Lonesome Dove 孤鸽镇

“Newt, why don’t you take this pony?” he said, looking at the boy. “He’s a pacer—you won’t find no easier gait. And the rest of you boys divide what money’s in my pocket.”He smiled at the thought of how surprised they would be when they saw how much he had—it was that lucky week in Fort Worth he had to thank for it.

“All right, Jake, many thanks,” Newt said, his voice cracking.

Before he got the thanks out, Jake Spoon had quickly spurred his pacing horse high back in the flanks with both spurs. The rope squeaked against the bark of the limb. Augustus stepped over and caught the swinging body and held it still.

“I swear,” Pea Eye said. “He didn’t wait for you, Gus.” “Nope, he died fine,” Augustus said. “Go dig him a grave, will you, Pea?” They buried Jake Spoon by moonlight on the slope above the creek and, after some discussion, cut down Roy Suggs and little Eddie, plus the old man Dan Suggs had killed, a drummer named Collins with a wagonful of patent medicines. There was a good lantern in the wagon, which, besides the medicines, contained four white rabbits in a cage. The old man had run a medicine show, evidently, and did a little magic. The wagon contained a lot of cheaply printed circulars which advertised the show.

“Headed for Denver, I guess,” Call said.

Dan Suggs they left hanging. Augustus took one of the circulars and wrote “Dan Suggs, Man Burner and Horse Thief on the back of it. He rode over and pinned the sign to Dan Suggs’s shirt.

“That way if a lawman comes looking for him he’ll know he can quit the search,” Augustus said.

They rounded up Wilbarger’s horses and unhitched the two mules that had been pulling the little wagon. Augustus wanted to take the white rabbits, but the cage was awkward to carry. Finally Deets put two in his saddlebags, and Augustus took the other two. He also sampled the patent medicines and took several bottles of it.

“What do you think it will cure, Gus?” Pea Eye asked.

“Sobriety, if you guzzle enough of it,” Augustus said. “I expect it’s just whiskey and syrup.” The wagon itself was in such poor repair that they decided to leave it sit. Call broke up the tailgate and made a little marker for Jake’s grave, scratching his name on it with a pocketknife by the light of the old man’s lantern. He hammered the marker into the loose-packed dirt with the blunt side of a hatchet they had found in the wagon. Augustus trotted over, bringing Call his mare.

“I’m tired of justice, ain’t you?” he asked.

“Well, I wish he hadn’t got so careless about his company,” Call said. “It was that that cost him.” “Life works out peculiar,” Augustus said. “If he hadn’t talked you into making this trip, we wouldn’t have had to hang him today. He could be sitting down in Lonesome Dove, playing cards with Wanz.” “On the other hand, it was gambling brought him down,” Call said. “That’s what started it.” Deets and Pea Eye and Newt held the little horse herd. Newt was leading the horse Jake had left him. He didn’t know if it was right to get on him so soon after Jake’s death.

“You can ride the pacing pony,” Deets said. “Mister Jake meant you to have it.” “What will I do with his saddle?” Newt asked. “He didn’t say anything about the saddle.” “It’s better than that old singletree of yours,” Pea Eye said. “Take it—Jake’s through with it.” “Don’t neither of you want it?” Newt asked. It bothered him to take it, for Jake hadn’t mentioned it.

“Oh, no,” Deets said. “Saddle goes with the horse, I guess.” Nervous and a little reluctant, Newt got on Jake’s horse. The stirrups were too long for him, but Deets got down and quickly adjusted them. As he was finishing the lacing, Call and Augustus rode by. Deets took the bridle off Newt’s other horse and turned him, still saddled, into the horse herd. No one seemed to have anything to say.
“哦，不，”Deets说。“我想，马鞍跟马走。”紧张又有点不情愿的纽特上了杰克的马。马镫对他来说太长了，但Deets下来，迅速调整了一下。就在他系好鞋带的时候，Call和Augustus骑马经过。Deets从Newt的另一匹马身上取下缰绳，把他变成了一个马群。似乎没有人要说什么。

They started Wilbarger’s horses west across the dark prairie in the direction the cattle should be. Captain Call led, Augustus and Deets rode to the sides, and Pea Eye and Newt brought up the rear. Newt had to admit that Jake’s horse had a beautiful smooth gait, but even so he wished he hadn’t changed horses—not so soon. It seemed wrong to be enjoying Jake’s horse, and his fine saddle too, after what had happened. But he was tired, so tired he didn’t even feel the sadness for very long. Soon his head dropped and he sat on the pacing gelding, sound asleep. Pea Eye noticed and trotted close beside him so he could catch the weary boy if he started to fall off.
他们让威尔伯格的马向西穿过黑暗的草原，朝牛群应该去的方向前进。卡尔上尉领着马，奥古斯都和迪茨骑马到两边，皮眼和纽特跟在后面。纽特不得不承认，杰克的马步态优美流畅，但即便如此，他还是希望自己没有换马——不要这么快。在发生了这件事之后，享受杰克的马，还有他那漂亮的马鞍，似乎是不对的。但他累了，太累了，他甚至没有长时间感到悲伤。很快，他垂下头，坐在踱步的凝胶上，睡得很熟。Pea Eye注意到了这一点，并在他身边小跑，这样他就可以抓住那个疲惫的男孩，如果他开始摔倒的话。

CLARA WAS MILKING A MARE when Sally, her oldest girl, came racing down to the lots.
CLARA正在吃早饭，这时她最大的女儿Sally冲到停车场。

“Somebody’s coming, Ma,” Sally said, excitement in her face. Sally was ten years old and sociable—she loved visitors.
“有人来了，妈妈，”萨莉兴奋地说。萨莉十岁，很爱交际——她喜欢客人。

The young mare had dropped her foal early and the colt was too weak to stand up, which was why she was milking. The colt would suck milk off a rag, and Clara was determined to save it if she could. When Sally ran up, the mare flinched, causing Clara to squirt a stream of milk along her own arm.
小母马很早就把小马驹放下了，小马驹太虚弱了，站不起来，这就是她挤奶的原因。小马会吸走破布上的牛奶，克拉拉决心尽可能地救它。萨莉跑上来时，母马吓了一跳，克拉拉顺着自己的胳膊喷了一股牛奶。

“Haven’t I told you to walk up to horses?” Clara said. She stood up and wiped the milk off her dripping arm.
“我不是告诉过你要走向马吗？”克拉拉说。她站起来，擦去她滴水的手臂上的牛奶。

“I’m sorry, Ma,” Sally said, more excited than sorry. “See, there’s a wagon coming.” Then Betsey, only seven, came flying out of the house, her brown hair streaming, and raced down to the corrals. Betsey liked company as much as her sister.
“对不起，妈妈，”萨莉说，兴奋多于抱歉。“看，有一辆马车来了。”然后，只有七岁的贝琪从屋里飞了出来，棕色的头发流了下来，朝畜栏跑去。贝齐和她姐姐一样喜欢有人陪伴。

“Who’s coming?” she asked.

The wagon was barely visible coming along the Platte from the west.
马车从西边沿着普拉特河驶来，几乎看不见。

“I thought I told you girls to churn,” Clara said. “Seems like all you do is hang out the window watching for travelers.” Of course, no one could blame them, for company was rare. They lived twenty miles from town, and a bad town at that—Ogallala. If they went in, it was usually for church, but they seldom made the trip. Their company mostly consisted of men who came to trade horses with Bob, her husband, and now that he was injured, few came. They had just as many horses—more, in fact—and Clara knew more about them than Bob had ever learned, but there were few men disposed to bargain with a woman, and Clara was not disposed to give their horses away. When she named a price she meant it, but usually men got their backs up and wouldn’t buy.
克拉拉说：“我不是告诉过你们这些女孩要跳槽吧。”。“看来你所做的就是挂在窗户外看旅行者。”当然，没有人能责怪他们，因为陪伴很少。他们住在离城镇二十英里的地方，那是一个糟糕的城镇——奥加拉拉。如果他们进去，通常是去教堂，但他们很少去。他们的公司主要由来和她的丈夫鲍勃交换马匹的人组成，现在他受伤了，很少有人来。他们有同样多的马——事实上，更多的马——克拉拉对他们的了解比鲍勃所了解的还要多，但很少有男人愿意和女人讨价还价，克拉拉也不愿意把他们的马送人。当她说出价格时，她是认真的，但通常男人都会支持，不会买。

“I expect they’re just buffalo hunters,” Clara said, watching the distant wagon creep over the brown plains. “You girls won’t learn much from them, unless you’re interested in learning how to spit tobacco.” “I ain’t,” Betsey said.
“我想他们只是水牛猎人，”克拉拉说，看着远处的马车在棕色的平原上爬行。“你们这些女孩不会从他们身上学到很多东西，除非你们有兴趣学习如何吐烟草。”“我没有，”贝齐说。

“You aren’t, you mean,” Sally said. “I thought all the buffalo were dead—how come they still hunt them?” “Because people are slow learners, like your sister,” Clara said, grinning at Betsey to mitigate the criticism.
“你不是，你是说，”萨莉说。“我以为所有的水牛都死了——他们怎么还猎杀它们？”“因为人们学习速度很慢，就像你妹妹一样，”克拉拉说，对贝琪咧嘴一笑，以减轻批评。