巴斯克维尔的猎犬 沼地的惨剧（13）

 

A low moan had fallen upon our ears. There it was again upon our left! On that side a ridgeof rocks ended in a sheer cliff which overlooked a stone-strewn slope. On its jagged face wasspread-eagled some dark, irregular object. As we ran towards it the vague outline hardened into adefinite shape. It was a prostrate man face downward upon the ground, the head doubled underhim at a horrible angle, the shoulders rounded and the body hunched together as if in the act ofthrowing a somersault. So grotesque was the attitude that I could not for the instant realize thatthat moan had been the passing of his soul. Not a whisper, not a rustle, rose now from the darkfigure over which we stooped. Holmes laid his hand upon him and held it up again with anexclamation of horror. The gleam of the match which he struck shone upon his clotted fingers andupon the ghastly pool which widened slowly from the crushed skull of the victim. And it shoneupon something else which turned our hearts sick and faint within us -- the body of Sir HenryBaskerville!

一阵低低的呻吟传进了我们的耳鼓， 又是在我们的左面！ 在那面有一条岩脊， 尽头处是直上直下的崖壁， 由那里向下， 可以看到一片多石的山坡。 在那高低不平的地面上， 平摊着一堆黑咕隆咚的、 形状不规则的物体。 当我们跑近了它的时候， 模糊的轮廓就变得清楚起来了。 原来是个趴在地上的人， 头可怕地在身体下面窝着， 身 体向里蜷曲成一团， 好象是要翻跟斗的样子。 他的样子那样特别， 使我当时都不能相信， 刚才听到的声音是他灵魂脱壳时发出来的。 我们弯身望着的那个人一言不发， 动也不动。 福尔摩斯把他抓住提了起来， 一面惊恐地大叫了一声。 他划燃了一根火柴， 亮光照出了那死人紧攥在一起的手指， 也照出了由他被打破的头颅骨里流出来的， 慢慢扩大着的一滩可怕的血。 火光还照清楚了另一件使我们痛心得几乎昏过去的事——正是亨利· 巴斯克维尔爵士的尸体！