"So," said he with a furious glance at McMurdo, "you got here first, did you? I've a word to say to you, Councillor, about this man."
"那么说,"他怒视了麦克默多一眼,说道,"你倒抢先到这儿来了?是不是?参议员先生,关于这个人,我有话对你说。"
"Then say it here and now before my face," cried McMurdo.
"那就在这儿当着我的面说吧,"麦克默多大声说道。
"I'll say it at my own time, in my own way."
"我什么时候说,怎么说,全由我。"
"Tut! Tut!" said McGinty, getting off his barrel.
"啧,啧!"麦金蒂从酒桶上跳下来说道。
"This will never do. We have a new brother here, Baldwin, and it's not for us to greet him in such fashion. Hold out your hand, man, and make it up!"
"这样绝对不行。鲍德温,这儿来的是个新弟兄,我们不能这样欢迎他。伸出你的手来,朋友,和他讲和吧!"
"Never!" cried Baldwin in a fury.
"决不!"鲍德温暴怒地说道。
"I've offered to fight him if he thinks I have wronged him," said McMurdo.
"假如他认为我冲撞了他,我建议和他决斗,"麦克默多说道。
"I'll fight him with fists, or, if that won't satisfy him, I'll fight him any other way he chooses.
"可以徒手搏斗,他要不同意徒手干,随他选择什么办法都行。
Now, I'll leave it to you, Councillor, to judge between us as a Bodymaster should."
嗯,参议员先生,你是身主,就请你公断吧。"
"What is it, then?"
"到底是怎么回事呢?"
"A young lady. She's free to choose for herself."
"为一个年轻姑娘。她有选择情人的自由。"
"Is she?" cried Baldwin.
"她可以这样做吗?"鲍德温叫道。
"As between two brothers of the lodge I should say that she was," said the Boss.
"既然要选的是我们分会里的两个弟兄,我说她可以这样做,"首领说道。
"Oh, that's your ruling, is it?"
"啊,这就是你的公断,是不是?"
"Yes, it is, Ted Baldwin," said McGinty, with a wicked stare. "Is it you that would dispute it?"
"对,是这样,特德·鲍德温,"麦金蒂恶狠狠地盯着他说道,"你还要争论么?"
"You would throw over one that has stood by you this five years in favour of a man that you never saw before in your life?
"你为了袒护一个素昧平生的人,难道要抛弃一个五年来恩难与共的朋友吗?
You're not Bodymaster for life, Jack McGinty, and by God! when next it comes to a vote..."
你不会一辈子都做身主的,杰克·麦金蒂,老天有眼,下一次再选举时..."
The Councillor sprang at him like a tiger. His hand closed round the other's neck, and he hurled him back across one of the barrels.
麦金蒂饿虎扑食一般扑到鲍德温身上,一只手掐住鲍德温的脖子,把他推到一只酒桶上去。
In his mad fury he would have squeezed the life out of him if McMurdo had not interfered.
要不是麦克默多阻拦,麦金蒂盛怒之下准会把鲍德温扼死的。
"Easy, Councillor! For heaven's sake, go easy!" he cried, as he dragged him back.
"慢着,参议员先生!看在上帝份上,别着急!"麦克默多把他拉回来。
McGinty released his hold, and Baldwin, cowed and shaken, gasping for breath, and shivering in every limb,
麦金蒂松开手,鲍德温吓得奄奄一息,浑身颤抖,
as one who has looked over the very edge of death, sat up on the barrel over which he had been hurled.
活像一个死里逃生的人,坐在他刚才撞着的酒桶上。
"You've been asking for it this many a day, Ted Baldwin -- now you've got it!" cried McGinty, his huge chest rising and falling.
"特德·鲍德温,好多天来你就在自找这个。现在你总算满意了吧,"麦金蒂呼呼地喘着,大声叫道。
"Maybe you think if I was voted down from Bodymaster you would find yourself in my shoes. It's for the lodge to say that.
"也许你以为我选不上身主,你就能取代我的地位。
But so long as I am the chief I'll have no man lift his voice against me or my rulings."
可是只要我是这里的首领,我决不让一个人提高嗓门反对我,违抗我的公断。"
"I have nothing against you," mumbled Baldwin, feeling his throat.
"我并没有反对你啊,"鲍德温用手抚摸着咽喉,嘟嘟哝哝地说道。
"Well, then," cried the other, relapsing in a moment into a bluff joviality, "we are all good friends again and there's an end of the matter."
"好,那么,"麦金蒂立刻装成很高兴的样子,高声说道,"大家又都是好朋友了,这事就算完了。"
He took a bottle of champagne down from the shelf and twisted out the cork.
麦金蒂从架子上取下一瓶香槟酒来,打开瓶塞。
"See now," he continued, as he filled three high glasses. "Let us drink the quarrelling toast of the lodge.
"现在,"麦金蒂把酒倒满三只高脚杯,继续说道:"让我们大家为和好而干杯。
After that, as you know, there can be no bad blood between us.
从今以后,你们明白,我们不能互相记仇。
Now, then, the left hand on the apple of my throat. I say to you, Ted Baldwin, what is the offense, sir?"
现在,我的好朋友,特德·鲍德温,我是跟你说话呢,你还生气吗?先生。"
"The clouds are heavy," answered Baldwin.
"阴云依然笼罩着。"鲍德温回答道。
"But they will forever brighten."
"不过即将永远光辉灿烂。"
"And this I swear!"
"我发誓,但愿如此。"
The men drank their glasses, and the same ceremony was performed between Baldwin and McMurdo.
他们饮了酒,鲍德温和麦克默多也照样客套了一番。
"There!" cried McGinty, rubbing his hands. "That's the end of the black blood.
麦金蒂得意地搓着双手高声喊道:"现在一切怨隙都消释了。
You come under lodge discipline if it goes further, and that's a heavy hand in these parts, as Brother Baldwin knows -- and as you willdamn soon find out, Brother McMurdo, if you ask for trouble!"
你们以后都要遵守分会纪律,鲍德温兄弟,会中章法很严,你是知道的。麦克默多兄弟,你要是自找麻烦,那你很快就会倒霉的。"
"Faith, I'd be slow to do that," said McMurdo. He held out his hand to Baldwin.
"我担保,我不轻易去找麻烦的,"麦克默多把手向鲍德温伸过去,说道。
"I'm quick to quarrel and quick to forgive. It's my hot Irish blood, they tell me. But it's over for me, and I bear no grudge."
"我很容易和人争吵,吵过就忘掉:他们说这是我们爱尔兰人容易感情冲动。事情已经过去了,我不会记在心里的。"
Baldwin had to take the proffered hand; for the baleful eye of the terrible Boss was upon him.
因为麦金蒂正目光凶狠地瞪着他,鲍德温只好和麦克默多敷衍地握握手。
But his sullen face showed how little the words of the other had moved him.
可是,他那闷闷不乐的面容显然说明:麦克默多刚才说的话,丝毫也未能感动他。
McGinty clapped them both on the shoulders. "Tut! These girls! These girls!" he cried.
麦金蒂拍了拍他们两人的肩膀。"唉!这些姑娘啊,这些姑娘啊!"麦金蒂大声说道。
"To think that the same petticoats should come between two of my boys! It's the devil's own luck!
"要是我们的两个弟兄之间夹着一个这样的女人,那就该倒邪霉了。
Well, it's the colleen inside of them that must settle the question; for it's outside the jurisdiction of a Bodymaster -- and the Lord be praised for that!
好,因为这不是一个身主所能裁断的,这个问题就由这个当事的佳人去解决吧。这样做连上帝也会赞同的。
We have enough on us, without the women as well. You'll have to be affiliated to Lodge 341, Brother McMurdo.
没有这些女人我们已经够受了。好吧,麦克默多兄弟,你可以加入第三百四十一分会。
We have our own ways and methods, different from Chicago. Saturday night is our meeting, and if you come then, we'll make you free forever of the Vermissa Valley."
我们和芝加哥不同,有我们自己的规矩和方法。星期六晚上我们要开会,如果你来参加,那么我们就可以使你永远分享维尔米萨山谷的一切权利了。"