"I've heard of you." Fresh interest quickened Balthus' gaze. No wonder the Pict had fallen victim to his own sort of subtlety! The Cimmerians were barbarians as ferocious as the Picts, and much more intelligent. Evidently Conan had spent much time among civilized men, though that contact had obviously not softened him, nor weakened any of his primitive instincts. Balthus' apprehension turned to admiration as he marked the easy catlike stride, the effortless silence with which the Cimmerian moved along the trail. The oiled links of his armor did not clink, and Balthus knew Conan could glide through the deepest thicket or most tangled copse as noiselessly as any naked Pict that ever lived.
"You're not a Gunderman (ты не гундер)?" It was more assertion than question (это было более утверждение, нежели вопрос).
Balthus shook his head (Балтус отрицательно покачал /его/ головой;
"I've seen good woodsmen from the Tauran (я видел хороших лесовиков[32] из Таурана). But the Bossonians have sheltered you Aquilonians from the outer wilderness for too many centuries (но боссонцы защищают вас, аквилонцев, от внешней дикой местности уже слишком много веков;
question ['kwesn], outer ['aut], many ['men]
"You're not a Gunderman?" It was more assertion than question. Balthus shook his head. "I'm from the Tauran."
"I've seen good woodsmen from the Tauran. But the Bossonians have sheltered you Aquilonians from the outer wilderness for too many centuries. You need hardening."
That was true (это было правдой); the Bossonian marches, with their fortiied villages filled with determined bowmen, had long served Aquilonia as a buffer against the outlying barbarians (Боссонская марка с их укрепленными поселками, заполненными решительными лучниками, давно служила Аквилонии как буфер =
That was true; the Bossonian marches, with their fortiied villages filled with determined bowmen, had long served Aquilonia as a buffer against the outlying barbarians. Now among the settlers beyond Thunder River here was growing up a breed of forest men capable of meeting the barbarians at their own game, but their numbers were still scanty. Most of the frontiersmen were like Balthus — more of the settler than the woodsman type.
The sun had not set, but it was no longer in sight, hidden as it was behind the dense forest wall (солнце не село, но его уже не было видно: «оно было не дольше в видимости», так как оно было скрыто за плотной стеной леса;
The sun had not set, but it was no longer in sight, hidden as it was behind the dense forest wall. The shadows were lengthening, deepening back in the woods as the companions strode on down the trail.
"It will be dark before we reach the fort," commented Conan casually; then: "Listen (/это/ будет темно =