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Meantime, Ahab holding the letter, muttered, "Mr. Har— yes, Mr. Harry—(a woman's pinny hand,—the man's wife, I'll wager)—Aye—Mr. Harry Macey, Ship Jeroboam; why it's Macey, and he's dead!"
这时，亚哈捏着那封信，嘴里喃喃道，"哈——不错，哈利先生——（是女人的纤细的笔迹——是收信人的老婆，我打赌）——哟——哈利。梅赛先生，'耶罗波安号'；——怎么，就是梅赛先生，他已经死啦！"
Poor fellow! poor fellow! and from his wife, sighed Mayhew; "but let me have it."
可怜的家伙！可怜的家伙！是他老婆写来的，梅休叹道；"把信交给我吧。"
Nay, keep it thyself, cried Gabriel to Ahab; "thou art soon going that way."
不，还是你自己藏着吧，迦百列对亚哈嚷道；"你就快上那边去啦。"
Curses throttle thee! yelled Ahab. "Captain Mayhew, stand by now to receive it"; and taking the fatal missive from Starbuck's hands, he caught it in the slit of the pole, and reached it over towards the boat. But as he did so, the oarsmen expectantly desisted from rowing; the boat drifted a little towards the ship's stern; so that, as if by magic, the letter suddenly ranged along with Gabriel's eager hand. He clutched it in an instant, seized the boat-knife, and impaling the letter on it, sent it thus loaded back into the ship. It fell at Ahab's feet. Then Gabriel shrieked out to his comrades to give way with their oars, and in that manner the mutinous boat rapidly shot away from the Pequod.
鬼卡住你的喉咙！亚哈高声叫喊。"梅休船长，现在请接吧；"他从斯达巴克手里拿过那封不祥的信，把它夹在柄端的缝里，向小艇那边伸过去。可是，他在这样做的时候，桨手们都观望地停止扳桨；小艇稍微荡向船梢；所以，仿佛有一股魔力似的，那封信突然跟迦百列那只急切伸着的手并拢了。他立刻把信攫住，抓起小刀，把信嵌在刀里，连刀带信掷进船里，恰好落在亚哈脚边。然后，迦百列对他的伙伴们尖声大叫，要他们赶紧扳桨。于是，那只抗命的小艇就快得象箭一般跟"裴廓德号"分开了。
As, after this interlude, the seamen resumed their work upon the jacket of the whale, many strange things were hinted in reference to this wild affair.
这段插曲过后，水手们又重新忙着处理大鲸那件外套（大鲸那件外套——指鲸皮。）了，可是，就这一荒唐的事件而论；它已经暗示出许多怪事来了。
