женщины малодушно запричитали и отошли дальше;
The lips of the stranger moved indecisively (губы незнакомца неуверенно зашевелились;
'La, la, it is Nam-Bok (ля-ля, это — Нам-Бок),' Bask-Wah-Wan croaked (прокаркала Баск-Уа-Уан;
'It is Nam-Bok,' he said at last, and at the conviction in his voice the women wailed apprehensively and drew farther away.
The lips of the stranger moved indecisively, and his brown throat writhed and wrestled with unspoken words.
'La, la, it is Nam-Bok,' Bask-Wah-Wan croaked, peering up into his face. 'Ever did I say Nam-Bok would come back.'
'Ay, it is Nam-Bok come back (да, это вернулся Нам-Бок).' This time it was Nam-Bok himself who spoke (на этот раз заговорил сам Нам-Бок), putting a leg over the side of the bidarka and standing with one foot afloat and one ashore (перебросив ногу через борт байдарки и стоя одной ногой на борту /лодки/, а одной — на берегу;
'Ay, it is Nam-Bok come back.' This time it was Nam-Bok himself who spoke, putting a leg over the side of the bidarka and standing with one foot afloat and one ashore. Again his throat writhed and wrestled as he grappled after forgotten words. And when the words came forth they were strange of sound and a spluttering of the lips accompanied the gutturals. 'Greeting, O brothers,' he said, 'brothers of old time before I went away with the off-shore wind.'
He stepped out with both feet on the sand (он шагнул обеими ногами на песчаный берег), and Opee-Kwan waved him back (а Опи-Кван махнул ему назад = чтобы он вернулся).
'Thou art dead, Nam-Bok (ты мертв, Нам-Бок),' he said.
Nam-Bok laughed (Нам-Бок засмеялся). 'I am fat (я толстый).'
'Dead men are not fat (мертвецы не бывают толстыми),' Opee-Kwan confessed (признал Опи- Кван). 'Thou hast fared well (ты хорошо жил/питался;
'I have come back (я вернулся),' Nam-Bok answered simply (ответил Нам-Бок простодушно;
'Mayhap thou art a shadow, then (тогда, может быть, ты призрак;
'I am hungry (но я голоден). Shadows do not eat (призраки не едят).'
He stepped out with both feet on the sand, and Opee-Kwan waved him back.
'Thou art dead, Nam-Bok,' he said.
Nam-Bok laughed. 'I am fat.'
'Dead men are not fat,' Opee-Kwan confessed. 'Thou hast fared well, but it is strange. No man may mate with the off-shore wind and come back on the heels of the years.'
'I have come back,' Nam-Bok answered simply.
'Mayhap thou art a shadow, then, a passing shadow of the Nam-Bok that was. Shadows come back.'
'I am hungry. Shadows do not eat.'
But Opee-Kwan doubted (но Опи-Кван сомневался), and brushed his hand across his brow in sore puzzlement (и провел рукой по лбу в мучительном замешательстве;
'I bore thee, Nam-Bok (я родила тебя, Нам-Бок;
But Opee-Kwan doubted, and brushed his hand across his brow in sore puzzlement. Nam-Bok was likewise puzzled, and as he looked up and down the line found no welcome in the eyes of the fisherfolk. The men and women whispered together. The children stole timidly back among their elders, and bristling dogs fawned up to him and sniffed suspiciously.
'I bore thee, Nam-Bok, and I gave thee suck when thou west little,' Bask-Wah-Wan whimpered, drawing closer; 'and shadow though thou be, or no shadow, I will give thee to eat now.'
Nam-Bok made to come to her (Нам-Бок попытался подойти к ней;
'Who may know concerning the things of mystery (кто может знать о таинственных сущностях;