福尔摩斯探案经典:《恐怖谷》第8章Part1

It was the fourth of February in the year 1875. It had been a severe winter, and the snow lay deep in the gorges of the Gilmerton Mountains. The steam ploughs had, however, kept the railroad open, and the evening train which connects the long line of coal-mining and iron-working settlements was slowly groaning its way up the steep gradients which lead from Stagville on the plain to Vermissa, the central township which lies at the head of Vermissa Valley. From this point the track sweeps downward to Bartons Crossing, Helmdale, and the purely agricultural county of Merton. It was a single track railroad; but at every siding--and they were numerous--long lines of trucks piled with coal and iron ore told of the hidden wealth which had brought a rude population and a bustling life to this most desolate corner of the United States of desolate it was! Little could the first pioneer who had traversed it have ever imagined that the fairest prairies and the most lush water pastures were valueless compared to this gloomy land of black crag and tangled forest. Above the dark and often scarcely penetrable woods upon their flanks, the high, bare crowns of the mountains, white snow, and jagged rock towered upon each flank, leaving a long, winding, tortuous valley in the centre. Up this the little train was slowly oil lamps had just been lit in the leading passenger car, a long, bare carriage in which some twenty or thirty people were seated. The greater number of these were workmen returning from their day's toil in the lower part of the valley. At least a dozen, by their grimed faces and the safety lanterns which they carried, proclaimed themselves miners. These sat smoking in a group and conversed in low voices, glancing occasionally at two men on the opposite side of the car, whose uniforms and badges showed them to be policemen.
Several women of the labouring class and one or two travellers who might have been small local storekeepers made up the rest of the company, with the exception of one young man in a corner by himself. It is with this man that we are concerned. Take a good look at him; for he is worth is a fresh-complexioned, middle-sized young man, not far, one would guess, from his thirtieth year. He has large, shrewd, humorous gray eyes which twinkle inquiringly from time to time as he looks round through his spectacles at the people about him. It is easy to see that he is of a sociable and possibly simple disposition, anxious to be friendly to all men. Anyone could pick him at once as gregarious in his habits and communicative in his nature, with a quick wit and a ready smile. And yet the man who studied him more closely might discern a certain firmness of jaw and grim tightness about the lips which would warn him that there were depths beyond, and that this pleasant, brown-haired young Irishman might conceivably leave his mark for good or evil upon any society to which he was ng made one or two tentative remarks to the nearest miner, and receiving only short, gruff replies, the traveller resigned himself to uncongenial silence, staring moodily out of the window at the fading landscape.
It was not a cheering prospect. Through the growing gloom there pulsed the red glow of the furnaces on the sides of the hills. Great heaps of slag and dumps of cinders loomed up on each side, with the high shafts of the collieries towering above them. Huddled groups of mean, wooden houses, the windows of which were beginning to outline themselves in light, were scattered here and there along the line, and the frequent halting places were crowded with their swarthy iron and coal valleys of the Vermissa district were no resorts for the leisured or the cultured. Everywhere there were stern signs of the crudest battle of life, the rude work to be done, and the rude, strong workers who did young traveller gazed out into this dismal country with a face of mingled repulsion and interest, which showed that the scene was new to him. At intervals he drew from his pocket a bulky letter to which he referred, and on the margins of which he scribbled some notes. Once from the back of his waist he produced something which one would hardly have expected to find in the possession of so mild-mannered a man. It was a navy revolver of the largest size. As he turned it slantwise to the light, the glint upon the rims of the copper shells within the drum showed that it was fully loaded. He quickly restored it to his secret pocket, but not before it had been observed by a working man who had seated himself upon the adjoining bench.
"Hullo, mate!" said he. "You seem heeled and ready."

一八七五年二月四日，天气严寒，吉尔默敦山峡谷中积满深雪。然而，由于开动了蒸汽扫雷机，铁路依然畅通无阻，联结煤矿和铁工区这条漫长线路的夜车，迟缓地从斯塔格维尔平原，响声隆隆地爬上陡峭的斜坡，向维尔米萨谷口的中心区维尔米萨镇驶去。火车行驶到这里，向下驶去，经巴顿支路、赫尔姆代尔，到农产丰富的梅尔顿县。这是单轨铁路，不过在每条侧线上的无数列满载着煤和铁矿石的货车，说明了矿藏的丰富。这丰富的矿藏使得美国这个最荒凉的角落迁来了许多粗野的人，生活开始沸腾起来。以前这里是荒芜不毛之地。第一批到这里进行详细考察的开拓者怎么也不会想到这片美景如画的大草原和水草繁茂的牧场，竟是遍布黑岩石和茂密森林的荒凉土地。山坡上是黑压压几乎不见天日的密林，再往上是高耸的光秃山顶，白雪和巉岩屹立两侧，经过蜿蜒曲折的山谷，这列火车正在向上缓缓地蠕动着。前面的客车刚刚点起了油灯，一节简陋的长车厢里坐着二三十个人，其中大多数是工人，经过在深谷底部的整天的劳累，坐火车回去休息。至少有十几个人，从他们积满尘垢的面孔以及他们携带的安全灯来看，显然是矿工。他们坐在一起吸烟，低声交谈，偶而平视车厢对面坐的两个人一眼，那两个人身穿制服，佩戴徽章，说明他们是警察。

客车厢里其余的旅客，有几个劳动阶层的妇女，有一两个旅客可能是当地的小业主，除此以外，还有一个年轻人独自坐在车厢一角。因为和我们有关的正是这一位 ，所以值得详细交代一下。这个年轻人品宇轩昂，中等身材，不过三十岁左右。一双富于幽默感的灰色大眼睛，不时好奇地迅速转动，透过眼镜打量着周围的人们。不难看出他是一个善于交际、性情坦率的人，热衷于和一切人交朋友。任何人都可以立即发现他那善于交际的脾气和爱说话的性格，他颇为机智而经常面带微笑。但如有人细细地进行观察，就可以从他双唇和嘴角看出刚毅果断、坚韧不拔的神色来，知道这是一个思想深沉的人，这个快活的褐色头发的年轻的爱尔兰人一定会在他进入的社会中好歹使自己出名。这个年轻人和坐在离他最近的一个矿工搭了一两句话，但对方话语很少而又粗鲁，便因话不投机而默不作声了，抑郁不快地凝视着窗外逐渐暗淡下去的景色。

这景色不能令人高兴。天色逐渐变暗，山坡上闪着炉火的红光，矿渣和炉渣堆积如山，隐隐呈现在山坡两侧，煤矿的竖井耸立其上。沿线到处是零零落落的低矮木屋 ，窗口灯光闪烁，隐约现出起轮廓来。不时显现的停车站挤满了皮肤黝黑的乘客。维尔米萨区盛产煤铁的山谷，不是有闲阶层和有文化的人们经常来往的地方。这儿到处是为生存而进行最原始搏斗的严竣痕迹，进行着原始的粗笨劳动，从事劳动的是粗野的健壮的工人。年轻的旅客眺望着这小城镇的凄凉景象，脸上现出不快和好奇的样子，说明这地方对他还很陌生。他不时从口袋中掏出一封信来，看看它，在信的空白处潦草地写下一些字。有一次他从身后掏出一样东西，很难使人相信这是象他那样温文尔雅的人所有的。那是一支最大号的海军用左轮手枪。在他把手枪侧向灯光时，弹轮上的铜弹闪闪发光，表明枪内装满了子弹。他很快把枪放回口袋里，但已被一个邻座的工人看到了。
“喂，老兄，"这个工人说道，“你好象有所戒备啊。”