评论
打印
Immediately, by Starbuck's orders, lines were secured to it at different points, so that ere long every boat was a buoy; the sunken whale being suspended a few inches beneath them by the cords. By very heedful management, when the ship drew nigh, the whale was transferred to her side, and was strongly secured there by the stiffest fluke-chains, for it was plain that unless artificially upheld, the body would at once sink to the bottom.
于是，斯达巴克立刻下令，四处抛下绳索把它缚住，因此，不一会儿，每只小艇都成为一只浮筒；那条下沉的鲸就被许多绳子吊在艇下几英寸的地方。等到大船一驶拢来，人们小心翼翼地把这条鲸移到船侧，用最牢靠的锚爪把它紧拴在那里，因为如果不这样巧妙地把它吊起，尸体显然就会立刻沉到海底。
It so chanced that almost upon first cutting into him with the spade, the entire length of a corroded harpoon was found imbedded in his flesh, on the lower part of the bunch before described. But as the stumps of harpoons are frequently found in the dead bodies of captured whales, with the flesh perfectly healed around them, and no prominence of any kind to denote their place; therefore, there must needs have been some other unknown reason in the present case fully to account for the ulceration alluded to. But still more curious was the fact of a lance-head of stone being found in him, not far from the buried iron, the flesh perfectly firm about it. Who had darted that stone lance? And when? It might have been darted by some Nor' West Indian long before America was discovered.
后来，竟会发现这样的奇迹：差不多铲刀刚一把它剖开，就在它肉里发现了整只腐烂的标枪头，正好在上文所述的那只大疙瘩的下面。可是，因为一向在捕获的鲸尸上所发现的标枪断头，总是给肌肉包得密密无缝，一点也叫人看不出那突出的地位；因此，就这条鲸现在这种情况说来，这种弄不懂的理由是只有那溃疡才能解释得了。但是，更希奇的是，就在那藏着标枪的近旁，又发现肉里紧蒙着一块石枪头。谁用过这种石枪打它呀？是在什么时候？那一定是早在美洲还未被发现以前，那些西北部的印第安人所干的了。
What other marvels might have been rummaged out of this monstrous cabinet there is no telling. But a sudden stop was put to further discoveries, by the ship's being unprecedentedly dragged over sideways to the sea, owing to the body's immensely increasing tendency to sink.
不消说，在搜索这只巨兽的内部时，一定还有其它不少奇迹。可是，突然间，却无法再继续探索下去了，因为那尸体大有即将下沉之势，它曳得这只船也空前地侧斜在海面上。
