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SHIPWRECK.
難船
(Last Monthly Story.)
（最后的每月例話）
One morning in the month of December, several years ago, there sailed from the port of Liverpool a huge steamer, which had on board two hundred persons, including a crew of sixty. The captain and nearly all the sailors were English. Among the passengers there were several Italians, three gentlemen, a priest, and a company of musicians. The steamer was bound for the island of Malta.
在幾年前十二月的某一天，一只大輪船從英國利物浦港出發。船中合船員六十人共載二百人光景。船長船員都是英國人，乘客中有幾個是意大利人，船向馬耳他島進行。
The weather was threatening. Among the third-class passengers forward, was an Italian lad of a dozen years, small for his age, but robust; a bold, handsome, austere face, of Sicilian type. He was alone near the fore-mast, seated on a coil of cordage, beside a well-worn valise, which contained his effects, and upon which he kept a hand. His face was brown, and his black and wavy hair descended to his shoulders. He was meanly clad, and had a tattered mantle thrown over his shoulders, and an old leather pouch on a cross-belt. He gazed thoughtfully about him at the passengers, the ship, the sailors who were running past, and at the restless sea.
天色不佳。三等旅客之中有一個十二歲的意大利少年。身體與年齡相比雖似矮小，卻長得很結實，是個西西里型的美勇堅強的少年。他獨自坐在船頭桅桿分卷著的纜索上，身旁放著一個破損了的皮包，一手搭在皮包上面，粗布上衣，破舊的外套，皮帶上系著舊皮袋。他沉思似的冷眼看著周圍的乘客、船只、來往的水手，以及洶涌的海水。好像他家中新近遭遇了大不幸，臉還是小孩，表情卻已像大人了。
He had the appearance of a boy who has recently issued from a great family sorrow, the face of a child, the expression of a man. A little after their departure, one of the steamer's crew, an Italian with gray hair, made his appearance on the bow, holding by the hand a little girl; and coming to a halt in front of the little Sicilian, he said to him: "Here's a travelling companion for you, Mario." Then he went away. The girl seated herself on the pile of cordage beside the boy. They surveyed each other. "Where are you going?" asked the Sicilian. The girl replied: "To Malta on the way of Naples." Then she added: "I am going to see my father and mother, who are expecting me. My name is Giulietta Faggiani."
開船后不多一會兒，一個意大利水手攜了一個小女孩來到西西里少年前面，向他說：“馬利阿，有一個很好的同伴呢。”說著自去。女孩在少年身旁坐下。他們彼此面面相對的看著。“到哪里去？”男孩問。“到了馬耳他島，再到那不勒斯去。父親母親正望我回去，我去見他們的。我名叫寇列泰·法貴尼。”
The boy said nothing. After the lapse of a few minutes, he drew some bread from his pouch, and some dried fruit; the girl had some biscuits: they began to eat. "Look sharp there!" shouted the Italian sailor, as he passed rapidly; "a lively time is at hand!" The wind continued to increase, the steamer pitched heavily; but the two children, who did not suffer from seasickness, paid no heed to it. The little girl smiled. She was about the same age as her companion, but was considerably taller, brown of complexion, slender, somewhat sickly, and dressed more than modestly. Her hair was short and curling, she wore a red kerchief over her head, and two hoops of silver in her ears. As they ate, they talked about themselves and their affairs. The boy had no longer either father or mother. The father, an artisan, had died a few days previously in Liverpool, leaving him alone; and the Italian consul had sent him back to his country, to Palermo, where he had still some distant relatives left.
過了一息，他從皮袋中取出面包和果物來，女孩帶有餅干，兩個人一同吃著。“快看那里！有些不妙了呢！”風漸漸加烈，船身大搖。兩個小孩卻不眩暈。她和少年年齡相仿佛，身較高長，膚色也一樣地是褐色，身材窈窕，有幾分像是有病的。服裝很好，發短而鬈，頭上包著紅頭巾，耳上戴著銀耳環。兩個孩子一邊吃著，一邊互談身世。男孩已沒有父親，父親原是做職工的，幾天前在利物浦死去了。孤兒受意大利領事的照料，送他回故鄉巴勒莫，因為他有遠親在那里。
The little girl had been taken to London, the year before, by a widowed aunt, who was very fond of her, and to whom her parents poor people had given her for a time, trusting in a promise of an inheritance; but the aunt had died a few months later, run over by an omnibus, without leaving a centesimo; and then she too had had recourse to the consul, who had shipped her to Italy. Both had been recommended to the care of the Italian sailor.
女孩于前年到了倫敦叔母家里，她父親因為貧窮，暫時把她寄養在叔母處，預備等叔母死后分些遺產。幾個月前，叔母被馬車碾傷，突然死了，財產分文無余。于是她請求意大利領事送歸故鄉。恰巧，兩個孩子都是由那個意大利水手擔任帶領。
