(и когда, наконец, я взвалил на плечи челнок;
479
had supped (и пошел, спотыкаясь, на ощупь из лощины, где я поужинал), there
were but two points visible on the whole anchorage (на всей стоянке было видно
лишь две точки).
truantry [`trHqntrI] obstinately [`ObstInqntlI] dwindled [`dwIndld] stumblingly
[`stAmblINlI]
1. Well, now that I had found the boat, you would have thought I had had
enough of truantry for once; but, in the meantime, I had taken another
notion, and became so obstinately fond of it, that I would have carried it out, I
believe, in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself. This was to slip out under
cover of the night, cut the
fancied. I had quite made up my mind that the mutineers, after their repulse
of the morning, had nothing nearer their hearts than to up anchor and away
to sea; this, I thought, it would be a fine thing to prevent, and now that I had
seen how they left their watchmen unprovided with a boat, I thought it might
be done with little risk.
2. Down I sat to wait for darkness, and made a hearty meal of biscuit. It was a
night out of ten thousand for my purpose. The fog had now buried all heaven.
As the last rays of daylight dwindled and disappeared, absolute blackness
settled down on Treasure Island. And when, at last, I shouldered the coracle,
and groped my way stumblingly out of the hollow where I had supped, there
were but two points visible on the whole anchorage.
1. One was the great fire on shore (одной был огромный костер на берегу), by
which the defeated pirates lay carousing in the swamp (у которого побежденные
480
пираты расположились, пьянствуя на болоте;
(другое, всего лишь неясное пятно света в: «на» темноте), indicated the
position of the anchored ship (показывало расположение стоявшей на якоре
шхуны). She had swung round to the ebb (она развернулась к отливу) — her
bow was now towards me (ее нос был теперь /повернут/ ко мне) — the only
lights on board were in the cabin (единственные огни на борту светились в
каюте); and what I saw was merely a reflection on the fog of the strong rays that
flowed from the stern window (и то, что я видел, было лишь отражением
сильных лучей /света/ в тумане, которые шли из кормового окна;
2. The ebb had already run some time (отлив уже происходил некоторое время),
and I had to wade through a long belt of swampy sand (и мне пришлось
пробираться по обширному поясу вязкого песка), where I sank several times
above the ankle (в котором я тонул несколько раз по щиколотку;
before I came to the edge of the retreating water (прежде чем дошел до кромки
отступающей воды), and wading a little way in (и прошел немного вброд;
силой и проворством = постаравшись, приложив усилия и расторопность;
on the surface (спустил челнок килем вниз на поверхность /воды/).
carousing [kq`rauzIN] merely [`mIqlI] ankle [`xNkl] dexterity [deks`terItI]
1. One was the great fire on shore, by which the defeated pirates lay carousing