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The sergeant picked up a card which lay beside the dead man on the floor.
警官从死者身旁地板上拾起一张卡片。
The initials V. V. and under them the number 341 were rudely scrawled in ink upon it.
上面用钢笔潦草地写着两个姓名开头大写字母V. V.，下面是数目字341。
"What's this?" he asked, holding it up.
"这是什么？"警官举起卡片问道。
Barker looked at it with curiosity.
巴克好奇地看着卡片。
"I never noticed it before," he said. "The murderer must have left it behind him."
"我以前从没注意到这个，"巴克说道，"这一定是凶手留下来的。"
"V. V.-341. I can make no sense of that."
"V. V.-341。我弄不明白这是什么意思。"
The sergeant kept turning it over in his big fingers.
警官的大手把名片来回翻着说道。
"What's V. V.? Somebody's initials, maybe. What have you got there, Dr. Wood?"
"V. V.是什么？大约是人名的开头大写字母。医生，你找到了什么？"
It was a good-sized hammer which had been lying on the rug in front of the fireplace -- a substantial, workmanlike hammer.
壁炉前地毯上放着一把大号铁锤，是一把坚固而精致的铁锤。
Cecil Barker pointed to a box of brass-headed nails upon the mantelpiece. "Mr. Douglas was altering the pictures yesterday," he said.
塞西尔·巴克指了指壁炉台上的铜头钉盒子说道："昨天道格拉斯先生换油画来着。
"I saw him myself, standing upon that chair and fixing the big picture above it. That accounts for the hammer."
我亲眼看见他站在椅子上把这张大画挂在上面。铁锤就是这么来的。"
"We'd best put it back on the rug where we found it," said the sergeant, scratching his puzzled head in his perplexity.
"我们最好还是把铁锤放回发现它时的原地吧，"警官茫然不解，用手搔着头说道。
"It will want the best brains in the force to get to the bottom of this thing. It will be a London job before it is finished."
"只有头脑极为灵敏的警探才能弄清这件事情的真相。还是请伦敦警探来清理这个案子吧。"
He raised the hand lamp and walked slowly round the room.
他举起了灯，环屋慢慢地走着。
"Hullo!" he cried, excitedly, drawing the window curtain to one side. "What o'clock were those curtains drawn?"
"喂！"警官兴奋地把窗帘拉向一旁，大声说道，"窗帘是几点钟拉上的呢？"
"When the lamps were lit," said the butler. "It would be shortly after four."
"在点起灯来的时候，"管家回答道，"四点钟刚过没多久。"
"Someone had been hiding here, sure enough."
"完全可以肯定，有人藏在这里。"
He held down the light, and the marks of muddy boots were very visible in the corner.
警官又把灯拿低了。在墙角那里，长统靴子泥污的痕迹非常明显。
"I'm bound to say this bears out your theory, Mr. Barker.
"我敢肯定，巴克先生，这就完全证实了你的推测。
It looks as if the man got into the house after four when the curtains were drawn, and before six when the bridge was raised.
看来，凶手是四点钟以后窗帘已经拉上，六点钟以前吊桥还没吊起来的时候溜进屋里来的。
He slipped into this room, because it was the first that he saw.
他溜进了这间屋子，因为这是他首先看到的一间。
There was no other place where he could hide, so he popped in behind this curtain. That all seems clear enough.
他没有别的地方可以藏身，所以就躲到这个窗帘后面。这一切看来非常明显。
It is likely that his main idea was to burgle the house; but Mr. Douglas chanced to come upon him, so he murdered him and escaped."
看样子，他主要是想盗窃室内的财物。可是道格拉斯先生正巧碰上了他，所以他就下了毒手，溜之大吉。"
"That's how I read it," said Barker.
"我也是这样想的，"巴克说道。
"But, I say, aren't we wasting precious time? Couldn't we start out and scour the country before the fellow gets away?"
"不过，我说，我们是不是在白白浪费宝贵的时间？我们为何不趁凶手还没走远，把这个村镇搜查一番呢？"
The sergeant considered for a moment. "There are no trains before six in the morning; so he can't get away by rail.
警官想了一想，说道："早晨六点种以前没有火车，所以他决不能乘火车逃走。
If he goes by road with his legs all dripping, it's odds that someone will notice him.
假如他两腿水淋淋地在大路上步行，大约人们会注意上他的。
Anyhow, I can't leave here myself until I am relieved. But I think none of you should go until we see more clearly how we all stand."
在没有人来和我换班以前，我无论如何也不能离开这儿。但我认为你们在水落石出以前，也是不便走开的。"
