《能言馬與男孩》第50期:穿過大沙漠(4)

This seemed to last for hours. Then there came a time when there was no longer any moon. They seemed to ride in the dead darkness for hours and hours. And after that there came a moment when Shasta noticed that he could see Bree's neck and head in front of him a little more clearly than before; and slowly, very slowly, he began to notice the vast grey flatness on every side. It looked absolutely dead, like something in a dead world; and Shasta felt quite terribly tired and noticed that he was getting cold and that his lips were dry. And all the time the squeak of the leather, the jingle of the bits, and the noise of the hoofs-not Propputtypropputty as it would be on a hard road, but Thubbudythubbudy on the dry sand.

At last, after hours of riding, far away on his right there came a single long streak of paler grey, low down on the horizon. Then a streak of red. It was the morning at last, but without a single bird to sing about it. He was glad of the walking bits now, for he was colder than ever.

Then suddenly the sun rose and everything changed in a moment. The grey sand turned yellow and twinkled as if it was strewn with diamonds. On their left the shadows of Shasta and Hwin and Bree and Aravis, enormously long, raced beside them. The double peak of Mount Pire, far ahead, flashed in the sunlight and Shasta saw they were a little out of the course. "A bit left, a bit left," he sang out. Best of all, when you looked back, Tashbaan was already small and remote. The Tombs were quite invisible: swallowed up in that single, jagged-edged hump which was the city of the Tisroc. Everyone felt better.

But not for long. Though Tashbaan looked very far away when they first saw it, it refused to look any further away as they went on. Shasta gave up looking back at it, for it only gave him the feeling that they were not moving at all. Then the light became a nuisance. The glare of the sand made his eyes ache: but he knew he mustn't shut them. He must screw them up and keep on looking ahead at Mount Pire and shouting out directions. Then came the heat. He noticed it for the first time when he had to dismount and walk: as he slipped down to the sand the heat from it struck up into his face as if from the opening of an oven door. Next time it was worse. But the third time, as his bare feet touched the sand he screamed with pain and got one foot back in the stirrup and the other half over Bree's back before you could have said knife.

"Sorry, Bree," he gasped. "I can't walk. It burns my feet."

"Of course!" panted Bree. "Should have thought of that myself. Stay on. Can't be helped."

"It's all right for you," said Shasta to Aravis who was walking beside Hwin. "You've got shoes on."

Aravis said nothing and looked prim. Let's hope she didn't mean to, but she did.

On again, trot and walk and trot, jingle-jingle-jingle, squeak-squeak-squeak, smell of hot horse, smell of hot self, blinding glare, headache. And nothing at all different for mile after mile. Tashbaan would never look any further away. The mountains would never look any nearer. You felt this had been going on for always - jingle-jingle-jingle, squeaksqueak-squeak, smell of hot horse, smell of hot self.

這種情況似乎持續了幾個鐘頭。接下來一段時間，不再見到明月。他們彷彿是在死一般的黑暗中一個鐘頭又一個鐘頭地奔馳着。這之後，有一會兒，沙斯塔注意到他能看見前面布里的脖子和腦袋，比先前看得清楚一點兒；於是，慢慢地，十分緩慢地，他開始看到前後左右遼闊而平坦的灰茫茫的大漠。看上去絕對沒有生命，像是陰間地府的什麼東西似的；而沙斯塔感到疲倦得可怕，注意到自己在發冷，嘴脣是乾燥的。自始至終，但聽得皮帶吱嘎作響，馬嚼子丁丁當當，馬蹄聲不斷——不是踩在堅硬道路上的唱唱聲，而是踏在乾燥沙子上的沙沙聲。

騎馬走了幾個鐘頭以後，終於在他右邊的遠方出現了一道淡灰色，低低地鑲在天邊上。隨後是一道紅色。終於是早晨了，但沒有一隻鳥來歌唱早晨。現在他倒高興散散步了，因爲他比先前更覺得冷。

然後太陽突然升起來了，片刻之間一切都變了。灰色的沙漠變成黃色，閃閃爍爍，彷彿裏邊撒滿了鑽石。沙斯塔、赫溫、布里、阿拉維斯的影子又長又大，在他們的左邊競逐。皮爾峯的雙峯在前邊兒的遠方，在陽光中熠熠生輝。沙斯塔看出他們走得稍微有點兒偏。”靠左邊一點兒，靠左邊一點兒。”他叫道。最妙的是，當你回頭望時，塔什班城已經又小又遙遠了。墳場完全看不見了，被吞沒在邊緣參差不齊的駝峯裏了，那駝峯就是蒂斯羅克的城市。大家都覺得比剛纔好多了。"

然而好景不長。他們第一次回頭望塔什班城時，雖然看上去已經距離很遠了，可他們繼續前進時，這城卻不見得更遠些。沙斯塔不再回頭望，因爲遙望之際，給了他壓根兒滯留原地未動的感覺。於是光芒也變成了討厭的東西。沙漠炫目的反光使他眼睛發痛，但他知道不能閉上眼睛。他必須使勁兒眯起眼睛，不斷地瞅着前邊的皮爾峯，大聲喊出前進的方向來。隨之而來的是炙熱。他不得不下馬散步時，第一次感覺到了炙熱；他從馬身上滑到沙地上，沙地上騰起的熱氣往他的臉上直衝過來，就像從爐竈門口衝出來的。第二次下馬時更糟。第三次，他的光腳丫子剛碰到沙子就痛得叫喊起來，說時遲那時快，他一隻腳縮回馬鐙上，另一隻腳半己跨到了布里的脊背上。

“對不起，布里，”他氣喘吁吁地說道，“我沒法兒走路。沙子燙腳。”

“當然囉！”布里喘息着說道，“我自己應該想到這一層的。待在背上吧，沒有法子。”

“你倒還行，”沙斯塔對正在赫溫身旁步行的阿拉維斯說道，”你穿着鞋啊。”

阿拉維斯啥也不說，一本正經地繃着臉。讓我們希望她不是故意的吧，但她確實有意如此。

重新趕路小跑、行走、小跑，丁當、丁當、丁當，吱嘎、吱嘎、吱嘎，馬兒熱得出汗的氣味，炎熱本身的氣味，炫目的反光，頭痛腦漲。一英里又一英里的老樣子，壓根兒沒有什麼不同。塔什班城看上去永遠不會離得更遠。大山大嶺看上去永遠不會變得更近。你覺得始終在周而復始——丁當、丁當、丁當，吱嘎、吱嘎、吱嘎，馬兒熱得出汗的氣味，炎熱本身的氣味。