牛津书虫系列 金银岛 9 The man of the island

9 The man of the island

9 岛中人

But almost immediately I ran into a new danger.As I ran, I heard some small stones falling from the side of a steep hill. I stopped to look round, and saw a figure jump quickly behind a tree.Frightened, I turned back towards the boats, but the figure appeared again and moved with the speedof an animal. But it was a man, I knew that now.

几乎是在同时，我又碰到了新的危险。在我跑的时候，我听见许多石块从陡峭的山坡上纷纷落下。我停下脚步环视，看见一个身影迅捷地跳到一棵树后。我很害怕，转身向船跑去，那个身影又出现了，跑得和野兽一样快。这回我看清楚了，那是一个人。

I remembered I had a pistol if I needed it, and turned back towards this man of the island. He was hiding behind another tree but stepped out to meet me.

我忽然想起我带着枪，于是我转过身去面对那个岛中人。他正躲在一棵树后面，这时他走出来面对着我。

‘Who are you ?I asked, staring at him.

“你是什么人?”我盯着他问。

‘Ben Gunn ,’he answered, and his voice sounded rough andstrange .His skin was burnt nearly black by the sun and his clothes were made from pieces of a ship's sail.‘Poor Ben Gunn,’he went on.‘Alone for three years.’

“本·葛恩，”他说，声音沙哑而怪异。他的皮肤被晒黑了，衣服是船帆的破布条。“我是可怜的本·葛恩，”他继续说，“我一个人在这儿三年了。”

‘Were you shipwrecked?’I asked.

“你的船遇难了吗?”我问道。

‘No ,my friend,’he said.‘Marooned.’

“不是，我的朋友，”他说，“是流放。”

I had heard the word before, and knew it meant a cruel pun-ishment often used by pirates-leaving a man alone on some distant, empty island.

我听说过这个词，知道是海盗们使用的一种残酷的惩罚手段——受罚者被放逐到一个遥远的荒岛上。

‘Marooned three years, he continued,‘ living on wild goats and fish. But I'm desperate for real English food. You don't have a piece of cheese, do you? Many nights I've dreamed of cheese.’

“三年前我被放逐到这里，”他继续说，“从此一直靠吃野山羊和生鱼过活。但我多么想吃真正的英国饭啊!你是不是带着干酪什么的?我不知多少个夜晚都梦见过干酪。”

‘If I can get on board ship again, ’I said, ‘you can have as much cheese as you want.’

“我要是能回到船上去，”我说，“你要多少干酪都可以。”

‘Who's going to prevent you?’he said.‘And tell me your name.

“那么谁不让你回去呢?”他说。“还有，你叫什么名字?”

‘Jim,’I told him.

“吉姆，”我告诉他。

‘Well, Jim,’he said, looking around and lowering his voice to a whisper, ‘I'm rich.’I was now sure the poor man was crazy ,but he repeated his words.‘Rich, I say! Now ,Jim ,that isn't Flint's ship, is it?’

“那好，吉姆，”他说，他四处张望了一下，把嗓门压低了，“我发财啦!”我确信他一定是疯了，可他重复他的话：“我发财啦!吉姆，那是不是弗林特的船?”

I began to think that I had found a friend, and I answered him at once.‘It's not Flint's ship. Flint is dead, but there are some of Flint's men aboard, and that's bad news for us.’

我意识到我找到了一位朋友，我马上告诉他：“那不是弗林特的船，弗林特已经死了，但船上有几个是弗林特的同伙，这是个不幸的消息。”

‘A man with one leg?’he asked, fear in his voice.

“他们中有个一条腿的人吗?”他问，声音中有恐惧。

‘Silver?’I asked.

“西尔弗吧?”我问。

‘Yes ,Silver,’he said,‘that was his name.’

“对，这就是他的名字。”

‘He's the cook, and their leader ,too.’ And I told him the whole story of our voyage, and the danger we were now in.

“他是船上的厨子，也是那帮人的头头。”我把这次航行的来龙去脉都讲给他听，也告诉他我们的危险处境。

‘You're in trouble, Jim,’he said when I'd finished.‘Well, Ben Gunn will help you. Will your squire be generous if I do, do you think? I don't want him to give me a job, but will he give me one thousand pounds out of money that's really mine?’

“你们很危险，吉姆，”他说。“不过，本·葛恩会帮你们的。如果我帮你们脱险，那位乡绅先生会不会比较慷慨?我的意思不是让他给我一个工作。能不能让他从本来就是我的钱中拿出1000英镑来作为酬劳?”

‘I'm sure he will,’I said.

“我相信他一定愿意，”我说。

‘And take me home on your ship?’

“而且让我坐你们的船回去?”

‘If we can escape from the others,’I told him,‘we'll need your help to get the ship home.’

“如果我们能摆脱他们的话，”我告诉他，“我们也需要你把船开回去。”

He seemed happy with this.‘I was in Flint's ship when he and six seamen hid the treasure，’he said.‘They were on shore nearly a week，then Flint came back alone.Not a man on board could guess how he had killed the others.Then I was in another ship，three years ago，and we saw this island.“Boys，”I said，“let's go ashore and find Flint's treasure.”Twelve days we searched，and the men got angrier with me every day.Then they went back to the ship.“Ben Gunn，”they said，“you can stay here and find Flint's money.Here's a gun，a spade and an axe.”Well，Jim，I've been here for three years，and no real food from that day to this.But I've found things to do，oh yes!’Here he closed one eye and smiled at me.‘Now go to your squire and tell him Ben Gunn is a good man.

他似乎对我的承诺很满意。“弗林特和六个船员藏宝的时候我正在船上，”他说。“他们上岸有一星期左右，结果只有弗林特一个人回来了。船上的人谁也不知道他怎样干掉了其余的人。三年前，我在另一条船上，我们看见了这个岛。‘伙计们，’我说，这里有弗林特的宝藏，我们上岸去找吧。’我们找了12天，大家一天比一天恨我。直到有一天，他们都回到船上。‘本·葛恩，’他们说，‘给你一枝枪，一把铲和一把斧头。你留在这儿找弗林特的宝藏吧。’就这样，吉姆，我在这里呆了三年，我没吃过一顿正经的饭。但我找到了我可做的事!”说到这儿，他闭上一只眼睛，冲我笑。“你去告诉乡绅，本·葛恩是个好人。”

‘I will，’I said，‘but how will I get on board?’

“我会的，”我说，“但我们怎么回船上去?”

‘There's my boat that I made with my two hands，’he said.‘I keep her under the white rock.We might try that after dark.’

“我有一只小船，是我用这两只手做的，”他说。“我把它藏在白色岩石下面。天黑以后咱们去试试。”

Although there was another hour before the sun went down，we suddenly heard the sound of the ship's gun.

尽管离日落还有一个小时，我们忽然听见船上传来一声枪响。

‘They've begun to fight!’I cried.‘Follow me.’

“他们开火了!”我惊叫起来。“跟我来。”