The prediction of the Mormon was only too well fulfilled. Whether it was the terrible death of her father or the effects of the hateful marriage into which she had been forced, poor Lucy never held up her head again, but pined away and died within a month. Her sottish husband, who had married her principally for the sake of John Ferrier’s property, did not affect any great grief at his bereavement; but his other wives mourned over her, and sat up with her the night before the burial, as is the Mormon custom. They were grouped round the bier in the early hours of the morning, when, to their inexpressible fear and astonishment, the door was flung open, and a savage-looking, weather-beaten man in tattered garments strode into the room. Without a glance or a word to the cowering women, he walked up to the white silent figure which had once contained the pure soul of Lucy Ferrier. Stooping over her, he pressed his lips reverently to her cold forehead, and then, snatching up her hand, he took the wedding ring from her finger. “She shall not be buried in that,” he cried with a fierce snarl, and before an alarm could be raised sprang down the stairs and was gone. So strange and so brief was the episode that the watchers might have found it hard to believe it themselves or persuade other people of it, had it not been for the undeniable fact that the circlet of gold which marked her as having been a bride had disappeared.

あのモルモン教徒の予測は悲しい事にその通りとなった◆それが父親の恐ろしい死であったか / 彼女が無理強いされた忌まわしい結婚の影響だったか / あわれなルーシーは二度と起き上がることなく / やせ衰えて一月と経たずに死んだ◆彼女の大酒飲みの夫は / ジョン・フェリアーの財産が主な目的で結婚していた / この死別にほとんど嘆かなかった / しかし彼の他の妻たちは嘆き悲しみ / 埋葬の前に夜明かしをした / モルモン教の習慣にしたがって◆彼女たちが朝早い時間に棺の周りに集まっていると / その時 / 彼女たちは言葉に出来ないほど恐れ、驚いたが / 扉がさっと開かれ / 凶暴な顔つきの日に焼けた男がボロボロのなりをして / 部屋の中につかつかと入ってきた◆すくみあがった女性たちには目もくれず、声もかけず / 彼は物言わぬ白い体に歩み寄った / かつてルーシー・フェリアーの汚れなき魂を閉じ込めていた◆彼女にかがみこんで / 冷たい額にうやうやしく唇を押し当て / それから / 手をぱっと持ち上げ / 指から結婚指輪を抜き取った◆「こんな風には埋葬させるか」 / 彼は荒々しい声で怒鳴った / そして叫びを上げることが出来る前に / 彼は階段を飛び降りて姿を消した◆この出来事は非常に奇妙で短かったので / 目撃者は難しかったかもしれない / 自分たちで信じることや他の人に信じさせることが / もし動かしがたい事実がなかったなら / 花嫁の印である金の指輪が消え失せていたという

For some months Jefferson Hope lingered among the mountains, leading a strange, wild life, and nursing in his heart the fierce desire for vengeance which possessed him. Tales were told in the city of the weird figure which was seen prowling about the suburbs, and which haunted the lonely mountain gorges. Once a bullet whistled through Stangerson’s window and flattened itself upon the wall within a foot of him. On another occasion, as Drebber passed under a cliff a great boulder crashed down on him, and he only escaped a terrible death by throwing himself upon his face. The two young Mormons were not long in discovering the reason of these attempts upon their lives, and led repeated expeditions into the mountains in the hope of capturing or killing their enemy, but always without success. Then they adopted the precaution of never going out alone or after nightfall, and of having their houses guarded. After a time they were able to relax these measures, for nothing was either heard or seen of their opponent, and they hoped that time had cooled his vindictiveness.

何ヶ月もの間 / ジェファーソン・ホープは山の中にいた / 奇妙な荒れた生活を送りながら / 彼に取り付いた復讐の激しい欲求を心の中で育てながら◆街では噂話がされた / 郊外を奇妙な人影が歩き回っていた / 寂しい山あいの渓谷にも出没すると◆一度スタンガーソンの窓に弾丸が風を切って飛び込み / 彼の一フィート以内の壁に当たってひしゃげた◆別の機会に / ドレバーが崖の下を通っている時 / 巨石が崩れて彼に倒れ掛かってきた / そして彼はやっとのことで恐ろしい死を免れた / うつぶせに伏せることで◆二人の若いモルモン教徒はそう長くかからなかった / 彼らの命が狙われる理由を発見するのに / そして何度も山を捜索した / 彼らの敵を捕まえるか殺そうとして / しかしいつも成果はなかった◆その後彼らは用心する事にした / 一人や夜更けに外に出ないという / そして彼らの家を警備した◆時が経ち彼らはこれらの手段を緩める事が出来た / 彼らの敵対者に対して何も見聞きされなくなったので / そして彼らは時が彼の執念を冷ましたのだと思った

Far from doing so, it had, if anything, augmented it. The hunter’s mind was of a hard, unyielding nature, and the predominant idea of revenge had taken such complete possession of it that there was no room for any other emotion. He was, however, above all things, practical. He soon realized that even his iron constitution could not stand the incessant strain which he was putting upon it. Exposure and want of wholesome food were wearing him out. If he died like a dog among the mountains, what was to become of his revenge then? And yet such a death was sure to overtake him if he persisted. He felt that that was to play his enemy’s game, so he reluctantly returned to the old Nevada mines, there to recruit his health and to amass money enough to allow him to pursue his object without privation.

全くそうではなかった / それはむしろ増大していた◆狩人の心は堅く屈しない性質だった / そして復讐をするという何物にも勝る考えは / 完全に心を専有していて / 他の感情の余地は全くなかった◆しかし、彼は、何よりも実務的な人間だった◆彼はすぐに気づいた / 彼の鉄の体でも / 彼が課していた絶え間のない緊張には耐えられないことを◆野宿と栄養不足は彼を消耗させつつあった◆もし彼が山の中で犬のように死んだら / 彼の復讐はどうなる？ / しかしもし彼が続ければそのような死は間違いなく起きる◆彼はそれは敵を利するものだと感じた / そのため彼は不本意ながらネバダ鉱山に戻った / そこで健康を回復し、 / 不自由なく彼の目的を追い求めるのに十分な金を蓄えるために

His intention had been to be absent a year at the most, but a combination of unforeseen circumstances prevented his leaving the mines for nearly five. At the end of that time, however, his memory of his wrongs and his craving for revenge were quite as keen as on that memorable night when he had stood by John Ferrier’s grave. Disguised, and under an assumed name, he returned to Salt Lake City, careless what became of his own life, as long as he obtained what he knew to be justice. There he found evil tidings awaiting him. There had been a schism among the Chosen People a few months before, some of the younger members of the Church having rebelled against the authority of the Elders, and the result had been the secession of a certain number of the malcontents, who had left Utah and become Gentiles. Among these had been Drebber and Stangerson; and no one knew whither they had gone. Rumour reported that Drebber had managed to convert a large part of his property into money, and that he had departed a wealthy man, while his companion, Stangerson, was comparatively poor. There was no clue at all, however, as to their whereabouts.

彼は不在期間は長くても一年のつもりだった / しかし予期せぬ事態が次々に起き / ほとんど5年間彼は鉱山を離れる事が出来なかった◆しかしその期間が終わると / 不正の記憶と復讐の熱望は / 完全にあの忘れられない夜と同じ鋭さだった / 彼がジョン・フェリアーの墓の側に立っていた◆変装し / 偽名で / 彼はソルトレイクシティに戻った / 自分の命がどうなろうとも構わずに / 彼が正義と信じるものを獲得するなら◆そこで彼は悪い知らせが待ち受けていたのを知った◆選ばれし民の間で分裂が起きていた / 数ヶ月前に / 教会の若い構成員の一部が / 長老達の権威に反旗を翻し / 一定の数の不平分子の離脱という結果になっていた / 彼らはユタを去り異教徒になった◆これらのなかにドレバーとスタンガーソンがいた / そして誰も彼らがどこに行ったか知らなかった◆噂では / ドレバーは彼の財産の大部分を金に替えることに成功し / 資産家としてそこを離れていた / 一方彼の同行者のスタンガーソンは / 比較すれば金がない状態だった◆しかし手がかりは全くなかった / 彼らの消息については