In tempestuous times like these, after everything above and aloft has been secured, nothing more can be done but passively to await the issue of the gale. Then Captain and crew become practical fatalists. So, with his ivory leg inserted into its accustomed hole, and with one hand firmly grasping a shroud, Ahab for hours and hours would stand gazing dead to windward, while an occasional squall of sleet or snow would all but congeal his very eyelashes together. Meantime, the crew driven from the forward part of the ship by the perilous seas that burstingly broke over its bows, stood in a line along the bulwarks in the waist; and the better to guard against the leaping waves, each man had slipped himself into a sort of bowline secured to the rail, in which he swung as in a loosened belt. Few or no words were spoken; and the silent ship, as if manned by painted sailors inwax, day after day tore on through all the swift madness and gladness of the demoniac waves. By night the samemuteness of humanity before the shrieks of the ocean prevailed; still in silence the men swung in the bowlines; still wordless Ahab stood up to the blast.Even when wearied nature seemed demanding repose he would not seekthat repose in his hammock.
在這樣大風(fēng)暴的時(shí)分,甲板和桅頂?shù)壬仙舷孪碌氖虑槎家寻才磐.?dāng),除了消極地等待風(fēng)息以外,是再也沒有什么事情可做了。于是,船長和水手們實(shí)際上都變成了宿命論者。亞哈把他的牙腿插在那原來的鏇孔里,一只手緊抓著護(hù)桅索,便這樣一個(gè)鐘頭過一個(gè)鐘頭地站在那里,死瞪著上風(fēng),不時(shí)刮起的一陣夾著雪雹的大風(fēng),把他的眼睫毛也給凝在一起。這時(shí),從船頭上突然沖來一陣險(xiǎn)惡的浪潮,把那些水手都沖得順著船腰的舷墻邊的欄索站住了。為了抵擋那翻騰的浪濤,每人都套上一根綁在欄桿上的帆腳索,大家就拴著繩索,晃來倒去,象是腰帶松了那般。大家都很少甚至沒有說話;這艘靜悄悄的船,好象由一些蠟塑的水手掌握著,一天過一天地沖過那又發(fā)狂又高興的著魔似的雄濤前進(jìn)。到了夜里,在怒號的海洋面前,仍然是闃無人聲,拴著帆腳索搖來晃去的人仍然是不聲不響,亞哈還是一言不發(fā)地頂著暴風(fēng)站在那里。甚至到了疲勞的體力似乎在要求休息的時(shí)候,他還是不到吊鋪上去找尋那種休息。