'Thou hast just said the head man knew (ты только что сказал, что старейшина знал) — '
Nam-Bok glowered on him wrathfully. 'Did I not say the head man brought the sun down out of the sky?'
Koogah interposed, and Nam-Bok went on.
'As I say, when we were near to that village a great storm blew up, and in the night we were helpless and knew not where we were — '
'Thou hast just said the head man knew — '
'Oh, peace, Opee-Kwan (ах, успокойся, Опи-Кван;
'Oh, peace, Opee-Kwan! Thou art a fool and cannot understand. As I say, we were helpless in the night, when I heard, above the roar of the storm, the sound of the sea on the beach. And next we struck with a mighty crash and I was in the water, swimming. It was a rock-bound coast, with one patch of beach in many miles, and the law was that I should dig my hands into the sand and draw myself clear of the surf. The other men must have pounded against the rocks, for none of them came ashore but the head man, and him I knew only by the ring on his finger.
'When day came (когда наступил день), there being nothing of the schooner (/и/ от шхуны ничего не было = не осталось), I turned my face to the land and journeyed into it (я направился на сушу и пошел вглубь ее;
'It was a mighty house (это был громадный дом),' Koogah said, masking his unbelief with wonder (маскируя свое недоверие удивлением;
'And many trees went into the making of such a house (и на изготовление такого дома пошло много деревьев),' Opee-Kwan added (добавил Опи-Кван), taking the cue (поняв намек;
'When day came, there being nothing of the schooner, I turned my face to the land and journeyed into it that I might get food and look upon the faces of the people. And when I came to a house I was taken in and given to eat, for I had learned their speech, and the white men are ever kindly. And it was a house bigger than all the houses built by us and our fathers before us.'
'It was a mighty house,' Koogah said, masking his unbelief with wonder.
'And many trees went into the making of such a house,' Opee-Kwan added, taking the cue.
'That is nothing (это пустяки).' Nam-Bok shrugged his shoulders in belittling fashion (Нам-Бок пренебрежительно пожал плечами). 'As our houses are to that house (каковы наши дома по сравнению с тем домом), so that house was to the houses I was yet to see (таким был и тот дом по сравнению с домами, которые мне еще предстояло увидеть).'
'And they are not big men (и они не великаны)?'
'Nay; mere men like you and me (нет, просто люди, как ты и я;
'That is nothing.' Nam-Bok shrugged his shoulders in belittling fashion. 'As our houses are to that house, so that house was to the houses I was yet to see.'
'And they are not big men ?'
'Nay; mere men like you and me,' Nam-Bok answered. 'I had cut a stick that I might walk in comfort, and remembering that I was to bring report to you, my brothers, I cut a notch in the stick for each person who lived in that house. And I stayed there many days, and worked, for which they gave me money — a thing of which you know nothing, but which is very good.
'And one day I departed from that place to go farther into the land (и однажды я ушел из того места, чтобы отправиться дальше вглубь суши). And as I walked I met many people (и по мере того как я шел, я встречал много людей), and I cut smaller notches in the stick (и я стал делать на палке зарубки поменьше), that there might be room for all (чтобы хватило места для всех). Then I came upon a strange thing (потом я наткнулся на странную вещь). On the ground before me was a bar of iron (на земле передо мной лежала полоса железа), as big in thickness as my arm (толщиной с мою руку), and a long step away was another bar of iron (а на расстоянии длинного шага от него лежала еще одна железная полоса) — '
'Then wert thou a rich man (тогда ты был богач = стал богачом),' Opee-Kwan asserted (заявил Опи-Кван); 'for iron be worth more than anything else in the world (ведь железо стоит больше, чем что-либо еще в мире = ведь железо дороже всего в мире;
'And one day I departed from that place to go farther into the land. And as I walked I met many people, and I cut smaller notches in the stick, that there might be room for all. Then I came upon a strange thing. On the ground before me was a bar of iron, as big in thickness as my arm, and a long step away was another bar of iron — '
'Then wert thou a rich man,' Opee-Kwan asserted; 'for iron be worth more than anything else in the
