よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 39: Into the Wood
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Notes on this scene
Holmes finds square-toed tracks showing repeated visits, then follows the trail to a large beech. There he examines leaves, twigs, bark, and tiny particles that he gathers into an envelope. He also studies and takes a stone from the moss. The party follows the path to the main road, where the trail disappears.
Japanese in this scene
- 行きつ戻りつ
- The literary pattern 〜つ〜つ pairs repeated or alternating actions. 行きつ戻りつ describes going forward and back while following the trail, rather than a single uninterrupted advance.
- 私にはちりのように見えるもの
- 私には marks Watson's viewpoint. The clause before もの describes things that look like mere dust to him, leaving open their importance to someone with Holmes's specialized attention.
- だけでなく
- ‘Not only.’ Holmes examines not only the ground but also the tree's bark. The construction expands the range of an action beyond the first item already mentioned.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
And this? Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again—of course that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the high road, where all traces were lost.
それに、これは。ははあ。ここには何がある。つま先だ。つま先の跡だ。角張ってもいる。まったく珍しいブーツだ。来て、去って、また来ている。もちろん、あれはマントのためだ。さて、どこから来たのだろう」彼は行きつ戻りつし、時に跡を見失い、時に見つけながら進んだ。ついには、私たちは林の端からかなり中に入り、この辺りで最も大きな、一本の大きなブナの木の陰に来た。ホームズはその木の向こう側まで跡をたどり、小さく満足の声を上げて、また腹ばいに横たわった。長い間そのままで、落ち葉や乾いた小枝を裏返し、私にはちりのように見えるものを封筒に集めた。さらに拡大鏡で、地面だけでなく、手の届く限り木の樹皮まで調べていた。苔の間には、ごつごつした石が一つ転がっており、これも注意深く調べて持っていった。それから林の中の小道をたどり、大きな道路へ出た。そこで、あらゆる跡が失われた。