Then suddenly, crash! something was upset; he heard people moving about quickly, and there was another crash and then a noise like hitting a mule, only not so bony; then Linda screamed. | Потом вдруг - грох! - опрокинули что-то; завозились, еще что-то шумно упало, и точно мула ударили хлыстом, но только звук мягче, мясистей; и крик Линды: |
"Oh, don't, don't, don't!" she said. | "Не бейте, не бейте!" |
He ran in. | Он кинулся туда. |
There were three women in dark blankets. | Там три женщины в темных одеялах. |
Linda was on the bed. | А Линда - на постели. |
One of the women was holding her wrists. | Одна держит ее за руки. |
Another was lying across her legs, so that she couldn't kick. | Другая легла поперек, на ноги ей, чтоб не брыкалась. |
The third was hitting her with a whip. | Третья бьет ее плетью. |
Once, twice, three times; and each time Linda screamed. | Раз ударила, второй, третий; и при каждом ударе Линда кричит. |
Crying, he tugged at the fringe of the woman's blanket. | Он плача стал просить бьющую, дергать за кромку одеяла: |
"Please, please." | - Не надо, не надо. |
With her free hand she held him away. | Свободной рукой женщина отодвинула его. |
The whip came down again, and again Linda screamed. | Плеть снова хлестнула, опять закричала Линда. |
He caught hold of the woman's enormous brown hand between his own and bit it with all his might. | Он схватил огромную коричневую руку женщины обеими своими и укусил что было силы. |
She cried out, wrenched her hand free, and gave him such a push that he fell down. | Та охнула, вырвала руку, толкнула его так, что он упал. |
While he was lying on the ground she hit him three times with the whip. | И ударила трижды плетью. |
It hurt more than anything he had ever felt-like fire. | Ожгло огнем - больней всего на свете. |
The whip whistled again, fell. | Снова свистнула, упала плеть. |
But this time it was Linda who screamed. | Но закричала на этот раз Линда. |
"But why did they want to hurt you, Linda?" he asked that night. | - Но за что они тебя, Линда? - спросил он вечером. |
He was crying, because the red marks of the whip on his back still hurt so terribly. | Красные следы от плети на спине еще болели, жгли, и он плакал. |
But he was also crying because people were so beastly and unfair, and because he was only a little boy and couldn't do anything against them. | Но еще и потому плакал, что люди такие злые и несправедливые, а он малыш и драться с ними слаб. |
Linda was crying too. | Плакала Линда. |
She was grown up, but she wasn't big enough to fight against three of them. | Она хоть и взрослая, но от троих отбиться разве может? |
It wasn't fair for her either. | И разве это честно - на одну втроем? |
"Why did they want to hurt you, Linda?" | - За что они тебя, Линда? |