At last, Merry seemed to think a speech might help matters.

2. 'Mates,' says he, 'there's two of them alone there; one's the old cripple that brought us all here and blundered us down to this; the other's that cub that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates — — '

3. He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead a charge. But just then — crack! crack! crack! — three musket-shots flashed out of the thicket. Merry tumbled head foremost into the excavation; the man with the bandage spun round like a teetotum, and fell all his length upon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the other three turned and ran for it with all their might.

 

1. Before you could wink (прежде, чем вы могли бы моргнуть = в одно мгновение), Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into the struggling Merry (Долговязый Джон выстрелил из обоих стволов пистолета в старавшегося /вылезти/ из ямы Мерри; to struggle — бороться; делать усилия; стараться изо всех сил); and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the last agony (и когда тот глянул н него в последней агонии; to roll up — закатывать, свертывать), 'George (Джордж),' said he (сказал он), 'I reckon I settled you (полагаю, мы в расчете; to settle — приводить в порядок, улаживать, устраивать).'

2. At the same moment the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us (в тот же миг доктор, Грей и Бен Ганн присоединились к нам), with smoking muskets, from among the nutmeg trees (с дымящимися мушкетами /вышли/ из зарослей мускатного ореха).

3. 'Forward (вперед)!' cried the doctor (крикнул доктор). 'Double quick, my lads (ускоренным маршем, мои ребята). We must head 'em off the boats (мы должны отрезать их от шлюпок; to head off — перехитрить, перехватить, отрезать путь).'

4. And we set off at a great pace (и мы побежали с большой скоростью), sometimes plunging through the bushes to the chest (иногда пробираясь через кусты, /доходившие/ до груди; to plunge — нырять, погружаться).

5. I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us (скажу вам, что Сильвер старался изо всех сил поспевать за нами; to be anxious — стремиться, заботиться, тревожиться; to keep pace with — идти в ногу с, не отставать от). The work that man went through (труд, который проделал этот человек; to go through — выдержать, пережить), leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest were fit to burst (прыгая на своем костыле, до тех пор, что мускулы его груди /казалось/ вот-вот разорвутся; to be fit for — годиться, быть пригодным; burst — разрыв, взрыв), was work no sound man ever equaled (был трудом = нагрузкой, которую ни один здоровый человек никогда бы не выдержал; to equal — быть равным, соответствовать); and so thinks the doctor (и так же думает доктор). As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us, and on the verge of strangling (как бы то ни было, он был уже в тридцати футах позади нас и совсем запыхался; on the verge of — на грани, близкий к; to strangle — задушить; задыхаться), when we reached the brow of the slope (когда мы добежали до кромки спуска).

 

agony [`xgqnI] plunging [`plAnGIN] anxious [`xNkSqs] muscles [`mAslz]

 

1. Before you could wink, Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into the struggling Merry; and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the last agony, 'George,' said he, 'I reckon I settled you.'

At the same moment the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us, with smoking muskets, from among the nutmeg trees.

3. 'Forward!' cried the doctor. 'Double quick, my lads. We must head 'em off the boats.'

And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through the bushes to the chest.

I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that man went through, leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest were fit to burst, was work no sound man ever equalled; and so thinks the doctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us, and on the verge of strangling, when we reached the brow of the slope.

 

1. 'Doctor (доктор),' he hailed (он крикнул), 'see there (посмотрите)! no hurry (нечего спешить)!'

2. Sure enough there was no hurry (действительно, спешить было некуда). In a more open part of the plateau (/выйдя/ на более открытую часть плоскогорья), we could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as they had started, right for Mizzen-mast Hill (мы увидели, как трое уцелевших бежали в том же направлении, откуда пришли, прямо к Холму Бизань-мачты). We were already between them and the boats (мы уже находились между ними и лодками); and so we four sat down to breathe (и потому мы сели перевести дыхание), while Long John, mopping his face, came slowly up with us (пока Долговязый Джон, вытирая лицо, медленно подошел к нам; to come up with — поравняться с кем-л., догнать).

3. 'Thank ye kindly, doctor (большое вам спасибо, доктор; ye = you),' says he. 'You came in in about the nick, I guess, for me and Hawkins (вы пришли как раз вовремя, чтобы /спасти/ нас с Хокинсом; in the nick — в самый последний момент, вовремя). And so it's you, Ben Gunn (так это ты, Бен Ганн)!' he added (добавил он). 'Well, you're a nice one to be sure (что ж, ты, конечно, славный малый).'

 

survivors [sq`vaIvqz] breathe [brJD] guess [ges]

 

1. 'Doctor,' he hailed, 'see there! no hurry!'

Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open part of the plateau, we could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as they had started, right for Mizzen-mast Hill. We were already between them and the boats; and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John, mopping his face, came slowly up with us.

3. 'Thank ye kindly, doctor,' says he. 'You came in in about the nick, I guess, for me and Hawkins. And so it's you, Ben Gunn!' he added. 'Well, you're a nice one to be sure.'

 

1. 'I'm Ben Gunn, I am (я Бен Ганн, да),' replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in his embarrassment (ответил отшельник, извиваясь как угорь, от смущения). 'And,' he added, after a long pause (добавил он после долгой паузы), 'how do, Mr. Silver (как поживаете, мистер Сильвер)? Pretty well, I thank ye, says you (довольно хорошо, благодарю, должны бы вы сказать).'

2. 'Ben, Ben (Бен, Бен),' murmured Silver (пробормотал Сильвер), 'to think as you've done me (подумать /только/, как ты провел меня)!' The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pickaxes (доктор послал Грея за киркой), deserted, in their flight, by the mutineers (брошенной во время бегства бунтовщиками); and then as we proceeded leisurely down hill to where the boats were lying (и затем, пока мы спускались неторопливо по уклону туда, где располагались шлюпки; leisure — досуг, свободное время), related, in a few words, what had taken place (рассказал в нескольких словах, что случилось; to take place — происходить, случаться, иметь место). It was a story that profoundly interested Silver (эта история серьезно: «глубоко» заинтересовала Сильвера); and Ben Gunn, the half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end (Бен Ганн, полупомешанный отшельник, был главным героем /этой истории/ от начала и до конца; maroon — марон /беглый негр в Вест-Индии и Суринаме/; /перен./ изгой, беглец; отшельник; человек, высаженный на необитаемом острове).

 

maroon [mq`rHn] wriggling [`rIglIN] pickaxes [`pIkxks] leisurely [`leZqlI]

 

1. 'I'm Ben Gunn, I am,' replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in his embarrassment. 'And,' he added, after a long pause, 'how do, Mr. Silver? Pretty well, I thank ye, says you.'

2. 'Ben, Ben,' murmured Silver, 'to think as you've done me!' The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pickaxes, deserted, in their flight, by the mutineers; and then as we proceeded leisurely down hill to where the boats were lying, related, in a few words, what had taken place. It was a story that profoundly interested Silver; and Ben Gunn, the half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end.

 

1. Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found the skeleton (Бен во время своих долгих одиноких скитаний по острову нашел скелет) — it was he that had rifled it (это он обобрал его); he had found the treasure (он отыскал сокровища); he had dug it up (it was the haft of his pickaxe that lay broken in the excavation (он вырыл их — это половина = рукоятка его кирки лежала сломанная в яме); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys (он перенес их на спине за время многочисленных утомительных рейсов), from the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at the north-east angle of the island (от подножия высокой сосны в пещеру, которая у него была в двуглавом холме в северо-восточной части острова; angle — угол), and there it had lain stored in safety since two months before the arrival of the Hispaniola (и там оно хранилось в безопасности уже два месяца до прибытия Испаньолы; to store — хранить, сохранять; убирать на хранение).

2. When the doctor had wormed this secret from him, on the afternoon of the attack (когда доктор выведал у него эту тайну, в день атаки /на блокгауз/; to worm — ползти, проникать; выведывать; worm — червяк, червь), and when, next morning he saw the anchorage deserted (и когда на следующее утро он увидел, что стоянка покинута /кораблем/), he had gone to Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless (он отправился к Сильверу, отдал ему карту, которая была теперь бесполезной) — given him the stores, for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goats' meat salted by himself (отдал ему припасы, так как пещера Бена Ганна набита: «хорошо снабжена» козлиным мясом, засоленным им самим = соленой козлятиной) — given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill (отдал все, чтобы иметь возможность перебраться в безопасности из крепости на двуглавый холм; to move from place to place — переезжать с места на место), there to be clear of malaria and keep a guard upon the money (чтобы быть подальше от малярии = от болот и /там/ охранять сокровища; clear of — в стороне, на расстоянии).

 

wandering [`wOndqrIN] journeys [`Gq:nIz] supplied [sq`plaId] malaria [mq`leqrIq]

 

1. Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found the skeleton — it was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; he had dug it up (it was the haft of his pickaxe that lay broken in the excavation); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, from the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at the north-east angle of the island, and there it had lain stored in safety since two months before the arrival of the Hispaniola.

When the doctor had wormed this secret from him, on the afternoon of the attack, and when, next morning he saw the anchorage deserted, he had gone to Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless — given him the stores, for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goats' meat salted by himself — given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be clear of malaria and keep a guard upon the money.

 

1. 'As for you, Jim (что касается тебя, Джим),' he said, 'it went against my heart (это было против моего сердца = мне было очень тяжело), but I did what I thought best for those who had stood by their duty (но я делал то, что считал лучшим для тех, кто готов выполнять свой долг); and if you were not one of these, whose fault was it (а если ты не был одним из них, чья это вина)?'

2. That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horrid disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers (в то утро, обнаружив, что мне придется быть втянутым в ужасное разочарование, которое он приготовил для мятежников; to involve — втягивать, вовлекать), he had run all the way to the cave (он бежал до самой пещеры), and, leaving the squire to guard the captain (и, оставляя сквайра охранять капитана), had taken Gray and the maroon, and started, making the diagonal across the island (взял Грея и отшельника и отправился наперерез через остров; diagonal — диагональ, косая линия), to be at hand beside the pine (чтобы быть близко около сосны). Soon, however, he saw that our party had the start of him (вскоре, однако, он увидел, что наш отряд опередил его); and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been despatched in front to do his best alone (Бена Ганна, бывшего /самым/ быстроногим, отправили вперед, чтобы он сделал все возможное /чтобы задержать пиратов/). Then it had occurred to him to work upon the superstitions of his former shipmates (затем ему /Бену Ганну/ пришло в голову сыграть на суевериях своих бывших товарищей); and he was so far successful (он = его затея была настолько удачной) that Gray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the arrival of the treasure-hunters (что Грей и доктор добрались и уже устроили засаду до прибытия искателей сокровищ).

3. 'Ah,' said Silver, 'it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here (мне повезло, что со мной был Хокинс). You would have let old John be cut to bits (/а иначе/ вы бы позволили старому Джону быть изрубленным на куски), and never given it a thought, doctor (и даже не подумали бы /спасти/, доктор: «и вовсе не дали бы этому мысли»).'

 

fault [fLlt] diagonal [daI`xgqnql] ambushed [`xmbuSt] fortunate [`fLtSqnqt]

 

1. 'As for you, Jim,' he said, 'it went against my heart, but I did what I thought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were not one of these, whose fault was it?'

That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horrid disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he had run all the way to the cave, and, leaving the squire to guard the captain, had taken Gray and the maroon, and started, making the diagonal across the island, to be at hand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had the start of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been despatched in front to do his best alone. Then it had occurred to him to work upon the superstitions of his former shipmates; and he was so far successful that Gray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the arrival of the treasure-hunters.

3. 'Ah,' said Silver, 'it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here. You would have let old John be cut to bits, and never given it a thought, doctor.'

 

1. 'Not a thought (и не подумал бы),' replied Doctor Livesey, cheerily (ответил доктор Ливси весело).

2. And by this time we had reached the gigs (к тому времени мы дошли до гичек). The doctor, with the pick-axe, demolished one of them (доктор киркой разбил одну из них), and then we all got aboard the other (а затем мы все забрались в другую), and set out to go round by sea for North Inlet (и отчалили, чтобы по морю обойти /остров/ и добраться до Северной бухты; to go round — обойти, сделать крюк).

3. This was a run of eight or nine miles (это был рейс в восемь или девять миль). Silver, though he was almost killed already with fatigue (Сильвер, хотя он уже почти был убит утомлением), was set to an oar, like the rest of us (был посажен за весла, как и остальные), and we were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea (и мы вскоре скользили быстро по спокойному морю). Soon we passed out of the straits and doubled the south-east corner of the island (в скором времени мы вышли из пролива и обогнули юго-восточную часть острова), round which, four days ago, we had towed the Hispaniola (вокруг которой четыре дня назад мы буксировали Испаньолу).

 

сheerily [`tSIqlI] demolished [dI`mOlISt] fatigue [fq`tJg]