5 Jefferson Hope's Tale

Chapter 5 JeffersonHope'sTale So Jefferson Hope told us his story, and what a story it was! As a young man, he'd been a silver prospector, trapper, and explorer in the western United States. One day, while out hunting, he rescued a young woman from a cattle stampede. Her name was Lucy, and she introduced him to her father John Ferrier. The Ferriers lived in a strict religious community. They owed their lives to the community because they had taken them in when they were starving. But since then, the Ferriers had grown to hate living in this community because they ruled with fear, and whoever spoke out against them was killed or imprisoned.

第五章杰弗逊·霍普的故事于是，杰弗逊·霍普给我们讲了他的故事，这是一个多么精彩的故事啊！年轻时，他曾是美国西部的一名银矿勘探者、捕银者和探险家。 一天，当他外出打猎时，他从牛群踩踏中救出了一位年轻女子。 她叫露西，是她把菲利普介绍给她父亲约翰·费瑞厄认识的。 费瑞一家生活在一个严格的宗教社区里。 他们欠社区一条命，因为他们在饥饿的时候收留了他们。 但从那以后，费瑞厄一家开始讨厌住在这个社区里，因为他们用恐惧来统治，谁敢说反对他们，谁就会被杀死或监禁。

Jefferson and Lucy fell in love, and John, who liked and respected Jefferson, happily agreed to the match. Soon after they were engaged, Jefferson left on a hunting trip. While he was away, the leader of the religious order visited the Ferriers. He decreed that Lucy must marry either Joseph Stangerson or Enoch Drebber. Both were senior members of the community and they already had many wives, as this was the tradition with the order.

杰斐逊和露西相爱了，约翰喜欢并尊重杰斐逊，很高兴地同意了这门亲事。 他们订婚后不久，杰斐逊就去打猎了。 他不在的时候，修会的领袖拜访了费里埃一家。 他命令露西要么嫁给约瑟夫·斯坦节逊，要么嫁给以诺·锥伯。 两人都是社区的资深成员，他们已经有了很多妻子，因为这是骑士团的传统。

Ferrier knew he couldn't disobey the leader and live, but he was also determined not to give his precious Lucy away to either of these men. He wrote to Jefferson, asking him to come back and help him and Lucy run away and start a new life. When Jefferson returned, the three of them stole away in the middle of the night. They made it to some woods where they set up camp, then Jefferson left to hunt down some food. He returned to find Lucy and John gone. Frantically, he searched the area and came across a grave marked "John Ferrier". He later learned that Stangerson and Drebber had followed them to the woods and killed Ferrier, kidnapped Lucy, and forced her to marry Drebber. She died shortly afterward of a broken heart. In his fury, Jefferson Hope dedicated the rest of his life to hunting down and killing Drebber and Stangerson.

费瑞厄知道他不可能违抗首领而活下去，但他也决心不把他心爱的露茜交给这两个男人中的任何一个。 他写信给杰斐逊，请他回来帮助他和露西逃跑，开始新的生活。 杰斐逊回来后，他们三个人在半夜偷偷溜走了。 他们来到一片树林，在那里搭起了帐篷，然后杰斐逊离开去寻找食物。 他回来时发现露西和约翰都不见了。 他疯狂地搜索着这片区域，发现了一座写着“约翰·费瑞厄”的坟墓。 后来他才知道斯坦节逊和锥伯跟踪他们到了树林里，杀了费瑞厄，绑架了露西，强迫她嫁给锥伯。 不久之后，她因心碎而去世。 盛怒之下，杰弗逊·侯波穷尽余生追捕锥伯和斯坦节逊。

"I took the marriage ring from Lucy's dead finger," said Hope, "and vowed to show it to Drebber when I caught him, so he would be reminded of his crime before he died. My search took me twenty years and stretched across two continents, but I finally traced them to London, where I took a job as a cabman. "It was some while before I found the boarding house where they were staying. I followed them all over town, hoping to catch either one of them alone. Yet they were always together. "Three days ago, I spotted them outside their boarding house, loading their luggage into a cab and driving away. I followed them to Euston Station, where I got out of my cab and continued after them to the platform. They were waiting to catch their train to Liverpool, which was some hours delayed. I overheard Drebber tell Stangerson he had some personal business to attend to, but would be back

“我从露西死去的手指上取下了那枚结婚戒指，”霍普说，“我发誓，等我抓到锥伯的时候，一定要拿给他看，好让他在死前想起自己的罪行。 我花了二十年的时间，跨越了两大洲，终于找到了伦敦，在那里找了一份出租车司机的工作。 过了好一会儿，我才找到他们住的公寓。 我跟着他们满城跑，希望能单独抓住他们中的任何一个。 然而他们总是在一起。 “三天前，我看到他们在寄宿公寓外面，把行李装进一辆出租车，然后开车离开了。 我跟着他们到了尤斯顿车站，在那里我下了马车，继续跟在他们后面向站台走去。 他们在等去利物浦的火车，火车误点了几个小时。 我无意中听到锥伯对斯坦节逊说他有些私事要处理，不过马上就回来

before the train departed. If not, he'd meet him at Halliday's Hotel. "At last, my enemies had separated and were unable to protect each other. I followed Drebber back to his boarding-house and waited there. A while later, the door swung open and out came a young man holding Drebber by the collar. He shoved him into the street, yelling curses at him. Drebber got up and ran to the corner where, seeing my cab, he hailed me and jumped in, panting, 'Take me to Halliday's Hotel!' Drebber was now in my power, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with him. "During my long life, I once worked as a janitor in a college laboratory, where I happened to learn about a poison taken from the skin of a South American frog that could cause instant death. I stole a bottle of this substance and made some pills out of it. I put each pill into a box,

在火车开动之前。 如果没有，他会在哈利代酒店和他见面。 “最后，我的敌人分开了，无法互相保护。 我跟着锥伯回到他的寄宿公寓，在那里等着。 过了一会儿，门开了，一个年轻人抓住锥伯的衣领走了出来。 他把他推到街上，大声咒骂他。 锥伯站起身来，跑到拐角处，看见了我的马车，就向我打招呼，跳上了车，气喘吁吁地说：“带我到哈利代旅馆去！”锥伯现在在我的控制之下，我很清楚我要怎样处置他。 “在我漫长的一生中，我曾经在一所大学的实验室里做过看门人，在那里我碰巧了解到一种从南美青蛙皮肤上提取的毒药，这种毒药可以立即导致死亡。 我偷了一瓶这种东西，用它做了一些药片。 我把每颗药放进盒子里，

along with a similar pill made without poison. My plan was to force each of these men to eat a pill from one of the boxes, while I ate the pill that remained. If there was any justice on this Earth, they would pick the poisonous one. "After we drove a short distance, Drebber ordered me to stop at a bar and wait for him while he had a few drinks. When he emerged a few hours later, very much worse for drink, I had a plan for where to take him. A few days before, a gentleman looking over some empty houses in the Brixton Road dropped the key to one of them in my cab. We pulled up at this house and I woke Drebber, who had fallen into a drunken slumber. 'It's time to get out,' I said. "'All right, cabby,' he said, believing we'd arrived at the hotel. I had to help him along the garden path, the hallway, and into the front room. 'It's awfully dark,' he said.

还有一种类似的无毒药丸。 我的计划是强迫这些人每人吃一颗盒子里的药丸，而我吃剩下的那一颗。 如果这个世界上有任何正义，他们会选择有毒的那个。 我们开了一小段路以后，锥伯吩咐我在一个酒吧间里等他，让他喝几杯酒。 几个小时后，他出现了，醉得很厉害，我已经计划好带他去哪里。 几天前，一位先生在布里克斯顿路上察看几所空房子时，把其中一所房子的钥匙落在了我的马车上。 我们把车停在这所房子跟前，我把锥伯叫醒了，他已经喝醉了，睡着了。 “该出去了，”我说。 “‘好了，马车夫，’他说，以为我们已经到了旅馆。 我不得不扶着他走过花园小径，穿过走廊，进入前屋。 “天太黑了，”他说。