-play, moved off to bed with a prodigious yawn; "or--or anything wrong with the country?" he added, when his nephew was out of hearing.

“那边有坏印第安人吗？” “辛普森太困了，没有注意到这个微妙的副戏，打了一个大大的哈欠，上床睡觉了。” “或者——或者这个国家有什么问题吗？”当他的侄子听不到声音时，他补充道。

Hank met his eye with something less than his usual frankness.

汉克与他对视时的表情不像平时那样坦率。

"He's jest skeered," he replied good-humouredly.

“他很开玩笑，”他幽默地回答道。

"Skeered stiff about some ole feery tale!

“对一些古老的童话故事感到僵硬！

That's all, ain't it, ole pard?" And he gave Défago a friendly kick on the moccasined foot that lay nearest the fire.

就这些了，不是吗，老家伙？”他友好地踢了德法戈离火最近的那只穿鹿皮鞋的脚。

Défago looked up quickly, as from an interrupted reverie, a reverie, however, that had not prevented his seeing all that went on about him.

德法戈迅速抬起头来，仿佛是从中断的沉思中醒来，然而，这种沉思并没有阻止他看到周围发生的一切。

"Skeered--_nuthin'!_" he answered, with a flush of defiance.

“滚蛋——没什么！”他回答道，脸上满是蔑视。

"There's nuthin' in the Bush that can skeer Joseph Défago, and don't you forget it!" And the natural energy with which he spoke made it impossible to know whether he told the whole truth or only a part of it.

“灌木丛中没有任何东西可以让约瑟夫·德法戈生气，你可别忘了这一点！”而他说话时所散发出的自然能量让人无法知道他说的是全部真相还是只说了部分真相。

Hank turned towards the doctor.

汉克转向医生。

He was just going to add something when he stopped abruptly and looked round.

他正要补充什么，突然停了下来，环顾四周。

A sound close behind them in the darkness made all three start.

黑暗中，身后传来一阵声音，让三人都惊呆了。

It was old Punk, who had moved up from his lean-to while they talked and now stood there just beyond the circle of firelight--listening.

那是老朋克，他们谈话时，他已经从他的单坡屋顶上走出来，现在就站在火光圈之外——听着。

"'Nother time, Doc!" Hank whispered, with a wink, "when the gallery ain't stepped down into the stalls!" And, springing to his feet, he slapped the Indian on the back and cried noisily, "Come up t' the fire an' warm yer dirty red skin a bit." He dragged him towards the blaze and threw more wood on.

“‘下次吧，博士！’”汉克眨了眨眼，低声说道：“当画廊还没有走进座位时！”然后，他跳了起来，拍拍印第安人的背，大声喊道：“到火边来，暖和一下你肮脏的红色皮肤。”他把他拖向火堆，并扔了更多的木头。

"That was a mighty good feed you give us an hour or two back," he continued heartily, as though to set the man's thoughts on another scent, "and it ain't Christian to let you stand out there freezin' yer ole soul to hell while we're gettin' all good an' toasted!" Punk moved in and warmed his feet, smiling darkly at the other's volubility which he only half understood, but saying nothing.

“你给我们一两个小时的食物真是太棒了，”他热情地继续说道，仿佛要把这个人的思绪转移到另一种气味上，“当我们一切都好并且干杯的时候，让你站在那儿把你的灵魂冰冻在地狱里，这不是基督徒！”朋克走了进来，暖了暖脚，对着对方的滔滔不绝的话语，他阴暗地笑了笑，但他什么也没说。

And presently Dr. Cathcart, seeing that further conversation was impossible, followed his nephew's example and moved off to the tent, leaving the three men smoking over the now blazing fire.

不久，卡思卡特医生发现不可能再继续交谈，于是就效仿他侄子的做法，向帐篷走去，留下三个人在熊熊燃烧的篝火旁抽烟。

It is not easy to undress in a small tent without waking one's companion, and Cathcart, hardened and warm-blooded as he was in spite of his fifty odd years, did what Hank would have described as "considerable of his twilight" in the open.

在小帐篷里脱掉衣服而不吵醒同伴并不容易，而卡思卡特尽管已经五十多岁了，但他仍然冷酷而热血，他在露天做了汉克所说的“相当他的暮年”。

He noticed, during the process, that Punk had meanwhile gone back to his lean-to, and that Hank and Défago were at it hammer and tongs, or, rather, hammer and anvil, the little French Canadian being the anvil.

在此过程中，他注意到朋克同时回到了他的披屋，汉克和德法戈正在用锤子和钳子，或者更确切地说，锤子和铁砧，那个法国小个子加拿大人就是铁砧。

It was all very like the conventional stage picture of Western melodrama: the fire lighting up their faces with patches of alternate red and black; Défago, in slouch hat and moccasins in the part of the "badlands" villain; Hank, open-faced and hatless, with that reckless fling of his shoulders, the honest and deceived hero; and old Punk, eavesdropping in the background, supplying the atmosphere of mystery.

这一切都非常像西方情节剧的传统舞台画面：火光照亮了他们的脸，红黑交替；火光照亮了他们的脸。德法戈 (Défago)，戴着宽边软帽和莫卡辛鞋，扮演《荒原》中的恶棍；汉克，面无表情，没戴帽子，鲁莽地耸起肩膀，是一个诚实而受骗的英雄；老朋克在后台偷听，营造出神秘的气氛。

The doctor smiled as he noticed the details; but at the same time something deep within him--he hardly knew what--shrank a little, as though an almost imperceptible breath of warning had touched the surface of his soul and was gone again before he could seize it.

医生注意到细节后笑了。但与此同时，他内心深处的某种东西——他几乎不知道是什么——收缩了一点，仿佛一股几乎难以察觉的警告气息触及了他的灵魂表面，在他抓住它之前又消失了。

Probably it was traceable to that "scared expression" he had seen in the eyes of Défago; "probably"--for this hint of fugitive emotion otherwise escaped his usually so keen analysis.

也许这可以追溯到他在德法戈眼中看到的“害怕的表情”； “可能”——因为这种转瞬即逝的情绪的暗示逃过了他通常如此敏锐的分析。

Défago, he was vaguely aware, might cause trouble somehow ...He was not as steady a guide as Hank, for instance ...

他模糊地意识到，德法戈可能会以某种方式引起麻烦……例如，他不像汉克那样稳定的向导……

Further than that he could not get ...

除此之外，他无法得到……

He watched the men a moment longer before diving into the stuffy tent where Simpson already slept soundly.

他又看了这些人一会儿，然后跳进闷热的帐篷里，辛普森已经睡得很熟了。

Hank, he saw, was swearing like a mad African in a New York nigger saloon; but it was the swearing of "affection." The ridiculous oaths flew freely now that the cause of their obstruction was asleep.

他看到汉克在纽约黑鬼酒吧里像一个疯狂的非​​洲人一样咒骂。但这是“情”的誓言。既然阻碍他们的原因已经睡着了，可笑的誓言就自由地飞扬起来了。

Presently he put his arm almost tenderly upon his comrade's shoulder, and they moved off together into the shadows where their tent stood faintly glimmering.

不久，他几乎温柔地将手臂搭在同伴的肩膀上，然后他们一起走进了阴影里，他们的帐篷隐约闪烁着光芒。

Punk, too, a moment later followed their example and disappeared between his odorous blankets in the opposite direction.

片刻之后，朋克也效仿他们，朝相反的方向消失在他散发着气味的毯子里。

Dr. Cathcart then likewise turned in, weariness and sleep still fighting in his mind with an obscure curiosity to know what it was that had scared Défago about the country up Fifty Island Water way,--wondering, too, why Punk's presence had prevented the completion of what Hank had to say.

卡思卡特博士也同样转了过来，疲倦和睡意仍在他的脑海中挣扎，带着一种模糊的好奇心，想知道是什么让德法戈对五十岛水道上游的国家感到害怕——他也想知道为什么朋克的出现阻止了汉克要说的话的完成。

Then sleep overtook him.

然后他就睡着了。

He would know tomorrow.

他明天就会知道。

Hank would tell him the story while they trudged after the elusive moose.

当他们艰难地追赶那头难以捉摸的驼鹿时，汉克会告诉他这个故事。

Deep silence fell about the little camp, planted there so audaciously in the jaws of the wilderness.

这座小营地周围一片寂静，这座小营地大胆地建在荒野的入口处。

The lake gleamed like a sheet of black glass beneath the stars.

星星下的湖水像一块黑色的玻璃一样闪闪发光。

The cold air pricked.

冷空气刺骨。

In the draughts of night that poured their silent tide from the depths of the forest, with messages from distant ridges and from lakes just beginning to freeze, there lay already the faint, bleak odors of coming winter.

夜风从森林深处悄无声息地涌来，远处的山脊和刚开始结冰的湖泊传来消息，那里已经弥漫着即将到来的冬天的微弱、凄凉的气味。

White men, with their dull scent, might never have divined them; the fragrance of the wood fire would have concealed from them these almost electrical hints of moss and bark and hardening swamp a hundred miles away.

白人由于其气味沉闷，可能永远无法猜出它们。柴火的香味会掩盖掉一百英里外苔藓、树皮和硬化沼泽的几乎带电的味道。

Even Hank and Défago, subtly in league with the soul of the woods as they were, would probably have spread their delicate nostrils in vain....

即使是汉克和德法戈，虽然他们与森林的灵魂巧妙地结合在一起，但很可能徒劳地张开他们精致的鼻孔……

But an hour later, when all slept like the dead, old Punk crept from his blankets and went down to the shore of the lake like a shadow--silently, as only Indian blood can move.

但一个小时后，当所有人都像死人一样睡去时，老朋克从毯子里爬出来，像影子一样来到湖边——静静地，因为只有印第安血统才能移动。

He raised his head and looked about him.

他抬起头，环顾四周。

The thick darkness rendered sight of small avail, but, like the animals, he possessed other senses that darkness could not mute.

浓浓的黑暗使视力变得毫无用处，但是，像动物一样，他拥有黑暗无法压制的其他感官。

He listened--then sniffed the air.

他听着——然后嗅了嗅空气。

Motionless as a hemlock stem he stood there.

他像一根铁杉茎一样一动不动地站在那里。

After five minutes again he lifted his head and sniffed, and yet once again.

五分钟后，他再次抬起头嗅了嗅。

A tingling of the wonderful nerves that betrayed itself by no outer sign, ran through him as he tasted the keen air.

当他尝到刺鼻的空气时，一种奇妙的神经没有任何外在迹象地刺痛着他的全身。

Then, merging his figure into the surrounding blackness in a way that only wild men and animals understand, he turned, still moving like a shadow, and went stealthily back to his lean-to and his bed.

然后，他以一种只有野人和动物才能理解的方式将自己的身影融入周围的黑暗中，然后转身，仍然像影子一样移动，悄悄地回到了他的披屋和床上。

And soon after he slept, the change of wind he had divined stirred gently the reflection of the stars within the lake.

睡着后不久，他预知的风向变化，轻轻搅动了湖中星辰的倒影。

Rising among the far ridges of the country beyond Fifty Island Water, it came from the direction in which he had stared, and it passed over the sleeping camp with a faint and sighing murmur through the tops of the big trees that was almost too delicate to be audible.

它从五十岛水那边远方的山脊上升起，从他凝视的方向传来，它掠过沉睡的营地，在大树的树顶上发出微弱的、叹息般的低语，这种低语几乎太微妙了，几乎听不见。

With it, down the desert paths of night, though too faint, too high even for the Indian's hair-like nerves, there passed a curious, thin odor, strangely disquieting, an odor of something that seemed unfamiliar--utterly unknown.

随之而来的是，沿着夜晚的沙漠小路，虽然太微弱，甚至对于印第安人头发般的神经来说也太高了，但还是传来了一种奇怪的、稀薄的气味，奇怪地令人不安，一种似乎陌生的东西——完全陌生的气味。

The French Canadian and the man of Indian blood each stirred uneasily in his sleep just about this time, though neither of them woke.

就在这个时候，法裔加拿大人和印第安血统的人都在睡梦中不安地动了动，但他们都没有醒来。

Then the ghost of that unforgettably strange odor passed away and was lost among the leagues of tenantless forest beyond.

然后，那种令人难忘的奇怪气味的幽灵消失了，消失在远处无人居住的森林中。

In the morning the camp was astir before the sun.

早晨，太阳出来之前，营地里就热闹起来了。

There had been a light fall of snow during the night and the air was sharp.

夜间下了一场小雪，空气十分寒冷。

Punk had done his duty betimes, for the odors of coffee and fried bacon reached every tent.

朋克及时履行了他的职责，因为咖啡和煎培根的气味传遍了每个帐篷。

All were in good spirits.

所有人都精神抖擞。

"Wind's shifted!" cried Hank vigorously, watching Simpson and his guide already loading the small canoe.

“风向变了！”汉克大声喊道，看着辛普森和他的向导已经在小独木舟上装货了。

"It's across the lake--dead right for you fellers.

“它就在湖的对面——对你们这些家伙来说简直是太棒了。

And the snow'll make bully trails!

雪会留下恶霸的痕迹！

If there's any moose mussing around up thar, they'll not get so much as a tail-end scent of you with the wind as it is.

如果有驼鹿在上面乱动，它们根本就不会随风闻到你的尾部气味。

Good luck, Monsieur Défago!" he added, facetiously giving the name its French pronunciation for once, "_bonne chance!_"

祝你好运，德法戈先生！”他还开玩笑地补充道，这一次给了这个名字法语发音，“_bonne opportunity！_”

Défago returned the good wishes, apparently in the best of spirits, the silent mood gone.

德法戈也表达了良好的祝愿，显然心情很好，沉默的气氛消失了。

Before eight o'clock old Punk had the camp to himself, Cathcart and Hank were far along the trail that led westwards, while the canoe that carried Défago and Simpson, with silk tent and grub for two days, was already a dark speck bobbing on the bosom of the lake, going due east.

八点钟老朋克还没到营地，卡思卡特和汉克就已经沿着向西的小路走得很远了，而载着德法戈和辛普森的独木舟，带着丝绸帐篷和食物两天了，已经成为湖面上的一个黑点，在湖面上晃动，向正东行驶。

The wintry sharpness of the air was tempered now by a sun that topped the wooded ridges and blazed with a luxurious warmth upon the world of lake and forest below; loons flew skimming through the sparkling spray that the wind lifted; divers shook their dripping heads to the sun and popped smartly out of sight again; and as far as eye could reach rose the leagues of endless, crowding Bush, desolate in its lonely sweep and grandeur, untrodden by foot of man, and stretching its mighty and unbroken carpet right up to the frozen shores of Hudson Bay.

冬天的刺骨空气现在被树木繁茂的山脊顶上的阳光所缓和，阳光在下面的湖泊和森林世界上闪耀着奢华的温暖。潜鸟掠过风吹起的闪闪发光的水花；潜水员们对着阳光摇着滴着水的头，然后又巧妙地消失在人们的视线中。目力所及之处，矗立着一望无际、拥挤不堪的灌木丛，在其孤独的宽广和宏伟中显得荒凉，无人踏足，其强大而完整的地毯一直延伸到哈德逊湾冰冻的海岸。

Simpson, who saw it all for the first time as he paddled hard in the bows of the dancing canoe, was enchanted by its austere beauty.

当辛普森在跳舞的独木舟的船头用力划行时，他第一次看到这一切，他被它朴素的美丽迷住了。

His heart drank in the sense of freedom and great spaces just as his lungs drank in the cool and perfumed wind.

他的心沉浸在自由和广阔空间的感觉中，就像他的肺沉浸在清凉芬芳的风中一样。

Behind him in the stern seat, singing fragments of his native chanties, Défago steered the craft of birch bark like a thing of life, answering cheerfully all his companion's questions.

在他身后的船尾座位上，德法戈唱着家乡歌曲的片段，像生命一样操纵着桦树皮工艺，愉快地回答了同伴的所有问题。

Both were gay and light-hearted.

两人都是快乐且无忧无虑的人。

On such occasions men lose the superficial, worldly distinctions; they become human beings working together for a common end.

在这种情况下，人们失去了肤浅的、世俗的区别；他们成为人类，为了共同的目标而共同努力。

Simpson, the employer, and Défago the employed, among these primitive forces, were simply--two men, the "guider" and the "guided." Superior knowledge, of course, assumed control, and the younger man fell without a second thought into the quasi-subordinate position.

在这些原始力量中，雇主辛普森和受雇者德法戈只不过是两个人：“引导者”和“被引导者”。当然，卓越的知识占据了控制权，年轻人不假思索地陷入了准从属的地位。

He never dreamed of objecting when Défago dropped the "Mr.," and addressed him as "Say, Simpson," or "Simpson, boss," which was invariably the case before they reached the farther shore after a stiff paddle of twelve miles against a head wind.

当德法戈放下“先生”，并称呼他为“辛普森，”或“辛普森，老板”时，他从未梦想过反对，在他们顶着逆风划了十二英里，到达更远的海岸之前，情况总是如此。

He only laughed, and liked it; then ceased to notice it at all.

他只是笑了，并且喜欢这样。然后就完全不再注意到它了。

For this "divinity student" was a young man of parts and character, though as yet, of course, untraveled; and on this trip--the first time he had seen any country but his own and little Switzerland--the huge scale of things somewhat bewildered him.

因为这位“神学院学生”是一位有个性、有品格的年轻人，当然，尽管到目前为止还没有旅行过。在这次旅行中——他第一次看到除了他自己的国家和小瑞士以外的任何国家——巨大的规模让他有些困惑。

It was one thing, he realized, to hear about primeval forests, but quite another to see them.

他意识到，听说原始森林是一回事，但亲眼目睹却是另一回事。

While to dwell in them and seek acquaintance with their wild life was, again, an initiation that no intelligent man could undergo without a certain shifting of personal values hitherto held for permanent and sacred.

然而，居住在其中并熟悉它们的野生生活又是一种启蒙，任何聪明人都无法经历迄今为止永久和神圣的个人价值观的转变。

Simpson knew the first faint indication of this emotion when he held the new.

当辛普森拿着新东西时，他第一次感觉到这种情绪的微弱迹象。

303 rifle in his hands and looked along its pair of faultless, gleaming barrels.

他手里拿着303步枪，看着那对完美无瑕、闪闪发光的枪管。

The three days' journey to their headquarters, by lake and portage, had carried the process a stage farther.

三天的旅程，通过湖泊和运输到达他们的总部，使这个过程更进一步。

And now that he was about to plunge beyond even the fringe of wilderness where they were camped into the virgin heart of uninhabited regions as vast as Europe itself, the true nature of the situation stole upon him with an effect of delight and awe that his imagination was fully capable of appreciating.

现在，他即将冲过他们扎营的荒野边缘，进入像欧洲一样广阔的无人居住地区的处女地中心，这种情况的真实本质给他带来了一种他的想象力完全能够理解的喜悦和敬畏的感觉。

It was himself and Défago against a multitude--at least, against a Titan!

这是他自己和德法戈对抗众人——至少，对抗泰坦！

The bleak splendors of these remote and lonely forests rather overwhelmed him with the sense of his own littleness.

这些偏远而孤独的森林的荒凉辉煌让他感到自己的渺小。

That stern quality of the tangled backwoods which can only be described as merciless and terrible, rose out of these far blue woods swimming upon the horizon, and revealed itself.

那些纠缠在一起的边远树林的严峻品质只能用无情和可怕来形容，从这些远在地平线上的蓝色树林中升起，并显露出来。

He understood the silent warning.

他明白这无声的警告。

He realized his own utter helplessness.

他意识到自己的无助。

Only Défago, as a symbol of a distant civilization where man was master, stood between him and a pitiless death by exhaustion and starvation.

只有德法戈，作为遥远文明的象征，在那里，人类是主人，站在他和因疲惫和饥饿而无情的死亡之间。

It was thrilling to him, therefore, to watch Défago turn over the canoe upon the shore, pack the paddles carefully underneath, and then proceed to "blaze" the spruce stems for some distance on either side of an almost invisible trail, with the careless remark thrown in, "Say, Simpson, if anything happens to me, you'll find the canoe all correc' by these marks;--then strike doo west into the sun to hit the home camp agin, see?"

因此，看着德法戈在岸边翻转独木舟，小心地把桨收在下面，然后继续在一条几乎看不见的小道两侧“点燃”云杉茎一段距离，他不经意地说了一句：“说吧，辛普森，如果我出了什么事，你会发现独木舟完全正确的这些标记；——然后向西击向太阳，再次回到家乡营地，看到了吗？”

It was the most natural thing in the world to say, and he said it without any noticeable inflexion of the voice, only it happened to express the youth's emotions at the moment with an utterance that was symbolic of the situation and of his own helplessness as a factor in it.

这是世界上最自然的话，他说这句话时没有任何明显的语气变化，只是恰好表达了年轻人此刻的情绪，这句话象征着当时的情况，也象征着他自己的无助。

He was alone with Défago in a primitive world: that was all.

他和德法戈单独生活在一个原始世界：仅此而已。

The canoe, another symbol of man's ascendancy, was now to be left behind.

独木舟是人类优势的另一个象征，现在却被抛在了身后。

Those small yellow patches, made on the trees by the axe, were the only indications of its hiding place.

那些被斧头在树上留下的黄色小斑点是它藏身之处的唯一标志。

Meanwhile, shouldering the packs between them, each man carrying his own rifle, they followed the slender trail over rocks and fallen trunks and across half-frozen swamps; skirting numerous lakes that fairly gemmed the forest, their borders fringed with mist; and towards five o'clock found themselves suddenly on the edge of the woods, looking out across a large sheet of water in front of them, dotted with pine-clad islands of all describable shapes and sizes.

与此同时，他们肩负着背包，每个人都拿着自己的步枪，沿着细长的小路越过岩石和倒下的树干，穿过半冻的沼泽。周围有许多湖泊，这些湖泊点缀着森林，它们的边界周围笼罩着薄雾；快到五点的时候，他们突然发现自己来到了树林的边缘，眺望前方一大片水域，上面点缀着松树覆盖的岛屿，形状各异、大小各异。

"Fifty Island Water," announced Défago wearily, "and the sun jest goin' to dip his bald old head into it!" he added, with unconscious poetry; and immediately they set about pitching camp for the night.

“五十岛水，”德法戈疲倦地宣布，“太阳开玩笑要把他的秃头伸进水里！”他补充道，带着无意识的诗意；他们立即开始扎营过夜。

In a very few minutes, under those skilful hands that never made a movement too much or a movement too little, the silk tent stood taut and cozy, the beds of balsam boughs ready laid, and a brisk cooking fire burned with the minimum of smoke.

几分钟之内，在那些从不做过多或太少动作的灵巧双手的帮助下，丝绸帐篷绷紧而舒适，香脂树枝床铺好了，生火旺盛，烟雾最少。

While the young Scotchman cleaned the fish they had caught trolling behind the canoe, Défago "guessed" he would "jest as soon" take a turn through the Bush for indications of moose.

当这位年轻的苏格兰人清理他们在独木舟后面拖钓时捕获的鱼时，德法戈“猜测”他会“开玩笑”地穿过灌木丛寻找驼鹿的踪迹。

"_May_ come across a trunk where they bin and rubbed horns," he said, as he moved off, "or feedin' on the last of the maple leaves"--and he was gone.

“可能会遇到一个树干，它们在那里堆放垃圾并摩擦角，”他一边说，一边走开，“或者以最后一片枫叶为食”——然后他就走了。

His small figure melted away like a shadow in the dusk, while Simpson noted with a kind of admiration how easily the forest absorbed him into herself.

他小小的身影像黄昏中的影子一样消失了，而辛普森带着一种钦佩的心情注意到森林是多么容易把他吸收到自己身上。

A few steps, it seemed, and he was no longer visible.

走了几步，他似乎就看不见了。

Yet there was little underbrush hereabouts; the trees stood somewhat apart, well spaced; and in the clearings grew silver birch and maple, spearlike and slender, against the immense stems of spruce and hemlock.

然而这附近几乎没有灌木丛。树木稍稍分开，间隔良好。空地上生长着银桦树和枫树，像矛一样细长，与云杉和铁杉的巨大树干相映衬。

But for occasional prostrate monsters, and the boulders of grey rock that thrust uncouth shoulders here and there out of the ground, it might well have been a bit of park in the Old Country.

要不是偶尔有倒伏的怪物，还有那些粗鲁的肩膀从地底伸出来的灰色岩石巨石，这里很可能是故国的一个公园。

Almost, one might have seen in it the hand of man.

人们几乎可以在其中看到一只人的手。

A little to the right, however, began the great burnt section, miles in extent, proclaiming its real character--_brulé_, as it is called, where the fires of the previous year had raged for weeks, and the blackened stumps now rose gaunt and ugly, bereft of branches, like gigantic match heads stuck into the ground, savage and desolate beyond words.

然而，稍靠右边，开始了大片被烧毁的区域，绵延数英里，宣告了它的真实特征——所谓的_brulé_，前一年的大火已经在那里肆虐了几个星期，黑色的树桩现在变得枯瘦而丑陋，没有树枝，就像巨大的火柴头插在地上，野蛮而荒凉，无法形容。

The perfume of charcoal and rain-soaked ashes still hung faintly about it.

木炭和被雨水浸湿的灰烬的香味仍然淡淡地弥漫在它的周围。

The dusk rapidly deepened; the glades grew dark; the crackling of the fire and the wash of little waves along the rocky lake shore were the only sounds audible.

暮色迅速加深。空地变暗了。篝火的噼啪声和小浪沿着岩石湖岸的冲刷声是唯一能听到的声音。

The wind had dropped with the sun, and in all that vast world of branches nothing stirred.

风随着太阳落下，广阔的树枝世界里没有任何动静。

Any moment, it seemed, the woodland gods, who are to be worshipped in silence and loneliness, might stretch their mighty and terrific outlines among the trees.

似乎任何时候，那些在沉默和孤独中受到崇拜的林地诸神都可能在树林中伸展出他们强大而可怕的轮廓。

In front, through doorways pillared by huge straight stems, lay the stretch of Fifty Island Water, a crescent-shaped lake some fifteen miles from tip to tip, and perhaps five miles across where they were camped.

前面，穿过由巨大笔直的茎柱支撑的门口，就是五十岛水域的延伸，这是一个新月形的湖泊，从一端到另一端大约有十五英里，他们扎营的地方大约有五英里宽。

A sky of rose and saffron, more clear than any atmosphere Simpson had ever known, still dropped its pale streaming fires across the waves, where the islands--a hundred, surely, rather than fifty--floated like the fairy barques of some enchanted fleet.

玫瑰色和藏红花色的天空，比辛普森所知道的任何气氛都更加清澈，仍然在海浪上洒下苍白的流火，那里的岛屿——当然是一百个，而不是五十个——像一些施了魔法的舰队的仙女三桅帆船一样漂浮着。

Fringed with pines, whose crests fingered most delicately the sky, they almost seemed to move upwards as the light faded--about to weigh anchor and navigate the pathways of the heavens instead of the currents of their native and desolate lake.

周围环绕着松树，它们的树冠最精致地指向天空，随着光线的消退，它们几乎似乎在向上移动——即将起锚，航行在天空的路径上，而不是在它们原生而荒凉的湖泊的水流中。

And strips of colored cloud, like flaunting pennons, signaled their departure to the stars....

一条条彩云，就像炫耀的旗帜，标志着他们向星星出发……

The beauty of the scene was strangely uplifting.

场面之美令人异常振奋。

Simpson smoked the fish and burnt his fingers into the bargain in his efforts to enjoy it and at the same time tend the frying pan and the fire.

辛普森熏了鱼，并在讨价还价中烧伤了手指，他努力享受它，同时照顾煎锅和火。

Yet, ever at the back of his thoughts, lay that other aspect of the wilderness: the indifference to human life, the merciless spirit of desolation which took no note of man.

然而，在他的思想深处，始终存在着荒野的另一面：对人类生命的冷漠，对人类漠不关心的无情荒凉精神。

The sense of his utter loneliness, now that even Défago had gone, came close as he looked about him and listened for the sound of his companion's returning footsteps.

现在，连德法戈都走了，当他环顾四周，聆听同伴归来的脚步声时，他的极度孤独感越来越强烈。

There was pleasure in the sensation, yet with it a perfectly comprehensible alarm.

这种感觉令人愉悦，但同时也伴随着一种完全可以理解的警报。

And instinctively the thought stirred in him: "What should I--_could_ I, do--if anything happened and he did not come back--?"

他本能地想到：“如果发生什么事而他没有回来，我该怎么办？我能做什么？”

They enjoyed their well-earned supper, eating untold quantities of fish, and drinking unmilked tea strong enough to kill men who had not covered thirty miles of hard "going," eating little on the way.

他们享受着应得的晚餐，吃着无数的鱼，喝着浓得足以杀死那些没有走过三十英里艰苦“行进”的人的未挤奶的茶，途中吃得很少。

And when it was over, they smoked and told stories round the blazing fire, laughing, stretching weary limbs, and discussing plans for the morrow.

活动结束后，他们围着熊熊的篝火一边抽烟一边讲故事，一边大笑，一边舒展疲惫的四肢，讨论明天的计划。

Défago was in excellent spirits, though disappointed at having no signs of moose to report.

德法戈心情很好，但对没有驼鹿的迹象感到失望。

But it was dark and he had not gone far.

但天已经黑了，他并没有走多远。

The _brulé_, too, was bad.

_brulé_也很糟糕。

His clothes and hands were smeared with charcoal.

他的衣服和手上都沾满了木炭。

Simpson, watching him, realized with renewed vividness their position--alone together in the wilderness.

辛普森看着他，重新生动地意识到他们的处境——独自在荒野中。

"Défago," he said presently, "these woods, you know, are a bit too big to feel quite at home in--to feel comfortable in, I mean!...

“德法戈，”他随即说道，“你知道，这些树林太大了，让人感觉不太自在——我是说，在里面感觉不舒服！……

Eh?" He merely gave expression to the mood of the moment; he was hardly prepared for the earnestness, the solemnity even, with which the guide took him up.

诶？”他只是表达了当时的情绪；他对导游对待他的态度如此诚恳，甚至是庄严感到有些措手不及。

"You've hit it right, Simpson, boss," he replied, fixing his searching brown eyes on his face, "and that's the truth, sure.

“你说得对，辛普森，老板，”他回答道，棕色的眼睛盯着脸上，“这就是事实，当然。

There's no end to 'em--no end at all." Then he added in a lowered tone as if to himself, "There's lots found out _that_, and gone plumb to pieces!"

它们没有尽头——根本没有尽头。”然后他低声补充道，仿佛是在自言自语，“有很多事情被发现了，而且已经彻底崩溃了！”

But the man's gravity of manner was not quite to the other's liking; it was a little too suggestive for this scenery and setting; he was sorry he had broached the subject.

但这个人严肃的举止不太合对方的胃口。对于这样的风景和环境来说，它有点太具有暗示性了；他很抱歉自己提出了这个话题。

He remembered suddenly how his uncle had told him that men were sometimes stricken with a strange fever of the wilderness, when the seduction of the uninhabited wastes caught them so fiercely that they went forth, half fascinated, half deluded, to their death.

他突然想起叔叔曾告诉他，当无人居住的荒野的诱惑如此强烈时，人们有时会患上一种奇怪的荒野热病，以至于他们半着迷，半着迷，走向死亡。

And he had a shrewd idea that his companion held something in sympathy with that queer type.

他有一个精明的想法，他的同伴对这种奇怪的类型抱有同情心。

He led the conversation on to other topics, on to Hank and the doctor, for instance, and the natural rivalry as to who should get the first sight of moose.

他把谈话引向了其他话题，比如汉克和医生，以及谁应该第一眼看到驼鹿的自然竞争。

"If they went doo west," observed Défago carelessly, "there's sixty miles between us now--with ole Punk at halfway house eatin' himself full to bustin' with fish and coffee." They laughed together over the picture.

“如果他们向西走，”德法戈漫不经心地观察到，“我们之间现在就有六十英里了——老朋克在中途宿舍吃着鱼和咖啡，吃得饱饱的。”他们看着照片一起笑了。

But the casual mention of those sixty miles again made Simpson realize the prodigious scale of this land where they hunted; sixty miles was a mere step; two hundred little more than a step.

但无意中再次提到那六十英里，让辛普森意识到他们狩猎的这片土地的规模惊人；六十英里只是一步之遥；两百多一步。

Stories of lost hunters rose persistently before his memory.

失踪猎人的故事不断在他的记忆中浮现。

The passion and mystery of homeless and wandering men, seduced by the beauty of great forests, swept his soul in a way too vivid to be quite pleasant.

无家可归者和流浪者的激情和神秘感，被大森林的美丽所诱惑，以一种过于生动而令人不愉快的方式席卷了他的灵魂。

He wondered vaguely whether it was the mood of his companion that invited the unwelcome suggestion with such persistence.

他隐隐约约地想，是否是他的同伴的心情让他如此坚持地提出了不受欢迎的建议。

"Sing us a song, Défago, if you're not too tired," he asked; "one of those old _voyageur_ songs you sang the other night." He handed his tobacco pouch to the guide and then filled his own pipe, while the Canadian, nothing loth, sent his light voice across the lake in one of those plaintive, almost melancholy chanties with which lumbermen and trappers lessen the burden of their labor.

“德法戈，如果你不太累的话，给我们唱首歌吧，”他问道。 “那天晚上你唱的那些古老的_voyageur_歌曲之一。”他把烟草袋递给向导，然后给自己的烟斗装满烟斗，而加拿大人毫不犹豫地用一种哀伤、近乎忧郁的口号将声音传到湖的另一边，伐木工和捕猎者用这种口号来减轻他们的劳动负担。

There was an appealing and romantic flavor about it, something that recalled the atmosphere of the old pioneer days when Indians and wilderness were leagued together, battles frequent, and the Old Country farther off than it is today.

它有一种吸引人的浪漫气息，让人想起旧拓荒时代的氛围，当时印第安人和荒野结成联盟，战斗频繁，古老的国家比今天更遥远。

The sound traveled pleasantly over the water, but the forest at their backs seemed to swallow it down with a single gulp that permitted neither echo nor resonance.

声音在水面上愉快地传播，但他们背后的森林似乎一口吞没了声音，既不允许回声，也不允许共鸣。

It was in the middle of the third verse that Simpson noticed something unusual--something that brought his thoughts back with a rush from faraway scenes.

就在第三节的中间，辛普森注意到了一些不寻常的事情——这件事把他的思绪从遥远的场景中猛地拉了回来。

A curious change had come into the man's voice.

男人的声音发生了奇怪的变化。

Even before he knew what it was, uneasiness caught him, and looking up quickly, he saw that Défago, though still singing, was peering about him into the Bush, as though he heard or saw something.

甚至在他知道那是什么之前，他就感到不安，他迅速抬起头，看到德法戈虽然还在唱歌，但正在向他周围的灌木丛凝视，好像听到或看到了什么。

His voice grew fainter--dropped to a hush--then ceased altogether.

他的声音变得越来越微弱——变得安静——然后完全消失了。

The same instant, with a movement amazingly alert, he started to his feet and stood upright--_sniffing the air_.

与此同时，他以惊人的警觉动作站了起来——嗅着空气。

Like a dog scenting game, he drew the air into his nostrils in short, sharp breaths, turning quickly as he did so in all directions, and finally "pointing" down the lake shore, eastwards.

就像狗的嗅觉游戏一样，他用短促而急促的呼吸将空气吸入鼻孔，同时快速转向各个方向，最后“指向”湖岸，向东。

It was a performance unpleasantly suggestive and at the same time singularly dramatic.

这是一场令人不快的暗示，同时又异常戏剧化。

Simpson's heart fluttered disagreeably as he watched it.

辛普森看着这一幕，心里不舒服地跳动着。

"Lord, man!

“主啊，伙计！

How you made me jump!" he exclaimed, on his feet beside him the same instant, and peering over his shoulder into the sea of darkness.

你怎么让我跳起来了！”他同时站起来，站在他身旁，回头凝视着黑暗的海洋，惊呼道。

"What's up?

“怎么了？

Are you frightened--?"

你害怕吗——？”

Even before the question was out of his mouth he knew it was foolish, for any man with a pair of eyes in his head could see that the Canadian had turned white down to his very gills.

问题还没从他嘴里问出来，他就知道这是愚蠢的，因为任何一个脑子里有一双眼睛的人都可以看到这个加拿大人已经变成了白色，直到他的鳃。

Not even sunburn and the glare of the fire could hide that.

即使是晒伤和火光也无法掩盖这一点。

The student felt himself trembling a little, weakish in the knees.

学生感觉自己有点颤抖，膝盖发软。

"What's up?" he repeated quickly.

“这是怎么回事？”他快速重复道。

"D'you smell moose?

“你闻到驼鹿的味道了吗？

Or anything queer, anything--wrong?" He lowered his voice instinctively.

或者有什么奇怪的事情，什么——错了？”他本能地压低了声音。

The forest pressed round them with its encircling wall; the nearer tree stems gleamed like bronze in the firelight; beyond that--blackness, and, so far as he could tell, a silence of death.

森林用围墙将他们围住。近处的树干在火光下闪闪发光，像青铜一样。除此之外——黑暗，据他所知，还有死亡般的寂静。

Just behind them a passing puff of wind lifted a single leaf, looked at it, then laid it softly down again without disturbing the rest of the covey.

就在他们身后，一阵风吹过，掀起了一片叶子，看了看，然后又轻轻地放下来，没有打扰其他人。

It seemed as if a million invisible causes had combined just to produce that single visible effect.

似乎一百万个看不见的原因结合起来只是为了产生单一的可见效果。

_Other_ life pulsed about them--and was gone.

其他生命在他们周围跳动——然后就消失了。

Défago turned abruptly; the livid hue of his face had turned to a dirty grey.

德法戈猛地转过身来。他的脸色变成了肮脏的灰色。

"I never said I heered--or smelt--nuthin'," he said slowly and emphatically, in an oddly altered voice that conveyed somehow a touch of defiance.

“我从来没有说过我听到——或者闻到——没有任何东西，”他缓慢而有力地说，声音发生了奇怪的变化，不知怎么地传达了一丝挑衅。

"I was only--takin' a look round--so to speak.

“可以这么说，我只是——环顾四周。

It's always a mistake to be too previous with yer questions." Then he added suddenly with obvious effort, in his more natural voice, "Have you got the matches, Boss Simpson?" and proceeded to light the pipe he had half filled just before he began to sing.

太早提出问题总是错误的。”然后他突然用更自然的声音加了明显的努力，“你拿到火柴了吗，辛普森老板？”在他开始唱歌之前，他点燃了已经装了一半的烟斗。

Without speaking another word they sat down again by the fire.

他们没有再说话，又在火边坐下。

Défago changing his side so that he could face the direction the wind came from.

德法戈改变了身侧，以便面向风吹来的方向。

For even a tenderfoot could tell that.

因为即使是新手也能看出这一点。

Défago changed his position in order to hear and smell--all there was to be heard and smelt.

德法戈改变了位置，以便听到和闻到——一切都可以听到和闻到。

And, since he now faced the lake with his back to the trees it was evidently nothing in the forest that had sent so strange and sudden a warning to his marvelously trained nerves.

而且，既然他现在面向湖面，背对着树林，显然森林里没有什么东西能向他训练有素的神经发出如此奇怪和突然的警告。

"Guess now I don't feel like singing any," he explained presently of his own accord.

“我猜现在我不想唱歌了，”他很快自己解释道。

"That song kinder brings back memories that's troublesome to me; I never oughter've begun it.

“这首歌让我想起了一些让我烦恼的回忆；我根本不应该开始它。

It sets me on t' imagining things, see?"

它让我开始想象事情，明白吗？”

Clearly the man was still fighting with some profoundly moving emotion.

显然，这个男人还在与某种令人感动的情感作斗争。

He wished to excuse himself in the eyes of the other.

他想在对方眼中原谅自己。

But the explanation, in that it was only a part of the truth, was a lie, and he knew perfectly well that Simpson was not deceived by it.

但这个解释，因为这只是事实的一部分，是一个谎言，他非常清楚辛普森并没有被它欺骗。

For nothing could explain away the livid terror that had dropped over his face while he stood there sniffing the air.

因为当他站在那里嗅着空气时，没有什么可以解释他脸上的铁青恐惧。

And nothing--no amount of blazing fire, or chatting on ordinary subjects--could make that camp exactly as it had been before.

无论怎样——无论有多少炽热的火焰，或者再多的普通话题的闲聊——都不能使这个营地恢复到原来的样子。

The shadow of an unknown horror, naked if unguessed, that had flashed for an instant in the face and gestures of the guide, had also communicated itself, vaguely and therefore more potently, to his companion.

一种未知的恐怖的阴影，如果没有被猜到的话，是赤裸裸的，在导游的脸上和手势中闪过一瞬间，也模糊地、因此更有效地向他的同伴传达了自己的信息。

The guide's visible efforts to dissemble the truth only made things worse.

该指南明显试图掩盖真相，这只会让事情变得更糟。

Moreover, to add to the younger man's uneasiness, was the difficulty, nay, the impossibility he felt of asking questions, and also his complete ignorance as to the cause ...Indians, wild animals, forest fires--all these, he knew, were wholly out of the question.

此外，更让年轻人感到不安的是，他感到困难，不，是不可能提出问题，而且他对原因完全无知……印第安人、野生动物、森林火灾——他知道，所有这些都是完全不可能的。

His imagination searched vigorously, but in vain....

他的想象力拼命地寻找，但徒劳无功……

* * * * *

** ** ** **

Yet, somehow or other, after another long spell of smoking, talking and roasting themselves before the great fire, the shadow that had so suddenly invaded their peaceful camp began to shift.

然而，不知何故，在又一阵长时间的抽烟、说话、在大火前烤自己之后，突然侵入他们平静营地的阴影开始发生变化。

Perhaps Défago's efforts, or the return of his quiet and normal attitude accomplished this; perhaps Simpson himself had exaggerated the affair out of all proportion to the truth; or possibly the vigorous air of the wilderness brought its own powers of healing.

也许是德法戈的努力，或者是他恢复了平静和正常的态度，才实现了这一点；也许辛普森本人夸大了这件事，与事实完全不成比例。也可能是荒野的生机勃勃的空气带来了治愈的力量。

Whatever the cause, the feeling of immediate horror seemed to have passed away as mysteriously as it had come, for nothing occurred to feed it.

不管是什么原因，眼前的恐惧感似乎就像它来时一样神秘地消失了，因为没有发生任何事情来滋养它。

Simpson began to feel that he had permitted himself the unreasoning terror of a child.

辛普森开始觉得他已经让自己产生了孩子般无理的恐惧。

He put it down partly to a certain subconscious excitement that this wild and immense scenery generated in his blood, partly to the spell of solitude, and partly to overfatigue.

他把这部分归因于这种狂野而广阔的风景在他的血液中产生的某种潜意识的兴奋，部分归因于孤独的魔力，部分归因于过度疲劳。

That pallor in the guide's face was, of course, uncommonly hard to explain, yet it _might_ have been due in some way to an effect of firelight, or his own imagination ...He gave it the benefit of the doubt; he was Scotch.

当然，导游脸上的苍白很难解释，但这可能在某种程度上是由于火光的影响，或者是他自己的想象……他对此表示怀疑；但他认为这可能是由于火光的影响，或者是他自己的想象造成的。他是苏格兰人。

When a somewhat unordinary emotion has disappeared, the mind always finds a dozen ways of explaining away its causes ...Simpson lit a last pipe and tried to laugh to himself.

当一种有些不寻常的情绪消失时，头脑总是会找到十几种方法来解释其原因……辛普森点燃了最后一根烟斗，试图自笑。

On getting home to Scotland it would make quite a good story.

回到苏格兰后，这将是一个很好的故事。

He did not realize that this laughter was a sign that terror still lurked in the recesses of his soul--that, in fact, it was merely one of the conventional signs by which a man, seriously alarmed, tries to persuade himself that he is _not_ so.

他没有意识到，这种笑声表明恐惧仍然潜伏在他灵魂的深处——事实上，这只是一个传统的迹象之一，一个受到严重惊吓的人试图说服自己，他不是这样的。

Défago, however, heard that low laughter and looked up with surprise on his face.

然而，德法戈听到那低沉的笑声，抬起头来，脸上露出惊讶的表情。

The two men stood, side by side, kicking the embers about before going to bed.

两个人并肩站着，在睡觉前踢着余烬。

It was ten o'clock--a late hour for hunters to be still awake.

已经十点了——对于猎人来说已经很晚了。

"What's ticklin' yer?" he asked in his ordinary tone, yet gravely.

“你怎么了？”他用平常的语气，却很严肃地问道。

"I--I was thinking of our little toy woods at home, just at that moment," stammered Simpson, coming back to what really dominated his mind, and startled by the question, "and comparing them to--to all this," and he swept his arm round to indicate the Bush.

“我——我正在想我们家里的小玩具树林，就在那一刻，”辛普森结结巴巴地说，回到真正主导他思想的事情，并被这个问题吓了一跳，“并将它们与——与所有这些进行比较，”他挥动手臂指向灌木丛。

A pause followed in which neither of them said anything.

接下来是一阵停顿，两人都没有说话。

"All the same I wouldn't laugh about it, if I was you," Défago added, looking over Simpson's shoulder into the shadows.

“尽管如此，如果我是你，我也不会笑，”德法戈补充道，越过辛普森的肩膀看向阴影。

"There's places in there nobody won't never see into--nobody knows what lives in there either."

“那里有些地方没人永远无法看到——也没有人知道里面住着什么。”

"Too big--too far off?" The suggestion in the guide's manner was immense and horrible.

“太大了——太远了？”导游的态度所提出的建议是巨大而可怕的。

Défago nodded.

德法戈点点头。

The expression on his face was dark.

他脸上的表情很阴沉。

He, too, felt uneasy.

他也感到不安。

The younger man understood that in a _hinterland_ of this size there might well be depths of wood that would never in the life of the world be known or trodden.

年轻人明白，在这么大的一片腹地里，很可能存在着一生中从未为人所知或踏足过的森林深处。

The thought was not exactly the sort he welcomed.

他并不欢迎这种想法。

In a loud voice, cheerfully, he suggested that it was time for bed.

他高兴地大声建议该睡觉了。

But the guide lingered, tinkering with the fire, arranging the stones needlessly, doing a dozen things that did not really need doing.

但向导却徘徊不去，摆弄着火，不必要地排列着石头，做了十几件并不真正需要做的事情。

Evidently there was something he wanted to say, yet found it difficult to "get at."

显然他有话想说，却又很难“说出口”。

"Say, you, Boss Simpson," he began suddenly, as the last shower of sparks went up into the air, "you don't--smell nothing, do you--nothing pertickler, I mean?" The commonplace question, Simpson realized, veiled a dreadfully serious thought in his mind.

“喂，辛普森老板，”当最后一阵火花飞向空中时，他突然开口说道，“我是说，你没有——闻到什么味道，对吧——没有什么令人不安的东西？”辛普森意识到，这个司空见惯的问题掩盖了他脑海中一个极其严肃的想法。

A shiver ran down his back.

他的背脊一阵颤抖。

"Nothing but burning wood," he replied firmly, kicking again at the embers.

“除了燃烧的木头，什么也没有。”他坚定地回答，再次踢着余烬。

The sound of his own foot made him start.

自己的脚步声让他吃了一惊。

"And all the evenin' you ain't smelt--nothing?" persisted the guide, peering at him through the gloom; "nothing extrordiny, and different to anything else you ever smelt before?"

“整个晚上你都没有闻到——什么都没有？”向导坚持问道，透过黑暗凝视着他。 “没什么特别的，和你以前闻过的任何东西都不一样吗？”

"No, no, man; nothing at all!" he replied aggressively, half angrily.

“不，不，伙计；什么也没有！”他咄咄逼人地、半生气地回答。

Défago's face cleared.

德法戈的脸色变得晴朗。

"That's good!" he exclaimed with evident relief.

“那挺好的！”他明显松了口气喊道。

"That's good to hear."

“很高兴听到这个消息。”

"Have _you?_" asked Simpson sharply, and the same instant regretted the question.

“你有吗？”辛普森尖锐地问道，同时他又对这个问题感到后悔。

The Canadian came closer in the darkness.

加拿大人在黑暗中走近了。

He shook his head.

他摇摇头。

"I guess not," he said, though without overwhelming conviction.

“我想不会，”他说道，但并没有压倒性的信念。

"It must've been just that song of mine that did it.

“一定是我的那首歌造成的。

It's the song they sing in lumber camps and godforsaken places like that, when they're skeered the Wendigo's somewhere around, doin' a bit of swift traveling.--"

这就是他们在伐木场和类似被遗弃的地方唱的歌，当他们被温迪戈在周围的某个地方掠过，进行一些快速旅行时。——”

"And what's the Wendigo, pray?" Simpson asked quickly, irritated because again he could not prevent that sudden shiver of the nerves.

“请问温迪戈是什么？”辛普森急忙问道，他很恼火，因为他再次无法阻止神经突然颤抖。

He knew that he was close upon the man's terror and the cause of it.

他知道他已经接近这个人的恐惧和恐惧的原因。

Yet a rushing passionate curiosity overcame his better judgment, and his fear.

然而一股强烈的好奇心战胜了他更好的判断力和恐惧。

Défago turned swiftly and looked at him as though he were suddenly about to shriek.

德法戈迅速转过身来看着他，仿佛他突然就要尖叫起来。

His eyes shone, but his mouth was wide open.

他的眼睛闪闪发亮，但嘴巴却张得大大的。

Yet all he said, or whispered rather, for his voice sank very low, was: "It's nuthin'--nuthin' but what those lousy fellers believe when they've bin hittin' the bottle too long--a sort of great animal that lives up yonder," he jerked his head northwards, "quick as lightning in its tracks, an' bigger'n anything else in the Bush, an' ain't supposed to be very good to look at--that's all!"

然而他所说的，或者更确切地说是低声说的，因为他的声音很低，是：“没什么——没什么，但那些讨厌的家伙在打瓶子太久之后相信的东西——一种生活在那边的伟大动物，”他猛地向北望去，“速度像闪电一样快，比灌木丛中的任何东西都大，而且看起来也不太好看。”就——仅此而已！”

"A backwoods superstition--" began Simpson, moving hastily toward the tent in order to shake off the hand of the guide that clutched his arm.

“边远地区的迷信——”辛普森开始说道，他急忙朝帐篷走去，以便甩开抓住他手臂的向导的手。

"Come, come, hurry up for God's sake, and get the lantern going!

“来吧，来吧，看在上帝份上，快点把灯笼点亮吧！

It's time we were in bed and asleep if we're going to be up with the sun tomorrow...."

如果明天我们要在阳光下起床的话，我们就该上床睡觉了……”

The guide was close on his heels.

向导紧随其后。

"I'm coming," he answered out of the darkness, "I'm coming." And after a slight delay he appeared with the lantern and hung it from a nail in the front pole of the tent.

“我来了，”他在黑暗中回答，“我来了。”稍等片刻后，他带着灯笼出现，把它挂在帐篷前杆的一根钉子上。

The shadows of a hundred trees shifted their places quickly as he did so, and when he stumbled over the rope, diving swiftly inside, the whole tent trembled as though a gust of wind struck it.

一百棵树的影子随着他的动作而快速移动，当他被绳子绊倒，迅速潜入里面时，整个帐篷都在颤抖，就像一阵风吹过一样。

The two men lay down, without undressing, upon their beds of soft balsam boughs, cunningly arranged.

两个人没有脱衣服，就躺在精心布置的柔软香脂树枝床上。

Inside, all was warm and cozy, but outside the world of crowding trees pressed close about them, marshalling their million shadows, and smothering the little tent that stood there like a wee white shell facing the ocean of tremendous forest.

里面，一切都温暖而舒适，但外面的世界，拥挤的树木紧紧地包围着他们，排列着数以百万计的阴影，并掩盖了矗立在那里的小帐篷，就像一个面向巨大森林海洋的白色贝壳。

Between the two lonely figures within, however, there pressed another shadow that was _not_ a shadow from the night.

然而，在里面两个孤独的人影之间，却压着另一个不是夜色的影子。

It was the Shadow cast by the strange Fear, never wholly exorcised, that had leaped suddenly upon Défago in the middle of his singing.

这是奇怪的恐惧所投射的阴影，从未完全驱除，在德法戈唱歌时突然跳到他身上。

And Simpson, as he lay there, watching the darkness through the open flap of the tent, ready to plunge into the fragrant abyss of sleep, knew first that unique and profound stillness of a primeval forest when no wind stirs ...

辛普森躺在那里，透过帐篷的敞开的门帘看着黑暗，准备投入芬芳的睡眠深渊，他首先知道，当没有风吹动时，原始森林独特而深邃的寂静……

and when the night has weight and substance that enters into the soul to bind a veil about it....

当夜晚的重量和实质进入灵魂，为它裹上一层面纱……

Then sleep took him....

然后睡意带走了他……

Thus, it seemed to him, at least.

至少在他看来是这样。

Yet it was true that the lap of the water, just beyond the tent door, still beat time with his lessening pulses when he realized that he was lying with his eyes open and that another sound had recently introduced itself with cunning softness between the splash and murmur of the little waves.

然而，确实，当他意识到自己睁着眼睛躺着时，帐篷门外的海水仍在拍打着他逐渐减弱的脉搏，而另一种声音最近在小浪的溅射和低语之间以狡猾的柔和的方式出现。

And, long before he understood what this sound was, it had stirred in him the centers of pity and alarm.

而且，早在他明白这声音是什么之前，它就已经激起了他怜悯和惊恐的中心。

He listened intently, though at first in vain, for the running blood beat all its drums too noisily in his ears.

他全神贯注地听着，虽然一开始是徒劳的，因为流动的血液在他耳边敲响了所有的鼓声。

Did it come, he wondered, from the lake, or from the woods?...

他想知道，它是从湖里来的，还是从树林里来的？

Then, suddenly, with a rush and a flutter of the heart, he knew that it was close beside him in the tent; and, when he turned over for a better hearing, it focused itself unmistakably not two feet away.

然后，突然间，他的心猛烈地跳动起来，他知道它就在他旁边的帐篷里；他知道它就在他身边。当他翻身以便听得更清楚时，它毫无疑问地聚焦在距他不到两英尺的地方。

It was a sound of weeping; Défago upon his bed of branches was sobbing in the darkness as though his heart would break, the blankets evidently stuffed against his mouth to stifle it.

那是一种哭泣的声音；德法戈躺在树枝床上，在黑暗中抽泣，仿佛他的心要碎了，毯子显然塞在他的嘴上以阻止他的哭声。

And his first feeling, before he could think or reflect, was the rush of a poignant and searching tenderness.

在他能够思考或反思之前，他的第一感觉是一种尖锐而深切的温柔涌上心头。

This intimate, human sound, heard amid the desolation about them, woke pity.

在他们周围的荒凉中听到这种亲密的、人性的声音，唤起了怜悯。

It was so incongruous, so pitifully incongruous--and so vain!

这真是太不协调了，太不协调得可怜——而且太虚荣了！

Tears--in this vast and cruel wilderness: of what avail?

眼泪——在这广阔而残酷的荒原上：有什么用呢？

He thought of a little child crying in mid-Atlantic....

他想起了一个在大西洋中部哭泣的小孩……

Then, of course, with fuller realization, and the memory of what had gone before, came the descent of the terror upon him, and his blood ran cold.

当然，随着更充分的认识和对之前发生的事情的记忆，恐惧降临在他身上，他的血液变冷了。

"Défago," he whispered quickly, "what's the matter?" He tried to make his voice very gentle.

“德法戈，”他快速低声说道，“出什么事了？”他努力让自己的声音变得非常温柔。

"Are you in pain--unhappy--?" There was no reply, but the sounds ceased abruptly.

“你痛苦吗——不开心——吗？”没有回答，但声音却戛然而止。

He stretched his hand out and touched him.

他伸出手，触碰了他。

The body did not stir.

身体没有动静。

"Are you awake?" for it occurred to him that the man was crying in his sleep.

“你醒了吗？”因为他突然想到那个人在睡梦中哭泣。

"Are you cold?" He noticed that his feet, which were uncovered, projected beyond the mouth of the tent.

“你冷吗？”他注意到他的脚没有被遮盖，伸到了帐篷口之外。

He spread an extra fold of his own blankets over them.

他又在他们身上铺了一层自己的毯子。

The guide had slipped down in his bed, and the branches seemed to have been dragged with him.

向导已经滑倒在床上，树枝似乎也被他拖住了。

He was afraid to pull the body back again, for fear of waking him.

他不敢再把尸体拉回来，生怕惊醒了他。

One or two tentative questions he ventured softly, but though he waited for several minutes there came no reply, nor any sign of movement.

他轻声试探性地问了一两个问题，但尽管等了几分钟，却没有得到答复，也没有任何动静。

Presently he heard his regular and quiet breathing, and putting his hand again gently on the breast, felt the steady rise and fall beneath.

不久，他听到了他规律而安静的呼吸声，他再次把手轻轻地放在乳房上，感受下面稳定的起伏。

"Let me know if anything's wrong," he whispered, "or if I can do anything.

“如果有什么问题请告诉我，”他低声说，“或者我能做些什么。

Wake me at once if you feel--queer."

如果你觉得——奇怪，就立刻叫醒我。”

He hardly knew what to say.

他几乎不知道该说什么。

He lay down again, thinking and wondering what it all meant.

他又躺了下来，思考并想知道这一切意味着什么。

Défago, of course, had been crying in his sleep.

当然，德法戈在睡梦中一直在哭泣。

Some dream or other had afflicted him.

某个梦或其他的梦一直折磨着他。

Yet never in his life would he forget that pitiful sound of sobbing, and the feeling that the whole awful wilderness of woods listened....

然而他一生中永远不会忘记那可怜的抽泣声，以及整个可怕的荒野森林都在倾听的感觉……

His own mind busied itself for a long time with the recent events, of which _this_ took its mysterious place as one, and though his reason successfully argued away all unwelcome suggestions, a sensation of uneasiness remained, resisting ejection, very deep-seated--peculiar beyond ordinary.

他自己的头脑长时间忙于最近发生的事件，其中“这”占据了神秘的位置，尽管他的理性成功地驳回了所有不受欢迎的建议，但一种不安的感觉仍然存在，无法摆脱，非常根深蒂固——异常奇特。

But sleep, in the long run, proves greater than all emotions.

但从长远来看，睡眠比所有情绪都更重要。

His thoughts soon wandered again; he lay there, warm as toast, exceedingly weary; the night soothed and comforted, blunting the edges of memory and alarm.

他的思绪很快又开始飘忽不定。他躺在那里，浑身暖和得像烤面包一样，而且非常疲倦。夜晚使人感到平静和安慰，磨平了记忆和惊慌的边缘。

Half an hour later he was oblivious of everything in the outer world about him.

半个小时后，他已经忘记了外界的一切。

Yet sleep, in this case, was his great enemy, concealing all approaches, smothering the warning of his nerves.

然而，在这种情况下，睡眠是他的大敌，它掩盖了所有的途径，窒息了他神经的警告。

As, sometimes, in a nightmare events crowd upon each other's heels with a conviction of dreadfulest reality, yet some inconsistent detail accuses the whole display of incompleteness and disguise, so the events that now followed, though they actually happened, persuaded the mind somehow that the detail which could explain them had been overlooked in the confusion, and that therefore they were but partly true, the rest delusion.

有时，在一场噩梦中，事件接二连三地发生，让人相信最可怕的现实，然而一些不一致的细节指责整个展示的不完整性和伪装，所以现在发生的事件，尽管它们确实发生了，不知何故说服了头脑，可以解释它们的细节在混乱中被忽略了，因此它们只是部分真实，其余的幻觉。

At the back of the sleeper's mind something remains awake, ready to let slip the judgment.

在沉睡者的内心深处，有什么东西仍然醒着，准备让判断溜走。

"All this is not _quite_ real; when you wake up you'll understand."

“这一切都不太真实；当你醒来时你就会明白。”

And thus, in a way, it was with Simpson.

因此，在某种程度上，辛普森也是如此。

The events, not wholly inexplicable or incredible in themselves, yet remain for the man who saw and heard them a sequence of separate facts of cold horror, because the little piece that might have made the puzzle clear lay concealed or overlooked.

这些事件本身并非完全无法解释或令人难以置信，但对于看到和听到这些事件的人来说，仍然是一系列冷酷恐怖的独立事实，因为可能使谜题变得清晰的小片段被隐藏或忽视了。

So far as he can recall, it was a violent movement, running downwards through the tent towards the door, that first woke him and made him aware that his companion was sitting bolt upright beside him--quivering.

据他所知，那是一种剧烈的运动，向下穿过帐篷朝门口跑去，这首先吵醒了他，让他意识到他的同伴正笔直地坐在他旁边——浑身颤抖。

Hours must have passed, for it was the pale gleam of the dawn that revealed his outline against the canvas.

一定已经过去了几个小时，因为黎明的微光在画布上显露出了他的轮廓。

This time the man was not crying; he was quaking like a leaf; the trembling he felt plainly through the blankets down the entire length of his own body.

这一次，男人没有哭，而是哭了。他像一片树叶一样颤抖；透过毯子，他清楚地感觉到全身的颤抖。

Défago had huddled down against him for protection, shrinking away from something that apparently concealed itself near the door flaps of the little tent.

德法戈蜷缩在他身边寻求保护，躲避着小帐篷门扇附近明显隐藏的东西。

Simpson thereupon called out in a loud voice some question or other--in the first bewilderment of waking he does not remember exactly what--and the man made no reply.

辛普森随即大声问了一些问题——醒来时他一头雾水，他不记得到底是什么了——而那人没有回答。

The atmosphere and feeling of true nightmare lay horribly about him, making movement and speech both difficult.

真正噩梦般的气氛和感觉笼罩着他，让他的行动和言语都变得困难。

At first, indeed, he was not sure where he was--whether in one of the earlier camps, or at home in his bed at Aberdeen.

事实上，一开始他并不确定自己在哪里——是在早期的营地，还是在阿伯丁家里的床上。

The sense of confusion was very troubling.

混乱的感觉非常令人不安。

And next--almost simultaneous with his waking, it seemed--the profound stillness of the dawn outside was shattered by a most uncommon sound.

接下来——似乎几乎是在他醒来的同时——外面黎明的深沉寂静被一种最不寻常的声音打破了。

It came without warning, or audible approach; and it was unspeakably dreadful.

它来时没有任何警告，也没有声音接近；那是无法形容的可怕。

It was a voice, Simpson declares, possibly a human voice; hoarse yet plaintive--a soft, roaring voice close outside the tent, overhead rather than upon the ground, of immense volume, while in some strange way most penetratingly and seductively sweet.

辛普森宣称，那是一个声音，可能是人的声音；沙哑而哀伤——帐篷外传来一阵轻柔的、咆哮的声音，是在头顶上而不是地面上，声音巨大，但以某种奇怪的方式，最具有穿透力和诱惑力的甜美。

It rang out, too, in three separate and distinct notes, or cries, that bore in some odd fashion a resemblance, farfetched yet recognizable, to the name of the guide: "_Dé-fa-go!_"

它也以三种不同的、不同的音符或叫声响起，以某种奇怪的方式与导游的名字有相似之处，牵强但又可辨认：“_Dé-fa-go！_”

The student admits he is unable to describe it quite intelligently, for it was unlike any sound he had ever heard in his life, and combined a blending of such contrary qualities.

该学生承认他无法非常聪明地描述它，因为它不同于他一生中听过的任何声音，并且结合了这些相反的品质。

"A sort of windy, crying voice," he calls it, "as of something lonely and untamed, wild and of abominable power...."

“一种风声，哭泣的声音，”他称之为，“像是某种孤独的、未驯服的、狂野的、具有令人憎恶的力量的声音……”

And, even before it ceased, dropping back into the great gulfs of silence, the guide beside him had sprung to his feet with an answering though unintelligible cry.

而且，甚至在它停止之前，回到寂静的深渊，他旁边的向导已经站了起来，发出了一声难以理解的回应。

He blundered against the tent pole with violence, shaking the whole structure, spreading his arms out frantically for more room, and kicking his legs impetuously free of the clinging blankets.

他猛烈地撞到帐篷杆上，整个结构都摇晃起来，他疯狂地张开双臂以获得更多空间，并急躁地将双腿从粘着的毯子上踢开。

For a second, perhaps two, he stood upright by the door, his outline dark against the pallor of the dawn; then, with a furious, rushing speed, before his companion could move a hand to stop him, he shot with a plunge through the flaps of canvas--and was gone.

有那么一秒钟，也许是两秒钟，他在门边笔直地站着，在苍白的黎明中，他的轮廓显得很暗。然后，在他的同伴还没来得及阻止他之前，他就以猛烈的速度冲破了帆布的襟翼——然后就消失了。

And as he went--so astonishingly fast that the voice could actually be heard dying in the distance--he called aloud in tones of anguished terror that at the same time held something strangely like the frenzied exultation of delight--

当他走的时候——速度快得惊人，远方都可以听到那渐渐消失的声音——他大声喊道，语气里充满了痛苦和恐惧，同时又带着某种奇怪的东西，像是欣喜若狂的狂喜——

"Oh!

“哦！

oh!

哦！

My feet of fire!

我的双脚着火了！

My burning feet of fire!

我的脚燃烧着火焰！

Oh!

哦！

oh!

哦！

This height and fiery speed!"

这高度和火热的速度！”

And then the distance quickly buried it, and the deep silence of very early morning descended upon the forest as before.

然后距离很快就把它掩埋了，清晨的深沉的寂静又像以前一样降临在森林里。

It had all come about with such rapidity that, but for the evidence of the empty bed beside him, Simpson could almost have believed it to have been the memory of a nightmare carried over from sleep.

这一切发生得如此之快，要不是他身边有一张空床作为证据，辛普森几乎可以相信这是从睡眠中遗留下来的噩梦记忆。

He still felt the warm pressure of that vanished body against his side; there lay the twisted blankets in a heap; the very tent yet trembled with the vehemence of the impetuous departure.

他仍然感觉到那具消失的身体压在他身边的温暖压力；扭曲的毯子堆成一堆。连帐篷都因匆匆离去而剧烈颤抖。

The strange words rang in his ears, as though he still heard them in the distance--wild language of a suddenly stricken mind.

这些奇怪的话语在他耳边响起，仿佛还在远处听到——突然受到打击的心灵的狂野语言。

Moreover, it was not only the senses of sight and hearing that reported uncommon things to his brain, for even while the man cried and ran, he had become aware that a strange perfume, faint yet pungent, pervaded the interior of the tent.

而且，不仅仅是视觉和听觉向他的大脑报告着不寻常的事情，即使是在男人一边哭一边跑的时候，他也察觉到了，帐篷内弥漫着一股淡淡的、刺鼻的奇异香气。

And it was at this point, it seems, brought to himself by the consciousness that his nostrils were taking this distressing odor down into his throat, that he found his courage, sprang quickly to his feet--and went out.

似乎正是在这个时候，他意识到自己的鼻孔正将这种令人痛苦的气味吸入喉咙，这让他恢复了勇气，迅速站了起来——然后走了出去。

The grey light of dawn that dropped, cold and glimmering, between the trees revealed the scene tolerably well.

黎明的灰色光芒落在树林之间，寒冷而闪烁，很好地揭示了这一场景。

There stood the tent behind him, soaked with dew; the dark ashes of the fire, still warm; the lake, white beneath a coating of mist, the islands rising darkly out of it like objects packed in wool; and patches of snow beyond among the clearer spaces of the Bush--everything cold, still, waiting for the sun.

他身后立着帐篷，沾满了露水。火的黑色灰烬，仍然温暖；湖面笼罩着一层薄雾，呈白色，岛屿从湖中升起，就像是用羊毛包裹的物体。远处灌木丛中更清澈的空间中还有片片积雪——一切都很寒冷，静止，等待着太阳。

But nowhere a sign of the vanished guide--still, doubtless, flying at frantic speed through the frozen woods.

但到处都没有消失的向导的踪迹——毫无疑问，他仍在以疯狂的速度飞过冰冻的树林。

There was not even the sound of disappearing footsteps, nor the echoes of the dying voice.

甚至没有消失的脚步声，也没有垂死的声音的回声。

He had gone--utterly.

他已经走了——彻底走了。

There was nothing; nothing but the sense of his recent presence, so strongly left behind about the camp; _and_--this penetrating, all-pervading odor.

什么也没有；除了他最近出现的感觉之外，什么也没有，这种感觉被强烈地留在了营地里。 _and_--这种渗透性的、无处不在的气味。

And even this was now rapidly disappearing in its turn.

甚至连这个现在也正在迅速消失。

In spite of his exceeding mental perturbation, Simpson struggled hard to detect its nature, and define it, but the ascertaining of an elusive scent, not recognized subconsciously and at once, is a very subtle operation of the mind.

尽管辛普森精神极度不安，但他仍努力探寻其本质并对其进行定义，但确定一种难以捉摸的气味，无法立即在潜意识中识别出来，是一种非常微妙的心灵运作。

And he failed.

但他失败了。

It was gone before he could properly seize or name it.

在他能够正确地抓住或命名它之前，它就消失了。

Approximate description, even, seems to have been difficult, for it was unlike any smell he knew.

甚至，近似的描述似乎也很困难，因为它不同于他所知道的任何气味。

Acrid rather, not unlike the odor of a lion, he thinks, yet softer and not wholly unpleasing, with something almost sweet in it that reminded him of the scent of decaying garden leaves, earth, and the myriad, nameless perfumes that make up the odor of a big forest.

相反，他觉得刺鼻，与狮子的气味没什么不同，但更温和，也不是完全令人不快，里面有一种近乎甜味的东西，让他想起腐烂的花园树叶、泥土的气味，以及构成大森林的无数无名香水的气味。

Yet the "odor of lions" is the phrase with which he usually sums it all up.

然而，他通常用“狮子的气味”来概括这一切。

Then--it was wholly gone, and he found himself standing by the ashes of the fire in a state of amazement and stupid terror that left him the helpless prey of anything that chose to happen.

然后——它完全消失了，他发现自己站在火的灰烬旁，处于一种惊讶和愚蠢的恐惧之中，这让他成为任何选择发生的事情的无助的牺牲品。

Had a muskrat poked its pointed muzzle over a rock, or a squirrel scuttled in that instant down the bark of a tree, he would most likely have collapsed without more ado and fainted.

如果一只麝香鼠把尖尖的枪口伸到一块岩石上，或者一只松鼠在那一瞬间从树皮上爬下来，他很可能会毫不犹豫地倒下并晕倒。

For he felt about the whole affair the touch somewhere of a great Outer Horror ...

因为他对整个事件感到触动了某种巨大的外部恐怖……

and his scattered powers had not as yet had time to collect themselves into a definite attitude of fighting self-control.

他分散的力量还没有时间集中起来，形成一种与自制力作斗争的明确态度。

Nothing did happen, however.

然而什么也没发生。

A great kiss of wind ran softly through the awakening forest, and a few maple leaves here and there rustled tremblingly to earth.

一阵大风轻柔地吹过苏醒的森林，零零散散的几片枫叶颤抖着落在地上。

The sky seemed to grow suddenly much lighter.

天空似乎突然变得明亮了许多。

Simpson felt the cool air upon his cheek and uncovered head; realized that he was shivering with the cold; and, making a great effort, realized next that he was alone in the Bush--_and_ that he was called upon to take immediate steps to find and succor his vanished companion.

辛普森感到凉爽的空气吹过他的脸颊和裸露的头上。意识到自己冻得发抖。经过一番努力，接下来他意识到自己独自一人在灌木丛中——并且要求他立即采取措施寻找并救助他失踪的同伴。

Make an effort, accordingly, he did, though an ill-calculated and futile one.

因此，他做出了努力，尽管这是一次计算不周且徒劳的努力。

With that wilderness of trees about him, the sheet of water cutting him off behind, and the horror of that wild cry in his blood, he did what any other inexperienced man would have done in similar bewilderment: he ran about, without any sense of direction, like a frantic child, and called loudly without ceasing the name of the guide:

周围是一片荒野的树林，身后的大水把他挡在了身后，血液中充满了狂野的叫喊，这让他感到恐惧，他做了任何其他没有经验的人在类似的困惑中都会做的事：他像一个疯狂的孩子一样毫无方向感地跑来跑去，不停地大声喊着向导的名字：

"Défago!

“德法戈！

Défago!

德法戈！

Défago!" he yelled, and the trees gave him back the name as often as he shouted, only a little softened--"Défago!

德法戈！”他大喊大叫，树木也像他大喊一样多次回应他的名字，只是声音稍稍软化了——“德法戈！

Défago!

德法戈！

Défago!"

德法戈！”

He followed the trail that lay a short distance across the patches of snow, and then lost it again where the trees grew too thickly for snow to lie.

他沿着那条穿过雪地的小路走了一小段路，然后又在树木茂密、积雪无法覆盖的地方迷失了方向。

He shouted till he was hoarse, and till the sound of his own voice in all that unanswering and listening world began to frighten him.

他大声喊叫，直到声音嘶哑，直到在这个无人回应、倾听的世界里，他自己的声音开始让他感到害怕。

His confusion increased in direct ratio to the violence of his efforts.

他的困惑与他的努力成正比。

His distress became formidably acute, till at length his exertions defeated their own object, and from sheer exhaustion he headed back to the camp again.

他的痛苦变得非常严重，直到最后他的努力失败了，他精疲力竭地再次返回营地。

It remains a wonder that he ever found his way.

他竟然找到了自己的路，这仍然是一个奇迹。

It was with great difficulty, and only after numberless false clues, that he at last saw the white tent between the trees, and so reached safety.

费了九牛二虎之力，经过无数次错误的线索，他终于看到了树林间的白色帐篷，才到达了安全地带。

Exhaustion then applied its own remedy, and he grew calmer.

疲惫自有其妙，他变得平静了。

He made the fire and breakfasted.

他生火并吃早餐。

Hot coffee and bacon put a little sense and judgment into him again, and he realized that he had been behaving like a boy.

热咖啡和培根再次让他恢复了一点理智和判断力，他意识到自己一直表现得像个男孩。

He now made another, and more successful attempt to face the situation collectedly, and, a nature naturally plucky coming to his assistance, he decided that he must first make as thorough a search as possible, failing success in which, he must find his way into the home camp as best he could and bring help.

现在，他又做出了一次更为成功的尝试，以集体面对这种情况，而且，天生勇敢的人会来帮助他，他决定，他必须首先进行尽可能彻底的搜索，如果失败了，他必须尽最大努力找到进入大本营的方法，并带来帮助。

And this was what he did.

这就是他所做的。

Taking food, matches and rifle with him, and a small axe to blaze the trees against his return journey, he set forth.

他带着食物、火柴和步枪，以及一把用来在返程时点燃树木的小斧头，出发了。

It was eight o'clock when he started, the sun shining over the tops of the trees in a sky without clouds.

他出发时已经是八点钟了，万里无云，阳光照在树顶上。

Pinned to a stake by the fire he left a note in case Défago returned while he was away.

他被钉在火边的一根木桩上，留下了一张纸条，以防德法戈在他离开时回来。

This time, according to a careful plan, he took a new direction, intending to make a wide sweep that must sooner or later cut into indications of the guide's trail; and, before he had gone a quarter of a mile he came across the tracks of a large animal in the snow, and beside it the light and smaller tracks of what were beyond question human feet--the feet of Défago.

这一次，他按照周密的计划，选择了一个新的方向，打算进行一次大范围的扫荡，迟早会切入向导的踪迹。还没走出四分之一英里，他就在雪地里发现了一只大型动物的脚印，旁边还有一些又轻又小的脚印，毫无疑问是人类的脚印——德法戈的脚印。

The relief he at once experienced was natural, though brief; for at first sight he saw in these tracks a simple explanation of the whole matter: these big marks had surely been left by a bull moose that, wind against it, had blundered upon the camp, and uttered its singular cry of warning and alarm the moment its mistake was apparent.

他立刻感到如释重负，虽然短暂，但很自然。乍一看，他在这些足迹中看到了对整个事件的一个简单解释：这些大痕迹肯定是一头公驼鹿留下的，它在风中跌跌撞撞地闯入营地，当它的错误明显时，它会发出独特的警告和警报的叫声。

Défago, in whom the hunting instinct was developed to the point of uncanny perfection, had scented the brute coming down the wind hours before.

德法戈的狩猎本能已经发展到了不可思议的完美程度，他在几个小时前就闻到了从风中飘来的野兽的气味。

His excitement and disappearance were due, of course, to--to his--

他的兴奋和消失当然是由于——他的——

Then the impossible explanation at which he grasped faded, as common sense showed him mercilessly that none of this was true.

然后，他所掌握的不可能的解释就消失了，因为常识无情地告诉他，这一切都不是真的。

No guide, much less a guide like Défago, could have acted in so irrational a way, going off even without his rifle ...!

没有哪个向导，更不用说像德法戈这样的向导，会做出如此不理智的行为，甚至没有步枪就走掉……！

The whole affair demanded a far more complicated elucidation, when he remembered the details of it all--the cry of terror, the amazing language, the grey face of horror when his nostrils first caught the new odor; that muffled sobbing in the darkness, and--for this, too, now came back to him dimly--the man's original aversion for this particular bit of country....

当他记起这一切的细节时，整个事件需要一个更加复杂的解释——恐怖的呼喊，令人惊奇的语言，当他的鼻孔第一次闻到新的气味时，恐怖的灰色脸；黑暗中低沉的抽泣声，以及——为此，他现在也隐隐约约地想起了——这个人最初对这个特定国家的厌恶……

Besides, now that he examined them closer, these were not the tracks of a bull moose at all!

而且，现在仔细一看，这根本不是驼鹿的足迹！

Hank had explained to him the outline of a bull's hoofs, of a cow's or calf's, too, for that matter; he had drawn them clearly on a strip of birch bark.

汉克向他解释了公牛蹄子、母牛或小牛蹄子的轮廓。他把它们清楚地画在一条白桦树皮上。

And these were wholly different.

这些是完全不同的。

They were big, round, ample, and with no pointed outline as of sharp hoofs.

它们又大又圆，又宽又大，没有锋利的蹄子那样的尖锐轮廓。

He wondered for a moment whether bear tracks were like that.

他有一瞬间想知道熊的足迹是否就是这样的。

There was no other animal he could think of, for caribou did not come so far south at this season, and, even if they did, would leave hoof marks.

他想不出还有其他动物，因为驯鹿在这个季节不会飞到这么远的南方，而且即使飞来，也会留下蹄印。

They were ominous signs--these mysterious writings left in the snow by the unknown creature that had lured a human being away from safety--and when he coupled them in his imagination with that haunting sound that broke the stillness of the dawn, a momentary dizziness shook his mind, distressing him again beyond belief.

它们是不祥的征兆——这些神秘的文字是由未知的生物在雪地里留下的，引诱人类远离安全地带——当他在想象中将它们与打破黎明宁静的令人难以忘怀的声音结合起来时，一阵短暂的头晕震撼了他的大脑，让他再次感到难以置信的痛苦。

He felt the _threatening_ aspect of it all.

他感受到了这一切的_威胁​​_面。

And, stooping down to examine the marks more closely, he caught a faint whiff of that sweet yet pungent odor that made him instantly straighten up again, fighting a sensation almost of nausea.

当他弯下腰仔细检查这些痕迹时，他闻到了一股淡淡的甜味，但又刺鼻的气味，让他立刻又直起身子，强忍着一种几乎恶心的感觉。

Then his memory played him another evil trick.

然后他的记忆又给他开了一个邪恶的把戏。

He suddenly recalled those uncovered feet projecting beyond the edge of the tent, and the body's appearance of having been dragged towards the opening; the man's shrinking from something by the door when he woke later.

他突然想起那些伸出帐篷边缘的裸露的脚，以及尸体被拖向开口的样子；当那个男人后来醒来时，他正躲避着门边的什么东西。

The details now beat against his trembling mind with concerted attack.

现在，这些细节齐声攻击着他颤抖的心灵。

They seemed to gather in those deep spaces of the silent forest about him, where the host of trees stood waiting, listening, watching to see what he would do.

他们似乎聚集在他周围寂静森林的深处，一大群树木站在那里等待、倾听、观察他会做什么。

The woods were closing round him.

树林正在逼近他。

With the persistence of true pluck, however, Simpson went forward, following the tracks as best he could, smothering these ugly emotions that sought to weaken his will.

然而，凭借真正的勇气，辛普森继续前进，尽其所能地沿着轨道前进，压制住这些试图削弱他意志的丑陋情绪。

He blazed innumerable trees as he went, ever fearful of being unable to find the way back, and calling aloud at intervals of a few seconds the name of the guide.

他一路上烧毁了无数的树木，总是担心找不到回去的路，每隔几秒钟就大声呼喊向导的名字。

The dull tapping of the axe upon the massive trunks, and the unnatural accents of his own voice became at length sounds that he even dreaded to make, dreaded to hear.

斧头敲击粗大树干的沉闷声音，以及他自己不自然的口音，最终都变成了他甚至不敢发出、不敢听到的声音。

For they drew attention without ceasing to his presence and exact whereabouts, and if it were really the case that something was hunting himself down in the same way that he was hunting down another--

因为他们不断地吸引人们的注意，注意他的存在和确切的行踪，如果真的有什么东西在追捕自己，就像他追捕另一个人一样——

With a strong effort, he crushed the thought out the instant it rose.

他用力一用力，就在这个念头升起的瞬间将其压碎。

It was the beginning, he realized, of a bewilderment utterly diabolical in kind that would speedily destroy him.

他意识到，这是一种完全恶魔般的困惑的开始，这种困惑会迅速摧毁他。

* * * * *

** ** ** **

Although the snow was not continuous, lying merely in shallow flurries over the more open spaces, he found no difficulty in following the tracks for the first few miles.

虽然雪不是连续的，只是在更开阔的空间上铺着浅薄的雪，但他发现在最初的几英里里沿着铁轨走并不困难。

They went straight as a ruled line wherever the trees permitted.

只要树木允许，他们就会像一条界线一样笔直前进。

The stride soon began to increase in length, till it finally assumed proportions that seemed absolutely impossible for any ordinary animal to have made.

步幅很快就开始增加，直到最后达到了任何普通动物都绝对不可能做到的比例。

Like huge flying leaps they became.

他们变得像巨大的飞跃。

One of these he measured, and though he knew that "stretch" of eighteen feet must be somehow wrong, he was at a complete loss to understand why he found no signs on the snow between the extreme points.

他测量了其中一个，虽然他知道十八英尺的“伸展”一定是错误的，但他完全不明白为什么他在极点之间的雪地上没有发现任何迹象。

But what perplexed him even more, making him feel his vision had gone utterly awry, was that Défago's stride increased in the same manner, and finally covered the same incredible distances.

但更让他困惑，让他觉得自己的视线完全错乱的是，德法戈的步幅同样加大，最后又迈出了同样不可思议的距离。

It looked as if the great beast had lifted him with it and carried him across these astonishing intervals.

看起来那头巨兽似乎用它举起了他，带着他跨越了这些令人惊讶的时间间隔。

Simpson, who was much longer in the limb, found that he could not compass even half the stretch by taking a running jump.

辛普森的肢体要长得多，他发现他连跑跳都无法完成一半的距离。

And the sight of these huge tracks, running side by side, silent evidence of a dreadful journey in which terror or madness had urged to impossible results, was profoundly moving.

看到这些并排运行的巨大铁轨，无声地证明了一段可怕的旅程，在这段旅程中，恐惧或疯狂催生了不可能的结果，令人深深感动。

It shocked him in the secret depths of his soul.

这让他灵魂深处的秘密感到震惊。

It was the most horrible thing his eyes had ever looked upon.

这是他见过的最可怕的事情。

He began to follow them mechanically, absentmindedly almost, ever peering over his shoulder to see if he, too, were being followed by something with a gigantic tread....

他开始机械地、几乎心不在焉地跟着他们，时不时地回头看一眼，看看他是否也被一个迈着巨大脚步的东西跟着……

And soon it came about that he no longer quite realized what it was they signified--these impressions left upon the snow by something nameless and untamed, always accompanied by the footmarks of the little French Canadian, his guide, his comrade, the man who had shared his tent a few hours before, chatting, laughing, even singing by his side....

很快他就不再完全意识到它们意味着什么——这些印象是某种无名的、未驯服的东西在雪地上留下的，总是伴随着那个法国小加拿大人的脚印，他的向导，他的同志，几个小时前和他共用帐篷的那个人，在他身边聊天，大笑，甚至唱歌……

For a man of his years and inexperience, only a canny Scot, perhaps, grounded in common sense and established in logic, could have preserved even that measure of balance that this youth somehow or other did manage to preserve through the whole adventure.

对于一个像他这样年纪、缺乏经验的人来说，也许只有一个精明的苏格兰人，以常识为基础，以逻辑为基础，才能保持平衡，而这个年轻人在整个冒险过程中确实设法保持了这种平衡。

Otherwise, two things he presently noticed, while forging pluckily ahead, must have sent him headlong back to the comparative safety of his tent, instead of only making his hands close more tightly upon the rifle stock, while his heart, trained for the Wee Kirk, sent a wordless prayer winging its way to heaven.

否则，他在勇敢地前进时注意到的两件事一定会让他一头扎回相对安全的帐篷，而不是仅仅让他的双手更加紧地握着枪托，而他的心，为小柯克训练，向天堂发出无言的祈祷。

Both tracks, he saw, had undergone a change, and this change, so far as it concerned the footsteps of the man, was in some undecipherable manner--appalling.

他看到，两条脚印都发生了变化，而这种变化，就这个人的脚步而言，是以某种难以辨认的方式发生的——令人震惊。

It was in the bigger tracks he first noticed this, and for a long time he could not quite believe his eyes.

正是在更大的轨道上，他第一次注意到了这一点，很长一段时间他都不敢相信自己的眼睛。

Was it the blown leaves that produced odd effects of light and shade, or that the dry snow, drifting like finely ground rice about the edges, cast shadows and high lights?

是风吹过的树叶产生了奇怪的光影效果，还是干雪像细碎的米粒一样在边缘飘浮，投射出阴影和高光？

Or was it actually the fact that the great marks had become faintly colored?

或者说，那些巨大的印记实际上已经变得淡淡的颜色了？

For round about the deep, plunging holes of the animal there now appeared a mysterious, reddish tinge that was more like an effect of light than of anything that dyed the substance of the snow itself.

因为在动物的深坑周围现在出现了一种神秘的微红色调，这更像是光的效果，而不是任何染色雪本身的物质的效果。

Every mark had it, and had it increasingly--this indistinct fiery tinge that painted a new touch of ghastliness into the picture.

每个标记都有它，而且越来越多——这种模糊的火热色调给画面增添了一种新的可怕色彩。

But when, wholly unable to explain or to credit it, he turned his attention to the other tracks to discover if they, too, bore similar witness, he noticed that these had meanwhile undergone a change that was infinitely worse, and charged with far more horrible suggestion.

但是，当他完全无法解释或相信这一点时，他将注意力转向其他曲目，以发现它们是否也有类似的见证，他注意到这些曲目同时经历了无限糟糕的变化，并充满了更可怕的暗示。

For, in the last hundred yards or so, he saw that they had grown gradually into the semblance of the parent tread.

因为，在最后一百码左右的时间里，他看到它们逐渐长成母胎面的样子。

Imperceptibly the change had come about, yet unmistakably.

变化不知不觉地发生了，但却是毫无疑问的。

It was hard to see where the change first began.

很难看出变化是从哪里开始的。

The result, however, was beyond question.

然而，结果是毫无疑问的。

Smaller, neater, more cleanly modeled, they formed now an exact and careful duplicate of the larger tracks beside them.

更小、更整洁、模型更清晰，它们现在形成了旁边较大轨道的精确而仔细的复制品。

The feet that produced them had, therefore, also changed.

因此，产生它们的脚也发生了变化。

And something in his mind reared up with loathing and with terror as he saw it.

当他看到这一切时，他的脑海里浮现出厌恶和恐惧的东西。

Simpson, for the first time, hesitated; then, ashamed of his alarm and indecision, took a few hurried steps ahead; the next instant stopped dead in his tracks.

辛普森第一次犹豫了。然后，他为自己的惊慌和优柔寡断感到羞愧，急忙向前走了几步。下一瞬间他就停了下来。

Immediately in front of him all signs of the trail ceased; both tracks came to an abrupt end.

就在他面前，所有踪迹都消失了。两条轨道都突然结束了。

On all sides, for a hundred yards and more, he searched in vain for the least indication of their continuance.

在四面八方，一百码多远的地方，他徒劳地寻找着他们继续存在的哪怕一丁点迹象。

There was--nothing.

没有——什么也没有。

The trees were very thick just there, big trees all of them, spruce, cedar, hemlock; there was no underbrush.

那里的树很茂密，都是大树，有云杉、雪松、铁杉。没有灌木丛。

He stood, looking about him, all distraught; bereft of any power of judgment.

他站着，环顾四周，心烦意乱。失去任何判断力。

Then he set to work to search again, and again, and yet again, but always with the same result: _nothing_.

然后他开始一次又一次地寻找，但总是得到相同的结果：_什么也没有_。

The feet that printed the surface of the snow thus far had now, apparently, left the ground!

刚才在雪地上留下痕迹的脚，现在显然已经离开了地面！

And it was in that moment of distress and confusion that the whip of terror laid its most nicely calculated lash about his heart.

正是在那个痛苦和困惑的时刻，恐怖的鞭子最巧妙地抽打在他的心上。

It dropped with deadly effect upon the sorest spot of all, completely unnerving him.

它落到了最痛处，产生了致命的效果，让他彻底惊慌失措。

He had been secretly dreading all the time that it would come--and come it did.

他一直暗自担心它会到来——它确实来了。

Far overhead, muted by great height and distance, strangely thinned and wailing, he heard the crying voice of Défago, the guide.

在头顶上很远的地方，由于高度和距离而变得安静，奇怪地稀疏和哀号，他听到导游德法戈哭泣的声音。

The sound dropped upon him out of that still, wintry sky with an effect of dismay and terror unsurpassed.

声音从寂静、寒冷的天空中落在他身上，带来了无与伦比的沮丧和恐惧。

The rifle fell to his feet.

步枪掉到了他的脚边。

He stood motionless an instant, listening as it were with his whole body, then staggered back against the nearest tree for support, disorganized hopelessly in mind and spirit.

他一动不动地站了一会儿，仿佛用全身来聆听，然后踉踉跄跄地靠在最近的一棵树上寻求支撑，他的思想和精神都无可救药地混乱了。

To him, in that moment, it seemed the most shattering and dislocating experience he had ever known, so that his heart emptied itself of all feeling whatsoever as by a sudden draught.

对他来说，在那一刻，这似乎是他所经历过的最破碎、最混乱的经历，以至于他的心突然间被一阵风吹空，所有的感觉都被清空了。

"Oh!

“哦！

oh!

哦！

This fiery height!

这火热的高度！

Oh, my feet of fire!

哦，我的脚火！

My burning feet of fire ...!" ran in far, beseeching accents of indescribable appeal this voice of anguish down the sky.

我燃烧的双脚……！”远远地跑了过来，带着难以形容的恳求口音，这痛苦的声音从天而降。

Once it called--then silence through all the listening wilderness of trees.

一旦它叫了——然后寂静穿过所有倾听的荒野树木。

And Simpson, scarcely knowing what he did, presently found himself running wildly to and fro, searching, calling, tripping over roots and boulders, and flinging himself in a frenzy of undirected pursuit after the Caller.

辛普森几乎不知道自己在做什么，很快就发现自己疯狂地来回奔跑，寻找，呼叫，被树根和巨石绊倒，并陷入了对呼叫者的疯狂无方向的追逐中。

Behind the screen of memory and emotion with which experience veils events, he plunged, distracted and half-deranged, picking up false lights like a ship at sea, terror in his eyes and heart and soul.

在经验掩盖事件的记忆和情感的屏幕后面，他陷入了困境，心烦意乱，半精神错乱，像海上的船一样拾取虚假的灯光，他的眼睛、心灵和灵魂都充满恐惧。

For the Panic of the Wilderness had called to him in that far voice--the Power of untamed Distance--the Enticement of the Desolation that destroys.

因为荒野的恐慌用那遥远的声音呼唤着他——远方的远方的力量——毁灭性的荒凉的诱惑。

He knew in that moment all the pains of someone hopelessly and irretrievably lost, suffering the lust and travail of a soul in the final Loneliness.

在那一刻，他知道一个绝望且无法挽回的迷失者的所有痛苦，在最后的孤独中承受着灵魂的欲望和痛苦。

A vision of Défago, eternally hunted, driven and pursued across the skiey vastness of those ancient forests fled like a flame across the dark ruin of his thoughts ...

德法戈的幻象，在那些古老森林的广阔天空中永远被猎杀、驱赶和追赶，像火焰一样逃过他思想的黑暗废墟……

It seemed ages before he could find anything in the chaos of his disorganized sensations to which he could anchor himself steady for a moment, and think ...

似乎过了好久，他才能够在杂乱无章的感觉中找到任何东西，让自己能够暂时稳定下来，并思考……

The cry was not repeated; his own hoarse calling brought no response; the inscrutable forces of the Wild had summoned their victim beyond recall--and held him fast.

哭声不再重复；他自己嘶哑的叫声没有得到回应。难以捉摸的荒野力量召唤了他们无法回忆的受害者——并牢牢地抓住了他。

* * * * *

** ** ** **

Yet he searched and called, it seems, for hours afterwards, for it was late in the afternoon when at length he decided to abandon a useless pursuit and return to his camp on the shores of Fifty Island Water.

然而，他似乎在之后的几个小时里一直在寻找和打电话，因为当时已是下午晚些时候，他最终决定放弃无用的追击，返回五十岛水岸边的营地。

Even then he went with reluctance, that crying voice still echoing in his ears.

即便如此，他还是不情愿地走了，耳边还回响着那哭闹的声音。

With difficulty he found his rifle and the homeward trail.

他好不容易找到了他的步枪和回家的路。

The concentration necessary to follow the badly blazed trees, and a biting hunger that gnawed, helped to keep his mind steady.

追踪着火的树木所需要的集中注意力，以及撕咬着的饥饿感，帮助他保持了头脑的稳定。

Otherwise, he admits, the temporary aberration he had suffered might have been prolonged to the point of positive disaster.

他承认，否则的话，他所遭受的暂时失常可能会持续到酿成灾难的地步。

Gradually the ballast shifted back again, and he regained something that approached his normal equilibrium.

渐渐地，镇流器再次移回原处，他又恢复了接近正常平衡的状态。

But for all that the journey through the gathering dusk was miserably haunted.

但尽管如此，在暮色渐浓的旅途中却充满了悲惨的困扰。

He heard innumerable following footsteps; voices that laughed and whispered; and saw figures crouching behind trees and boulders, making signs to one another for a concerted attack the moment he had passed.

他听到无数的脚步声；笑声和窃窃私语的声音；他一经过，就看到一些人影蹲在树木和巨石后面，互相示意发起联合攻击。

The creeping murmur of the wind made him start and listen.

风声徐徐徐行，让他惊起身来侧耳倾听。

He went stealthily, trying to hide where possible, and making as little sound as he could.

他悄悄地走，尽可能地躲起来，尽量不发出声音。

The shadows of the woods, hitherto protective or covering merely, had now become menacing, challenging; and the pageantry in his frightened mind masked a host of possibilities that were all the more ominous for being obscure.

树林的阴影，迄今为止只是保护性的或遮盖性的，现在变得具有威胁性和挑战性。他惊恐的头脑中的壮观场面掩盖了许多可能性，这些可能性因为晦涩难懂而更加不祥。

The presentiment of a nameless doom lurked ill-concealed behind every detail of what had happened.

所发生事件的每一个细节背后都隐藏着一种无名厄运的预感。

It was really admirable how he emerged victor in the end; men of riper powers and experience might have come through the ordeal with less success.

最终他能取得胜利，真是令人钦佩；拥有更成熟的能力和经验的人可能会在经历磨难时取得较少的成功。

He had himself tolerably well in hand, all things considered, and his plan of action proves it.

从各方面考虑，他的掌控力还算不错，他的行动计划也证明了这一点。

Sleep being absolutely out of the question and traveling an unknown trail in the darkness equally impracticable, he sat up the whole of that night, rifle in hand, before a fire he never for a single moment allowed to die down.

睡眠是绝对不可能的，在黑暗中走一条未知的小路同样不切实际，他整个晚上都坐着，手里拿着步枪，在一场他一刻也不让其熄灭的火面前。

The severity of the haunted vigil marked his soul for life; but it was successfully accomplished; and with the very first signs of dawn he set forth upon the long return journey to the home camp to get help.

闹鬼守夜的严酷程度给他的灵魂留下了终生的烙印。但还是成功完成了；天刚亮，他就踏上了返回家乡寻求帮助的漫长旅程。

As before, he left a written note to explain his absence, and to indicate where he had left a plentiful _cache_ of food and matches--though he had no expectation that any human hands would find them!

和以前一样，他留下了一张纸条来解释他的缺席，并指出他在哪里留下了大量的食物和火柴——尽管他没想到有人会找到它们！

How Simpson found his way alone by the lake and forest might well make a story in itself, for to hear him tell it is to _know_ the passionate loneliness of soul that a man can feel when the Wilderness holds him in the hollow of its illimitable hand--and laughs.

辛普森如何独自在湖边和森林中找到自己的路，这本身就很可能成为一个故事，因为听他讲述这件事就知道当荒野用它无限的手握住一个人并大笑时，一个人会感受到灵魂的强烈孤独。

It is also to admire his indomitable pluck.

也是佩服他不屈不挠的勇气。

He claims no skill, declaring that he followed the almost invisible trail mechanically, and without thinking.

他声称自己没有任何技能，声称自己是机械地、不假思索地沿着那条几乎看不见的踪迹走的。

And this, doubtless, is the truth.

毫无疑问，这是事实。

He relied upon the guiding of the unconscious mind, which is instinct.

他依靠的是潜意识的引导，也就是本能。

Perhaps, too, some sense of orientation, known to animals and primitive men, may have helped as well, for through all that tangled region he succeeded in reaching the exact spot where Défago had hidden the canoe nearly three days before with the remark, "Strike doo west across the lake into the sun to find the camp."

也许，动物和原始人所知道的某种方向感也可能有所帮助，因为穿过所有这片混乱的地区，他成功地到达了德法戈在大约三天前隐藏独木舟的确切地点，并说道：“向西穿过湖面进入太阳，找到营地。”

There was not much sun left to guide him, but he used his compass to the best of his ability, embarking in the frail craft for the last twelve miles of his journey with a sensation of immense relief that the forest was at last behind him.

剩下的阳光已经不多了，但他尽力使用指南针，在最后十二英里的旅程中登上这艘脆弱的船，森林终于在他身后，他感到无比轻松。

And, fortunately, the water was calm; he took his line across the center of the lake instead of coasting round the shores for another twenty miles.

幸运的是，水面很平静。他把钓线划过湖中心，而不是沿着湖岸再滑行二十英里。

Fortunately, too, the other hunters were back.

幸运的是，其他猎人也回来了。

The light of their fires furnished a steering point without which he might have searched all night long for the actual position of the camp.

火光提供了一个转向点，如果没有这个转向点，他可能要整夜寻找营地的实际位置。

It was close upon midnight all the same when his canoe grated on the sandy cove, and Hank, Punk and his uncle, disturbed in their sleep by his cries, ran quickly down and helped a very exhausted and broken specimen of Scotch humanity over the rocks toward a dying fire.

尽管如此，还是接近午夜时分，他的独木舟在沙湾上发出刺耳的声音，汉克、朋克和他的叔叔在睡梦中被他的哭声吵醒，迅速跑下来，帮助一个疲惫不堪、支离破碎的苏格兰人穿过岩石，走向即将熄灭的火堆。

The sudden entrance of his prosaic uncle into this world of wizardry and horror that had haunted him without interruption now for two days and two nights, had the immediate effect of giving to the affair an entirely new aspect.

他那平淡无奇的叔叔突然闯入了这个魔法与恐怖的世界，这个世界已经连续两天两夜不间断地困扰着他，立刻就给这件事带来了全新的面貌。

The sound of that crisp "Hulloa, my boy!

清脆的声音“哈喽，我的孩子！

And what's up _now_?" and the grasp of that dry and vigorous hand introduced another standard of judgment.

那现在怎么样了？”那只干燥而有力的手的抓握引入了另一个判断标准。

A revulsion of feeling washed through him.

一种厌恶的感觉席卷了他的全身。

He realized that he had let himself "go" rather badly.

他意识到自己已经非常“放纵”了自己。

He even felt vaguely ashamed of himself.

他甚至隐约为自己感到羞愧。

The native hard-headedness of his race reclaimed him.

他的种族与生俱来的顽强性格重新唤起了他。

And this doubtless explains why he found it so hard to tell that group round the fire--everything.

这无疑解释了为什么他很难告诉围着火堆的那群人——一切。

He told enough, however, for the immediate decision to be arrived at that a relief party must start at the earliest possible moment, and that Simpson, in order to guide it capably, must first have food and, above all, sleep.

然而，为了立即做出决定，他说得足够多了，救援队必须尽早开始，而辛普森为了能有效地指导救援，首先必须有食物，最重要的是要有睡眠。

Dr. Cathcart observing the lad's condition more shrewdly than his patient knew, gave him a very slight injection of morphine.

卡思卡特医生比他的病人更敏锐地观察到了这个小伙子的病情，给他注射了非常轻微的吗啡。

For six hours he slept like the dead.

六个小时他睡得像死人一样。

From the description carefully written out afterwards by this student of divinity, it appears that the account he gave to the astonished group omitted sundry vital and important details.

从这位神学学生后来仔细写下的描述来看，他给这群惊讶的人们的叙述似乎遗漏了各种至关重要的细节。

He declares that, with his uncle's wholesome, matter-of-fact countenance staring him in the face, he simply had not the courage to mention them.

他宣称，面对他叔叔那张健康、平淡的面容，他根本没有勇气提及他们。

Thus, all the search party gathered, it would seem, was that Défago had suffered in the night an acute and inexplicable attack of mania, had imagined himself "called" by someone or something, and had plunged into the bush after it without food or rifle, where he must die a horrible and lingering death by cold and starvation unless he could be found and rescued in time.

因此，所有搜查队聚集的人似乎都认为，德法戈在夜里遭受了一场剧烈而莫名其妙的躁狂发作，想象自己被某人或某物“召唤”，然后在没有食物或步枪的情况下跳入灌木丛中，在那里他必须死于寒冷和饥饿，除非他能被及时发现和营救，否则他必须在寒冷和饥饿中可怕而持久地死去。

"In time," moreover, meant _at once_.

此外，“及时”的意思是“立即”。

In the course of the following day, however--they were off by seven, leaving Punk in charge with instructions to have food and fire always ready--Simpson found it possible to tell his uncle a good deal more of the story's true inwardness, without divining that it was drawn out of him as a matter of fact by a very subtle form of cross examination.

然而，第二天——他们七点钟就下班了，让朋克负责指示随时准备好食物和火——辛普森发现有可能告诉他叔叔更多这个故事的真实内心，而没有意识到这实际上是通过一种非常微妙的盘问形式从他身上引出来的。

By the time they reached the beginning of the trail, where the canoe was laid up against the return journey, he had mentioned how Défago spoke vaguely of "something he called a 'Wendigo'"; how he cried in his sleep; how he imagined an unusual scent about the camp; and had betrayed other symptoms of mental excitement.

当他们到达小路的起点时，独木舟停在那里准备返程，他提到德法戈如何含糊地谈到“他称之为‘温迪戈’的东西”；他在睡梦中哭得多么伤心；他如何想象营地里有一种不寻常的气味；并表现出其他精神兴奋的症状。

He also admitted the bewildering effect of "that extraordinary odor" upon himself, "pungent and acrid like the odor of lions." And by the time they were within an easy hour of Fifty Island Water he had let slip the further fact--a foolish avowal of his own hysterical condition, as he felt afterwards--that he had heard the vanished guide call "for help." He omitted the singular phrases used, for he simply could not bring himself to repeat the preposterous language.

他还承认“那种非凡的气味”对他自己产生了令人困惑的影响，“像狮子的气味一样辛辣刺鼻”。当他们距离五十岛水域只有不到一个小时的时间时，他漏掉了进一步的事实——正如他事后所感觉的那样，他愚蠢地承认了自己歇斯底里的状况——他听到消失的向导在喊“救命”。他省略了所使用的单数短语，因为他根本无法让自己重复这种荒谬的语言。

Also, while describing how the man's footsteps in the snow had gradually assumed an exact miniature likeness of the animal's plunging tracks, he left out the fact that they measured a _wholly_ incredible distance.

此外，在描述这个人在雪地里的脚步如何逐渐呈现出与动物的跌倒轨迹完全相同的微型相似性时，他忽略了一个事实，即他们测量的距离是完全令人难以置信的。

It seemed a question, nicely balanced between individual pride and honesty, what he should reveal and what suppress.

这似乎是一个在个人自豪感和诚实之间取得了很好平衡的问题，他应该透露什么，隐瞒什么。

He mentioned the fiery tinge in the snow, for instance, yet shrank from telling that body and bed had been partly dragged out of the tent....

例如，他提到了雪中的火热色调，但又不敢透露尸体和床已部分被拖出帐篷……

With the net result that Dr. Cathcart, adroit psychologist that he fancied himself to be, had assured him clearly enough exactly where his mind, influenced by loneliness, bewilderment and terror, had yielded to the strain and invited delusion.

最终的结果是，卡思卡特博士，他自以为是的熟练心理学家，已经足够清楚地向他保证，他的思想在孤独、困惑和恐惧的影响下，已经屈服于压力并引发了错觉。

While praising his conduct, he managed at the same time to point out where, when, and how his mind had gone astray.

在赞扬他的行为的同时，他同时指出了他的思想在何时、何地以及如何走入歧途。

He made his nephew think himself finer than he was by judicious praise, yet more foolish than he was by minimizing the value of the evidence.

他通过明智的赞扬让他的侄子认为自己比他自己更优秀，但通过贬低证据的价值，他比他自己更愚蠢。

Like many another materialist, that is, he lied cleverly on the basis of insufficient knowledge, _because_ the knowledge supplied seemed to his own particular intelligence inadmissible.

也就是说，像许多其他唯物主义者一样，他在知识不足的基础上巧妙地撒了谎，因为他所提供的知识似乎对他自己的特殊智力来说是不可接受的。

"The spell of these terrible solitudes," he said, "cannot leave any mind untouched, any mind, that is, possessed of the higher imaginative qualities.

“这些可怕的孤独的咒语，”他说，“不能让任何心灵不受影响，任何心灵，也就是说，拥有更高的想象力。

It has worked upon yours exactly as it worked upon my own when I was your age.

它对你的作用完全一样，就像我在你这个年纪时对我自己的作用一样。

The animal that haunted your little camp was undoubtedly a moose, for the 'belling' of a moose may have, sometimes, a very peculiar quality of sound.

出没于你的小营地的动物无疑是驼鹿，因为驼鹿的“鸣叫”有时可能具有一种非常奇特的声音质量。

The colored appearance of the big tracks was obviously a defect of vision in your own eyes produced by excitement.

大跑道的彩色外观显然是你自己因兴奋而产生的视力缺陷。

The size and stretch of the tracks we shall prove when we come to them.

当我们到达轨道时，我们将证明轨道的大小和长度。

But the hallucination of an audible voice, of course, is one of the commonest forms of delusion due to mental excitement--an excitement, my dear boy, perfectly excusable, and, let me add, wonderfully controlled by you under the circumstances.

但是，听到声音的幻觉，当然，是由于精神兴奋而引起的最常见的妄想形式之一——一种兴奋，我亲爱的孩子，完全可以原谅，而且，让我补充一下，在这种情况下，你能很好地控制住。

For the rest, I am bound to say, you have acted with a splendid courage, for the terror of feeling oneself lost in this wilderness is nothing short of awful, and, had I been in your place, I don't for a moment believe I could have behaved with one quarter of your wisdom and decision.

至于其余的，我必须说，你的行为表现出了极大的勇气，因为在这片荒野中迷失的恐惧简直是可怕的，而且，如果我处于你的位置，我一刻也不相信我能以你四分之一的智慧和决定来行事。

The only thing I find it uncommonly difficult to explain is--that--damned odor."

我发现唯一难以解释的就是——那——该死的气味。”

"It made me feel sick, I assure you," declared his nephew, "positively dizzy!" His uncle's attitude of calm omniscience, merely because he knew more psychological formulae, made him slightly defiant.

“我向你保证，这让我感到恶心，”他的侄子宣称，“非常头晕！”舅舅那种冷静无所不知的态度，仅仅因为他懂得更多的心理学公式，就让他有些目中无人。

It was so easy to be wise in the explanation of an experience one has not personally witnessed.

明智地解释一个人没有亲眼目睹的经历是很容易的。

"A kind of desolate and terrible odor is the only way I can describe it," he concluded, glancing at the features of the quiet, unemotional man beside him.

“一种荒凉可怕的气味是我唯一能形容的。”他总结道，扫了一眼身旁安静、面无表情的男人的面容。

"I can only marvel," was the reply, "that under the circumstances it did not seem to you even worse." The dry words, Simpson knew, hovered between the truth, and his uncle's interpretation of "the truth."

“我只能感到惊讶，”他回答道，“在你看来，在这种情况下，情况并没有变得更糟。”辛普森知道，这些枯燥的话语徘徊在真相和他叔叔对“真相”的解释之间。

* * * * *

** ** ** **

And so at last they came to the little camp and found the tent still standing, the remains of the fire, and the piece of paper pinned to a stake beside it--untouched.

最后，他们来到了那个小营地，发现帐篷还矗立着，还有火的余烬，还有钉在旁边木桩上的那张纸，原封未动。

The cache, poorly contrived by inexperienced hands, however, had been discovered and opened--by musk rats, mink and squirrel.

然而，这个藏匿处的设计很糟糕，是由缺乏经验的人设计的，但却被麝香鼠、水貂和松鼠发现并打开了。

The matches lay scattered about the opening, but the food had been taken to the last crumb.

火柴散落在洞口周围，但食物已经被带走了。

"Well, fellers, he ain't here," exclaimed Hank loudly after his fashion.

“好了，伙计们，他不在这里，”汉克按照他的方式大声喊道。

"And that's as sartain as the coal supply down below!

“这和下面的煤炭供应一样糟糕！

But whar he's got to by this time is 'bout as unsartain as the trade in crowns in t'other place." The presence of a divinity student was no barrier to his language at such a time, though for the reader's sake it may be severely edited.

但此时他所要做的事情“与其他地方的皇冠贸易一样令人不安。”此时，神学院学生的存在对他的语言并不构成障碍，尽管为了读者的缘故，它可能会被严格编辑。

"I propose," he added, "that we start out at once an' hunt for'm like hell!"

“我建议，”他补充道，“我们立即出发，全力搜寻他们！”

The gloom of Défago's probable fate oppressed the whole party with a sense of dreadful gravity the moment they saw the familiar signs of recent occupancy.

当他们看到最近被占领的熟悉迹象时，德法戈可能的命运的悲观情绪使整个聚会充满了可怕的严肃感。

Especially the tent, with the bed of balsam branches still smoothed and flattened by the pressure of his body, seemed to bring his presence near to them.

尤其是帐篷，香脂枝铺成的床仍然被他身体的压力弄得光滑平整，似乎让他的存在变得更近了。

Simpson, feeling vaguely as if his world were somehow at stake, went about explaining particulars in a hushed tone.

辛普森隐约感觉自己的世界受到了威胁，于是开始低声解释细节。

He was much calmer now, though overwearied with the strain of his many journeys.

他现在平静多了，尽管因多次旅行的紧张而疲惫不堪。

His uncle's method of explaining--"explaining away," rather--the details still fresh in his haunted memory helped, too, to put ice upon his emotions.

他叔叔的解释方法——更确切地说是“解释掉”——那些细节在他的噩梦般的记忆中仍然历历在目，这也有助于让他的情绪变得冰冷。

"And that's the direction he ran off in," he said to his two companions, pointing in the direction where the guide had vanished that morning in the grey dawn.

“这就是他逃跑的方向，”他对两个同伴说道，同时指着那天早上向导在灰蒙蒙的黎明中消失的方向。

"Straight down there he ran like a deer, in between the birch and the hemlock...."

“他像鹿一样直接跑到了桦树和铁杉之间……”

Hank and Dr. Cathcart exchanged glances.

汉克和卡思卡特博士交换了一个眼神。

"And it was about two miles down there, in a straight line," continued the other, speaking with something of the former terror in his voice, "that I followed his trail to the place where--it stopped--dead!"

“那里大约有两英里，呈一条直线，”另一个人继续说道，他的声音里带着以前的恐惧，“我顺着他的踪迹来到了那个地方——它停了下来——死了！”

"And where you heered him callin' an' caught the stench, an' all the rest of the wicked entertainment," cried Hank, with a volubility that betrayed his keen distress.

“你听到他的叫声，就闻到了恶臭，还有其他所有邪恶的娱乐活动，”汉克喊道，他的滔滔不绝的声音暴露了他强烈的痛苦。

"And where your excitement overcame you to the point of producing illusions," added Dr. Cathcart under his breath, yet not so low that his nephew did not hear it.

“你的兴奋让你产生了幻觉，”卡思卡特博士低声补充道，但声音并没有低到他的侄子没有听到。

* * * * *

** ** ** **

It was early in the afternoon, for they had traveled quickly, and there were still a good two hours of daylight left.

时间已经是下午了，因为他们走得很快，距离天亮还有整整两个小时。

Dr. Cathcart and Hank lost no time in beginning the search, but Simpson was too exhausted to accompany them.

卡思卡特博士和汉克立即开始搜寻，但辛普森太累了，无法陪伴他们。

They would follow the blazed marks on the trees, and where possible, his footsteps.

他们会追踪树木上的燃烧痕迹，如果可能的话，也会追踪他的足迹。

Meanwhile the best thing he could do was to keep a good fire going, and rest.

与此同时，他能做的最好的事情就是让火继续燃烧，然后休息。

But after something like three hours' search, the darkness already down, the two men returned to camp with nothing to report.

但经过大约三个小时的搜索后，夜幕已经降临，两人回到营地，没有任何报告。

Fresh snow had covered all signs, and though they had followed the blazed trees to the spot where Simpson had turned back, they had not discovered the smallest indication of a human being--or for that matter, of an animal.

新雪覆盖了所有迹象，尽管他们沿着着火的树木来到了辛普森回头的地方，但他们没有发现任何人类的迹象——或者就此而言，动物的迹象。

There were no fresh tracks of any kind; the snow lay undisturbed.

没有任何新的踪迹；雪原封不动地躺着。

It was difficult to know what was best to do, though in reality there was nothing more they _could_ do.

很难知道什么是最好的做法，尽管实际上他们无能为力。

They might stay and search for weeks without much chance of success.

他们可能会留下来寻找数周，但成功的机会不大。

The fresh snow destroyed their only hope, and they gathered round the fire for supper, a gloomy and despondent party.

新雪摧毁了他们唯一的希望，他们围坐在火边吃晚饭，气氛阴郁而沮丧。

The facts, indeed, were sad enough, for Défago had a wife at Rat Portage, and his earnings were the family's sole means of support.

事实上，事实已经够令人悲伤的了，因为德法戈在拉特波蒂奇有一个妻子，而他的收入是这个家庭唯一的维持手段。

Now that the whole truth in all its ugliness was out, it seemed useless to deal in further disguise or pretense.

既然所有丑陋的真相都已大白于天下，再进行进一步的伪装或伪装似乎是毫无用处的。

They talked openly of the facts and probabilities.

他们公开谈论事实和可能性。

It was not the first time, even in the experience of Dr. Cathcart, that a man had yielded to the singular seduction of the Solitudes and gone out of his mind; Défago, moreover, was predisposed to something of the sort, for he already had a touch of melancholia in his blood, and his fiber was weakened by bouts of drinking that often lasted for weeks at a time.

即使在卡思卡特医生的经历中，这也不是第一次有人屈服于孤独的独特诱惑而失去理智。此外，德法戈也有类似的倾向，因为他的血液里已经有了一丝忧郁，而且他的纤维因一次持续数周的酗酒而减弱。

Something on this trip--one might never know precisely what--had sufficed to push him over the line, that was all.

这次旅行中的一些事情——人们可能永远不知道到底是什么——足以让他越过界限，仅此而已。

And he had gone, gone off into the great wilderness of trees and lakes to die by starvation and exhaustion.

然后他就走了，走进了一片树木和湖泊的荒野，死于饥饿和疲惫。

The chances against his finding camp again were overwhelming; the delirium that was upon him would also doubtless have increased, and it was quite likely he might do violence to himself and so hasten his cruel fate.

他再次寻找营地的机会是压倒性的。他身上的谵妄无疑也会加剧，他很可能会对自己施暴，从而加速他残酷的命运。

Even while they talked, indeed, the end had probably come.

事实上，即使在他们说话的时候，末日也可能已经到来了。

On the suggestion of Hank, his old pal, however, they proposed to wait a little longer and devote the whole of the following day, from dawn to darkness, to the most systematic search they could devise.

然而，在他的老朋友汉克的建议下，他们提议再等一会儿，然后用第二天的一整天，从黎明到天黑，进行他们能想到的最系统的搜索。

They would divide the territory between them.

他们会瓜分领土。

They discussed their plan in great detail.

他们非常详细地讨论了他们的计划。

All that men could do they would do.

男人能做的一切他们都会做。

And, meanwhile, they talked about the particular form in which the singular Panic of the Wilderness had made its attack upon the mind of the unfortunate guide.

与此同时，他们谈论了荒野恐慌以何种特殊形式袭击了不幸向导的心灵。

Hank, though familiar with the legend in its general outline, obviously did not welcome the turn the conversation had taken.

汉克虽然熟悉这个传说的大致轮廓，但显然不欢迎谈话的转变。

He contributed little, though that little was illuminating.

他贡献甚少，尽管那一点点也具有启发性。

For he admitted that a story ran over all this section of country to the effect that several Indians had "seen the Wendigo" along the shores of Fifty Island Water in the "fall" of last year, and that this was the true reason of Défago's disinclination to hunt there.

因为他承认，这个地区流传着这样一个故事，大意是说，去年“秋天”，有几个印第安人在五十岛水域沿岸“看到了温迪戈”，这才是德法戈不愿意去那里打猎的真正原因。

Hank doubtless felt that he had in a sense helped his old pal to death by overpersuading him.

汉克毫无疑问地觉得，从某种意义上说，他过度说服了他的老朋友，把他送死了。

"When an Indian goes crazy," he explained, talking to himself more than to the others, it seemed, "it's always put that he's 'seen the Wendigo.' An' pore old Défaygo was superstitious down to he very heels ...!"

“当一个印第安人发疯时，”他解释道，自言自语的次数似乎比其他人多，“人们总是说他‘看到了温迪戈’。”德法戈这个老头子真是太迷信了……！”

And then Simpson, feeling the atmosphere more sympathetic, told over again the full story of his astonishing tale; he left out no details this time; he mentioned his own sensations and gripping fears.

然后，辛普森感觉气氛更加融洽，他又完整地讲述了他的惊人故事。这次他没有遗漏任何细节；他提到了自己的感受和恐惧。

He only omitted the strange language used.

他只是省略了所使用的奇怪语言。

"But Défago surely had already told you all these details of the Wendigo legend, my dear fellow," insisted the doctor.

“但是德法戈肯定已经告诉过你温迪戈传说的所有这些细节了，我亲爱的朋友，”医生坚持说。

"I mean, he had talked about it, and thus put into your mind the ideas which your own excitement afterwards developed?"

“我的意思是，他已经谈论过这件事，因此将你自己兴奋后产生的想法放入你的脑海中？”

Whereupon Simpson again repeated the facts.

于是辛普森再次重复了事实。

Défago, he declared, had barely mentioned the beast.

他声称，德法戈几乎没有提到过这只野兽。

He, Simpson, knew nothing of the story, and, so far as he remembered, had never even read about it.

他，辛普森，对这个故事一无所知，而且据他所知，甚至从未读过。

Even the word was unfamiliar.

连这个词都陌生。

Of course he was telling the truth, and Dr. Cathcart was reluctantly compelled to admit the singular character of the whole affair.

当然，他说的是实话，卡思卡特医生很不情愿地承认整个事件的独特性。

He did not do this in words so much as in manner, however.

然而，他并没有在言语上这样做，而是在方式上这样做。

He kept his back against a good, stout tree; he poked the fire into a blaze the moment it showed signs of dying down; he was quicker than any of them to notice the least sound in the night about them--a fish jumping in the lake, a twig snapping in the bush, the dropping of occasional fragments of frozen snow from the branches overhead where the heat loosened them.

他背靠着一棵又好又粗的树。当火有熄灭的迹象时，他就将火点燃。他比他们中的任何人都更快地注意到夜里周围最细微的声音——一条鱼在湖里跳跃，一根树枝在灌木丛中折断，偶尔有冰冻的雪碎片从头顶上的树枝上掉落下来，因为热量使它们松动了。

His voice, too, changed a little in quality, becoming a shade less confident, lower also in tone.

他的声音也发生了一些变化，变得不那么自信了，语气也低沉了。

Fear, to put it plainly, hovered close about that little camp, and though all three would have been glad to speak of other matters, the only thing they seemed able to discuss was this--the source of their fear.

说白了，恐惧笼罩着那个小营地，虽然三个人都很乐意谈论其他事情，但他们似乎唯一能讨论的就是这个——他们恐惧的根源。

They tried other subjects in vain; there was nothing to say about them.

他们尝试了其他科目，但没有成功。对于他们，没有什么可说的。

Hank was the most honest of the group; he said next to nothing.

汉克是这群人中最诚实的一个。他几乎什么也没说。

He never once, however, turned his back to the darkness.

然而，他从来没有背对过黑暗。

His face was always to the forest, and when wood was needed he didn't go farther than was necessary to get it.

他的脸总是面向森林，当需要木材时，他不会走得比必要的更远。

A wall of silence wrapped them in, for the snow, though not thick, was sufficient to deaden any noise, and the frost held things pretty tight besides.

一堵寂静的墙将他们包裹起来，因为雪虽然不厚，但足以消除任何噪音，而且霜冻把一切都紧紧地固定住了。

No sound but their voices and the soft roar of the flames made itself heard.

除了他们的声音和火焰柔和的轰鸣声之外，没有任何声音。

Only, from time to time, something soft as the flutter of a pine moth's wings went past them through the air.

只是时不时地，有一些松蛾翅膀般柔软的东西从空中掠过。

No one seemed anxious to go to bed.

似乎没有人急于上床睡觉。

The hours slipped towards midnight.

时间一晃就到了午夜。

"The legend is picturesque enough," observed the doctor after one of the longer pauses, speaking to break it rather than because he had anything to say, "for the Wendigo is simply the Call of the Wild personified, which some natures hear to their own destruction."

“这个传说足够生动，”在一次较长的停顿后，医生说道，他是为了打破这个传说，而不是因为他有什么话要说，“因为温迪戈只是野性呼唤的化身，一些自然听到它就会毁灭自己。”

"That's about it," Hank said presently.

“就是这样，”汉克随即说道。

"An' there's no misunderstandin' when you hear it.

“当你听到它时，不会有任何误解。

It calls you by name right 'nough."

它直接叫你的名字就够了。”

Another pause followed.

接下来又是一次停顿。

Then Dr. Cathcart came back to the forbidden subject with a rush that made the others jump.

然后卡思卡特博士又回到了这个禁忌话题，语气急促，其他人都吓了一跳。

"The allegory _is_ significant," he remarked, looking about him into the darkness, "for the Voice, they say, resembles all the minor sounds of the Bush--wind, falling water, cries of the animals, and so forth.

“这个寓言很重要，”他在黑暗中环顾四周，说道，“因为他们说，声音类似于灌木丛中所有的小声音——风声、流水声、动物的叫声等等。

And, once the victim hears _that_--he's off for good, of course!

而且，一旦受害者听到这个消息——他当然就永远离开了！

His most vulnerable points, moreover, are said to be the feet and the eyes; the feet, you see, for the lust of wandering, and the eyes for the lust of beauty.

此外，据说他最脆弱的部位是脚和眼睛。你看，脚是为了漫游的欲望，眼睛是为了美丽的欲望。

The poor beggar goes at such a dreadful speed that he bleeds beneath the eyes, and his feet burn."

这个可怜的乞丐走得太快了，他的眼睛下面流血了，他的脚也被烧伤了。”

Dr. Cathcart, as he spoke, continued to peer uneasily into the surrounding gloom.

卡思卡特博士一边说话，一边继续不安地凝视着周围的阴暗环境。

His voice sank to a hushed tone.

他的声音变得低沉。

"The Wendigo," he added, "is said to burn his feet--owing to the friction, apparently caused by its tremendous velocity--till they drop off, and new ones form exactly like its own."

“温迪戈，”他补充道，“据说会烧伤他的脚——由于摩擦力，显然是由其巨大的速度造成的——直到它们掉下来，然后形成新的脚，就像它自己的一样。”

Simpson listened in horrified amazement; but it was the pallor on Hank's face that fascinated him most.

辛普森听着，惊恐万状。但最让他着迷的是汉克脸上的苍白。

He would willingly have stopped his ears and closed his eyes, had he dared.

如果他敢的话，他愿意堵住耳朵，闭上眼睛。

"It don't always keep to the ground neither," came in Hank's slow, heavy drawl, "for it goes so high that he thinks the stars have set him all a-fire.

“它也不总是停留在地面上，”汉克用缓慢而沉重的腔调说道，“因为它飞得如此之高，以至于他认为星星已经把他点燃了。

An' it'll take great thumpin' jumps sometimes, an' run along the tops of the trees, carrying its partner with it, an' then droppin' him jest as a fish hawk'll drop a pickerel to kill it before eatin'.

有时它会猛烈地跳跃，带着它的伙伴沿着树顶奔跑，然后对他开玩笑，就像鱼鹰在吃东西之前会扔下一条梭鱼杀死它一样。

An' its food, of all the muck in the whole Bush is--moss!" And he laughed a short, unnatural laugh.

在整个丛林的所有淤泥中，它的食物是——苔藓！”他笑了一声，短促、不自然。

"It's a moss-eater, is the Wendigo," he added, looking up excitedly into the faces of his companions.

“它是一种食苔藓的动物，就是温迪戈，”他补充道，兴奋地抬头看着同伴们的脸。

"Moss-eater," he repeated, with a string of the most outlandish oaths he could invent.

“食苔藓。”他重复道，并说出了一连串他能发明的最古怪的誓言。

But Simpson now understood the true purpose of all this talk.

但辛普森现在明白了所有这些谈话的真正目的。

What these two men, each strong and "experienced" in his own way, dreaded more than anything else was--silence.

这两个男人，各自坚强，并以自己的方式“经历”，最害怕的是——沉默。

They were talking against time.

他们正在争分夺秒地交谈。

They were also talking against darkness, against the invasion of panic, against the admission reflection might bring that they were in an enemy's country--against anything, in fact, rather than allow their inmost thoughts to assume control.

他们也在谈论反对黑暗，反对恐慌的入侵，反对承认反思可能会让他们身处敌人的国家——事实上，反对任何事情，而不是让他们内心的思想占据控制权。

He himself, already initiated by the awful vigil with terror, was beyond both of them in this respect.

他本人已经因恐惧而陷入可怕的守夜状态，在这方面超出了他们两人。

He had reached the stage where he was immune.

他已经到了可以免疫的地步了。

But these two, the scoffing, analytical doctor, and the honest, dogged backwoodsman, each sat trembling in the depths of his being.

但这两个人，一个是嘲笑的、善于分析的医生，另一个是诚实、顽强的乡下人，每个人的内心深处都在颤抖。

Thus the hours passed; and thus, with lowered voices and a kind of taut inner resistance of spirit, this little group of humanity sat in the jaws of the wilderness and talked foolishly of the terrible and haunting legend.

几个小时就这样过去了。于是，这一小群人类就这样，压低了声音，带着一种内心紧张的精神抗拒，坐在荒野的口中，愚蠢地谈论着这个可怕而令人难以忘怀的传说。

It was an unequal contest, all things considered, for the wilderness had already the advantage of first attack--and of a hostage.

从各方面考虑，这是一场不平等的竞赛，因为荒野已经占据了先发制人的优势，而且还有人质。

The fate of their comrade hung over them with a steadily increasing weight of oppression that finally became insupportable.

他们战友的命运笼罩着他们，压迫的压力不断增加，最终变得难以忍受。

It was Hank, after a pause longer than the preceding ones that no one seemed able to break, who first let loose all this pent-up emotion in very unexpected fashion, by springing suddenly to his feet and letting out the most ear-shattering yell imaginable into the night.

是汉克，在比之前的停顿时间更长、似乎无人能打破的停顿之后，他首先以非常出人意料的方式释放了所有压抑的情绪，突然跳了起来，在夜色中发出了可以想象到的最震耳欲聋的叫喊。

He could not contain himself any longer, it seemed.

他似乎再也无法控制自己了。

To make it carry even beyond an ordinary cry he interrupted its rhythm by shaking the palm of his hand before his mouth.

为了让它比普通的哭声更有意义，他在嘴前晃动手掌，打断了哭声的节奏。

"That's for Défago," he said, looking down at the other two with a queer, defiant laugh, "for it's my belief"--the sandwiched oaths may be omitted--"that my ole partner's not far from us at this very minute."

“那是给德法戈的，”他说，低头看着另外两个人，带着一种奇怪、挑衅的笑声，“因为我相信”——夹在中间的誓言可以省略——“我的老搭档此时此刻就离我们不远了。”

There was a vehemence and recklessness about his performance that made Simpson, too, start to his feet in amazement, and betrayed even the doctor into letting the pipe slip from between his lips.

他的表演充满了激烈和鲁莽，让辛普森也惊讶地站了起来，甚至背叛了医生，让烟斗从他的嘴唇间滑落。

Hank's face was ghastly, but Cathcart's showed a sudden weakness--a loosening of all his faculties, as it were.

汉克的脸色惨不忍睹，但卡思卡特的脸色却突然显露出一丝虚弱——可以说是他所有的能力都松动了。

Then a momentary anger blazed into his eyes, and he too, though with deliberation born of habitual self-control, got upon his feet and faced the excited guide.

然后，他的眼中闪现出一瞬间的愤怒，尽管出于习惯性的自我控制，他也从容地站了起来，面对着兴奋的向导。

For this was unpermissible, foolish, dangerous, and he meant to stop it in the bud.

因为这是不允许的、愚蠢的、危险的，他打算将其阻止在萌芽状态。

What might have happened in the next minute or two one may speculate about, yet never definitely know, for in the instant of profound silence that followed Hank's roaring voice, and as though in answer to it, something went past through the darkness of the sky overhead at terrific speed--something of necessity very large, for it displaced much air, while down between the trees there fell a faint and windy cry of a human voice, calling in tones of indescribable anguish and appeal--

接下来的一两分钟会发生什么，人们可能会猜测，但永远无法确切知道，因为在汉克咆哮的声音之后的瞬间，仿佛在回应它，有什么东西以惊人的速度穿过头顶的黑暗天空——一定是非常大的东西，因为它排开了很多空气，而在树林之间，传来了微弱而风大的人声呼喊，呼唤着难以形容的痛苦和哀求的语气——

"Oh, oh!

“哦，哦！

This fiery height!

这火热的高度！

Oh, oh!

哦，哦！

My feet of fire!

我的双脚着火了！

My burning feet of fire!"

我燃烧的双脚！”

White to the very edge of his shirt, Hank looked stupidly about him like a child.

汉克的衬衫边缘都白了，他傻乎乎地看着自己，就像个孩子。

Dr. Cathcart uttered some kind of unintelligible cry, turning as he did so with an instinctive movement of blind terror towards the protection of the tent, then halting in the act as though frozen.

卡思卡特博士发出了某种难以理解的叫喊声，他本能地、盲目地恐惧，转过身去保护帐篷，然后停了下来，仿佛被冻结了。

Simpson, alone of the three, retained his presence of mind a little.

辛普森是三人中唯一保持着一点冷静的人。

His own horror was too deep to allow of any immediate reaction.

他自己的恐惧太深了，无法立即做出任何反应。

He had heard that cry before.

他以前听过那声哭声。

Turning to his stricken companions, he said almost calmly--

他转向受伤的同伴，几乎平静地说——

"That's exactly the cry I heard--the very words he used!"

“这正是我听到的哭声——他用的正是这句话！”

Then, lifting his face to the sky, he cried aloud, "Défago, Défago!

然后，他仰面朝天，大声喊道：“德法戈，德法戈！

Come down here to us!

到我们这儿来吧！

Come down--!"

下来——！”

And before there was time for anybody to take definite action one way or another, there came the sound of something dropping heavily between the trees, striking the branches on the way down, and landing with a dreadful thud upon the frozen earth below.

还没等大家采取明确的行动，树林间就传来了某种东西重重坠落的声音，撞击着掉落的树枝，然后一声可怕的撞击落在下面冰冻的土地上。

The crash and thunder of it was really terrific.

其轰鸣声和雷鸣声实在是太可怕了。

"That's him, s'help me the good Gawd!" came from Hank in a whispering cry half choked, his hand going automatically toward the hunting knife in his belt.

“就是他，救救我吧，上帝啊！”汉克半哽咽地低声喊道，他的手自动伸向腰带上的猎刀。

"And he's coming!

“而且他来了！

He's coming!" he added, with an irrational laugh of horror, as the sounds of heavy footsteps crunching over the snow became distinctly audible, approaching through the blackness towards the circle of light.

他来了！”他补充道，伴随着一阵莫名的恐惧大笑，沉重的脚步声踩在雪地上的嘎吱声变得清晰可闻，穿过黑暗向光环靠近。

And while the steps, with their stumbling motion, moved nearer and nearer upon them, the three men stood round that fire, motionless and dumb.

当脚步声跌跌撞撞地向他们越来越近时，三个人站在火边，一动不动，一言不发。

Dr. Cathcart had the appearance of a man suddenly withered; even his eyes did not move.

卡思卡特医生看上去就像一个突然枯萎的人。连眼睛都没有动。

Hank, suffering shockingly, seemed on the verge again of violent action; yet did nothing.

汉克遭受了令人震惊的痛苦，似乎又要采取暴力行动了。但什么也没做。

He, too, was hewn of stone.

他也是用石头凿成的。

Like stricken children they seemed.

他们看起来就像受苦受难的孩子。

The picture was hideous.

画面太可怕了。

And, meanwhile, their owner still invisible, the footsteps came closer, crunching the frozen snow.

与此同时，他们的主人仍然看不见，脚步声越来越近，踩碎了冰冻的雪。

It was endless--too prolonged to be quite real--this measured and pitiless approach.

这种谨慎而无情的做法是无穷无尽的——太长了，不太真实。

It was accursed.

它被诅咒了。

VIII

八

Then at length the darkness, having thus laboriously conceived, brought forth--a figure.

黑暗经过如此艰苦的孕育，终于诞生了——一个人影。

It drew forward into the zone of uncertain light where fire and shadows mingled, not ten feet away; then halted, staring at them fixedly.

它向前驶入了不到十英尺远的、火与影交融的、光线不确定的区域。然后停了下来，定定地看着他们。

The same instant it started forward again with the spasmodic motion as of a thing moved by wires, and coming up closer to them, full into the glare of the fire, they perceived then that--it was a man; and apparently that this man was--Défago.

就在同一瞬间，它再次开始向前移动，就像一个由电线移动的物体一样痉挛性运动，并靠近他们，完全融入火光中，然后他们意识到 - 这是一个人；显然这个人就是——德法戈。

Something like a skin of horror almost perceptibly drew down in that moment over every face, and three pairs of eyes shone through it as though they saw across the frontiers of normal vision into the Unknown.

那一刻，一张恐怖的皮肤几乎明显地笼罩在每张脸上，三双眼睛透过它闪闪发光，仿佛他们跨越了正常视觉的边界，看到了未知的事物。

Défago advanced, his tread faltering and uncertain; he made his way straight up to them as a group first, then turned sharply and peered close into the face of Simpson.

德法戈向前走去，他的脚步摇摇欲坠、犹豫不决。他首先径直走向他们，然后猛地转身，近距离地凝视着辛普森的脸。

The sound of a voice issued from his lips--

一个声音从他的唇中发出——

"Here I am, Boss Simpson.

“我在这里，辛普森老板。

I heered someone calling me." It was a faint, dried up voice, made wheezy and breathless as by immense exertion.

我听到有人叫我。”那声音微弱、干涸，带着喘息和气喘吁吁的感觉，像是因为用力过猛。

"I'm havin' a reg'lar hellfire kind of a trip, I am." And he laughed, thrusting his head forward into the other's face.

“我正在经历一场常规的地狱之火之旅，我是的。”他笑了，把头伸到对方的脸上。

But that laugh started the machinery of the group of waxwork figures with the wax-white skins.

但那笑声却启动了那群有着蜡白皮肤的蜡像的机械装置。

Hank immediately sprang forward with a stream of oaths so farfetched that Simpson did not recognize them as English at all, but thought he had lapsed into Indian or some other lingo.

汉克立即跳上前，说出一连串牵强的誓言，辛普森根本不知道这些誓言是英国人，而是认为他已经说起了印度语或其他行话。

He only realized that Hank's presence, thrust thus between them, was welcome--uncommonly welcome.

他只意识到汉克的出现，夹在他们之间，是受欢迎的——非同寻常的受欢迎。

Dr. Cathcart, though more calmly and leisurely, advanced behind him, heavily stumbling.

卡思卡特医生虽然更加平静和悠闲，但还是在他身后前进，跌跌撞撞地走着。

Simpson seems hazy as to what was actually said and done in those next few seconds, for the eyes of that detestable and blasted visage peering at such close quarters into his own utterly bewildered his senses at first.

辛普森似乎不知道在接下来的几秒钟里到底说了些什么、做了什么，因为那张可憎的、该死的面孔如此近距离地凝视着他自己，一开始他的感官完全被迷惑了。

He merely stood still.

他只是站着不动。

He said nothing.

他什么也没说。

He had not the trained will of the older men that forced them into action in defiance of all emotional stress.

他没有像年长的男人那样训练有素的意志，迫使他们不顾一切情绪压力采取行动。

He watched them moving as behind a glass that half destroyed their reality; it was dreamlike; perverted.

他看着他们移动，就像在玻璃后面一样，这部分摧毁了他们的现实。如梦似幻；变态的。

Yet, through the torrent of Hank's meaningless phrases, he remembers hearing his uncle's tone of authority--hard and forced--saying several things about food and warmth, blankets, whisky and the rest ...

然而，通过汉克毫无意义的话语洪流，他记得听到叔叔权威的语气——严厉而强迫——说了一些关于食物和温暖、毯子、威士忌和其他的事情……

and, further, that whiffs of that penetrating, unaccustomed odor, vile yet sweetly bewildering, assailed his nostrils during all that followed.

而且，在接下来的一切过程中，那股刺鼻的、不习惯的气味，邪恶而又甜美，令人迷惑，不断地侵袭着他的鼻孔。

It was no less a person than himself, however--less experienced and adroit than the others though he was--who gave instinctive utterance to the sentence that brought a measure of relief into the ghastly situation by expressing the doubt and thought in each one's heart.

然而，正是他自己——尽管他的经验和技巧不如其他人——本能地说出了这句话，通过表达每个人内心的怀疑和想法，为可怕的情况带来了一定程度的缓解。

"It _is_--YOU, isn't it, Défago?" he asked under his breath, horror breaking his speech.

“是——你，不是吗，德法戈？”他低声问道，恐惧打断了他的话。

And at once Cathcart burst out with the loud answer before the other had time to move his lips.

卡斯卡特立刻大声回答，对方还没来得及动动嘴唇。

"Of course it is!

“当然是！

Of course it is!

当然是！

Only--can't you see--he's nearly dead with exhaustion, cold and terror!

只是——你看不出来吗——他因疲惫、寒冷和恐惧而几乎死去！

Isn't _that_ enough to change a man beyond all recognition?" It was said in order to convince himself as much as to convince the others.

难道这还不足以让一个人变得面目全非吗？”这么说，既是为了说服自己，也是为了说服别人。

The overemphasis alone proved that.

仅过分强调就证明了这一点。

And continually, while he spoke and acted, he held a handkerchief to his nose.

当他说话和行动时，他不断地用手帕捂住鼻子。

That odor pervaded the whole camp.

整个营地都弥漫着这种臭味。

For the "Défago" who sat huddled by the big fire, wrapped in blankets, drinking hot whisky and holding food in wasted hands, was no more like the guide they had last seen alive than the picture of a man of sixty is like a daguerreotype of his early youth in the costume of another generation.

对于“德法戈”来说，他裹着毯子，蜷缩在大火旁，喝着热威士忌，手里拿着食物，不再像他们最后一次见到的导游，就像一个六十岁男人的照片不像他年轻时穿着另一代服装的银版照片一样。

Nothing really can describe that ghastly caricature, that parody, masquerading there in the firelight as Défago.

没有什么能够真正描述那幅可怕的漫画、那幅模仿作品，在火光下伪装成德法戈。

From the ruins of the dark and awful memories he still retains, Simpson declares that the face was more animal than human, the features drawn about into wrong proportions, the skin loose and hanging, as though he had been subjected to extraordinary pressures and tensions.

辛普森仍然保留着黑暗而可怕的记忆，从他的记忆中，他宣称这张脸更像是动物而不是人类，五官的比例被绘制成错误的比例，皮肤松弛下垂，仿佛他遭受了非凡的压力和紧张。

It made him think vaguely of those bladder faces blown up by the hawkers on Ludgate Hill, that change their expression as they swell, and as they collapse emit a faint and wailing imitation of a voice.

这让他隐约想起了拉德盖特山上那些被小贩吹爆的膀胱脸，它们膨胀时改变了表情，倒下时发出微弱的、哀号般的模仿声音。

Both face and voice suggested some such abominable resemblance.

无论是面容还是声音都表现出如此令人厌恶的相似之处。

But Cathcart long afterwards, seeking to describe the indescribable, asserts that thus might have looked a face and body that had been in air so rarified that, the weight of atmosphere being removed, the entire structure threatened to fly asunder and become--_incoherent_....

但卡思卡特很久之后，试图描述难以描述的事物，断言，这样看起来可能是一张在空气中的脸和身体如此稀薄，以至于大气的重量被移除，整个结构面临着飞散并变得——不连贯的……的危险。

It was Hank, though all distraught and shaking with a tearing volume of emotion he could neither handle nor understand, who brought things to a head without much ado.

汉克尽管心烦意乱，因他无法处理也无法理解的情感而颤抖，但他毫不费力地将事情推向了紧要关头。

He went off to a little distance from the fire, apparently so that the light should not dazzle him too much, and shading his eyes for a moment with both hands, shouted in a loud voice that held anger and affection dreadfully mingled:

他走到离火不远的地方，显然是为了不让光线太刺眼，然后用双手遮住眼睛片刻，大声喊道：

"You ain't Défaygo!

“你不是德法戈！

You ain't Défaygo at all!

你根本就不是德法戈！

I don't give a--damn, but that ain't you, my ole pal of twenty years!" He glared upon the huddled figure as though he would destroy him with his eyes.

我才不在乎——该死，但这不是你，我二十年的老朋友！”他怒视着这个蜷缩在一起的身影，仿佛要用目光毁灭他。

"An' if it is I'll swab the floor of hell with a wad of cotton wool on a toothpick, s'help me the good Gawd!" he added, with a violent fling of horror and disgust.

“如果是的话，我会用牙签上的一团棉绒擦拭地狱的地板，请帮助我，上帝啊！”他补充道，语气中充满了强烈的恐惧和厌恶。

It was impossible to silence him.

让他保持沉默是不可能的。

He stood there shouting like one possessed, horrible to see, horrible to hear--_because it was the truth_.

他站在那里像着了魔一样大喊大叫，看起来很可怕，听着也很可怕——因为这是事实。

He repeated himself in fifty different ways, each more outlandish than the last.

他用五十种不同的方式重复自己，每一种都比上一种更古怪。

The woods rang with echoes.

树林里响起了回声。

At one time it looked as if he meant to fling himself upon "the intruder," for his hand continually jerked towards the long hunting knife in his belt.

有一次，他似乎打算扑向“入侵者”，因为他的手不断地伸向腰带上的长猎刀。

But in the end he did nothing, and the whole tempest completed itself very shortly with tears.

但最终他什么也没做，整个暴风雨很快就在泪水中结束了。

Hank's voice suddenly broke, he collapsed on the ground, and Cathcart somehow or other persuaded him at last to go into the tent and lie quiet.

汉克的声音突然断了，他倒在了地上，卡思卡特不知何故终于说服了他进帐篷安静地躺着。

The remainder of the affair, indeed, was witnessed by him from behind the canvas, his white and terrified face peeping through the crack of the tent door flap.

事实上，接下来的事情他都在帆布后面亲眼目睹，他那张苍白而惊恐的脸从帐篷门瓣的缝隙中探出头来。

Then Dr. Cathcart, closely followed by his nephew who so far had kept his courage better than all of them, went up with a determined air and stood opposite to the figure of Défago huddled over the fire.

然后，卡思卡特医生带着坚定的神情走上前去，站在蜷缩在火边的德法戈的对面，他的侄子迄今为止比他们所有人都保持着更大的勇气。

He looked him squarely in the face and spoke.

他直视着他的脸，开口说道。

At first his voice was firm.

一开始他的语气很坚定。

"Défago, tell us what's happened--just a little, so that we can know how best to help you?" he asked in a tone of authority, almost of command.

“德法戈，告诉我们发生了什么事——只是一点点，以便我们知道如何最好地帮助你？”他用一种权威、几乎是命令的语气问道。

And at that point, it _was_ command.

那时，它就是命令。

At once afterwards, however, it changed in quality, for the figure turned up to him a face so piteous, so terrible and so little like humanity, that the doctor shrank back from him as from something spiritually unclean.

然而，紧接着，它的性质就发生了变化，因为这个人物在他面前出现了一张如此可怜、如此可怕、如此不像人性的脸，以至于医生从他面前退缩了，就像躲避精神上不洁的东西一样。

Simpson, watching close behind him, says he got the impression of a mask that was on the verge of dropping off, and that underneath they would discover something black and diabolical, revealed in utter nakedness.

辛普森在他身后密切注视着他，他说他的印象是一个即将脱落的面具，在下面他们会发现一些黑色和邪恶的东西，完全赤裸裸地暴露出来。

"Out with it, man, out with it!" Cathcart cried, terror running neck and neck with entreaty.

“别这样，伙计，别这样！”卡思卡特叫道，恐惧与恳求并驾齐驱。

"None of us can stand this much longer ...!" It was the cry of instinct over reason.

“我们谁都不能忍受这么久……！”这是本能战胜理性的呼喊。

And then "Défago," smiling _whitely_, answered in that thin and fading voice that already seemed passing over into a sound of quite another character--

然后“德法戈”，苍白地微笑着，用那微弱而渐弱的声音回答，那声音似乎已经转变为完全不同的性格的声音——

"I seen that great Wendigo thing," he whispered, sniffing the air about him exactly like an animal.

“我看到了那个伟大的温迪戈，”他低声说道，像动物一样嗅着周围的空气。

"I been with it too--"

“我也经历过——”

Whether the poor devil would have said more, or whether Dr. Cathcart would have continued the impossible cross examination cannot be known, for at that moment the voice of Hank was heard yelling at the top of his voice from behind the canvas that concealed all but his terrified eyes.

那个可怜的家伙是否会说更多，或者卡思卡特医生是否会继续进行不可能的盘问，我们不得而知，因为就在那一刻，汉克的声音从画布后面大声喊叫，除了他惊恐的眼睛之外，画布掩盖了一切。

Such a howling was never heard.

从来没有听到过这样的嚎叫声。

"His feet!

“他的脚！

Oh, Gawd, his feet!

哦，天哪，他的脚！

Look at his great changed--feet!"

看看他的变化很大——脚！”

Défago, shuffling where he sat, had moved in such a way that for the first time his legs were in full light and his feet were visible.

德法戈在他坐着的地方拖着脚走，他的动作第一次让他的双腿完全暴露在阳光下，他的脚也清晰可见。

Yet Simpson had no time, himself, to see properly what Hank had seen.

然而辛普森本人却没有时间仔细观察汉克所看到的一切。

And Hank has never seen fit to tell.

汉克从来不认为有合适的说法。

That same instant, with a leap like that of a frightened tiger, Cathcart was upon him, bundling the folds of blanket about his legs with such speed that the young student caught little more than a passing glimpse of something dark and oddly massed where moccasined feet ought to have been, and saw even that but with uncertain vision.

就在同一瞬间，卡思卡特像受惊的老虎一样猛地一跃，扑到了他身上，用如此快的速度把毯子的褶皱裹在他的腿上，这位年轻的学生只是瞥见了一些黑色的东西，奇怪地聚集在鹿皮鞋的脚应该在的地方，甚至看到了那个，但视力不确定。

Then, before the doctor had time to do more, or Simpson time to even think a question, much less ask it, Défago was standing upright in front of them, balancing with pain and difficulty, and upon his shapeless and twisted visage an expression so dark and so malicious that it was, in the true sense, monstrous.

然后，在医生有时间做更多事情，或者辛普森有时间思考问题，更不用说提出问题之前，德法戈在他们面前笔直地站着，在痛苦和困难中保持平衡，在他那不成形、扭曲的脸上，表情如此阴暗、如此恶毒，以至于真正意义上的可怕。

"Now _you_ seen it too," he wheezed, "you seen my fiery, burning feet!

“现在你也看到了，”他喘着气说，“你看到了我火热的、燃烧的脚！

And now--that is, unless you kin save me an' prevent--it's 'bout time for--"

现在——也就是说，除非你能救我并阻止——现在是时候——”

His piteous and beseeching voice was interrupted by a sound that was like the roar of wind coming across the lake.

他那可怜又哀求的声音，被湖面风啸般的声音打断了。

The trees overhead shook their tangled branches.

头顶上的树木摇晃着缠结的树枝。

The blazing fire bent its flames as before a blast.

炽热的火焰像爆炸前一样弯曲了火焰。

And something swept with a terrific, rushing noise about the little camp and seemed to surround it entirely in a single moment of time.

有什么东西带着可怕的、急促的噪音席卷了这个小营地，似乎在一瞬间就把它完全包围了。

Défago shook the clinging blankets from his body, turned towards the woods behind, and with the same stumbling motion that had brought him--was gone: gone, before anyone could move muscle to prevent him, gone with an amazing, blundering swiftness that left no time to act.

德法戈抖掉身上紧贴的毯子，转向身后的树林，以同样的跌跌撞撞的动作让他——消失了：在任何人都可以移动肌肉来阻止他之前，就消失了，以一种惊人的、笨拙的速度消失了，没有时间采取行动。

The darkness positively swallowed him; and less than a dozen seconds later, above the roar of the swaying trees and the shout of the sudden wind, all three men, watching and listening with stricken hearts, heard a cry that seemed to drop down upon them from a great height of sky and distance--

黑暗确实把他吞没了。不到十几秒后，在树木摇曳的轰鸣声和突如其来的风的呼啸声中，三个人都心惊肉跳地观看和聆听，听到一声呼喊，似乎从高远的天空和远处落在他们身上——

"Oh, oh!

“哦，哦！

This fiery height!

这火热的高度！

Oh, oh!

哦，哦！

My feet of fire!

我的双脚着火了！

My burning feet of fire ...!" then died away, into untold space and silence.

我燃烧的双脚……！”然后消失，进入无尽的空间和寂静。

Dr. Cathcart--suddenly master of himself, and therefore of the others--was just able to seize Hank violently by the arm as he tried to dash headlong into the Bush.

卡思卡特博士突然控制住了自己，也控制了其他人，当汉克试图冲进灌木丛时，他猛烈地抓住了他的手臂。

"But I want ter know,--you!" shrieked the guide.

“但我想知道，——你！”导游尖叫道。

"I want ter see!

“我想看！

That ain't him at all, but some--devil that's shunted into his place ...!"

那根本不是他，而是某个被转移到他位置上的——魔鬼……！”

Somehow or other--he admits he never quite knew how he accomplished it--he managed to keep him in the tent and pacify him.

不知何故——他承认他从来不知道自己是如何做到的——他设法把他留在帐篷里并安抚他。

The doctor, apparently, had reached the stage where reaction had set in and allowed his own innate force to conquer.

显然，医生已经到了反应开始的阶段，并允许他自己的内在力量征服。

Certainly he "managed" Hank admirably.

当然，他“管理”汉克的能力令人钦佩。

It was his nephew, however, hitherto so wonderfully controlled, who gave him most cause for anxiety, for the cumulative strain had now produced a condition of lachrymose hysteria which made it necessary to isolate him upon a bed of boughs and blankets as far removed from Hank as was possible under the circumstances.

然而，到目前为止，他的侄子一直控制得很好，这让他最焦虑，因为累积的压力现在已经产生了一种流泪歇斯底里的状态，这使得有必要把他隔离在一张用树枝和毯子铺成的床上，在这种情况下尽可能远离汉克。

And there he lay, as the watches of that haunted night passed over the lonely camp, crying startled sentences, and fragments of sentences, into the folds of his blanket.

他躺在那儿，当那个闹鬼的夜晚的手表掠过孤独的营地时，他在毯子的褶皱中哭喊出受惊的句子和句子的片段。

A quantity of gibberish about speed and height and fire mingled oddly with biblical memories of the classroom.

大量关于速度、高度和火的胡言乱语与圣经对教室的记忆奇怪地混合在一起。

"People with broken faces all on fire are coming at a most awful, awful, pace towards the camp!" he would moan one minute; and the next would sit up and stare into the woods, intently listening, and whisper, "How terrible in the wilderness are--are the feet of them that--" until his uncle came across to change the direction of his thoughts and comfort him.

“那些满脸破损、全身着火的人正以极其可怕、可怕的速度向营地走来！”他会呻吟一分钟；下一个会坐起来，凝视着树林，专心地听着，低声说：“荒野里有多么可怕——它们的脚——”直到他叔叔过来改变他的思绪并安慰他。

The hysteria, fortunately, proved but temporary.

幸运的是，这种歇斯底里的情绪被证明只是暂时的。

Sleep cured him, just as it cured Hank.

睡眠治愈了他，就像治愈了汉克一样。

Till the first signs of daylight came, soon after five o'clock, Dr. Cathcart kept his vigil.

直到五点刚过，卡思卡特医生一直守夜，直至天亮。

His face was the color of chalk, and there were strange flushes beneath the eyes.

他的脸色如粉笔色，眼睛下面泛着奇怪的红晕。

An appalling terror of the soul battled with his will all through those silent hours.

在那些寂静的时刻里，灵魂深处的恐惧一直在与他的意志作斗争。

These were some of the outer signs ...

这些是一些外部标志......

At dawn he lit the fire himself, made breakfast, and woke the others, and by seven they were well on their way back to the home camp--three perplexed and afflicted men, but each in his own way having reduced his inner turmoil to a condition of more or less systematized order again.

黎明时分，他亲自生火，做了早餐，叫醒了其他人，到了七点，他们就已经踏上返回营地的路了——三个困惑而痛苦的人，但每个人都以自己的方式将内心的混乱减少到或多或少系统化的秩序状态。

They talked little, and then only of the most wholesome and common things, for their minds were charged with painful thoughts that clamoured for explanation, though no one dared refer to them.

他们很少谈论，只谈论最有益健康和最常见的事情，因为他们的脑子里充满了痛苦的想法，大声要求解释，尽管没有人敢提及它们。

Hank, being nearest to primitive conditions, was the first to find himself, for he was also less complex.

汉克最接近原始条件，他是第一个发现自己的人，因为他也不那么复杂。

In Dr. Cathcart "civilization" championed his forces against an attack singular enough.

在卡思卡特博士身上，“文明”支持他的军队抵御一次足够奇特的攻击。

To this day, perhaps, he is not _quite_ sure of certain things.

也许直到今天，他对某些事情还不太确定。

Anyhow, he took longer to "find himself."

不管怎样，他花了更长的时间来“找到自己”。

Simpson, the student of divinity, it was who arranged his conclusions probably with the best, though not most scientific, appearance of order.

辛普森是神学的学生，他的结论可能是最有秩序的，尽管不是最科学的。

Out there, in the heart of unreclaimed wilderness, they had surely witnessed something crudely and essentially primitive.

在那里，在未开垦的荒野中心，他们肯定目睹了一些粗鄙且本质上原始的东西。

Something that had survived somehow the advance of humanity had emerged terrifically, betraying a scale of life still monstrous and immature.

某种在人类进步过程中幸存下来的东西已经惊人地出现了，暴露出仍然可怕和不成熟的生命规模。

He envisaged it rather as a glimpse into prehistoric ages, when superstitions, gigantic and uncouth, still oppressed the hearts of men; when the forces of nature were still untamed, the Powers that may have haunted a primeval universe not yet withdrawn.

在他看来，这更像是对史前时代的一瞥，当时巨大而粗俗的迷信仍然压迫着人们的心灵。当自然力量尚未被驯服时，可能困扰原始宇宙的力量尚未撤回。

To this day he thinks of what he termed years later in a sermon "savage and formidable Potencies lurking behind the souls of men, not evil perhaps in themselves, yet instinctively hostile to humanity as it exists."

直到今天，他仍想起多年后他在一次布道中所说的“潜伏在人类灵魂背后的野蛮而强大的力量，它们本身也许并不邪恶，但本能地对人类存在的敌意。”

With his uncle he never discussed the matter in detail, for the barrier between the two types of mind made it difficult.

他从未与他的叔叔详细讨论过这个问题，因为两种思维之间的障碍使这件事变得困难。

Only once, years later, something led them to the frontier of the subject--of a single detail of the subject, rather--

几年后，只有一次，某种东西引导他们到达了这个主题的前沿——更确切地说，是这个主题的一个细节——

"Can't you even tell me what--_they_ were like?" he asked; and the reply, though conceived in wisdom, was not encouraging, "It is far better you should not try to know, or to find out."

“你就不能告诉我——他们是什么样子吗？”他问道；他的回答虽然充满智慧，但并不令人鼓舞：“你最好不要试图去了解或找出答案。”

"Well--that odour...?" persisted the nephew.

“呃——那个气味……？”侄子坚持说。

"What do you make of that?"

“你对此有何看法？”

Dr. Cathcart looked at him and raised his eyebrows.

卡思卡特医生看着他，扬起了眉毛。

"Odours," he replied, "are not so easy as sounds and sights of telepathic communication.

“气味，”他回答道，“并不像心灵感应交流的声音和景象那么容易。

I make as much, or as little, probably, as you do yourself."

我赚的钱可能和你一样多，也可能和你一样少。”

He was not quite so glib as usual with his explanations.

他的解释不像平常那​​么圆滑。

That was all.

仅此而已。

* * * * *

** ** ** **

At the fall of day, cold, exhausted, famished, the party came to the end of the long portage and dragged themselves into a camp that at first glimpse seemed empty.

黄昏时分，寒冷、疲惫、饥饿，一行人来到了漫长运输的尽头，拖着脚步走进了一个乍一看似乎空无一人的营地。

Fire there was none, and no Punk came forward to welcome them.

没有火，也没有朋克上前欢迎他们。

The emotional capacity of all three was too over-spent to recognize either surprise or annoyance; but the cry of spontaneous affection that burst from the lips of Hank, as he rushed ahead of them towards the fire-place, came probably as a warning that the end of the amazing affair was not quite yet.

三个人的情感能力都已经过度消耗，无法识别出惊讶或烦恼。但是，当汉克抢在他们前面冲向壁炉时，他嘴里爆发出自发的爱意的呼喊，这可能是一个警告，表明这桩令人惊奇的事件还没有结束。

And both Cathcart and his nephew confessed afterwards that when they saw him kneel down in his excitement and embrace something that reclined, gently moving, beside the extinguished ashes, they felt in their very bones that this "something" would prove to be Défago--the true Défago, returned.

卡思卡特和他的侄子事后都承认，当他们看到他兴奋地跪下，拥抱熄灭的灰烬旁边斜倚着、轻轻移动的东西时，他们从骨子里感觉到，这个“东西”将被证明是德法戈——真正的德法戈，回来了。

And so, indeed, it was.

确实如此。

It is soon told.

很快就被告知了。

Exhausted to the point of emaciation, the French Canadian--what was left of him, that is--fumbled among the ashes, trying to make a fire.

疲惫不堪的法裔加拿大人——他仅存的身体——在灰烬中摸索着，试图生火。

His body crouched there, the weak fingers obeying feebly the instinctive habit of a lifetime with twigs and matches.

他的身体蹲在那里，虚弱的手指无力地遵循着一生中用树枝和火柴的本能习惯。

But there was no longer any mind to direct the simple operation.

但已经没有心思指挥这个简单的操作了。

The mind had fled beyond recall.

思绪已经逃得无法回忆。

And with it, too, had fled memory.

记忆也随之消失。

Not only recent events, but all previous life was a blank.

不仅是最近发生的事情，就连前世的一切都是一片空白。

This time it was the real man, though incredibly and horribly shrunken.

这次是真正的男人，尽管缩小得令人难以置信且可怕。

On his face was no expression of any kind whatever--fear, welcome, or recognition.

他的脸上没有任何表情——恐惧、欢迎或认可。

He did not seem to know who it was that embraced him, or who it was that fed, warmed and spoke to him the words of comfort and relief.

他似乎不知道是谁拥抱了他，也不知道是谁给他喂食、温暖，并对他说着安慰和解脱的话。

Forlorn and broken beyond all reach of human aid, the little man did meekly as he was bidden.

这个小个子人孤苦伶仃，无法获得任何人类的援助，他温顺地按照命令行事。

The "something" that had constituted him "individual" had vanished for ever.

构成他“个人”的“某种东西”已经永远消失了。

In some ways it was more terribly moving than anything they had yet seen--that idiot smile as he drew wads of coarse moss from his swollen cheeks and told them that he was "a damned moss-eater"; the continued vomiting of even the simplest food; and, worst of all, the piteous and childish voice of complaint in which he told them that his feet pained him--"burn like fire"--which was natural enough when Dr. Cathcart examined them and found that both were dreadfully frozen.

从某些方面来说，这比他们见过的任何事情都更令人感动——当他从肿胀的脸颊上抽出一团团粗糙的苔藓并告诉他们他是“一个该死的苔藓食者”时，那白痴的微笑;即使是最简单的食物也会持续呕吐；最糟糕的是，他用可怜而幼稚的抱怨声告诉他们，他的脚让他感到疼痛——“像火一样燃烧”——当卡思卡特医生检查他们并发现两人都冻得可怕时，这是很自然的。

Beneath the eyes there were faint indications of recent bleeding.

眼睛下方有微弱的迹象，表明最近有流血。

The details of how he survived the prolonged exposure, of where he had been, or of how he covered the great distance from one camp to the other, including an immense detour of the lake on foot since he had no canoe--all this remains unknown.

他如何在长时间的暴露下幸存下来，他去过哪里，或者他如何从一个营地到另一个营地的很长一段距离，包括因为他没有独木舟而徒步绕湖一周的细节——所有这些仍然未知。

His memory had vanished completely.

他的记忆完全消失了。

And before the end of the winter whose beginning witnessed this strange occurrence, Défago, bereft of mind, memory and soul, had gone with it.

在见证了这一奇怪事件的冬天结束之前，德法戈失去了理智、记忆和灵魂，也随之消失了。

He lingered only a few weeks.

他只逗留了几个星期。

And what Punk was able to contribute to the story throws no further light upon it.

朋克对这个故事的贡献并没有进一步阐明。

He was cleaning fish by the lake shore about five o'clock in the evening--an hour, that is, before the search party returned--when he saw this shadow of the guide picking its way weakly into camp.

傍晚五点左右，也就是搜索队返回前的一个小时，他正在湖边清理鱼，这时他看到了向导的影子，有气无力地走进了营地。

In advance of him, he declares, came the faint whiff of a certain singular odour.

他声称，在他面前传来了某种奇异气味的微弱气味。

That same instant old Punk started for home.

就在同一时刻，老朋克开始回家了。

He covered the entire journey of three days as only Indian blood could have covered it.

他走完了三天的路程，只有印第安人的血才能走完这趟旅程。

The terror of a whole race drove him.

整个比赛的恐惧驱使着他。

He knew what it all meant.

他知道这一切意味着什么。

Défago had "seen the Wendigo."

德法戈“看到了温迪戈”。