About noon I stopped at the captain's door with some cooling drinks and medicines. He was lying very much as we had left him, only a little higher, and he seemed both weak and excited.

　　中午時分，我拿着一些清涼飲料和藥品到船長門前。他還像我們離開時那樣躺在那裡，隻是枕頭墊得稍微高了點。他看上去既虛弱又興奮。

　　"Jim," he said, "you're the only one here that's worth anything, and you know I've been always good to you. Never a month but I've given you a silver fourpenny for yourself. And now you see, mate, I'm pretty low, and deserted by all; and Jim, you'll bring me one noggin of rum, now, won't you, matey?"

　　“吉姆，”他說，“你是這裡唯一一個有用的人，你知道我一向對你很好。我每個月都給你一枚四便士的銀币。現在你看，夥計，我身體很不好，被所有人遺棄。吉姆，現在給我拿一小杯朗姆酒好麼，夥計？”

　　"The doctor—” I began.

　　“醫生——”我開口說。

　　But he broke in cursing the doctor, in a feeble voice but heartily. "Doctors is all swabs," he said; "and that doctor there, why, what do he know about seafaring men? I been in places hot as pitch, and mates dropping round with Yellow Jack, and the blessed land a—heaving like the sea with earthquakes—what to the doctor know of lands like that? —and I lived on rum, I tell you. It's been meat and drink, and man and wife, to me; and if I'm not to have my rum now I'm a poor old hulk on a lee shore, my blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab"; and he ran on again for a while with curses. "Look, Jim, how my fingers fidges," he continued in the pleading tone. "I can't keep 'em still, not I. I haven't had a drop this blessed day. That doctor's a fool, I tell you. If I don't have a drain o' rum, Jim, I'll have the horrors; I seen some on 'em already. I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; as plain as print, ...

　　但是他打斷我，詛咒起那個醫生來，聲音虛弱，但是發自内心。“醫生都是笨蛋。”他說，“那個醫生，憑什麼，他對水手懂多少？我到過熱得像瀝青一樣的地方，到過水手們得了黃熱病一批批離去的地方，到過地面搖晃得像地震的海面的鬼地方——那個醫生知道那種地方嗎？——我以朗姆酒度日，我告訴你。對我來說，它是肉，是水，是朋友和老婆。如果我現在沒有了朗姆酒，我就像條被風刮到下風岸的老破船，你們的身上會沾着我的血，吉姆你，還有那個笨蛋醫生。”他又咒罵了一陣。“看，吉姆，我的手指抖得多厲害。”他用乞求的口氣接着說。“我不能讓他們保持靜止，我不能。在這個該死的日子裡，我都沒有沾一滴酒。那個醫生就是個蠢貨，我告訴你。如果我不喝上一口酒，吉姆，我就會出現幻覺，我已經看到一些人了。我看到老弗林特在角落裡，就在你的身後，像印出來的一樣清楚。如果我出現幻覺，我就會變得粗野，我會鬧事。你們醫生自己說過，一杯酒不會傷害到我。我會為一小杯酒給你一枚金幾尼，吉姆。”

　　He was growing more and more excited, and this alarmed me for my father, who was very low that day and needed quiet; besides, I was reassured by the doctor's words, now quoted to me, and rather offended by the offer of a bribe.

　　他變得越發興奮，這使我警覺地想起我父親來。他那天很虛弱，需要安靜。而且，他引自醫生的話打消了我的顧慮，不過他想給我賄賂倒令我有些惱怒。

　　"I want none of your money," said I, "but what you owe my father. I'll get you one glass, and no more."

　　“我不想要你一分錢，”我說，“但是我要你欠我父親的錢。我會給你一杯酒，但不會再多了。”

　　When I brought it to him, he seized it greedily and drank it out.

　　當我把酒給他的時候，他貪婪地抓起酒杯，一飲而盡。

　　"Aye, aye," said he, "that's some better, sure enough. And now, matey, did that doctor say how long I was to lie here in this old berth?"

　　“是啊，是啊，”他說，“這就好多了，千真萬确。現在夥計，那個醫生說過我要在這張老床上躺多久嗎？”

　　"A week at least," said I.

　　“至少一個星期。”我說。

　　"Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; they'd have the black spot on me by then. The lubbers is going about to get the wind of me this blessed moment; lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to nail what is another's. Is that seamanly behaviour, now, I want to know? But I'm a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine, nor lost it neither; and I'll trick 'em again. I'm not afraid on 'em. I'll shake out another reef, matey, and daddle 'em again."

　　“天哪！”他叫道，“一個星期！我可辦不到。他們那會兒就該給我黑券了。那些蠢貨在這個該死的時候正在到處打聽我的風聲呢。他們保不住自己得到的東西，又想掠奪别人的。這是水手的作風嗎？我現在倒真想知道。但我是個節儉的人。我從不亂花錢，也不會把錢弄丢，我會再逗他們一下的。我不怕他們。我要再次揚帆起航，夥計，我要再捉弄他們一把。”

　　As he was thus speaking, he had risen from bed with great difficulty, holding to my shoulder with a grip that almost made me cry out, and moving his legs like so much dead weight. His words, spirited as they were in meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of the voice in which they were uttered. He paused when he had got into a sitting position on the edge. "That doctor's done me," he murmured. "My ears is singing.Lay me back."

　　他一邊說着話，一邊費了好大力氣從床上起來。他一把抓住我的肩膀，差點讓我哭出來，又挪動着他死沉死沉的腿。他的那些話，雖然意思上情緒飽滿，卻與他聲音的虛弱形成了可悲的對比。他在床邊坐起來後，停了一下。“那個醫生把我害苦了。”他低聲抱怨着，“我的耳朵在響。讓我躺回去。”

　　Before I could do much to help him he had fallen back again to his former place, where he lay for a while silent.

　　我還沒怎麼來得及幫他，他就又倒回了原來躺着的地方，半天都沒說話。

　　"Jim," he said at length, "you saw that seafaring man today?"

　　“吉姆，”他最後說道，“你今天看到那個水手了嗎？”

　　"Black Dog?" I asked.

　　“黑狗嗎？”我問。

　　"Ah!Black Dog," said he. "He's a bad un; but there's worse that put him on. Now, if I can't get away nohow, and they tip me the black spot, mind you, it's my old sea-chest they're after; you get on a horse—you can, can't you? Well, then, you get on a horse, and go to—well, yes, I will!

　　“啊！黑狗。”他說道，“他是個壞蛋，但是派他來的人更壞。現在，如果我不能離開、而他們給我下黑券的話，你注意，他們想要的是我航海用的舊箱子，你就騎上一匹馬——你可以的，不是嗎？那麼，你騎上馬，去——是的，我決定！

　　—to that eternal doctor swab, and tell him to pipe all hands—magistrates and sich—and he'll lay 'em aboard at the Admiral Benbow—all old Flint's crew, man and boy, all on 'em that's left. I was first mate, I was, old Flint's first mate, and I'm the on'y one as knows the place. He gave it me at Savannah, when he lay a—dying, like as if I was to now, you see. But you won't peach unless they get the black spot on me, or unless you see that Black Dog again or a seafaring man with one leg, Jim—him above all.”

　　——去那個該死的醫生那裡，讓他召集所有的人——地方官之類的——他會在‘本博将軍’這裡把他們一網打盡——所有老弗林特的下屬，老的少的，所有剩下的人。我曾是個大副，我曾是，老弗林特船上的大副，我是唯一知道那個地方的人。他在薩凡納把它給了我，那時候他快要——死了，就像我現在一樣，你看。但是，除非他們給我下了黑券，或者除非你看見那個黑狗又來了，或者一個獨腿水手——吉姆，尤其是他，你再去報告。”

　　"But what is the black spot, captain?" I asked.

　　“但是，什麼是黑券呢，船長？”我問。

　　"That's a summons, mate. I'll tell you if they get that. But you keep your weather-eye open, Jim, and I'll share with you equals, upon my honour."

　　“那是一種傳喚令，夥計。如果他們送來了，我會告訴你的。但是你要留神——睜大眼睛，吉姆，我會和你平分所得，以我的名譽保證。”

　　He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after I had given him his medicine, which he took like a child, with the remark, "If ever a seaman wanted drugs, it's me," he fell at last into a heavy, swoon—like sleep, in which I left him. What I should have done had all gone well I do not know. Probably I should have told the whole story to the doctor, for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of his confessions and make an end of me. But as things fell out, my poor father died quite suddenly that evening, which put all other matters on one side. Our natural distress, the visits of the neighbours, the arranging of the funeral, and all the work of the inn to be carried on in the meanwhile kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think of the captain, far less to be afraid of him.

　　他又胡思亂想了一小會兒，聲音變得更加虛弱。但是就在我給他拿了藥之後，他一邊像個孩子似的吃着藥，一邊說：“如果有一個水手想要吃藥，那就是我。”最後，他昏昏沉沉地倒下——像睡着了一樣，我就離開他了。我不知道，如果一切順利的話，我該怎麼做。很有可能我會把一切告訴那個醫生，因為我害怕極了，擔心船長後悔自己的坦白而把我幹掉。但事情越發糟糕，我可憐的父親那天晚上突然去世了，讓所有其他的事情都擱置了下來。我們自然而生的悲痛，鄰裡的拜訪，葬禮的安排，以及旅店所有事情的料理接踵而至，讓我忙得無暇顧及船長，更不用說怕他了。

　　He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and had his meals as usual, though he ate little and had more, I am afraid, than his usual supply of rum, for he helped himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing through his nose, and no one dared to cross him. On the night before the funeral he was as drunk as ever; and it was shocking, in that house of mourning, to hear him singing away at his ugly old sea-song; but weak as he was, we were all in the fear of death for him, and the doctor was suddenly taken up with a case many miles away and was never near the house after my father's death. I have said the captain was weak, and indeed he seemed rather to grow weaker than regain his strength. He clambered up and down stairs, and went from the parlour to the bar and back again, and sometimes put his nose out of doors to smell the sea, holding on to the walls as he went for support and breathing hard and fast like a man on a steep mountain. He never particularly addressed me, and it is my belief he had as good as forgotten his confidences; but his temper was more flighty, and allowing for his bodily weakness, more violent than ever. He had an alarming way now when he was drunk of drawing his cutlass and laying it bare before him on the table. But with all that, he minded people less and seemed shut up in his own thoughts and rather wandering. Once, for instance, to our extreme wonder, he piped up to a different air, a king of country love—song that he must have learned in his youth before he had begun to follow the sea.

　　第二天他下樓來，确實，像往常一樣用餐，盡管他吃得很少，但我估計他喝了比往常還要多的朗姆酒。他自己從酒吧間裡把酒拿出來，滿臉怒氣，還哼着鼻子，沒人敢從他面前經過。葬禮的前一天晚上，他和往常一樣醉醺醺的。在這間充滿哀悼的屋子裡聽到他唱起那首難聽的老船歌，真是令人震驚。但是他又是那麼虛弱，我們都擔心他會死掉。醫生也突然到幾英裡外的地方看診去了，自我父親去世後，他就再也不在我家附近了。我說過船長很虛弱，而且他看起來的确越來越衰弱，而不是恢複他的力氣。他在樓梯上爬上爬下的，從大廳走到酒吧，然後再回到大廳。有時他會把鼻子伸出門外聞一聞海的味道。他用手扶着牆支撐着走路，呼吸沉重而急促得像一個在爬陡坡的人。他再沒特意和我說過話，我相信他完全忘了他的秘密。但是他的脾氣越來越糟，而且随着他身體的日漸衰弱，他的脾氣變得比以往更加粗暴。現在，他有一種警戒方式。當他喝酒時，他就把自己的短刀拔出來，赤裸裸地放在他面前的桌子上。但是做這些的同時，他對别人也更不在意了。他似乎把自己關在了自己的想法裡，更加神志恍惚。比如有一次，極其出乎我們的意料，他哼出了一首不同的調子，一首鄉村情歌。這一定是在他還年輕、尚未出海之前學會的。

　　So things passed until, the day after the funeral, and about three o'clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the door for a moment, full of sad thoughts about my father, when I saw someone drawing slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a stick and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose; and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a huge old tattered sea-cloak with a hood that made him appear positively deformed. I never saw in my life a more dreadful-looking figure. He stopped a little from the inn, and raising his voice in an odd sing-song, addressed the air in front of him, "will any kind friend inform a poor blind man, who has lost the precious sight of his eyes in the gracious defence of his native country, England—and God bless King George! —where or in what part of this country he may now be?”

　　事情一直這樣持續着，直到葬禮後第二天下午大約三點鐘。那是一個寒冷而霜霧蒙蒙的下午，我站在門口呆了一會兒，滿懷對父親的哀思。這時，我看到有人慢慢沿着大路朝這邊走近。他顯然是個瞎子，因為他用棍子敲着前面的路，而且眼睛和鼻子上戴着一個大綠罩子。他彎着身子，似乎年歲很大或者身體虛弱。他還帶了一個有風帽的巨大的舊航海鬥篷，使他顯得非常怪異。我這輩子從沒見過比這更可怕的樣子。他在離旅店不遠的地方停下來，擡高嗓門用一種古怪的唱歌調子對着他面前的空氣說起話來，“哪位好心的朋友能告訴一位可憐的瞎子，他在高尚的保衛祖國英格蘭的反抗中失去了寶貴的視力——上帝保佑喬治王！——他現在在哪裡，或者在祖國的哪個地方？”

　　"You are at the Admiral Benbow, Black Hill Cove, my good man," said I.

　　“您在‘本博将軍’旅店，在黑山灣，我的好人。”我說。

　　"I hear a voice," said he, "a young voice. Will you give me your hand, my kind young friend, and lead me in?"

　　“我聽到一個聲音，”他說，“一個年輕的聲音。我好心的年輕朋友，你願意把你的手給我，領我進去嗎？”

　　I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, eyeless creature gripped it in a moment like a vise. I was so much startled that I struggled to withdraw, but the blind man pulled me close up to him with a single action of his arm.

　　我伸出手，那個可怕的、口氣軟綿綿的瞎眼家夥像把虎鉗一樣立刻抓住了它。我吓了一大跳，掙紮着想把手縮回去，但是那個瞎子胳膊一用力一把我拉到他的身邊。

　　"Now, boy," he said, "take me in to the captain."

　　“現在，小男孩，”他說，“帶我去見船長。”

　　"Sir," said I, "upon my word I dare not."

　　“先生，”我說，“我發誓我不敢。”

　　"Oh," he sneered, "that's it! Take me in straight or I'll break your arm."

　　“哦，”他冷笑了一下，“原來如此！直接帶我進去，否則我就弄斷你的胳膊。”

　　And he gave it, as he spoke, a wrench that made me cry out.

　　說着他就擰了一下，這一擰差點讓我叫出來。

　　"Sir," said I, "it is for yourself I mean. The captain is not what he used to be. He sits with a drawn cutlass. Another gentleman—”

　　“先生，”我說，“我是為您着想。船長不是從前那個樣子了。他拿着一把短刀坐着。另外一位先生——”

　　"Come, now, march," interrupted he; and I never heard a voice so cruel, and cold, and ugly as that blind man's. It cowed me more than the pain, and I began to obey him at once, walking straight in at the door and towards the parlour, where our sick old buccaneer was sitting, dazed with rum. The blind man clung close to me, holding me in one iron fist and leaning almost more of his weight on me than I could carry. "Lead me straight up to him, and when I'm in view, cry out, 'Here's a friend for you, Bill.' If you don't, I'll do this," and with that he gave me a twitch that I thought would have made me faint. Between this and that, I was so utterly terrified of the blind beggar that I forgot my terror of the captain, and as I opened the parlour door, cried out the words he had ordered in a trembling voice.

　　“好了，現在走吧。”他打斷了我的話。我從來沒聽過像這個瞎子那樣如此殘忍、冷酷而又難聽的聲音。這比剛才的疼痛更讓我恐懼，我立刻開始聽他的話，從門口直向大廳走去。我們虛弱的老海盜就坐在那裡喝得爛醉。那個瞎子用一個鐵拳緊緊抓着我，而且幾乎把他全部的重量都傾到我的身上，超出了我能承受的重量。“帶我直接到他那兒，我到他視野裡的時候，你就喊‘這是你的一位朋友，比爾。’如果你不喊，我就會這樣。”說着他扯了我一下，我覺得自己差點暈過去。兩者比較一下，我完全被這個瞎乞丐吓壞了，而忘了對船長的恐懼。當我打開大廳門時，我用顫抖的聲音喊出了剛才瞎子命令我說的話。

　　The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look the rum went out of him and left him staring sober. The expression of his face was not so much of terror as of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but I do not believe he had enough force left in his body.

　　可憐的船長擡起眼睛，隻瞥了一眼，朗姆酒就煙消雲散了，他清醒地瞪着。他臉上的表情與其說是恐怖，不如說是垂死的病态。他動了一下想站起來，但是我不相信他身體裡還有足夠的力量。

　　"Now, Bill, sit where you are," said the beggar. "If I can't see, I can hear a finger stirring. Business is business. Hold out your left hand. Boy, take his left hand by the wrist and bring it near to my right."

　　“現在，比爾，坐在原地。”乞丐說道。“就算我不能看，我也能聽到一根手指顫動的聲音。公事公辦。伸出你的左手。孩子，握住他的左手腕，把它拿到我的右邊來。”

　　We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass something from the hollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain's, which closed upon it instantly.

　　我們都照着他的話辦了，我看到他從握手杖的手心裡拿出個東西放到了船長的手掌上，船長立刻合上了手掌。

　　"And now that's done," said the blind man; and at the words he suddenly left hold of me, and with incredible accuracy and nimbleness, skipped out of the parlour and into the road, where, as I still stood motionless, I could hear his stick go tap-tap—tapping into the distance.

　　“現在結束了。”瞎子說。然後，他突然放開我，以難以置信的精确和敏捷蹿出了大廳，到路上去了。我還呆呆地站在那裡，能聽到他的棍子笃笃笃地敲着路面的聲音，越來越遠。

　　It was some time before either I or the captain seemed to gather our senses, but at length, and about at the same moment, I released his wrist, which I was still holding, and he drew in his hand and looked sharply into the palm.

　　我和船長都過了很大一會兒才恢複了神志，但是最終，幾乎是同時，我松開了仍握着的船長的手腕；他則把手收回去，飛快地看了一眼手掌。

　　"Ten o'clock!" he cried. "Six hours. We'll do them yet," and he sprang to his feet. Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swaying for a moment, and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his whole height face foremost to the floor.

　　“十點鐘！”他喊道。“六個小時。我們還可以捉弄他們。”他跳了起來。但他剛這麼做，他就晃了一下，一隻手放在喉嚨上，搖搖晃晃地站了一會兒。然後他發出一種奇怪的聲音，整個身體向臉朝下倒在了地闆上。

　　I ran to him at once, calling to my mother. But haste was all in vain. The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy. It is a curious thing to understand, for I had certainly never liked the man, though of late I had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was dead, I burst into a flood of tears. It was the second death I had known, and the sorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart.

　　我立刻跑向他，喊着母親。但是再快也都是徒勞。船長已經因為中風死了，異乎尋常的中風。這是件不好理解的怪事，因為盡管我最近才開始同情他，我肯定從來沒喜歡過這個人。但是一看到他死了，我卻也淚如泉湧起來。這是我知道的第二個起死亡，而那時我心中對第一起死亡的哀恸仍然鮮明。

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