It was a half-holiday and William was in his bedroom making careful preparations for meeting his fellow outlaws, as they called themselves, in the afternoon. He and the other outlaws would always meet up during half-holidays, to go on adventures and make campfires together near their barn.
這天是半休日。威廉在自己的臥室里，認真地為下午與他那幾位不法分子的同伴的見面做著準備。他和他的這幾位同伴自稱“不法分子”。他們總是在半休日這天見面，一起去體驗冒險，然后在他們的谷倉旁一起搞個篝火晚會。
“Oh! I’m so glad you’ve come, dear. And is this the baby!” This was William’s mother. “Oh, crumbs!” said William and retreated hastily. He sat down on his bed to wait till the coast was clear. Soon came the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs. “Oh, William,” said his mother, as she entered his room, “Mrs. Butler’s come with her baby to spend the afternoon, and we’d arranged to go out till tea-time with the baby, but she’s got such a headache, I’m insisting on her lying down for the afternoon in the drawing-room. But she’s so worried about the baby not getting out this nice afternoon.”
“哦！親愛的，我很高興你能來。小寶貝也來啦！”這是威廉的母親在說話。“哎呀，不好！”威廉邊自言自語邊慌忙地向后退了幾步。他坐在床上等待著危險警報的解除。不一會兒，傳來了上樓梯的腳步聲。“哦，威廉，”他的母親走進他的房間對他說，“巴特勒太太帶著孩子來咱家了，我們本打算帶她家的寶貝出去逛逛，下午茶時候再回來，可巴特勒太太頭痛，我就堅持讓她在客廳躺下休息會兒。但她覺得這么好的天氣不帶孩子出去玩太可惜了。”
“Oh!” said William, without interest. “I told Mrs. Butler I was sure you wouldn’t mind taking the baby out for a bit in the perambulator!” William stared at her, speechless. “Me?” he said. “Me? Me take a baby out in a pram?” “Now, William, I’m sure you’d like to help, and I’m sure you wouldn’t like your father to hear that you wouldn’t even do a little thing like that for poor Mrs. Butler. And she’s got such a headache.” “All right,” he muttered, “I’ll be down in a minute.”
“哦！”威廉敷衍地回答道。“我跟巴特勒太太說了，我確信你不介意推著嬰兒車帶著孩子出去玩會兒！”威廉盯著母親，啞口無言。“我？”他說，“我？我推著嬰兒車，帶著一個嬰兒出去？”“沒錯，就現在，威廉，我確信你愿意幫忙。而且，我確信你不會希望讓你父親聽到你連幫助可憐的巴特勒太太這樣一點兒小事也做不了。何況，巴特勒太太確實頭疼得厲害。”“好吧，”他咕噥著回答說，“我這就下樓。”
He heard them fussing over the baby in the hall. “Here he is, dear, all ready for you, and you needn’t go far away—just up and down the road, if you like, but stay out till tea-time. He’s a dear little baby, isn’t he? And isn’t it a nice Willy-Billy den, to take it out a nice ta-ta, while it’s mummy goes bye-byes, den?” William blushed for pure shame.
他聽到大人們在大廳里手忙腳亂地擺弄著嬰兒。 “準備好了，親愛的，你不需要帶他去太遠的地方——就推著嬰兒車隨便在路上走來走去就行，但要到下午茶時間再回來。小寶貝很可愛，不是嗎？而且天氣很不錯，帶小家伙出去好好玩玩兒，讓他離開媽媽一會兒，怎么樣？”威廉的臉紅了，這臉紅純粹是因為覺得很丟人。
He pushed the pram down to the end of the road and round the corner. “A nice way for an Outlaw to spend the afternoon!” He thought to himself. “Blab—blab—blab—blab—blub—blub—blub!” The baby said. “Oh, you shut up!” said William crushingly. Suddenly a Great Idea came to him.
他把嬰兒車推到路的盡頭，轉過路的拐角。“這條路簡直就是為不法分子精心準備的！我知道這個下午該怎么過了！”他心想。嬰兒巴拉巴拉說個不停。“閉嘴！”威廉大聲命令道。突然間，一個很棒的想法進入他的頭腦。
He went to the barn where he’d always meet his fellow outlaws, and entered with the baby in his arms. He was greeted by a sudden silence. “It’s a kidnap,” said William, triumphantly. “We’ll get a ransom on it.” They gazed at him in awed admiration. This was surely the cream of outlawry. “Dad—dad—dad—dad—dad!” Douglas, the tallest boy, grinned sheepishly. “It thinks I’m its father,” he explained complacently to the company.
他來到了他與他的那些不法分子同伴碰面的老地點——谷倉。他懷里抱著嬰兒進入了谷倉。看到他，同伴們突然沉默了下來。“我綁架了個小孩，”威廉耀武揚威地說道。“我們可以用他換贖金。”同伴們向他投來敬畏的目光。這種非法的手段簡直絕了。“爸爸-爸爸-爸爸-爸爸！”個子最高的男孩道格拉斯羞怯地咧嘴笑了笑。“他以為我是他爸爸。”他沾沾自喜地向同伴們解釋道。

“What do we do first? That’s the question.” “In books,” said the outlaw called Ginger, “they write a note to its people and say they want a ransom.” “We won’t do that—not just yet,” said William hastily. “Why not?” said Ginger. “Who’s got a paper and pencil? I’m simply statin’ a fact. Who’s got a paper and pencil?” No one spoke. “Oh, yes!” went on William in triumph. “Go on! Write a note. Write a note without paper and pencil, and we’ll all watch. Huh!”
“我們首先怎么做？這是個問題。”“書里說”，名字叫金杰的不法之徒說，“綁架者會給被綁架者的家人寫一個紙條，告訴他們用贖金換人。”我們不這樣做，至少現在不行。”威廉匆匆說道。“我覺得行！”金杰說，“誰有紙和筆？聽我的沒錯。誰有紙和筆？”沒有人回答。“好嘞！”威廉得意洋洋地接著說道，“繼續啊！寫一張紙條。我們要看看沒有紙和筆，你怎么寫紙條，哈！”
“Well,” said Ginger sulkily, “I don’t s’pose they had paper and pencils in outlaw days. They weren’t invented. They wrote on—on—on leaves or something,” he ended vaguely. “Well, go on. Write on leaves,” said William still more triumphant. “We’re not stoppin’ you are we? I’m simply statin’ a fact. Write on leaves.”
“好吧，”金杰生氣地說，“我也覺得不法之徒做非法的事情時，不應該帶著紙和筆。這些東西還沒發明出來。他們應該在……在……在樹葉或別的東西上寫字。”他含糊地說完了他的話。“好吧，繼續啊，就在樹葉上寫紙條，”威廉說，表現得更加得意洋洋，“我們不會阻止你的，沒錯吧，其他人？聽我的沒錯。快在樹葉上寫紙條啊！”
They were interrupted by a yell of pain from Douglas. With vague memories of his mother’s treatment of infants, he had inserted a finger in its mouth. The infant happened to possess four front teeth, two upper and two lower, and they closed like a vice upon Douglas’ finger. He was now examining the marks.
他們被道格拉斯發出的一陣痛苦的喊叫聲打斷了。由于他已經記不清他的母親是怎樣照顧嬰兒的了，于是他把自己的一根手指伸進了嬰兒的嘴里。嬰兒碰巧張了四顆門牙，兩顆上牙，兩顆下牙，它們像臺鉗一樣夾住了道格拉斯的手指。現在，他正在查看自己手指上的牙印。
“Look! Right deep down! See it? Wotcher think of that! Nearly to the bone! Pretty savage baby you’ve brought along,” he said to William. “Anyway, what have we brought for the feast?” William produced liquorice water and half a cake, Douglas two slices of raw ham and a dog biscuit, Ginger some popcorn and some cold boiled potatoes wrapped up in newspaper, Henry a cold apple dumpling and a small bottle of paraffin-oil. “Let’s put them on the floor here”, said Ginger, and go out for adventures first. Back in a quarter of an hour for the feast.”
“看！咬得真狠的！看見沒？不敢相信，幾乎咬到骨頭了！你帶來的嬰兒太野蠻了！”他對威廉說。“嗯，好吧。還是看看大家都為晚上的盛宴帶來了什么好吃的？”威廉帶來了自制的甘草水和半塊蛋糕；道格拉斯帶來了兩片生火腿和一塊硬餅干；金杰用報紙裹來了一些爆米花和一些冷煮土豆；亨利帶來了一個冷蘋果布丁和一小瓶石蠟油。“我們把吃的都放在地板上，”金杰說，“然后，我們先去出去探探險，一刻鐘后再回來吃大餐。”
They came back in 15 minutes, opened the door of the barn and went in. The infant was sitting on the floor among the stores, or rather among what was left of them. There was paraffin-oil on its hair, face, arms, frock and feet. It was drenched in paraffin-oil. The empty bottle and its hat lay by its side. Mingled with the paraffin-oil all over its person was cold boiled potato. It was holding the apple-dumpling in its hand.
15分鐘后，他們回來了，打開谷倉的門，進入了谷倉。此時，嬰兒正坐地板上他們的大餐中間，更確切地說是他們剩下的大餐中間。他的頭發、臉、手臂、上衣和腳上都黏滿了石蠟油。他已經被石蠟油浸透了。空瓶子和瓶蓋躺在他的身邊。他已經被混在一起的冷煮土豆和石蠟油裹得嚴嚴實實的，手里還抓著蘋果布丁。
“Ball!” it announced ecstatically from behind its mask of potato and paraffin-oil. They stood in silence for a minute. There was no doubt that when William condescended to adopt a phrase from any of his family’s vocabularies, he considerably overworked it. “Well, it did it itself. It’s no one else’s fault, is it?” “No, it’s not,” said William. “But that’s the sort of thing folks never see. Anyway, I’m goin’ to wash its face.” “What with?” William took out his grimy handkerchief and advanced upon his prey. His bottle of liquorice water was lying untouched in the corner. He took out the cork.
“球！”他臉上敷著土豆和石蠟油做成的面膜，狂喜地宣布著。這群不法分子默默地站在那里足有一分鐘的時間。毫無疑問，威廉又得從家庭的詞匯庫中選出些好詞了，而且這次他還得多做些功課。“好吧，都是他自己做的。不能賴別人，是吧？”“不，不行，”威廉說，“但這種事誰也沒遇到過。不管怎樣，我還是去給他洗個臉吧。”“用什么洗呢？”威廉拿出他那臟兮兮的手帕，朝他的獵物走去。他帶來的那瓶甘草水還完好無損地躲在一個角落里。他拔下軟木塞。
William started passing his handkerchief, moistened with liquorice water, over the surface of the baby’s face. The baby had caught a corner of it firmly between its teeth and refused to release it. “If you’d got to take this baby home like this,” he said, “you wouldn’t be thinking much about drinking liquorice water. I’m simply statin’——” “Oh, shut up saying that!” said Ginger in sudden exasperation. “I’m sick of it.” For many years afterwards William associated babies in his mind with paraffin-oil and potato. “Just help me get the potato out of its hair,” he pleaded; “never mind the oil and the rest of it.” “Doesn’t it look funny—all oil and potato and bits of cake!” said Ginger. “Oh! shut up about it,” said William irritably.
威廉開始用甘草水沾濕他的手帕，然后用濕手帕擦拭嬰兒的臉頰。嬰兒用牙牢牢地咬住了手帕的一角，不肯放開。“如果你不得不這樣把嬰兒帶回家，”他說，“你就不要想再喝到甘草水了。聽我的沒錯……”“嘿，閉嘴，別再說這個了！”金杰突然憤怒地說道。“煩死了！”多年后，在他的腦海中，威廉的形象還和嬰兒以及石蠟油和土豆聯系在一起。“快幫我把他頭發里的土豆弄出來，”他懇求道，“別管油和其他臟東西了。”“他看起來不好笑嗎？——所有的油、土豆還有蛋糕屑都混在一起了！”金杰說。“快閉嘴吧！”威廉煩躁地說。
Douglas placed the baby in its seat and William thoughtfully put up the hood to shield his charge as far as possible from the curious gaze of the passers-by. With a “heart steeled for any fate” William turned the corner into his own road. The baby’s mother was standing at his gate. “There you are!” she called. “I was getting quite anxious. Thank you so much, dear.”
道格拉斯將嬰兒放在座位上，威廉貼心地為他戴上兜帽，盡可能別吸引到路人好奇的目光。威廉已經下定決心直面命運的安排。他轉過拐角，走在回家的路上。嬰兒的母親正站在門口等候。“你們終于回來啦！”她喊道。“我都有點兒著急了。非常感謝你，親愛的！”
BUT THAT IS WHAT SHE SAID BEFORE SHE SAW THE BABY!
但是，當她看到嬰兒之后……