It appears that Dr. Coutras had gone one day to Taravao in order to see an old chiefess who was ill, and he gave a vivid of the obese old lady, lying in a huge bed, smoking cigarettes, and surrounded by a crowd of dark-skinned retainers. When he had seen her he was taken into another room and given dinner—raw fish, fried bananas, and chicken—que sais-je, the typical dinner of the indigene—and while he was eating it he saw a young girl being driven away from the door in tears. He thought nothing of it, but when he went out to get into his trap and drive home, he saw her again, standing a little way off; she looked at him with a woebegone air, and tears streamed down her cheeks. He asked someone what was wrong with her, and was told that she had come down from the hills to ask him to visit a white man who was sick. They had told her that the doctor could not be disturbed. He called her, and himself asked what she wanted. She told him that Ata had sent her, she who used to be at the Hotel de la Fleur, and that the Red One was ill. She thrust into his hand a crumpled piece of newspaper, and when he opened it he found in it a hundred-franc note.
事情的經(jīng)過大概是這樣的。有一次庫特拉斯醫(yī)生到塔拉窩去給一個生病的女酋長看病。庫特拉斯把這位女酋長淋漓盡致地描寫了一番。女酋長生得又胖又蠢,躺在一張大床上抽著紙煙,周圍站著一圈烏黑皮膚的侍從??催^病以后,醫(yī)生被請到另一間屋子里,被招待了一頓豐盛的飯食——生魚、炸香蕉、小雞,還有一些他不知名的東西,這是當?shù)赝林臉藴曙埐恕3燥埖臅r候,他看見人們正在把一個眼淚汪汪的年輕女孩子從門口趕走。他當時并沒有注意,但在他吃完飯,正準備上馬車啟程回家的時候,他又看見她在不遠的地方站著。她凄凄慘慘地望著他,淚珠從面頰上淌下來。醫(yī)生問了問旁邊的人,這個女孩兒是怎么回事。他被告知說,女孩子是從山里面下來的,想請他去看一個生病的白人。他們已經(jīng)告訴她,醫(yī)生沒有時間管她的事。庫特拉斯醫(yī)生把她叫過來,親自問了一遍她有什么事。她說她是愛塔派來的,愛塔過去在鮮花旅館干活兒,她來找醫(yī)生是因為“紅毛”病了。她把一塊揉皺了的舊報紙遞到醫(yī)生手里,醫(yī)生打開一看,里面是一張一百法郎的鈔票。
"Who is the Red One?" he asked of one of the bystanders.
“誰是‘紅毛’?”醫(yī)生問一個站在旁邊的人。
He was told that that was what they called the Englishman, a painter, who lived with Ata up in the valley seven kilometres from where they were. He recognised Strickland by the description. But it was necessary to walk. It was impossible for him to go; that was why they had sent the girl away.
他被告訴說,“紅毛”是當?shù)厝私o那個英國人,一個畫家起的外號兒。這個人現(xiàn)在同愛塔同居,住在離這里七公里遠的山叢中的一條峽谷里。根據(jù)當?shù)厝说拿枋?,他知道他們說的是思特里克蘭德。但是要去思特里克蘭德住的地方,只能走路去;他們知道他去不了,所以就把女孩子打發(fā)走了。