第十一章: 大宗阿格拉宝物 The Great Agra Treasure
“Well, Jonathan Small,” said Holmes, lighting a cigar, “I am sorry that it has come to this.”
“乔纳森·斯莫尔，”福尔摩斯燃上了一支雪茄烟，说道，“我真遗憾看到，事情竟发展成了这样的结局。”
Our captive sat in the cabin opposite to the iron box which he had done so much and waited so long to gain. He was a sunburned reckless-eyed fellow, with a network of lines and wrinkles all over his mahogany features, which told of a hard, open-air life. There was a singular prominence about his bearded chin which marked a man who was not to be easily turned from his purpose. His age may have been fifty or there abouts, for his black, curly hair was thickly shot with gray. His face in repose was not an unpleasing one, though his heavy brows and aggressive chin gave him, as I had lately seen, a terrible expression when moved to anger. He sat now with his handcuffed hands upon his lap, and his head sunk upon his breast, while he looked with his keen, twinkling eyes at the box which had been the cause of his ill-doings. It seemed to me that there was more sorrow than anger in his rigid and contained countenance. Once he looked up at me with a gleam of something like humour in his eyes.
我们的犯人坐在船舱里，面对着他千辛万苦，费了多年工夫所得来的铁箱。他的皮肤被烈日晒得黝黑，两只眼睛充满了胆大妄为的个性，茶褐色的脸上布满了条条道道，一看就知道，他在室外做过多年苦工。他那多须髭的下颚向外突出的怪样，显示出他那倔强的性格。他那鬈曲的黑发已经染上了一层厚厚的灰白，料想他的年纪应该在五十上下。在安静的时候，他的面貌还不算难看，但我后来发现，在盛怒之下，他那浓眉和凶恶的下颌就组成了一副可怕的面容。他坐在那里，把带铐的双手搁在膝上，头低垂在胸前，不断用他那双锐利、闪亮的眼睛望着那只使他犯罪的铁箱。依我看来，在他僵硬、克制的面容里，悲痛似乎多于愤怒。有一次，他抬头向我望了一眼，眼光里似乎带着一些幽默的意味。
“And so am I, sir,” he answered frankly. “I don’t believe that I can swing over the job. I give you my word on the book that I never raised hand against Mr. Sholto. It was that little hell-hound, Tonga, who shot one of his cursed darts into him. I had no part in it, sir. I was as grieved as if it had been my blood-relation. I welted the little devil with the slack end of the rope for it, but it was done, and I could not undo it again.”
“先生，我也很遗憾，”他直率地答道，“我想我是难辞其咎了。可是，我向您发誓，我对肖尔托先生没有动过一个手指。是那个恶鬼汤加射出一支混账毒刺，害死了他。我完全不知情啊，先生。当时我伤心得好像死的是我的血亲一样。我用绳子鞭打了那小鬼一顿，可是，人死不能复生啊！”
“Have a cigar,” said Holmes; “and you had best take a pull out of my flask, for you are very wet. How could you expect so small and weak a man as this black fellow to overpower Mr. Sholto and hold him while you were climbing the rope?”
“先吸一支雪茄烟吧，”福尔摩斯说，“你全身都湿透了，最好喝一口我瓶子里的酒吧。你凭什么认为，在你爬绳子上去的时候，那个矮小、柔弱的黑小子能够打得过肖尔托先生，并控制住他呢？”
“You seem to know as much about it as if you were there, sir. The truth is that I hoped to find the room clear. I knew the habits of the house pretty well, and it was the time when Mr. Sholto usually went down to his supper. I shall make no secret of the business. The best defence that I can make is just the simple truth. Now, if it had been the old major I would have swung for him with a light heart. I would have thought no more of knifing him than of smoking this cigar. But it’s cursed hard that I should be lagged over this young Sholto, with whom I had no quarrel whatever.”
“先生，您知道得这么多，好像亲眼看见过似的。事实上，我本以为那屋里没有人。我对那所房子里的人的生活习惯都很清楚，那个时候正是肖尔托先生通常下楼吃晚饭的时间。我丝毫也不隐瞒。我认为，说实话就是我能做的最好的辩护。如果当时在那里的是老少校，那我就会毫不怜惜地勒死他。我杀了他和吸这支雪茄烟一样，不会有任何感觉。现在我竟因为小肖尔托被关进监狱，这实在令人痛心，因为我和他从来没有任何纠葛。”
“You are under the charge of Mr. Athelney Jones, of Scotland Yard. He is going to bring you up to my rooms, and I shall ask you for a true account of the matter. You must make a clean breast of it, for if you do I hope that I may be of use to you. I think I can prove that the poison acts so quickly that the man was dead before ever you reached the room.”
“你现在已经在伦敦警察厅阿塞尔纳·琼斯先生的羁押之下。他准备把你带到我的家中，先由我请你陈述事情经过。向我，你必须句句实言，如果你能够老实，或许我还可以帮你的忙。我想我有法子可以证明，那毒刺的毒性很快，在你爬进屋里以前，肖尔托先生已经中毒身亡了。”
“That he was, sir. I never got such a turn in my life as when I saw him grinning at me with his head on his shoulder as I climbed through the window. It fairly shook me, sir. I’d have half killed Tonga for it if he had not scrambled off. That was how he came to leave his club, and some of his darts too, as he tells me, which I dare say helped to put you on our track; though how you kept on it is more than I can tell. I don’t feel no malice against you for it. But it does seem a queer thing,” he added with a bitter smile, “that I, who have a fair claim to half a million of money, should spend the first half of my life building a breakwater in the Andamans, and am like to spend the other half digging drains at Dartmoor. It was an evil day for me when first I clapped eyes upon the merchant Achmet and had to do with the Agra treasure, which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it. To him it brought murder, to Major Sholto it brought fear and guilt, to me it has meant slavery for life.”
“不错，先生，他已经先死了。我这一辈子从没有那么惊讶过，当我爬进窗户时，就看见他歪着头，冲我狞笑。我着实吓坏了，先生。要不是汤加跑得快，当时我就把他打个半死了。后来他告诉我，这就是为什么他会失落了那根木棒和一些毒刺，我想这些东西一定有助于您追踪我们，至于您怎么把线索联系起来并捉到我的，我就不得而知了。我一点儿也不会因此而怨恨您。可是，这也真算一件怪事，”他又苦笑道，“我这个有正当权利拥有这五十万英镑的人，前半生竟在安达曼群岛修筑防堤，后半生恐怕又要到达特穆尔监狱去挖沟了。碰到那个商人阿基默德，并因此和阿格拉宝物沾上关系的那天，真是我的倒霉日子，这宝物只会给所有拥有它的人带来霉运而已。那个商人因宝物丧了命，肖尔托少校因宝物而恐惧、愧疚，而我则是终身做苦役。”
“Quite a family party,” he remarked. “I think I shall have a pull at that flask, Holmes. Well, I think we may all congratulate each other. Pity we didn’t take the other alive, but there was no choice. I say, Holmes, you must confess that you cut it rather fine. It was all we could do to overhaul her.”
“你们真像一家人在团聚啊。”他说，“福尔摩斯，请给我一些酒喝。咱们大家都该互相庆贺。可惜那一个没有被咱们活捉，但那也没有办法。我说，福尔摩斯，你必须承认，你干得妙极了。我们能做的就只是追上船而已。”
“All is well that ends well,” said Holmes. “But I certainly did not know that the Aurora was such a clipper.”
“结果圆满就好，”福尔摩斯说，“可是我没想到，那只‘曙光’号竟然如此神速。”
“Smith says she is one of the fastest launches on the river, and that if he had had another man to help him with the engines we should never have caught her. He swears he knew nothing of this Norwood business.”
“据史密斯说，‘曙光’号是泰晤士河上最快的汽船之一，假若当时还有一个人帮他掌发动机的话，我们就永远也追不上它了。他还赌咒说，他一点儿也不知道诺伍德的案件。”
“Neither he did,” cried our prisoner –“not a word. I chose his launch because I heard that she was a flier. We told him nothing; but we paid him well, and he was to get something handsome if we reached our vessel, the Esmeralda at Gravesend, outward bound for the Brazil.”
“他的确不知情，”我们的囚犯喊道，“一个字都不知道。我选他的船，是因为听说他的船快。我们什么也没有告诉他，只是出了大价钱，如果我们能搭上在格雷夫森德停泊的开往巴西去的‘埃斯梅拉达’号轮船，他还可以另外得一大笔酬金。”
At this moment Athelney Jones thrust his broad face and heavy shoulders into the tiny cabin.
这时，阿塞尔纳·琼斯把他宽大的脸庞和厚实的肩膀塞进狭小的船舱。
“Well, if he has done no wrong we shall see that no wrong comes to him. If we are pretty quick in catching our men, we are not so quick in condemning them.” It was amusing to notice how the consequential Jones was already beginning to give himself airs on the strength of the capture. From the slight smile which played over Sherlock Holmes’s face, I could see that the speech had not been lost upon him.
“如果他没有犯罪，我们不会冤枉他的。我们虽然捉人迅速，可是，我们判刑是慎重的。”让人发笑的是，自高自大的琼斯已逐渐开始因为这次抓捕而洋洋自得了。从福尔摩斯脸上露出的微微一笑，我看得出来，琼斯的话没有逃过他的耳朵。
They landed me at Vauxhall, with my heavy iron box, and with a bluff, genial inspector as my companion. A quarter of an hour’s drive brought us to Mrs. Cecil Forrester’s. The servant seemed surprised at so late a visitor. Mrs. Cecil Forrester was out for the evening, she explained, and likely to be very late. Miss Morstan, however, was in the drawing-room; so to the drawing-room I went, box in hand, leaving the obliging inspector in the cab.
我在沃克斯霍尔下了船，带着沉重的铁箱，由一个温和、坦率的警官陪伴着。赶了一刻钟车以后，我们到达了塞西尔·福里斯特夫人的家。对于有客人深夜来访，仆人感到很惊讶。她说，福里斯特夫人不在家中，恐怕到很晚才能回来。但摩斯坦小姐现在还在客厅里，于是，我把那位热心的警官留在车上等候，自己提着宝箱，走向客厅。
“We will be at Vauxhall Bridge presently,” said Jones, “and shall land you, Dr. Watson, with the treasure-box. I need hardly tell you that I am taking a very grave responsibility upon myself in doing this. It is most irregular, but of course an agreement is an agreement. I must, however, as a matter of duty, send an inspector with you, since you have so valuable a charge. You will drive, no doubt?”
“我们就要到沃克斯霍尔桥了，”琼斯说，“沃森医生，我们将在这里让您带着宝箱下去。我想，不用说您也知道，我这样做担负着多么重大的责任。这种做法极不合规定，但承诺就是承诺。可是，因为宝物很贵重，我有责任派一名警官陪您同去。您准备赶车去吗？”
“It is a pity there is no key, that we may make an inventory first. You will have to break it open. Where is the key, my man?”
“可惜这里没有钥匙，不然咱们可以预先清点一下。您恐怕还需要把箱子砸开。斯莫尔，钥匙哪里去了？”
“Yes, I shall drive.”
“是的，我准备赶车去。”
“At the bottom of the river,” said Small shortly.
“在河底下。”斯莫尔简短地说道。
“Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble. We have had work enough already through you. However, Doctor, I need not warn you to be careful. Bring the box back with you to the Baker Street rooms. You will find us there, on our way to the station.”
“哼！你给我们带来这个麻烦真是没意义。为了你，我们已经费了不少气力了。可是医生，我不必再叮嘱您了，千万小心。您回来的时候，把箱子带到贝克街去。在去警察局以前，我们会在那里。”
“I heard a cab drive up,” she said. “I thought that Mrs. Forrester had come back very early, but I never dreamed that it might be you. What news have you brought me?”
“我听见有车驶来，”她说，“我以为是福里斯特夫人提早回来了，决没有想到是您来了。您给我带来了什么消息？”
“I have brought something better than news,” said I, putting down the box upon the table and speaking jovially and boisterously, though my heart was heavy within me. “I have brought you something which is worth all the news in the world. I have brought you a fortune.”
“我带来的东西比消息还要好，”我把箱子放在桌上，尽管心中十分沉重，可是仍装作兴高采烈地说道，“我带来的东西相当于世上所有消息的价值。我给您带来了财富。”
She was seated by the open window, dressed in some sort of white diaphanous material, with a little touch of scarlet at the neck and waist. The soft light of a shaded lamp fell upon her as she leaned back in the basket chair, playing over her sweet grave face, and tinting with a dull, metallic sparkle the rich coils of her luxuriant hair. One white arm and hand drooped over the side of the chair, and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy. At the sound of my footfall she sprang to her feet, however, and a bright flush of surprise and of pleasure coloured her pale cheeks.
她坐在打开的窗户旁，穿着白色半透明的衣服，在颈间和腰际都系着红色的带子。一盏带罩子的台灯照射出柔和的灯光，落在她身上，她正倚坐在一张藤椅上，灯光轻抚着她美丽、庄重的脸庞，给她那浓密的鬈发染上一种金灿灿的色泽。一只洁白的胳臂搭在椅子边上，她的整个姿态和神情似乎都在倾诉着令人怜惜的哀伤。然而，她一听到我的脚步声，就站了起来，苍白的两颊上泛起惊喜的红晕。
“Is that the treasure then?” she asked, coolly enough.
“那就是宝物吗？”她十分冷淡地问道。
She glanced at the iron box.
她向铁箱看了一眼。
“Yes, this is the great Agra treasure. Half of it is yours and half is Thaddeus Sholto’s. You will have a couple of hundred thousand each. Think of that! An annuity of ten thousand pounds. There will be few richer young ladies in England. Is it not glorious?”
“是的，这就是那一大宗阿格拉宝物。一半是您的，一半属于塞迪厄斯·肖尔托先生。你们二人各得二十万英镑。您想一想！每年利息就是一万英镑。在英国，没有几个比您更富有的年轻女士了。这不是棒极了吗？”
I narrated briefly what had occurred since I had seen her last. Holmes’s new method of search, the discovery of the Aurora, the appearance of Athelney Jones, our expedition in the evening, and the wild chase down the Thames. She listened with parted lips and shining eyes to my recital of our adventures. When I spoke of the dart which had so narrowly missed us, she turned so white that I feared that she was about to faint.
我把上次和她见面以后发生过的所有事情都简短地陈述了一遍。福尔摩斯新的搜寻方法、‘曙光’号的发现、阿塞尔纳·琼斯的来访、今晚的探险，还有泰晤士河上的狂追。她嘴巴张开，眼睛闪闪发亮，入神地听着我复述我们的历险。说到我们险些身遭毒刺时，她脸色变得惨白，我简直担心，她就要晕倒了。
I think I must have been rather over-acting my delight, and that she detected a hollow ring in my congratulations, for I saw her eyebrows rise a little, and she glanced at me curiously.
我想我装出的高兴大概有些夸张了，她可能已感觉到，我的祝贺有些虚伪，因为我看到她稍稍抬起眉毛，好奇地看着我。
“No, no,” I answered, “not to me but to my friend Sherlock Holmes. With all the will in the world, I could never have followed up a clue which has taxed even his analytical genius. As it was, we very nearly lost it at the last moment.”
“不！不！”我答道，“不是我，而是我的朋友舍洛克·福尔摩斯。就算我再有心破案，也无法找得到线索，就连他那样的分析才能，找线索也几乎找到智穷力竭。我们最后还差点儿失败了。”
“Pray sit down and tell me all about it, Dr. Watson,” said she.
“沃森医生，请坐下来，告诉我事情的经过吧。”她说。
“If I have it,” said she, “I owe it to you.”
“如果我能得到宝物，”她说，“那都是出于您的协助啊。”
“That is all over,” I answered. “It was nothing. I will tell you no more gloomy details. Let us turn to something brighter. There is the treasure. What could be brighter than that? I got leave to bring it with me, thinking that it would interest you to be the first to see it.”
“那都是过去的事了，”我答道，“也不算什么。我不再讲这些闷气的事了。让咱们说些高兴的事吧。这里是宝物。还有什么比这更让人高兴的呢？我获得准许把它带过来，料想您一定愿意亲自打开，先睹为快。”
“What a pretty box!” she said, stooping over it. “This is Indian work, I suppose?”
“这箱子真是美极了！”她躬身看着箱子说，“我想这是印度工艺吧？”
“It is nothing,” she said as I hastened to pour her out some water. “I am all right again. It was a shock to me to hear that I had placed my friends in such horrible peril.”
“不要紧，”我急忙去给她斟水时，她说道，“我已好了。听到我害得朋友们遭遇这样的危险，我心里实在是万分不安。”
“It would be of the greatest interest to me,” she said. There was no eagerness in her voice, however. It had struck her, doubtless, that it might seem ungracious upon her part to be indifferent to a prize which had cost so much to win.
“这再好不过了。”她说。可是，她的语气并没有多么兴奋。但毫无疑问，她也想到，如此冷漠地对待这历经千辛万苦才得到的宝物，会显得她太不承情了。
“And so heavy!” she exclaimed, trying to raise it. “The box alone must be of some value. Where is the key?”
“真够重的！”她试着把箱子抬了抬，说道，“这箱子本身就很值钱吧。钥匙在哪儿？”
“Yes; it is Benares metal-work.”
“是的，是印度著名的贝拿勒斯金属制品。”
There was in the front a thick and broad hasp, wrought in the image of a sitting Buddha. Under this I thrust the end of the poker and twisted it outward as a lever. The hasp sprang open with a loud snap. With trembling fingers I flung back the lid. We both stood gazing in astonishment. The box was empty!
在箱子前面，有一个粗重的铁搭扣，铁搭扣上面铸着一尊坐佛像。我把拨火棒插在铁搭扣下面，用力向上撬起。铁搭扣砰的一声打开了。我用颤抖的手指把箱盖抬起。我们二人注视着箱内，都惊呆了。这个箱子是空的！
“Small threw it into the Thames,” I answered. “I must borrow Mrs. Forrester’s poker.”
“被斯莫尔扔到泰晤士河里去了，”我答道，“我必须借福里斯特夫人的拨火棒用一用。”
“Thank God!” I ejaculated from my very heart.
“感谢上帝！”我由衷地感到高兴，不免失声说道。
“The treasure is lost,” said Miss Morstan calmly.
“宝物已经丢失了。”摩斯坦小姐平静地说。
No wonder that it was heavy. The ironwork was two-thirds of an inch thick all round. It was massive, well made, and solid, like a chest constructed to carry things of great price, but not one shred or crumb of metal or jewellery lay within it. It was absolutely and completely empty.
难怪这个箱子这么重。箱子四周全是三分之二英寸厚的铁板。非常厚重、精致，而且坚固，的确像是用来装宝物的箱子，可是，里边一丁点儿金银珠宝也没有。完完全全、彻彻底底是空的。
As I listened to the words and realized what they meant, a great shadow seemed to pass from my soul. I did not know how this Agra treasure had weighed me down until now that it was finally removed. It was selfish, no doubt, disloyal, wrong, but I could realize nothing save that the golden barrier was gone from between us.
我听到她这句话时，体会到了其中的含意，一个巨大的阴影似乎从我心间消失了。直到这宗阿格拉宝物最终被挪开，我才意识到它曾多么沉重地压在我的心头上。我的想法无疑是自私的、不忠实的、错误的，可是，我什么都想不到了，只想到我们两人之间的金钱障碍已经消除了。
She looked at me with a quick, questioning smile.
她望着我，脸上立刻露出一丝问询的微笑。
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“您为什么这样说呢？”她问。
“Because you are within my reach again,” I said, taking her hand. She did not withdraw it. “Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, ‘Thank God.'”
“因为我可以追求你了。”我握住她的手说道。她没有缩回去。“因为我爱你，玛丽，堪比男人对女人最恳切的爱恋。因为这些宝物、这些财富堵住了我的嘴。现在宝物丢失了，我可以告诉你，我是多么的爱你了。因此我才说‘感谢上帝’。”
“Then I say ‘Thank God,’ too.” She whispered as I drew her to my side.
“那么，我也应该说‘感谢上帝’。”我把她揽到身边时，她轻轻地说道。
Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.
不管谁丢失了宝物，我知道，那天晚上，我得到了一份珍宝。
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