The monkey-rope is found in all whalers; but it was only in the Pequod that the monkey and his holder were ever tied together. This improvement upon the original usage was introduced by no less a man than Stubb, in order to afford to the imperilled harpooneer the strongest possible guarantee for the faithfulness and vigilance of his monkey-rope holder.
(原注:所有的捕鯨船都有猴索;不過只有在"裴廓德號"上才始終是把猴索跟拉繩人縛在一起。這種一反通例的改良方法,提倡的可不只是斯塔布一人而已,為的是要使得那個危在旦夕的標(biāo)槍手,有最大的可能獲得那個牽索人的忠實和警惕的保證。)
I have hinted that I would often jerk poor Queequeg from between the whale and the ship—where he would occasionally fall, from the incessant rolling and swaying of both. But this was not the only jamming jeopardy he was exposed to. Unappalled by the massacre made upon them during the night, the sharks now freshly and more keenly allured by the before pent blood which began to flow from the carcass—the rabid creatures swarmed round it like bees in a beehive.
我已經(jīng)隱約說過,我要經(jīng)常在船只和大鯨間拉拉可憐的魁魁格——因為怕他會偶然從那不斷翻騰、搖晃的船只和鯨身上跌下去??墒?,他得遭遇的危險,并不是僅此而已。那些鯊魚,雖然經(jīng)過了昨晚的大屠殺,不僅沒有把它們嚇住,這時反而更其精神勃勃,更其活躍,因為那只尸體上郁積著的。如今已在開始流出的血,把它們吸引住了——這些發(fā)狂似的畜生都象出窠的蜜蜂一般,把它團團圍起。
And right in among those sharks was Queequeg; who often pushed them aside with his floundering feet. A thing altogether incredible were it not that attracted by such prey as a dead whale, the otherwise miscellaneously carnivorous shark will seldom touch a man.
直接置身在這些鯊魚群中的就是魁魁格;他經(jīng)常用他那雙浸在水里的腳把它們踢開。這是一件簡直無法叫人相信的事,要不是被象死鯨這樣的獵物所吸引,這些雖說是無所不食的鯊魚,倒是難得會碰到人身的。
Nevertheless, it may well be believed that since they have such a ravenous finger in the pie, it is deemed but wise to look sharp to them. Accordingly, besides the monkey-rope, with which I now and then jerked the poor fellow from too close a vicinity to the maw of what seemed a peculiarly ferocious shark—he was provided with still another protection.
可是,寧可信其有而不可信其無,它們既然是這樣一種貪得無厭的害人共謀犯,那倒是寧可對它們小心點兒為妙。因此,除了我用這根猴索不時地拉拉這個可憐的家伙,使他不至于太靠攏那看似格外兇狠的鯊魚嘴巴之外——他還有另一種保障: