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McMurdo found himself under sentence of banishment both from his comfortable quarters and from the girl whom he loved.
因此，麦克默多知道，他不仅要被赶出舒适的住处，而且被迫离开他所爱的姑娘。
He found her alone in the sitting-room that same evening, and he poured his troubles into her ear.
就在这天晚上，他发现伊蒂独自一人坐在屋里，便向她倾诉了遇到的麻烦事。
"Sure, your father is after giving me notice," he said.
"诚然，尽管你父亲已经下了逐客令，"麦克默多说道。
"It's little I would care if it was just my room, but indeed, Ettie, though it's only a week that I've known you, you are the very breath of life to me, and I can't live without you!"
"如果这仅仅是我的住处问题，那我就不在乎了。不过，说老实话，伊蒂，虽然我认识你仅仅一个星期，你已经是我生命中不可缺少的了，离开你我无法生活啊！"
"Oh, hush, Mr. McMurdo, don't speak so!" said the girl.
"啊，别说了，麦克默多先生！别这么说！"姑娘说道。
"I have told you, have I not, that you are too late?
"我已经告诉过你，我没告诉过你吗？你来得太晚了。
There is another, and if I have not promised to marry him at once, at least I can promise no one else."
有另外一个人，即使我没有答应马上嫁给他，至少我决不能再许配其他人了。"
"Suppose I had been first, Ettie, would I have had a chance?"
"伊蒂，我要是先向你求婚，那就行了吗？"
The girl sank her face into her hands. "I wish to heaven that you had been first!" she sobbed.
姑娘双手掩着脸，呜咽地说："天哪，我多么愿意你是先来求婚的啊！"
McMurdo was down on his knees before her in an instant. "For God's sake, Ettie, let it stand at that!" he cried.
麦克默多当即跪在她的面前，大声说道："看在上帝面上，伊蒂，那就按你刚说的那样办吧！
"Will you ruin your life and my own for the sake of this promise? Follow your heart, acushla!
你难道愿意为了轻轻一诺而毁灭你我一生的幸福吗？我心爱的，就照你的心意办吧！
'Tis a safer guide than any promise before you knew what it was that you were saying."
你知道你刚才说的是什么，这比你任何允诺都要可靠。"
He had seized Ettie's white hand between his own strong brown ones. "Say that you will be mine, and we will face it out together!"
麦克默多把伊蒂雪白的小手放在自己两只健壮有力的褐色大手中间，说道："说一声你是我的吧，让我们同心合力应付不测。"
"Not here?"
"我们不留在这儿吧？"
"Yes, here."
"不，就留在这儿。"
"No, no, Jack!" His arms were round her now. "It could not be here. Could you take me away?"
"不，不，杰克！"麦克默多这时双手搂住她，她说道，"决不能在这儿。你能带我远走高飞吗？"
A struggle passed for a moment over McMurdo's face; but it ended by setting like granite.
麦克默多脸上一时现出踌躇不决的样子，可是最后还是显露出坚决果敢的神色来。
"No, here," he said. "I'll hold you against the world, Ettie, right here where we are!"
"不，还是留在这儿，"他说道，"伊蒂，我们寸步不移，我会保护你的。"
"Why should we not leave together?"
"为什么我们不一起离开呢？"
"No, Ettie, I can't leave here."
"不行，伊蒂，我不能离开这儿。"
"But why?"
"到底为什么呢？"
"I'd never hold my head up again if I felt that I had been driven out.
"假如我觉得我是被人赶走的，那就再也抬不起头来了。
Besides, what is there to be afraid of? Are we not free folks in a free country? If you love me, and I you, who will dare to come between?"
再说，这儿又有什么可怕的呢？我们难道不是一个自由国家里的自由人吗？如果你爱我，我也爱你，谁敢来在我们中间插手呢？"
"You don't know, Jack. You've been here too short a time. You don't know this Baldwin. You don't know McGinty and his Scowrers."
"你不了解，杰克，你来这儿的时间太短了。你还不了解这个鲍德温。你也不了解麦金蒂和他的死酷党。"
"No, I don't know them, and I don't fear them, and I don't believe in them!" said McMurdo.
"是的，我不了解他们，可是我不怕他们，我也不相信他们！"麦克默多说道。
"I've lived among rough men, my darling, and instead of fearing them it has always ended that they have feared me -- always, Ettie. It's mad on the face of it!
"我在粗野的人群里混过，亲爱的，我不光是不怕他们，相反，到头来他们总是怕我--总是这样，伊蒂。乍看起来这简直是发疯！
If these men, as your father says, have done crime after crime in the valley, and if everyone knows them by name, how comes it that none are brought to justice? You answer me that, Ettie!"
要是这些人，像你父亲说的那样，在这山谷中屡次为非作歹，大家又都知道他们的名字，那怎么没有一个人受法律制裁呢？请你回答我这个问题，伊蒂！"
"Because no witness dares to appear against them. He would not live a month if he did.
"因为没有人敢出面对证。如果谁去作证，他连一个月也活不了。
Also because they have always their own men to swear that the accused one was far from the scene of the crime.
还因为他们的同党很多，总是出来作假证说被告和某案某案不沾边。
But surely, Jack, you must have read all this. I had understood that every paper in the United States was writing about it."
杰克，肯定说这一切你会自己看出来的！我早知道美国的每家报纸对这方面都有报道。"
"Well, I have read something, it is true; but I had thought it was a story.
"不错，我确实也看到过一些，可我总以为这都是编造出来的。
Maybe these men have some reason in what they do. Maybe they are wronged and have no other way to help themselves."
也许这些人做这种事总有些原因。也许他们受了冤屈，不得已而为之吧。"
"Oh, Jack, don't let me hear you speak so! That is how he speaks -- the other one!"
"唉，杰克，我不爱听这种话！他也是这样说的--那个人！"
"Baldwin -- he speaks like that, does he?"
"鲍德温 -- 他也这么说吗？是吗？"
"And that is why I loathe him so. Oh, Jack, now I can tell you the truth. I loathe him with all my heart; but I fear him also.
"就因为这个，我才讨厌他。啊，杰克，我现在可以告诉你实话了，我打心眼儿里讨厌他，可是又怕他。
I fear him for myself; but above all I fear him for father.
我为我自己而怕他，不过，主要是为我父亲，我才怕他。
I know that some great sorrow would come upon us if I dared to say what I really felt. hat is why I have put him off with half-promises.
我知道，要是我敢向他说出真心话，那我们爷儿俩就要遭大难了。所以我才半真半假地敷衍他。
It was in real truth our only hope. But if you would fly with me, Jack, we could take father with us and live forever far from the power of these wicked men."
其实我们爷儿俩也只剩这点儿希望了。只要你能带我远走高飞，杰克，我们可以把父亲也带上，永远摆脱这些恶人的势力。"
Again there was the struggle upon McMurdo's face, and again it set like granite.
麦克默多脸上又显出踌躇不决的神色，后来又斩钉截铁地说：
"No harm shall come to you, Ettie -- nor to your father either.
"你不会大祸临头的，伊蒂，你父亲也一样。
As to wicked men, I expect you may find that I am as bad as the worst of them before we're through."
要说恶人，只要我俩还活着，你会发现，我比他们最凶恶的人还要凶恶呢。"
"No, no, Jack! I would trust you anywhere." McMurdo laughed bitterly.
"不，不，杰克！我完全相信你。"麦克默多苦笑道。
"Good Lord! how little you know of me! Your innocent soul, my darling, could not even guess what is passing in mine. But, hullo, who's the visitor?"
"天啊，你对我太不了解了！亲爱的，你那纯洁的灵魂，甚至想像不出我所经历过的事。可是，喂，谁来了？"
