福尔摩斯探案经典:《恐怖谷》第10章Part5

"Windle has never refused us when we have had occasion to ask for the loan of a man or two, and it is not for us to refuse him." McGinty paused and looked round the room with his dull, malevolent eyes. "Who will volunteer for the job?"
Several young fellows held up their hands. The Bodymaster looked at them with an approving smile.
"You'll do, Tiger Cormac. If you handle it as well as you did the last, you won't be wrong. And you, Wilson."
"I've no pistol," said the volunteer, a mere boy in his teens.
"It's your first, is it not? Well, you have to be blooded some time. It will be a great start for you. As to the pistol, you'll find it waiting for you, or I'm mistaken. If you report yourselves on Monday, it will be time enough. You'll get a great welcome when you return."
"Any reward this time?" asked Cormac, a thick-set, dark-faced, brutal-looking young man, whose ferocity had earned him the nickname of "Tiger."
"Never mind the reward. You just do it for the honour of the thing. Maybe when it is done there will be a few odd dollars at the bottom of the box."
"What has the man done?" asked young Wilson.
"Sure, it's not for the likes of you to ask what the man has done. He has been judged over there. That's no business of ours. All we have to do is to carry it out for them, same as they would for us. Speaking of that, two brothers from the Merton lodge are coming over to us next week to do some business in this quarter."
"Who are they?" asked someone.
"Faith, it is wiser not to ask. If you know nothing, you can testify nothing, and no trouble can come of it. But they are men who will make a clean job when they are about it."
"And time, too!" cried Ted Baldwin. "Folk are gettin' out of hand in these parts. It was only last week that three of our men were turned off by Foreman Blaker. It's been owing him a long time, and he'll get it full and proper."
"Get what?" McMurdo whispered to his neighbour.
"The business end of a buckshot cartridge!" cried the man with a loud laugh. "What think you of our ways, Brother?"
McMurdo's criminal soul seemed to have already absorbed the spirit of the vile association of which he was now a member. "I like it well," said he. "'Tis a proper place for a lad of mettle."
Several of those who sat around heard his words and applauded them.
"What's that?" cried the black-maned Bodymaster from the end of the table.
"'Tis our new brother, sir, who finds our ways to his taste."
McMurdo rose to his feet for an instant. "I would say, Eminent Bodymaster, that if a man should be wanted I should take it as an honour to be chosen to help the lodge."

“我们有事要求借用一两个人的时候，温德尔从来未拒绝过我们，照理我们也不能拒绝他，"麦金蒂停顿了一下，他那阴沉、恶毒的双眼向室内四下打量了一番，问道，“谁自愿前往？”
几个年轻人举起手来。身主看着他们，赞同地笑了。
“你可以去，老虎科马克。如果你能干得象上次那样好，那你就不会出差错。还有你，威尔逊。”
“我没有手枪，"这个十几岁的孩子说道。
“你这是第一次，是不是？好，你迟早总是要取得经验的，这是一个很好的开端。至于手枪，你会发现，手枪是在等着你的，不然就是我弄错了。如果你们在星期一报到，时间尽够了。你们回来时，一定会受到热烈欢迎。”
“这次可有报酬吗？"科马克问道，他是一个体格结实、面孔黝黑、面貌狰狞的年轻人，由于他的凶狠残暴，使他赢得了“老虎"的绰号。
“不用担心报酬。你们仅是出于荣誉去做这件事。事成后，也许有一点零头给你们。”
“那个人究竟有什么罪呢？"年轻的威尔逊问道。
“当然，那个人究竟有什么罪，这不是象你这样的人应当问的。他们那里已经对他作出了判决，那就不关我们的事了。我们所要做的只是替他们去执行而已。他们也会照样来替我们行事的。说起这个，下星期默顿分会就有两个弟兄到我们这里来行事。”
“他们是谁呢？"一个人问道。
“你最好不要问。如果你什么也不知道，你可以作证说什么也不知道，就不会招来什么麻烦。不过他们是那些干起事来很利落的人。”
“还有！"特德·鲍德温叫道，“有些事该了结一下。就在上星期，我们的三个弟兄被工头布莱克解雇了。早就应该给他教训了，他早就应该领受这个教训了。”
“领受什么？"麦克默多低声向邻座的人问道。
“给他一颗大号子弹完事！"那人大笑起来，高声说道，“你认为我们的办法怎样？兄弟。”
麦克默多现在已经是这个无恶不作的社团中的一分子，他的灵魂似乎已被这种精神所同化。“我很喜欢它，"麦克默多说道，“这正是英雄少年用武之地啊！”
四周听到麦克默多讲话的人大加称赞。
“怎么回事？"坐在桌子那一端的黑大汉身主问道。
“先生，我们新来的弟兄，认为我们的办法很合他的口味。”
麦克默多马上站起来说道：“我敢说，尊敬的身主，如果有用人的地方，我当以能为本会出力为荣。”