There is a pause after this, nobody feeling sufficiently sure of himself to contradict the old gentleman. So he has to go on by himself without any encouragement.

"No," he continues thoughtfully (продолжает он задумчиво); "I shouldn't believe it myself if anybody told it to me (я бы и сам не поверил, если бы кто-нибудь рассказал мне об этом), but it's a fact, for all that (но это факт, тем не менее). I had been sitting there all the afternoon and had caught literally nothing (я просидел весь день и не поймал буквально ничего; to catch) — except a few dozen dace and a score of jack (кроме нескольких дюжин мелкой рыбешки и двух десятков щучек); and I was just about giving it up as a bad job when I suddenly felt a rather smart pull at the line (и я уже собирался бросить это /как/ безнадежное дело, когда вдруг почувствовал сильное дерганье за леску). I thought it was another little one, and I went to jerk it up (я подумал, это еще какая-нибудь мелочь, и попытался подсечь; to jerk — резко толкать, дергать/ся/). Hang me, if I could move the rod (черт меня побери, если я мог = я не смог поднять удочку; rod — прут, стержень; удочка)! It took me half-an-hour — half-an-hour, sir (мне потребовалось полчаса — полчаса, сэр = да-с, полчаса)!— to land that fish; and every moment I thought the line was going to snap (чтобы вытащить ту рыбу; и каждую минуту я думал, леска оборвется; to snap — щелкать, хлопать; захлопываться; порвать/ся/, сломать/ся/)! I reached him at last, and what do you think it was (я вытащил ее наконец, и что, вы думаете, это было)? A sturgeon (осетр)! a forty pound sturgeon (сорокафунтовый осетр)! taken on a line, sir (пойманный на леску, да-с)! Yes, you may well look surprised (вы вполне можете выглядеть удивленными = конечно, это удивительно) — I'll have another three of Scotch, landlord, please (хозяин, я возьму еще три рюмки шотландского виски, пожалуйста)."

And then he goes on to tell of the astonishment of everybody who saw it (потом он в качестве продолжения рассказывает об удивлении всех = как удивились все, кто видел осетра); and what his wife said, when he got home, and of what Joe Buggles thought about it (и что сказала его жена, когда он пришел домой, и что об этом подумал Джо Багглс).

sturgeon ['st:n] astonishment ['stnmnt]

"No," he continues thoughtfully; "I shouldn't believe it myself if anybody told it to me, but it's a fact, for all that. I had been sitting there all the afternoon and had caught literally nothing — except a few dozen dace and a score of jack; and I was just about giving it up as a bad job when I suddenly felt a rather smart pull at the line. I thought it was another little one, and I went to jerk it up. Hang me, if I could move the rod! It took me half-an-hour — half-an-hour, sir! — to land that fish; and every moment I thought the line was going to snap! I reached him at last, and what do you think it was? A sturgeon! a forty pound sturgeon! taken on a line, sir! Yes, you may well look surprised — I'll have another three of Scotch, landlord, please."

And then he goes on to tell of the astonishment of everybody who saw it; and what his wife said, when he got home, and of what Joe Buggles thought about it.

I asked the landlord of an inn up the river once, if it did not injure him, sometimes (я спросил однажды хозяина трактира у реки, не задевает ли его = не противно ли ему иногда), listening to the tales that the fishermen about there told him (слушать небылицы, которые здешние рыбаки рассказывают ему /там/); and he said: