| But the price he was paying for survival was the usual price. | Отчаяние притупило в нем все чувства, и он медленно превращался в животное. |
| He was in danger of becoming no better than an animal, of sinking to the level of the negroes who sometimes toiled beside him. | Лишь чувство человеческого достоинства еще не совсем угасло в Питте. |
| The man, however, was still there, not yet dormant, but merely torpid from a surfeit of despair; and the man in him promptly shook off that torpidity and awoke at the first words Blood spoke to him that night - awoke and wept. | Ночью, когда Блад изложил план бегства, молодой человек словно обезумел. |
| "Escape?" he panted. | - Бегство! |
| "O God!" He took his head in his hands, and fell to sobbing like a child. | О боже! - задыхаясь, - сказал он и, схватившись за голову, зарыдал, как ребенок. |
| "Sh! Steady now! Steady!" Blood admonished him in a whisper, alarmed by the lad's blubbering. He crossed to Pitt's side, and set a restraining hand upon his shoulder. "For God's sake, command yourself. | - Тише! - прошептал Блад. Его рука слегка сжала плечо Питта. - Держи себя в руках. |
| If we're overheard we shall both be flogged for this." | Нас запорют насмерть, если подслушают, о чем говорим. |
| Among the privileges enjoyed by Blood was that of a hut to himself, and they were alone in this. | Одна из привилегий, которыми пользовался Блад, состояла также в том, что он жил теперь в отдельной хижине. |
| But, after all, it was built of wattles thinly plastered with mud, and its door was composed of bamboos, through which sound passed very easily. | Она была сплетена из прутьев и свободно пропускала каждый звук. |
| Though the stockade was locked for the night, and all within it asleep by now - it was after midnight - yet a prowling overseer was not impossible, and a sound of voices must lead to discovery. | И хотя лагерь осужденных давно ужепогрузился в глубокий сон, поблизости мог оказаться какой-нибудь слишком бдительный надсмотрщик, а это грозило непоправимой бедой. |
| Pitt realized this, and controlled his outburst of emotion. | Питт постарался взять себя в руки. |
| Sitting close thereafter they talked in whispers for an hour or more, and all the while those dulled wits of Pitt's were sharpening themselves anew upon this precious whetstone of hope. |