| The mountains, bristling here with pines, were hemming the road in close between them and the sea. Why did not Claros or Rovira come to save him? | Почему Кларос или Ровира не спешат на выручку? |
| At every turn of the road there was an ideal site for an ambush. | Каждый поворот дороги представлялся идеальным для засады. |
| Soon they would be in France and it would be too late. He had to struggle again to remain passive. | Скоро они будут во Франции, и тогда - прощай, надежда, Хорнблауэр с трудом сохранял невозмутимость. |
| The prospect of crossing into France seemed to make his fate far more certain and imminent. | Казалось, как только они пересекут границу, рок станет окончательным и неотвратимым. |
| It was growing dark fast - they could not be far now from the frontier. | Быстро смеркалось - наверно, они уже у самой границы. |
| Hornblower tried to visualize the charts he had often handled, so as to remember the name of the French frontier town, but his mind was not sufficiently under control to allow it. | Хорнблауэр пытался воскресить перед глазами карты, которые так часто изучал, и припомнить название пограничного городка, однако мешало волнение. |
| The coach was coming to a standstill; he heard footsteps outside, heard Caillard's metallic voice saying, | Карета встала. Хорнблауэр услышал шаги, потом металлический голос Кайяра произнес: |
| "In the name of the Emperor," and an unknown voice say, | "Именем Императора!", и незнакомый голос ответил: |
| "Passez, passez, monsieur." | "Проезжайте, проезжайте, мсье". |
| The coach lurched and accelerated again; they were in France now. | Карета рывком тронулась с места: они въехали во Францию. |
| Now the horses' hoofs were ringing on cobblestones. | Конские копыта стучали по булыжнику. |
| There were houses, one or two lights to be seen. | За обоими окнами мелькали дома, одно-два окошка горели. |
| Outside the houses there were men in all kinds of uniforms, and a few women picking their way among them, dressed in pretty costumes with caps on their heads. | На улицах попадались солдаты в разноцветных мундирах, спешили по делам редкие женщины в чепцах и платьях. |
| He could hear laughter and joking. | До кареты долетали смех и шутки. |
| Then abruptly the coach swerved to the right and drew up in the courtyard of an inn. | Внезапно лошади свернули направо и въехали во двор гостиницы. |
| Lights were appearing in plenty in the fading twilight. | Замелькали фонари. |
| Someone opened the door of the coach and drew down the steps for him to descend. | Кто-то открыл дверцу кареты и откинул ступеньку. |
| CHAPTER FOUR. | IV. |
| Hornblower looked round the room to which the innkeeper and the sergeant of gendarmerie had jointly conducted them. |