019 吉姆失踪

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The king and the duke climbed aboard the raft

国王和公爵爬上了木筏。

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The king grabbed my collar and shook me

国王抓住我的衣领，使劲摇晃我。

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" Trying to get away from us, were you?"

“想甩掉我们，是不是？”

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" No, Your Majesty, we weren't! Please let me go and I'll tell you the truth," I said

“不，陛下，我们没有！请放开我，我会告诉您实情，”我说。

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I quickly made up a story: " The man who was holding me felt sorry for me

我飞快地编了个故事：“那个扣住我的人很同情我。

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He told me to run away or I would be hanged at once

他叫我快跑，不然我马上就会被绞死。

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I thought you two would be hanged, so Jim and I left

我以为你俩也会被绞死，所以吉姆和我就离开了。

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But we're both very glad to see you alive."

不过我们俩看到你们还活着，都非常高兴。”

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Jim agreed eagerly, and both men seemed to calm down

吉姆急切地附和着，这两个人似乎平静下来了。

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They admitted they hadn't thought of trying to save me

他们承认，压根儿没想到要设法救我。

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They had run away, too, while everyone was looking at the gold

趁着大家盯着金子看的时候，他们也跑了。

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" I always thought those slaves that we sold stole the gold," said the king

“我一直以为金子是咱们卖掉的那两个奴隶偷的，”国王说。

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" So who do you think put it in the coffin?"

“那你觉得是谁把金子放进棺材的？”

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My heart pounded, but the king wasn't looking at me. He was looking angrily at the duke

我的心怦怦直跳，但国王没看我，他正生气地瞪着公爵。

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" It certainly wasn't me, you old scoundrel!" exclaimed the duke

“肯定不是我，你这个老无赖！”公爵吼道。

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" I think it was you, trying to keep the gold for yourself!"

“我看就是你，想把金子独吞！”

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In seconds, they were rolling around on the raft, punching each other

转眼间，他们就在木筏上滚成一团，互殴起来。

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But when the duke began to choke the king, the old man gasped," All right, I admit it. I did it. Now let me go!"

可当公爵掐住国王的脖子时，老头儿喘着气说：“好吧，我认了。是我干的。现在放开我！”

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The king crawled into the hut on the raft and began to drink whiskey

国王爬进木筏上的棚屋，喝起了威士忌。

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The duke soon joined him, and they shared the bottle

公爵很快就凑了过去，两人一起喝那瓶酒。

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After a little while, they both fell asleep, snoring loudly

过了一会儿，他们两个都睡着了，鼾声大作。

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Then I finally told Jim everything that had happened

然后我终于把发生的一切都告诉了吉姆。

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We were far south on the Mississippi River now and a long way from home

我们现在在密西西比河很靠南的地方，离家很远。

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The next morning, the king and the duke decided to be friends again

第二天早上，国王和公爵决定重新做朋友。

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They wanted to think up a new scam and go back to cheating people

他们想策划一个新的骗局，重新开始骗人。

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At different towns along the river, they tried putting on plays and giving talks about the evils of drinking alcohol

在沿河的不同城镇，他们试着表演戏剧，还发表关于喝酒危害的演讲。

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They even tried fortune-telling, but nothing was really successful. Now they were running out of money

他们甚至试过算命，但都不太成功。现在他们快没钱了。

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For the next few days, the king and the duke spent a lot of their time in the hut, whispering to each other. Jim and I felt very uneasy

接下来的几天，国王和公爵大部分时间都待在小屋里，互相低声说着话。吉姆和我感到非常不安。

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We were afraid that they were planning something even worse than before, but we didn't know what it was

我们害怕他们在计划一些比之前更坏的事情，但我们不知道是什么。

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When we came to a shabby little place called Pikesville, the king said he would go see if anyone in town had heard of the Royal Nonesuch

当我们来到一个叫皮克斯维尔的破旧小地方时，国王说他要去看看镇上有没有人听说过“皇家怪物”。

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If they hadn't, then he and the duke would stage it again because it always earned them lots of money

要是他们没上当，他和公爵就会再演一遍，因为这套把戏总是能赚到很多钱。

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He told us that if he didn't come back before noon, it meant everything was all right

他告诉我们，要是中午前还没回来，就说明一切顺利。

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In that case, the duke and I should join him in Pikesville

那样的话，公爵和我就该去皮克斯维尔与他会合。

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The duke seemed nervous after the king left

国王走后，公爵显得很不安。

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He was cranky with Jim and me and impatient

他对我和吉姆都很暴躁，很不耐烦。

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When noon came and the king had not returned, the duke and I headed into town

到了中午，国王还没回来，我和公爵便动身进了城。

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It took us a long time to find the king

我们花了很长时间才找到国王。

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When we finally discovered him in a dirty little tavern, he was drunk

我们最后在一家肮脏的小酒馆里找到他时，他已经喝醉了。

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The duke was furious. The two men started cursing each other, and I ran out of the tavern and down to the riverbank

公爵气坏了。两人开始互相咒骂，我跑出酒馆，直奔河边。

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" Jim," I called," this is our chance to get away from those scoundrels. Untie the rope and let's go!"

“吉姆，”我喊道，“我们摆脱那两个恶棍的机会来了。快解开绳子，咱们走！”

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But there was no answer. No one came out of the hut on the raft

但没有人回应。木筏上的小屋里没有人出来。

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I ran up and down the wooded shoreline screaming for Jim

我在树林密布的河岸边跑来跑去，大声喊着吉姆。

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It was no use; he was gone. I sat down on the bank and cried

没用；他不见了。我坐在河岸上哭了起来。

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When I realized that crying wouldn't help me, I stopped

当我意识到哭泣帮不上忙时，我停了下来。

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I started down the road away from town, and I met a boy

我开始沿着远离城镇的路走，遇到了一个男孩。

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I asked him if he had seen a black man, and I described Jim's clothes

我问他是否见过一个黑人，并描述了吉姆的衣服。

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Yes, he said, he'd seen that man. He was a runaway slave

他说，是的，他见过那个人。他是个逃跑的奴隶。

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A man named Silas Phelps had bought him from an old man for forty dollars

一个叫赛拉斯·费尔普斯的人从一位老人那里花四十美元买了他。

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The old man had shown Silas a poster about the slave

那位老人给赛拉斯看了一张关于这个奴隶的通告。

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It said the slave had run away from a plantation near New Orleans

通告上说这个奴隶从新奥尔良附近的一个种植园逃跑了。

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Whoever took him back there would get a two-hundred-dollar reward

谁把他带回去，就能得到两百美元的赏金。

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But the old man said he was too tired to go any farther, and that was why he was giving Phelps such a bargain

但那位老人说他太累了，走不动了，所以才给费尔普斯这么便宜的价格。

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I had to sit down and think. I realized that the old man was the king

我不得不坐下来思考。我意识到那个老人就是国王。

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I remembered the poster that the duke had printed, describing Jim as a runaway slave

我想起了公爵印的那张通告，上面把吉姆描述成逃跑的奴隶。

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And now I reckoned that the king had waited for the duke and me to leave the raft, and then came back for Jim and used the poster to sell him

现在我猜国王等公爵和我离开木筏后，又回来找吉姆，用那张通告把他卖了。

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I felt sick at heart. I was only a boy. What could I do to save Jim?

我心里很难受。我只是个孩子。我能做什么来救吉姆呢？

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Maybe I had done all I could. Maybe I should write to Miss Watson and tell her where Jim was

也许我已经尽了全力。也许我应该写信给华森小姐，告诉她吉姆在哪儿。

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After all, he was her property. That was the law

毕竟，他是她的财产。这是法律规定。

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I told myself that if Jim had to be a slave again, he would be happier back home with people he knew. Here, he didn't know anyone

我告诉自己，如果吉姆还得当奴隶，他回到家乡，和认识的人在一起会更开心。在这里，他谁也不认识。

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But then I remembered how Jim had called me his friend

但接着我想起吉姆是怎么称我为他的朋友的。

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I thought about how much he wanted to be free and see his family again

我想起他是多么渴望自由，想再次见到他的家人。

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And I decided that I wouldn't write to Miss Watson

于是我决定不给华森小姐写信了。

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Even if the law said it was wrong, I was going to find a way to help free him

即使法律说这是不对的，我也要找到方法帮他获得自由。