《能言马与男孩》第16期:在塔什班城门口(5)

Soon, however, they had more important things to think of. They were getting near Tashbaan. There were more, and larger, villages, and more people on the roads. They now did nearly all their travelling by night and hid as best they could during the day. And at every halt they argued and argued about what they were to do when they reached Tashbaan. Everyone had been putting off this difficulty, but now it could be put off no longer. During these discussions Aravis became a little, a very little, less unfriendly to Shasta; one usually gets on better with people when one is making plans than when one is talking about nothing in particular.

然而，不久他们就有更加重大的事情要考虑了。他们正在走近塔什班城，路上有更多更大的村庄，和为数更多的人们。如今他们差不多都是在夜间赶路，到了白天就尽可能地躲藏起来。每次暂时歇脚，他们总是再三讨论，到达塔什班时他们该怎么办？大家都把这个困难问题往下拖延，如今不能再拖下去了。在这些讨论中，阿拉维斯对待沙斯塔的不友好态度，倒是点儿点儿地减少了，人在商量计划时往往比闲谈聊天时相处得好些。

Bree said the first thing now to do was to fix a place where they would all promise to meet on the far side of Tashbaan even if, by any ill luck, they got separated in passing the city. He said the best place would be the Tombs of the Ancient Kings on the very edge of the desert. "Things like great stone bee-hives," he said, "you can't possibly miss them. And the best of it is that none of the Calormenes will go near them because they think the place is haunted by ghouls and are afraid of it." Aravis asked if it wasn't really haunted by ghouls. But Bree said he was a free Narnian horse and didn't believe in these Calormene tales. And then Shasta said he wasn't a Calormene either and didn't care a straw about these old stories of ghouls. This wasn't quite true. But it rather impressed Aravis (though at the moment it annoyed her too) and of course she said she didn't mind any number of ghouls either. So it was settled that the Tombs should be their assembly place on the other side of Tashbaan, and everyonefelt they were getting on very well till Hwin humbly pointed out that the real problem was not where they should go when they had got through Tashbaan but how they were to get through it.

布里说，第一桩要办的事情就是先确定一个地方，要是运气不好，穿过城市时走散了，大家也要约定在塔什班城另一边集合起来。它说最好的地方是古代国王的坟场，就在大沙漠的边缘。”就像巨大的石头蜂房似的东西，”它说，”你不可能错过的。最大的优点是，没有一个卡乐门人会走近这古坟场，因为他们认为那个地方是食尸鬼出没之处，他们害怕它。”阿拉维斯问，是否真的有食尸鬼出没？布里说，它是匹自由的纳尼亚马儿，不相信这些卡乐门的传说。接着，沙斯塔说，他也不是个卡乐门人，对于这些个老掉了牙的食尸鬼传说，他可丝毫不怕。这话可并不十分确实，但这话给阿拉维斯的印象倒很深(虽然当时电很叫她恼火)。当然啦，她说，有多少食尸鬼她也不怕。所以，事情就这么决定下来了，古坟场应是他们在塔什班城那边集合的地点，大家都觉得他们的讨论进步很大，后来对由赫温谦逊地指出，真正的问题不在于他们穿过了塔什班城应该到什么地方去集合，而在于如何穿过塔什班城。

"We'll settle that tomorrow, Ma'am," said Bree. "Time for a little sleep now."

“女士，我们明天会安排好的，”布里说，”现在该睡一会儿了。”

But it wasn't easy to settle. Aravis's first suggestion was that they should swim across the river below the city during the night and not go into Tashbaan at all. But Bree had two reasons against this. One was that the river-mouth was very wide and it would be far too long a swim for Hwin to do, especially with a rider on her back. (He thought it would be too long for himself too, but he said much less about that). The other was that it would be full of shipping and of course anyone on the deck of a ship who saw two horses swimming past would be almost certain to be inquisitive.

然而，要安排好并不容易。阿拉维斯第一个建议是：他们应该在夜间游泳横渡城外的河流，而根本不进入塔什班城。但布里反对，理由有两条。一是河口很阔，赫温要游过去的话，路程可太长了，特别是它背上还骑着一个人。(它认为，对它自己说来，路程也太长，但对此它说得很少。)另一条理由是河上往来船只繁多，当然啰，坐在甲板上的任何人，看到两匹马儿游泳渡河，定会问长问短的。

Shasta thought they should go up the river above Tashbaan and cross it where it was narrower. But Bree explained that there were gardens and pleasure houses on both banks of the river for miles and that there would be Tarkaans and Tarkheenas living in them and riding about the roads and having water parties on the river. In fact it would be the most likely place in the world for meeting someone who would recognize Aravis or even himself.

沙斯塔主张到塔什班以北的上游去，那儿的河流比较狭窄，容易横渡。但布里解释道，那儿好几里长的河流两岸，都有花园和游乐场所，泰坎和泰克希娜们很可能就住在那儿的屋子里面，并且在大路上骑马，在河上举行社交聚会。事实上，这很可能是世界上最容易遇到熟人，把阿拉维斯或布里认出来的地方。