It was given him--neither twine nor lanyard were seen again; but the next night an iron ball, closely netted, partly rolled from the pocket of the Lakeman's monkey jacket, as he was tucking the coat into his hammock for a pillow. Twenty-four hours after, his trick at the silent helm--nigh to the man who was apt to doze over the grave always ready dug to the seaman's hand--that fatal hour was then to come; and in the fore-ordaining soul of Steelkilt, the mate was already stark and stretched as a corpse, with his forehead crushed in.
他拿到他要的麻线——可是后来什么麻线、索带都再也看不到了。隔天晚上，湖上人把上衣塞在吊铺上当枕头的时候，他的上衣口袋里，却半露出一只编扎得十分牢靠。像只铁球似的东西来。二十四小时后，他就悄悄的在值掌舵的班——旁边，正是那个注定要打盹打到这个水手时刻准备为他挖掘的坟墓里去的人——他的致命的时刻就要到来了；而在斯蒂尔基尔特的预先安排的心底里，这个大副应是早已砸碎额头，僵挺得像一具死尸了。
"But, gentlemen, a fool saved the would-be murderer from the bloody deed he had planned. Yet complete revenge he had, and without being the avenger. For by a mysterious fatality, Heaven itself seemed to step in to take out of his hands into its own the damning thing he would have done.
“不过，诸位先生，一个笨蛋却把这个谋杀未遂犯从他所计划周全的恶行中搭救出来了。他仍然把仇全报了，却不是他亲手干的。因为，由于一种神秘的天意，上天似乎亲自出场干涉，把这个报仇者所要做的恶事，从他手里夺了过去，由上天自己亲手来做。
"It was just between daybreak and sunrise of the morning of the second day, when they were washing down the decks, that a stupid Teneriffe man, drawing water in the main-chains, all at once shouted out, There she rolls! there she rolls! Jesu, what a whale! It was Moby Dick.
“第二天早晨，就在拂晓到日出之间，大家正在冲洗甲板的时候，那个在水里拉大链的腾涅立夫(腾涅立夫——非洲北部的加拿利群岛中一个最大的岛名。)笨蛋突然一下子高声大叫起来，它在那儿翻动啦！它在翻动啦！天啊，多大的一条鲸呀！原来就是莫比－迪克。
"Moby Dick! cried Don Sebastian; St. Dominic! Sir sailor, but do whales have christenings? Whom call you Moby Dick?
“莫比－迪克！塞瓦斯蒂安先生叫了出来；天呀！不过，水手先生，鲸也得命名吗？你叫的莫比－迪克是谁呀？