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"I had a conscience and a religion; but they made me a criminal among them.
"我的良心和信仰还没有丧失，可是他们使我成为他们这伙罪犯中间的一个。
I was chosen for a job. If I backed down, I knew well what would come to me.
他们选中我去做一件事，如果我退缩，我很清楚，我会遭到什么下场。
Maybe I'm a coward. Maybe it's the thought of my poor little woman and the children that makes me one.
也许我是一个胆小鬼，也许是我想到我那可怜的小女人和孩子们。
Anyhow I went. I guess it will haunt me forever. It was a lonely house, twenty miles from here, over the range yonder.
无论怎么说，反正我是去了。我想这件事会永远压在我心里的。这是山那边一所孤零零的房子，离这里有二十英里。
I was told off for the door, same as you were last night. They could not trust me with the job. The others went in.
像你昨天那样，他们让我守住门口。干这种事，他们还不相信我。其他的人都进去了。
When they came out their hands were crimson to the wrists. As we turned away a child was screaming out of the house behind us.
他们出来时，双手都沾满了鲜血。正当我们离开时，一个小孩从房内跑出来跟在我们后面哭叫着。
It was a boy of five who had seen his father murdered.
这是一个五岁的孩子，亲眼看到他父亲遇害。
I nearly fainted with the horror of it, and yet I had to keep a bold and smiling face;
我吓得几乎昏厥过去，可是我不得不装出勇敢的样子，摆出一副笑脸来。
for well I knew that if I did not it would be out of my house that they would come next with their bloody hands, and it would be my little Fred that would be screaming for his father.
因为我很明白，如果我不这样，同样的事就要出在我的家里，他们下次就会双手沾满鲜血从我家里出来，我的小弗雷德就要哭叫他的父亲了。
But I was a criminal then, part sharer in a murder, lost forever in this world, and lost also in the next.
可是我已经是一个犯罪的人了，是一个谋杀案的胁从犯，在这个世界上永远被遗弃，在下世也难超生。
I am a good Catholic; but the priest would have no word with me when he heard I was a Scowrer, and I am excommunicated from my faith.
我是一个善良的天主教徒。可是神父要听说我是一个死酷党人，也不会为我祈祷了，我已经背弃了宗教信仰。
That's how it stands with me. And I see you going down the same road, and I ask you what the end is to be.
这就是我所经受的。我看你也正在走这条路，我问你，将来会有什么样的结局呢？
Are you ready to be a cold-blooded murderer also, or can we do anything to stop it?"
你是准备做一个嗜血杀人犯呢，还是我们去设法阻止它呢？"
"What would you do?" asked McMurdo abruptly. "You would not inform?"
"你要怎样做呢？"麦克默多突然问道，"你不会去告密吧？"
"God forbid!" cried Morris. "Sure, the very thought would cost me my life."
"但愿不要发生这样的事！"莫里斯大声说道，"当然，就是这样一想，我的性命也就难保了。"
"That's well," said McMurdo. "I'm thinking that you are a weak man and that you make too much of the matter."
"那好，"麦克默多说道，"我想你是一个胆小的人，所以你把这件事也看得太严重了。"
"Too much! Wait till you have lived here longer. Look down the valley! See the cloud of a hundred chimneys that overshadows it!
"太严重！等你在这里住得时间长一些再瞧。看看这座山谷！看看这座被上百个烟囱冒出的浓烟笼罩住了的山谷！
I tell you that the cloud of murder hangs thicker and lower than that over the heads of the people.
我告诉你，这杀人行凶的阴云比那笼罩在人民的头上的烟云还要低回、浓厚。
It is the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The terror is in the hearts of the people from the dusk to the dawn.
这是一个恐怖谷，死亡谷。从早到晚，人们心里都惊惶不安。
Wait, young man, and you will learn for yourself."
等着瞧吧，年轻人，你自己会弄清楚的。"
"Well, I'll let you know what I think when I have seen more," said McMurdo carelessly.
"好，等我了解得多了，我会把想法告诉你的，"麦克默多漫不经心地说道。
"What is very clear is that you are not the man for the place,
"很清楚，你不适于住在这里，
and that the sooner you sell out -- if you only get a dime a dollar for what the business is worth -- the better it will be for you.
你最好早些转售你的产业，如果你只得到产业价值的一角钱，这对你会有好处的。
What you have said is safe with me; but, by Gar! if I thought you were an informer..."
你对我所说的话，请放心，我不会说出去。可是，皇天在上，如果我发现你是一个告密的人，那可就..."
"No, no!" cried Morris piteously.
"不，不！"莫里斯令人可怜地叫道。
"Well, let it rest at that. I'll bear what you have said in mind, and maybe some day I'll come back to it.
"好，我们就谈到这里。我一定把你的话记在心上，也可能过几天我就给你回话。
I expect you meant kindly by speaking to me like this. Now I'll be getting home."
我认为你对我讲这些话是善意的。现在我要回家去了。"
"One word before you go," said Morris.
"在你走之前，我还要讲一句话，"莫里斯说道。
"We may have been seen together. They may want to know what we have spoken about."
"我们在一起讲话，难免有人看见。他们可能要打听我们说些什么。"
"Ah! that's well thought of."
"啊，这一着想得很好。"
"I offer you a clerkship in my store."
"我就说我想请你到我店里做职员。"
"And I refuse it. That's our business. Well, so long, Brother Morris, and may you find things go better with you in the future."
"我说我不答应。这就是我们到这里办的事情。好，再见，莫里斯兄弟。祝你走运。"
