Английский язык с Р. Л. Стивенсоном. Остров сокровищ

“Well,” said I, “I am not such a fool but I know pretty well what I have to look for. Let the worst come to the worst, it’s little I care. I’ve seen too many die since I fell in with you. But there’s a thing or two I have to tell you,” I said, and by this time I was quite excited; “and the first is this: here you are, in a bad way: ship lost, treasure lost, men lost; your whole business gone to wreck; and if you want to know who did it — it was I! I was in the apple barrel the night we sighted land, and I heard you, John, and you, Dick Johnson, and Hands, who is now at the bottom of the sea, and told every word you said before the hour was out. And as for the schooner, it was I who cut her cable, and it was I that killed the men you had aboard of her, and it was I who brought her where you’ll never see her more, not one of you. The laugh’s on my side; I’ve had the top of this business from the first; I no more fear you than I fear a fly. Kill me, if you please, or spare me. But one thing I’ll say, and no more; if you spare me, bygones are bygones, and when you fellows are in court for piracy, I’ll save you all I can. It is for you to choose. Kill another and do yourselves no good, or spare me and keep a witness to save you from the gallows.”

I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath (я остановился, потому что, скажу вам, я задыхался: «был вне дыхания»), and, to my wonder, not a man of them moved (и, к моему удивлению, ни один из них не двигался), but all sat staring at me like as many sheep (а все сидели, таращась на меня, словно бараны; as many — столько же). And while they were still staring, I broke out again

(и пока они все еще глядели, я начал /говорить/ снова; to break — ломать; to break out — вспыхивать, разражаться /о грозе, огне и т. п./): —

“And now, Mr. Silver (итак, мистер Сильвер),” I said, “I believe you’re the best man here (думаю, вы главный здесь: «лучший человек»), and if things go to the worst, I’ll take it kind of you to let the doctor know the way I took it (и если дела станут наихудшими = если я погибну, то, будьте добры, дайте доктору знать = расскажите доктору о пути, который я избрал).”

“I’ll bear it in mind

(я буду иметь это в виду),” said Silver, with an accent so curious (сказал Сильвер таким странным тоном; accent — акцент, выговор) that I could not, for the life of me, decide (что я не мог, хоть режьте, решить) whether he were laughing at my request (то ли он смеется над моей просьбой), or had been favourably affected by my courage (то ли тронут моей храбростью; favourably — благосклонно, одобрительно).

“I’ll put one to that (я скажу еще одно),” cried the old mahogany-faced seaman — Morgan by name (крикнул старый моряк с лицом цвета красного дерева, по имени Морган) — whom I had seen in Long John’s public house upon the quays of Bristol (которого я видел в таверне Долговязого Джона в бристольском порту; public house — кабак, пивная, таверна; quay — причал, набережная, пристань). “It was him that knowed Black Dog (это он узнал Черного Пса).”

accent [`æksənt] curious [`kjuərɪəs] request [rɪ`kwest] quays [ki:z]

I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath, and, to my wonder, not a man of them moved, but all sat staring at me like as many sheep. And while they were still staring, I broke out again: —

“And now, Mr. Silver,” I said, “I believe you’re the best man here, and if things go to the worst, I’ll take it kind of you to let the doctor know the way I took it.”

“I’ll bear it in mind,” said Silver, with an accent so curious that I could not, for the life of me, decide whether he were laughing at my request, or had been favourably affected by my courage.

“I’ll put one to that,” cried the old mahogany-faced seaman — Morgan by name — whom I had seen in Long John’s public house upon the quays of Bristol. “It was him that knowed Black Dog.”