《魔法師的外甥》第34期:發生在前門的事(5)

The old gentleman, who was certainly Uncle Andrew, had just succeeded in standing up and was rubbing his bruises. "Now then," said the policeman, turning to him, "What's all this?"

"Womfle - pomfy - shomf," came Uncle Andrew's voice from inside the hat.

"None of that now," said the policeman sternly. "You'll find this is no laughing matter. Take that 'at off, see?"

This was more easily said than done. But after Uncle Andrew had struggled in vain with the hat for some time, two other policemen seized it by the brim and forced it off.

"Thank you, thank you," said Uncle Andrew in a faint voice. "Thank you. Dear me, I'm terribly shaken. If someone could give me a small glass of brandy -"

"Now you attend to me, if you please," said the policeman, taking out a very large note book and a very small pencil. "Are you in charge of that there young woman?"

"Look out!" called several voices, and the policeman jumped a step backwards just in time. The horse had aimed a kick at him which would probably have killed him. Then the Witch wheeled the horse round so that she faced the crowd and its hind-legs were on the footpath. She had a long, bright knife in her hand and had been busily cutting the horse free from the wreck of the hansom.

All this time Digory had been trying to get into a position from which he could touch the Witch. This wasn't at all easy because, on the side nearest to him, there were too many people. And in order to get round to the other side he had to pass between the horse's hoofs and the railings of the "area" that surrounded the house; for the Ketterleys' house had a basement. If you know anything about horses, and especially if you had seen what a state that horse was in at the moment, you will realize that this was a ticklish thing to do. Digory knew lots about horses, but he set his teeth and got ready to make a dash for it as soon as he saw a favourable moment.

A red-faced man in a bowler hat had now shouldered his way to the front of the crowd.

"Hi! P'leeceman," he said, "that's my 'orse what she's sitting on, same as it's my cab what she's made matchwood of."

"One at a time, please, one at a time," said the policeman.

"But there ain't no time," said the Cabby. "I know that 'orse better'n you do. 'Tain't an ordinary 'orse. 'Is father was a hofficer's charger in the cavalry, 'e was. And if the young woman goes on hexcitin' 'im, there'll be murder done. 'Ere, let me get at him."

The policeman was only to glad to have a good reason for standing further away from the horse. The Cabby took a step nearer, looked up at Jadis, and said in a not unkindly voice:

"Now, Missie, let me get at 'is 'ead, and just you get off. You're a Lidy, and you don't want all these roughs going for you, do you? You want to go 'ome and 'ave a nice cup of tea and a lay down quiet like; then you'll feel ever so much better." At the same time he stretched out his hand towards the horse's head with the words, "Steady, Strawberry, old boy. Steady now."

Then for the first time the Witch spoke.

"Dog!" came her cold, clear voice, ringing loud above all the other noises. "Dog, unhand our royal charger. We are the Empress Jadis."

那位老紳士．當然就是安德魯舅舅，已經站穩了，正在揉身上摔腫的地方。“那麼，告訴我，”警察轉向他，“到底出了什麼事？”

“呼——呼——噓——”安德每舅舅從帽子裏發出聲音。

“別裝蒜了，”警察正色道，“你會發現這不是什麼可笑的事。把帽子摘掉，聽見了嗎？”

說者容易做者難。安德魯舅舅徒勞地抵制了一陣，另兩個警察抓住帽邊，硬是把它扯了下來。

“謝謝，謝謝，”安德魯舅舅輕聲說，“謝謝，我的天，可把我嚇壞了。誰能給我一小杯白蘭地……”

“現在，請聽我說，”那警察掏出一個大筆記本和一枝小鉛筆。“那年輕女人歸你管嗎？”

“小心，”幾個人同時喊道，警察及時朝後跳了一步。那匹馬差點兒一腳將他踢死。接着女巫掉轉馬頭，對着人羣，馬的後腿已經踏上了人行道。她手裏揮舞着一把明晃晃的長刀，正使勁地砍着套索，要把馬和馬車的殘骸分開。

在這段時間裏迪格雷一直在找機會接近她，以便能觸到她。這不太容易，因爲離他近的這一邊人太多了，而要想繞到另一邊，就必須從馬蹄和繞着房子的圍欄之間穿過去。如果你瞭解馬，尤其是看到那匹馬當時的情形，就知道這是一件棘手的事。迪格雷很瞭解馬，但他仍咬緊牙關，隨時準備瞅準機會衝過去。

一個戴着圓頂硬禮帽的紅臉人用肩膀撞開一條路，擠到人羣前面。

“嗨，警察，”他說，“她騎的是我的馬，被她摔爛的也是我的馬車。”

“一次說一件事，一次請說一件事。”警察說。

“可是來不及了，”馬車伕說，“我比你更瞭解這匹馬，它不是一般的馬，它爹以前是騎兵軍官的戰馬。是的，要是這年輕女人再激它，就會出人命的。唉，還是讓我來吧。”

警察正想找個理由離馬遠些。馬車伕向前走了步，指着簡蒂絲，友好地說：

“小姐，我抓住馬頭，你好下來。你是位女士，你不想找麻煩，是嗎？你想回家，美美地喝上一杯茶，然後安安靜靜地躺下，這杯你會舒服得多。”同時，他伸手去逮馬頭，嘴卑說，“鎮靜，‘草莓’，老朋友。鎮靜。”

女巫第一次開口講話了。

“狗！”她冷冰冰的清亮嗓音蓋過了所有其他聲音，“狗，放開我們的皇家戰馬。我是女王簡蒂絲。”