世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第9章Part 10

Without changing his expression, Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía signed the first copy. He had not finished signing the last one when a rebel colonel appeared in the doorway leading a mule carrying two chests. In spite of his entire youth he had a dry look and a patient expression. He was the treasurer of the revolution in the Macon-do region. He had made a difficult journey of six days, pulling along the mule, who was dying of hunger, in order to arrive at the armistice on time. With an exasperating parsimony he took down the chests, opened them, and placed on the table, one by one, seventy-two gold bricks, Everyone had forgotten about the existence of that fortune. In the disorder of the past year, when the central command fell apart and the revolution degenerated into a bloody rivalry of leaders, it was impossible to determine any responsibility. The gold of the revolution, melted into blocks that were then covered with baked clay, was beyond all control. Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía had the seventy-two gold bricks included in the inventory of surrender and closed the ceremony without allowing any speeches. The filthy adolescent stood opposite him, looking into his eyes with his own calm, syrup-colored eyes.
"Something else?" Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía asked him.
The young colonel tightened his mouth.
"The receipt," he said.
Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía wrote it out in his own hand. Then he had a glass of lemonade and a piece of biscuit that the novices were passing around and retired to a field tent which had been prepared for him in case he wished to rest. There he took off his shirt, sat on the edge of the cot, and at three-fifteen in the afternoon took his pistol and shot himself in the iodine circle that his personal physician had painted on his chest. At that moment in Macon-do úrsula took the cover off the pot of milk on the stove, wondering why it was taking so long to boil, and found it full of worms.
"They've killed Aureli-ano," she exclaimed.
She looked toward the courtyard, obeying a habit of her solitude, and then she saw José Arcadio Buendía, soaking wet and sad in the rain and much older than when he had died. "They shot him in the back," úrsula said more precisely, "and no one was charitable enough to close his eyes."
At dusk through her tears she saw the swift and luminous disks that crossed the sky like an exhalation and she thought that it was a signal of death. She was still under the chestnut tree, sobbing at her husband's knees, when they brought in Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía, wrapped in a blanket that was stiff with dry blood and with his eyes open in rage.

奧雷連諾上校面不改色，在第一份副本上籤了字。他還沒簽完最後一份副本，帳篷門口就出現了一個起義軍官，牽着一匹載着兩隻箱子的騾子。這人雖然十分年輕，卻顯得沉着和嚴謹。他是馬孔多地區起義部隊的財務官。爲了及時趕到，他拖着一匹餓得要死的騾子，經歷了六天困難的行程。他從騾背上異常小心地取下箱子，把它們打開，接二連三地將七十二塊金磚放在桌上。這是大家忘記了的一大筆財產。在最近一年中，中央指揮部上崩瓦解，革命變成了爭當頭目的血腥的內訌。在一片混亂中，誰也不負什麼責任了。起義者的金子鑄成了金磚，抹上泥土，就無人監管了。奧雷連諾上校把七十二塊金磚也列入了投降書，不容任何商量就簽了字。疲憊不堪的青年軍官站在他面前，拿糖漿色的寧靜的眼睛盯着他的眼睛。
“還有什麼事嗎？”奧雷連諾上校問他。
青年軍官咬緊牙齒。
“收條，”他說。
奧雷連諾上校親筆寫了一張收條給他。然後，上校喝了一杯檸檬水，吃了一塊餅乾（二者都是修女給他的），就到準備給他休息的行軍帳篷去。他在那兒脫掉了襯衫，坐在牀邊，下午三點十五分拿起手槍，對準他的私人醫生在他胸上用碘酒畫的圈子砰地開了一槍。就在這個時刻，在馬孔多，烏蘇娜揭開爐竈上牛奶鍋的蓋子，驚異地發現牛奶半天都沒煮沸，而且牛奶裏有許多蟲子。
“他們把奧雷連諾給打死啦！”她叫了一聲。
然後，她服從孤獨中養成的習慣，朝院子裏瞥了一眼，便看見了霍·阿·布恩蒂亞；他在雨下淋得透溼，顯得愁眉不展，比死的時候老多了。“他是被暗殺的，”她更準確地說。“誰也沒有發發慈悲合上他的眼睛。”
夜裏，她透過眼淚看見一個橙黃色的圓盤，彷彿流星一樣迅捷地掠過天空，她認爲這是死亡的徵兆。她仍在粟樹下面，伏在丈夫的膝上哭泣。這時他們就把毛毯裹着的奧雷連諾上校擡來了，毛毯已給凝血弄得僵硬。他睜開的眼裏燃着怒火。