水槽與水桶

Nimble as a cat, Tashtego mounts aloft... till dexterously he lands on the summit of the head. There... he seems some Turkish Muezzin calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower. ...like a treasure-hunter in some old house, sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in. ...up comes the bucket again, all bubbling like a dairy-maid’s pail of new milk. ...Towards the end, Tashtego has to ram his long pole harder and harder... until some twenty feet of the pole have gone down.

塔斯蒂哥像貓一般敏捷地攀上桅頂；不改他直立的姿勢，直直走到那探出的主桅桁臂、恰好懸在吊起的「大桶」上方的那一段。他帶了一副叫「whip」的輕滑車（只兩股、穿過一個單滑輪的滑車）。把這滑車固定住、讓它從桁臂垂下，他盪出繩的一端、由甲板上一隻手接住、牢牢握住。然後，手把手地、順著另一股繩，這印第安人凌空降下，直到俐落地落在鯨頭頂上。在那兒——仍高高立在眾人之上、活潑地朝他們呼喊——他活像個土耳其的呼拜員（Muezzin），從塔頂召喚善男信女去祈禱。一把短柄利鏟被送上去給他，他勤勉地尋找鑿開大桶的合適地方。這事他做得極謹慎，像個老屋裡的尋寶者，敲擊（sounding）牆壁、找金子砌（masoned）在哪兒。等這謹慎的搜尋結束，一個結實的鐵箍桶（活像井桶）已綁在 whip 一端；另一端橫過甲板、由兩三隻機警的手握住。他們把桶吊到這印第安人搆得著處；另一人遞給他一根很長的桿。塔斯蒂哥把桿插進桶、把桶往下導進大桶、直到它完全消失；然後給絞繩的水手發話，桶又冒上來——滿滿地冒著泡，像擠奶女工那桶新鮮的牛奶。從高處小心地放下，這滿載的桶被指定的手接住、迅速倒進一個大缸。然後再上去、又走一遍同樣的循環，直到那深「水槽」再也舀不出。到後來，塔斯蒂哥得把他的長桿越戳越狠、越戳越深地戳進大桶，直到約二十呎的桿都沒了下去。

...when all at once a queer accident happened. Whether it was that Tashtego... was so heedless and reckless as to let go for a moment his one-handed hold...; or whether the Evil One himself would have it to fall out so...; but, on a sudden, as the eightieth or ninetieth bucket came suckingly up—my God! poor Tashtego—like the twin reciprocating bucket in a veritable well, dropped head-foremost down into this great Tun of Heidelburgh, and with a horrible oily gurgling, went clean out of sight!

……忽然，一樁怪事發生了。也許是塔斯蒂哥這野印第安人太粗心大意、一時鬆了單手扶著那吊頭的大纜滑車的手；也許是他站的地方太滑、太黏；也許是「惡魔本人（the Evil One）」要它這麼出事、卻不說明祂特定的理由——究竟怎麼回事，如今無從說起；但忽然，當第八九十個桶吸著聲冒上來時——我的天！可憐的塔斯蒂哥——像一口真井裡那「對等往復的另一個桶」一樣，頭朝下栽進了這「大海德堡桶」，伴著一陣可怕的、油膩的咕嚕聲（gurgling），徹底沒了影！

“Man overboard!” cried Daggoo, who amid the general consternation first came to his senses. ...Looking over the side, they saw the before lifeless head throbbing and heaving just below the surface of the sea, as if that moment seized with some momentous idea; whereas it was only the poor Indian unconsciously revealing by those struggles the perilous depth to which he had sunk.

「有人落水！」達戈喊道——他在一片驚惶（consternation）中第一個回過神來。「把桶盪到這邊來！」他一腳踏進桶裡（好把他抓 whip 的滑手抓得更穩），絞繩的人幾乎在塔斯蒂哥還沒沉到那頭的內底之前，就把他高高吊上了鯨頭頂。與此同時，一片可怕的騷動。往舷外一看，他們見那原本沒生命的頭，正在海面下「悸動、起伏（throbbing and heaving）」，彷彿那一刻被某個重大的念頭攫住了——其實，那只是那可憐的印第安人在無意識地、以那些掙扎，洩露出他已沉到的危險深度。

At this instant... a sharp cracking noise was heard; and to the unspeakable horror of all, one of the two enormous hooks suspending the head tore out, and with a vast vibration the enormous mass sideways swung, till the drunk ship reeled and shook as if smitten by an iceberg. The one remaining hook, upon which the entire strain now depended, seemed every instant to be on the point of giving way...

就在此刻，當達戈在頭頂清理那不知怎麼纏住了大切割滑車的 whip 時，一聲尖銳的爆裂響起；眾人無可言喻地驚恐——吊著鯨頭的兩個巨鉤之一崩斷了，那龐然之物伴著一陣巨大的震動側向擺盪，直到那醉漢般的船搖晃、震顫，彷彿被一座冰山撞了。如今全部的張力都繫於那唯一剩下的鉤——它眼看每一刻都要崩斷；而從那頭的劇烈晃動看，這更是極可能發生。

“Come down, come down!” yelled the seamen to Daggoo... the negro having cleared the foul line, rammed down the bucket into the now collapsed well, meaning that the buried harpooneer should grasp it... “In heaven’s name, man,” cried Stubb, “are you ramming home a cartridge there?—Avast!... jamming that iron-bound bucket on top of his head? Avast, will ye!” “Stand clear of the tackle!” cried a voice like the bursting of a rocket.

「下來，下來！」眾人朝達戈喊；達戈卻一手抓著那重滑車（這樣若頭墜落、他仍會懸著），清開了纏住的繩後，把桶猛戳進那如今已塌的「井」裡，意思是要那被埋的標槍手抓住它、好被吊出來。「老天爺在上啊，夥計，」斯塔布喊，「你在那兒填彈藥（cartridge）嗎？——住手！那能幫他什麼，把那鐵箍桶硬塞在他頭頂上？住手，行不行！」「閃開滑車！」一個如火箭爆裂般的聲音喊道。

Almost in the same instant, with a thunder-boom, the enormous mass dropped into the sea, like Niagara’s Table-Rock into the whirlpool... while poor, buried-alive Tashtego was sinking utterly down to the bottom of the sea! But hardly had the blinding vapor cleared away, when a naked figure with a boarding-sword in his hand, was for one swift moment seen hovering over the bulwarks. The next, a loud splash announced that my brave Queequeg had dived to the rescue.

幾乎同一瞬間，伴著一聲雷鳴般的轟響，那龐然之物墜入海中，像尼加拉的「桌岩（Table-Rock）」落進漩渦；驟然解放的船身朝相反方向翻滾、亮出深處那閃光的銅皮；眾人都屏住了氣——只見達戈在濃濃的水霧中半盪著（一會兒在水手頭頂上、一會兒在水面上），隱約被望見攀著那擺盪的滑車，而可憐的、被活埋的塔斯蒂哥，正徹底地往海底沉去！可那刺眼的水霧還沒散去，一個赤裸的身影、手持一把登舷劍，在舷牆上飛快地一閃；下一刻，一聲響亮的水花宣告——我勇敢的魁魁格已潛下去營救了。

“Ha! ha!” cried Daggoo... we saw an arm thrust upright from the blue waves; a sight strange to see, as an arm thrust forth from the grass over a grave. “Both! both!—it is both!”... soon after, Queequeg was seen boldly striking out with one hand, and with the other clutching the long hair of the Indian. ...but Tashtego was long in coming to, and Queequeg did not look very brisk.

「哈！哈！」達戈忽然從他此刻已平靜的、高空的盪座上喊；往舷外更遠處一看，我們見一條手臂從藍色的浪中筆直伸出——那景象之奇，如同一條手臂從墳上的草間伸出。「兩個！兩個！——是兩個都在！」達戈又歡呼一聲；不久之後，只見魁魁格大膽地單手划水、另一手抓著那印第安人的長髮。被拉進等候的小艇、迅速送上甲板；但塔斯蒂哥好久才甦醒過來，魁魁格也顯得不大有精神。

...diving after the slowly descending head, Queequeg with his keen sword had made side lunges near its bottom, so as to scuttle a large hole there; then dropping his sword, had thrust his long arm far inwards and upwards, and so hauled out poor Tash by the head. He averred, that upon first thrusting in for him, a leg was presented; but well knowing that that was not as it ought to be... he had thrust back the leg, and by a dexterous heave and toss, had wrought a somerset upon the Indian; so that with the next trial, he came forth in the good old way—head foremost.

原來，魁魁格潛到那緩緩下沉的頭旁、用他鋒利的劍在它底部附近側劈（lunges），鑿出（scuttle）一個大洞；然後丟下劍、把他的長臂深深地向內、向上伸進去，這麼把可憐的塔什從頭拽了出來。他斷言（averred）：第一次伸進去摸他時，呈現出來的是一條腿；但他深知「這樣不對勁、可能會惹大麻煩」——便把那條腿塞回去，靠靈巧的一掀一拋，給那印第安人翻了個跟頭（somerset）；於是第二次嘗試，塔什便以那「古老的好方式——頭先出來」了。

And thus, through the courage and great skill in obstetrics of Queequeg, the deliverance, or rather, delivery of Tashtego, was successfully accomplished, in the teeth, too, of the most untoward and apparently hopeless impediments; which is a lesson by no means to be forgotten. Midwifery should be taught in the same course with fencing and boxing, riding and rowing.

就這樣，憑著魁魁格的勇氣與高超的「產科（obstetrics）技術」，塔斯蒂哥的「解救」、或更該說「分娩（delivery）」，便在最不利的（untoward）、看似最無望的種種障礙（impediments）當頭之下，成功地完成了——這是一個絕不該被遺忘的教訓。接生術（midwifery），該和擊劍、拳擊、騎馬、划船編在同一門課裡教。

I know that this queer adventure of the Gay-Header’s will be sure to seem incredible to some landsmen, though they themselves may have either seen or heard of some one’s falling into a cistern ashore; an accident which not seldom happens, and with much less reason too than the Indian’s, considering the exceeding slipperiness of the curb of the Sperm Whale’s well.

我知道，這蓋伊角人的怪冒險，某些陸地人準會覺得難以置信——儘管他們自己也許見過、或聽說過有人掉進岸上的水槽（cistern）；這種意外並不少見，而且其「理由」比這印第安人的還要薄弱得多——想想抹香鯨那口「井」的井欄（curb）是何等地滑。

But, peradventure, it may be sagaciously urged, how is this? We thought the tissued, infiltrated head of the Sperm Whale, was the lightest and most corky part about him; and yet thou makest it sink... Not at all, but I have ye; for at the time poor Tash fell in, the case had been nearly emptied of its lighter contents, leaving little but the dense tendinous wall of the well... much heavier than the sea water... But the tendency to rapid sinking in this substance was in the present instance materially counteracted by the other parts of the head remaining undetached from it, so that it sank very slowly and deliberately indeed... Yes, it was a running delivery, so it was.

但也許有人會精明地（sagaciously）質疑：這怎麼說？我們以為抹香鯨那滲透多孔的頭，是牠身上最輕、最像軟木的部分；你卻讓它在一種比重（specific gravity）遠大於它自身的元素裡下沉——「我們可逮到你了。」不，是我逮到你們：因為可憐的塔什掉進去時，那 case 較輕的內容已幾乎被舀空，只剩那緻密的、韌帶質的「井壁」——一種雙重鍛接、捶打過的物質，如我先前所說，比海水重得多、一塊扔進海裡幾乎像鉛般下沉。但這回它快速下沉的傾向，被頭的其他尚未分離的部分相當地抵消（counteracted）了，所以它確實沉得很慢、很從容——給了魁魁格一個「邊沉邊施展他敏捷的接生術」的好機會。是的，那是一場「流動的分娩（running delivery）」，沒錯。

Now, had Tashtego perished in that head, it had been a very precious perishing; smothered in the very whitest and daintiest of fragrant spermaceti; coffined, hearsed, and tombed in the secret inner chamber and sanctum sanctorum of the whale. Only one sweeter end can readily be recalled—the delicious death of an Ohio honey-hunter, who... leaning too far over, it sucked him in, so that he died embalmed. How many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato’s honey head, and sweetly perished there?

如今，塔斯蒂哥若真死在那頭裡，倒會是一場「極珍貴的喪命」——窒息在最白、最精緻、芬芳的鯨腦油裡；被收殮、出殯、安葬在鯨那秘密的內室與「至聖所（sanctum sanctorum）」之中。只有一種更甜的結局立刻浮上心頭——俄亥俄一個獵蜜人那「美味的死」：他在一棵空心樹的樹杈裡找蜜，找到那麼大量的蜜，俯身太過，蜜把他吸了進去，於是他「被防腐香膏封存著（embalmed）」死了。你們想，有多少人也同樣掉進了「柏拉圖的蜜頭」、並甜美地葬身其中？