Chapter 9 THE GREAT RIVER Frodo was roused by Sam. He found that he was lying, well wrapped, under tall grey-skinned trees in a quiet corner of the woodlands on the west bank of the Great River, Anduin. He had slept the night away, and the grey of morning was dim among the bare branches. Gimli was busy with a small fire near at hand. They started again before the day was broad. Not that most of the Company were eager to hurry southwards: they were content that the decision, which they must make at latest when they came to Rauros and the Tindrock Isle, still lay some days ahead; and they let the River bear them on at its own pace, having no desire to hasten towards the perils that lay beyond, whichever course they took in the end. Aragorn let them drift with the stream as they wished, husbanding their strength against weariness to come. But he insisted that at least they should start early each day and journey on far into the evening; for he felt in his heart that time was pressing, and he feared that the Dark Lord had not been idle while they lingered in Lorien. Nonetheless they saw no sign of any enemy that day, nor the next. The dull grey hours passed without event. As the third day of their voyage wore on the lands changed slowly: the trees thinned and then failed altogether. On the eastern bank to their left they saw long formless slopes stretching up and away towards the sky; brown and withered they looked, as if fire had passed over them, leaving no living blade of green: an unfriendly waste without even a broken tree or a bold stone to relieve the emptiness. They had come to the Brown Lands that lay, vast and desolate, between Southern Mirkwood and the hills of the Emyn Muil. What pestilence or war or evil deed of the Enemy had so blasted all that region even Aragorn could not tell. Upon the west to their right the land was treeless also, but it was flat, and in many places green with wide plains of grass. On this side of the River they passed forests of great reeds, so tall that they shut out all view to the west, as the little boats went rustling by along their fluttering borders. Their dark withered plumes bent and tossed in the light cold airs, hissing softly and sadly. Here and there through openings Frodo could catch sudden glimpses of rolling meads, and far beyond them hills in the sunset, and away on the edge of sight a dark line, where marched the southernmost ranks of the Misty Mountains.
第九章 大河 佛羅多被山姆喚醒。他發現自己躺在安都因大河西岸林地的一個安靜角落，身下是高大的灰皮樹木，身上裹得暖暖的。他睡了一整夜，清晨的灰光在光禿的枝椏間顯得有些黯淡。金靂正在附近忙著生一小堆火。 他們在天色大亮前再次出發。倒不是說遠征隊裡大多數人急著南下：他們很高興那個最晚必須在抵達拉洛斯瀑布與汀洛克島時做出的決定，還有好幾天的時間才到來；他們任由大河以它自己的步調載著他們前行，無意加速奔向那無論最終選擇哪條路都必然存在的危險。亞拉岡隨他們的意思，讓小舟順流而下，為他們保存體力以應對將來的疲憊。但他堅持每天至少要早早出發，一直走到傍晚時分；因為他心裡感覺到時間緊迫，他擔心在他們逗留羅瑞恩期間，黑暗魔君也並未閒著。 儘管如此，那天和第二天，他們都沒有看到任何敵人的跡象。沉悶灰暗的時光就這樣平淡無事地過去了。隨著航程進入第三天，地貌緩慢地改變：樹木變得稀疏，然後完全消失了。在他們左邊的東岸，他們看到綿長而沒有固定形狀的斜坡向上延伸，消失在天際；那些山坡看起來是棕褐色的，乾枯萎靡，彷彿被火燒過一般，留不下一片綠葉：這是一片荒涼不友善的廢土，連一棵斷樹或一塊巨石來打破這份空虛都沒有。他們來到了褐地，這片廣袤荒涼的土地橫亙在南幽暗密林與艾明莫爾丘陵之間。究竟是何種瘟疫、戰爭，或是敵人的邪惡行徑摧毀了這整個地區，就連亞拉岡也說不出來。 在他們右邊的西岸，土地同樣沒有樹木，但地勢平坦，許多地方是長滿青草的廣闊平原。在河的這一側，他們經過了大片蘆葦叢，蘆葦長得極高，當小船沿著它們飄動的邊緣沙沙作響地駛過時，完全遮蔽了西邊的視線。它們深色枯萎的穗子在微冷的空氣中彎腰搖曳，發出輕柔而悲傷的嘶嘶聲。佛羅多偶爾能從縫隙中瞥見連綿起伏的草地，遠方是日落下的山丘，而在視線的盡頭，有一道黑色的線條，那是迷霧山脈最南端的行列。
THE GREAT RIVER 381 There was no sign of living moving things, save birds. Of these there were many: small fowl whistling and piping in the reeds, but they were seldom seen. Once or twice the travellers heard the rush and whine of swan-wings, and looking up they saw a great phalanx streaming along the sky. ‘Swans!’ said Sam. ‘And mighty big ones too!’ “Yes,” said Aragorn, ‘and they are black swans.’ ‘How wide and empty and mournful all this country looks!’ said Frodo. ‘I always imagined that as one journeyed south it got warmer and merrier, until winter was left behind for ever.’ ‘But we have not journeyed far south yet,’ answered Aragorn. ‘It is still winter, and we are far from the sea. Here the world is cold until the sudden spring, and we may yet have snow again. Far away down in the Bay of Belfalas, to which Anduin runs, it is warm and merry, maybe, or would be but for the Enemy. But here we are not above sixty leagues, I guess, south of the Southfarthing away in your Shire, hundreds of long miles yonder. You are looking now southwest across the north plains of the Riddermark, Rohan the land of the Horse-lords. Ere long we shall come to the mouth of the Limlight that runs down from Fangorn to join the Great River. That is the north boundary of Rohan; and of old all that lay between Limlight and the White Mountains belonged to the Rohirrim. It is a rich and pleasant land, and its grass has no rival; but in these evil days folk do not dwell by the River or ride often to its shores. Anduin is wide, yet the orcs can shoot their arrows far across the stream; and of late, it is said, they have dared to cross the water and raid the herds and studs of Rohan.’ Sam looked from bank to bank uneasily. The trees had seemed hostile before, as if they harboured secret eyes and lurking dangers; now he wished that the trees were still there. He felt that the Company was too naked, afloat in little open boats in the midst of shelterless lands, and on a river that was the frontier of war. In the next day or two, as they went on, borne steadily southwards, this feeling of insecurity grew on all the Company. For a whole day they took to their paddles and hastened forward. The banks slid by. Soon the River broadened and grew more shallow; long stony beaches lay upon the east, and there were gravel-shoals in the water, so that careful steering was needed. The Brown Lands rose into bleak wolds, over which flowed a chill air from the East. On the other side the meads had become rolling downs of withered grass amidst a land of fen and tussock. Frodo shivered, thinking of the lawns and fountains, the clear sun and gentle rains of Lothlorien. There was little speech and no laughter in any of the boats. Each member of the Company was busy with his own thoughts.
大河 381 除了鳥類，沒有任何活物移動的跡象。鳥類倒是有很多：小水禽在蘆葦叢中吹哨鳴叫，但很少見到牠們的身影。旅人們一兩次聽到天鵝翅膀的呼嘯聲，抬頭一看，只見一大隊天鵝如方陣般劃過天際。「天鵝！」山姆說。「而且好大隻！」「是的，」亞拉岡說，「而且是黑天鵝。」「這片土地看起來多麼寬闊、空曠又悲傷啊！」佛羅多說。「我總以為越往南走，天氣會越暖和、越快活，直到永遠告別冬天。」「但我們還沒往南走多遠，」亞拉岡回答。「現在還是冬天，而且我們離海很遠。在這裡，世界一直很冷，直到春天突然降臨，我們甚至可能還會再遇到下雪。在遙遠南方的貝爾法拉斯灣，安都因河流入之處，那裡或許溫暖又快活，如果不是因為有敵人的話。但我們這裡，我猜，離你夏爾的南區不過六十里格，離那裡數百英里遠。你現在正朝西南方望去，越過瑞德馬克的北方平原，也就是馬王之國洛汗。不久後，我們就會抵達林萊河的河口，那條河從法貢森林流下，匯入大河。那是洛汗的北界；古時候，所有介於林萊河與白色山脈之間的土地都屬於洛汗人。那是一片富饒宜人的土地，其草地無可匹敵；但在這邪惡的時代，人們已不住在河邊，也不常騎馬到岸邊來了。安都因河很寬，但半獸人能將箭射過對岸；而且據說，近來他們甚至敢渡河襲擊洛汗的牛群和馬群。」山姆不安地望著兩岸。之前樹木看起來充滿敵意，彷彿藏著秘密的眼睛和潛伏的危險；現在他卻希望樹木還在。他覺得遠征隊太過赤裸，漂浮在無遮蔽之地的小船上，而且身處一條作為戰爭前線的河流。接下來的一兩天，他們繼續穩定地向南漂流，這種不安全感在遠征隊所有成員心中滋長。他們花了一整天划槳，加速前進。河岸從旁滑過。不久，河面變寬變淺；東岸出現了長長的石灘，水中也有礫石淺灘，因此需要小心駕駛。棕色大地隆起成荒涼的高地，東邊吹來的冷風流經其上。另一邊，草地變成了起伏的丘陵，枯草叢生，散布在沼澤和草叢之間。佛羅多打了個寒顫，想起羅斯洛立安的草坪與噴泉、清澈的陽光與溫柔的雨水。船上幾乎沒有交談，也沒有笑聲。遠征隊的每個成員都沉浸在自己的思緒中。
382 THE LORD OF THE RINGS The heart of Legolas was running under the stars of a summer night in some northern glade amid the beech-woods; Gimli was fingering gold in his mind, and wondering if it were fit to be wrought into the housing of the Lady’s gift. Merry and Pippin in the middle boat were ill at ease, for Boromir sat muttering to himself, sometimes biting his nails, as if some restlessness or doubt consumed him, sometimes seizing a paddle and driving the boat close behind Aragorn’s. Then Pippin, who sat in the bow looking back, caught a queer gleam in his eye, as he peered forward gazing at Frodo. Sam had long ago made up his mind that, though boats were maybe not as dangerous as he had been brought up to believe, they were far more uncomfortable than even he had imagined. He was cramped and miserable, having nothing to do but stare at the winter-lands crawling by and the grey water on either side of him. Even when the paddles were in use they did not trust Sam with one. As dusk drew down on the fourth day, he was looking back over the bowed heads of Frodo and Aragorn and the following boats; he was drowsy and longed for camp and the feel of earth under his toes. Suddenly something caught his sight: at first he stared at it listlessly, then he sat up and rubbed his eyes; but when he looked again he could not see it any more. That night they camped on a small eyot close to the western bank. Sam lay rolled in blankets beside Frodo. ‘I had a funny dream an hour or two before we stopped, Mr. Frodo,’ he said. ‘Or maybe it wasn’t a dream. Funny it was anyway.’ ‘Well, what was it?’ said Frodo, knowing that Sam would not settle down until he had told his tale, whatever it was. ‘I haven’t seen or thought of anything to make me smile since we left Lothlorien.’ ‘It wasn’t funny that way, Mr. Frodo. It was queer. All wrong, if it wasn’t a dream. And you had best hear it. It was like this: I saw a log with eyes!’ “The log’s all right,’ said Frodo. ‘There are many in the River. But leave out the eyes!’ “That I won’t,’ said Sam. “T'was the eyes as made me sit up, so to speak. I saw what I took to be a log floating along in the half-light behind Gimli’s boat; but I didn’t give much heed to it. Then it seemed as if the log was slowly catching us up. And that was peculiar, as you might say, seeing as we were all floating on the stream together. Just then I saw the eyes: two pale sort of points, shiny-like, on a hump at the near end of the log. What’s more, it wasn’t a log, for it had paddle-feet, like a swan’s almost, only they seemed bigger, and kept dipping in and out of the water. “That’s when I sat right up and rubbed my eyes, meaning to give
勒苟拉斯的心，正奔馳在北方某處山毛櫸林間空地的夏夜星空下；金靂則在腦中盤算著黃金，思量著是否適合用來為那位女士的贈禮打造外殼。中間那艘船上的梅里和皮聘感到相當不安，因為波羅莫一直喃喃自語，時而啃咬指甲，彷彿被某種焦躁或疑慮吞噬，時而又會抓起船槳，驅使小船緊跟在亞拉岡的船後。接著，坐在船頭回望的皮聘，瞥見波羅莫凝視著前方的佛羅多時，眼中閃過一道奇異的光芒。山姆早就認定，雖然船隻或許不像他從小被教導的那麼危險，但其不舒適的程度卻遠超他的想像。他縮在船裡，苦不堪言，除了盯著兩旁緩緩流逝的冬日景象和灰濛濛的河水外，無事可做。即使需要用槳時，他們也不敢把槳交給山姆。第四天黃昏降臨時，他正越過佛羅多和亞拉岡低垂的頭，望向後方的船隻；他睡意朦朧，渴望著營地和腳趾踩在土地上的感覺。突然，有個東西吸引了他的目光：起初他無精打采地盯著，接著坐起身來揉了揉眼睛；但當他再看時，那東西卻不見了。那晚，他們在靠近西岸的一座小島上紮營。山姆裹著毯子躺在佛羅多身旁。「佛羅多先生，在我們停船前一兩個小時，我做了個好笑的夢，」他說。「或者那根本不是夢。總之很古怪。」「嗯，是什麼夢？」佛羅多說，他知道山姆不把事情說完是不會安靜下來的，無論那是什麼事。「自從離開羅斯洛立安後，我還沒見過或想過任何能讓我微笑的事。」「不是那種好笑，佛羅多先生。是很古怪。如果那不是夢，就完全不對勁了。您最好聽聽。是這樣的：我看見一根長了眼睛的木頭！」「木頭沒什麼，」佛羅多說。「河裡多的是。但別提眼睛！」「那可不行，」山姆說。「就是那雙眼睛才讓我嚇得坐起來，可以這麼說。我看到一根我以為是木頭的東西，在傍晚的微光中，漂在金靂的船後面；但我沒太在意。然後那根木頭好像慢慢追上我們了。您可能會說，這很奇怪，畢竟我們大夥兒都一起順流而下。就在那時，我看到了眼睛：兩個蒼白的點，亮晶晶的，在木頭靠近我這邊的一處隆起上。而且，那不是木頭，因為它有蹼足，幾乎像天鵝的一樣，只是看起來更大，還不停地在水裡划進划出。「就在那時，我才猛然坐直，揉了揉眼睛，本想給
THE GREAT RIVER 383 a shout, if it was still there when I had rubbed the drowse out of my head. For the whatever-it-was was coming along fast now and getting close behind Gimli. But whether those two lamps spotted me moving and staring, or whether I came to my senses, I don’t know. When I looked again, it wasn’t there. Yet I think I caught a glimpse, with the tail of my eye, as the saying is, of something dark shooting under the shadow of the bank. I couldn’t see no more eyes, though. ‘I said to myself: “‘dreaming again, Sam Gamgee,”’ I said; and I said no more just then. But I’ve been thinking since, and now ’m not so sure. What do you make of it, Mr. Frodo?’ ‘I should make nothing of it but a log and the dusk and sleep in your eyes, Sam,’ said Frodo, ‘if this was the first time that those eyes had been seen. But it isn’t. I saw them away back north before we reached Lorien. And I saw a strange creature with eyes climbing to the flet that night. Haldir saw it too. And do you remember the report of the Elves that went after the orc-band?’ ‘Ah,’ said Sam, ‘I do; and I remember more too. I don’t like my thoughts; but thinking of one thing and another, and Mr. Bilbo’s stories and all, I fancy I could put a name on the creature, at a guess. A nasty name. Gollum, maybe?’ ‘Yes, that is what I have feared for some time,’ said Frodo. ‘Ever since the night on the flet. I suppose he was lurking in Moria, and picked up our trail then; but I hoped that our stay in Lorien would throw him off the scent again. The miserable creature must have been hiding in the woods by the Silverlode, watching us start off!’ “That’s about it,’ said Sam. ‘And we’d better be a bit more watchful ourselves, or we'll feel some nasty fingers round our necks one of these nights, if we ever wake up to feel anything. And that’s what I was leading up to. No need to trouble Strider or the others tonight. T’ll keep watch. I can sleep tomorrow, being no more than luggage in a boat, as you might say.’ ‘I might,’ said Frodo, ‘and I might say “luggage with eyes”. You shall watch; but only if you promise to wake me half-way towards morning, if nothing happens before then.’ In the dead hours Frodo came out of a deep dark sleep to find Sam shaking him. ‘It’s a shame to wake you,’ whispered Sam, ‘but that’s what you said. There’s nothing to tell, or not much. I thought I heard some soft plashing and a sniffing noise, a while back; but you hear a lot of such queer sounds by a river at night.’ He lay down, and Frodo sat up, huddled in his blankets, and fought off his sleep. Minutes or hours passed slowly, and nothing happened. Frodo was just yielding to the temptation to lie down again when a dark shape, hardly visible, floated close to one of the
如果那東西還在，我本想在我揉去睡意後大喊一聲。因為那個不知名的東西正快速靠近，快到金靂身後了。但不知是那兩盞燈發現我在動、在盯著看，還是我自己回過神來了。等我再看時，它已經不見了。不過，我想我用眼角餘光，俗話說的那樣，瞥見一個黑影迅速鑽進岸邊的陰影下。可是，我再也沒看到那對眼睛了。『我對自己說：「又在做夢了，山姆·詹吉，」我說；當時我就沒再多說什麼。但後來我一直在想，現在我不太確定了。您怎麼看，佛羅多先生？』『山姆，如果這不是第一次看到那對眼睛，』佛羅多說，『我會覺得那不過是根木頭、黃昏的暮色和你眼中的睡意罷了。但事實並非如此。在我們到達羅瑞安之前，我在遙遠的北方就見過它們。那天晚上，我還看到一個有著那對眼睛的奇怪生物爬上樹台。哈迪爾也看到了。你還記得那些追擊半獸人部隊的精靈們的報告嗎？』『啊，』山姆說，『我記得；而且我還想起了更多事。我不喜歡我的想法；但把這些事和比爾博先生的故事等等聯想起來，我猜我大概能叫出那生物的名字。一個噁心的名字。或許是，咕嚕？』『是的，這正是我擔心了一段時間的事，』佛羅多說。『自從在樹台那一夜起。我猜他一直潛伏在摩瑞亞，並在那時跟上了我們的蹤跡；但我本希望我們待在羅瑞安能再次把他甩掉。那可憐的傢伙肯定一直躲在銀脈河畔的樹林裡，看著我們出發！』『大概就是這樣了，』山姆說。『我們自己最好也多加警惕，否則哪天夜裡，我們脖子上就會感到一些噁心的手指，如果我們還能醒來感覺到什麼的話。這就是我正要說的。今晚沒必要去麻煩神行客或其他人。我來守夜。我明天可以睡，反正我在船上不過是件行李，您可以這麼說。』『我也許會這麼說，』佛羅多說，『而且我也許會說「有眼睛的行李」。你來守夜；但你得答應我，如果到半夜都沒事發生，就把我叫醒。』在夜深人靜之時，佛羅多從深沉的黑甜鄉中被山姆搖醒。『很抱歉吵醒您，』山姆低聲說，『但這是您說的。沒什麼好報告的，或說不多。剛才我好像聽到一些輕微的潑水聲和킁킁的嗅聞聲；不過在河邊的夜晚，本來就會聽到很多這種奇怪的聲音。』他躺下了，佛羅多則坐起來，裹著毯子，努力驅趕睡意。幾分鐘或幾小時緩慢地過去，什麼也沒發生。佛羅多正要屈服於誘惑，想再次躺下時，一個幾乎看不見的黑色形體，漂到了其中一艘船的旁邊。
384 THE LORD OF THE RINGS moored boats. A long whitish hand could be dimly seen as it shot out and grabbed the gunwale; two pale lamplike eyes shone coldly as they peered inside, and then they lifted and gazed up at Frodo on the eyot. They were not more than a yard or two away, and Frodo heard the soft hiss of intaken breath. He stood up, drawing Sting from its sheath, and faced the eyes. Immediately their light was shut off. There was another hiss and a splash, and the dark log-shape shot away downstream into the night. Aragorn stirred in his sleep, turned over, and sat up. ‘What is it?’ he whispered, springing up and coming to Frodo. ‘I felt something in my sleep. Why have you drawn your sword?’ ‘Gollum,’ answered Frodo. ‘Or at least, so I guess.’ ‘Ah!’ said Aragorn. ‘So you know about our little footpad, do you? He padded after us all through Moria and right down to Nimrodel. Since we took to boats, he has been lying on a log and paddling with hands and feet. I have tried to catch him once or twice at night; but he is slier than a fox, and as slippery as a fish. I hoped the river-voyage would beat him, but he is too clever a waterman. ‘We shall have to try going faster tomorrow. You lie down now, and I will keep watch for what is left of the night. I wish I could lay my hands on the wretch. We might make him useful. But if I cannot, we shall have to try and lose him. He is very dangerous. Quite apart from murder by night on his own account, he may put any enemy that is about on our track.’ The night passed without Gollum showing so much as a shadow again. After that the Company kept a sharp look-out, but they saw no more of Gollum while the voyage lasted. If he was still following, he was very wary and cunning. At Aragorn’s bidding they paddled now for long spells, and the banks went swiftly by. But they saw little of the country, for they journeyed mostly by night and twilight, resting by day, and lying as hidden as the land allowed. In this way the time passed without event until the seventh day. The weather was still grey and overcast, with wind from the East, but as evening drew into night the sky away westward cleared, and pools of faint light, yellow and pale green, opened under the grey shores of cloud. There the white rind of the new Moon could be seen glimmering in the remote lakes. Sam looked at it and puckered his brows. The next day the country on either side began to change rapidly. The banks began to rise and grow stony. Soon they were passing through a hilly rocky land, and on both shores there were steep slopes buried in deep brakes of thorn and sloe, tangled with brambles and creepers. Behind them stood low crumbling cliffs, and chimneys of
停泊的小船。一隻長長的、泛白的手被依稀看見，它猛地伸出來抓住船舷；兩隻蒼白的、燈一樣的眼睛冷冷地發光，它們朝船裡窺探，然後抬起來，凝視著沙洲上的佛羅多。它們離他不過一兩碼遠，佛羅多聽到了吸氣時輕微的嘶嘶聲。他站起來，從劍鞘中拔出刺針，面對那雙眼睛。它們的光芒立刻熄滅了。又是一聲嘶嘶聲和一陣水花，那個黑色的圓木狀身影便順流而下，消失在夜色中。亞拉岡在睡夢中動了一下，翻過身，然後坐了起來。「怎麼了？」他低聲問道，一躍而起，來到佛羅多身邊。「我睡夢中感覺到了什麼。你為什麼拔劍？」「是咕嚕，」佛羅多回答。「至少，我猜是。」「啊！」亞拉岡說。「原來你知道我們那個小小的攔路賊了，是嗎？他一路跟著我們穿過摩瑞亞，一直到寧若戴爾。自從我們改乘小船，他就一直趴在一根圓木上，用手腳划水。我夜裡試過一兩次想抓住他；但他比狐狸還狡猾，比魚還滑溜。我本希望這趟水路能甩掉他，但他實在是個太聰明的水手了。」「我們明天得試著划快一點。你現在躺下吧，剩下的夜晚由我來守望。我真希望能逮到那個可憐蟲。我們或許能讓他派上用場。但如果抓不到，我們就得設法甩掉他。他非常危險。且不說他自己可能在夜裡殺人，他還可能把附近任何敵人引到我們的蹤跡上來。」那一夜安然過去，咕嚕連個影子都沒再露。之後，遠征隊保持著高度警惕，但在接下來的航程中，他們再也沒見到咕嚕。如果他還在跟蹤，那他也是非常小心和狡猾的。在亞拉岡的吩咐下，他們現在長時間地划槳，兩岸的景物飛速掠過。但他們沒怎麼看清鄉野的樣貌，因為他們大多在夜晚和黃昏時分趕路，白天則休息，並盡量利用地形隱蔽起來。就這樣，時間平安無事地過去，直到第七天。天氣依然灰濛陰沉，吹著東風，但當傍晚轉為黑夜時，西方的天空放晴了，在灰色的雲岸下，現出了一片片淡黃與淺綠色的微光。在那裡，可以看到新月那白色的外緣在遙遠的湖泊中閃爍。山姆看著它，皺起了眉頭。第二天，兩岸的景色開始迅速變化。河岸開始升高，變得多石。很快，他們穿行在一片丘陵起伏的岩石地帶，兩岸都是陡峭的斜坡，上面覆蓋著茂密的荊棘和黑刺李灌木叢，與懸鉤子和藤蔓糾纏在一起。它們後面是低矮的、易碎的懸崖和石柱。
THE GREAT RIVER 385 grey weathered stone dark with ivy; and beyond these again there rose high ridges crowned with wind-writhen firs. They were drawing near to the grey hill-country of the Emyn Muil, the southern march of Wilderland. There were many birds about the cliffs and the rock-chimneys, and all day high in the air flocks of birds had been circling, black against the pale sky. As they lay in their camp that day Aragorn watched the flights doubtfully, wondering if Gollum had been doing some mischief and the news of their voyage was now moving in the wilderness. Later as the sun was setting, and the Company was stirring and getting ready to start again, he descried a dark spot against the fading light: a great bird high and far off, now wheeling, now flying on slowly southwards. ‘What is that, Legolas?’ he asked, pointing to the northern sky. ‘Is it, as I think, an eagle?’ “Yes,” said Legolas. ‘It is an eagle, a hunting eagle. I wonder what that forebodes. It is far from the mountains.’ ‘We will not start until it is fully dark,’ said Aragorn. The eighth night of their journey came. It was silent and windless; the grey east wind had passed away. The thin crescent of the Moon had fallen early into the pale sunset, but the sky was clear above, and though far away in the South there were great ranges of cloud that still shone faintly, in the West stars glinted bright. ‘Come!’ said Aragorn. ‘We will venture one more journey by night. We are coming to reaches of the River that I do not know well; for I have never journeyed by water in these parts before, not between here and the rapids of Sarn Gebir. But if I am right in my reckoning, those are still many miles ahead. Still there are dangerous places even before we come there: rocks and stony eyots in the stream. We must keep a sharp watch and not try to paddle swiftly.’ To Sam in the leading boat was given the task of watchman. He lay forward peering into the gloom. The night grew dark, but the stars above were strangely bright, and there was a glimmer on the face of the River. It was close on midnight, and they had been drifting for some while, hardly using the paddles, when suddenly Sam cried out. Only a few yards ahead dark shapes loomed up in the stream and he heard the swirl of racing water. There was a swift current which swung left, towards the eastern shore where the channel was clear. As they were swept aside the travellers could see, now very close, the pale foam of the River lashing against sharp rocks that were thrust out far into the stream like a ridge of teeth. The boats were all huddled together. ‘Hoy there, Aragorn!’ shouted Boromir, as his boat bumped into
大河 385 灰色的風化岩石上爬滿了深色的常春藤；再往後，高聳的山脊上長滿了被風吹得扭曲的冷杉。他們正逐漸靠近伊敏穆爾的灰色丘陵地帶，那是荒原的南疆。懸崖和岩縫間有許多鳥兒，整天都有鳥群在高空中盤旋，在蒼白的天空下顯得漆黑一片。那天他們在營地休息時，亞拉岡懷疑地望著鳥群的飛行，心想咕嚕是否在搗鬼，他們航行的消息是否已在荒野中傳開。稍後，當太陽西下，遠征隊騷動起來準備再次出發時，他在漸暗的光線中瞥見一個黑點：一隻巨大的鳥，又高又遠，時而盤旋，時而緩緩向南飛去。「那是什麼，勒苟拉斯？」他指著北方的天空問道。「如我所想，是隻鷹嗎？」「是的，」勒苟拉斯說。「是隻鷹，一隻獵鷹。我不知道這預示著什麼。牠離山脈很遠。」「我們要等到天全黑了再出發。」亞拉岡說。他們旅程的第八個夜晚來臨了。夜裡寂靜無風；灰色的東風已經停了。纖細的新月早已隨著蒼白的日落沉下，但上方的天空清澈，雖然遙遠的南方仍有大片雲層微微發光，西邊的星辰卻閃爍著明亮的光芒。「來吧！」亞拉岡說。「我們再冒險夜行一次。我們即將進入我不太熟悉的河段；我從未在這片水域航行過，從這裡到薩恩蓋比爾急流之間都沒有。但如果我計算得沒錯，那裡還有好幾英里遠。不過，即使在到達那裡之前，也有些危險的地方：河中有岩石和石質小島。我們必須保持警惕，不要試圖划得太快。」在領頭船上的山姆被指派了守望的任務。他趴在船頭，凝視著前方的黑暗。夜色漸深，但頭頂的星辰異常明亮，河面上也泛著微光。時近午夜，他們已經漂流了一段時間，幾乎沒怎麼划槳，這時山姆突然大叫起來。就在前方幾碼處，黑色的形體在水流中赫然出現，他聽到了急流的漩渦聲。一股急流向左轉，朝著水道暢通的東岸而去。當他們被沖向一旁時，旅人們可以看到，此刻非常近了，河水蒼白的泡沫拍打著尖銳的岩石，那些岩石像一排牙齒般遠遠伸入河中。船隻都擠在一起。「嘿，亞拉岡！」波羅莫的船撞上時大喊道。
386 THE LORD OF THE RINGS the leader. “This is madness! We cannot dare the Rapids by night! But no boat can live in Sarn Gebir, be it night or day.’ ‘Back, back!’ cried Aragorn. ‘Turn! Turn if you can!’ He drove his paddle into the water, trying to hold the boat and bring it round. ‘I am out of my reckoning,’ he said to Frodo. ‘I did not know that we had come so far: Anduin flows faster than I thought. Sarn Gebir must be close at hand already.’ With great efforts they checked the boats and slowly brought them about; but at first they could make only small headway against the current, and all the time they were carried nearer and nearer to the eastern bank. Now dark and ominous it loomed up in the night. ‘All together, paddle!’ shouted Boromir. ‘Paddle! Or we shall be driven on the shoals.’ Even as he spoke Frodo felt the keel beneath him grate upon stone. At that moment there was a twang of bowstrings: several arrows whistled over them, and some fell among them. One smote Frodo between the shoulders and he lurched forward with a cry, letting go his paddle: but the arrow fell back, foiled by his hidden coat of mail. Another passed through Aragorn’s hood; and a third stood fast in the gunwale of the second boat, close by Merry’s hand. Sam thought he could glimpse black figures running to and fro upon the long shingle-banks that lay under the eastern shore. They seemed very near. ‘Yrch!’ said Legolas, falling into his own tongue. ‘Orcs!’ cried Gimli. ‘Gollum’s doing, Pll be bound,’ said Sam to Frodo. ‘And a nice place to choose, too. The River seems set on taking us right into their arms!’ They all leaned forward straining at the paddles: even Sam took a hand. Every moment they expected to feel the bite of black-feathered arrows. Many whined overhead or struck the water nearby; but there were no more hits. It was dark, but not too dark for the night-eyes of Orcs, and in the star-glimmer they must have offered their cunning foes some mark, unless it was that the grey cloaks of Lorien and the grey timber of the elf-wrought boats defeated the malice of the archers of Mordor. Stroke by stroke they laboured on. In the darkness it was hard to be sure that they were indeed moving at all; but slowly the swirl of the water grew less, and the shadow of the eastern bank faded back into the night. At last, as far as they could judge, they had reached the middle of the stream again and had driven their boats back some distance above the jutting rocks. Then half turning they thrust them with all their strength towards the western shore. Under the
「這太瘋狂了！我們不能在夜裡挑戰急流！但無論白天黑夜，沒有船能活著通過薩恩蓋比爾。」「回去，回去！」亞拉岡喊道。「轉向！如果你們還能轉的話！」他將槳插進水中，試圖穩住小船並讓它掉頭。「我失算了，」他對佛羅多說。「我不知道我們已經漂了這麼遠：安都因河的流速比我想像的快。薩恩蓋比爾肯定就在眼前了。」他們費了九牛二虎之力才煞住小船，緩緩地讓船掉頭；但一開始他們逆流而上幾乎寸步難行，同時一直被沖得越來越靠近東岸。在夜色中，東岸的輪廓顯得黑暗而不祥。「大家一起划！」波羅莫大喊。「划！不然我們就要被沖上淺灘了。」他話音剛落，佛羅多就感覺到身下的龍骨在石頭上發出刺耳的摩擦聲。就在那時，傳來一陣弓弦的彈撥聲：幾支箭呼嘯著從他們頭上飛過，有些掉落在他們之間。其中一支擊中了佛羅多的雙肩之間，他痛叫一聲，向前一晃，鬆開了船槳：但那支箭被他藏在衣服底下的鎖子甲擋開，掉了回去。另一支箭穿過了亞拉岡的兜帽；第三支則牢牢地釘在第二艘船的舷緣上，就在梅里手的旁邊。山姆彷彿瞥見東岸下的長片礫石灘上，有黑影來回奔跑。他們看起來非常近。「Yrch！」勒苟拉斯脫口說出自己的母語。「半獸人！」金靂喊道。「我敢肯定是咕嚕搞的鬼，」山姆對佛羅多說。「還真會挑地方。這條河看來是存心要把我們直接送進他們懷裡！」他們全都向前傾身，奮力划槳：就連山姆也搭了把手。他們隨時都準備好感受黑羽箭的噬咬。許多箭在頭頂哀鳴或擊中附近的水面；但沒有再擊中任何人。天色雖暗，但對半獸人的夜眼來說還不夠暗，在星光下，他們想必為狡猾的敵人提供了某些目標，除非是羅瑞安的灰色斗篷和精靈打造的灰色船身，挫敗了魔多弓箭手的惡意。他們一槳一槳地奮力划著。在黑暗中，很難確定他們是否真的在前進；但水流的漩渦慢慢減弱，東岸的陰影也逐漸退回夜色之中。最後，據他們判斷，他們總算又回到了河中央，並將小船划回到了突出岩石上游一段距離的地方。然後他們半轉過船身，用盡全力朝西岸划去。在
THE GREAT RIVER 387 shadow of bushes leaning out over the water they halted and drew breath. Legolas laid down his paddle and took up the bow that he had brought from Lorien. Then he sprang ashore and climbed a few paces up the bank. Stringing the bow and fitting an arrow he turned, peering back over the River into the darkness. Across the water there were shrill cries, but nothing could be seen. Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind. But now rising and sailing up from the South the great clouds advanced, sending out dark outriders into the starry fields. A sudden dread fell on the Company. ‘Elbereth Gilthoniel!’ sighed Legolas as he looked up. Even as he did so, a dark shape, like a cloud and yet not a cloud, for it moved far more swiftly, came out of the blackness in the South, and sped towards the Company, blotting out all light as it approached. Soon it appeared as a great winged creature, blacker than the pits in the night. Fierce voices rose up to greet it from across the water. Frodo felt a sudden chill running through him and clutching at his heart; there was a deadly cold, like the memory of an old wound, in his shoulder. He crouched down, as if to hide. Suddenly the great bow of Lorien sang. Shrill went the arrow from the elven-string. Frodo looked up. Almost above him the winged shape swerved. There was a harsh croaking scream, as it fell out of the air, vanishing down into the gloom of the eastern shore. The sky was clean again. There was a tumult of many voices far away, cursing and wailing in the darkness, and then silence. Neither shaft nor cry came again from the east that night. After a while Aragorn led the boats back upstream. They felt their way along the water’s edge for some distance, until they found a small shallow bay. A few low trees grew there close to the water, and behind them rose a steep rocky bank. Here the Company decided to stay and await the dawn: it was useless to attempt to move further by night. They made no camp and lit no fire, but lay huddled in the boats, moored close together. ‘Praised be the bow of Galadriel, and the hand and eye of Legolas!’ said Gimli, as he munched a wafer of /embas. “That was a mighty shot in the dark, my friend!’ ‘But who can say what it hit?’ said Legolas. ‘I cannot,’ said Gimli. ‘But I am glad that the shadow came no nearer. I liked it not at all. Too much it reminded me of the shadow in Moria — the shadow of the Balrog,’ he ended in a whisper.
他們在伸出水面的灌木叢陰影下停住，喘了口氣。勒苟拉斯放下槳，拿起他從羅瑞安帶來的弓。然後他躍上岸，往河岸上爬了幾步。他張弓搭箭，轉過身，凝視著河的對岸，望向黑暗之中。水對岸傳來尖銳的叫聲，但什麼也看不見。佛羅多抬頭看著高高站在他上方的精靈，他凝視著黑夜，尋找可以射擊的目標。他的頭是黑色的，冠冕般地襯著背後天空中如黑色池水般閃爍的點點白星。但此刻，巨大的雲層從南方升起並航行而來，向星空的原野派出了黑色的前哨。一種突如其來的恐懼降臨在遠征隊身上。「艾伯瑞斯·吉爾索尼爾！」勒苟拉斯抬頭時嘆道。就在他說話的同時，一個黑色的形體，像雲又不是雲，因為它移動得快得多，從南方的黑暗中出現，朝著遠征隊疾馳而來，隨著它的靠近，遮蔽了所有的光線。很快地，它顯現為一個巨大的有翼生物，比夜裡的深淵還要黑。對岸響起了兇惡的聲音，向它致意。佛羅多感到一陣寒意突然穿透全身，攫住了他的心；他的肩膀感到一種致命的冰冷，就像舊傷的記憶。他蹲下身子，彷彿想躲起來。突然，羅瑞安的巨弓歌唱了。箭矢從精靈的弓弦上尖嘯而出。佛羅多抬頭看。幾乎就在他頭頂上，那有翼的形體猛然轉向。隨著一聲刺耳的嘎叫，它從空中墜落，消失在東岸的陰暗中。天空又恢復了潔淨。遠處傳來許多聲音的騷動，在黑暗中咒罵和哀嚎，然後歸於寂靜。那一夜，東岸再也沒有箭矢或哭喊聲傳來。過了一會兒，亞拉岡帶領小船向上游划去。他們沿著水邊摸索了一段距離，直到找到一個淺淺的小灣。那裡有幾棵低矮的樹緊挨著水邊生長，樹後是一道陡峭的岩岸。遠征隊決定待在這裡等待黎明：在夜裡繼續前行是徒勞的。他們沒有紮營，也沒有生火，只是 huddled 在緊緊繫在一起的船裡。「讚美凱蘭崔爾的弓，讚美勒苟拉斯的手和眼！」金靂一邊嚼著一片蘭巴斯，一邊說。「那真是在黑暗中的一記神射，我的朋友！」「但誰能說它射中了什麼呢？」勒苟拉斯說。「我說不上來，」金靂說。「但我很高興那影子沒有再靠近。我一點也不喜歡它。它太讓我想起摩瑞亞的影子——炎魔的影子，」他低聲結束了話語。
388 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘It was not a Balrog,’ said Frodo, still shivering with the chill that had come upon him. ‘It was something colder. I think it was : Then he paused and fell silent. ‘What do you think?’ asked Boromir eagerly, leaning from his boat, as if he was trying to catch a glimpse of Frodo’s face. ‘I think—No, I will not say,’ answered Frodo. ‘Whatever it was, its fall has dismayed our enemies.’ ‘So it seems,’ said Aragorn. ‘Yet where they are, and how many, and what they will do next, we do not know. This night we must all be sleepless! Dark hides us now. But what the day will show who can tell? Have your weapons close to hand!’ Sam sat tapping the hilt of his sword as if he were counting on his fingers, and looking up at the sky. ‘It’s very strange,’ he murmured. “The Moon’s the same in the Shire and in Wilderland, or it ought to be. But either it’s out of its running, or I’m all wrong in my reckoning. You’ll remember, Mr. Frodo, the Moon was waning as we lay on the flet up in that tree: a week from the full, I reckon. And we'd been a week on the way last night, when up pops a New Moon as thin as a nail-paring, as if we had never stayed no time in the Elvish country. ‘Well, I can remember three nights there for certain, and I seem to remember several more, but I would take my oath it was never a whole month. Anyone would think that time did not count in there!’ ‘And perhaps that was the way of it,’ said Frodo. ‘In that land, maybe, we were in a time that has elsewhere long gone by. It was not, I think, until Silverlode bore us back to Anduin that we returned to the time that flows through mortal lands to the Great Sea. And I don’t remember any moon, either new or old, in Caras Galadhon: only stars by night and sun by day.’ Legolas stirred in his boat. ‘Nay, time does not tarry ever,’ he said; ‘but change and growth is not in all things and places alike. For the Elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a grief to them. Slow, because they need not count the running years, not for themselves. The passing seasons are but ripples ever repeated in the long long stream. Yet beneath the Sun all things must wear to an end at last.’ ‘But the wearing is slow in Lorien,’ said Frodo. “The power of the Lady is on it. Rich are the hours, though short they seem, in Caras Galadhon, where Galadriel wields the Elven-ring.’ “That should not have been said outside Lorien, not even to me,’ said Aragorn. ‘Speak no more of it! But so it is, Sam: in that land you lost your count. There time flowed swiftly by us, as for the Elves.
THE GREAT RIVER 389 The old moon passed, and a new moon waxed and waned in the world outside, while we tarried there. And yestereve a new moon came again. Winter is nearly gone. Time flows on to a spring of little hope.’ The night passed silently. No voice or call was heard again across the water. The travellers huddled in their boats felt the changing of the weather. The air grew warm and very still under the great moist clouds that had floated up from the South and the distant seas. The rushing of the River over the rocks of the rapids seemed to grow louder and closer. The twigs of the trees above them began to drip. When the day came the mood of the world about them had become soft and sad. Slowly the dawn grew to a pale light, diffused and shadowless. There was mist on the River, and white fog swathed the shore; the far bank could not be seen. ‘I can’t abide fog,’ said Sam; “but this seems to be a lucky one. Now perhaps we can get away without those cursed goblins seeing us.’ ‘Perhaps so,’ said Aragorn. ‘But it will be hard to find the path unless the fog lifts a little later on. And we must find the path, if we are to pass Sarn Gebir and come to the Emyn Muil.’ ‘I do not see why we should pass the Rapids or follow the River any further,’ said Boromir. ‘If the Emyn Muil lie before us, then we can abandon these cockle-boats, and strike westward and southward, until we come to the Entwash and cross into my own land.’ ‘We can, if we are making for Minas Tirith,’ said Aragorn, ‘but that is not yet agreed. And such a course may be more perilous than it sounds. The vale of Entwash is flat and fenny, and fog is a deadly peril there for those on foot and laden. I would not abandon our boats until we must. The River is at least a path that cannot be missed.’ ‘But the Enemy holds the eastern bank,’ objected Boromir. ‘And even if you pass the Gates of Argonath and come unmolested to the Tindrock, what will you do then? Leap down the Falls and land in the marshes?’ ‘No!’ answered Aragorn. ‘Say rather that we will bear our boats by the ancient way to Rauros-foot, and there take to the water again. Do you not know, Boromir, or do you choose to forget the North Stair, and the high seat upon Amon Hen, that were made in the days of the great kings? I at least have a mind to stand in that high place again, before I decide my further course. There, maybe, we shall see some sign that will guide us.’ Boromir held out long against this choice; but when it became plain that Frodo would follow Aragorn, wherever he went, he gave
舊月隱去，新月在外界的世界裡盈了又虧，而我們仍在此耽擱。昨晚，新月又再次出現。冬天就快結束了。時間流向一個希望渺茫的春天。』夜，靜靜地過去了。水對岸再也沒有傳來任何聲音或呼喊。擠在船裡的旅人們感覺到天氣的變化。空氣變得溫暖而異常靜止，巨大的濕潤雲層從南方和遙遠的海上飄來。河流衝刷著急流中岩石的聲音似乎變得更大、更近了。他們頭頂上樹木的枝枒開始滴水。天亮時，周遭世界的氣氛變得溫柔而哀傷。黎明緩緩化為一道蒼白的光，漫射開來，沒有影子。河上有薄霧，白色的濃霧籠罩著岸邊；遠方的河岸看不見了。「我可受不了霧，」山姆說，「不過這霧似乎是個好兆頭。現在我們或許可以在那些該死的哥布林沒看見的情況下溜走了。」「或許吧，」亞拉岡說。「但除非霧稍後散去一些，否則很難找到路。而我們必須找到路，才能通過薩恩蓋比爾，抵達伊敏穆伊。」「我看不出我們為什麼非得經過急流，或繼續沿著河走，」波羅莫說。「如果伊敏穆伊就在我們前方，那我們可以拋棄這些小破船，轉向西邊和南邊走，直到抵達樹沐河，然後渡河進入我自己的國度。」「如果我們的目標是米那斯提力斯，那倒是可以，」亞拉岡說，「但這點尚未達成共識。而且這條路可能比聽起來更危險。樹沐河谷地平坦又泥濘，對徒步又負重的旅人來說，霧氣是致命的危險。除非萬不得已，我不想放棄我們的船。河流至少是一條不會走錯的路。」「但敵人佔據著東岸，」波羅莫反駁道。「而且就算你通過了亞苟那斯之門，安然無恙地抵達汀洛克，你接下來打算怎麼辦？跳下瀑布，降落在沼澤裡嗎？」「不！」亞拉岡回答。「應該說，我們會沿著古道將船隻搬運到勞洛斯瀑布底，然後在那裡重新下水。波羅莫，你難道不知道，或者你選擇忘記了北階梯，以及阿蒙漢山頂上那建於偉大諸王時代的高座嗎？我至少打算在決定下一步路之前，再次站上那個高處。在那裡，或許我們會看到一些指引我們的跡象。」波羅莫長期堅持反對這個選擇；但當情況變得明顯，佛羅多無論亞拉岡去哪都會跟隨他時，他便放棄了。
390 THE LORD OF THE RINGS in. ‘It is not the way of the Men of Minas Tirith to desert their friends at need,’ he said, ‘and you will need my strength, if ever you are to reach the Tindrock. To the tall isle I will go, but no further. There I shall turn to my home, alone if my help has not earned the reward of any companionship.’ The day was now growing, and the fog had lifted a little. It was decided that Aragorn and Legolas should at once go forward along the shore, while the others remained by the boats. Aragorn hoped to find some way by which they could carry both their boats and their baggage to the smoother water beyond the Rapids. ‘Boats of the Elves would not sink, maybe,’ he said, ‘but that does not say that we should come through Sarn Gebir alive. None have ever done so yet. No road was made by the Men of Gondor in this region, for even in their great days their realm did not reach up Anduin beyond the Emyn Muil; but there is a portage-way somewhere on the western shore, if I can find it. It cannot yet have perished; for light boats used to journey out of Wilderland down to Osgiliath, and still did so until a few years ago, when the Orcs of Mordor began to multiply.’ ‘Seldom in my life has any boat come out of the North, and the Orcs prowl on the east-shore,’ said Boromir. ‘If you go forward, peril will grow with every mile, even if you find a path.’ ‘Peril lies ahead on every southward road,’ answered Aragorn. ‘Wait for us one day. If we do not return in that time, you will know that evil has indeed befallen us. Then you must take a new leader and follow him as best you can.’ It was with a heavy heart that Frodo saw Aragorn and Legolas climb the steep bank and vanish into the mists; but his fears proved groundless. Only two or three hours had passed, and it was barely mid-day, when the shadowy shapes of the explorers appeared again. ‘All is well,’ said Aragorn, as he clambered down the bank. “There is a track, and it leads to a good landing that is still serviceable. The distance is not great: the head of the Rapids is but half a mile below us, and they are little more than a mile long. Not far beyond them the stream becomes clear and smooth again, though it runs swiftly. Our hardest task will be to get our boats and baggage to the old portage-way. We have found it, but it lies well back from the waterside here, and runs under the lee of a rock-wall, a furlong or more from the shore. We did not find where the northward landing lies. If it still remains, we must have passed it yesterday night. We might labour far upstream and yet miss it in the fog. I fear we must leave the River now, and make for the portage-way as best we can from here.’
「米那斯提力斯的人不會在朋友危難時拋棄他們，」他說，「而且如果你們想抵達汀洛克，就需要我的力量。我會去那座高島，但僅止於此。然後我就要返回家鄉，如果我的幫助未能換來任何同伴，那便獨自回去。」天色漸亮，霧氣也散去了一些。大家決定由亞拉岡和勒苟拉斯立刻沿著岸邊前行探路，其餘的人則留在船邊。亞拉岡希望能找到一條路，讓他們可以把船和行李都搬運到急流之後較平緩的水域。「精靈的船或許不會沉，」他說，「但那不代表我們就能活著通過薩恩蓋比爾。從來沒有人成功過。剛鐸人沒有在這個地區修建道路，因為即使在他們的全盛時期，其疆域沿著安都因河也未曾延伸到伊敏穆伊之外；但在西岸某處有一條陸上搬運航道，如果我能找到的話。它應該還沒毀壞；因為以前常有輕舟從荒野順流而下，前往奧斯吉力亞斯，直到幾年前魔多的半獸人開始大量繁殖為止。」「我這輩子很少見到有船從北方來，而且半獸人在東岸徘徊，」波羅莫說。「如果你們繼續前進，即使找到路，危險也會與日俱增。」「每條向南的路都危機四伏，」亞拉岡回答。「等我們一天。如果到時我們沒有回來，你們就知道我們確實遭遇不測了。屆時你們必須另選一位領袖，並盡力追隨他。」佛羅多心情沉重地看著亞拉岡和勒苟拉斯爬上陡峭的河岸，消失在薄霧中；但他的擔憂被證明是多餘的。才過了兩三個小時，剛過中午，探路者的模糊身影再次出現。「一切順利，」亞拉岡一邊爬下河岸一邊說。「有一條小徑，通往一個仍可使用的良好登陸點。距離不遠：急流的起點就在我們下游半英里處，而急流本身長度不過一英里多一點。過了急流不遠，河水就再次變得清澈平緩，儘管水流湍急。我們最艱鉅的任務是把船和行李弄到那條古老的陸上搬運航道上。我們找到了它，但它離這裡的水邊有段距離，沿著一道岩壁的背風處延伸，離岸邊有一弗隆或更遠。我們沒找到北邊的登陸點在哪。如果它還在，我們必定是昨晚錯過了。我們可能得費力逆流上溯很遠，還會在霧中錯過它。恐怕我們現在必須離開大河，盡力從這裡前往那條陸上搬運航道了。
THE GREAT RIVER 391 “That would not be easy, even if we were all Men,’ said Boromir. “Yet such as we are we will try it,’ said Aragorn. ‘Aye, we will,’ said Gimli. “The legs of Men will lag on a rough road, while a Dwarf goes on, be the burden twice his own weight, Master Boromir!’ The task proved hard indeed, yet in the end it was done. The goods were taken out of the boats and brought to the top of the bank, where there was a level space. Then the boats were drawn out of the water and carried up. They were far less heavy than any had expected. Of what tree growing in the Elvish country they were made not even Legolas knew; but the wood was tough and yet strangely light. Merry and Pippin alone could carry their boat with ease along the flat. Nonetheless it needed the strength of the two Men to lift and haul them over the ground that the Company now had to cross. It sloped up away from the River, a tumbled waste of grey limestone-boulders, with many hidden holes shrouded with weeds and bushes; there were thickets of brambles, and sheer dells; and here and there boggy pools fed by waters trickling from the terraces further inland. One by one Boromir and Aragorn carried the boats, while the others toiled and scrambled after them with the baggage. At last all was removed and laid on the portage-way. Then with little further hindrance, save from sprawling briars and many fallen stones, they moved forward all together. Fog still hung in veils upon the crumbling rock-wall, and to their left mist shrouded the River: they could hear it rushing and foaming over the sharp shelves and stony teeth of Sarn Gebir, but they could not see it. Twice they made the journey, before all was brought safe to the southern landing. There the portage-way, turning back to the water-side, ran gently down to the shallow edge of a little pool. It seemed to have been scooped in the river-side, not by hand, but by the water swirling down from Sarn Gebir against a low pier of rock that jutted out some way into the stream. Beyond it the shore rose sheer into a grey cliff, and there was no further passage for those on foot. Already the short afternoon was past, and a dim cloudy dusk was closing in. They sat beside the water listening to the confused rush and roar of the Rapids hidden in the mist; they were tired and sleepy, and their hearts were as gloomy as the dying day. ‘Well, here we are, and here we must pass another night,’ said Boromir. ‘We need sleep, and even if Aragorn had a mind to pass the Gates of Argonath by night, we are all too tired — except, no doubt, our sturdy dwarf.’ Gimli made no reply: he was nodding as he sat. ‘Let us rest as much as we can now,’ said Aragorn. “Tomorrow
「即便我們全是人類，這也不容易，」波羅莫說。「然而，就憑我們現有的樣子，我們也要試試，」亞拉岡說。「沒錯，我們會的，」金靂說。「在崎嶇的路上，人類的腿會落後，而矮人會繼續前進，即便背負著兩倍於自身體重的重擔，波羅莫大師！」這項任務確實艱難，但最終還是完成了。他們將貨物從船上取出，搬到河岸頂端的一塊平地上。然後把船拖出水面，抬了上去。船比任何人預期的都輕得多。連勒苟拉斯也不知道它們是用精靈國度的什麼樹木製成的；但木材質地堅韌，卻又異常輕巧。梅里和皮聘兩人就能輕鬆地在平地上抬著他們的船。儘管如此，要將船抬起並拖過遠征隊現在必須穿越的地帶，還是需要兩個男人的力氣。那是一片遠離河流的斜坡，一片由灰色石灰岩巨石構成的雜亂荒地，有許多被雜草和灌木覆蓋的隱藏坑洞；那裡有荊棘叢和陡峭的小山谷；還有零星的泥濘水池，由更內陸高地滲流下來的水所形成。波羅莫和亞拉岡一艘接一艘地搬運船隻，其他人則辛苦地跟在後面，帶著行李攀爬。最後，所有東西都被搬走，放在陸路搬運道上。接著，除了蔓生的荊棘和許多落石造成的小阻礙外，他們一起向前行進。霧氣仍像面紗般籠罩在破碎的岩壁上，他們左邊的薄霧遮蔽了河流：他們能聽見河水在薩恩蓋比爾的尖銳岩架和石齒上奔騰發泡的聲音，卻看不見河。他們來回走了兩趟，才把所有東西安全帶到南邊的登陸點。在那裡，陸路搬運道轉回水邊，緩緩地向下延伸到一個小水池的淺灘。那水池似乎不是人工開鑿的，而是薩恩蓋比爾沖刷下來的河水，撞上一道伸入水流中的低矮石墩而形成的。水池之外，岸邊陡然升起成灰色的懸崖，徒步者已無路可走。短暫的下午已經過去，昏暗多雲的黃昏正籠罩下來。他們坐在水邊，聽著隱藏在霧中的急流發出的混亂奔騰與咆哮聲；他們又累又睏，心情就像這垂死的一天般陰鬱。「好吧，我們到這了，今晚又得在這過夜了，」波羅莫說。「我們需要睡眠，就算亞拉岡有心想在夜裡通過亞苟那斯雙聖，我們也都太累了——當然，除了我們強壯的矮人之外。」金靂沒有回答：他坐著打起瞌D睡來。「我們現在盡量休息吧，」亞拉岡說。「明天……」
392 THE LORD OF THE RINGS we must journey by day again. Unless the weather changes once more and cheats us, we shall have a good chance of slipping through, unseen by any eyes on the eastern shore. But tonight two must watch together in turns: three hours off and one on guard.’ Nothing happened that night worse than a brief drizzle of rain an hour before dawn. As soon as it was fully light they started. Already the fog was thinning. They kept as close as they could to the western side, and they could see the dim shapes of the low cliffs rising ever higher, shadowy walls with their feet in the hurrying river. In the mid-morning the clouds drew down lower, and it began to rain heavily. They drew the skin-covers over their boats to prevent them from being flooded, and drifted on; little could be seen before them or about them through the grey falling curtains. The rain, however, did not last long. Slowly the sky above grew lighter, and then suddenly the clouds broke, and their draggled fringes trailed away northward up the River. The fogs and mists were gone. Before the travellers lay a wide ravine, with great rocky sides to which clung, upon shelves and in narrow crevices, a few thrawn trees. The channel grew narrower and the River swifter. Now they were speeding along with little hope of stopping or turning, whatever they might meet ahead. Over them was a lane of pale-blue sky, around them the dark overshadowed River, and before them black, shutting out the sun, the hills of Emyn Muil, in which no opening could be seen. Frodo peering forward saw in the distance two great rocks approaching: like great pinnacles or pillars of stone they seemed. Tall and sheer and ominous they stood upon either side of the stream. A narrow gap appeared between them, and the River swept the boats towards it. ‘Behold the Argonath, the Pillars of the Kings!’ cried Aragorn. ‘We shall pass them soon. Keep the boats in line, and as far apart as you can! Hold the middle of the stream!’ As Frodo was borne towards them the great pillars rose like towers to meet him. Giants they seemed to him, vast grey figures silent but threatening. Then he saw that they were indeed shaped and fashioned: the craft and power of old had wrought upon them, and still they preserved through the suns and rains of forgotten years the mighty likenesses in which they had been hewn. Upon great pedestals founded in the deep waters stood two great kings of stone: still with blurred eyes and crannied brows they frowned upon the North. The left hand of each was raised palm outwards in gesture of warning; in each right hand there was an axe; upon each head there was a crumbling helm and crown. Great power and majesty they still wore, the silent wardens of a long-vanished kingdom. Awe and fear fell upon
我們又得在白天趕路了。除非天氣再次轉變捉弄我們，否則我們很有機會能悄悄溜過，不被東岸任何眼睛看見。但今晚必須兩人一組輪流守夜：休息三小時，站崗一小時。』那晚除了黎明前一小時下了一陣短暫的細雨外，沒發生更糟的事。天一全亮他們就出發了。霧氣已在變薄。他們盡可能地靠近西岸行駛，可以看到低矮懸崖的模糊輪廓愈來愈高，如同影子般的牆壁，其底部浸在湍急的河水中。到了上午時分，雲層壓得更低，開始下起大雨。他們將皮罩蓋在小船上以防進水，然後繼續漂流；透過灰濛濛的雨幕，他們幾乎看不見前方或周遭的景物。然而，這場雨並未持續太久。上方的天空慢慢變亮，接著雲層突然裂開，它們濕漉漉的破碎邊緣順著河流向北飄散而去。濃霧與薄靄都消失了。在旅者面前的是一道寬闊的峽谷，巨大的岩壁上，在岩棚和狹窄的縫隙中，攀附著一些扭曲的樹木。河道變得更窄，水流也更湍急。現在他們正飛速前進，無論前方會遇到什麼，都幾乎沒有停下或轉向的希望。他們頭頂是一道淡藍色的天空，周圍是陰影籠罩的黑暗河流，而前方則是遮蔽了陽光的艾明莫爾黑色山脈，看不見任何開口。佛羅多凝視著前方，看見遠處有兩塊巨岩逼近：它們看似巨大的尖塔或石柱。它們高聳、陡峭而險惡地矗立在河的兩岸。兩者之間出現一道狹窄的缺口，河流將小船們沖向那裡。『看啊，亞苟那斯，王者之柱！』亞拉岡喊道。『我們很快就要經過它們了。讓小船保持隊形，盡可能分開！保持在河中央！』當佛羅多被帶向它們時，巨大的石柱如高塔般拔地而起，迎向他。在他看來，它們彷彿是巨人，巨大灰色的身影，沉默卻充滿威脅。然後他看見它們確實是經過雕鑿塑造的：古老的工藝與力量曾在其上施展，歷經被遺忘歲月裡的日曬雨淋，它們依然保存著被雕刻成的宏偉樣貌。在深水中的巨大基座上，矗立著兩位石頭巨王：他們依舊用模糊的雙眼和龜裂的眉頭向北方皺眉怒視。每位的左手都掌心朝外舉起，做出警告的手勢；每位的右手中都握著一把斧頭；每位的頭上都戴著一頂殘破的頭盔和王冠。他們依然帶著巨大的力量與威嚴，是一個早已消失的王國的沉默守衛。敬畏與恐懼降臨在
THE GREAT RIVER 393 Frodo, and he cowered down, shutting his eyes and not daring to look up as the boat drew near. Even Boromir bowed his head as the boats whirled by, frail and fleeting as little leaves, under the enduring shadow of the sentinels of Numenor. So they passed into the dark chasm of the Gates. Sheer rose the dreadful cliffs to unguessed heights on either side. Far off was the dim sky. The black waters roared and echoed, and a wind screamed over them. Frodo crouching over his knees heard Sam in front muttering and groaning: ‘What a place! What a horrible place! Just let me get out of this boat, and I'll never wet my toes in a puddle again, let alone a river!’ ‘Fear not!’ said a strange voice behind him. Frodo turned and saw Strider, and yet not Strider; for the weatherworn Ranger was no longer there. In the stern sat Aragorn son of Arathorn, proud and erect, guiding the boat with skilful strokes; his hood was cast back, and his dark hair was blowing in the wind, a light was in his eyes: a king returning from exile to his own land. ‘Fear not!’ he said. ‘Long have I desired to look upon the likenesses of Isildur and Anarion, my sires of old. Under their shadow Elessar, the Elfstone son of Arathorn of the House of Valandil Isildur’s son, heir of Elendil, has naught to dread!’ Then the light of his eyes faded, and he spoke to himself: “Would that Gandalf were here! How my heart yearns for Minas Anor and the walls of my own city! But whither now shall I go?’ The chasm was long and dark, and filled with the noise of wind and rushing water and echoing stone. It bent somewhat towards the west so that at first all was dark ahead; but soon Frodo saw a tall gap of light before him, ever growing. Swiftly it drew near, and suddenly the boats shot through, out into a wide clear light. The sun, already long fallen from the noon, was shining in a windy sky. The pent waters spread out into a long oval lake, pale Nen Hithoel, fenced by steep grey hills whose sides were clad with trees, but their heads were bare, cold-gleaming in the sunlight. At the far southern end rose three peaks. The midmost stood somewhat forward from the others and sundered from them, an island in the waters, about which the flowing River flung pale shimmering arms. Distant but deep there came up on the wind a roaring sound like the roll of thunder heard far away. ‘Behold Tol Brandir!’ said Aragorn, pointing south to the tall peak. ‘Upon the left stands Amon Lhaw, and upon the right is Amon Hen, the Hills of Hearing and of Sight. In the days of the great kings there were high seats upon them, and watch was kept there. But it is said that no foot of man or beast has ever been set upon Tol Brandir.
大河 393 佛羅多嚇得畏縮了下去，緊閉雙眼，當小船靠近時，他甚至不敢抬頭看。就連波羅莫，在船隻如脆弱短暫的小葉般，於努曼諾爾哨兵們永恆的陰影下疾馳而過時，也低下了頭。他們就這樣駛入了那黑暗的峽谷之門。駭人的懸崖峭壁在兩側陡然升起，高聳入雲，難以測度。遠處是昏暗的天空。黑色的河水咆哮迴盪，一陣風在他們頭頂尖嘯。佛羅多蜷縮著，膝蓋抵著下巴，聽見前方的山姆在咕噥呻吟：「這什麼鬼地方！真是個可怕的地方！只要讓我離開這艘船，我發誓再也不會把腳趾伸進水坑裡了，更別說河裡了！」 「別怕！」身後一個陌生的聲音說。佛羅多轉過身，看到了神行客，卻又不是神行客；因為那位飽經風霜的遊俠已不復存在。船尾坐著亞拉松之子亞拉岡，身姿驕傲而挺拔，正用熟練的划槳技巧引導著小船；他的兜帽向後掀開，黑色的頭髮在風中飄揚，眼中閃爍著光芒：一位從流亡中歸來、重返故土的國王。 「別怕！」他說。「我長久以來一直渴望親眼目睹我古老的祖先，伊西鐸與安那瑞安的雕像。在他們的庇蔭之下，伊力薩，精靈石，亞拉松之子，瓦蘭迪爾家族的伊西鐸之子，伊蘭迪爾的繼承人，無所畏懼！」然後，他眼中的光芒黯淡下去，他對自己說：「但願甘道夫在這裡！我的心多麼渴望米那斯雅諾與我那座城市的城牆！但如今我該何去何從？」 峽谷又長又暗，充滿了風聲、湍急的水聲和岩石的回音。它稍微向西彎曲，所以起初前方一片漆黑；但很快佛羅多就看到前方一道高高的光隙，且越來越大。光隙迅速靠近，小船突然衝了出去，進入一片寬闊明亮的光線中。 太陽早已過了正午，在多風的天空中照耀著。被約束的河水擴散成一個狹長的橢圓形湖泊，蒼白的寧希索湖，四周圍繞著陡峭的灰色山丘，山坡上覆蓋著樹木，但山頂卻光禿禿的，在陽光下閃爍著冷冽的光芒。在最南端，聳立著三座山峰。中間那座稍微突出於其他兩座，並與它們分離，像水中的一座島嶼，河流伸出蒼白閃爍的臂膀環繞著它。遠處，風中傳來一陣深沉的轟鳴聲，如同遠方的滾滾雷聲。「看，托爾布蘭迪爾！」亞拉岡指著南方那座高聳的山峰說。「左邊是阿蒙羅，右邊是阿蒙漢，也就是『聽之丘』與『視之丘』。在偉大君王的時代，山頂上設有高座，並在那裡派駐守衛。但據說，從未有人或獸的足跡踏上過托爾布-蘭迪爾。」
394 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Ere the shade of night falls we shall come to them. I hear the endless voice of Rauros calling.’ The Company rested now for a while, drifting south on the current that flowed through the middle of the lake. They ate some food, and then they took to their paddles and hastened on their way. The sides of the westward hills fell into shadow, and the Sun grew round and red. Here and there a misty star peered out. The three peaks loomed before them, darkling in the twilight. Rauros was roaring with a great voice. Already night was laid on the flowing waters when the travellers came at last under the shadow of the hills. The tenth day of their journey was over. Wilderland was behind them. They could go no further without choice between the east-way and the west. The last stage of the Quest was before them.
「在夜幕降臨之前，我們就會到達他們那裡。我聽見拉洛斯瀑布無盡的呼喚聲。」遠征隊暫時休息了一會兒，順著流經湖心的水流向南漂去。他們吃了點東西，然後便拿起船槳，加速前行。西邊山脈的側面陷入陰影，太陽變得又圓又紅。零星幾顆朦朧的星星探出頭來。三座山峰在他們面前若隱若現，於暮色中漸暗。拉洛斯瀑布正以巨大的聲音咆哮著。當旅人們終於來到山丘的陰影下時，夜色已籠罩在流動的水面上。他們旅程的第十天結束了。荒野之地已在他們身後。他們無法再前進，必須在東行與西行之間做出選擇。遠征的最後階段就在他們眼前。