| "You have opened for me the gates of hope." | - Вы приоткрыли мне двери надежды, коллега! |
| In that at least he tittered no more than the bare truth, and expressed it very baldly. It was, indeed, as if a door had been suddenly flung open to the sunlight for escape from a dark prison in which a man had thought to spend his life. | Блад говорил правду: он чувствовал себя, как узник, перед которым внезапно приоткрылись двери темницы. |
| He was in haste now to be alone, to straighten out his agitated mind and plan coherently what was to be done. | Распрощавшись с Вакером, Блад прежде всего решил посоветоваться с Джереми Питтом. |
| Also he must consult another. Already he had hit upon that other. | Вряд ли можно было сомневаться, чтобы Питт отказался разделить с ним опасности задуманного побега. |
| For such a voyage a navigator would be necessary, and a navigator was ready to his hand in Jeremy Pitt. The first thing was to take counsel with the young shipmaster, who must be associated with him in this business if it were to be undertaken. All that day his mind was in turmoil with this new hope, and he was sick with impatience for night and a chance to discuss the matter with his chosen partner. | К тому же Питт был штурманом, а пускаться в неведомое плавание без опытного штурмана было бы по меньшей мере неразумно. |
| As a result Blood was betimes that evening in the spacious stockade that enclosed the huts of the slaves together with the big white house of the overseer, and he found an opportunity of a few words with Pitt, unobserved by the others. | Задолго до наступления вечера Блад был уже на территории, огороженной высоким частоколом, за которым находились хижины рабов и большой белый дом надсмотрщика. |
| "To-night when all are asleep, come to my cabin. | - Когда все уснут, приходи ко мне, - шепнул Блад Питту. |
| I have something to say to you." | - Я должен кое-что сообщить тебе... |
| The young man stared at him, roused by Blood's pregnant tone out of the mental lethargy into which he had of late been lapsing as a result of the dehumanizing life he lived. | Молодой человек удивленно посмотрел на Блада. Его слова, казалось, пробудили Питта от оцепенения, в которое его вогнала жизнь, мало похожая на человеческую. |
| Then he nodded understanding and assent, and they moved apart. | Он кивнул головой, и они разошлись. |
| The six months of plantation life in Barbados had made an almost tragic mark upon the young seaman. | Полгода жизни на плантациях Барбадоса ввергли молодого моряка в состояние полной безнадежности. |
| His erstwhile bright alertness was all departed. | Он уже не был прежним спокойным, энергичным и уверенным в себе человеком, а передвигался крадучись, как забитая собака. |
| His face was growing vacuous, his eyes were dull and lack-lustre, and he moved in a cringing, furtive manner, like an over-beaten dog. | Его лицо, утратив былые краски, стало безжизненным, глаза потускнели. |
| He had survived the ill-nourishment, the excessive work on the sugar plantation under a pitiless sun, the lashes of the overseer's whip when his labours flagged, and the deadly, unrelieved animal life to which he was condemned. | Он выжил, несмотря на постоянный голод, изнуряющую работу под жестокими лучами тропического солнца и плети надсмотрщика. |
| But the price he was paying for survival was the usual price. | Отчаяние притупило в нем все чувства, и он медленно превращался в животное. |
| He was in danger of becoming no better than an animal, of sinking to the level of the negroes who sometimes toiled beside him. | Лишь чувство человеческого достоинства еще не совсем угасло в Питте. |
| The man, however, was still there, not yet dormant, but merely torpid from a surfeit of despair; and the man in him promptly shook off that torpidity and awoke at the first words Blood spoke to him that night - awoke and wept. | Ночью, когда Блад изложил план бегства, молодой человек словно обезумел. |
| "Escape?" he panted. | - Бегство! |
| "O God!" He took his head in his hands, and fell to sobbing like a child. | О боже! - задыхаясь, - сказал он и, схватившись за голову, зарыдал, как ребенок. |
| "Sh! Steady now! Steady!" Blood admonished him in a whisper, alarmed by the lad's blubbering. He crossed to Pitt's side, and set a restraining hand upon his shoulder. "For God's sake, command yourself. | - Тише! - прошептал Блад. Его рука слегка сжала плечо Питта. - Держи себя в руках. |
| If we're overheard we shall both be flogged for this." | Нас запорют насмерть, если подслушают, о чем говорим. |
| Among the privileges enjoyed by Blood was that of a hut to himself, and they were alone in this. | Одна из привилегий, которыми пользовался Блад, состояла также в том, что он жил теперь в отдельной хижине. |
| But, after all, it was built of wattles thinly plastered with mud, and its door was composed of bamboos, through which sound passed very easily. | Она была сплетена из прутьев и свободно пропускала каждый звук. |