"You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil incarnate. I tell you that.
你不了解這個死者麥卡錫。他是個魔鬼的化身。我這是說實話。
God keep you out of the clutches of such a man as he.
愿上帝保佑你可千萬不要讓他這樣的人抓住你的把柄。
His grip has been upon me these twenty years, and he has blasted my life.
這二十年來,他一直抓住我不放,他把我這一生都毀了。
I'll tell you first how I came to be in his power.
我首先告訴你我是怎樣落到他手里的。
It was in the early '60's at the diggings.
那是十九世紀六十年代初在開礦的地方。
I was a young chap then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at anything;
那時我是個年輕小伙子,很容易沖動,也不安分守己,什么都想干;
I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck with my claim, took to the bush,
我和壞人結成了一伙,飲酒作樂,在開礦方面失利,
and in a word became what you would call over here a highway robber.
以后當了綠林強盜。
There were six of us, and we had a wild, free life of it,
我們一伙共有六個人,過著放蕩不羈的生活,
sticking up a station from time to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings.
不時搶劫車站和攔截駛往礦場的馬車。
Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang.
我當時化名為巴勒拉特的黑杰克,現(xiàn)在在那個殖民地,人們還記得我們這一伙叫巴勒拉特幫。
"One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and we lay in wait for it and attacked it.
有一天,一個黃金運輸隊從巴勒拉特開往墨爾本,我們埋伏在路邊襲擊了它。
There were six troopers and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of their saddles at the first volley.
那個運輸隊有六名護送的騎兵,我們也是六個人,可以說是勢均力敵,不過我們一開槍就把四個騎兵打下馬來。
Three of our boys were killed, however, before we got the swag.
我們也有三個小伙子被擊斃才把那筆錢財弄到手。
I put my pistol to the head of the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy.
我用手槍指著那馬車夫的腦袋,他就是現(xiàn)在的這個麥卡錫。
I wish to the Lord that I had shot him then,
我向上帝禱告,如果我當時開槍打死了他,那就謝天謝地了,
but I spared him, though I saw his wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every feature.
但是,我饒了他一條命,雖然我當時看到他那雙瞇縫著的鬼眼睛一直盯著看我,好象要把我臉部的所有特征都牢牢記住似的。