In the bar in which Strickland and Nichols sat a mechanical piano was loudly grinding out dance music. Round the room people were sitting at table, here half a dozen sailors uproariously drunk, there a group of soldiers; and in the middle, crowded together, couples were dancing. Bearded sailors with brown faces and large horny hands clasped their partners in a tight embrace. The women wore nothing but a shift. Now and then two sailors would get up and dance together. The noise was deafening. People were singing, shouting, laughing; and when a man gave a long kiss to the girl sitting on his knees, cat-calls from the English sailors increased the din. The air was heavy with the dust beaten up by the heavy boots of the men, and gray with smoke. It was very hot. Behind the bar was seated a woman nursing her baby. The waiter, an undersized youth with a flat, spotty face, hurried to and fro carrying a tray laden with glasses of beer.
在思特里克蘭德和尼柯爾斯坐的酒吧間里擺著一架自動鋼琴，機械地演奏著喧噪聒耳的舞曲。屋子四周人們圍坐在小桌旁邊，這邊六七個水手已經喝得半醉，吵吵嚷嚷，那邊坐著的是一群士兵。屋子中央人們正一對對地擠在一起跳舞。留著大胡子、面色黝黑的水手用粗硬的大手使勁摟著自己的舞伴。女人們身上只穿著內衫。不時地也有兩個水手站起來互相摟著跳舞。喧鬧的聲音震耳欲聾。沒有一個人不在喝，不在叫，不在高聲大笑；當一個人使勁吻了一下坐在他膝頭上的女人時，英國的水手中就有人噓叫，更增加了屋子的嘈雜。男人們的大靴子揚起的塵土和口里噴出的煙霧弄得屋子烏煙瘴氣。空氣又悶又熱。賣酒的柜臺后面坐著一個女人在給孩子喂奶。一個身材矮小、生著一張長滿雀斑的扁臉年輕侍者，托著擺滿啤酒杯子的托盤不住腳地走來走去。
In a little while Tough Bill, accompanied by two huge negroes, came in, and it was easy to see that he was already three parts drunk. He was looking for trouble. He lurched against a table at which three soldiers were sitting and knocked over a glass of beer. There was an angry altercation, and the owner of the bar stepped forward and ordered Tough Bill to go. He was a hefty fellow, in the habit of standing no nonsense from his customers, and Tough Bill hesitated. The landlord was not a man he cared to tackle, for the police were on his side, and with an oath he turned on his heel. Suddenly he caught sight of Strickland. He rolled up to him. He did not speak. He gathered the spittle in his mouth and spat full in Strickland's face. Strickland seized his glass and flung it at him. The dancers stopped suddenly still. There was an instant of complete silence, but when Tough Bill threw himself on Strickland the lust of battle seized them all, and in a moment there was a confused scrimmage. Tables were overturned, glasses crashed to the ground. There was a hellish row. The women scattered to the door and behind the bar. Passers-by surged in from the street. You heard curses in every tongue the sound of blows, cries; and in the middle of the room a dozen men were fighting with all their might. On a sudden the police rushed in, and everyone who could made for the door. When the bar was more or less cleared, Tough Bill was lying insensible on the floor with a great gash in his head. Captain Nichols dragged Strickland, bleeding from a wound in his arm, his clothes in rags, into the street. His own face was covered with blood from a blow on the nose.
過了不大一會兒工夫，硬漢子彼爾在兩個高大黑人的陪同下走了進來。一眼就可以看出，他已經有七八分醉意了。他正在故意尋釁鬧事。一進門彼爾就東倒西歪地撞在一張臺子上，把一杯啤酒打翻了。坐在這張桌子邊上的是三個士兵，雙方馬上爭吵起來。酒吧間老板走出來，叫硬漢子彼爾走出去。老板脾氣暴烈，從來不容顧客在他的酒館鬧事。硬漢子彼爾氣焰有些收斂，他不太敢同酒吧間老板沖突，因為老板有警察作后盾。彼爾罵了一句，掉轉了身軀。忽然，他一眼看見了思特里克蘭德。他搖搖晃晃地走到思特里克蘭德前邊，一句話不說，嘬了一口唾沫，直啐到思特里克蘭德臉上。思特里克蘭德抄起酒杯，向他扔去。跳舞的人都停了下來。有那么一分鐘，整個酒吧間變得非常安靜，一點聲音也沒有。但是等硬漢子彼爾撲到思特里克蘭德身上的時候，所有的人的斗志都變得激昂起來。剎那間，酒吧間開始了一場混戰。啤酒臺子打翻了，玻璃杯在地上摔得粉碎。雙方廝打得越來越厲害。女人們躲到門邊和柜臺后面去，過路的行人從街頭涌進來。只聽見到處一片咒罵聲、拳擊聲、喊叫聲，屋子中間，一打左右的人打得難解難分。突然間，警察沖了進來，所有的人都爭先恐后地往門外竄。當酒吧間里多少清靜下來以后，只見硬漢子彼爾人事不醒地躺在地上，頭上裂了個大口子。尼柯爾斯船長拽著思特里克蘭德逃到外面街上，思特里克蘭德的胳臂淌著血，衣服撕得一條一條的。尼柯爾斯船長也是滿臉血污；他的鼻子挨了一拳。
評論
打印
