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"I believe we hold him in the hollow of our hands," he continued with an exulting smile upon his face.
"我相信他跑不出我们的手心，"麦克默多笑容满面，继续说道。
"If we act quickly and wisely, we can cut this thing short.
"假如我们干得迅速而机智，很快就可以把这件事解决好。
If I have your confidence and your help, it is little that we have to fear."
如果你们信得过我，再给我一些帮助，那我们就更没有什么可怕的了。"
"What have we to fear, anyhow? What can he know of our affairs?"
"可是，我们怕什么呢？他怎么能知道我们的事呢？"
"You might say so if all were as stanch as you, Councillor. But this man has all the millions of the capitalists at his back.
"参议员先生，如果大家都像你那样忠诚，你就可以这样说。可是这个人有那些资本家的百万资本做靠山。
Do you think there is no weaker brother among all our lodges that could not be bought?
你难道以为我们会里就没有一个意志薄弱的弟兄可以被收买吗？
He will get at our secrets -- maybe has got them already. There's only one sure cure."
他会弄到我们的秘密的--甚至可能已经把秘密弄到手了。现在只有一种可靠的对策。"
"That he never leaves the valley," said Baldwin.
"那就是不叫他生离这山谷！"鲍德温说道。
McMurdo nodded. "Good for you, Brother Baldwin," he said. "You and I have had our differences, but you have said the true word to-night."
麦克默多点点头。"你说得好，鲍德温兄弟，"麦克默多说道，"你我过去往往意见不合，可是今晚你倒说对了。"
"Where is he, then? Where shall we know him?"
"那么，他在哪里呢？我们在哪里能见到他？"
"Eminent Bodymaster," said McMurdo, earnestly, "I would put it to you that this is too vital a thing for us to discuss in open lodge.
"可敬的身主，"麦克默多热情洋溢地说道，"我要向你建议，这对我们是一件生死攸关的大事，不便在会上公开讨论。
God forbid that I should throw a doubt on anyone here;
我并不是不信任在座的哪位弟兄，
but if so much as a word of gossip got to the ears of this man, there would be an end of any chance of our getting him.
可是只要有只言片语传到那个侦探耳中，我们就会失掉抓到他的一切机会。
I would ask the lodge to choose a trusty committee, Mr. Chairman -- yourself, if I might suggest it, and Brother Baldwin here, and five more.
我要求分会选择一些最可靠的人。假如我可以提议的话，参议员先生，你自己算一个，还有鲍德温兄弟，再找五个人。
Then I can talk freely of what I know and of what I advise should be done."
那么我就可以自由地发表我所知道的一切，也可以说一说我打算怎么做了。"
The proposition was at once adopted, and the committee chosen.
麦克默多的建议马上被采纳了，并选出了委员会。
Besides the chairman and Baldwin there were the vulture-faced secretary, Harraway, Tiger Cormac, the brutal young assassin, Carter, the treasurer,
除了麦金蒂和鲍德温以外，还有面如鹫鹰的书记哈拉威、老虎科马克、凶残的中年杀人凶手司库卡特、
and the brothers Willaby, fearless and desperate men who would stick at nothing.
不顾生死的亡命徒威拉比两兄弟。
The usual revelry of the lodge was short and subdued:
党徒们例常的欢宴，这次却抑郁不欢，草草收场了，
for there was a cloud upon the men's spirits,
大家精神上仿佛笼罩了一片乌云，
and many there for the first time began to see the cloud of avenging -- Law -- drifting up in that serene sky under which they had dwelt so long.
许多人头一次开始看到，在他们居住得那么久的地方，一片为被害者复仇的乌云--法律，弥漫在晴空。
The horrors they had dealt out to others had been so much a part of their settled lives that the thought of retribution had become a remote one,
他们施加于他人的恐怖，过去被他们认为是远不会遭到报应的，现在却使他们大吃一惊，
and so seemed the more startling now that it came so closely upon them.
这种果报来得如此急迫，紧压在他们头上。
