鬣狗

There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody’s expense but his own. ... He bolts down all events, all creeds, and beliefs, and persuasions, all hard things visible and invisible, never mind how knobby; as an ostrich of potent digestion gobbles down bullets and gun flints. And as for small difficulties and worryings... all these, and death itself, seem to him only sly, good-natured hits, and jolly punches in the side bestowed by the unseen and unaccountable old joker. ... There is nothing like the perils of whaling to breed this free and easy sort of genial, desperado philosophy; and with it I now regarded this whole voyage of the Pequod, and the great White Whale its object.

在我們稱為「人生」的這樁奇異而混雜的事裡，有某些古怪的時刻與場合——一個人會把整個宇宙當成一個天大的惡作劇，雖然他只隱約看出其中的詼諧，又十之八九疑心：這玩笑不損別人，只損他自己。然而那時，什麼都打不垮他，什麼都不值得去爭辯了。他把一切事件、一切信條、信仰與主張、一切看得見看不見的硬東西，不管多麼疙疙瘩瘩，全都囫圇吞下；就像一隻消化力強悍的鴕鳥，把子彈和火石都吞了下去。至於那些小困難、小煩憂，突如其來的災禍之兆、身家性命之危；這一切，連同死亡本身，在他看來都只是那「看不見、莫名其妙的老頑童」所賜的、狡黠而善意的戳弄、在他肋下開的快活一拳。我所說的這種乖張的心境，只在人極度患難之時才降臨於他；它就在他最當真的當口湧上來，使得方才還像是天大要緊的事，如今都只成了那「大玩笑」的一部分。沒有什麼比捕鯨的凶險，更能孕育這種自在、隨和、近乎「亡命徒（desperado）」的曠達哲學了；此刻，我便用它來看待裴廓德號這整趟航程、以及牠的目標那頭偉大的白鯨。

“Queequeg,” said I, when they had dragged me, the last man, to the deck, and I was still shaking myself in my jacket to fling off the water; “Queequeg, my fine friend, does this sort of thing often happen?” Without much emotion, though soaked through just like me, he gave me to understand that such things did often happen.

「魁魁格，」我說——當他們把我這最後一個人拖上甲板、我還在外套裡抖著、想甩掉水時；「魁魁格，我的好朋友，這種事常發生嗎？」他雖跟我一樣濕透，卻沒多少情緒，只讓我明白：這種事的確常發生。

“Mr. Stubb,” said I, turning to that worthy, who, buttoned up in his oil-jacket, was now calmly smoking his pipe in the rain; “Mr. Stubb, I think I have heard you say that of all whalemen you ever met, our chief mate, Mr. Starbuck, is by far the most careful and prudent. I suppose then, that going plump on a flying whale with your sail set in a foggy squall is the height of a whaleman’s discretion?”

「斯塔布先生，」我轉向那位好漢說——他扣緊了油布外套，正在雨中悠然抽著菸斗；「斯塔布先生，我想我聽你說過，你所遇見的一切捕鯨人裡，咱們的大副斯塔巴克先生是遠遠最小心、最謹慎的。那麼我猜，在霧裡的狂飆中張著帆、直直撞上一頭飛奔的鯨，這就是捕鯨人『審慎』的極致囉？」

“Certain. I’ve lowered for whales from a leaking ship in a gale off Cape Horn.”

「當然。我還在合恩角外、頂著狂風、從一艘漏水的船上放過艇追鯨呢。」

“Mr. Flask,” said I, turning to little King-Post, who was standing close by; “you are experienced in these things, and I am not. Will you tell me whether it is an unalterable law in this fishery, Mr. Flask, for an oarsman to break his own back pulling himself back-foremost into death’s jaws?”

「弗拉斯克先生，」我轉向站在近旁的小「中柱」說；「你在這些事上有經驗，我沒有。你能否告訴我，弗拉斯克先生，這行裡是不是有條不可更改的鐵律——槳手必須背朝前、把自己倒著拉進死亡的顎裡，拉到把自己的背都拉斷？」

“Can’t you twist that smaller?” said Flask. “Yes, that’s the law. I should like to see a boat’s crew backing water up to a whale face foremost. Ha, ha! the whale would give them squint for squint, mind that!”

「你就不能把話說短點兒？」弗拉斯克說。「對，這就是規矩。我倒想看看，哪艘艇的人敢『臉朝前、倒划』地衝向一頭鯨呢。哈，哈！那鯨會瞪眼回敬他們一個瞪眼，記著這點！」

Here then, from three impartial witnesses, I had a deliberate statement of the entire case. ... considering that the particular disaster to our own particular boat was chiefly to be imputed to Starbuck’s driving on to his whale almost in the teeth of a squall, and considering that Starbuck, notwithstanding, was famous for his great heedfulness in the fishery... and finally considering in what a devil’s chase I was implicated, touching the White Whale: taking all things together, I say, I thought I might as well go below and make a rough draft of my will. “Queequeg,” said I, “come along, you shall be my lawyer, executor, and legatee.”

那麼，從這三位公正的證人口中，我得到了整件事鄭重的陳述。因此，考慮到：狂飆、在水裡翻艇、以及隨之而來的「露宿深海」，在這種生活裡是家常便飯；考慮到：在衝向鯨的最最關鍵的一刻，我必須把性命交到掌舵者手裡——而那人在那一刻，往往正衝動得要用自己瘋狂的跺腳把艇給跺沉；考慮到：我們自家那艘艇這次的特定災難，主要該歸咎於斯塔巴克幾乎頂著狂飆硬撞他的鯨，而斯塔巴克偏偏又以在捕鯨上極其謹慎聞名；考慮到：我屬於這位異常審慎的斯塔巴克的艇；最後，考慮到：就白鯨而論，我捲進的是一場何等的「魔鬼追獵」——把這一切合起來想，我說，我覺得不如下艙去草擬一份遺囑。「魁魁格，」我說，「跟我來，你來當我的律師、遺囑執行人，兼遺產繼承人。」

It may seem strange that of all men sailors should be tinkering at their last wills and testaments, but there are no people in the world more fond of that diversion. This was the fourth time in my nautical life that I had done the same thing. ... Besides, all the days I should now live would be as good as the days that Lazarus lived after his resurrection; a supplementary clean gain of so many months or weeks as the case might be. I survived myself; my death and burial were locked up in my chest. I looked round me tranquilly and contentedly, like a quiet ghost with a clean conscience sitting inside the bars of a snug family vault.

水手竟是世上最愛擺弄遺囑的人——這也許顯得奇怪，可世上再沒有比他們更愛這消遣的了。這已是我航海生涯裡第四次做這同一件事。這回的儀式辦完之後，我覺得通體輕鬆了；一塊石頭從我心頭挪開了。何況，我往後要活的每一天，都將如同拉撒路（Lazarus）復活後所活的日子那般美好——是白白賺來、乾乾淨淨多出的幾個月、或幾週，視情形而定。我「比自己活得更久」了；我的死亡與葬禮，都鎖進了我的箱子裡。我環顧四周，安詳而知足，像一個良心清白的安靜鬼魂，坐在自家一座舒適墓穴的柵欄裡。

Now then, thought I, unconsciously rolling up the sleeves of my frock, here goes for a cool, collected dive at death and destruction, and the devil fetch the hindmost.

「那麼好了，」我想著，不自覺地捲起我罩衫的袖子，「這就來個冷靜、鎮定地一頭扎進死亡與毀滅吧——落在最後的那個，就讓魔鬼把他抓了去！」