| Без Буша они доберутся до дома быстрее, но легко вообразить, что начнется потом: расспросы, его неловкие ответы на ломаном французском, колебания. Тем временем Буш, мокрый и раздетый, будет сидеть на снегу. |
| A quarter of an hour of it would kill Bush, and he might be exposed for twice as long as that. | Полчаса-час его убьют, а может пройти и больше. |
| And there was the chance that there would be no one in the house to help carry him. | А в доме совсем не обязательно найдутся помощники. |
| "No," said Hornblower cheerfully. | - Нет, - сказал Хорнблауэр бодро. |
| "It's only a little way. | - Уже немного. |
| Lift, Brown." | Подымай, Браун. |
| They reeled along through the snow towards the light. | Они, шатаясь, двинулись к огоньку. |
| Bush was a heavy burden - Hornblower's head was swimming with fatigue and his arms felt as if they were being dragged out of their sockets. | Нести Буша было тяжело - голова у Хорнблауэра кружилась от усталости, руки, казалось, выдергивались из суставов. |
| Yet somehow within the shell of his fatigue the inner kernel of his brain was still active and restless. | Однако под скорлупой усталости мозг работал быстро и неутомимо. |
| "How did you get out of the river?" he asked, his voice sounding flat and unnatural in his ears. | - Как вы выбрались из реки? - спросил он, удивляясь звуку собственного голоса. |
| "Current took us to the bank at once, sir," said Bush, faintly surprised. | - Течение прибило меня к берегу, - сказал Буш с некоторым удивлением. |
| "I'd only just kicked my blankets off when I touched a rock, and there was Brown beside me hauling me out." | - Я только успел сбросить одеяло, как задел о камень, и тут же Браун меня вытащил. |
| "Oh," said Hornblower. | - Ясно, - сказал Хорнблауэр. |
| The whim of a river in flood was fantastic; the three of them had been within a yard of each other when they entered the water, and he had been dragged under while the other two had been carried to safety. | Причуды реки могут быть совершенно фантастическими: они оказались в воде на расстоянии какого-то ярда, но его утащило на дно, а их благополучно выбросило на берег. |
| They could not guess at his desperate struggle for life, and they would never know of it, for he would never be able to tell them about it. | Они не догадываются о его отчаянной борьбе за жизнь, и никогда не узнают - он не сможет им рассказать. |
| He felt for the moment a bitter sense of grievance against them, resulting from his weariness and his weakness. He was breathing heavily, and he felt as if he would give a fortune to lay down his burden and rest for a couple of minutes; but his pride forbade, and they went on through the snow, stumbling over the inequalities below the surface. |