"That is satisfactory so far as it goes," thought I.
我想：这还算令人满意，
"Friend Sholto is safe, at any rate.
我们的朋友舒尔托总算是恢复自由了。
I wonder what the fresh clue may be,
新的线索是什么呢？
though it seems to be a stereotyped form whenever the police have made a blunder."
这好象仍是警署方面掩饰错误的老派头。
I tossed the paper down upon the table,
我把报纸扔到桌上，
but at that moment my eye caught an advertisement in the agony column.
目光忽然又被报上寻人栏里面的一段小广告吸引住了。
It ran in this way: LOST–Whereas Mordecai Smith, boatman, and his son Jim,
广告文曰："寻人：船主茂迪凯·斯密司及其长子吉姆
left Smith's Wharf at or about three o'clock last Tuesday morning in the steam launch Aurora,
在星期二清晨三时左右乘汽船'曙光'号离开斯密司码头，至今未归。
black with two red stripes, funnel black with a white band,
'曙光'号船身黑色，有红线两条，烟囱黑色，有白线一道。
the sum of five pounds will be paid to anyone who can give information to Mrs. Smith,
如有知茂迪凯·斯密司与其船'曙光'号的下落者，
at Smith's Wharf, or at 221B, Baker Street, as to the whereabouts of the said Mordecai Smith and the launch Aurora.
请向斯密司码头斯密司太太或贝克街221号乙报信，当酬谢金币五镑。
This was clearly Holmes's doing.
"这个小广告显然是福尔摩斯登的，
The Baker Street address was enough to prove that.
贝克街的住址就足以证明了。
It struck me as rather ingenious because it might be read by the fugitives
我以为这个广告的措辞非常巧妙，因为即使匪徒们看到了，
without their seeing in it more than the natural anxiety of a wife for her missing husband.
也会认为那不过是一个瓶子寻找丈夫的普通广告，并看不出其中的隐秘。
It was a long day.
这一天过得真慢。
Every time that a knock came to the door or a sharp step passed in the street,
每次听到敲门的声音或是街上沉重的脚步声音，
I imagined that it was either Holmes returning or an answer to his advertisement.
我都以为是福尔摩斯或者是看见广告来报信的人来了。
I tried to read, but my thoughts would wander off to our strange quest
我试着看书，但是精神不能集中，
and to the ill-assorted and villainous pair whom we were pursuing.
思想总是跑到我们所追踪的那两个奇怪的匪徒身上去。
Could there be, I wondered, some radical flaw in my companion's reasoning?
有时我还这样想：会不会是福尔摩斯的理论发生了基本的错误？
Might he not be suffering from some huge self-deception?
他是不是犯了严重的自欺病？
Was it not possible that his nimble and speculative mind had built up this wild theory upon faulty premises?
会不会是由于这些证据不够真实，他臆断错了？
I had never known him to be wrong,
我从没有看见过他的工作发生错误，
and yet the keenest reasoner may occasionally be deceived.
可是智者千虑必有一失，
He was likely, I thought, to fall into error through the over-refinement of his logic
我想或者可能因为他的自信力太强了，
his preference for a subtle and bizarre explanation when a plainer and more commonplace one lay ready to his hand.
把一个平淡的问题反而看成一个极复杂极离奇的疑案，以致一误再误？
Yet, on the other hand, I had myself seen the evidence,
可是回过来一想，这些证据又是我亲眼所见的，
and I had heard the reasons for his deductions.
他的推断的理由我也听见过的。
When I looked back on the long chain of curious circumstances,
再看一看这一连串的奇怪事实，
many of them trivial in themselves but all tending in the same direction,
虽然其中有的是无关重要的，可是全部都指明了同一方向。
I could not disguise from myself that
我不得不承认，
even if Holmes's explanation were incorrect the true theory must be equally outre and startling.
纵然就是福尔摩斯的理解真是错误了，这案子本身也必定是异乎寻常的费解。
