巴斯克威尔的猎犬 巴斯克维尔庄园（6）（在线收听）

The train pulled up at a small wayside station and we all descended. Outside, beyond the low,white fence, a wagonette with a pair of cobs was waiting. Our coming was evidently a great event,for station-master and porters clustered round us to carry out our luggage. It was a sweet, simplecountry spot, but I was surprised to observe that by the gate there stood two soldierly men in darkuniforms who leaned upon their short rifles and glanced keenly at us as we passed. The coachman,a hardfaced, gnarled little fellow, saluted Sir Henry Baskerville, and in a few minutes we wereflying swiftly down the broad, white road. Rolling pasture lands curved upward on either side ofus, and old gabled houses peeped out from amid the thick green foliage, but behind the peacefuland sunlit countryside there rose ever, dark against the evening sky, the long, gloomy curve of themoor, broken by the jagged and sinister hills.

火车在路旁的一个小站上停了下来， 我们都下了车。 在矮矮的白色栏杆外面， 有一辆两匹短腿小马拉着的四轮马车在那里等着。 我们的到来显然是件大事， 站长和脚夫都向我们围了上来， 带着我们搬行李。 这里本是一个恬静、 可爱而又朴实的地方， 但是， 在出口的地方，有两个穿着黑制服的、 象军人似的人站在那里， 却不由得使我感到诧异。 他们的身体倚在不长的来复枪上， 两眼直勾勾地瞧着我们走过去。 马车夫是个身材矮小的家伙， 相貌冷酷而又粗野， 他向亨利· 巴斯克维尔行了个礼。 几分钟之后， 我们就沿着宽阔的灰白色的大道飞驰而去了。 起伏不平的牧草地， 在大道的两侧向上隆起， 穿过浓密绿荫的隙缝， 可以看到一些墙头和屋顶都被修成人字形的古老的房屋， 宁静的、 阳光普照的村子后面出现了 绵延不断的被傍晚的天空衬托出来的阴暗的沼地， 中间还罗列着几座参差不齐的、 险恶的小山。

The wagonette swung round into a side road, and we curved upward through deep lanes wornby centuries of wheels, high banks on either side, heavy with dripping moss and fleshyhart's-tongue ferns. Bronzing bracken and mottled bramble gleamed in the light of the sinking sun.

Still steadily rising, we passed over a narrow granite bridge and skirted a noisy stream whichgushed swiftly down, foaming and roaring amid the gray boulders. Both road and stream woundup through a valley dense with scrub oak and fir. At every turn Baskerville gave an exclamation ofdelight, looking eagerly about him and asking countless questions. To his eyes all seemedbeautiful, but to me a tinge of melancholy lay upon the countryside, which bore so clearly themark of the waning year. Yellow leaves carpeted the lanes and fluttered down upon us as wepassed. The rattle of our wheels died away as we drove through drifts of rotting vegetation -- sadgifts, as it seemed to me, for Nature to throw before the carriage of the returning heir of theBaskervilles.

四轮马车又转入了旁边的一条岔路， 我们穿过了被车轮在几世纪的时间里轧成的、 深深陷入地面的小巷似的沟道， 曲折上行， 道路两侧都是长满着湿漉漉的苔藓和一种枝叶肥厚的羊齿植物的石壁。 古铜色的蕨类和色彩斑驳的黑莓在落日的余辉之中闪闪发光。 我们一直在往上走着， 过了一座花岗石的窄桥， 就沿着一条奔腾叫嚣的急流向前走去了。 水流汹涌奔腾，泡沫喷溅， 在灰色的乱石之间怒吼而过。 道路在密生着矮小的橡树和枞树的峡谷之中， 沿着曲折迂回的小河蜿蜒溯流而上。 在每一转折处， 巴斯克维尔都要高兴得欢呼起来， 他急切地向四周环顾着， 一面向我们问着无数的问题。 在他看来， 什么都是美丽的， 可是我总觉得这一带乡 间有一些凄凉的味道和明显的深秋的景象。 小路上铺满了枯黄的树叶， 在我们经过的时候， 又有些树叶翩翩飞舞地由头顶上飘落下来。 当我们的马车从枯叶上走过时， 辚辚的轮声静了下来——这些东西在我看来都是造物主撒在重返家园的巴斯克维尔家族后裔车前的不祥的礼物。