So, almost every twenty-four hours, when the watches of the night were set, and the band on deck sentinelled the slumbers of the band below; and when if a rope was to be hauled upon the forecastle, the sailors flung it not rudely down, as by day, but with some cautiousness dropt it to its place for fear of disturbing their slumbering shipmates; when this sort of steady quietude would begin to prevail, habitually, the silent steersman would watch the cabin-scuttle; and ere long the old man would emerge, gripping at the iron banister, to help his crippled way. Some considering touch of humanity was in him; for at times like these, he usually abstained from patrolling the quarter-deck; because to his wearied mates, seeking repose within six inches of his ivory heel, such would have been the reverberating crack and din of that bony step, that their dreams would have been of the crunching teeth of sharks. But once, the mood was on him too deep for common regardings; and as with heavy, lumber-like pace he was measuring the ship from taffrail to mainmast, Stubb, the old second mate, came up from below, and with a certain unassured, deprecating humorousness, hinted that if Captain Ahab was pleased to walk the planks, then, no one could say nay; but there might be some way of muffling the noise; hinting something indistinctly and hesitatingly about a globe of tow, and the insertion into it, of the ivory heel. Ah! Stubb, thou didst not know Ahab then.
因此,差不多每天一开始值夜,甲板上的人巡视过了舱里那些熟睡的人后;如果碰上需要把一根绳索拉上船头楼,水手们并不象白天那样粗鲁地摔下去,而是颇为仔细地放下去,免得吵醒他们那些熟睡的船伴。往往在这种万籁俱寂的气氛就要开始出现的时候,那个一声不响的舵手就习惯地注视一下舱口,隔不多久,那位老人就会闪将出来,手抓着铁栏杆,一瘸一瘸地扶着栏杆走去。有些人倒认为他有点儿人情味;在这种时分,他总就不在后甲板上踱来踱去;因为对于那些在他那六英寸牙骨踵的方圆内想安睡的疲累的大二三副们说来,他那骨头的步伐一定会骨碌骨碌响个不停,他们就会象是睡在鲨鱼的嘎扎作响的牙门上一般。但是,有一回,他的心情实在太沉重,顾不到通常的关怀了;正当他以沉重的。木头似的脚步,从船尾栏杆到主桅间有板有眼地踱来踱去的时候,那个古怪的二副斯塔布,从下面走上来了,他带着一种缺乏自信。祈求的幽默语气暗示说,如果亚哈船长喜欢在船板上走,那么,谁都不能说个不字;不过呢,总得设法别弄出声响来;接着含糊而犹豫不决地隐约说出什么一团绳索,把牙踵插进绳索团里。啊!斯塔布,这么说来,你未免是不了解亚哈了。