黎明踏浪號

C. S.劉易斯（任顯楷　譯）

Chapter Four ?What Caspian Did There （Ⅱ）

第四章 凱斯賓隨后做的事情（中）

The captain gaped but Bern immediately cried， “Three cheers for the King，” and the soldiers， who had understood about the cask of wine even if they understood nothing else， joined in. Caspian then ordered most of his own men to remain in the courtyard. He， with Bern and Drinian and four others， went into the hall.

Behind a table at the far end with various secretaries about him sat his Sufficiency， the Governor of the Lone Islands. Gumpas was a bilious-looking man with hair that had once been red and was now mostly grey. He glanced up as the strangers entered and then looked down at his papers saying automatically， “No interviews without appointments except between nine and ten pm on second Saturdays.”

Caspian nodded to Bern and then stood aside. Bern and Drinian took a step forward and each seized one end of the table. They lifted it， and flung it on one side of the hall where it rolled over， scattering a cascade of letters， dossiers， ink-pots， pens， sealing-wax and documents. Then， not roughly but as firmly as if their hands were pincers of steel， they plucked Gumpas out of his chair and deposited him， facing it， about four feet away. Caspian at once sat down in the chair and laid his naked sword across his knees.

“My Lord，” said he， fixing his eyes on Gumpas， “you have not given us quite the welcome we expected. I am the King of Narnia.”

“Nothing about it in the correspondence，” said the governor. “Nothing in the minutes. We have not been notified of any such thing. All irregular. Happy to consider any applications—”

“And we are come to enquire into your Sufficiencys conduct of your office，” continued Caspian. “There are two points especially on which I require an explanation. Firstly I find no record that the tribute due from these Islands to the crown of Narnia has been received for about a hundred and fifty years.”

衛隊長打呵欠之際，波恩爵士立馬高聲喊道：“為國王陛下三呼‘萬歲！”那些衛兵，除了記得“美酒一桶”，別的什么也沒鬧明白。不過既然有酒喝，他們自然也就加入了歡呼的人群。凱斯賓隨后命令自己帶來的人待在內院里，只挑了四名最得力的隨從，加上波恩爵士和德瑞尼亞，走進城堡的大廳。

在大廳里遠遠的一端，一張桌子后面坐著孤島群島的總督大人，很多謀臣秘書環伺在他周圍。總督崗帕斯的相貌看起來就很兇惡，他的頭發以前是紅色的，現在差不多已經完全變成了灰色。他只抬眼掃了一下進來的這幾個陌生人，就又低下了頭，看著他面前的文件，用機械的腔調說：“除了每個月的第二個星期六晚上九點到十點之外，其他時候沒有預約一律不見。”

凱斯賓沖波恩爵士點點頭，然后站到一邊。伯恩爵士和德瑞尼亞往前一大步，走到崗帕斯的桌邊。他們一人握住桌子的一角，把桌子舉起來，狠狠地擲向大廳的一角。桌子翻倒在地上，桌上的信函、檔案、墨水瓶、筆、蠟封和各種文件散落了一地。接著波恩爵士和德瑞尼亞二人又走上前去，動作并不粗暴，但他們兩人的雙臂如同鐵鉗一般，把崗帕斯從座位上提了起來，把他放到離座位四五英尺開外，讓他面對著自己的座椅站好。凱斯賓走過去，在總督的椅子上坐了下來。他拔出寶劍，把劍放在雙腿之間。

凱斯賓目光盯在崗帕斯身上，開口說：“我的大人，我們所希望的禮遇，你可沒有給我們啊。我，是納尼亞的國王。”

崗帕斯總督說道：“王國的通告中可沒有提到您要駕臨，也沒有開會說到此事啊。我們也沒有接到任何通知，這一切都來得太不尋常了。不過，我很榮幸為您提供任何服務……”

凱斯賓繼續說道：“本王此次前來，就是要考察一下總督大人你是如何履行你的職責的。有兩點我特別需要你做出說明。首先，我發現大約有一百五十年，沒有任何記錄證明你的島在向納尼亞朝貢。”

“That would be a question to raise at the Council next month，” said Gumpas. “If anyone moves that a commission of enquiry be set up to report on the financial history of the islands at the first meeting next year， why then...”

“I also find it very clearly written in our laws，” Caspian went on， “that if the tribute is not delivered the whole debt has to be paid by the Governor of the Lone Islands out of his private purse.”

At this Gumpas began to pay real attention. “Oh， thats quite out of the question，” he said. “It is an economic impossibility—er—your Majesty must be joking.”

Inside， he was wondering if there were any way of getting rid of these unwelcome visitors. Had he known that Caspian had only one ship and one ships company with him， he would have spoken soft words for the moment， and hoped to have them all surrounded and killed during the night. But he had seen a ship of war sail down the straits yesterday and seen it signalling， as he supposed， to its consorts. He had not then known it was the Kings ship for there was not wind enough to spread the flag out and make the golden lion visible， so he had waited further developments. Now he imagined that Caspian had a whole fleet at Bernstead. It would never have occurred to Gumpas that anyone would walk into Narrowhaven to take the islands with less than fifty men; it was certainly not at all the kind of thing he could imagine doing himself.

“Secondly，” said Caspian， “I want to know why you have permitted this abominable and unnatural traffic in slaves to grow up here， contrary to the ancient custom and usage of our dominions.”

“這正是我們議會下個月將要討論的問題。”崗帕斯說，“如果在明年的第一次會議上，有任何一個人提出動議，認為需要成立一個調查委員會就孤島群島的財務情況提交一份報告的話，那么……”

凱斯賓打斷崗帕斯的話繼續說道：“我還在我們的法律中很清楚地發現這樣一條規定，如果某個轄地沒有繳納貢賦的話，那么所欠的全部貢賦，都要由該地的總督從自己口袋里拿出錢來全部償清。”

此話一說，崗帕斯開始意識到事態的嚴重了。他說：“哦，這……這不現實。這在經濟上是行不通的。呃，陛下您一定是在開玩笑。”

在內心中，崗帕斯暗暗盤算，有沒有什么辦法可以把這幾個不受歡迎的來訪者給打發走。假如崗帕斯知道凱斯賓只有一艘船和有限的兵力隨船而來，他一定會在此時此刻說點軟話，爭取首先脫身，然后利用夜晚的掩護，將凱斯賓等人包圍起來殺掉。可是他昨天看到了一艘戰船駛入海峽，也看到了船上放出的信號。他相信這信號是這艘戰船發給跟隨著它的整支艦隊的。在當時，他沒有意識到這是國王的船。因為昨天黎明踏浪號進入海峽的時候海面上沒有風，船上繡有金色獅子的王旗沒有展開來。所以崗帕斯就沒有采取任何行動，只是等待著事態的進一步發展。而現在，他確信國王帶了一整支艦隊前來，艦隊現在就駐守在波恩斯泰德。對崗帕斯來說，一個人只帶了不到五十個士兵，就進入窄港并拿下整個孤島群島，這完全是不可能發生的事情。這樣的事情，在他心中根本不可想象。

“第二件事，”凱斯賓繼續說道，“我很想知道，你為什么允許丑惡的、不人道的奴隸貿易在此地發展？要知道這和我們古老的傳統相違背，更是對納尼亞主權的濫用。”

“Necessary， unavoidable，” said his Sufficiency. “An essential part of the economic development of the islands， I assure you. Our present burst of prosperity depends on it.”

“What need have you of slaves？”

“For export， your Majesty. Sell them to Calormen mostly; and we have other markets. We are a great centre of the trade.”

“In other words，” said Caspian， “you dont need them. Tell me what purpose they serve except to put money into the pockets of such as Pug？”

“Your Majestys tender years，” said Gumpas， with what was meant to be a fatherly smile， “hardly make it possible that you should understand the economic problem involved. I have statistics， I have graphs， I have—”

“Tender as my years be，” said Caspian， “I believe I understand the slave trade from within quite as well as your Sufficiency. And I do not see that it brings into the islands meat or bread or beer or wine or timber or cabbages or books or instruments of music or horses or armour or anything else worth having. But whether it does or not， it must be stopped.”

“But that would be putting the clock back，” gasped the governor. “Have you no idea of progress， of development？”

“I have seen them both in an egg，” said Caspian. “We call it ‘Going Bad in Narnia. This trade must stop.”

“I can take no responsibility for any such measure，” said Gumpas.

崗帕斯答道：“奴隸貿易非常必要，不能廢除。我敢向您保證，這是讓群島的經濟得以發展的重要一環。我們目前的繁榮昌盛都建立在奴隸貿易的基礎之上。”

“你要奴隸來做什么？”

“用來出口啊，我的陛下！大部分奴隸都賣到卡羅門去了。除此之外我們還有別的一些市場。孤島群島是奴隸販運的中心集散地。”

凱斯賓道：“這樣說來，其實你自己并不需要奴隸。那么你告訴我，販賣奴隸除了能讓像帕格這樣的家伙賺個盆溢缽滿，還有什么益處？”

“陛下年事尚輕，”崗帕斯帶著一副慈父般的笑容說道，“很難弄清這其中涉及的經濟問題。我有統計數據，我有圖表，我還有……”

“我固然還年輕，”凱斯賓打斷了崗帕斯的話說，“但我相信我對奴隸貿易有同大人你一樣的深刻理解，我沒有從奴隸貿易中看到它給孤島群島帶來任何好處。奴隸貿易沒有給這里帶來肉或面包，也沒有啤酒或葡萄酒，更沒有木材、卷心菜、書籍、樂器、馬匹、盔甲以及任何一切人們值得擁有的東西。可是，不論奴隸貿易是否能夠給人們帶來什么，我都認為，奴隸貿易一定要終止！”

崗帕斯氣喘吁吁地說：“可這樣會讓孤島群島的發展倒退回去的。難道您不考慮此地未來的發展與進步嗎？”

“我看到過進步和發展的萌芽狀態。”凱斯賓說，“在納尼亞，我們管這叫作‘腐敗。無論如何，奴隸貿易一定要終止。”

崗帕斯說：“我不能負責采取任何這類措施。”

Word Study

scatter /'sk?t?（r）/ v. 撒;四散;散開

The flowers fell and scattered on the ground.

pluck /pl?k/ v. 拔，拉，抽，扯

deposit /d?'p?z?t/ v. 放下

abominable /?'b?m?n?bl/ adj. 令人憎惡的

essential /?'sen?l/ adj. 完全必要的;極其重要的

Experience is essential for this job.