那艘船

In bed we concocted our plans for the morrow.

在床上，我們籌劃著明天的打算。

But to my surprise and no small concern, Queequeg now gave me to understand, that he had been diligently consulting Yojo—the name of his black little god—and Yojo had told him two or three times over, and strongly insisted upon it everyway, that instead of our going together among the whaling-fleet in harbor, and in concert selecting our craft; instead of this, I say, Yojo earnestly enjoined that the selection of the ship should rest wholly with me, inasmuch as Yojo purposed befriending us; and, in order to do so, had already pitched upon a vessel, which, if left to myself, I, Ishmael, should infallibly light upon, for all the world as though it had turned out by chance; and in that vessel I must immediately ship myself, for the present irrespective of Queequeg.

但叫我吃驚、也頗為憂心的是，魁魁格這會兒讓我明白：他一直在勤勉地請示約糾——那是他那尊黑色小神的名字——而約糾再三告訴他、並且千方百計堅持：我們不該一起到港中的捕鯨船隊裡、合力挑選我們的船；不該如此，我是說，約糾懇切地囑咐，選船一事得全交由我作主，因為約糾有意眷顧我們；為此，牠已經選定了一艘船，這船，只要交給我自己，我以實瑪利就必定會「碰巧」找上它——彷彿純屬機緣巧合；而我必須立刻上那艘船受僱，眼下且不必管魁魁格。

I have forgotten to mention that, in many things, Queequeg placed great confidence in the excellence of Yojo’s judgment and surprising forecast of things; and cherished Yojo with considerable esteem, as a rather good sort of god, who perhaps meant well enough upon the whole, but in all cases did not succeed in his benevolent designs.

我忘了交代：在許多事情上，魁魁格都極為信賴約糾的判斷之精準、預見之神奇；他對約糾敬重有加，把牠當作一位相當不錯的神——大體上心地大概還算良善，只是並非每回都能讓牠那番善意如願以償。

Now, this plan of Queequeg’s, or rather Yojo’s, touching the selection of our craft; I did not like that plan at all.

且說魁魁格——或者該說是約糾——這個關於選船的計畫；我一點都不喜歡。

I had not a little relied upon Queequeg’s sagacity to point out the whaler best fitted to carry us and our fortunes securely.

我本來頗指望魁魁格的睿智，替我們指出一艘最適合安穩載著我們和我們的命運的捕鯨船。

But as all my remonstrances produced no effect upon Queequeg, I was obliged to acquiesce; and accordingly prepared to set about this business with a determined rushing sort of energy and vigor, that should quickly settle that trifling little affair.

但既然我一切的規勸對魁魁格都不起作用，我只好默許；於是準備拿出一股決絕、雷厲風行的幹勁與精力來著手這件事，好把這樁不值一提的小事速速辦妥。

Next morning early, leaving Queequeg shut up with Yojo in our little bedroom—for it seemed that it was some sort of Lent or Ramadan, or day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer with Queequeg and Yojo that day; how it was I never could find out, for, though I applied myself to it several times, I never could master his liturgies and XXXIX Articles—leaving Queequeg, then, fasting on his tomahawk pipe, and Yojo warming himself at his sacrificial fire of shavings, I sallied out among the shipping.

第二天一早，我把魁魁格和約糾一起關在我們的小臥房裡——因為那天對魁魁格和約糾而言，似乎是某種四旬齋、齋戒月，或是禁食、克己、禱告的日子；究竟是怎麼回事我始終弄不明白，因為我雖試過好幾次，卻怎麼也搞不懂他那套禮拜儀式和「三十九條信綱」——我把禁食中、嘴啣菸斗戰斧的魁魁格，連同在木屑獻祭火堆旁取暖的約糾，都留在房裡，自己出門到船堆中去了。

After much prolonged sauntering and many random inquiries, I learnt that there were three ships up for three-years’ voyages—The Devil-dam, the Tit-bit, and the Pequod.

經過好一陣漫無目的的閒逛、許多隨機的打聽，我得知有三艘船要跑三年的航程——「魔鬼母號」、「珍饈號」、「裴廓德號」。

Devil-Dam, I do not know the origin of; Tit-bit is obvious; Pequod, you will no doubt remember, was the name of a celebrated tribe of Massachusetts Indians; now extinct as the ancient Medes.

「魔鬼母」的來歷我不知道；「珍饈」一望可知；「裴廓德」——你想必記得——是麻州一個著名印第安部族的名字，如今已像古米底人一樣絕滅了。

I peered and pryed about the Devil-dam; from her, hopped over to the Tit-bit; and finally, going on board the Pequod, looked around her for a moment, and then decided that this was the very ship for us.

我在「魔鬼母號」上窺探了一番；從她那兒，又跳到「珍饈號」；最後上了「裴廓德號」，環顧片刻，便斷定這正是最適合我們的那艘船。

You may have seen many a quaint craft in your day, for aught I know;—square-toed luggers; mountainous Japanese junks; butter-box galliots, and what not; but take my word for it, you never saw such a rare old craft as this same rare old Pequod.

就我所知，你這輩子也許見過不少古怪的船——方頭的小帆船、山一般的日本帆船、方頭笨腦的荷蘭三桅貨船等等；但你聽我的：你從沒見過像這艘古雅的老裴廓德號這般稀奇的老船。

She was a ship of the old school, rather small if anything; with an old-fashioned claw-footed look about her.

她是艘老派的船，論起來還偏小；通身帶著一種老式「爪足傢俱」般的模樣。

Long seasoned and weather-stained in the typhoons and calms of all four oceans, her old hull’s complexion was darkened like a French grenadier’s, who has alike fought in Egypt and Siberia.

在四大洋的颱風與死寂中久經磨練、飽受風霜，她那老船身的「膚色」黑沉沉的，像個既在埃及又在西伯利亞打過仗的法國擲彈兵。

Her venerable bows looked bearded.

她那令人起敬的船首，看上去像長了鬍子。

Her masts—cut somewhere on the coast of Japan, where her original ones were lost overboard in a gale—her masts stood stiffly up like the spines of the three old kings of Cologne.

她的桅杆——是在日本沿海某處砍的，因為原來的桅在一場風暴中落了海——那幾根桅僵直地立著，像科隆三王（東方三博士）的脊骨。

Her ancient decks were worn and wrinkled, like the pilgrim-worshipped flag-stone in Canterbury Cathedral where Becket bled.

她那古老的甲板磨損起皺，像坎特伯雷大教堂裡那塊被朝聖者膜拜、貝克特當年血濺其上的石板。

But to all these her old antiquities, were added new and marvellous features, pertaining to the wild business that for more than half a century she had followed.

但在她這一切古老的舊跡之上，還添加了種種新奇非凡的特徵，全都關乎她半個多世紀以來所從事的那樁狂野行當。

Old Captain Peleg, many years her chief-mate, before he commanded another vessel of his own, and now a retired seaman, and one of the principal owners of the Pequod,—this old Peleg, during the term of his chief-mateship, had built upon her original grotesqueness, and inlaid it, all over, with a quaintness both of material and device, unmatched by anything except it be Thorkill-Hake’s carved buckler or bedstead.

老法勒船長——當年做了她多年的大副，後來才去指揮自己的另一艘船，如今是個退休水手、也是裴廓德號的主要船東之一——這老法勒，在他當大副的任內，便在她原有的怪奇之上大加經營，通身鑲嵌了種種材料與設計的古雅玩意兒，除了托基爾-哈克那雕花的盾牌或床架，再沒什麼比得上。

She was apparelled like any barbaric Ethiopian emperor, his neck heavy with pendants of polished ivory.

她裝扮得像個蠻族的衣索比亞皇帝，脖子上沉甸甸掛滿磨光的象牙墜飾。

She was a thing of trophies. A cannibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in the chased bones of her enemies.

她是一件由戰利品堆成的東西。一艘「食人族般的船」，用她敵人那些雕鏤過的骨頭，把自己裝點起來。

All round, her unpanelled, open bulwarks were garnished like one continuous jaw, with the long sharp teeth of the sperm whale, inserted there for pins, to fasten her old hempen thews and tendons to.

她四周那沒鑲板、敞開的舷牆，像一整排連綿的顎，鑲飾著抹香鯨又長又尖的牙齒——那些牙被嵌在那兒當插栓，用來繫住她那些麻製的「筋」與「腱」（繩索）。

Those thews ran not through base blocks of land wood, but deftly travelled over sheaves of sea-ivory.

那些「筋」並不穿過陸地木材做的尋常滑車塊，而是俐落地繞行在「海象牙」做的滑輪上。

Scorning a turnstile wheel at her reverend helm, she sported there a tiller; and that tiller was in one mass, curiously carved from the long narrow lower jaw of her hereditary foe.

她那令人肅然的舵位，不屑用旋輪式的舵輪，而是擺著一根舵柄；那舵柄是整整一塊，奇異地用她世仇（鯨）那又長又窄的下顎骨雕成。

The helmsman who steered by that tiller in a tempest, felt like the Tartar, when he holds back his fiery steed by clutching its jaw.

在風暴中握著那舵柄掌舵的舵手，感覺就像那韃靼人——靠死攥住烈馬的下顎來勒住牠。

A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with that.

一艘高貴的船，卻不知怎地無比憂鬱！一切高貴之物，都帶著這抹憂鬱。

Now when I looked about the quarter-deck, for some one having authority, in order to propose myself as a candidate for the voyage, at first I saw nobody; but I could not well overlook a strange sort of tent, or rather wigwam, pitched a little behind the main-mast.

這會兒我在後甲板上四下張望，想找個有權作主的人、好毛遂自薦參加這趟航程，起先一個人也沒看見；但我實在難以忽視主桅後頭不遠處搭著的一座奇怪的帳篷——或者該說是印第安棚屋。

It seemed only a temporary erection used in port.

它似乎只是在港內臨時搭起來用的。

It was of a conical shape, some ten feet high; consisting of the long, huge slabs of limber black bone taken from the middle and highest part of the jaws of the right-whale.

它呈圓錐形，約莫十英尺高；是用一根根又長又大、富彈性的黑色骨板搭成的，那些骨板取自露脊鯨上下顎中段最高的部位。

Planted with their broad ends on the deck, a circle of these slabs laced together, mutually sloped towards each other, and at the apex united in a tufted point, where the loose hairy fibres waved to and fro like the top-knot on some old Pottowottamie Sachem’s head.

這一圈骨板寬的一端立在甲板上，彼此繫綁、相互向內傾斜，在頂端會聚成一個簇狀的尖，那兒鬆散的鬚狀纖維來回飄擺，像某個年老的波塔瓦托米族酋長頭頂的那撮髮髻。

A triangular opening faced towards the bows of the ship, so that the insider commanded a complete view forward.

一個三角形的開口朝著船首，這樣裡頭的人便能把前方一覽無遺。

And half concealed in this queer tenement, I at length found one who by his aspect seemed to have authority; and who, it being noon, and the ship’s work suspended, was now enjoying respite from the burden of command.

在這古怪的居所裡半遮半掩著，我終於找到一個人——從神態看似乎是有權作主的；當時正當正午、船上活計停歇，他正享受著卸下指揮重擔後的片刻喘息。

He was seated on an old-fashioned oaken chair, wriggling all over with curious carving; and the bottom of which was formed of a stout interlacing of the same elastic stuff of which the wigwam was constructed.

他坐在一張老式的橡木椅上，那椅子通身扭曲著古怪的雕飾；椅座是用搭那棚屋的同一種有彈性的材料（鯨骨）粗粗交織而成的。

There was nothing so very particular, perhaps, about the appearance of the elderly man I saw; he was brown and brawny, like most old seamen, and heavily rolled up in blue pilot-cloth, cut in the Quaker style; only there was a fine and almost microscopic net-work of the minutest wrinkles interlacing round his eyes, which must have arisen from his continual sailings in many hard gales, and always looking to windward;—for this causes the muscles about the eyes to become pursed together.

我所見的這位老人，外表也許沒什麼特別之處；他像大多數老水手一樣黝黑壯碩，厚厚裹著一身貴格式樣裁剪的藍色領航呢；只是他眼角交織著一張細密、幾近顯微鏡才見的最細微皺紋網——那必定是他在許多惡劣風暴中不斷航行、又總是迎風瞭望所致；因為這會使眼周的肌肉緊縮成一團。

Such eye-wrinkles are very effectual in a scowl.

這樣的眼角皺紋，皺起眉頭來特別有威懾力。

“Is this the Captain of the Pequod?” said I, advancing to the door of the tent.

「這位就是裴廓德號的船長嗎？」我一邊說，一邊走向那帳篷的門口。

“Supposing it be the captain of the Pequod, what dost thou want of him?” he demanded.

「就算我是裴廓德號的船長，你找他做什麼？」他喝問道。

“I was thinking of shipping.”

「我想受僱上船。」

“Thou wast, wast thou? I see thou art no Nantucketer—ever been in a stove boat?”

「你想，是嗎？我看你不是南塔克特人——上過被鯨撞破的小艇沒有？」

“No, Sir, I never have.”

「沒有，先生，我從沒上過。」

“Dost know nothing at all about whaling, I dare say—eh?

「我敢說，你對捕鯨一竅不通——是吧？」

“Nothing, Sir; but I have no doubt I shall soon learn. I’ve been several voyages in the merchant service, and I think that—”

「一竅不通，先生；但我毫不懷疑很快就能學會。我在商船上跑過幾趟，我想——」

“Merchant service be damned. Talk not that lingo to me. Dost see that leg?—I’ll take that leg away from thy stern, if ever thou talkest of the marchant service to me again. Marchant service indeed! I suppose now ye feel considerable proud of having served in those marchant ships. But flukes! man, what makes thee want to go a whaling, eh?—it looks a little suspicious, don’t it, eh?—Hast not been a pirate, hast thou?—Didst not rob thy last Captain, didst thou?—Dost not think of murdering the officers when thou gettest to sea?”

「商船去他的。別跟我扯那套行話。看見這條腿沒有？——你要是再跟我提『商船』，我就一腳把你那屁股後頭的腿給踹飛。商船，哼！我看你這會兒準為自己在那些商船上幹過而頗為自得吧。可是，見鬼了！老兄，你究竟為啥想去捕鯨，嗯？——這有點可疑，不是嗎，嗯？——你不會是當過海盜吧？——你沒搶過你上一個船長吧？——你出了海，不會起意謀殺那些船副吧？」

I protested my innocence of these things.

我申辯說自己與這些事毫不相干。

I saw that under the mask of these half humorous innuendoes, this old seaman, as an insulated Quakerish Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather distrustful of all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the Vineyard.

我看得出，在這些半開玩笑的影射底下，這位老水手——作為一個與世隔絕、帶貴格味的南塔克特人——滿是他那套島民的偏見，對一切外鄉人都頗為猜疑，除非他們是從鱈魚角或瑪莎葡萄園島來的。

“But what takes thee a-whaling? I want to know that before I think of shipping ye.”

「可你究竟為什麼要去捕鯨？我得先弄清楚這個，才考慮要不要僱你。」

“Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world.”

「這個嘛，先生，我想見識見識捕鯨是怎麼回事。我想看看這個世界。」

“Want to see what whaling is, eh? Have ye clapped eye on Captain Ahab?”

「想見識捕鯨是怎麼回事，嗯？你見過亞哈船長了沒有？」

“Who is Captain Ahab, sir?”

「亞哈船長是誰，先生？」

“Aye, aye, I thought so. Captain Ahab is the Captain of this ship.”

「是啊，是啊，我就知道。亞哈船長就是這艘船的船長。」

“I am mistaken then. I thought I was speaking to the Captain himself.”

「那是我搞錯了。我還以為我是在跟船長本人說話呢。」

“Thou art speaking to Captain Peleg—that’s who ye are speaking to, young man. It belongs to me and Captain Bildad to see the Pequod fitted out for the voyage, and supplied with all her needs, including crew. We are part owners and agents. But as I was going to say, if thou wantest to know what whaling is, as thou tellest ye do, I can put ye in a way of finding it out before ye bind yourself to it, past backing out. Clap eye on Captain Ahab, young man, and thou wilt find that he has only one leg.”

「你是在跟法勒船長說話——你說話的對象就是他，年輕人。把裴廓德號裝備妥當、備齊一切所需（包括船員），是我和比勒達船長的事。我們是部分船東兼代理人。不過我正要說：你既說想知道捕鯨是怎麼回事，那我能在你還沒把自己綁死、退無可退之前，給你指條門路去弄明白。瞧瞧亞哈船長吧，年輕人，你會發現他只剩一條腿。」

“What do you mean, sir? Was the other one lost by a whale?”

「您這話什麼意思，先生？另一條腿是被鯨弄掉的嗎？」

“Lost by a whale! Young man, come nearer to me: it was devoured, chewed up, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever chipped a boat!—ah, ah!”

「被鯨弄掉的！年輕人，靠近我點：那是被史上最兇、最龐然、撞碎過小艇的那頭抹香鯨，給吞了、嚼了、嘎吱嘎吱咬碎的！——啊，啊！」

I was a little alarmed by his energy, perhaps also a little touched at the hearty grief in his concluding exclamation, but said as calmly as I could, “What you say is no doubt true enough, sir; but how could I know there was any peculiar ferocity in that particular whale, though indeed I might have inferred as much from the simple fact of the accident.”

他這股勁頭叫我有點吃驚，他結尾那聲喟嘆裡發自肺腑的悲痛，或許也叫我有點動容，但我盡量鎮定地說：「您說的無疑都是實情，先生；可我怎麼會知道那頭特定的鯨有什麼異乎尋常的兇性呢——雖然單憑這場意外，我倒也許能推想出幾分。」

“Look ye now, young man, thy lungs are a sort of soft, d’ye see; thou dost not talk shark a bit. Sure, ye’ve been to sea before now; sure of that?”

「你聽我說，年輕人，你這肺哪，是軟趴趴的那種，你瞧；你說起話來一點都不『鯊』（不夠悍）。你準是出過海的；這點沒錯吧？」

“Sir,” said I, “I thought I told you that I had been four voyages in the merchant—”

「先生，」我說，「我想我跟您說過了，我在商——上跑過四趟——」

“Hard down out of that! Mind what I said about the marchant service—don’t aggravate me—I won’t have it. But let us understand each other. I have given thee a hint about what whaling is; do ye yet feel inclined for it?”

「給我把舵打死、別往那兒去！記住我說的『商船』那檔事——別惹我——我可不依。不過咱們把話說明白。我已經給你透了捕鯨是怎麼回事的口風；你這會兒還想幹嗎？」

“I do, sir.”

「我想，先生。」

“Very good. Now, art thou the man to pitch a harpoon down a live whale’s throat, and then jump after it? Answer, quick!”

「很好。那麼，你是那種敢把魚叉戳進一頭活鯨的喉嚨、然後縱身跟著跳下去的人嗎？回答，快！」

“I am, sir, if it should be positively indispensable to do so; not to be got rid of, that is; which I don’t take to be the fact.”

「我是，先生——倘若那當真非做不可、躲也躲不掉的話；不過我認為事實並非如此。」

“Good again. Now then, thou not only wantest to go a-whaling, to find out by experience what whaling is, but ye also want to go in order to see the world? Was not that what ye said? I thought so. Well then, just step forward there, and take a peep over the weather-bow, and then back to me and tell me what ye see there.”

「又答得好。那麼，你不單想去捕鯨、親身弄明白捕鯨是怎麼回事，還想藉此去看看世界？你不是這麼說的嗎？我猜也是。那好，你就往前走幾步，從上風船頭探頭看一眼，再回來告訴我你在那兒看見了什麼。」

For a moment I stood a little puzzled by this curious request, not knowing exactly how to take it, whether humorously or in earnest.

有那麼一刻，我被這古怪的要求弄得有點懵，拿不準該怎麼領會它——是當玩笑還是當真。

But concentrating all his crow’s feet into one scowl, Captain Peleg started me on the errand.

但法勒船長把他滿臉的魚尾紋都收攏成一道怒容，催我去辦這差事。

Going forward and glancing over the weather bow, I perceived that the ship swinging to her anchor with the flood-tide, was now obliquely pointing towards the open ocean.

我走到前頭，從上風船頭望出去，察覺這船正隨著漲潮繞著錨擺動，這會兒斜斜地指向那片開闊的大洋。

The prospect was unlimited, but exceedingly monotonous and forbidding; not the slightest variety that I could see.

眼前的景象一望無際，卻單調得叫人發悶、又拒人於千里之外；我看不出絲毫變化。

“Well, what’s the report?” said Peleg when I came back; “what did ye see?”

「怎麼樣，報告呢？」我回來時法勒說；「你看見了什麼？」

“Not much,” I replied—“nothing but water; considerable horizon though, and there’s a squall coming up, I think.”

「沒看見什麼，」我答道——「除了水什麼也沒有；不過地平線倒挺遼闊，我想還有一陣狂風要來。」

“Well, what does thou think then of seeing the world? Do ye wish to go round Cape Horn to see any more of it, eh? Can’t ye see the world where you stand?”

「那你這會兒對『看世界』作何感想？你還想繞合恩角去多看點它嗎，嗯？你站著的地方，不就看得見世界了嗎？」

I was a little staggered, but go a-whaling I must, and I would; and the Pequod was as good a ship as any—I thought the best—and all this I now repeated to Peleg.

我被將了一軍，可捕鯨我是非去不可、也鐵了心要去；而裴廓德號跟任何一艘船一樣好——我看是最好的——這一切我此刻都對法勒又說了一遍。

Seeing me so determined, he expressed his willingness to ship me.

見我如此堅決，他便表示願意僱我。

“And thou mayest as well sign the papers right off,” he added—“come along with ye.” And so saying, he led the way below deck into the cabin.

「那你不如現在就把文件簽了，」他又說——「跟我來吧。」說著，他領頭往甲板下、進到艙裡去。

Seated on the transom was what seemed to me a most uncommon and surprising figure.

坐在船尾橫板上的，在我看來是個極不尋常、頗令人吃驚的人物。

It turned out to be Captain Bildad, who along with Captain Peleg was one of the largest owners of the vessel; the other shares, as is sometimes the case in these ports, being held by a crowd of old annuitants; widows, fatherless children, and chancery wards; each owning about the value of a timber head, or a foot of plank, or a nail or two in the ship.

原來那是比勒達船長，他和法勒船長同為這船最大的股東之一；其餘的股份，正如這些港口有時的情形，由一群領年金的老人持有——寡婦、失怙的孩子、由衡平法院監護的孤兒；每人約莫擁有相當於船上一根繫纜柱、一英尺甲板、或一兩根釘子的價值。

People in Nantucket invest their money in whaling vessels, the same way that you do yours in approved state stocks bringing in good interest.

南塔克特人把錢投在捕鯨船上，就跟你把錢投進那些利息優厚、有保證的州債券一樣。

Now, Bildad, like Peleg, and indeed many other Nantucketers, was a Quaker, the island having been originally settled by that sect; and to this day its inhabitants in general retain in an uncommon measure the peculiarities of the Quaker, only variously and anomalously modified by things altogether alien and heterogeneous.

且說比勒達，跟法勒、也跟許多別的南塔克特人一樣，是個貴格教徒，這島當初本就是由那教派拓居的；直到今天，島上居民大體仍異乎尋常地保留著貴格派的種種特點，只不過被一些全然外來、異質的東西，五花八門、反常地改了樣。

For some of these same Quakers are the most sanguinary of all sailors and whale-hunters. They are fighting Quakers; they are Quakers with a vengeance.

因為這些貴格教徒中，有些是所有水手與獵鯨人裡最嗜血的。他們是好鬥的貴格教徒；是「徹頭徹尾」的貴格教徒。

So that there are instances among them of men, who, named with Scripture names—a singularly common fashion on the island—and in childhood naturally imbibing the stately dramatic thee and thou of the Quaker idiom; still, from the audacious, daring, and boundless adventure of their subsequent lives, strangely blend with these unoutgrown peculiarities, a thousand bold dashes of character, not unworthy a Scandinavian sea-king, or a poetical Pagan Roman.

所以他們之中不乏這樣的人：他們取著聖經裡的名字——這在島上是出奇普遍的風尚——童年時自然而然濡染了貴格腔那莊重而戲劇化的「thee（汝）」「thou（爾）」；可後來他們一生大膽、無畏、無邊無際的冒險，又奇異地把這些未曾褪去的舊習性，與千百筆豪邁的性格筆觸糅合在一起——那些筆觸，無愧於一位斯堪地那維亞的海上之王，或一位富詩意的異教羅馬人。

And when these things unite in a man of greatly superior natural force, with a globular brain and a ponderous heart; who has also by the stillness and seclusion of many long night-watches in the remotest waters, and beneath constellations never seen here at the north, been led to think untraditionally and independently; receiving all nature’s sweet or savage impressions fresh from her own virgin voluntary and confiding breast, and thereby chiefly, but with some help from accidental advantages, to learn a bold and nervous lofty language—that man makes one in a whole nation’s census—a mighty pageant creature, formed for noble tragedies.

而當這些東西匯聚在一個天賦力量遠超常人、有著渾圓頭顱與一顆厚重心臟的人身上；他又因在最偏遠水域、許多漫長值夜的寂靜與孤絕中、在北方此地從未見過的星座底下，被引向不依傳統、獨立的思考；他從大自然那處女般自願、坦誠的胸懷裡，新鮮地承接她一切或溫柔或粗野的印象，並主要藉此（也借了幾分偶然的有利條件），習得了一種大膽、強勁而崇高的語言——這樣的人，在舉國的普查名冊裡也數得上一個——是一頭雄渾的、為崇高悲劇而生的盛大造物。

Nor will it at all detract from him, dramatically regarded, if either by birth or other circumstances, he have what seems a half wilful overruling morbidness at the bottom of his nature.

而且，從戲劇的角度看，倘若由於出身或別的境遇，他天性的底層有著某種看似半是任性、卻凌駕一切的病態，這也絲毫無損於他。

For all men tragically great are made so through a certain morbidness. Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal greatness is but disease.

因為一切悲劇性的偉人，都是經由某種病態才成其偉大的。記住這一點吧，啊，年輕的雄心——一切凡人的偉大，都不過是一種病。

But, as yet we have not to do with such an one, but with quite another; and still a man, who, if indeed peculiar, it only results again from another phase of the Quaker, modified by individual circumstances.

不過，我們眼下要打交道的還不是這樣一個人，而是另一個全然不同的人；同樣是個人——他若真有什麼古怪，那也不過又是貴格派的另一種樣態，被個人境遇改了樣罷了。

Like Captain Peleg, Captain Bildad was a well-to-do, retired whaleman.

跟法勒船長一樣，比勒達船長也是個家境寬裕、退休的捕鯨人。

But unlike Captain Peleg—who cared not a rush for what are called serious things, and indeed deemed those self-same serious things the veriest of all trifles—Captain Bildad had not only been originally educated according to the strictest sect of Nantucket Quakerism, but all his subsequent ocean life, and the sight of many unclad, lovely island creatures, round the Horn—all that had not moved this native born Quaker one single jot, had not so much as altered one angle of his vest.

但跟法勒船長不同——法勒對所謂「正經事」毫不在乎，甚至把那些正經事看作天底下最不值一提的瑣碎——比勒達船長不僅起初是按南塔克特貴格派最嚴格的一支受的教育，而且他後來整個的航海生涯、以及在合恩角一帶見過的許多衣不蔽體、美麗的島嶼生靈——這一切都絲毫沒能打動這位土生土長的貴格教徒，連他背心的一個角度都不曾改變過。

Still, for all this immutableness, was there some lack of common consistency about worthy Captain Bildad.

然而，儘管這般一成不變，這位可敬的比勒達船長身上卻有某種說不通的前後矛盾。

Though refusing, from conscientious scruples, to bear arms against land invaders, yet himself had illimitably invaded the Atlantic and Pacific; and though a sworn foe to human bloodshed, yet had he in his straight-bodied coat, spilled tuns upon tuns of leviathan gore.

他雖出於良心上的顧忌，拒絕拿起武器去抵抗陸上的入侵者，自己卻無限度地「入侵」了大西洋與太平洋；他雖是人類流血的死敵，卻穿著那身筆挺的外套，傾流了一桶又一桶的鯨血。

How now in the contemplative evening of his days, the pious Bildad reconciled these things in the reminiscence, I do not know; but it did not seem to concern him much, and very probably he had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that a man’s religion is one thing, and this practical world quite another. This world pays dividends.

如今在他暮年沉思的時光裡，虔誠的比勒達在回憶中如何調和這些矛盾，我不得而知；但這似乎並不太困擾他，而他很可能早已得出一個既睿智又務實的結論：一個人的宗教是一回事，這個現實世界又完全是另一回事。這個世界，是會發股息的。

Rising from a little cabin-boy in short clothes of the drabbest drab, to a harpooneer in a broad shad-bellied waistcoat; from that becoming boat-header, chief-mate, and captain, and finally a ship owner; Bildad, as I hinted before, had concluded his adventurous career by wholly retiring from active life at the goodly age of sixty, and dedicating his remaining days to the quiet receiving of his well-earned income.

從一個穿著最土褐色短衣的小艙僮，升到一個穿寬大、前襟外凸背心的魚叉手；再從那兒當上小艇指揮、大副、船長，最後成了船東；比勒達，如我先前所暗示的，在六旬高齡上完全退出了現役、結束了他冒險的生涯，把餘生獻給了安安靜靜地坐領他那份賺得不易的收入。

Now, Bildad, I am sorry to say, had the reputation of being an incorrigible old hunks, and in his sea-going days, a bitter, hard task-master.

且說比勒達，我很遺憾要這麼講，素有「不可救藥的吝嗇老頭」之名，而在他航海的歲月裡，是個刻薄、嚴酷的工頭。

They told me in Nantucket, though it certainly seems a curious story, that when he sailed the old Categut whaleman, his crew, upon arriving home, were mostly all carried ashore to the hospital, sore exhausted and worn out.

他們在南塔克特告訴我——這故事聽來著實離奇——當年他駕著那艘老「卡特格特號」捕鯨船時，他的船員回到家，大半都得被抬上岸送進醫院，個個累垮了、熬乾了。

For a pious man, especially for a Quaker, he was certainly rather hard-hearted, to say the least.

作為一個虔誠的人，尤其作為一個貴格教徒，他至少可以說是相當鐵石心腸。

He never used to swear, though, at his men, they said; but somehow he got an inordinate quantity of cruel, unmitigated hard work out of them.

不過他們說，他從不對他的手下罵髒話；卻不知怎地，從他們身上榨出了多得離譜、殘酷而毫不留情的苦工。

When Bildad was a chief-mate, to have his drab-coloured eye intently looking at you, made you feel completely nervous, till you could clutch something—a hammer or a marling-spike, and go to work like mad, at something or other, never mind what.

比勒達當大副時，被他那雙土褐色的眼睛緊盯著，會叫你渾身發毛，直到你能抓住點什麼——一把錘子或一根穿索針——然後沒命地去幹點什麼活兒，幹什麼都行。

Indolence and idleness perished before him.

懶散與閒怠在他面前無所遁形、灰飛煙滅。

His own person was the exact embodiment of his utilitarian character.

他本人就是他那功利性格的不折不扣的化身。

On his long, gaunt body, he carried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat.

在他那瘦長的身軀上，沒有一絲多餘的肉、沒有一根多餘的鬍子，他下巴上只有一層柔軟、「省儉」的絨毛，像他那頂寬邊帽磨舊了的絨面。

Such, then, was the person that I saw seated on the transom when I followed Captain Peleg down into the cabin.

這，便是我跟著法勒船長下到艙裡時、所見坐在船尾橫板上的那個人。

The space between the decks was small; and there, bolt-upright, sat old Bildad, who always sat so, and never leaned, and this to save his coat tails.

甲板之間的空間很小；老比勒達就在那兒筆直地端坐著——他總是這麼坐，從不靠背，這是為了省著他的外套後襬（免得磨損）。

His broad-brim was placed beside him; his legs were stiffly crossed; his drab vesture was buttoned up to his chin; and spectacles on nose, he seemed absorbed in reading from a ponderous volume.

他那頂寬邊帽擱在身旁；雙腿僵硬地交疊著；土褐色的衣裳一直扣到下巴；鼻上架著眼鏡，他似乎正全神貫注地讀著一本厚重的大書。

“Bildad,” cried Captain Peleg, “at it again, Bildad, eh? Ye have been studying those Scriptures, now, for the last thirty years, to my certain knowledge. How far ye got, Bildad?”

「比勒達，」法勒船長喊道，「又在讀啦，比勒達，嗯？據我確切所知，這三十年來你一直在鑽研那些經文。你讀到哪兒啦，比勒達？」

As if long habituated to such profane talk from his old shipmate, Bildad, without noticing his present irreverence, quietly looked up, and seeing me, glanced again inquiringly towards Peleg.

彷彿早已習慣了他這老船友這套不敬神的言談，比勒達不去理會他此刻的失敬，靜靜抬起眼，看見我，又帶著詢問的神色朝法勒瞥了一眼。

“He says he’s our man, Bildad,” said Peleg, “he wants to ship.”

「他說他是我們要的人，比勒達，」法勒說，「他想受僱上船。」

“Dost thee?” said Bildad, in a hollow tone, and turning round to me.

「汝想嗎？」比勒達用一種空洞的腔調說，一邊轉過身來對著我。

“I dost,” said I unconsciously, he was so intense a Quaker.

「我想，」我不由自主地（學著他的貴格腔）說，他這貴格教徒的味道實在太濃了。

“What do ye think of him, Bildad?” said Peleg.

「你覺得他怎麼樣，比勒達？」法勒說。

“He’ll do,” said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at his book in a mumbling tone quite audible.

「他行，」比勒達打量著我說，然後又用一種相當清晰可聞的喃喃語調，繼續一字一字拼讀他的書。

I thought him the queerest old Quaker I ever saw, especially as Peleg, his friend and old shipmate, seemed such a blusterer.

我心想他是我見過最古怪的貴格老頭，尤其因為他的朋友兼老船友法勒，竟是這麼個咋咋呼呼的人。

But I said nothing, only looking round me sharply.

但我什麼也沒說，只是銳利地四下打量。

Peleg now threw open a chest, and drawing forth the ship’s articles, placed pen and ink before him, and seated himself at a little table.

法勒這會兒掀開一只箱子，抽出船上的契約文件，把筆墨擺在自己面前，在一張小桌邊坐下。

I began to think it was high time to settle with myself at what terms I would be willing to engage for the voyage.

我開始想，是該跟自己盤算盤算：我願意以什麼樣的條件受僱參加這趟航程了。

I was already aware that in the whaling business they paid no wages; but all hands, including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays, and that these lays were proportioned to the degree of importance pertaining to the respective duties of the ship’s company.

我早已知道，捕鯨這行是不發工資的；全船人——包括船長——領的是利潤中某種叫做「拆股分紅（lay）」的份額，而這些「股」是按全船每個人所司職務的輕重比例分配的。

I was also aware that being a green hand at whaling, my own lay would not be very large; but considering that I was used to the sea, could steer a ship, splice a rope, and all that, I made no doubt that from all I had heard I should be offered at least the 275th lay—that is, the 275th part of the clear net proceeds of the voyage, whatever that might eventually amount to.

我也知道，自己是捕鯨的生手，分到的「股」不會很大；但考慮到我熟悉大海、會掌舵、會接繩之類，我毫不懷疑——照我所聽到的——至少會分到「第 275 股」，也就是這趟航程淨利的二百七十五分之一，不管那最終會是多少。

And though the 275th lay was what they call a rather long lay, yet it was better than nothing; and if we had a lucky voyage, might pretty nearly pay for the clothing I would wear out on it, not to speak of my three years’ beef and board, for which I would not have to pay one stiver.

雖然「第 275 股」是他們所謂相當「長」的一股（份額很小），可總比沒有強；而且若這趟航程運氣好，那份額大概差不多夠抵我這一路穿破的衣裳錢，更別提我這三年的肉食與食宿，那些我可一個子兒都不用付。

It might be thought that this was a poor way to accumulate a princely fortune—and so it was, a very poor way indeed.

也許有人會覺得，這是積攢萬貫家財的差勁法子——確實如此，真是個很差勁的法子。

But I am one of those that never take on about princely fortunes, and am quite content if the world is ready to board and lodge me, while I am putting up at this grim sign of the Thunder Cloud.

但我是那種從不為萬貫家財操心的人，只要這世界肯供我吃住——當我借宿在「雷雲」這個陰森的招牌底下時——我就心滿意足了。

Upon the whole, I thought that the 275th lay would be about the fair thing, but would not have been surprised had I been offered the 200th, considering I was of a broad-shouldered make.

總的來說，我覺得「第 275 股」大概算公道；不過若分給我「第 200 股」，我也不會意外，畢竟我生得寬肩膀（體格好）。

But one thing, nevertheless, that made me a little distrustful about receiving a generous share of the profits was this: Ashore, I had heard something of both Captain Peleg and his unaccountable old crony Bildad; how that they being the principal proprietors of the Pequod, therefore the other and more inconsiderable and scattered owners, left nearly the whole management of the ship’s affairs to these two.

不過，有一件事仍叫我對能否分到一份慷慨的利潤有點不放心：在岸上，我已聽說過法勒船長和他那位莫名其妙的老死黨比勒達的一些事；說他倆既是裴廓德號的主要業主，那其餘那些較不重要、又分散的股東，便幾乎把船上一切事務的管理都交給了這兩人。

And I did not know but what the stingy old Bildad might have a mighty deal to say about shipping hands, especially as I now found him on board the Pequod, quite at home there in the cabin, and reading his Bible as if at his own fireside.

而我說不準，這吝嗇的老比勒達在僱人這事上會不會大有發言權，尤其我這會兒發現他就在裴廓德號上、在艙裡舒舒服服像在自家爐邊一樣讀著他的《聖經》。

Now while Peleg was vainly trying to mend a pen with his jack-knife, old Bildad, to my no small surprise, considering that he was such an interested party in these proceedings; Bildad never heeded us, but went on mumbling to himself out of his book, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth—”

這時法勒正拿摺刀徒勞地修著一支筆，而老比勒達——叫我頗為吃驚的是，鑑於他在這事裡是個利害攸關的一方——比勒達卻全然不理會我們，只顧著就著他的書喃喃自語：「不要為自己積攢財寶在地上，地上有蟲子——」

“Well, Captain Bildad,” interrupted Peleg, “what d’ye say, what lay shall we give this young man?”

「好啦，比勒達船長，」法勒打斷他，「你說，咱們該給這年輕人分第幾股？」

“Thou knowest best,” was the sepulchral reply, “the seven hundred and seventy-seventh wouldn’t be too much, would it?—‘where moth and rust do corrupt, but lay—’”

「汝最清楚，」那如墳墓般陰森的回答道，「第七百七十七股，不算太多吧？——『地上有蟲子咬、能鏽壞，但要積攢——』」

Lay, indeed, thought I, and such a lay! the seven hundred and seventy-seventh!

分股，哼，我心想，還是這麼一股！第七百七十七股！

Well, old Bildad, you are determined that I, for one, shall not lay up many lays here below, where moth and rust do corrupt.

好啊，老比勒達，你是鐵了心，不讓我這人在這「有蟲咬、能鏽壞」的地上積攢多少「股（財寶）」了。

It was an exceedingly long lay that, indeed; and though from the magnitude of the figure it might at first deceive a landsman, yet the slightest consideration will show that though seven hundred and seventy-seven is a pretty large number, yet, when you come to make a teenth of it, you will then see, I say, that the seven hundred and seventy-seventh part of a farthing is a good deal less than seven hundred and seventy-seven gold doubloons; and so I thought at the time.

那確實是極「長」的一股；雖然單看數字之大，乍看可能唬住一個陸上人，可只要稍加思量便知：七百七十七雖是個相當大的數目，但你一旦拿它去當分母、取它的「幾分之一」，你就會明白——我是說——一個法尋的七百七十七分之一，可比七百七十七枚金幣少得多了；當時我便是這麼想的。

“Why, blast your eyes, Bildad,” cried Peleg, “thou dost not want to swindle this young man! he must have more than that.”

「嘿，瞎了你的眼，比勒達，」法勒嚷道，「你可別想坑這年輕人！他得分到比這多。」

“Seven hundred and seventy-seventh,” again said Bildad, without lifting his eyes; and then went on mumbling—“for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

「第七百七十七股，」比勒達連眼皮都不抬，又說了一遍；然後接著喃喃唸道——「因為你的財寶在哪裡，你的心也必在哪裡。」

“I am going to put him down for the three hundredth,” said Peleg, “do ye hear that, Bildad! The three hundredth lay, I say.”

「我要把他記成第三百股，」法勒說，「你聽見沒有，比勒達！我說，第三百股。」

Bildad laid down his book, and turning solemnly towards him said, “Captain Peleg, thou hast a generous heart; but thou must consider the duty thou owest to the other owners of this ship—widows and orphans, many of them—and that if we too abundantly reward the labors of this young man, we may be taking the bread from those widows and those orphans. The seven hundred and seventy-seventh lay, Captain Peleg.”

比勒達放下書，莊重地轉向他說：「法勒船長，汝有一顆慷慨的心；但汝必須顧念汝對這船其餘股東所負的責任——他們之中有許多是寡婦和孤兒——倘若我們太過豐厚地酬報這年輕人的勞動，我們便可能是在從那些寡婦孤兒口中奪走麵包。第七百七十七股，法勒船長。」

“Thou Bildad!” roared Peleg, starting up and clattering about the cabin. “Blast ye, Captain Bildad, if I had followed thy advice in these matters, I would afore now had a conscience to lug about that would be heavy enough to founder the largest ship that ever sailed round Cape Horn.”

「你這比勒達！」法勒咆哮著，跳起來在艙裡乒乒乓乓地走來走去。「該死，比勒達船長，這類事上我要是聽了你的話，這會兒早就得拖著一個沉重的良心過日子了——那良心重得足以把繞過合恩角的最大的船都壓沉。」

“Captain Peleg,” said Bildad steadily, “thy conscience may be drawing ten inches of water, or ten fathoms, I can’t tell; but as thou art still an impenitent man, Captain Peleg, I greatly fear lest thy conscience be but a leaky one; and will in the end sink thee foundering down to the fiery pit, Captain Peleg.”

「法勒船長，」比勒達平穩地說，「汝的良心吃水或許十英寸、或許十噚，我說不準；但汝既仍是個不知悔改的人，法勒船長，我深怕汝的良心不過是條漏水的船；終將把汝沉沒、墜入那烈火的深坑，法勒船長。」

“Fiery pit! fiery pit! ye insult me, man; past all natural bearing, ye insult me. It’s an all-fired outrage to tell any human creature that he’s bound to hell. Flukes and flames! Bildad, say that again to me, and start my soul-bolts, but I’ll—I’ll—yes, I’ll swallow a live goat with all his hair and horns on. Out of the cabin, ye canting, drab-coloured son of a wooden gun—a straight wake with ye!”

「烈火的深坑！烈火的深坑！你侮辱我，老兄；侮辱得叫人忍無可忍。對任何一個人說他注定下地獄，這簡直是天大的無禮。鯨尾和地獄火啊！比勒達，你再跟我說一遍這話，崩斷我的『靈魂螺栓』，我就——我就——對，我就把一隻活山羊連毛帶角整個吞下去。滾出這艙裡，你這假惺惺說教、土褐色的『木砲崽子』——給我筆直地滾蛋！」

As he thundered out this he made a rush at Bildad, but with a marvellous oblique, sliding celerity, Bildad for that time eluded him.

他這麼雷霆般地吼著，朝比勒達衝了過去，但比勒達以一種奇妙的、斜著滑開的敏捷，那一回躲過了他。

Alarmed at this terrible outburst between the two principal and responsible owners of the ship, and feeling half a mind to give up all idea of sailing in a vessel so questionably owned and temporarily commanded, I stepped aside from the door to give egress to Bildad, who, I made no doubt, was all eagerness to vanish from before the awakened wrath of Peleg.

這船兩位主要、又負有責任的船東之間這場可怕的爆發叫我心驚，我甚至有一半念頭想乾脆放棄上這艘船主可疑、又暫時群龍無首的船的打算；我從門口閃到一邊，給比勒達讓出路來——我毫不懷疑他正巴不得從被激怒的法勒面前消失。

But to my astonishment, he sat down again on the transom very quietly, and seemed to have not the slightest intention of withdrawing. He seemed quite used to impenitent Peleg and his ways.

但叫我大吃一驚的是，他又非常平靜地在船尾橫板上坐了下來，似乎絲毫沒有要退避的意思。他似乎對「不知悔改的法勒」和他那套作風早已習以為常。

As for Peleg, after letting off his rage as he had, there seemed no more left in him, and he, too, sat down like a lamb, though he twitched a little as if still nervously agitated.

至於法勒，這麼一通火發完，他身上似乎也就沒剩下什麼火氣了，他也像隻綿羊似地坐了下來，只是還微微抽動著，彷彿仍有些神經緊張、未能平息。

“Whew!” he whistled at last—“the squall’s gone off to leeward, I think. Bildad, thou used to be good at sharpening a lance, mend that pen, will ye. My jack-knife here needs the grindstone. That’s he; thank ye, Bildad. Now then, my young man, Ishmael’s thy name, didn’t ye say? Well then, down ye go here, Ishmael, for the three hundredth lay.”

「呼！」他終於吹了聲口哨——「我看那陣狂風往下風颳走了。比勒達，你從前不是很會磨魚叉嗎，幫我把那支筆削好，行嗎。我這把摺刀得上磨石了。對，就是他；謝啦，比勒達。好了，年輕人，你說你叫以實瑪利，是吧？那好，在這兒簽下去吧，以實瑪利——第三百股。」

“Captain Peleg,” said I, “I have a friend with me who wants to ship too—shall I bring him down to-morrow?”

「法勒船長，」我說，「我還有個朋友也想受僱上船——我明天帶他來給您看看好嗎？」

“To be sure,” said Peleg. “Fetch him along, and we’ll look at him.”

「當然好，」法勒說。「把他帶來，我們瞧瞧他。」

“What lay does he want?” groaned Bildad, glancing up from the book in which he had again been burying himself.

「他要分第幾股？」比勒達哼了一聲，從那本他又重新埋頭其中的書上抬眼瞥了一下。

“Oh! never thee mind about that, Bildad,” said Peleg. “Has he ever whaled it any?” turning to me.

「噢！這你就甭操心了，比勒達，」法勒說。「他捕過鯨沒有？」他轉向我問。

“Killed more whales than I can count, Captain Peleg.”

「他殺過的鯨多得我數都數不過來，法勒船長。」

“Well, bring him along then.”

「那好，把他帶來吧。」

And, after signing the papers, off I went; nothing doubting but that I had done a good morning’s work, and that the Pequod was the identical ship that Yojo had provided to carry Queequeg and me round the Cape.

於是，簽完文件，我便走了；毫不懷疑自己這一早辦了件好差事，也毫不懷疑裴廓德號正是約糾備下、要載魁魁格和我繞過合恩角的那同一艘船。

But I had not proceeded far, when I began to bethink me that the Captain with whom I was to sail yet remained unseen by me; though, indeed, in many cases, a whale-ship will be completely fitted out, and receive all her crew on board, ere the captain makes himself visible by arriving to take command; for sometimes these voyages are so prolonged, and the shore intervals at home so exceedingly brief, that if the captain have a family, or any absorbing concernment of that sort, he does not trouble himself much about his ship in port, but leaves her to the owners till all is ready for sea.

但我沒走多遠，便開始想起：那位將與我同船出海的船長，我竟還沒見過；不過，確實，很多時候一艘捕鯨船會完全裝備停當、全體船員都已上船，船長才現身來接掌指揮；因為這些航程有時拖得那麼久，在家上岸的間隔又短得出奇，所以船長若有家室、或有什麼那一類牽腸掛肚的事，他在港內便不大去操心他的船，而是把她交給船東，直到一切都備妥可以出海。

However, it is always as well to have a look at him before irrevocably committing yourself into his hands. Turning back I accosted Captain Peleg, inquiring where Captain Ahab was to be found.

不過，在把自己無可挽回地交託到他手裡之前，總還是先見他一面為好。我轉身回去，上前問法勒船長：哪兒能找到亞哈船長。

“And what dost thou want of Captain Ahab? It’s all right enough; thou art shipped.”

「你找亞哈船長做什麼？沒什麼問題了；你已經受僱了。」

“Yes, but I should like to see him.”

「是的，可我想見見他。」

“But I don’t think thou wilt be able to at present. I don’t know exactly what’s the matter with him; but he keeps close inside the house; a sort of sick, and yet he don’t look so. In fact, he ain’t sick; but no, he isn’t well either. Any how, young man, he won’t always see me, so I don’t suppose he will thee. He’s a queer man, Captain Ahab—so some think—but a good one. Oh, thou’lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. He’s a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but, when he does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab’s above the common; Ahab’s been in colleges, as well as ’mong the cannibals; been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier, stranger foes than whales. His lance! aye, the keenest and the surest that out of all our isle! Oh! he ain’t Captain Bildad; no, and he ain’t Captain Peleg; he’s Ahab, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a crowned king!”

「不過我看你眼下是見不著他了。我也說不準他到底怎麼了；可他老把自己關在屋裡；像是病了，看上去卻又不像。其實呢，他沒病；可不，他也算不上好。反正啊，年輕人，他不見得肯見我，我看更不見得肯見你。他是個古怪的人，亞哈船長——有些人這麼想——但是個好人。噢，你會挺喜歡他的；別怕，別怕。他是個偉岸、不敬神、卻又如神的人，亞哈船長；話不多；可他一旦開口，你就大可洗耳恭聽。記住，我先警告你：亞哈非比尋常；亞哈上過大學，也待過食人族中間；他見慣了比波濤更深的奇景；把他那灼熱的標槍，扎進過比鯨更強大、更詭異的對手身上。他那標槍！沒錯，是我們全島最鋒利、最準的！噢！他可不是比勒達船長；不，他也不是法勒船長；他是亞哈，小子；而你知道，古時候那位亞哈，可是一位加了冕的王！」

“And a very vile one. When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they not lick his blood?”

「而且是個極其卑劣的王。那惡王被殺時，狗不是舔了他的血嗎？」

“Come hither to me—hither, hither,” said Peleg, with a significance in his eye that almost startled me. “Look ye, lad; never say that on board the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself. ’Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died when he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that the name would somehow prove prophetic. And, perhaps, other fools like her may tell thee the same. I wish to warn thee. It’s a lie. I know Captain Ahab well; I’ve sailed with him as mate years ago; I know what he is—a good man—not a pious, good man, like Bildad, but a swearing good man—something like me—only there’s a good deal more of him.

「到我這兒來——過來，過來，」法勒說，眼神裡有一種幾乎把我嚇著的意味深長。「聽著，小子；在裴廓德號上千萬別說這話。哪兒都別說。亞哈船長不是自己取的這名。那是他那發瘋的寡母一時愚蠢無知的異想——她在他才一歲時就死了。可蓋亥德那個叫提斯蒂格的印第安老婆子卻說，這名字早晚會應驗成讖。也許，別的像她那樣的蠢人也會跟你這麼說。我得警告你。那是胡說。我跟亞哈船長很熟；多年前我當大副時跟他同過船；我知道他是什麼人——一個好人——不是比勒達那種虔誠的好人，而是個會罵髒話的好人——有點像我——只不過他的分量要比我重得多。

Aye, aye, I know that he was never very jolly; and I know that on the passage home, he was a little out of his mind for a spell; but it was the sharp shooting pains in his bleeding stump that brought that about, as any one might see. I know, too, that ever since he lost his leg last voyage by that accursed whale, he’s been a kind of moody—desperate moody, and savage sometimes; but that will all pass off.

是啊，是啊，我知道他從來不怎麼快活；我也知道返航途中他有一陣子有點神志不清；但那是他那條淌血的斷腿一陣陣劇痛所致，誰都看得出來。我還知道，自從上趟航程他被那該死的鯨弄掉一條腿後，他就變得有些陰鬱——陰鬱得近乎絕望，有時還很狂暴；但這些都會過去的。

And once for all, let me tell thee and assure thee, young man, it’s better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one. So good-bye to thee—and wrong not Captain Ahab, because he happens to have a wicked name. Besides, my boy, he has a wife—not three voyages wedded—a sweet, resigned girl. Think of that; by that sweet girl that old man has a child: hold ye then there can be any utter, hopeless harm in Ahab? No, no, my lad; stricken, blasted, if he be, Ahab has his humanities!”

我把話一次說清、向你保證，年輕人：寧可跟一個陰鬱的好船長出海，也別跟一個嬉皮笑臉的壞船長出海。那麼，再會了——別因為亞哈船長碰巧有個惡名就冤枉他。再說，孩子，他有個妻子——成婚還不到三趟航程——一個溫柔、認命的姑娘。想想看：那位老人靠那溫柔的姑娘還有了個孩子：那你還能說亞哈身上會有什麼徹底、無可救藥的惡嗎？不，不，小子；他縱然飽受打擊、傷痕累累，亞哈也有他的人性！」

As I walked away, I was full of thoughtfulness; what had been incidentally revealed to me of Captain Ahab, filled me with a certain wild vagueness of painfulness concerning him.

我走開時，心裡滿是思緒；關於亞哈船長，這偶然向我透露的點點滴滴，使我對他湧起一種狂野而朦朧的痛楚之感。

And somehow, at the time, I felt a sympathy and a sorrow for him, but for I don’t know what, unless it was the cruel loss of his leg.

不知怎地，那時我對他生出一種同情與悲傷，卻說不清是為了什麼——除非是為了他那條腿的殘酷喪失。

And yet I also felt a strange awe of him; but that sort of awe, which I cannot at all describe, was not exactly awe; I do not know what it was.

然而我同時又對他感到一種奇異的敬畏；可那種敬畏——我完全無從描述——又不全然是敬畏；我不知道那究竟是什麼。

But I felt it; and it did not disincline me towards him; though I felt impatience at what seemed like mystery in him, so imperfectly as he was known to me then.

但我確實感覺到了；而它並沒有使我對他生出反感；儘管我對他身上那股似乎是「謎」一般的東西感到不耐——畢竟那時我對他所知是那麼不完整。

However, my thoughts were at length carried in other directions, so that for the present dark Ahab slipped my mind.

不過，我的思緒最終被引向了別的方向，於是眼下，那陰鬱的亞哈便從我心頭溜走了。