《能言馬與男孩》第18期:在塔什班城門口(7)

That night they wound their way through the woods up to the ridge by a wood-cutter's track. And when they came out of the woods at the top they could see thousands of lights in the valley down below them. Shasta had had no notion of what a great city would be like and it frightened him. They had their supper and the children got some sleep. But the horses woke them very early in the morning.

那天夜裏他們經由伐木者的小徑，曲曲折折穿過森林，到達山脊。當他們從山頂上森林裏鑽出來時，他們能望見下面山谷裏千萬點燈光。沙斯塔對大城市的風光毫無概念，眼前的光景叫他嚇了一跳。他們吃了夜餐，孩子們睡了一些時候。但馬兒們大清早就把孩子們叫醒了。-

The stars were still out and the grass was terribly cold and wet, but daybreak was just beginning, far to their right across the sea. Aravis went a few steps away into the wood and came back looking odd in her new, ragged clothes and carrying her real ones in a bundle. These, and her armour and shield and scimitar and the two saddles and the rest of the horses' fine furnishings were put into the sacks. Bree and Hwin had already got themselves as dirty and bedraggled as they could and it remained to shorten their tails. As the only tool for doing this was Aravis's scimitar, one of the packs had to be undone again in order to get it out. It was a longish job and rather hurt the horses.

繁星還沒有隱去，青草冷得可怕，也溼得可怕，曙光剛開始出現向他們右邊兒遠遠伸展開去，越過了大海。阿拉維斯走開幾步，進人樹林，回來時看上去挺古怪她穿着新買的破爛衣衫，還挾了卷她本來穿的衣服。這一卷衣服，再加上她的盔甲、盾牌、短彎刀，以及前副馬鞍子和馬兒的其餘精美設備，都裝在幾隻麻袋裏。布里和赫溫已經把它們自己弄髒，渾身都是污泥，只剩下尾巴尚待割短。要幹這事，惟一的工具便是阿拉維斯的短彎刀。爲了把刀取出來，其中一隻麻袋只得重新打開。割尾巴的時間相當長久，對馬兒傷害甚大。

"My word!" said Bree, "if I wasn't a Talking Horse what a lovely kick in the face I could give you! I thought you were going to cut it, not pull it out. That's what it feels like."

“好傢伙！”布里說，”如果我不是一匹說話的馬，我會狠狠地踢你臉上腳我原以爲你要割斷它，而不是把它拔掉。我當時的感覺就是在硬拔。”

But in spite of semi-darkness and cold fingers all was done in the end, the big packs bound on the horses, the rope halters (which they were now wearing instead of bridles and reins) in the children's hands, and the journey began.

儘管天色昏暗、手指冰冷，終於一切都辦妥了，大包大袋縛在馬身上。繮繩(現在它們不用轡頭和皮帶，只用繩子)拿在孩子們手裏，他們便開始踏上征程。

"Remember," said Bree. "Keep together if we possibly can. If not, meet at the Tombs of the Ancient Kings, and whoever gets there first must wait for the others."

“記住了，”布里囑咐道，”如果辦得到，我們就要經常待在起。如果辦不到，就在古代國王的墳場裏集合，誰先到，必須等候其他的人馬。”

"And remember," said Shasta. "Don't you two horses forget yourselves and start talking, whatever happens."

“還要記住，”沙靳塔說，”不論發生什麼事情，你們兩個可別忘了自己的身份，說起人話來了。”