"Who's there?" challenged a harsh voice (кто там? — потребовал ответа грубый голос). "Stand where you are until we know you, or you'll get an arrow through you (стой, где /стоишь/, пока мы /не/ опознаем тебя, или /ты/ получишь стрелу /сквозь тебя/)."

"You couldn't hit an elephant in this darkness," answered Conan impatiently (ты не смог бы попасть /и/ в слона в этой темноте, — ответил Конан нетерпеливо). "Come on, fool; it's I–Conan (давай = кончай, болван, это я — Конан). The Picts are over the river (пикты перешли: «находятся через» реку)."

task [tɑ:sk], progress [ˈprəuɡrəs], impatiently [ɪmˈpeɪʃəntlɪ]

When Conan turned from the Velitrium road, he expected a run of some nine miles and set himself to the task. But he had not gone four when he heard the sounds of a party of men ahead of him. From the noise they were making in their progress he knew they were not Picts. He hailed them.

"Who's there?" challenged a harsh voice. "Stand where you are until we know you, or you'll get an arrow through you."

"You couldn't hit an elephant in this darkness," answered Conan impatiently. "Come on, fool; it's I–Conan. The Picts are over the river."

"We suspected as much," answered the leader of the men, as they strode forward — tall, rangy men, stern-faced, with bows in their hands (мы так и подозревали, — ответил предводитель людей, когда они пошли вперед — высокие, поджарые мужчины, с суровыми лицами, с луками в /их/ руках). "One of our party wounded an antelope and tracked it nearly to Black River (один из нашего отряда ранил антилопу и шел по следу за ней почти до Черной реки). He heard them yelling down the river and ran back to our camp (он услышал их вопли ниже по реке и прибежал назад в наш лагерь). We left the salt and the wagons, turned the oxen loose, and came as swiftly as we could (мы оставили соль и телеги, освободили волов и пришли = пошли назад, как можно быстрее: «так быстро, как мы могли»). If the Picts are besieging the fort, war- parties will be ranging up the road toward our cabins (если пикты осаждают форт, военные отряды будут рыскать вверх по дороге в сторону наших хижин = забредут по дороге к нашим хижинам)."

forward [ˈfɔ: wəd], nearly [ˈnɪəlɪ], oxen [ɔksən]

"We suspected as much," answered the leader of the men, as they strode forward — tall, rangy men, stern-faced, with bows in their hands. "One of our party wounded an antelope and tracked it nearly to Black River. He heard them yelling down the river and ran back to our camp. We left the salt and the wagons, turned the oxen loose, and came as swiftly as we could. If the Picts are besieging the fort, war-parties will be ranging up the road toward our cabins."