Chapter 4

第四章

THE VALLEY OF FEAR

恐怖の谷

WHEN MCMURDO awoke next morning he had good reason to remember his initiation into the lodge. His head ached with the effect of the drink, and his arm, where he had been branded, was hot and swollen. Having his own peculiar source of income, he was irregular in his attendance at his work; so he had a late breakfast, and remained at home for the morning writing a long letter to a friend. Afterwards he read the Daily Herald. In a special column put in at the last moment he read:

マクマードが次の朝目覚めた時 / 嫌でも支部での入団式を思い起こさずにはいられなかった◆頭は二日酔いでガンガンし / そして腕は / そこに彼は焼印を押されていた / 熱く腫れあがっていた◆彼は奇妙な収入源があったので / 彼が仕事に出かけるのは不規則だった / だから彼は遅い朝食をとり / 午前中を自宅で過ごした / 友人に長い手紙を書いて◆その後彼はデイリー・ヘラルドを読んだ◆発行直前に差し込まれた特別記事で / 彼は読んだ

OUTRAGE AT THE HERALD OFFICE – EDITOR SERIOUSLY INJURED.

ヘラルド新聞社の暴行事件 / / 編集長が重傷を負う

It was a short account of the facts with which he was himself more familiar than the writer could have been. It ended with the statement:

それは事実関係の短い記事だった / 彼自身がもっと詳しい / 記者が知っているよりも◆それは次の文で締めくくられていた

The matter is now in the hands of the police; but it can hardly be hoped that their exertions will be attended by any better results than in the past. Some of the men were recognized, and there is hope that a conviction may be obtained. The source of the outrage was, it need hardly be said, that infamous society which has held this community in bondage for so long a period, and against which the Herald has taken so uncompromising a stand. Mr. Stanger’s many friends will rejoice to hear that, though he has been cruelly and brutally beaten, and though he has sustained severe injuries about the head, there is no immediate danger to his life.

この事件の捜査は今警察の手に委ねられている / しかしこれはほとんど望めない / 警察の努力がこれまで以上に良い結果を引き出すだろうとは◆犯人のうち何人かは顔を見れらており / 有罪判決に持ち込める希望はある◆この暴行事件を起こしたのは / 言うまでもないだろうが / あの悪名高き組織だ / この社会をこんなにも長い間押さえつけている / そしてそれに対してヘラルド社は全く妥協しない態度をとっている◆スタンガー氏の多くの友人はこれを聞いて喜ぶだろう / 彼は残酷かつ容赦なく打たれていたが / そして頭に重傷を負ったが / 生命に差し迫った危険はない

Below it stated that a guard of police, armed with Winchester rifles, had been requisitioned for the defense of the office.

その下に記述されていた / 警察の護衛が / ウィンチェスター銃で武装した / 新聞社の護衛に徴発されたと

McMurdo had laid down the paper, and was lighting his pipe with a hand which was shaky from the excesses of the previous evening, when there was a knock outside, and his landlady brought to him a note which had just been handed in by a lad. It was unsigned, and ran thus:

マクマードは新聞を下ろしていた / そしてパイプに火をつけていた / 前の晩の不摂生のために震える手で / その時外でノックする音がした / そして女家主が彼に手紙を持って来た / それは子供から直前に手渡されたものだった◆サインはなく / このような文面だった

I should wish to speak to you; but would rather not do so in your house. You will find me beside the flagstaff upon Miller Hill. If you will come there now, I have something which it is important for you to hear and for me to say.

君とぜひ話をしたい / しかし君の家ではしたくない◆ミラー・ヒルの旗竿の側にいる◆もしそこへ今来れば / お互いにとって重要な話がある

McMurdo read the note twice with the utmost surprise; for he could not imagine what it meant or who was the author of it. Had it been in a feminine hand, he might have imagined that it was the beginning of one of those adventures which had been familiar enough in his past life. But it was the writing of a man, and of a well educated one, too. Finally, after some hesitation, he determined to see the matter through.

マクマードは非常に驚いて手紙を二度繰り返して読んだ / 彼はどういう意味か、誰が書いたのか想像がつかなかったからだ◆もし女性の筆跡だったら / 彼は想像したかもしれなかった / これは思いがけない出来事の始まりの一つだと / 彼がこれまでに十分経験していた◆しかしこれは男の筆跡だった / しかもいい教育を受けてもいた◆最終的に / いくらかためらった後 / 彼は事態をはっきりさせようと決めた

Miller Hill is an ill-kept public park in the very centre of the town. In summer it is a favourite resort of the people; but in winter it is desolate enough. From the top of it one has a view not only of the whole straggling, grimy town, but of the winding valley beneath, with its scattered mines and factories blackening the snow on each side of it, and of the wooded and white-capped ranges flanking it.

ミラー・ヒルは手入れの悪い公共公園だ / 町のど真ん中にある◆夏には人が好んで集まるところだ / しかし冬には人気はなかった◆その一番上から / だらだらと大きくなった汚い町全体を見渡せるだけではなく / 眼下に曲がりくねった谷を見ることができる / 雪を黒く汚す鉱山や工場が点在している / 両側に / そして森と白い頂きの山脈が側面に並んでいるのを

McMurdo strolled up the winding path hedged in with evergreens until he reached the deserted restaurant which forms the centre of summer gaiety. Beside it was a bare flagstaff, and underneath it a man, his hat drawn down and the collar of his overcoat turned up. When he turned his face McMurdo saw that it was Brother Morris, he who had incurred the anger of the Bodymaster the night before. The lodge sign was given and exchanged as they met.

マクマードは常緑樹の生垣がある曲がりくねった道をブラブラと登っていった / 人気のないレストランに着くまで / そこは夏の行事の中心地になっていた◆その横に裸の旗竿があり / その下に男がいた / 帽子を目深に被りコートの襟を立てた◆彼が顔を向けたときマクマードはそれがモリス同志だと分かった / 昨夜、支部長の怒りをかった男だ◆二人が会った時、支部の合言葉が交わされた