TOM dodged hither and thither through lanes until he was well out of the track of returning scholars, and then fell into a moody jog. He crossed a small "branch" two or three times, because of a prevailing juvenile superstition that to cross water baffled pursuit. Half an hour later he was disappearing behind the Douglas mansion on the summit of Cardiff Hill, and the school-house was hardly distinguishable away off in the valley behind him. He entered a dense wood, picked his pathless way to the centre of it, and sat down on a mossy spot under a spreading oak. There was not even a zephyr stirring; the dead noonday heat had even stilled the songs of the birds; nature lay in a trance that was broken by no sound but the occasional far-off hammering of a wood-pecker, and this seemed to render the pervading silence and sense of loneliness the more profound. The boy's soul was steeped in melancholy; his feelings were in happy accord with his surroundings. He sat long with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, meditating. It seemed to him that life was but a trouble, at best, and he more than half envied Jimmy Hodges, so lately released; it must be very peaceful, he thought, to lie and slumber and dream forever and ever, with the wind whispering through the trees and caressing the grass and the flowers over the grave, and nothing to bother and grieve about, ever any more. If he only had a clean Sunday-school record he could be willing to go, and be done with it all. Now as to this girl. What had he done? Nothing. He had meant the best in the world, and been treated like a dog--like a very dog. She would be sorry some day--maybe when it was too late. Ah, if he could only die temporarily!
Tom es féu escàpol, d'ací d'allà per camins i caminals fins a trobar-se enfora dels vestigis dels alumnes que tornaven, i després adoptà un petit trot consirós. Travessà rierols dues o tres vegades, perquè, segons una dominant superstició jovenívola, el passar aigua destarotava les persecucions. Mitja hora després desapareixia per darrera de la casa Douglas, al cim de Cardiff Hill; i l'escola era tot just obirable dins la vall que deixava endarrera. Entrà en un bosc espès, trià sa via, sense seguir cap tirany, cap al centre del bosc, i segué damunt un indret molsós, sota una alzina tota ufanosa. No es movia ni una mica de oratjol; l'escalf de la immòbil migdiada havia aturat el mateix cant dels ocells; la natura estava subjecta a un encantament, no interromput de cap so, llevat del llunyà i eventual martelleig d'un pigot, i això semblava fer més pregon el penetrant silenci i la sensació de solitud. L'ànima del minyó era amarada de melangia: sos sentiments estaven d'acord amb els seus voltants. Segué llarga estona amb els colzes damunt els genolls i el mentó damunt les mans, meditatívol. Li semblava que la vida, tot lo més, era una mortificació; i envejava més que a mitges a Jimmy Hodges, finat de poc. Devia ésser d'allò més apacible, pensà, el jeure i adormir-se i somniar per sempre més, mentre el vent zumzejaria a través dels arbres i afalagaria l'herbei i les flors de la tomba, amb cap cosa de la qual encaparrar-se o doldre's, mai més. Sols que assolís un èxit pur a l'escola dominical, ja li plauria d'anar-se'n i deixar-ho córrer tot. Ara, pel que feia a aquella noia, què havia fet ell? No-res. El movia la millor intenció del món i l'havien tractat com un ca, com un veritable ca. Ella se'n penediria algun dia, potser quan fos massa tard. Ah! Si ell hagués pogut morir temporalment!
But the elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time. Tom presently began to drift insensibly back into the concerns of this life again. What if he turned his back, now, and disappeared mysteriously? What if he went away--ever so far away, into unknown countries beyond the seas--and never came back any more! How would she feel then! The idea of being a clown recurred to him now, only to fill him with disgust. For frivolity and jokes and spotted tights were an offense, when they intruded themselves upon a spirit that was exalted into the vague august realm of the romantic. No, he would be a soldier, and return after long years, all war-worn and illustrious. No--better still, he would join the Indians, and hunt buffaloes and go on the warpath in the mountain ranges and the trackless great plains of the Far West, and away in the future come back a great chief, bristling with feathers, hideous with paint, and prance into Sunday-school, some drowsy summer morning, with a blood-curdling war-whoop, and sear the eyeballs of all his companions with unappeasable envy. But no, there was something gaudier even than this. He would be a pirate! That was it! now his future lay plain before him, and glowing with unimaginable splendor. How his name would fill the world, and make people shudder! How gloriously he would go plowing the dancing seas, in his long, low, black-hulled racer, the Spirit of the Storm, with his grisly flag flying at the fore! And at the zenith of his fame, how he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk into church, brown and weather-beaten, in his black velvet doublet and trunks, his great jack-boots, his crimson sash, his belt bristling with horse-pistols, his crime-rusted cutlass at his side, his slouch hat with waving plumes, his black flag unfurled, with the skull and crossbones on it, and hear with swelling ecstasy the whisperings, "It's Tom Sawyer the Pirate!--the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main!"
Però el cor elàstic de la jovenesa no pot mantenir-se comprimit dins un motlle d'angúnia per molt de temps. Tom, al cap de poca estona, començà d'anar a la deriva, insensiblement, envers les preocupacions de la seva vida. Què passaria si girés l'esquena, ara, i desaparegués misteriosament? Què passaria si se n'anés lluny (on més lluny pogués, a contrades inconegudes de l'altra banda de la mar), per no tornar jamai? Quíns foren aleshores els sentiments d'ella? La idea d'ésser pallasso li tornà ara al magí, per no omplir-lo sinó de fàstig. Perquè la frivolitat, i les facècies i els colants amb llunes esdevenien un insult quan venien a fer el manefla dins un esperit encimbellat a l'august i vagariós reialme del romanticisme. No: seria soldat, i tornaria després de llargues anyades, tot il·lustre i assenyalat dels combats. No, millor encara: s'ajuntaria als indis i caçaria búfals i aniria pel tirany de la guerra, damunt les serralades i les grans planures totes iguals de l'extrem Ponent; i, enllà d'enllà de l'esdevenidor, tornaria convertit en gran capitost, amb tot de plomes voleiadisses, fastigós de tan pintat, i aniria a fer gambades dins l'escola dominical, algun matí soporífer de l'estiu, amb un esgarip de guerra glaçador de la sang, i cauteritzaria les nines dels ulls de tots els seus companys, amb una enveja impossible d'apaivagar. Però no, encara hi havia quelcom de més grandiós que això: seria pirata! Veritat que sí? Ara el seu esdevenidor se li mostrava tot franc al seu davant, i aureolat d'una resplendor inimaginable. Còm el seu nom ompliria tot el món, i faria esparverar la gent! Amb quànta de glòria aniria solcant les mars agitades dins son llarg, baix, negre, vaixell corredor, l'Esperit de la Tempesta, amb la paorosa bandera voleiant a proa! I, al zenit de la seva fama, còm apareixeria, de cop i volta, al vell poblet, i aniria furtivament a l'església, tot bru i malmès dels temporals, amb el seu gipó i truses de vellut negre, les seves grans botes fins a genoll, la seva faixa carmesina, el seu cinyell eriçat de pistoles de muntar, el seu coltellàs, rovellat pel crim, a un costat, el seu capell inclinat amb plomes onejants, la seva bandera negra desplegada, amb el crani i els ossos travessers! I còm sentiria amb èxtasi i estarrufament aquells murmuris: -És Tom Sawyer, el negre Flagell de l'Armada Espanyola!
Yes, it was settled; his career was determined. He would run away from home and enter upon it. He would start the very next morning. Therefore he must now begin to get ready. He would collect his resources together. He went to a rotten log near at hand and began to dig under one end of it with his Barlow knife. He soon struck wood that sounded hollow. He put his hand there and uttered this incantation impressively:
Sí, estava resolt: la seva carrera estava decidida! Volia fugir de casa i començar. Volia inaugurar-ho el mateix endemà al matí. Així, doncs, li calia empendre els preparatius. Aplegaria tots els seus recursos. Anà envers un tronc podrit, que era al seu abast, i començà de cavar sota un de sos caps amb el seu ganivet Barlow. No trigà a colpir fusta que sonava com a buida. Hi posà la mà, i pronuncià aquests mots d'encantament, d'una manera impressionant:
"What hasn't come here, come! What's here, stay here!"
-Que allò que no hagi vingut aquí, se n'hi vingui! Que allò que hi és, hi romangui.
Then he scraped away the dirt, and exposed a pine shingle. He took it up and disclosed a shapely little treasure-house whose bottom and sides were of shingles. In it lay a marble. Tom's astonishment was bound-less! He scratched his head with a perplexed air, and said:
Després, a esgarrapades retirà el fang i féu obiradora una teula de pi. L'aixecà i descobrí una ben feta cambreta de tresor, el fons i costats de la qual eren construïts amb teules de fusta. Hi havia una bala. L'astorament de Tom no tingué fi ni compte. Es gratà el cap amb aire perplex i féu:
"Well, that beats anything!"
-És una cosa de no dir!
Then he tossed the marble away pettishly, and stood cogitating. The truth was, that a superstition of his had failed, here, which he and all his comrades had always looked upon as infallible. If you buried a marble with certain necessary incantations, and left it alone a fortnight, and then opened the place with the incantation he had just used, you would find that all the marbles you had ever lost had gathered themselves together there, meantime, no matter how widely they had been separated. But now, this thing had actually and unquestionably failed. Tom's whole structure of faith was shaken to its foundations. He had many a time heard of this thing succeeding but never of its failing before. It did not occur to him that he had tried it several times before, himself, but could never find the hiding-places afterward. He puzzled over the matter some time, and finally decided that some witch had interfered and broken the charm. He thought he would satisfy himself on that point; so he searched around till he found a small sandy spot with a little funnel-shaped depression in it. He laid himself down and put his mouth close to this depression and called--
Després llançà ben lluny la bala, tot teiós, i romangué d'allò més pensívol. La veritat és que una superstició seva, que ell i sos camarades havien considerat sempre infal·lible, li havia fallit. Si enterràveu una bala amb certs necessaris encantaments i la deixàveu tota sola per una quinzena, i després obríeu el lloc amb l'encantament que ell havia dit, trobaríeu que totes les bales que havíeu perdut s'hi haurien acoblat, per més escampadament que haguessin estat separades. Però ara aquesta cosa havia fallit, tanmateix, i d'una manera indisputable. Tot el sistema de la fe, dins Tom, es commogué damunt sos fonaments. Moltes vegades havia sentit dir que la cosa reeixia, però mai que hagués fallit. No se li acudí que ell mateix ho havia intentat d'altres vegades, però que després no pogué trobar mai els amagatalls. Aquest tema el capficà una estona, i al capdavall decidí que alguna bruixa s'hi havia ficat i havia romput l'encís. Pensà que cercaria de satisfer-se sobre aquest extrem, i sotjà pels voltants fins que trobà un petit indret arenós amb un sotet en forma d'embut. S'ajagué i posà la boca arran del sotet, i clamà:
"Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know! Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know!"
-Larva de formiga lleó, fes que en sigui coneixedor! Larva de formiga lleó, fes que en sigui coneixedor!
The sand began to work, and presently a small black bug appeared for a second and then darted under again in a fright.
La sorra començà de bellugar-se, i un petit insecte negre aparegué per un segon, i en acabat es precipità a dins, a correcuita.
"He dasn't tell! So it was a witch that done it. I just knowed it."
-No ho diu! Així, doncs, ha estat una bruixa qui ho ha fet. Ja me n'havia temut.
He well knew the futility of trying to contend against witches, so he gave up discouraged. But it occurred to him that he might as well have the marble he had just thrown away, and therefore he went and made a patient search for it. But he could not find it. Now he went back to his treasure-house and carefully placed himself just as he had been standing when he tossed the marble away; then he took another marble from his pocket and tossed it in the same way, saying:
Massa sabia ell la futilitat d'intentar haver-se-les amb les bruixes: així és que ho deixà córrer descoratjat. Però se li acudí que tanmateix podia quedar-se la bala que havia tirat al lluny, i anà i féu una pacient recerca. Però no pogué trobar-la. Tornà a sa cambreta del tresor, i la posà curosament així cóm estava quan va llançar la bala. En acabat prengué una altra bala i la llançà de la mateixa manera, tot dient:
"Brother, go find your brother!"
-Germana, vés a trobar la teva germana!
He watched where it stopped, and went there and looked. But it must have fallen short or gone too far; so he tried twice more. The last repetition was successful. The two marbles lay within a foot of each other.
Sotjà on queia, i anà cap allí i mirà. Però devia haver anat més ençà o més enllà: així és que féu l'operació dues vegades més. L'última repetició va reeixir. Les dues bales eren l'una a un pam de l'altra.
Just here the blast of a toy tin trumpet came faintly down the green aisles of the forest. Tom flung off his jacket and trousers, turned a suspender into a belt, raked away some brush behind the rotten log, disclosing a rude bow and arrow, a lath sword and a tin trumpet, and in a moment had seized these things and bounded away, barelegged, with fluttering shirt. He presently halted under a great elm, blew an answering blast, and then began to tiptoe and look warily out, this way and that. He said cautiously--to an imaginary company:
Aleshores, precisament, el so d'una trompeta d'estany vingué tot desmaiat sota les verdes naus de la boscúria. Tom s'arrabassà gec i pantalons, convertí un elàstic en cinyell, furgà dins unes brosses, més enllà del tronc podrit, traient-ne un arc i una sageta ben grollers, una espasa de llauna, i una trompeta d'estany, i en un moment es va haver apoderat d'aquests atuells, i gambadejà cap enfora, amb els peus nus i la camisa al vent. Al cap de poc s'aturà sota un gran om, bufà la trompeta en resposta, i després començà a anar de puntetes i a atalaiar amb aire de lluita, d'ací d'allà. Digué cautelosament a una companyia imaginària:
"Hold, my merry men! Keep hid till I blow."
-Braó, mos gais companyons! Romaneu amagats fins que jo colpeixi.
Now appeared Joe Harper, as airily clad and elaborately armed as Tom. Tom called:
Aleshores aparegué Joe Harper, tan aèriament vestit i acuradament armat com el mateix Tom. Tom cridà:
"Hold! Who comes here into Sherwood Forest without my pass?"
-Ei! Quí ve al bosc de Sherwood sense el meu permís?
"Guy of Guisborne wants no man's pass. Who art thou that--that--"
-Guiu de Guisborne no necessita el permís de cap home nat! Quí ets tu que... que...
"Dares to hold such language," said Tom, prompting--for they talked "by the book," from memory.
-Goses tenir-me aquest llenguatge- digué Tom apuntant, perquè parlaven segons el llibre, de memòria.
"Who art thou that dares to hold such language?"
-Quí ets tu que goses tenir-me aquest llenguatge?
"I, indeed! I am Robin Hood, as thy caitiff carcase soon shall know."
-Jo, tanmateix! Só Robin Hood, com la teva carcassa condemnada no trigarà a saber.
"Then art thou indeed that famous outlaw? Right gladly will I dispute with thee the passes of the merry wood. Have at thee!"
-Així, ets talment el famós bandejat? Ben joiosament et disputaré els passos del bosc joliu. Para esment!
They took their lath swords, dumped their other traps on the ground, struck a fencing attitude, foot to foot, and began a grave, careful combat, "two up and two down." Presently Tom said:
Prengueren llurs espases de llauna, reboteren a terra sos altres atuells, es posaren en actitud de duel, peu contra peu, i començaren un greu, acuradíssim combat, «dos amunt i dos avall». Tom digué, al cap d'una estoneta:
"Now, if you've got the hang, go it lively!"
-Ara, mala forca us gronxi, poseu-hi més delit!
So they "went it lively," panting and perspiring with the work. By and by Tom shouted:
Així, doncs, lluitaren «amb delit», tots suats i panteixant de la tasca. Tom cridà ben aviat:
"Fall! fall! Why don't you fall?"
-Caieu! Caieu! Per què no caieu?
"I sha'n't! Why don't you fall yourself? You're getting the worst of it."
-No vull! Perquè no caieu vós? Sóu el que ho ha fet pitjor.
"Why, that ain't anything. I can't fall; that ain't the way it is in the book. The book says, 'Then with one back-handed stroke he slew poor Guy of Guisborne.' You're to turn around and let me hit you in the back."
-Bé, això no hi vol dir res. No puc caure. Poc és així, com van les coses en el llibre. El llibre diu: «Aleshores amb un cop travessador occí el pobre Guiu de Guisborne!» Heu de donar un tomb al meu voltant i deixar que us fereixi per l'esquena.
There was no getting around the authorities, so Joe turned, received the whack and fell.
Era impossible de trobar taps a les autoritats així és que Joe donà el tomb, rebé la patacada i caigué.
"Now," said Joe, getting up, "you got to let me kill you. That's fair."
-Ara- digué Joe, alçant-se -deixeu que us mati jo. És ben enraonat.
"Why, I can't do that, it ain't in the book."
-No, no puc: no és en el llibre
"Well, it's blamed mean--that's all."
-Bé, això és una roïnesa endiastrada. Vet-ho aquí.
"Well, say, Joe, you can be Friar Tuck or Much the miller's son, and lam me with a quarter-staff; or I'll be the Sheriff of Nottingham and you be Robin Hood a little while and kill me."
-Bé, Joe: podeu fer de Frare Tuck, o de Much, el fill del moliner, i aporrinar-me amb un garrot de dues mans; o bé jo seré el Xerif de Nottingham, i vós sereu Robin Hood una estoneta, i em matareu.
This was satisfactory, and so these adventures were carried out. Then Tom became Robin Hood again, and was allowed by the treacherous nun to bleed his strength away through his neglected wound. And at last Joe, representing a whole tribe of weeping outlaws, dragged him sadly forth, gave his bow into his feeble hands, and Tom said, "Where this arrow falls, there bury poor Robin Hood under the greenwood tree." Then he shot the arrow and fell back and would have died, but he lit on a nettle and sprang up too gaily for a corpse.
Això semblava satisfactori, de manera que aquestes aventures foren dutes a compliment. Després Tom esdevingué Robin Hood de bell nou, i la monja traïdora consentí que perdés la força amb la sang que se li escolava de la ferida abandonada. I a la fi, Joe, representant una tribu sencera de bandejats plorosos, l'arrossegà tristament, li posà l'arc a les febles mans, i Tom digué:
-Allà on caurà aquesta sageta, enterreu-hi el pobre Robin Hood sota el bosc que treu ufana.
En acabat disparà la seva sageta, i caigué, i hauria hagut de morir; però es posà damunt una ortiga, i saltà amb massa embranzida perquè fos un cos mort.
The boys dressed themselves, hid their accoutrements, and went off grieving that there were no outlaws any more, and wondering what modern civilization could claim to have done to compensate for their loss. They said they would rather be outlaws a year in Sherwood Forest than President of the United States forever.
Els nois es vestiren, amagaren llurs gales, i se n'anaren tot lamentant que no hi hagués bandejats avui en dia, i demanant-se quína cosa podia mostrar d'haver fet, la civilització moderna, per a compensar llur pèrdua. Van dir que s'haurien estimat més ésser bandejats un any dins el bosc de Sherwood que no pas presidents dels Estats Units per sempre més.