《能言馬與男孩》第6期:道旁遇險(1)
Chapter 2 A Wayside Adventure
IT was nearly noon on the following day when Shasta was wakened by something warm and soft moving over his face. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into the long face of a horse; its nose and lips were almost touching his. He remembered the exciting events of the previous night and sat up. But as he did so he groaned.
"Ow, Bree," he gasped. "I'm so sore. All over. I can hardly move."
"Good morning, small one," said Bree. "I was afraid you might feel a bit stiff. It can't be the falls. You didn't have more than a dozen or so, and it was all lovely, soft springy turf that must have been almost a pleasure to fall on. And the only one that might have been nasty was broken by that gorse bush. No: it's the riding itself that comes hard at first. What about breakfast? I've had mine."
"Oh bother breakfast. Bother everything," said Shasta. "I tell you I can't move." But the horse nuzzled at him with its nose and pawed him gently with a hoof till he had to get up. And then he looked about him and saw where they were. Behind them lay a little copse. Before them the turf, dotted with white flowers, sloped down to the brow of a cliff. Far below them, so that the sound of the breaking waves was very faint, lay the sea. Shasta had never seen it from such a height and never seen so much of it before, nor dreamed how many colours it had. On either hand the coast stretched away, headland after headland, and at the points you could see the white foam running up the rocks but making no noise because it was so far off. There were gulls flying overhead and the heat shivered on the ground; it was a blazing day. But what Shasta chiefly noticed was the air. He couldn't think what was missing, until at last he realized that there was no smell of fish in it. For of course, neither in the cottage nor among the nets, had he ever been away from that smell in his life. And this new air was so delicious, and all his old life seemed so far away, that he forgot for a moment about his bruises and his aching muscles and said:
"I say, Bree, didn't you say something about breakfast?"
"Yes, I did," answered Bree. "I think you'll find something in the saddle-bags. They're over there on that tree where you hung them up last night - or early this morning, rather."
They investigated the saddle-bags and the results were cheering- a meat pasty, only slightly stale, a lump of dried figs and another lump of green cheese, a little flask of wine, and some money; about forty crescents in all, which was more than Shasta had ever seen.
While Shasta sat down - painfully and cautiously - with his back against a tree and started on the pasty, Bree had a few more mouthfuls of grass to keep him company.
"Won't it be stealing to use the money?" asked Shasta.
"Oh," said the Horse, looking up with its mouth full of grass, "I never thought of that. A free horse and a talking horse mustn't steal, of course. But I think it's all right. We're prisoners and captives in enemy country. That money is booty, spoil. Besides, how are we to get any food for you without it? I suppose, like all humans, you won't eat natural food like grass and oats."
第2章 道旁遇險
第二天靠近中午時分，沙斯塔被他臉蛋上方移動着的某種溫暖而柔軟的東西弄醒了。他睜開眼睛，發現自己正凝望着一張長長的馬臉：馬的鼻子和嘴脣幾乎碰到了他的鼻子和嘴脣。他記起上一夜激動人心的事件，便坐了起來。但他坐起來時便呻吟開了
“唷，布里，”他氣喘吁吁地說，”我痛得厲害。渾身疼痛。我動彈不了啦。”
“早上好，小傢伙，”布里說，”我但心你會覺得有點兒手腳僵硬。不可能是跌跤跌的。你不過跌了十二三回罷了，全都是在美麗可愛、柔軟而有彈性的草皮上，跌在這種草皮上幾乎是種賞心樂事。只有一回可能是彆扭的，被荊棘的尖刺劃破了。不，首先是騎馬本身把你累垮了。你早餐吃什麼呢，我可已經吃過早餐了。”
“呀，討厭的早餐，討厭的切一切，”沙斯塔說，”我告訴你我動彈不了啦。”但馬兒用它的鼻子擦他，用它的蹄子溫柔地搔他，他終於只好起來了。接着他向四周瞧瞧，看看他們是在什麼地方。他們的後邊是一個小灌木林，他們的前面是綴着白花的草皮，往下綿延到一個懸崖的頂。在他們的下方遠處，躺着大海，海濤的衝擊聲十分微弱。沙斯塔以前從來沒有在那麼高的地方看過大海，他既沒有看到過那麼遼闊的大海，連做夢也沒夢見過大海竟有那麼多色彩。海岸從兩邊伸展開去，海岬緊接着海岬，你看得見海岬尖端海浪衝在岩石上濺起的白色泡沫，聲音可聽不到了，因爲距離太遠了。海鷗在頭上飛翔，熱氣在地上哆嗦，這是一個烈日炎炎的日子。但沙斯塔主要注意的是空氣，他想不起來缺少點兒什麼，最後才恍然大悟，空氣中沒有魚腥味了。因爲在他的生活裏，不論待在房屋裏還是待在漁網之間，當然都離不開魚腥味兒。這兒清新的空氣是那麼美妙，他的一切舊生活便彷彿是那麼遙遠了，因而他暫時忘掉了他的傷痕和疼痛的肌肉。他說道：”喂，布里，你沒提起過吃早餐的事吧？”
“是的，我提起過，”布里答道，”我想你在鞍囊裏會找到東西的。鞍囊就在那邊樹上，你昨天夜裏——還不如說是今兒早晨——掛上去的。”
他們查看了鞍囊，結果令人很是高興一塊肉餡餅，只是稍稍有點兒乾癟走味，一大堆無花果乾，大塊發綠的乾酪，小瓶酒：還有一些錢，總共大約四十個克利申光景，沙斯塔跡從來沒有見過這麼多的錢呢。
沙斯塔痛苦而又小心翼翼地坐下來，背靠在樹上，開始吃那肉餡餅，這時布里便吃幾口青草陪伴着他。
“花掉這筆錢，豈不是偷竊行爲嗎？”沙斯塔問。
“噢，”馬兒滿口青草，擡起頭來，”我從來沒考慮這個問題。一匹自由的馬，匹能說話的馬，當然絕不應偷竊。但我認爲我們花掉這錢也是對的。我們是在敵國做囚徒和俘虜。這筆錢是繳獲品，戰利品。再說呢，沒有這筆錢，我們怎麼去搞到你吃的東西呢7我想，你像所有的人一樣，是不肯吃草和燕麥之類的天然食物的。”
