福尔摩斯探案集·四签名 第99期:琼诺赞·斯茂的奇异故事(9)

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First of all it is enormous in size.

首先，它庞大得很，

I should think that the enclosure must be acres and acres.

我估量着占有不少英亩的地方，

There is a modern part, which took all our garrison, women, children, stores, and everything else, with plenty of room over.

较新的一部分面积很大，容纳了我们的全部军队、妇孺和辎重还富富有余。

But the modern part is nothing like the size of the old quarter, where nobody goes,

可是这较新部分的大小还远比不上古老的那一部分，没有人到那里去，

and which is given over to the scorpions and the centipedes.

蝎子蜈蚣盘踞在那里。

It is all full of great deserted halls, and winding passages, and long corridors twisting in and out,

旧堡里边全是空无人迹的大厅、曲曲折折的甬道和蜿蜒迂回的长廊，

so that it is easy enough for folk to get lost in it.

走进去的人很容易迷路。

For this reason it was seldom that anyone went into it,

因此很少有人到旧堡里去，

though now and again a party with torches might go exploring.

可是偶尔也有拿着火把的人们结伙进去探险。

"The river washes along the front of the old fort, and so protects it,

由旧堡前面流过的小河，形成了一条护城壕。

but on the sides and behind there are many doors, and these had to be guarded,

堡的两侧和后面有许多出入的门，

of course, in the old quarter as well as in that which was actually held by our troops.

自然，在这里和我们军队居住的地方都必须派人把守。

We were short-handed, with hardly men enough to man the angles of the building and to serve the guns.

我们的人数太少，不可能既照顾到全堡的每个角落又照顾到全部的炮位，

It was impossible for us, therefore, to station a strong guard at every one of the innumerable gates.

因此在无数的堡门处都派重兵守卫是绝不可能的。

What we did was to organize a central guard-house in the middle of the fort,

我们的办法是在堡垒中央设置了一个中心守卫室，

and to leave each gate under the charge of one white man and two or three natives.

每一个堡门由一个白种人率领两三个印度兵把守。

I was selected to take charge during certain hours of the night of a small isolated door upon the south-west side of the building.

我被派在每天夜里一段固定时间内负责守卫堡垒西南面的一个孤立小堡门。

Two Sikh troopers were placed under my command,

在我指挥之下的是两个锡克教徒士兵。

and I was instructed if anything went wrong to fire my musket, when I might rely upon help coming at once from the central guard.

我所接受的指示是：遇有危急，只要放一枪，就会从中心守卫室来人接应。