8 John Thornton

CHAPTER 8 John Thornton Although it was beautiful spring weather, the dogs and humans did not notice it. Each day the sun rose earlier and set later. It was dawn by three in the morning, and stayed light until nine at night. From every hill came the trickle of running water. The ice was beginning to melt everywhere. Airholes formed in the ice, cracks opened and spread apart, while thin sections of ice fell through into the river underneath. With the dogs falling, Mercedes crying,

第八章约翰·桑顿虽然是美丽的春天，狗和人却没有注意到。 太阳每天升得早，落得晚。 凌晨三点天就亮了，一直亮到晚上九点。 每座山上都有涓涓流水。 到处的冰都开始融化。 冰上形成了气孔，裂缝裂开并散开，而薄冰块则落入下面的河流中。 随着狗的倒下，梅赛德斯的哭泣，

Hal yelling angrily, and Charles's eyes watering, they staggered into John Thornton's camp at the mouth of White River. When they stopped, the dogs dropped to the ground. Mercedes dried her eyes and looked at John Thornton. Charles sat on a log to rest. He sat very slowly and carefully because his body was so stiff. Hal did the talking. John Thornton was whittling an ax handle. He whittled and listened, gave short replies and, when asked, even shorter pieces of advice. He knew what these people were like right away, and when he gave his advice he was sure they would not follow it. "They told us that the ice was breaking on the trail, the bottom dropping out, and the best thing for us to do was to wait," Hal said, after Thornton warned them not to risk going over the ice. "They told us we couldn't make it to White River, and here we are." "And they told you the truth," John

哈尔怒吼着，查尔斯流着眼泪，他们摇摇晃晃地走进约翰·桑顿在白河河口的营地。 当他们停下来时，狗倒在了地上。 美塞苔丝擦干眼泪，看着约翰·桑顿。 查尔斯坐在一根圆木上休息。 他坐得很慢，很小心，因为他的身体很僵硬。 哈尔说话了。约翰·桑顿正在削斧柄。 他边削边听，回答简短，如果有人问他，他会给出更简短的建议。 他马上就知道这些人是什么样的人，当他提出建议时，他确信他们不会听从。 “他们告诉我们，路上的冰正在破裂，底部正在脱落，对我们来说最好的办法就是等待，”哈尔说，在桑顿警告他们不要冒险从冰上走过去之后。 “他们告诉我们，我们到不了白河了，可我们还是来了。” 约翰说，他们所告诉你的是真的

Thornton answered, "The bottom's going to drop out at any moment. Only fools, with the blind luck of fools, could have made it this far. I wouldn't risk my life on that ice for all the gold in Alaska." "That's because you're not a fool, I suppose," said Hal. "All the same, we'll go on to Dawson. Get up there, Buck! Hey, get up there! Mush on!" Thornton went on whittling. He knew it was a waste of time to try to stop a fool, and two or three less fools in the world would not be such a bad thing. But the team did not get up at Hal's command. He pushed and kicked the dogs, and used his whip. John Thornton pressed his lips together tightly. Sol-leks was the first to crawl to his feet. Teek followed. Joe came next, yelping with pain. Pike fell over twice before he was able to stand. Buck made no

桑顿回答说：“底部随时都可能脱落。 只有傻瓜，凭着傻瓜的盲目运气，才能走到这一步。 我不会为了阿拉斯加所有的金子在冰上冒生命危险。” “我想那是因为你不是个傻瓜。”哈尔说。 “尽管如此，我们还是要到道森去。 上去，巴克！嘿，上去！前走!”桑顿继续削木头。 他知道试图阻止一个傻瓜是浪费时间，世界上少两个或三个傻瓜也不是什么坏事。 但是队员们并没有听从哈尔的命令站起来。 他又推又踢狗，还用鞭子抽打。 约翰·桑顿双唇紧闭。 索拉克斯第一个爬了起来。 Teek紧随其后。乔紧随其后，痛得大叫。 派克摔了两次才站起来。 巴克没有。

effort. He lay quietly where he had fallen. No matter what Hal did, Buck did not move. Neither did he whine or struggle. Several times, Thornton started to speak, but changed his mind. As Hal continued to treat Buck badly, Thornton stood and walked back and forth. This was the first time Buck had failed, and this made Hal very angry. Buck still refused to move. Like his teammates, he was barely able to get up. He had made up his mind not to get up. He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. He felt it when they stopped at John Thornton's camp. All day, the thin ice under his feet had seemed like it was about to break. He was experienced and smart enough to recognize the feeling. He refused to move. He had suffered so much, and he was so tired, that nothing hurt him now, even Hal's blows. Suddenly, without warning, John

努力。他静静地躺在倒下的地方。 不管哈尔做什么，巴克都一动不动。 他既没有抱怨，也没有挣扎。 桑顿有好几次想说话，但又改变了主意。 哈尔继续虐待巴克，桑顿站着走来走去。 这是巴克第一次失败，这使哈尔非常生气。 巴克仍然不肯动。 和他的队友一样，他几乎站不起来。 他已下定决心不起来了。 他有一种不好的感觉要发生了。 当他们停在约翰·桑顿的营地时，他感觉到了。 整整一天，他脚下的薄冰似乎都要破裂了。 他很有经验，也很聪明，能体会到这种感觉。 他拒绝移动。他受了那么多苦，又那么累，现在什么也伤不了他了，即使是哈尔的打击。 突然，毫无征兆，约翰

Thornton jumped at Hal and knocked him backward. Mercedes screamed. Charles looked on sadly, wiped his eyes, but did not get up because of his stiffness. John Thornton stood over Buck and struggled to control himself, too angry to speak. "If you hurt that dog again, I'll hit you again," he finally said. "It's my dog," Hal replied, wiping his mouth as he came back. "Get out of my way, or I'll fix you. I'm going to Dawson." "Not with that dog," Thornton said. "Be careful, Hal," Mercedes cried out in fear. "We don't want any trouble." "You keep out of this," Hal answered her. All this while Thornton stood between Hal and Buck and made no move to get out of the way. Hal lifted his whip. Thornton hit Hal's knuckles with the ax handle, knocking the whip to the ground. He rapped Hal's

桑顿扑向哈尔，把他撞了回去。 奔驰尖叫。查尔斯悲伤地看着，擦了擦眼睛，但由于身体僵硬，没有站起来。 约翰·桑顿站在巴克身旁，竭力控制自己，气得说不出话来。 “如果你再伤害那只狗，我就再打你。”他最后说。 “是我的狗，”哈尔回答，回来时擦了擦嘴。 “滚开，不然我就揍你。” 我要去道森。”“那只狗不行，”桑顿说。 “小心点，哈尔。”美塞苔丝惊恐地喊道。 “我们不想惹麻烦。” “你别管这事。”哈尔回答她。 在这段时间里，桑顿一直站在哈尔和巴克之间，一动也不让开。 哈尔举起鞭子。桑顿用斧柄打了哈尔的指关节，把鞭子打在地上。 他敲了敲哈尔的

knuckles again as he tried to pick it up. Thornton stooped, picked it up, and threw it away. Then he took out his knife and cut Buck loose from the harness. Hal was too tired to fight, and Buck was too tired to keep on the team, anyway. "All right," Hal finally said to Thornton. "You win. Keep that worthless dog. We don't need him anyway." A few minutes later they pulled out from the camp and along the ice that covered the river. Buck heard them go and raised his head to watch. The dogs were limping and staggering. Mercedes was riding the sled. Hal guided, and Charles stumbled along behind them. Thornton knelt beside Buck and with rough, kind hands searched for any injuries. He and Buck watched the sled on the ice. Suddenly, they saw its back end drop down.

他想把它捡起来，又捏了一下指关节。 桑顿弯下腰，把它捡起来，扔掉了。 然后他拿出刀，把巴克从马具上割下来。 哈尔太累了，打不动了，巴克也太累了，不能继续留在队伍里了。 “好吧，”哈尔最后对桑顿说。 “你赢了。留着那条没用的狗吧。 反正我们也不需要他了。” 几分钟后，他们离开了营地，沿着覆盖着河的冰面行驶。 巴克听到他们走了，便抬起头来看。 狗一瘸一拐地走着。 梅塞苔丝正骑着雪橇。 哈尔带路，查尔斯跌跌撞撞地跟在他们后面。 桑顿跪在巴克身边，用一双粗糙而善良的手搜寻他的伤口。 他和巴克看着冰上的雪橇。 突然，他们看到它的后端掉了下来。