福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第11章Part2
"If you give me away, may a curse be on you!"
"Sure, I said I would not."
"I would ask you, then, when you joined the Freeman's society in Chicago and swore vows of charity and fidelity, did ever it cross your mind that you might find it would lead you to crime?"
"If you call it crime," McMurdo answered.
"Call it crime!" cried Morris, his voice vibrating with passion. "You have seen little of it if you can call it anything else. Was it crime last night when a man old enough to be your father was beaten till the blood dripped from his white hairs? Was that crime--or what else would you call it?"
"There are some would say it was war," said McMurdo, "a war of two classes with all in, so that each struck as best it could."
"Well, did you think of such a thing when you joined the Freeman's society at Chicago?"
"No, I'm bound to say I did not."
"Nor did I when I joined it at Philadelphia. It was just a benefit club and a meeting place for one's fellows. Then I heard of this place--curse the hour that the name first fell upon my ears!--and I came to better myself! My God! to better myself! My wife and three children came with me. I started a drygoods store on Market Square, and I prospered well. The word had gone round that I was a Freeman, and I was forced to join the local lodge, same as you did last night. I've the badge of shame on my forearm and something worse branded on my heart. I found that I was under the orders of a black villain and caught in a meshwork of crime. What could I do? Every word I said to make things better was taken as treason, same as it was last night. I can't get away; for all I have in the world is in my store. If I leave the society, I know well that it means murder to me, and God knows what to my wife and children. Oh, man, it is awful--awful!" He put his hands to his face, and his body shook with convulsive sobs.
McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "You were too soft for the job," said he. "You are the wrong sort for such work."
"I had a conscience and a religion; but they made me a criminal among them. I was chosen for a job. If I backed down I knew well what would come to me. Maybe I'm a coward. Maybe it's the thought of my poor little woman and the children that makes me one. Anyhow I went. I guess it will haunt me forever.
"It was a lonely house, twenty miles from here, over the range yonder. I was told off for the door, same as you were last night. They could not trust me with the job. The others went in. When they came out their hands were crimson to the wrists. As we turned away a child was screaming out of the house behind us. It was a boy of five who had seen his father murdered. I nearly fainted with the horror of it, and yet I had to keep a bold and smiling face; for well I knew that if I did not it would be out of my house that they would come next with their bloody hands and it would be my little Fred that would be screaming for his father.
"But I was a criminal then, part sharer in a murder, lost forever in this world, and lost also in the next. I am a good Catholic; but the priest would have no word with me when he heard I was a Scowrer, and I am excommunicated from my faith. That's how it stands with me. And I see you going down the same road, and I ask you what the end is to be. Are you ready to be a cold-blooded murderer also, or can we do anything to stop it?"
"What would you do?" asked McMurdo abruptly. "You would not inform?"
"God forbid!" cried Morris. "Sure, the very thought would cost me my life."
"That's well," said McMurdo. "I'm thinking that you are a weak man and that you make too much of the matter."
"Too much! Wait till you have lived here longer. Look down the valley! See the cloud of a hundred chimneys that overshadows it! I tell you that the cloud of murder hangs thicker and lower than that over the heads of the people. It is the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The terror is in the hearts of the people from the dusk to the dawn. Wait, young man, and you will learn for yourself."
"Well, I'll let you know what I think when I have seen more," said McMurdo carelessly. "What is very clear is that you are not the man for the place, and that the sooner you sell out--if you only get a dime a dollar for what the business is worth--the better it will be for you. What you have said is safe with me; but, by Gar! if I thought you were an informer--"
"No, no!" cried Morris piteously.
“如果你出賣了我，你就要遭到報應！”
“當然，我說過我絕不出賣你。”
“那麼，我問你，你在芝加哥加入自由人會，立誓要做到忠誠、博愛時，你心裏想過它會把你引向犯罪道路嗎？”
“假如你把它叫做犯罪的話，"麥克默多答道。
“叫做犯罪！"莫里斯喊道，他的聲音激動得顫抖起來，“你已經看到一點犯罪事實了，你還能把它叫做什麼別的？！昨天晚上，一個歲數大得可以做你父親的老人被打得血染白髮，這是不是犯罪？你把這叫做犯罪，還是把它叫做什麼別的呢？”
“有些人會說這是一場鬥爭，"麥克默多說道，“是一場兩個階級之間的全力以赴的鬥爭，所以每一方儘量打擊對方。”
“那麼，你在芝加哥參加自由人會時，可曾想到這樣的事嗎？”
“沒有，我擔保沒有想到過。”
“我在費城入會時，也沒有想到過。只知道這是一個有益的會社和朋友們聚會的場所。後來我聽人提到這個地方，我真恨死這個名字第一次傳到我耳中的那一時刻了，我想到這裏來使自己生活得好一些！天啊！使自己生活得好一些！我妻子和三個孩子隨我一起來了。我在市場開了一家綢布店，頗有盈利。我是一個自由人會會員，這件事很快就傳開了。後來我被迫象你昨晚那樣，加入當地的分會。我的胳膊上烙下了這個恥辱的標記，而心裏卻打上了更加醜惡的烙印。我發覺我已經受一個奸邪的惡棍指揮控制，並陷入一個犯罪網裏。我可怎麼辦呢？我想把事情做得善良些，可是隻要我一說話，他們便象昨晚一樣，說我是叛逆。我在世上所有的一切，都在綢布店裏，我也不能遠走他方。如果我要脫離這個社團，我知道得很清楚，我一定會被謀害，上帝知道我的妻子兒女會怎麼樣？噢，朋友，這簡直可怕，太可怕了！"他雙手掩面，身體不住地顫動，抽抽噎噎地啜泣起來。
麥克默多聳了聳肩，說道：“做這種事，你心腸太軟了，你不適合幹這樣的事。”
“我的良心和信仰還沒有喪失，可是他們使我成爲他們這夥罪犯中間的一個。他們選中我去做一件事，如果我退縮，我很清楚，我會遭到什麼下場。也許我是一個膽小鬼，也許是我想到我那可憐的小女人和孩子們，無論怎麼說，反正我是去了。我想這件事會永遠壓在我心裏的。
“這是山那邊一所孤零零的房子，離這裏有二十英里。象你昨天那樣，他們讓我守住門口。幹這種事，他們還不相信我。其他的人都進去了。他們出來時，雙手都沾滿了鮮血。正當我們離開時，一個小孩從房內跑出來跟在我們後面哭叫着。這是一個五歲的孩子，親眼看到他父親遇害。我嚇得幾乎昏厥過去，可是我不得不裝出勇敢的樣子，擺出一副笑臉來。因爲我很明白，如果我不這樣，同樣的事就要出在我的家裏，他們下次就會雙手沾滿鮮血從我家裏出來，我的小弗雷德就要哭叫他的父親了。
“可是我已經是一個犯罪的人了，是一個謀殺案的脅從犯，在這個世界上永遠被遺棄，在下世也難超生。我是一個善良的天主教徒。可是神父要聽說我是一個死酷黨人，也不會爲我祈禱了，我已經背棄了宗教信仰。這就是我所經受的。我看你也正在走這條路，我問你，將來會有什麼樣的結局呢？你是準備做一個嗜血殺人犯呢，還是我們去設法阻止它呢？”
“你要怎樣做呢？"麥克默多突然問道，"你不會去告密吧？”
“但願不要發生這樣的事！"莫里斯大聲說道，“當然，就是這樣一想，我的性命也就難保了。”
“那好，"麥克默多說道，“我想你是一個膽小的人，所以你把這件事也看得太嚴重了。”
“太嚴重！等你在這裏住得時間長一些再瞧。看看這座山谷！看看這座被上百個煙囪冒出的濃煙籠罩住了的山谷！我告訴你，這殺人行兇的陰雲比那籠罩在人民的頭上的煙雲還要低迴、濃厚。這是一個恐怖谷，死亡谷。從早到晚，人們心裏都驚惶不安。等着瞧吧，年輕人，你自己會弄清楚的。”
“好，等我瞭解得多了，我會把想法告訴你的，"麥克默多漫不經心地說道，“很清楚，你不適於住在這裏，你最好早些轉售你的產業，這對你會有好處的。你對我所說的話，請放心，我不會說出去。可是，皇天在上，如果我發現你是一個告密的人，那可就……”
“不，不！"莫里斯令人可憐地叫道。
