“Halloa! Below there!”
halloa：おーい。
When he heard a voice thus calling to him, he was standing at the door of his box, with a flag in his hand, furled round its short pole. One would have thought, considering the nature of the ground, that he could not have doubted from what quarter the voice came; but instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the steep cutting nearly over his head, he turned himself about, and looked down the Line. There was something remarkable in his manner of doing so, though I could not have said for my life what. But I know it was remarkable enough to attract my notice, even though his figure was foreshortened and shadowed, down in the deep trench, and mine was high above him, so steeped in the glow of an angry sunset, that I had shaded my eyes with my hand before I saw him at all.
furled：畳んだ。the nature of the ground：地面の性質。quarter：４分の１マイル（距離／イギリス英語）。steep：急勾配の。cutting：切り通し。turned himself about：（彼が）ぐるりと回った。line：線路。remarkable：著しい。for my life：（私が）必死に。figure：姿。foreshortened：縮小された。shadowed：影に覆われた。trench：溝。steeped：包まれた。glow of angry sunset：激しい日没の光。had shaded：（光を）避けた。
“Halloa! Below!”
From looking down the Line, he turned himself about again, and, raising his eyes, saw my figure high above him.
“Is there any path by which I can come down and speak to you?”
He looked up at me without replying, and I looked down at him without pressing him too soon with a repetition of my idle question. Just then there came a vague vibration in the earth and air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation, and an oncoming rush that caused me to start back, as though it had force to draw me down. When such vapour as rose to my height from this rapid train had passed me, and was skimming away over the landscape, I looked down again, and saw him refurling the flag he had shown while the train went by.
pressing：強いる。with a repetition：繰り返して。idle question：詰まらない質問。pulsation：波動。oncoming：近付く。draw me down：私を引き下ろす。vapour：蒸気。skimming away：掠め去る。refurling：再び畳む。went by：通過した。
I repeated my inquiry. After a pause, during which he seemed to regard me with fixed attention, he motioned with his rolled-up flag towards a point on my level, some two or three hundred yards distant. I called down to him, “All right!” and made for that point. There, by dint of looking closely about me, I found a rough zigzag descending path notched out, which I followed.
inquiry：問い合わせ。regard：見詰める。with fixed attention：定まった注意力で。some two or three hundred yards distant：約２、３００ヤード（距離）遠く。made for：～へ急いで向かった。by dint of：～によって。looking closely about me：私の近くを見回す。rough：（道が）凸凹の。zigzag：ジグザグ。descending path：下り通路。notched out：刻み出された。
The cutting was extremely deep, and unusually precipitate. It was made through a clammy stone, that became oozier and wetter as I went down. For these reasons, I found the way long enough to give me time to recall a singular air of reluctance or compulsion with which he had pointed out the path.
precipitate：切り立った。clammy：じとじとする。oozier and wetter：より泥のように湿った。give me time to：私に～する時間を与えた。recall：思い出させる。singular air：独特な空気。reluctance：不本意。compulsion：強迫。
When I came down low enough upon the zigzag descent to see him again, I saw that he was standing between the rails on the way by which the train had lately passed, in an attitude as if he were waiting for me to appear. He had his left hand at his chin, and that left elbow rested on his right hand, crossed over his breast. His attitude was one of such expectation and watchfulness that I stopped a moment, wondering at it.
in an attitude as if he were waiting for me to appear：まるで彼は私が現れるのを待っていたような態勢で。expectation and watchfulness：期待と用心。
I resumed my downward way, and stepping out upon the level of the railroad, and drawing nearer to him, saw that he was a dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows. His post was in as solitary and dismal a place as ever I saw. On either side, a dripping-wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all view but a strip of sky; the perspective one way only a crooked prolongation of this great dungeon; the shorter perspective in the other direction terminating in a gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a black tunnel, in whose massive architecture there was a barbarous, depressing, and forbidding air. So little sunlight ever found its way to this spot, that it had an earthy, deadly smell; and so much cold wind rushed through it, that it struck chill to me, as if I had left the natural world.
resumed：再開した。downward way：下への道。railroad：鉄道線路（イギリス英語）。sallow：黄ばんだ。post：職。solitary：孤独な。dismal：陰気な。dripping-wet wall：ずぶ濡れの壁。jagged stone：ギザギザの石。excluding：遮断して。a strip of sky：空の切れ目。perspective：眺め。crooked prolongation：歪んだ延長。dungeon：地下牢：terminating：終結する。gloomy：暗い。massive architecture：巨大な建造物。barbarous：野蛮な。depressing：重苦しい。forbidding：人を寄せ付けない。sunlight：日光。earthy：土の。deadly：死んだような。chill：悪寒。natural world：自然界。
Before he stirred, I was near enough to him to have touched him. Not even then removing his eyes from mine, he stepped back one step, and lifted his hand.
stirred：動き出した。
This was a lonesome post to occupy (I said), and it had riveted my attention when I looked down from up yonder. A visitor was a rarity, I should suppose; not an unwelcome rarity, I hoped? In me, he merely saw a man who had been shut up within narrow limits all his life, and who, being at last set free, had a newly-awakened interest in these great works. To such purpose I spoke to him; but I am far from sure of the terms I used; for, besides that I am not happy in opening any conversation, there was something in the man that daunted me.
lonesome：心許ない。occupy：（職に）就く。had riveted：リベット（鋲）留めにした。yonder：彼処。rarity：稀な者。shut up：閉じ込められた。newly-awakened interest：新たに呼び起こされた興味。daunted：怯ませた。
He directed a most curious look towards the red light near the tunnel’s mouth, and looked all about it, as if something were missing from it, and then looked it me.
directed a most curious look：甚だ好奇な視線を向けた。
That light was part of his charge? Was it not?
charge：務め。
He answered in a low voice,—“Don’t you know it is?”
The monstrous thought came into my mind, as I perused the fixed eyes and the saturnine face, that this was a spirit, not a man. I have speculated since, whether there may have been infection in his mind.
monstrous：怪物のような。perused：精読する。saturnine：むっつりした。spirit：霊。infection：（悪い）感化。
In my turn, I stepped back. But in making the action, I detected in his eyes some latent fear of me. This put the monstrous thought to flight.
detected：見抜いた。latent fear：潜在的な不安。put the monstrous thought to flight：怪物のような考えを逃げ出させた。
“You look at me,” I said, forcing a smile, “as if you had a dread of me.”
forcing a smile：作り笑いで。had a dread：怖がった。
“I was doubtful,” he returned, “whether I had seen you before.”
“Where?”
He pointed to the red light he had looked at.
“There?” I said.
Intently watchful of me, he replied (but without sound), “Yes.”
intently：只菅に。watchful of：～に用心する。
“My good fellow, what should I do there? However, be that as it may, I never was there, you may swear.”
you may swear：貴方は間違いない（断言できる）。
“I think I may,” he rejoined. “Yes; I am sure I may.”
rejoined：応じた。
His manner cleared, like my own. He replied to my remarks with readiness, and in well-chosen words. Had he much to do there? Yes; that was to say, he had enough responsibility to bear; but exactness and watchfulness were what was required of him, and of actual work— manual labour—he had next to none. To change that signal, to trim those lights, and to turn this iron handle now and then, was all he had to do under that head. Regarding those many long and lonely hours of which I seemed to make so much, he could only say that the routine of his life had shaped itself into that form, and he had grown used to it. He had taught himself a language down here,—if only to know it by sight, and to have formed his own crude ideas of its pronunciation, could be called learning it. He had also worked at fractions and decimals, and tried a little algebra; but he was, and had been as a boy, a poor hand at figures. Was it necessary for him when on duty always to remain in that channel of damp air, and could he never rise into the sunshine from between those high stone walls? Why, that depended upon times and circumstances. Under some conditions there would be less upon the Line than under others, and the same held good as to certain hours of the day and night. In bright weather, he did choose occasions for getting a little above these lower shadows; but, being at all times liable to be called by his electric bell, and at such times listening for it with redoubled anxiety, the relief was less than I would suppose.
cleared：明るくなった。remarks：発言。with readiness：快く。that was to say：いい換えれば。had enough responsibility to bear：負うべき責任を十分に持った。exactness：正確。actual work：実際の仕事。manual labour：肉体労働（labourの綴りは主にイギリス）。had next to none：殆ど一人でやった（次の人はいなかった）。trim：調整する。now and then：時々。under that head：あの冷静さで。taught himself：（彼が）独学した。by sight：見て。crude idea：未熟な考え。pronunciation：発音。worked at：取り組んだ。fractions and decimals：分数と少数。algebra：代数。poor hand at figures：計算が苦手な。channel：経路。damp：湿った。why：さて。held good as to：～に関して当て嵌まった。bright weather：好天。at all times：常に。liable to：（好ましからず）～しがちで。listening for：～に耳を済ます。redoubled：倍加された。
He took me into his box, where there was a fire, a desk for an official book in which he had to make certain entries, a telegraphic instrument with its dial, face, and needles, and the little bell of which he had spoken. On my trusting that he would excuse the remark that he had been well educated, and (I hoped I might say without offence) perhaps educated above that station, he observed that instances of slight incongruity in such wise would rarely be found wanting among large bodies of men; that he had heard it was so in workhouses, in the police force, even in that last desperate resource, the army; and that he knew it was so, more or less, in any great railway staff. He had been, when young (if I could believe it, sitting in that hut,—he scarcely could), a student of natural philosophy, and had attended lectures; but he had run wild, misused his opportunities, gone down, and never risen again. He had no complaint to offer about that. He had made his bed, and he lay upon it. It was far too late to make another.
box：番小屋。fire：（小さな）暖炉。official book：職務の帳簿。make certain entries：きっちり記入する。telegraphic instrument：電信装置。dial, face, and needles：文字盤と面と針。on my trusting：私の信じるところ。excuse：いい訳した。observed：述べた。instances of slight incongruity：僅かな不釣り合いの実例。workhouses：救貧院（イギリス英語）。police force：警官隊。even in that last desperate resource：その窮余の頼みの綱でさえも。hut：仮屋。had run wild：暴れ回った。(had) misused his opportunities：彼の契機を損った。(had) gone down：破れた。he had made his bed, and he lay upon it：彼は自業自得だった（自分でベッドを作ってそこに自分で寝た）。
All that I have here condensed he said in a quiet manner, with his grave dark regards divided between me and the fire. He threw in the word, “Sir,” from time to time, and especially when he referred to his youth,—as though to request me to understand that he claimed to be nothing but what I found him. He was several times interrupted by the little bell, and had to read off messages, and send replies. Once he had to stand without the door, and display a flag as a train passed, and make some verbal communication to the driver. In the discharge of his duties, I observed him to be remarkably exact and vigilant, breaking off his discourse at a syllable, and remaining silent until what he had to do was done.
condensed：簡約した。grave：重々しい。regards：注目。from time to time：時折。referred to：～にいい及んだ。interrupted：中断された。read off：読み取る。make some verbal communication：何かの口頭の意思疏通を図る。in the discharge of his duties：彼の職務の遂行に。observed：認めた。remarkably：顕著に。exact and vigilant：正確で慎重な。breaking off：断って。discourse：談話。syllable：音節。
In a word, I should have set this man down as one of the safest of men to be employed in that capacity, but for the circumstance that while he was speaking to me he twice broke off with a fallen colour, turned his face towards the little bell when it did not ring, opened the door of the hut (which was kept shut to exclude the unhealthy damp), and looked out towards the red light near the mouth of the tunnel. On both of those occasions, he came back to the fire with the inexplicable air upon him which I had remarked, without being able to define, when we were so far asunder.
have set this man down as：この人を～と見做した。capacity：（何かに要求される）能力。with a fallen colour：浮かない顔色（colourの綴りは主にイギリス）。exclude：遮断する。looked out：注意した。inexplicable：不可解な。had remarked：認めた。so far：これまで。asunder：離れて。
Said I, when I rose to leave him, “You almost make me think that I have met with a contented man.”
(I am afraid I must acknowledge that I said it to lead him on.)
acknowledge：（渋々）認める。lead him on：騙す（仕向ける）。
“I believe I used to be so,” he rejoined, in the low voice in which he had first spoken; “but I am troubled, sir, I am troubled.”
He would have recalled the words if he could. He had said them, however, and I took them up quickly.
have recalled：撤回した。
“With what? What is your trouble?”
“It is very difficult to impart, sir. It is very, very difficult to speak of. If ever you make me another visit, I will try to tell you.”
impart：伝える。
“But I expressly intend to make you another visit. Say, when shall it be?”
expressly：明白に。
“I go off early in the morning, and I shallbe on again at ten to- morrow night, sir.”
go off：（仕事を）抜ける。be on：（仕事に）入る。
“I will come at eleven.”
He thanked me, and went out at the door with me. “I’ll show my white light, sir,” he said, in his peculiar low voice, “till you have found the way up. When you have found it, don’t call out! And when you are at the top, don’t call out!”
peculiar：特有の。till you have found the way up：貴方が道を見付け出すまで。
His manner seemed to make the place strike colder to me, but I said no more than, “Very well.”
make the place strike colder：その場をぞっとさせる。very well：結構。
“And when you come down to-morrow night, don’t call out! Let me ask you a parting question. What made you cry, ‘Halloa! Below there!’ to-night?”
parting question：最後の質問。
“Heaven knows,” said I. “I cried something to that effect—”
Heaven knows：知らない（天のみぞ知る）。to that effect：その趣旨で。
“Not to that effect, sir. Those were the very words. I know them well.”
“Admit those were the very words. I said them, no doubt, because I saw you below.”
“For no other reason?”
“What other reason could I possibly have?”
“You had no feeling that they were conveyed to you in any supernatural way?”
conveyed：伝えられた。supernatural：超自然的な。
“No.”
He wished me good-night, and held up his light. I walked by the side of the down Line of rails (with a very disagreeable sensation of a train coming behind me) until I found the path. It was easier to mount than to descend, and I got back to my inn without any adventure.
wished me good-night：私におやすみをいった。disagreeable sensation：不快感。mount：上がる。descend：下る。inn：宿。without any adventure：冒険一つなく。
Punctual to my appointment, I placed my foot on the first notch of the zigzag next night, as the distant clocks were striking eleven. He was waiting for me at the bottom, with his white light on. “I have not called out,” I said, when we came close together; “may I speak now?” “By all means, sir.” “Good-night, then, and here’s my hand.” “Good-night, sir, and here’s mine.” With that we walked side by side to his box, entered it, closed the door, and sat down by the fire.
punctual：時間通りに。by all means：是非とも。side by side：並んで。
“I have made up my mind, sir,” he began, bending forward as soon as we were seated, and speaking in a tone but a little above a whisper, “that you shall not have to ask me twice what troubles me. I took you for some one else yesterday evening. That troubles me.”
have made up my mind：（私が）決心した。bending forward：身を乗り出して。took you for some one else：貴方を他の人だと思った。
“That mistake?”
“No. That some one else.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Like me?”
“I don’t know. I never saw the face. The left arm is across the face, and the right arm is waved,—violently waved. This way.”
I followed his action with my eyes, and it was the action of an arm gesticulating, with the utmost passion and vehemence, “For God’s sake, clear the way!”
gesticulating：身振りする。utmost：最高の。passion and vehemence：熱烈さと激烈さ。for God’s sake：お願いだから。
“One moonlight night,” said the man, “I was sitting here, when I heard a voice cry, ‘Halloa! Below there!’ I started up, looked from that door, and saw this Some one else standing by the red light near the tunnel, waving as I just now showed you. The voice seemed hoarse with shouting, and it cried, ‘Look out! Look out!’ And then again, ‘Halloa! Below there! Look out!’ I caught up my lamp, turned it on red, and ran towards the figure, calling, ‘What’s wrong? What has happened? Where?’ It stood just outside the blackness of the tunnel. I advanced so close upon it that I wondered at its keeping the sleeve across its eyes. I ran right up at it, and had my hand stretched out to pull the sleeve away, when it was gone.”
hoarse：掠れて。look out：良く見ろ（注意しろ）。figure：人影。right up：直ちに。
“Into the tunnel?” said I.
“No. I ran on into the tunnel, five hundred yards. I stopped, and held my lamp above my head, and saw the figures of the measured distance, and saw the wet stains stealing down the walls and trickling through the arch. I ran out again faster than I had run in (for I had a mortal abhorrence of the place upon me), and I looked all round the red light with my own red light, and I went up the iron ladder to the gallery atop of it, and I came down again, and ran back here. I telegraphed both ways, ‘An alarm has been given. Is anything wrong?’ The answer came back, both ways, ‘All well.’”
the figures of the measured distance：推定距離の数字。stains：汚れ。stealing down：ひっそりと伝い下りる。trickling：ぽたぽた落ちる。had a mortal abhorrence：死ぬほどの嫌悪感を抱いた。gallery：回廊。atop of：～の頂上に。telegraphed：電報を打った。both ways：上下線。all well：良好。
Resisting the slow touch of a frozen finger tracing out my spine, I showed him how that this figure must be a deception of his sense of sight; and how that figures, originating in disease of the delicate nerves that minister to the functions of the eye, were known to have often troubled patients, some of whom had become conscious of the nature of their affliction, and had even proved it by experiments upon themselves. “As to an imaginary cry,” said I, “do but listen for a moment to the wind in this unnatural valley while we speak so low, and to the wild harp it makes of the telegraph wires.”
tracing out：なぞり出す。spine：背骨。deception of his sense of sight：視覚の欺き。originating：起きる。disease：病気。minister to：～に役立つ。nature of their affliction：彼らの苦悩の性質。proved：証明した。imaginary：想像上の。wild harp：野の竪琴。telegraph wires：電信線。
That was all very well, he returned, after we had sat listening for a while, and he ought to know something of the wind and the wires,— he who so often passed long winter nights there, alone and watching. But he would beg to remark that he had not finished.
beg to remark：認めるように頼む。
I asked his pardon, and he slowly added these words, touching my arm, -
asked his pardon：彼の許しを請った。
“Within six hours after the Appearance, the memorable accident on this Line happened, and within ten hours the dead and wounded were brought along through the tunnel over the spot where the figure had stood.”
appearance：出現。memorable：忘れ得ない。the dead and wounded：死傷者。
A disagreeable shudder crept over me, but I did my best against it. It was not to be denied, I rejoined, that this was a remarkable coincidence, calculated deeply to impress his mind. But it was unquestionable that remarkable coincidences did continually occur, and they must be taken into account in dealing with such a subject. Though to be sure I must admit, I added (for I thought I saw that he was going to bring the objection to bear upon me), men of common sense did not allow much for coincidences in making the ordinary calculations of life.
disagreeable：不快な。shudder：戦慄。crept over：徐々に襲った。did my best：（私が）最善を尽くした。coincidence：偶然の一致。calculated deeply to impress his mind：深く彼の心に印象付けるように勘定（判断）されて。unquestionable：疑い得ない。taken into account：考慮に入れられる。in dealing with：～を扱う際には。to be sure：確かに～。bring the objection to bear upon me：私に異論を迫る。men of common sense：常識人。making the ordinary calculations of life：生活を普通に勘定（判断）すること。
He again begged to remark that he had not finished.
I again begged his pardon for being betrayed into interruptions.
betrayed：背かれた。interruptions：中断。
“This,” he said, again laying his hand upon my arm, and glancing over his shoulder with hollow eyes, “was just a year ago. Six or seven months passed, and I had recovered from the surprise and shock, when one morning, as the day was breaking, I, standing at the door, looked towards the red light, and saw the spectre again.” He stopped, with a fixed look at me.
glancing：一瞥して。hollow eyes：虚ろな目。spectre：お化け（spectreの綴りは主にイギリス）。fixed look：定まった視線。
“Did it cry out?”
“No. It was silent.”
“Did it wave its arm?”
“No. It leaned against the shaft of the light, with both hands before the face. Like this.”
shaft of the light：明かりの軸。
Once more I followed his action with my eyes. It was an action of mourning. I have seen such an attitude in stone figures on tombs.
mourning：悲嘆。stone figures：石像。
“Did you go up to it?”
go up to：～まで行く。
“I came in and sat down, partly to collect my thoughts, partly because it had turned me faint. When I went to the door again, daylight was above me, and the ghost was gone.”
collect my thoughts：考えを纏める。had turned me faint：私の気が遠くさせられた。gone：消えた。
“But nothing followed? Nothing came of this?”
came of：～から生じた。
He touched me on the arm with his forefinger twice or thrice giving a ghastly nod each time:-
forefinger：人差し指。twice or thrice：二三回。ghastly nod：怖がった頷き
“That very day, as a train came out of the tunnel, I noticed, at a carriage window on my side, what looked like a confusion of hands and heads, and something waved. I saw it just in time to signal the driver, Stop! He shut off, and put his brake on, but the train drifted past here a hundred and fifty yards or more. I ran after it, and, as I went along, heard terrible screams and cries. A beautiful young lady had died instantaneously in one of the compartments, and was brought in here, and laid down on this floor between us.”
carriage：客車（イギリス英語）。confusion of hands and heads：手と頭の混合。in time：ギリギリ間に合って。signal：信号を送る。shut off：止めた。put his brake on：彼のブレーキをかけた。drifted：漂った。instantaneously：瞬時に。compartments：仕切り客車（扉付きで内側に向かい合わせの座席がある）。
Involuntarily I pushed my chair back, as I looked from the boards at which he pointed to himself.
involuntarily：思わず。
“True, sir. True. Precisely as it happened, so I tell it you.”
I could think of nothing to say, to any purpose, and my mouth was very dry. The wind and the wires took up the story with a long lamenting wail.
to any purpose：何の目的でも。long lamenting wail：長く悼む 物悲しい音。
He resumed. “Now, sir, mark this, and judge how my mind is troubled. The spectre came back a week ago. Ever since, it has been there, now and again, by fits and starts.”
mark：留意して。now and again：折々。by fits and starts：散発的に。
“At the light?”
“At the Danger-light.”
danger-light：安全灯。
“What does it seem to do?”
He repeated, if possible with increased passion and vehemence, that former gesticulation of, “For God’s sake, clear the way!”
gesticulation：身振り。
Then he went on. “I have no peace or rest for it. It calls to me, for many minutes together, in an agonised manner, ‘Below there! Look out! Look out!’ It stands waving to me. It rings my little bell—”
for many minutes together：何分間でも。agonised manner：苦悶した態度。
I caught at that. “Did it ring your bell yesterday evening when I was here, and you went to the door?”
“Twice.”
“Why, see,” said I, “how your imagination misleads you. My eyes were on the bell, and my ears were open to the bell, and if I am a living man, it did not ring at those times. No, nor at any other time, except when it was rung in the natural course of physical things by the station communicating with you.”
why, see：ほら、ご覧。misleads：誤解させる。in natural course of physical things：物理的な存在の自然の成り行きで。
He shook his head. “I have never made a mistake as to that yet, sir. I have never confused the spectre’s ring with the man’s. The ghost’s ring is a strange vibration in the bell that it derives from nothing else, and I have not asserted that the bell stirs to the eye. I don’t wonder that you failed to hear it. But I heard it.”
have not asserted：断言しなかった。the bell stirs to the eye：ベルが見える（目にさせる）。
“And did the spectre seem to be there, when you looked out?”
“It was there.”’
“Both times?”
He repeated firmly: “Both times.”
“Will you come to the door with me, and look for it now?”
He bit his under lip as though he were somewhat unwilling, but arose. I opened the door, and stood on the step, while he stood in the doorway. There was the Danger-light. There was the dismal mouth of the tunnel. There were the high, wet stone walls of the cutting. There were the stars above them.
somewhat：幾分か。unwilling：気乗りしない。step：（戸口の）昇降段。doorway：戸口。
“Do you see it?” I asked him, taking particular note of his face. His eyes were prominent and strained, but not very much more so, perhaps, than my own had been when I had directed them earnestly towards the same spot.
taking particular note of：～に特に注目して。prominent：張り出した。strained：緊迫した。not very much：余り～ではない。
“No,” he answered. “It is not there.”
“Agreed,” said I.
We went in again, shut the door, and resumed our seats. I was thinking how best to improve this advantage, if it might be called one, when he took up the conversation in such a matter-of-course way, so assuming that there could be no serious question of fact between us, that I felt myself placed in the weakest of positions.
improve this advantage：この利点を活用する（improveを活用するとするのは古い表現）。called one：人と呼ばれる。in such a matter-of-course way (that)：～くらい当たり前の方法。assuming：～と仮定して。
“By this time you will fully understand, sir,” he said, “that what troubles me so dreadfully is the question, What does the spectre mean?”
dreadfully：恐ろしく。
I was not sure, I told him, that I did fully understand.
“What is its warning against?” he said, ruminating, with his eyes on the fire, and only by times turning them on me. “What is the danger? Where is the danger? There is danger overhanging somewhere on the Line. Some dreadful calamity will happen. It is not to be doubted this third time, after what has gone before. But surely this is a cruel haunting of me. What can I do?”
ruminating：思い巡らして。only by times：偶にだけ。overhanging：差し迫る。somewhere：大体。dreadful：恐ろしい。calamity：災害。cruel haunting：残酷な憑依。
He pulled out his handkerchief, and wiped the drops from his heated forehead.
“If I telegraph Danger, on either side of me, or on both, I can give no reason for it,” he went on, wiping the palms of his hands. “I should get into trouble, and do no good. They would think I was mad. This is the way it would work,—Message: ‘Danger! Take care!’ Answer: ‘What Danger? Where?’ Message: ‘Don’t know. But, for God’s sake, take care!’ They would displace me. What else could they do?”
telegraph：電報を打つ。do no good：良いことはない。take care：気を付けろ。displace：解任する。
His pain of mind was most pitiable to see. It was the mental torture of a conscientious man, oppressed beyond endurance by an unintelligible responsibility involving life.
torture：責め苦（拷問）。conscientious man：良心的な人。oppressed：圧迫されて。beyond endurance：耐え難く。unintelligible：理解できない。
“When it first stood under the Danger-light,” he went on, putting his dark hair back from his head, and drawing his hands outward across and across his temples in an extremity of feverish distress, “why not tell me where that accident was to happen,—if it must happen? Why not tell me how it could be averted,—if it could have been averted? When on its second coming it hid its face, why not tell me, instead, ‘She is going to die. Let them keep her at home’? If it came, on those two occasions, only to show me that its warnings were true, and so to prepare me for the third, why not warn me plainly now? And I, Lord help me! A mere poor signal-man on this solitary station! Why not go to somebody with credit to be believed, and power to act?”
temples：顳顬。in an extremity of feverish distress：熱せられた悲痛の極みで。averted：回避される。Lord help me：何たることかな（主に救われなくては）。with credit：立派な（信用ある）。
When I saw him in this state, I saw that for the poor man’s sake, as well as for the public safety, what I had to do for the time was to compose his mind. Therefore, setting aside all question of reality or unreality between us, I represented to him that whoever thoroughly discharged his duty must do well, and that at least it was his comfort that he understood his duty, though he did not understand these confounding Appearances. In this effort I succeeded far better than in the attempt to reason him out of his conviction. He became calm; the occupations incidental to his post as the night advanced began to make larger demands on his attention: and I left him at two in the morning. I had offered to stay through the night, but he would not hear of it.
compose his mind：彼の心を落ち着かせる。setting aside：後回しにする（脇に置く）。represented：述べた。discharged his duty：彼の職務を遂行した。comfort：慰安。confounding：狼狽させられる。reason：説き付ける。conviction：確信。occupations：業務。incidental to：～に付随する。
That I more than once looked back at the red light as I ascended the pathway, that I did not like the red light, and that I should have slept but poorly if my bed had been under it, I see no reason to conceal. Nor did I like the two sequences of the accident and the dead girl. I see no reason to conceal that either.
ascended：上った。pathway：通路。see no reason to：～する理由は分からない。two sequences：二つの結果。
But what ran most in my thoughts was the consideration how ought I to act, having become the recipient of this disclosure? I had proved the man to be intelligent, vigilant, painstaking, and exact; but how long might he remain so, in his state of mind? Though in a subordinate position, still he held a most important trust, and would I (for instance) like to stake my own life on the chances of his continuing to execute it with precision?
recipient：受取人。disclosure：打ち明け話。had proved the man to be：その人が～だと判明した。painstaking：辛抱強い。subordinate position：下位の立場。stake my own life：私の命を預ける。on the chances of：～を見込んで。with precision：的確に。
Unable to overcome a feeling that there would be something treacherous in my communicating what he had told me to his superiors in the Company, without first being plain with himself and proposing a middle course to him, I ultimately resolved to offer to accompany him (otherwise keeping his secret for the present) to the wisest medical practitioner we could hear of in those parts, and to take his opinion. A change in his time of duty would come round next night, he had apprised me, and he would be off an hour or two after sunrise, and on again soon after sunset. I had appointed to return accordingly.
overcome：打ち勝つ。treacherous：不誠実な。his superiors in the company：会社の彼の上司。being plain with：～にはっきりいって（明白にして）。middle course：折衷案。ultimately：終局。resolved：決めた。accompany：付き添う。for the present：差し当たり。medical practitioner：医者（開業医）。come round：巡って来る（イギリス英語）。had apprised：通告した。accordingly：応じて。
Next evening was a lovely evening, and I walked out early to enjoy it. The sun was not yet quite down when I traversed the field-path near the top of the deep cutting. I would extend my walk for an hour, I said to myself, half an hour on and half an hour back, and it would then be time to go to my signal-man’s box.
traversed：横切った。field-path：野道。
Before pursuing my stroll, I stepped to the brink, and mechanically looked down, from the point from which I had first seen him. I cannot describe the thrill that seized upon me, when, close at the mouth of the tunnel, I saw the appearance of a man, with his left sleeve across his eyes, passionately waving his right arm.
pursuing my stroll：私の散策に赴く。brink：（急斜面の）縁。
The nameless horror that oppressed me passed in a moment, for in a moment I saw that this appearance of a man was a man indeed, and that there was a little group of other men, standing at a short distance, to whom he seemed to be rehearsing the gesture he made. The Danger-light was not yet lighted. Against its shaft, a little low hut, entirely new to me, had been made of some wooden supports and tarpaulin. It looked no bigger than a bed.
nameless：名状し難い。rehearsing：試演する。gesture：身振り。some supports and tarpaulin：幾つかの木の支柱と（タールや蝋などが塗られた）防水布。
With an irresistible sense that something was wrong,—with a flashing self-reproachful fear that fatal mischief had come of my leaving the man there, and causing no one to be sent to overlook or correct what he did,—I descended the notched path with all the speed I could make.
irresistible：否応ない。flashing：閃き。self-reproachful fear：自己叱責の不安。fatal mischief：致命的な被害。overlook or correct：監督するか矯正する。
“What is the matter?” I asked the men.
“Signal-man killed this morning, sir.”
“Not the man belonging to that box?”
belonging：～に配属される。
“Yes, sir.”
“Not the man I know?”
“You will recognise him, sir, if you knew him,” said the man who spoke for the others, solemnly uncovering his own head, and raising an end of the tarpaulin, “for his face is quite composed.”
solemnly：粛然と。uncovering his own head：（彼が）脱帽して。composed：しっかり成り立って。
“O, how did this happen, how did this happen?” I asked, turning from one to another as the hut closed in again.
“He was cut down by an engine, sir. No man in England knew his work better. But somehow he was not clear of the outer rail. It was just at broad day. He had struck the light, and had the lamp in his hand. As the engine came out of the tunnel, his back was towards her, and she cut him down. That man drove her, and was showing how it happened. Show the gentleman, Tom.”
engine：機関車。somehow：どういうわけか。broad day：白昼。had struck the light：（火打ち石やマッチで）火を着けた。
The man, who wore a rough dark dress, stepped back to his former place at the mouth of the tunnel.
a rough dark dress：粗末な黒い服。
“Coming round the curve in the tunnel, sir,” he said, “I saw him at the end, like as if I saw him down a perspective-glass. There was no time to check speed, and I knew him to be very careful. As he didn’t seem to take heed of the whistle, I shut it off when we were running down upon him, and called to him as loud as I could call.”
coming round：回って来て（イギリス英語）。perspective-glass：遠眼鏡。check speed：速度を落とす。take heed of：～を気に留める。
“What did you say?”
“I said, ‘Below there! Look out! Look out! For God’s sake, clear the way!’”
I started.
started：ぎょっとした。
“Ah! it was a dreadful time, sir. I never left off calling to him. I put this arm before my eyes not to see, and I waved this arm to the last; but it was no use.”
left off：止めた。
Without prolonging the narrative to dwell on any one of its curious circumstances more than on any other, I may, in closing it, point out the coincidence that the warning of the Engine-Driver included, not only the words which the unfortunate Signal-man had repeated to me as haunting him, but also the words which I myself—not he—had attached, and that only in my own mind, to the gesticulation he had imitated.
prolonging：長引かせ。narrative：物語。dwell on：～をくどくど述べる。had attached (to)：～に結び付けた。and that：しかも。had imitated：真似した。
原文の出典：The Signal-Man
単語や熟語の意味は文意に相応しいものを一つだけ選んだ。作品の趣向に合うかどうか、つまり訳語として充分かどうかはさほど考慮しない。英語で理解するための最低限の意味が分かるように努めた。
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