【荆棘鸟】第六章 04

No one ever knew what Stuart was thinking; like Fee, he spoke 1 little and never aired an opinion. And he had a curious knack 2 of being utterly 3 still, as still within himself as he was in body, and to Meggie, closest to him in age, it seemed he could go somewhere no one else could ever follow. Father Ralph expressed it another way. "That lad isn't human!" he had exclaimed the day he dumped a hunger-striking Stuart back at Drogheda after he was left at the convent minus Meggie. "Did he say he wanted to go home? Did he say he missed Meggie? No! He just stopped eating and patiently waited for the reason why to sink into our thick skulls 4. Not once did he open his mouth to complain, and when I marched up to him and yelled did he want to go home, he simply smiled at me and nodded!"
But as time went on it was tacitly assumed that Stuart would not go out into the paddocks to work with Paddy and the other boys, even though in age he might have. Stu would remain on guard at the house, chop the wood, take care of the vegetable garden, do the milking-the huge number of duties the women had no time for with three babies in the house. It was prudent 5 to have a man about the place, albeit 6 a half-grown one; it gave proof of other men close by. For there were visitors-the clump 7 of strange boots up the plank 8 steps to the back veranda 9, a strange voice saying: "Hullo, Missus, got a bit of tucker for a man?" The Outback had swarms 10 of them, swagmen humping their blueys from station to station, down from Queensland and up from Victoria, men who had lost their luck or were chary 11 of holding a regular job, preferring to tramp on foot thousands of miles in search of only they knew what. Mostly they were decent fellows, who appeared, ate a huge meal, packed a bit of donated tea and sugar and flour in the folds of their blueys, then disappeared down the track headed for Barcoola or Narrengang, battered 12 old billycans bouncing, skinny dogs belly 13 down behind them. Australian itinerants 14 rarely rode; they walked.Occasionally a bad man would come, on the lookout 15 for women whose men were away; with a view to robbery, not rape 16. Thus Fee kept a shotgun standing 17 loaded in a corner of the kitchen where the babies couldn't get to it, and made sure she was closer to it than her visitor until her expert eye assessed his character. After Stuart was officially allotted 18 the house as his domain 19, Fee passed the shotgun to him gladly.
 

谁都不知道斯图尔特在想什么，他像菲一样，很少讲话，从不发表自己的看法。他有一种完全一动不动的、令人纳闷的诀窍，一动不动的就仿佛他缩进了自己的躯体。在年龄和他最接近的梅吉看来，他似乎能云游到某个谁也无法随之而去的地方。而拉尔夫神父却有另一番见解。
　　"那小伙子简直不属于人类！"在梅吉走后只剩下他留在女修道院的一天，他把绝食的斯图尔特送回了德罗海达，他说道："他说过他想回家吗？他说过他想梅吉吗？没有！他只是停止了吃饭，耐心地等待着我们这些笨脑壳想出其中的原委来、他没有开口抱怨过一次，当我走到他面前，大喊大叫地问他是不是想回家的时候，他就那么笑了一笑，点了点头！"
　　但是，随着光阴的流逝，事情就不言自明地摆了出来：斯图尔特不会与帕迪和其他孩子们出去到牧场干活的，尽管从年龄上看，他应该去。斯图尔特将留在家里看门、劈木柴、照管菜园、挤奶--干那些在家中要看三个孩子的女人没时间去干的活计。在这个地方留下个男人是明智的，尽管留下的是个半大小子，但这会证明其他的男人就在近处。因为这里常常会有些不速之客--后廊的台阶上会响起陌生人靴子的砰砰声，一个陌生的嗓音会问：
　　"喂、太太。能给过路人来点儿吃的吗？"
　　在内地，这种无业游民多如牛毛，背着蓝色的包袱，从一个牧场游到一个牧场；有从昆土兰州南下的，有从维多利亚州北上的。这些人或是背运倒时，或是四处寻找一份定期的工作，宁愿步行流浪数千英里，寻找只有他们自己才晓得的东西。他们中间的大部分都是彬彬有利的人。他们露面了，大块吃着肉，在包袱里裹上一点儿人家赠送的茶、糖和面粉，随后便消失在通往巴库拉和奈仁甘的小径尽头；斜挎的野餐铁罐颠个不停，身后颠颠地跟着狗儿。澳大利亚的浪游者们极少骑马，他们步行。偶然会有个把坏人来，专门注意那些家中男人外出的女人，其目的不是为了强奸，而是为了打劫。所以，菲在厨房的一个孩子够不着的角落中放了一支顶着火的滑膛枪，并且保证一旦菲那双富有经验的眼睛确定了来人的品行，便能赶在来人之前拿到它。在家里把斯图尔特负责的地方派定之后，菲高兴地把枪交给了他。