哈克贝里.芬历险记(The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)四十一

THE doctor was an old man; a very nice, kind-looking old man when I got him up. I told him me and my brother was over on Spanish Island hunting yesterday afternoon, and camped on a piece of a raft we found, and about midnight he must a kicked his gun in his dreams, for it went off and shot him in the leg, and we wanted him to go over there and fix it and not say nothing about it, nor let anybody know, because we wanted to come home this evening and surprise the folks.

"Who is your folks?" he says.

"The Phelpses, down yonder."

"Oh," he says. And after a minute, he says:

"How'd you say he got shot?"

"He had a dream," I says, "and it shot him."

"Singular dream," he says.

So he lit up his lantern, and got his saddle-bags, and we started. But when he sees the canoe he didn't like the look of her -- said she was big enough for one, but didn't look pretty safe for two. I says:

"Oh, you needn't be afeard, sir, she carried the three of us easy enough."

"What three?"

"Why, me and Sid, and -- and -- and THE GUNS; that's what I mean."

"Oh," he says.

But he put his foot on the gunnel and rocked her, and shook his head, and said he reckoned he'd look around for a bigger one. But they was all locked and chained; so he took my canoe, and said for me to wait till he come back, or I could hunt around further, or maybe I better go down home and get them ready for the surprise if I wanted to. But I said I didn't; so I told him just how to find the raft, and then he started.

I struck an idea pretty soon. I says to myself, spos'n he can't fix that leg just in three shakes of a sheep's tail, as the saying is? spos'n it takes him three or four days? What are we going to do? -- lay around there till he lets the cat out of the bag? No, sir; I know what I'LL do. I'll wait, and when he comes back if he says he's got to go any more I'll get down there, too, if I swim; and we'll take and tie him, and keep him, and shove out down the river; and when Tom's done with him we'll give him what it's worth, or all we got, and then let him get ashore.

So then I crept into a lumber-pile to get some sleep; and next time I waked up the sun was away up over my head! I shot out and went for the doctor's house, but they told me he'd gone away in the night some time or other, and warn't back yet. Well, thinks I, that looks powerful bad for Tom, and I'll dig out for the island right off. So away I shoved, and turned the corner, and nearly rammed my head into Uncle Silas's stomach! He says:

"Why, TOM! Where you been all this time, you rascal?"

"I hain't been nowheres," I says, "only just hunting for the runaway nigger -- me and Sid."

"Why, where ever did you go?" he says. "Your aunt's been mighty uneasy."

"She needn't," I says, "because we was all right. We followed the men and the dogs, but they outrun us, and we lost them; but we thought we heard them on the water, so we got a canoe and took out after them and crossed over, but couldn't find nothing of them; so we cruised along up-shore till we got kind of tired and beat out; and tied up the canoe and went to sleep, and never waked up till about an hour ago; then we paddled over here to hear the news, and Sid's at the post-office to see what he can hear, and I'm a-branching out to get something to eat for us, and then we're going home."

So then we went to the post-office to get "Sid"; but just as I suspicioned, he warn't there; so the old man he got a letter out of the office, and we waited awhile longer, but Sid didn't come; so the old man said, come along, let Sid foot it home, or canoe it, when he got done fooling around -- but we would ride. I couldn't get him to let me stay and wait for Sid; and he said there warn't no use in it, and I must come along, and let Aunt Sally see we was all right.

When we got home Aunt Sally was that glad to see me she laughed and cried both, and hugged me, and give me one of them lickings of hern that don't amount to shucks, and said she'd serve Sid the same when he come.

And the place was plum full of farmers and farmers' wives, to dinner; and such another clack a body never heard. Old Mrs. Hotchkiss was the worst; her tongue was a-going all the time. She says:

"Well, Sister Phelps, I've ransacked that-air cabin over, an' I b'lieve the nigger was crazy. I says to Sister Damrell -- didn't I, Sister Damrell? -- s'I, he's crazy, s'I -- them's the very words I said. You all hearn me: he's crazy, s'I; everything shows it, s'I. Look at that-air grindstone, s'I; want to tell ME't any cretur 't's in his right mind 's a goin' to scrabble all them crazy things onto a grindstone, s'I? Here sich 'n' sich a person busted his heart; 'n' here so 'n' so pegged along for thirty-seven year, 'n' all that -- natcherl son o' Louis somebody, 'n' sich everlast'n rubbage. He's plumb crazy, s'I; it's what I says in the fust place, it's what I says in the middle, 'n' it's what I says last 'n' all the time -- the nigger's crazy -- crazy 's Nebokoodneezer, s'I."

"An' look at that-air ladder made out'n rags, Sister Hotchkiss," says old Mrs. Damrell; "what in the name o' goodness COULD he ever want of --"

"The very words I was a-sayin' no longer ago th'n this minute to Sister Utterback, 'n' she'll tell you so herself. Sh-she, look at that-air rag ladder, sh-she; 'n' s'I, yes, LOOK at it, s'I -- what COULD he a-wanted of it, s'I. Sh-she, Sister Hotchkiss, sh-she --"

"But how in the nation'd they ever GIT that grindstone IN there, ANYWAY? 'n' who dug that-air HOLE? 'n' who --"

"My very WORDS, Brer Penrod! I was a-sayin' -- pass that-air sasser o' m'lasses, won't ye? -- I was a-sayin' to Sister Dunlap, jist this minute, how DID they git that grindstone in there, s'I. Without HELP, mind you -- 'thout HELP! THAT'S wher 'tis. Don't tell ME, s'I; there WUZ help, s'I; 'n' ther' wuz a PLENTY help, too, s'I; ther's ben a DOZEN a-helpin' that nigger, 'n' I lay I'd skin every last nigger on this place but I'D find out who done it, s'I; 'n' moreover, s'I --"

"A DOZEN says you! -- FORTY couldn't a done every thing that's been done. Look at them case-knife saws and things, how tedious they've been made; look at that bed-leg sawed off with 'm, a week's work for six men; look at that nigger made out'n straw on the bed; and look at --"

"You may WELL say it, Brer Hightower! It's jist as I was a-sayin' to Brer Phelps, his own self. S'e, what do YOU think of it, Sister Hotchkiss, s'e? Think o' what, Brer Phelps, s'I? Think o' that bed-leg sawed off that a way, s'e? THINK of it, s'I? I lay it never sawed ITSELF off, s'I -- somebody SAWED it, s'I; that's my opinion, take it or leave it, it mayn't be no 'count, s'I, but sich as 't is, it's my opinion, s'I, 'n' if any body k'n start a better one, s'I, let him DO it, s'I, that's all. I says to Sister Dunlap, s'I --"

"Why, dog my cats, they must a ben a house-full o' niggers in there every night for four weeks to a done all that work, Sister Phelps. Look at that shirt -- every last inch of it kivered over with secret African writ'n done with blood! Must a ben a raft uv 'm at it right along, all the time, amost. Why, I'd give two dollars to have it read to me; 'n' as for the niggers that wrote it, I 'low I'd take 'n' lash 'm t'll --"

"People to HELP him, Brother Marples! Well, I reckon you'd THINK so if you'd a been in this house for a while back. Why, they've stole everything they could lay their hands on -- and we a-watching all the time, mind you. They stole that shirt right off o' the line! and as for that sheet they made the rag ladder out of, ther' ain't no telling how many times they DIDN'T steal that; and flour, and candles, and candlesticks, and spoons, and the old warming-pan, and most a thousand things that I disremember now, and my new calico dress; and me and Silas and my Sid and Tom on the constant watch day AND night, as I was a-telling you, and not a one of us could catch hide nor hair nor sight nor sound of them; and here at the last minute, lo and behold you, they slides right in under our noses and fools us, and not only fools US but the Injun Territory robbers too, and actuly gets AWAY with that nigger safe and sound, and that with sixteen men and twentytwo dogs right on their very heels at that very time! I tell you, it just bangs anything I ever HEARD of. Why, SPERITS couldn't a done better and been no smarter. And I reckon they must a BEEN sperits -- because, YOU know our dogs, and ther' ain't no better; well, them dogs never even got on the TRACK of 'm once! You explain THAT to me if you can! -- ANY of you!"

"Well, it does beat --"

"Laws alive, I never --"

"So help me, I wouldn't a be --"

"HOUSE-thieves as well as --"

"Goodnessgracioussakes, I'd a ben afeard to live in sich a --"

"'Fraid to LIVE! -- why, I was that scared I dasn't hardly go to bed, or get up, or lay down, or SET down, Sister Ridgeway. Why, they'd steal the very -- why, goodness sakes, you can guess what kind of a fluster I was in by the time midnight come last night. I hope to gracious if I warn't afraid they'd steal some o' the family! I was just to that pass I didn't have no reasoning faculties no more. It looks foolish enough NOW, in the daytime; but I says to myself, there's my two poor boys asleep, 'way up stairs in that lonesome room, and I declare to goodness I was that uneasy 't I crep' up there and locked 'em in! I DID. And anybody would. Because, you know, when you get scared that way, and it keeps running on, and getting worse and worse all the time, and your wits gets to addling, and you get to doing all sorts o' wild things, and by and by you think to yourself, spos'n I was a boy, and was away up there, and the door ain't locked, and you --" She stopped, looking kind of wondering, and then she turned her head around slow, and when her eye lit on me -- I got up and took a walk.

Says I to myself, I can explain better how we come to not be in that room this morning if I go out to one side and study over it a little. So I done it. But I dasn't go fur, or she'd a sent for me. And when it was late in the day the people all went, and then I come in and told her the noise and shooting waked up me and "Sid," and the door was locked, and we wanted to see the fun, so we went down the lightningrod, and both of us got hurt a little, and we didn't never want to try THAT no more. And then I went on and told her all what I told Uncle Silas before; and then she said she'd forgive us, and maybe it was all right enough anyway, and about what a body might expect of boys, for all boys was a pretty harum-scarum lot as fur as she could see; and so, as long as no harm hadn't come of it, she judged she better put in her time being grateful we was alive and well and she had us still, stead of fretting over what was past and done. So then she kissed me, and patted me on the head, and dropped into a kind of a brown study; and pretty soon jumps up, and says:

"Why, lawsamercy, it's most night, and Sid not come yet! What HAS become of that boy?"

I see my chance; so I skips up and says:

"I'll run right up to town and get him," I says.

"No you won't," she says. "You'll stay right wher' you are; ONE'S enough to be lost at a time. If he ain't here to supper, your uncle 'll go."

Well, he warn't there to supper; so right after supper uncle went.

He come back about ten a little bit uneasy; hadn't run across Tom's track. Aunt Sally was a good DEAL uneasy; but Uncle Silas he said there warn't no occasion to be -- boys will be boys, he said, and you'll see this one turn up in the morning all sound and right. So she had to be satisfied. But she said she'd set up for him a while anyway, and keep a light burning so he could see it.

And then when I went up to bed she come up with me and fetched her candle, and tucked me in, and mothered me so good I felt mean, and like I couldn't look her in the face; and she set down on the bed and talked with me a long time, and said what a splendid boy Sid was, and didn't seem to want to ever stop talking about him; and kept asking me every now and then if I reckoned he could a got lost, or hurt, or maybe drownded, and might be laying at this minute somewheres suffering or dead, and she not by him to help him, and so the tears would drip down silent, and I would tell her that Sid was all right, and would be home in the morning, sure; and she would squeeze my hand, or maybe kiss me, and tell me to say it again, and keep on saying it, because it done her good, and she was in so much trouble. And when she was going away she looked down in my eyes so steady and gentle, and says:

"The door ain't going to be locked, Tom, and there's the window and the rod; but you'll be good, WON'T you? And you won't go? For MY sake."

Laws knows I WANTED to go bad enough to see about Tom, and was all intending to go; but after that I wouldn't a went, not for kingdoms.

But she was on my mind and Tom was on my mind, so I slept very restless. And twice I went down the rod away in the night, and slipped around front, and see her setting there by her candle in the window with her eyes towards the road and the tears in them; and I wished I could do something for her, but I couldn't, only to swear that I wouldn't never do nothing to grieve her any more. And the third time I waked up at dawn, and slid down, and she was there yet, and her candle was most out, and her old gray head was resting on her hand, and she was asleep.

我把医生从床上叫了起来。医生是位老年人，为人和气、慈祥。我对他说，我和我的一
个兄弟昨天下午到西班牙岛上去钓鱼，就在我们找到的一个木筏子上露宿。大约半夜里，他
做了一个梦，在梦里一脚踢到了枪，枪走了火，一枪打中了腿。因此我们请他到那边去看一
看，诊治一下，还要他不必声张出去，不让任何一个人知道，因为我们准备当晚回家，好让
家里人惊喜一下。
    “你们家的人都是谁啊？”
    “费尔贝斯家，是住在下边的。”
    “哦，”他说。隔了一分钟，他说，“你刚才说的他是怎么受的伤啊？”
    “他做了一个梦，”我说，“就挨了一枪。”
    “奇怪的梦。”他说。
    他就点了灯笼，拿起药箱，我们就出发了。不过他一见到那只独木舟，就不喜欢这条独
木舟那个模样，——说船只能坐一个人，坐两个人恐怕不大安全。我说：
    “哦，你不用害怕，先生，这条船能坐我们三个呢，还绰绰有余。”
    “怎么三个？”
    “啊，我，西特，还有——还有——还有枪，我的意思是指这个。”
    “哦。”他说。
    不过他在船边上踩了踩，晃了一晃，随后摇了摇脑袭，说最好由他在附近找一条大一些
的船，不过，附近的船都是锁上、拴好了的，所以他只得坐我们的那条独木舟，要我在这里
等他回来，我也可以在附近继续找一找，或者最好是到下边家里走一走，好叫他们对惊喜有
个准备。要是我愿意的话。不过我说我没有这个意思。我把怎样能找到我们的木筏子对他说
清楚了，他就划船走了。
    我马上想到了一个念头。我对自个儿说，万一他不能象俗话所说，羊尾巴摇三摇，很快
就把腿治好，那怎么办？万一得花三四天呢？那我们怎么办？——难道就只是躺在那儿，由
着他把秘密泄露出去么？不行，先生，我知道我该怎么干。我要等在这里，等他回来。如果
他说他还会再去，我就跟他去，就是我得泅水过去也得去。随后我们就要抓住他，把他绑起
来，不放他走，松了木筏子往下游漂去。等他把汤姆治好了，我们会重重地酬谢他，把我们
的所有一起掏给他都行，然后放他回到岸上。
    于是我就钻到一个木材垛里睡了一会觉，一觉醒来，太阳已经移到我的头顶上了！我立
刻朝医生家奔去，人家说他晚上什么一个时辰出诊的，至今未归。我就寻思，这样看来，汤
姆的病情恐怕很不好，我得马上回岛上去。于是我转身便走，刚到转弯的街角，一头差点儿
撞到了西拉斯姨夫的肚子上。他说：
    “啊，汤姆你这个流氓，这一阵子，你哪里去啦？”“我什么地方也没有去啊，”我
说，“光只是追捕那个逃跑的黑奴啊——我和西特两个。”
    “你究竟去了哪儿？”他说，“你姨妈担心得不得了啊。”“她不用担心嘛，”我说，
“我们不是好好的嘛。我们跟在大伙儿和狗的后面。不过他们冲到前面去了，我们就找不到
他们了。可是我们仿佛听到在河上发出的声音，我们就找着了一只独木船，在后面追上去，
就划过河去，可就是不见他们的踪影，我们就沿了对岸往上游慢慢划，到后来，划得累了，
没有力气了，就把独木舟系好，睡了过去，一觉睡到一个钟头前才醒来，随后划到了这边
来，好听听消息。西特到邮局去了，看看能否听到什么消息，我呢，四处遛遛，给我们买些
吃的，我们正要回家转呢。”
    我们便往邮局走去，去“找”西特，不过正如我意料中的，他不在。老人呢，他从邮局
收了一封信。我们等了相当久，可是西特并没有来。老人说，走吧，让西特玩够后步行回家
吧，或是坐独木舟回去，我们可要坐马回去。我要他答应把我留下来，等等西特，可就是说
不通。他说，不必等了。还说我得跟他一起回去，好叫萨莉阿姨看看我们是好好的。
    我们一到家，萨莉阿姨高兴得又笑又哭，搂住了我，给我不疼不痒地揍了几下子。还
说，等西特回来，也要这样揍他一顿。
    家里可挤满了农民和他们的娘儿们，是来吃饭的。这样唠唠叨叨没个完的场面，可是从
没见过。霍区基斯老太特别饶舌，场上只听见她的声音。她说：
    “啊，费尔贝斯妹子，我把那间小屋兜底翻身搜了一遍，我确信，那个黑奴准是疯啦。
我对顿勒尔妹子就是这么说的——顿勒尔妹子，我不是这样说的么？——妹子啊，他是疯
啦，——这就是我说过的话。你们全都听到了我说的话：他是疯啦，我说。一切的一切说明
了这一点，我说。你看看那磨刀石吧，我说。有谁能告诉我：一个脑子清醒的人会在磨刀石
上刻下这么多的疯话。这儿刻着什么一个人的心破碎了。那里又说在这儿苦熬了三十七个年
头，诸如此类的。还说路易的私生子什么的，尽是这些胡话。他准是疯啦，我说。我一开头
就是这么说的。在中间是这么说，到最后也还是这么说，始终是这么说——那个黑奴是疯啦
——疯得跟尼鲍顾尼愁①一个样，我说。”    ①指《旧约·但以理书》中的巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒，不听但以理的忠告，上帝使之丧失理智，这里是说话的乡下老太太胡乱拼的音。