Page 484 - 血字的研究·四签名(外研社双语读库) (福尔摩斯探案全集)

doors, and these had to be guarded, of course, in the old
quarter as well as in that which was actually held by our

troops. We were short-handed, with hardly men enough to
man the angles of the building and to serve the guns. It was
impossible for us, therefore, to station a strong guard at
every one of the innumerable gates. What we did was to
organize a central guardhouse in the middle of the fort, and

to leave each gate under the charge of one white man and
two or three natives. I was selected to take charge during
certain hours of the night of a small isolated door upon the

south-west side of the building. Two Sikh troopers were
placed under my command, and I was instructed if anything
went wrong to fire my musket, when I might rely upon help
coming at once from the central guard. As the guard was a
good two hundred paces away, however, and as the space

between was cut up into a labyrinth of passages and
corridors, I had great doubts as to whether they could arrive
in time to be of any use in case of an actual attack."

“河在旧堡前面流过，护卫着城堡，但堡的两侧和后面有许多出入

的门，这些地方自然须有人把守，无论是旧堡还是我们军队驻扎的新

堡，都必须有人把守。我们的人数太少，没有足够的人手来把守城堡
的每个角落，并照看所有枪炮。因此，在无数的堡门处都派重兵守卫

是绝不可能的。我们的办法是，在堡垒中央设置了一个中心守卫室，
每一个堡门由一个白种人率领两三个印度兵把守。我被派在每天夜里

一段固定时间内守卫堡垒西南面的一个孤立的小门。有两个锡克教徒
士兵派给我指挥，我所接受的指示是，有情况时便放枪，立刻就会有

人从中心守卫室赶来接应。可是，守卫室在两百步开外，并且中间还
有许多迷宫似的长廊和甬道相隔，我万分怀疑，在真的受到攻击时，

救兵是否能及时赶到帮忙。”

"Well, I was pretty proud at having this small command

given me, since I was a raw recruit, and a game-legged one
at that. For two nights I kept the watch with my Punjabees.
They were tall, fierce-looking chaps, Mahomet Singh and