CHAPTER 25, part 2

At length Curdie judged it time to transfer his observation to another quarter, and the next night he did not go to the mine at all; but, leaving his pickaxe and clue at home, and taking only his usual lumps of bread and pease pudding, went down the mountain to the king's house. He climbed over the wall, and remained in the garden the whole night, creeping on hands and knees from one spot to the other, and lying at full length with his ear to the ground, listening. Он перелез через стену и оставался в саду всю ночь, переползая на четвереньках с одного места на другое и лежа во весь рост, прижавшись ухом к земле, и прислушиваясь. But he heard nothing except the tread of the men-at-arms as they marched about, whose observation, as the night was cloudy and there was no moon, he had little difficulty in avoiding. For several following nights he continued to haunt the garden and listen, but with no success.

At length, early one evening, whether it was that he had got careless of his own safety, or that the growing moon had become strong enough to expose him, his watching came to a sudden end. He was creeping from behind the rock where the stream ran out, for he had been listening all round it in the hope it might convey to his ear some indication of the whereabouts of the goblin miners, when just as he came into the moonlight on the lawn, a whizz in his ear and a blow upon his leg startled him. He instantly squatted in the hope of eluding further notice. But when he heard the sound of running feet, he jumped up to take the chance of escape by flight. He fell, however, with a keen  shoot of pain, for the bolt of a crossbow had wounded his leg, and the blood was now streaming from it. He was instantly laid Hold of by two or three of the men-at-arms. It was useless to struggle, and he submitted in silence.

'It's a boy!' cried several of them together, in a tone of amazement.

'I thought it was one of those demons. What are you about here?' 'Going to have a little rough usage, apparently,' said Curdie, laughing, as the men shook him. «По-видимому, придется немного погрубить», — сказал Курди, смеясь, когда мужчины трясли его. 'Impertinence will do you no good. — Наглость не пойдет вам на пользу. You have no business here in the king's grounds, and if you don't give a true account of yourself, you shall fare as a thief.' Вам нечего делать здесь, в королевских владениях, и если вы не дадите верного отчета о себе, вас ждет вор. 'Why, what else could he be?' — А кем еще он мог быть? said one.

'He might have been after a lost kid, you know,' suggested another. «Возможно, он охотился за потерявшимся ребенком», — предположил другой. 'I see no good in trying to excuse him. He has no business here, anyhow.' 'Let me go away, then, if you please,' said Curdie. 'But we don't please--not except you give a good account of yourself.' 'I don't feel quite sure whether I can trust you,' said Curdie. 'We are the king's own men-at-arms,' said the captain courteously, for he was taken with Curdie's appearance and courage. 'Well, I will tell you all about it--if you will promise to listen to me and not do anything rash.' 'I call that cool!' «Я называю это крутым!» said one of the party, laughing. 'He will tell us what mischief he was about, if we promise to do as pleases him.' 'I was about no mischief,' said Curdie. But ere he could say more he turned faint, and fell senseless on the grass. Then first they discovered that the bolt they had shot, taking him for one of the goblin creatures, had wounded him. Тогда сначала они обнаружили, что выпущенная ими стрела, приняв его за одного из гоблинов, ранила его.