If to Starbuck the apparition1 of the Squid was a thing of portents2, to Queequeg it was quite a different object.
"When you see him 'quid," said the savage3, honing his harpoon4 in the bow of his hoisted5 boat, "then you quick see him 'parm whale."
The next day was exceedingly still and sultry, and with nothing special to engage them, the Pequod's crew could hardly resist the spell of sleep induced by such a vacant sea. For this part of the Indian Ocean through which we then were voyaging is not what whalemen call a lively ground; that is, it affords fewer glimpses of porpoises6, dolphins, flying-fish, and other vivacious7 denizens8 of more stirring waters, than those off the Rio de la Plata, or the in-shore ground off Peru.
It was my turn to stand at the foremast-head; and with my shoulders leaning against the slackened royal shrouds9, to and fro I idly swayed in what seemed an enchanted10 air. No resolution could withstand it; in that dreamy mood losing all consciousness, at last my soul went out of my body; though my body still continued to sway as a pendulum11 will, long after the power which first moved it is withdrawn12.
Ere forgetfulness altogether came over me, I had noticed that the seamen13 at the main and mizzen mast-heads were already drowsy14. So that at last all three of us lifelessly swung from the spars, and for every swing that we made there was a nod from below from the slumbering15 helmsman. The waves, too, nodded their indolent crests16; and across the wide trance of the sea, east nodded to west, and the sun over all.
Suddenly bubbles seemed bursting beneath my closed eyes; like vices17 my hands grasped the shrouds; some invisible, gracious agency preserved me; with a shock I came back to life. And lo! close under our lee, not forty fathoms18 off, a gigantic Sperm19 Whale lay rolling in the water like the capsized hull20 of a frigate21, his broad, glossy22 back, of an Ethiopian hue23, glistening24 in the sun's rays like a mirror. But lazily undulating in the trough of the sea, and ever and anon tranquilly25 spouting26 his vapory jet, the whale looked like a portly burgher smoking his pipe of a warm afternoon. But that pipe, poor whale, was thy last. As if struck by some enchanter's wand, the sleepy ship and every sleeper27 in it all at once started into wakefulness; and more than a score of voices from all parts of the vessel28, simultaneously29 with the three notes from aloft, shouted forth30 the accustomed cry, as the great fish slowly and regularly spouted31 the sparkling brine into the air.
"Clear away the boats! Luff!" cried Ahab. And obeying his own order, he dashed the helm down before the helmsman could handle the spokes33.
The sudden exclamations34 of the crew must have alarmed the whale; and ere the boats were down, majestically35 turning, he swam away to the leeward36, but with such a steady tranquillity37, and making so few ripples38 as he swam, that thinking after all he might not as yet be alarmed, Ahab gave orders that not an oar39 should be used, and no man must speak but in whispers. So seated like Ontario Indians on the gunwales of the boats, we swiftly but silently paddled along; the calm not admitting of the noiseless sails being set. Presently, as we thus glided40 in chase, the monster perpendicularly42 flitted his tail forty feet into the air, and then sank out of sight like a tower swallowed up.
"There go flukes!" was the cry, an announcement immediately followed by Stubb's producing his match and igniting his pipe, for now a respite43 was granted. After the full interval44 of his sounding had elapsed, the whale rose again, and being now in advance of the smoker's boat, and much nearer to it than to any of the others, Stubb counted upon the honor of the capture. It was obvious, now, that the whale had at length become aware of his pursuers. All silence of cautiousness was therefore no longer of use. Paddles were dropped, and oars45 came loudly into play. And still puffing47 at his pipe, Stubb cheered on his crew to the assault.
Yes, a mighty48 change had come over the fish. All alive to his jeopardy49, he was going "head out"; that part obliquely50 projecting from the mad yeast51 which he brewed52.*
*It will be seen in some other place of what a very light substance the entire interior of the sperm whale's enormous head consists. Though apparently53 the most massive, it is by far the most buoyant part about him. So that with ease he elevates it in the air, and invariably does so when going at his utmost speed. Besides, such is the breadth of the upper part of the front of his head, and such the tapering54 cut-water formation of the lower part, that by obliquely elevating his head, he thereby55 may be said to transform himself from a bluff-bowed sluggish56 galliot into a sharppointed New York pilot-boat.
"Start her, start her, my men! Don't hurry yourselves; take plenty of time--but start her; start her like thunder-claps, that's all," cried Stubb, spluttering out the smoke as he spoke32. "Start her, now; give 'em the long and strong stroke, Tashtego. Start her, Tash, my boy-- start her, all; but keep cool, keep cool--cucumbers is the word-- easy, easy--only start her like grim death and grinning devils, and raise the buried dead perpendicular41 out of their graves, boys-- that's all. Start her!"
"Woo-hoo! Wa-hee!" screamed the Gay-Header in reply, raising some old war-whoop to the skies; as every oarsman in the strained boat involuntarily bounced forward with the one tremendous leading stroke which the eager Indian gave.
But his wild screams were answered by others quite as wild. "Kee-hee! Kee-hee!" yelled Daggoo, straining forwards and backwards57 on his seat, like a pacing tiger in his cage.
"Ka-la! Koo-loo!" howled Queequeg, as if smacking58 his lips over a mouthful of Grenadier's steak. And thus with oars and yells the keels cut the sea. Meanwhile, Stubb, retaining his place in the van, still encouraged his men to the onset59, all the while puffing the smoke from his mouth. Like desperadoes they tugged60 and they strained, till the welcome cry was heard--"Stand up, Tashtego!--give it to him!" The harpoon was hurled61. "Stern all!" The oarsmen backed water; the same moment something went hot and hissing62 along every one of their wrists. It was the magical line. An instant before, Stubb had swiftly caught two additional turns with it round the loggerhead, whence, by reason of its increased rapid circlings, a hempen63 blue smoke now jetted up and mingled64 with the steady fumes65 from his pipe. As the line passed round and round the loggerhead; so also, just before reaching that point, it blisteringly passed through and through both of Stubb's hands, from which the hand-cloths, or squares of quilted canvas sometimes worn at these times, had accidentally dropped. It was like holding an enemy's sharp two-edged sword by the blade, and that enemy all the time striving to wrest66 it out of your clutch.
"Wet the line! wet the line!" cried Stubb to the tub oarsman (him seated by the tub) who, snatching off his hat, dashed the sea-water into it.* More turns were taken, so that the line began holding its place. The boat now flew through the boiling water like a shark all fins67. Stubb and Tashtego here changed places--stem for stern--a staggering business truly in that rocking commotion68.
*Partly to show the indispensableness of this act, it may here be stated, that, in the old Dutch fishery, a mop was used to dash the running line with water; in many other ships, a wooden piggin, or bailer69, is set apart for that purpose. Your hat, however, is the most convenient.
From the vibrating line extending the entire length of the upper part of the boat, and from its now being more tight than a harpstring, you would have thought the craft had two keels--one cleaving70 the water, the other the air--as the boat churned on through both opposing elements at once. A continual cascade71 played at the bows; a ceaseless whirling eddy72 in her wake; and, at the slightest motion from within, even but of a little finger, the vibrating, cracking craft canted over her spasmodic gunwale into the sea. Thus they rushed; each man with might and main clinging to his seat, to prevent being tossed to the foam73; and the tall form of Tashtego at the steering74 oar crouching75 almost double, in order to bring down his centre of gravity. Whole Atlantics and Pacifics seemed passed as they shot on their way, till at length the whale somewhat slackened his flight.
"Haul in--haul in!" cried Stubb to the bowsman! and, facing round towards the whale, all hands began pulling the boat up to him, while yet the boat was being towed on. Soon ranging up by his flank, Stubb, firmly planting his knee in the clumsy cleat, darted76 dart77 after dart into the flying fish; at the word of command, the boat alternately sterning out of the way of the whale's horrible wallow, and then ranging up for another fling.
The red tide now poured from all sides of the monster like brooks78 down a hill. His tormented79 body rolled not in brine but in blood, which bubbled and seethed80 for furlongs behind in their wake. The slanting81 sun playing upon this crimson82 pond in the sea, sent back its reflection into every face, so that they all glowed to each other like red men. And all the while, jet after jet of white smoke was agonizingly shot from the spiracle of the whale, and vehement83 puff46 after puff from the mouth of the excited headsman; as at every dart, hauling in upon his crooked84 lance (by the line attached to it), Stubb straightened it again and again, by a few rapid blows against the gunwale, then again and again sent it into the whale.
"Pull up--pull up!" he now cried to the bowsman, as the waning85 whale relaxed in his wrath86. "Pull up!--close to!" and the boat ranged along the fish's flank. When reaching far over the bow, Stubb slowly churned his long sharp lance into the fish, and kept it there, carefully churning and churning, as if cautiously seeking to feel after some gold watch that the whale might have swallowed, and which he was fearful of breaking ere he could hook it out. But that gold watch he sought was the innermost life of the fish. And now it is struck; for, starting from his trance into that unspeakable thing called his "flurry," the monster horribly wallowed in his blood, overwrapped himself in impenetrable, mad, boiling spray, so that the imperilled craft, instantly dropping astern, had much ado blindly to struggle out from that phrensied twilight87 into the clear air of the day.
And now abating88 in his flurry, the whale once more rolled out into view! surging from side to side; spasmodically dilating89 and contracting his spout-hole, with sharp, cracking, agonized90 respirations. At last, gush91 after gush of clotted92 red gore93, as if it had been the purple lees of red wine, shot into the frightened air; and falling back again, ran dripping down his motionless flanks into the sea. His heart had burst!
"He's dead, Mr. Stubb," said Daggoo.
"Yes; both pipes smoked out!" and withdrawing his own from his mouth, Stubb scattered94 the dead ashes over the water; and, for a moment, stood thoughtfully eyeing the vast corpse95 he had made.
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1
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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portents
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| n.预兆( portent的名词复数 )；征兆；怪事；奇物 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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harpoon
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| n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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porpoises
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| n.鼠海豚( porpoise的名词复数 ) | |
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vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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denizens
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| n.居民，住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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shrouds
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| n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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pendulum
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| n.摆，钟摆 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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sperm
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| n.精子，精液 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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spouted
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| adj.装有嘴的v.（指液体）喷出( spout的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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spokes
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| n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 | |
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exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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46
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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47
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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48
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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jeopardy
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| n.危险；危难 | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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51
yeast
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| n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫 | |
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52
brewed
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| 调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡） | |
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53
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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54
tapering
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| adj.尖端细的 | |
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55
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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56
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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57
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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smacking
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| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
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onset
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| n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始 | |
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tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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62
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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hempen
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| adj. 大麻制的, 大麻的 | |
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64
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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66
wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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67
fins
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| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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bailer
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| 汲出积水的人，水斗； 水瓢； 水勺 | |
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70
cleaving
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| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的现在分词 ) | |
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71
cascade
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| n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下 | |
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eddy
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| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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75
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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76
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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seethed
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| （液体）沸腾( seethe的过去式和过去分词 )； 激动，大怒； 强压怒火； 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth) | |
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81
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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82
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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83
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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84
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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85
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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86
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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87
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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88
abating
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| 减少( abate的现在分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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89
dilating
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| v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的现在分词 ) | |
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90
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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91
gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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92
clotted
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| adj.凝结的v.凝固( clot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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93
gore
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| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
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94
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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95
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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