| He remembered a huge room, rather dark; and there were big wooden things with strings fastened to them, and lots of women standing round them-making blankets, Linda said. | Вспоминается обширная комната, сумрачная; в ней стоят деревянные рамы с навязанными нитями, и у рам много женщин - одеяла ткут, сказала Линда. |
| Linda told him to sit in the corner with the other children, while she went and helped the women. | Она велела ему сидеть в углу с другими детьми, а сама пошла помогать женщинам. |
| He played with the little boys for a long time. | Он играет с мальчиками, долго. |
| Suddenly people started talking very loud, and there were the women pushing Linda away, and Linda was crying. | Вдруг у рам заговорили очень громко, и женщины отталкивают Линду прочь, а она плачет, идет к дверям. |
| She went to the door and he ran after her. | Он побежал за ней. |
| He asked her why they were angry. | Спрашивает, почему на нее рассердились. |
| "Because I broke something," she said. | - Я сломала там что-то, - говорит Линда. |
| And then she got angry too. | И сама рассердилась. |
| "How should I know how to do their beastly weaving?" she said. | - Откуда мне уметь их дрянные одеяла ткать, -говорит. |
| "Beastly savages." | - Дикари противные. |
| He asked her what savages were. | - А что такое дикари? - спрашивает он. |
| When they got back to their house, Pope was waiting at the door, and he came in with them. | Дома у дверей ждет Попе и входит вместе с ними. |
| He had a big gourd full of stuff that looked like water; only it wasn't water, but something with a bad smell that burnt your mouth and made you cough. | Он принес большой сосуд из тыквы, полный воды не воды - вонючая такая, и во рту печет, так что закашляешься. |
| Linda drank some and Pope drank some, and then Linda laughed a lot and talked very loud; and then she and Pope went into the other room. | Линда выпила, и Попе выпил, и Линда смеяться стала и громко говорить; а потом с Попе ушла в другую комнату. |
| When Pope went away, he went into the room. | Когда Попе отправился домой, он вошел туда. |
| Linda was in bed and so fast asleep that he couldn't wake her. | Линда лежала в постели, спала так крепко, что не добудиться было. |
| Pope used to come often. | Попе часто приходил. |
| He said the stuff in the gourd was called mescal; but Linda said it ought to be called soma; only it made you feel ill afterwards. | Ту воду в тыкве он называл "мескаль", а Линда говорила, что можно бы называть "сома", если бы от нее не болела голова. |
| He hated Pope. | Он терпеть не мог Попе. |
| He hated them all-all the men who came to see Linda. | Он всех их не терпел - мужчин, ходивших к Линде. |
| One afternoon, when he had been playing with the other children-it was cold, he remembered, and there was snow on the mountains-he came back to the house and heard angry voices in the bedroom. | Как-то, наигравшись с детьми - было, помнится, холодно, на горах лежал снег, - он днем пришел домой и услыхал сердитые голоса в другой комнате. |
| They were women's voices, and they said words he didn't understand, but he knew they were dreadful words. | Женские голоса, а слов не понял; но понял, что это злая ругань. |
| Then suddenly, crash! something was upset; he heard people moving about quickly, and there was another crash and then a noise like hitting a mule, only not so bony; then Linda screamed. | Потом вдруг - грох! - опрокинули что-то; завозились, еще что-то шумно упало, и точно мула ударили хлыстом, но только звук мягче, мясистей; и крик Линды: |
| "Oh, don't, don't, don't!" she said. | "Не бейте, не бейте!" |
| He ran in. | Он кинулся туда. |
| There were three women in dark blankets. | Там три женщины в темных одеялах. |
| Linda was on the bed. | А Линда - на постели. |
| One of the women was holding her wrists. | Одна держит ее за руки. |
| Another was lying across her legs, so that she couldn't kick. | Другая легла поперек, на ноги ей, чтоб не брыкалась. |
| The third was hitting her with a whip. | Третья бьет ее плетью. |
| Once, twice, three times; and each time Linda screamed. | Раз ударила, второй, третий; и при каждом ударе Линда кричит. |
| Crying, he tugged at the fringe of the woman's blanket. | Он плача стал просить бьющую, дергать за кромку одеяла: |
| "Please, please." | - Не надо, не надо. |
| With her free hand she held him away. | Свободной рукой женщина отодвинула его. |
| The whip came down again, and again Linda screamed. | Плеть снова хлестнула, опять закричала Линда. |
| He caught hold of the woman's enormous brown hand between his own and bit it with all his might. | Он схватил огромную коричневую руку женщины обеими своими и укусил что было силы. |
| She cried out, wrenched her hand free, and gave him such a push that he fell down. | Та охнула, вырвала руку, толкнула его так, что он упал. |
| While he was lying on the ground she hit him three times with the whip. | И ударила трижды плетью. |
| It hurt more than anything he had ever felt-like fire. | Ожгло огнем - больней всего на свете. |
| The whip whistled again, fell. | Снова свистнула, упала плеть. |
| But this time it was Linda who screamed. | Но закричала на этот раз Линда. |
| "But why did they want to hurt you, Linda?" he asked that night. | - Но за что они тебя, Линда? - спросил он вечером. |
| He was crying, because the red marks of the whip on his back still hurt so terribly. | Красные следы от плети на спине еще болели, жгли, и он плакал. |
| But he was also crying because people were so beastly and unfair, and because he was only a little boy and couldn't do anything against them. | Но еще и потому плакал, что люди такие злые и несправедливые, а он малыш и драться с ними слаб. |
| Linda was crying too. | Плакала Линда. |
| She was grown up, but she wasn't big enough to fight against three of them. | Она хоть и взрослая, но от троих отбиться разве может? |
| It wasn't fair for her either. | И разве это честно - на одну втроем? |
| "Why did they want to hurt you, Linda?" | - За что они тебя, Линда? |
| "I don't know. | - Не знаю. |
| How should I know?" | Не понимаю. |
| It was difficult to hear what she said, because she was lying on her stomach and her face was in the pillow. | - Трудно было разобрать ее слова, она лежала на животе, лицом в подушку. |
| "They say those men are their men," she went on; and she did not seem to be talking to him at all; she seemed to be talking with some one inside herself. | - Мужчины, видите ли, принадлежат им, -говорила Линда, точно не к нему обращаясь вовсе, а к кому-то внутри себя. |
| A long talk which she didn't understand; and in the end she started crying louder than ever. | Говорила долго, непонятно; а кончила тем, что заплакала громче прежнего. |
| "Oh, don't cry, Linda. Don't cry." | - О, не плачь, Линда, не плачь. |
| He pressed himself against her. | Он прижался к ней. |
| He put his arm round her neck. | Обнял рукой за шею. |
| Linda cried out. "Oh, be careful. | - Ай, - взвизгнула Линда, - не тронь. |
| My shoulder! | Не тронь плечо. |
| Oh!" and she pushed him away, hard. His head banged against the wall. | Ай! - и как пихнет его от себя, он стукнулся головой о стену. |
| "Little idiot!" she shouted; and then, suddenly, she began to slap him. | - Ты, идиотик! - крикнула Линда и вдруг принялась его бить. |
| Slap, slap ... | Шлеп! Шлеп!.. |
| "Linda," he cried out. | - Линда! |
| "Oh, mother, don't!" |