四签名 78凶手的末日（11）

Jones turned our searchlight upon her, so that we could plainly see the figures upon her deck.

琼斯把我们的探照灯向它直射，照见了船面上的人影。

One man sat by the stern, with something black between his knees, over which he stooped.

一个人坐在船尾，两腿跨着一个黑的东西，

Beside him lay a dark mass, which looked like a Newfoundland dog.

旁边还蹲伏着一堆黑影子，好象一只纽芬兰狗。

The boy held the tiller, while against the red glare of the furnace I could see old Smith,

一个男孩把舵，从锅炉的红光中，

stripped to the waist, and shovelling¹ coals for dear life.

可以看见斯密司光着上身在拚命地加谋。

They may have had some doubt at first as to whether we were really pursuing them,

起初他们或者还不能肯定我们是否是在追赶他们，

but now as we followed every winding² and turning which they took there could no longer be any question about it.

可是到现在我们在每个转弯抹角的地方都紧紧地跟在后面，那就没有问题是在追他们了。

At Greenwich we were about three hundred paces behind them.

在到了格林威治的时候，两船的距离约有三百步，

At Blackwall we could not have been more than two hundred and fifty.

再到布莱克沃尔时两船相隔已不过二百五十步了。

I have coursed many creatures in many countries during my checkered³ career,

我奔波了一生，在不少的国家里都打过猎，也追赶过不少的野兽，

but never did sport give me such a wild thrill as this mad, flying man-hunt down the Thames.

然而都没有象今晚在泰晤士河上追人这样惊险出奇。

Steadily⁴ we drew in upon them, yard by yard.

我们和前船已是一步接近一步了，

In the silence of the night we could hear the panting and clanking of their machinery⁵.

在寂静的夜里，可以很清楚地听到前面船上机器的响声。

The man in the stern still crouched⁶ upon the deck, and his arms were moving as though he were busy,

坐在船尾上的那个人还是蹲在那里，两手似乎挥动得很忙，

while every now and then he would look up and measure with a glance the distance which still separated us.

不断地抬起头来估量两船的距离。

Nearer we came and nearer. Jones yelled to them to stop.

我们相距更近了，琼斯喝叫着命令前船速停。

We were not more than four boat's-lengths behind them, both boats flying at a tremendous pace.

只有四只船的长短，两船仍在飞奔前驶。

1 shovelling   

v.铲子( shovel的现在分词 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• The workers are shovelling the sand. 工人们正在铲沙子。 来自辞典例句
• They were shovelling coal up. 他们在铲煤。 来自辞典例句

2 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

3 checkered   

adj.有方格图案的

参考例句：

• The ground under the trees was checkered with sunlight and shade.林地光影交错。
• He’d had a checkered past in the government.他过去在政界浮沉。

4 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

5 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

6 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。