《汤姆·索亚历险记》第九章 坟地惨案,波特受过
AT half-past nine, that night, Tom and Sid were sent to bed, as usual. They said their prayers, and Sid was soon asleep. Tom lay awake and waited, in restless impatience. When it seemed to him that it must be nearly daylight, he heard the clock strike ten! This was despair. He would have tossed and fidgeted, as his nerves demanded, but he was afraid he might wake Sid. So he lay still, and stared up into the dark. Everything was dismally still. By and by, out of the stillness, little, scarcely preceptible noises began to emphasize themselves. The ticking of the clock began to bring itself into notice. Old beams began to crack mysteriously. The stairs creaked faintly. Evidently spirits were abroad. A measured, muffled snore issued from Aunt polly's chamber. And now the tiresome chirping of a cricket that no human ingenuity could locate, began. Next the ghastly ticking of a death-watch in the wall at the bed's head made Tom shudder -- it meant that somebody's days were numbered. Then the howl of a far-off dog rose on the night air, and was answered by a fainter howl from a remoter distance. Tom was in an agony. At last he was satisfied that time had ceased and eternity begun; he began to doze, in spite of himself; the clock chimed eleven, but he did not hear it. And then there came, mingling with his half-formed dreams, a most melancholy caterwauling. The raising of a neighboring window disturbed him. A cry of "Scat! you devil!" and the crash of an empty bottle against the back of his aunt's woodshed brought him wide awake, and a single minute later he was dressed and out of the window and creeping along the roof of the "ell" on all fours. He "meow'd" with caution once or twice, as he went; then jumped to the roof of the woodshed and thence to the ground. Huckleberry Finn was there, with his dead cat. The boys moved off and disappeared in the gloom. At the end of half an hour they were wading through the tall grass of the graveyard.
It was a graveyard of the old-fashioned Western kind. It was on a hill, about a mile and a half from the village. It had a crazy board fence around it, which leaned inward in places, and outward the rest of the time, but stood upright nowhere. Grass and weeds grew rank over the whole cemetery. All the old graves were sunken in, there was not a tombstone on the place; round-topped, worm-eaten boards staggered over the graves, leaning for support and finding none. "Sacred to the memory of" So-and-So had been painted on them once, but it could no longer have been read, on the most of them, now, even if there had been light.
A faint wind moaned through the trees, and Tom feared it might be the spirits of the dead, complaining at being disturbed. The boys talked little, and only under their breath, for the time and the place and the pervading solemnity and silence oppressed their spirits. They found the sharp new heap they were seeking, and ensconced themselves within the protection of three great elms that grew in a bunch within a few feet of the grave.
Then they waited in silence for what seemed a long time. The hooting of a distant owl was all the sound that troubled the dead stillness. Tom's reflections grew oppressive. He must force some talk. So he said in a whisper:
"Hucky, do you believe the dead people like it for us to be here?"
Huckleberry whispered:
"I wisht I knowed. It's awful solemn like, AIN'T it?"
"I bet it is."
There was a considerable pause, while the boys canvassed this matter inwardly. Then Tom whispered:
"Say, Hucky -- do you reckon Hoss Williams hears us talking?"
"O' course he does. Least his sperrit does."
Tom, after a pause:
"I wish I'd said Mister Williams. But I never meant any harm. Everybody calls him Hoss."
"A body can't be too partic'lar how they talk 'bout these-yer dead people, Tom."
This was a damper, and conversation died again.
presently Tom seized his comrade's arm and said:
"Sh!"
"What is it, Tom?" And the two clung together with beating hearts.
"~sh! There 'tis again! Didn't you hear it?"
"I --"
"There! Now you hear it."
"Lord, Tom, they're coming! They're coming, sure. What'll we do?"
"I dono. Think they'll see us?"
"Oh, Tom, they can see in the dark, same as cats. I wisht I hadn't come."
"Oh, don't be afeard. I don't believe they'll bother us. We ain't doing any harm. If we keep perfectly still, maybe they won't notice us at all."
"I'll try to, Tom, but, Lord, I'm all of a shiver."
"Listen!"
The boys bent their heads together and scarcely breathed. A muffled sound of voices floated up from the far end of the graveyard.
"Look! See there!" whispered Tom. "What is it?"
"It's devil-fire. Oh, Tom, this is awful."
Some vague figures approached through the gloom, swinging an old-fashioned tin lantern that freckled the ground with innumerable little spangles of light. presently Huckleberry whispered with a shudder:
"It's the devils sure enough. Three of 'em! Lordy, Tom, we're goners! Can you pray?"
"I'll try, but don't you be afeard. They ain't going to hurt us. 'Now I lay me down to sleep, I --'"
"Sh!"
"What is it, Huck?"
"They're humans! One of 'em is, anyway. One of 'em's old Muff potter's voice."
"No -- 'tain't so, is it?"
"I bet I know it. Don't you stir nor budge. He ain't sharp enough to notice us. Drunk, the same as usual, likely -- blamed old rip!"
"All right, I'll keep still. Now they're stuck. Can't find it. Here they come again. Now they're hot. Cold again. Hot again. Red hot! They're p'inted right, this time. Say, Huck, I know another o' them voices; it's Injun Joe."
"That's so -- that murderin' half-breed! I'd druther they was devils a dern sight. What kin they be up to?"
The whisper died wholly out, now, for the three men had reached the grave and stood within a few feet of the boys' hiding-place.
"Here it is," said the third voice; and the owner of it held the lantern up and revealed the face of young Doctor Robinson.
potter and Injun Joe were carrying a handbarrow with a rope and a couple of shovels on it. They cast down their load and began to open the grave. The doctor put the lantern at the head of the grave and came and sat down with his back against one of the elm trees. He was so close the boys could have touched him.
"Hurry, men!" he said, in a low voice; "the moon might come out at any moment."
They growled a response and went on digging. For some time there was no noise but the grating sound of the spades discharging their freight of mould and gravel. It was very monotonous. Finally a spade struck upon the coffin with a dull woody accent, and within another minute or two the men had hoisted it out on the ground. They pried off the lid with their shovels, got out the body and dumped it rudely on the ground. The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face. The barrow was got ready and the corpse placed on it, covered with a blanket, and bound to its place with the rope. potter took out a large spring-knife and cut off the dangling end of the rope and then said:
"Now the cussed thing's ready, Sawbones, and you'll just out with another five, or here she stays."
"That's the talk!" said Injun Joe.
"Look here, what does this mean?" said the doctor. "You required your pay in advance, and I've paid you."
"Yes, and you done more than that," said Injun Joe, approaching the doctor, who was now standing. "Five years ago you drove me away from your father's kitchen one night, when I come to ask for something to eat, and you said I warn't there for any good; and when I swore I'd get even with you if it took a hundred years, your father had me jailed for a vagrant. Did you think I'd forget? The Injun blood ain't in me for nothing. And now I've GOT you, and you got to settle, you know!"
He was threatening the doctor, with his fist in his face, by this time. The doctor struck out suddenly and stretched the ruffian on the ground. potter dropped his knife, and exclaimed:
"Here, now, don't you hit my pard!" and the next moment he had grappled with the doctor and the two were struggling with might and main, trampling the grass and tearing the ground with their heels. Injun Joe sprang to his feet, his eyes flaming with passion, snatched up potter's knife, and went creeping, catlike and stooping, round and round about the combatants, seeking an opportunity. All at once the doctor flung himself free, seized the heavy headboard of Williams' grave and felled potter to the earth with it 鈥揳nd in the same instant the half-breed saw his chance and drove the knife to the hilt in the young man's breast. He reeled and fell partly upon potter, flooding him with his blood, and in the same moment the clouds blotted out the dreadful spectacle and the two frightened boys went speeding away in the dark.
presently, when the moon emerged again, Injun Joe was standing over the two forms, contemplating them. The doctor murmured inarticulately, gave a long gasp or two and was still. The half-breed muttered:
"That score is settled -- damn you."
Then he robbed the body. After which he put the fatal knife in potter's open right hand, and sat down on the dismantled coffin. Three -- four -- five minutes passed, and then potter began to stir and moan. His hand closed upon the knife; he raised it, glanced at it, and let it fall, with a shudder. Then he sat up, pushing the body from him, and gazed at it, and then around him, confusedly. His eyes met Joe's.
"Lord, how is this, Joe?" he said.
"It's a dirty business," said Joe, without moving.
"What did you do it for?"
"I! I never done it!"
"Look here! That kind of talk won't wash."
potter trembled and grew white.
"I thought I'd got sober. I'd no business to drink to-night. But it's in my head yet -- worse'n when we started here. I'm all in a muddle; can't recollect anything of it, hardly. Tell me, Joe -- honest, now, old feller -- did I do it? Joe, I never meant to -- 'pon my soul and honor, I never meant to, Joe. Tell me how it was, Joe. Oh, it's awful -- and him so young and promising."
"Why, you two was scuffling, and he fetched you one with the headboard and you fell flat; and then up you come, all reeling and staggering like, and snatched the knife and jammed it into him, just as he fetched you another awful clip -- and here you've laid, as dead as a wedge til now."
"Oh, I didn't know what I was a-doing. I wish I may die this minute if I did. It was all on account of the whiskey and the excitement, I reckon. I never used a weepon in my life before, Joe. I've fought, but never with weepons. They'll all say that. Joe, don't tell! Say you won't tell, Joe -- that's a good feller. I always liked you, Joe, and stood up for you, too. Don't you remember? You won't tell, will you, Joe?" And the poor creature dropped on his knees before the stolid murderer, and clasped his appealing hands.
"No, you've always been fair and square with me, Muff potter, and I won't go back on you. There, now, that's as fair as a man can say."
"Oh, Joe, you're an angel. I'll bless you for this the longest day I live." And potter began to cry.
"Come, now, that's enough of that. This ain't any time for blubbering. You be off yonder way and I'll go this. Move, now, and don't leave any tracks behind you."
potter started on a trot that quickly increased to a run. The half-breed stood looking after him. He muttered:
"If he's as much stunned with the lick and fuddled with the rum as he had the look of being, he won't think of the knife till he's gone so far he'll be afraid to come back after it to such a place by himself -- chicken-heart!"
Two or three minutes later the murdered man, the blanketed corpse, the lidless coffin, and the open grave were under no inspection but the moon's. The stillness was complete again, too.
那天晚上9点半钟,汤姆和希德就像平常一样被吩咐上床睡觉,他们做完祷告,希德很快就睡着了。汤姆没有睡着,他躺在床上,不耐烦地等着。他似乎觉得天快要亮时,才听到钟敲了十下!这太令人失望了。他很想顺应神经的要求,翻翻身,动一动,可是他害怕吵醒希德,于是他一动不动地躺着,两眼直愣愣地盯着黑咕隆咚的夜空。万籁俱寂,阴森可怕。后来在那一片寂静中,有一点小小的,几乎听不出来的动静渐渐地大了起来。只听到钟摆滴嗒滴嗒在响。那些老屋的屋梁也神秘地发出裂开似的声响。楼梯也隐隐约约,吱吱嘎嘎在响。很明显是鬼怪们在四处活动了。从波莉姨妈卧室里传来一阵匀称的、沉闷的鼾声。这时一只蟋蟀开始发出一阵令人心烦的唧唧的叫声,而人们却根本弄不清楚它在什么地方。接着床头的墙里有一只小蛀虫发出一阵阴森可怕的踢嗒声,这声音使汤姆吓得心惊胆跳鈥斺斦馑坪跻馕蹲拍掣鋈说娜兆硬欢嗔恕H缓笤洞τ幸恢还粪平衅鹄矗饨猩谝雇淼纳峡照鸬矗朐洞Φ囊荚即吹墓方猩嗪粲ψ拧L滥芳蛑蹦咽芗恕W詈笏隙ㄊ奔湟丫W×耍篮阋丫剂恕K挥勺灾鞯卮蚱痦锢矗忧昧耸幌拢撬挥刑:罄丛谒悦院⑺扑撬淖刺校油饷娲匆徽蠓浅F嗖业拿ǘ写旱纳簟R桓隽诰哟蚩盎В艟怂R簧湽觯∧阏馕撩ǎ♀澋穆钌鸵恢豢掌孔釉业剿囊搪璧哪九镄∥萆系钠扑樯顾耆逍压矗坦し颍愦┐靡旅保哟盎С隼矗佬性谖荻ド稀K槐吲溃槐咝⌒慕魃鞯剽溸湮剽澚艘涣酱危蝗缓笞萆硪惶狭四九镄∥荩俅幽翘降厣稀9吮蠢路费恩早已等候在那里,手里还拿着他那只死猫。接着两个孩子一起消失在黑暗中。半小时之后,他俩就穿行在坟地里的深草丛中。
这是一个西部的老式的坟地,座落在离村子大约一英里的半山上。坟地周围有一道歪歪斜斜的木板栅栏,有些地方往里倒,有的地方往外斜,总之,没有一个地方是笔直的。整片墓地杂草丛生,所有的旧坟都塌陷下去,坟上连一块墓碑都没有。圆顶的、虫蛀的木牌子无依无靠,歪歪倒倒地插在坟墓上。这些牌子上曾经写有鈥溂湍钅衬斥澲嗟淖盅词瓜衷谟辛凉猓蠖嗍盐薹ㄔ俦嫒铣隼础
一阵微风吹过树林,发出萧瑟声响,汤姆担心这可能是死鬼们在抱怨有人来打搅了他们。两个孩子很少说话,就是说也只敢悄悄地说,因为此时此地,到处是一片肃穆和寂静,令人压抑。他们找到了要找的那座新隆起的坟。在离坟几英尺内的地方,有三棵大榆树长在一起,于是他们就躲在那里。
他们静静地等了似乎很长一段时间,除了远处猫头鹰的叫声外,周围是一片死寂。汤姆被闷得受不住了,他必须打破沉默开口谈点话,他低声问道:
鈥湽妫阆嘈潘廊嗽敢馕颐堑秸舛绰穑库
哈克贝利低声说:
鈥溛椅仕兀空饫锼嗑驳昧钊撕ε拢遣皇牵库
鈥準前 b
有好一阵子他俩没作声,各自都在心里想着这件事。之后汤姆又悄悄地说:
鈥溛梗宜倒驸斺斈阒阑羲路威廉斯听见我们讲话吗?鈥
鈥溎堑比秽丁V辽偎囊趸昴芴b
汤姆停了一会才说:
鈥溛腋詹盘崴保谴镶樝壬櫠志秃昧恕2还掖永疵挥胁蛔鹁此1鹑硕冀兴羲埂b
鈥溙滥罚槁鬯廊耸币乇稹⑻乇鹦⌒牟哦浴b
这句话犹如一盆冷水让汤姆扫兴,因此谈话就中断了。
过了一会,汤姆抓住哈克的胳膊说道:鈥溞辏♀
鈥溤趺蠢玻滥罚库澦橇┙艚艨吭谝黄穑泥脏灾碧
鈥溞辏∮掷戳耍∧忝挥刑穑库
鈥溛意斺斺
鈥溙∠衷谔税伞b
鈥溑叮彀。滥罚抢戳耍抢戳耍娴模∥颐窃趺窗彀。库
鈥溛也恢馈D阆胨腔峥醇颐锹穑库
鈥溑叮滥罚窍衩ㄒ谎砩弦材芸醇鳌N乙遣焕淳秃昧恕b
鈥湴。灰ε隆N蚁胨遣换崂凑椅颐堑穆榉场N颐怯置蝗撬恰N颐侵灰欢膊欢且残砀静换岱⑾治颐恰b
鈥溙滥罚沂窍氩欢?墒翘彀。一肷碇狈⒍读āb
鈥溙♀
两个孩子凑得很近,低着头,屏住呼吸。这时从远远的坟地那边传来一阵低沉的说话声。
鈥溓疲∏颇牵♀澨滥沸∩担溎鞘鞘裁矗库
鈥準枪砘稹E叮滥罚馓湃肆恕b
黑暗中,模模糊糊有几个影子走过来,一盏老式洋铁灯笼摇来晃去,地上被照得光点斑斑。哈克马上战战兢兢地说:
鈥溈隙ㄊ枪砝戳耍业睦咸煲剑还灿腥觯√滥罚颐撬蓝耍∧慊鼓艿桓媛穑库
鈥溛依词允裕还惚鹋隆K遣换岷ξ颐堑摹O衷谖姨上滤酰意斺斺濃
鈥溞辏♀
鈥準鞘裁矗耍库
鈥準侨耍≈辽儆幸桓鍪侨恕D鞘悄路波特老头的声音。鈥
鈥湶烩斺斈遣皇撬纳簟b
鈥溛腋掖蚨奈颐桓愦恚愕镁员3职簿病K荒敲戳椋换峥醇颐堑摹?赡苡趾屯R谎茸砹蒜斺斦飧龈盟牢抻玫睦隙鳎♀
鈥満冒桑乙欢ū3职簿病O衷谒遣蛔吡恕U也坏剿橇恕U饣岫怯掷戳恕O衷谒抢淳⒘恕S中蛊恕S掷淳⒘恕>⑼肥悖∷钦饣卣叶粤朔较颉N梗耍姨隽肆硪桓鋈说纳簦鞘怯〉诎路乔。鈥
鈥湶淮恚悄歉錾比瞬徽Q鄣脑又郑∥业骨樵杆嵌际枪恚矶急人呛玫枚唷K堑秸饽艽蚴裁椿抵饕饽兀
两个孩子全都止住,不再低语。这时那三个人来到坟边,站立的地方离孩子们藏身之处还不到几英尺远。
鈥湹搅恕b澋谌鋈怂担岬频娜司倨鸬屏乒庀孪殖龅氖悄昵岬囊缴潮鲅返拿婵住b
波特和印第安路乔推着一个手推车,车上有一根绳子和两把铁锹。他们把车上的东西卸下来,开始挖墓。医生把灯笼放在坟头上,走到榆树下,背靠着一棵坐下来。树离得很近,两个孩子伸手就能碰到他。
鈥溚诳斓悖锛泼牵♀澦蜕担溤铝了媸倍伎赡艹隼础b
他们粗着嗓音应了一声后继续挖掘着。有一段时间,只能听到他们一锹一锹抛泥土和石子所发出的嚓嚓声响。那声音非常单调刺耳。后来有一把铁锹碰到了棺材,发出了低沉的木头声音。一两分钟后,那两个人就把棺材抬出来放在地上了。他们用铁锹撬开棺盖,把尸体弄出来,随便掀到地上。月亮从云朵后面钻出来,照着尸体那张苍白的脸。他们把车准备好,将尸体放上去,还盖上毯子,用绳子捆好它。波特拿出一把大弹簧刀,割断车上垂下来的绳头,说:
鈥溡缴飧盟赖亩飨衷谂昧恕T倌梦蹇榍蝗痪捅鹋咚b
鈥湺裕驳枚裕♀澯〉诎路乔说。
鈥溛梗宜担馐鞘裁匆馑迹库澮缴实馈b湴茨忝且螅沂孪纫丫忝乔恕b
鈥湶淮恚还乖恫恢拐庑b澯〉诎路乔边说边走到已经站了起来的医生面前。鈥溛迥昵暗囊桓鐾砩希业侥愀盖椎某刻值愠缘模惆盐腋狭顺隼矗慊顾滴业匠咳ッ皇裁春檬拢淮蚰鞘逼穑曳⑹模壕褪腔ㄉ弦话倌甑墓Ψ颍乙惨谄侥恪D愀盖滓蛭沂敲ち鞫夜亟畏俊D阆胛一嵘瓢崭市萋穑坑〉诎踩说难膊皇前琢鞯模衷谀懵涞轿沂掷铮愕梦烁冻龃邸b
说到这,他已经开始在医生面前挥舞着拳头来威胁他。医生突然猛击一拳,将这个恶棍打翻在地,波特扔掉刀,大声喊道:鈥満伲憔垢掖蛭业呐笥眩♀澖艚幼牛鸵缴ご蛟谝黄稹A礁鋈似疵蚱鹄矗挪茸诺厣系牟荩叩媚嗤练裳铩S〉诎路乔迅速地从地上爬起来,眼里燃烧着怒火,抓起波特扔在地上的那把刀,像猫似的,弯着腰悄悄地在两个打架的人周围转来转去,寻找着机会。突然医生猛地把对手摔开,抓起威廉斯坟上那块重重的墓碑,一下子把波特打倒在地。与此同时,这个杂种乘机把刀子一下子全捅进了医生的胸膛。医生晃了晃就倒下去,身体搭在波特身上。波特被弄得满身都是血。这时乌云遮住了这可怕的惨相,那两个吓坏了的孩子在黑暗中连忙跑掉了。
不久,云层退去,月亮又露出了面,印第安路乔站在那两个人身旁,凝视着他们。医生咕咕哝哝地讲了些什么话,长长地喘了一两声气,然后就安静地死去了。那个杂种还说:
鈥溎潜收示退愠镀搅蒜斺斈阏飧盟赖募一铩b
接着他又搜去尸体身上的东西,然后他将那把杀人的刀放在波特张开的石手里,坐上了撬开的棺材。三鈥斺斔拟斺斘宸种庸チ耍馐辈ㄌ夭趴级⑶疑胍髌鹄础K氖治兆×四前训丁K倨鸬独雌沉艘谎郏婕创蛄烁隼洳堵涞搅说厣稀=幼潘鹕砝矗瓶棺潘氖澹缓蠖⒆潘戳艘换幔滞芪送睦锔械矫曰蟛唤狻K哪抗馀龅搅饲堑哪抗狻
鈥溙彀。馐窃趺椿厥拢牵库澦怠
鈥溦馐略愀馔噶耍澢嵌裁欢厮担溎愀陕鹨庋桑库
鈥溛遥∥铱擅桓烧馐隆b
鈥溙牛≌饽阍趺茨芾档裟亍b
波特吓得直抖,脸色变得煞白。
鈥溛胰衔一嵝丫频模裢砦冶静幌牒染疲墒窍衷谀宰永锘故呛锖康模任颐抢凑舛氖焙蚧估骱ΑN蚁衷诨杌璩脸粒负趸匾洳黄鹄慈魏问虑椤8嫠呶遥牵锛疲道鲜祷埃俏腋傻穆穑壳牵腋静幌肽茄伞L斓亓夹模腋静幌肽茄桑牵嫠呶艺馐窃趺椿厥拢壳牵颗叮馓膳铝蒜斺斔饷茨昵嵊形巴驹洞蟆b
鈥満伲褪悄懔┡ご蚱鹄戳耍媚贡谱釉伊四阋幌拢憔捅辉野认铝恕=幼拍闩榔鹄矗位斡朴频卣静晃龋驼庋阋话讯峁獍训叮幌伦油苯纳硖濉U馐焙蛩趾菝馗四阋换鳎谑悄憔吞稍谡舛袼拦ヒ谎耸虏皇。恢碧傻较衷凇b
鈥湴。乙坏阋膊恢牢叶几闪诵┦裁础R俏业笔鼻逍训幕埃仪樵嘎砩暇退赖簟N蚁胝舛际且蛭考稍谧鞴郑笔庇趾艹宥G牵掖忧盎姑挥杏霉灼鳌N腋舜蚬埽墒谴永疵皇构灼鳌U庖坏闳嗣嵌贾馈G牵馐履憧杀鹚党鋈ィ∏牵闼的悴换崴党鋈ィ獠殴灰馑及 G牵蚁蚶炊枷不赌悖沧苁钦驹谀阋槐叩摹D隳训劳橇寺穑壳牵悴换峤渤鋈サ模圆欢裕库澯谑钦飧隹闪募一铮趾险疲砬蟮毓虻乖谀歉霾腥痰男资置媲啊
鈥湺浴D路波特,你一向待我不错,我不会对不起你。怎么样,我这样说算是公平合理吧。鈥
鈥湴。牵阏媸谴缺某ΑN乙8D阋槐沧印b澆ㄌ乜伎奁鹄础
鈥溑叮昧耍灰偎盗恕O衷诓皇强薇亲拥氖焙颉D愦幽潜咦撸衷诰投恚鹆粝氯魏谓庞 b
波特开始还是小跑,很快就大跑起来。那个杂种站在那儿,看着他的背影,自言自语地咕哝道:鈥溗ち艘换鳎埔裁恍眩扑茄顺上氩黄鹄凑獍训读恕>退阆胨鹄矗丫艹鋈ビ惺锇死锏牧恕K桓鋈耸遣桓以倩氐秸饫锢慈〉兜拟斺斦飧龅ㄐ」怼b
两三分钟后,只有月光照着那个被害的人,那个用毯子裹着的尸体,那个没有盖上盖子的棺材,还有那座挖开的坟墓。一切又恢复了平静。
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