“We can do better with the hound!” he cried. “Sink me if it is not a rare plan. Throw him into the sail-room with the irons on, and do you come here, quartermaster, that I may tell you what I have in my mind.”

So Craddock, bruised and wounded in soul and body, was thrown into the dark sail-room, so fettered that he could not stir hand or foot, but his Northern blood was running strong in his veins, and his grim spirit aspired only to make such an ending as might go some way towards atoning for the evil of his life.

All night he lay in the curve of the bilge (всю ночь он пролежал во /впадине, образованной/ изгибом днища) listening to the rush of the water and the straining of the timbers (слушая, как бурлит вода /за бортом/ и скрипит шпангоут; rush – стремительное движение, бросок; straining – натяжение, растяжение; timber – лесоматериалы; шпангоут /мор./) which told him that the ship was at sea, and driving fast (что рассказало ему = из чего заключил, что корабль вышел в море и движется быстро). In the early morning some one came crawling to him in the darkness over the heaps of sails (рано утром кто-то ползком по грудам парусов приблизился к нему).

“Here’s rum and biscuits,” said the voice of his late mate (вот ром и галеты, – сказал голос его бывшего помощника). “It’s at the risk of my life, Master Craddock, that I bring them to you (я рискую жизнью, капитан Крэддок, принося это вам).”

 All night he lay in the curve of the bilge listening to the rush of the water and the straining of the timbers which told him that the ship was at sea, and driving fast. In the early morning some one came crawling to him in the darkness over the heaps of sails.

“Here’s rum and biscuits,” said the voice of his late mate. “It’s at the risk of my life, Master Craddock, that I bring them to you.”

“It was you who trapped me and caught me as in a snare!” cried Craddock (это ты заманил и поймал меня в западню! – воскликнул Крэддок; to catch). “How shall you answer for what you have done (как ты ответишь за то, что совершил)?”

“What I did I did with the point of a knife betwixt my blade-bones (я сделал это с острием ножа между лопатками; betwixt /устар./ = between).”

“God forgive you for a coward, Joshua Hird (Бог простит тебя за трусость, Джошуа Хирд). How came you into their hands (как ты попал к ним в руки)?”

 “It was you who trapped me and caught me as in a snare!” cried Craddock. “How shall you answer for what you have done?”

“What I did I did with the point of a knife betwixt my blade-bones.”

“God forgive you for a coward, Joshua Hird. How came you into their hands?”

“Why, Master Craddock, the pirate ship came back from its careening (да вот, капитан Крэддок, пиратский корабль вернулся после кренгования) upon the very day that you left us (в тот самый день, когда вы покинули нас = когда вы ушли вглубь острова). They laid us aboard (они взяли нас на абордаж; to lay aboard – встать борт о борт к судну для абордажа), and, short-handed as we were, with the best of the men ashore with you (а нас было мало, потому что лучшие люди отправились на берег с вами; short-handed – неукомплектованный штатами, испытывающий недостаток в рабочей силе), we could offer but a poor defence (и мы не могли дать достойный отпор: «мы смогли предложить лишь плохую защиту»; poor – бедный; плохой). Some were cut down, and they were the happiest (некоторых зарубили /сразу/, и они оказались самыми счастливыми). The others were killed afterwards (других убили позже). As to me, I saved my life by signing on with them (а что до меня, я спас свою жизнь, подписав с ними /договор/).”

 “Why, Master Craddock, the pirate ship came back from its careening upon the very day that you left us. They laid us aboard, and, short-handed as we were, with the best of the men ashore with you, we could offer but a poor defence. Some were cut down, and they were the happiest. The others were killed afterwards. As to me, I saved my life by signing on with them.”

“And they scuttled my ship (и они затопили мой корабль)?”

“They scuttled her, and then Sharkey and his men (они затопили его, а потом Шарки и его люди), who had been watching us from the brushwood (которые наблюдали за нами из леса), came off to the ship (отошли /от берега и направились/ к кораблю; to come off – удалиться, отойти). His main-yard had been cracked and fished last voyage (в последнем плавании его грот-рей треснул и /его/ укрепили накладкой; to fish – соединять накладкой, скреплять стыком), so he had suspicions of us, seeing that ours was whole (так что он = Шарки сразу заподозрил нас, увидев, что наш цел). Then he thought of laying the same trap for you (тогда он и подумал устроить вам ту же ловушку; to lay – класть, положить; ставить капкан, делать засаду) which you had set for him (которую вы готовили ему; to set – ставить, устанавливать).”