Text Source: Thomas hardy, Life’s little ironies: A set of tales with some colloquial sketches entitled A few crusted characters, With a map of Wessex, Macmillan and Co., London 1925 (First Collected Edition 1894), p.205-216

A TRADITION OF EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FOUR

by Thomas Hardy (1882)

千八百四年の言ひ傳へ

トーマス・ハーディ著

The widely discussed possibility of an invasion of England through a Channel tunnel [1] has more than once recalled old Solomon Selby’s story to my mind.

汎く論ぜられたイギリス海峽地下トンネルを通じての侵略の可能性は，一度ならずソロモン・セルビィ爺さんの話を想起させた。

The occasion on which I numbered myself among his audience was one evening when he was sitting in the yawning chimney-corner of the inn-kitchen, with some others who had gathered there, and I entered for shelter from the rain. Withdrawing the stem of his pipe from the dental notch in which it habitually rested, he leaned back in the recess behind him and smiled into the fire. The smile was neither mirthful nor sad, not precisely humorous nor altogether thoughtful. We who knew him recognized it in a moment: it was his narrative smile. Breaking off our few desultory remarks we drew up closer, and he thus began: —

僕が彼の話の聽者の仲間に入ったのは，或る晩，彼が宿屋の調理場の大きな口を開けた爐邊に其處へ集った幾人かの人達とともに坐り込んでゐて，僕が雨を避けるために其処へ入ったときのことであった。爺さんは，煙管の軸を何時も咥へる歯の隙間から外して背後の窪みに倚りかり，爐の火に微笑み掛けた。その微笑は陽気でも悲しくもなく，又，ユーモラスでも無ければ，思慮に富んだと云ふ風でもなかった。彼を知る我々は，その瞬間に，其れが物を語る微笑であると認識した。雑談をやめて，我々は膝を乘出した。彼は次の様に語り出した。

‘My father, as you mid[2] know, was a shepherd all his life, and lived out by the Cove [3] four miles yonder, where I was born and lived likewise, till I moved here shortly afore I was married. The cottage that first knew me stood on the top of the down[4], near the sea; there was no house within a mile and a half of it; it was built o’ purpose for the farm-shepherd, and had no other use. They tell me that it is now pulled down, but that you can see where it stood by the mounds of earth and a few broken bricks that are still lying about. It was a bleak and dreary place in winter-time, but in summer it was well enough, though the garden never came to much, because we could not get up a good shelter for the vegetables and currant[5] bushes; and where there is much wind they don’t thrive.

「君達も知ってゐるかもしれないが，僕の親父は，生涯羊飼をやってゐて，Coveから四マイル離れたの邊りに住んでゐたが，其處は，僕が生れ，結婚して間も無く此地へ引越して來るまで住んでゐた處でもあった。僕の生れたコッテージは，海の近くの草丘に立ってゐて，その1マイル半四方には，一軒の家も無かった。コッテージは農場羊飼の爲に建てられたもので，其れ以外には使はれなかった。人々の話に依ると，其れは今は取り壊されたが，幾つかの土盛りと邊りに散乱する煉瓦の缺片から，建ってゐた場所が判るだらうと云ふ事である。冬は吹き曝しの淋しい所だが，夏は十分に良いところであった。尤も，畑地には向かなかった。何故なら，我々は其處に野菜やスグリの茂みのための風避けを作る事が出來なかったし，強い風で，其れらが育たなかったからである。」

‘Of all the years of my growing up, the ones that bide clearest in my mind were eighteen hundred and three, four, and five. This was for two reasons: I had just then grown to an age when a child’s eyes and ears take in and note down everything about him, and there was more at that date to bear in mind than there ever has been since with me. It was, as I need hardly tell ye, the time after the first peace[6], when Bonaparte was scheming his descent upon England. He had crossed the great Alp mountains, fought in Egypt, drubbed the Turks, the Austrians, and the Proossians[7], and now thought he’d have a slap at us.

「僕の成長した年の中で，心に最も明瞭に殘ってゐるのは，千八百三，四，五，の年であった。此れには二つの理由があった。僕は丁度，子供の目と耳が周圍の凡ゆる事柄を氣にかけ心に留める年頃になってゐた。そして，その頃には，其れまで以上に心に留めておくべきことがあった。君等に話す必要は殆ど無いが，其れは最初の講和條約が結ばれた後で，ナポレオンが英國襲撃を企んでゐた時であった。彼はアルブスの大山を越え，エジプトで戰ひ，トルコ，オーストリア，プロシャの軍勢を大敗させ，今や，彼は我國を打たうと考へてゐた。」

On the other side of the Channel, scarce out of sight and hail of a man standing on our English shore, the French army of a hundred and sixty thousand men and fifteen thousand horses had been brought together from all parts, and were drilling every day. Bonaparte had been three years a-making his preparations; and to ferry these soldiers and cannon and horses across he had contrived a couple of thousand flat-bottomed boats. These boats were small things, but wonderfully built. A good few of ’em were so made as to have a little stable on board each for the two horses that were to haul the cannon carried at the stern. To get in order all these, and other things required, he had assembled there five or six thousand fellows that worked at trades—carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, saddlers, and what not. O 'twas a curious time!

我英國の海岸に立ってゐる人に漸く指呼できる海峽の対岸では，百六十萬の兵隊と一萬五千の馬匹が，各地から集められて，毎日々々調練されてゐた。ボナパルトは，三年この方，此の準備をしてゐた。それから，これ等の兵隊と大砲，馬匹を運ぶのに二千有餘艘の平底船を工夫をしてゐた。これ等の船は小型ではあったが，素晴らしく造られてゐた。これらの船の幾つかの優秀なものは，二つの小さな厩を具えてゐたが，それらは艦に載せた大砲を船尾に曳く二頭の馬のためのものであった。これ等および他の必要品を整備するために，彼は大工，鍛冶，車大工，馬具職，その他，五六千の職人を集めた。兎に角不可思議の時であつた。

‘Every morning Neighbour Boney [8] would muster his multitude of soldiers on the beach, draw ’em up in line, practise ’em in the manoeuvre of embarking, horses and all, till they could do it without a single hitch. My father drove a flock of ewes up into Sussex that year, and as he went along the drover’s track over the high downs thereabout he could see this drilling actually going on — the accoutrements of the rank and file[9] glittering in the sun like silver. It was thought and always said by my uncle Job, sergeant of foot (who used to know all about these matters), that Bonaparte meant to cross with oars on a calm night. The grand query with us was, Where would my gentleman land? Many of the common people thought it would be at Dover; others, who knew how unlikely it was that any skilful general would make a business of landing just where he was expected, said he’d go either east into the River Thames, or west’ard to some convenient place, most likely one of the little bays inside the Isle of Portland, between the Beal and St. Alban’s Head — and for choice the three-quarter-round Cove, screened from every mortal eye, that seemed made o’ purpose, out by where we lived, and which I’ve climbed up with two tubs of brandy across my shoulders on scores o’ dark nights in my younger days. Some had heard that a part o’ the French fleet would sail right round Scotland, and come up the Channel to a suitable haven. However, there was much doubt upon the matter; and no wonder, for after-years proved that Bonaparte himself could hardly make up his mind upon that great and very particular point, where to land. His uncertainty came about in this wise, that he could get no news as to where and how our troops lay in waiting, and that his knowledge of possible places where flat-bottomed boats might be quietly run ashore, and the men they brought marshalled in order, was dim to the last degree. Being flat-bottomed, they didn’t require a harbour for unshipping their cargo of men, but a good shelving beach away from sight, and with a fair open road toward London. How the question posed that great Corsican tyrant (as we used to call him), what pains he took to settle it, and, above all, what a risk he ran on one particular night in trying to do so, were known only to one man here and there; and certainly to no maker of newspapers or printer of books, or my account o’t [10] would not have had so many heads shaken over it as it has by gentry who only believe what they see in printed lines.

「毎朝，隣國のボニー（ボナパルト）は，海岸へ大勢の兵隊を集めて整列させ，馬ごと乘船させる演習を，一つの問題もなく行うまでやらせた。親父は，その年，牝羊の一群をサセックスまで追ってゐた。そして彼が高い草丘の家畜追ひの道を歩いてゐた時に，彼はこの演習が實際に行われてゐるを見ることが出來た。横列と縦列の装具が太陽の光で銀のやうに光ってゐた。一般に云はれ，歩兵軍曹であったジョブ叔父さん（此れらの事柄すべてについて知っていた）が言ったやうに，ボナパルトは静かな夜にオールを漕いで（海峽を）渡る積りであった。我々の大きな疑問は，我が紳士（ナポレオン）が何處へ上陸するだらうかと云ふことであった。庶民はドーヴァーだらうと言ひ，老練な將軍が丁度敵の待ち構へた所へ上陸する可能性は低いと思ってゐる人達は，當方のテムズ川を入るか，西の方の都合の好い場所，恐らく Beal と St. Alban’s Head の岬との間の Portland 島の小さい灣の一つだらうと言ってゐた。――その選擇は，三方入江に取り圍まれた Cove の人間の目に見えないところで，丁度我々住んでゐた所に近く，僕の若い時，暗夜にブランディの樽を兩肩に擔いで攀ぢ登った所であった。或る者はフランス艦隊の一部がスコットランドを回航して，イギリス海峽の適當な港に入ったと聞いた。しかし，其の件については疑念があり，驚くなかれ，何年か後に分ったことであるが，ボナパルドは何處へ上陸するかと云ふ重大且つ特別な點で，決心ができなかった。彼の不確かさは，我が軍隊が何處でどの様に待ち伏せをしてゐるかに關して情報を得る事ができなかったことと，平底舟を静かに碇泊させ，連れてきた兵隊を整然と指揮し得る場所についての知識が頗る不確かであったことにあった。平底舟であるから，乘せて來た兵士を上陸させるのに港は要らなかったが，視界から離れた都合好く傾斜したビーチで，ロンドンに向けてよく開かれた道路が欲しかった。この問題が偉大なコルシカの暴君（我々は彼をかう呼び慣はしてゐた）を如何に困窮させたか，其れを解決するために如何に彼が苦惱したか，そして何よりも，或る晚にさうする事の危險性は，此處彼處で僅か彼一人に知られてゐた。そして新聞メーカーや本の印刷屋の誰も頷く者多数を知らず，このことは印刷された新聞の行で見た事しか信じない田舎紳士と同じであった。」（難解！）

‘The flocks my father had charge of fed all about the downs near our house, overlooking the sea and shore each way for miles. In winter and early spring father was up a deal at nights, watching and tending the lambing. Often he’d go to bed early, and turn out at twelve or one; and on the other hand, he’d sometimes stay up till twelve or one, and then turn in to bed. As soon as I was old enough I used to help him, mostly in the way of keeping an eye upon the ewes while he was gone home to rest. This is what I was doing in a particular month in either the year four or five — I can’t certainly fix which, but it was long before I was took away from the sheepkeeping to be bound prentice to a trade. Every night at that time I was at the fold, about half a mile, or it may be a little more, from our cottage, and no living thing at all with me but the ewes and young lambs. Afeard? No; I was never afeard of being alone at these times; for I had been reared in such an out-step place that the lack o’ human beings at night made me less fearful than the sight of ’em. Directly I saw a man’s shape after dark in a lonely place I was frightened out of my senses.

「親父の羊の群は，數マイル離れた海や海岸を見下す家の近くの草丘の上で餌を得てゐた。冬や早春には，親父はよく夜まで起きて仔羊を見張り，勞はる仕事をしてゐた。時々彼は早く床に就き，十二時か一時頃に起きた。逆に，時々は夜中の十二時か一時頃迄起きてゐて，其れから床に就いた。僕は働くに十分な年齡になるや，父が休息のために家へ行った間，牝羊を見張る役をして彼を助けた。1804年か5年の何月であったかはっきりと憶えてゐないが，僕が羊飼を止めて商賣見習のため年期奉公に行く可成り前のことで，以下は，僕が經驗したことである。當時僕は毎晚我々のコッテージから半マイルか，其れより少し離れた羊欄にゐた。其處には僕と牝羊と仔羊の外に生き物は何もゐなかった。恐かった?否，僕は當時は一人でゐることを決して恐れなかった。何故なら僕は左様な外れた所に育ったから，夜に人を見るよりも人のゐない方が怖くなかった。暗くなってから淋しい所で人の姿を見ると正氣を失ふ程に吃驚した。」

‘One day in that month we were surprised by a visit from my uncle Job, the sergeant in the Sixty-first foot [11], then in camp on the downs above King George’s watering-place[12], several miles to the west yonder. Uncle Job dropped in about dusk, and went up with my father to the fold for an hour or two. Then he came home, had a drop to drink from the tub of sperrits that the smugglers kept us in for housing their liquor when they’d made a run, and for burning ’em off when there was danger. After that he stretched himself out on the settle to sleep. I went to bed: at one o’clock father came home, and waking me to go and take his place, according to custom, went to bed himself. On my way out of the house I passed Uncle Job on the settle. He opened his eyes, and upon my telling him where I was going he said it was a shame that such a youngster as I should go up there all alone; and when he had fastened up his stock and waist-belt he set off along with me, taking a drop from the sperrit-tub in a little flat bottle that stood in the corner-cupboard.

「その月の或る日，我々は，數マイル西のジョージ王海水浴場の上の草丘に屯營してゐた第61歩兵連隊の軍曹であるジョブ叔父さんの訪問を受けて實に驚いた。叔父は夕暮れに訪れて親父とともに，1時間か2時間の間，羊欄へ行ってゐた。其れから彼はうちへ來て，酒樽から一杯飲んだが，その酒は密輸入者が一仕事をした時に，彼等の酒を我々のところに隠したり，或ひは危い時には燃したものだった。その後，彼は長椅子の上に躰を伸ばして眠りについた。僕は就床した。１時頃，父は家に歸って，僕のところに歩いて來て，普段の様に僕に彼の代りをしに行くように命じた。家を出る途中，僕は長椅子の上に寝てゐる叔父の傍を通った。叔父が眼を醒ましたので僕が行先を話すと，彼は僕の様な若者が，獨り其處へ行かねばならないのは，殘念だと言った。そしてストックとウェストベルトを締め，隅の戸棚の中の小さな平たい瓶に酒樽から酒を取り，僕と一緒に出発した。」

‘By and by we drew up to the fold, saw that all was right, and then, to keep ourselves warm, curled up in a heap of straw that lay inside the thatched hurdles[13] we had set up to break the stroke of the wind when there was any. To-night, however, there was none. It was one of those very still nights when, if you stand on the high hills anywhere within two or three miles of the sea, you can hear the rise and fall of the tide along the shore, coming and going every few moments like a sort of great snore of the sleeping world. Over the lower ground there was a bit of a mist, but on the hill where we lay the air was clear, and the moon, then in her last quarter, flung a fairly good light on the grass and scattered straw.

「やがて我々は羊欄のに辿り着き，全てが正常であるのを見て，自分たち自身を温かく保つために，風のあるときに風を除けるために設えた藁葺柵堆小屋の麦藁の山の中に圓くなったた。その藁葺柵堆小屋と云ふのは，風のあるときに風を除けるために設えたものであったが，その夜は風がなかった。其れは非常に静かな夜で，假に海から２，３マイル離れた高い丘に立てば，海岸に寄せては返す潮を，短い時間毎に，寝静まった世界の大鼾のやうに聞くことができた。下方の地面は少しの霧が掛ってゐたが，我々が寝てゐる丘の上では空氣が澄んでゐて。下弦の月がかなり明るい光を草や散らかった麦藁の上に投げてゐた。」

‘While we lay there Uncle Job amused me by telling me strange stories of the wars he had served in and the wownds[14] he had got. He had already fought the French in the Low Countries, and hoped to fight ’em again. His stories lasted so long that at last I was hardly sure that I was not a soldier myself, and had seen such service as he told of. The wonders of his tales quite bewildered my mind, till I fell asleep and dreamed of battle, smoke, and flying soldiers, all of a kind with the doings he had been bringing up to me.

「其處で我々横になってゐる間に，ジョブ叔父さんは彼が從軍し，負傷もした戰爭の面白い話を語って僕を樂しませて呉れた。彼は既に Low Countries （ネーデルラント）でフランス兵と戰ったが，もう一度彼等と戦ひたいと言った。彼の物語は餘りにも長かったので，終には僕は自分自身が兵士になって，叔父の話した戰爭に行ったのか不確かになった。僕は叔父の話の面白さに魅せられて，熟睡し，戰爭，砲煙，驅けゆく兵士，その他，叔父が話して呉れた事柄と同じやうな夢を見た。」

‘How long my nap lasted I am not prepared to say. But some faint sounds over and above the rustle of the ewes in the straw, the bleat of the lambs, and the tinkle of the sheep-bell brought me to my waking senses. Uncle Job was still beside me; but he too had fallen asleep. I looked out from the straw, and saw what it was that had aroused me. Two men, in boat-cloaks, cocked hats[15], and swords, stood by the hurdles about twenty yards off.

「僕はどれほど仮眠したかは言ひ兼ねるが，牝羊が立てる麦藁の擦れる音，仔羊の鳴く聲，羊の首につけた鈴の音に重なる微かな音が，僕の眼を覚ました。ジョブ叔父さんは尚僕の傍にゐたが，彼は熟睡してゐた。僕は麦藁の中から外を見て，僕の眼を覺ましたものが何であるかを見た。船乗用の外套を着て，縁のそり返った帽子を被り，劍を下げた二人の男が20ヤードほど向ふの柵の傍に立ってゐた。」

‘I turned my ear thitherward to catch what they were saying, but though I heard every word o’t, not one did I understand. They spoke in a tongue that was not ours — in French, as I afterward found. But if I could not gain the meaning of a word, I was shrewd boy enough to find out a deal of the talkers’ business. By the light o’ the moon I could see that one of ’em carried a roll of paper in his hand, while every moment he spoke quick to his comrade, and pointed right and left with the other hand to spots along the shore. There was no doubt that he was explaining to the second gentleman the shapes and features of the coast. What happened soon after made this still clearer to me.

「僕は，彼等が話合ってゐる言葉を聞かうと，そちらの方へ耳を向けたが，各々の單語は聞こえたものの，一語も理解できなかった。彼等は，我々のとは異なる言語で喋ってゐたのだが，其れは後でフランス語と分った。僕は單語の意味は分からなかったが，話手の用向の遣り取りを見破るに足る洞察力のある少年であった。月の光でもって，僕は，彼等の一人が巻紙を手に持って，始終彼の連れに早口で喋りながら，もう片方の手で海岸に沿った地点を指してゐるのを見ることができた。彼が海岸の形状と地形を第二の男に説明してゐた事に疑ひはなかった。直後に起った事柄は，僕に一層明らかに示した。」

‘All this time I had not waked Uncle Job, but now I began to be afeared that they might light upon us, because uncle breathed so heavily through’s nose. I put my mouth to his ear and whispered, “Uncle Job.”

「この間，僕は，ジョブ叔父さんを起さなかったが，今や，彼等が我々を見つけるかも知れないと懼れた。何故なら，叔父は鼻で荒く息をしてゐたからである。僕は彼の耳に僕の口を近づけて，『ジョブ叔父さん。』，と囁いた」

‘ “What is it, my boy?” he said, just as if he hadn’t been asleep at all.

「『どうした，お前。』と，彼は少しも寝てゐなかったやうに言った。」

‘ “Hush !” says I. “Two French generals —”

「『しっ！』 僕は言った，『二人のフランスのの將校が――。』」

‘ “French ?” says he.

「『フランスの?』彼は言った。」

‘ “Yes,” says I. “Come to see where to land their army!”

「『はい』と僕は言った。『彼らが何處に上陸するか，ここに來て見て下さい』」

‘I pointed ’em out; but I could say no more, for the pair were coming at that moment much nearer to where we lay. As soon as they got as near as eight or ten yards, the officer with a roll in his hand stooped down to a slanting hurdle, unfastened his roll upon it, and spread it out. Then suddenly he sprung a dark lantern open on the paper, and showed it to be a map.

「僕は，彼等を指したが，二人はその瞬間に我々が横たわってゐた處にずつと近く來たので，其れ以上何も云ふ事が出來なかった。彼等は８，９ヤード近くに來るや否や，巻紙を手に持った士官が，傾いた柵へ身を屈め，巻紙の紐を解いて擴げた。其れから彼は急に暗いランタンを紙の上に翳したが，その所作は其れが地圖であることを示した」

‘ “What be they looking at?” I whispered to Uncle Job.

「『彼等は，何を見てゐるのでせうね。』，と僕はジョブ叔父さんに囁いた。」

‘ “A chart of the Channel,” says the sergeant (knowing about such things).

「『イギリス海峽の海圖さ。』，と軍曹の叔父は言った(彼はこの様な事柄に就いては能く知ってゐた)。」

‘The other French officer now stooped likewise, and over the map they had a long consultation, as they pointed here and there on the paper, and then hither and thither at places along the shore beneath us. I noticed that the manner of one officer was very respectful toward the other, who seemed much his superior, the second in rank calling him by a sort of title that I did not know the sense of. The head one, on the other hand, was quite familiar with his friend, and more than once clapped him on the shoulder.

「もう一人のフランス將校も同様に屈んで，地圖を見乍ら二人とも長い間相談をした。そして，地圖上の其処此処を，そして我々の下方の海岸線をあちこち指した。僕は一人の士官のマナーが，彼の上官と思はれるもう一人の士官に對して非常に慇懃で，僕の知らない尊称呼びかけることに氣付いた。頭目の方は友に對して親し氣で，一度ならず相手の肩を叩いた。」

‘Uncle Job had watched as well as I, but though the map had been in the lantern-light, their faces had always been in shade. But when they rose from stooping over the chart the light flashed upward, and fell smart upon one of ’em’s features. No sooner had this happened than Uncle Job gasped, and sank down as if he'd been in a fit.

ジョブ叔父さん，僕と同様に見詰めた。併し，地図は提燈の光の下にあつて良く見えたが，彼等の顔はいつでも陰になってゐた。しかし海図の上に屈んでゐた彼らが立上ると，提燈の光が上の方を照し，彼等の一人の顔を明るく照らした。これが起きるや否や，ジョブ叔父さんは息を呑み，恰も發作を起したやうに蹲った。

‘ “What is it-what is it, Uncle Job?” said I.

「『どうしたの，どうしたの，ジョブ叔父さん。』と僕は言った。」

‘ “O good God !’!” says he, under the straw.

「『おお，神様！』，彼は麦藁の下から言った。」

‘ “What?” says I.

「『何？』，僕は言った。」

‘ “Boney!” he groaned out.

「『ボネィだ。』と彼は呻いた。」

‘ “Who?" says I.

「『誰?』，僕は言った。」

‘ “Bonaparty,” he said. “The Corsican ogre. O that I had got but my new-flinted firelock[16], and that there man must live. So lie low, as you value your life!”

「『ボナパルティさ，』と彼は言った。『コルシカの鬼だ。あゝ，俺が新式のフリント引金銃を持ってゐさへすれば，彼らは死んだであらうに！新式のフリント引金銃を持ってゐないばかりに，彼奴は生きてゐる。だから低くつくばれ，命が大事なら。』」

‘I did lie low, as you mid [17] suppose. But I couldn’t help peeping. And then I too, lad as I was, knew that it was the face of Bonaparte. Not know Boney? I should think I did know Boney. I should have known him by half the light o’ that lantern. If I had seen a picture of his features once, I had seen it a hundred times. There was his bullet head, his short neck, his round yaller cheeks and chin, his gloomy face, and his great glowing eyes. He took off his hat to blow himself a bit, and there was the forelock in the middle of his forehead, as in all the draughts of him. In moving, his cloak fell a little open, and I could see for a moment his white-fronted jacket and one of his epaulets.

「僕は，君達の想像する通り，つくばっていた。併し，僕は覗かずにはゐられなかった。當時，僕も，少年ではあったが，其れがボナパルトの顔であるのを知ってゐた。ボネイを知らなかった?僕はボネィの顔を知ってゐた積りだ。僕はランタンの光の半分で見ても，彼と解った筈だ。一度彼の顔を見れば，百回見たに同じだ。彼の弾丸頭，短かい首，圓い黄色い頬と顎，暗い顔，偉大な輝く眼。少し風に吹かれる爲に帽子を脱ぐと，彼のどの肖像畫にもあるやうに，額の中程に前髪があった。彼が動くと，彼の外套が少しはだけて，僕は，彼の前側が白色のジャケッと，肩章の一つを瞬間的に見ることができた。」

‘But none of this lasted long. In a minute he and his general had rolled up the map, shut the lantern, and turned to go down toward the shore.

「しかし，此れは皆長くは續かなかった。一分の間に彼ともう一人の將校は地圖を巻き，ランタンを消して，海岸へ向ってて降りて行った。」

‘Then Uncle Job came to himself a bit. “Slipped across in the night-time to see how to put his men ashore,” he said. “The like o’ that man’s coolness eyes will never again see! Nephew, I must act in this, and immediate, or England’s lost!”

「其處で，ジョブ叔父さんは少し我に歸った。『彼の軍隊をどう上陸させるか見るために，夜間に忍んで來たのだな』，彼は言った。『彼のやうな冷静な態度は，二度とは見られまい！甥坊よ。俺は，此の事に關して直ぐ活動しなければならない。さもないと英國は敗ける。』」

‘When they were over the brow, we crope out, and went some little way to look after them. Half-way down they were joined by two others, and six or seven minutes brought them to the shore. Then, from behind a rock, a boat came out into the weak moonlight of the Cove, and they jumped in; it put off instantly, and vanished in a few minutes between the two rocks that stand at the mouth of the Cove as we all know. We climmed back to where we had been before, and I could see, a little way out, a larger vessel, though still not very large. The little boat drew up alongside, was made fast at the stern as I suppose, for the largest sailed away, and we saw no more.

「彼等が丘の頂を越えたとき，我々はコッテージを出て，彼等の後を少し見た。丘を半ば下った所で，彼等は別の二人と一緒になって，6，7分の間に波打際へ達した。すると，弱い月光の中，Cove の岩の背後から一艘のボートが現はれ，其れに彼等が飛び乘ると，直ちに海岸を離れた。そして數分後には，我々の良く知る Cove の口に立つ二つの岩の間に消え去った。我々は前にゐた所へ攀じ登って戻り，少し沖の方に，左程大型ではないが大きな軍艦が一艘泊ってゐるのを見た。小さなボートは横着けになると，我々が思った樣に，その舳に縛り付けられたらしい。何故なら，大きい船が出帆した後，何も見えなかったからである。」

‘My uncle Job told his officers as soon as he got back to camp; but what they thought of it I never heard–neither did he. Boney’s army never came, and a good job for me; for the Cove below my father’s house was where he meant to land, as this secret visit showed. We coast-folk should have been cut down one and all, and I should not have sat here to tell this tale.’

「ジョブ叔父さんは，露營に歸るや否や，他の士官達にその話をした。が，其れに就いて彼等がどう思ったかは，僕は――そして叔父も同様に聞かなかった。ボネィの軍隊は來なかったし，其れで良かった。何故なら，僕の親父の家の下にある Cove は，彼等の隠密の訪問が示したやうに，彼等が上陸しやうと計畫してゐた所であったからである。我々海岸の住民は一人殘らず斬られたであらうし，僕がここに坐って話をすることも無かったであろう。」

We who listened to old Selby that night have been familiar with his simple grave-stone for these ten years past. Thanks to the incredulity of the age his tale has been seldom repeated. But if anything short of the direct testimony of his own eyes could persuade an auditor that Bonaparte had examined these shores for himself with a view to a practicable landing-place, it would have been Solomon Selby’s manner of narrating the adventure which befell him on the down.

その夜セルビィ爺さんの話を聞いた我々は，過去十年間，彼のシンプルな墓石を見馴れてゐる。當時の人達の不信感のお陰で，彼の話は滅多に此話を繰返されなかった。併し，彼自身の眼で見た直接的證據くらいで，ボナパルトが自ら上陸を実行し得る地點を見るべくこの邊海岸を檢討した事實を信じさせられない聽者でも，セルビィ爺さんの身に草丘で起きた冒険の話し振りによって信じさせられた（難解）。

Christmas 1882.

1882年クリスマス