【荆棘鸟】第三章 18

When Paddy took the boys outside so Fee could feed Hal, Meggie gazed after them longingly 1. These days it seemed she was not to be included as one of the boys, not since the baby had disrupted her life and chained her to the house as firmly as her mother was. Not that she really minded, she told herself loyally. He was such a dear little fellow, the chief delight of her life, and it was nice to have Mum treat her as another grown-up lady. What caused Mum to grow babies she had no idea, but the result was lovely. She gave Hal to Fee; the train stopped not long after, creaking and squealing 2, and seemed to stand hours panting for breath. She was dying to open the window and look out, but the compartment 3 was growing very cold in spite of the hot ashes on the floor. Paddy came in from the corridor with a steaming cup of tea for Fee, who put Hal back on the seat, glutted 4 and sleepy.
  "What is it?" she asked.
  "A place called Valley Heights. We take on another engine here for the climb to Lithgow, the girl in the refreshment 5 room said."
  "How long have I got to drink this?"
  "Fifteen minutes. Frank's getting you some sandwiches and I'll see the boys are fed. Our next refreshment stop is a placed called Blayney, much later in the night."
  Meggie shared her mother's cup of hot, sugary tea, suddenly unbearably 6 excited, and gobbled her sandwich when Frank brought it. He settled her on the long seat below baby Hal, tucked a rug firmly around her, and then did the same for Fee, stretched out full length on the seat opposite. Stuart and Hughie were bedded down on the floor between the seats, but Paddy told Fee that he was taking Bob, Frank and Jack 7 several compartments 8 down to talk to some shearers, and would spend the night there. It was much nicer than the ship, clicking along to the rhythmic 9 huff-a-huff of the two engines, listening to the wind in the telegraph wires, the occasional flurry of furious huffs as steel wheels slipped on sloping steel rails, frantically 10 sought traction 11; Meggie went to sleep.
  In the morning they stared, awed 12 and dismayed, at a landscape so alien they had not dreamed anything like it existed on the same planet as New Zealand. The rolling hills were there certainly, but absolutely nothing else reminiscent of home. It was all brown and grey, even the trees! The winter wheat was already turned a fawnish silver by the glaring sun, miles upon miles of it rippling 13 and bending in the wind, broken only by stands of thin, spindling, blue-leafed trees
 

当帕迪把男孩子们领到外 面，以便让菲给哈尔喂奶的时候，梅吉羡慕地望着他们的背影。这些天来，她似乎已经不被看作是男孩子中间的一员了，自从那婴儿搅乱了她的生活，使她像妈妈一 样被紧紧地拴在家中以来。她就不是他们中间的一员了。她一片忠心地对自己说， 这倒并不使她真正感到介意；他是一个那么可爱的小家伙，是她生活中主要的乐趣。 
        妈妈把她当成一个已经长大成人的大姑娘，这使她从心眼里感到高兴。到底是什么 原因使妈妈生儿育女的，这她一点儿也不清楚，可结果倒是挺不错的。她把哈尔递 给了菲。不一会儿，火车停下了，发出了吱吱嘎嘎的声响，看来它要停上几个钟头， 好好喘口气。她极想打开窗子，往外看看，可是，尽管地板上有热灰，车厢里还是 越来越冷了。      帕迪从过道里走了进来，给菲端来了一杯热气腾腾的茶水。菲把填饱子肚子、 昏昏欲睡的哈尔放回了座位上。      “这是什么地方？”她问道。      “一个叫海兹谷的地方。为了爬上利思戈山，得在这儿加一个车头；是小吃部 的那个姑娘说的。”      “我得在多长时间内喝完？”      “15分钟。弗兰克会给你拿些三明治来的，我要去照看孩子们吃饭。咱们下一 次吃茶点是在一个叫布莱尼的地方，要在后半夜了。”    
        梅吉和她妈妈一起喝着那杯加了糖的热茶。当弗兰克拿来三明治的时候，梅吉突然感到一阵难以自禁的激动，大口大口地吃了起来。他让她躺在小哈尔下的一 张椅子上，用毯子紧紧地把她裹了起来，然后，又同样给菲裹上了毯子，让她舒展 身子躺在对面的座位上。斯图尔特和休吉船在座位间的地板上，可是，帕迪对菲说， 他要带鲍勃、弗兰克和杰克到隔几节的那个车厢找几个剪毛工聊聊去，当夜就在那 儿过了。在两个火车头所发出的“卡嚓、卡嚓”和“呼哧、呼哧”的有节奏的响声 中向前行进，听风着吹动电线的声音，以及钢车轮在倾斜的钢轨上滑行，猛烈地牵 动列车时发出的阵阵铿锵声，这比在船上要好得多了，梅吉沉沉地入睡了。
      早晨，他们瞠目结舌、满怀敬畏、惊愕异常地望着那一片异国风光，他们做梦 也没想到在与新西兰同存的星球上居然还有这样的地方。的确，这里有起伏的丘陵， 但除此以外，再没有什么能使人联想起故土的东西了。一切都是灰蒙蒙、黯苍苍的， 甚至连树也是这样！强烈的阳光已经使冬小麦变成了一片银褐色，越陌连阡的麦田 迎风起伏，唯有那一片片稀疏而修长的蓝叶树木。