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“And the Wild Wooders have been living in Toad Hall ever since,” continued the Rat;
“打那以后，那些野林动物就在蟾宫住了下来，”河鼠接着说
“And going on simply anyhow! Lying in bed half the day, and breakfast at all hours, and the place in such a mess (I’m told) it’s not fit to be seen!
“他们为所欲为。白天赖床睡懒觉，一躺就是半天，整天随时随地吃早餐。听说，那地方给糟践得一塌糊涂，简直看不得了！
Eating your grub, and drinking your drink, and making bad jokes about you, and singing vulgar songs, about--well, about prisons and magistrates, and policemen;
吃你的，喝你的，给你编派难听的笑话，唱粗鄙下流的歌——呃，什么监狱啦，县官啦，警察啦
Horrid personal songs, with no humour in them. And they’re telling the tradespeople and everybody that they’ve come to stay for good.”
无聊透顶的骂人的歌，一点也不幽默。而且，他们还对买卖人和所有的人扬言，要在蟾宫永久住下去啦。”
“O, have they!” said Toad getting up and seizing a stick. “I’ll jolly soon see about that!”
“他们敢！”蟾蜍说，站起来，抓住一根棍子，“我马上就去教训他们！”
“It’s no good, Toad!” called the Rat after him. “You’d better come back and sit down; you’ll only get into trouble.”
“没有用。蟾蜍！”河鼠冲他后背喊道，“你给我回来，坐下；你只会惹祸的。”
But the Toad was off, and there was no holding him.
可是蟾蜍已经走啦，喊也喊不回来。
He marched rapidly down the road, his stick over his shoulder, fuming and muttering to himself in his anger, till he got near his front gate, when suddenly there popped up from behind the palings a long yellow ferret with a gun.
他快步向大路走去，棍子扛在肩上，忿忿地喷着口沫，嘴里咕哝着，骂骂咧咧，径直来到蟾宫大门前。突然，从栅栏后面钻出一只腰身长长的黄色雪貂，手握一杆枪。
“Who comes there?” said the ferret sharply.
“来者是何人？”雪貂厉声问道。
“Stuff and nonsense!” said Toad, very angrily. “What do you mean by talking like that to me? Come out of that at once, or I’ll----”
“废话！”蟾蜍怒气冲冲地说。“你竟敢对我出言不逊？快滚开，要不，我——”
The ferret said never a word, but he brought his gun up to his shoulder. Toad prudently dropped flat in the road, and Bang! a bullet whistled over his head.
雪貂二话不说，把枪举到肩头。蟾蜍提防着卧倒在地上。砰！一颗子弹从他头上呼啸而过。
The startled Toad scrambled to his feet and scampered off down the road as hard as he could; and as he ran he heard the ferret laughing and other horrid thin little laughs taking it up and carrying on the sound.
蟾蜍吓了一跳，蹦了起来。拔腿就跑，顺着来路拼命奔逃。他听见那雪貂的狂笑，跟着还有另一些可怕的尖笑声。
He went back, very crestfallen, and told the Water Rat.
他垂头丧气地回来，把经过告诉了河鼠。
“What did I tell you?” said the Rat. “It’s no good. They’ve got sentries posted, and they are all armed. You must just wait.”
“我不是跟你说过吗？”河鼠说。“那没有用。他们设了岗哨，而且全都有武器。你必须等待。”
Still, Toad was not inclined to give in all at once. So he got out the boat, and set off rowing up the river to where the garden front of Toad Hall came down to the waterside.
不过，蟾蜍还是不甘心就此罢休。他把船驾了出来，向河上游划去。蟾宫的花园，就延伸到河边。
Arriving within sight of his old home, he rested on his oars and surveyed the land cautiously.
他划到能够看见老宅的地方，伏在桨上仔细观察。
All seemed very peaceful and deserted and quiet.
一切都显得非常宁静，空无一人。
He could see the whole front of Toad Hall, glowing in the evening sunshine, the pigeons settling by twos and threes along the straight line of the roof; the garden, a blaze of flowers; the creek that led up to the boat-house, the little wooden bridge that crossed it; all tranquil, uninhabited, apparently waiting for his return.
他看到蟾宫的整个正面，在夕照下发亮；沿着笔直的屋檐栖息着三三两两的鸽子；花园里百花怒放；通向船坞的小河汊，横跨河汊的小木桥，全都静悄悄，不见人影，似乎在期待他的归来。
He would try the boat-house first, he thought. Very warily he paddled up to the mouth of the creek, and was just passing under the bridge, when ... Crash!
他想先进船坞试试。他小小翼翼地划进小河汊，刚要从桥下钻过去，只听得——轰隆！
A great stone, dropped from above, smashed through the bottom of the boat. It filled and sank, and Toad found himself struggling in deep water.
一块大石头从桥上落下来，砸穿了船底。船里灌满了水，沉了下去。蟾蜍在深水里挣扎。
Looking up, he saw two stoats leaning over the parapet of the bridge and watching him with great glee. “It will be your head next time, Toady!” they called out to him.
他抬头看，只见两只白鼬从桥栏杆上探出身来，乐不可支地瞅着他，冲他嚷道：“下回该轮到你的脑袋了，癞蛤蟆！”
The indignant Toad swam to shore, while the stoats laughed and laughed, supporting each other, and laughed again, till they nearly had two fits--that is, one fit each, of course.
气忿的蟾蜍向岸边游去，两只白鼬哈哈大笑，笑得抱成一团，跟着又放声大笑，笑得几乎晕过去两次——当然是一只白鼬一次。
The Toad retraced his weary way on foot, and related his disappointing experiences to the Water Rat once more.
蟾蜍没精打采地走着回去，又一次把这令人失望的经历告诉河鼠。
“Well, what did I tell you?” said the Rat very crossly.
“哼，我怎么跟你说的？”河鼠十分气恼地说。
“And, now, look here! See what you’ve been and done! Lost me my boat that I was so fond of, that’s what you’ve done! And simply ruined that nice suit of clothes that I lent you! Really, Toad, of all the trying animals--I wonder you manage to keep any friends at all!”
“现在，你瞧你！你是个什么东西，干的什么好事！把我心爱的船给弄没了，这就是你干的！把我借给你的漂亮衣服给毁了！说实在的，蟾蜍你这个动物叫人伤透脑筋了——真不知道。谁还愿意跟你做朋友！”
