追獵——第一天

That night, in the mid-watch, when the old man stepped forth from the scuttle, he suddenly thrust out his face fiercely, snuffing up the sea air as a sagacious ship’s dog will, in drawing nigh to some barbarous isle. He declared that a whale must be near. Soon that peculiar odor, sometimes given forth by the living sperm whale, was palpable to all the watch; nor was any mariner surprised when, after inspecting the compass and the dog-vane, Ahab rapidly ordered the ship’s course to be slightly altered, and the sail to be shortened.

那夜，中更時分，老人從艙口探出身來，突然兇狠地伸出臉去，使勁嗅著海風——就像一條機敏的船犬，在駛近某座蠻荒小島時那樣。他斷言必有一條鯨在附近。不久，那種活抹香鯨有時會散發出來的特殊氣味，全體值更人都聞得真切了；當亞哈查看過羅盤、又看了那測風標、盡可能精確地辨明那氣味的方位後，迅速下令把船的航向略微調整、把帆收短時，沒有一個水手感到意外。

The acute policy was vindicated at daybreak, by the sight of a long sleek on the sea directly ahead, smooth as oil. “Man the mast-heads! Call all hands!” Thundering with the butts of three clubbed handspikes on the forecastle deck, Daggoo roused the sleepers with such judgment claps that they seemed to exhale from the scuttle, so instantaneously did they appear with their clothes in their hands.

破曉時，這番精明的部署得到了印證——只見正前方海面上有一道長長的平滑痕跡，光滑如油。「上桅頂瞭望！全員集合！」大個兒在前甲板上，用三根棍棒般的撬桿桿尾轟然敲擊，那一記記如審判之鎚般的響聲，把睡夢中的人驚醒得彷彿是從艙口裡呼地噴出來的一般——他們手裡抓著衣服，一瞬間就全都冒了出來。

“What d’ye see?” cried Ahab. “Nothing, nothing sir!” “T’gallant sails!—stunsails! alow and aloft, and on both sides!” All sail being set, he now cast loose the life-line, and in a few moments they were hoisting him aloft, when, while but two thirds of the way up, he raised a gull-like cry in the air. “There she blows!—there she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!”

「看見什麼了？」亞哈喊道。「沒有，什麼都沒有，先生！」「升上桅帆！——副帆！上下都張，兩邊都掛！」所有帆都張起後，他鬆開那條救生索，片刻間，眾人便把他往上吊；才升到三分之二高處，他便在空中發出一聲海鷗般的尖叫。「牠噴水啦！——牠噴水啦！一座雪丘般的背峰！是莫比敵！」

Fired by the cry, the men on deck rushed to the rigging to behold the famous whale they had so long been pursuing. From this height the whale was now seen some mile or so ahead, at every roll of the sea revealing his high sparkling hump, and regularly jetting his silent spout into the air.

被這一聲叫喊點燃，甲板上的人都衝向索具，要一睹他們追逐已久的那頭名鯨。從這高處望去，此刻只見那鯨在約莫一哩開外，隨著海面的每一次起伏，亮出牠那高聳閃光的背峰，有規律地把牠那無聲的水柱噴向空中。

“And did none of ye see it before?” cried Ahab. “I saw him almost that same instant, sir, and I cried out,” said Tashtego. “Not the same instant; not the same—no, the doubloon is mine, Fate reserved the doubloon for me. I only... There she blows!—there she blows!... He’s going to sound! In stunsails! Down top-gallant-sails! Stand by three boats. Mr. Starbuck, remember, stay on board, and keep the ship... Lower me, Mr. Starbuck; lower, lower,—quick, quicker!” and he slid through the air to the deck.

「你們難道沒人比我先看見牠？」亞哈喊道。「我幾乎和您同一瞬間就看見牠了，先生，我也喊了出來，」塔斯蒂哥說。「不是同一瞬間；不一樣——不，這金幣是我的，命運把這金幣留給我了。只有我……牠噴水啦！——牠噴水啦！……牠要潛下去了！收副帆！降上桅帆！三艘艇準備。斯塔巴克先生，記住，留在船上，看好這船……把我放下來，斯塔巴克先生；放，放，——快，再快些！」他便順著繩索滑回甲板。

“Be dumb, man! Stand by the braces! Hard down the helm!—brace up! Shiver her!” Soon all the boats but Starbuck’s were dropped; all the boat-sails set; with rippling swiftness, shooting to leeward; and Ahab heading the onset. A pale, death-glimmer lit up Fedallah’s sunken eyes; a hideous motion gnawed his mouth.

「別出聲，老兄！守住轉帆索！把舵壓到底！——把帆桁朝風扳緊！讓帆抖起來！」不久，除斯塔巴克的艇外，所有小艇都放下了；艇帆全張；蕩著漣漪般的迅捷，朝下風射去；亞哈領頭衝鋒。一抹蒼白的、死亡般的微光，照亮了費達拉深陷的眼睛；一個猙獰的動作，啃噬著他的嘴角。

Like noiseless nautilus shells, their light prows sped through the sea; but only slowly they neared the foe. As they neared him, the ocean grew still more smooth; seemed a noon-meadow, so serenely it spread. At length the hunter came so nigh his seemingly unsuspecting prey, that his entire dazzling hump was distinctly visible, sliding along the sea, and continually set in a revolving ring of finest, fleecy, greenish foam. Like to some flag-staff rising from the painted hull of an argosy, the tall but shattered pole of a recent lance projected from the white whale’s back; and at intervals one of the cloud of soft-toed fowls silently perched and rocked on this pole, the long tail feathers streaming like pennons.

像無聲的鸚鵡螺殼，那一葉葉輕盈的艇首疾掠過海面；可牠們只是緩緩逼近那獵物。隨著牠們靠近，海面愈發平滑；攤展得那麼安詳，宛如一片正午的草地。終於，那獵手逼近到看似毫無防備的獵物跟前，近到牠那整片炫目的背峰都清晰可見，沿著海面滑行，始終被圍在一圈最纖細、最羊毛般、泛著綠意的浪花裡。像一根旗桿，從一艘彩繪的大商船船身上豎起，一根高高的、卻已折斷的、新近插上的標槍桿，從那白鯨的背上突出來；不時地，那一群軟爪海鳥裡，便有一隻悄悄停落在這桿上、隨之搖晃，長長的尾羽飄揚如旌旗。

A gentle joyousness—a mighty mildness of repose in swiftness, invested the gliding whale. Not the white bull Jupiter swimming away with ravished Europa clinging to his graceful horns... did surpass the glorified White Whale as he so divinely swam. Yet calm, enticing calm, oh, whale! thou glidest on, to all who for the first time eye thee, no matter how many in that same way thou may’st have bejuggled and destroyed before. For those hunters who, allured by all this serenity, had ventured to assail it, had fatally found that quietude but the vesture of tornadoes.

一種溫柔的歡愉——一種在疾速中安歇的、雄渾的柔和，籠罩著那滑行的鯨。縱是那馱走被擄的歐羅巴、任她攀著牠優雅雙角的白色化牛宙斯……也不及這榮耀的白鯨，當牠這般神聖地泅游時。然而，平靜啊，誘人的平靜，哦，鯨！你滑行向前，對每一個初次見你的人皆是如此——無論你先前曾用同樣的方式，矇騙、毀滅過多少人。因為那些被這份寧靜誘惑、膽敢去攻擊牠的獵手，都已致命地發現：那份靜謐，不過是龍捲風的外衣。

Soon the fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for an instant his whole marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia’s Natural Bridge, and warningly waving his bannered flukes in the air, the grand god revealed himself, sounded, and went out of sight. With oars apeak, and paddles down, the three boats now stilly floated, awaiting Moby Dick’s reappearance.

不久，牠的前半身緩緩升出水面；有那麼一瞬，牠整個大理石般的身軀拱成一道高高的弧，像維吉尼亞州的天然橋；牠把那旗幟般的尾鰭警告似地在空中一揮，這偉岸的神便顯露了自身、潛入深水、消失不見。三艘小艇此刻槳尖朝天、短槳收落，靜靜地浮著，等候莫比敵再度現身。

“An hour,” said Ahab, rooted in his boat’s stern. “The birds!—the birds!” cried Tashtego. The white birds were now all flying towards Ahab’s boat... But suddenly as he peered down into its depths, he profoundly saw a white living spot no bigger than a white weasel, with wonderful celerity uprising, till there were plainly revealed two long crooked rows of white, glistening teeth. It was Moby Dick’s open mouth; the glittering mouth yawned beneath the boat like an open-doored marble tomb; and giving one sidelong sweep with his oar, Ahab whirled the craft aside. Then he went forward to the bows, and seizing Perth’s harpoon, commanded his crew to stand by to stern.

「一個鐘頭，」亞哈說，紋絲不動地立在艇尾。「那些鳥！——那些鳥！」塔斯蒂哥喊道。那些白鳥此刻全朝亞哈的艇飛來……可就在他俯視深處時，他驀地望見一個白色的、活的小點，不比一隻白鼬大，以驚人的迅捷上升，直到清清楚楚地現出兩排長長的、彎曲的、白森森閃亮的牙齒。那是莫比敵張開的大口；那閃光的大口在艇下張開，像一座敞著門的大理石墓穴；亞哈用槳橫橫一掃，把小艇旋到一旁。隨即他走到艇首，抓起珀斯鍛的魚叉，命他的水手準備好倒退划。

But as if perceiving this stratagem, Moby Dick sidelingly transplanted himself, shooting his pleated head lengthwise beneath the boat. Through every plank it thrilled, the whale obliquely lying on his back, in the manner of a biting shark, slowly taking its bows full within his mouth, so that the long, scrolled lower jaw curled high up into the open air, and one of the teeth caught in a row-lock. In this attitude the White Whale now shook the slight cedar as a mildly cruel cat her mouse. With unastonished eyes Fedallah gazed, and crossed his arms; but the tiger-yellow crew were tumbling over each other to gain the stern.

可彷彿看穿了這條詭計，莫比敵側身一移，把牠那帶褶的頭顱縱向射到艇底下。一陣震顫穿透每一塊船板，那鯨斜斜地仰躺著，像一條啃咬的鯊魚，慢慢地把艇首整個含進口中，於是那長長的、捲曲的下顎高高地翹進空中，一顆牙齒卡進了一個槳架。白鯨就以這姿態，搖晃著這葉單薄的雪松小艇，像一隻溫吞而殘忍的貓玩弄牠的老鼠。費達拉以毫不驚訝的眼睛凝望著，抱起雙臂；可那群虎黃色的水手，卻你壓我、我壓你地拼命往艇尾擠。

Then it was that monomaniac Ahab, furious with this tantalizing vicinity of his foe, which placed him all alive and helpless in the very jaws he hated; he seized the long bone with his naked hands, and wildly strove to wrench it from its gripe. As he thus vainly strove, the jaw slipped from him; the frail gunwales bent in, collapsed, and snapped, as both jaws, like an enormous shears, bit the craft completely in twain... But only slipping further into the whale’s mouth, the boat had shaken off his hold; spilled him out of it, as he leaned to the push; and so he fell flat-faced upon the sea.

正是在這時，偏執成狂的亞哈，被宿敵這般撩撥人的逼近激得狂怒——那逼近，把他活生生、束手無策地，送進了他所憎恨的那副巨顎正中；他赤手抓住那長長的牙骨，發瘋似地想把它從那箝咬中掰開。正當他這般徒勞地掙扎時，那下顎從他手中滑脫；脆弱的舷緣向內彎折、塌陷、斷裂，兩片巨顎像一把巨大的剪刀，把小艇整個咬成了兩截……可小艇只是更往白鯨口中滑去，把抓著顎骨的亞哈一甩脫——他正俯身使勁去推，便被甩了出來；於是他臉朝下摔進了海裡。

Ripplingly withdrawing, Moby Dick now swam swiftly round and round the wrecked crew; sideways churning the water in his vengeful wake, as if lashing himself up to another assault. The sight of the splintered boat seemed to madden him, as the blood of grapes cast before Antiochus’s elephants in the book of Maccabees. Meanwhile helpless Ahab’s head was seen, like a tossed bubble which the least chance shock might burst. From the boat’s fragmentary stern, Fedallah incuriously and mildly eyed him; the clinging crew could not succor him. So planetarily swift the ever-contracting circles he made, that the other boats dared not pull into the eddy to strike, lest that be the signal for the instant destruction of Ahab and all.

蕩著漣漪退開後，莫比敵此刻繞著那遇難的水手飛速地一圈圈游著；側身在牠那復仇的航跡裡攪動著海水，彷彿在鞭策自己發動又一次攻擊。那破碎小艇的景象似乎把牠激瘋了——正如《馬加比書》裡，撒在安提阿古斯那些戰象面前的葡萄汁。與此同時，束手無策的亞哈，只見一顆腦袋，像一個被拋起的水泡，最輕微的一撞便會破裂。費達拉在那破船的殘尾上，漠然而平淡地望著他；攀在另一端的水手無法施救。牠繞的那愈縮愈小的圈子是這般如行星運轉般飛快，以至於其餘小艇都不敢划進那漩渦去下叉，唯恐那一刺，便成了亞哈與眾人即刻覆滅的信號。

Meantime, all this had been descried from the ship; and squaring her yards, she had borne down upon the scene; and was now so nigh, that Ahab in the water hailed her!—but that moment a breaking sea whelmed him. But struggling out, and chancing to rise on a towering crest, he shouted,—“Sail on the whale!—Drive him off!” The Pequod’s prows were pointed; and breaking up the charmed circle, she effectually parted the white whale from his victim. As he sullenly swam off, the boats flew to the rescue.

與此同時，這一切都早已從船上望見；於是她擺正帆桁，朝這現場駛來；此刻已近到亞哈在水裡能向她喊話了！——可就在那一刻，一道碎裂的浪頭把他淹沒。但他掙扎著冒出水面，恰好升上一道高聳的浪峰，喊道：——「拿船去撞那鯨！——把牠趕開！」裴廓德號的船首對準了過去；衝散了那道魔咒般的圈子，硬是把白鯨與牠的獵物分開。當白鯨悻悻地游開時，那幾艘小艇飛奔來救。

Dragged into Stubb’s boat with blood-shot, blinded eyes, the white brine caking in his wrinkles; the long tension of Ahab’s bodily strength did crack, and helplessly he yielded to his body’s doom: for a time, lying all crushed in the bottom of Stubb’s boat, like one trodden under foot of herds of elephants. Far inland, nameless wails came from him, as desolate sounds from out ravines. But this intensity of his physical prostration did but so much the more abbreviate it. In an instant’s compass, great hearts sometimes condense to one deep pang, the sum total of those shallow pains kindly diffused through feebler men’s whole lives.

被拖進斯塔布的艇裡，雙眼充血、看不見了，白色的鹽鹵在他的皺紋裡結成了痂；亞哈那繃持已久的體力終於崩斷，他無助地向自己肉身的劫數屈服了：有那麼一陣，他整個人被壓垮似地躺在斯塔布艇底，像一個被象群踐踏過的人。一陣陣無以名狀的哀號從他口中發出，像從深谷溝壑裡傳來的、荒涼的聲音。可這身體崩潰的劇烈，反倒使它格外短促。在一瞬之間，偉大的心靈有時會凝縮成一記深沉的劇痛——那是平庸之輩一生中零散承受的所有淺痛的總和。

“The harpoon,” said Ahab, half rising—“is it safe?” “Aye, sir, for it was not darted; this is it,” said Stubb. “Lay it before me;—any missing men?” “One, two, three, four, five;—there were five oars, sir, and here are five men.” “That’s good.—Help me, man; I wish to stand. So, so, I see him! there! there! going to leeward still... The eternal sap runs up in Ahab’s bones again! Set the sail; out oars; the helm!”

「那魚叉，」亞哈半撐起身——「還在嗎？」「在，先生，因為沒擲出去；就是這支，」斯塔布說。「放到我面前來；——有人失蹤嗎？」「一、二、三、四、五；——本來是五支槳，先生，這兒正好五個人。」「那就好。——扶我一把，老兄；我要站起來。好，好，我看見牠了！那兒！那兒！還在往下風去……永恆的樹液又湧上亞哈的骨頭了！張帆；出槳；掌舵！」

It is often the case that when a boat is stove, its crew help to work a second boat; and the chase is continued with double-banked oars. But the added power did not equal the whale’s, for he seemed to have treble-banked his every fin. The ship itself, then, offered the most promising means of overtaking the chase. The boats made for her, were swayed up to their cranes, and the Pequod bore down in the leeward wake of Moby-Dick. In this way the day wore on; Ahab, now aloft and motionless; anon, unrestingly pacing the planks.

常有的情形是：一艘小艇被撞毀後，它的水手便去幫著划第二艘艇；於是追獵便靠所謂的「雙排槳」繼續下去。可這增添的划力，仍抵不過那鯨增添的力——牠彷彿給自己每一片鰭都添了三倍的槳。於是這時，船本身反倒成了追上獵物最有指望的辦法。眾艇朝她划去，被吊上吊架，裴廓德號便朝著莫比敵下風的航跡追壓下去。這一天就這麼過去了；亞哈，時而高踞桅頂、一動不動；時而又在甲板上不歇地來回踱步。

As he thus paced, beneath his slouched hat, at every turn he passed his own wrecked boat, which lay reversed on the quarter-deck. At last he paused before it. Stubb advanced, and eyeing the wreck exclaimed—“The thistle the ass refused; it pricked his mouth too keenly, sir; ha! ha!” “What soulless thing is this that laughs before a wreck?... Groan nor laugh should be heard before a wreck.” “Aye, sir,” said Starbuck, “’tis a solemn sight; an omen, and an ill one.” “Omen? omen?—the dictionary! If the gods think to speak outright to man, they will honorably speak outright; not shake their heads, and give an old wives’ darkling hint.—Begone!... Ahab stands alone among the millions of the peopled earth, nor gods nor men his neighbors! Cold, cold—I shiver!”

他就這麼踱著，帽簷低垂，每一次轉身都經過他自己那艘破艇——它翻過來擱在後甲板上。最後他在它面前停下。斯塔布走上前，瞅著那殘骸喊道：——「這就是那頭驢不肯吃的薊草啊；它刺得牠的嘴太疼了，先生；哈！哈！」「在一堆殘骸面前發笑的，是個什麼無魂之物？……殘骸之前，呻吟與笑聲都不該被聽見。」「是啊，先生，」斯塔巴克走近說，「這是個莊嚴的景象；一個凶兆，而且是不祥的。」「凶兆？凶兆？——查字典去吧！神若想對人開口，會堂堂正正地說出來；而不是搖搖頭，給個老婆子般晦暗的暗示。——滾開！……亞哈孤零零地立於這人煙稠密大地上的億萬人之間，神與人，都不是他的鄰居！冷，冷——我打著寒顫！」

The day was nearly done. “Can’t see the spout now, sir;—too dark.” “How heading when last seen?” “As before, sir,—straight to leeward.” “Good! he will travel slower now ’tis night... We must not run over him before morning.” Then advancing towards the doubloon in the main-mast—“Men, this gold is mine, for I earned it; but I shall let it abide here till the White Whale is dead; and then, whosoever of ye first raises him, upon the day he shall be killed, this gold is that man’s... Away now!—the deck is thine, sir!” And so saying, he placed himself half way within the scuttle, and slouching his hat, stood there till dawn.

這一天將盡。「現在看不見水柱了，先生；——太暗了。」「最後看見時朝哪個方向？」「跟先前一樣，先生，——筆直地往下風去。」「好！這會兒入夜了，牠會走得慢些……我們可不能在天亮前就追過了頭。」隨後他朝主桅上那枚金幣走去——「弟兄們，這金幣是我的，因為是我掙來的；可我要讓它留在這兒，直到白鯨死去；到那時，你們誰第一個望見牠——就在牠被殺死的那一天——這金幣便歸那人所有……現在都散了吧！——甲板交給你了，先生！」說罷，他把自己半身探進艙口，壓低帽子，就那麼站著，直到天明。