《远大前程》 第1章 匹普与一位陌生人相遇(6)

‘I wonder who is put into prison-ships，and why？’I asked，in a general way，quietly desperate to know the answer．
　　This was too much for Mrs Joe．‘Listen，my boy，I didn't bring you up by hand to annoy people to death！There are ships on the river which are used as prisons．People who steal and murder are put in the prison-ships，and they stay there for years sometimes．And they always begin their life of crime by asking too many questions！Now，go to bed！’
I could not sleep at all that night．I was in terror of the young man who wanted my heart，I was in terror of the man with the iron chain，I was in terror of my sister，who would soon discover I had stolen her food．As soon as there was a lit-tle light in the sky outside my window， I got up and went qui-etly down to the kitchen．I stole some bread，cheese and a big meat pie，hoping that，as there was a lot of food ready for Christmas，nobody would notice what was missing．I did not dare take the whole brandy bottle，so I poured some into a smaller bottle to take away with me．Then I filled up the brandy bottle with what I thought was water from a big brown bottle．I took a file from Joe's box of tools，and ran out on to the dark marshes．
“我想知道谁被关在船上监狱里，为什么他们被关在那里？”我追问道，通常，我非常想知道这类问题的答案。
　　对于乔夫人来说，这是问得太多了，“听着，我的孩子，我不让你跌入绝望和死亡的深渊！在那条河里有一些船专门用其当监狱，小偷和杀人犯被关在那些船上监狱里，有时他们在那里要呆上很多年。而且，他们通常在他们犯罪开始的时候总是会提出许多为什么！喂，睡觉去！”
　　那天晚上，我彻夜未眠，在想要吃我心脏的那个凶恶的年轻人，在想带着脚镣的那个凶狠的人，在想我那可怕的姐姐，马上就会发现我偷了她的食物。外面的天空透过窗户刚出现朦朦的亮，我就起了床，悄悄地下了楼进了厨房。我偷了一些面包、黄油和一大块肉饼。因为，为过圣诞节准备了许多吃的，希望没有人会发现少了东西。我没敢拿整瓶的白兰地酒，而是倒了一些盛在小瓶里带上了。然后，我用自己认为是盛水的大褐色瓶子里的水把白兰地瓶子倒满。我从乔的工具盒里拿了一把锉，随之跑出了家门，直奔黑压压的沼泽地。