THE two boys flew on and on, toward the village, speechless with horror. They glanced backward over their shoulders from time to time, apprehensively, as if they feared they might be followed. Every stump that started up in their path seemed a man and an enemy, and made them catch their breath; and as they sped by some outlying cottages that lay near the village, the barking of the aroused watch-dogs seemed to give wings to their feet.
兩個孩子由於恐懼，一言不發，只顧朝着村莊飛快地跑啊跑。他們時不時地邊跑邊回頭看，十分擔心被人跟蹤。路上遇到的每個樹樁，對他倆來說都好比是一個人，一個對手，嚇得他們連氣都不敢喘。在經過村莊附近的農舍時，受驚的狗一聲狂叫更嚇得他倆腿上生風。
"If we can only get to the old tannery before we break down!" whispered Tom, in short catches between breaths. "I can't stand it much longer."
“乘還沒有累垮，要是一口氣能跑到老製革廠那兒就好了！”上氣不接下氣的湯姆低語道，“我實在跑不了多久了。”
Huckleberry's hard pantings were his only reply, and the boys fixed their eyes on the goal of their hopes and bent to their work to win it. They gained steadily on it, and at last, breast to breast, they burst through the open door and fell grateful and exhausted in the sheltering shadows beyond. By and by their pulses slowed down, and Tom whispered:
哈克貝利也喘得很厲害，這清楚地表明他倆現在處境相同。兩個孩子眼睛直盯着希望中的目的地，一心一意拚命往那兒跑去。漸漸地他倆跑近了。後來，他們肩並肩衝進敞開的大門，精疲力盡地撲到在裏邊的陰暗處，感到舒坦極了。過了一會，他們平靜了下來，湯姆低聲說：
"Huckleberry, what do you reckon'll come of this?"
“哈克貝利，你想這事結果會怎麼樣？”
"If Doctor Robinson dies, I reckon hanging'll come of it."
“要是魯賓遜醫生死了，我想就要用絞刑。”
"Do you though?"
“真的嗎？”
"Why, I know it, Tom."
“那還用說，我知道，湯姆。”
Tom thought a while, then he said:
湯姆略作思忖，然後說：
"Who'll tell? We?"
“那誰去揭發呢？是我們嗎？”
"What are you talking about? S'pose something happened and Injun Joe didn't hang? Why, he'd kill us some time or other, just as dead sure as we're a laying here."
“你扯到哪裡去了，萬一事情不順當，印第安·喬沒上絞架，那該怎麼辦？他遲早會要我們的命，這一點肯定無疑。”
"That's just what I was thinking to myself, Huck."
“哈克，我心裡想得正是這事。”
"If anybody tells, let Muff Potter do it, if he's fool enough. He's generally drunk enough."
“要揭發就讓莫夫·波特那個傻瓜去幹吧！他總是喝得醉醺醺的。”
Tom said nothing--went on thinking. Presently he whispered:
湯姆沒吱聲，還在想著。片刻後他低聲說：
"Huck, Muff Potter don't know it. How can he tell?"
“哈克，莫夫·波特不知道出事了，他怎麼能告發呢？”
"What's the reason he don't know it?"
“他怎麼不知道出事了？”
"Because he'd just got that whack when Injun Joe done it. D'you reckon he could see anything? D'you reckon he knowed anything?"
“印第安·喬動手的時候，他剛挨了一擊，你想他還能看見什麼？還能知道什麼嗎？
"By hokey, that's so, Tom!"
“真有你的，不錯，是這樣，湯姆。”
"And besides, look-a-here--maybe that whack done for him!"
“另外，你再想一想，那一擊說不定要了他的命！”
"No, 'taint likely, Tom. He had liquor in him; I could see that; and besides, he always has. Well, when pap's full, you might take and belt him over the head with a church and you couldn't phase him. He says so, his own self. So it's the same with Muff Potter, of course. But if a man was dead sober, I reckon maybe that whack might fetch him; I dono."
“不，這不可能，湯姆。他當時喝酒了，我能看得出，更何況他經常喝酒。我爸就是這樣一個人，要是他喝足了，你就是搬座教堂壓在他頭上休想驚動他。他自己也是這麼說的。所以莫夫·波特當然也不例外嘍。但話說回來，要是你絶對沒喝酒，那一擊說不定會要了你的命，我也不太能說清楚。”
After another reflective silence, Tom said:
湯姆又沉思默想了一會後說：
"Hucky, you sure you can keep mum?"
“哈奇，你肯定不說出去嗎？”
"Tom, we got to keep mum. You know that. That Injun devil wouldn't make any more of drownding us than a couple of cats, if we was to squeak 'bout this and they didn't hang him. Now, look-a-here, Tom, less take and swear to one another--that's what we got to do--swear to keep mum."
“湯姆，我們必須一字不露才行，這你也明白。要是那個鬼印第安·喬沒被絞死而我們又走漏了風聲，那他會像淹兩隻小貓一樣把我倆給淹死。好了，聽著，湯姆，現在我們彼此發誓——我們必須這樣做——絶不走漏半點風聲。”
"I'm agreed. It's the best thing. Would you just hold hands and swear that we--"
“我同意。這再好不過了。好，請舉起手發誓：我們……”
"Oh no, that wouldn't do for this. That's good enough for little rubbishy common things--specially with gals, cuz they go back on you anyway, and blab if they get in a huff--but there orter be writing 'bout a big thing like this. And blood."
“哦，不不不，光舉手發誓不行。這只能用於像小姐們發誓那樣的小事情。她們前面發誓，後面就忘得一乾二淨，一氣之下就把你給賣了。像我們今天這樣的大事情，光口頭髮誓還不算，要寫下來，喋血為盟。”
Tom's whole being applauded this idea. It was deep, and dark, and awful; the hour, the circumstances, the surroundings, were in keeping with it. He picked up a clean pine shingle that lay in the moon-light, took a little fragment of "red keel" out of his pocket, got the moon on his work, and painfully scrawled these lines, emphasizing each slow down-stroke by clamping his tongue between his teeth, and letting up the pressure on the up-strokes. [See next page.]
聽他這麼一說，湯姆佩服得五體投地。時值夜色深沉，四周漆黑，令人膽顫心驚。此時、此地、此景正合這種氣氛的拍。他藉著月光從地上撿起一塊乾淨的松木板，又從口袋裏掏出一小截“紅硯石”，然後對著月光劃了起來。他向下落筆又慢又重，向上抬筆又輕又快。他一邊寫，一邊嘴動個不停，好像在幫着用勁。最後費了九牛二虎之力，他才劃成了下面幾句：
"Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer swears they will keep mum about This and They wish They may Drop down dead in Their Tracks if They ever Tell and Rot."
哈克·費恩和湯姆·索亞對天盟誓：我們將恪守秘密，若有半點私心假意泄密，願當場倒斃，屍骨無存。
Huckleberry was filled with admiration of Tom's facility in writing, and the sublimity of his language. He at once took a pin from his lapel and was going to prick his flesh, but Tom said:
對湯姆流利的書寫、響亮的內容，哈克貝利心悅誠服。他立即從衣服領子上拿下一枚別針，對著自己就要放血，這時湯姆說：
"Hold on! Don't do that. A pin's brass. It might have verdigrease on it."
“別忙！這樣不行。別針是銅做的，上面可能有銅綠。”
"What's verdigrease?"
“那是什麼東西？”
"It's p'ison. That's what it is. You just swaller some of it once--you'll see."
“不管是什麼東西，反正上面有毒。要不然，你現在就吞點下肚，有你好看的。”
So Tom unwound the thread from one of his needles, and each boy pricked the ball of his thumb and squeezed out a drop of blood. In time, after many squeezes, Tom managed to sign his initials, using the ball of his little finger for a pen. Then he showed Huckleberry how to make an H and an F, and the oath was complete. They buried the shingle close to the wall, with some dismal ceremonies and incantations, and the fetters that bound their tongues were considered to be locked and the key thrown away.
於是湯姆拿出一根針，去掉了綫。兩個孩子各自往大拇指上戳了一下，然後擠出兩滴血來。接着他們又擠了數次，湯姆馬上用小指蘸血寫下了自己姓名的首字母。他又教哈克寫好Ｈ和F，到此為止，宣誓結束。他們唸著咒語，舉行了乾巴巴的埋葬儀式，靠牆將松木板埋了。他們認為連同埋葬的還有那鎖住他們口舌的枷鎖，因此鑰匙也用不着了。
A figure crept stealthily through a break in the other end of the ruined building, now, but they did not notice it.
這時，這幢破樓的另一頭，有個人影鬼鬼祟祟地從缺口處溜進來，可是他倆卻沒有發覺。
"Tom," whispered Huckleberry, "does this keep us from ever telling--always?"
“湯姆，”哈克貝利小聲問道，“這樣一來，我們將不會泄密，永遠都不會，是嗎？”
"Of course it does. It don't make any difference what happens, we got to keep mum. We'd drop down dead--don't you know that?"
“那還用說。不管發生了什麼，千變萬變我們得保守秘密這條不能變，否則我們將‘當場倒斃’，這你也曉得。”
"Yes, I reckon that's so."
“對，我想這沒錯。”
They continued to whisper for some little time. Presently a dog set up a long, lugubrious howl just outside--within ten feet of them. The boys clasped each other suddenly, in an agony of fright.
他們又小聲嘀咕了一陣子。沒多久，外面傳來了狗叫聲，那聲音又長又淒涼，離他們不到十英呎遠。兩個孩子一陣害怕，突然緊緊地抱在一起。
"Which of us does he mean?" gasped Huckleberry.
“它在哭嗥我們倆人中哪一個？”哈克貝利喘着氣問道。
"I dono--peep through the crack. Quick!"
“我不知道，你從縫裡往外瞅瞅。快點！”
"No, you, Tom!"
“我不幹，你自己來看，湯姆！”
"I can't--I can't do it, Huck!"
“我不能——我不能去看，哈克！”
"Please, Tom. There 'tis again!"
“求你了，湯姆。它又叫起來了！”
"Oh, lordy, I'm thankful!" whispered Tom. "I know his voice. It's Bull Harbison." *
“哦，我的老天爺，謝天謝地！”湯姆小聲說，“我聽得出它的聲音，原來是布爾·哈賓遜①。”
[* If Mr. Harbison owned a slave named Bull, Tom would have spoken of him as "Harbison's Bull," but a son or a dog of that name was "Bull Harbison."]
①如果哈賓遜先生有個奴僕叫布爾的話，湯姆就叫他“哈賓遜的布爾”；可是若是他的兒子或狗叫布爾，那湯姆就叫他（它）布爾·哈賓遜。
"Oh, that's good--I tell you, Tom, I was most scared to death; I'd a bet anything it was a stray dog."
“哦，這下可好了，湯姆，我差點被嚇死了，我以為那是隻野狗吶。”
The dog howled again. The boys' hearts sank once more.
那只狗又嗥起來，孩子們的心情再次低落下來。
"Oh, my! that ain't no Bull Harbison!" whispered Huckleberry. "Do, Tom!"
“哦，我的天那！那傢伙決不是布爾·哈賓遜！”哈克貝利悄聲說，“去瞅瞅，湯姆！”
Tom, quaking with fear, yielded, and put his eye to the crack. His whisper was hardly audible when he said:
湯姆嚇得直髮抖，但還是走過去，貼著裂逢往外看。
"Oh, Huck, its a stray dog!"
“哦，哈克，那果然是隻野狗！”湯姆話低得几乎讓人聽不見。
"Quick, Tom, quick! Who does he mean?"
“快點，湯姆，快點，那狗是在嗥誰？”
"Huck, he must mean us both--we're right together."
“哈克，它一定是嗥我們吧，誰讓我倆抱在一起呢。”
"Oh, Tom, I reckon we're goners. I reckon there ain't no mistake 'bout where I'll go to. I been so wicked."
“唉，湯姆，我想我倆死定了。我也知道我的下場如何，誰叫我平時幹了那麼多壞事呢。”
"Dad fetch it! This comes of playing hookey and doing everything a feller's told not to do. I might a been good, like Sid, if I'd a tried--but no, I wouldn't, of course. But if ever I get off this time, I lay I'll just waller in Sunday-schools!" And Tom began to snuffle a little.
“真是一團糟，都怪我逃學曠課，又不聽話。我要是肯幹的話，我也會像希德那樣當個表現好的孩子，可是我卻不肯幹。不過，這次要是饒了我的話，我敢打賭我一定在主日學校裡好好幹！”說著說著，湯姆開始有點抽鼻子了。
"You bad!" and Huckleberry began to snuffle too. "Consound it, Tom Sawyer, you're just old pie, 'long-side o' what I am. Oh, lordy, lordy, lordy, I wisht I only had half your chance."
“你還算壞嗎？”哈克貝利已跟着抽起鼻子來。“湯姆·索亞，你和我相比，真是一個天上，一個地下。哦，我的老天爺呀，老天爺呀，我要是有一半如你就好了。”
Tom choked off and whispered:
湯姆哽嚥著低聲說：
"Look, Hucky, look! He's got his back to us!"
“瞧，哈奇，你瞧，它現在是背對我們的。”
Hucky looked, with joy in his heart.
哈克心裡高興，看了看後說：
"Well, he has, by jingoes! Did he before?"
“不錯，是背對著我們，剛纔也是這樣的嗎？”
"Yes, he did. But I, like a fool, never thought. Oh, this is bully, you know. Now who can he mean?"
“是的，可我傻乎乎的，根本沒往上想。哦，你瞧這太棒了。那麼這回它是嗥誰的呢？”
The howling stopped. Tom pricked up his ears.
狗不嗥了，湯姆警覺地側耳聽著。
"Sh! What's that?" he whispered.
“噓！那是什麼聲音？”他小聲說。
"Sounds like--like hogs grunting. No--it's somebody snoring, Tom."
“像——像是豬發出的聲音。不，湯姆，是人的打呼聲。”
"That is it! Where 'bouts is it, Huck?"
“對，是打呼聲！哈克，你聽在什麼地方？”
"I bleeve it's down at 'tother end. Sounds so, anyway. Pap used to sleep there, sometimes, 'long with the hogs, but laws bless you, he just lifts things when he snores. Besides, I reckon he ain't ever coming back to this town any more."
“我斷定在那頭。不過，至少聽起來呼聲是從那頭傳過來的。我老爸過去有時和豬一起睡在那頭，要是他打起呼來，那可不得了，簡直是如雷灌耳。再說，我估計他不會再回到這個鎮上了。”
The spirit of adventure rose in the boys' souls once more.
兩個孩子再次想去碰碰運氣，看能否逃走。
"Hucky, do you das't to go if I lead?"
“哈奇，要是我打頭陣，你敢跟我一塊去看看嗎？”
"I don't like to, much. Tom, s'pose it's Injun Joe!"
“我不太想去。湯姆，萬一那是印第安·喬呢！”
Tom quailed. But presently the temptation rose up strong again and the boys agreed to try, with the understanding that they would take to their heels if the snoring stopped. So they went tiptoeing stealthily down, the one behind the other. When they had got to within five steps of the snorer, Tom stepped on a stick, and it broke with a sharp snap. The man moaned, writhed a little, and his face came into the moonlight. It was Muff Potter. The boys' hearts had stood still, and their hopes too, when the man moved, but their fears passed away now. They tip-toed out, through the broken weather-boarding, and stopped at a little distance to exchange a parting word. That long, lugubrious howl rose on the night air again! They turned and saw the strange dog standing within a few feet of where Potter was lying, and facing Potter, with his nose pointing heavenward.
湯姆剛一動搖，可還是抵擋不住強烈的誘惑。兩人決定試試看，他們達成默契：只要呼聲一停，他倆就溜之大吉。於是，他倆一前一後，踮着腳尖，偷偷走過去。在離那人不到五步遠的地方，湯姆啪地一聲，踩斷了一根樹枝。那人哼哼着稍微動了一下身子，臉暴露在月光下，原來是莫夫·波特。剛纔，莫夫·波特動彈時，兩個孩子的心一下子提到了嗓子眼，以為這下是跑不成了，但現在恐懼過去了。他倆踮着腳，溜到了破爛的擋風木板牆外邊，沒走多遠就道了別分了手。夜空中又傳來了那又長又淒涼的狗叫聲。他們轉身看見那條陌生的狗在離躺着的莫夫·波特不到幾英呎的地方，臉衝著他，正仰天長嗥。
"Oh, geeminy, it's him!" exclaimed both boys, in a breath.
“哦，我的媽呀，那狗嗥的原來是他呀！” 兩個孩子不約而同地驚呼道。
"Say, Tom--they say a stray dog come howling around Johnny Miller's house, 'bout midnight, as much as two weeks ago; and a whippoorwill come in and lit on the banisters and sung, the very same evening; and there ain't anybody dead there yet."
“喂，我說湯姆，聽他們講，大約兩個星期前，有隻野狗半夜圍着約翰尼·米勒家叫；同一天晚上，還飛來一隻夜鷹落在欄杆上叫個不停，不過並沒有誰死啊。”
"Well, I know that. And suppose there ain't. Didn't Gracie Miller fall in the kitchen fire and burn herself terrible the very next Saturday?"
“嗯，這我知道，人是沒有死，但是格霍絲·米勒不正是在緊接着的星期六那天摔倒在廚房的火裡，被燒得很慘嗎？”
"Yes, but she ain't dead. And what's more, she's getting better, too."
“這沒錯，可她畢竟還活着，並且正在康復吶。”
"All right, you wait and see. She's a goner, just as dead sure as Muff Potter's a goner. That's what the niggers say, and they know all about these kind of things, Huck."
“那我就沒什麼好說的嘍，你等着瞧吧！和莫夫·波特一樣，她就要完了，這是那些黑鬼說的。哈克，他們對這類事情可靈着呢。”
Then they separated, cogitating. When Tom crept in at his bedroom window the night was almost spent. He undressed with excessive caution, and fell asleep congratulating himself that nobody knew of his escapade. He was not aware that the gently-snoring Sid was awake, and had been so for an hour.
分手的時候，他們還在想這個問題。等湯姆從窗戶爬進臥室時，天已經快亮了。他輕手輕腳脫去衣服，睡下的時候，慶幸自己出去沒被人發覺。但他卻沒發現輕輕打着呼聲的希德沒睡着，而且醒了已有一個小時。
When Tom awoke, Sid was dressed and gone. There was a late look in the light, a late sense in the atmosphere. He was startled. Why had he not been called--persecuted till he was up, as usual? The thought filled him with bodings. Within five minutes he was dressed and down-stairs, feeling sore and drowsy. The family were still at table, but they had finished breakfast. There was no voice of rebuke; but there were averted eyes; there was a silence and an air of solemnity that struck a chill to the culprit's heart. He sat down and tried to seem gay, but it was up-hill work; it roused no smile, no response, and he lapsed into silence and let his heart sink down to the depths.
湯姆醒來後發現希德已穿戴完畢走了。天已大亮，寢室裡又沒有人，一看便知時候不早了。湯姆感到很吃驚——為什麼今天沒人叫他呢？要是往日的話，他們非盯着他起來不可。想到這，他覺得情況有點不妙。不到五分鐘，他就穿好衣服到了樓下，感到渾身不對勁，懶洋洋的。全家人已吃完了早飯，但仍然坐在餐桌旁，沒人怪他遲到，也沒人瞅他。大家默不作聲，顯得十分嚴肅，這讓他的心涼了半截。他坐下來，裝着愉快的樣子，可是談何容易。大夥既不笑，也不吱聲。於是他也只好一聲不吭，心情沉重到了極點。
After breakfast his aunt took him aside, and Tom almost brightened in the hope that he was going to be flogged; but it was not so. His aunt wept over him and asked him how he could go and break her old heart so; and finally told him to go on, and ruin himself and bring her gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, for it was no use for her to try any more. This was worse than a thousand whippings, and Tom's heart was sorer now than his body. He cried, he pleaded for forgiveness, promised to reform over and over again, and then received his dismissal, feeling that he had won but an imperfect forgiveness and established but a feeble confidence.
早飯過後，湯姆被姨媽叫到一邊，他面帶喜色滿以為希望就要實現：挨鞭笞。可是姨媽沒有打他，而是站在他旁邊痛哭起來。她邊哭邊責怪湯姆怎麼能這樣讓她這把年紀的人傷心呢？然後她說了通氣話，既然湯姆不再聽她的，那就讓他繼續這樣混下去，自暴自棄直至要了她這條老命為止。這一席話比一千下鞭打更管用，湯姆的心比肉體更加痛楚不安。他大哭起來，一邊央求姨媽原諒他，一邊一遍又一遍地保證悔過自新。這樣姨媽最後饒了他，可他覺得她並沒有完全饒恕他，因此心中還是半信半疑。
He left the presence too miserable to even feel revengeful toward Sid; and so the latter's prompt retreat through the back gate was unnecessary. He moped to school gloomy and sad, and took his flogging, along with Joe Harper, for playing hookey the day before, with the air of one whose heart was busy with heavier woes and wholly dead to trifles. Then he betook himself to his seat, rested his elbows on his desk and his jaws in his hands, and stared at the wall with the stony stare of suffering that has reached the limit and can no further go. His elbow was pressing against some hard substance. After a long time he slowly and sadly changed his position, and took up this object with a sigh. It was in a paper. He unrolled it. A long, lingering, colossal sigh followed, and his heart broke. It was his brass andiron knob!
他離去時很傷心，結果都想不起來要報復希德這件事，可是希德卻多此一舉：快速從後門溜掉了。湯姆滿臉愁容，悶悶不樂地來到學校。他和喬·哈帕一起，因為頭一天逃學的事情被鞭笞了一頓。在挨鞭笞時，他一副憂心仲仲的樣子，根本不把鞭笞這類小事情放在眼裡。之後，他走到位子上坐下來，兩手托腮放在桌子上，一副痛苦的樣子，目不轉睛地盯着牆直髮愣。他的肘部壓在什麼硬東西上，過了好一段時間，他才難過地慢慢移動了下肘部，嘆息着拿起那樣東西。東西包在紙裡，他打開紙包，接着重重地長嘆一聲，原來紙包裡包着他的那個銅把手！
This final feather broke the camel's back.
這一下猶如雪上加霜，湯姆徹底地崩潰了。