精靈噴泉

Days, weeks passed, and under easy sail, the ivory Pequod had slowly swept across four several cruising-grounds; that off the Azores; off the Cape de Verdes; on the Plate (so called), being off the mouth of the Rio de la Plata; and the Carrol Ground, an unstaked, watery locality, southerly from St. Helena.

數日、數週過去了，象牙色的裴廓德號在輕帆下，緩緩掃過四片漁場：亞速群島外的那片；維德角外的那片；所謂的「拉布拉他（Plate）」——即拉布拉他河口外；以及卡羅爾漁場——聖赫勒拿島以南、一片沒有標界的水域。

It was while gliding through these latter waters that one serene and moonlight night, when all the waves rolled by like scrolls of silver... a silvery jet was seen far in advance of the white bubbles at the bow. Lit up by the moon, it looked celestial; seemed some plumed and glittering god uprising from the sea. Fedallah first descried this jet. ... “There she blows!” Had the trump of judgment blown, they could not have quivered more; yet still they felt no terror; rather pleasure. ... almost every soul on board instinctively desired a lowering.

正是滑行過這後幾片水域時，一個寧靜的月夜——所有的浪都像銀色的卷軸般滾過，憑著它們柔和、瀰漫的沸湧，造出一種彷彿「銀色的靜默」、而非孤寂；在這樣一個靜謐的夜裡，船首白泡的遠前方，出現了一道銀色的噴水。被月光照亮，它看來如天界之物；彷彿某位披著羽飾、閃閃發光的神，從海中升起。最先望見這噴水的是費達拉。因為這些月夜，他慣於登上主桅頂、在那兒瞭望，精準得彷彿白晝。然而，雖然夜裡也常見成群的鯨，一百個捕鯨人裡也難得有一個敢為牠們放艇。那麼，你可想而知，當水手們看見這東方老人在這般不尋常的時辰高棲桅頂時，是何等心情——他的纏頭與那月亮，是同一片天空裡的伴侶。但當他一連數夜在那兒守著同樣的時段、一聲不吭之後；當這一切沉默之後，他那不似人間的嗓音響起、宣告那銀色的、月光下的噴水時，每個躺著的水手都一躍而起，彷彿有個帶翼的精靈落在索具上、招呼著這群凡人。「她噴水啦！」即便末日審判的號角吹響，他們也不會抖得更厲害；然而他們並不感到恐懼，反而是喜悅。因為那雖是極不尋常的時辰，那吶喊卻如此動人、如此令人神魂顛倒地興奮，以致幾乎全船的人，都本能地渴望放艇。

Walking the deck with quick, side-lunging strides, Ahab commanded the t’gallant sails and royals to be set, and every stunsail spread. ... while still she rushed along, as if two antagonistic influences were struggling in her—one to mount direct to heaven, the other to drive yawingly to some horizontal goal. ... While his one live leg made lively echoes along the deck, every stroke of his dead limb sounded like a coffin-tap. On life and death this old man walked. ... yet the silvery jet was no more seen that night. Every sailor swore he saw it once, but not a second time.

亞哈以快速、側身傾衝的大步在甲板上走著，下令張起上桅帆與最高的帆、把每一面副帆都展開。船上最好的人必須掌舵。然後，每個桅頂都派了人，這層層疊帆的船在風前一頭栽下。後甲板那陣風那種奇異的、上掀的、托舉的趨勢，鼓滿了這麼多帆的凹處，使這浮動、懸盪的甲板，感覺像腳下生風；而船仍疾衝向前，彷彿有兩股對立的力量在她體內搏鬥——一股要直直升上天，另一股要偏蕩著衝向某個水平的目標。那夜你若看著亞哈的臉，也會以為他體內也有兩種不同的東西在交戰。當他那條活腿沿甲板敲出活潑的回響時，他那死肢（象牙腿）的每一下叩擊，聽來都像棺材上的敲擊。這老人，行走在生與死之間。但儘管船疾馳如飛、儘管每雙眼都像箭一般射出急切的目光，那夜那銀色的噴水卻再沒出現。每個水手都發誓自己見過一次，卻沒有第二次。

This midnight-spout had almost grown a forgotten thing, when, some days after, lo! at the same silent hour, it was again announced... And so it served us night after night, till no one heeded it but to wonder at it. ... and somehow seeming at every distinct repetition to be advancing still further and further in our van, this solitary jet seemed for ever alluring us on.

這午夜的噴水幾乎已成了被遺忘之物，幾天後，瞧！在同一個靜謐的時刻，它又被宣告了：又被眾人望見；可一張帆去追趕，它便又一次消失，彷彿從不曾存在。它就這樣夜復一夜地戲弄我們，直到無人再理會它、只覺奇異。它神祕地噴向清朗的月光、或星光（視情形而定）；又消失整整一天、或兩天、或三天；而且不知怎地，每一次清晰的重現，都彷彿在我們前方越退越遠——這孤獨的噴水，彷彿永遠在誘引著我們前行。

Nor with the immemorial superstition of their race... were there wanting some of the seamen who swore that whenever and wherever descried... that unnearable spout was cast by one self-same whale; and that whale, Moby Dick. For a time, there reigned, too, a sense of peculiar dread at this flitting apparition, as if it were treacherously beckoning us on and on, in order that the monster might turn round upon us, and rend us at last in the remotest and most savage seas.

而憑著他們種族那亙古的迷信、又應和著那彷彿在許多事上籠罩著裴廓德號的「超自然性」，也不乏一些水手發誓說：無論何時何地被望見、無論相隔多遠的時間、或多麼天南地北的經緯度，那「追不上的噴水」都出自同一頭鯨；而那頭鯨，就是莫比敵。有一陣，對這飄忽的幻影，也籠罩著一種奇異的恐懼：彷彿它在詭詐地把我們一步步、一步步往前引，好讓那怪物在最偏遠、最蠻荒的海裡，回身把我們撕碎。

These temporary apprehensions, so vague but so awful, derived a wondrous potency from the contrasting serenity of the weather, in which, beneath all its blue blandness, some thought there lurked a devilish charm... that all space, in repugnance to our vengeful errand, seemed vacating itself of life before our urn-like prow.

這些暫時的疑懼，如此模糊卻如此可怖，從天氣那「對比性的寧靜」中汲取了一種奇異的力量——在那片湛藍的溫和底下，有人覺得潛藏著一種魔鬼般的蠱惑；一連許多許多天，我們航行其間的海，溫和得令人懨懨、寂寞得令人發悶，彷彿整個空間都厭惡著我們那復仇的差使，在我們那「骨灰甕般的船首」前，自行排空了一切生命。

But, at last, when turning to the eastward, the Cape winds began howling around us... then all this desolate vacuity of life went away, but gave place to sights more dismal than before.

但最終，當船轉向東方、好望角的風開始在我們四周嚎叫、我們在那兒長而洶湧的海上起起伏伏；當那象牙牙的裴廓德號猛地向風暴俯首、瘋狂地牴撞著黑浪，直到泡沫的碎片像銀屑般飛過她的舷牆——那時，這一切荒涼的「生命之空」散去了，卻換來了比先前更陰森的景象。

Close to our bows, strange forms in the water darted hither and thither before us; while thick in our rear flew the inscrutable sea-ravens. ... And heaved and heaved, still unrestingly heaved the black sea, as if its vast tides were a conscience; and the great mundane soul were in anguish and remorse for the long sin and suffering it had bred.

緊挨著我們的船首，水裡有些怪異的形體在我們前方竄來竄去；而在我們船後，密密地飛著那「莫測的海鴉（sea-ravens）」。每天清晨，成排的這種鳥棲在我們的支索上；任憑我們驅趕，牠們仍長久地、固執地攀著那麻繩，彷彿認定我們的船是一艘漂流、無人的船——一件注定荒蕪之物，因而正適合作牠們這群無家者的棲所。而那黑色的海起伏、起伏，仍不歇地起伏著，彷彿它浩瀚的潮汐是一種良心；彷彿那偉大的塵世之魂，正為它所孕育的長久罪孽與苦難，陷於痛苦與悔恨之中。

Cape of Good Hope, do they call ye? Rather Cape Tormentoso, as called of yore; for long allured by the perfidious silences that before had attended us, we found ourselves launched into this tormented sea, where guilty beings transformed into those fowls and these fish, seemed condemned to swim on everlastingly without any haven in store... But calm, snow-white, and unvarying; still directing its fountain of feathers to the sky; still beckoning us on from before, the solitary jet would at times be descried.

「好望角（Cape of Good Hope）」，你們這麼叫它？倒不如照古時，叫它「風暴角（Cape Tormentoso）」吧；因為，被那「先前伴著我們的奸詐沉靜」久久地誘引，我們竟發現自己被拋進了這片受折磨的海——在這裡，有罪的生靈彷彿化作了那些飛鳥與這些游魚，被判永遠泅游而無港可歸、或拍打那黑色的空氣而無地平線可達。可那孤獨的噴水，仍時時被望見——平靜、雪白、始終如一；仍把它羽毛般的泉水指向天空；仍在前頭，招引著我們向前。

During all this blackness of the elements, Ahab, though assuming for the time the almost continual command of the drenched and dangerous deck, manifested the gloomiest reserve... Then Captain and crew become practical fatalists. So, with his ivory leg inserted into its accustomed hole, and with one hand firmly grasping a shroud, Ahab for hours and hours would stand gazing dead to windward... Never could Starbuck forget the old man’s aspect, when one night going down into the cabin to mark how the barometer stood, he saw him with closed eyes sitting straight in his floor-screwed chair... His lantern swung from his tightly clenched hand. Though the body was erect, the head was thrown back so that the closed eyes were pointed towards the needle of the tell-tale that swung from a beam in the ceiling.

在這一切元素的黑暗裡，亞哈雖一時幾乎不斷地指揮著那濕透而危險的甲板，卻表現出最陰鬱的沉默；他比以往更少對他的船副說話。在這種狂暴的時節，當上上下下一切都已固定好之後，便再無事可做，只能被動地等待風暴的結果。那時，船長與船員都成了「實際的宿命論者」。於是，亞哈把象牙腿插進它慣常的孔裡、一手緊抓著一根支索，一站數小時又數小時，死死地朝上風凝望，偶爾一陣冰雪的狂飆，幾乎要把他的睫毛都凍在一起。與此同時，船員被那破過船首的危浪逼離了船的前部，沿船腰的舷牆排成一列；為了更好地防備那躍起的浪，每個人都把自己塞進一個繫在欄杆上的繩圈裡，像繫在一條鬆開的腰帶裡那樣晃著。幾乎沒人說話；那沉默的船，彷彿由一群蠟製的彩繪水手駕著，日復一日衝過那魔性海浪所有的迅疾瘋狂與狂喜。斯塔巴克永遠忘不了那老人的模樣——有一夜，他下到艙裡去看氣壓計的讀數，見亞哈閉著眼、筆直地坐在他那地板上螺絲固定的椅子裡，他不久前才從風暴中進來，帽上、衣上那風暴的雨與半融的雪，still 緩緩地滴著；他身旁的桌上，攤開著一張先前提過的那種潮汐洋流圖；他的提燈從他緊攥的手裡垂下。他身子雖挺直，頭卻向後仰著，以致那閉著的眼，正對著從天花板橫樑上垂下的「指南針報針（tell-tale）」的指針。

*The cabin-compass is called the tell-tale, because without going to the compass at the helm, the Captain, while below, can inform himself of the course of the ship.

＊艙內的羅盤被稱作「tell-tale（報針）」，因為不必走到舵旁的羅盤那兒，船長在下面就能藉它得知船的航向。

Terrible old man! thought Starbuck with a shudder, sleeping in this gale, still thou steadfastly eyest thy purpose.

「可怕的老人！」斯塔巴克打著寒顫想，「在這狂飆裡睡著了，你卻仍堅定地死盯著你的目標。」