珍珠裡的幻象變了

The wind blew fierce and strong, and it pelted them with bits of sticks, sand, and little rocks.

風颳得又猛又強，把碎樹枝、沙子和小石頭砸在他們身上。

Juana and Kino gathered their clothing tighter about them and covered their noses and went out into the world.

胡安娜和奇諾把衣服裹得更緊，遮住鼻子，走進了這個世界。

The sky was brushed clean by the wind and the stars were cold in a black sky.

天空被風刷得乾乾淨淨，星星冷冷地掛在漆黑的天上。

The two walked carefully, and they avoided the centre of the town, where some sleeper in a doorway might see them pass.

兩人小心翼翼地走，避開鎮中心，因為那裡可能有睡在門口的人看見他們經過。

For the town closed itself in against the night, and anyone who moved about in the darkness would be noticeable.

因為小鎮在夜裡把自己封閉起來，任何在黑暗中走動的人都會引人注意。

Kino threaded his way around the edge of the city and turned north, north by the stars, and found the rutted sandy road that led through the brushy country towards Loreto, where the miraculous Virgin has her station.

奇諾沿著城的邊緣穿行，轉向北方，循著星星往北，找到那條滿是車轍的沙路，它穿過灌木叢生的鄉野，通往洛雷托——神蹟聖母駐守的地方。

Kino could feel the blown sand against his ankles and he was glad, for he knew there would be no tracks.

奇諾感覺得到風吹來的沙子打在腳踝上，他很高興，因為他知道不會留下足跡。

The little light from the stars made out for him the narrow road through the brushy country.

微弱的星光替他照出那條穿過灌木叢的窄路。

And Kino could hear the pad of Juana’s feet behind him.

奇諾聽得見胡安娜在他身後輕輕的腳步聲。

He went quickly and quietly, and Juana trotted behind him to keep up.

他走得又快又安靜，胡安娜在後面小跑步跟上。

Some ancient thing stirred in Kino.

某種古老的東西在奇諾體內甦醒。

Through his fear of dark and the devils that haunt the night, there came a rush of exhilaration; some animal thing was moving in him so that he was cautious and wary and dangerous; some ancient thing out of the past of his people was alive in him.

穿過他對黑暗、對出沒在夜裡的惡魔的恐懼，湧上來一股振奮；某種動物性的東西在他體內移動，讓他謹慎、警覺而危險；某種來自他族人過去的古老東西，在他身上活了過來。

The wind was at his back and the stars guided him.

風在他背後推著，星星為他指路。

The wind cried and whisked in the brush, and the family went on monotonously, hour after hour.

風在灌木叢裡哭嚎、颼颼掠過，這家人單調地往前走，一個鐘頭又一個鐘頭。

They passed no one and saw no one.

他們沒有經過任何人，也沒看見任何人。

At last, to their right, the waning moon arose, and when it came up the wind died down, and the land was still.

終於，他們右手邊，殘月升了起來；月亮一升起，風就停了，大地一片寂靜。

Now they could see the little road ahead of them, deep cut with sand-drifted wheel tracks.

現在他們看得見前面的小路了，路上有深深的車轍，積著被風吹來的沙。

With the wind gone there would be footprints, but they were a good distance from the town and perhaps their tracks might not be noticed.

風停了，就會留下腳印，不過他們離鎮上已經很遠，也許他們的足跡不會被發現。

Kino walked carefully in a wheel-rut, and Juana followed in his path.

奇諾小心地走在一道車轍裡，胡安娜跟著他的路走。

One big cart, going to the town in the morning, could wipe out every trace of their passage.

只要早上有一輛大車往鎮上去，就能抹掉他們經過的每一絲痕跡。

All night they walked and never changed their pace.

他們走了一整夜，步伐從沒變過。

Once Coyotito awakened, and Juana shifted him in front of her and soothed him until he went to sleep again.

有一次柯尤提托醒了，胡安娜把他挪到胸前，哄到他又睡著。

And the evils of the night were about them.

夜晚的邪惡圍繞著他們。

The coyotes cried and laughed in the brush, and the owls screeched and hissed over their heads.

郊狼在灌木叢裡又叫又笑，貓頭鷹在他們頭頂尖叫、嘶嘶作響。

And once some large animal lumbered away, crackling the undergrowth as it went.

有一次，某種大型動物笨重地走開，把矮樹叢踩得劈啪響。

And Kino gripped the handle of the big working knife and took a sense of protection from it.

奇諾緊握那把大工作刀的刀柄，從它那裡得到一種受保護的感覺。

The music of the pearl was triumphant in Kino’s head, and the quiet melody of the family underlay it, and they wove themselves into the soft padding of sandalled feet in the dust.

珍珠的音樂在奇諾腦中得意地高唱，家的安靜旋律墊在它底下，兩者交織進穿著涼鞋的腳在塵土中輕輕踏步的聲音裡。

All night they walked, and in the first dawn Kino searched the roadside for a covert to lie in during the day.

他們走了一整夜，天剛破曉，奇諾就在路邊尋找白天可以躲藏的地方。

He found his place near to the road, a little clearing where deer might have lain, and it was curtained thickly with the dry brittle trees that lined the road.

他在靠近路邊的地方找到了，一塊鹿可能臥過的小空地，被路邊那些又乾又脆的樹厚厚地遮蔽著。

And when Juana had seated herself and had settled to nurse the baby, Kino went back to the road.

等胡安娜坐下、安頓好給嬰兒餵奶，奇諾又回到路上。

He broke a branch and carefully swept the footprints where they had turned from the roadway.

他折下一根樹枝，小心地掃掉他們轉離道路處的腳印。

And then, in the first light, he heard the creak of a wagon, and he crouched beside the road and watched a heavy two-wheeled cart go by, drawn by slouching oxen.

然後，在晨光初露中，他聽見一輛車子嘎吱作響，他蹲在路邊，看著一輛沉重的雙輪車經過，拉車的是幾頭垂頭喪氣的牛。

And when it had passed out of sight, he went back to the roadway and looked at the rut and found that the footprints were gone.

等車子走得看不見了，他回到路上看那道車轍，發現腳印都不見了。

And again he swept out his traces and went back to Juana.

他又把自己的痕跡掃掉，回到胡安娜身邊。

She gave him the soft corn-cakes Apolonia had packed for them, and after a while she slept a little.

她把阿波洛妮亞替他們包好的軟玉米餅給他，過了一會兒，她睡了一下。

But Kino sat on the ground and stared at the earth in front of him.

可是奇諾坐在地上，盯著面前的土地。

He watched the ants moving, a little column of them near to his foot, and he put his foot in their path.

他看著螞蟻在動，一小列螞蟻就在他腳邊，他把腳擋在牠們的路上。

Then the column climbed over his instep and continued on its way, and Kino left his foot there and watched them move over it.

那一列螞蟻就爬過他的腳背，繼續趕路，奇諾讓腳留在那裡，看著牠們從上面爬過去。

The sun arose hotly.

太陽熱辣辣地升起。

They were not near the Gulf now, and the air was dry and hot so that the brush cricked with heat and a good resinous smell came from it.

他們現在離海灣不近了，空氣又乾又熱，灌木叢被熱得噼啪作響，散發出一股好聞的樹脂香。

And when Juana awakened, when the sun was high, Kino told her things she knew already.

太陽高掛時胡安娜醒了，奇諾告訴她一些她早就知道的事。

“Beware of that kind of tree there,” he said, pointing.

「小心那種樹。」他指著說。

“Do not touch it, for if you do and then touch your eyes, it will blind you.

「別碰它，要是碰了再摸眼睛，眼睛會瞎掉。

And beware of the tree that bleeds.

還要小心那種會流血的樹。

See, that one over there.

你看，那邊那棵。

For if you break it the red blood will flow from it, and it is evil luck.”

因為你要是把它折斷，紅色的血就會流出來，那是厄運。」

And she nodded and smiled a little at him, for she knew these things.

她點點頭，對他微微一笑，因為這些事她都知道。

“Will they follow us?” she asked.

「他們會追來嗎？」她問。

“Do you think they will try to find us?”

「你覺得他們會想辦法找到我們嗎？」

“They will try,” said Kino.

「他們會的。」奇諾說。

“Whoever finds us will take the pearl.

「誰找到我們，誰就會拿走珍珠。

Oh, they will try.”

喔，他們一定會。」

And Juana said: “Perhaps the dealers were right and the pearl has no value.

胡安娜說：「也許珠商說得對，珍珠根本不值錢。

Perhaps this has all been an illusion.”

也許這一切都只是一場幻象。」

Kino reached into his clothes and brought out the pearl.

奇諾把手伸進衣服裡，拿出珍珠。

He let the sun play on it until it burned in his eyes.

他讓陽光在它上面跳動，直到那光灼痛了他的眼睛。

“No,” he said, “they would not have tried to steal it if it had been valueless.”

「不，」他說，「要是它不值錢，他們就不會想偷了。」

“Do you know who attacked you?

「你知道是誰攻擊你嗎？

Was it the dealers?”

是珠商嗎？」

“I do not know,” he said.

「我不知道。」他說。

“I didn’t see them.”

「我沒看到他們。」

He looked into his pearl to find his vision.

他看進珍珠，尋找他的幻象。

“When we sell it at last, I will have a rifle,” he said, and he looked into the shining surface for his rifle, but he saw only a huddled dark body on the ground with shining blood dripping from its throat.

「等我們終於把它賣掉，我要買一把步槍。」他說，他在閃亮的表面上尋找他的步槍，卻只看見一具蜷縮在地上的黑色身體，閃亮的血從喉嚨滴下來。

And he said quickly: “We will be married in a great church.”

他趕緊說：「我們要在一座大教堂裡結婚。」

And in the pearl he saw Juana with her beaten face crawling home through the night.

可是在珍珠裡，他看見胡安娜帶著被打傷的臉，在夜裡爬著回家。

“Our son must learn to read,” he said frantically.

「我們的兒子一定要學讀書。」他慌亂地說。

And there, in the pearl Coyotito’s face, thick and feverish from the medicine.

而那裡，在珍珠裡，是柯尤提托的臉，被藥弄得腫脹、發燒。

And Kino thrust the pearl back into his clothing, and the music of the pearl had become sinister in his ears, and it was interwoven with the music of evil.

奇諾把珍珠塞回衣服裡，珍珠的音樂在他耳中變得陰險，和惡的音樂交織在一起。

The hot sun beat on the earth so that Kino and Juana moved into the lacy shade of the brush, and small grey birds scampered on the ground in the shade.

熾熱的太陽毒辣地照著大地，奇諾和胡安娜移到灌木叢稀疏如蕾絲的陰影裡，灰色的小鳥在樹蔭下的地上蹦跳。

In the heat of the day Kino relaxed and covered his eyes with his hat and wrapped his blanket about his face to keep the flies off, and he slept.

在一天最熱的時候，奇諾放鬆下來，用帽子蓋住眼睛，用毯子裹住臉擋蒼蠅，睡著了。

But Juana did not sleep.

可是胡安娜沒有睡。

She sat quiet as a stone and her face was quiet.

她像石頭一樣靜靜坐著，臉上也很平靜。

Her mouth was still swollen where Kino had struck her, and big flies buzzed around the cut on her chin.

她的嘴被奇諾打過的地方還腫著，大蒼蠅繞著她下巴的傷口嗡嗡飛。

But she sat as still as a sentinel, and when Coyotito awakened she placed him on the ground in front of her and watched him wave his arms and kick his feet, and he smiled and gurgled at her until she smiled too.

可是她像哨兵一樣一動也不動地坐著；柯尤提托醒來時，她把他放在面前的地上，看著他揮動手臂、踢著小腳，他對她笑、咿咿呀呀地叫，直到她也笑了。

She picked up a little twig from the ground and tickled him, and she gave him water from the gourd she carried in her bundle.

她從地上撿起一根小樹枝逗他，又從包袱裡拿出葫蘆餵他喝水。

Kino stirred in a dream, and he cried out in a guttural voice, and his hand moved in symbolic fighting.

奇諾在夢中翻動，用粗啞的喉音大叫，手在空中比畫著打鬥的動作。

And then he moaned and sat up suddenly, his eyes wide and his nostrils flaring.

然後他呻吟一聲，猛地坐起來，眼睛睜得大大的，鼻孔張開。

He listened and heard only the cricking heat and the hiss of distance.

他側耳傾聽，只聽見熱氣的噼啪聲和遠方的嘶嘶聲。

“What is it?” Juana asked.

「怎麼了？」胡安娜問。

“Hush,” he said.

「別出聲。」他說。

“You were dreaming.”

「你在做夢。」

“Perhaps.”

「也許吧。」

But he was restless, and when she gave him a corn-cake from her store he paused in his chewing to listen.

可是他坐立不安，她從存糧裡拿一張玉米餅給他，他嚼到一半停下來聽。

He was uneasy and nervous; he glanced over his shoulder; he lifted the big knife and felt its edge.

他又不安又緊張；他回頭張望；他拿起大刀，摸了摸刀鋒。

When Coyotito gurgled on the ground Kino said: “Keep him quiet.”

柯尤提托在地上咿呀作聲時，奇諾說：「讓他安靜。」

“What is the matter?” Juana asked.

「到底怎麼了？」胡安娜問。

“I don’t know.”

「我不知道。」

He listened again, an animal light in his eyes.

他又聽了聽，眼中閃著動物般的光。

He stood up then, silently; and crouched low, he threaded his way through the brush towards the road.

接著他無聲地站起來；壓低身子，穿過灌木叢朝路邊走去。

But he did not step into the road; he crept into the cover of a thorny tree and peered out along the way he had come.

可是他沒有走上路；他爬進一棵多刺的樹底下躲著，朝他來的方向往外窺看。

And then he saw them moving along.

然後他看見他們在路上移動。

His body stiffened and he drew down his head and peeked out from under a fallen branch.

他全身一僵，把頭縮低，從一根倒下的樹枝底下偷看。

In the distance he could see three figures, two on foot and one on horseback.

遠處他看得見三個身影，兩個步行，一個騎馬。

But he knew what they were, and a chill of fear went through him.

可是他知道他們是什麼人，一陣恐懼的寒意竄過他全身。

Even in the distance he could see the two on foot moving slowly along, bent low to the ground.

即使隔著那麼遠，他也看得見那兩個步行的人慢慢往前移動，身子彎得低低的貼近地面。

Here, one would pause and look at the earth, while the other joined him.

這裡，一個停下來看地面，另一個就湊過去。

They were the trackers, they could follow the trail of a bighorn sheep in the stone mountains.

他們是追蹤者，能在石頭山裡追蹤大角羊的足跡。

They were as sensitive as hounds.

他們像獵犬一樣靈敏。

Here, he and Juana might have stepped out of the wheel rut, and these people from the inland, these hunters, could follow, could read a broken straw or a little tumbled pile of dust.

在這裡，他和胡安娜也許曾經踩出車轍，而這些內陸來的人、這些獵人，就能循跡追來，能讀懂一根折斷的稻草、一小堆被踢亂的塵土。

Behind them, on a horse, was a dark man, his nose covered with a blanket, and across his saddle a rifle gleamed in the sun.

在他們後面，騎在馬上的是一個黝黑的男人，用毯子遮著鼻子，他的馬鞍上橫著一把步槍，在陽光下閃閃發亮。

Kino lay as rigid as the tree limb.

奇諾像那根樹枝一樣僵硬地躺著。

He barely breathed, and his eyes went to the place where he had swept out the track.

他幾乎不敢呼吸，眼睛望向他掃掉足跡的那個地方。

Even the sweeping might be a message to the trackers.

就連掃過的痕跡，都可能是給追蹤者的訊息。

He knew these inland hunters.

他了解這些內陸的獵人。

In a country where there was little game they managed to live because of their ability to hunt, and they were hunting him.

在一個獵物稀少的地方，他們靠著打獵的本事活下來，而現在他們在獵他。

They scuttled over the ground like animals and found a sign and crouched over it while the horseman waited.

他們像動物一樣在地上急急爬行，找到一個跡象就蹲在上面研究，騎馬的人則在一旁等著。