|
| "Ready when you are, Mr. Wright." | - Теперь дело за вами. Мистер Райт. Я готов. |
| There was a pause. | Молчание. |
| Then: | И наконец: |
| "You don't believe in long noonings, do you, Mr. Strong?" | - Вас, мистер Стронг, не очень-то устраивают длинные обеденные перерывы, а? |
| "Not when there's a tree the size of this one staring me in the face." | - Во всяком случае не тогда, когда у меня под носом маячит такое огромное дерево. |
| "I'll turn on the winch. | - Включаю лебедку. |
| Sound off when the slack is out." | Дайте знать, когда шнур затянется. |
| "Will do, Mr. Wright." | - Слушаюсь, мистер Райт. |
| In its present position the limbline straggled back along the limb to the trunk, then up the trunk to the limbline-crotch. When the winch went into action, it rose into a sagging arc ... a less pronounced arc ... a straight line. | Заработала лебедка, шнур приподнялся и повис дугой... дуга начала сглаживаться... превратилась в прямую линию. |
| The limb quivered, creaked- | Ветвь вздрогнула, затрещала... |
| "Hold it, Mr. Wright." | - Включите лебедку, мистер Райт. |
| He walked back to the trunk, feeding his saddle-slack through the tautline hitch. | Стронг направился к стволу., сел в седло и достал резак, с виду похожий на пистолет. |
| At the trunk, he put his weight into the seat and "burned" down till he was even with the underside of the limb. | Настроив резак на десятифутовый луч, он направил дуло на основание ветви. |
| Then he leaned back in the saddle and drew his pistol-shaped cutter. He set the beam for ten feet and directed the muzzle at the bottom of the limb. He was about to squeeze the trigger when he caught a hint of curves and color on the periphery of his vision. | Он уже совсем было собрался нажать курок, когда у самой границы его поля зрения мелькнули контуры тела и цветовое пятно. |
| He glanced out to where the limb's leaf-laden branches brushed the noonday sky | Он перевел взгляд туда, где отягощенные листьями боковые ветки ласкали полуденное небо... |
| And saw the dryad. | И увидел дриаду. |
| "We're waiting for the word, Mr. Strong." | - Мы ждем вашей команды, мистер Стронг. |
| Strong swallowed. | Стронг судорожно глотнул. |
| Sweat had run down from his forehead into his eyes. | Выступивший на лбу пот потек вниз и залил ему глаза. |
| He wiped them on his shirtsleeve. | Он вытер их рукавом рубашки. |
| He still saw the dryad. | Дриада не исчезала. |
| She was half sitting, half reclining, on a bough too small to support her weight, and her wispy garment blended so flawlessly with her leafy surroundings that if it had not been for her pixy-face and golden limbs, and her gentle shock of yellow hair, he would have sworn he was not really seeing her at all; and even as it was, he almost would have sworn, because her face could have been a newly-opened flower, her limbs graceful patterns of golden wheat showing through the foliage, and her hair a handful of sunlight. |
