Chapter 3
第三章
JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET
约翰·费瑞厄和先知的会谈
THREE weeks had passed since Jefferson Hope and his comrades had departed from Salt Lake City.
杰弗逊·侯波和他的伙伴们离开盐湖城已经有三个礼拜了。
John Ferrier's heart was sore within him when he thought of the young man's return, and of the impending loss of his adopted child.
约翰·费瑞厄每当想到这个年轻人回来的时候，他就要失去他的义女，心中便感到非常痛苦。
Yet her bright and happy face reconciled him to the arrangement more than any argument could have done.
但是，女儿的那张明朗而又幸福的脸，比任何争论都更能说服他顺从这个安排。
He had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon.
他心中早已暗暗决定，无论如何，他决不让他的女儿嫁给一个摩门教徒。
Such marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace.
他认为，这种婚姻根本不能算是婚姻，简直就是一种耻辱。
Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible.
不管他对于摩门教教义的看法究竟如何，但是在这一个问题上面，他却是坚定不移的。
He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints.
然而，他对于这个问题，却不能不守口如瓶，因为在摩门教的天下，发表违反教义的言论是十分危险的。
Yes, a dangerous matter–so dangerous that even the most saintly dared only whisper their religious opinions with bated breath,
的确，这是十分危险的，而且危险到这种程度，就连教会中那些德高望重的圣者们，也只敢在暗地里偷偷地谈论他们对于教会的意见，
lest something which fell from their lips might be misconstrued, and bring down a swift retribution upon them.
唯恐一句话露出去就会马上招致横祸。
The victims of persecution had now turned persecutors on their own account, and persecutors of the most terrible description.
过去被迫害的人，为了报复，现在一变而为迫害者，并且是变本加厉，极端残酷。
Not the Inquisition of Seville, nor the German Vehmgericht, nor the secret societies of Italy, were ever able to put a more formidable machinery in motion than that which cast a cloud over the state of Utah.
塞维尔的宗教法庭、日尔曼人的叛教律以及意大利秘密党所拥有的那些庞大的行动组织等等，比之于摩门教徒在犹他州所布下的天罗地网，都是望尘莫及的。
Its invisibility, and the mystery which was attached to it, made this organization doubly terrible.
这个无形的组织出没无常，再加上与它相关联的那些神秘活动，使得这个组织倍加可怖。
It appeared to be omniscient and omnipotent, and yet was neither seen nor heard.
这个组织似乎是无所不知、无所不能；但是，它的所作所为人们既看不见，也听不到。
The man who held out against the Church vanished away, and none knew whither he had gone or what had befallen him.
谁要是敢于反对教会，谁就会突然失踪。既没有人知道他的下落，也没有人知道他的遭遇。
His wife and his children awaited him at home, but no father ever returned to tell them how he had fared at the hands of his secret judges.
家中妻子儿女倚门而望，可是父亲却一去不返，再也不会回来向他们诉说他落在他的秘密审判者手中的遭遇。
A rash word or a hasty act was followed by annihilation, and yet none knew what the nature might be of this terrible power which was suspended over them.
说话稍一不慎，行动偶失检点，立刻就会招来杀身之祸；而且谁也不知道笼罩在他们头上的这种可怕的势力究竟是什么。
No wonder that men went about in fear and trembling, and that even in the heart of the wilderness they dared not whisper the doubts which oppressed them.
因此，人们个个惊慌，人人恐惧；即使是在旷野无人之处，也不敢对压其他们的这种势力暗地里表示疑义，这也就不足为奇了。
