It was two o'clock in the morning when Pilar waked him. As her hand touched him he thought, at first, it was Maria and he rolled toward her and said, "Rabbit." Then the woman's big hand shook his shoulder and he was suddenly, completely and absolutely awake and his hand was around the butt1 of the pistol that lay alongside of his bare right leg and all of him was as cocked as the pistol with its safety catch slipped off.
In the dark he saw it was Pilar and he looked at the dial of his wrist watch with the two hands shining in the short angle close to the top and seeing it was only two, he said, "What passes with thee, woman?"
"Pablo is gone," the big woman said to him.
Robert Jordan put on his trousers and shoes. Maria had not waked.
"When?" he asked.
"It must be an hour."
"And?"
"He has taken something of thine," the woman said miserably2.
"So. What?"
"I do not know," she told him. "Come and see."
In the dark they walked over to the entrance of the cave, ducked under the blanket and went in. Robert Jordan followed her in the dead-ashes, bad-air and sleeping-men smell of the cave, shining his electric torch so that he would not step on any of those who were sleeping on the floor. Anselmo woke and said, "Is it time?"
"No," Robert Jordan whispered. "Sleep, old one."
The two sacks were at the head of Pilar's bed which was screened off with a hanging blanket from the rest of the cave. The bed smelt3 stale and sweat-dried and sickly-sweet the way an Indian's bed does as Robert Jordan knelt on it and shone the torch on the two sacks. There was a long slit4 from top to bottom in each one. Holding the torch in his left hand, Robert Jordan felt in the first sack with his right hand. This was the one that he carried his robe in and it should not be very full. It was not very full. There was some wire in it still but the square wooden box of the exploder was gone. So was the cigar box with the carefully wrapped and packed detonators. So was the screw-top tin with the fuse and the caps.
Robert Jordan felt in the other sack. It was still full of explosive. There might be one packet missing.
He stood up and turned to the woman. There is a hollow empty feeling that a man can have when he is waked too early in the morning that is almost like the feeling of disaster and he had this multiplied a thousand times.
"And this is what you call guarding one's materials," he said.
"I slept with my head against them and one arm touching5 them," Pilar told him.
"You slept well."
"Listen," the woman said. "He got up in the night and I said, 'Where do you go, Pablo?' 'To urinate, woman,' he told me and I slept again. When I woke again I did not know what time had passed but I thought, when he was not there, that he had gone down to look at the horses as was his custom. Then," she finished miserably, "when he did not come I worried and when I worried I felt of the sacks to be sure all was well and there were the slit places and I came to thee."
"Come on," Robert Jordan said.
They were outside now and it was still so near the middle of the night that you could not feel the morning coming.
"Can he get out with the horses other ways than by the sentry6?"
"Two ways."
"Who's at the top?"
"Eladio."
Robert Jordan said nothing more until they reached the meadow where the horses were staked out to feed. There were three horses feeding in the meadow. The big bay and the gray were gone.
"How long ago do you think it was he left you?"
"It must have been an hour."
"Then that is that," Robert Jordan said. "I go to get what is left of my sacks and go back to bed."
"I will guard them."
"_Qu?va_, you will guard them. You've guarded them once already."
"_Ingl廥_," the woman said, "I feel in regard to this as you do. There is nothing I would not do to bring back thy property. You have no need to hurt me. We have both been betrayed by Pablo."
As she said this Robert Jordan realized that he could not afford the luxury of being bitter, that he could not quarrel with this woman. He had to work with this woman on that day that was already two hours and more gone.
He put his hand on her shoulder. "It is nothing, Pilar," he told her. "What is gone is of small importance. We shall improvise7 something that will do as well."
"But what did he take?"
"Nothing, woman. Some luxuries that one permits oneself."
"Was it part of thy mechanism8 for the exploding?"
"Yes. But there are other ways to do the exploding. Tell me, did Pablo not have caps and fuse? Surely they would have equipped him with those?"
"He has taken them," she said miserably. "I looked at once for them. They are gone, too."
They walked back through the woods to the entrance of the cave.
"Get some sleep," he said. "We are better off with Pablo gone."
"I go to see Eladio."
"He will have gone another way."
"I go anyway. I have betrayed thee with my lack of smartness."
"Nay," he said. "Get some sleep, woman. We must be under way at four."
He went into the cave with her and brought out the two sacks, carrying them held together in both arms so that nothing could spill from the slits9.
"Let me sew them up."
"Before we start," he said softly. "I take them not against you but so that I can sleep."
"I must have them early to sew them."
"You shall have them early," he told her. "Get some sleep, woman."
"Nay," she said. "I have failed thee and I have failed the Republic."
"Get thee some sleep, woman," he told her gently. "Get thee some sleep."
比拉尔叫釅他的时侯是早晨两点钟。她的手碰到他身上，他起先还以为是玛丽亚的,就镅过身来对她说，“兔子，“等那妇人的大手播播他的肩膀，他才突然完全清陲过来，他一手握住放在赤裸的右腿旁的手枪柄，扳下保险，他全身也象那手枪一样的处于击发状态。
在黑暗中,他发现是比拉尔，就望望手表，表面上两根闪光的时针夹成很小的锐角指向上方，他一看才两点钟，就说,“你怎么啦，大娘?”
“巴勃罗溜啦，”大个子妇人对他说。
罗伯特 乔丹穿上裤子和鞋子。玛丽亚没有醒过来。
“什么时候走的？”他问。
“准有一小时了。”
“还有呢?”
“他拿了你的 些东西，”妇人悲伤地说。“原来这样。拿了些什么?”“不知道，”她对他说。“去看看吧。“他们在黑暗中走到洞口，撩起挂毪,钻进洞里。山洞里麻是熄灭了的炉灰、恶浊的空气和睡着的人们的鼻息的气味，罗伯特.乔丹跟随着比拉尔走，亮了手电，免得踩着躺在地上的人 安塞尔莫醒了，说时间到了？”
“没有。”罗伯特‘乔丹说。“睡吧，老头子。”
两个背包放在比拉尔床头,床前挂着一条毯子,和山稱的其余部分隔开。罗伯特 乔丹跪在床上，把手电光射在两个背包上，闻到了印第安人床上所发出的那种隔宿的、叫人作呕的干掉的汗的气味。每个背包上从上到下有一条长长的裂缝。罗伯特 乔丹左手拿着手电，右手在第一个背包里摸索。这背包是装睡袋的，本来不很满。现在仍旧不很瀹。里面的一些锎丝还在，但是装引爆器的方木盒却不见了，被拿走的还有那个装仔细包扎好的雷管的雪茄烟龛，还有那放导火线、火帽的有蠔旋盖的铁雄。
罗伯特，乔丹在另一个背包里摸索。里面仍装满了炸药。也许少了一包。
他站起来，转身向着那妇人。一个人在早滕醒得太早，会有一种仿佛大祸临头般的空虚感，他现在的感觉比这要大一千倍。
“你就是这样替人家看管东西的吗?”他说。
“我睡觉的时侯,头抵着包裹，一条手臂放在上面，”比拉尔对他说。
“你睡得很沉轲。”
“听我说吧。”妇人说。“他半夜里起来，我说。”你去哪儿，巴勃罗？’他对我说，‘去撒尿，太太。”我就又入睡了。等我再醒来的时候，不知道过了多少时闻，可是我想，他人不在，准是按他老规矩去看马了。后来。”她悲伤地结束说，“还是不见他回来,我担心了，一担心就摸摸背包有没有出乱子,于是发现上面割开了口子,我就来找你了，“
“来吧，”罗伯特、乔丹说。
他们到了外面，这时半夜刚过不久，还感不到早晨要来临的样子。
“他能不能不经过岗哨，带了马儿走别的路逃走？”“路有两条。”“谁在山顶上?”“埃拉迪奥。”
罗伯特’乔丹不再说什么,他们直走到拴马放牧的草地上。有三匹马在吃草。栗色大马和灰色马不见了。“你估计他离开你有多少时间了？”“准有一小时了。”
“那就完了，”罗伯特“乔丹说。“我去拿背包里剩下的东西，再回去睡觉。”
“我来看背包。”
“你来看,亏你说得出！你已经看过一次啦。”“英国人，”妇人说，“关于这件事,我跟你一样难受。只要能把你的东西找回来，我什么都肯干。你不用损我。我们俩都被巴勃罗骟了。”
经她这么一说，罗伯特 乔丹认识到自己不能放纵自己,对她冷言冷语，不能和这女人争吵。这一天他必须和这个女人合作,而这“天巳经过了两个多小时。
他把手放在她肩上。“没有什么，比拉尔，”他对她说。“丢掉的东西关系不大。我们找些代用的东西也能行，““可是他拿了什么？”
“没什么，大娘。一些个人享受的东西。”“其中有你爆玻设备中的东西。”
“有。不过还有别的引爆办法。告诉我，巴勃罗自己没有雷管和导火线吗？以前人家给他炸药时肯定也配备这种东西的。”“他拿走了，”婢悲伤地说。“我刚才马上就找过。也都不见了。”
他们穿过树林，回头向山洞口走去。“去睡一会儿吧，”他说。“巴勃罗走了，我们更好办。〃“我去看埃拉迪奥。”“他会走别的路的。”
“我反正得去。我不够机灵,辜负了你的信托。”“不，”他说。“去睡一会儿吧，大娘。我们四点钟得出发。”他跟她走进山洞，唯恐背包里的东西从裂缝中漏出来,用双臂捧着拿了出来。
“我来把它们缝一缝。”
“等我们出发之前缝吧。”他温和地说。“我拿走不是银你过不去，为了这样我才可以安心睡觉。”“我要早…点拿到才来得及錄。”“我一定早点给你，”他对她说。“去睡一会儿吧，大娘。”“不。”她说。“我对不起你，对不起共和国。”“去睡一会儿吧,大娘。”他温和地对她说。“去睡一会儿吧。”
收听单词发音 |
1
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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2
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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improvise
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| v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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9
slits
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| n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子 | |
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