Now, the Pequod had sailed from Nantucket at the very beginning of the Season-on-the-Line. No possible endeavor then could enable her commander to make the great passage southwards, double Cape Horn, and then running down sixty degrees of latitude arrive in the equatorial Pacific in time to cruise there. Therefore, he must wait for the next ensuing season. Yet the premature hour of the Pequod's sailing had, perhaps, been correctly selected by Ahab, with a view to this very complexion of things. Because, an interval of three hundred and sixty-five days and nights was before him; an interval which, instead of impatiently enduring ashore, he would spend in a miscellaneous hunt; if by chance the White Whale, spending his vacation in seas far remote from his periodical feeding-grounds, should turn up his wrinkled brow off the Persian Gulf, or in the Bengal Bay, or China Seas, or in any other waters haunted by his race. So that Monsoons, Pampas, Nor-Westers, Harmattans, Trades; any wind but the Levanter and Simoon, might blow Moby Dick into the devious zig-zag world-circle of the Pequod's circumnavigating wake.
且说“裴廓德号”离开南塔开特时，正值“赤道线的当令季节”的开始。当时，“裴廓德号”的船长已无法绕着合恩角向南远驰，然后顺着纬度六十度的地方疾驶，及时赶到太平洋的赤道线上去巡游了。因此，他必须等待即将到来的下一个季节。然而，“裴廓德号”之所以提早开航，说不定正是亚哈看到了这种复杂的情形而挑准了的。因为如果不开航，他又得株守三百六十五个昼夜;而这样一段时间，与其教他在岸上焦心迫肠地枯守，那他是宁可去做一些零零碎碎的猎击;说不定白鲸在那远离它的定期的食料场的海洋里度过了假期，会在波斯湾，孟加拉湾，中国海或者鲸类出没的别的地方一露它那皱纹百结的额头。所以，除了地中海的强烈的东风和阿拉伯的热风以外，其他象印度洋的季风，彭巴斯草原风，强烈的西北风，非洲西岸的燥风，贸易风等，都可能把莫比－迪克刮到“裴廓德号”的环球航迹的迂回曲折的大包围圈里来。
But granting all this; yet, regarded discreetly and coolly, seems it not but a mad idea, this; that in the broad boundless ocean, one solitary whale, even if encountered, should be thought capable of individual recognition from his hunter, even as a white-bearded Mufti in the thronged thoroughfares of Constantinople? Yes. For the peculiar snow-white brow of Moby Dick, and his snow-white hump, could not but be unmistakable. And have I not tallied the whale, Ahab would mutter to himself, as after poring over his charts till long after midnight he would throw himself back in reveries--tallied him, and shall he escape? His broad fins are bored, and scalloped out like a lost sheep's ear! And here, his mad mind would run on in a breathless race; till a weariness and faintness of pondering came over him! and in the open air of the deck he would seek to recover his strength. Ah, God! what trances of torments does that man endure who is consumed with one unachieved revengeful desire. He sleeps with clenched hands; and wakes with his own bloody nails in his palms.
不过，就算这一切的想法都是对的;然而，仔细而冷静地一想，这也似乎还是一种发疯的想法;因为在辽阔无垠的大洋里，即使是碰到了一只孤零零的鲸，难道它的猎手就会一下子把它认了出来，如同在君士坦丁堡的杂沓拥挤的街头，看到一个银须长髯的伊斯兰教法典说明官那样吗?会的。因为莫比－迪克那只特别雪白的额头，和它那雪白的背峰，无论如何是错不了的。难道我把大鲸看错了，亚哈在仔细看他的海图，直看至更深夜阑之后，他会从沉思里猛醒过来，暗自这样喃喃道......就是它，它逃得了么?只那大鳍已给打穿了，象一只迷途的羔羊一样摊在这里了!想到这里，他的疯狂的思想就会屏声息气地往前狂奔;直到他想得人累了，头昏了!而后到甲板的露天里去设法恢复他的精力。天呀!这个全力耗费在一个难以达到的报仇欲望上的人，他经受了多么苦痛的昏睡状态呀。他睡觉的时候，双手捏紧拳头，醒来的时候，他的指甲已把掌心掐得鲜血淋漓了。
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