Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо
Шрифт:
great stir on board, and the other boat was launched.
I watched them with my spyglass.
As the boat neared the shore, we saw that there were ten men in her and that they
were all armed with muskets.
The sun shone in their faces and we had a good sight of them as they came.
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The captain knew them all. He said that there were three very honest fellows
among them who had gone into this business against their will. All the rest, however,
were bad men who were ready to do any wicked deed.
We now set free two of our prisoners, for they seemed to be trustworthy men and
glad that matters had turned in the captain's favor.
"Can we trust them, Captain?" I asked.
"I will stand good for them," said the captain.
I gave them each a gun. We had now seven armed men to meet the ten who were
coming to the shore.
But we kept ourselves hidden and waited to see what they would do.
As soon as they reached the shore they ran to see the other boat. What was their
surprise to find her stripped of everything and a hole in her bottom.
They shouted, but no one answered.
They fired off their muskets, making the woods ring with their echoes. But still
there was no answer.
Then they launched their boat again, and all started to the ship.
But on the way they changed their minds. It would never do, they thought, to
leave their friends on the island without so much as hunting for them.
They therefore rowed back to the shore. Three men were left with the boat as
guards, and the rest started out into the country to seek their lost companions.
We should have been glad if they had come our way, so that we might have fired
on them; but this they failed to do.
Night was fast coming on, and they did not dare to go far from the shore.
By and by they came back to the boat again.
We feared that they had given up the search and would now return to the ship.
The sun was setting, and darkness would soon cover both land and sea.
I AM CALLED GOVERNOR (назначен
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BY my orders (по моим приказам), Friday and the captain's mate hurried
through the woods to the little river where I had landed so long ago with my rafts
(Пятница и друг капитана поспешили через лес к маленькой реке, где я причалил
так давно = когда-то с моими плотами).
When they had reached the place, they shouted as loudly as they could (они
закричали так громко, как /только/ могли).
The men who were just getting into the boat heard them (услышали их). They
answered (ответили), and ran along the shore toward the little river (побежали вдоль
берега к маленькой реке).
The three who had been left in the boat also rowed around toward the same place
(погребли к тому же месту). Near the mouth of the river (около устья реки), however,
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they came to land again (вновь высадились на землю), and one of them ran along the
bank of the stream to meet his fellows (вдоль берега потока, чтобы встретить своих
товарищей).
At this moment I rushed forward with the captain (поспешил вперед с
капитаном; to rush — броситься, устремиться), and seized the boat (захватил лодку)
before the two fellows who were in it could save themselves (прежде чем два приятеля,
которые были в ней, смогли спастись /бегством/).
It was now almost dark (почти темно), and we had nothing to do but wait till the
seamen came back to the shore to look for their boat (искать свою лодку).
Soon Friday and the captain's mate rejoined us (вновь присоединились к нам),
and I stood at the head of my little army (во главе своей малой армии), listening to the
seamen as they made their way through the bushes (прислушиваясь, как моряки
прокладывали путь через кусты).
We could hear them calling to one another (могли слышать, как они звали друг
друга). We could hear them telling how lame (усталыми: «хромыми, плохо
владеющими ногами») and tired they were. We could hear them saying that they were
in an enchanted island (на заколдованном острове) where there were witches (где были
ведьмы) and other kinds of uncanny things (зловещие, сверхъестественные вещи). All
this pleased us very much.
By and by they came to the shore, quite close to where we were standing.
One of the men whom they had left in the boat was standing with us. He was one
of the honest men whom the captain had pointed out (он был одним из тех честных
людей, на которого капитан указал), and he had joined us very gladly (он