Chapter 18
Browner’s Statement VI: 
The Haze & The Killings
II. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
 
“It was
just as if
they had been given
into my hands ( 落入我手).

There was
a bit of
a haze ( 薄霧),
and you could not see
more than
a few hundred yards ( 碼).

I hired
a boat
for myself,
and I pulled ( 用力划)
after them.”
This is the end of paragraph 1.

“I could see
the blur ( 模糊)
of their craft ( 小船),
but they were going
nearly as fast
as I,
and they must have been
a long mile ( 很長的一英里)
from the shore
before I caught
them up.”
This is the end of paragraph 2.

“The haze
was like
a curtain ( 幕簾)
all round us,
and there were
we three
in the middle
of it.

My God,
shall I ever forget
their faces
when they saw
who was
in the boat
that was closing in upon ( 逼近)
them?”
This is the end of paragraph 3.

“She screamed
out.

He swore ( 咒罵)
like a madman ( 瘋子)
and jabbed ( 猛戳)
at me
with an oar ( 槳),
for he must have seen
death in my eyes ( 殺意).”
This is the end of paragraph 4.

“I got past it
and got one in
with my stick
that crushed his head
like an egg ( 像蛋一樣砸碎).”
This is the end of paragraph 5.

“I would have spared ( 饒恕)
her,
perhaps,
for all my madness ( 即使在我瘋狂之中),
but she threw her arms
round him,
crying out ( 喊叫)
to him,
and calling him
‘Alec.’”
This is the end of paragraph 6.

“I struck
again,
and she lay
stretched ( 直直倒下)
beside him.

I was
like a wild beast ( 野獸)
then
that had tasted blood ( 嚐到血).”
This is the end of paragraph 7.

“If Sarah
had been there,
by the Lord ( 我向上帝發誓),
she should have
joined them.

I pulled out
my knife,
and—well, there!
I’ve said
enough.”
This is the end of paragraph 8.

“It gave me
a kind of
savage joy ( 野性的快意)
when I thought
how Sarah
would feel
when she had such signs
as these
of what her meddling ( 多管閒事)
had brought about.

Then I tied
the bodies
into the boat,
stove a plank ( 撞破一塊木板),
and stood by
until they had
sunk.”
This is the end of paragraph 9.

“I knew
very well
that the owner
would think
that they had lost
their bearings ( 方位)
in the haze,
and had drifted off ( 漂離)
out to sea ( 漂向外海).”
This is the end of paragraph 10.

“I cleaned myself up,
got back
to land,
and joined my ship
without a soul ( 無人)
having a suspicion ( 起疑)
of what had
passed.”
This is the end of paragraph 11.

“That night
I made up ( 包好)
the packet
for Sarah Cushing,
and next day
I sent it
from Belfast.”
This is the end of paragraph 12.

The  End