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What, the Wild Wooders?” cried Toad, trembling in every limb. “No, not a word! What have they been doing?”
“什么？是那些野林里的野兽？”蟾蜍喊道，浑身剧烈地发抖。“不，压根儿没听说过！他们都干了些什么？”
“--And how they’ve been and taken Toad Hall?” continued the Rat.
“你不知道，他们强占了蟾官？”河鼠又说。
Toad leaned his elbows on the table, and his chin on his paws; and a large tear welled up in each of his eyes, overflowed and splashed on the table, plop! plop!
蟾蜍把胳臂肘支在桌上，两爪托着腮。大滴的泪，泉水般涌出眼眶，溅落在桌面上，噗！噗！
“Go on, Ratty,” he murmured presently; “tell me all. The worst is over. I am an animal again. I can bear it.”
“说下去，鼠兄，”过了一会，他说，“全都告诉我吧。最痛苦的时刻已经过去，我缓过劲来了。我能挺得住。”
“When you--got--into that--that--trouble of yours,” said the Rat, slowly and impressively; “I mean, when you--disappeared from society for a time, over that misunderstanding about a--a machine, you know--”
“自打你——遇上——那——那桩麻烦事以后，”河鼠缓慢而意味深长地说，“我是说，在你为了那桩汽车纠纷，很久没在社交场合露面以后——”
Toad merely nodded.
蟾蜍只是点点头。
“Well, it was a good deal talked about down here, naturally,” continued the Rat
“呃，这一带的人自然都议论纷纷，”河鼠接着说。
“Not only along the river-side, but even in the Wild Wood. Animals took sides, as always happens. The River-bankers stuck up for you, and said you had been infamously treated, and there was no justice to be had in the land nowadays.”
“不光在沿河一带，而且在野林里也一样。动物们照例分成两派。河上的动物都向着你，说你受到不公正的对待，说现如今国内毫无正义可言。”
“But the Wild Wood animals said hard things, and served you right, and it was time this sort of thing was stopped. And they got very cocky, and went about saying you were done for this time! You would never come back again, never, never!”
“可是野林动物却说得很难听，他们说，你是自作自受，罪有应得，现在是制止这类胡作非为的时候了。他们趾高气扬，四下里散布说，这回你可完蛋了，再也回不来了！永远回不来了！”
Toad nodded once more, keeping silence.
蟾蜍又点了点头，仍旧一言不发。
“That’s the sort of little beasts they are,” the Rat went on. “But Mole and Badger, they stuck out, through thick and thin, that you would come back again soon, somehow. They didn’t know exactly how, but somehow!”
“那号小动物一贯是这样的，”河鼠接着说。“可鼹鼠和獾却不辞劳苦，到处宣传说，你早晚会回来的。其实他们并不知道你怎样回来，但是相信你总会有办法回来的！”
Toad began to sit up in his chair again, and to smirk a little.
蟾蜍在椅子上坐直了身子，脸上浮现出一丝傻笑。
“They argued from history,” continued the Rat. “They said that no criminal laws had ever been known to prevail against cheek and plausibility such as yours, combined with the power of a long purse.”
“他们根据历史事实来论证，”河鼠继续说。“他们说，像你这样一个没脸没皮、伶牙俐齿的动物，外加钱袋的力量，没有一条刑法能给你定罪。”
“So they arranged to move their things in to Toad Hall, and sleep there, and keep it aired, and have it all ready for you when you turned up. They didn’t guess what was going to happen, of course; still, they had their suspicions of the Wild Wood animals.”
“所以，他俩把自己的铺盖搬进蟾宫，就睡在那儿，经常打开门窗通通风，一切准备停当，只等你回来。当然，他们没有预计到后来发生的事，不过他们总是不放心那些 野林动物。”
“Now I come to the most painful and tragic part of my story. One dark night--it was a very dark night, and blowing hard, too, and raining simply cats and dogs--a band of weasels, armed to the teeth, crept silently up the carriage-drive to the front entrance.”
“现在，我要讲到最痛苦最悲惨的一段了。在一个漆黑的夜里，刮着狂风，下着瓢泼大雨，一帮子黄鼠狼，全副武装。偷偷从大车道爬到大门口。”
“Simultaneously, a body of desperate ferrets, advancing through the kitchen-garden, possessed themselves of the backyard and offices;
“同时，一群穷凶极恶的雪貂，打菜园子那头偷袭上来；占领了后院和下房
While a company of skirmishing stoats who stuck at nothing occupied the conservatory and the billiard-room, and held the French windows opening on to the lawn.”
还有一伙吵吵闹闹肆无忌惮的白鼬，占领了暖房和弹子房，把守了面对草坪的法式长窗。”
“The Mole and the Badger were sitting by the fire in the smoking-room, telling stories and suspecting nothing, for it wasn’t a night for any animals to be out in, when those bloodthirsty villains broke down the doors and rushed in upon them from every side. They made the best fight they could, but what was the good?”
“鼹鼠和獾当时正在吸烟室，坐在炉旁谈天说地，对要发生的事没有丝毫预感，因为那夜天气恶劣，动物们一般是不会外出活动的。冷不防，那些残暴的家伙竟破门而入，从四面八方扑向他们。他们奋力抵抗，可那又管什么用？”
“They were unarmed, and taken by surprise, and what can two animals do against hundreds?
“两只手无寸铁的动物，怎么对付得了几百只动物的突然袭击？
They took and beat them severely with sticks, those two poor faithful creatures, and turned them out into the cold and the wet, with many insulting and uncalled-for remarks!”
那些家伙抓住这两个可 怜的忠实的动物，用棍子狠打，嘴里还骂着不堪入耳的脏话，把他们赶到风雨交加的冰冷的屋外。”
Here the unfeeling Toad broke into a snigger, and then pulled himself together and tried to look particularly solemn.
听到这里，没心肝的蟾蜍居然偷偷地噗嗤笑了出来，跟着又敛容正色，做出特别庄重严肃的样子。
