解説　場面 53「岩を越えて」

Something had evidently aroused his suspicions. It may have been that Barrymore had some private signal which we had neglected to give, or the fellow may have had some other reason for thinking that all was not well, but I could read his fears upon his wicked face. Any instant he might dash out the light and vanish in the darkness. I sprang forward therefore, and Sir Henry did the same. At the same moment the convict screamed out a curse at us and hurled a rock which splintered up against the boulder which had sheltered us. I caught one glimpse of his short, squat, strongly built figure as he sprang to his feet and turned to run. At the same moment by a lucky chance the moon broke through the clouds. We rushed over the brow of the hill, and there was our man running with great speed down the other side, springing over the stones in his way with the activity of a mountain goat. A lucky long shot of my revolver might have crippled him, but I had brought it only to defend myself if attacked and not to shoot an unarmed man who was running away.

何かが彼の疑いを呼び起こしたことは、明らかだった。バリモアに何か内緒の合図があって、われわれがそれを忘れていたのかもしれないし、ほかの理由で何かがおかしいと思ったのかもしれない。だが、その邪悪な顔から、不安を読み取れた。いつ明かりを消して、闇へ消えてしまってもおかしくなかった。そこで私は飛び出し、ヘンリー卿も続いた。その瞬間、囚人はわれわれに悪態を叫び、岩を投げつけた。岩は、われわれを隠していた大岩に当たり、砕け散った。飛び起きて走り出す、背の低い、ずんぐりとした頑丈な体を、一目だけ見た。同時に、幸いにも月が雲から顔を出した。われわれが丘の頂を駆け越えると、男はすさまじい速さで向こう側を下り、山羊の身軽さで、行く手の石を飛び越えていた。拳銃を遠くから撃って運よく当たれば、動けなくできたかもしれない。だが、持ってきたのは、襲われたら身を守るためであって、逃げる非武装の男を撃つためではなかった。

We were both swift runners and in fairly good training, but we soon found that we had no chance of overtaking him. We saw him for a long time in the moonlight until he was only a small speck moving swiftly among the boulders upon the side of a distant hill. We ran and ran until we were completely blown, but the space between us grew ever wider. Finally we stopped and sat panting on two rocks, while we watched him disappearing in the distance.

二人とも足は速く、かなり体も鍛えていたが、追い付く見込みがないと、すぐに分かった。月明かりの中で長くその姿を見ていたが、ついには、遠い丘の斜面の大岩の間を素早く動く、小さな点になった。われわれは息が完全に上がるまで走りに走ったが、間の距離は広がるばかりだった。ついに止まり、二つの岩に腰を下ろしてあえぎながら、彼が遠くへ消えていくのを見ていた。