《巴斯克威尔猎犬》 58搜寻杀人凶手(2)

The creature that lay before us was as large as a small lion. Its mouth and teeth were huge. They shone with blue flames. There were rings of blue fire round its cruel eyes, too. I touched the hound¹'s burning coat. When I held up my hand, it, too, seemed to be on fire.

躺在我们面前的那个家伙同一只小狮子一般大小。它的嘴巴和牙齿很大。它们闪烁着蓝色的光芒。它那残忍的眼睛周围也有圈蓝色的火苗。我摸了摸它那发光喷火的皮毛。我抬起手来时，手似乎也着火了。

"Phosphorus, "I said, "That is why the hound appears to burn in the dark. Stapleton put phosphorous paint on the hound in the hut² beside the house."

“是磷，”我说道。“那便是那只猎犬在黑暗之中看上去冒火光的原因。斯台普顿在房子旁边的那个小屋里给那只猎犬涂上了含磷的涂料。”

But Holmes was thinking more about Sir Henry than about Stapleton's cleverness.

可是福尔摩斯对亨利爵士比对斯台普顿的狡猾考虑得要多些。

"I must apologize to you, Sir Henry," he said. "I put your life in danger. I expected to see a huge hound, but not a creature like this. The fog gave us a very short time to control our fear, and for moments we could not move."

“我必须向您抱歉，亨利爵士，”他说道。“我使您遭受了生命危险。我预计看到的是一只大猎犬，可没想到会是这样的一只。大雾曾留给我们短暂的一段时间克制我们的恐惧感，还有一会儿我们都惊讶得动弹不了身子。”

"Never mind, "said Sir Henry. "You saved my life, and I thank you. Please help me stand up. What are you going to do now?"

“没关系，”亨利爵士说道。“您救了我的性命，我还得感谢您呢。请扶我站起来。你们现在打算怎么办呢？”

Sir Henry's legs were shaking so much from his terrible experience that he could not stand. We helped him to a rock. He sat there and held his head in his hands.

亨利爵士的双腿因这次可怕的经历而抖得很厉害，他自己都站不起来了。我们把他扶到了一块石头那儿。他坐在那儿，双手捂着头。

"We must leave you here, Sir Henry, and try to catch Stapleton. We shall come back as quickly as possible and take you to the Hall. Our case is complete, but we must now catch our man."

“我们现在得把您留在这儿了，亨利爵士，还要去想方设法抓住斯台普顿呢。我们将尽快回来并把您带到庄园去。案子已经了结了，可是我们现在必须抓住那个人。”

I followed Holmes along the path back to the house.

我跟着福尔摩斯沿着那条小路返回了那栋屋子。

"We must search the house, "said Holmes, "but almost certainly he won't be there.

“我们必须搜搜这栋屋子，”福尔摩斯说道，“可是几乎可以肯定他是不会在的。

1 hound   

n.猎狗，卑鄙的人；vt.用猎狗追，追逐

参考例句：

• The hound found the trail of the rabbit.猎狗发现了兔子的踪迹。
• The police have promised to hound down those responsible for the explosion.警方已保证要追查此次爆炸事件有责任的人员。

2 hut   

n.棚子；简陋的小房子

参考例句：

• The hut is in the midst of the forest.小屋在森林深处。
• The poor old man lived in a little wooden hut.那个贫穷的老人住在一间小木屋内。