《魔法師的外甥》第35期:燈柱前的戰鬥(1)

Chapter 8 The Fight at the Lamp-post

"Ho! Her-ipress, are you? We'll see about that," said a voice. Then another voice said, "Three cheers for the Hempress of Colney 'Atch" and quite a number joined in. A flush of colour came into the Witch's face and she bowed ever so slightly. But the cheers died away into roars of laughter and she saw that they had only been making fun of her: A change came over her expression and she changed the knife to her left hand. Then, without warning, she did a thing that was dreadful to see. Lightly, easily, as if it were the Most ordinary thing in the world, she stretched up her right arm and wrenched off one of the cross-bars of the lamp-post. If she had lost some magical powers in our world, she had not lost her strength; she could break an iron bar as if it were a stick of barleysugar. She tossed her new weapon up in the air, caught it again, brandished it, and urged the horse forward.

"Now's my chance," thought Digory. He darted between the horse and the railings and began going forward. If only the brute would stay still for a moment he might catch the Witch's heel. As he rushed, he heard a sickening crash and a thud. The Witch had brought the bar down on the chief policeman's helmet: the man fell like a nine-pin.

"Quick, Digory. This must be stopped," said a voice beside him. It was Polly, who had rushed down the moment she was allowed out of bed.

"You are a brick," said Digory. "Hold on to me tight. You'd have to manage the ring. Yellow, remember. And don't put it on till I shout."

There was a second crash and another policeman crumpled up. There came an angry roar from the crowd: "Pull her down. Get a few paving-stones. Call out the Military." But most of them were getting as far away as they could. The Cabby, however, obviously the bravest as well as the kindest person present, was keeping close to the horse, dodging this way and that to avoid the bar, but still trying to catch Strawberry's head.

The crowd booed and bellowed again. A stone whistled over Digory's head. Then came the voice of the Witch, clear like a great bell, and sounding as if, for once, she were almost happy.

"Scum! You shall pay dearly for this when I have conquered your world. Not one stone of your city will be left. I will make it as Charn, as Felinda, as Sorlois, as Bramandin."

Digory as last caught her ankle. She kicked back with her heel and hit him in the mouth. In his pain he lost hold. His lip was cut and his mouth full of blood. From somewhere very close by came the voice of Uncle Andrew in a sort of trembling scream. "Madam - my dear young lady - for heaven's sake - compose yourself." Digory made a second grab at her heel, and was again shaken off. More men were knocked down by the iron bar. He made a third grab: caught the heel: held on tike grim death, shouting to Polly "Go!" then Oh, thank goodness. The angry, frightened faces had vanished. The angry, frightened voices were silenced. All except Uncle Andrew's. Close beside Digory in the darkness, it was wailing on "Oh, oh, is this delirium? Is it the end? I can't bear it. It's not fair. I never meant to be a Magician. It's all a misunderstanding. It's all my godmother's fault; I must protest against this. In my state of health too. A very old Dorsetshire family."

第8章 燈柱前的戰鬥

“哦！你是女王？我們得弄清楚。”一個聲音說。另一個聲音又說，“女王萬福！爲瘋人院的女王三呼萬歲！”不少人跟着喊。女巫臉上飛起一片紅霞，微微地鞠了一躬。但歡呼聲變成了恥笑，她知道被愚弄了，臉色一變，將刀換到左手，不加等告，就幹了一件可怕的事。她伸出右手，像做世界上最平常的事情似的，輕鬆地將燈柱上的一根鐵條扭了下來。如果說她的某些魔力有我們的世界消失了，她的力氣卻依然存在。她可以把一根鐵棒像麥芽糖似的折斷。她將她的新武器拋向空中，又一把接住，揮舞着，催馬前進。

“我的機會來了。”迪格雷想。他突然奔到馬和圍欄之間，接着繼續向前跑，開始尋機靠近女巫。只要那牲口停一秒鐘，他都能抓住女巫的腳跟。正當他往前衝時，他聽到一陣咣噹當的重擊聲。原來，女巫的鐵棒敲在了那個警官的頭盔上，他歪歪斜斜地倒了下去。

“快，迪格雷，一定得制止她。”背後一個聲音說。正是波莉。時間一到，她就跳下牀，衝到街上。

“你真是好樣的，”迪格雷說，“緊緊拉住我。你負責戒指，黃的，記住。我一喊你就戴上。”

又響了一聲，另一個警察倒了下去。人羣中發出憤怒的吼聲，“把她拉下來，拿鋪路石打，去叫軍隊。”但大多數人都儘量往遠處退去。顯而易見，馬車伕是在場的人中最勇敢最善良的。他左閃右躲地避開欽棒，儘量地靠近馬，試圖抓住馬頭。

人羣中又是一陣吼聲，一塊石頭呼嘯着從迪格雷頭上飛過。接着傳來女巫洪鐘般的聲音，聽起來，她似乎有些得意：

“呸！一旦我征服了你們的世界，你們就要爲今天付出沉重的代價，這個城市一塊石頭也不會留下。我會像毀掉恰恩、費林達、索羅瓦和布拉滿丁似的毀掉你們這裏。”

迪格雷終於抓到了她的踝部。她向後反踢，剛好踢在迪格雷的嘴上，他痛得鬆開了手。他的嘴脣被踢破了，滿口是血。從很近的地方傳來安德魯舅舅尖厲的顫音：“夫人——我親愛的年輕女士——看存士帝分上——安靜點兒。”迪格雷再次抓住她的腳後跟，又被甩開了。更多的人倒在她的鐵棒下。他第三次衝上去，死死地抓住她的腳後跟，然後對波莉大喊“走”接着……唉，謝天謝地。憤怒、受驚的面孔消失了，憤怒、受驚的聲音也沉寂下來。黑暗中，迪格雷只聽見安德魯舅舅在近處嗚咽着“噢，噢，是昏迷了嗎？這就完了，我無法忍受。太不公平。我從來不想當魔法師。全是誤會。是我教母的錯；我必須反抗。我的身體也很差。古老的多塞特郡家族。”