Tom Sawyer
A book by Mark Twain.
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Les Aventures De Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
PREFACI.
PREFACE
Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine.
Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual--he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture.
Les estranyes supersticions a les quals hom fa referencia, predominaven totes entre nois i esclaus de l' Oest en el període d' aquesta historia; és a dir, fa trenta o quaranta anys.
The odd superstitions touched upon were all prevalent among children and slaves in the West at the period of this story--that is to say, thirty or forty years ago.
Encara que mon llibre s' adreça sobretot al divertiment de nois i noies, espero que aixo no sera causa que el defugin homes i dones, perque part del meu proposit ha estat mirar de fer plaent memoria als adults d' allo que un dia foren, i de com sentiren i pensaren i parlaren, i en quínes singulars empreses s' esmerçaren de vegades.
Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in. THE AUTHOR.
L'AUTOR (Hartford, 1876).
HARTFORD, 1876.
CAPÍTOL I
CHAPTER I
-Tom!
"TOM!"
Cap resposta.
No answer.
-Tom!
"TOM!"
Cap resposta.
No answer.
"What's gone with that boy, I wonder?
Tom!
You TOM!"
No answer. The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them.
She seldom or never looked _through_ them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her heart, and were built for "style," not service--she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well.
She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear: "Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll--"
No acaba la frase, perque en aquell moment estava decantant -se i furgant sota el llit amb l' escombra: així és que necessitava ale per al ritme de les furgades. No desenterra cap cosa sinó el gat.
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with. She resurrected nothing but the cat.
"I never did see the beat of that boy!"
Se n' ana cap a la porta oberta i s' hi atura, i sotja entre els emparrats de tomaqueres i herbes tauperes, que constituien el jardí.
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and "jimpson" weeds that constituted the garden.
Res de Tom.
No Tom.
So she lifted up her voice at an angle calculated for distance and shouted:
"Y-o-u-u TOM!" There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
"There! I might 'a' thought of that closet.
Que hi féieu, aquí dins?
What you been doing in there?"
-Res.
"Nothing."
-Res!
"Nothing!
Mireu-vos les mans i mireu-vos la boca.
Look at your hands. And look at your mouth.
Que és, aquesta brutor ?
What _is_ that truck?"
-No ho sé, tia.
"I don't know, aunt."
"Well, I know. It's jam--that's what it is.
Forty times I've said if you didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you.
Deu -me aquell fuet.
Hand me that switch."
The switch hovered in the air--the peril was desperate--
-Ui! Mireu al darrera vostre, tia!
"My! Look behind you, aunt!"
The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad fled on the instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and disappeared over it.
La tia Polly romangué sorpresa un moment i en acabat esclatá en una dolça rialla.
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh.
-Diastre de noi ! Mireu 's que és prou, que jo mai pugui escarmentar !
"Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything?
Ain't he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time?
But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is.
But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how is a body to know what's coming?
He 'pears to know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it's all down again and I can't hit him a lick.
I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows.
Planyer el bastó malmet el minyó, com diu la Bíblia.
Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says.
I'm a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know.
He's full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, somehow.
Every time I let him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks.
Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so.
He'll play hookey this evening, and I'll just be obleeged to make him work, tomorrow, to punish him.
It's mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else, and I've _got_ to do some of my duty by him, or I'll be the ruination of the child."
Tom did play hookey, and he had a very good time.
He got back home barely in season to help Jim, the small colored boy, saw next-day's wood and split the kindlings before supper--at least he was there in time to tell his adventures to Jim while Jim did three-fourths of the work.
El germa petit de Tom (o, millor, germanastre ), Sid, estava ja enfeinat en la seva contribució al treball (arreplegant les miques de fusta ), perque era un noi tranquil, i no pas de mena aventurera ni enquimeradora.
Tom's younger brother (or rather half-brother) Sid was already through with his part of the work (picking up chips), for he was a quiet boy, and had no adventurous, trouble-some ways.
While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered, Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep--for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments.
Com esdevé a moltes altres animes senzilles, la seva vanitat predilecta era de creure que tenia un talent especial per a l' ombrívola i misteriosa diplomacia, i li plaia de considerar sos enginys més transparents com a meravelles d' extraordinaria trapelleria.
Like many other simple-hearted souls, it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent for dark and mysterious diplomacy, and she loved to contemplate her most transparent devices as marvels of low cunning.
-Tom- digué ella -feia bastanta calor a l'escola: veritat?
Said she: "Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn't it?"
-Sí, senyora.
"Yes'm."
-Molta calor: veritat?
"Powerful warm, warn't it?"
-Sí, senyora.
"Yes'm."
-No teníeu ganes de rabejar-vos una mica a l'aigua, Tom?
"Didn't you want to go in a-swimming, Tom?"
Tom es sentí ferit d' un bri d' alarma, d' un toc de sospita inquieta.
A bit of a scare shot through Tom--a touch of uncomfortable suspicion.
Escruta la cara de la tia Polly, pero ella no li digué res.
He searched Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing.
So he said: "No'm--well, not very much."
The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom's shirt, and said: "But you ain't too warm now, though."
And it flattered her to reflect that she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that was what she had in her mind.
But in spite of her, Tom knew where the wind lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:
"Some of us pumped on our heads--mine's damp yet. See?"
Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial evidence, and missed a trick. Then she had a new inspiration:
"Tom, you didn't have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it, to pump on your head, did you?
Descordeu-vos el gec!
Unbutton your jacket!"
A la cara de Tom s'hi esvaí la preocupació.
The trouble vanished out of Tom's face.
Obrí son gec.
He opened his jacket.
Son coll de camisa estava solidament cosit.
His shirt collar was securely sewed.
"Bother! Well, go 'long with you.
I'd made sure you'd played hookey and been a-swimming.
But I forgive ye, Tom. I reckon you're a kind of a singed cat, as the saying is--better'n you look. _This_ time."
She was half sorry her sagacity had miscarried, and half glad that Tom had stumbled into obedient conduct for once.
But Sidney said: "Well, now, if I didn't think you sewed his collar with white thread, but it's black."
"Why, I did sew it with white! Tom!"
But Tom did not wait for the rest. As he went out at the door he said: "Siddy, I'll lick you for that."
In a safe place Tom examined two large needles which were thrust into the lapels of his jacket, and had thread bound about them--one needle carried white thread and the other black.
He said: "She'd never noticed if it hadn't been for Sid.
Confound it! sometimes she sews it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to gee-miny she'd stick to one or t'other--I can't keep the run of 'em.
Pero em jugo qualsevol cosa que a Sid l' estaborniré.
But I bet you I'll lam Sid for that. I'll learn him!"
He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well though--and loathed him.
Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles.
No era perque sos mals de cap fossin per a ell ni una mica mica menys amargs i atuidors que els d' un home gran per a un home gran, sinó perque un nou i poderós interes els passa al davant, i els esvaí per aquella estona en la seva ment; igual que els infortunis dels homes són oblidats en l' exaltació de les empreses noves.
Not because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man's are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and drove them out of his mind for the time--just as men's misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises.
This new interest was a valued novelty in whistling, which he had just acquired from a negro, and he was suffering to practise it un-disturbed.
It consisted in a peculiar bird-like turn, a sort of liquid warble, produced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth at short intervals in the midst of the music--the reader probably remembers how to do it, if he has ever been a boy.
Diligencia i atenció aviat aconseguiren de fer-l 'hi dominar, i ell baixa a grans passes pel carrer, amb la boca plena d' harmonia i l' anima plena de gratitud.
Diligence and attention soon gave him the knack of it, and he strode down the street with his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude.
He felt much as an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet--no doubt, as far as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with the boy, not the astronomer.
The summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom checked his whistle.
Tenia al davant un estrany: un noi una mica més gran que ell.
A stranger was before him--a boy a shade larger than himself.
Un nou vingut de qualsevol edat o sexe era una colpidora curiositat en el pobre poblet de Sant Petersburg.
A new-comer of any age or either sex was an impressive curiosity in the poor little shabby village of St. Petersburg.
A més, el noi anava ben vestit: ben vestit en dia de feina.
This boy was well dressed, too--well dressed on a week-day.
Aixo era simplement astorador.
This was simply as astounding.
His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty, and so were his pantaloons.
He had shoes on--and it was only Friday.
Fins i tot portava corbata, un bocí brillant de cinta.
He even wore a necktie, a bright bit of ribbon.
He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom's vitals.
Quant més Tom badava en front de l' esplendida meravella, més arremangava el nas, impressionat per aquella bellor, i li semblava que son propi abillament es tornava més i més arrossinat.
The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel, the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier his own outfit seemed to him to grow.
Cap dels dos nois parlava.
Neither boy spoke.
If one moved, the other moved--but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the time.
A la fi, Tom digué:
Finally Tom said:
-Puc apallissar-vos!
"I can lick you!"
"I'd like to see you try it."
"Well, I can do it."
-No, que no podeu, tanmateix.
"No you can't, either."
-Sí, que puc.
"Yes I can."
-No, que no podeu.
"No you can't."
-Puc.
"I can."
-No podeu.
"You can't."
-Puc.
"Can!"
-Que no.
"Can't!"
An uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said: "What's your name?"
-No és cosa del vostre ram..
"'Tisn't any of your business, maybe."
-Bé, doncs, jo ara en puc fer una cosa del meu ram.
"Well I 'low I'll _make_ it my business."
-Bé, i per que no ho proveu?
"Well why don't you?"
-Si parleu gaire, ho faré.
"If you say much, I will."
-Gaire… gaire… gaire…!
"Much--much--_much_. There now."
"Oh, you think you're mighty smart, _don't_ you?
I could lick you with one hand tied behind me, if I wanted to."
"Well why don't you _do_ it? You _say_ you can do it."
-Bé, ho faré, si beneitegeu gaire.
"Well I _will_, if you fool with me."
"Oh yes--I've seen whole families in the same fix."
-Murri ! Us penseu que sou algú: veritat ?
"Smarty! You think you're _some_, now, _don't_ you?
-Ai, ai! Quín capell!
Oh, what a hat!"
-Podeu abonyegar -lo, aquest capell, si no us plau.
"You can lump that hat if you don't like it.
I dare you to knock it off--and anybody that'll take a dare will suck eggs."
-Sou un mentider.
"You're a liar!"
-Vós en sou un altre.
"You're another."
"You're a fighting liar and dasn't take it up."
-Vejam … fugiu -me del davant !
"Aw--take a walk!"
"Say--if you give me much more of your sass I'll take and bounce a rock off'n your head."
-Oh ! És clar que ho fareu.
"Oh, of _course_ you will."
-Bé, doncs, ho faré.
"Well I _will_."
-Bé, per que no ho feu, doncs ?
"Well why don't you _do_ it then?
What do you keep _saying_ you will for?
Per que no ho feu?
Why don't you _do_ it?
It's because you're afraid."
-No en tinc, de por.
"I _ain't_ afraid."
-Sí que en teniu.
"You are."
-No, que no en tinc.
"I ain't."
-Sí que en teniu.
"You are."
Una altra pausa, i més ullades i borneig, l'un al volt de l'altre.
Another pause, and more eying and sidling around each other.
Al cap de poc estigueren espatlla contra espatlla.
Presently they were shoulder to shoulder.
Tom digué:
Tom said:
-Aneu-vos-en d'aquí.
"Get away from here!"
-Aneu-vos-en vós.
"Go away yourself!"
-No vull, en bona refe.
"I won't."
"I won't either."
So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both shoving with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate. But neither could get an advantage.
After struggling till both were hot and flushed, each relaxed his strain with watchful caution, and Tom said:
"You're a coward and a pup. I'll tell my big brother on you, and he can thrash you with his little finger, and I'll make him do it, too."
"What do I care for your big brother? I've got a brother that's bigger than he is--and what's more, he can throw him over that fence, too."
(Tots dos germans eren imaginaris ).
[Both brothers were imaginary.]
-Aixo és una bola.
"That's a lie."
"_Your_ saying so don't make it so."
Tom féu una ratlla en la pols amb el seu dit gros, i digué:
Tom drew a line in the dust with his big toe, and said:
-Llengua que no camineu damunt d' aixo. I si ho feu us aporrinaré fins a aclotellar-vos en terra. Qualsevol que tingui llengua es guanyara un pebrot.
"I dare you to step over that, and I'll lick you till you can't stand up. Anybody that'll take a dare will steal sheep."
El noi nou ho petja cuitosament, i digué:
The new boy stepped over promptly, and said:
"Now you said you'd do it, now let's see you do it."
-No em feu més nosa, ja: val més que us en aneu a pendre la fresca.
"Don't you crowd me now; you better look out."
"Well, you _said_ you'd do it--why don't you do it?"
-Vatuanada ! Ho faig per dos centims.
"By jingo! for two cents I _will_ do it."
El noi nou es tragué de la butxaca dos coures dels grans, i els mostra irrisoriament en la ma estesa.
The new boy took two broad coppers out of his pocket and held them out with derision.
Tom, d' un patac, els tira a terra.
Tom struck them to the ground.
En un instant els dos nois caigueren i giravoltaren pel fang, aferrussats com a gats; i per espai d' un minut s' estiraren i esquinçaren el pel i els vestits, es donaren cops de puny i esgarrapades al nas, i es cobriren de pols i de gloria.
In an instant both boys were rolling and tumbling in the dirt, gripped together like cats; and for the space of a minute they tugged and tore at each other's hair and clothes, punched and scratched each other's nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory.
Al cap de poc, allo que era confusió ana precisant -se; i en mig de la boira del combat aparegué Tom, a cavall del noi nou, i pataquejant -lo amb els punys.
Presently the confusion took form, and through the fog of battle Tom appeared, seated astride the new boy, and pounding him with his fists.
-Digueu: « Em dono ! » - féu Tom.
"Holler 'nuff!" said he.
The boy only struggled to free himself.
Plorava, principalment de rabia.
He was crying--mainly from rage.
-Digueu: « Em dono ! » - I els cops de puny continuaren.
"Holler 'nuff!"--and the pounding went on.
At last the stranger got out a smothered "'Nuff!" and Tom let him up and said:
"Now that'll learn you. Better look out who you're fooling with next time."
El noi nou se n' ana tot raspallant la pols de sos vestits, sanglotant, rondinant, i girant -se, adesiara, i sacsejant el cap i amenaçant amb allo que faria a Tom « l' altra vegada que l' atrapés al carrer ».
The new boy went off brushing the dust from his clothes, sobbing, snuffling, and occasionally looking back and shaking his head and threatening what he would do to Tom the "next time he caught him out."
To which Tom responded with jeers, and started off in high feather, and as soon as his back was turned the new boy snatched up a stone, threw it and hit him between the shoulders and then turned tail and ran like an antelope.
Tom chased the traitor home, and thus found out where he lived.
He then held a position at the gate for some time, daring the enemy to come outside, but the enemy only made faces at him through the window and declined.
At last the enemy's mother appeared, and called Tom a bad, vicious, vulgar child, and ordered him away.
So he went away; but he said he "'lowed" to "lay" for that boy.
Arriba a casa molt tard aquella nit; i, en enfilar -se cautament a la finestra, descobrí una emboscada en la persona de la seva tia; i quan ella veié l' estat en el qual es trobaven sos vestits, la seva resolució de convertir -li la festa del dissabte en captiveri i treballs forçats esdevingué d' una fermesa diamantina.
He got home pretty late that night, and when he climbed cautiously in at the window, he uncovered an ambuscade, in the person of his aunt; and when she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution to turn his Saturday holiday into captivity at hard labor became adamantine in its firmness.
CAPÍTOL II
CHAPTER II
SATURDAY morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life.
There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips.
Hi havia joia en cada rostre, i primavera en cada pas.
There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step.
The locust-trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air.
Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.
Tom aparegué per la vorera, amb una galleda de blanc i una brotxa; i l' alegria fugí de la natura i una pregona melangia s' establí en son esperit.
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit.
Trenta yardes d'un clos dilatat, de nou peus d'altura!
Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high.
Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden.
Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged.
Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail, and singing Buffalo Gals.
El portar aigua de la bomba municipal havia estat sempre feina odiosa a l' esguard de Tom, fins aleshores; pero ara no li sembla el mateix. Va recordar que hi havia colles de gent a la bomba. Nois i noies, de blancs, de mulatos i de negres, hi estaven sempre esperant el torn, descansant, baratant joguines, barallant -se, espinyant -se, fent aldarull.
Bringing water from the town pump had always been hateful work in Tom's eyes, before, but now it did not strike him so. He remembered that there was company at the pump. White, mulatto, and negro boys and girls were always there waiting their turns, resting, trading playthings, quarrelling, fighting, skylarking.
And he remembered that although the pump was only a hundred and fifty yards off, Jim never got back with a bucket of water under an hour--and even then somebody generally had to go after him.
Tom said: "Say, Jim, I'll fetch the water if you'll whitewash some."
Jim shook his head and said: "Can't, Mars Tom.
La vella senyora em digué que anés i portés aquesta aigua, i que no m' aturés a beneitejar amb ningú.
Ole missis, she tole me I got to go an' git dis water an' not stop foolin' roun' wid anybody.
She say she spec' Mars Tom gwine to ax me to whitewash, an' so she tole me go 'long an' 'tend to my own business--she 'lowed _she'd_ 'tend to de whitewashin'."
"Oh, never you mind what she said, Jim.
Ella sempre hi parla, així.
That's the way she always talks.
Gimme the bucket--I won't be gone only a a minute. _She_ won't ever know."
No puc, senyoret Tom.
"Oh, I dasn't, Mars Tom.
Ole missis she'd take an' tar de head off'n me. 'Deed she would."
-Ella!
"_She_!
She never licks anybody--whacks 'em over the head with her thimble--and who cares for that, I'd like to know.
She talks awful, but talk don't hurt--anyways it don't if she don't cry.
Jim, I'll give you a marvel. I'll give you a white alley!"
Jim comença de vacil·lar.
Jim began to waver.
-Bala blanca, Jim, i guanya sempre ! -Noi !
"White alley, Jim! And it's a bully taw."
"My! Dat's a mighty gay marvel, I tell you! But Mars Tom I's powerful 'fraid ole missis--"
"And besides, if you will I'll show you my sore toe." Jim was only human--this attraction was too much for him.
Deixa en terra la galleda i prengué la bala blanca.
He put down his pail, took the white alley, and bent over the toe with absorbing interest while the bandage was being unwound.
Al cap d' un minut anava, cames ajudeu -me, carrer avall, amb la seva galleda i una pruija a l' esquena: Tom emblanquinava amb vigor, i la tia Polly es retirava del camp amb una sabatilla a la ma i el triomf en sos ulls.
In another moment he was flying down the street with his pail and a tingling rear, Tom was whitewashing with vigor, and Aunt Polly was retiring from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eye.
But Tom's energy did not last.
Comença de pensar en la grifolda que s' havia proposat per aquell dia, i sos dols es multiplicaren.
He began to think of the fun he had planned for this day, and his sorrows multiplied.
Soon the free boys would come tripping along on all sorts of delicious expeditions, and they would make a world of fun of him for having to work--the very thought of it burnt him like fire.
He got out his worldly wealth and examined it--bits of toys, marbles, and trash; enough to buy an exchange of _work_, maybe, but not half enough to buy so much as half an hour of pure freedom.
So he returned his straitened means to his pocket, and gave up the idea of trying to buy the boys.
En aquell moment, ombrívol i desesperat, una inspiració esclata dins ell, no menys que una gran, magnífica inspiració.
At this dark and hopeless moment an inspiration burst upon him! Nothing less than a great, magnificent inspiration.
He took up his brush and went tranquilly to work.
Ben Rogers hove in sight presently--the very boy, of all boys, whose ridicule he had been dreading.
Ben's gait was the hop-skip-and-jump--proof enough that his heart was light and his anticipations high.
Menjava una poma, i feia a intervals un llarg i melodiós esgarip seguit d' un ding-dong-dong, ding-dong-dong, en to profund, perque estava personificant un vapor.
He was eating an apple, and giving a long, melodious whoop, at intervals, followed by a deep-toned ding-dong-dong, ding-dong-dong, for he was personating a steamboat.
As he drew near, he slackened speed, took the middle of the street, leaned far over to starboard and rounded to ponderously and with laborious pomp and circumstance--for he was personating the Big Missouri, and considered himself to be drawing nine feet of water.
He was boat and captain and engine-bells combined, so he had to imagine himself standing on his own hurricane-deck giving the orders and executing them:
-Pareu, mestre!
"Stop her, sir!
Ning, ning, ning!
Ting-a-ling-ling!"
- La marxa del vaixell gairebé s' extingí, i ell tira cap amunt, a pleret, envers la vorera. -Maquina endarrera !
The headway ran almost out, and he drew up slowly toward the sidewalk.
Ning, ning, ning!-
"Ship up to back!
Ting-a-ling-ling!"
His arms straightened and stiffened down his sides.
-Maquina a babord!
"Set her back on the stabboard!
Ning, ning, ning!
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Xu, xx, xu, xu!
Chow! ch-chow-wow!
Chow!"
- La ma dreta descrivia a l' ensems cercles majestuosos, perque representava una roda de quaranta peus.
His right hand, mean-time, describing stately circles--for it was representing a forty-foot wheel.
-Refermeu a estribord!
"Let her go back on the labboard!
Ning, ning, ning!
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Xu, xx, xu, xu!-
Chow-ch-chow-chow!"
The left hand began to describe circles.
-Pareu a estribord!
"Stop the stabboard!
Ning, ning, ning!
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Pareu a babord!
Stop the labboard!
Proa avant, decantant l' estribord !
Come ahead on the stabboard!
Para!
Stop her!
Gireu de mica en mica!
Let your outside turn over slow!
Ning, ning, ning!
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Xu, xu, xu!
Chow-ow-ow!
Etzibeu aquesta rellinga de gratil! De pressa, ara! Enfora l'amarra!
Get out that head-line! _lively_ now!
Come--out with your spring-line--what're you about there!
Feu-vos arran del moll, ara!
Take a turn round that stump with the bight of it!
Engegueu!
Stand by that stage, now--let her go!
Pareu la maquina, mestre!
Done with the engines, sir!
Ning, ning, ning!
Ting-a-ling-ling!
SH'T! S'H'T! SH'T!" (trying the gauge-cocks).
Tom continua emblanquinant: no feu cabal del vapor.
Tom went on whitewashing--paid no attention to the steamboat.
Ben el mira de fit a fit un moment, i després digué: -Hi, hi ! Esteu aquí estaqueta: no és veritat ?
Ben stared a moment and then said: "_Hi-Yi! You're_ up a stump, ain't you!"
Cap resposta.
No answer.
Tom surveyed his last touch with the eye of an artist, then he gave his brush another gentle sweep and surveyed the result, as before.
Ben ranged up alongside of him. Tom's mouth watered for the apple, but he stuck to his work.
Ben said: "Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?"
Tom es mogué sobtadament i digué:
Tom wheeled suddenly and said:
-Ah! Sou vós, Ben?
"Why, it's you, Ben!
I warn't noticing."
"Say--I'm going in a-swimming, I am.
Don't you wish you could?
But of course you'd druther _work_--wouldn't you? Course you would!"
Tom contempla el minyó una estona, i digué: -De que en dieu treball ?
Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said: "What do you call work?"
-Bé, no es feina, aixo?
"Why, ain't _that_ work?"
Tom reprengué l' emblanquinament, i contesta amb negligencia:
Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly:
"Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain't. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer."
"Oh come, now, you don't mean to let on that you _like_ it?"
La brotxa continuava movent -se.
The brush continued to move.
-Agradar-me?
"Like it?
Well, I don't see why I oughtn't to like it.
És que un hom té la sort d' emblanquinar una tanca cada dia ?
Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
Aixo posa l' afer sota una nova llum.
That put the thing in a new light.
Ben stopped nibbling his apple.
Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth--stepped back to note the effect--added a touch here and there--criticised the effect again--Ben watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed.
Al cap de poc digué: -Escolteu, Tom: deixeu-me emblanquinar una mica.
Presently he said: "Say, Tom, let _me_ whitewash a little."
Tom reflexiona: estava a punt de consentir, pero canvia de determini.
Tom considered, was about to consent; but he altered his mind:
"No--no--I reckon it wouldn't hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly's awful particular about this fence--right here on the street, you know--but if it was the back fence I wouldn't mind and _she_ wouldn't.
Yes, she's awful particular about this fence; it's got to be done very careful; I reckon there ain't one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it the way it's got to be done."
"No--is that so? Oh come, now--lemme just try.
Only just a little--I'd let _you_, if you was me, Tom."
"Ben, I'd like to, honest injun; but Aunt Polly--well, Jim wanted to do it, but she wouldn't let him; Sid wanted to do it, and she wouldn't let Sid.
Now don't you see how I'm fixed?
If you was to tackle this fence and anything was to happen to it--"
"Oh, shucks, I'll be just as careful.
Deixeu -m 'ho provar.
Now lemme try.
Escolteu … us daré el dintre de la poma.
Say--I'll give you the core of my apple."
"Well, here--No, Ben, now don't. I'm afeard--"
-Us la daré tota!
"I'll give you _all_ of it!"
Tom féu remissió de la brotxa amb repugnancia en el rostre, pero amb daler en el cor.
Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart.
And while the late steamer Big Missouri worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents.
There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash.
Poc abans que Ben estigués atuit, Tom havia baratat la nova avinentesa d' emblanquinar, a Billy Fisher, per un estel, solidament adobat; i quan aquest ja en tingué prou, Johnny Miller compra de ser -hi, mitjançant una rata morta i un cordill per a fer -la giravoltar; i així successivament, hora darrera hora.
By the time Ben was fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite, in good repair; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing it with--and so on, and so on, hour after hour.
And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth.
Tenia, a més de les coses abans esmentades, dotze bales, part d' una mandolina, un tros d' ampolla blava per a mirar -hi a través, un canó de rodet, una clau que no servia per a obrir res, un bocí de guix, un tap de vidre d' una garrafa, un soldat de plom, un parell de capgrossos, sis coets, un gatet borni, un pom de porta, de llautó, un collar de gos (sense gos ), el manec d' un ganivet, quatre peces de pela de taronja i un vell marc de finestra fet malbé.
He had besides the things before mentioned, twelve marbles, part of a jews-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn't unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door-knob, a dog-collar--but no dog--the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window sash.
He had had a nice, good, idle time all the while--plenty of company--and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it!
If he hadn't run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.
Tom es digué que aquest món, al capdavall, no era tan buit com aixo.
Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all.
He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it--namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.
Si hagués estat un gran filosof ple de saviesa, com l' autor d' aquest llibre, hauria capit aleshores que la feina consisteix en qualsevol cosa que un hom estigui obligat a fer, i que el joc consisteix en qualsevol cosa que un hom no estigui obligat a fer.
If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is _obliged_ to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.
And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement.
Hi ha rics senyors a Anglaterra que menen carruatges de passatgers, tirats per quatre cavalls, per espai de vint o trenta milles, en una ruta diaria, a l' istiu, perque el privilegi els costa una pila de diners; pero, si els oferissin soldada pel servei, aixo el convertiria en feina, i ells aleshores el deixaríen córrer. El minyó medita una estona sobre el canvi substancial que s' havia esdevingut en les seves mundanes circumstancies, i després s' adreça al quarter general, a retre comptes.
There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign. The boy mused awhile over the substantial change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances, and then wended toward headquarters to report.
CAPÍTOL III
CHAPTER III
TOM presented himself before Aunt Polly, who was sitting by an open window in a pleasant rearward apartment, which was bedroom, breakfast-room, dining-room, and library, combined.
The balmy summer air, the restful quiet, the odor of the flowers, and the drowsing murmur of the bees had had their effect, and she was nodding over her knitting--for she had no company but the cat, and it was asleep in her lap.
Les seves ulleres havien estat encimbellades damunt sa testa gris, com a precaució de seguretat.
Her spectacles were propped up on her gray head for safety.
She had thought that of course Tom had deserted long ago, and she wondered at seeing him place himself in her power again in this intrepid way.
He said: "Mayn't I go and play now, aunt?"
-Com s' entén ? Ara ja ?
"What, a'ready?
How much have you done?"
"It's all done, aunt."
"Tom, don't lie to me--I can't bear it."
"I ain't, aunt; it _is_ all done."
La tia Polly no es refia gaire d'aquesta declaració.
Aunt Polly placed small trust in such evidence.
She went out to see for herself; and she would have been content to find twenty per cent. of Tom's statement true. When she found the entire fence white-washed, and not only whitewashed but elaborately coated and recoated, and even a streak added to the ground, her astonishment was almost unspeakable.
She said: "Well, I never! There's no getting round it, you can work when you're a mind to, Tom."
- I després aigualí el compliment, tot afegint: -Pero que poques, repoques vegades en teniu ganes, la veritat !
And then she diluted the compliment by adding, "But it's powerful seldom you're a mind to, I'm bound to say.
Well, go 'long and play; but mind you get back some time in a week, or I'll tan you."
She was so overcome by the splendor of his achievement that she took him into the closet and selected a choice apple and delivered it to him, along with an improving lecture upon the added value and flavor a treat took to itself when it came without sin through virtuous effort.
And while she closed with a happy Scriptural flourish, he "hooked" a doughnut.
Then he skipped out, and saw Sid just starting up the outside stairway that led to the back rooms on the second floor.
Clods were handy and the air was full of them in a twinkling.
Els grumolls es precipitaren enfurits al volt de Sid com una pedregada, i abans que la tia Polly pogués reconcentrar les seves corpreses facultats i compareixer a son ajut, sis o set havien encertat, i Tom havia fet un bot damunt el clos i era fora.
They raged around Sid like a hail-storm; and before Aunt Polly could collect her surprised faculties and sally to the rescue, six or seven clods had taken personal effect, and Tom was over the fence and gone.
There was a gate, but as a general thing he was too crowded for time to make use of it.
His soul was at peace, now that he had settled with Sid for calling attention to his black thread and getting him into trouble.
Tom skirted the block, and came round into a muddy alley that led by the back of his aunt's cow-stable.
He presently got safely beyond the reach of capture and punishment, and hastened toward the public square of the village, where two "military" companies of boys had met for conflict, according to previous appointment.
Tom was General of one of these armies, Joe Harper (a bosom friend) General of the other.
These two great commanders did not condescend to fight in person--that being better suited to the still smaller fry--but sat together on an eminence and conducted the field operations by orders delivered through aides-de-camp.
L' exercit de Tom guanya una gran victoria, després d' una llarga batalla, d' allo més aspra.
Tom's army won a great victory, after a long and hard-fought battle.
Then the dead were counted, prisoners exchanged, the terms of the next disagreement agreed upon, and the day for the necessary battle appointed; after which the armies fell into line and marched away, and Tom turned homeward alone.
As he was passing by the house where Jeff Thatcher lived, he saw a new girl in the garden--a lovely little blue-eyed creature with yellow hair plaited into two long-tails, white summer frock and embroidered pan-talettes.
L' heroi de tan recent triomf esdevingué retut, sense que hom disparés un tret.
The fresh-crowned hero fell without firing a shot.
A certain Amy Lawrence vanished out of his heart and left not even a memory of herself behind.
He had thought he loved her to distraction; he had regarded his passion as adoration; and behold it was only a poor little evanescent partiality.
Havia passat mesos conquerint -la, ella l' havia acceptat, feia amb prou feines una setmana; ell havia estat el minyó més feliç, més altívol del món només durant la curtesa de set dies, i aquí, en un instant, ella havia sortit de son cor com un estranger vingut per atzar, la visita del qual és acabada.
He had been months winning her; she had confessed hardly a week ago; he had been the happiest and the proudest boy in the world only seven short days, and here in one instant of time she had gone out of his heart like a casual stranger whose visit is done.
He worshipped this new angel with furtive eye, till he saw that she had discovered him; then he pretended he did not know she was present, and began to "show off" in all sorts of absurd boyish ways, in order to win her admiration.
He kept up this grotesque foolishness for some time; but by-and-by, while he was in the midst of some dangerous gymnastic performances, he glanced aside and saw that the little girl was wending her way toward the house.
Tom came up to the fence and leaned on it, grieving, and hoping she would tarry yet awhile longer.
She halted a moment on the steps and then moved toward the door.
Tom exhala un gran sospir quan ella posa el peu en el llindar; pero son rostre s' il·lumina, i amb motiu, perque ella tira un pensament damunt el clos, un moment abans de desapareixer.
Tom heaved a great sigh as she put her foot on the threshold. But his face lit up, right away, for she tossed a pansy over the fence a moment before she disappeared.
The boy ran around and stopped within a foot or two of the flower, and then shaded his eyes with his hand and began to look down street as if he had discovered something of interest going on in that direction.
Al cap de poc arreplega una palla i prova de gronxar -la damunt son nas, amb el cap decantat molt endarrera; i, mentre es movia d' una banda a l' altra en sos esforços, vorejava més i més el pensament: finalment son peu nu reposa damunt ell, els dits plegadissos del peu es clogueren damunt ell, i el noi partí fent gambades amb el seu tresor i desaparegué per la cantonada.
Presently he picked up a straw and began trying to balance it on his nose, with his head tilted far back; and as he moved from side to side, in his efforts, he edged nearer and nearer toward the pansy; finally his bare foot rested upon it, his pliant toes closed upon it, and he hopped away with the treasure and disappeared round the corner.
But only for a minute--only while he could button the flower inside his jacket, next his heart--or next his stomach, possibly, for he was not much posted in anatomy, and not hypercritical, anyway.
He returned, now, and hung about the fence till nightfall, "showing off," as before; but the girl never exhibited herself again, though Tom comforted himself a little with the hope that she had been near some window, meantime, and been aware of his attentions.
Finally he strode home reluctantly, with his poor head full of visions.
All through supper his spirits were so high that his aunt wondered "what had got into the child."
He took a good scolding about clodding Sid, and did not seem to mind it in the least.
He tried to steal sugar under his aunt's very nose, and got his knuckles rapped for it.
He said: "Aunt, you don't whack Sid when he takes it."
"Well, Sid don't torment a body the way you do. You'd be always into that sugar if I warn't watching you."
Presently she stepped into the kitchen, and Sid, happy in his immunity, reached for the sugar-bowl--a sort of glorying over Tom which was wellnigh unbearable. But Sid's fingers slipped and the bowl dropped and broke.
Tom was in ecstasies. In such ecstasies that he even controlled his tongue and was silent.
He said to himself that he would not speak a word, even when his aunt came in, but would sit perfectly still till she asked who did the mischief; and then he would tell, and there would be nothing so good in the world as to see that pet model "catch it."
He was so brimful of exultation that he could hardly hold himself when the old lady came back and stood above the wreck discharging lightnings of wrath from over her spectacles.
He said to himself, "Now it's coming!" And the next instant he was sprawling on the floor!
The potent palm was uplifted to strike again when Tom cried out:
"Hold on, now, what 'er you belting _me_ for?--Sid broke it!"
Aunt Polly paused, perplexed, and Tom looked for healing pity.
Pero ella, en recobrar la veu, digué només:
But when she got her tongue again, she only said:
"Umf! Well, you didn't get a lick amiss, I reckon. You been into some other audacious mischief when I wasn't around, like enough."
Then her conscience reproached her, and she yearned to say something kind and loving; but she judged that this would be construed into a confession that she had been in the wrong, and discipline forbade that.
So she kept silence, and went about her affairs with a troubled heart.
Tom sulked in a corner and exalted his woes.
Coneixia que, cor endins, la seva tia s' agenollava davant seu, i es sentia acerbament satisfet d' aquesta comprensió.
He knew that in her heart his aunt was on her knees to him, and he was morosely gratified by the consciousness of it.
He would hang out no signals, he would take notice of none.
He knew that a yearning glance fell upon him, now and then, through a film of tears, but he refused recognition of it.
Es representava a sí mateix en son llit, malalt de mort, amb la seva tia decantant -se -li al damunt, tot implorant una parauleta de perdó; pero ell girava la cara envers la paret i moria sense dir aquella paraula. Ah !
He pictured himself lying sick unto death and his aunt bending over him beseeching one little forgiving word, but he would turn his face to the wall, and die with that word unsaid.
Que passaria per dintre d' ella, aleshores ?
Ah, how would she feel then?
I es representava a sí mateix portat a casa, del riu estant, mort, amb sos rulls amarats, i ses pobres mans quietes per sempre i son cor ferit en repos. Com ella es tiraria al damunt seu i com caurien les llagrimes a dolls, i pregarien sos llavis a Déu que li retornés el seu minyó, tot dient que ella no l' ofendria mai més, mai més !
And he pictured himself brought home from the river, dead, with his curls all wet, and his sore heart at rest. How she would throw herself upon him, and how her tears would fall like rain, and her lips pray God to give her back her boy and she would never, never abuse him any more!
But he would lie there cold and white and make no sign--a poor little sufferer, whose griefs were at an end.
He so worked upon his feelings with the pathos of these dreams, that he had to keep swallowing, he was so like to choke; and his eyes swam in a blur of water, which overflowed when he winked, and ran down and trickled from the end of his nose.
I tanta de voluptat trobava en aquest afalac de sos dols, que no podia comportar que cap alegria mundana, cap ressonant delectança, hi fes intrusió: així és que al cap de poc, quan sa cosina Maria entra ballant, tota alegre del goig de veure la casa de bell nou, després d' una interminable excursió d' una setmana al camp, ell s' aixeca i avança entre núvols i foscúria cap a una porta, mentre ella portava sol i cantúries per l' altra.
And such a luxury to him was this petting of his sorrows, that he could not bear to have any worldly cheeriness or any grating delight intrude upon it; it was too sacred for such contact; and so, presently, when his cousin Mary danced in, all alive with the joy of seeing home again after an age-long visit of one week to the country, he got up and moved in clouds and darkness out at one door as she brought song and sunshine in at the other.
He wandered far from the accustomed haunts of boys, and sought desolate places that were in harmony with his spirit.
A log raft in the river invited him, and he seated himself on its outer edge and contemplated the dreary vastness of the stream, wishing, the while, that he could only be drowned, all at once and unconsciously, without undergoing the uncomfortable routine devised by nature.
Aleshores es recorda de la seva flor.
Then he thought of his flower.
La tragué, tota arrugada i marcida, i ella augmenta poderosament la seva tetrica felicitat.
He got it out, rumpled and wilted, and it mightily increased his dismal felicity.
He wondered if she would pity him if she knew?
Quí sap si ploraria, i desitjaria de tenir el dret de posar -li els braços al voltant del coll i reconfortar -lo ?
Would she cry, and wish that she had a right to put her arms around his neck and comfort him?
O bé giraria el cap fredament, com tot el món, ple de buidor ?
Or would she turn coldly away like all the hollow world?
Aquesta imatge li causa una tal agonia de delectable sofriment, que l' ana regirant i regirant pel seu magí, i l' ana considerant sota noves i variades llums, fins que esdevingué ben gastada.
This picture brought such an agony of pleasurable suffering that he worked it over and over again in his mind and set it up in new and varied lights, till he wore it threadbare.
At last he rose up sighing and departed in the darkness.
About half-past nine or ten o'clock he came along the deserted street to where the Adored Unknown lived; he paused a moment; no sound fell upon his listening ear; a candle was casting a dull glow upon the curtain of a second-story window.
Era allí la presencia sagrada ?
Was the sacred presence there?
He climbed the fence, threaded his stealthy way through the plants, till he stood under that window; he looked up at it long, and with emotion; then he laid him down on the ground under it, disposing himself upon his back, with his hands clasped upon his breast and holding his poor wilted flower.
I així hauria volgut morir: a la serena, en la fredor del món, sense aixopluc damunt sa testa, mancada de fogar, sense que una ma amistosa eixugués la suor mortal de son front ni cap rostre amorós es decantés compassivament al damunt seu quan vingués la gran agonia. I així el trobaria ella quan mirés cap enfora, en l' alegre matí … i, oh !, qui sap si deixaria caure una llagrima damunt sa pobra figura sens vida, qui sap si exhalaria un petit sospir, en veure una vida jove i brillant tan rudement desfeta, tan immaturament dallada ?
And thus he would die--out in the cold world, with no shelter over his homeless head, no friendly hand to wipe the death-damps from his brow, no loving face to bend pityingly over him when the great agony came. And thus _she_ would see him when she looked out upon the glad morning, and oh! would she drop one little tear upon his poor, lifeless form, would she heave one little sigh to see a bright young life so rudely blighted, so untimely cut down?
La finestra s'obrí; la veu discordant d'una criada profana la santa calma, i un diluvi d'aigua amara les romanalles del martir atuit.
The window went up, a maid-servant's discordant voice profaned the holy calm, and a deluge of water drenched the prone martyr's remains!
The strangling hero sprang up with a relieving snort. There was a whiz as of a missile in the air, mingled with the murmur of a curse, a sound as of shivering glass followed, and a small, vague form went over the fence and shot away in the gloom.
No gaire temps després, quan Tom, despullat per ficar -se al llit, examinava sos vestits amarats a la llum d' una candela de seu, Sid es desperta; pero si per acas li vingué alguna terbola idea de fer provatures d' al·lusions, s' hi repensa, i serva quietud, perque lluca el perill en la mirada de Tom.
Not long after, as Tom, all undressed for bed, was surveying his drenched garments by the light of a tallow dip, Sid woke up; but if he had any dim idea of making any "references to allusions," he thought better of it and held his peace, for there was danger in Tom's eye.
Tom turned in without the added vexation of prayers, and Sid made mental note of the omission.
CAPÍTOL IV
CHAPTER IV
El sol s' aixeca damunt un món tranquil, i resplendí damunt el poblet pacífic com una benedicció.
THE sun rose upon a tranquil world, and beamed down upon the peaceful village like a benediction.
Acabat el desdejuni, la tia Polly comença les practiques religioses de la família: primer de tot digué una pregaria erigida en solides fileres de cites escripturístiques, encastades amb un prim morter de originalitat; i des del cim d' aquell monument, llegí un capítol ferreny de la llei mosaica, com si fos del Sinaí estant.
Breakfast over, Aunt Polly had family worship: it began with a prayer built from the ground up of solid courses of Scriptural quotations, welded together with a thin mortar of originality; and from the summit of this she delivered a grim chapter of the Mosaic Law, as from Sinai.
Then Tom girded up his loins, so to speak, and went to work to "get his verses."
Sid had learned his lesson days before. Tom bent all his energies to the memorizing of five verses, and he chose part of the Sermon on the Mount, because he could find no verses that were shorter.
At the end of half an hour Tom had a vague general idea of his lesson, but no more, for his mind was traversing the whole field of human thought, and his hands were busy with distracting recreations.
Mary took his book to hear him recite, and he tried to find his way through the fog:
-Benaventurats els a… a…
"Blessed are the--a--a--"
-Pobres. -Sí… pobres.
"Poor"--
Benaventurats el pobres a … a … -En esperit …
"Yes--poor; blessed are the poor--a--a--"
-En esperit.
"In spirit--"
Benaventurats els pobres en esperit, perque ells… ells… -Llur…
"In spirit; blessed are the poor in spirit, for they--they--"
-Perque llur.
"_Theirs_--"
Benaventurats els pobres en esperit perque llur … és el reialme del cel.
"For _theirs_. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Benaventurats els que ploren, perque ells … ells …
Blessed are they that mourn, for they--they--"
-Se… -Perque ells… a…
"Sh--"
-S. e…
-Perque ells essa e… Oh!
"For they--a--"
"S, H, A--"
-Seran ! -Oh !
"For they S, H--Oh, I don't know what it is!"
Seran !
"_Shall_!"
"Oh, _shall_! for they shall--for they shall--a--a--shall mourn--a--a--blessed are they that shall--they that--a--they that shall mourn, for they shall--a--shall _what_?
Perque no m' ho dieu, Mary ? Perque us plau ésser tan roina ?
Why don't you tell me, Mary?--what do you want to be so mean for?"
"Oh, Tom, you poor thick-headed thing, I'm not teasing you.
No ho voldria pas, de ser-vos-en.
I wouldn't do that.
You must go and learn it again.
Don't you be discouraged, Tom, you'll manage it--and if you do, I'll give you something ever so nice. There, now, that's a good boy."
"All right! What is it, Mary, tell me what it is."
"Never you mind, Tom. You know if I say it's nice, it is nice."
-Oi, Mary. Molt bé: m'hi aferrussaré altra vegada.
"You bet you that's so, Mary. All right, I'll tackle it again."
I s'hi aferrussa altra vegada; I, sota la doble tensió de la tafaneria i el guany en perspectiva, ho féu amb tant d'abrivament, que reeixí d'una manera esclatant.
And he did "tackle it again"--and under the double pressure of curiosity and prospective gain he did it with such spirit that he accomplished a shining success.
Mary li dona un flamant ganivet Barlow, que costava dos rals i escadús; i la convulsió de gaubança que féu trontollar el seu organisme el sacseja fins als fonaments.
Mary gave him a brand-new "Barlow" knife worth twelve and a half cents; and the convulsion of delight that swept his system shook him to his foundations.
En veritat, el ganivet no servia per a tallar res, pero era un evident Barlow, i aquest instrument era d' una inconcebible sumptuositat; baldament la qüestió de si els nois de l' Oest havien o no arribat a imaginar que semblant arma podia segurament ser falsificada per al seu menyscabament, és un imposant misteri que mai sera resolt, tal vegada.
True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a "sure-enough" Barlow, and there was inconceivable grandeur in that--though where the Western boys ever got the idea that such a weapon could possibly be counterfeited to its injury is an imposing mystery and will always remain so, perhaps.
Tom contrived to scarify the cupboard with it, and was arranging to begin on the bureau, when he was called off to dress for Sunday-school.
Maria li dona una ribella de llauna amb la seva aigua, i un troç de sabó, i ell passa la porta i posa la ribella damunt d' un escambell que hi havia per allí: després fica el sabó a l' aigua i l' hi deixa estar; s' arremanga les manegues; escampa dolçament l' aigua per terra; i després entra a la cuina i comença d' eixugar -se la cara diligentment amb la tovallola de darrera la porta.
Mary gave him a tin basin of water and a piece of soap, and he went outside the door and set the basin on a little bench there; then he dipped the soap in the water and laid it down; turned up his sleeves; poured out the water on the ground, gently, and then entered the kitchen and began to wipe his face diligently on the towel behind the door.
Pero Mary remogué la tovallola i digué: -No us en deu vergonya, Tom?
But Mary removed the towel and said: "Now ain't you ashamed, Tom.
No sigueu tan dolent.
You mustn't be so bad.
L'aigua no us fara cap mal.
Water won't hurt you."
Tom romangué una mica desconcertat.
Tom was a trifle disconcerted.
The basin was refilled, and this time he stood over it a little while, gathering resolution; took in a big breath and began.
When he entered the kitchen presently, with both eyes shut and groping for the towel with his hands, an honorable testimony of suds and water was dripping from his face.
Pero en eixir de la tovallola, son estat no era encara satisfactori, perque l' area neta cessava de cop i volta, com si fos una mascara, damunt la seva barba i les seves barres. Per sota i més enlla d' aquesta ratlla hi havia una ombrívola extensió de territori eixut, que s' estenia cap avall pel seu davant, i, pel darrera, al voltant del coll.
But when he emerged from the towel, he was not yet satisfactory, for the clean territory stopped short at his chin and his jaws, like a mask; below and beyond this line there was a dark expanse of unirrigated soil that spread downward in front and backward around his neck.
Mary took him in hand, and when she was done with him he was a man and a brother, without distinction of color, and his saturated hair was neatly brushed, and its short curls wrought into a dainty and symmetrical general effect.
[He privately smoothed out the curls, with labor and difficulty, and plastered his hair close down to his head; for he held curls to be effeminate, and his own filled his life with bitterness.]
Then Mary got out a suit of his clothing that had been used only on Sundays during two years--they were simply called his "other clothes"--and so by that we know the size of his wardrobe.
The girl "put him to rights" after he had dressed himself; she buttoned his neat roundabout up to his chin, turned his vast shirt collar down over his shoulders, brushed him off and crowned him with his speckled straw hat.
Semblava ara en gran manera millorat i inconfortable; i, verament, es sentia tan inconfortable com semblava, perque tot el vestit i la netedat l' enravenaven d' una manera, que allo era un fel.
He now looked exceedingly improved and uncomfortable. He was fully as uncomfortable as he looked; for there was a restraint about whole clothes and cleanliness that galled him.
He hoped that Mary would forget his shoes, but the hope was blighted; she coated them thoroughly with tallow, as was the custom, and brought them out.
He lost his temper and said he was always being made to do everything he didn't want to do.
But Mary said, persuasively: "Please, Tom--that's a good boy."
So he got into the shoes snarling.
Mary was soon ready, and the three children set out for Sunday-school--a place that Tom hated with his whole heart; but Sid and Mary were fond of it.
Sabbath-school hours were from nine to half-past ten; and then church service.
Two of the children always remained for the sermon voluntarily, and the other always remained too--for stronger reasons.
The church's high-backed, uncushioned pews would seat about three hundred persons; the edifice was but a small, plain affair, with a sort of pine board tree-box on top of it for a steeple.
At the door Tom dropped back a step and accosted a Sunday-dressed comrade: "Say, Billy, got a yaller ticket?"
-Sí.
"Yes."
-Quant ne vols?
"What'll you take for her?"
-Quant ne dones?
"What'll you give?"
"Piece of lickrish and a fish-hook."
-Deixa -m 'ho veure.
"Less see 'em."
Tom exhibited. They were satisfactory, and the property changed hands.
Després Tom vengué un parell de bales bones i blanques per tres bitllets vermells, i alguna altra bagatel·la per un parell de blaus.
Then Tom traded a couple of white alleys for three red tickets, and some small trifle or other for a couple of blue ones.
He waylaid other boys as they came, and went on buying tickets of various colors ten or fifteen minutes longer.
He entered the church, now, with a swarm of clean and noisy boys and girls, proceeded to his seat and started a quarrel with the first boy that came handy.
El mestre, hom greu i ancia, va intervenir -hi; després gira l' esquena un moment, i Tom estira els cabells d' un noi del banc veí, i estava tot absort llegint son llibre quan el noi va girar -se. Clava una agulla en un altre noi, tot seguit, per a sentir -li dir: -Ui ! - i fou renyat novament pel mestre.
The teacher, a grave, elderly man, interfered; then turned his back a moment and Tom pulled a boy's hair in the next bench, and was absorbed in his book when the boy turned around; stuck a pin in another boy, presently, in order to hear him say "Ouch!" and got a new reprimand from his teacher.
Tom's whole class were of a pattern--restless, noisy, and troublesome.
When they came to recite their lessons, not one of them knew his verses perfectly, but had to be prompted all along.
However, they worried through, and each got his reward--in small blue tickets, each with a passage of Scripture on it; each blue ticket was pay for two verses of the recitation.
Deu bitllets blaus equivalien a un de vermell, i podien ser -hi baratats; deu bitllets vermells equivalien a un de groc; per cada deu bitllets grocs el superintendent donava una Bíblia molt senzillament enquadernada (que no arribava a valer mig dolar en aquells temps venturosos ) al deixeble.
Ten blue tickets equalled a red one, and could be exchanged for it; ten red tickets equalled a yellow one; for ten yellow tickets the superintendent gave a very plainly bound Bible (worth forty cents in those easy times) to the pupil.
How many of my readers would have the industry and application to memorize two thousand verses, even for a Dore Bible?
I, no obstant, Mary havia adquirit dues Bíblies d' aquesta manera; aixo li representava la tasca pacient de dos anys; i un noi de parentela alemanya n' havia guanyades quatre o cinc.
And yet Mary had acquired two Bibles in this way--it was the patient work of two years--and a boy of German parentage had won four or five.
Una vegada, aquest recita tres mil versicles sense aturar -se; pero la tensió exercida damunt ses facultats mentals era massa gran, i des d' aquell dia esdevingué poc menys que un idiota: lamentable infortuni per a l' escola, perque en les grans avinenteses, davant d' espectadors, el superintendent sempre feia sortir aquell noi perque (com deia Tom ) « s' engegués ».
He once recited three thousand verses without stopping; but the strain upon his mental faculties was too great, and he was little better than an idiot from that day forth--a grievous misfortune for the school, for on great occasions, before company, the superintendent (as Tom expressed it) had always made this boy come out and "spread himself."
Només els deixebles vells procuraven servar llurs bitllets, no deixant de banda llur tediosa tasca fins a assolir una Bíblia: així és que la remissió d' un d' aquests premis era un rar i notable esdeveniment; el deixeble que havia reeixit era tan gran i conspicu, aquell dia, que en tal moment tot si d' alumne s' encenia d' una nova ambició que ben sovint durava un parell de setmanes.
Only the older pupils managed to keep their tickets and stick to their tedious work long enough to get a Bible, and so the delivery of one of these prizes was a rare and noteworthy circumstance; the successful pupil was so great and conspicuous for that day that on the spot every scholar's heart was fired with a fresh ambition that often lasted a couple of weeks.
It is possible that Tom's mental stomach had never really hungered for one of those prizes, but unquestionably his entire being had for many a day longed for the glory and the eclat that came with it.
Com de costum, el superintendent romania dret, en front del púlpit, amb un llibre d' himnes, tancat, a la ma i l' índex ficat entre les seves pagines, i comanda atenció.
In due course the superintendent stood up in front of the pulpit, with a closed hymn-book in his hand and his forefinger inserted between its leaves, and commanded attention.
Quan un superintendent d' escola de diumenge fa son petit discurs habitual, un llibre d' himnes a la ma li és tan necessari com la inevitable fulla de música a un cantaire que esta part davant d' una plataforma i canta un solo en un concert, encara que el motiu d' aixo és un misteri; perque el pacient no passa mai els ulls pel llibre d' himnes ni per la fulla de música.
When a Sunday-school superintendent makes his customary little speech, a hymn-book in the hand is as necessary as is the inevitable sheet of music in the hand of a singer who stands forward on the platform and sings a solo at a concert--though why, is a mystery: for neither the hymn-book nor the sheet of music is ever referred to by the sufferer.
Aquest superintendent era una tenue criatura de trenta cinc anys, amb una perilla crespada i cabell curt i crespat; portava un coll rígid i dret, l' extrem superior del qual ben bé li arribava a les orelles, i les agudes puntes del qual s' encorbaven cap endavant, en front dels angles de la seva boca: aquest clos obligava a un esguard ben recte cap endavant, i a girar tot el cos quan calia mirar de costat. La seva barba l' apuntalava una corbata tota estesa, que era tan llarga i tan ampla com un bitllet de banc, i tenia caps de serrell; els extrems de les seves botes eren girats violentament cap amunt, segons la moda del dia, com a lliscadores de trineu: efecte pacientment i laboriosament produit pels joves, seient amb els dits del peu apretats contra una paret hores senceres.
This superintendent was a slim creature of thirty-five, with a sandy goatee and short sandy hair; he wore a stiff standing-collar whose upper edge almost reached his ears and whose sharp points curved forward abreast the corners of his mouth--a fence that compelled a straight lookout ahead, and a turning of the whole body when a side view was required; his chin was propped on a spreading cravat which was as broad and as long as a bank-note, and had fringed ends; his boot toes were turned sharply up, in the fashion of the day, like sleigh-runners--an effect patiently and laboriously produced by the young men by sitting with their toes pressed against a wall for hours together.
El senyor Walters era de posat molt curiós, i de cor ben sincer i com cal; i tenia les coses i els indrets sagrats en tanta de reverencia, i els separava tant de les materies mundanals, que, sense que ell se n' adonés, la seva veu d' escola de diumenge havia adquirit una entonació peculiar que desapareixia totalment els dies de feina.
Mr. Walters was very earnest of mien, and very sincere and honest at heart; and he held sacred things and places in such reverence, and so separated them from worldly matters, that unconsciously to himself his Sunday-school voice had acquired a peculiar intonation which was wholly absent on week-days.
He began after this fashion: "Now, children, I want you all to sit up just as straight and pretty as you can and give me all your attention for a minute or two. There--that is it. That is the way good little boys and girls should do.
I see one little girl who is looking out of the window--I am afraid she thinks I am out there somewhere--perhaps up in one of the trees making a speech to the little birds. [Applausive titter.]
I want to tell you how good it makes me feel to see so many bright, clean little faces assembled in a place like this, learning to do right and be good."
I així succesivament.
And so forth and so on.
It is not necessary to set down the rest of the oration. It was of a pattern which does not vary, and so it is familiar to us all.
The latter third of the speech was marred by the resumption of fights and other recreations among certain of the bad boys, and by fidgetings and whisperings that extended far and wide, washing even to the bases of isolated and incorruptible rocks like Sid and Mary.
Pero tot aixo para de sobte en apaivagar -se la veu del senyor Walters; i la conclusió del discurs fou rebuda amb un esclat de silenciós agraiment.
But now every sound ceased suddenly, with the subsidence of Mr. Walters' voice, and the conclusion of the speech was received with a burst of silent gratitude.
Una bella part dels murmuris havia estat ocasionada per un esdeveniment més o menys inavesat: l' entrada de visitants: l' advocat Thatcher, acompanyat de un home molt vell i molt feble, i d' un bell senyor cavallerívol, de mitja edat i cabell gris d' acer, i una senyora tota digna, que era sens dubte la muller de aquest. La senyora portava una nena.
A good part of the whispering had been occasioned by an event which was more or less rare--the entrance of visitors: lawyer Thatcher, accompanied by a very feeble and aged man; a fine, portly, middle-aged gentleman with iron-gray hair; and a dignified lady who was doubtless the latter's wife. The lady was leading a child.
Tom had been restless and full of chafings and repinings; conscience-smitten, too--he could not meet Amy Lawrence's eye, he could not brook her loving gaze.
Pero quan veié la petita nouvinguda, son esperit se abranda tot ell de benaventurança en un dir Jesús.
But when he saw this small newcomer his soul was all ablaze with bliss in a moment.
The next moment he was "showing off" with all his might--cuffing boys, pulling hair, making faces--in a word, using every art that seemed likely to fascinate a girl and win her applause.
His exaltation had but one alloy--the memory of his humiliation in this angel's garden--and that record in sand was fast washing out, under the waves of happiness that were sweeping over it now.
The visitors were given the highest seat of honor, and as soon as Mr. Walters' speech was finished, he introduced them to the school.
El senyor de mitja edat resulta ésser un prodigiós personatge; no altre que el jutge del comtat; la més augusta creació, en absolut, que aquells infants haguessin mai contemplat, i ells es demanaven de quina mena de material era bastit; i mig volien sentir -lo braolar i mig temien que arribés a fer -ho.
The middle-aged man turned out to be a prodigious personage--no less a one than the county judge--altogether the most august creation these children had ever looked upon--and they wondered what kind of material he was made of--and they half wanted to hear him roar, and were half afraid he might, too.
He was from Constantinople, twelve miles away--so he had travelled, and seen the world--these very eyes had looked upon the county court-house--which was said to have a tin roof.
L' astorament que aquestes reflexions inspiraven, el demostrava l' impressionat silenci i les fileres d' ulls mirant de fit a fit.
The awe which these reflections inspired was attested by the impressive silence and the ranks of staring eyes.
Aquest era el gran jutge Thatcher, germa de llur propi advocat.
This was the great Judge Thatcher, brother of their own lawyer.
Jeff Thatcher immediately went forward, to be familiar with the great man and be envied by the school.
It would have been music to his soul to hear the whisperings:
-Mira -te 'l, Jim ! com puja allí damunt.
"Look at him, Jim! He's a going up there.
Say--look! he's a going to shake hands with him--he _is_ shaking hands with him!
Ma noi ! No t' agradaria d' ésser En Jeff ?
By jings, don't you wish you was Jeff?"
Mr. Walters fell to "showing off," with all sorts of official bustlings and activities, giving orders, delivering judgments, discharging directions here, there, everywhere that he could find a target.
The librarian "showed off"--running hither and thither with his arms full of books and making a deal of the splutter and fuss that insect authority delights in.
Les joves senyoretes mestresses « es feien veure », decantant -se dolçament damunt deixebles que feia poc temps havien estat apunyegats, alçant ditets advertidors envers els nois dolents i dant amorosos copets als bons minyons; els joves senyors mestres « es feien veure » amb petits renys i altres petites demostracions d' autoritat i bella atenció a la disciplina; i la major part dels mestres, d' ambdós sexes, trobaren coses a fer a la llibreria, vora el púlpit, i eren coses que calia tornar a fer dues o tres vegades (amb molta de vexació aparent ).
The young lady teachers "showed off"--bending sweetly over pupils that were lately being boxed, lifting pretty warning fingers at bad little boys and patting good ones lovingly. The young gentlemen teachers "showed off" with small scoldings and other little displays of authority and fine attention to discipline--and most of the teachers, of both sexes, found business up at the library, by the pulpit; and it was business that frequently had to be done over again two or three times (with much seeming vexation).
The little girls "showed off" in various ways, and the little boys "showed off" with such diligence that the air was thick with paper wads and the murmur of scufflings.
And above it all the great man sat and beamed a majestic judicial smile upon all the house, and warmed himself in the sun of his own grandeur--for he was "showing off," too.
There was only one thing wanting to make Mr. Walters' ecstasy complete, and that was a chance to deliver a Bible-prize and exhibit a prodigy.
Several pupils had a few yellow tickets, but none had enough--he had been around among the star pupils inquiring. He would have given worlds, now, to have that German lad back again with a sound mind.
And now at this moment, when hope was dead, Tom Sawyer came forward with nine yellow tickets, nine red tickets, and ten blue ones, and demanded a Bible.
Aixo fou com una tamborinada en un cel clar.
This was a thunderbolt out of a clear sky.
Walters was not expecting an application from this source for the next ten years.
But there was no getting around it--here were the certified checks, and they were good for their face.
Tom was therefore elevated to a place with the Judge and the other elect, and the great news was announced from headquarters.
Fou la sorpresa més atarantadora de la decada; i tan pregona fou la sensació, que aixeca el nou heroi a l' altura de l' heroi judicial, i l' escola tingué dues meravelles a contemplar en lloc d' una.
It was the most stunning surprise of the decade, and so profound was the sensation that it lifted the new hero up to the judicial one's altitude, and the school had two marvels to gaze upon in place of one.
Els nois es sentiren rosegats per l' enveja; pero els que sofriren les més amargues punyides foren els que s' adonaren massa tard que havien contribuit a aquesta odiada esplendor, en vendre bitllets a Tom a canvi de la riquesa que ell havia acoblat venent privilegis d' emblanquinar.
The boys were all eaten up with envy--but those that suffered the bitterest pangs were those who perceived too late that they themselves had contributed to this hated splendor by trading tickets to Tom for the wealth he had amassed in selling whitewashing privileges.
Es menyspreaven a sí mateixos, com a enganyats per un frau astut, per un serpent criminal amagat en l' herba.
These despised themselves, as being the dupes of a wily fraud, a guileful snake in the grass.
El premi fou remes a Tom amb tanta d' efusió com el superintendent pogué bombar -se en aquelles circumstancies; pero li mancava quelcom de l' autentic broll, perque l' instint del pobre subjecte li féu saber que allí hi havia un misteri que potser no comportava la llum; era simplement absurd que aquell noi hagués amagatzemat dues mil gavelles de ciencia escripturística en sos locals: una dotzena agotarien la seva capacitat, sens dubte.
The prize was delivered to Tom with as much effusion as the superintendent could pump up under the circumstances; but it lacked somewhat of the true gush, for the poor fellow's instinct taught him that there was a mystery here that could not well bear the light, perhaps; it was simply preposterous that this boy had warehoused two thousand sheaves of Scriptural wisdom on his premises--a dozen would strain his capacity, without a doubt.
Amy Lawrence was proud and glad, and she tried to make Tom see it in her face--but he wouldn't look.
Ella se n' estranya: després estigué una mica contorbada; després una vaga sospita vingué i passa i retorna de bell nou; ella sotja; una llambregada furtiva li digué qui-sap -les coses, i aleshores son cor es trenca, i es sentí gelosa, i irosa, i li vingueren les llagrimes als ulls, i odia tothom: Tom més que tots els altres, pensa ella.
She wondered; then she was just a grain troubled; next a dim suspicion came and went--came again; she watched; a furtive glance told her worlds--and then her heart broke, and she was jealous, and angry, and the tears came and she hated everybody. Tom most of all (she thought).
Tom was introduced to the Judge; but his tongue was tied, his breath would hardly come, his heart quaked--partly because of the awful greatness of the man, but mainly because he was her parent.
He would have liked to fall down and worship him, if it were in the dark.
The Judge put his hand on Tom's head and called him a fine little man, and asked him what his name was.
El noi tartamudeja, bada la boca, i ho tragué enfora: -Tom.
The boy stammered, gasped, and got it out: "Tom."
-Oh ! no ! no Tom … és …
"Oh, no, not Tom--it is--"
-Tomas.
"Thomas."
-Ah ! aixo és.
"Ah, that's it.
I thought there was more to it, maybe.
That's very well. But you've another one I daresay, and you'll tell it to me, won't you?"
-Digueu al senyor quin és l' altre nom, Tomas- digué Walters. -I digueu senyor.
"Tell the gentleman your other name, Thomas," said Walters, "and say sir.
Cal que no oblideu la vostra urbanitat.
You mustn't forget your manners."
-Tomas Sawyer, senyor.
"Thomas Sawyer--sir."
-Aixo és !
"That's it!
D' aixo en dic un bon minyó. Bell minyó. Bell: un homenet.
That's a good boy. Fine boy. Fine, manly little fellow.
Dos mil versos és molt, moltíssim.
Two thousand verses is a great many--very, very great many.
I mai no us ha de doldre el treball que us heu donat per apendre 'ls; perque el saber val més que cap altra cosa del món; aixo és el que fa que els homes es tornin bons i grans; sereu un gran home i un home bo algun dia, Tom, i aleshores mirareu enrera i direu: « -Tot és degut als beneficis de la preada escola dominical de la meva infantesa; tot és degut a mos benvolguts professors, que m' ensenyaren a apendre; tot és degut al bon superintendent, que m' encoratja i vetlla per mi i em dona una bella Bíblia, una Bíblia esplendida i elegant, per servar -la i tenir -la per al meu ús, per a sempre més; tot és degut a la recta educació ! »
And you never can be sorry for the trouble you took to learn them; for knowledge is worth more than anything there is in the world; it's what makes great men and good men; you'll be a great man and a good man yourself, some day, Thomas, and then you'll look back and say, It's all owing to the precious Sunday-school privileges of my boyhood--it's all owing to my dear teachers that taught me to learn--it's all owing to the good superintendent, who encouraged me, and watched over me, and gave me a beautiful Bible--a splendid elegant Bible--to keep and have it all for my own, always--it's all owing to right bringing up!
That is what you will say, Thomas--and you wouldn't take any money for those two thousand verses--no indeed you wouldn't. And now you wouldn't mind telling me and this lady some of the things you've learned--no, I know you wouldn't--for we are proud of little boys that learn.
Sabeu, sens dubte, els noms de tots els dotze deixebles.
Now, no doubt you know the names of all the twelve disciples.
Won't you tell us the names of the first two that were appointed?"
Tom anava estirant -se un botó i prenent un posat temorenc. S' enrojola, aleshores, i sos ulls es decantaren a terra.
Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. He blushed, now, and his eyes fell.
El cor del senyor Walters s' esfondra dintre seu.
Mr. Walters' heart sank within him.
He said to himself, it is not possible that the boy can answer the simplest question--why _did_ the Judge ask him?
Yet he felt obliged to speak up and say: "Answer the gentleman, Thomas--don't be afraid."
Tom encara no disparava.
Tom still hung fire.
"Now I know you'll tell me," said the lady. "The names of the first two disciples were--"
-DAVID I GOLIAT!
"_David And Goliah!_"
Correm una cortina caritatívola damunt la resta de l' escena.
Let us draw the curtain of charity over the rest of the scene.
CAPÍTOL V
CHAPTER V
ABOUT half-past ten the cracked bell of the small church began to ring, and presently the people began to gather for the morning sermon.
Els minyons de l' escola dominical es distribuiren per l' edifici, i ocuparen bancs amb llurs parents, de manera que en romanguessin vigilats.
The Sunday-school children distributed themselves about the house and occupied pews with their parents, so as to be under supervision.
Aunt Polly came, and Tom and Sid and Mary sat with her--Tom being placed next the aisle, in order that he might be as far away from the open window and the seductive outside summer scenes as possible.
La gentada omplí les naus: el vell i indigent administrador de correus, que havia conegut dies millors; el batlle i la seva muller (perque tenien batlle, allí, entre altres coses superflues ); el jutge de pau; la viuda Douglas, rossa, elegant i de quaranta anys, esperit benvolent i acomodat, la casa encimbellada de la qual era l' únic palau del poble, i la més hospitalaria i de molt la més prodiga en materia de festes que l' omplís d' ufana; el decantat i venerable ex-alcalde i la senyora Ward; l' advocat Riverson, el nou notable de la rodalia; després la beutat del poblet, seguida d' una colla de joves cortrencadores, vestides de llinó i guarnides de cintes; després tots els joves dependents de la ciutat, corporativament: perque havien romas en el vestíbul tot xuclant el pom del bastó, formant un mur circular d' admiradors oliosos i de somriure badoc, fins que la darrera noia havia passat per les baquetes; i, finalment, vingué el noi model, Willie Mufferson, prenent tan sol·lícita cura de la mare com si ella fos tallada en cristall.
The crowd filed up the aisles: the aged and needy postmaster, who had seen better days; the mayor and his wife--for they had a mayor there, among other unnecessaries; the justice of the peace; the widow Douglass, fair, smart, and forty, a generous, good-hearted soul and well-to-do, her hill mansion the only palace in the town, and the most hospitable and much the most lavish in the matter of festivities that St. Petersburg could boast; the bent and venerable Major and Mrs. Ward; lawyer Riverson, the new notable from a distance; next the belle of the village, followed by a troop of lawn-clad and ribbon-decked young heart-breakers; then all the young clerks in town in a body--for they had stood in the vestibule sucking their cane-heads, a circling wall of oiled and simpering admirers, till the last girl had run their gantlet; and last of all came the Model Boy, Willie Mufferson, taking as heedful care of his mother as if she were cut glass.
He always brought his mother to church, and was the pride of all the matrons.
Els minyons, sense mancar-n 'hi un, el detestaven perque era tan bo i, a més, son exemple els havia estat encolomat tantes vegades.
The boys all hated him, he was so good. And besides, he had been "thrown up to them" so much.
His white handkerchief was hanging out of his pocket behind, as usual on Sundays--accidentally.
Tom had no handkerchief, and he looked upon boys who had as snobs.
The congregation being fully assembled, now, the bell rang once more, to warn laggards and stragglers, and then a solemn hush fell upon the church which was only broken by the tittering and whispering of the choir in the gallery.
El chor sempre feia rialletes i murmuris durant tot el servei religiós.
The choir always tittered and whispered all through service.
There was once a church choir that was not ill-bred, but I have forgotten where it was, now. It was a great many years ago, and I can scarcely remember anything about it, but I think it was in some foreign country.
The minister gave out the hymn, and read it through with a relish, in a peculiar style which was much admired in that part of the country.
His voice began on a medium key and climbed steadily up till it reached a certain point, where it bore with strong emphasis upon the topmost word and then plunged down as if from a spring-board:
Seré menat cap-al-cel en-llits FLORITS de descans, Quan d' altres lluiten pel-premi fent-vela-en ONES sagnants ? Hom el considerava prodigiós lector.
Shall I be car-ri-ed toe the skies, on flow'ry _beds_ of ease, Whilst others fight to win the prize, and sail thro' _blood_-y seas? He was regarded as a wonderful reader.
A les vetllades de l' església sempre recorrien a ell perque llegís poemes; i, quan s' hi havia posat, les senyores alçaven llurs mans i les deixaven caure abandonadament damunt la falda; i cloien els ulls i movien els caps, com si diguéssin: -Les paraules no poden expressar -ho: és massa bell, massa bell per a aquesta terra mortal !
At church "sociables" he was always called upon to read poetry; and when he was through, the ladies would lift up their hands and let them fall helplessly in their laps, and "wall" their eyes, and shake their heads, as much as to say, "Words cannot express it; it is too beautiful, TOO beautiful for this mortal earth."
Després que l' himne fou cantat, el reverend senyor Sprague es gira envers una taula d' avisos i llegí en alta veu advertiments de reunions i societats i altres coses, i arriba a semblar que la llista s' estendria fins a l' espatec del Judici Final; singular costum que és encara conservat a America, fins i tot a les ciutats, en mig d' aquesta epoca d' abundosos diaris. Tot sovint, quan menys fonament té un costum tradicional, més difícil és de desempallegar -se 'n.
After the hymn had been sung, the Rev. Mr. Sprague turned himself into a bulletin-board, and read off "notices" of meetings and societies and things till it seemed that the list would stretch out to the crack of doom--a queer custom which is still kept up in America, even in cities, away here in this age of abundant newspapers. Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.
I aleshores el ministre prega.
And now the minister prayed.
Bona i generosa fou la seva pregaria, i feta per peces menudes. Pledeja per l' Església i els petits infants de l' Església; per les altres esglésies del poblet; pel poblet mateix; pel comtat; per l' Estat; pels funcionaris de l' Estat; pels Estats Units; per les esglésies dels Estats Units; pel Congrés; pel President; pels funcionaris del Govern; pels pobres mariners, malmenats en les mars tempestuoses; pels milions d' oprimits que gemeguen sota el taló de les monarquies europees i els despotismes orientals; per aquells que reberen ]a llum i la bona nova, i tanmateix no tenen ulls per a veure ni orelles per a oir, i pels pagans de les llunyanes illes de la mar; i acaba amb una súplica que les paraules que anava a dir poguessin trobar gracia i favor, i fossin sement sembrada en terra fertil, llevant amb el temps abundosa collita de bé.
A good, generous prayer it was, and went into details: it pleaded for the church, and the little children of the church; for the other churches of the village; for the village itself; for the county; for the State; for the State officers; for the United States; for the churches of the United States; for Congress; for the President; for the officers of the Government; for poor sailors, tossed by stormy seas; for the oppressed millions groaning under the heel of European monarchies and Oriental despotisms; for such as have the light and the good tidings, and yet have not eyes to see nor ears to hear withal; for the heathen in the far islands of the sea; and closed with a supplication that the words he was about to speak might find grace and favor, and be as seed sown in fertile ground, yielding in time a grateful harvest of good.
Amén.
Amen.
Hi hagué un zumzeig de vestits, i la gent dreta s' assegué.
There was a rustling of dresses, and the standing congregation sat down.
The boy whose history this book relates did not enjoy the prayer, he only endured it--if he even did that much.
Estava inquiet tot el temps que durava; portava el compte dels detalls de la pregaria, inconscientment (perque no hi parava atenció, pero sabia les tasqueres que amb tota regularitat servava en aquell vetust indret el clergue ); i quan una petita bagatel·la de materia nova hi era insertada, la seva orella l' espiava i tota la seva natura n' experimentava ressentiment: considerava els afegitons injustos i bretols.
He was restive all through it; he kept tally of the details of the prayer, unconsciously--for he was not listening, but he knew the ground of old, and the clergyman's regular route over it--and when a little trifle of new matter was interlarded, his ear detected it and his whole nature resented it; he considered additions unfair, and scoundrelly.
En mig de la pregaria, una mosca s' havia aturat damunt el respatller del banc de davant, i torturava l' esperit de Tom, per tal com s' estava fregant tranquilament les mans, agafant -se el cap amb els braços i pulint -lo tan vigorosament que gairebé semblava descompartir -lo del cos, deixant a la vista el fil subtilíssim del coll, i es gratava les ales amb les potes del darrera i les aplanava damunt son cos com si haguessin estat faldons de casaca, continuant tota la seva toilette tan tranquilament com si sabés que gaudia de tota seguretat.
In the midst of the prayer a fly had lit on the back of the pew in front of him and tortured his spirit by calmly rubbing its hands together, embracing its head with its arms, and polishing it so vigorously that it seemed to almost part company with the body, and the slender thread of a neck was exposed to view; scraping its wings with its hind legs and smoothing them to its body as if they had been coat-tails; going through its whole toilet as tranquilly as if it knew it was perfectly safe.
As indeed it was; for as sorely as Tom's hands itched to grab for it they did not dare--he believed his soul would be instantly destroyed if he did such a thing while the prayer was going on.
But with the closing sentence his hand began to curve and steal forward; and the instant the "Amen" was out the fly was a prisoner of war.
His aunt detected the act and made him let it go.
El ministre pronuncia son text, tot brunzint monotonament al llarg d' una al·legació tan prosaica que molts de caps, d' ací d' alla, començaren de pesar figues: i tanmateix era una al·legació que tractava del foc interminable i el sofre, i reduia els predestinats de la gloria a una colla tan petita, que amb prou feines valia la pena aquella salvetat.
The minister gave out his text and droned along monotonously through an argument that was so prosy that many a head by and by began to nod--and yet it was an argument that dealt in limitless fire and brimstone and thinned the predestined elect down to a company so small as to be hardly worth the saving.
Tom counted the pages of the sermon; after church he always knew how many pages there had been, but he seldom knew anything else about the discourse.
However, this time he was really interested for a little while. The minister made a grand and moving picture of the assembling together of the world's hosts at the millennium when the lion and the lamb should lie down together and a little child should lead them.
Pero el sentiment, la lliçó, l' exemplaritat del gran espectacle, foren perduts per al minyó: només pensa que en el caracter egregi del protagonista, davant els pobles en expectació: son rostre s' il·lumina d' aquell pensament, i es digué a si mateix que desitjaria d' ésser aquell infant, si el lleó era manyac.
But the pathos, the lesson, the moral of the great spectacle were lost upon the boy; he only thought of the conspicuousness of the principal character before the on-looking nations; his face lit with the thought, and he said to himself that he wished he could be that child, if it was a tame lion.
Now he lapsed into suffering again, as the dry argument was resumed.
Presently he bethought him of a treasure he had and got it out.
It was a large black beetle with formidable jaws--a "pinchbug," he called it.
El tenia en una capsa de pistons.
It was in a percussion-cap box.
The first thing the beetle did was to take him by the finger. A natural fillip followed, the beetle went floundering into the aisle and lit on its back, and the hurt finger went into the boy's mouth.
The beetle lay there working its helpless legs, unable to turn over.
Tom eyed it, and longed for it; but it was safe out of his reach.
Other people uninterested in the sermon found relief in the beetle, and they eyed it too.
Al cap de poca estona un gos llanut vagarívol comparegué mandrosament, amb el cor trist, emperesit per la calma i blanura de l'istiu, cansat del captiveri i sospirant per una trasmudança.
Presently a vagrant poodle dog came idling along, sad at heart, lazy with the summer softness and the quiet, weary of captivity, sighing for change.
Espia l' escarabat; la cua caiguda s' aixeca i oscil·la:
He spied the beetle; the drooping tail lifted and wagged.
ell inspeccionava el botí: caminava al voltant de la bestiola; la flairava des d' una distancia confortable; tornava a caminar -li al voltant; es feia més gosat, i la flairava de més a prop; després aixeca el morro, i pega una cautelosa urpada, sense arribar a encertar; en pega una altra, i una altra; comença de fruir el divertiment; s' ensorra fins a l' estómac amb l' escarabat entre les seves urpes, i continua sos experiments; se 'n fadiga al capdavall i romangué indiferent i distret.
He surveyed the prize; walked around it; smelt at it from a safe distance; walked around it again; grew bolder, and took a closer smell; then lifted his lip and made a gingerly snatch at it, just missing it; made another, and another; began to enjoy the diversion; subsided to his stomach with the beetle between his paws, and continued his experiments; grew weary at last, and then indifferent and absent-minded.
His head nodded, and little by little his chin descended and touched the enemy, who seized it.
There was a sharp yelp, a flirt of the poodle's head, and the beetle fell a couple of yards away, and lit on its back once more.
Els espectadors veins s' estremiren d' una dolça joia interior, diverses cares es posaren darrera ventalls i mocadors, i Tom esdevingué absolutament feliç.
The neighboring spectators shook with a gentle inward joy, several faces went behind fans and hand-kerchiefs, and Tom was entirely happy.
The dog looked foolish, and probably felt so; but there was resentment in his heart, too, and a craving for revenge.
Així és que ana cap a l' escarabat i comença de bell nou a atacar -lo cautelosament, saltant envers ell de cada punt d' un cercle, aturant les potes a una polsada de la bestiola, pegant -hi embranzides encara més proximes amb el dentat, i dant estrebades amb el cap, fins que les seves orelles tornaren a vibrar.
So he went to the beetle and began a wary attack on it again; jumping at it from every point of a circle, lighting with his fore-paws within an inch of the creature, making even closer snatches at it with his teeth, and jerking his head till his ears flapped again.
But he grew tired once more, after a while; tried to amuse himself with a fly but found no relief; followed an ant around, with his nose close to the floor, and quickly wearied of that; yawned, sighed, forgot the beetle entirely, and sat down on it.
Sona aleshores un salvatge grinyol d' agonia, i el gos ana passadís amunt; els grinyols continuaren, i també el viatge del gos; creua la casa per davant l' altar, i fugí cap a l' altre passadís; passa per davant les portes; vocifera de trobar -se a la darrera etapa de sa correguda; la seva tortura cresqué amb la seva progressió, fins que al cap de poc no fou sinó un cometa llanut que es movia en la seva orbita amb el llampegueig i la velocitat de la llum.
Then there was a wild yelp of agony and the poodle went sailing up the aisle; the yelps continued, and so did the dog; he crossed the house in front of the altar; he flew down the other aisle; he crossed before the doors; he clamored up the home-stretch; his anguish grew with his progress, till presently he was but a woolly comet moving in its orbit with the gleam and the speed of light.
At last the frantic sufferer sheered from its course, and sprang into its master's lap; he flung it out of the window, and the voice of distress quickly thinned away and died in the distance.
By this time the whole church was red-faced and suffocating with suppressed laughter, and the sermon had come to a dead standstill.
El discurs fou continuat tot seguit, pero anava tot estropellat i ranquejant, perduda ja tota possibilitat d' impressionar; perque adhuc els més greus sentiments eren acollits a cada pas amb un endolcit esclat d' alegria profana, sota l' abric d' algun llunya respatller de banc, com si el pobre clergue hagués dit alguna cosa estranyament faceciosa.
The discourse was resumed presently, but it went lame and halting, all possibility of impressiveness being at an end; for even the gravest sentiments were constantly being received with a smothered burst of unholy mirth, under cover of some remote pew-back, as if the poor parson had said a rarely facetious thing.
Tot el poble fidel sentí un positiu alleujament quan la prova fou passada i dita la benedicció.
It was a genuine relief to the whole congregation when the ordeal was over and the benediction pronounced.
Tom Sawyer torna a casa joiós del tot, bo i pensant que era més satisfactori el servei religiós quan s' hi presentava una mica de varietat.
Tom Sawyer went home quite cheerful, thinking to himself that there was some satisfaction about divine service when there was a bit of variety in it.
He had but one marring thought; he was willing that the dog should play with his pinchbug, but he did not think it was upright in him to carry it off.
CAPÍTOL VI
CHAPTER VI
El matí del dilluns troba Tom Sawyer tot dissortat.
MONDAY morning found Tom Sawyer miserable.
Monday morning always found him so--because it began another week's slow suffering in school.
Generalment ell inaugurava aquell dia tot desitjant que no hagués sobrevingut la festa, que feia molt més odiós el retorn al captiveri i les cadenes.
He generally began that day with wishing he had had no intervening holiday, it made the going into captivity and fetters again so much more odious.
Tom jeia reflexionant. Al cap de poc se li acudí que desitjaria d' estar malalt: aleshores podria romandre a casa sense anar a escola.
Tom lay thinking. Presently it occurred to him that he wished he was sick; then he could stay home from school.
Veu's aquí una vaga possibilitat.
Here was a vague possibility.
He canvassed his system. No ailment was found, and he investigated again.
Aquesta vegada li sembla que podia descobrir símptomes de colic i comença d' encoratjar -los amb extraordinaria esperança. Pero s' afebliren, i al cap de poca estona desaparegueren del tot.
This time he thought he could detect colicky symptoms, and he began to encourage them with considerable hope. But they soon grew feeble, and presently died wholly away.
Torna a reflexionar. De cop i volta descobrí quelcom: una de les seves dents de dalt se sentia baldera.
He reflected further. Suddenly he discovered something. One of his upper front teeth was loose.
This was lucky; he was about to begin to groan, as a "starter," as he called it, when it occurred to him that if he came into court with that argument, his aunt would pull it out, and that would hurt.
So he thought he would hold the tooth in reserve for the present, and seek further.
Nothing offered for some little time, and then he remembered hearing the doctor tell about a certain thing that laid up a patient for two or three weeks and threatened to make him lose a finger.
El minyó, doncs, tragué afanyosament el dit malalt del peu, enfora del llençol, i l' aixeca en l' aire per a la seva inspecció.
So the boy eagerly drew his sore toe from under the sheet and held it up for inspection.
Pero no coneixia els símptomes necessaris.
But now he did not know the necessary symptoms.
However, it seemed well worth while to chance it, so he fell to groaning with considerable spirit.
But Sid slept on unconscious.
Tom groaned louder, and fancied that he began to feel pain in the toe.
Fou infructuós, pel que feia a Sid.
No result from Sid.
Tom bufava ja de tant escarrassar -se.
Tom was panting with his exertions by this time.
He took a rest and then swelled himself up and fetched a succession of admirable groans.
Sid roncava.
Sid snored on.
Tom s' exaspera.
Tom was aggravated.
He said, "Sid, Sid!" and shook him. This course worked well, and Tom began to groan again. Sid yawned, stretched, then brought himself up on his elbow with a snort, and began to stare at Tom.
Tom went on groaning.
Sid digué: -Tom! Digues, Tom!
Sid said: "Tom! Say, Tom!"
Cap resposta.
[No response.]
-Ei, Tom! Tom!
"Here, Tom! TOM!
que passa, Tom ? -
What is the matter, Tom?"
I el sacseja i li mira el rostre, afanyosament.
And he shook him and looked in his face anxiously.
Tom féu, tot planyívol: -Oh! No, Sid: no m'empentegeu.
Tom moaned out: "Oh, don't, Sid. Don't joggle me."
-Vejam: que passa, Tom ?
"Why, what's the matter, Tom?
Cridaré la tieta.
I must call auntie."
"No--never mind. It'll be over by and by, maybe. Don't call anybody."
"But I must! _Don't_ groan so, Tom, it's awful.
Quant de temps fa que dura, aixo ?
How long you been this way?"
-Hores… Uui! Oh!
"Hours. Ouch!
No us bellugueu així. Em matareu !
Oh, don't stir so, Sid, you'll kill me."
"Tom, why didn't you wake me sooner?
Oh! Tom, no feu aixo!
Oh, Tom, _don't!_ It makes my flesh crawl to hear you.
Em posa els cabells drets, de sentir-vos !
Tom, what is the matter?"
"I forgive you everything, Sid. [Groan.] Everything you've ever done to me.
When I'm gone--"
"Oh, Tom, you ain't dying, are you?
Don't, Tom--oh, don't. Maybe--"
"I forgive everybody, Sid. [Groan.] Tell 'em so, Sid. And Sid, you give my window-sash and my cat with one eye to that new girl that's come to town, and tell her--"
But Sid had snatched his clothes and gone.
Tom sofria de bo de bo, ara: tan bellament treballava la seva imaginació: així és que sos gemecs havien assolit un to perfectament genuí.
Tom was suffering in reality, now, so handsomely was his imagination working, and so his groans had gathered quite a genuine tone.
Sid corregué escales avall i digué: -Oh !
Sid flew downstairs and said:
Tieta Polly!
"Oh, Aunt Polly, come! Tom's dying!"
"Dying!"
-Sí, senyora. No perdeu temps: veniu de pressa !
"Yes'm. Don't wait--come quick!"
-Romansos!
"Rubbage!
No ho crec.
I don't believe it!"
Pero tanmateix vola escales amunt, amb Sid i Maria a sos talons.
But she fled upstairs, nevertheless, with Sid and Mary at her heels.
And her face grew white, too, and her lip trembled. When she reached the bedside she gasped out:
"You, Tom! Tom, what's the matter with you?"
Tieta ! Estic …
"Oh, auntie, I'm--"
"What's the matter with you--what is the matter with you, child?"
"Oh, auntie, my sore toe's mortified!"
The old lady sank down into a chair and laughed a little, then cried a little, then did both together.
Aixo la retorna, i digué:
This restored her and she said:
"Tom, what a turn you did give me. Now you shut up that nonsense and climb out of this."
The groans ceased and the pain vanished from the toe.
The boy felt a little foolish, and he said: "Aunt Polly, it _seemed_ mortified, and it hurt so I never minded my tooth at all."
-La vostra dent: oi?
"Your tooth, indeed!
Que hi teniu, a la dent ?
What's the matter with your tooth?"
"One of them's loose, and it aches perfectly awful."
-Vejam, vejam: no torneu a començar la gemegor.
"There, there, now, don't begin that groaning again.
Obriu la boca.
Open your mouth.
Well--your tooth _is_ loose, but you're not going to die about that.
Mary, aneu -me a cercar un fil de seda i una brasa de la cuina.
Mary, get me a silk thread, and a chunk of fire out of the kitchen."
Tom digué: -Oh! tieta!
Tom said: "Oh, please, auntie, don't pull it out.
No l' arrenqueu, si us plau: ja no em fa gens de mal.
It don't hurt any more. I wish I may never stir if it does.
No, tieta, si us plau.
Please don't, auntie.
I don't want to stay home from school."
"Oh, you don't, don't you?
So all this row was because you thought you'd get to stay home from school and go a-fishing?
Tom, Tom, I love you so, and you seem to try every way you can to break my old heart with your outrageousness."
En aquell instant els instruments dentaris eren a punt.
By this time the dental instruments were ready.
La vella senyora apreta fort l' un cap del fil de seda, amb un nus, a la dent de Tom, i lliga l' altre a una post del llit.
The old lady made one end of the silk thread fast to Tom's tooth with a loop and tied the other to the bedpost.
Després agafa la brasa, i sobtadament la llença gairebé a la cara del noi.
Then she seized the chunk of fire and suddenly thrust it almost into the boy's face.
La dent penja aleshores, tot gronxant -se, de la post del llit.
The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now.
Pero totes les calamitats tenen llurs compensacions.
But all trials bring their compensations.
As Tom wended to school after breakfast, he was the envy of every boy he met because the gap in his upper row of teeth enabled him to expectorate in a new and admirable way.
He gathered quite a following of lads interested in the exhibition; and one that had cut his finger and had been a centre of fascination and homage up to this time, now found himself suddenly without an adherent, and shorn of his glory.
His heart was heavy, and he said with a disdain which he did not feel that it wasn't anything to spit like Tom Sawyer; but another boy said, "Sour grapes!" and he wandered away a dismantled hero.
Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard.
Huckleberry was cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town, because he was idle and lawless and vulgar and bad--and because all their children admired him so, and delighted in his forbidden society, and wished they dared to be like him.
Tom was like the rest of the respectable boys, in that he envied Huckleberry his gaudy outcast condition, and was under strict orders not to play with him.
So he played with him every time he got a chance.
Huckleberry was always dressed in the cast-off clothes of full-grown men, and they were in perennial bloom and fluttering with rags.
Son capell era una vasta ruina amb una ampla mitja-lluna escapçada de les seves ales; sa casaca, quan en duia, gairebé li arribava als talons, i tenia els botons del darrera molt més avall de l' esquena; només un elastic li sostenia els pantalons; el seient de sos pantalons s' abombava qui-sap -lo avall i no contenia res; la part baixa i serrellosa dels pantalons s' arrossegava pel fang quan no era arremangada.
His hat was a vast ruin with a wide crescent lopped out of its brim; his coat, when he wore one, hung nearly to his heels and had the rearward buttons far down the back; but one suspender supported his trousers; the seat of the trousers bagged low and contained nothing, the fringed legs dragged in the dirt when not rolled up.
Huckleberry came and went, at his own free will.
Dormia als llindars de les portes quan feia bon temps, i en bótes buides quan plovia; no havia d' anar a l' escola ni a la capella, ni reconeixer ningú per senyor, ni obeir a ningú: podia anar a pescar o a nedar, quan i on li plagués, i romandre -hi tanta d' estona com li fos escaient. Ningú li prohibia de tenir batusses; podia vetllar fins a l' hora que li semblés bé; era sempre el primer noi que anava amb els peus nus en primavera, i el darrer en tornar a adoptar el cuiro en la tardor; mai no s' havia de rentar o posar -se roba neta; podia renegar prodigiosament.
He slept on doorsteps in fine weather and in empty hogsheads in wet; he did not have to go to school or to church, or call any being master or obey anybody; he could go fishing or swimming when and where he chose, and stay as long as it suited him; nobody forbade him to fight; he could sit up as late as he pleased; he was always the first boy that went barefoot in the spring and the last to resume leather in the fall; he never had to wash, nor put on clean clothes; he could swear wonderfully.
In a word, everything that goes to make life precious that boy had.
Així pensava tot minyó atuit, empantanegat i respectable de Sant Petersburg.
So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg.
Tom saluda el romantic bandejat: -Hola, Huckleberry !
Tom hailed the romantic outcast: "Hello, Huckleberry!"
"Hello yourself, and see how you like it."
"What's that you got?"
-Un gat mort.
"Dead cat."
-Deixeu -me 'l veure, Huck.
"Lemme see him, Huck.
Manoi! Esta d'allo més enravenat.
My, he's pretty stiff.
Where'd you get him?"
-L'he comprat a un noi.
"Bought him off'n a boy."
"What did you give?"
"I give a blue ticket and a bladder that I got at the slaughter-house."
"Where'd you get the blue ticket?"
"Bought it off'n Ben Rogers two weeks ago for a hoop-stick."
-Escolteu … per que serveixen el gats morts, Huck ?
"Say--what is dead cats good for, Huck?"
-Per que serveixen ?
"Good for?
Per a guarir-hi berrugues.
Cure warts with."
"No! Is that so?
I know something that's better."
M' hi jugaria qualsevol cosa que no.
"I bet you don't.
Quín és ?
What is it?"
-Ves, aigua d'esca.
"Why, spunk-water."
-Aigua d'esca!
"Spunk-water!
No en daria una fulla de bruc, de l' aigua d' esca.
I wouldn't give a dern for spunk-water."
-No la daríeu: oi?
"You wouldn't, wouldn't you?
D'you ever try it?"
-No, jo no. Pero Bob Tanner sí.
"No, I hain't. But Bob Tanner did."
"Who told you so!"
"Why, he told Jeff Thatcher, and Jeff told Johnny Baker, and Johnny told Jim Hollis, and Jim told Ben Rogers, and Ben told a nigger, and the nigger told me. There now!"
"Well, what of it?
Tots diuen mentida.
They'll all lie. Leastways all but the nigger.
I don't know _him_. But I never see a nigger that _wouldn't_ lie. Shucks!
Now you tell me how Bob Tanner done it, Huck."
"Why, he took and dipped his hand in a rotten stump where the rain-water was."
-De dia?
"In the daytime?"
-Oi.
"Certainly."
-Amb la cara cap al socot? -Sí.
"With his face to the stump?"
Tanmateix, jo bé ho penso.
"Yes. Least I reckon so."
-Digué alguna cosa?
"Did he say anything?"
"I don't reckon he did. I don't know."
-Ah ! Mireu que és prou. Voler guarir berrugues amb aigua d' esca d' una manera tan bajana i poca solta !
"Aha! Talk about trying to cure warts with spunk-water such a blame fool way as that!
Why, that ain't a-going to do any good.
You got to go all by yourself, to the middle of the woods, where you know there's a spunk-water stump, and just as it's midnight you back up against the stump and jam your hand in and say:
«Gra d'ordi, gra d'ordi, segó de menja indiana, aigua d'esca, aigua d'esca, empassa't aquestes berrugues!»
'Barley-corn, barley-corn, injun-meal shorts, Spunk-water, spunk-water, swaller these warts,'
i després us en aneu de pressa, dotze passes, amb els ulls closos, i després giravolteu tres vegades a l' entorn del socot, i us en aneu a casa sense parlar amb ningú.
and then walk away quick, eleven steps, with your eyes shut, and then turn around three times and walk home without speaking to anybody.
Perque; si parleu, l' encís se 'n va a cân Pistraus.
Because if you speak the charm's busted."
"Well, that sounds like a good way; but that ain't the way Bob Tanner done."
"No, sir, you can bet he didn't, becuz he's the wartiest boy in this town; and he wouldn't have a wart on him if he'd knowed how to work spunk-water.
I've took off thousands of warts off of my hands that way, Huck.
Jugo en tanta de manera amb les granotes, que sempre arreplego una pila, pila, pila de berrugues.
I play with frogs so much that I've always got considerable many warts.
De vegades me les trec amb una fava.
Sometimes I take 'em off with a bean."
"Yes, bean's good. I've done that."
"Have you?
I de quina manera ho feu, vós?
What's your way?"
"You take and split the bean, and cut the wart so as to get some blood, and then you put the blood on one piece of the bean and take and dig a hole and bury it 'bout midnight at the crossroads in the dark of the moon, and then you burn up the rest of the bean.
You see that piece that's got the blood on it will keep drawing and drawing, trying to fetch the other piece to it, and so that helps the blood to draw the wart, and pretty soon off she comes."
"Yes, that's it, Huck--that's it; though when you're burying it if you say 'Down bean; off wart; come no more to bother me!' it's better.
That's the way Joe Harper does, and he's been nearly to Coonville and most everywheres.
Pero, digueu: Com ho feu per guarir-les amb un gat mort?
But say--how do you cure 'em with dead cats?"
-Ves, agafeu el gat i us en aneu i entreu al cementiri, tard, al volt de la mitja nit, i aneu on algun dolent hagi estat enterrat; i quan sera mitja nit un dimoni vindra, o potser dos o tres, pero no els podreu llucar: només podreu sentir una cosa com el vent, o bé podreu sentir -los enraonar; i quan se 'n duran aquell company, els tirareu el gat al darrera i direu: « El dimoni segueix el cos mort, el gat segueix el dimoni, les berrugues segueixen el gat, i jo ja estic sense ! » Aixo convenç qualsevol berruga.
"Why, you take your cat and go and get in the grave-yard 'long about midnight when somebody that was wicked has been buried; and when it's midnight a devil will come, or maybe two or three, but you can't see 'em, you can only hear something like the wind, or maybe hear 'em talk; and when they're taking that feller away, you heave your cat after 'em and say, 'Devil follow corpse, cat follow devil, warts follow cat, I'm done with ye!' That'll fetch _any_ wart."
-Sembla bona cosa.
"Sounds right.
D'you ever try it, Huck?"
-No, pero la vella Hopkins m' ho digué.
"No, but old Mother Hopkins told me."
"Well, I reckon it's so, then. Becuz they say she's a witch."
"Say! Why, Tom, I _know_ she is.
She witched pap.
El meu pare ho diu ell mateix.
Pap says so his own self.
He come along one day, and he see she was a-witching him, so he took up a rock, and if she hadn't dodged, he'd a got her.
Well, that very night he rolled off'n a shed wher' he was a layin drunk, and broke his arm."
-Aixo esparvera.
"Why, that's awful.
I com ho va coneixer que ella l' embruixava ? -Senyor !
How did he know she was a-witching him?"
Bé prou que us ho dira, mon pare.
"Lord, pap can tell, easy.
Pap says when they keep looking at you right stiddy, they're a-witching you. Specially if they mumble. Becuz when they mumble they're saying the Lord's Prayer backards."
"Say, Hucky, when you going to try the cat?"
-Aquesta nit.
"To-night.
I reckon they'll come after old Hoss Williams to-night."
-Pero si l' enterraren dissabte, Huck.
"But they buried him Saturday.
Didn't they get him Saturday night?"
"Why, how you talk! How could their charms work till midnight?--and _then_ it's Sunday.
Devils don't slosh around much of a Sunday, I don't reckon."
"I never thought of that. That's so.
Voldreu que hi vagi amb vós ?
Lemme go with you?"
"Of course--if you ain't afeard."
-Por!
"Afeard!
No és facil.
'Tain't likely.
Que miolareu per avisar -me ?
Will you meow?"
"Yes--and you meow back, if you get a chance.
Last time, you kep' me a-meowing around till old Hays went to throwing rocks at me and says 'Dern that cat!' and so I hove a brick through his window--but don't you tell."
-Ben segur.
"I won't.
I couldn't meow that night, becuz auntie was watching me, but I'll meow this time.
Escolteu, Huck: que és aixo ?
Say--what's that?"
-No és més que una paparra.
"Nothing but a tick."
-On l' heu arreplegada ?
"Where'd you get him?"
-Al bosc.
"Out in the woods."
-Que en voleu?
"What'll you take for him?"
-No ho sé.
"I don't know.
I don't want to sell him."
-Molt bé. És una paparra d' allo més petita, per aixo.
"All right. It's a mighty small tick, anyway."
"Oh, anybody can run a tick down that don't belong to them.
I'm satisfied with it. It's a good enough tick for me."
-Uix ! N' hi ha una mala fi, de paparres.
"Sho, there's ticks a plenty.
I could have a thousand of 'em if I wanted to."
-Bé, doncs; per que no les teniu ?
"Well, why don't you?
Perque massa sabeu que aixo són brocs.
Becuz you know mighty well you can't.
This is a pretty early tick, I reckon.
It's the first one I've seen this year."
-Escolteu, Huck: us la barato per la meva dent.
"Say, Huck--I'll give you my tooth for him."
-Deixeu -me -la veure.
"Less see it."
Tom es va treure un tros de paper i va desenrotllar -lo curosament. Huckleberry li pega una mirada afanyosa.
Tom got out a bit of paper and carefully unrolled it. Huckleberry viewed it wistfully.
La temptació era ben forta.
The temptation was very strong.
A la fi digué:
At last he said:
-És de bo de bo?
"Is it genuwyne?"
Tom lifted his lip and showed the vacancy.
"Well, all right," said Huckleberry, "it's a trade."
Tom enclosed the tick in the percussion-cap box that had lately been the pinchbug's prison, and the boys separated, each feeling wealthier than before.
When Tom reached the little isolated frame school-house, he strode in briskly, with the manner of one who had come with all honest speed.
He hung his hat on a peg and flung himself into his seat with business-like alacrity.
The master, throned on high in his great splint-bottom arm-chair, was dozing, lulled by the drowsy hum of study. The interruption roused him.
-Tomas Sawyer!
"Thomas Sawyer!"
Tom knew that when his name was pronounced in full, it meant trouble.
-Senyor!
"Sir!"
-Munteu aquí.
"Come up here.
Now, sir, why are you late again, as usual?"
Tom was about to take refuge in a lie, when he saw two long tails of yellow hair hanging down a back that he recognized by the electric sympathy of love; and by that form was _the only vacant place_ on the girls' side of the school-house.
Tot seguit digué:
He instantly said:
-M'HE ATURAT A PARLAR AMB HUCKLEBERRY FINN!
"_I stopped to talk with Huckleberry Finn!_"
The master's pulse stood still, and he stared helplessly.
La bonior de l' escola cessa; els alumnes es preguntaren si aquell minyó insensat havia perdut el seny.
The buzz of study ceased. The pupils wondered if this foolhardy boy had lost his mind.
El mestre digué: -Heu fet… que?
The master said: "You--you did what?"
-M'he aturat a parlar amb Huckleberry Finn.
"Stopped to talk with Huckleberry Finn."
There was no mistaking the words.
"Thomas Sawyer, this is the most astounding confession I have ever listened to. No mere ferule will answer for this offence.
Traieu-vos el gec.
Take off your jacket."
The master's arm performed until it was tired and the stock of switches notably diminished.
Aleshores vingué aquella orde: -Ara aneu i seieu amb les noies !
Then the order followed: "Now, sir, go and sit with the girls!
I que aixo us serveixi d' escarment.
And let this be a warning to you."
Les rialletes que es mobilitzaren pels ambits de la cambra sembla que avergonyissin el noi; pero, de fet, aquesta resulta la causa més aviat l' adorativa temença envers la seva ídola inconeguda i el goig paorós que li proporcionava la seva sort enlairada.
The titter that rippled around the room appeared to abash the boy, but in reality that result was caused rather more by his worshipful awe of his unknown idol and the dread pleasure that lay in his high good fortune.
S' assegué a l' extrem del banc de pi, i la noia se 'n retira una mica, amb un moviment de cap.
He sat down upon the end of the pine bench and the girl hitched herself away from him with a toss of her head.
Nudges and winks and whispers traversed the room, but Tom sat still, with his arms upon the long, low desk before him, and seemed to study his book.
By and by attention ceased from him, and the accustomed school murmur rose upon the dull air once more.
Presently the boy began to steal furtive glances at the girl.
She observed it, "made a mouth" at him and gave him the back of her head for the space of a minute.
When she cautiously faced around again, a peach lay before her.
She thrust it away. Tom gently put it back. She thrust it away again, but with less animosity. Tom patiently returned it to its place. Then she let it remain.
Tom escritoteja a la seva pissarra: « Preneu -lo, si us plau; en tinc més ».
Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it--I got more."
La noia pega llambregada a aquelles paraules, pero no féu cap senyal.
The girl glanced at the words, but made no sign.
Now the boy began to draw something on the slate, hiding his work with his left hand.
Per algun temps la noia refusa de pendre 'n coneixement; pero la seva humana curiositat no triga a manifestar -se per indicis tot just perceptibles:
For a time the girl refused to notice; but her human curiosity presently began to manifest itself by hardly perceptible signs.
El minyó seguia treballant, aparentment, sense dar -se 'n compte.
The boy worked on, apparently unconscious.
La noia féu una mena d' intent que no la comprometés, per a veure -ho; pero el minyó no revela que en tingués esment.
The girl made a sort of non-committal attempt to see, but the boy did not betray that he was aware of it.
At last she gave in and hesitatingly whispered: "Let me see it."
Tom partly uncovered a dismal caricature of a house with two gable ends to it and a corkscrew of smoke issuing from the chimney.
Then the girl's interest began to fasten itself upon the work and she forgot everything else.
When it was finished, she gazed a moment, then whispered:
-Que és bonic ! Feu un home.
"It's nice--make a man."
The artist erected a man in the front yard, that resembled a derrick. He could have stepped over the house; but the girl was not hypercritical; she was satisfied with the monster, and whispered:
"It's a beautiful man--now make me coming along."
Tom drew an hour-glass with a full moon and straw limbs to it and armed the spreading fingers with a portentous fan.
La noia digué:
The girl said:
"It's ever so nice--I wish I could draw."
"It's easy," whispered Tom, "I'll learn you."
-Oh! De bo de bo?
"Oh, will you?
Quan?
When?"
-A migdia.
"At noon.
Que aneu a casa, a dinar ?
Do you go home to dinner?"
"I'll stay if you will."
-Molt bé: pacte fet. -Com us dieu ?
"Good--that's a whack. What's your name?"
"Becky Thatcher. What's yours? Oh, I know. It's Thomas Sawyer."
-Aquest és el nom d' apallissar -me.
"That's the name they lick me by.
Em dic Tom, quan so bon minyó. Em direu Tom: veritat ?
I'm Tom when I'm good. You call me Tom, will you?"
-Sí.
"Yes."
Now Tom began to scrawl something on the slate, hiding the words from the girl. But she was not backward this time. She begged to see.
Tom digué: -Oh ! No és res.
Tom said: "Oh, it ain't anything."
-Sí, que és.
"Yes it is."
-Que no: tant us fa.
"No it ain't. You don't want to see."
"Yes I do, indeed I do. Please let me."
-Ho diríeu.
"You'll tell."
-No ho diré: en bona fe, fe i refe, que no.
"No I won't--deed and deed and double deed won't."
-No ho direu a ningú, a ningú ? Per tota la vida ?
"You won't tell anybody at all?
-No, no ho diré a ningú.
Ever, as long as you live?"
Ara deixeu -m 'ho veure. -Oh !
"No, I won't ever tell _any_body.
Tant us fa, a VÓS !
Now let me."
"Oh, _you_ don't want to see!"
"Now that you treat me so, I _will_ see." And she put her small hand upon his and a little scuffle ensued, Tom pretending to resist in earnest but letting his hand slip by degrees till these words were revealed: "_I love you_."
-Oh ! Dolent ! - I li dona un cop ben fort a la ma.
"Oh, you bad thing!"
And she hit his hand a smart rap, but reddened and looked pleased, nevertheless.
Just at this juncture the boy felt a slow, fateful grip closing on his ear, and a steady lifting impulse. In that wise he was borne across the house and deposited in his own seat, under a peppering fire of giggles from the whole school.
Then the master stood over him during a few awful moments, and finally moved away to his throne without saying a word.
But although Tom's ear tingled, his heart was jubilant.
As the school quieted down Tom made an honest effort to study, but the turmoil within him was too great.
Successivament ocupa son lloc a la classe de lectura, i hi féu qui-sap -les matusseries; després a la classe de geografia, i convertí els llacs en muntanyes, les muntanyes en rius i els rius en continents, fins a tornar al caos; després a la classe de confegir, i el feren anar de corcoll una serie de noms senzillament infantívols; fins que s' aixeca i reté la medalla de peltre que havia portat amb ostentació uns quants mesos.
In turn he took his place in the reading class and made a botch of it; then in the geography class and turned lakes into mountains, mountains into rivers, and rivers into continents, till chaos was come again; then in the spelling class, and got "turned down," by a succession of mere baby words, till he brought up at the foot and yielded up the pewter medal which he had worn with ostentation for months.
CAPÍTOL VII
CHAPTER VII
THE harder Tom tried to fasten his mind on his book, the more his ideas wandered. So at last, with a sigh and a yawn, he gave it up.
It seemed to him that the noon recess would never come.
The air was utterly dead. There was not a breath stirring.
It was the sleepiest of sleepy days. The drowsing murmur of the five and twenty studying scholars soothed the soul like the spell that is in the murmur of bees.
Enlla d' enlla, sota l' ardent solellada, alçava Cardiff Hill sos flancs d' una verdor suau entre un vel de calitja que lluia tot esblaimat, amb el tint de púrpura que dóna la distancia; uns quants ocells flotaven amb ala peresosa per dalt de tot de l' aire; no hi havia, de visible, cap més ésser vivent que algunes vaques, i les vaques dormien.
Away off in the flaming sunshine, Cardiff Hill lifted its soft green sides through a shimmering veil of heat, tinted with the purple of distance; a few birds floated on lazy wing high in the air; no other living thing was visible but some cows, and they were asleep.
Tom's heart ached to be free, or else to have something of interest to do to pass the dreary time.
His hand wandered into his pocket and his face lit up with a glow of gratitude that was prayer, though he did not know it.
Després, la capsa de pistons eixí furtivament.
Then furtively the percussion-cap box came out.
He released the tick and put him on the long flat desk.
The creature probably glowed with a gratitude that amounted to prayer, too, at this moment, but it was premature: for when he started thankfully to travel off, Tom turned him aside with a pin and made him take a new direction.
Tom's bosom friend sat next him, suffering just as Tom had been, and now he was deeply and gratefully interested in this entertainment in an instant.
This bosom friend was Joe Harper. The two boys were sworn friends all the week, and embattled enemies on Saturdays.
Joe es tragué una agulla de la solapa, i comença a col·laborar a l' ensinistrament del presoner.
Joe took a pin out of his lapel and began to assist in exercising the prisoner.
El joc creixia en interes per moments. Aviat Tom digué que l' un entrebancava l' altre, sense que poguessin treure el major partit possible de la paparra.
The sport grew in interest momently. Soon Tom said that they were interfering with each other, and neither getting the fullest benefit of the tick.
Així, doncs, posa la pissarra de Joe damunt el pupitre, i hi féu una ratlla al mig, de dalt a baix. -Ara- digué -mentre estigui a la vostra banda, podeu burxar -la i jo la deixaré estar; pero, si deixeu que s' allunyi i entra al meu costat, heu de deixar -la estar, per tot el temps que jo pugui impedir que traspassi de bell nou.
So he put Joe's slate on the desk and drew a line down the middle of it from top to bottom. "Now," said he, "as long as he is on your side you can stir him up and I'll let him alone; but if you let him get away and get on my side, you're to leave him alone as long as I can keep him from crossing over."
-Molt bé, endavant: engegueu -la.
"All right, go ahead; start him up."
The tick escaped from Tom, presently, and crossed the equator.
Joe harassed him awhile, and then he got away and crossed back again.
Aquest canvi de base es produí tot sovint.
This change of base occurred often.
Mentre l' un vailet punyia la paparra amb apassionat interes, l' altre la sotjava amb un interes igualment fort: els dos caps es decantaven plegats damunt la pissarra, i les dues animes eren mortes a tota altra cosa.
While one boy was worrying the tick with absorbing interest, the other would look on with interest as strong, the two heads bowed together over the slate, and the two souls dead to all things else.
At last luck seemed to settle and abide with Joe.
La paparra prova aquest, aquell i l' altre recurs, i esdevingué tan exaltada i neguitosa com els mateixos nois. Pero una i més vegades, quan Tom tenia la victoria a la ma, per dir -ho així, i sos dits frisaven per posar -se a la tasca, l' agulla de Joe la menava destrament cap enlla i en reprenia possessió.
The tick tried this, that, and the other course, and got as excited and as anxious as the boys themselves, but time and again just as he would have victory in his very grasp, so to speak, and Tom's fingers would be twitching to begin, Joe's pin would deftly head him off, and keep possession.
At last Tom could stand it no longer.
La temptació era massa forta.
The temptation was too strong.
Estengué, doncs, el braç i intervingué amb la seva agulla.
So he reached out and lent a hand with his pin.
Joe was angry in a moment. Said he: "Tom, you let him alone."
"I only just want to stir him up a little, Joe."
"No, sir, it ain't fair; you just let him alone."
-En nom de Déu, no la bellugaré pas gaire.
"Blame it, I ain't going to stir him much."
-Deixeu -la estar, us dic !
"Let him alone, I tell you."
-No vull !
"I won't!"
"You shall--he's on my side of the line."
-Escolteu, Joe: de quí és, aquesta paparra ?
"Look here, Joe Harper, whose is that tick?"
"I don't care whose tick he is--he's on my side of the line, and you sha'n't touch him."
-Bé, doncs: em jugo qualsevol cosa que sí.
"Well, I'll just bet I will, though.
He's my tick and I'll do what I blame please with him, or die!"
A tremendous whack came down on Tom's shoulders, and its duplicate on Joe's; and for the space of two minutes the dust continued to fly from the two jackets and the whole school to enjoy it.
The boys had been too absorbed to notice the hush that had stolen upon the school awhile before when the master came tiptoeing down the room and stood over them.
Havia contemplat una bella part de la performança abans que hi col·laborés amb una mica de varietat.
He had contemplated a good part of the performance before he contributed his bit of variety to it.
When school broke up at noon, Tom flew to Becky Thatcher, and whispered in her ear:
-Poseu-vos el barret i feu com si us n' anéssiu a casa; i quan arribeu a la cantonada deixeu -los passar, i atravesseu la sendera i torneu.
"Put on your bonnet and let on you're going home; and when you get to the corner, give the rest of 'em the slip, and turn down through the lane and come back.
I'll go the other way and come it over 'em the same way."
So the one went off with one group of scholars, and the other with another.
In a little while the two met at the bottom of the lane, and when they reached the school they had it all to themselves.
Then they sat together, with a slate before them, and Tom gave Becky the pencil and held her hand in his, guiding it, and so created another surprising house.
When the interest in art began to wane, the two fell to talking.
Tom nedava en felicitat.
Tom was swimming in bliss.
Digué: -Us agraden les rates ?
He said: "Do you love rats?"
"No! I hate them!"
"Well, I do, too--_live_ ones. But I mean dead ones, to swing round your head with a string."
-No, les rates no em corprenen, tanmateix.
"No, I don't care for rats much, anyway.
What I like is chewing-gum."
-Oh ! Ja ho crec !
"Oh, I should say so!
Voldria tenir -ne, ara !
I wish I had some now."
-Sí?
"Do you?
Jo en tinc una mica.
I've got some.
I'll let you chew it awhile, but you must give it back to me."
That was agreeable, so they chewed it turn about, and dangled their legs against the bench in excess of contentment.
"Was you ever at a circus?" said Tom.
"Yes, and my pa's going to take me again some time, if I'm good."
"I been to the circus three or four times--lots of times.
Church ain't shucks to a circus. There's things going on at a circus all the time.
I'm going to be a clown in a circus when I grow up."
-Oh! De bo de bo?
"Oh, are you!
Sera bonic.
That will be nice.
Són tan gentils, amb aquells vestits de llunes !
They're so lovely, all spotted up."
"Yes, that's so. And they get slathers of money--most a dollar a day, Ben Rogers says. Say, Becky, was you ever engaged?"
-Que és aixo ?
"What's that?"
"Why, engaged to be married."
-No.
"No."
-No us agradaria ?
"Would you like to?"
-Compto que sí.
"I reckon so.
No ho sé.
I don't know.
A que s'assembla?
What is it like?"
-A que s' assembla ? Oh ! No s' assembla a res.
"Like? Why it ain't like anything.
You only just tell a boy you won't ever have anybody but him, ever ever ever, and then you kiss and that's all.
Anybody can do it."
-Besar?
"Kiss?
I el besar per que és ?
What do you kiss for?"
"Why, that, you know, is to--well, they always do that."
-I ho fa tothom ?
"Everybody?"
"Why, yes, everybody that's in love with each other. Do you remember what I wrote on the slate?"
-Ss … sí.
"Ye--yes."
-Que deia ?
"What was it?"
-No us ho diré pas.
"I sha'n't tell you."
-Voleu que jo us ho digui a vós ?
"Shall I tell _you_?"
-Ss… sí… pero una altra vegada.
"Ye--yes--but some other time."
-No, ara.
"No, now."
-No, ara no: dema.
"No, not now--to-morrow."
-Oh! no: ara, si us plau, Becky.
"Oh, no, _now_.
Please, Becky--I'll whisper it, I'll whisper it ever so easy."
Becky hesitating, Tom took silence for consent, and passed his arm about her waist and whispered the tale ever so softly, with his mouth close to her ear.
-Ara digueu-m'ho a mi, a cau d'orella, de la mateixa manera.
And then he added: "Now you whisper it to me--just the same."
She resisted, for a while, and then said: "You turn your face away so you can't see, and then I will. But you mustn't ever tell anybody--_will_ you, Tom?
Now you won't, _will_ you?"
-No, de bo de bo de bo: no ho diré.
"No, indeed, indeed I won't.
Au, Becky.
Now, Becky."
He turned his face away. She bent timidly around till her breath stirred his curls and whispered, "I--love--you!"
Then she sprang away and ran around and around the desks and benches, with Tom after her, and took refuge in a corner at last, with her little white apron to her face.
Tom clasped her about her neck and pleaded:
-Ara, Becky, tot esta ajustat: tot, fora del bes.
"Now, Becky, it's all done--all over but the kiss.
Don't you be afraid of that--it ain't anything at all.
Feu-me el favor, Becky.
Please, Becky."
And he tugged at her apron and the hands. By and by she gave up, and let her hands drop; her face, all glowing with the struggle, came up and submitted.
Tom kissed the red lips and said: "Now it's all done, Becky.
And always after this, you know, you ain't ever to love anybody but me, and you ain't ever to marry anybody but me, ever never and forever.
Ho fareu ?
Will you?"
"No, I'll never love anybody but you, Tom, and I'll never marry anybody but you--and you ain't to ever marry anybody but me, either."
-Ben cert. Naturalment.
"Certainly. Of course.
Aixo forma part de la cosa.
That's _part_ of it.
And always coming to school or when we're going home, you're to walk with me, when there ain't anybody looking--and you choose me and I choose you at parties, because that's the way you do when you're engaged."
-Que bonic que és !
"It's so nice.
I never heard of it before."
-Oh ! i és d' allo més alegre !
"Oh, it's ever so gay!
Jo i Amy Lawrence…
Why, me and Amy Lawrence--"
The big eyes told Tom his blunder and he stopped, confused.
"Oh, Tom! Then I ain't the first you've ever been engaged to!"
The child began to cry.
Tom digué: -Oh ! No ploreu, Becky. Ja tant se me 'n dóna, d' ella.
Tom said: "Oh, don't cry, Becky, I don't care for her any more."
-Oh ! no, Tom: Ja sabeu que no és cert.
"Yes, you do, Tom--you know you do."
Tom tried to put his arm about her neck, but she pushed him away and turned her face to the wall, and went on crying.
Tom tried again, with soothing words in his mouth, and was repulsed again.
Then his pride was up, and he strode away and went outside.
He stood about, restless and uneasy, for a while, glancing at the door, every now and then, hoping she would repent and come to find him. But she did not.
Aleshores començaren de escometre 'l sentiments amargs i temences d' ésser el culpable.
Then he began to feel badly and fear that he was in the wrong.
It was a hard struggle with him to make new advances, now, but he nerved himself to it and entered.
Ella encara estava dreta al recó, tot sanglotant amb la cara contra la paret.
She was still standing back there in the corner, sobbing, with her face to the wall.
Tom's heart smote him. He went to her and stood a moment, not knowing exactly how to proceed.
Després digué, tot vacil·lant: -Becky: a mi … a mi tant se me 'n dóna de tothom, fora de vós.
Then he said hesitatingly: "Becky, I--I don't care for anybody but you."
Cap resposta, només que sanglots.
No reply--but sobs.
-Becky…- féu ell en so de defensa; -Becky… no voleu dir-me res?
"Becky"--pleadingly. "Becky, won't you say something?"
Més sanglots.
More sobs.
Tom got out his chiefest jewel, a brass knob from the top of an andiron, and passed it around her so that she could see it, and said: "Please, Becky, won't you take it?"
Ella el tira a terra.
She struck it to the floor.
Then Tom marched out of the house and over the hills and far away, to return to school no more that day.
Presently Becky began to suspect.
She ran to the door; he was not in sight; she flew around to the play-yard; he was not there.
Then she called: "Tom! Come back, Tom!"
She listened intently, but there was no answer. She had no companions but silence and loneliness.
Així és que s' assegué a plorar de bell nou i a vituperar -se ella mateixa; i per aquell temps els alumnes començaven a reunir -se altra vegada, i hagué d' amagar son dol i aquietar son cor malmes, i resignar -se a la creu d' una tarda llarga, paorosa, xacrosa, sense que hi hagués, entre els forasters que la voltaven, ningú per a bescanviar -hi dolors.
So she sat down to cry again and upbraid herself; and by this time the scholars began to gather again, and she had to hide her griefs and still her broken heart and take up the cross of a long, dreary, aching afternoon, with none among the strangers about her to exchange sorrows with.
CAPÍTOL VIII
CHAPTER VIII
TOM dodged hither and thither through lanes until he was well out of the track of returning scholars, and then fell into a moody jog.
Travessa rierols dues o tres vegades, perque, segons una dominant superstició jovenívola, el passar aigua destarotava les persecucions.
He crossed a small "branch" two or three times, because of a prevailing juvenile superstition that to cross water baffled pursuit.
Mitja hora després desapareixia per darrera de la casa Douglas, al cim de Cardiff Hill; i l' escola era tot just obirable dins la vall que deixava endarrera.
Half an hour later he was disappearing behind the Douglas mansion on the summit of Cardiff Hill, and the school-house was hardly distinguishable away off in the valley behind him.
He entered a dense wood, picked his pathless way to the centre of it, and sat down on a mossy spot under a spreading oak.
No es movia ni una mica de oratjol; l' escalf de la immobil migdiada havia aturat el mateix cant dels ocells; la natura estava subjecta a un encantament, no interromput de cap so, llevat del llunya i eventual martelleig d' un pigot, i aixo semblava fer més pregon el penetrant silenci i la sensació de solitud.
There was not even a zephyr stirring; the dead noonday heat had even stilled the songs of the birds; nature lay in a trance that was broken by no sound but the occasional far-off hammering of a wood-pecker, and this seemed to render the pervading silence and sense of loneliness the more profound.
The boy's soul was steeped in melancholy; his feelings were in happy accord with his surroundings.
Segué llarga estona amb els colzes damunt els genolls i el mentó damunt les mans, meditatívol.
He sat long with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, meditating.
Li semblava que la vida, tot lo més, era una mortificació; i envejava més que a mitges a Jimmy Hodges, finat de poc. Devia ésser d' allo més apacible, pensa, el jeure i adormir -se i somniar per sempre més, mentre el vent zumzejaria a través dels arbres i afalagaria l' herbei i les flors de la tomba, amb cap cosa de la qual encaparrar -se o doldre 's, mai més.
It seemed to him that life was but a trouble, at best, and he more than half envied Jimmy Hodges, so lately released; it must be very peaceful, he thought, to lie and slumber and dream forever and ever, with the wind whispering through the trees and caressing the grass and the flowers over the grave, and nothing to bother and grieve about, ever any more.
If he only had a clean Sunday-school record he could be willing to go, and be done with it all.
Now as to this girl. What had he done?
No-res.
Nothing.
He had meant the best in the world, and been treated like a dog--like a very dog.
She would be sorry some day--maybe when it was too late.
Ah, if he could only die _temporarily_!
But the elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time.
Tom presently began to drift insensibly back into the concerns of this life again.
Que passaria si girés l' esquena, ara, i desaparegués misteriosament ?
What if he turned his back, now, and disappeared mysteriously?
What if he went away--ever so far away, into unknown countries beyond the seas--and never came back any more!
Quíns foren aleshores els sentiments d'ella?
How would she feel then!
La idea d' ésser pallasso li torna ara al magí, per no omplir -lo sinó de fastig. Perque la frivolitat, i les facecies i els colants amb llunes esdevenien un insult quan venien a fer el manefla dins un esperit encimbellat a l' august i vagariós reialme del romanticisme.
The idea of being a clown recurred to him now, only to fill him with disgust. For frivolity and jokes and spotted tights were an offense, when they intruded themselves upon a spirit that was exalted into the vague august realm of the romantic.
No, he would be a soldier, and return after long years, all war-worn and illustrious.
No, millor encara: s' ajuntaria als indis i caçaria búfals i aniria pel tirany de la guerra, damunt les serralades i les grans planures totes iguals de l' extrem Ponent; i, enlla d' enlla de l' esdevenidor, tornaria convertit en gran capitost, amb tot de plomes voleiadisses, fastigós de tan pintat, i aniria a fer gambades dins l' escola dominical, algun matí soporífer de l' estiu, amb un esgarip de guerra glaçador de la sang, i cauteritzaria les nines dels ulls de tots els seus companys, amb una enveja impossible d' apaivagar.
No--better still, he would join the Indians, and hunt buffaloes and go on the warpath in the mountain ranges and the trackless great plains of the Far West, and away in the future come back a great chief, bristling with feathers, hideous with paint, and prance into Sunday-school, some drowsy summer morning, with a blood-curdling war-whoop, and sear the eyeballs of all his companions with unappeasable envy.
Pero no, encara hi havia quelcom de més grandiós que aixo:
But no, there was something gaudier even than this.
seria pirata !
He would be a pirate!
Veritat que sí ? Ara el seu esdevenidor se li mostrava tot franc al seu davant, i aureolat d' una resplendor inimaginable.
That was it! _now_ his future lay plain before him, and glowing with unimaginable splendor.
Com el seu nom ompliria tot el món, i faria esparverar la gent !
How his name would fill the world, and make people shudder!
How gloriously he would go plowing the dancing seas, in his long, low, black-hulled racer, the Spirit of the Storm, with his grisly flag flying at the fore!
I, al zenit de la seva fama, com apareixeria, de cop i volta, al vell poblet, i aniria furtivament a l' església, tot bru i malmes dels temporals, amb el seu gipó i truses de vellut negre, les seves grans botes fins a genoll, la seva faixa carmesina, el seu cinyell eriçat de pistoles de muntar, el seu coltellas, rovellat pel crim, a un costat, el seu capell inclinat amb plomes onejants, la seva bandera negra desplegada, amb el crani i els ossos travessers ! I com sentiria amb extasi i estarrufament aquells murmuris: -És Tom Sawyer, el negre Flagell de l' Armada Espanyola !
And at the zenith of his fame, how he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk into church, brown and weather-beaten, in his black velvet doublet and trunks, his great jack-boots, his crimson sash, his belt bristling with horse-pistols, his crime-rusted cutlass at his side, his slouch hat with waving plumes, his black flag unfurled, with the skull and crossbones on it, and hear with swelling ecstasy the whisperings, "It's Tom Sawyer the Pirate!--the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main!"
Yes, it was settled; his career was determined.
He would run away from home and enter upon it. He would start the very next morning. Therefore he must now begin to get ready. He would collect his resources together.
He went to a rotten log near at hand and began to dig under one end of it with his Barlow knife.
He soon struck wood that sounded hollow.
He put his hand there and uttered this incantation impressively: "What hasn't come here, come! What's here, stay here!"
Després, a esgarrapades retira el fang i féu obiradora una teula de pi.
Then he scraped away the dirt, and exposed a pine shingle.
He took it up and disclosed a shapely little treasure-house whose bottom and sides were of shingles. In it lay a marble.
L' astorament de Tom no tingué fi ni compte.
Tom's astonishment was bound-less!
He scratched his head with a perplexed air, and said: "Well, that beats anything!"
Després llança ben lluny la bala, tot teiós, i romangué d' allo més pensívol.
Then he tossed the marble away pettishly, and stood cogitating.
La veritat és que una superstició seva, que ell i sos camarades havien considerat sempre infal·lible, li havia fallit.
The truth was, that a superstition of his had failed, here, which he and all his comrades had always looked upon as infallible.
Si enterraveu una bala amb certs necessaris encantaments i la deixaveu tota sola per una quinzena, i després obríeu el lloc amb l' encantament que ell havia dit, trobaríeu que totes les bales que havíeu perdut s' hi haurien acoblat, per més escampadament que haguessin estat separades. Pero ara aquesta cosa havia fallit, tanmateix, i d' una manera indisputable.
If you buried a marble with certain necessary incantations, and left it alone a fortnight, and then opened the place with the incantation he had just used, you would find that all the marbles you had ever lost had gathered themselves together there, meantime, no matter how widely they had been separated. But now, this thing had actually and unquestionably failed.
Tot el sistema de la fe, dins Tom, es commogué damunt sos fonaments.
Tom's whole structure of faith was shaken to its foundations.
He had many a time heard of this thing succeeding but never of its failing before.
It did not occur to him that he had tried it several times before, himself, but could never find the hiding-places afterward.
He puzzled over the matter some time, and finally decided that some witch had interfered and broken the charm.
He thought he would satisfy himself on that point; so he searched around till he found a small sandy spot with a little funnel-shaped depression in it.
S' ajagué i posa la boca arran del sotet, i clama:
He laid himself down and put his mouth close to this depression and called--
"Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know!
Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know!"
The sand began to work, and presently a small black bug appeared for a second and then darted under again in a fright.
-No ho diu !
"He dasn't tell!
So it _was_ a witch that done it. I just knowed it."
He well knew the futility of trying to contend against witches, so he gave up discouraged.
But it occurred to him that he might as well have the marble he had just thrown away, and therefore he went and made a patient search for it. But he could not find it.
Now he went back to his treasure-house and carefully placed himself just as he had been standing when he tossed the marble away; then he took another marble from his pocket and tossed it in the same way, saying: "Brother, go find your brother!"
He watched where it stopped, and went there and looked.
But it must have fallen short or gone too far; so he tried twice more.
The last repetition was successful. The two marbles lay within a foot of each other.
Aleshores, precisament, el so d'una trompeta d'estany vingué tot desmaiat sota les verdes naus de la boscúria.
Just here the blast of a toy tin trumpet came faintly down the green aisles of the forest.
Tom s' arrabassa gec i pantalons, convertí un elastic en cinyell, furga dins unes brosses, més enlla del tronc podrit, traient -ne un arc i una sageta ben grollers, una espasa de llauna, i una trompeta d' estany, i en un moment es va haver apoderat d' aquests atuells, i gambadeja cap enfora, amb els peus nus i la camisa al vent.
Tom flung off his jacket and trousers, turned a suspender into a belt, raked away some brush behind the rotten log, disclosing a rude bow and arrow, a lath sword and a tin trumpet, and in a moment had seized these things and bounded away, barelegged, with fluttering shirt.
He presently halted under a great elm, blew an answering blast, and then began to tiptoe and look warily out, this way and that.
Digué cautelosament a una companyia imaginaria:
He said cautiously--to an imaginary company:
-Braó, mos gais companyons!
"Hold, my merry men!
Romaneu amagats fins que jo colpeixi.
Keep hid till I blow."
Aleshores aparegué Joe Harper, tan aeriament vestit i acuradament armat com el mateix Tom.
Now appeared Joe Harper, as airily clad and elaborately armed as Tom.
Tom crida: -Ei !
Tom called: "Hold!
Quí ve al bosc de Sherwood sense el meu permís ?
Who comes here into Sherwood Forest without my pass?"
-Guiu de Guisborne no necessita el permís de cap home nat !
"Guy of Guisborne wants no man's pass.
Who art thou that--that--"
"Dares to hold such language," said Tom, prompting--for they talked "by the book," from memory.
"Who art thou that dares to hold such language?"
-Jo, tanmateix!
"I, indeed!
I am Robin Hood, as thy caitiff carcase soon shall know."
-Així, ets talment el famós bandejat ?
"Then art thou indeed that famous outlaw?
Ben joiosament et disputaré els passos del bosc joliu.
Right gladly will I dispute with thee the passes of the merry wood.
Para esment !
Have at thee!"
Prengueren llurs espases de llauna, reboteren a terra sos altres atuells, es posaren en actitud de duel, peu contra peu, i començaren un greu, acuradíssim combat, « dos amunt i dos avall ».
They took their lath swords, dumped their other traps on the ground, struck a fencing attitude, foot to foot, and began a grave, careful combat, "two up and two down."
Tom digué, al cap d' una estoneta: -Ara, mala forca us gronxi, poseu -hi més delit !
Presently Tom said: "Now, if you've got the hang, go it lively!"
Així, doncs, lluitaren « amb delit », tots suats i panteixant de la tasca.
So they "went it lively," panting and perspiring with the work.
Tom crida ben aviat: -Caieu ! Caieu !
By and by Tom shouted: "Fall! fall! Why don't you fall?"
"I sha'n't! Why don't you fall yourself? You're getting the worst of it."
"Why, that ain't anything.
I can't fall; that ain't the way it is in the book.
El llibre diu: « Aleshores amb un cop travessador occí el pobre Guiu de Guisborne ! »
The book says, 'Then with one back-handed stroke he slew poor Guy of Guisborne.'
You're to turn around and let me hit you in the back."
There was no getting around the authorities, so Joe turned, received the whack and fell. "Now," said Joe, getting up, "you got to let me kill _you_. That's fair."
"Why, I can't do that, it ain't in the book."
-Bé, aixo és una roinesa endiastrada. Vet -ho aquí.
"Well, it's blamed mean--that's all."
"Well, say, Joe, you can be Friar Tuck or Much the miller's son, and lam me with a quarter-staff; or I'll be the Sheriff of Nottingham and you be Robin Hood a little while and kill me."
Aixo semblava satisfactori, de manera que aquestes aventures foren dutes a compliment.
This was satisfactory, and so these adventures were carried out.
Then Tom became Robin Hood again, and was allowed by the treacherous nun to bleed his strength away through his neglected wound.
I a la fi, Joe, representant una tribu sencera de bandejats plorosos, l' arrossega tristament, li posa l' arc a les febles mans, i Tom digué: -Alla on caura aquesta sageta, enterreu -hi el pobre Robin Hood sota el bosc que treu ufana.
And at last Joe, representing a whole tribe of weeping outlaws, dragged him sadly forth, gave his bow into his feeble hands, and Tom said, "Where this arrow falls, there bury poor Robin Hood under the greenwood tree."
Then he shot the arrow and fell back and would have died, but he lit on a nettle and sprang up too gaily for a corpse.
The boys dressed themselves, hid their accoutrements, and went off grieving that there were no outlaws any more, and wondering what modern civilization could claim to have done to compensate for their loss.
They said they would rather be outlaws a year in Sherwood Forest than President of the United States forever.
CAPÍTOL IX
CHAPTER IX
Aquella nit, a dos quarts de deu, Tom i Sid foren enviats al llit com de costum.
AT half-past nine, that night, Tom and Sid were sent to bed, as usual.
They said their prayers, and Sid was soon asleep.
Tom lay awake and waited, in restless impatience.
When it seemed to him that it must be nearly daylight, he heard the clock strike ten!
N' hi havia per desesperar -se.
This was despair.
He would have tossed and fidgeted, as his nerves demanded, but he was afraid he might wake Sid.
Jagué, doncs, d' allo més quiet i mirant en l' aire, dins l' ombra.
So he lay still, and stared up into the dark.
Tot era brofegament silenciós.
Everything was dismally still.
Aviat començaren a brollar del silenci sorolls apenes perceptibles, que anaven prenent cos.
By and by, out of the stillness, little, scarcely perceptible noises began to emphasize themselves.
El tic-tac del rellotge esdevingué sensible. Vells prestatges es posaren a cruixir misteriosament. Els graons carriquejaren vagament.
The ticking of the clock began to bring itself into notice. Old beams began to crack mysteriously. The stairs creaked faintly.
Sens dubte, hi havia esperits en campanya.
Evidently spirits were abroad.
Un ronc acompassat venia sordament de la cambra de la tia Polly.
A measured, muffled snore issued from Aunt Polly's chamber.
I aleshores comença el xerric enujós d' un grill que cap inventiva humana hauria pogut localitzar.
And now the tiresome chirping of a cricket that no human ingenuity could locate, began.
Next the ghastly ticking of a death-watch in the wall at the bed's head made Tom shudder--it meant that somebody's days were numbered.
Then the howl of a far-off dog rose on the night air, and was answered by a fainter howl from a remoter distance.
Tom es trobava a l' agonia.
Tom was in an agony.
At last he was satisfied that time had ceased and eternity begun; he began to doze, in spite of himself; the clock chimed eleven, but he did not hear it.
I després comparegué, mesclat amb els somnis a mig formar, un miol sobiranament melangiós.
And then there came, mingling with his half-formed dreams, a most melancholy caterwauling.
Una finestra veina que s' obria el trasbalsa.
The raising of a neighboring window disturbed him.
Un crit de: -Ala, bretol ! - i el patapam d' una ampolla buida contra el darrera del cobert de fusta de la seva tia el desvetllaren del tot, i al cap d' un minut estava abillat i fora de la finestra, i s' arrossegava per la teulada de la golfa a quatre grapes.
A cry of "Scat! you devil!" and the crash of an empty bottle against the back of his aunt's woodshed brought him wide awake, and a single minute later he was dressed and out of the window and creeping along the roof of the "ell" on all fours.
He "meow'd" with caution once or twice, as he went; then jumped to the roof of the woodshed and thence to the ground.
Veu's allí Huckleberry Finn amb el gat mort.
Huckleberry Finn was there, with his dead cat.
Els nois partiren i desaparegueren en la tenebror.
The boys moved off and disappeared in the gloom.
Al cap de mitja hora calcigaven l' alt herbam del cementiri.
At the end of half an hour they were wading through the tall grass of the graveyard.
Era un cementiri de la vella mena ponentina, damunt un turó, a vora d' una milla i mitja del poblet.
It was a graveyard of the old-fashioned Western kind. It was on a hill, about a mile and a half from the village.
It had a crazy board fence around it, which leaned inward in places, and outward the rest of the time, but stood upright nowhere.
Grass and weeds grew rank over the whole cemetery. All the old graves were sunken in, there was not a tombstone on the place; round-topped, worm-eaten boards staggered over the graves, leaning for support and finding none.
"Sacred to the memory of" So-and-So had been painted on them once, but it could no longer have been read, on the most of them, now, even if there had been light.
A faint wind moaned through the trees, and Tom feared it might be the spirits of the dead, complaining at being disturbed.
Els nois enraonaren poc, i només que en una veu que no s' afigurava, perque l' hora, i l' indret, i la difosa solemnitat, i el silenci oprimien llurs esperits.
The boys talked little, and only under their breath, for the time and the place and the pervading solemnity and silence oppressed their spirits.
Trobaren el nou munt alterós que cercaven, i s' aconductaren sota la protecció de tres oms poderosos que creixien aflotonats a unes quantes passes de la tomba.
They found the sharp new heap they were seeking, and ensconced themselves within the protection of three great elms that grew in a bunch within a few feet of the grave.
Esperaren en silenci una estona, que els sembla ben llarga.
Then they waited in silence for what seemed a long time.
The hooting of a distant owl was all the sound that troubled the dead stillness.
Les reflexions de Tom li anaven esquifint el cor.
Tom's reflections grew oppressive.
He must force some talk. So he said in a whisper: "Hucky, do you believe the dead people like it for us to be here?"
Huckleberry whispered: "I wisht I knowed. It's awful solemn like, _ain't_ it?"
-Ja ho crec !
"I bet it is."
Després hi hagué una considerable pausa, durant la qual els minyons examinaren interiorment la materia.
There was a considerable pause, while the boys canvassed this matter inwardly.
Then Tom whispered: "Say, Hucky--do you reckon Hoss Williams hears us talking?"
-És clar que sí. Si més no, el seu esperit.
"O' course he does. Least his sperrit does."
Tom, after a pause: "I wish I'd said Mister Williams. But I never meant any harm.
Everybody calls him Hoss."
"A body can't be too partic'lar how they talk 'bout these-yer dead people, Tom."
Aixo crea un descoratjament, i la conversa fina de bell nou.
This was a damper, and conversation died again.
Presently Tom seized his comrade's arm and said: "Sh!"
-Que hi ha, Tom ? -
"What is it, Tom?"
I s'arrambaren amb els cors palpitants.
And the two clung together with beating hearts.
-Sst!
"Sh!
Altra vegada!
There 'tis again!
No ho sentiu ?
Didn't you hear it?"
-Jo…
"I--"
-Veieu?
"There!
Now you hear it."
-Déu meu, Tom ! Ja són aquí, ben segur.
"Lord, Tom, they're coming!
They're coming, sure.
Que farem ?
What'll we do?"
-Poc ho sé.
"I dono.
Creieu que ens llucaran ?
Think they'll see us?"
"Oh, Tom, they can see in the dark, same as cats.
I wisht I hadn't come."
"Oh, don't be afeard. I don't believe they'll bother us. We ain't doing any harm. If we keep perfectly still, maybe they won't notice us at all."
"I'll try to, Tom, but, Lord, I'm all of a shiver."
-Escolteu!
"Listen!"
Els minyons decantaren la testa plegats, i amb prou feines respiraven.
The boys bent their heads together and scarcely breathed.
Un so apagat de veus surava per l' extrem més distant del cementiri. -Vegeu !
A muffled sound of voices floated up from the far end of the graveyard.
"Look! See there!" whispered Tom. "What is it?"
-Foc del dimoni!
"It's devil-fire.
O Tom ! Aixo glaça.
Oh, Tom, this is awful."
Some vague figures approached through the gloom, swinging an old-fashioned tin lantern that freckled the ground with innumerable little spangles of light.
Al cap de poc, Huckleberry zumzeja amb un calfred: -Son els dimonis, ben segur.
Presently Huckleberry whispered with a shudder: "It's the devils sure enough.
En vénen tres !
Three of 'em!
En nom de Déu, Tom, estem perduts !
Lordy, Tom, we're goners!
Podeu pregar ?
Can you pray?"
-Faré per manera, pero no tingueu por.
"I'll try, but don't you be afeard.
No ens faran cap mal.
They ain't going to hurt us.
'Now I lay me down to sleep, I--'"
-Sst!
"Sh!"
-Que passa, Huck ?
"What is it, Huck?"
-Són homes !
"They're _humans_!
Un n' és, sinó els altres.
One of 'em is, anyway.
Un d' ells fa la veu de Muff
One of 'em's old Muff Potter's voice."
"No--'tain't so, is it?"
-Faig juguesca de coneixer -la bé.
"I bet I know it.
No us remeneu ni us bellugueu.
Don't you stir nor budge.
He ain't sharp enough to notice us.
Drunk, the same as usual, likely--blamed old rip!"
"All right, I'll keep still. Now they're stuck. Can't find it. Here they come again. Now they're hot. Cold again. Hot again. Red hot!
They're p'inted right, this time. Say, Huck, I know another o' them voices; it's Injun Joe."
-Oi! Aquest mestís assassí!
"That's so--that murderin' half-breed!
I'd druther they was devils a dern sight.
What kin they be up to?"
Els murmuris s' extingiren del tot, aleshores, perque els tres homes havien arribat a la tomba, i romanien a unes quantes passes de l' amagatall dels dos minyons.
The whisper died wholly out, now, for the three men had reached the grave and stood within a few feet of the boys' hiding-place.
"Here it is," said the third voice; and the owner of it held the lantern up and revealed the face of young Doctor Robinson.
Potter i Joe l' Indi portaven un baiard, amb una corda i un parell de pales al damunt.
Potter and Injun Joe were carrying a handbarrow with a rope and a couple of shovels on it.
Deixaren en terra allo que traginaven, i començaren d' obrir la tomba.
They cast down their load and began to open the grave.
El doctor posa la llanterna al cap del lloc d' enterrament i avança i s' assegué, amb l' esquena recolzada en un dels oms.
The doctor put the lantern at the head of the grave and came and sat down with his back against one of the elm trees.
He was so close the boys could have touched him.
-De pressa, mestres ! - Digué en veu baixa.- La lluna podria eixir de cop i volta !
"Hurry, men!" he said, in a low voice; "the moon might come out at any moment."
Rondinaren una resposta, i continuaren cavant.
They growled a response and went on digging.
Per algun temps no se sentí més soroll que el xarricar de les pales que descarregaven llur nolieig de terra i arena.
For some time there was no noise but the grating sound of the spades discharging their freight of mould and gravel.
Allo era ben monoton.
It was very monotonous.
Finally a spade struck upon the coffin with a dull woody accent, and within another minute or two the men had hoisted it out on the ground.
Alçapremaren la tapadora amb les pales, tragueren el cos mort, i el rebotaren asprament per terra.
They pried off the lid with their shovels, got out the body and dumped it rudely on the ground.
The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face.
The barrow was got ready and the corpse placed on it, covered with a blanket, and bound to its place with the rope. Potter took out a large spring-knife and cut off the dangling end of the rope and then said: "Now the cussed thing's ready, Sawbones, and you'll just out with another five, or here she stays."
"That's the talk!" said Injun Joe.
"Look here, what does this mean?" said the doctor. "You required your pay in advance, and I've paid you."
-Sí, i heu fet quelcom més que aixo- digué Joe l' Indi, atansant -se al doctor, que ara estava de peu dret. -Em vau treure, fa cinc anys, de la cuina del vostre pare, on avia anat a demanar alguna menja, i vau dir que no hi havia anat per cap bé; i quan vaig fer saber que me la pagaríeu, baldament passessin cent anys, el vostre pare em tanca a la preso per rodamón.
"Yes, and you done more than that," said Injun Joe, approaching the doctor, who was now standing. "Five years ago you drove me away from your father's kitchen one night, when I come to ask for something to eat, and you said I warn't there for any good; and when I swore I'd get even with you if it took a hundred years, your father had me jailed for a vagrant.
Did you think I'd forget?
Per alguna cosa tinc sang indiana.
The Injun blood ain't in me for nothing.
I ara us he arreplegat, i no teniu més remei que pagar: sabeu ?
And now I've _got_ you, and you got to _settle_, you know!"
Amenaçava al doctor amb el puny a la cara, en aquell moment.
He was threatening the doctor, with his fist in his face, by this time.
The doctor struck out suddenly and stretched the ruffian on the ground. Potter dropped his knife, and exclaimed: "Here, now, don't you hit my pard!" and the next moment he had grappled with the doctor and the two were struggling with might and main, trampling the grass and tearing the ground with their heels.
Injun Joe sprang to his feet, his eyes flaming with passion, snatched up Potter's knife, and went creeping, catlike and stooping, round and round about the combatants, seeking an opportunity.
All at once the doctor flung himself free, seized the heavy headboard of Williams' grave and felled Potter to the earth with it--and in the same instant the half-breed saw his chance and drove the knife to the hilt in the young man's breast.
Ell giravolta i caigué en part damunt Potter, amarant -lo amb la seva sang; i en aquell punt els núvols esborraren el paorós espectacle, i els dos minyons, esparverats, fugiren a més córrer dins la fosca.
He reeled and fell partly upon Potter, flooding him with his blood, and in the same moment the clouds blotted out the dreadful spectacle and the two frightened boys went speeding away in the dark.
Quan la lluna, ben tost, es mostra de bell nou, Joe l' Indi romania damunt els dos cossos, tot contemplant -los.
Presently, when the moon emerged again, Injun Joe was standing over the two forms, contemplating them.
El doctor féu un murmuri inarticulat, i un llarg badall d' agonia o bé dos, i resta en silenci. El mestís botzina:
The doctor murmured inarticulately, gave a long gasp or two and was still. The half-breed muttered:
"_That_ score is settled--damn you." Then he robbed the body. After which he put the fatal knife in Potter's open right hand, and sat down on the dismantled coffin.
Three--four--five minutes passed, and then Potter began to stir and moan.
His hand closed upon the knife; he raised it, glanced at it, and let it fall, with a shudder.
Then he sat up, pushing the body from him, and gazed at it, and then around him, confusedly.
Sos ulls toparen els de Joe.
His eyes met Joe's.
"Lord, how is this, Joe?" he said.
"It's a dirty business," said Joe, without moving.
"What did you do it for?" "I!
I never done it!"
"Look here! That kind of talk won't wash."
Potter tremola i s' esblanqueí.
Potter trembled and grew white.
"I thought I'd got sober. I'd no business to drink to-night.
But it's in my head yet--worse'n when we started here. I'm all in a muddle; can't recollect anything of it, hardly.
Tell me, Joe--_honest_, now, old feller--did I do it? Joe, I never meant to--'pon my soul and honor, I never meant to, Joe.
Oh ! Esglaia ! I ell tan jove i que prometia tant !
Tell me how it was, Joe. Oh, it's awful--and him so young and promising."
-Ves, estaveu barallant-vos, i ell us va dar una patacada amb la fusta de la tomba, i vau caure d' allo més pla, i després us aixecareu, tot fent tentines i giravolts, i vau aferrar el ganivet, i l' hi vau apuntalar, mentre ell us ajustava una altra manyagueria que feia feredat. I aquí heu estat jaient fins ara, mort com un tascó.
"Why, you two was scuffling, and he fetched you one with the headboard and you fell flat; and then up you come, all reeling and staggering like, and snatched the knife and jammed it into him, just as he fetched you another awful clip--and here you've laid, as dead as a wedge til now."
"Oh, I didn't know what I was a-doing. I wish I may die this minute if I did. It was all on account of the whiskey and the excitement, I reckon. I never used a weepon in my life before, Joe.
I've fought, but never with weepons.
Tothom us ho dira.
They'll all say that.
Joe, no en cantéssiu res!
Joe, don't tell!
Say you won't tell, Joe--that's a good feller.
I always liked you, Joe, and stood up for you, too.
No us en recordeu?
Don't you remember?
No ho cantareu: veritat, Joe ?
You _won't_ tell, _will_ you, Joe?"
- I la pobra criatura caigué de genolls davant l' estolid assassí, i ajunta les mans imploradores.
And the poor creature dropped on his knees before the stolid murderer, and clasped his appealing hands.
"No, you've always been fair and square with me, Muff Potter, and I won't go back on you. There, now, that's as fair as a man can say."
-O Joe! Sóu un angel!
"Oh, Joe, you're an angel.
I'll bless you for this the longest day I live."
And Potter began to cry.
"Come, now, that's enough of that. This ain't any time for blubbering.
Aneu per aquell camí, i jo aniré per aquest.
You be off yonder way and I'll go this.
Espavileu-vos, ara, i no deixeu cap pista darrera vostre.
Move, now, and don't leave any tracks behind you."
Potter started on a trot that quickly increased to a run. The half-breed stood looking after him.
He muttered: "If he's as much stunned with the lick and fuddled with the rum as he had the look of being, he won't think of the knife till he's gone so far he'll be afraid to come back after it to such a place by himself--chicken-heart!"
Dos o tres minuts després, l' home assassinat, el cadaver embolcallat en la flassada, el taüt sense tapadora i la tomba oberta romanien sota l' única inspecció de la lluna.
Two or three minutes later the murdered man, the blanketed corpse, the lidless coffin, and the open grave were under no inspection but the moon's.
El silenci, aiximateix, era altra vegada absolut.
The stillness was complete again, too.
CAPÍTOL X
CHAPTER X
THE two boys flew on and on, toward the village, speechless with horror.
They glanced backward over their shoulders from time to time, apprehensively, as if they feared they might be followed.
Every stump that started up in their path seemed a man and an enemy, and made them catch their breath; and as they sped by some outlying cottages that lay near the village, the barking of the aroused watch-dogs seemed to give wings to their feet.
"If we can only get to the old tannery before we break down!" whispered Tom, in short catches between breaths.
"I can't stand it much longer."
Huckleberry's hard pantings were his only reply, and the boys fixed their eyes on the goal of their hopes and bent to their work to win it.
Avançaren decididament sobre ella, i a la fi, pit contra pit, es llançaren a través de la porta oberta, i caigueren, agraits i aclaparats, dins les ombres protectores de més endins.
They gained steadily on it, and at last, breast to breast, they burst through the open door and fell grateful and exhausted in the sheltering shadows beyond.
Aviat llurs polsos s'apaivagaren, i Tom murmura:
By and by their pulses slowed down, and Tom whispered:
-Huckleberry: que compteu que en pervindra, d'aixo?
"Huckleberry, what do you reckon'll come of this?"
"If Doctor Robinson dies, I reckon hanging'll come of it."
-Ho creieu, tanmateix?
"Do you though?"
-N'estic segur, Tom.
"Why, I _know_ it, Tom."
Tom pensa una mica. Després digué: -Quí ho dira ?
Tom thought a while, then he said: "Who'll tell?
Nosaltres?
We?"
-Que us empatolleu!
"What are you talking about?
S'pose something happened and Injun Joe _didn't_ hang? Why, he'd kill us some time or other, just as dead sure as we're a laying here."
"That's just what I was thinking to myself, Huck."
"If anybody tells, let Muff Potter do it, if he's fool enough.
He's generally drunk enough."
Tom said nothing--went on thinking. Presently he whispered:
-Huck, Muff Potter no ho sap.
"Huck, Muff Potter don't know it.
How can he tell?"
-Per quina raó no ho sap ?
"What's the reason he don't know it?"
"Because he'd just got that whack when Injun Joe done it.
D'you reckon he could see anything?
Compteu que sabé res ? -Manoi !
D'you reckon he knowed anything?"
És veritat, Tom !
"By hokey, that's so, Tom!"
"And besides, look-a-here--maybe that whack done for _him_!"
-No: no és probable, Tom.
"No, 'taint likely, Tom.
He had liquor in him; I could see that; and besides, he always has.
Bé, doncs: quan mon pare esta xop, ja podeu apallissar -li el cap amb tota una església, que no el contorbareu.
Well, when pap's full, you might take and belt him over the head with a church and you couldn't phase him.
Ell mateix ho diu.
He says so, his own self.
So it's the same with Muff Potter, of course.
But if a man was dead sober, I reckon maybe that whack might fetch him; I dono."
After another reflective silence, Tom said:
-Huck: esteu segur que podreu posar-vos un cadenat a la boca ?
"Hucky, you sure you can keep mum?"
"Tom, we _got_ to keep mum.
Ja ho sabeu.
You know that.
That Injun devil wouldn't make any more of drownding us than a couple of cats, if we was to squeak 'bout this and they didn't hang him.
Now, look-a-here, Tom, less take and swear to one another--that's what we got to do--swear to keep mum."
"I'm agreed. It's the best thing.
Voleu, només, que ens agafem les mans i jurem que … -Oh !
Would you just hold hands and swear that we--"
No, no fóra escaient, per a una cosa així.
"Oh no, that wouldn't do for this.
That's good enough for little rubbishy common things--specially with gals, cuz _they_ go back on you anyway, and blab if they get in a huff--but there orter be writing 'bout a big thing like this. And blood."
Tot l'ésser de Tom aplaudí aquesta idea.
Tom's whole being applauded this idea.
El pla era recondit, i ombrívol i paorós; l' hora, les circumstancies, els voltants, hi harmonitzaven.
It was deep, and dark, and awful; the hour, the circumstances, the surroundings, were in keeping with it.
Arreplega una polida estella de pi que jeia al clar de la lluna, es tragué un petit fragment de quilla roja que duia a la butxaca, es posa a la llum de la lluna, i escritoteja aquestes ratlles, dant relleu a cada tret que queia cap avall, a base d' apretar la llengua entre les dents, i minvant la pressió en els trets que anaven cap amunt: « Huck Finn i Tom Sawyer juren posar -se un cadenat a la boca sobre aixo, i desitgen que puguin caure morts pel camí si mai xerren, i podrir -se. »
He picked up a clean pine shingle that lay in the moon-light, took a little fragment of "red keel" out of his pocket, got the moon on his work, and painfully scrawled these lines, emphasizing each slow down-stroke by clamping his tongue between his teeth, and letting up the pressure on the up-strokes. [See next page.] "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer swears they will keep mum about This and They wish They may Drop down dead in Their Tracks if They ever Tell and Rot."
Huckleberry s' omplí d' admiració davant la facilitat de Tom en l' escriptura, i la sublimitat del seu llenguatge.
Huckleberry was filled with admiration of Tom's facility in writing, and the sublimity of his language.
He at once took a pin from his lapel and was going to prick his flesh, but Tom said:
"Hold on! Don't do that. A pin's brass. It might have verdigrease on it."
-Que cosa és verdet ?
"What's verdigrease?"
"It's p'ison. That's what it is. You just swaller some of it once--you'll see."
Així, doncs, Tom descabdella el fil d' una de les seves agulles de cosir, i cada minyó es punxa el capciró del polze i n' espremé una gota de sang.
So Tom unwound the thread from one of his needles, and each boy pricked the ball of his thumb and squeezed out a drop of blood.
In time, after many squeezes, Tom managed to sign his initials, using the ball of his little finger for a pen.
Then he showed Huckleberry how to make an H and an F, and the oath was complete.
Enterraren l' estella de pi arran de la paret, amb algunes brofegues cerimonies i encantaments, i les cadenes que els lligaven la llengua foren ja tancades amb pany i clau, i la clau llençada.
They buried the shingle close to the wall, with some dismal ceremonies and incantations, and the fetters that bound their tongues were considered to be locked and the key thrown away.
Una figura s' arrossega tota llisquívola, en aquell moment, per un esboranc de l' arruinat edifici; pero ells no se n' atalaiaren.
A figure crept stealthily through a break in the other end of the ruined building, now, but they did not notice it.
"Tom," whispered Huckleberry, "does this keep us from _ever_ telling--_always_?"
"Of course it does. It don't make any difference _what_ happens, we got to keep mum. We'd drop down dead--don't _you_ know that?"
"Yes, I reckon that's so."
They continued to whisper for some little time. Presently a dog set up a long, lugubrious howl just outside--within ten feet of them.
Els minyons s' aferraren l' un a l' altre sobtadament, en una agonia d' esglai.
The boys clasped each other suddenly, in an agony of fright.
-Per quín de nosaltres és ? - digué, trasposat, Huckleberry.
"Which of us does he mean?" gasped Huckleberry.
-No ho sé … Sotgeu per la clivella. De pressa !
"I dono--peep through the crack. Quick!"
-No: vós, Tom!
"No, _you_, Tom!"
"I can't--I can't _do_ it, Huck!"
-Tom, feu -ho si us plau. Ja hi torna ! -Oh !
"Please, Tom. There 'tis again!"
"Oh, lordy, I'm thankful!" whispered Tom. "I know his voice. It's Bull Harbison."
"Oh, that's good--I tell you, Tom, I was most scared to death; I'd a bet anything it was a _stray_ dog."
The dog howled again.
El coratge dels minyons naufraga una altra vegada. -Oh !
The boys' hearts sank once more.
"Oh, my! that ain't no Bull Harbison!" whispered Huckleberry. "_Do_, Tom!"
Tom, quaking with fear, yielded, and put his eye to the crack.
His whisper was hardly audible when he said: "Oh, Huck, _its a stray dog_!"
"Quick, Tom, quick! Who does he mean?"
"Huck, he must mean us both--we're right together."
"Oh, Tom, I reckon we're goners.
I reckon there ain't no mistake 'bout where _I'll_ go to.
I been so wicked."
"Dad fetch it!
This comes of playing hookey and doing everything a feller's told _not_ to do.
I might a been good, like Sid, if I'd a tried--but no, I wouldn't, of course.
But if ever I get off this time, I lay I'll just _waller_ in Sunday-schools!"
And Tom began to snuffle a little.
"_You_ bad!" and Huckleberry began to snuffle too.
"Consound it, Tom Sawyer, you're just old pie, 'long-side o' what I am.
Oh, _lordy_, lordy, lordy, I wisht I only had half your chance."
Tom es sentí la gorja alliberada i murmura:
Tom choked off and whispered:
"Look, Hucky, look! He's got his _back_ to us!"
Huck mira amb el cor ple de joia.
Hucky looked, with joy in his heart.
-Oida, vatua!
"Well, he has, by jingoes!
Did he before?"
"Yes, he did. But I, like a fool, never thought.
Oh, this is bully, you know. _Now_ who can he mean?"
L' udol cessa.
The howling stopped.
Tom es caragola les orelles.
Tom pricked up his ears.
-Sst ! Que és aixo ? - zumzeja.
"Sh! What's that?" he whispered.
"Sounds like--like hogs grunting. No--it's somebody snoring, Tom."
-Aixo, és ?
"That _is_ it!
Per on rau, Huck?
Where 'bouts is it, Huck?"
"I bleeve it's down at 'tother end. Sounds so, anyway.
Pap used to sleep there, sometimes, 'long with the hogs, but laws bless you, he just lifts things when _he_ snores.
Besides, I reckon he ain't ever coming back to this town any more."
L'esperit aventurer brolla de l'anima dels minyons altra vegada.
The spirit of adventure rose in the boys' souls once more.
"Hucky, do you das't to go if I lead?"
"I don't like to, much.
Suposeu-vos que sigui Joe l' Indi !
Tom, s'pose it's Injun Joe!"
Tom quailed. But presently the temptation rose up strong again and the boys agreed to try, with the understanding that they would take to their heels if the snoring stopped.
So they went tiptoeing stealthily down, the one behind the other.
When they had got to within five steps of the snorer, Tom stepped on a stick, and it broke with a sharp snap.
The man moaned, writhed a little, and his face came into the moonlight. It was Muff Potter.
The boys' hearts had stood still, and their hopes too, when the man moved, but their fears passed away now.
Lliscaren cap enfora, travessant el malmenat aixopluc, i s' aturaren a una petita distancia, per a bescanviar una paraula de comiat. I altra vegada aquell udol tetric i durador munta en l' aire de la nit !
They tip-toed out, through the broken weather-boarding, and stopped at a little distance to exchange a parting word. That long, lugubrious howl rose on the night air again!
Es giraren i veieren el gos singular que romania a tret d' on jeia Potter, encarant -se amb Potter, tot assenyalant el cel amb el nas. -Oh !
They turned and saw the strange dog standing within a few feet of where Potter was lying, and _facing_ Potter, with his nose pointing heavenward.
Manoi ! Ve per ell ! - exclamaren els dos nois, fent un bisbe.
"Oh, geeminy, it's _him_!" exclaimed both boys, in a breath.
"Say, Tom--they say a stray dog come howling around Johnny Miller's house, 'bout midnight, as much as two weeks ago; and a whippoorwill come in and lit on the banisters and sung, the very same evening; and there ain't anybody dead there yet."
"Well, I know that. And suppose there ain't.
Didn't Gracie Miller fall in the kitchen fire and burn herself terrible the very next Saturday?"
"Yes, but she ain't _dead_.
And what's more, she's getting better, too."
-Molt bé: espereu, i ja veurem.
"All right, you wait and see.
She's a goner, just as dead sure as Muff Potter's a goner.
That's what the niggers say, and they know all about these kind of things, Huck."
Then they separated, cogitating.
When Tom crept in at his bedroom window the night was almost spent.
Es despulla amb excessiva cautela, i s' adormí, tot congratulant -se que ningú no s' hagués adonat de la seva escapada.
He undressed with excessive caution, and fell asleep congratulating himself that nobody knew of his escapade.
He was not aware that the gently-snoring Sid was awake, and had been so for an hour.
When Tom awoke, Sid was dressed and gone.
En la llum hi havia un posat d' ésser tard.
There was a late look in the light, a late sense in the atmosphere.
Aixo l'astora.
He was startled.
Why had he not been called--persecuted till he was up, as usual?
Aquesta idea l' omplia de mals averanys.
The thought filled him with bodings.
Within five minutes he was dressed and down-stairs, feeling sore and drowsy.
The family were still at table, but they had finished breakfast.
There was no voice of rebuke; but there were averted eyes; there was a silence and an air of solemnity that struck a chill to the culprit's heart.
S' assegué i féu per manera de semblar joiós, pero era una tasca endiastrada. No va aconseguir un somriure ni una resposta: així és que recaigué en el silenci i deixa que son cor anés capbussant -se fins a les darreres fondaries.
He sat down and tried to seem gay, but it was up-hill work; it roused no smile, no response, and he lapsed into silence and let his heart sink down to the depths.
After breakfast his aunt took him aside, and Tom almost brightened in the hope that he was going to be flogged; but it was not so.
His aunt wept over him and asked him how he could go and break her old heart so; and finally told him to go on, and ruin himself and bring her gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, for it was no use for her to try any more.
Aixo era pitjor que no pas mil fuetades, i el cor de Tom romangué ara més capolat que el seu cos. Plora, demana perdó, prometé d' esmenar -se una i altra vegada, i aleshores se li permeté de pendre comiat, tot i adonant -se ell que no havia guanyat sinó un perdó imperfecte i no havia inspirat sinó una feble confiança.
This was worse than a thousand whippings, and Tom's heart was sorer now than his body. He cried, he pleaded for forgiveness, promised to reform over and over again, and then received his dismissal, feeling that he had won but an imperfect forgiveness and established but a feeble confidence.
He left the presence too miserable to even feel revengeful toward Sid; and so the latter's prompt retreat through the back gate was unnecessary.
He moped to school gloomy and sad, and took his flogging, along with Joe Harper, for playing hookey the day before, with the air of one whose heart was busy with heavier woes and wholly dead to trifles.
Then he betook himself to his seat, rested his elbows on his desk and his jaws in his hands, and stared at the wall with the stony stare of suffering that has reached the limit and can no further go.
Son colze apretava alguna substancia dura.
His elbow was pressing against some hard substance.
After a long time he slowly and sadly changed his position, and took up this object with a sigh.
Estava embolicat amb paper.
It was in a paper.
El desembolica.
He unrolled it.
Seguí un llarg, dilatat, colossal sospir, i el cor se li trenca.
A long, lingering, colossal sigh followed, and his heart broke.
Era el seu pomet de llautó !
It was his brass andiron knob!
Aquesta darrera gota va fer sobreeixir el vas.
This final feather broke the camel's back.
CAPÍTOL XI
CHAPTER XI
Arran arran del migdia, tot el llogarret fou sobtadament galvanitzat per les noves esgarrifoses.
CLOSE upon the hour of noon the whole village was suddenly electrified with the ghastly news.
Sense necessitat del telegraf, en aquell temps encara no somniat, la historia vola d'home a home, de grup a grup, de casa a casa, amb velocitat poc menys que telegrafica.
No need of the as yet un-dreamed-of telegraph; the tale flew from man to man, from group to group, from house to house, with little less than telegraphic speed.
Of course the schoolmaster gave holi-day for that afternoon; the town would have thought strangely of him if he had not.
A gory knife had been found close to the murdered man, and it had been recognized by somebody as belonging to Muff Potter--so the story ran.
And it was said that a belated citizen had come upon Potter washing himself in the "branch" about one or two o'clock in the morning, and that Potter had at once sneaked off--suspicious circumstances, especially the washing which was not a habit with Potter.
It was also said that the town had been ransacked for this "murderer" (the public are not slow in the matter of sifting evidence and arriving at a verdict), but that he could not be found.
Horsemen had departed down all the roads in every direction, and the Sheriff "was confident" that he would be captured before night.
Tot el poble derivava cap al cementiri.
All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.
El cortrencament de Tom s' esvaí, i s' ajunta a la processó, no pas per no preferir mil vegades més d' anar a qualsevol banda, sinó perque una paorosa, inexplicable fascinació l' hi arrossegava.
Tom's heartbreak vanished and he joined the procession, not because he would not a thousand times rather go anywhere else, but because an awful, unaccountable fascination drew him on.
Arrived at the dreadful place, he wormed his small body through the crowd and saw the dismal spectacle.
It seemed to him an age since he was there before.
Algú li pessiga el braç.
Somebody pinched his arm.
Es gira, i sos ulls trobaren els de Huckleberry.
He turned, and his eyes met Huckleberry's.
Després, tots dos, d' un plegat, miraren a una altra banda i es preguntaren si algú havia reparat alguna entresenya en llur mútua llambregada.
Then both looked elsewhere at once, and wondered if anybody had noticed anything in their mutual glance.
But everybody was talking, and intent upon the grisly spectacle before them. "Poor fellow!" "Poor young fellow!"
"This ought to be a lesson to grave robbers!" "Muff Potter'll hang for this if they catch him!"
This was the drift of remark; and the minister said, "It was a judgment; His hand is here."
Now Tom shivered from head to heel; for his eye fell upon the stolid face of Injun Joe. At this moment the crowd began to sway and struggle, and voices shouted, "It's him! it's him! he's coming himself!"
-Quí? Quí?- feren una vintena de veus.
"Who? Who?" from twenty voices.
-Muff Potter!
"Muff Potter!"
"Hallo, he's stopped!--Look out, he's turning!
No el deixéssiu escapar !
Don't let him get away!"
People in the branches of the trees over Tom's head said he wasn't trying to get away--he only looked doubtful and perplexed.
"Infernal impudence!" said a bystander; "wanted to come and take a quiet look at his work, I reckon--didn't expect any company."
The crowd fell apart, now, and the Sheriff came through, ostentatiously leading Potter by the arm.
La cara del pobre home era esmaperduda, i sos ulls traspuaven la por que l' atuia.
The poor fellow's face was haggard, and his eyes showed the fear that was upon him.
When he stood before the murdered man, he shook as with a palsy, and he put his face in his hands and burst into tears.
-No ho he pas fet ! - sanglotava. -Per la meva paraula i la meva honra que no ho he fet !
"I didn't do it, friends," he sobbed; "'pon my word and honor I never done it."
"Who's accused you?" shouted a voice.
This shot seemed to carry home.
Potter lifted his face and looked around him with a pathetic hopelessness in his eyes.
He saw Injun Joe, and exclaimed:
-O Joe l'Indi! M'havíeu promes que mai…
"Oh, Injun Joe, you promised me you'd never--"
"Is that your knife?" and it was thrust before him by the Sheriff.
Potter would have fallen if they had not caught him and eased him to the ground. Then he said:
"Something told me 't if I didn't come back and get--" He shuddered; then waved his nerveless hand with a vanquished gesture and said, "Tell 'em, Joe, tell 'em--it ain't any use any more."
Aleshores Huckleberry i Tom romangueren muts i embadocats. I sentiren com el mentider cor-de-roca conjuminava la seva serena declaració; i esperaven a cada moment que el cel claríssim deixaria caure els llamps divinals damunt sa testa, i s' estranyaven de veure per quant de temps el castig anava essent ajornat.
Then Huckleberry and Tom stood dumb and staring, and heard the stony-hearted liar reel off his serene statement, they expecting every moment that the clear sky would deliver God's lightnings upon his head, and wondering to see how long the stroke was delayed.
I quan ell hagué finit, encara vivent i sencer, el fluctuant impuls que havien sentit de rompre llur jurament i salvar la vida del pobrissó detingut i trait s' esvaí i cessa, perque evidentment aquell inic s' havia venut a Llucifer, i seria fatal de ficar -se en cosa pertanyent a un poder com aquell.
And when he had finished and still stood alive and whole, their wavering impulse to break their oath and save the poor betrayed prisoner's life faded and vanished away, for plainly this miscreant had sold himself to Satan and it would be fatal to meddle with the property of such a power as that.
"Why didn't you leave? What did you want to come here for?" somebody said.
"I couldn't help it--I couldn't help it," Potter moaned. "I wanted to run away, but I couldn't seem to come anywhere but here."
- I altra vegada rompé a sanglotar.
And he fell to sobbing again.
Injun Joe repeated his statement, just as calmly, a few minutes afterward on the inquest, under oath; and the boys, seeing that the lightnings were still withheld, were confirmed in their belief that Joe had sold himself to the devil.
Joe havia esdevingut ara, per a ells, l' objecte més obagament interessant que mai haguessin considerat, i no podien llevar -ne els ulls fascinats, de la seva cara.
He was now become, to them, the most balefully interesting object they had ever looked upon, and they could not take their fascinated eyes from his face.
They inwardly resolved to watch him nights, when opportunity should offer, in the hope of getting a glimpse of his dread master.
Injun Joe helped to raise the body of the murdered man and put it in a wagon for removal; and it was whispered through the shuddering crowd that the wound bled a little!
The boys thought that this happy circumstance would turn suspicion in the right direction; but they were disappointed, for more than one villager remarked:
"It was within three feet of Muff Potter when it done it."
El paorós secret i el corcó de consciencia de Tom li feren la son alterosa per tota una setmana, després d'aixo; i un matí, al desdejuni, digué Sid:
Tom's fearful secret and gnawing conscience disturbed his sleep for as much as a week after this; and at breakfast one morning Sid said:
-Tom: us remeneu i parleu tant, en el vostre son, que em passo despert la meitat del temps.
"Tom, you pitch around and talk in your sleep so much that you keep me awake half the time."
Tom s' esblaima i acala els ulls.
Tom blanched and dropped his eyes.
"It's a bad sign," said Aunt Polly, gravely. "What you got on your mind, Tom?"
-Res. Res que jo sapiga.
"Nothing. Nothing 't I know of."
- Pero la ma del minyó es sacseja en tanta de manera que volca el seu cafe.
But the boy's hand shook so that he spilled his coffee.
"And you do talk such stuff," Sid said. "Last night you said, 'It's blood, it's blood, that's what it is!'
You said that over and over.
I feieu: -«No em turmenteu d' aquesta manera: ja us ho diré ». Que diríeu ?
And you said, 'Don't torment me so--I'll tell!'
Tell _what_? What is it you'll tell?"
Tot s' esfondra davant de Tom.
Everything was swimming before Tom.
There is no telling what might have happened, now, but luckily the concern passed out of Aunt Polly's face and she came to Tom's relief without knowing it.
-Bah ! És aquest terrible assassinat.
She said: "Sho! It's that dreadful murder.
Jo mateixa en somnio coses gairebé cada nit.
I dream about it most every night myself.
Sometimes I dream it's me that done it."
Mary said she had been affected much the same way. Sid seemed satisfied.
Tom got out of the presence as quick as he plausibly could, and after that he complained of toothache for a week, and tied up his jaws every night.
He never knew that Sid lay nightly watching, and frequently slipped the bandage free and then leaned on his elbow listening a good while at a time, and afterward slipped the bandage back to its place again.
Tom's distress of mind wore off gradually and the toothache grew irksome and was discarded.
If Sid really managed to make anything out of Tom's disjointed mutterings, he kept it to himself.
It seemed to Tom that his schoolmates never would get done holding inquests on dead cats, and thus keeping his trouble present to his mind.
Sid repara que Tom mai no era metge forense en cap d' aquests esbrinaments, encara que hagués esdevingut habit seu de pendre la direcció en totes les noves empreses; repara també que Tom mai feia de testimoni, i aixo era estrany; per a Sid no passa desapercebut el fet que Tom adhuc mostrava una assenyalada aversió envers tals enquestes, i sempre les evitava, en poder.
Sid noticed that Tom never was coroner at one of these inquiries, though it had been his habit to take the lead in all new enterprises; he noticed, too, that Tom never acted as a witness--and that was strange; and Sid did not overlook the fact that Tom even showed a marked aversion to these inquests, and always avoided them when he could.
Sid se 'n meravellava, pero no en deia una paraula.
Sid marvelled, but said nothing.
However, even inquests went out of vogue at last, and ceased to torture Tom's conscience.
Cada un o dos dies, durant aquest temps aflictiu, Tom espia una oportunitat i ana envers la petita finestra enreixada de la presó i passa de contraban, en direcció a l' assassí, totes les petites comoditats que pogué arreplegar.
Every day or two, during this time of sorrow, Tom watched his opportunity and went to the little grated jail-window and smuggled such small comforts through to the "murderer" as he could get hold of.
The jail was a trifling little brick den that stood in a marsh at the edge of the village, and no guards were afforded for it; indeed, it was seldom occupied.
These offerings greatly helped to ease Tom's conscience.
The villagers had a strong desire to tar-and-feather Injun Joe and ride him on a rail, for body-snatching, but so formidable was his character that nobody could be found who was willing to take the lead in the matter, so it was dropped.
He had been careful to begin both of his inquest-statements with the fight, without confessing the grave-robbery that preceded it; therefore it was deemed wisest not to try the case in the courts at present.
CAPÍTOL XII
CHAPTER XII
ONE of the reasons why Tom's mind had drifted away from its secret troubles was, that it had found a new and weighty matter to interest itself about.
Becky Thatcher havia deixat de compareixer a l' escola.
Becky Thatcher had stopped coming to school.
Tom had struggled with his pride a few days, and tried to "whistle her down the wind," but failed.
He began to find himself hanging around her father's house, nights, and feeling very miserable.
Estava malalta.
She was ill.
Si es morís !
What if she should die!
Aquesta idea comportava una distracció.
There was distraction in the thought.
Ja no s' interessa més per la guerra, ni tan sols per la pirateria. L' encís de la vida havia desaparegut, i no en restava sinó la melangia.
He no longer took an interest in war, nor even in piracy. The charm of life was gone; there was nothing but dreariness left.
Deixa de banda el seu arc i el seu bastonet de baseball que ja no li proporcionaven cap gaudi.
He put his hoop away, and his bat; there was no joy in them any more.
His aunt was concerned. She began to try all manner of remedies on him.
She was one of those people who are infatuated with patent medicines and all new-fangled methods of producing health or mending it.
Era una constant experimentadora d' aquestes coses.
She was an inveterate experimenter in these things.
When something fresh in this line came out she was in a fever, right away, to try it; not on herself, for she was never ailing, but on anybody else that came handy.
Estava subscrita a tots els periodics de terapeutica i a tots els enganys frenologics; i la solemnial ignorancia amb que s' estarrufaven ells era l' ambient que la tia Polly respirava amb delit.
She was a subscriber for all the "Health" periodicals and phrenological frauds; and the solemn ignorance they were inflated with was breath to her nostrils.
Tota la desferra que contenien sobre la ventilació, i com calia anar -se 'n al llit, i com llevar -se, i quines coses menjar, i quines coses beure, i quant d' exercici fer, i en quin estat de ment conservar -se, i quina mena de vestit posar -se era per a ella l' Evangeli, i mai no repara que la premsa salutífera del mes corrent solia trabucar tot allo que havia recomanat un mes abans.
All the "rot" they contained about ventilation, and how to go to bed, and how to get up, and what to eat, and what to drink, and how much exercise to take, and what frame of mind to keep one's self in, and what sort of clothing to wear, was all gospel to her, and she never observed that her health-journals of the current month customarily upset everything they had recommended the month before.
She was as simple-hearted and honest as the day was long, and so she was an easy victim.
Arreplegava sos periodics enganya-babaus i ses medicines enganya-bajocs, i així armada d' eines de mort, avançava damunt son pal·lid cavall, per a dir -ho metaforicament, amb l' infern al seu darrera.
She gathered together her quack periodicals and her quack medicines, and thus armed with death, went about on her pale horse, metaphorically speaking, with "hell following after."
But she never suspected that she was not an angel of healing and the balm of Gilead in disguise, to the suffering neighbors.
El tractament per l' aigua era nou, aleshores, i l' atuida condició de Tom fou per a ella com una fruita madura.
The water treatment was new, now, and Tom's low condition was a windfall to her.
El feia eixir a trenc de dia cada matí, el feia estar dret dins el cobert de fusta i l' ofegava amb un diluvi d' aigua freda; després el refregava amb una tovallola com una llima, i aixi el retornava; després l' embolicava amb un llençol mullat, i el deixava de bell nou sota la flassada, fins que suava anima i tot, i « les seves taques grogues se li esquitllaven enfora, a través dels porus », com deia Tom.
She had him out at daylight every morning, stood him up in the wood-shed and drowned him with a deluge of cold water; then she scrubbed him down with a towel like a file, and so brought him to; then she rolled him up in a wet sheet and put him away under blankets till she sweated his soul clean and "the yellow stains of it came through his pores"--as Tom said.
Pero, amb tot i aixo, el noi anava esdevenint més i més malenconiós, i pal·lid, i abatut.
Yet notwithstanding all this, the boy grew more and more melancholy and pale and dejected.
She added hot baths, sitz baths, shower baths, and plunges.
El noi romania brofec com una caixa de morts.
The boy remained as dismal as a hearse.
She began to assist the water with a slim oatmeal diet and blister-plasters.
She calculated his capacity as she would a jug's, and filled him up every day with quack cure-alls.
Tom havia esdevingut, en aquella etapa, indiferent a la persecució.
Tom had become indifferent to persecution by this time.
Aquesta fase omplia de marriment el cor de la vella senyora. Calia rompre aquesta indiferencia a qualsevol preu.
This phase filled the old lady's heart with consternation. This indifference must be broken up at any cost.
Now she heard of Pain-killer for the first time.
N' encarrega tot seguit una bella quantitat.
She ordered a lot at once.
El tasta, i en romangué plena de gratitud.
She tasted it and was filled with gratitude.
Era, senzillament, foc en forma líquida.
It was simply fire in a liquid form.
She dropped the water treatment and everything else, and pinned her faith to Pain-killer.
She gave Tom a teaspoonful and watched with the deepest anxiety for the result.
Sos mals de cap gaudiren immediatament una treva, i son esperit recobra la pau, perque l' indiferencia_fou rompuda.
Her troubles were instantly at rest, her soul at peace again; for the "indifference" was broken up.
The boy could not have shown a wilder, heartier interest, if she had built a fire under him.
Tom felt that it was time to wake up; this sort of life might be romantic enough, in his blighted condition, but it was getting to have too little sentiment and too much distracting variety about it.
So he thought over various plans for relief, and finally hit upon that of professing to be fond of Pain-killer.
He asked for it so often that he became a nuisance, and his aunt ended by telling him to help himself and quit bothering her.
If it had been Sid, she would have had no misgivings to alloy her delight; but since it was Tom, she watched the bottle clandestinely. She found that the medicine did really diminish, but it did not occur to her that the boy was mending the health of a crack in the sitting-room floor with it.
One day Tom was in the act of dosing the crack when his aunt's yellow cat came along, purring, eyeing the teaspoon avariciously, and begging for a taste.
Tom said: "Don't ask for it unless you want it, Peter."
Pero en Pere féu senyal que en tenia necessitat.
But Peter signified that he did want it.
-Val més que us en assegureu.
"You better make sure."
En Pere n' estava segur.
Peter was sure.
"Now you've asked for it, and I'll give it to you, because there ain't anything mean about me; but if you find you don't like it, you mustn't blame anybody but your own self."
Peter was agreeable. So Tom pried his mouth open and poured down the Pain-killer.
Peter sprang a couple of yards in the air, and then delivered a war-whoop and set off round and round the room, banging against furniture, upsetting flower-pots, and making general havoc.
Després s' aixeca damunt les potes del darrera, i féu gambades al seu voltant, en un frenesí de gaubança, amb el seu cap damunt l' espatlla, i la seva veu proclamant una felicitat impossible d' estroncar. Després ana fent esquinços d' ací d' alla de la casa, espargint de bell nou el caos i la destrucció per sa via.
Next he rose on his hind feet and pranced around, in a frenzy of enjoyment, with his head over his shoulder and his voice proclaiming his unappeasable happiness. Then he went tearing around the house again spreading chaos and destruction in his path.
La tia Polly entra al moment just per a veure 'l emprenent -se una petita serie de dobles salts mortals, llançant un hurra final i vigorós, i traspassant la finestra oberta, tot arrabassant els testos florits que restaven.
Aunt Polly entered in time to see him throw a few double summersets, deliver a final mighty hurrah, and sail through the open window, carrying the rest of the flower-pots with him.
The old lady stood petrified with astonishment, peering over her glasses; Tom lay on the floor expiring with laughter.
-Tom: que li fa mal al gat, en nom de Déu ?
"Tom, what on earth ails that cat?"
"I don't know, aunt," gasped the boy.
"Why, I never see anything like it.
What did make him act so?"
"Deed I don't know, Aunt Polly; cats always act so when they're having a good time."
"They do, do they?" There was something in the tone that made Tom apprehensive.
-Sí, senyora. És a dir, jo bé ho penso.
"Yes'm. That is, I believe they do."
-De bo de bo?
"You _do_?"
-Sí, senyora.
"Yes'm."
The old lady was bending down, Tom watching, with interest emphasized by anxiety.
Massa tard endevina la seva orientació.
Too late he divined her "drift."
El manec de la cullereta acusadora era visible sota la sanefa del llit.
The handle of the telltale tea-spoon was visible under the bed-valance.
La tia Polly la collí i l' enlaira.
Aunt Polly took it, held it up.
Tom winced, and dropped his eyes.
Aunt Polly raised him by the usual handle--his ear--and cracked his head soundly with her thimble.
-Ara vejam: per que havíeu de maltractar d' aquesta manera la pobra bestia, que no pot parlar ?
"Now, sir, what did you want to treat that poor dumb beast so, for?"
"I done it out of pity for him--because he hadn't any aunt."
"Hadn't any aunt!--you numskull. What has that got to do with it?"
"Heaps.
Because if he'd had one she'd a burnt him out herself! She'd a roasted his bowels out of him 'thout any more feeling than if he was a human!"
La tia Polly sentí una sobtada angoixa de remordiment.
Aunt Polly felt a sudden pang of remorse.
This was putting the thing in a new light; what was cruelty to a cat _might_ be cruelty to a boy, too.
She began to soften; she felt sorry.
Sos ulls s' humitejaren una mica, posa la ma damunt el cap del minyó, i digué gentilment:
Her eyes watered a little, and she put her hand on Tom's head and said gently:
"I was meaning for the best, Tom. And, Tom, it _did_ do you good."
Tom la mira a la cara insinuant un ullet amb prou feines perceptible, en mig de la seva gravetat:
Tom looked up in her face with just a perceptible twinkle peeping through his gravity.
"I know you was meaning for the best, aunty, and so was I with Peter.
It done _him_ good, too.
I never see him get around so since--"
-Oh ! Aneu-vos-en, Tom, abans que em torneu a enquimerar.
"Oh, go 'long with you, Tom, before you aggravate me again.
And you try and see if you can't be a good boy, for once, and you needn't take any more medicine."
Tom arriba a l' escola abans de temps. Hom reparava que aquesta cosa estranya havia esdevingut cada dia, darrerament.
Tom reached school ahead of time. It was noticed that this strange thing had been occurring every day latterly.
And now, as usual of late, he hung about the gate of the schoolyard instead of playing with his comrades.
He was sick, he said, and he looked it.
He tried to seem to be looking everywhere but whither he really was looking--down the road.
Presently Jeff Thatcher hove in sight, and Tom's face lighted; he gazed a moment, and then turned sorrowfully away.
When Jeff arrived, Tom accosted him; and "led up" warily to opportunities for remark about Becky, but the giddy lad never could see the bait.
Tom watched and watched, hoping whenever a frisking frock came in sight, and hating the owner of it as soon as he saw she was not the right one.
A la fi els vestidets de noia plegaren de compareixer, i ell ana a raure dins el cau: entra dins l' escola buida i s' assegué a sofrir.
At last frocks ceased to appear, and he dropped hopelessly into the dumps; he entered the empty schoolhouse and sat down to suffer.
Then one more frock passed in at the gate, and Tom's heart gave a great bound.
Un moment després, ja era fora, i engegant -se com un indi, udolant, rient, empaitant minyons, saltant per damunt el clos amb perill de la vida i el coll, fent capgirells amb la ma en terra, sostenint -se damunt el cap, acoblant totes les fetes heroiques que pogué imaginar, i mirant de cua d' ull, tota l' estona, per veure si Becky Thatcher n' havia esment.
The next instant he was out, and "going on" like an Indian; yelling, laughing, chasing boys, jumping over the fence at risk of life and limb, throwing handsprings, standing on his head--doing all the heroic things he could conceive of, and keeping a furtive eye out, all the while, to see if Becky Thatcher was noticing.
But she seemed to be unconscious of it all; she never looked.
Could it be possible that she was not aware that he was there?
Porta ses considerables fetes a son immediat veinatge: ana pel volt fent esgarips de guerra, arrabassa la gorra un noi, la tira rabent damunt la teulada de l' escola, es precipita entre un grup de minyons, trabucant -ne en totes direccions, i caigué, obert de cames i braços, sota el nas de Becky, gairebé tirant -la a terra; i ella es gira, amb el nas en l' aire, i ell sentí com deia: -Uix ! Hi ha gent que es pensen ésser qui sap que: sempre es donen importancia !
He carried his exploits to her immediate vicinity; came war-whooping around, snatched a boy's cap, hurled it to the roof of the schoolhouse, broke through a group of boys, tumbling them in every direction, and fell sprawling, himself, under Becky's nose, almost upsetting her--and she turned, with her nose in the air, and he heard her say: "Mf! some people think they're mighty smart--always showing off!"
Les galtes de Tom s' abrandaren. Es replega i se n' ana amb la cua entre cames, atuit i amb la cresta abatuda.
Tom's cheeks burned. He gathered himself up and sneaked off, crushed and crestfallen.
CAPÍTOL XIII
CHAPTER XIII
TOM'S mind was made up now.
Tot ell era tenebror i desesperança.
He was gloomy and desperate.
Era un noi abandonat, sense amics, deia ell; ningú no l' estimava; quan descobrissin a quina resolució l' havien conduit, potser els recaria; havia fet per manera d' obrar bé i anar tirant, pero no l' hi havien consentit, i ja que no els convenia cap altra cosa sinó alliberar -se d' ell, que així fos: i que adhuc el carreguessin amb la culpa per les conseqüencies. Per que no havien de fer -ho ?
He was a forsaken, friendless boy, he said; nobody loved him; when they found out what they had driven him to, perhaps they would be sorry; he had tried to do right and get along, but they would not let him; since nothing would do them but to be rid of him, let it be so; and let them blame _him_ for the consequences--why shouldn't they?
What right had the friendless to complain?
Yes, they had forced him to it at last: he would lead a life of crime. There was no choice.
By this time he was far down Meadow Lane, and the bell for school to "take up" tinkled faintly upon his ear.
He sobbed, now, to think he should never, never hear that old familiar sound any more--it was very hard, but it was forced on him; since he was driven out into the cold world, he must submit--but he forgave them.
I els sanglots es feren intensos i seguits.
Then the sobs came thick and fast.
En aquella avinentesa, precisament, troba el companyó jurat de son esperit, Joe Harper, que venia amb una aspra mirada i evidentment arrecerava en son cor algun projecte grandiós i sinistre.
Just at this point he met his soul's sworn comrade, Joe Harper--hard-eyed, and with evidently a great and dismal purpose in his heart.
Eren, palesament, « dos esperits amb una sola idea ».
Plainly here were "two souls with but a single thought."
Tom, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, began to blubber out something about a resolution to escape from hard usage and lack of sympathy at home by roaming abroad into the great world never to return; and ended by hoping that Joe would not forget him.
But it transpired that this was a request which Joe had just been going to make of Tom, and had come to hunt him up for that purpose.
La seva mare l' havia fuetejat per haver -se begut una llet que ell no havia tastat, ni en sabia res: era evident que estava cansada d' ell i desitjava que partís. Si ella tenia aquests sentiments, ell no podia fer altra cosa que retre -s 'hi: esperava que ella seria feliç, i mai no es penediria d' haver llançat son pobre minyó al món insensible, perque hi passés pena i hi morís.
His mother had whipped him for drinking some cream which he had never tasted and knew nothing about; it was plain that she was tired of him and wished him to go; if she felt that way, there was nothing for him to do but succumb; he hoped she would be happy, and never regret having driven her poor boy out into the unfeeling world to suffer and die.
As the two boys walked sorrowing along, they made a new compact to stand by each other and be brothers and never separate till death relieved them of their troubles.
Aleshores començaren de perfilar llurs plans.
Then they began to lay their plans.
Joe was for being a hermit, and living on crusts in a remote cave, and dying, some time, of cold and want and grief; but after listening to Tom, he conceded that there were some conspicuous advantages about a life of crime, and so he consented to be a pirate.
Three miles below St. Petersburg, at a point where the Mississippi River was a trifle over a mile wide, there was a long, narrow, wooded island, with a shallow bar at the head of it, and this offered well as a rendezvous.
It was not inhabited; it lay far over toward the further shore, abreast a dense and almost wholly unpeopled forest.
Així, doncs, l' illa de Jackson fou escollida.
So Jackson's Island was chosen.
Who were to be the subjects of their piracies was a matter that did not occur to them.
Then they hunted up Huckleberry Finn, and he joined them promptly, for all careers were one to him; he was indifferent.
They presently separated to meet at a lonely spot on the river-bank two miles above the village at the favorite hour--which was midnight.
Allí hi havia un petit rai de brancatge que es proposaven capturar.
There was a small log raft there which they meant to capture.
Each would bring hooks and lines, and such provision as he could steal in the most dark and mysterious way--as became outlaws. And before the afternoon was done, they had all managed to enjoy the sweet glory of spreading the fact that pretty soon the town would "hear something."
All who got this vague hint were cautioned to "be mum and wait."
About midnight Tom arrived with a boiled ham and a few trifles, and stopped in a dense undergrowth on a small bluff overlooking the meeting-place.
It was starlight, and very still. The mighty river lay like an ocean at rest.
Tom listened a moment, but no sound disturbed the quiet.
Després féu un xiulet baix i precís. Li respongueren de sota el penyal.
Then he gave a low, distinct whistle. It was answered from under the bluff.
Tom xiula dues vegades més. Aquests senyals foren respostos d' igual manera.
Tom whistled twice more; these signals were answered in the same way.
Després una veu cautelosa digué:
Then a guarded voice said:
-Quí hi ha aquí ?
"Who goes there?"
-Tom Sawyer, el Negre Flagell de la Mar Espanyola.
"Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main.
Digueu els vostres noms.
Name your names."
-Huck Finn, el Ma-roja, i Joe Harper, Terror de les mars.
"Huck Finn the Red-Handed, and Joe Harper the Terror of the Seas."
- Tom havia proporcionat aquests títols, que pertanyien a la seva literatura predilecta.
Tom had furnished these titles, from his favorite literature.
-Bé esta.
"'Tis well.
Doneu la contrasenya.
Give the countersign."
Un parell de roncs murmuris lliuraren el mateix nom paorós, simultaniament, a la nit que els arrecerava:
Two hoarse whispers delivered the same awful word simultaneously to the brooding night: "_Blood_!"
SANG ! Aleshores Tom tira a baix el pernil, per damunt el penyal, i es deixa caure al seu darrera, esquinçant a la vegada, fins a cert punt, pell i vestits en son esforç. Hi havia un caminal facil i confortable al llarg de la ribera, sota el penyal, pero li mancaven els aventatges de la dificultat i el perill, de tant de preu quan es tracta d' un pirata.
Then Tom tumbled his ham over the bluff and let himself down after it, tearing both skin and clothes to some extent in the effort. There was an easy, comfortable path along the shore under the bluff, but it lacked the advantages of difficulty and danger so valued by a pirate.
The Terror of the Seas had brought a side of bacon, and had about worn himself out with getting it there.
Finn the Red-Handed had stolen a skillet and a quantity of half-cured leaf tobacco, and had also brought a few corn-cobs to make pipes with. But none of the pirates smoked or "chewed" but himself.
The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main said it would never do to start without some fire.
That was a wise thought; matches were hardly known there in that day.
Veieren un foc que treia fum en gran rai, a unes cent yardes, més amunt, i anaren llisquívolament cap allí i en prengueren una brasa.
They saw a fire smouldering upon a great raft a hundred yards above, and they went stealthily thither and helped themselves to a chunk.
Convertiren l' empresa en una imposant aventura, dient: « Sst ! » tot sovint, i aturant -se de cop i volta, i amb el dit als llavis; avançant amb les mans damunt imaginaris manecs de punyals, i disposant en llobrecs murmuris que si « l' enemic es movia calia enfonsar -los -hi fins al manec », perque « els morts no parlen ».
They made an imposing adventure of it, saying, "Hist!" every now and then, and suddenly halting with finger on lip; moving with hands on imaginary dagger-hilts; and giving orders in dismal whispers that if "the foe" stirred, to "let him have it to the hilt," because "dead men tell no tales."
They knew well enough that the raftsmen were all down at the village laying in stores or having a spree, but still that was no excuse for their conducting this thing in an unpiratical way.
Al cap de poc s' allunyaren. Tom comandava, Huck tenia el rem de darrera, i Joe el de davant.
They shoved off, presently, Tom in command, Huck at the after oar and Joe at the forward.
Tom stood amidships, gloomy-browed, and with folded arms, and gave his orders in a low, stern whisper:
-Orseu, i ajusteu-la al vent!
"Luff, and bring her to the wind!"
-Bé bé, senyor!
"Aye-aye, sir!"
-Ferma, feeerma la nau!
"Steady, steady-y-y-y!"
-Ja n' esta, senyor !
"Steady it is, sir!"
-Amolleu-la un punt!
"Let her go off a point!"
-Ja esta, senyor!
"Point it is, sir!"
As the boys steadily and monotonously drove the raft toward mid-stream it was no doubt understood that these orders were given only for "style," and were not intended to mean anything in particular.
-Quínes veles porta ?
"What sail's she carrying?"
-Veles majors, cofes i petifocs, senyor.
"Courses, tops'ls, and flying-jib, sir."
-Hisseu els sobres!
"Send the r'yals up!
Desplegueu aquí dalt l'ala de gavia!
Lay out aloft, there, half a dozen of ye--foretopmaststuns'l!
De pressa!
Lively, now!"
-Bé, bé, senyor!
"Aye-aye, sir!"
-Allargueu els riços al guanet de l'arbre mestre!
"Shake out that maintogalans'l!
Escotes i braces!
Sheets and braces! _now_ my hearties!"
Amunt, fillets!
"Aye-aye, sir!"
-Ala, a sotavent, tot a babord!
"Hellum-a-lee--hard a port!
-Estigueu a punt per a l'encontre!
Stand by to meet her when she comes!
Port, port ! Som -hi, companys !
Port, port! _Now_, men!
Amb delit!
With a will!
Ferma la nau! -Ferma esta, senyor!
Stead-y-y-y!" "Steady it is, sir!"
El rai passava al mig del riu. Els minyons encararen bé la proa, i després descarregaren els rems.
The raft drew beyond the middle of the river; the boys pointed her head right, and then lay on their oars.
The river was not high, so there was not more than a two or three mile current.
Amb prou feines fou dita una paraula durant els següents tres quarts d' hora.
Hardly a word was said during the next three-quarters of an hour.
Ara el rai passava davant el poblet llunya.
Now the raft was passing before the distant town.
Two or three glimmering lights showed where it lay, peacefully sleeping, beyond the vague vast sweep of star-gemmed water, unconscious of the tremendous event that was happening.
El Negre Flagell romania encara quiet, amb els braços closos, mirant per darrera vegada la escena de ses joies primerenques i sos darrers sofriments, i desitjant que « ella » pogués veure 'l ara, lluny, anant per la mar esquerpa, confrontant el perill i la mort amb cor indomable, marxant cap el seu destí amb un somriure inflexible en els llavis.
The Black Avenger stood still with folded arms, "looking his last" upon the scene of his former joys and his later sufferings, and wishing "she" could see him now, abroad on the wild sea, facing peril and death with dauntless heart, going to his doom with a grim smile on his lips.
Era un esforç ben petit per a la seva imaginació el transportar l' illa de Jackson més enlla de l' esguard del poblet: així és que li dona « la darrera mirada » cortrencat i satisfet.
It was but a small strain on his imagination to remove Jackson's Island beyond eye-shot of the village, and so he "looked his last" with a broken and satisfied heart.
The other pirates were looking their last, too; and they all looked so long that they came near letting the current drift them out of the range of the island.
Pero descobriren a temps el perill i feren una maniobra per impedir -ho.
But they discovered the danger in time, and made shift to avert it.
Cap a les dues del matí el rai tocava a terra a l' alfac, a dues-centes yardes damunt el cap de l' illa; i ells passaren gual endavant i endarrera fins que hagueren desembarcat els nolits.
About two o'clock in the morning the raft grounded on the bar two hundred yards above the head of the island, and they waded back and forth until they had landed their freight.
Part of the little raft's belongings consisted of an old sail, and this they spread over a nook in the bushes for a tent to shelter their provisions; but they themselves would sleep in the open air in good weather, as became outlaws.
Bastiren un foc al costat d' una gran soca, a vint o trenta passes endins de les ombrívoles fondaries del bosc, i després cuinaren un bocí del porc a la paella, per sopar, i consumiren la meitat de la coca de blat de moro que havien portat.
They built a fire against the side of a great log twenty or thirty steps within the sombre depths of the forest, and then cooked some bacon in the frying-pan for supper, and used up half of the corn "pone" stock they had brought.
It seemed glorious sport to be feasting in that wild, free way in the virgin forest of an unexplored and uninhabited island, far from the haunts of men, and they said they never would return to civilization.
The climbing fire lit up their faces and threw its ruddy glare upon the pillared tree-trunks of their forest temple, and upon the varnished foliage and festooning vines.
Quan la darrera fragil llenqueta de porc havia desaparegut i l' última ració de coca era devorada, els minyons s' estengueren damunt l' herbei, plens de gaubança.
When the last crisp slice of bacon was gone, and the last allowance of corn pone devoured, the boys stretched themselves out on the grass, filled with contentment.
They could have found a cooler place, but they would not deny themselves such a romantic feature as the roasting campfire.
-No és una diversió ? - digué Joe.
"_Ain't_ it gay?" said Joe.
-És una llaminadura- digué Tom.
"It's _nuts_!" said Tom.
"What would the boys say if they could see us?"
-Que dirien ?
"Say?
Si vinguessin a raure aquí, es moririen: oi, Huck ?
Well, they'd just die to be here--hey, Hucky!"
"I reckon so," said Huckleberry; "anyways, I'm suited.
No demano cosa millor.
I don't want nothing better'n this.
I don't ever get enough to eat, gen'ally--and here they can't come and pick at a feller and bullyrag him so."
"It's just the life for me," said Tom. "You don't have to get up, mornings, and you don't have to go to school, and wash, and all that blame foolishness.
You see a pirate don't have to do _anything_, Joe, when he's ashore, but a hermit _he_ has to be praying considerable, and then he don't have any fun, anyway, all by himself that way."
"Oh yes, that's so," said Joe, "but I hadn't thought much about it, you know. I'd a good deal rather be a pirate, now that I've tried it."
"You see," said Tom, "people don't go much on hermits, nowadays, like they used to in old times, but a pirate's always respected.
And a hermit's got to sleep on the hardest place he can find, and put sackcloth and ashes on his head, and stand out in the rain, and--"
"What does he put sackcloth and ashes on his head for?" inquired Huck.
-No ho sé.
"I dono.
But they've _got_ to do it.
Hermits always do. You'd have to do that if you was a hermit."
-L'as em reflic, que jo m' hi avingués ! - digué Huck.
"Dern'd if I would," said Huck.
-Bé, doncs, que farieu?
"Well, what would you do?"
"I dono. But I wouldn't do that."
"Why, Huck, you'd _have_ to. How'd you get around it?"
-Ves, no ho comportaria. Tocaria pirandó.
"Why, I just wouldn't stand it. I'd run away."
-Tocar pirandó!
"Run away!
Quín bell calet seríeu com a ermita! Fóreu una calamitat!
Well, you _would_ be a nice old slouch of a hermit. You'd be a disgrace."
The Red-Handed made no response, being better employed.
Havia acabat de baumar una panotxa, i ara hi adaptava una tija, carregava de tabac, i apretava una brasa contra el carregament i bufava un núvol de fum olorós: estava en plena florida de luxuriosa gaubança. Els altres pirates li envejaven aquest vici majestuós, i resolgueren secretament d' adquirir -lo com més aviat millor.
He had finished gouging out a cob, and now he fitted a weed stem to it, loaded it with tobacco, and was pressing a coal to the charge and blowing a cloud of fragrant smoke--he was in the full bloom of luxurious contentment. The other pirates envied him this majestic vice, and secretly resolved to acquire it shortly.
Presently Huck said: "What does pirates have to do?"
Tom said: "Oh, they have just a bully time--take ships and burn them, and get the money and bury it in awful places in their island where there's ghosts and things to watch it, and kill everybody in the ships--make 'em walk a plank."
"And they carry the women to the island," said Joe; "they don't kill the women."
"No," assented Tom, "they don't kill the women--they're too noble. And the women's always beautiful, too.
-I no duen pas vestits rebregats !
"And don't they wear the bulliest clothes! Oh no!
All gold and silver and di'monds," said Joe, with enthusiasm.
-Quí?- digué Huck.
"Who?" said Huck.
-Ves, els pirates.
"Why, the pirates."
Huck scanned his own clothing forlornly. "I reckon I ain't dressed fitten for a pirate," said he, with a regretful pathos in his voice; "but I ain't got none but these."
Pero els altres minyons li digueren que els bells vestits arribarien ben de pressa, un cop haguessin començat llurs aventures.
But the other boys told him the fine clothes would come fast enough, after they should have begun their adventures.
They made him understand that his poor rags would do to begin with, though it was customary for wealthy pirates to start with a proper wardrobe.
Gradually their talk died out and drowsiness began to steal upon the eyelids of the little waifs.
La pipa caigué dels dits del Ma-roja, i ell dormí el bon son d'una consciencia sense noses i de un cos fadigat.
The pipe dropped from the fingers of the Red-Handed, and he slept the sleep of the conscience-free and the weary.
The Terror of the Seas and the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main had more difficulty in getting to sleep.
Digueren llurs pregaries interiorment, i bo i ajaguts, ja que allí no hi havia ningú amb autoritat per a fer -los agenollar i dir -les en alta veu: de fet no tenien ganes de dir -les, pero els feia temor de pendre 's aquests eixamples, que podien atreure un llamp especial i sobtat de les celiques altures.
They said their prayers inwardly, and lying down, since there was nobody there with authority to make them kneel and recite aloud; in truth, they had a mind not to say them at all, but they were afraid to proceed to such lengths as that, lest they might call down a sudden and special thunderbolt from heaven.
Then at once they reached and hovered upon the imminent verge of sleep--but an intruder came, now, that would not "down." It was conscience.
Començaren de sentir una vaga aprensió que havien fet mal fet de fugir, i després pensaren en les menges robades, i aleshores vingué la positiva tortura.
They began to feel a vague fear that they had been doing wrong to run away; and next they thought of the stolen meat, and then the real torture came.
Intentaren arguir, per allunyar -la, que vintenes de vegades havien furtat llaminadures i pomes; pero llur consciencia no havia d' apaivagar -se amb tan mesquines plausibilitats. Els sembla, al capdavall, que no s' hi valia a discutir un fet inderrocable: pendre llaminadures no era més que rapissar, mentre que apoderar -se de porc i pernil i béns d' aquesta mena era, clar i net, robar; i contra aixo hi havia un manament a la Bíblia.
They tried to argue it away by reminding conscience that they had purloined sweetmeats and apples scores of times; but conscience was not to be appeased by such thin plausibilities; it seemed to them, in the end, that there was no getting around the stubborn fact that taking sweetmeats was only "hooking," while taking bacon and hams and such valuables was plain simple stealing--and there was a command against that in the Bible.
Així és que interiorment resolgueren que, mentre romanguessin en aquell ofici, llurs pirateries no serien de bell nou tacades amb el crim del robament.
So they inwardly resolved that so long as they remained in the business, their piracies should not again be sullied with the crime of stealing.
Aleshores llur consciencia els concedí una treva, i aquests curiosos pirates il·logics trencaren pacíficament el son.
Then conscience granted a truce, and these curiously inconsistent pirates fell peacefully to sleep.
CAPÍToL XIV
CHAPTER XIV
WHEN Tom awoke in the morning, he wondered where he was.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes and looked around. Then he comprehended.
It was the cool gray dawn, and there was a delicious sense of repose and peace in the deep pervading calm and silence of the woods.
Not a leaf stirred; not a sound obtruded upon great Nature's meditation.
Hi havia rosaris de gotes de rosada damunt les fulles i les herbes.
Beaded dewdrops stood upon the leaves and grasses.
A white layer of ashes covered the fire, and a thin blue breath of smoke rose straight into the air.
Joe i Huck encara dormien.
Joe and Huck still slept.
Now, far away in the woods a bird called; another answered; presently the hammering of a woodpecker was heard.
Gradualment, el gris terbol i fred de la matinada s' esblanqueí, i al mateix compas els sons es multiplicaren i es manifesta la vida.
Gradually the cool dim gray of the morning whitened, and as gradually sounds multiplied and life manifested itself.
La meravella de la natura arrabassant -se al son i anant a la tasca, es descobrí al minyó consirós.
The marvel of Nature shaking off sleep and going to work unfolded itself to the musing boy.
Un cuquet verd anava arrossegant -se damunt una fulla amarada de rou, adesiara alçant en l' aire les dues terceres parts de son cos, flairant a son volt, i després tornant a avançar, perque prenia mesures, segons deia Tom; i quan el cuc se li acosta de son grat, ell segué quiet com una pedra, amb ses esperances muntant o defallint alternativament a mesura que la bestioleta anava envers ell o semblava inclinada a adreçar -se a qualsevol altre indret; i quan a la fi reflexiona, per espai d' un moment anguniós, amb son cos encorbat en l' aire, i després baixa a la cama de Tom i comença un viatge al seu damunt, tot son cor se n' alegra, perque aixo volia dir que tindria un nou abillament, que, sense el més petit dubte, fóra un llampant uniforme de pirata.
A little green worm came crawling over a dewy leaf, lifting two-thirds of his body into the air from time to time and "sniffing around," then proceeding again--for he was measuring, Tom said; and when the worm approached him, of its own accord, he sat as still as a stone, with his hopes rising and falling, by turns, as the creature still came toward him or seemed inclined to go elsewhere; and when at last it considered a painful moment with its curved body in the air and then came decisively down upon Tom's leg and began a journey over him, his whole heart was glad--for that meant that he was going to have a new suit of clothes--without the shadow of a doubt a gaudy piratical uniform.
Now a procession of ants appeared, from nowhere in particular, and went about their labors; one struggled manfully by with a dead spider five times as big as itself in its arms, and lugged it straight up a tree-trunk.
Una marieta de taques brunes s' enfila al cim espadat d' una tija d' herba, i Tom es decanta a la vora d' ella i digué: Marieta, marieta, fugiu al vostre casal. Se us cala foc a la casa, i estan sols vostres infants. I ella emprengué el vol i se n' ana a veure -ho, cosa que no sorprengué al noi, perque sabia de qui-sap -lo temps que aquest insecte era credul quant a incendis, i ell havia posat a prova la seva simplicitat més d' una vegada.
A brown spotted lady-bug climbed the dizzy height of a grass blade, and Tom bent down close to it and said, "Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home, your house is on fire, your children's alone," and she took wing and went off to see about it--which did not surprise the boy, for he knew of old that this insect was credulous about conflagrations, and he had practised upon its simplicity more than once.
A tumblebug came next, heaving sturdily at its ball, and Tom touched the creature, to see it shut its legs against its body and pretend to be dead.
Els ocells feien aleshores un brau aldarull.
The birds were fairly rioting by this time.
Un estornell, el mofeta septentrional, se atura en un arbre damunt el cap de Tom, i refila les imitacions de sos veins en un rapte de gaubança; després una cucala de veu aguda, d' un blau ardent i brillador, davalla precipitadament i s' atura damunt un branquinyol, gairebé a l' abast del noi, enravena son cap a una banda, i ulla la gent estranya amb una consumidora curiositat; un esquirol cendrós i un gros companyó de la família guineuenca passaren escapolint -se, girant -se a intervals per inspeccionar i garlar amb els minyons, perque aquells animals boscans no havien vist fins aleshores, ben segur, una cara humana, i amb prou feines sabien si havien d' espantar -se o no.
A catbird, the Northern mocker, lit in a tree over Tom's head, and trilled out her imitations of her neighbors in a rapture of enjoyment; then a shrill jay swept down, a flash of blue flame, and stopped on a twig almost within the boy's reach, cocked his head to one side and eyed the strangers with a consuming curiosity; a gray squirrel and a big fellow of the "fox" kind came skurrying along, sitting up at intervals to inspect and chatter at the boys, for the wild things had probably never seen a human being before and scarcely knew whether to be afraid or not.
All Nature was wide awake and stirring, now; long lances of sunlight pierced down through the dense foliage far and near, and a few butterflies came fluttering upon the scene.
Tom sacseja els altres pirates, i tots plegats eixordaren l' espai amb un crit, i al cap d' un o dos minuts s' havien despullat i es percaçaven, volcant -se l' un a l' altre dins la soma aigua netíssima de l' alfac esblanqueit.
Tom stirred up the other pirates and they all clattered away with a shout, and in a minute or two were stripped and chasing after and tumbling over each other in the shallow limpid water of the white sandbar.
They felt no longing for the little village sleeping in the distance beyond the majestic waste of water.
Un corrent vagarívol o una lleu ascensió del riu se 'ls n' havia emportat el rai; pero aixo no feia més que acontentar -los, perque la seva desaparició significava, com si diguéssim, cremar el pont entre ells i la civilització.
A vagrant current or a slight rise in the river had carried off their raft, but this only gratified them, since its going was something like burning the bridge between them and civilization.
They came back to camp wonderfully refreshed, glad-hearted, and ravenous; and they soon had the camp-fire blazing up again.
Huck found a spring of clear cold water close by, and the boys made cups of broad oak or hickory leaves, and felt that water, sweetened with such a wildwood charm as that, would be a good enough substitute for coffee.
While Joe was slicing bacon for breakfast, Tom and Huck asked him to hold on a minute; they stepped to a promising nook in the river-bank and threw in their lines; almost immediately they had reward.
Joe had not had time to get impatient before they were back again with some handsome bass, a couple of sun-perch and a small catfish--provisions enough for quite a family.
They fried the fish with the bacon, and were astonished; for no fish had ever seemed so delicious before.
They did not know that the quicker a fresh-water fish is on the fire after he is caught the better he is; and they reflected little upon what a sauce open-air sleeping, open-air exercise, bathing, and a large ingredient of hunger make, too.
Romangueren per allí, a l' ombra, després del desdejuni, mentre Huck fumava, i després anaren boscos a través, en una eixida d' exploració.
They lay around in the shade, after breakfast, while Huck had a smoke, and then went off through the woods on an exploring expedition.
Trescaven alegrement, damunt les branques podrides, a través de mates entortolligades, entre solemnes monarques de la selva, que tenien de llur cim fins a terra, penjarelles (insígnies reials ) de plantes arrapadisses. De tant en tant topaven reconets avinents encatifats d' herbei i esmaltats de flors.
They tramped gayly along, over decaying logs, through tangled underbrush, among solemn monarchs of the forest, hung from their crowns to the ground with a drooping regalia of grape-vines. Now and then they came upon snug nooks carpeted with grass and jeweled with flowers.
They found plenty of things to be delighted with, but nothing to be astonished at.
Descobriren que l' illa tenia unes tres milles de llargada i un quart de milla d' amplaria, i que la ribera que li era més aprop n' era separada només que per un estret canal que amb prou feines tenia un ample de dues centes yardes.
They discovered that the island was about three miles long and a quarter of a mile wide, and that the shore it lay closest to was only separated from it by a narrow channel hardly two hundred yards wide.
They took a swim about every hour, so it was close upon the middle of the afternoon when they got back to camp.
They were too hungry to stop to fish, but they fared sumptuously upon cold ham, and then threw themselves down in the shade to talk.
Pero la conversa, al cap de poca estona, s' arrossega penosament, i després morí.
But the talk soon began to drag, and then died.
La quietud, la solemnitat que aixoplugava el bosc i la sensació de solitud començaren d' obrar damunt els esperits dels nois.
The stillness, the solemnity that brooded in the woods, and the sense of loneliness, began to tell upon the spirits of the boys.
They fell to thinking.
A sort of undefined longing crept upon them. This took dim shape, presently--it was budding homesickness.
Fins i tot Finn el Ma-roja somiejava sos graons de llindar i ses bótes buides.
Even Finn the Red-Handed was dreaming of his doorsteps and empty hogsheads.
Pero tots ells estaven avergonyits de llur flaca, i cap no era prou gosat per a manifestar son pensament.
But they were all ashamed of their weakness, and none was brave enough to speak his thought.
For some time, now, the boys had been dully conscious of a peculiar sound in the distance, just as one sometimes is of the ticking of a clock which he takes no distinct note of.
Pero aleshores el so misteriós esdevingué més pronunciat i obliga al seu reconeixement.
But now this mysterious sound became more pronounced, and forced a recognition.
Els minyons es redreçaren, es pegaren llambregada l' un a l' altre, i després cada un d' ells adopta un posat d' atenció.
The boys started, glanced at each other, and then each assumed a listening attitude.
There was a long silence, profound and unbroken; then a deep, sullen boom came floating down out of the distance.
"What is it!" exclaimed Joe, under his breath.
"I wonder," said Tom in a whisper.
-No és un tro- digué Huckleberry, en to esporuguit; - perque el tro …
"'Tain't thunder," said Huckleberry, in an awed tone, "becuz thunder--"
-Alerta!- digué Tom. -Pareu esment; calleu.
"Hark!" said Tom. "Listen--don't talk."
They waited a time that seemed an age, and then the same muffled boom troubled the solemn hush.
-Anem -ho a veure.
"Let's go and see."
Pegaren un bot i es precipitaren a la vorera, en front del poblet.
They sprang to their feet and hurried to the shore toward the town.
Apartaren les mates de la riba i sotjaren cap enfora, damunt les aigües.
They parted the bushes on the bank and peered out over the water.
The little steam ferry-boat was about a mile below the village, drifting with the current.
La seva ampla coberta semblava atapeida de persones.
Her broad deck seemed crowded with people.
There were a great many skiffs rowing about or floating with the stream in the neighborhood of the ferryboat, but the boys could not determine what the men in them were doing.
Presently a great jet of white smoke burst from the ferryboat's side, and as it expanded and rose in a lazy cloud, that same dull throb of sound was borne to the listeners again.
"I know now!" exclaimed Tom; "somebody's drownded!"
"That's it!" said Huck; "they done that last summer, when Bill Turner got drownded; they shoot a cannon over the water, and that makes him come up to the top.
Yes, and they take loaves of bread and put quicksilver in 'em and set 'em afloat, and wherever there's anybody that's drownded, they'll float right there and stop."
"Yes, I've heard about that," said Joe. "I wonder what makes the bread do that."
"Oh, it ain't the bread, so much," said Tom; "I reckon it's mostly what they _say_ over it before they start it out."
"But they don't say anything over it," said Huck. "I've seen 'em and they don't."
-És curiós- digué Tom.- Pero potser ho diuen per dins.
"Well, that's funny," said Tom. "But maybe they say it to themselves.
Of _course_ they do. Anybody might know that."
The other boys agreed that there was reason in what Tom said, because an ignorant lump of bread, uninstructed by an incantation, could not be expected to act very intelligently when set upon an errand of such gravity.
"By jings, I wish I was over there, now," said Joe.
"I do too" said Huck "I'd give heaps to know who it is."
The boys still listened and watched.
Presently a revealing thought flashed through Tom's mind, and he exclaimed:
"Boys, I know who's drownded--it's us!"
Tot seguit es sentirem herois. Veu 's aquí un triomf esplendorós: llur absencia era reparada; eren planguts; els cors es fendien per llur causa; les llagrimes anaven endoina; memories acusadores de dolenties comeses envers els pobres minyons perduts, anaven brollant, i hom s' abandonava a infructuoses recances i remordiment; i, sobretot, els desapareguts feien parlar tot el poblet i eren l' enveja de tots els minyons pel que es referia a aquesta notorietat enlluernadora.
They felt like heroes in an instant. Here was a gorgeous triumph; they were missed; they were mourned; hearts were breaking on their account; tears were being shed; accusing memories of unkindness to these poor lost lads were rising up, and unavailing regrets and remorse were being indulged; and best of all, the departed were the talk of the whole town, and the envy of all the boys, as far as this dazzling notoriety was concerned.
This was fine. It was worth while to be a pirate, after all.
As twilight drew on, the ferryboat went back to her accustomed business and the skiffs disappeared.
Els pirates recularen al campament. Estaven que no hi veien de vanitat per llur nova grandesa i el magnífic mal de cap que ocasionaven.
The pirates returned to camp. They were jubilant with vanity over their new grandeur and the illustrious trouble they were making.
They caught fish, cooked supper and ate it, and then fell to guessing at what the village was thinking and saying about them; and the pictures they drew of the public distress on their account were gratifying to look upon--from their point of view.
Pero en envoltar -los les ombres de la nit, deixaren de parlar, gradualment, i s' assegueren a contemplar el foc, amb l' anima errívola, evidentment, per altres indrets.
But when the shadows of night closed them in, they gradually ceased to talk, and sat gazing into the fire, with their minds evidently wandering elsewhere.
The excitement was gone, now, and Tom and Joe could not keep back thoughts of certain persons at home who were not enjoying this fine frolic as much as they were.
Comparegueren els recels; esdevingueren contorbats i infeliços; un sospir o dos s' escaparen sense que ells se n' adonessin.
Misgivings came; they grew troubled and unhappy; a sigh or two escaped, unawares.
Aviat Joe s' arrisca tímidament a insinuar una indirecta sobre la manera com els altres judicarien llur retorn a la civilització … no precisament ara, pero …
By and by Joe timidly ventured upon a roundabout "feeler" as to how the others might look upon a return to civilization--not right now, but--
Tom withered him with derision! Huck, being uncommitted as yet, joined in with Tom, and the waverer quickly "explained," and was glad to get out of the scrape with as little taint of chicken-hearted home-sickness clinging to his garments as he could.
La revolta fou atuida amb eficacia per aquella vegada.
Mutiny was effectually laid to rest for the moment.
As the night deepened, Huck began to nod, and presently to snore.
Joe followed next.
Tom lay upon his elbow motionless, for some time, watching the two intently.
At last he got up cautiously, on his knees, and went searching among the grass and the flickering reflections flung by the campfire.
Arreplega i inspecciona uns quants semicilindres, de bella grandaria, de la fina escorça blanca d' un sicomor, i, finalment, escollí els dos que cregué que li convenien.
He picked up and inspected several large semi-cylinders of the thin white bark of a sycamore, and finally chose two which seemed to suit him.
Després s' agenolla vora el foc, i escrigué penosament alguna cosa en cada un d' ells amb la seva quilla roja. De l' un en féu un rotlle, i el posa a la butxaca de son gec; i l' altre el posa dins el capell de Joe, que fou transportat a una petita distancia de son posseidor,
Then he knelt by the fire and painfully wrote something upon each of these with his "red keel"; one he rolled up and put in his jacket pocket, and the other he put in Joe's hat and removed it to a little distance from the owner.
And he also put into the hat certain schoolboy treasures of almost inestimable value--among them a lump of chalk, an India-rubber ball, three fishhooks, and one of that kind of marbles known as a "sure 'nough crystal."
Després féu son camí, de puntetes i amb moltes precaucions entre els arbres, fins que comprengué que ja no l' oirien, i emprengué una rapida correguda, de dret, cap a l' alfac.
Then he tiptoed his way cautiously among the trees till he felt that he was out of hearing, and straightway broke into a keen run in the direction of the sandbar.
CAPÍTOL XV
CHAPTER XV
A few minutes later Tom was in the shoal water of the bar, wading toward the Illinois shore.
Before the depth reached his middle he was halfway over; the current would permit no more wading, now, so he struck out confidently to swim the remaining hundred yards.
Nedava quartejant per amunt el corrent, pero tanmateix ell el mena cap avall més de pressa que no havia esperat.
He swam quartering upstream, but still was swept downward rather faster than he had expected.
However, he reached the shore finally, and drifted along till he found a low place and drew himself out.
Posa la ma a la butxaca del gec, troba sana i bona la seva peça d' escorça, i en acabat prengué embranzida a través dels boscos, seguint la ribera amb els vestits regalimant.
He put his hand on his jacket pocket, found his piece of bark safe, and then struck through the woods, following the shore, with streaming garments.
Shortly before ten o'clock he came out into an open place opposite the village, and saw the ferryboat lying in the shadow of the trees and the high bank.
Tot era quietud sota el parpelleig dels estels.
Everything was quiet under the blinking stars.
He crept down the bank, watching with all his eyes, slipped into the water, swam three or four strokes and climbed into the skiff that did "yawl" duty at the boat's stern.
S' ajagué sota el banc de remaires, i espera tot panteixant.
He laid himself down under the thwarts and waited, panting.
Presently the cracked bell tapped and a voice gave the order to "cast off."
A minute or two later the skiff's head was standing high up, against the boat's swell, and the voyage was begun.
Tom felt happy in his success, for he knew it was the boat's last trip for the night.
Al cap de dotze o quinze minuts interminables les rodes pararen, i Tom llisca per damunt la coberta i neda cap a la ribera dins la fosca, desembarcant a cinquanta yardes, riu avall, fora del perill de possibles rodamons.
At the end of a long twelve or fifteen minutes the wheels stopped, and Tom slipped overboard and swam ashore in the dusk, landing fifty yards downstream, out of danger of possible stragglers.
He flew along unfrequented alleys, and shortly found himself at his aunt's back fence.
He climbed over, approached the "ell," and looked in at the sitting-room window, for a light was burning there.
There sat Aunt Polly, Sid, Mary, and Joe Harper's mother, grouped together, talking.
They were by the bed, and the bed was between them and the door.
Tom ana cap a la porta i comença a aixecar dolçament la balda; després empenyé suaument, i la porta peta; continua empenyent amb cautela, i esgarrifant -se cada vegada que petava, fins que judica que podia passar -hi, tot i estret, damunt sos genolls: així és que va ficar el cap i comença el moviment estrategic.
Tom went to the door and began to softly lift the latch; then he pressed gently and the door yielded a crack; he continued pushing cautiously, and quaking every time it creaked, till he judged he might squeeze through on his knees; so he put his head through and began, warily.
"What makes the candle blow so?" said Aunt Polly.
Tom s' acuita.
Tom hurried up.
"Why, that door's open, I believe.
Oi, oi, que ho és.
Why, of course it is.
No s' acabaran en tot avui les coses estranyes.
No end of strange things now.
Aneu i tanqueu-la, Sid.
Go 'long and shut it, Sid."
Tom amb prou feines tingué el temps necessari a desapareixer sota el llit.
Tom disappeared under the bed just in time.
He lay and "breathed" himself for a time, and then crept to where he could almost touch his aunt's foot.
"But as I was saying," said Aunt Polly, "he warn't _bad_, so to say--only misch_ee_vous.
No passava d' atarentat i tabalot; sabeu ?
Only just giddy, and harum-scarum, you know.
He warn't any more responsible than a colt. _He_ never meant any harm, and he was the best-hearted boy that ever was"--and she began to cry.
-Igual passava amb el meu Joe: sempre ple d' endiastrament, i a punt de fer qualsevol entremaliadura; pero era recte i generós i bo, com més no es pugui ser. I (Déu em beneeixi ! ) pensar que vaig fuetejar -lo per haver -se begut la llet, sense que mai se m' acudís que jo mateixa l' havia llençada perque era agra ! I no haver de tornar -lo a veure mai més en aquest món, mai més, mai més, mai més, pobre noi malmenat ! -
"It was just so with my Joe--always full of his devilment, and up to every kind of mischief, but he was just as unselfish and kind as he could be--and laws bless me, to think I went and whipped him for taking that cream, never once recollecting that I throwed it out myself because it was sour, and I never to see him again in this world, never, never, never, poor abused boy!"
And Mrs. Harper sobbed as if her heart would break.
"I hope Tom's better off where he is," said Sid, "but if he'd been better in some ways--"
"_Sid!_" Tom felt the glare of the old lady's eye, though he could not see it.
"Not a word against my Tom, now that he's gone!
Déu en tindra esment: no us en heu d' encaparrar, vós. O senyora Harper ! No sé com renunciar -hi ! no sé com renunciar -hi !
God'll take care of _him_--never you trouble _your_self, sir! Oh, Mrs. Harper, I don't know how to give him up! I don't know how to give him up!
He was such a comfort to me, although he tormented my old heart out of me, 'most." "The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away--Blessed be the name of the Lord!
But it's so hard--Oh, it's so hard!
Only last Saturday my Joe busted a firecracker right under my nose and I knocked him sprawling.
Little did I know then, how soon--Oh, if it was to do over again I'd hug him and bless him for it."
"Yes, yes, yes, I know just how you feel, Mrs. Harper, I know just exactly how you feel. No longer ago than yesterday noon, my Tom took and filled the cat full of Pain-killer, and I did think the cretur would tear the house down.
And God forgive me, I cracked Tom's head with my thimble, poor boy, poor dead boy.
But he's out of all his troubles now.
And the last words I ever heard him say was to reproach--"
Pero aquell record era massa feixuc per a la vella senyora, i romangué absolutament cor-batuda.
But this memory was too much for the old lady, and she broke entirely down.
Tom was snuffling, now, himself--and more in pity of himself than anybody else.
He could hear Mary crying, and putting in a kindly word for him from time to time.
He began to have a nobler opinion of himself than ever before.
Still, he was sufficiently touched by his aunt's grief to long to rush out from under the bed and overwhelm her with joy--and the theatrical gorgeousness of the thing appealed strongly to his nature, too, but he resisted and lay still.
Continua escoltant, i conjumina, pels caps de la conversa, que hom pensava a la primeria que els minyons s' havien ofegat mentre nedaven; després hom repara la perdua del rai; després certs minyons digueren que els vailets desapareguts havien promes que el poblet « sabria quelcom » ben aviat; la gent de seny havien relacionat l' una cosa i l' altra, i havien decidit que els minyons havien fet una eixida amb el rai, i que deurien dar un tomb cap al poblet de més avall, a no tardar; pero cap a migdia hom havia trobat el rai, plantat contra la ribera del Missuri, a unes cinc o sis milles més avall del poblet, i aleshores l' esperança s' esvaí. Devien haver -se ofegat: altrament, la fam els hauria tornat a casa en caure la nit, si no més aviat.
He went on listening, and gathered by odds and ends that it was conjectured at first that the boys had got drowned while taking a swim; then the small raft had been missed; next, certain boys said the missing lads had promised that the village should "hear something" soon; the wise-heads had "put this and that together" and decided that the lads had gone off on that raft and would turn up at the next town below, presently; but toward noon the raft had been found, lodged against the Missouri shore some five or six miles below the village--and then hope perished; they must be drowned, else hunger would have driven them home by nightfall if not sooner.
It was believed that the search for the bodies had been a fruitless effort merely because the drowning must have occurred in mid-channel, since the boys, being good swimmers, would otherwise have escaped to shore.
Aquella nit era la del dimecres. Si els cossos continuaven introbables fins a diumenge, tota esperança fora abandonada, i aquell matí tindríen lloc les cerimonies de l' enterrament.
This was Wednesday night. If the bodies continued missing until Sunday, all hope would be given over, and the funerals would be preached on that morning.
Tom s' esgarrifa de cap a peus.
Tom shuddered.
Mrs. Harper gave a sobbing goodnight and turned to go. Then with a mutual impulse the two bereaved women flung themselves into each other's arms and had a good, consoling cry, and then parted.
Aunt Polly was tender far beyond her wont, in her goodnight to Sid and Mary. Sid snuffled a bit and Mary went off crying with all her heart.
Aunt Polly knelt down and prayed for Tom so touchingly, so appealingly, and with such measureless love in her words and her old trembling voice, that he was weltering in tears again, long before she was through.
He had to keep still long after she went to bed, for she kept making broken-hearted ejaculations from time to time, tossing unrestfully, and turning over.
Pero a la fi romangué quieta, gemegant només una mica en el son.
But at last she was still, only moaning a little in her sleep.
Now the boy stole out, rose gradually by the bedside, shaded the candle-light with his hand, and stood regarding her.
His heart was full of pity for her.
Es tragué el seu rotllo de sicomor i el posa vora la candela.
He took out his sycamore scroll and placed it by the candle.
But something occurred to him, and he lingered considering.
His face lighted with a happy solution of his thought; he put the bark hastily in his pocket. Then he bent over and kissed the faded lips, and straightway made his stealthy exit, latching the door behind him.
He threaded his way back to the ferry landing, found nobody at large there, and walked boldly on board the boat, for he knew she was tenantless except that there was a watchman, who always turned in and slept like a graven image.
He untied the skiff at the stern, slipped into it, and was soon rowing cautiously upstream.
When he had pulled a mile above the village, he started quartering across and bent himself stoutly to his work.
He hit the landing on the other side neatly, for this was a familiar bit of work to him.
Tenia ganes de capturar el bot, argüint que podia ser considerat com un vaixell, legítima presa, per tant, d' un pirata; pero comprengué que hom el recercaria per tots cantons, i que aixo podia acabar descobrint -lo.
He was moved to capture the skiff, arguing that it might be considered a ship and therefore legitimate prey for a pirate, but he knew a thorough search would be made for it and that might end in revelations.
So he stepped ashore and entered the woods.
He sat down and took a long rest, torturing himself meanwhile to keep awake, and then started warily down the home-stretch.
The night was far spent. It was broad daylight before he found himself fairly abreast the island bar.
He rested again until the sun was well up and gilding the great river with its splendor, and then he plunged into the stream.
A little later he paused, dripping, upon the threshold of the camp, and heard Joe say: "No, Tom's true-blue, Huck, and he'll come back. He won't desert.
He knows that would be a disgrace to a pirate, and Tom's too proud for that sort of thing.
He's up to something or other. Now I wonder what?"
-Bé, els fotils són nostres, ara: oi ?
"Well, the things is ours, anyway, ain't they?"
-Gairebé, pero no encara, Huck.
"Pretty near, but not yet, Huck.
The writing says they are if he ain't back here to breakfast."
"Which he is!" exclaimed Tom, with fine dramatic effect, stepping grandly into camp.
Un sumptuós desdejuni de porc i de peix fou endegat en poca estona; i, mentre els minyons s' esmerçaven en ajustar -lo. Tom reconta (i adorna ) les seves aventures.
A sumptuous breakfast of bacon and fish was shortly provided, and as the boys set to work upon it, Tom recounted (and adorned) his adventures.
They were a vain and boastful company of heroes when the tale was done.
Aleshores Tom s' amaga dins un recó ombrejat, per a dormir fins a migdia, i els altres pirates es disposaren a la pesca i l' exploració.
Then Tom hid himself away in a shady nook to sleep till noon, and the other pirates got ready to fish and explore.
CAPÍTOL XVI
CHAPTER XVI
Havent dinat, tota la colla eixí a cercar ous de tortuga a l' alfac.
AFTER dinner all the gang turned out to hunt for turtle eggs on the bar.
They went about poking sticks into the sand, and when they found a soft place they went down on their knees and dug with their hands.
De vegades atrapaven cinquanta o seixanta ous en un forat.
Sometimes they would take fifty or sixty eggs out of one hole.
Eren absolutament rodons, cosetes blanques, una mica més petites que una nou anglesa.
They were perfectly round white things a trifle smaller than an English walnut.
Aquella nit tingueren un famós banquet d'ous ferrats, i un altre el divendres al matí.
They had a famous fried-egg feast that night, and another on Friday morning.
Després del desdejuni se n' anaren cap a l' alfac, tot fent esgarips i gambades, i s' empaitaven l' un a l' altre, giravoltant i més giravoltant, fent escampall de llurs vestits a mesura que avançaven, fins que restaven nus; i aleshores continuaven llur caprici, ben enfora de l' aigua soma de l' alfac, contra el rígid corrent, que més endavant féu travetes a llurs cames, de tant en tant, i augmenta la taral·la en gran manera.
After breakfast they went whooping and prancing out on the bar, and chased each other round and round, shedding clothes as they went, until they were naked, and then continued the frolic far away up the shoal water of the bar, against the stiff current, which latter tripped their legs from under them from time to time and greatly increased the fun.
I adesiara es decantaven en grup, i amb la palma de la ma esquitxava cadascú la cara de l' altre, atansant -se a pleret l' un a l' altre amb les cares allunyades, per evitar els esquitxos que s' espargien i, finalment, aferrant -se i lluitant fins que el més brau campió capbussava al seu veí; i en acabat tots tres s' enfonsaren en un entortolligament de cames i braços, i tornaren a eixir bufant, escopint, rient i panteixant, tot plegat a l' ensems.
And now and then they stooped in a group and splashed water in each other's faces with their palms, gradually approaching each other, with averted faces to avoid the strangling sprays, and finally gripping and struggling till the best man ducked his neighbor, and then they all went under in a tangle of white legs and arms and came up blowing, sputtering, laughing, and gasping for breath at one and the same time.
When they were well exhausted, they would run out and sprawl on the dry, hot sand, and lie there and cover themselves up with it, and by and by break for the water again and go through the original performance once more.
Finalment se 'ls acudí que llur nua pell representava d' allo més bé els colants de color de carn: així és que dibuixaren un cercle a la sorra, i feren un circ: un circ amb tres pallassos, perque ningú no consentí a abandonar aquest paper altívol a son veí.
Finally it occurred to them that their naked skin represented flesh-colored "tights" very fairly; so they drew a ring in the sand and had a circus--with three clowns in it, for none would yield this proudest post to his neighbor.
Després agafaren les bales, i jugaren a l'ouet, a anys i a pam i pet, fins que aquest divertiment esdevingué pansit.
Next they got their marbles and played "knucks" and "ringtaw" and "keeps" till that amusement grew stale.
Aleshores Joe i Huck van tornar a nedar, pero Tom no volgué arriscar -s 'hi, perque descobrí que en dar una guitza a sos pantalons havia engegat l' enfilall de cascavells de serpent que duia a l' anca, i s' estranyava d' haver -se pogut escapar de rampes, per tant de temps, sense la protecció de aquest encís misteriós.
Then Joe and Huck had another swim, but Tom would not venture, because he found that in kicking off his trousers he had kicked his string of rattlesnake rattles off his ankle, and he wondered how he had escaped cramp so long without the protection of this mysterious charm.
He did not venture again until he had found it, and by that time the other boys were tired and ready to rest.
S' allunyaren a pleret, errívols, l' un de l' altre, es deixaren caure en una certa amargor, i es posaren a mirar anhelosament, a través de l' ample riu, cap al poblet, tot ensopit sota la solellada.
They gradually wandered apart, dropped into the "dumps," and fell to gazing longingly across the wide river to where the village lay drowsing in the sun.
Tom found himself writing "BECKY" in the sand with his big toe; he scratched it out, and was angry with himself for his weakness.
But he wrote it again, nevertheless; he could not help it. He erased it once more and then took himself out of temptation by driving the other boys together and joining them.
But Joe's spirits had gone down almost beyond resurrection.
He was so homesick that he could hardly endure the misery of it.
Tenia les llagrimes a flor de parpella.
The tears lay very near the surface.
Huck was melancholy, too. Tom was downhearted, but tried hard not to show it.
He had a secret which he was not ready to tell, yet, but if this mutinous depression was not broken up soon, he would have to bring it out.
He said, with a great show of cheerfulness: "I bet there's been pirates on this island before, boys. We'll explore it again.
They've hid treasures here somewhere.
Que us en semblaria, de descolgar una caixa podrida, tota plena d' or i d' argent ? Eh ?
How'd you feel to light on a rotten chest full of gold and silver--hey?"
But it roused only faint enthusiasm, which faded out, with no reply.
Tom intenta una o dues seduccions més, pero també falliren.
Tom tried one or two other seductions; but they failed, too.
Era una feina descoratjadora.
It was discouraging work.
Joe sat poking up the sand with a stick and looking very gloomy.
Finally he said: "Oh, boys, let's give it up.
I want to go home. It's so lonesome."
"Oh no, Joe, you'll feel better by and by," said Tom. "Just think of the fishing that's here."
-Tan se me 'n dona, de les pescades.
"I don't care for fishing.
I want to go home."
"But, Joe, there ain't such another swimming-place anywhere."
-El nedar no té solta:
"Swimming's no good.
I don't seem to care for it, somehow, when there ain't anybody to say I sha'n't go in.
I mean to go home."
-Sóu un noi de bandola, malvinatge !
"Oh, shucks! Baby!
You want to see your mother, I reckon."
"Yes, I _do_ want to see my mother--and you would, too, if you had one.
I ain't any more baby than you are."
And Joe snuffled a little.
"Well, we'll let the crybaby go home to his mother, won't we, Huck?
Poor thing--does it want to see its mother? And so it shall.
A vós us plau d'ésser aquí: veritat, Huck?
You like it here, don't you, Huck?
Nosaltres ens hi estarem, veritat ?
We'll stay, won't we?"
Huck said, "Y-e-s"--without any heart in it.
"I'll never speak to you again as long as I live," said Joe, rising. "There now!"
And he moved moodily away and began to dress himself.
-Ningú se 'n encaparra- digué Tom. -No en passem fretura, de vós.
"Who cares!" said Tom. "Nobody wants you to.
Aneu cap a casa, i sigueu-ne la riota de la gent.
Go 'long home and get laughed at.
Oh! Sóu un bell pirata!
Oh, you're a nice pirate.
Huck and me ain't crybabies. We'll stay, won't we, Huck?
Let him go if he wants to.
I reckon we can get along without him, per'aps."
But Tom was uneasy, nevertheless, and was alarmed to see Joe go sullenly on with his dressing. And then it was discomforting to see Huck eying Joe's preparations so wistfully, and keeping up such an ominous silence.
Presently, without a parting word, Joe began to wade off toward the Illinois shore.
El coratge de Tom comença d' esfondrar -se.
Tom's heart began to sink.
He glanced at Huck. Huck could not bear the look, and dropped his eyes.
Then he said: "I want to go, too, Tom. It was getting so lonesome anyway, and now it'll be worse.
Anem-nos-en, també, nosaltres, Tom.
Let's us go, too, Tom."
"I won't! You can all go, if you want to. I mean to stay."
"Tom, I better go."
-Bé, aneu-vos-en: qui us en priva ?
"Well, go 'long--who's hendering you."
Huck comença d' arreplegar ses peces de roba, i digué: -Tom, desitjaria que vós vinguéssiu, també.
Huck began to pick up his scattered clothes. He said: "Tom, I wisht you'd come, too.
Now you think it over.
We'll wait for you when we get to shore."
"Well, you'll wait a blame long time, that's all."
Huck started sorrowfully away, and Tom stood looking after him, with a strong desire tugging at his heart to yield his pride and go along too.
He hoped the boys would stop, but they still waded slowly on.
Tom descobrí sobtadament que tot allo romania qui-sap -lo solitari i aturat.
It suddenly dawned on Tom that it was become very lonely and still.
Tingué una darrera lluita amb el seu orgull, i després es precipita a l' encalç de sos camarades, escridassant -se:
He made one final struggle with his pride, and then darted after his comrades, yelling:
-Espereu-vos, espereu-vos!
"Wait! Wait!
He de dir-vos una cosa.
I want to tell you something!"
They presently stopped and turned around.
When he got to where they were, he began unfolding his secret, and they listened moodily till at last they saw the "point" he was driving at, and then they set up a warwhoop of applause and said it was "splendid!" and said if he had told them at first, they wouldn't have started away.
He made a plausible excuse; but his real reason had been the fear that not even the secret would keep them with him any very great length of time, and so he had meant to hold it in reserve as a last seduction.
Els minyons feren llur alegre retorn, i anaren de bell nou a llurs esports amb decisió, parlotejant, tota l' estona, de l' estupenda combinació de Tom, i admirant -ne el geni.
The lads came gayly back and went at their sports again with a will, chattering all the time about Tom's stupendous plan and admiring the genius of it.
After a dainty egg and fish dinner, Tom said he wanted to learn to smoke, now.
Joe caught at the idea and said he would like to try, too.
So Huck made pipes and filled them.
Aquests novicis mai no havien fumat abans sinó cigars de pampol, que mossegaven la llengua, i no tenien reputació de virils, tanmateix.
These novices had never smoked anything before but cigars made of grapevine, and they "bit" the tongue, and were not considered manly anyway.
Now they stretched themselves out on their elbows and began to puff, charily, and with slender confidence.
El fum era d' un gust desagradable, i els produí una mica de nausea; pero Tom digué: -Noi !
The smoke had an unpleasant taste, and they gagged a little, but Tom said:
Quína cosa tan planera!
"Why, it's just as easy!
If I'd a knowed this was all, I'd a learnt long ago."
-Jo també- digué Joe. -És una cosa de no-res.
"So would I," said Joe. "It's just nothing."
"Why, many a time I've looked at people smoking, and thought well I wish I could do that; but I never thought I could," said Tom.
"That's just the way with me, hain't it, Huck?
You've heard me talk just that way--haven't you, Huck? I'll leave it to Huck if I haven't."
-Sí, d'allo més vegades- digué Huck.
"Yes--heaps of times," said Huck.
"Well, I have too," said Tom; "oh, hundreds of times. Once down by the slaughter-house.
No us en recordeu, Huck?
Don't you remember, Huck?
Bob Tanner was there, and Johnny Miller, and Jeff Thatcher, when I said it.
No ho recordeu, Huck, com ho deia ?
Don't you remember, Huck, 'bout me saying that?"
"Yes, that's so," said Huck. "That was the day after I lost a white alley. No, 'twas the day before."
"There--I told you so," said Tom. "Huck recollects it."
"I bleeve I could smoke this pipe all day," said Joe. "I don't feel sick."
-Jo tampoc- digué Tom,
"Neither do I," said Tom.
"I could smoke it all day. But I bet you Jeff Thatcher couldn't."
-Jeff Thatcher!
"Jeff Thatcher!
Ell, només que amb dues pipades, faria l' anec.
Why, he'd keel over just with two draws.
Que ho provi una vegada, ell: ja ho veura !
Just let him try it once. _He'd_ see!"
-Jo també m' hi jugaria qualsevol cosa. I Johnny Miller ? Desitjaria veure Miller aferrant -s 'hi.
"I bet he would. And Johnny Miller--I wish could see Johnny Miller tackle it once."
-Oh! i jo!- Digué Joe.
"Oh, don't I!" said Joe.
"Why, I bet you Johnny Miller couldn't any more do this than nothing.
Just one little snifter would fetch _him_."
-En bona refe, Joe.
"'Deed it would, Joe.
Say--I wish the boys could see us now."
-A mi també!
"So do I."
-Escolteu, nois: no en digueu res, d' aixo, i una vegada o altra, quan ells siguin a la vora, m' acostaré a vós i us diré: « -Joe: teniu una pipa ? Tinc fumera ! » I vós direu, com una cosa deixada anar, com si no valgués la pena, vós direu: « -Sí; porto la pipa vella, i una altra; pero el meu tabac no és gaire bo ».
"Say--boys, don't say anything about it, and some time when they're around, I'll come up to you and say, 'Joe, got a pipe? I want a smoke.' And you'll say, kind of careless like, as if it warn't anything, you'll say, 'Yes, I got my _old_ pipe, and another one, but my tobacker ain't very good.'
And I'll say, 'Oh, that's all right, if it's _strong_ enough.'
And then you'll out with the pipes, and we'll light up just as ca'm, and then just see 'em look!"
"By jings, that'll be gay, Tom! I wish it was _now_!"
"So do I! And when we tell 'em we learned when we was off pirating, won't they wish they'd been along?"
"Oh, I reckon not! I'll just _bet_ they will!"
Així continua la conversa. Pero al cap de poca estona comença de vacil·lar una mica i esdevingué tota inconnexa. Les pauses s' eixamplaren; l' expectoració augmenta meravellosament.
So the talk ran on. But presently it began to flag a trifle, and grow disjointed. The silences widened; the expectoration marvellously increased.
Cada porus de la galta dels minyons esdevingué una fontana brolladora: amb prou feines podien ésser prou amatents a oprimir la llengua contra el fons de la boca per impedir la inundació; petits xarbotaments se 'ls produien a la gorja, a desgrat de tot el que fessin, i ois repentins hi seguien cada vegada.
Every pore inside the boys' cheeks became a spouting fountain; they could scarcely bail out the cellars under their tongues fast enough to prevent an inundation; little overflowings down their throats occurred in spite of all they could do, and sudden retchings followed every time. Both boys were looking very pale and miserable, now.
La pipa de Joe caigué de sos dits sense nervi. Després caigué la de Tom.
Joe's pipe dropped from his nerveless fingers. Tom's followed.
Both fountains were going furiously and both pumps bailing with might and main.
Joe said feebly: "I've lost my knife. I reckon I better go and find it."
Tom digué, amb llavis tremolencs i pausada pronunciació:
Tom said, with quivering lips and halting utterance:
"I'll help you. You go over that way and I'll hunt around by the spring.
No, you needn't come, Huck--we can find it." So Huck sat down again, and waited an hour.
Then he found it lonesome, and went to find his comrades.
Estaven molt distants, en els boscos, tots dos molt esblaimats, tots dos profundament adormits.
They were wide apart in the woods, both very pale, both fast asleep.
But something informed him that if they had had any trouble they had got rid of it.
They were not talkative at supper that night. They had a humble look, and when Huck prepared his pipe after the meal and was going to prepare theirs, they said no, they were not feeling very well--something they ate at dinner had disagreed with them.
CAPÍTOL XVII
About midnight Joe awoke, and called the boys.
There was a brooding oppressiveness in the air that seemed to bode something.
The boys huddled themselves together and sought the friendly companionship of the fire, though the dull dead heat of the breathless atmosphere was stifling.
S' assegueren en silenci, atents i en espectació. Continuava la quietud solemnial.
They sat still, intent and waiting. The solemn hush continued.
Més enlla de la llum del foc, tot ho dragava la negror de la fosca.
Beyond the light of the fire everything was swallowed up in the blackness of darkness.
Presently there came a quivering glow that vaguely revealed the foliage for a moment and then vanished.
Al cap de poc en vingué una altra de més poderosa. Després una altra.
By and by another came, a little stronger. Then another.
Then a faint moan came sighing through the branches of the forest and the boys felt a fleeting breath upon their cheeks, and shuddered with the fancy that the Spirit of the Night had gone by.
Hi hagué una pausa.
There was a pause.
Now a weird flash turned night into day and showed every little grassblade, separate and distinct, that grew about their feet. And it showed three white, startled faces, too.
El sord terrabastall d' una tronada ana udolant i desplomant -se pel cel, i es perdé en botosos braolaments, enlla d' enlla.
A deep peal of thunder went rolling and tumbling down the heavens and lost itself in sullen rumblings in the distance.
A sweep of chilly air passed by, rustling all the leaves and snowing the flaky ashes broadcast about the fire.
Another fierce glare lit up the forest and an instant crash followed that seemed to rend the treetops right over the boys' heads.
S'estrenyeren l'un contra l'altre, d'esglai, dins l'espesa fosca que en acabat es féu.
They clung together in terror, in the thick gloom that followed.
Caigueren unes quantes gotasses, tustant les fulles.
A few big raindrops fell pattering upon the leaves.
"Quick! boys, go for the tent!" exclaimed Tom.
S' engegaven a córrer, topant damunt arrels i plantes arrapadisses, en la tenebror, capbussant -se cadascú pel seu cantó.
They sprang away, stumbling over roots and among vines in the dark, no two plunging in the same direction.
A furious blast roared through the trees, making everything sing as it went. One blinding flash after another came, and peal on peal of deafening thunder.
I aleshores començaren de dar l' aigua per amor de Déu, i l' huraca, deixondit, la feia caure en grans cortines damunt la terra.
And now a drenching rain poured down and the rising hurricane drove it in sheets along the ground.
Els minyons es cridaven l' un a l' altre, pero el vent braolador i els llamps que retrunyien els ofegaven del tot les veus.
The boys cried out to each other, but the roaring wind and the booming thunderblasts drowned their voices utterly.
However, one by one they straggled in at last and took shelter under the tent, cold, scared, and streaming with water; but to have company in misery seemed something to be grateful for.
They could not talk, the old sail flapped so furiously, even if the other noises would have allowed them.
The tempest rose higher and higher, and presently the sail tore loose from its fastenings and went winging away on the blast.
Els minyons s' agafaren de les mans i fugiren, amb moltes anades de corcoll i pelades, cap al recer d' una gran alzina que hi havia a la vora del riu.
The boys seized each others' hands and fled, with many tumblings and bruises, to the shelter of a great oak that stood upon the riverbank.
La batalla era aleshores en tot son esclat. Sota la incessant conflagració de llampecs que flamejaven pel cel, totes les coses que li eren a sota es destacaven amb exactitud precisa i neta d' ombres: els arbres cots, el riu inflat i amb un esblanqueiment d' escumes; els ruixims de l' aigua esquitxadora; les opaques siluetes dels espadats altívols de l' altra vora, llambregats en mig de les vapors que flotaven a la deriva i el vel travesser de la pluja.
Now the battle was at its highest. Under the ceaseless conflagration of lightning that flamed in the skies, everything below stood out in cleancut and shadowless distinctness: the bending trees, the billowy river, white with foam, the driving spray of spumeflakes, the dim outlines of the high bluffs on the other side, glimpsed through the drifting cloudrack and the slanting veil of rain.
Sovint sovint, algun arbre gegantí abandonava la lluita i queia amb un espetec entre la jove tanyada; i els terrabastalls incessants de la tronada es convertien ara en esclats que fendien l' orella, punyents, aguts, explosius i esglaiadors que empalmaven inexpressablement.
Every little while some giant tree yielded the fight and fell crashing through the younger growth; and the unflagging thunderpeals came now in ear-splitting explosive bursts, keen and sharp, and unspeakably appalling.
The storm culminated in one matchless effort that seemed likely to tear the island to pieces, burn it up, drown it to the treetops, blow it away, and deafen every creature in it, all at one and the same moment.
It was a wild night for homeless young heads to be out in.
But at last the battle was done, and the forces retired with weaker and weaker threatenings and grumblings, and peace resumed her sway.
The boys went back to camp, a good deal awed; but they found there was still something to be thankful for, because the great sycamore, the shelter of their beds, was a ruin, now, blasted by the lightnings, and they were not under it when the catastrophe happened.
Everything in camp was drenched, the campfire as well; for they were but heedless lads, like their generation, and had made no provision against rain.
Here was matter for dismay, for they were soaked through and chilled.
Foren eloqüents en llur desastre; pero al cap de poc descobriren que el foc havia rosegat tan amunt de la soca contra la qual havia estat bastit (alla on ella s' encorbava cap en l' aire i es separava de terra ), que un pam, si fa no fa, s' havia escapat de la mullena: així, doncs, maldaren pacientment fins que amb vilordes i escorces que arreplegaren de sota els flancs de les soques aixoplugades engaliparen el foc a cremar de bell nou.
They were eloquent in their distress; but they presently discovered that the fire had eaten so far up under the great log it had been built against (where it curved upward and separated itself from the ground), that a handbreadth or so of it had escaped wetting; so they patiently wrought until, with shreds and bark gathered from the under sides of sheltered logs, they coaxed the fire to burn again.
Després amuntegaren grans branques mortes fins que tingueren un forn braolador, i els retorna la joia al cor. Assecaren el pernil cuit, i celebraren un festí, i després d' aixo s' assegueren vora el foc, i dilataren i glorificaren llur aventura de la mitja nit fins al matí, perque no hi havia un indret eixut on jeure a fer el son, en tots aquells voltants.
Then they piled on great dead boughs till they had a roaring furnace, and were gladhearted once more. They dried their boiled ham and had a feast, and after that they sat by the fire and expanded and glorified their midnight adventure until morning, for there was not a dry spot to sleep on, anywhere around.
As the sun began to steal in upon the boys, drowsiness came over them, and they went out on the sandbar and lay down to sleep.
They got scorched out by and by, and drearily set about getting breakfast.
Després de l' apat es sentiren les frontisses rovellades, i un poc d' enyorança altra vegada.
After the meal they felt rusty, and stiff-jointed, and a little homesick once more.
Tom saw the signs, and fell to cheering up the pirates as well as he could.
Pero tant se 'ls en donava de les bales, del circ, del nedar, de tot.
But they cared nothing for marbles, or circus, or swimming, or anything.
Els féu memoria de l' imposant secret, i desvetlla un raig de gaubança.
He reminded them of the imposing secret, and raised a ray of cheer.
While it lasted, he got them interested in a new device. This was to knock off being pirates, for a while, and be Indians for a change.
They were attracted by this idea; so it was not long before they were stripped, and striped from head to heel with black mud, like so many zebras--all of them chiefs, of course--and then they went tearing through the woods to attack an English settlement.
By and by they separated into three hostile tribes, and darted upon each other from ambush with dreadful warwhoops, and killed and scalped each other by thousands.
Fou una diada sagnant.
It was a gory day.
Per consegüent, fou una diada sobiranament satisfactoria.
Consequently it was an extremely satisfactory one.
They assembled in camp toward suppertime, hungry and happy; but now a difficulty arose--hostile Indians could not break the bread of hospitality together without first making peace, and this was a simple impossibility without smoking a pipe of peace.
There was no other process that ever they had heard of.
Dos dels salvatges gairebé desitjaven haver romas pirates.
Two of the savages almost wished they had remained pirates.
However, there was no other way; so with such show of cheerfulness as they could muster they called for the pipe and took their whiff as it passed, in due form.
And behold, they were glad they had gone into savagery, for they had gained something; they found that they could now smoke a little without having to go and hunt for a lost knife; they did not get sick enough to be seriously uncomfortable.
They were not likely to fool away this high promise for lack of effort.
No: s' exercitaren cautament, en haver sopat, amb un exit pales, i passaren així una vetlla tota joiosa.
No, they practised cautiously, after supper, with right fair success, and so they spent a jubilant evening.
They were prouder and happier in their new acquirement than they would have been in the scalping and skinning of the Six Nations.
Els deixarem tot fumant i parlotejant i estarrufant -se, ja que ara no ens poden ésser de cap més servei.
We will leave them to smoke and chatter and brag, since we have no further use for them at present.
CAPÍTOL XVIII
CHAPTER XVII
Pero no hi havia pas rialles, en el poblet, aquella tranquila tarda de dissabte.
BUT there was no hilarity in the little town that same tranquil Saturday afternoon.
La família Harper, i la tia Polly i els seus, s' endolaven amb molt de sentiment i moltes llagrimes. Una calma inavesada s' havia ensenyorit del poblet, encara que habitualment la calma hi era bé prou a tot arreu.
The Harpers, and Aunt Polly's family, were being put into mourning, with great grief and many tears. An unusual quiet possessed the village, although it was ordinarily quiet enough, in all conscience.
Els vivents del poblet feien les feines llurs amb un posat abstret i amb poca enraonia; pero tot sovint sospiraven.
The villagers conducted their concerns with an absent air, and talked little; but they sighed often.
The Saturday holiday seemed a burden to the children. They had no heart in their sports, and gradually gave them up.
A la tarda, Becky Thatcher ana a raure, tota abaltida, vora el camp desert de l' escola, i amb un gran sentiment de melangia.
In the afternoon Becky Thatcher found herself moping about the deserted schoolhouse yard, and feeling very melancholy.
Pero no hi troba cap cosa, allí, que la reconfortés. Feia aquest soliloqui:
But she found nothing there to comfort her. She soliloquized:
"Oh, if I only had a brass andiron-knob again! But I haven't got anything now to remember him by." And she choked back a little sob.
Al cap de poc s' atura, i es digué a sí mateixa:
Presently she stopped, and said to herself:
"It was right here. Oh, if it was to do over again, I wouldn't say that--I wouldn't say it for the whole world. But he's gone now; I'll never, never, never see him any more."
This thought broke her down, and she wandered away, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Després, una colla de minyons i noies (companyons de joc de Tom i de Joe ) comparegueren, i s' aturaren a mirar per damunt l' estacada del clos, tot parlant, en to reverent, de com havia fet Tom aixo i allo la darrera vegada que el veieren, i com Joe digué aquesta i aquella petita bagatel·la (gravida de paorosa profecia, com ara veien bé prou ! ); i cada orador assenyalava l' indret exacte on els minyons perduts havien estat aleshores, i després afegien alguna cosa així: -I jo m' estava dret d' aquesta manera, igual que estic ara i com si vós fóssiu ell, n' estava a prop aiximateix; i ell somrigué de aquesta manera. I després vaig tenir una mena de pressentiment com si … terrible, sabeu ? I poc va acudir -se 'm que voldria dir, naturalment; pero massa que ho veig ara !
Then quite a group of boys and girls--playmates of Tom's and Joe's--came by, and stood looking over the paling fence and talking in reverent tones of how Tom did so-and-so the last time they saw him, and how Joe said this and that small trifle (pregnant with awful prophecy, as they could easily see now!)--and each speaker pointed out the exact spot where the lost lads stood at the time, and then added something like "and I was a-standing just so--just as I am now, and as if you was him--I was as close as that--and he smiled, just this way--and then something seemed to go all over me, like--awful, you know--and I never thought what it meant, of course, but I can see now!"
Després hi hagué una disputa sobre quí havia vist per darrera vegada en vida els minyons difunts, i molts recaptaren aquesta ombrívola distinció, i oferiren proves, més o menys intervingudes pels testimonis: i quan romangué decidit, finalment, quí era que havia vist darrerament els que ja no eren, i canviat amb ells les darreres paraules, les persones sortoses assumiren una especie de sagrada importancia, i tota la resta els miraren bocabadats i envejosos.
Then there was a dispute about who saw the dead boys last in life, and many claimed that dismal distinction, and offered evidences, more or less tampered with by the witness; and when it was ultimately decided who _did_ see the departed last, and exchanged the last words with them, the lucky parties took upon themselves a sort of sacred importance, and were gaped at and envied by all the rest.
One poor chap, who had no other grandeur to offer, said with tolerably manifest pride in the remembrance: "Well, Tom Sawyer he licked me once."
But that bid for glory was a failure. Most of the boys could say that, and so that cheapened the distinction too much.
The group loitered away, still recalling memories of the lost heroes, in awed voices.
When the Sunday-school hour was finished, the next morning, the bell began to toll, instead of ringing in the usual way.
It was a very still Sabbath, and the mournful sound seemed in keeping with the musing hush that lay upon nature.
The villagers began to gather, loitering a moment in the vestibule to converse in whispers about the sad event.
But there was no whispering in the house; only the funereal rustling of dresses as the women gathered to their seats disturbed the silence there.
None could remember when the little church had been so full before.
Finalment hi hagué una pausa d' espera, una mudesa expectant, i aleshores entra la tia Polly, seguida de Sid i Mary, i després de la família Harper, tots de negre rigorós; i tot el poble fidel, i adhuc el vell ministre, s' alçaren reverentment i romangueren drets fins que els endolats s' assegueren al primer banc.
There was finally a waiting pause, an expectant dumbness, and then Aunt Polly entered, followed by Sid and Mary, and they by the Harper family, all in deep black, and the whole congregation, the old minister as well, rose reverently and stood until the mourners were seated in the front pew.
There was another communing silence, broken at intervals by muffled sobs, and then the minister spread his hands abroad and prayed.
A moving hymn was sung, and the text followed: "I am the Resurrection and the Life."
Anant continuant el servei religiós, el clergue féu tals pintures de les gracies, les maneres captivadores i les promeses excepcionals dels minyons perduts, que tota anima present, creient que reconeixia aquestes imatges, sentí una punyida de dolor en recordar que persistentment havia estat sempre orba davant elles, i, persistentment, no havia vist sinó defectes i tares en els pobres minyons.
As the service proceeded, the clergyman drew such pictures of the graces, the winning ways, and the rare promise of the lost lads that every soul there, thinking he recognized these pictures, felt a pang in remembering that he had persistently blinded himself to them always before, and had as persistently seen only faults and flaws in the poor boys.
El ministre referí més d' un incident commovedor de les vides dels que ja no eren, que, tanmateix, il·lustraven llurs dolces i generoses natures, i la gent pogué veure amb prou facilitat, ara, si n' eren de nobles i de bells aquells episodis, i recordaren amb recança que quan s' esdevingueren els semblaren bretolades de marca, ben mereixedores del vit de bou.
The minister related many a touching incident in the lives of the departed, too, which illustrated their sweet, generous natures, and the people could easily see, now, how noble and beautiful those episodes were, and remembered with grief that at the time they occurred they had seemed rank rascalities, well deserving of the cowhide.
El poble fidel esdevingué més i més commogut a mesura que prosseguí la patetica historia, fins que, a la fi, tota la concurrencia, no podent contenir -se més, s' ajunta als endolats que ploraven en un plor de sanglots angoixosos, i el mateix predicador cedí a sos sentiments i es posa a plorar en el púlpit.
The congregation became more and more moved, as the pathetic tale went on, till at last the whole company broke down and joined the weeping mourners in a chorus of anguished sobs, the preacher himself giving way to his feelings, and crying in the pulpit.
There was a rustle in the gallery, which nobody noticed; a moment later the church door creaked; the minister raised his streaming eyes above his handkerchief, and stood transfixed!
Primer un, després un altre parell d' ulls, seguiren els del ministre; i aleshores, gairebé en un sol impuls, la concurrencia s' aixeca, astorada, a l' ensems que els tres minyons morts anaven pujant pel passadís: Tom al davant, Joe després, i Huck, una ruina de penjarelles esparracades, arrossegant -se temoregament al darrera.
First one and then another pair of eyes followed the minister's, and then almost with one impulse the congregation rose and stared while the three dead boys came marching up the aisle, Tom in the lead, Joe next, and Huck, a ruin of drooping rags, sneaking sheepishly in the rear!
They had been hid in the unused gallery listening to their own funeral sermon!
La tia Polly, Mary i els Harpers es precipitaren damunt els infants recobrats, els ofegaren a besades, i expandiren accions de gracies a dolls, mentre el pobre Huck romania avergonyit i inconfortable. sense saber exactament que li pertocava fer o com podia amagar -se de tantes mirades malacollidores.
Aunt Polly, Mary, and the Harpers threw themselves upon their restored ones, smothered them with kisses and poured out thanksgivings, while poor Huck stood abashed and uncomfortable, not knowing exactly what to do or where to hide from so many unwelcoming eyes.
He wavered, and started to slink away, but Tom seized him and said:
"Aunt Polly, it ain't fair. Somebody's got to be glad to see Huck."
-I és clar que sí !
"And so they shall.
I'm glad to see him, poor motherless thing!"
And the loving attentions Aunt Polly lavished upon him were the one thing capable of making him more uncomfortable than he was before.
Suddenly the minister shouted at the top of his voice: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow--_sing_!--and put your hearts in it!"
And they did. Old Hundred swelled up with a triumphant burst, and while it shook the rafters Tom Sawyer the Pirate looked around upon the envying juveniles about him and confessed in his heart that this was the proudest moment of his life.
As the "sold" congregation trooped out they said they would almost be willing to be made ridiculous again to hear Old Hundred sung like that once more.
Tom got more cuffs and kisses that day--according to Aunt Polly's varying moods--than he had earned before in a year; and he hardly knew which expressed the most gratefulness to God and affection for himself.
CAPÍTOL XIX
CHAPTER XVIII
THAT was Tom's great secret--the scheme to return home with his brother pirates and attend their own funerals.
Havien vogat cap a la ribera del Missuri en una corredora, el dissabte, quan ja era fosc, desembarcant cinc o sis milles més avall del poblet i havien dormit al bosc, al caire del poblet, gairebé fins a trenc de dia, i aleshores haven lliscat a través de camins i carrerons on daven els darreres de les cases; i acabaren llur son a la tribuna de la l' església, entre un caos de bancs invalids.
They had paddled over to the Missouri shore on a log, at dusk on Saturday, landing five or six miles below the village; they had slept in the woods at the edge of the town till nearly daylight, and had then crept through back lanes and alleys and finished their sleep in the gallery of the church among a chaos of invalided benches.
At breakfast, Monday morning, Aunt Polly and Mary were very loving to Tom, and very attentive to his wants.
There was an unusual amount of talk. In the course of it Aunt Polly said: "Well, I don't say it wasn't a fine joke, Tom, to keep everybody suffering 'most a week so you boys had a good time, but it is a pity you could be so hard-hearted as to let me suffer so.
If you could come over on a log to go to your funeral, you could have come over and give me a hint some way that you warn't dead, but only run off."
"Yes, you could have done that, Tom," said Mary; "and I believe you would if you had thought of it."
"Would you, Tom?" said Aunt Polly, her face lighting wistfully.
"Say, now, would you, if you'd thought of it?"
"I--well, I don't know. 'Twould 'a' spoiled everything."
"Tom, I hoped you loved me that much," said Aunt Polly, with a grieved tone that discomforted the boy. "It would have been something if you'd cared enough to _think_ of it, even if you didn't _do_ it."
"Now, auntie, that ain't any harm," pleaded Mary; "it's only Tom's giddy way--he is always in such a rush that he never thinks of anything."
-Encara és més llastima.
"More's the pity.
Sid would have thought. And Sid would have come and _done_ it, too.
Tom, you'll look back, some day, when it's too late, and wish you'd cared a little more for me when it would have cost you so little."
-Tieta, ja ho sabeu, que penso en vós- digué Tom.
"Now, auntie, you know I do care for you," said Tom.
-Ho coneixeria millor si traspués en els vostres actes.
"I'd know it better if you acted more like it."
"I wish now I'd thought," said Tom, with a repentant tone; "but I dreamt about you, anyway. That's something, ain't it?"
"It ain't much--a cat does that much--but it's better than nothing.
What did you dream?"
"Why, Wednesday night I dreamt that you was sitting over there by the bed, and Sid was sitting by the woodbox, and Mary next to him."
"Well, so we did. So we always do.
I'm glad your dreams could take even that much trouble about us."
"And I dreamt that Joe Harper's mother was here."
-Ves ! i hi era, aquí !
"Why, she was here!
Did you dream any more?"
Una pila ! Pero ara tot plegat és tan confós ! …
"Oh, lots. But it's so dim, now."
"Well, try to recollect--can't you?"
"Somehow it seems to me that the wind--the wind blowed the--the--"
-Coratge, Tom!
"Try harder, Tom!
The wind did blow something. Come!"
Tom apreta els dits damunt el front durant un afanyós minut, i després digué:
Tom pressed his fingers on his forehead an anxious minute, and then said:
-Ja ho tinc !
"I've got it now!
Ja ho tinc !
I've got it now!
It blowed the candle!"
-Déu me val !
"Mercy on us!
Endavant, Tom, endavant!
Go on, Tom--go on!"
"And it seems to me that you said, 'Why, I believe that that door--'"
-Endavant, Tom!
"Go _on_, Tom!"
-Deixeu -m 'ho estudiar un moment … només un moment.
"Just let me study a moment--just a moment.
Oh, yes--you said you believed the door was open."
"As I'm sitting here, I did!
Veritat, Mary?
Didn't I, Mary!
Endavant.
Go on!"
"And then--and then--well I won't be certain, but it seems like as if you made Sid go and--and--"
"Well? Well? What did I make him do, Tom?
What did I make him do?"
"You made him--you--Oh, you made him shut it."
"Well, for the land's sake! I never heard the beat of that in all my days!
Don't tell _me_ there ain't anything in dreams, any more.
Sereny Harper sabra aquesta feta abans que jo sigui més vella d' una hora.
Sereny Harper shall know of this before I'm an hour older.
I'd like to see her get around _this_ with her rubbage 'bout superstition.
Endavant, Tom!
Go on, Tom!"
"Oh, it's all getting just as bright as day, now.
Next you said I warn't _bad_, only mischeevous and harum-scarum, and not any more responsible than--than--I think it was a colt, or something."
-I així fou!
"And so it was!
Bé! Senyor, Déu meu!
Well, goodness gracious!
Endavant Tom!
Go on, Tom!"
-I després començareu de plorar.
"And then you began to cry."
-Oi, oi.
"So I did. So I did.
No era la primera vegada, pero. I després …
Not the first time, neither. And then--"
"Then Mrs. Harper she began to cry, and said Joe was just the same, and she wished she hadn't whipped him for taking cream when she'd throwed it out her own self--"
-Tom ! L' Esperit era damunt vostre ! Estaveu profetitzant … Aixo és el que feieu ! Laudes i Matines ! … Endavant, Tom !
"Tom! The sperrit was upon you! You was a prophesying--that's what you was doing! Land alive, go on, Tom!"
-Després Sid digué… digué…
"Then Sid he said--he said--"
"I don't think I said anything," said Sid.
"Yes you did, Sid," said Mary.
"Shut your heads and let Tom go on! What did he say, Tom?"
"He said--I _think_ he said he hoped I was better off where I was gone to, but if I'd been better sometimes--"
"_There_, d'you hear that! It was his very words!"
"And you shut him up sharp."
"I lay I did! There must 'a' been an angel there.
Hi havia un angel, en algun indret !
There _was_ an angel there, somewheres!"
-I la senyora Harper digué que Joe l' havia assenyalada amb un piula, i vós parlareu de Pere i el mata-xacres …
"And Mrs. Harper told about Joe scaring her with a firecracker, and you told about Peter and the Pain-killer--"
-Tan cert com que ara respiro !
"Just as true as I live!"
"And then there was a whole lot of talk 'bout dragging the river for us, and 'bout having the funeral Sunday, and then you and old Miss Harper hugged and cried, and she went."
"It happened just so! It happened just so, as sure as I'm a-sitting in these very tracks.
Tom, you couldn't told it more like if you'd 'a' seen it!
I, en acabat, que més?
And then what?
Endavant, Tom.
Go on, Tom!"
"Then I thought you prayed for me--and I could see you and hear every word you said.
i us en vau anar al llit; i jo estava tan adolorit que vaig agafar un tros d' escorça de sicomor i vaig escriure -hi: « No som pas morts; no més som lluny, fent de pirates »: I el vaig posar damunt la taula, vora la candela; i després feieu una cara de tanta de bondat, ajaguda al llit i ben adormida, que vaig pensar que anava i em decantava damunt vostre i us besava.
And you went to bed, and I was so sorry that I took and wrote on a piece of sycamore bark, 'We ain't dead--we are only off being pirates,' and put it on the table by the candle; and then you looked so good, laying there asleep, that I thought I went and leaned over and kissed you on the lips."
-Aixo vau fer, Tom ?
"Did you, Tom, _did_ you!
I just forgive you everything for that!"
And she seized the boy in a crushing embrace that made him feel like the guiltiest of villains.
"It was very kind, even though it was only a--dream," Sid soliloquized just audibly.
-Quietud, Sid:
"Shut up, Sid!
A body does just the same in a dream as he'd do if he was awake.
Here's a big Milum apple I've been saving for you, Tom, if you was ever found again--now go 'long to school.
Estic tota agraida al bon Déu i Pare de tots nosaltres per haver-vos recobrat; Ell és pacient i clement per als qui creuen en Ell i serven la seva paraula, encara que la Bondat divina sap que jo sóc indigna; pero, si només els dignes rebessin la seva benedicció i fossin a aixopluc de la seva ma en les bandes alteroses, ben pocs somriurien aquí baix, o entrarien mai dins el seu repos quan la llarga nit fou arribada. Aneu, Sid, Mary, Tom, eixiu: ja m' heu fet nosa massa estona.
I'm thankful to the good God and Father of us all I've got you back, that's long-suffering and merciful to them that believe on Him and keep His word, though goodness knows I'm unworthy of it, but if only the worthy ones got His blessings and had His hand to help them over the rough places, there's few enough would smile here or ever enter into His rest when the long night comes. Go 'long Sid, Mary, Tom--take yourselves off--you've hendered me long enough."
The children left for school, and the old lady to call on Mrs. Harper and vanquish her realism with Tom's marvellous dream.
Sid had better judgment than to utter the thought that was in his mind as he left the house. It was this: "Pretty thin--as long a dream as that, without any mistakes in it!"
What a hero Tom was become, now!
He did not go skipping and prancing, but moved with a dignified swagger as became a pirate who felt that the public eye was on him.
And indeed it was; he tried not to seem to see the looks or hear the remarks as he passed along, but they were food and drink to him.
Smaller boys than himself flocked at his heels, as proud to be seen with him, and tolerated by him, as if he had been the drummer at the head of a procession or the elephant leading a menagerie into town.
Boys of his own size pretended not to know he had been away at all; but they were consuming with envy, nevertheless.
They would have given anything to have that swarthy sun-tanned skin of his, and his glittering notoriety; and Tom would not have parted with either for a circus.
At school the children made so much of him and of Joe, and delivered such eloquent admiration from their eyes, that the two heroes were not long in becoming insufferably "stuck-up."
Començaren de dir llurs aventures als oidors famolencs … pero només començaren: no era cosa que probablement tingués una fi, havent -hi imaginacions com les llurs per a proveir el material.
They began to tell their adventures to hungry listeners--but they only began; it was not a thing likely to have an end, with imaginations like theirs to furnish material.
I, finalment, quan desembutxacaren les pipes i donaren el tomb traient serenes bufades arribaren al cim mateix de la gloria.
And finally, when they got out their pipes and went serenely puffing around, the very summit of glory was reached.
Tom decided that he could be independent of Becky Thatcher now.
Glory was sufficient. He would live for glory.
Now that he was distinguished, maybe she would be wanting to "make up."
Well, let her--she should see that he could be as indifferent as some other people.
Presently she arrived. Tom pretended not to see her.
He moved away and joined a group of boys and girls and began to talk.
Aviat hagué esment que ella posava travetes d' ací d' alla amb cara encesa i ulls bellugadissos, fent veure que estava aqueferada en la percaça de companyons d' escola, i fent esgarips, de tant riure, quan aconseguia una captura; pero Tom repara que ella sempre feia les seves captures en son veinatge, i que semblava pegar a gratcient una llambregada en direcció seva, en aquells instants, tanmateix.
Soon he observed that she was tripping gayly back and forth with flushed face and dancing eyes, pretending to be busy chasing schoolmates, and screaming with laughter when she made a capture; but he noticed that she always made her captures in his vicinity, and that she seemed to cast a conscious eye in his direction at such times, too.
It gratified all the vicious vanity that was in him; and so, instead of winning him, it only "set him up" the more and made him the more diligent to avoid betraying that he knew she was about.
Aviat deixa córrer, ella, el fer l' alosa, i es mogué per aquells voltants irresoluda, sospirant una o dues vegades i llambregant furtivament i dalerosament envers Tom.
Presently she gave over skylarking, and moved irresolutely about, sighing once or twice and glancing furtively and wistfully toward Tom.
Then she observed that now Tom was talking more particularly to Amy Lawrence than to any one else.
She felt a sharp pang and grew disturbed and uneasy at once. She tried to go away, but her feet were treacherous, and carried her to the group instead.
Becky digué a una noia, gairebé arran de Tom, amb fingida vivacitat:
She said to a girl almost at Tom's elbow--with sham vivacity:
-I ara, Mary Austin! Dolenta! Per que no vinguéreu a l'escola del diumenge?
"Why, Mary Austin! you bad girl, why didn't you come to Sunday-school?"
"I did come--didn't you see me?"
-Ai, ai!
"Why, no!
No!… Hi éreu?
Did you?
On seieu ?
Where did you sit?"
-Era a la classe de la senyoreta Peters, on sempre vaig.
"I was in Miss Peters' class, where I always go.
I saw _you_."
-Sí?
"Did you?
Why, it's funny I didn't see you.
Volia parlar-vos de la forada. -Oh !
I wanted to tell you about the picnic."
És divertit, aixo !
"Oh, that's jolly.
Quí convida ?
Who's going to give it?"
"My ma's going to let me have one."
"Oh, goody; I hope she'll let _me_ come."
"Well, she will. The picnic's for me. She'll let anybody come that I want, and I want you."
-És tan bonic, sempre, una forada !
"That's ever so nice.
When is it going to be?"
"By and by. Maybe about vacation."
Convidareu totes les noies i nois?
"Oh, won't it be fun! You going to have all the girls and boys?"
-Sí, a tothom que em sigui amic … o me 'n vulgui ésser - I lluca d' allo més furtivament a Tom. Pero ell enraonava a tot drap amb Amy Lawrence sobre la paorosa tempesta de l' illa, i li deia com el llamp esfondra el gran sicomor « fent -ne estelles », mentre ell « n' estava a uns quants pams ». -Oh !
"Yes, every one that's friends to me--or wants to be"; and she glanced ever so furtively at Tom, but he talked right along to Amy Lawrence about the terrible storm on the island, and how the lightning tore the great sycamore tree "all to flinders" while he was "standing within three feet of it."
"Oh, may I come?" said Grace Miller.
-Sí.
"Yes."
-I jo ? - salta Sally Rogers.
"And me?" said Sally Rogers.
-Sí.
"Yes."
-I jo també ? - féu Susy Harper.
"And me, too?" said Susy Harper.
-I Joe?
"And Joe?"
-Sí
"Yes."
And so on, with clapping of joyful hands till all the group had begged for invitations but Tom and Amy.
Then Tom turned coolly away, still talking, and took Amy with him.
Els llavis de Becky tremolaren i les llagrimes entelaren sos ulls. Amaga aquests senyals amb joia forçada i continua parlotejant; pero l' animació havia fugit de la forada, aleshores, i de tota altra cosa. Becky se n' ana tan aviat com pogué, i s' amaga, i s' abandona a allo que el seu sexe nomena « un bon plor ».
Becky's lips trembled and the tears came to her eyes; she hid these signs with a forced gayety and went on chattering, but the life had gone out of the picnic, now, and out of everything else; she got away as soon as she could and hid herself and had what her sex call "a good cry."
Després s' assegué tota consirosa, amb l' orgull ferit, fins que sona la campana.
Then she sat moody, with wounded pride, till the bell rang.
She roused up, now, with a vindictive cast in her eye, and gave her plaited tails a shake and said she knew what _she'd_ do.
A la suspensió de classes, Tom continua el seu enamoriscament amb Amy, ple de joiosa ufana.
At recess Tom continued his flirtation with Amy with jubilant self-satisfaction.
And he kept drifting about to find Becky and lacerate her with the performance.
At last he spied her, but there was a sudden falling of his mercury.
She was sitting cosily on a little bench behind the schoolhouse looking at a picture-book with Alfred Temple--and so absorbed were they, and their heads so close together over the book, that they did not seem to be conscious of anything in the world besides.
Roent gelosia arbora les venes de Tom.
Jealousy ran red-hot through Tom's veins.
He began to hate himself for throwing away the chance Becky had offered for a reconciliation.
He called himself a fool, and all the hard names he could think of.
Necessitava plorar, de despit.
He wanted to cry with vexation.
Amy chatted happily along, as they walked, for her heart was singing, but Tom's tongue had lost its function.
He did not hear what Amy was saying, and whenever she paused expectantly he could only stammer an awkward assent, which was as often misplaced as otherwise.
He kept drifting to the rear of the schoolhouse, again and again, to sear his eyeballs with the hateful spectacle there.
He could not help it. And it maddened him to see, as he thought he saw, that Becky Thatcher never once suspected that he was even in the land of the living.
But she did see, nevertheless; and she knew she was winning her fight, too, and was glad to see him suffer as she had suffered.
El feliç parloteig d'Amy esdevingué intolerable.
Amy's happy prattle became intolerable.
Tom hinted at things he had to attend to; things that must be done; and time was fleeting.
But in vain--the girl chirped on.
Tom thought, "Oh, hang her, ain't I ever going to get rid of her?" At last he must be attending to those things--and she said artlessly that she would be "around" when school let out.
And he hastened away, hating her for it.
"Any other boy!" Tom thought, grating his teeth. "Any boy in the whole town but that Saint Louis smarty that thinks he dresses so fine and is aristocracy!
Oh, all right, I licked you the first day you ever saw this town, mister, and I'll lick you again!
Espereu que us ensopegui fora d' aquí !
You just wait till I catch you out!
Us atraparé i …
I'll just take and--"
And he went through the motions of thrashing an imaginary boy--pummelling the air, and kicking and gouging.
-Oh! La cosa marxa: oi?
"Oh, you do, do you?
You holler 'nough, do you?
Ara vejam si aixo us serveix de lliçó.
Now, then, let that learn you!"
I així la pallissa imaginaria acaba a satisfacció seva.
And so the imaginary flogging was finished to his satisfaction.
Tom fled home at noon. His conscience could not endure any more of Amy's grateful happiness, and his jealousy could bear no more of the other distress.
Becky continua la seva inspecció de imatges amb Alfred; pero, com que els minuts anaven desfilant i Tom no compareixia a sofrir, son triomf comença d' ennuvolar -se i perdé interes. Després vingué la gravetat, la ment vagarívola, i després melangia. Dues o tres vegades posa la ma a l' orella en oir una passa; pero era una falsa esperança: Tom no comparegué.
Becky resumed her picture inspections with Alfred, but as the minutes dragged along and no Tom came to suffer, her triumph began to cloud and she lost interest; gravity and absentmindedness followed, and then melancholy; two or three times she pricked up her ear at a footstep, but it was a false hope; no Tom came.
At last she grew entirely miserable and wished she hadn't carried it so far.
When poor Alfred, seeing that he was losing her, he did not know how, kept exclaiming: "Oh, here's a jolly one! look at this!" she lost patience at last, and said,
"Oh, don't bother me! I don't care for them!" and burst into tears, and got up and walked away.
Alfred se n' ana al seu costat, i es proposava de fer per manera de reconfortar -la; pero ella digué:
Alfred dropped alongside and was going to try to comfort her, but she said:
-Aneu-vos-en: deixeu -me sola, si podeu.
"Go away and leave me alone, can't you!
I hate you!"
So the boy halted, wondering what he could have done--for she had said she would look at pictures all through the nooning--and she walked on, crying.
Aleshores Alfred se n' ana tot pensívol cap a la escola deserta.
Then Alfred went musing into the deserted schoolhouse.
He was humiliated and angry. He easily guessed his way to the truth--the girl had simply made a convenience of him to vent her spite upon Tom Sawyer.
He was far from hating Tom the less when this thought occurred to him. He wished there was some way to get that boy into trouble without much risk to himself.
El llibre de lectura de Tom caigué sota sos ulls.
Tom's spelling-book fell under his eye.
Veu 's aquí una avinentesa per a ell.
Here was his opportunity.
Obrí tot satisfet la lliçó de la tarda, i escampa tinta per la pagina.
He gratefully opened to the lesson for the afternoon and poured ink upon the page.
Becky, glancing in at a window behind him at the moment, saw the act, and moved on, without discovering herself.
She started homeward, now, intending to find Tom and tell him; Tom would be thankful and their troubles would be healed.
Before she was half way home, however, she had changed her mind.
The thought of Tom's treatment of her when she was talking about her picnic came scorching back and filled her with shame.
She resolved to let him get whipped on the damaged spelling-book's account, and to hate him forever, into the bargain.
CAPÍTOL XX
CHAPTER XIX
TOM arrived at home in a dreary mood, and the first thing his aunt said to him showed him that he had brought his sorrows to an unpromising market:
-Tom, tinc ganes d' escorxar-vos de viu en viu.
"Tom, I've a notion to skin you alive!"
"Auntie, what have I done?"
"Well, you've done enough.
Here I go over to Sereny Harper, like an old softy, expecting I'm going to make her believe all that rubbage about that dream, when lo and behold you she'd found out from Joe that you was over here and heard all the talk we had that night.
Tom, I don't know what is to become of a boy that will act like that. It makes me feel so bad to think you could let me go to Sereny Harper and make such a fool of myself and never say a word."
Aquest era un nou aspecte de la cosa.
This was a new aspect of the thing.
His smartness of the morning had seemed to Tom a good joke before, and very ingenious. It merely looked mean and shabby now.
He hung his head and could not think of anything to say for a moment. Then he said:
"Auntie, I wish I hadn't done it--but I didn't think."
-O, infant! Mai no caieu en res. Mai no caieu en res, sinó en vostre egoisme.
"Oh, child, you never think. You never think of anything but your own selfishness.
You could think to come all the way over here from Jackson's Island in the night to laugh at our troubles, and you could think to fool me with a lie about a dream; but you couldn't ever think to pity us and save us from sorrow."
"Auntie, I know now it was mean, but I didn't mean to be mean. I didn't, honest.
And besides, I didn't come over here to laugh at you that night."
-Perque vinguéreu, doncs?
"What did you come for, then?"
"It was to tell you not to be uneasy about us, because we hadn't got drownded."
"Tom, Tom, I would be the thankfullest soul in this world if I could believe you ever had as good a thought as that, but you know you never did--and I know it, Tom."
"Indeed and 'deed I did, auntie--I wish I may never stir if I didn't."
-O Tom ! No digueu mentida: sentiu ?
"Oh, Tom, don't lie--don't do it.
Aixo no fa sinó empitjorar les coses cent vegades.
It only makes things a hundred times worse."
"It ain't a lie, auntie; it's the truth.
I wanted to keep you from grieving--that was all that made me come."
"I'd give the whole world to believe that--it would cover up a power of sins, Tom.
I'd 'most be glad you'd run off and acted so bad.
But it ain't reasonable; because, why didn't you tell me, child?"
"Why, you see, when you got to talking about the funeral, I just got all full of the idea of our coming and hiding in the church, and I couldn't somehow bear to spoil it.
So I just put the bark back in my pocket and kept mum."
-Quína escorça?
"What bark?"
"The bark I had wrote on to tell you we'd gone pirating.
Desitjaria, ara, que us haguéssiu despertat, quan us vaig besar; ho desitjaria, en bona fe.
I wish, now, you'd waked up when I kissed you--I do, honest."
Les dures línies de la faç de la tia es relaxaren, i una sobtada tendresa albeja en sos ulls.
The hard lines in his aunt's face relaxed and a sudden tenderness dawned in her eyes.
-Em besareu, Tom ?
"_Did_ you kiss me, Tom?"
"Why, yes, I did."
-Esteu segur que vau fer -ho, Tom ?
"Are you sure you did, Tom?"
"Why, yes, I did, auntie--certain sure."
-Per que em besareu, Tom?
"What did you kiss me for, Tom?"
"Because I loved you so, and you laid there moaning and I was so sorry."
Les paraules tenien so de veritat.
The words sounded like truth.
The old lady could not hide a tremor in her voice when she said: "Kiss me again, Tom!--and be off with you to school, now, and don't bother me any more."
The moment he was gone, she ran to a closet and got out the ruin of a jacket which Tom had gone pirating in.
Then she stopped, with it in her hand, and said to herself:
"No, I don't dare. Poor boy, I reckon he's lied about it--but it's a blessed, blessed lie, there's such a comfort come from it.
I hope the Lord--I _know_ the Lord will forgive him, because it was such good-heartedness in him to tell it.
But I don't want to find out it's a lie. I won't look."
Deixa de banda el gec, i romangué per alla a la vora, pensívola, un minut. Dues vegades estengué la ma per pendre de bell nou la peça, i dues vegades es contingué.
She put the jacket away, and stood by musing a minute. Twice she put out her hand to take the garment again, and twice she refrained.
Once more she ventured, and this time she fortified herself with the thought:
"It's a good lie--it's a good lie--I won't let it grieve me."
So she sought the jacket pocket. A moment later she was reading Tom's piece of bark through flowing tears and saying: "I could forgive the boy, now, if he'd committed a million sins!"
CAPÍTOL XXI
CHAPTER XX
THERE was something about Aunt Polly's manner, when she kissed Tom, that swept away his low spirits and made him lighthearted and happy again.
He started to school and had the luck of coming upon Becky Thatcher at the head of Meadow Lane.
Ell sempre es captenia com el cor li deia. Sense un instant de vacil·lació, corregué envers ella i digué:
His mood always determined his manner. Without a moment's hesitation he ran to her and said:
"I acted mighty mean today, Becky, and I'm so sorry. I won't ever, ever do that way again, as long as ever I live--please make up, won't you?"
The girl stopped and looked him scornfully in the face:
"I'll thank you to keep yourself _to_ yourself, Mr. Thomas Sawyer. I'll never speak to you again."
Redreça el cap i seguí la seva via.
She tossed her head and passed on.
Tom was so stunned that he had not even presence of mind enough to say "Who cares, Miss Smarty?" until the right time to say it had gone by.
So he said nothing. But he was in a fine rage, nevertheless.
He moped into the schoolyard wishing she were a boy, and imagining how he would trounce her if she were.
He presently encountered her and delivered a stinging remark as he passed. She hurled one in return, and the angry breach was complete.
It seemed to Becky, in her hot resentment, that she could hardly wait for school to "take in," she was so impatient to see Tom flogged for the injured spelling-book.
Si havia tingut alguna morosa noció de desemmascarar Alfred Temple, l' ofensiva de Tom la hi havia treta del cap, absolutament.
If she had had any lingering notion of exposing Alfred Temple, Tom's offensive fling had driven it entirely away.
Poor girl, she did not know how fast she was nearing trouble herself.
The master, Mr. Dobbins, had reached middle age with an unsatisfied ambition.
The darling of his desires was, to be a doctor, but poverty had decreed that he should be nothing higher than a village schoolmaster.
Every day he took a mysterious book out of his desk and absorbed himself in it at times when no classes were reciting.
He kept that book under lock and key. There was not an urchin in school but was perishing to have a glimpse of it, but the chance never came.
Every boy and girl had a theory about the nature of that book; but no two theories were alike, and there was no way of getting at the facts in the case.
Now, as Becky was passing by the desk, which stood near the door, she noticed that the key was in the lock! It was a precious moment.
She glanced around; found herself alone, and the next instant she had the book in her hands.
The titlepage--Professor Somebody's _Anatomy_--carried no information to her mind; so she began to turn the leaves.
De cop i volta arriba a una lamina bellament gravada i colorida: una figura humana.
She came at once upon a handsomely engraved and colored frontispiece--a human figure, stark naked.
At that moment a shadow fell on the page and Tom Sawyer stepped in at the door and caught a glimpse of the picture.
Becky snatched at the book to close it, and had the hard luck to tear the pictured page half down the middle.
She thrust the volume into the desk, turned the key, and burst out crying with shame and vexation. "Tom Sawyer, you are just as mean as you can be, to sneak up on a person and look at what they're looking at."
"How could I know you was looking at anything?"
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Tom Sawyer; you know you're going to tell on me, and oh, what shall I do, what shall I do!
I'll be whipped, and I never was whipped in school."
Després dona un cop en terra amb el peuet, i digué:
Then she stamped her little foot and said:
-Sigueu tan roinot, si aixo us fa plaer !
"_Be_ so mean if you want to!
I know something that's going to happen.
You just wait and you'll see! Hateful, hateful, hateful!"--and she flung out of the house with a new explosion of crying.
Tom romangué en silenci, bastant aturdit per aquest acarnissament.
Tom stood still, rather flustered by this onslaught.
Tot seguit es digué:
Presently he said to himself:
-Quína curiosa mena de poca solta és, una noia !
"What a curious kind of a fool a girl is!
Mai no l' han apallissada, a escola ! …
Never been licked in school!
Shucks! What's a licking! That's just like a girl--they're so thin-skinned and chicken-hearted.
Well, of course I ain't going to tell old Dobbins on this little fool, because there's other ways of getting even on her, that ain't so mean; but what of it?
Old Dobbins will ask who it was tore his book. Nobody'll answer.
Then he'll do just the way he always does--ask first one and then t'other, and when he comes to the right girl he'll know it, without any telling.
Girls' faces always tell on them.
I li ventaran pallissa.
They ain't got any backbone. She'll get licked.
Well, it's a kind of a tight place for Becky Thatcher, because there ain't any way out of it."
Tom rumia la cosa una estona més, i en acabat afegí: -Molt bé, tanmateix: a ella li plauria de veure 'm en un trencacoll així: doncs, que sirgui ella !
Tom conned the thing a moment longer, and then added: "All right, though; she'd like to see me in just such a fix--let her sweat it out!"
Tom joined the mob of skylarking scholars outside. In a few moments the master arrived and school "took in."
Tom no experimentava cap interes potent per sos estudis. Cada vegada que dava un cop d' ull pel costat de les noies, la cara de Becky el contorbava.
Tom did not feel a strong interest in his studies. Every time he stole a glance at the girls' side of the room Becky's face troubled him.
Ben debatudes totes les coses, ell no volia apiadar -se 'n, i, tanmateix, no pogué aconseguir altra cosa sinó romandre en blanc.
Considering all things, he did not want to pity her, and yet it was all he could do to help it.
He could get up no exultation that was really worthy the name.
Presently the spelling-book discovery was made, and Tom's mind was entirely full of his own matters for a while after that.
Becky roused up from her lethargy of distress and showed good interest in the proceedings. She did not expect that Tom could get out of his trouble by denying that he spilt the ink on the book himself; and she was right.
La negativa, aparentment, no féu sinó empitjorar la cosa, pel que feia a Tom.
The denial only seemed to make the thing worse for Tom.
Becky supposed she would be glad of that, and she tried to believe she was glad of it, but she found she was not certain.
When the worst came to the worst, she had an impulse to get up and tell on Alfred Temple, but she made an effort and forced herself to keep still--because, said she to herself, "he'll tell about me tearing the picture sure.
I wouldn't say a word, not to save his life!"
Tom va ésser fuetejat i torna a son seient, no ben bé cortrencat, perque se li acudí que era possible que ell, sense adonar -se 'n, hagués capgirat la tinta damunt el llibre de lectura, en algun tomb d' avalot: ho havia negat per servar les formes i perque era costum, i s' havia aferrat a la negativa per principi.
Tom took his whipping and went back to his seat not at all broken-hearted, for he thought it was possible that he had unknowingly upset the ink on the spelling-book himself, in some skylarking bout--he had denied it for form's sake and because it was custom, and had stuck to the denial from principle.
A whole hour drifted by, the master sat nodding in his throne, the air was drowsy with the hum of study.
By and by, Mr. Dobbins straightened himself up, yawned, then unlocked his desk, and reached for his book, but seemed undecided whether to take it out or leave it.
Most of the pupils glanced up languidly, but there were two among them that watched his movements with intent eyes.
Mr. Dobbins fingered his book absently for a while, then took it out and settled himself in his chair to read!
Tom shot a glance at Becky. He had seen a hunted and helpless rabbit look as she did, with a gun levelled at its head.
Tot seguit oblida la seva batussa amb ella.
Instantly he forgot his quarrel with her.
Calia fer quelcom, de pressa ! com un llampec !
Quick--something must be done! done in a flash, too!
Pero la mateixa imminencia de la necessitat paralitzava la seva inventiva.
But the very imminence of the emergency paralyzed his invention.
Bé ! Tenia una inspiració !
Good!--he had an inspiration!
Correria i arrabassaria el llibre, passaria la porta d' un salt, i cames ajudeu -me !
He would run and snatch the book, spring through the door and fly.
But his resolution shook for one little instant, and the chance was lost--the master opened the volume.
If Tom only had the wasted opportunity back again! Too late. There was no help for Becky now, he said.
Al cap d' un instant el mestre confrontava l' escola. Tots els ulls s' acalaren davant la seva mirada; en ella hi havia quelcom que fins i tot a l' innocent trasbalsava de por.
The next moment the master faced the school. Every eye sank under his gaze. There was that in it which smote even the innocent with fear.
There was silence while one might count ten--the master was gathering his wrath.
Then he spoke: "Who tore this book?"
Ni un so:
There was not a sound.
One could have heard a pin drop.
The stillness continued; the master searched face after face for signs of guilt.
"Benjamin Rogers, did you tear this book?"
Una negativa. Una altra pausa.
A denial. Another pause.
-Josep Harper: i vós?
"Joseph Harper, did you?"
Altra negativa.
Another denial.
La inquietud de Tom es torna més i més intensa sota la lenta tortura d' aquests procediments.
Tom's uneasiness grew more and more intense under the slow torture of these proceedings.
El mestre dona una ullada a les files dels minyons, reflexiona una mica, i es gira a les noies:
The master scanned the ranks of boys--considered a while, then turned to the girls:
-Amy Lawrence?
"Amy Lawrence?"
Una sacsejada de cap.
A shake of the head.
-Gracia Miller?
"Gracie Miller?"
El mateix senyal.
The same sign.
"Susan Harper, did you do this?"
Altra negativa.
Another negative.
La noia següent era Becky Thatcher.
The next girl was Becky Thatcher.
Tom tremolava de cap a peus, de l' excitació, i comprenent el desastre inevitable.
Tom was trembling from head to foot with excitement and a sense of the hopelessness of the situation.
"Rebecca Thatcher" [Tom glanced at her face--it was white with terror]--"did you tear--no, look me in the face" [her hands rose in appeal]--"did you tear this book?"
A thought shot like lightning through Tom's brain. He sprang to his feet and shouted--"I done it!"
Tota l' escola mira bocabadada, confosa, aquesta increible follia.
The school stared in perplexity at this incredible folly.
Tom stood a moment, to gather his dismembered faculties; and when he stepped forward to go to his punishment the surprise, the gratitude, the adoration that shone upon him out of poor Becky's eyes seemed pay enough for a hundred floggings.
Inspirat per la magnificencia del seu acte, rebé sense un esgarip el fueteig més implacable que mai hagués administrat el senyor Dobbins i aiximateix rebé amb indiferencia l' afegida crueltat d' una orde de romandre dues hores, després que l' escola fos aviada; perque prou sabia qui havia d' esperar -se a fora fins que son captiveri fos acabat, sense comptar la tediosa estona com a temps perdut.
Inspired by the splendor of his own act, he took without an outcry the most merciless flaying that even Mr. Dobbins had ever administered; and also received with indifference the added cruelty of a command to remain two hours after school should be dismissed--for he knew who would wait for him outside till his captivity was done, and not count the tedious time as loss, either.
Tom va colgar -se entre els llençols aquella nit, projectant una venjança contra Alfred Temple; perque, avergonyida i penedida, Becky li havia fet una narració completa, sense oblidar la seva propia traidoria. Pero fins i tot el daler de venjança hagué de cedir aviat a pensaments més gustosos, i a la fi va adormir -se amb les darreres paraules de Becky, somniosament penjades de la seva orella: -Tom !
Tom went to bed that night planning vengeance against Alfred Temple; for with shame and repentance Becky had told him all, not forgetting her own treachery; but even the longing for vengeance had to give way, soon, to pleasanter musings, and he fell asleep at last with Becky's latest words lingering dreamily in his ear--
"Tom, how _could_ you be so noble!"
CAPÍTOL XXII
CHAPTER XXI
S' acostaven les vacances.
VACATION was approaching.
The schoolmaster, always severe, grew severer and more exacting than ever, for he wanted the school to make a good showing on "Examination" day.
El seu regle i la seva ferula ja estaven poques vegades en vaga: almenys entre els alumnes menors.
His rod and his ferule were seldom idle now--at least among the smaller pupils.
Només els nois més grans, i les senyoretes de divuit i de vint, s' escapaven del fuet.
Only the biggest boys, and young ladies of eighteen and twenty, escaped lashing.
Mr. Dobbins' lashings were very vigorous ones, too; for although he carried, under his wig, a perfectly bald and shiny head, he had only reached middle age, and there was no sign of feebleness in his muscle.
As the great day approached, all the tyranny that was in him came to the surface; he seemed to take a vindictive pleasure in punishing the least shortcomings.
The consequence was, that the smaller boys spent their days in terror and suffering and their nights in plotting revenge.
They threw away no opportunity to do the master a mischief.
Pero ell els passava al davant cada vegada.
But he kept ahead all the time.
The retribution that followed every vengeful success was so sweeping and majestic that the boys always retired from the field badly worsted.
A la fi conspiraren tots junts i se 'ls acudí un pla que prometia una victoria enlluernadora.
At last they conspired together and hit upon a plan that promised a dazzling victory.
Hi juramentaren el noi del pinta-retols: li digueren el projecte i li demanaren son ajut.
They swore in the signpainter's boy, told him the scheme, and asked his help.
He had his own reasons for being delighted, for the master boarded in his father's family and had given the boy ample cause to hate him.
La muller del mestre faria una eixida al camp, d' aquí a pocs dies, i el pla no trobaria cap destorb. El mestre solia preparar -se per a es grans ocasions traguejant de valent, i el noi del pinta-retols digué que quan el mestre tites, el dia abans dels examens, hagués arribat a l' estat escaient, ell « endegaria la cosa » mentre el senyor Dobbins dormisquegés a la seva cadira: després el despertaria en el temps oportú, per apretar a córrer cap a l' escola.
The master's wife would go on a visit to the country in a few days, and there would be nothing to interfere with the plan; the master always prepared himself for great occasions by getting pretty well fuddled, and the signpainter's boy said that when the dominie had reached the proper condition on Examination Evening he would "manage the thing" while he napped in his chair; then he would have him awakened at the right time and hurried away to school.
Quan els temps hagueren arribat a llur plenitud, la interessant avinentesa es produí.
In the fulness of time the interesting occasion arrived.
A les vuit del vespre l' escola era brillantment il·luminada i agençada amb garlandes i fistons de fullatge i de flors.
At eight in the evening the schoolhouse was brilliantly lighted, and adorned with wreaths and festoons of foliage and flowers.
El mestre seia entronitzat en sa gran cadira, damunt una tarima, amb la pissarra al darrera.
The master sat throned in his great chair upon a raised platform, with his blackboard behind him.
Semblava bastant endolcit.
He was looking tolerably mellow.
Three rows of benches on each side and six rows in front of him were occupied by the dignitaries of the town and by the parents of the pupils.
A la seva esquerra, més enlla de les files de ciutadans, hi havia una esbarjosa tarima temporal on seien els alumnes que havien de pendre part en els exercicis del vespre: files de menuts, rentats i abillats fins a un grau intolerable de malestar; files de minyonassos desmanegats; nevades files de noies i senyoretes vestides de llinó i de mussolina, i egregiament conscients de llurs braços nus, dels antics joiells de llurs avies, de llurs cintetes rosades i blaves, i les flors de llur cabell.
To his left, back of the rows of citizens, was a spacious temporary platform upon which were seated the scholars who were to take part in the exercises of the evening; rows of small boys, washed and dressed to an intolerable state of discomfort; rows of gawky big boys; snowbanks of girls and young ladies clad in lawn and muslin and conspicuously conscious of their bare arms, their grandmothers' ancient trinkets, their bits of pink and blue ribbon and the flowers in their hair.
All the rest of the house was filled with non-participating scholars.
Els exercicis començaren.
The exercises began.
Un noi molt petit s' aixeca, i va dir tot esparverat: -«Amb prou feines podríeu esperar que un nen de la meva edat parlés en públic damunt la plataforma, etc. »; - acompanyant -se amb els gestos penosament exactes i espasmodics que una maquina podria haver usat, suposant que la maquina hagués estat una mica desballestada.
A very little boy stood up and sheepishly recited, "You'd scarce expect one of my age to speak in public on the stage," etc.--accompanying himself with the painfully exact and spasmodic gestures which a machine might have used--supposing the machine to be a trifle out of order.
But he got through safely, though cruelly scared, and got a fine round of applause when he made his manufactured bow and retired.
A little shamefaced girl lisped, "Mary had a little lamb," etc., performed a compassion-inspiring curtsy, got her meed of applause, and sat down flushed and happy.
Tom Sawyer stepped forward with conceited confidence and soared into the unquenchable and indestructible "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, with fine fury and frantic gesticulation, and broke down in the middle of it.
A ghastly stage-fright seized him, his legs quaked under him and he was like to choke.
True, he had the manifest sympathy of the house but he had the house's silence, too, which was even worse than its sympathy.
The master frowned, and this completed the disaster.
Tom struggled awhile and then retired, utterly defeated.
Hi hagué un feble proposit d' aplaudiment, pero morí totduna.
There was a weak attempt at applause, but it died early.
Seguiren un parell de masegats poemes i altres perles declamatories.
"The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck" followed; also "The Assyrian Came Down," and other declamatory gems.
Després hi hagué exercicis de lectura i un torneig de confegiment.
Then there were reading exercises, and a spelling fight.
La magra classe de llatí recita amb honor.
The meagre Latin class recited with honor.
The prime feature of the evening was in order, now--original "compositions" by the young ladies. Each in her turn stepped forward to the edge of the platform, cleared her throat, held up her manuscript (tied with dainty ribbon), and proceeded to read, with labored attention to "expression" and punctuation.
Els temes foren els mateixos ja escatits en semblants avinenteses, abans que per elles per llurs mares, llurs avies, i segurament per tota llur ascendencia de línia femenina fins a les Creuades. L' Amistat n' era un; Memories d' altres dies, La Religió en la Historia, País de somnis, Els aventatges de la cultura, Formes de Govern polític comparades i contrastades, Melangia, Amor filial, Dalers del cor, etc., etc.
The themes were the same that had been illuminated upon similar occasions by their mothers before them, their grandmothers, and doubtless all their ancestors in the female line clear back to the Crusades. "Friendship" was one; "Memories of Other Days"; "Religion in History"; "Dream Land"; "The Advantages of Culture"; "Forms of Political Government Compared and Contrasted"; "Melancholy"; "Filial Love"; "Heart Longings," etc., etc.
Tret preponderant d' aquestes composicions era una malenconia atesa i afalagada; n' era un altre el doll opulent i malversador de bell llenguatge; n' era un altre una tendencia a encabir a les orelles paraules i frases especialment preades, fins que esdevenien gastades del tot; i una peculiaritat que les caracteritzava i les malmetia assenyaladament era l' inveterat i intolerable sermó, que remenava la cua estropellada a la fi de totes i cada una d' elles.
A prevalent feature in these compositions was a nursed and petted melancholy; another was a wasteful and opulent gush of "fine language"; another was a tendency to lug in by the ears particularly prized words and phrases until they were worn entirely out; and a peculiarity that conspicuously marked and marred them was the inveterate and intolerable sermon that wagged its crippled tail at the end of each and every one of them.
Fos quin fos el tema, hom havia fet un esforç espremedor del cervell per recargolar -lo d' una o altra manera que un esperit moral i religiós pogués contemplar amb edificació.
No matter what the subject might be, a brainracking effort was made to squirm it into some aspect or other that the moral and religious mind could contemplate with edification.
The glaring insincerity of these sermons was not sufficient to compass the banishment of the fashion from the schools, and it is not sufficient today; it never will be sufficient while the world stands, perhaps.
There is no school in all our land where the young ladies do not feel obliged to close their compositions with a sermon; and you will find that the sermon of the most frivolous and the least religious girl in the school is always the longest and the most relentlessly pious.
Pero prou d'aquesta cançó:
But enough of this.
la veritat casolana és indigesta.
Homely truth is unpalatable.
Tornem als examens.
Let us return to the "Examination."
The first composition that was read was one entitled "Is this, then, Life?"
Perhaps the reader can endure an extract from it:
« En les ordinaries vies de l' existencia, amb quínes delectables emocions no mira l' anima jovenívola cap endavant, envers l' anticipada escena d' alguna festa !
"In the common walks of life, with what delightful emotions does the youthful mind look forward to some anticipated scene of festivity!
La imaginació treballa dibuixant imatges rosades de gaubança. En la seva fantasia, la voluptuosa adoradora de la moda es veu entre la multitud festívola, contemplada de tots els contempladors. La seva graciosa figura, agençada amb un vestit de neu, giravolta entre els laberints de la joiosa dansa; sos ulls són els més resplendents, ses passes les més lleugeres en la gaia assemblea.
Imagination is busy sketching rose-tinted pictures of joy. In fancy, the voluptuous votary of fashion sees herself amid the festive throng, 'the observed of all observers.' Her graceful form, arrayed in snowy robes, is whirling through the mazes of the joyous dance; her eye is brightest, her step is lightest in the gay assembly.
"In such delicious fancies time quickly glides by, and the welcome hour arrives for her entrance into the Elysian world, of which she has had such bright dreams.
Com sembla magica tota cosa en front de son esguard meravellat !
How fairy-like does everything appear to her enchanted vision!
Cada nova escena l'encisa més que la darrera.
Each new scene is more charming than the last.
Pero al cap d' una estona descobreix que sota aquestes belles exterioritats tot és vanitat: l' adulació que havia embadalit la seva anima, ara grinyola asprament a la seva oida; i amb la salut malmesa i el cor amargat, gira l' espatlla, amb la convicció que els plaers de la terra no poden satisfer els anhels de l' esperit ! »
But after a while she finds that beneath this goodly exterior, all is vanity, the flattery which once charmed her soul, now grates harshly upon her ear; the ballroom has lost its charms; and with wasted health and imbittered heart, she turns away with the conviction that earthly pleasures cannot satisfy the longings of the soul!"
I així successivament, i així sempre.
And so forth and so on.
There was a buzz of gratification from time to time during the reading, accompanied by whispered ejaculations of "How sweet!" "How eloquent!" "So true!" etc., and after the thing had closed with a peculiarly afflicting sermon the applause was enthusiastic.
Then arose a slim, melancholy girl, whose face had the "interesting" paleness that comes of pills and indigestion, and read a "poem."
Amb dues estrofes n'hi haura prou:
Two stanzas of it will do:
L'ADÉU D'UNA DONZELLA DEL MISSURI A L'ALABAMA
"A MISSOURI MAIDEN'S FAREWELL TO ALABAMA
«Adéu, mon Alabama!
"Alabama, goodbye!
O mon amor pregon!
I love thee well!
But yet for a while do I leave thee now!
Sad, yes, sad thoughts of thee my heart doth swell, And burning recollections throng my brow!
For I have wandered through thy flowery woods; Have roamed and read near Tallapoosa's stream; Have listened to Tallassee's warring floods, And wooed on Coosa's side Aurora's beam.
I de mon cor opres no m' haig d' avergonyir ni de girar la cara, i els ulls, regalimant. No és pas de terra estranya que els passos meus se 'n van. No és als estranys que dono avui el meu sospir.
"Yet shame I not to bear an o'erfull heart, Nor blush to turn behind my tearful eyes; 'Tis from no stranger land I now must part, 'Tis to no strangers left I yield these sighs.
Welcome and home were mine within this State, Whose vales I leave--whose spires fade fast from me And cold must be mine eyes, and heart, and tete, When, dear Alabama! they turn cold on thee!"
N' hi havia pocs que sabessin que significava téte, pero el poema va plaure, tanmateix.
There were very few there who knew what "tete" meant, but the poem was very satisfactory, nevertheless.
Next appeared a dark-complexioned, black-eyed, black-haired young lady, who paused an impressive moment, assumed a tragic expression, and began to read in a measured, solemn tone:
UNA VISIÓ
"A VISION
« Ombrívola i tempestuosa era la nit.
"Dark and tempestuous was night.
Al volt de la peanya de Déu, en les altures, no tremolejava ni un sol estel, sinó que, les pregones detonacions del tro feixuc, constantment vibraven a l' oida, mentre el llampec terrorífic s' abandonava a una orgia furiosa a través de les cambres ennuvolades del cel, semblant menyspreuar el poder exercit sobre ses terrors per l' il·lustre Franklin !
Around the throne on high not a single star quivered; but the deep intonations of the heavy thunder constantly vibrated upon the ear; whilst the terrific lightning revelled in angry mood through the cloudy chambers of heaven, seeming to scorn the power exerted over its terror by the illustrious Franklin!
Fins i tot els vents estrepitosos eixiren unanimement de llurs místics habitatges, i bufaren iradament per aquells entorns com per posar de relleu amb llur ajut la desolació d' aquella escena.
Even the boisterous winds unanimously came forth from their mystic homes, and blustered about as if to enhance by their aid the wildness of the scene.
En aquella avinentesa, tan ombrívola, tan paorosa, la meva anima sospirava per l' auxili huma; pero, en lloc d' aixo,
"At such a time, so dark, so dreary, for human sympathy my very spirit sighed; but instead thereof,
ma volguda amiga i ma consellera, ma aconhortadora i ma dolça guia, mon goig en la pena (i en la meva joia, ma segona joia ), vora meu venia.
"'My dearest friend, my counsellor, my comforter and guide--My joy in grief, my second bliss in joy,' came to my side.
» Ella avança com un d' aquests éssers resplendents pintats a les vies solelloses de l' Eden de la imaginació per les animes joves i romantiques: reina de bellesa, agençada només per la seva propia bellesa transcendent.
She moved like one of those bright beings pictured in the sunny walks of fancy's Eden by the romantic and young, a queen of beauty unadorned save by her own transcendent loveliness.
So soft was her step, it failed to make even a sound, and but for the magical thrill imparted by her genial touch, as other unobtrusive beauties, she would have glided away unperceived--unsought.
Una estranya tristesa reposava en sos trets, com a llagrimes glaçades damunt l' abillament del desembre, i ella assenyalava els elements que lluitaven, per enfora, i em comandava de contemplar els dos éssers que mostrava ».
A strange sadness rested upon her features, like icy tears upon the robe of December, as she pointed to the contending elements without, and bade me contemplate the two beings presented."
This nightmare occupied some ten pages of manuscript and wound up with a sermon so destructive of all hope to non-Presbyterians that it took the first prize.
Aquesta composició fou judicada el més bell esforç del vespre.
This composition was considered to be the very finest effort of the evening.
The mayor of the village, in delivering the prize to the author of it, made a warm speech in which he said that it was by far the most "eloquent" thing he had ever listened to, and that Daniel Webster himself might well be proud of it.
It may be remarked, in passing, that the number of compositions in which the word "beauteous" was over-fondled, and human experience referred to as "life's page," was up to the usual average.
Now the master, mellow almost to the verge of geniality, put his chair aside, turned his back to the audience, and began to draw a map of America on the blackboard, to exercise the geography class upon.
But he made a sad business of it with his unsteady hand, and a smothered titter rippled over the house.
He knew what the matter was, and set himself to right it.
He sponged out lines and remade them; but he only distorted them more than ever, and the tittering was more pronounced.
He threw his entire attention upon his work, now, as if determined not to be put down by the mirth.
He felt that all eyes were fastened upon him; he imagined he was succeeding, and yet the tittering continued; it even manifestly increased.
I no li mancava raó.
And well it might.
Dalt de l' aula hi havia una golfa, perforada amb un espiell damunt son cap. A través de l' espiell ana baixant un gat, lligat, al volt de les anques, amb un cordill. El gat tenia un parrac fermat damunt son cap i barres perque no miolés. Mentre davallava a pleret, s' encorbava cap amunt i garfia el cordill, i es gronxava cap avall i garfia l' aire intangible.
There was a garret above, pierced with a scuttle over his head; and down through this scuttle came a cat, suspended around the haunches by a string; she had a rag tied about her head and jaws to keep her from mewing; as she slowly descended she curved upward and clawed at the string, she swung downward and clawed at the intangible air.
The tittering rose higher and higher--the cat was within six inches of the absorbed teacher's head--down, down, a little lower, and she grabbed his wig with her desperate claws, clung to it, and was snatched up into the garret in an instant with her trophy still in her possession!
And how the light did blaze abroad from the master's bald pate--for the signpainter's boy had _gilded_ it!
That broke up the meeting. The boys were avenged. Vacation had come.
NOTE:--The pretended "compositions" quoted in this chapter are taken without alteration from a volume entitled "Prose and Poetry, by a Western Lady"--but they are exactly and precisely after the schoolgirl pattern, and hence are much happier than any mere imitations could be.
CAPÍTOL XXIII
CHAPTER XXII
TOM joined the new order of Cadets of Temperance, being attracted by the showy character of their "regalia." He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing, and profanity as long as he remained a member.
Now he found out a new thing--namely, that to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing.
Tom soon found himself tormented with a desire to drink and swear; the desire grew to be so intense that nothing but the hope of a chance to display himself in his red sash kept him from withdrawing from the order.
El quatre de juliol s' acostava, pero aviat deixa de recórrer -hi amb el pensament (deixa de pensar -hi abans que hagués usat per quaranta vuit hores les seves cadenes ), i fixa les seves esperances en el vell jutge de pau Frazer, que es trobava aparentment en son llit de mort i tindria uns grans funerals públics, ja que fou tan enlairat funcionari.
Fourth of July was coming; but he soon gave that up--gave it up before he had worn his shackles over forty-eight hours--and fixed his hopes upon old Judge Frazer, justice of the peace, who was apparently on his deathbed and would have a big public funeral, since he was so high an official.
Per espai de tres dies Tom es mostra preocupat en gran manera de l' estat del jutge i avid de notícies seves.
During three days Tom was deeply concerned about the Judge's condition and hungry for news of it.
En certs moments ses esperances prosperaren: prosperaren tant, que n' hi havia per arriscar -se a treure les insígnies i practicar -se al mirall.
Sometimes his hopes ran high--so high that he would venture to get out his regalia and practise before the looking-glass.
But the Judge had a most discouraging way of fluctuating. At last he was pronounced upon the mend--and then convalescent.
Tom n' estava fastiguejat, i experimentava la sensació de sofrir -ne perjudici.
Tom was disgusted; and felt a sense of injury, too.
Remeté la seva dimissió immediatament; i aquella nit el jutge sofrí una recaiguda i fina.
He handed in his resignation at once--and that night the Judge suffered a relapse and died.
Tom resolgué que mai més no es tornaria a refiar d' un home així.
Tom resolved that he would never trust a man like that again.
Els funerals foren bella cosa. Els Infants de la Temperança maniobraren en un estil calculat per corsecar l' ex-membre d' enveja.
The funeral was a fine thing. The Cadets paraded in a style calculated to kill the late member with envy.
Tom was a free boy again, however--there was something in that.
He could drink and swear, now--but found to his surprise that he did not want to.
The simple fact that he could, took the desire away, and the charm of it.
Tom s' estranya, ben aviat, de veure que les seves cobejades vacances començaven de pesar -li una mica feixugament.
Tom presently wondered to find that his coveted vacation was beginning to hang a little heavily on his hands.
He attempted a diary--but nothing happened during three days, and so he abandoned it.
La primera de totes les companyies de minstrels negres arriba al poblet, i féu sensació.
The first of all the negro minstrel shows came to town, and made a sensation.
Tom i Joe Harper organitzaren una partida de comics, i foren feliços dos dies.
Tom and Joe Harper got up a band of performers and were happy for two days.
Fins i tot el Gloriós Quatre fou, en cert sentit, una fallida, perque plogué de valent: no hi hagué, doncs, comitiva, i l' home més gran del món (segons Tom suposava ), el senyor Benton, un autentic senador dels Estats Units, resulta una aclaparadora decepció, perque no tenia vint-i-cinc peus d' altura, ni els mils.
Even the Glorious Fourth was in some sense a failure, for it rained hard, there was no procession in consequence, and the greatest man in the world (as Tom supposed), Mr. Benton, an actual United States Senator, proved an overwhelming disappointment--for he was not twenty-five feet high, nor even anywhere in the neighborhood of it.
A circus came. The boys played circus for three days afterward in tents made of rag carpeting--admission, three pins for boys, two for girls--and then circusing was abandoned.
Vingueren un frenoleg i un hipnotizador; i se 'n tornaren, i deixaren el poblet més ensopit i més trist que mai. Hi hagué algunes forades de nois i noies; pero eren tan escasses i delitoses, que només aconseguien que els buids dolorosos d' entremig dolguessin més.
A phrenologist and a mesmerizer came--and went again and left the village duller and drearier than ever. There were some boys-and-girls' parties, but they were so few and so delightful that they only made the aching voids between ache the harder.
Becky Thatcher was gone to her Constantinople home to stay with her parents during vacation--so there was no bright side to life anywhere.
The dreadful secret of the murder was a chronic misery. It was a very cancer for permanency and pain.
Després vingué el xarampió. Durant dues llargues setmanes Tom jagué presoner, mort al món i a sos esdeveniments.
Then came the measles. During two long weeks Tom lay a prisoner, dead to the world and its happenings.
Estava molt malalt: res no l' interessava.
He was very ill, he was interested in nothing.
When he got upon his feet at last and moved feebly downtown, a melancholy change had come over everything and every creature.
There had been a "revival," and everybody had "got religion," not only the adults, but even the boys and girls.
Tom went about, hoping against hope for the sight of one blessed sinful face, but disappointment crossed him everywhere.
He found Joe Harper studying a Testament, and turned sadly away from the depressing spectacle.
He sought Ben Rogers, and found him visiting the poor with a basket of tracts.
He hunted up Jim Hollis, who called his attention to the precious blessing of his late measles as a warning.
Cada noi que topava afegia un nou pes a la seva depressió. I quan, desesperat, corregué finalment a refugiar -se en el sí de Huckleberry Finn, i hi fou rebut amb una cita de les Escriptures, es fica a casa i al llit, dant -se compte que només ell en tota la ciutat estava perdut per a sempre, per a sempre més.
Every boy he encountered added another ton to his depression; and when, in desperation, he flew for refuge at last to the bosom of Huckleberry Finn and was received with a Scriptural quotation, his heart broke and he crept home and to bed realizing that he alone of all the town was lost, forever and forever.
I aquella nit hi hagué una tempesta terrorífica, amb xafec, paorós enrenou de trons i enlluernadores vetes de llampecs.
And that night there came on a terrific storm, with driving rain, awful claps of thunder and blinding sheets of lightning.
He covered his head with the bedclothes and waited in a horror of suspense for his doom; for he had not the shadow of a doubt that all this hubbub was about him.
Cregué que havia carregat la clemencia dels poders celestials amb un feix que ultrapassava el seu marge de tolerancia, i que aquelles n' eren les resultes.
He believed he had taxed the forbearance of the powers above to the extremity of endurance and that this was the result.
It might have seemed to him a waste of pomp and ammunition to kill a bug with a battery of artillery, but there seemed nothing incongruous about the getting up such an expensive thunderstorm as this to knock the turf from under an insect like himself.
By and by the tempest spent itself and died without accomplishing its object.
The boy's first impulse was to be grateful, and reform. His second was to wait--for there might not be any more storms.
The next day the doctors were back; Tom had relapsed.
Les tres setmanes que aquesta vegada passa de cara al cel, li semblaren un segle.
The three weeks he spent on his back this time seemed an entire age.
When he got abroad at last he was hardly grateful that he had been spared, remembering how lonely was his estate, how companionless and forlorn he was.
Baixa tot distret el carrer, i troba Jim Hollis fent de jutge en un jovenívol tribunal que sentenciava a un gat, per assassí, en presencia de la seva víctima, un ocell.
He drifted listlessly down the street and found Jim Hollis acting as judge in a juvenile court that was trying a cat for murder, in the presence of her victim, a bird.
He found Joe Harper and Huck Finn up an alley eating a stolen melon.
Poor lads! they--like Tom--had suffered a relapse.
CAPÍTOL XXIV
CHAPTER XXIII
A la fi, l' ensopida atmosfera fou remoguda, i ben vigorosament. La causa per assassinat comparegué al tribunal.
AT last the sleepy atmosphere was stirred--and vigorously: the murder trial came on in the court.
Tot seguit esdevingué el tema de totes les converses del poblet.
It became the absorbing topic of village talk immediately.
Tom could not get away from it.
Cada referencia a l' assassinat li esgarrifava el cor, perque la seva consciéncia contorbada i les seves temences gairebé el persuadien que aquelles observacions eren dites al seu devora com a provatures. No sabia com era que ell hagués pogut infondre sospites de saber cap cosa de l' assassinat, pero tanmateix no podia romandre tranquil en mig d' aquell parloteig.
Every reference to the murder sent a shudder to his heart, for his troubled conscience and fears almost persuaded him that these remarks were put forth in his hearing as "feelers"; he did not see how he could be suspected of knowing anything about the murder, but still he could not be comfortable in the midst of this gossip.
Sentia calfreds contínuament.
It kept him in a cold shiver all the time.
He took Huck to a lonely place to have a talk with him. It would be some relief to unseal his tongue for a little while; to divide his burden of distress with another sufferer.
A més, necessitava assegurar -se que Huck havia romas discret:
Moreover, he wanted to assure himself that Huck had remained discreet.
"Huck, have you ever told anybody about--that?"
-De que?
"'Bout what?"
-Ja ho sabeu, de que.
"You know what."
-Oh! Natural que no.
"Oh--'course I haven't."
-Ni una paraula?
"Never a word?"
-Ni una paraula tota sola: així Déu me valgui.
"Never a solitary word, so help me.
Per que ho demaneu ?
What makes you ask?"
-Oh ! En tenia por.
"Well, I was afeard."
"Why, Tom Sawyer, we wouldn't be alive two days if that got found out. _You_ know that."
Tom es sentí més reconfortat.
Tom felt more comfortable.
After a pause: "Huck, they couldn't anybody get you to tell, could they?"
"Get me to tell?
Why, if I wanted that halfbreed devil to drownd me they could get me to tell. They ain't no different way."
"Well, that's all right, then. I reckon we're safe as long as we keep mum.
Pero, jurem -ho altra vegada, tanmateix. És més segur.
But let's swear again, anyway. It's more surer."
-Ja hi firmo.
"I'm agreed."
Així, doncs, juraren de bell nou, amb paoroses solemnitats.
So they swore again with dread solemnities.
-De que garlen, Huck ?
"What is the talk around, Huck?
I've heard a power of it."
-Garlar ? Bé, tot és Muff Potter per aquí i Muff Potter per allí.
"Talk? Well, it's just Muff Potter, Muff Potter, Muff Potter all the time.
It keeps me in a sweat, constant, so's I want to hide som'ers."
"That's just the same way they go on round me.
I reckon he's a goner.
No us fa pena per ell, de vegades ?
Don't you feel sorry for him, sometimes?"
-Gairebé sempre, gairebé sempre.
"Most always--most always.
He ain't no account; but then he hain't ever done anything to hurt anybody.
Just fishes a little, to get money to get drunk on--and loafs around considerable; but lord, we all do that--leastways most of us--preachers and such like.
But he's kind of good--he give me half a fish, once, when there warn't enough for two; and lots of times he's kind of stood by me when I was out of luck."
"Well, he's mended kites for me, Huck, and knitted hooks on to my line. I wish we could get him out of there."
-Ui ! Poc en trauríem, Tom !
"My! we couldn't get him out, Tom.
I a més, no li fora cap bé: l' engarjolarien altra vegada.
And besides, 'twouldn't do any good; they'd ketch him again."
"Yes--so they would.
But I hate to hear 'em abuse him so like the dickens when he never done--that."
-A mí també, Tom, mala negada !
"I do too, Tom.
Lord, I hear 'em say he's the bloodiest looking villain in this country, and they wonder he wasn't ever hung before."
-Sí, així parlen de dia i de nit.
"Yes, they talk like that, all the time.
I've heard 'em say that if he was to get free they'd lynch him."
-I ho farien, talment.
"And they'd do it, too."
Els minyons conversaren bella estona, pero aixo els dona poc reconfort.
The boys had a long talk, but it brought them little comfort.
En venir l' hora baixa es trobaren rondant pel veinatge de la presoneta isolada, potser amb una indefinida esperança que s' esdevindria quelcom que remogués llurs dificultats.
As the twilight drew on, they found themselves hanging about the neighborhood of the little isolated jail, perhaps with an undefined hope that something would happen that might clear away their difficulties.
Pero res no esdevingué: semblava que no hi hagués angels ni fades que s' interessessin per aquell captiu sense ventura.
But nothing happened; there seemed to be no angels or fairies interested in this luckless captive.
The boys did as they had often done before--went to the cell grating and gave Potter some tobacco and matches.
He was on the ground floor and there were no guards.
His gratitude for their gifts had always smote their consciences before--it cut deeper than ever, this time.
They felt cowardly and treacherous to the last degree when Potter said: "You've been mighty good to me, boys--better'n anybody else in this town. And I don't forget it, I don't.
Tot sovint em dic a mi mateix, dic: -«Jo solia adobar tots els estels i les coses dels minyons, i mostrar -los on eren les bones bandes de pescar, i els era tan amic com podia, i ara tots han oblidat el vell Muff en el seu trencacoll; pero Tom no, i Huck no: ells no l' han oblidat- dic, -i jo no els oblido a ells ! » Bé, minyons: he fet una mala, mala cosa.
Often I says to myself, says I, 'I used to mend all the boys' kites and things, and show 'em where the good fishin' places was, and befriend 'em what I could, and now they've all forgot old Muff when he's in trouble; but Tom don't, and Huck don't--_they_ don't forget him, says I, 'and I don't forget them.'
Well, boys, I done an awful thing--drunk and crazy at the time--that's the only way I account for it--and now I got to swing for it, and it's right. Right, and _best_, too, I reckon--hope so, anyway.
Bé, no en parlem, no us embriagueu mai, i així no vindreu mai per aquests topants.
Well, we won't talk about that. I don't want to make _you_ feel bad; you've befriended me.
Poseu-vos una mica més cap a ponent.
But what I want to say, is, don't _you_ ever get drunk--then you won't ever get here.
Stand a litter furder west--so--that's it; it's a prime comfort to see faces that's friendly when a body's in such a muck of trouble, and there don't none come here but yourn.
Bones cares amigues, bones cares amigues ! Enfileu-vos l' un damunt l' altre, i deixeume -les tocar.
Good friendly faces--good friendly faces. Git up on one another's backs and let me touch 'em. That's it.
Shake hands--yourn'll come through the bars, but mine's too big.
Little hands, and weak--but they've helped Muff Potter a power, and they'd help him more if they could."
Tom féu via cap a casa tot desolat, i els seus somnis d' aquella nit xarbotaren d' horrors.
Tom went home miserable, and his dreams that night were full of horrors.
The next day and the day after, he hung about the courtroom, drawn by an almost irresistible impulse to go in, but forcing himself to stay out.
A Huck li passava el mateix cas.
Huck was having the same experience.
S' evitaven estudiadament l' un a l' altre. Tots dos vagarejaven a distancia, de tant en tant; pero la mateixa sinistra fascinació els feia tornar al cap de poca estona.
They studiously avoided each other. Each wandered away, from time to time, but the same dismal fascination always brought them back presently.
Tom pegava llambregades quan els badocs eixien calmosament de la cambra del Tribunal; pero invariablement sentía noves aflictives: les xarxes s' estrenyien, més i més implacables, al volt del pobre Potter.
Tom kept his ears open when idlers sauntered out of the courtroom, but invariably heard distressing news--the toils were closing more and more relentlessly around poor Potter.
At the end of the second day the village talk was to the effect that Injun Joe's evidence stood firm and unshaken, and that there was not the slightest question as to what the jury's verdict would be.
Tom romangué a fora fins a una hora ben tardana, i se n' ana al llit atravessant la finestra.
Tom was out late, that night, and came to bed through the window.
He was in a tremendous state of excitement. It was hours before he got to sleep.
All the village flocked to the courthouse the next morning, for this was to be the great day.
Ambdós sexes estaven gairebé igualment representats en l' auditori atapeit.
Both sexes were about equally represented in the packed audience.
Després d' una llarga espera, el Jurat entra d' un rengle. Poc temps després, Potter, pal·lid i esmaperdut, temorenc i desemparat, fou introduit, fermat amb cadenes, i l' assegueren alla on tots els esguards tafaners poguessin veure 'l. Situació no menys assenyalada era la de Joe l' Indi, estolid com sempre.
After a long wait the jury filed in and took their places; shortly afterward, Potter, pale and haggard, timid and hopeless, was brought in, with chains upon him, and seated where all the curious eyes could stare at him; no less conspicuous was Injun Joe, stolid as ever.
There was another pause, and then the judge arrived and the sheriff proclaimed the opening of the court.
Seguiren els murmuris de costum entre els curials, i l' arreplegament de papers.
The usual whisperings among the lawyers and gathering together of papers followed.
Aquests detalls, i les dilacions que els acompanyaven, elaboraven una atmosfera preparatoria tan impressionant com fascinadora.
These details and accompanying delays worked up an atmosphere of preparation that was as impressive as it was fascinating.
Now a witness was called who testified that he found Muff Potter washing in the brook, at an early hour of the morning that the murder was discovered, and that he immediately sneaked away.
Després d'algunes preguntes, el curial de l'acusació digué: -Adreceu-vos al testimoni.
After some further questioning, counsel for the prosecution said: "Take the witness."
The prisoner raised his eyes for a moment, but dropped them again when his own counsel said: "I have no questions to ask him."
El següent testimoni establí la troballa del ganivet vora el cadaver.
The next witness proved the finding of the knife near the corpse.
El curial de l'acusació digué: -Adreceu-vos al testimoni.
Counsel for the prosecution said: "Take the witness."
"I have no questions to ask him," Potter's lawyer replied.
A third witness swore he had often seen the knife in Potter's possession.
-Adreceu-vos al testimoni.
"Take the witness."
El curial de Potter declina d' interrogar -lo.
Counsel for Potter declined to question him.
Les cares de l' auditori començaren de traslluir el tedi. Volia el curial tirar per la borda la vida de son client, sense cap esforç ?
The faces of the audience began to betray annoyance. Did this attorney mean to throw away his client's life without an effort?
Several witnesses deposed concerning Potter's guilty behavior when brought to the scene of the murder. They were allowed to leave the stand without being cross-questioned.
Cada detall de les perjudicadores circumstancies esdevingudes al cementiri, en aquell matí que tots els presents recordaven tan bé, fou declarat per testimonis fefaents; pero cap d' ells no fou contraexaminat pel curial de Potter.
Every detail of the damaging circumstances that occurred in the graveyard upon that morning which all present remembered so well was brought out by credible witnesses, but none of them were cross-examined by Potter's lawyer.
The perplexity and dissatisfaction of the house expressed itself in murmurs and provoked a reproof from the bench.
Counsel for the prosecution now said: "By the oaths of citizens whose simple word is above suspicion, we have fastened this awful crime, beyond all possibility of question, upon the unhappy prisoner at the bar.
Ens dem per satisfets.
We rest our case here."
A groan escaped from poor Potter, and he put his face in his hands and rocked his body softly to and fro, while a painful silence reigned in the courtroom.
Many men were moved, and many women's compassion testified itself in tears.
El curial de la defensa s' aixeca i digué:
Counsel for the defence rose and said:
-Vostre Honor: En les nostres observacions fetes a l' inici d' aquesta causa, prefigurarem el nostre proposit de demostrar que el nostre client realitza aquesta feta paorosa trobant -se sota la influencia d' un orb, irresponsable deliri produit per la beguda.
"Your honor, in our remarks at the opening of this trial, we foreshadowed our purpose to prove that our client did this fearful deed while under the influence of a blind and irresponsible delirium produced by drink.
We have changed our mind. We shall not offer that plea."
[Then to the clerk:] "Call Thomas Sawyer!"
A puzzled amazement awoke in every face in the house, not even excepting Potter's.
Totes les mirades es clavaren amb meravellada atenció en Tom quan ell s' aixeca i prengué son lloc a la plataforma.
Every eye fastened itself with wondering interest upon Tom as he rose and took his place upon the stand.
The boy looked wild enough, for he was badly scared.
El jurament fou administrat.
The oath was administered.
-Tomas Sawyer: on éreu, el 17 de juny, als volts de la mitja nit?
"Thomas Sawyer, where were you on the seventeenth of June, about the hour of midnight?"
Tom glanced at Injun Joe's iron face and his tongue failed him.
Semblava que l' auditori es contingués l' ale, pero les paraules refusaven de venir.
The audience listened breathless, but the words refused to come.
After a few moments, however, the boy got a little of his strength back, and managed to put enough of it into his voice to make part of the house hear:
-Al cementiri!
"In the graveyard!"
"A little bit louder, please.
No tingueu por.
Don't be afraid.
Ereu…
You were--"
-Al cementiri.
"In the graveyard."
Un somriure de menyspreu passa rapidament per la cara de Joe l' Indi.
A contemptuous smile flitted across Injun Joe's face.
-Ereu gens a la vora de la tomba de Horse Williams?
"Were you anywhere near Horse Williams' grave?"
-Sí, senyor.
"Yes, sir."
-Parleu una mica més alt.
"Speak up--just a trifle louder.
A quína distancia n'éreu?
How near were you?"
-Tan a la vora com n'estic de vós.
"Near as I am to you."
-Estaveu amagat o no?
"Were you hidden, or not?"
-Estava amagat.
"I was hid."
-On?
"Where?"
-Darrera els oms que hi ha al caire de la tomba.
"Behind the elms that's on the edge of the grave."
Joe l'Indi féu un moviment gairebé imperceptible.
Injun Joe gave a barely perceptible start.
-Hi havia algú, amb vós ?
"Any one with you?"
-Sí, senyor.
"Yes, sir.
I went there with--"
-Espereu, espereu un moment.
"Wait--wait a moment.
Never mind mentioning your companion's name.
Ja el farem compareixer a l' hora que pertoqui.
We will produce him at the proper time.
Portaveu alguna cosa?
Did you carry anything there with you."
Tom vacil·lava i semblava tot confós.
Tom hesitated and looked confused.
-Parleu, fill meu: deixeu de banda tota desconfiança.
"Speak out, my boy--don't be diffident.
La veritat sempre és respectable. Que portaveu ?
The truth is always respectable.
What did you take there?"
-Només que un … un … gat mort. Hi hagué una onada d' alegria, que el Tribunal reprimí.
"Only a--a--dead cat." There was a ripple of mirth, which the court checked.
-Mostrarem l'esquelet d'aquell gat.
"We will produce the skeleton of that cat.
Now, my boy, tell us everything that occurred--tell it in your own way--don't skip anything, and don't be afraid."
Tom comença, vacil·lant a la primeria; pero, a mesura que el tema l' anava encalentint, ses paraules brollaven amb creixent facilitat. Als pocs moments va aturar -se tot renou, fora de la seva veu. Tothom el mirava de fit a fit; l' auditori, bocabadat i amb l' ale contingut, estava suspes de les seves paraules, oblidant -se del temps que passava, arrabassat per la tetrica fascinació de la historia.
Tom began--hesitatingly at first, but as he warmed to his subject his words flowed more and more easily; in a little while every sound ceased but his own voice; every eye fixed itself upon him; with parted lips and bated breath the audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale.
The strain upon pent emotion reached its climax when the boy said: "--and as the doctor fetched the board around and Muff Potter fell, Injun Joe jumped with the knife and--"
Crash! Quick as lightning the halfbreed sprang for a window, tore his way through all opposers, and was gone!
CAPÍTOL XXV
CHAPTER XXIV
Tom fou altra vegada un heroi resplendent, l'amanyagat dels vells, l'enveja dels joves.
TOM was a glittering hero once more--the pet of the old, the envy of the young.
His name even went into immortal print, for the village paper magnified him.
There were some that believed he would be President, yet, if he escaped hanging.
As usual, the fickle, unreasoning world took Muff Potter to its bosom and fondled him as lavishly as it had abused him before.
But that sort of conduct is to the world's credit; therefore it is not well to find fault with it.
Tom's days were days of splendor and exultation to him, but his nights were seasons of horror.
Joe l' Indi li infestava tots els somnis, i sempre amb la sentencia de mort als ulls.
Injun Joe infested all his dreams, and always with doom in his eye.
Hardly any temptation could persuade the boy to stir abroad after nightfall.
El pobre Huck es trobava en el mateix estat de miseria i terror, perque Tom havia contat tota la historia al curial la nit abans del gran dia de la causa, i Huck tenia una por cruel que la seva participació en el negoci pogués traspuar encara, baldament la fugida de Joe l' Indi li hagués estalviat el neguit de declarar davant el Tribunal.
Poor Huck was in the same state of wretchedness and terror, for Tom had told the whole story to the lawyer the night before the great day of the trial, and Huck was sore afraid that his share in the business might leak out, yet, notwithstanding Injun Joe's flight had saved him the suffering of testifying in court.
El pobre minyó havia assolit que el curial li prometés de servar el secret; pero que en trauria ? Ja que la turmentada consciencia de Tom havia pogut menar -lo a la casa del curial, de nit, i arrencar una temuda historia de llavis segellats amb el jurament més llobrec i formidable, la confiança de Huck en la raça humana estava arran d' esvair -se.
The poor fellow had got the attorney to promise secrecy, but what of that? Since Tom's harassed conscience had managed to drive him to the lawyer's house by night and wring a dread tale from lips that had been sealed with the dismalest and most formidable of oaths, Huck's confidence in the human race was wellnigh obliterated.
Daily Muff Potter's gratitude made Tom glad he had spoken; but nightly he wished he had sealed up his tongue.
Half the time Tom was afraid Injun Joe would never be captured; the other half he was afraid he would be.
He felt sure he never could draw a safe breath again until that man was dead and he had seen the corpse.
Rewards had been offered, the country had been scoured, but no Injun Joe was found.
Una de aquelles meravelles omniscients i espaordidores, un detectiu, vingué de Sant Lluís, sotja pels voltants, mogué el cap, prengué el posat de savi, i aconseguí aquella mena d' exit astorador que els membres d' aquest ofici generalment aconsegueixen. És a dir, va trobar una pista.
One of those omniscient and aweinspiring marvels, a detective, came up from St. Louis, moused around, shook his head, looked wise, and made that sort of astounding success which members of that craft usually achieve. That is to say, he "found a clew."
But you can't hang a "clew" for murder, and so after that detective had got through and gone home, Tom felt just as insecure as he was before.
The slow days drifted on, and each left behind it a slightly lightened weight of apprehension.
CAPÍTOL XXVI
CHAPTER XXV
Hi ha una epoca, en tota vida de minyó ben construida, en la qual li ve un desig rabiós d' anar a qualsevol indret i desenterrar un tresor amagat.
THERE comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
A Tom li vingué el desig, un dia, de cop i volta.
This desire suddenly came upon Tom one day.
He sallied out to find Joe Harper, but failed of success. Next he sought Ben Rogers; he had gone fishing.
Presently he stumbled upon Huck Finn the Red-Handed. Huck would answer.
Tom se l' endugué a un indret reservat, i entaula la materia confidencialment.
Tom took him to a private place and opened the matter to him confidentially.
Huck was willing. Huck was always willing to take a hand in any enterprise that offered entertainment and required no capital, for he had a troublesome superabundance of that sort of time which is not money.
-On cavarem ? - digué Huck.
"Where'll we dig?" said Huck.
-Oh! Gairebé onsevulla.
"Oh, most anywhere."
"Why, is it hid all around?"
"No, indeed it ain't. It's hid in mighty particular places, Huck--sometimes on islands, sometimes in rotten chests under the end of a limb of an old dead tree, just where the shadow falls at midnight; but mostly under the floor in ha'nted houses."
-Quí ho amaga ?
"Who hides it?"
-Ves, lladres: és clar. Quí us pensaveu ?
"Why, robbers, of course--who'd you reckon?
Superintendents d'escola dominical?
Sunday-school sup'rintendents?"
-No ho sé.
"I don't know.
If 'twas mine I wouldn't hide it; I'd spend it and have a good time."
"So would I. But robbers don't do that way. They always hide it and leave it there."
-I, després, que hi tornen ?
"Don't they come after it any more?"
"No, they think they will, but they generally forget the marks, or else they die.
Anyway, it lays there a long time and gets rusty; and by and by somebody finds an old yellow paper that tells how to find the marks--a paper that's got to be ciphered over about a week because it's mostly signs and hy'roglyphics."
-Jero… que?
"Hyro--which?"
"Hy'roglyphics--pictures and things, you know, that don't seem to mean anything."
-Que n' heu arreplegat algun, d' aquests papers, Tom ?
"Have you got one of them papers, Tom?"
-No.
"No."
-Bé, doncs com trobareu les marques ?
"Well then, how you going to find the marks?"
-Poc en necessito:
"I don't want any marks.
They always bury it under a ha'nted house or on an island, or under a dead tree that's got one limb sticking out.
Well, we've tried Jackson's Island a little, and we can try it again some time; and there's the old ha'nted house up the Still-House branch, and there's lots of dead-limb trees--dead loads of 'em."
-I tots en tenen, a sota ?
"Is it under all of them?"
-I ara!
"How you talk!
No!
No!"
-Doncs com sabreu quín és el que hem d' escorcollar ?
"Then how you going to know which one to go for?"
-Anirem escorcollant -los tots.
"Go for all of 'em!"
-O Tom! Ens pendra tot l'istiu!
"Why, Tom, it'll take all summer."
-Bé, i que hi fa ?
"Well, what of that?
Suppose you find a brass pot with a hundred dollars in it, all rusty and gray, or rotten chest full of di'monds. How's that?"
A Huck li resplendiren els ulls.
Huck's eyes glowed.
"That's bully. Plenty bully enough for me.
Just you gimme the hundred dollars and I don't want no di'monds."
-Molt bé ;
"All right.
But I bet you I ain't going to throw off on di'monds.
Some of 'em's worth twenty dollars apiece--there ain't any, hardly, but's worth six bits or a dollar."
-Com! De bo de bo?
"No! Is that so?"
"Cert'nly--anybody'll tell you so. Hain't you ever seen one, Huck?"
-No pas que jo recordi.
"Not as I remember."
-Oh ! Els reis en tenen a carretades.
"Oh, kings have slathers of them."
-Bé, jo no en conec, de reis, Tom.
"Well, I don' know no kings, Tom."
-Ja m' ho penso;
"I reckon you don't.
But if you was to go to Europe you'd see a raft of 'em hopping around."
-Que salten ?
"Do they hop?"
-Saltar? Romansos!
"Hop?--your granny!
No!
No!"
"Well, what did you say they did, for?"
"Shucks, I only meant you'd _see_ 'em--not hopping, of course--what do they want to hop for?--but I mean you'd just see 'em--scattered around, you know, in a kind of a general way. Like that old humpbacked Richard."
-Ricard?
"Richard?
Com més se diu ?
What's his other name?"
"He didn't have any other name. Kings don't have any but a given name."
-Sí?
"No?"
-Tanmateix.
"But they don't."
"Well, if they like it, Tom, all right; but I don't want to be a king and have only just a given name, like a nigger.
Pero digueu: on cavareu, de primer?
But say--where you going to dig first?"
-Bé, no ho sé.
"Well, I don't know.
S'pose we tackle that old dead-limb tree on the hill t'other side of Still-House branch?"
-Fet.
"I'm agreed."
Així, doncs, prengueren un magall atrotinat i una pala, i eixiren cap a fer un viatge de tres milles.
So they got a crippled pick and a shovel, and set out on their three-mile tramp.
Arribaren encesos i panteixant, i s' ajagueren a l' ombra d' un om veí a reposar i a fumar.
They arrived hot and panting, and threw themselves down in the shade of a neighboring elm to rest and have a smoke.
-Em plau, aixo- digué Tom.
"I like this," said Tom.
-A mí també.
"So do I."
-Escolteu, Huck: si trobéssim un tresor aquí, que en faríeu, de la vostra part ?
"Say, Huck, if we find a treasure here, what you going to do with your share?"
"Well, I'll have pie and a glass of soda every day, and I'll go to every circus that comes along.
Faig juguesca que tindria una vida regalada.
I bet I'll have a gay time."
-Bé, no faríeu cap estalvi?
"Well, ain't you going to save any of it?"
-Estalvi?
"Save it?
Per que?
What for?"
"Why, so as to have something to live on, by and by."
"Oh, that ain't any use. Pap would come back to thish-yer town some day and get his claws on it if I didn't hurry up, and I tell you he'd clean it out pretty quick.
I vós, que en farieu, de la vostra, Tom?
What you going to do with yourn, Tom?"
"I'm going to buy a new drum, and a sure'nough sword, and a red necktie and a bull pup, and get married."
-Us casaríeu?
"Married!"
-Aixo.
"That's it."
-Tom ! Vós … Vaja, que no teniu el seny complet.
"Tom, you--why, you ain't in your right mind."
-Espereu: ja veureu.
"Wait--you'll see."
"Well, that's the foolishest thing you could do.
Mireu, mon pare i ma mare ! Vinga barallar -se !
Look at pap and my mother. Fight!
Why, they used to fight all the time. I remember, mighty well."
-Aixo no vol dir res.
"That ain't anything.
La noia que jo em casaré no es barallara amb mí.
The girl I'm going to marry won't fight."
"Tom, I reckon they're all alike.
They'll all comb a body.
Val més que us hi penseu una mica.
Now you better think 'bout this awhile. I tell you you better.
Com se diu, la mossa ?
What's the name of the gal?"
"It ain't a gal at all--it's a girl."
"It's all the same, I reckon; some says gal, some says girl--both's right, like enough.
Sigui com sigui, com se diu, Tom ?
Anyway, what's her name, Tom?"
-Us ho diré una altra vegada: no pas ara.
"I'll tell you some time--not now."
"All right--that'll do. Only if you get married I'll be more lonesomer than ever."
"No you won't. You'll come and live with me. Now stir out of this and we'll go to digging."
Maldaren una altra mitja hora: endebades també.
They worked and sweated for half an hour. No result.
They toiled another halfhour. Still no result.
Huck said: "Do they always bury it as deep as this?"
-De vegades: no sempre.
"Sometimes--not always.
Not generally. I reckon we haven't got the right place."
Així, doncs, escolliren un nou indret i tornaren a començar.
So they chose a new spot and began again.
The labor dragged a little, but still they made progress. They pegged away in silence for some time.
Finally Huck leaned on his shovel, swabbed the beaded drops from his brow with his sleeve, and said: "Where you going to dig next, after we get this one?"
-Em penso que tal vegada sorollarem l' arbre vell de més enlla, a Cardiff Hill, darrera la casa de la viuda.
"I reckon maybe we'll tackle the old tree that's over yonder on Cardiff Hill back of the widow's."
"I reckon that'll be a good one.
Pero no ens en traura, la viuda, Tom ? És a les seves terres.
But won't the widow take it away from us, Tom? It's on her land."
-Ella, treure 'ns !
"_She_ take it away!
Maybe she'd like to try it once.
Whoever finds one of these hid treasures, it belongs to him.
It don't make any difference whose land it's on."
Aixo era satisfactori.
That was satisfactory.
La feina continua.
The work went on.
Al cap de una estoneta Huck digué:
By and by Huck said:
"Blame it, we must be in the wrong place again.
Que us en sembla ?
What do you think?"
-És ben estrany, Huck.
"It is mighty curious, Huck.
No ho entenc.
I don't understand it.
De vegades les bruixes s' hi fiquen.
Sometimes witches interfere.
I reckon maybe that's what's the trouble now."
-Cançons ! Les bruixes no tenen poder, de dia.
"Shucks! Witches ain't got no power in the daytime."
"Well, that's so. I didn't think of that.
Oh, I know what the matter is!
Som un parell de ximples del diastre !
What a blamed lot of fools we are!
You got to find out where the shadow of the limb falls at midnight, and that's where you dig!"
"Then consound it, we've fooled away all this work for nothing.
Now hang it all, we got to come back in the night. It's an awful long way.
Podreu eixir?
Can you get out?"
"I bet I will. We've got to do it tonight, too, because if somebody sees these holes they'll know in a minute what's here and they'll go for it."
"Well, I'll come around and maow tonight."
-Molt bé. Amaguem les eines sota les mates.
"All right. Let's hide the tools in the bushes."
Els minyons foren allí aquella nit, prop de l' hora assenyalada. Segueren en l' ombra, esperant.
The boys were there that night, about the appointed time. They sat in the shadow waiting.
Es trobaven en un indret soliu i en una hora feta solemne per les velles tradicions.
It was a lonely place, and an hour made solemn by old traditions.
Els esperits zumzejaven en les fulles murmuradores; les fantasmes sotjaven en les llobregues reconades; el pregon udol d' un ca venia surant, de la distancia; una oliba responia amb la seva nota sepulcral.
Spirits whispered in the rustling leaves, ghosts lurked in the murky nooks, the deep baying of a hound floated up out of the distance, an owl answered with his sepulchral note.
Els minyons, corpresos d' aquestes solemnitats, no parlaven gaire.
The boys were subdued by these solemnities, and talked little.
By and by they judged that twelve had come; they marked where the shadow fell, and began to dig. Their hopes commenced to rise.
Their interest grew stronger, and their industry kept pace with it.
The hole deepened and still deepened, but every time their hearts jumped to hear the pick strike upon something, they only suffered a new disappointment.
Només era que una pedra o un tros de fusta.
It was only a stone or a chunk.
A la fi Tom digué:
At last Tom said:
"It ain't any use, Huck, we're wrong again."
"Well, but we _can't_ be wrong.
We spotted the shadder to a dot."
"I know it, but then there's another thing."
-Quína és ?
"What's that?".
"Why, we only guessed at the time. Like enough it was too late or too early."
Huck dropped his shovel. "That's it," said he. "That's the very trouble.
We got to give this one up. We can't ever tell the right time, and besides this kind of thing's too awful, here this time of night with witches and ghosts a-fluttering around so.
I feel as if something's behind me all the time; and I'm afeard to turn around, becuz maybe there's others in front a-waiting for a chance.
I been creeping all over, ever since I got here."
"Well, I've been pretty much so, too, Huck. They most always put in a dead man when they bury a treasure under a tree, to look out for it."
-Déu me val !
"Lordy!"
-Sí, que ho fan.
"Yes, they do.
I've always heard that."
"Tom, I don't like to fool around much where there's dead people. A body's bound to get into trouble with 'em, sure."
"I don't like to stir 'em up, either. S'pose this one here was to stick his skull out and say something!"
-No ho digueu, Tom !
"Don't Tom! It's awful."
Aixo esgarrifa !
"Well, it just is.
-Oi ! Huck, no tinc un bri de tranquil·litat.
Huck, I don't feel comfortable a bit."
"Say, Tom, let's give this place up, and try somewheres else."
"All right, I reckon we better."
-Quín sera ?
"What'll it be?"
Tom considered awhile; and then said: "The ha'nted house.
That's it!" "Blame it, I don't like ha'nted houses, Tom.
Ves, són unes bandes soliues, de més mal tirat que no pas la gent morta.
Why, they're a dern sight worse'n dead people.
Dead people might talk, maybe, but they don't come sliding around in a shroud, when you ain't noticing, and peep over your shoulder all of a sudden and grit their teeth, the way a ghost does.
I couldn't stand such a thing as that, Tom--nobody could."
-Sí, Huck; pero les fantasmes no volten si no és de nit: no ens destorbaran pas de cavar, mentre sigui de dia.
"Yes, but, Huck, ghosts don't travel around only at night. They won't hender us from digging there in the daytime."
"Well, that's so. But you know mighty well people don't go about that ha'nted house in the day nor the night."
"Well, that's mostly because they don't like to go where a man's been murdered, anyway--but nothing's ever been seen around that house except in the night--just some blue lights slipping by the windows--no regular ghosts."
"Well, where you see one of them blue lights flickering around, Tom, you can bet there's a ghost mighty close behind it. It stands to reason.
Becuz you know that they don't anybody but ghosts use 'em."
-Sí, és així;
"Yes, that's so.
pero tanmateix no volten pas de dia: així és que no tindria cap ni centener, que ens espantéssim.
But anyway they don't come around in the daytime, so what's the use of our being afeard?"
"Well, all right. We'll tackle the ha'nted house if you say so--but I reckon it's taking chances."
They had started down the hill by this time.
Alla, en mig de la vall que era sota d' ells, il·luminada per la lluna, estava la casa on surt por, totalment isolada, amb el clos desaparegut feia qui-sap -lo temps, amb rengles d' herbes que sufocaven el seu llindar, la xemeneia esfondrada, els marcs de les finestres buits, un recó de la teulada foradat.
There in the middle of the moonlit valley below them stood the "ha'nted" house, utterly isolated, its fences gone long ago, rank weeds smothering the very doorsteps, the chimney crumbled to ruin, the window-sashes vacant, a corner of the roof caved in.
Els minyons la contemplaren una estona, amb mitja esperança de veure un llumenet blau voleiant darrera una finestra. Després, parlant en veu baixa, com esqueia al temps i a les circumstancies, s' allunyaren d' allo més cap a la dreta, per donar a la casa on surtia por un ample esbarjo, i prengueren el camí de casa a través dels boscos que agençaven al darrera de Cardiff Hill.
The boys gazed awhile, half expecting to see a blue light flit past a window; then talking in a low tone, as befitted the time and the circumstances, they struck far off to the right, to give the haunted house a wide berth, and took their way homeward through the woods that adorned the rearward side of Cardiff Hill.
CAPÍTOL XXVII
CHAPTER XVI
ABOUT noon the next day the boys arrived at the dead tree; they had come for their tools.
Tom was impatient to go to the haunted house; Huck was measurably so, also--but suddenly said:
-Escolteu, Tom: sabeu quín dia és ?
"Lookyhere, Tom, do you know what day it is?"
Tom reconegué mentalment els dies de la setmana, i després alça cuitosament els ulls, amb una mirada espaordida.
Tom mentally ran over the days of the week, and then quickly lifted his eyes with a startled look in them--
"My! I never once thought of it, Huck!"
"Well, I didn't neither, but all at once it popped onto me that it was Friday."
-Diastre ! Mai no es té prou esment, Huck.
"Blame it, a body can't be too careful, Huck.
We might 'a' got into an awful scrape, tackling such a thing on a Friday."
"_Might_! Better say we _would_!
There's some lucky days, maybe, but Friday ain't."
-Fins els més ximples ho saben.
"Any fool knows that.
I don't reckon _you_ was the first that found it out, Huck."
"Well, I never said I was, did I?
And Friday ain't all, neither. I had a rotten bad dream last night--dreampt about rats."
-Sí? Senyal segur de trontoll.
"No! Sure sign of trouble.
Que es barallaven ?
Did they fight?"
-No.
"No."
-Bé, aixo és una bona cosa, Huck.
"Well, that's good, Huck.
When they don't fight it's only a sign that there's trouble around, you know.
All we got to do is to look mighty sharp and keep out of it. We'll drop this thing for today, and play.
Sabeu jugar a Robin Hood, Huck ?
Do you know Robin Hood, Huck?"
-No. Quí és Robin Hood ?
"No. Who's Robin Hood?"
"Why, he was one of the greatest men that was ever in England--and the best. He was a robber."
"Cracky, I wisht I was. Who did he rob?"
-Només que a xerifs i bisbes, i gent rica i reis, i aviram així.
"Only sheriffs and bishops and rich people and kings, and such like.
Pero mai no atropellava els pobres.
But he never bothered the poor.
He loved 'em. He always divided up with 'em perfectly square."
"Well, he must 'a' been a brick."
"I bet you he was, Huck.
Oh, he was the noblest man that ever was.
They ain't any such men now, I can tell you.
He could lick any man in England, with one hand tied behind him; and he could take his yew bow and plug a ten-cent piece every time, a mile and a half."
-Que és, un arc de teix ?
"What's a _yew_ bow?"
"I don't know. It's some kind of a bow, of course.
And if he hit that dime only on the edge he would set down and cry--and curse.
But we'll play Robin Hood--it's nobby fun. I'll learn you."
-Fet.
"I'm agreed."
So they played Robin Hood all the afternoon, now and then casting a yearning eye down upon the haunted house and passing a remark about the morrow's prospects and possibilities there.
As the sun began to sink into the west they took their way homeward athwart the long shadows of the trees and soon were buried from sight in the forests of Cardiff Hill.
El dissabte, poc després de migdia, els minyons eren a l' arbre mort, altra vegada.
On Saturday, shortly after noon, the boys were at the dead tree again.
Fumaren i parlotejaren a l' ombra, i després cavaren una mica en llur darrer forat, no pas amb gran esperança, sinó solament perque Tom digué que hi havia molts de casos que la gent havia deixat córrer un tresor després de haver foradat fins a una distancia de sis polzades de on era, i després havia vingut algú altre i l' havia descobert d' una palada, només.
They had a smoke and a chat in the shade, and then dug a little in their last hole, not with great hope, but merely because Tom said there were so many cases where people had given up a treasure after getting down within six inches of it, and then somebody else had come along and turned it up with a single thrust of a shovel.
La cosa no va reeixir, tanmateix, aquesta vegada. Així és que els nois es posaren les eines a l' espatlla i se n' anaren, comprenent que no havien pas beneitejat amb la fortuna, sinó que havien complert tots els reglaments del negoci de descolgar tresors.
The thing failed this time, however, so the boys shouldered their tools and went away feeling that they had not trifled with fortune, but had fulfilled all the requirements that belong to the business of treasure-hunting.
When they reached the haunted house there was something so weird and grisly about the dead silence that reigned there under the baking sun, and something so depressing about the loneliness and desolation of the place, that they were afraid, for a moment, to venture in.
Lliscaren cap a la porta i donaren un tremolós cop d' ull.
Then they crept to the door and took a trembling peep.
Veieren una cambra amb herbotes, sense paviment, escrostonada; una llar desfeta, finestres buides, una escala ruinosa; i per ací, per alla i per tot arreu penjaven parracs d' abandonades teranyines.
They saw a weedgrown, floorless room, unplastered, an ancient fireplace, vacant windows, a ruinous staircase; and here, there, and everywhere hung ragged and abandoned cobwebs.
They presently entered, softly, with quickened pulses, talking in whispers, ears alert to catch the slightest sound, and muscles tense and ready for instant retreat.
Al cap de poca estona la familiaritat modifica llur temença, i aquesta cedí el lloc a un examen crític i ple d' interes: sobretot admiraven llur coratge, i se n' estranyaven també.
In a little while familiarity modified their fears and they gave the place a critical and interested examination, rather admiring their own boldness, and wondering at it, too.
Després volgueren dar una mirada escales amunt.
Next they wanted to look upstairs.
This was something like cutting off retreat, but they got to daring each other, and of course there could be but one result--they threw their tools into a corner and made the ascent.
A dalt hi havia els mateixos senyals de decadencia.
Up there were the same signs of decay.
In one corner they found a closet that promised mystery, but the promise was a fraud--there was nothing in it.
Their courage was up now and well in hand. They were about to go down and begin work when--
-Sst!- digué Tom.
"Sh!" said Tom.
"What is it?" whispered Huck, blanching with fright.
"Sh!... There!... Hear it?"
-Sí! Oh! llamp!
"Yes!... Oh, my!
Apretem a córrer !
Let's run!"
-Quietud! No us bellugueu!
"Keep still! Don't you budge!
Vénen de dret cap al portal.
They're coming right toward the door."
Els minyons s'estengueren damunt el paviment, amb els ulls ficats en l'espiell de l'embigat, i esperaren amb una anguniosíssima temença.
The boys stretched themselves upon the floor with their eyes to knotholes in the planking, and lay waiting, in a misery of fear.
"They've stopped.... No--coming.... Here they are.
No zumzegeu cap més paraula, Huck.
Don't whisper another word, Huck.
My goodness, I wish I was out of this!"
Two men entered. Each boy said to himself: "There's the old deaf and dumb Spaniard that's been about town once or twice lately--never saw t'other man before."
"T'other" was a ragged, unkempt creature, with nothing very pleasant in his face.
The Spaniard was wrapped in a serape; he had bushy white whiskers; long white hair flowed from under his sombrero, and he wore green goggles.
Quan entraren, « l' altre » estava parlant en veu baixa. S' assegueren en terra, confrontant la porta, amb l' esquena contra la paret, i l' orador continua les seves observacions.
When they came in, "t'other" was talking in a low voice; they sat down on the ground, facing the door, with their backs to the wall, and the speaker continued his remarks.
His manner became less guarded and his words more distinct as he proceeded:
"No," said he, "I've thought it all over, and I don't like it. It's dangerous."
-Perillós ! - rondina l' espanyol « sord i mut », amb gran sorpresa dels minyons.
"Dangerous!" grunted the "deaf and dumb" Spaniard--to the vast surprise of the boys.
"Milksop!" This voice made the boys gasp and quake.
Era la de Joe l' Indi !
It was Injun Joe's!
Hi hagué silenci per algun temps.
There was silence for some time.
Then Joe said: "What's any more dangerous than that job up yonder--but nothing's come of it."
-És diferent.
"That's different.
Away up the river so, and not another house about.
'Twon't ever be known that we tried, anyway, long as we didn't succeed."
-Bé, quína cosa més perillosa, que el venir aquí de dia ? Qualsevol que ens veiés sospitaria de nosaltres.
"Well, what's more dangerous than coming here in the daytime!--anybody would suspicion us that saw us."
"I know that. But there warn't any other place as handy after that fool of a job.
I want to quit this shanty.
I wanted to yesterday, only it warn't any use trying to stir out of here, with those infernal boys playing over there on the hill right in full view."
"Those infernal boys" quaked again under the inspiration of this remark, and thought how lucky it was that they had remembered it was Friday and concluded to wait a day.
En llur cor desitjaven d' haver -se determinat a esperar un any.
They wished in their hearts they had waited a year.
Els dos homes es tragueren alguns queviures i feren un dinaret.
The two men got out some food and made a luncheon.
Després d'un llarg i pensívol silenci, digué Joe l'Indi:
After a long and thoughtful silence, Injun Joe said:
"Look here, lad--you go back up the river where you belong. Wait there till you hear from me.
I'll take the chances on dropping into this town just once more, for a look.
We'll do that 'dangerous' job after I've spied around a little and think things look well for it.
I després cap a Texas!
Then for Texas!
Pisparem el diner!
We'll leg it together!"
This was satisfactory.
Both men presently fell to yawning, and Injun Joe said:
-M'estic morint de son !
"I'm dead for sleep!
It's your turn to watch."
He curled down in the weeds and soon began to snore.
His comrade stirred him once or twice and he became quiet.
Presently the watcher began to nod; his head drooped lower and lower, both men began to snore now.
Els minyons exhalaren una llarga alenada agraida.
The boys drew a long, grateful breath.
Tom whispered: "Now's our chance--come!"
Huck digué: -No puc: si es despertessin em moriria.
Huck said: "I can't--I'd die if they was to wake."
Tom empenyia; Huck reculava.
Tom urged--Huck held back.
At last Tom rose slowly and softly, and started alone.
Pero la seva primera passa féu un cruixit tan horrible en el paviment atrotinat, que caigué enrera gairebé mort de por.
But the first step he made wrung such a hideous creak from the crazy floor that he sank down almost dead with fright.
He never made a second attempt.
The boys lay there counting the dragging moments till it seemed to them that time must be done and eternity growing gray; and then they were grateful to note that at last the sun was setting.
Aleshores un dels roncaires calla.
Now one snore ceased.
Injun Joe sat up, stared around--smiled grimly upon his comrade, whose head was drooping upon his knees--stirred him up with his foot and said:
-Ep! Esteu en vetlla: oi?
"Here! _You're_ a watchman, ain't you!
All right, though--nothing's happened."
"My! have I been asleep?"
-Oh! D'aquella manera, d'aquella manera.
"Oh, partly, partly.
Nearly time for us to be moving, pard.
What'll we do with what little swag we've got left?"
"I don't know--leave it here as we've always done, I reckon.
No use to take it away till we start south.
Sis cents cinquanta dolars d' argent no es traginen així com així.
Six hundred and fifty in silver's something to carry."
"Well--all right--it won't matter to come here once more."
"No--but I'd say come in the night as we used to do--it's better."
"Yes: but look here; it may be a good while before I get the right chance at that job; accidents might happen; 'tain't in such a very good place; we'll just regularly bury it--and bury it deep."
"Good idea," said the comrade, who walked across the room, knelt down, raised one of the rearward hearth-stones and took out a bag that jingled pleasantly.
He subtracted from it twenty or thirty dollars for himself and as much for Injun Joe, and passed the bag to the latter, who was on his knees in the corner, now, digging with his bowie-knife.
Els minyons, en un moment, oblidaren totes llurs temences, totes llurs miseries.
The boys forgot all their fears, all their miseries in an instant.
Amb ulls cobejosos espiaven cada moviment.
With gloating eyes they watched every movement.
Quína ganga ! Aquell esclat anava més enlla de tota imaginació.
Luck!--the splendor of it was beyond all imagination!
Six hundred dollars was money enough to make half a dozen boys rich!
Here was treasure-hunting under the happiest auspices--there would not be any bothersome uncertainty as to where to dig.
They nudged each other every moment--eloquent nudges and easily understood, for they simply meant--"Oh, but ain't you glad _now_ we're here!"
El ganivet de Joe topa amb alguna cosa.
Joe's knife struck upon something.
-Ei!- digué.
"Hello!" said he.
-Que hi ha ? - féu son companyó.
"What is it?" said his comrade.
"Half-rotten plank--no, it's a box, I believe.
Here--bear a hand and we'll see what it's here for.
Never mind, I've broke a hole."
He reached his hand in and drew it out--
-Diantre ! És diner !
"Man, it's money!"
Els dos homes examinaren el grapat de monedes:
The two men examined the handful of coins.
eren d' or.
They were gold.
Els minyons de dalt estaven tan excitats i tan delectats com ells mateixos.
The boys above were as excited as themselves, and as delighted.
Joe's comrade said: "We'll make quick work of this.
There's an old rusty pick over amongst the weeds in the corner the other side of the fireplace--I saw it a minute ago."
Corregué i porta el magall i la pala dels minyons.
He ran and brought the boys' pick and shovel.
Injun Joe took the pick, looked it over critically, shook his head, muttered something to himself, and then began to use it.
Aviat fou descolgada la caixa.
The box was soon unearthed.
It was not very large; it was iron bound and had been very strong before the slow years had injured it.
Els homes contemplaren una estona el tresor amb benaurat silenci.
The men contemplated the treasure awhile in blissful silence.
-Company, hi ha milers de dolars, aquí- digué Joe l' Indi.
"Pard, there's thousands of dollars here," said Injun Joe.
"'Twas always said that Murrel's gang used to be around here one summer," the stranger observed.
"I know it," said Injun Joe; "and this looks like it, I should say."
"Now you won't need to do that job." The halfbreed frowned.
Said he: "You don't know me. Least you don't know all about that thing.
'Tain't robbery altogether--it's _revenge_!" and a wicked light flamed in his eyes.
-Hi necessitaré el vostre ajut.
"I'll need your help in it.
Quan la cosa estigui llesta, cap a Texas.
When it's finished--then Texas.
Go home to your Nance and your kids, and stand by till you hear from me."
"Well--if you say so; what'll we do with this--bury it again?"
-Sí.
"Yes.
- (Folla delectança al pis de dalt!)
[Ravishing delight overhead.]
-No! Pel gran cacic, no!-
_No_! by the great Sachem, no!
(Pregona desolació al pis de dalt!)
[Profound distress overhead.]
I'd nearly forgot. That pick had fresh earth on it!
(Els minyons emmalaltiren de terror en un moment.)
[The boys were sick with terror in a moment.]
What business has a pick and a shovel here?
What business with fresh earth on them?
Who brought them here--and where are they gone?
Have you heard anybody?--seen anybody?
Colgar -ho altra vegada, i que ells vinguessin i lluquessin el sol remogut ?
What! bury it again and leave them to come and see the ground disturbed?
Res d'aixo, res d'aixo.
Not exactly--not exactly.
M' ho emportaré a mon cau.
We'll take it to my den."
"Why, of course! Might have thought of that before.
You mean Number One?"
-No: el Número 2, sota la creu.
"No--Number Two--under the cross.
L' altra banda no és bona: es massa corrent.
The other place is bad--too common."
"All right. It's nearly dark enough to start."
Injun Joe got up and went about from window to window cautiously peeping out.
Presently he said: "Who could have brought those tools here?
Do you reckon they can be upstairs?"
Els nois restaren amb l'ale embussat.
The boys' breath forsook them.
Injun Joe put his hand on his knife, halted a moment, undecided, and then turned toward the stairway.
Els nois pensaren en el recambró, pero no tenien forces.
The boys thought of the closet, but their strength was gone.
The steps came creaking up the stairs--the intolerable distress of the situation woke the stricken resolution of the lads--they were about to spring for the closet, when there was a crash of rotten timbers and Injun Joe landed on the ground amid the debris of the ruined stairway.
He gathered himself up cursing, and his comrade said:
"Now what's the use of all that? If it's anybody, and they're up there, let them _stay_ there--who cares?
If they want to jump down, now, and get into trouble, who objects?
It will be dark in fifteen minutes--and then let them follow us if they want to.
I'm willing. In my opinion, whoever hove those things in here caught a sight of us and took us for ghosts or devils or something.
I'll bet they're running yet."
Joe grumbled awhile; then he agreed with his friend that what daylight was left ought to be economized in getting things ready for leaving.
Poc després lliscaren enfora de la casa en l'hora baixa que s'enfosquia, i avançaren envers el riu amb la seva caixa preciosa.
Shortly afterward they slipped out of the house in the deepening twilight, and moved toward the river with their precious box.
Tom and Huck rose up, weak but vastly relieved, and stared after them through the chinks between the logs of the house.
Follow? Not they. They were content to reach ground again without broken necks, and take the townward track over the hill. They did not talk much.
They were too much absorbed in hating themselves--hating the ill luck that made them take the spade and the pick there.
But for that, Injun Joe never would have suspected.
He would have hidden the silver with the gold to wait there till his "revenge" was satisfied, and then he would have had the misfortune to find that money turn up missing.
Bitter, bitter luck that the tools were ever brought there!
They resolved to keep a lookout for that Spaniard when he should come to town spying out for chances to do his revengeful job, and follow him to "Number Two," wherever that might be.
En acabat, una idea terrorífica passa per la ment de Tom:
Then a ghastly thought occurred to Tom.
-Revenja!
"Revenge?
I si anés per nosaltres, Huck !
What if he means _us_, Huck!"
"Oh, don't!" said Huck, nearly fainting.
They talked it all over, and as they entered town they agreed to believe that he might possibly mean somebody else--at least that he might at least mean nobody but Tom, since only Tom had testified.
Very, very small comfort it was to Tom to be alone in danger!
Company would be a palpable improvement, he thought.
CAPÍTOL XXVIII
CHAPTER XXVII
L' aventura del dia turmenta poderosament els somnis de Tom, aquella nit.
THE adventure of the day mightily tormented Tom's dreams that night.
Quatre vegades fica la ma en aquell ric tresor, i quatre vegades se li convertí en no-res entre els dits, en desapoderar -se d' ell el son, en recordar -li el desvetllament l' aspra realitat de son infortuni.
Four times he had his hands on that rich treasure and four times it wasted to nothingness in his fingers as sleep forsook him and wakefulness brought back the hard reality of his misfortune.
As he lay in the early morning recalling the incidents of his great adventure, he noticed that they seemed curiously subdued and far away--somewhat as if they had happened in another world, or in a time long gone by.
Then it occurred to him that the great adventure itself must be a dream!
There was one very strong argument in favor of this idea--namely, that the quantity of coin he had seen was too vast to be real.
He had never seen as much as fifty dollars in one mass before, and he was like all boys of his age and station in life, in that he imagined that all references to "hundreds" and "thousands" were mere fanciful forms of speech, and that no such sums really existed in the world.
He never had supposed for a moment that so large a sum as a hundred dollars was to be found in actual money in any one's possession.
If his notions of hidden treasure had been analyzed, they would have been found to consist of a handful of real dimes and a bushel of vague, splendid, ungraspable dollars.
But the incidents of his adventure grew sensibly sharper and clearer under the attrition of thinking them over, and so he presently found himself leaning to the impression that the thing might not have been a dream, after all.
Aquesta incertesa havia d' ésser esvaida.
This uncertainty must be swept away.
Es desdejuna amb una esgarrapada, i ana a trobar Huck.
He would snatch a hurried breakfast and go and find Huck.
Huck was sitting on the gunwale of a flatboat, listlessly dangling his feet in the water and looking very melancholy.
Tom concluded to let Huck lead up to the subject.
If he did not do it, then the adventure would be proved to have been only a dream.
-Hola, Huck.
"Hello, Huck!"
-Hola, tu.
"Hello, yourself."
Silenci per un minut.
Silence, for a minute.
-Tom, si haguéssim deixat les eines endiastrades a l' arbre mort, hauríem arreplegat el diner. Oh !
"Tom, if we'd 'a' left the blame tools at the dead tree, we'd 'a' got the money.
No és cosa feresta !
Oh, ain't it awful!"
"'Tain't a dream, then, 'tain't a dream!
Somehow I most wish it was. Dog'd if I don't, Huck."
"What ain't a dream?"
"Oh, that thing yesterday. I been half thinking it was."
-Somni!
"Dream!
If them stairs hadn't broke down you'd 'a' seen how much dream it was!
I've had dreams enough all night--with that patch-eyed Spanish devil going for me all through 'em--rot him!"
Mal llamp l'arbori!
"No, not rot him. _Find_ him!
Track the money!"
-Tom, ja no l' haurem mai.
"Tom, we'll never find him.
A feller don't have only one chance for such a pile--and that one's lost. I'd feel mighty shaky if I was to see him, anyway."
"Well, so'd I; but I'd like to see him, anyway--and track him out--to his Number Two."
-Número 2, sí, aquest és.
"Number Two--yes, that's it. I been thinking 'bout that.
But I can't make nothing out of it.
Que us penseu que és ?
What do you reckon it is?"
"I dono. It's too deep.
Escolteu, Huck: potser és la xifra d' una casa.
Say, Huck--maybe it's the number of a house!"
-Angela ! … No, Tom, no és aixo.
"Goody!... No, Tom, that ain't it.
If it is, it ain't in this one-horse town. They ain't no numbers here."
-Sí, teniu raó.
"Well, that's so.
Lemme think a minute.
Ah ! … És la xifra d' una cambra … en una taverna: sabeu ?
Here--it's the number of a room--in a tavern, you know!"
-Oh ! Aquest, és el truc !
"Oh, that's the trick!
They ain't only two taverns. We can find out quick."
-Espereu-vos aquí, Huck, fins que jo torni.
"You stay here, Huck, till I come."
Tom se n' ana tot d' una. No li interessava, la companyia de Huck a les bandes públiques.
Tom was off at once. He did not care to have Huck's company in public places.
He was gone half an hour. He found that in the best tavern, No. 2 had long been occupied by a young lawyer, and was still so occupied. In the less ostentatious house, No. 2 was a mystery.
En la casa més senzilla, el fill del taverner digué que el Número 2 estava tancat a totes hores, i que mai veia que ningú hi entrés o n' eixís si no era de nit; no sabia que hi hagués cap motiu especial per a aquest estat de coses; sentia una mica de tafaneria, pero bastant feble; s' havia explicat la major part del misteri amb la idea que a la cambra hi « sortia por », i havia reparat que hi havia llum la nit abans.
The tavern-keeper's young son said it was kept locked all the time, and he never saw anybody go into it or come out of it except at night; he did not know any particular reason for this state of things; had had some little curiosity, but it was rather feeble; had made the most of the mystery by entertaining himself with the idea that that room was "ha'nted"; had noticed that there was a light in there the night before.
"That's what I've found out, Huck.
I reckon that's the very No. 2 we're after."
"I reckon it is, Tom.
I, ara, que farem ?
Now what you going to do?"
"Lemme think."
Tom thought a long time. Then he said:
"I'll tell you. The back door of that No. 2 is the door that comes out into that little close alley between the tavern and the old rattle trap of a brick store.
Now you get hold of all the doorkeys you can find, and I'll nip all of auntie's, and the first dark night we'll go there and try 'em.
And mind you, keep a lookout for Injun Joe, because he said he was going to drop into town and spy around once more for a chance to get his revenge.
If you see him, you just follow him; and if he don't go to that No. 2, that ain't the place."
"Lordy, I don't want to foller him by myself!"
-Oh! Sera de nit, ben segur.
"Why, it'll be night, sure.
He mightn't ever see you--and if he did, maybe he'd never think anything."
"Well, if it's pretty dark I reckon I'll track him. I dono--I dono. I'll try."
"You bet I'll follow him, if it's dark, Huck.
Why, he might 'a' found out he couldn't get his revenge, and be going right after that money."
-Oi, Tom, oi. El seguiré, sí, malvinatge!
"It's so, Tom, it's so. I'll foller him; I will, by jingoes!"
"Now you're _talking_!
No us acovardiu, Huck, que jo no m' acovardiré.
Don't you ever weaken, Huck, and I won't."
CAPÍTOL XXIX
CHAPTER XXVIII
Aquella nit Tom i Huck foren amatents a llur aventura.
THAT night Tom and Huck were ready for their adventure.
They hung about the neighborhood of the tavern until after nine, one watching the alley at a distance and the other the tavern door.
Nobody entered the alley or left it; nobody resembling the Spaniard entered or left the tavern door.
The night promised to be a fair one; so Tom went home with the understanding that if a considerable degree of darkness came on, Huck was to come and "maow," whereupon he would slip out and try the keys.
But the night remained clear, and Huck closed his watch and retired to bed in an empty sugar hogshead about twelve.
El dimarts els minyons tingueren la mateixa pega.
Tuesday the boys had the same ill luck.
El dimecres igual. Pero la nit del dijous era més prometedora.
Also Wednesday. But Thursday night promised better.
Tom llisca enfora, en bona avinentesa, amb la vella llanterna de llautó de la seva tia, i una tovallola gran per a embolcallar -la.
Tom slipped out in good season with his aunt's old tin lantern, and a large towel to blindfold it with.
He hid the lantern in Huck's sugar hogshead and the watch began.
An hour before midnight the tavern closed up and its lights (the only ones thereabouts) were put out.
No Spaniard had been seen.
Nobody had entered or left the alley.
Tot era de bon averany.
Everything was auspicious.
The blackness of darkness reigned, the perfect stillness was interrupted only by occasional mutterings of distant thunder.
Tom agafa la llanterna, l' encengué dins la bóta, l' embolica ben embolicada amb la tovallola, i els dos aventurers avançaren quietament, en la tenebror, cap a la taverna.
Tom got his lantern, lit it in the hogshead, wrapped it closely in the towel, and the two adventurers crept in the gloom toward the tavern. Huck stood sentry and Tom felt his way into the alley.
Huck resta de sentinella i Tom féu un reconeixement pel carreró.
Then there was a season of waiting anxiety that weighed upon Huck's spirits like a mountain.
He began to wish he could see a flash from the lantern--it would frighten him, but it would at least tell him that Tom was alive yet.
It seemed hours since Tom had disappeared.
Surely he must have fainted; maybe he was dead; maybe his heart had burst under terror and excitement.
In his uneasiness Huck found himself drawing closer and closer to the alley; fearing all sorts of dreadful things, and momentarily expecting some catastrophe to happen that would take away his breath.
There was not much to take away, for he seemed only able to inhale it by thimblefuls, and his heart would soon wear itself out, the way it was beating.
Suddenly there was a flash of light and Tom came tearing by him: "Run!" said he; "run, for your life!"
He needn't have repeated it; once was enough; Huck was making thirty or forty miles an hour before the repetition was uttered.
Els minyons no s' aturaren fins que hagueren arribat al cobert d' un escorxador abandonat, al capdavall del poblet.
The boys never stopped till they reached the shed of a deserted slaughter-house at the lower end of the village.
Just as they got within its shelter the storm burst and the rain poured down.
As soon as Tom got his breath he said:
"Huck, it was awful! I tried two of the keys, just as soft as I could; but they seemed to make such a power of racket that I couldn't hardly get my breath I was so scared. They wouldn't turn in the lock, either.
Well, without noticing what I was doing, I took hold of the knob, and open comes the door!
No estava tancada !
It warn't locked!
I hopped in, and shook off the towel, and, _Great Caesar's Ghost!_"
"What!--what'd you see, Tom?"
"Huck, I most stepped onto Injun Joe's hand!"
-Sí?
"No!"
"Yes!
-Jeia allí ben adormit en terra, amb el vell emplastre a l'ull i els braços estesos.
He was lying there, sound asleep on the floor, with his old patch on his eye and his arms spread out."
"Lordy, what did you do?
Did he wake up?"
"No, never budged.
Estava pet, ben segur.
Drunk, I reckon.
He arrabassat la tovallola i m' he engegat.
I just grabbed that towel and started!"
"I'd never 'a' thought of the towel, I bet!"
-Bé, doncs, jo sí.
"Well, I would.
My aunt would make me mighty sick if I lost it."
"Say, Tom, did you see that box?"
"Huck, I didn't wait to look around. I didn't see the box, I didn't see the cross.
I didn't see anything but a bottle and a tin cup on the floor by Injun Joe; yes, I saw two barrels and lots more bottles in the room.
Don't you see, now, what's the matter with that ha'nted room?"
-Quina cosa?
"How?"
"Why, it's ha'nted with whiskey!
Maybe _all_ the Temperance Taverns have got a ha'nted room, hey, Huck?"
"Well, I reckon maybe that's so.
Who'd 'a' thought such a thing?
But say, Tom, now's a mighty good time to get that box, if Injun Joe's drunk."
-Que l' és ? Feu -ne la prova !
"It is, that! You try it!"
Huck va esgarrifar -se.
Huck shuddered.
"Well, no--I reckon not."
-I jo també ho trobo, Huck.
"And I reckon not, Huck.
Una sola ampolla vora de Joe l' Indi no és prou.
Only one bottle alongside of Injun Joe ain't enough.
If there'd been three, he'd be drunk enough and I'd do it."
Hi hagué una llarga pausa de reflexió, i després Tom digué:
There was a long pause for reflection, and then Tom said:
"Lookyhere, Huck, less not try that thing any more till we know Injun Joe's not in there. It's too scary.
Now, if we watch every night, we'll be dead sure to see him go out, some time or other, and then we'll snatch that box quicker'n lightning."
-Bé, m' hi avinc:
"Well, I'm agreed.
I'll watch the whole night long, and I'll do it every night, too, if you'll do the other part of the job."
-Prou ! Ho faré.
"All right, I will.
All you got to do is to trot up Hooper Street a block and maow--and if I'm asleep, you throw some gravel at the window and that'll fetch me."
-Tracte fet, i amb aquella alegria!
"Agreed, and good as wheat!"
"Now, Huck, the storm's over, and I'll go home.
D' aquí a un parell d' hores començara a ser de dia. Tornareu allí i vetllareu aquesta estona: oi ?
It'll begin to be daylight in a couple of hours. You go back and watch that long, will you?"
"I said I would, Tom, and I will.
I'll ha'nt that tavern every night for a year!
I'll sleep all day and I'll stand watch all night."
-Molt bé.
"That's all right.
Now, where you going to sleep?"
-A la pallissa de Ben Rogers.
"In Ben Rogers' hayloft.
He lets me, and so does his pap's nigger man, Uncle Jake.
I tote water for Uncle Jake whenever he wants me to, and any time I ask him he gives me a little something to eat if he can spare it. That's a mighty good nigger, Tom.
És un negre d' allo més bon home, Tom.
He likes me, becuz I don't ever act as if I was above him.
Sometime I've set right down and eat _with_ him. But you needn't tell that. A body's got to do things when he's awful hungry he wouldn't want to do as a steady thing."
-Bé: si no us necessito de dia, Huck, us deixaré dormir: no us inquietaré pas.
"Well, if I don't want you in the daytime, I'll let you sleep. I won't come bothering around.
Any time you see something's up, in the night, just skip right around and maow."
CAPÍTOL XXX
CHAPTER XXIX
THE first thing Tom heard on Friday morning was a glad piece of news--Judge Thatcher's family had come back to town the night before.
Joe l' Indi i el tresor passaren a una importancia secundaria, per un moment, i Becky assumí el lloc cabdal en l' interes del minyó.
Both Injun Joe and the treasure sunk into secondary importance for a moment, and Becky took the chief place in the boy's interest.
He saw her and they had an exhausting good time playing "hispy" and "gully-keeper" with a crowd of their schoolmates.
El dia fou completat i coronat d' una manera especialment satisfactoria: Becky va importunar la seva mare perque assenyalés el dia següent per a la forada per tant de temps promesa i per tant de temps diferida, i ella va consentir.
The day was completed and crowned in a peculiarly satisfactory way: Becky teased her mother to appoint the next day for the long-promised and long-delayed picnic, and she consented.
La joia de la nena fou sense fites, i la de Tom no es mostra més moderada.
The child's delight was boundless; and Tom's not more moderate.
Les invitacions foren trameses abans de la posta de sol, i immediatament la minyonia del poblet es llança a una febre de preparatius i de plaent expectació.
The invitations were sent out before sunset, and straightway the young folks of the village were thrown into a fever of preparation and pleasurable anticipation.
Tom's excitement enabled him to keep awake until a pretty late hour, and he had good hopes of hearing Huck's "maow," and of having his treasure to astonish Becky and the picnickers with, next day; but he was disappointed.
no hi hagué senyal, aquella nit.
No signal came that night.
Morning came, eventually, and by ten or eleven o'clock a giddy and rollicking company were gathered at Judge Thatcher's, and everything was ready for a start.
No era el costum de la gent vella d' empantanegar les forades amb la seva presencia:
It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.
hom considerava prou segurs els infants sota les ales d' unes quantes damisel·les de divuit anys i uns quants senyorets de vint-i-tres o pels volts.
The children were considered safe enough under the wings of a few young ladies of eighteen and a few young gentlemen of twenty-three or thereabouts.
El vell vaporet fou noliejat per a aquella avinentesa: al cap de poc, alegre multitud omplia el carrer major, carregat tothom amb canastrelles de queviures.
The old steam ferry-boat was chartered for the occasion; presently the gay throng filed up the main street laden with provision-baskets.
Sid estava malalt, i hagué de perdre aquell divertiment; Mary romangué a casa per entretenir -lo.
Sid was sick and had to miss the fun; Mary remained at home to entertain him.
La darrera cosa que la senyora Thatcher digué a Becky, fou:
The last thing Mrs. Thatcher said to Becky, was:
"You'll not get back till late. Perhaps you'd better stay all night with some of the girls that live near the ferry-landing, child."
-Aleshores romandré amb Susy Harper, mama.
"Then I'll stay with Susy Harper, mamma."
"Very well. And mind and behave yourself and don't be any trouble."
Presently, as they tripped along, Tom said to Becky: "Say--I'll tell you what we'll do.
'Stead of going to Joe Harper's we'll climb right up the hill and stop at the Widow Douglas'.
Tindra gelats!
She'll have ice-cream!
En té cada dia, una mala fi. I estara d' allo
She has it most every day--dead loads of it.
més contenta que hi anem.
And she'll be awful glad to have us."
-Oh ! Seria bonic, aixo !
"Oh, that will be fun!"
Després Becky reflexiona un moment, i digué:
Then Becky reflected a moment and said:
-Pero, que dira, la mama?
"But what will mamma say?"
-Com voleu que ho sapiga ?
"How'll she ever know?"
The girl turned the idea over in her mind, and said reluctantly: "I reckon it's wrong--but--"
-Pero brocs!
"But shucks!
La vostra mare no ho sabra: alxí, doncs, quín és el mal ?
Your mother won't know, and so what's the harm?
All she wants is that you'll be safe; and I bet you she'd 'a' said go there if she'd 'a' thought of it. I know she would!"
L' esplendida hospitalitat de la vídua Douglas era un ham temptador.
The Widow Douglas' splendid hospitality was a tempting bait.
It and Tom's persuasions presently carried the day. So it was decided to say nothing to anybody about the night's programme.
Al cap d' una estoneta se li acudí a Tom que potser Huck compareixeria aquella nit i faria el senyal.
Presently it occurred to Tom that maybe Huck might come this very night and give the signal.
Aquest pensament lleva una pila d' engrescament a les seves expectacions.
The thought took a deal of the spirit out of his anticipations.
Amb tot, no comportava de deixar córrer el divertiment de casa la vídua Douglas.
Still he could not bear to give up the fun at Widow Douglas'.
And why should he give it up, he reasoned--the signal did not come the night before, so why should it be any more likely to come tonight?
The sure fun of the evening outweighed the uncertain treasure; and, boy-like, he determined to yield to the stronger inclination and not allow himself to think of the box of money another time that day.
Three miles below town the ferryboat stopped at the mouth of a woody hollow and tied up.
La colla pul·lula per la ribera; i aviat per les esteses del bosc i les altures del penyalar ressonaren, a la vora i lluny, crits i rialles.
The crowd swarmed ashore and soon the forest distances and craggy heights echoed far and near with shoutings and laughter.
All the different ways of getting hot and tired were gone through with, and by-and-by the rovers straggled back to camp fortified with responsible appetites, and then the destruction of the good things began.
Després de la festa hi hagué una renovadora tongada de descans i parloteig a l' ombra de les alzines ufanoses.
After the feast there was a refreshing season of rest and chat in the shade of spreading oaks.
No triga algú a dir, escridassant -s 'hi: -Qui esta a punt per anar a la cova ?
By-and-by somebody shouted: "Who's ready for the cave?"
Tothom n' estava:
Everybody was.
manyocs de candeles foren exhibits, i tot seguit hi hagué una general escampada muntanyola amunt.
Bundles of candles were procured, and straightway there was a general scamper up the hill.
The mouth of the cave was up the hillside--an opening shaped like a letter A. Its massive oaken door stood unbarred.
Within was a small chamber, chilly as an icehouse, and walled by Nature with solid limestone that was dewy with a cold sweat.
Era romantic i misteriós, d' estar -se allí dins, en la fosca profunda, i mirar a la part de fora, cap a la verda vall, que resplendia al sol.
It was romantic and mysterious to stand here in the deep gloom and look out upon the green valley shining in the sun.
But the impressiveness of the situation quickly wore off, and the romping began again.
The moment a candle was lighted there was a general rush upon the owner of it; a struggle and a gallant defence followed, but the candle was soon knocked down or blown out, and then there was a glad clamor of laughter and a new chase.
But all things have an end. By-and-by the procession went filing down the steep descent of the main avenue, the flickering rank of lights dimly revealing the lofty walls of rock almost to their point of junction sixty feet overhead.
Aquesta avinguda principal no era ampla sinó de vuit a deu peus.
This main avenue was not more than eight or ten feet wide.
Tot sovint, mentre hom davallava els graons, altres clivelles altívoles, i encara més estretes, en branquejaven a cada banda, perque la cova de McDougal no era sinó un vast laberint de passadissos retorts que menaven l' un dins de l' altre, i altra vegada a fora, i no portaven enlloc.
Every few steps other lofty and still narrower crevices branched from it on either hand--for McDougal's cave was but a vast labyrinth of crooked aisles that ran into each other and out again and led nowhere.
It was said that one might wander days and nights together through its intricate tangle of rifts and chasms, and never find the end of the cave; and that he might go down, and down, and still down, into the earth, and it was just the same--labyrinth under labyrinth, and no end to any of them.
No man "knew" the cave. That was an impossible thing.
Most of the young men knew a portion of it, and it was not customary to venture much beyond this known portion.
Tom Sawyer en sabia tant, de la cova, com qualsevol altre.
Tom Sawyer knew as much of the cave as any one.
The procession moved along the main avenue some three-quarters of a mile, and then groups and couples began to slip aside into branch avenues, fly along the dismal corridors, and take each other by surprise at points where the corridors joined again.
Les colles podien evitar -se l' una a l' altra per espai de mitja hora, sense traspassar el sol conegut.
Parties were able to elude each other for the space of half an hour without going beyond the "known" ground.
Al cap de poc l' un grup comparegué darrera l' altre (cadascú pel seu cantó ) a la boca de la cova, tothom panteixant, rialler, i empastifat de cap a peus de gotes de seu, i amb encastaments d' argila, i absolutament delectat amb l' exit de la diada.
By-and-by, one group after another came straggling back to the mouth of the cave, panting, hilarious, smeared from head to foot with tallow drippings, daubed with clay, and entirely delighted with the success of the day.
Then they were astonished to find that they had been taking no note of time and that night was about at hand.
The clanging bell had been calling for half an hour. However, this sort of close to the day's adventures was romantic and therefore satisfactory.
When the ferryboat with her wild freight pushed into the stream, nobody cared sixpence for the wasted time but the captain of the craft.
Huck was already upon his watch when the ferryboat's lights went glinting past the wharf.
He heard no noise on board, for the young people were as subdued and still as people usually are who are nearly tired to death.
He wondered what boat it was, and why she did not stop at the wharf--and then he dropped her out of his mind and put his attention upon his business.
The night was growing cloudy and dark.
Ten o'clock came, and the noise of vehicles ceased, scattered lights began to wink out, all straggling foot-passengers disappeared, the village betook itself to its slumbers and left the small watcher alone with the silence and the ghosts.
Eleven o'clock came, and the tavern lights were put out; darkness everywhere, now.
Huck waited what seemed a weary long time, but nothing happened.
His faith was weakening.
Era de cap servei, allo ?
Was there any use?
Era, talment, de cap servei ?
Was there really any use?
Why not give it up and turn in?
Les seves orelles copsaren un soroll.
A noise fell upon his ear.
Immediatament fou tot ell atenció.
He was all attention in an instant.
The alley door closed softly. He sprang to the corner of the brick store.
The next moment two men brushed by him, and one seemed to have something under his arm.
It must be that box!
So they were going to remove the treasure.
Why call Tom now?
It would be absurd--the men would get away with the box and never be found again.
No, ell continuaria vetllant i seguint -los: es refiaria de la fosca per lliurar -se d' ésser descobert.
No, he would stick to their wake and follow them; he would trust to the darkness for security from discovery.
So communing with himself, Huck stepped out and glided along behind the men, cat-like, with bare feet, allowing them to keep just far enough ahead not to be invisible.
They moved up the river street three blocks, then turned to the left up a crossstreet.
They went straight ahead, then, until they came to the path that led up Cardiff Hill; this they took.
Passaren vora la casa del vell gal·les, a mig camí de la pujada del turó, sense vacil·lar, i encara anaren enfilant -se més amunt.
They passed by the old Welshman's house, halfway up the hill, without hesitating, and still climbed upward.
-Molt bé- pensa Huck: -l'enterraran a la vella pedrera.
Good, thought Huck, they will bury it in the old quarry.
- Pero no s'hi aturaren, a la pedrera:
But they never stopped at the quarry.
They passed on, up the summit.
s'enfonsaren dins el caminal estret, entre les grans mates de roldó; i tot seguit restaren amagats en la tenebror.
They plunged into the narrow path between the tall sumach bushes, and were at once hidden in the gloom.
Huck closed up and shortened his distance, now, for they would never be able to see him.
He trotted along awhile; then slackened his pace, fearing he was gaining too fast; moved on a piece, then stopped altogether; listened; no sound; none, save that he seemed to hear the beating of his own heart.
El plany d'una oliba vingué damunt el turó: so de mal averany.
The hooting of an owl came over the hill--ominous sound! But no footsteps.
Pero res de passes. Valga 'ns Déu ! Era tot perdut ?
Heavens, was everything lost!
He was about to spring with winged feet, when a man cleared his throat not four feet from him!
Huck's heart shot into his throat, but he swallowed it again; and then he stood there shaking as if a dozen agues had taken charge of him at once, and so weak that he thought he must surely fall to the ground.
He knew where he was.
He knew he was within five steps of the stile leading into Widow Douglas' grounds. Very well, he thought, let them bury it there; it won't be hard to find.
Now there was a voice--a very low voice--Injun Joe's:
"Damn her, maybe she's got company--there's lights, late as it is."
"I can't see any."
This was that stranger's voice--the stranger of the haunted house.
A deadly chill went to Huck's heart--this, then, was the "revenge" job!
His thought was, to fly.
Then he remembered that the Widow Douglas had been kind to him more than once, and maybe these men were going to murder her.
He wished he dared venture to warn her; but he knew he didn't dare--they might come and catch him.
Pensa tot aixo i molt més en el moment que transcorregué entre l' observació de l' estrany i la de Joe l' Indi:
He thought all this and more in the moment that elapsed between the stranger's remark and Injun Joe's next--which was--
"Because the bush is in your way.
Mireu, per aquest cantó. Ho veieu, ara: veritat ?
Now--this way--now you see, don't you?"
"Yes. Well, there _is_ company there, I reckon.
Better give it up."
"Give it up, and I just leaving this country forever!
Give it up and maybe never have another chance.
I tell you again, as I've told you before, I don't care for her swag--you may have it.
But her husband was rough on me--many times he was rough on me--and mainly he was the justice of the peace that jugged me for a vagrant.
And that ain't all. It ain't a millionth part of it!
He had me _horsewhipped_!--horsewhipped in front of the jail, like a nigger!--with all the town looking on! _Horsewhipped_!--do you understand?
He took advantage of me and died.
Pero jo en pendré d'ella!
But I'll take it out of _her_."
-Oh! No la mateu!
"Oh, don't kill her!
No la matéssiu pas!
Don't do that!"
-Matar-la?
"Kill?
Who said anything about killing?
I would kill _him_ if he was here; but not her.
Quan voldreu revenjar-vos d' una dona, poc la matareu (fóra una ximpleria ! ):
When you want to get revenge on a woman you don't kill her--bosh! you go for her looks.
li fendireu el nas, li retallareu les orelles com se fa a una porca !
You slit her nostrils--you notch her ears like a sow!"
-En nom de Déu ! Aixo és …
"By God, that's--"
-Empasseu-vos el vostre parer!
"Keep your opinion to yourself!
Aixo us lliurara de pendre mal.
It will be safest for you.
La fermaré al llit.
I'll tie her to the bed.
If she bleeds to death, is that my fault?
I'll not cry, if she does.
My friend, you'll help me in this thing--for _my_ sake--that's why you're here--I mightn't be able alone.
If you flinch, I'll kill you. Do you understand that?
And if I have to kill you, I'll kill her--and then I reckon nobody'll ever know much about who done this business."
"Well, if it's got to be done, let's get at it.
Com més aviat millor: estic d'allo més traspostat.
The quicker the better--I'm all in a shiver."
-Fer-ho ara? I amb gent alla dins?… Ei!
"Do it _now_? And company there?
Look here--I'll get suspicious of you, first thing you know. No--we'll wait till the lights are out--there's no hurry."
Huck comprengué que vindria una pausa, una cosa encara més esglaiosa que tot el parloteig assassí que vulgueu: així és que va contenir -se l' ale i recula cautelosament. Plantava el peu amb esment i fermesa, després de gronxar -se sobre una cama, d' una manera precaria i gairebé caient: primer de l' una banda i després de l' altra. Féu una altra passa enrera amb la mateixa elaboració i els mateixos perills; després una altra i una altra; i peta sota sos peus una vilorda.
Huck felt that a silence was going to ensue--a thing still more awful than any amount of murderous talk; so he held his breath and stepped gingerly back; planted his foot carefully and firmly, after balancing, one-legged, in a precarious way and almost toppling over, first on one side and then on the other. He took another step back, with the same elaboration and the same risks; then another and another, and--a twig snapped under his foot!
Perdé l'ale i para esment.
His breath stopped and he listened.
There was no sound--the stillness was perfect.
La seva gratitud fou immensa.
His gratitude was measureless.
Now he turned in his tracks, between the walls of sumach bushes--turned himself as carefully as if he were a ship--and then stepped quickly but cautiously along.
When he emerged at the quarry he felt secure, and so he picked up his nimble heels and flew.
A vall, avall, corregué fins a arribar a la casa del gal·les.
Down, down he sped, till he reached the Welshman's.
Dona un cop de puny a la porta, i al cap de poc les testes del vell i sos dos fills cepats eixiren a les finestres, d' una revolada.
He banged at the door, and presently the heads of the old man and his two stalwart sons were thrust from windows.
-Que és, aquest aldarull ?
"What's the row there?
Quí truca ?
Who's banging?
Que voleu?
What do you want?"
"Let me in--quick!
Tot us ho contaré !
I'll tell everything."
-Ep! Quí sou?
"Why, who are you?"
"Huckleberry Finn--quick, let me in!"
"Huckleberry Finn, indeed! It ain't a name to open many doors, I judge! But let him in, lads, and let's see what's the trouble."
"Please don't ever tell I told you," were Huck's first words when he got in.
"Please don't--I'd be killed, sure--but the widow's been good friends to me sometimes, and I want to tell--I _will_ tell if you'll promise you won't ever say it was me."
"By George, he _has_ got something to tell, or he wouldn't act so!" exclaimed the old man; "out with it and nobody here'll ever tell, lad."
Three minutes later the old man and his sons, well armed, were up the hill, and just entering the sumach path on tiptoe, their weapons in their hands.
Huck no va acompanyar -los més enlla. S' amaga darrera un gran penyal, i vinga escoltar.
Huck accompanied them no further. He hid behind a great bowlder and fell to listening.
Hi hagué un silenci ronsejador, neguitós; i després, de cop i volta, una explosió d' armes de foc i un crit.
There was a lagging, anxious silence, and then all of a sudden there was an explosion of firearms and a cry.
Huck waited for no particulars. He sprang away and sped down the hill as fast as his legs could carry him.
CAPÍTOL XXXI
CHAPTER XXX
AS the earliest suspicion of dawn appeared on Sunday morning, Huck came groping up the hill and rapped gently at the old Welshman's door.
The inmates were asleep, but it was a sleep that was set on a hair-trigger, on account of the exciting episode of the night. A call came from a window: "Who's there!"
Huck's scared voice answered in a low tone: "Please let me in! It's only Huck Finn!"
"It's a name that can open this door night or day, lad!--and welcome!"
These were strange words to the vagabond boy's ears, and the pleasantest he had ever heard.
He could not recollect that the closing word had ever been applied in his case before.
The door was quickly unlocked, and he entered.
Hom dona seient a Huck, i el vell i sos dos fills cepats es vestiren acuitadament.
Huck was given a seat and the old man and his brace of tall sons speedily dressed themselves.
"Now, my boy, I hope you're good and hungry, because breakfast will be ready as soon as the sun's up, and we'll have a piping hot one, too--make yourself easy about that!
Jo i els nois esperavem que tornaríeu i pararíeu aquí, la darrera nit.
I and the boys hoped you'd turn up and stop here last night."
"I was awful scared," said Huck, "and I run.
I took out when the pistols went off, and I didn't stop for three mile.
I've come now becuz I wanted to know about it, you know; and I come before daylight becuz I didn't want to run across them devils, even if they was dead."
"Well, poor chap, you do look as if you'd had a hard night of it--but there's a bed here for you when you've had your breakfast.
No, they ain't dead, lad--we are sorry enough for that.
You see we knew right where to put our hands on them, by your description; so we crept along on tiptoe till we got within fifteen feet of them--dark as a cellar that sumach path was--and just then I found I was going to sneeze. It was the meanest kind of luck!
I tried to keep it back, but no use--'twas bound to come, and it did come!
I was in the lead with my pistol raised, and when the sneeze started those scoundrels a-rustling to get out of the path, I sung out, 'Fire boys!' and blazed away at the place where the rustling was.
So did the boys. But they were off in a jiffy, those villains, and we after them, down through the woods.
I judge we never touched them.
Dispararen un tret cadascú en començar a fugir; pero llurs bales xiulaven a la vora nostra i no ens feren cap mal.
They fired a shot apiece as they started, but their bullets whizzed by and didn't do us any harm.
As soon as we lost the sound of their feet we quit chasing, and went down and stirred up the constables.
They got a posse together, and went off to guard the river bank, and as soon as it is light the sheriff and a gang are going to beat up the woods.
My boys will be with them presently.
El meu desig fóra que tinguéssim una mena de descripció de aquests bretols; aixo seria un gran ajut, Pero no poguéreu veure en la fosca, quín posat tenien, em penso: oi, minyó !
I wish we had some sort of description of those rascals--'twould help a good deal. But you couldn't see what they were like, in the dark, lad, I suppose?"
"Oh yes; I saw them downtown and follered them."
-Esplendid ! Descriviu -los, descriviu -los, minyó !
"Splendid! Describe them--describe them, my boy!"
"One's the old deaf and dumb Spaniard that's ben around here once or twice, and t'other's a mean-looking, ragged--"
"That's enough, lad, we know the men!
Happened on them in the woods back of the widow's one day, and they slunk away.
Endavant, minyons, i digueu -ho al xerif: ja us menjareu el desdejuni dema passat !
Off with you, boys, and tell the sheriff--get your breakfast tomorrow morning!"
Els fills del gal·les eixiren tot seguit. Quan deixaven la cambra,
The Welshman's sons departed at once.
As they were leaving the room Huck sprang up and exclaimed: "Oh, please don't tell _any_body it was me that blowed on them! Oh, please!"
"All right if you say it, Huck, but you ought to have the credit of what you did."
-Oh ! No, no ! No ho digueu, si us plau !
"Oh no, no! Please don't tell!"
When the young men were gone, the old Welshman said: "They won't tell--and I won't.
But why don't you want it known?"
Huck would not explain, further than to say that he already knew too much about one of those men and would not have the man know that he knew anything against him for the whole world--he would be killed for knowing it, sure.
El vell prometé secret una vegada més, i digué: -Com és que seguíreu els dos subjectes, minyó ?
The old man promised secrecy once more, and said: "How did you come to follow these fellows, lad?
Tenien cares de sospitosos ?
Were they looking suspicious?"
Huck was silent while he framed a duly cautious reply. Then he said:
"Well, you see, I'm a kind of a hard lot,--least everybody says so, and I don't see nothing agin it--and sometimes I can't sleep much, on account of thinking about it and sort of trying to strike out a new way of doing. That was the way of it last night.
Aixo fou el que em passa la darrera nit: no podia dormir: així és que vaig pujar carrer amunt, pels volts de la mitja nit, a donar un tomb; i, quan vaig haver arribat a aquell vell diposit estropellat de rajoles que hi ha vora la taverna de Temperança, vaig recolzar -me a la paret per tenir una altra rumiada.
I couldn't sleep, and so I come along upstreet 'bout midnight, a-turning it all over, and when I got to that old shackly brick store by the Temperance Tavern, I backed up agin the wall to have another think.
Well, just then along comes these two chaps slipping along close by me, with something under their arm, and I reckoned they'd stole it.
L' un estava fumant, i l' altre necessitava foc; i per aixo s' aturaren al meu davant mateix, i els cigars els il·luminaren les cares, i vaig veure que el gran era l' espanyol sord i mut, per les seves patilles blanques i l' emplastre de l' ull, i l' altre era un diable matusser, d' aire esparracat …
One was a-smoking, and t'other one wanted a light; so they stopped right before me and the cigars lit up their faces and I see that the big one was the deaf and dumb Spaniard, by his white whiskers and the patch on his eye, and t'other one was a rusty, ragged-looking devil."
-Poguéreu veure els parracs, a la llum dels cigars ?
"Could you see the rags by the light of the cigars?"
This staggered Huck for a moment.
Then he said: "Well, I don't know--but somehow it seems as if I did."
"Then they went on, and you--"
"Follered 'em--yes.
That was it. I wanted to see what was up--they sneaked along so.
I dogged 'em to the widder's stile, and stood in the dark and heard the ragged one beg for the widder, and the Spaniard swear he'd spile her looks just as I told you and your two--"
"What! The _deaf and dumb_ man said all that!"
Huck havia comes una altra errada paorosa.
Huck had made another terrible mistake!
He was trying his best to keep the old man from getting the faintest hint of who the Spaniard might be, and yet his tongue seemed determined to get him into trouble in spite of all he could do.
He made several efforts to creep out of his scrape, but the old man's eye was upon him and he made blunder after blunder. Presently the Welshman said:
"My boy, don't be afraid of me. I wouldn't hurt a hair of your head for all the world.
No--I'd protect you--I'd protect you.
This Spaniard is not deaf and dumb; you've let that slip without intending it; you can't cover that up now.
You know something about that Spaniard that you want to keep dark.
Now trust me--tell me what it is, and trust me--I won't betray you."
Huck looked into the old man's honest eyes a moment, then bent over and whispered in his ear:
"'Tain't a Spaniard--it's Injun Joe!"
El gal·les gairebé salta de la seva cadira. Tot seguit digué:
The Welshman almost jumped out of his chair. In a moment he said:
"It's all plain enough, now.
When you talked about notching ears and slitting noses I judged that that was your own embellishment, because white men don't take that sort of revenge.
pero… un indi!…
But an Injun!
Aixo és d' un altre paner.
That's a different matter altogether."
During breakfast the talk went on, and in the course of it the old man said that the last thing which he and his sons had done, before going to bed, was to get a lantern and examine the stile and its vicinity for marks of blood.
No en trobaren cap, pero capturaren un gros embalum de …
They found none, but captured a bulky bundle of--
-De QUE?
"Of _what_?"
If the words had been lightning they could not have leaped with a more stunning suddenness from Huck's blanched lips.
His eyes were staring wide, now, and his breath suspended--waiting for the answer.
El gal·les féu un moviment; mira, en resposta, de fit a fit … tres segons … cinc segons … Després … després respongué:
The Welshman started--stared in return--three seconds--five seconds--ten--then replied:
"Of burglar's tools. Why, what's the _matter_ with you?"
Huck es deixa caure enrera, panteixant suaument, pero amb pregona, inexpressable satisfacció.
Huck sank back, panting gently, but deeply, unutterably grateful.
El gal·les el mira greument, curiosament, i tot seguit digué:
The Welshman eyed him gravely, curiously--and presently said:
-Sí, eines de lladregueria.
"Yes, burglar's tools.
That appears to relieve you a good deal.
But what did give you that turn? What were _you_ expecting we'd found?"
Huck es sentia en lloc estret: l' esguard inquisitiu era al seu damunt: hauria dat qualsevol cosa per tenir el material d' una plausible resposta. No se li acudí res; l' esguard inquisitiu penetrava més i més endins. Se li ocorregué una contestació sense sentit: no hi havia temps de suspesar -la: així és que, a l' atzar, pronuncia, feblement:
Huck was in a close place--the inquiring eye was upon him--he would have given anything for material for a plausible answer--nothing suggested itself--the inquiring eye was boring deeper and deeper--a senseless reply offered--there was no time to weigh it, so at a venture he uttered it--feebly:
-Llibres d'escola dominical, potser.
"Sunday-school books, maybe."
Poor Huck was too distressed to smile, but the old man laughed loud and joyously, shook up the details of his anatomy from head to foot, and ended by saying that such a laugh was money in a-man's pocket, because it cut down the doctor's bill like everything.
Then he added: "Poor old chap, you're white and jaded--you ain't well a bit--no wonder you're a little flighty and off your balance.
Pero ja en sortireu: el descans i la son em penso que us remuntaran d' allo més bé.
But you'll come out of it. Rest and sleep will fetch you out all right, I hope."
Huck was irritated to think he had been such a goose and betrayed such a suspicious excitement, for he had dropped the idea that the parcel brought from the tavern was the treasure, as soon as he had heard the talk at the widow's stile.
He had only thought it was not the treasure, however--he had not known that it wasn't--and so the suggestion of a captured bundle was too much for his self-possession.
But on the whole he felt glad the little episode had happened, for now he knew beyond all question that that bundle was not _the_ bundle, and so his mind was at rest and exceedingly comfortable.
In fact, everything seemed to be drifting just in the right direction, now; the treasure must be still in No. 2, the men would be captured and jailed that day, and he and Tom could seize the gold that night without any trouble or any fear of interruption.
Tot just acabat el desdejuni, sona un tust a la porta.
Just as breakfast was completed there was a knock at the door.
Huck salta en cerca d' un amagatall, perque no tenia el proposit que se 'l relacionés, ni d' una manera llunyana, amb el darrer esdeveniment.
Huck jumped for a hiding-place, for he had no mind to be connected even remotely with the late event.
The Welshman admitted several ladies and gentlemen, among them the Widow Douglas, and noticed that groups of citizens were climbing up the hill--to stare at the stile.
So the news had spread.
The Welshman had to tell the story of the night to the visitors. The widow's gratitude for her preservation was outspoken.
"Don't say a word about it, madam. There's another that you're more beholden to than you are to me and my boys, maybe, but he don't allow me to tell his name. We wouldn't have been there but for him."
Of course this excited a curiosity so vast that it almost belittled the main matter--but the Welshman allowed it to eat into the vitals of his visitors, and through them be transmitted to the whole town, for he refused to part with his secret.
When all else had been learned, the widow said: "I went to sleep reading in bed and slept straight through all that noise.
Per que no vinguéreu a despertar -me ?
Why didn't you come and wake me?"
"We judged it warn't worth while.
Those fellows warn't likely to come again--they hadn't any tools left to work with, and what was the use of waking you up and scaring you to death?
Mos tres negres vetllaren la vostra casa tota la resta de la nit.
My three negro men stood guard at your house all the rest of the night.
They've just come back."
Vingueren més visites, i la historia hagué d' ésser dita i redita per espai de dues hores més.
More visitors came, and the story had to be told and retold for a couple of hours more.
There was no Sabbath-school during day-school vacation, but everybody was early at church.
The stirring event was well canvassed. News came that not a sign of the two villains had been yet discovered.
When the sermon was finished, Judge Thatcher's wife dropped alongside of Mrs. Harper as she moved down the aisle with the crowd and said: "Is my Becky going to sleep all day?
I just expected she would be tired to death."
-La vostra Becky?
"Your Becky?"
"Yes," with a startled look--"didn't she stay with you last night?"
-I ara! No!
"Why, no."
Mrs. Thatcher turned pale, and sank into a pew, just as Aunt Polly, talking briskly with a friend, passed by. Aunt Polly said: "Goodmorning, Mrs. Thatcher. Goodmorning, Mrs. Harper.
-Bon dia, senyora Thatcher. Bon dia, senyora Harper.
I've got a boy that's turned up missing.
I reckon my Tom stayed at your house last night--one of you. And now he's afraid to come to church.
I've got to settle with him."
La senyora Thatcher mogué el cap feblement, i encara es torna més esblaimada.
Mrs. Thatcher shook her head feebly and turned paler than ever.
"He didn't stay with us," said Mrs. Harper, beginning to look uneasy.
A marked anxiety came into Aunt Polly's face. "Joe Harper, have you seen my Tom this morning?"
-No senyora.
"No'm."
"When did you see him last?"
Joe tried to remember, but was not sure he could say.
The people had stopped moving out of church. Whispers passed along, and a boding uneasiness took possession of every countenance. Children were anxiously questioned, and young teachers.
They all said they had not noticed whether Tom and Becky were on board the ferryboat on the homeward trip; it was dark; no one thought of inquiring if any one was missing.
Un jove, a la fi, digué barroerament la seva temença que encara fossin a la cova !
One young man finally blurted out his fear that they were still in the cave!
Mrs. Thatcher swooned away. Aunt Polly fell to crying and wringing her hands.
The alarm swept from lip to lip, from group to group, from street to street, and within five minutes the bells were wildly clanging and the whole town was up!
The Cardiff Hill episode sank into instant insignificance, the burglars were forgotten, horses were saddled, skiffs were manned, the ferryboat ordered out, and before the horror was half an hour old, two hundred men were pouring down highroad and river toward the cave.
Durant tota la tarda cançonera, el poble sembla buid i mort.
All the long afternoon the village seemed empty and dead.
Moltes dones visitaren la tia Polly i la senyora Thatcher, i provaren de reconfortar -les.
Many women visited Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher and tried to comfort them.
They cried with them, too, and that was still better than words.
All the tedious night the town waited for news; but when the morning dawned at last, all the word that came was, "Send more candles--and send food." Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also.
El jutge Thatcher enviava missatges d' esperança i encoratjament, de la cova estant, pero no comunicaven pas veritable goig.
Judge Thatcher sent messages of hope and encouragement from the cave, but they conveyed no real cheer.
El vell gal·les torna a casa cap a trenc de dia, esquitxat de seu de candela, empastifat d' argila i gairebé mort.
The old Welshman came home toward daylight, spattered with candle-grease, smeared with clay, and almost worn out.
He found Huck still in the bed that had been provided for him, and delirious with fever.
Els metges eren tots a la cova: així és que comparegué la vídua Douglas i s' encarrega del pacient.
The physicians were all at the cave, so the Widow Douglas came and took charge of the patient.
She said she would do her best by him, because, whether he was good, bad, or indifferent, he was the Lord's, and nothing that was the Lord's was a thing to be neglected.
El gal·les digué que Huck tenia bones qualitats, en el fons, i la vídua digué:
The Welshman said Huck had good spots in him, and the widow said:
"You can depend on it. That's the Lord's mark. He don't leave it off. He never does. Puts it somewhere on every creature that comes from his hands."
Early in the forenoon parties of jaded men began to straggle into the village, but the strongest of the citizens continued searching.
Totes les noves no feien sinó dir que havíen estat escorcollades llunyanies de la caverna mai visitades abans; que tot recó i clivella seria completament examinat; que, onsevulla que hom anés a raure, en aquell laberint de passadissos, hom veia llums que voleiaven d' ací d' allí en la distancia, i que cridoria i trets de pistola enviaven a la oida llurs baumades reverberacions per avall de les naus ombrívoles.
All the news that could be gained was that remotenesses of the cavern were being ransacked that had never been visited before; that every corner and crevice was going to be thoroughly searched; that wherever one wandered through the maze of passages, lights were to be seen flitting hither and thither in the distance, and shoutings and pistol-shots sent their hollow reverberations to the ear down the sombre aisles.
In one place, far from the section usually traversed by tourists, the names "BECKY & TOM" had been found traced upon the rocky wall with candle-smoke, and near at hand a grease-soiled bit of ribbon.
Mrs. Thatcher recognized the ribbon and cried over it. She said it was the last relic she should ever have of her child; and that no other memorial of her could ever be so precious, because this one parted latest from the living body before the awful death came.
Alguns digueren que de tant en tant, dins la cova, lluia una remota llumeneta, i aleshores esclatava una cridoria entusiasmada, i una vintena d' homes anaven, arraimats, pel ressonant passadís avall; i aixo sempre acabava amb una atuidora decepció: no eren allí, els infants: no era sinó el llum d' un que cercava.
Some said that now and then, in the cave, a far-away speck of light would glimmer, and then a glorious shout would burst forth and a score of men go trooping down the echoing aisle--and then a sickening disappointment always followed; the children were not there; it was only a searcher's light.
Tres paorosos dies amb llurs nits anaren arrossegant llurs hores tedioses, i el poblet caigué en una estupor sense esperança:
Three dreadful days and nights dragged their tedious hours along, and the village sank into a hopeless stupor.
No one had heart for anything. The accidental discovery, just made, that the proprietor of the Temperance Tavern kept liquor on his premises, scarcely fluttered the public pulse, tremendous as the fact was.
In a lucid interval, Huck feebly led up to the subject of taverns, and finally asked--dimly dreading the worst--if anything had been discovered at the Temperance Tavern since he had been ill.
-Sí- digué la vídua.
"Yes," said the widow.
Huck pega un bot en el seu llit, amb els ulls esverats.
Huck started up in bed, wildeyed:
-Que! Quína cosa?
"What? What was it?"
"Liquor!--and the place has been shut up.
Lie down, child--what a turn you did give me!"
"Only tell me just one thing--only just one--please! Was it Tom Sawyer that found it?"
The widow burst into tears. "Hush, hush, child, hush! I've told you before, you must _not_ talk.
Esteu molt, molt malalt !
You are very, very sick!"
Then nothing but liquor had been found; there would have been a great powwow if it had been the gold.
Així, doncs, el tresor era perdut per a sempre, per a sempre.
So the treasure was gone forever--gone forever!
But what could she be crying about?
Curious that she should cry. These thoughts worked their dim way through Huck's mind, and under the weariness they gave him he fell asleep.
The widow said to herself: "There--he's asleep, poor wreck.
Trobar -ho Tom Sawyer !
Tom Sawyer find it!
Pity but somebody could find Tom Sawyer!
Ah, there ain't many left, now, that's got hope enough, or strength enough, either, to go on searching."
CAPÍTOL XXXII
CHAPTER XXXI
Tornem ara a la part de Becky i Tom en la forada.
NOW to return to Tom and Becky's share in the picnic.
They tripped along the murky aisles with the rest of the company, visiting the familiar wonders of the cave--wonders dubbed with rather over-descriptive names, such as "The Drawing-Room," "The Cathedral," "Aladdin's Palace," and so on.
Al cap de poc comença la taleia de jugar a fet, i Tom i Becky s' hi esmerçaren amb zel, fins que l' esforç ana esdevenint enujós. Després davallaren, errívols, per una sinuosa avinguda, tenint les candeles en l' aire i llegint l' entremesclada teranyina de noms, dates, adreces postals i divises, mitjançant les quals les parets de roca semblaven pintades amb frescos … de fum de candela.
Presently the hide-and-seek frolicking began, and Tom and Becky engaged in it with zeal until the exertion began to grow a trifle wearisome; then they wandered down a sinuous avenue holding their candles aloft and reading the tangled webwork of names, dates, postoffice addresses, and mottoes with which the rocky walls had been frescoed (in candle-smoke).
Still drifting along and talking, they scarcely noticed that they were now in a part of the cave whose walls were not frescoed.
They smoked their own names under an overhanging shelf and moved on.
Presently they came to a place where a little stream of water, trickling over a ledge and carrying a limestone sediment with it, had, in the slow-dragging ages, formed a laced and ruffled Niagara in gleaming and imperishable stone.
Tom estrenyé el cos contra ell per il·luminar -lo i dar -ne la gaubança a Becky.
Tom squeezed his small body behind it in order to illuminate it for Becky's gratification.
He found that it curtained a sort of steep natural stairway which was enclosed between narrow walls, and at once the ambition to be a discoverer seized him.
Becky respongué a la seva iniciativa, i feren un senyal de fum per a llur futur guiatge, i partiren cap a la recerca.
Becky responded to his call, and they made a smoke-mark for future guidance, and started upon their quest.
Serpejaren per un camí i un altre camí, d' allo més avall de les secretes fondaries de la cova; feren una altra marca, i prengueren una via lateral, a esbrinar novetats per dir -les als que havien romas a dalt. En un indret trobaren una esbarjosa caverna, del sostre de la qual penjaven una munió d' estalactites resplendents, de la llargada i diametre d' un braç huma.
They wound this way and that, far down into the secret depths of the cave, made another mark, and branched off in search of novelties to tell the upper world about.
In one place they found a spacious cavern, from whose ceiling depended a multitude of shining stalactites of the length and circumference of a man's leg; they walked all about it, wondering and admiring, and presently left it by one of the numerous passages that opened into it.
This shortly brought them to a bewitching spring, whose basin was incrusted with a frostwork of glittering crystals; it was in the midst of a cavern whose walls were supported by many fantastic pillars which had been formed by the joining of great stalactites and stalagmites together, the result of the ceaseless water-drip of centuries.
Sota el sostre, extensos aplecs de ratapinyades s' hi havien atapeit, a milers en cada esbart. Els llums molestaven les bestioles, i davallaren a colles, a cents, xisclant i precipitant -se furiosament a les candeles.
Under the roof vast knots of bats had packed themselves together, thousands in a bunch; the lights disturbed the creatures and they came flocking down by hundreds, squeaking and darting furiously at the candles.
Tom sabia llur estil, i el perill d' aquesta mena de conducta;
Tom knew their ways and the danger of this sort of conduct.
He seized Becky's hand and hurried her into the first corridor that offered; and none too soon, for a bat struck Becky's light out with its wing while she was passing out of the cavern.
Les ratapinyades percaçaren els minyons fins a bella distancia; pero els fugitius es capbussaven en cada nou passadís que se 'ls oferia, i a la fi es lliberaren de aquells éssers perillosos.
The bats chased the children a good distance; but the fugitives plunged into every new passage that offered, and at last got rid of the perilous things.
Tom va trobar un llac subterrani, al cap de poc, que estenia la seva fosca superfície qui-sap -lo lluny, fins que la seva forma desapareixia en les tenebres.
Tom found a subterranean lake, shortly, which stretched its dim length away until its shape was lost in the shadows.
He wanted to explore its borders, but concluded that it would be best to sit down and rest awhile, first.
Aleshores, per primera vegada, la quietud profunda de l' indret posa una ma apegalosa damunt els esperits dels nois. Becky digué:
Now, for the first time, the deep stillness of the place laid a clammy hand upon the spirits of the children.
Becky said: "Why, I didn't notice, but it seems ever so long since I heard any of the others."
"Come to think, Becky, we are away down below them--and I don't know how far away north, or south, or east, or whichever it is. We couldn't hear them here."
Becky grew apprehensive. "I wonder how long we've been down here, Tom?
We better start back."
"Yes, I reckon we better. P'raps we better."
-Podreu trobar el camí, Tom ?
"Can you find the way, Tom?
Tot aixo és un embolic ben retort.
It's all a mixed-up crookedness to me."
"I reckon I could find it--but then the bats.
Si ens apaguessin totes dues candeles ens trobaríem en un paorós trencacoll.
If they put our candles out it will be an awful fix.
Let's try some other way, so as not to go through there."
"Well. But I hope we won't get lost. It would be so awful!"
- I l' infant s' estremí només de pensar en aquelles esgarrifoses possibilitats.
and the girl shuddered at the thought of the dreadful possibilities.
They started through a corridor, and traversed it in silence a long way, glancing at each new opening, to see if there was anything familiar about the look of it; but they were all strange.
Every time Tom made an examination, Becky would watch his face for an encouraging sign, and he would say cheerily:
"Oh, it's all right. This ain't the one, but we'll come to it right away!"
But he felt less and less hopeful with each failure, and presently began to turn off into diverging avenues at sheer random, in desperate hope of finding the one that was wanted.
He still said it was "all right," but there was such a leaden dread at his heart that the words had lost their ring and sounded just as if he had said, "All is lost!"
Becky clung to his side in an anguish of fear, and tried hard to keep back the tears, but they would come.
A la fi digué: -O Tom ! Tant se val, les ratapinyades !
At last she said: "Oh, Tom, never mind the bats, let's go back that way!
We seem to get worse and worse off all the time."
Tom s' atura. -Escolteu ! - digué.
"Listen!" said he.
Pregon silenci: silenci tan entranyable, que fins i tot llurs alens es destacaven en la quietud.
Profound silence; silence so deep that even their breathings were conspicuous in the hush.
Tom crida.
Tom shouted.
The call went echoing down the empty aisles and died out in the distance in a faint sound that resembled a ripple of mocking laughter.
"Oh, don't do it again, Tom, it is too horrid," said Becky.
"It is horrid, but I better, Becky; they might hear us, you know," and he shouted again.
El poden era un horror encara més glaçador que la fantasmal rialleta, de tant que confessava una esperança esvaida.
The "might" was even a chillier horror than the ghostly laughter, it so confessed a perishing hope.
Els minyons romangueren silenciosos, parant esment; pero sense cap resultat.
The children stood still and listened; but there was no result.
Tom turned upon the back track at once, and hurried his steps.
It was but a little while before a certain indecision in his manner revealed another fearful fact to Becky--he could not find his way back!
"Oh, Tom, you didn't make any marks!"
"Becky, I was such a fool! Such a fool!
I never thought we might want to come back!
No--I can't find the way. It's all mixed up."
"Tom, Tom, we're lost! we're lost!
We never can get out of this awful place!
Oh, why _did_ we ever leave the others!"
She sank to the ground and burst into such a frenzy of crying that Tom was appalled with the idea that she might die, or lose her reason.
S' assegué al seu darrera, i posa els braços al voltant d' ella: ella colga la cara en el seu pit, es repenja d' ell, esplaia totes ses terrors, ses inútils recances; i els llunyans ecos ho retornaven tot, convertit en rialles mofetes.
He sat down by her and put his arms around her; she buried her face in his bosom, she clung to him, she poured out her terrors, her unavailing regrets, and the far echoes turned them all to jeering laughter.
Tom begged her to pluck up hope again, and she said she could not.
He fell to blaming and abusing himself for getting her into this miserable situation; this had a better effect.
She said she would try to hope again, she would get up and follow wherever he might lead if only he would not talk like that any more. For he was no more to blame than she, she said.
So they moved on again--aimlessly--simply at random--all they could do was to move, keep moving.
Per una breu estona l' esperança va gloriar -se de reviure: no pas amb cap raó per a fonamentar -ho, sinó perque esta en la seva natura de reviure quan la deu no n' ha estat estroncada pels anys i la familiaritat amb les fallides.
For a little while, hope made a show of reviving--not with any reason to back it, but only because it is its nature to revive when the spring has not been taken out of it by age and familiarity with failure.
By-and-by Tom took Becky's candle and blew it out.
This economy meant so much!
no calien les paraules. Becky ho comprengué, i la seva esperança fina de bell nou:
Words were not needed. Becky understood, and her hope died again.
She knew that Tom had a whole candle and three or four pieces in his pockets--yet he must economize.
By-and-by, fatigue began to assert its claims; the children tried to pay attention, for it was dreadful to think of sitting down when time was grown to be so precious, moving, in some direction, in any direction, was at least progress and might bear fruit; but to sit down was to invite death and shorten its pursuit.
At last Becky's frail limbs refused to carry her farther. She sat down.
Tom rested with her, and they talked of home, and the friends there, and the comfortable beds and, above all, the light!
Becky plorava, i Tom feia per manera que se li acudís algun altre estil de reconfortar -la; pero tots sos encoratjaments s' havien esfilagarsat amb l' ús, i sonaven com a sarcasmes.
Becky cried, and Tom tried to think of some way of comforting her, but all his encouragements were grown thread-bare with use, and sounded like sarcasms.
Fatigue bore so heavily upon Becky that she drowsed off to sleep.
Tom n' estigué content.
Tom was grateful.
He sat looking into her drawn face and saw it grow smooth and natural under the influence of pleasant dreams; and by-and-by a smile dawned and rested there.
La cara, tranquila, reverberava quelcom de pacífic i guaridor, vingut al propi esperit, i sos pensaments vagarejaven cap a temps passats i memories somnioses.
The peaceful face reflected somewhat of peace and healing into his own spirit, and his thoughts wandered away to bygone times and dreamy memories.
While he was deep in his musings, Becky woke up with a breezy little laugh--but it was stricken dead upon her lips, and a groan followed it.
"Oh, how _could_ I sleep!
I wish I never, never had waked!
No, no: me 'n desdic, Tom ! No feu aquest posat !
No! No, I don't, Tom! Don't look so!
I won't say it again."
"I'm glad you've slept, Becky; you'll feel rested, now, and we'll find the way out."
"We can try, Tom; but I've seen such a beautiful country in my dream. I reckon we are going there."
-Potser no; potser no. Coratge, Becky, i continuem les provatures.
"Maybe not, maybe not. Cheer up, Becky, and let's go on trying."
They rose up and wandered along, hand in hand and hopeless.
They tried to estimate how long they had been in the cave, but all they knew was that it seemed days and weeks, and yet it was plain that this could not be, for their candles were not gone yet.
A long time after this--they could not tell how long--Tom said they must go softly and listen for dripping water--they must find a spring.
They found one presently, and Tom said it was time to rest again.
Both were cruelly tired, yet Becky said she thought she could go a little farther.
She was surprised to hear Tom dissent. She could not understand it.
S' assegueren, i Tom planta la candela a la paret, en front d' ells, amb una mica d' argila.
They sat down, and Tom fastened his candle to the wall in front of them with some clay.
Llur magí aviat s'aquefera: no digueren un mot per qui-sap-lo temps.
Thought was soon busy; nothing was said for some time.
Després Becky rompé el silenci: -Tom, tinc molta de gana.
Then Becky broke the silence: "Tom, I am so hungry!"
Tom took something out of his pocket. "Do you remember this?" said he.
Becky almost smiled. "It's our wedding-cake, Tom."
"Yes--I wish it was as big as a barrel, for it's all we've got."
"I saved it from the picnic for us to dream on, Tom, the way grownup people do with wedding-cake--but it'll be our--"
Deixa trencada la frase en aquell indret.
She dropped the sentence where it was.
Tom divided the cake and Becky ate with good appetite, while Tom nibbled at his moiety.
There was abundance of cold water to finish the feast with.
By-and-by Becky suggested that they move on again.
Tom was silent a moment. Then he said:
"Becky, can you bear it if I tell you something?"
La faç de Becky s' esblaima, pero digué que podria.
Becky's face paled, but she thought she could.
"Well, then, Becky, we must stay here, where there's water to drink. That little piece is our last candle!"
Becky gave loose to tears and wailings.
Tom féu el que pogué per reconfortar -la, pero amb efecte ben migrat.
Tom did what he could to comfort her, but with little effect.
A la fi Becky digué: -Tom!
At length Becky said: "Tom!"
-Que, Becky?
"Well, Becky?"
"They'll miss us and hunt for us!"
-Ben cert ! Ben cert que ho faran !
"Yes, they will! Certainly they will!"
"Maybe they're hunting for us now, Tom."
"Why, I reckon maybe they are. I hope they are."
-Quan repararan la nostra absencia, Tom ?
"When would they miss us, Tom?"
"When they get back to the boat, I reckon."
"Tom, it might be dark then--would they notice we hadn't come?"
"I don't know. But anyway, your mother would miss you as soon as they got home."
A frightened look in Becky's face brought Tom to his senses and he saw that he had made a blunder.
Becky was not to have gone home that night!
Els infants esdevingueren silenciosos i pensívols.
The children became silent and thoughtful.
Al cap d' un moment, un nou esclat de consternació en Becky mostra a Tom que la cosa que ell tenia al magí havia colpit així mateix el d' ella: del matí del diumenge podia haver -ne transcorregut la meitat abans que la senyora Thatcher descobrís que Becky no havia estat a la casa de la senyora Harper.
In a moment a new burst of grief from Becky showed Tom that the thing in his mind had struck hers also--that the Sabbath morning might be half spent before Mrs. Thatcher discovered that Becky was not at Mrs. Harper's.
Els infants clavaren els ulls en llur bocí de candela, i vigilaren com anava fonent -se a pleret, implacablement; veieren la mitja polzada de ble que romania, al capdavall, tota sola; veieren la débil flama alçant -se i caient, la prima columna de fum, enfiladissa, aturant -se -li al cim un instant, i després … l' absoluta horror de les tenebres !
The children fastened their eyes upon their bit of candle and watched it melt slowly and pitilessly away; saw the half inch of wick stand alone at last; saw the feeble flame rise and fall, climb the thin column of smoke, linger at its top a moment, and then--the horror of utter darkness reigned!
How long afterward it was that Becky came to a slow consciousness that she was crying in Tom's arms, neither could tell.
All that they knew was, that after what seemed a mighty stretch of time, both awoke out of a dead stupor of sleep and resumed their miseries once more.
Tom said it might be Sunday, now--maybe Monday.
He tried to get Becky to talk, but her sorrows were too oppressive, all her hopes were gone.
Tom said that they must have been missed long ago, and no doubt the search was going on.
He would shout and maybe some one would come.
He tried it; but in the darkness the distant echoes sounded so hideously that he tried it no more.
The hours wasted away, and hunger came to torment the captives again.
Una part de la mitja coca de Tom romania: se la partiren i la menjaren.
A portion of Tom's half of the cake was left; they divided and ate it.
Pero sembla que tinguessin més fam que no pas abans: el pobre bocí de menja no féu sinó esmolar el desig.
But they seemed hungrier than before. The poor morsel of food only whetted desire.
Al cap de poc, Tom digué:
By-and-by Tom said:
-Sst ! No sentiu aixo ?
"SH! Did you hear that?"
Tots dos contingueren llur ale i pararen l'orella:
Both held their breath and listened.
se sentia un so com de crit llunya, desmaiat.
There was a sound like the faintest, far-off shout.
Instantly Tom answered it, and leading Becky by the hand, started groping down the corridor in its direction.
Presently he listened again; again the sound was heard, and apparently a little nearer.
"It's them!" said Tom; "they're coming!
Avanceu, Becky ! Estem salvats, ara !
Come along, Becky--we're all right now!"
La joia dels presoners fou gairebé atuidora.
The joy of the prisoners was almost overwhelming.
Their speed was slow, however, because pitfalls were somewhat common, and had to be guarded against.
They shortly came to one and had to stop.
It might be three feet deep, it might be a hundred--there was no passing it at any rate.
Tom got down on his breast and reached as far down as he could. No bottom.
Res de fons: havien de romandre allí i esperar fins que els cercadors arribessin.
They must stay there and wait until the searchers came.
They listened; evidently the distant shoutings were growing more distant! a moment or two more and they had gone altogether.
O dissort descoratjadora!
The heart-sinking misery of it!
Tom whooped until he was hoarse, but it was of no use.
He talked hopefully to Becky; but an age of anxious waiting passed and no sounds came again.
Els infants, a les palpentes, retornaren a la font.
The children groped their way back to the spring.
El temps, remís, s' arrossegava. Dormiren altre cop, i es desvetllaren, plens de fam i amargor.
The weary time dragged on; they slept again, and awoke famished and woe-stricken.
Tom believed it must be Tuesday by this time.
En aquell moment una idea el colpí.
Now an idea struck him.
Hi havia alguns passadissos laterals a llur abast:
There were some side passages near at hand.
It would be better to explore some of these than bear the weight of the heavy time in idleness.
Es tragué un cordill d' estel de la butxaca, el nua a un sortint de roca i ell i Becky començaren de caminar, Tom al davant, descabdellant el fil a mesura que avançaven a les palpentes.
He took a kite-line from his pocket, tied it to a projection, and he and Becky started, Tom in the lead, unwinding the line as he groped along.
At the end of twenty steps the corridor ended in a "jumping-off place."
Tom got down on his knees and felt below, and then as far around the corner as he could reach with his hands conveniently; he made an effort to stretch yet a little farther to the right, and at that moment, not twenty yards away, a human hand, holding a candle, appeared from behind a rock!
Tom lifted up a glorious shout, and instantly that hand was followed by the body it belonged to--Injun Joe's!
Tom en fou paralitzat: no podia moure 's.
Tom was paralyzed; he could not move.
Experimenta una pregona satisfacció, a l' instant següent, en veure que l' espanyol apretava a córrer i es perdia de vista.
He was vastly gratified the next moment, to see the "Spaniard" take to his heels and get himself out of sight.
Tom wondered that Joe had not recognized his voice and come over and killed him for testifying in court.
Pero els ecos degueren disfressar -li la veu: sens dubte aixo era, va raonar ell.
But the echoes must have disguised the voice. Without doubt, that was it, he reasoned.
Tom's fright weakened every muscle in his body. He said to himself that if he had strength enough to get back to the spring he would stay there, and nothing should tempt him to run the risk of meeting Injun Joe again.
He was careful to keep from Becky what it was he had seen. He told her he had only shouted "for luck."
Pero la fam i la malaurança, al cap de molt de temps, es feren més fortes que les temences.
But hunger and wretchedness rise superior to fears in the long run.
Una altra espera tediosa a la font i un altre són, de força durada, hi feren mudança.
Another tedious wait at the spring and another long sleep brought changes.
Els infants es despertaren, desvetllats per una fam desesperada.
The children awoke tortured with a raging hunger.
Tom cregué que ja devia ésser dimecres o dijous, o potser divendres o dissabte, i que havia estat abandonada la recerca.
Tom believed that it must be Wednesday or Thursday or even Friday or Saturday, now, and that the search had been given over.
Es proposa d' explorar un altre passadís: se sentia amb voluntat de confrontar Joe l' Indi i totes les terrors.
He proposed to explore another passage. He felt willing to risk Injun Joe and all other terrors.
But Becky was very weak. She had sunk into a dreary apathy and would not be roused.
She said she would wait, now, where she was, and die--it would not be long.
She told Tom to go with the kite-line and explore if he chose; but she implored him to come back every little while and speak to her; and she made him promise that when the awful time came, he would stay by her and hold her hand until all was over.
Tom la besa, sentint que un nus li escanyava la gorja, i va fer veure que confiava de trobar els cercadors o una eixida de la cova. Després, amb el cordill d' estel a la ma, ana davallant a les palpentes, a grapes i damunt els genolls, per un dels passadissos, devastat per la fam i emmalaltit per les pronostigues de les imminents acaballes.
Tom kissed her, with a choking sensation in his throat, and made a show of being confident of finding the searchers or an escape from the cave; then he took the kite-line in his hand and went groping down one of the passages on his hands and knees, distressed with hunger and sick with bodings of coming doom.
CAPÍTOL XXXIII
CHAPTER XXXII
TUESDAY afternoon came, and waned to the twilight.
The village of St. Petersburg still mourned. The lost children had not been found. Public prayers had been offered up for them, and many and many a private prayer that had the petitioner's whole heart in it; but still no good news came from the cave.
The majority of the searchers had given up the quest and gone back to their daily avocations, saying that it was plain the children could never be found.
Mrs. Thatcher was very ill, and a great part of the time delirious.
People said it was heartbreaking to hear her call her child, and raise her head and listen a whole minute at a time, then lay it wearily down again with a moan.
Aunt Polly had drooped into a settled melancholy, and her gray hair had grown almost white.
The village went to its rest on Tuesday night, sad and forlorn.
Away in the middle of the night a wild peal burst from the village bells, and in a moment the streets were swarming with frantic half-clad people, who shouted, "Turn out! turn out! they're found! they're found!"
Cassoles de llauna i corns s' uniren a l' aldarull. La gent s' acobla i anaren cap al riu, i trobaren els infants que venien en un vehicle decobert, arrossegat per homes del poble que cridaven. Els altres s' atapeiren a llur volt, s' uniren a llur marxa cap al poble, i es precipitaren magníficament pel carrer major, braolant visques darrera visques !
Tin pans and horns were added to the din, the population massed itself and moved toward the river, met the children coming in an open carriage drawn by shouting citizens, thronged around it, joined its homeward march, and swept magnificently up the main street roaring huzzah after huzzah!
The village was illuminated; nobody went to bed again; it was the greatest night the little town had ever seen.
During the first half-hour a procession of villagers filed through Judge Thatcher's house, seized the saved ones and kissed them, squeezed Mrs. Thatcher's hand, tried to speak but couldn't--and drifted out raining tears all over the place.
Aunt Polly's happiness was complete, and Mrs. Thatcher's nearly so.
Seria absoluta, pero, tot seguit que el missatger trames amb les grans noves cap al coval hagués pogut assabentar -ne son marit.
It would be complete, however, as soon as the messenger dispatched with the great news to the cave should get the word to her husband.
Tom jeia damunt un sofa, amb un avid auditori al seu voltant, i digué la historia de la prodigiosa aventura, encabint -hi alguns afegitons sensacionals per agençar -la; i acaba amb la descripció de com deixa Becky i continua una eixida d' esploració; com seguí dues avingudes, tan enlla com li permeté el seu cordill d' estar; com en seguí una altra en tota la llargada del cordill, i estava a punt de entornar -se 'n quan lluca una taqueta llunyana que semblava claror de dia, i deixa el cordill, i ana a les palpentes envers ella, i empenyé cap i espatlles enfora d' un trau i veié l' ample Mississipí que el vorejava.
Tom lay upon a sofa with an eager auditory about him and told the history of the wonderful adventure, putting in many striking additions to adorn it withal; and closed with a description of how he left Becky and went on an exploring expedition; how he followed two avenues as far as his kite-line would reach; how he followed a third to the fullest stretch of the kite-line, and was about to turn back when he glimpsed a far-off speck that looked like daylight; dropped the line and groped toward it, pushed his head and shoulders through a small hole, and saw the broad Mississippi rolling by!
And if it had only happened to be night he would not have seen that speck of daylight and would not have explored that passage any more!
Digué com es féu enrera en cerca de Becky i li comunica la bona nova, i ella li digué que no la impacientés amb aquelles poca-soltes, perque estava atuida, i sabia que estava per morir, i li venia de grat. Descrigué com havia maldat amb ella i l' havia convençuda, i com Becky gairebé morí de joia en haver anat a les palpentes fins a l' indret on veié, talment, la blava taqueta de la llum del dia, i com ell, d' una embranzida, eixí del forat, i després l' ajuda a ella a fer -ho; com segueren allí i cridaren d' alegria; com uns homes passaren en una barca, i Tom els crida i els digué llur situació i llur famolenc estat; com els homes no cregueren, a la primeria, la brofega historia, « perque », digueren, « us trobeu cinc milles més avall d' on és la cova », i després els pujaren a la barca, remaren cap a una casa, els donaren sopar, els feren reposar fins a dues o tres hores després de caure la nit, i en acabat els portaren al poble. Abans que albegés, el jutge Thatcher i el grapat de cercadors que eren amb ell foren descoberts dins la cova, per la pista de fil d' empalomar que havien anat deixant al darrera, i hom els assabenta de les grans noves.
He told how he went back for Becky and broke the good news and she told him not to fret her with such stuff, for she was tired, and knew she was going to die, and wanted to. He described how he labored with her and convinced her; and how she almost died for joy when she had groped to where she actually saw the blue speck of daylight; how he pushed his way out at the hole and then helped her out; how they sat there and cried for gladness; how some men came along in a skiff and Tom hailed them and told them their situation and their famished condition; how the men didn't believe the wild tale at first, "because," said they, "you are five miles down the river below the valley the cave is in"--then took them aboard, rowed to a house, gave them supper, made them rest till two or three hours after dark and then brought them home. Before day-dawn, Judge Thatcher and the handful of searchers with him were tracked out, in the cave, by the twine clews they had strung behind them, and informed of the great news.
Three days and nights of toil and hunger in the cave were not to be shaken off at once, as Tom and Becky soon discovered.
They were bedridden all of Wednesday and Thursday, and seemed to grow more and more tired and worn, all the time.
Tom got about, a little, on Thursday, was downtown Friday, and nearly as whole as ever Saturday; but Becky did not leave her room until Sunday, and then she looked as if she had passed through a wasting illness.
Tom learned of Huck's sickness and went to see him on Friday, but could not be admitted to the bedroom; neither could he on Saturday or Sunday.
He was admitted daily after that, but was warned to keep still about his adventure and introduce no exciting topic.
The Widow Douglas stayed by to see that he obeyed.
At home Tom learned of the Cardiff Hill event; also that the "ragged man's" body had eventually been found in the river near the ferry-landing; he had been drowned while trying to escape, perhaps.
About a fortnight after Tom's rescue from the cave, he started off to visit Huck, who had grown plenty strong enough, now, to hear exciting talk, and Tom had some that would interest him, he thought.
Judge Thatcher's house was on Tom's way, and he stopped to see Becky.
The Judge and some friends set Tom to talking, and some one asked him ironically if he wouldn't like to go to the cave again.
Tom said he thought he wouldn't mind it.
The Judge said: "Well, there are others just like you, Tom, I've not the least doubt.
Ningú tornara a perdre 's en aquella cova.
But we have taken care of that. Nobody will get lost in that cave any more."
-Per que?
"Why?"
"Because I had its big door sheathed with boiler iron two weeks ago, and triple-locked--and I've got the keys."
Tom es torna blanc com el paper.
Tom turned as white as a sheet.
-Que passa, minyó ? Ei !
"What's the matter, boy!
Veniu, qualsevol! Porteu un vas d'aigua!
Here, run, somebody! Fetch a glass of water!"
L' aigua fou servida i tirada a la cara de Tom.
The water was brought and thrown into Tom's face.
"Ah, now you're all right. What was the matter with you, Tom?"
"Oh, Judge, Injun Joe's in the cave!"
CAPÍTOL XXXIV
CHAPTER XXXIII
WITHIN a few minutes the news had spread, and a dozen skiff-loads of men were on their way to McDougal's cave, and the ferryboat, well filled with passengers, soon followed.
Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher.
When the cave door was unlocked, a sorrowful sight presented itself in the dim twilight of the place.
Injun Joe lay stretched upon the ground, dead, with his face close to the crack of the door, as if his longing eyes had been fixed, to the latest moment, upon the light and the cheer of the free world outside.
Tom was touched, for he knew by his own experience how this wretch had suffered.
Sa compassió es desvetlla, pero tanmateix experimenta una ufanosa sensació d' alleujament i de seguretat, aleshores, que li revelava, en un grau abans no valorat abastament, quína considerable carrega de por havia pesat damunt seu d' ença del dia que va alçar la veu contra aquest sanguinari bandejat.
His pity was moved, but nevertheless he felt an abounding sense of relief and security, now, which revealed to him in a degree which he had not fully appreciated before how vast a weight of dread had been lying upon him since the day he lifted his voice against this bloody-minded outcast.
Injun Joe's bowie-knife lay close by, its blade broken in two.
The great foundation-beam of the door had been chipped and hacked through, with tedious labor; useless labor, too, it was, for the native rock formed a sill outside it, and upon that stubborn material the knife had wrought no effect; the only damage done was to the knife itself.
But if there had been no stony obstruction there the labor would have been useless still, for if the beam had been wholly cut away Injun Joe could not have squeezed his body under the door, and he knew it.
So he had only hacked that place in order to be doing something--in order to pass the weary time--in order to employ his tortured faculties.
Ordinarily one could find half a dozen bits of candle stuck around in the crevices of this vestibule, left there by tourists; but there were none now.
The prisoner had searched them out and eaten them.
He had also contrived to catch a few bats, and these, also, he had eaten, leaving only their claws.
The poor unfortunate had starved to death.
In one place, near at hand, a stalagmite had been slowly growing up from the ground for ages, builded by the water-drip from a stalactite overhead.
The captive had broken off the stalagmite, and upon the stump had placed a stone, wherein he had scooped a shallow hollow to catch the precious drop that fell once in every three minutes with the dreary regularity of a clock-tick--a dessertspoonful once in four and twenty hours.
That drop was falling when the Pyramids were new; when Troy fell; when the foundations of Rome were laid; when Christ was crucified; when the Conqueror created the British empire; when Columbus sailed; when the massacre at Lexington was "news."
It is falling now; it will still be falling when all these things shall have sunk down the afternoon of history, and the twilight of tradition, and been swallowed up in the thick night of oblivion.
Tenen, totes les coses, un fi i una missió ?
Has everything a purpose and a mission?
Did this drop fall patiently during five thousand years to be ready for this flitting human insect's need? and has it another important object to accomplish ten thousand years to come?
Tant se val.
No matter.
Han passat una pila d' anys d' ença que el desvalgut mestís bauma la pedra per recollir -hi les inapreciables gotes d' aigua; pero, fins i tot avui, l' excursionista mira més estona aquella pedra patetica i aquella aigua de lent degotar que no pas les mateixes meravelles de la caverna: ni el mateix Palau d' Aladí no pot rivalitzar -hi.
It is many and many a year since the hapless half-breed scooped out the stone to catch the priceless drops, but to this day the tourist stares longest at that pathetic stone and that slow-dropping water when he comes to see the wonders of McDougal's cave. Injun Joe's cup stands first in the list of the cavern's marvels; even "Aladdin's Palace" cannot rival it.
Joe l' Indi fou enterrat vora la gola de la cova, i la gent hi ana a ramades en barques i carros, del poblet estant i de tots els masos i caserius d' una rodalia de set milles; hi portaren llurs infants, i tota mena de queviures; i confessaren que gairebé s' havien divertit tant en l' enterrament com haurien fet en veure 'l enforcat.
Injun Joe was buried near the mouth of the cave; and people flocked there in boats and wagons from the towns and from all the farms and hamlets for seven miles around; they brought their children, and all sorts of provisions, and confessed that they had had almost as satisfactory a time at the funeral as they could have had at the hanging.
This funeral stopped the further growth of one thing--the petition to the governor for Injun Joe's pardon.
The petition had been largely signed; many tearful and eloquent meetings had been held, and a committee of sappy women been appointed to go in deep mourning and wail around the governor, and implore him to be a merciful ass and trample his duty under foot.
Injun Joe was believed to have killed five citizens of the village, but what of that?
If he had been Satan himself there would have been plenty of weaklings ready to scribble their names to a pardon-petition, and drip a tear on it from their permanently impaired and leaky water-works.
El matí després de l' enterrament, Tom se 'n dugué Huck a una banda reservada, per tenir -hi una important conversa.
The morning after the funeral Tom took Huck to a private place to have an important talk.
Huck had learned all about Tom's adventure from the Welshman and the Widow Douglas, by this time, but Tom said he reckoned there was one thing they had not told him; that thing was what he wanted to talk about now.
Huck's face saddened. He said: "I know what it is. You got into No. 2 and never found anything but whiskey.
Ningú em va dir que haguéssiu estat vós, pero vaig compendre que el devíeu ésser, de seguida que vaig sentir parlar d' aquesta qüestió del whisky; i vaig capir que no havíeu arreplegat el diner perque d' una manera o altra us hauríeu acostat on jo no era i m' ho hauríeu fet saber, encara que haguéssiu tingut la boca closa per a tothom.
Nobody told me it was you; but I just knowed it must 'a' ben you, soon as I heard 'bout that whiskey business; and I knowed you hadn't got the money becuz you'd 'a' got at me some way or other and told me even if you was mum to everybody else.
Tom, something's always told me we'd never get holt of that swag."
"Why, Huck, I never told on that tavern-keeper. _You_ know his tavern was all right the Saturday I went to the picnic.
Don't you remember you was to watch there that night?"
-Oh! sí!
"Oh yes!
Why, it seems 'bout a year ago. It was that very night that I follered Injun Joe to the widder's."
"_You_ followed him?"
-Sí. Pero… muixoni!…
"Yes--but you keep mum.
I reckon Injun Joe's left friends behind him, and I don't want 'em souring on me and doing me mean tricks.
If it hadn't ben for me he'd be down in Texas now, all right."
Then Huck told his entire adventure in confidence to Tom, who had only heard of the Welshman's part of it before.
"Well," said Huck, presently, coming back to the main question, "whoever nipped the whiskey in No. 2, nipped the money, too, I reckon--anyways it's a goner for us, Tom."
"Huck, that money wasn't ever in No. 2!"
-Com ! - Huck escorcolla vivament la cara del seu companyó ! -Heu tornat a trobar la pista d' aquests diners, Tom ?
"What!" Huck searched his comrade's face keenly. "Tom, have you got on the track of that money again?"
-Huck, són a la cova !
"Huck, it's in the cave!"
Els ulls de Huckleberry flamejaren. -Torneu -ho a dir, Tom !
Huck's eyes blazed. "Say it again, Tom."
-Els diners són a la cova !
"The money's in the cave!"
"Tom--honest injun, now--is it fun, or earnest?"
"Earnest, Huck--just as earnest as ever I was in my life.
Will you go in there with me and help get it out?"
"I bet I will! I will if it's where we can blaze our way to it and not get lost."
"Huck, we can do that without the least little bit of trouble in the world."
-De primera!
"Good as wheat!
I per que penseu que els diners són a … ?
What makes you think the money's--"
"Huck, you just wait till we get in there.
Si no els trobem, m' avinc a donar-vos el meu timbal i totes les coses que mai hagi arreplegat. Ho faré, mala negada !
If we don't find it I'll agree to give you my drum and every thing I've got in the world. I will, by jings."
"All right--it's a whiz.
I quan sera ?
When do you say?"
"Right now, if you say it.
Esteu fort abastament?
Are you strong enough?"
-És molt endins de la cova ?
"Is it far in the cave?
I ben on my pins a little, three or four days, now, but I can't walk more'n a mile, Tom--least I don't think I could."
"It's about five mile into there the way anybody but me would go, Huck, but there's a mighty short cut that they don't anybody but me know about.
Huck, I'll take you right to it in a skiff. I'll float the skiff down there, and I'll pull it back again all by myself. You needn't ever turn your hand over."
-Almenys eixim ben endegats.
"Less start right off, Tom."
-Molt bé. Necessitem pa i vianda, i les pipes, i un saquet o dos, i dos o tres cordills d' estel, i algunes d' aquestes coses de nova mena que en diuen mistos.
"All right. We want some bread and meat, and our pipes, and a little bag or two, and two or three kite-strings, and some of these new-fangled things they call lucifer matches.
I tell you, many's the time I wished I had some when I was in there before."
A trifle after noon the boys borrowed a small skiff from a citizen who was absent, and got under way at once.
When they were several miles below "Cave Hollow," Tom said: "Now you see this bluff here looks all alike all the way down from the cave hollow--no houses, no wood-yards, bushes all alike.
But do you see that white place up yonder where there's been a landslide?
Well, that's one of my marks. We'll get ashore, now."
Desembarcaren.
They landed.
"Now, Huck, where we're a-standing you could touch that hole I got out of with a fishing-pole.
Vejam si sabríeu trobar -lo.
See if you can find it."
Huck searched all the place about, and found nothing.
Tom avança altívolament envers un grup de roldons espessos i digué:
Tom proudly marched into a thick clump of sumach bushes and said:
-Veu 's -lo aquí ! Mireu -lo, Huck; és el forat més avinent de la contrada.
"Here you are! Look at it, Huck; it's the snuggest hole in this country.
I, sobre aixo, muixoni!
You just keep mum about it.
All along I've been wanting to be a robber, but I knew I'd got to have a thing like this, and where to run across it was the bother.
We've got it now, and we'll keep it quiet, only we'll let Joe Harper and Ben Rogers in--because of course there's got to be a Gang, or else there wouldn't be any style about it. Tom Sawyer's Gang--it sounds splendid, don't it, Huck?"
-Sí, talment, Tom.
"Well, it just does, Tom.
I a quí robarem ?
And who'll we rob?"
"Oh, most anybody.
Als vianants: aquest és principalment el costum.
Waylay people--that's mostly the way."
-I hom els mata ?
"And kill them?"
-No, no sempre.
"No, not always.
Hive them in the cave till they raise a ransom."
-Que és, un rescat ?
"What's a ransom?"
-Diners.
"Money.
Els feu arreplegar tot el diner que puguin de sos amics, i, després que els heu tingut un any tancats, si no l' arrepleguen, els mateu.
You make them raise all they can, off'n their friends; and after you've kept them a year, if it ain't raised then you kill them. That's the general way.
Aquest és el costum general. Pero les dones no les mateu.
Only you don't kill the women.
You shut up the women, but you don't kill them.
Sempre són belles i riques, i qui-sap -lo espaordides.
They're always beautiful and rich, and awfully scared.
You take their watches and things, but you always take your hat off and talk polite.
They ain't anybody as polite as robbers--you'll see that in any book.
Well, the women get to loving you, and after they've been in the cave a week or two weeks they stop crying and after that you couldn't get them to leave.
If you drove them out they'd turn right around and come back. It's so in all the books."
-Bé, és de primera, Tom.
"Why, it's real bully, Tom.
I believe it's better'n to be a pirate."
"Yes, it's better in some ways, because it's close to home and circuses and all that."
By this time everything was ready and the boys entered the hole, Tom in the lead.
They toiled their way to the farther end of the tunnel, then made their spliced kite-strings fast and moved on.
A few steps brought them to the spring, and Tom felt a shudder quiver all through him.
He showed Huck the fragment of candle-wick perched on a lump of clay against the wall, and described how he and Becky had watched the flame struggle and expire.
Els minyons començaren de baixar el to fins al murmuri, perque la quietud i la tenebror del lloc els oprimien l' esperit.
The boys began to quiet down to whispers, now, for the stillness and gloom of the place oppressed their spirits.
They went on, and presently entered and followed Tom's other corridor until they reached the "jumping-off place."
Les candeles revelaren el fet que no era realment un precipici, sinó una espadada muntanyola d' argila, d' uns vint o trenta peus d' altura.
The candles revealed the fact that it was not really a precipice, but only a steep clay hill twenty or thirty feet high.
Tom whispered: "Now I'll show you something, Huck."
Aixeca la candela en l' aire i digué: -Mireu cap al recó, tan lluny com pugueu.
He held his candle aloft and said: "Look as far around the corner as you can.
No veieu la cosa ? … allí, damunt la grossa roca de més enlla, feta amb fum de candela ?
Do you see that? There--on the big rock over yonder--done with candle-smoke."
-Tom, és una creu.
"Tom, it's a _cross_!"
-Doncs bé: on és, el Número 2 ? Sota la creu: oi ?
"_Now_ where's your Number Two? '_under the cross_,' hey?
Right yonder's where I saw Injun Joe poke up his candle, Huck!"
Huck mira una estona de fit a fit el místic senyal, i digué amb veu sacsejada:
Huck stared at the mystic sign awhile, and then said with a shaky voice:
-Tom, sortim d' aquí !
"Tom, less git out of here!"
"What! and leave the treasure?"
-Sí, deixeu -lo: la fantasma de Joe l' Indi corre per aquí, sens dubte.
"Yes--leave it. Injun Joe's ghost is round about there, certain."
"No it ain't, Huck, no it ain't. It would ha'nt the place where he died--away out at the mouth of the cave--five mile from here."
-No, Tom: no hi sera, alla:
"No, Tom, it wouldn't.
voltara pels encontorns de sos diners.
It would hang round the money.
Conec el costum de les fantasmes, i vós també.
I know the ways of ghosts, and so do you."
Tom began to fear that Huck was right. Mis-givings gathered in his mind. But presently an idea occurred to him--
"Lookyhere, Huck, what fools we're making of ourselves!
la fantasma de Joe l' Indi no voltara pas per una banda on hi ha la creu !
Injun Joe's ghost ain't a going to come around where there's a cross!"
El punt estava ben tocat: féu el seu efecte.
The point was well taken. It had its effect.
"Tom, I didn't think of that. But that's so. It's luck for us, that cross is. I reckon we'll climb down there and have a hunt for that box."
Tom went first, cutting rude steps in the clay hill as he descended.
Huck el seguí.
Huck followed.
Four avenues opened out of the small cavern which the great rock stood in.
Els minyons n'examinaren tres sense resultat.
The boys examined three of them with no result.
They found a small recess in the one nearest the base of the rock, with a pallet of blankets spread down in it; also an old suspender, some bacon rind, and the well-gnawed bones of two or three fowls. But there was no moneybox.
Els minyons escorcollaren i tornaren a escorcollar l' indret, pero endebades.
The lads searched and researched this place, but in vain.
Tom said: "He said _under_ the cross.
Well, this comes nearest to being under the cross. It can't be under the rock itself, because that sets solid on the ground."
Cercaren a tot arreu una vegada més, i després s'assegueren descoratjats.
They searched everywhere once more, and then sat down discouraged.
Huck could suggest nothing.
Al cap de poca estona, Tom digué:
By-and-by Tom said:
-Mireu, Huck: aquí hi ha petjades i una mica de seu de candela vora un costat de la roca, pero no als altres costats.
"Lookyhere, Huck, there's footprints and some candle-grease on the clay about one side of this rock, but not on the other sides.
A que ve, aixo ?
Now, what's that for?
I bet you the money _is_ under the rock.
Cavaré l'argila.
I'm going to dig in the clay."
-Bon acudit, Tom- digué Huck amb animació.
"That ain't no bad notion, Tom!" said Huck with animation.
Tom's "real Barlow" was out at once, and he had not dug four inches before he struck wood.
-Ei, Huck: no sentiu aixo ?
"Hey, Huck!--you hear that?"
Huck comença aleshores de cavar i esgarrapar. Aviat foren descoberts i separats alguns taulons.
Huck began to dig and scratch now. Some boards were soon uncovered and removed.
They had concealed a natural chasm which led under the rock.
Tom got into this and held his candle as far under the rock as he could, but said he could not see to the end of the rift.
He proposed to explore. He stooped and passed under; the narrow way descended gradually.
Seguí les tortes de son camí, de primer cap a la dreta, després cap a l'esquerra, amb Huck als seus talons.
He followed its winding course, first to the right, then to the left, Huck at his heels.
Tom turned a short curve, by-and-by, and exclaimed:
-En nom de Déu, Huck! Mireu aquí!
"My goodness, Huck, lookyhere!"
It was the treasure-box, sure enough, occupying a snug little cavern, along with an empty powder-keg, a couple of guns in leather cases, two or three pairs of old moccasins, a leather belt, and some other rubbish well soaked with the water-drip.
"Got it at last!" said Huck, ploughing among the tarnished coins with his hand. "My, but we're rich, Tom!"
"Huck, I always reckoned we'd get it. It's just too good to believe, but we _have_ got it, sure!
Escolteu: no badoquegem per aquí; esquitllem -nos cap a fora, Deixeu -me veure si puc alçar la caixa.
Say--let's not fool around here. Let's snake it out. Lemme see if I can lift the box."
It weighed about fifty pounds. Tom could lift it, after an awkward fashion, but could not carry it conveniently.
-Ja m' ho pensava- digué: -la traginaven com una cosa feixuga, aquell dia, de la casa on surt por: vaig reparar -ho.
"I thought so," he said; "_They_ carried it like it was heavy, that day at the ha'nted house. I noticed that.
I reckon I was right to think of fetching the little bags along."
Aviat hi foren, els diners, en el saquet; i els minyons pujaren cap al penyal de la creu.
The money was soon in the bags and the boys took it up to the cross rock.
"Now less fetch the guns and things," said Huck.
"No, Huck--leave them there. They're just the tricks to have when we go to robbing.
We'll keep them there all the time, and we'll hold our orgies there, too. It's an awful snug place for orgies."
-Que són orgies ?
"What orgies?"
"I dono. But robbers always have orgies, and of course we've got to have them, too.
Come along, Huck, we've been in here a long time.
It's getting late, I reckon.
I'm hungry, too. We'll eat and smoke when we get to the skiff."
They presently emerged into the clump of sumach bushes, looked warily out, found the coast clear, and were soon lunching and smoking in the skiff.
Quan el sol davallava cap a l' horitzó, mogueren els rems i començaren la ruta.
As the sun dipped toward the horizon they pushed out and got under way.
Tom examinava la ribera durant el llarg capvespre, parlotejant vivament amb Huck, i desembarcaren poc després d' haver -se escampat la fosca.
Tom skimmed up the shore through the long twilight, chatting cheerily with Huck, and landed shortly after dark.
"Now, Huck," said Tom, "we'll hide the money in the loft of the widow's woodshed, and I'll come up in the morning and we'll count it and divide, and then we'll hunt up a place out in the woods for it where it will be safe.
Esteu-vos aquí ben quiet, i vigileu la mercaderia, mentre jo, d' una correguda, pispo el carretó de Benny Taylor.
Just you lay quiet here and watch the stuff till I run and hook Benny Taylor's little wagon; I won't be gone a minute."
He disappeared, and presently returned with the wagon, put the two small sacks into it, threw some old rags on top of them, and started off, dragging his cargo behind him.
When the boys reached the Welshman's house, they stopped to rest.
Just as they were about to move on, the Welshman stepped out and said:
-Ep ! Qui hi ha ?
"Hallo, who's that?"
-Huck i Tom Sawyer.
"Huck and Tom Sawyer."
-Molt bé!
"Good!
Come along with me, boys, you are keeping everybody waiting.
Apa, acuiteu-vos: endavant, tot dret. Ja l'estiraré jo, el carretó.
Here--hurry up, trot ahead--I'll haul the wagon for you.
Why, it's not as light as it might be. Got bricks in it?--or old metal?"
-Metall venturer- digué Tom.
"Old metal," said Tom.
"I judged so; the boys in this town will take more trouble and fool away more time hunting up six bits' worth of old iron to sell to the foundry than they would to make twice the money at regular work.
Pero aquesta és la naturalesa humana. Cuiteu, cuiteu !
But that's human nature--hurry along, hurry along!"
Els minyons desitjaven saber a que venia la pressa.
The boys wanted to know what the hurry was about.
"Never mind; you'll see, when we get to the Widow Douglas'."
Huck said with some apprehension--for he was long used to being falsely accused: "Mr. Jones, we haven't been doing nothing."
The Welshman laughed. "Well, I don't know, Huck, my boy.
Que no sóu bons amics, vós i la vídua ?
I don't know about that. Ain't you and the widow good friends?"
"Yes. Well, she's ben good friends to me, anyway."
-Molt bé, doncs.
"All right, then.
What do you want to be afraid for?"
This question was not entirely answered in Huck's slow mind before he found himself pushed, along with Tom, into Mrs. Douglas' drawing-room.
El senyor Jones deixa el carretó vora la porta i els seguí.
Mr. Jones left the wagon near the door and followed.
The place was grandly lighted, and everybody that was of any consequence in the village was there.
Hi eren els Thatchers, els Harpers, els Rogers, la tia Polly, Sid, Mary, el ministre, el director del periodic, i molts altres; i tots amb la millor roba.
The Thatchers were there, the Harpers, the Rogerses, Aunt Polly, Sid, Mary, the minister, the editor, and a great many more, and all dressed in their best.
The widow received the boys as heartily as any one could well receive two such looking beings.
Estaven coberts d' argila i de seu de candela.
They were covered with clay and candle-grease.
La tia Polly esdevingué carmesina d' humiliació, i arrufa les celles i mogué el cap envers Tom.
Aunt Polly blushed crimson with humiliation, and frowned and shook her head at Tom.
Nobody suffered half as much as the two boys did, however.
Mr. Jones said: "Tom wasn't at home, yet, so I gave him up; but I stumbled on him and Huck right at my door, and so I just brought them along in a hurry."
-Molt ben fet- digué la vídua. -Veniu amb mi, minyons.
"And you did just right," said the widow. "Come with me, boys."
Després se 'ls emporta a una alcova i digué:
She took them to a bedchamber and said:
"Now wash and dress yourselves. Here are two new suits of clothes--shirts, socks, everything complete.
They're Huck's--no, no thanks, Huck--Mr. Jones bought one and I the other.
Pero us vindran bé a tots dos. Poseu-vos-els.
But they'll fit both of you. Get into them.
We'll wait--come down when you are slicked up enough."
I sortí.
Then she left.
CAPÍTOL XXXV
CHAPTER XXXIV
HUCK said: "Tom, we can slope, if we can find a rope. The window ain't high from the ground."
"Shucks! what do you want to slope for?"
"Well, I ain't used to that kind of a crowd. I can't stand it.
No hi baixaré pas, allí, Tom.
I ain't going down there, Tom."
"Oh, bother! It ain't anything.
A mi no m' importa gens ni mica.
I don't mind it a bit.
Ja en tindré esment, de vós.
I'll take care of you."
Sid appeared. "Tom," said he, "auntie has been waiting for you all the afternoon.
Mary got your Sunday clothes ready, and everybody's been fretting about you. Say--ain't this grease and clay, on your clothes?"
-Ep, senyor Siddy ! Capteniu-vos de vós mateix ! A que ve, tota aquesta festassa ?
"Now, Mr. Siddy, you jist 'tend to your own business. What's all this blowout about, anyway?"
"It's one of the widow's parties that she's always having.
This time it's for the Welshman and his sons, on account of that scrape they helped her out of the other night.
I escolteu: puc dir-vos una cosa, si voleu saber -ho ?
And say--I can tell you something, if you want to know."
-Bé, que?
"Well, what?"
"Why, old Mr. Jones is going to try to spring something on the people here tonight, but I overheard him tell auntie today about it, as a secret, but I reckon it's not much of a secret now.
Everybody knows--the widow, too, for all she tries to let on she don't.
Oh ! El senyor Jones necessitava que Huck fos aquí: no podia amollar el seu gran secret sense Huck: sabeu ?
Mr. Jones was bound Huck should be here--couldn't get along with his grand secret without Huck, you know!"
-Secret de quina cosa, Sid?
"Secret about what, Sid?"
"About Huck tracking the robbers to the widow's.
I reckon Mr. Jones was going to make a grand time over his surprise, but I bet you it will drop pretty flat." Sid chuckled in a very contented and satisfied way.
"Sid, was it you that told?"
"Oh, never mind who it was. _Somebody_ told--that's enough."
"Sid, there's only one person in this town mean enough to do that, and that's you.
If you had been in Huck's place you'd 'a' sneaked down the hill and never told anybody on the robbers.
You can't do any but mean things, and you can't bear to see anybody praised for doing good ones.
There--no thanks, as the widow says"--and Tom cuffed Sid's ears and helped him to the door with several kicks. "Now go and tell auntie if you dare--and tomorrow you'll catch it!"
Some minutes later the widow's guests were at the supper-table, and a dozen children were propped up at little side-tables in the same room, after the fashion of that country and that day.
At the proper time Mr. Jones made his little speech, in which he thanked the widow for the honor she was doing himself and his sons, but said that there was another person whose modesty-- And so forth and so on.
He sprung his secret about Huck's share in the adventure in the finest dramatic manner he was master of, but the surprise it occasioned was largely counterfeit and not as clamorous and effusive as it might have been under happier circumstances.
Tanmateix la vídua va fer una ostentació d' espalmament d' allo més bonica; i amuntega tants de compliments i tanta de gratitud damunt Huckleberry, que ell gairebé oblida la incomoditat quasi intolerable de son nou vestit per la incomoditat totalment intolerable d' ésser ofert com una rodella a l' esguard i a les lloances de tothom.
However, the widow made a pretty fair show of astonishment, and heaped so many compliments and so much gratitude upon Huck that he almost forgot the nearly intolerable discomfort of his new clothes in the entirely intolerable discomfort of being set up as a target for everybody's gaze and everybody's laudations.
The widow said she meant to give Huck a home under her roof and have him educated; and that when she could spare the money she would start him in business in a modest way.
Tom's chance was come. He said: "Huck don't need it. Huck's rich."
Nothing but a heavy strain upon the good manners of the company kept back the due and proper complimentary laugh at this pleasant joke. But the silence was a little awkward.
Tom broke it: "Huck's got money.
Maybe you don't believe it, but he's got lots of it.
Oh, you needn't smile--I reckon I can show you.
Espereu-vos un minut.
You just wait a minute."
Tom ran out of doors. The company looked at each other with a perplexed interest--and inquiringly at Huck, who was tongue-tied.
"Sid, what ails Tom?" said Aunt Polly. "He--well, there ain't ever any making of that boy out. I never--"
Tom entered, struggling with the weight of his sacks, and Aunt Polly did not finish her sentence.
Tom poured the mass of yellow coin upon the table and said: "There--what did I tell you?
Half of it's Huck's and half of it's mine!"
The spectacle took the general breath away.
All gazed, nobody spoke for a moment.
Després hi hagué una demanadissa unanime d' explicacions.
Then there was a unanimous call for an explanation.
Tom said he could furnish it, and he did. The tale was long, but brimful of interest.
There was scarcely an interruption from any one to break the charm of its flow.
When he had finished, Mr. Jones said: "I thought I had fixed up a little surprise for this occasion, but it don't amount to anything now. This one makes it sing mighty small, I'm willing to allow."
The money was counted. The sum amounted to a little over twelve thousand dollars.
It was more than any one present had ever seen at one time before, though several persons were there who were worth considerably more than that in property.
CAPÍTOL XXXVI
CHAPTER XXXV
THE reader may rest satisfied that Tom's and Huck's windfall made a mighty stir in the poor little village of St. Petersburg.
Una quantitat tan gran, i tota ella veritablement encaixada, semblava gairebé increible.
So vast a sum, all in actual cash, seemed next to incredible.
Se 'n parloteja, de la cosa, i se la va estufar i glorificar fins que el seny de molts dels habitants vacil·la sota la tensió del malaltís exaltament.
It was talked about, gloated over, glorified, until the reason of many of the citizens tottered under the strain of the unhealthy excitement.
Totes les cases de Sant Petersburg i els llogarrets veins foren analitzades, post darrera post, i llurs fonaments descolgats i escorcollats, en la recerca del tresor ocult. I no pas per minyons, sinó per homes; i alguns de ben seriosos i sense el més petit romanticisme.
Every "haunted" house in St. Petersburg and the neighboring villages was dissected, plank by plank, and its foundations dug up and ransacked for hidden treasure--and not by boys, but men--pretty grave, unromantic men, too, some of them.
Onsevulla que Tom i Huck apareguessin, hom els festejava, els admirava, s' hi embadalia.
Wherever Tom and Huck appeared they were courted, admired, stared at.
Els minyons no podien recordar que llurs observacions haguessin estat de pes, abans; pero ara les dites llurs eren atresorades i repetides: tot el que feien, ça com lla, semblava ésser considerat com a notable: havien perdut, evidentment, el poder de fer i dir coses vulgars. A més, llur passada historia va ser furgada, i hom descobrí que hi havia marques d' originalitat ben paleses. El periodic local publica esbossos biografics dels minyons.
The boys were not able to remember that their remarks had possessed weight before; but now their sayings were treasured and repeated; everything they did seemed somehow to be regarded as remarkable; they had evidently lost the power of doing and saying commonplace things; moreover, their past history was raked up and discovered to bear marks of conspicuous originality. The village paper published biographical sketches of the boys.
La vídua Douglas posa el diner de Huck al sis per cent, i el jutge Thatcher féu el mateix amb el de Tom, a requesta de la tia Polly.
The Widow Douglas put Huck's money out at six per cent., and Judge Thatcher did the same with Tom's at Aunt Polly's request.
Cada minyó tenia ara una renda simplement prodigiosa: un dolar per cada dia de feina de l' any, i mig més els diumenges.
Each lad had an income, now, that was simply prodigious--a dollar for every weekday in the year and half of the Sundays.
It was just what the minister got--no, it was what he was promised--he generally couldn't collect it.
Amb un dolar i quart per setmana, un minyó podia ésser allotjat, mantingut i ensenyat, en aquells antics dies innocents … i també vestit i rentat, fet i fet.
A dollar and a quarter a week would board, lodge, and school a boy in those old simple days--and clothe him and wash him, too, for that matter.
Judge Thatcher had conceived a great opinion of Tom.
He said that no commonplace boy would ever have got his daughter out of the cave.
Quan Becky digué al seu pare, en estricta confiança, com, a l' escola, Tom havia rebut les fuetades en lloc d' ella, el jutge en fou visiblement commogut; i, quan ella demana gracia per la gran mentida que Tom havia dit per transportar el fueteig de l' espatlla d' ella a la seva, el jutge digué, en un bell esclat, que aquella era una mentida noble, generosa, magnanima: una mentida digna de redreçar el cap i transitar per la historia de bracet amb la lloada Veritat de George Washington sobre la destral !
When Becky told her father, in strict confidence, how Tom had taken her whipping at school, the Judge was visibly moved; and when she pleaded grace for the mighty lie which Tom had told in order to shift that whipping from her shoulders to his own, the Judge said with a fine outburst that it was a noble, a generous, a magnanimous lie--a lie that was worthy to hold up its head and march down through history breast to breast with George Washington's lauded Truth about the hatchet!
Becky thought her father had never looked so tall and so superb as when he walked the floor and stamped his foot and said that.
Ella eixí de dret, i va assabentar -ne Tom.
She went straight off and told Tom about it.
Judge Thatcher hoped to see Tom a great lawyer or a great soldier some day.
He said he meant to look to it that Tom should be admitted to the National Military Academy and afterward trained in the best law school in the country, in order that he might be ready for either career or both.
La riquesa de Huck Finn, i el fet de trobar -se sota la protecció de la vídua Douglas, l' introduí a la societat (no: va llançar-l 'hi, va precipitar-l 'hi ), i els seus sofriments gairebé ultrapassaven la mesura de les seves forces.
Huck Finn's wealth and the fact that he was now under the Widow Douglas' protection introduced him into society--no, dragged him into it, hurled him into it--and his sufferings were almost more than he could bear.
Els servents de la vídua el tenien net i polit, pentinat i raspallat; i de nit el colgaven entre llençols antipatics, sense una petita macula o llantia que hi pogués estrenyer contra el cor i reconeixer per amiga.
The widow's servants kept him clean and neat, combed and brushed, and they bedded him nightly in unsympathetic sheets that had not one little spot or stain which he could press to his heart and know for a friend.
Hagué de menjar amb ganivet i forquilla; hagué d' usar tovalló, tassó i plat; hagué d' apendre el seu llibre; hagué d' anar a l' església; hagué de parlar amb tanta de propietat que el llenguatge esdevingué insípid en sos llavis: onsevulla que es girés, les barreres i cadenes de la civilització el tancaven i el fermaven de cap a peus.
He had to eat with a knife and fork; he had to use napkin, cup, and plate; he had to learn his book, he had to go to church; he had to talk so properly that speech was become insipid in his mouth; whithersoever he turned, the bars and shackles of civilization shut him in and bound him hand and foot.
He bravely bore his miseries three weeks, and then one day turned up missing.
Per espai de quaranta vuit hores la vídua el cerca per tot arreu, afligidíssima.
For forty-eight hours the widow hunted for him everywhere in great distress.
El públic s' hi encaparra en gran manera: tot ho remenaren, i dragaren el riu en cerca del seu cos.
The public were profoundly concerned; they searched high and low, they dragged the river for his body.
Early the third morning Tom Sawyer wisely went poking among some old empty hogsheads down behind the abandoned slaughter-house, and in one of them he found the refugee.
Huck had slept there; he had just breakfasted upon some stolen odds and ends of food, and was lying off, now, in comfort, with his pipe.
He was unkempt, uncombed, and clad in the same old ruin of rags that had made him picturesque in the days when he was free and happy.
Tom routed him out, told him the trouble he had been causing, and urged him to go home.
La cara de Huck perdé son pacífic comportament i prengué un tirat melangiós.
Huck's face lost its tranquil content, and took a melancholy cast. He said:
"Don't talk about it, Tom. I've tried it, and it don't work; it don't work, Tom. It ain't for me; I ain't used to it.
The widder's good to me, and friendly; but I can't stand them ways.
Em fa llevar a la mateixa hora cada matí; em fa rentar; em pentinen d' una manera que esgarrifa; no em volen deixar dormir en el cobert de fusta. He de portar els vestits condemnats que m' ofeguen: sembla que no deixin passar gens d' aire, tanmateix; i faig goig d' una manera tan endiastrada que no puc tirar -me a terra, ni ajeure 'm, ni rodolar enlloc.
She makes me get up just at the same time every morning; she makes me wash, they comb me all to thunder; she won't let me sleep in the woodshed; I got to wear them blamed clothes that just smothers me, Tom; they don't seem to any air git through 'em, somehow; and they're so rotten nice that I can't set down, nor lay down, nor roll around anywher's;
I hain't slid on a cellar-door for--well, it 'pears to be years; I got to go to church and sweat and sweat--I hate them ornery sermons!
I can't ketch a fly in there, I can't chaw. I got to wear shoes all Sunday.
The widder eats by a bell; she goes to bed by a bell; she gits up by a bell--everything's so awful reg'lar a body can't stand it."
-Bé, tothom ho fa així, Huck.
"Well, everybody does that way, Huck."
"Tom, it don't make no difference. I ain't everybody, and I can't _stand_ it. It's awful to be tied up so.
And grub comes too easy--I don't take no interest in vittles, that way.
I got to ask to go a-fishing; I got to ask to go in a-swimming--dern'd if I hain't got to ask to do everything.
Well, I'd got to talk so nice it wasn't no comfort--I'd got to go up in the attic and rip out awhile, every day, to git a taste in my mouth, or I'd a died, Tom.
The widder wouldn't let me smoke; she wouldn't let me yell, she wouldn't let me gape, nor stretch, nor scratch, before folks--" [Then with a spasm of special irritation and injury]--"And dad fetch it, she prayed all the time! I never see such a woman!
I _had_ to shove, Tom--I just had to. And besides, that school's going to open, and I'd a had to go to it--well, I wouldn't stand _that_, Tom.
Looky-here, Tom, being rich ain't what it's cracked up to be.
És neguitejar -se i neguitejar -se, i suar i suar, i desitjar a tota hora que un hom fos enterrat.
It's just worry and worry, and sweat and sweat, and a-wishing you was dead all the time.
Now these clothes suits me, and this bar'l suits me, and I ain't ever going to shake 'em any more.
Tom, mai no m' hauria vist en aquest tribull si no hagués estat per aquells diners: ja podeu pendre la meva part amb la vostra, i dar -me de tant en tant deu centims (no pas moltes vegades, perque jo no dono una malla per cap cosa sinó quan és d' allo més difícil d' haver ); i vós aneu i em feu quedar com una persona amb la vídua.
Tom, I wouldn't ever got into all this trouble if it hadn't 'a' ben for that money; now you just take my sheer of it along with your'n, and gimme a ten-center sometimes--not many times, becuz I don't give a dern for a thing 'thout it's tollable hard to git--and you go and beg off for me with the widder."
"Oh, Huck, you know I can't do that. 'Tain't fair; and besides if you'll try this thing just a while longer you'll come to like it."
-M'arribara a plaure!
"Like it!
Yes--the way I'd like a hot stove if I was to set on it long enough.
No, Tom, I won't be rich, and I won't live in them cussed smothery houses.
Em plauen els boscos, i el riu, i les bótes. I poc els deixaré.
I like the woods, and the river, and hogsheads, and I'll stick to 'em, too.
Blame it all! just as we'd got guns, and a cave, and all just fixed to rob, here this dern foolishness has got to come up and spile it all!"
Tom saw his opportunity-- "Lookyhere, Huck, being rich ain't going to keep me back from turning robber."
-No?
"No!
Oh ! Malvinatge ! Parleu de bo de bo ben rebé, Tom ?
Oh, good-licks; are you in real dead-wood earnest, Tom?"
-Tan de bo de bo com que ara estic assegut.
"Just as dead earnest as I'm sitting here.
But Huck, we can't let you into the gang if you ain't respectable, you know."
Huck's joy was quenched. "Can't let me in, Tom?
Didn't you let me go for a pirate?"
-Sí, pero aixo és diferent:
"Yes, but that's different.
un lladre és de més to, que no pas un pirata, en general.
A robber is more high-toned than what a pirate is--as a general thing.
In most countries they're awful high up in the nobility--dukes and such."
"Now, Tom, hain't you always ben friendly to me?
Oi, Tom? Oi que no ho faríeu? Digueu. Oi, Tom?
You wouldn't shet me out, would you, Tom? You wouldn't do that, now, _would_ you, Tom?"
"Huck, I wouldn't want to, and I _don't_ want to--but what would people say? Why, they'd say, 'Mph!
La colla de Tom Sawyer ! Quína terregada hi ha !
Tom Sawyer's Gang! pretty low characters in it!'
I ho dirien per vós, Huck.
They'd mean you, Huck.
No us plauria pas, aixo; ni a mi tampoc.
You wouldn't like that, and I wouldn't."
Huck was silent for some time, engaged in a mental struggle.
A la fi digué:
Finally he said:
"Well, I'll go back to the widder for a month and tackle it and see if I can come to stand it, if you'll let me b'long to the gang, Tom."
"All right, Huck, it's a whiz!
Come along, old chap, and I'll ask the widow to let up on you a little, Huck."
-Ho fareu, Tom, tanmateix?
"Will you, Tom--now will you?
Esta bé, aixo.
That's good.
If she'll let up on some of the roughest things, I'll smoke private and cuss private, and crowd through or bust. When you going to start the gang and turn robbers?"
-Oh! Ben aviat.
"Oh, right off.
We'll get the boys together and have the initiation tonight, maybe."
-Farem la que?
"Have the which?"
-La iniciació.
"Have the initiation."
-Quína cosa és ?
"What's that?"
"It's to swear to stand by one another, and never tell the gang's secrets, even if you're chopped all to flinders, and kill anybody and all his family that hurts one of the gang."
"That's gay--that's mighty gay, Tom, I tell you."
"Well, I bet it is.
And all that swearing's got to be done at midnight, in the lonesomest, awfulest place you can find--a ha'nted house is the best, but they're all ripped up now."
-Bé, aixo de la mitja nit és de primera, ça com lla, Tom.
"Well, midnight's good, anyway, Tom."
"Yes, so it is. And you've got to swear on a coffin, and sign it with blood."
"Now, that's something _like_!
Bé, és un milió de vegades més divertit que el piratejar.
Why, it's a million times bullier than pirating.
I'll stick to the widder till I rot, Tom; and if I git to be a reg'lar ripper of a robber, and everybody talking 'bout it, I reckon she'll be proud she snaked me in out of the wet."
ACABAMENT
CONCLUSION
SO endeth this chronicle. It being strictly a history of a _boy_, it must stop here; the story could not go much further without becoming the history of a _man_.
When one writes a novel about grown people, he knows exactly where to stop--that is, with a marriage; but when he writes of juveniles, he must stop where he best can.
Most of the characters that perform in this book still live, and are prosperous and happy.
Some day it may seem worth while to take up the story of the younger ones again and see what sort of men and women they turned out to be; therefore it will be wisest not to reveal any of that part of their lives at present.