| The blood was running hot under his skin now, as it always did when he was making plans - when he had outmanoeuvred the Natividad, for instance, and when he had saved the Pluto in the storm off Cape Creux. | К лицу прихлынула горячая кровь, как всего, когда он продумывал смелое решение - когда сражался с "Нативидадом" или буксировал "Плутон" в шторм у мыса Креус. |
| There had been no hope of escape without the means of transporting a helpless cripple; now, not twenty feet from him, there was the ideal means - the boat which rocked to its moorings at the river bank. | Чтобы бежать, нужен способ тащить беспомощного калеку, теперь в двадцати футах от них качалось на воде идеальное средство передвижения - привязанная к колышку лодка. |
| On a night like this it was easy to lose one's way altogether - except in a boat on a river; in a boat one had only to keep shoving off from shore to allow the current to carry one away faster than any horse could travel in these conditions. | В такую ночь легко сбиться с пути - но только не на реке, достаточно отталкиваться от берегов, и течение понесет их быстрее скачущей лошади. |
| Even so, the scheme was utterly harebrained. | Несмотря на это, план был совершенно отчаянный. |
| For how many days would they be able to preserve their liberty in the heart of France, two able-bodied men and one on a stretcher? | Сколько дней они пробудут во Франции на свободе, двое здоровых мужчин и один безногий? |
| They would freeze, starve - possibly even drown. | Они замерзнут, умрут от холода, утонут, наконец. |
| But it was a chance, and nothing nearly as good would present itself (as far as Hornblower could judge from his past observations) between now and the time when the firing party at Vincennes would await them. | Однако это шанс, иначе им расстрела не избежать. С интересом Хорнблауэр отметил, что теперь, когда он принял решение, горячка пошла на убыль. |
| Hornblower observed with mild interest that his fever was abating as he formed his resolve; and he was sufficiently amused at finding his jaw set in an expression of fierce resolution to allow his features to relax into a grim smile. |