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Chapter 53
第五十三章
"Tenez, voila le Capitaine Brunot," said Tiare, one day when I was fitting together what she could tell me of Strickland. "He knew Strickland well; he visited him at his house."
“看啊，那就是布呂諾船長，”有一天，我腦子里正在往一塊拼綴蒂阿瑞給我講的關于思特里克蘭德的片片斷斷的故事時，她忽然喊叫起來。“這個人同思特里克蘭德很熟。他到思特里克蘭德住的地方去過。”
I saw a middle-aged Frenchman with a big black beard, streaked with gray, a sunburned face, and large, shining eyes. He was dressed in a neat suit of ducks. I had noticed him at luncheon, and Ah Lin, the Chinese boy, told me he had come from the Paumotus on the boat that had that day arrived. Tiare introduced me to him, and he handed me his card, a large card on which was printed Rene Brunot, and underneath, Capitaine au Long Cours. We were sitting on a little verandah outside the kitchen, and Tiare was cutting out a dress that she was making for one of the girls about the house. He sat down with us.
我看到的是一個已過中年的法國人，蓄著一大捧黑胡子，不少已經花白，一張曬得黝黑的面孔，一對閃閃發光的大眼睛。他身上穿著一套很整潔的帆布衣服。其實吃午飯的時候我已經注意到他了，旅館的一個中國籍侍者阿林告訴我，他是從包莫圖斯島來的，他乘的船當天剛剛靠岸。蒂阿瑞把我引見給他；他遞給我一張名片。名片很大，當中印著他的姓名——勒內·布呂諾，下面一行小字是“龍谷號船長”。我同蒂阿瑞當時正坐在廚房外面的一個小涼臺上，蒂阿瑞在給她手下的一個女孩子裁衣服。布呂諾船長就和我們一起坐下了。
"Yes; I knew Strickland well," he said. "I am very fond of chess, and he was always glad of a game. I come to Tahiti three or four times a year for my business, and when he was at Papeete he would come here and we would play. When he married"—Captain Brunot smiled and shrugged his shoulders—"enfin, when he went to live with the girl that Tiare gave him, he asked me to go and see him. I was one of the guests at the wedding feast." He looked at Tiare, and they both laughed. "He did not come much to Papeete after that, and about a year later it chanced that I had to go to that part of the island for I forgot what business, and when I had finished it I said to myself: 'Voyons, why should I not go and see that poor Strickland?' I asked one or two natives if they knew anything about him, and I discovered that he lived not more than five kilometres from where I was. So I went. I shall never forget the impression my visit made on me. I live on an atoll, a low island, it is a strip of land surrounding a lagoon, and its beauty is the beauty of the sea and sky and the varied colour of the lagoon and the grace of the cocoa-nut trees; but the place where Strickland lived had the beauty of the Garden of Eden. Ah, I wish I could make you see the enchantment of that spot, a corner hidden away from all the world, with the blue sky overhead and the rich, luxuriant trees. It was a feast of colour. And it was fragrant and cool. Words cannot describe that paradise. And here he lived, unmindful of the world and by the world forgotten. I suppose to European eyes it would have seemed astonishingly sordid. The house was dilapidated and none too clean. Three or four natives were lying on the verandah. You know how natives love to herd together. There was a young man lying full length, smoking a cigarette, and he wore nothing but a pareo."
“是的，我同思特里克蘭德很熟，”他說。“我喜歡下棋，他也是只要找到個棋友就同人下。我每年為了生意上的事要到塔希提來三四回，如果他湊巧也在帕皮提，總要找我來一起玩幾盤。后來，他結婚了，”——說到結婚兩個字布呂諾船長笑了笑，聳了一下肩膀——“在同蒂阿瑞介紹給他的那個女孩子到鄉下去住以前，他邀請我有機會去看看他。舉行婚禮那天我也是賀客之一。”他看了蒂阿瑞一眼，兩個人都笑了。“結婚以后，他就很少到帕皮提來了。大約一年以后，湊巧我到他居住的那一帶去，我忘了是為辦一件什么事了。事情辦完以后，我對自己說：‘噯，我干嘛不去看看可憐的思特里克蘭德呀？’我向一兩個本地的人打聽，問他們知道不知道有這么一個人，結果我發現他住的地方離我那兒還不到五公里遠。于是我就去了。我這次去的印象永遠也不會忘記。我的住家是在珊瑚島上，是環抱著咸水湖的一個低矮的環形小島。那地方的美是海天茫茫的美。是湖水變幻不定的色彩和椰子樹的搖曳多姿。而思特里克蘭德住的地方卻是另一種美，好象是生活在伊甸園里。哎呀，我真希望我能把那迷惑人的地方描摹給你們聽。與人寰隔絕的一個幽僻的角落，頭頂上是蔚藍的天空，四圍一片郁郁蒼蒼的樹木。那里是觀賞不盡的色彩，芬芳馥郁的香氣，蔭翳涼爽的空氣。這個人世樂園是無法用言語形容的。他就住在那里，不關心世界上的事，世界也把他完全遺忘。我想，在歐洲人的眼睛里，那地方也許顯得太骯臟了一些；房子破破爛爛，而且收拾得一點兒也不干凈。我剛走近那幢房子，就看見涼臺上躺著三四個當地人。你知道這里的人總愛湊在一起。我看見一個年輕人攤開了身體在地上躺著，抽著紙煙，身上除了一條帕利歐以外任什么也沒有穿。”
