Every morning they set out on the road at five o'clock, halted at nine, set out again at five o'clock in the evening, and halted again at ten. The peones rode on horseback, and stimulated the oxen with long goads. The boy lighted the fire for the roasting, gave the beasts their fodder, polished up the lanterns, and brought water for drinking. The landscape passed before him like an indistinct vision: vast groves of little brown trees; villages consisting of a few scattered houses, with red and battlemented facdes; very vast tracts, possibly the ancient beds of great salt lakes, which gleamed white with salt as far as the eye could reach; and on every hand, and always, the prairie, solitude, silence.

每晨五点开行，到九点暂停，下午五点再开行，十点休息。人夫在后面骑马执了长鞭驱牛前进。玛尔可帮他们生火炙肉，给牲口喂草，或是擦油灯，汲饮水。大地的景色幻影似的在他面前展开，有褐色的小树林，有红色屋宇散列的村落，也有像咸水湖的遗迹似的满目亮晶晶的盐原。无论向何处望，无论行多少路，都是寂寥荒漠的空野。

On very rare occasions they encountered two or three travellers on horseback, followed by a herd of picked horses, who passed them at a gallop, like a whirlwind. The days were all alike, as at sea, wearisome and interminable; but the weather was fine. But the peones became more and more exacting every day, as though the lad were their bond slave; some of them treated him brutally, with threats; all forced him to serve them without mercy: they made him carry enormous bundles of forage; they sent him to get water at great distances; and he, broken with fatigue, could not even sleep at night, continually tossed about as he was by the violent jolts of the wagon, and the deafening groaning of the wheels and wooden axles.

偶然也逢到二三个骑马牵着许多野马的旅客，他们都像旋风一样很快过去了。一天又一天，好像仍在海上，倦怠不堪，只有天气不恶，算是幸事。人夫待玛尔可渐渐凶悍，竟把他当做奴隶，故意强迫他搬拿不动的刍草，到远处去汲饮水。他疲劳极了，夜中睡不着，身体随着车的摇动颠簸着，轮声轰得耳朵发聋。

And in addition to this, the wind having risen, a fine, reddish, greasy dust, which enveloped everything, penetrated the wagon, made its way under the covers, filled his eyes and mouth, robbed him of sight and breath, constantly, oppressively, insupportably. Worn out with toil and lack of sleep, reduced to rags and dirt, reproached and ill treated from morning till night, the poor boy grew every day more dejected, and would have lost heart entirely if the capataz had not addressed a kind word to him now and then.

风还不绝地吹着，把细而有油气的红土卷入车内，扑到口里眼里，眼不能开张，呼吸也为难，真是苦不堪言。因劳累过度与睡眠不足，他身体弱得像棉花一样，满身都是灰土，还要朝晚受叱骂或是殴打，他的勇气就一天一天地沮丧下去。如果没有那“头脑”时时亲切的慰藉，他的气力或许要全部消失了。

He often wept, unseen, in a corner of the wagon, with his face against his bag, which no longer contained anything but rags. Every morning he rose weaker and more discouraged, and as he looked out over the country, and beheld always the same boundless and implacable plain, like a terrestrial ocean, he said to himself: "Ah, I shall not hold out until tonight! I shall not hold out until tonight! To-day I shall die on the road!" And his toil increased, his ill treatment was redoubled. One morning, in the absence of the capataz, one of the men struck him, because he had delayed in fetching the water. And then they all began to take turns at it, when they gave him an order, dealing him a kick, saying: "Take that, you vagabond! Carry that to your mother!"

他躲在车角里，背着人用衣包掩面哭泣，所谓衣包，其实已只包着败絮。每天起来，自觉身体比前日更弱，元气比前日更衰，回头四望，那无垠的原野仍像上的大洋展示在眼前。“啊！恐怕不能再延到今夜了，恐怕不能再延到今夜了！今天就要死在这路上了！” 不觉这样自语。劳役渐渐增加，虐待也愈厉害。有一天早晨，“头脑”不在，一个人夫怪他汲水太慢，打他，大家又轮流用脚踢他，骂说：“带了这个去！畜生！把这带给你母亲！”