Came a stretch of ocean that to Daughtry was like all other stretches of ocean and unidentifiable from them. No land broke the sea-rim. The ship the centre, the horizon was the invariable and eternal circle of the world. The magnetic needle in the binnacle was the point on which the Mary Turner ever pivoted19. The sun rose in the undoubted east and set in the undoubted west, corrected and proved, of course, by declination, deviation20, and variation; and the nightly march of the stars and constellations21 proceeded across the sky.
And in this stretch of ocean, lookouts22 were mastheaded at day-dawn and kept mastheaded until twilight23 of evening, when the Mary Turner was hove-to, to hold her position through the night. As time went by, and the scent24, according to the Ancient Mariner, grow hotter, all three of the investors25 in the adventure came to going aloft. Grimshaw contented26 himself with standing27 on the main crosstrees. Captain Doane climbed even higher, seating himself on the stump28 of the foremast with legs a-straddle of the butt29 of the fore-topmast. And Simon Nishikanta tore himself away from his everlasting30 painting of all colour-delicacies of sea and sky such as are painted by seminary maidens31, to be helped and hoisted32 up the ratlines of the mizzen rigging, the huge bulk of him, by two grinning, slim-waisted sailors, until they lashed33 him squarely on the crosstrees and left him to stare with eyes of golden desire, across the sun-washed sea through the finest pair of unredeemed binoculars34 that had ever been pledged in his pawnshops.
“Strange,” the Ancient Mariner would mutter, “strange, and most strange. This is the very place. There can be no mistake. I’d have trusted that youngster of a third officer anywhere. He was only eighteen, but he could navigate35 better than the captain. Didn’t he fetch the atoll after eighteen days in the longboat? No standard compasses, and you know what a small-boat horizon is, with a big sea, for a sextant. He died, but the dying course he gave me held good, so that I fetched the atoll the very next day after I hove his body overboard.”
Captain Doane would shrug36 his shoulders and defiantly37 meet the mistrustful eyes of the Armenian Jew.
“It cannot have sunk, surely,” the Ancient Mariner would tactfully carry across the forbidding pause. “The island was no mere38 shoal or reef. The Lion’s Head was thirty-eight hundred and thirty-five feet. I saw the captain and the third officer triangulate it.”
“I’ve raked and combed the sea,” Captain Doane would then break out, “and the teeth of my comb are not so wide apart as to let slip through a four-thousand-foot peak.”
“Strange, strange,” the Ancient Mariner would next mutter, half to his cogitating39 soul, half aloud to the treasure-seekers. Then, with a sudden brightening, he would add:
“But, of course, the variation has changed, Captain Doane. Have you allowed for the change in variation for half a century! That should make a grave difference. Why, as I understand it, who am no navigator, the variation was not so definitely and accurately40 known in those days as now.”
“Latitude was latitude, and longitude was longitude,” would be the captain’s retort. “Variation and deviation are used in setting courses and estimating dead reckoning.”
All of which was Greek to Simon Nishikanta, who would promptly41 take the Ancient Mariner’s side of the discussion.
But the Ancient Mariner was fair-minded. What advantage he gave the Jew one moment, he balanced the next moment with an advantage to the skipper.
“It’s a pity,” he would suggest to Captain Doane, “that you have only one chronometer42. The entire fault may be with the chronometer. Why did you sail with only one chronometer?”
“But I was willing for two,” the Jew would defend. “You know that, Grimshaw?”
The wheat-farmer would nod reluctantly and Captain would snap:
“But not for three chronometers43.”
“But if two was no better than one, as you said so yourself and as Grimshaw will bear witness, then three was no better than two except for an expense.”
“But if you only have two chronometers, how can you tell which has gone wrong?” Captain Doane would demand.
“Search me,” would come the pawnbroker’s retort, accompanied by an incredulous shrug of the shoulders. “If you can’t tell which is wrong of two, then how much harder must it be to tell which is wrong of two dozen? With only two, it’s a fifty-fifty split that one or the other is wrong.”
“But don’t you realize—”
“I realize that it’s all a great foolishness, all this highbrow stuff about navigation. I’ve got clerks fourteen years old in my offices that can figure circles all around you and your navigation. Ask them that if two chronometers ain’t better than one, then how can two thousand be better than one? And they’d answer quick, snap, like that, that if two dollars ain’t any better than one dollar, then two thousand dollars ain’t any better than one dollar. That’s common sense.”
“Just the same, you’re wrong on general principle,” Grimshaw would oar5 in. “I said at the time that the only reason we took Captain Doane in with us on the deal was because we needed a navigator and because you and me didn’t know the first thing about it. You said, ‘Yes, sure’; and right away knew more about it than him when you wouldn’t stand for buying three chronometers. What was the matter with you was that the expense hurt you. That’s about as big an idea as your mind ever had room for. You go around looking for to dig out ten million dollars with a second-hand44 spade you call buy for sixty-eight cents.”
Dag Daughtry could not fail to overhear some of these conversations, which were altercations45 rather than councils. The invariable ending, for Simon Nishikanta, would be what sailors name “the sea-grouch46.” For hours afterward47 the sulky Jew would speak to no one nor acknowledge speech from any one. Vainly striving to paint, he would suddenly burst into violent rage, tear up his attempt, stamp it into the deck, then get out his large-calibred automatic rifle, perch48 himself on the forecastle-head, and try to shoot any stray porpoise49, albacore, or dolphin. It seemed to give him great relief to send a bullet home into the body of some surging, gorgeous-hued fish, arrest its glorious flashing motion for ever, and turn it on its side slowly to sink down into the death and depth of the sea.
On occasion, when a school of blackfish disported50 by, each one of them a whale of respectable size, Nishikanta would be beside himself in the ecstasy51 of inflicting52 pain. Out of the school perhaps he would reach a score of the leviathans, his bullets biting into them like whip-lashes, so that each, like a colt surprised by the stock-whip, would leap in the air, or with a flirt53 of tail dive under the surface, and then charge madly across the ocean and away from sight in a foam-churn of speed.
The Ancient Mariner would shake his head sadly; and Daughtry, who likewise was hurt by the infliction54 of hurt on unoffending animals, would sympathize with him and fetch him unbidden another of the expensive three-for-a-dollar cigars so that his feelings might be soothed55. Grimshaw would curl his lip in a sneer56 and mutter: “The cheap skate. The skunk57. No man with half the backbone58 of a man would take it out of the harmless creatures. He’s that kind that if he didn’t like you, or if you criticised his grammar or arithmetic, he’d kick your dog to get even . . . or poison it. In the good old days up in Colusa we used to hang men like him just to keep the air we breathed clean and wholesome59.”
“Look at here, Nishikanta,” he would say, his face white and his lips trembling with anger. “That’s rough stuff, and all you can get back for it is rough stuff. I know what I’m talking about. You’ve got no right to risk our lives that way. Wasn’t the pilot boat Annie Mine sunk by a whale right in the Golden Gate? Didn’t I sail in as a youngster, second mate on the brig Berncastle, into Hakodate, pumping double watches to keep afloat just because a whale took a smash at us? Didn’t the full-rigged ship, the whaler Essex, sink off the west coast of South America, twelve hundred miles from the nearest land for the small boats to cover, and all because of a big cow whale that butted61 her into kindling-wood?”
And Simon Nishikanta, in his grouch, disdaining62 to reply, would continue to pepper the last whale into flight beyond the circle of the sea their vision commanded.
“I remember the whaleship Essex,” the Ancient Mariner told Dag Daughtry. “It was a cow with a calf63 that did for her. Her barrels were two-thirds full, too. She went down in less than an hour. One of the boats never was heard of.”
“And didn’t another one of her boats get to Hawaii, sir?” Daughtry queried64 with all due humility65 of respect. “Leastwise, thirty years ago, when I was in Honolulu, I met a man, an old geezer, who claimed he’d been a harpooner66 on a whaleship sunk by a whale off the coast of South America. That was the first and last I heard of it, until right now you speaking of it, sir. It must a-been the same ship, sir, don’t you think?”
“Unless two different ships were whale-sunk off the west coast,” the Ancient Mariner replied. “And of the one ship, the Essex, there is no discussion. It is historical. The chance is likely, steward, that the man you mentioned was from the Essex.”
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1
scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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2
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
wheedled
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| v.骗取（某物），哄骗（某人干某事）( wheedle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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6
creasing
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的现在分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 挑檐 | |
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7
infiltration
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| n.渗透；下渗；渗滤；入渗 | |
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navigating
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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9
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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10
pawnbroker
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| n.典当商，当铺老板 | |
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greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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12
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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longitude
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| n.经线，经度 | |
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mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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15
solacing
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| v.安慰，慰藉( solace的现在分词 ) | |
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16
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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17
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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18
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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pivoted
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| adj.转动的，回转的，装在枢轴上的v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的过去式和过去分词 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开 | |
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20
deviation
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| n.背离，偏离；偏差，偏向；离题 | |
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21
constellations
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| n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人） | |
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22
lookouts
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| n.寻找（ 某人/某物）( lookout的名词复数 )；是某人（自己）的问题；警戒；瞭望台 | |
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23
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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24
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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25
investors
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| n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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26
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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29
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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32
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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34
binoculars
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| n.双筒望远镜 | |
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35
navigate
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| v.航行，飞行；导航，领航 | |
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36
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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cogitating
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| v.认真思考，深思熟虑( cogitate的现在分词 ) | |
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40
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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41
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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42
chronometer
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| n.精密的计时器 | |
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43
chronometers
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| n.精密计时器，航行表( chronometer的名词复数 ) | |
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44
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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45
altercations
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| n.争辩，争吵( altercation的名词复数 ) | |
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46
grouch
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| n.牢骚，不满；v.抱怨 | |
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47
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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48
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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49
porpoise
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| n.鼠海豚 | |
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50
disported
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| v.嬉戏，玩乐，自娱( disport的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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52
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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53
flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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54
infliction
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| n.（强加于人身的）痛苦，刑罚 | |
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55
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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56
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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57
skunk
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| n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥 | |
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58
backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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59
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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60
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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61
butted
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| 对接的 | |
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62
disdaining
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| 鄙视( disdain的现在分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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63
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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64
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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65
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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66
harpooner
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