From a letter to Mrs. Stillman, dated merely “Tuesday”.
以下内容见于寄给斯蒂尔曼太太的信，落款日期只写著“星期二”。
Next morning a score of us went with Hillyer, out of friendship, and helped him bury his late relative, the unlamented Buckner, and I acted as first assistant pall-bearer, Hillyer acting as chief. Just as we had finished our labors a ragged and melancholy stranger, carrying an old hand-bag, limped by with his head down, and I caught the scent I had chased around the globe! It was the odor of Paradise to my perishing hope!
第二天上午，我们几个人出于对希里尔的友情，和他一起安葬了他的亲戚、没人哀悼的弗林特·布克纳。希里尔主持，我当抬棺的主要助手。我们刚刚干完，一个衣衫褴缕。神色忧郁的陌生人垂著头摇摇晃晃地走了过来，我嗅出了走遍世界追寻的气息！这美妙的气息一下子点燃了我的希望之火！
Fetlock Jones was put under lock and key in an unoccupied log cabin, and left there to await his trial. Constable Harris provided him with a couple of days rations, instructed him to keep a good guard over himself, and promised to look in on him as soon as further supplies should be due.
菲特洛克·琼斯被锁在一间没人住的木屋里，等候审判。哈里斯警官给他送去一两天的干粮，劝告他好生照管自己，而且答应需要接济时就来看他。
In a moment I was at his side and had laid a gentle hand upon his shoulder. He slumped to the ground as if a stroke of lightning had withered him in his tracks; and as the boys came running he struggled to his knees and put up his pleading hands to me, and out of his chattering jaws he begged me to persecute him no more, and said,
我马上走到他身旁，轻轻抚著他的肩膀。他像遭了电击一样颓然倒地；其他人跑过来时，他挣扎著站了起来，恳求地伸出手来，嘴唇抖抖地哀求我不要再折磨他了。他说：
“If it’s only Sherlock Holmes that’s troubling you, you needn’t worry any more.”
“要是欺负你的只是夏洛克·福尔摩斯，你就用不著再担心了。”
“You have hunted me around the world, Sherlock Holmes, yet God is my witness I have never done any man harm!”
“夏洛克·福尔摩斯，你满世界追捕我，可是老天在上，我什么人也没有害过呀！”
A glance at his wild eyes showed us that he was insane. That was my work, mother! The tidings of your death can some day repeat the misery I felt in that moment, but nothing else can ever do it. The boys lifted him up, and gathered about him, and were full of pity of him, and said the gentlest and touchingest things to him, and said cheer up and don’t be troubled, he was among friends now, and they would take care of him, and protect him, and hang any man that laid a hand on him. They are just like so many mothers, the rough mining-camp boys are, when you wake up the south side of their hearts; yes, and just like so many reckless and unreasoning children when you wake up the opposite side of that muscle. They did everything they could think of to comfort him, but nothing succeeded until Wells-Fargo Ferguson, who is a clever strategist, said,
从他狂乱的眼神里，我们看得出他已经精神失常了。这都是我的过错，母亲！我在那一刻的痛苦，也许只有您百年之后的消息才能与之相比，再也没有其他的事情会给我那样的感受了。众人把他扶起来，围住他，对他十分同情，软语温言地安慰他，对他说：打起精神来，别再垂头丧气的，如今他是他们的朋友了，他们会照顾他，保护他，谁敢动他一个指头，就把那人杀了。只要能唤醒他们心底里温情的一面，这些粗鲁的矿工就像一队妈妈；当然了，要是你唤醒的是另一面，他们又像一帮莽莽撞撞、不可理喻的顽童。他们想尽千方百计安抚他，却无济于事，这时，聪明的战略家威尔斯·法戈·弗格森说：
“Why?” asked the forlorn lunatic, eagerly.
“为什么？”那无助的疯子问。
“Dead! Dead! Oh, don’t trifle with a poor wreck like me. Is he dead? On honor, now; is he telling me true, boys?”
“死了！死了！啊，他再不会耍弄我们这些可怜虫了。他是死了吗？别骗我——孩子们，他说的是真事吗？”
“Because hes dead again.”
“因为他又死了一回。”
James Walker drew a deep sigh; evidently a sigh of relief; and said nothing; but his eyes lost something of their wildness, his countenance cleared visibly, and its drawn look relaxed a little. We all went to our cabin, and the boys cooked him the best dinner the camp could furnish the materials for, and while they were about it Hillyer and I outfitted him from hat to shoe-leather with new clothes of ours, and made a comely and presentable old gentleman of him. Old is the right word, and a pity, too: old by the droop of him, and the frost upon his hair, and the marks which sorrow and distress have left upon his face; though he is only in his prime in the matter of years. While he ate, we smoked and chatted; and when he was finishing he found his voice at last, and of his own accord broke out with his personal history. I cannot furnish his exact words, but I will come as near it as I can.
那个自称“詹姆士·沃克”的人吐了一口长气，如释重负。他虽然没有说话，可是眼神里已经少了几分狂乱，脸色开朗了不少，看来放松了一点儿。大家一起回到我们的住处，伙计们倾屯子所有，给他做一顿美味佳肴。他们做饭的时候，希里尔和我给他从头到脚换上我们的新衣服，把他打扮成了一位有形有款的体面老绅士。“老”这个字既用得名符其实，也透著伤感。尽管他正当盛年，但是头上如霜的白发，脸上饱经沧桑、历尽苦难的纹路，都说明了他的确是垂垂老矣。他吃饭时，我们一边吸烟，一边聊天。饭菜下肚，他终于开口讲话了，这些年来的经历不经意地脱口而出。这些话句句不走样办不到，我只能尽量忠实原意了。
“True as you’re standing there!” said Ham Sandwich, and they all backed up the statement in a body.
“千真万确！”汉姆·桑德韦奇说，别人异口同声地说是真的。
“They hung him in San Bernardino last week,” added Ferguson, clinching the matter, “whilst he was searching around after you. Mistook him for another man. They’re sorry, but they cant help it now.”
“上个礼拜把他吊死在圣·贝纳迪诺了，”弗格森把这件事说得有鼻子有眼，“当时他正到处追你呢。是把他错当成另外一个人了。他们后悔了，可后悔也来不及了。”
“They’re a-building him a monument,” said Ham Sandwich, with the air of a person who had contributed to it, and knew.
“他们给福尔摩斯造了个纪念碑，”汉姆·桑德韦奇用身历其事、无所不知的口气说。
The Wrong Mans Story
“冤案”纪事
It happened like this: I was in Denver. I had been there many years; sometimes I remember how many, sometimes I don’t; but it isn’t any matter. All of a sudden I got a notice to leave, or I would be exposed for a horrible crime committed long before; years and years before; in the East.
当初发生的事情是这样的：我住在丹佛，我在那儿已经有好多年了；有时候我能记得到底有多少年，有时候又记不清楚——不过这无关紧要。突然，我收到了一纸驱逐令，假如我不走，就揭露我牵涉一桩可怕的罪案，那件案子是很久——不知有多少年——前在东部发生的事。
I knew about that crime, but I was not the criminal; it was a cousin of mine of the same name. What should I better do? My head was all disordered by fear, and I didn’t know. I was allowed very little time; only one day, I think it was. I would be ruined if I was published, and the people would lynch me, and not believe what I said. It is always the way with lynchings: when they find out it is a mistake they are sorry, but it is too late,; the same as it was with Mr. Holmes, you see. So I said I would sell out and get money to live on, and run away until it blew over and I could come back with my proofs. Then I escaped in the night and went a long way off in the mountains somewhere, and lived disguised and had a false name.
我知道这桩罪行，可我自己并不是罪人；那是我的一个同名同姓的堂兄干的。我该怎么办才好呢？我惶惶不可终日，手足无措。给我限定的时间很少——我记得只有一天。如果我被曝了光，那就全毁了，大家会对我动私刑，我说什么都不会有人听。私刑从来都是如此：事后就算发觉是冤案，后悔也无济于事了——就和福尔摩斯先生的遭遇一样。所以我决意卖掉产业，换成维持生计的现款逃走。直到水落石出、能证明我清白的时候，我再回来。于是，我当天夜里逃离了丹佛，远走高飞，改头换面，用了一个假名字在山里隐居。
And then came the worst. One night the whispers said, “Well never manage, because we cant see him, and so cant point him out to the people.”
这时最糟的事发生了。一天夜里，那些幽灵悄悄地说：“我们没办法，因为我们看不见他，也没有办法向别人揭发他。”
They sighed; then one said: “We must bring Sherlock Holmes. He can be here in twelve days.”
它们歎息了一通，其中一个说：“咱们得请夏洛克·福尔摩斯来。十二天之内他就能到这儿来了。”
They all agreed, and whispered and jibbered with joy. But my heart broke; for I had read about that man, and knew what it would be to have him upon my track, with his superhuman penetration and tireless energies.
它们全都赞成，戚戚嚓嚓、鬼头鬼脑地议论著，可高兴了。我如五雷轰顶，因为我读过关于福尔摩斯的书，知道他不仅智谋出众，而且精力旺盛，一旦被他抓住蛛丝马迹，后果可想而知。
I got more and more troubled and worried, and my troubles made me see spirits and hear voices, and I could not think straight and clear on any subject, but got confused and involved and had to give it up, because my heard hurt so. It got to be worse and worse; more spirits and more voices. They were about me all the time; at first only in the night, then in the day too. They were always whispering around my bed and plotting against me, and it broke my sleep and kept me fagged out, because I got no good rest.
我的烦恼和忧虑与日俱增，弄得我幻视幻听，满眼满耳都是幽灵，我已经不能正常地思考，脑子糊涂，像一团乱麻，只好不再去想，因为我的脑子已经受到了创伤。我的情况越来越糟，幻觉越来越重。幽灵一直来缠著我；开始还只是在夜里，后来白天也来。它们总是围著床窃窃私语，要谋害我，让我睡不著觉。由于不能好好休息，我终日疲劳不堪。
The spirits went away to fetch him, and I got up at once in the middle of the night and fled away, carrying nothing but the hand-bag that had my money in it; thirty thousand dollars; two-thirds of it are in the bag there yet. It was forty days before that man caught up on my track. I just escaped. From habit he had written his real name on a tavern register, but had scratched it out and written “Dagget Barclay” in the place of it. But fear gives you a watchful eye and keen, and I read the true name through the scratches, and fled like a deer.
幽灵去请福尔摩斯了，我在夜半时分匆匆起床溜走、除了装著三万块钱的手提包以外，什么都没有带；那三万块钱还有两万在提包里。四十天以后，那个人发现了我的踪迹。我只得再逃。他在酒店登记时，习惯性地在姓名栏里填了真名，然后又擦去，写上了“达格特·巴克利”。可是恐惧使我练就了一双锐眼，我透过擦痕看出了福尔摩斯的真名字，于是，我飞快地逃走了。
He has hunted me all over this world for three years and a half; the Pacific States, Australasia, India; everywhere you can think of; then back to Mexico and up to California again, giving me hardly any rest; but that name on the registers always saved me, and what is left of me is alive yet. And I am so tired! A cruel time he has given me. yet I give you my honor I have never harmed him nor any man.
他在三年半的时间里跑遍全世界追捕我——太平洋国家、澳洲、印度——你能想到的任何地方；然后又回到了墨西哥和加利福尼亚，让我终日奔波。不过我用来登记的假名字救了我，让我一直活到今天。我太累了！尽管这些年他让我受尽磨难，可我却从来没有害过他，也没有害过其他人，我敢起誓。
At dawn next morning Wells-Fargo Ferguson and Ham Sandwich called us softly out, and said, privately:
次日一早，威尔斯·法戈·弗格森和汉姆·桑德韦奇悄悄叫我出去，偷偷地说：
That was the end of the story, and it stirred those boys to blood-heat, be sure of it. As for me; each word burnt a hole in me where it struck.
故事讲完了，在场的人都对这故事深信不疑，心潮难平。对我来说，他说的一字一句都像钢针一下下扎在我的心口上。
“That news about the way that old stranger has been treated has spread all around, and the camps are up. They are piling in from everywhere, and are going to lynch the Professor. Constable Harris is in a dead funk, and has telephoned the sheriff. Come along!”
“老汉这些年受折磨的事都传遍了，屯子里沸沸扬扬。他们从四面八方聚在一起，要对福尔摩斯大师动私刑。哈里斯警官急死了，已经给县里的警长打了电话。快去吧！”
The boys gave the old fellow the bone-mashing good-fellowship handshake of the mines, and then scattered away to spread the news.
众人用矿工式的豪爽热情一一和老人握手道别。然后各自去传播这条消息了。
We voted that the old man should bunk with us, and be my guest and Hillyers. I shall keep my own counsel, naturally; but as soon as he is well rested and nourished, I shall take him to Denver and rehabilitate his fortunes.
我们一致同意老人作为我和希里尔的客人留在这里。当然，我的想法不能公开；不过，等到他休养康复之后，我就带他回丹佛去，重新安排他的生活。
We started on a run. The others were privileged to feel as they chose, but in my hearts privacy I hoped the sheriff would arrive in time; for I had small desire that Sherlock Holmes should hang for my deeds, as you can easily believe. I had heard a good deal about the sheriff, but for reassurances sake I asked,
我们撒腿就跑。不知别人怎么想，我心里是恨不得县里的警长马上就到。你当然明白，说什么我也不愿看到夏洛克·福尔摩斯当我的替罪羊被人们吊死。县警官的鼎鼎大名我早就听说过，可我还是不放心地问：
“Can he stop a mob! Can Jack Fairfax stop a mob! Well, I should smile! Ex-desperado; nineteen scalps on his string. Can he Oh, I say!”
“他管得住吗2杰克·费尔法克斯管不住聚众闹事，那才是笑话呢！他用一根绳子穿过十九个恶棍的头皮。你说他管得住吗？”
As we tore up the gulch, distant cries and shouts and yells rose faintly on the still air, and grew steadily in strength as we raced along. Roar after roar burst out, stronger and stronger, nearer and nearer; and at last, when we closed up upon the multitude massed in the open area in front of the tavern, the crash of sound was deafening. Some brutal roughs from Dalys gorge had Holmes in their grip, and he was the calmest man there; a contemptuous smile played about his lips, and if any fear of death was in his British heart, his iron personality was master of it and no sign of it was allowed to appear.
我们在谷底飞跑，远远传来了一片大呼小叫的喧闹声，我们越跑越近，那声音也渐渐大了起来。吼叫声此起彼伏，越来越强，越来越近。我们终于来到了酒店前的空地上，那里人头攒动，阵阵声浪震耳欲聋。从达利谷来的一伙粗汉已经拿住了福尔摩斯，他却依然镇定自若；唇边浮著居高临下的笑意，就算他那颗大英国民的心中有对死亡的恐惧，也被他刚强的个性牢牢压住，没有泄漏一丝一毫。
“Can he stop a mob?”
“他管得住聚众闹事吗？”
“Come to a vote, men!” This from one of the Daly gang, Shadbelly Higgins. “Quick! is it hang, or shoot?”
“伙计们，拿主意吧！”达利帮中有一个人喊道，“快点儿！是用绳子，还是用子弹？”
The gangs from all the outlying camps burst out in a thunder-crash of approval, and went struggling and surging toward the prisoner, and closed around him, shouting, “Fire! fires the ticket!” They dragged him to the horse-post, backed him against it, chained him to it, and piled wood and pine cones around him waist-deep. Still the strong face did not blench, and still the scornful smile played about the thin lips.
四里八乡的家伙爆发出雷鸣般的赞许声，一拥而上、争先恐后地挤到囚徒身边，把他团团围住，喊道：“用火！就用火！”他们把福尔摩斯拖到拴马桩跟前，背靠拴马桩绑好，在他周围堆起了齐胸高的木柴和松果。这时福尔摩斯坚毅的面孔上依然毫无惧色，薄薄的嘴唇上仍然挂著轻蔑的笑容。
“A match! fetch a match!”
“火柴！拿火柴来！”
“Neither!” shouted one of his comrades. “He’d be alive again in a week; burning’s the only permanency for him.”
“都不用！”他的一个同党嚷嚷著，“不出一个礼拜，他就活过来了。拿火烧吧，这样才能永远送他上西天。”
Shadbelly struck it, shaded it with his hand, stooped, and held it under a pine cone. A deep silence fell upon the mob. The cone caught, a tiny flame flickered about it a moment or two. I seemed to catch the sound of distant hoofs; it grew more distinct; still more and more distinct, more and more definite, but the absorbed crowd did not appear to notice it. The match went out. The man struck another, stooped, and again the flame rose; this time it took hold and began to spread; here and there men turned away their faces. The executioner stood with the charred match in his fingers, watching his work. The hoof-beats turned a projecting crag, and now they came thundering down upon us. Almost the next moment there was a shout;
沙德贝里擦燃了火柴，用手挡著风，弯下腰把火柴塞到松果下面。这帮乌合之众鸦雀无声。松果点燃了，微弱的火苗问了两下。我似乎听到远处传来了马蹄声——那声音慢慢响了起来——越来越响，越来越清楚，可是正全神贯注盯著火堆的人们好像并未注意到马蹄声。熄灭的火柴抽了出来，那汉子擦燃了另一根火柴，弯下腰去，火苗又蹿了起来；这一次火苗没有灭，蔓延开来——周围的人纷纷离开火堆。行刑者手里还捏著熄了的火柴，欣赏他的杰作。马蹄声在崖顶响起，然后轰然而下，几乎同时，人们大声喊了起来：
And straightway he came tearing into the midst, stood his horse almost on his hind feet, and said,
县警官纵马撕开人群，直取场地中央，勒住马大喝一声：
“Fall back, you gutter-snipes!”
“走开，你们这些贱骨头！”
The parlor-desperado obeyed. Then the sheriff made a speech; sitting his horse at martial ease, and not warming his words with any touch of fire, but delivering them in a measured and deliberate way, and in a tone which harmonized with their character and made them impressively disrespectful.
那亡命徒服从了。县警官从容地骑在马上，不紧不慢。字斟句酌地向众人训话，句句话都说到了点子上，让他们无地自容。
“The sheriff!”
“县警官来了！”
He was obeyed. By all but their leader. He stood his ground, and his hand went to his revolver. The sheriff covered him promptly, and said:
众人闻声而退，只有他们的头领没有服从。他站稳脚跟，想去摸枪。县警官看透了他的心思，喝道：
“Drop your hand, you parlor-desperado. Kick the fire away. Now unchain the stranger.”
“住手，你这个亡命徒。把火弄灭，把那外地人解开。”
“You’re a nice lot; now ain’t you? Just about eligible to travel with this bilk here; Shadbelly Higgins; this loud-mouthed sneak that shoots people in the back and calls himself a desperado. If there’s anything I do particularly despise, it’s a lynching mob; I’ve never seen one that had a man in it. It has to tally up a hundred against one before it can pump up pluck enough to tackle a sick tailor. It’s made up of cowards, and so is the community that breeds it; and ninety-nine times out of a hundred the sheriffs another one.” He paused; apparently to turn that last idea over in his mind and taste the juice of it; then he went on: “The sheriff that lets a mob take a prisoner away from him is the lowest-down coward there is. By the statistics there was a hundred and eighty-two of them drawing sneak pay in America last year. By the way it’s going, pretty soon there’ll be a new disease in the doctor books; sheriff complaint.” That idea pleased him; any one could see it. “People will say, ‘Sheriff sick again?’ ‘Yes; got the same old thing.’ And next there’ll be a new title. People won’t say, ‘Hes running for sheriff of Rapaho County, for instance;’ they’ll say, ‘Hes running for Coward of Rapaho.’ Lord, the idea of a grown-up person being afraid of a lynch mob!”
“你们都是好人——是不是呀？好得跟这个骗子——沙德贝里·希金斯搞到一起去了。这个唱高调的混账东西专会背后捅刀子，是一个十足的混混。要说有什么东西我最看不起，那就是动私刑的了。我从来没见过动私刑的当中有一个真正的男人。动私刑是以多欺少，鼓动一百个刽子手去处置一个病裁缝。只有胆小鬼才动私刑，大家起哄，才成全了这些胆小鬼；不过，一百个县警官可有九十九个不是胆小鬼。”他停了停，显然是把最后一句话再琢磨一遍，回味一下——他接著说：“如果县警官让暴民从他手里夺走了一个囚犯，他就是一个最不称职的胆小鬼。据统计，去年全美国一共有一百八十二个县警官因为人家动私刑背了黑锅。照这样下去，用不了多久，医书里就得添一种新病——‘埋怨警官病’”。在场的人都看得出来，警官为想出这个新词得意洋洋。“大家会说：‘县警官又病啦？’‘是啊，又犯了老毛病啦。’紧接著，就要发明一个新官衔了。那时候，人家不说：‘他正竞选拉巴霍县警官呢，’人家说：‘他正竞选拉巴霍县胆小鬼呢。’上帝，想想，一个大男人怕一帮动私刑的！”
He turned an eye on the captive, and said, “Stranger, who are you, and what have you been doing?”
他斜了那囚徒一眼，问：“外地人，你叫什么，犯了什么事啦？”
It was wonderful, the impression which the sound of that name made on the sheriff, notwithstanding he must have come posted. He spoke up with feeling, and said it was a blot on the country that a man whose marvelous exploits had filled the world with their fame and their ingenuity, and whose histories of them had won every readers heart by the brilliancy and charm of their literary setting, should be visited under the Stars and Stripes by an outrage like this. He apologized in the name of the whole nation, and made Holmes a most handsome bow, and told Constable Harris to see him to his quarters, and hold himself personally responsible if he was molested again. The he turned to the mob and said:
尽管县警官肯定听说过福尔摩斯，可这名字一旦说出，还是给县警官留下了深刻的印象。他慷慨激昂地说，福尔摩斯先生足智多谋、美名远扬、功业盖世，描写他的书因其光辉事迹和迷人的文采赢得了每一个读者的心；这样的人物访问星条旗的国度遭此暴行，实在是鄙国的奇耻大辱。他以整个国家的名义致歉，用最美妙的姿态向福尔摩斯鞠了一个躬，并吩咐哈里斯警长前往福尔摩斯的住处照看，如果再有冒犯，惟他是问。然后他转向众人说：
“My name is Sherlock Holmes, and I have not been doing anything.”
“我叫夏洛克·福尔摩斯，什么事也没有犯。”
“Hunt your holes, you scum!” which they did; then he said: “Follow me, Shadbelly; Ill take care of your case myself. No; keep your pop-gun; whenever I see the day that I’ll be afraid to have you behind me with that thing, it’ll be time for me to join last years hundred and eighty-two;” and he rode off in a walk, Shadbelly following.
“回你们的窝吧，贱骨头！”众人四散而去。警官又说：“沙德贝里，跟我走；我要亲自过问你的案子。不——你自己收著那把玩具枪吧，到了你拿著这玩艺儿跟在后头我害怕的时候，我就和去年那一百八十二个胆小鬼一块儿混。”他骑著马颠颠地走了，沙德贝里跟在后头。
When we were on our way back to our cabin, toward breakfast-time, we ran upon the news that Fetlock Jones had escaped from his lock-up in the night and is gone! Nobody is sorry. Let his uncle track him out if he likes; it is in his line; the camp is not interested.
这时已经是早饭时分，在回家的路上，我们听说菲特洛克·琼斯昨天夜里从他那间上了锁的屋子里逃走了！大家对此无动于衷。假如他叔叔想追，就让他去追吧，这是他的事，屯子里的人不感兴趣。
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