5

Chapter Five The whip-man

五 打手

One evening, a few days later, K. was walking along one of the corridors that separated his office from the main stairway - he was nearly the last one to leave for home that evening, there remained only a couple of workers in the light of a single bulb in the dispatch department - when he heard a sigh from behind a door which he had himself never opened but which he had always thought just led into a junk room. He stood in amazement and listened again to establish whether he might not be mistaken. For a while there was silence, but then came some more sighs. His first thought was to fetch one of the servitors, it might well have been worth having a witness present, but then he was taken by an uncontrollable curiosity that make him simply yank the door open. It was, as he had thought, a junk room. Old, unusable forms, empty stone ink-bottles lay scattered behind the entrance. But in the cupboard-like room itself stood three men, crouching under the low ceiling. A candle fixed on a shelf gave them light. "What are you doing here?" asked K. quietly, but crossly and without thinking. One of the men was clearly in charge, and attracted attention by being dressed in a kind of dark leather costume which left his neck and chest and his arms exposed. He did not answer. But the other two called out, "Mr. K.! We're to be beaten because you made a complaint about us to the examining judge." And now, K. finally realised that it was actually the two policemen, Franz and Willem, and that the third man held a cane in his hand with which to beat them. "Well," said K., staring at them, "I didn't make any complaint, I only said what took place in my home. And your behaviour was not entirely unobjectionable, after all." "Mr. K.," said Willem, while Franz clearly tried to shelter behind him as protection from the third man, "if you knew how badly we get paid you wouldn't think so badly of us. I've got a family to feed, and Franz here wanted to get married, you just have to get more money where you can, you can't do it just by working hard, not however hard you try. I was sorely tempted by your fine clothes, policemen aren't allowed to do that sort of thing, course they aren't, and it wasn't right of us, but it's tradition that the clothes go to the officers, that's how it's always been, believe me; and it's understandable too, isn't it, what can things like that mean for anyone unlucky enough to be arrested? But if he starts talking about it openly then the punishment has to follow." "I didn't know about any of this that you've been telling me, and I made no sort of request that you be punished, I was simply acting on principle." "Franz," said Willem, turning to the other policeman, "didn't I tell you that the gentleman didn't say he wanted us to be punished? Now you can hear for yourself, he didn't even know we'd have to be punished." "Don't you let them persuade you, talking like that," said the third man to K., "this punishment is both just and unavoidable." "Don't listen to him," said Willem, interrupting himself only to quickly bring his hand to his mouth when it had received a stroke of the cane, "we're only being punished because you made a complaint against us. Nothing would have happened to us otherwise, not even if they'd found out what we'd done. Can you call that justice? Both of us, me especially, we'd proved our worth as good police officers over a long period - you've got to admit yourself that as far as official work was concerned we did the job well - things looked good for us, we had prospects, it's quite certain that we would've been made whip-men too, like this one, only he had the luck not to have anyone make a complaint about him, as you really don't get many complaints like that. Only that's all finished now, Mr. K., our careers are at an end, we're going to have to do work now that's far inferior to police work and besides all this we're going to get this terrible, painful beating." "Can the cane really cause so much pain, then?" asked K., testing the cane that the whip-man swang in front of him. "We're going to have to strip off totally naked," said Willem. "Oh, I see," said K., looking straight at the whip-man, his skin was burned brown like a sailor's, and his face showed health and vigour. "Is there then no possibility of sparing these two their beating?" he asked him. "No," said the whip-man, shaking his head with a laugh. "Get undressed!" he ordered the policemen. And to K. he said, "You shouldn't believe everything they tell you, it's the fear of being beaten, it's already made them a bit weak in the head. This one here, for instance," he pointed at Willem, "all that he told you about his career prospects, it's just ridiculous. Look at him, look how fat he is - the first strokes of the cane will just get lost in all that fat. Do you know what it is that's made him so fat? He's in the habit of, everyone that gets arrested by him, he eats their breakfast. Didn't he eat up your breakfast? Yeah, I thought as much. But a man with a belly like that can't be made into a whip-man and never will be, that is quite out of the question." "There are whip-men like that," Willem insisted, who had just released the belt of this trousers. "No," said the whip-man, striking him such a blow with the cane on his neck that it made him wince, "you shouldn't be listening to this, just get undressed." "I would make it well worth your while if you would let them go," said K., and without looking at the whip-man again - as such matters are best carried on with both pairs of eyes turned down - he pulled out his wallet. "And then you'd try and put in a complaint against me, too," said the whip-man, "and get me flogged. No, no!" "Now, do be reasonable," said K., "if I had wanted to get these two punished I would not now be trying to buy their freedom, would I. I could simply close the door here behind me, go home and see or hear nothing more of it. But that's not what I'm doing, it really is of much more importance to me to let them go free; if I had realised they would be punished, or even that they might be punished, I would never have named them in the first place as they are not the ones I hold responsible. It's the organisation that's to blame, the high officials are the ones to blame." "That's how it is!" shouted the policemen, who then immediately received another blow on their backs, which were by now exposed. "If you had a senior judge here beneath your stick," said K., pressing down the cane as he spoke to stop it being raised once more, "I really would do nothing to stop you, on the contrary, I would even pay you money to give you all the more strength." "Yeah, that's all very plausible, what you're saying there," said the whip-man, "only I'm not the sort of person you can bribe. It's my job to flog people, so I flog them." Franz, the policeman, had been fairly quiet so far, probably in expectation of a good result from K.'s intervention, but now he stepped forward to the door wearing just his trousers, kneeled down hanging on to K.'s arm and whispered, "Even if you can't get mercy shown for both of us, at least try and get me set free. Willem is older than me, he's less sensitive than me in every way, he even got a light beating a couple of years ago, but my record's still clean, I only did things the way I did because Willem led me on to it, he's been my teacher both for good and bad. Down in front of the bank my poor bride is waiting for me at the entrance, I'm so ashamed of myself, it's pitiful." His face was flowing over with tears, and he wiped it dry on K.'s coat. "I'm not going to wait any longer," said the whip-man, taking hold of the cane in both hands and laying in to Franz while Willem cowered back in a corner and looked on secretly, not even daring to turn his head. Then, the sudden scream that shot out from Franz was long and irrevocable, it seemed to come not from a human being but from an instrument that was being tortured, the whole corridor rang with it, it must have been heard by everyone in the building. "Don't shout like that!", called out K., unable to prevent himself, and, as he looked anxiously in the direction from which the servitor would come, he gave Franz a shove, not hard, but hard enough for him to fall down unconscious, clawing at the ground with his hands by reflex; he still did not avoid being hit; the rod still found him on the floor; the tip of the rod swang regularly up and down while he rolled to and fro under its blows. And now one of the servitors appeared in the distance, with another a few steps behind him. K. had quickly thrown the door shut, gone over to one of the windows overlooking the yard and opened it. The screams had completely stopped. So that the servitor wouldn't come in, he called out, "It's only me!" "Good evening, chief clerk," somebody called back. "Is there anything wrong?" "No, no," answered K., "it's only a dog yelping in the yard." There was no sound from the servitors so he added, "You can go back to what you were doing." He did not want to become involved with a conversation with them, and so he leant out of the window. A little while later, when he looked out in the corridor, they had already gone. Now, K. remained at the window, he did not dare go back into the junk room, and he did not want to go home either. The yard he looked down into was small and rectangular, all around it were offices, all the windows were now dark and only those at the very top caught a reflection of the moon. K tried hard to see into the darkness of one corner of the yard, where a few handcarts had been left behind one another. He felt anguish at not having been able to prevent the flogging, but that was not his fault, if Franz had not screamed like that - clearly it must have caused a great deal of pain but it's important to maintain control of oneself at important moments - if Franz had not screamed then it was at least highly probable that K. would have been able to dissuade the whip-man. If all the junior officers were contemptible why would the whip-man, whose position was the most inhumane of all, be any exception, and K. had noticed very clearly how his eyes had lit up when he saw the banknotes, he had obviously only seemed serious about the flogging to raise the level of the bribe a little. And K. had not been ungenerous, he really had wanted to get the policemen freed; if he really had now begun to do something against the degeneracy of the court then it was a matter of course that he would have to do something here as well. But of course, it became impossible for him to do anything as soon as Franz started screaming. K. could not possibly have let the junior bank staff, and perhaps even all sorts of other people, come along and catch him by surprise as he haggled with those people in the junk room. Nobody could really expect that sort of sacrifice of him. If that had been his intention then it would almost have been easier, K. would have taken his own clothes off and offered himself to the whip-man in the policemen's place. The whip-man would certainly not have accepted this substitution anyway, as in that way he would have seriously violated his duty without gaining any benefit. He would most likely have violated his duty twice over, as court employees were probably under orders not to cause any harm to K. while he was facing charges, although there may have been special conditions in force here. However things stood, K. was able to do no more than throw the door shut, even though that would still do nothing to remove all the dangers he faced. It was regrettable that he had given Franz a shove, and it could only be excused by the heat of the moment.

几天后的一个晚上，Ｋ离开办公室，顺着楼道，朝楼梯走去——他差不多总是最后一个离开，只有函件分发处的两个职员还在一盏辉光灯的暗淡光线下继续工作。他突然听见一阵哀叹声从一间屋子的门后传来。他一直以为这间屋子是废物贮藏室，虽然他从未打开过这间屋子的门。他诧异地停下脚步，再仔细听听，以便证实自己没有听错：一切静悄悄的。可是，没隔多久，哀叹声又传出来了。他开头想找一个函件分发处的职员一块去，作为证人，但是后来他在一种不可遏制的好奇心的驱使下，猛地把门推开。正像他一直认为的那样，这是一间废物贮藏室。一捆捆没用的旧报纸和陶制空墨水瓶在门后乱七八糟地堆着。然而屋内却站着三个男人，他们弓着身子，因为天花板很低。一支蜡烛插在架子上，发出微光。“你们在这儿干什么？”Ｋ问；他问得很快，心情很激动，但声音不高。三人中的一个显然能镇住其他两个人，此人披着一件深色皮外套，脖子、前胸的很大一部分和两只胳臂全露着。他在三人中第一个看见Ｋ，但没有反应。另外两个人看见Ｋ后大声说道：“先生！我们要挨鞭子啦，因为你在预审法官面前控告了我们。”只是在这时Ｋ才发现，他俩原来是弗朗茨和威廉，就是那两个看守；第三个人手中拿着桦木条，准备拍他们。“怎么回事？”Ｋ惊奇地看着他们，“我从来没有控告过谁，只是如实讲过我屋里发生的事情。况且，你们在那儿的行为并没有什么可指责的地方。”“先生，”威廉说，而弗朗茨则显然想问到威廉背后去，以便躲开那个人，“如果你知道我们的工资少得可怜的话，你就不会对我们这么无情了。我要养活一家子，弗朗茨要娶媳妇，大家只能各显神通，光靠拼命干活是富不起来的，白天黑夜地干也不行。你的漂亮睡衣当时是一种诱惑，我们很想据为己有，但那种事情是不准许看守干的，那样干不对；不过囚犯身上的衣服是看守们的外快，这种做法历来如此，已经形成了传统，你可以相信我，这也是可以理解的，因为对一个倒霉透顶、身陷囹圄的人来说，身上的衣服还会有多大用处呢？但他如果公开说出去，看守们就肯定会受到惩罚。”“我从来也不知道这种情况，也从来没有要求过惩处你们，我当时只是在捍卫一个原则。”“弗朗茨，”威廉对另一个看守说，“我不是跟你说过，这位先生从来没有请求过惩罚我们吗？现在你也听到了，他甚至不知道我们应该受到惩处。”“别信他们说的那一套，”第三个人向Ｋ指出，“惩罚他们是公正的，也是不可避免的。”“别听他的，”威廉刚开口就住了嘴，因为他的手被桦木条狠狠抽了一下；他赶紧把手凑到嘴边。“我们受惩罚了，只是因为你控告了我们；你如果不控告我们，什么事也不会有了；即使他们发现了我们干的事，也不能拿我们怎么样。你难道把这叫做公正吗？我们两人，尤其是我，长年当看守，忠心耿耿，这是有案可查的——你应该承认，老实说，我们把你看守得够好的——我们有各种机会可以晋升，肯定很快就会升任打手，就像这个人一样；他只不过是交了好运，因为谁也没有控告过他；要知道，这种类型的控告确实是很少有的。现在一切都完了，先生，我们的前途给断送了，我们不得不去做比看守还要低下得多的工作；此外，我们现在还得在这里挨一顿打，我们会痛得死去活来。”“那束桦木条能打得这么痛吗？”Ｋ问道，他细细察看那人在他面前来回挥动的桦木条。“我们得先把衣服脱光，”威廉说。“噢，我知道，”Ｋ说，他更仔细地看了打手一眼；打手晒得像水手那样黝黑，长着一脸横肉，粗壮结实。“没有办法使这两个人不挨打吗？”Ｋ问打手。“没办法，”那人笑着摇摇头说。“把衣服脱掉，”他向两个看守下命令，然后对Ｋ说：“你别信他们说的那一套，他们怕挨打怕得失去了理智。比如说，这个家伙，”他指指威廉，“说什么可能晋升等等，全是胡说八道。瞧，他多胖呀，桦木条抽在他身上，最初几下连印子也不会留下。你知道他为什么会这么胖吗？他去逮捕谁，就把谁的早点吃掉。他把你的早点也吃掉了吧？你瞧，我没说错吧。像他这样一个大腹便便的人永远也不可能晋升成打手，这是肯定的。”“也有像我这样胖的打手，”威廉坚持己见，同时解开了裤腰带。“别说话，”打手一面说，一面挥动桦木条，朝他的脖子抽去，他赶紧往后退，“你们不许说话，快把衣服脱下来。”“如果你放他们走，我就重重赏你，”Ｋ说，他再也没看打手一眼——干这种事情时，双方都得睁只眼，闭只眼——就拿出自己的钱包。“你大概打算以后也告我一状，”打手说，“让我也挨一顿打吧？不，不！”“你好好想想，”Ｋ说，“如果我当初想让这两个人受罚，现在就不会花钱要求饶恕他们了。我可以掉头就走，随手关上门，闭上眼睛，塞住耳朵，回家去；但我不愿意这样做，我确实希望看见放他们走；如果我当时知道他们会挨打或者可能会挨打，那我决不会说出他们的名字。因为我认为他们是没有罪的。有罪的是机构，高级官员们才是有罪的。”“正是这样，”看守们大声说道，他们脱得光光的背上立即挨了一鞭。“如果你打的是一位高级法官，”Ｋ一面说，一面夺下打手重新举起的鞭子，“我就不会让你住手，相反，会再给你一份钱，鼓励你干这件好事。”“你讲的话很合乎情理，”打手说，“但是我拒绝受贿。我是在这里打人的，我得打他们。”那个名叫弗朗茨的看守大概希望Ｋ的干预能成功，因此，原先他尽量往后缩，现在却朝门口走来；他只穿着裤子，一到Ｋ面前，立即双膝着地，拽着Ｋ的手低声说：“如果你无法劝他饶恕我们俩，那你就想想办法，起码让他饶了我吧。威廉年纪比我大，比我耐打得多，另外他以前也挨过打，是几年前的事，我还从来没有这样丢过面子，况且我只是跟威廉学样而已，不管怎么说，他是我的师傅嘛。我那可怜的心上人正在银行门口等着结果呢。我真惭愧，真可怜。”他把脸伏在Ｋ的外衣上，揩干了脸上的泪水。“我不能再等了，”打手说，他用两手握住桦条鞭，抽了弗朗茨一下，威廉吓得赶紧藏到角落里，偷偷地看着，连头都不敢转动一下。弗朗茨的喉咙里随即发出一声尖叫，凄厉而无望，好像不是人发出来的，而是某种刑具发出来的；叫声在过道里回荡，大概整座楼里都能听见。“别嚷，”Ｋ大声说道；他像发了疯似地站在那儿，朝着职员们可能闻声赶来的方向看，同时推了弗朗茨一把；他虽然没用多大力气，但也足以使这个已经一半失去知觉的人跌倒在地了。弗朗茨浑身抽搐，双手抠着地板，但即使这样他也免不了继续挨打。样条鞭朝着躺在地上的弗朗茨猛抽，鞭梢随着他在地上翻滚的频率而有规律地上下挥舞。远处已经出现了一个职员，在他后面几步，还有另外一个。Ｋ赶紧“呼”地一声把门关上，走到近处的一扇窗子跟前，打开了窗：窗下是一个院子。尖叫声完全停息了。Ｋ为了不让职员们走近，便嚷道：“这是我。”“晚安，先生，”他们回答道，“发生了什么事？”“没事，没事，”Ｋ答道，“院子里有一条狗在叫，就这么回事。”由于职员们仍然站着不动，Ｋ又说了一句：“你们可以回去工作了。”他不想和他们多谈，便朝窗外探出身去。过了一会儿，他又朝过道里看了一眼，发现他们已经走了。但是他仍然留在窗前，不敢回废物贮藏室去，也不想回家。他的眼睛看着窗下，这是一个方形的小院子，周围全是办公室，所有的窗子现在都是黑洞洞的，只有最上面的几块窗玻璃却反射出月亮的微光。Ｋ怔怔地注视着院子的一个角落，那儿很黑，胡乱堆着几辆手推车。他因为自己没有能够使看守们避免挨打而深感失望。但是，这件事没有成功并不是他的错；如果弗朗茨不尖叫起来——确实很疼，但在这种时候应该控制自己，那么Ｋ大概就能找到别的办法说服打手了。如果这个机构的所有下层人员都是坏蛋，那么，干这个最无人性的工作的打手又怎么会是例外呢？何况Ｋ清清楚楚地看见，他看到钞票后，眼睛转动了一下，他扬言自己奉公守法显然只是为了抬高要价而已。Ｋ不会吝啬几个钱的，他真的急于让那两个看守脱身；既然他准备和整个腐败的司法机构搏斗，对这件事进行干预当然是他的职责。但是，弗朗茨张口一嚷嚷，Ｋ就无法进行任何干预了：因为函件分发处的职员以及其他各种人闻声赶来后，会发现他也在场，正和这几个家伙一起挤在废物贮藏室中——不能让他们知道他在这里，任何人也不能要求他作出这种牺牲。如果确实需要他作出某种牺牲的话，他倒情愿脱掉自己的衣服，代替看守挨打，这更为简单。打手当然不会同意Ｋ代替看守挨打，这是肯定的；他这样做得不到任何好处，反而有可能被控严重失职，因为随着诉讼的不断深入，Ｋ总有一天会摆脱法院的低级职员的摆布。当然，一般标准在这儿是不适用的。总而言之，Ｋ除了把门“呼”地关上以外，毫无办法，但关上门以后也不能把所有的危险都屏除在外。很遗憾，他最后还推了弗朗茨一把，他当时很激动——这是他惟一的借口。

In the distance, he heard the steps of the servitors; he did not want them to be too aware of his presence, so he closed the window and walked towards the main staircase. At the door of the junk room he stopped and listened for a little while. All was silent. The two policemen were entirely at the whip-man's mercy; he could have beaten them to death. K. reached his hand out for the door handle but drew it suddenly back. He was no longer in any position to help anyone, and the servitors would soon be back; he did, though, promise himself that he would raise the matter again with somebody and see that, as far as it was in his power, those who really were guilty, the high officials whom nobody had so far dared point out to him, received their due punishment. As he went down the main stairway at the front of the bank, he looked carefully round at everyone who was passing, but there was no girl to be seen who might have been waiting for somebody, not even within some distance from the bank. Franz's claim that his bride was waiting for him was thus shown to be a lie, albeit one that was forgivable and intended only to elicit more sympathy.

他听见职员们的脚步声继续从远处传来；为了不引起他们的注意，他关上窗，开始朝楼梯口走去。经过废物贮藏室门前时，他驻足听了一会儿。室内一片寂静，好像是座坟墓。打手可以对两个看守为所欲为，可能已经把他们打死了。Ｋ伸出手去，打算转动门把手，但突然又把手缩回来。这次帮不了他们的忙啦，因为职员们任何时候都可能出现；但是他决心不包庇这件事，要尽一切可能，彻底揭露那些真正的罪犯——那些迄今为止一直不敢露面的高级官员们。他走下银行外的台阶，注意察看所有的行人；但是，即使在附近的街道上也看不见一个正在等人的姑娘。因此，弗朗茨胡诌什么心上人在等着他，纯粹是说谎，不过这完全可以原谅，因为他只是想多博取一些同情。

The policemen were still on K.'s mind all through the following day; he was unable to concentrate on his work and had to stay in his office a little longer than the previous day so that he could finish it. On the way home, as he passed by the junk room again, he opened its door as if that had been his habit. Instead of the darkness he expected, he saw everything unchanged from the previous evening, and did not know how he should respond. Everything was exactly the same as he had seen it when he had opened the door the previous evening. The forms and bottles of ink just inside the doorway, the whip-man with his cane, the two policemen, still undressed, the candle on the shelf, and the two policemen began to wail and call out "Mr. K.!" K. slammed the door immediately shut, and even thumped on it with his fists as if that would shut it all the firmer. Almost in tears, he ran to the servitors working quietly at the copying machine. "Go and get that junk room cleared out!" he shouted, and, in amazement, they stopped what they were doing. "It should have been done long ago, we're sinking in dirt!" They would be able to do the job the next day, K. nodded, it was too late in the evening to make them do it there and then as he had originally intended. He sat down briefly in order to keep them near him for a little longer, looked through a few of the copies to give the impression that he was checking them and then, as he saw that they would not dare to leave at the same time as himself, went home tired and with his mind numb.

第二天，Ｋ一整天都在想着那两个看守；他心不在焉，误了公事，为了赶完工作，不得不在办公室里留得比头天还晚。他走出办公室，从废物贮藏室门前经过时，控制不住自己，便打开了贮藏室的门。那儿并非预料中的一片黑暗，眼前的景象把他完全搞糊涂了。每样东西都照旧，和他头天傍晚开门时见到的一模一样。一捆捆旧报纸和一个个墨水瓶还在门后堆着，手上拿着桦条鞭的打手和衣服穿得整整齐齐的两个看守仍旧站在那儿，书架上插着一根燃着的蜡烛。看守们一见Ｋ，马上喊道：“先生！”Ｋ立即把门重新关上，又在门上擂了几拳，以便确信门已经关严实了。他差不多是哭着跑到职员们跟前，他们正有条不紊地在拷贝机旁忙着。职员们抬起头，诧异地看着他。“把那间废物贮藏室腾出来，行吗？”他嚷道，“脏得连气也透不过来了！”职员们答应第二天去清理。Ｋ点点头，他不能硬要他们马上动手，因为已经很晚了；他原先倒是有这个意图的。他坐下呆了一会儿，想和这些人作个伴。他翻翻复印件，希望能造成一个他在检查工作的印象；后来，他发现这些人不大敢和他一起离开大楼，便拖着疲惫的身体，脑子里几乎一无所思地回家了。