“他年紀這麼小！”姑娘叫道。
“He ’s old e nough for - ”Alan struck his fingerson the back of his neck. He meant I could lose myhead.
“他已經夠--”艾倫用手指在脖子後麵比劃了一下，意思是說有被殺頭的危險。
“Tha t is a bla ck shame ！”she cried.
“那可太可惜了。”她大聲說。
“It will ha ppe n，”Alan said，“if we ca nnot c ros sthe rive r .”
“我們要是過不了河，他會掉腦袋的。”艾倫說。
She turned and ran out of the house. Alan’strick pleased him. but I did not like it.
她轉身跑出客店。艾倫對自己的計策很得意，可我並不喜歡他這樣做，便說道：
“Ala n . ”I said，“I c a n’t b e a r this .”
“艾倫，我不能忍受這一套。”
“Yo u mus t，”he replied.“If you don ’t，you yourse lf ma y e s ca pe . I sha ll be a de a d ma n.”
他回答說：“你非忍受不可。要不，你自己也許可以逃之夭夭，可我會一命嗚呼。”
“It’s true ！”I cried.
“是這樣！”我大聲說。
Even my cry helped us. The girl came backwith food and a bottle of strong beer. She told us wemust eat and pay nothing. Her father was the landlordof the inn，and he had gone away for that day.
She sat at the next table and watched us.
連我的呻吟聲也幫了我的忙。
姑娘帶回一些吃的東西和一瓶烈性啤酒，讓我們吃、喝，不讓我們付錢。
他父親是客店的老板，那天出去了。
她坐在我們旁邊那張桌子上，望著我們。
“I think you ta lk too mu ch，”she said to Alan.
“我覺得你有點貧嘴。”她對艾倫說。
“Ye s ，”Alan said，“but I only ta lk to g ood pe ople .”
“是的。不過，我隻在好人而前才話多”艾倫說。
“I won ’t te ll your s e cre t，”she said.
“我是不會泄露你們的秘密的。”她說。
“No，”he said，“I know tha t. But you c ould he lpus .”
“我知道你不會的。可是，你可以幫我們的忙。”艾倫說。
“I couldn ’t，”she said，and shook her head.
“我幫不上忙。”她搖了搖頭，說。
“Lis te n，”Alan said.“If we c ould ha ve a bo a t toc ros s the rive r tonight，a nd a goo d s e cre t ma n tobring the boa t ba ck a ga in，it would s a ve us both. If wec a n’t ha ve tha t boa t，we ha ve only thre e shillings inthe world. Whe re ca n we g o？Wha t s ha ll we do？Wes ha ll ne ve r be s a fe . The y will ha ng us ，I promis e you！