Although the wanderer had gone afoot for eight days, with no food save the game he had slain with the great Bamula hunting bow slung across his back (хотя странник шел пешком /уже/ восемь дней без /никакой/ пищи за исключением дичи, /которую/ он убил с = избольшого бамульского охотничьего лука, переброшенного через плечо за /его/ спину), the mighty barbarian had nowhere nearly approached the limits of his strength (мощный варвар нисколько не приблизился /к/ пределам его силы; to sling — вешать через плечо).
 
      eight [eIt], nearly ['nIqlI], mighty ['maItI]
 
      Yet the lone traveler, Conan of Cunmeria, was not afraid. A barbarian of barbarians, bred on the bleak hills of distant Cunmeria, the iron endurance and fierce vitality of the wild were his, granting him survival where civilized men, though more learned, more courteous, and more sophisticated than he, would miserably have perished. Although the wanderer had gone afoot for eight days, with no food save the game he had slain with the great Bamula hunting bow slung across his back, the mighty barbarian had nowhere nearly approached the limits of his strength.
 
      Long had Conan been accustomed to the Spartan life of the wilderness (давно Конан привык к спартанской жизни /в/ дикой местности; to be accustomed to — привыкнуть к). Although he had tasted the languid luxuries of civilized life in half the walled, glittering cities of the world, he missed them not (хотя он попробовал безжизненных наслаждений цивилизованной жизни в половине обнесенных стенами блистающих городах мира, он не скучал по ним: «скучал их не»). He plodded on toward the distant horizon, now obscured by a murky purple haze (он брел дальше к далекому горизонту, теперь затемненному мрачным багровым туманом).
 
      tasted ['teIstId], languid ['lxNgwId], horizon [hq'raIzn]
 
      Long had Conan been accustomed to the Spartan life of the wilderness. Although he had tasted the languid luxuries of civilized life in half the walled, glittering cities of the world, he missed them not. He plodded on toward the distant horizon, now obscured by a murky purple haze.
 
      Behind him lay the dense jungles of the black lands beyond Kush (за ним лежали густые джунгли черных земель за Кушем), where fantastic orchids blazed amid foliage of somber dark green (где фантастические орхидеи пламенели среди листвы мрачного темно-зеленого /цвета/), where fierce black tribes hacked a precarious living out of the smothering bush (где свирепые черные племена довольствовались опасной жизнью /среди/ удушливых кустарников), and where the silence of the dank, shadowed jungle pathways was broken only by the coughing snarl of the hunting leopard (и где тишина влажных тенистых тропинок в джунглях нарушалась лишь кашляющим рычанием охотящегося леопарда), the grunt of the wild pig, the brassy trumpeting of the elephant (хрюканьем дикой свиньи, грубым / металлическим ревом слона), or the sudden scream of an angered ape (или неожиданным воплем разгневанной /человекообразной/ обезьяны; to hack — рубить, сносить, принимать, одобрять, тесать, подрезать). For over a year, Conan had dwelt there as the war chief of the powerful Bamula tribe (/для/ более года Конан прожил там, как военный вождь могущественного бамульского племени). At length the crafty black priests, jealous of his rise to power (наконец, хитроумные черные жрецы ревнивые от = кего возвышению к власти) and resentful of his undisguised contempt for their bloodthirsty gods and their cruel, sanguinary rites (и негодующие на его неприкрытое презрение к их кровожадным божкам и их жестоким кровавым ритуалам), had poisoned the minds of the Bamula warriors against their white-skinned leader (отравили умы бамульских воинов /и настроили их/ против их белокожего предводителя).
 
      length [leNT], crafty [krQ: ftI], jealous ['Gelqs]
 
      Behind him lay the dense jungles of the black lands beyond Kush, where fantastic orchids blazed amid foliage of somber dark green, where fierce black tribes hacked a precarious living out of the smothering bush, and where the silence of the dank, shadowed jungle pathways was broken only by the coughing snarl of the hunting leopard, the grunt of the wild pig, the brassy trumpeting of the elephant, or the sudden scream of an angered ape. For over a year, Conan had dwelt there as the war chief of the powerful Bamula tribe. At length the crafty black priests, jealous of his rise to power and resentful of his undisguised contempt for their bloodthirsty gods and their cruel, sanguinary rites, had poisoned the minds of the Bamula warriors against their white-skinned leader.
 
      It had come about in this wise (это произошло таким образом; to come about — происходить, случаться). A time of long, unbroken drought had come upon the tribes of the jungle (время долгой непрерывной засухи навалилось на племена джунглей; to come upon — напасть на, навалиться на). With the shrinking of the rivers and the drying up of the water holes had come red, roaring war (с пересыханием рек и высыханием водяных скважин пришла кровавая, яростная война), as the ebon tribes locked in desperate battle to secure the few remaining sources of the precious fluid (когда черные: «эбеновые» племена сцепились в отчаянной битве, чтобы защитить немногие оставшиеся запасы драгоценной жидкости). Villages went up in flame; whole clans had been slaughtered and left to rot (поселки сгорали в пламени, целые кланы были убиты и оставлены на вымирание; to rot — гнить, разлагаться; деградировать). Then, in the wake of drought, famine, and war, had come plague to sweep the land (затем после засухи, голода и войны пришла чума, чтобы вымести землю = пронестись / пройтись метлой по земле; to sweep — сметать, смывать, «смахивать», сбрасывать интенсивным движением, нестись, мчаться, проноситься; in the wake of — на поводу у, в кильватере, впоследствии).
 
      drought [draut], war [wO: ], famine ['fxmIn]
 
      It had come about in this wise. A time of long, unbroken drought had come upon the tribes of the jungle. With the shrinking of the rivers and the drying up of the water holes had come red, roaring war, as the ebon tribes locked in desperate battle to secure the few remaining sources of the precious fluid. Villages went up in flame; whole clans had been slaughtered and left to rot. Then, in the wake of drought, famine, and war, had come plague to sweep the land.
 
      The malicious tongues of the cunning priests laid these terrors to Conan (злые языки хитроумных жрецов свалили эти ужасы на Конана / приписали эти ужасы Конану). It was he, they swore, who had brought these disasters upon Bamula (это был он = именно он, клялись они, /кто/ принес эти бедствия /на/ Бамуле; to swear). The gods were angry that a pale-skinned outlander had usurped the ornate stool of a long line of Bamula chieftains (боги были сердиты, что бледнолицый иноземец узурпировал богато украшенное кресло длинной череды бамульских вождей). Conan, they persisted, must be flayed and slain with a thousand ingenious torments upon the black altars of the devil-gods of the jungle (с Конана, настаивали они, нужно содрать кожу и убить тысячей изобретательных пыток на черных алтарях дьявольских божков джунглей; to flay — свежевать, сдирать кожу), or all the people would perish (или все люди погибнут).
 
      malicious [mq'ISqls], stool [stu: l], disaster [dI'zQ: stq]
 
      The malicious tongues of the cunning priests laid these terrors to Conan. It was he, they swore, who had brought these disasters upon Bamula. The gods were angry that a pale-skinned outlander had usurped the ornate stool of a long line of Bamula chieftains. Conan, they persisted, must be flayed and slain with a thousand ingenious torments upon the black altars of the devil-gods of the jungle, or all the people would perish.
 
      Not relishing so grim a fate, Conan had made a swift, devastating reply (не одобряя такой ужасной участи, Конан дал быстрый разрушительный ответ). A thrust through the body with his great northern broadsword had finished the high priest (удар насквозь /тела/ его огромным северным палашом прикончил верховного жреца). Then he had toppled the bloodstained wooden idol of the Bamula deity upon the other shamans and fled into the darkness of the surrounding jungle (потом он опрокинул окровавленного деревянного идола бамульского божества на других шаманов и убежал во тьму окружающих джунглей; to flee — убегать, исчезать). He had groped his way for many weary leagues northward (он искал /свой/ путь много утомительных лиг к северу), until he reached the region where the crowding forest thinned out and gave way to the open grasslands (пока /не/ не достиг района, где теснящий = густойлес поредел и уступил открытым лугам; to give way — уступать, поддаваться, отступать). Now he meant to cross the savanna on foot to reach the kingdom of Kush (теперь он намеревался пересечь саванну пешком, чтобы достичь королевства Куш), where his barbaric strength and the weight of his sword might find him employment in the service of the dusky monarchs of that ancient land (где его варварская сила и вес его меча могли найти ему работу на службе /у/ смуглых монархов той древней земли; to mean — иметь в виду, подразумевать, намереваться).
 
      reply [rI'plaI], priest [pri: st], ancient ['eInSqnt]
 
      Not relishing so grim a fate, Conan had made a swift, devastating reply. A thrust through the body with his great northern broadsword had finished the high priest. Then he had toppled the bloodstained wooden idol of the Bamula deity upon the other shamans and fled into the darkness of the surrounding jungle. He had groped his way for many weary leagues northward, until he reached the region where the crowding forest thinned out and gave way to the open grasslands. Now he meant to cross the savanna on foot to reach the kingdom of Kush, where his barbaric strength and the weight of his sword might find him em- ployment in the service of the dusky monarchs of that ancient land.
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