Meanwhile Ahab half smothered in the foam of the whale's insolent tail, and too much of a cripple to swim, — though he could still keep afloat, even in the heart of such a whirlpool as that; helpless Ahab's head was seen, like a tossed bubble which the least chance shock might burst. From the boat's fragmentary stern, Fedallah incuriously and mildly eyed him; the clinging crew, at the other drifting end, could not succor him; more than enough was it for them to look to themselves. For so revolvingly appalling was the White Whale's aspect, and so planetarily swift the ever-contracting circles he made, that he seemed horizontally swooping upon them. And though the other boats, unharmed, still hovered hard by; still they dared not pull into the eddy to strike, lest that should be the signal for the instant destruction of the jeopardized castaways, Ahab and all; nor in that case could they themselves hope to escape. With straining eyes, then, they remained on the outer edge of the direful zone, whose centre had now become the old man's head.
這時,亞哈在那咄咄迫人的鯨尾所攪起的泡沫中,差不多快給悶死了,更兼他是個殘廢者,無法游水——不過即使在這樣急激的渦流中,他的身子還是浮著;人們看到亞哈那只無法可想的頭,好象只顛來簸去的氣泡,只消稍微震動就會爆炸。費(fèi)達(dá)拉在小艇的殘梢上,漠不關(guān)心而靜靜地望著他;那些緊扳著另一片漂來泛去的船板的水手,無法來救他,因?yàn)樗麄儗?shí)在自顧不暇。這條白鯨的樣子,身子轉(zhuǎn)來轉(zhuǎn)去,如此嚇人,它的圈子越兜越小,象流星一般迅疾,好象要直撲到他們身上來。雖然其它小艇都一無損傷,仍在近旁徘徊;然而,他們都不敢沖到那渦流里去打它,生怕這樣一來,就會立時招來這群身處險境的遇難者,包括亞哈和大家在內(nèi)的毀滅。而且那樣一來,他們就毫無生還的希望了。于是,他們只好眼巴巴地待在那個可怕的地帶的外圈,這會兒,那個老人的腦袋就是那個地帶的圓心。
Meantime, from the beginning all this had been descried from the ship's mast heads; and squaring her yards, she had borne down upon the scene; and was now so nigh, that Ahab in the water hailed her! — "Sail on the" — but that moment a breaking sea dashed on him from Moby Dick, and whelmed him for the time. But struggling out of it again, and chancing to rise on a towering crest, he shouted, — "Sail on the whale! — Drive him off!"
當(dāng)時,所有這般情況,大船的桅頂上打一開始就都看到了;船上的人調(diào)平了帆桁后,就往現(xiàn)場直駛過來;這時已駛近得聽到亞哈在水里招呼他們了!——"駛到"——可是,就在這時,莫比-迪克嘩啦的激起一陣海浪,直沖向他,暫時把他淹沒了。不過,等他重新從浪濤里掙了出來,恰好一冒就冒在高高的浪峰上,于是他嚷道,"駛到大鯨這邊來!把它趕開!"