“你瞧，这会儿我们已经水乳交融，相得无间了。当我发现那个沙黄头发的牧羊人并不在追求威莱拉小姐时，我对他也就比较宽容了。为了帮助他达到满足口腹之欲的雄心，我一早在想办法把威莱拉小姐的配方弄到手。但是每当我提起‘薄饼’时，她眼睛里总流露出疏远和不安的神色，并且设法岔开话题。假如我坚持下去的话，她就溜出去，换了手里拿着水壶，裤袋里揣着山炮的埃姆斯利大叔进来。
“One day I galloped over to the store with a fine bunch of blue verbenasverbena n.马鞭草属植物 that I cut out of a herd of wild flowers over on Poisoned Dog Prairie. Uncle Emsley looked at em with one eye shut and says：‘Havent ye heard the news？’
“一天，我在毒狗草原的野花丛中摘了一束美丽的蓝马鞭草，驰马来到那家铺子。埃姆斯利大叔眯起一只眼睛，看着马鞭草说：‘你没听到那个消息吗？’
“‘Cattle up？’ I asks.
“‘牛价上涨了吗？’我问道。
“‘Willella and Jackson Bird was married in Palestine yesterday.’ says he. ‘Just got a letter this morning.’
“‘威莱拉和杰克逊·伯德昨天在巴勒斯坦结婚啦。’他说。‘今天早晨刚收到信。’
“I dropped them flowers in a crackerbarrel，and let the news trickle in my ears and down toward my upper lefthand shirt pocket until it got to my feet.
“我把那束马鞭草扔进饼干桶，让那个消息慢慢灌进我耳朵，流到左边衬衫口袋，再流到脚底。
“‘Would you mind saying that over again once more，Uncle Emsley？’ says I. ‘Maybe my hearing has got wrong，and you only said that prime heifers was 4.80 on the hoof，or something like that.’
“‘请你再说一遍好不好，埃姆斯利大叔？’我说。‘也许我的耳朵出了毛病。你刚才说的只是活的甲级小母牛每头四块八毛钱，或者别的类似的话。’
“‘Married yesterday，’ says Uncle Emsley，‘and gone to Waco and Niagara Falls on a wedding tour. Why，didnt you see none of the signs all along？ Jackson Bird has been courting Willella ever since that day he took her out riding.’
“‘昨天结的婚，’埃姆斯利大叔说，‘到韦科和尼亚加拉大瀑布去度蜜月了。怎么，难道你一直没有看出苗头吗？杰克逊·伯德带威莱拉出去骑马那天，就开始追求她了。’
“‘Then，’ says I，in a kind of yell，‘what was all this zizzaparoola he gives me about pancakes？ Tell me that.’
“‘那么，’我几乎嚷了起来，‘他对我讲的有关薄饼的那套话，究竟是什么意思？你倒说说看。’
“When I said ‘pancakes’ Uncle Emsley sort of dodged and stepped back.
“我一提起薄饼，埃姆斯利大叔立即闪开，后退了几步。
“‘Somebodys been dealing me pancakes from the bottom of the deck，’ I says，‘and Ill find out. I believe you know. Talk up，’ says I，‘or well mix a panful of batter right here.’
“‘有人用薄饼来欺骗我，’我说，‘我要弄弄清楚。我相信你是知道的。讲出来，’我说，‘不然我跟你没完。’
“I slid over the counter after Uncle Emsley. He grabbed at his gun，but it was in a drawer，and he missed it two inches. I got him by the front of his shirt and shoved him in a corner.
“我翻过柜台去抓埃姆斯利大叔。他去抓枪，可是枪在抽屉里，差两英寸没够着。我揪住他的前襟，把他推到角落里。
“‘Talk pancakes，’ says I，‘or be made into one. Does Miss Willella make em？’
“‘说说薄饼的事，’我说，‘不然我就把你挤成薄饼。威莱拉小姐会不会做薄饼？’
“‘She never made one in her life and I never saw one.’ says Uncle Emsley，soothing. ‘Calm down now，Jud calm down. Youve got excited，and that wound in your head is contaminating your sense of intelligence. Try not to think about pancakes.’
“‘她一辈子没有做过一张薄饼，我也没有见她做过。’埃姆斯利大叔安慰我说。‘安静一些，贾德，安静一些。你太激动啦，你头上的老伤使你神志不清。别去想薄饼。’
“‘Uncle Emsley，’ says I，‘Im not wounded in the head except so far as my natural cognitive instinctsinstinct n.本能 run to runts. Jackson Bird told me he was calling on Miss Willella for the purpose of finding out her system of producing pancakes，and he asked me to help him get the bill of lading of the ingredientsingredient n.成分，因素。 I done so，with the results as you see. Have I been sodded down with Johnson grass by a pinkeyed snoozer，or what？’
“‘埃姆斯利大叔，’我说，‘我的头没有受过伤，最多只是天生的思考本能不太高明。杰克逊·伯德对我说，他来看威莱拉小姐的目的是为了打听她做薄饼的法子，他还请我帮他弄一份配料的清单。我照办了，结果你也看到了。我是被一个粉红眼睛的牧羊人用约翰逊青草给蒙住了，还是怎么的？’
“‘Slack up your grip in my dress shirt，’ says Uncle Emsley，‘and Ill tell you. Yes，it looks like Jackson Bird has gone and humbuggedhumbug n.欺骗 v.欺骗 you some. The day after he went riding with Willella he came back and told me and her to watch out for you whenever you got to talking about pancakes. He said you was in camp once where they was cooking flapjacks，and one of the fellows cut you over the head with a frying pan. Jackson said that whenever you got overhot or excited that wound hurt you and made you kind of crazy，and you went raving about pancakes. He told us to just get you worked off of the subject and soothed down，and you wouldnt be dangerous. So，me and Willella done the best by you we knew how. Well，well，’ says Uncle Emsley，‘that Jackson Bird is sure a seldom kind of a snoozer.’”
“‘你先放松我的衬衫，’埃姆斯利大叔说，‘我再告诉你。哎，看情形杰克逊·伯德把你骗了一下，自己跑了。他同威莱拉小姐出去骑马的第二天，又来通知我和威莱拉，赶上你提起薄饼的时候，就要多加提防。他说，有一次你们营地里在烙薄饼，有个人用平底锅砸破了你的头。杰克逊说，你一激动或紧张，老伤就要复发，使你有点儿疯癫，胡言乱语念叨着薄饼。他告诉我们，只要把你从这个话题上岔开，让你安静下来，就没有危险。因此我和威莱拉尽我们的力量帮助了你。哎，哎，’埃姆斯利大叔说，‘像杰克逊·伯德这样的牧羊人倒是少见的。’”
During the progress of Juds story he had been slowly but deftly combining certain portions of the contents of his sacks and cans. Toward the close of it he set before me the finished producta pair of redhot，richhued pancakes on a tin plate. From some secret hoarding he also brought a lump of excellent butter and a bottle of golden syrup.
贾德讲故事的时候，已经不慌不忙、十分熟练地把那些口袋和铁皮罐里的东西调和起来。快讲完时，他把完成的产品端到我面前 两张搁在铁皮碟子上的、滚烫的、深黄色的薄饼。他又从某些秘密的贮藏处取出一块上好的黄油和一瓶金黄色的糖浆。
“How long ago did these things happen？” I asked him.
“这是多久以前的事啦？”我问他说。
“Three years.” said Jud. “Theyre living on the Mired Mule Ranch now. But I havent seen either of ‘em since. They say Jackson Bird was fixing his ranch up fine with rocking chairs and window curtains all the time he was putting me up the pancake tree. Oh，I got over it after a while. But the boys kept the racketracket n.球拍，喧闹纷乱 v.过着花天酒地的生活 up.”
“有三年了。”贾德答道。“如今他们住在陷骡山谷。可是我以后一直没有见过他们。有人说，当杰克逊·伯德用薄饼计把我骗得走投无路的时候，他一直在布置他的牧场，摇椅啦，窗帘啦，摆设得漂漂亮亮。噢，过一阵子，我就把这件事抛开了，可是弟兄们还闹个不休。”
“Did you make these cakes by the famous recipe？” I asked.
“这些薄饼，你是不是按照那个著名的配方做的呢？”我问道。
“Didnt I tell you there wasnt no receipt？” said Jud. “The boys hollered pancakes till they got pancake hungry，and I cut this recipe out of a newspaper. How does the truck taste？”
“我不是早就说过，配方是根本不存在的吗？”贾德说。“弟兄们老是拿薄饼来取笑我，后来搞得想吃薄饼了，于是我从报上剪下了这个调制方法。这玩意儿的味道怎么样？”
“Theyre delicious.” I answered. “Why dont you have some，too，Jud？”
“好吃得很。”我回答说，“你自己干吗不吃一点，贾德？”
I was sure I heard a sigh.
我清晰地听到一声叹息。
“Me？” said Jud. “I dont ever eat em.”
“我吗？”贾德说。“我一向不吃薄饼。”