“ ‘I did so and found my other neighbour to be a young fellow in much the same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name was Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like myself, and he is now a rich and prosperous man in the south of England. He was ready enough to join the conspiracy, as the only means of saving ourselves, and before we had crossed the bay there were only two of the prisoners who were not in the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we did not dare to trust him, and the other was suffering from jaundice and could not be of any use to us.

「『私はその通りにした / そしてもう一方の隣の人物は / 若い男で / 私とよく似た境遇だった / 彼の犯罪は文書偽造だった◆彼の名前はエバンスだった / しかしその後名前を変えた / 私のように / そして彼は今、イギリス南部の裕福な資産家だ◆彼はこの共謀にすぐにも参加する心積もりがあった / 我々を救う唯一の手段として / そして船が湾を出る前に / この秘密に加担していないのは僅か二人だけだった◆一人は、知能が弱く / 我々は彼をあえて信用できなかった / そしてもう一人は黄疸に苦しんでおり / 我々の何の役にも立たなかった』」

“ ‘From the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us from taking possession of the ship. The crew were a set of ruffians, specially picked for the job. The sham chaplain came into our cells to exhort us, carrying a black bag, supposed to be full of tracts, and so often did he come that by the third day we had each stowed away at the foot of our beds a file, a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty slugs. Two of the warders were agents of Prendergast, and the second mate was his right-hand man. The captain, the two mates, two warders, Lieutenant Martin, his eighteen soldiers, and the doctor were all that we had against us. Yet, safe as it was, we determined to neglect no precaution, and to make our attack suddenly by night. It came, however, more quickly than we expected, and in this way.

「『最初から / 我々が船を乗っ取るのを阻むものは何も無かった◆船員はみな悪党で / この仕事のために特に選ばれた◆偽牧師は我々の独房に奨励にやって来た / 黒い鞄を持って / 冊子が一杯入っていると思われる / 非常に頻繁に彼がやって来たので / 三日目までに / 我々は全員しまいこんでいた / ベッドの足のところに / やすり / ピストル二挺 / 火薬一ポンド / 20発の散弾◆監視人のうち二人はプレンダガストの手下で / 二等航海士は彼の右腕の男だった◆船長 / 二人の航海士 / 二人の監視人 / マーティン大尉 / 彼の部下の18人の兵士 / そして医者が我々が対決しなければならない全員だった◆しかし / 安全を確保するため / 我々は予防措置に手抜きをしない決心だった / そして我々の攻撃を夜間に突然行うと◆しかし、その時はやって来た / 予想よりも早く / このようにして』」

“ ‘One evening, about the third week after our start, the doctor had come down to see one of the prisoners who was ill, and, putting his hand down on the bottom of his bunk, he felt the outline of the pistols. If he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing, but he was a nervous little chap, so he gave a cry of surprise and turned so pale that the man knew what was up in an instant and seized him. He was gagged before he could give the alarm and tied down upon the bed. He had unlocked the door that led to the deck, and we were through it in a rush. The two sentries were shot down, and so was a corporal who came running to see what was the matter. There were two more soldiers at the door of the stateroom, and their muskets seemed not to be loaded, for they never fired upon us, and they were shot while trying to fix their bayonets. Then we rushed on into the captain’s cabin, but as we pushed open the door there was an explosion from within, and there he lay with his brains smeared over the chart of the Atlantic which was pinned upon the table, while the chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow. The two mates had both been seized by the crew, and the whole business seemed to be settled.

「『ある夜 / 出航してから約三週間後 / 医者が降りてきて診察した / 病気になった一人の囚人を / そして / 彼の寝台の底に手を下ろして / 彼は拳銃の手ごたえを感じた◆もし、彼が静かにしていたら、彼は全ての計略を台無しにしたかもしれない / しかし彼はおどおどした小心者だった / そのため彼は驚いて叫び、真っ青になった / それですぐに何が起きたか分かった男が彼を取り押さえた◆彼は猿ぐつわをかまされた / 警告の叫びを上げる前に / そしてベッドに縛り付けられた◆彼はデッキに通じる扉を開けていた / そして我々はそこを一気に飛び出した◆番兵二人が撃ち殺された / そして何事か起きたか見に走ってきた伍長も◆広間のドアのところに二人の兵士がいたが / 彼らのマスケット銃には玉がこめられていないようで / 我々に発砲できなかった / そして銃剣を付けようとしている間に撃たれた◆次に我々は船長の部屋に押し掛けた / しかし我々が扉を押してあけた時、中で発砲音が起こった / そこで船長は脳みそを大西洋地図の上にぶちまけて倒れていた / テーブルにピンで留められていた / 彼のすぐ側に煙の出ている拳銃を手に牧師が立っていた◆航海士二人は仲間によって取り押さえられた / そして全ての計画が終わったように見えた』」

“ ‘The stateroom was next the cabin, and we flocked in there and flopped down on the settees, all speaking together, for we were just mad with the feeling that we were free once more. There were lockers all round, and Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in, and pulled out a dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the necks of the bottles, poured the stuff out into tumblers, and were just tossing them off when in an instant without warning there came the roar of muskets in our ears, and the saloon was so full of smoke that we could not see across the table. When it cleared again the place was a shambles. Wilson and eight others were wriggling on the top of each other on the floor, and the blood and the brown sherry on that table turn me sick now when I think of it. We were so cowed by the sight that I think we should have given the job up if it had not been for Prendergast. He bellowed like a bull and rushed for the door with all that were left alive at his heels. Out we ran, and there on the poop were the lieutenant and ten of his men. The swing skylights above the saloon table had been a bit open, and they had fired on us through the slit. We got on them before they could load, and they stood to it like men; but we had the upper hand of them, and in five minutes it was all over. My God! was there ever a slaughter-house like that ship! Prendergast was like a raging devil, and he picked the soldiers up as if they had been children and threw them overboard alive or dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded and yet kept on swimming for a surprising time until someone in mercy blew out his brains. When the fighting was over there was no one left of our enemies except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor.

「『広間は船室の隣にあった / 我々はその中に集まって / 長椅子に腰を降ろして / 皆で話していた / 我々はもう一度自由になったという実感に狂喜していたので◆周りにロッカーが並んでいて / ウィルソン / 偽牧師は / その一つを打ち破って / ブラウン・シェリーを一ダース取り出した◆我々は瓶の首を割って / タンブラーに注いだ / そして飲み干した / ちょうどその瞬間、前触れも無く / マスケット銃のとどろきが耳に飛び込んできた / 広間は煙で一杯になり / テーブルの向こうが見えなくなった◆それが晴れた時、部屋は修羅場となっていた◆ウィルソンと他の8人は床に積み重なってもだえていた / そしてテーブルの上の血とブラウン・シェリーは / 今でも思い出すと気分が悪くなる◆我々はこの光景に非常に恐れをなしたので / 私は我々は降伏していただろうと思う / もしプレンダガストがいなかったら◆彼は牡牛のように吠えると / 扉に向かって駆け出し、生存者は彼のすぐ後に続いた◆我々が駆け出ると / 船尾楼の上に大尉と10人の部下がいた◆広間のテーブルの上の天窓が / 少しだけ開けられていて / この隙間から彼らは我々に向けて発砲していた◆我々は相手が弾を込める前に立ち向かった / そして彼らは男らしく戦闘態勢についた / しかしこちらが相手よりも優勢だった / 五分後に全てが終わった◆ああ / この船のような虐殺現場がかつてあっただろうか / プレンダガストは怒り狂った悪魔のようだった / 彼は兵士を子供のように掴みあげ / 生きていようと死んでいようと船べりから投げ捨てた◆ひどい傷を負った一人の軍曹が / それでも驚くほど長い間泳ぎつづけていた / 誰かが哀れに思って頭に弾を打ち込むまで◆戦闘が終わった時 / 敵は残っていなかった / ただ、看守人、航海士、医者以外には』」

“ ‘It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There were many of us who were glad enough to win back our freedom, and yet who had no wish to have murder on our souls. It was one thing to knock the soldiers over with their muskets in their hands, and it was another to stand by while men were being killed in cold blood. Eight of us, five convicts and three sailors, said that we would not see it done. But there was no moving Prendergast and those who were with him. Our only chance of safety lay in making a clean job of it, said he, and he would not leave a tongue with power to wag in a witness-box. It nearly came to our sharing the fate of the prisoners, but at last he said that if we wished we might take a boat and go. We jumped at the offer, for we were already sick of these bloodthirsty doings, and we saw that there would be worse before it was done. We were given a suit of sailor togs each, a barrel of water, two casks, one of junk and one of biscuits, and a compass. Prendergast threw us over a chart, told us that we were shipwrecked mariners whose ship had foundered in Lat. 15° and Long. 25° west, and then cut the painter and let us go.

「『彼らについて大きな議論が起こった◆我々の多くは自由が戻った事で十分満足していた / そしてこれ以上の殺人をしたいとは思わなかった◆マスケット銃を手にした兵士を倒すのはしょうがないが / 人が残酷に殺される側に立っているのは別の話だ◆我々八人 / 囚人五人と船員三人は / そう言う事は見たくないと言った◆しかしプレンダガストと彼の同調者は動かされなかった◆我々が安全になれるチャンスは仕事を綺麗に片付けることにしかない / 彼は言った / そして証人席でしゃべることが出来る舌は一つも残さないつもりだった◆我々は危うく捕虜と運命を共にしそうになったが / しかし最後に彼はもし我々が望むならボートに乗って去っていよいと言った◆我々はその申し出に飛びついた / 我々はすでにこの血なまぐさい行為にうんざりしていたので / そしてそうする前に事態はさらに悪くなりそうだと思ったので◆我々は与えられた / それぞれ船員服一式 / 樽一杯の水 / 二つの桶 / 塩漬け牛肉と薄焼きパンの / そして磁石◆プレンダガストは海図を投げてよこし / 我々は難破した船員だと説明した / 船は北緯15度西経25度で沈没したと / その後もやい綱を解いて我々を放した』」