Chapter 7. A Night's Vigil Chapitre 7. Une nuit de veille Capítulo 7. Uma noite de vigília Глава 7. Ночное бдение

Benny she was looking pretty sober, and she sighed some, now and then; but pretty soon she got to asking about Mary, and Sid, and Tom's aunt Polly, and then Aunt Sally's clouds cleared off and she got in a good humor and joined in on the questions and was her lovingest best self, and so the rest of the supper went along gay and pleasant. Бенни, она выглядела довольно трезвой и время от времени вздыхала; но довольно скоро она начала расспрашивать о Мэри, и Сиде, и о тете Тома Полли, и тогда облака тети Салли рассеялись, и она пришла в хорошее настроение и присоединилась к вопросам, и была самой любящей лучшей собой, и так далее. ужин прошел весело и приятно. But the old man he didn't take any hand hardly, and was absent-minded and restless, and done a considerable amount of sighing; and it was kind of heart-breaking to see him so sad and troubled and worried. By and by, a spell after supper, come a nigger and knocked on the door and put his head in with his old straw hat in his hand bowing and scraping, and said his Marse Brace was out at the stile and wanted his brother, and was getting tired waiting supper for him, and would Marse Silas please tell him where he was? I never see Uncle Silas speak up so sharp and fractious before. Я никогда раньше не видел, чтобы дядя Сайлас говорил так резко и капризно. He says:

"Am I his brother's keeper?" And then he kind of wilted together, and looked like he wished he hadn't spoken so, and then he says, very gentle: "But you needn't say that, Billy; I was took sudden and irritable, and I ain't very well these days, and not hardly responsible. А потом он как бы сник, и выглядел так, будто жалеет, что не говорил так, а потом говорит, очень мягко: "Но тебе не нужно этого говорить, Билли; я был застигнут внезапным и раздражительным, и я не t очень хорошо в эти дни, и вряд ли ответственность. Tell him he ain't here." And when the nigger was gone he got up and walked the floor, backwards and forwards, mumbling and muttering to himself and plowing his hands through his hair. It was real pitiful to see him. Было действительно жалко его видеть. Aunt Sally she whispered to us and told us not to take notice of him, it embarrassed him. Тетя Салли шепнула нам и велела не обращать на него внимания, это его смущало. She said he was always thinking and thinking, since these troubles come on, and she allowed he didn't more'n about half know what he was about when the thinking spells was on him; and she said he walked in his sleep considerable more now than he used to, and sometimes wandered around over the house and even outdoors in his sleep, and if we catched him at it we must let him alone and not disturb him. Она сказала, что он все время думал и думал, с тех пор как начались эти неприятности, и она допускала, что он не более чем наполовину знал, о чем он, когда на него накладывались мыслительные чары; и она сказала, что он ходит во сне теперь значительно больше, чем прежде, и иногда бродит во сне по дому и даже по улице, и если мы застанем его за этим, мы должны оставить его в покое и не тревожить. She said she reckoned it didn't do him no harm, and may be it done him good. Она сказала, что, по ее расчетам, это не причинило ему никакого вреда, а может быть, и пошло ему на пользу. She said Benny was the only one that was much help to him these days. Said Benny appeared to know just when to try to soothe him and when to leave him alone. Сказал, что Бенни, похоже, знал, когда нужно попытаться успокоить его, а когда оставить в покое.

So he kept on tramping up and down the floor and muttering, till by and by he begun to look pretty tired; then Benny she went and snuggled up to his side and put one hand in his and one arm around his waist and walked with him; and he smiled down on her, and reached down and kissed her; and so, little by little the trouble went out of his face and she persuaded him off to his room. Так что он продолжал ходить вверх и вниз по полу и бормотать, пока мало-помалу он не начал выглядеть очень усталым; потом она подошла к Бенни, прижалась к нему сбоку, взяла его одной рукой, другой обняла за талию и пошла с ним; и он улыбнулся ей, наклонился и поцеловал ее; и так мало-помалу тревога ушла с его лица, и она уговорила его уйти в свою комнату. They had very petting ways together, and it was uncommon pretty to see. У них были очень ласковые отношения, и это было необычно красиво видеть.

Aunt Sally she was busy getting the children ready for bed; so by and by it got dull and tedious, and me and Tom took a turn in the moonlight, and fetched up in the watermelon-patch and et one, and had a good deal of talk. Тетя Салли укладывала детей спать; так что мало-помалу это стало скучным и утомительным, и мы с Томом прогулялись при лунном свете, заглянули в арбузную грядку и так далее и много поговорили. And Tom said he'd bet the quarreling was all Jubiter's fault, and he was going to be on hand the first time he got a chance, and see; and if it was so, he was going to do his level best to get Uncle Silas to turn him off. И Том сказал, что готов поспорить, что во всей ссоре виноват Юбитер, и он собирается быть рядом, как только представится случай, и вот видите; и если это так, то он сделает все возможное, чтобы дядя Сайлас выгнал его. And so we talked and smoked and stuffed watermelons much as two hours, and then it was pretty late, and when we got back the house was quiet and dark, and everybody gone to bed. И так мы разговаривали, курили и фаршировали арбузами целых два часа, а потом было довольно поздно, и когда мы вернулись, в доме было тихо и темно, и все легли спать.

Tom he always seen everything, and now he see that the old green baize work-gown was gone, and said it wasn't gone when he went out; so he allowed it was curious, and then we went up to bed. We could hear Benny stirring around in her room, which was next to ourn, and judged she was worried a good deal about her father and couldn't sleep. We found we couldn't, neither. So we set up a long time, and smoked and talked in a low voice, and felt pretty dull and down-hearted. We talked the murder and the ghost over and over again, and got so creepy and crawly we couldn't get sleepy nohow and noway. Мы говорили об убийстве и привидении снова и снова, и так становились жуткими и ползучими, что мы никак не могли заснуть. By and by, when it was away late in the night and all the sounds was late sounds and solemn, Tom nudged me and whispers to me to look, and I done it, and there we see a man poking around in the yard like he didn't know just what he wanted to do, but it was pretty dim and we couldn't see him good. Then he started for the stile, and as he went over it the moon came out strong, and he had a long-handled shovel over his shoulder, and we see the white patch on the old work-gown. Затем он направился к перекладине, и, когда он перешел ее, выглянула луна, и у него на плече была лопата с длинной ручкой, и мы видим белое пятно на старом рабочем халате. So Tom says:

"He's a-walking in his sleep. I wish we was allowed to follow him and see where he's going to. There, he's turned down by the tobacker-field. Out of sight now. It's a dreadful pity he can't rest no better." We waited a long time, but he didn't come back any more, or if he did he come around the other way; so at last we was tuckered out and went to sleep and had nightmares, a million of them. But before dawn we was awake again, because meantime a storm had come up and been raging, and the thunder and lightning was awful, and the wind was a-thrashing the trees around, and the rain was driving down in slanting sheets, and the gullies was running rivers. Но перед рассветом мы снова проснулись, потому что тем временем поднялась и свирепствовала буря, и гром и молния были ужасны, и ветер крушил деревья кругом, и дождь хлестал косыми полотнищами, и по оврагам текли реки. Tom says:

"Looky here, Huck, I'll tell you one thing that's mighty curious. «Послушай, Гек, я скажу тебе одну вещь, которая очень любопытна. Up to the time we went out last night the family hadn't heard about Jake Dunlap being murdered. Now the men that chased Hal Clayton and Bud Dixon away would spread the thing around in a half an hour, and every neighbor that heard it would shin out and fly around from one farm to t'other and try to be the first to tell the news. Теперь люди, которые прогнали Хэла Клейтона и Бада Диксона, за полчаса разнесут эту чушь, и каждый сосед, услышавший это, выскочит на улицу и будет летать с одной фермы на другую, стараясь первым рассказать об этом. Новости. Land, they don't have such a big thing as that to tell twice in thirty year! Huck, it's mighty strange; I don't understand it." So then he was in a fidget for the rain to let up, so we could turn out and run across some of the people and see if they would say anything about it to us. Так что он суетился, ожидая, что дождь утихнет, чтобы мы могли вывернуться и наткнуться на некоторых людей и посмотреть, не скажут ли они нам что-нибудь об этом. And he said if they did we must be horribly surprised and shocked. И он сказал, что если они это сделают, мы должны быть ужасно удивлены и потрясены.

We was out and gone the minute the rain stopped. It was just broad day then. Тогда был просто светлый день. We loafed along up the road, and now and then met a person and stopped and said howdy, and told them when we come, and how we left the folks at home, and how long we was going to stay, and all that, but none of them said a word about that thing; which was just astonishing, and no mistake. Tom said he believed if we went to the sycamores we would find that body laying there solitary and alone, and not a soul around. Том сказал, что, по его мнению, если мы пойдем к платанам, мы обнаружим, что это тело лежит там одиноко и одиноко, и ни души вокруг. Said he believed the men chased the thieves so far into the woods that the thieves prob'ly seen a good chance and turned on them at last, and maybe they all killed each other, and so there wasn't anybody left to tell. First we knowed, gabbling along that away, we was right at the sycamores. Во-первых, мы знали, бормоча это дальше, что мы были прямо на платанах. The cold chills trickled down my back and I wouldn't budge another step, for all Tom's persuading. По моей спине побежали мурашки, и я не сдвинулась с места ни на шаг, несмотря на все уговоры Тома. But he couldn't hold in; he'd got to see if the boots was safe on that body yet. So he crope in--and the next minute out he come again with his eyes bulging he was so excited, and says: Итак, он входит, а в следующую минуту выходит снова с выпученными глазами, он так взволнован, и говорит:

"Huck, it's gone!" I was astonished! I says:

"Tom, you don't mean it." — Том, ты не это имеешь в виду. "It's gone, sure. There ain't a sign of it. The ground is trampled some, but if there was any blood it's all washed away by the storm, for it's all puddles and slush in there." Земля утоптана, а если и была кровь, то бурей все смыто, потому что там все лужи да слякоть». At last I give in, and went and took a look myself; and it was just as Tom said--there wasn't a sign of a corpse. "Dern it," I says, "the di'monds is gone. Don't you reckon the thieves slunk back and lugged him off, Tom?" Ты не думаешь, что воры подкрались и утащили его, Том? "Looks like it. It just does. Now where'd they hide him, do you reckon?" "I don't know," I says, disgusted, "and what's more I don't care. -- Не знаю, -- говорю я с отвращением, -- и более того, мне все равно. They've got the boots, and that's all I cared about. He'll lay around these woods a long time before I hunt him up." Tom didn't feel no more intrust in him neither, only curiosity to know what come of him; but he said we'd lay low and keep dark and it wouldn't be long till the dogs or somebody rousted him out. Том тоже не испытывал к нему больше доверия, только любопытство узнать, что из него получится; но он сказал, что мы затаимся и не потемнем, и скоро собаки или кто-нибудь вытащит его. We went back home to breakfast ever so bothered and put out and disappointed and swindled. Мы вернулись домой к завтраку, очень взволнованные, расстроенные, разочарованные и обманутые. I warn't ever so down on a corpse before. Я никогда раньше так не цеплялся за труп.