四签名 114琼诺赞·斯茂的奇异故事（24）（在线收听）

Well, there was one thing which very soon struck me,

有一个情况不久就引起了我的注意：

and that was that the soldiers used always to lose and the civilians to win.

每次赌钱总是军官们输，司狱官员们赢。

Mind, I don't say there was anything unfair, but so it was.

我可不是说这里有什么弊病，

These prison-chaps had done little else than play cards ever since they had been at the Andamans,

只是因为司狱的官员们自从来到安达曼群岛，每天无事可做，

and they knew each other's game to a point,

就拿着玩牌消磨时光，

while the others just played to pass the time and threw their cards down anyhow.

日久熟练，技术也就精了。

Night after night the soldiers got up poorer men, and the poorer they got the more keen they were to play.

军官们技术不高，所以每赌必输，他们愈输愈急，下的注就愈大，因此军官们在经济上一天比一天窘困，

Major Sholto was the hardest hit.

其中以舒尔托少校输的最多。

He used to pay in notes and gold at first, but soon it came to notes of hand and for big sums.

起初他还用钱币钞票，后来钱光了，只好用期票赌，

He sometimes would win for a few deals just to give him heart,

他有时稍微赢一点儿，胆子一大，

and then the luck would set in against him worse than ever.

接着就输得更多，

All day he would wander about as black as thunder, and he took to drinking a deal more than was good for him.

以致搞得他整天愁眉苦脸，借酒浇愁。

One night he lost even more heavily than usual.

有一晚他输的较往常更多了，

I was sitting in my hut when he and Captain Morstan came stumbling along on the way to their quarters.

当时我正在茅屋外边乘凉，他和摩斯坦上尉缓步回营。

They were bosom friends, those two, and never far apart. The major was raving about his losses.

他们两人是极要好的朋友，每天形影不离。这位少校正在抱怨他的赌运不佳。