The Signal-Man

I

I

“HALLOA! Below there!”

「おーい、下の人!」

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.

そう呼びかける声を聞いたとき、男は小屋の戸口に立ち、短い棒に巻きつけた旗を手にしていた。地形を考えれば、声がどちらから来たのか迷うはずはないと思えただろう。ところが彼は、ほぼ真上にあたる急な切り通しの上に立つ私を見上げようとはせず、くるりと向きを変えて線路の先を見下ろしたのである。そのやり方には何か妙なところがあったが、何がどう妙なのかは、命に懸けても言えなかった。ただ、私の注意を引くには十分に妙だったことは確かだ。深い溝の底にいる彼の姿は遠近のせいで縮んで見え、影にも沈んでいた。一方、私は彼のはるか上にいて、怒ったような夕日の輝きにすっかり浸っていたので、彼の姿を見つける前に手をかざして目を覆わなければならなかったのだ。