| CHAPTER XVI | XVI |
| I WAS in a boat with my master, passing along the market-place between shops which were flooded to the height of the second story. | Я еду с хозяином на лодке по улицам Ярмарки, среди каменных лавок, залитых половодьем до высоты вторых этажей. |
| I plied the oars, while my master sat in the stern. The paddle wheel, which was useless as a rudder, was deep in the water, and the boat veered about awkwardly, meandering from street to street on the quiet, muddily sleepy waters. | Я - на веслах, хозяин, сидя на корме, неумело правит, глубоко запуская в воду кормовое весло, лодка неуклюже юлит, повертывая из улицы в улицу по тихой, мутно задумавшейся воде. |
| "Ekh! The water gets higher and higher. The devil take it! | - Эх, высока нынче вода, чёрт ее возьми! |
| It is keeping the work back," grumbled my master as he smoked a cigar, the smoke of which had an odor of burning cloth. | Задержит она работы,- ворчит хозяин, покуривая сигару; дым ее пахнет горелым сукном. |
| "Gently!" he cried in alarm, "we are running into a lamp-post!" | - Тише! - испуганно кричит он.- На фонарь едем! |
| He steered the boat out of danger and scolded me: | Справился с лодкой и ругается: |
| "They have given me a boat, the wretches!" | - Ну и лодку дали, подлецы!.. |
| He showed me the spot on which, after the water had subsided, the work of rebuilding would begin. | Он показывает мне места, где, после спада воды, начнутся работы по ремонту лавок. |
| With his face shaved to a bluish tint, his mustache clipped short, and a cigar in his mouth, he did not look like a contractor. | Досиня выбритый, с подстриженными усами и сигарой во рту, он не похож на подрядчика. |
| He wore a leathern jacket, high boots to his knees, and a game-bag was slung over his shoulders. At his feet was an expensive two-barelled gun, manufactured by Lebed. | На нем кожаная куртка, высокие до колен сапоги, через плечо - ягдташ, в ногах торчит дорогое двухствольное ружье Лебеля. |
| From time to time he restlessly changed the position of his leathern cap, pulling it over his eyes, pouting his lips and looking cau - tiously around. He pushed the cap to the back of his head, looked younger, and smiled beneath his mustache, thinking of something pleasant. No one would have thought that he had a lot of work to do, and that the long time the water took in subsiding worried him. Evidently thoughts wholly unconnected with business were passing through his mind. | Он то и дело беспокойно передвигает кожаную фуражку - надвинет ее на глаза, надует губы и озабоченно смотрит вокруг; собьет фуражку на затылок, помолодеет и улыбается в усы, думая о чем-то приятном,- и не верится, что у него много работы, что медленная убыль воды беспокоит его,- в нем гуляет волна каких-то, видимо, неделовых дум. |
| And I was overwhelmed by a feeling of quiet amazement; it seemed so strange to look upon that dead town, the straight rows of buildings with closed windows. The town was simply flooded with water, and seemed to be floating past our boat. | А я подавлен чувством тихого удивления: так странно видеть этот мертвый город, прямые ряды зданий с закрытыми окнами,- город, сплошь залитый водою и точно плывущий мимо нашей лодки. |
| The sky was gray. | Небо серое. |
| The sun had been lost in the clouds, but sometimes shone through them in large, silver, wintry patches. | Солнце заплуталось в облаках, лишь изредка просвечивая сквозь их гущу большим серебряным, по-зимнему, пятном. |
