追獵——第三天

The morning of the third day dawned fair and fresh. “D’ye see him?” cried Ahab; but the whale was not yet in sight. “What a lovely day again!... Here’s food for thought, had Ahab time to think; but Ahab never thinks; he only feels, feels, feels; that’s tingling enough for mortal man! to think’s audacity. God only has that right and privilege... And by the eternal Poles! these same Trades that so directly blow my good ship on; these Trades, or something like them—something so unchangeable, and full as strong, blow my keeled soul along! To it! Aloft there! What d’ye see?”

第三天的清晨，清朗而新鮮地破曉了。「看見牠了嗎？」亞哈喊道；可那鯨還沒進入視野。「又是何等可愛的一天！……這倒值得好好想一想，若是亞哈有時間去想的話；可亞哈從不思考；他只是感覺、感覺、感覺；這對一個凡人已經夠刺痛的了！思考是一種僭越。唯有上帝才有那份權利與特權……憑那永恆的南北兩極起誓！正是這些信風，這般筆直地吹送著我這條好船向前；這些信風，或某種與之相似的東西——某種如此不可更改、又同樣強勁的東西，吹送著我這下了龍骨的靈魂向前！上吧！桅頂的人！你看見什麼了？」

“Nothing, sir.” “Nothing! and noon at hand!... I’ve oversailed him. How, got the start? Aye, he’s chasing me now; not I, him—that’s bad... About! about! Come down, all of ye, but the regular look outs! Man the braces!” “Against the wind he now steers for the open jaw,” murmured Starbuck to himself. “God keep us, but already my bones feel damp within me... I misdoubt me that I disobey my God in obeying him!”

「什麼也沒有，先生。」「什麼也沒有！都快正午了！……我超過牠了。怎麼會，讓牠占了先機？是啊，這會兒是牠在追我了；不是我追牠——這可不妙……掉頭！掉頭！你們全都下來，只留固定的瞭望！守住轉帆索！」「他逆著風，此刻正朝那張開的巨口駛去，」斯塔巴克喃喃自語。「上帝保佑我們，可我的骨頭裡早已感到一陣陰濕……我怕，我順從他，正是違抗了我的神！」

A whole hour now passed; gold-beaten out to ages. But at last, some three points off the weather bow, Ahab descried the spout again. “Forehead to forehead I meet thee, this third time, Moby Dick!... But good bye, good bye, old mast-head!... What’s that he said? he should still go before me, my pilot; and yet to be seen again? But where?... Good-bye, mast-head—keep a good eye upon the whale, the while I’m gone.”

如今整整一個鐘頭過去了；像被捶成金箔般延展成了千秋萬載。可終於，在迎風船首約三個羅經點的方位上，亞哈又望見了那道水柱。「額對額，我與你相會，這是第三次了，莫比敵！……可再會了，再會了，我的老桅頂啊！……他說的那是什麼話？他，我的引路人，本該先我而去；可又說會再見到他一面？可在哪兒呢？……再會了，桅頂——我不在的時候，替我把那鯨好好盯著。」

In due time the boats were lowered; but as Ahab hovered upon the point of the descent, he waved to the mate, and bade him pause. “Starbuck!” “Sir?” “For the third time my soul’s ship starts upon this voyage, Starbuck.” “Some ships sail from their ports, and ever afterwards are missing, Starbuck!” “Some men die at ebb tide; some at the full of the flood;—and I feel now like a billow that’s all one crested comb, Starbuck. I am old;—shake hands with me, man.”

到了時候，小艇放了下去；可正當亞哈懸在即將下降的當口，他朝大副揮了揮手，叫他暫停。「斯塔巴克！」「在，先生？」「這是第三次了，我靈魂的船，又一次啟航踏上這趟航程，斯塔巴克。」「有些船從港口揚帆而去，從此便永遠失蹤了，斯塔巴克！」「有些人死在退潮時，有些死在漲到滿潮時；——而我此刻覺得自己，像一道整個拱成一頂浪冠的巨浪，斯塔巴克。我老了；——和我握握手吧，老兄。」

Their hands met; their eyes fastened; Starbuck’s tears the glue. “Oh, my captain, my captain!—noble heart—go not—go not!—see, it’s a brave man that weeps; how great the agony of the persuasion then!” “Lower away!”—cried Ahab, tossing the mate’s arm from him. “Stand by the crew!”

他們的手握在了一起；他們的眼神交鎖；斯塔巴克的淚便是那黏合的膠。「哦，我的船長，我的船長！——高貴的心啊——別去——別去！——你看，連一個勇敢的人都落淚了；可見這番苦勸，是何等錐心的煎熬！」「放艇下去！」——亞哈喊著，把大副的手臂從自己身上甩開。「各就各位，弟兄們！」

“The sharks! the sharks!” cried a voice from the low cabin-window; “O master, my master, come back!” But Ahab heard nothing. Numbers of sharks, seemingly rising from the dark waters, maliciously snapped at the blades of the oars every time they dipped. “Heart of wrought steel!” murmured Starbuck, “canst thou yet ring boldly to that sight?—lowering thy keel among ravening sharks... and this the critical third day?... Mary, girl! thou fadest in pale glories behind me; boy! I seem to see but thy eyes grown wondrous blue... Is my journey’s end coming?”

「鯊魚！鯊魚！」一個聲音從低矮的艙窗那兒喊出來（是皮普）；「哦，主人，我的主人，回來吧！」可亞哈什麼也沒聽見。成群的鯊魚，彷彿從那黑暗的水裡冒出來，每當槳葉浸入水中，便惡狠狠地朝它咬去。「一顆鍛鋼鑄的心啊！」斯塔巴克喃喃道，「面對那景象，你竟還能豪邁地鏗鏘作響？——把你的艇放進貪婪的鯊群裡……而這還是那關鍵的第三天？……瑪麗，姑娘啊！你在我身後褪成一片蒼白的微光；孩子！我彷彿只看見你那雙眼睛，藍得出奇……我這趟旅程，是要走到盡頭了嗎？」

The boats had not gone far, when by a signal Ahab knew the whale had sounded. “Drive, drive in your nails, oh ye waves!... ye but strike a thing without a lid; and no coffin and no hearse can be mine:—and hemp only can kill me! Ha! ha!” Suddenly the waters slowly swelled in broad circles; then quickly upheaved. Bedraggled with trailing ropes, and harpoons, and lances, a vast form shot lengthwise from the sea; shrouded in a thin drooping veil of mist, it hovered for a moment in the rainbowed air; and then fell swamping back into the deep.

小艇行了沒多遠，亞哈便從一個信號得知那鯨潛下了水。「敲吧，把你們的釘子敲進來吧，哦，你們這些浪頭！……你們敲打的，不過是一樣沒有蓋子的東西；棺材和柩車都成不了我的：——唯有麻繩才殺得了我！哈！哈！」突然，四周的海水緩緩鼓脹成一圈圈寬闊的漣漪；繼而猛地向上掀起。一個龐然之物，渾身拖曳著纏繞的繩索、魚叉與標槍，狼狽不堪地、縱身斜斜地從海裡射出；裹在一層薄薄低垂的霧紗裡，在那虹彩般的空氣中懸停了一瞬；隨即又轟然跌回深海。

“Give way!” cried Ahab; but maddened by yesterday’s fresh irons, Moby Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fell from heaven. Head on, he came churning his tail among the boats; and once more flailed them apart; leaving Ahab’s almost without a scar. At that moment a quick cry went up. Lashed round and round to the fish’s back, pinioned in the turns of the lines, the half torn body of the Parsee was seen; his sable raiment frayed to shreds; his distended eyes turned full upon old Ahab.

「划！」亞哈喊道；可莫比敵被昨天那些新插的魚叉激得發瘋——那些魚叉還在牠體內鏽蝕著——牠彷彿同時被所有從天國墜落的天使附了身。牠迎面衝來，尾巴在眾艇之間攪動；再一次把它們鞭打得四散；卻幾乎沒給亞哈的艇留下一道傷痕。就在那一刻，一聲急促的叫喊冒了出來。只見那拜火教徒殘破不全的屍身，被繩索一圈又一圈地綁在那魚的背上，緊緊縛在昨夜白鯨把繩索一道道纏繞起來的圈環之中；他那烏黑的衣袍已磨成了碎縷；他那暴突的雙眼，直直地對著老亞哈。

The harpoon dropped from his hand. “Befooled, befooled!”—drawing in a long lean breath—“Aye, Parsee! I see thee again.—Aye, and thou goest before; and this, this then is the hearse that thou didst promise. But I hold thee to the last letter of thy word. Where is the second hearse?... Ahab is enough to die—Down, men!... Where’s the whale? gone down again?”

魚叉從他手中落下。「被耍了，被耍了！」——他深深地、虛乏地吸進一口氣——「是啊，拜火教徒！我又見到你了。——是啊，你果然先我而去；而這，這就是你應許過的那具柩車了。可我要你一字不差地兌現你的話。第二具柩車在哪兒？……死，有亞哈一個人就夠了——坐下，弟兄們！……那鯨呢？又潛下去了？」

But Moby Dick was now again steadily swimming forward; and had almost passed the ship. He seemed swimming with his utmost velocity, now only intent upon pursuing his own straight path in the sea. “Oh! Ahab,” cried Starbuck, “not too late is it, even now, the third day, to desist. See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!”

可莫比敵此刻又穩穩地朝前游去了；幾乎已超過了那船。牠彷彿以牠最高的速度游著，此刻一心只想沿著自己在海裡那筆直的路徑前進。「哦！亞哈，」斯塔巴克喊道，「即便到了現在，這第三天，要罷手也還不算太遲。你看！莫比敵並不尋你。是你，是你呀，瘋了似地在尋牠！」

As Ahab slid by the vessel, he hailed Starbuck to turn the vessel about, and follow him. As he heard the hammers in the broken boats, far other hammers seemed driving a nail into his heart. Whether fagged by the three days’ chase, the White Whale’s way now began to abate. And still the unpitying sharks accompanied him, and so continually bit at the plying oars, that the blades became jagged and crunched. “Heed them not! those teeth but give new rowlocks to your oars. Pull on!... But who can tell—whether these sharks swim to feast on the whale or on Ahab?”

當亞哈從船旁滑過時，他向斯塔巴克喊話，要他把船掉轉過來、跟上他。聽著那些破艇上傳來的錘聲，另有一些全然不同的錘子，彷彿正把一根釘子敲進他的心裡。或許是被這三天的追獵累乏了，白鯨此刻的去勢開始減緩了。而那些毫無憐憫的鯊魚仍一路伴著他，不停地咬著划動的槳，把槳葉啃得鋸齒般缺裂、嘎吱碎裂。「別理牠們！那些牙齒不過是給你們的槳添了新的槳架罷了。划！……可誰說得準——這些鯊魚游來，究竟是要飽餐那鯨，還是飽餐亞哈？」

Ahab was fairly within the smoky mist of the whale’s spout; when, with body arched back, and both arms high-lifted, he darted his fierce iron, and his far fiercer curse into the hated whale. Moby Dick sideways writhed; spasmodically rolled his flank against the bow, and so suddenly canted the boat over, that Ahab would once more have been tossed into the sea. The White Whale darted through the sea; and the moment the treacherous line felt that double strain, it snapped in the empty air! “What breaks in me? Some sinew cracks!—’tis whole again; oars! oars! Burst in upon him!”

亞哈已切實地進到了那鯨噴出的、煙霧般的水氣之中；這時，他身子向後拱起、雙臂高高舉起，把他兇猛的魚叉、連同那遠為兇猛的詛咒，一齊擲進了那可恨的鯨身。莫比敵側身扭動；痙攣般地把腹側朝艇首一滾，猛地把小艇掀得傾側過來，險些又一次把亞哈拋進海裡。白鯨疾射穿過海水；就在那條陰險的繩索感到那一記雙重的拉扯與繃緊的剎那，它在空中啪地繃斷了！「我體內斷了什麼？有根筋裂了！——不，又好了；划槳！划槳！朝牠衝進去！」

Hearing the rush of the boat, the whale wheeled round to present his blank forehead at bay; but catching sight of the nearing black hull of the ship; seemingly seeing in it the source of all his persecutions; of a sudden, he bore down upon its advancing prow. Ahab staggered; his hand smote his forehead. “I grow blind; hands! stretch out before me that I may yet grope my way. Is’t night?” “The whale! The ship!” cried the cringing oarsmen. “Oars! oars!... I see: the ship! the ship! Dash on, my men! Will ye not save my ship?”

聽見小艇衝來的聲響，那鯨調轉過身，把牠那塊空白的額頭擺出來迎戰；可一瞥見那愈駛愈近的、船身漆黑的大船；彷彿從中看出了牠一切苦難的根源；牠驀地朝那艘正駛來的船首壓了過去。亞哈一個踉蹌；他的手猛拍自己的額頭。「我眼睛要瞎了；手啊！伸到我面前來，好讓我還能摸索著走。是夜裡了嗎？」「那鯨！那船！」畏縮的槳手們喊道。「划槳！划槳！……我看見了：那船！那船啊！衝啊，我的弟兄們！你們難道不肯救我的船嗎？」

Meantime, Tashtego’s mast-head hammer remained suspended in his hand; the red flag streamed itself straight out from him, as his own forward-flowing heart. From the ship’s bows, nearly all the seamen now hung inactive, all their enchanted eyes intent upon the whale, which strangely vibrating his predestinating head, sent a broad band of semicircular foam before him as he rushed. Retribution, swift vengeance, eternal malice were in his whole aspect; and the solid white buttress of his forehead smote the ship’s starboard bow, till men and timbers reeled. Through the breach, they heard the waters pour, as mountain torrents down a flume.

與此同時，塔斯蒂哥那把桅頂的錘子，停在他手中懸而未落；那面紅旗從他身上筆直地飄展開來，宛如他那顆向前奔湧的心。從船首望去，幾乎所有的水手此刻都一動不動地懸在那兒，所有被蠱惑的眼睛都死死盯著那鯨——牠詭異地擺動著那顆昭示著天命的腦袋，在牠衝刺向前時，於身前推出一道寬闊的、半圓形的泡沫帶。報應、迅捷的復仇、永恆的惡意，盡在牠那整個的形貌之中；牠那塊白色額頭的堅實堡壘，狠狠撞上了船的右舷船首，撞得人與木料一齊踉蹌。從那道裂口，他們聽見海水傾瀉而入，像山洪沿著水槽奔流直下。

“The ship! The hearse!—the second hearse!” cried Ahab from the boat; “its wood could only be American!” Diving beneath the settling ship, the whale ran quivering along its keel; then swiftly shot to the surface again, within a few yards of Ahab’s boat, where, for a time, he lay quiescent.

「那船！那柩車！——第二具柩車！」亞哈在艇上喊道；「它的木料只可能是美國的！」白鯨潛到那正在下沉的船底下，顫動著沿牠的龍骨游過；繼而又飛快地竄回水面，就在離亞哈的艇幾碼之處，在那兒，靜靜地、一動不動地躺了一會兒。

“I turn my body from the sun... Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief... Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool!... let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!”

「我把身子從太陽那邊轉開……哦，此刻我感到，我至高的偉大，正寓於我至深的悲哀之中……朝你，我滾來了，你這毀滅一切、卻征服不了的鯨；到最後一刻，我仍與你扭打；從地獄的心臟，我刺向你；為了恨，我把最後一口氣唾向你。讓所有的棺材、所有的柩車，全都沉進同一個共同的水潭裡吧！……既然這兩樣都成不了我的，那就讓我在追逐你的途中、雖被縛在你身上，也要被拖得粉身碎骨吧，你這該死的鯨！就這樣，我擲出這支長矛！」

The harpoon was darted; the stricken whale flew forward; with igniting velocity the line ran through the grooves;—ran foul. Ahab stooped to clear it; he did clear it; but the flying turn caught him round the neck, and voicelessly as Turkish mutes bowstring their victim, he was shot out of the boat, ere the crew knew he was gone. Next instant, the heavy eye-splice in the rope’s final end flew out of the stark-empty tub, knocked down an oarsman, and smiting the sea, disappeared in its depths.

魚叉擲了出去；那中叉的鯨向前飛竄；繩索以燃火般的速度從凹槽裡飛掠而過；——卻絞纏住了。亞哈彎下身去解它；他確實解開了；可那飛旋的繩圈一下子套住了他的脖子，於是，就像土耳其的啞奴用弓弦無聲地勒斃他們的犧牲者一般，他被射出了艇外，不等船員們察覺他已經沒了。再下一瞬，那繩子末端沉重的繩眼結，從那空空蕩蕩的繩桶裡飛了出來，撞倒了一名槳手，狠狠抽在海面上，便消失在海的深處。

For an instant, the tranced boat’s crew stood still; then turned. “The ship? Great God, where is the ship?” Soon they saw her sidelong fading phantom, as in the gaseous Fata Morgana; only the uppermost masts out of water; while fixed by infatuation, or fidelity, or fate, the pagan harpooneers still maintained their sinking lookouts on the sea. And now, concentric circles seized the lone boat itself, and all its crew, and spinning, carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight.

有那麼一瞬，那恍惚出神的艇員們呆立不動；繼而轉過身來。「那船呢？偉大的上帝啊，那船到哪兒去了？」很快他們便看見了她那側斜著、漸漸消褪的幻影，宛如那氤氳的「海市蜃樓（Fata Morgana）」一般；只剩最頂端的桅杆還露在水面之上；而那幾名異教標槍手，被痴迷、或忠誠、或命運釘住，仍堅守在他們那正下沉的瞭望崗位上俯望大海。此刻，一圈圈同心的漩渦攫住了那孤零零的小艇本身、艇上所有的人、每一支漂浮的槳、每一根標槍桿，旋轉著，把裴廓德號最小的一塊碎片，也捲得無影無蹤。

But as the last whelmings poured over the sunken head of the Indian at the mainmast, leaving a few inches of the spar yet visible, together with long streaming yards of the flag;—at that instant, a red arm and a hammer hovered backwardly uplifted in the act of nailing the flag faster to the subsiding spar. A sky-hawk that tauntingly had followed the main-truck downwards, pecking at the flag, and incommoding Tashtego there; this bird now chanced to intercept its broad fluttering wing between the hammer and the wood; and feeling that etherial thrill, the submerged savage beneath, in his death-gasp, kept his hammer frozen there; and so the bird of heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his whole captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it.

可就在那最後的淹沒之水，漫過主桅旁那印地安人沒入水中的頭顱時——還剩幾吋桅杆露在外頭，連同那面長長飄展的旗子；——就在那一刻，一條紅色的手臂與一柄錘子，向後高高揚起、懸在半空，正要把那旗子更牢地釘上那正在下沉的桅杆。一隻天鷹，方才一路嘲弄似地隨著主桅頂帽往下俯衝，啄著那旗、擾著那兒的塔斯蒂哥；這鳥此刻恰巧把牠那寬闊撲動的翅膀，插進了錘與木之間；那沉入水下的野人感到那一陣天國般的震顫，便在他臨死的喘息裡，把錘子凝定在了那兒；於是這隻天國之鳥，發出大天使般的尖叫、整個被擒的身軀都裹進了亞哈的旗中，隨著他的船一同沉沒了——那船，就像撒旦一樣，不肯獨自沉入地獄，定要拖著一片活生生的天國與她同葬，並用它作了自己的頭盔。

Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.

此刻，小小的飛鳥們尖叫著，掠過那尚未閉合的深淵；一片陰沉的白色浪沫，拍打著那深淵陡峭的邊壁；接著，一切都崩塌了，而大海那巨大的裹屍布，又合攏起來、繼續向前滾動——正如它五千年前滾動的那樣。