|
| Here he had grasped the criminal, but still he could not grasp the clue. | Сейчас он настиг преступника, но ключа у него не было. |
| The two figures that they followed were crawling like black flies across the huge green contour of a hill. | Священники ползли по зеленому склону холма, как черные мухи. |
| They were evidently sunk in conversation, and perhaps did not notice where they were going; but they were certainly going to the wilder and more silent heights of the Heath. | Судя по всему, они беседовали и не замечали, куда идут; но шли они в самый дикий и тихий угол Луга. |
| As their pursuers gained on them, the latter had to use the undignified attitudes of the deer-stalker, to crouch behind clumps of trees and even to crawl prostrate in deep grass. | Преследователям пришлось принимать те недостойные позы, которые принимает охотник, выслеживающий дичь: они перебегали от дерева к дереву, крались и даже ползли по густой траве. |
| By these ungainly ingenuities the hunters even came close enough to the quarry to hear the murmur of the discussion, but no word could be distinguished except the word "reason" recurring frequently in a high and almost childish voice. | Благодаря этим неуклюжим маневрам охотники подошли совсем близко к дичи и слышали уже голоса, но слов не разбирали, кроме слова "разум", которое повторял то и дело высокий детский голос. |
| Once over an abrupt dip of land and a dense tangle of thickets, the detectives actually lost the two figures they were following. They did not find the trail again for an agonising ten minutes, and then it led round the brow of a great dome of hill overlooking an amphitheatre of rich and desolate sunset scenery. | Вдруг путь им преградили заросли над обрывом; сыщики потеряли след и плутали минут десять, пока, обогнув гребень круглого, как купол, холма, не увидели в лучах заката прелестную и тихую картину. |
| Under a tree in this commanding yet neglected spot was an old ramshackle wooden seat. On this seat sat the two priests still in serious speech together. | Под деревом стояла ветхая скамья; на ней сидели, серьезно беседуя, священники. |
| The gorgeous green and gold still clung to the darkening horizon; but the dome above was turning slowly from peacock-green to peacock-blue, and the stars detached themselves more and more like solid jewels. | Зелень и золото еще сверкали у темнеющего горизонта, сине-зеленый купол неба становился зелено-синим, и звезды сверкали ярко, как крупные бриллианты. |
| Mutely motioning to his followers, Valentin contrived to creep up behind the big branching tree, and, standing there in deathly silence, heard the words of the strange priests for the first time. |