Chapter 64 Stubb's Supper
第六十四章 斯塔布的晚餐
Stubb's whale had been killed some distance from the ship. It was a calm; so, forming a tandem of three boats, we commenced the slow business of towing the trophy to the Pequod. And now, as we eighteen men with our thirty-six arms, and one hundred and eighty thumbs and fingers, slowly toiled hour after hour upon that inert, sluggish corpse in the sea; and it seemed hardly to budge at all, except at long intervals; good evidence was hereby furnished of the enormousness of the mass we moved. For, upon the great canal of Hang-Ho, or whatever they call it, in China, four or five laborers on the foot-path will draw a bulky freighted junk at the rate of a mile an hour; but this grand argosy we towed heavily forged along, as if laden with piglead in bulk.
斯塔布是在离开大船相当远的海上杀死那条鲸的。这一天，风平浪静；我们把三只小艇串联起来后，就开始慢慢地把这只战利品拉曳到"裴廓德号"旁边来。这时，我们十八个人，三十六条胳膊，一百八十只大小手指，就在海里慢慢地、一个钟头过一个钟头地张罗那具僵硬的死尸；好象很难弄得动它，要隔好久才会使它动一动；这就足以证明：我们在拉曳的这团东西有多大了。因为，在那条叫做运河，或者在中国是怎样叫法的那条大运河上，四五个船夫在小径上曳着一只货物奇重的舢舨船，一小时的速度都还可拉个一英里路；可是，这只使我们拉得喘不过气来的徐徐前进的大船，却仿佛是载着生铅一般。
Darkness came on; but three lights up and down in the Pequod's main-rigging dimly guided our way; till drawing nearer we saw Ahab dropping one of several more lanterns over the bulwarks. Vacantly eyeing the heaving whale for a moment, he issued the usual orders for securing it for the night, and then handing his lantern to a seaman, went his way into the cabin, and did not come forward again until morning.
暮色已经拢来，不过，"裴廓德号"的大桅索具上已高高低低地挂起了三盏灯，在朦胧地为我们照路；等到快靠拢的时候，我们看到亚哈打另外几只灯笼中拿一只搁在舷墙上。他对那条往上拖的鲸，茫然地望了一会，发出例常的命令，吩咐要在当夜把它缚好后，就把他那只灯笼交给一个水手，径自回船长室去，直到隔天早晨，才重新出来。