《能言馬與男孩》第33期:沙斯塔在墳場裏(3)

The moon was shining brightly. The Tombs - far bigger and nearer than he had thought they would be - looked grey in the moonlight. In fact, they looked horribly like huge people, draped in grey robes that covered their heads and faces. They were not at all nice things to have near you when spending a night alone in a strange place. But the noise had come from the opposite side, from the desert. Shasta had to turn his back on the Tombs (he didn't like that much) and stare out across the level sand. The wild cry rang out again.

"I hope it's not more lions," thought Shasta. It was in fact not very like the lion's roars he had heard on the night when they met Hwin and Aravis, and was really the cry of a jackal. But of course Shasta did not know this. Even if he had known, he would not have wanted very much to meet a jackal.

The cries rang out again and again. "There's more than one of them, whatever they are," thought Shasta. "And they're coming nearer."

I suppose that if he had been an entirely sensible boy he would have gone back through the Tombs nearer to the river where there were houses, and wild beasts would be less likely to come. But then there were (or he thought there were) the ghouls. To go back through the Tombs would mean going past those dark openings in the Tombs; and what might come out of them? It may have been silly, but Shasta felt he would rather risk the wild beasts. Then, as the cries came nearer and nearer, he began to change his mind.

He was just going to run for it when suddenly, between him and the desert, a huge animal bounded into view. As the moon was behind it, it looked quite black, and Shasta did not know what it was, except that it had a very big, shaggy head and went on four legs. It did not seem to have noticed Shasta, for it suddenly stopped, turned its head towards the desert and let out a roar which re-echoed through the Tombs and seemed to shake the sand under Shasta's feet. The cries of the other creatures suddenly stoppd and he thought he could hear feet scampering away. Then the great beast turned to examine Shasta.

"It's a lion, I know it's a lion," thought Shasta. "I'm done. I wonder will it hurt much. I wish it was over. I wonder does anything happen to people after they're dead. O-o-oh! Here it comes!" And he shut his eyes and his teeth tight.

But instead of teeth and claws he only felt something warm lying down at his feet. And when he opened his eyes he said, "Why, it's not nearly as big as I thought! It's only half the size. No, it isn't even quarter the size. I do declare it's only the cat!! I must have dreamed all that about its being as big as a horse."

And whether he really had been dreaming or not, what was now lying at his feet, and staring him out of countenance with its big, green, unwinking eyes, was the cat; though certainly one of the largest cats he had ever seen.

"Oh, Puss," gasped Shasta. "I am so glad to see you again. I've been having such horrible dreams." And he at once lay down again, back to back with the cat as they had been at the beginning of the night. The warmth from it spread all over him.

"I'll never do anything nasty to a cat again as long as I live," said Shasta, half to the cat and half to himself. "I did once, you know. I threw stones at a half-starved mangy old stray. Hey! Stop that." For the cat had turned round and given him a scratch. "None of that," said Shasta. "It isn't as if you could understand what I'm saying." Then he dozed off.

明月雪亮地照耀着。墳墓——遠比他想像中的還要大還要近——在月光中呈蒼白色口事實上，墳墓看上去極爲可怕，像是穿着遮住腦袋和臉蛋的蒼白長袍的巨人。當你在一個奇怪的地方過夜時，它們近在你身邊，壓根兒不是什麼好事。但叫聲來自對面，來自大沙漠。沙斯塔不得不轉過身子背朝着墳場(他可不大喜歡這樣)，瞪着眼睛，越過平坦的沙漠望去。粗野的叫聲重新響起來了。

“我希望不是又碰到獅子了。”沙斯塔想道。這叫聲倒不大像遇到赫溫和阿拉維斯那一夜聽到的獅吼，實際上，這是一頭胡狼的叫聲。但沙斯塔當然不知道。即使他知道了，他也不情願碰到一頭胡狼。

叫聲一陣陣地傳來。”不論是什麼野獸，可不止一頭哩。”沙斯塔想，”野獸在逼近了。”

我想，如果沙斯塔是個完全有頭腦的孩子，就會穿過墳場回到靠近河流的地方，那兒有房屋，野獸就不大可能來了。不過，那個地方會有(或者是他認爲會有)食屍鬼。穿過墳場回去，就意味着要經過墳墓那些漆黑的洞穴，洞穴裏說不定會冒出什麼鬼怪來呢?這也許是愚蠢可笑的，但沙斯塔覺得他寧可冒野獸的風險。接下來，由於叫聲愈來愈逼近，他纔開始改變主意了。

他正要逃跑時，突然，在他和沙漠之間，有一頭巨獸跳進了視野。月光照在巨獸的後面，使它看上去渾身漆黑，沙斯塔不認得它是什麼野獸，只見它長着一個毛髮蓬鬆的很大的腦袋，用四條腿走路。它似乎沒注意到沙斯塔，因爲它突然停下步來，回頭朝向大沙漠，發出一聲怒吼，吼聲在墳場裏迴盪，彷彿把沙斯塔腳下的沙地都震動了。其他動物的叫聲隨之突然停止，沙斯塔覺得他聽見了驚惶奔跑的腳步聲。然後，那巨獸轉過身來仔細打量着沙斯塔。

“這是一頭獅子，我知道這是一頭獅子，”沙斯塔，心中想道，”我沒命了。不知道是不是會痛得厲害。我但願趕快完蛋。我不知道人死了以後還會發生什麼事情?啊呀呀！它撲上來了！”於是他閉上眼睛咬緊牙齒。

然而，卻沒有牙齒和腳爪的抓咬，只覺得有個溫暖的東西躺在他腳邊。他睜開眼睛時說道”咦，它並不是同我所想的那般大！只不過一半兒大。不，甚至連四分之一還不到。我敢說它不過是隻貓！什麼它跟馬兒一般大小，都是我做夢想出來的。”

不論沙斯塔是否確實做過夢，現在躺在他腳邊，用它那大大的、綠綠的、毫不眨巴的眼睛，瞧得他侷促不安的，是一隻貓，儘管是他所見過的最大的貓。

“貓咪啊，”沙斯塔上氣不接下氣地說道，”重新看見你，我真是高興。我一直在做着可怕的夢。”他立刻重新躺下，跟貓咪背靠背，就像黑夜初臨時那樣。貓身上的溫暖傳遍了他的全身。

“只要我活着，我今後決不再對貓兒做什麼促狹的事情了。”沙斯塔一半兒對貓咪一半兒對自己說道，”我幹過一次，你知道嗎。我用石子擲過一隻走失的、半飢半飽的、生病瘡的老貓。嗨，住手。”因爲那貓轉過身來抓了他一下。”別來這一手，”沙斯塔說，”這就不像是你聽得懂我說的話了。”接着他就打起瞌睡來了。