福爾摩斯探案集·血字的研究 第58期:和先知的會談(2)

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At first this vague and terrible power was exercised only upon the recalcitrants who, having embraced the Mormon faith, wished afterwards to pervert or to abandon it.Soon, however, it took a wider range.

最初，這種神秘莫測的可怕勢力只是對付那些叛教之徒的?？墒遣痪?，它的范圍就擴大了。

The supply of adult women was running short, and polygamy without a female population on which to draw was a barren doctrine indeed.

這時，成年婦女的供應也已漸感不足。沒有足夠的婦女，一夫多妻制的教條就要形同虛設。

Strange rumours began to be bandied about –rumours of murdered immigrants and rifled camps in regions where Indians had never been seen.

于是各種奇怪的傳聞到處傳布：在印第安人從來沒有到過的地方，移民中途被人謀殺，旅行人的帳篷也遭到搶劫。

Fresh women appeared in the harems of the Elders–women who pined and wept, and bore upon their faces the traces of an unextinguishable horror.

同時，摩門教長老的深屋內(nèi)室里卻出現(xiàn)了陌生的女人。她們面容憔悴，嚶嚶啜泣，臉上流露出難以磨滅的恐懼。

Belated wanderers upon the mountains spoke of gangs of armed men, masked, stealthy, and noiseless, who flitted by them in the darkness.

據(jù)山中遲暮未歸的游民傳說，在黃昏薄暮時刻，他們看見一隊隊戴著面具的武裝匪徒騎著馬，靜悄悄地從他們身旁疾馳而過。

These tales and rumours took substance and shape, and were corroborated and recorroborated, until they resolved themselves into a definite name.

這些故事和傳說最初不過是一鱗半爪，但是愈來愈有眉目，經(jīng)過人們一再印證之后，也就知道這是某人的所作所為了。

To this day, in the lonely ranches of the West, the name of the Danite Band, or the Avenging Angels, is a sinister and an ill-omened one.

直到今天，在西部荒涼的大草原上，"丹奈特幫"和"復仇天使"仍然還是罪惡與不祥的名稱。

Fuller knowledge of the organization which produced such terrible results served to increase rather than to lessen the horror which it inspired in the minds of men.

進一步了解這個罪惡淵藪的組織，只能使人們思想中已經(jīng)引騎的那種恐怖加深，而不是減輕。

None knew who belonged to this ruthless society.

誰也不知道都是哪些人算在這個殘暴的組織里。

The names of the participators in the deeds of blood and violence done under the name of religion were kept profoundly secret.

這些在宗教幌子下進行殘酷、血腥行動分子的姓名是絕對保守秘密的。

The very friend to whom you communicated your misgivings as to the Prophet and his mission might be one of those who would come forth at night with fire and sword to exact a terrible reparation.

你把你對于先知及其教會不滿的言論講給他聽的那個朋友，可能就是夜晚明火執(zhí)杖前來進行恐怖報復人們中的一個。

Hence every man feared his neighbour, and none spoke of the things which were nearest his heart.

因此，每個人對于他的左鄰右舍都不免心懷疑懼，更沒有一個人敢于說出他的內(nèi)心話了。