“Well, we carried him in, Abdullah, Akbar, and I. A fine weight he was, too, for all that he was so short. Mahomet Singh was left to guard the door. We took him to a place which the Sikhs had already prepared. It was some distance off, where a winding passage leads to a great empty hall, the brick walls of which were all crumbling to pieces. The earth floor had sunk in at one place, making a natural grave, so we left Achmet the merchant there, having first covered him over with loose bricks. This done, we all went back to the treasure.

「俺たちは彼を運び入れた / アブドーラ、アクバル、そして俺◆かなり重かったよ / あんなに小さい割には◆モハメット・シンは扉の所に見張りとして残った◆俺たちはシンたちが既に用意していた場所に彼を持って行った◆そこは離れたところで / 曲がりくねった廊下が大きな何もないホールに繋がっているところだった / そこの煉瓦の壁は全て粉々に砕けていた◆土の床は一つの場所で沈んでいて / 自然の墓穴になっていた / 我々は商人のアクメットをそこに置き / まず彼を剥離した煉瓦で覆った◆それが終わって / 我々は全員で宝のところに戻った」

“It lay where he had dropped it when he was first attacked. The box was the same which now lies open upon your table. A key was hung by a silken cord to that carved handle upon the top. We opened it, and the light of the lantern gleamed upon a collection of gems such as I have read of and thought about when I was a little lad at Pershore. It was blinding to look upon them. When we had feasted our eyes we took them all out and made a list of them. There were one hundred and forty-three diamonds of the first water, including one which has been called, I believe, ‘the Great Mogul,’ and is said to be the second largest stone in existence. Then there were ninety-seven very fine emeralds, and one hundred and seventy rubies, some of which, however, were small. There were forty carbuncles, two hundred and ten sapphires, sixty-one agates, and a great quantity of beryls, onyxes, cats’-eyes, turquoises, and other stones, the very names of which I did not know at the time, though I have become more familiar with them since. Besides this, there were nearly three hundred very fine pearls, twelve of which were set in a gold coronet. By the way, these last had been taken out of the chest, and were not there when I recovered it.

「それは彼が初めに攻撃された場所に落ちていた◆その箱は今そのテーブルに開けて置いてあるのと同じものだ◆上部の彫り物のある取っ手に絹の紐で鍵がぶら下っていた◆俺たちはそれを開けた / そして宝石の山をランタンの光が照らした / 俺が読んだり考えたりしていたように / 俺がパーショアで小さな子供だった頃◆これを見ると目もくらむばかりだった◆俺たちは目の保養をした後 / 全部を取り出して目録を作った◆１４３個の最上級ダイアモンドがあった / その中のひとつがこう呼ばれている奴だ / そう思う / 『ムガール皇帝』 / それは世界で二番目の大きさの宝石と言われていた◆それから97個の非常に素晴らしいエメラルド / 170個のルビー / しかしその幾らかは / 小さかった◆40個のざくろ石 / 110個のサファイア / 61個のメノウ / 素晴らしい品質の緑柱石 / オニキス / キャッツアイ / トルコ石 / それ以外の宝石 / これらの名前はその時は知らなかった / しかしそれ以降もっと詳しくなったが◆これ以外に / 300個近い非常に見事な真珠があった / そのうち12個は金の宝冠に仕立て上げられていた◆そういえば / これが箱から取り出されていて / 俺が取り返した時、中にはなかった」

“After we had counted our treasures we put them back into the chest and carried them to the gateway to show them to Mahomet Singh. Then we solemnly renewed our oath to stand by each other and be true to our secret. We agreed to conceal our loot in a safe place until the country should be at peace again, and then to divide it equally among ourselves. There was no use dividing it at present, for if gems of such value were found upon us it would cause suspicion, and there was no privacy in the fort nor any place where we could keep them. We carried the box, therefore, into the same hall where we had buried the body, and there, under certain bricks in the best-preserved wall, we made a hollow and put our treasure. We made careful note of the place, and next day I drew four plans, one for each of us, and put the sign of the four of us at the bottom, for we had sworn that we should each always act for all, so that none might take advantage. That is an oath that I can put my hand to my heart and swear that I have never broken.

「財宝を数えた後 / 俺たちは箱にそれらを戻し / 門のところに運んでいってマホメット・シンに見せた◆それから俺たちは厳粛に誓いを新たにした / お互いに協力し合い秘密に対して忠実であることを◆我々は戦利品を安全な場所に隠す事に合意した / 国がもう一度平和になるまで / それから我々の間で公平に分配することに◆その時点で分割する事は役に立たなかった / なぜならもしそんな価値の宝石を持っているのが見つかれば / 疑いをかけられる / そして砦にはプライバシーもなく / 俺たちが持っておける場所もなかった◆そのために我々は箱を運び入れた / 死体を埋めた同じホールの中に / そしてそこに / 一番良く残っている壁のある煉瓦の下に / 俺たちは穴を掘り財宝を入れた◆俺たちは慎重に場所を記録し / 次の日俺は4枚の見取り図を書いた / 俺たち一人一人に / そしてその下に俺たち四人の印を書いた / 俺たちは誰もみんなのために行動すると誓ったので / 誰も有利になるものが無いように◆これは誓いだった / 俺が胸に手を置いて決して破らないと誓った」

“Well, there’s no use my telling you gentlemen what came of the Indian mutiny. After Wilson took Delhi and Sir Colin relieved Lucknow the back of the business was broken. Fresh troops came pouring in, and Nana Sahib made himself scarce over the frontier. A flying column under Colonel Greathed came round to Agra and cleared the Pandies away from it. Peace seemed to be settling upon the country, and we four were beginning to hope that the time was at hand when we might safely go off with our shares of the plunder. In a moment, however, our hopes were shattered by our being arrested as the murderers of Achmet.

「あんた方に話をするのは無用でしょう / セポイの反乱がどうなったか◆ウィルソンがデリーを制圧し / サー・コリンがラクナウを解放したとき / この反乱は腰砕けとなった◆新しい軍隊がどっと押し寄せてきて / ナーナー・サーヒブは国境を越えて逃げた◆グレートヘッド大佐の遊撃隊が / アグラにやってきてインド人を蹴散らした◆平和がこの国に訪れたように思われ / 俺たち四人は希望をもち始めた / その時は近いと / 俺たちが略奪品の分け前を持って安全に逃げられるかもしれない◆しかし、その時 / 俺たちは逮捕されて希望は打ちのめされた / アクメットの殺害犯として」

“It came about in this way. When the rajah put his jewels into the hands of Achmet he did it because he knew that he was a trusty man. They are suspicious folk in the East, however: so what does this rajah do but take a second even more trusty servant and set him to play the spy upon the first. This second man was ordered never to let Achmet out of his sight, and he followed him like his shadow. He went after him that night and saw him pass through the doorway. Of course he thought he had taken refuge in the fort and applied for admission there himself next day, but could find no trace of Achmet. This seemed to him so strange that he spoke about it to a sergeant of guides, who brought it to the ears of the commandant. A thorough search was quickly made, and the body was discovered. Thus at the very moment that we thought that all was safe we were all four seized and brought to trial on a charge of murder – three of us because we had held the gate that night, and the fourth because he was known to have been in the company of the murdered man. Not a word about the jewels came out at the trial, for the rajah had been deposed and driven out of India: so no one had any particular interest in them. The murder, however, was clearly made out, and it was certain that we must all have been concerned in it. The three Sikhs got penal servitude for life, and I was condemned to death, though my sentence was afterwards commuted to the same as the others.

「それはこんな風にして起きた◆ラジャが宝石をアクメットの手に委ねた時 / ラジャはアクメットが信用の置ける人間だと知っていたからだ◆しかし、東方の人間は疑い深い / そしてこのラジャがしたのは二人目のもっと信頼できる使用人をつけることだった / 最初の男の監視役をさせる◆二人目の男は / アクメットを見失うなと命令されていた / そして彼は影のように後についていた◆彼はあの夜彼をつけ、彼が戸口を越えるのを見た◆もちろん彼は砦に逃げ込んだものと考え / 次の日に彼自身も入城許可を申請した / そかしアクメットの痕跡を見つけることができなかった◆これは彼にとって非常に奇妙だったので / 案内役の軍曹にそれを話した / 彼はそれを司令官の耳に入れた◆すぐに徹底的な捜索が行われ / 死体が発見された◆このようにして俺たちが全て安全だと思ったその瞬間に / 俺たち四人は殺人容疑で逮捕され裁判にかけられた / / 三人はその夜門を警護していたために / そして四人目は / 殺された男と一緒にいたことを知られていたため◆法廷で宝石に関しては一言も出てこなかった / ラジャは退位させられてインドから追放されていたので / それに関しては特に興味を持っているものはいなかった◆しかし殺人は / 明白に暴露され / そして我々全員がそれにかかわっている事は明らかだった◆三人のシーク教徒は終身刑となり / 俺は死刑を宣告された / しかし俺の判決は後に他の三人と同じに減刑された」

“It was rather a queer position that we found ourselves in then. There we were all four tied by the leg and with precious little chance of ever getting out again, while we each held a secret which might have put each of us in a palace if we could only have made use of it. It was enough to make a man eat his heart out to have to stand the kick and the cuff of every petty jack-in-office, to have rice to eat and water to drink, when that gorgeous fortune was ready for him outside, just waiting to be picked up. It might have driven me mad; but I was always a pretty stubborn one, so I just held on and bided my time.

「俺たちはかなり妙な立場にあった◆我々四人は全員足枷をつけられ / もう一度外にでるチャンスはほとんどない / それなのに俺たちは秘密を握っている / それは俺たち全員を王宮に置くかもしれない / もし、ただそれを使う事ができれば◆これは男の心を悲嘆に暮れさせるに十分だった / けちな小役人全員に蹴られたり平手打ちされたりするのを我慢しなければならない / 食べる米や飲む水を得るのに / きらびやかな財宝が彼を外で待っている時に / 拾い上げられるのをただ待って◆俺は気が狂っていたかもしれなかった / しかし俺は何時でもかなり頑強な男で / だから俺は自制して時を待った」