|
| He smiled reflectively. | Он задумчиво улыбнулся. |
| 'I know that country very well - very well indeed,' he said. | - Мне хорошо знакомы эти места... очень хорошо. |
| ' Saint-Claude. Do you know Saint-Claude?' | Вы знаете Сен-Клод? |
| I shook my head. | Я покачал головой: |
| ' I don't know the Jura. | - Юру я не знаю. |
| That's somewhere over by Morez, isn't it?' | Это, кажется, где-то возле Мореза? |
| 'Yes - not very far from Morez.' | - Да... недалеко от Мореза. |
| He was silent for a few moments; we rested together in that quiet room. | - Он помолчал; мы остались вдвоем, в комнате было тихо, спокойно. |
| Presently he said: 'I wanted to try that wet fly fishing in those streams this summer. | Потом старик сказал: - Этим летом я хотел испробовать такую ловлю на муху в тамошних ручьях. |
| It's not bad fun, you know. | Неплохое развлечение. |
| You have to know where the fish go for their food. | Надо знать, куда рыба идет кормиться. |
| It's not just a matter of dabbing the flies about anywhere. | Нельзя просто забрасывать муху как попало. |
| You've got to place them just as carefully as a dry fly.' | Нужно вести ее так же осторожно, как искусственную. |
| 'Strategy,' I said. | - Стратегия, - сказал я. |
| That's the word. | -Вот именно. |
| The strategy is really just the same.' | В сущности, стратегия в том и состоит. |
| There was another of those comfortable pauses. | Мы снова мирно помолчали. |
| Presently I said: | Потом я сказал: |
| 'It'll be some time before we can go fishing out there again.' | - Не скоро мы опять сможем ловить рыбу в тех краях. |
| So it was I who turned the conversation to the war. | Так на сей раз я сам перевел разговор на войну. |
| It's difficult to keep off the subject. | Нелегко обойти эту тему. |
| He said: 'Yes - it's a great pity. | - Да... и это очень жаль, - сказал старик. |
| I had to come away before the water was fit to fish. | - Мне пришлось уехать, когда рыба еще не ловилась. |
| It's not much good out there before the very end of May. | До самого конца мая клев никудышный. |
| Before then the water's all muddy and the rivers are running very full - the thawing snows, you know. | Ручьи еще совсем мутные и слишком полноводные - снег тает, понимаете. |
| Later than that, in August, there's apt to be very little water to fish in, and it gets too hot. | Позже, в августе, ручьи мелеют, да и жара. |
| The middle of June is the best time.' | Лучшее время - середина июня. |
| I turned my head. | Я повернулся к нему. |
| ' You went out there this year?' | - Вы ездили туда в этом году? |
| Because the end of May that he had spoken of so casually was the time when the Germans had been pouring into France through Holland and Belgium, when we had been retreating on Dunkirk and when the French were being driven back to Paris and beyond. |