[4596] "O Cruzeiro do Snark" de Jack London e o jovem leproso português que ganhou uma corrida de cavalos

Uma das nossas mais recentes releituras  (que ainda está a decorrer) tem sido "O Cruzeiro do Snark", de Jack London, ed. Antígona, Lisboa, 1998, 1.ª edição portuguesa, em tradução de Ana Barradas.  No capítulo VII, "Os leprosos de Molokai" fala-se da colónia/leprosaria de Molokai (ilha do Havaí) e de uma corrida de cavalos em que jóqueis, juízes e público são leprosos. Aqui fica, na língua original, a descrição da corrida, ganha por um jovem português (de provável/possível origem açoriana, madeirense ou, sabe-se lá, cabo-verdiana). Um livro muito interessante para quem como vários frequentadores do Pd'B gosta de ilhas, mar, veleiros e aventura.

For instance, in the afternoon of the Fourth of July all the lepers gathered at the race-track for the sports. I had wandered away from the Superintendent and the physicians in order to get a snapshot of the finish of one of the races. It was an interesting race, and partisanship ran high. Three horses were entered, one ridden by a Chinese, one by an Hawaiian, and one by a Portuguese boy. All three riders were lepers; so were the judges and the crowd. The race was twice around the track. The Chinese and the Hawaiian got away together and rode neck and neck, the Portuguese boy toiling along two hundred feet behind. Around they went in the same positions. Halfway around on the second and final lap the Chinese pulled away and got one length ahead of the Hawaiian. At the same time the Portuguese boy was beginning to crawl up. But it looked hopeless. The crowd went wild. All the lepers were passionate lovers of horseflesh. The Portuguese boy crawled nearer and nearer. I went wild, too. They were on the home stretch. The Portuguese boy passed the Hawaiian. There was a thunder of hoofs, a rush of the three horses bunched together, the jockeys plying their whips, and every last onlooker bursting his throat, or hers, with shouts and yells. Nearer, nearer, inch by inch, the Portuguese boy crept up, and passed, yes, passed, winning by a head from the Chinese. I came to myself in a group of lepers. They were yelling, tossing their hats, and dancing around like fiends. So was I. When I came to I was waving my hat and murmuring ecstatically: "By golly, the boy wins! The boy wins!"

1.ª edição americana, da Macmillan, 1911