福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第10章Part5

"Windle has never refused us when we have had occasion to ask for the loan of a man or two, and it is not for us to refuse him." McGinty paused and looked round the room with his dull, malevolent eyes. "Who will volunteer for the job?"
Several young fellows held up their hands. The Bodymaster looked at them with an approving smile.
"You'll do, Tiger Cormac. If you handle it as well as you did the last, you won't be wrong. And you, Wilson."
"I've no pistol," said the volunteer, a mere boy in his teens.
"It's your first, is it not? Well, you have to be blooded some time. It will be a great start for you. As to the pistol, you'll find it waiting for you, or I'm mistaken. If you report yourselves on Monday, it will be time enough. You'll get a great welcome when you return."
"Any reward this time?" asked Cormac, a thick-set, dark-faced, brutal-looking young man, whose ferocity had earned him the nickname of "Tiger."
"Never mind the reward. You just do it for the honour of the thing. Maybe when it is done there will be a few odd dollars at the bottom of the box."
"What has the man done?" asked young Wilson.
"Sure, it's not for the likes of you to ask what the man has done. He has been judged over there. That's no business of ours. All we have to do is to carry it out for them, same as they would for us. Speaking of that, two brothers from the Merton lodge are coming over to us next week to do some business in this quarter."
"Who are they?" asked someone.
"Faith, it is wiser not to ask. If you know nothing, you can testify nothing, and no trouble can come of it. But they are men who will make a clean job when they are about it."
"And time, too!" cried Ted Baldwin. "Folk are gettin' out of hand in these parts. It was only last week that three of our men were turned off by Foreman Blaker. It's been owing him a long time, and he'll get it full and proper."
"Get what?" McMurdo whispered to his neighbour.
"The business end of a buckshot cartridge!" cried the man with a loud laugh. "What think you of our ways, Brother?"
McMurdo's criminal soul seemed to have already absorbed the spirit of the vile association of which he was now a member. "I like it well," said he. "'Tis a proper place for a lad of mettle."
Several of those who sat around heard his words and applauded them.
"What's that?" cried the black-maned Bodymaster from the end of the table.
"'Tis our new brother, sir, who finds our ways to his taste."
McMurdo rose to his feet for an instant. "I would say, Eminent Bodymaster, that if a man should be wanted I should take it as an honour to be chosen to help the lodge."

“我們有事要求借用一兩個人的時候，溫德爾從來未拒絕過我們，照理我們也不能拒絕他，"麥金蒂停頓了一下，他那陰沉、惡毒的雙眼向室內四下打量了一番，問道，“誰自願前往？”
幾個年輕人舉起手來。身主看着他們，贊同地笑了。
“你可以去，老虎科馬克。如果你能幹得象上次那樣好，那你就不會出差錯。還有你，威爾遜。”
“我沒有手槍，"這個十幾歲的孩子說道。
“你這是第一次，是不是？好，你遲早總是要取得經驗的，這是一個很好的開端。至於手槍，你會發現，手槍是在等着你的，不然就是我弄錯了。如果你們在星期一報到，時間儘夠了。你們回來時，一定會受到熱烈歡迎。”
“這次可有報酬嗎？"科馬克問道，他是一個體格結實、面孔黝黑、面貌猙獰的年輕人，由於他的兇狠殘暴，使他贏得了“老虎"的綽號。
“不用擔心報酬。你們僅是出於榮譽去做這件事。事成後，也許有一點零頭給你們。”
“那個人究竟有什麼罪呢？"年輕的威爾遜問道。
“當然，那個人究竟有什麼罪，這不是象你這樣的人應當問的。他們那裏已經對他作出了判決，那就不關我們的事了。我們所要做的只是替他們去執行而已。他們也會照樣來替我們行事的。說起這個，下星期默頓分會就有兩個弟兄到我們這裏來行事。”
“他們是誰呢？"一個人問道。
“你最好不要問。如果你什麼也不知道，你可以作證說什麼也不知道，就不會招來什麼麻煩。不過他們是那些幹起事來很利落的人。”
“還有！"特德·鮑德溫叫道，“有些事該了結一下。就在上星期，我們的三個弟兄被工頭布萊克解僱了。早就應該給他教訓了，他早就應該領受這個教訓了。”
“領受什麼？"麥克默多低聲向鄰座的人問道。
“給他一顆大號子彈完事！"那人大笑起來，高聲說道，“你認爲我們的辦法怎樣？兄弟。”
麥克默多現在已經是這個無惡不作的社團中的一分子，他的靈魂似乎已被這種精神所同化。“我很喜歡它，"麥克默多說道，“這正是英雄少年用武之地啊！”
四周聽到麥克默多講話的人大加稱讚。
“怎麼回事？"坐在桌子那一端的黑大漢身主問道。
“先生，我們新來的弟兄，認爲我們的辦法很合他的口味。”
麥克默多馬上站起來說道：“我敢說，尊敬的身主，如果有用人的地方，我當以能爲本會出力爲榮。”