Won from the Waves — Page 6
They had retreated back a few paces to avoid the salt showers.
Ils avaient reculé de quelques pas pour éviter les embruns salés.
Adam still seemed somewhat unwilling to give up putting to sea, when the dull sound of a gun from the offing reached their ears.
Adam semblait encore quelque peu réticent à renoncer à prendre la mer, quand le son sourd d'un coup de canon venant du large parvint à leurs oreilles.
Another and another followed.
Un autre, puis encore un autre, suivirent.
"There is a ship on Norton Sands," observed one of the men.
« Il y a un navire sur les bancs de Norton », observa l'un des hommes.
"Those guns are too far off for that," answered Halliburt.
« Ces coups de canon sont trop éloignés pour cela », répondit Halliburt.
Two others followed, and then came the thunder-sounding reports of several fired together.
Deux autres suivirent, puis vinrent les détonations retentissantes comme le tonnerre de plusieurs coups tirés ensemble.
"I was sure those were not guns of distress.
« J'étais sûr que ce n'étaient pas des coups de canon de détresse.
They come from ships in action, depend on that; and the news is true we heard yesterday, that the French and English are at it again," exclaimed Adam.
Ils viennent de navires en combat, comptez là-dessus ; et la nouvelle que nous avons entendue hier est vraie, que les Français et les Anglais s'y remettent », s'exclama Adam.
"I thought we shouldn't long remain friends with the Mounsiers."
« Je pensais bien que nous ne resterions pas longtemps amis avec les Messieurs. »
"Good luck be with the English ships!" cried one of the fishermen.
« Bonne chance aux navires anglais ! » s'écria l'un des pêcheurs.
"Amen to that! but they must be careful what they are about, for with the wind dead on shore, if they knock away each other's spars, they are both more than likely to drift on Norton Sands, and if they do, the Lord have mercy on them," said Adam, solemnly.
« Amen à cela ! mais ils doivent faire attention à ce qu'ils font, car avec le vent soufflant droit vers la côte, s'ils se brisent mutuellement les mâts, ils risquent fort tous les deux de dériver sur les bancs de Norton, et s'ils le font, que le Seigneur leur fasse grâce », dit Adam, solennellement.
"Whichever gets the victory, they will be in a bad way, as I fear, after all, it will be a dirty night.
« Quel que soit celui qui remporte la victoire, ils seront en mauvaise posture, car je crains qu'après tout ce soit une sale nuit.
The wind has shifted three points to the eastward since I left home, and it's blowing twice as hard as it did ten minutes ago.
Le vent a tourné de trois quarts vers l'est depuis que j'ai quitté la maison, et il souffle deux fois plus fort qu'il y a dix minutes.
We may as well run the _Nancy_ up to her moorings, lads."
Autant ramener la Nancy à ses amarres, les gars. »
Vocabulary
- avaient
- Third person plural imperfect of avoir: they had
- reculé
- Moved back, stepped backward, retreated
- quelques
- A few, some (small number of something)
- pas
- Steps, paces; also negation particle (not)
- éviter
- To avoid, to dodge something unwanted
- embruns
- Sea spray, fine droplets of saltwater
- salés
- Salty, seasoned with or containing salt
- semblait
- Imperfect of sembler: seemed, appeared to be
- encore
- Still, yet, again, even now
- quelque
- Some, a certain degree of, somewhat
- peu
- Little, a small amount or degree
- réticent
- Reluctant, hesitant, unwilling to do something
- renoncer
- To give up, renounce, abandon a plan
- prendre
- To take, to set out on (the sea)
- mer
- The sea, the ocean
- son
- Sound, noise; also possessive adjective: his/her
- sourd
- Dull, muffled (sound); also deaf (person)
- coup
- Blow, shot, strike, sudden action
- canon
- Cannon, large artillery gun
- venant
- Coming, originating from (present participle)
- large
- The open sea, far from shore; wide
- parvint
- Past historic of parvenir: reached, arrived at
- oreilles
- Ears (plural of oreille)
- puis
- Then, afterward, next in sequence
- suivirent
- Past historic of suivre: followed, came after
- navire
- Ship, large seafaring vessel
- bancs
- Shoals, sandbanks; also benches or banks
- observa
- Past historic of observer: remarked, noted, observed
- hommes
- Men, human beings (plural of homme)
- coups
- Shots, blows, strikes (plural of coup)
- trop
- Too much, too many, excessively
- éloignés
- Distant, far away, remote
- cela
- That, this (demonstrative pronoun)
- répondit
- Past historic of répondre: replied, answered
- vinrent
- Past historic of venir: came, arrived
- détonations
- Explosions, loud blasts, detonations
- retentissantes
- Resounding, thunderous, loud and echoing
- tonnerre
- Thunder, loud rumbling sound
- plusieurs
- Several, more than two
- tirés
- Fired, shot (past participle of tirer)
- ensemble
- Together, at the same time
- sûr
- Sure, certain, confident
- détresse
- Distress, danger, emergency signal
- viennent
- Present of venir: they come, they are coming
- navires
- Ships, vessels (plural of navire)
- combat
- Battle, fight, armed conflict
- comptez
- Imperative of compter: count on it, rely on that
- là-dessus
- On that, about that, thereupon
- nouvelle
- News, piece of information; also feminine of nouveau
- entendue
- Past participle of entendre: heard (feminine agreement)
- hier
- Yesterday
- vraie
- True, real, accurate (feminine of vrai)
- Français
- French, a French person or the French
- Anglais
- English, an English person or the English
- remettent
- Resume, restart, start again (se remettre à)
- exclama
- Past historic of exclamer: exclaimed, cried out
- pensais
- Imperfect of penser: I thought, I was thinking
- resterions
- Conditional of rester: we would stay, remain
- longtemps
- For a long time, a long while
- amis
- Friends (plural of ami)
- Messieurs
- Gentlemen, sirs (plural of Monsieur)
- chance
- Luck, fortune, chance
- anglais
- English (adjective, lowercase: language or people)
- écria
- Past historic of s'écrier: cried out, exclaimed
- pêcheurs
- Fishermen (plural of pêcheur)
- doivent
- Present of devoir: they must, they have to
- attention
- Attention, caution, care (faire attention: to be careful)
- car
- Because, for (conjunction giving reason)
- vent
- Wind, breeze
- soufflant
- Blowing (present participle of souffler)
- droit
- Straight, directly; also right (direction or law)
- vers
- Toward, in the direction of
- côte
- Coast, shoreline, hillside
- brisent
- They break, shatter (present of briser)
- mutuellement
- Mutually, reciprocally, to each other
- mâts
- Masts (plural of mât), ship's upright poles
- risquent
- They risk, they run the risk of
- fort
- Strongly, very much; also strong (adjective)
- dériver
- To drift, be carried off course
- Seigneur
- Lord (religious), the Lord God
- fasse
- Subjunctive of faire: may make, let (him) do
- grâce
- Grace, mercy, favor (divine mercy)
- solennellement
- Solemnly, gravely, with seriousness
- soit
- Subjunctive of être: be, whichever may be
- celui
- The one, he who (demonstrative pronoun)
- remporte
- Wins, carries off (present of remporter)
- victoire
- Victory, triumph, win
- seront
- Future of être: they will be
- mauvaise
- Bad, poor, unpleasant (feminine of mauvais)
- posture
- Posture, position, predicament, situation
- crains
- Present of craindre: I fear, I dread
- après
- After, afterward, following
- sale
- Dirty, nasty, foul, unpleasant
- nuit
- Night, nighttime
- tourné
- Turned, shifted (past participle of tourner)
- quarts
- Quarters, three-quarters of a circle or turn
- depuis
- Since, for (indicating elapsed time or starting point)
- quitté
- Left, departed from (past participle of quitter)
- maison
- House, home
- souffle
- Blows (wind); also breath (noun)
- fois
- Times, instances (une fois: once)
- Autant
- As much, just as well, might as well
- ramener
- To bring back, take back, return something
- amarres
- Moorings, ropes used to secure a boat
- gars
- Guys, lads, fellows (informal term of address)
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