Audiobook Dictation: “He would have been drowned, the…”

He would have been drowned, the breath battered clean out of him, in half a minute more, had he maintained the hopelessly unequal struggle.

あのまま絶望的に不利な闘いを続けていたら、息をすっかり叩き出され、あと三十秒で溺れていただろう。

Once more he half emerged, filled his gasping lungs, and pounded onward desperately, half flying and half swimming.

もう一度体を半ば出し、あえぐ肺に空気を満たすと、半ば飛び半ば泳ぎながら必死に突き進んだ。

It was a mongrel method of progression, in which he was singularly expert.

それは雑種的な進み方だったが、彼はそれに並外れて熟達していた。

Immediately over his outstretched gleaming head flew the hawk.

伸ばしたつややかな頭のすぐ真上を、タカが飛んでいた。

Where the waves for an instant sank, they came closer,--but not quite within grasping reach.

波が一瞬沈むところでは両者の距離は縮まったが、まだつかみ取れるほどではなかった。

The marauder from the upper air was waiting till his quarry should reach less turbulent waters.

上空から来た略奪者は、獲物がもっと穏やかな水域に達するのを待っていた。

A few yards further on, the torrent fell seething over a long ledge into a pool of brief quiet.

数ヤード先で、急流は長い岩棚を越えて泡立ちながら落ち、つかの間静かな淵へと流れ込んでいた。

Immediately beyond the lip of the ledge the hawk lifted his wings high over his back and struck downward, so that his talons went deep into the water.

岩棚の縁を越えたすぐ先で、タカは翼を背の上高く掲げて急降下し、その爪は深く水中に突き刺さった。

But water was all they clutched.

だが、つかんだのは水だけだった。

The wily drake had plunged with the plunge of the fall itself, and was now darting onward at a safe depth.

狡猾な雄ガモは滝の落下と同時に潜り込み、今は安全な深さを矢のように進んでいた。