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那位老先生从头到尾将这则广告低声地读了一遍，就好像要研究它似的。 The long-legged veteran, who had been besieging the fire-iron, as before related, now took down his cumbrous length, and rearing aloft his tall form, walked up to the advertisement and very deliberately spit a full discharge of tobacco-juice on it. 前面提到过的那位一直在"对付"火炉通条的长腿老战士，这时把他那两条笨重的腿放了下来，将高大的身躯挺直，走到告示前，不紧不慢地对着广告吐了一大口烟汁。 "There's my mind upon that!" said he, briefly, and sat down again. 他简短地说了句"这就是我的看法"之后，便又重新坐了下来。 "Why, now, stranger, what's that for?" said mine host. 店老板叫嚷道："兄弟，干什么，你这是在干什么？" "I'd do it all the same to the writer of that ar paper, if he was here," said the long man, coolly resuming his old employment of cutting tobacco. "Any man that owns a boy like that, and can't find any better way o' treating on him, _deserves_ to lose him. Such papers as these is a shame to Kentucky; that's my mind right out, if anybody wants to know!" 那大个子一边说一边又平静地嚼起烟叶来："要是出告示的那个家伙在这儿的话，我还要朝着他吐一口呢。要是谁家有这么一个黑奴，却不好好对待他的话，那他就应该逃跑。这种广告真是太丢肯塔基的脸了；要是谁还想知道我的看法，这就是我的看法！" 
老板一边记账一面赞同地说："对，这真是实话。" "I've got a gang of boys, sir," said the long man, resuming his attack on the fire-irons, "and I jest tells 'em--`Boys,' says I,--`_run_ now! dig! put! jest when ye want to! I never shall come to look after you!' That's the way I keep mine. Let 'em know they are free to run any time, and it jest breaks up their wanting to. More 'n all, I've got free papers for 'em all recorded, in case I gets keeled up any o' these times, and they know it; and I tell ye, stranger, there an't a fellow in our parts gets more out of his niggers than I do. Why, my boys have been to Cincinnati, with five hundred dollars' worth of colts, and brought me back the money, all straight, time and agin. It stands to reason they should. Treat 'em like dogs, and you'll have dogs' works and dogs' actions. Treat 'em like men, and you'll have men's works." And the honest drover, in his warmth, endorsed this moral sentiment by firing a perfect _feu de joi_ at the fireplace. 那大个子边说着，边又展开了对火炉通条的进攻："我就跟我自己的那一帮黑奴明说了--我说：伙计们，你们逃吧，溜吧，跑吧！你们喜欢跑就跑！我才懒得追你们呢！这就是我的治理之道。让他们明白，只要他们想走，什么时候都可以，他们也就不会有这种想法了。不但如此，我还帮他们准备好了自由证书，并且备了案，等着万一哪一天我走了霉运可以用得着。不瞒你们说，我所做的这些事情他们都知道，在我们这块地方谁也比不上我从黑奴身上得到的好处多。我的黑奴带着值五百块的马匹去辛辛那提去卖，卖回来的钱一个子儿也不少地都交给我。像这样的事还不止一次两次呢！他们这么做，也在情理之中。你如果把他们当成狗，他们就会像狗一样干活；你如果把他们当人，他们也会给你回报的。"那宽厚的奴隶主说得正在兴头上，忍不住朝着壁炉放了一通礼炮，用来表示他对这番高谈阔论的得意。 "I think you're altogether right, friend," said Mr. Wilson; "and this boy described here _is_ a fine fellow--no mistake about that. He worked for me some half-dozen years in my bagging factory, and he was my best hand, sir. He is an ingenious fellow, too: he invented a machine for the cleaning of hemp--a really valuable affair; it's gone into use in several factories. His master holds the patent of it." 威尔森先生说道："朋友，你说得真是千真万确。这告示所讲的那个黑奴可实实在在是个好小伙儿。他在我经营的麻袋厂干了将近六年的活儿，是我最得力的助手，先生。他可聪明了，还发明了一种特管用的洗麻机。后来很多厂家都使用这种机器呢。现在他的东家的手里还握着这种机器的专利证呢。" "I'll warrant ye," said the drover, "holds it and makes money out of it, and then turns round and brands the boy in his right hand. If I had a fair chance, I'd mark him, I reckon so that he'd carry it _one_ while." 那奴隶主说："我就说吗，这边拿着人家的专利证赚钱，那边又给人家的右手上烙个记号。要是给我个机会，我非得给他也搞上一个，让他也尝尝这种滋味不可。" "These yer knowin' boys is allers aggravatin' and sarcy," said a coarse-looking fellow, from the other side of the room; "that's why they gets cut up and marked so. If they behaved themselves, they wouldn't." 屋子另一边有一个相貌粗俗的人插嘴说道，"这些耍小聪明的黑奴到底是太没规矩了，他们太神气活现，所以他们才挨打，才被烙上记号。如果他们老实点的话，也就不会这样了。" 
那个奴隶主表情冷漠地说道："你的意思是说，上帝把他们创造成人，还得花费一番力气再把他们压榨成畜牲喽。" "Bright niggers isn't no kind of 'vantage to their masters," continued the other, well entrenched, in a coarse, unconscious obtuseness, from the contempt of his opponent; "what's the use o' talents and them things, if you can't get the use on 'em yourself? Why, all the use they make on 't is to get round you. I've had one or two of these fellers, and I jest sold 'em down river. I knew I'd got to lose 'em, first or last, if I didn't." 方才那个家伙接着说着，由于他粗俗无知，丝毫没有感觉到对方对他的鄙夷，"聪明点的黑奴对主人没有丝毫好处，要是对你来说没有什么好处，他们那些本事又算得上什么呢？他们绞尽脑汁地想法算计你。我原来也有一两个这样的伙计，我干脆把他们卖到南边儿去了。如果不把他们卖掉，他们早晚也会溜掉。我觉得就是这么回事儿。" "Better send orders up to the Lord, to make you a set, and leave out their souls entirely," said the drover. 那奴隶主说道，"你最好是给上帝列个单子出来，让他为你特制一批完全没有灵魂的黑奴。" Here the conversation was interrupted by the approach of a small one-horse buggy to the inn. It had a genteel appearance, and a well-dressed, gentlemanly man sat on the seat, with a colored servant driving. 话说到这儿突然被打断了，因为一辆小巧的马车停在了旅店门口。这马车看上去气势不俗，赶车的是个黑奴，上面坐着一位气宇轩昂、绅士派头十足的人。 The whole party examined the new comer with the interest with which a set of loafers in a rainy day usually examine every newcomer. He was very tall, with a dark, Spanish complexion, fine, expressive black eyes, and close-curling hair, also of a glossy blackness. His well-formed aquiline nose, straight thin lips, and the admirable contour of his finely-formed limbs, impressed the whole company instantly with the idea of something uncommon. He walked easily in among the company, and with a nod indicated to his waiter where to place his trunk, bowed to the company, and, with his hat in his hand, walked up leisurely to the bar, and gave in his name as Henry Butter, Oaklands, Shelby County. Turning, with an indifferent air, he sauntered up to the advertisement, and read it over. 整个屋子里的人都饶有兴趣地打量着这个新来的绅士。在这样的雨天，这样一帮闲人通常都会兴趣十足地打量每一个新来的客人。这位新来的客人身材高挑，肤色浅黑，就好像是西班牙人一样，黑亮的眼睛，清秀有神，短短的卷发，又黑又亮。他长着鹰钩鼻和又直又薄的嘴唇，他四肢匀称，派头不凡，让人一看就感到此人非同寻常。他在众人火辣辣的目光注视下，从容不迫地走了进来，向仆人点了点头，示意他应该把行李置于何处，又向众人致意，然后拿着帽子，慢悠悠地走到柜台前，自称是从希尔比郡的奥克兰来的亨里·巴特勒。然后，他漫不经心地转过身来，走到告示跟前，把那告示看了一遍：然后，他对他的仆人说道： 
吉姆，我觉得这个人有点儿像我们在贝尔纳旅店见过的那个黑人，你说是不是？" "Yes, Mas'r, said Jim, "only I an't sure about the hand." 吉姆道："可不是嘛，但我可不敢肯定对于他的手的描绘，老爷。" "Well, I didn't look, of course," said the stranger with a careless yawn. Then walking up to the landlord, he desired him to furnish him with a private apartment, as he had some writing to do immediately. 那个陌生人说道："是嘛，这个我倒没有留意过。"接着他舒舒服服地打了个呵欠，之后走到柜台面前，希望能开一个单人房间，因为他有点儿东西要写。 The landlord was all obsequious, and a relay of about seven negroes, old and young, male and female, little and big, were soon whizzing about, like a covey of partridges, bustling, hurrying, treading on each other's toes, and tumbling over each other, in their zeal to get Mas'r's room ready, while he seated himself easily on a chair in the middle of the room, and entered into conversation with the man who sat next to him. 老板当然是一口答应下来，跟着就有六七个黑奴，争先恐后乱哄哄地忙起来。这伙人之中有老有少，有男有女，有高有矮，他们忙忙碌碌地跑前跑后，不是你跟我撞了个满怀，就是我踩了你的脚，周到地为客人收拾房问。而此时此刻那客人正舒舒服服地坐在屋子中间的一张椅子上，和旁边的人闲聊。 The manufacturer, Mr. Wilson, from the time of the entrance of the stranger, had regarded him with an air of disturbed and uneasy curiosity. He seemed to himself to have met and been acquainted with him somewhere, but he could not recollect. Every few moments, when the man spoke, or moved, or smiled, he would start and fix his eyes on him, and then suddenly withdraw them, as the bright, dark eyes met his with such unconcerned coolness. At last, a sudden recollection seemed to flash upon him, for he stared at the stranger with such an air of blank amazement and alarm, that he walked up to him. 那个工厂主威尔森先生，从陌生人进屋的那一刹那起，就紧张不安地盯着他。他觉得好像在哪儿见过这个人，而且还像老朋友似的，可就是怎么也记不起来了。那个陌生人的音容笑貌，举手投足，都令他吃惊，都令他目不转睛地盯住他看。可是当那双炯炯有神的眼睛毫不在意地与他的视线相交时，他赶紧把目光转到别处去了。终于，他突然记起来了，惊慌失措地冲着那人看着，使那个陌生人不得不来到他的跟前。 
那人用一种认出他的腔调说道："我想你应该是威尔森先生吧，"他向他伸出手，"请你别介意，我刚才没认出你来，我想你还认识我吧，我是从希尔比郡奥克兰来的巴特勒。" "Ye--yes--yes, sir," said Mr. Wilson, like one speaking in a dream. 威尔森仿佛在说梦话似的答道："哦，先生，是的是的。" Just then a negro boy entered, and announced that Mas'r's room was ready. 就在这时，一个黑奴进来说："老爷，你的房间已经准备好了。" "Jim, see to the trunks," said the gentleman, negligently; then addressing himself to Mr. Wilson, he added--"I should like to have a few moments' conversation with you on business, in my room, if you please." 这位先生随口对吉姆说："吉姆，你照看一下箱子，"又转过身来对威尔森先生说道，"如果你不介意的话，我想请你去我那儿谈点生意上的事。"
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