後甲板

(Enter Ahab: Then, all.)

（亞哈上場；隨後，全體。）

It was not a great while after the affair of the pipe, that one morning shortly after breakfast, Ahab, as was his wont, ascended the cabin-gangway to the deck.

菸斗那樁事過後不久，一天早飯後不久的早晨，亞哈如他往常的習慣，沿艙梯登上了甲板。

Soon his steady, ivory stride was heard, as to and fro he paced his old rounds, upon planks so familiar to his tread, that they were all over dented, like geological stones, with the peculiar mark of his walk. Did you fixedly gaze, too, upon that ribbed and dented brow; there also, you would see still stranger foot-prints—the foot-prints of his one unsleeping, ever-pacing thought.

不久便聽見他那平穩的象牙腳步聲，他來來回回地踱著他那老路線，腳下的甲板對他的踏步如此熟悉，整片都被他那獨特的步痕踩出了凹陷，像地質岩石上的紋路。你若也定睛凝視他那溝壑縱橫、布滿凹痕的額頭，在那兒，你還會看見更奇異的足印——他那「一刻不眠、永遠踱步的念頭」的足印。

But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his nervous step that morning left a deeper mark. And, so full of his thought was Ahab, that at every uniform turn that he made, now at the main-mast and now at the binnacle, you could almost see that thought turn in him as he turned, and pace in him as he paced; so completely possessing him, indeed, that it all but seemed the inward mould of every outer movement.

但在所說的這個場合，那些凹痕看來更深了，正如他那天早晨那緊張的步子留下了更深的印記。亞哈滿腦子都是他的念頭，以至於他每一次規律地折返——一會兒在主桅、一會兒在羅經櫃——你幾乎能看見那念頭隨他轉而轉、隨他踱而踱；它如此徹底地占據著他，簡直就像是他每一個外在動作的「內在模子」。

“D’ye mark him, Flask?” whispered Stubb; “the chick that’s in him pecks the shell. ’Twill soon be out.”

「你瞧見他了沒，弗拉斯克？」斯塔布悄聲說；「他肚裡那隻小雞正在啄殼呢。快要破殼出來了。」

The hours wore on;—Ahab now shut up within his cabin; anon, pacing the deck, with the same intense bigotry of purpose in his aspect.

時光一點點過去；——亞哈一會兒把自己關在艙裡，一會兒又在甲板上踱步，臉上是同樣那股執著到偏執的決心。

It drew near the close of day. Suddenly he came to a halt by the bulwarks, and inserting his bone leg into the auger-hole there, and with one hand grasping a shroud, he ordered Starbuck to send everybody aft.

天色近晚。他忽然在舷牆邊停住，把骨腿插進那兒的鑽孔、一手抓住一根支索，命斯塔巴克把所有人都叫到後甲板來。

“Sir!” said the mate, astonished at an order seldom or never given on ship-board except in some extraordinary case.

「先生？」大副說，被這道除非有非常之事、否則船上絕少下達的命令驚住了。

“Send everybody aft,” repeated Ahab. “Mast-heads, there! come down!”

「把所有人都叫到後甲板，」亞哈又說了一遍。「桅頂上的！都下來！」

When the entire ship’s company were assembled, and with curious and not wholly unapprehensive faces, were eyeing him, for he looked not unlike the weather horizon when a storm is coming up, Ahab, after rapidly glancing over the bulwarks, and then darting his eyes among the crew, started from his standpoint; and as though not a soul were nigh him resumed his heavy turns upon the deck. With bent head and half-slouched hat he continued to pace, unmindful of the wondering whispering among the men; till Stubb cautiously whispered to Flask, that Ahab must have summoned them there for the purpose of witnessing a pedestrian feat. But this did not last long. Vehemently pausing, he cried:—

等全船的人都集合起來、帶著好奇又不無憂懼的神色打量他時——因為他看上去頗像暴風雨將至時那天邊的地平線——亞哈先迅速地往舷牆外掃了一眼，又把目光在船員間一掃，便從他站定的地方動身；彷彿身邊一個人也沒有似的，重新邁起他那沉重的折返步。他低著頭、半壓著帽子繼續踱，全然不理會眾人那詫異的竊竊私語；直到斯塔布謹慎地對弗拉斯克耳語：亞哈把他們叫來，準是要他們見識一場「散步的絕技」吧。但這沒持續多久。他猛地一停，喊道：——

“What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?”

「看見一頭鯨，你們怎麼辦，弟兄們？」

“Sing out for him!” was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of clubbed voices.

「為牠喊出來！」二十來個湊在一起的嗓音衝動地齊聲應道。

“Good!” cried Ahab, with a wild approval in his tones; observing the hearty animation into which his unexpected question had so magnetically thrown them.

「好！」亞哈喊道，語氣裡帶著一種狂野的讚許；他注意到，他這突如其來的問題，竟如磁石般把他們拋進了一種發自肺腑的亢奮。

“And what do ye next, men?”

「然後你們做什麼，弟兄們？」

“Lower away, and after him!”

「放下小艇，追上去！」

“And what tune is it ye pull to, men?”

「你們划槳時喊的是什麼調子，弟兄們？」

“A dead whale or a stove boat!”

「不是鯨死，就是艇破！」

More and more strangely and fiercely glad and approving, grew the countenance of the old man at every shout; while the mariners began to gaze curiously at each other, as if marvelling how it was that they themselves became so excited at such seemingly purposeless questions.

每喊一聲，老人的臉色就變得越來越奇異、越來越兇猛地歡喜而讚許；而水手們開始好奇地面面相覷，彷彿納悶自己怎麼會因這些看似毫無目的的問題而如此激動。

But, they were all eagerness again, as Ahab, now half-revolving in his pivot-hole, with one hand reaching high up a shroud, and tightly, almost convulsively grasping it, addressed them thus:—

但當亞哈——這會兒在他那「樞孔」裡半轉著身、一手高高抓住一根支索、緊緊地、近乎痙攣地攥著它——這樣對他們說時，他們又都急切起來：——

“All ye mast-headers have before now heard me give orders about a white whale. Look ye! d’ye see this Spanish ounce of gold?”—holding up a broad bright coin to the sun—“it is a sixteen dollar piece, men. D’ye see it? Mr. Starbuck, hand me yon top-maul.”

「你們所有上桅頂瞭望的，先前都聽過我下過關於一頭白鯨的命令。瞧！看見這枚西班牙金幣沒有？」——他把一枚又寬又亮的金幣舉向太陽——「這是一枚值十六美元的，弟兄們。看見了沒？斯塔巴克先生，把那邊那把大頭錘遞給我。」

While the mate was getting the hammer, Ahab, without speaking, was slowly rubbing the gold piece against the skirts of his jacket, as if to heighten its lustre, and without using any words was meanwhile lowly humming to himself, producing a sound so strangely muffled and inarticulate that it seemed the mechanical humming of the wheels of his vitality in him.

趁大副去取錘子時，亞哈一言不發，慢慢地拿金幣往他外套的下襬上蹭，彷彿要增添它的光澤；同時，他不出一語地低低自顧哼著，發出一種奇異地悶塞而含糊的聲音，彷彿是他體內那「生命力的齒輪」機械運轉的嗡鳴。

Receiving the top-maul from Starbuck, he advanced towards the main-mast with the hammer uplifted in one hand, exhibiting the gold with the other, and with a high raised voice exclaiming: “Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever of ye raises me that white-headed whale, with three holes punctured in his starboard fluke—look ye, whosoever of ye raises me that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys!”

從斯塔巴克手裡接過大頭錘，他一手高舉著錘、另一手展示著金幣，朝主桅走去，高聲喊道：「你們之中，誰替我喊起一頭白頭、皺著額、歪著顎的鯨；你們之中，誰替我喊起那頭白頭鯨——牠右邊的尾鰭上有三個刺穿的洞——瞧好了，你們之中誰替我喊起那同一頭白鯨，這枚金幣就歸他，我的小子們！」

“Huzza! huzza!” cried the seamen, as with swinging tarpaulins they hailed the act of nailing the gold to the mast.

「萬歲！萬歲！」水手們揮舞著油布帽喊道，為這把金幣釘上桅杆的舉動歡呼。

“It’s a white whale, I say,” resumed Ahab, as he threw down the topmaul: “a white whale. Skin your eyes for him, men; look sharp for white water; if ye see but a bubble, sing out.”

「我說了，是一頭白鯨，」亞哈扔下大頭錘，接著說：「一頭白鯨。給我把眼睛瞪到脫皮去找牠，弟兄們；緊盯著白色的水花；哪怕只看見一個水泡，也給我喊出來。」

All this while Tashtego, Daggoo, and Queequeg had looked on with even more intense interest and surprise than the rest, and at the mention of the wrinkled brow and crooked jaw they had started as if each was separately touched by some specific recollection.

這整段時間裡，塔什特戈、大個兒和魁魁格看得比其餘人更專注、更驚訝；一聽到「皺額歪顎」，三人都猛地一震，彷彿各自被某段特定的記憶所觸動。

“Captain Ahab,” said Tashtego, “that white whale must be the same that some call Moby Dick.”

「亞哈船長，」塔什特戈說，「那頭白鯨準是有人叫作『莫比敵』的那一頭。」

“Moby Dick?” shouted Ahab. “Do ye know the white whale then, Tash?”

「莫比敵？」亞哈喊道。「這麼說你認得那頭白鯨了，塔什？」

“Does he fan-tail a little curious, sir, before he goes down?” said the Gay-Header deliberately.

「牠下潛之前，是不是會古怪地把尾巴扇開一下，先生？」這蓋黑德人字斟句酌地說。

“And has he a curious spout, too,” said Daggoo, “very bushy, even for a parmacetty, and mighty quick, Captain Ahab?”

「牠的噴水是不是也很特別，」大個兒說，「即便對一頭抹香鯨來說也濃密得很，而且噴得飛快，亞哈船長？」

“And he have one, two, three—oh! good many iron in him hide, too, Captain,” cried Queequeg disjointedly, “all twiske-tee be-twisk, like him—him—” faltering hard for a word, and screwing his hand round and round as though uncorking a bottle—“like him—him—”

「而且牠身上插著一、二、三——噢！好多鐵叉在牠皮裡，船長，」魁魁格語無倫次地嚷道，「全都扭來扭去、纏成一團，像那個——那個——」他費勁地找詞，一隻手不停地轉啊轉，彷彿在拔瓶塞——「像那個——那個——」

“Corkscrew!” cried Ahab, “aye, Queequeg, the harpoons lie all twisted and wrenched in him; aye, Daggoo, his spout is a big one, like a whole shock of wheat, and white as a pile of our Nantucket wool after the great annual sheep-shearing; aye, Tashtego, and he fan-tails like a split jib in a squall. Death and devils! men, it is Moby Dick ye have seen—Moby Dick—Moby Dick!”

「螺絲錐！」亞哈喊道，「對，魁魁格，那些魚叉全扭曲、擰結地插在牠身上；對，大個兒，牠的噴水又大又濃，像一整捆麥子，白得像我們南塔克特一年一度大剪羊毛後堆起的一堆羊毛；對，塔什特戈，牠扇尾的樣子就像狂風中一面裂開的三角帆。死亡與魔鬼啊！弟兄們，你們見過的，正是莫比敵——莫比敵——莫比敵！」

“Captain Ahab,” said Starbuck, who, with Stubb and Flask, had thus far been eyeing his superior with increasing surprise, but at last seemed struck with a thought which somewhat explained all the wonder. “Captain Ahab, I have heard of Moby Dick—but it was not Moby Dick that took off thy leg?”

「亞哈船長，」斯塔巴克說——他和斯塔布、弗拉斯克至此一直越來越驚訝地盯著他們的上司看，可此刻他似乎被一個念頭擊中，多少解開了這一切的疑團——「亞哈船長，我聽說過莫比敵——可奪走你那條腿的，難道就是莫比敵？」

“Who told thee that?” cried Ahab; then pausing, “Aye, Starbuck; aye, my hearties all round; it was Moby Dick that dismasted me; Moby Dick that brought me to this dead stump I stand on now. Aye, aye,” he shouted with a terrific, loud, animal sob, like that of a heart-stricken moose; “Aye, aye! it was that accursed white whale that razeed me; made a poor pegging lubber of me for ever and a day!” Then tossing both arms, with measureless imprecations he shouted out: “Aye, aye! and I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up. And this is what ye have shipped for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out. What say ye, men, will ye splice hands on it, now? I think ye do look brave.”

「誰告訴你的？」亞哈喊道；接著停了一下，「對，斯塔巴克；對，我四周的好漢們；正是莫比敵把我『斷了桅』；正是莫比敵把我弄成如今我所站著的這截死樹樁。對，對，」他發出一聲可怕、響亮、野獸般的嗚咽，像一頭心碎的麋鹿；「對，對！正是那頭該死的白鯨把我『削平了』、把我變成一個永世跛行、釘著木腿的可憐蟲！」接著他甩起雙臂、以無休止的咒罵高喊：「對，對！我要繞過好望角、繞過合恩角、繞過挪威的大漩渦、繞過地獄的烈焰也要追牠，絕不放棄。這就是你們受僱上船的目的，弟兄們！去追那頭白鯨，追遍陸地的兩側、地球的各個方向，直到牠噴出黑血、翻肚露鰭。你們怎麼說，弟兄們，現在肯為這事擊掌立誓嗎？我看你們確實夠勇。」

“Aye, aye!” shouted the harpooneers and seamen, running closer to the excited old man: “A sharp eye for the white whale; a sharp lance for Moby Dick!”

「對，對！」標槍手和水手們喊道，向那激動的老人靠得更近：「一雙利眼盯白鯨，一柄利槍刺莫比敵！」

“God bless ye,” he seemed to half sob and half shout. “God bless ye, men. Steward! go draw the great measure of grog. But what’s this long face about, Mr. Starbuck; wilt thou not chase the white whale? art not game for Moby Dick?”

「願神保佑你們，」他像是半嗚咽半呼喊。「願神保佑你們，弟兄們。膳務員！去打一大份的烈酒來。可你這拉長的臉是怎麼回事，斯塔巴克先生；你不肯追那頭白鯨嗎？你不敢跟莫比敵較量？」

“I am game for his crooked jaw, and for the jaws of Death too, Captain Ahab, if it fairly comes in the way of the business we follow; but I came here to hunt whales, not my commander’s vengeance. How many barrels will thy vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it, Captain Ahab? it will not fetch thee much in our Nantucket market.”

「牠那歪顎我敢較量，連死亡的顎我也敢，亞哈船長——只要那是我們所從事的本業裡正當會碰上的；可我來這兒是為了獵鯨，不是為了我指揮官的私仇。你的復仇就算得手，又能給你榨出幾桶油呢，亞哈船長？在我們南塔克特的市場上，它可賣不了幾個錢。」

“Nantucket market! Hoot! But come closer, Starbuck; thou requirest a little lower layer. If money’s to be the measurer, man, and the accountants have computed their great counting-house the globe, by girdling it with guineas, one to every three parts of an inch; then, let me tell thee, that my vengeance will fetch a great premium here!”

「南塔克特市場！呸！可你再靠近點，斯塔巴克；你需要再往下挖一層。要是錢就是衡量一切的尺度，老兄，要是會計師們把整個地球當成他們那大帳房、用一枚枚金幣每隔三分之一吋地把它箍了起來算帳；那麼，我告訴你，我的復仇在這兒（亞哈拍著胸口）可值一筆大溢價！」

“He smites his chest,” whispered Stubb, “what’s that for? methinks it rings most vast, but hollow.”

「他在捶自己的胸口，」斯塔布悄聲說，「那是為什麼？我覺得那聲音響得很空曠，卻是空心的。」

“Vengeance on a dumb brute!” cried Starbuck, “that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous.”

「向一頭啞獸復仇！」斯塔巴克喊道，「牠不過是憑最盲目的本能傷了你！瘋了！對一個不會說話的東西動這麼大的怒，亞哈船長，這簡直是褻瀆。」

“Hark ye yet again—the little lower layer. All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event—in the living act, the undoubted deed—there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there’s naught beyond. But ’tis enough. He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.

「你再聽我說——再往下挖那一層。一切可見之物，老兄，都不過是紙板做的面具。但在每一樁事件裡——在那活生生的行動、那無可置疑的作為背後——必有某種未知、卻仍在推理的東西，從那無理性的面具後面，探出它五官的輪廓。人若要出擊，就該擊穿那面具！囚徒若不衝破牢牆，又怎能觸及牆外？對我，那白鯨就是那堵牆，被推到了我眼前。有時我想，牆外什麼也沒有。但這已足夠。牠折磨我、牠重壓我；我在牠身上看見一股蠻橫的力量，由一種不可測的惡意為它賦予筋骨。那不可測之物，才是我主要恨的；無論那白鯨是爪牙、還是主謀，我都要把這份恨傾洩在牠身上。別跟我談什麼褻瀆，老兄；太陽若侮辱我，我連太陽都敢揍。

For could the sun do that, then could I do the other; since there is ever a sort of fair play herein, jealousy presiding over all creations. But not my master, man, is even that fair play. Who’s over me? Truth hath no confines. Take off thine eye! more intolerable than fiends’ glarings is a doltish stare! So, so; thou reddenest and palest; my heat has melted thee to anger-glow. But look ye, Starbuck, what is said in heat, that thing unsays itself. There are men from whom warm words are small indignity. I meant not to incense thee. Let it go.

因為，太陽若做得出那種事，那我也做得出另一種事；既然這裡頭始終有某種『公平較量』，有一股妒意統御著一切受造之物。但即便那『公平較量』，也做不了我的主人，老兄。誰在我之上？真理沒有疆界。把你的眼移開！一個愚鈍的瞪視，比群魔的怒目還叫人受不了！好了，好了；你臉一紅一白；我的熱火已把你熔成了憤怒的光。可你瞧，斯塔巴克，盛怒中說出的話，那東西會自己收回。有些人，對他們說幾句重話算不得什麼侮辱。我並非有意激怒你。算了吧。

Look! see yonder Turkish cheeks of spotted tawn—living, breathing pictures painted by the sun. The Pagan leopards—the unrecking and unworshipping things, that live; and seek, and give no reasons for the torrid life they feel! The crew, man, the crew! Are they not one and all with Ahab, in this matter of the whale? See Stubb! he laughs! See yonder Chilian! he snorts to think of it. Stand up amid the general hurricane, thy one tost sapling cannot, Starbuck!

瞧！看那邊那些斑駁黝黑、土耳其人般的臉頰——那是太陽所繪、活生生、會呼吸的畫。那些異教的豹子——那些無所顧忌、不拜任何神、只管活著的東西；牠們去追逐、卻不為自己所感到的那炎熱的生命給出半點理由！那船員，老兄，那船員！在獵鯨這事上，他們不是全都和亞哈一條心嗎？看斯塔布！他在笑！看那邊那個智利人！一想到這事他就噴著鼻息興奮。在這普天的颶風中，你這一棵被拋擺的小樹苗，是站不住的，斯塔巴克！

And what is it? Reckon it. ’Tis but to help strike a fin; no wondrous feat for Starbuck. What is it more? From this one poor hunt, then, the best lance out of all Nantucket, surely he will not hang back, when every foremast-hand has clutched a whetstone? Ah! constrainings seize thee; I see! the billow lifts thee! Speak, but speak!—Aye, aye! thy silence, then, that voices thee. (Aside) Something shot from my dilated nostrils, he has inhaled it in his lungs. Starbuck now is mine; cannot oppose me now, without rebellion.”

況且這算什麼？盤算盤算。不過是幫忙刺中一片鰭罷了；對斯塔巴克算不上什麼了不得的壯舉。還能算什麼？那麼，全南塔克特最好的一桿槍，在這麼一樁區區的獵殺裡，當每個桅前水手都已攥緊磨刀石時，他總不至於退縮吧？啊！我看見了——種種拘束正攫住你！那巨浪把你托起來了！說啊，倒是說啊！——對，對！你這沉默，正替你發了言。（旁白）有某種東西從我擴張的鼻孔噴出，他已把它吸進了肺裡。斯塔巴克如今是我的了；現在他要反對我，除非公然叛變，否則辦不到。」

“God keep me!—keep us all!” murmured Starbuck, lowly.

「願神護佑我！——護佑我們所有人！」斯塔巴克低低地喃喃道。

But in his joy at the enchanted, tacit acquiescence of the mate, Ahab did not hear his foreboding invocation; nor yet the low laugh from the hold; nor yet the presaging vibrations of the winds in the cordage; nor yet the hollow flap of the sails against the masts, as for a moment their hearts sank in. For again Starbuck’s downcast eyes lighted up with the stubbornness of life; the subterranean laugh died away; the winds blew on; the sails filled out; the ship heaved and rolled as before. Ah, ye admonitions and warnings! why stay ye not when ye come? But rather are ye predictions than warnings, ye shadows! Yet not so much predictions from without, as verifications of the foregoing things within. For with little external to constrain us, the innermost necessities in our being, these still drive us on.

但亞哈正為大副這著了魔般、心照不宣的默許而歡喜，便沒聽見斯塔巴克那不祥的禱告；也沒聽見艙底傳來的一聲低笑；也沒聽見風在索具間那預示著什麼的震顫；也沒聽見帆在桅上空洞的拍擊聲——就在那一刻，眾人的心都往下一沉。因為斯塔巴克垂下的眼又重新燃起了「生之頑強」；那地底般的低笑消散了；風照吹；帆鼓滿；船一如既往地起伏翻滾。啊，你們這些告誡與警告啊！你們既來，為何不肯停留？可你們與其說是警告，不如說是預言，你們這些幻影！然而，與其說是來自外界的預言，不如說是對「內在那些早已存在之物」的印證。因為，即便外在幾乎沒什麼東西在約束我們，我們存在最深處的那些必然，仍會驅趕著我們往前。

“The measure! the measure!” cried Ahab.

「酒！把酒拿來！」亞哈喊道。

Receiving the brimming pewter, and turning to the harpooneers, he ordered them to produce their weapons. Then ranging them before him near the capstan, with their harpoons in their hands, while his three mates stood at his side with their lances, and the rest of the ship’s company formed a circle round the group; he stood for an instant searchingly eyeing every man of his crew. But those wild eyes met his, as the bloodshot eyes of the prairie wolves meet the eye of their leader, ere he rushes on at their head in the trail of the bison; but, alas! only to fall into the hidden snare of the Indian.

接過那滿溢的錫酒壺，他轉向標槍手，命他們拿出自己的武器。接著把他們排在他面前、近絞盤處，叫他們手持魚叉，他的三位船副則持長槍站在他身側，其餘全船的人圍成一圈環繞著這群人；他站定片刻，逼視著他每一個船員。可那些狂野的眼睛迎上他的目光，就像草原狼那充血的眼迎上牠們頭領的眼——在牠率眾衝向野牛蹤跡的前一刻；可惜啊！結果只是一頭栽進印第安人暗設的陷阱裡。

“Drink and pass!” he cried, handing the heavy charged flagon to the nearest seaman. “The crew alone now drink. Round with it, round! Short draughts—long swallows, men; ’tis hot as Satan’s hoof. So, so; it goes round excellently. It spiralizes in ye; forks out at the serpent-snapping eye. Well done; almost drained. That way it went, this way it comes. Hand it me—here’s a hollow! Men, ye seem the years; so brimming life is gulped and gone. Steward, refill!

「喝下去，傳下去！」他喊道，把那盛得滿滿、沉甸甸的酒壺遞給最近的水手。「現在只有船員喝。傳一圈，傳！小口啜——大口嚥，弟兄們；這酒燙得像撒旦的蹄子。好，好；傳得真順。它在你們體內盤旋而上；在那蛇一般咬人的眼裡叉出火光。幹得好；快喝乾了。它那樣去，又這樣回。遞給我——這兒有個空殼（指自己）！弟兄們，你們就像那一個個年頭；滿溢的生命就這麼一口吞下、去了。膳務員，再斟滿！

“Attend now, my braves. I have mustered ye all round this capstan; and ye mates, flank me with your lances; and ye harpooneers, stand there with your irons; and ye, stout mariners, ring me in, that I may in some sort revive a noble custom of my fisherman fathers before me. O men, you will yet see that—Ha! boy, come back? bad pennies come not sooner. Hand it me. Why, now, this pewter had run brimming again, wer’t not thou St. Vitus’ imp—away, thou ague!

「現在聽好，我的勇士們。我把你們全召集到這絞盤周圍；你們這些船副，持長槍護在我兩側；你們這些標槍手，手持鐵叉站那兒；你們這些壯健的水手，把我圍在中間——好讓我多少重演一回我那些捕鯨先輩傳下的一項崇高習俗。啊，弟兄們，你們將會看見——哈！小子，回來了？壞銅板倒來得不慢（指膳務員又回來了）。遞給我。咦，這酒壺要不是你這聖維特斯的小鬼（手抖個不停的小子）攪的，這會兒早又斟得滿滿了——走開，你這抖個不停的瘧疾！

“Advance, ye mates! Cross your lances full before me. Well done! Let me touch the axis.” So saying, with extended arm, he grasped the three level, radiating lances at their crossed centre; while so doing, suddenly and nervously twitched them; meanwhile, glancing intently from Starbuck to Stubb; from Stubb to Flask. It seemed as though, by some nameless, interior volition, he would fain have shocked into them the same fiery emotion accumulated within the Leyden jar of his own magnetic life. The three mates quailed before his strong, sustained, and mystic aspect. Stubb and Flask looked sideways from him; the honest eye of Starbuck fell downright.

「上前來，船副們！把你們的長槍在我面前充分交叉。幹得好！讓我來握住那軸心。」說著，他伸長手臂，握住那三桿平放、輻射狀的長槍交叉的中心；握的同時，他突然神經質地把它們一抽；與此同時，他目光銳利地從斯塔巴克掃到斯塔布、從斯塔布掃到弗拉斯克。彷彿憑著某種無以名狀、內在的意志，他真想把那積蓄在他自身「磁性生命的萊頓瓶」裡的同一股熾烈情感，通電般擊進他們體內。三位船副在他那強烈、持久而神祕的神態前都退縮了。斯塔布和弗拉斯克都把目光從他身上斜移開去；斯塔巴克那誠實的眼，則徑直垂了下去。

“In vain!” cried Ahab; “but, maybe, ’tis well. For did ye three but once take the full-forced shock, then mine own electric thing, that had perhaps expired from out me. Perchance, too, it would have dropped ye dead. Perchance ye need it not. Down lances! And now, ye mates, I do appoint ye three cupbearers to my three pagan kinsmen there—yon three most honorable gentlemen and noblemen, my valiant harpooneers. Disdain the task? What, when the great Pope washes the feet of beggars, using his tiara for ewer? Oh, my sweet cardinals! your own condescension, that shall bend ye to it. I do not order ye; ye will it. Cut your seizings and draw the poles, ye harpooneers!”

「白費了！」亞哈喊道；「不過，也許這樣才好。因為你們三個若真挨上那全力的一擊，那我自己那股電一般的東西，說不定就從我體內耗盡了。說不定，它還會把你們三個當場擊斃。說不定你們並不需要它。放下長槍！現在，你們這些船副，我任命你們三人，去當那邊我那三位異教親族的『斟酒人』——那三位最尊貴的紳士與貴族、我英勇的標槍手。嫌這差事掉價？什麼話，連偉大的教皇都替乞丐洗腳、還拿他的三重冕當水壺呢！噢，我親愛的紅衣主教們！是你們自己那份『屈尊俯就』，會讓你們去做這事的。我不是命令你們；是你們自己情願。割開你們的綁繩、抽出叉柄，標槍手們！」

Silently obeying the order, the three harpooneers now stood with the detached iron part of their harpoons, some three feet long, held, barbs up, before him.

三位標槍手默默地照命令辦，此刻各自舉著從魚叉上卸下的鐵頭部分——約三呎長、倒鉤朝上——立在他面前。

“Stab me not with that keen steel! Cant them; cant them over! know ye not the goblet end? Turn up the socket! So, so; now, ye cup-bearers, advance. The irons! take them; hold them while I fill!” Forthwith, slowly going from one officer to the other, he brimmed the harpoon sockets with the fiery waters from the pewter.

「別拿那利鋼戳我！把它們傾過來；傾過來！你們不知道哪一頭是酒杯嗎？把那（裝柄的）銎口朝上！好，好；現在，斟酒人們，上前。鐵叉！接過去；端著，等我來斟！」隨即，他慢慢地從一位船副走到另一位，用錫壺裡那烈如火的酒，把一個個魚叉的銎口斟得滿滿。

“Now, three to three, ye stand. Commend the murderous chalices! Bestow them, ye who are now made parties to this indissoluble league. Ha! Starbuck! but the deed is done! Yon ratifying sun now waits to sit upon it. Drink, ye harpooneers! drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful whaleboat’s bow—Death to Moby Dick! God hunt us all, if we do not hunt Moby Dick to his death!” The long, barbed steel goblets were lifted; and to cries and maledictions against the white whale, the spirits were simultaneously quaffed down with a hiss. Starbuck paled, and turned, and shivered. Once more, and finally, the replenished pewter went the rounds among the frantic crew; when, waving his free hand to them, they all dispersed; and Ahab retired within his cabin.

「現在，三對三，你們站好。把這幾隻殺氣騰騰的『聖杯』獻上！把它們授出去吧，你們這些如今已成為這『不可解之同盟』一員的人。哈！斯塔巴克！可這事已成定局！那邊那輪批准（見證）的太陽，正等著降臨於它、把它認可。喝啊，標槍手們！喝下去、立下誓，你們這些操控那死亡捕鯨艇船首的人——莫比敵死！除非我們把莫比敵獵殺至死，否則願神獵殺我們全體！」那一隻隻又長又帶倒鉤的鋼酒杯被舉了起來；在對白鯨的喊叫與咒罵聲中，眾人「嘶」地一聲同時把烈酒一飲而盡。斯塔巴克臉色發白、轉過身、渾身發抖。那斟滿的錫壺，最後又一次在這群瘋狂的船員間傳了一圈；隨後，亞哈朝他們揮了揮空著的那隻手，眾人便全數散去；亞哈退回了他的艙裡。