巴斯克维尔的猎犬 巴斯克维尔的猎犬（7）

 

A sound of quick steps broke the silence of the moor. Crouching among the stones we staredintently at the silver-tipped bank in front of us. The steps grew louder, and through the fog, asthrough a curtain, there stepped the man whom we were awaiting. He looked round him insurprise as he emerged into the clear, starlit night. Then he came swiftly along the path, passedclose to where we lay, and went on up the long slope behind us. As he walked he glancedcontinually over either shoulder, like a man who is ill at ease.

一阵急速的脚步声打破了沼地的寂静。 我们蹲在乱石之间， 专心致志地盯着面前那段上缘呈银白色的雾墙。 脚步声愈来愈响了， 我们所期待的人穿过浓雾， 就好象穿过一层帘幕似地在那里走着。 当他走出了浓雾， 站在被星光照耀着的清朗的夜色中的时候， 他惊慌地向四周望了望， 然后又迅速地顺着小路走来， 经过了离我们隐藏之处很近的地方以后， 就向着我们背后那漫长的山坡走去了。 他一边走， 一边心神不宁地左转右转地向后望着。

"Hist!" cried Holmes, and I heard the sharp click of a cocking pistol. "Look out! It's coming!"“嘘！” 福尔摩斯嘘了一声， 我听到了尖细而清脆的扳开手枪机头的声音，“注意， 它来了！ ”

There was a thin, crisp, continuous patter from somewhere in the heart of that crawling bank.

The cloud was within fifty yards of where we lay, and we glared at it, all three, uncertain whathorror was about to break from the heart of it. I was at Holmes's elbow, and I glanced for aninstant at his face. It was pale and exultant, his eyes shining brightly in the moonlight. Butsuddenly they started forward in a rigid, fixed stare, and his lips parted in amazement. At the sameinstant Lestrade gave a yell of terror and threw himself face downward upon the ground. I sprangto my feet, my inert hand grasping my pistol, my mind paralyzed by the dreadful shape which hadsprung out upon us from the shadows of the fog. A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound,but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyesglowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickeringflame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, moreappalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us outof the wall of fog.

由徐徐前进的雾墙里传来了不断的轻轻的叭嗒叭嗒的声音。那云状的浓雾距我们藏匿的地方不到五十码远， 我们三个人都死死地朝那里瞪大着眼睛， 不知道那里将出现什么可怕的东西。 我当时正在福尔摩斯的肘旁， 我朝他的脸上望了 一眼。 他面色苍白， 但显出狂喜的神情， 双眼在月光照耀之下闪闪发光。 忽然间， 他两眼猛地向前死死盯住了 一点， 双唇因惊异而大张着。 就在那时， 雷斯垂德恐怖得叫了一声就伏在地上了。 我跳了起来， 我那已经变得不灵活的手紧抓着手枪。 在雾影中向我们窜来的那形状可怕的东西吓得我魂飞天外。 确是一只猎狗， 一只黑得象煤炭似的大猎狗， 但并不是一只人们平常看到过的那种狗。 它那张着的嘴里向外喷着火， 眼睛也亮得象冒火一样， 嘴头、 颈毛和脖子下部都在闪烁发光。 象那个突然由雾障里向我们窜过来的黑色的躯体和狰狞的狗脸， 就是疯子在最怪诞的梦里也不会看到比这家伙更凶恶、 更可怕和更象魔鬼的东西了。