We were within a boat’s-length by this time, and almost within touch of our quarry. I can see the two of them now as they stood, the white man with his legs far apart, shrieking out curses, and the unhallowed dwarf with his hideous face, and his strong yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern.

我々はこの時までに一挺身以内に近づいていた / そしてほとんど獲物に触れようとするところだった◆私は今二人が立っているのを見ることができた / 白人は両足を大きく開き / 甲高く罵っていた / そして邪悪な小男は / そのぞっとするような顔と / 強い黄色い歯を我々に対してきしらせていた / 我々のランタンの光の中で

It was well that we had so clear a view of him. Even as we looked he plucked out from under his covering a short, round piece of wood, like a school-ruler, and clapped it to his lips. Our pistols rang out together. He whirled round, threw up his arms, and, with a kind of choking cough, fell sideways into the stream. I caught one glimpse of his venomous, menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters. At the same moment the wooden-legged man threw himself upon the rudder and put it hard down, so that his boat made straight in for the southern bank, while we shot past her stern, only clearing her by a few feet. We were round after her in an instant, but she was already nearly at the bank. It was a wild and desolate place, where the moon glimmered upon a wide expanse of marsh-land, with pools of stagnant water and beds of decaying vegetation. The launch, with a dull thud, ran up upon the mud-bank, with her bow in the air and her stern flush with the water. The fugitive sprang out, but his stump instantly sank its whole length into the sodden soil. In vain he struggled and writhed. Not one step could he possibly take either forward or backward. He yelled in impotent rage and kicked frantically into the mud with his other foot, but his struggles only bored his wooden pin the deeper into the sticky bank. When we brought our launch alongside he was so firmly anchored that it was only by throwing the end of a rope over his shoulders that we were able to haul him out and to drag him, like some evil fish, over our side. The two Smiths, father and son, sat sullenly in their launch but came aboard meekly enough when commanded. The Aurora herself we hauled off and made fast to our stern. A solid iron chest of Indian workmanship stood upon the deck. This, there could be no question, was the same that had contained the ill-omened treasure of the Sholtos. There was no key, but it was of considerable weight, so we transferred it carefully to our own little cabin. As we steamed slowly upstream again, we flashed our searchlight in every direction, but there was no sign of the Islander. Somewhere in the dark ooze at the bottom of the Thames lie the bones of that strange visitor to our shores.

彼の姿がここまではっきりと見えたのは幸いだった◆我々が見たとたん / 彼は覆いの下から取り出した / 短い丸い木を / 学校の定規のような / そしてさっと唇に当てた◆我々の拳銃が同時に轟いた◆彼はくるりと回り / 両手を上げ / そして / 詰まった咳のような音を立て / 船縁から河に落ちた◆彼の悪意に満ちた脅迫的な目が一瞬見えた / 水の白い渦の中に◆その瞬間 / 木の義足の男は舵に飛びつき / 激しく下手に切った / そのため彼の船は南側の岸にまっすぐに向かった / 我々は船尾を勢い良く通過する間に / 数フィートのところで衝突を免れた◆すぐに我々は回りこんで後を追った / しかし船はすでに岸近くまで行っていた◆そこは荒れてさびしい場所だった / 月が広大な湿地帯をちらちらと照らす / よどんだ水と腐敗しかけた植物が川底に積もっている◆船は / 鈍いドスンという音を立てて / 泥の堆積に乗り上げた / 船首を空中に上げ、船尾は水に洗われた◆逃亡者は跳びだした / しかし彼の義足はすぐに全部埋まった / 水に浸った土の中に◆むなしく彼はもがき、体をよじった◆彼は前にも後ろにも一歩も動く事は出来なかった◆彼はやり場のない怒りの叫びをあげ / もう一方の足で狂ったように泥の中を蹴った / しかし彼の奮闘はただ彼の木の棒を / べとべとした浅瀬により深く入れるだけだった◆我々が船を横付けしたとき / 彼は非常にしっかりと固定されており / ただ彼の背中にまわるようにロープの端を投げる事で / 我々は彼を引っ張り出し引きずってくることができた / 不吉な魚のように / 我々の船べりまで◆スミス家の二人 / 父と子は / むっつりとして船の中にいた / しかし命令されるとおとなしく船に乗り込んできた◆オーロラ号自体は / 方向転換させ / 我々の船尾に結わえ付けた◆インド細工のずっしりとした鉄の収納箱がデッキの上に立っていた◆これが / 全く疑問はなかった / 同じものだった / ショルトの不吉な財宝を収めていたものと◆鍵はなかった / しかしかなり重量があった / したがって我々はそれを慎重に我々の小さな船室に移した◆我々がゆっくりもう一度上流に向かっているとき / 我々はサーチライトをあらゆる方向に向けた / しかし島民の痕跡はなかった◆テムズ河の川底の黒い泥のどこかに / 我国にやってきた奇妙な訪問者の骨が眠っている

“See here,” said Holmes, pointing to the wooden hatchway. “We were hardly quick enough with our pistols.” There, sure enough, just behind where we had been standing, stuck one of those murderous darts which we knew so well. It must have whizzed between us at the instant we fired. Holmes smiled at it and shrugged his shoulders in his easy fashion, but I confess that it turned me sick to think of the horrible death which had passed so close to us that night.

「これを見ろ」 / ホームズが言った / 木の昇降口を指差して◆「僕たちの拳銃はなんとか間に合った」 / そこに / 間違いなく / 我々が立っていたちょうど後ろに / 我々がよく知っていたあの殺人矢が一本突き刺さっていた◆それは私達が発砲した瞬間、我々の間をシュッと飛んで行ったに違いない◆ホームズはこれに微笑み / いつもの何気ない調子で肩をすぼめた / しかし白状する / それは私をぞっとさせた / 恐ろしい死を思わせて / 死はあの夜、我々の本当に近くを通り抜けていたのだ