《能言马与男孩》第18期:在塔什班城门口(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.

那天夜里他们经由伐木者的小径，曲曲折折穿过森林，到达山脊。当他们从山顶上森林里钻出来时，他们能望见下面山谷里千万点灯光。沙斯塔对大城市的风光毫无概念，眼前的光景叫他吓了一跳。他们吃了夜餐，孩子们睡了一些时候。但马儿们大清早就把孩子们叫醒了。-

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.

繁星还没有隐去，青草冷得可怕，也湿得可怕，曙光刚开始出现向他们右边儿远远伸展开去，越过了大海。阿拉维斯走开几步，进人树林，回来时看上去挺古怪她穿着新买的破烂衣衫，还挟了卷她本来穿的衣服。这一卷衣服，再加上她的盔甲、盾牌、短弯刀，以及前副马鞍子和马儿的其余精美设备，都装在几只麻袋里。布里和赫温已经把它们自己弄脏，浑身都是污泥，只剩下尾巴尚待割短。要干这事，惟一的工具便是阿拉维斯的短弯刀。为了把刀取出来，其中一只麻袋只得重新打开。割尾巴的时间相当长久，对马儿伤害甚大。

"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."

“好家伙！”布里说，”如果我不是一匹说话的马，我会狠狠地踢你脸上脚我原以为你要割断它，而不是把它拔掉。我当时的感觉就是在硬拔。”

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.

尽管天色昏暗、手指冰冷，终于一切都办妥了，大包大袋缚在马身上。缰绳(现在它们不用辔头和皮带，只用绳子)拿在孩子们手里，他们便开始踏上征程。

"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."

“记住了，”布里嘱咐道，”如果办得到，我们就要经常待在起。如果办不到，就在古代国王的坟场里集合，谁先到，必须等候其他的人马。”

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

“还要记住，”沙靳塔说，”不论发生什么事情，你们两个可别忘了自己的身份，说起人话来了。”