【荆棘鸟】第四章 09

Bluey Williams had turned up with his dray loaded high and twelve spare horses behind him, for he was moving fast to get through his rounds before the rains made further provisioning of the stations impossible. "Monsoons 1 are comin'," he said, rolling a cigarette and indicating piles of extra groceries with his whip. 
  "The Cooper an' the Barcoo an' the Diamantina are runnin' real bankers an' the Overflow 2 is overflowin'. The whole Queenslan' Outback's two foot under water an' them poor buggers is tryin' to find a rise in the groun' to put the sheep on."
  Suddenly there was a controlled panic; Paddy and the boys worked like madmen, moving the sheep out of the low-lying paddocks and as far away from the creek 3 and the Barwon as they could. Father Ralph tur ned up, saddled his horse and set off with Frank and the best team of dogs for two uncleared paddocks alongside the Barwon, while Paddy and the two stockmen each took a boy in other directions.
 
  Father Ralph was an excellent stockman himself. He rode a thoroughbred chestnut 4 mare 5 Mary Carson had given him, clad in faultlessly tailored buff jodhpurs, shiny tan knee boots, and a spotless white shirt with its sleeves rolled up his sinewy 6 arms and its neck open to show his smooth brown chest. In baggy 7 old grey twill trousers tied with bowyangs and a greyflannel under- shirt, Frank felt like a poor relation. Which was what he was, he thought wryly 8, following the straight figure on the dainty mare through a stand of box and pine beyond the creek. He himself rode a hard-mouthed piebald stock horse, a mean-tempered beast with a will of its own and a ferocious 9 hatred 10 of other horses. The dogs were yelping 11 and cavorting 12 in excitement, fighting and snarling 13 among themselves until parted with a flick 14 from Father Ralph's viciously wielded 15 stock whip. It seemed there was nothing the man couldn't do; he was familiar with the coded whistles setting the dogs to work, and plied 16 his whip much better than Frank, still learning this exotic Australian art.
 

布鲁伊·威廉斯赶着他那装得冒顶的大车来到了，后面跟着12匹备用马，因为他打算在下雨以前赶着走完这一趟，以免那些牧场得不到它们所需要的东西。
　　"季风就要来啦，"他卷了一支烟，用鞭子指着那一堆堆他额外捎来的食品杂货，说道。"库珀、巴科和迪阿曼蒂纳的水真是流成了河，溢水镇也真格儿地溢水啦。整个昆士兰州的内地水深到了两英尺，那些可怜的家伙从前全都想找个高岗子，她救他们的羊呢。"
　　立刻，这里便产生了一种压抑着的恐慌。帕迪和孩子们像发了疯似地干着活儿，把羊从地势低洼的围场里赶了出来，尽量使羊群离开小河和巴温河远一些。拉尔夫神父来了，他架上马鞍，带着一群最好的狗和弗兰克一起动身沿着巴温河前往两个尚未清过的围场，而帕迪和那两个牧工则各带领一个男孩子向别的方向走去。
　　拉尔夫神父本人就是个出色的牧工。他骑着玛丽·卡森送给他的那匹良种栗色牝马，穿着做工考究、无暇可摘的黄牛皮马裤，蹬着一双银光雪亮的棕黄色长统靴，身穿一件洁白如雪的衬衫，袖子在他那肌肉发达的胳膊上卷了起来，脖领敞开着，露出了光滑的、褐色的胸膛。弗兰克穿着鼓囊囊的旧斜纹布裤子，扎着"裤扎"，上身是一件灰法兰绒内衣；他觉得自己就像是一个穷亲戚。难道不是这样吗？他自觉没趣地想着，跟在一个骑着好马的、腰直背挺的人的屁股后面，穿过小河远处的一片黄杨和青松。他自己骑的是一匹难以驾驭的杂色牧羊马，这是一匹脾性暴戾的牲口，不但好自行其是，而且对别的马也极为仇视。
 
       狗在激动地吠叫、跳跃着，互相撕咬着、嗥叫着，直到拉尔夫神父不客气地挥着牧羊鞭，轻抽下去，它们才分开。看来，这个人是无所不能的，他熟悉对狗发号施令、让狗去干活的信号口哨，他的鞭子比弗兰克使得还好，尽管他还正在学习这种从异国传人的澳大利亚的技艺。