Lon McFane was a bit grumpy, what of losing his tobacco pouch, or else he might have told me, before we got to it, something about the cabin at Surprise Lake. All day, turn and turn about, we had spelled each other at going to the fore and breaking trail for the dogs. It was heavy snowshoe work, and did not tend to make a man voluble, yet Lon McFane might have found breath enough at noon, when we stopped to boil coffee, with which to tell me. But he didn’t. Surprise Lake? it was Surprise Cabin to me. I had never heard of it before. I confess I was a bit tired. I had been looking for Lon to stop and make camp any time for an hour; but I had too much pride to suggest making camp or to ask him his intentions; and yet he was my man, lured at a handsome wage to mush my dogs for me and to obey my commands. I guess I was a bit grumpy myself. He said nothing, and I was resolved to ask nothing, even if we tramped on all night.
朗·麦克费恩脾气有些不好，怕是丢了烟袋，否则他本应该在我们到达瑟普赖斯湖边的小木屋之前告诉我一些有关它的事。一整天，我们轮流替换对方，走到前面为狗开路。这是穿着雪鞋进行的很费力的工作，会使人趋于寡言。但是朗·麦克费恩本来可以在中午的时候找出足够的空闲时间，然后我们停下来煮咖啡，他可以边喝边告诉我。但是他没有。瑟普赖斯湖？对我来说是“令人惊奇的小木屋”。我之前从没有听说过它。我承认我有点儿累了。我一直盼着朗随便什么时候能停下来搭帐篷，休息一小时；但是我有太多的骄傲，做不到建议他搭帐篷或者询问他的打算；可他是我雇的人，受丰厚薪水的吸引来替我驾狗拉雪橇，还要服从我的命令。我觉得自己的脾气也有些不好了。他什么都没说，我也决定什么都不问，即使我们整晚都要继续跋涉。
We came upon the cabin abruptly. For a week of trail we had met no one, and, in my mind, there had been little likelihood of meeting any one for a week to come. And yet there it was, right before my eyes, a cabin, with a dim light in the window and smoke curling up from the chimney.
我们是突然看到小木屋的。在一周的行程中，我们没有见到一个小木屋，而且在我看来，再过一周也不大可能会见到一个。但是它就在那里，就在我眼前。一个小木屋，淡淡的光从窗子里透出，烟从烟囱里袅袅升起。
"Why didn’t you tell me—” I began, but was interrupted by Lon, who muttered—
“你怎么没告诉我——”我刚开始说，却被朗打断了。他咕哝着：
"Surprise Lake—it lies up a small feeder half a mile on. It’s only a pond.”
“瑟普赖斯湖——就是沿着一条小支路走，前方半英里处。它只是一个池塘。”
"Yes, but the cabin—who lives in it?”
“噢，但是这个小木屋——谁住在里面呢？”
"A woman," was the answer, and the next moment Lon had rapped on the door, and a woman’s voice bade him enter.
“一个女人。”朗回答道，紧接着他已经敲了门，一个女人的声音让他进去。
"Have you seen Dave recently?" she asked.
“你最近见过戴夫吗？”她问道。
"Nope," Lon answered carelessly. "I’ve been in the other direction, down Circle City way. Dave’s up Dawson way, ain’t he?”
“没有，”朗漫不经心地回答道，“我一直朝另一个方向，沿着环形城向下走。戴夫是沿着道森向上走，不是吗？”
The woman nodded, and Lon fell to unharnessing the dogs, while I unlashed the sled and carried the camp outfit into the cabin. The cabin was a large, one-room affair, and the woman was evidently alone in it. She pointed to the stove, where water was already boiling, and Lon set about the preparation of supper, while I opened the fish-bag and fed the dogs. I looked for Lon to introduce us, and was vexed that he did not, for they were evidently old friends.
女人点了点头，朗开始解下狗的套具，而我则解开雪橇，然后把宿营的装备搬进了小木屋。这个小木屋很宽敞，只有一个房间，显然这个女人独自住在这里。她指着火炉，上面烧着的水已经沸腾了，朗开始准备晚餐，而我则打开一袋子鱼喂狗。我盼着朗能介绍我们认识，但令我恼怒的是他没有，而他们明摆着是老朋友。
"You are Lon McFane, aren’t you?” I heard her ask him. "Why, I remember you now. The last time I saw you it was on a steamboat, wasn’t it? I remember...”
“你是朗·麦克费恩，对吧？”我听见她问朗。“哎呀，我现在想起你来了。我们上次见面是在一艘汽船上，是吧？我记得……”
Her speech seemed suddenly to be frozen by the spectacle of dread which, I knew, from the tenor I saw mounting in her eyes, must be on her inner vision. To my astonishment, Lon was affected by her words and manner. His face showed desperate, for all his voice sounded hearty and genial, as he said—
她的话语好像突然被恐怖的场景冻结了，从我看到的她眼睛里不断增加的恐惧，我知道，那场景一定是刻在了她的内心深处。令我惊讶的是，朗竟为她的话语和举止动容了。他的脸上显示出了渴望，因为他的声音听起来热忱而亲切，他说道：
"The last time we met was at Dawson, Queen’s Jubilee, or Birthday, or something—don’t you remember?—the canoe races in the river, and the obstacle races down the main street?”
“我们上次见面是在道森，是在女王的五十周年纪念日或是生日或是别的什么日子——你不记得了吗？——河里的那些独木舟赛，还有沿着大街的障碍赛跑？”
The terror faded out of her eyes and her whole body relaxed. "Oh, yes, I do remember," she said. "And you won one of the canoe races."
她眼神中的恐惧渐渐消失，整个身体都放松了。“噢，对，我想起来了，”她说道，“而且你赢了其中的一场独木舟赛。”
"How’s Dave been makin’ it lately? Strikin’ it as rich as ever, I suppose?" Lon asked, with apparent irrelevance.
“戴夫近来怎么样啊？我想，还是和以往一样发了大财吧？”朗问道，明显与之前的话毫不相干。
She smiled and nodded, and then, noticing that I had unlashed the bed roll, she indicated the end of the cabin where I might spread it. Her own bunk, I noticed, was made up at the opposite end.
她笑着点点头，然后，注意到我已经把铺盖卷解开了，就示意我可以到小木屋的一头去把它铺开。我注意到，她的床铺铺在小木屋的另一头。
"I thought it was Dave coming when I heard your dogs," she said.
“听到你的狗叫时我还以为是戴夫回来了。”她说道。
After that she said nothing, contenting herself with watching Lon’s cooking operations, and listening the while as for the sound of dogs along the trail. I lay back on the blankets and smoked and watched. Here was mystery; I could make that much out, but no more could I make out. Why in the deuce hadn’t Lon given me the tip before we arrived? I looked at her face, unnoticed by her, and the longer I looked the harder it was to take my eyes away. It was a wonderfully beautiful face, unearthly, I may say, with a light in it or an expression or something "that was never on land or sea." Fear and terror had completely vanished, and it was a placidly beautiful face—if by "placid" one can characterize that intangible and occult something that I cannot say was a radiance or a light any more than I can say it was an expression.
在那之后她就没有再说一句话，自己心满意足地一边看着朗做饭的动作，一边听着沿途路过的狗的叫声。我躺靠在毛毯上，抽着烟看着。这就是神秘之处；我就能看出这么多的名堂，别的我就看不出来了。到底为什么朗在我们到达这里之前没有向我透露呢？我看着她的脸，她并没有注意到，我看她的时间越长就越难转移自己的目光。那是一张非常美的脸，可以说是超自然的美，上面泛着一种光泽，或者是带着一种表情，又或者是一种“陆上和海上都从不曾有过的”东西。害怕和恐惧完全消失了，她的脸宁静而又美丽——如果可以用“宁静”来形容那种难以捉摸而又不可思议的东西。我不能说那东西是一种光辉或光亮，正如我不能说它是一种表情。
Abruptly, as if for the first time, she became aware of my presence.
突然，似乎是第一次，她开始意识到我的存在。
"Have you seen Dave recently?" she asked me. It was on the tip of my tongue to say "Dave who?" when Lon coughed in the smoke that arose from the sizzling bacon. The bacon might have caused that cough, but I took it as a hint and left my question unasked. "No, I haven’t," I answered. "I’m new in this part of the country—”
“你最近见过戴夫吗？”她问我。“戴夫是谁啊？”这话刚到我嘴边，朗就在咝咝作响的熏肉冒出的烟中咳嗽了一声。熏肉有可能使他咳嗽，但我把它当成了一个暗示，于是就没有问我的问题。“没，我没见过他。”我回答道，“我刚到村子的这块地方不久——”
"But you don’t mean to say," she interrupted, "that you’ve never heard of Dave—of Big Dave Walsh?”
“但你该不会是说，”她打断道，“你从来没听说过戴夫——大人物戴夫·沃尔什吧？”
"You see," I apologised, "I’m new in the country. I’ve put in most of my time in the Lower Country, down Nome way.”
“你知道的，”我辩解道，“我是刚到这个村子的。我大部分时间都在洛尔村，诺姆那边。”
"Tell him about Dave," she said to Lon.
“给他讲讲戴夫的事。”她对朗说。
Lon seemed put out, but he began in that hearty, genial manner that I had noticed before. It seemed a shade too hearty and genial, and it irritated me.
朗好像觉得不方便，但是他以我先前注意到的那种热情友好的态度开始了讲述。那态度好像有点儿太过热情和友好，让我难受。
"Oh, Dave is a fine man," he said. "He’s a man, every inch of him, and he stands six feet four in his socks. His word is as good as his bond. The man lies who ever says Dave told a lie, and that man will have to fight with me, too, as well—if there’s anything left of him when Dave gets done with him. For Dave is a fighter. Oh, yes, he’s a scrapper from way back. He got a grizzly with a ’38 popgun. He got clawed some, but he knew what he was doin’. He went into the cave on purpose to get that grizzly. ’Fraid of nothing. Free an’ easy with his money, or his last shirt an’ match when out of money. Why, he drained Surprise Lake here in three weeks an’ took out ninety thousand, didn’t he?” She flushed and nodded her head proudly. Through his recital she had followed every word with keenest interest. "An’ I must say," Lon went on, "that I was disappointed sore on not meeting Dave here to-night.”
“噢，戴夫是一个好男人。”他说道，“他是个男子汉，十足的男子汉，他的净身高有六英尺四英寸。他的话就和他的契约一样有效。要是谁说戴夫撒谎，那他就是没说实话，而那个人也一定要和我再打上一架——如果他和戴夫打完后还有力气的话。因为戴夫是个斗士。噢，对，他从很久以前就是一个好打架的人。他曾用一只一八三八年的蹩脚枪抓到过一只灰熊。他被熊抓了几下，但是他清楚自己在做什么。他是故意进洞抓那只灰熊的。他什么也不怕。他花钱很自由很随意，没钱时他会卖掉自己最后一件衬衫和火柴。哎呀，他三周之内就排干了这儿的瑟普赖斯湖中的水，赚了九万美元，不是吗？”她脸上泛红，骄傲地点了点头。在朗叙述的过程中，她津津有味地听着每一个字。“而且我得说，”朗继续道，“今晚来这里没能见到戴夫让我很失望也很难过。”
Lon served supper at one end of the table of whip-sawed spruce, and we fell to eating. A howling of the dogs took the woman to the door. She opened it an inch and listened.
朗把晚饭端到桌子的一头，这张桌子是由粗木锯锯成的云杉木做的。我们开始吃起来。应着一阵狗的嚎叫，那女人走到门口。她把门打开一英寸的小缝听了听。
"Where is Dave Walsh?" I asked, in an undertone.
“戴夫·沃尔什在哪里啊？”我低声问道。
"Dead," Lon answered. "In hell, maybe. I don’t know. Shut up.”
“死了。”朗回答道，“或许，在地狱吧。我不知道。不要说了。”
"But you just said that you expected to meet him here to-night," I challenged.
“但是你刚才还说希望今晚在这里见到他呢。”我质问道。
"Oh, shut up, can’t you," was Lon’s reply, in the same cautious undertone.
“噢，闭上你的嘴，可以吧。”这是朗的回答，他同样也谨慎地压低了声音。
The woman had closed the door and was returning, and I sat and meditated upon the fact that this man who told me to shut up received from me a salary of two hundred and fifty dollars a month and his board.
那女人已经关了门，正往回走。我坐着并且深入考虑着一个事实——这个让我闭嘴的男人从我这里得到每月二百五十美元的薪水还有他的膳食。
Lon washed the dishes, while I smoked and watched the woman. She seemed more beautiful than ever—strangely and weirdly beautiful, it is true. After looking at her steadfastly for five minutes, I was compelled to come back to the real world and to glance at Lon McFane. This enabled me to know, without discussion, that the woman, too, was real. At first I had taken her for the wife of Dave Walsh; but if Dave Walsh were dead, as Lon had said, then she could be only his widow.
朗洗餐具，而我抽着烟并注视着那女人。她看起来比之前更美了——确实，是一种奇异而神秘的美。目不转睛地看了她五分钟后，我不得已回到了现实世界，并瞥了一眼朗·麦克费恩。这让我明白，毫无疑问，那个女人，也是真实的。一开始我把她当成了戴夫·沃尔什的妻子。但如果如朗所言，戴夫·沃尔什已经死了，那她只能算是他的遗孀了。
It was early to bed, for we faced a long day on the morrow; and as Lon crawled in beside me under the blankets, I ventured a question.
我们很早便去睡觉了，因为次日我们还要面临漫长的一天。当朗钻进毛毯挨着我时，我大胆地问了一个问题。
"That woman’s crazy, isn’t she?”
“那个女人很古怪，不是吗？”
"Crazy as a loon," he answered.
“古怪得像个傻子。”他回答道。
And before I could formulate my next question, Lon McFane, I swear, was off to sleep. He always went to sleep that way—just crawled into the blankets, closed his eyes, and was off, a demure little heavy breathing rising on the air. Lon never snored.
在我能够明确地问出下一个问题之前，我确定，朗·麦克费恩已经睡着了。他总是那个样子睡着——就是钻进毛毯，闭上眼睛，然后就睡着了，空气中他庄重又带点儿沉闷的呼吸声随之而起。朗从来不打呼噜。
And in the morning it was quick breakfast, feed the dogs, load the sled, and hit the trail. We said good-bye as we pulled out, and the woman stood in the doorway and watched us off. I carried the vision of her unearthly beauty away with me, just under my eyelids, and all I had to do, any time, was to close them and see her again. The way was unbroken, Surprise Lake being far off the travelled trails, and Lon and I took turn about at beating down the feathery snow with our big, webbed shoes so that the dogs could travel. "But you said you expected to meet Dave Walsh at the cabin," trembled on the tip of my tongue a score of times. I did not utter it. I could wait until we knocked off in the middle of the day. And when the middle of the day came, we went right on, for, as Lon explained, there was a camp of moose hunters at the forks of the Teelee, and we could make there by dark. But we didn’t make there by dark, for Bright, the lead-dog, broke his shoulder-blade, and we lost an hour over him before we shot him. Then, crossing a timber jam on the frozen bed of the Teelee, the sled suffered a wrenching capsize, and it was a case of make camp and repair the runner. I cooked supper and fed the dogs while Lon made the repairs, and together we got in the night’s supply of ice and firewood. Then we sat on our blankets, our moccasins steaming on upended sticks before the fire, and had our evening smoke.
早上，我们很快吃完了早饭，喂了狗，装好雪橇，然后就出发了。离开时我们和那女人道别，她站在门口看着我们离开。我带着她那种超自然的美丽形象离开了，它就在我的眼皮下，无论何时，我所要做的只是闭上眼睛，就能再次看到她。这条路没人走过，瑟普赖斯湖远离那些很多人走过的小路。我和朗轮流用我们大大的网状鞋把羽毛般的雪踩下去，这样狗才能前行。“但是你说过你希望在那个小木屋里见到戴夫·沃尔什。”这句话在我的嘴边颤抖了有二十次。我并没有问出来。我可以等到我们中午休息的时候再问。可是到了中午，我们继续前进着，因为，像朗解释的那样，特俄勒俄的岔路口处有一个狩猎驼鹿的人群的露营地，我们可以在天黑之前赶到那里。但是我们在天黑之前没能赶到，因为布赖特，那只领头狗，伤了它的肩胛骨，我们在开枪射死它之前因它耽搁了一个小时。后来，在越过特俄勒俄冻了冰的河床上的一个木头障碍时，雪橇猛地翻倒了，这种情况下我们只好搭帐篷并修理滑板了。我做好晚饭，喂了狗，而朗则做修理工作，之后我们一起把当晚所需的冰块和木柴弄进帐篷。然后我们坐在毛毯上，把“莫卡辛”鞋放在倒立支起的木棍上，在火堆前烘着，并抽起了晚上的烟。
"You didn’t know her?" Lon queried suddenly. I shook my head.
“你不认识她？”朗突然发问道。我摇了摇头。
"You noticed the colour of her hair and eyes and her complexion, well, that’s where she got her name—she was like the first warm glow of a golden sunrise. She was called Flush of Gold. Ever heard of her?”
“你注意到她头发、眼睛还有面容的颜色了吧，唔，那就是她名字的由来——她就像是日出时第一缕温暖的金色光辉。她被称作金光。听说过她吗？”
Somewhere I had a confused and misty remembrance of having heard the name, yet it meant nothing to me. "Flush of Gold," I repeated; "sounds like the name of a dance-house girl.” Lon shook his head. "No, she was a good woman, at least in that sense, though she sinned greatly just the same."
我有种难以辨认的、模糊的记忆——曾在哪里听说过这个名字，但是这对我来说没什么意义。“金光，”我重复道，“听起来像是一个舞厅里的女孩的名字。”朗摇了摇头。“不，她是一个好女人，至少从那种意义上来讲，尽管她还是罪恶深重。”
"But why do you speak always of her in the past tense, as though she were dead?"
“但你为什么说到她时总是要用过去式呢，好像她已经死了似的？”
"Because of the darkness on her soul that is the same as the darkness of death. The Flush of Gold that I knew, that Dawson knew, and that Forty Mile knew before that, is dead. That dumb, lunatic creature we saw last night was not Flush of Gold."
“因为她灵魂中的黑暗，那和死亡的黑暗一样。我以前认识的那个金光，道森人以前认识的那个金光，以及四十里人以前认识的那个金光，已经死了。我们昨晚见到的那个愚蠢的疯子不是金光。”
"And Dave?" I queried.
“那戴夫呢？”我问道。
"He built that cabin," Lon answered, "He built it for her… and for himself. He is dead. She is waiting for him there. She half believes he is not dead. But who can know the whim of a crazed mind? Maybe she wholly believes he is not dead. At any rate, she waits for him there in the cabin he built. Who would rouse the dead? Then who would rouse the living that are dead? Not I, and that is why I let on to expect to meet Dave Walsh there last night. I’ll bet a stack that I’da been more surprised than she if I had met him there last night.”
“他建造了那个小木屋，”朗回答道，“那是为她建造的……也是为他自己。他死了。她守在那里等他。她一半程度上相信他没有死。但是谁会知道一个疯子的怪念头呢？或许她完全相信他没有死。不管怎样，她就在他建的那个小木屋里等着他。谁能唤醒死者？而谁又能唤醒活着的半死人呢？我不能，而那就是我跟你说希望昨晚能在那里见到戴夫·沃尔什的原因。我赌二十个筹码，如果昨晚在那儿真的见到了戴夫，我肯定会比她还吃惊。”
"I do not understand," I said. "Begin at the beginning, as a white man should, and tell me the whole tale."
“我不明白。”我说道，“你从开头开始讲，像白人应该做的那样，把整个故事都告诉我。”
And Lon began. "Victor Chauvet was an old Frenchman—born in the south of France. He came to California in the days of gold. He was a pioneer. He found no gold, but, instead, became a maker of bottled sunshine—in short, a grape-grower and wine-maker. Also, he followed gold excitements. That is what brought him to Alaska in the early days, and over the Chilcoot and down the Yukon long before the Carmack strike. The old town site of Ten Mile was Chauvet’s. He carried the first mail into Arctic City. He staked those coal-mines on the Porcupine a dozen years ago. He grubstaked Loftus into the Nippennuck Country. Now it happened that Victor Chauvet was a good Catholic, loving two things in this world, wine and woman. Wine of all kinds he loved, but of woman, only one, and she was the mother of Marie Chauvet.”
朗开始讲述。“维克托·肖韦是个年老的法国人——出生在法国南部。他在淘金时代来到了加利福尼亚。他是个拓荒者。他没有发现黄金，但却成为了一个瓶装黄金的生产商——简言之，就是一个葡萄种植者和酿酒商。此外，他对淘金很狂热。那就是他早期来到阿拉斯加，并在卡马克矿藏大发现很久之前就越过奇尔库特，沿育空河顺流而下的原因。原来的十里镇镇址就是肖韦的。他给北极城带来了第一个邮包。十二年前他资助了那些波丘派恩河上的煤矿的开采。他向洛夫特斯提供了资金，让他到尼普恩纳克区。当时正好维克托·肖韦是一个虔诚的天主教徒，在这个世界上他只爱两样东西，酒和女人。他爱各种各样的酒，但就女人而言，他只爱一个，那就是玛丽·肖韦的母亲。”
Here I groaned aloud, having meditated beyond self-control over the fact that I paid this man two hundred and fifty dollars a month.
此时我大声地发出了反对的哼声，不由自主地想到自己每个月要付给这个人二百五十美元的事实。
"What’s the matter now?" he demanded.
“现在又怎么了？”他询问道。
"Matter?"I complained. "I thought you were telling the story of Flush of Gold. I don’t want a biography of your old French wine-bibber.”
“怎么了？”我抱怨道，“我以为你会给我讲金光的故事呢。我可不想听你那个年老的法国酒鬼的传记。”
Lon calmly lighted his pipe, took one good puff, then put the pipe aside. "And you asked me to begin at the beginning," he said.
朗平静地把烟斗点着，深深地吸了一口，然后把烟斗放到了一边。“是你让我从开头开始讲的。”他说道。
"Yes," said I; "the beginning."
“是啊，”我说道，“从开头说。”
"And the beginning of Flush of Gold is the old French wine-bibber, for he was the father of Marie Chauvet, and Marie Chauvet was the Flush of Gold. What more do you want? Victor Chauvet never had much luck to speak of. He managed to live, and to get along, and to take good care of Marie, who resembled the one woman he had loved. He took very good care of her. Flush of Gold was the pet name he gave her. Flush of Gold Creek was named after her—Flush of Gold town site, too. The old man was great on town sites, only he never landed them.
“金光的故事就是从那个年老的法国酒鬼开始的，因为他是玛丽·肖韦的父亲，而玛丽·肖韦就是金光。你还想听什么啊？维克托·肖韦从来就没有值得一提的好运气。他努力地活着，努力地和玛丽融洽相处，并努力地照顾好她。玛丽长得很像那个他曾爱过的女人。他认真地照顾她。金光是他对她的爱称。金光溪是以她的名字命名的——金光镇址也是。这个老人对镇址非常熟悉，只是他从未踏上过那些土地。
"Now, honestly," Lon said, with one of his lightning changes, "you’ve seen her, what do you think of her—of her looks, I mean? How does she strike your beauty sense?”
“现在，坦诚地讲，”朗说道，他话锋突然一转，“你见过她了，你觉得她怎么样——我是指，她的长相？从你的审美角度来看，她怎么样？”
"She is remarkably beautiful," I said. "I never saw anything like her in my life. In spite of the fact, last night, that I guessed she was mad, I could not keep my eyes off of her. It wasn’t curiosity. It was wonder, sheer wonder, she was so strangely beautiful.”
“她美得出奇。”我答道，“我生平从未见过像她这么美的人。昨天晚上，尽管我猜测她精神不正常，但我还是忍不住看她。那不是出于好奇。是疑惑，十足的疑惑，她怎么美得这么出奇。”
"She was more strangely beautiful before the darkness fell upon her," Lon said softly. "She was truly the Flush of Cold. She turned all men’s hearts...and heads. She recalls, with an effort, that I once won a canoe race at Dawson—I, who once loved her, and was told by her of her love for me. It was her beauty that made all men love her. She’d ’a’ got the apple from Paris, on application, and there wouldn’t have been any Trojan War, and to top it off she’d have thrown Paris down. And now she lives in darkness, and she who was always fickle, for the first time is constant—and constant to a shade, to a dead man she does not realize is dead.
“在黑暗降临到她身上之前，她更是出奇地美丽。”朗轻声说，“她真的如同金光一般。她令所有的男人为之倾心……为之回首。她很费力地回忆起我曾经在道森赢了一场独木舟赛——我，曾经爱过她，她也告诉过我她爱我。所有的男人爱她都是因为她的美貌。她可以从巴黎得到苹果的，只要索取的话。有她在就不会发生什么特洛伊战争了，最重要的是，她能摧毁整个巴黎。现在她生活在黑暗之中，一直用情不专的她，第一次忠诚了——对一个幽灵，一个她并不知道已经死去的人忠诚。
"And this is the way it was. You remember what I said last night of Dave Walsh—Big Dave Walsh? He was all that I said, and more, many times more. He came into this country in the late eighties—that’s a pioneer for you. He was twenty years old then. He was a young bull. When he was twenty-five he could lift clear of the ground thirteen fifty-pound sacks of flour. At first, each fall of the year, famine drove him out. It was a lone land in those days. No river steamboats, no grub, nothing but salmon bellies and rabbit tracks. But after famine chased him out three years, he said he’d had enough of being chased; and the next year he stayed. He lived on straight meat when he was lucky enough to get it; he ate eleven dogs that winter; but he stayed. And the next winter he stayed, and the next. He never did leave the country again. He was a bull, a great bull. He could kill the strongest man in the country with hard work. He could outpack a Chilcat Indian, he could outpaddle a Stick, and he could travel all day with wet feet when the thermometer registered fifty below zero, and that’s going some, I tell you, for vitality. You’d freeze your feet at twenty-five below if you wet them and tried to keep on.
“这就是现实的情况。你记得我昨晚说的有关戴夫·沃尔什——大人物戴夫·沃尔什的话吧？他就像我说的那样，而且还要更好，好很多倍。他八十年代末来到这个村子——对你而言，他是个先驱了。他那时二十岁。他就是一头年轻的公牛。二十五岁的时候，他就能把十三袋五十磅重的面粉从地上完全提起来。起初，每年秋天，饥荒总是迫使他离开。那时候的土地一片荒凉。没有河中的汽船，没有食物，什么都没有，除了三文鱼腩和兔子的足迹。但当他三年都被饥荒逼走之后，他说自己受够了被驱逐，接下来的一年他留了下来。当他足够幸运可以弄到肉的时候，他就完全依靠肉食生活。那个冬天他吃掉了十一条狗，但是他留了下来。下一个冬天他又留了下来，再下一个也是。他再没离开过那个乡村。他就是一头公牛，一头很强壮的公牛。在辛苦工作这方面，他可以敌得过村子里最强壮的人。他可以比一个印第安部落奇尔卡特人背的东西多，可以比桨划水划得快，也可以在温度计显示零下五十度时湿着脚行走一整天。我跟你讲，那样做的原因，部分是为了保持活力。如果你湿了脚试图在零下二十五度时继续向前走，那你的脚肯定会被冻住。
"Dave Walsh was a bull for strength. And yet he was soft and easy-natured. Anybody could do him, the latest short-horn in camp could lie his last dollar out of him. ’But it doesn’t worry me,’ he had a way of laughing off his softness; ’it doesn’t keep me awake nights.’ Now don’t get the idea that he had no backbone. You remember about the bear he went after with the popgun. When it came to fighting Dave was the blamedest ever. He was the limit, if by that I may describe his unlimitedness when he got into action, he was easy and kind with the weak, but the strong had to give trail when he went by. And he was a man that men liked, which is the finest word of all, a man’s man.
“戴夫·沃尔什力大如牛。但是他性情温柔而且随和。任何人都能骗得了他，营地里刚来的新手都能把他的最后一美元骗出来。‘但是我并不为此烦恼，’他有对自己的温和一笑了之的方法,‘这样我就不用整晚整晚睡不着觉了。’嗨，你可别以为他没骨气。你记得他拿蹩脚枪追熊的事吧。谈到打架，戴夫可是最厉害的了。他就是极限，如果我能以此来形容他行动起来时拥有的无限能力的话。他对待弱者宽容和善，但是强者却必须在他路过时给他让路。他是个让男人们都喜欢的男人，这是最美的称赞了。他称得上是男人中的男人。
"Dave never took part in the big stampede to Dawson when Carmack made the Bonanza strike. You see, Dave was just then over on Mammon Creek strikin’ it himself. He discovered Mammon Creek. Cleaned eighty-four thousand up that winter, and opened up the claim so that it promised a couple of hundred thousand for the next winter. Then, summer bein’ on and the ground sloshy, he took a trip up the Yukon to Dawson to see what Carmack’s strike looked like. And there he saw Flush of Gold. I remember the night. I shall always remember. It was something sudden, and it makes one shiver to think of a strong man with all the strength withered out of him by one glance from the soft eyes of a weak, blond, female creature like Flush of Gold. It was at her dad’s cabin, old Victor Chauvet’s. Some friend had brought Dave along to talk over town sites on Mammon Creek. But little talking did he do, and what he did was mostly gibberish. I tell you the sight of Flush of Gold had sent Dave clean daffy. Old Victor Chauvet insisted after Dave left that he had been drunk. And so he had. He was drunk, but Flush of Gold was the strong drink that made him so.
“在卡马克成功发现了博南扎的矿藏后，戴夫从没有加入到蜂拥前往道森的庞大人群中去。要知道，戴夫那时自己在玛门河发了一笔财。他发现了玛门河。那年冬天他大赚了八万四千美元，并且他开辟了申请产权的土地，这样的话，下一个冬天就有可能赚几十万。后来，夏天到了，地面变得泥泞，他沿育空河逆流航行，到道森去看卡马克的矿藏大发现是什么样的。在那里他见到了金光。我记得那一晚。我永远都会记得。这件事很突然，一个强壮的男人被一个像金光这样白肤金发碧眼的柔弱女子的双眼温柔地一瞥后，就丧失了所有的力量，想想就让人发颤。那是在她父亲老维克托·肖韦的小木屋里。某个朋友带戴夫一道来商讨玛门河附近的镇址。但是他没怎么说话，大部分时候他都是在胡言乱语。我告诉你，见到金光的戴夫完全呆住了。老维克托·肖韦在戴夫离开后坚持说他是喝醉了。他确实醉了。他醉了，不过金光才是让他喝醉的烈性酒。
"That settled it, that first glimpse he caught of her. He did not start back down the Yukon in a week, as he had intended. He lingered on a month, two months, all summer. And we who had suffered understood, and wondered what the outcome would be. Undoubtedly, in our minds, it seemed that Flush of Gold had met her master. And why not? There was romance sprinkled all over Dave Walsh. He was a Mammon King, he had made the Mammon Creek strike; he was an old sour dough, one of the oldest pioneers in the land—men turned to look at him when he went by, and said to one another in awed undertones, ’There goes Dave Walsh.’ And why not? He stood six feet four; he had yellow hair himself that curled on his neck; and he was a bull—a yellow-maned bull just turned thirty-one.
“他见到她的第一眼，就下了决心。一周后他没有如之前打算好的那样，启程沿育空河顺流而下回去。他逗留了一个月、两个月、整个夏天。我们这些曾吃过苦头的人理解，也想知道结局会怎样。毋庸置疑，在我们看来，金光好像遇到了可以征服她的男人。怎么能不是呢？爱情遍布了戴夫·沃尔什的全身。他是一个玛门国王，他发现了玛门河的矿藏。他是个老居民，是这片土地最早的开拓者之一——他路过时男人们都会转身看他，而且还会充满敬畏地低声对彼此说，‘那就是戴夫·沃尔什。’怎么能不是呢？他身高六英尺四英寸，他那黄色的头发在脖颈处卷曲，他就是一头公牛——一头刚满三十一岁的黄色鬃毛的公牛。
"And Flush of Gold loved him, and, having danced him through a whole summer’s courtship, at the end their engagement was made known. The fall of the year was at hand, Dave had to be back for the winter’s work on Mammon Creek, and Flush of Gold refused to be married right away. Dave put Dusky Burns in charge of the Mammon Creek claim, and himself lingered on in Dawson. Little use. She wanted her freedom a while longer; she must have it, and she would not marry until next year. And so, on the first ice, Dave Walsh went alone down the Yukon behind his dogs, with the understanding that the marriage would take place when he arrived on the first steamboat of the next year.
“金光爱他，而且他追求她的整个夏天里，她都在和他跳舞。最后他们订婚的事公之于众。那年的秋天马上就要到了，戴夫必须回玛门河开始冬天的工作，而金光不愿马上结婚。戴夫把玛门河的申请产权的土地交给达斯基·伯恩斯掌管，他自己则继续逗留在道森。但这没多大用。她想拥有再长一点儿时间的自由。她必须拥有，直到第二年她才肯结婚。因此，冰面刚冻结好，戴夫·沃尔什就一个人坐着狗拉的雪橇沿育空河顺流而下。他们达成默契，第二年他坐着第一艘汽船到达的时候就结婚。
"Now Dave was as true as the Pole Star, and she was as false as a magnetic needle in a cargo of loadstone. Dave was as steady and solid as she was fickle and fly-away, and in some way Dave, who never doubted anybody, doubted her. It was the jealousy of his love, perhaps, and maybe it was the message ticked off from her soul to his; but at any rate Dave was worried by fear of her inconstancy. He was afraid to trust her till the next year, he had so to trust her, and he was pretty well beside himself. Some of it I got from old Victor Chauvet afterwards, and from all that I have pieced together I conclude that there was something of a scene before Dave pulled north with his dogs. He stood up before the old Frenchman, with Flush of Gold beside him, and announced that they were plighted to each other. He was very dramatic, with fire in his eyes, old Victor said. He talked something about ’until death do us part’; and old Victor especially remembered that at one place Dave took her by the shoulder with his great paw and almost shook her as he said: ’Even unto death are you mine, and I would rise from the grave to claim you.’ Old Victor distinctly remembered those words ’Even unto death are you mine, and I would rise from the grave to claim you.’ And he told me afterwards that Flush of Gold was pretty badly frightened, and that he afterwards took Dave to one side privately and told him that that wasn’t the way to hold Flush of Gold—that he must humour her and gentle her if he wanted to keep her.
“那时的戴夫就像北极星一样忠诚，而她则像众多磁石中的磁针一样摇摆不定。戴夫坚定不移而且忠诚可靠，而她用情不专而且轻浮不定。在某些方面，从未怀疑过别人的戴夫，对她产生了怀疑。或许，是他的爱令他产生猜忌，也许是因为她的灵魂传达给他的灵魂的讯息，但不管怎么说，戴夫因怕她变心而感到忧虑。戴夫不敢到明年之前一直信任他，但他又不得不这样信任她，他几乎发狂了。有些事情是我后来从老维克托·肖韦那里听来的，从我拼起来的所有事情中我断定，在戴夫驾着狗北去之前发生了这样一幕。戴夫站到那个法国老人面前，金光则站在戴夫旁边。戴夫宣布他和金光已经订婚了。老维克托说，戴夫当时非常激动，眼中充满了热情。他说了些类似‘直到死亡将我们分开’的话。老维克托尤其记得，在一个地方，戴夫用他的大手抓住金光的肩膀，几乎是边晃着她边说道：‘即使是死了，你也是我的，我会从墓穴里站出来占有你。’老维克托清楚地记得那些话，‘即使是死了，你也是我的，我会从墓穴里站出来占有你。’他事后告诉我金光真是被吓坏了，他后来私下把戴夫叫到一旁，告诉他那不是抓住金光的方式——如果他想拥有她的话，就必须迎合她、抚慰她。
"There is no discussion in my mind but that Flush of Gold was frightened. She was a savage herself in her treatment of men, while men had always treated her as a soft and tender and too utterly-utter something that must not be hurt. She didn’t know what harshness was...until Dave Walsh, standing his six feet four, a big bull, gripped her and pawed her and assured her that she was his until death, and then some. And besides, in Dawson, that winter, was a music-player—one of those macaroni-eating, greasy-tenor-Eye-talian-dago propositions—and Flush of Gold lost her heart to him. Maybe it was only fascination—I don’t know. Sometimes it seems to me that she really did love Dave Walsh. Perhaps it was because he had frightened her with that even-unto-death, rise-from-the-grave stunt of his that she in the end inclined to the dago music-player. But it is all guesswork, and the facts are, sufficient. He wasn’t a dago; he was a Russian count—this was straight; and he wasn’t a professional piano-player or anything of the sort. He played the violin and the piano, and he sang—sang well—but it was for his own pleasure and for the pleasure of those he sang for. He had money, too—and right here let me say that Flush of Gold never cared a rap for money. She was fickle, but she was never sordid.
“在我看来，金光毋庸置疑是被吓到了。她本人对待男人很残酷，然而男人却总是把她当成是温柔脆弱、绝对绝对不能受到伤害的女子。她从不知什么是残酷……直到身高六英尺四英寸的戴夫·沃尔什出现，他像一头大公牛一样，抓着她、笨拙地抚摸她，并向她保证到死她都是他的人，而且还远不止这些。另外，那年冬天，在道森有一个音乐家——那些吃通心粉、油嘴滑舌、追求金光的意大利人中的一个——金光爱上了他。或许那只是迷恋——我不知道。有时在我看来她好像真的爱戴夫·沃尔什。或许是因为他那场‘就算死了也要从墓穴里站出来’的惊人表演吓到了她，她最终倾向了那个意大利音乐家。但这一切都是猜测，而事实是很充分的。他不是意大利佬，他是个俄国伯爵——这是真的。他并不是职业钢琴家或者诸如此类的别的什么。他拉小提琴、弹钢琴，还唱歌——唱得很好——但那是为了让自己和那些自己为之歌唱的人高兴。他也有钱——在这里我要说明一下，金光从来不在乎钱。她虽用情不专，但从不贪婪。
"But to be getting along. She was plighted to Dave, and Dave was coming up on the first steamboat to get her—that was the summer of ’98, and the first steamboat was to be expected the middle of June. And Flush of Gold was afraid to throw Dave down and face him afterwards. It was all planned suddenly. The Russian music-player, the Count, was her obedient slave. She planned it, I know. I learned as much from old Victor afterwards. The Count took his orders from her, and caught that first steamboat down. It was the Golden Rocket. And so did Flush of Gold catch it. And so did I. I was going to Circle City, and I was flabbergasted when I found Flush of Gold on board. I didn’t see her name down on the passenger list. She was with the Count fellow all the time, happy and smiling, and I noticed that the Count fellow was down on the list as having his wife along. There it was, stateroom, number, and all. The first I knew that he was married, only I didn’t see anything of the wife...unless Flush of Gold was so counted. I wondered if they’d got married ashore before starting. There’d been talk about them in Dawson, you see, and bets had been laid that the Count fellow had cut Dave out.
“但话说回来。她和戴夫订了婚，而且戴夫要乘第一艘汽船来娶她——那是一八九八年的夏天，第一艘汽船预计将在六月中旬到达。金光后来既不敢抛弃戴夫，又不敢面对他。这都是突然计划的。那个俄国音乐家，那个伯爵，是她恭顺的俘虏。是她计划的，我知道。我后来从老维克托那里也得知了这件事。伯爵从她那里得到命令，然后便乘第一艘汽船顺流而下。那艘汽船叫做金火箭。金光也乘坐了那艘船。我也是。我打算去环形城，发现金光在船上时，我大吃了一惊。在乘客名单里我并没有看到她的名字。她一直和那个伯爵在一起，开心地微笑着。我注意到名单中那个伯爵是带着他妻子一起的。在上面，有特等舱、舱号，什么都有。首先我知道他结婚了，只是我没有见到他妻子的影子……除非金光算是他的妻子。我怀疑启程之前他们是不是已经在岸上结婚了。道森有关于他们的传言，要知道，人们打赌伯爵已经打败了戴夫。
"I talked with the purser. He didn’t know anything more about it than I did; he didn’t know Flush of Gold, anyway, and besides, he was almost rushed to death. You know what a Yukon steamboat is, but you can’t guess what the Golden Rocket was when it left Dawson that June of 1898. She was a hummer. Being the first steamer out, she carried all the scurvy patients and hospital wrecks. Then she must have carried a couple of millions of Klondike dust and nuggets, to say nothing of a packed and jammed passenger list, deck passengers galore, and bucks and squaws and dogs without end. And she was loaded down to the guards with freight and baggage. There was a mountain of the same on the fore-lower-deck, and each little stop along the way added to it. I saw the box come aboard at Teelee Portage, and I knew it for what it was, though I little guessed the joker that was in it. And they piled it on top of everything else on the fore-lower-deck, and they didn’t pile it any too securely either. The mate expected to come back to it again, and then forgot about it. I thought at the time that there was something familiar about the big husky dog that climbed over the baggage and freight and lay down next to the box. And then we passed the Glendale, bound up for Dawson. As she saluted us, I thought of Dave on board of her and hurrying to Dawson to Flush of Gold. I turned and looked at her where she stood by the rail. Her eyes were bright, but she looked a bit frightened by the sight of the other steamer, and she was leaning closely to the Count fellow as for protection. She needn’t have leaned so safely against him, and I needn’t have been so sure of a disappointed Dave Walsh arriving at Dawson. For Dave Walsh wasn’t on the Glendale. There were a lot of things I didn’t know, but was soon to know—for instance, that the pair were not yet married. Inside half an hour preparations for the marriage took place. What of the sick men in the main cabin, and of the crowded condition of the Golden Rocket, the likeliest place for the ceremony was found forward, on the lower deck, in an open space next to the rail and gang-plank and shaded by the mountain of freight with the big box on top and the sleeping dog beside it. There was a missionary on board, getting off at Eagle City, which was the next step, so they had to use him quick. That’s what they’d planned to do, get married on the boat.
“我与船上的事务长交谈。他知道的事情并不比我多，他不认识金光，反正他几乎忙得要死。你知道育空河上的汽船是什么样子，但是你猜不到在一八九八年六月离开道森的金火箭是什么样子。它就像一只蜂鸟。作为第一艘出发的汽船，它装载着所有的坏血病患者和医院的病人。那时船上肯定装载了无数克朗代克河里的金粉和金块，更不用说挤得满满当当的乘客名单，甲板上有大量的乘客，还有看不到尽头的印第安男女和狗。它因为装载了过重的货物和行李而沉到了警戒线。船头较低的甲板上堆满了如山般的货物和行李，而且沿途每稍停一下都会有东西搬上来。在特俄勒俄的陆运路线上，我看到那个箱子被搬上了船，我知道那是做什么的，尽管我猜不到里面的玄机。他们把它放在船头较低的甲板上堆放的所有东西上，而且他们也没有把它堆放得很稳。船上的大副打算着再回来放好它，可后来就把它忘了。我那时就想着那只高大健壮的狗有些眼熟，它爬过行李和货物，然后趴在了那个箱子旁边。后来我们碰到了格伦岱尔，它朝道森行进着。在它朝我们打招呼的时候，我想到了船上的戴夫，他正赶往道森去找她——金光。我转过身看见她站在栏杆旁。她的眼睛很明亮，但是见到另一艘汽船时她看起来有点儿害怕，她紧紧倚靠着伯爵以期得到保护。她本没必要那么紧靠着他，我也本没必要那么确信失望的戴夫·沃尔什快到道森了。因为戴夫·沃尔什并没有在格伦岱尔上。有许多事我当时并不知道，但我很快就知道了——比如说，那两个人那时还没有结婚。没到半个小时，婚礼的准备工作就开始了。想想主舱上的那些病人，以及金火箭拥挤的状况，他们觉得最适合举办仪式的地方在前面，较低的那个甲板上，就在栏杆和跳板旁的一块空地上。它被如山般的货物遮蔽着，货物顶上就放着那个大箱子，那只狗睡着了，趴在箱子旁边。船上有个传教士，他在伊格尔城下船，就是下一站，所以他们必须尽快利用他。他们之前计划好了的，要在船上结婚。
"But I’ve run ahead of the facts. The reason Dave Walsh wasn’t on the Glendale was because he was on the Golden Rocket. It was this way. After loiterin’ in Dawson on account of Flush of Gold, he went down to Mammon Creek on the ice. And there he found Dusky Burns doing so well with the claim, there was no need for him to be around. So he put some grub on the sled, harnessed the dogs, took an Indian along, and pulled out for Surprise Lake. He always had a liking for that section. Maybe you don’t know how the creek turned out to be a four-flusher; but the prospects were good at the time, and Dave proceeded to build his cabin and hers. That’s the cabin we slept in. After he finished it, he went off on a moose hunt to the forks of the Teelee, takin’ the Indian along.
“但是我讲得早了些。戴夫·沃尔什没有在格伦岱尔上的原因是因为他在金火箭上。事情是这样的。在因为金光而在道森磨蹭之后，他从冰上顺势而下到了玛门河。到那儿后他发现达斯基·伯恩斯把申请产权的土地处理得很妥当，他没有必要留下来。所以他在雪橇上备了一些食物，给狗套上挽具，带了一个印第安人随行，然后就朝瑟普赖斯湖出发了。他总是喜欢那个地方。或许你不明白，怎么那条小河原来只是虚张声势，但是那时的前景很好，而且戴夫继续建那个属于他和金光的小木屋。那就是我们借宿的小木屋。他建完以后，就出发去特俄勒俄的岔口处猎驼鹿，还带着那个印第安人。
"And this is what happened. Came on a cold snap. The juice went down forty, fifty, sixty below zero. I remember that snap—I was at Forty Mile; and I remember the very day. At eleven o’clock in the morning the spirit thermometer at the N.A.T.& T. Company’s store went down to seventy-five below zero. And that morning, near the forks of the Teelee, Dave Walsh was out after moose with that blessed Indian of his. I got it all from the Indian afterwards—we made a trip over the ice together to Dyea. That morning Mr. Indian broke through the ice and wet himself to the waist. Of course he began to freeze right away. The proper thing was to build a fire. But Dave Walsh was a bull. It was only half a mile to camp, where a fire was already burning. What was the good of building another? He threw Mr. Indian over his shoulder—and ran with him—half a mile—with the thermometer at seventy-five below. You know what that means. Suicide. There’s no other name for it. Why, that buck Indian weighed over two hundred himself, and Dave ran half a mile with him. Of course he froze his lungs. Must have frozen them near solid. It was a tomfool trick for any man to do. And anyway, after lingering horribly for several weeks, Dave Walsh died.
“接下来就是随后发生的。天气骤冷。温度降到了零下四十度、零下五十度、零下六十度。我记得那次的寒潮——我那时在四十里，我记得那一天。那天上午的十一点钟，N.A.T.&T.公司仓库中的酒精温度计显示气温降到了零下七十五度。那天早上，在特俄勒俄岔口附近，戴夫·沃尔什带着那个该死的印第安人出去猎驼鹿。这都是我事后从那个印第安人那里得知的——我们曾一起从冰上旅行到代亚。那天早上，那位印第安先生掉进了冰窟窿，腰部以下都湿了。当然他身上立马就开始结冰了。合适的做法就是生个火。但是戴夫·沃尔什就是一头公牛。那里离宿营地只有半英里，而宿营地已经生了火。何必再生火呢？他将那个印第安先生扛在肩上——扛着他跑——跑了半英里——当时气温是零下七十五度。你知道那意味着什么。自杀。没什么别的说法了。哎呀，那个印第安男人自己的体重就超过了二百磅，戴夫扛着他跑了半英里。当然他的肺被冻住了。它们肯定快被冻得坚实了。任何人这么做都是愚蠢透顶的。总之，这样可怕地拖延了几周后，戴夫·沃尔什就死了。
"The Indian didn’t know what to do with the corpse. Ordinarily he’d have buried him and let it go at that. But he knew that Dave Walsh was a big man, worth lots of money, a hi-yu skookum chief. Likewise he’d seen the bodies of other hi-yu skookums carted around the country like they were worth something. So he decided to take Dave’s body to Forty Mile, which was Dave’s headquarters. You know how the ice is on the grass roots in this country—well, the Indian planted Dave under a foot of soil—in short, he put Dave on ice. Dave could have stayed there a thousand years and still been the same old Dave. You understand—just the same as a refrigerator. Then the Indian brings over a whipsaw from the cabin at Surprise Lake and makes lumber enough for the box. Also, waiting for the thaw, he goes out and shoots about ten thousand pounds of moose. This he keeps on ice, too. Came the thaw. The Teelee broke. He built a raft and loaded it with the meat, the big box with Dave inside, and Dave’s team of dogs, and away they went down the Teelee.
“那个印第安人不知道该怎样处理尸体。按常理他本应该埋葬了戴夫然后就算了。但是他知道戴夫·沃尔什是个大人物，是个强壮的首领，值很多钱。他也曾见过其他强壮的人的尸体被运到村子附近，它们好像有些价值。所以他决定带着戴夫的尸体到四十里去，那里是戴夫的大本营。你知道这个村子里草根处的结冰状况——啊，那个印第安人把戴夫埋在了地下一英尺的土壤里——简而言之，他把戴夫暂时搁置了起来。戴夫本可以在那儿呆上一千年还仍然是老样子。你知道的——就和在冰箱里一样。后来那个印第安人从瑟普赖斯湖那儿的小木屋里拿来一把粗木锯，然后弄了足够做一个箱子的木料。而且，在等待解冻时期的过程中，他外出猎到大约一万磅的驼鹿。他把驼鹿也储存了起来。解冻时期到了。特俄勒俄河解冻了。他造了一个木筏然后把鹿肉、那个里面装着戴夫的大箱子，还有戴夫那一队狗都装了上去，这样他们就沿着特俄勒俄河顺流而下了。
"The raft got caught on a timber jam and hung up two days. It was scorching hot weather, and Mr. Indian nearly lost his moose meat. So when he got to Teelee Portage he figured a steamboat would get to Forty Mile quicker than his raft. He transferred his cargo, and there you are, fore-lower deck of the Golden Rocket, Flush of Gold being married, and Dave Walsh in his big box casting the shade for her. And there’s one thing I clean forgot. No wonder I thought the husky dog that came aboard at Teelee Portage was familiar. It was Pee-lat, Dave Walsh’s lead-dog and favourite—a terrible fighter, too. He was lying down beside the box.
“木筏挂到了一个木头障碍，耽搁了两天。天气热得像火烧似的，印第安先生的鹿肉差点儿就没保住。所以到特俄勒俄陆运路线时，他认为坐汽船到四十里去会比他划木筏快。他转移了他的货物，这就是我前面说到的，在金光举行结婚仪式的金火箭船头较低的甲板上，而戴夫·沃尔什在那只大箱子里为她遮出一片阴影区。有一件事我给忘得一干二净了。怪不得我看着在特俄勒俄陆运路线上船的那只高大健壮的狗眼熟呢。它是皮拉特，是戴夫的领头狗，也是他最喜欢的狗——它也是一个很厉害的斗士。它正趴在箱子旁边。
"Flush of Gold caught sight of me, called me over, shook hands with me, and introduced me to the Count. She was beautiful. I was as mad for her then as ever. She smiled into my eyes and said I must sign as one of the witnesses. And there was no refusing her. She was ever a child, cruel as children are cruel. Also, she told me she was in possession of the only two bottles of champagne in Dawson—or that had been in Dawson the night before; and before I knew it I was scheduled to drink her and the Count’s health. Everybody crowded round, the captain of the steamboat, very prominent, trying to ring in on the wine, I guess. It was a funny wedding. On the upper deck the hospital wrecks, with various feet in the grave, gathered and looked down to see. There were Indians all jammed in the circle, too, big bucks, and their squaws and kids, to say nothing of about twenty-five snarling wolf-dogs. The missionary lined the two of them up and started in with the service. And just then a dog-fight started, high up on the pile of freight—Pee-lat lying beside the big box, and a white-haired brute belonging to one of the Indians. The fight wasn’t explosive at all. The brutes just snarled at each other from a distance—tapping at each other long-distance, you know, saying dast and dassent, dast and dassent. The noise was rather disturbing, but you could hear the missionary’s voice above it.
“金光看到了我，把我叫过去，还和我握了手，并给我介绍那个伯爵。她很美。我那时还是如以往一样对她着迷。她冲我微笑，还说一定要我签名，作为她婚礼的见证者之一。我没有拒绝她。她一直是个孩子，像孩子一样残忍就太过分了。而且，她还告诉我说她有道森仅有的两瓶香槟——或者应该说那是在前一晚的道森。在我知道之前，我已经被安排为她和伯爵的健康举杯祝福。人群聚集到周围，汽船的船长非常显眼，我想他们都是试图来喝酒的。那是一场很滑稽的婚礼。较高的甲板上，那些医院的病人聚在一起向下观望着，他们中很多都是一只脚已经踏进坟墓的人了。印第安人也全都挤在周圈，高大的印第安男人们和他们的妻子还有孩子，更不必说大约二十五只汪汪直叫的狼狗了。那传教士让他们两个人站好后就开始主持婚礼。就在那时一场狗之间的战斗开始了，就在那堆得高高的货物之上——发生在趴在大箱子旁边的皮拉特和其中一个印第安人的白毛畜生之间。它们打得一点儿也不激烈。两个畜生只是从远处朝彼此狂吠——在远处朝对手挠着地，你知道的，它们嗷嗷汪汪地叫唤着。那声音让人很不安，但你还是可以透过它听到那个传教士的声音。
"There was no particularly easy way of getting at the two dogs, except from the other side of the pile. But nobody was on that side—everybody watching the ceremony, you see. Even then everything might have been all right if the captain hadn’t thrown a club at the dogs. That was what precipitated everything. As I say, if the captain hadn’t thrown that club, nothing might have happened.
“除了从那堆货物的另一面，没有什么特别容易的方法可以靠近那两条狗。但是那一面没有人——人们都在看婚礼，你知道的。即便那样，如果船长没有朝那两条狗扔一根棒子，一切本会还好。那个举动促成了接下来发生的一切。正如我说的，如果船长没扔那根棒子，可能什么事也不会发生。
"The missionary had just reached the point where he was saying ’In sickness and in health,’ and ’Until death do us part.’ And just then the captain threw the club. I saw the whole thing. It landed on Pee-lat, and at that instant the white brute jumped him. The club caused it. Their two bodies struck the box, and it began to slide, its lower end tilting down. It was a long oblong box, and it slid down slowly until it reached the perpendicular, when it came down on the run. The onlookers on that side the circle had time to get out from under. Flush of Gold and the Count, on the opposite side of the circle, were facing the box; the missionary had his back to it. The box must have fallen ten feet straight up and down, and it hit end on.
“那传教士刚刚说到‘无论疾病还是健康’和‘直到死亡将我们分开’。就在那时船长扔出了那根棒子。我目睹了那一切。棒子砸在了皮拉特的身上，就在那一刻，那只大白狗朝它猛地扑了过去。这是那根棒子引起的。它们两个的身体碰撞着那个箱子，箱子开始往下滑，较低的一端倾斜下来。那是一个矩形的长箱子，它慢慢下滑直到垂直立起来，这时它开始不停向下落。周圈那边的旁观者们还来得及从它下面躲开。金光和伯爵站在周圈的另一边，面对着箱子，传教士则背对着它。那箱子肯定是直上直下地从十英尺高处掉下来，然后一头着地了。
"Now mind you, not one of us knew that Dave Walsh was dead. We thought he was on the Glendale, bound for Dawson. The missionary had edged off to one side, and so Flush of Gold faced the box when it struck. It was like in a play. It couldn’t have been better planned. It struck on end, and on the right end; the whole front of the box came off; and out swept Dave Walsh on his feet, partly wrapped in a blanket, his yellow hair flying and showing bright in the sun. Right out of the box, on his feet, he swept upon Flush of Gold. She didn’t know he was dead, but it was unmistakable, after hanging up two days on a timber jam, that he was rising all right from the dead to claim her. Possibly that is what she thought. At any rate, the sight froze her. She couldn’t move. She just sort of wilted and watched Dave Walsh coming for her! And he got her. It looked almost as though he threw his arms around her, but whether or not this happened, down to the deck they went together. We had to drag Dave Walsh’s body clear before we could get hold of her. She was in a faint, but it would have been just as well if she had never come out of that faint; for when she did, she fell to screaming the way insane people do. She kept it up for hours, till she was exhausted. Oh, yes, she recovered. You saw her last night, and know how much recovered she is. She is not violent, it is true, but she lives in darkness. She believes that she is waiting for Dave Walsh, and so she waits in the cabin he built for her. She is no longer fickle. It is nine years now that she has been faithful to Dave Walsh, and the outlook is that she’ll be faithful to him to the end.”
“你要记得，当时我们谁都不知道戴夫·沃尔什已经死了。我们还以为他在格伦岱尔上，正在前往道森。传教士侧身向一边闪开，所以当箱子落地的时候金光正好面对着它。那就像是戏剧中演的一样。不可能有更好的设计了。箱子一头着地，而且是右边那头，盖子整个掉了下来。戴夫双脚立地地划出来，身体有一部分被毛毯裹着，黄色的头发飘浮着，还在太阳下闪着光。他恰巧从箱子里出来，双脚立地，朝金光滑去。她不知道他已经死了，但是千真万确，在被木头障碍搁置了两天后，他真的从死亡中站起来占有她了。可能那就是她所想的。无论如何，这副情景让她呆住了。她动不了了。她只是有点儿畏缩地看着戴夫·沃尔什朝自己过来！戴夫碰到了金光。看起来简直就像是他伸出胳膊抱着她，但不管这有没有发生，他们一起倒在了甲板上。我们不得不把戴夫·沃尔什的尸体彻底拖走，才能够抓住金光。她昏厥了，但要是她永远不从昏厥中醒来也就好了，因为她醒来后，就开始像精神病人一样尖叫。她持续叫了好几个小时，直至筋疲力尽。噢，是啊，她恢复了。你昨晚见到她了，也很清楚她恢复到了什么程度。没错，她不再狂暴了，但却活在了黑暗中。她相信自己在等戴夫·沃尔什，所以就在戴夫为她建的小木屋里等他。她再也没有用情不专。九年过去了，她一直对戴夫·沃尔什很忠诚，看起来她会一直对他忠诚的。”
Lon McFane pulled down the top of the blankets and prepared to crawl in.
朗·麦克费恩掀开上面的毛毯，准备钻进去。
"We have her grub hauled to her each year," he added, "and in general keep an eye on her. Last night was the first time she ever recognized me, though."
“我们每年都会把她的食物给她运送过去，”他加了一句，“大体上照看她一下。而昨晚是她第一次认出我。”
"Who are the we?" I asked.
“我们是指谁啊？”我问道。
"Oh," was the answer, "the Count and old Victor Chauvet and me. Do you know, I think the Count is the one to be really sorry for. Dave Walsh never did know that she was false to him. And she does not suffer. Her darkness is merciful to her."
“噢，”他答道，“伯爵、老维克托·肖韦和我。”你知道吗，我觉得那个伯爵才是真正值得可怜的人。戴夫·沃尔什从来都不知道金光对他不忠诚。而金光没有受苦。那黑暗对她来说是种仁慈。”
I lay silently under the blankets for the space of a minute.
我静静地躺在毛毯里有一分钟。
"Is the Count still in the country?" I asked.
“那个伯爵还在这个村子吗？”我问道。
But there was a gentle sound of heavy breathing, and I knew Lon McFane was asleep.
但传来一阵和缓又沉重的呼吸声，我知道朗·麦克费恩睡着了。