"Only in England is the coffee so atrocious," he remarked. "On the continent they understand how important it is for the digestion that it should be properly made."
「ひどいコーヒーを出すのはイギリスだけですね。」彼は言った。「大陸ではみなさん消化のためにちゃんと作ることがどれほど大事かわかっているようです。」
As he finished speaking, the man from the next table suddenly appeared on the terrace. Without any hesitation, he came over and drew up a third chair to our table.
彼がそう言った頃、隣のテーブルに座っていた男が突然テラスに現れ、なんの躊躇もなく、私たちのテーブルの３つ目の席を引いた。
"You do not mind my joining you, I hope," he said in English.
"Not at all, monsieur," said Poirot.
「ご一緒してもよろしいですよね。」彼は英語で言った。
「もちろんいいですよ。」ポアロが答える。
I felt very uneasy. It is true that we were on the terrace of the hotel, with people all round us, but nevertheless I was not satisfied. I sensed the presence of danger.
これは落ち着かない。ホテルのテラスにいて、他にも人々がいるが、それでも十分とは思えなかった。危機の存在を感じたのだ。
Meanwhile Number Four chatted away in a perfectly natural manner. It seemed impossible to believe that he was anything but a bona fide tourist. He described excursions and motor trips, and posed as quite an authority on the neighbourhood.
その間もNo.４はごく普通におしゃべりをしている。単なる普通の旅人に見える。小旅行やドライブの話をして、このあたりをよく知っているという様子だ。
He took a pipe from his pocket and began to light it. Poirot drew out his case of tiny cigarettes. As he placed one between his lips, the stranger leant forward with a match.
"Let me give you a light."
そしてポケットからパイプを取り出すと、火をつけようとした。ポアロもタバコの小さなケースを取り出した。彼がそれを咥えると、旅人はマッチを持って前屈みになった。
「火をお貸ししましょう。」
As he spoke, without the least warning, all the lights went out. There was a chink of glass, and something pungent under my nose, suffocating me—
そう言ったと思うと、なんの前触れもなく、すべての光が消えた。グラスのぶつかる音がし、何かひどい匂いが鼻の下にきて、息ができなくなった・・
18. IN THE FELSENLABYRYNTH
18. フェルゼン迷路の中で
I could not have been unconscious more than a minute. I came to myself being hustled along between two men. They had me under each arm, supporting my weight, and there was a gag in my mouth. It was pitch dark, but I gathered that we were not outside, but passing through the hotel. All round I could hear people shouting and demanding in every known language what had happened to the lights. My captors swung me down some stairs. We passed along a basement passage, then through a door and out into the open again through a glass door at the back of the hotel. In another moment we had gained the shelter of the pine trees.
１分も気を失っていなかったはずだ。私は二人の男に運ばれているところだった。二人が腕で私の体重を支え、私は猿轡をされていた。真っ暗だったが、屋外ではなく、ホテル内を通り抜けているようだった。周りから、さまざまな言語で明かりはどうしたのかという声が聞こえた。私を捕らえた男たちは階段を降りている。地下通路を通り、ドアを通過し、ガラスのドアを抜けてホテルの裏へ出ると、すぐに松の木の下へ来た。
I had caught a glimpse of another figure in a similar plight to myself, and realised that Poirot, too, was a victim of this bold coup.
他に、私と同じような苦境の姿が見えたが、それはポアロだった。彼もこの大胆な襲撃に被害者だっだ。
By sheer audacity, Number Four had won the day. He had employed, I gathered, an instant æsthetic, probably ethyl chloride—breaking a small bulb of it under our noses. Then, in the confusion of the darkness, his accomplices, who had probably been guests sitting at the next table, had thrust gags in our mouths and hurried us away, taking us through the hotel to baffle pursuit.
まったく図太く、No.４は勝利した。おそらく、塩化エチルの小さな瓶を鼻の下で壊したのだろう。そして暗闇に乗じて、隣の席などで客のふりをしていた彼の仲間が、我々に猿轡をしてホテルを通り抜けてきたのだろう。
I cannot describe the hour that followed. We were hurried through the woods at a break-neck pace, going uphill the whole time. At last we emerged in the open, on the mountain-side, and I saw just in front of us an extraordinary conglomeration of fantastic rocks and boulders.
その後のことは言葉で表せない。我々は恐ろしいスピードで林を抜けて昇り詰めていった。ようやく山の開けたところに出ると、我々の前にはとんでもない量の石や岩の山があった。
