福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第9章Part9
"Well, you will know, I'll promise you that. You won't be much older, either. Perhaps Miss Ettie can tell you something about it. As to you, Ettie, you'll come back to me on your knees--d'ye hear, girl?--on your knees--and then I'll tell you what your punishment may be. You've sowed--and by the Lord, I'll see that you reap!" He glanced at them both in fury. Then he turned upon his heel, and an instant later the outer door had banged behind him.
For a few moments McMurdo and the girl stood in silence. Then she threw her arms around him.
"Oh, Jack, how brave you were! But it is no use, you must fly! To-night--Jack--to-night! It's your only hope. He will have your life. I read it in his horrible eyes. What chance have you against a dozen of them, with Boss McGinty and all the power of the lodge behind them?"
McMurdo disengaged her hands, kissed her, and gently pushed her back into a chair. "There, acushla, there! Don't be disturbed or fear for me. I'm a Freeman myself. I'm after telling your father about it. Maybe I am no better than the others; so don't make a saint of me. Perhaps you Hate me too, now that I've told you as much?"
"Hate you, Jack? While life lasts I could never do that! I've heard that there is no harm in being a Freeman anywhere but here; so why should I think the worse of you for that? But if you are a Freeman, Jack, why should you not go down and make a friend of Boss McGinty? Oh, hurry, Jack, hurry! Get your word in first, or the hounds will be on your trail."
"I was thinking the same thing," said McMurdo. "I'll go right now and fix it. You can tell your father that I'll sleep here to-night and find some other quarters in the morning."
The bar of McGinty's saloon was crowded as usual; for it was the favourite loafing place of all the rougher elements of the town. The man was popular; for he had a rough, jovial disposition which formed a mask, covering a great deal which lay behind it. But apart from this popularity, the fear in which he was held throughout the township, and indeed down the whole thirty miles of the valley and past the mountains on each side of it, was enough in itself to fill his bar; for none could afford to neglect his good will.
Besides those secret powers which it was universally believed that he exercised in so pitiless a fashion, he was a high public official, a municipal councillor, and a commissioner of roads, elected to the office through the votes of the ruffians who in turn expected to receive favours at his hands. Assessments and taxes were enormous; the public works were notoriously neglected, the accounts were slurred over by bribed auditors, and the decent citizen was terrorized into paying public blackmail, and holding his tongue lest some worse thing befall him.
Thus it was that, year by year, Boss McGinty's diamond pins became more obtrusive, his gold chains more weighty across a more gorgeous vest, and his saloon stretched farther and farther, until it threatened to absorb one whole side of the Market Square.
McMurdo pushed open the swinging door of the saloon and made his way amid the crowd of men within, through an atmosphere blurred with tobacco smoke and heavy with the smell of spirits. The place was brilliantly lighted, and the huge, heavily gilt mirrors upon every wall reflected and multiplied the garish illumination. There were several bartenders in their shirt sleeves, hard at work mixing drinks for the loungers who fringed the broad, brass-trimmed counter.
At the far end, with his body resting upon the bar and a cigar stuck at an acute angle from the corner of his mouth, stood a tall, strong, heavily built man who could be none other than the famous McGinty himself. He was a black-maned giant, bearded to the cheek-bones, and with a shock of raven hair which fell to his collar. His complexion was as swarthy as that of an Italian, and his eyes were of a strange dead black, which, combined with a slight squint, gave them a particularly sinister appearance.
All else in the man--his noble proportions, his fine features, and his frank bearing--fitted in with that jovial, man-to-man manner which he affected. Here, one would say, is a bluff, honest fellow, whose heart would be sound however rude his outspoken words might seem. It was only when those dead, dark eyes, deep and remorseless, were turned upon a man that he shrank within himself, feeling that he was face to face with an infinite possibility of latent evil, with a strength and courage and cunning behind it which made it a thousand times more deadly.
Having had a good look at his man, McMurdo elbowed his way forward with his usual careless audacity, and pushed himself through the little group of courtiers who were fawning upon the powerful boss, laughing uproariously at the smallest of his jokes. The young stranger's bold gray eyes looked back fearlessly through their glasses at the deadly black ones which turned sharply upon him.
"Well, young man, I can't call your face to mind."
"I'm new here, Mr. McGinty."
“好，你會知道的，我敢擔保。你也不會活得太久了。也許伊蒂小姐能夠告訴你這些事。說到你，伊蒂，你要跪着來見我，聽見了嗎？丫頭！雙膝跪下！那時我會告訴你應受怎樣的懲罰。你既然種了瓜，我要看你自食其果！"他狂怒地瞪了他們兩個一眼，轉身就走，轉眼間大門砰地一聲在他身後關上了。
麥克默多和姑娘一聲不響地站了一會兒。然後她伸開雙臂緊緊地擁抱了他。
“噢，傑克，你是多麼勇敢啊！可是這沒有用——你一定要逃走！今天晚上走，傑克，今天晚上走！這是你唯一的希望了。他一定要害你。我從他那兇惡的眼睛裏看出來了，你怎麼能對付他們那麼多人呢？再說，他們身後還有首領麥金蒂和分會的一切勢力。”
麥克默多掙開她的雙手，吻了吻她，溫柔地把她扶到椅子上坐下來。“我親愛的，請你不要爲我擔驚受怕，在那裏，我也是自由人會的一會員。我已經告訴你父親了。也許我並不比他們那些人好多少，所以你也不要把我當聖人。或許你也會照樣恨我的。現在我已經都告訴你了。”
“恨你？傑克！只要我活着，我永遠不會恨你的。我聽說除了此地，在哪兒當個自由人會會員都不妨，我怎麼會因此拿你當壞人呢？可是你既然是一個自由人會會員，傑克，爲什麼你不去和麥金蒂交朋友呢？噢，趕快，傑克，趕快！你要先去告狀，要不然，這條瘋狗不會放過你的。”
“我也這樣想，"麥克默多說道，“我現在就去打點一下。你可以告訴你父親我今晚住在這裏，明早我就另找別的住處。”
麥金蒂酒館的酒吧間象往常一樣擠滿了人。因爲這裏是鎮上一切無賴酒徒最喜愛的樂園。麥金蒂很受愛戴，因爲他性情快活粗獷，形成了一副假面具，完全掩蓋了他的真面目。不過，且不要說他的名望，不僅全鎮都怕他，而且整個山谷三十英里方圓之內，以及山谷兩側山上的人沒有不怕他的。就憑這個，他的酒吧間裏也有人滿之患了，因爲誰也不敢怠慢他。
人們都知道他的手腕毒辣，除了那些祕密勢力以外，麥金蒂還是一個高級政府官員，市議會議員，路政長官，這都是那些流氓地痞爲了在他手下得到庇護，才把他選進政府去的。苛捐雜稅愈來愈重；社會公益事業無人管理，乃至聲名狼藉；到處對查帳人大加賄賂，使帳目矇混過去；正派的市民都害怕他們公開的敲詐勒索，並且都噤若寒蟬，生怕橫禍臨頭。
就這樣，一年又一年，首領麥金蒂的鑽石別針變得愈來愈眩人眼目，他那非常豪華的背心下露出的金錶鏈也愈來愈重，他在鎮上開的酒館也愈來愈擴大，幾乎有佔據市場一側之勢。
麥克默多推開了酒館時髦的店門，走到裏面的人羣中。酒館裏煙霧瀰漫，酒氣熏天，燈火輝煌，四面牆上巨大而光耀眩目的鏡子反映出並增添了鮮豔奪目的色彩。一些穿短袖襯衫的侍者十分忙碌，爲那些站在寬闊的金屬櫃檯旁的遊民懶漢調配飲料。
在酒店的另一端，一個身軀高大，體格健壯的人，側身倚在櫃檯旁，一支雪茄從他嘴角斜伸出來形成一個銳角，這不是別人，正是大名鼎鼎的麥金蒂本人。他是一個黝黑的巨人，滿臉絡腮鬍子，一頭墨黑蓬亂的頭髮直披到他的衣領上。他的膚色象意大利人一樣黝黑，他的雙眼黑得驚人，輕蔑地斜視着，使外表顯得格外陰險。
這個人品他的一切——他體形勻稱，相貌不凡，性格坦率——都符合他所假裝出來的那種快活、誠實的樣子。人們會說，這是一個坦率誠實的人，他的心地忠實善良，不管他說起話來多麼粗魯。只有當他那雙陰沉而殘忍的烏黑眼睛對準一個人時，才使對方畏縮成一團，感到他面對着的是潛在的無限災禍，災禍後面還隱藏着實力、膽量和狡詐，使這種災禍顯得萬分致命。
麥克默多仔細地打量了他要找的人，象平常一樣，滿不在乎，膽氣逼人地擠上前去，推開那一小堆阿諛奉承的人，他們正在極力諂媚那個權勢極大的首領，附和他說的最平淡的笑話，捧腹大笑。年輕的來客一雙威武的灰色眼睛，透過眼鏡無所畏懼地和那對嚴厲地望着他的烏黑的眼睛對視着。
“喂，年輕人。我想不起你是誰了。”
“我是新到這裏的，麥金蒂先生。”
