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Angrily, I turned and felt my way down. There was a crash of thunder, and suddenly the rain came down. At the bottom of the stairs I looked towards the kitchen, and could see, in the next flash of lightning, a figure standing still in the doorway, listening. When the thunder sounded again, louder than before, he ran back inside, and I followed as softly as I could. I found him sitting in the kitchen, drinking whisky straight from the bottle, and shaking with fear. Quietly I came up behind him, and, putting my hands suddenly on his shoulders, cried, 'Ah!'
我氣呼呼地掉轉過頭，摸索著往下爬。雷電轟鳴，忽然間下起雨來。我站在樓梯的底端往廚房看，借助下一道閃電的光亮看見一個人靜靜地站在門口傾聽著。當雷聲又響起而且雷聲大過以前時，他跑回里面，我盡可能悄悄地跟著他。我發現他坐在廚房里，直接用酒瓶喝著威士忌，身體因害怕而在發抖。我輕輕地從他身后走上前去，忽然間把手放到他的肩上，大聲叫道：“啊！”
My uncle gave a kind of broken cry, and fell to the floor like a dead man. His face was a strange blue colour, and I began to think that he really was dead.
我叔叔急促地尖叫起來并摔倒在地上，像一個死人一樣。他的臉色顯現出一種奇怪的藍色，我開始琢磨他是不是真的死了。
At last his eyes opened, and he looked up and saw me. 'Oh man, are ye alive or a ghost?' he cried 'Get me my medicine, Davie—it's for my heart.' I found the medicine bottle and gave him some. He soon began to look a little better. 'Why did you lie to me?' I asked angrily.
最后他的雙眼睜開了，他抬起頭看著我。“噢，伙計，你到底是活著還是個幽靈？”他叫道。“把我的藥給我，戴維——治療我的心臟用的那種。”我找到藥瓶，給了他一些藥。他很快就開始看著好一點了。“你為什么對我扯謊？”我生氣地問道。
'Why did you give me money? And why did you try to kill me? Answer me!'
“你為什么給我錢？你為什么還想殺死我？回答我！”
'I'll tell ye tomorrow, Davie, I promise. Help me to bed now, will ye?' He still looked very ill, so I could not refuse. But this time I locked his bedroom door, and went to sleep in front of the kitchen fire.
“明天我會告訴你的，戴維，我發誓。現在幫忙把我扶到床上，行嗎？”他看起來仍病得很厲害，所以我不能拒絕。但這一次我鎖上了他的臥室的門，然后在廚房的爐火前睡了。
When I woke up in the morning, I felt very pleased with myself. 'He thinks he's cleverer than me, but he isn't!' I thought. When I let my uncle out of his room, I asked him again for an explanation. After a while, he said, 'Davie, I have some business with a ship's captain at Queensferry. Now, we could walk over there, and when I've done my business, we could visit the lawyer, Mr Rankeillor. He'll answer all your questions. He's an honest man, and he knew your father. What do ye say to that?'
第二天早晨當我醒來時，我對自己感到很高興。“他以為他比我聰明，但他不是！”我想。當我把我叔叔放出房間時，我又要他解釋一下。過了一會兒，他說道：“戴維，我和昆斯費里的一個船長有筆生意。現在我們走到那兒去，我做完生意時我們可以拜訪一下律師蘭基勒先生。他將解答你所有的問題。他是一個誠實的人，他認識你父親。那么做你意下如何？”
I thought for a moment. I had never seen the sea, but had always wanted to! 'It's a grand idea,' I said.
我想了一下。我從未見過大海，但一直想見！“是個好主意，”我說道。
It was a morning's walk to Queensferry, which was west of Edinburgh, but we did not say a word to each other on the way. Suddenly, at the top of a hill, we could see the Firth of Forth below us, blue and calm, with white sails on it.
昆斯費里位于愛丁堡西側，我們走了一上午才到，但一路上我們沒有互相說話。猛然，在山頂上，我們看見了下面的福斯灣，湛藍湛藍的，又風平浪靜，白帆點點。
'Ye see that public house?' asked my uncle. 'Captain Hoseason's there, to do business with me. There's the ship's boat on the beach, waiting to take him to the ship. And there's the ship itself! A grand ship!'
“你看見了那個小酒店嗎？”我叔叔問道，“霍齊亞森船長在那兒，要和我做生意。海灘上有船上的小艇，等著把他帶到船上去。那就是那船本身！一條大船！”
I had to agree with him. The sailors were getting the ship ready for sailing, and I thought what an exciting adventure that would be—to sail away to a foreign country.
我得同意他的。水手們正在把船收拾停當以備遠航。我想著遠航去一個遙遠的國度將是一次多么激動人心的歷險啊。
We walked down the hill to the public house and met the captain there. He was a tall, dark, serious-looking man, who shook hands politely with me. Stupidly, I left these two men to their business, and ran down to the beach, to talk to the sailors and look at the boats. It was all new and very interesting to me.
我們走下山到了小酒店，在那兒見到了船長。他是個大高個兒，皮膚黝黑，表情嚴肅。他有禮貌地和我握握手。傻呵呵地，我讓這兩個人去干他們自己的事，自己跑到海灘上去和水手們聊天并去看那些小艇。這對我來說都是新鮮事，都很令人感興趣。
